Unexpected Company

The rain today had just let up, and I happened to walk by the back doors, which are windowed. I'm so glad I looked outside just then.

At first glance, at first I registered "hawk!"...but when I did a doubletake, for a second I thought it was wild turkeys. After all, you expect them...or hawks..now and then.

Then I noticed that stunning blue!


And as I observed them out my back french door, they were obviously checking our place out! Peacocks! There were five males, with no females in sight. They spent the first five minutes with their tail feathers upright, facing toward the back ditch. This is why I initially thought they were turkeys...until they turned around. Hellooooo!


The parade was beautiful. The visitors toured Bucketville, and nibbled a couple of things here and there...


They were checking out the various contents of the planted buckets...


Here's a closeup of one...look at that crown! (is that what it's called?)


This fellow was really enjoying himself. It's one of my favorite pictures...


Magnificent!!! Mr. Peacock, you take my breath away.

More parade...


Do they not personify gracefulness, with those lovely curvaceous necks?


Irridescence...


I'm not sure who he's wooing here...no hens around. But it was a really great show!

The rain began again, and they wandered off via the vacant lot next door...

Trying Moroccan: Peach Honey-Roasted Chicken

This is my third recipe to try, after having done a search on the internet under the term "Moroccan." It was delicious, and was by far the easiest to assemble and cook...not that any one of the recipes so far has been complex.

The sauce was so good I wanted to have something to absorb all of it! SO soooooo good!

There were a couple of things I adapted from this recipe; I did not have rose water as an ingredient, so I substituted the only thing I had on hand that had a subtle flavor/fragrance...a teaspoon of orange marmalade. Later I remembered I have some Guava Jelly somewhere in the back of the pantry...that might have approximated rose water a bit more closely. Ah well, next time.

The other adaptation was the cooking time. I did not use frozen chicken pieces, nor were the chicken legs very thick, but I had to cook them longer than the recipe calls for in order for them to be nearly falling off the bone. I don't like chicken that's difficult to release from the bone; cooking it longer did the trick for me with this.

When I cooked it, I was in a hurry to pack some of the legs for Jack's dinner overnight at work. The nice thing was that even after the three of us had eaten this meal, there was still a lot left over. So I took the leftover legs, put them into a Corningware dish, poured the liquid and peaches over, and left them in a very low oven overnight. Today, I will shred the meat, add it to the liquid, and serve it over cous cous with a green side salad.

And I'll garnish with the sliced almonds -- something I forgot to do last night when I served this, even though I had some on hand...oops! I might even throw some cilantro over all for some extra taste...for some reason, two of us have been craving cilantro lately, and haven't gotten it out of our systems yet!

The recipe I used was already adapted from another recipe, and it stated the original incorporated apricots rather than peaches. The amended recipe called for fresh peaches, but since I had canned, I used them, drained. They were already in syrup, so I omitted the sugar in the recipe.

I am not a sweet-tasting meat lover, per se. But I appreciate subtlety. And flavor! The sweet and salty liquid was only made better with the addition of the peaches, and I can see how this recipe would be delicious cooked in clay...something I don't have yet...which would enrich the flavor even more. I imagine the original recipe came from such, most likely cooked in a tagine.

Well, without further ado, here's the recipe and link!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moroccan-Peach-Roasted-Chicken/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon rose water
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste (I used a generous amount)
4 pounds bone-in chicken pieces, with skin
1 pound fresh peaches, pitted and sliced
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

In a glass measuring cup small saucepan, combine the margarine, honey, rose water, salt and pepper.
Heat in the microwave on medium heat until margarine has melted, about 30 seconds.
Place chicken in a baking dish and pour the margarine mixture over it.
Stir to coat the chicken completely. Place the dish of chicken into the oven.
Cook uncovered in the preheated oven until chicken pieces have browned, about 15 minutes (mine took longer).
Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Add the peaches to the dish and sprinkle with sugar (if using drained canned peaches, omit sugar).
Continue to roast until chicken is cooked through, about 20 more minutes (it took mine 35-40).
Remove chicken pieces to a serving dish and pour the juices from the pan over them.
Garnish with slivered almonds.


Here's the first step: browning the chicken in the liquid at a higher temperature. You don't want pale chicken...

Here's the other step: adding the fruit, lowering the temp to 350 and putting it back into the oven for the remaining cooking time...

