Honey Oatmeal Bread

           Honey Oatmeal Bread


1 and 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup quick cook oats
1 and 3/4 teaspoons salt
3 and 3/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons oat bran
2 tablespoons dry milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

*Measure out ingredients into bread machine and set to "dough".  

*Roll the dough out into a large rectangle (10x12) and then roll it back up, pinching in the ends.  

*Let it rise in a coconut oil greased bread pan for about an hour.  

*Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  

*Now here is my favorite part: Slather the top with honey and sprinkle on oats. Yum. :)

*You can also bake directly in the bread machine, set for a 2lb loaf.

Coconut Oil Conditioner

Homemade shampoo?  No thanks...been there, tried that...epic fail.  But an all natural alternative to conditioner?  That truly works?  Yes please!  Wait, how much does it cost?  Not even one penny per use?  OK, NOW LET ME AT IT!

                 Coconut Oil Conditioner

*The trick is to flip flop your hair washing routine and condition before shampooing.  

Hop in the shower and thoroughly wet hair.  Rub about 1/4 teaspoon of coconut oil into your hands.  Run fingers all throughout your hair.  Even if it feels like there is nothing left in your hands, do not add more unless you want greasy hair!  Then shampoo as usual.

I bought this Cold Pressed Virgin Coconut Oil from Bountiful Baskets.  One half gallon for $22, which comes out to 1,536 uses of 1/4 t.  At this rate, my $22 jar will last over eight years!

I have been using this method for almost two months.  My hair is softer and shinier.  I've noticed that I lose a lot less hair when brushing.  And best of all it holds a curl like never before.

Fruit Trees

Boy does the mama know me so well to surprise me with a peach tree on my birthday. :) She also took me to get two pear trees. I'm so excited to build up our home orchard. We spent last weekend planting and decided to eventually line the driveway with our favorite fruit trees. We also planted tulips and daffodils around each tree. On the list is: more apples, plums, and apricots.




I'm calling this Bryden's peach tree because he is our Georgia peach. :) (Also the boy helped dig the hole) 

This is Trenton's pear tree because he planted it with me. Cute boy! :)

2013 Seedlings

Started 3/29/13 ~ Sweet Pea, Moonflower, 4 o' Clocks, Marigold, Forget-me-nots, Thunbergia (Black Eyed Susan Vine), Lobelia, Peach Verbena, Sweet Basil, Pie Pumpkins, Lettuce, and 3 varieties of Tomatoes. And half of these are seeds I saved from last years garden. :)

 This picture was taken at one week.

Whole Wheat Bread With Honey & Molasses

Whole Wheat Bread With Honey & Molasses

• 1 1/2 cups hot water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 Tbsp oil
• 1 1/2 Tbsp molasses
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
• 1/2 Tbsp yeast

Put the ingredients in order into the bread machine pan (see tips below), and press the dough setting.  

Tips

*Set the ¼ cup of honey into the hot water in the bread machine to help ease it out. *And use the same tablespoon for the molasses that you used first with the oil - it will just make life easier.

When finished, roll out the dough into a rectangle, approx. 10×12 inches.  If using small loaf pans, split this dough in half and roll to the appropriate size for your pan.

Roll the dough up long ways, and pinch the ends together. Put in a greased loaf pan, and let rise for 45 min – 1 hour.

Bake at 350* for 45 min. (30-40 min. for smaller loaves)

*You can rub butter on top right after it comes out of the oven for a softer crust.

Baby Chooks

Spring time is coming!  Which means BABY CHICKS!  We went a little overboard and got sixteen. 

 

Sweet Jessie loves baby animals.



How you doin?

Eight Buff Orpington's, six Chicken Littles (Barred Rocks), and two Americana's.



Our friend built an outdoor cage for our Flemish Giant bunny and it's working out to be the perfect little chook home. Much better than having them in our living room like last year!

Craigslist Treasures

When my hubby hears "Craigslist" he groans...Usually it means a two to four hour round trip, but he does it anyways because he loves me. :)

Last night he drove an hour past Seattle (after picking up Donyea from the airport) to get me some much needed kitchen shelving for $50.

