Home Sweet Home

Local Farmers Market

2009-09-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

If you're shopping at your local supermarket for produce, you are truly missing out on the ambiance that the local farmers market has to offer. Local farmers markets have readily fresh available produce at reasonable cost and you are helping to support your local farmers and community.

When shopping at a supermarket, you probably don't know where the produce came from unless you happen to see a sign stating that something was grown in a specific geographical region. At the local farmers market, you can be assured that your produce is fresh and has traveled a very short distance to be available for you to eat.

At the grocery store, you won't be able to determine what chemicals or pesticides were used on your vegetables or fruit. You won't be offered much in the line of recipes either. When you shop at the local farmers market you can ask the vendor exactly what has been used on the huge tomato that you find or inquire as to the availability of gravenstein apples or bartlet pears in the next few weeks. Often the vendors will even have samples available as well as a few great recipes or even some great suggestions on how to cook something up for a real taste treat.

Getting to know the various vendors by making a weekly trip to the farmers market is also great fun. You will find the old timers swapping stories under the huge weeping willow by the creek or see the young children scampering around enjoying the last vestiges of the summer sunshine. Families will enjoy the time spent at the local farmers market and the children will be welcome to wander through most of the booths and admire the offerings of delicious foods.

Grocery stores just don't hold the same allure that the local farmers market holds. You are always hurried to get in and out and get home to make dinner. The pace of the local farmers market is much more relaxed and you have an enjoyable visit as you wander the various booths and make friends with the vendors.

If you happen to be a vegan you want the freshest possible foods for your family. A farmers market will help you to support that lifestyle choice. At the local grocery store you don't know for sure when those tomatoes were picked, how far they have traveled or even if they were picked ripe or green. The freshest foods are picked when fully ripe and taken directly to the local farmers market before they have a chance to change colors or age.

At the local farmers market you will often be invited to "sit a spell" and visit over a fresh apple or even a fresh tossed salad. Friendships are established or even re established if you had lost touch and happen to find each other here.

Local economy is boosted and there is just something about knowing where your produce comes from and that it is healthy. Most small towns are actually very closely knit and the farmers market just seems to draw them even closer.

Why not check out your local farmers market and see what they have to offer. Who knows, it may just change your eating habits in the most healthful of ways.

Patiently....

2008-04-18T16:24:00.001-07:00

I'm patiently waiting for spring so I can begin to work our soil. Unfortunately Mr. Winter seems to be hanging in there. We are expecting snow again tonight. *sigh* I have onions volunteering from last year already coming up in my garden. I have a Maple tree trying to bud out and flowers that would just love to bloom if only it would stay warm long enough.

When spring finally arrives do you think it will be before or after summer?

Around the Corner

2008-02-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

Its just around the corner and my household is very busy planning the gardens for this year. Since we have 5 total gardens this is a huge undertaking. I have requests for more tomatoes so that will be a major planting perhaps taking up the better half of at least one garden. Last year we planted 37 tomato plants and that wasn't nearly enough to get us through the winter season so this year we may double that. A lot of work but well worth our efforts when all is said and done.

My family loves to garden and with each new seed catalog arriving even my 6 year old is perusing the catalog asking about various veggies and whether or not she likes them.

We also have to triple the broccoli planting this year. Last year I planted 12 plants and they yielded very very well but I have a request for 36 plants this year. Guess we all know where I will be in the spring and summer months.

I am looking forward to a great season, once the snow has left the ground! At present we still have 3 feet of snow over the garden. Thus I will be starting our seedlings inside in the next few weeks and giving them a great head start.

Happy planning your garden!

Homemade Bread

2008-01-31T12:17:00.000-08:00

My family begs me to make homemade bread. I think I have spoiled them. So in honor of that I am sharing one of my family's favorite bread recipes.

Home Made Bread

To 4 cups of warm (not hot) water add 3 teaspoons (1 Tablespoon) of yeast. 1/4 cup sugar (more if you like it sweeter), 1/2 cup of instant potatoes (optional), 2/3 cup of instant milk. Let sit for a few minutes to soften yeast.

