Old Equipment

We are blessed to have lots of old horse drawn equpiment. We've purchased some and we inherited from Hubbys Grandfather, which I think is pretty cool. Hubby being a baby who was born to parents in their 40's has the privilege of having a father who remembers farming with horses as well as a Grandfather who had farmed with horses. A few weeks ago the tongue broke on the hay mower which we had been using for cutting green feed for the animals. So it was time to make a new one. We could have gone to the Mennonite sawmill up the road and had one made, but with money being what it is these days we needed to get creative. So we had some barn beams that had been taken out of an old barn. We took one of those and got started. First was cut to the right width.

                     Cut the right size now "shaving" it down so there are no rough edges

                                      Working the end so the neck yoke will fit on

       This was Hubbys Grandfathers neck yolk and I know it gives him great pride to use it.

                                                      Put back together

                                                    Back to work.

Good White Bread (for my Brother)

I've been making my own bread for years, my brother just recently started. I use to use a bread machine but found the bread was too dense for our liking and after a day or two was stale. So about a year ago I ditched the bread machine and started making all of our bread products by hand. My brother is now finding himself in the same situation and asked for my white bread recipe. He tried it out and had less than great results so I thought I'd put a post together for him and for anyone else interested.

                                             When the yeast mixture is ready for the flour

                                                After adding the flour and kneading

                                                 

                                                          placed in oiled bowl

                                                                 Doubled

                                                   Shaped in to a loaf and buns

                                                    Ready to pop into the oven!

                                                      Out and ready to enjoy.

*White Bread.

2 Cups Warm Water

2/3 Cups Sugar or Honey

1 1/2 TBSP Yeast

1 1/2 TBSP Salt

1/4 cup Oil

Approx six cups White Flour.

Mix Water,Honey,Salt, Oil and yeast in bowl wait 2-3 minutes until
yeast is foamy. Add Flour in about one cup at a time (might not need
all six I usually use about Five) Knead until elestic about 5-10
minutes (when you lightly poke it the imprint should bounce back) Let
rise in oiled bowl until doubled (25-35 minutes) Punch down shape and
put into greased bread pans let raise again about 30 minutes bake at
350*f For approx 30-40 minutes until nice brown colour, but watch it
can burn easily..

Pickled Ramps

On our walk on the wild side the other day we can across some Ramps (wild leeks). We all dug a few now I was left with the decision of what to do with them?  Ramps are not something you want alot of  (well at least we don't) So I decided to try pickling them, I mixed up my basic pickle liquid and added a little pickling spice, packed two 500ml jars with the Ramps poured the liquid over them and processed in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. The verdict? One jar is almost gone already! I choped a few for a pasta salad and Jillybean (DD15) has been eating them straight out of the jar (she always has had strange taste lol)

 *Basic pickle Liquid.*
     2.5 Cups Vinegar- I used Apple Cidar
     2.5 Cups Water
     1 TBSP Pickling Salt
     1 TBSP Sugar

A Family Walk

Yesterday was hot and humid not very May like, it was feeling more like the dog days of summer. I suggested we go for a walk to the creek and so off we went.

 

First a little hike through the cedar bush

Dad trying to catch some fish for an up close look, but no luck those fish are fast!

The WeeMan was super excited to see this deer hoof  on the banks of the creek.

I was excited to see these wild leeks.

We walked around the bush and through the creek for an hour or so and when we were cooled off we headed back to the house with our little handfuls of wild leeks. Now to look up some recipes..Jaime

A welcome and Introduction.

Hello and welcome, We're a family of five who are trying to live a simple life. We love learning new things and old forgotten skills, like canning, using horses for work and raising our own food which includes livestock and Gardening. Hubby Works full-time and I'm home full time all three kids are in school, two teenagers (15and16) and the little guy (9). I hope to maybe inspire you, teach you something new or to give you the confidience to try something new. We're by no means experts Just one family trying to do it ourselves, I hope you follow our Journey.