Easy Crockpot Pork Loin

One of my family's favorite things to eat is pork, so one of my favorite things to cook is this easy crock pot pork loin. It takes all of 5 minutes to get it going.

Here is what you need. 

A pork loin

This is my favorite. This one is just over 5 lbs. I have used 2 of the smaller ones. I have also just cooked 1 small one for about half the time. The only problem is my family ate it all in one night. 

You also need the following

BBQ sauce - I like Sweet Baby Rays, but really any high quality, thick BBQ sauce will work. I use about half of this 40oz bottle. 

A 12 oz can of soda of your choice. Today I used coke, because I didn't have any at home and I had to stop at the gas station to get one. Coke is my soda of choice to drink, this was an excuse to get one for myself. This weeks bible study is about self control - 2 days in and I am failing!

You can also use 2 bullion cubes, or just salt and pepper. 

Just start putting it in the crock pot. 

I add a little bit of water to almost cover the pork. 

Cook for 8 hours on low. 

Today I actually cooked it for about 3 hours on high and 3 hours on low. 

This is what it looks like when it is done! Yummy

My family likes the gravy to be a bit thicker so I make a rue with about 3 tablespoons of butter 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 3 tablespoons of flour. I didn't get pictures. My family was ready to eat. 

Finishing my Cow Working

Thursday I needed to finish up the cow moving! It was a funny day. First, we penned a cow that needed A.I. later in the afternoon. When I got back to the barn this is what I found

My first question was How? Then Why?

I am not even sure where she was planning to go, but I undid a couple of chains and got her out. No harm, no foul. 

Latter in the afternoon I had to make this gap go away. It's a pretty big hole under a gate that baby calves can fit through. The baby calves that we were weaning!

On the way home from school with Cooper, I thought that there would be a pretty sunset and I LOVE sunsets. My plan was to take my DLSR with me to drop the cows at the lease place. It's is a perfect place to take sunset pictures. Well as with most things my plans get changed. Andy decided to haul the cows for me, which made me happy until I looked up and saw an amazing sunset!!

This was a beautiful sunset and I captured it with my phone. I was a little disappointed that I did not have my DLSR for that one. 

After I fixed the gate, I needed to move some water hoses to be able to water the baby calves. The old hose had several holes in it. This is what happened when I moved the water hose

Ugh.....what a day!!

Wednesday on the Farm

Early this week while we were experiencing the wonderful January thaw, I decided I needed to move a few cows around. So I decided I would do it Wednesday morning. I discussed with the guys, decided to add a few more things to my project and planned to get an early start Wednesday morning. 

Well....... The early start didn't happen. I was supposed to trap the cows before i left to take Cooper to speech, but for some reason I didn't make it out before we had to leave. 

After we got home from speech, I needed to make a few phone calls, so by the time I got to the cows it was mid morning. They cows were also pretty scattered, so it took a bit to get them all penned. 

Most of cows are trained pretty well. Usually all I have to do is tie a feed trough to the back of the 4-wheeler and pour some feed in it and drive around. The cows will start following. 

Most of the cows did just that. They followed me right in to the trap. However there were a few holdouts. There always is. Plus baby calves are just pretty uncooperative. 

So, it took two try's to get everyone in the trap. Well almost everyone. The were a couple of young calves that refused. Also I figured out later a big calf and a cow I needed didn't make it in the trap. Hubby came to the rescue when he got home from work. He is the best. 

Then only about half of the cows would fit in the lot at a time. It went like this, pack the lot with cows and calves. Sort out the ones I need, turn out the ones I didn't need, put the rest on the lot, sort, and finally get the rest of the baby calves in the lot. The lot was really muddy. So this was a slow process. 

I kept all (most) of the calves in the pen to give them some shots. I also sorted some cows to take to another pasture. As well as kept some cows to artificially inseminate.  

At one time I had cow in every pen in the lot. I finally got all them together in one place

I vaccinated all the calves. I weaned some calves that their momas were looking a little thin. 

I finally finished (mostly) around 8. 

Not Another Pioneer Woman

I have struggled with this blog for a long time now. I was encourage to write it by my sweet friend Terrie. She said, "You are just like The Pioneer Woman." 

Well, I love The Pioneer Woman. I own all three of her cook books. My kids love the Charlie the Ranch Dog stories. I enjoy watching her cooking show, it has giving me wonderful ideas in my own kitchen.  And, I do make cinnamon rolls to all my friends at Christmas!!

I also enjoy writing and photography. But that is pretty much where the similarities end.  

I don't homeschool my children, I know I am not organized enough for that. Plus my daughter really loves school. 

I DO NOT ever get up at 4 am to cook breakfast for my family for anything. In fact I don't believe in getting up at anytime that starts with a 4 unless it's from my Sunday afternoon nap. If we have to go some where early, my family better hope there is a Whataburger or gas station on the way. 

I DO NOT cook lunch and take it to my working family at the cow pens. There are several reasons for this the 2 main ones are, first the cow pens are like 150 yards from my house and second I am usually working right beside my family. 

Now, please don't miss understand me. The Pioneer Woman is amazing and I love her. I am just not her and not ever going to be her. We truly live different lives. 

So if you want to read about some of the crazy things that happen here at Gardner Farms stick around and see what crazy things I get my self into!

I will also post a few recipes from time to time!

Now I am going to wrap this post and go put out hay.