Seed Starting around our house

Starting seeds and watching them turn into beautiful, early plants is one of my major hobbies.  I begin getting spring fever around January usually and have to restrain myself not to begin too early.  This year, due to several odd circumstances I found myself with time, energy and sunshine pretty early.  This allowed me to start lots and lots of seeds.  I had some really great help getting them started.

I wanted to line out my philosophy and the steps I take to ensure that my seeds thrive all of the time.

1)   This is a temporary holding pen, not your garden.  This is just a place to get seeds up and going.  You are not building soil or doing long term things, just getting a head start on the season.  I like to use trays and 9 packs that I get from Orchard Supply.  They are pretty inexpensive and can be used several times.  This gives me a consistent size of thing to move around.  It helps.

2)  I usually buy potting soil.  I know that I could probably make some, but it is pretty inexpensive.  Remember, it is just a holding pen.  This year I gathered some moss, cooked it in water on my wood stove, then left it to dry out.  Then I crumbled it up and mixed it - about 1 part moss to 2 to 3 parts soil.  I did this both to extend my potting soil and for moisture control.  It worked pretty well.

3)  I use commercial fertilizer almost every time I water.  Usually I spend about 15-20 dollars on a bottle of organic fertilizer and that will last me through this season.  This tends to make the plants stocky and strong.  There is just no good way for your soil in those little cells to last and produce great plants unless they are fed regularly.  You could probably make some, but I don't.

4)  Only heirloom, GMO free seeds.  These are the only ones you should even consider using.  This has been covered before in this blog, so I won't hit it this time.  While I was doing all of this seed starting, I was staying about 10 minutes from Baker Creek's Seed Bank.  I may have overspent there.

5)  LABEL EVERYTHING!  Spend a little money on labels that will last.  These are white plastic ones and I mark them with a sharpie marker.  You WON'T be sorry!

6)  I put the trays out all day, every day right from the beginning, whenever practical and possible.  I bring them every night until the weather is steady.  This is not something we like to forget.  The reason I do this is to harden off the plants right from the get go.  Otherwise what tends to happen is a great spring day comes along and you finally haul the trays of green plants out.  A few hours later you go check on them and they are FRIED!  I have done this many, many times.  Either harden them off a little at a time or begin by taking them out before they even sprout.

7)  Overplanting early, then separating the plants into individual cells works really well for me.  This allows me to have less trays to haul around early in the season.  A lot of the time once I begin separating them, it is warm enough to leave them outside at night.

8)  Once it begins to be warm and you are separating everything, you might need to water twice a day.  A good watering can is invaluable.

Follow these steps and you will have some beautiful plants, ready to go into the ground as soon as it is practical.  Where we are, NOT before Mother's Day for the tomato, pepper and cuke seeds.

Fermented Roots and Veggies

This is a wonderful time of year in the garden.  If you got a winter garden in (which I did not) you probably have access to all kind of dark, leafy vegetables like kale, swiss chard, beet greens, turnip greens, cabbage, bok choy, mustard greens and dandelion greens.  You probably also have root vegetables growing beautifully.  Chives should be popping up from your onions and garlic (snip and use, they are wonderful) and the natural, local greens (some people call them weeds) should just be starting to look really good.

Note:  These beautiful greens came from a friend's garden.  I plan to use them all today in a batch of fermented veggies I have going.

Even if you do not have your own garden, this is a great time of year to purchase or trade for these nutritional powerhouses.  The next questions is how to either use or preserve this goodness in the best way.

There are so many recipes to try and ways to incorporate all of this.  Right at this moment, I am deep into fermenting in a sauerkraut kind of way.  The possibilities are endless and the health benefits non-stop.  Making up a batch of fermented veggies and using them as a condiment adds much to your meals and your health.  The colors, tastes and textures can all be adjusted to your what your family likes. 

You can turn this:

Into This:

or switch it up and get something like this:

And then, over time, it becomes something like this:

The basic steps are:  Find great ingredients, wash, chop, salt, inoculate (optional), season (optional), wait, pack it into some container so you can keep it under liquid, put it into a quiet, cool place for a while - one to six weeks, bottle, keep cool.  Once the pH level drops below 4.6, unfriendly bacteria just do not thrive.  It is helpful if it can drop within 4 days of mixing it up.

I always taste my sauerkraut "raw" (raw meaning as I am making it - technically, all of this is raw)  It tastes NOTHING like finished kraut.  The taste from the finished kraut comes from time and friendly bacteria.  The more time, the more flavor.  Don't like your kraut?  Wait two weeks and try again.  I sample over and over and over again so I understand as a cook what it tastes like at this stage.  Although it is not the most pleasant part, I now have a good idea what it should taste like at this stage.  When you are making a lot, it is helpful to know this.

What are some of the benefits?

Now that, my friend, is another post.  Stay tuned.

Cindy

Preserving the Harvest

It has been so long since I wrote a blog post, it just feels awkward.  I guess there is no way to get past that than to just dive in.  

