.... and the events following. (I am so sorry I didn't post this right away. I typed this the week following Thanksgiving, I didn't post it because I kept trying to upload some pictures that my slow computer refused to upload.)
The food was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! We cooked a 32 # turkey and a goose. Geese are filled with lots of golden fat, so since there was so much we used it on both birds. The goose meat is a little tougher compare to turkey. However both were moist and delicious! Instead of thin turkey breast slices we had turkey stakes. There was hardly any leftovers after 27 people had dished up. We also had mashed sweet potatoes. I LOVE sweet potatoes now. They are incredible!!! We also had Pomegranate Jell-o.... since this is an uncommon dish I will explain how it is made. First you must get all of the pomegranate seeds out of there skin, then you pour Lime jell-o (with the hot water added) over the seeds. You only want enough jell-o to hold the pomegranates together. Then you let chill. This is extremely yummy! We had rolls from Bon Breads Co. (another vendor at the farmer's market we attend each week.) Laura made the best stuffing I have ever tasted. I will get the recipe. There was also a green salad with walnuts, feta cheese, pomegranates, peppers, onions, and various other good things, with a pomegranate vinaigrette. Needless to say it was really tasty. For dessert there was lots of pecan pie, pumpkin pie, a sweet potato pie, an apple pie, and a chocolate pie. I will also get the recipes for these.
When they brought out the pie Nella said "Why is no body getting a slice yet?" I replied "we were waiting for the whipped cream or ice cream." Her eyes then went big and she said "dessert on dessert....wow!" (all of this in a French accent which I cannot type.) This was Nella's first experience with Thanksgiving. France does not have this holiday. Nella says "that is because the French know how to eat really well everyday." Nella also said in France they don't get why Americans make such a big deal over a turkey. For when ever they make it in France it is always dry and flavorless. Ours was quite the opposite.
After we all finished eating the games began. Laura and Monte have made it a tradition to have competitions with Pilgrim-ish types of games... Archery, horse shoe tossing, blow dart shooting, rock climbing, and the grand finale who can get the most wood chopped in 2 minutes. So we were divided into teams with each of the Bledsoe children being team captains. I was on Brad's team (Brad is Laura and Monte's youngest son. I think he is 23.) with Jared's two sons Caleb (5) and little Jared (3). I feel bad that Brad's team was made up entirely of people we aren't as good at any of the events except for him. The first game was horse shoe tossing, Caleb was our team member to do this event. Then there was archery... I was to represent our team in this. I got a total of 2 points I got one of four arrows into the straw bale... a fair distance from the paper plate target, on the very edge of the straw bale. :) Sheepish grin. Then there was the wood chopping event... (we had to do this next while there was still light.) This was Laura's cunning plan years ago to get lots of fire wood chopped...she is always voting for 5 minutes for each competitor. The afore mentioned competitors (The Bledsoe children) would not do it if it was longer than 2 minutes. The rules are to the wood has to be able to fit into the wood stove in the house to count, also who ever gets the most weight of wood in the 2 minutes is the winner. First to chop was the oldest Jimmy (He is the long standing champion of the wood pile.) He got 180 lbs. Then Becca (second oldest) was up she chopped 80 lbs. Jared got 150 lbs. Daniel got 130 lbs. Brad got 125 lbs (I think that is the right number.) So once again Jimmy takes the championship.
The next game was the blow darts. Little Jared's turn. After all of these events Jimmy and Jared were tied. So they had to do rock climbing to brake the tie. Monte has a rock climbing wall in the garage. The rules were to touch the highest hand hold with as few hand holds as possible. Foot holds didn't count, and using the wall also didn't count. Jimmy made it up in 5 hand holds because he used the cracks in the wall as hand holds. When it was Jared's turn Becca said that Jimmy had been strategic. Little Jared instantly said "No! Uncle Jimmy was sneaky." And Caleb kept saying "You can do it Dad. You just gotta be tough and use your hands and feet." (Jared is a cop so hearing his son say "you gotta be tough" was just cute.)
Thanksgiving here on the farm is definitely fun and memorable.
The following day (Friday) we went up into the Cedar City Mountains to cut a Christmas tree. We actually cut 5. Two were for Jimmy, one was for us, and the last was for Monte's parents.
The most glorious part of this adventure was hitting Matt in the face with a snowball twice!
(I can't upload the pictures at this time so for the time being you will just have to wait a little longer. I have some great pictures of this event.)
The food was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! We cooked a 32 # turkey and a goose. Geese are filled with lots of golden fat, so since there was so much we used it on both birds. The goose meat is a little tougher compare to turkey. However both were moist and delicious! Instead of thin turkey breast slices we had turkey stakes. There was hardly any leftovers after 27 people had dished up. We also had mashed sweet potatoes. I LOVE sweet potatoes now. They are incredible!!! We also had Pomegranate Jell-o.... since this is an uncommon dish I will explain how it is made. First you must get all of the pomegranate seeds out of there skin, then you pour Lime jell-o (with the hot water added) over the seeds. You only want enough jell-o to hold the pomegranates together. Then you let chill. This is extremely yummy! We had rolls from Bon Breads Co. (another vendor at the farmer's market we attend each week.) Laura made the best stuffing I have ever tasted. I will get the recipe. There was also a green salad with walnuts, feta cheese, pomegranates, peppers, onions, and various other good things, with a pomegranate vinaigrette. Needless to say it was really tasty. For dessert there was lots of pecan pie, pumpkin pie, a sweet potato pie, an apple pie, and a chocolate pie. I will also get the recipes for these.
