I finally did it!

One more accomplishment for 2007. For over 6 months I've had the goal of making a totally handmade, local pizza. I've been making my own dough for a long time, I made my own sauce in August and canned it, but have been held up on making my own cheese. I've tried to make mozarella 2 other times and it wasn't succesful. The first time I ended up with ricotta instead of mozarella, the curds just never formed up. The second time I got the right curds but when the cheese was hot enough to knead and stretch it was too hot for me to handle, so the cheese never really formed right.

So, I got some Playtex rubber gloves and tried again. This time success! It really is easy to make if you have good gloves and use enough rennet to get the curds to form. I used whey in the pizza dough and wow! is that a great addition. I'm going to make some bread with the rest of the whey.

Here is my totally handmade, local pizza before going into the oven. I was even able to grate the mozarella to put on the pizza, I don't like big chunks of cheese on pizza. Here it is cooked, it was delicious!
I'm so excited to have finally accomplished this!

2007 in review

I'm feeling the need to list the progress we've made in 2007 toward living a more sustainable life-style. My eventual goal is to be mostly self-sufficient, this is still many years away.

Things I learned in 2007:

Sewing, including zippers and pockets. I still need to learn to do buttons. I can do elastic waist pants and T shirts with no problem. Since this is all Logan wears, I'm pretty set on making all his clothes.

Hot-water canning

Jam making

Bread making

Knitting

Composting, including worm composting

Seed saving

Growing a much wider variety of veggies

Changes I made in 2007 to live friendlier to the Earth:

Joined a CSA

Shopped at the farm market each week

Ate at least 1 local meal a week since May

Turned AC up to 80

Turned heat down to 67 during the day, 55 at night

Composted

Switched to reusable menstrual pads

Made more of our bread and bought less

Used our solar oven, that we made, in the summer to cook

Grew and preserved a lot of veggies

Used the library a lot more instead of buying books like I did in the past

Got more active politically in causes I care about

Volunteered at a cat adoption center and as a habitat steward

Expanded my butterfly garden

Stopped buying convenience foods and started cooking every night

Stopped eating fast food (mostly)

Quit drinking Diet Coke (again, mostly, still working on this but down to 1 or less a week)

Changed all light bulbs to CFLs and am much better about turning off lights in rooms we aren't using

Found local sources for all animal products that we consume

Reduced consumption (still working on this, yarn and fabric are my weaknesses)

Bring my own bags when shopping

Set up rain barrel to harvest rain water, used this to water garden all summer

Collected shower water for watering

Switched to cold water for washing all laundry

Used a drying rake to dry some of our laundry (when we move and get a clothes line, I'll do more of this)

Cancelled most catalogs I was getting (this was over 30!)

Put up a mason bee house, a ladybug house, and many bird houses

Switched all cleaners and soaps to natural products

DDW - Week 11

This quick, easy, LOCAL meal made the work in August so worth it! This week we had spaghetti with sauce I made and canned in August.

Sauce:
Tomatoes - my garden
Basil - my garden
Onions - my garden
Spicy red peppers - my garden
garlic - West Grove, PA - 20 miles

Noodles - Harrisburg, PA - 110 miles

DDW - Week 10

Huh, I just found this in my non-posted section. I thought I'd posted this last week.

I'm posting this a few days late, but I noticed the round-up hasn't been done yet for last week so I decided to go ahead and put this up. I feel like I'm cheating using this meal as local, but being the week before Christmas it was the best I could do.

Vegetable Indian Vindaloo curry

Local (all under 20 miles):

Carrots - CSA

Brocolli - CSA

Green peppers - CSA

Cauliflower - CSA

Corn - frozen this summer

Very much not local:

Sauce

Rice

My next meal will be better.

Farm expansion

We expanded our farm for Christmas and moved it to a permanent location. Here is the overview of the whole farm.

Here is a close up of our animal area. Notice the animals are all very friendly and come right up to us. We added Logan to the farm and hope to add Mark at a future date. Maybe he will bring us a tractor?
Here is the barn my mother in law gave me for Christmas, it is the perfect addition to the farm. And we have our vegetable garden right in front of it.
Here is our wildlife area with a pond and some woodlands.

All that is missing is our orchard. I'll have to find some trees to add.

Holiday decorations

I thought I'd post some pictures of a few or my favorite ornaments. I really like Santas and birds.


Woodland Santa

Wizard Santa

Farm Santa

Birds

We have 4 of these pinecone ones, all with different animals coming out of them.

If I find the time, I'll post pictures of some of the decorations around the house.

