Easter Greetings

Sending this wish to you and yours for a wonderful Easter filled with the blessings of family and friends.

Hope you are all enjoying spring... we had a dusting of snow just the other morning, but it promptly switched to a cold, damp rain. I brought in a small load of firewood last week, and assumed it would last for the rest of the season. Needless to say, I had to start up both the fireplace (once the wind died down after a week) and the wood furnace to get the dampness out of the house ,and there went the wood!

I spent a few days planting onions and leeks out in the garden, and tidying things up from the winter. The greens are planted, and I had some spinach left in the ground from the fall which is coming along. I am hoping the sun will warm things up, as I am longing to clean out the barn, and get some real outdoor work accomplished.

I have been delving a bit into raw foods; though I haven't been tested, I have had strong suspicions of being sensitive to wheat/gluten for quite some time. (You all know how much I love baking breads and sweet things, so this has fueled my denial!) However, it's opened a whole new world to me, and being vegetarian already, and running a natural/ organic foods buying club for many years, has not been too difficult to adjust to. Time will tell where this will lead to, and if I will relapse soon, but it's an interesting process!

Well, enough of my rambling catch-up! Take care, and may you all have a lovely day!

Sourdough at last!

After almost a month and a half of trying, I finally have Sourdough Starter! What a long and frustrating process this has been! I finally resorted to purchasing a small packet of dry Sourdough Starter mix, as I had given up on trying to capture wild yeast from the air. In each test batch of culture, all seemed to go well for the first 2 to 3 days, but after that, nothing happened. The mixtures all tasted (not unpleasantly) sour, the color was nothing atrocious, and there were bubbles present after the feedings, but the mixture was NOT bubbly like I expected it should be. Every recipe I attempted stated that the culture should be bubbly… I took that to mean that when it sat all night long and I awoke to feed the culture again… it should be BUBBLY, perhaps even a little foamy, yet there were only very faint bubbles within. So after 5 or 7 days, I’d toss it all and try again. After the fourth (fifth?) time, I broke down and bought the packet through my co-op buying club. All seemed to go well, but on the seventh day, when I was supposed to have a working, bubbling culture… you guessed it… NOTHING. I starteded to dump it down the drain, but I stopped this time, and on a whim I added a large pinch of sugar and another feeding of flour and water, along with a good pinch of yeast. Lo and behold, the next morning, it sure WAS bubbling! So I made a batch of Sourdough Bread, fed the remainder of the starter, and put it to the back of the stove, where it continued to NOT bubble. I’ve kept it going regardless, and have made several batches of Sourdough bread, Pancakes, (I’m not overly fond of pancakes, but these were light and heavenly), Biscuits and Bagels. I want to thank my dear friend Amy for all the information and encouragement she gave me, including this link to share! http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/08/12/sourdough-bagels/ )
Oh… and the packet of Sourdough Starter I purchased??? When I went back to check the magical ingredients in the packet… it was simply flour and yeast, exactly what I had been using in every batch of Sourdough I had tried! So, I probably threw away a lot of usable culture without realizing it. My house can be (too) warm during the day and averages about 55 degrees at night due to wood heat, probably not very consistent for Sourdough development. I feel perhaps the culture went to sleep in the colder evening temperatures, and thus was the reason it never truly bubbled. I knew from previous experience with Sourdough that stainless steel implements were a no-no, but foolishly kept stirring it with a table knife. All in all, I’m glad I took that last-ditch chance and kept the culture, as it has been a lot of fun experimenting with various recipes and incorporating the starter into them! I have yet to put it to sleep in the refrigerator, as I have been trying new baked goods out daily! I’ve yet to search for a recipe for Sourdough Doughnuts, but it’s on my list!

