Windy Weekend

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Winter leaves me without a lot to say. I mostly putter around. I have been setting up a work space in the library. I have been more interested in electronics lately. I have been scraping out electronics in the basement when the spirit moves me. I have also been out to the forge a few times but have yet to make anything. I have also been trying to grow barley grass in the basement. I plan to give it to the chickens as a treat once I get it started.
I have also been researching a few things. I have really been interested in alternate power generation as of late. I think this spring I will try and make some form of small wind generator. I am only planning on charging a few NiCad batteries at first but maybe it will be the start of something good.
I tell you if I had had a wind generator this weekend I would be sitting pretty. We had sustained 20-30MPH winds here from Saturday to Sunday.

Later
Rick

Super Pancake Tuesday.

Well Jess and I went to our first caucus this evening after work. I have to admit that I was a little nervous going in. In truth it was a great experience, I got to meet a number of like minded neighbors and share views and ideas with them. I was surprised to see the number of people that were Democrats from my little township.
I also found out about another candidate for democratic party endorsement in the upcoming senate race. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. I was surprised that I hadn't heard of him before. I listened to a bit of the NPR Minnesota Debate and I liked what I heard from him. I am not sure yet that I am ready to endorse him outright but I did find him to be a viable candidate and plan to find out more about him.

Baked eggs and bread

Yesterday I started another 2 loaves of no-knead bread. I made one loaf with tomato and rosemary and the other was plain. I baked them up this morning. Jess and I had some with eggs and bacon for breakfast-brunch. I then saw a post over on Gardenfork.tv about baked eggs. Well I figured that they might be a good thing to put on top of some toasted rosemary bread. Jess and I made a few ramekins of eggs for dinner as well. We added cheese, turkey and heirloom tomato to the eggs as well. They were great. I think we will certainly make them again.
On another note Ben asked after one post if I'd had any trouble with the Kitchen Aid pasta maker. I can now say that I have. We made spaghetti for dinner last night again. I tried to mix the pasta in the bowl with the machine instead of kneading it by hand. The pasta dough didn't want to come together so I added more water and oil till it did. It made a nice looking dough quickly after that. But the dough ended up too wet and resisted passing through the plate and the dough that did stuck together. I had just about given up when my awesome wife stepped in and proceeded to kneed much more flour into the dough. The resulting dough seemed to dry but it made a much better pasta. We ended up eating the pasta with more kale with garlic.
Delicious.

Rick

Brrrrrr ..!!

Well we survived the night. For those who read this from somewhere other than Minnesota last nights temps were in the -17F region. That wouldn't be so bad in and of itself but the winds were coming out of the North at 20-30MPH. This poor old house couldn't keep making heat fast enough. So the house was in the mid 60's this morning. Also the shower froze up. That made for a rough morning. I did get the pipes thawed out this morning and had a nice warm cup of coffee on the way to work. No damage done except to my state of mind.

Take care and stay warm,
Rick

Week end wrap up

Spent a few hours working with a shovel this afternoon. First I finished shoveling out the driveway. I also opened up a passage out to the forge. We are getting more light in the evenings these days so I am looking forward to spending more time out in the forge. I will try and get some pictures once I get it going again. I guess I will have to look around and see if there are any garden or farmstead related forge projects to try my hand at. I really am a hack in the forge. I enjoy it though. I guess that is the price of being a Jack of all trades.
Jess and I also went to Gertens today just to dream and see plants. I always love going to a greenhouse of some form on a sunny day in the winter. It reminds you how good spring will feel.

Rick

Peak oil movie.

Latest Happenings

Well we traded some eggs to our pal Ben yesterday for a waffle maker. I have decided to give the maker a value of 20$. That is probably a bit high but it will allow me to offset almost 3 bags of chicken feed. I would need to turn the house into a small appliance shop to totally meet my goal of showing a profit on the farming activities. Just the same every little bit helps.
In other news I am getting increasingly interested in energy use in the house and farm. I have been looking into solar for heating and electric. I have also been looking into wind power as well. I love the idea of getting the farm off the grid but right now it isn't really all that possible. In the mean time I have been tightening the ductwork and insulating everything I can get access to in order to make the most of what we are already using.

Also made dried cherry scones for breakfast.

Rick

Carb lovers weekend

Well with the low low temps this weekend we have been staying in and doing some cooking. Yesterday we made some pasta. It was my first attempt at making pasta and I think it turned out quite well. We finished it with a sauce made of canned tomato sauce and herbs and onions from the pantry. We used some of the oregano that I had dried last year. I love when we make a meal out of mostly home produced stock. We used the pasta recipie from Lidia Bastianich's cookbook. It was great because a single batch used up a bunch of egg yolks. I will have to try and dry some pasta at some point. I am just a little concerned about leaving egg product out that long after they have been mixed with something. It is probably nothing to worry about considering we are using eggs from the hen house, but I still needed to take this step first.
We also made 2 loaves of bread. The first was my first modification of the No-Kneed bread recipe. I added a hand full of fresh rosemary and some chopped up dried tomato from our garden last year. It turned out good but I think I will be adding even more tomato and rosemary next time. The other loaf was just the standard recipe.

Stay warm folks
Rick

New Post.

Well a lot has happened since my last post. I turned 35. I think I am starting to notice more the passing of the years. I don't feel old just that I think I am more aware that I will be old. I don't mind the idea, but I would rather it took it's time with me.
In related news my mom was struck by a car while coming to the party. I can't talk about the details of the event right now. But mom is OK. It has taken up a lot of time lately but at least winter is the less busy season around here.

They are predicting temps to the low -20F this weekend!

Stay warm!!

Dinner and The Good Life

Hey all,
Well Jess and I have been spending a lot of time in lately. We have been watching a lot of DVD's. Jess got me the complete series of Good Neighbors. I believe it was known as the good life in the UK. I think I got started on the whole self sufficiency thing from that show. I was most impressed by the relationship of the main characters especially Tom and Barbara. I think a number of the current crop of self sufficiency devotes got there initial interest from that show. The Selfsufficientish forums even use the main characters to denote number of posts.
In other news we made dinner the other night of egg bake with garlic sauteed kale. I have to tell you after working in the chow hall in boot camp in the Navy I thought I hated kale. I never had to eat it there, just use it to cover everything. Rotten smelling slimy kale. Well it turns out that like a lot of things kale is better in the real world. I decided to buy some and see if I could handle it. It turns out that not only can I handle it, I loved it. The things you learn I guess. I am planning on planting some this spring.