Quinoa and buckwheat pancakes.

Today after the duties of the farm and the morning walk,  (we saw a snake sunning itself ), I made Quinoa and buckwheat  pancakes. I enjoy them hot or cold and even frozen. I make a lot at a time so I can freeze them and take them with me when I walk in the mornings or go out on a SAR mission. They are a good hearty pancakes. The recipe is really simple.  I must warn you though, I am writing out the recipe as I do it.

In my dry mix: (I typically have this dry mix in mason jars, so I have about 6 cups of the mix in the jar at all times.)

Dry mix is always ready!

One cup of Quinoa Flour. (I make my own by putting the Quinoa seed in the blender and whip it up into a flour. I found that one cup of dry seed equals about two cups of flour!)
One cup of buckwheat flour.
Two teaspoons of baking soda
A table spoon of cinnamon more if you want, or less.
And salt if you want. About 1/8.
Now if you double that you have four cups of dry stuff. But I typically triple it.

I put recipes together like my grandmother did. Well okay, somebody else's grandmother did it my way. Neither of my grandmothers cooked anything from... "Scratch"!

Understand, this is a very forgiving recipe!

The next part is the wet stuff. The more wet stuff you make, you have more pancakes. This is the part of the recipe that dictates the amount of pancakes I make.

In a large mixing bowl:
I whip up into a thick lather, four eggs.
Add about...(give or take) a tablespoon of Apple cider vinegar. YUP Apple cider vinegar. It seems to make the pancake hold together and not be so dry, but if you don't have any, don't worry. You'll still have something yummy to eat.
About three table spoons of liquid Coconut oil. I use extra virgin cold press.
I add coconut palm sugar to taste into the wet liquid. I like to make my wet mix taste like eggnog. Remember real eggnog?
(Sometimes I add water, about a cup, to the wet mix along with the eggs and coconut oil. It doesn't seem to change the pancake much, maybe makes it a tad bit thinner)

Mix it together and then...
Add the dry mix to the wet mix about 1/4 a cup at a time by shaking in a little at a time out of the jar or what you put your dry mix into. I just tip the mason jar over and start shaking it into the wet mix until I have a thin batter. You can make a thick batter too just by adding more dry stuff, that is if you want a hearty pancake that takes care of the hungries. (I found that out by accident! I shook and tilted the dry mix out and a bunch came out all at once! I looked like a snowman!) 

I found out that if I over beat the dry and wet mix to long together it will be dry also. 

I take my pancakes with me on missions and on the road when I travel. I find it doesn't need to be refrigerated. Sometimes I place it on my dashboard when I am on the run and it tastes as if it were fresh off the grill! Ummmm maybe even better!

They look like this unless my husband makes them. Then they look a little more fluffier. Also he makes them on a cast iron flat heavy skillet on the stove. He can make more at a time than I do on that thing. 
If you like your pancakes sweeter, just add more sweetener to the wet mix.
Well, time to go out a feed the farm animals and collect the eggs! 
Enjoy the weekend! 
Suzanne

Chicken's verses the Coppers Hawk.

Farm life can be very harsh! 

Even more so frustrating when you can't do any protecting of your livestock and lively hood as some predators are protected by law. 

In the last three days I have lost three chickens to the protected Coopers Hawk. (See the picture below...warning, not pretty)They not only kill my chickens, they also scare the flock and this causes stress in the eggs. This causes the egg to change size, thickness of egg shell becomes thin, and they lay rather odd looking shapes. I call them 'wonky' eggs. I try calling in the crows, by getting big bones and putting them all over the yard.  The chickens enjoy the bones too.  The crows seem to keep away the hawks, and for some time, that works. However, the egg production go down as the crows eat the eggs, but on the upside is they don't kill the chickens. My dogs do a good job of chasing after the hawks when they are perched up on a electrical pole. Some hawks just look at the dogs ignoring them, and others fly off. Our chickens have the entire 7 acres of land to roam. They do have a coop to retire to at night but prefer to scratch around for bugs all over the place during the day. Last winter season I lost 23 chickens to the hawks. Typically the white chickens don't survive long out here as they are easily seen when they hide in the bush, but in the last two days, two of the chickens were baby black giants. I decided to try the black giants as to me they look like crows and lay a nice egg. They take longer to start laying eggs, and are not as fast egg producers as some of the other breeds. I have one giant black rooster that is one sweet guy. I can pick him up and carry him around. He stays by me while I am outside doing stuff. Kind of like a puppy that doesn't chase a ball. He just likes to follow me. I call him Buck-a-roo. I typically don't name my birds. I learned a long time ago to not get attached to them. I have had my favorites. 

