25 years in the federal government in guns and badges, 22 of those in Corrections, then 10 years in hacker hunting and breach detection, now an information security sales engineer. Homestead farmer, amateur welder, equipment operator, electronic designer, 40 years soldering, husband and father.

  • 25 Posts
  • 104 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 14th, 2023

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  • Fair enough. We have a small house that we keep our ducks in over the summer. They have a nice yard with a small pool. In the winter we have a pen in our chicken house with a separate door and separate small yard where the ducks live. We will the pen with straw and it has a Cozy Coop panel to keep them warm on the coldest nights. The chickens also do a fairly good job of keeping the house warm on all but the coldest nights. They have a pair of Cozy Coop panels up near the roosts at one end of the house and we can stick a little ceramic box heater in there if it gets stupid cold.


  • My wife makes pumpkin pie with a full lard crust from our pigs and duck egg pumpkin custard. I will dig into it hot from the oven and eat it like pumpkin pudding with bits of pie crust floating around on it with a blob of bourbon whipped cream melting on top. It pisses my wife off because the rest of the pie collapses so he always tells me not to touch them until they are cooled. Grrr…

















  • Thanks! I haven’t had any for years because I can’t eat beef. I had always wondered if they could be made with pork but never tried it. I was at a farmers market where a Ukrainian refugee family was selling homemade Ukrainian food and the wind was blowing toward me. I told her I was going to eat one even if it hurt me and she told me they were pork. That sealed it.


  • It’s a pretty standard recipe.

    You’ll need a big lasagna pan.

    Core a Savoy cabbage or two and remove the outer leaves. Cut the stem out of the outer leaves and use what’s left to line the bottom of the pan.

    You’ll need one or two pots to boil the cabbag(es). I scrunch up a big piece of aluminum foil and put it in the bottom of the pot so the bottom of the cabbage doesn’t burn. Add water just to the bottom of the cabbage and put the pot(s) over medium heat and cover. Steam the cabbages until the outer leaves are translucent and tender then take them off the heat and put them on a plate.

    In a bowl mix 3 lb lean ground pork, 2 cups converted rice, 2 little cans of tomato paste, 3 teaspoons salt, a finely diced onion, a couple of tablespoons each of basil and oregano, a teaspoon of garlic powder, and a teaspoon of black pepper. Mix with your hands until well blended.

    Turn your oven on to 350.

    Take small handfuls of the filling and form them into small turds. Place the turd on the center of the thin end of the leaf, half roll them then bring in the leaf from both sides and finish rolling. Once you have an overlap cut what’s left off the leaf and put it in the pan lined with leaves. Fill the pan in one or two layers until all of the filling is used up. Full the pan with tomato juice until the rolls are covered. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and put it in the oven. Leave it in the oven for an hour then check on them. Use a thermometer to probe several rolls and make sure they are all over 160 degrees. When they’re all up to temperature check one to see how the rice is coming. When the rice is cooked they are finished and ready to eat.

    Sorry, it’s an old family recipe. The measurements are loose. I just throw a palm full of basil and oregano into the mix. I’m estimating actual measures.


  • I do not. We have a chamber vacuum sealer for our farm. I bought 1,000 of those 5x7 bags for making up spice packs. I included a scoop of reduced tomato juice in each one to keep them moist when they are reheated. Authors chamber vacuum dealers you can seal liquid which is really helpful. I can’t eat a lot so one is normally enough. My wife hates them so I make them when she is away and freeze them. I can get away with reheating one or two but the house smells like a giant farted in here when I’m making them.