So much going on these days I will warn you in advance, this will be a long winded post and yes I will be elaborating!
First of all we have new babies!!!! Yay!!!!!! I was beginning to think the goats were taking lessons from our freeloading chickens! I am proud to announce the arrival of our first babies though, a set of twin boys from Bubbles. The names I cannot say as the kids (two legged ones) took charge of that and it seems to change hourly. The birth was uneventful and quite rapid. Bubbles came into the yard and was acting strange so I had Cati put her in the pen, 30 minutes later Caleb announced that we had twins. They are quite cute one has floppy ears and the other kind of looks like a donkey and bellers a lot. Still they are very cute and as the rest of the family ooohs and awwws over their cuteness I’m daydreaming of barbque goat. Cruel and sadistic you say? Well first off I’m not dreaming about those two….yet, but the two little nincompoops who decided that coming into the cabin at 2 a.m to steal the pig food and wake me up on a night I was actually sleeping no less AND they left the door open! Yes goats are opportunists and someone must of not closed the door tightly on a late night potty run, Frankie and Klondike (the gruesome two some) seen an opportunity. I guess it’s my own fault as I heard a crash as the lid to the pig food hit the floor but I was finally sleeping and chalked it up to someone knocking things over in the dark. Little did I know it was the two goats from hell. Yep, goat is definitely on the menu!
Papa Fred is experiencing some health issues right now, nothing catastrophic but will be having minor surgery on Thursday. Two weeks ago he started having bladder issues and they put in a Cath now they are replacing that with a permanent one above his pubic bone that can be changed out every month or so. Much easier than traditional Caths and I’m curious as to whether we need a surgeon or a plumber. Hmmmm I will have to ask the urologist if he ever wanted to be a plumber. Okay that was a random thought…even for me!
As you know we butchered my boar hog a couple weeks ago. I tried to get video, charged the camera and everything but Murphy’s law kicked in “If it can go wrong it will” and the video didn’t come out and by the time I realized there was a problem the battery was dead. I have been busy making sausages-lots of sausage! Boudin which is a favorite of my kids, it’s a Cajun sausage made with ground pork, liver, veggies and rice then spiced up and put in casings. I also made breakfast sausage, spicy links and sweet Italian sausage.
That was a huge hog! While I was busy butchering hubby took the old subway oven we were given and made a smoker for me. I just finished up smokin 150 pounds of pork. The hams were so big I cut them into 3 pieces. One piece weighed 31 pounds! Dear hubby did get upset I forgot to save back side pork but after he tasted the bacon he got over that quick!
The weather is still spring like and I expect that old man winter slept through and forgot us again. It’s just cold enough to be icy but it feels like we will be melting off early again this year. That’s okay I’m ready for a change! It’s been an easy winter temp wise but Lordy I’m tired of the rain and ice
Many plans for big events have had to be put off because of the medical issues with Papa Fred and the weather…oh I hate keeping secrets but hopefully soon we get back on track and I can share the news! I really am horrible at this secret keeping stuff-note: don’t Ever tell me a good secret-like a surprise gift for someone or a pending birth-I’m the worlds worst at keeping those kind of secrets! I get so excited they have a tendency to just pop out of my mouth!
We celebrated Papa Freds 73 birthday yesterday and like the ground hog he didn’t see his shadow so spring must be on its way! I made his favorite meal of smoked pork chops and yes they were from our pig and tasted wonderful with the birch smoke.
He also had a jalapeño bacon cheesecake. This is the second time I have made this and finally as I was creating I wrote down the ingredients.
Crust 1-1/2 c walnuts finely chopped1/4 c sugar
1/4 c melted butter
1/4 c flour
Filling 3- 8 oz packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla flavoring
Topping 4 strips bacon cooked then crumbled
Prepare crust by mixing the ingredients then oil sides of 8 or 9 inch spring form pan put the crust in and roll pan to lightly coat sides before pressing into pan (the bottom of a canning jar works great for this!) bake 10 minutes at 350
To prepare filling soften cream cheese and mix in sugar then eggs 1 at a time until well blended ( it will have lumps but that’s okay, add vanilla and stir well. Pour into crust then sprinkle edges with bacon crumbles and put jelly in a ring on top (you can also just spoon dollups of jelly over the top.
Bake at 350 about an hour. It’s done when the center is no longer jiggly if you shake the pan. This recipe can be doubled and put in a 9×13 inch cake pan too. The men love it and it’s a favorite of my kids too!
Well now the roosters are crowing and it’s time for another pot of coffee so I will leave you all for now. May your day be blessed with sunny skies and happy thoughts.
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Finally got the snow cleared away from the smoker and got the salmon finished smoking. 12 pints of smoked salmon (my kids call it fish candy) slightly sweet, a hint of salt and the mellow smoke of birch made it a hit with all. After all of the years I have canned my family still insists on opening the first jar of anything the minute it is cooled. Strange but hey if it makes them happy. More smoking to be done later this week as dear hubby’s friend Norm called and has more fish for us, I do love that we have friends who support and encourage my smoking habit but that doesn’t mean the little goat wether is safe. Smoked goat just sounds yummy! For you vegetarian followers I apologize but I am a meat lover. 
Spring fever has come-I’ve been cleaning and making new curtains, basically doing anything I can to take my mind off of gardening. I did get 3 sweet potatoes going in water to grow my own slips. I have never grown any sweet potatoes but reading up it is said for best results start with slips. Slips are the little shoots that grow from them. I’m going to give it a try though as we all love sweet potatoes baked with butter it’s almost as good as regular potatoes. 
My kids seriously need to quit growing. Stretching to try to get the yeast from the top shelf Cati (11 years old) reaches over me, says let me help mom and gets it down. She is now 5’6″ tall. Caleb is the same height at 12 years old but he is about to shoot up again. He is eating us out of house and home. Cami is still the smallest of my twin girls but what she lacks in size she makes up for in attitude. 
Always something that needs to be done and hoping the rain stops soon-fishing season is coming up quick! I’ll leave you with a few pics as is my norm and pray your blessed beyond measure. 
offgridalaska 