I thought Spring had Sprung? WRONG! winter is still here.

Today we are a crisp white. Talk about having Spring Fever, we've been starting seeds this week and yesterday our temps dropped from the mid 40's to 17F in a matter of hours, Brrrrr...I know it's still winter but it feels like such a cruel hoax to have a week of spring type temps and then back into old man winter again. As I raised the shades in our bedroom windows I had to giggle a bit, hanging on the line are two loads of laundry, not only stiff as a board but covered in snow. Most will simply hang out until the weather turns around,it's forecasted to be in the high 50's F again by Sunday. It's a blessing to have this snow. It get Springtime growth off to such a good start, although I dislike the mud that comes with it all melting. The good Lord provided us with a mudroom, just for this purpose, because with three people and two dogs tracking in and out our home would be a total mess. We're still finishing up getting seeds going, in our indoor greenhouse with a heat lamp. Our house isn't a lot warmer than outside during the night, unless someone gets up to stoke the wood stove. This is only a priority when it's in the sub zero temps, to insure pipes don't freeze, otherwise we snuggle deep under our quilts and feather ticks. On a typical morning it isn't unusual for our inside temp. to be on average 48-52F, it was 52F this morning. Once the wood cook stove is fired up it warms up rather quickly, especially in the kitchen. My guess is this is why back in the old days the kitchen was the gathering place in the house. My parents think it's nuts we don't turn on our furnace and set it at 60F. We did turn on the furnace and set it at 57F during a two week stint of sub zero(-22 to -24F, with windchill added in). Our home is 1910 and although we did insulate the attics the walls and windows( original with aluminum storms added) are not the best. My point is, this is why we use an indoor greenhouse. In mid to end of March we get our cold frames going and mid to end of May, chances of frost are minimal. There is something serene about watching snow fall, especially if you have time to sit with a hot cup of tea, a lap quilt and a good book. All of which I plan to put into action, just as soon as I have the whites and towels washed and on our drying wrack in front of the wood stove.Have a blessed day!

How to retain control of your food supply

With Spring quickly approaching many have started or are starting their seeds, in prep. for their 2009 garden. We've been growing OP( Open Pollinated) seeds for 5 seasons. Growing OP crops also requires educating yourself about seed saving. Here are a few articles that introduce you to the importance of saving seed.

Why Save Seeds? by CR Lawn

http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/why_save_seeds.htm

1. To renew your age-old partnership with plants. Seeds are the life force. Plants, as living beings, desire to reproduce. By allowing them to go to seed and complete their growth cycle, you cooperate in a process essential to all life forms on Earth.

2. To retain control of your food supply. Some things are too important to allow other people to do for you. Food is a basic necessity and the cornerstone of our culture. Control of the seed is key to control of our food supply. By saving seeds you retain that lifeline. Over the past two generations, the seed industry has done almost no work to maintain, improve or develop open-pollinated varieties that will come true from seed. What little has been done has been accomplished by dedicated amateur seed savers and breeders. We need more such people. Instead, the industry has emphasized hybrid varieties whose breeding lines are trade secrets and whose seed will not come true to type. Lately, biotechnology research has almost completely replaced classical plant breeding at our universities and in the seed industry.

3. To preserve our heritage and our biodiversity. Farmers saved seeds and improved food crops for millennia. Seed companies have been on the scene for fewer than three centuries. Only in the last hundred years have farmers and gardeners become widely dependent on seed companies. Today the seed industry is so concentrated that just five large multinational corporations control 75% of the world’s vegetable seed market. They add and drop varieties according to their own financial interests. Many of our present varieties have only one commercial source. If they are dropped, they will disappear and you won’t be able to get them—unless you save seed.

4. To preserve the varietal characteristics you want. Most varieties being developed by the industry are for large-scale food processors and marketers. For the most part, they are bred for uniform ripening, long distance shippability, and perfect appearance at the expense of taste and staggered ripening. If you want the best-tasting varieties, save your own seed from the ones you like.

5. To develop and preserve strains adapted to your own growing conditions. The large corporations who control the seed trade bought out scores of small and regional seed companies and dropped many of the regional specialties. They are interested only in varieties with widespread adaptability. If you want varieties and strains most adaptable to your specific climate conditions, you can get them only by saving your own seed. Over several generations, seeds can develop very specific adaptabilities to the conditions at your site

.6. To help preserve our right to save seeds. The industry continues to place more and more restrictions on farmers’ and gardeners’ right to save seeds. Variety patenting, licensing agreements, and restricted lists such as that maintained by the European Union, are industry tools to wrest control of the seed from the commons and keep it for themselves. Terminator Technology, now in its developmental phase, would render seeds sterile, making it impossible for farmers to save seed and forcing users back to the seed companies for every new crop.

