In my kitchen and Sheila the Babe comes today
It is dawn of June the 1st here. Celia over at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial has a little tradition of greeting the new month with a look at some of the new bits and pieces in her kitchen. And she very kindly invites us to do the same. As we are still waiting for Daisy to do anything exciting, here are a few of the things in my kitchen yesterday.
In my kitchen is my kitchen window and the view out of my kitchen window across to the Dairy Mistress paddock is obscured by RAIN!! . Why YES. It is raining. 
Don’t feel sorry for that little forlorn looking cow out there, she likes it cool and wet.
In my kitchen yesterday was another crockpot research project – caramilising some onions…
…the idea was adapted straight from the pages of The Slow Roasted Italian. The onions had a ways to go yet but turned out melty and perfect about 6 hours later.
This is a lemon squeezer that Our John found in a mates junk shed. Most of us have junk drawers, ‘In Case Of’ drawers my Mother used to call them. My best friend Deb and I call them ‘The Drawers of Goodness’. Anyway most of us have junk drawers but this guy has a junk shed. 
Our John hauled this out of a cobwebby corner, brought it home and presented it to me like a bouquet of flowers. It has cleaned up well and is the best lemon squeezer I have ever had. The juice goes into that base and on the other side is a little spout and it just pours straight out.
A very good friend with a very long memory sent me some golden syrup for all my special New Zealand recipes. I think I may have shown you this before but just in case .. the jar is fast emptying!
Now I know this is probably a wee bit odd but below are my plastic containers. My kitchen is full of them. These are considered garbage at the local store, (they buy potato salad and jello and stuff like that in them) so they throw them away to me. They are a half gallon size and they are the best containers that I have found for free. I use them for collecting eggs, measuring out feed, collecting scraps from kitchens, warming bottles, everything. They come with lids and I encourage you to ask at your local store and see if you can have some. I use the clean ones for freezing tomatoes and stock and soups. They are sturdy so Our John puts holes in them and uses them for plant pots. The uses are endless. 
Perfect recycling! But there is not much else new in my kitchen so let’s go back out to the barn. Thank you Celia.
I had to show you this. The cats and dogs and I were all in the barn most of yesterday due to the lovely but cold rain. Mary’s Cat and a pig devised a game in one of the dark corners of the pig sty. The cat is out of focus as it was a very energetic game.
Can you see the snout? He was poking it through the gate and the cat was batting it. They did this again and again, the pig running in circles in between each bout of play.
Daisy was invited to join us inside, due to her delicate condition. Not looking!
Good morning. The really exciting news is that today I am going over to the swine herds farm, with my little dog crate in the back of the cooking oil car, to collect Sheila The Babe. Sheila the Babe is a 5 week old Hereford Pig. She is about 25 pounds and will be weaned from her mother today so we will bottle feed her diluted cows milk for a wee while. We will be training her and keeping her. She has Pet Status! She will breed a generation of pigs each year, if all goes well. Herefords are known for being a gentle breed of pig. I am hoping to take her over to the retirement home for ‘show and tell’ when she is tamer.
Across the fields, there is a shy hard working teenage girl who lives with her big family, they rent a country house but do not have space for her to raise an animal and she wants to study agriculture. So she will be helping me with Sheila and hopefully using her for her assigned FFA projects at school. She may even show the pig. We will see. Both her parents work, so she needs something to do for the summer. Let the fun begin I say!!
Remember that pressure is OK as long as you pay attention to the pauses. The Farmy is in a Pause until this afternoon. Then excitement again.
Daisy is certainly in a Pregnant Pause.
Good morning. Have a lovely day.
celi
104 Comments on “In my kitchen and Sheila the Babe comes today”
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What a beautiful view from your kitchen window! Love the lemon squeezer and that John is such a romantic. 😉
Have a lovely day! ~ April
Morning April we are still wet and cool so it will be a wonderful grass growing day!! c
Raining here too…we seem to be turning into Seattle! I’m off to go hiking with the dogs. They could care less if it’s raining. The more mud to play in the better. Ha!
Don’t forget your brolly!
LOL! I had to look that up…no umbrella for me (or brolly) just wore a hat. Turned into quite the adventure as I left their British leads at the top and had to turn around and hike back up to get them. But I am thankful that we didn’t run into another moose like we did on Tuesday. 🙂
true!! c
I am loving all of this!
