My amusement

                              Well looks like someone is ready to be the navigator!

Experiment Part 2

Well I promised updates for everyone on the beer situation and here it is!

The bane of this portion of the brewing process as with the other was the sterilizing. This segment in the instructions was made for resealable bottles, which we didn't have as the glass ones are better and last longer without all that chemical crap that plastic is made out of.

So we poured the sterilization water into the bottles and then let them sit the recommended 10 minutes. We then needed to put sugar in the bottles and fill them up with the beer. Cap them and invert gently a few times and then let them sit. They advise to leave the beer sit for at least a week or two but the longer you go before sampling the better.

So now it just sits waiting to be tasted. Taunting us. Waiting for us to be weak and give in to try it. So far we have been good and are waiting. We shall see how long that lasts.

Monday adorables

                 I am ferocious! And you will obey me! Play with me! NOW!

Well I am still here, despite the cold!

Sorry for the long time between posts! I just haven't been doing much between working a lot of overtime and school while battling this brutal cold front that seems to have moved in permanently. There hasn't really been a lot going on lately, I have mostly just been out with friends trying to occupy my time elsewhere or doing reading for my class.

I hope everyone's Valentines' Day went well! I did spend the day getting a lot around the house as I am currently of the single relationship status :)

I did get to use up our last loaf of homemade bread making french toast, so this next weekend promises to be another baking day! I made blackberry french toast and bacon in the oven, which as much as I really liked not getting splattered by the grease was a little too time consuming for my taste. My father and brother loved it and made me promise to make more, both bread and french toast :)

See this is my plot, make them love the homemade stuff so much that they stop wanting to buy the store bought!!! (It's not a very elaborate plan but hey it works!!) We also made more firestarters, goodness we could probably be making them to sell we have so many! We made two more egg cartons full and have another ready to be ripped up! Wow does this family have a lot of lint!

I also went and got all our grocery shopping done, a chore I don't particularly care for as it involves so much money and with prices going up up up it gets harder and harder to get good food for a reasonable price. Thankfully we did have coupons, of which I am growing more and more fond of. Any little way to save money is good in my book.

Now it's time for laundry and more homework, along with some TV watching. Wow does winter get long or what?! I might go crazy before I am able to FINALLY dig my fingers into the dirt!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day with your special someone ;)

Monday Zaniness

Puppy cuddles, this is literally how I wake up most mornings, this or with her head on the pillow next to me. (this one was actually posted on the right day!!)

Snow, huh? What's that?

Hey what's that white stuff outside? Do you think it's snow? Nah couldn't be! We haven't had snow since that great blizzard of '14! That was a big 'un! Kids gather round and I will tell you all about it!

No seriously, it's looked more like Oklahoma in winter up here then Minnesnowta. All of our snow around here has melted, and I mean ALL of it. The most we have left is what was stubbornly clinging for dear life to the pile in our front yard. It hasn't been a normal winter, heck it hasn't been a normal winter for a few years now. But FINALLY finally it is starting to look a little more like winter out there. We only got about an inch at most but it sure does look so pretty out there!

My favorite part about snow is the way it looks like stardust when you drive in town at night. The snow on the roads sparkles under the lights........well that or it looks like the entire world's supply of glitter exploded.

I love winter, no honestly I do! I love the way your breath steams when it comes out, I love sledding, I love that you can bundle in like 20 layers and no one will judge you. I love how excited the snow makes my dog! She loves to run and eat it, then roll in it, and finally she tries to bury herself in it! Pure entertainment! I especially love the way the world seems to stand still, as if mother nature herself has decided to hibernate. The silence is my favorite part, the stillness that comes over the earth, it just makes me relax and take a breath in awe.

Summers are crazy, the ground is bursting and growing it's heart out trying to produce the bounty before winter comes again, animals are frantically mating and rearing their young to be ready when they need to head south or survive the cold. And I feel everyone up in the northern part of the country gets a little busier. Trying to pack every moment of fun they can into our few short months of summer. And I love it! The warmth, the sun, being out in my garden! But I also love the quiet that comes with winter. The fact that everyone seems to slow down a little as if to enjoy the time with their families and friends before summer makes everyone busy again.