After sitting to soften add 1/4 to 2/3 cup of butter, oil or margarine to water mix and stir in 2 cups of flour. Add 1 Tablespoon of salt and continue stirring adding flour as needed until you have added between 8 and 12 cups of flour. After you have added about 6 cups of the flour you will need to turn the dough out on a counter or table and begin kneading it by hand. Gently fold the dough at one end, give it a quarter turn and again gently fold the dough adding flour as needed to keep it from sticking.

When your dough is a nice cohesive ball and looks stretchy gently place it in an oiled bowl and cover it with a clean towel.

Let it rise till it is about double (2 to 4 hours is usually sufficient). After it is done rising, gently dump it out of the bowl and shape it into bread loaves or rolls and place it in greased pans. Again cover with a towel and let rise a few more hours.

To bake, pre-heat your oven to 475 degrees. Place bread (or rolls) inside and immediately turn the oven down to 425 degrees. Set timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes turn oven down to 375 degrees and continue baking til done. (ovens vary. This can be anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour depending on your oven).

When your bread is nicely browned and done gently tip it out of the pan and spread some more butter (margarine) on top and let it cool.

In my house the crowd starts as soon as the bread is out of the oven...."can we have some yet?"....

Depending on your loaf pans this will make 2 to 3 loaves of bread.

Enjoy!

With some practice this will come as second nature to you. After you are more familiar with the process you can begin adding special treats like oatmeal or flaxseed to your dough or on top o f your dough.

Leftover Turkey

2007-11-25T11:03:00.001-08:00

So the Thanksgiving holiday is over and its time to clean out the fridge of leftovers. You have a lot of leftover turkey and dressing and what are you going to do with all of it? It seems such a shame to waste it all! My family has a few favorite recipes and I only make them at this time of year so they are anticipating some of their favorites.

Turkey Divan (tops the list)
Layer turkey leftovers in the bottom of a 9X13 pan
Layer the turkey with a layer of fresh or frozen broccoli (may substitute leftover dressing or both)
Open a can of cream of mushroom soup and add 1 can of milk and 1/2 can of mayonaise
add in some curry powder to taste
add in some lemon juice to taste
Pour this mixture over the top of the turkey and broccoli and/or dressing
Grate cheese over the top and put in the oven at about 350 and bake till cheese is bubbly
You may also top it with some breadcrumbs if you like.
Serve with left over rolls heated.
You family will love it!

Sauerkraut

2007-11-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

Its finally done! The sauerkraut is canned and ready to put away. My older son told me it made the whole house smell when I had it in the canner. LOL I told him to not complain or I'd make him eat it! He stopped in a hurry.

I was given an abundance of bananas and have 4 out of 5 drying trays going in the food dehydrator. I just didn't know what I was going to do with an entire grocery bag of bananas and then it came to me...dry them...LOL So I sliced them up think and they are nearly done. Banana chips aren't all bad...LOL

My garden is now covered in a nice layer of leaves and its time to break out the crocheting for the remainder of winter. I have lots of projects I want to make so that will be a nice relaxing way to spend my evenings. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Ah....

2007-10-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

At long last I am close to being done with the canning and drying. I only have 2 bowls of tomatoes left to ripen and am not quite sure what I am going to do with those when they are ripe. I have another batch of plum jam to make this week as my dear 13 year old son has been busy picking those for me. After that I think most of the canning is complete until the winter squash and pumpkins have to be baked and canned. Its so nice to see the pantry full of so much food for the winter. The freezer is full of great veggies and the kids are amazed at our potatoes! We grew them in stacked tires and it works so well. Its a great space saving technique and they grow huge in there with little weeding to do and they stay nice and warm. I think next year we may have to go looking for more bald tires (neighbors love that I will take them for them) and plant even more. I have a huge wash tub full of potatoes! The sauerkraut will be ready to can late November. It isn't quite as smelly as I thought it would be but I do have to wipe the jars daily as they tend to ooze the contents (which is normal until it is canned). Have a great day!

Tomatoes

2007-09-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year. My tomatoes have been ripening in the kitchen for a few weeks now and I am busy canning and drying them. I know we will use them up throughout the winter but right now it all seems kind of overwhelming. I am grateful for our 5 gardens and we had over 37 tomato plants this year. Everything from Cherry tomatoes (great to dry and use in cooking) Roma's and even some beefsteak tomatoes. The house smells like tomatoes and I am dreaming of them at this point. LOL Today I will be starting some sauerkraut. I am NOT looking forward to how the house is going to smell over the next 8 weeks with that brewing!!

