Tilled

My almost-brother-in-law (he's really my SIL fiance') came over Sunday after church to till our garden.  He increased the size for me and it's nearly double what it had been in previous years.  There it is.  Fresh dirt, green grass around, our little maple tree that grew up in the middle.  You can see our woods out back behind the garden.  (the woods have become the children's favorite new place to play.  they're finding the magic in creation)  The front right corner (that you cannot see) is my little herb garden.

So... as I sit in the house on this windy day with my sore throat and full sinuses ... I dream.  Of my hands in the dirt.  Rows and rows of tomatoes and peppers, popcorn and sunflowers, cukes and onions, potatoes, carrots, and garlic...mmmmmm.  The children chasing the chickens and the dog chasing the children.  Sunshine and laughter in the air.

Pantry Prep

I'm part of a group on facebook called, "Riot for Austerity".  It's about using less resources, being frugal, buying new, going without and doing this differently.  (not that I'm very good at this!)  One of the recent questions posed by the group moderator was "how is your winter pantry shaping up?"  Normally, I try to grow a lot of our food, find things we don't grow or raise at our local markets or through individual farmers.  I can, dehydrate, freeze, etc.  Cook my own instead of buying processed junk.  I enjoy it.  I feel like I'm providing quality for my family.  Our children are learning where their food comes from, how it grows, what the meat we eat looks like when it's still in a pasture!  They're learning to cook at a young age (instead of their late 20s, like me).  They think I make the best bread, pizza crust, and tortillas in the world!  (only because they're fresh, I'm sure)

I've been trying to inventory our pantry and freezer and it's not as good as I had hoped.  Not to make excuses, but this pregnancy has been kinda tough.  I've been put on a modified bedrest a few times, instructed not to go out in the heat and humidity (too many contractions), etc.  It made getting out in the garden nearly impossible when temps were in the 90s and bedrest meant no canning the tomatoes when it was time.  (I asked the OB, I was told 'absolutely not') 

So, this how things are shaping up for us.  Good things:  our freezer is packed full of local meat (lamb and chicken), local berries (strawberries and blueberries), sweet corn, and peppers.  (the freezer sits on our outside porch and takes nearly no energy to run during the winter... we make up for it during warm summer months) 

Okay things:  I canned crushed tomatoes, peaches, jam, and pickled hot peppers... but not enough.   (I would have been closer if I hadn't been put on bedrest during this pregnancy) 

Better Luck next year:  Our potato crop was a bust... and our popcorn didn't do so hot, either.  Luckily, we still have a lot of leftover popcorn (it's a big source of snacks and lunches for us). 

In progress:  I found a local source for oats I need to call on and we have some wheat berries stored.  I'm sure we need more local honey and maple syrup.  (trying to phase out processed white sugar)  I'll have to pick those up at the market when I stock up on apples (to dry, store, and sauce), carrots, potatoes and butternut squash (which I can't grow to save my life!). 

But, our 3rd child is due any day now so some things are going to have to wait!

Day 5 From a High Angle

Bounty

The kids and I took a trip to the large farmers market in the city on Thursday.  We came home with all this!  10 lbs of blueberries, a dozen ears of corn, 2 lbs of raw honey, a few carrots and zucchini.  Wowzers, what a haul.  The Lord sure is good to us (His children, not just our family in particular).  I bought most everything from these beautiful Mennonite women.  I love their simple, kind, and hardworking spirits.  I always try to buy from them (it helps that they have the best produce!). 

I wanted to go pick blueberries this year, but with the heat and my progressing pregnancy - it just wasn't an option.  I was filled with joy to find this giant box of blueberries for the same price as the you-pick-it.  The berries and corn were promptly processed and froze to be enjoyed over the winter.  God is good, all the time.

Garden Love

Last Wednesday, we finally had rain. It's been a long hot, dry summer with highs in the upper 80's everyday with matching humidity but never any rain. (=miserable) Wednesday was a blessing. It poured for hours drenching the parched grass and garden. The kids and I were able to head out, weed some of the garden (really, how can weeds thrive without rain!) and harvest what was ready.
We are inundated with tomatoes and it's time to start canning! We grew 17 plants of heirloom tomatoes (but lost a few early in the season). And 17 cherry tomato plants. I've eating cherry tomatoes for lunch, dinner and snack and giving them about by the bucketful. Happily, they've been a blessing to many people this summer! We get a break from the heat this week (low 80s) and I have a two bushels of tomatoes to can. If the lack of counter space wasn't telling me it was time, the abundance of fruit flies would be...

Calendula! A pretty and hardy flower and one of my favorite herbs. I use it in the healing salve I make. We've had a really good harvest so far and, surprisingly enough, it is drying well inspite of all our humidity. We (my daughter is a great helper) will soon be collecting seeds for next year. Hopefully, we'll be able to sell seeds or seedlings in the spring above what we need to plant for our own use.
Another bit of green from my thriving herb garden (it gives me such joy). Lemon Balm.... mmmmm. Sweet and lemony mint-relative. My little plant has really grown after I transplanted it this year. I'm looking forward to tea....
Me. And my Teva tan-lines. :) Enjoying time outside barefoot in the wet grass after the rain. Looking forward to cooler days ahead as summer and farmer's markets wind down and school starts up...

