write a letter, get a letter

I was looking through the various blogs to which i am subscribed, looking for something interesting to read this morning, while having a little breakfast.  The pickin's have been slim lately.  It seems like there is little writing happening, and thus, little reading.

Then i remembered, "if you wanna get a letter, write a letter."

So this is me, writing a letter, sort of.

I had planned to share the beef and cabbage recipe with you, sans pictures.  But my husband bought the makings for it again (apparently he liked it), so i'm going to wait and take pictures while i prepare - and then share.  Good enough?  Hint:  it's just cabbage and beef.  It's not really even a recipe.  But it's really good.

Instead i can share with you some updates in the world of hunting and gathering and farming.

We picked something like 5 quarts of wild black berries (a.k.a. dewberries) on Thursday.  Last night, i made a cobbler with some of them, but i won't share the recipe because it seems rather un-cobblerish.  I will have to try again.

We were going to dig free potatoes yesterday, but then it stormed.....mightily, and potatoes were unavailable because of all the hail in the way.  Hopefully, we will be able to remedy that situation in the very near future.

My baby chicks did not try to drown in this latest storm.  This time their little mama did her job.  She was very wet, but the babies were dry.  Way to go, mama hen.

We've tried to go fishing - well, we have gone fishing, but the fish we caught were a bit small for our fileting skill level (and probably in the eyes of the game warden) to keep.  On Sunday, i bought a lure that looks very much like something i used to use out of my dad's tackle box, so i am hoping for better results next time.  I might even to get a little fishing in today before Bible Study.  The place where we fish is in the same neighborhood as where we have Bible Study, so that makes it easy.

After the storm yesterday, there was a concern that all the nice blossoms on our garden plants might be damaged, but upon inspection, there are even new blossoms we hadn't noticed before.  Yippee!

I did put down my injured hen at the end of last week, and she will be dinner later this week.

Disturbingly, my chickens have all but stopped laying eggs.  I am praying over them and assuming that they are having a hard time adjusting to the sudden onset of summer.

One of those hens is sitting on 13 eggs (which took me four days to collect).  Her hatch is already sold to a co-worker of my husband's, who will buy whatever she hatches, to raise for food.  That will help pay for feed.

If anyone who lives near me is reading this, i have chicks and laying hens for sale, and i would like to sell them sooner than later.

Our bunnies are still sitting on the picnic table, eating.  They are still not fulfilling their purpose (making babies).  That's our fault, not theirs.  We still haven't managed to get a buck for them to breed with.  All this time, they've been here, they could have had two litters each by now.  We have a neighbor who offered to let us use his buck to breed our does, but sadly, we don't know his last name, his phone number, or where he lives.  I'm really hoping he'll stop by again soon.  Maybe we should stay home for a few minutes, so we'll know he stopped by, and we'll be able to talk to him.  Maybe.

Also, i have learned how to identify a plant called smilax, which is good for eating.  I'm hoping to collect enough to serve for dinner one evening.  Won't my darling be surprised.

That's it for the current hunting, gathering, farming report.

Now y'all start writing, so i can read something too.