I love walking into my kitchen before cooking dinner and figuring out what I can make based on what's in the fridge. Last night everything just seemed to come together perfectly.
I had bought an extra bag of baby carrots because they were buy one get one free at the store and I had always planned to make a soup out of them. I also had some beef broth, corn, and black beans that needed to be eaten asap. I decided it was time for the first soup of autumn.
I don't measure things, I like to do it by taste. I started by combining a small bag of baby carrots, 3/4 of a carton of beef broth, a large can of tomato puree and 4 cups of water in a large pot. I added in some bourbon smoked paprika, pepper and oregano, covered the pot and let that cook for about 30 minutes.
While that was cooking I minced:
1/2 of an onion
1/2 a head of garlic
2 jalepenos
1 thai hot chili
1 green bell pepper
1 bunch of green onions
I also cut the corn off of 4 ears of corn.
I heated some oil in a pan and sauteed the minced ingredients. Then I added the corn, mixed them up, and turned off the heat while I did the next step.
Once the carrots were soft in the broth I used a slotted spoon to fish them out and put them in a blender. I blended them until smooth and added them back to the broth along with the black beans and onion/corn mixture. I simmered everything (the pot covered) until all the ingredients were hot. I didn't want to corn to become soggy so I didn't cook it very long.
I don't have a picture, but I can assure you it was very tasty, and absolutely perfect served with some corn tortilla chips and a dollop of sour cream.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Farm Dog
The past few weeks haven't been terribly exciting, except for one thing- we got a puppy! Bomber arrived last Saturday night and the reason I have waited until now to say anything is that it took us a good 5 days to name him, and then I wanted to wait a few days just to make sure it stuck.
Bomber is a Brittany and is now 8 weeks old. He comes from a long line of bird hunting dogs, so Brian is hoping to train him to be one as well, although he has never attempted training like that before.
Bomber is a a little firecracker with enough energy for all of us and teeth as sharp as needles that like to be firmly gripping something at all times. The other animals tolerate him, and have all shown him who is boss (aka- not him). They are starting to let him jump on them which I appreciate since I am currently his only play buddy.
The timing of his arrival was perfect. Things on the farm have been pretty mellow. Brian has had extra things to do at work, we have had a few people come to visit, and we haven't made it to the farmers market to collect things for canning in a couple of weeks. We are in between major projects and the house is livable and functional as it is.
That doesn't mean our To Do list isn't a mile long, but it's been really nice getting to know our new puppy, watching the season start to change to Fall (my favorite!), and rest up a little before we start preparing for the cold winter ahead.
Bomber and his big brothers, Manny and Cloverdale
Bomber is a a little firecracker with enough energy for all of us and teeth as sharp as needles that like to be firmly gripping something at all times. The other animals tolerate him, and have all shown him who is boss (aka- not him). They are starting to let him jump on them which I appreciate since I am currently his only play buddy.
The timing of his arrival was perfect. Things on the farm have been pretty mellow. Brian has had extra things to do at work, we have had a few people come to visit, and we haven't made it to the farmers market to collect things for canning in a couple of weeks. We are in between major projects and the house is livable and functional as it is.
That doesn't mean our To Do list isn't a mile long, but it's been really nice getting to know our new puppy, watching the season start to change to Fall (my favorite!), and rest up a little before we start preparing for the cold winter ahead.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Big Storage in a Tiny Space
I've been hoping to find a use for some old drawers I took out of an upstairs room. They are strong and sturdy and seemed much to useful to take to the dump or stick in the burn pile.
The drawers were absolutely perfect for this project. Brian bolted them all together and then to the wall. We decided how to arrange the shelves based on the size jars we had, and we had a built in storage system in no time flat. The only problem is, we plan to can more, and we used up almost all of the shelves we installed. I guess we'll just have to build a few more farther back in the closet, and it will just involve a little crouching to get things out.
Click on the picture below to enlarge it.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
DIY Washboard Planter
Crafts are my domain. Like Brian, I like to do things myself when I can, and there are no shortage of Do It Yourself ideas on Etsy. I've spent many, many hours looking for things to decorate my home with, and realized that quite a few of them I could create myself.
I have seen many different styles of plant hangers, some ceramic, some wood, some mason jar. The one I was most impressed with, and have only seen one of, was a plant holder made out of washboard. Since then I haven't been able to get it out of my head, and went on a quest for the perfect washboard.
