Farm Belles Bitty

upside down birthday cake

2012-02-07T11:43:00.001-08:00

Today my baby is 20 years old! Where oh where did the time go?

She requested a pineapple upside down cake, so that's what she got. It is, after all, her big day.
I got this recipe from Martha Dixon's Copper Kettle Cookbook

In 1954, Martha started hosting a local cooking show "Martha Dixon's Copper Kettle", WJIM Channel 6 (now WLNS), which led to her cookbook in 1963.

Martha Dixon's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Topping:

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
9 slices pineapple

9 maraschino cherries

Heat oven to 350°F. In 9-inch square pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted butter. Arrange pineapple slices over brown sugar. Place cherry in center of each pineapple slice.

Cake:
1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten until light

2 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter and sugar until light & fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk and mix well. Add vanilla. Pour cake batter over fruit. Bake in moderate oven (350 F) 30 to 35 minutes. Turn onto large plate and cut cake so there is a whole slice of pineapple for each serving. Garnish with whipped cream and a cherry.

I modified her recipe just a bit. My 9" square pan was full of fudge, so I used a round cake pan. It took a bit longer to bake & only held 7 slices of pineapple. Also, I had no maraschino cherries. My frozen Michigan tart cherries worked just as well. I don't own cake flour, so I used all-purpose flour. I know you're supposed to use less, but I used the full 2 cups. Aside from all that, the cake was wonderful. As a bonus, it prevents scurvy.

thrifty chick-n-soup

2012-01-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

I usually cook two chickens on the weekend & use the meat to make soup, enchiladas, sanwiches, etc. throughout the week. Same goes for vegetables. Buy what you need for the whole week & chop them up on Sunday. The great thing about cooking the whole bird is, once you get it started, you can pretty much leave it unattended for a couple of hours. This leaves you plenty of time to read a good book, clean the house or watch the Nate Berkus Show.

Todays recipe - boil your whole chicken:

Take the bird out of the bag. Rinse him inside & out under cold water & put him in a huge pot. (A lot of recipes call for vegetables to be cooked with the chicken & discarded when done. I suppose it gives the broth more flavor, but I don't want to throw out my hard-earned veggies. So, for me, it's just a lonely chicken in the pot. He'll get visitors later.) Fill the pot with enough water to cover the bird & bring to a boil. As soon as the water starts to boil, turn down the heat & let him simmer in the hot tub for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. You will know the meat is done when you pull on a leg bone & the meat falls right off. Turn off the heat & let the pot cool. When it has cooled some, you can ladle the broth into jars for future use. Pick the meat from the bones, pack in a bowl & refrigerate.

Weekday chicken Soup Recipe:

For this recipe, I chopped-up any cooked chicken that wasn't pretty enough for a chicken sandwich. About 2 cups?

plus...

8 oz. dry noodles

3 quarts chicken broth

A couple carrots & stalks of celery, chopped

A handful of chopped onion

salt, pepper, dried dill

In a soup pot, bring the broth to a boil. Add the carrots, celery and onions. Cook until the carrots start to soften up. About 10 minutes. Add noodles. Cook for another 5-6 minutes. Add the chicken and seasonings. Cook until the chicken is warm & noodles are cooked.

Farmhouse Organization

2012-01-11T07:29:00.000-08:00

I need to get organized before I get lost in heaps of laundry & papers & the Hoarders tv crew can't even find me for an interview. Ok, I may not be that bad. I just have the spring-cleaning bug. Yes, it's only January. But the weather here has been strange, at best, & it sure feels like spring. With four kids, one job, one farm & a house, I have a lot to organize! I've spent a lot of time on my pinterest page looking for organizing tips I can use. I think I've found a few good ones. My main problem is that I don't have a lot of money to buy the fancy organizers & I don't want a bunch of plastic boxes floating around my house. They're ugly. My first & best idea came from Martha Stewart with her office in a trunk. I already had this box filled with out of season decorations. I put the decorations in the basement (where they should have been all along) & now I have a mini office for all my housewife papers, kid's school papers, receipts, seed catalogs...

