bubble bubble buzz....

Despite my total absence from this space for the past few months...things have indeed continued on here on the Country homestead.  There is plenty of updating and filling in to do.  Reflections on summer.  Changes in the landscape and on the animal front.  All that.  But for today, late as it is, I can tell you that amidst a house full of children, lawn mowing and thunderstorms, and in the face of an oven repair that was two months in the waiting...I was kitchen bound! 
Things have been bubbling, fizzing, buzzing and rising all over the place.  City sister, during her recent (and super fantastic) visit, left me with some sourdough starter that actually originated from another lovely homesteader so many miles away.  By a stroke of miracle I did not kill it.  It is living on the top shelf of my fridge.

I kicked off 5 loaves of oatmeal bread today (oven repaired just in time...phew).  A double batch of cookies.  Rhubarb muffins for the freezer.  Soaked our dry beans for crock pot baked beans.  Two quarts of yogurt culturing away in the cooler. 



One loaf taken by force with bread knife and butter...




Our own Jacob's Cattle beans soaking on the counter.



How we do our yogurt.  Cultured milk snuggled in with hot water bottles in a cooler for 8 hours.

A little of the good fermented stuff to close out a long day in the kitchen.

One of those days where it all comes together.  Busy kids, food put away for the week, kitchen cleaned.  And would you belive it...a blog post to boot!  Feels good to be back.
More details on the buzzing in a couple days.....

Cultured Buttermilk

I always felt as though buttermilk was one of THOSE refrigerator items...

One of those things I don't really use except when making pancakes or something fancy...

One of those things I could just sour milk for and not have the added expense of buying something just for a few items...after all, I do so love multipurpose.

But alas, W. started having some milk issues, so I decided to experiment with cultured buttermilk since yogurt didn't seem to bother him...and lo and behold...it was fine!

So...I still had the "I don't want to buy buttermilk just for baking" issue...

So I decided to just find a way to make my own...

Easier than yogurt...let me tell you I wish I knew about this before...

Cultured buttermilk

Buy a container of buttermilk with live cultures (got mine at Trader Joe)

Pour one cup of it into a clean quart jar

Fill with milk (whatever type you like...doesn't matter if it is ultra pasteurized, raw, your monkey's uncle etc.)

Shake

Let sit at room temperature for 12-36 hours

Refrigerate 

Use

When you are down to one cup in the bottom of the jar, pour into a new jar and repeat the process.

That simple

We've been going through about a quart a week for baking, pancakes, and buttermilk sourdough waffles.

It seems to add a richness to items.

I use a touch less leavening too (or not.)

Baked items seem to stay moist longer as well...

(as always...this is what I do, use caution in the kitchen and always use approved methods as bacteria and culturing can be harmful if not done it the right way...)

Stocking up...

Last night I roasted a chicken.  

I had to clear room out of the refrigerator and freezer due to the new month's supplies being delivered this morning.  

You will have to wait and see the Scrumptious Saturday this Saturday to see what I made, but for today, I will tell you about the stocking we did last night and this morning.

After roasting the chicken, I broke up the chicken leftovers into smaller pieces and put as well as the pan drippings into a pot and covered all the bones in water.  Then I let it simmer from dinner time to bed time.  

My dear husband was actually the one to take the pot off the stove and put it in the fridge so we didn't waste it.  

This morning I woke up early as I had received a phone call the night before from our dear Frankferds that our delivery would arrive between 7:30 and 9:30 am!  I put the pot on the back burner on low and continued on my day.  

The delivery came...Stocking up yet again with flour, yeast, canned goods, produce, and dairy delivered to the door. Then, once everything was put away, I realized that we were out of yogurt, so out came one of our 1/2 gallon bottles of milk.

I figured I saved quite a bit of time, money and energy by having the delivery made.  They drive right by here anyway and the cost of gas and time out of our schedule made it worth it.

 C. and I prepared the yogurt in our usual way. With that starting to ferment, we started in on the chicken.  

I drained off one pint of ultra concentrated chicken stock and then began to pick any meat that had boiled off the bones.  I got one pint of chicken meat pieces.  I then put some of the stock over the chicken pieces and topped both bottles off with water.  With that done, I broke up the bones once more into smaller pieces to expose the marrow and all of the goodness found there.  Again, covering the bones with water, I started up the pot.