If I don't find time, have a wonderful Christmas!

Winter flowers

I know it isn't officially winter yet, but it sure feels like it here. I really dislike winter and tend to get depressed so I have a few blooming plants in the house to keep my spirits up.


This amaryllis has 9 flowers on it! I've never had one get so many flowers.
The hybiscus spends the summer outside and comes in for the winter. It always seems to like being in the house and will bloom all winter. It currently has 3 flowers on it.

My farm

Aren't I cute?

DDW - Week 9

This week we had breakfast burritos for dinner. We never eat these for breakfast.

Breakdown:

Bacon: Rumbleway Farm - 25 miles
Eggs: Locust Point Farm - 7 miles
Cheese: Mooo-over Cheese - 25 miles
Whole Wheat tortillas - 85 miles
Onions - Not local

2 types of slippers and a hat

Here are my latest projects. I made 2 different types of slippers and a hat that rolls on the end instead of having a brim.

Bug-out bag

A couple of months ago I ran across the idea of a bug-out bag (or a 72 hour kit) in a number of places all in 1 weeks time. I took this as a message that I needed to put one together. Logan and I started working on getting all the supplies together over time so the expenditure wouldn't be as large and we now have our bags complete.

I've split the items up between 2 bags with one being much heavier than the other. I figured I'd carry the heavy one and Logan would carry the light one if Mark wasn't around, or if Mark was around he'd carry the heavy one, I'd carry the light one and Logan would be off the hook. The idea is we have to be prepared for some serious walking for 3 days time if an evacuation should become necessary. While natural disasters rarely occur in Delaware, I figure it can't hurt to be prepared and I feel better having the bags packed and ready to go should we need them.

Here are the things in our bags:

Water, 4 liters total
Water filter
Peanut butter crackers
Clif bars
Beef Jerkey
Raisins
Underwear
Socks
Hats
Menstrual supplies
Kleenex
Soap
Toothbrushes
Baking soda
Sunscreen/bug repellent
Hand sanitizer
Lip balm
Camp towel
Hankie
First aid kit
Ibuprofen
Space blankets (1 for each)
Hand crank flashlight/radio/emergency siren
Multi-tool
Rope
Zipties
Rain ponchos
Waterproof matches and lighter
Disposible gloves
Dust masks
Map of area, including walking trails


Now I need to get to work on amassing the 90 days of essential supplies that the CDC is recommending in case of a flu pandemic. They say to be prepared to not leave your house for 30-60 days if an outbreak occurs.

DDW - Week 8

This week we had a vegetable stir-fry.

Carrots, parsnips, green peppers - CSA, Calvert Farms, 15 miles
Brocolli - John's Farm Stand - 3 miles, frozen in September
Corn - Lockbriar Farm, frozen in August, 46 miles

Soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic powder - not local

I did eat this over rice left over from a meal earlier in the week. It wasn't local, but since it was left over from another night I don't think it should count against me ;)

Too cute

Check out what I made for Logan for Christmas! I think it is adorable. It is supposed to be a sheep, but I think the ears are a little long, but I still love it. He hasn't seen it yet, it isn't easy to make something for a child you are never apart from without them knowing what it is but I pulled it off!

USDA proposal on leafy greens

I've received many emails on this issue as well as a comment from Erikka. The USDA is considering a proposal to regulate the growing of leafy greens. The regulations make no sense and will harm small, sustainable farmers. To read more information about this proposal, go here: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,229965.shtml

The USDA has open comments right now through December 3 on this proposal. You can go here: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main to make your comments. The comments can be made online, it is quick and easy to do. Click on the 3rd docket from the top.

If anyone knows anything about the top one concerning dairy products I'd be interested in hearing about it.

DDW - Week 7

This week we made use of our turkey carcass and made turkey noodle soup and ate it with sweet potato bread.

The breakdown:

Soup:
Turkey - Locust Point Farm, 7 miles
Carrots, rutabaga, parsnip, celery - Calvert Farm CSA, 15 miles
Noodles - not local

Bread:

Flour - Daisy Flour, 50 miles
Sweet Potato - Calvert Farm CSA
Butter - Lancaster, PA, 50 miles
Yeast - Not local

Socks

OK, I made the socks using this pattern: http://yarngear.com/looms/projects1.htm They were pretty quick and easy to make, taking less than an hour per sock. I made them very loose because my plan was to felt them. It I had used thicker yarn they would have turned out perfect. These socks even have a turned heel! No tube socks here.

Here they are prior to felting, you can tell they are a loose knit and pretty big, this is on purpose since felting shrinks things up.


