A busy week!

It's amazing how busy a week can get, ever notice that? I've been running all week between my homestead and town...much to often to my liking I might add. Between grocery shopping, clothes shopping, orthodontist appointment, drivers ed and a trip to the fabric store...oh and a trip to the feed store too....I have only been home one day so far this week. Of course, the trips were spread out over several days. That just makes for a long week for this mama. The business of life at home keeps going even when I am not here, so today I am feeling rather buried. :) Thankfully, today is a day that I get to stay home...all...day....long!

It never ceases to amaze me how much laundry one family can generate! Ever notice how it just seems to multiply in the laundry hampers, floor and bathrooms....especially when you are NOT home? How does it do that? Seriously, this week has not been a very productive week in the laundry room, but today that will change. :) My washing machine is going to get a work out today, as is my clothesline. Sunshine...I hope you are going to be up for the challenge because I have a lot of laundry to send your way to dry. :)

Aside from running, shopping, kids appointments and trying to keep up, it's been a good week. The highlight of my week was my new "toy" that arrived yesterday! My new Nutrimill grain mill is finally here and I am going to get to use it today when I bake bread and cookies! YAY! To FINALLY have a grain mill that works well is going to be a huge blessing. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. Having a tool that helps you do your job here at home well is invaluable! Thankfully, my wonderful husband sees that fact and is very generous when it comes to making my job here at home a bit easier. :)

My old grain mill was beyond scary. It was so loud, I had to run it in the laundry room, away from the main part of the house. Another of it's downfalls was that it would spit flour out everywhere...I'd enter my laundry room to add more wheat berries or retrieve the flour and walk into a haze of flour in the air! AWFUL! The walls needed dusting daily when I used the grain mill every day and the top of my washing machine was looking rather scary. Thank the Lord, those days are over!

Thankfully, this week is coming to a close and our weekend can begin. This mam is ready, let me tell you! I just have to get through the tasks of today. Thankfully, I have help...my hard working kids. We'll have this house in shape and our clothesline full in no time. Taming the laundry monster that seems to want to take over our home will take some time, but I know we can do it. Starting our weekend with the laundry done is always a huge blessing! Friday just seems to be my catch up day...my goal each week is to be caught up on the laundry and baking by Friday so I can relax a bit more over the weekend. After a busy week like I've had, there is a bit more catch up to do than normal, but that's OK. :)

A day of fun, fishing and an up hill climb...

Whew...what a day we had! I am still feeling it, sore muscles...aches and pains here and there. :) Saturday, my husband wanted to take us to one of his favorite fishing holes. We've all been there before, but it's been a couple of years...oh how time makes you forget things sometimes. This favorite place is called "Canyon Creek". The first clue should have been the CANYON part of that name. :) It was a very steep canyon....strait down or up depending on if you were at the top or at the bottom. I could do this! Right? Umm....sure I could. :) This picture does NOT do this climb justice...it was MUCH longer than this appears and climbing out was literally done on my hands and knees. :) So much fun!

It was beautiful though! This is a calm part of the creek, there were rapids and waterfalls not far from this spot. The kids enjoyed their time fishing and getting wet on this warm day, I just enjoyed watching them and taking pictures of the beauty of the creek and my family fishing together. Such fun! I did find myself missing our oldest boy though. It's hard to get used to him not being here with us all the time, I'm not ready for this stage of life with my kids. So, our Marine was missed...I'm sure by all of us.


The kids did well fishing. Many fish were caught and released because they were too small, but several were brought home for our dinner. A fun day, full of memories, for sure! The getting out of the canyon was harder than getting in and I was seriously wondering if this mama could make it! My ever patient husband kept pace with me...not a hard thing as I am a slow climber...making
sure I didn't fall back down into the canyon. My hero! :)

















I love having time with my family, spending days like this make for some really fun memories for all of us. Life can be so busy, we can be so focused on the "task of the day" that we miss special moments sometimes. I didn't miss many this day. :)

Chicks Arrive and Garden Update

This year we are trying something new, instead of buying Cornish Cross meat birds, we ordered 25 cockerels to raise until they start crowing. Yes, it will take a few more weeks, but I think the quality of meat will be better. Plus, they will forage for more of their food, rather than sitting next to the feeder and getting fat. :) Time will tell if it was a good move, but the price of the birds was too good to pass up for this frugal farmer! We ended up, with shipping, paying just over $.60 each for our birds. NOT bad, considering a typical meat bird is more than twice that. like I said, time will tell. It's a gamble we were willing to take. Having 25 birds in our freezer this winter will be a huge blessing! I've missed home grown chicken...we at the last of our last batch months ago.

