Joann, bulls can be very unpredictable, I know. I've had some who were so even tempered they became pets, and the one I borrowed from a neighbor last year was named Ethan and developed a distinct taste for powdered sugar donuts. When it was time to take him home, we just bought a box of donuts and walked him into the stock trailer, LOL. HOWEVER, and it's a darned big however, an animal that weighs over 2,000 pounds and can lift three times it's own weight with its neck muscles must be treated with respect and never taken for granted. You won't get a chance to be careless twice, that much is for certain. And that's why I was in the pasture with donuts but the kids were always required to stay on the other side of the fence. Always. Carol, my mother jumped a fence once and it was a bossy old dairy cow that chased her over. Wasn't so funny then as it is now, somehow, but Mother was not happy until that cow became burger so I guess she got her revenge. Annie

DO NOT make more gravy with the stock! It sounds like you have two problems. Leftover stock and a lot of leftover gravy. Reduce some of the stock, defat it and freeze it in small portions. It is a good addition to any pork item. A little stock could be added to a pork roast along with whatever vegetables you are cooking with it. It would also make a great addition to a parsnip/leek bread pudding recipe I have. I will need to find and post that recipe. I love green beans cooked in turkey stock that has been reduced to a glaze. The gravy can be frozen in small portions for pot pies. It can also be used for a quick meal with a rotisserie chicken, sliced and served as an open faced sandwich. Turkey gravy would also be good drizzled over a stuffed pork chop. And who says a baked potato needs butter and sour cream? Fluff up the potato still in the skin and whip in a little turkey gravy. On a side note ..... how is your friend that you were making soups for? Teresa

I have “my grandmother’s” dressing ready to go in the oven. It’s good...but... It is not even close to Grandma’s Several things seem to be throwing it “off.” I baked the cornbread as usual. But... we normally have “bacon grease” made from a friend’s pastured organic hogs. He butchers them. He apple smokes the bacon. Chemicals never touch these porky pigs. I cook the bacon and jealously save the grease. A month or so back DH had cooked some commercial bacon (why?) and added that to the grease container. Yuck, yuck, and double yuck. Even with the small portion of grease I used, I can taste it in the dressing. I never sauté the onions and celery, neither did Grandma. This morning I did, and added one minced garlic clove. I tasted the raw dressing. Yes, it has raw eggs in it. I will not die! It’s not bad, but it’s not special, and it’s certainly not Grandma’s. I used all her ingredients - 3/4 cornbread, 1/4 light bread, celery, onion, sage, black pepper, beaten eggs, chicken broth... It’s good; we’ll eat it, but it is not even close to Grandma’s.

We had a soft, fluffy snow and it melted pretty quick. I covered some but not all for the lower temperature for the last two nights. I am crossing my fingers that they will be okay. I am think of the positive side with that the snow is moisture. I have been telling myself that I should wait for bedding plants, I was right. But somehow being right is little comfort.