Just another Day on the Farm

While I am aware that the average person won’t have stringing nettle frozen in the freezer or jars filled with it dried and crumbed for use all winter long or a place for it growing in their garden, I personally do, and if you have read the recipes on the site, its used all the time, all year long.. Just love the stuff.. Remember that cooking takes out the sting

For fresh eating and or harvesting, young and tender is best, but if you keep cutting the tips off, you can keep the plant giving you fresh tops for months, even if you don’t want to grow them to eat, at least use them in your garden, Nettles make a great general plant food, they have lots of nitrogen and also contain magnesium, iron and sulphur.

To make your liquid plant food, gather up some nettles and into water-tight containers, pack the container tightly, then cover with water until they are covered and leave to ferment for about 2 weeks or so, wait till the frothing died down, strain (putting the solids in the compost pile) and keep the liquid, mix it 1 part stinging nettle to 10 parts water for use on the garden plants, typically every two weeks.

I did a review of nettles on this site already, and about the little green nettle book called 101 uses for stinging nettles.

Breakfast-DH-Waffles, Mixed Fruit Compot FG-Red River porridge with a touch of sheep milk.

Lunch DH-Herb Bread Sandwhich with turkey, mayo, cake peice, and the rest of the grape compot. FG- 2 small bun turkey sandwhichs, with a large cabbage side salad.

Dinner-Homemade flat bread taco’s with homemade salsa, sheep yogurt and a bit of fresh sprouts for green with seasoned ground lamb and onion. Will use the other pd of seasoned lamb and onion to make a pizza for later use.

Drinks-Water, Tea and hot chocolate

Snacks: Herb Bread, Watermelon Cake, 2 Buns, Dill Crackers

Extra-Have strawberries thawing in the fridge that need to be used, have 2 pds of ground lamb that needs to be made into something.

1. Made 2 quarts of Strawberry/Pinapple Fruit compot
2. Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Chocoalate Cranberry Loaf
4. Baking Powder Bisquits
5. Bread Batch, a loaf of bread, a dozen sandwhich buns and one large Pizza dough.
6. Baked off a Pot Roast, a Chicken and a Leg of lamb

We are under a really bad storm warning and typically in spring when we are to get high winds, heavy wet snow and then freezing rain, we can expect power going, so topping up extra water for the livestock, touching up any laundry that needs to be done, giving the hounds a extra run, hauling extra hay and bedding to the barn, in case I need to shut them up raither then coming out to eat at the hay feeder. Now we wait to see if the weather man is right? or if I am doing the extra work for not.

So do any of your grow or use Stinging nettle? If so, what do you use it for? What is your favorite recipe? Do you use it in the kitchen? the garden? for your livestock? in your herbal medical chest? If you don’t use stinging nettle, what is your “Go To” green herb that you grow an use all the time?

Well, it was time to find a subject and as I was cooking eggs in the origanal non-stick  Pan. Cast iron, I went huh, while its not a food, and the big ones weight a good amount, to be without cast iron would, well it would just be wrong somehow.. What else can you cook anything in, regardless if you are cooking over a open fire, on coals, on a wood stove or in your gas or electic stove, will last you a lifetime of wear and tear, has been hauled all across our great land tied to backpacks, dog packs, horse packs or by wagon.

When I was a young’n an my family was into Rendezvous (Black Powder Gun Clubs), one of the ladies events was the cast iron frying pan throwing contest, I don’t know if this was real or a yarn that I got told as child, but the ladies swore that the the frontier ladies used those frying pans as weapons when needed, All I know is that I spent a fair amount of time (or at least it seemed that way as child 🙂 learning how to hit targets with it LOL They said that you could take guy out in the knees with one of those suckers, and now as a adult having taken a few self-defence class’s , I gotta agree, a cast iron to the knee would really slow a guy down*

*Please note I am not recommending anyone try this at home

Breakfast -DH/FG -Toast with scrambled Eggs.

