Altitude Baking & Bread Recipe

I thought I’d show off; I’d learned how to bake at sea level, but I was staying with friends in Colorado, at roughly 7,000 ft. Disaster. I had to learn quickly about altitude baking. After I’d moved to Montana things evened out for me at just less than 3,000 ft. I did not find much difference between sea level and Montana as far as the outcome of baking, even though a few minor adjustments were still necessary along the way.

Chaya holding high altitude loaf

That’s Pike’s Peak in the background.

We are visiting our friends now, and I baked two loaves of rather concave bread yesterday. I have to laugh at myself, at how much I’d forgotten—the formulas for re-writing the recipe, the texture of the dough while kneading. Every two minutes I was showing the dough to my friend: “Am I done kneading yet?” I would ask. So much of baking for me is in the hands.

If you find yourself above 3,000 ft altitude, my bread recipe might not work entirely well for you. You may have to try a few substitutions until you create your own perfect recipe. For a more complete understanding of high altitude baking, let me suggest this high altitude baking site to answer your bread baking questions.

The science of altitude changes things. The boiling point is lower (it drops about a point for every additional 500 ft incline). The air is drier and moisture evaporates much more quickly. It’s extremely difficult to have a muffin top or a dome on a loaf of bread. Although baking is as much art as science, ignoring these changes will not work to your favor. One of the more notable differences is the need for extra moisture. This makes the dough stickier and wetter.

wet dough

My recommendation is to start with a high altitude recipe instead of attempting to modify a sea level recipe, if you are higher than 3,000 ft. Here are a few tips for you if you are higher than 3,000 ft and really want to try modifying your own recipe:

            *Decrease rise time to once, and only approximately 30 minutes!

           *Decrease fats, increase moisture--since the moisture decreases faster, the remaining imbalanced ratio
                 of fat  will  weaken the bread.

           *Increase the baking temperature by 10-15 degrees to keep the leavening gases from collapsing your 
                 beautiful loaf of bread.

           *Extra Moisture!

My friend graciously gave me her recipe, which she adapted over time from a local breadbaker.

Her one comment was, “I wish my bread held together better”. A typical troubleshooting tip I give is to add an extra egg. I did that yesterday and the bread was much more “cakey” than I had anticipated, but it does make great toast. Thought I’d pass that along to you—I think next time I would adjust the cooking temperature. If anyone plays with this recipe, please comment and let me know what you have tried!

High Altitude Bread

Preheat oven to 375˚

Makes 2 loaves

2.5 cups warm water

1 ½ Tbsp yeast

¼ cup oil

¼ honey

1 egg

½ tsp lecithin

½ Tbsp lemon juice

½ Tbsp salt

5 cups hard wheat flour

Proof your yeast in hot water and a tablespoon of sweetener for approximately 10 minutes.
Combine other ingredients.
This batter will feel much moister, will require more stirring initially to thicken the batter.
Oil your hands before turning out onto the counter. Avoid adding more flour, and knead bread for 15-20 minutes.
Immediately put dough into bread pans and let rise. I used the Excalibur dehydrator for the temperature-control factor.
Bake for 30 minutes.

bread rising in dehydrator

Dehydrating: A simple Q & A

We just finished a wonderful weekend in Dallas, Texas, as a store and as teachers, at the Self-Reliance Expo. What a wonderful venue—if you ever have one come near you, please take the time to go. You’ll find a wide variety of things, from homeschooling to homesteading to survival supplies.

The first reaction most people have when walking into our store is this—they head straight to our “pantry”, a 6 foot shelf full of jars. The colors range from the bright yellow pickled eggs steeped in tumeric to the deep green of dehydrated spinach, to the red homemade jams and jellies. The fruit leathers, the jerky, the thinly sliced dehydrated peaches, and the raspberries that melt in your mouth—these draw passers-by into our booth. They take in the colors and produce.

pantry shelf

“I didn’t know you could dehydrate that!”

“I tried dehydrating potatoes once but mine turned black.”

We love these conversations because we often learn something new, too. We also find that many questions are echos of the ones asked by others coming to our booth earlier. Because of this, we thought that perhaps we’ll relate some common dehydration questions now in case you share them.

Q: How do I know if the food is fully dehydrated?

A: If this food item is going to be an immediate snack food, such as fruit leather or chewy apple rings, you will want to leave moisture in and dehydrate to taste. This will be based on your personal preference, and this process stops short of what you will need to store foods over long-term. If you are dehydrating for long-term food storage you should be able to hear a “clunk” when you drop it onto the table, or it should snap when you break it in half. Remember, these foods will partially rehydrate with moisture in the air (and start the rotting process) if you do not immediately package them properly.

Q: How do you clean out your dehydrator?

A: The bottom of an Excalibur is easily wiped clean with a cloth and your cleaner of choice, but it is true that the sticky trays are sometimes frustrating. We found a foolproof way (through a customer’s brilliant suggestion) to clean the trays. Run warm water in your bathtub and add Epsom Salts. Let the trays soak overnight. They will usually only need a quick rinse when you return to them. If they need further cleaning, it will just be a simple wipe-down.

jar of dehydrated peaches

Q: Those jars are beautiful—where did you get them?

A: Many are standard canning jars and we pick as many up as possible at thrift stores and yard sales. Others are empty product jars, such as spaghetti sauce. We always save glass jars!

Q: Can I put my food in glass jars for long term food storage?

A: Yes! Any jar of spaghetti sauce that comes home from the store with us is on a one way trip. After the commercially packed contents are consumed, we save the jar. Why would we do that? Because the jar can either go into the waste pile or the asset column. If I preserve part of my food surplus, I will need to put it some where. A glass jar is impermeable by vermin, is portioned properly for use (I do not want to open up a 5 gallon bucket of cornmeal when I only need 4 cups).

The biggest variable is the lid of the jar. If the vulcanized rubber ring on the inside of the far is still pliable when you poke it with your finger nail, then chances are it will seal just fine with an oxygen absorber on the inside of the jar. If the oxygen absorber is valid, it will mitigate the oxygen and create a seal. Keep your long term food storage in a dark, cool place, and remember to ROTATE!

Q: What considerations are there for storing dehydrated food?

A: There are four enemies of food storage: Moisture, Oxygen, Light and Heat. Any living thing needs moisture and oxygen to live. Dehydrating will eliminate the moisture. The oxygen can be mitigated with an oxygen absorber. This also (depending on the condition of the jar and lid) create a sealed container where the “button” on the lid does not pop. Lastly you need to protect the food from light. The energy carried on a ray of light will have a negative effect on the nutritive value of the food according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. If you store the food in a mylar bag, this is much better for protecting from light. Lastly heat, think cool and a dark place for your food storage.

Q: What is “case hardening”?

A: It is when the outside of the food dries out too quickly and the interior has moisture locked in it. When I am trying to cook a roast, I set the oven to a high temperature and put the meat in there to sear the outside, then continue to cook it a much lower temperature so that it stays juicy. When I want to dehydrate a food, I want to avoid doing that. Dehydrating is best done with low heat over a longer time. Case hardening is when the outside is dry and the moisture has sealed into the interior of the food product and it will deteriorate and rot. There are a few things that can cause this. Many dehydrators have the bottom-to-top heating unit that means some trays get too much heat while others are dried insufficiently which requires rotating the trays. Because of this, we highly recommend a dehydrator like the Excalibur because of the back-to-front design where all trays heat evenly. We also recommend lower heat for a longer time! Even using Excalibur’s suggestions, we typically turn the heat down ever-so-slightly and plan for a longer dehydration time (36 hours is typical).