7. To increase our available options. Contrary to industry claims, patenting has not encouraged creative plant breeding. Instead it has reduced cooperation among plant breeders and restricted availability of germplasm and plant varieties. For example, Blizzard snow pea has been off the market for over a decade because the patent holder dropped it but will not grant permission to any other company to propagate it for sale.




Speaking of food safety and genetic purity (small portion of letter)

http://rareseeds.com/about/

Speaking of food safety and genetic purity, Baker Creek Seed Company has been doing major and expensive GMO testing on all of our corn varieties, and we only carry corn seeds that test GMO-free! Our tests have shown that many, if not most varieties of heirloom corn are now contaminated with these GMO “Franken” genes.

These are artificially-modified genes that have been shown to cause tumors, allergies and even death in lab rats--genes that can come from toxic insects, bacteria, fish or even humans! It is sad that many of our tests on corn have come back positive for genetically-engineered organisms, especially since much of the corn we have tested has come from non corn-growing areas.This shows that GMO pollen can travel many miles on a strong wind, only to wreak havoc on organic and heirloom farms. This problem is costing us and our growers thousands of dollars each year, and is only getting worse.We must totally boycott the companies that sell these foods, seeds and fertilizers.

Let’s do it for ourselves, our children and the earth. Let’s make the new president and congress know that America values food safety and the right to pure food, health and happiness.

It’s a new day, and it’s time for a culinary revolt. Let it begin with dinner!

Sharing more of our favorite recipes

Sirniki This was taken from "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" 3c.dry curd cottage cheese 2 eggs 2Tbsp.sour cream/ yogurt or heavy whipping cream 2/3 c. flour( we prefer whole wheat) a pinch of salt Mix together with a spoon and shape into golf ball sized masses.Roll the balls in more flour and then press down to 3/4 inch thickness, dust again in flour. Now fry in real butter until golden brown on each side. Serve warm. These are much like, breaded mozzarella cheese sticks. We have added sweet basil to the dry curd and let set in the frig for a few hours, then mix as usual. We've also added shredded cheddar cheese to the mix before ball are formed. These make a wonderful appetizer, or a healthy snack for kids. Honey Baked Lentils Cook one cup of lentils, drain( reserving fluid) Mix the cooked lentils with 1 tsp dry mustard, 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Add 1/2 c. chopped onion and 1 c. reserved lentil water. Pour mixture into greased baking dish and pour 1/2 c. honey over the top. Cover and bake@ 350F for 1 hour, removing lid the last 5 minutes to let top brown. Cheesy Egg Strata ( this is a good recipe for using up old bread and excess eggs) 12 Bread slices ( fresh or stale doesn't matter, we use leftover buns, simply tear into small pieces) Arrange in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Cover with 6 slices of cheese or 2c. shredded cheese Top with any remaining bread. Beat together; 2-2/3 c, milk 4 eggs 3/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. dry mustard Pour over bread and cheese and bake @ 350F for 45 min. or until puffed and golden. This may be prepared in advance and refrigerated before baking. Options; we add bacon, broken into pieces or cooked breakfast sausage, ham works nicely too.

I was today reading a few of my favorite blogs and I realized that my blog seems downright dull, compared to many blogs. I'm not a professional writer and our life isn't full of excitement, that is just the simple truth. What you may or may not realize is that we have to deal with excesses as well as shortages on our little homestead. For example; we let our layer hens have a natural winter( we don't run lights as the days shorten to continue their laying), so... we drop from 20-28 eggs a day down to 2-3 eggs a day in a rather quick fashion. In anticipation of this shortfall we begin reminding egg customers that sales will probably stop for a period of a few months( all know and accept this fact) as well as we begin hoarding eggs for our holiday baking. Today, Cortney and I were pondering what to do with all of our eggs, we have 18 dozen in the frig. downstairs, laying is beginning to pick up again with longer daylight and warmer weather.We first call customers to let them know we again have eggs, for a short time period, on a "First Come First Serve" basis. We also now pull out our recipes books and began looking for recipes that use lots of eggs. Eggs( fried, over easy, scrambles,hard boiled, etc...) for breakfast everyday gets old quick. We came up with several, and will work them into our menu planning for this week. I wish I could get Angel Food cake to turn out, but I've had to many failures to even think of trying again( pantry items are to expensive to feed to the chickens or pigs) I'll admit, there are days when we feel a bit overwhelmed with make the best of what the good Lord provides( not trying to sound ungrateful in the slightest). Now that we are a dry family( no fresh cow, no milk), we think back to times when we were milking our Jersey cow. We had to be creative in using milk, because we had 2 to 2/12 gallons everyday( that was only milking in the morning and the calf got the rest all day.) When our son, Jon, was home we could count on a gallon of milk being used everyday just between he and Mike for drinking. This left 1 to 1-1/2 gallons to find other uses for. Cortney and I made yogurt every week, often times 2 gallons of milk, because we gifted my folks with yogurt too, well... until they got overwhelmed anyway. We also made cottage or farmer's cheese weekly and often froze it for late use. Often when milk would begin to build up in the frig downstairs we'd gladly share with the pigs, chickens and turkeys and none turned their nose/ beaks up at the offer either. Some quick and easy ways to use excess milk are puddings, white sauce( such is used in sausage gravy), scalloped potatoes, fruit smoothies, milkshakes, etc..... Now we still had by-products of milk to deal with as well, whey from yogurt and cheese as well as buttermilk from making butter. Weekly we'd churn 5-6 gallons of cream into butter, netting us 3-1/2 to 4 lbs butter a week and 4- 5 gallons buttermilk. Often times we'd freeze buttermilk for later use. We'd also add vinegar and make a ricotta cheese and then feed the left over whey to the animals or pour into the compost pile. Whey from cheese and yogurt is used in baking, casseroles, sauces, even in pickling of produce. Whey is loaded with wonderful nutrients, to many to waste in our opinion. In our homesteading life it is a situation of feast of famine, as well as learning preserve the excesses and to eat seasonally as our ancestors once did. That is another topic I'll touch on at some point. May your day be full of blessing as well as productivity.