On to the kitchen. I hate wasting food. No matter how I try, we still throw a lot of food to the chickens. So I hung this by the refrigerator to remind us all to eat those leftovers! It's just an old picture frame. I painted a piece of plywood with flat-black paint & had my husband attach it to the frame. Then I tacked on a ribbon & hung it on the wall.

On to the laundry room. I found this fruit box in the barn (along with many other boxes & scraps of barn wood). It looks a little rough because it had been out there a long time. But, it was sturdy & serves its purpose.

Tomorrow, I'll start washing all the animal's feed bowls & buckets. Fun, fun.

Michigan Badass Stew

2011-12-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

Our go-to winter recipe is "put some veggies & a slab of meat in the crock-pot & cook 'til done." Today's recipe uses all Made in Michigan ingredients. Why? Because they are the best. I'm not making that up. It's a fact. Texas has their beef. Iowa has corn. California has tofu. Michiganders have venison. So, let's start with the venison. My husband butchers all his own deer. He starts with roasts & steaks & all that good stuff. The leftover pieces are labeled "stew meat" or "burger". Don't let the name keep you from thinking outside the box. Stew meat is also great for pot pies & pasties. This badass stew requires 3-4 lbs of stew meat (depending on the size of your pot). Next up, are the veggies. I grew potatoes in the garden this year. What I got was a bowl full of baby potatoes. These are great, because they require no chopping. Just scrub 'em up & drop 'em into the crock-pot. (No need to peel potatoes if you grew your own, thus avoiding pesticides & poisons.) I did peel my tiny onions & cut the ends off. (Apparently, onions do not have enough time to reach their full potential in Michigan.) Carrots & rutabagas grow well here. I peeled & scrubbed a rutabaga & some carrots, cut them into big chunks & threw them in with the other root vegetables. Stir up the meat & veggies. Pour in 2 cups well water & 1 bottle of Badass beer. It tastes amazing & of course, it's made in the Great Lakes state! Plus, you have 5 left to enjoy while supper cooks itself. Cook it low & slow. When hubby gets home from working in the cold, he'll appreciate a warm meal. Serve with salt & pepper. Save the carrot peels for your chickens!

nanny cam

2011-10-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

I don't understand why old people are obsessed with the weather. I probably never will. What I do know is, I am officially "old". The first thing I do in the morning is check the weather channel. I have eyes, I can see if it's raining. I have skin, I can tell when I need a coat. For whatever reason, the exact number is now important to me. With that, I can tell you it is 50 degrees & sunny today. A perfect day for the broilers to head outside to "chickie daycare". All of our chicken pens are full. So we rounded up a scrap of fencing & a tarp, patched it together & put the chicks out to pasture. This is the last batch of broilers I am raising until spring. With any luck, the broilers, turkeys & old hens (plus any venison we bring home) will last us through winter. Eat up little chickies!

Chickie, it's hot out there!

2011-09-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

90 degrees in September? In Michigan? If your chicken walks around like this, she's probably not hurt (like I first thought). She's just coolin' her pits. On hot days like these, make sure all your animals have plenty of fresh water! We (by that, I mean my kids) check on them about 3 times per day. Our free-range chickens have shade whenever they need it. They like to dig holes under the trees & hide in them. For the rabbits, we freeze water bottles & they lay down next to the bottle to keep cool. And yes, sometimes I steal an ice bottle for myself.

coop tour

2011-05-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

The baby chicks & turkeys have moved outside. So, I thought I'd show you how the little red hen house "grows" with the birds. We first used this little house when we had just 3 hens. It has a roost bar & 2 nest boxes inside. The hens ran around the yard during the day & we locked them in at night. The door latches with a slide-bolt. The roof lifts off (with the strength of 2 people. Pretty sure it can hold-up in a tornado, though I hope not to test that theory). But, that way we can clean the inside & replace the roof with a wire top for baby chicks (see post April 26). When we got too many hens for this house, we made a stall for them in the barn. Then, my husband built the chicken wire"run" & it's now used for starting chicks outside, or seperating bald hens, etc. (Don't worry, it's not that crowded. Most of the chickens in the pic are outside the fence.)