Preserving the Harvest:

 This week brought a large selection of roots and greens, much more than could be reasonably used fresh.  It only makes sense to preserve them.  The best way I know is to lacto-ferment these.

Spending a little time getting these beautiful things cultured has a dual purpose.  First, preservation.  Second, using a lacto fermented food as a condiment with your meal brings a host of benefits.  This has been covered in many, many blogs.  You might check a few of them out to find out the health benefits.

It is really easy to get this going, although somewhat time consuming because almost everything had to be hand chopped.  The steps basically are wash, dry, chop, mix, season, get the mixture under liquid and leave it alone for a few weeks.  The ingredients for today's mixture ended up being:

Sauerkraut from my last batch as a starter 

Fermented Carrot/ginger/lime

Fermented Ginger ale

Cabbage - red and green

Mustard greens

Kale - black and green

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Broccoli

Spinach

Beet Greens

Hot Peppers

Carrots

Parsnips

Onions

Ginger

Fermented Soy Sauce

Sesame seeds

Black Pepper

Salt

Hot curry 

Cumin

After prepping everything, it ended up looking like this:

A few weeks in anaerobic conditions and it should be a wonderful, healthy, perfectly preserved bunch of goodness.  Make some today!

A summary of what we have learned thus far

This is an update of an old blog.    Just a personal note:  In this world of no borders, odd diseases and unpleasant viruses taking up residence in our personal space... The type of lifestyle we finally settled on is still the best protection you can have.  No matter the situation, a healthy gut and an active bionome is the best protection you can have.

A great, great way to begin is to spend time on Donna Schwenk's blog.  Cultured Food Life is the name of her new book and she has done a great community service (IMHO) in educating so many people and giving a great starting point.  Her book is available on her blog or any of the other myriad of ways we find it.  Here is the Amazon link to Cultured Food Life.

And so... the rest is what I wrote about 18 months ago.  I see no reason to change my opinion based on current events.  There is one addition on the "Do Not" list about antibacterial products.  I list it as number 1.  Don't kill your warriors.

A SUMMARY OF WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED THUS FAR

I just wanted to put a quick reference here on the top of my long-neglected blog.  This is a summary of some of the things that we have explored together in this blog.  Please remember, this is my OPINION (note IMHO - In My Humble Opinion really means everything on this blog) .  Always do your own research, believe in something yourself - don't just take someone else's word for it.  If you use the search feature, you can find a lot of research and recipes throughout this and many other blogs.  This can give you information to make up your own mind..... but you should continue researching.

Don't attempt to make too many changes at once unless you are in a crisis.  Take your time.  Don't throw your family under the bus.  Keep rational with any changes.   Include the kids in WHY you are changing.  Have some fun - try a couple of new things.  Try them again if they are good for you.  Don't give up.

Be healthy and well!

ADD THIS INTO YOUR LIFE:

1. Eat a lot of good fats (coconut oil, olive oil, butter from pastured cows, cod liver oil, etc.) A minimum of 2 tablespoons per day.
2. Drink raw milk from pastured cows if it is within the realm of possibility.  Add raw cream to your coffee.  A lot. Enjoy it thoroughly.
3. Eat something lacto-fermented every day.  Live sauerkraut is probably one of the most wonderful things you can do for your body long term.  Kim Chee is awesome.  Discover everything lacto-fermented.  Make up something and give it a try.
4. Eat pastured eggs from a local source if it is within the realm of possibility.  The yolks should be bright orange.  Can you have chickens where you are?   A backyard chicken coop is not a lot of work.
5. Drink something live with enzymes every day. (Kombucha tea, Kefir, Apple Cider Vinegar, Coconut Vinegar - something along those lines.)
6. Eat grass fed protein (beef, chicken, pork)
7. Soak all grains, nuts and beans.  This means sourdough bread and soaking and drying nuts.  Beans, rice and lentils, of course, should be soaked with a bit of whey or apple cider vinegar and the water drained off before cooking.  Do you have a crock pot?  Do you cook much?  Most of this is not hard and you do it ahead of time.  I do a lot on weekends and coast through overfull weeks.  Make soaked granola.  Have fun!
8. Eat cultured and organic milk products (yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese).   Add kefir in some form to your diet EVERY DAY.   There are so many good and easy recipes.
9. Make bone broth.  Have some several times a week.  Cook beans or rice or soup in it or drink it like a tea.  Dirt cheap and easy.
10. Exercise 20 minutes per day.  Frankly, yoga and pilates with some aerobics and weight training are almost the best thing for long term.  Honestly, "The Biggest Loser" has some of the best workout DVD's for at home that I have found.  $9 at Wal Mart.
11. Find a holistic doctor or chiropractor if it is possible.  The way we often practice medicine is criminal (IMHO).  Will not rant here.  :)
12. Go organic.  Go local.  Go fresh.  Fruits, vegetables, everything.  There is a host of reasons outside of the chemical thing.
13. Take a good, food based multi-vitamin that is in powder or liquid form.  Don't waste your money on pills that are shaped up with binders and fillers.  Most of it just goes right through you.  We use "All-One" Senior formula.  We take it in the morning with a little Kombucha tea and juice.  There are other really wonderful choices.

