Easy Living the Hard Way

Using Home-made Vegetable Powder in Noodles

2012-02-02T16:42:00.001-07:00

Some of you may remember the small beets from my garden that I dried last September. Well, I think it was September. Anyway, the plan was to use them in noodles and soups to increase the nutrition level of the dishes. I'm finally getting around to reaching that goal. Slow yes, but it's better to be slow then never arrive.

Being an over achiever, I had to try two different kinds at once.The first bowl held beet powder and the second bowl, spinach. I ran out of room in the garden to grow spinach and so I dried some from the store. One does what they can.

With these two bowls that I added powder to, I found it necessary to add 1 Tablespoon of water. Oh wait, I haven't given you the recipe yet. I looked up on the Internet and they recommended 2 Tablespoons of vegetable powder per pound of dough. Too lazy to get out the scale, I just added 1 Tablespoon of powder to 2 eggs, 1 cup of semolina flour, 1/4 cup of unbleached white flour, and a nice drizzle of olive oil.

Then in the third bowl I put in the 2 eggs, 1 cup of semolina flour, 1/4 cup of unbleached white flour, and a nice drizzle of olive oil but NO water. This was my plain dough. I thought it would look nice as a contrast on the plate.

After kneading each dough thoroughly until they formed a lovely ball, I placed them inside a plastic container to sit for thirty minutes. You should always let your noodle dough rest. My question now is will the rest cause the spinach and beet dough to become drier because the moisture in the dough is absorbing more of the powder? Therefore meaning my dough should have been a bit sticky to start with. I'll soon find out.

Hmmm... wonder if the beet dough will bleed into the water big time and stain the other noodles when cooking? Maybe I should just do a small mixture of the three colors and then go on from there depending on the results.

As for the wheat sprouts, they are coming along nicely and are at about a 1/4 inch long. In the morning, I'll start drying them on low in the dehydrator. I'll send pictures your way and tell you what I've learned about sprouting wheat. Yup, I was a bit surprised at the results. Plus the results on the vegetable noodle experiment.

Sprouting Wheat for Bread

2012-01-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

Who knew there was so much to learn about making bread? I surely didn't but isn't that the way with just about everything? The more you learn about a subject, the more you realize you don't know very much at all. That's what has happened with bread making. I first studied about the development of gluten and the role of salt, flour, oil, water, and eggs in bread making.

I thought I knew quite a bit, since after all I've been making bread since I was a kid but my white breads rose to a whole new level of flavor and textures using basically the same ingredients. I could make light and airy, chewy, or dense. But white bread leaves me feeling guilty. I know there aren't many nutrients in it and the carbs send your glycemic levels skyrocketing. So then I studied different grains and the changes you should make with each due to their unique characteristics.

I like wheat bread but there just seems to be something missing in comparison to the levels my white bread had reached.

Then there was the nagging reminder that I'd promised my doctore that I'd start to eat Ezekial bread. Like that's available in the middle of nowhere, so I went searching on the Internet for a recipe. Most just didn't seem like much more than a knock off to the truth. Later I found out this was the case. Yes, they added bean flour and other good things but they had still missed the point. Ezekial bread according to what I understand from my doctor was suppose to have as a base sprout flour.

The recipes shortcuted this step which skips the huge nutrient boost which is the whole point of making the bread in the first place.

The bread starts with the sprouting of grain or grains. Though I guess you can incorporate the sprouts mashed, I kind of liked the idea of drying the sprouts and then grinding them into a flour. This of course means I have to sprout, dehydrate, and then grind. Why go to all this bother? The numbers sold me, 28% more Thamine (B1); 315% more riboflavin (B2); 66% more niacin (B3); 65% more pantothenic acid (B5); 111% more biotin, 278% more folic acid; 33% more vitamin C. Wow!!, and another site had the numbers even higher along with percentages for other nutrients also. Sprouting other grains does the same thing, the nutrient base increases dramatically.

Why, sprouting your grains activates food enzymes and neutralizes antinutrient enzymes like phytic acid which binds minerals, preventing your bodies ability to fully absorb nutrients. In other words, you may be eating nutrient rich whole grains but your body isn't getting much out of them.

I haven't checked but I'd bet that doesn't hold true for the calories too. Nope, I'm sure I'm absorbing every single one of those. LOL

And not only are you getting far more nutrients and your body is able to absorb them more fully, but there are fewer starches and a lower glycemic level also. More protein is released also. Does this mean the gluten develops more easily? Do I need to knead the bread as long as you traditionally do with whole grain bread? Does the yeast amount per cup change? I haven't a clue.There are still plenty of questions to be answered. Yet, when all this is answered and a tasty loaf is worked out, I'll know that I'm getting the most out of my calories and I won't feel so guilty eating bread.

Yes, it is true, baking will diminish the nutrient levels some since heat will kill off some of them but since the bread will be starting out at a much higher level, you are still getting far more than with a simple whole wheat flour loaf. Besides, what you get your body can absorb.

So here I go... Step one in this experiment is sprouting the wheat which is reported to take two to three days. I'm do mine in a canning jar. A loose woven cheese cloth for the top allows the water to pass in and out easily but not the grain. Don't use your more expensive cheese making cloth. Go buy some of the cheap kind at the hardwear store or grocery store. Cut a piece larger than the top circumference of your jar.

Then screw on the jars lid without the solid center. Pour water into the jar covering your wheat by a couple inches. I poured water in and out to rinse my wheat before covering the grains to soak over night or 12 hours. Tomorrow, I will drain the water off the grain and rinse the wheat three times, morning, noon, and night. Four times is even better.

Since I was sprouting, I started another jar of a variety of sprouts suitable for salads and sandwiches. They've been sitting in my refrigertor for quite some time. I hope they are still good. They should be since they were kept cold. I've sprouted these kind of seeds many times in the past. That means sprouting grains shouldn't be any big deal. Yup, another adventure has begun so stay tuned and watch how it turns out.

On Vacation

2012-01-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've got a whirlwind by the tail. Get hubby on the plane, get hubby off the plane then get the three of us on the plane. Struggle with computer issues and work on starting another home business. Yes, folks, I don't have enough to do. LOL

But meanwhile, here we are in San Antonio, Texas. Yup, it's knife show time again, only this time it's January, not August and STiLL it's warm, shirt sleeve weather. Somehow that just isn't right. How can it be winter and no coat, no snow, no cold cold wind. In fact, we were sweating, sorry glowing yesterday as Toni and I hiked around the missions.

It was wonderful to experience it once more through our daughter's eyes and learn new things we missed the last trip. The first thing you as you walk in the buildings is how small the indians where in the area in the 1700's. I'm only 5ft. 7in. but the wood on the top of many of the doors brushed the hair on my head.

Yet, in the chapels the vaulted ceilings towered far above. The second thing you notice is the vivid colors that the historic Texas culture loves.

And though we re having a wonderful time, I ache for the quiet of home, bread dough rolling beneath my fingers, and yaks grunting a greeting at the corrals. Yup, there is no place like home.

I appreciate your patience as we struggle through Murphy's visit and this hectic time where I've not been able to blog on schedule as usual. Yes, Murphy is still with us. We sent back the tower and in the need for a computer right away bought a laptop. She is really nice except she is a bit moody, sometimes she shuts down and reboots on a whim while I'm surfing the web. Nope, I didn't ask her to, she just does it out of the blue.

And with our daughter along, I'm learning to use this new gadget along with a education into social media and it's place in business. The first area is to bring Kirk's knife business up to date so look for him on Facebook. We are downloading photos and next we will show his adventures at the knife show here in San Antonio but for now we are going off to meet him for lunch.

So stay tune, I'll be back home soon and aching to grind wheat and grains for bread, sprout seeds for sandwiches, and I'm going to try growing some wheat grass and add it into a nutritional breakfast drink. I'm also going to add some of those dried and powdered vegetables to noodles and I'm going to..... Yes, the grass doesn't grow much under my feet just as soon as I light back home to Wyoming, home sweet home.

Yup, for fun I had my hand scanned to see my level of good guys in my cells. I did pretty good but there is room for improvement. Wheat grass is one of the areas I'm going to try. It's high in Vitamin C and I'm hoping goes well with berries in a smoothy.

Apparently, He's Here To Stay

2012-01-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

Have you lost a rooster? He's at my place. Don't know where he came from but he's decided to stay. I don't think he's leaving either. He's fallen in love.

No, not with Goldy, the Buff Orpington hen, here who belongs to the neighbors and comes over to flirt and share a meal. Nope, he's fallen in love with our oldest doe, Chicory. He sleeps with her and he roosts on her back when the ground is too cold for his feet. I know this because I've occasionally seen poo on her back. He hasn't even paid the chicken in the coop any never mind. Nope, he has set his eyes on tall, dark, and sweet Chicory.

You might think I would be shocked but I've been around the barn too many times and have seen the darnedest things. Animals can have the funniest relationships. We once had a poor sheep that's wool was always soaked from our steer that about licked her to death. No, not literally but he tore down so much fence trying to get to her that we finally just gave in and put her in his pen. The poor wooly thing looked always as if she was having a bad wooly day. Her wool pressed over this way and that like a teenage boy just up from a long nap. The feelings weren't mutual either. I swear she rolled her eyes every time he stuck out his tongue to give her a wet slimy kiss. But what choice did she have? She couldn't run away on her stubby little legs and she couldn't out wrestle something that weighed over a 900 pounds more than she did. Nope, tolerance was the only way to go.

I wasn't going to name the Barred Rock rooster but the a couple days ago the name Sherman popped into my head. He was probably tired of being called rooster and I'm sure he send me the message telepathically, " My name is Sherman." Don't laugh, I swear the animals talk to me. I'd just wish they would keep the negative comments to themselves.

I don't mind Sherman, he follows me in and out of the milking shed and cocks his reddish eye at me, sending me the clear messages that he'd sure like a little something for the rumbling in his stomach. Other than that and a visit with the hoard of barn cats that show up every time I arrive, he pretty much hangs out in the does' pen. How can you not love a rooster like that?

And if you are wondering why I put the bright fuchsia pink rag on the fence. It's to remind me that ooooops a daisy hurts. Yup, see that patch of ice lurking under the snow to the right of the rag? It's as smooth as glass and impossible to maneuver, especially when your hands are carrying a bucket of water and with feed. So forgetful here, decided that if she can't remember all on her own despite biffing it a few times, then she needed a little reminder. It's worked like a charm. So please be kind, and if you see this flag, leave it. My backside is feeling a whole lot better now with out testing the hardness of the ground on a regular basis.

My Choice of Drink

2012-01-23T16:31:00.001-07:00

It's hard to beat this as a refreshing drink. Yes, Celestial Seasonings has out a herbal ice tea that is sweetened with Stevia, a grass like plant that is far sweeter than sugar, it does not mess with your blood sugars, and has not calories.

Why Celestial Seasonings? Well, it tastes great, they are conscientious about their product and the factory is near our daughter. I've had several tours and I've known the company for quite some time.

And many of you know me, yup, I stock up once a year and load down my cart. Buying direct from the factory gives me a great selection and a great price. Exacty how inexpensive I was going to tell you but I've lost the sales receipt just this past week. Don't you hate when that happens? Anyway, Miss Butterfingers here does know that the sweentened herbal infusions they call tea are $3 and something and the regular herbal infusions packages are $2 and something.

A great savings from the store and the factory will ship me whatever I needed, if I just give them a call. I like to just pay them a visit but who knows, my daughter may not always live just 20 minutes away.

When you figure there are 20 tea bags in a package and it takes 2 of the sweetened kind to make a quart of drink, that's cheap. I think they recommend a bit more but two is enough to invoke a pleasant light flavor.

Staying hydrated is crucial for everyone but especially for me. I don't produce the anti-diarectic hormone ADH. It kicks in when you don't drink and to keep you from becoming dehydrated this hormone causes you to retain the fluids you have already drank. So little Miss No Producer has to chug down three quarts a day of fluids along with the hormone in pill form, and I need a little more than water to get it done. Yet, I don't want calories that is in juice and I don't drink coffee or tea. Yes, I do occasionally put a little juice in a quart jar with lots and lots of water but fluffy here doesn't need the added sugar or calories. That makes iced herbal infusions a wonderful choice.

As for the Stevia sweetener, my mind isn't made up as to just what I think about it. The flavor isn't quite to my liking but it doesn't mess with my blood sugars and it is natural, being a grass like plant that is sweet, really sweet. I'm not ready to go out and make cookies or anything with it, even if I could afford that much, but I've found a strength that I like in herbal infusions. We've tried two different kinds so far.

I just place two tea bags per quart of boiling water and let it steep until the water has cooled to warm. Then I put it in the refrigerator. In order to get my at least three quarts of liquids per day, I fill three quarts of liquid the night before or early that morning. Measuring is the only sure way to get it all down.

If you think this isn't a big deal for you, check out the Mayo Clinic site, you will see that they recommend at least two liters of fluids for the average female and three for men, each and every day. Forget that 6 to 8 glasses thing, it isn't but half enough. With 75% of Americans chronically dehydrated, that shows that most of us aren't getting the fluids our bodies need to function properly.

Yes, soda pop counts as a fluid but it lowers your oxygen levels by 25%. Wow, imagine if you are a smoker and a soda pop drinker? Your body is really struggling to function.

This doesn't mean I don't occasionally have a soda pop but a 12 pack will last Kirk and I several months sharing it with the grand kids.

So If you, like me, need something none calorie, but with a little flavor and vitamins to keep you drinking enough fluids each day, try herbal teas iced with a little sweetener --or without. They are a win, win deal, no calorie, vitamin based, and low cost. It doesn't have to be Celestial Seasonings. They are just a handy and wise choice for me.

And in the evening, if you like a warm relaxing cup try either a roobious or acai berry base. They are both great anti-oxidants.
With all the pollutants in our food, water, and air, the body can use all the help it can get. So drink up.

2012-01-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

With the gardening catalogues stacking up in the mailbox, my mind has turned to spring and it won't be long, okay, another month or so but that's not long, before I need to start plants for the garden. I'm also looking into growing wheat grass to put into fruit smoothers as a health booster. It would be inexpensive and high in highly digestable Vitamin C.

So when I spied the book The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible by Edward C. Smith at the local library, I picked it up. I love his, The Vegetable Gardener's Bible book and own it. With this book his angle is towards container gardening but though I'm not planning on doing much of that, still, I do have herbs in pots and I start plants for my garden in pots so I figured the book might have something for me.

It did. Somehow I've missed realizing just how important water is to a plant. Yes, they will die without it but when I saw the list.
1. Plants are mostly water.
2. Plants need water for photosythesis.'
3. Plant's nutrients pass through water.
4. Plants need water for transpiration. (Transporation is kind of like leaves perspiring but as the water seeps through the leaves outward, the process is drawing water up through the roots.)

Just how important hit home and I thought of the times I'd let a pot or the garden go dry. Letting a plant go dry will drop your fruit or vegetable production down the road to harvest or its not getting enough water. No water, no food, no processing of light, or anything else. I'm going to try and do better in the future.

That is why for garden vegetables, it is eccential to have them in a self-watering container if you are container gardenging. Summer squash when full grown drinks a gallon of water a day. Not so much of a problem in a garden but a container, you'd have a hard time keeping up. Even with a self-watering one you'd have to be sure and keep the resevoir full. I know, I use to care for a neighbor's patio garden on her back deck. It was all in self-watering containers and I filled them at least twice a day and sometimes three times when it was really hot.

Most vegetables are like summer squash, they need a self-watering container to reach their full potential, unless they are in a well watered garden that is. That means a traditional pot doesn't work too well and as for my garden plot, it has reminded me how important it is to not let it go dry.

There are a few things that do better in traditional pots. One is most herbs. The stress of lots of water and then not so much increases the flavor in the leaves. Nice to know I'm doing something right even if it isn't on purpose.

Another biggy I learned was that dried leaves on a plant should be left alone. Don't let my grandmother hear that. She'd say he was a big fat lier. But he makes sence. Brown, ugly leaves may not have photosynthesis happening or water being processed through them but they do have stored nutrients. These nutrients the plant recycles and reuses. When the leaf falls, it is a signal that the plant is done with it and you can remove it at this time.

This book may not give my house enough light so that I can grow plants in the windows or maybe for the fourth time of trying to grow lettuce in the house I might fail AGAIN, but I've learned a bit more on the road to success.

Edison says that you have failed only if you have quit tryigng. All the rest is just lessons on the road to success. I've not failed in growing lettuce because I figure I just haven't the right kind of seed, the right kind of pot, the right kind of light set up for my situation. Someday, I'm going to grow lushous lettuce indoors.

Meanwhile, I'm going to take the tidbits I've learned from this book and incorporate it into starting vegetables in pots in the house. Instead of watering from the top, after the plant is up in size a bit, I'm going to try and set up some kind of water resevoir underneath a series of pots and see what happens. I know a few vegetable plants don't like to get their roots too wet. Too much water does cause a problem with their ability to breathe through their roots. The plant literally drowns. This is a common problem in our all clay soils.
And those plants who like it drying, I'm going to remind myself just who they are by reading my gardening notes along with adding notes I've taken from this book.

I'd recommend taking a glance at this informational book, The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible, and see where it takes you in your gardening persuits.

Murphy Came to Visit

2012-01-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

Murphy has been visiting me. In fact, he's camping out. You know, Murphy's Law, what can go wrong, will go wrong. The latest being that while I was typing out a post at the library, the Internet crashed. Yup, he's follows me everywhere.

All I can figure is that I must of picked him up by accident when I traveled three hours to shop for a computer, the place where I couldn't find what I needed.

They did assist me into ordering a computer on line from their sister company. Five days later, tall dark and handsome arrived, the special forces type. But less than twenty-four hours later, I was ready to ship him out again because he might of been able to leap tall buildings with a single bound, and was handier than a Swiss Army knife but he was rude. Yup, rude, he wouldn't speak to the monitor, any monitor, didn't matter how new or good looking she was, he was closed lipped.

So thinking I was the problem he was so... shy, I called my computer doctor, the tech support company, and finally the sales company itself.