Q: What is “blanching” and do I need to do it?

A: Foods that are high in cellulose and fiber such as a carrot will need to be blanched. I suggest looking at the Preserve It Naturally book for food-by-food instructions as to whether an item needs this process. (Note: We give this book free with the purchase of a 5 tray or a 9 tray Excalibur Dehydrator or you can purchase the book separately). Blanching softens the outer skin of food and is easy to do. Get a pot of boiling water and drop the food in very briefly. Blanching does not generally take more than a minute or two (if you are at a full rolling boil). Other items can be quickly steamed instead such as cauliflower. Items like a potato are best to be boiled thoroughly until cooked, cooled, sliced then dehydrated.

Dehydrated potatoes

Basically, foods with a thicker outer surface than interior, such as cherries and other berries, carrots, etc. should be blanched. If an item needs to be blanched prior to freezing, it should also be blanched prior to dehydrating. Here’s our favorite trick: If you find frozen vegetables on a great sale, stock up! Any items that require blanching will have already received the necessary treatment by the vegetable packers. Just put the veggies straight onto the trays without thawing! You have now saved substantially in both the purchase, labor and in the storage.

Q: Did you really do this yourself??

A: This is our most common question, and I think that it conveys the notion that this is too much work or too difficult. The home economics of dehydration means that I save exponentially by being able to buy sale items in bulk and preserve my own summer harvest—no wasted spinach for us! With this in mind, dehydration and food storage becomes a natural way of life. An Excalibur Dehydrator is the work horse for the do-it-yourself food storage minded family. And yes, you can do it too. I promise.

Chaya’s Review: Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway

Note: We do not sell Gaia’s Garden. We thoroughly enjoyed the book and would like to share our opinion of it with you as well as some basic Permaculture principles that you can find within its’ pages. If you would like to read the book for yourself, you can find it here.

Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway

What is Permaculture? Hemenway barely catches his breath when he tackles this question, and I’m rather glad he did in his typical systematic way because I’m asked this constantly in different forms—“What makes it different than organic gardening?”, “Isn’t that gardening-for-hippies?”. Just last week I was asked, “If my mom went to a Permaculture meeting, would she just think it was another gardening club?”

“Permanent Culture” and “Permanent Agriculture” have joined to mean an interconnected ecosystem that is rich, diverse, and healthy by stacking the functions of the soil, water, and animal life. Every piece of the garden impacts the other living organisms in that garden and you plan accordingly. For instance, one plant attracts a pesky insect, another attracts the bird that dines on them. You have now created a relationship between two otherwise unrelated plants. Perhaps one of those plants is also known to improve the nitrogen content of the soil, but another needs strong nitrogen to flourish. What that means is that the end goal isn’t just food or floral output. It isn’t just about attracting birds or butterflies, nor is it just about preventing soil erosion or even just about rich soil. It’s about all of it—and using all of the pieces simultaneously to improve the quality of the other pieces.

It’s more of a gardening paradigm. Organic gardening refers more to what is not done to the plants; it does not necessarily encompass the sets of processes by which those plants are grown (i.e., irrigation, recycling, composting, monoculture vs. polyculture, or harvesting practices). Organic principles are excellent and Permaculture utilizes those, but it does not stop there.

And as for your mother, would she think it was another gardening club? I would hope she’d bring her experience to the table for others and walk away with a few solutions, a few “never-thought-of-that” moments, and a few new friends. She would likely see some distinct differences in approach.

Gardening Pottery

This book opened my eyes to both the beauty and purpose to ecological design. It is not about color coordinating flowers. It’s about creating a living, multifunctional, thriving ecosystem. One of Hemenway’s stronger suggestions is to think of your garden in terms of zones. Start right out your door! Zone 1 is where you spend the most time, and so it needs to be logical for you; what do you need most from the garden? This zone is also for those high maintenance plants, like things that will need to be covered and uncovered during those frosty nights, or the herbs that are easily choked out by weeds. If this is out your door, you are far more likely to pick a weed here, or notice yellowing leaves in time to apply much needed water. These are your most utilized plants (if you eat tomatoes everyday in the summer, for instance) and the plants that are the neediest to grow. The zones going out from there should require less care, eventually leading to the “food forest” zone that only requires minimal maintenance. In this way, you can increase your garden production without enslaving yourself to the garden.

Hemenway also focuses heavily upon multifunctionalism, and it’s this emphasis that brings the best charts to this book! You can see the many functions of many, many plants in order to plan your garden for optimal performance. He speaks of “stacking functions”; if every carefully chosen plant provides multiple things to the garden, and multiple things in the garden provide each one of those functions, you will not have a “weak link”. No plant only does one thing and yet many of us grew up gardening that way. For instance I have always loved lavender and used to grow it for the beauty in the garden and as a cut bouquet. Apart from beauty and scent, what role does this single plant play?

A chart on page 278 shows this to grow well in my current zone (yay!) and shows that it’s an evergreen shrub (meaning that it retains foliage all year around and is a woody perennial with multiple stems arising from the base) and it does prefer full sun. Okay, so most gardening books would have told me as much. But continuing on I can now see the multiple functions of lavender: It does have aesthetic uses (as I mentioned), and it’s a wonderfully plant for human medicinal use.

Bee on Lavender

It attracts many beneficial insects, it’s a windbreak species, and it’s also a hedgerow species.

Lavender as a hedge

So perhaps I can plant it next to species that need pollinating insects, perhaps I can plant that tender partial-shade plant next to it that would benefit from the wind break, and it would make a wonderful border to separate garden areas. This is what garden design and “stacking functions” is all about. Now, “Butterfly Bush” has the same windbreak and insectary functions, and would look quite nice interplanted. Why repeat myself? Because if something were to happen to one plant, I have a backup plan!

If a chicken is something that only outputs eggs, then it is hard to understand Permaculture. But if you look at a chicken as something that eats insects, and that my garden is an insect nursery.

Chicken in garden

Consider further that if I require the outputs of both the chicken and the garden—now you can see that stacking the functions is beneficial for every living thing involved. My backyard (whether I realize it or not) is a complex ecosystem. If I address it as such, start stacking the functions of all the components involved, now I am practicing Permaculture.

I have spent much of my life fighting the natural succession of plant life; I never understood the greater principles at work. Think of plant succession as linear. Bare earth, followed by fast-growing weeds and grasses.

prairie grasses in Colorado

These would then be replaced by taller perennial grasses and bushes. Animal and bird life really move in at this stage, bringing life, insect management, and fertilizer. Ultimately, grass lands are teenagers striving for the “adulthood” of forest. This explains all of the thousands of oak saplings I’ve pulled from between my peony buses! Those “weeds” are part of the process of healing barren earth. The roots penetrate hard ground, the weeds die back and compost, and there is now food for a whole host of other living creatures. Left alone that oak would start producing leaf litter by the metric ton adding precious organic matter to the soil. How do we get this process to work for us?

Hemenway does a great job—better than I—of explaining these principles and giving practical application in this Permaculture primer. The photos were inspirational. I have seen mature permacultured gardens firsthand and so I know the wisdom of this methodology. I didn’t know quite where to begin myself, though, until Gaia’s garden. I now have a starting point.

Design, water constraints and solutions, extending the growing seasons, utilizing microclimates, building humus-rich soil, balancing the insect and animal life, developing nurse plant relationships, how to interplant for maximum production, and “guild building”—this book was not like the other gardening books I have read in the past.

