Last night's storm

Sky after the storm.  The trees were glowing gold, and the air
was pink.  The clouds to the east where the storm was still
raging was a deep lavendar-grey.

To the west after the storm passed.  Is this what they call a
"mackerel sky" ?

We made it through the storm OK, and the power just came back on.  It was off from 6PM to about 10AM.

I was in the rabbitry when it hit. First time I've ever been really scared during a storm. I looked out and the slate roof was blowing off the tractor shed like someone threw a deck of cards. The dirt on the road was swirling slowly. I ran back into the rabbitry, got in a corner, and put a bucket over my head. It was the only thing handy that might protect me if the windows started blowing out.

The barn is OK, and so is the house. We lost a lot of the tractor building roof, and a couple pieces of metal roof off the shed Chuck has been repairing this past week. All the roof he'd repaired held, tho'. The wooden bench on the front porch blew off, across the driveway and caught in the fence. Its broken beyond repair. My concrete sheep blew off the porch, too. Now that is pretty heavy. Several trees along the road either blew over, or the top snapped out of them. A BIG hollow walnut went down. Most the rest are locust, which are so brittle.  

Chuck started the generator this AM and ran the refrig and freezer. I'm so glad the power came back on quickly. We've heard that it could be 3-7 days for some people.

Stir-fried lamb in radicchio leaves

1 head radicchio or iceberg lettuce
1 pound ground lamb
1/2 onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 teaspoon chili flakes
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1/4 cup plum wine or port wine
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
Mint leaves, for garnish

Select 4 to 6 outer radicchio leaves that form a natural cup and set aside. Cut the remaining radicchio head into strips, you should have about 1 1/2 cups.
Mix the lamb with the onion, garlic, ginger, chili flakes, hoisin sauce and salt and pepper, to taste. Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. When really hot, add the peanut oil, and stir-fry the lamb until it is cooked. Add the plum wine and red bell pepper, and cook for another minute or two. Adjust seasoning, if necessary.
Fill radicchio cups equally with radicchio strips. Spoon the lamb mixture into the cups and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Somerhill Scarlet Fever - FS

Scarlet was born 4-10-12 to Red Dragon and Moulin Rouge.  She has a very sweet, docile personality like her mother.   I believe her to be A-bbCCD-ee.   There were torts in the litter of 8, so she may carry self, but I do not believe her to carry dilute. Scarlet is double linebred on AE Maximo, a red buck with long, fast growing wool that maintained correct texture far into adulthood.   She is a nice, clean red color, and good density.  $75.00

Michoacana Stormy Weather

Another new Satin Angora doe, she comes from my friend, Nikki,
and combines Somerhill and Hastings Hill  on her sire's side with
Somerhill and Awesome Angoras on her dam's. 
When she is old enough,  she will be a mate for Silverado.

BBQ Chinese Rabbit Lettuce Wraps

2 cups fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 lb thin sliced rabbit back meat
2 T olive oil
salt, pepper
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 inch ginger root, finely chopped or grated, optional
1 orange, zested
1/2 c  julienne carrot slices

1/2 red bell pepper, diced small

1 c thinly sliced boc choy

1/4 c almond slivers

6 to 8 ounces, sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped

3 scallions, chopped
5 T hoisin sauce
2 tsp chili hot sauce, to taste

1/2 large head iceberg lettuce, core removed, head quartered

Wedges of navel orange -- platter garnish
 
Remove tough stems from mushrooms and brush with damp towel to clean, Slice mushrooms. Chop rabbit into small pieces.
Preheat a large skillet or wok to high.
Add oil to hot pan. Add rabbit to the pan and sear meat by stir frying a minute or 2. Add mushrooms and cook another minute or two. Add salt and pepper to season, then garlic and ginger. Cook a minute more. Grate zest into pan, add bell pepper bits, chopped water chestnuts and scallions. Cook another minute, continuing to stir fry mixture. Add hoisin Chinese barbecue sauce and toss to coat the mixture evenly. Transfer the hot chopped barbecued rabbit to serving platter and pile the quartered wedges of crisp iceberg lettuce along side. Add wedged oranges to platter to garnish. To eat, pile spoonfuls into lettuce leaves, wrapping lettuce around fillings and squeeze an orange wedge over.

Silvery Moon Sundance Kid

 This photo cracks me up - look how close his expression is to his father's on the day I got him.

This is Sundance, who joined us the day that his father, Macgiver, died suddenly and completely unexpectedly.  His mother is Somerhill Virichic.  I'm really happy with him - he has his father's sunny personality, and all of the Somerhill density - WOW, what a coat!

UP WITH BUNNIES!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auIJJ36ilBw

BUNNIES, BUNNIES, BUNNIES!  UP WITH BUNNIES!