I listened to so much elevator music, I had all the notes memorized. I was disconnected or transferred to the wrong department more times than not and it ended up that I wasn't the cause and the UPS has tall dark and handsome now.

I'm computerless and this afternoon, I get to start the process all over again. Got any advice on how to kick Murphy out? He can't stay. Not that I want him in your house but he has been here far too long and I've become quite emotional. The tears are threatening to fall. Nope, don't look at me wrong, don't raise your voice, because it might just start a flood. The dam on my emotions is about to burst and I'm not even the emotional type.

If a computer wasn't so.. eccential in this household, I'd stop, take a break, but I can't, we NEED it.

Murphy has taught me one lesson though and that is we need a back up. After the dust has settle over this computer deal, we had better look for a laptop besides the desk top, to fill in and help with the overflow. To think that I remember before computers and now they are a integral part of our lives.

Help Wanted

2012-01-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

Last week my mom (Holly, the brilliant author of this blog) had to hang out a new sign:

Help Wanted

You see the computer just up and quit, no warning. Well, it might be more accurate to say that it blew up. Either way it left a very important blogging position to be filled, and living in a little town in the middle of nowhere the job applicants were a little sparse. She finally found the perfect computer with all of the right qualifications, but he is going to need a bit of time to relocate. So, Holly will be back, better than ever, soon.

Best wishes,

Toni

Salad in a Jar

2012-01-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

You really should try this, salad in a jar. The lettuce stays fresh days longer. In fact, to test it I took a bag of lettuce that a few of the leaves were wilting in and choice the better leaves, put them in a quart canning jar and back into the refrigerator it went. Amazingly, two weeks later the lettuce still looked good.

Not that the nutrients were still there but since we live in a very rural area, this kind of thing is really handy. Some roughage such as this is better than none.

What I've started to do is put salad and the fixings into quart and pint jars. That way we have just enough for a meal or a side-dish. The other lettuce being undisturbed. This also helps us to eat more salad since it is ready to go into hubbies lunch box or into a bowl for me.

Cherry or grape tomatoes can be added to this treat. I'm not so sure how well sliced tomatoes would do. They don't keep so well normally. I guess I'll have to give them a try by placing some in a 1/2 pint jar and watch to see what happens. So if you haven't tried this trick yet, go for it. I think you'll be pleased.

Tomato Bisque, a Quick Meal

2012-01-09T10:29:00.001-07:00

I have a few quick and easy meals that are made from the food storage I have on hand. It's for those emergencies that arise and I need a quick and hearty meal. It happens more often than not when my hubby is home and we get caught up in the Gettin Dones and we don't want to stop to fix a larger meal.

Tomato Bisque, my way, is just such a meal. I came up with it all on my own. To see just how far off from the beaten path I was, I checked the Internet out as I was writing this blog. My conclusion from just glancing at the other recipes is some are using bay leaves and thyme and theirs takes longer and my is more home-made. To each their own.

I can my own garden rich stewed tomatoes and so I grabbed a couple pints off my food storage shelf with the intention that this soup would feed Kirk and I for a couple meals. Into the saucepan went the stewed tomatoes with the stove turned on to simmer.

As the tomatoes heated up, I put in the blender some celery, onion, and carrots, then chopped them up fine with just a touch of water so they didn't sit on the bottom of the blender looking stupid, wondering what I wanted them to do. When chopped, I dumped the whole thing, water and all into the tomatoes and turned up the heat to cook them.

The choice to use the blender is so that the vegetables will be finely chopped and cook faster, speeding up the fixing time. Also so they meld better with the tomatoes, adding depth, not a distinct flavor of their own. Sweet bell pepper is also good to add but it changes the flavor quite a bit unless you add just a small slice or two. Yellow, sweet, bell peppers are the mildest in flavor, great in salads and the perfect choice if you want to add pepper.

I like my veggies to have a slight crunch to off set the creamy texture of the soup. With this as my goal, it doesn't take long for the vegetables to cook to this stage.

Then I got out my canned chicken breast. Yes, I home can mine. I'm down to just three jars and so I'll be looking for sales and picking up some more to can. There is only a few months of the year I'm not freezing, drying, or canning food. I like Winter best for canning since the added warmth in the kitchen is welcome, where as in the Summer it creates a miserable sauna. So in January and February, after the holidays, I can chicken, pumpkin, and dried beans.
Sorry, I side track easily. I drain the water off of the canned chicken breasts into the boiling tomatoes and veggies. This is your chicken broth to which I add just a teaspoon of chicken bullion. I never use canned broth from the store, a money saver.

Then a touch of garlic, salt, and black pepper is added, all this to taste of course. And if I have some basil growing, which at the moment I don't but will start some next week, I chop a little of it and wait to add until the end. Meanwhile, I've added just a tiny pinch of dried basil. (Fresh herbs should always be added last.)

If I don't have fresh, then I use a couple small pinches of dried basil which needs to be added much sooner for the flavor to permeate throughout the soup. If possible, add fresh for it changes the flavor quite dramatically and is so... much better. But one must make due with what one has, especially when you live in the toolies as we say. Which mean far from the convenience of shopping.

But during the time the soup is heating, I'm making fixings for toasted cheese and chicken sandwiches. With the chicken I drained from the jar, I add some chopped celery and dill pickles. Plus, some mayonnaise and a sprinkling of celery salt.

I placed this chicken mixture on buttered rye bread with some slices of Jarlsberg cheese, a Swiss type with lots of flavor, and toast on the sandwich grill, the buttered side of the bread out.

YUM!!, a hearty meal in under thirty minutes. We are well satisfied and ready to work once more.
When the vegetables are done, then I add cream. You can add milk, half and half, or whatever is in the refrigertor. Heat, and thicken with a little cornstarch or flour.

2012-01-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

It's those variable bills that really mess up your budget and cause you to steal from Paul to pay Peter and pretty soon neither one of them has any money. Never heard of that saying? Well, it means taking money from your food bill or your car payment to pay off your insurance payment or vise-versa. Pretty soon, you are in the hole financially and don't know how to get out. Often it means your credit card is run up and you can't pay off your balance every month.

It's not that we plan on failing financially, we just fail to plan efficiently. I'm not saying we can plan for everything but we can ease many of the bumps in the road, if we are in financial shape to weather them.

I have a friend who puts aside money each month for hunting, Christmas, summer vacation, etc. and she has a bank account for each of these categories. A separate bank account isn't necessary but, for her, it made it easier to watch the accounts grow and motivated her to save. They had six children and one modest income making unexpected expenditures expected.

It might be a good idea to set up a savings account to pay into for those 3-month, 6 month- or yearly bills you know are on their way but can't seem to remember them all and exactly how much and when they are due. Next, you need to record them on a sheet of paper under the months they are due.

This is a separate sheet from your monthly budget. Don't have one of those either, well we'll get to that in another post.

The monthly budget part I managed pretty well for years but it wasn't until I started controlling the intermittent bills that I finally got a grip on our finances. Since this time of year it's out will the old bills and in with the new 2012 bills, I thought we'd start with looking at those bills you are about to throw away. For now pull out those bills that come every 3 - 6 or every 12 months, that really have a tendency to twist your money into a bind.

The first thing I did, years ago, to get them under control was to ask as many of my providers as were willing to send me monthly bills instead. This cost me $12 dollars more in service charges a year for each insurance bill but it was worth it in aiding me in getting these intermittent bills under control. This step was a good start but not the end.

Eventually, I changed back to six months with my insurance bills and even turned some of my three month and six month bills into yearly bills.

I was doing really well and then I grew laxed. This Christmas I was given a wake-up call. Several of these intermittent bills came due in December and to add to this were several medical bills and a large vehicle repair bill heaped on top of the financial strains of Christmas.

Yes, I was able to pull off Christmas and pay my bills because of past obedience to budgeting, not because I'd been a good girl lately. The next such financial episode will put us in a mess so repentance is in order.

I'm returning to the tried and true method of keeping these now and then bills in check.

I just finished taking a piece of paper and writing down every month of the year, the bill and its amount, the due date and if applicable the amount of time this cost covers.The following example has fictitious numbers and dates but gives you an idea of what I'm talking about.

January
Pickup Insurance - (Jan 1 → May1) ($275)
Life Insurance - (January 1) $700
Car Taxes - January 20th $60.00
Garbage - Jan 1 → March1) ($99.00)

Continue until you have done all `12 months of the year. Include those months you don't have any extra payments. You can then see that these are those months to get ahead.

Next, I tallied the total expenditures for each of the months of the year. This is always an eye opener to give me a good view of just how difficult some months are to make all the expected payments.

We include in this, a budget for hay which includes gas and also tires for a vehicle or some other expected large expense a vehicle will need such as change the fuel pump at 100,000 miles type of thing. This also is a good reminder to get it done. This paper is where you would add vacation or hunting expenses etc. The less surprises on your budget, the better.

This plan helps us to know if a bill will be coming due at the first of the month and we know then that we have to pay it the month before in order to get it there on time.

This bill information for each month is transferred over to the monthly budget sheet for which we have a sheet for every month of the year. Car insurance is written in pencil in the Fixed Expenses category for that month since it is a fairly fixed amount and it reminds me to look for this bill in the mail and pay it. I'll talk about the monthly budget another time.

This plan has several benefits even though the amount of the bill you get for your insurance is a little more than what you planned on, it is still only a few more dollars to come up with, not an unwanted surprise in the mail. "Oh yeah, I've got to pay this this month. Wonder where the money will come from?" Been there many a time.

This plan also allows you to keep tabs on the variation in your bills such as insurance which varies a little from six months to six months but if you see an unusually high spike, you can visit the service provider for an explanation. I can't remember all of my bill amounts and I'd never know the difference unless it was really high like when we had electricity at the corrals. We only used it at kidding and lambing time when the kids had 4-H stock and a little in the chicken coop. When we received a bill for $800.00 dollars, I phone up the electric company and said, " I don't think my girls, the chickens, could possibly be running up such a high electric bill. They aren't that scared of the dark." The representative laughed and agreed to checked it out. This was off the monthly budget sheet but still the principle is the same.

After listing all the bills under each month due, I then tally up the total costs for each month and the entire cost for the year, divided by 12, which is the number of months of the year. This amount is your monthly bill to be paid to savings. This levels out your budget and insures that the money will be there when the bills come due.

I still did this sheet even though I had my insurance bills coming monthly for there are a few bills that can't be paid by the month. This gave me a total of insurance costs for the year, a good motivator to keep the costs down.

Why did I switch from monthly to six months and a year? It's only one bill I have the possible chance of being late on and being late means no insurance, a scary thought. You know insurance companies aren't going to pay if they don't have to. This more sporadic payment schedule also saves money, service charges, checks, time, stamps, and stress every month.

To get started, you will have to divide by the number of months you have to save up the money not by 12 months for the whole year because you don't have a whole year. It might be tough, I know, I've been there, but squirrel away as much as you can, disciplining yourself to save more and more. I write out a check to my savings account each month and just consider this another bill.

When possible, I pay the 3 month, six month, or yearly bill, which ever it is, without dipping into the savings account set aside to draw from. That puts extra money towards emergency savings. You know those unexpected bills like the pickup repair and medical costs. Yeah, you know they are going to come, you just don't know when but your vehicle won't run smoothly forever and someone, especially if you have a family of someones, is going to get sick. And yes, I do have a medical savings program that is directly taken out of my husband's pay check, but it never covers all of our costs.

Knowing what you have is a good start to managing it.

Take Control

2012-01-05T11:44:00.003-07:00

The sun has set on 2011 and I'm sitting once more on the bed sorting papers just as I was sitting January of 2010. This year though I've decided on a few changes. I'm taking control. It will be my theme for 2012. I'm going to do an inventory of what I have, what I need, and what I need to do. Plus, goals to better manage all facets of our lives, including our finances, our nutrition, our gift giving, the organization of our belongings, and in general our lives.

I've had years where I felt our finances were in control and we were gaining. I've had times where I knew just what we had and where it was. I've done much better with the quality of our diets, and planned better for the gifts we give for birthdays and Christmas. I definitely couldn't say that in 2011.

Will this all be accomplished in one year? Probably not, but steps in the right direction are a whole lot better than wondering in a circle in a stupor. I know, that's where I'm at.

As I take control, I'm going to bring you along with me sharing what I know, what I'm going to try, and hopefully, you'll have a few suggestions for me along the way. We are in this world together, it behooves us to help each other. The world wide muddle mess we are all in, is because too many people thought only of themselves instead of reaching out a hand to lift up. And by that I don't mean a hand out which leaves people little better off than where they already are.

So come along with me, let's add a little sunshine to our future. I'll teach you what I know and you can teach me.

Today, as I'm sorting through all those personal files of papers, sorting out where we are and where we want to be, I'll show you a few management techniques that are tried and true.

I allowed life to get in the way the last couple years. I've felt like we were drifting downward. Our finances, though not in bad shape, aren't quite as healthy as they use to be. Part of the problem is, I'm using a Debit card due to the fact that most of our county businesses won't take checks and I've got to work out a good way of tracking that.

I know the online banking deal is kind of cool but it leaves gaps. Some businesses don't send in your bill to your account for days, and there are those few checks I write for bills out of state. Not to mention the credit card that we pay off each month but still -- I'm not exactly sure where I sit from day to day financially. Kind of unnerving when your funds are limited.

Compound this with the fact that when I do go shopping, I take a truck. It's one of the signs I live in the boondocks and though there are a few small local business, it still leaves a large gap in fulfilling my shopping list. To me, time is money and I'm not going to waste my limited time, and gas money, running back and forth to go shopping, something I don't particularly like to do anyway. Okay, I confess, I do love fabric stores, kitchen stores, and yarn stores. Two of which we don't even have around here and the kitchen store is quite small so you know how often they are a temptation.

This means my truck bed has a hefty pile of livestock feed in it, along with other things like oil for the car etc. and the back seat of the truck has groceries with other odds and ends squashed in. This equates to hundreds of dollars spent in one shopping trip. Over two hundred at the feed store alone as I try to only go there every two months. In the long run, it saves us money because I don't and probably you don't go to the store and come out with only what's on your list. Come on confess, there are those super bargains you didn't know about and plan for, and if you've the money for it, it's a good thing to pick up.

This lifestyle does pose a problem though, so I'm working on some tracking plans. Another area is that dratted health insurance company. My word, if they can confuse you into spending your money and not theirs, they'll do it. So I've a few ideas for keeping more of MY money in MY pocket. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful I have insurance, they can just be a pain.

So I'm going back to a a few tried and true programs from the past along with a few new ideas to deal with present changes.

I'll bring you along with me and maybe together we can take better control of our lives.

My next blog, hopefully today, will be on the first steps to setting up a budget. It's, looking at your past expenses and variable expense.

Dolly Quilt From Scraps

2012-01-04T18:01:00.002-07:00

Well, the dolly quilt is done. The one I made with scraps of fabric left over from our youngest grand daughter's dress, that I'd made her for Christmas, along with some scrap fabric stashed away from other projects done years past.

I thought I had the top of the doll quilt finished yesterday before my hubby came home from work, but then he pointed out a mistake. Yup, in my rush to get done and make supper, I oopsed. See it?

I tried to tell Kirk it was like the Navajo rugs where they purposely put in an error to allow the evil spirits a way to depart. He gave me a, I'm not buying it look. I thought, oh well, I tried and grinned, even though I knew I was going to rip it out and fix it the minutes he pointed out the mistake. Not that I'm a perfectionist but one can't leave this large of a boo, boo.

What tickled me most about the project was the backing, batting, and the bias tape around the edges were all from supplies I already had, meaning, I didn't have to spend any money this week to make this little quilt. That's one of my goals for this year, to use more of the supplies I have on hand to create gifts for the family.

With a dress, this project bag ,and now a dolly quilt, I've exhausted the fabric. There are no more scraps left big enough to do anything with.

This is why when I buy fabric and I don't have the pattern with me to guide me on how much fabric to buy, I just guess a ball park figure that is a big too much. No problem, for I'll use every little scrap sooner or later.

The reason I didn't get into my Rubbermaid containers of fabric to make the little girl's dresses for Christmas is because that room they are stored in is a disaster. One of my definite To Do things this winter, sorting and assessing just what I have in all those bins downstairs. It was one of these such bins, one easy to get to, that I found the other scraps of fabric to finish this quilt.

Now I've got to figure out some diapers for this dolly all by tomorrow night, for tomorrow is our youngest grand daughter's birthday. She's turning three.

I know just what fabric to use for the diapers, some white scraps of fabric left over from a tablecloth I shortened for church. It is heavy weight and I think will make lovely diapers. It never did get put away so it was easy to find.

I wondered what I was going to do with those scraps but I knew time would tell and it did. There will be plenty of tablecloth scraps left over for another project in the future. I wonder what it will be?

I think this little quilt and diapers will make our grand daughter smile and postpone my panic in not having her three-year-old nap blanket done in time for her birthday.

A bonus from searching for more scrap fabric for the doll quilt is I ran across some fabrics I think I'll use to make her nap quilt out of.

Yep, having a little fabric tucked away can be a very good thing.

Livestock Plans

2012-01-03T09:53:00.003-07:00

Getting a turn at the computer has become ridiculous over the holidays. It's one of the reasons you haven't heard as much from me.

But whoo hoo, today I have it all to myself and not only can I blog but I've those long lists to make for the New Year. Some call them resolutions but I don't really like that word. It is derived from the root word resolute, to stand firm in purpose and belief. A little two inflexible for me especially since time tables is one area people are so resolute on.

I've determined that time tables are more for the city folks than the country folks. Living a more natural lifestyle means you may wake up and as the day progresses the weather, a sick animal, a newly tore up fence line from the livestock, equipment breaking down, and the like really determine what's going to get done that day.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't plan, for if you don't, you aren't heading in any one direction and you'll soon have a muddled mess. It just means that your plans might not get done in the manner you wanted or when you wanted.

