Saturday On the Farm and Simple Scones

white nectarines in a bowl

It’s a quiet Saturday morning on our Queensland goat farm. Massive clouds are scudding overhead, covering up the sun now and then as the wind tosses the branches of the big gum trees out back. It has a lovely stormy feel without the rain or the cold and I love it.

I’m still struggling with a wretched head cold that has been hanging on for dear life for nearly a month now. Thankfully I managed to soldier through this week and get some very important paperwork done for my Australian visa and can now rest without anxiety, happily curled up with good books, inspiring blog posts, and a few new movies from the library. 🙂

The book I’m most excited about reading is “Coins in the Fountain” published by my friend Judith Works. I have been reading Judith’s blog for a while now, and her brilliant, honest and observant writing never fails to pull me in to whatever she is writing about. I’m really looking forward to reading of her experiences living and working in Rome. If this sort of story interests you too, you can buy the Kindle version on Amazon for only $3.99 (click here) or visit her blog (click here) or Facebook page (click here).

My other great happiness this week was finding white nectarines at the market!!! They are my most favorite Spring fruit and these are tiny they are absolute beauties, juicy and flavorful. I can’t get enough of them. 🙂

white nectarines in a bowl

Most mornings we eat something egg-centric – fried eggs on toast, eggs scrambled with sausage, or a frittata of some kind.

But this morning I felt like baking something, so I whipped up a batch of my tried and true simple scones. They take 5 minutes to prepare, 12 minutes to bake, and then they’re ready to slather with butter and onion or a thick layer of your favorite jam.

We ate them with big cups of coffee for Robbie and tea for me, visiting about our day and the latest happenings on the farm. It was a great start to our day. 🙂

scones on a blue plate

What is your favorite weekend breakfast?

Simple Scones
(makes 6 large or 8 regular size scones)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (I like half whole wheat and half white)
1 Tbsp white sugar
1 tsp sea salt
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup slightly softened butter
2/3 cup milk or cream
1 large egg (I use duck eggs)
1 egg, beaten (to brush on top)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450 F or 220 C.
  2. Whisk together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
  3. Using hands, blend in butter until there are no large chunks of butter.
  4. Chill in freezer for five minutes.
  5. In small bowl whisk together egg and milk.
  6. Pour into dry mixture and stir gently just until incorporated.
  7. Dump dough onto floured surface and knead very lightly, just until dough will hold together.
  8. Form into circle about 1-inch thick.
  9. Cut into triangles (or any other shape) and place on non-stick baking tray.
  10. Brush tops with beaten egg.
  11. Bake for 12-15 minutes until tops are golden brown.
  12. Serve warm.

Roses, Windmills and A Duck Egg Breakfast Sandwich

bowl of duck eggs

It is so good to be back after enduring an absolutely ghastly flu/cold combo thing that knocked me flat this Spring.

Yesterday evening I started to perk up and went for a stroll in my garden, so happy to find a whole bouquet of fragrant pink roses ready for cutting.

Robbie bought me the bush last week as a surprise, and I was so excited because they look and smell like the wild Alberta Roses I remember from my youth in Canada. They are especially dear to me.

hand holding pink roses

This week is a red letter week because we are getting our pump and windmill fixed! HOORAY!

Our farm is situated above an Artesian basin chock full of bore water ready for us to use. Alas the pipes connecting the water to our windmill rusted clean through and were useless. Tomorrow the Windmill Man is coming to get everything in ship shape order.

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. 🙂 At last we will have unlimited water for our animals, gardens, orchards and vineyard. And I will get a break from hauling endless buckets of water to parched goats, pups and birds. 🙂

windmill

Last week our beautiful Muscovy ducks started laying again and we have eight gorgeous Muscovy duck eggs ready to add to cakes, pies and our morning breakfasts.

One of the mamas has gone broody (yay!!) so hopefully we will have some cute little Muscovy ducklings wandering about in a month or so. 🙂

bowl of duck eggs

This morning I used Muscovy duck eggs to make scrumptious breakfast sandwiches.

I had some lovely and soft bacon and cheese rolls left over from dinner, so I buttered and grilled them, added sharp cheddar cheese and a couple of fried eggs and we were in business. So simple to make, yet absolutely delicious.

Next time I’m going to add caramelized onion jam, and perhaps some grainy mustard or roasted tomatoes. 🙂

duck egg breakfast sandwich

Have you ever eaten duck eggs before?

Duck Egg Breakfast Sandwiches
Serves two

Ingredients:

2 rolls (we like bacon and cheese rolls)
butter
2-3 duck eggs (one for a regular person, two for a starving one)
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 slices extra sharp cheddar cheese
optional additions: sweet onion jam, grainy mustard, roasted tomatoes, crispy bacon
Directions:

  1. Slice and butter rolls and place face down on hot griddle.
  2. Toast until golden brown then remove and top bottom layer with cheese. Add top part of bun and return to pan to keep warm.
  3. Fry duck eggs in a little butter with salt and pepper until done.
  4. Open rolls and add fried eggs. Close.
  5. Eat warm in the sunshine.