Here they are in their brood cage. We converted an old rabbit hutch into a brooding cage. It's got two cages, we have a hen setting a clutch of eggs in the other cage...praying some hatch this weekend. :) It's our first attempt at this. So far, one egg has broken to reveal a nasty truth, an unfertilized egg. :(Stinky mess and one that will have to be cleaned up after the rest hatch (if they do).
Our garden has been less than stellar this year. Cold and wet weather this spring has contributed to the not so wonderful results. So far, all that has done even close to "well" are the potatoes, onions, beets (which I harvested half of this week and canned up 11 pints of pickled beets, froze several bags of beet tops too), peas and carrots. Here are my peas. I've harvested twice so far and ended up with a 1 quart container of peas. There are more out there to harvest today, perhaps another quart. :) I'll also be planting more beets, peas and carrots for a fall harvest. I've got to do something to redeem my sad garden.

Here is our lone tomato. So far, lots of blossoms, but only one lonely tomato has been brave enough to make an appearance. Won't go far, I'll be buying tomatoes to can this year. So frustrating! I also planted pole beans, they are doing OK, but not nearly as tall as they should be by now. Not sure what kind of harvest we'll get off of them this year. I am praying for an extended growing season, that would help! We have learned some lessons this year, however, so not all is lost. Yes, we'll end up with little to show for our efforts, but the knowledge we'll take into next years garden will hopefully make up for what we didn't harvest this year. Always learning, and trying to improve. :) That's what this is all about anyway, right?

Thankful for Friday!

Wow, it's Friday again already? This week has gone by super fast, though in the midst of it, it didn't feel that way. Funny how some weeks are just like that. So, what am I thankful for this week? So much...but here are a few:

*My hard working husband. His commute to his current job is a long one in the afternoons. He comes home completely exhausted every day from work. We get about an hour with him to eat dinner and relax a bit, then he is off to bed. Today, however, is his day off. He's been working 4 ten hour days, trying to save himself a day of commuting, gas and wear and tear on his truck.

*My garden...I was able to harvest enough beets yesterday to can 11 pints of pickled beets and the tops and stalks all went into the freezer. Nothing went to waste! All from our garden. YAY!

*My blueberry picking kids...picking 25+ pounds this week.

*Our heavily producing raspberries. We've picked two huge bowls of berries this week.

*My kids and all that they help with around here. We may have attitudes to deal with from time to time, but that is something we are seeing progress in. :)

So much that I could add to that list! What are you thankful for this week? Even if you don't share it, at least recognize it within yourself. We are all so blessed, even in the hardest times. God is good..ALL the time and He loves to shower His children with blessings! How amazing is that?

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins...YUMMY!

Yesterday morning I decided to make some banana muffins for breakfast. They were a hit! So tasty and easy to make. My family loves muffins...breakfast, snack time and even as a side dish with dinner when I make a savory type muffin like corn bread. :) Here is the recipe:

Banana Muffins

3 large bananas
1 egg
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375*. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or grease the muffin pan. With an electric mixer, beat the peeled bananas at moderate speed until mashed. Beat in the egg, sugar and oil. Add dry ingredients and beat on low speed. Mix just until blended. Fill prepared cups two-thirds full. Bake until tops spring back when touched lightly, 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

These were a real hit...my kids loved them and so did I. Perfect with a hot cup of coffee. :)

Sauerkraut Recipe

I was asked by a reader of my blog to post the recipe for the sauerkraut I made this week. It is super easy and so far mine appears to be working great. I have 4 more days for it to work it's magic, so we shall see how it turns out. Anyway, here is the recipe....I would HIGHLY recommend that you order this cookbook, however! It's by a woman named Fran Gillette that lives here locally. I have three of her cookbooks and love them all dearly! The history in them alone is amazing. The books are not expensive and well worth every penny, I promise!

