Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 92

New Heights

Snickers has reached new heights.

Biscuits and Gravy

Jack is not a huge fan of breakfast for dinner (I know. Weird) but if it's biscuits and gravy, he scarfs it down without complaint. It's the southern boy in him (he is half Georgian, afterall). Here's a basic recipe that uses butter instead of shortening for the biscuits and is a quick, hearty meal anytime.

Ingredients:

Biscuits
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons cold butter, cubed
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425F. Sift together the flour, powder...

Blue Egg

Trying to keep cool while finding a snack in the beans.So, since we apparently have ALL roosters, I spoke with my neighbor who was nice enough to hunt down a couple of excess hens someone had. One, the girls already named Strawberry, is in kind of rough shape. Let's just say she was definitely at the bottom of the totem pole and thankfully, our roosters have left her alone after establishing their pecking order (of which, Strawberry is, again, definitely at the bottom). The other is a white g...

Cherry Bars

Since picking cherries a few weeks ago, I've been carefully plotting how to use them.  There will be cherry cobbler and cherry pie, of course. These cherry bars will have to be added to the regular line up as well!
Ingredients:

Bars
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 cans cherry pie filling

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 Tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream together butter and s...

Mounds

The Great Mount (see the ditches on both sides?). I wonder if ancient peoples met here to roast s'mores and tell ghost stories...This week has felt like summer is winding down, even though it's still a good two months away to the official end of the season. Evelyn will be off to school in no time and the cool weather we've been enjoying feels more like autumn than the blazing hot that should be scorching us in late July. We love ourselves a good board walk.So, we decided to take a camping trip...

Swarm

Yep. Those are ALL bees.Just as we were getting ready to leave, I was powdering my nose when Evie drug me over to the bathroom window.

"Look at the bees!"
Sure enough, something was up.  There were hundreds of bees stuck to the outside of the hive (which is semi-normal if it's hot enough, but the weather was gorgeous) and there was an equally impressive cloud buzzing around the yard.  My heart skipped a beat. Were our bees swarming?
The noise those swarming bees made was quite imp...

Cherry Picking

I really want some cherry trees on our property...If there's one skill I'm not good at, it's bartering. It's hard to find the nerve to ask someone for a favor in exchange for a favor because I feel like I'm inconveniencing them. When someone barters with me though, I'm all ears.
Kate helped too, of course.A friend asked to borrow our truck to haul away some brush in exchange for allowing us to pick cherries at their house. Deal! The truck was borrowed, the cherries ripened and we got there jus...

Three Crowing Hens

Who done it?I let the horses out early one morning and laughed when I heard a strangled, juvenile crow coming from the coop. I passed them on my way back to the house to see who the lucky boy was, sure it was Claire's silver-laced wyandotte named Chess. To my surprise, Evelyn's Rhode Island Red, named Rosie, started cawing. Then Twinkle, Kate's cochin gave a squawk. Finally, all three crowed in unison.

Either we have three crowing hens or we aren't getting eggs from our chickens anytime soon.

Looking Ahead

Though I'm sometimes in denial, we're already looking ahead to winter. The horses galloped over to take a look but thankfully are still more interested in grass than they are in hay.It's inevitable when you've got livestock and use wood to heat your home. We aren't the only ones either. Every time we walk by the bees, they're hard at work, saving up honey. Yesterday, we had nine round bales unloaded and have been busy chopping, splitting and stacking wood. We're still enjoying the beautiful we...

Was It You?

The lucky winner of a free ebook copy of my debut novel, Headed for the Win and a $25 Amazon Gift Card is:

(drumroll please)
Lindsey Markowski!
Congratulations Lindsey! You have 48 hours to get in touch before I move onto the next entrant.
And if you weren't the winner this time, don't fret. You can pick up a copy of my novel on Amazon here (affiliate link).