So today I start the day off early with yard work making my presents known to the hawks. They still seem to have the last laugh and a full belly. The price of seed has tripled in the last two years, I am not even breaking even. So reality is setting in, now I am trying to figure out a different agricultural crop that will be more cost effective and easier to raise in the mid to higher south west rocky desert. I want the green apple trees, figs, and pomegranate bush in the dwarf size. Then I won't need to climb a tall latter as I get older. My husband thinks grapes! I say they are a lot more work, (for me in the long run) reminding him we live on grounds that are mostly rock! The garden crops seem to be a failure year after year here. We have a lot of golfers that eat the roots under ground. I also discovered that leghorn chickens like to fly and they went up and over my garden fencing to enjoy all of my food. I do have a couple of grow barrels that help keep out the underground critters only to lose the fruits to birds and rodents  I just can't seem to win. My neighbor thinks exotic cactus would be a good crop. Sounds a lot easier to me, except that I would like to have something to eat for my efforts too.

So if anyone has ideas, I'd like to hear it. Or what has helped you? 

Thanks! Suzanne

Warning, picture below is not pretty!

Former chicken lost to a Coopers Hawk. The Coopers Hawk is protected by law. 

Therapy donkey Apple!

My daughter is back and help'en me to 'Navigate' the blog.  I wanted life to be simple, however I am thinking this computer adventure is harder than scoop'en poop from the chicken coop! Today I watched my daughter click away at the keyboard so fast without and concern of an error! The younger generation seems to just gravitate to the key board so naturally.

So today I am practicing loading a picture. Lucky you guys! This is a picture of our donkey Apple. He was trained for therapy work in the hospitals! We first had to convince the child life specialist that we were interested in bringing in a donkey! We were already bringing in our therapy dog Buster, so he thought doggy. He was stunned when we brought in a picture of Apple as a baby. My husband said "yes this is a puppy donkey!" Talk about back peddling coming from the child life specialist. He said we needed to train him through the Pet Partners program. They could only compare him to a big dog and that is how we tailored his training. He could do everything except sit on command. All the training I did going in and out of businesses for practice didn't prepare us for the hospital elevator though!

After a year of training we brought Apple to the first hospital!  He was a tremendous distraction and was well received by the children and doctors! A huge hit and one I will never forget in my lifetime. This picture below is of Eva who asked Apple to go back to her room with her, we think by the expression on her face he said 'yes'!

I will try to once more pictures if anyone wants to see more. I now need to go collect the eggs for the day! Enjoy the post.

Retirement! Not at this farm!

Retirement!
Not at this farm!

I started this post months ago. I had my daughter "driving" in the computer chair showing me how to create this site. Looked fairly easy.
With  HER confidence, I was ready for the cyber world! 

My daughter left the farm the next day and I was left with, "You can do it mom!" As if I were getting back on a bike! 
NOT! 
Doomed...that is, for a couple of months!
Periodically, I sat staring at the screen trying to open up the blog site several times.
I wasn't so sure how she made this site, but figured I could just push buttons until I figured it out! I knew my password, I thought that was all I needed!
I found out, trying to log onto the blog spot the very next day, this isn't like pushing the remote control buttons on the VCR or stereo.  You know, do the little dance around, squeak out noises, and hope that sound comes out of the black box and TV at the correct time!  (Yes I still use those!) I learned quickly my computer doesn't talk back giving me directions or answers to my questions. I not only forgot how to get on the site, but in two months, I managed to lose my whole blog spot address! 