Morning Julie.. hope you get time to watch the peacocks today.. c
Thanks for showing us around your kitchen, Celi! Love the lemon squeezer, and the onions look delicious. I don’t know how we Aussies and Kiwis would ever cope without golden syrup – we certainly wouldn’t be able to make traditional Anzac bikkies! The Lyle one is a new brand to me though – I bought it recently more out of fascination over the illustration at the front (the bees feeding on the rotting lion corpse). You know, I was just thinking today about all the little, seemingly trivial things that make life so much easier in my kitchen. I inherited three plastic colanders from my former neighbour – they had been used for making ricotta in a previous life (the ricotta was sold in the colanders), and we now use them every single day for harvesting bits and pieces from the garden. They’re indispensible! I’m sure your plastic containers have the same sort of status in your house!
Can’t wait to meet Sheila! And how nice that you’ll have some young company soon! 🙂
Isn’t it funny how some of our most precious stuff is recycled or pre loved!! Thank you celia for the ‘In My Kitchen’ page, I am quite pleased with myself for remembering this month!! c
I used to bring home tons of those buckets when I worked at the supermarket. We almost never threw them away…they were re-used in other departments, sent home with customers, or smuggled out by employees…
Can’t wait to meet Sheila! How cool that the Neighbor Girl wants to be involved…
I have asked and asked for the two gallon buckets from the supermarkets but they all say it is against the rules now to give them away, lucky for me i have the local little grocery store who are a little looser about stuff like that but sadly they do not purchase things by the two gallon only the half gallon you see here! So I am still looking for my milk buckets .. I have another lead though and I had better get onto that! c
Your John is quite the romantic. What an absolutely wonderful man to bring you that juicer.
And how kind of you to take the neighbor teen under your wing with that FFA project. I was the first girl to join FFA in my high school back in the 1970s. My niece, who graduated from the same high school last year, recently completed her tenure as the Minnesota State FFA president. Girl power.
Good for you leading the way. There are many more girl farmers now thankfully, I sometimes think the men like the big tractors to grow corn and beans that are inedible but more women grow the food.. c
……All lovely! And the rain is headed our way for the weekend.
Ah so that is where it is going, we have a few dribs and drabs about today but the bulk of it has moved out!! Morning GMom.. c
Congrats on getting Babe. The photo of the lemon squeezer is beautiful.
I love this lemon squeezer, I sometimes wonder who designs such perfect things. Someone made a sketch of this one day and then pushed it through and had it made. It has such a feminine shape i think.. c
Ah, maybe that’s why I think it’s so lovely. I adore feminine shapes, as a rule.
good man.. c
I want your lemon squeezer! Hehe. I love the cat and pig’s game, so much fun on a wet day! That’s so good that you’re able to help out a local land-based studies student, they need as much help as they can get. And they’re a precious resource. 🙂
She is very young and trying out things like a fifteen year old should so I hope she takes to the farm life, it will be fun to have her around.. c
Poor little snout! My cat does the same thing to the dog. I love your posts.
they are funny aren’t they..morning heidi.. c
Great re-cycling post! Looking forward to the arrival of Sheila and the other you-know-who who doesn’t yet (if?) have an name)
Yes I know, it is a rough game! morning viv.. c
Congratulations on a new addition to the farmy family! My new addition may extend to adopting a new cat this week 🙂 haha. Onions in the slow cooker are intriguing… let us know how they turn out!
The onions took a long long time however they needed very little attention and they are melt in your mouth perfect, I added rosemary too which lifted the flavour. c
Sounds fantastic!
That is exactly the lemon squeezer we have. I think we got it from my paternal grandparents. It is indestructible and will last forever. Ours has a thick, molded-metal screen inside that catches seeds and big bits of pulp. Love the shot of Mary’s cat and the pig.
Yes thats the same, isn’t it fantastic. It squeezes those lemons FLAT! I am very impressed. It is one of those things that i hope will last me the rest of my life..so useful and so beautiful.. morning sharyn c
Morning, Celi. I’m sure it will last — ours is on its third generation of people.
Great cat and pig game – two species who are always ready to play! Can’t wait to see Sheila!
Christine
Oh so true, i never thought of that, yes wee Sheila will be a relief pig as we can fall in love with her! morning christine.. c
Much excitement with the imminent arrival of Sheila…and how lovely that your local teenager will be having a hand in her “upbringing” and using her to further her own education. Win, win methinks! Love the lemon squeezer and a very romantic gift – Your John and Big Man clearly went to the same school of “how to woo your woman”!
