Wild Rice Meat Pie

     A couple years back my daughter and I went to a "green" fair at The Menominee College in Keshena, WI about 9 miles north of us.  It is on the Menominee Indian Reservation.  For a nominal fee, lunch was served.  "Meat Pie" and "Corn Soup" was served up and cooked from scratch by some fantastic Native American cooks!!

    We were raving about one of the meat pies that was extra special, and didn't that cook sit down with us and tell us just how she made it!  At home, "from my head", I tried to duplicate it.  A few practices later it has become one of my husbands favorite meals. (Although we don't have it often :-)

Making The Wild Rice

4 cups of water

2 cups of wild rice

1/4 tsp. salt

Put it all in a 4 qt. pot.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer for 50 minutes.

Make sure it is a pot with a tight fitting lid, not one with "steam vents".

After you know it's simmering, absolutely no peeking!

This makes enough for two "pies".  I put 1/2 in the freezer till I make another.

Making The Pie Crust (2 crusts)


Mix together 2 cups of flour, 3/4 cup of lard, & 1/2 tsp. salt
with the pastry blender until "pea size".















Add 1 beaten egg, and 3 TBL. cold water.
Mix just until it all holds together.  Use a smidge more water if you need to. 
Divide into 2 balls (shown is 1 crust)



















Roll out the bottom crust.
Don't even worry about making it "perfect" size.
Put it into a 9 x 11 pan.
(Grandson Logan was supervising)

 






















Making The Meat Filling.


Brown 1 lb. of hamburger or venison.



















When hamburger is browned, add 3 cups of water with 
 2 heaping TBL. corn starch mixed in till smooth.
Add 2 heaping spoonfuls of "Better Than Beef" flavoring.
("Better Than Beef" is in the bouillon section of the store.  It's a paste in a jar.)
Add the rice. (1/2 of the recipe)
Now let it all simmer until a gravy is made. (It doesn't take too long.)
Pour it all over the bottom crust.



Add the top crust and prick.
Again, the president isn't coming to supper.
Don't stress over making it pretty.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is brown.




Wild Rice Meat Pie --- Yum!
  Caution!! Wild Rice has lots of fiber!
You're going to want to eat more than maybe you should :-)

 

Eat Your Dandelions

"Dandelion Heaven"
(This is a picture from the past.  There are no dandelions blooming here yet!)

      The medicinal value of dandelion leaf and root is truly remarkable.  In the spring while I am gardening, anytime I come across a dandelion that's in the wrong place, it gets dug up and becomes tea for the day.  It is diuretic, extremely high in potassium, and very good for digestion (it's bitterness gets the gallbladder contracting).



These two dandelions on the edge of the garden became todays tea.



The green leaves were washed and simmered in two quarts of water for 10 minutes.
The burner was turned off and I added two TBL. dried Chaste Tree Berry
and one TBL. dried ST. John's Wort.  Let it all cool.  Strain and drink like
"medicine".  .......I just down it.  I'll drink it all over a day and a half. 
Drink it when you "feel like you put on 5 lbs. of water" .....  :-) .



The roots get washed, quartered, and then chopped very fine.



Put the chopped roots on a plate where you will see it often, so you
can stir it up 3 or 4 times a day for a few days. 
When it is totally dry, store in a glass jar.
When you make tea of the roots, simmer it for 20 minutes.
I use 2 TBL of dried root to 2 quarts of water.
If worse came to worse and I had congestive heart failure but
couldn't get my medicine,  I would drink dandelion root tea.

 




   .....dr momi

The Rat Story

     When I look at my forsythia in bloom, I remember all my kids.  It was a Mother's Day present two years ago.   Thanks guys......love you all.  Perhaps I should have planted it somewhere else around the house......

 .........because when I look at this area of ground I remember the ...."rat story". The rat story took place a year before my beautiful forsythia.  We were just in our new house 1 year.  Landscaping is something I enjoy, so I wouldn't pay anyone to do it for me.  If it took  "years" to finish it all, no big deal.  That spring I was digging holes to plant some bushes.  I remember I was babysitting my young niece.  We were putzing, enjoying the outside.  I dug a hole next to the porch, the shovel went in, and as I was lifting the dirt, there was quick, "rat size" motion, and "something" ran for cover under the porch!  ....oh ya... I screamed!

     Then I looked in the hole.  At least 10 baby rats about 3 inches long were squirming all over the place!  I had just dug a hole straight into a rats nest!!  "Anna, come and look."   "Awwhhh".

     Now, how to get rid of these baby rats and be discreet with my niece.  I didn't want her to have nightmares.  Well, it was discreet, I'll leave it to your imagination.  Oh, but they were gotten rid of!!! :-)

Sunday In Pictures

What do you mean this isn't good for my back?
Future Leader Dog Butsch, 4 months old.







Happy News:  This banty went broody in a five gallon bucket.
She has five duck eggs under her.  Ssshh, she doesn't know it.
Sad News:  Her sister jumped into a bucket of water
(probably to lay an egg) and couldn't get out.  She didn't make it. 
 All rain catching buckets are over turned. 
 A rain barrel will be made this summer.








What is it about a compost pile spread, freshly plowed,
ready to plant garden that is so satisfying?
So full of potential?
(Or is it because there are no weeds right now?)







