Wild goose fried rice

The other night we had wild goose fried rice. Sorry no picture. We gobbled it all up before I thought to take a photograph. Goose is an extremely low fat, low cholesterol meat to use in any dish. You can make this with one breast, feeds two plus leftovers, or two legs.

The key to fried rice is to cook the rice the night before and refrigerate it over-night. We made brown rice, but you can use white if you'd like.

1 cup (before cooking) long grain brown rice, cook according to instructions

2 eggs scrambled separately and set aside
1 goose breast chopped to 1/2 inch cubes and fried over high heat. A dash of Cayanne and 2 dashes of cumin. Set aside.

4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 small broccoli florets, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 Thai pepper, chopped (or other hot pepper)
2 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce-if you can't get it that's fine too.

Put 3 tablespoons of peanut oil and 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil in your wok. Heat to high and throw in your garlic, onions, Thai pepper, and carrots. Cook until garlic begins to turn golden. Add your broccoli and 2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce. When the broccoli softens to your liking add your frozen peas, pre-cooked goose, and scrambled eggs. When the wok is again hot, add the rice. You may need to add more oil. Add it and get it hot before you add the rice. You can add soy sauce too, but the fish sauce is salty already. Fry hot until the rice is hot through.

Have fun, add any veggies you like. Everything we used except the broccoli came from our garden. Either from the root cellar or the freezer. Enjoy.

Our new huntress, Luna

The geese are starting to fly over the Palouse and over our land again. The warming temperatures have brought them up from the Clearwater and Snake Rivers to feed on waste grain.



We went down to Boise to visit the newest hunter in our family. A three week old black lab who we have decided to name Luna. She will be trained as a hunting dog and cherished as a new family member. She is just about the most adorable little creature I have ever seen.

She squirmed around and cried for a few minutes then fell asleep in my arms.

Here is Luna with her mom and dad.

Here is Luna walking and crawling on the carpeting.

Colleen and Luna, two of the most beautiful girls in the world.

Lost chicken rescue operation!

We noticed a chicken missing from the coop the other night. That's not too unusual. Sometimes they wander off and spend the night in the garage or in the chick coop. After another day, we began to wonder about predators. I was looking for the bucket of oyster shell that we sometimes feed them to boost calcium for egg production. The bucket was upside down and when I turned it over there was a cold, wet chicken sitting on two eggs. She had been under there at least of couple of days. Cold and wet is a bad thing for a chicken to be, so we brought her in a warmed her by the fire for a couple of hours. The cats were mighty curious. I wish I had a picture of the cat peering over the rubbermade tote we had the chicken in. After a couple of hours, we re-introduced her outside and she seems fine. All's well as ends well.

Barn tour

Here are some pictures of the interior and exterior of our barn. We are going to be re-furbishing it as best we can to use it for goats and pigs. The first order of business will be closing the hay door. The cables and pulleys that used to pull it closed have broken leaving it open to the winter wind.
We also have a little foundation work to do. The foundation is made of field stone and has crumbled in a ten foot section. The rest of the foundation looks pretty secure though.
The barn siding needs some patching, and the glass is missing from every window there is. To start with we will be patching the worst holes and replacing windows with old mismatched windows from a construction junkyard in town.

And now for the good news! The area where will be keeping the goats is already snug and secure. All it needs is one window and two doors. The doors will be easy enough to make, even with our limited skills.
There are also three good solid cattle milking stalls that we can easily use for goat milking. All of the gates and boards are in usable condition.
It is a daunting task, but after long thought it seems much more reasonable to slowly invest in the barn. It is structurally sound, the roof has very few holes in it, the planks in the walls can be replaced, and the windows can be covered. We are pleased with our re-assessment with the barn. Originally we had almost written it off. It is one of the most beautiful assets on our property.

Clay Pot Cooking

Have you experienced clay pot cooking? It is a must. The food is cooked in a clay pot that is soaked in water and then baked in a fast oven. All manner of foods can be cooked in this way from breads and deserts to chicken and seafood. Follow the directions carefully for your clay pot and always start with a cold oven. Last night we made clay pot chicken. The recipe is adapted from the recipe "beggar's chicken" in the book "The Complete Guide to Claypot Cooking" by Bridget Jones.

Take 8 "bone-in" chicken thighs and score them across the top. Marinate in:
8 Tbs. soy sauce
1/4-1/2 cup red wine
2 Tbs. toasted sesame oil
heaping 1/2 tsp. five spice powder
1/2 tsp. white pepper
4 cloves finely chopped garlic
2 tsp. grated ginger root

cover chicken with marinade and let stand for at least 5 hours.
Soak clay pot for 15 minutes in cold water.
put the chicken and marinade in the clay pot and cover with lid.
Put the covered clay pot in a cold oven and set for 475 degrees
Cook 35 minutes, then remove lid and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

We serve with rice or pasta and a green salad. It is a heavenly use of inexpensive cuts of chicken. We buy the bulk "family-pack" of thighs for almost nothing.

We will be raising and butchering at least 25 "meat" birds next spring. We plan on getting the "freedom-ranger" variety available from J.M. Hatchery or a similar free range meat variety.

The commercial Cornish Cross meat birds don't appeal to us as a meat flock bird, as they gain weight so quickly that they are not able to wander around and act like chickens.

Knitting in the goose blind

Colleen and I went goose hunting this morning before sunrise. She took her knitting with her. This turned out to be a smart move, since the geese never showed up. It was a beautiful morning to be out in the field though.

Wandering Moose Farm

We finally decided on a name for our new farm. Wandering Moose Farm. Maybe it sounds like the name of a hunting lodge, but we do have moose who wander through the area. We saw the tracks of one in the orchard a couple of weeks ago.

We picked up 12 young Buff Orpington laying hens today. They will bring the number of our laying hens to 35. This should be perfect for the farmer's market this summer.



So far there has not been much pecking order action going on. The rooster has been doing a little dance around the new birds. He seems intrigued, but has not attempted to mate with them yet. He is usually pretty good at keeping the pecking order in line and peaceful. They are beautiful, beautiful birds. Very healthy looking. We'll see what happens with egg production in the next couple of weeks when things settle.