Orphaned Fawn



Look carefully to the left of the fence post and you will see the little fawn.

There is an orphaned fawn living in the front pasture along the driveway. I noticed it about two weeks ago as I drove down the driveway on my way to work. It jumped up from the undergrowth and ran circles around the pasture.

I noticed it was trying to live with the cattle last night as I watched ZZ Tom chase it around the pasture. The fawn is so small and the grass so tall that I lost sight of it until I saw bunches of quail breaking from cover in a line down through the pasture. Obviously the fawn was running through the field scaring up birds.

Emerald Ash Borer

My pastures are surrounded by woods.  Oak, a few maple, locust, wild cherry, wild plum and lots of green ash trees fill all the old fence rows.  We even have a few persimmon trees. For the last several years the wild cherry trees have been dying.  No one seems to be too concerned about this, but me. Wilted wild cherry leaves produce prussic acid and if the cows eat the leaves it can kill them!

This old ash tree has been dying by bits and piece for the last ten years, but this year it is riddled with little holes. I've not seen any insects, but I have to believe this is borer damage.

This year I'm noticing the ash trees in the fence lines are dying. And this year I finally see evidence of emerald ash borer in trees near the house!  There are 18 ash trees in my yard along with a dozen or more locusts and a few oaks that we planted.  As I watch the borer slowly kill a huge old ash near the chicken house, I know that it is only a matter of time before they cross the fence into the yard. Therefore, I'm taking action!

Here's a close up of the tree with the holes and the torn bark. I don't think there is any doubt that this is the work of insects.



This is hopefully my weapon to save the ash trees in the yard. It's from Bayer (like the aspirin) and claims to kill insects such as Japanese beetles and emeral ash borer and feed the trees all at the same time. The treatment lasts a year. It's not cheap, this gallon container cost $69 at Lowes's (less discount for using my Lowes card), and I estimate I will need a total of six gallons for my 18 trees.  It's a poison green creamy liquid that you mix with water and pour around the base of the tree.

Life and Death on the Farm

Sad to report this morning that the one little chick that hatched about a month ago was killed over night inside the chicken house.  I found his half eaten body inside the house this morning. He was alive and well with his mother when I locked up last night, but not there at the door this morning, anxious to be outside and hunting for bugs with mother hen ever watchful at his side.
My first thought was that one of the big roosters killed him. An investigation of the chicken house however, uncovered a small hole about two inches wide in the hardware cloth covering the ventilation window on the lower west side of the chicken house and the body was found just a few inches from the hole. The hole had been made from the outside because the wire was pushed in. Hardware cloth is pretty tough stuff. We use it instead of poultry wire ( or net as it is called sometimes) because raccoons can tear open poultry wire with their bare "hands". 
None of the other chickens were disturbed but the body was left near the hole, gutted.  My first thought was a weasel. They are small enough to get through the hole in the wire, but weasels just usually suck the blood from a hole in the neck and leave the body.  Raccoons usually gut the birds and often try to take the carcass with them, but the hole in the wire was way too small for any raccoons. So I will conclude it was some type of weasel like creature that can tear through hardware cloth! I don't want to close up the window as its critical to the ventilation for the house, but I need a barrier similar to hardware cloth with a very small grid.  I'll be headed for Lowe's this morning to find a screen door cover and hope that that does the trick.  I'm concerned for the rest of the birds as I have hardware cloth covered doors and windows elsewhere on the house and once a weasel finds a way in I'm afraid it will be back for more chicken dinners.  Will keep you posted.

The little guy was twice this size when he was killed last night. He'd grown really quickly and would have been a beautiful rooster .

Shaker Lemon Pie

Shaker Lemon Pie - the real version

I've run across several recipes lately calling themselves Shaker Lemon Pie and I want to set the record straight. Unless you use the recipe below, you are not making Shaker Lemon Pie. The pie is sweet and tart at the same time because it is made of whole lemons, rind and all. People are remaking the recipe without the sliced lemons and I am sorry folks, but that just isn't Shaker Lemon Pie.
This pie is not for everyone, I will admit.  If you are used to lemon meringue pie you may not like this pie, but if you like things like orange marmalade or candied lemon peel, you will probably like Shaker Lemon pie. I like to think it takes a sophisticated palate to enjoy a pie like this!
If you ate at the Golden Lamb Inn in Lebanon, Ohio back in the day, you could always count on the dessert menu including either Sister Lizzie's Sugar Pie or Shaker Lemon Pie or both. Sister Lizzie hailed from the Kentucky Shaker community known as South Union and Ohio Lemon Pie came from North Union, the Shaker community near Cleveland. The Shakers had to feed a lot of people good wholesome food so they could work hard on their farms. They wasted nothing and  made sure the food was tasty so it would all be eaten.
Shaker Lemon Pie is one of my favorites and its pretty easy to make if you have a mandolin slicer or a food processor that slices things paper thin. Here's the recipe from The Best of Shaker Cooking by Amy Bess Miller and Persis Fuller.

Shaker Lemon Pie

2 lemons

2 cups granulated sugar and a little more for layering the lemon slices

4 eggs

pastry for two 8 inch crusts

Wash the lemons well in warm soapy water. Rinse well. Then slice the lemons paper thin, rind and all. (I throw away the tops and bottoms, you just want slices of lemon flesh with the rind on). Place them in a ceramic or glass mixing bowl and pour the sugar over them. Mix well and let stand for a least 6 hours or over night, covered. This allows the bitterness in the lemons to blend with the sugar and juice. Note:  The original recipe says 2 hours or over night. Always let them stand at least 6 hours.