Canning, freezing and drying

2007-09-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, Its that time of year! Time for canning, freezing and drying all of my garden produce! I have 5 gardens so this isn't as easy as it sounds! The tomatoes are ripening faster than I can pick them and the broccoli is giving its last umph for the season. The beans are still producing and I'm not done yet! Then there are the 8 rows of squash (a mix of summer, winter and such) that my husband planted (I think he was having fun!) that I can't quite decide what all to do with. My friend brought me eggplant and another friend has cabbage that I am going to make sauerkraut out of. Whew.... the plums are nearly ripe and I can't find apples to beat the band around here. It seems none of the apple trees produced much this year. The berries are begging to be picked and jam is to be made. And oh, did I mention our daughter gets her wish trip to Orlando in a few weeks? I'm not sure how I am going to get all of this done (especially if I keep writing on this blog LOL). So I had best go for now and get to work. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the kitchen.

More Gardening

2007-06-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ah, a beautiful sunny day in the Inland Northwest. My garden's are looking beautiful and I spent a few hours outside today weeding. Why is it that the weeds seem to grow faster than my plants? I mean its just not fair! Some days it seems I am weeding more than gleaning from my garden!! I know in the end I will reap the rewards, and be canning and freezing and drying but right now it seems like an endless battle. So I have 5 rows of beans, 37 tomato plants, 3 tires stacked 3 high full of potatoes, 3 rows of cucumbers, 3 rows of squash, a row of pumpkins, 5 rows of peas, 2 rows of broccoli (plus 3 volunteer plants), more rhubarb than I will even know what to do with, raspberries, blackberries, 3 plum trees, 2 apple trees, more horseradish than I can find homes for, and a few other miscellaneous volunteer plants along with a row of peppers. Canning anyone?

Survey's for Dollars

2007-06-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

Earn spare cash in your spare time. Okay, so cash is never spare but I have discovered a great way to earn more of it! I love this new site I discovered called CASH DUCK!!!! Its a great site with a lot of great offers and you earn cash for completing the offers. Not only do you earn cash, you earn feathers too. Yup, I said feathers. So you get the cash, and then you get some sweet prizes for the feathers. The prizes vary from pens, note pads, magnets, free referrals (a super great way to build your business), gift cards and more!! Its your choice which prizes you pick, just earn enough feathers for your choice of prizes! None of the offers take very long to complete (a few minutes for most in fact) and you can complete many in an hour and be done for the day if you wish. Just click in the right hand column of this blog on the CASH DUCK duckling and you too can be well on your way to earning more cash and paying off those debts or just having an emergency fund or whatever else you may want to do with your new found cash!! Remember....EXTRA CASH IS JUST DUCKY!!!!!

Modernization

2007-05-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed how the price of everything goes up, but wages stay the same? Frustrating isn't it?...! I had to purchase a newer car seat for our daughter the other day. I found a very reasonably priced one. Between us my husband and I managed to get it put together and put in the car. However, when children first start in car seats little ones are supposed to be in the middle of the back seat....okay that makes sense, however, the newer car seats require use of the shoulder harness and the only shoulder harnesses in this car are on the seats by the doors. Okay, so that is where we now have to put her. However, the biggest news flash is that if you have one of the older cars that does not have shoulder harnesses in the back seat, you cannot use the car seat and will have to either keep the child in the older car seat (if they are small enough this is fine) or you will not be able to use said car with said car seat which causes more transportation issues not to mention you are now looking at the cost of either installing them into your car, or worse yet, having to purchase a different (more modern, more expensive) vehicle! The more the gas prices go up, the more things like this occur, the more I want to go back to the horse and buggy days!

Beautiful Sunny Day

2007-05-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

Its a beautiful sunny day out. Most of the garden is planted and I have been able to enjoy the sunshine. I am soooooo looking forward to the fresh veggies that the garden will bring in the fall. But then, I don't want to rush the late spring and early summer weather either! I guess until then I will just have to suffice with the store bought veggies. So for now I will just water and weed and enjoy the sunshine. I can't believe how fast some of those weeds can grow!!!! Some might be worth cultivating and turning into salad at the rate they grow!!