Door number 2: This is a bigger chicken tractor we built to seperate breeding flocks. This is an upgrade, in that it has WHEELS! I just had to post this picture of the roof so you can see, anything goes. Yes, those are old, plastic, "for sale" signs. I have no idea where they came from, but with a little duct tape, they are waterproof, so we used them. All of our chicken runs have houses for night time with locks on the doors. We have too many hairy, nocturnal, chicken thieves in the country!

Door number 3: Is bigger still. This is the "turkey tractor" (currently housing a lame turkey & 2 bald hens). Also with wheels, nest box & roost bar. It has a sliding door to access the nest box, a trap door to drop in feed & water, plus a sliding door to the house, that we can open & shut without crawling into the pen (VERY handy when you consider how much chickens poop!) The ducks live in a dog pen, with a dog house & an old sled full of water that they try to swim in. That's recycling :-)

The Peeps have landed

2011-04-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

I didn't exactly plan to buy more chickens, but there they were, looking all cute & fluffy... Being totally unprepared, I had to put them in a box, with a jar of hot water to keep them warm, until I could set-up their little house. They loved that jar so much, they were pushing against it with all their strength. We have a little chicken house, that we use indoors to start chicks & move it outside when the babies are ready. My husband built it with a removable roof. So, when it's indoors, we put a chicken- wire frame on the top & add the roof later.

Once the peeps were moved into their now home, I opened the door & our border collie sat right down to keep watch over his new flock. Once I got the wire top on, the cat took his turn babysitting.

Recycler's Garden

2011-04-21T08:36:00.001-07:00

I'm cheap. I admit it. So, when I was ready to get this garden started, I started in the recycling bin. I rescued sour cream cups, cut the bottoms off milk jugs & put them to good use. I had been saving the eggshells all winter. Once I collected my loot, I punched holes in the bottom of all the eggs & plastic containers (be sure to put a tray underneath). I filled everything with dirt, some water & planted the itty-bitty seeds. I covered everything with plastic & set it near a window to warm the soil Once the seeds have popped-up, you can remove the plastic. Just be sure to keep the soil damp. I planted about a thousand tomato, pepper, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, melon & pumpkin seeds. I know, I know "don't start melons". But, last year my melons grew about as big as grapes before frost hit. I had no choice. As long as you start them in something that you can easily "slip" them out of, they'll be ok. You just don't want to disrupt the roots. If they all die, you can say "I told ya so". Don't start the melons in eggshells, they're too small. You want at least a 4-cup container. But (so far) the eggshells are working great for tomatoes & peppers. Once it's time to put them in the garden, I'll just smoosh the shell a bit & plant the whole thing!

garden surprise

2011-03-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

So, the weather is warming up around here & I was feeling the magnetic pull of my garden. I just wanted to peek & plan out where everything would be planted, so I went for a walk today. I was expecting to see kale, because it's the last thing we harvested in December. There was some kale, but it was yellow & mangy & something had feasted on it all winter. I also found some tiny leaves of red lettuce that I let go to seed last summer. What I wasn't expecting, was an entire row of rutabagas! They survived the winter burried under the snow. They're perfect & beautiful. (well, this one was beautiful before I ripped the leafy green tops off & threw them in the compost pile) Stupid me, I got so excited, I pulled up the biggest one for supper. I should have let it grow for seed. Oh well, there's about 50 more where that came from. p.s. It seems chickens don't care for raw rutabags. But, they will eat them cooked. Spoiled chickens!

