Posted on 12/01/2025 5:54:31 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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I’ve found that kneading bread is also great exercise - you not only get the best-made, best-tasting bread, but get a good workout as well.
Nothing else like it!
I’ve decided..... I’m getting 10 or so chickens this coming spring.
Been collecting tractor supply gift cards the last year.
Getting a coop, fencing in an area up against my garden fence and going to give it a go.
My young dog chases birds so I’m worried about her trying to kill the chickens Sonim getting the biggest birds I like and going to try and keep em apart.
We’ll see how it goes
I just mixed up a batch of dough this morning for bread this evening! I have a Dutch Oven, so it’s going into that. Last loaf was a little flat, so I upped the yeast content a bit - these things vary based on the humidity and air pressure or SOMETHING!
My neighbor is a ‘Yoder’ and he’s ex-Amish. When I first moved out here, I told Beau, ‘Never in a million years had I imagined an Emergency Contact in my phone would be Enos Yoder!’
He’s a great guy and loves my home-grown tomatoes. His wife owns the horse farm - she doesn’t bake or do anything ‘wifey’ like gardening but she is very pretty, and she’s a great horse woman and business woman, so she has that going for her. ;)
I consulted Fleishmann’s this morning on my yeast issue and they have a very nice baking site!
https://www.fleischmannsyeast.com/
I think adding beer would be fine - the recipe only calls for 2/3 cup liquid, though. You’ll be adding liquid via the onions you saute in the bottom of the Dutch Oven first. Just FYI.
I add beer instead of water when I make Chili. Love? Schmuv! Beer and Bacon are the ‘secret’ ingredients. ;)
Grant looks more like Aaron Rodgers than Enos Yoder, LOL!
I saw dog leashes, not tack.
That bread turned out beautifully!
Predators are an issue for us with our chickens, too. I’d like them to be able to go outdoors, but with the number of dogs and puppies usually running around, not to mention hawks, raccoon, coyote, eagles, our barn cats, etc., they are safer in a corner of the barn where Beau built their, ‘Luxury Accommodations Coop.’
Five inches of 'white fluffy' overnight - it's very pretty - covering up the 'yuck' leftover of last week's 10 inches. Already shoveled a path to the feeders and the compost bin. Beau is off plowing in Madison. I will finish my shoveling after breakfast, then it's on to wrapping Christmas gifts, since he's out of the house. I'm pretty sure I have all the bases covered - I shop for Christmas gifts all year long. Have a pleasant Sunday, Everyone!
So Grant likes and makes bread, walks dogs and looks like Aaron Rodgers!
Shhh! The bread was quietly whispering "Butter! Jam!" :)
How have you been friend?
Like Fleishmans, King Arthur also has a web site. (I was looking at their same day baguettes, a recipe that of course, uses a lot of flour!)
For the pictured loaf I used King Arthur's 12% protein Bread flour. I added some Sorghum Syrup to the water 1 tsp. It provides some vitamin C and iron and sugars that might help dough rise. Ascorbic acid, or a little Diastatic barley malt also adds sugar and browns the crust. I have been using Overhulsers Sorghum (Tennesse or KY I think?) My father used to buy tins of Maasdams sorghum. (They are located in Pella IA)
Something to try...When you put your dough in the hot dutch oven throw some ice cubes in the bottom of the oven to create steam and moisture that will provide pressure and keep the rising crust a little moister and maybe allow it to rise a little longer? I also saw this watching noted Poultry Expert Martha Steward doing a shows with a baker who put a tray filled with water in the oven to provide steam during baking. :)
Note....King Arthur Bread Flour is available in 10 Lb bags at my Sams Club for $8-$9, a better price than my local grocery store.
Bon, Spoken like a true lady! Exercise and expressing yourself with bread!
Amidst all of the hubbub I somehow failed to register that it’s now December.
Pops is out of the crash house. The nerve ablation procedure seems to be doing the trick so far. He’s still having some slightly odd heart rhythms, but his bpm is now consistently staying within a healthy range, and he’s not had any dizzy/passout spells since that was done. He felt good enough to come over for breakfast this morning and stay to visit for a couple of hours.
#1 Granddaughter Lexi is here today helping Mrs. Augie decorate the Christmas tree. They’re making good progress and enjoying their time together.
Howard has made amazing progress learning to use the jingle bells on the house door to ask out. He now understands that if he rings the bells he WILL get to go outside. I’ve been giving him 10-20 minutes of unsupervised outdoor time every time he asks out, and so far this weekend he has thanked me for that with 100% recall to voice command, even when he’s out of sight of the house - I haven’t had to beep his collar even once.
I’ve been busy setting up my new desktop computer. The old one cratered last week. It was an I3 processor model and was really suffering under Windoze 11 so rather than fix it I replaced it with an I7 model that has enough RAM in it to run smoothly.