REMOVE THIS FROM YOUR LIFE:

1. Do not use antibacterial products on or in your body.  They kill off your biome (the web of healthy bacteria that works symbiotically with our bodies inside and outside to provide bacterial  warriors against nasty bacteria, virus, pathogens, or other unpleasant organisms.)
   
2.  Anything made from GMO's.  They are evil beyond belief (IMHO).  It is best to not put stuff into your body that might cause problems.  You have a "bad blast" and your gut can be ruined.  Just sayin' 
3. ANYTHING that has soy in it.  Men should NEVER EVER EVER EVER drink soy milk or eat soy.  It messes with your manhood.  Women pregnant with boys should NEVER include soy in their diet.  Boy babies should NEVER drink formula made from soy (almost the only thing available) The ONLY exception is a properly lacto-fermented soy sauce, in moderation.
4. Anything hydrogenated, fractionated, or something you cannot pronounce.  Read all labels.  This basically eliminates about 80% of processed foods (which are dead and rob your body of life anyway)
5. Cereal that has been extruded (is it in a shape?  It has been extruded - stick to soaked granola.  super easy to make.)
6. High levels of stress.  The B vitamins will help with this.
7. Grains, nuts and seeds that have not been soaked.
8. Get some of the sugar out of your life.
9. Any milk product that has been homogenized.  A gentle pasteurization is ...... ok..... but raw-non homogenized is better.  If it is homogenized, treat it like something nasty.
10. Avoid like the plague anything that has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it.  It also goes by hfcs now.  Don't touch the stuff.  It is nasty for your liver and your insides and almost impossible to eliminate.
    

There, see.  That is not so bad.  Just do all of that and get back to me in 10 years.  You will have tons of energy, feel great and look better than you did at 20.

Cindy

What is happening around here

Hello all,

I realized that the last post (which has been on top for a while now) is on CANDY MAKING.  Yikes.  Christmas is over.  Back to the real world.  (well, I might make up a batch of caramel sometime soon).  What we are doing around here right now is:

1.  Getting ready to watch (again) an amazing movie.  We plan to watch it at church with a bunch of avid gardeners, hobby farmers, novice growers and everything in between.  A potluck and an afternoon centered around growing stuff successfully.  What could be better than that?  We have watched it free on line, but finally broke down and ordered the video.  

Back to Eden

2.  In addition, I have been reading some books on permaculture and we are trying to plan out how to make our entire property a lot more efficient and work better.  The book I am currently reading is "Permaculture by Sepp Holzer.

Sepp Holzer's Permaculture

3.  Also, on the subject of health, I have two books going right now.  Deep Nutrition and Devil in the Milk.  Both are awesome and full of information.  Deep Nutrition is a great book if you are just beginning the process of trying to learn a different way of eating and why you should do that.  Devil in the Milk is about A-1 and A-2 cows and the types of milk they produce.  By accident (?)  we appear to have cows which produce A-2 milk. 

Meet the authors of Deep Nutrition

Book Review of "Devil in the Milk"

And finally, I am starting seeds.  Yep, it is that time of year.   I have a ton of seeds from my favorite seed bank ever and am trying to restrain my hand from too many tomato plants.  Again.

Baker Creek Seeds

Be blessed!

Cindy

Lacto Fermented Garden Salsa

LACTO FERMENTED GARDEN SALSA
(recipe after much rambling)

Hello all, my long lost blogging friends.  You might wonder where I have been, and it is a simple story.  Just about a year ago, we began putting into place a series of changes that moved us into a more simple, more homebound life.  We have tried to move off the grid wherever practical (and sometimes where it is not practical).  We purchased a milk cow named Bonnie.  We put in an extra-large garden and tried to grow some of our animal feed.

Now I don't want to shock anyone, but these type of changes are a lot of W-O-R-K.  Modern conveniences are named that for a reason.  Processed, industrialized food is inexpensive and easy.  Having a milk cow means someone has to be there to milk twice a day.... every day..... 7 days a week.... you get the picture.  Anyway, our time seems to have become redirected.

At this time we are drying the cow up.  This means just one milking a day, not on any schedule.  The garden is put to bed and I never did get a winter garden in, with the exception of our small cold frame.  It feels like we have redeemed an amazing amount of time and freedom.   I do not want to say this is good, I really miss the fresh produce and as soon as the cow is done, I know I will miss that wonderful milk.  But for the moment, it is less hectic..... somewhat.

