Rye Nettle Bread

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

It would appear that I have been replacing healthy carbs with fruit in my diet, and so I was asked to work a little harder to bring back some of carbs, that to me means good fresh homemade bread. This Recipe adds a powerhouse, the nettles add in whooping amounts of proteins and lots of vit and minerals without the calories

I was very surprised at just how many extra calories I was adding when I added my farm fresh sheep milk and free range eggs.. This means I also needed to give it a eye to see if I could find a way to keep the health but lower the calories and ideally increase the longer slow carbs in the bread..

Here is what I have come up with.. Light Rye Nettle Bread.. this bread gets a solid 7.5 out of 10.. I want to tweek it a bit before sharing a (recipe) per say.. but for anyone that wants to try it, the info below will be enough to get you started

The base was my warm water, 2 tbsp. of Molasses, pinch of salt, 2 tbsp. of home rendered lard, 1 cup of dark whole rye flour, to which I added 1 cup (close to three cups fresh) blanched finely diced fresh spring nettles, half a cup of flax seed, and 1 tbsp. of caraway seeds, toasted, and then ground.  This was well beaten and allowed to poof, then I added in approx. 2 an half cups of white unbleached flour, kneeded the bread till I had the stretch I wanted and no breaking when pulled.. then a long slow rise

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It went into a heavily greased pan, its only getting one slow rise, then it will be pulled out, slashed the oven temp set and baked till hollow at the bottom when tapped..

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And hear it is!.. hearty, dense and rich with just a hint of sweetness

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Sliced thin its just lovely.. flavour is lovely with nutty undertones, interesting as there are no nuts in it.

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Dry lot.. o my

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

We all have this wonderful thought that as a small farmer that we will never be like those big ag farms and to tell the truth I do my best to make sure that is true.. but sometimes.. just sometimes , some of the things they do can be useful..

I am doing a meet in the middle for a temp moment, I am making a corral with both outside and inside access for the sheep and they are being dry lot.

They are going in for a full month, I need that time to reseed the pasture, let the pasture get a good start to it and when needed I will dry lot the sheep for a day or two this summer as well, I am keeping a solid acre into nothing but horse level grazing, which is not enough for my two, they need hay and horse feed on top of that but it will help cut the hay bill a lot, the sheep on the other hand are getting the big pasture, the corner pasture and the side pasture..

I am taking back the side yard for human use and some extra garden uses to boot.. small rabbit grazing tractors are the only thing that are going into use there..

I can now say that it takes 150 pounds of whole grains to be hand walked and hand seeded out per acre of pasture, it was a mix of oats and barley, not good at all for true pasture, they are out there to add quick green and bulk to the field..

We are going to close off a smaller pasture this year, use the horses to lightly rake it down and level it and properly seed it back down to high quality pasture and then it will be locked down for the whole year,  it will take me five years to get all my pastures done that way, and till them, I have will use the quick and easy way to bulk up the green feeds in the fields they are grazing..

But where does that put me on the farm being able to help.. Its going to be a use fodder year.. fodder can be grown and taken to the sheep, pigs, birds etc, and that is just what is going to happen..

While I am excited about the great squash growout for 2015, 80 plants of squash is beyond anything I can use, while the best will have their seeds returned to the program, the flesh used for our own house use, the rest will be hacked up and served up as fodder.

Have you ever needed to dry lot your animals for the better good, I dream of those that have so many acres all fenced that they never need to worry about overgrazing, but I can tell you this, all those lovely homesteading books that have lots of livestock on little pastures, forget to talk about how to keep those pastures working properly..

the number one issue being overgrazing, and the second.. poo.. While the sheep poo is easy, leave it, the cow or horse, not so much, I spent just as much time, either lifting and removing it and or spreading it out with the rake so that everything could grow though it and it could be seeded out

I was looking over the fence yesterday as we were working in the garden and went, hmmm.. need to tromp out with the wheel barrel and pick up all the fresh horse pile and move them to the compost pile

 

Posted in Critters, farm | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Rhubarb Nettle Iced Tea Recipe

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

A spring, its time for so many yummy things, off a bit later to do a walk and check the fiddleheads.. but its going to be a very busy day indeed and I feel the need to put a nice drink the fridge for use later in the day..