Lunch-Leftover Stuffing, Took Leftover Chicken/Potato’s/Onions and turned it into a soup, with extra veggies added from freezer (mixed) and a slice of cake (8 x 8 cut into nine) with cold Mint Tea.

Dinner-Waffles with mixed fruit compot on top

Snacks-Watermelon Cake, Dill crackers, 2 buns, and a herb loaf

drinks-Water, Tea, Hot Chocolate

Extra’s- double Batch of waffles made today.

I have 9 different sizes of Cast Iron cooking pans, ranging from little tiny ones, to the typical size to bean pots to meat cook ribs to pancake flat griddle.  What about you? Do you use Cast Iron in your cooking? Are you a wipe out owner or a scrub with soap and reseason owner? Have you used your Cast Iron over the coals to cook outside? What is “the one thing” that you have to cook in a Cast Iron pan only? For me its baked beans.

When I asked my DH this morning for a subject to add to today’s post in regards to something that we always have in our pantry and that gets used lots, he replied Baking Powder.. Not a bad choice at all, we do use Baking Powder lots in this house, I perfer Magic brand personally, but I also keep the basic’s in the house to make my own.

How does Baking Powder work? Its used in cookies, Muffins, Quick Breads, to help create lift in the goods, it does this by having a chemical reaction between Baking Soda and an Acid which in turn creates carbon dioxide which is a fancy way of saying that it add’s air bubbles and there for lighten’s and lifts the baked goods to create a pleasing texture for us to enjoy. The heat cooks the structure to lock in the air pockets to create a crumb texture.

Its a quick way to mimic what yeast does in a much more slower way, both a good thing and bad, you have more flex with yeast then you do with Baking Powder, overmix, and you will remove the air and loss your lift, undermix and you won’t get a level effect, this is why when a recipe says Sift the Baking  Powder or Baking Soda into the flour before adding the Wet, it means that you are most likely going to be asked to barely mix and then get that batter in the oven to lock in that lift, otherwise, you are going to get a heavy product.

In many recipes they are asking for the same type of reaction, when they ask for Baking Soda to be mixed with a acid, like Vinager, lemon Juice or yogurt or sour cream or buttermilk.

Commercial Baking Powder has about a one year shelf life but the basic’s will last for years.

Basic Recipe for making your own Baking Powder, your Rato’s should be 1/2 Baking Soda, 1/2 Cream of Tartar if you are using it fresh as is, remember to get your baking in the oven quickly as it does not have the double action of the store bought, if you are making up some to keep for the next month or so, consider adding 1/4 corn starch in volume to the others to help keep it stable and keep a dry and close fitted container.

Check your altitude as it will  affect the amount of baking powder needed in a recipe. The higher you live, less baking powder is needed, as an example, I need to double the amount where I currently live compared to my grandma’s and mom’s recipes as they are living close to 2000 feet above sea level, I currently like just under 300, and it shows if I don’t adjust.

Self-Rising Flour is so simple to make, for each cup of all-purpose flour add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, mix well and follow the recipe that called for Self-Rising Flour. Don’t use this in a regular recipe that calls for All-Purpose flour without adjusting for the Baking Powder and salt.

Breakfast -DH -3 pancakes with Grape Compot FG-Red River Porridge with Sheep Milk with a touch of maple syrup.

Lunch DH- Leftover Pasta from supper, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf, Orange, Dried Fruit/Nuts

Supper-Oven Baked Chicken Legs/Thigh served with oven roasted Potato’s, Garlic, onion and a homemade (war bread) sage and Cranberry dressing with a side of colslaw.

Drinks-Water, Tea, Hot Chocolate

Extras-Dill Crackers, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf, Bread, Buns, and Herb Bread

As we are down to the last peice of Pumkin Loaf today, I made my Jam or Jelly Loaf/Cake and took the time to figure out measurements as this is typically a eyeball it process for me.