This weighs heavy on our hearts

I've struggled with writing this sort of article, but after several weeks of wrestling with the Lord; I've succumb. The reason I wrestled was that we've been termed as Doom's Day believers. We've been following the Lord's lead for almost 20 yrs now and He has led us to our little homestead for a reason. People, in general, even believers can't seem to be bothered with listening to that still small voice( that's the Lord speaking to you). Why?, because everyone is so caught up in life, keeping up with the Jones's, so to speak. Instead of keeping the Lord as their primary focus. When you are so caught up in the "world" the noise seems to drowned out the Lord's voice. Many of you may be feeling anxious about what is happening in our economy but aren't sure why, or even what to do about this feeling. Well.... first you need to seek, in prayer, the Lord's voice, then listen carefully and follow through on what He lays on your heart.Next you need to think outside the box, begin to think for yourself. This is a tough one, as you'll be labeled and mocked. Their is the news, that is on your radios and TV's, but much of this news is VERY liberally bias, as well as controlled. Our suggestion is if you want the REAL news of what is going on in the United States, seek news from overseas news sources. Again we felt led to offer a warning, wake up call or whatever you'd like to label it. The Lord's still voice is there for those whom wish to listen. We pray you hear Him LOUD and CLEAR! We have been truly blessed here on our little homestead. Yes it's been full of trials, hard work, sorrow, sleepless nights but also overflowing with, peace,simply enjoying nature, rewards of the fruits of our labor and a less noisy life, so we hear His still small voice. I guess my concern is that many take this whole economic stuff far to lightly, that being the main reason we're where we're at this point in history. Study history folks, it does repeat itself. This year it is going to be so important that people revive their ability to grow some of their own food. Instead of flowers in flowerbeds, plant vegetables and herbs. The heavyiness on my heart is for the folks that can't seem to be bothered,and feel as if life will keep moving right along as always. Well.... that may be true, but what if it isn't? What does it hurt to pick up some garden seeds, stock up on basic pantry items, learn or re-learn cooking from scratch, learning to eat seasonally, etc...... Our motto is Prepare for the Worst and Pray for the Best. Living within one's means or better yet below one's means is another area to be looked at with a serious eye. Far to many live via credit and trust me it will come back to bite, sadly bite all of us, just as the housing fiasco has and will bite everyone. Our prayer, for those who read this is that the Lord opens your heart as well as your ears, before you hear two simple words: " To Late"