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We have just enough Rhubarb up.. and I do mean just, but I will also be sneaking a cup of it to make a wonderful fresh rhubarb loaf.

  • 4 cups of coarsely chopped Rhubarb stalks
  • 1 cup of cleaned coarsely chopped Nettles Leaves
  • 1 cup of sugar, or half a cup of Honey, or sweeten to your taste
  • Tiny pinch of Salt

Place above into a steel pot and add six cups of water, simmer gently till the rhubarb is cooked though, pour though a cheese cloth, straining it out, if you want a pure sweet color, do not squeeze the bag at all, or if you are like me and it matters not at all that is cloudy and might have bits in the bottom of the jar, get every last bit of goodness out of it.

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Put in a clean jar or jug and chill till cold, work up a sweat in the garden or yard and enjoy it as a refreshing drink.. or mix in a little vodka and relax after a hard days work. It is the most lovely pink color, almost like the fake pink lemonade from the store but so much more healthy for you!

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If you are lacking rhubarb, as its so early in the season yet, feel free to move it to two cups early spring rhubarb and 2 cups of nettles, it will give a slightly different flavour but not much.

While I will agree that the sugar or honey is not healthy, the burst of vit, mineral from the rhubarb and nettles are outstanding!

 

 

 

 

Posted in gardens, local food | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

The Chicks of 2015- Off-Farm Bought

Posted on May 2, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

I already have my first momma hen sitting on nest of eggs at the moment, and I am hoping for many more, there will be farm raised chicks

But it was also a buying year..

4- bought, 3 are with me Iceland Race Chicks, there are two roosters and one hen.. the bigger stronger roo is hard on the other roo.. at some point, I will need to sell him or cull him for the stew pot.. for the safety of all.

6- Meat Chicks- These are heavy duty meat cross birds and the girls will stay and boys, well the best boy might stay but the rest.  for my best sunday dinner.

10- Mixed dual purpose, leaning heavier to the egg layer side, mix run.. the roosters are for the freezer and the hens are for my laying flock..

1- One polish rooster, growing him out and if he turns out very cute, I have a friend that loves that breed, and he might be gifted or might stay here or he might freezer camp.. his future is wide! open

1- Dual purpose rooster with the start of a split beak, he was gifted to me, because new that I would never keep, breed or gift him away, he is for the freezer camp, but he will have a great life before then.

1- Speckled Sussex (should be female) chick for my layer flock

My own chicks to be, well they are a mix run of mutts lol.. but they are proven productive suited to my farm mutts and they are pretty..

8 Up in the air I have a order for one more pure bred, but I do not know if the hatchery is selling or not at this time..  but there could be 8 more coming, if so, best rooster and second best stay, the others sell and all hens are staying.

I am tracking growout costs  and will give detailed reports back but my numbers all sideways due to the fact that I am bringing things to the girls, as they are not allowed out to free range due to the bird flu warnings..

I love my birds and I have no issue sprouting for them, even daily harvest of greens but I will not risk them by letting them free ranging about at this time.. safety first!

 

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Horse Trough Garden 2015

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

DSCN5501This garden is considered a nursery garden in the spring, an extender in the fall and producer in the summer..  last year, we did three different plantings in this big metal raised bed.. it was looking kinda sorry this spring..

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It started out as a manure hotbed, and over the past three years has composted its way down over two feet!, so it needed to be cleaned out, weeded, turned, a light sprinkle of hard wood ash added and a full wheel barrel plus load of two year old well turned and composted Pig-cow poo..  So far, its just planted out into green onions and radish at the moment, but this weekend I will add more 🙂

I have one more that does not hold water, that I need to turn into a grow out bed, I was thinking maybe carrots, or try and see just how big fodder beets will grow if they have three feet of clear grow room..

I am unsure how many feet are in the wheel barrel but it filled it by a solid foot when I was done.. This is not the mix, this was soil and it was full, as in heaped, you will see the color difference to the pig-cow compost..

Spring has hit the farm full force, the camera is with me and I have been busy off the farm as well, my head hits the pillow and I am out..

