Saturday BlogRoll call

Admittedly I have added only one new blog this week. Been a little too distracted to look around. If you could do me a favor, and are a lurker of my blog, please leave a comment about your blog, and I will happily go take a look.

And that one new blog is ~drum roll please~ Naturally Food. This blog is a joint effort between Dahl, Emer {both food writers} and myself. This blog is in its infancy, but if you are interested in home cooking, using herbs, and wines, keep an eye out on this blog.

Now, I am off to go play in the snow!

NAIS Update

A company has created an ink that can be used as a RFID. Now, I might not be a Christian, but Revelation fascinates me, after reading this article, does it not sound like the mark of the beast? They plan on tattooing humans with this? Invisible RFID Ink Safe for Cattle and people.

The 2006 Agricultural Identification Survey that is being sent out, is a violation of our fourth amendment.

Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) is pushing for NAIS to become mandatory.


Former President Eisenhower is reported to have said, "big government had better get out of the way and let the people have what they want."

The Compacting Garden Part II

Container gardens are a good way to compact a garden. A book called Square Foot Gardening was brought to my attention yesterday. I have not read the book, but other's swear by it. If you are determined to container garden, it won't hurt to take a look at the book/website.

I normally do not container garden. I prefer working the ground. It's something I have done for years, since a suburban child. I love the idea of improving the soil while gardening. I do not harm it with pesticide and herbicides, but enrich it with manures and coverings.

By no means am I saying there is anything wrong with container gardening. This is purely a personal preference. I do use a container for my herbal tea garden. It's a large wooden crate right outside my back door. In the beginning I had problems with cats using it for a litter box, but a screen placed securely on top, stopped that. Plus I planted some catnip in the main garden.

Weeds were still a problem with my container garden, due to the fact that I live on a open prairie and the wind likes to settle airborne weed-seeds into my container. But once the herbs have grown, they will smother out most of the weeds attempting to settle in there.

If container gardening is something that you are interested in, check with your local extension office with questions, they are here to help. You can read more here at my local extension offices website or if you live in the city and interested in creating a community container garden, check out the Guide to Fresh and Healthy homegrown foods.

Wooden crate I use for container gardening on top of my cellar. Wood will rot, and it can not be treated with chemicals. But with wood you can create the size you need.

The Compacting Garden Part I

oh and this is my 300th post!

The Compacting Garden Part I

Now that you have gone through the seed catalogs and placed your order, you should think about where and how you will be planting. Pick up an organic gardening or a companion gardening book and begin to cross reference your vegetables. A pattern will begin to emerge, and you will be able to plan out the best method to plant.

Because of the timing, our garden will only contain the basics. I don't want the garden to be neglected because of our building a house. The planning stage must be done carefully, so that I can use the full potential with minimum maintenance. This means I need to compact.

The easiest way to accomplish this is by using double rows. Instead of a single row holding only single lined up veggies, I can double my yield and do less weeding by simply creating the double row. This method also saves on mulching, makes it easier to harvest, allows for cool weather crops to grow in the heat, and improves the quality of the crop.

Once you have blueprinted you garden, you will need to transfer it to the yard. The simplest way is by using string. Mark a stake at the end of your row and the take it down the length, trying it off to another stake. Check you line to make sure it's straight, and then repeat with the second line to mark the width of your row. In this manner, the only soil work you need to do is within he row itself instead of tilling the entire garden. Just make sure that the width between rows is large enough to run your lawnmower or weeders {geese} down.


Broadcasting your seeds over a wide row, will be thicker than a single row. Anywhere from 10 inches to 3 feet. Thinning and weeding once they have began to sprout is a matter of running a rake down the length of the row. While harvesting is a matter of sitting and plucking everything that you see is ready before moving on to the next plant.

As you can see, I prefer the wide row. Of course the option is up to you, and you should always experiment with techniques to determine which way is the best for you.

Food

The problem with migraines is that I can't function. Actually I can, but I am a monster that no one wants to be around. Until a new "miracle" drug is invented that my doctor feels would benefit me and I prove him wrong once again, I try to shut myself off from the world and my chores do not get done.

We are out of the single digits this morning, a hot 12F. We have not been above freezing since the ice fell, and they are calling for snow this weekend.

After a month of not getting anything published, I now have Heirloom vs Hybrid Tomatoes and sweet potato casseroles. Coming soon, Aphrodisiac foods.

And finally, here is the recipe some of you asked for.

Cinnamon raisin bread

Dough;
½ cup milk
4 tbl unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 package dry active yeast
½ cup warm water
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ tsp salt
3 1/4-3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling;
1/4 cup sugar
5 tsp ground cinnamon
milk for brushing
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped nuts your choice

Icing/glaze

for icing;
1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 tbl milk
½ tsp vanilla extract

for glaze;
1 large egg
2 tsp milk
brown sugar to sprinkle

Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, just until the butter melts. Remove from heat and allow to cool to a lukewarm.

