Best little landscaper

At the end of spring, the edge of our yard was thick with growth. It was a warm winter, rainy spring, and our woods thickened up with all that richness. Green was aplenty.

(to see the full picture, click on it. The blog only shows a portion.)

So were the snakes! One day, I came to add the kitchen scraps to the compost (on the right of the photo below) and there was a big black king snake camped out under some brush. I was likely 6ft, but I didn't hang out long enough to measure! They're not poisonous, but I'm sure they'd like some chicken eggs out of my coop near by, and they will bite which I don't want happening with the kids who get the eggs and take the compost most days. The brush by the compost was as thick as the first picture, right up to the compost box. Like a wall.

The day I found the snake that close to where the kids frolick, was the day this city girl decided to get a goat.

Loki has been a surprising addition. He has even been loaned to the neighbors a few times to chew down some brush. Maren remarked about how much easier he was to walk to their house on a leash than the dog was that we used to have. Despite her begging, I think I've managed to convince her that goats don't like to go for a walk on a leash every day!

And he has earned his keep. He cleans up an area of saplings and vines, even poison oak and poison ivy. Then I cut down the bare remains, and move him further. He has cleaned up the edge of the yard that was thick with brush, to now having the floor of the woods cleaned up 30 ft back! Big difference!

As fall approaches, so do coyotes, so I am in the process of building him a pen for the winter. 4x4 fence posts have been set 2ft deep, and this chick poured concrete yesterday. Gotta stay well rounded ;) once the cement dries, the wire pen will go up, and I can't wait until it is finished with the cute picket gate that James is making. I'm loving putting down roots, and this journey that it is taking me on.

Tomatoes a plenty

There have been tomatoes overflowing from various generous people, So I happily made one of my favorite snacks. "Sun" dried tomatoes. In my oven. And it's so simple!

I'm not sure which variety tomatoes I had, but they were likely Better Boys, or Beefsteak. But you can do this with any variety of tomatoes. Just slice them, single layer a non stick pan, and set your oven to 190 *F.

If you have a convection oven, it will take 4-5 hours. Regular oven will take 8-9 so you can easily do this over night. Smaller pieces will dry quicker than larger, so I would check it around 6 hours and see if any are ready to be taken out. When they're no longer juicy, and are a lot like fruit leather, they're done! Easy, right?

There's several ways you can store them. I like to pack a small jar as full as I can, then cover with extra virgin olive oil. This will need to be stored in the fridge. Olive oil will get firm in the fridge, like butter, but plucking a few of these out and tossing them in an omelet make for a delicious breakfast! If you're familiar with using a pressure canner, follow the directions for storing tomatoes. Or you can vacuum seal them and toss in your freezer for up to a year.

I used about 1/3 cup of my jar from the fridge to make some sun dried tomato hummus, the kids raved with approval at lunch today.

My basic hummus recipe is:
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas) drained, but reserve 1/3 cup liquid for recipe. Add to a food processor or blender with:
1/4 tsp minced garlic, or two small cloves pressed through a mincer.
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 & 1/2 tbsp tahini (think peanut butter, but it's sesame seeds.)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil.

That's it. But if you're using the sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil, then just omit the oil from the recipe, the tomatoes will give you plenty! For this hummus, I added 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

Let me know if you try it, and what you paired it with! Happy healthy eating :)