Plant Sprouts and More Snow

A few weeks ago I planted seeds and got my little garden started inside.  In hopes and anticipation of going outside A LOT and getting my garden rows all in shape and making my garden larger.  Right now it's 25'x25' and I am going to make it 30'x30'.  I love my little seed starters, don't get me wrong.  But I am ready to move on outside and get my hands dirty.  I am also aware that this is as close to gardening I am going to get to for a few more days.  We had another storm move in Saturday and with it came more snow.  I think I can safely say that all of South Dakota is ready for no more snow and for Spring to come!  But we are also wondering if we'll just skip right over Spring and move to Summer.  *sob sob*  I am so ready for warmer days and getting my garden in order...

I don't know if you can see the little red flags in the snow covered garden area.  Jason and I went out Friday and measured the new area for our garden before the millionth storm hit this weekend.  That's what we knew we could get done.  Trying to stay positive here, folks.  I'm positive I'm sick of snow.  I'm positive I'm ready for Spring.  See! I am positive. 

So here we are, middle of April.  Waiting for another snow fall to come Tuesday evening.  But I am glad the garden is marked and when it does warm up, and I know it will, then I can get out there and start digging and moving on to making my garden a success this year.  It's all a learning process for me.  And I am hopeful this year will be more successful than last year...

 

'til Next Time...

Picnic Bars

I was attempting to upload a video for you all and was not having luck with that so here's a delicious recipe for you to try out instead.  But stay tuned because that video will make it to this blog. 

 

Anyway...the recipe for...

 

PICNIC BARS

 

Bars:

1c. oatmeal

1 1/2c. boiling water

1 stick butter

2 eggs, beaten

3/4c. sugar cane (aka raw sugar)

1 1/2c. whole wheat flour

1tsp. soda

1/2tsp. salt

1tsp. cinnamon

Melt butter, add oatmeal and boiling water.  Let stand.  Mix eggs, sugar cane, flour, soda, salt and cinnamon together thoroughly then add to oatmeal mixture.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Use sheet cake pan, oiled.

 

Topping:

1c. sugar cane

1 stick butter

1Tbsp. milk

1 egg, well beaten

1c. shredded unsweetened coconut

Boil sugar, butter, milk and egg one minute.  Add coconut.  Stir constantly.  Cook on medium heat but watch it carefully as it can burn easily.  Frost the bars.  YUM.

 

Brew up some delicious coffee to go with these bars.  Make sure to share one with the hubby.  It's more fun to eat these together and go on and on about how good they are.  And what an awesome baker you are.  And how they are so lucky to have you be such an awesome baker.  And coffee maker. 

 

Okay...that may be pushing it. Some.  But we need to take time to feel good about what we do and how amazing we are, don't we!?!?  he he he!!!

 

'til Next Time!

Piles of Laundry and Homemade Pizza

Does anyone else wake up Monday morning thinking, 'What in the world are Monday's for?' I know that's how I think on Monday Mornings.  Coming off a great weekend then starting the week all over again.  Ugh.  Sometimes Monday's are rough.  And usually Monday has a pile of laundry waiting for me.  I don't get it.  How on earth does laundry pile up on the weekends?  Is it because 3 of my 4 children are not at school and so they are using more everything on the weekends?  Yes, yes...I think that's it.  I love my family but weekends usually find the house in chaos.  Anyone else out there relate to this??  So, I'm trying to remind myself on Monday mornings that this is just all part of life.  And that it's ok to have a massive amount of laundry waiting to be washed, dried, folded, and put away.  (let's be real here...I can get the first 3 things on that list done but the putting away???  Not so much). 

 

So here we are.  Monday morning.  And once again my pile(s) await me.  And it's cold out.  And there's snow on the ground.  And the sky is gloomy.  But that's normal for nearly mid April, right?  Nope. 

 

But the positive??  It certainly can't last forever.  Since it is April.  And so I hope and long for sunny days, warmer temps, and being outside hanging said laundry on the line. 