For this winter I am planning to read a wonderful book called Deep Nutrition.  We just finished a movie on-line called Back to Eden.  I think we will implement some of these changes into our garden.  I would recommend it to anyone wanting to garden in a real way.  We also watched a movie called Burzynski.  It is a wonderfully revealing movie on the incestuous relationship between big Pharma and regulatory agencies.  It is worth watching, no matter what you think of Dr. Burzynski.  We are still in the research phase to see if his remedy is effective.  The same tactics are currently being used on our food supply (especially raw milk).  Protectionism is alive and well in the United States of America.

We mainly planted greens in the cold frame, but the boys made a cool "chicken tractor" which would fit in there.  The chickens keep the cold frame pretty warm.  We will also use it this winter for newly hatched chicks and a mama.  So, we continue to eat simple, wholesome, organic meals.  Soaked grains are a part of life.  Root vegetables are big in our diet, add a lot of greens whenever you can..... and now it is almost time to begin making candy for Christmas :)

My sister, the shopping queen, found us an amazing stove that is waiting to be installed when time permits this winter.  It is in the picture.  It is a Wedgewood stove from 1935 and is in almost pristine condition.  It has both wood and gas burners.  I am not even going to tell you what price she found it for.  No need to excite envy and jealousy. It is a beauty, isn't it.

I wanted to get the recipe for lacto-fermented salsa up, even though the garden is put to bed.  Next summer will probably roll around, and then it will be here.   This bunch of produce is one of the last batches we picked before the cold weather rolled in.  Enjoy

Cindy

Lacto Fermented Salsa

Whey  (about 1 TBSP per quart of finished product)

Tomatoes

(I prefer a variety of colors - they are all different acid levels and each brings something different to the party)

Tomatillos

Hot peppers

Sweet peppers

Cucumbers

(leave the skins on - I try to find some with bitterness to them - good balance)

Onion

Garlic

Lime juice and lime zest

Fresh Cilantro

Sea Salt

Pepper

Cumin

Cayenne, if necessary

Directions:  I use a cast iron skillet to roast the peppers and tomatillos.  If your hands have hot pepper on them, a few drops of bleach will neutralize it and you don't have to worry about touching your eyes for the next 10 hours.  After roasting, I use a food processor to get it chunked up.  Just use blasts, don't blend it.  You want chunks.   After everything is blended, add the chopped Cilantro, lime juice, lime zest and spices.
Taste often.

You will notice that I do not have amounts.  Taste often.  Don't forget the whey.  If it lasts, you should leave it at room temperature for a couple of hours to allow the salt and whey time to innoculate your salsa.  Bottle and refrigerate.

Enjoy
Cindy

Life on the Farm

Blessings to you all,

It has been so long since I have written ANYTHING on this blog, I have almost forgotten how.  There have been many, many changes around our place.  One of the biggest is our major steps to get off of the grid.  We have been trying to simplify, declutter and doing our best to live a different way.  It has been challenging, two steps forward, one step back, intermediate steps, rethinking........ Anyway, it has been fun.  A lot of work..... but fun.  Our life has changed to very quiet, simple homebound routines.   Some of our upcoming projects include a root cellar, ice house and spring house.

As part of that process, we have gotten more serious about our garden.  In the early spring, we dug trenches with the help of the backhoe and put manure in, then refilled.  It broke up some hardpan, stirred around our minerals and really improved our soil.

After reading several wonderful gardening books over the winter, we laid out the plants differently.  Every plant was put in carefully with consideration of "root room".  We wanted to give every plant plenty of room to thrive.  This meant that we placed the tomato plants 4' on center.  It was hard for me.  I was limited to 50 plants...... OK, I might have snuck a couple extra in.  I also gave room to the squash, cukes, melons, peppers - everything got enough root room.  They marked up a piece of pipe for me so I could easily plant.

My sweet hubby made new tomato cages for me this year.  We didn't have enough material for all of the tomatoes, but hopefully by next year we will.  I will use fencepost and wires for the rest of the plants.

We have been harvesting raspberries, beets (they are yummy just rinsed, rubbed with oil and salt and baked) greens of every type, tomatoes (from the coldframe) squash, kohlrabi, turnips, parsnips, radish, peas and we are just beginning to get cucumbers.  Our meals are simple and revolve around soaked grains, greens, eggs, milk, garden produce, our own chickens, grass fed beef and raw cheese.

The cow produces wonderful milk and the chickens are laying beautifully.  My sister continues to turn chicks out of her ever revolving incubator.  The roosters we butcher, the hens we either keep or move on to someone else.  We have lots of chickens.  We used the broody hens and chicks to keep the coldframe warm this winter.... that is why we have early tomatoes.  I'll be working a lot harder on the coldframe w/chicken heat this winter.

The Spring and Summer have been filled with hard work, family, new experiences, adjustments, and the Hand of the Lord always giving us guidance.  I can say again today that He has NEVER left us.... NEVER forsaken us.  We can depend on His mercy, His abundance and His grace.

Be blessed, healthy and well
Cindy

Time to think about gardening!

I know it is still winter, but spring is just around the corner.  There is quite a bit you can be doing to get ready for garden season.  I have already written about why I garden and you can find that post here.  If you intend to get a garden going this year, here are some things you can do now to make sure that happens.