The one on Etsy involved putting a screw through a small metal pot and through the washboard metal to attach the two pieces together. I decided to use a different method (that I saw on a different plant holder) involving a hose clamp.
Here's what I used for my design:
Assembling the planter was really easy, the most difficult part was lining up the hose clamp, o-ring, and mason jar while tightening the screw. I used the o-ring because I wanted something there to create a cushion between the curved wood and the curved mason jar. Any piece of rubber would work. The o-rings worked out very well. Once I got all the mason jars attached where I wanted them I leaned the washboard on the bench and filled the jars with a little bit of gravel, then a layer of potting soil, the hens and chicks, and then a little bit of gravel to keep the soil from falling out when I water it. Voila! Awesome plant holder for under $20.
I put the plant holder in the dining room where it will get a little bit of morning sun. The hens and chicks should be fine there, but if they need a little extra sun I can always take it outside from time to time.
I have seen many different styles of plant hangers, some ceramic, some wood, some mason jar. The one I was most impressed with, and have only seen one of, was a plant holder made out of washboard. Since then I haven't been able to get it out of my head, and went on a quest for the perfect washboard.
The one on Etsy involved putting a screw through a small metal pot and through the washboard metal to attach the two pieces together. I decided to use a different method (that I saw on a different plant holder) involving a hose clamp.
Here's what I used for my design:
- Metal Washboard with vertical wood pieces
- 3 skinny half pint mason jars
- 3 hose clamps that fit mason jars with a little extra room
- 3 O Rings
- Hens and Chicks (or other succulents that don't require much water)
- Gravel
- Potting Soil
- Preferred hardware for hanging picture frames
I put the plant holder in the dining room where it will get a little bit of morning sun. The hens and chicks should be fine there, but if they need a little extra sun I can always take it outside from time to time.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Chicken and Duck Stock
Making your own chicken stock is really easy and it's a great way to get a little more use out of that roasted chicken. The entire process from raw bird to stock is really easy and fairly inexpensive. We went down to the farmers market and bought a chicken from the Pondera Hutterite Colony for $7.50. We bought a bag of carrots, head of celery, and 2 onions (we were able to use half for the chicken and half for the duck a week later). Roasting the chicken took about 2 hours. The chicken provided us with 3-4 meals and plenty of doggie treats for the pups.
The stock was even easier, Simply Canning has a great recipe and a tip I hadn't considered: save up your scraps over time in the freezer until you have enough to make stock, that way you don't have to buy it all at once.
For the stock we put the chicken bones, skin, and leftover bits we didn't want to eat in a large pot with some chopped up celery, carrots and onion (it's not an exact science, use what you have on hand) and let it simmer for several hours, the longer the better. I think we ended up simmering it for 4-6 hours. Then we strained out the chicken pieces, bones, and vegetables. Use the pressure canner method to can the stock. Easy!
We did the same thing with the duck, but that was a special treat since the bird was $16. We won't be doing that every week, but it sure was tasty and it makes a really rich and fatty stock. Now we have about 20 pints and 4 quarts of homemade stock to use. I love adding a little stock when I'm cooking rice or barley, it adds a really nice flavor to it.
Here are the chicken and duck stocks side by side:
The stock was even easier, Simply Canning has a great recipe and a tip I hadn't considered: save up your scraps over time in the freezer until you have enough to make stock, that way you don't have to buy it all at once.
For the stock we put the chicken bones, skin, and leftover bits we didn't want to eat in a large pot with some chopped up celery, carrots and onion (it's not an exact science, use what you have on hand) and let it simmer for several hours, the longer the better. I think we ended up simmering it for 4-6 hours. Then we strained out the chicken pieces, bones, and vegetables. Use the pressure canner method to can the stock. Easy!
We did the same thing with the duck, but that was a special treat since the bird was $16. We won't be doing that every week, but it sure was tasty and it makes a really rich and fatty stock. Now we have about 20 pints and 4 quarts of homemade stock to use. I love adding a little stock when I'm cooking rice or barley, it adds a really nice flavor to it.
