Baking Bread - the lazy way!

About to begin - bread making ingredients prepped and ready to go!

This is how *I* make bread using my bread machine to assist me. There are about a billion other ways, but this is my simple way. It's easy, it requires little effort on my part (good when you've got a full time job!), and it produces a nice bread that allows us to stop buying bread at the store. It's also very cheap...particulary if you can buy the flour in bulk.

First I gather the ingredients. For this basic loaf, I need yeast (in the black container), bread flour, salt, oil, warm water and oats. I also need a bowl to hold everything will I pre-heat the container with hot water.

'Bowl' of the bread machine filled with hot tap water to pre-heat it.

Because our house is so cold (from a yeast's point of view), I have had to make a few modifications to get the bread to rise in a timely manner. I start with pre-heating the mixing bowl. This is the insert to my bread machine and I fill it with hot water and let it sit while I measure out all the ingredients.

Dough being kneaded by the bread machine.

Then I dump everything into the container. If I'm using a timer (which I don't do very often), then I'll make sure that the flour and oats keep the yeast away from the water. I don't use the timer right now because by the time the dough would start mixing, my container would have cooled off and so would both the water and our house. It just doesn't work well for me in the winter.

I use the oven on its lowest setting to do the second rise if our wood stove is not in use.

I don't like the shape of the loaf I get from using the breadmachine to bake, so I use the knead/rise setting on my machine. This way, it does all the work AND it keeps the dough reasonably warm for the first rise. Then I take the dough out, shape it as necessary, cover it with a clean towel and set it in the oven or next to the wood stove (if it's in use) for an hour or so for the bread to do the second rise.

I often use a honey wheat bread recipe to make dinner rolls this way. I let the bread machine do the kneading and first rist and then I just shape the dough into balls, place them on a baking sheet to rise, and then bake them (this is what is pictured above). Then I freeze the rolls and reheat them in the toaster right before dinner.

Oatmeal bread after the second rise awaiting baking.

After the dough has risen suffiicently, then the bread goes in the oven to bake.

Oatmeal bread after baking...man...it smells divine!

A fully baked loaf will sound hollow if you thump the bottom of it (out of the pan). If it's not done, it's fine to put it back into the pan and continue baking. I've done this many times as I am slowly learning to adapt my bread machine recipes to oven baking.

Oatmeal bread after slicing.

Then I slice it with a serated blade and stick it in a plastic bag. If I'm going to freeze it, it's much easier to pre-slice the whole loaf.

Baking your own bread is super simple, super cheap and super delicious (most of the time)! Lucky for us, flops don't go to waste. As I'm trying to learn what works best in my cold kitchen, I have screwed up a few loaves here and there. Failed bread luckily makes awesome goat treats! They just love it and since we have no more apples or things to give them as treats, home-made bread mistakes are just the ticket!

I recently acquired two awesome bread making books. One I've pretty much finished reading and I can't wait for some free time to try some of the recipes. All of the recipes are a more traditional method (hand kneading), but it's definitely something I hope to have more time for in the future. The second book just arrived last night, so I haven't had a chance to even open it yet. I've also tried the infamous 'no knead' bread from the NY times article. It turned out fairly well...but again, my cold house makes rising a bit of an issue. I'm going to give it another shot this spring. As I branch out in my bread making adventures, I'll be sure to keep my blog up to date. Maybe if I'm consistent enough, you'll be able to smell the bread baking across the internet! ;-)

The pruning begins...

Loganberries - as they looked last summer just prior to being fully ripe.

We have about 20 different fruit trees, two types of berries (both thornless!), and about 4 different varieties of grapes on our property. We are also going to be adding blueberries as well.

While we got more apples, pears, berries and grapes than we knew what to do with this past year, there were some things that could use massive improvement. First of all, many of the grapes didn't mature well and they were extremely difficult to pick. The same could be said of the blackberries and and our loganberries had a lousy harvest. The apples were plentiful, but many were smaller than they should have been. We saw a small plum harvest, but no cherries at all. To improve all of the above, we need to prune (and spray...but that's a different entry!).

Pruning is best done in the winter with the trees are basically dormant. This is true for the fruit trees, the berry brambles and the grape vines. The previous owners used to take really good care of their garden, but in the year before we bought the place, they had some illness in the family and ended up neglecting things in the yard. They also had the house on the market for over a year, so they were probably trying to keep things 'picture perfect' and pruning can be messy. All of this led to some very overgrown things and this winter, we are working to remedy that...

Anyway, this weekend I worked on the berry brambles while my H tackled the grape vines. For the grapes, he first cut a path behind the last trellis and in front of the buffalo fence. You can actually walk back there now (previously an impossibility). He had to cut massive amounts of wild blackberry canes coming over the buffalo fence. Then he had to tame the out of control grape vines working their way back over the fence from our yard. The two were so intertwined that it was hard to tell where one finished and the other began, particularly in the summer! Then he started on one of the trellises (we have three). He straightened it, added and removed wire, and secured it. Then he started pruning so that we can better train the grape vines. We figure that it'll take a few years before we get them in order, so we felt justified in really cutting back some of them. It's such a huge job that he was only able to finish one row (besides cutting the path). The other two rows will have to wait for the next rain-free weekend.

Berry brambles - "before". The left are predominantly blackberries and the right are the loganberries.

For the berry brambles, we have two rows spaced about 4 ft apart. They are oddly assorted in terms of variety. One row is half logan berries and half some other un-identified plant (we need to wait for it to bloom to figure it out). The second row is predominantly thornless blackberries with one logan berry plant on one end. The photo above is how it all looked when I started. There were at least three years worth of canes on the blackberries as it was not pruned last year at all. In the middle of the summer, my H dug into it and tried to cut out all the thorned blackberry canes he could (these are wild and grow everywhere around here). Wild blackberries are actually considered a nuisance weed here and we do our best to keep them under control. Anyway, thanks to his hard work last summer, I only had a few of the painful variety to dig out of the mess.