For example, I was going to build a little chicken coop out of a heavy wood equipment box from Kirk's mine two years ago. Yeah, that didn't happen. The grand kids came and lived with us a year and ... and... and... got in the way. I still wanted and needed that chicken coop though. And maybe the wait was good because we ended up with some some left over styrofoam insulation from the residing of our house so it is now insulated and a few two by four scraps we could use.

With the grand kids back with their mom, the opportunity opened up to begin so I added some plywood, a few more two by fours and the project was finally off the ground. It took months to complete with all of life's interruptions but finally in September the coop was done. The grand kids thinking it was the bestest playhouse. Next, I purchased some metal fence panels for the run when we bought some panels to rebuild the goat's gates.

Then I discovered we had used all the metal T-posts to build the yaks pen. Right after that, the truck broke down and due to unusual circumstances, it was broke down until last week. Yup, we did without it from October to now. Lots of plans didn't get accomplished because of not having a truck. The ground is now froze and T-posts aren't penetrating so it will be spring now before the small chicken coop project will be complete. A project that would only take a few days at most has take a few years. It seems to be the story of our life, so I've learned to just keep forging ahead, someday I'll get there.

Knowing you don't get ahead without a plan, I'm making up my To DO barn list today. The one that hubby and I will sit down and go over making goals for this year rearranging the list into priorities. Goals that might or might not be accomplished due to finances and life's interruptions. Yet, I'm not discouraged for any project done off this list is cause to celebrate. It's one more step forward.
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This is my list.

1. Buy new hay feeders for the yak pen, doe goat pen, and the buck goat pen.

2. Build a shade shed for the yaks. (They don't need protection from the cold in the winter but they do need shade from the hot sun in the summer.) They borrowed my mares shed last summer making her do without.

3. Build a new chicken run on the largest coop. The old one has patched holes.

4. Replace tin on the back side of the small tin goat shed.

5. Replace five sheets of plywood on the goat milking shed.

6. Clean pens

7. Paint shed - I do this every year as they are so... old the paint peels off with the help of the goats rubbing on them.

8. Re-tin the end of the hay shed.

9. Re-fence the kid goat's pen, I tore the old fence down last summer.

10. Build chicken run for the newly completed, small chicken coop.

11. Re-build the hay feeder in the beef pen.

12. Replace a few fence panels in the beef pen.

Will all of this get accomplished this summer, hardly. The large chicken coop run has been put off two years now and I have the materials to do the job so it moves up the list in priority. I have some tin so the small tin jobs will likely get done. As for the rest, we'll have to decided just what hits the top of the most needed.
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But the list making doesn't stop there for the livestock, for if you don't have a plan for your stock, you aren't getting ahead. Here's my goals for my stock this year.

1. Purchase a doeling with a heavy milking line and a heritage for an awesome udder to complete our small herd.

2. Have our goats linear appraised to help us assess our breeding goals. Linear appraisal is where your goals are scored against the what is considered the perfect goat. You can then see what areas your animals are strong in and where there needs to be improvement.

3. Put kid goats up for sell within a few weeks of their birth instead of waiting until they are several months old, getting a jump on the market.

3. Raise two pigs to put in the freezer come winter. One for us and the other divided amongst the family.

4. Breed Jasmine and Gracie, our yak heifers, to a selected yak bull from another ranch.

5. Buy a steer, or preferably, a yak to put in the freezer next winter.

6. Incubate one batch of chicks.

Yup, I love this time of year for I'm organizing, finishing off indoor projects I haven't completed in past years, and looking forward with hope for a wonderful and productive new year.

Using Every Scrap

2011-12-29T19:27:00.001-07:00

Whew, I made it in the nick of time for Christmas. The last sewing project for Christmas was the grand daughter's dresses, and I finished them Christmas Eve.

BUT, for me, the push isn't over as we've four birthdays within the the first eight days of January to get ready for. With a budget stretched beyond comfortable due to unforeseen bills, such as a major repair needed on the pickup truck, I've turned to skills to fill in for the lack of money.

How terribly grateful I've been this holiday season for the talents I've developed.

We had just such a conversation at church just before Christmas. It was between some ladies from my generation and a little older and a few young gals. The question was posed, "What do you do when Christmas is coming and you haven't the money for gifts." Luckily, it was hypothetical. The younger generation admitted they would have to rely on the generosity of others for their gifts came from the store.

We assured them that that wasn't necessary if one had just a bit of imagination and a few skills. With a few dollars or a resourceful gathering of free items, a variety of gifts could be made if one had taken the time to develop a some basic skills. Skills considered unnecessary in this day and age when you can just run to the store and pluck it off a shelf.

I started the conversation rolling with a comment about how unnecessary all these charities at Christmas would be if only one took the time to learn to take care of oneself.

Those of the older generation piped in with things they'd made when their budgets had been tight. We spoke of taking a wool sweater and unraveling it for the yarn to them make a smaller sweater, mittens, a hat, or a scarf or of felting it to make pot holders, a purse, or mittens. Others spoke of items made from second hand clothing. My mind wandered off into woodworking, jewelry making, and many other areas of creativity.

The Toys For Tots programs and other charity organizations would all but shut down because recycling, and creativity would take its place with people providing for themselves and only the truly needy would be left in need of service.

Maybe instead of Toys For Tots programs, we need build it yourself centers where people could come and learn a skill while creating a gift. It would be akin to the feed a boy a fish and you've fed him a meal but teach him to fish and you've fed him for a lifetime kind of thing.

It was with this mindset that I took my sewing skills I gained making almost all our children's clothing from their underwear on out and began making Christmas presents. I took some factory bolt ends, (material left over from the bolt at the factory, sold at discounted prices) and sewed the little girl's dresses. Not all the fabric was my favorite but the price was half that of the other selections on the bolts surrounding it.

With birthdays nipping at my heals to get ready for, I haven't stopped there. To add to the clothing item gift for our oldest grand daughter that was badly needed but not terribly exciting, I made this small, lined project bag from a small scrap left over from our youngest granddaughter's dress. The dress that sprung up from a jumper pattern that I added sleeves to along with a few other design alterations so I didn't have to spend money on a new pattern.

This project bag for our oldest will hold the crochet hook and yarn her Aunt gave her for part of her birthday present. She was pretty excited about that present that she opened early for it promises many hours of enjoyment in the future.

It is time we teach our oldest grand daughter to crochet so that she can create gifts for herself and others just as I taught her mother and Aunt years ago. The hope is to inspire our grand daughter to create gifts for herself and her siblings.

Who knows maybe she will be like her Aunt Toni and take this love of crochet and turned it into a career. Our oldest daughter is editor of Crochet Me, an online crochet community for Interweave Press. Our oldest daughter's skills in crochet and knitting now far outreach mine, not that that was too hard. I am thrilled that she is now the teacher and I'm the student.

But I'm not stopping with the project bag. I'm incorporating the "Waste not, want not." theory and taking the yet smaller scraps of fabric from our youngest grand daughter's dress and ....

adding some more scraps of fabric from other projects, years past, to make a baby doll blanket. The fabrics maybe don't match quite adequately for a dress but they will work for a doll quilt. Add some scraps of white fabric sewn into doll diapers and our youngest grand child will be thrilled.

The best part is this Grandmother won't feel guilty that she hasn't gotten her three-year-old nap quilt done. I haven't even started it. You see when each of our grandchildren reaches two I make them a twin size quilt for their bed and at three years of age, they are presented with a nap quilt I've made. The top of that quilt will also be made from scraps of fabric left over from past sewing projects.

With a little know how, gift giving need not bankrupt you, and who doesn't want something crafted with love and the most precious gift of all—time.

What home-made gifts did you create for Christmas? I'm always looking for new ideas.

Food Traditions

2011-12-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

When I was small, and we know that was a long time ago, my Great Grandmother, for Christmas, would make us popcorn balls and gingersnap cookies, mailing them from Idaho to our Wyoming home.

I still make popcorn balls for Christmas using her recip. Well, kind of.

You know I can't leave a recipe alone and this one is no different. I add a little more corn syrup and flavorings such as grape, cherry, orange, or cinnamon oil instead of vanilla.

When we were growing up, my mom would wrap this gooey goodness around a Tootsie Pop (sucker), that much I haven't changed. We use to give this treat as a gift to our friends and neighbors and sometimes I do the same. This year, I made this treat with our two oldest grand daughters, passing the tradition on to another generation.

The best thing about this recipe is the popcorn balls stay gooey and soft.

I'll give you my recipe though you'll have to guess how much popcorn to pop because I've never measure that. It's quite a heaping bit though.

3/4 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon flavoring of your choice.

a pinch of salt

Add a few drops of food coloring dye if desired.

Place corn syrup, butter, and sugar in a pot, bring to a boil while stirring. When the mixture is at a rolling boil despite your stirring and the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat and add the pinch of salt along with the flavoring. This is when you can add a few drops of food dye.

Stir and then cover, leaving it for four minutes before pouring over popped popcorn that you've sorted all the Old Maids out of. You know, the kernels that didn't pop. Stir to coat the popcorn and butter your hands so the goo doesn't stick to them. Begin forming balls in the same manner as you would make snow balls intened for your onery brother, pressing hard to get them to stick together. Add plastic wrap to each individual ball and some pretty ribbon and it's festive enough for any holiday.

My neighbor, after receiving this recipe, made them each Halloween for Trick or Treaters she knew. These were of course orange flavored and dyed orange.

To read about another tradition, hop on over to our daughters blog at Crochet Me.

http://www.crochetme.com/blogs/crochet_me/archive/2011/12/27/my-great-grandmother-s-crochet.aspx

2011-12-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Tradtition dicatates that the story of Jesus's birth is told by Kirk on Christmas Eve. The story, though centuries old, gains a new twist each year as family takes hold of it and adds their own flavor.

Maybe I should explain.

Our youngest grand daughter was getting a bit cranky by evening, having spent a no nap couple of days at her father's house.

She wanted no part in our Nativity story but everyone else dived into the costume containers and chose a role.
We had Joseph in our middle daughter's old fairy godmother's robe from the play Cinderella, along with a beard I'd made for the play Hillibilly Wedding.

Our oldest grand daughter became Mary in a sparkling dress and an old shawl of her Great, Great Grandmother's.

We aren't too wise so we could only come up with one Wise Man–our step-grandson.

With just two little sheep to watch over, our oldest daughter dressed in Noah's wife, Sarah's dress from another school play.

We had the cutest donkey too, complete with tail and ears played by our middle grand daughter.

Our middle daughter donned several different wigs in her dual roles as King Herod and the Inn Keeper.

And all would of gone well despite laughing so hard the actors and actresses could barely play their roles but the youngest grand daughter refused to allow any one of her three dolls to play the part of baby Jesus. In the end, she decided that she would He, baby Jesus.

And she comfortably settled into the part despite the confines on the cardboard box.

We are off to see the Grandparents today and our oldest son who had to work on Christmas, but before we go, I wanted to share a little of our Christmas with you. I hope that your weekend was as memorable and delightful as ours.

From Our House to Yours

2011-12-23T18:16:00.000-07:00

I want to have a long conversation BUT, I'm sti...ll sewing. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't keep changing the patterns, and the pressure of so much to do for Christmas is wearing me down.
I'd like to go and take a long winter's nap.

I can't quit yawning.

Have a Merry Christmas. Next week we'll have a long talk.

Home-made Sweet Potato Fries

2011-12-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

Having a really tough day. My muscles are wanting to cramp up something fierce. Just love this water / salt imbalance, NOT. It's a part of my Addison's and I have medicine for it but I didn't take it for one day and now.... I'm not getting a thing done. So much sewing to do and here I lay.

I do have a tid bit for you though. I made sweet potato fries, froze them, and finally last night I baked them. You know how I love make ahead freezer foods and sweet potato fries are pricey to buy frozen but a yummy treat so I looked up the how toos and did my own.

You should think about trying it too for the store boughten, frozen sweet potato fries are three times or better what you can make them at home for. Not sure what else is on the label of those store fries but you can bet it is more than just sweet potatoes. Factories can't leave any wholesome food wholesome.

What I did was buy sweet potatoes when they were 89 cents a pound and then cut them up into fry size, baked them in the oven at 350 and froze them when cool.

Later I took them out, should have sprayed them with a little oil, note that I said should have because I usually do and these did need it. Then I baked them at 400 Farenheight in the oven as they sat on a cookie cooling rack perched on a cookie sheet. The cooling rack is so the air will circulate all the way around the fries. That way they don't get soggy on bottom. The spray just makes them less dry.

I think next time I'll go for 450 to even maybe broiling temperature for a crispier fry.

So when you see those sweet potatoes reach a good price at the store, bring a bag home and make your own fries ready to pop in the oven for a crispy re-heat.

Yup, They're Awesome

2011-12-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

Look at those tall sides. No hangy overs, no overly crisp outsides and doughy insides.

Yup, these pans from King Aurthers for whole grain breads are awesome. They are built to be passed down to generations to come and though they are heavy, I'm in love.

Now that I've given you my opinion of how well these pans work, that I promised when I bought them, I've got to go and get to sewing. I've three little dresses to complete this week and I'm only half done on the first one. Oh Christmas can't you wait just a little longer, Grandmas not ready?

A Unexpected Visitor Down My Chimney

2011-12-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

No, it wasn't Saint Nick that came down my chimney. This visitor was quite a bit smaller and technically it wasn't a chimney that he came down but a stove pipe. None the less, I couldn't have been more surprised if it had been Santa Claus.

I don't know when my visitor arrived but it wasn't until I was upstairs stamping the snowmen on these paper lunch sacks that I heard this tap tap tapping. Not like a hammer and not the rattle the refrigerator makes. I was baffled but with no time to spare since our daughter and grand daughter were soon to arrive to fill the sacks with goodies for the first grade class's Christmas party, I didn't stop to investigate thinking the muffled sound had to be outside at the neighbors.

But after the sacks were ready for the popcorn, pretzels, nuts, and chocolate kisses, I headed down stairs to start a wood fire in the stove to warm our tile and hardwood floors.

This is what flew out when I opened the stove door, yup, a woodpecker. He was tapping on the glass door of the stove.

I jumped back in surprise and then laughed until I began to wonder just how I was going to get him out of my basement. I trooped upstairs and left him to fly around as I set up the hot air popcorn popper and got out the popcorn. Two ( our daughter and I) would be better than one to try and catch this unexpected visitor and I wanted our little two year old grand daughter to see what came knocking on Grandma's door.

We both put on gloves, our coats, in case he scratched or pecked us, and we started to corner him. He of course took off in flight and I reached up and snatched him in mid-flight. Boy, was I surprised but not as surprised as our daughter who let out a squeal and then slapped her hand over her mouth. Yes, she knows better than to make such noises having been raised around livestock but she is our girly girl.

There was no way I thought I'd nab this bird this easily but I guess the skills I've gained chasing and catching chickens that get out of the chicken coop is good for birds of a different feather too.

We let him loose and he flew off clear to the other side of town and beyond out of sight. I bet he didn't stop until he reached the trees way over yonder on the bison ranch.

Butternut or Delicata?

2011-12-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

I grew Delicata squash last summer. It's the squash on the left of the Butternut squash. I wasn't impressed with it.

Some, on the Internet, said Delicata tasted like sweet potatoes, so I tried them since sweet potatoes are pretty hard to grow here and I love them. Having tried Delicata, I definitely wouldn't describe them in that manner. They were pretty bland in flavor but then again remember that I don't like spaghetti squash for its texture and lack of flavor so the fact that I wasn't thrilled with the taste, wasn't a surprise. The part about tasting like sweet potatoes was a mystery since my taste buds didn't pick up anything like that.

Another disappointment was the size. To give you an idea I cooked Delicata's next to a Butternut squash that came in my Bountiful Basket (food cooperative group). Yeah, pretty puny and the yield of squash per plant was not impressive either. Maybe it just didn't like our area.

The few squash that I received didn't have a large amount of pulp either. The insides were pretty hollow and full of seeds. One squash was not much food for the two of us. Just one meals worth. Then again I like a good sized helping, squash being one of my favorite things.

The amount of pulp looked pretty bad especially in comparison to the Butternut squash, The deeper color of the Butternut also held a richer more robust flavor.

Butternut squash is not a variety I've grown. I'd have to say that I still prefer the buttercup squash for taste. The Hubbard coming in second so it isn't likely I'll grow any Butternut.

That's what this experimenting is all about, finding the best crops for our area and those with the most pleasing flavor for our family.

Yet, there are those you like Delicata squash. Just hit the Internet to find them. So, if you are one of those people who wants a small serving of a mild tasting squash, Delicata just might be for you. I'm sticking to Hubbard and Buttercup. Unless of course you have a suggestion for a short season winter squash with loads of flavor and high yielding. Then I just might give it a try.

Hole..eee Bread or Not?

2011-12-14T08:10:00.001-07:00

Yes, I've been experimenting a little with bread. I chose white unbleached flour as this was for a church party and the woman would shy away from a hearty whole grain loaf.

I'm not complaining because it gave me an opportunity to experiment with grain texture. White flour being the least fussy to work with.

First of all, I made my artisan bread that had only 1/4 teaspoon of yeast, 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 3 cups of flour, and 1 5/8 cup of water. You stir this all together and let it sit over night or until it doubles. You stir again and let rise and I (not according to the instructions) stir again and let rise once more, stir again and place in a well floured cotton kitchen towel and let rise.

I particularly like the low amount of yeast and sugar used in this bread. No oils either so it's low calorie, easy on the stomach.

A great deal of stirring and rising but in this method the yeast feeds off a different section of the dough which develops flavor. Time instead of sugar are what is needed for the yeast to multiply and raise the bread. To hurry this process along, American breads add far more sugar for the yeast to feed upon instead of the flour itself. This of course means that the flavor of the flour is not fully developed.

If you want your bread to reach its full height you not only allow it enough time to rise in the pan but you also raise the temperature in the oven for a while. As with the artisan bread I just made which is cooked in a preheated dutch oven that I grease when its hot and have heated to 400. Then I put the lid on a bake. This gives you a holey, chewy European type bread with very little effort. Yummy!!Some say bake at 450. Bread is one of those things you have to do until you figure out what works best for your elevation and oven.