And boy does felting shrink things up!! This was my first time felting and I over did it. The socks are now tiny! But felting is so cool, I loved watching the process.



So I learned making socks on the Knifty Knitter, pretty easy. Felting socks, maybe not the best idea. I'm now working on a purse I will felt and I'll make socks again with a thicker yarn and not felt them.

I'm loving this Knifty Knitter thing so much! I made another hat that I donated to a hat drive at my work and I have plans for a number of other projects.

Check it out

I decided if I'm going to raise sheep I should learn to knit. However, I am terrible at keeping the tension even so I decided to try one of those Knifty Knitter looms. It is so easy and quick! In less than 2 hours I made this:

A hat! I'm so jazzed about this. I'm working on socks now that I'm going to felt, I've never done felting either so it should be an adventure.

Local Thanksgiving and DDW Week 6

We managed to have a mostly local Thanksgiving! All the main ingredients were local with most of the support ingredients being not local. I'm counting it as our week 6 meal since we will be eating it for the next 3 days and nothing else is going to get cooked.



We started with butternut squash soup for lunch. The butternut and bacon were local. The onion and thyme weren't. I haven't been able to find local onions anywhere, the drought really knocked them out. This soup was glorious, even Mark who claims to not like butternut squash soup loved it!







For dinner, we had a local turkey from Locust Point Farm. We had to wait in line for over 30 minutes to pick it up. I was thrilled to see so many people eating a local turkey this year!

Everything on this plate is local. The corn was frozen back in August. The sweet potatoes were given to us by the CSA. And we already talked about the turkey. Not local is all the herbs and spices except the rosemary, which came from my backyard.

I also made whole wheat rolls using Farm mom's recipe using local Daisy flour and a local egg. The yeast and sugar were not local.

For dessert we had blackberry crisp with blackberries Logan and I picked and froze in July. The flour in the crisp was local, but the sugar and oats were not. I failed to get a picture of this, it was gone too fast!



I would put this meal at 75% local, maybe higher depending on if you do it by volume of the ingredients or just number of ingredients. We had quite a few non-local ingredients but they were all the spices, herbs and back up stuff, all used in small amounts. All the main ingredients were local.

Sewing triumph

I made a vest for Logan, which isn't hard in itself, but I added pockets and a zipper! This is the first time I've done pockets or zippers. It doesn't look great but I'm proud of myself! This opens up so many more options now.

I also made a hat for Logan. Again it didn't turn out great but it fits and he likes it. Mark actually thought I had bought the hat which was so cool! The way I ended up cutting the fabric none of the designs ended up in the hat. Duh.

Today was a big sewing day, I finally finished the last 2 pairs of pants I've been needing to make for Logan. He finally has some pants that fit! He is at an in between size where 6/7 is too small and 8/10 is WAY too big. So he will be wearing handmade pants all winter. I still have a bunch of Christmas presents to sew, but that will be another day. Right now, I'm hungry.

DDW - Week 5

This week we had salad, barbeque chicken breast, and roasted winter veggies.

The breakdown:

Salad Mix, red cabbage - CSA, Calvert Farm, 15 miles
Chicken Breast - Locust Point Farm, 7 miles
Roasted Winter Veggies - Rutabaga, Carrots, Eggplant - CSA, Calvert Farm

Not Local:
Barbeque Sauce
Herbs on veggies

Grain Mill

Logan and I went to a program recently where we did things like they did in Colonial days. One of the things we got to do was pick and grind corn to make corn meal. I then brought the corn meal home and made cornbread. It was so good! And that got me thinking how fun it would be to grind my own wheat (sometimes I have weird ideas of what fun is). I started looking at grain mills online and realized they are really expensive! So, I asked for one on freecycle and got one!

After cleaning it up some I decided to grind some wheat berries I got at the health food store. Here is the mill with some wheat berries in it and some that have been ground.


Unfortunately, I ran into some problems. The ground wheat was way too big! I turned the plates as close together as I could and still be able to turn the handle. And I was barely able to turn the handle, like it took 2 hands and I could do half a turn at a time before losing momentum. Anyway, even at the tightest I could get it, my "flour" looked like this.

The grains are still way too big! I put it through a second time but it still pretty much looked like this. So, I decided to try making muffins with it. I was really excited about these muffins. They were going to have flour I ground myself. Pumpkin I picked and cooked myself. And applesauce I made myself from apples I picked myself. I was feeling all self-sufficient and proud.

