"Making It"

I enjoy all of the seasons but Autumn has always been my favorite, followed by Spring, Summer then Winter.  Having lived in Portland for a little over a year now I have to say I enjoy them all equally! I'm definitely getting a little "cabin fever" and the occasional sunshine and nice weather, although a tease, has me really excited to start planning the garden!  I want to start right now (because the sun is out) but last year I started seeds indoors a little too early and none of them made it. 

Homemade bars of Soap, "rebatched" soap in molds

Winter's the perfect time to be lazy and snuggle up on the couch and gear up for the exciting months ahead. Although the days are cold and dark (and super short!) I've been keeping myself busy with plenty of homesteading projects.   I've been "making" soap for the past year - and by that I mean melting down pre-made bars of soap, adding essential oils, color, and exfoliants (oatmeal, crushed almonds, etc.) and pouring them into my own molds.  I have a book called "Making It" that has the recipe for making soap the "real" way.  Cam and I looked like we were filming an episode of Breaking Bad the first time we made, it wearing goggles and rubber gloves!  The bars seem to be a success but won't be ready to test for four weeks.  Right now they are still chemically changing and would be too harsh on our skin.  When they're done I can melt them down and do what I have been doing but the result will be completely homemade soap.  So if the zombies attack come find me if you want to clean up ;)
I've also been making all of our own cleaning products such as laundry detergent, dish soap, window cleanser, floor cleanser.  I've tried making homemade essential oils from our own dried lavender, and one of my latest winter projects has been homemade lip balm and muscle salve.  I really enjoy playing with the recipes and testing my creations!  I hope one day to not have to follow any instructions. 

For Christmas, Rebekka and Damien gave us a cheese making kit so that has started us on a whole new venture!  We were set on making "Farmhouse Cheddar" but decided to start with a simpler, "Frommage Blanc" when we realized how complicated the cheddar was.  We've been experimenting with it but for the most part it's super easy - slowly heat milk to 86 degrees, add cheese cultures and let sit for 12 hours at room temperature. After that you just ladle the curd into cheese cloth and hang dry for 4-8 hours.  It's a very versatile cheese similar to a sour cream or cream cheese (depending on how long you dry it). The problem we have been running into is that the milk me buy at the store is homogenized so you have to play with different ratios of whole milk and heavy cream to compensate for it, which has proven to be a bit tricky.  Instead of a gallon of milk yielding 2lbs of cheese, we've only been getting about a cup of the finished product - but it's SO GOOD!  I'm taking a 

Mozzarella and Ricotta making class next week so I hope to be a semi-pro after that!

Overall we're just trying to live a simpler lifestyle.  Why buy it when you can grow it, or make it on your own.  We like knowing what's in our food and where it comes from.  For Superbowl we were making a french onion dip and started looking at the ingredients in the dry packet mix.  It was a ton of stuff we couldn't pronounce.  I went on the good ole' internet and quickly found a recipe to make our own "dry" ranch and french onion mix.  It was a hit at the party.  We've added it to our homemade cheese a couple times and it's definitely quite the accomplishment to eat it knowing that we made it from scratch ourselves!  Homemade Italian Dressing is on our list, so is homemade bread!  But mostly I'm just so excited to start playing in the garden again!

 





Breaking Bad!

LayLa dustbathing dreaming of summer

 

Time of the Season

Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch 2012

Summer is officially over! I've always loved season changes and fall has always been my favorite. I love the change in temperature, the occasional drizzle, and of course my favorite is the beautiful colors on the trees! That being said I am definitely going to miss being out in the garden and hanging with the chicks! It's sad buying tomatoes in the store, and our egg carton is running a little empty. Baby Bird (Shelly) is almost full grown and she is gorgeous, and the shorter days and chilly weather has started Martini's first "molt". It was alarming to go in the yard afer a few days and see her featherless neck and missing tail feathers. She is supposed to be even more beautiful when her new feathers come in but right now she looks sick! Egg production stops and all of her energy is put into making new feathers so only Layla is laying currently. Eggberta never started back up since she became a mom, and Shelly has 2 more months until her first egg.
We have a couple fall crops in the works ~ brussel sprouts, peas, broccoli, lettuce, arugula, turnips, spinach but they aren't looking too promising. I actually didn't realize we had the much left until I just wrote it! The garden looks so empty compared to how it looked just a month ago. I'd say the cherry tomatoes were the biggest hit. They grew so big and produced so much! Cam's never been a tomato fan but he is now after eating them off the vine. 

Last week we planted some orange and yellow mums in the front yard, along with ornamental kale in purple and white to celebrate renewing our lease. Yup, that's right we're in PDX for another year! We love it here but who knows what's on the agenda for 2014. Hopefully our credit will be back on track so we can look into buying a home again. I'd love to live on a farm with chickens and goats and cows! Maybe even a pot-bellied pig?

 

Martini's first MOLT!

The bright side to the chillier weather ~ seasonal brews!!