The Negatives

For those of us who look at this amazing design and see a Designer, we often have to swallow the meat and spit out the bones of the modern evolutionary cliché. I have heard Hemenway lecture with tremendous passion about Permaculture in which he makes great conclusions based on evolutionary assumptions. I would depart with Hemenway in his assumptions, but his conclusions for a positive way forward are largely correct. Moreover Hemenway approaches Permaculture with a heavy hand in science (which I love), so his conclusions are even more convincing. This book does reflect his evolutionary paradigm but is not heavy-handed with it.

I am naive enough that I did not know where the title came from—“who’s Gaia?” According to some traditions, she is the goddess of earth. Apart from the title of the book, there is no other mention of her. I did see a pagan paradigm come through in the smallest of ways, such as the personification of earth as “mother”. Again, those of us who worship the Creator and not the creation can agree with the large strokes of the conclusions but disagree with the philosophical underpinnings.

Conclusion

I could say that this book, listening to Paul Wheaton’s podcasts, along with the documentary “Back to Eden” have shifted my gardening approach 180 degrees. I think that if you have the least bit of curiosity towards Permaculture, or if you have watched “Back to Eden” but do not know where to start, this book will put feet to that vision!

Photo credits:

Gardening pottery

Lavender as insectary

Lavender as hedge row

Chicken in garden

Prairie grass

Essential Oils for Cleaning

I could talk about essential oils for a long time—although I have so much to learn!

Through a friend’s introduction to the amazing healing properties of God’s creation, we have overcome everything from pinkeye to influenza, skin conditions to frostbite! We think of life as in the blood; plants have oils that run through the “veins”, giving life to that plant and to all who take the time to learn them. You have weeds in your yard that have more life-giving power than most of the dust-collecting, expensive, over-the-counter fake stuff in your medicine cabinet.

Dandelions

Take the dandelion for instance—excellent for food and medicinally. In Permaculutre, we look for solutions in the problem set. So before you yank these dandelions out of the lawn and pour roundup down into the void left behind in the ground–please note that these reach down deep and pull up calcium to a usable level by other plants such as the trees in your yard. Congested? I like to put thyme (it takes a lot of it) in boiling water and inhale deeply!*

Should cleaning ever create nauseating headaches? It seems counterintuitive that we are fearful of the fumes, the skin contact, and the overall poisonous nature of the very things meant to purify our world. With oils, you can know that if the counter is still wet with cleaner when little fingers touch it, that those little fingers will not put poison into a mouth with the next finger-suck. gas mask The history of essential oils for cleansing purposes…books have been written about that subject and I certainly couldn’t sum up the length of history! My favorite story surrounds a specific spice blend often called “thieves” or “spice traders” or something similar. During the time of the Bubonic plague, spice traders made a fortune off of robbing the jewelry from dead bodies. When they were questioned by the king on how they did not contract the plague, they answered that it was their spices! Many of my friends swear by this mix for many uses, and I immediately know the scent when walking into a home that uses it for cleaning. It’s very rich!

I haven’t even touched upon how much money I save since I gave up store-bought cleaners a year ago. A small bottle of essential oil may seem expensive, but it has multiple purposes and since you only use a few drops at a time, it lasts! I don’t miss the store-bought stuff. For awhile I missed the convenience of anti-bacterial wipes, but since my formula has anti-bacterial properties, I recycled an old anti-bacterial wipe container. I just put small cloth wipes (cut from old rags) in some solution and kept it on the bathroom counter. If you do this, though, please be absolutely sure that a child would not accidentally ingest the oils orally.

A warning is still applicable. Essential oils are extremely potent. A single drop, maybe two, is all that is needed. Therefore, all vials of essential oils must be put up safely from small children. And some essential oils, although healing, are not terribly pleasant-tasting. Many are not produced by companies for food-grade quality. If you are only going to use oils for cleaning, you might want to save money in this way. For me, I use them for medicinal purposes too, so I only get therapeutic grade quality.

I don’t really want to give you recipes because there is a lot of room for creativity here. There is also a lot to be found online. Not everyone likes everything. For instance, I cannot stand the smell of vinegar and so I do not use that in my formula. For you, mixing vinegar and lemon oil might be the perfect blend. We all have our preconceived notions of what “clean” should smell like.

I’ve gone through a number of homemade concoctions to find the “perfect” cleaner. I’m finding that simpler is better. My ideal changes over time, I think to match whatever season in life I might be (like perfume). There are also some perfectly blended essential oils that take the guesswork out of it, and I’ve done that too.

My bottle of cleaning oils

My current mixture in a 36 oz squirt bottle is this:

2 drops Oregano Essential Oil

2 drops Lavender Essential Oil

Fill to the 36 oz mark with water, and shake very well before each use!

You might also want to try tea tree oil, clove, lemongrass, rosemary, thyme, lemon, or lime. I find I change my mind on what I like seasonally, even. Clove is so nice in the Autumn, lemon in the spring!

Not only are the essential oils I use excellent cleansing agents (anti-bacterial, antimicrobial, anti-viral), both lavender and oregano are good for inhalation—lavender helps my headaches go away whereas many store bought cleaners cause them! Oregano is also commonly used as an inhalant to help with congestion.

When I walk into my home and the lingering scent of natural oils greet me, I know I’m home.

Oregano

____

*Before purchasing essential oils, please read information about both its’ uses and risks. For instance, some increase circulation that could interfere with late pregnancy.

I am not in any way a medical professional and I do not give medical advice. All opinions expressed are certainly my own and are not prescriptive in any way. I have only told you (autobiographically) what I enjoy using for a natural lifestyle, but please consult your medical doctor before implementing anything that could affect your health.

Photo Credits:

Dandelion:by mmFSUvy

Gas Mask: by mhYk3tq

Oregano: by dMNgmF

Basics of Breadbaking–An Interview with Chaya’s Mentor

The ladies at church were gathering for an instructional Saturday morning. When I found out that the subject was going to be “milling your own flour” I was astonished—I pictured women in ankle-length dresses turning a stone! “What? People do that?” I thought. That Saturday morning changed my life, because it changed my health and the health of my family. It also started us on this journey to whole, real food and to preparedness.

My pastor’s wife was as passionate about her bread then as she is now. So when I started learning how to bake and my bread was, well, less than yummy, she took me in and mentored me through the learning. I want to introduce you to her now. Robbin is an amazing lady; she is one of the busiest people I know, and yet she has prioritized her family’s health in such a way that she never succumbs to store-bought convenience. She is extremely busy, and yet she never misses an opportunity to bring other ladies along in their journey to create this fresh, real food for their own families.

We asked Robbin some of the most frequently asked questions that we get through email and at the expos.

I grew up eating cheap, soft white bread. Is it me, or is home-milled flour a completely different flavor? Will I ever get used to that?

Robbin: Yes, it does have a different flavor. About three months ago two different ladies told me their husbands and their children would not even touch wheat bread (from the store). Now that the ladies are milling their own wheat, their husbands only want this delicious freshly milled bread. And get this; the kids have thanked me for teaching this to their moms.

I’m really confused by the different wheat names. What wheat do I use when?

Robbin: When the recipe calls for pastry flour, or when I don’t use yeast, I use soft white wheat.

muffins made with soft white

Robbin: Hard white wheat and hard red wheat are interchangeable, just a taste preference.

My favorite is hard red wheat for my bread (w/ yeast).

Bread and Rolls made with hard flours

When I make banana bread and muffins I use soft white. For pancakes and scones I use various grains like Kamut, Barley, Spelt and brown rice.

Chaya: Hard wheats = yeast breads, soft=non-yeast breads (Cream of Tartar, whipped eggs, baking powder, baking soda)

Will home-milled flour work for everything I want to cook? It seems so heavy.

