Harvesting Pears

Wondering what to do with your abundance of pears? We made Pear Bread, Pear Jelly, Pear Butter, and Pear Juice. And yes, we ate some raw.













Here's my Pear Bread recipe:

2 c. brown sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. molasses
3 eggs
1-1/4 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1-1/2 t. ground cinnamon
3/4 t. ground cloves
1-1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. ground allspice
4 firm pears, thinly sliced
3 c. flour

Preheat oven to 350 degree and generously grease two large loaf pans. Mix brown sugar, vegetable oil, molasses, and eggs. Mix in salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and allspice. Stir the pear slices in, coating them evenly. Stir in flour. Pour batter into thte prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool in pan about 10 minutes before removing them and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Muscovie Ducks

We have really enjoyed our Muscovie Ducks. They are quiet (unlike guineas) and eat more bugs than guineas. They are an excellent source of meat and eggs as well. These ducks will roost in trees (at least that's what they tell me - ours hasn't figured that out yet) which makes them able to be safe at night while sleeping.

We house ours with the chickens. They have a large "yard" to forage in and a small tub to swim in (although there is a pond very close to them and they haven't figured out how to get to that either). They are excellent layers and will sit on their eggs well with good mothering skills. We just love our Muscovies!