Baking Day

Today I decided to try a recipe for Kalamata Olive Sourdough Bread. Every since she saw it in my Artisan Bread cookbook, Jorene had been waiting for me to make it. And since I was going to have the oven warmed up, I figured I would make a day out of it and restock some items in the pantry for us.

I got the bread started early in the morning, then started on some spinach fettuccine for lunch. Since I was going to have the pasta roller out, I thought it would be a handy tool for rolling crackers for Liam. He loves eating crackers for a treat and will even bring me the container from the shelf in the pantry. Homemade crackers are so much better than store bought and I can like to make them when I am going to have the oven on anyway.


This was a basic white cracker (I wanted to make them whole wheat but forgot), with a little salt sprinkled over top.

I tried two recipes, Kalamata Olive Bread and Pecan Levain, each making two loaves.

It pairs nicely with a glass of Cabernet.

Pecan Levain

Buried in the Snow!

Well, almost. I discovered this when I was checking the guest rooms this morning. The snow fell from the roof on one side of the house and buried a bedroom window and the hall window.


It's good that it is falling off the roof, because we are supposed to get another 8 - 14 inches later this week. That will put us into March! Will it ever melt?

Break in the Weather

We finally got a break in the weather this weekend and were able to get outside. This weekend, it is forecast to be above freezing with Sunday being in the upper 40's. My family was getting cabin fever from being stuck inside for such a long and cold winter. Even the animals enjoyed the break and got outside to play.

Liam loves his cats, Clem and Georgia.

Hope had a blast running up and down the driveway. She isn't much of a "cold weather" dog, especially when the snow is over her head.

Saturday, we went to our friends' house to cut firewood. We were completely out, and they were almost out. It has been unseasonably cold this winter and everybody has gone through a lot of firewood. Our friend, Scott, was cutting wood at his father's farm next door. When he had a truckload, he stopped by to see what we were doing. He pitched in and helped for several hours. That's what's great about the country. Neighbors and friends help each other without needing asked.

I also started breeding our rabbits this weekend. I put a doe in with the buck yesterday and today. The normal gestation period is 31 days, so we should see litters around the 25th of March. The bunnies will stay with their mothers for six weeks and then will be transferred to field pens for another six weeks.

Today, we all went out to tap our sugar maple trees for sap. Although we have over 2 dozen sugar maple trees in our woods, I only have 3 taps and buckets for collection. I'd like to get more equipment next year, a little more at a time.

Liam loved being outside and helping me set the taps.

On the first day, after 4 hours, I collected over 1 gallon of sap from the three taps. The weather will be above freezing for a couple more days, then it is supposed to get cold again. At least we are finally seeing signs of spring.

Winter on the Farm

Winter keeps hammering us here on the Farm. After putting Liam to bed last night, I cleared 10 inches of snow with the snowblower. This morning, we had another 5 inches of new snow. The seven day forecast calls for, you guessed it, snow every day.

View from the rabbit/chicken house. I wade through this snow several times a day to check on the animals.

This is the new snow from the last 2 weeks. Our part of West Virginia has received over 115 inches of snow, a record. We are about 20 degrees below normal right now.

Welcome, to our Winter Wonderland!

If you like snowy pictuers, I created an album of more winter photos on our Facebook page. I hope you enjoy them.

Seed Starting

Finally! It's time to plant some seeds. I've been waiting for this moment ever since the seed catalogs started arriving and tempting me with their delightful treasures. Our first order for seeds came from Johnny Seeds and a couple of treats from Thomas at A Growing Tradition.

From Thomas, I received Cherokee Purple Tomato, Bok Choy Extra Dwarf, and Bok Choy Shanghai. Thank you, Thomas.

From Johnny Seeds, I ordered Encore Lettuce Mix, Upton Leeks, Pac Choi (Black Summer and Joi Choi), Bunching Onions (Evergreen Hardy White and Deep Purple), Sugar Snap Peas, and Strike Shelling Peas.

I started the lettuce and leeks indoors, under lights. I set up some shelves next to our wood stove where I can be certain the soil will be at least 60 degrees.

Lettuce seeds, waiting to germinate

One packet of leeks seeds, sown and preparing to emerge.

As soon as this latest round of snow goes away (we just got another 2 feet), I plan to build a cold frame to start seeds of onions, choys, lettuce and cabbages. The peas I will plant directly in some raised beds under row covers.

