Joy To The World...

December 15, 2016

December is such a busy month for everyone…holiday parties, get-togethers at work, present exchanges with neighbors, and other types of celebrations.  As we have gotten older, Charming and I have found that we prefer low key celebrations.  Because both our birthdays are in December, we have found that going out for a simple supper is the best way for us to celebrate.  That way, we each get a special meal, nobody has to cook or clean up, and (best of all) you don’t have to find a place in the house to store the birthday gift because it’s already in our tummies!  We celebrate Christmas in the same way.  After all, we already have the best presents that we could possibly ever get…each other!

One thing that we do not skip is the feast on Christmas Day.  I always bake a turkey or ham and cook the customary foods that usually accompany the feast…mashed potatoes, green beans, dressing, gravy, etc.  Although this year the December holiday and birthday celebrations are in direct conflict with our current vegetarian diet, we will break that diet in favor of tradition.  (In between the celebratory meals, we continue to eat vegetarian meals.)

Because December seems to revolve around food, I’ve spent a lot of time in the kitchen recently.  I came across a recipe for gluten-free sourdough bread and it has rapidly become my favorite bread.  I’ve read that sourdough bread is better for the digestive tract than regular bread and, since I have gluten issues, my digestive tract needs all the help it can possibly get.  Sourdough “starter” is made from almost any flour (I use white rice flour) and warm water and “fed” over the course of several days.  (Remember the “Friendship Cakes” that were all the rage years ago…someone made the “starter” and fed it for about 10 days, then passed a cup of the starter on to several friends.  Those friends then fed their starter for 10 days and passed a cup on to their friends.  As I recall it was a very good cake.)  As the starter sits on the kitchen counter and ferments, it attracts the yeast that naturally floats through the air.  The fermenting starter also generates healthy microbes called lactobacilli that help promote digestion and, thereby boost the immune system.

As one might guess, the typical American diet of highly processed food is extremely hard on the digestive tract and can do a lot of damage over time.  This, in turn, can weaken the immune system.  To counteract this damage, fermented foods can help to ease digestive problems and strengthen the immune system.  You may not realize it, but many foods that you may already have in your kitchen are fermented…coffee, cocoa, and wine for example.  You can also whip up other fermented foods like sourdough bread and fermented vegetables easily and economically right in your own kitchen. 

As you may remember from a previous post, I made sauerkraut and it turned out great.  A couple of weeks ago, I also experimented with other fermented vegetables.  I sliced up a small head of cabbage, finely chopped a few small pieces of fresh broccoli, and grated a few fresh radishes, carrots, red onion, and a bit of ginger.  To that mixture, I also added a very small amount of caraway seeds.  I put it all in a really big bowl with some unrefined sea salt and started smashing it.  (My “smasher” is a pint jar, filled with water, with the top tightly screwed onto it...this makes quick work of bringing the juices out of the vegetable…or you can simply massage the vegetables with your hands.)  The rule of thumb for salt is about 1 ½ teaspoons of sea salt per pound of vegetables.  Charming (who is my taste-testing guinea pig) said the vegetable mixture tasted great even before it had started the fermentation process.  We have since taste-tested it every four to five days and it is really starting to taste nice and tangy.  The tummy-taming type of sauerkraut is not the same as what you purchase in jars at the grocery store.  The canning process destroys the beneficial microbes.  So if you absolutely cannot make your own sauerkraut or fermented vegetables, purchase the type that is kept in the refrigerated section of the grocery store (usually alongside the smoked sausages).

I would encourage anyone with any kind of stomach issues to read several books on fermentation and to at least try a few recipes.  It is one of the easiest, cheapest, and best things you can do for your health.

I wish you all a merry, happy, and healthy Christmas!

My sourdough starter...I now cover it with a coffee filter for better yeast collection.

I bake the dough in my biggest, heaviest sauce pan (from Costco).

As you see, the bread turned out tall & lovely!

Lovely browned crust & light on the inside...YUM!

My fermented vegetables weighted down with a small container of water.

Holiday decorating idea!  Use computer to type a Christmas message in large font & color.

Cut letters out in a circle, oval, square or whatever shape.

Showcase your letters on your favorite containers (mine are crocks), paired with festive ribbon.

 Add poinsettias, as I did, or another favorite greenery

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Ready To Hibernate...

