Hay Finished

We've used up all our hay supply finally. We have had a fairly mild winter this year but the cows still needed three or four bales of hay each day plus a supplement to keep them going. Thankfully we had enough hay to last until the grass started growing again.

Remind yourself here and here where all the hay came from. Some of it was over two years old, but the cows didn't seem to mind.

No Yolk

Well, I've heard of eggs with double yolks. So far we haven't had one though. But I had never thought of an egg with no yolk.

I had another tiny egg the other day. A white one this time. So I cracked it into my skillet one morning with another larger egg for my scrambled eggs. And was surprised to see that there wasn't a yolk in it.

How does that happen? I'm not sure. Maybe you know.

Mice Again

I've been hearing mice again in the attic space. So I set some more traps the other day. I used some old cheese I had for the bait. And while I had it out, I decided to set more traps in the garage and chicken coop. 

The next morning I had caught two in the attic, one in the garage, and one in the chicken coop. I reset the traps and the following day caught another one in the attic.

Since then I haven't heard noises and haven't caught anything. The cheese is gone on a few traps, so I know they're still around. Just getting smarter. And fatter!

If you're squeamish, don't scroll down.

Teddy and Vests

I've been knitting again. I made matching vests for two sweet little brothers. They were supposed to be Christmas presents but I didn't quite get them finished in time so they became New Year's presents.

The Sirdar pattern I chose had sizes for 6 month to 7 year so it was perfect for this project. I chose a gray wool yarn from Drops called Karisma and made the 1-2 year and the 6-7 year size.

I also wanted to try making a small teddy bear which I had finished awhile back. So I made up a pattern for a little matching teddy bear vest and gave it to the little brother. The big brother wants one now!

Egg Variety

My hens seem to be happy at the moment and are laying well. We are regularly getting about a dozen a day. There were 15 one day recently.

With the different breeds we get a variety of colors. And even within the breeds, we get variations. Different sizes, different shapes. Not uniform at all.

Australorps - light brown
Americanas - blue/green
Leghorn - white
Barred Rock - pinky brown
Rhode Island Red - light brown

Tablet

One treat that Guv'nor misses is something called Butter Tablet. We used to buy it at the grocery store when we lived in England. It's very similar to vanilla fudge. But different according to Guv'nor.

Recently I ran across a recipe for it and decided to give it a try. It's basically sugar and butter. But you cut it up into small pieces so you don't have to eat much at a time. Here's the recipe with better pictures and instructions than I can give you. 

You'll need a candy thermometer, but luckily I had an old one in the drawer. Mine burned a little in the bottom of the pan, but didn't seem to affect the overall taste or texture. My arm gave out after about 15 seconds stirring when it was taken off the heat, so I resorted to a hand mixer which worked just fine.

I've stored it in a small tin and amazingly there is still some left! It is melt-in-your-mouth good. And Guv'nor says it's pretty close.

Hogs

For a couple of nights recently, I have heard strange noises outside our bedroom window. It seems like as soon as I turn the lights off and start to doze off, the noises start.

I suspected it was hogs and got up to see both times. I used one of our heavy duty flashlights and crept out on our back porch. Sounds quite brave for me, but I was cautious and could tell by the sounds that they weren't close enough to the porch to get me.

Yes, it was a group of hogs, mostly smaller ones. The flashlight I was using had a narrow beam so I could only see a few at a time and they were running around in all directions. The first time I thought it could have been around 20 of them. The second time it was more like 10. 

They were mostly foraging under the oak trees for acorns, I think. 

A few mornings later, they must have been back because the ground under a couple trees was freshly turned over. The two trees are pretty close to the back of the house. Too close for hogs around the house.

(If you were wondering where Guv'nor was while all this was going on...he was in the Motherland visiting family.)