Friendship goop- making bread

Here is the final directions to make your own friendship bread. This bread is great for dessert or as a companion with your morning cup of caffeine.


Day 6: Add to the bag- 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Mash the bag.
Days 7- 9: Mash the bag.
Day 10: Follow these directions:
          Pour out the entire contents of the bag into a NON-METAL bowl.
          Add 1 1/2 c flour, 1 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/2 c milk
          Take 4 one gallon sized Ziploc bags and write the date on them.
           Put 1 cup of the batter in each of the bags.

Keep a bag yourself and give the other three to friends along with the directions. NOTE: If you keep a bag you will be baking every 9 days. I personally keep mine in a glass bowl with a kitchen towel over top to protect it.

Baking Directions:

Preheat oven to 325*F.
To the remaining batter in the bowl add:
3 eggs, 1 c of oil, 1/2 c cold milk, 1 c sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/3 tsp salt, 2 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding, 2 c flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda (If you use self rising flour, baking powder and baking soda is not needed)

Grease 2 loaf pans. In a separate bowl mix together: 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Use half of the mixture to dust the greased pans. pour batter into pans. DO NOT fill past 3/4 full. Sprinkle remaining sugar/cinnamon mixture over the top. Bake 50-55 min. Cool until bread loosens from sides, about 10 minutes.

I sometimes substitute a different pudding flavor like lemon or banana cream - yum!

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Now they're cooking

Now they're cooking! Six eggs in 2 days!

I'm going to have to hurry up and get an egg stand built!

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Apperently someone didn't get the memo and instead laid an egg inside their feed container!

Bakers dozen

Our girls have been working hard and yesterday we got egg number 12 and 13. They are smaller than the white, store bought, battery cage kept chicken egg but I'm ok with that. 

Greenhouse

Love this little greenhouse.

It has so much character and cool little details and

 not to mention how you turn a wheel to open the vents up top.

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Friendship goop- the starter

As promised here's a basic starter for the bread that was passed down to me:

1 small package of active dry yeast
1/4 c (110 degrees F/ 45 degrees C) water
1 c flour
1 c sugar
1 c milk
(do not use anything metal during the fermentation process)

Dissolve yeast and water in a small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. In a medium size non metal container stir well flour and sugar so there's no clumping later. Stir in milk and yeast, set aside and let it do it's bubbly thing at room temperature on the counter. This is considered Day 1.

Day 2 - 5 stir goop (remember non-metal, I use a plastic spoon)

Check back in a couple days for what to do on day 6.



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Friendship goop

I was recently sorting out my pantry a bit and realized I had quite a bit of pudding left over from when I had made some Friendship bread. It really shouldn't be called friendship bread since many people, myself included, have complained they run out of 'friends' to give it to not to mention the fact that you just gave your friends a new problem to have to deal with since they too will eventually have a vat of bread goop taking over their kitchen counter and no sucker ( I mean friend ) to pass it onto.


What is a Domestic Engineer to do?


I solved that problem by baking almost all the batter with a little bit of the goopy stuff left to do it's bubbly thing. The bread does taste great and freezes well, so after you've stock piled a freezer full.....just kidding!


So If you live within driving distance of my house, look out I'm coming for ya armed with two baggies full of goop! Those interested in trying their hand at making their own goop, I'll have the details ready for you tomorrow, so stay tuned.


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Egg donor

Well I found out exactly who the other egg donor is. She's one of the roosters 'favorite' girls.

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A good read: Rose in a Storm

With the cooler weather starting to take over here on my little homestead I settled in with a good read, a warm quilt and got reacquainted with my cozy couch and a mug of Mr. Earl Grey. Rose in a Storm by Jon Katz was my cool weather companion and this little page turner didn't let me down. A little sheep dog named Rose is the main gal who manages to take care of the animals on her farm, but with a blizzard coming right toward her during the lambing season will she be able to handle it? Will she let Sam her owner down?



This book touches on the relationships that animals have with each other and the humans they are fond of. Animals rely on their intuition and their perceptive powers especially when placed in difficult situations as this book so beautifully brings out. After reading this book I really appreciate all my animals and their different personalities, quirks and talents they bless me with each and every day. To all the animals that have graced my life, I linger in my fond memories of them.


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Yesterday's haul

This is yesterday's haul of veggies : butternut squash, my special long squash, swiss chard, a handful of cherry tomatoes (not pictured) and all my basil before it gets ruined from the cold.

Today I'm firing up the dehydrator and tossing in all that basil.

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Gotcha!