I basically started by cutting out all thorny branches and anything thornless that had given us fruit last year. All the branches that had leaves but no fruit yet are the branches that will give us fruit this coming year (they give fruit on their second year). I also had to cut away a lot of dead grass and a few other types of plants that had flourished under the protection of the blackberries. Then I set about restringing all the wire. I did three rows of wire between each t-post (and I had to reposition a few posts, too) and pulled them as tight as I could. Then I carefully worked each remaining cane into the trellis taking care not to break them. I tried to spread them out as best I could. This will allow the sun to better reach all the berries and make them all much easier to pick. I think this might also make them much more visible and accessable to the birds, so we do have bird netting set aside should that be needed next summer. All in all, it was a LOT of work, but I feel really good about having it done. All I have left to do is to spread some compost at the base and then mulch on top of it to keep the grass at bay.

Berry brambles - "after"... Hard to see in this photo since so many canes have no leaves, but they are woven around the wire trellis. I still need to add compost and mulch.

Next opportunity we have, we'll finish up the grapes and get the trees done (apples, pears, cherry & plum). The trees will be a team job. I should also mention that we took a few clippings from our neighbors who have this apple tree that produces absolutely delicious apples (for both eating and baking). We are going to graft those branches on to one of our red delicious trees (we have two). We figure we'll do it on those particular trees for a number of reasons. 1) we have way more red delicious apples than we'll ever need and they aren't good for anything but eating and drying 2) those trees did really well last year, so they are clearly nice strong healthy trees and 3) the red delicious apples are the most distinctive apple (throughout it's life cycle), so it'll be really easy to tell the new variety from the old red delicious apples. Neither of us have grafted fruit trees before, so wish us luck! I'll definitely report back on our progress...

Worms, worms, everywhere!

Row garden area (with the coop sitting on part of it). All sections of it are now covered with well-watered cardboard.

I never thought I'd be so excited about worms! To a small gardener, they are signs of good things happening.

First of all, as displayed (half completed) in the above photo, we have our row garden area covered with cardboard. Basically, most of our veggie garden this past year was done using the square foot gardening method. We will continue to use this method for some plants, but since we have a good sized, previously tilled area set aside by the previous owners for a row garden, we are going to use that this year as well. Last summer, we did a few rows of corn and one of potatoes, but that's about it. This year, our plans are much bigger. We won't be using traditional rows so much as 'patches' but we will be planting in rows within those patches. To prep the soil, we did two things. One the left, we covered the area tilled last year with black plastic. This was to kill all weed seeds with heat. We have left it there all winter primarily due to laziness, but partially to keep the weeds at bay. We have so much water, that pleny of moisture is still getting under the plastic, so we should be good to plant this spring. This area was not planted at all this past season.

The rest of the area has been picked clean and pooped on by the chickens, and then covered with either rotting leaves or used hay from the goat shed. On top of this, we then layed out cardboard and weighed it down. We chose cardboard for 2 reasons. 1. It will block the sun and not allow weeds to grow, but it will still allow water/moisture and air to get into the soil so that the 'mulch' layer will decompose. and 2. we had tons of it from the move...so it was free. ;-) Last weekend, we were peaking under the sections that have been there for a month or more and not only is all the mulch nicely decomposing, but the area is crawling with worms and other creepy crawlies! Yay! Busy, inhabited soil is healthy soil. We can't wait to see what we can produce this year! The plan is to pull up the cardboard, let the best pieces dry for future use, and toss the rest into the compost pile. We don't want to leave it where it is when we plant, or it will disturb the nitrogen balance in the soil.

The second population of worms that I'm happy about are our own doing. About a month ago, my H ordered a small herd/flock/mass/pride/pack (what do you call a group of worms?!) of worms so that we could start our own vermicomposting. Basically, this is using worms to eat garbage and then using their castings (poo) as fertilizer. Worm castings looks like the richest, most beautiful soil you've ever seen...so it's not gross and yucky at all. Plus, a well-managed worm bin won't smell at all, so it's totally suitable to small spaces (even apartments!). When H first got the worms, he just put them in a bucket with some bedding (moistened shredded paper) and some food cast-offs. This past weekend, we decided to improve their home and when we dug under the cover paper - they were already going to work on what we had left for them!

Anyway, we started with two rubber/plastic bins. We put two plastic tubs in the bottom bin to keep the top bin from seating all the way down.

Then we drilled holes in the top bin. Drain holes in the bottom and air holes around the lower part of the sides as pictured here...


We then put down a layer of shredded paper (lightly moistened with water) on the bottom and them spread out the 'garbage' and worms from the previous bucket. You can see a couple of the worms surrounded by starter soil and castings in this photo:


Then we covered all the 'garbage' with more shredded paper, moistened it, and put the cover on the bin to keep out light. The whole contraption is sitting in my husband's office (the warmest room in the house at about 65 to 70 degrees).

This is the worm bedding in the bottom of the two bins. The photo of the completed worm bin turned out blurry - but it looks an awful lot like this one only a bit more 'full'. ;-)

So, all we have to do now is to keep feeding the worms our bio-waste and keep them moist and happy. We'll be able to 'harvest' the castings when we are ready to start our next round of seeds and all summer long to use in 'compost tea' or for supplementing the soil in the garden.

Another busy weekend

Eggs - in all colors!

Once again, I'm posting only occasionally. I appologize to anyone who is truly reading here and I'll try to do better. I do have about 10 posts started or outlined that I just haven't had time to write, so one day, you'll probably be innundated!

Until then, let me post a quick run-down on the things we did this weekend.

First of all, we started Saturday with a trip to HD to pick up some supplies. We had four main things on our list for the weekend and three of them required some inputs. First of all, we wanted to get some seed started with grow lights in the basement. Secondly, we wanted to insulate the hot water pipes in the house. Thirdly, we wanted to take down and store away all our Christmas decorations (finally!) and lastly, we wanted to get a new rain shelter built for the goats.