I could do with the help! and yes wooing women with lemon squeezers! c
Envious of the little pig, but like someone watching a film rather than hands on. The lemon squeezer and Golden Syrup remind me of my kitchen.
One day i am going to come to your house and leave the cutest, sweetest, cuddlist, littlest piggie on your door step, then run like the clappers down the road! Laughing!! Wee wee wee all the way home! c
What a beautiful, and literally pastoral view from your kitchen window! I could feel calm descending upon me just looking at that image. That juicer is magnificent with it’s sculptural quality…a piece of art, so see, John really is a romantic! Cute cat and pig…and now a new addition, can’t wait to see her.
Morning Betsy.. I absolutely agree that the juicer is sculptural.. we could exhibit it under lights… i mean it ,, it sits in pride of place on my counter! c
Good morning, Celi! Can’t wait to see Sheila! As you know, pigs are very smart and, given your Dr Doolittle-like abilities, you’ll have her trained in no time. So nice of you to help the neighbor’s girl with her FFA project. You’re the kind of neighbor all of us wish we had.
More rain today. I know that makes you happy! 🙂
Oh yes john, rain is happiness filled!! so glad you are home again! c
Oh Cecilia, the view from your window is stunning, you live in such a beautiful part of the world. I don’t know why, but I just love cows! The lemon squeezer is amazing… and I love the story behind it. Like Celia, I too use the little plastic colanders that come with ricotta for harvesting veggies from the kitchen garden… and you can never have too many recycled containers!
maybe one of you could post a shot of these colanders I make ricotta after I have made cheese and I think i want one too! morning lizzy! c
I’m so excited for the new piggie!
I hoe she will be too!!! c
What an exciting and fun post C. No guessing which is my favourite picture! Oh and what an awesome lemon squeezer!
Have a happy weekend.
🙂 Mandy
Mary’s Cat says hi!! she will play bat the snout with you anytime! c
😉
What a fun post today…Loved the cat and piggy playing together and that you actually got a photo of them! The onions look yummy…and I thought of an idea for your new, young friend…take her with you to the old folks home…to help with the animals, of course :)…you never know what kind of new friendship might pop up!! Here in my town, we have day care for children in the same facility as the retirement folks and it is a beautiful arrangement. I know she’s not day care age but they might still enjoy each other’s company!!
Have a lovely June~bug!! 🙂
What a completely fantastic idea, maybe we could open a wave of day care centers in old folks homes across the nation .. with piles of pets! i am very impressed with this idea.. and you are right she would make a lovely helper, I shall suggest it to her! she is very shy though… she needs encouragement.. c
How exciting, getting the new pig!
You can’t eat this one Mad, you know that don’t you!! Roger would be appalled.. c
Neat sqeezer from your squeeze!
(how are the oven gloves?!)
I cannot thank you enough for those oven gloves, they are the best,, i am terrified of wearing them out but reach for them more than a dozen times a day, they have their own hook, they are very spoiled.. we should import them to the States, no-one has seen anything like it here.. true!! c
Maybe we should set up a little business!?
true!
i love that lemon squeezer. i can’t tell you how many i have broken but this one looks very sturdy! what exciting news about shiela. i can’t wait to see her. we are getting rain too….woohoo!!!!
rain is so good! morning joyce.. c
Loving your post! Our cat had one ewe should would snuggle with – it was cute. Have a Beautiful Weekend:)
how sweet, our cats sleep with daisy when it is cold,, remarkably clever felines! c
I just l ove Daisy and missed her so :). I love this post. i hope you have an amazing weekend
If I do not have an amazing weekend i fully intend to eat my hat!
I just got a package with the golden syrup in it today! I am making ANZAC biscuits- they never worked with corn syrup!
I enjoyed your post very much Cecilia- thanks for sharing!
Oh I agree completely, anzac biscuits must have golden syrup.. all corn syrup must be banished! c
Thank you for the wonderful view. I have juicer envy.
You would love this one.. I am sure.. but I am not sharing!.. c
The lemon squeezer is so cool my friend 😀
Nice one!
Also how exciting! I cannot wait to see the gorgeous Sheila 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Morning chip.. great shots tomorrow i hope! c
Oh, that lemon squeezer took me back–we had one exactly like it when I was a child. I’m waiting for John to present you with a meat grinder that clamps onto the kitchen table next!
And love love love the cat and pig game.
