We have been enjoying the awesome weather and getting a lot of little outdoor projects done. The piglets are growing like gangbusters and starting to eat “real” pig food. At our farm that means grazing their paddock, some grain, breads from our local artisan bakery, goat whey from cheese making and boxes and boxes of fruits and vegetables. It is amazing how much these little, growing piglets can eat! Petunia (our runt) is definitely plumper then her littermates. She easily consumes A GALLON of milk a day. Mark has started to give her extended sibling visitation rights in preparation for all the piglets being weaned and combined in a paddock. Weaning should be in about 3 weeks. While she might have started off as half their size Petunia has made HUGE strides in catching up with her littermates. She is fatter and only a bit smaller at this point. GO PETUNIA!
Dinner Fixins!
Lady the Lamb is still being weaned and is in her own pasture with Zorro. Her bleating for the flock lets me know that she feels a llama is a poor substitute for other sheep. I go in there every day to pet her and to teach her to run up to me for attention. This training will come in super handy when she is back with the flock.
And mark one up for Farm Fashion statements. We sold our first rockin’ Rolling Bay Farm t-shirt so someone out there looks cool and very unique.
Sunday night dinner was a light summer affair; tuna salad with fresh, raw snap peas from the garden all topped with peppery Nasturtium flowers that Mark had planted. Cailinn liked the flowers enough to eat all of hers’. Dinner was completed with some homemade buttermilk drop biscuits.
If you’re like me you never have buttermilk around and therefore pass on all the great recipes that call for it. And then I vaguely remembered that you can make substitute buttermilk. And I did! Super easy… 1 C milk and add 1 Tbls white vinegar. Wait 5 minutes and you have it! Watch out , here I come buttermilk pancakes, buttermilk dressings, buttermilk breads…
Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 cup cold buttermilk (place in refrigerator until needed)
4 tbsp. butter at room temperature – cubed
- Mix together dry ingredients
- Mix until just blended (don’t over work it) the buttermilk and butter into the dry flour mixture
- Drop ¼ cup scoops of batter onto a greased sheet – or use parchment paper
- Bake at 475 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly brown on top
- NOTE: this is a great, basic recipe to use so go wild from here! Add bacon bits, chives or grated cheese for savory biscuits. Sprinkle with rock sugar for a dessert biscuit.
You can also make your own butter milk that is cultured. Add a 1/4 cup buttermilk from the store (or from your own culture) to a pint jar, and top off with fresh milk. Let it sit over night at room temp. :0)