While that is cooling, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water { the water needs to be about 110f, if too hot it will kill the yeast, too cool, the yeast will not become active} You can use a standing mixer fitted with a paddle, or beat by hand. Beat in the eggs and sugar at a low speed, until just blended. Add the lukewarm milk, salt and 2 cups of flour, beat well for 1 minute. Add 1 1/4 cups flour and knead, or use a dough hook attachment on the mixer at medium-low speed. add more flour sparingly as needed if the dough sticks to the side of the bowl. This takes about 10 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Use your hand to squeeze it. If sticky knead in some more flour, up to ½ cup. The dough needs to be smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a plastic, lightly grease container and cover with plastic wrap. set aside and allow to rise for 2 -2 ½ hours, dough will double in size. After it has risen, punch down only once. Turn out into an unfloured surface and allow dough to rest and rise another 10 minutes.

Grease a bread pan {9x5x3 inch loaf pan} mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Press the dough into an even shaped 6x 8 inch rectangle. Face the short side toward you and roll out into an 8X 18 inch rectangle. If the dough sticks, only lightly flour surface, {too much and the dough will become too dry} Brush the dough with milk and sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mix evenly. Toss on raisins and nuts to your liking, leaving a ½ inch border around the rectangle. Roll the dough up starting with the end closest to you. Pinching the ends to seal, and occasionally push the ends in so that it doesn't stretch too much. Pinch the seam tightly, securing it.

Place the loaf seam down into the greased pan, pressing down lightly to flatten it out. Cover loosely, and allow to rise until it is 1 inch above the pan{ 1 ½ hours} As it nears the top, preheat your oven to 350f, with your oven rack in the center position.

Whisk together the egg and milk if using the glaze, and brush over the top of dough. Sprinkle on some brown sugar.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a nice golden brown. Cool for 45 minutes before serving.

If serving with the icing. Whisk together the milk, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Place the bread on parchment paper and drizzle icing off of a spoon.

Enjoy!

For cinnamon bread, omit the raisin and nuts, sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg into the dough as you mix it to your taste.

Baby it's cold outside

Those of you that were interested in the DVD "America: Freedom to Fascism." That I raffled off last month, and didn't win, The Fool over on Shouting in the Dark is re-raffling it off. Click here, and put your name in the hat.

Our water line froze up yesterday. So instead of laundry, I braided some more. It's an ugly thing, but my first go at it, meaning once done, I will suck it up and post a picture. Be gentle.

I talked at great lengths with a Canadian log house supplier. Living in the middle of a prairie, I do not have access to the logs required to build a home and so we are talking with various kit home companies. We got into the discussion of septic systems and he informed me of something called BioCycle. I hadn't ran across this one yet, and he sent me a link to their website. It is the same concept as the grey water system, but it recycles black water as well. I am hesitant on anything that deals with black water. But it seems to be a better alternative to a lagoon {which we already have} or a septic tank.

For those of you requesting the bread recipe, I will get that up for you later today.

ATTENTION Female Homesteaders

I have just signed up for a day of blogging for This Day in the Life of Working Women.

They are looking for 1,000 woman to blog about their jobs, thoughts and feelings on March 27 2007. Out of these blogs, they will choose a certain number of entries to be included in a book. After Signing up myself, I received and e-mail asking that I invite other homesteading women to join up. It is a great opportunity to change the negative thoughts people have about us.

Click here to join up, tell them Phelan sent you, and please let me know if you are participating.

I feel for you

The states south and east of us got the storm worse. We got lucky, it came down frozen, didn't melt and re-freeze. My phone lines however are having a problem, but the power lines are faring well. I am hoping that we can make it through this winter without being forced to seek warmth at a friend or family members house.

One of the popular things I have noticed from the homesteaders that I read, is their posting of pretty wintertime photos. Allow me to take this moment to join in. If my phone line will permit me. {blogger won't let me, let's try Flickr}






As you can see, no pretty ice shapes. We are dealing with tiny ice pellets.

I had planned on bread making this weekend. I made a cinnamon loaf, but that we eaten before I could take a photo. But I did manage to save the cinnamon raisin bread.

With all the sleet and the kids stuck in the house, I put them to work braiding. As many of you know, I am not very good at sewing, but I have all these scrapes around the house. I took the clothes and sheets that were not good enough to donate and shredded them. We are making one of those braided rugs. Kept everyone busy, and my weekend wasn't completely filled with the sounds of sibling rivalry.