My Great White Hunter

He never lets me down, that's for sure. We have both been out hunting the past two weeks. He has seen everything under the sun, and he has dropped a few; I have seen very few which makes me ill because I didn't get one last year. Good thing is we still have 3 weeks left.

Thanksgiving Day's Kill

My great white hunters (son and daughter) have kept me busy as they have gotten four deer total so far. I hope it will be my turn soon. 

Happy Deer Season Everyone

~ FarmGirl

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Slow Cooker Vension Roast

Venison roast slow cooked with layers of flavor.
Simple and tasty.

3 pound venison roast
small onion, sliced
small bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 serving of prepared SOS Mix or 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

Layer half of the slices of onion and bell pepper in the bottom of the crock pot, top with venison roast and remaining onion and bell peppers. Sprinkle with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and pepper.

In a small bowl combine onion soup mix and prepared SOS soup; mix together and pour mixture over venison. Cook on low setting for 6 hours.

Enjoy!
~ Farmgirl

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Porky Pie

As seen on the Chew this is my version of Michael Symon's (you can find his version here) Pork Pie. Like always, I can't make a recipe as instructed. So this is my take on his version. The fun thing about cooking is tweaking everything to your families liking. I have made a few recipes to a "T" but they are far and few in-between.

1 pound sausage (I used wild boar)
1 pound bacon, chunked
1/2 pound ham, chunked
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3-4 large baking potatoes, chopped
1 cup water
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon cilantro
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, + a handful more to toss on top of filling
2 pie crusts to fit skillet, (top and bottom)
1 egg

In a stock pot or large skillet cook chunked bacon until crisp or desired doneness. Remove from pan. Remove bacon fat if it you like. (I left bacon fat in, because the sausage I used is very, very lean.) In same pan cook sausage, until no longer pink.

Add ham, bacon, onion, and celery. Cook for 3 minutes. Add chopped potatoes, water, parsley, cilantro, cayenne powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Mix well, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are al dente. Stir several times.

While the meat and potatoes are cooking this is a good time to make your pie crusts. I used a recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book copyright 1989. I've been using this no fail recipe for years now. Double Pie Crust recipe found here.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out bottom crust and fit to skillet and spoon filling into pastry shell.

Add the extra handful of cheese if desired to the filling. Cover with top pastry shell. Roll edges, cut slits in top and brush with egg wash.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown. When done let rest out of oven for 10 minutes before serving.

This turned out better than I expected. It's also perfect for my husband as he is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. Three meats put him in hog heaven. You can serve this with a nice salad. However, this time I served it with creamed peas and it reminded me of something my grandmother would of put on the table. Nice rustic meal.


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Opening day of deer season

Around here deer season is a holiday. My husband takes all of his vacation during this time and we hunt as a family. This year is the first year we have let both of our kids go on the first day. I've always been afraid of too many hunters in the woods and someone getting hurt. But, this year I allowed our 14 year old daughter go and sit by me.

Happy tears!

As we were walking to our spot she counted every gun shot that we heard. Sixteen was her final count by the time we sat down. I don't think she thought there were any deer left in the woods if everyone of those shots connected with its target. We weren't in our spot 10 minutes and her daddy came across the radio and said he got one. Now, she's really starting to look sad. She's not a very patient person. Five minutes go by and we hear another shot closer to us and Cousin Re-Re as we call him, gets on the radio and says he's got one down too. Oh the look on her face.

Not twenty minutes later, Jordan and I see our first deer of the day. She says she saw two but I never saw another one. I shot and missed as I had to pull all the way across my body which was near impossible for me to do. The deer came closer and closer to us. So I'm whispering to her Shoot!... ShOoT!...SHOOT!  and finally she did. What a perfect shot she gave considering her gun gave us no pattern when we were trying to sight it in the day before. When she realized what she did the tears came a flowing by the buckets. She then called for her daddy on the radio to tell him. Everyone that was listening told her congratulations and daddy broke the news to her that she had to drag it out to the point as he couldn't reach us by four wheeler to help her. She wasn't like that but she did it. Way to go Jordan!

Jordan and her first deer ever. Shot using a .410

Here are other pictures from the first day.

Daddy doing the dirty work. 

5 point

Cousin Re-Re's spike

I didn't get a picture but my father in law got a 3 point also.

~ Farm Girl

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Mr. Squirrel

Mr. Squirrel making his way down out of the pines and across the old fallen down barn to cross the foot bridge over the creek to get the black walnuts he has claimed as his. He makes the same trip day after day. At least I think its the same one.

This little guy keeps taking off with my black walnuts. He appears to be pretty healthy and will continue to live this winter with as many has he has snacthed up. I haven't seen him in a few days. It's been really cold and the kids running in and out of the house. Haven't really heard any chatter from the squirrels. Hopefully, come Monday he will return. If there were a few more then they would end up in a pot of stew. Just not worth it for just one. He's pretty smart by telling his friends to stay back.

For now he lives another day. I'll go on watching him as he's pretty entertaining.

~Farm girl

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Canning Venison

It's that time of year again! After, the long awaited deer season it's time to process this years harvast. Normally, I would process the venison as it's taken but this year is a little different. Beings that I was ill I decided that I would wait. So we froze everything that we wanted to can this season and now i'm ready to process it. 

Roughly cut off the bone in huge chunks. 

If you have ever eaten canned venison, you know its so good and so tender. It's amazing served over mashed taters, noodles or even rice. Canned venison is perfect for those nights that you are late getting in and need to put something together. 


Canning venison is extremely easy, that is , if you are familiar with pressure-canning. If you are not familiar with it, I sugguest buying the Ball Blue Book for the current year. This is the book on home canning, and everything in it can be trusted.


The first step in the process is to wash and heat your jars and lids properly, and prepare the canner. Cut out any excess fat from the meat. Then cut the meat into 1 inch cubes.


Add some beef bouillion to the bottom of the jars, about 1/2 cube to pints and 1/2 to 1 whole cube to quarts. Also add 1 teaspoon of canning salt to each jar. Place some onion slivers in each jar as you are filling the jars. Fill the jar within 1 inch of the rim (this is known as head space.) I alternate meat and onion so that it has layers the flavors. Pack each jar tightly.

Raw venison packed tightly in quart jars.

Do NOT add any liquid to the jars. It will make its own juices when it is processed. Take a second to wipe the rim of the jars off with a clean damp cloth and affix lids and rings. Process pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. Please check your ball blue book for elevation differences.

Canned venison with its own natural juices.

And here is the final product. 

* NOTE: Pictured above was 2 gallon freezer bags and part of a quart freezer bag. This meat yeilded 5 large mouth quarts and 1 pint. 

~Farmgirl

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