Cabin Fever

2011-02-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

We have one foot of snow on the ground & more expected tonight. The people in this house & the critters in the barn have a bad case of cabin fever. My chickens want worms. The kids want to play tennis. I want to plant my garden! I've ordered my seeds, started the onions & now I wait. Starting a garden for the first year can seem intimidating. There is so much information, that it's easy to get overwhelmed. My 1st bit of advice for people who want to grow their own food (but are afraid of all the "rules") is to relax. Relax & have fun. It really is easier than it may seem. Yes, there could be 1,000 tomato diseases, but chances are, you will see none of them. Just look at a dandelion & you'll see how easy it is to grow healthy food. (Heck yeah, you can eat a dandelion!) Sit down with a mug of hot chocolate & thumb through the seed catalogs. My favorites are Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Botanical Interests & High Mowing Organic Seeds. Why? I like their pictures. Last year, I planted a huge garden. Did it look like the ones in magazines? No way. I grew more weeds than food. Did I have fun? Yes. Did my kids eat more vegetables than the year before? Yes. They planted & weeded & harvested & feasted like kings. Did every plant grow well? No. I had beautiful carrots, but the broccoli was pitiful. Will I try again? Heck yeah! Hint number 2 - Start with 1-2 varieties of the foods you actually like. If you hate eggplant, don't bother. If you don't have a yard, you can still grow food on the porch or windowsill. My daughter lives in an apartment & is growing her garden in Rubbermaid buckets. Tip number 3 - Find someone you trust & ask questions. Gardeners love to help each other, just like fishermen love to swap stories. We'll do anything to get people to join the team. We bought fruit trees for the first time, last year. We found a local nursery & asked questions. Lots of questions. She was super friendly & she knows her stuff! I've also been taking classes at our county extension office. For more helpful tips, visit Red White & Grew. She's working on an awesome "DIY notebook for new gardeners". I think you'll like it. I sure did!

Quick & Easy - that's how we roll

2011-02-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

My son requested chicken tortilla soup for supper. After making (& cleaning up the mess from) 3 loaves of bread today, I was not in the mood to make tortillas. Oh, we also had no chicken. All I had was some leftover rabbit meat & tortilla chips. So as usual, we improvised. In a large pot, heat-up some chicken broth. I figure 1 cup per person. For us, that's 5 cups. In goes the shredded (cooked) rabbit meat & 1 jar of Meijer corn & black bean salsa. Cook just util the meat is nice and hot. Spoon into soup bowls & crush a handful of tortilla chips on top. (My husband used tortilla chips & about 200 saltine crackers. To each his own.) Sprinkle with shredded cheese. How easy was that?! I haven't added any pictures. It's not much to look at, but it was just what we needed for such a cold February evening.

Snow day did ya say?

2011-02-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, like most of the midwest, we're snowed in today. So, I decided to bake some bread. Throw in some cheese & sausage & we've got a meal! Just shred 4 oz of cheddar cheese into a mixing bowl. (My sister told me they put stuff in shredded cheese to keep it from sticking together. So, I use block cheese & shred it myself.) Then you need some sausage. I use Meijer brand, because it has no MSG. Check the labels! Most "national" brands have MSG. Dump 1/2 package of breakfast sausage into the bowl with your cheese. (save the rest of the sausage for biscuits& gravy). Now smoosh the meat & cheese together with your fingers. Spread it on 8 slices of bread. Bake at 350 until the cheese bubbles. (15-20 minutes). It may not look beautiful, but it tastes soooo YUM!!!

Happy National Pie Day!

2011-01-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

What better way to interrupt cabin fever than with pie? It makes the house smell great & warms the kitchen. It's also a tasty way to get my kids to eat more fruits & veggies! Oh yeah, pie counts as a fruit. So, we celebrated National Pie day with two pies. I found the recipe for "Humble Pie" on the King Arthur website. I used frozen peaches & blackberries, because it's what I had. Instead of dried buttermilk powder, I used plain powdered milk. It still tastes great to me.

I used my grandma's recipe for the sweet potato pie. Yes, the recipe that calls for lard in the crust. I've tried "vegetable shortening" before. Besides being totally processed & unhealthy, it makes a crappy crust. Trust me, lard in the only way to make a perfect pie crust.