Though American style breads often say to bake at 350, I've found a higher temperature is helpful. I raise mine to 400 to allow the bread to spring to its full height and then drop it down to 375 after the dough just starts to turn in color. This prevents the over browning of American style breads but allows them to reach an added height. One sight I watched preheats their oven to 400 and then drops it down when they put the loaves in but I figure the oven temperature naturally drops because you opened the door so I prefer to wait.

With my bread sticks I made for the Italian meal, I tried mixing American style and European. Using my new found, and may I add infant, knowledge about the science of bread I decided to play. I added my yeast, but dropped the amount by a teaspoon which was about a Tablespoon total, and poured over the yeast 2 cups of water letting it set to proof (means raise to make sure the yeast is good). Then I added a fourth cup of sugar to add flavor and increase tenderness. Plus, half to three-quarters of the flour allowing the bread mixer to run for five minutes or so. This develops the gluten in the flour.

The dough will be very sticky and just barely want to follow the dough hook around. Be sure and use high protein bread flours as they have a higher protein and gluten content and will give you a higher raise. I then let the mixture rise until doubled.

This is when I added the salt because salt enhances flavor, tightens the gluten structure, and controls the yeast growth. I of course use REAL salt which is natural and minus the eleven chemicals used in store salt.

Be sure and add salt for you don't want your bread to taste like beer from an out of control yeast growth, well maybe some of you do. Also keep in mind that too much yeast will retard gluten development. It is this yeastier taste in American breads that I dislike most.The raw dough gives me a belly ache unlike European breads.

I put in about 1 1/2 teaspoons of REAL salt which is minus all the chemicals and has a stronger flavor. Don't add too much salt though as it retards yeast growth too.

This is where I added a drizzle of olive oil as fats coat proteins and cause a softer crumb and gives you a longer shelf life of your bread. But, added too soon will also inhibit gluten development. This is why in professional breads high in fats, such as butter, it is added later after the gluten has already developed.

I then added the rest of the flour, which means until the dough chased the hook around and let the mixer run again for five minutes or so to further develop the gluten. The bread raised again and then I rolled it out into bread sticks, placing them on a greased cookie sheet to raise a final time.

This is not your fast American, one hour bread but a more flavorful lighter crumbed version. Note the slightly larger crumb texture from the typical American bread and the slightly larger holes. These bread sticks were touted as phenomenal by the ladies at the church Italian dinner. Next time I might add an egg which lends a golden color to the bread, adds nutrients, and helps aid gluten development.

I can't wait to start playing with whole grains.

Blueberry Snickerdoodles

2011-12-12T17:52:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I saw where someone used fresh blueberries in snickerdoodle cookies. Well, I wanted to try them but I also wanted to see what happened if I used dried blueberries instead of fresh. I figured dried blueberries would be similar to using raisins in cookies. WRONG!!

I'll tell you what happened. Since I was making four different kinds of cookies and making an extra meal for a friend and her family, I just whipped up all four kinds of cookies and put them into plastic containers on to our handy dandy extra frige. You know, the garage steps. They work great this time of year when it is chilly.

I didn't get around to cooking the cookies until after supper and oooops, all was well except in the case of the blueberry snickerdoodles.

The dried blueberries altered the flavor quite a bit and it was yummy but the problem came in with the fact the dried blueberries absorbed a fair amount of the fluid in the cookie dough. I didn't take into factor that raisins are more moist and dried blueberries are much drier.

So letting them sit meant they had lots of time to absorb moisture from the cookie dough forcing me to add a little liquid before baking. They still came out drier than I'd like. The shape wasn't as attractive either.

But I haven't given up. Next time, I'll just be sure and bake right after mixing.

Don't let my mishap deter you because the taste is really good and if you are looking for something a bit different to bake this holiday season, try blueberry snickerdoodles. And if you use fresh blueberries, be sure and tell me how they turn out.

To Grow or Not to Grow

2011-12-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

A dish of root vegetables at a dinner party last Sunday left me wondering, should I grow turnips and parsnips in my garden next summer. Some of you may be shocked but I've never grown them. I've hardly ever eaten them. It just wasn't a vegetable served at our home growing up and it isn't something you see very much in the grocery stores around here.

It wasn't that I noticed that I loved the baked vegetable dish or anything but I wondered whether nutritionally where they stood because I liked them okay. About the same thing you could say about broccoli. But I do like broccoli in things better than eaten by itself. But I mainly eat it because it's good for me. Not super good since I have a thyroid condition and that means I should limit my intake of this particular vegetable. The same being true if you were on the medication Coumadin but for different reasons.

So since my middle name is curious, not seriously just characteristically, I just couldn't get those vegetables off my mind. Here it is a half a week later and I just couldn't stand it. I had to go and buy one turnip and one parsnip and make a stew, tasting each one raw first. Of the two, I liked the turnip best. But after reading how sweet the parsnips are suppose to be, I'm left wondering about the farmer. Mine was okay tasting but I definitely wouldn't call it sweet. Maybe he forgot to leave it in the ground for three to four weeks of cold weather like the instructions say in order to change the starches to sugars.

Who knows but according to the nutrition chart, parsnips have a higher glycemic level than almost any other vegetable. Two times the carbs of carrots, a close relative. If you are low on carrots you can substitute parsnips for them in a recipe but then you'd be missing that pretty orange color and carotene. My research revealed that you can also eat them raw in salads.

As for growing them, I remember as a kid my neighbors grew them but then they grow nice cantaloupe too over in that country. The down side to growing them is the seeds don't last. You have to order new ones every year because they won't germinate if stored longer. That dampers my interest in growing parsnips right there.

When I went to nutritondatas.self.com on the Internet, they had these lovely nutrition charts on everything. I could of spent hours there but I'm feeling guilty about my blogs this very hectic week and so I figured I'd better get a move on getting this one done.

I did switch back and forth comparing parsnips and turnips nutritionally. Parsnips were quite a bit more nutritious but they do have a mild inflammatory rating along with a higher omega 6 to omega 3 levels and then there is that dratted glycemic level.

Where the turnips shown was in their greens. Yes, you can eat the tops and the roots like with beets. The greens were high in vitamin K and A. K being good for osteoporosis which is highly hereditary in both sides of my family. Kale and spinach is even higher in vitamin K so I'll just eat those instead.

Ths is the nutrition site. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2514/2#ixzz1g4HcVgwM

Yet when all was said and done, I just couldn't justify growing these two vegetables in my limited garden space. For several reasons, the fact that I like them but don't love the taste and nutritionally they aren't a must grow for health.
If you are a turnip and parsnip lover, good for you. I probably just don't know what I'm missing but I think I'll just stick to my present vegetables for now.

A Quick Gift

2011-12-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

My mom loves these things. She attaches them to the stove and uses them to dry her hand on. I'm not fond of them but our middle daughter wants some too. So if you are looking for a inexpensive home-made gift. Think of whipping up a few. They are a dish towel cut it in half and then a cloth top. I used an extra large button because of my mom's poor eye sight.

A New Discovery About Christmas

2011-12-06T16:26:00.001-07:00

Maybe I'm a bit slow but I've just figured out why presents aren't such a big deal for Christmas. It's because there is so much more that is even better about the season.

Think about it. If Christmas entailed little more than opening presents from under the tree and a good meal, then for most, the presents would be the highlight. It's no wonder that children are focused upon presents and Santa Claus. He's the one that brings the best presents and what else is Christmas for?

But what if Christmas was a whole lot more?

Would the presents and their list for Santa Claus be at the fore front of children's thoughts? Would we be so harried shopping and wrapping present?

What if Santa Claus brought what was in the stockings and maybe just a little bit more? That way the biggest presents would come from Dad and Mom. And what if they limited their gift giving too?

I've thought a great deal on this subject since when I was little, Santa Claus brought BIG presents - bikes, skis etc. Then divorce entered the picture and things changed-- dramatically. All of a sudden, Santa Claus was poor just like us. Or was he? Somehow he managed to give other little girls and boys big gifts even though those things didn't come to our house.

The complexities of this confused me. Not that I was upset by the change in presents. Especially since I didn't know I wanted skis and I got a pair because everyone else was getting a pair. I did want the bike though.

Funny me, I was the child that got a troll doll for Christmas and then learned that they were the fad. The same thing happened often as I had no idea what other little girls were suppose to want. Yes, I was rather out of the popular loop but then my Mom wasn't and made sure her daughter had some of those items even though her Autistic child didn't care a lick. We kind of funny that way.

What was disturbing

Something I was not going to have happen to my own children when they grew up and it didn't. They slipped on his coat as soon as they didn't believe anymore and they became Santa Claus for each other and for others outside the family. They told me that it was the wasn't in the least disappointing since being Santa Claus was a whole lot more fun.

So if like me, you've wondered if Christmas is little more than presents and a good meal, then it's time to put your emphasis in another direction. Frankly, I think we need to return to stocking stuffers and one gift. I'm working my way back in that direction. For I've discovered that Christmas is a whole lot more than food and gifts under the tree.

Don't let me mislead you into thinking that we had terrible Christmases as a child. We didn't. They were lovely. They just felt incomplete.

So began my quest to find the spirit of Christmas when I had my own children.

We DID all kinds of things. When the kids were little we caroled with dairy goats transformed into reingoats with a little red lipstick on their nose and cardboard antlers. Meanwhile we changed Christmas carols like Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer to Angie The Dear Old Reingoat. We were a hit everywhere we stopped and if we dared not go to the same house the next year, we were sorely chastised.

(I wrote about it in a blog in 2009 and I've linked to it if you happen to need a good chuckle. )

http://easylivingthehardway.blogspot.com/2009/12/caroling-reingoat-style.html

We also took our kids on trips to foreign countries without leaving our home by celebrating their Christmas traditions and food. One year it was Mexico that became our focus and our celebration included a pinata in the shape of a duck that Kirk and I built with water, flour, and newspaper that we'd put candy in.

The kid's beat the tar out of that duck with a thick dowel but it refused to break open. We still laugh about that stupid duck.

We also giggle about the time Kirk dressed up in my nightgown and played the role as Jule Tomte making sure when he knocked on our front door for the kids to let him in that none of the neighbors saw him. We were celebrating a Swedish Christmas.

And so we continue with our children and grandchildren to celebrate Christmas by DOING. Every year is a bit different as we change our activities to fit those family members present. Since the grand kids are old enough to be able to ring the doorbell and run and hide this year, we plan on baking cookies for them to take to neighbors and friends. Our kids always loved that.

And since we have some budding artists, they'll once again draw with Crayola window markers decorating our big picture window.

For us as Christians, the Savior's birth is the reason for our celebration and since the grand kids have the story down pretty well having played with the children's nativity set and acting out the story for a few years now, we will move to the stage, our living room, with some family members donning bathrobes, another donkey ears and tail, while yet others baa... like sheep.

And we won't stop there for we are going to make a gingerbread house, I mean stable, from grahmn crackers with Halloween's candy being transformed into Mary, Joseph, shepherds, etc. to fill out the nativity scene.

Throw in a school concert , a community concert (which we will sing in), activities at the library, rec-center, a church party, a few charitable activities for those in need, and we will have a DOING Christmas.

How can one be focused in on gifts and Santa Claus when there is so... much more to the holiday. As I begin DOING or in other words celebrating Christmas, I feel the baw humbug feelings and the pressure created by shopping, wrapping, and gift making take a back seat. And just maybe next year, I'll have my gifts done early. That way I can fully bask in the spirit of Christmas.

So go on. Decide what you like best about Christmas. If it is the music then be sure and go to a concert or buy a new CD or two. If your favorite thing is being around family and friends, then maybe your gifts should be in that line, such as tickets to take someone to an activity they'd love or a dinner party. Share your talents by giving of yourself. A skein of yarn, a hook, and promises to teach someone to crochet or knit makes a memorable gift that includes hours of fun.

Since family is what Christmas is all about for us, we have simplified the Christmas Eve and Day menu to keep us girls out of the kitchen and sat down playing games, and playing in the snow with the kids.

Just maybe if we cut out some of the things under the tree and start DOING more, we might just discover those hum bug feelings departed and a VERY Merry Christmas has snuck in.

What are your DOING plans for Christmas? I'm always looking for new ideas.

Apple Pumpkin Bread

2011-12-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

When I made the two different kinds of pumpkin pies to test the New England Sugar Pie and the Rouge Vif Detampe pumpkins. Well, I still has some more pulp and so I made Apple / Pumpkin quick bread. No, those are not nuts but apple chunks that you see.

I used my new quick bread pan that I got from King Aurther's when I bought the whole grain bread loaf pans. This pan is especially for quick bread as it is narrow and long. The same principle applies as with the dense whole grain bread pans.

Narrow so the heat can penetrate more quickly all the way through. The only choice in this style of pan was glass, so I went with it.

Despite the narrow, long design, I still had to bake the bread for quite some time since it had two cups of chopped apples and a cup of pumpkin making it really dense so I bake it at 325 Fahrenheit and had to check it a few times to see if it was done by sticking a knife into the center. This bread becomes dark because of the apples, pumpkin, and the hefty amount of aromatic spices included.

In actuality, this bread was a muffin recipe but I've found over the years you can interchange muffin and quick bread recipes putting them either into muffin tins or quick bread pans.

Yup, you make this recipes by putting the dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in the other, and chopped apples in a third container. Mix the wet into the dry and fold in the apples.

Put it into the pan and bake. What comes out is nice playing card size slices just right for serving. After it baked, I sliced off a third of the loaf to save for Kirk and I to eat and froze the rest for later.

Kirk and I only ended up eating one slice a piece of the unfrozen quick bread. I forgot to take into account how often the grand kids come over. It did make a wonderful after school snack but had I thought, I should have know the grand kids would be over and could eat the whole thing.

I did discover that the bread was much better eaten after two days where it had time for the flavors to meld. It made the bread taste better and more moist.

For the recipe go to allrecipes.com and look for the Apple Pumpkin Muffins submitted by Taste of Home's Fast family Favorites

Arsenic in Your Juice and Rice

2011-12-01T15:09:00.001-07:00

Our daughter sent me this link and I'd highly recommend you tke a look. http://health.yahoo.net/articles/nutrition/arsenic-in-juice?page=3
I've copied a few statements from the article to wet your appetite and give you some idea what it says.

I caution you that the government does not control the arsenic levels in our food and a long time ago arsenic was a part of the pesticides used by farmers. It never left the soil except to piggy back in some of the foods we eat. For brands they test that were high in inorganic arsenic, read the article. Yes, there is inorganic and organic. The inorganic being the nastier one.

So read away. You'll be shocked. I was.
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10 of three dozen apple-juice samples with total arsenic levels exceeding 10 parts per billion (ppb).

“People sometimes say, ‘If arsenic exposure is so bad, why don’t you see more people sick or dying from it?’ But the many diseases likely to be increased by exposure even at relatively low levels are so common already that its effects are overlooked simply because no one has looked carefully for the connection,” says Joshua Hamilton, Ph.D., a toxicologist specializing in arsenic research and the chief academic and scientific officer at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

In addition to juice, foods including chicken, rice, and even baby food have been found to contain arsenic—sometimes at higher levels than the amounts found in juice.
Rice frequently contains high levels of inorganic arsenic because it is among plants that are unusually efficient at taking up arsenic from the soil and incorporating it in the grains people eat. Moreover, much of the rice produced in the U.S. is grown in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas, on land formerly used to grow cotton, where arsenical pesticides were used for decades.

U.S. rice has among the highest average inorganic arsenic levels in the world—almost three times higher than levels in Basmati rice imported from low-arsenic areas of Nepal, India, and Pakistan. Rice from Egypt has the lowest levels of all.

Infant rice cereal for the U.S. market is generally made from U.S. rice, Meharg says, but labeling usually doesn’t specify country of origin.

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Just one more reason to try and produce all we can of our own food.

Bread Pans for Whole Grain Breads

2011-11-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

With my goal to start creating whole grain bread on a level yet to be seen in this household, I knew I needed different bread pans to achieve this elevated level.

How did I know? Well, I'm no stranger to making bread, even whole grain bread but I wanted to start incorporating much more than whole wheat. I wanted to use a variety of grains, seeds, nuts, a few vegetables, and even beans.

Yes, you read it right, beans. Some of the recipes I'm about to try call for them soaked, cooked and then used in bread. Some for beans just ground through your wheat grinder into flour and used with other flours. And even some told how to sprout beans and grains , then dry them before grinding into flour. This sprouting method being the ultimate nutrient booster.

And I don't want to stop my experimenting there I want to use some of those vegetables I dried and turned into powder. Wouldn't they be wonderful in boosting the nutrient levels in my breads, along with adding flavor?

While my brain was galloping off into these varied paths, it couldn't help but side track to crackers also.

But first before I got serious about bread making, I knew I needed new bread pans. New bread pans because the tiny pans on the left in the picture were too small to form a serious loaf of sandwich bread.

The 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch pan in the middle was too wide and though I get a decent loaf of white bread out of them, wheat bread has to be cooked until the outside is quite dark to get the inside done. It's a long ways for the heat to reach the center because the pan is so... wide.

This meant I just couldn't stand it and with fear of my bread becoming dry and over cooked, I'd frequently snatched them out to discover the centers doughy. Waste not, want not, entered and the ends became slices of bread while I disasembled the rest skirting around the doughy center to cut pieces for dressing, bread crumbs, and crouton making.

These wider pans also mean that the heavier, heartier breads with whole grains with the added weight, flop out on top, leaving wings.

Of course there are those whole grain breads that can hold their own form creating lovely round and oblong shapes (Sorry, all I had was a picture of artisan white bread)

But, some grains like Khorasan wheat which is buttery and rich - can not hold a round or oblong shape and needs some confining.

And though the round or oblong breads are great, sometimes a loaf shape is what's needed. So off to my chef supply catalogues I went along with a search of the Internet for information on bread pans.

I saw chit chat on how wonderful different finishes are and dark surfaces versus shiny. Even glass versus metal. But since I have one glass bread pan similiar in size to the metal ones and it still didn't bake the whole grains the way I wanted, I knew there had to be more to it.