Oh i desperately want a hand cranked meat grinder.. how did you guess.. c
I’m just so happy to picture Sheila the Babe as a pet! In my mind they are all pets…I play with reality here. 🙂 For many years when my kids were young I tried to get permission to have a Vietnamese potbelly pig as a pet. It never quite came to be, but I do love pigs! Enjoy your rain! Debra
Someone was asking me about potbelly pigs the other day. I bet they are sweet.. never too late you know!! c
After the fascinating look into your kitchen I went over to Fig Jam and Lime Cordial who by the looks of it lives not too far from me. It’s great we can share aspects of our everyday via the virtual world, although you have such a knack of making the virtual seem real & immediate 🙂
It is brilliant isn’t it elladee, until i started blogging i had no idea how incredibly broadening it would be!
You must be the most delightful of all neighbors. Your neighbor girl is going to LOVE having a pig for a friend and the star of her FFA project!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
I do hope so.. she will come to meet her new baby tomorrow.i can’t wait.. c
How marvellous to see the rain falling. I’m sure it is welcome after all the heat. I was so excited to see your lemon squeezer, because I have a similar one, given to me by my father, and I agree about it being the best ever. Quick to use and easy to clean, and using the good old principle of leverage. It’s just the thing for doing lots of squeezing of lemons or limes, all in a row.
Those lemon squeezers are universal,, how amazing! And as you say they so efficient. Morning juliet! c
I’m going to caramelize onions in my crock pot this weekend for grilled cheese sandwiches next weekend. Thanks for the reminder!
YUM.. io never thought of that.. i have enough for cheese on toast tomorrow.. thank you for the idea!! c
John knows how to please his “main squeeze,” hee hee, couldn’t resist! The old tools are the best, aren’t they? Congratulations on getting a pig you can love. It will be fun. As soon as I can manage to download some photos from my camera, I’ll be introducing everyone to our three newest farm members, Prudence, Lilly and Grace (as in, Amazing Grace…) Maybe tomorrow morning, as it’s supposed to pour buckets here.
i would love to see them, if you want to share a link in the comments so i can pop over with some friends!! such suspence!! c
Very much look forward to meeting Sheila, Celi! And the idea of Daisy in a pregnant pause….wonderful…
she may not agree! c
I bought some Golden Syrup this week and could not find any in a glass jar, it is now all plastic somehow plastic for such a traditional and historical ingredient is just not right!
at home in NZ we buy it in a tin, plastic would be just dreadful! well said roz.. c
hi celi!! i don’t know if you read this today but i think you will like this too!
http://mail.aol.com/36210-111/aol-6/en-us/Suite.aspx
joyce
oops! sorry…here is the link:
http://matronofhusbandry.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/bomb-proof-family-cow/
Thank you for the link.. i zoomed over and read it and was comforted.. i love these people.. c
My youngest daughter used to love having a lemon-aide stand set up at the end of the drive; she would have been over the top with joy to have had a “squeezer” like yours.
Poor Miss Daisy…:)
I know.. i feel desperate for her.. c
How exciting! I can’t wait to see a pic of the new piggy.
I like what was in your kitchen, all I had this morning a great big mess. With a busy week it seemed to be accumulating…I hate a messy kitchen
So do I.. so why are they so often so messy!? hmm.. c
The person holding the lemon squeezer wins! I have the screw on the counter meat mincer and a very old wooden ice cream maker bucket 🙂 Laura
Oh I want that ice cream maker!! I win it!! c
Celi, I love that you are working with the neighbor girl to help her in FFA! Question: What do you do with that much caramelized onion? It looks delicious, but I’ve really never had more at one time than would go onto a burger. Baked into a savory pie perhaps? 🙂
~ Lynda
In the end you don’t have more than a jar full, but i have it on everything, steaks, cheese and onion sandwich, crackers and cheese, it is fantastic in gravy.. the steak pie with this onion would be great, as a topping for baked brie is divine.. I love onions.. c
Mmmm… me too, Celi! Thank you for sharing! ~ Lynda
I love the lemon squeezer! The cat and piggy playing together is soooooo cute!
That lemon squeezer is simply my favorite. It looks like it might get up and walk away at any second.
Crockpot caramelized onions are the best! (and so convenient) It must have been fun to watch the cat and pig game. How sweet of you to work with your teen neighbor toward her FFA requirements!
I sat reading your blog and smiled, and smiled and smiled. What an absolute delight. What joy you express in your daily living. Would that more people have this kind of happiness in their lives. Virginia