Kombucha

Fizzy Kombucha

I hopped on the Kombucha wagon and ordered a baby scoby online.  Kombucha is a probiotic drink with so many health benefts that I don't even have the time to list.  Seriously, google it. :)

Ingrediants 

• 1 Kombucha Mushroom / S.C.O.B.Y / Mother Culture (Ebay $6)
• 3 Quarts of water
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 4 tea bags - Black or Green tea
• 1/2 Cup of finished Kombucha or 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar  
• 1 gallon glass jar (or a ceramic stoneware led-free crock)
• Bottles for your finished kombucha or small mason jars with unbleached wax paper for under the lid

Instructions

1. Bring one quart of the water to a boil. Remove from heat, add sugar & tea. Steep 15 minutes then remove tea bags.
2. Pour liquid into the 1 gallon glass jar and add the remaining 2 quarts of water.
3. Add 1/2 Cup of finished Kombucha or 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar.
4. Put mother culture on top of the tea. Smooth side up. If you have several S.C.O.B.Y.’s, the lightest in color is the top.
5. Cover with a cloth towel & a rubber band around the top.
6. Ferment for 7-10 days in a warm and not-so-bright area. Make sure that the new culture has fully formed on top of the brew before proceeding to the next step.

Day One

 

Day Eight (when it's not freezing out we only have the wood stove going about every other day, so it's been brewing in a variety of temperatures)

Well hello baby SCOBY you turned into a big mama!  The kids got a kick out of this.  We had to do a taste test of course, and boy they did NOT like it.  Don't worry I told them, after it's bottled with our home canned grape juice for a few days and then chilled in the fridge, you will loove it.  Promise.  :)

Bottling Instructions

 1 tsp sugar

 1 Fresh/frozen strawberry

Grape juice to top it off

• Take the cultures out of the Kombucha and place them in a bowl, covering with 1/2 cup of Kombucha
• Put sugar and strawberry in the jars
• Fill the jars about 3/4 full with Kombucha
• Top off with fresh juice, leaving plenty of headspace
• Leave the jars out for 2-4 days before refrigerating (this second fermentation will make sure it's good and carbonated)

*You can add any type of fresh fruit or juice, this is just what I tried first, and it's really good.

AND YOU'RE DONE!

*You can start a new batch right away, or to save your cultures, put them in the fridge in a mason jar with the 1/2 cup of Kombucha.

The Tail-less Chook

That's weird, we thought...where is her tail?

Oh there it is, just down in the pasture.  Thank goodness now we can glue it back on. No, but really I remembered earlier in the day hearing a skirmish in the lower pasture and the dogs tear down off the porch.  I figured they were going after ducks in the pond.  So when I went out in search of her tail feathers the first place I searched was in the direction that the dogs had run.  And I had to search no further.  I realized with the long trail of feathers that the dogs had saved her life.  And that most likely a coyote had her in his mouth when the dogs chased him down and dropped her.  Poor scared little KFC.  She's been hunkered down in the barn for the last three days.  Probably scared and definitely hurt.  I've been giving her medicine and  bringing her water and food so she doesn't have to leave her favorite roosting spot.  With spring and chick season coming up, I've come to the realization that to give my chooks the best life, they cannot have the lay of the land anymore.  They love it, but it's not worth the price they will have to pay.  Won't my husband be so happy when I ask him to help me build a huge six foot tall coyote-proof chicken run.  :)

 

 

Baking Day

I'm determined to get the most space possible out of my tiny little kitchen. We've already omitted the microwave, coffee pot, and toaster. All that's left is a toaster oven and the Vita Mix (which ain't goin nowhere cause that things amazin). And, the bread machine. So I came up with the brilliant idea of having a baking day. Instead of using the bread machine everyday or every other day, I can store it in the pantry and just bring it out once a week. Another perk is that I won't have to keep refilling my flour container! The bread can be frozen or refrigerated to stay fresh. I had fun doing it, and figure adding baking to my Monday laundry day will work out nicely since I'm home all day anyways.

These are the nine loaves I made on my first baking day. After the bread cools, I slice it up with my handy bread slicer and store them in plastic one gallon baggies that I reuse. I like making one and two pound loaves for different purposes.  The one pounders are a great size for the kid's school lunches, and two pound loaves are nice and big for the hubby's sandwiches, and also making toast..or french toast, one of our favs.

Hooked on Goats

They love exploring...But I have to keep her away from my garlic because boy did it make her milk taste yucky. =P

We sat by the fire outside to babysit the goats their first time out.  I had to get a picture of the beautiful sunset.

After two weeks we're really getting the hang of milking and getting over a quart each morning!  Donyea and I had a competition today ~ her on one side, me on the other, seeing how much we could milk in two minutes.  She got one cup and I got a cup and a half...OF COURSE I WON, haha, you know I like a good competition.  But also right now I've gotten more practice, being the one who milks during the week right after taking the kids to school at 8:30.  In April we can wean the babies and milk twice a day, which will give us about half a gallon every day.  So far I've made vanilla and chocolate pudding, no cheese yet. It's fun using the last of the goats milk at night and knowing there will be another jar filled up the next mornin. :)

Pressure Canned Grape Juice

This is the most delicious and easy way to make juice!  It tastes nothing like store-bought grape juice, so if you're expecting that you will be disappointed.  It has a fresh, fruity sweetness flavor.  Perfect for summertime I'm thinking.  And this recipe will be great for the times when we get seeded grapes in the co-op basket because we don't like those.  I can't wait to experiment with other fruits and berries!