Finally, I found a great video on bread making with whole grains. It didn't give any recipes but it did give techniques for using rye or whole wheat. It mentioned that you needed a narrow bread pan for whole grain breads to allow them to bake through more easily. It also spoke of the importance of measuring your dough, two pounds per loaf. I would guess this is so the bread gets done inside and all the loaves at the same time. That is if your oven is working right.

I was so... excited to see this because finally, someone was speaking my language. So with this bit of information off I went to look at the three chef supply catalogues I have. Only one fit the need, King Aurther's.

They had bread pans in 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches, 9x5, and 9x4x4. Only the 9x4x4 fit the bill for what I needed since Khorasan wheat was highly nutritious but can NOT stand up on its own. Hence, the high sides which support the dough keeping it from forming wings and the narrow bottom which allows the insides to get done before the outside is dark, dark brown.

The pans also have ridges along the sides and in, touted to help air circulation. The pans weigh a ton. Okay, maybe not that much. But, they are hefty. Yet, with this thick construction, I know they will conduct heat well, similiar to a cast iron pan. I have a couple of those bread pans but they are also wide. I am going to bring them in and give them a work out too, to see where they fit in, in my bread making. No, the heaviness the of King Aurther's bread pans isn't bothering me since I'd guess they will last through my lifetime and my children's too.

The price is pretty hefty for these. No, Walmart special. So if you are looking for just such a pan be prepared to pay $17.99 but keep in mind this is an long term investment. I've learned that if you buy good cookware, you only have to buy it once.

I'll tell you soon how well I like them.

Pumpkin Pie Taste Test

2011-11-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

I had lots of pumpkin left in the refrigerator that needed used and somehow even though I had pumpkin pie at two different Thanksgiving feasts nearly a week apart, along with leftovers, I'm still not tired of it. After all, it's one of my favorite breakfast foods.

And besides, I had to put to rest which pumpkin was my favorite in pies, the Rouge vif Detampes or the New England Sugar Pie. I already knew what texture that I liked best, the New England Sugar Pie. Add to the fact that the Rouge vif Detampes had to have lots of water strained off of it and was stringy, it was sliding downward in my opinion pole due to the extra preparation time. It did WAY out produce the New England Sugar Pie though and so I just didn't feel like I had a clear decision.

I'd decided to grow it in part for livestock feed. Something I still think is worthy idea but then I tasted the Rouge vif Detampes in pumpkin pie. Oh my!

I used the same recipe for both pies except I had to drop the amount of milk called for. Plus, I never use evaporated milk which the recipe calls for preferring to use either milk from the later part of our goats lactation because it is high in cream or half and half (goat milk that has run through the cream separator once, not twice).

For the Rouge vif Detampe pumpkin puree, I dropped the recipe's one and two-thirds cups to one & one-third & one-fourth a cup. The finished results have led me to believe I should have just skipped the one-fourth cup and gone with one and two thirds cups. Even with straining, the pumpkin puree is very very moist.

The alterations didn't stop there though because the New England Sugar pie has a very thick, dryer puree and so I added an extra small egg to that pie filling.

It is just par for course to have to change recipes when you are cooking with fresh ingredients but o...h is it worth it because of the flavor superiority and increase in nutrients.

Unfortunately, I over cooked the New England Sugar Pie, pie a little and I don't have a pretty picture of it to show you. As for the Rouge vif Detampe, it had to cook a little longer due to the higher moisture content.

But when they were done, I had to have a slice of both. The New England Sugar Pie was just how you expect a pumpkin to taste. The only way I can describe it is something earthy and whole, kind like the earthiness you get when you eat whole foods like whole wheat bread versus white bread.

The Rouge vif Detampe was sweeter than the New England Sugar Pie and lacked that earthy taste that the New England Sugar Pie had. It was really yummy though in a different way. It was the white bread in the whole wheat bread versus the white comparison.

And now I can't decide which I like best.

I don't think I will decide. I'm going to integrate the two kinds of pumpkins into my garden. Rotating from year to year which kind I grow so they don't cross breed. Yum! Yum!

How Do I Grow Tomatoes In The House?

2011-11-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

Look at this weird tomato. Granted, it was starting to become a bit soft but that's no reason for the seeds to start sprouting already. I'm wondering if this poor tomato underwent false storage somehow to cause such a strange phenomenon. You never know what they are doing to your food before you get it.

I've tried to grow full sized tomatoes in this house by plucking volunteer plants from the garden along with some dirt and bringing them inside. Aphids were my reward. This time, I shook all the dirt possible off of the volunteer tomato from the garden and transplanted it into new store bought soil.

The plant took off but the insufficient amount of sunlight in the house meant it died. Even up next to our large windows. I couldn't put it under grow lights in the basement because there is no heat down there without the wood stove burning and the weather wasn't cold enough.

In February when I start plants, the stove is going. I've tried growing lettuce too upstairs and down. Lettuce doesn't require much light and a few herbs seem to get by though the leaves aren't as big as I'd like. But nope, lettuce won't grow. They just get spindly and tall and then die.

It's not that I have a brown thumb because I grow a nice garden outside, it's just transferring the crops inside that poises the problem. Oh how I'd love to grow my own tomatoes and lettuce in the winter. We have a very small store here in town but no organic produce. We live in the toolees as we say. A long ways from anywhere.

So have any of you some advice? Tomatoes from our stores make me leery.

Learning To Crochet

2011-11-24T23:40:00.001-07:00

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did. As I ate, I thought about Thanksgiving as a child. The huge smorgasbord of food with multiple salads, and dishes galore to choose from. There were a lot of us to feed as we gathered with extended family to celebrate.

And as my mind wandered, I thought about my grand parents and the things they taught me. One was to crochet. I figured our oldest grand child just might be mature enough to learn. We'd tried a year ago and she had become far too frustrated but as we began once more, she caught on quickly and is thrilled with the possibilities open to her.

She's already planning on making a scarf though she hasn't gotten beyond a chain stitch. She's only practiced an hour or so.

It won't be long though and she will be making scarves, hats, mittens, and even sweaters. Then she'd be just like her Aunt Toni. Or that is what I hope as this grandma can crochet but only in a fairly basic manner.

At what age did you learn to crochet?

Taste Testing Pumpkins

2011-11-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

I cooked up both pumpkin varieties I grew last summer with the intent to make two pies, one from each kind to form a taste test.

The Rouge Vif Detampes or also known as the Cinderella pumpkin from France...

and the New England Sugar Pie pumpkin. Not sure this tired bones is going to get it done but I used the New England Sugar Pie pumpkin in my Thanksgiving pie last Saturday. YUM!!

The two I cooked up today were hugely different in color, texture, and moisture. The Rouge Vif Detampes pumpkin is on the left and the New England Sugar Pie is on the right.

The Rouge Vif Detampes pumpkin is extremely moist and after having sat in the refrigerator a little while, liquid seeped out all around the edges of the bowl. This pumpkin has a stringy texture.

The New England Sugar Pie is creamy and smoother with far less moisture.

Having cooked both pumpkins whole in the oven, I noticed a dramatic difference also. The skin of the New England Sugar Pie was thinner.

It fell away from the meaty inside extremely easily. The Rouge Vif Detampes was more reluctant to let go of its meaty center.

The New England Sugar Pie...

and the Rouge Vif Detampes both had lots of meaty flesh to harvest, unlike a carving pumpkin which has a hard outer core and a hollow center. The New England Sugar Pie cooked whole afterwards separated ridiculously easily from the seeds and stringy center. I'll never scoop out the seeds first again with this variety.

The Rouge Vif Detampes cooked in this manner was a little trickier to decipher from the stringy center since it's flesh is more stringy also, though it wasn't bad.

There was one problem pointed out by my mother-in-law who had never made a pumpkin pie with a fresh pumpkin, instead having always used a store bought can of filling. The Rouge Vif Detampes had too much fluid and when she made her pie it was extremely runny. I promised to experiment and after having first drained off a little of the fluid by tipping the bowl of pulp to the side, I then plopped it into a wire strainer to continue to drain. It helped a great deal to remove the excess liquid.

The results were still moister than the New England Sugar Pie pumpkin. I'd guess I will have to drop the liquids in the pie by 2 to 3 tablespoons.

I never thought about the need to make adjustments when I gave her the pumpkin. At the time I didn't know how moist this type of pumpkin was.

Adjusting is just something you grow accustom to when you use fresh ingredients. Your fresh eggs are different sizes even when the hens begin laying larger eggs. When they are pullets, I use two small eggs to every large egg ask for in a recipe. My home cultured buttermilk is extremely thick and requires a 1/4 a cup of milk to every cup of buttermilk called for in a recipe. And there changes from year to year on the garden vegetables and fruit. Your corn may be really sweet one year and the next not so sweet. The change could be due to the weather and soil nutrients.

Though these changes mean some unpredictably, they also can mean far more nutrition and a superb flavor to that which you can buy in a grocery store.

Selection of varieties also plays a role in flavor and nutrition. That's what I'm working on. Trying to decide what varieties of garden vegetables to grow depending on flavor, productivity and nutrition.

Personally, I have decided that I prefer the flavor of these New England Sugar Pie pumpkins to the Rouge Vif Detampes as it is more intensely pumpkiny. I also like the creamy texture rather than the stringy type in Rouge Vif Detampes. Then again, I don't like spaghetti squash because it is too stringy and mild in flavor. I also prefer Zucchini to Summer Squash and my favorite winter squash is Buttercup Squash. It makes a wonderful pie also.

I do love the yield with the Rouge Vif Detampes though. The pumpkins were several times the size of the New England Sugar Pie and there was a large difference in the number of pumpkins each plant produced. The Rouge Vif Detampes far out produced the New England Sugar Pies.

So what does this mean? If I'm growing pumpkins to feed stock, hands down it would be the Rouge Vif Detampes. If I want pumpkin pie and pumpkin to freeze and can for future use, it's New England Sugar Pie.

So I think I'll grow the New England Sugar Pie every other or every third year as it doesn't take a great deal of pumpkin to keep us in pies, soups etc. It has been the best flavored pumpkin I've grown to date. Every modern type variety I've tried in past years lacked flavor. The jack-0-lantern types of course are pretty tasteless.

As for the Rouge Vif Detampes, I'm not sure how I'll fit it into my new plans for growing different crops in rotation. It definitely has a place. It would greatly boost nutrition fed to the chickens which would boost the nutrition in their eggs.

I would guess that the seeds scooped out before cooking the pumpkin would hold more worming ability but I don't really know. And though I haven't tried it yet, pumpkin is suppose to be a wonderful addition to a goat's diet. I'm just wondering if I can get my goats to eat them. I'm going to try it soon. I'd guess they would want the pumpkin not cooked. Anyone tried this yet?

So exactly how I'm going to rotate my pumpkins from year to year as to the varieties I'll grow hasn't been worked out yet. And how am I going to fit in pumpkins for the grand kids to carve for Halloween also.

I do have some serious thinking to do. What is your favorite pumpkin for pumpkin pies?

Taking Yarn Inventory

2011-11-22T14:18:00.001-07:00

The thought is making me exhausted. After our two daughter's and I spent eight hours together cooking for Thanksgiving, I'm not wanting to start all over on making pies. I know, I know, I don't have to do anything else for Thursday's dinner with my brother and sister in-laws but I'm simply tired. This body can only push so long and it's screaming STOP!!

Rather loudly since I have Addison's disease and my get up and go and all got up and went.

So I went on strike on Monday, after I took my husband to the airport where he left on a trip. I then drove home on the much improved highways ( We had over six inches of snow over the weekend leaving the roads solid ice.) and sat on the bed watching Hulu and Netflixs.

I watched Hulu so long a message popped up on the screen telling me I'd been watching for three hours wouldn't I like to stop?

The truth is I wasn't really watching for three hours since I was pausing the shows every little while to go and get something or answer the phone.

It was Kirk telling me he'd arrived at this airport or that. And what do you do at an airport while you wait for your next plane, call your spouse of course. Or I hope that's what you do.

Anyway, when I'm overwhelmed and need to take control, what do I do? Something I don't have to, of course. Something that won't help the long list of to do's get done.

I copied free knitting patterns off the Internet and then realized I had no yarn to knit them with. Since all the patterns called for something I didn't have.

No I'm not low on yarn. All three of these containers are full of yarn, but I didn't seem to have what I needed. I didn't think I did anyway because I really didn't know what I had.

Yes, you long time reader might remember that a long while back I drug out my yarn and corrected the twist on some of my hand spun skeins and labeled each skein as to what kind of fiber it was spun from. It took me quite a while.What I realized then was I really liked to spin a few skeins of one kind of fiber or color of yarn and then I was off to another kind. This left me with only enough homespun yarn of one kind and color to make one sweater. Unless I was the size of my sweet small sized daughters. Nope, I need four more skeins to create a tent sized one for two ton Tessy here.

In enters goal one, to spin enough yarn of one for another wool or alpaca sweater.

Plus, I realized I love snoods, cowls, and scarves that fasten with buttons and pins. No, I don't necessarily love to wear them, except I do want a snood which I especially love the look of and think I'd actually wear.

I do have a couple scarves that fasten that I wear out in the cold. But, as active as I am, scarves just don't fit my lifestyle that mixes house cleaning, cooking, and livestock chores. They are meant more for indoor jobs such as office workers and so forth who hold still.

Not that that should stop me so -- Goal number two comes in. I want to make a couple snoods and some more scarves, and cowl thingies. I'm itching to adorn them with homemade buttons and pins I create in my husband's workshop. I've been doing a little this and that trying to figure out what kind of small art based business I want to create. So far I haven't found it but Kirk and I sat brain storming in the airport as we waiting for him to fly out and I became really excited at the creative latitude making snoods, cowls, and scarves along with fasteners. I could use those scraps of

Mastodon ivory, woods, and horns left over from Kirk's knife making.

Some of these projects would be made with store yarns. Some of those luxury gifts my oldest daughter gave me during my yarn adoption visits to her stash. And the few skeins I've purchase on my own.

Some would be from homespun yarn.

But first I realized I needed to take an inventory of just how many skeins I had of what varieties of fibers, yarn diameter size, and yardage and keep it in a notebook. Then I'd know what yarn I had that would be suitable and enough yardage for cowls, scarves, and snoods. Other yarns I might branch a little off into making a few hats and gloves. Those that would be suitable for office workers and trips where you aren't wearing your Muck boots. I don't make many of those but city folks do.

How do you organize your yarn stash?

Pumpkin Chicken Wormer

2011-11-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

What, oh what, do you do with the pumpkin seeds as you prepare to make pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving? I haven't the time to do salted and roasted seed while I'm baking up a storm like today for our early feast tomorrow.

Wasting them isn't an option around here so I give them to the chickens.

But first, I put them through the blender with some water to chop them up. The chickens eat them far better that way.

I leave the stringy insides of the pumpkin with the seeds.

Then I give these seeds and pumpkin shells to the chickens. The seeds have a coating on them that paralyzes tapeworms and round worms. Then they are flushed out of the chickens digestive system.

Other times I scramble older eggs and cook them with a hefty coating of garlic, another natural type of wormer.

So if your cooking pumpkins next week for pumpkin pies, don't forget the chickens.

Kamut Grain

2011-11-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've discovered a new kind of wheat and here I thought I knew all the varieties. Shows you just how little I know. Allison's Pantry advertised Khorasan wheat under the brand name of Kamut and being the curious me, I bought it. After all, it isn't like I was buying candy, I was buying something good for us.

When my first order arrived, Ruth and Naomi, from the Bible, came to mind. I've never been able to imagine them gleaning tiny grains of wheat in Boaz's fields until I saw this wheat. It's grains are far larger than our modern wheat and though it would still definitely have been a pain to pick up seed by seed. The story makes more sense.

Then I did some research on the grain since it looked like wheat but yet was quite different in appearance and I wondered if it was different to bake with.

What I found was:
(The name KAMUT is the registered trademark and brand name used to sell the grain variety khorasan. The word Kamut stems from the ancient hieroglyphic language meaning wheat.

Kamut International uses the KAMUT trademark to protect and preserve the ancient grain variety khorasan. The grain differs from modern day varieties because it has not been modified through modern breeding practices or genetic modification.

The wheat is tolerated by many who have allergies to typical types of wheat and in fact a study showed that 70% of people with wheat allergies had no, or little reaction to this type of wheat. But if you have coeliac disease, this isn't for you.

Kamut (Khorasan ) wheat is higher in eight of the nine vitamins of traditional wheat, 40% higher in protein, easier to digest, 65% more amino acids, more lipids, and more fatty acids.

But Kamut does have some down sides. It is lower in yields. Not too surprising since that seems to be the main push with all modern varieties of grains. Higher yields at the expense of lower nutrition. Modern wheat is definitely an instance where more is simply more, not better.

This grain also can't be rushed. It takes its time absorbing liquids, raising, and the elastic bands can be cut easily so it is not recommended that you add nuts when cooking with this grain. I'm wondering about flax seed. I'd guess it could also cut these delicate strands. It doesn't hold its shape well and so a bread pan is recommended or mixing in 25% regular wheat.

I guess you would not call it a beginners whole grain. None the less, it is definitely a grain worth adding to your whole grain diet with its reported buttery, sweet taste.

I thought it was a winner to try in my new goal for 2012, to cook as much as possible with whole grains, so I ordered some more.

I've been researching recipes for breads that include a wide variety of grains such as traditional wheat, spelt, wheat, Kamut, oats, rice, millet, rye, and even dried beans.

I'm looking to see if Triticale, which I still have a little grain in the basement from years ago, is available or if it has gone out of style. I may try using it once more.

Some of these recipes I've found call for sprouting the grains to an eighth an inch, drying them, and grinding them into flour. Others cooking beans and adding them or just grinding them at the dry stage into flour.

All this research has me thinking crackers and breads, breads, breads and nutrition. Yup, it's winter time outside and I'm in the mood to bake.

So as soon as our Thanksgiving holiday is over, this weekend, I'm going to start my ancient grains bread baking adventure.

