LOVE.HONOR.CHERISH.... that means his stuff too!

If you have a husband or any man in your life you know he has "that box," you know the one... he probably came with it or his mother is in the process of delivering it to you house as we speak! 

Somewhere in a mysterious dark corner of your home it's collecting dust, and inside are his worldly childhood possessions.. 

NJR is no different he too came with such a box. In fact that box, his dog Max, and a framed Ravens photo were the only things he brought with him when he became my cohabitant  at 2950. Our wedding vows say to LOVE, HONOR and CHERISH... I assume this also applies to that box.

Here it is... straight from "the box," NJR's travel league baseball uniform from his High School years... He always wore the trusty #56 whether in football, baseball or basketball, so #56 is truly sentimental for the man of the house... Let's face it NJR your not going to EVER wear that again... so what to do what to do...LOVE.HONOR.CHERISH.

1- Goodwill Pillow... $4.00

1- Raggedy old uniform

1- Inspired amazing wife on a mission 

to remove clutter from our home ;0)

 30 minutes on the sewing machine.. 

And now his faithful uniform is in a place of honor our couch. I must admit as I sewed I could see the blood stains and grass stains that held the many stories and memories as to why that old thing probably found it's way to that box in the first place.

Rather than sew the buttons shut I left them buttonable....that is how we'll get the pillow in and out in order to wash it as needed...

As for the rest of the uniform.. I did what every woman does with some things in that box... I buried it in the bottom of the trash can... HA!

LOVE.HONOR.CHERISH.

~AVR~

AVR Bread Chronicles... The tales of Yeast Break Anonymous...

Hello... My Name is Amy and I can't make Yest bread... Hi Amy....

For those who follow my Facebook rants.. for years I've been attempting and failing at making yeast bread. It generally ends up as a hockey puck that we eat some of out of obligation and then pass on to "The Don" our Rooster and his lady friends. I have a bread machine. I do like it, but let's face it bread machine bread is NO yeast bread... 

So last week I put it out to my Facebook friends. So at the suggestion of my good pal Ashley Herz I gave this Food.Com recipe for artisan bread that required NO kneading and claimed to only take 5 minutes... that got my attention.

This is one drafty old farmhouse and on a day when my first glance at the thermometer read -10 as Dad helped me battle frozen pipes I thought Soup..
. and Bread... oh bread...

So I gave the recipe a try.

It was fast just like the recipe said it would be... and for once the dough did what it said it would, rose, fell and filled the pan!!! I like to do a mixture of whole wheat and white flour. So that's why it's a little odd color and made it probably more dense.

And sure enough....

 Bread happened!

What I've learned "Artisan" is cook speak for "Shit that's really ugly but boy is it good!" I ate more than my share with Dad's honey and butter... AHHH it was deeelish!

It made 3 loafs and when Nate got home a second one ( don't know where the 1st one went) vanished with a big bowl of chicken soup..
My ultimate goal is to find a recipe I can make each week to replace our bread purchase from the store.

I give this recipe 4 VR's (stars), it was super easy, and crusty which I LOVE and had the option to refrigerate some of the dough for later.... but my quest continues for the best yeast bread I can possibly make... Please send your suggestions! 

~AVR
Bread Chemist

Deer Hunting is for the Birds...

In 2014 our goals are to become even more self sufficient living more from the land... Deer hunting is one way we do... There are those who scoff at the idea of hunting... Deer are beautiful creatures, but just like any population they need to be managed, and if you've seen what they can do to a car or a soybean field I think you'd agree we could use a few less...  

As we think about becoming more self reliant deer hunting is a way for our family to bring home natural food that was grown here on our land, it is lean and healthy and never steps foot in any kind of processing plant. Regardless of your views on hunting there is something neat about being able to go out into nature and provide for your family. 

Nate has become quite the hunter and already this year on Crop Damage Permits and during regular season has put 5 deer in our freezer. This is his 8 point from last season and to be honest we don't even know where the rack went.. we put it out for the foxes.. Let's face it... when you are harvesting deer for food for your family a rack is not something that matters. In fact if you had our choice we'd prefer a young yearling because of the meat quality...

Nate and I cut the deer up ourselves and use Leslie Wright's

100 year old knives and meat grinder and meat saws to get the job done.

In an effort to honor what we killed and make the most of every piece of the animal I decided to give making homemade suet a try. If you know my Nate he is a total Bird Nerd and we go through POUNDS of bird seed each winter. Because of this we enjoy Indigo Buntings, Blue Birds, and even a rare albino Sparrow as guests to our yard.  

 I began by taking the tallow/ back fat from the deer. If you wanted to try this at home you can use tallow bought from the butcher.

Then ground it into a meat fat paste... less gross than it sounds in real life I promise!

I then rendered it in my trusting canning pot from the Goodwill... turning it into the consistency of bacon fat. 

While it was still warm I added a jar of Natural Peanut Butter and a heaping helping of birdseed.

Then I re purposed some old coffee mugs and filled them with the mixture and popped them into the freezer mainly to keep the critters out of them.

I hung them on our usual spot and on this snowy day I got to enjoy the show.

You don't have to agree with hunting, but I'm sure we can all agree that nature is a pretty amazing thing and being able to enjoy it is one of the greatest blessings we have here at 2950.

Until next time... happy bird nerding... 

~AVR~