Chocolate (zucchini) Cake

Hiding veggies. Yep. You can even hide them in cake. Just don't let the kids help you bake it. :) If you're like me, you grew zucchini last year, shredded tons of it expecting to make bread over the winter, stuck it in the freezer and forgot. Oops. This recipe will use it up fast. Don't let the idea of making a cake from scratch scare you. It's easier than you think. (just like the bread) Remember, I'm a simple girl. If it was too hard or time consuming I probably wouldn't do make it. But let me tell you, it tastes far better than anything from a box. And you gain some self confidence when you say you made all by yourself and really mean it (not like that refrigerated cookie dough that we all feel just a little guilty about).

When you cook or bake from scratch there is the added benefit of knowing precisely what is in the mix. If you are the individual responsible for shopping and putting food on the table and in the bellies of your loved ones, you are the gatekeeper. The security guard who determines what gets in and what does not. Is it safe? Is it healthy? What do they need to avoid? Who do we keep out? Hydrogenated oils? High fructose corn syrup? High cholesterol foods? Who gets invited in? Spinach? Fruits? Farm-raised chicken? Garden tomatoes? Local cheese?

Here is simply grand way to sneak in that healthy zucchini we want to let in (that nobody seems to know what to do with) and leave everyone asking for more.


Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe
(i didn't come up with this recipe, you can click on the link for the original source. i do change it a bit. it's supposed to be in a bundt pan with a glaze. i don't own a bundt pan. i use a regular cake pan and chocolate frosting. it's nice with whipped cream and fruit, too.)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini (use all the liquid from your zucchini. if you drain it, your cake will be dry. trust me. i tried it once. you need every bit of that juice to make the cake nice and moist.)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional. my kids are picky and won't eat the nuts)
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

1 Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, and zucchini.

3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.

4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted (or sprayed)regular cake pan - use what you have. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5 Frost


Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.



Hope you guys enjoy! I'll be making this for Easter.
~jill

Let it Rise... or not.

I have been getting a lot of requests from friends and family for recipes lately. Some are looking to eat better, fresh foods, less packaged foods. Trying to cook from scratch. When Bruce and I first got married (okay, for the first years of our marriage) I could only cook something if it came in a box with directions on the back. And even then, the results were a iffy. My husband is a keeper - I don't think he complained once. :) It's been a long road, but I'm a pretty decent cook now.

I think Jack was a baby when I started baking bread. It was a simple goal: to make edible homemade bread. Nothing huge. Nothing fantastic like 'lose 20 lbs' or 'only eat local' or 'turn off the fridge' or 'learn to ride a unicycle'. Nope. I'm a simple girl. It was easy, too. I liked the slow pace, the patience. A little work now, wait a while, come back later, knead the dough, wait, come back, etc. I found it enjoyable.

Bread is simple. Water, flour, yeast, salt. Then I read the label on store bread. It must have 20+ ingredients! High fructose corn syrup, caramel coloring, and more. I couldn't believe it. That was really what got me started making my own food and buying less pre-packaged things. In Michael Pollan's popular book 'In Defense of Food' he suggests to read food labels and never eat anything with more than 5 ingredients. (It's a great book. If you're confused about food, the way to eat, what the right choices are, hope to shop. Read this. Seriously. It's fantastic. I can't say enough good things about it.)

Well, here it goes. These bread recipes are not my own. I've scavenged these from the internet and wrote them in my recipe book years ago. The original sources are lost (sorry), but it's bread. It's pretty basic. I'm not sure anyone can really claim it. ;) *if you plan on making a lot of bread, don't buy the packets, buy the jars.

NO-KNEAD FREE FORM LOAF BREAD (good for us lazy folk)
Makes 4 1-lb loaves (I makes 2 2-lb)

3 C lukewarm water
1.5 T granulated yeast
1.5 T sea salt
6.5 C unsifted, unbleached flour

1. Heat water to 100 degrees (I've never actually measured this, I just make sure it's warm)
2. Add yeast and salt to water in large bowl
3. Mix in flour - don't knead! the dough stays wet and conforms to container
4. Cover loosely (set a lit on top - don't use a screw top, it could explode from the trapped gases)

Refrigerate for at least 3 hrs before shaping (it can sit overnight).
You don't need to monitor the rising.

5. Sprinkle pan with cornmeal or spray with nonstick spray.
6. Sprinkle surface of dough with flour
-cut off section, gently stretch dough.
7. 20 minutes before baking preheat oven to 450 degrees F. with broiler tray on lower shelf.
8. Dust top of loaf with flour and slash with knife
9. Put in oven. Pour 1 C of hot water in broiler pan. Bake 30 min.
*bread will 'crackle' or 'sing' when done. put on rack to cool.
-extra dough can keep in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

I always makes this as 'Italian Herb Bread'. I mix up herbs - sea salt, pepper, rosemary, basil, garlic, oregano - in a small bowl and sprinkle it on the bread. I like to roll the dough in it so it gets evenly covered. Yum! Enjoy with real butter hot out of the oven.