During all of this we:

Ate breakfast

Read one chapter in "Little House In the Big Woods"

Did a phonics lesson

Did a math lesson

Had some free play time with connect 4

Did a puzzle

Got dressed

Got very silly with a monster chase game.

That's my story...

What did you do this morning?

UPDATE: Weighed remains of chicken after 2nd boiling...Used all of the chicken except 8.6 oz (from a 6 pound bird) Pretty good EH?

A pile of fermentation

We got back from a mini-vacation yesterday afternoon.  

Typically I make yogurt on a weekly basis, but I didn't have time to before I left, 

so our old yogurt was a bit icky.

So today I had to revamp the yogurt from here.

I also received a package in the mail from Alaska thanks to 

This is my life at 720 square feet, she is such a sweet fierce momma!

In it was a pack of sourdough from Alaska!

(Have I ever mentioned my obsession with Alaska...

I have a ULU my parents brought back for me and now a living sourdough... and some beautiful books! 

Oh it is just too much!)

I love sourdough.

I love it with passion.

I have wanted to make a good one for a while, but just didn't have the courage to make one from scratch 

(what if it made awful sourdough) 

and I couldn't find a starter that was an old strain locally.

C. and I mixed it up (with a bit of a struggle over the whole spoon issue.  

C. didn't want to use a wooden spoon.  

Her metal spoon would spell certain death for the dough.)

So now I have that fermenting over the top of my yogurt on a heating pad.

I have a large pile of fermentation slowly cooking away.

I love all the little creatures making food yummy.

So I will post this without pictures in hope that I find my camera after the long car ride and will later post a picture of my heap.

What you get for the money...

Pittsburgh has long been considered a great place to live...

the cultural events and museums

the low cost of living

family friendly environment

and many other reasons...

I had been reading a series from here over the past week about cutting your budget and frugal grocery shopping while maintaining high quality nutritional food.  I found it pretty interesting reading the comments from people about things they do to reduce the cost of wholesome food...

About once a month my husband and I sit down and take stock of the cupboards and freezer and make a big order (or two...when we forget or run out before the order is picked up) from here.  Usually it totals about $300.  For the most part, this is the bulk of our groceries for the month. We supplement with previous bulk bought items, frozen and canned food from the summer, and during the summer items that we get from our garden.  For meat, we bought a quarter of a cow from here, and supplement from here.

2 # butter (Amish roll butter! yummy)*

6 gallons milk (low heat pasteurized, non homogenized- good for making yogurt)*

10 blue corn tortillas*

2 boxes frozen spinach*

5# potatoes*

5# dried beans*
1 bottle disinfectant cleaner

1 loaf bread (we usually make our own, but it's nice to have a frozen loaf on hand)*

1 box vegetable bullion cubes*

1 case tomato soup*

1 bottle Mexican seasoning*

1# cinnamon*

1 jar salsa*

25# rice*

1 gallon honey

25# unbleached flour*

5# raisins*

1# cocoa*

1# oregano*

1# Italian seasoning*

4 oz. vanilla

8 oz. artichoke fettuccine*

3# apples*

1 bunch celery*

1 case pretzels*

# pound(s)

*organic

I like to go on Saturdays when you can shop the warehouse (other days it is closed and you just come by and they load you up.) Occasionally they'll have produce that is not so pretty or dairy that's on it's way out for a steal...such as

SCORE!

ORGANIC BANANAS!
8.5 pounds after the kids ate all the bananas that they could over 2 days
and the 1-2 pounds that went straight to the compost heap
(wet and moldy...not good for human consumption/storage!)

The guys in the warehouse said that they weren't pretty enough to sell so they let the kids have them.  They also joked that we could only have them if we made them some banana bread...who knows they are such great people I may just do so!

They also had 3# blocks of cream cheese for $4 and some change...past date, but still good...

I was thinking cheesecake, but decided not to.

It's just not that good for me.

(but my tongue and tummy are regretting that decision.)

(No, I currently receive no compensation from them, it's just a really great company)

Scrumptious Saturday

Does something scrumptious have to be for dinner?