With my special high tech spy gear in hand (well, just my camera) I found out Star is the secret egg layer, tho I think there's another one in on it, but so far she's not talking. 

I took a quick pic through the wire screening while she wasn't looking. She laid her egg, got up and gently moved it around with her beak (admiring the fruits of her labor) and sat back down on it for a while. Hopefully she'll get tired of laying her eggs amongst the piles of poo and use the containers I set out.

Nothing like a warm egg fresh out of a chickens butt. Would you like yours scrambled or over easy? 

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Got Gnats?

One of the problems people who garden and who always have produce out on their counter (or a half eaten apple under a certain kids bed *ahem*) may face is a problem with gnats (aka fruit flies). I must admit this is something I have had to face recently. I was vacuuming them up which worked pretty well since they are slow as molasses, but after a while the 'fun factor' was lost. So instead I made a handy dandy bug catcher to lure bugs with a sweet tooth, those that rummage through your trash while you're not looking and those that love to attack your fresh tomatoes on the counter. Be fore warned this is a more natural remedy which takes time to work and is not like the chemical sprays that kills everything it touches immediately. If patience is not one of the virtues that has been bestowed upon you, then read no further.

First you will need a glass (or a container) and a piece of paper to make a funnel that will be placed into it. after you made a funnel and tape it to maintain shape, cut the tip off it so there's a little hole for the gnats to go through.

Next pour some apple cider vinegar into container along with a tiny bit of water and a couple drops of soap. You will need to make sure you don't pour so much in that the tip of the funnel touches the bug lure concoction. Lastly place the funnel into the container and secure firmly so the bugs, once inside the container cannot get out (I used tape). I also cut the funnel so it's even around the top.

The bug lure concoction will maintain it's magical bug attracting abilities for approx. a week. Place your handy dandy bug catcher near where they are lingering or even beside the food those evil little vegetarians are dive bombing.

 If you look closely you can see all the little bugs in the bottom of the glass.
 ~* evil laugh *~

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...And then there were three.

Today we found little egg number three.

The brown eggs are from our hens and are quite small next to a regular sized egg.

I stocked up on some bacon yesterday. I see many egg breakfasts in my future.

Come on girls, let's get crackin'!

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Uneventful

Well today came and went as uneventful as I was hoping it would be.

 No prolapsed egg.

Not another heart broken.

*sigh of relief*


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Number two

Egg number two was found today. I am excited and worried. I don't want to have to put another girl down. Here's to hoping egg number three is uneventful. and stress free for me (and her!). I wonder who's it is?

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Good and bad

Living with our little farm animals has brought us much enjoyment. This morning I checked the coop to clean it up a bit and I was pleasantly surprised by a little egg in the corner of the coop.

The egg on the left is a large egg and Big Red's first egg is on the right.

 I had a feeling it was Big Red our Rhode Island Red pullet since she took a 'liking' to the rooster lately. Later today she was running around like she needed to lay an egg, so I locked them all back up in the coop. I checked in on her and she wasn't so histerical and finally saw that she had a prolapsed egg. Basically the egg didn't make it all the way down the egg chute before being laid. My friend and I did what we could to try to get the egg out of the chute and her body but were unsuccessful. She finally had stopped trying to push it out and we decided to end her discomfort.

Big Red will be missed especially by the little boy who had picked her out as a chick

and who loved her the most.

A prolapsed egg is very rare and is usually seen in young chickens when an egg that's too large is trying to be passed and will ultimately lead to death. Her first egg was tiny but the second one was of normal size.

 What a shame.

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Swiss Chard Tart

Tonight we are having Swiss Chard Tart and a garden fresh salad for dinner. The tart was good but it did take quite a long time to make. This recipe is in a book I will be reviewing soon, so if you want the recipe stay tuned!

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Bath time!

With a break in the weather ( as in it actually stopped raining ) the whole clan took full advantage of it and had a much needed dust bath.

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Tomato people

How cute are these guys. I did have another one but he died.

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This spuds for you

I had apparently missed a potato when I was digging them up last year. This year it started to grow and this is what I have found so far. There are peppers planted close by, so I will make sure I've gotten all of them when the peppers are through!

An update on the hot sauce:

Unfortunately it got all moldy.I was really looking forward to trying it on some taco's. 

Oh well, there's always nest year.

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Many more long squash

Here's another super thin and long squash that's growing like crazy.

Here are four long squash still on the vine doing their thing.

It's a prolific grower as far as the vine is concerned but it doesn't produce massive amounts of squash. Though the size of them makes up for that!