Robbin: Honestly- no, not everything- As of yet, I have not had success with making sourdough bread with this wheat. When I did make it, the best I could do was 2/3 store bought bread flour & 1/3 freshly milled wheat.

This past December I used the freshly milled soft wheat for our ginger bread house, and it was a little disappointing. The bread stuck in the stoneware. It just wasn’t as good as the “unhealthy” bread.

Chaya: I agree—I have not been able to duplicate croissants or angel food cake with wheat. You can find some creative alternatives if you experiment with things like potato starch and oat flour for some of those specialty products. But for everything else—yes!

What do they mean by “quick bread”?

Robbin: Simply, “no yeast” (or no rise time.) This makes me think of the Matzo we use for communion. When the Israelites had to make bread in a hurry to leave for the Passover, they made “quick bread” without yeast. Examples of this would be banana bread, apple bread and muffins.

This just made me think about the crackers I made in December – I made barley crackers that were delicious. They could be a quick bread! One of my favorite cookbooks is King Arthur’s Whole Grain Baking. The cracker recipe came from there. (The carrot cake recipe is amazing!)

I’ve tried milling my own flour and my bread came out really hard! What could be the problem?

Robbin: Too much flour!

Chaya: This is really common in the kneading stage; I recommending oiling your hands before you knead and resist the urge to keep adding and adding flour!

What is your favorite type of baking—is it bread or desserts?

Robbin: Oh my – that is hard! I guess now I must say bread.

Chaya: Yes, it’s my favorite type of baking too…but the desserts are my favorite type of eating!

My bread loaf was raw in the middle and burnt on top! Help!

Robbin:I am spoiled. I have a really nice oven with a bread setting on it. But check the temperature of your oven, Even though your dial says 350 – it may be higher. (I own an oven thermometer.)

Robbin's bread in the oven!

I always cover bread with tinfoil half way through baking. I have large size Norpro pans that make the perfect size bread, and cook evenly.

Chaya: I love those Norpro pans. They cook evenly and it’s easy to get the bread out of them! I started using them way back when you taught me how to bake bread. In a pinch, I’ve used stoneware and glass pans and I’m never as happy with the results. I use all three sizes–I try to always make a smaller loaf so that we have a loaf to give away.

They say I should use my flour within 2 hours of milling it. I like to have some flour in the kitchen for quick last minute recipes, like if I want to bread something. Does this mean I have to pull out my mill every time?

Robbin: I try to put in in the freezer within a few minutes of milling to keep the health benefits. I mill my wheat and put it in a Ziploc brand freezer bag. I use a sharpie to label the flour.

I always have several types of milled flour on hand. That is the only way I’ve been able to cook / bake this way for my family while working full time, and going to college part-time.

How do I know if I have kneaded my bread too long? Not long enough?

Robbin: This might sound silly – But I can just tell by looking at it. I would be more concerned for not kneading enough. Does it look “stringy?” Because it should be stringy, and slight bit sticky; not dry.

Chaya: Over-kneading is generally only a concern if you’re using an electric mixer. If you are kneading by hand, there is little risk of that! Sometimes the ingredients you choose will change the texture (i.e., adding lecithin makes it stickier), so it will be something you learn with practice.

Making home-made bread seems like a hassle when so many store labels say “whole grain” these days! Is there a difference?

Robbin: Great Question! There is a huge difference!

Our government allows companies to say whole grain if a very small percentage of the product is whole grain. I would like to recommend an article by Sue Becker on this topic.

Here is a quote from her article “Bulk up on Fiber”

“Do not be fooled by store bought “wheat” breads, dark in color that appear to be whole grain. Read the label! It is very difficult, however, if not impossible to buy commercially prepared bread or flour that is not stripped of its fiber and therefor[e] will not give the same beneficial effects as bread made from grains you have milled yourself. Even flour labeled “whole wheat” has had some of the bran and nearly all of the oil-containing germ removed to prevent spoilage.”

Chaya: If you would like to read more about the benefits of whole grain and the differences between real whole grain and what they’re selling you at the grocery store, be sure to read THIS BLOG.

Did you personally experience any changes in your family’s health when you started making your own breads?

Robbin: My husband’s cholesterol went down shortly after we made this change. My eczema greatly improved

And I now have normal bowel habits, as opposed to once every few days…) This is the case with my one year old granddaughter too. My daughter feeds her the bread daily to help regulate her. If she doesn’t eat the bread she gets constipated.

Chaya: I remember watching your family’s health improvements, which was part of my motivation! We all experienced some drastic changes in our digestion, in our energy levels, and in the elimination of severe allergies! Always borderline-hypoglycemic, my sugar levels evened out. My husband saw warts literally disappear, and my toddler son (who refused to potty train) potty trained himself completely the day after we switched to this bread. Coincidence? I was convinced that his inability to potty train was because of poor digestion and bowel habits.

What’s the trick to doing this every week? My life seems so busy—how am I going to add this in?

Robbin: I usually do this every other Saturday or every 3^rd Saturday. I make 3 or 4 loaves of bread each time I make it. After the bread has completely cooled, I slice it put it in freezer bags. I separate the large loaves into two bags. I get loaves out as needed and our bread is always fresh. You can’t tell it’s frozen.

Chaya: Great tip! Not everyone can bake fresh bread weekly, which is just the reality. But if you schedule it on the calendar and use the freezer method, your family will get the benefit of fresh bread without such a time commitment! Personally, I bake 3 loaves every week because my growing family eats that much. I leave one loaf out immediately and put the other 2 in the freezer. If I have extra left by the next bread baking day, I bake the same amount for either charity or for future use.

How long will it take to get the hang of making homemade bread? Am I doomed to baking paper-weights?

Robbin: When I made paperweights I threw it in the trash. This only happened one time. Give yourself a few tries.

Chaya: (Laughing) I made paper weights a couple of times! But making bread with you ended my paperweight production completely. If anyone else is having this problem, find someone who is doing this and ask to join in! Also, be sure to give yourself some grace. It can take awhile to get the bread exactly how you like it, but it will happen!

I’ve tried milling flour but I find that in a pinch I keep resorting to the flours and baking mixes on my shelf for convenience. How did you overcome this and commit to purely milled flour?

Robbin: That’s easy! I don’t buy flour! That is why I didn’t have a wonderful gingerbread house this year.

I have 15 large buckets of grain in my garage, I am not buying flour. Nor do I buy white sugar or brown sugar. I have honey granules and succulent.

Chaya: Robbin, the best advice you gave to me was to “Throw it all away! If you don’t, you’ll cheat!” I cheated once or twice and then took your advice. It was like jumping out of the nest for me.

Thank you, Robbin, for helping us all out in this quick Q & A about bread baking. You’ve encouraged many ladies to begin this beautiful act of love through the years. May your bread basket overflow!

Interested in more information on baking bread?

Whole Wheat vs. Hole Wheat

What I Put Into My Bread–The Why

Homemade Bread Recipe–Pantry Paratus Style

The Prairie Homestead: Interview with Jill

Come meet Jill from The Prairie Homestead as she shares life with us. After you get to know her a bit, be sure to go visit all that she’s doing on her blog. Oh, and be sure to sign up for the Pantry Paratus giveaway on her site today!

Your kitchen was recently featured in Cheeseslave’s kitchen tour. I was inspired by its’ beauty and by your creativity—like your beautiful spice drawer!

What role does creativity play in your life, your home, and your blog?

