Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Layered Popsicles

It's summer and it's really hot out and you have a Popsicle maker but you have no idea what to put in it.  Here's a great recipe that we I figured out through trial and error.



INGREDIENTS

    Fruit Salad Ice Pops
  • 1 nectarine, cut into 1/2-inch slices (1/2 cup)
  • 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
  • 3 ounces blueberries (1/2 cup)
  • 4 ounces strawberries, hulled and halved ( 3/4 cup)
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups 100 percent any juice


    DIRECTIONS

    1. STEP 1

      Arrange some of each fruit in eight 3-ounce ice-pop molds, making sure pieces fit very snugly. Pour enough juice into each mold to just cover fruit. Insert ice-pop sticks and freeze until solid, 6 hours (or up to 2 weeks).
    I used white grape juice so I could see the fruits!  

Friday, July 19, 2013

New York- Museum Animals

I had my little nap, feeling better now!  So, on the first day, we went to the Museum of Natural History which is great for everyone!  I am just going to show you my favorite exhibit, if I showed you all of them, trust me, you would already be tired from just looking at the pictures.  This is the African Animal exhibit, personally one of my favorites like I said earlier.  Hopefully you'll like at just as much as me!  Don't worry these are fake animals, they aren't being held captive.
Gazelle, one of the more common animals in Africa


Okapi very rare to see due to for one, they are nocturnal, and are very nervous

Gorillas are very rare due to hunting, very friendly

Gemsbok, well adapted to life in arid regions, survive
in drier areas of southern Africa


Stable Antelope, another endangered animal, again due to hunters


Greater Koodoos are deer like animals, have the same traits as well



Just what it looks like in East Africa

More animals are in East Africa because over in West Africa, hunters, led all the animals to their deaths, there are very very few animals left in West Africa.  If you are touring Africa and you want to see animals, go to East Africa, such as Kenya.  



Airplanes....zzzzz

  Hello guys, sorry for the super late post!  I've been a little bit jet-lag due to going from San Francisco to the East Coast.  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys that I've decided last minute to do a little road air-trip from San Fran to the East Coast.  So, while you guys were doing some gardening, picking your tomatoes, collecting your farm fresh eggs, I was sleeping.....in an airport......we arrived 2 hours early for the flight doing nothing, I couldn't blog because there was no internet access, NOT EVEN AT THE HOTEL, they had no internet.  This whole week I'm going to try to catch up with blogging.  Just for now I'm going to need some sleep, im reaaally *YAWN* Sleeeppppppppppppyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...........................

Friday, July 12, 2013

Petting Zoo

        Petting Zoos at fairs or at zoos are always a fun activity to do, children of all ages just LOVE petting zoos. The petting zoo at the fair was more "exotic."  I say exotic because, when have you ever seen pigs, wallabies or deer at petting zoos.  The deer were really funny, if you were wearing a thin piece of clothing or a dress of some sort, they would start to chew on it.  The goats, were so adorable, if you had food in your hand, they would jump up and try to "perform tricks" for you.  They had little pot bellied piggies that were so funny!  All they did was eat, and lift their heads up to breathe, and when you pet them, you would here a little OINK!  

        To save a little bit of money at petting zoos, saving money I mean by not having to buy $10 feed for one handful, most people drop the food when giving it to the goats.  I do that as well!  All of the feed on the ground goes to waste!  The goats don't eat it because, they have been so domesticated in the petting zoo, the feel as if, when they get treats, humans have to give it to them.   Man, the luxurious life the goats get.  So anyways, just get your little ones to pick up the little pellets (hopefully they don't mistake it for goat droppings)  Also, if they have alfalfa hay in little containers, you can kinda shove your hand in the bale and grab the innards, the insides because, goats love that part better than the outside.  

        I hope you bring your children to your local petting zoo!  Trust me, your children will have so much fun.  They can stay there for HOURS!  Have fun!
 Below are just some of the cute little animals that we saw in the petting zoo!





"FOOD!!!!"

BAMBI

Wallaby! NOT a kangaroo


Small Animal Shows

Well, it's fair time down over in west bay area, and I wanted to share with you some of the beautiful chickens and rabbits the 4-H club and the FFA club have shown, and boy are they beautiful.
A Beautiful Rhode Island Red

Charming weathen Ameracauna

A Weathen Ameracauna Cockerel


Cute little chicken



Polish, LOVE the 'fro














Mr. Wabbit is Sleepy





Saturday, July 6, 2013

Coit Tower Murals

  While I was in the Coit Tower, there were lots of great murals relating to harvesting of fruit and vegetables. I just would love to share them with you!








Tomorrow, I'll be showing you the county fair we went to

Happy Belated 4th of July!

What did you guys do over 4th of July?  Well, since we were on the west coast, we decided to go have a romantic dinner in wine county, NAPA.  My was it a sight to see, the grapevines were so amazing!  The wine, of course was great; the food,  man was that good!  We also got to set off some little firecrackers and these things called strobe flowers.  The strobe flowers were pretty awesome!  So first, you light the twine, then once it's lit, it will turn spin around really fast and emit different colored sparks.  The coolest thing was, while you were buying the fireworks, you helped support local schools!  Now that's some good karma.  What did you guys do?  Did you set off fireworks?  Plant some new crops?  I would love to hear about it in the comments!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Coit Tower

Today we went to sightseeing at the Coit Tower which was so beautiful!  The sight was amazing up there, unfortunately though, I am so stupid I forgot to take pictures at the top of the tower.  Anyways, amazingly, even thought we were in the city, there were still lots of flora near the Coit Tower.  So much that I could barely even get a picture of the tower!  Going to the top of the Coit Tower, my was exhausting, then going down!  Man by the time I finished walking up and down the stairs, my legs already got cramps, and we still had to walk around!  On the top of the tower, you could see all of San Francisco!  My, was it a sight to see!  I wanted to go at night so we could see San Francisco at night but, we didn't want to get lost so we stuck to going in the daytime.  If you're ever visiting San Francisco, I highly recommend you go to the Coit Tower, there is so much to see!  Tomorrow, I will show you the beauties in the inside of the Coit Tower!


Overlooking San Francisco.  (not on the Coit Tower)

Monday, July 1, 2013

Cattail...is it edible?



   

   I am assuming most of you have been on a hike, while on a hike to wherever you're going you always are wondering is this plant edible?  Can I bring it back home and eat it?  Well, I sure do that a lot.  From always being the Curious George I am, I always ask questions like, is this edible?  What parts?  Well, from what I've learned, cattails are edible!  If you don't know what a cattail looks like, it typically looks like a hot dog on a stick!  When the cattail starts to pollenite, the cattail pollen is actually edible and is used just like your everyday flour.  The pollen is a yellow color and should look like the picture to the right.  If you have friends or family that have a gluten-free, you can substitute it and use the pollen instead.  All you have to do is snip it off and wrap a plastic bag over it and start shaking until most or all of the pollen comes off!  Here's a good little recipe for cattail pancakes!


 RECIPE

1C cattail pollen
2 tsp baking powder
1 C milk (reconstituted can be used) or use buttermilk with additional 1/2 tsp soda
1 egg or egg substitute
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp oil

Mix dry ingredients, then add milk and oil. Mix only until moistened. Heat griddle or pan until water drops sizzle. Pour batter on the hot griddle. Turn pancakes when they are full of bubbles, just before they break. Serve hot. Makes 10 four inch pancakes.