My new fitness routine

   I am away from my CrossFit - have you noticed?  I think ... 5 weeks now?  Too long to be calling myself a CrossFitter, that's for sure.  I got busy (I know, lame excuse) with other projects, and honestly was not getting enough sleep to give up an hour to the gym.  Now that I'm home I get enough sleep but the gym is a half hour away. I want to build the gym back into my routine, I really did enjoy it, but in the meantime, I haven't given up on the journey to the healthy part of the happy and healthy homestead.  I'm on what Hubby jokingly calls FarmFit, which is just a fun way of saying "I keep busy working around the homestead."  Here's some proof:

FarmFit :)

   Sure, I have a trailer for my little riding mower, but it was a small trek from the cinder block pile to my garden, and using the wheelbarrow saves a little gas and builds a little muscle.  So I get to save money and get a workout while the job gets done, in about the same amount of time.  Bonus!  So, instead of going to the gym alone, I am working around the property, hiking, and playing with the kids to stay fit.  Speaking of which, now that I planted my new cedar trees, I need to patch my bike inner tube to go riding later this week, after I chainsaw some big logs into firewood.

   There's always something!

Joyfully yours,
K

Chickens 2017 - The chicks

   You know those kind of people who are prepared for things before they commit?  I'm not really one of those people.  Usually I have some kind of idea, especially if it is my idea and not being forced upon me.  But I am never totally prepared.  I was in the middle of the dining room built-in buffet project when I committed to having my son's birthday party a few years ago.  So, in true fashion, I put in an order for 60 meat chicks when I had no home for the chicks (cold outside) and no coop for the chickens.

  So, Yes!  I put in my order and payment for 60 meat chicks, with one week to get a brooder ready, and 6 layers chicks, due 3 weeks later.  The layers are coming from a friend who is putting some of her fertilized eggs  in the incubator this week. I was not able to go with a local breeder for the broilers, so they came from the Family Farm & Home, on sale.  Which is why I went ahead and ordered them even though I wasn't ready.


Failure #1: Last year we did we did 10 chicks inside the house.

   They started in a tub in the bathroom, then in the actual bathtub (thank goodness for a second bath), then outside in an enclosed mobile coop.  We decided after that - no more chickens in the bathroom.  It needed a total wash-down and airing out for days.  Not again, no, thank you.

This is what we came up with for the chicks in our unfinished basement.  We did change to all red lamps for heat, hanging right in the middle, and a white lamp hanging from ceiling for light during the day.  We only had one heat lamp, feeder and waterer, and the wire shelf, so everything we had to buy.

Failure #2:  60 chicks grow really fast.

   Did you know that 60 chicks take six times more room, food, and water than 10 chicks? Who knew?  Okay, I'm no idiot, I knew that.  But this was the difference between knowledge and wisdom.  Knowing and understanding are not always the same thing.  We quickly ran out of room for these chicks to be comfy.  We had them split up, first into 3 tubs, then 4, and we were filling food at water in each tub 3 times a day - 4 by the time they moved outside.  They had feathers, but not fully feathered out, and the temperature was still too low to go without heat lamps, but they were about 2 days away from not being able to move around inside the tubs any more. So we had to make their outside home work, ready or not.

   Quick note: I added about a tablespoon of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar to a gallon of water for them from day 2, and they had no problem.

Failure #3: Dead chickens.

   We did lose one chick the first day, one chick the third day, and another chick after a week and a half.  Every one of them were found under other birds, apparantly smothered.  I ordered 10 more than we actually need for loss and give aways, so that wasn't an issue.  It bothered me, though, these poor little guys, getting squished when they had plenty of room, and heat - even in the middle of the night they were next to each other, but not huddled in a solid mass.  I'm told this happens, and we haven't lost any more since.  I used it as a teachable moment and moved on.

   Next up...the broiler coop project. Until then,

Joyfully yours,
K

Homemade Strawberry Pie

   First off, I am not a baker.  Not in any kind of sense.  But I want to be one, at least a decent homemaker-type baker.  Simple breads, cakes, pies, etc. from scratch.  I can make yeast bread in the bread machine (why I don't make it all by hand is a future post), and simple from scratch quick breads, noodles (is that baking?), cakes and  cupcakes.  One thing I've never been able to do is pie.  It's not the filling that gets me, it's the crust.
   I offered to bring pie for our family's New Year's Eve party, since that was the only thing not covered.  I bought one pie from the store, and took it as an opportunity to challenge myself to homemade strawberry pie - the cold kind.  I don't know if that needs to be said, but I have had many two-crust hot strawberry, strawberry rhubarb, and strawberry-berry pies.

