Welcoming two little Piglets to the farm

Our farm is growing, one new adventure at a time! We started with chickens, and last Christmas we added a Redbone Coonhound to the mix.  He has definitely kept us on our toes, that's for sure!  All winter long I kept dreaming of adding pigs to our farm.  Pigs with a purpose - not as pets.  So, about a week ago, the snow finally started to melt and we got started on "Hog Haven".  

I dug a hole, just to prove it to my husband that I could.  He severely underestimated me.  And I severely underestimated how much pain my neck would be in the next day.  I'll leave that to him next time, but this time I get to say "yeah, I did that". 

It took us about two days to get it all put up.  It's a great size area for the new piglets, but this is their pen to stay in at night and when we're not home to keep an eye on them.  We will soon be adding electric fencing around the wooded area so they can be more pasture raised. 

The final touches - Straw for bedding.  Yes, that's a chicken coop.  We're going to tweak it and remove the front so it's a more suitable shelter for the pigs.  And the size they will get, should be perfect as far as height.  This little cutie loved helping to get Piglet ready! 

Now, time to get the new babies!  I used the puppies crate to pick them up, which left me having to take the puppy with me.  And then, I thought the girls still had school today, however, spring break started, so I also took two children to go to a pig farm to pick up these two piglets.  I was a little nervous of how this would go - but, it turned out great!  

We picked out a Black one and a Spotted one.  Why I decided on the spotted one based on "cuteness" is beyond me.  Next time, I'm going with the ugly one.  There were many of those to choose from! 

 All loaded up, quick picture, and we're headed home to Rockfish Farm!

I must say, they're really stinkin' cute as babies.  But, thankfully, I saw what they were like when they got older - not so cute.  They're huge, and I'm pretty sure they eat everything in sight, and if you stood there long enough, they may just eat you too.  

We're excited about our new adventure with pigs and we're excited to welcome "home" Hammy (spotted) and Whisk (black).  Both named by the girls, with "kitchen names".  If you've been following me you know that I only allow names if they remind us of their future.  

Their time here on the farm is limited, but we promise to give them a good life, the best we can.  With lots of piglet snuggles, fresh straw to sleep in, a pasture to run around in, and of course lots of yummy treats.......

......and only one bad day.  

I think Hammy is smiling to let us know she likes her new home here at the farm - and also to say "catch me if you can, because I'm about to run.....again".

Check out the Rockfish Farm Youtube Page to check out our first day with piglets and to follow more adventures that we get into!  Little Hammy got out 4 times today, jumping straight through the Hog panels.  Luckily she doesn't go far and hops back in on her own.  Rest up little ones - more adventures await this weekend with family coming in for Easter.  I hope each of you have a wonderful Easter weekend! 


The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” Matthew 28:5-7

xoxo,

Jennifer

Sweet Southwest Chicken & Gouda Sandwich

One of my favorite things to do is make up different sandwiches. Today, as my husband was cooking up a bunch of chicken on the grill to chop up for the freezer for meal preps, I was searching through what I had to come up with lunch - and here’s what I came up with today! 

A Chicken, Bacon & Gouda Sandwich with a sweet Southwest dressing with spring onions served on a crusty French roll. 

Here is the recipe for the dressing - which I quickly whipped up- but would be even better made a few hours ahead of time and refrigerated! 

3TBSP Southwest Spicy Mustard 

1 TSP Worcestershire Sauce 

1TBSP Honey 

1 TSP Cider Vinegar 

2 finely chopped Green onions. 

Combine - and refrigerate if time. 

Grill chicken and bacon. Once Chicken is done, top with a slice of Gouda to melt. Slice roll and place on gril to toast slightly. To assemble Sandwich, layer each slice of bread with a generous amount of sauce. Then place chicken slice with cheese, top with bacon. Arugula would be a great lettuce option to add if you’re looking for a little more bite! Enjoy! 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

We spent the afternoon today making peanut butter cookies with heart shaped chocolates as a surprise for daddy when he comes home from work!

These girls love to help bake and cook in the kitchen. They knew as soon as we were getting home from school we were going to work on the cookies and just couldn't wait another minute to get started!

We used a Betty Crocker pouch of peanut butter cookies, but at the bottom I’ll share my recipe for homemade- which of course are so much better. But, limited time on a school night meant we needed quick and easy. 

