Duck with blueberry peach butter

Tonight's dinner was duck (black duck to be specific) with a blueberry peach sauce along with sauteed red and white cabbage and a caesar salad. (and a framboise lambic!)


Trollie had dinner of a bit of duck, some salmon, little bit of turkey, baked squash, cottage cheese and egg with vitamin of salmon oil and vit B.

 The black duck was a bit too gamey for Shawn who was sharing the dinner but I guess my palate really is different. I believe it is because I haven't eaten meat from the grocery store in over 25 years.  But even though he thought the meat was gamey he said the sauce was good. The cabbage and salad were good side dishes. The recipes are below.

Duck:
- thinly sliced duck breasts (I had a black duck that y boss hunted and gave to me but mallard or other duck would probably be better if you don't like gamier meat) - would work with chicken or other bird too
- blueberry peach butter (I made this butter which is basically just blueberries and peaches cooked down into a thick "butter") - any kind of butter or jelly would work
- mead (I have home made mead but any kind of wine would work here as well)
- garlic (fresh and minced)

Get a cast iron pan hot and place the duck slices in pan and sear on each side, (don't worry about cooking all the way through it will continue to cook after you take out of pan and you don't want to over cook).
Deglaze pan with mead adding the butter and garlic and let reduce until thicker sauce consistency
Pour over duck slices.

Cabbage:
- sliced/shredded cabbage (I had a little bit of red and white cabbage so I used what I had, I personally think the red works best)
- butter or bacon fat

Saute cabbage in the butter or bacon fat.

Salad:
- romaine lettuce
- 1 egg coddled, preferably farm raised (boiled for just under 1 min so it is still soft)
- anchovies
- shredded parmesan (preferably fresh and not from a jar with added fillers)
- garlic (fresh minced)
- lemon juice (fresh if possible)
- olive oil

I don't really measure anymore because this is a staple dish of mine but I would say combine the egg, about 1/3 of a cup of cheese, a couple cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/8 of a cup olive oil with a couple minced anchovies in a bowl...adjust to taste. Pour over broken up romaine lettuce and add croutons if you like (I make them sometimes but often go without), some more parmesan and anchovies on top.

End of the year disappointments and hopes for the future

Well, it is getting to the end of the year and time to harvest on the homestead and hopefully a moving into a slowing down period.  It isn't all going as planned though. Because I am in school and work full time, December is a rough month because of moving into winter for real on the homestead which can always cause problems for any animal that may be a bit weak, it is time for me to cull any unecessary animals so I can afford to keep my breeders and pets and for the realization that what I have put up is what I have and won't get any more until the growing season again.  On top of the homestead stuff to take care of, it is exam time and then I have to think of gifts too. 

For school:
I have made it successfully through exams, not as happy with grades but I did my best, so now I move on...

For gifts:
I have great ideas for gifts for everyone but every year I seem to run out of time faster and this year, in particular, time and money have been an issue.  I always make as much of the gifts for family and friends as I can but that takes a lot of time. I did start working ahead and I do have jams and butters made up already. I hope to get a bit of baking done though too.

For homestead:
Well, I have had some really big disappointments. I lost one of my rex rabbits, I think she was on the "weak" end of the scale and the weather and all just took their toll. She was in the barn with everyone else but she just wasn't as active and she is one of my new rabbits.  I have a pair of rex now but I like having the extra security of 2 does.  Also, none of the does that were bred took, so no kits...probably just as well though because the weather has been so up and down.  I have also lost a few more baby chicks, I have no idea why.

My biggest losses however have definite causes. My muscovy black/white drake, Lancelot, was hit by a car, along with one of the girls. They had been free ranging and much healthier and had chosen their own place to hang out at night sheltered under a tree. Even though there are 12 acres of farm field and 70 acres of woods behind me, they decided the road was interesting. :-( They are now all locked up in the shed. I took one of the meat ducks out of the meat pen and added him to the flock that is staying to replace Lancelot. So, one more loss of food for the freezer plus the female for eggs in the spring.

Worse of all though is the human thief.  I get frustrated with predators like the owl that took nearly my whole flock of teenage Khaki campbells and the fox that took several of my new hens.  However, it is nature, it happens and you mourn the loss and move on.  This is a violation and I feel violated and very angry. Someone came onto my property, went into my rabbit barn and into my secure coop inside where I had 4 turkeys, one a tom just ready for harvesting and 2 polish chickens and took the tom.  I was away for the weekend and when I got back I saw that the turkey was missing (my brother fed and watered everyone but never opened the coop and didn't really keep track of who was where...he knew the turkeys in there were healthy looking each day and that was all he was concerned about).  There is absolutely no way the turkey tom could have escaped that coop inside the barn...it is completely secure and is inside another building with a door.  Someone earlier last week had stopped by and was upset because my brother told him the drakes he asked about were not for sale... my suspicion is that is was him but of course, I have no proof.  That turkey would have been Yule dinner plus about a weeks worth or more of other meals plus broth and food for Trollie.  The loss of that bird plus the duck is just a big set back.  I understand whoever took him may have a need greater than mine but I doubt it. If someone was in that much need, they could have asked and I might have been able to help... however, I am barely making ends meet, actually, most months I don't, making the sacrifice to feed these birds over that past season was so that I could have them in my freezer to feed me through the winter... there are several places in town where a family can get a turkey dinner, no questions asked.  As much as I would like to be charitable, this just has kind of ruined my "happy" feelings around the holiday.