   Failure #1: Burnt pie crusts.

   This was totally my fault, and doesn't really have anything to do with bad baking skills so much as bad habits.  I had a box of Jiffy pie crust mix, which made 2 crusts.  Mixing was fine, though the crusts looked pretty sad once rolled out.  Did I mention I'm not a baker?  So I pop them in the oven, set the timer, call my Dad to chat……..and go upstairs where not only can I not hear the oven timer, but can't smell or see the smoke.  (Did she say smoke?) So there I am, chatting away, and the smoke alarm goes off. Seriously? I did that? Ugh. <shake my head at myself> I know better that that.  So, burnt things outside, ceiling fans on, windows open, smoke alarms reset.

   Okay, Take 2.  I pull out my new baking book, The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.

   I've actually had it for a few months, but hadn't got into it yet.  So I use the basic pie crust recipe. The newbie version with detailed instructions is on p. 46.  If you've been through the pie crust rodeo, see p. 54.  Right away I could tell the dough was turning out much better than the Jiffy mix.  *Nothing against Jiffy - I toured their factory here in Michigan and got an assortment of box mixes while I was there.  They have a nice, clean facility and they have wonderful people working there.  Back to the story - I added more flour this time around, and paid attention to the shape before I started rolling it out.  Oh, and I didn't leave the kitchen!  Much better.  I even had a enough extra for a little third crust.

   Then it was on to the filling. I probably should've started this first, since I started with frozen strawberries, but...oh well.  The recipe for the filling was in the same book (p. 83).  It calls for fresh mashed strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice to go in the pot, cook it, cool it, mix with sliced fresh strawberries, and fill the crusts.  Easy as…ha!…pie.  Since I started with frozen not fresh, I had to mash them up as they started to cook/thaw.

   So while my strawberries are cooking, I'm softening a brick of cream cheese and thawing the half the strawberries that get sliced.  I discovered frozen strawberries are a little tough on my food processor, so I'm letting them thaw.

   The strawberries mix in the pot start mostly white and thick, then gets thin as the sugar melts, then thickens and starts to look clear. Yummmmm….

   That looks about right.  I think.  Let's go with it.  Into the freezer for a quick cool down because, well, I didn't make this the day before - it's already 3 o'clock and this is for dinner.  While that is cooling, I work on a bonus to the pie I got from Dad.  A small layer of whipped cream cheese on the bottom of the crust.  Somewhere online I got the simple instructions for it. One brick of cream cheese, 1/4 c. milk, whip, done.

Failure #2: Homemade whipped cream cheese.

   I don't have a picture of this, but it was the consistency and texture of pancake batter.  Hm, well okay then, that didn't work.  Fine.  Do I really want to even put this in?  "Handsome Boy! Come to the kitchen and taste this!"  One spoon just strawberry, one spoon cheese stuff and strawberry.  The vote is a huge grin - cheese goes in.  So, okay.  I will pour it in the crusts and stick them in the freezer to harden before the filling goes in.  Perfecto - it worked!!  It looked like a nice glaze on the bottom.  Mix in the sliced (chopped) strawberries to the cooked stuff, pour into crusts, and…

   YUM! The little white dish was an extra bit from the mix fiasco, which went in so much later than the main two pie crusts that it didn't burn. So I had enough for two and a half and a quarter pies.  Into the freezer again for a bit, to stiffen up the filling, and then off to the party.

Failure # 2 1/2: Runny filling.

   I call this a half-failure, because it was delicious and no one cared that it ran.  It wasn't actually runny, but it didn't keep its shape when cut.  You know, like in the commercials, where nothing is like real life, or like when you cut a pie too soon after coming out of the oven.  I think it didn't chill enough in the crusts, or it needed to thicken up on the stove more, but those are easy fixes to try next time.  Bottom line is the kids and adults both loved it, and we didn't even use whipped cream on top.  Happy dance!

   So in the end I successfully made homemade, from scratch, strawberry pie.  I don't know if I can all myself a baker, but it's a step in the right direction.  I've gained the confidence of making pie crusts, and now I don't have to buy them anymore.

Joyfully yours,
K

Mother Earth News Summit

Just a quick note this morning- if you like gardening, raising animals, herbal medicine, homesteading, self-sustainability, living off grid, or anything related, check out the Mother Earth News Online Summit, sponsored by the Grow Network, going on now. It's free to watch online, and the speakers change daily. These are great presentations! You can also purchase online access or buy them downloaded on a flash drive to watch or refer to later. There's q&a with each speaker as well.

Click here to check out the Summit!!