Spring Thing

This week at The Acre, we see signs that spring is near. Tulips have popped out of the ground, along with rhubarb and strawberry plants.
Kind of working backwards from this weekend to last, we added fruit trees to our farm. Last year we planned to add plum trees, but we waited too long to pick them up for some reason. When we did go to buy them, everyone was sold out. This week we stopped in Tractor Supply to visit the chicks, and walked out with $70 dollars worth of rhubarb, asparagus, and plum trees.

Every year we like to try one new thing in the spring. This year we bought a fig tree and a Kiwi bush. Cupcake asked "what do you do with figs?" and Big Man's first thought was "figgy pudding." We will need to find a recipe for figgy pudding before the tree starts to produce. But we are sure we are the first kids on our block to have a fig tree. Same goes for the kiwi plant.
Next, we noticed signs of spring. The rhubarb is beginning to emerge from the ground, along with strawberry plants. So either mother nature has pulled the trigger too early, or it's about to warm up.

A couple of food related notes this post. First, Philly cheese steaks. We found a type of meat that really fries up well. Much better than brand name sandwich steaks. We try to have them at least once every two weeks.

Fried on a cast iron griddle, of course

Onions and peppers, fried up in bacon grease to top the sandwich

Smoked chicken, with glazed carrots from the garden. We canned them up for a special occasion, this week was it.

Our two or three regular followers know that we always have chicken wings on Sunday, and with the wings we have "Good-er-er rolls" as Jacob named them. Last weekend we forgot to re-supply the rolls, and ran out. So, Cupcake sprang in to action and made home made pretzels to go along with the wings. Man, they were sooo much better. An extra special treat for us.

And speaking of Jacob, folks may remember we posted he joined the fire department. The past couple of weeks, members of the station house Jacob works out of, lost family members. Jake has attended the funerals in his dress uniform to represent the station house.

Notice the military sharp creases in the sleeves? That's Big Man's Army training, and twenty five years of uniform setting up, right there. A trait that will be passed along to Jacob. "If you're going to wear a uniform, you're going to know how to set it up right"
To end the week, we once again go out with chicken wing Sunday. We added a new frier to the appliances, so next week we will be showing off the results. See you then.
K&K