No, I'm not confused. I know Thanksgiving isn't until next week in the USA but in our county of Wyoming, folks have from now until a few days after the traditional Thanksgiving Day on Thursday that they celebrate with a feast. The majority of families have shift workers that put in at least a 12 hour work day, not including travel time so holidays are celebrated whenever one can get the majority of their families together.

That means this Saturday for us and another celebration with Kirk's family next Thursday with a small amount of our immediate family able to attend. It is an ancient grain that dates back to Noah's time and has thus gained the nickname Prophet's Wheat. And since it was found in Egyptian Pharaohs tombs it also has the nickname 'King Tut's Wheat. Others call it Camel's Tooth due to its hump back appearance but what every you call it, it's a grain worth taking a look at.

A Home-made Gift Idea

2011-11-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

"Sleigh bells ring are you listening. In the lane snow is glistening." Can't you hear me singing. Well, maybe your lucky but I have been because it's that time of the year. The time you have to put your rear in high gear and get to making Christmas presents.

The last few years I've bought them but this years funds are a bit short. And... our children have voiced numerous times in those years just how much they enjoy the home-made gifts. Would I please start making them again.

So... though our daughters do sometimes read this blog. It won't be giving away their gift because they already know part of it anyway. It's the gift they've been hounding me to make.

No, not aprons, though I am making a variety of styles for gifts for Christmas. This one needs some ruffles around the pockets and a little this and that to jazz it up.

What all our children, including our son, has been after me to do is copy my recipes that I've worked to collect and change over the last ten years or so.

This year I'm working on breakfast. I've enough recipes to fill a inch and a half three ring notebook. A daunting task alone just to type them all up but... being me, I'm also photographing for it. Yup, those apples are apples off our tree and those waffles were served to our grandchildren one morn. I've seen cool programs on the Internet where you can type your recipes and a company will make a book for you but it doesn't allow photography freedom that I want. Plus you can't add to it like you can a three ring notebook with recipes in slip covers. The ability to slip out the recipes also allows you to add notes.

Since a cookbook is so... much more inviting with photographs to entice you to cook and I love to photograph...I've got to add that personal touch.

Our one daughter will tell you that it will take more than some scrumptious looking food in photographs to get her iinterested in cooking breakfast yet, she is just as interested as the rest to have a cookbook also. Though she might not be interested, she still has a family to cook for.

I'm not photographing for every recipe. That would take me for ever and ever since I can't stick with one task long enough with so much else that needs done. Plus, the cost of colored ink alone would break my tight budget. Instead, I'm taking a few shots here and there as I cook not only breakfast but desserts and main meals too. Yes, they are expecting those recipes to come along next in a cookbook.

And since so much of our lives revolves around food, with raising livestock for milk, eggs, and meat, along with hunting and fishing, I can't leave that out either. Yes, this cookbook will be a bit of a pictorial food history that will include photos of our family too.

I've got pictures of the grand kids cracking eggs for breakfast.

Some of them making noodles, cookies, etc. and even a few of them eating that which I cooked.

Then there is this one for chicken noodle soup. Nap time couldn't come soon enough for our cute little bug and she fell asleep eating.

And if our family thought I took a lot of pictures before, they haven't seen nothing yet. My camera is going to have a permanent home on the kitchen counter until I'm done, especially during the holiday season when everyone is home.

Though this will be lots of work, it will finally end my steady search for recipes I know I have somewhere but can't lay my hands on when I want them.

Yup, I think I want these cookbooks as much as they do.

Just Call Me Match Maker

2011-11-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

Don't know if all goats do this but mine do. When the urge is upon them, the girls stare at me in panic, the whites of their eyes showing and bellar, " http://easylivingthehardway.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-your-goat-in-heat.html

Matchmaker, Matchmaker,
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Look through your book,
And make me a perfect match"

Nope, they don't say anything to the buck, it's me they turn to. I think it is because when in the past the urge has come on, it's me that has taken them by the collar and led them to Prince Charming. I hold the solution.

The doelings don't act in this manner but given a year or two and their trained for life. This is Megan's first time and I'm having a hard time telling when she comes in. I'll figure it out though and train her to tell me. It makes it so much easier. You can count with accurancy the days of gestation on a particuliar doe and after a kidding or two, you have an excellent idea within a day or two when she will kid.

And though I've had been checking for a discharge and other signs, nothing but the bellaring appeared with Chicory in October.

I've found Nubians are much harder than Saanens to tell when they are in Estreus. For me, none of this putting the doe in the pen and letting nature take its course. I want does that breed once and become pregnant. Those that take multiple breedings are sold.

Last year when I we had the three grandkids living with us and the two doelings were not very tame. I put a buck that was unfamilar to them in their pen a week before I knew they would come into heat. That was so they would not be scared of him and allow him to do his job.

Some day, I want to AI and I don't want to waste semen. A fancy buck has a fancy price and I want does that settle with kid on the first time.

In the past, I often had only one opportunity to breed a doe. One time a really nice buck of our neighbors was being sold and the owners were picking him up in an hour. I had a couple does come into Estreus. Slam bam thank you mam as they say and sure enough, both girls were pregnant.

And it isn't only the does you will deal with but most likely her offspring also as she passes on good fertility or bad.

If you don't know when your does come in Estreus, this blog I wrote in 2009 might help you. My Saanens were perfect for picture taking and there was no doubt when they came in.

Now to figure out Megan. I want to have her bred in December.

Pullet Eggs

2011-11-09T13:12:00.001-07:00

Maybe it is ridiculous but when I saw my first pullet egg in October, I was giddy with joy. It was like Christmas as a child.

And even though this happens every October, I look forward with the same level of excitement as Christmas morn. Like presents mounting under the tree, one by one the hens comb's change from blushed red to a rich ruby red, a sure sign eggs will soon arrive. The eggs start out tiny and grow rapidly in size with each time the hen lays one. As for cooking, I just use two eggs instead of one when they are this small.

What makes these pullets eggs special is you are never sure what they will lay as their bodies work out the ins and outs of egg laying production. We've had eggs with only a dot of yellow for a yolk, no yolk, two yolks, (once) a three yolker, no shell, and so ginormous an egg that it killed the hen that laid it. It's part of the surprises that await you when you open the coop door. Surprises with lots of yummy flavor.

This year, we haven't gotten any eggs that have a gelatin like shell instead of a hard shell but we have had a steady stream of double yolkers. I suspect that they are a sign of heavy layers as this has been the case in the past. The years I don't have very many double yolkers, the hens aren't laying well. That has been the case with the last couple batches of chickens I've ordered. Solution, change hatcheries. I have suspect that the old hatchery was emphasising show quality way too much. To me, pretty is as pretty does.

Just for those of you who maybe don't have chickens and all this fun. I found this interesting site on the abnormal eggs that pullets lay.

http://poultryhelp.com/oddeggs.html

DOUBLE YOLK EGGS: Double Yolkers appear when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk somehow gets "lost" and is joined by the next yolk. Double yolkers may be by a pullet whose productive cycle is not yet well synchronized. They're occasionally laid by a heavy-breed hen, often as an inherited trait.

NO YOLK: No-yolkers are called "dwarf", "wind" [or, more commonly, "fart"] eggs. Such an egg is most often a pullet's first effort, produced before her laying mechanism is fully geared up.

MORE THAN TWO YOLKS: Occasionally, an egg contains more than two yolks. I once found a pullet's egg that contained three. The greatest number of yolks found in one egg is NINE. Record breaking eggs are likely to be multiple yolkers. The Guinness Book of Records lists the world's largest [chicken] egg (with a diameter of 9 inches/22.5 cm) as having five yolks and the heaviest egg (1 pound/0.45 kg) as having a double yolk and a double shell.

NO SHELL:Every once in a while we get an egg with a membrane, but without a shell. It feels like a water balloon. This is another accident of the hen's reproductive system and is not necessarily an indication of any problem. The membrane was placed on the yolk and white, but it somehow slipped past the "shell mechanism" and the shell wasn't deposited.

EGG WITHIN AN EGG: An egg within an egg, or a double shelled egg appears when an egg that is nearly ready to be laid reverses direction and gets a new layer of albumen covered by a second shell. Sometimes the reversed egg joins up with the next egg and the two are encased together within a new shell. Double shelled eggs are so rare that no one knows exactly why or how they happen.

To answer a question some of you may pose. You have to have a rooster in with your hens to get this. Chicks don't form inside fertilized eggs unless there is adequate amount of heat and humidity.

If you notice a blood spot in your egg don't panic. It is only a broken blood vessel. And those thick meat like spots are nothing either. Just scoop out the blood spot or meaty spot and cook as usual or throw them in the trash if that makes you more comfortable.

Remember, practice makes perfect and perfection doesn't happen except in the grocery store where they've weeded out all the interesting eggs. Not to mention those with vitamins attached.

So while you finish reading this post, I'm going to take a little nap. Too bad I don't have cute company like Kirk had last week. I've not felt well since yesterday. Not sick but I'm having one of my Adrenaline bouts where my temperature won't stay up. 93's F. all morning yesterday and only a bit better the rest of the day. Today, my temperature and blood pressure are down. The spirit is willing too keep going but the body weak. Gr....!!!!

Now if only the good brownies would show up and clean up my kitchen while I sleep. sigh!!!

Chariot Racing

2011-11-07T15:11:00.001-07:00

As we looked around Saturday at the scant attendance, we laughed. Why don't they have chariot races in the summer time? Or is it just in Wyoming that they run in the fall and winter? We wouldn't know for this was our first attendance. But I've watched Ben Hur and you know he didn't run when it was cold outside, he was wearing a skirt.

But, despite the cold wind and freezing temperatures, that left me cold for hours afterwards, we stuck around and crawled out of the truck to watch a race and jumped back in while the scores were declared to try and warm up a bit.

Then back out when the next set of horses trotted down to the starting gate. I'm not sure it wasn't worse on us but the warmth was hard not to seek.

But though we might of seen the race inside the truck, there is nothing like having the horses thunder past you and of course we had to wager a guess at the team we thought would win the next race. It turned out to be pretty easy to figure out. It was the team that trotted and galloped in sync with each other. Maybe it isn't always that way but Saturday it was.

Our friends that went with us, said sometimes there are three teams racing on a track at one time. Saturday, there were only two.

This was just a small time competition with just six teams racing but we were impressed. Wow! can those horses run! It's got to be quite an adrenaline rush sitting in that tiny aluminum can behind those thundering hooves. If you ever got me to do this, I'd be like the lady in the picture wearing a protective vest and helmet only I'd be shaking so bad from fright, I'd be lucky to stay in the chariot. My mare may have been bred to do just this but she isn't hitting the track as long as I own her. I'm a big chicken and this is a dangerous sport.

Now that I've seen chariot racing, I want to see cutter racing. It's in the winter time and colder yet, but the wheels on the chariots are removed and skis are put on. Yup, I've seen videos and the action is intensified by the ice and snow.

If you get a chance, dress up warm and go watch chariot racing. It's worth the shivering.

2011-11-05T08:08:00.002-06:00

When the leaves start to turn and the weather cools, there is this natural urge to bake.

I start to crave bacon. Unfortunately, one of my favorite things. Go figure, it would have to be bad for me.

And with the handy tip of cooking your bacon on a broiler pan in the oven so that the grease drips down into the bottom, away from the meat, and you can cook thirteen slices at one time, I eat more than I should.

If you set your oven to broil, the bacon gets done faster, but the tips of each slice gets a bit burned. If you've a bit more time, bake at 350 Fahrenheit and those burnt tips are no more.

When I buy bacon, (yes, I'm out of home-cured bacon), I cook up the whole package and freeze it. That way I can re-heat the bacon in a pan or microwave and it is ready when the fried eggs are ready. Or I can add it to a baked potato, soup, souffle, etc. etc. etc.

And what goes great with bacon, biscuits of course.

I'll give you tips for making biscuits today and later I'll give you recipes.

These are buttermilk biscuits make with butter, but I have a simple recipe for heavy cream ones that the cream is the liquid and the fat in the recipe, and another biscuit recipe that is sweet. I believe in being prepared. This variety of recipes allows me to use whatever is in the cupboard. Or for some of you, whatever is on sale at the store.

So lets get started, here are some basics you should know about making biscuits. Tips courtesy of Cook's Country magazine and others from yours truly, ME.

Fundamentals of Making Biscuits

Test Baking Powder

Baking powder begins to lose potency after six months. Put 2 teaspoons into a cup of water. If it foams and fizzes immediately, your good to go; if the reaction is delayed or weak, buy a new can.

Preheat The Oven

Don't neglect this, Biscuits need an initial blast of high heat to rise properly, and it takes most ovens 15 minutes to get up to temperature. ( It's not a bad idea to check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer.

Mixing

Combine the dry ingredients with the butter and shortening in the food processor, or mix with pastry knife, or two knives used in a scissor motion. Using your warm hands can melt the fat, which results in a greasy biscuit. Do gently stir in the liquids by hand. Do not use a food processor as this over mixes the dough and will cause development of the gluten and toughening of the texture.

Biscuit Cutters

Makeshift cutters such as juice glasses produce rounds that rise unevenly, the rounded lip compresses the edges of the cut biscuit. Use biscuit cutters or cookie cutters with a straight edge.

Flip Biscuits

After cutting, flip the biscuit upside down on the baking sheet and put it in the oven. With the flat underside now on the top, the biscuits will rise evenly.

Spices

To spice up your biscuits you can add parsley, /or chives, /or 2 thinly sliced scallions and ½ cup cheddar. Then again you may choose Swiss and caraway/ or ¾ cup Parmesan and 1 teaspoon coarsely ground peppercorns.

Biscuits Gone Bad

Falling to pieces

Over processing the dry ingredients with the fats makes for crumbly biscuits.

Tough Guy

Warm fat, no kneading, and a cool starting oven can all result in short, tough biscuits.

All Askew

Placing the rounds onto the baking sheet right side up leads to lopsided biscuits.

Happy Baking!!

New Way To Cook Pumpkins

2011-11-02T17:05:00.002-06:00

For the last few weeks I've been going early, early in the morning and working out in the swimming pool, swimming laps and then doing water aerobics with a group of ladies. I'm determined to keep it up. Not that it has helped me loose any weight but it has made me less stiff and more flexible.

Of course not as flexible as our yak Gracie, for I can hardly bend around and touch my behind with my nose. Not that I'd want to but I wasn't about to give you a picture of me in the pool. You might mistake it for a whale.

The group of ladies I swim with are go getters and an inspiration. They are a tough group, all with health problems, some so arthritic they can hardly get in and out of the pool. And I figure if they can arrive between six and seven in the morning three days a week, even when it is well below freezing, like this was this morning, I hardly have an excuse. It is not all work and not play for at the end of our work out this morning some of us played beach ball, volley ball with our elbows and feet. It was a hoot.

This tight knit group, talks about their families and of course food.

Last Friday one of the subjects was pumpkins. One gal suggested we try washing a pumpkin, putting it on a cookie sheet whole and baking it. A friend I'd given a pumpkin to, tried it yesterday and reported back this morning that it worked great.

So I washed up a pumpkin today, cooked it whole until when I pressed on the sides it gave easily, and pulled it out.

is now sitting on top the stove. When it is cool enough, I'll scrap out the seeds, and the stringy center, saving the pulp for pumpkin soup. Wow!!, look how meaty these Rouge vif Etamps pumpkins are. I'm hoping they taste awesome too. I'm wanting to make pumpkin soup. It Something I've only made once and it wasn't a success. But that was years ago and I'm willing to try again.

With a large stack of pumpkins in the basement, this method will save on a large amount of aluminum foil and time. My old method was to clean out the center of a pumpkin and then wrap it in foil to keep it moist before baking. Not any longer. So if you haven't tried this method, give it a try.

Halloween Preparations

2011-11-01T09:27:00.000-06:00

Halloween, to Christians, is a pagan holiday. Because of this, some refuse to celebrate it. When our children were young, it was a greatly debated subject. I had a tug-of-war war within myself as this holiday often brings out the dark side of people. But then so can Christmas as the greedy use it to fill their own coffers.

As I've wondered about the holidays, I've come to realize that a holiday is what you make of it. You can choose how and what you celebrate despite what the world pressures us to do.

With this in mind, we set rule for Halloween for our family when they were small. No costumes that represent evil. Just as an actors dresses the part to help them get into character, children do the same thing as they explore roles. Dress determines to a great degree how one acts. It's a proven fact and the reason behind school uniforms.

Evil, is not a role I wished my children to explore especially since they don't have the capability to fully compartmentalize. The lines between fantasy and reality are thin and they can easily be influenced.

For me, the goal of a holiday is to gain a sense of belonging, emotional warmth, growth, and learning to to be more self-less.

I've discovered that the holidays is where the selfless shine and the sins of the selfish become more visible.

Holidays create a measuring rod for myself.

They push me into the uncomfortable as I do things for others. Like the debate I had in the store about what paint to buy that would stick on the shell of a pumpkin. I read this label and that label and none of them gave me a clue. As my stomach began to twist in discomfort, over such a silly thing, I decided it was ridiculous, threw my hands in the air and just bought two different kinds. Surely, one of them would work. If not we'd try markers.

I know traditionally, we've always carved pumpkins, our oldest helped with her first one when she was two. But this year, our oldest grand daughter complained that scooping out the insides with your hands is just really yucky. One has to be flexible with traditions, so this year painting it was.

We had chicken noodle soup and biscuits and the minute the kids were done, they disappeared. We could hear a dresser drawer in our room opening. We had to smile knowing what they were up to. They returned with one of Papa's work t-shirts on. Papa's t-shirts make a good cover up for their clothes.

Out came the paints and our daughter's nerves, just shy of wringing her hands. Oh wait, she was wringing her hands. Despite this, the girls had a wonderful time, painting their pumpkins and a cazillion pictures on plain white paper. The decorating of sugar cookies was almost ignored, they were having so much fun. When bed time loomed near, we had to force them, despite the flowing tears, to quit and go home to bed.