 

Homemade Pizza



I made this delicious pizza Friday night.  The kids had some friends over and I whipped up two pizzas.  One a cheese, not my fave.  I like stuff on my pizza.  But kids like cheese.  And then I thought to myself, 'Self, what do you have in the fridge or pantry that you can turn in to pizza/'  And I came up with 'bacon, onion, zucchini, and summer squash'.  YUM!  So I chopped up 3 pieces of bacon (from our home grown pig), diced up onions, zucchini and summer squash and sautéed it all together.  Made the dough (double batch and split in two), topped it with Italian tomato sauce, shredded cheddar cheese and then the bacon/veggie blend.  Baked in the oven for 20-25 minutes on 325.  Even the kids liked it!

 

Here's the dough recipe* 

 You just put the amount of toppings on that you want.  Nothing complicated, people.

1c. Hot Water

1tsp. honey

2 1/2tsp yeast

1tsp salt

3Tbsp oil

2 1/2c. whole wheat flour

 

Mix first 3 ingredients.  Stir a little.  Add the rest.  I use a fork to mix until it's too hard.  Then I use my hands.  Washed, of course.  Ready to use.

 

*I double this recipe for two pizzas

The Book - 'The Backyard Homestead'

I picked this book up off of Amazon.com.  I am really enjoying all that I've learned so far...and I haven't even gotten terribly far into it.  Just the back cover alone makes me excited.  Well...the front cover, too, for that matter.  So exciting to think that we can raise most of our own food on 1/4 acre.  And we have 7.5 acres!  Wahoo!!  Will I do everything in this book this year?  Probably not.  Gotta start slow, people.  But I am going to start and that's awesome!  We already have fresh eggs, we raised meat chickens for the first time last summer.  Those pastured raised chickens are amazing!  We raise our own pork and sell some, too.  I've dabbled in gardening but am now eager to take it to a new level and stock up my pantry for next winter.  But let's not talk about winter as we are just starting Spring...and it's still snowy...and cold...and blah.  I'm ready for constant sunshine, morning coffee sitting outside, and windows open to let in the fresh air! 

 

Head over to amazon.com to pick up this book!  I paid under $17 for it.  Easy to read.  Pictures (yes, I need pics!) and no huge words that I don't yet understand.  This is doable! 

The Backyard Homestead

Gardening Journal and a Book

 I'm sure you can tell that I spent a lot of money on my 'gardening journal'!  Ha!

($1 folks.  Plus tax)

I am reading this awesome book about gardening, and other awesome things, and they had a great idea:

Journal your gardening.  Seems pretty boring but when it comes to the next planting season I can go back in time and see when I started planting seeds in containers, when I cleaned out my garden, what the weather has been like etc.  So, it may seem a bit silly to journal now....but LATER is when it pays off! 

 

So you get to see my first entry today.  I hope you can read my awesome handwriting.  bwahahaha

OH!  The book! 

 

Yes, the book.  What book is it that I think is so amazing??

 

Stay tuned to find out!

 

You didn't think I'd actually just go and tell you, did you?  No way!  I had to leave you hanging...

Big Batch Cookies

I love cookies. 

 

My family loves cookies. 

 

The chickens love cookies. 

 

But I don't bake cookies for the chickens.  I just know they love them.  Cuz they love any scrap food.  Those silly chickens.

 

Today it's snowy out.  Thankfully last week I took advantage of being outside before the weather turned.  That's South Dakota in the Spring for ya, folks!  One day it's nice and I get all excited and then the next day it's freezing cold and we wake up to snow on the ground. 

 

Well...since it is snowy and cold out I decided to bake cookies.  And Ty, of course, helped me.  He loves to help bake.  And snatch a few chocolate chips if he can!

 

I love this recipe.  Well...I adjusted the recipe today to make it 'healthier'.  You know, 2 cups of sugar instead of 3.  Healthy things like that. 

 

So here's the healthier recipe and in parentheses (I actually had to spell check that word!) I will put the 'real' ingredients.  Just for you folks who aren't brave enough to branch out into this 'healthy' cookie world. 