November 22, 2016

We’ve pretty much wrapped up work at the farm until next spring.  Last week when we were there, we did get a few projects finished up before the weather turned colder.  Charming insulated the water pipes under the house to help keep them from freezing.  In addition, he removed cabinets from the kitchen so we could put them in the shed.  This will give Charming space to organize and store his tools. 

While Charming was removing the cabinets from the house, I painted the floor of the shed.  It is now a nice neutral gray.  Although it took me two days (and a couple doses of ibuprofen for the stiffness in my “painting arm”) the paint job turned out well.  Charming also stacked three rows of cinder blocks as temporary steps to get into the shed via the side door. 

All in all, we’re happy with the progress we made during the spring and summer.  Although we’ll make frequent visits to check on the place, we’ve decided to spend the winter months trying to get things done at our current house.  For now we’re going to concentrate on paring down by cleaning out closets, the basement, and the shed in order to get rid of things we don’t want to move to the farm.

So for the next month or two, I’ll be gearing my posts more toward crafting and cooking projects instead of building and renovating projects.  I am truly thankful that God has given Charming and me endless opportunities to express our individual creativity…along with the strength to carry them out.

Hard to see, but it's Charming under the house wrapping water pipes.

Freshly painted shed floor (with a crack of sunlight shining through the door).

I think the kitchen cabinets look better in the shed than in the kitchen.

The pantry cabinet will provide lots of room for jars of nails, screws, etc.

 

Spring Forward, Fall Back…

November 6, 2016

I just love the sights, smells, and sounds of fall!  The green leaves of summer have turned into the bright oranges and yellows that set the mountains ablaze with color.  After these gorgeous leaves have floated to the ground and started to decompose, they produce a simple earthy scent that hangs in the crisp November air along with the smell of smoke from our woodstove.  At the farm, I’ve noticed many squirrels high up in the trees jumping from limb to limb and tree to tree.  I’m guessing that they’re “squirreling” away some of the many acorns and hickory nuts that have fallen to the ground.  I guess we’re not the only ones who are preparing for the coming winter.

Charming and I have cut up quite a bit of wood from the back lot at the farm.  We took Charming’s old four-wheel-drive pick-up, along with the wood splitter, through the river and, after two afternoons of cutting, have enough wood to get us through our first winter at the farm.  Since we don’t expect to actually move into the house until next fall, the wood will have plenty of time to dry and be ready for use by that time.  I’m sure we’ll continue to cut more wood to add to the pile as time permits.  I’ve found that I really enjoy helping to cut wood.  Charming cuts the branches and limbs off the tree then cuts up the tree.  After we place the wood splitter near cut-up tree, I carry manageable-sized pieces of wood to Charming and he splits them.  We end up with nice tidy piles of wood as well as having had a good physical work-out. 

In the meantime, Charming has finished working on the shed for the winter.  The shed has been painted, the roof has been shingled, doors have been installed, and the outside trim added.  After we move to the farm, he will most likely go back and install windows in the shed.  This should be fairly easy to do since he had already roughed-in the openings as he built the shed.  He also plans to add a “lean-to” on each side of the shed to shelter various farm implements from the weather.

While Charming was finishing up the shed, I continued to work on my knitted purse.  It is coming along nicely.  The purse has been completed, but I’m still working on the strap.  It has turned out well and I hope to finish it this coming week.

Our next farm project, before we begin our winter hibernation, is to install the wood stove in the house.  We’ll need to install some kind of protective covering on the floor as well as some kind of fire-resistant backing on the wall behind the stove.  We plan to start this as soon as Charming decides what he thinks will work best and temper that with what I think will look best.  In the end, we’ll compromise and come up with a nice-looking, workable solution.  Should have some pictures of this in my next post.  Enjoy the nice fall weather while you can!  Be sure to soak up all the sights, smells, and sounds that your eyes, nose, and ears can possibly stand because it’ll be a whole year before you will experience the fall season again.

Some of the pumpkins we grew on the farm.  Soup, bread, pies...oh, my!

The finished shed.  Will add windows, steps, & lean-to later.

Charming made hooks from rebar to hold the doors open...he's so clever!

My knitted purse, minus the strap which I'll add later.

 

A close-up of the knitted cable pattern on the purse and button closure.