Today I was pondering some of our favorite, quick and easy recipes and would like to share them with you. Cortney and I are always looking for quick and easy foods to make for our dinner(lunch). Today we brought up a jar of canned pinto beans, quickly emptied the content into a small sauce pot, added some salt, pepper and garlic powder, 1 Tbsp. lard and began mashing with a potato masher, while heating on a cool spot on the wood cook stove. This all finished and simmering, we then mixed up the makings of whole wheat tortillas. Our meal planned is simple bean and cheese burritos. Tortillas Makes: 5-8 tortillas 2c. flour( I use 1c, whole wheat and 1 c. unbleached white) 1/2 tsp salt 1/4c. lard( softened) 1/2c. water( you may find with whole wheat it may take 3/4 c.) Mix in given order, cutting in the lard to the flour mixture before adding the water.Let sit( covered) for 5 minutes. Break dough into equal sized ball and roll out thin. Preheat a skillet, wiped with lard, until warm, not hot. Place tortillas in pan, when side down is lightly browned( in areas) then flip until opposite side is equally brown. Serve warm, refrigerate or freeze for later use. These freeze well for later use and you reheat by simply placing on a warm griddle. They have kept for us in the frig. for several weeks, but truly they don't last that long around here! The kids always loved them spread with peanutbutter and honey, then rolled up. We also serve these as a dessert snack, by spreading butter on a warmed shell and sprinkling with cinnamin and sugar, then roll up, sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with melted choc. and enjoy. Baking powder biscuits Makes: 8-10 biscuits 3-4 c. flour( I substitute in 1 to 1-1/2 c. whole wheat flour) 4 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 egg 1/2 c. olive oil( any oil you use is fine)+ an added 3-4Tbsp for pan 1 to1-1/2c. milk( I often substitute in buttermilk or sour milk) Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add beaten egg, oil and milk. Mix thoroughly until dough is wet but not sticky, do NOT over mix. Preheat oven to 400F and add 3-4 Tbsp of oil to pan and preheat pan as well( don't overheat and burn the oil).Place dough onto a well floured counter top/ board. Tap down with hands to 1/2" thickness( again do NOT overwork the dough). Cut. Now retrieve pan from oven and dip topside into hot oil before placing biscuit into pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown on top. These are both easy recipes for an easy accompanying side dish or as a meal in itself( IE: Biscuits for breakfast, biscuits with sausage gravy, bean burritos, enchiladas, quesadia (sp?), and even tortilla chips( when fried in oil) It can be from scratch and still be easy. More to come......

Again the order of the pictures is from the bottom, up. I'm still getting the hang of this, sorry.

We found this banister in the wall, when we removed the wall to let heat upstairs to the kids bedrooms.

"Before" Mike tore out the wall.

Rest of the kitchen picture.....

"After" picture of the newly remodeled kitchen.

Okay it posted these pictures backwards, so go to the bottom and view up. The picture above is of our kitchen when we moved in. I'll post an "After" in the next post.

The picture above is of the grid work for our new steel roofing. This was our first project, the second project( because of our insurance company) was a central furnace, retro-fitted to our 1910 farm house.

This is a picture our third summer here, we've added flowerbed and tree since this picture.

Our first summer here. There was no yard left, just weeds. We removed the dead pine to the left that summer and trimmed up the pine on the right.

The day we first looked at the place, late Nov.

And they're off......

This morning at 5:30 am I was sitting enjoying a cup of coffee and conversation with Mike, when my Dad knocked on our kitchen window and said," Mo, is out!" Mike didn't seem to understand what he said, but boy I sure did and I was out of the chair like a flash. I then repeated what Dad had said and Mike jumped up and ran for his keys. I put on shoes and ran out the backdoor heading for the barn for a halter and rope. Mike backed the car up, I jumped in and my Dad pointed us in the direction he headed, at a gallop of course. He had two choices and he had to pick heading in the direction of the highway, of course. We spotted him as he was about to cross the railroad track in route to the highway, Mike yelled at him and PTL! he made a sharp left turn onto a side street toward the baseball field. After missing him in our attempt to cut him off, Dad yelled( as he was jogging along the roadway), " Mo circled around you and is over in that field with some horses" , pointing to the North. We spotted him when our headlights came across the field as we pulled in to a driveway. Mike jumped out with halter and lead in hand and yelled at him again. It was if he heard Mike's voice and said to himself "Hey somebody I know!" and proceeded to come to Mike at a trot. Mike walked him the 1/2 mile home and I stopped and picked up my Dad in the car. What a way to start off your morning, I guess it's safe to say all of our hearts are in good shape,LOL! Mo back in his corral and eating his hay and the girls( cows) fed, we head back to the house for a breakfast of hotcakes. Lots of conversation, going over our morning's adventure. Our prayer before breakfast included praises to the Lord for Mo's safety. Now that it is light and before Mike left for work, we headed out to do a through check for possible injuries and to pick his hooves, as he'd run in gravel for a distance. He checked out okay and seems no worse for the wear from his early morning adventure, Praise be! I pray the remainder of our day is less eventful. Plans are to finish laundry( whites need to be hung on the line), clean house and if there is time before evening chores I'd like to work on mudding and taping in our backporch/ laundryroom. This is our latest remodeling project and I hope to have it all wrapped up before summer. Praying your day is productive.

A little history about us.