Here are the chicken and duck stocks side by side:
Monday, September 10, 2012
The Name Game
I've always been excited to name our farm. Even if we ended up in a house on 0.25 acres, I probably would have named it. I think it comes from growing up in California, in Pebble Beach and Monterey, where so many of the houses had names; some funny, some mysterious and some romantic. My favorite was always "Three Gables" because it reminded me of my favorite book series as a child, Anne of Green Gables.
Naming our farm has turned out to be a bigger challenge than I expected. The first challenge is that I have another person to consider, Brian, and he really isn't a fan of the cutesy names I come up with (like "Pitter Patter Farm" after the animals we will have, and the fact that the farm used to be owned by the Patterson Dairy). The other factor we have to consider, the WORST factor, is that just about every farm name under the sun has been taken by another farm. The reason that matters is because I plan to have sheep that I use for my business, and I can definitely see us producing to much produce, eggs, and honey and needing an outlet to sell it, like at the farmers market.
I have a list of over 20 names, almost all crossed out because the names exist already. I've tried to use all sorts of descriptive words that describe us, the farm, what we want, where we live, etc but we haven't come up with the winner yet.
I started by thinking about what we are and what we want to be. Dictionary.com helped us here. Are we a Ranch, "an establishment maintained for raising livestock under range conditions."? I don't think so. Are we a Farm, "a tract of land, usually with a house, barn, silo, etc., on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood."? Quite possibly. How about a Farmstead, "a farm together with its buildings."? Yes. I think that works. Or would Homestead fit better, "any dwelling with its land and buildings where a family makes its home."? I think that fits too. From there there are other descriptions such as plantation, estate, hobby farm, acres, etc. I think for us Farm or Farmstead would work best.
From there, there are descriptive words about the area we live in; Mission Mountains, Flathead Valley, and Big Sky. There are words to describe our land and what we have here; 2 canals (or creeks), Willow, Cottonwood, and Maple trees, owls and feathers, menagerie, meadow, windy, sunny. We could describe us; we're both B Wilson.
From there I have come up with (names that have all been taken by another farm) Twin Brooks Farm, Big Sky Meadows, Hidden Acres, Flathead Acres, Eli Acres, Featherwood Farm, Willowbrook farm, Super B Farm, BnB Farm, Peace B Farm, Breezy B Farm, Featherwind Farm, Feather Brook Farm, and a host of others. The one's that aren't taken but we aren't super excited about are Peaking Mountain Farm, Sloping Meadow Farm, Pitter Patter Farm, Feather Meadow Farm, and Feather Run Farm.
I know there's the perfect name out there. I just need to learn to be patient. Any ideas?
Naming our farm has turned out to be a bigger challenge than I expected. The first challenge is that I have another person to consider, Brian, and he really isn't a fan of the cutesy names I come up with (like "Pitter Patter Farm" after the animals we will have, and the fact that the farm used to be owned by the Patterson Dairy). The other factor we have to consider, the WORST factor, is that just about every farm name under the sun has been taken by another farm. The reason that matters is because I plan to have sheep that I use for my business, and I can definitely see us producing to much produce, eggs, and honey and needing an outlet to sell it, like at the farmers market.
I have a list of over 20 names, almost all crossed out because the names exist already. I've tried to use all sorts of descriptive words that describe us, the farm, what we want, where we live, etc but we haven't come up with the winner yet.
I started by thinking about what we are and what we want to be. Dictionary.com helped us here. Are we a Ranch, "an establishment maintained for raising livestock under range conditions."? I don't think so. Are we a Farm, "a tract of land, usually with a house, barn, silo, etc., on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood."? Quite possibly. How about a Farmstead, "a farm together with its buildings."? Yes. I think that works. Or would Homestead fit better, "any dwelling with its land and buildings where a family makes its home."? I think that fits too. From there there are other descriptions such as plantation, estate, hobby farm, acres, etc. I think for us Farm or Farmstead would work best.
From there, there are descriptive words about the area we live in; Mission Mountains, Flathead Valley, and Big Sky. There are words to describe our land and what we have here; 2 canals (or creeks), Willow, Cottonwood, and Maple trees, owls and feathers, menagerie, meadow, windy, sunny. We could describe us; we're both B Wilson.
