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
The Kitchen's Garden 
104 responses to “In my kitchen and Sheila the Babe comes today”
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