 

Big Batch Cookies

(Jason's Grandma's Recipe so you know it's going to be GOOD!)

 

2c. shortening (I actually use butter.  That's right.  2 cups.)

1c. brown sugar + 1/8c. honey (2cups brown sugar)

1c. white sugar

2tsp. vanilla extract

2tsp. baking soda

1tsp. salt

5 eggs

1c. butterscotch chips

1c. milk chocolate chips

3c. flour + 2 1/2c. whole wheat flour (5 1/2c. flour)

 

Mix all together.  It's deliciousness waiting to be gobbled up.  Try not to eat the dough. 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake 10 minutes or until slightly golden. 

Cool a touch before eating so you don't burn your tongue.  Or at least have a glass of cold milk ready so you can cool off your burnt tongue if you can't wait. 

 

Healthy or not, these cookies are awesome!

 

'til Next Time...

Hard Boiled FRESH Eggs

 Ty is carefully placing eggs in the pan.

 Carefully, buddy.  Good job!

 Fill the water so that the tops of the eggs are not covered. 

See that??

Bring to a boil.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Then...

 take off burner, cover and let set for at least an hour.  At least..

Wahlah (is that how  you spell that?)

They peal up great, most of the time.  Fresh eggs are tricky

but I find this method to work 95-98% of the time. 

 

Is there a better way out there?  You know, 100% success...??

 

'til Next Time...!



Living Life on Coleman Acres

What is 'Coleman Acres'? 

This is our place.  Our spot of land out in the country.  Our own acres.  Plural.  Not a little tiny piece of a plot in the big city anymore.  Nope.  7.5 acres that we can say is ours. Our dream coming to reality.  Or, shall I say 'our dream that IS our reality now'.

My South Dakota loving husband has always wanted to get back to his South Dakota roots.  And after spending the first 6 years of our marriage enjoying life in Nebraska and making life long friends there we packed up and headed to Denver, CO.  Our kids were nearly 4, 2 1/2, and 7 months at that time.  We enjoyed...no...we LOVED living in Denver.  It was what we call our 6 year adventure in the city.  And it was so good to us.  And for us.

But our hearts were being called to the country.  South Dakota country.  We prayed, we looked, we prayed, we looked.  And this beautiful place in eastern SD came up for sale.  In the perfect spot near the perfect little town.  And so we moved.  We sold our new build home in Denver for our 1910 home with acres.  And not only did we move our three kids here but in the midst of packing and selling and packing some more we found out that we would be having another little turkey.  Child number 4 and this baby was a surprise.  The best kind of surprise, though, right!?!  Maybe not the 'best time' in our way of thinking but God knows best and we are so thankful for our 'Little Turkey' (that's what we named baby before we knew that 'little turkey' was a boy and he was named Ty. 

So here we are.  Halfway through our 4th year of being on this place we call Coleman Acres.  4 kids, some chickens (ok...more chickens than I even want to admit.  It's a bit embarrassing), cats (for mice hunting), and eagerly awaiting our cattle and sheep to come back this Spring.  They are dispersed between 3 different places while we get our fence finished for them to be here permanently.  And pigs.  We love our fresh pork.  Bacon especially.  And our fresh chicken meat and eggs.  I am already asking my daughter, Tayler, if we can purchase a sheep from her for meat.  She's our second daughter.  We have two daughters (Bailey is 14 and Tayler is 13...yes, 18 months apart). And two boys (Jake is 11 and Ty is 4...yes, all boy and that's all I have to say). 

Who raises what around here? Jason, I and Bailey raise cattle (she is starting her own herd), Tayler is starting her sheep herd.  Or is it flock?  I think it's flock.  I think...  Jake raises pigs.  Ty raises both meat chickens and layer chickens.  And he is ready to get some more baby chicks going. 

Well...this is a lot of information for you to read.  And a lot for me to type so I'm going to stop here.  You just keep coming back to find out what's happening on Coleman Acres.  Both the Adventures and the MIS Adventures.  Cuz there are both.

'Til Next Time...!

P.S.  The sun rises and sunsets are AMAZING here!