A Busy Week and A Tart of Not Haggis

Hello dear readers! Howdy to the new folks joining in. The sheep are finally dried out and ready for cuddles!

A very special thank you to Margene R and Marilyn G for your generous donation to the farm. I am blessed by you! Thank you.

Yup, we got rain! From Sunday afternoon to Monday evening, we got 2 ½” of the stuff. Had a few good thunder boomers along with it. I am grateful for the moisture. A lot of it soaked in instead of just running off into the road.

The silly sheepies decided on Sunday evening to ignore our calls to come in for the night. We had to slog around in the rain and mud to find them. Of course they were back in the deep trees hiding from us.

There is more rain predicted to start tonight. It’s a good thing! This area has been in drought conditions for a while. I know this won’t totally correct that, but hey, it’s a start! Fingers crossed it continues thru the summer

We took advantage of the better weather last Saturday to take down the dead tree right in front of the house. I was afraid that it was going to fall on the house. So down it came. Not quite where we were aiming for it to fall, however, it didn’t hit anything on the way down, so I call that a success. The trunk is in good enough shape for us to use as firewood next winter. Bonus!

Boy child is between jobs at the moment, and was home today, so I took advantage of his presence. We went out and laid in 200+ yards of woven wire to the existing fence line where the naughties have been escaping. This has been the problem area and now, hopefully, they won’t find another area to exploit any time soon.

It’s not the prettiest fence line, but the sheep won’t get thru it!

That fence line runs along our bentonite pit. After all the rain we have had, it was all swollen. Walking on that stuff is like being grabbed by a terminator, or sliding around on it like snail snot. It defiantly challenged my acrobatic balancing skills. At least I didn’t fall down this time.

I can almost hear the clods stuck to my boots squeaking out “I’ll be back!”

For those unfamiliar with bentonite here is the info from google

Bentonite is a clay consisting mainly of smectite minerals, commonly formed by decomposition of volcanic ash or tuff, or sometimes from other igneous or sedimentary rocks. Bentonite is a very plastic clay that shrinks (or swells) markedly in response to the removal (or addition) of water.

There are several bentonite mines in this area, and it has multiple uses from oil drilling, to sealing ditches and lagoons, to medical applications. They call it the “mineral of a thousand uses”

In-between all that, I’ve been attempting to fix the coats that the naughties are tearing up faster than I can fix them. I’ve had to toss a few of them out as there is not enough material left in them to attach the patch to. Those will need to be replaced. Sigh.

I also tried my hand at a tart this week. I kind of took a recipe in my British cookbook and changed it up somewhat.

The original recipe called for haggis. I just can’t make myself eat haggis. I am a bad Scot.

So the haggis, potato, and apple tart, became the potato, leek, apple and goat cheese tart instead.

¾ lb of potato’s, peeled and sliced thin

1 tart apple, cored, and sliced thin

2 leeks, sliced thin

4 oz goat cheese, I grated it for use

1T chopped garlic

Freshly grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

1 package of puff pastry dough

Thaw your dough and take one piece and cut it into a 10” circle. The second piece needs to be larger for the top.

Toss the potato slices with the garlic, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Make a layer of potato’s on the bottom crust, then layer of leeks, some of the goat cheese, then apple. Repeat with your remaining veg, cheese, and fruit. Leave ¾” on the edge for sealing your top

Brush egg wash around the edge and apply your top, seal it with a fork.

The recipe said to let it rest for 10 mins before baking, so I did. Preheat your oven to 425.

Brush the top of the crust with the remaining egg wash.

Bake for 10 mins then reduce your heat to 400 and bake for an additional 40 minutes.

It came out pretty tasty I thought. Boy child was not impressed, but ate some anyway. I think if I try this one again, I’ll add more of the spices and garlic, and more cheese. The leftovers went quickly since I took them to work for my lunch.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Blessed Be.

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