Sweet Sunshine and Sweet Beets



Peacefully basking in the sunshine while
two geese attentively keep watch.

      What could be better than a good dose of sunshine?  The wild birds were singing this morning, and the geese found restful peace sleeping in the sunshine. The silence was broken with the high pitched call that announced my approach. Their swimming pond is still frozen over, and I think that they are eagerly awaiting warm weather. Then the guard goose won't have to balance on one leg to keep the other warm.

     Today's recipe is adapted from Hobby Farm Home magazine and website.  Even if you think that you don't like beets you will like this recipe.  The beets are sweet and delicious as well as quick and easy to make. YUM!

Beets with Maple Syrup and Horseradish
2 lb red beets, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 medium white or yellow onion, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 Tbsp. butter
3 tsp cream-style prepared horseradish
3 Tbsp raspberry vinegar

Layer beets and onions in a shallow dish. Stir the maple syrup, butter, horseradish, and vinegar over medium heat until butter is melted and almost to a boil.  Pour over the beets and onions.
Cover tightly and bake at 400 for 1 hour.  Remove cover after 30 minutes.

A Taste of Spring!

        At last a break from the bitter cold.  My gaggle of geese took a stroll away from their frozen pond in search of anything that might be green.
        Only seven geese are out because the eighth goose was holed up in the goose house laying an egg.  Do they realize I'm the one taking their precious eggs?  I guess not. I'm fairly sure it would be hard for a goose to raise goslings in such cold weather.  In another month I'll let mother nature take over.  For right now I have plenty of blown goose eggs to use for crafts.
    
       

Once upon a pond . . .

Maybe my journey to become a hobby farmer began with a cool, April day while I stood looking at our small, but nicely-sized pond all surrounded with weeds and prickly bushes.  I remember having what I have come to call my "Hey, wait a minute," moment.  It was either accept the neglected pond never cared for or "Hey, wait a minute; I can do something positive about this." 

So for two months I chose a clump of prickly bushes and attacked.  Slowly, but surely, I liberated the pond.  From there the plans grew.  I dropped rocks in the area where the spring entered the pond to rid that area of mud.  Each year brought a new project - creating a rock dock to watch the water and anything that might move in my fishless pond, planting water lilies and marginal pond plants, to perennial flowers around the edge.

Somewhere in the process I came across a magazine called Hobby Farm Home.  Within those pages I found wonderful possibilities for our small corner of country.  I started with babydoll sheep.  Hey, wait a minute - don't we need sheep to help mow our lawn and fertilize, too?  If it was good enough for Thomas Jefferson, well . . . count me in! In Hobby Farm Home I found information about Brown Chinese Geese - great weeder birds.  Hey, wait a minute - I have weeds, I have a pond, that will work!  We now have our lawn mowers and weeders.  It seems there were also some Buckeye chickens featured in Hobby Farm Home.  Hey, wait a minute I have a farm, and horses, and sheep, and geese - why not chickens? We could use some eggs.  The rest is history. 

I love the farm and I am fascinated by the interaction of all the animals.  Who knew that one could retire from teaching only to discover that in your heart you really were meant to be a hobby farmer?