I remember when I was talking to a friend about buying a local chicken for the first time. She mentioned that you had to brine fresh chicken and she just didn’t have the time to do that. That got me to wondering…why do you have to brine a fresh chicken and why don’t you have
If you read my recipe about brining your own brisket for St. Patrick’s Day and you have a bit of that corned beef left over, I have a wonderful way to use it up. Make your own corned beef hash. Now, if you are like me, the first time someone mentioned this I was like
Fall’s here! I have a love-hate relationship with this time of year. I love the colors, the cooler weather, the slower pace… but, I won’t lie… I’m not looking forward to what comes after. There is just something about this time of year that calls for warm beverages and sitting by a fire with a
Have you ever wanted to make your own bread from scratch but were afraid you would mess it up? This quick and easy recipe is a great way to dip your toe in the water. In fact, this recipe is SO easy, you’ll be asking yourself why you didn’t try it sooner. This recipe
I feel like I came into this homesteading thing really late in the game. I am the epitome of the phrase, “If I only knew then what I know now.” (Or, “better late than never” works, too.) Still, here we are and I couldn’t be happier. Homesteading has really required me to step out of
March is maple month and where we live is ground zero for pure maple syrup. We have no less than 6 maple producers all within a three minute drive from our farm. That means we are NEVER without syrup, people! And we certainly never resort to the fake stuff. (Bleh!) Pure maple syrup isn’t cheap,
Sourdough Crackers I started to teach myself to bake when I finally decided that yeast was not going to get the better of me. Many years ago I was given a bread making machine and I used that baby more often than a toaster. But using a bread making machine felt a little like
We had an earlier than expected cold snap. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving temperatures dropped and we had a hard frost. Okay, so it’s not unexpected that we have a frost in November around here, but we had temperatures below freezing for several days, which is a bit unusual. Our barn store is not
You probably know that having chicken soup when you are sick makes you feel better. Science has proven that claim. It makes sense. You simmer fresh veggies, herbs and chicken in a pot, strain it and Voila! All the vitamins and minerals from the chicken and vegetables are released into the liquid making a hot,
Previously, I wrote about how to make your own roasted pumpkin puree. Today, I’m going to show you how to use that puree for a great pumpkin pie. I used to buy the can of pumpkin in the grocery store and follow the directions on the back. Then I learned that the pumpkin in the