I didn't make the full batch of this, just used the 6 heads of cabbage that I had purchased for this recipe. I didn't want to jump into doing 40 pounds of cabbage if it was not something that was going to work well for me. Not that I don' t trust the recipe, but there is always that factor of "user error" you know. :)

Homemade Sauerkraut

40 pounds shredded cabbage
1 pound salt

In a very large pot or bowl, layer cabbage and salt. Mix well until the cabbage is starting to sweat or make juice. Pack into sterile, clean, wide-mouthed jars. Pack the cabbage down firmly until 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. Wipe off rims and place cap and ring on. Tighten. Line a large wash tub with newspaper and set quarts in the tub. Cover with a large towel and keep tub with cabbage in a warm to mild place. Jars will bubble and stew for approximately 4-5 days. Don't panic! This is OK! Jars will start smelling like sauerkraut as they work. When fermentation stops, wash off jars, rinse seals and lids; wipe lids. If needed add some water to bring liquid up to the neck of the jar; about 1 inch from top. Replace dry lids and seals. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes. Ready to eat in 4-6 weeks.

It was SO easy to make this with the help of my food processor. I actually did mine in two big bowls. From 6 heads of cabbage, I got 5 quarts of kraut. I had to guess on the salt, just put a layer of cabbage and then sprinkled on canning salt and repeated until the bowls were full. Mixed it up with tongs and once it started getting juicy I packed it into jars. EASY! I just had a mess of cabbage everywhere....do you do that? Canning seems to be the hardest thing to do neatly for me. :) I found more cabbage that I had missed cleaning up the following morning...AFTER I had cleaned (or thought I had) the mess up the day before. :) Yes, I guess I am a messy cook. :)

If you decide to try this, let me know how it turns out and if you did anything differently. I'd also love to hear if you order any of Mrs. Gillette's cookbooks, you will love them! The best cinnamon roll recipe I have ever had is in them (I believe all of them, they are that good). Best pie crust recipe too. :) They make the perfect housewarming gift or wedding gift! Anyone that loves the country and loves to cook will love them. I sound like a commercial and no I am not being asked to say this or sell these cookbooks...I just LOVE them! I also love to see local business people succeed. :) I know most of you aren't local, but I'm sure you understand. :)

Fall like morning...raspberry jam...and sauerkraut!

This is the scene I woke up to this AM...is it fall and I really missed summer? Our weather has been more fall like this summer than summer like. My garden has suffered because of it. So frustrating, but I can't change it so I will choose to be thankful for what our garden does provide this year. Potatoes, onions, beets and carrots are doing well in my garden. Tomatoes are going to be scarce, as are green beans I'm afraid. Not one of my cucumber, zucchini or squash came up from the seeds I planted, most of my pepper plants have totally stalled or died since going in the ground and my lettuce is looking more like micro greens than lettuce. The fog is beautiful though...I just wish it were settling over a well producing fall garden, rather than a poorly producing summer garden. :) Oh well...can't have everything.
My raspberries, on the other hand are doing quite well this year! They don't seem to care that the weather has been rather cold and fall like. Sure, we could get more juicy berries if the sun would come out and shine, but we are still getting a good harvesting of berries anyway. Yesterday I spent a bit of time washing berries and making jam. I had a big bowl of berries that the kids had picked on Sunday just right for a batch of jam. Aren't the jars pretty?
When I was in town on Monday, I picked up about 6 heads of cabbage at a local produce stand. I love this place, a 5th or 6th generation, family owned, working farm. Most of the produce that I preserve that I can't grow myself, comes from Bi-Zi Farms. It just feels good to support a local family run farm, plus they are such a neat family to boot! :) Anyway, back to my cabbage....I have been wanting to try my hand at making Sauerkraut and found a wonderful recipe in a cookbook put out by a local lady named Fran Gillette. The kraut ferments in the quart jars that you end up canning it into. What could be easier!! We'll see how it works. I didn't buy the 40 pounds of cabbage the recipe called for, so I tried to salt it accordingly. Hopefully I didn't over do the salt. :) Either way, it will be a fun experiment. If it looks like it's working the way it should, I'll go buy 40 pounds of cabbage and make the whole recipe later. I can't wait to try the kraut....but it will be another month before I'll know how good it is.

