Fight the Flu

Well, even here in the Ozarks the flu has come down hard. While we have avoided it our friends have gotten it. Old, young, middle age, they are recovering, have it or gonna get it. You know it is bad when the priest gets it and does not even crawl out of bed to call off mass. We avoid town and only go out once a week. We wash our hand, sanitize mail, sanitize anything that comes into our house. We avoided nursing home and hospital visits this month as these are breeding grounds for all kinds of bugs. Church has been hit or miss but the ranks have been thin. It is bad flu this year and so many have had it for over 2 weeks. Most end up going to the hospitals to wait for hours and be turned away. Most get Tamiflu and/or antibiotics and all are miserable. So much blame and finger pointing with the vaccinated and the un-vaccinated. I have to say is an even split on that one here. Everyone is getting exposed to it no matter what shots you got or did not get. I have had the flu understand the tole it takes on the body. I will say that drinking real ginger with real local honey has been my daily drink of choice. Taking vitamins and eating lots of vegetables to keep up immunity. Sanitize dishes and veggies with white vinegar in a spray bottle. It will not harm you like bleach can. Hand washing all the time after everything you do and not just after bathroom time. I have to use moisturizer after washing up so much but that is a small price to pay. I have to be healthy so I can run the farm. Lets all keep healthy out there.

Farm Scenes

Our farm has woods and pastures and we get deer. They are frequent visitors to our place even though we do not feed them. They have a pond for water and plenty of acorns and pastures for food.

My single male knot head drake. We sold off all nine of the drakes last fall saving this one.                         We had too much fighting and not enough egg laying. 

He was one I had hand raised out of three last summer. We kept him to keep the girls happy. I do not think he is fertile and that is fine. We have had our fill of ducklings for a while.

My super broody hen. She hatches but never leaves the nest. I end up bringing her brood inside to hand raise. She gave me 4 clutches last year. Most of the chicks ended up being roosters. Last year was the summer of roosters for my farm. At one point I had 11 young roosters around. I culled all but 3. I kept the largest, the prettiest and one of many colors. Changing roosters gives me a nice variety each year in chicks. Plus I add a few I pick up at auction or sales. Lots of eggs and good health are my goals.

Movie Time

One name Guillermo del Toro is all I need to hear. What is not to love? The Shape of Water has mad scientists, water monster, Russians and some great horror story writing. In English or Spanish his stories take you away into another world inside his brain. He has so many details most movie these days are missing. Worth the wait for this gem.

Mini Tart Me Blue

This is my first made from scratch hand picked blueberry pie filling. The blueberries grow at Eckards Farm,Dora, Missouri .You go and pick and get charged $10 per gallon. It is hot buggy work but you can get there in the early morning to pick. And they supply the buckets and bags. We bring coolers with ice and go with a church group. It is a lot of walking, standing and more walking. We pick, pack and go find a place to grab some lunch after. Sometimes a storm comes up and we have to pick faster to get out of the fields. The farm is only open for about 2 weeks for prime picking in the late spring.

After we get home I wash and de-stem the berries and pack them in vac-u-seal freezer bags and date stamp them. These berries were from 2015 and very fresh. We bought about 10 gallons of berries and filled our freezer door. I made some of them into pie filling from an old 1930's Fannie Farmer cookbook. It is simple and easy to make. 

I made 4 batches of pie crust with Irish butter and our own bacon lard from a locally butchered pig.

The mini pie crust recipe is the one from Alton Brown's recipe. I do add lemon powder and lemon peel and a spritz of bitters to give it a kick. The star tarts are filled with plain sour cherries from Aldi's that were in a jar. I cooked them down into filling. I find that mini tarts are the perfect size to pick up and eat. No plates needed. People can pick and eat and only use a napkin. The tarts are portable so they can walk around and chat and eat their snack. These are not too sweet and are good for portion control.

I learned that 4 batches of pie crust and you still might be short. I only had a palm of dough left and made strips to keep the blueberry filling in the tarts. They did not look as nice but they tasted great. I took them to our church coffee and not a single one was left. I am not a fan of cherry and blueberry pies. My husband thinks I should make what I love. I will have to try lemon custard and apple next. At least I have the pie crust down after years of practicing so many kinds. It is also nice to share these tarts with our church bunch. There is no waste and everyone is happy. Now if I only had a self cleaning kitchen I would be all set.