Fire up those stoves!

ready for roasting

Another storm is tucking us in under a fresh downy blanket of perhaps a foot or more of snow. What better reason to do some cooking so the heat from the oven can help warm the house! Mom and I, along with my grandson Tristan, headed up to Vermont yesterday to the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-Op, and I stocked up on lots of fresh veggies, so today, while Tristan is napping, I'm making a tray of roasted vegetables, drying the mushrooms I purchased on sale, and making a pot of Roasted Squash and Apple soup, and perhaps a pot of Cream of Broccoli soup, too.
I LOVE not only the flavor of roasted veggies, but the smell of them cooking! And they are so simple to make. You just chunk up your vegetables... making sure they are roughly the same size so they cook evenly, toss them with olive oil and a bit of sea salt and roast them for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
I used Brussels Sprouts which I sliced in half, unskinned Yukon Gold Potatoes and peeled Jewel Sweet Potatoes which I cut as for oven fries, Onions sliced into thick rings, several cloves of Garlic sliced in half, Parsnips and Carrots cut into thick matchstick shapes, and peeled Beets, which I sliced into chunks about the size of the halved Brussels Sprouts. I placed them in a bowl and drizzled them with a few tablespoons of Olive Oil, sprinkled them with Sea Salt and roasted them on a large cookie sheet for 40 minutes, turning the tray and stirring up the veggies halfway through the roasting process.

roasted

This makes a great lunch or supper with fresh biscuits, rolls, or homemade bread.

This next recipe is especially for my friend Pammy in Waller, Texas. You must visit her wonderful blog, http://thymesquaregarden.blogspot.com/
I wanted to give her my recipe for a salad dressing I came up with several years ago, so I'll share it here for her and you! It's not healthy, but it sure is good! I love this drizzled on a fresh bed of Spinach topped with some fresh (or frozen but thawed) Raspberries, Blueberries and/or Strawberries, a sprinkling of sliced Almonds, Pecans or Walnuts, and occasionally a side of Cottage Cheese.
I feast on this all summer long when berries are in season here. I love to go out in the garden and pick some fresh spinach and a handful or two of sun-warmed berries to have this salad for lunch... sigh!

Laura's Carmalized Balsamic Dressing
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons water
3/4 cup olive oil
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Combine the sugar and water in a large saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Boil about 4 to 7 minutes til the mixture just turns golden. (Be careful, as this can scorch suddenly) Lower heat and whisk in the vinegar CAREFULLY and slowly, as it tends to spatter and bubble up. Whisk well, then drizzle the olive oil in slowly at first, then whisk very well til all is incorporated together. Remove from heat and cool, then refrigerate. You will find this often gets very thick and will have to be brought to room temperature before using.
This has a sweet vinegary bite to it, so use sparingly at first!
Well, I need to wash and dehydrate those mushrooms now, so until next time, may you enjoy your day and the coming weekend! ~Laura

A Valentine greeting to all...

I wanted to be sure to stop in and wish you all a happy Valentine's Day filled with love and those you love. (and those who love you too!)
Life has been full of the mundane chores that make up midwinter... barn chores (I really need to clean out the barn... we are expecting warm weather near 40 these next few days, so it's on my to-do list!), firewood, shoveling, and so on. I have been trying to live in the moment, and have been enjoying the snow outside immensely, but my eyes can't help but wander to the growing number of seed catalogs which arrive in the mailbox and get me thinking of the gardens and growing! I know that this month and next will bring more snowstorms and cold... even April can still be snowy. So I will continue to enjoy it all, and bide my time til spring is truely here!
Today will be spent babysitting two of my grandchildren, as several members of my family will be delivering flowers for the florist my daughter and brother work for. I cannot think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day, except having all four grandchildren here!
I hope you have a wonderful day too! xox ~Laura of Wildenblue Farm

Soup's On!

My, my... the first of February already! And as with a good percentage of you, we are getting another snowstorm, and will have over a foot of snow when this passes through Thursday. Mom and I had planned on going up to Middlebury, Vermont today, but there is already a few inches on the ground and it's coming down fast, so we will wait til Thursday or Friday.

I just stuck another loaf of bread in the oven, and am catching up on those odds-and-ends things one catches up on when housebound!

