English muffins (thanks to the Rusty Plow homestead)

(can be gluten and dairy free, see below for subsitutions)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of milk
• 3 TBSP butter
• 3 TBSP of honey
• 1 cup of warm water (105-110 degrees)
• 1/4 oz of yeast
• 2 TBSP cornmeal
• 5 cups + extra for sprinkling all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt

(To make gluten free, use a mix of rice flour instead of the ap flour, and use soy milk in place of the milk)

Directions
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, mix lightly and set aside for ten minutes to foam lightly.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk, butter and honey until the butter is melted. Let cool lightly.
Combine the yeast mixture and milk mixtures gently.

In a large bowl, sift 3 cups of flour. Stir in the milk and yeast. Sift the remaining flour and salt. Stir until cohesive.

Flour and marble slab well and knead the dough for 3 minutes or til lightly elastic. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cover two cookie sheet with parchment and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal.
Flour the marble slab lightly and roll the dough out until it's a 1/2 inch thick. Air on the side of too thick okay.

Cut out circles (don't twirl your cutter, just cut). Gently place on the cookie sheets, sprinkle the tops with cornmeal

 and cover with a dry, light cloth. Let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes or til nearly doubled in size. It's more like 2/3. 45 minutes will definitely do though.

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet on medium low, don't grease it.
Gently place a muffin in your hand and shake lightly to remove some of the corn meal.
Gentleness is key in all of the handling. Place into the pan and repeat til the pan is full.
 Don't let them touch each other. Keep the heat on low. Cook for 8 minutes per side or until browned well,
 flip and cook again. Let cool lightly on a wire rack. Split and top with butter and honey, or with egg and sausage whichever your choosing.

Up to date's

A few new things going on around the homestead now that the temperatures have dropped. The garden is not really growing a whole lot. I have a bed of rhubarb planted along with some carrots, cabbage, kale, turnips, mustard greens and peas. We recently got a few shipments of plants in from a few different companies. We now have two cherry bushes planted where we pulled up some azaleas and planted three heritage raspberries in a bed by our chicken run.
The chickens are now in lock down, since Mr Houdini our escape artist of a rooster kept jumping over the fence some how, really I think he was climbing the pear tree. We are now up to 6 possibly seven blueberry bushes, the possibly seven is thanks to my six year old son who decided to play with a push lawnmower trying to push it around pretending he was mowing and ran over one of my bushes and broke the majority of a side of the plant off. I took the broken side and put rooting compound on it and put it into a pot on our deck and it seems to have taken. I don't think we will be getting a huge surplus of berries this spring but the thought is nice. In a few years though I am expecting a fruit bowl of sorts.

The pig is getting BIG, she is sucking up everything we give her. At first she would not eat whole corn, we think it might have hurt her teeth. We tried all kinds of things to try to get her to eat it and the only way we could get her to eat the whole corn was to cover it in molasses. But now she will eat it fine without anything added to it which is great because right now we can get corn for 7.50 for 50lbs at a time. She loves milk too and anything else. I think so far our decision to get a pig was the most economical of all decisions we have made for our homestead.

With all the cold we are barely getting any eggs surprisingly my silky chickens are still laying eggs. Well, two of the three hens are which is not bad since they are meant to be my little brooders. One of our Dominic mix hens just started laying after a long few months of now laying any eggs. If you don't know what it is like to have a egg in the nest box after waiting that long for an egg, well lets just say I did a little happy dance in the yard. 
Since it has been ridiculously cold here I have been staying inside a lot, baking and cooking and trying to get our house uncluttered. We have also been trying to think of what to use our old refrigerator for since we had to replace it :(. We don't want to do a smoker or a root cellar because of its size, really it is just too big. So send me your ideas tell me what you think would be a good idea to use it for?

Cinnamon Rolls worth its weight in dough

This recipe is supposedly originated at a certain mouse dominated corporation that will remain nameless. Regardless of it's origin it is a new favorite of mine for sure. The recipe caught my eye when I seen that it had something not generally associated with cinnamon rolls, vanilla pudding mix. I thought how weird? But tried it and it is the softest tastiest homemade cinnamon rolls I have come across, and they will definitely make you rethink purchasing those cans of pre-made rolls in the cold section. So start preheating that oven this time of the year is the perfect time to get baking for the family.

Cinnamon Rolls

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 packets yeast
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 box (small box) instant vanilla pudding
• 2 cups milk
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 cups (all purpose) flour

Mix yeast, water and sugar together and let sit for a few minutes or until it starts to bubble. While it is sitting mix together your milk and butter in a saucepan and warm just until all the butter is melted then turn off heat and slowly stir in the two eggs. Mix yeast mixture and milk mixture together with the box of vanilla pudding and then add salt and flour all at once.  once it is thoroughly mixed cover with seran wrap and a towel and let sit until doubled in volume and then punch down dough. Let rise again, and then punch down dough and roll out on floured surface. This recipe makes 16 giant cinnamon rolls so when you roll the dough out it will be huge. Here is a picture of how mine looked when it was rolled out.