I’ve always been a person that MUST have a creative outlet. And as I’ve grown older, I’ve also discovered that creativity is a way for me to learn to be more content with what I have. I’ve come to enjoy finding creative solutions to the challenges I face in my life- especially ones relating to homesteading in a severe environment and living in a small house.

What is “on your plate” so to speak? Hubby, home, family church, etc? What kinds of systems do you have in place to balance all of life’s demands?

My plate is incredibly full right now. I can’t believe people used to tell me I’d be bored as a stay-at-home-mom! In addition to being a wife to a very busy hubby and mama to an active toddler, I cook all of our food from scratch, grow a garden, maintain our dairy animals, run my blog, ride horses frequently, and volunteer in various capacities at our church.

Balance is currently the lesson I am struggling to learn. Some weeks are better than others. So far, my best tool is simply making lists of what needs done each week/day. Simple, yes, but it truly helps me to stay on target and prevents meltdowns. 😉

Your blog is so informative and readable, and the readers are certainly engaged and communicative. What is your motivation for sharing the wisdom you’ve learned along the way?

I didn’t grow up in the country. I don’t have a family ranch to inherit, or parents that taught me all the tricks and tips of homesteading. For the longest time, so many of the skills of “country life” seriously intimidated me.

I had this mental block that told me that owning cows was over my head, or that learning how to milk a goat was something I’d never be able to do. I’d built up things like canning or butchering in my mind until I figured that they were coveted skills that only a few could master.

Until one day I just decided to just take those plunges (after some serious pushes from my adventurous hubby!) and I discovered an amazing thing: IT’S NOT THAT HARD!

Truly, anyone who sets their mind to it can do this stuff. And that is why I blog- to encourage folks like me to take the plunge, and just do it!

When did you start your blog, and what changes have you implemented as you’ve gone along?

I started my blog in the November of 2010. It has changed a lot! It started out as a simple journal of my everyday life, and has quickly morphed into something completely different. I’ve found that I love sharing my discoveries (and failures!) with my readers. I am so thankful for the online homesteading community built around The Prairie Homestead.

When it comes to homesteading, what is the activity that makes you, well, giddy? What gives you the most passion and excitement around the homestead?

Wow. This is a tough one! It really depends on the day. I have these little moments that just pop out of the middle of nowhere sometimes. It might be while I’m hanging laundry, or heading out to the barn with my milk bucket on a still summer morning. I almost have to pinch myself, since sometimes I can’t believe this former city girl is actually in the middle of the lifestyle I only dreamed of for so long!

But, it’s important to note that there are definitely days of drudgery too. Some mornings it’s hard to get out of bed to milk, and some days I have to push myself to get outside to weed the garden. But, I think that’s totally normal in any “profession”. You have to take the good days with the tough ones.

Okay, follow-up question—if you could hire someone to do it for you, what would you hire them to do?

I would hire someone in a heartbeat to do all of my mowing/watering in the summer time!

I don’t really mind either of those tasks, but they are incredibly time consuming, especially during a season where there is SO MUCH else to do!

Your house and land has been a work in progress for you! If you were going to do it all over again, would you pick the same place, and why? What aspect of the job did you underestimate before digging in?

They most certainly have been [a work in progress]! Initially I was going to say I’d pick a place with a bigger home, but on second thought, living in a small house has taught me things I doubt I could have learned elsewhere.

I think we’d choose this place again. It’s been such an amazing experience for us and so empowering as we watch the land transform before our eyes.

We probably slightly underestimated the sheer amount of work we were buying at first, but it’s been well worth it.

I had been looking for a good shortening-free pie crust recipe for awhile, and so I was extremely excited to try yours (and a reader’s tip to freeze the butter and then grate it)!

Jill's Delicious Pie Crust

Have you always been a baker, have you always use healthier whole foods, and did you have someone in your life teach you how to create such yumminess?

This is a rather surprising part of my story for many readers. I HATED cooking for the longest time, and although my mom faithfully tried to teach me, I fought her my whole childhood.

It wasn’t until I met my hubby that I started to enjoy cooking, but even then, I did NOT use whole foods. My mantra was “the cheaper, the better.” We ate a whole lot of bologna and ramen noodles… Gross, huh? It’s only been the last 2-3 years that I’ve come to have a passion for whole, natural, and traditional foods.

I’ve taught myself basically all of my cooking skills. My teachers have been various blogs, cookbooks, cooking shows on TV, and lots of trial and error. So if anyone out there is struggling to begin their real food journey, let me encourage you: if I can do it, then anyone can!

Thanks Jill, for sharing your life, heart and homestead with us!

–Chaya

Parenting, Peels & Pinwheels: Confessions, Dehydration, and a Recipe

Seven years old, sitting in the Radio Flyer wagon with my best friend, handle turned in and racing down the steep hill, middle of the road. Thrilling, fun, and scary. Fast forward 28 years. Parenting. I have not experienced the outer rim of sanity since I was seven years old and flirting with a traumatic brain injury, and here I am.

I was excited about converting this recipe for you. I’ve re-written and adapting old ones, knowing what I do about flavors and textures, aesthetics. For a week I’ve anticipated this day when I knew I’d have time to attempt these delicious and gourmet cookies. I’ve cheered and assigned duties (“you scoop sugar” and “can you crack that egg for me?”) and I’ve had those grandiose delusions of being Mom of the Year with baking time—and I succumb to this emotionally destructive roller coaster practically daily (the “oh yeah, THIS will secure the ‘Mom of the Year’ title!” delusion).

Everything was going well. Kids were having fun. And then they got bored and meandered off. The pinwheels were rising on the cookie sheet, covered with a tea towel. The most beautiful ones on the first sheet inspired my photographic creativity and I thought “THESE will be the ones for the pictures, for the blog!” My four year old decided to come join in again, and touches the edge of the cookie sheet which I had haphazardly shoved to the edge of the table…not the edge, just beyond the edge. His little hand hit the corner and flipped the cookie sheet into the air. Pinwheels indeed pinwheeled into the air, beautiful cream cheese pinwheels spinning in slow motion, crashing onto the floor.

My reaction was immediate—I drew a deep breath which was to be exhaled in some form of overdramatic disappointment, and on the exhale I looked down. A beautiful baby boy stood before me, his blonde hair sticking up in the back, his blue eyes welling up with tears, his lip quivering. I exhaled deeply. I wanted to scream about how he ruined them. I wanted to shout “OOOOOUUUUTTTT OF MOMMY’S KITCHEN!!!”

But what was my prayer just this morning, about the atmosphere in our home? Dear Lord help me! He stood there looking up, with teardrop-shaped eyes and a look of utter fear and disappointment on his cute little cheeks, his fingers clutching the brown neck strap of his CARS movie apron.

“Peanut, do you know you are more important to me than cookies?” The muscles in his face relaxed and he dropped his hands to his sides, making eye contact.

And you know what, the cookies taste better than they look. I was at a friend’s home last week to make Challah bread with her. She was kneading and looked up to tell me, “I always pray for the eater when I knead. My most important ingredient is love.” Kneading Challah

So I could have had perfect pinwheels. The picture would have been beautiful, you might have forwarded the link on Facebook, and everyone would forget them two days later. But I would have not experienced the love of sharing cookie-baking time with my children. My son might not learn what a cup of something looks like, or what it means to whip the egg white. And I might have permanently damaged a hurt little boy who needed unconditional love in the face of his mistake.

So my cookies, this time, were made with love. I hope that you enjoy this recipe.

Dehydrating Orange Peel

Be very sure to by organic and/or local oranges if at all possible. If not, please wash them extremely well with a vegetable wash to get any type of residue off of the peel. Simply grate the peel, place it onto a paraflexx sheet, and approximately 12 hours later you will have dehydrated orange peel for your pantry!

