A Short Walk in the Buffer Strip

I was going to go for a walk in the pasture, but the sight of a kid in the buffer strip snacking on alfalfa changed that plan.  I hopped the fence, hung my camera on a post and walked back and forth several times before quickly grabbing a back leg and landing on my knees.  But I caught the little stinker.  In case you can’t tell, my little boys that look just like their daddy, Sam, are wild.  I am not even sure which one this was.

Colt (I think)

But I tossed him over the fence to go play with the rest of the kids.

While I was in the buffer strip, I thought I’d walk around (and take the easy way back instead of climbing the fence again).  Obviously, the alfalfa is blooming.  It’s once again past ready to cut and bale.

The bees are happy though.

So are the butterflies.

I know, the monarch is on clover (along with the honeybee), but they were flitting from clover to alfalfa to clover again.  It was positively buzzing out there.

I do hope you’ll come back to join me for Friday’s Hunt.  I have this week’s items listed at the top of my side bar.

Little Critters

This past week has reminded me that I need to have a whole week’s worth of blogging pictures since I don’t have time during the week now.  That means I went for a walk in the pasture and my yard Saturday afternoon.  Today, I’m sharing some of the little things I found.  The bee was enjoying the thistles that my yard goats are too short to eat.

The swallowtails are still enjoying the thistles too.

This spider was in the garden.  I used to hate them (mostly because I’d walk into their webs), but now I appreciate their beauty and all the bugs they eat.

I captured my first buckeye of the year!  It’s perfect!

Then there’s the fritillary.

This one was not so perfect.

I don’t know how the admiral is even able to live and fly with all the damage to its wings.

I’ll save the rest of my walk for the rest of the week.

If you want to join me for Friday’s Hunt next week, I have the items listed at the top of my side bar.

Friday’s Hunt v2.9

Welcome back to Friday’s Hunt.  I want to thank everyone who joined in last week.  I had a lot of fun visiting everyone who linked up.  It’s very simple.  Anyone can participate.  The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to visit some of the other entries.

If you didn’t participate this week but would like to next week, the topics will be:  Starts with J, Week’s Favorite, and surprise.  I will always keep a list of the items for the coming week in my sidebar at the top. I am crazy busy on the farm right now, but I will make sure to visit all participants.  Without further ado, here’s my interpretations for the week.

Starts with I:  Instructions for roasted tomato sauce.  I was asked for more instructions on how to do the roasted tomatoes.  I have to give credit to Claire because she was kind enough to tell me how to do it.  I did make a minor adjustment or so, but it’s Claire who deserves credit.

Wash, core and remove any bad spots from the tomatoes.  Then coarsely chunk them into glass baking dishes.  Because it heats the whole house, I prefer to do as many as I can at one time.  I personally add onion, green pepper, and garlic.  You can add whatever you want.  Drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil and put them in a 400*F oven.  Bake it for three hours.  You will have to make sure to carefully stir them to keep the tops from burning.

Then you just put them through the colander.  If you don’t mind the seeds and skins staying in there, you can just put it through a blender.  Then I add seasoning to taste.  For me, it’s some oregano, basil and more garlic.

Then it’s ready to freeze or can.  I can mine for space reasons, so I add 1/4 tsp. citric acid (1/2 tsp./quart) and process them in a water bath for 35 minutes for pints (40 minutes for quarts).

Week’s Favorite:  I want to thank everyone who has inquired about Cutie.  She’s doing quite well!  The swelling is down and the infection is gone.  The knee still doesn’t bend well, but I’m sure it will take a lot of work to get it back in shape and build muscles.

Cutie Pie Goodberry

She’s even managed to get in the patio chair for a nap!

Pink: Going back to work has really taken time away from the farm.  I am going back to more butterfly pictures from earlier in the month for pink.  They just love those pink flowers! It better be close enough to pink because that’s all I’ve got.

Monarch

Thanks so much!

Now it’s your turn: