Life Happens~ January 2014

Life around here, January 2014

Fog in the orchard. 

Love how it shows just how craggly and awesome our old, old apple trees are. 

Paul and Eve hiked straight up our mountain on Christmas day to find Squaw Face, a rock formation that looks like the profile of a face.  

This shot was after the Yacolt Burn in 1902, a major forest fire.

They found her. She is directly south of our house, up the mountain, facing north. So cool. And creepy! 

She is too big to get a good photo of though, and now very mossy and ferny with trees all around her.

 This shot shows our teeny house, as seen from the top… and the fog in the valley.

 January has brough some heavy duty bread study for me. I am in love with it!

Made a sourdough starter from scratch and 

fed and fermented it for two weeks before attempting baking.

Been getting some yummy sourdough loaves, and am now simplifying the recipe to be less time consuming. So far so good! 

Started with the Tartine bread book, but now working out my own recipe and timing.

We harvested our last pig (Lulu) in December, and Paul built a smoker and cured and smoked our first bacon and hams. The smoker worked beautifully, but is temporarily in the driveway. It can be reassembled in a permanent place now that we are finished.

 Bacon hanging. 

 Smoker in action!

 Our over achiever homesteader breakfast, made from our own eggs, 

bacon, bread and apple cider.

We amuse ourselves.

The bacon seeds are very happy since we extended their pasture to include a large chunk of the woods.  

This photo was taken right after we released them into it. They walked the fence line the entire perimeter, then got to work rooting the deer poops and moss. Pig Nirvana.

This is Walter, who loves to talk and for some reason always has his mouth open. 

Such a character! He was very excited about some moldy oranges.

 Ruby is now six months old and just 5 pounds lighter than Stella (her big sister)!

This photo taken on the car ride home from her spaying appointment. She was drugged, drooly and pitiful. Next day she was back at her hyper cuteness.

Rainy day and my new lamp, rescued from our friend's trash. A bath and a new shade and it fit perfectly in our living room. Makes me happy every time I look at it.

I got reblondificated. It's not quite as light as it looks in this photo… 

there was a light was RIGHT over my head.

Not ready to fully embrace the ashy/whiting hair under there. 

Perhaps someday, but for now I still feel 

young and skippy and the blonde me I was in my younger days.

Sewing. Planning. Cats. So many cats in my head.

Knitting. Been on a hat marathon.

Ruby and Stella. 

Branch manager and Assistant Branch Manager.

Our old man walnut tree. It's been a foggy winter!

(photo taken by Eve)

Loved the silhouettes. Cats. Dog. Elf. Chicken planter. Mossy tree.

My word for the year. Cultivate.

 Heart bread bubble.

Today's sunny sunshine. 

We moved the egg layers and basked.

Bam! Sun in your EYES! Yay vitamin D!

Paul having a chat with the bacon seeds.

 More sun celebrating.

reenie out.

Make your own straw lid for a mason jar~

I have to admit it, (even though it is so very trendy right now)…. we use mason jars as glasses.

Only, we have been doing it since way-back-when it was a tacky, hillbilly thing to do. 

Funny, so much of what was once considered red neck/hillbilly is now "sustainable". 

But that rant is another blog post entirely, haha.

I take a jar of water with me at night and put it on my nightstand. This works great for when I am thirsty in the dark, but my darling cat finds the water so amusing and much tastier than her gigantic bowl of water in the bathroom. 

I have been eyeing the Cuoppw lids, but find them way too pricey for a chunk of plastic. 

So I donned my thinking hat and came up with THIS….

Introducing, Reenie's Straw Lid for a Mason Jar!

Cool, hunh?

Supplies needed:

A plastic lid, scissors, razor knife, marker and some jar lids to trace (aide or normal, your choice).

Trace the jar lid onto the plastic lid.

  

Cut it out.

Trim to fit inside a lid ring. Trim as closely as you can get it.

  Cut an "X" in  the lid with the razor knife. 

Just like a fast food cup lid… to hold your straw tightly.

Screw on the lids, add a straw and your favorite beverage and POOF!

You have a washable, upcycled jar lid!

(Don't forget to recycle the lid scraps.)

It is not watertight of course, since you cut a hole in the lid for a straw, but it slows down a spill if it gets toppled by a cat, and it keeps their cute paws out of you drinking water at night!

xo, reenie

Life Happens~

Autumn has arrived! 

The plants around the pond are turning gold and the Japanese maple is red.

My girls are now ladies.
So pretty and tall and smart as whips!

A new baby arrived in our circle/community and he needed a sweater.

Ruby is still rotten. And SMART. She pulls the gate over. brat.

Always knitting.

Always scheming and planning.

Beautiful organs from a pig harvest. We always marvel at the miracle and cycles of the life of our animals we raise to feed our family. So very appreciated.

Ruby and the turkey farts (as I called them).

The largest came is at a whopping 23 pounds!
Tucked into the freezer for Thanksgiving.

An our little Eve-ooo getting her SENIOR pictures taken!

sheesh.

AND, after some unfortunate kitty-peeing/territorial issues in the house, the cats are now having a daily playtime OUTside. Here is Ezmaralda on her first day out.

On her second day out she communed with the ranging hens.

She chased them once.  I told her if she catches one she can eat it.

I love how they match. It was my personal goal to have ALL black animals. 

But I so love the green eggs those brown Ameracaunas lay. So we compromise.

xo

reenie out.

Home Laundry Detergent~ UPDATED with notes!

I updated my Homemade Laundry Detergent Post from lat summer.

New notes and photos!

This recipe is cheap, works really well and uses all natural ingredients!

It takes a small amount of time to make and I now store it in the pot I cook it in, 

so no messy transfer time.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE DETAILED POST

Have a great day!

xo

reenie

Peanut Butter Granola~ Reenie's Recipe

 Here it is... my super, fantastic, deliciously yummarific peanut butter granola recipe!

It goes great on ice cream, yogurt, in milk, or just out of the jar!

Use organic ingredients as much as you can, everything I used was organic but the peanut butter.

Wet Ingredients:
~ 1 cup all natural peanut butter. (The kind with NO sugar or high fructose corn syrup added.)
~ 3/4 cup maple syrup
~ 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses

Dry Ingredients:
~ 5 cups rolled oats
~ 1/2 cup bran or ground flax
~ 1 cup peanuts
~ 1 cup raisins or other dried fruit (optional)... (dried cherries give it a PB&J vibe).
~ 1 cup sliced almonds
~ 1/2 tsp salt
~ 1 TB cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
~ Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
~ Mix all of your dry ingredients in a large bowl.
~ Mix all of your wet ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until mixed well.
~ Pour wet over dry and stir until everything is well coated.
~ Bake in the oven for 10 min or more, depending on how crunchy you want your granola. I do mine for 10 min. and when I take it out, it seems too soft, but it hardens up when it cools.
I add any raisins or dried fruits after I bake it, so they don't get hard in the oven.
You can also play with the maple syrup amount, make it more or less sweet to your taste.

My kids go crazy for this. Enjoy!