What's Happening at Red Dog
Day 6 COVID Challenge
Day 5 Covid Challenge - Sommerborscht
So this is a popular Mennonite soup and this is my version which most people would probably not recognize as Sommerborscht which literally means "summer" "soup".
If you want to try something new give this easy recipe a try. I don't usually cook by recipe and the pictures for this make a giant pot - as you can see by my pot pictures but below I have given you the recipe for a smaller amount.
Ingredients
1/2 a farmer sausage (must be Mennonite farmer sausage)
1 large onion
2 cans of spinach
1 green onion
2 medium potatoes
1 litre quart) of batter milk
dill - fresh if possible (as much as you like - I like a lot)
1 tsp of salt (and then salt to taste)
1 litre water (quart)
1.) Cut the farmer sausage into small medallions - this works great when it is partially frozen or if thawed with a really sharp knife. Put them in a single layer on a cookie sheet or pizza pan on parchment (for easy cleanup) - bake at 450 for about 6 or 7 minutes and then throw them in your soup pot.
2.) Chop onion into approximately 1/4 inch pieces or a bit bigger if you like rustic, which I do - add to your soup pot
3.) Chop potatoes into small cubes - I like using the french fry maker to get uniform sizes - add to your pot
4.) Chop up your dill and add it to your pot
5.) Chop up your green onion and add to your pot
6.) Open your two cans of spinach and add them to your pot - I usually chop them a bit in the can
7.) Add your litre of buttermilk
8.) Add your salt
9.) As soon as the potatoes are cooked you can actually eat it but it does taste better if you let it simmer for a couple of hours and then even better next day.
10.) When serving it at add fresh cream, if you have a cow - lucky you, if not use whipping cream and eat with fresh homemade buns and homemade butter - if you have a cow.
If you like it to be even more sour you can add either sour cream or oddly Ranch Dressing instead of the cream before serving.
Below are pictures I took when I made this soup today in my big pot!
The above along with 2 farmer sausages for this size pot. I inherited a vacuum sealer and it is amazing for preserving dill and other things when you get them fresh at the store or from the garden - just chuck them in the freezer and it smells just like fresh cut from the garden when you open it in the middle of winter.
This is how much dill, green onion and potatoes goes into my big pot. Then I add about a gallon of water and 2 litres of buttermilk.
Day 4 Thursday COVID Challenge
's gift baskets you know this will not disappoint. So remember following through with the streak for this week til Saturday will give you bonus points for the start of the game next week. I encourage all to play! And if you have a friend who you think would like to play - tell them to friend and follow me and they can play too - they can unfriend me later if they like - and so without further ado I invite you to post your goal for today - mine is below. (we reserve the right to add or change rules if need be to make the game go smoothly)
Today's Goal:
So I will get this done today - insulate - cut a vent on the floor in Jami's room and install silver foil - haha Jami this means your goal has to be to clean your room!
Update:
Okay so I didn't get done - the pic on the far right below is my "progress" - it looks worse than before - but I did get the vent cut apart, the wall insulated. most of the floor insulated and the silver on the wall - and then I started thinking about the tub and talked myself into it that this week is a practice week and before I knew it I was out of the hole and in the tub. Oh sooo stiff - hopefully I will be mobile enough to finish tomorrow.
Day 3 Wednesday of My COVID Challenge
Okay Day Three - Wednesday - anybody still working on their streak of ambition? I am scared to even write my goal for today - if you don't know what I am talking about - on Monday I started a game - to post something you have been procrastinating about doing and then do it and put up a picture that you did it. - well as a game it was a bust but some people are still working on it as a streak - to see how many days they can keep it up - my goal for today is below - and it saddens me LOL:
SO - this one I have been putting of for over a year - our house has crawl spaces upstairs that were not insulated when we bought the place - there are 4 of them - I got three of them done last year but have one left to do. It involves crawling into a dark space - and moving along floor joists -- so I have to pull some boards in to sit on - then revitalize all the insulation between the joist - and then insulate the interior walls and then cover the whole thing on a tinfoil bubble wrap type of stuff - it's an ugly, dirty, itchy job, hence my procrastination - but its also very cold in there and it is reasonably nice out so I better get at it before it's -30 in there. I will not get this job done today. My goal is to get a start - which means a couple hours searching for and gathering tools - not that many things I need but finding them is always interesting. And then opening the hatch - surveying - and then motivating myself to get in there - this I will do.... yes I will ... yes I will do this. Pics will be up at some point today. If anybody is reading this I could use any words of encouragement you might have to offer - really - I will do this... I will... okay now I guess I am committed. UPDATE! Okay - already to go tomorrow - got my start, got my tools ready - and tomorrow I get it finished.
Day 2 Tuesday of my COVID Challenge
Day 1 My own personal COVID Challenge
SO with the ridiculous lock downs imposed by our provincial government, and me tending to be kind of a lazy procrastinator I decided to challenge myself to get motivated and I started a challenge on Facebook to get people to help me stay motivated - the challenge is simple - pick some job or something that I have put off for a long time and then post it on facebook and then do it before the end of the day.
This was my post from Day1:
Veggies and Dip
Planning a get together with a bunch of people this fall? This bright assortment is a great way to serve up veggies and dip. Buy some small plastic cups, put your favourite dip in the bottom and load the cup up with your favourite vegetables. Mix and match so people can choose cups with things they prefer in them. Some ideas? Cherry tomatoes on a skewer, celery, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, etc. A homemade dip suggestion? Equal parts mayonnaise, miracle whip and sourcream, then add some dill, a touch of salt and some cracked pepper.
Update
Well its a new day! And a new Website! We just finished up another harvest season and while it wasn't quite as entertaining as last year our old equipment did give us some interesting challenges again this year. I think we spent about $800 on our $400 Swather to harvest about $600 worth of oats - but we grew them ourselves and we know what's in 'em - lots of weed seeds. But no pesticides or other nasty chemicals. Everyone of our dilapidated pieces of equipment drove off the field on it's own power so we always feel that is an accomplishment. Our old one ton truck even made it one more year. Each year we feel it is the last year for the combine, the one ton and the swather so good on us.
We shipped some calves this week and were happy with the prices. Reminiscing back to Mad Cow and barely getting $300 for a full grown cow makes one severely appreciate today;s calf prices.
I think we managed to get a nice amount of hay up for a change so we shouldn't be panicking in spring or desperately seeking supplemental feed mid-winter - all in all a pretty good farming year, for us, that is. Real farmers would laugh I'm sure.
Next job up will be getting wood in for winter. Maybe next week.