I would put this recipe into an Intermediate category because of the number of steps and the various rise times. Also, these are not very sweet cookies and compliment a cup of tea very nicely! My husband thought that a few minor modifications would transform this into an appetizer recipe!

Oh, and make sure you don’t dangle your cookie sheets off the edge of the table!

Pinwheels

Orange Cream Cheese Pinwheels

Makes 2 dozen

3 3/4 cups flour (soft white is best)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbs yeast
1 ½ Tbs grated orange peel (less if dehydrated)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 egg
1 egg white

FILLING:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
¼- ½ cup brown sugar
1 Tbs lemon juice
Chocolate Chips, optional, or…
Apple Butter, optional

EGG WASH:

1 egg white
1 teaspoon water
Powdered sugar, optional

Step 1: In a mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, orange peel and salt. In a saucepan, heat milk, butter and water just until the butter has melted, and then add it to the dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened. Whip the egg & egg white in a separate bowl for 2 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form soft dough. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a square and cut into smaller squares (approximately 3 inches).

Cut into squares

Step 2: In a saucepan (re-use the original from step 1), warm/melt the filling ingredients, careful not to burn (or use the microwave for 15 seconds). To form pinwheels, diagonally cut dough from each corner to within 3/4 in. of the center. Then put the dime-sized dollop of filling into each one, placing a chocolate chip or two in there if desired. Fold every other point toward the center, overlapping pieces. Pinch to seal at the center. Place 3 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes.

Cut slits, dab of filling

Step 3: Grease cookie sheets. Beat egg white and water; brush over pinwheels. Sprinkle with sugar, extra orange peel, or leave plain. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pans to cool on wire racks.

ENJOY!

Rubber Chicken: Insight Into Freezer Burn

Rubber Chicken

Insight Into Freezer Burn

Rubber Chicken

We all know that long-term freezing is costly, it compromises quality, and the food perishes at a faster rate than other food storage methods. Although canned meat is very tender and flavorful, most people simply do not do that enough because of the convenience factor of the freezer. So let’s take a look at what causes freezer burn, what preventative steps we can take to avoid it, and how to clean the freezer out.

Feeling the Burn

The food is not “burnt” at all; it has suffered a loss of moisture. It’s a combination of dehydration with the decomposition (or degradation) of the food quality. The color, texture, and flavor are compromised, the latter due to lipid oxidization (Schmidt & Lee, 2009). The science says that the food itself is safe to eat, although who would want to? You can simply cut off the freezer burnt section either before or after cooking with no ill effects—unless you count the waste of food.

In 1^st grade science we learned the three stages of water as being solid, liquid, and vapor (gas). Freezer burn is from sublimation, when the solid ice goes straight to vapor and skips the intermediary liquid step (Schmidt & Lee, 2009).

Water Cycle

If the food is very tightly wrapped, the water vapor has nowhere to go and the food will not go to waste. If you say “But I’ve had freezer burn happen to that sealed plastic bag of garden zucchini,” all that I can say is I can relate! But in that case, it is because that plastic bag was not perfectly airtight. If the container is not perfectly airtight, those vapor leave to equalize with the “cabin pressure” of the entire freezer, never to return to that food product.

How could the food be dehydrated and full of ice crystals at the same time?

Glad you asked. It’s all about equilibrium, and no I’m not waxing philosophical here. The whole reason that the moisture is sucked up and out of the food is because the vapor pressure in the container is different and it’s all attempting to equalize. The other half of that cycle (remember 1^st grade science class) is that the vapor in the air is condensing into ice. That ice is immediately drawn to the coldest surface to be found—the coils (or condenser) in the floor and sides of the freezer. The equilibrium never really happens, so it is a vicious cycle. The result is this—the more ice buildup you have in your freezer, the more freezer burn you will get, creating more ice in your freezer.

ice in freezer

Freezer Burn Prevention

Two things increase the likelihood that you will have an ongoing battle: a self-defrosting freezer and quick frozen food products (“Freezer Burn. . .”, 2009). It’s seems contradictory that a “frost-free” or self-defrosting freezer would give you more of the problem instead of less. Back to the equilibrium—it uses a heater coil to melt ice, but that throws off the pressure in the compartment. You’ve also probably noticed that the quick frozen chicken “burns” faster than the solid hunk of chicken packaged by the meat counter. There is more surface area to the food when the food items are loose in the bag.

So apart from telling you what not to buy the next time you are in the market for a fridge (or for those quick frozen fish), these are my best suggestions:

1) Don’t stand there and gawk. Open the door as infrequently as possible and for short duration. Every time that door opens, you reset the cycle of equalizing the cabin pressure. Think of the movie “Airplane” when the door to the plane opened in flight.

2) Get your food cozy. Package it together into one frozen solid mass.

3) Wrap your food very tightly in something freezer-proof. If you use plastic bags, get the super-thick freezer kind. We like to use a vacuum sealer or butcher paper (often both). Plastic containers are tough—you have to leave some headspace for the food to expand during freezing, but if you leave too much, you’ll have freezer burn every time.

4) Vacuum Seal! Here’s my tip for soups and liquids, to avoid the plastic containers—I put liquid in a bowl in the freezer until it becomes a soup-sicle. Then I run the bowl under warm water until the soup-sicle pops right out. It’s now ready to vacuum seal. Vacuum sealing bags do not allow any room for the ice-to-vapor process to occur. This increases the lifespan of frozen foods dramatically, and that vacuum sealer pays for itself with what does not get thrown away.

How to Defrost

Plan to defrost your freezers at least once a year. When was the last time you did this? It might be time, at the beginning of a new year, to pull the plug on your units. You should not allow the ice to build up beyond ¼ inch, so if you are fighting an older or less efficient model, you may have to go through this process more than once a year. Follow your user’s manual or go by these basic instructions:

1) Unplug the unit

2) Remove all food items and place them in an alternate freezer, refrigerator, or cooler

3) Place several old towels in the freezer, and at the edge of the unit

4) Allow the freezer’s ice to melt naturally (have a bucket handy for wet towels)

5) You can help the melting process along by using a dull, plastic scraper. Some manuals say this acceptable, some say not to do this. Use your discretion.

6) Once most of the ice is melted and/or scraped, use hot water and vinegar to clean the interior

7) Dry the freezer thoroughly

8) Turn on the freezer and restock. If any food items thawed, do not re-freeze them.

Sources:

Freezer burn in frozen foods . (2009, April 15). IFT Newsroom. Retrieved from http://www.ift.org/newsroom/news-releases/2009/april/15/freezer-burn-in-frozen-foods.aspx

Maintaining the home: Freezer care and cleaning. (2005). Retrieved from http://nmhomeofmyown.org/maintaining/maintaining_pdf/FreezerCare.pdf

Schmidt, S. J., & Lee, J. W. (2009). How does the freezer burn our food?. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-4329.2009.00072.x/pdf

photos:

rubber chicken: Whiskey Media

water cycle: www.infobarrel.com

ice in freezer: www.instructables.com

airplane cabin: www.rgbstock.com

Venison Chili

This chili has a wonderfully complex flavor and combines the tangy with the sweet. I sometimes hear from people that they do not like venison—they haven’t eaten my chili!

