Submitted by Kaare Askildt, former Preeceville area farmer in training. This one of a series on getting settled in Hazel Dell.
Yahoo! The garden is in, as in all the potatoes are planted, and so are the peas, onions and garlic! And then the rain came. The timing was perfect. We have two garden spots, and I used my 4020 to provide both spots with nice clean sheep manure compost, and then Marion did the rest. I thought that was a very good labour split, I sat and drove the tractor and she knelt down and did the planting. She sure took her time! I was done long before she was! It's hard to get good help these days.
Marion is mounting new eaves around the house. She trusts me enough to stand in the tractor bucket with a section of the eave, all the required hardware and the tools, and then I lift her up to where she wants to be. So far so good. She's doing a great job, but there are still a few sections left to go.
Our dog Lady loves to be outside, playing, exploring and watching us work. I noticed the other day that she was chasing a small swallow, one of the pair that is nesting in our rafters. The bird swooped up and down over Lady, and Lady chased after the bird, then as a farewell shot, the bird dropped a "bomb" out of her rear end! It missed Lady, and as she sat down and watched the swallow fly away, I thought to myself, "good thing that cows cannot fly, because that would have been a big mess!"
Every year we look at that swallow nest in the rafters above our front door, and discuss the fact that we should get rid of it after the little chicks have got their wings and flown the nest. But there is something about short term memory as we get older, so we forget to do it, only to be reminded at this time of the year by bird droppings and sing songs. So if there are any special gourmet chefs out there, then please come and get the nest this fall to make "Bird's Nest Soup!" For those brave chefs that would like to try, here is the recipe fresh off the internet:
Swallow's Nest Soup With Rock Sugar
Cook Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Ingredients:
2 ounces bird's nest
7 to 8 tablespoons crushed rock sugar, or to taste
4 cups water
Preparation:
Prepare the bird's nest: soak it in cold water for several hours or overnight. Rinse well. Go over the nest and pick out any loose feathers.
Boil the bird's nest twice: Bring a pot of water to boil and simmer the bird's nest for about 5 minutes. Again, rinse well and squeeze dry.
Place the bird's nest in the pot and add the water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the bird's nest is quite soft (up to 2 hours). Add the rock sugar, stirring to dissolve. Serve the soup hot.
Note: You'll want to save this for a special occasion. A bird's nest is rumored to be an aphrodisiac. Bon Apetite!
Ole and Sven went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate Ole's good fortune winning the lottery. The waiter saw them coming a mile away, and decided to have some fun. The waiter presented them with the menus, and let them know about the various specials. Both pea soup and roast beef were on the specials list, so Sven asked the waiter: "What's the difference between roast beef and pea soup?" "Well, for starters," said the waiter, "anyone can roast beef!"
Ole and Sven decided to be daring and start with Swallow's Nest Soup, which the waiter served with flair. Ole tasted a spoonful of the soup, grimaced and said to the waiter: "Hey! This soup tastes like dish water!" "That's interesting," said the waiter, "how would you know that?" Then Sven tasted a spoonful, made a strange face and said to the waiter: "Hey! This soup tastes funny!" "Wow," said the waiter, "then why aren't you laughing?" Ole decided to get back at the waiter, and said: "No, no, this soup is spoiled!" "Who told you?" inquired the waiter. "A little swallow!" said Ole. (Get it? A little play on birds, eh, words).
Lars and Kari had a little boy named Per, but Per wouldn't speak. They were baffled and took him to the doctor. The doctor was also stumped, and suggested that perhaps they should consider some speech therapy. Then finally one day at the dinner table, little Per said: "My soup is too cold!" Lars and Kari became ecstatic, smiled at Per and asked: "Why haven't you spoken to us before now?" Per smiled back and said: "Because the soup was never too cold before."
OK, OK! Stop groaning! Here is one more. It was Hjalmar's birthday and he and Knut were having lunch. Hjalmar had brought with him a large silver plated vacuum flask, which he proudly put on the table. He was waiting for Knut to ask him about it, but Knut said nothing. They finished their lunch and were about to leave when Knut suddenly asked: "What is that?" and pointed to the vacuum flask. "My wife gave it to me for my birthday," beamed Hjalmar, "it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold." "Really," said Knut, "so, what did you put in it?" "Hot soup and ice cream!"