The first item was pipe insulation. We purchased ~70 ft of foam insulation. One major advantage to a single-story older home with a basement is that everything is easy access. All of the electrical, heating and water pipes all run along the ceiling of our basement which is below the floorboards of our house. The hot water heater and the oil furnace are both also in the basement and easy (relatively) to access. So to insulate all the hot water pipes, all we had to do was run hot water in the various locations to determine which pipe held hot water (by touch) and the wrap them with this foam. We'd thought about using some more home-made type of insluation, but we don't know enough about that stuff to avoid setting fires or something. We figured we'd be better off using something designed specifically for that purpose. Now, when we shower, we aren't losing a bunch of the heat off the pipes in the basement and it's saving us energy! (I'll take photos tonight)

Secondly, we wanted to get some seed started. It's a bit too early to prep for outside planting, but now that we have a greenhouse to work with, we wanted to do some experimenting. My H did some online reading about setting up a grow light using the old flourescent lamps we had in our basement. He rewired one, hung it about 18 inches above the work bench, and plugged it into a timer that will be set to simulate a summer day's worth of light. We'd bought a seed starting kit last year when we were in the apartment, but never attended it very well and killed everything we tried to grow. So my H pulled that out and cleaned it up to try again this year. He planted leeks, onions, kale, celeriac and multiple types of peppers and tomatoes. Then he set the bin on top of a heating pad set on low to keep the soil warm. We were all excited about the progress until we noticed that the heating pad had shut off. Damn thing has an auto-shut-off! Great for fire prevention...not great for seed germination. Now we need to locate one that doesn't have this lovely safety feature. Anyone have an old heating pad they don't want? ;-)

Next, I took it upon myself to build some additional shelter for our goats. When it rains, they basically spend the entire day standing in their little goat shed. Buddy doesn't like to get wet and while Sass doesn't seem to mind it, she'd rather stay dry if she can. I saw an idea for this shelter online and decided that it would not only suit our rainy day needs, but it will help us with kidding this year. It's a Quonset hut made with cattle panels and a tarp. For less than $100, I built the shelter in the picture with materials that all will have multiple uses once we no longer need the shelter. This was a perfect solution for us because we needed something temporary. Our plans are to build a real stable/small barn next summer when there is less rain and when we have more cash. With kids on the way, we needed something for this spring because our current goat shed is too small. We will also need a way to keep the new kids separate from Sass at night, so this should work. The shelter stands in the southeast corner of our paddock and it faces west. (Winter rain comes from the south here, so souther facing shelters are not a good idea!) Our plan is to use additional cattle panels and t-posts to fence in the area surrounding the shelter as we head into March. Sasafras will then be contained in this area as she approaches her due date so that the kids are born into a fairly clean/mud-free environment. Then Sass and the kids will be kept in this pen for the first few days so that they can bond. Additionally, the kids will go into this area each night so that Sass will get a good night's sleep and (more importantly) so that we can milk her in the morning for our use. Then they will spend the day together. We will not bottle feed the kids as we don't feel that is 'natural'...and who has the time for that, anyway?! The hut turned out really well and outside from a sore back and triceps, I was no worse for the wear!

First: the t-posts get placed and sunk into the ground (note to self: do all fencing in the winter when the ground is MUCH softer than it is in the arid summer!)

Second: the first cattle panel gets put in place (these are 16' by 50")

Third: the second panel goes into place - this was not as easy as it looks!

Fourth: the panels get attached using zip ties.

Fifth: the tarp goes on and gets zip-tied to the panels

Lastly: the finished product!

Directions: http://goatseeker.com/guides/quonset-hut-goat-shelters

Lastly, I packed up all the Christmas decorations we'd put up this year. Because I chose to donate or sell all the decorations we didn't use, packing everything up was pretty simple. Now it's all safely tucked away in the basement for next year. We also moved the chicken coop again, trimmed the goat's hooves, put up blinds in our bedroom and our bathroom finally (that's the advantage to country living...no neigbors to look in our windows!) and I baked another loaf of bread and some rolls to throw in the freezer. We also did some re-arranging of our worm bin. I don't think that I've posted about it before, but my husband began our vermicomposting a few weeks ago in a big bucket. This past weekend, we changed our bin a little and I'll have a seperate post about that...so stay tuned.

All in all, we had a nicely productive weekend!

Weekend update

I can't believe that my first post of 2009 isn't until the 7th! Good thing I didn't have "blogging more" as one of my resolutions, huh?

So we had a busy holiday and a productive weekend. After all the snow and ice, we had some issues with local flooding...but our house (including the basement) stayed nice and dry. Our road? Not so much. Both the road we take into our small town center and the one we live on (about 2.5 miles from us) was completely under water for a few days and closed to all traffic. Luckily, we did discover at least one route from our house, over high ground and over the ridge around the flooded areas. I also assume that if we were to head straight over the 'mountain' that we'd avoid all flooding using that route as well. Not something we'll want to do on bikes anytime soon, but in a car, it's fine.

So this weekend, we accomplished a lot. First of all, we dried off Sass. Her milk production has been falling off lately. It's natural to only get about 10 months at most out of a good dairy goat, so when her production began to really fall, we stopped milking her. I actually had to buy my first gallon of cow's milk yesterday. Man - does that taste like water or what? Ew! We did freeze some of her milk in preparation for this time, but it didn't turn out so well. Apparently, freezing skim milk is a bad idea. After defrosting, it remains separated. Ick. The whole milk we've frozen seems ok, so we'll probably defrost that as necessary for baking, cheese making or for soap making. If we have enough whole milk stored, I might try skimming it to see how that works. We'll see.

Because of all the rain, a section of the goat paddock is really, really muddy. Unfortunately, the area is near the goat shed and the gate, so we have to trudge through it. The goats avoid it as much as possible, so that's good. Bad bacteria can live in that mud (especially with the warm temps we've had lately) and that can lead to hoof rot in goats. We have learned that a healthy goat who gets plenty of copper in their diet will be able to defend against these bacteria, so we are making sure that the goats have plenty of fresh mineral available to them. We were afraid that Buddy had some hoof rot going on because he started limping. When we looked closer, it was just that his hooves were in bad need of trimming. We were told that Sass only needed it once every three months or so, but it turns out that Buddy's hooves grow much faster than that. We trimmed them as best we could over the weekend and he's already doing better. We'll probably have to do another trim next weekend, but like on a dog, you can't cut off too much at once for fear of bleeding. Of course, I managed to shave two of my own knuckles off with the hoof plane. My blood spilled is no biggie though - I'm capable of keeping my wounds clean all by myself! ;-)

