This and That

There hasn't been too much excitement on the ranch lately. Snow, some rain, and one sunny day in the middle of it all. Brian has been putting up snow fence this week in the Tuscarora Mountains on the far end of the ranch. The snow fence really isn't for snow, but it goes up every spring, and comes down every fall, so the snow doesn't destroy it in the winter. It still is in pretty bad shape though and needs lots of help. Yesterday it rained most of the day at Squaw, but Brian was in snow flurries most of the day. He didn't have more than about 30 feet of visibility.

I ended up going into town in Winnemucca yesterday with Ricarda and her 2 kids. I'm putting up a picture of the truck just because it was clean, and just one round trip from squaw to lower clover, on a rainy day, made it super muddy. I think I need to washthe truck today. (or maybe it will rain again and wash it for me).

The most interesting thing for me this week has been in the kitchen. Monday night Brian said, "you know what I haven't had in a while, is chocolate covered doughnuts with str

awberry filling". So I felt obliged to accept the challenge. If you can

have "healthy" doughnuts, these were them. I haven't made doughnuts since I was about 12, and I had to fudge on a bunch of the ingredients. The only flour I keep around is our fresh ground hard red winter wheat, so yes, they were whole wheat doughnuts; made with organic flour, organic skim milk, organic shortening, and since I don't have white sugar, honey. They were fried in organic sunflower oil and filled with my mom's homemade strawberry freezer jam. The chocolate topping was melted semi-sweet chocolate chips, thinned with organic skim milk. And yes, they were very good. I was pretty proud of myself. Although, the ones left by Tuesday night weren't as good, they really needed to be eaten fresh.

Last night, Brian did it again. Since I had gone to town, he asked if I brought him back anything special, like peanut butter cups (his favorite candy). He was so disappointed to find out that I hadn't, so I tried making some. I had no recipe, so this was really "winging it". Fortunately I had just roasted some peanuts and made fresh organic peanut butter on Monday. I added a little salt and honey for the filling, shaped them, then covered them with melted dark chocolate, again thinned with a little organic skim milk, and put them in the freezer for 20 minutes. Oh, yum! Again, if you can have healthy peanut butter cups, these were them. No added preservatives, chemicals, stabilizers, etc...... What Brian didn't eat last night he's taking in his lunch today.

There are a few interesting blogs brewing about old mine shafts, an old cabin, the aspens in the mountains, and more on the "town" of Midas. I just need pictures, and fuller stories to make it worth the read......

Oh yes, and this week I was introduced to Rocky Mountain Oysters. I didn't try them, and have no intention to. Just watched others eat them. Completely gross. If you don't know what they are, google them.