Blueberries are here!

My family LOVES blueberries. While this picture is not the best (I took it with my cell phone), you'll have to trust me when I tell you that these berries were so sweet and juicy. Yesterday, in the misty, cool morning...which by the way, felt more like fall than summer...my kids, my niece Devon and I headed down the road to a blueberry farm. I LOVE visiting this place. The gentleman that owns it is such a sweet man and his place is BEAUTIFUL! We found him about two years ago, though last year we went to a different farm because they had a better price...won't be doing that again. These blueberries are so much better and so much closer, plus I just really like supporting a neighbor when I can. :) The blueberries from his farm are huge and so easy to pick. Can you tell I like his farm?

The kids and I picked for nearly an hour and managed to pick just over 25 pounds. By the time we were done, this 5 gallon bucket was just about full. Not bad work for a few teen age kids, a 3 year old and this mamma. I am planning on getting at least that much again, perhaps more. The berries we picked yesterday have found their way into my freezer and into pint jars in the form of jam. I made three batches of blueberry jam yesterday, for a total of 27 pints! That should last us a while. :) I only froze three bags of berries, in four cup portions. We will need much more than that in the freezer for pancakes, muffins and smoothies this next year....did I tell you we LOVE blueberries? :) I also want to try drying some for our baked oatmeal and granola. Perhaps I had better plan on more than just 50 pounds. :) CRAZY, I know, but I told you... :)

Here are my finished jars, ready for the rings to be removed and to find their new home on my pantry shelves. What a job that will be, my pantry is in need of some reorganizing. I should have done that before now, but there is always something else that needs my attention more. This year I plan to be more organized in my pantry and keeping better track of what I can and freeze for the coming year. That way I'll have a better handle on what we actually need and use each year.

Carnival Time and a Great Weekend!

Ever have one of those weekends that you just HATE to see end? That was this past weekend for our family. Such a fun time we had! We started out the weekend with the kids gone to their aunt's house for the night on Friday and the day on Saturday. That left Wade and I with a night and afternoon to ourselves. The best part is that even though we could have found work to do around here, we didn't! After a lazy breakfast on Saturday morning, Wade and I headed into town for a few things, just enjoying looking around and spending time together. We got lunch and just sat and talked. Rare moment! :) After a while, we went home and just enjoyed a lazy afternoon in a quiet house until the kids came home around dinner time.

Sunday, we overslept and missed church...forgot about the new summer schedule....oops. So we had breakfast, got chores done and headed to the carnival in town. We haven't been in years and it was a really good time. Very small, but still fun. The kids were excited, we didn't tell them where we were going. :) The first stop I wanted to make was the "Friends of the Library Book Sale". Such a great event and one that I always seem to miss, until this year. :) You can fill a grocery bag with books and it's just a $1! Pretty cool. I walked away with just a handful of books, maybe 5, but they were still just $1. :) I kind of wish Wade and I had thought to go there on Saturday, I bet there were even more books to choose from then. Oh well...we had a great time!

Alyssa wanted to play one of those silly carnival games...so we let her. LOL No, she didn't win, but every kid has to try...right?
Then the kids picked a couple of rides to go on. There weren't many to choose from...this is a small town carnival, after all. :) Getting them to choose one to go on all together was hard, but we managed. Dylan had never been on a carnival ride...not since he was very little and has no memories of it, really. Yes, it's been THAT long since we took the kids and let them ride on rides. I personally can't stand the rides, they scare me to death, but the kids had fun. :)
This ride, once they were loaded on, they closed the door like a space ship. That made me SUPER nervous, but they said it was fun and they all came out with smiles. Alyssa even went on it a second time later when the boys were doing another ride. Crazy!

