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”
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:
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