Plus, happy hour may have already started on the other side of this camera. So, here’s to you Betty. 

When Daddy arrived home, he had a single rose for each of his girls, some chocolates and a few small surprises for the girls.  And, the girls couldn't wait to show their daddy the cookies they made for him! 

Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies 

3/4 c. Creamy Peanut Butter

1/2 cup Crisco 

1 1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar 

3 tbsp milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract 

1 large egg 

1 3/4 C All Purpose Flour 

3/4 tsp baking soda 

3/4 tsp salt 

Heat oven to 375. 

Combine peanut butter, shortening, sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer until well blended. Add egg. Best just until blended. 

Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture just until blended. Drop 1 inch rounded balls of dough into baking sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes. 

Let cool slightly and press chocolate hearts or Hershey kissed onto the tops and place in refrigerator so they don’t melt. 

Happy Valentine's Day from Rockfish Farm! 

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love." ~ John 15:9-10

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Ingredients:

• 1 cup low-sodium organic chicken broth
• 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 2 medium jalapeño peppers seeded and deveined, chopped (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 Tbsp. ground cumin
• 2 tsp. ground smoked paprika
• ½ tsp. sea salt or Himalayan salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 lb. raw chicken breast boneless, skinless
• 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas warm
• 1 cup pico de gallo or fresh tomato salsa
• 1 medium ripe avocado sliced
• 1 medium lime cut into 4 wedges
• ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. Place chicken broth, garlic, jalapeños (if desired), chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, bay leaves, and chicken in a 3-quart slow cooker; mix well and cover. Cook on high for 2½ to 3 hours (or on low for 4 to 5 hours), or until chicken is tender.
2. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and shred with 2 forks. 
3. Evenly divide chicken between 8 tortillas. Top evenly with pico de gallo, avocado, lime juice, and cilantro; serve immediately. 

Recipe From : www.beachbody.com.

Portion Fix Containers (21DFX) 

½ Green

1 Red

1 Yellow

1 Blue

Dreaming of what's to come!

A hard frost excites me because I know there’s snow soon to come! 

I love the snow, and this morning as I opened the front door to let the dog out, the cold air hit me and my mind instantly flashed back to when we were building and came out here during a snowy weekend. 

I remembered how cozy the house felt and how I always would try to imagine what it would be like to be here on a snowy day with the wood stove blazing.

 At that point it felt as though it was so far away from happening and I just remember taking in every moment. 

We’d lay on the floor and color and pretend we were already there. 

Now, almost 10 months later I’m excited to wake up here- preferably to at least one big snowy morning this winter, coffee in hand sitting by the wood stove and hearing my children’s excited voices over getting ready to play in the snow at 10am.....when in reality Cheyenne is like me and is up at the crack o’ dawn everyday....a girl can dream, right? 

It’s been about 7 months since we’ve moved in, and I have so many good memories of building- and also stressful ones, but it’s been exciting having new experiences (ahem, 18 chickens and two large gardens) here at the farm and I cannot wait to see what 2018 brings. (And it better be some snow) 

Our first fall on the farm!

We are finally starting to settle into a new routine here at Rockfish Farm! We moved into the farmhouse in April of 2017.  Immediately we got 18 chickens, put up a coop and planted two large gardens for the summer. And, with all this warm weather lately they’re still producing some good veggies!

 

The chickens started producing eggs late this summer, some of the younger ones are just getting going now. We’re getting about a half dozen eggs a day- which is keeping our eggs stashed and giving some away to friends and family here and there! We’re new to this farming thing but from what I’ve read these girls are just getting started and egg production should pick up a little more. We’ve got one Americana that produces a blue egg- I love the variety of colors that I get each day. 


We are down to 11 hens left. One had a cross-beak and died naturally. I think he had a hard time eating and drinking and her little body just couldn’t keep up. One was a rooster that didn’t behave- so we decided he had to go. Couldn’t have him attacking the kids. The rest have all been predators. We knew it would happen- that’s why I started with 18! 

In a couple weeks we’re going to mail order another round of baby chicks. I’m hoping to find some “olive-eggers” to add to my colored egg collection- and some white egg layers as I do not yet have any of those! Everyone always questions why we don’t wait until spring- and here’s the deal. Chickens don’t lay until about 20 weeks of age. In winter, natural egg production drops because of the cold. So, I’m making the best use of the time and raising the babies in the winter so egg production will be in full swing by spring! 