The next ride ended up being a bonus...the ride cut short, so they got their tickets back. Pretty cool! :) Alyssa didn't enjoy this one as much, but it was fun watching the boys get her spinning. :)
She was having fun, but had a problem with not being able to control the spinning...the boys enjoyed getting her going. :)
The boys decided to go on a scary ride..at least to this mamma. I'd NEVER go on it, but they had fun. We tried to get Alyssa to join them, but she wanted to go back on the space ship thing. :) I was a bit worried about Dylan, but he wanted to go...and had a blast! Crazy boys.
I couldn't get any clear pictures of them on this ride to post, but here they are getting off. This ride went WAY up in the air, hard to explain, but they stayed level while this huge arm swung them up and around several times. Like I said...CRAZY!
They came off the ride all smiles....guess they had fun!

All in all, it was a fun day. We got to spend some fun time with the kids, tried a deep fried Twinkie....it was actually good! I was VERY surprised. :) Fun time as a family...missed our Marine though. :( Anthony was never far from my mind yesterday, remembering times we took him to this carnival too. It's hard having kids grow up so fast, but we are so very proud of all of our kids and love every moment with them! This season of life is so short....we are enjoying every moment! :)

Kefir!

Earlier this week, a friend of mine sent me some kefir grains in the mail. I have wanted to try this for a long time. In the past, I've used the powdered kefir cultures you can purchase and thought that they were OK, but not wonderful. OH my goodness! This new kefir is amazingly good! I made a smoothie for the kids and I for breakfast this AM, our first with this new kefir. Absolutely AMAZING! The flavor is SO much better and I didn't get the "goatie" flavor I've noticed with our other kefir. YAY! Anyone that knows me knows that I have really struggled with the whole "goat" flavor or hint of flavor in our goats milk products. The milk itself is fine, no after taste, but anything that is left out or heated leaves me with that goat flavor. No one else in the house notices it, I'm the only crazy one. LOL I love my goats and since I am the only one that notices it, we have kept going with them.

If you can get your hands on some kefir grains to make your own kefir, I highly recommend that you take the opportunity! Kefir is SO incredibly good for you. So many benefits from digestive to immune boosting! This will become an every day thing for us. I can't wait to see how it improves our digestive issues and also keeps the nasty bugs away that can make us sick. :)

Thank you Becki for being so generous to send us a kefir grain start...I'll add that to my "Thankful Friday" list! :) See....small blessings that can mean so much more than you think until you really look at them. Love it!

Thankful for Friday!

This has been a long week, full of ups and downs. Looking back over my week, I don't feel like I accomplished much, but I guess that's OK. :) Yesterday I was fairly under the weather, feeling rotten and extremely tired. Thankfully, today I feel a bit better and ready to face the task of getting ready for another weekend. I so look forward to weekends these days, it seems to be the only time that we get to see Wade much. His work schedule these days leaves little time for much in the way of "family time". Trying to make the most of it is hard sometimes, but we are so thankful that he is working. Any time I start to get frustrated with the fact that he is not home, or is so extremely tired I remind myself that it could be worse...he could be laid off again. We know that is something that is not out of the question in the coming weeks, so we will remain thankful he has a job now. :)

Our family has been so blessed, the Lord has provided for our every need. How could we not be thankful? Each Friday, here at Tanglewood Hills, Friday will be our "Thankful" day. I'll post a list of "blessings" we've noticed or received during the week. It is just too easy to loose sight of the blessings the Lord gives us in the midst of hard times. Often we miss the little things that the Lord does just to remind us that He has not left us alone in this life. I'd like to try and focus on the many blessings as I end my week, rather than the stresses and aggravations we might have faced during our week.

This week, I am thankful for:

*Fresh milk from our Tinkerbel
*Home made hamburger buns that turned out beautifully yesterday. :)
*Wade's job and the income it provides
*Amazing kids that took such good care of things yesterday when I was not feeling well
*Chickens that are giving us an abundance of eggs
*Fresh peas from our garden
*Finally receiving the registration paperwork for our Nigerian Dwarf doe, Cookie
*My clothes line
*My job with Gling and my amazingly understanding boss

So much more I could list, but you get the idea. :) We ARE so blessed! Thank you Jesus for all that YOU have provided for our family.