It's been impressed upon my heart, to share some background history with you. Mike and I have been married 25 yrs. this March. We had a courtship of four yrs., while I finished high school( yes, we're high school sweeties) and a year of college( Cosmetology). I worked for 5 yrs in the cosmetology field and then experienced pregnancy problems( placenta previa). This made us look at the fact, of me becoming a fulltime SAHM. This is when the Lord laid on my heart the gift of thrifty/ frugal living. At the time our son, Jon, was born we owned our first home( the bank and us) in a older city neighborhood. I grew up gardening, so to grow and learn to preserve the blessings of the garden was an easy and natural step for me. I started with basic canning, pickles, relishes, fruit, all items that required only waterbath canning. At this point we didn't have our eyes fully open to the Organics/ natural food. We lived in our first( 2 bdrm cottage) for 8 yrs. We then upsized to a 3 bdrm, split level home alittle over a yr. after our Dd, Cortney was born. The new home had 1/2 acre lot. This ment a larger garden for our family. When hit with a very serious medical situation with our Dd, this is when the good Lord really opened our eyes and placed questions on our hearts as to what could have cause this genetic disease, which followed from generation to generation and yet no one on either side had this. The Dr. said it must have spontaneously mutated at conception. We began researching and reading books,( hundreds of them), with the Lord's guidance. This is also about the time both Mike and I started to feel as if we needed to move our family to a farm where we could raise not only our produce but our meats and dairy all natural.Our primary source of meat was wild game at this point. We in fact did begin, to raise a small portion of our meat in the form of backyard chickens and were blessed with eggs as well. We passively looked for land, but the prices were outrageous. When we finally decided to truly search for a homestead was when the city accepted the bid for Walmart to build on the whole block right in front of our home. I'll say it here, WE ARE NOT A WALMART family. After over a year long search and not feeling led by the Lord on any of the properies viewed we decided that the Lord had other plans for us. Several months passed and we were trying to deal with the whole Walmart concept, when I picked up a real estate magazine in the grocery store. Mike worked late shift, so after the kids were in bed this was my free time to read, catch up on letters, etc... I thumbed through the magazine and came across a listing for this little homestead. I called Mike on his lunch and we decided to take a look the following morning. We looked and loved what we saw but wanted to see the inside of the house, so... we called our realtor. The next day we met with our realtor and viewed the inside of the house. The kids ran upstairs and picked out which room would be theirs, our realtor looked and wasn't impressed and Mike and I were overwhelmed with feelings of, "This is it!". We laugh now, because the realtor said," Yep, yep, well.. we'll keep looking." to which Mike and I replied, " We want to make an offer!" He looked throughly shocked. We made our offer and in short they counter offered and we agreed contingent on the sale of our home. Our home was listed and sold, all within a week( the good Lord at work). After a month of packing, we were set to move into our little homestead. The owners had agreed to let us move in the weekend before the actual closing( in part because buyers of our home needed to move in early) We've now been here for 6 years,December 08, and we feel so very blessed. I'll post pictures of "before and after", of several projects we've finished thus far. It's been a long road, but this little homestead is shining bright once again.

One of my favorite tools!

This machine is over 60 yrs old and still running
like a charm, after all it is a Maytag.

Ho Hum Monday

It's now 2:30 pm and I don't feel as if I've even woken up fully. We had planned to get so much crossed off the "To Do" list. We had unexpected company arrive about 9:30 am, so this set us back a bit but we enjoyed our visit. Mondays are most always "Laundry Day". That being said, Cortney headed outdoors to finish up some daily animal chores while I sorted and started a load of jeans. Then came breakfast and yes, supper dishes( shameful I know) left until this morning. First load of wash was ready for a rinse, then a few more minutes aggitation and finally run through the wringer. The day is cloudy but it is above normal temps with a slight breeze blowing, so drying time will be quick. Next is a load of dark clothes and I'm off to help Cortney haul wood to the outside woodbox. When woodbox was filled we headed indoors, Cortney to begin working on school work and I was on a mission to clean the refrigerator. Really the refrigerator wasn't messy, but I did however find some containers clearn in the back, you know the ones, contents look like nothing you served! The frig. all cleaned and rearranged, the seocnd load of wash was awaiting a rinse and aggitation. Cortney had a few questions on Math and in Science, so we spent time looking into these. It was now time to put Mo, our horse, out onto pasture for a few hours grazing. Cortney put Mo out and cleaned his stall and corral and I fixed grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, carrot sticks and canned pears for dinner. Having dinner finished and dishes done again Cortney worked on finishing up school work and I took time to read a few articles in the "Local section" of the newspaper. I've been following a case of animals cruelty and there was an update and information on bills being brought before the House. These bills are designed to help with regulation of puppymills. When cleaning the frig. I also was thinking of ways to use some leftovers from a few nights ago. Supper tonight will need to be ready, as Mike has EMT classes to help with tonight. I found steak, which will be made into a steakrice and served with leftover squash and buttermilk biscuits. Dessert will most likely be a fruit cobbler, apple blueberry or apple rhubarb, as they are easily put together from home canned apple pie filling and rhubarb or frozen blueberries. Cortney's plans tonight is to work on some new jewelry designs( ear rings) and to get an idea of cost for beads and needed items to make more. She has a beading mentor who comes once a week and helps her with new techniques and gives an assignment to be finished by the following week. I plan to work on researching CSA( Community Supported Agriculture) ideas online. I'm not sure CSA will catch on in our local area, so will need to focus on areas where we can advertise close enough that it will work. Area Farmer's Markets are still in our research as well. CSA would make our job easier, as the people would come here to pick up produce and possibly if we had a good following from the city, we could manage a drop point in the city. Time to stoke the wood cookstove and get the brown rice cooking. Many blessing to each of you.