However, I am not destitute... I planned on certain animals to get me through the winter, it will be a bit of a stretch now, more so than it was already going to be and I will probably be taking one of the ducks early for holiday dinner.  I have had people offer to get me a bird but as sweet as that is, it isn't the same. I raised this turkey up, he was treated well, in fact he was partly raised by someone else with a couple of the girls I have and when I tried to separate him so he would have more space he got really despondent and kept calling for "his" girls so I kept him with them and he was much happier.  I know he had a good life and was hoping he would sustain me and my family too.  Now, I don't know how he will be treated, if he will be wasted, etc. I had plans of stock and soups and using his feathers in crafts and his big wings and tail for sweat lodge. I am just really upset and trying to let it go.

So, part of this post is just letting it all out there and letting it go. I want to start the solstice off on a positive note and work on moving forward with my goals.

Friday Primal Dinner/Saturday Breakfast

Sausage, Roasted Apples and Squash/Apple Soup

This week I made all the recipes up myself by what I had on hand.

Dinner for Friday night was Sausage sauteed with sage, Roasted Apple in balsamic vinegar and sage and Roasted Banana Squash and Carmelized Apple Soup.

Sausage:
local country sausage
fresh sage from garden

- cut into pieces and sauteed in cast iron pan

Roasted Apples:
local apples
balsamic vinegar
fresh sage from garden

- cut apples into slices with skin on
- place in baking pan at 350F drizzled with balsamic vinegar and sage
- roast until tender

Roasted Banana Squash and Carmelized Apple Soup
banana squash roasted and pureed
local apples cooked down and carmelized into butter
home made beef stock
garlic, onion, tumeric, sage, cayenne

- combine all and let simmer to combine flavors

Saturday Primal Breakfast: Bacon Pieces, Sauteed Apple and Fried Egg

I had a package of bacon ends so I cut the meaty parts off into bits and saved the fat. I cut the apple into small bits and sauteed in the bacon fat, then fried the egg after and combined in a bowl.

December Antlerless morning hunt

Well, we were not so lucky to see deer this morning.  We got out there around 5:30am or so. It was a slow sunrise because of the rain and fog. It was still too dark to see and I could hear something relatively big walking to my right but I couldn't see anything. A bit later I could hear a bunch of running around and something actually ran under my stand...so finally I turned on my headlamp and it was a big raccoon. Other than him and  couple squirrels, I heard Mr. and Mrs. Great horn calling to eachother.  The same pair that fed on my khaki campbell ducks this spring, I am sure.

We headed in around 8 since there didn't seem to be much action....I'll be back out this afternoon.

December cleaning and organizing

Today was a busy one.  I have done quite a bit of cleaning of this house...sorely needed.  It still has a ways to go but it is tons better. (and there are 5 bags going to goodwill!) It is just so hard to keep up with while working and doing schoolwork and doing the homestead chores and making good food, on top of that is the fact that it is never just my stuff to clean up but my brothers' too.  I don't clean up after them but it makes it harder to keep things organized.  Anyway, it is a sight better today after a bit of work and little sleep.

After the main cleaning and the inspection by the prospective new landlord's mortgage company, I got a few things done. I made this beautiful bread pictured here. It is an herbed bread with sundried tomato and rosemary. It is a butter bread so can't make it all the time but figured it will do me well for breakfasts this week. I also made another standard bread with rosemary so I can freeze and have the dough in the fridge for next week. I took advantage of the nice weather and cleaned everyone's water bowls and planted onion and garlic, apples cut for more sauce and peels for apple vinegar, beans started for sprouts, cabbage soup started, laundry done and clothes out for week.

Now to study for finals this week.

And some pics from the week:

Cabbages before they became kraut and soup

The warm weather obviously made them think it is Spring

Gwynafar

two of the boys (one is Val's)

Rowena is a very loud and free girl
 (she won't stay with her partner in the pen and runs around talking all day)

This is Sven, he doesn't like the camera but I was able to pet him for the first time today.
 He is one of the strays that show up here. Freya is inside now and sadly both Grendel and Rothgar
are gone....Rothy was very sweet but he got hit by a car. Hopefully Sven is around for awhile.