simply happy*Happy simple

" As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. -Henry David Thoreau-

simple photos along with a simple yet delicious bread recipe, tried n true*

THis is the *SIMPLE*staple bread at the cool homestead. I make ALL of our bread fall through spring and most of summer(I Do slack on the bread makin in the summer months)

this recipe is nothing fancy, but sure to please.. does not require all kind of crazy ingredients(if you are trying to live simple, the last think you want is a recipe that ask for everythng but the ktichen sink:o)

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remember homemade bread dries out easily , this recipe is for 4 loaves, i usually half it.

Wholesome Homemade honey Wheat Bread

2 envelopes yeast

4 cups water

1/2 c butter

1/4 c molasses

1/2 honey

2 tsp salt

6 c whole wheat flour

4 c white flour

*dissolve yeast in warm water

* in a large bowl mix butter, molasses , honey n salt

*add yeast mixture and then gradually add flour

* turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth

*place in buttered(or oiled) bowl and let rise until double(about an hour)

* punch down and let rest for a few minutes

*divide dough into 4 parts and shape into loaves

*place in greased pan and let rise 1 additional hour

* bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes

rub bread with butter after it is out of the stove<

Wrap tightly with saran wrap and put in ziploc bag( we wash n re use our ziplocs over n over) to keep from drying out**

Goodbye Summer Hello Fall

Hello!

I guess its time for my quarterly blog post,,lol, there is where i catch you up on everything that has been going on for the past 3 months,,haha,, Im trying to tell myself it would be a lot easier to just post every week , but I cant seem to sit down and focus!

Life has been insanely busy on the cool farm:)

shortly after my July post, The garden Bounty was full force, leaving me with no time to sit down and blog, let alone sit down much at all! july aug and sept i spent the evenings canning my BUTT off.. i manages to do tomatoes, tomato soup, salsa, green beans, jam, peppers, pickles, pasta sauce, apples, peaches, applebutter, applesauce , chicken stock, chicken soup and chicken chili. Im sure im forgetting something.

tell ya what folks, if you arent sure what to do with those old chickens that arent laying any more, and dont want em to go to waste, they make excellent chicken soup and chili!!!

Not so good to just eat as the meat is a little tought n dry, but the chicken soup turned out delicious! We butchered 9 of the old hens and are now butchering the good schtuff,, 10 roosters: 4 down 6 to go!

we have FINALLY gotten rid of the chest freezer,, which was a big step for us. we figure if we plant to go off grid, we have to ween ourselves from the big appliances..... so ill be canning most everything from here on out. we can fit a chicken or 2 in our small freezer, so we either have to can the rest or just do a couple at a time:)

I managed to can about 300 jars this season, the photos is about 240 jars into canning.

Im still canning chicken stock, but other than that am done for the season, and holy smokes, it was a lot of work! I have it down to a science now, and it makes a world of difference when he have an order and a way of doing things, so you arent spinning in circles,,lol

We now have 6 hives, and robb has started feeding the weaker hives sugar water, making sure they are all set n ready for the winter ahead! we managed to get about 20 lbs of honey for ourselves this year:)

we ordered 6 additional hives this week! so assuming all 6 make it through the winter, we will have 12 established hives, which means a whole lotta honey to sell>3 fortunately, we have 3 different stores that would like to carry our honey:) this winter we will be shopping for jars. creating labels, and maybe even investing in an extractor. This year we did the good ol crush n strain method, which was fine n dandyfor the small amount of honey we got, but with ** ******12 HIVES***, i would like to make this as easy as possible. Cheese cloth n a bucket aint cuttin it,,lol.

So fall is here and i would like to say that things are slowing down,, but they really arent,, im busy sewing/working, robb is busy building a woodshed and chopping wood, taking on his new of adventure of home brewing his own beer :0,, im planting more blueberry bushes and some raspberries.. and the list goes on and on.

for now im enjoying this quiet moment, with my coffee , while the lil mama naps for a bit:)

Until next time......