This morning, Cortney and I were up and ready to go! We have been looking forward to today all week. It was our friend's 10th annual sheep sheering day. Now this was actually my first sheep sheering day,and what I know about sheep doesn't amount to much. Cortney on the otherhand has been helping our friend with lambing for 4 yrs. and helped sheer some ewes for the sale barn last Fall. It was very interesting to see the professionals working and then to learn about fleece types and how to see a good quality fleece. I also learned about the differences in breeds and their wool. There was one lady demonstating spinning wool and several booths set up with woolen items for sale( yarns, rugs, hats, scarves, socks, etc....) We have other friends who have sheep as well and they use their fleece for their own uses. I do know what needle felting is and actually saw a beautiful rug today that was ropes of wool needle felted and then crocheted together into an oval rug( much like abraided rug) It was a time of fellowship with old friends, as well as making new friends. Dinner was potluck style and there were tables full. I knew lamb stew was the main dish and offered to make buttermilk biscuits. We took three large pans, approx. 55 biscuits., and a 1/2 lb of homemade butter. The food was all great and the best of all, many of the dishes were made with organic foods. Typically we stray away from potluck meals because we try to carefully distance ourselves from foods not raised natural/ organic. Someone said during dinner, they'd sheered 89 sheep( from 8 am to 12:30 pm). Most fleeces were roughly cleaned up, rolled and placed in a BIG bag, then they were stomped down. Those fleeces will be sold later. Many of the brown and grey fleeces were sold on the spot. The grey fleeces were my favorite and had the best color variation, but again I'm a novice. We finally packed up the last pan of biscuits, leaving some, upon request, for our friend and her Dh and headed home around 2pm. It was interesting and I learned a lot of information today, but..... I just don't see us raising sheep anytime soon( if Mike has his way it would be never.) There was still a nice bed of coals in the wood cookstove, so added a few pieces of wood and waited until hot enough to shut it down. Then off to get the horse stall cleaned, Cortney did that while I hauled a bale of straw to the cows barn and bedded their stalls in preparation for evening chores. Our temps. have dropped with an incoming cold front, so we're back to breaking ice off their troughs and hauling water by hand. Back to the house again we cut ham slices from the ham cooked yesterday. This is pork we raised and butchered ourselves but the first ham we've had smoked( no nitrates used) and it turned out wonderful, although it was a bit spendy, if you figure in the value/ cost of the meat added to the curing/smoking charge per pound. A smoke house is on our Honey Do list but have a few other projects of greater need, to be done first. The ham slices will be warmed in a skillet and served on a biscuit with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. We have sliced carrots( raw) as well as leftover scalloped potatoes to add to this. Nothing fancy but most assuredly filling. Good evening and may the Lord bless you.

Today looks to be a beautiful day. The sun is shining and the birds are all singing there sweet song. A cold front is forecasted to arrive later today, with chances of snow( which we could use the moisture). I'm heading outdoors to hand bedding on the line, cleaning up dog piles and simply enjoy the sunshine as long as it's here! Spring is on my mind, as I have a severe case of Spring fever, LOL! The best part of Spring is all the baby animals. We hope again this year that we'll see a few babies here on the farm. We have several hens that set and raise chicks each year, as well as hen turkeys that set several nests over the months of Spring and Summer. Right now we have 12 turkeys( 4 toms and 5 hens are babies hatched last summer) The chickens and turkeys are Cortney's project and she is currently working on a "For Sale" sign to sell turkeys, alive, as well as butchered. Cortney also sells eggs from her chickens. It is in our plan to get involved in a few of our local Farmer's markets, selling produce as well as made from scratch breads, cookies and even jams and jellies. Cortney will probably advertise; All Natural, Free Range eggs as well as turkeys, when available. By months end we'll be starting our seeds for this seasons garden, this will help we deal with Spring fever, especially when they all begin sprouting. The pots are all sanitized, and I've begun mixing our soil mixture, although my compost is still frozen. Then we'll need to rearrange in the living room a bit to make room by the bay windows for our indoor greenhouse. Well..... it's almost chore time and the girls( cows) are I'm sure waiting to be let out onto pasture. May your day be blessed and productive. Kelle

Homemade Laundry Soap

The Lord moved me to search out more frugal and healthful ways several years ago. The amount of chemicals we ingest and absorbed from our environment is alarming! I am seeking to reduce our families exposure to chemicals as much as possible. Also, the savings of homemade over store bought is a definate plus.