Venison Chili and homemade bread 1 whole onion, diced

2 lbs venison*

¼ lb of thick cut bacon, diced

______________________

1 Anaheim pepper (or other “mild” hot pepper)

2 green peppers

1 8 oz jar of fire roasted peppers (in olive oil, optional)

3-5 cloves garlic (to taste)

______________________

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tbs chili powder

1 Tbs paprika

1 Tbs cumin

1 Tbs salt

1 Tbs black pepper

¼ cup honey

1 Tbs molasses

2 cans stout beer

½ cup good red wine

2 24 oz cans crushed tomatoes (can substitute plum or whole)

2 cans black beans

2 cans kidney beans

*feel free to substitute other meat, such as beef.

1) Cook the bacon and venison in a skillet, with the onion to caramelize.

2) Remove the meat, and add garlic, the hot pepper, green peppers, fire roasted peppers until the vegetables are soft.

3) Add all of the ingredients (meats, vegetables, spices, and beans) into a stock pot, and cook this for a couple of hours. The flavors will blend nicely.

Chaya's Venison Chili

Gear Review: Stronghold Haywire Klamper

We plan on rolling out a lot of new products in 2012. This is a review of the Stronghold Haywire Klamper.

I am especially proud to present this product because not only are we the only retailers for this product on the internet, it is also made right here in NW Montana where we live.

We called upon our independent gear review staff member Jackson to put this item through the paces, assess its strengths, weaknesses and possible uses.

Gear Review: The Stronghold Haywire Klamper by Jackson

I received this interesting little tool after Wilson contacted me about this product. He was looking for someone to test it out for functionality, durability, usefulness and uses. I never buy a tool or an item unless I can come up with multiple uses for it. Granted I do have tools that only have one use but not every tool can be used for multiple tasks. This little Haywire Klamper is one that has untold amounts of useful applications.

I received the Haywire Klamper in the mail and excitedly pulled it out of the plastic bag and all I could do was gaze at it. I then said out loud, “What in the world is this thing?” As I moved it between my hands turning it over and over trying to figure out how it was used my smarter side walked up and grabbed the instructions and began to read. She quickly showed me how it was supposed to go. If only I would have looked at the instructions I would have seen the pictures showing its proper use. I like having pictures as that is the kind of guy I am.

The instructions are extremely clear and easy to understand, even for a simple guy like myself. As mentioned though the pictures help for those more inclined towards that method of learning. The instructions also include proper lengths of wire needed for the size of clamp you are making. I pulled the rest of the items out of the bag which included a roll of 14 gauge wire and a pre-made 5/8 double strength clamp.

Contents

Here is the tool itself.

Of course next on the agenda was to find my first klamping victim. I grabbed my wooden hammer to just see how the tool worked. It does not take a lot of force to tighten down the wire as I discovered as it sunk deeply into the wood. Twisting the handle is very easy and you do not encounter a lot of resistance while doing it, yet the klamp is extremely tight, but with just the lifting of the wire ends the klamp becomes loose and can be removed.

The first step is to cut your wire to the proper length. The instructions give you the length of wire needed for klamping ¾ inch all the way to 4 inch hose. Here we are experimenting with klamping two metal pipes together. Form a loop in your cut wire.

Now rotate the wire in a “x” pattern around the metal bars.

You can see the loop just sticking over the metal bars.

Insert your free ends into the loop and connect the Haywire Klamper.

Begin tightening by rotating the handle until it is as tight as you need it and then rotate the klamper (by pivoting on the notch) off of the wire and trim the ends.

The final product should look something like this.

It takes a little practice but once you have the hang of it, it proceeds very quickly and easy.

I took this over to a friend who does a lot of work on cars and motorcycles. He absolutely loved it because of all the clamping he does and the cost of wire versus buying clamps. He attempted to distract me and get me to forget the tool as I was leaving. No such luck.

I also took it out to my uncle’s farm. Showed it to him and he was amazed that he hadn’t thought of it first. (Things tend to work that way.) But he used it to mend one of his fences, lashed a bale of hay and banded a bundle of wood with a little loop on the free end side to be able to carry a lot easier.

The applications for this tool are only limited by your imagination. I am going to experiment with building a shelter in the woods and continue to look for “outside of the box” ideas. This is a definite for your shop, emergency kit or bug out bag, its light, durable and extremely handy.

Remember, hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and keep looking up as our redemption draws near.

Jackson

Pantry Paratus Gear Reviewer

When There Is No Land

It was a moment of silence in our house, which does not happen often. With the younger children napping, I was folding clothes on the couch while my 5 year old, enthralled with legos, silently lined up his men and their belongings into a settlement just like what we had read about in Daniel Boone.

Sycamore Shoals

Lying on his stomach with these plastic people spread out before him and with his chin resting on his arm, he looked up at me and asked, “Mommy, do we own land?” This question, for most, would invoke a yes-no answer. For me, it invokes that aching pain to my heart that only the absence of something can create.

Daniel Boone Historical Site

I tried to explain to him that we do own land, just far away and useless, and for sale but yet won’t sell and that’s keeping us from creating a better life here. The questions kept coming: if it’s useless why did we buy it and if no one else wants to buy it why did we want to buy it?

I took a deep breath and grew silent. My five year old could hang a shingle and dispense better advice then that which we had followed long before the real estate bubble burst. “Why don’t we just live there?” he asked so innocently, and with the perfect common sense that only children can possess. We adults like to make things more complicated than logic allows.

My Mom always used to interrupt my whining with a simple phrase, “Bloom where you’re planted.” In other words, make the most of any situation. As my Dad would say, “It is what it is.” It’s so simple, so basic, that upon first hearing it almost seems nonsensical. But the truth remains: if you cannot change it, thrive anyway. Stop discussing the situation. Stop comparing, contrasting, mulling and obsessing. There is nothing new under the sun. Move past that and live.

Existing happens to all of us. Thriving is a choice. In another lifetime– one that seems like a distant fairytale– I used to help people with disabilities rehabilitate for re-entering the workforce. I learned much about human nature. I learned even more about the power of faith and the motivation of a dream. I saw those with simple, everyday illnesses and struggles (the kind common to most average people—let’s face it, we all have some kind of discomfort in our lives) roll over and give up. Why try? Why attempt? Vanity vanity, all is vanity, so to speak.

And then I saw some thrivers. I knew a woman, an older Black American who remembers the back of the bus; she had one of the most devastating life stories I have ever heard. She was an alcoholic once, she was homeless once, she had suffered great injustices, and she saw a child die once. Her illnesses were severe and her prognosis was grim. Her pain was great, but her smile was infectious. She would wheel her chair a great distance to visit me so that she could spread her joy and peace to this young and inexperienced war-bride. She filled her time with meaningful activities that enriched her life and the lives of others. She knew what mattered.

We have a beautiful, healthy family. We have an amazing community that has taught us much about life in the country. We’ve had chickens, a garden, and greater abundance from (others’) fruit trees than I can personally process! We have our dreams and goals that propel us forward and we are not giving up on those.

Right now I’m only seeing through a dark, cloudy glass, the shadows of what truly are. One day I’ll see the entirety of my life’s story as one who looks back from the finish line to see the race completed. This is the middle of my story. I can choose to stop here, or I can keep running towards those goals.

We live in both the now and not yet, and I choose to thrive.

“One day, son, we’ll have our land. For now, let’s bloom where we are planted. Who wants hot chocolate?”

________

The two photos from the Daniel Boone Historical sites can be found here.

Pantry Staple: Condensed Creamed Soup Recipe

I keep this recipe taped to a kitchen cupboard for those last minute meals that need a little something.

Chaya's Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

You can make this for “cream of” mushroom, celery, or chicken. If you are making it with chicken, substitute half of the milk with chicken broth instead. Dehydrated mushrooms and celery work well for this, but rehydrate them first prior to cooking. This recipe makes approximately 20 oz of soup.

