Tasty Tuesday

This is a tasty little treat my kids have dubbed “Rhuby Crunch.” Thanks to my good friend and co-worker Karen for sharing this great recipe which will serve a harvest crew, a large potluck or picnic or a big, big family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhubarb Crunch

1.5 cups flour
1.125 cups rolled oats
1.5 cups packed brown sugar
1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
.75 cups butter, melted
8 cups sliced rhubarb (fresh or frozen)
1.25 cups sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1.25 cups water
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Mix until crumbly. Press half the mixture into an ungreased 13×9 baking pan. Cover with chopped rhubarb. For topping, combine sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan; add water. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Drizzle over rhubarb, making sure to cover to the edges of the pan. Top with remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly throughout. Makes 12-15 generous servings.

We like it best served hot from the oven with vanilla ice cream.

A few tips:

1. The recipe is easily halved or doubled depending on your needs.
2. You can substitute apples, strawberries or blueberries for up to 1/2 the rhubarb. The sample baked for this post included about 2 cups of fresh strawberries and 6 cups of finely diced fresh rhubarb.
3. You can add finely chopped walnuts as part of the oatmeal measurement.
4. This is just as good for breakfast as dessert!

Tasty Tuesday

In an effort to celebrate the reason behind 3 Billy Goats Bluff, we will begin to celebrate the seasonal foods we enjoy. Our little business began as an outlet for high-quality, naturally grown meat goats. We are now gearing up to have farm fresh, chemical free produce next season.

Thanks in advance to an old friend, Annette, for this recipe for tasty rhubarb muffins. Those are moist, dense and super delicious with a fantastic balance between the tangy rhubarb and the brown sugar sweetness.

Combine well:
1.5 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
1 cup sour milk
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Then add:
2.5 cups flour
1.5 cups chopped rhubarb

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. This is too moist and dense to dome up or make fluffy muffin tops. Combine 1/3 cup white sugar and 1 Tbsp. melted butter. Sprinkle sugar/butter mixture over muffin batter in cups. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes. Makes 24-30 muffins. Enjoy!

Asparagus Season

We have been lured into the family business – asparagus. Rick’s dad has been operating a small asparagus farm in the Yakima Valley for about 15 years. It is his retirement project. This year Rick and The Horde (aka my kiddos) went down over spring break to help set up the irrigation system and plant new crowns in the nursery patch. The lifespan of asparagus is about 15 years. The nursery is intended to produce stock to rejuvenate the primary field, which is approximatley 7 acres in size.

The Horde returned home with a bag full of crowns for our garden space! What a fabulous suprise. The crowns grow together in giant, many tentacled clusters. Rikard gave us all a quick lesson in how to “pinch” them apart and carefully untangle the roots. Some of these clusters came apart into five or more individual crowns. Basically, you search until you find an asparagus shoot and break them apart between shoots.

Then, you set the crowns, right side or pointed side up, into the trench. Spread the tentacles or roots out as much as possible. Asparagus prefers to be planted about 18″ deep and covered with rich soil, compost and lime.

Father-in-law sent home two 20-lbs flats of asparagus for me to put away for winter. I took about 15 lbs, blanched and froze it for winter eating. I prefer asparagus spears to be fresh and lightly steamed or grilled. I’m not a fan of canned or frozen spears, as the process makes them soft, soggy, mushy. However, I do freeze asparagus and use in throughout the winter to add to vegetable soups, pasta sauces and casseroles. I also enjoy making cream of asparagus soup.

Pickled asparagus is by far our favorite way to enjoy this treat year round!

Spring Gardening

Meet my newest, bestest friend…

My EarthWay 1001-B Precision Garden Seeder. As a kid, I remember planting our entire garden with my grandpa’s seeder. Our garden was nearly an acre and supported our family and my grandparents and every once in a while gave my dad some veggie bragging rights in town. My grandpa’s seeder pumped out row after row of sweet corn, green beans, spinach, cabbage, carrots and leafy greens. It certainly was better than following behind my dad who was dragging a hoe to make rows, stooped over and dropping seeds in even increments.

It makes the nicest, straightest lines ever. She was busy all weekend! She planted 4 pounds of bean (wax and Blue Lake bush) seed, fennel, onion and chives. The going was quick and easy in the garden plot in front of the house. It was a bit rougher in the new garden space. Even though it has been tilled a couple of times, it is still full of sod clumps and ancient root systems that cling to the soil.

Twin Doelings

Onion, the alpha doe in our herd, had twin doelings Tuesday, March 6.

What a difference a week or two makes. Two weeks ago we had lost a dozen kids, all either stillborn or too premature to survive and thrive. There didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with the kids, other than they lacked some developmental markers. We had a warm snap and then the temperatures dipped and we got another week of snow. All the first-time nannies kidded early. Maybe the weather was just a coincidence. Maybe. It had been a sad kidding season for our young goat herders.

But, life marches on and we have to live in the here and now. Over the past week we have welcomed six healthy little kids out in the pasture. Five are in the care of their nanny and one is bottle-fed; two little bucks and three doelings.

Acceptance

This little baby arrived after a very difficult birth the evening of March 1. I found her lodged in the birth canal, partially expelled and unresponsive when I returned home from work. We had no idea how long the nanny and babe had been like this. I thought all was lost for the baby. After seperating the nanny from the rest of the herd, I tugged and tugged and tugged on her her hooves. After about 30 minutes of work she was free. The baby hit the ground limp and unresponsive. The nanny ran for the feeding area. I went the house to prepare to dispose of the baby.

When I returned to the goat hut I found the baby doe in the corner of the shed, looking healthy, crying for her nanny and cuddled up with the chickens to keep warm. What a wonderful suprise! She is healthy and spirited.

We let the nanny have a couple of hours to bond with the babe, but she refused the baby. We are now bottle feeding with great success.

Signs of Spring

Suprise! This is what I found when I went out to do my morning chores, March 1. Maybe we will name these jack-n-jill twins “Lion” and “Lamb” as they brought in the month of March. This is a second kidding for Goat With No Name (yes, she has a theme song, can’t you hear it in the background?) and she is a wonderfully attentive nanny.

We have had a dozen babies born at 3 Billy Goats Bluff in the past few weeks, but these are the only two survivors. Sadly, the others were too premature to survive or were born still.