Begin a garden journal/devotional.  Just having one place where you are jotting down your thoughts, scriptures, poems, recipes and ideas is helpful. It is good to get your thoughts in order.  This is also a great time to read a new (or old) book on gardening.  Try the thrift store :)

Plan your space.  Make this a family affair.  Figure out how much room you are committing to gardening, what needs to be done and where you intend to plant everything.  Planning is key to a productive garden.  We like to measure everything and lay it out on paper.

Decide what you intend to plant and order seeds.  I use Baker Creek Seeds - they have an awesome selection and test for GMO's.

If you intend to start seeds, this is the time to do it.  You do not have to have a perfect environment.  You need  a warm place, and after the seedlings have popped up, you need to haul them to some sunshine whenever possible.  Water them and let the water drain.  Add some kind of natural food to your water.  The seedlings burn through the available nutrients pretty quickly.  We usually begin tomato, sweet and hot pepper plants, broccoli, brussel sprouts and swiss chard inside.  The other stuff gets direct sowed when the soil is warm enough.

If you need to build boxes, fix fences or acquire pots to plant in, this is the time to work on it.  Often you can find someone who has changed their garden plan and will trade, barter, buy or give you old containers.  Use some of your soil and mix in something good - well rotted compost, some purchased topsoil.... something full of nutrients.  Make sure your pots will drain well and are big enough for the root systems of your plants.

Begin or plan a compost pile.  You don't have to be fancy.  Find a spot, mix equal parts brown, green and hot (leaves, sawdust, straw, kitchen scraps, manure, urine)  and mix occasionally.   You can build a round container out of old fencing or you can use old pallets or you can go with something that spins, turns and works your stuff.   The more you work it, the hotter it gets.  Here are some great links to Organic Gardening.... as far as I am concerned, they are the king of compost :)  You can probably find lots and lots of other articles on compost, these are just three random ones.

Fast Cooking Compost Pile

Compost Ingredients

Safe Compost Bins

Plan to begin a spring garden as soon as you are able to work the soil.  Lettuce, spinach, onions, potatoes, swiss chard, broccoli, brussel sprouts and peas are part of our spring garden plan.  I can't wait!

Do you need to clean up your garden site from last year?  Take a couple of the nice days that always happen in the middle of winter and clean it up.  While you are at it, take a look at your tools and see if you need to replace, repair, sharpen or rethink them.  Make sure you have a somewhat organized place for your tools.  Always searching for a tool is a huge waste of time.

Talk over with your family the amount of resource you plan to use.  Include time, water, money, physical labor and space.  Reassess what you did last year.  Do you need to do something different?  Be open to suggestions from family members.  Step up the chores for the kids and move them up the chore ladder.  A garden is an amazing way to spend great family time.

I would love to hear your garden plans.  Ours are firmly in place and moving on.  It might seem odd to be full steam ahead on your garden when there is still a significant amount of snow on the ground, but if you do not have a plan, your odds of being successful are much smaller.  It is time to start.



Happy Gardening


Cindy

A simpler life

Anyone that follows the stock market, commodity prices, the dollar and news events is probably getting somewhat uneasy.  Commodity prices have been steadily rising for months and have really shot up recently.  This is for multiple reasons - manmade and natural disasters, unrest in the world, too many people living off of the "system" and not putting into it, too much borrowing and not enough saving, terrible political decisions in multiple countries... the list goes on and on.

It is not helpful to live in the spirit of fear that is permeating our world.  One of my favorite scriptures is in 2Timothy 1:7......   For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.   BE ADVISED  it is the better part of wisdom to look ahead and make wise decisions for your family..... not in a spirit of fear, but in a useful, responsible way.

No matter where you live or what you do, you can make your situation more stable.  Proverbs has a lot of wisdom concerning living in wisdom or in folly.  If you have not read through Proverbs lately, you should.  Just look at today's date and read that Proverb.  Here are a few samples.

A wise man fears and departs from evil,
      But a fool rages and is self-confident. 

Proverbs 14:16

Every prudent man acts with knowledge,
      But a fool lays open his folly. 

Proverbs 13:16

No matter where you live, you should look around and see what local resources are at hand..... then learn to use them.  This is wisdom, not fear.  When you learn in a non-emergency situation it is a lot easier.  Add knowledge and skill one layer at a time so no one is overwhelmed.  If I had tried to feed my family sourdough bread baked on the wood stove 3-4 years ago no one would have eaten it..... including me.  I probably would never have attempted a full on farmer's breakfast on the stove, but now it is very possible.  We have changed over time.

Life on the Farm - Sights from our past few weeks

I have already posted this video, but am posting it again with a caveat from my sister.  She said the pictures make everything look easier, cleaner and faster than it really happened.  We have just made one step after the other after the other.  Each person works within their strengths..... or develops new strengths.  For example, my hubby had a milk cow when he was younger.  Bonnie would much prefer him to milk her and gives the most milk to him.  This is not practical for us.  I have had to learn to milk, and my sister is next.  It doesn't matter what is the easiest, this is a new skill we must develop.