Condensed Creamed Soup Substitute

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt (or more to taste)

12 fresh mushrooms, 1 can/jar of mushrooms, or 3-5 celery stocks

2 cups milk (or substitute half with cream for a richer soup)

1. Heat butter and oil, then add flour and salt to make a roux.

2. Add the mushrooms (or celery or chicken) and cook about 1 minute, just to soften.

3. Add milk slowly and stir until thickened.

4. Season to taste with salt.

L-Cysteine, with a side of duck feathers, please.

There is a naturally occurring protein that we all need, get in abundance through natural food sources, and yet must conscientiously check food labels to ensure it’s absence. It’s not the “what” but the “how” on this one. How they choose to add this particular protein into commercially processed foods is less than appetizing.

L-Cysteine as an Amino Acid

L-Cysteine is a nonessential amino acid. This means that although your body does need it, it does not need to come from your food because your body can synthesize it through other amino acids. In other words, the general population (in America, anyway) does not need to worry about not getting enough of it. It’s found in most high protein foods, such as meat, cheese, and wheat germ.

L-Cysteine as Food Additive

It’s used as a dough strengthener and as a flavor additive; you’ll find it most commonly within purchased bread or baked items, both in the grocery store and in the fast food restaurant. The FDA requires the food be labeled if it is used as a dough enhancer; it can by law supply .0009 part per 100 parts flour for baked goods. The FDA does not require its addition onto the food label if it was added as a “natural flavoring”. It’s colorless and odorless, it’s slightly soluble in alcohol and in plain water, and is fully soluble in an acidic solution (Burdock, 1999).

In baking, L-Cysteine reduces the dough development time and makes it much easier to shape and form for specialty baked goods (those croissants, for instance). It’s also used as a dough softener in products like biscuits (Cauvain, 2003).

The Common Sources for L-Cysteine

For those, who for medical reasons must supplement with this amino acid, this is the one time I would say that synthetic is better! In 2001, a German company found a way to produce it synthetically, but it’s still expensive and so has not become commonplace yet in the mainstream of commercial food production. The common sources are human hair, pig hoof, and duck feathers. Today, nearly 80% of all L-Cysteine is derived through Chinese duck feathers (based upon recent sales figures from manufacturers).

Ten years ago, the most common source was human hair found on the floor of overseas’ barber shops! Although this practice has subsided, it still happens and finds its’ way into American food. Due to the high presence of L-cysteine found within human hair, it is derived this way by first treating the hair with Copper Oxide and then decomposing the copper-cysteine complex with hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen Sulfide is also known as “sewer gas” because of its’ ability to quickly break down waste (Burdock, 1999).

Conclusion

The argument for L-Cysteine is this—it is reduced to mere chemicals before added to your food, so it isn’t as though you are really eating human hair. Ack. This is one of those personal choices you must make: are you going to add this to the “ban” list for your home? If so, it will be difficult unless you make all of your dough-products at home.

For me, I choose to be an informed consumer and prefer to never touch the stuff—when I knowingly have the choice. This does mean making most dough products at home and eliminating fast food from our diet. Is this fool-proof? Probably not. But I have the knowledge that my family (for the most part) is eating wholesome food that promotes health instead of compromising it.

I did use a wider variety of sources for my initial research, but all facts were confirmed in the following scientific journal articles and textbooks. So to give you a cleaner trail if you would like to do some follow-up reading, these are the ones I suggest. If you are looking for fast food information, read Yacoubou, found easily online.

Sources:

Burdock, G. A. (1999). Encyclopedia of food and color additives. CRC.

Cauvain, S. P. (2003). Bread making, improving quality. CRC.

Yacoubou, J. (2011). Everything you ever wanted to know about l-cysteine but were afraid to ask. Retrieved from http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm

Amino Acid Studies. (2014). L-Cysteine. Retrieved from http://aminoacidstudies.org/l-cysteine/

Photo credit: Duck by SteveK

The Seed Catalog

The kids were crying when we walked into the house, hungry from the lunch delay caused by “just one more stop”. I threw the mail on the table, unsorted, un-scanned, even. Lunch was the crisis of the moment. But when the kids settled into the subtle murmurs of leftover-laments, my eyes caught something in the stack.

It’s my seed catalog.

Some women cry over the heroine’s hardships in the newest romance novel. I have my catalog.

This isn’t just any catalog. These are heirloom seeds; these are someone’s family inheritance, someone’s genealogical record found within grandma’s kitchen garden.

Seed Saver Catalog

I am enthralled with the pictures, yes. But I’m enthralled with text.

There was a little old lady who took seeds to her friends, saying that her great grandfather brought them on the wagon train; all of her family is dead now. She died six months after that visit. Because of her gift, you can now sauté her family history with butter. A tear dashes to the page.

There was a family reunion in the bean garden: grandma loved her beans, but the kids didn’t garden. The granddaughter’s renaissance into the things of her grandmother’s day led her to a magazine article featuring her grandma and her beans! Those beans were brought to Missouri in the 1880’s by that granddaughter’s great-great grandmother! The granddaughter and the beans have been reunited.

Romance novels don’t have recipes for canning stuffed peppers! Did you even know that there is an heirloom breed of pepper called chocolate? This calls for a trip to the cupboard. I settle back in, this time with some herbal tea and the chocolate covered hazelnuts my sister-in-law sent.

Tea, chocolate, and my catalog

Chocolate peppers, crimson carrots, white beets. Orange watermelon, blue potatoes, rainbow swiss chard!

Chocolate Peppers through Seed Savers

We have snow on the ground here. My dreams of summer vegetables get me through these cold months, sheathed in winter’s darkness. My garden is only limited by my dreams. For now. In July I will tell you it’s the weeds, or drought, or something eating my radishes. But for now? It’s my vision of what the garden can hold—glossy pictures of glossy vegetables beckon me to dream. The stories of gardens-gone-by inspire me to try.

Get your free catalog at Seed Savers.

Permaculture Podcast: Chaya and Wilson Interviewed

We finally broke into the big time of audio journalism history when we were interviewed for a podcast at the Inland Northwest Permaculture Conference in Spokane last month. Listen along as we talk to Mr. Paul Wheaton of Permies.com and Richsoil.com. Whether or not you consider yourself a podcast consumer, there is probably something either funny or informative in here for you.

Warning: Paul does use grown-up language, and this is not something for little ears.

http://www.richsoil.com/permaculture/597-podcast-092-canning-worms-chickens-weeds/

Send us an email, and let us know if you would like to see more of this kind of thing.

Author: Chaya Foedus

Altitude Baking & Bread Recipe

High Altitude Bread

2.5 cups warm water

1 ½ Tbsp yeast

¼ cup oil

¼ honey

1 egg

½ tsp lecithin

½ Tbsp lemon juice

½ Tbsp salt

5 cups hard wheat flour

Dehydrating: A simple Q & A

Chaya’s Review: Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway

Essential Oils for Cleaning

Basics of Breadbaking–An Interview with Chaya’s Mentor

The Prairie Homestead: Interview with Jill

Parenting, Peels & Pinwheels: Confessions, Dehydration, and a Recipe

Rubber Chicken: Insight Into Freezer Burn

Rubber Chicken

Insight Into Freezer Burn

Venison Chili

Gear Review: Stronghold Haywire Klamper

When There Is No Land

Pantry Staple: Condensed Creamed Soup Recipe

L-Cysteine, with a side of duck feathers, please.

The Seed Catalog

Permaculture Podcast: Chaya and Wilson Interviewed

Produce, Prepare, & Preserve.