Mini Visitors

The delight of this day was found in the multitude of mini visitors who came to visit the farm.  Well, it wasn't exactly a multitude...but we did have the immense pleasure of two different families with little ones under the age of five come to see the sheep. The animals were the big hit of the day for the children: feeding the chickens popcorn, collecting the eggs from the chicken house, petting and holding the lambs, feeding the horses handfuls of alfalfa, and petting the dogs. The youngest child to visit was a baby of 9 months and she had the biggest smile, with both dimples visible, while watching the horses eat. Later, this tiny darling cuddled into Mother Dearest's lap, had one hand petting a dog and her thumb in her mouth...completely content! All of the visitors, children and parents were pure joy, and a great time was had by all!

Pumpkin and Butternut Recipes

We on the farm were blessed with many volunteer pumpkin plants last summer, as well as prolific butternut squash. Mother Dearest baked the cut (into halves or quarters- so that they fit into the oven) pumpkins and butternut squash at about 300 degrees until soft like a baked potato. Then the seeds and stringy stuff was scooped out and fed to the chickens. The meat of the veggie was scooped and scraped into a bowl, pureed with a stick blender, and frozen in 2 or 4 cup amounts.

The frozen puree is taken from the freezer when the desire to bake is overwhelming. I really enjoy both pie and bread made out of the pureed veggies, and either butternut or pumpkin puree can be used in both of the following recipes. 

Fresh Butternut or Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked, pureed pumpkin or butternut squash
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
•  24 ounces evaporated milk or mix 2 cups dry milk with 18 ounces of water

mix all ingredients together well

Pour into a pie shell to bake (see pastry recipe below):

15 minutes @ 450 degrees, then another 50-60 minutes @ 350 degrees, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

OR

Pour into a Pam-sprayed pie dish, and microwave 12-16 minutes, 4 minutes at a time, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

***This amount makes 10 cups of filling (five small Longaberger pie plates with 2 cups in each)

Pastry: 

(for 3 regular pies, 2 large Longaberger pies or 5 small Longaberger pies)

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold butter cut into cubes
• 10-12 Tablespoons ice water

1. Mix flour and salt, then mix in butter until pea sized. 
2. Slowly mix in the ice water one tablespoon at a time until dough is formed, moist but not wet. 
3. Divide dough into equal parts, the number of parts matching the number of pies. 
4. Place dough pieces one at a time onto floured board. Roll flat with floured rolling pin from the center to the edges until it forms a circle that will overlap the outside of the desired pie plate 1" when placed inside.
5. Once the rolled dough reaches the desired circumference, place the dough into the pie plate, gently fitting it into the shape of the pan. Roll the the edge of the pastry until it sits on the edge of the pie plate, trimming if necessary. Edge can then be left rolled, or can be pinched for a new look.
6. Fill and bake.
7. Extra dough can be combined, rolled flat and cut out with cookie cutters. Place cut outs on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, or until edges turn golden. Place cooked cut outs onto top of cooked pies to decorate (great way to hide the knife marks).

Butternut Bread:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup cooking oil
•  4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2/3 cup water
•  4 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups cooked, pureed butternut squash or pumpkin
• when we have more that 2 cups of butternut or pumpkin puree, we leave out the water and just use more puree, up to 4 cups.

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl (or electric mixer) combine first 7 ingredients.
3. Alternately add flour and water to above mixture, beating on low speed until combined. 
4. Stir in butternut puree. (if adding more puree, alternate butternut puree and flour until combined)
5. Pour batter into two Pam-sprayed 9x5" loaf pans. With the extra puree, you may need another pan or baking dish to use up the extra batter. We use tiny pie plates for the extra batter.
6. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
7. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack in the pans, then remove from the pans and finish cooling on the wire rack.

More Babies...

Twin brown lambs were born on Monday night...Giddeon and Carolena.

The entire day was an adventure with visiting family, cooking, baking, clean up, and a visit from a friend. The friend is the daughter of one of Mother Dearest's great friends from the past, who was visiting our church on Sunday. Her daughter, Kiri, is studying animal husbandry, and currently focusing on sheep. Kiri came in time to assist Mother Dearest in purchasing the necessary diet for the nursing mothers, to trim hooves and to check to make sure that there were only two lambs to be born. She was then assigned to be a part of the tasting party, to make sure that the fresh pumpkin pies were of good quality! They were!