Baking bread....I LOVE this chore!

Baking bread is just one of those things that I have always loved to do. Our years of gluten-free only were hard on this bread baking mamma. Oh sure, I found some amazing bread recipes, developed a few myself by tweaking recipes I found, but there is just something about baking wheat bread. The dough is so amazing to work with. The smell that fills my home is one of the best scents that can come from a country kitchen. My kids were so excited over the bread I made yesterday, the flavor was amazing...a slice of country living! It's funny how a couple of beautiful loaves of bread can make your day a bit better.

So far, our new journey in eating whole wheat products again has gone well. I am extremely hopeful that this is going to work for us....for me. Praying daily that eating more whole grains, organically grown will be a good thing for us. The years of being sick were hard, adjusting to a gluten-free diet and way of life was hard as well, but important too. We appreciate a wide range of good food now, yes, wheat is our flour of choice but there are so many amazing grains out there! I never would have thought of using bean flours in my baked goods and liking them! Gluten-free eating is a part of our life, there are things that will still be enjoyed, but having the option of also eating whole wheat products is also part of our life as well. Everything in balance, is what I'd like. :) Soaking our flour and grains has worked amazingly well and has not been as hard as I expected it to be. Like anything, it's a process of leaning to make it part of your routine. Thankfully, so far for us, it's working well.

The next step on this journey is to try soaking and sprouting my wheat berries before I grind them. This is something that I have wanted to try for a long time, but it seemed so complicated. Well, after years of finding ways to make bean and rice flour come together to make a tasty loaf of bread, I have decided that it can't be THAT hard. :) I love working with food. Love finding ways to make what we eat better for us and also just plain good!

To the river we went

Last week, we had a few really hot days here. Not a normal thing for our area in July, but once in a while we get a nice heat wave going. Last week, the temps were headed up towards 100* several days in a row. By day two, we were really feeling it. The kids wanted to head to the river, so we decided to visit my sister-in-law's house next to the river. Every other inch of water in the county was wall to wall people...EVERYONE wanted a place to cool off. :) Thankfully, we had a nice spot to visit and the kids got to spend a bit of time with their cousins. Sad, we live only a few miles apart, but rarely see each other. Busy lives are to blame, but that really is no excuse. We had a great time, the kids got to cool off and I had a nice visit with my husband's brother and his wife. I didn't get in the water, but enjoyed a shady spot on their deck and watched the kids have a ball. Alyssa's friend Ally was with us, it was a great afternoon!

The Abundant Life: Make Mine Freedom (1948) cartoon

This was posted on a blog I follow this AM. How very true it is....Make MINE Freedom!!! Enjoy this, watch it all the way to the end and decide for yourself. :) Not a hard choice, really, but some these days have forgotten or have chosen not to remember what it means to be free and also what it takes. Too many are all to willing to sign over their freedom for a "quick fix" to issues we face as a nation. Even though this cartoon is over 60 years old, it couldn't be more fitting to today. Sad really, that we haven't learned much in 60 years.

Follow the link below to The Abundant Life blog. Thank you "Ma" for posting this!!

The Abundant Life: Make Mine Freedom (1948) cartoon

Yard sale and hay time...what a weekend!

What a weekend we had! Such a busy time, but a fun time too. Our yard sale was set up and ready to go early Saturday morning. The people started coming right away...even before our 8:00 AM opening time. We didn't mind, it was a nice older gentleman that loved to talk. He visited with us for a long time, bought a few things and then said his good bye. :) Slowly, the crowds started coming. All day long, we had a fairly steady flow of people. I think the best part of the day was just spending the whole day with my hubby. We haven't had so much time together without working on something in a long time. Made for a fun day, for sure. :)

Saturday we got a phone call that the gentleman we usually buy our hay from had hay on the ground and ready to be hauled out of the field. It was good hay and a good price. So, even though my dear hubby was tired from a long week and a busy day of running a yard sale, he and our son Brandon headed out after dinner to bring in almost 100 bales of hay...that's just under 3 ton. YAY! Thankfully, that should be all the hay we will need until this time next year. Thank the Lord! Such a huge blessing and one less thing for us to have to deal with for the rest of the year. We even were able to load almost half of it into our hay loft in the barn...first time it's had hay in it. :) So, even though it had been a long day, my guys worked at bringing hay (with the help of some dear friends of ours....the guys helped them with some of their hay too) until 11:30 PM. We were up and ready for day two of our sale the next morning, bright and early. All tired, but we had a job to finish.