We also did some work with the chickens. I cleaned out their coop while they were free-ranging. After I'd scooped out all the bedding and chicken poop (into the compost pile), I removed the temporary floor. I used it as a template to cut another floor for future use, and I put the first one back in for another few weeks or so. Then I piled in new bedding and my H fixed the perch attached to the nesting boxes which was sagging. Lastly, he tightened it's attachment to the wall for stability. The chickens were just happy to have the opportunity to run around after being cooped up so much! I like that the coop now smells better when I go digging for eggs. Speaking of which, our influx of eggs has now exceeded the previous influx of milk! We are getting eggs in all three colors now that the 'easter egg' birds are finally laying. The white leghorns are still the most prolific - we get two white eggs every day and we only have two white birds. We are collecting a total of 4 to 7 eggs each day and it's still winter. What happens when they hit their peak laying season in the summer? We are going to be overrun! I think we'll put a sign out front and sell them (the eggs, not the chickens!). Otherwise, they are really going to go to waste. I am collecting good quiche recipes though...I figure I'll bake up a few and freeze them.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we'd purchased a greenhouse kit for our Christmas present to each other. Well, we were pleasantly surprised when it arrived a couple of days after Christmas! We spent part of this weekend cleaning out the garage and making space to assemble it. We were able to get the main frame partially assembled before we broke one of the main connectors. Oops. We have requested a replacement piece, so once that arrives we'll be able to continue with assembly. The plan is to put it out in the garden area where the sun hits the longest in the winter. We'll lay down the base, fill it with gravel on top of weed cloth, and then fit the frame on top of that. It's a polycarbonate window greenhouse with a small vent and a split door. The whole thing is only 6x8, but I think that'll be plenty big enough for us for now. I'm taking photos as we assemble this, so once it's done, I'll have a full pictorial to share!

The bathroom when we bought the house...'before'.

The bathroom as we were painting it. You can still see the pink counters that we hope to fix shortly...

Lastly, we made a few decisions about interior decorating. I'm actually quite excited. We finally picked out bedding for our bedroom and we came to the realization that we'll probably have to repaint. The blue we picked is nice and it looks really great with our furniture, but it's hard to match to bedding that we both agree on (the original bedding we chose sold out before I got a chance to order it!). We are also going to tile the counter tops in our bathroom. This is the bathroom that was pink that we repainted a pale sea green/blue. We originally picked the color with plans to buy solid-surface counter tops in a black/white/grey/blue speckled pattern, but they are just not in the budget right now. We have lots of experience laying tile over counters, so we are going to do black and white ceramic tile over the nasty pink counter tops. We'll also replace the ugly black sink at the same time. We can do all this for less than half of what new counters would cost us! All of this is temporary anyway. The eventual plan is to re do the entire bathroom. It's like a long hallway right now with doors at both ends and it's unnecessarily big. Our plan is to put a wall down in the middle of it and create a small half bath off the front hall and a private master bath that adjoins our bedroom. I'd also like to set up a graywater system for the toilets at the same time. That's quite a bit into the future though...we certainly don't have the cash for that right now, and we refuse to use credit.

A new year ahead

I've never been big on "New Year's" as a holiday. It seems rather silly to me to 'celebrate' the passage of time...and for most of my life, the 'new year' really occurred in fall with the new school year anyway. That said, I'm finding myself doing quite a bit of reflecting on the past year and planning for the new one. I think this is partly due to all the turmoil of the past year (the economy, the rise and fall of gas/oil prices, the election, etc.) and the foreboding of what may still like ahead for us all. I generally don't make resolutions, but I guess the change from 2008 to 2009 is as good a time as any to take stock on how much we have accomplished on a more personal level and what we want to plan for the next year. So, here goes.

2008 was a year of massive change for my husband and me. A year ago, we were just starting to put into motion all the steps that led to the huge lifestyle shift we experienced in 2008. As the calendar changed to 2008, I was 10 days out from my first flight to Oregon to interview with my current company. We were also wrapping up some home projects and generally preparing to put our house on the market in the next couple of weeks. I had already traded in my beloved Mini Cooper on my Prius, so at the time, I'd felt like major changes were already taking place. I was really apprehensive about what 2008 would hold in store for us, but I was excited none-the-less.

So by the end of January, our house was on the market. In early February, both my husband and I were accepting jobs with new companies. In mid-February, we made our first trip out here together to look at homes. By the end of February, we had our cars packed and we were heading across the country. In early March, we both started new jobs while we moved into an apartment. By April, our home search was in full swing - weekends upon weekends searching for a place to set up our little homestead. By the end of April, we'd made an offer on a short sale but having heard nothing from the bank in three weeks, we kept looking. By May, we'd found our current home, so we pulled the bank offer and made a new offer on our house. By June, we'd closed and we began working (including getting a garden planted). By July, the garden was planted, the chicken coop built and we started moving into the house. By August, we were out of the apartment (and our storage site) and installed fully in the new place. We also purchased 15 chickens and two goats and fenced in the 'back forty' before the month was out. In September, we discovered we needed new siding before another winter hit. We also began harvesting fruit and learning to can and dry it. By October, the siding project was underway, harvest was in full swing (for what we were able to cultivate so late in the season) and we were up to our eyeballs in goat's milk. By November, things had settled down a little and we were able to get some things done inside the house. December brought with it our first eggs from our chickens, and massive snow...something we had not counted on in this area! We also purchased and received our greenhouse kit - to be assembled in 2009.

So, from suburban DINK to sustainable homesteader...are we there yet? Hardly. What will 2009 hold for us?

Building and utilizing a greenhouse

Installing rain barrels & a hand pump

Improved fitness for both of us

Early seed-starting & expanded veggie, herb and grain gardens

More biking, less driving

A new wood stove (a more efficient & EPA approved one)

Solar consultation (hot water and electric)

Goat kidding

Installing a proper root cellar

Actively improving neighbor relations

Skill development - bread making, cheese making, soap making, wine making, knitting, spinning, etc.

From a more personal standpoint, I'd like to accomplish a few other things. The first of these involves my goals for 2010. I'd like to finally get to a place where come 2010, 'losing weight' is not my list of future accomplishments. This is a two part effort. The first, of couse, is actually losing some weight. The second is the harder part - and that is learning to accept myself and my body not for what it looks like, but for what it can do. I have never had a single new year where 'weight loss' wasn't in the plans for the coming months - even going back to childhood when I wasn't exactly over-weight. This is a mental issue that I plan to actively work on this year. Additionally, I'm going to make a greater effort to sustain the relationships that are important to me. With my husband, my family, and with friends from my past and present. I've been too wrapped up in our homestead efforts over the past year, and I've allowed this blog to do too much of my communicating for me. REAL interpersonal interaction is essential to a well balanced happy life. I need to work on it.

May 2009 be a year of many joys and accomplishments for all of us.

Happy Holidays 2008

Merry Christmas to all...

...and to all a peaceful New Year.