Ask yourself these questions....

• Does my family produce more than they consume?
• Is the bulk of my food local and sustainable?
• If it is not, do I have an ample supply on hand for an emergency situation?
• Can I slowly change the way my family eats, lives, cooks and plays to be more sustainable?
• Do I know how to produce food and energy for my family?
• Do I have a skill, knowledge or resource that I can barter with?
• Can I convert grass into protein? 
• Do you know how to garden?
• If you have a garden.... do you use heirloom seeds?
• Do you know how to properly save and reuse your seeds?

A side note.... Baker Creek Seeds is my favorite non GMO, heirloom seed company.  We plan to add a section of garden for the animals this year. 

Questions like these help you think ahead in a non-emergency situation.  When a power outage or other disruption occurs, use the opportunity to practice some of your skills.  Do you have to run to the store regularly?  Rethink that.  Then when the next disruption occurs, try again.  Instead of complaining, figure it out.  Do laws need to be changed so you can have a wood stove in an area RICH with firewood?  How about backyard chickens?  Do zoning laws need to change?  What has to happen so you can live more sustainably?

Living a simple life brings a peace that is beyond wonderful.  We are not quite there yet, but we persevere.  Stay close to God, eat local and fresh, be prepared, be a good neighbor, learn to function closer to where you live.  Be content.

Cindy

Life on the farm

Slideshow of recent changes around here.

We have had a lot of changes around here since I last posted.  Our daughter and son in law moved back to the Bay Area.  It is bittersweet.  The sweet - he got a wonderful job.  The bitter, they moved away.  It involved a lot of change for all of us since our daughter had become the teacher for our youngest and they both helped so much around here.  Also, they had the nerve to take one of my grandbabies out of the county.  I thought there was a rule against that! 

The next big change came when our raw milk source dried up...... well, they sold out and we no longer had access.  This was so, so sad.  However, as a small community, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and purchase our own milk cow.  We would turn our own grass and clover into milk!  We purchased Bonnie the cow and Bessie her calf.  We got a good deal because she was difficult to milk and the calf was still on her at three months.  She is a beautiful 3/4 mini jersey and 1/4 dexter and they were not kidding about being difficult to milk :)

We pressed on.  At the beginning it took three adults, a kick bar and a lot of patience to get her milked.  Then down to two adults and someone on poop patrol (we have someone catch her poop in a snow shovel if she lifts her tail).  Now one person can milk her.  We still have the poop patrol, but she often does not poop while being milked.  We started out using Bag Balm on her teats, then read the label.  Petroleum based.  Bad bad bad bad.   We are trying out the Burt's Bees Farmer's Friend Hand Salve.  It appears to be working really well.  We are happy and blessed.

My sweet hubby and brother in law converted the Taj Mahal chicken coop into a milking barn.  It has a concrete floor, a washout, lights..... then my sister spotted an old sink at my aunt's house and talked her out of it.   Her hubby went and fetched it and installed it.  Then we traded a neighbor for some of their excess hay.  The three younger kids (from both families) picked up some extra daily chores.  Our oldest son came and cut down some unproductive fruit trees to begin the process of making a better pasture and we are good to go!   Everyone has worked together in their own strengths.  We are now being rewarded by about 3 quarts of milk at each milking.  It is only a little disheartening that the milking barn is cleaner than my kitchen.  This is thanks to Farmer Joe who sweeps, washes out with vinegar water and squeegees after each milking.

We have been hit by another brutal snowstorm and are out of power again.  We are wondering if we will break our previous record of 10 days.  I worked hard on baking sourdough bread on the stovetop.  It turned out great!  Also during that time we lost our water and the boys had to snowshoe up to fix it.  All in all, a very grand adventure.  (Note, the power is back on - we were only out 7 days - we're getting ready to be hit by another storm later this week).  I have to say the Ipad, Iphone, Itouch and Laptop were helpful.  The Kindle program loaded up with books was awesome.  You can sit in the dark and read for several hours.  When we turn the generator on, we recharge everything.  It worked really well.

Shortly after they got our water fixed a ditch that runs above a part of our road got pulled out by a big cedar tree.  A massive amount of water came down and wiped out a part of our road.  The guys  drove the backhoe out and helped the local water company do some repairs. Being a part of a community is good.

I have to say, I love simple farm life.  There have been big adjustments, but they are good.  While we were out of power it was even better.  It is wonderful to always have fresh milk. A simpler way of life makes power outages a little easier to handle.

I have a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks in this slideshow.  I hope you enjoy it.


Cindy

1/1/11

Happy New Year!  

The first week of the year, we love to plan out what we would LIKE to happen, begin trying to make it happen, and stay flexible.   Here is a simple list of things to consider to begin 2011.

Be blessed, happy and well this year.