I don't think so...

Here's my typical breakfast

Homemade Yogurt

Homemade Granola

For the Yogurt

I make 1/2 gallon at a time (makes 1/2 gallon yogurt.)

1/2 Gallon Whole Milk (NOT ULTRA PASTEURIZED!!!)

1/4-1/2 C. Live Culture Yogurt (I used a culture starter the first time around and now save 1/4-1/2 cup for the next recipe)

Heat milk to 185 degrees in a pot (the point at which it starts to foam a little).  Take off heat and put pot in a sink with a little cold water and ice in it so that it cools rapidly (do not put water or ice in pot!)  Cool to 115 degrees. While waiting for it to cool, put a metal cookie sheet on the counter top.  Put a dishtowel on top of the cookie sheet and then an electric heating pad on low.  Get out VERY CLEAN containers (glass works best) that will be big enough to hold the milk (I use 4 pint containers).  Once your milk has cooled to 115 degrees (finger can be put in milk for about 10 seconds) mix in the yogurt in very well with the milk.  Pour into the containers and put tops. Put the containers on top of the heating pad.  Cover the whole cookie sheet, yogurt jars contraption with a blanket.  Let sit with the heating pad on for 6-10 hours (depending on how sour tasting/ thick you want your yogurt...my family likes 7 hour yogurt.)  After incubation is over, put in the fridge overnight (as it cools it will thicken some more.) ENJOY...if you like Greek Style, line a sive with cheesecloth and place over a bowl.  Put yogurt in the sive and refrigerate for a day or two...

I sweeten my yogurt with honey right before serving.  I also top it with...

Homemade Granola

4 C. Oats

6 Tbs butter melted

1/3 C. brown sugar

1/3 C. honey

1/3 C. Wheat Germ

1 Tbs Vanilla

Anything else you like in your granola (I use pecans, but you can use nuts, cocanut, dried fruit)

Melt the butter...mix in vanilla, wheat germ, honey, and brown sugar.  Add in oats and coat well.  Put on 1-2 cookie sheets in a thin layer.  Place in oven at 325 degrees for 10 min. Stir and put any nuts (if using) in with granola...put back in oven for 10 min.  Take out and stir in anything else you want to.  Let cool on the cookie sheet.  Then put in air tight containers, it should stay fresh for about a month.

Old Mother Hubbard...

Yes, it's that time of the month...when the food budget is gone and we are "inventive" mode aka...simple, use what you got mode. I will admit to overspending this month to buy milk and medication (sinus infections, bronchitis and ticks got us this month.) But here are some pictures of what we have:



Whole Wheat and White Flour with
Vinegar




Canned Applesauce and Tomatoes with
homemade granola, raisins, beer, spritzer,
and wine



Pear Butter, Dried tomatoes and Peppers,
Dried herbs and lemons, Dilly Beans and jellies





Eggs





Green Tomatoes



Rice, pasta, beans, quinoa, one can tuna,
and a can of Pumpkin.  I think I see some
marinades and PB as well.

So here are some of my meal ideas...

Breakfasts:

Yogurt and Granola (not too inventive, but it's something that not everyone in the house typically will choose from their free will...) Fruit????

Pear Butter Muffins

Toast and Eggs (need to make bread) I think we may have some frozen berries to go with it!

Lunches: 

Peanut butter and raisins on apple slices, Milk

Peanut Butter and Jelly (again with the bread I should make...) Applesauce on the side

Dinner:

Pasta with tomato sauce

Beef Veggie soup

MEAT (1/4 of a cow is in the freezer) maybe with some spiced up pumpkin and dilly beans

When I started writing this, I could hardly think of something to make tomorrow, but now that I took pictures, took stock, and thought about it, we have lots of things to nourish our family.  It just is back to basics.

We are so fortunate for what we have. We have the ability to be picky. We have the ability to choose what we want to eat. It takes moments like this to realize how truly blessed we are. 

I am almost embarrassed to publish this with my original thinking that the cupboards are bare, when there are people out there who do not have the makings of one balanced meal. 

I bet we could go another 1-2 weeks on what is here.

I'm also thankful I have a food order to be picked up on Saturday (then I can really get cooking!)

