... and so it goes.

Wow! Has it been 3 weeks since I've been here??!!! All I can say is that time sure passes when I'm having fun. We've had a good share of rain, but not enough to fill the pond. Just like a watched pot never boils, a watched pond never fills I guess. God knows if watching it would fill it, the banks would be overflowing by now.

Last week I cleaned out cabinets, rearranged a few, and rearranged dining /kitchen furniture. I'm really liking the new look. Just got to move my now sewing table out on the porch, but put the sewing maching in another cabinet. Put it where you ask? I have no idea. I guess it will come to me when the time is right. I may hide it since I don't seem to be able to make myself create anything. I need to make new curtains for the dining room and bedroom, but I look at the fabric and think to myself... awww, it's too hot to sew.

One of my good friends, Marje Becker, from Saskachewan gave me a recipe for bread since I've decided the bought kind is not my cup of tea anymore. I made 5 loaves today and man Oh man is it ever good. We had one for supper along with the fresh squash, carrots, and bacon, wrapped one for the weekend, and froze the other 3 loaves for later. I'll put the recipe at the end of this post. I've got a sourdough starter in the making so we'll have bread and anything else I can make out of dough. Wish it was green-backs! I could use some spending money for more flour. :>)

My little Abi, first granddaughter, started to school this week. It was very traumatizing for this MiMi. I cried the first day, but got better as the week went along. Abi is absolutely in love with school and didn't even want to leave early on her birthday.... and it was nap time! She has been so tired after school that they can't even get her home until she is asleep. She takes after her MiMi in that she can't go to sleep at night. Maybe she'll get the hang of it before too much longer.

Ok, here's the recipe for Marje's bread. It was so much fun to make!

In a small bowl:
2 tbsp. of yeast (2 pkg's) rapid or instant
1.1/2 cups of water
1 tbsp. sugar

Let it set for about 5 - 10 min's.

In large bowl:
4 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup veggie or olive oil
1 tbsp. salt

Stir it up, then add the yeast mixture. Start adding flour (I ended up using 10 cups or better) Work until it's a good dough, kind of spongy. Grease a large (w/room for rising) bowl with oil or butter and pour dough into bowl and let rise 1 hour in a warm place. Punch down and let rise again.

Punch down, knead for a few minutes, and form into loaves. I made 5 but 4 would probably be bigger loaves. Let rise again in oiled loaf pans. Bake 350 degrees for about 45 min's or until they sound kind of hollow. Ovens vary so you'll have to judge for yourself.

You can use whole wheat, bran, or wheat germ as part of the flour. Can be made into rolls, cinnamon rolls, or fry little balls of dough. Marje says her mother called 'dough gods'.

Let me know if you try it. I'll probably make another batch next week and make into rolls for the freezer. That's my mission this month: to cook and freeze food so I'll have it on hand for 'just in case of'.... and so it goes!

Around the Homestead

It's really hot here in Texas, but there are chores on the homestead that have to be done no matter what, so it's onward we go. The big Celeste fig tree is outdoing itself this year as always. We've eaten so many we look like a fig now and we haven't made a dent in them. Reidel and I peeled figs Saturday and put a whole dehydrater load on to dry, then peeled enough for me to make fresh fig bread today. Making the fig bread is only one of many things I've got to accomplish today so this posting will be shorter than usual. I'll come back later to post the recipe and a comment on how the fig bread turned out. I only like to post recipes that I've tried myself so I know how to tell someone to adjust for this or that to make it a better recipe.

Another one of my to-do things is to sow some raddish seeds. I've got an idea to make raddish salsa, but I've got to grow the raddishes first. It won't take too long I don't think unless it's just too hot for them to grow well. I may shade them somewhat and maybe that will keep them cool enough to produce enough for the salsa. I also have to repot an ivy and a bird's nest fern that are making sad faces at me. Then although it will take several hours, I'm going to do that dreaded job of cleaning out under the bar so I can make better use of the storage space. The bar is a 4ft. by 8ft. bar and the space is sorely needed to house my Tupperware collection. It's just so well made that I don't waste my money on cheap plastic anymore. The refrigerator pieces alone saves me more money than I can figure up. So there is the first commercial on this blog space. LOL Yes, I can order Tupperware for you, but I don't do parties and such. I only order for people that actually want to have better storage for their homestead or their home in gereral for that fact.

I'll be back later to let you know about the fig bread... stay tuned!

