Today's To-Do List

Monday is my day off and I'm staying super busy! This is more for my purposes but in case you're interested, here's what is on my agenda:

-Can more green beans (they're on the stove now)
-Bake bread
-Call the builder
-Call the plumber
-Call on prices for an automatic cattle waterer
-Balance the checkbook/pay bills
-Find the title for a trailer we're selling
-Call the orchard to order peaches (Mmmm!)
-Scope out vacation destinations online (this is coming up fast!)
-Make the weekly menu plan
-Make granola bars if time allows
-Finish knitted baby shower gift and make progress on wedding gift

The bathroom needs to be painted and the landscape worked on but it is incredibly hot and humid/sticky so I won't be doing either of those things today. I'm hoping to bust through the rest of the list so I can just knit and work on the bread.

I'd love to hear what you're doing today! :)

Back 2 Basics and Other Challenges

I've decided to start the Back 2 Basics Harvest Keeper Challenge for 2009. Chicken eggs will be the only thing on the list for now but I am excited to see things rack up once spring arrives. This will be very good for me because I kept no records from all of the farming and canning I did last year. Check out my sidebar if you're interested, and go visit Farm Mom for a better example.

Other challenge updates:


We haven't been using our corn burner at all due to it malfunctioning and refusing to keep a fire going. Brian is trying to track down the problem but in the meantime we're blowing our budget with all the fuel oil we're burning. So much for keeping track of the corn we use! We do keep the thermostat set low (58-62 F) and I finally found the controls for our dual heated blanket so we use that every night to take the edge off. I covered most of our windows with the clear plastics kits in the fall and although I don't how much that is helping I do like that I can't feel a breeze when I walk by the windows! I'd like to make some insulated curtains with my new sewing machine. I hope to make them this year because fall is a busy time for us and I'm sure I won't do much sewing over the summer.


1. Plant something: not much of that going on here. Check out the next update for more info.
2. Harvest something: while there is nothing left outside to harvest I got a thrill out of using some of the carrots I stored away in the fall.
3. Preserve something: We reorganized our freezer and Brian filled it with venison from his hunting trip back in December.
4. Prep something: I have been spending all my free time researching poultry breeds and other topics in preparation to order chicks and expand our flock. I'd like to include some day range broilers this year and have enough eggs to sell. Right now we have plenty of extra eggs but not enough to market them.
5. Cook something: I have been trying a lot of new recipes and Brian is grateful, I think. First I made Parmesan Chicken then Buttermilk Baked Chicken, both of which I really like and can't wait to make again. Today I made Beef Stew, plus I've been using that great new bread recipe. I tried to make homemade potato chips too but still have some work to do there.
6. Manage your reserves: Our pantry is overflowing, we are definitely going to need more shelving! I've been making homemade garlic shells a lot with dinner so I scarfed up a 5 or 6 month supply of shells on sale last week. It is going to take a lot of finagling to get those to fit in the pantry. :)
7. Work on local food systems: for those who remember my post about the food co-op presentation I went to, I have an update. I did communicate with Dr. Schilling again and apparently there has been no further interest in a local co-op. I was hoping to hold a planning meeting and am a little disappointed that no contact information was collected at the presentation. I'll continue to seek out interest and may pursue a co-op more in the future. If anyone in the Michigan Tri-Cities or Thumb area is interested in a food co-op (as a producer or consumer) please let me know!


My seeds from Baker Creek have arrived! I also purchased a grow light and two bulbs in preparation for starting seeds. The next step is to check out my old ingredients for soiless potting mix and see if I need to buy fresh for this year. I think of have plenty of peat pots left to use initially but I may get some of a larger size (4" or so) for when the seedlings get bigger. How exciting!