Here's the finished product...oops! I forgot to sprinkle on the toasted almond slivers! Notice there is nothing served with these. They smelled and looked so wonderful, it's all I wanted! But it would be great with a cous cous or rice prepared with chicken broth...mmmm...and of course a deep, green garden salad! The addition of hot toasted pita bread brushed with butter and honey would be awesome, too...

Tucked back into a ceramic casserole, the remains of the day will go into a very very low temp oven, later to be deboned and put back into the liquid to serve over whatever starch vehicle (rice, cous cous, mashed or roasted potatoes, etc) strikes the fancy! Yum!

Will I try this again. Oh yes! The flavor is not as unusual as the other recipes I've tried so far, and not spicy at all, but the blend of chicken juices, honey, and fruit was a perfect combination. This recipe is so easy, even a (supervised) child can make it.

Which is why I forgot the final ingredient?? haha!!

Rolling Out a Side Blog

I just put up a sister blog in a parallel universe to help me with accountability to myself in the area of health...something related to all things Homestead. Instead of daily check-ins here at the Back Forty blog (which I'll still have as my main site), I'll keep some regular blather there to chart my progress and to get the revitalization of my health chugging more heartily along.

Anyone who'd like to join in with any two cents is welcome! There's no other purpose to it than to keep track of things that are important for me to change and improve in that area. My weight is the highest it's ever been and I don't want my health to deteriorate. And so...I began walking yesterday...a little at a time. Been there, done it plenty of times before...but I have trouble with consistency.

I've been thin and fat and less fat and everything in between. I'm now huge, fatly fat, the woman you dread seeing eyeing the seat next to you in the airplane. I'm not running myself down at all...in fact, I admire the resiliency of my body and our history together, and want to treat it with respect. I don't have a low self-esteem, either...I have a sense of humor and a stubborness I hope will equate to some creative problem-solving to get healthier. If I do the right things long enough, as a lifestyle, I will regain ground in many areas of my health, not just with my weight. I really don't care at this point that much about pant size or the scale...I care about having the best life possible and a long life with my family, especially my husband.

It's time to stop procrastinating the small steps that lead to the big steps in this area. This slow-moving gal will be Waggin' the Fat (er, walking) on a regular basis. Therein lies the raison d'etre for the side blog, which I now dub Talkin' the Walk...(a little twist on an old phrase and a place to "weigh in" on getting healthier -- which will include regular walking -- and talking about it)

I'm still continuing the Back Forty! And I thank my wonderful friends here for your AWESOME and encouraging comments on the last few posts...what a delight to have such a great community out here! I read every comment and will respond as soon as I have time to do them justice :) Thank you!

More later...

:)

On Bounty and Tightening our Belts

This poorly-focused photo is of our first raspberries...the ONLY raspberries, since the canes aren't really liking the buckets as well as some of the other plants. But they are hanging in there!

"Bucketville" continues to grow and produce. Since we did not plant any plants for harvesting this summer (refer to past post for all that reasoning process), we have a lot of healthy and bountiful green things that will be edible... later. This has really encouraged both of us that we can grow things. We already are beginning to understand that some plants will do naturally well in this climate right from the very start, while others will need a bit of care (and more shade) until they're big enough to fend for themselves. Jack seems to have a way with germinating seeds we'd never have known for sure we could grow, and many we'd never thought of trying to grow...until we ate them or discovered the potential for an unusual fruit or use such as forage/fodder, or medicinal.

On this grateful Friday before shabbat sundown, I'm so thankful some of our "green babies" are really doing well. It's an encouragement that we can have a successful garden of our own on a larger scale the next time around.

Another thing to report is that the price of gasoline has taken a hard toll on our household. I am now between job assignments, so that's a budgetary hit. It now takes $50 for me to fill my car tank, and $60 for Jack's truck. That means I don't drive anywhere unnecessary, and his of course is for his commute. Today we had to make the decision to forgo purchasing any more local real milk...the grocery budget has shrunk and the commute for the milk, though local, is still an hour each direction. That's as local as we have around here. It's just not wise for us to continue that, and as we don't have a cow nearby, we'll be cutting back dramatically on the dairy now.