Jam or Jelly Loaf or Cake Recipe

• 8oz of any kind of fruit Jam or Jelly- In this case -Lemon/Watermelon
• 1/4 cup of oil or margine or butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tbsp of Baking Powder

Put 8 oz jar of your homemade jam or jelly in bowl and beat till smooth with whisk, then add in oil, eggs and beat again, then add milk, quick stir together, then put your 2 cups flour, then salt and baking powder, stir till mixed together, about 30 beats or so of wooden spoon. Pour into greased pan Makes a bread loaf pan or a full size 8 by 8 cake pan. Bake at 350 till knife comes out clean.

So do you have a favorite Baking Powder Brand? Do you make your own Baking Powder at home? Do you ever use the Baking Soda compined with Acid to create the same reaction? What is your favorite recipe made with Baking Powder, mine is my Baking Powder Biscuits

One week down on our Eat out of the Pantry March Challange..

DH’s Thoughts:

• Grocery Shopping was super quick, as we only got stuff for the critters this week, Thank goodness nothing was really on sale this week, less tempation.
• I’m not looking forward to running out of fresh fruit which is going to happen Soon..
• Perfectly fine when home, there is no tempation, no way to cheat, if one wanted to cheat, grocery stores are out of site and out of mind. Moral of the story, stay away from the stores.
• I’m being to prepare a menu for April 1st, planning a huge apple fritter for breakfast.

FG Thoughts

• Had mild panic when thought I was going to be out of corn starch, until I went digging in the pantry and found new containers full.
• Think that by the end of the month that those canned crisp pears are going to be as close as we get to fresh fruit
• I miss fresh Mushrooms already! I love my mushrooms and dried and canned are just not the same, sigh..
• I think we are going to end up with sprout salads because I am already craving a big bowl of fresh green salad, but cabbage will have to do for a while.

So girls how are you doing on your first week, drop me a note and let me know what you are missing already?

If there was a list of top ten things that I would not want to be without in regards to storage in the house, without a doubt Salt would be on that list. I have been amazed at the current goverment studies and ad’s that are trying to make everyone aware that they are eating to much salt.. I do understand that if you eat a modern processed diet out of packages and cans that your intake of salt is out of this world, combine that with the fact that most folks can go though their day without breaking a sweat (and therefor losing salt) and I get the point that the goverment is trying to make.. be aware of how much salt you are putting in your body and its effects.

However from a cooking stand point, from a farmer standpoint, from a history stand point, and from a preservation stand point, Salt ROCKS 🙂 I mean really its the only rock that we eat as peaple, so forgive the pun.

I’m currently in the process of making Corn Beef, without salt, this would not be possable, If you think about how folks were able to dry/salt food for keeping it helped allow us to move and live in area’s that otherwise the winters would have killed us-slowly by hunger.

Ask anyone who watches wildlife or hunts about how important a natural salt lick is to the local wildlife, or how much the farm animals need their salt blocks, The goverment uses table salt as a way to make sure that the general population gets enough iodide, I have been surprised and very unhappy when talking to folks that “cut” out all salt as much as possable from their diets that they don’t think about the fact that they need to find another way to make sure they get their Iodide in their diet, the area we live in currently is known for being a naturally deficient, and so no amount of eating healthy fresh veggies grown locally is going to help you in this matter, if its not in the soil for the veggies to take up, its not on your dinner plate.. Lack of Iodide in your diet is the leading preventable cause of  mental retardation.  also causes thyroid gland problems, including endemic goiter 

So what is the last thing you made that had salt called for in the recipe? well if it was homemade from scratch that would be pretty much everything!

Breakfast- FG-2 Pancakes with Dippy Egg on Top DH- 3 pancakes with Green Grape Compot with sprinckle of Cinnamon.

Lunch-DH-2 Slices Toast with orange Jam, plus 2 scrabbled eggs, with hot chocolate, FG- Hot Cherry Jelly Tea, Dill Crackers with Tomato Soup.

Supper-Pasta with Tomato Sauce, Diced Onion, Carrot, Mushrooms and Celery

Snacks-Cookies, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf.

Extras-One Batch of Dill Herb Crackers.

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4th cup Butter, or some kind of Fat.
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• FG- Added 2 TBSP of Dried Dill and Stringing Nettle to the flour for this batch.