Chirp! Chirp! I’m ready for another round of these cuties! 

Fall cleanup has begun on the woods! It will be a work in progress over the next year but this past weekend we got a great start! 

The bigger trees have been chopped for the wood stove for the winter. 

And the rotten ones and the smaller ones have been turned into wood chips and stored in the woods for the spring garden! 

Now, it’s a little cleaner at the entrance and you get a peek of the old Tobacco Barn. 

 

And a (small) peek of the farmhouse from the road. 


Even the girls and Laila got in on the action and helped to clean up and take pride in their home. 








And last, we finally got the shed! Holding us over until the barn is built! Plans for the upcoming weekend? Organize the garage and basement. Are you coming to help? I’ll feed ya good! 

What’s to come in the spring? Well, it will be time expand the farm animals! We’re looking to get meat chickens, and two piggies. 

Which means fencing must go in this winter, and we’re changing up the gardens a bit for next year and putting a more permanent (and pretty) fence around that area. And, there’s another big project coming to the farm! Fingers crossed for next summer, and I’m not yet going to share what it is- but I’ll just leave these two little teasers for you and tell you- if you’re on team Lash Out Loud with me- get EXCITED!!! 

I won’t be spilling details until later! Thanks for stopping by! 

Xoxo,

Jennifer 

Farmhouse Breakfast Sandwiches

I love to play around with foods I normally make and just find a way to give them a little extra touch. Earlier this spring we got chickens- 18 of them to the exact. We've lost a few, but they've started to lay recently and each time we head out to the coop with my two daughters to find more eggs their little eyes light up! They are loving this farm life! We've got 3 out of the 13 left that have started to lay, and they've laid one daily so we've built up quite a stock of eggs so far! 

I'm a sucker for a McDonalds bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel- I love whatever sauce they have on it. So today I played around with a few ingredients and came up with a Creamy Dill Mayo and it was delicious! Add it to a toasted Brioche Bun, serve it with coffee  and you're in breakfast heaven! 

 
Creamy Dill Mayo

Combine:

4 Tbsp Mayo

1.5 tsp Ground Mustard

1/4 tsp Dill Weed

1/4 tsp Sugar

Spread over the Brioche bun. Top with egg, pepper jack cheese, and bacon. Enjoy! 

Xoxo,

Jennifer 

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

A Rainy September Day

If you've been following along on YouTube or the Rockfish Farm Facebook page you know we're taking a $500 grocery challenge in the month of September.

This will include toiletries for the household as well. We are a family of 4, and two of them being some heavy eating girls! Those girls can put away some food in those growing little bodies! Maybe this challenge isn't for you.  But every now and then I like to "edit" my bills. We spent a year building our new farmhouse- which included a lot "grabbing dinner on the go" and eating picnic style out at the building site. 

Now that we're here and settled it's time to get it under control. We spend way too much money on eating out, and I throw away wayyyyy too much food that has gone bad- so my challenge for this month is to use what I have and stick to a strict budget getting creative with my meals and having less waste. 

So, wouldn't ya know....Day 2 included thawing a pork loin that didn't thaw in time- and our minds immediately said "let's head into town for dinner"- um, did I mention we are allowing ourselves one night out of budget which is our 12 year anniversary at the end of the month. Any other time we eat out has to come from the grocery budget! 

So I brainstormed, checked my cabinets and said "no, no. I got this. I can pull this together!"  I just knew I wasnt ready to blow it on day 2 of the month. So, I hopped on the side by side and headed out to the garden....in the rain. I gathered some tomatoes and basil and another check in on "the girls" and gave them some split tomatoes as treats. 

I quickly pulled together a meal from my cabinet- homemade brushetta with tomatoes and basil from right here on Rockfish Farm. And, Fettuccine Alfredo with some leftover cream cheese- I feel like I never use the whole brick for bagels so this is the perfect leftover use! You can find the recipe HERE.

Now, there's football in the background on the living room tv, the children playing contently.....(maybe) and the husband is down playing on his new gaming computer. Now that's what I call a great rainy Saturday evening. And of course, there's always Pepper trying to get any extra attention she can!