A Local Loaf

Today I picked up another order of local flours from Hampshire Farms (see sidebar for link). I got:

25# 100% whole grain bread flour
10# 100% whole grain pastry flour
2# cornmeal
5# sunflower seeds (dehulled)

Randy Hampshire, who filled my order was more than happy to show me around their farm. They have a USDA approved kitchen on site along with the brick oven that Randy built himself. It was very impressive! The farm also boasts a nice warehouse in an old grainery, where all of their flour and wheat is stored.

They also have, meandering around the pastures, a family cow. She is a nice looking Jersey and had a few other cattle keeping her company. I have given a lot of thought to having our own family cow and have thought about it more and more seriously lately. I don't think it is the right time for us, and it would take a lot to convince my husband. He probably has a point - it is a lot easier to find someone to throw in some grain for our animals then to milk twice a day when we want a vacation. In any case, of was jealous of Randy's family and I told him so.

Randy warned that I would want to use a recipe that calls for 100% WHOLE GRAIN flour, not just whole wheat or white flour. A Google search revealed this recipe, and I altered it in to the following for use in my bread maker:

1 Tbsp active dry yeast
3 3/4 cup whole grain flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbsp oil
1 1/2 very warm water

This is a big breakthrough for me: I now have the option of making a nearly 100% local loaf of bread for our everyday needs. Although Hampshire Farms is based 1/2 hour away from here the wheat for the bread flour was grown in an organic field only 1 1/2 miles down the road from our home. The honey comes from a local apiary, P.W.R. Beekeeping. I did use a non-local canola oil in today's loaf but only because I'm out of my normal Zoye Soybean Oil, made in Zeeland, MI from a lot of our neighbors' soybeans. Soy Beginnings soybean oil is also available so I have a couple options there. The only non-local ingredients are the yeast, which I buy in bulk, and the salt. We will be switching to sea salt as soon as our last never ending box of conventional salt is gone.

Oh, one more nice thing: I was relieved to see that the 10 & 25# quantities came in a large brown paper bag with no plastic liner. The smaller quantities I got last time came in plastic and since we're trying to reduce how much plastic we use I was a little concerned. No worries!

Here is a pic of the pull out cabinets that came with our ancient farmhouse, a great feature that makes storing all of this flour much easier:



And Maci, she was jealous and wanted to lick the camera:



So, what local products were you surprised to find in your neighborhood? Are you at the point yet were you have entirely local meal options?

A Twinge of Self-Sufficiency

I like to play this game where I try to stock up enough food and staples that I don't have to go grocery shopping for a long time. After a lot of practice I finally got to where the only things on the list were dairy products such as milk, cheese slices, cheese sticks, and butter. Apple juice also had a permanent spot on the list. After a few good sales we now have lots of cheese and butter in the freezer and many, many gallons of juice in the pantry. We're down to picking up a gallon of milk here and there when we stop at the local meat market for lunch meat.

Today when I came home from work I walked in to the kitchen and sat my tin I Love Lucy lunch box on the counter as usual. From there I looked over towards the fridge and could see that two lines at the top of the grocery list had writing on them. Darn! I thought, what could we possibly be out of!?!

bagels
cream cheese

Bagels - hmmph! The last package almost got moldy before I pointed that out and my hubby quickly scarfed them down as a week's worth of breakfasts. I knew that I could make them from scratch because I did it before after reading Heather's post about it that linked to a good bagel recipe. So instead of curling up on the couch like I had been hoping to do (I've been sick since Sunday night) I busted out the bread flour and made 4 fresh, homemade bagels. It was a lot easier this time since I have the bread maker now and can use that for the kneading and rising. I only made 4 because last time some got hard before they were eaten. A full recipe makes 8 so it was easy to halve it. I might try making a full batch next time and freezing them but I'm worried that they might not freeze well.

On to the cream cheese. Of course we have cream cheese. There are a dozen packages in the fridge drawer, all purchased for $1 each on sale and dated as far out as March. I've been making a dessert a week and cheesecake has become a real favorite. What the hubby wanted was the cute little butter dish type of spreadable cream cheese just like the almost empty one on the top shelf of the fridge. The one growing more mold than a petri dish.

