WoW! It's been almost a month!

One more day and it would have been a month since my the last post! Sorry all, but summer is in full swing here! I've been busy taking care of the garden and the chickens. Sadly I lost two of my larger breed hens to heat stroke in the past month so I had to make some impromptu alterations to the coop. When I first built it my major concern was keeping predators out and making sure it would be warm enough for them in the winter. Unfortunatly I didn't think about summer! Well lesson learned, and large ventelation door made! :) The chicken's seem much happier now with the new abode.



The girls and I have been busy exploring. The oldest lost her training wheels and is now the proud owner of a shiney new bike! Which we put to good use riding around the block. We discovered some markings on the bridge down the road. Someone dated the concrete culvert with what appears to be orange field tile. The date reads 1911 and we also found 2 handprints one large and one small. I'm sure if I check the old maps I could find out who lived in the area during that time. But for now they made for an interesting discovery!






I butchered one of the roosters last night and took it to some family members. I heard the complaints from my oldest as she was disapointed we were not having Mom's famous chicken and dumplings I cleaned another rooster this evening for dinner tomarrow evening. I dug up the red-skin potatoes this evening to go with the chicken tomarrow night and I'm anxious to see how they cook up. I thought I had some sort of bug when the green portion of the potatoes died off! Silly me I later realized the potatoes just do this when they are finished growing! I've never actually grown potatoes so I was VERY suprised to discover a load of medium sized potatoes hidding under the dirt! Yummy!




Well it's time to get back to the family as it's almost bedtime and I promised to read a story! Blessings to all and well wishes to you and yours!

Homeade Granola Bars

The rain has kept us inside today so I've been hanging out in the kitchen. I'll share a family favorite recipe for homeade Granola Bars....

4 1/2 cups Rice Krispies
5 Cups Quick Oats
1 Cup Coconut
1 package cruched Graham Crackers

Mix the above together in a LARGE bowl and set aside

Over low heat melt

3/4 Cup Butter
2 Packages Mini Marshmellows
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup honey
1/2 Package chocolate Chips (optional may also add nuts or m&m's)

Once the marshmellow mixture has melted down, remove from heat and mix in the dry ingredients. Mix well until all is coated and transfer to a 13*9 pan. (Helps if you lightly butter the pan ahead of time) Cover with wax paper and press the mixture into the pan. Cut into bars 1" x 3" bars for a sweet snack!

Butter Making

Just thought I'd share how I make the butter for my girls. We don't buy or use margarine in our home. I much prefer the texture and taste of real honest butter. I usually keep a few store bought sticks in the freezer for cooking or baking. But for toast and other delights I keep home-churned butter on hand. If you are as blessed and live close to a dairy you can purchase heavy whipping cream there but you can also use one from the store. I have learned that store bought whipping cream will churn faster than the one bought from the dairy. It probably has something to do with the fat content. If you plan on doing it for the first time I would recomend store bought cream and use the mixer. By using the mixer you can see the 3 stages the butter goes through and get a feel for whats happeneing. It takes about 3 of the small cartons to make a good ammount of butter. It also takes some time and paitence!

You can use a hand mixer, a stand mixer, a mason jar, basically anything that will agitate the cream. Obvisously they are easier ways than others! :) I have an old glass jar butter churn that is on it's 4th generation as you might be able to tell in the picture. :) The kids, and I take turns while we sit on the porch turning the crank on the churn. I would estimate it takes about 45minutes to an hour of fast churning to get butter and another 15-20 minutes of rinsing to finish it off. This is why I say you may want to try it in a mixer for the first time.

The cream will go through 3 stages as it makes butter. The first is the inital cream stage. Make sure you shake the container well to get all of the cream blended before pouring it in. After blending for a while you will notice the cream turn to whipped cream. You can stop at this stage and add a little sugar for natural homeade whipped cream but that's not what I'm making today :)




So blend on and after some time you will notice the cream start to get an almost grainey appearance...


Keep pluggin along and it will turn into butter and buttermilk.


From here you drain off the buttermilk and save it in a jar for baking. (Makes lovely biscuits!)



Once that is done you will need to continue pressing the buttermilk out of the butter. You can do this step by hand, using two wooden spoons soaked in ice water. Use the spoons to roll a small piece of the butter into a ball and press the milk out of it. Once that has been done you will need to rinse the butter balls in ice water to continue to remove the buttermilk. This is important as the more buttermilk you leave in the butter the faster it will spoil. If you plan on using it quickly you can leave some of the milk in it and continue to mix it which turns it into whipped butter and will make spreading easier. You can also add salt to the butter during this step or you can leave it unsalted. I hope you try it and I hope you enjoy it!!!

