Jul 26, 2013

Houston

It's not the city I'm writing about, it's the puppy.  Houston is a 10 week old puppy of dubious origin.  He has a warm and cuddly personality, and seems to understand what's expected of him, though he's not always up to doing the right thing.  I hope to teach him to get along with our chickens, ducks and turkeys, but so far he can't seem to resist the urge to make them fly.  Anyone have any pointers?
Puppies are so sweet, aren't they? 

Sour Dough-Little House Style

The Little House Cookbook : Frontier Foods From Laura Ingalls WildersI have the Little House Cookbook, which I bought when we were studying the Little House series for homeschool.  I really like this book as it has all of the recipes that are mentioned in the series of books.

Last summer I made the sourdough starter recipe from the book.  This starter is made without yeast, and may be a bit trickier to make.  It's nice to know that I can still make bread even if I don't have any yeast.

You need:
1 1/4 cups of unbleached,  all-purpose flour
1 cup water between 80 and 95 degrees-preferably not city water
1 quart glass jar, rubber band, cheesecloth

Mix flour and water in jar. Cover with cheescloth and rubber band.  Keep in a warm place between 80 to 95 degrees.  I set mine on top of the fridge.  In the winter, I'd probably have to put it in the oven with the light on.
Sourdough likes moisture, and different humidities produce different types of starter.  I guess it's harder to start sourdough in dry climates.  Here in Minnesota we don't have that problem.  :)
If you see bubbles in  the dough and it's rising, this means it's working.  The aroma should be pleasantly sour.  If it smells bad, throw it out.

The starter needs to ripen and be fed.  Mix up more flour and water batter and stir into the live starter.  Leave in a warm place until it's bubbly.  Put half in a jar and give the rest to a friend.
Store the starter in the fridge to ripen, take it out, double it again and use it for biscuits,  bread, or my favorite, pancakes.  Love those sourdough pancakes.

I have a batch of starter on top of my fridge right now.  Let you know how it turns out.


                                                                                                                                                                          

Jul 17, 2013

A Break in the Action

All in all, haying is going a bit better than average.  PTL!  We are almost halfway finished.  We plan on doing second crop on our better fields.

So...time for a break.  My brother is up from Florida and we took a quick trip to Duluth on Saturday.  Had breakfast with the "Breakfast Club".  (Parents, aunts and uncles, cousins)

Then to the Glensheen Mansion, which my brother has wanted to see for the last five years.
This is a picture of the Winter Garden.
Another picture of the gardens.
Lake Superior from the backyard of the mansion.  A storm was brewing.

Today it's back to making hay.  I'm working in the garden, 16 year old son is doing the haying.  :)  The benefits of already putting in your time.
God bless.




Jul 1, 2013

The Fun Begins

Haying season officially started for us on Saturday.  My son has cut a couple of fields and today we'll rake the first one and, Lord willing, get it baled. Haying season always brings it's challenges and makes me cringe.  A lot of prayer going on this time of year.

Sunday John cut one of our best fields.  He says that Dad forgot to tell him about the sink hole.  :)

He sure knows about it now.  God is good and with just one pull from our bigger tractor, this one was out and on the field again.

It's a good year for hay.  It's growing thick and tall.


Jul 26, 2013

Houston

It's not the city I'm writing about, it's the puppy.  Houston is a 10 week old puppy of dubious origin.  He has a warm and cuddly personality, and seems to understand what's expected of him, though he's not always up to doing the right thing.  I hope to teach him to get along with our chickens, ducks and turkeys, but so far he can't seem to resist the urge to make them fly.  Anyone have any pointers?
Puppies are so sweet, aren't they? 

Sour Dough-Little House Style

The Little House Cookbook : Frontier Foods From Laura Ingalls WildersI have the Little House Cookbook, which I bought when we were studying the Little House series for homeschool.  I really like this book as it has all of the recipes that are mentioned in the series of books.

Last summer I made the sourdough starter recipe from the book.  This starter is made without yeast, and may be a bit trickier to make.  It's nice to know that I can still make bread even if I don't have any yeast.

You need:
1 1/4 cups of unbleached,  all-purpose flour
1 cup water between 80 and 95 degrees-preferably not city water
1 quart glass jar, rubber band, cheesecloth

Mix flour and water in jar. Cover with cheescloth and rubber band.  Keep in a warm place between 80 to 95 degrees.  I set mine on top of the fridge.  In the winter, I'd probably have to put it in the oven with the light on.
Sourdough likes moisture, and different humidities produce different types of starter.  I guess it's harder to start sourdough in dry climates.  Here in Minnesota we don't have that problem.  :)
If you see bubbles in  the dough and it's rising, this means it's working.  The aroma should be pleasantly sour.  If it smells bad, throw it out.

The starter needs to ripen and be fed.  Mix up more flour and water batter and stir into the live starter.  Leave in a warm place until it's bubbly.  Put half in a jar and give the rest to a friend.
Store the starter in the fridge to ripen, take it out, double it again and use it for biscuits,  bread, or my favorite, pancakes.  Love those sourdough pancakes.

I have a batch of starter on top of my fridge right now.  Let you know how it turns out.


                                                                                                                                                                          

Jul 17, 2013

A Break in the Action

All in all, haying is going a bit better than average.  PTL!  We are almost halfway finished.  We plan on doing second crop on our better fields.

So...time for a break.  My brother is up from Florida and we took a quick trip to Duluth on Saturday.  Had breakfast with the "Breakfast Club".  (Parents, aunts and uncles, cousins)

Then to the Glensheen Mansion, which my brother has wanted to see for the last five years.
This is a picture of the Winter Garden.
Another picture of the gardens.
Lake Superior from the backyard of the mansion.  A storm was brewing.

Today it's back to making hay.  I'm working in the garden, 16 year old son is doing the haying.  :)  The benefits of already putting in your time.
God bless.




Jul 1, 2013

The Fun Begins

Haying season officially started for us on Saturday.  My son has cut a couple of fields and today we'll rake the first one and, Lord willing, get it baled. Haying season always brings it's challenges and makes me cringe.  A lot of prayer going on this time of year.

Sunday John cut one of our best fields.  He says that Dad forgot to tell him about the sink hole.  :)

He sure knows about it now.  God is good and with just one pull from our bigger tractor, this one was out and on the field again.

It's a good year for hay.  It's growing thick and tall.