Put your flour, B.P. and Salt into bowl, mix together, then add your cold fat and with clean hands, or a pastry cutter or two knifes cut the butter into the flour till crumbly, then make a well in the middle. Stir the milk and egg together and pour into the flour. The dough should be a soft mass that will clear the sides of the bowl, you can lift to your floured work surface, kneed NO more then four min max, just as much as required.. Split into two balls, covering the one while working with the second.. lightly flour your cookie sheet and roll out your dough till very thin, then cut lines with pizza cutter or a regular knife, you can score it for breaking later or you can use right into it.. for even more crispy, you can prick it all over with a forks, and give it a light sprinkle of salt. Cook 10 to 20 min in a hot 400 oven.

Remove when golden brown and crispy, cool on a rack and will store in a closed container for several weeks also freeze very well.

So, What kind of salt or salts do you have in the house? Do you keep a backup supply?  How much salt do you use in a year in regards to canning or food preservation?

Goats are wonderful smart sweet, smaller farm animals, goats come in different breeds which range in size from Tiny to Large, fitting most small farms needs. There are Dairy Goats and Meat Goat breeds or Dual Purpose breeds, There is a thriving market with regards to showing goats starting at the local fairs and working their way up to the nationals yearly.

 The most common breed currently for meat purpose would have to be Boar goats while my personally favorite dairy breeds are Saanen and LaMancha or a cross breed between these two breeds with Nubian Sire. The Saanen has lots of milk, the Nubian has the highest fat content of the breeds, so their cross’s make wonderful family milk goats, lots of milk, with lots of Butterfat for cheese making. Plus the Nubian add’s in some very pretty colors and patterns.

Goat Milk flavor appear to me to be directly related to the breed of goat and the feed that the goats are on. I have been surprised at how different each goats milk can taste, some are very strong and some are as sweet and light as cows milk, if you are looking for a family goat, I would recommend if possable that you start with a older freshened girl, who’s milk you can try to see if you like it.

The side effect of breeding those girls for milk, is offspring, and as most of the world knows, Goat meat is a excellent, if you have not tried it before, I would recommend it, which leads me to my main recipe of the day.. Goat Meatballs with a elderberry glaze.

Breakfast-FG- Red River Porridge with a bit of sheep milk/touch of maple Syrup

Lunch: FG-Supper Leftovers,

DH-Breakfast:  2 scrambled eggs w/ steak spice; 2 slices bread w/ peanut butter
DH-Lunch:  Supper Leftovers
DH-Snacks:  two cookies; one peice of the loaf, one orange, plus trail mix and the last segment of Rhubarb cake.

Supper- Goat Meatballs with Elderberry Glaze, Oven Roasted Carrots, Potato’s, Onion, an Cabbage.

Goat Meatballs.

• One pd of Ground Chevon
• One small onion, peeled and Finely Diced
• 1 Clove Garlic peeled and Finely Diced
• 1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tstp Salt, Pepper, Turminic, Pinch of Nutmeg or all spice.

Put everything in a bowl and mix together with clean hands, then make tiny meatballs and place on tray, bake in the oven at 350 till done about 15 min, these little tasty meatballs can be used in many ways, but today we are going to take half of them and put them into a lovely Elderberry Jelly Glaze to finish them off..

Drinks-Water, Tea.

Snacks: Snap Cookies- 2 Dozen Small Cookies

• 1/4 cup oil or fat of some kind
•  3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• Pinch of Salt
•  1 tsp ground Ginger
•  1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 an half cups flour

 Cream the oil/sugar, then add the egg and mix it in, then add the dry an mix, take tiny balls then flatten with a fork twice in a criss-cross pattern, bake for 8 to 10 min at 350 oven. Makes 2 dozen tiny crispy crunch cookies.

Extras: One Batch of Sheep Milk White Bread (Replace the buttermilk with sheep milk) out of which I made one regular loaf of sandwhich or toast bread, eight small dinner buns, one 8 by 8 pan of herb bread, and one set of eight Poppy Seed Dessert Buns.