I'm happy to report the fig bread is wonderful!!! I changed the original recipe so much (I just can't leave them alone!!!) so the recipe I made is below:

Fig Bread

3 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups mashed peeled figs
3/4 cups oil (your choice- I used olive oil)
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Beat eggs, add sugar and beat well. Add mashed figs and oil. Sift together flour, soda, salt and nutmeg. Add the fig mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Beat well. Fold in nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour in greased and floured loaf pans. Yield: 3 loaves

Today is my youngest granddaughter's birthday so the afternoon was spent making many bows for her hair to go with the tricycle that we bought for her gift. Elizabeth is 2 years old today. Happy Birthday Lizzi !!!

Organic Homestead Gardening

Here on Tallowberry Creek Farm we only knew the old way of gardening until we joined a group called OrganicHomesteadGardening. It's a huge group but a wealth of information and a group owner that is nothing if not brilliant and then add to that kind and giving. Backwater Jon as we call him, really helped us learn about the lasagna method of gardening that we would fall in love with. The concept is to lay down cardboard (no ink if possible), then a moist layer of newspapers (no funny papers), then a layer of compost. We used the bedding from the goat sheds and some rabbit berries to use to help the produce grow. There is hardly any weeding at all which is the point that sold Reidel on the concept. It almost takes care of itself. So we put in a 2ft by 30ft kitchen garden bed, then two 4ft square beds beside that to use for greens etc for the kitchen side. Across the driveway, we put in a 2ft by 40ft bed for tomatoes and then 5 big tractor tires we whittled down to plant into. Asparagus in one, collards in the next one and on the other side, we put in a cucumber trellis in a larger tire and mint growing in another. We placed an old swingset beside those beds, put cattle fencing over the top with small raised beds at each end. I can't tell you how many asparagus beans we raised off that one swingset. They are wonderful growing beans because they grew hanging thru the wire so it was a snap to pick them. Doesn't take many of those long beans to make a meal or fill up a quart jar. In some seed magazines, they are called Amish yardlong beans I think.

By far I recommend planting heirloom seeds whenever possible. I sprouted all my own seeds last year and as far as tomatoes, the Cherokee purple and Brandywine were the best producers and best tasting toms. One slice of the Brandywines would over a whole piece of bread! We could have sold jalapeno peppers if we were so willing to, but we made jalapeno jelly instead and we have used it in literally everything. Stay tuned for recipes!!

We didn't get to grow that much this year due to a late start because of illness, but what we have we are sincerely grateful to the Good Lord for letting it grow. I plan to have a better Fall garden. The big fig tree is producing right now and I'm eating my fill of them. I'll can some and dry some later. Right now having them fresh is just too good to pass up. That tree can't help but produce since it's planted in the old chicken pen. We have a resident big old cotton tail rabbit living in that area. I hope he stays after I build the aviary out there. I love birds so plan to have some 'loose' birds in the little house that we've saved up old windows out of the elementary school to make it out of. They are even the right color! I also plan to build a small greenhouse to start my plants in since now I'm using the dining room.

... an we journey on.

Adding the animals...

2001, June and I've made a valuable online friend. She raises Nigerian Dwarf goats so I decide to drive up to her place in North Texas to buy a buck, a doe, and a companion doe retired from kidding. Debbie Burns has a beautiful place and I see that it's going to take a lot of work before my place ever comes close to being up to par. Debbie and her husband John hosted a homestead gathering that day and I learned so much and met people of like mind. It was a blessed day for Reidel and I. Our 'herd' had just begun. We soon added chickens, rabbits (Charlie Herrington gave sold us her rabbit hutches for a song), pot bellied pigs, ducks, and more and more goats (some from Vickie McGaugh at Lonesome Doe and Cindy Stewart at Buttercup Acres). I have a funny story about me telling a guy about Cindy that I will have to tell you one day. I was hooked on goats. Milking was and is the most peaceful thing I've ever done. I love it! I learned to make goat milk soap, cheese, and ice cream. Adding Corgis was just a matter of finding them. I fell in love with the breed when I read Tasha Tudor's book so I set out to find what I wanted. I bought the first one (Lilibet Vala) from Valerie from Piddlin' Acres and the second (Tasha Burgess... Gesse) from Suzy at Milk Maid Ranch. They are absolutely wonderful to own and love.