What a Farmbelle Wants

2011-01-20T13:24:00.000-08:00

Granny Cantrell tomato seeds. I grew these last year & they were the best tasting tomato I've ever met. I saved all my seeds in a dixie cup in the cupboard. My sweet dughter climbed onto the counter & spilled all my seeds into her bowl of chili & all over the floor. I cried. Then, I scooped up what seeds I could - about 10 total & went searching for more seeds. I plan to fill my garden with Granny Cantrells. Note to self; always save seeds in jars with lids!

One can never have enough books. Today, I want The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds . Whew, I hope the book is as informative as the title. The cover looks great, so I'm sure the rest of the book is as well.

Since homemade bread does not pop out of the pan already sliced, I need a cutting board, like this. It needs no explaination. It's simple, clean & beautiful.

what shall I have for supper?

2011-01-14T16:49:00.000-08:00

More Books in the FarmBelles library

2011-01-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

Have you ever found something "strange" at the Farmer's Market, like kale or cauliflower & had no idea what to do with it? Keep in mind, these foods aren't strange at all. They are normal, flavorful foods our grandmothers would have eaten regularly. The stuff they try to sell at the fast food "restaurants" is strange. Eating Local - Sur La Table has recipes for everything you'd buy from your local farmer & then some. It even has a recipe for eggplant that looks edible! So go ahead, try something new (like carrots that have never been wrapped in plastic, gasp!) Your tastebuds will thank you.

Ok, not ready to get adventurous with your food? I hear ya. Let's start with the basics. The Art of Simple Food - Alice Waters explains how to select fresh food & cook it up in simple recipes. Seriously, it has a recipe for scrambled eggs. It doesn't get more basic than that. Just don't confuse "simple"with "boring". With fresh ingredients & simple recipes, you can actually taste the food.

The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer - Joel Salatin - Well, this one pretty much explains itself. Always questioning the logic in "conventional" farming, some people might call Joel a "lunatic". Don't think it bothers him though. No sir! Being a "lunatic" farmer has brought Joel sheer ecstasy. In this book, he explains how you can become a "lunatic" farmer & actually ENJOY FARMING. Like all of Joel's books, this one is engaging, encouraging & bursting at the margins with useful information. A must read for anyone who produces food, or cares where it comes from.

& a movie
It's a good thing Temple Grandin has a website, because I would need a month of Sundays to list all of her amazing achievements. When she still didn't speak at age 4, Temple's doctor urged her mother to put her in an institution. (this was before autism even had a name, let alone any kind of understanding) Well, of course her mother refused. Given a supportive, encouraging childhood, Temple went on to graduate high school and college. She now holds a PhD in animal science. She has a wonderful understanding of animal behavior, which helps her design facilities that are more humane for livestock. She has even written several books about autism. So, check out her website, read one of her books, watch the movie (my kids watched it over & over & over...). You will not be disappointed, I promise.

It's got to be butter!

2010-12-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

Many moons ago (or, it may have been last week. It's hard to remember at this age). Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I was shopping at Meijer (with my sister, but that's another story). Apparently, everyone else in the county had the same idea, because everything I wanted was sold-out! So, by the time I got to the shelf where the butter was not, I was losing my temper. I may have even sworn out loud. Pretty sure I did, since the Meijer dairy-man asked what was wrong. So, I told him "I just wanted the Meijer butter". I NEED butter. It would take a 12-step program to get me through one day without butter. So, Mr. amazing Meijer dairy-man calmly went to the back room, brought back a brand new box of butter, opened it & handed me 2 pounds of beautiful, prefect, Meijer butter. He must have been saving it just for me. I had to stop myself from doing a touchdown dance right there in the aisle. Instead, I politely said "thank you" & went on my way. But seriously, Mr. Meijer dairy-man, if you're reading this, you saved my day & you probably saved the other shoppers from limping through the store with cart marks on their backs.