Last weekend I had spotted a little recipe for flavored cream cheese in the Miserly Meals cookbook. It just called for mixing 3 oz. of cream cheese with 2 tbsp. of strawberry jam. Brian nixed the idea of flavoring it but I whipped 1/2 package in the mixer and put it in the (freshly washed) dish.

So...
2 PM: 2 things on the grocery list
7 PM: Empty again. Score! 20 points for the baker in the family.

Self-sufficiency feels good! :) I'd love to hear your story on how you've come to take less trips to the store, or come to rely on yourself more than you did.

Living Like A Pioneer

So in honor of Crunchy Chicken's Pioneer Week I'm doing things a little different this week. The idea is to live as much like a Pioneer as you can by using local, non-processed goods and giving up some modern conveniences. For me this means no TV this week. I did watch the election coverage last night and I'm not avoiding my husband by leaving the room when he watches TV, but I am keeping my attention on my book (currently reading You Can Farm).

I've also been baking like crazy. Honestly, I just pulled the last breads out of the oven and now the entire length of the counter is lined with homemade goodies. Today I finally got my first order of locally grown & ground flours from Hampshire Farms. Perfect timing for this challenge! The flour is definitely more coarse than store bought. The whole wheat bread flour didn't work too well with the dough hooks in my mixer so I kneaded it by hand for the whole 10 minutes. I also got some pastry flour and cornmeal, so I made a pan of cornbread with dinner. I cooked pork chops from our local meat market where most of the meat comes from farmers in the area. On the side we had non-local whole wheat rotini noodles with some cheese melted on top and mixed in. Not organic and not local, but a big step up from the boxed stuff we have in the pantry. I also made apple bread for breakfast this week and an apple pie with my canned filling and made from scratch crust, along with homemade oreos for my favorite dessert.


Before heading in to the kitchen I rushed home to plant my garlic before it got dark outside. I learned how to plant garlic from Farm Mom but it was all sold out when I tried to order my own. Then Melinda suggested Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. I ordered 1 lb. of German White and 1 lb. of Music. I got about 30 cloves of each. I loosened up a patch in my garden and was so thrilled to see how rich and fertile the soil is already after only one season of mulching and adding compost. I came across several earthworms. Brian brought me a bobcat bucket full of compost and I raked that on top of what I had loosened, planting each clove 4-6" apart and about 2" deep. Then I raked over the holes and mulched the whole thing with about a foot of leaves. I'll see how many blow off, maybe I'll have to add some straw.

I also tended to the chickens and ventured out to the garden with a flashlight in the middle of baking to pull a carrot for my cornbread.

Here's an idea: the Laura Ingalls Wilder workout plan. Arms = knead bread. Legs = ride horses. Abs = hoe the garden. I'd be so fit. ;)

Check out Crunchy Chicken's page to see what everyone else is doing for Pioneer Week.

Breaking Bread

Unfortunately I'm not referring to socializing or dining when I say "breaking bread". I've finally turned out two good batches of homemade bread and plan to stop buying the store bought stuff all together. There are a few problems though.
First, my hubby noted that the bread, although soft, is very crumbly and therefore is hard to eat while driving or even while sitting and reading a book as I like to do on my lunch break. We both end up with crumbs all over the place.
Second, we tried to use this bread in place of a hot dog bun, which we usually do with store bought bread. I've found buns usually go stale before we use them. This bread just broke right in half instead of folding nicely around the hot dog. Now I'm sure I could come up with a recipe for homemade hot dog buns but unless they freeze well, we would never use them in time.
The final problem, again related to the bread's form, was found this morning when I pulled a couple pieces out of the bread bag I had reused. They broke in half just from that. What a mess!
As I said, this bread is nice and soft and has a great crust. Does anyone have a recipe they like that produces bread with more of a dinner roll consistency, or is most homemade bread like this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!