Next week, we will cook the pumpkins, make salted pumpkins seeds to eat and pies, cookies etc. Jack-o-lanterns have never been the end at this household.

Monday was also dress up and parties at school.

Making part or all of the costumes is a large portion of the anticipation of the holiday. It is a creative learning experience. Granted, more for me than the children but still, they learn as they watch and help with the decision making. Looking around at in expensive household objects, and seeing how they can be used to create a fantasy attire expands their minds. When they are older, more of the project will become theirs.

I admire some friends who spent sixteen hours with their ten or is it eleven year old son creating a Transformer costume out of cardboard, Wow, it was quite impressive! Pretty much just cardboard and lots of tape. Some would say what a waste of hours. I couldn't help but think of all the things their son learned, designing, following plans, using math, the importance of precision, and a score of other character building principle, not to mention learning to stick with a project until it is completed even though it takes a long time. Halloween, for them, went way beyond dressing up.

For our middle grand daughter, we just added a few things such as a net collar and some whimsical antennas to her boughten attire. Her mom painted her face and added glittery hair spray. You can tell she is pleased with the results.

But for our oldest, who at first wanted to be a Clam, (yes, folks, a clam but luckily changed to Velma on Scooby Doo), I had to try and remember how to make a skirt from measurement only. I gave up and hit the Internet. After all our youngest, (a boy) is 26 and he definitely didn't need a skirt, though he has been tempted to buy a kilt, testing out his Scottish roots. It was his older sisters and myself that I made skirts for, from measurements. That was a long time ago.

I found a pretty good tutorial on the Internet but not quite the way I'd done it before. After ripping out the skirt a few too many times for my comfort, trying to get it to work, I got it put together. Not as smooth a finish as I'd like but I've got the hang of it now and am going to make a few more especially since I remember how I did it long ago. Maybe as part of Christmas gifts but, we'll talk about that later.

The rest was of the costume was simple. As for our youngest, she didn't care what her costume was like since she KNOWS she's the cutest thing ever so we didn't do much to it.

For kids, isn't that what dressing up in a costume is about, adventure and feeling good about themselves? When they are small, I'll guarantee they don't pay much attention to what others are wearing. That is unless they feel their costume is way below par.

So despite the work, stress caused stomach aches that sent me hurriedly to the bathroom over the whole deal (yes, it is hard on this Autistic Gramdma), it was worth it. I had only to look at the ecstatic joy in their eyes and listen to the "Grandma, I love you!!!" said with emphatic heart felt assurance to know that they have no doubt of the love we have for them.

Our children have often voiced that they had a wonderful childhood. I swear we celebrated almost every single holiday. Green mash potatoes and the like on Saint Patricks Day, creating paper May Day baskets filled with cookies on May Day, etc. etc. etc.

I'll guarantee our kids knew the holidays and why they were celebrated. Not because of tradition but my longing for the power a holiday can have to bind a family together.

Sometimes the lack of creates a want but I've observed this is only in those with a driving character. Unfortunately, most who have done without just continue on with the doing without, think welfare. Traditions, good or bad, are powerful and live on.

It may be the role of parents to use holidays to teach and bind their families, with grand parents playing a supportive role, but if they fail in this duty, despite encouragement, the responsibility lies with us the grandparents to do as much as possible. It's a great love that drives us forth to give, teach, and bind.

Our step-grandson was at his mothers and wasn't around until Halloween night. We missed helping him create a costume and paint a pumpkin. Hopefully, we will be able to have the opportunity, next year.

Corn Bread From Home Ground Corn

2011-10-31T10:20:00.000-06:00

My oh my, what kind shall I choose? The sweet corn dried like field corn or the Painted Mountain corn? I gave up and decided it would be a good opportunity to grind both kinds and make two batches of corn bread to test them side by side in a taste test.

We had a church Halloween party Saturday night and I could take both 9 inch square pans of corn bread for my contribution to the chili meal. That way Kirk and I wouldn't have to try and eat two pans. Something I know we'd never get done. This way we could try both and share the rest.

I was curious to see what the Painted Mountain corn meal would look like since the kernels were of so many different colors. It was hearty and healthy looking.

The sweet corn variety looked traditional. Much like that at the store but with a far moisture feel and look. I've used this corn last year when I first tried drying sweet corn on the cob and shelling it for corn meal. It's a good way to use those not so pretty ears of corn. Just leave them in the garden to dry on the stalks. Then remove and let finish drying hanging up or on newspaper in a dry, warm place. If using newspaper, be sure and turn the corn on occasion to insure all sides dry evenly.

The Painted Mountain corn bread dough was easy to distinguish with its red and black flakes. It looked like I'd spiced it with herbs.

The sweet corn dough I've learned to not add as much sugar because the corn is naturally high in sweetener. Since my corn bread recipe is amazingly moist but tastes more like cake, I'm going to work on dropping the sugar level until it tastes a bit more bread like but I don't want to loose the moistness. Not sure if the sugar will effect that in any way. I couldn't find out the answer on the Internet.

There is no doubt which corn bread is higher is nutrients. Hands down, the Painted Mountain corn bread. Remember, the dark kernels have more anti-oxidants than blue berries and the vitamin levels are very high in this variety.

It's one of the reasons I choose heirloom seeds varieties. Our ancestors were all about survival. Fields that once grew 75 bushel now grow 150 bushel but the corn is significantly lacking in vitamins. It's no wonder the world has super sized it. You know, made the servings much larger. It takes that much to get the same amount of nutrients that you received in a small portion when our great grand parents were alive.

Some times, less is really more. So though this sweet corn, corn meal is really tasty, the Painted Mountain corn was only slightly less sweeter and held a healthy punch of nutrients. Hands down, the Painted Mountain corn stays. Now if only I can get my sweet corn and Painted Mountain corn to tassel at different times, I'd be really happy.

The plan is to try and put the Painted Mountain corn in three weeks ahead of the sweet corn. Last year I did it the opposite way and they tasseled at the same time. Either the Painted Mountain corn matures faster. (It's known to be pretty cold hardy.) Or the weather and amount of light is the main determining factor in tasseling. I'll have a better idea by the end of next summer.

If weather is the factor then I'll have to rotate the years I grow one kind and then the other. I've not got the space to keep them from wind pollinating each other as they did this past summer. Alas, some day it would be grand to have a larger place.

Now I want to add Painted Mountain corn meal to my regular bread to increase the nutrient levels. Maybe I'll give corn meal pancakes another try too.

When you order seeds next year, keep Painted Mountain corn in mind. It's a good addition to your garden.

Story Time

2011-10-26T12:27:00.000-06:00

If you are taking your two year old grand daughter to story time and they are celebrating Halloween, be sure and put on your Super Women underwear. You'll need it.

Doesn't matter if you haven't sugared her up because she's going to be on the floor.

...inside the shelving, out to get a drink, flopping in your arms,

and even doing her most disgusting habit( the one you've been trying to get her to stop doing for weeks) sticking one finger in her nose as she sucks her thumb.

You may of thought story time at the library was for children but really it is an exercise program for adults just disguised so there will be more participants. Yup, I've had my advanced aerobics today . LOL

Breakfast Sandwiches

2011-10-25T07:02:00.002-06:00

Tried making something new for breakfast, an egg sandwich. Not quite your average egg sandwich since the eggs were from our hens making them a flavorful addition far above what you buy at the grocery store and English muffins made from my sourdough who's start is well over a hundred years old.

The sandwiches were intended to go in the freezer. That way my hubby could grab one and take it to work to reheat during his morning break. It didn't happen but maybe your will make it to the freezer but first, if you aren't already making your own sourdough English muffins then give these a try. The directions are on one of my earlier blogs. Just click on the below link for instructions. http://easylivingthehardway.blogspot.com/2010/01/sourdough-english-muffins.html

When I made my sourdough muffins, I was in a hurry and not thinking or I'd have used my newly purchased egg cooker, thing a ma jeeggies, that keep your egg from running around the pan. It's the black ring shaped thing in the photo. Then I would have had English muffins just a little larger than the fried eggs since the dough rises a little.

The rings work quite well if you put them on a hot skillet and you grease them so the egg slips out easily. To see if I really wanted to purchase egg rings, I first used a canning jar ring. Doing the same thing, greasing the inside and sticking it on a hot skillet before adding the egg. Why a hot skillet? The egg starts to cook immediately upon contact with the pan, instead of running under the rings.

When you try out shaping your eggs with a canning ring, keep in mind you will have to lightly push the egg out as the curved shape holds the egg better than the straight sides of an egg ring.Canning rings are not a permanent solution as the heat from cooking will take the paint coating off and you will be eating it. I suspect the underlying metal is aluminum and we all know we shouldn't cook with aluminum. I found the egg rings in the USA to average just under $4 whether in a catalogue or in a kitchen store so I bought mine in the store to save on shipping costs. I should have bought a couple more than three as my cast iron skillet would hold that many so I'll just have to make another trip to the store some time. What a painful experience. LOL NOT!!, since that is one of my favorite places to shop and I have to restrain myself from going there very often. Made much easier since it is a eighty mile trip to the nearest kitchen store.

The next time I make these sandwich gems, I'm going to use sausage instead of ham, just to give that combination a try. As for the mustardy sauce you see underneath the ham, it is just a little mayonnaise with mustard to give the whole thing a little moisture and zing. I'm going to add a few spices next time also to jazz these sandwiches up and a honey mustard.

What you don't see in the picture at the top is the cheese. In my hurry, I forgot it and placed the sandwiches in the fridge to cool off before placing them in the freezer. It's what comes from pushing the multi-tasking a bit too far.

The next day, I remembered and added the cheese but the sandwiches never made it to the freezer. Our stomachs claimed them. After all, there were only three and it was a really hectic day yesterday which started at six a.m. with my swimming laps at the local pool. Then I did livestock stock chores and got supplies ready to go out an shrink the bee hives down for transporting them home, then it was doctor, worm, trim hooves on Gracie and...... You know, you've had many a day just like mine. Well, maybe not the treating the yak part, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, the sandwiches came in handy. So if you aren't already making sourdough English muffins, give them a try. They are yummy. Then take them to another level by creating breakfast sandwiches with them. You or your special someone will be delighted. Mine were. Well, almost all my special someones as I do have one daughter who is not fond of eggs. She wouldn't love these. But, she can have her sandwich without the egg. I'll even heat it up so the cheese melts. YUM!!

Disappearing Bees Question

2011-10-24T08:43:00.003-06:00

I received a question in response to my Disappearing Bees blog that made me hit the Internet for the answer. This is the question.

Does GM affect bees in any way? Just wondering. Interesting article.

Naturally Carol

Carol, you will find an excellent article at the below website which answers that question very well along with others posed with the Colony Collapse Disorder problem in bees.

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25950

I've included a couple paragraphs to peak your interest.

[Genetically modified seeds are produced and distributed by powerful biotech conglomerates. The latter manipulate government agricultural policy with a view to supporting their agenda of dominance in the agricultural industry. American conglomerates such as Monsanto, Pioneer Hybrid and others, have created seeds that reproduce only under certain conditions, often linked to the use of their own brands of fertilizer and/or insecticide. These seeds are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds, which farmers cannot replant, also to mention that the bees that are trying to collect pollen, found to have their digestive tract diseases, such as amoeba and nosema disease”¹². These diseases are mainly located in the digestive tract system. After studies of the autopsy, the most alarming trait is that the lower intestine and stinger have discolored to black vs. the normal opaque color, Synominus with colon cancer in humans.

The genetic modification of the plant leads to the concurrent genetic modification of the flower pollen. When the flower pollen becomes genetically modified or sterile, the bees will potentially go malnourished and die of illness due to the lack of nutrients and the interruption of the digestive capacity of what they feed on through the summer and over the winter hibernation process.

Terminator Seeds Lastly, “leaked documents seen by the Guardian show that Canada wants all governments to accept the testing and commercialization of “Terminator” crop varieties. These seeds are genetically engineered to produce only infertile seeds, which farmers cannot replant, also to mention that the bees that are trying to collect pollen, found to have their digestive tract diseases, such as amoeba and nosema disease”¹². These diseases are mainly located in the digestive tract system. After studies of the autopsy, the most alarming trait is that the lower intestine and stinger have discolored to black vs. the normal opaque color, Synominus with colon cancer in humans.]

In other words, lets kill off the bees and sell to farmers seed that won't produce another crop so they have to come to the company once more. Control, greed, seeking of wealth, plain and simple, that's what it is.

Calundula Flower Infusion

2011-10-23T15:26:00.000-06:00

Just a few blossoms left on the new patch of Calundula flowers. I threw some seeds in from the front yard early this year, the flower bed I got rid of, and I've waited until now to pick them. I wanted to make sure the ones in the back yard had lots of seeds to fall to the ground and to re-sprout next spring. This flower is a hardy, frost resistant plant giving me a feeling of sunshine when almost everything else is dead and gone.

I've used this flower blossom dried in soap since it is great for soothing the skin. This winter I want to make a few different recipes of lip balm and Calundula would be a great addition.

So I did a Calundula flower infusion in olive oil, a common ingredient in lip salves. I came across instructions for several ways to make the infusion. One in a crock pot, one the sun tea method, and one on the stove top.

I had only a few flowers and knew with so little, it would burn in the crock pot. The sun isn't very powerful at this time of the year to use the solar method. That left cooking it on the stove. Not easy to keep the heat down low enough with only a cup of olive oil, just enough to cover the flowers. So I turned the stove on and let it heat up and turned it off, and turned it on, and turned it off again.
When done, I strained the flowers off through my milk strainer, using a milk straining pad. You could use cheese cloth. What was left was a lovely green liquid.

I put the pint jar of fluid in the back of my refrigerator and it may sit there for a month before I get around to ordering the other things I need to make salves. But as they say, "Make hay while the sun shines." and I had calundula flowers to pick. After Tuesday when snow is fore casted, that may not be the case.

What's your favorite lip balm ingredient?

Disappearing Bees

2011-10-20T12:47:00.001-06:00

(Pictures are all furnished by yours truly of various kinds of bees.)
I promised to talk a tad bit about Colony Collapse Disorder. I watched a very fascinating film called Vanishing of the Bees by Ellen Page on Netflix. The CCD problem is complicated, making the process of getting the attention of the USA government difficult. Especially since it is more interested in money and power than balancing anything like the environment. I'm not talking about using corn as a fuel, which has caused a huge imbalance, drastically increasing livestock feed prices, diverting fields that would have grown another food crop to growing corn, which is responsible in part of dramatically increased food prices in the grocery store.

Not to mention that it takes more energy to manufacter the corn based fuel than what it creates. And the wind power causes some serious problems to the environment also. Yes, money is the root of the movement, not saving the environment. Not that these things don't have some promise. We are just jumping the gun on mass production and looking to them as our savior to the mess we've gotten ourselves into with our greedy waste.

Money and power, it's what gets things done. So it isn't any surprise that the Environmental Protection Agency has ignored and failed to react to what appears to be the base cause of CCD or Colony Collapse Disorder. They are going to continue to base their belief that the systemic pesticide is a blessing and poses no real threat to honey bees based on the manufacturers testing. They proved that adult bees exposed for three days to the pesticide were fine.

Of course a bee only needs to eat three days out of every year (lie) or is it that a little bit is okay so a lot is also. You and I both know that's a bunch of bull. What about the young? They like any other young are more vulnerable to such things but they were never tested.

If things keep on course, the loss of 1 in 3 hives effected by the disorder and in some areas the 44% loss of hives will mean a huge decrease in crop production. I've heard that in some areas, they are already hand pollenating things such as almond trees. And what about the bee keeper? He will be out of a job. Some bee keepers with vast amount of hives are now refusing to take their bees to fields that have been sprayed with the pesticide. They can't afford it and bee keepers, like myself, have a real affection for their bees or they wouldn't be doing it. I'll guarantee, it isn't the money. Bee keepers don't make much.

So what's the big deal? What if we loose our bees and other pollinators? Well, we wouldn't have to worry about what's for dinner. There wouldn't be many choices. The grocery store shelves would be bare. No fruit-- no vegetables, just grain. They are safe since they are pollinated by the wind. Keep in mind it wouldn't be just the honey bees lost, but vast numbers of other insects. Too bad this doesn't include the mosquitos or I might consider it for two seconds - at least. LOL

Don't think this hasn't caused some serious thought for some big wigs for they have planned for a new future. One where we import all our fruits and vegetables and America becomes a grain capitol. Since less than 10% of the crops imported to America are inspected, that ought to work out real well. NOT!!!

But wait a minute, its worked out so well importing nearly all our oil. Okay, maybe no one is arguing that point but come on, can't these people make parrelel comparisons? Oh yeah, they don't care about that. If you are rich, you can live in a different world than the rest of us.

Bee keepers and some researchers in a number of countries, feel they've found the culprit, systemic pesticides. But since our Environmental Protection Agency here in the USA doesn't do any of its own research, but depends on that which is provided by the companies vying for approval of their products, the EPA considers everything hunky dory and hence are doing nothing. Doing nothing makes certain people a lot richer.

Systemic pesticides are scary. They can't be washed off like the old kind of bug killers. So cleaning your fruits and vegetables you buy in the store to wash off the pesticides is fast becoming a thing of the past. Systemic pesticides are applied to the seed or the leaves and this pesticide becomes a part of the vascular system of the plant expressed through the pollen, nectar, and gulation droplets. It is in the fruit, not just on it.

Worse than that, the pesticide them becomes a part of the soil to be taken up by the next crop grown. What do you bet it kills the micro-organisms also. This is the soils doctors, nutritionists, transportation system, everything that is responsible to create a healthy crop.

The insects, of course eat any part of the plant, and dies. Makes me wonder what it is doing to us. Probably lowering our days on the earth, I'd guess. How do you clear a contaminated soil to even think of growing organic after wards. Makes me think of nuclear fall out.

Testing proved that Honey bees behavior on organic blossoms was of course normal. On systemic pesticide applied plants, they acted dramatically different. Bee acted disoriented. Some even fell off the blossom.

