Yep, those aren’t chickens…they’re ducks! The Coats’ had more than they could handle, so we’ve acquired 11 ducklings to add to our current flock of nine. We’ve doubled our duck population overnight (well, over an afternoon). And, while our current flock is all Muscovy’s, this batch may have some other breeds or crosses – we’ll have to wait and see.
Every now and then it’s good to relax and ponder a bit. Out here at Livin’ The 10, we have lots of opportunity to enjoy masterful works of art, crafted by God Himself. Below, another beautiful sunrise.
Don’t know what these flowers out by the road are. Their green pointy leaves remind me of holly, but the flowers are a gorgeous, bright, tangy yellow.
As Melissa and I were out walking in the back pasture the other day, we came across this little guy, right there on the “interactive edge” between the pasture and the woods. Looks like he’s a variety of pencil cactus.
And to close out our brief day of pictures, the view of the sunset from where we’re starting the pond.
View the recipe on PepperPlate.com
It’s soup weather in South Texas, and what better soup to have in South Texas than Caldo de Pollo. Every Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant worth their salt has Caldo de “Something” on the menu, and this is my take on how to make it without having to stand over a pot for several hours. Enter the Instant Pot, or, in a nod to George Sr. on Arrested Development, the “Pot-o Instant-o.” So here’s my recipe for Instant Pot Caldo de Pollo, also known as Caldo de Pollo de Pot-o de Instant-o, but probably more correctly known as Caldo De Pollo De Pote Instantáneo.
ACTIVE TIME 15 minutes
TOTAL TIME 1 hour
CATEGORIES soup
Broth
4 chicken leg quarters, skin on
water to cover
1 T salt
1 t pepper
1 t oregano
1/2 T garlic powder
1/2 T onion powder
1/2 T paprika
Vegetables
2 carrots, sliced
2 potatoes, quartered
2 onions, quartered
2 ears corn, cut into 1/2 inch sections (or 1 c frozen corn)
2 c cut fresh green beans
4 cloves garlic
Garnish – All are optional
avocado
sour cream or Greek yogurt
Oaxaca cheese, grated or crumbled
corn tortilla chips
fresh cilantro leaves
fresh diced white onion
lime or lemon wedges
Broth
Vegetables
Traditionally, caldo is served bones and all. However, if you prefer, you can de-bone (and/or de-skin) the chicken while the vegetables are cooking.
This is Mercy. She is a Mountain Sheep (also known as Bighorn Sheep), although her horns are just buds at this point. Mercy came from the same folks that sold us Mocha, Chip and Beau. They rescued her after her mother rejected her, bottle feeding her until she weened. Mercy is so docile that she followed her “mama” around the property like a little puppy.
She’s still a little skittish around us. You’ll probably notice that the picture is a bit grainy. I couldn’t get up close to her to get a really good shot. But that’s OK – she’s enjoying herself and her new home here at Livin’ The 10. Lots of grass and hay to eat…and lots of rocks to climb and play on.
As I’m writing this, she’s “baa-ing” outside. Think I’ll go check on her and see what she’s gotten herself info….
My dad (Pop Pop to the kids) used to ride horses in college. So when he were looking into getting a horse, the kids were excited to get some riding lessons from Pop Pop. Today, dad brought a bunch of carrots for Beau and the donkeys, to keep their attention (or perhaps distract them) while we were saddling Beau.
Here’s Iain getting his first riding lesson.
After Iain’s lesson, Macy got her first lesson. It was both exciting…and a bit scary.
Eryk hopped on next. He reminds me of me at his age. I remember my first riding experience – probably at about his age. The horse went trotting along…and I went bouncing along, and couldn’t help but giggle the whole time.
Melissa and the kids finished up the tiles on the first of three mosaics adorning the outside of the cabinets on our outdoor kitchen. Still needs grout and sealer, but the puzzle work on the roughly 3′ high by 5′ wide mosaic is done!
This one is “Sunrise,” and it’s taken from an amalgamation of several of the beautiful sunrises we’ve experienced here on the property. “Sunrise” features the sun creeping over the misty, dew-covered ground, casting deep and light tones across the sky as the crescent moon is setting. Look closely, and you’ll see some stars in the sky…and Chocolate the donkey taking a stroll in the morning dew.