Meijer product reviews

2010-12-19T14:34:00.000-08:00

I love my Meijer store! I buy Meijer brand products whenever I can. I started buying them because they are cheaper than national brands. Now, I buy Meijer brand because the quality is (usually) better than the national brands. If I buy a generic or store brand that doesn't compare well to the national brand, I won't buy it again. I buy Meijer brand products a LOT! Now that Meijer has a "Naturals" food line, with no artificial ingredients or GMOs, I buy that, no matter the cost (which is almost always cheaper than the national brands anyway) Meijer also has an "Organics" food line, which we love. So, here is my 1st list of Meijer "product reviews". No doubt, there will be more lists to follow.

dry pasta - I buy it all, use it all & love it all. It's cheap & tastes great.

"Naturals" corn & black bean salsa. I originally bought it because it promises "no GMOs". I keep buying it, because it tastes great, and it doesn't cost any more than "regular" salsas. When it's on sale, I stock up. Bonus - my kids like to eat these veggies.

flour tortillas - I don't buy them. The list of ingredients is too long & full of things I can't pronouce. I'm not feeding them to my kids. I make my own tortillas with Meijer unbleached flour.

"restaurant style tortilla chips" - ground corn, oil, salt. That's it. No crap. probably GM corn, but I'm doing the best I can here. (we also like the organic tortilla chips. They cost a bit more, but I try to avoid GM corn whenever possible)

"Organics" creamy peanut butter. - peanuts, oil, sugar, salt. Bonus - it tastes EXCELLENT!

"Naturals" creamy peanut butter. I like it, my kids hate it. I think it's because they're too lazy to stir the oil back into the solids, when it settles. They eat it, just won't make their own sandwiches with it.

mandarin oranges - oranges, water, sugar. Sure beats the questionable ingredients in the national brand. Oh yeah, I checked. Bonus - prevents scurvy.

I buy all the meijer brand sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar & unbleached flour. They work great, cost less. It's a win-win for me.

milk - "...from cows not supplemented with artificial growth hormones" that's why I buy it. I don't care if the FDA thinks rBST is safe. They also told us Vioxx & aspartame were safe.

"Organics" honey and nut toasted oat cereal. Sorry Mr. Meijer, my kids didn't like it. But, my chickens sure did :-)

Well, there's list one. Stay tuned for list two, hopefully sometime before spring!

thin wheat sandwich bread

2010-09-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

My kids love these new flat, wheat, sandwich rounds they sell in the grocery store. So, after buying about 40 bags of them, I decided it would be a lot cheaper to make my own. And, I could control what's in them.

ingredients:

1 1/4 c warm water (110 degrees F)

1/4 c sugar

1 (1/4 oz pkg) or 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 egg

2 tsp oil

2 c whole wheat flour

1 1/4 c bread flour

1/4 c flaxseed meal

1 tsp salt

Directions:

In a large bowl, sprinkle the sugar and yeast over the warm water. Mix in the egg and oil. In another bowl, sift together the flours, flax and salt. Add 1 1/2 c flour mixture to the liquids. Let rise 30-40 minutes. Add the rest of the flour and knead for 10 minutes by hand, or 5 minutes in a stand mixer with dough hook. (I prefer the mixer, since the dough is very sticky.) Grease & flour a cookie sheet. With well-oiled hands, divide dough into 2 oz. pieces. (Makes approx. 15 pieces, but only do enough to fill one cookie sheet. Save the rest in a covered bowl, in the refrigerator, until ready to use.) Drop the pieces onto your cookie sheet. You don't need to shape the dough, it will look better after it rises. Let rise until doubled. (I put the cookie sheet in my UNHEATED oven to rise. Because the dough is so sticky, I thought covering with platic wrap would be a mess.) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Do not overbake. When the buns are cool, just slice & eat.

this ain't no fairy tale garden

2010-09-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

I was mad as a mama bear this morning, when I ran out to the garden, only to find that somebody's been eating my pumpkins! How will my garden ever grow with Mr. McGregor's cottontails hopping all about? Cinderella will have no ride to the ball. Peter Peter's wife will be homeless. And, this little piggie will have no pumkins for the market! I guess I can't blame it all on the wild things. It may have been my own, dear chicken little. Maybe this little red hen should just stick to baking bread.