I think I also need to start monthly meal planning.  That would make us that much more efficient.

Then I could share with all of you the family meal plans, and maybe you could share with me as well?

What do you think...

What are you cooking...

If you have your own blog, put a link to what you're cooking, or leave a comment...

Or not...your choice.

Saving...Part 2 Do it yourself

You may have noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with cost analysis.  Part of that stems from a desire to save save save, and the other part from the fact that I just went from a nearly full time, classroom situation, to working one day a week at my job.  We made this change as a family in order to homeschool and allow for me to spend more time with the kiddos. So here are some ways we save money by doing it ourselves.

1) Laundry soap.  It takes almost the same amount of time to make as it does to take it off the shelf and at a savings of /load, it's a real bargain.  It even takes paint out of clothing!
2) Baking and Cooking.  We make our own everything here, bread, pie, cookies...we eat homemade dinners, pack lunches, cook breakfast.  I have even started making yogurt (more on that another day.)  We try to keep it simple, healthy, and nutritious.  At times we don't succeed at this, but we try to keep it good for us at least 80% of the time.
3) Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating.  You've seen about many of the different things I've done here from the Rose Hip Jelly to the Applesauce and many others in between
4) Fixing.  Mend what needs to be mended, maintain things to make them last longer.
5) Don't be afraid to ask questions, ask for help, and ask opinions.  Others have done this before me and I often ask what they think about what I should do.  We've saved ourselves lots of problems this way.  We are also always open to helping hands!
6) Raising chickens (Country sister does this and more! check out each word) for eggs and occasionally meat.
7) Our garden...our connection to the land, food sources, and lots of tomatoes

date is wrong!

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this one, I gave you links to the archives instead of lots of picts of all this stuff!

What are some other ways we could do things ourselves to save?

What are you doing?

Country Homestead Tour #2: The Family Cow

Meet Daisy

Daisy right before loading

This weekend we brought home our 3 month old heifer (girl) calf whom the girls promptly named Daisy.  How perfect.  Why the cow?  So after milking a dairy goat for a season (goat intro to come) we decided that we have a house full of chevre lovers(and oh how we loved the pounds of fresh homemade cheese) but truth be told we all really prefer cow milk for drinking and whatnot.  So, we endeavored to find a dairy cow that would fit our needs as well as our land.  Enter the Irish Dexter.  The Dexter is the triple threat of the cow world, good for dairy, meat and teamwork.  It is a miniature breed so it naturally produces less milk (2 gallons per day versus 4-6 gallons like a Jersey cow) than a full sized dairy cow.  Perfect--we are only a family of 4 and we have day jobs so can't be tied up in the kitchen processing milk for hours a day.  It needs less pasture since it is smaller.  Ding Ding again--since we only have about 2 acres of quality pasture to graze right now.  And the real deal sealer for the minority leader of the house was that we can breed her with a beef style Dexter and have a beefy offspring for the freezer and still get quality butterfatty milk from mama moo.  This is a rarity since most dairy cows aren't the best for beef and most beef cows don't make very decent milk.

daisy: adjusting to her new barn..and the camera flash

So...trick #1 will be to halter train her really well.  Get her to walk with us, follow us around, and be OK with us scratching and snuggling and eventually, milking, her.  We learned our lesson the hard way with our little goat kid who is now a major social misfit.  We let her go the "natural" "attachment parenting" route. Just left her with mom.  The "other way" of raising is to pull the kids away from mom after they are born and bottle feed them.  Ack!  I mean, what an injustice to pull a little goat kid away from her mama.  And since I nursed my own human kids to 3 1/2, you can bet there was no way this lactivist was going to get between that kid and that udder (except to steal some milk every day for my precious cheese addiction) Well guess what--big surprise--the only thing she attached to was her mama goat.  So now we have two lovely alpine dairy goats (whom we bought and bottle fed from 2 days old) and one unruly free range crazy alpine goat that we can hardly touch.  This will not happen again!  Daisy thankfully had 3 lovely months of mama's milk and now it's time for her to "attach" to us.  Fingers crossed!

So here is Daisy.  She's about to get a ton of lovin' and if all goes well she'll be making us milk (and yogurt and cheese) in just 2 short years!