I haven't included a recipe in a while, so I will share my recipe for the soup I most often make... usually at the beginning of the week for lunches and suppers throughout the week til it's gone! I am a vegetarian, so I don't put any meat in mine, but you're welcome to toss in a pound or so of chicken, ham, turkey, or whatever appeals to you. Also, this isn't really a recipe, as it changes each time I put a pot on, but just use this as a guideline and use what you have on hand.

Simple Soup

Cover the bottom of your soup pot with a thin layer of Olive Oil and heat over medium heat. Add a chopped Onion or two, as well as a few cloves of minced Garlic and cook for about 5 minutes til transparent. (If you are using meat, now is the time to add it and let it brown with the onions and garlic)

Next add enough stock or water to fill your pot as you desire. (I use about 6 to 8 cups of water and add a big dollop of Miso and about a tablespoon of broth concentrate (Better than Boullion is what I prefer) Mix well and season as you prefer... Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Sage and Basil. Add a small can of Tomato Paste, and next add your chopped vegetables, using as much or as little as you see fit. I use the vegetables I dehydrated in summertime, and just throw in a few handfuls of each... Zucchini, Tomatoes, Green Peppers, Carrots, Peas, Green Beans... then chop up anything else I feel like including such as Potatoes, Broccoli,Ccauliflower... whatever you have on hand. I also throw in frozen or canned goods now... Black Beans, Edamame, Corn, a handful or two of Lentils and/ or Barley, and let this just come to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, and let it cook the day away (or at least a couple of hours!) Make sure to stir it on occasion, and add water as needed. Stick a loaf of bread or a batch of biscuits in the oven, and you'll have a wonderful supper waiting for you with so little fuss! Oftentimes I add a bit of Parmesan Cheese the last 20 minutes or so, but you can just as easily sprinkle this on top of your soup once it's in your soup bowl.

It's cold outside...

I just came back in from a short snowshoe with my granddogger, Akira. It is COLD out now... about 2 degrees, but overnight, it's supposed to drop to -25 below with wind chills making it seem all the more cold. Ah, winter! I am grateful for all the firewood I brought in yesterday, and thankful for my daughter's help stacking it! The ol' wood furnace is going full tilt, and if it weren't for the wind, I'd get the fireplace roaring along with it! On nights like this, the cold shivers through any crevice it can find, and settles down upon one's shoulders and back like a damp and heavy unwanted cloak. I attached some thick felt weatherstripping to the door casings a few weeks ago, and it makes a big difference when it's so cold and windy. It was not unusual to sit in the kitchen or stand in the mudroom and see fine snow sift in between the door and the casing!

It seems to me that this winter is not unlike the winters of my childhood. We've had several snowstorms in a short span, and there has not been any melt-off and barren ground in between them as in the past few years. The trails out in the fields and woods are thickly blanketed with firm, packed snow allowing for skiing and snowshoeing. (I believe the deer and coyotes think these highways have been tramped down just for them)! The dooryard is full of deep, powdery snow... plenty for sledding and playing in! Yet even though we are in the grip of winter, the mornings are brightening earlier, and the daylight lingers ever longer before the night comes and chases her away.

Days have less urgency about them in the thick of winter. There is enough time for cooking and baking, and I suppose housekeeping! I've been finding time to hoe out the attic and various closets and storage spots. I've even snuck in time to read a few books! These are luxuries I do not take for granted. It seems once spring comes along, more demands are placed on my time. Barns need cleaning out and re-organizing, baby chicks need tending to, gardens need to be planted and trimmed; turned and weeded, fencing needs mending, and so on til one is lost in the whirr of what needs to be done next. Not to mention the longer hours to do them in.

So I will be content in winter's lull, and appreciate the time at hand, and accomplish what I will. I wish the same for you!

Snow is falling...

Finally it is snowing once again! And to think that in between storms, on the last day of December, a robin was searching for something to sustain itself under my feeders. I hope he's returned to a warmer place...