Here is the recipe we use.
4 Cups hot tap water
1bar Fels Naptha laundry bar( grated)
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
Grate bar of soap into the pan you will use. Add hot tap water, soda and borax.
Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves( is melted) and the liquid becomes thicker.
Pour this mixture into a 5 gallon bucket, add 2 qts. hot tap water and stir well. Now fill bucket with cold water.
Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

I use 1/2 c. per regular sized load.

This laundry soap recipe can be doubled or even tripled.

Here is a cost break down:
Fels Naptha Soap- $1.25
Washing Soda .50
Borax .40
Total 2.05 for 80 cups or 5 gallons or .027 cents per load

Added point; graciously pointed out by a friend that this formula is "low suds" so works well for HE washing machines.



Homemade Bread( whole wheat) is another area to save and provide a more nutritious food.
Here is one of our family favorites;

Whole Wheat Bread

3c. very warm water( I use filtered)

1/3c. oil or melted lard

1/4 c. sugar

3 tsp. salt

1 egg( beaten)

3 c. whole wheat flour

1-1/2 tblsp active dry yeast

4-5 c. unbleached flour

Stir together water, oil, sugar, salt and egg into a large bowl. Mix yeast with 2.c. whole wheat flour and 2c. unbleached flour. Then add to liquid. Stir vigorously for a minute. Add remaining 1 c. whole wheat flour and enough unbleached( 3-4c.), one cup at a time, to make a soft dough. Fold out onto a well floured board or countertop. Knead for 8 minutes( yes the whole entire time if you want good texture) Place kneaded dough into a well greased( large) bowl. Let rise until double in size. Puch down and flip over, now let rise a second hour until double in size. Punch down and form into loaves( this recipe makes 3 large loaves), buns, breadsticks, etc..... Let rise again until double and bake in a moderate 325-350F oven until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on. I typically brush with olive oil or butter to soften the top crust. If making into bread sticks brush with oil or butter and add seeds( sesame, sunflower, flax, etc....) and or cheese( cheddar, romano, even feta)before baking. Just be sure to watch items with seeds or cheese as the burn easily.

Enjoy!

I'll add a few more favorite bread recipes, such as sourdough( starter recipe included) and Birdseed Bread( a whole grain recipe)

Birdseed Bread

This recipe may be doubled or tripled if necessary( it would be a lot of dough to work with, so I just do batches)
Oven setting: 375F
Yield: 3 large or 4 medium loaves
4 c. warm water
2Tblsp. Yeast ( or two packages)
½ c. brown sugar or molasses ( I prefer molasses)
½ c. honey
½ cup oil ( canola is what I use)
4 tsp. salt( otherwise bread has a flat taste)
About 12 c. flour ( usually use unbleached white and whole wheat with a 4:1, white/wheat ratio
1/2c. Of any or each of the following wheat, spaelt, oats, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, barley, course ground corn meal, millet and any other grains you may have.
Boil the hard grains ( do not boil the sesame or sunflower seeds) in more water than needed until they are soft and chewy.
When draining the water from the boiled grains measure the water toward the 4cups needed for the recipe. This contain vitamins, minerals and gluten for the elastic power of the dough.
Cool grains and water before adding the following mixture:
Dissolve yeast in warm water, add molasses, honey, oil and salt. Stir well and add cooled grains and sesame and sunflower seeds. Measure flour into separate bowl. Add flour mixture to wet mixture, holding back about 2cups You’ll have to get in there with your hands and mix it well( messy part). Now flour counter or board heavily and knead dough until smooth and satiny with grains( about 8-10 minutes). Place in a large, well greased bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm area until double. Punch down and repeat a second rise( this rise is not necessary, but helps give a finer texture to the bread) Punch down again and form into loaves, placing in greased and floured pans. (Dough can be frozen at this stage. When frozen place in pan, cover lightly and let thaw and then rise.) Let rise about 20 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes @375, then reduce heat to 350 for 30 more minutes. Bread will be a beautiful chestnut brown, and will sound hollow when “thumped” on the top. I butter the tops and place on a cooling rack for about an hour (Well, we may sneak some while it’s still hot ) Freeze cooled bread and when thawed it will be as moist and nice as fresh baked bread. ENJOY!!!!!!