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Squash soup

One of the long squash that I have been growing I used to make soup out of it. It was a recipe for butternut squash soup and it came out great. This squash was super easy to use since all the seeds are condensed to just the bottom section of it. When cut the squash has a sweet watermelon scent to it and the flesh looked similar to spaghetti squash. It was too long for the oven though, so I had to cut it up a bit to make it fit!

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Homemade hot sauce

Yesterday I made some hot sauce...well in about a month it will be hot sauce. Right now it's just a bowl of hot pepper mush. The peppers pictured above are the rejects that I have to find a way to use them up before they go bad. This really is an experimentation which I'm hoping it will end up pretty hot but not too fiery inside my mouth. I'll keep you posted.


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Little luffa's

There now is a couple of little luffa's growing now. You can eat luffa's when they are very small, but I'm going for the sponge instead (if we get any). They have had such a late start, but I think they are pretty neat and peek every now and then to see how much they have grown.



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Peace!

Well Monday was the first day of school and it came and went without a hitch, and many Mom's out there gave a big sigh within their blissfully quiet homes. I know when the sun begins to rise on that first day of school everyone in my household is jumping for joy.  By the end of summer my kids have had enough of being home and long for that first day of school, atleast until the homework starts piling in.


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My roots

The other weekend I had a wonderful time at a local Iroquois Indian celebration. There was alot of fine hand made goods, beautifully beaded medicine bags, wooden carved bowls, horsehair pottery and soft animal pelts.

These antler knives with their beaded cases are really cool.

There was also several displays on what the Iroquois used, cooked and wore every day. I also enjoyed the traditional songs and dances.

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Chicks gone wild

With the gang stuck inside all yesterday they were a holy terror when we let them out this evening. They kept going over the neighbors and up on the patio furniture, on top of the neighbors shed roof and harassing the kitten in the window. Our back yard was quite a sight, chairs knocked over and girls up on top of the tables, though I think the rooster might have liked his little risque chicks.

Chicks Gone Wild. Look for it in a store near you.

We were given some unwanted tomatoes, so with those combined with the bowl full we have and the neighbors we're gonna have a bit of tomato sauce to stick in the freezer or in some cans. YUM!


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Irene who?

Irene came and went and we came out unscathed, just a bit water logged. The gang was locked up nice and cozy while the wind blew and the rain fell. Even the garden didn't suffer any damage. Irene simply ran out of steam by the time she got to us.

Unfortunately others suffered downed trees, lack of electricity and even flooding. My father lost a few pet koi when the flood waters came two feet above the top of his ponds, all but four fish got swept away, sadly one died. His basement and barn all suffered much damage due to water as well. My heart goes out to those who experienced damage from the storm and my thoughts and prayers are with them.

The temperature turned cool and being stuck in the house I got in the baking mood. There was brownies and my favorite angel food cake, pound cake and for dinner a delicious Swiss Chard Tart with a fresh garden salad.

Risky

Life is full of risks, and the last week or so I've taken a risk every time I have put something in my mouth. I have been so sick and have no clue why or what it is I have. I've basically stopped eating all foods except yogurt, fluids, fruit and some veggies and I've been up most nights feeling sick, sick, sick. My pants fit better but weight gain and this freckled faced girl don't get along so well, meaning a struggle to put even half the weight back on (thanks to the genes from my father's side).

To top it off we awoke to a warm fridge yesterday, so we ended up not going to our prior arrangement. Surprisingly the thing is working again, though I'm not exactly sure just what it was I did to get it working, but I am awesome like that ~grin~.

So, here's to the weekend and hopefully kicking this (whatever it is) butt and devouring some food with substance. Mangia!

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Hurricane?

All the talk is on Hurricane Irene lately for those of us 'in her predicted path' those lucky fortunate bunch that we are. We have had enough rain already to drown a wooly mammoth and I'm starting to think I should have built a bloody Ark than that chicken coop that's now surrounded in swamp water. Only time will tell if we get enough water to swoop up the coop and have it barrelling down the creek out back. I'll tell you though I don't have that same fear living here as I did when living in Florida since there's really only one road in and out of that sea level, death trap of a state. I'm a country girl at heart. I'll take the mountains any day.



With the deluge of water coming our way our whole flock of characters have been free ranging most of the day today. Though the Turkeys really decided for me to let them out since they were on top of the coop roof already, with the Tom standing on top of the open window puffed up showing off his cockeyed tail, he's such a tart.


I just hope we don't get too much wind which will likely damage the tender leaves on the remaining plants, eapecially the long squash that has about ten of them growing now and the Luffa's (pic of luffa flower above) that have finally taken off.


Oh well, there's always next year.



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