Cookies for Christmas

'Chocolava' cookies in our holiday cookie jar

For the past couple of weeks, I've kind of had to force myself into the holiday mood. First I started with decorating the house. That helped. Then I worked on baking some cookies. For whatever reason, I was not inspired to make the cookies we traditionally make in our family, so I decided to try some new ones. I pulled out my favorite cookie cookbook and flipped through it for inspiration. We bought this cookbook from a little gift shop in Banff Springs when we were on our honeymoon. The woman in the bookstore couldn't stop raving about this book - and she knew the author personally because she was from the area. I figured "hey! kind of like local cuisine!" so we bought it. It's easily the best thing I brought back from that trip besides my new husband! It's called "One Smart Cookie" and I have a little blurb about it in my sidebar. It has nothing to do with homesteading or saving money or being green or living sustainably...but everyone needs a good cookie now and again.

So, I start with the cookies pictured above. My mom used to make them and called them chocolate crinkles, but in this book they are called chocolava cookies. They turned out beautiful and absolutely delicious. Super chocolatey without being too sweet. YUM!

Cornmeal Maple Pecan Twists - delicious!

Next I opted for 'Cornmeal Maple Pecan Twists'...but I made 'C's' insead of twists. Again, yum! Very chewy and full of texture and flavor. These were the first ones to be gobbled up of the three varieties I made.

Gingerbread Snowmen - prior to decorating.

Lastly, at the request of my husband, I made gingerbread men. Well...gingerbread snowmen since that was the only cookie cutter I had that even came close. Again, another success. Crunchy and very, very flavorful. These things are wonderful with coffee!

All in all, a success. I think my favorites were the chocolava cookies. I've also made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from this book (called "Everyone's Favorite Cookie") and they are wonderful. Oh, and did I mention that all the cookies in this book are made with less fat than traditional recipes? No? Well, that's because you tend to forget that little fact when the cookies are as good as these are... ;-) And the bonus? I can get away with buying less butter!

More snow!!

The view out my back door this morning...

I never thought I'd say this, but ENOUGH ALREADY! Holy cow...I can't get over the amounts of snow we are getting! We haven't seen the ground since last Sunday - over a week now.

The photo above was taken out my back door this morning. That little round black thing on the table is our mini-charcoal grill. On top of it is a frisbee that my H took out there to play with the dogs yesterday afternoon (since it would stay on top of the snow so they could find it!). Last night when we went to bed, it was clear of snow. I guess that when you mix the typical rainy PNW weather with below-freezing temps...you get this disaster. It's beautiful, but messy, dangerous and a pain in the butt!

This was the view across the street taken after one of the ice-rains we had last week.

I had to shovel out the chicken run this morning so that the chickens could 1) get out of the coop and 2) get water. Their waterer, which is suspended above the ground by a few inches and which is about a foot tall, was almost completely covered in snow. When I walk outside of the paths we've made, the snow is up to my knees.

Neither of the goats will leave their shed. I used to occasionally see them strolling around in between snow showers...but we had some freezing rain Saturday night and since then, neither of them are too sure of the crust of ice they have to step through. Even the dogs are not fans of it. In fact, I think that the snow is finally getting too deep for them, too!

Maggie out in the snow before the ice-crust formed. She loved it!

Luckily, our power and internet is holding out. With both of those, I am able to work from home and save my PTO for real needs. My H does the same thing on a regular basis, anyway. He is going to have to cancel a trip to visit a customer this week, but he can reschedule. Driving is treacherous. I grew up in northern states, so to me, driving on snow is no big deal. What I didn't take into consideration is that when you live in a place where snow is common, they have the insfrastructure in place to deal with it. Plows, sanders, people, etc. Here? Not so much. They local authorities are scrambling to take care of things and a lot of the plan to deal with it is just hoping for normal temps to return so that it melts!

We did buy chains last week, and I got to use them for the first time yesterday. Getting them on when the car was already sitting in a couple of inches of snow (some of it being well-packed) wasn't easy, but once they were on, they worked really well. We headed to the grocery store (about 8 miles from us) and got there safely enough. We also paid a visit to our local Ace hardware to pick up a few items for minor home repairs while we were out. While we were in the grocery store, the snow picked up. It was really, really coming down as we went to leave and getting home, even with chains and front-wheel drive was dicey. My poor southerner husband was terrified (I was driving, of course) but he hid it well for the most part.

We made it home with no issues...and we are happy that we don't have to go out again anytime soon.

Now, if UPS/FedEx and the USPS would get on the ball...we'd get the last of the Christmas presents we are waiting on!

Chickens are a-laying

Free-range chickens lay eggs with dark yolks!

So as I mentioned last week, the chickens have started laying eggs for us. We are seeing a distinct pattern, too. So far, we are getting two white eggs and one brown egg each day. This means that since we only have two chickens who lay white eggs, they are laying an egg a day. This is pretty unusual for this time of year (dark days generally mean less eggs), but the white leghorns are supposed to be the most prolific layers of our group (the reason we got them)...so it does make sense. We are getting one brown egg a day, but we are fairly certain that they are not all coming from the same RIR. In fact, based on shell pattern, it's obvious that we have at least two different RIR's a-laying at the moment. It's possible that three of them are in the game since we do occasionally get two brown eggs in one day.

We know for certain that none of the 'easter egg' birds are laying yet. These are mixed breed birds with Americana/Arucana characteristics. They will lay blue-green eggs once they start laying, so we will know when they are of 'age'.

The roosters seemed to have calmed down a bit. There was quite a bit of agression from one of them right as the laying began, but they seemed to have either put their fighting on hold in the interest of staying warm, or the 'lesser' rooster has learned that he does not get to procreate (which used to piss off the head rooster and cause fights). It is supposed to warm back up to normal winter temps next week, so we'll keep an eye on them. I think we've decided to put the big guy into the pot...but we'll make the final decision when it's time to make the cut.

Funny thing happened last weekend when the chickens were free-ranging in the goat pen. We put them in with the goats so that we can go and do other things and not worry about them. It's possible they could still be taken by large birds of prey, but at least in the pen they are safe from our neighbor's dogs...which are definitely the most immediate threat. Anyway, when they are in the pen, they do not have access to their coop. We put their waterer in with them, but they forage for food and use the goat's play table for shelter when it rains. I was feeding some weeds to the goats and noticed that one of the white leghorn girls was pacing back and forth against the fence, closest to where the coop was located. She was clearly agitated! I called to my H to come and put her in the coop because I had a feeling that she had to lay an egg. Sure enough, as soon as he put her in there she ran into the coop and into a nesting box to lay! Poor thing, she was probably thinking "got an egg coming, gotta get to the coop...got an egg coming, gotta get to the coop!".