We're in the growing pain stage, but it's all good; we consider this time a valuable schoolmaster. We are experimenting and having some successes, and one thing I appreciate is finding some baseline for deciding what we will and won't be incorporating into the larger homestead plan for the longterm...we're finding out some of our preferences and getting familiar with other things we haven't started yet. We feel this is a huge benefit that might save us from making the mistake of investing precious resources in things we initially found appealing (tools, types of plants and trees, skills we want to undertake, animals we want to care for, types of house plans, what sort of gardens to put in and how they'll be cultivated and maintained, types of energy and sustainability aids, etc).

Last year, we were far enough away from our ultimate goal of acquiring land that we couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel being anything but a pinprick. Though I've not reported on it in a long time...of neccessity because of many pending negotiations that are premature, and many that have fallen through...we are now positioned much farther in that process than we expected to be at this stage. That is both a catalyst and a torture at time...ha!...like dangling a carrot in front of the donkey, closer and closer but not quite there yet.

But we can see the carrot! As we tighten our belts a notch, this is good practice in just another area we'll need ingenuity not as the exception, but as the norm. That's good practice for frugality overall, and even moreso on our homestead beyond the 'burbs (the one we hope to have in time) since at that point the plan will morph into phasing out our "outside jobs" and focus more on raising what we need right at home. Let's see what comes...the journey is incredible!

I'm very grateful for my husband, without whom I'd not be on this journey. He is all of my happiest moments...he is my most cherished friend and love. And I'm grateful, every day, to God...who made this world of beauty and possibility and has guided us and sustained us through some rough times and good. Without Him, I'd not have a truly unusual and original life...and it's the best sort to have :)

I'm also grateful for the bloggers who open parts of their lives online so that we can share and learn from them. I love you guys more than you know, and appreciate you so much!

Tonight, we share in the happiness of Kathie and her sweetheart at Two Frog Home as they have the joy of owning their first home!!! What a dream earned...and now realized! It was an especially great conclusion to a real nail-biting drama of ups and downs as the closing date grew near and there was so much back-and-forth...and a beginning of more beginnings. We're SO happy for you two, Kathie!!!

To all my fellow-bloggers and readers, may your dreams continue to be sustained with hope, prayers, and wonderful friends in this incredible online community...and may your night tonight and day tomorrow be restful and restoring.

The blog's now closed till sundown tomorrow. Shabbat Shalom!

We Have Gynura Procumbens!

(No, we're not contagious...ha!)

We received the Gynura plants we ordered a while back. When researching herbal alternatives and supplements in conjunction with diabetes and high blood pressure, we found this is a plant used as a traditional medicine in different parts of the world.


We are unsure how to use it, though we have read the leaves are used to make a tea. They are also used to make extracts.


In the literature we've managed to find, some studies have been done comparing Gynura Procumben extract's efficacy in comparison with Glibenclamide (brand name Glyburide) in rats with Type 2 diabetes. It would seem from the results of these initial studies that Gynura Procumbens extract demonstrated a similar action to that of Glyburide in helping to lower the blood sugar for rats who had Type 2 Diabetes. In healthy animals it did not lower it and no adverse symptoms were noted in the report.


I don't put this here to suggest to anyone else to seek treatment this way, or by experimentation...in fact I am not sure yet how we will utilize these plants. But I do know we have reached a critical point in our lives where what our bodies need to help correct or even heal some of our physical conditions is something we're having to consider growing ourselves. We can not afford expensive prescriptions for years to come, and don't want to grow reliant on them. We also want to reverse these conditions, and our personal hope is that with the right combination of care, we can see them disappear altogether.


You can't go around randomly nibbling this and making tea out of that, if you have no idea what effects different plant parts will have medicinally on your body. There are such things as sensitivities, allergies, and toxic plants. Natural medicines are often in the form of teas and often require a gentle and steady consumption, without the "instant fix" of pharmaceuticals. Many of these herbals are naturally much easier on the body, too.


A note of caution is to please not try something simply because we are. There, I said it :)


That said, we are excited to find this plant. We had to look very hard to find a grower who could ship us a live plant. Now we have 4!


I am SO happy that we have the basis for some future remedy to support controlling or even remedying adult Type 2 diabetes. If we ultimately find a way we consider safe and effective to utilize the Gynura Procumbens, we'll be delighted! The 4 Gynura are the plants shown in the middle of the photo.