So, as you can see we had a long weekend. It was fun, full of hard work and so much together time. Loved it all! Tomorrow is another day, the start of another week. I have yet to plan menus or soak any grains for breakfast. I am thinking we'll end up having yogurt. :) We are all tired and have stayed up far too late. I'm headed to bed...far later than I had intended. It's all good though, it's been a great weekend! God has blessed us beyond measure and we are so thankful for it all.

Is it hot enough for you?

After what felt like an endless winter, a wet and cold spring, summer has finally come to our farm. Sure, we've had summer sunshine for a while now, thankfully, but the heat has come to visit as well now. Our forecast high for today is 90-95 degrees...tomorrow the high could reach 100! Talk about jumping into summer. It went from 60s and 70s to 90s in a matter of a day.

So, for today and tomorrow the kids and I are laying low. I'm avoiding turning on the stove or oven for fear of heating up the house even more. There is plenty that needs to be done in the kitchen, but the cooking will be kept to a minimum. Such a bummer too...so much baking I'd like to do. :) Oh well, we will survive.

This weekend we have a yard sale planned. I am NOT a fan of such undertakings, but it was something we decided we needed to do given our current financial stresses. Thankfully, my hard working man is back to work for a few weeks, but we never know when that could change and have decided to take this chance to get rid of some unwanted clutter. So, we'll be busy making deals and hopefully making a bit of money to put away for a future lay off. It will be SO nice to get rid of all of he extra "stuff". I just hope that I can survive the doing of it. :)

Friday, Alyssa and I will be busy baking a few goodies to have on hand for a small bake sale table at the sale too. That always is a welcomed thing at yard sales on early mornings. My goal is to make two batches of cinnamon rolls and a few batches of cookies. We'll also have lemonade and maybe some bottled water and soda...we'll see. With as far out as we live, I don't want to invest much. I don't have any idea how many people will venture our way...my prayer is a whole bunch! My prayer is that the Lord would bring buyers for the big things, that we'd get our price on them and that much of the little stuff would be purchased as well...my ultimate prayer is that it ALL sells. :) Wouldn't that be a HUGE God moment? Oh my! :)


In the mean time, given the heat, I'm taking advantage of the free clothes dryer. :) I'm working on the loads of laundry that have piled up. Hoping to get all of the bedding washed and hung out by the end of this heat wave. :) That is a job in and of itself! My clothesline will get a big workout this week, for sure. I love that tool...one of the best Mother's Day gifts I've ever gotten!

Wheat Hoagie Rolls...so good!

Today I made a batch of Crystal Miller's hoagie rolls. I have been visiting her site, The Family Homestead for years and love trying her creations. I would LOVE to be able to take credit for this creation, but all I did was follow instructions. :) These rolls are AMAZINGLY light and fluffy. Perfect for any brat or hot dog you'd want to fill them with, or just to use as a sandwich roll. So good! My next batch of these will actually be hamburger buns.

Because I am trying to totally avoid processed flours, I want to try this recipe again without any added unbleached flour. We'll see how it goes. The amount in this recipe is so little, it won't be the end of the world if I have to keep the processed flour in them. I do have to try though. :) Either way, this recipe is super easy to make and the dough is amazingly soft and easy to work with. I loved making these. How I've missed baking with wheat flour...so far, we are doing well. My prayer is that we have found what is going to work for our family.

These will go perfectly with tomorrow night's dinner of grilled hot dogs and brats, potato salad, fresh carrot sticks and cucumber coins, and fresh melon salad. I can't wait to have dinner tomorrow. :) Thank you Crystal for posting this amazing recipe on your site....I am hooked!

First of the Season!

