Farm Update and Peanut Sauce

Welcome back dear readers!

Thank you to all the new folks that have found their way to our pasture these past 2 weeks. The sheep are pretty wet at the moment and would like to cuddle in with you to dry off. Wouldn’t you like that? Yum! Wet sheep!!!

Special shout out to the newest paid subscriber

Wanda Patsche

I am grateful for your support. Folks, be sure to check out her stack!

Thank you also to Margene R for your donation towards the vet bills. You have blessed me.

I apologize for missing last week. My off farm work schedule got changed up a bit, and other things got in the way of writing.

Ok, naps. Naps got in the way. It seems that every time I sat down and got a few sentences down, I fell asleep. Evidently, I was more tired than usual.

The rains have arrived! This is a good thing for the pasture. Watching it start to green up more and more is wonderful. Monday brought 6/10ths of an inch, and we are getting more today. It’s just starting to sprinkle as I write this. I have a lovely fire going to ward off the chill that is in the air today.

The sheep are all looking like curly drowned critters at the moment too. Nobody is stressed, which I would not expect at this time. They are wandering all over the pasture and have even gotten into the neighbors again. My son has been out working on the fence line diligently in an effort to keep these buggers on our place.

Leo got in the way of my pitching hay and is now packing his breakfast around.

Fencing is a never ending battle around here. The fences were pretty sketchy when we bought this place and the plan had been to replace all of it as we were financially able to do so. Sadly, that has not been able to happen except in very small areas where it is at its worst.

Removing the trees closest to the fence line is a problem. We have work from an open area back towards the tree line to clean enough space to get in there. Some spots are really overgrown. One of the ideas for this place is to have it logged, and hopefully that can be done during the winter so I don’t have trucks in and out running over and destroying what graze I do have.

Michael and I are cutting trees ourselves also. Both to open more graze space and to rebuild our winter wood pile for the stove. Better weather will make that easier to accomplish now.

It’s almost warm enough to get the garden going. Our temps are staying mainly in the 50’s during the day, but the nights are still hitting down into the 30’s. It will be good to get my hands in the dirt again. Peas, potato’s, green beans, watermelon, pumpkin, cukes, tomato’s and peppers are on this years agenda for planting.

The corral scrapings we piled onto the raised beds look like they have broken down more over winter. They will go a long way towards boosting the existing soil in the beds. Plus I have lots of scrap wool to top dress the plants with. No matter how many times I have tried to create a good compost, somehow I just end up killing it. I am compost deficient!

I put up a picture of my peanut sauce and had a request for the recipe. So here ya go!

I have used this recipe for several years now, and I don’t remember where I got it from. I have it committed to memory now.

Thai Style Peanut Sauce

I can coconut milk

4T brown sugar

4t soy sauce (I use the low sodium kind)

4T water

3T red chili sauce

4 cloves garlic minced

¾ C of peanut butter (I use the real kind, not the jiff stuff)

Add everything into a sauce pot on medium heat.

As it warms up, keep whisking it to incorporate everything into a smooth sauce.

I bring it up to just a simmer and that seems to be enough to get it to that stage.

You can put it thru a blender if you want it very smooth.

I freeze them in these silicone molds. Each square holds 3 tablespoons.

Thaw them out to toss with warm or cold noodles, or it makes a great dipping sauce for chicken strips.

Tell me how you use your peanut sauce!

I wish you all a wonderful week. Blessed Be!

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If you are inclined to leave me a tip, I would be most grateful. Your generosity helps me to keep the farm going. Thank you to all my supporters. I am so very blessed by you.