While the kids are away...

2010-09-07T09:30:00.001-07:00

Kids FINALLY went back to school today. Hip Hip Hooray! They were almost as excited as I was. With the house all to myself, my options were to clean, or... anything.

I've been saving these feed sacks all summer, waiting for the free time to make them useful again. (ok, they make great trash bags. but that's no fun). So, my chick feed bags are now my go-to-market bags. Or, my new go-to-library bags. Or, my apple-picking bags. Or, my wet-clothes-at-the-beach bags. Or... well, the possibilities are endless!

from the Farm Belles Library

2009-03-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

The last time my sisters & I took the kids to see Grandma, my daughter told us "When I grow up I'm gonna have a farm all to myself". Living there her whole life, my Grandma knows a bit about living on the farm. We all cracked-up laughing when my Grandma's advice was "Honey, you gotta have a man to scoop the poop" So, when I discovered the book "How to Shovel Manure and Other Life Lessons for the Country Woman", by Gwen Petersen, at our local library, I had to grab it for my daughter. Unfortunately, she hasn't had a chance to read it yet, because I can't put it down!
"How to Shovel Manure" is a great little book every country girl will enjoy. It's packed full of practical advice we Farm Belles need to survive life in the country. Unlike other how-to books, this one includes as much humor as advice, which makes it so easy to read. Gwen writes about farm life through the seasons & how to handle all that life throws at her. How to plant, harvest, dress (floppy hat, muddy chore boots, husband's cozy sweatshirt), raise animals and children, even how to deal with city visitors and Mrs. Super Rancher.
Sneaking a glass of medicinal bourbon seems to help all of the above chores run a little more smoothly. Of course, the best tip I learned from this book was "Occasionally you will meet a truly mean chicken - usually a rooster. The treatment of choice is to plan stewed rooster for Sunday dinner"
As if all that advice & humor weren't enough to interest you, Gwen throws in some wonderful poems, the "Country Hick Dictionary" and yummy country recipes.
For those who live there, you know women in the country can sometimes feel a bit isolated. "How to Shovel Manure" is like sitting down with a good friend to swap stories and have a few laughs - even when the snow is 2' deep and road travel is impossible. (As I write, it is snowing AGAIN!)
So, grab the book here, pour yourself a bit of your favorite medicinal bourbon and take a break from the chores. If Hubby finds you sitting on your butt, not "working" just tell him you are studying how to be a better farmhand, and the more you read, the better you'll be.

It's beginning to look a little bit like Christmas

2008-12-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

It's way too cold to play outside, so we've spent the last few days putting up the Christmas decorations. The canning jars have gone from holding sand & shells, to storing mini Christmas ornaments. One jar is still full of sand, to hold-up our Wyoming Christmas tree - Tumbleweed!

Since this will be our only tree this year, I hung only the best onrnaments on it. There is an "evergreen" garland draped on the shelf & intertwined with a string of lights.

Almost FREE Christmas

2008-11-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

With Christmas nearing, and my cash disappearing, I have been looking for ways to give my kids a fun christmas, while spending as little money as possible.

Here's some ideas I've come up with so far.