The weather has been so horrible since then that we haven't free-ranged them (no grass to find anyway!). If we can, I hope to let them out there this weekend. I plan to make a temporary nesting box for them out of an old kitty litter bucket that we can leave in the goat pen for 'free-range' days.

The coop as it looked this morning...looks like it's made out of gingerbread and icing!

Christmas on the homestead

Kitty in his new favorite resting spot - under our Christmas tree!

So, Christmas is just around the corner. This year, my H and I decided to scale back in a big way. We have decided to buy one gift for both of us (something we've both been wanting for awhile) and then put a strict spending limit on individual gifts for each other. We also got small gifts for each of our family members and will be including some home-made items with each package. We can't include everything that we'd like since all our family members live far away and we can't exactly mail goats milk butter or apple cider...but we are making due.


I'd really, really wanted to hand make all the gifts this year, but as usual, time ran out on me. I'm not going to share what my plans were though, since I know who is reading ths blog and some of those ideas will just be used for next year! We partly wanted to reduce our spending this year for financial reasons, partly for my continued desire to reject consumerism and partly from our efforts to be more earth friendly. Reusing things or giving edible items is a simple way of being more sustainable and reducing the impact on landfills.


Personally, I also think homemade things mean more, especially when they are from the heart.


For our main gift, my H and I hemmed and hawed a little about what to get. There are so many things that we still need, but in most cases, one of us wants (or will use) the item more than the other person. We wanted to come up with something that would benefit both of us equally. So, we finally decided on a greenhouse! We have ordered a greenhouse kit from an online dealer and we were hoping that it would ship to arrive before Christmas. Of course, with the weather the way it's been...it's probably better that it's not here yet. With all the snow, artic temps, freezing rain and general winter mess, we wouldn't really be able to get it put up for awhile anyway. We ordered a 6x8 greenhouse that is modular in that we can buy expansions as we decide we need them. We figure that 6x8 is enough to get us started. We've also been paying close attention to the sunlight patterns on our property this winter (when the sun is out occasionally!) so that we can pick the best location. We've decided on a spot that gets the most winter sun, but that is also partway shaded in the summer time. The only downfall to this spot is its distance from the house and from our water supply. BUT, we do have a shallow well with a pump for our irrigation system (in the summer) and one of the spigots to it is right next to where the greenhouse will go...so we are hoping we can rig something with that come the dry season. Until then, I hope to get a gutter and a barrel installed on it for rainwater collection.

This is a pic of the greenhouse from the site where we ordered it. I can't wait for it to get here!

Snow!!

Early morning snow on the homestead. Here you can see the coop with one rooster out looking for scratch. Behind the coop, you can see a big apple tree and a slightly smaller pear tree. On the far right, one row of blackberry brambles are visable.

So, aparently, snow is an oddity here. Actually, I guess we do get the occasional snow dusting...it's the week long temps that won't break the freezing mark that has everyone baffled around here. Personally, I LOVE it! I was so afraid that our move to the PNW wouldn't afford me days like today - snow on the ground (that squeaks underfoot when you step on it), temps in the 20's and crystal clear sunlight. Ah...the beauty that is winter...

The view across the street as the sun was rising - and the iceslick that we call a road.

I could do without the 2 inch thick ice coating all the roadways though. It took me over an hour to drive the 19 miles to work today. And if you count the time it took to warm up the car and remove all the snow (our garage is not in use as a garage at the moment), then it probably would have been faster to bike here. Of course, that would probably mean certain death with the way people handle driving in this weather...so there really is no winning. Ah well, I made it here safe and sound eventually.

So this weekend, in anticipation of this cold snap, we took a few cold weather precautions. The first is that we installed the temporary floor in the chicken coop and sealed up all the cracks. I'd cut a floor out of heavy cardboard (gotta love those 'dish pack' boxes from the moving company!) a couple of weekends ago. I installed in on Saturday and covered it with pine shaving bedding. While I did that, my H used that expandable foam sealant to seal all the openings along the corners where the boards meet. These two tasks now ensure that our chicken coop is warm and comfy.

Snow just beginning to fall on Sunday morning. You can kind of see the foam sealant oozing out of the corners of the chicken coop.

In prep for the cold temps, we also fired up our oil furnace for the first time this year. We wanted to make sure that it was working properly before we actually needed it. The plan is to use it as a back-up only. We will still heat the house for comfort with the woodburning stove...the furnace is there to keep the pipes from freezing in the middle of the night. With normal PNW temps, this would not be a concern, but because the nighttime temps will be in the teens this week, the perimeter of our house (where one of our bathrooms is located) is subject to temps that are just too cold when the stove goes out. The thermostat is set to 55 F and is located in the center of the house. At 55F in the middle of the main room, the outlying walls will still remain above 32F - even in these cold evenings. We also made sure to stack the wood in the house high enough to last through the 'storm'. I also made a point of scouring the yard for all fallen branches and dumped them in a bucket in the garage - for kindling. I did it so that they would dry out - I didn't even think that I'd need to do that because they'd be covered with snow by Sunday night!

And so it begins...this was taken as I was milking the goats on Sunday morning.

Eschewing consumerism

About 12 to 15 years ago, I was neck deep in a retail managment career. I kind of fell into that particular career path by accident. Wait a minute, let me step back futher.

As a child, I wanted to be a number of things. Doctor, vetrinarian, oceanographer, lawyer, etc. I ruled out oceanographer pretty quickly when I discovered my tendency to get motion sickness. The doctor/vet idea got thrown out when I dropped Chemistry my freshman year in college (don't ask). I kept lawyer in the back of my mind, (even taking quite a few criminology classes as part of my sociology BA), but never really pursued it. Somehow, I thought I'd follow in my father's footsteps and get an MBA. Toward that end, I entered the 'Executive Training Program' at Jordan Marsh after graduation. I worked as a department manager for Jordan Marsh. Then as an assistant buyer (in training) at Bradlees. Then I went back to store-line and worked as an assistant manager, then an associate store manager and then a store manager for Gap and then Old Navy. Then I left Gap, Inc. to work as a store manager for Polo Ralph Lauren. I ran one of their large volume factory stores for three years. I was located in the Poconos of Pennsylvania and this is where I first discovered my personnal disconnect.

