Merry Christmas

The Eve of Christmas was spent making homemade Pierogies for dinner ( and dog treats for our furry family member). We had a lovely meal of our pasture raised Pork, Homegrown home fermented Sauerkraut and homemade Pierogies.
Christmas took place outside for a good portion of the day. Hot Cider and Butternut squash and sausage soup warmed on the fire filled our bellies.
Our hearts are full <3 br="">Merry Christmas from our Homestead , to you and yours 

The days in Between

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are just trying to stay busy here, in between the days of Snow and mud..The Roads are pretty much clear( though muddy) and the weekend is supposed to be gorgeous! 60-65 degrees and sunny.

While its going to be nice, its still a bit too muddy to do very much outdoors.. Although I have started some seeds...  too early , you ask?? maybe a little, but I always start a few trays to hold me over until its "officially" time. I find that starting them a bit earlier gives them time to grow big and strong too..

Norah has been on a letter writing kick.. I believe she has written and mailed out around 6 or 7letters. It makes me happy to see her doing this when almost every form of communication these days happens via the internet. She has been begging and pleading for an email, hehe, for what, I don't know, but she really wants one for some reason ( probably because mom has one ;)... I briefly explained to her that before  days of tinternet ( when I was a kid) people used to write letters all the time, this is really how people used to communicate or say hello, if there were not talking on the phone.
She wrote some friends from camp and some relatives, I really hope she gets some letters back and continues to write.

The sewing machine has been pulled out briefly. I made a skirt and a small quilted table runner for our table.... I have so many fabric scraps that really need to be used up, as they take up so much space ! This was the perfect project to use some of them. It really started out as a full blown quilt before I decided I just didn't Love the fabrics,, and didn't want to invest time in a quilt if I just felt "meh" about it everytime I looked at it. It looks nice on the dining room table and brightens it up a bit ......

Besides that, we are just really waiting for things to dry up before working on a million projects outside. My mushroom hoop house ( that keeps my shiitake logs in the shade) collapsed during the snow storm so that need fixed. We have 5 fruit trees to move, a grape trellis to put up, trellis for the peas, 2 chicken tractors need built, and on and on and on.. I always seem to get anxious this time of year,, so much that needs done for spring,, and so little time. It all gets done though, always does....
and our chickens, well they hate snow, haha.... so yeah they are happy about the thaw too...


Blessings

The Cools

A Visit Home and our Honey House Demo

Hello! Well,, I suppose everyone is catching up on getting back to a regular routine after The Holidays! We had  a lovely visit home to my Parent farm in North East Ohio. I forgot how much I loved being able to see the sky for miles, amish buggies, and old barns. It will always be home!! But I will admit, the mountains were calling me back . A short and swift visit, but filled to the brim with family, love, laughter, and food, ohhh the food!!!
We even fit in a visit with My folks neighbors who own  Queens Right Aparies ( Beekeepers, farmers, and owners of all kinds of creatures,). They have a lovely store filled to the Brim with everything Beekeeping, and were kind enough to let us in after hours. They also have some wonderful exoctic animals which Norah really enjoyed!.

The New year is nearly here. While its still winter, Janauary is fil;ed with things to do on the Homestead. I have ordered some seeds and will start seeding my spring crops soon! Robb is getting ready to build more bee equipment and planning out this years goal/strategy . We also have some chicken coops that need mending, and need to figure out some fencing and shelter for the Piglets we will be getting in the spring.

We have had quite a bit of rain the past couple weeks. But did have a very warm SUNNY day last week that allowed us to get into our Honey "House" ( I put that in parantheses, because its actually a camper). We are knocking out some closets in order to make room for some new honey equipment.  As our apiary grows we are hoping to be able to purchase some bigger and better equipment to make the honey extracting process a bit smoother and more efficient.

HOME

 

 

 

Queen Right Colonies

 

 

 

Honey House Demo

 

well, I started typing this blog last night, and since then I believe my dog has eaten my camera chip, haha.. so the Honey House Pictures will have to wait!



Blessings
The Cool Family

 

 

 

A mild( and busy) November

Well, its been a bit since I have posted, I do apologize! I promised myself I would post often, and well to be honest time just kinda slipped by!
as usual we have been very busy around the homestead.
While bee and garden season have come to and end, there is still a lot of wood to be split and stacked, and bees to feed..
Despite the warm days, ive still found time to hide in my favorite nook, my sewing room, and start another quilt!

 

We have also been working on some small projects around the house! Sometimes a little paint and a new bookshelf can really brighten up a room, and so that's just what we did! The living room received a new coat of paint in a gorgeous "azure winter". The color was really hard to photograph, so between that at your monitor it might look blue.. But its more of a very pale bluegreen very subtle and really brightened up the room. We added a delightful bookshelf to our new little nook ( 10 desk painted by moi, and all) which is made out of barnwood and some black pipe. Of course some birds nest adorn it as well, I just love bringing things from outside, in to the home. Snail shell collection and all;)

I also just finished a Headboard for my daughters New room ( if you read the previous posts, we did a small remodel on her room,, added a closet, painted etc)
It is made out of pallets! The idea of course was from Pinterest, and I am very pleased with how it came out! I don't usually paint, so was a bit nervous about messing up the dandelions, but surprised myself ;)

And of course, with the chilly night upon us ( even though the days have been quite mild) we have been firing up the woodstove! ohhh how I missed baking! we do not have a regular oven, so all baking is either done in our solar oven, or the cookstove.