Fill each quart jar with:
1 cup grapes
1/8 cup pure sugar cane (you can skip the sugar...)
Fill to 1/2 inch with boiling water

Process in pressure canner for 10 minutes at 5lbs pressure.

Before

After

Strained and in the fridge ready to go!  What a pretty color!

First Milking

Thank goodness for all the YouTube milking videos!  I would be lost without them!  We let the goats get used to their new home for a few days before separating the babies at night to milk in the morning.  We didn't have a stanchion built yet so it was a little bit difficult with one of us having to keep her still while the other tried to milk. It didn't make it any easier that the babies were crying for their mama, but we did it!

Donyea's first time milking!

Our first raw goats milk!  We got about half a pint...good enough for the first attempt!  We didn't milk her all the way down because I wanted the babies to have plenty too.  We brought it in the house to strain and get chilled right away.  Everyone was leery to taste it (Tay still refuses) but whad'ya know it's delicious. :)





Here we are on the second day of milking.  Tay finished the stanchion the night before.  It sure makes all the difference! She was such a good girl hopping right up and standing the whole time.  This time we got more than a pint. 

Kegan did his first milking today and was pretty excited about it.  :)

Kiki the Dairy Goat

We bit the bullet and got goats! Meet Kiki our new dairy girl, and her babies Little Bit and Camo (born 12/31/12).  Kiki is Boer/Kiko and was bred to a Lamancha.  We're hoping Little Bit will have good Lamancha milking lines to be our second dairy girl.  We're still trying to talk Tay into keeping Camo for a pet...he's just too darn sweet.    

Little Bit

Camo

This is how we brought them home!  We put down a tarp and straw for Kiki in the back.  They were so good!  We even went through the Taco Bell drive thru. =P

Bryden's Video

Whenever I need a good laugh, this is a no brainer.

P.S. Our favorite part is when he says "we need to get the harvest ones!" He's pointing to the bucket of tomatoes on the porch that we had harvested earlier that day. :)

Sad Day for Chicken Little

I've been avoiding the blog lately...my most favorite little chookie was killed by a coyote on January 15th.  I never thought in a hundred years that I would get attached to a CHICKEN....a CHICKEN of all things!  C'mon!  But I did...so I spent a few days moping around and feeling sorry for myself.  Maybe I'll feel better when I get another Chicken Little in the spring.  Like when Trenton lost Tiger, he named his next one New Tiger, and the next one, Brand New Tiger...and so on. I think that's what I'll have to do to keep Chicken Little's legacy going.

Here's the sad story ~
Tay was walking the pasture near the compost pile (the chookies favorite spot, besides the kitchen door where they love to wait for scraps) and came upon a pile of black and white feathers.  :(  When he came inside and told me, I secretly hoped it was KFC and not my Chicken Little.  But when I checked in on the girls, she was the one missing.  We tracked the feathers to the tree line and then it was like she vanished.  So sad.  I hate coyotes.  We needed to do something.

My husband being the weapon loving man that he is decided we needed a different rifle for the job.  His were too big and would blow the thing to pieces.  So he went out and bought one that night.  Came home with a shiny new 17 HMR,  just my size he said.  He'd been wanting to buy something smaller for me so this was his perfect excuse.  He names all of his guns ladies, so I thought mine could be a man.  So I named him Batboy (Battalion slang for Rangers).

We waited for the Coyote to come back and yesterday was the day.  I was upstairs playing wordsbypost with my mom on our iPhones when I learned the sound of a chicken about to be eaten.  So sad!  I ran to the window and saw the coyote right outside the pigs fence, slowly creeping up to the chickens, who had run for cover under the trampoline.  Batboy wasn't by the window and I didn't want to scream for Taylor and scare the coyote away so I kind of screamed for him under my breath if that's possible.  He grabbed the gun and told me to slowly open the window because that's how I scared the darn thing off last time.  But the coyote heard us and ran off behind the trees, up into the pasture.  Still in clear sight but paused right near my horses (which were terrified)!  I yelled and told him not to take the shot so close to them, and he gave me this look like, "woman, do you know me at all?"  Then took aim and BOOM!  He got him dead center but the bullet isn't big enough to drop him dead, so he ran off into the trees.  We tracked him and found where he enters through the upper pasture because there were a bunch of - black and white feathers - right on his trail.  Hopefully he died quickly because even though he killed my favorite chicken, I don't want any animal to suffer.

Don't worry Chicken Little, we got the big bad wolf for you.