Line an 8 inch pie tin with one pastry crust. Beat the four eggs in a separate bowl together until they are lemon colored. Lay the lemon slices in layers on top of the crust making sure to add a little extra sugar between each layer. When all the lemon slices are layered in the crust, pour all the remaining sugar and lemon juice from the mixing bowl over the slices. Then pour the beaten egg over the lemons. Put the top crust on the pie and vent it to let out steam. Place in a hot 450 degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn heat to 400 degrees and bake until a knife inserted into the custard comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes more depending on your oven. The resulting pie is both sweet and tart with a little crunch from the lemon rind. You can serve it with a little sweetened whipped cream if you prefer 

Shortbread for Dad

Mona Lisa loves fresh catnip. One of the volunteers makes sure she has a good supply.

It was a busy day starting with church at 8:30, then a trip to the museum to feed Mona Lisa the museum cat, a trip to the hardware store for a tire pump and home to mow grass and help work some cattle. Before all that however, I baked Scotch shortbread for my Dad to gift him for Father's Day. Shortbread is one of his favorite things.  I know I've put up the recipe before but thought you might enjoy checking it out again. Oh, and if you are interested, I posted a video of BTAP Thor, the bull on You Tube on channel vtappy1. Enjoy!

  Shortbread

You need a kitchen scale for this recipe.

12 oz of cold salted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces

12 oz all purpose flour

 6 oz  yellow corn meal

 6 oz  granulated white sugar

Put all the ingredients in the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Process on medium speed until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Divide mixture evenly between two lightly greased 9 by 12 inch baking pans. Press mixture into the pans using the bottom of a measuring cup to evenly distribute the mixture. Prick mixture all over with a fork. Bake in a 325 degree over for 20 minutes. Turn pans 180 degrees and bake 20 minutes more. While still warm in the pans cut shortbread into squares or rectangles. Cool in pans and transfer to covered container. Will keep for weeks and improves with age.

Mona Lisa is 15 1/2 years old. She was donated to the Warren County History Center in 2010 and now runs the place. Everyone loves her and she gets plenty of attention from our visitors.  She sits on the reception desk and greets everyone who comes through the door - most of whom can't resist petting her.  She is a former show kitty and is a registered American Shorthair Silver Tabby.

Bulls being bulls

I just have to share this picture of BTAP Thor, this year's herd bull.  He was born in an ice storm the last day of January 2011 back in the woods. His mother would not bring him to the barn but kept him under a big cedar tree. I checked on them everyday, bringing them hay and grain. I was sure he would die that first week, but he is one tough guy.

Yesterday morning he broke open a gate following all the strong female smells left over from artificially breeding nine cows this past Sunday.  He spied the younger bull whom I call Bobby across the driveway in the bull pen and let him know with bellering and foot pawing and fence scraping that Bobby was going to die if Thor ever got to him!

Bobby stayed very quiet, just watched Thor through the fence boards. Finally Thor got tired of the whole thing and went back to the pasture with his small herd of cows and heifers. He's been out with that group about a month and it's remarkable the change in his appearance. He's become a real bully bull! His neck is thickening and his overall muscle tone is really good. Hormones at work!

BTAP Thor telling Bobby to keep away from his women!

Baby Chick Explores its World

Wait for me Mom!

If you remember in mid April several of the hens went broody, ie: they wanted to sit on nests and hatch eggs into chicks.  I let one of the hens keep a days worth of eggs and two weeks ago one egg hatched.  Mom is a big white hen, chick is probably a Rhode Island Red cross with Booster Rooster. In other words, baby chick is not the biological off spring of the big white hen.  She cares not at all that her chick is not her chick however, so all is well.  I do worry about the cats getting hold of it. They are major hunters. This week alone they have killed a red cardinal, a meadow lark, a sparrow, and a half grown rabbit.  Other times they bring mice, voles, moles, frogs and small snakes to the back porch.  I feed these cats well, but cats are hunters by nature and no matter how much I feed them they will still have the need to hunt.

The chick is two weeks old today. It's very active and is peeping all the time.  When I open the chicken house door each morning, its the first one to hop outside.  From the looks of it, I think it might be a rooster, but time will tell for sure.  It's very active and has the sprouting of a little rooster like tail , so looks like Booster Rooster and Big Chicky might have more competition.

Mom chicken stayed on the nest sitting on the remaining eggs. I let he stay for five more days, then took the eggs and broke them. There were no chicks in side, they were just rotten eggs. For whatever reason only one egg was fertile.  That's probably because Big Chicky, who is at least seven years old which is very old for a rooster, spends most his time knocking Booster off the hens. In the process I don't think many eggs get fertilized. 

Peas and Gardening Weather

I'm taking advantage of this great weather to get the last of my spring plants in the ground. Then I can take a break until early July when garden number two gets planted.  I planted out the seedlings I'd grown indoors - Siam basil, sweet red peppers, broccoli and tomatoes. The tomatoes are still pretty small but I put out small plants last summer and since they matured late I had tomatoes all through September when everyone else's August tomatoes were gone.

65 day peas just about on time.

The peas I planted in mid March are producing well. Unfortunately I planted only one packet. I love eating the new asparagus raw in the garden, but I love eating fresh peas even more! I like to pick the peas when the pods are plump but before the peas get too big.  Eaten fresh from the pod, raw, they are sweet as sugar.  With only about 10 row feet of plants however, I only get enough from each picking for one good serving.  Oh well, I'll try them again in the fall.

Asparagus gone to fern.

Speaking of asparagus, I've let mine go to fern. I started picking in April (which was about a month early) and picked on and off for two months, so its time to let it flower.  The ferns will get over six feet tall and form a dense barrier to all kinds of critters who might invade the garden.

Wild blackberries beginning to form.

Wild blackberries are one of my family's favorite things. Jam and jelly is good made from them but the best thing in the middle of winter is a blackberry pie made from frozen wild blackberries. Looks like a bumper crop is on the way this year.