One of many piles of wood that we've cut so far.  Nothing compares to wood heat!

What We Did On Our Summer Vacation…

October 20, 2016

Though somewhat slower than we’d hoped, work is progressing nicely at the farm. During the past couple of weeks, my brother (Andy) and Charming put up the new cinderblock chimney.  Charming has never had to do this own his own, so we thought it best to bring in someone who had the skills to get the job done right.  After Charming’s prep work (as shown in my last blog post), they were able to get the chimney up in just three days.  After that, Charming did the “porridging” (or podgin’ as we holler people say it) and laid the brick backing in the wall behind the stove. 

During the times when the mortar was drying, Charming continued to work on the shed.  He has installed a drip edge on the roof of the shed so that rain will drip off the roof instead of running back under the shingles…at least I think that’s what it does.  He has also gotten about half of the shingles put on the roof.  We’re hoping the fall weather will stay nice until he can put the remaining shingles on along with the big front door.

When Charming’s on the shed roof, I sit close by in a lawn chair and knit.  I’m currently working on a knitted purse that will have three compartments and a cross-over strap.  I’m about half finished this project and hope to show you the finished purse in my next blog post.

After Charming gets the shed finished, we hope to get the wood stove installed (or at least moved into the house) and then cut a load or two of firewood so that can be drying out until next fall.  In my opinion, cutting firewood is a job best done in late October or early November when the temperature is cool enough that I won’t be sweatin’ my buns off and all but the bravest snakes have already found a hidey-hole in which to hibernate. 

To re-cap what we’ve accomplished so far:  We’ve taken down a big ol’ pine tree and cut it up for firewood; added doors to the tractor shed; cleaned out the old chicken shed so Charming could have a place to keep his work tools; bought a used tractor and several farm implements; planted a “test” garden of  tomatoes, potatoes, and pumpkins (all did well, especially considering how much I neglected the garden); added a new masonry chimney to the house; and built a big shed from the ground up.  In between this work, we’ve removed about half of the twenty-some tree stumps in our lower field.  All in all, we feel that this was a great way to spend our summer vacation!

Charming podgin' the chimney. 

The finished chimney.  (Top part is almost dry, bottom part is still wet.)

The thimble for the stove pipe.

Brick installed in the wall for fire protection.  (Doesn't need to be pretty.)

Podgin' over the brick, which will be framed in and painted.

Fall colors at an overlook just a few miles from our house.

 

The "state road" that leads to our place.

In a lot of places, the road isn't wide enough for two cars to pass by each other.

When Jax isn't hunting, he's gathering stuff like this long tree limb.

The purse I'm working on...picture doesn't show it, but it's really a pretty green.

 

A Case of the Flue…

October 1, 2016

Chimney flue, that is.  With most of the shed complete and the weather turning cooler by the day, Charming is in the process of building a new chimney on the house at the farm.  This past week, he cut out a section of drywall where the stove pipe will be located.  Because he will need to put a section of brick inside the wall to insulate the thimble (flue pass-through) that is required by Code, he also had to add 2”x4”s to reinforce the area that will hold the bricks.  Luckily, the previous owner had left enough bricks to use for this renovation project.  Charming cleaned the bricks with the garden hose and after they dried, I carried and stacked them in the work area so they’ll be close at hand when he’s ready to use them.

In addition to the inside prep work, Charming had to cut off a section of the deck in order to make room for the chimney.  I had thought this would be a difficult task for him, but he breezed right through it in just half a day.  He cut off the outside railing of the deck as well as three joists.  Good fortune was with us as his cuts fell perfectly at a joist and the supporting post at the front of the deck.  Although he did need to add a temporary support at the back of the deck, which he’ll make permanent after the chimney is completed.  We were able to save the boards from the part of the deck that was removed.  I helped Charming remove the nails from the boards and stacked them beside one of the sheds.  I’m sure Charming will find a way to recycle these into another project later.

Last week, we purchased a new 7’ mower for the tractor.  The mower that had come with the tractor was old and falling apart.  We were unable to the make or model of it.  Charming had posted a photograph of the mower on an on-line farm forum to see if anyone knew what type of mower it was.  No luck there either.  Although he had searched the internet farm supply stores as well as local and some not-so-local farm stores, he was unable to find another tire that fit the mower.  After mowing the field in about half the time it took with the old mower, we both knew he’d made the right move in buying the new one.  Time is precious and every minute we can save will allow us to get other things accomplished on the farm.