 

 

Filling:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter (melted)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. cinnamon

Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. After butter is melted brush onto dough  and then sprinkle the sugar mixture onto the dough like in the picture above (you don't have to use all the butter I do not and it turns out great, I use some of the melted butter to brush the pans with so that the dough does not stick.)

 

After you are done putting the sugar over your dough, you simple start on the long side and start rolling the dough into a giant log. Make sure that you brush the flour off as you go along so that your dough will stick together. When you are done rolling and you have you super sized cinna-log, you can start cutting it into rolls. A serrated knife works best for cutting these 2 inch thick rolls. 

 

Now it is time for them to rise again but this time in the pan, when they are doubled put them into your oven at 350 for about twenty minutes or until golden on top. While the rolls are in the oven you can work on your frosting.

 

Before rising (roughly half sheet size pan)

After rising

 

 

Frosting:

 

• 8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar

 

Simply mix all the ingredients together with a whisk attachment , the longer you beat the mixture the whiter and fluffier the frosting. If you find your frosting a little on the thick side you can add a tablespoon or so of milk but I like the frosting thick so it does not soak into the rolls too much. Make sure to apply the frosting liberally because it makes plenty. This recipe does not freezes fine but I will say that in my experience with it the yeast flavor in the dough is enhanced by freezing somehow so take this into consideration if you do decide to make these as a freezer meal. You can also freeze the frosting rather well in ziplocs or in vacuum bags like I did.  Happy HOMEsteading.

 



Behaviors of a homesteader

There are many behaviors and habits that are the normal for homesteader but elude the minds of the average person. They can be considered odd or strange to other people that just don’t understand. So I have decided go into detail to explain some of these things. Kind of a you might be a homesteader if you do or believe these things.

 

1.       We hoard things. Milk jugs, folders cans, egg cartons, and 5 gallons buckets to name a few.  Now we wouldn’t hold onto something unless it was a use full commodity.  Those folders cans make really great feed scoops and I just used some of my five gallon buckets to cover those blueberry bushes I planted last month so the frost doesn’t hurt them.

2.       We leave said buckets lying around in random places to collect rainwater. If you have ever grown a garden you know that you can water all day long and your plants will not grow half as much as they will if you water them with rain water.

3.       We save poop. I have yet to find a better way to increase nitrogen in soil. We have three pear trees here around our house and one is in our chicken run and since that tree gets lots of chicken manure the pears get big and by big I mean the size of a soft ball.

4.       We dry our laundry on the line.  I think of it like this, every time I dry a set of sheets or a blanket in the dryer I am essentially just giving my money to the electric company when I could have just as easily kept it for something more useful.

5.       Our pets have a purpose. If you think of a farm in terms of a company structure where every person in the company has a purpose and a job to do it the same idea. I can’t justify having an animal that will cost me piles of money if he/she is only going to be “cute.”

6.       Contemplate other uses for thing people would normally throw out.  We just had a refrigerator go out last month and we have talked about turning it into a smoker or root cellar.  Why not it’s already here.

7.       Break shovels and hoes. (Oh wait that’s just me.)

8.       Cringe when you see someone bagging leaves. Leaves are a great addition to a compost pile, even though it takes two years for them to fully compost it takes even longer for that plastic bag to break down. Refer to number nine.

9.       Dirt is a prized possession. We build compost heaps and save grass clippings, leaves, banana peels, coffee and anything else that turns into great dirt. Have you ever tried growing a good tomato in bad dirt?

10.   Mason jars are the house china. We have a lot of them, did you really expect us not to use them?

 

So. Are you a homesteader?? Can you relate?? Maybe its time you join us like minds in the forums on modern homesteaders. http://www.modernhomesteaders.net/membership-account/membership-levels/?ap_id=dirtyfeetmaggoo  Make sure you sign up to receive all the current post and recipes that I am sharing over at Modern homesteaders.  There are a lot of great writers working together on this site making it a great information resource.

Facebook

Well I finally decide to join facebook. Ill be sharing pictures and interesting articles and recipes. If you would like to learn more or follow or friend me on facebook you can find me at www.facebook.com/dirtyfeet.maggoo look forward to chatting and sharing with you all.

Whats that smell??

We have recently adopted a new dog. She resembles a miniature lassie and, my daughter had decide to name her ginger. She was a stray that showed up on someones porch on the other side of town. So seeing the collie resemblance in her, we decided to adopt her in hopes of having a good herd dog that would help keep our yard free of cats (I'm allergic :( ) and other critters that might disturb our livestock.