Here I was, runing a large volume store in the midst of a complex of factory outlets. Consumerism at it's most glaring. I was afforded the ability to dress to the nines and to outfit my home in only the BEST. I was making good money and living where the cost of living was extremely low. I also got a 50% discount on everything I bought. I learned to appreciate amazing quality in my shoes, my clothing, my bedding, my china...yes, we even sold china. My wardrobe alone would have put some rich, prep school girls to shame. Two things were wrong with this...1) I didn't concern myself with credit card debt and 2) I didn't NEED all that stuff. I lived alone and yet I had a three bedroom apartment because it was so cheap. I drove an SUV...but to be fair, I lived on the top of a mountain and I actually did need that 4x4 more often than I like to remember! But, I was also surrounded by gorgeous land, many, many old homes...some of which were horse farms... I loved exploring the small historic towns, the rustic inns, and the out of the way antique shops. We did live in a 200 year old house when I was a child, so I thought all this nostalgia was for my own past...not for THE past. For some reason, I felt suspended between two worlds. I was living the 'glamorous' fashion life in the midst of country small town living. It was out of sync and I felt it from the start.

I immediately attributed my unhappiness to my lack of mate. I was in my late 20's and had no 'husband' prospects. I don't think my 'biological clock' was ever installed, but that doesn't mean that I didn't yearn for a partner. I also thought my feelings of discontent stemmed from my career choice. I knew I didn't want retail forever, but I didn't know what I did want outside of a fulfilling career that would still afford me the lifestyle I'd decided that I enjoyed. BUT, in retrospect, I can recall times where I was spending to feel better. I would buy nice things, and more nice things, and more nice things...because I'd feel a little better each time...but ultimately, it wasn't the answer. And yet I got great joy in strolling the grounds at this one inn I frequented. I used to want to peek in at the kitchens (it was also a restaurant) to see if they were cooking on old fashioned wood stoves! I was at peace when I got to spend nights there where there were no phones and no TV. I used to imagine what it would be like to run an inn like that myself. I ruled that out thinkng that I didn't have the right personality to do that...and of course, the idea of living that way, just to live that way never even crossed my mind.

What I only wish I'd realized was that I should have been looking for a fulfilling career - regardless of earning potential. But I couldn't. I was caught up in it. Caught up in the 'lifestyle'. Caught up in proving that I was as successful as my peers. Caught up in having nice things that would make me happy. Caught up in meeting the traditional markers of success and my need to live up to some imagined expectations.

Unfortunately, I stayed caught in this 'web' for many more years. I eventually moved to Florida, went back to school, got a new degree and a new career, met my husband, bought our first house, and so on. All this time...still caught up in this idea that I needed to prove my success at life by the things I possessed (how nice our house was, what I wore, what we drove, vacations we took, bikes we owned...it kept going). This web basically had a life of it's own and in a place of rampid consumerism like Pinellas County, Florida, it flourished unchecked.

Then we moved to NC...and all of a sudden could once again afford MORE. Cost of living was less, our earning was good and we'd made a nice profit on the sale of our house in Florida. We bought in a nice neighborhood, with a nice house, with a beautiful lawn. I had a nice car, nice clothing...and luckily, no credit card debt anymore. I had a great job, with a great company in my great new career. But my H wasn't happy there and neither of us really fit in...and again, something just wasn't right. I wasn't satisfied with my life but yet I didn't feel like I had any right to feel that way. I had everything, didn't I?

It wasn't until I was slapped in the face by the concept of Peak Oil that I began to wake up for real. This idea was the catalyst that set the ball in motion. The more I read, the more I realized that I finally had my REASON to do what I really, really wanted to do all along but just couldn't justify. I wanted to get out. I didn't want a big house. I didn't want a fast car (well, ok...I did want the car...selling my MINI just about killed me and if I still had it, it would be my one vice). I didn't want granite countertops, stainless appliances, and crown molding. And of course, I already knew that I didn't want 2.5 kids, the PTA and the volvo SUV.

So, here it is, just over a year later (I can't believe it's only been a year!) and we now have a small house, are working towards growing our own food, and are down to one car. I walk in chicken & goat shit every morning. I don't wear my engagement ring except for special occasions. My favorite piece of clothing is a toss up between a wool hoodie and a pair of long underware bottoms. Our house is a toasty 61F. I look forward to saving my money for things like solar panels and I can't wait to get started on building a composting toilet. Hell, I bought my 'farm' jacket (the one that is perpetually covered in mud) from Goodwill for pete's sake.

I'm a very, very LONG way from the girl who dressed in head to toe Ralph Lauren for her 5 year college reunion. And the part that is the most exciting? I'm truly happy. FINALLY.

So my point? Eschew consumerism. Don't buy into it. Be true to yourself - find what makes you happy and do it, now. Even if it means living in two worlds (like I am right now) for awhile as you get situated. It's worth every single drop of sweat. I swear it.

Look, more eggs!!

Egg on left - store bought 'large' egg. Eggs to the right (l to r): 1st egg from a White Leghorn, 2nd egg from a White Leghorn (probably the same one), 1st egg from a Rhode Island Red.

Snowballs and the pantry

Big economic snowball headed our way - this one is being pushed along by bailout after bailout, too (I think I see seven 'bailouts' in this photo) ;-).

On Facebook, I likened what's happening in the economy as a big ass snowball, rolling down a massive hill, picking up size and speed as it heads right for us.... This came to mind this morning when I heard an interview on NPR about a guy who supplies clothing to department stores. He was saying that his company was barely hanging on by a thread (no pun intended) because all his major accounts (large department stores, mostly) had cancelled December orders. He said that he was doing everything he could to hold out (including laying off employees) until the new year when things would pick up. This got me thinking about my own company. I work in a group that handles products for network solutions (like laptops, WLAN basestations, etc). Our largest customer pushed out most of their 4th quarter orders. Everyone expected this, but what no one is talking about is how all the smaller customers are also pushing out orders. Yeah, 4th quarter is when everyone cuts back to make the budget for the year, but I think it's way more than that, this time around. I kept thinking: What happens in January when the orders don't renew? What happens when the department stores, or the network builders realize that they had a crappy 4th quarter and now they can't afford to get back into these businesses in the volumes they had planned? Then what? Yes...this snowballs...

