Two more rovings for the market

Violet-Cornflower-Navy

Plum-Coral-Russet

Easy care flock

Somerhill Lucerne

Llwygy X1 daughter out of Somerhill Rowan (Loyalty x Laird)

Japanese Lamb Curry

1 russet potato, peeled and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped
10 mushrooms, sliced
4 large onions, thinly sliced
1 T butter
1 tsp. salt
2 lb lamb, cut into cubes
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Flour
1 T. vegetable oil
1 T. butter
2 garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
1 T. curry powder
2 T. tomato paste (or ketchup)
1 c wine
2 c water
2 c beef broth
2 bay leaves, cut in half
¼ c apple sauce
1 Japanese curry roux
2 T milk
1 T. Worcestershire sauce

Cut vegetables. Parboil carrots until they are 80% cooked. In Dutch oven or large pot, heat butter on medium low heat and add onion and salt. Occasionally stir and sauté until onion is caramelized. It will take about 1 hour. When liquid is gone, make sure to keep stirring and scrape the bottom of the pot.

Meanwhile, sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of lamb pieces. Then sprinkle flour on top and coat with the flour. Remove excess flour. In a cast iron skillet, heat oil and butter on high heat. Add the lamb but do not crowd the skillet. Do a second batch if necessary. Cook until browned.

When onion is caramelized, add garlic, ginger, curry powder, and tomato paste. Sauté for 2 minutes.
Add the lamb into the Dutch oven and pour in wine. Cook until alcohol/liquid is evaporated.
Add water and broth and bring it to a boil. Add bay leaf, apple sauce, and cook for 2 hours.
Add vegetables and cook until potatoes are soft (carrots should be 100% cooked by now).

Now add the roux. Use a ladle or spoon to help dissolve the roux. From this point, you have to make sure you don’t burn the curry! Mix well and keep scraping the bottom of the pan with wooden spoon. If the curry is too thick, add water to dilute.  Add milk and Worcestershire sauce and cook on low heat until everything is mixed well.

Serve curry with rice.



President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving – more 200 years after the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, in 1621. However, the holiday wasn’t declared an official national holiday until 1941.



Updated baby pictures

These are Ti Kita and Hi-Jinx baby French. 
2 REW, 2 cream, 1 lilac tort, 1 blue tort.  The creams are different
shades, so I think one is a lilac based, and one is blue based. 

These are Maybelline and Macgiver's babies.  They are all chocolate agoutis.

Dickens Victorian Christmas is back in Cambridge

This is the window in the Penny Court in downtown Cambridge.  Once again, the village has been invaded by hundreds of manikins dressed in victorian garb, posed in vignettes depicting life in Charles Dicken's England.  Penny Court is an antique mall housed in the former JC Penney's department store on the main street in town, Wheeling Ave.  Several of the local businesses have begun decorating their windows in the Dickens spirit, carrying on the theme of the Christmas season.

Lancaster Rabbit Show Sunday

Oleander, my REW French Angora doe picked up her second leg at the show yesterday.  She was BOS  to the best of breed white buck my friend Tina showed.   We had a pretty nice show; 13 English, 13 French, and 11 Satin Angoras were shown.  None of my Satins placed, which is not a big surprise, considering I took a plucked buck, a clipped doe, and 2 babies.  :^)  My friends Nikki and Annette both got legs on their rabbits, so it was a good day for them, and fun for all of us. 

It was Tina's birthday, and Jenna baked a cake and brought it to the show as a surprise.  What a good friend!

Tim

Timmy's motto:  Never stand when you can sit; never sit when you can lie down.

Rabbit Breakfast Sausage

1 dressed and boned rabbit , cut up
2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp rubbed sage
1-1/4 tsp white pepper
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 c finely chopped peeled tart apple
2 T canola oil

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In a food processor, process the mixture in small batches until coarsely ground. Stir in apple.
Shape into 16 patties, 3 in. each. Heat oil in a skillet; cook patties over medium heat for 5 minutes on each side or until sausage is browned and meat is no longer pink.

Christmas ideas for the market

Thanks, Annette, for the idea for these cute little yarn ball Christmas ornaments.

New Satin Angora babies

Somerhill Maybelline had her kits during the night, sired by SWF Macgiver. They are wellfed and sleepy. I think all six are chocolate agoutis. ONe "might" be a chocolate.

Somerhill Xalt

Xalt is breeding the ewes I got from Kathy at Potosi this fall. He is an X1 son out of Somerhill Bess, who is a Carryhouse R1 daughter out of a Loyalty daughter.