So very quickly she became accustom to us and is running the fence outside, when me and the husband decide to take some eggs that our black bantam Cochin hen has been trying to hatch unsuccessfully and throw them in the wood. We know they are gonna be bad, possibly rotten. So my husband starts tossing eggs and one hits the grass and breaks and standing over twenty feet away we can smell the stink. If you have never smelled a rotten egg, be VERY thankful it is as my husband would say a smell that would "gag a maggot." My dog for some unknown reason decides to run over, roll over and roll back and forth on top of said rotten egg.....seriously... rolling back and forth as if she was getting some sort of thrill out of this nasty, stinky, rotten egg.

Right about this point I am thinking how am I gonna wash the dog without getting that smell on me. I don't even want that smell near me let alone on me. So I think back to the time that we caught a skunk in our live trap. There was no way of getting around shooting the skunk so our yard smelled so bad you couldn't even walk out the door without gagging. After the skunk sprayed about three times in the backyard there was a sheen on the grass and we sprayed it with vinegar and almost immediately the smell dissipated. Its like a magic trick. Vinegar of all things gets rid of skunk stench. So I sprayed my dog with some vinegar in hopes that I wouldn't actually have to get the smell on me and it worked. I still went ahead and bathed her after the vinegar had dried. But point being if you ever get a stinky egg or dog like me you don't have to let them "wear it off" as I have seen a lot of people do when their dogs get sprayed by skunks. You can use vinegar to bathe them. I just use the cheap white vinegar and it is only a few dollars for a gallon so it is not an expensive thing to keep on hand. We keep some on hand anyways for canning and cooking and baking.

I have heard of some people making apple cider vinegar from apple scraps at home but I have yet to venture into that endeavor. Maybe one day but for now I think my apple scraps are better spent as pig feed. She loves apple scraps, just remember to remove the seeds before feeding to livestock since they contain arsenic. You can also use the apple cider vinegar to help lower parasites in your livestock. There are many reasons to keep vinegar on hand even if its just one of those things you store under the sink. Which is where we keep ours all three gallons of it. Hopefully you never have to use your for a rotten egg but you never know. One thing is for sure we are all a little happier that the smell is gone on our little HOMEstead!

On the bookshelf

I have been thinking a lot about the things that have helped me along the way to figure things out and learn new trades when it comes to homesteading. I learn a lot by doing, but I also learn a lot from books. So I thought I would take a few minutes to share some of the books that I own and have read and found helpful as it pertains to the homestead.  The first book I think is a must have might gross a few out because of the pictures inside the book. But, I think that this book is a necessary one for people who have never hunted or cleaned their own meat. I found it very helpful in building my confidence into helping me butcher our chickens for the first time. It is called A Hunter's Cookbook: A Practical Step-By-Step Guide To Dressing, Preparing And Cooking Game, In The Field And At Home, With Over 75 Delicious Recipes And Over 1000 Photographs


The next is a book that I have never fully finished reading because it is so big and so much information in it that I get distracted and tend to flip through and read random pages in it. It has everything that you would need for being self sufficient on your homestead. It has information on building chicken coops, making cheese, soap making, bread making, tons of information on herbs and tonics. Really there is far too much to list of what this book has, if you can only afford to get one book I would say this one is definitely the one that I would pick. Country Wisdom & Know-How: A Practical Guide to Living off the Land


Another book that I find myself looking at all through the growing season is one that most homesteaders already have on their bookshelf. It is the book I refer to any time that I pull out my canner and can anything. I find that I can take almost any of my recipes and can them using this book just by canning the longest time for whichever ingredients are in it. If you are canning potatoes and meat for example, the meat is supposed to be pressure canned longer than potatoes so you would go by the time it takes to can the meat in the recipe.  It is a great idea for canning leftover soups so that you don't have to make a huge pot to bring the sick neighbor some chicken soup. ® Blue Book Guide to Preserving (by Jarden Home Brands)


There is also another blue canning book that I purchased while at the 2012 NRA conference in Houston, that takes the recipes to a whole new level. There are tons of recipes in this book that are not in the blue book. A lot of them are things I never would have even thought of it I hadn't seen them in this book. Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving I can promise you will not be able to make ever recipe in this book because there are a lot of them in there.

These are just a few of the books on my bookshelf I have tons more and I will try to cover more of them as the year progresses. If I have one good word of advice for purchasing books, it would be not to get them from the big box store, amazon is a great website and will save you tons on books. Take the Ball complete book for example, it is usually around 15$ on amazon I paid 20$ at the NRA conference for it. Every one of these books are worth every penny, but it helps to save that homestead cash for that roll of fence or new milking pail that you need. You can check out these books on amazon at http://astore.amazon.com/alitbitofhom-20