Organize yourself:  I love to sit at the computer and make a list for myself and my family.  Not everything happens, but often more happens than you think.  I try to look it over at the first of each month and see how we are doing.  I have been looking over last year's list, and am happy.  My five categories:  Physical health, Spiritual health, Financial health, Household health, Garden (or Farm) Health.

Begin a daily Bible Reading program:  Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you.  This is critical.  Use your IPhone, IPad App, or Laptop.  One great online program is Bible Gateway Reading Plan. Use your BIBLE and some bookmarks, ask if your church or place of worship is beginning a program, something.  This is so important to get into your day.  Schedule it around something.  Spend time with the Lord every day.  It will cleanse you.

Begin a prayer journal:  Keep a list of people and situations.  Pray over the list daily.  Release these people and situations to the Lord.  He loves them more than you.   Allow the Holy Spirit to change others.  You cannot change anyone on your own.  Your most effective course of actions is to pray and bring God into it, and then take your hands off.   Write it down, it will be encouraging to you.

Dump the junk:  Take opportunity to get the junk out of your house.  It is NOT a sin to throw junk food, candy and energy robbing food away.  Look for words like SUGAR, hydrogenated, fractionated, soy, msg.... fill in your own list.  You cannot be healthy if these foods are there constantly tempting you.  Take a couple of hours, clean your fridge and cupboard and hidey holes, thrown them OUT, then take the trash OUT!  Christmas is over.  Let it be done.

Add good foods in:  In order to feed yourself healthy food, you have to plan ahead.  Either do a weekly menu, or a seasonal menu, something.  You have to have a plan.  This has been my biggest failing this year.  Last night my sister and I hashed over some kind of solution for me.  I think I will try a 6 week menu (for example, soaked hot oatmeal every Tuesday.... like that).

Make sure you have healthy snacks and foods available.  Adding good, healthy foods into your day to day life is easier than taking tasty, but dead foods out.  Just replace the junk with life giving foods.

Drink more water:  Flush the toxins out of your system.  Drink more water.  Add a splash of lemon, lime or apple cider vinegar to boost the effectiveness.

Began taking a good, food based vitamin:  Something that covers the bases and is high quality.  We like the All One Senior Formula mixed in ginger ale/juice with our breakfast, but there are a lot of good ones out there.

Began a modest exercise program..... or boost the one you are on:  Exercise is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and your family.  Please do not begin with an intense, unachievable program.  Begin with something you CAN do and set yourself up for success.  You do not need to spend a fortune.  A couple of DVD's, a few weights, 20-30 minutes, warm up, cool down.  That is all you need.  Try Wal Mart and $20.  Find something that appeals to you.

Don't try to go from NO exercise to a 1 hour, intense program.  You will be setting yourself up for failure.

Spend some time with your finances:  Make a budget.  Do you need to do Dave Ramsey again?  When you make a line item for money, you give it priority in your life.  This week, schedule your finances.  Do it as a family.  Talk over what you would like to see happen.  Plan, write down, budget, figure.  This is a good time to clean up last year and begin afresh.

Clean your house:  Go through room by room, if necessary.  Do you want it, love it, need it, use it?  If not, should it be donated, trashed, burned???  You cannot be healthy if your house is cluttered with stuff you are not using.  This is valuable real estate, and it is good to have a peaceful, useful space to live in.

This might be a good time to paint, clean, change a fixture, something.  Take some time and organize your household.  You will feel cleaner, more free and more effective.

Plan your garden:  We have a New Year's Eve tradition of drawing out next year's garden.  My sister is good with design and sketched out our plans last night.  We talked over success and failures and plans for next year with a lot of laughter and good memories.  Everyone chose their favorite tomato and we began our seed order - Baker Creek Seeds- be ready for our order :)

2011 is here, whether we are ready or not.   Take the opportunity to bring the gift of health to yourself and your family.

Cindy

Sourdough Communion Bread

It appears to be my turn to make communion bread.  I always delay it as long as possible, hence.... December is usually the month I am pulling it together.  This year, I want to try a Sourdough Communion Bread, more like a cracker than we usually have.  The recipe that I ended up with:

Sponge:

1 cup starter

1 cup flour

let sit overnight 

(I always have a sponge going.  I just pulled two cups out and went from there)

Dough:

2 cups sponge

approximately 1 cup flour 

(1/2 white, 1/2 fresh ground wheat/barley)

2 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp honey

1/3 cup butter

1/4 tsp salt

(you could also add about 1/4 tsp baking soda, if desired)

This came together in the mixer with the dough hook until it had the consistence of pie crust.  I then let it rest for a couple of hours before working it into crackers.

Cracker Formation:

Work in small batches.  First, separate the dough into 4 equal chunks.

Roll out very thin

sprinkle a little salt on top and press in, if desired

pierce all over with a fork

use a pizza cutter or something like that to score

 bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes

This recipe made approximately 300 pieces of communion bread.