Since 2003, we've been working as we had time on the inside of the house (we call it the barn). I'll be posting photos of the inside when time allows. We used old pine lumber on the hallway walls that came off a 100 year old house. The upper walls in the kitchen is covered in the roofing tin from that same house. Very rusty, but very much loved by me. I love rust so much my family told me I should have named my son Rusty. :>) The tin on the inside ceiling was donated by our friends at church, Charlene and Jackie Pigg. More of our church friends, Terrye and Robert Burrous loaned us the tallest ladder I've ever seen or we couldn't have gotten anything done on the upper portion of the house. We tried to pull a fast one of them and claim something like 'common law' ladder status, but it didn't work. Rev. Lewis and his wife loaned us the scaffolding. We still miss having that around. :>) Doc came back and put the ridge row on the metal roof, because he is fearless and as agile as a monkey on high places. Thank God for a church family that has a giving heart, a help a neighbor spirit, and them all having a good attitude about their stuff being borrowed for so long.

Our pastor, Rev. Ronnie Frankens helped us sheet rockthe rest of the walls because we ran out of old material. I plan to redo them as we find old stuff to use. The kitchen cabinets still need some doors, the bathtub hasn't been plumbed, well, the list is long and the energy is short, but we keep plugging along when we have time. Reidel retires from the post office in Sept. 2009, so we are just basically waiting until then to really put in some time. Until then, we are working on the pond. I'm so excited about the pond I can hardly think of anything else. We need rain to fall now!!!

From the Beginning...

The beginning of any journey starts with the first mile or so the poets, novelists, writers have told me. In our case, we just moved over from our old house at the end of a city subdivision and built in a pasture that was bought by my dear father-in-law for us in 2000. We thought wow! five whole acres what will we ever do with it all. It seemed like a huge parcel of land after living on the 1/4 acre for 30 years.

Since I was enamored with the lifestyle of Tasha Tudor when I saw her book back in the 90's, I immediately bought goats and started learning how much fencing cost. Then I had the idea that my dream of living in a barn could be realized, so I asked my builder friend if I could get a place liveable for $20,000. He should have laughed in my face while rolling around on the floor, but no! he says SURE! Ignorant and even though in our late 40's, my husband Reidel and I started planning it out. We found a guy that would cut our lumber from felled pine logs, so we ordered the crude primitive rough hewn beams that will hold this barn up. Good grief! When we see these thing we are excited, but concerned. How do we get them up where they need to be?

First we had to get the foundation down. My friend, Aundrea, told us that her husband was a plumber and would be glad to plumb our whole house for free. What!!!??? I didn't know that type person existed anymore. I was in awe of the fact that God was helping us make this dream come true. Foundation finished, we still didn't know how to get those big huge beams in place. Seems it was in God's plan once again to find us help just at the right time.

The builder/framer, Doc as we call him, knew a man that worked for the telephone company so off they go to borrow the big machinery to lift the beams. Thank goodness that worked out ok. We put 2X6's to frame up the outside walls although with hindsight now, I wish we had put in 2X12's. Framing done, we found a cheaper metal roofing store that we could put agricultural grade metal on the roof. We were fastly running out of money so putting metal on a building 30ft. by 98ft was no small feat. Reidel did the roofing himself. I was the ladder holder. I can't tell you how steep that roof was except to say that we propped the ladder end at the ground up against a flat bed trailer to keep it from sliding. One day it didn't hold even with those precautions and Reidel rode that ladder to the ground while I was hanging on trying to keep it from going too fast and praying with everything I had within me. He hopped off before it hit the ground. Good save God!!!

Roof on, now we needed to get it dried in before the posts and beams mildewed. Humidity here in East Texas is nothing short of horrifying. We ran out of money. Seems $20,000 wasn't enough after all. Reidel's grandmother got wind of the building not progressing so bless her sweet heart, she donated to the "cause". We finally got it dried in, but not before the mildew had pretty well covered the beams. I hadn't planned on staining the wood, but I guess it was necessary now. Another friend had scaffolding that he loaned us and I got a good bit of staining done, but just couldn't finish it before the chemicals caused me to get sick. Reidel during this time was putting up tin in the ceiling that another friend had given us off his old barns. I can't tell you how long this took because Reidel was afraid of heights and I couldn't hold up the pole that he rigged me so I could stay on the floor and not climb on the scaffolding. I wish I could tell you it's finished after all this time, but the friend needed his scaffolding back and we lacked one area about 10ft by 12ft.

Reidel did all the wiring except the plugs and switches. I did those and I was good at it too. I think I could get a job doing that if it's ever needed. lol

I'll be back later to tell you more about the journey....