1. the library is FREE. (just don't get any late fees!) So, just before Christmas, I am going to rent my limit of children's books, wrap them up & let my kids read all they want. Once they've read the books, they have no use for them anyway, so buying a stack of new books seems a bit "extravagant", at least for this year.
2. Let the kids help cook Christmas breakfast, supper... They get what they really want most & that's your time and attention. I let my kids write up a "menu" on a piece of construction paper, then take "orders" and serve supper. They love it!
3. Any family with kids, probably has toys they don't want or need anymore. Take any toys still in great shape & host a "swap" with friends. Trust me, the kids probably won't even notice the toys are used, especially if it's wrapped-up all fancy. (a swap would also work for those fancy "Christmas picture" outfits that the kids only wear once.)
4. All craft stores have free, project idea sheets for knitting, crafting etc. I have collected a bunch that look simple enough for kids. I will add these to a notebook I am building for my kids. The notebook is a collection of free patterns or instructions I have found online.
Some websites I like so far...
http://www.instructables.com/
http://www.crochettoday.com/default.aspx
http://www.freepatterns.com/
I'll wrap-up the notebook, add a bag full of any fabric scraps, yarn, glue, glitter that I can find around the house. Hopefully this will keep them so busy, they won't realize they didn't get that big screen TV they've been begging for!

To get you started, I made a pdf pattern to sew this cute stuffed chickie.
I can't figure out how to add a pdf to my blog. But, if you'd like a copy of the pattern, just send me an e-mail & I will send you the pattern.

If you have any other ideas for a free, or very cheap, Christmas for kids, please leave me a comment. I'd love to hear other people's ideas!

2008-11-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

vote!
It's just that simple.

Grandma's sour cream apple pie

2008-10-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Apples were on sale this week & I may have gotten a bit carried away. First thing I decided to make with all those apples was this YUMMY pie.

line a 9 inch pie pan with pastry.

sift together in a bowl...
2 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
add this to the flour...
1 egg, unbeaten
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
beat to smooth batter. stir in 2 cups sliced apples. pour into pastry.
bake in 400 oven for 15 minutes. reduce to 350 for 30 minutes.top with spicy topping. bake 10 minutes longer at 400.

spicy topping
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
mix together with fork.

way to go domino!

2008-09-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

I love my domino magaines, so I was so excited to find out...
domino the book of decorating will be available October 14.

thank you domino magazine editors Deborah Needleman, Sara Ruffin Costello and Dara Caponigro. I can't wait!!!

Halloween decorating Farm Belles style

2008-09-26T14:35:00.001-07:00

Back to school & all is well. So, I've decided it's time to let go of summer & start decorating for fall. Since we are currently renting, this limits my decorating creativity quite a bit. But, I think I found a solution. I've been using my entertainment center & piano as display shelves. Of course I like to "use what I've got" in decorating, because it is thrifty and EASY. So, I use canning jars a LOT. For my Halloween "display" I filled the canning jars with sand (got plenty of that in Wyoming) and stuck in some tumbleweed to give the scene some height. Then, I set out some ghosts, bugs & an autumn colored garland. I draped "cobwebs" over the whole thing and stuck in even more bugs.

It turned out even better than I imagined! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

live 'n learn

2008-09-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

a farm belle knows:

cheap is always chic
good food doesn't come from a box, or a drive-thru
fabric scraps are just a quilt waiting to be finished
bananas don't go rotten, they just become a very tasty bread
everything is fair game for decorating, even sand and twigs
kids & chickens are both very entertaining
margarine is no replacement for BUTTER
whining won't get the chores done
creating something is more fun than buying it
boredom is never an option
muddy boots are her "good shoes"
the Farmer's Market has tastier food than the fanciest grocery store
boys attract mud. luckily, they are washable

chick apron

2008-09-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

here chick chick!

auction loot

2008-09-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

maybe I got a bit carried away with all the cookbooks, but hey, I do like to eat!

you're my inspiration

2008-02-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

Farm belles is dedicated to all the women in my life past, present and future
to grandmothers who broke new ground, in order to give us roots
to sisters who shared growing pains, & distractions along the road of life
to daughters, the vision of our future

I blame you all!!!
for the great food, encouraging words, hilarious anecdotes, silly little life lessons, and the craving to create new things.
My obsession with crafting starts with my mother, who ALWAYS made our Halloween costumes. It continues with my daughter who HAD TO HAVE a fancy party dress for this year's Daddy Daughter Dance.
I craft until my hands ache - why? Because I love it!