From there I have come up with (names that have all been taken by another farm) Twin Brooks Farm, Big Sky Meadows, Hidden Acres, Flathead Acres, Eli Acres, Featherwood Farm, Willowbrook farm, Super B Farm, BnB Farm, Peace B Farm, Breezy B Farm, Featherwind Farm, Feather Brook Farm, and a host of others. The one's that aren't taken but we aren't super excited about are Peaking Mountain Farm, Sloping Meadow Farm, Pitter Patter Farm, Feather Meadow Farm, and Feather Run Farm.
I know there's the perfect name out there. I just need to learn to be patient. Any ideas?
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Brian's Chainsaw Adventures
Brian hasn't looked at my blog much, which is good to know if I ever feel like talking smack about him. The one thing he was most curious to know about the blog was: Have I talked about his chainsaw yet. "Well no, I haven't, but if you looked at my blog you would know that."
So here is is: Brian's Epic Adventures with a Big Ass Chainsaw.
When we moved in we knew we were going to have a do a lot of tree maintenance, or rather, Brian was going to have to call people he knew who liked cutting down trees to help because I know nothing about the topic. There are (were) 2 strange rows of trees in the back part of our property, we think they are cottonwoods. One row was alive, and 1 row was completely dead. The dead row was dangerously close to power lines so before this winter we wanted to cut them down. Brian decided it was the first thing he wanted to do, before we had even moved in, because he wanted to buy and "play with" a new chainsaw.
He got one with a 25" bar, I'm pretty sure it was the biggest one in the store. My dad and step mom came up for a weekend to help (shown above), and on another weekend Brian called on our friend Wanda, who used to work as a smoke jumper down in Missoula. She loves using chainsaws as much as Brian does, she even came over once when we weren't here to cut down a tree or two. That's dedication.
One of the trees was very large and Brian had the idea to cut it in half lengthwise so that we could use the two halves as footbridges across our two canals. He called on Wanda again and another friend Landon to take part in a little tree cutting party.
I have to admit, the bridges scare me a little. They are narrow and bow with your weight as you walk across. I am a very clumsy person and I know I'm going to fall in at least once during our time here on the farm. I will also admit, Brian did a great job with them, and it's very special to have bridges that Brian made from trees on the farm. My fear is just a silly personal problem that I hope to get over.
The other big project of the moment was a willow tree that had fallen across the canal and was resting in the crook of another tree. We wanted to take it down before it did any damage to the other tree, and it was also shading a maple that we would like to see thrive. It wasn't as exciting a project as making the bridges, but it provided Brian with an excuse to get out the chainsaw (shown here, with our starved for attention dog Manny).
This project took the better part of a day and involved lots of sawing, hauling logs with the truck, and sawing some more. In fact, a week later, there are still some giant logs on my porch. I wonder how long until that part of the project gets done.
It was absolutely amazing what a transformation the space took and the amount of light it let in. It makes me want to work on trimming all of the other willow trees that are in desperate need of some maintenance.
So here is is: Brian's Epic Adventures with a Big Ass Chainsaw.
When we moved in we knew we were going to have a do a lot of tree maintenance, or rather, Brian was going to have to call people he knew who liked cutting down trees to help because I know nothing about the topic. There are (were) 2 strange rows of trees in the back part of our property, we think they are cottonwoods. One row was alive, and 1 row was completely dead. The dead row was dangerously close to power lines so before this winter we wanted to cut them down. Brian decided it was the first thing he wanted to do, before we had even moved in, because he wanted to buy and "play with" a new chainsaw.
He got one with a 25" bar, I'm pretty sure it was the biggest one in the store. My dad and step mom came up for a weekend to help (shown above), and on another weekend Brian called on our friend Wanda, who used to work as a smoke jumper down in Missoula. She loves using chainsaws as much as Brian does, she even came over once when we weren't here to cut down a tree or two. That's dedication.
I have to admit, the bridges scare me a little. They are narrow and bow with your weight as you walk across. I am a very clumsy person and I know I'm going to fall in at least once during our time here on the farm. I will also admit, Brian did a great job with them, and it's very special to have bridges that Brian made from trees on the farm. My fear is just a silly personal problem that I hope to get over.
This project took the better part of a day and involved lots of sawing, hauling logs with the truck, and sawing some more. In fact, a week later, there are still some giant logs on my porch. I wonder how long until that part of the project gets done.
It was absolutely amazing what a transformation the space took and the amount of light it let in. It makes me want to work on trimming all of the other willow trees that are in desperate need of some maintenance.
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