Last week I showed you Static Addition and Subtraction using the bead frames. This week, the kids are demonstrating using exchanges for Dynamic addition and subtraction. Dynamic addition involves carrying, and dynamic subtraction uses the borrowing method. What you’ll see the boys doing is using the exchange method, since one bead on the 10 bar equals 10 beads on the units bar, for example, they can be exchanged for each other, like 10 one dollar bills for one 10 dollar bill. Here is Iain showing his dynamic addition problem that he’s working on:
Pretty straightforward. But Eryk had a slightly trickier subtraction problem, where he had to make an exchange with tens and hundreds, but didn’t have any hundreds to make the exchange with. That forced him to make two exchanges before he could proceed. Check it out:
And he got it! I let my kids check their answers with a calculator when I don’t have time to sit with them and check their work. I figure that they will be using the calculators for quick math sooner rather than later,
Two Math weeks in a row! I promise something different next week.
Eryk has enjoyed cooking ever since he was two or three years old. One morning, Melissa heard the microwave (which at the time was an over-the-range microwave) “ding,” and little Eryk’s voice saying, “Sready,” a two-year-old conjunction of “it’s ready.” As she rushed to see what was going on, Melissa saw Iain clinging to a bar-stool-height chair that Eryk had pushed over to the range. Eryk was atop the chair, opening the microwave. Turns out they were hungry, and rather than bother mom, who was busy with a flooring project, they found leftovers and decided to heat them up themselves.
Here we are, about seven years later, and Eryk has progressed from heating things up in the microwave to experimenting with his own recipes. Below is his latest recipe for fried chicken sandwiches…and I’ve got to tell you…toss them on a buttered and toasted bun with a little mayo and pickle, and these things rival Chick-Fil-A.
This is Eryk’s recipe, in (mostly) his own words.
chicken breasts
hamburger buns
butter for toasting buns
pickles and mayo
for fry
1 c flour or flour substitute
3 eggs
1 t paprika
1 t salt
When is the best time to plant a tree? 10 years ago. When is the second best time to plant a tree? Right now.
We consume a lot of lemons – at least 2 a day! So naturally, one of the first plantings we had was a Lemon Frost lemon tree. It was a beautiful fruiting tree, we were able to harvest a couple of delicious lemons off it before it snapped off about 6 inches above the ground. It was a sad day, but I learned that the Frost citrus family of trees is sprouted from seed, not grafted, so provided the tree heals and regrows, we should have some more fruit from it in a couple of years. I also saved the seeds from the lemons that we used, and will be attempting to sprout them, too. In 10 years, I’m sure I’ll be glad I did it.
But in the mean time, in order to help defray the cost of our lemon consumption, I got another tree in the ground this Spring. I looked for another Frost, but they are hard to come by (thank God I saved my seeds!). The Meyer Lemon, however, is gaining popularity, and is sold in abundance. I like these sweeter lemons, but I was unfamiliar with the beauty of the tree. The tiny purple clusters remind me of the flowering Mountain Laurel, but slowly, each tiny purple bulb is blooming, and the flowers are intoxicatingly fragrant. The tree is attracting butterflies and bees, and all other manner of pollinators. Yay! I may have to pick up another 2 or 3 and get a grove going.
The old saying goes something like this: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Every now and then, you find a like-minded, generous soul on Craigslist, and you feel like you’ve stumbled into a treasure trove…at rock bottom prices.
This week was such a week for us. First, we found a very-well used, but very well mechanically maintained, early 1990’s model 8-hp Echo Chipper Shredder SH-8000…for $250. I don’t know much about chipper shredders, but I do know that’s a fantastic deal.
Later that day, we came across a guy who was selling some used T-posts. When we arrived to pick them up, he was impressed with Eryk, Iain, and Macy’s work ethic, helping us load the T-posts. He asked where we lived, and we told him our story. When he heard what we were doing, he offered several other useful items at a very good price.
As we were leaving, he showed us a bunch of used 3/4″ Schedule 40 PVC that he used for sprinkler systems around his garden. We hadn’t thought about all the possible uses for it, so we passed on it. Then, on the way home, we called back and said we’d take it. When Melissa and the kids went back a couple of days later, they once again loaded us up with sawhorses, planter boxes, fencing, hardware cloth, and several odds-and-ends.
Well used, but still very useful!
These pots and makeshift stakes will come in handy for starting the spring garden.