Outdoor temps have warmed to above freezing and it’s a muddy mess out there. I got Nanner out yesterday and loaded some composted horse poo for my buddy Nick to put on his garden. It looks like the computer work is going to keep me indoors all day so harvesting the rest of my turnips will have to wait for another day.
I’m great, Ern. My garden wasn’t up to par this season - too much rain. WAY too much rain! Did OK on tomatoes, had decent amount of green beans, NO bell peppers, had way too many Cucumbers - they loved the constant rain - and my zucchini took over the countryside, but would grow to baseball bat size overnight and be useless. Also, due to all the rain.
We’re raising another steer, we have chickens now, so that’s fun. Currently we have 13 dogs on hand - counting the House Beagle, and one that’s on ‘loan’ to see if Beau wants to buy it. It’s not looking good, Willy isn’t up to Beau’s high standards in a ‘coon dog. I THINK we’ll have one or two puppies coming to me this spring from a litter from Beau’s hunting buddy/co-dog owner. I love raising those puppies - though my landscaping always takes a hit and the cats aren’t too crazy about it, LOL!
Health-wise we are doing well. Just got my 30,000 Mile Check up at the VA. My blood pressure is back to normal and while I do have some bone density loss...it’s because I’m old! She couldn’t find anything else wrong with me. I’m having trouble coping with turning 65. I’m letting my ‘Salt and Pepper’ gray grow in this winter - and for the first time in my life I won’t be a Dumb Blond, LOL! I may as well try to catch up to Beau - he’s 100% white, or ‘un-pigmented’ as they now say on your Driver’s License...which makes him sad, LOL!
After many hints dropped by me over the years about ‘managing our woodlot’ we had some Black Walnut trees tagged for harvesting. But the company is going to wait to harvest them because right before the tariffs kicked in, China sent a MASSIVE boatload of Black Walnut to the states and sunk the price. Boo! But, it’ll go back up again. Those trees aren’t going anywhere, and they just get more valuable by the year.
Current projects on the house include: New decking and paint and all new metal railings and posts on the front porch. (We stained the back deck 2 summers ago - what a job!) New lighting in the kitchen and pantry/laundry and a tin ceiling for the kitchen. Deciding on white or silver - it’s a small room, so I’m leaning towards white for even more light reflection.
So, we keep busy. Glad winter is here, though. I need to rest up for another big gardening season next year. Hoping for a DRY one! :)
Check these ‘bad boys’ out .... I think I’ll make them for our family dinner next Sunday! I was looking for something no one else would be making :-)
Parmesan Candied Bacon Crackers
https://badbatchbaking.com/candied-bacon-crackers/
Candied bacon----what could possibly go wrong?
The baby goats are arriving! “Hershey”, a Dwarf Nigerian, had twins late this afternoon - boy & girl. Of course, they’re very cute!
My niece sent me a picture of her udder the other day & said ‘a week to go’. I didn’t see how she would make it a week bagged up that tight ... and she didn’t.
‘Christmas Crack’ LOL!
You will be the hit of the Par-TAY! :)
Glad that Pops is feeling better. I took care of ‘My Old Man’ for 12 years - every day was precious...even if he was a cranky old Kraut. I hope to follow in his footsteps one day and make my caretakers EARN their money. ;)
Still lovin’ me some Howard! Always. *HEART*
Mrs. Augie and the Christmas Tree and Granddaughter - can’t get ANY better than those memories!
My new computer is still sitting in the box...waiting to be unleashed...as is my new bread machine. YUM!
4 degrees right now - clear and COLD for the overnight...but the Moon looks gorgeous and all of the dogs, chickens, steer, mule, cats, etc. are tucked in and fed, watered and warm.
I got all ‘my’ snow shoveled early and the Sun did the rest. More next week, but it IS Winter on The Frozen Tundra. Only FIVE inches of snow? A mere flesh wound!
And a Packer’s WIN was the Cherry on Top for today! YA-HOO!:)
P.S. The Bears Still Suck!
My wife turns 65 on Xmas eve!
I convinced her to let go off her hair dye trips about 15-20 yrs ago and now she is all silver n white which as I told her.....goes perfectly with her green eyes.
Glad to hear your health is good.
Want to hear something funny?
My phone browser wouldn’t let me go “back” from the open posting page I was on and you can’t hit “browse” from that page so I sent you a “how are you doing my friend” post to move off of the “posting” page and it worked better than I could have hoped for because I got a fantastic update on you!
And now I want black walnut lumber!
I’m going to attempt to harvest some sections of oak tree that are on the ground are my property I have a chainsaw Mill attachment and I’ve been meaning to make some mantles for our two fireplaces.....which would make a great gift for the wife!
Beau made our mantle from Cherry and it is gorgeous. My BFF liked it so much she BEGGED him for one, and a few years later he made her one from a recycled Oak beam he hauled off of a construction site where they were tearing down an old farm house to extend a road.
When he worked construction he dragged home all kinds of things - even a hatch from a submarine which is now the entrance to his brothers chicken coop.
Yeah - they’re BOTH kinda goofy, LOL!
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