Getting ready for the sheep

The last few week-ends have seen us pretty busy, preparing for the arrival of our three ewes. We decided to purchase them from Greencroft Gardens, mainly because she had three, in three different colours and was asking a very good price. They have been with the ram for some time, so we are hoping that they will be pregnant, due to lamb in the spring.

We picked an area close to the house, to fence off as a starting pasture. We wanted to be able to see them from the house, so we can monitor how things are going. We are hoping that Violet, will keep the predators at bay, but we have also been looking into getting a llama. We'll have to see. We have also been trying to get rid of all of the lupine stalks and pods as they are apparently toxic to sheep...damn that Miss Rumphius :)


Rainer from Big Bear Ranch stopped by yesterday to bring us a bale of his organic hay. We're so lucky to have them closeby...I've no idea how we would have gotten it onto our property otherwise and positioned where we need it.

Rainer is also a wealth of information. He warned us about cougars and told us about watching a cougar clear a six foot electric fence with a goat in its mouth. Wow...those cats are amazing...I hope he's right that they are usually scared off by dogs.

So we are almost ready for the arrival of our sheep...just need to work out a watering system and finish a gate.

I've always thought highly of her...

but seeing her put the holiday lights up this past weekend, I think we can all see why so many look up to Joanne.

Seriously though... isn't she awesome?

Chocolate Bannock

A few weeks ago our neighbours Wendy and Wally were in town, and they had us over for an excellent meal. One of the highlights the bannock they made by putting the dough into a frying pan and settling it into some coals for a while. I've not had bannock before (theirs was delicious), and some Googling found me several recipes, but theirs was the easiest - 2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 2 cups of water, in coals for 19 minutes. (I remember a Sesame Street segment about bannock, where they cooked the dough draped over a stick over the fire - I can't find it on YouTube though.)

It's burning in season in the Cariboo - when it's wet and cold enough to minimize the risk of the fire going out of control. This is why Wendy and Wally had a pile of embers in their yard, and also why we've had two opportunities to make the bannock since.

Our last version mutated into a dessert because the embers weren't ready by dinner time. Here's our recipe for Chocolate Bannock:

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 tablespoons of baking soda
• 1/4 cup of cocoa
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 cups of water
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
  

1. Mix the dry ingredients, except the chocolate chips



2. add the water slowly, mixing it until you can knead it without it sticking (a flour-dusted countertop helps for this)
   
3. flatten the dough out - it should be quite a bit larger than your smaller pan
4. sprinkle the chips out over the centre
5. fold the edges back toward the middle, hiding the chips - we worked it at this stae so no seams appeared - don't worry if a chip pops it's head through the dough, itll be okay
6. dust and/or grease the smaller cast iron pan (we dusted) and lay the dough in it



7. carry the two pans out to the fire, which at should now be a big pile of embers into which you've raked a flat bowl to fit the pan



8. place the small pan in the embers, then lay the larger pan upside down over top to keep the embers out (note: the camera flash strips the photo of the redness of the embers)



9. rake the embers over the pans, and start the clock - 19 minutes exactly (now how many recipes have you read that include a step using a rake?)
10. when the time is up, use a rake to pull the pans out gently (to avoid getting embers in the pan), then carefully get the bannock out onto a dish



11. cut up the bannock and serve (optionally, with ice cream)!
    

About Coffee - the organic, fair-trade kind

We love strong, dark coffee. Our coffee makes most coffee-drinkers cringe. We ran out of our stock on the weekend, and had to buy some Starbucks French Roast - it was way too weak for us.
Sure, this may seem like a blatant product-plug, but really, we were so relieved to see that the holiday on Tuesday hadn't delayed the delivery (I ordered Monday, we got it Wednesday), and just relieved to have good coffee again, that I want to tell the world!

Sidenote 1 - As much as we'd love to be self-sufficient, our coffee-growing aspirations are unrealistic in the Cariboo.
Sidenote 2 - yes, we are addicted. In a heart-aching and heart-warming kind of way.

Last spring we discovered an excellently dark-roasted coffee at (what was then) our local organic food market. The roaster is called Max Voets, out of Vernon (that's almost local, right?), and the brand is Tribal Java. Specifically, the roast we get is Ancient Ritual.

We order about 10-12 pounds every two months or so, and with shipping this comes out to about $12/lb, which is quite reasonable, we feel, for organic and fairly-traded coffee. And it shows up at our post office down the street!

Michael Pollan interview - Mother Earth News

I just came across this great interview with Michael Pollan and thought I would post a link to it:

The Michael Pollan Prescription: How to Eat Better and Avoid the Industrial Diet

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Celebrated food writer Michael Pollan talked with Mother Earth News about easy ways to eat well and opt out of the broken food system.