Cindy

Lance's Bear Hunt

We have a friend, his name is Lance,
he likes to hunt for bear......
and when he hunts, he really hunts,
and then he loves to share  :)


 Our sweet friend has blessed us abundantly with bear meat and bear fat from a very local source.  OK, I have been up and down on this one.  It really has some..... smell to it.  Not bad, just different.  I'm working on it.

We bottled up several quarts of beautiful, rendered bear fat.  How do you do that, and why???? you might be asking.  Well, here are directions and some of the reported uses and facts for rendered bear fat.

Take the bear fat, clean it, chunk it up, put it in a big pot, put on a stove (we used the wood stove) and liquify.  Strain while it is warm and bottle up.  Store in a cool place.  It looks like hard shortening when it is cold.

I confess, I did not know I should clean and chunk it before rendering it for this batch, but it seems like it turned out fine.  I'll let you know how the different process works out.

So, the uses, in no particular order:
(I have only tried a few of these, but we plan on trying out as many as possible this winter)

• Boot oil / Leather conditioner
• Wood conditioner
• Apparently makes the finest croissant, biscuit and pie crust you can make
• A concentrated energy source
• Soap making
• Candle making
• Hair grease (we will not be trying this)
• Oil lamp
• High quality gun oil
• Pemmican

I will let you know how it goes.  If it goes rancid, I'm thinking boot oil.

Cindy

Here are a couple of great web sites Mrs. Survival  and Grandpappy's that have a lot of basic information on soap and candle making.  Can we use some modern ingredients instead of this wood ash thing?   Still in the experiment phase.  I have never actually made either of these items in my life...... but that does not mean it is not on my radar.  :)

RECIPE #1 - SOAP

ye olde style

If You EVER want to try this, please check out this very helpful web site.... How To Make Soap
 Here is a link to the history of soap making.  Maybe.  :)  Soap Facts 

Ingredients: bear fat, white wood ash

1. Sift ash into cold water. Let sit overnight, then strain through a cheesecloth, saving the potash water. 
2. Render bear fat in a kettle over medium heat. 
3. Boil a quantity of the potash water and rendered bear fat while stirring constantly.
4. The mixture will react. Continue adding potash and rendered fat until you have a suitable quantity of soap. Ensure there is no excess lye by tasting the soap. If it tastes sharply of the potash water, add more fat and stir some more.
5. Remove from heat and ensure saponification has halted. Pour into molds or suitable containers before it solidifies.
   
   RECIPE #2 - LEATHER CONDITIONER
   
   Ingredients: bear fat, bees wax, cod liver oil
   

1. Take equal parts of rendered bear fat, beeswax and cod liver oil, heat together slowly until thoroughly liquefied and blended.
2. If you use just bear fat, it will eventually degrade the leather.
3. Pour off into containers and allow to cool to solidity. 
4. This can also also be rubbed in to protect wood.

Here is a product advertisement from Finland for Bear Grease leather conditioner.  I think it has other ingredients added.   "Bear is simply the best leather dressing on the market. It nurtures leather. It softens leather stiff with age. It waterproofs leather. It restores leather's warm glow. Use on work boots, hunting boots, hiking boots, saddles, harnesses, leather furniture, baseball gloves and leather jackets."

RECIPE #3 - Pemmican

Grandpappy has pemmican information all organized as well.

Native Americans used rendered bear fat, dried preserved meat, nuts and berries and ground everything up/mixed in the fat to create pemmican.  Pemmican is a compact source of energy that contains protein, fiber, fat, carbs, sugars, vitamins and minerals... an advance protein bar perhaps.

I just wonder how this tastes. 

Another new baby

Our daughter had a healthy baby girl two weeks ago.  She is sweet and very healthy, despite being almost four weeks early.  Sweet Gracie brings another grandbaby in the mix and I am so happy!

They came home two days after her birth, only to have us haul them to our son and daughter in law's house a couple of days later.  We were slammed by a big snow storm which brought down trees and power lines everywhere.... along with generally creating havoc within our county.    Exhibiting a sweet sense of hospitality, our "Dirtbikes and Dollies" kids hosted them for several days, and also hosted our family Thanksgiving..... they were the only ones with power.  Their story of this time is here. 

During this time, a dear friend took some wonderful pictures of the baby.  Thank you Jodi for the great pictures.  She also did a mini-session with my other sweet grandbabies.  What a sweet blessing. 

I almost feel like I can begin some routines again.  Our days are beginning to settle down as the snow slowly melts.  Yesterday I was able to drive into town in my car.  The internet and power are back on.

I confess, I miss my garden.  We were picking until the bitter end.  I am trying to learn how to make bear meat taste good.  (another story for another day).  I realized anew that clutter is not helpful, we can live with less, you can make wonderful meals on a wood stove, sourdough is amazing stuff when you have no power.  (crackers, bread, pancakes, muffins).

Today, I am just trying to remember how to organize my thoughts.  Thanks for being such a big part of our life.

Best of health to you
Cindy