Anyway, instead of letting the stress of this eat away at my ability to sleep (a common occurance for me), I'm going to get more proactive in my little way. How? Working on the pantry!

Our pantry (but not our food - this photo was from the listing for our home). It looks a little different now that we are filling it with the types of things we eat.

We haven't had time to get to the grocery store in a couple of days, so we are completely out of veggies. For dinner, I've been looking to our pantry (such as it is). Last night, we had pork steaks in a teriyaki marinade with fried rice and glazed carrots. The pork was in the freezer, the rice (from a box mix) was in the pantry as were the carrots (home canned). It turned out surprizingly well! Tonight, I'll be making a low fat 'cheeseburger' pie with a green salad (using up the last of the lettuce, spinach and tomatoes left in the house). Tomorrow, it'll likely be some other concoction using frozen meat, canned or frozen veggies and potatoes (which we have plenty of). It's kind of fun seeing what kind of dinners one can create using only what is in the house!


It'll be even more fun once the pantry is STOCKED the way I'd like. The past few days have made me realize that we need more veggies stored. To this end, I'm going to buy some bulk veggies this weekend and can some more. I'd also like to put together a small root cellar and store more things like potatoes, root veggies and winter squash. I know I'll be buying these items this year, but it'll be a good way to learn how a root cellar works in preparation for next year when I'll get to store things grown in our own garden. I also need to take a good inventory of what we have in the pantry already. The plan is to mount a white board near the door so that as we use something up, we can list it and get it replaced. Shopping for 'fresh' foods usually centers on fruits and veggies, milk, eggs and bread. My goal is to only need to buy fruits and veggies once every couple of weeks and to avoid having to buy milk (done), eggs (soon), and bread (time to start). Not only will this save money (buying in bulk and during sales), but it will save lots of time and heaven knows, we could all use a little more of that!

So the moral of the story? If you don't have a working pantry - start one, now. If your home doesn't have a dedicated pantry area, you can always convert a closet, the space under your stairs, or even the corner of a room (I know of one woman who bought a big old wardrobe at a yard sale and uses that for her pantry). Start with buying extra of the things you use all the time (or buy in bulk if you can). This is easy to do with things like canned goods, dry goods and paper products. From there, start thinking about assembling meals and what items you'll need to supplement what you've already got. This might mean being more efficient about how the freezer is utilized or trying some things like home canning or dehydrating. Keep in mind, there is no point to filling the back closet with wheat flour if you can't eat wheat. What I mean is, buy and store the things YOU eat. Not only will this eventually be a great money and time saver, this will also help you prepare for emergencies (power outages, natural disasters, etc). Besides...it's kind of fun seeing all that beautiful food (like canned cinnamon grape preserves or golden turkey stock) lining the shelves!

Our First Egg!!

Our first egg is the one on the bottom. The one on the top is a grocery store "large" egg for comparison.

I'm so excited! The roosters have been 'violating' the chickens for about a week and a half now, so we knew it must be close to laying time. In fact, today we had to separate the roosters for the first time because they were fighting so badly. We put the smaller one into the goat paddock for the day so that he could free-range. The others we left in the coop/run since it was rainy anyway. When my H went to put the rooster back in, he saw the egg sitting there in one of the nesting box! Thank goodness we got those boxes done last week! This is an egg from one of the two white leghorns. They are supposed to be the most prolific layers of the group, so it makes sense that they'd be the first to lay for us.

This was a busy weekend as usual. We did get the chicken coop waterproofed yesterday. It had been clear for a few days, so the coop was nice and dry and it was supposed to be sunny yesterday and warm enough (barely) to apply the water seal. By the time we'd put the chickens back in, it was dry enough that the fumes were mostly gone. Today, it rained and we could see the water beading up on the coop. Excellent!

We also skimmed more milk and ate the last of the carrots from our garden. And we tried one of the pints of canned carrots with our dinner one night...they were surprizingly good! Not mushy at all...which I was totally expecting. Next weekend I hope to can a batch of something else (I did no canning this weekend). We did get some big beef bones from our CSA, so maybe I'll use those to make some beef stock.

Today we managed to get in a 20 mile ride. It was pouring rain the whole time, but all of our gear served us well and we stayed dry and comfortable. I was actually kind of glad that I got a chance to test everything out (including my fenders) before I have to ride to work one day in the rain. We are both also working on getting back into shape, so a 20 mile ride was a nice workout towards that end.

Lastly, I managed to get the outside of our house decorated. I put up icicle lights hanging from the front porch overhang. Then we put rope lighting as an outline of our roofline. Lastly, I framed the front door with fake evergreen boughs laced with white lights. It all looks nice but isn't too much. I'm not a fan of house decorations that light up the night! Tonight we are putting up our tree. The ceilings in this house are 7ft. The tree is 7.5 ft. Somehow, we'll make it work!

Rain and Sun in Oregon

The sun broke through and sent us a gorgeous, bright rainbow across our backyard!

More often than not, the weather can make or break my mood. This has always been the case for me, so I was fearful that moving to a place where it rained from October to June was going to do me in. So far, I've been wrong. Today is the first day of December, so now I can say that I have been in Oregon for every month of the year. I came here for my interview in January of 2008. We traveled here for a week in Feburary 2008 to look for a place to live. We moved here in March 2008 and have been here ever since. Up until today, December was the only month I hadn't yet experienced at all in Oregon. Now, I'm not clamining that one day in December, a weekend in January and a week in February is enough to determine how the long rainy winter will affect me...but it's a milestone, none-the-less!

Anyway, what I've come to realize is that while yes, it rains virtually daily in the winter, it's often not a long drawn out downpour. In fact, it's mostly just cloudy and drizzly with occasional breaks in the clouds...sometimes even lasting a whole afternoon (like yesterday). And then June/July hits and someone turns off the water. It didn't rain much at all in July or August of last year. In fact, it was very arid...cool, dry and beautiful. Anyway, my point is that while it would be hard to plan a week of camping in these winter conditions, it's easy enough to get things done (when it's not dark!) and to work around the rain showers. So far, the minor sun breaks are enough to keep my spirts up. Rainbows help, in this regard, too. Let's see how I do with the rest of the winter!