from the {Little Barn Kitchen}

a peek at what I've been cooking and we've been eating/drinking...

 {Drinks}

I made my first hot toddy when I had an incredibly sore throat one day. 

This wasn't pleasant to drink, but it did help with the sore throat.

bourbon, lemon, our own honey, and water

   

{Main Meals}

I harvested a lot of garlic scapes recently. 

Most of these scapes were cut up and added to the freezer.

 

But, I also made garlic scape pesto.

The turnips have also been plentiful.

 

So I combined the pesto with the turnip greens on a pizza.

gluten free garlic scape pesto pizza with (local) sausage,
grass-fed mozzarella, and (homegrown) turnip greens

 

bratwursts with honey mustard, mashed (homegrown) turnips, and organic corn on the cob

   

mixed veggie hashbrown

(can't remember specific veggies but I just threw in what I had 

and then added the shredded potatoes until crisp)

 

{Snacks}

 Quick pickled radishes

{Gratitude} Lately

 Lately I've been grateful for...

the joy a library card can bring

 a generous gift of juice and friends that stop what they are doing to pray

 

first bites of a gluten free ice cream cone

 Christmas presents (a zoo visit) in June

 a visit from a turtle, even if it was only for a day

 and summer evenings spent coloring and chatting 

with friends at the Boyce General Store

{Ducklings}

Last September, we welcomed three ducklings to our homestead. Once they reached maturity and we could distinguish their gender, we actually had two drakes (boys) and one hen (girl). So we sold one of the drakes on Craigslist. We were left with a pair (Goliath and Charlotte) and Charlotte started laying eggs. The eggs are oh so tasty! But, we decided to let our hen give mothering a try and so we started leaving the eggs when she laid them. We were hoping maternity would suit her and she might raise a little family. After she laid 16! eggs she finally started sitting on them. Then we waited. And waited.
Then Thursday morning I saw our little mama shuffling around in her nest. I ran out to see what was going on and saw the first two little ducklings peek out at me. For three whole hours I sat and watched the rest of the flock hatch from the eggs. The mama would help them out of the shell and she and the drake would eat the shells.

The next day they went out for their first stroll together as a family and there were 15 ducklings!

 

 Over the course of the weekend we found four of the ducklings dead, 

but there are still 11 happy and healthy ducklings 

 that follow their mama all around the homestead.