Cabezas de Ajo

While the girls and I were enjoying the fair and the heat of the Yakima Valley, Andy was having fun harvesting our garlic and braiding them together. Andy loves braided garlic. He's funny like that. ;) 

TRY IT! 

To peel garlic, either cloves or heads, put them in a jar, replace the lid, and shake it! It takes a minute or two, but it works! 

Crockett's Kraut

We harvested two VERY large heads of cabbage this week and Andy (Andy Crockett King of the Urban Frontier) requested it be made into sauerkraut.  He also insisted HE make it!  I made sure to have the ingredients at home ready to go including: easy to find juniper berries, hard to find pickling salt, and five pounds of homegrown cabbage. The pickling has begun! This recipe should yield about seven pints. Did I hear you say something about a Reuben sandwich?!! 

Only bet on a sure thing.

Since we've split up on Saturday mornings, Andy with Evan to bowling and me with Matilde to tap, I have noticed that Andy has lost a few bets he's placed. Mostly things like "pick up this spare and I'll give you a dollar" or "pick up this split and I'll give you all of the money in my wallet" or "get a turkey (3 strikes in a row) and I'll get you an actual turkey"! He had made the last bet one too many times because after Evan's third or fourth turkey she demanded he pay up.  Which brings us to today. 

Meet Evan's turkey, Mr. Bowling (the third strike).  

TIMBER!

There goes the rhodie! We needed to remove it in order to make room for the pea & bean trellis. I'm so glad it's gone. Those bushes are gigantic and they make me sneeze! 

Today and other days

Here are the finished geese decoys. I think they look GREAT! All were hand drawn, hand cut, and painted by Andy. I hope they work!

Andy's first pheasant. I'll pass along the photo of the meat when I get it. I could not believe how large and beautiful this bird was! 

This is a heron decoy Andy made to go along with the geese. Apparently, geese look for herons as a safety precaution since herons are easily frightened. The herons are sort of like a "comfort bird." He'll set this guy up and the geese in hopes of others seeking refuge nearby. 

This weekend.

I've been under the weather this weekend, so I've been a bit behind on the photos. 

We have decided to repurpose the wood from the chicken tractor. We'll find a good use for it I'm sure. 

Here's Matilde helping to cleanup the neighborhood with Papa and Chacha. She suggested we find one of these things in her size! 

Here's Evan having WAY too much fun with her Papa's leaf blower! 

(Yesterday) Standing tall

Our corn is really growing. It towers over that buff guy that lives in our house! 

Our doorbell.

This is our new doorbell. Andy promised a quaint shopkeeper's bell. It has a sweet and soft ding, but the contraption he thought up to mount it looks very space age to me. He has promised to paint it and swears I will not notice all that it took to make it work. On the outside is a cord to pull. Now if we could only get others to use it! The neighbor said he knocked because he felt like a bucket of water was going to cascade on his head if he yanked!
We're crafty, but we're not mean!