When they brought out the pie Nella said "Why is no body getting a slice yet?" I replied "we were waiting for the whipped cream or ice cream." Her eyes then went big and she said "dessert on dessert....wow!" (all of this in a French accent which I cannot type.) This was Nella's first experience with Thanksgiving. France does not have this holiday. Nella says "that is because the French know how to eat really well everyday." Nella also said in France they don't get why Americans make such a big deal over a turkey. For when ever they make it in France it is always dry and flavorless. Ours was quite the opposite.
After we all finished eating the games began. Laura and Monte have made it a tradition to have competitions with Pilgrim-ish types of games... Archery, horse shoe tossing, blow dart shooting, rock climbing, and the grand finale who can get the most wood chopped in 2 minutes. So we were divided into teams with each of the Bledsoe children being team captains. I was on Brad's team (Brad is Laura and Monte's youngest son. I think he is 23.) with Jared's two sons Caleb (5) and little Jared (3). I feel bad that Brad's team was made up entirely of people we aren't as good at any of the events except for him. The first game was horse shoe tossing, Caleb was our team member to do this event. Then there was archery... I was to represent our team in this. I got a total of 2 points I got one of four arrows into the straw bale... a fair distance from the paper plate target, on the very edge of the straw bale. :) Sheepish grin. Then there was the wood chopping event... (we had to do this next while there was still light.) This was Laura's cunning plan years ago to get lots of fire wood chopped...she is always voting for 5 minutes for each competitor. The afore mentioned competitors (The Bledsoe children) would not do it if it was longer than 2 minutes. The rules are to the wood has to be able to fit into the wood stove in the house to count, also who ever gets the most weight of wood in the 2 minutes is the winner. First to chop was the oldest Jimmy (He is the long standing champion of the wood pile.) He got 180 lbs. Then Becca (second oldest) was up she chopped 80 lbs. Jared got 150 lbs. Daniel got 130 lbs. Brad got 125 lbs (I think that is the right number.) So once again Jimmy takes the championship.
The next game was the blow darts. Little Jared's turn. After all of these events Jimmy and Jared were tied. So they had to do rock climbing to brake the tie. Monte has a rock climbing wall in the garage. The rules were to touch the highest hand hold with as few hand holds as possible. Foot holds didn't count, and using the wall also didn't count. Jimmy made it up in 5 hand holds because he used the cracks in the wall as hand holds. When it was Jared's turn Becca said that Jimmy had been strategic. Little Jared instantly said "No! Uncle Jimmy was sneaky." And Caleb kept saying "You can do it Dad. You just gotta be tough and use your hands and feet." (Jared is a cop so hearing his son say "you gotta be tough" was just cute.)
Thanksgiving here on the farm is definitely fun and memorable.
The following day (Friday) we went up into the Cedar City Mountains to cut a Christmas tree. We actually cut 5. Two were for Jimmy, one was for us, and the last was for Monte's parents.
The most glorious part of this adventure was hitting Matt in the face with a snowball twice!
(I can't upload the pictures at this time so for the time being you will just have to wait a little longer. I have some great pictures of this event.)
On Saturday (the next day) Me and Nella went and saw Tangled.
On Monday Monte began building a Brick oven!!! It took 2.5 weeks to make. And the pizza that comes out of it is supper YUMMY!
After this statement the actual dates of things have left my memory.
I have made soooooo many soil blocks. There is a tiny 1 inch soil block maker that makes 20 at a time. The trays we fill with this size can hold 850+ ..... and then there is the 2 inch tray that holds 50. To plant in the big trays you need a headlamp to see the seeds and the soil blocks that still need seeds. it takes about 2 hrs if you are doing it by yourself. I think I have made over 6 large trays of soil blocks and have helped seed most of them.
Quail Hollow Farm also had it's annual seed exchange. So the day before we filled so many little seed pouches I almost went crazy! I did grab a packet of each of the different types of seeds. So maybe next year you can taste some of the things I have been talking about.
After I made this there was 5 cups of pomegranate juice left, so I poured it in to the big pot, then I put 1/2 cup lemon juice and 2 pkgs of pectin. Oh dear! so this batch turned out very jelled.
We no longer have our cow. We now have 12 baby white bunnies and 8 black baby bunnies. They are soooooooooooooooo cute.
Good to hear from you Lark!!! Sounds like you had a magnificent feast for TG! I was surprised and smiled at your bullseye (both of them)! Love you! Take care!
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