The very next day after my daughter built this site, I had the beginning of what was to be several rattlesnakes at the farm. Add a bunch of hatched baby chicken peepers to protect from the wild life, and a few Search and Rescue (SAR) missions along with a lot of training missions. The reality is, my physical life moved on, the cyber world would have to wait. 

My husband now has a  female puppy named Cricket! At 9 months old, she is an amazing puppy! Yes! I say AMAZING! Mainly because she can drag my husband all over the desert at the end of a leash and he doesn't ask her why! If I tried that, well most women out there will be able to imagine just what kind of resentment they would get from the masculine side, especially at our retirement age. But put a pretty little German shepherd in front of my hubby, and he is in L-O-V-E! It is like the donkey following a dangling carrot.  He follows her jogging and mostly, willingly! And he doesn't even like to jog, so he has told me over the years! 

After the morning chores this morning we continued our day with a K-9 training mission. Cricket, easily found me about a mile away! I am so impresses with her willingness and ability! And even more so, with my husband's new found energy and ability to follow her the mile or so at a jog. We have great expectations for her. And for me, I'm ecstatic, on how she can lead my hubby around without him giving that look that keeps him from doing manual labor around here, you know, the honey do list...yup that look! 

I have always had a strong need to put Search and Rescue (SAR) on the forefront. I started with the SAR group back in the mid-seventies when I was fresh out of high school and on my own! It was a very loose nit group back then. (Now, it is very well organized with constant training! This helps out with the confidence levels.) Then the children came and I stepped away, always feeling like I was missing something. However, over the years and the children grown, I joined again. This time, my husband took to it too, easily. He loves hanging from a chopper or off the side of a mountain, he was a fast willing participant trusting a skinny rope! I on the other hand, I still have to run the farm, so if the missions come in-between the morning clean out the nest boxes and after the evening collection, I am game too. I miss the freedom to go on the missions at any time. Having a poultry farm dictates my schedule. ( Been known to say it keeps me in a fowl mood!  HA!) But fresh eggs are tops! 

My farm workers are real dogs!  Oh how I love my dogs! I like dog breeds who make me look good, and who are easy to train! And my canine partners have all have had a job over the years. Currently, my Standard poodle, Cottonball Jack, is the best farm dog I have ever had! I call him my farm foreman! No foo foo poodle here! He doesn't back down from the coyotes, (behind a sturdy fence that is). He puts unruly roosters in their place and lets me know when the mountain lions are close, and when the rattlesnakes are around. Currently my reality is setting in with Cottonball Jack, he is needing to train the next foreman soon, he is slowing down at the age of 9. I have a Border Collie~Aussie mix named Charliebug Jazz who can also track the lost persons out there. She is very laid back, unusual for a Border, but will chase off the Hawks that kill the chickens. By the way, so far my dogs have been owner surrendered, until Cricket. We lost our last Shepherd that was owner surrendered to what the vet called inbreeding. Devastating and heart breaking as we bond with these guys deeply. Not to mention we lost a lot of training time.  

So, the purpose for this site is for sharing.
First reality, I hope I can get back on again as I am not sure what password or sign in address did the trick this time! I was doing everything I could think of for both words. Next, I hope I post this correctly.

I will post pictures as soon as learn how. I'll show how I make my art work, share pictures of our animals. We also have mules we use for Search and Rescue. I have three donkeys and one of them was 'Apple' who was a therapy donkey and well received,went into hospitals! He didn't care much for the elevator though. He did stairs well going up, but not coming down! 

My husband and I have always been busy cheering and helping others. We were clowns volunteering at events in the hospitals. When retirement was approaching him, I thought he'd finish projects he started here years ago. Surprise!... that stuff will still need to wait or get fixed when it becomes an emergency! Do I need to say more? 

I have done all the wifely duties and trained all of the animals until now, now he is preoccupied with Cricket! Those projects can wait some more. Cricket can do this! And if she and him can help save a life or find a lost person, I will need to wait on the forever growing list. Besides, she is getting him to jog!

Rules for blogging! 
All fun stories and realities of retirement, farming and if you have animals or are a volunteer with Search and rescue, share in your stories.
No profanity!  

Suzanne