I don't know what falling snow does to one's spirit, but I know what it does to me! I tend to want to batten down the hatches, and gravitate to the kitchen. What is it about a snowy day that makes the most mundane, everyday chores more pleasurable? Thus I spent the morning shaking down the coals and ashes in the wood furnace, stoking up a good fire. From there, I checked again on the garlic cloves in the dehydrator, then went outside to feed the birds, who seemed quite impatient about getting their breakfast. The geese in the barnyard spotted me, so then it was off to water and feed them, and to check for eggs. (My threat of squeezing the eggs myself out of those darn chickens seems to have worked, as they are laying somewhat again!)

When I came back to the house, I grabbed a cup of tea, stuck a pot of soup on the stove to simmer for the day, and worked a bit on some Valentine's Day creations. (I would like to re-open up my other two Etsy Shops... it's been a long time.) And then I worked on the computer for a while... probably a LONG while, if I'm honest! I finally decided to join Facebook, and it is too much for me to grasp! But in defense, I had some digital design work to do for a few customers, as well!

Well, I'm headed downstairs to grab another cuppa and a bowl of soup! Have a lovely evening! ~Laura of Wildenblue Farm

PS: I almost forgot... I want to explain to all whose blogs I follow that I'm not a blog snob. We still have crank-up service in our rural area, and it is painfully slow. It takes me several minutes to upload a blog page that has backgrounds, images and music, and a few minutes to comment. I would love to be able to relax and visit all your blogs, but I only manage a few a week. If I could only come up with the thirty-thousand dollars I was quoted by one wireless company to run the lines from our neighbors' about a quarter of a mile up the road, or take down the two 40-foot trees in the yard that another installer asked me to think about... I'd be at your blogs every day!

New Year's ramblings

As is the custom, I extend greetings this New Year's Day to all who take the time to read my humble blog. Thank you for being my unseen audience, and for your tolerance with me when I find not only my blog page, but my mind, blank!

The arrival of a new year is a melancholy event in that it is a reminder of times' passing. yet it offers a sense of renewal to one's spirit, as well. "Out with the old, in with the new" may work for some, but I tend to keep in the old, and keep out the new as much as possible. (I've listened to a fair share of "hoarding" jokes from my children... I just smile and bide my time!) I admit I do have an attachment to old things for whatever reason, and I believe it comes down to the fact that so many items from long ago are still amongst us. Plastic just doesn't have the longevity and feel that iron, glass and metal do, and to me, there is such a charm and nostalgia to anything passed down through the ages, whether it be advice, furnishings or implements from the farm or home.

Over this past year, I have kept a private journal of daily happenings in an old notebook by my bedside. When day was done, I jotted down not only what happened that day, but what got accomplished, how many eggs were collected, how many dozen were sold, how much grain was purchased and used, what was planted or harvested, and so on. My main reason for doing this was to get an idea of what I spend on organic grain and hay compared to what I save using my own eggs and how much I make back from the eggs I sell. It has been one year to the day, so I hope to get all the calculations together in the next week or so. I have had chickens, geese, guineas and ducks for over 20 years, and I feel the need to put into perspective everything involved before I give in to ordering more chicks this spring. Can I justify the monetary outlay for the satisfaction I get from raising my own birds? Hmmm...

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but if I did, I'd like to have the ambition to keep track of all my spending for a year. How much goes out to groceries? To feed the wild birds? How much on gas for a year? What about catfood and cat litter, let alone vet bills? I think it would be fascinating to see exactly what a year's worth of expenditures would look like. I feel I am pretty frugal and thrifty, but I'd like to see it all on paper, so I'd know where I could cut back even more!

I leave you with a quote by William Ellery Channing which shall serve as my resolution...

To live content with small means;

to seek elegance rather than luxury,

and refinement rather than fashion;

to be worthy, not respectable,

and wealthy, not rich;

to study hard, think quietly,

talk gently, act frankly;

to listen to the stars and birds,

to babes and sages, with open heart;

to bear on cheerfully, do all bravely,

awaiting occasions, worry never;

in a word... to, like the spiritual, unbidden and

unconscious, grow up through the common.

Merry Christmas to All...

Just wanted to stop by to send all my wonderful readers a warm greeting this Christmas Day! Merry Christmas!