Today we rested, well somewhat. Mike worked on some year end inventory sheets for the Coop and measured a couple of cylinders he's repairing so he can order parts needed this week. Cortney attended church services with our neighbor's. I made Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits, washed breakfast dishes, helped with morning chores and took a long hot bath( my low back has been giving me fits the past two days) I also took the time to read a few articles in magazine I received in the mail early last week. Usually magazines stack up for times when I'm not feeling well or my back is bothering me. While outdoors enjoying the weather and playing with the dogs Mike and I watched a mated pair of Bald Eagles and their last yrs., young Bald Eagle, fishing along the river. These birds are so majestic and beautiful, no wonder they were chosen to be our nations bird. Soon they'll begin mating rituals and then nesting. We had a pair nest across the river from our property last Spring. It's probably the same pair returning to nest again. Our weather has been amazing, well into the 50's during the day and mid to high 30's at night. We've only been starting a fire in the wood stove in the mornings to take off the chill and again in the early evening. The wood, sure goes further in the wood box out by the backdoor, but we now require kindling for each new fire. Mike teases me as we walk our property and anywhere, because I pick up branches and twigs. Hey! they make wonderful kindling. I collect these and once I get a good pile I break them into the desired length and tie together with twine. These are then stacked to dry over the summer. Grabbing one of these bundles, even Mike has to admit, is a blessing and we don't loose valuable firewood being chopped down for kindling. Our Ds, Jon was here last week and finally went through his room and cleaned out things and kept some things in the closet, now that the room is clean, it's slated for a paint job. This will be our spare/ craft room. Cortney and I plan to use this room for crafts, sewing and such.. plus we have a twin bed in there for a guest, or Cortney will sleep in there if we have a couple guests and give up her double bed. This week my plans are to clean the house( deep, deep down cleaning), because with all this warm weather the dogs are beginning to blow their coats, get laundry done in one day, not all week as happened last week :o( Then if weather is still warm enough I have mudding and taping to finish in our mudroom/ back porch. I'm hoping to get out pots for starting our seedlings and get a mixture of compost( if thawed in the composter), soil and manure mixed in a big tub and ready ourselves for planting. Before we know it the end of Feb, will be here and this is the time to start some of our seeds( long germination times, mostly herbs), the remainder we'll finish planting in early to mid March. We also have enough pork fat in the frig. to render for about a gallon jar of lard, the rest of the fat is in the freezer and will be rendered as needed. There is nothing like pie crust or pastries made with lard. I'm hoping that some of the fat will be rendered, along with beef tallow for making soap. This is one task I've not gotten around to, but plan to try my hand at it this summer. We enjoyed our first package of bacon and was it wonderful. We trim our side pork so there is more meat than fat, the opposite of store bought bacon. The ham, well..... we'll have to plan on having friends over for a potluck supper, it weighs 12lbs. It's almost chore time and I want to enjoy more time outdoors. Blessings to all and may your week may be productive too. :o)

Cortney, and our dogs; Casino( red aussie) and Tuffy( bordercollie) and heifer calf, Daisy!

Cortney hauling water to her chickens and turkeys

Mike mucking stalls

Bessie, our 18 yr old Jersey dairy cow

Life is NEVER dull here. There is ALWAYS something to do. We simply take it one day at a time, even sometimes one minute at a time. We are so very blessed to have every moment here that we have.

More pictures to come....

Today was a windy, gray day. Personally I function better when the sun is shining. Made another trip into the city with my Mom for a Dr. appointment and we were home again by noon. The morning chores were left for when we returned, so a quick change of clothes and off I was to clean stalls, fill water troughs and put our horse out for his few hours of grazing time. Back to the house I started a fire in the wood cook stove to take off the chill. I've been working on getting laundry finished and hung out on the line, with this wind they dry quickly. Tonight we're having a buffet night, that is what we call cleaning up leftovers. Several days ago I began sorting through our garden seeds to see if we were in need of ordering anything. Conclusion, the only things I need to order is a replacement Cherry tree, for one that didn't make it last yr and another "Wealthy" apple tree to replace one we lost when building a home for my parents on our property. I needed time to actually plan out where to put these replacement trees. Last season we added two plum trees, two pear trees and two cherry trees( one of which didn't make it). Off to bring in the last load of laundry and start evening chores. Good day!

A few candid pictures of some of our animals. Top: Our Irish Dexter cow( Addy) and heifer calf ( Button)

Second from top: a few of our Heritage turkeys Third: The three pigs( Ham, Bacon and Sausage) Bottom: Our Dd, Cortney, enjoying a ride on our Norwegian Fjord, Mo.

More pictures to come.......

Feb.4, 2009

It's hard to believe it's February, our temps. are well into the mid to high 50's F. Today our plan is to finish pruning our fruit trees and cut the old canes back in the raspberry bed. There is also laundry to hang outside in the fresh air. Nothing smells as good as laundry hung outdoors.

This afternoon we need to run into the city( 60+ miles away) to pick up our side pork( bacon) and a ham we had smoked. We only had one ham smoked because it is a special process, not nitrates used and weren't sure we'd like it enough to risk several hams. We avoid as much of the chemicals additives as possible in our foods. When in the city we'll make a few errand stops.

Before leaving we'll put a pot of Taco Soup on the back of the wood cook stove to simmer. We need something ready for a quick supper, as my Dh is teaching a class in our local EMT training seminar tonight.

We are currently pushing back our chore times, as the daylight lengthens, so evening chores are now done around 4:30pm. It's pretty simple at this point, we don't have any cows to milk, so it's a matter of getting them into their stalls, everyone fed and watered for the night.

Blessings to all