Raspberries, so sweet and juicy! I do believe they are one of my favorite berries. Our raspberry canes are doing so amazingly well. Every year I am blessed with an abundance of wonderful berries. This past weekend, I picked the bowl of ripe berries. There have been a few ripe, here and there for the past week or so but this was the first "real" picking of the year. In another day or two, there will be more ready. Most of these berries will end up in the freezer for future smoothies and berry syrup to be used in fresh yogurt and on pancakes and waffles. There never seems to be an end to the ideas for these tasty berries. There also never seems to be enough berries for all of the ideas. :)

American Pride!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Today is such a special day. Our country's birthday...no matter how we may feel about the current state of things in this country, one thing remains...being proud of ALL of those that have served our great nation. Past and present. This took on a whole new meaning to us this year. Our oldest son joined the military. He became a United States Marine! I just got off the phone with him, thankfully he is able to call us often. :) He is in training right now in California. Feels like such a long ways away, but he will be home again in August. :)

This spring, we were blessed with the chance to go visit him and see his graduation from boot camp. What an event that was! So many amazing memories we made that weekend. A once in a lifetime event and we felt SO blessed to be there! We are so very proud of our son and of every member of our nations armed forces. They serve a great nation...sacrifice daily for our freedom! There is NO way to thank them enough. The picture below was taken at MCRD San Diego, CA.
This is our son on his graduation day...such a handsome young man! We are SO VERY PROUD of him! :)
Have a very safe and happy 4th of July! Say a prayer for our service members and their families. They all give so very much to keep our great nation free! God bless them...and you. :)

Adventures of soaking grains....so far, so good!

It seems as if I've spent every spare moment in the kitchen this week. Between my work for Gling, the gluten-free website I work for and my own personal cooking and baking, it's been a long week in the kitchen. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I love both jobs. :) Creating tasty foods for my family and tweaking recipes to be gluten-free and tasty is always a good time. OK, not always, it really isn't fun to have a recipe not work, but for the most part it's all good times!

My newest adventure in soaking grains and flours has been a huge learning experience. I've had several successes and one failure. One thing I am learning is that I have got to get better at menu planning...like planning ALL of our food for the week, not just dinner. So, this weekend, that is what I'll be working on. I need to come up with a good plan for the next week so that I will know what grains or flours to start soaking when. So far, other than the flopped recipe, that has been my biggest hurdle. I am learning that planning ahead, something that I "thought" I was good at, is a must...oh, and I realized that I have not been planning as well as I had thought, either. :)

My biggest success, in my mind, was the soaked baked oatmeal! HUGE success in the fact that my oatmeal hating daughter LOVED it! YAY!! This mamma was thrilled at that statement. :) One less battle, gotta love that. Not only did my family love it, but I was also able to make it gluten-free and therefore add it to the list of recipes on Gling. That is always a huge bonus, being able to share something that my family loves with the gluten-free community is always a good thing! When we first started eating gluten-free, I struggled to find a good site to meet all of my needs for information and recipes. That is why I love my job with the website so much, I get to pass on what I've learned and get a bit of extra money for our budget as well. A win win!

My flop of the week was a kefir soaked sourdough bread. I don't know what I did wrong there. I'm waiting to hear from the friend that I got the recipe from and see if perhaps I missed something. We'll see if I can't get it to work next time. It's a recipe that her family loves, so I'm thinking I did something wrong.

I also have a sourdough starter that I'm using that I bought from Leeners several months ago and never got around to trying. So far, my first bread attempt was a good one! Very sour and very tasty. YUM! I am hoping to make sourdough pancakes this AM for breakfast and start another batch of bread tomorrow. Thankfully, so far, we've seen no ill effects from eating these soaked flours and grains. I am praying it stays that way. :)

Other than gluten-free goodies and soaked flours and grains, I've also been working on a bit of cheese making. Last night I started a batch of Fromagina. I bought the culture from New England Cheese Making Supply Company, I get all of my cultures from them. The selection is amazing and the prices are good too. This is the first time I've made this cheese, we'll see how we like it. I guess its a creamy spreadable cheese. Sounds tasty to me. :) I'll also be making mozzarella today as well and perhaps ricotta. I have several gallons of milk to get used up. Between cheese and ice cream, we'll be well supplied in dairy products this weekend. :)