Remodeling our Pantry and Root Cellar

A couple of years ago, we remodeled our kitchen here at the lodge. It was a dramatic improvement both in efficiency and style. Since then, we have wanted to remodel our pantry and a back room area to make them more organized and useful. The pantry is a big room, with shelves, cabinets, an extra refrigerator and cooler, 2 freezers and utility sink. Our two problems with this room was that it was cluttered and gets hot in the summer. We want the appliances moved out and new shelves built to hold all of our canned goods and supplies.

Canning supplies and food sitting everywhere.

Extra appliances

The back room area has the laundry area, a utility room with sink and shelves for the cleaning supplies, a bathroom, and a hallway. We hate all of the little rooms and crowded space and want to open it up to make one large room. Since it is below ground level and stays below 50 degrees, even in the summer, I plan to make this our root cellar.

Crowded hallway with limited shelving for canned goods.

Cramped utility room. This is a real pain when the four of us are trying to get cleaning supplies from here after a group has checked out of the lodge.

Bathroom with 2 toilets!?

Unused shower, just wasted space that could be utilized better.

Other view of cramped hallway.

Stairs leading down to the rooms. The cramped utility room is ahead and the washer and two dryers are underneath the stairs.

Our goals for the root cellar are:

• open it and make it less crowded
  
• move the extra appliances back here since it is cooler
• create room for storing vegetables in the winter

We're very excited about this remodel. I already started knocking down the wall in the hallway and the shower. I'll post more photos as the remodel progresses.

An Alternative to the Cornish Cross

For years, we have raised chickens here on the farm, both for meat and eggs. The standard breed to raise for meat is the Cornish Cross. It is the same bird that the major producers raise and has been bred for quick development and large breast size. Wanting the best quality meat that we can produce, we raised our birds on pasture and supplemented their feed with locally milled grain, free of animal by-products and chemicals. Last year, I built several pens following the model of Joel Salatin at Polyface Farms, and moved this every day so they would have fresh pasture.

Over the years, though, the Cornish Cross has been hybridized and genetically manipulated by the poultry industry to suit their confined farming style. The Cornish Cross has been bred to put on weight at an astronomical rate, reaching 5 pounds of live weight by 42 days of age. The aim was to produce a bird that basically sits, eats, and grows quickly while producing a lot of breast meat. However, this incredible fast growth is detrimental to the birds welfare and health. Since they have been selected for high muscle-to-bone ratio, the Cornish Cross bird often suffers from joint, ligament, and muscle problems as well as hock burn and other skin ailments. Their heavy weight makes them prone to heart strain and sudden heart failure. Their immune systems have been compromised through selective breeding, and they are susceptible to many infectious diseases. Due to these health concerns, the common practice is to keep the birds on antibiotics their entire, short life. Because of all of these problems, the Animal Welfare Approved association has determined that the Cornish Cross breed "is inherently flawed as a high-welfare pasture-raised bird," and they are encouraging small farmers like us to experiment with other breeds that do not have the problems that the Cornish Cross have.



This year, I am going to switch to an alternative breed of bird to raise for meat. Freedom Ranger Chickens are derived from the American and European old heritage breed of chicken and was developed in the early 1960’s to meet the highest standards of the French Label Rouge Free Range program. Currently, the Freedom Ranger genetic stock is used by most non-factory farm production models (alternative) all across Europe and also by small pastured poultry producers in search of a traditionally raised farm chicken. They are naturally better suited to the higher welfare and all true natural rearing systems (full pasturing, free range, organic, certified, backyard etc.…). They reach 5 to 6 pounds live weight in 9 to 11 weeks. Because they are allowed to grow longer, their meat is more tender and firm. They are also bred for flavor rather than rapid muscle-to-bone ratio. Therefore, they are highly sought after by chefs. As always, our chickens will be pasture-raised, giving them the benefits of exercise and sunshine. I plan to house them in a movable coop with temporary fencing, giving them more space for free range pasturing. We will also continue to feed them with locally milled grains free of antibiotics and animal by-products.

We put several dozen chickens in our freezer from last summer, and are still eating them. I like to roast a bird once a week. We get several meals from the meat, and I put the bones in a pot of water with scrap vegetables to make fresh, natural chicken stock. I generally can get 3 - 4 quarts of chicken stock from 1 chicken.