Thank you Lord for your timing!!

Welcome to the World...

                        

                                                                ...Sweet babies...

Isabel quietly watching over Virginia, Dolly and Amos

 The triplets, Amos, Dolly and Virginia, are so incredibly tiny, friendly, and amazingly adorable! Isabel, who is a might skittish around people, quietly steps back to make room for the two-legged creatures standing about in wonderment. I am delighted by everything that they do: their walk, the way that they fold their legs under themselves to rest, and especially the way that they gambol toward me to be petted and held!!

Miss Dolly

Candied Citrus Peels

My family loves the citrus that is readily available in the chilly winter months, and this year Mother Dearest decided to resurrect an old solution for the abundance of citrus peels...candy them! So...my first recipe is for candied citrus peels (my favorite is Meyers lemon peels, but grapefruit and orange peels are good too!). Mother Dearest thinks that I have an addiction...and I've decided to not argue with truth!

Mother Dearest and I tweaked the recipe a bit... original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

• peels from a combination of 10 citrus fruits
• 2 cups of white sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of sugar in plastic bag for coating

Directions:

• Cut white off of peels, then cut into 1/4" strips
• Place peels in a sauce pan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. s. Drain water. Cover cooked peels with water again, and bring to a boil. Repeat 2 more times (total of 4 times). Drain and set aside.
• Combine 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and cook until mixture reaches thread stage: 230 degrees F.
• Stir cooked peels into hot sugar mixture. Reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  
  • The sugar syrup can be stored in a jar and used to flavor tea.
• Place peels on cooling rack. I placed the racks onto baking sheets and had them dry overnight.
• When peels feel tacky, coat a few at a time by placing in bag of sugar and shaking.
• Store the candied citrus peels in a container, I prefer a 1 quart canning jar because it is beautiful!

Note:

• If it takes awhile to collect the peels from 10 citrus fruits...peels can be trimmed and kept in a plastic bag in the freezer until there is enough for a recipe.
• Also the number of fruits is estimated, depending on the kind of fruit and the size of the peel. The recipe can be made with a larger or smaller number of fruit peels. 
• The syrup can be reused to candy additional batches, as well as the left over decorating sugar and loose sugar on the trays.

Home Sweet Farm

My family lives on a small farm in a place I like to refer to as the middle of nowhere. It is close enough to civilization for running errands to be a manageable chore and still be quiet. I love living in the country, surrounded by the glorious colors of creation (which this morning was covered in frost, but even that was lovely).

On this farm we have some...alfalfa, horses, chickens (who lay colored eggs), sheep, a kitty, lab dogs (and their puppies when appropriate), cows, and a large vegetable garden (e-i-e-i-o).
Life is full on the farm!

beautiful colored eggs from the hen house

Happy Cows

sunflower from front yard

Henry and Sophia with some of Mother Dearest's girls

alfalfa field

one of the bridges that Daddy built to cross the slough

Home sweet farm is a wonderful place to be!!

Siblings

Last year I found the perfect plaque for Mother Dearest which reads, "Dear Lord, Grant me patience to endure my blessings". My five siblings and I are the majority of the blessings to which the quote is referring. Yes, there are six of us, two girls and four boys. Of course it is the boys who require more patience, for the girls are perfect.

My dear Sissy is delighted to be able to choose her own name for this blog, and she has chosen...drum roll, please...Elyse. A perfectly lovely name for this perfectly lovely lady!

I will decide at a later time if the names of the boys should be changed to protect the innocent...I will not however refer to them by number, for that would be just wrong.

My Daddy decided that this blog is for girls, and politely requested that I do not write about him. I will do my best.

Lizzie B....

is in honor of Elizabeth Bennett of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. Not only is Lizzie one of my favorite characters (print and screen), she is the character I am most like according to a delightful quiz:

                                                   Take Quiz Here!

Because of the Lord's great mercy, my mother is not at all like Mrs. Bennett. My mother is the epitome of our childhood name for her...Mother Dearest, the best Mother in the whole, wide world, and will forever be known as "Mother Dearest"! 

"In the Beginning...

God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1-NIV) This is the beginning of my blog, in which I, Lizzie B., will share my delights...delighting first in the Lord, the creator of the universe, and then delighting in aspects of His creation. I hope all who read will enjoy the journey that is my life.