As you can see, the Gynura plants came with two little friends...one's a Russian comfrey, and the other is the spicy and fragrant middle-eastern herb Zaatar (not to be confused with the spice mix also called Za'atar).

Looks like Bucketville is growing...

I'll post more about what we're hoping to accomplish with some of the things we're growing for medicinal purposes. As with the many other areas of our experimentation, some of this is new territory for us, and a bit of it is familiar. I never cease to be amazed at what's before our very eyes along the roadsides, in the backyard, in the woods...the growing things we overlook and have lost our memory of in relation to their benefits to our health and our gardens. SO much traditional wisdom has been discarded in the past few generations! It is such a rewarding search to find places in which their memory has not grown dim, and to embrace their "re-discovery."

Cell Phone Solution

Over a month ago, my then-new cell phone was stolen. I posted about whether or not I truly needed a cell phone, and received a lot of very welcome comments. Jack and I read them over and had some discussions back and forth about this matter, as well as our phone service in general.

We discussed the matter of safety, the issue of what is or is not a necessity (is it a perceived necessity but just really a convenience, or not?), and played around with different scenarios as to how we might re-adjust our budget for the most affordable option to satisfy our present needs.

It's taken a while to figure out, but here's what we determined works best for now:

1. Much of our communication and business dealings are by phone. We're not comfortable in removing this entirely, as it's our substitute for actual in-person visits with family and friends we'd otherwise never be able to afford to visit regularly. Yes, letter-writing and email play a part in staying in contact, but we still are not ready to give up on a phone altogether. That may change someday.

2. My former job assignment ended, and I'm not now on the road 8 hours daily. That'll likely change soon. We decided that if there's an inexpensive option, it would be prudent to have an emergency cell phone, since the commute is an hour each direction and my car is an older used vehicle...and much of the driving area is long stretches of interstate with many miles between exits.

3. I did not want to sign up for a plan, or buy another cell phone through a major provider.

In investigating this, Jack went in person to the office that had sold me my phone. His intention was to pay off any remaining bill, to make sure the number had been disconnected so the person who stole the phone couldn't run up charges under my name, etc. What he found out was very disconcerting...after having stated to the salesperson when I originally bought the phone that what I wanted was the least expensive, no frills one they had, I had been sold a much more expensive one. After having told her up front that I wanted a pay-as-you-go arrangement (which we already had, I was just re-affirming), she had signed me up with a long term plan WITHOUT MY SIGNATURE or KNOWLEDGE. And we owed $200, after having paid some on it already...very upsetting since I had been told the initial cost all told was $99.

I was NOT a happy camper. Despite a call to the higher powers, it was her word against mine. That is the last time I will use that company, and it's one of the best known nationwide ones. Stinky stinky stinky...

Well, anyway, here's what I did, at my husband's urging to do something...

I went to Walgreen's and bought the cheapest phone they had...$15...which was a Motorola and looks like any other basic phone out there, minus all the fancy stuff. It came with minutes already on it, and I bought $20 worth of additional minutes on one of those phone card minutes cards. The deadline date for buying more minutes to keep the phone operational is in December of this year. I'll only use the phone for emergencies...not for calling Jack and finding out what I need to get at the store, etc., but it solves that dilemma for us.

So I've paid $35.00 USD for over 70 minutes of stored call time, and I don't have to fiddle with it at all till December unless I use up the minutes by then...if I do, it's as easy as buying a $10 phone card to put more minutes on it. All told, with no additional minutes, that comes to a grand total of $5.00 a month for my phone. I can live with that!

We still have to figure out Jack's phone. Now that he's seen how affordable my phone is, he's thinking of changing from his cell phone's Big Company, to the cheapy Walgreens phone soon. That is, after paying off the (blippingbeepingfricketyfrackety) remaining $200 from my stolen phone.

We still have the home phone, and we love our home phone service because long distance anywhere nationwide is included in the one monthly charge, any time of day or night, any day of the week.

Whenever we move to our homestead (maythatdaycomequickly) someday, we'll choose the least expensive option and see how we can work that with an internet connection. That's all above my understanding, but by then we'll likely have figured it out.

There's the update...I feel much better having a phone that averages $5.00 a month for security reasons. For chatting, I'll have to stick to the home phone :)

Little Conversations on the Prairie