Blessings to you and yours!

Adventures in chicken ownership

Cleaning a chicken was really not on my list of things to do today. However the family dog had other plans for me. Usualy I put the chickens to bed everynight and to do so you have to enter the coop and shut the pen door from inside. I have been thinking I need to put a latch on the outside door from inside for a while now but I just haven't got around to it. Well guess thats about to change as I had to stand in the rain with a flashlight plucking one of my lovely hens. Oooooh no he couldn't get the rooster that I already wanted to cull. He had to take out one of my big ol plump hens. I guess I get a chicken dinner out of it so I can't complain to much!

Farm Auction

Saturday was a first for me. I attended my first farm auction!!! It was a wonderful mix of livestock, hay, tools, and odds and ends. Unfortunatly I had a graduation in the afternoon so I wasn't able to see all of the auction but I plan to go back next weekend! I came home with a set of 3 old shutters for decoration in the garden and some baseball card sleeve pages for my kids to organize their bella sara cards. I also came home with an understanding to drive the truck next weekend as a compact car does not transport shutters very comfortably. :) And it prevented me from picking up a large set of shelves to hold my canning for $.50 !!

Next weekend should also see the arrival of strawberries in our area. Everyone is excited and ready for the annual strawberry day, though I have my reservations! I never get excited until the day is over and all the jam and jelly is resting on the dinning room table, and I'm resting in the chair with a nice book and aching feet! :) Every year I make more and more jars and it seems we still never have enough! In our house mom's homeade jelly is quite the commodity.

I've been sorely slacking in my updates as of late. I'm attributing it to a round of the flu which ransaked my home here. I can't seem to recall such a long drawn out season for colds and flu's in many years! Here's to hoping this is just an exception rather than an upcoming trend!

Many blessings to you and yours :)

Fabric rant..

Just a quick complaint to be logged into cyber-space. What in the heck is up with material prices!!!! I just got back from our local chain fabric and craft store and was dumb-founded by the cost of material! I bought enough material (cotton printed which was 30% off) for 2 kid's dresses and only MINOR notions. (Elastic, zipper, bias tape, 1 spool of ribbon, and 4 Rosettes) I also picked up a set of straight knitting needles for socks and a nifty lil wheeled yarn organizer (super clearenced for 24.97...I wouldn't dare pay the ridiculous original price of 59.00) My bill tolaled over $75.00. *&#%$^&! ABSURD! Oh and I had a 40% off coupon which went towards my needles. So on that note where does everyone else go for fabric? Sometimes I can find good deals on e-bay but unfrotunatly I needed the material to complete the dresses for next week.

No more lawn. And dandelion salad.

So last fall a thought occured to me. Why do I have so much lawn? What good does this stuff serve? I can't eat it...well I can eat the dandelions but then technically I'm supposed to kill all them. (Notice I say technically....I gave that fight up years ago) I was spending 6-7 hours mowing the lawn per week and about 3 gallons of gas per mow. (Someone stop me if they find logic in having a lawn.) Yes I'll admit that it's nice to walk around the yard and feel the soft grass under your feet but beyond that I see no purpose to it. So this year I have set out to reduce my lawn size. I've given back about 30% of it to the field for crops and the remainder is still being turned under for gardens, fruit plots and cut flower beds. I cut out a portion for the chickens and anothre for the dog. Now I'm down to a manageable area about 40% of what I had before, which can be maintained in a matter of 2 hours! I plan to let the horse graze on the open areas and help with the mowing as well. (Can't get much more green than that!) I'm happy with my little yard and I still have my dandelions only...a lot less by design! I encourage anyone out there to take a hard look at their prized lawns and decide does this benefit me or my family? If not then till away my friends!!!!



Dandelion Salad Recipe...(From the Miller Family Cookbook 2nd Edition)



4 c. fresh dandelion (washed and shreded)
3 Hard Boiled Eggs (chopped)
6 slices Bacon (fried until crispy and cut into small pieces)

{(Dressing)}
2 T. Flour
2 T. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
Mix together then add:
1/4 c. vinegar
1 1/2c milk or water

Add the dressing ingredients together in a skillet and bring to a boil. Cook until thickened then cool and toss with dandelion greens, bacon and eggs.

Dandelions are rich in protein, iron, calcium, phosphorus and insulin.