In between helping Charming with the mowing and chimney project, I found time to finish the sweater I had been working on for the past few weeks.  All of the loose ends have been woven in and it has been washed and blocked.  Since it was so easy to knit, I plan to knit at least one more in either a variegated color or solid.  I can just envision myself after we move to the farm, sitting beside the warm stove on a cold and snowy winter night while knitting up one of these sweaters and…the dad-gum electricity goes out!

Cutting a hole to accommodate the new chimney flue.

Removing the "Air Stone" that the previous owners installed.

Adding 2"x4"s to support the brick.

All supports installed.

The bricks will go in the blank space above the supports.

Charming decides where cuts need to be made to shorten the deck.

Railings removed and the cuts are being made.

Deck has been shortened w/temporary supports in place.

Digging for the chimney footer starts.

Footer needed to be at least 24" deep; Charming dug down 26".

The first load of cement goes into the hole.

Seventeen bags of cement later, the hole is full.

Siding is removed from the area where the chimney will be built.

Front view (not my best side) of my version of the "Round Trip" sweater.

Back view (not my best side either). The sweater turned out well, though.

The Walls Are Closing In…

September 13, 2016

Our shed at the farm finally has walls!  Charming has finished adding all of the T1-11 siding.  He still has several items that need to be completed like installing the side door and windows, putting shingles on the roof, adding outside trim to make it pretty, and painting.  Although this list still seems long, the major work is done.  Because I’m sure you’re getting tired of reading about the shed, I won’t showing any more pictures of that until it’s completed. 

We have many other jobs to focus on that will bore you almost as much as our incremental progress on the shed.  We are hoping to build a simple cinderblock chimney on the house before winter.  We also need to cut and stockpile some firewood so that it can dry out and be available for use next winter.  After those two things are done, we hope to start renovation on the house.  I’m all for taking the winter off and hibernating in our current home, but Charming is gung-ho to move to the farm.  Although it is inconvenient to be moving back and forth between the two houses, I definitely recommend doing this versus renovating a house while living in it.  Having gone through the kitchen renovation a while back, I can tell you that it’s really difficult to have to jump over construction materials to fix meals and live a normal life. 

Recently, I decided to start a new knitting project to fill my spare time while Charming was working on the shed.  Since the winters at the farm will be colder than it is at our current house, Charming and I will need plenty of warm socks, hats, and sweaters.  It will be important to have layers of warm woolies for our farm winter wardrobes.  Several years ago, a friend of mine gave me some older knitting magazines.  One of them was the Fall 2003 edition of Knitters’ Magazine.  In it, there was a lovely sweater called, “Round Trip” designed by Kay Dahlquist.  I have been moonin’ over this jacket since I first saw the pattern.  I especially loved the back panel of the sweater, which has a sort of hour-glass shape to it.  The magazine shows the sweater in a variegated yarn, which is beautiful, but I wanted the sweater to wear with dress pants.  Because I tend to wear black, grey, or brown dress pants I wanted a sweater that would go with these colors. 

I am close to finishing the sweater and I really like the way it’s turning out.  The back of the sweater, as well as the border, is off-white.  The right sleeve is tan and the left sleeve is dark grey.  Although these colors are definitely not for everyone, they will work perfectly with any of my dress pants.  The sweater has ¾ length sleeves and the front sections are rounded.  I may add some kind of a closure, if needed, after I finish it just to dress it up a bit more.  Because I like this sweater so much and it knits up quickly, I may make another one (or two) to wear on those no-so-dressy occasions.  I’ll share pictures of the finished sweater in my next post.  

Charming uses a rope to pull the upper level T1-11 into place.

Still need to cut out the window at the top as well as windows beside the door.

All T1-11 siding is now in place.

 

Charming designed and made vents to the top point of the shed.

He'll add screen to the holes and then paint before being put into place.

                                 Sweater shown in the 2003 Fall issue of Knitter's Magazine.

My version of the sweater.  I love it!

Back view of the sweater.  I love the hour-glass shape of the back panel.

Powder appears to like the sweater as well.