But the muffins were unedible. They never cooked all the way through and tasted funny. My guess is the "flour" didn't absorb the moisture since it was such a coarse ground so the muffins never cooked.

So, I'm not sure what to do. Should I get another grain mill? Just try putting the berries through many times? Give up completely and stick with commercial flour?

If anyone with grain mill experience has any advice I'd love to hear it! I'm at a loss right now.

Sweet Potato Bread (again)

I've seen a lot of requests for sweet potato bread recipes lately. I realize most recipes are the sweeter, cakier type of bread, but I have a recipe for a sandwich bread made with yeast, so I thought I'd repost it. This recipe has been posted before so ignore this post if you've already seen it.

This bread was incredible! It was by far the best bread I've made and the loaf was gone that night. We've never eaten a whole loaf of bread in 1 night! It was sweet and moist, just perfect. I would highly recommend making this bread. And it was one of the easier one's I've made. I'm going to try making it into rolls for Thanksgiving.

Sweet Potato Bread

water - 1 cup

Unbleached white flour - 1 3/4 cup

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour - 1 cup

Instant Yeast - 1 tsp

mashed sweet potatoes - 3/4 cup

softened butter - 1 tablespoons

Unbleached white flour - 1/2 cup

salt 1/2 TBS

I peeled and boiled the sweet potatoes until they were falling apart and then I mashed them with a fork. My cup of water came from the pot I boiled the sweet potatoes in.

In mixing bowl, combine water, potatoes, yeast and 1 3/4 cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour and mix until well combined.

Add the butter and mix until it is integrated into dough. The dough will still be very soft.

Cover and let rest on the counter for 20 minutes.

Add the salt to the dough and spread the 1/2 cup flour on the counter and knead the dough for 4-5 minutes, adding more flour if needed.

Roll the dough in flour, put it in a clean bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk (about an hour).

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured counter and shape the loaf.

Grease the loaf pan.

Put the shaped loaf in the pan and let rise until doubled in bulk (about an hour).

Preheat oven to 375°f .

Bake bread for 35 minutes or until golden brown (~195°f).

Turn out of pan onto cooling rack for at least an hour.

Both of my rises took less than an hour (about 35 minutes) but it was 85 in the house (this was over the summer, I haven't made this bread since it got cold).

We also didn't let the bread cool an hour before eating. We couldn't wait that long.

Cold Frame

I recently got this on sale and got it set up just before the frost came. I don't know how well it will work since my plants are all in containers but I thought I'd give it a try here and I know it will come in handy once we move. I figured if nothing else it should help some of my potted plants survive until spring, or at least be better than just leaving them sitting out which is what I was going to do.

DDW - Week 4

This week we had oven fried chicken, sauteed swiss chard and steamed brocolli.

Breakdown:

Chicken - Locust Point Farm

Flour - Daisy Flour

Swiss Chard - CSA

Pinenuts - Not local

Brocolli - CSA

Spices - Not Local

The brocolli was getting old, but it still tasted pretty good. I liked the sauteed swiss chard but Mark did not.

Sweet potatoes

I harvested my sweet potatoes the other day and thought it would be fun to look back over the development of these guys.

I started my sweet potatoes by growing slips from an organic sweet potato I bought at the store. I got many slips.

However, only 1 slip actually survived planting, here it is shortly after being planted.

It grew quickly and made beautiful flowers. At one point it was overflowing the pot and trying to take over the deck! This is what it looked like the day I harvested. You can see a sweet potato coming up out of the dirt.
My harvest from 1 slip. I have no idea if this is a good harvest from 1 plant but I was happy with it.

CSA

These are the last 2 weeks of CSA shares.


The CSA thing has been interesting. Overall, I've enjoyed it. It is fun to see what we are going to get every week and we've gotten a lot of new things (for us). I have felt a lot of pressure to figure out what to do with everything we get. Some of the things I've really been stuck on. I've discovered that Mark is pretty picky on how he will eat veggies, they can't be soft at all!

When I read the description for this fall CSA they said it would be things like potatoes, brocolli, sweet potatoes, califlower, your traditional fall veggies. Of those things, brocolli is the only one we've gotten. I will admit to be disappointed by that because we really like all those fall veggies here, much more than the traditional summer ones. We are getting so many greens and I didn't expect that from a fall CSA, but I should have now that I know greens love the fall.

I'm not sure if I would do a CSA again, we really are just too limited in what we like. I think we are better off growing it ourselves or visiting the farmers market and getting exactly what we want and will eat. I hate to admit some things have ended up in the compost because it took me too long to figure out what to do with them.