I always try in the winter to slow down in my personal life as well, read a few good books, enjoy the stillness outside. I think it helps me recharge, get ready for my garden again, and the fast pace that brings. I especially love the balance of the northern part of the US, the rhythm you fall into. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. It's almost like the heartbeat of the earth. And it can be beautiful at all times, if you only take the time to look.

Bread and an Experiment!

So I decided that this weekend I would give my new mill a whirl! In my decision to use it I decided that bread would be a good idea. My grandmother has a recipe that is rather infamous in our family. No I won't share it as it is a family secret but I will tell you how it turned out! DELICIOUS!!

I was rather nervous to use my mill, as it is so old I wasn't sure if it would still run well, or even if it would be as air-tight as they are supposed to be. The family I got it from had a son that was teasing me when I picked it up about opening the lid when the grain is going. I guess we know who usually made the messes in that family!

I pulled our my hard wheat, as that is supposed to be the most like all-purpose flour. I had it wrong in my last post. The three buckets are spelt, hard white wheat, and soft white wheat. The soft white wheat is supposed to be your super fine pastry flour. I don't really use pastry flour much so I will have to think on recipes for that, but for now the all purpose flour will do. 

The grain mill has a ratio of one cup wheat berries to one and a half cups flour. Never having made my grandmothers recipe (and not checking it, what was I thinking?!) I just decided to make about 5 cups of flour.

You are supposed to turn on the mill before you pour the grain in, and leave the lid off. I would assume so that air can be sucked down into the mill along with the berries. There is a dial on the side that adjusts how fine the resulting flour is. Some people prefer a little rougher flour for more texture. Again never having made this I decided to err on the side of caution (and my brother has a massive dislike for any kind of textured bread.) 

This was the result with the dial as far over as it would go for the finest grind. I think it looks closer to whole wheat flour but I like either kind so I am not worried.

After milling it I set about to make my bread, and boy does this recipe call for a lot of flour. 12 cups!!! Though it makes 4 good sized loaves so I can't complain that much. The time it takes for this bread is a little ridiculous. It calls for two risings of an hour apiece, then you divide it into the loaf pans and let it rise for one and a half to two hours more. But it was soooo worth it!! We devoured the first loaf before they had even cooled down! We had the rest of another loaf on Monday night as grilled cheese with homemade tomato soup. Boy was that ever good, no more canned stuff for us EVER.

Yeah I think we will be doing this many more times. Hope you all are staying warm with our crazy weather!

When did Mother Nature become Bipolar?

So after some rather mild weather for January, now we have this colder weather that makes me actually remember that we have winter for another month or two.

What is with this? I mean seriously? Here I was thinking that if this warm weather continued we might actually be able to plant before May, and now this cold snap rolls in!

Sigh, I don't know how much longer I can keep up with the roller-coaster. It's getting really hard to remember not only how warm to dress, but what month it is. If it weren't for school to help me remember I wouldn't ever keep anything straight.

At least my garlic in my garden is doing well, it should hopefully be well frozen with this cold snap so that come spring it is all ready to grow it's heart out! I am so excited, this is something I have wanted to grow for myself for a very long time!

I have also been pouring over our catalogs trying to decide what to grow. I recently was reading some interesting nutritional information about the types of lettuce you grow in your garden. Apparently the type of lettuce usually favored in the United States, iceberg, is one of the least nutritional, while the darker and more varied lettuce grown in other countries has a much higher nutritional value. So I have been comparing the varieties out there and trying to decide what ones to try.

I don't do any heirloom seed saving yet, partly because of lack of space and partly because I am still trying to see what I like the best for flavor and production. Even if I did try to save my own seeds due to a shorter growing season I would have to start my tomatoes and others indoors, and I have no room for that anywhere. Seriously. Remind me sometime to show you our house of plants. We have literally no window space left. And that greenhouse I want? Not happening.

So I just try and see what grows best, what we like, and have fun browsing the catalogs. Maybe someday I will have my own greenhouse.

Monday Quirks

This is what they call the two-mouther. I'm kinda a hoarder of bones. Just don't ask mommy where I keep hiding them. (It's a secret)

Unfortunately the schedule was off this week so I didn't get it up Monday sorry!