Yesterday; after a full day of splitting and stacking wood as a family , we made homemade pizzas, one of our favorites ( especially miss Norah!) I have posted the recipe for the dough below..This recipe will make 2 pretty big pizza crusts.
We decorated ours with Kale,Shiitake mushrooms and peppers from the garden ..
A blessed day here! I love the days we spend working together as a family.


Pizza Dough

2 1/4 tsp Dry active yeas
1 1/2 very warm water
4 Cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp Olive oil

put yeast in warm water and stir, let sit until it starts to froth and bubble
add oil to yeast mixture
Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in yeast mixture. mix with spoon and then put onto floured surface and need until smooth . Put in oiled bowl and cover, let sit for 20 minutes,,,
Roll out dough and place in pizza pans ( I use a cookie sheet)
Bake crust for about 15 minutes at 350... pull crust out of oven and then add sauce toppings and cheese
Baking for another (approx.) 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is browned and bubbly :)
enjoy!

Autumn Treats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am absolutely in love with these cool mornings. We fired up the wood cookstove for the first time , a few days ago. I love the ritual of the seasons first fire.. The cracking of the fire, the ping ping sound of the cookstove as the stove warms up, the slight smell of smoke....... all of it...

The days have been filled with more canning, including my absolute favorite fall treat : Apple Cider!Next to my morning cup of coffee, apple cider comes in close second as my favorite morning drink. And the fact that this is Organic Apple cider makes it even better...
Ive also manage to put up more apples for apple pie, and a bit of apple sauce....


Granola is another sweet treat we love to make with our abundance of honey.

We baked ours in the sun oven, as its our only way to bake in the summer, but a regular ol oven will suffice as well...



Homemade Granola

4 Cups regular or Quick Oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 Cup Coconut
1 Cup Slivered Almonds
1 Cup Sunflower seeds
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp salt
3/4 Cup vegetable oil
1/2  Cup Bee Kind Family farm Honey ;) or ok any honey will do, but I swear by ours..
1 tsp vanilla ( I did not add this)
1 Cup Raisins

Combine all ingredients, except the raisins; mix well.
Spread on a shallow Baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Stir in raisins

** if you wish to use a dehydrator you may do that as well at 145 degrees for about 3 hours.

Let cool and enjoy!

Home

I am feeling horribly behind this year. Behind on tilling the garden, behind on starting seeds.. behind on everything! am not sure if this is how I feel every year ( probably,,lol) or if Im really behind!  a majority of my time has been spent driving...yeah we do a lot of that sometimes....its part of where we live.


My daughter has been constantly sick this year . Pneumonia 2 times, stomach flu, and today and emergency trip to the doctor to find out she has strep! The poor kid has been in an out of the doctors office and hospital for the past 4 months.

Now, when you live where we do, you dont just run up to the doctors office. Its an all day event. You best take a snack, a lunch, hell maybe even dinner.....lol,,

Its 50 miles one way to the docs, ( the first 12 being gravel, windy mountain gravel roads). It takes about 35-45 to hit a paved country road ( depending on your windy gravel mountain driving skillz) and another 15-20 to hit a grocery store of any sort.
My drive to the doctors is 1 hour and 20 minutes. One way. yep you read that right,,....its a haul, but you actually get used to it.. You just accept that when you have to leave, you are using up an entire day... Its not gonna take you an hour for a visit to the doc,, its gonna take you 4.

 To give you an idea...We live 40-45 minutes from the closest  Gas station  and
a solid Hour from a small/midsize town with a grocery store..


Edgemont is a hard town to explain..... its a town that kind of appears out of nowhere.. Your drive and drive, and see pretty much nothing but National Forest, small cabins here and there, trees, creek,.....
and all of a sudden you come upon this quaint little town ( almost like a ghost town, atleast in the winter).. There is no store here. just a gravel road that passes through a small stretch of houses..
It might sound silly , but Edgemont kind of reminds me of that town from the Movie "Big Fish"..  ( Tim Burton film totally worth seeing)... Its almost magic.. and despite the distance from everything its what made us stay here.....
We are one of only a couple of full timers here... Its quiet in the winter,, like silence you have to experience to truly understand( and appreciate and ultimately desire)
The summers are still quiet, but we do get traffice from people passing through for a Sunday drive, or weekend folk up to spend time at their cabins.
Its the place that no one know about( seriously, i cant tell you how many "local" folks have never heard of Edgemont),, and when you do meet that person that finally smiles and doesnt say "where is that?", you actually get pretty excited that someone has an idea of where you live! hehe


Edgemont is in a National Forest , it was once a fairly booming town... but was completely wiped out by a couple of floods in the early to mid 1900's, and never made a come back.... it remained a ghost town.. ...In 1995 ( I believe???) the Nature Conservancy bought most all the land surrounding Edgemont .
It is Now the Pisgah National forest, and Edgemont lives beside Wilson Creek, a wild and scenic river that boasts some of the cleanest drinking water in the United States....

So there you have it...I will leave you with some photos.. This is what i see everysingle day driving out of here.. whether it be the 45 minute drive to Take my daughter to school, and hour to go get groceries or that dreaded 1.5 hour trip to the doctor....

It took us years to come to terms with the drive ( we actually almost moved a couple time,, this place is not for everyone) and I am pretty sure now you would have to drag us outta here kickin and screaming... it is home.