Ladue's Silverado

New to Somerhill, Silverado is a Satin Angora junior buck.
He is listed at a chinchilla, but I'm thinking he might be a sable
chin.  I don't have enough experience with the rarer colors of
Satin Angoras to make a call.  Could be brassiness from the rufus
or even sunburn.  We'll see what his adult coat looks like.  No
matter, I love him, and can work with the sable gene to get sables
and sable pearls.  Both lovely colors, and still rare in SA, which
is what attracted me to him.  He does not have the density of Somerhill
rabbits, but has a killer body!  He's also got a very nice personality.

BBQ Lamb Cups

1 pound lean ground lamb
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
1 T dried minced onion
1 (12 ounce) package refrigerated biscuit dough
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees .  Grease the cups of a muffin pan. In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, cook beef until evenly brown. Drain excess fat. Stir in barbeque sauce and dried onion. Simmer for a few minutes over low heat. Flatten each biscuit, and press into cups of the prepared muffin pan. Make sure the dough comes to the top of the pan. Spoon a portion of the meat mixture into each dough cup. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, and bake for 3 more minutes.

Firesong and Scarlet Fever

Here are 2 month old Satin Angora does from Red Dragon and Moulin Rouge's litter.
One is going to Boston, MA, and the other is for sale.  They are $75.00

Wee Phoebes

This is the third year the Phoebes have nested on our back porch.  The first year, she nested under the roof on a ledge.  That was not a good choice, because our constant in and out disturbed her from the nest.  In spite of that, she managed to raise 5 fledgelings.   Last year, she decided to move to the top of the porch roof, under the eaves of the main house.  These are 2 of last year's youngsters.   It looks like they have 4 babies this year.  The nest is getting really crowded, so I think it won't be long before these start flying lessons. 

I got a 2nd place ribbon for this medium plied
skein in the national BFL show competition.
I'm happy to get the ribbon for a keepsake.

I made these for everyone who attended the national BFL show.
Got the idea from my friend, Annette, and then found these cool tiles with the cutout.
  I printed the national show logo onparchment paper, then assembled them.
 They are backed with cork.

Filipino Grilled Rabbit Adobe

4 Rabbit Rear Legs cut from Whole Rabbit Fryers
 1 cup of Soy Sauce
½ cup of Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tbsp Garlic, minced
1 tbsp Ginger, peeled and minced
 1 cup of Water
 1 ½ + ½ cups Coconut Milk
1 tsp  Paprika
1 small Jalapeno, small diced
 1 tbsp Lime Juice, fresh squeezed
Lime Zest for garnish

 Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, ½ cup of the coconut milk, paprika, jalapeno and water in a deep pan or skillet. Simmer the sauce on the stove for 5 minutes.

Carefully lay the rabbit legs in the sauce, and continue to simmer for 20 minutes (flipping the legs about halfway through) until the rabbit is almost completely cooked.

 Meanwhile, preheat your grill. Once the rabbit meat is firm and white, remove it from the pan, and add the other 1 ½ cups of coconut milk to the adobo sauce.

Simmer the adobo until it has reduced to a sauce consistency.  Strain.
Grill the rabbit legs for a couple of minutes (turning as necessary), just until black grill marks and a brown crust have developed.
Stir the lime juice into the adobo sauce, garnish with the lime zest & serve on the side with the rabbit legs.

Arkleby Y1

Arkleby Y1

A friend asked recently who our next AI sire will be.  This is Arkleby Y1, owned by
Martyn Archer, and collected for import a few years ago.  The original shipment was
not viable, but we were able to purchase what straws remained in storage in Scotland
and have them shipped over last year.  This ram has a tremendous hindsaddle; look at
the length from the pins to dock, and how level he is all the way to the dock.  Oh, and
the depth of body!  His daughters will have plenty of room for a full rumen plus a set
of triplets.  All this, and the prettiest head and nice blue coloring.   We'll probably wait
until at least next fall to use him, after I have a number of proven X1 daughters to use
him on.

Llwygy X1

Meet June (June-Bug)

Thinking - probably about how to escape her pen.

Looking innocent - would you ever think somthing that cute
might escape her pen?

Meeting her new "boss".
We lost Beth after 11.5 years of service last
weekend.  A very sad day.  Beth's "pet name"
has always been Bethie-June, so little June
is named for her.  Little June will make the
loss of Chuck's favorite a little easier to bear.

Berbere Spiced Lamb Chops

2 cups whole milk (or goat's milk) yogurt
4 tablespoons berbere spice
 2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 tablespoon lemon zest
½ bunch parsley, finely chopped
½ bunch mint, finely chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
Lamb chops, each about 1 inch thick

In a small bowl combine yogurt, berbere spice, garlic, ginger, lemon zest, parsley, mint and olive oil. Reserve about ¼ cup, and place the rest of the yogurt mixture in a resealable plastic bag with the lamb chops, massaging the yogurt mixture into the lamb. Marinate for 2 days prior to grilling. Grill over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until internal temperate reaches 145˚F (for medium-rare). Serve the chops with the reserved yogurt mixture.
From the American Lamb Board