I'll get the recipes for pita bread, hummus, pesto, crackers, chocolate zucchini cake (fabulous!), pizza dough, and more up in the coming weeks.

~jill

Renewed

It's spring. FINALLY. I am feeling refreashed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I'm eating lots more fruits and veggies (green smoothies are a great way to do this) I've been getting in more yoga and cardio and outside play time with the kids. The weather has been nice enough to start walking to pick Carlie up from school. Well, a few days a least. :)

I've been behind on my Bible reading this year and I'm really disappointed. I haven't given up, but I'm not happy with myself. I committed to reading the Old Testament this year (I read the New Testment last year) and fell behind by and entire book when when my husband had surgery last month. Not to make excuses, but it was supposed to be outpatient surgery and was not. And then he ended up in the ER twice that same week. Thing were pretty rough there for a while. The Lord and I were on close speaking terms, but I wasn't spending a lot of time in His Word. ;)

Since Bruce and I share youth leader duties at church I usually spend a lot of time reseaching and planning lessons, too. It's something I really enjoy. (Weird, I know. But I always I enjoy digging into my Bible and finding ways to tie the lessons together and link the Bible to the students lives and make it 'current' for them.) This year we used purchased lessons and they were a real blessing with all the time we've had to devote to doctor appointments and such. But I missed my study time. I didn't realize how important it is to me - it makes me feel grounded. I'm slowly catching up on my Bible reading. I'm still behind, but not quite so far.

Bruce and I have been spending a lot of time listening to the late, great Rich Mullins. As a poet, singer, songwriter ~ he was a master. The man behind the music was nothing short of inspirational. Incredibly successful (in the commercial sense) and always humble, chosing to give away all he had to live a simple life. He had an amazing faith in the Lord and it just poured out in all he did. But why are people so struck by him? I imagine it's because Rich and people like him, are the closest we'll get in this world to seeing Jesus in action. He had the heart of a servant, didn't care what this world thought of him, rejected materialism, treated everyone with love, didn't stray from the gospel and didn't apologize for it. And people loved him for it. Huh, sound like anyone else you know?? There are a ton of Rich Mullins videos on youtube - songs, interviews, stories, you name it.

Here are a few Rich Mullins quotes:
"Never forget what Jesus did for you. Never take lightly what it cost Him. And never assume that if it cost Him His very life, that it won't also cost you yours."

"We do not find happiness by being assertive. We don't find happiness by running over people because we see what we want and they are in the way of that happiness so we either abandon them or we smash them. The Scriptures don't teach us to be assertive. The Scriptures teach us—and this is remarkable—the Scriptures teach us to be submissive. This is not a popular idea."

"Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in your beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken."

~jill

The Chicken Condo

It's been finished for a week now and the girls love it. We're getting 1-2 eggs a day and are so thankful. I'm amazed each time I go out and find another one...

The pictures I promised:

~jill

Finally!!!

Our first egg! As you can tell, we're pretty excited. We've had the girls since May (they were itty bitty fluff balls back then) and we've been patiently waiting. Okay, well, mostly patient. I gave them a stern talking to about earning their keep and laying some eggs a few weeks back. At least someone took it to heart. :)

Pictures of the new coop coming soon!

Apples

We were blessed with a bushel basket full of apples from some church friends. Bruce, the kids and I had the chance to go to their house one Sunday evening and get some old wood to use for our new chicken coop. Our wonderful friends gave us a tour of the house and property, showed up their garden and trees. I was thrilled when I saw the apples hanging from the trees and covering the ground. Her father had planted the trees years ago, she doesn't even know what kind they are. We ended up with wood, apples, a few grapes, a wagon and a few more gifts. Such kind people!

The apples were very tart and not the best for eating fresh. I dried about half the apples in the dehydrator. The rest were used to make apple sauce. I canned some and we ate some right away. I gave a bunch to Mary since she was generous enough to share her apple crop with us. The kids and I eat the dried fruit for snacks and I use it when I make granola. I gave my mom some of the apple sauce.

We have some of the apple peels and cores to the chickens. The girls love anything fresh and I prefer not ot give them chicken feed if I can. I used the rest of the apple peels to make vinegar. It was a lot easier than I thought. Put the peels and cores in a jar. Fill it water. Cover with a cloth. (I used a canning band and a wash cloth.) Don't use a canning lid. The microorganisms need the oxygen to work their magic. Otherwise, you'll end up with a foul smelling mess. That's what I made on my first try. :) Let it sit for 2 weeks and voila! Vinegar. I use the vinegar as a rinse for my hair. It takes out any residue from soap or styling products. I don't use shampoo, I use my homemade bar soap on my hair. We have hard well water and sometimes it doesn't rinse really clean. Commercial apple cider vinegars were a little harsh on my hair and left it feeling yucky. My homemade version is much more mild (and fruity smelling) and seems to work better for me.

We're thankful for what we have and are given and try not to waste an ounce.

~jill