Bee keepers don't think it is any coincidence that at the same time this pesticide was introduced to countries around the world, that CCD appeared at the same time of introduction.The direct link is a bit hazy though since it isn't CCD alone that has caused dramatic bee losses. Exposure to this pesticide destroys the immune system of honey bees leaving them vulnerable to disease and mites which in turn also destroy them.

(healthy brood)
Interestingly, many of these hives where almost no body is home still have a laying queen inside doing a good job laying a perfectly normal brood pattern. Those of you familiar with bees know that nobody leaves the queen willingly. She is the whole hives existence and everything revolves around her. The have to go insane to abandon her and the brood, (baby bees).

The other concern posed by the film is the emphasis on crop yields. A field that once produced 75 bushel 20 years ago, now produces 150 bushel. Progress -- I don't think so for it is much like the dairy cows of today and 20 years ago. Oh the cow produces a whole lot more milk but the cow doesn't produce any more vitamins and nutrients than she did 20 years ago. Hence, that means the milk today has significantly less nutrients and is mainly white colored water. Crops are the same, far less nutritious than they once were. This is another case where more is not better, it is just more.

And I'm not even going to attempt to talk about genetically modified seeds. It won't be long and we will have messed things up so bad we won't have anything to eat.

That is why I grow organic, heirloom varieties in my garden and am trying to learn ho to produce what we eat-- even grain -- just in case.

So go ahead and watch Vanishing of the Bees by Ellen Page. It is VERY well done documentary. I didn't snore once.

And if you want to learn a little about pesticides check out this web-site. We all need to make a safe haven in our own backyard for the bees. If they don't survive, neither do we. http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/systemic-pesticides-zm0z10zrog.aspx

Harvesting Buckwheat

2011-10-18T14:17:00.000-06:00

Buckwheat, a favorite of honey bees. Who can blame them? This plant flowers and flowers and flowers giving them lots of delicious food. Yes, I realize that is a fly on the buckwheat flower but they have to eat too and none of the honeybees would hold still long enough to photograph. Besides, the fly is dressed in a color coordinating outfit adding quite nicely to the picture.

This was my second year of growing buckwheat. Last year, I planted some late in the season and it never reached the seed stage. It was a green manure project to break up some hard clay soil. It worked. I also learned that the fifty days it said on the package was not nearly long enough in our area to grow a crop to harvest, for buckwheat is not frost tolerant.

So this year, I planted early in June and harvested in late August and September a little more in early October. I threw some seed amongst part of the potato plants and under the sunflower seeds. Bad move in the potato patch since the buckwheat did well, the potatoes did not. Stands to reason since they both have extensive root systems and buckwheat is aggressive.

Yet, under the sunflower seeds they did okay.

Before embarking on this project I hadn't done my research. now don't be so shocked. Oh, I did check out its green manure aspects but not the grain harvesting part. Bad move. But even if I had, I still would have come up short for every area is just a bit different than another because of the soil, weather, and growing season length.

The biggy that I hadn't checked out and found out was one plant will have both blossoms and developed buckwheat seed, with the lower blossoms forming seed before the upper ones. That means you either have to harvest plant by plant when 75% of the seeds have developed or crumple off the seeds from the lower stems while leaving the plant intacked and producing seeds on the higher stems. And my plants seem to be growing at very different stages of development meaning a large group was never at 75% seed development at one time compounded by the problem that all the seeds were broad casted in a area not allowing me easy access to individual plants.

So the next time I plant buckwheat I'm going to do things differently.

1. I'm going to plant in plots that I can reach across for maximum harvesting capability since I don't have room to plant a large area and harvest when the 75% of the seeds are developed if they develop in that manner.

2.I will plant when I plant my green beans to ensure a seed crop.

3. Since lots of the seeds will naturally drop to the ground before I can get them harvested, ( because this is a time consuming plant) I will plan accordingly will the crop that will follow rotation behind the buckwheat.

4. I will be growing buckwheat not as a large food storage item but as an educational project since I simply don't have enough area to get the yields necessary for a substantial amount. Now this doesn't mean it isn't worth growing. I also plan in the future to grow rye and wheat. It is so I have a very basic understanding in case it becomes necessary in the future for us to produce our grains.

You might think I'm a bit paranoid and say as many others have told me that someone will always want to grow food for us if the are paid. The truth is someone is being paid now and very few want to grow food for us. The average age of the farmers in the USA is 57 years old. That means fifty percent are older with retirement age of Americans being between 65 and 67. Eight more years for the average farmer. And fifty percent are younger with most of the farmers I know don't have children who want to take over the farm.

What would happen if in a few years we lost fifty percent of our farmers? Two things, either we would get most of our crops from other countries like we do our oil and believe me this has been talked about by huge organizations. Or, huge companies like Kelloggs will have bought up fifty percent of our crop land. A monopoly means control.

So... just in case, I'm learning all I can for the tough days ahead that this will all need to be sorted out.

This year, my efforts were with buckwheat. After all, I kind of like buckwheat pancakes. I only had them a few times but they weren't bad. I think they could grow on me.

And before I go any further and possibly lead you astray, buckwheat isn't a cereal grain but a fruit seed related to rhubarb and sorrel. Kind of reminds me of wild rice which isn't really rice at all. I guess things sometimes get put into catagories of things they remind you of instead of what they actually are.

With this goal to learn to grow as much as possible of what we eat, I've added learning to cook with whole grains on a much higher level than presently. That's part of my winter goals.

So I crumbled dried buckwheat seeds and flowers into a bowl whenever I had a little time. And I scrunched the seeds, leaves, and spent flowers between my fingers now and then as the bowl sat on the kitchen counter, creating a nice crumbly mixture.

Then with our oldest grand daughter, my husband helped me to set up the box fan outside and we began the task of cleaning the fruit seed. This was accomplished by holding the bowl of seeds up high and slowly pouring it into a tub that sat on the ground while the fan, which was on high speed, blew away the light weight sticks, leaves, and spent flowers. Several times of this and what was left was pretty clean.

There is still a little bit of this and that extra in with the seed hulls that I've got to pick out but over pretty good. The task isn't done yet though, as I've still got the hulls to remove from the seeds. I've read of two ways of doing this. One way is to roll them under a rolling pin breaking the seeds away and the other is to grind them in a hand grain grinder and sifting the hull off. I'm going to try both ways to see which works best. What will remain is very little buckwheat seed to use in pancakes.

Yes, I could have harvested more if I could of kept up with all I had to do and if I had of planted the buckwheat in a more manageable plot. Do I try again next year? I'm not sure. I haven't decided for I do know I'm going to put in a small plot of rye or wheat. I'll admit, I'm a bit discouraged by this project. Time will help put it into perspective. I do know that there is much to learn with such a small gardening plot.

Gleaning Dragon's Tongue

2011-10-17T12:14:00.004-06:00

Remember, I said I was going to try and glean as much as I could from my dried bean patch. Not that the beans were dry but that was what kind of beans they were, the soup kind.

There wasn't much to glean.

It took much longer than I thought for the Dragon Tongue beans to reach the dried bean stage and since I planted them rather late, it didn't happen. Nope, I didn't get the dried beans I wanted.

I know from last year that these purple streaked beans are sweet and yummy eaten fresh but last year I hadn't grown them to the dried bean stage where I could use them in soup. My goal being to find dual crops such as this that can be eaten in different ways, I had planned this past summer to test them as dried beans. No, the two- fresh and dried - weren't going to happen in the same year as our season is very short and my garden not big enough to raise a dried bean patch and a fresh bean patch of Dragon's Tongue.

But undaunted, even though I wasn't going to get a dried bean crop, I still went out to the shriveled mess to see if anything was salvageable for the chickens. It wasn't. But I figured I'd try seeing if any of the fatter bean pods could be opened and the seeds dried for an addition to the stew pot.

Fulfilling my goal this year to learn to use my garden to its fullest.

I began feeling pods searching for large lumps.

As I bent, my poor damaged back soon began to ache. That made me think of my great grandpa on my mother's side. He wasn't a very big man but I pictured him, like myself, bent over searching for a few beans to put in his sack or bowl.

This isn't a memory of my own but one borrowed from stories told by my Aunt and Mom for Great Grandpa died before I was born. They tell of a sweet little man who spoke very little English and how they use to ask him if they could have something or do something and since he didn't have a clue what they were saying, he'd say, "Yah!", in his native Swedish tongue. They'd then use that as an excuse when they got in trouble with Grandma.

"Grandpa said we could." they'd chorus in defense.

The same trick couldn't be used on Grandma as she not only spoke Swedish, they both being Swedish immigrants, she spoke English very well also. I'm told Grandma was a domineering socialite who half ran the Baptist church and how could she do that if she couldn't speak the language of her new land?

Money was tight for these immigrants with a good sized growing family. To help make ends meet, she wove rag rugs on her hand built loom that Grandpa had put together with wooden pegs and sold them.

I know about this little detail because I have the loom. It's in terrible shape with gray weathered lumber and many of the parts missing. Maybe I should just throw it away. I keep saying I'm going to. But as I write, I'm thinking I should take another look at it and see if I can't cut it apart, saving those pegged pieces, to build something else. Something much like a scrap quilt. A quilt like this Grandmother's daughter, my grandmother, made for me and I made for our children by cutting up used clothing and sewing the pieces together to create a blanket of memories and warmth.

Some of those quilts are pressed firm in my mind as time after time I perched on the bed, staring down at the pieces and reliving the memories they stirred. Surely, I can do something like a scrap quilt, something that would preserved the borrowed memories of my two Great Grandparents.

I wondered as I worked sifting through the frost wilted patch, how Great Grandpa had the patience to go through the farmers fields after they were harvested, picking up bean by bean until he had a sack full to feed them to put in the bean pot when the cold winds blew.

It took me a while to make my way through the wet wilted leaves, my mind drifted back even further to Ruth and Naomi in the Bible and how they gleaned from the fields of Boaz.

You might not think I got much for my efforts as there were only enough to cover the bottom of a small bowl after I sorted them.

But it was much more than beans that I gained from my efforts. For a little while, I took a journey back into history and felt what my Grandpa felt. Walked in the sandals of Ruth and Naomi gleaning the very last seed and with this journey, I got to know them a little better. As with many things, it was the journey, not the destination, that held the most reward.

The story might end there except, this week Cliff, in Wilder, Idaho, contacted me and said he was raising Kinghorn Wax beans for Lisa who is the owner of Amishland Seeds. She saves rare, Organic seeds.
http://www.amishlandseeds.com/index.htm
He reads my blog and noticed a post about my grandpa Kinghorn's beans. He wanted to know his first name and now, thanks to him and Lisa, Grandpa's full name, Eldon Kinghorn will be included with the description of the beans in her catalogue.

Thank you Lisa and Cliff, this means a great deal to me and my family who treasure the memories of our dear Grandpa Kinghorn.

As many of you know, I'm really impressed this past summer with the yield of Grandpa's beans. My daughter found similar testimonials on the Internet, so give them a try in your garden.

But what does this have to do with Dragon's Tongue beans? Well, I really like these three dark purple bean seeds. They are very different from the rest. What if I, like my Grandpa Kinghorn took these three beans and planted them. Just as Grandpa took a few beans that had very small black spots and kept selecting for smaller and smaller black spots until they weren't any. Only, I'd be doing the opposite. Mayby, eventually, I'd gain a crop of dark purple bean seeds.

I wonder if they would have a much higher nutrient level and higher antioxidants just like the dark kerneled Painted Mountain corn has much higher levels in comparison to the lighter Painted Mountain kernels? Something to ponder about.

Honoring Our WWII Veterans

2011-10-15T13:16:00.000-06:00

Off we went yesterday to see Kirk's dad and hear all about his trip to Washington D.C. on the last Honor Flight from Wyoming. Kirk's dad and his brother are the two veterans in blue shirts in the center of the picture. Here they are riding a bus with others bound for Cheyenne, Wyoming where they were included in the last eighty Wyoming veterans of WWII to make the flight who wanted to go and were able to go.

Since 2009 Wyoming has been sending veterans to the WWII memorial, expenses paid, at a rate of 100 to 160 vets per flight and this was the sixth and final flight. More than 600 veterans were flown over the past few years courtesy of volunteers and private donations.

Kirk's dad was the youngest, at 85, of the eighty vets on this final flight. Doing a little research on the Honor Flight Networks background, I found the following informative site: http://www.honorflight.org/about/index.cfm

The program started in 2005 and spread to many states. I found it interesting since Kirk's dad is 85, that a man who was his age in 2010 would have been 18 on D-Day. Yes, Kirk's dad served during the final days of the war.

Men and women of the military lined the streets of the Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming to salute these honored guests and as they prepared to fly out another group from the Air National Guard lined up to pay their respects.
Then when they flew into D.C. a group of citizens lined the airport lobby...

The children eager to hug these vets who are now veteran in another respect -- veteran grandpas, well versed in giving little ones hugs and kisses.

Our Wyoming representatives also paid tribute to them. Senator Borraso is standing here with Kirk's dad and Uncle.

And military personnel and citizens lined the sidewalks into the WWII Memorial as they past.

Each wreath on a pillar represents a state.

Wouldn't it have been an honor to journey with these men and seen there reactions and had been able to say our own great big Thank You?

May we always be grateful to those who serve us in the military and the sacrifices they make that we might freely go on with our everyday lives.

Busy, During My Down Time

2011-10-14T10:16:00.000-06:00

When I'm resting, watching a program on the Internet, I like to stay busy. Lately, I haven't been spinning, just too tired to pedal but my hands have been busy knitting.

A few of us are going to do an Etsy thing a ma jig and we are making some things to sell. I have no idea how to price what I make but I'm hoping someone else in the threesome does. This crazy small hat is one of those items. It is hand spun and hand knitted. The zig zag pattern is something I saw on a cowl type scarf on the Internet. There wasn't a pattern for the scarf but after studying the picture I came up with my own version converted to fit a hat.

Because each row has two colors, which means two yarns, the hat is extra warm and the best part is it used up a bunch of little balls of yarn I had left over.

This hat is another of those, yarn left over, projects. The bright neon yellowy - green on the bottom will fold up under and give extra warmth to some one's ears and the stripes will be transformed into plaids. I'll tell you how when I'm finished but my husband is giving me the, "Hurry up." sign so I'd best go. We are going to see his dad and hear all about his trip to Washington.

Wyoming honors its WWII vets by flying them to D.C. for a two day tour. Eighty vets were on this particular flight. I think it is an awesome thing for our state to do. I think they have done one flight per year and they must be about at the tail end for Kirk's dad was serving during the last part of the war.

Do any other states in the U.S.A. do this?

Harvesting Sunflower Seeds.

2011-10-13T17:52:00.001-06:00

I picked all but a couple sunflower heads today after cleaning out the storage shed. I've wanted to grow sunflower for quite some time now but frustration reined every time I looked in a catalogue. The descriptions told what color the flowers were and just how beautiful they are but zip -- zilch about the seeds.

And though sunflowers, what ever color they are, are one of my favorite flowers, I was growing them not just to look at but for their seeds.

Those of you who feed the birds know that black oil sunflower seeds are what you see in all the birds feed mixes. I buy fifty pound bags of black sunflower seeds to mix with my other livestock feed. One mixture I feed to my chickens and another to my goats. Cattle also benefit from eating black sunflower seeds but I haven't put the yaks on them yet. Maybe this winter when they need more nutrition and calories to stay warm. As for horses, I'm not sure if sunflower seeds are recommend for them or not.

As part of my new effort to grow a little feed for my livestock so I'd know how if I had to in the future, I decided sunflower seeds would be a good place to start.

Organic seeds of course since my garden has nothing but that. And now that I've watched a film on the Colony Collapse Disorder in bees, I definitely want nothing else but. They think they have found the reason and it is a new type of pesticide that was introduced to crops. It is pretty scary stuff but I'll talk on that later.

My catalogue search go me nowhere and then I became busy with other projects. Looking back on it, I guess I should have called some catalogue companies but calling is something I don't do well. Not that I don't have phone manners but for some reason I prefer face to face and have a hard time making myself pick up the phone. I'm guessing it has something to do with my Autism for I've had the problem since I was old enough to talk on the phone.

Anyway, in frustration, I just grabbed a couple packets of Martha Stewart's organic sunflower seeds off the rack at the hardware store and popped them in the ground with a Doris Day kay... ser...aw, ser...aw, what ever will be will be, attitude.

Sure enough, what I'm harvesting is people sunflower seeds. How do I know, well, the seeds are white with gray streaks, not black.

What do I care since both the gray striped and the black striped can be fed to birds and livestock? Something I know for a fact because the birds have been helping themselves to sunflower seeds still on the plants in the garden and of course the Internet said so.

So why are commercial black seeds in bird seed mixes and not the white with gray striped even though the white with gray striped seeds are larger? Because black sunflower seeds have more nutrition and are higher in calories than the gray ones. The black are also meatier having a larger seed to shell ratio and the shell is thinner making it easier for the birds to crack.

I'd guess the size difference is why people get the gray ones and animals and birds the black ones. Maybe the gray ones taste better too, not having as much oil in them. I don't really know, I guess I should crack some of those black ones I have for the livestock and find out.

I do know that this head is not ready to pick even if my fingers were strong enough to dislodge the seeds from the head. See how white the seeds are? They are plump which is what you want but the gray stripes haven't appeared yet. It is when the stripes appear that the birds appear eating the seeds on the outside of the heads where they ripen first and work their way toward the center.

Plump and striped is the two key things you look for but even at this stage it takes some strong fingers to work the seeds out. I'll clean out the vegetation and then spread out the seeds and let them dry some more. When they are fully dry, I'm going to salt some like you do pumpkin seeds and the rest I'll mix with the rest of the sweet corn I'm shelling. The last batch went to the chickens.

As for what I'm going to do next year, I'm not sure. I definitely want to go organic and I guess I'll have to do that thing I don't like to do and make a few phone calls to the organic catalogues companies that I use each year and ask them which of their sunflowers produce black seeds.

And I'll tell you all about the film on bees which tells the tale about the search for the missing bees and the cause in another post. For now it is chore time and that means supper time for us too.