I have been busy keeping up with my on line businesses. I have a link to my website to the right of this if anyone is interested or looking for some extra cash. I have found some great sources for on line businesses and included them on my website. Please take a look around both on my blog and on my website for some great ideas!

Gas Prices

2007-05-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

In this day and age with gas prices so exorbitantly high I'm trying to redefine my car usage. Actually, since my car has basically been broke down since October of 2006 this isn't too difficult. I walk a lot and catch rides from friends. Today however, my 5 year old and I decided to ride the bike with the bike trailer and take her to school. Now under normal circumstances it would be an easy ride. But I am quite apparently "out of shape". Yup... The one mile ride went up several unplanned hills. I have never really noticed them as my husband is usually the one riding the bike with the bike trailer and my daughter is in the trailer. I generally trail along behind on my own bike. I'm sure I need to do this more often, of course, I don't really want to. I mean do any of us really really want to exercise? I didn't think so. We do it because its good for us. And, at the price of gas these days (and we thought it was high in the 70's?!) well, I'm thinking we might want to get used to these more old fashioned transportation methods. In the meantime, I can write in my journal that I began my day with a 2 mile bike ride. Maybe tomorrow it will be a bit easier. One can only hope. I'm proud of myself for saving gas and exercising at the same time. If more people would live and work in small town's maybe the gas prices would be eliminated and we wouldn't have such ridiculous price gouging!

Gardening

2007-04-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

I am anxiously awaiting frost free morning's so I can plant our garden. We love the fresh vegetables all year long. Today is windy and only in the mid 50's. With the sun shining though it feels a bit warmer so perhaps I will go and dig in the dirt awhile and look forward to the garden. My neighbors and friends question my sanity, but there is just nothing quite like fresh garden food! We have 5 gardens in our yard. There is a small herb hill near my clothesline. A small patch of pumpkins and squash out behind the shed. Beside the shed we have rhubarb, asparagus, horseradish and blackberries. Then we have 2 rather large patches for peas, beans, tomatoes and more pumpkins, squash and cucumbers. My husband keeps busy weeding and proudly observing his garden. I keep busy weeding and processing the food for our family to eat throughout the season! There is nothing like fresh veggies on the table next to that platter of roast beef or chicken! My youngest likes to pick peas and nibble on them as she assists in weeding. At the ripe age of 5 she has learned the difference between weeds and peas. She is very discerning when it comes to that! Another of our children loves the fresh cucumbers sliced and lightly salted with sea salt! Those go really really fast at the dinner table! Our freezer is full. The canner is kept busy and we even take advantage of a food dehydrater! What a great bonus to our health and budget!

"They're all gone!" my son hollered up from the basement that doubles as a canned food cellar in our house! "The dried apples are all gone!" he sadly stated looking very defeated as he climbed back up the stairs. I had dehydrated 7 half gallon jars of apples over the last fall. Then I looked outside and the land lord was pruning the apple trees. Last year I had way more apples that I could process! Since they were pruned I will have larger apples, but way less. Just then a neighbor stopped in. "Don't worry" he calmly stated, "we still have the apple tree in the vacant lot behind my house and its never pruned because a church owns that property and allows me to use it! Look out...we're going to have MORE dried apples, applesauce and apple butter this year. If you have any great recipes feel free to send them my way.

Just A Mom

2007-04-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

This came to me in a recent e-mail and I thought it was worthy of merit for all SAHM.

A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's office was
asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

"What I mean is," explained the recorder, "do you have a job or are you
just a......?" "Of course I have a job," snapped the woman. "I'm a Mom.""We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it," said the recorder emphatically.

I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient and possessed of a high sounding title like, "Official Interrogator" or "Town Registrar."

"What is your occupation?" she probed. What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. "I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations." The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire."Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in your field?" Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it).But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money."

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up and personally ushered me to the door. As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another Mom." Motherhood! What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door. Does this make grandmothers "Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations" and great grandmothers "Executive Senior Research Associates"? I think so!!! I also think it makes Aunts "Associate Research Assistants".