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Working on the Front Garden Beds

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Got the front forest beds all prepped, layers added, dirt-compost added, and we got the new Circle Bean Bed started along with another short row, first 800 plus pounds of straw deployed, a wheelbarrol of weeds and roots to the pigs, and only took three wheelbarrels of dirt-compost for the two finished beds, no point adding to the others yet as they are may planting beds..

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The Circle Bean Bed, is got a 12 foot space across inside and will have sidewalk blocks laid down and then the bricks to edge as required, will have two comfy chairs and a small table.. I am going to plant Scarlet runners for the climbers and then Margolds and other flowers for the outer ring in front, it should be stunning and a great little hideaway..

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Its part of my.. I will add whimsy to the garden this year plan, while still growing food and herbs. I am really liking my new wheelbarrol

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Jerusalem artichokes.. a Early season delight

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Spring food is hard to come by, sunchokes aka Jerusalem artichokes can help fill that early spring gap..

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Clearly I need to add in new kinds that produce more, this kind that I got in a free plant swap, produce fingerlings, I will be getting new kinds from aster lane edibles this year, they produce much larger tubers

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because they are so small, I just top and tail them, rub off any hairy roots and give them a good scrub before cooking them up

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Such a easy side dish, fried, with some seasoning salt, they taste like a cross between a sweet and regular potato to me.. yummy

Posted in food, Food Forest, Garden harvest | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Dandelion Omelette

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

A comment on my facebook went along the lines of “I know you eat dandelion leaves but how” The simple answer in spring for the small fresh baby leave is. If you would or could use spinach in a dish, you can use fresh small young tender dandelion leaves.

Collect from a unsprayed area, currently, I am harvesting from my garden, handy because I do not want them in my garden and I do want them in my kitchen, which is why I m digging my plants out, but you can harvest leaves from a number of plants if you want them to keep producing.

Do make sure you give it a good washing as the small tighter packed heart leaves can hide grit and you do not want that in your dishes.. then for this recipe dice them up..

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One plant cleaned and chopped, two spring eggs, and some seasoning, cooked with a touch of mozza cheese..

Simple, Easy and a fine way to blend the two, if you want you can load up the eggs with stronger flavor, like adding some salsa, or bacon.

 

Posted in 100 mile diet, wild foods | Tagged | 7 Comments

Cream of Corn an Nettle Soup

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Sometimes you just need to make something that is delightfully tasty and so easy to make that you can come in from mucking and five min later have a hot bowl of goodness to tuck into.

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Farmgal Cream of Corn and Nettle Soup

  • 1 pint of cream corn
  • 1 cup of fresh nettle tips, washed and diced
  • 1 cup of fresh sheep milk
  • Montreal Steak Spice, about half a tsp or so

Now lets move that over to a town folk recipe 🙂

Cream of Corn and Nettle Soup

  • One can of creamed corn (make the best you can find)
  • 1 cup of fresh nettle tips, washed and diced
  • 1 cup of whole milk
  • Montreal Steak Spice about half a tsp or so

Place in steel pot with a good heavy bottom, heat your corn and nettles and spices till steaming hot, slowly add in your milk, heat though but not boiling. Serve and enjoy

This makes a nice two person portion or one very hearty bowl for a hunger person

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Ice had a lamb after all

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Yesterday Ice had a lovely strong active and very pretty ram lamb.. he is doing well, drinking his milk from both sides and while this is Ice’s first time as a mom, she followed in the footsteps of her mother and full sisters..  Easy lambing, excellent natural mothering skills..

DSCN5466 (2)This is the only full wool lamb born on the farm this year, and I am very excited, I have not decided if I will shear him or if I will turn the pelt into a wool hide. I was so excited and said to hubby.. please, please be a girl.. nope its a boy and he does not just have horn buds, he has horns showing at birth..   I am very much looking forward to making horn buttons late in the winter this year.. I have a fancy new little tool set that will allow me to polish and drill holes in them etc

I was very pleased to see that Whiskey did throw his mottled black and white with Ice, I am hopeful that this will mean that she will do this each coming year as well..

The second great news is that Ice was got as my milking sheep and with her having a single only, I will be able to start milking her right away, I will give baby three to five days of just mom and then I will start share milking.

 

Posted in raw milk, sheep | Tagged | 7 Comments