My Mother's Day present 2 yrs. ago from  the kids.
If the forsythia is blooming does that mean spring is finally here? 
Sure is cold if that's the case!

 







Sleeping Like A Pig

     I thought I killed them.   "I killed the bees and now the pigs!!", was running through my head.  The morning after their first night here, I went to give the pigs breakfast.  This wasn't all that early mind you, maybe 9:30.  I called to them as I came out.  ......I've been practicing my pig call :-).  Nobody moved.  I opened the squeaky door.  Nobody moved.  I peeked in their dog igloo (which they love, but won't fit in for long) and yelled "time to wake up".  Nobody moved.  Did I see them breathing?  I started to panic.  I kicked the side of the kennel four times -- not all that gently.  Nobody moved.  I was distraught now.  I went to the front of the kennel thinking I was going to be pulling dead pigs out, when all of a sudden, deep scared oinks shot out!  I think I actually jumped off the ground!  I scared them and they scared me :-)

     I have never seen an animal sleep that hard before.  You've heard of "eating like a pig"?  Well, I'm coining a new term, "sleeping like a pig".   :-)

Of course, trying to get a picture of them sleeping didn't work :-)
Oh,.....they ended up with names.  Pinky and Gordo.

.....dr momi

Digging Holes

     Ya, so much for digging the holes before my tree/bush order came.  I picked them up this afternoon.  Five Nankin Cherries, five Highbush Cranberries, two Hazelnut trees, two Stanley Plum trees, one Lodi Apple tree, and ten Forsythia bushes.  Six holes are dug (this morning) and I'm dizzy and my knee isn't happy. .......and there was still some frost in the ground closer to the woods!!   My son helped plant the trees when I got home.  Thanks Matt!  Just the bushes left for tomorrow -- not as deep of holes :-)

     Rick put together and dug a hole for my mason bee house.  Let the orchard blossoms begin!  (But not too soon -- another week of low 30's nights is in the forecast!)




My mason bee hive is in place in the orchard. (Thanks Honey!)
The hole right next to it is where I am making a mud patch for the bees
 to plug the holes after they lay their eggs.
Check out my mason bee post under "bees" for more info on them.


 

Frisky's Progeny

Look what I caught a picture of hanging on the bird feeder!
Check out the funny/sad story about Frisky.
http://homesteadingatredtailridge.blogspot.com/2011/02/friskys-gone-er.html

Weaners Are Ready

     No, I didn't misspell weaner.  (I may have misspelled, "misspell" but not weaner :-) Two weaned from their mother piglets, just joined the Redtail Ridge family today.  They are in their pen and secure as I write this. ......chowing down on quake grass roots!

     They have a job to do before they become food.  The job is to clear out another section of land behind the garden that will be used for growing grain to feed all my animals.  I'm taking this sustainability stuff to heart.  I want to be able to produce the food to raise my pigs and chickens and ducks.  Feed prices aren't going down!

     So far the piglets have taken their new job seriously and are rooting away out there furiously.  Man those noses are strong!



Starting at 40 lbs. each, they should be about 300 lbs. this fall.
Welcome to Redtail Ridge piglets!


     I watched the ducks race over to the pigs with their necks stretched long to see who just moved in.  The pigs had their noses to the air to smell who was coming to greet them.  It was so funny to watch.  About 15 feet away from each other everybody went back to grazing/rooting, and the official greeting was over :-) .


.....dr momi

Getting All My Ducks In A Row



Literally I guess too.....
The ducks love "bug finding" in the woods.

     Today "Miss Grey Duck" (she doesn't have a name :-) went broody.  She wanted to sit on the 5 eggs in her nest.  I wasn't ready.  Not enough pens for broody hens -- chicken or duck.  And the chicks growing in the garage needed to get outside.   So, the garage chicks got moved to the duck house today, of course then the ducks needed a  new pen.  .....and I still don't know where the duck can go broody and not be bothered by the others.  I'll have to keep picking up eggs until I'm ready to figure it out.

The chicks are now in the duck shed/pen which is rather open,
so, a garage sale $10.00 dog house is now their brooder.
  It's suppose to be cold and rainy the next few days.

The ducks are now in a temporary pen between the
 "chick shed" and the chicken run.  They don't have a shed but they
always sleep out in the open anyway.   I'm just hoping the fox doesn't make
a trip through the place tonight.

This is how I like to shore up the coop walls so
fox don't try to dig under.  The chicken wire is layed
 on the ground about one foot, and then up the posts.
Unfortunately, I don't have enough rock to shore
up the duck walls for tonight. (I've used a little bit
of "everything else" -- I hope it's enough.)

     When I moved the water tank that the chicks were in, I found the missing chick.  The store didn't miscount....It must have flown out and then got caught in a mouse trap.  Uugghhh.  It was one of the pullets.  The meat chicks wouldn't be able to fly that high. 

     Five ducks, twenty-three meat chicks and 5 pullets (will be layers) all in their new housing.

.....dr momi

Happy Easter!



     After I had this all made up and read it again I started to laugh  ---  if we all get pregnant it's not my fault!!  I mean,.... may we all have new life on our homesteads, and within our souls.  (If my kids get pregnant.....YES!)                         Happy Easter.....He is Risen!!!



.....dr momi