Xalt is in the center behind the tall ewe.

Fall colors roving

This is my favorite - of course!

Somerhill Baton Rouge

She is 7 months old now, and turning into a real beauty!  A black tort.
I took this photo, and clipped her down.  The thought of breeding her is tempting.....

Tunisian Merguez patties

1 lb. ground lamb
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T. minced flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. paprika
1⁄2 tsp. ground coriander
1⁄2 tsp. ground cumin
1⁄4 tsp. ground fennel seed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄2 cup yogurt
8 leaves basil, roughly chopped
Chopped tomatoes, red onions, and cucumbers, for serving
Flat bread, for serving

Add 2 cloves garlic, harissa, parsley, paprika, coriander, cumin, fennel, salt, and pepper to the ground lamb. Divide lamb mixture into 8 portions and form the portions into 3"-wide patties. Heat 2 T. oil in a 12" cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add lamb patties and cook, turning once until browned and still slightly pink, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer merguez to paper towels; set aside.
Meanwhile, stir together remaining garlic and oil, yogurt, and basil in a small bowl to make a sauce; season with salt and pepper. Serve merguez on a platter with sauce, chopped vegetables, and flat bread.

Ti Kita's new babies.

These were born yesterday.  She is a blue tort, and the sire, Hi-Jinx, is a cream.  There are four that look like they will be dilute torts, and 3 that are light colored I am hoping are creams and not REW.   They are like popcorn in the nest - leaping into the air. 

Satin Angora Juniors

Somerhill Mardi Gras, chocolate JR doe from Maximo and Virichic.  Her baby coat was clipped.

Somerhill Tiger Eye (chocolate agouti buck) and Somerhill Moulin Rouge (red doe) from Maximo and Safari

I'll be showing these 3 this fall.  Ducat has a killer body!

Buddy and Tim

Somerhill Xcite at 7 months

An X1 son, out of Somerhill Collette, who carries Jamie and Ebony Boy blood.

Somerhill Xcel at 7 months

An X1 son out of Somerhill Adagio, daughter of Gwystedd Jamie

Somerhill Xact at 7 months

X1 son out of Somerhill Wilkie, a triplet daughter of Barlaes Titus

New Rovings

I've been working on some new rovings using the white BFL roving I have in stock. These are 2 of the ones I've done this week. The fall colors one - which I LOVE - is already at the market. I also have a plum blend, but the camera picks it up as blue.

View out the kitchen window

I love it when the flock is in the pasture to the east of the house. I enjoy looking out kitchen window and seeing all the beautiful shining white sheep against the rich green grass. It takes 2 photos to get all the flock. Dear Penn has to be in both photos.

Rabbit Fingers

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE:
1½ cups mayonnaise
¼ cup honey
2 tbsp. roughly chopped dill
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. dry mustard powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

FOR THE RABBIT FINGERS:
2 lb. rabbit meat, cut into 3"-long-by-1"-wide strips
1 T sugar
1 T kosher salt
1 T freshly ground black pepper
1½ tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. dry mustard powder
1 c flour
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups finely ground fresh breadcrumbs
Canola oil, for frying

INSTRUCTIONS
To make the dipping sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise with the honey, dill, mustard powder, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, and stir together until smooth; set honey-dill dipping sauce aside.
To make the rabbit fingers: In a medium bowl, toss together rabbit, sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and mustard; set aside. Place flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs in 3 separate shallow dishes; set aside. Pour enough oil in skillet to cover bottom, heat to medium hot. Working in batches, coat rabbit in flour, shake off excess, and dip in eggs; coat in breadcrumbs. Fry rabbit until golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining rabbit. Serve with dipping sauce.

Somerhill Ti Kita

Ti Kita lived with my friend, Tina, for about a year. Tina showed her and got her 3 legs needed for a championship, and also had a litter of bunnies. Now she has come back home to me, and I will get her registered and granded, and then she will raise some beautiful babies. Ti Kita is a blue tort French Angora. She is a daughter of Marinette, granddaughter of Voodoo.

Waiting for Dr Wilden

We had our annual scrapie certification inspection this morning. The federal vet comes out and checks ear tags and then goes over our records to be sure all sheep are accounted for. We're a Certified Scrapie Free flock now. These are the 6 ewes we got from Kathy last month. They are still in quarantine, so are kept in a separate area about 1/2 a mile from the rest of the flock.
It was a beautiful morning for working outside on top of the hill. I was sorry to have to get cleaned up and head in to work.