We Have Chicks!

...and they're so darn cute when they're just so little!  Here's a few pics of them, just one day old...

Just the layers and guinea keets

103 cornish cross meat birds, 25 layers, and 5 guineas!

We're Ready for Chicks!

Here's a few pictures of our brooder setup!  Tomorrow morning we will be getting 100 cornish cross meat birds, 25 layers, and 5 guinea fowl.  They'll be sharing brooder quarters to begin with and move to their different "permanent" housing in several weeks.  This brooder is an updated and improved version of the one Dan built last year.  It easily accommodates 100+ chicks for at least 2 weeks.  It's 4'x8'.  The main difference this year is the taller sides to allow for deep bedding.  It has a board inserted on one end that allows us to start with a smaller space and open it out further as the chicks need more room.

I plan on posting more pictures tomorrow (or soon after that!) once all our chicks have arrived!

We use only organic feed for our meat birds!   We are blessed to have a local farmer in our county that is certified organic and grows nearly all the ingredients for this ration on his own farm.

Heavenly Grilled Chicken!

Alright, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but...last night I think I made the best chicken I've ever tasted.  Of course I can't really take all the credit.  Google might have had something to do with it!

Have you ever tried grilling a whole chicken?  Not a whole chicken cut up...really whole!  If not, you absolutely must try it.  It's fabulous.

Here's what I did.  I hesitate to call this a recipe because many of the steps are open to interpretation, but you'll get the idea.  It's super easy and so remarkably delicious!  Sorry there's no picture, but we ate it up too fast.

1.  If frozen, thaw your chicken (a pastured chicken from The Family Farm would be best, haha!).  I used 2 chickens about 2 lbs. each.  (We had a number of really small ones from our first batch).  But the method will work for larger birds, too.

2.  Brine chicken in salt water for about 2 hours.  Don't get all worried about amounts here.  Just dump about 1/2 cup sea salt in a freezer bag along with your chicken and add enough water to just cover it.

3.  Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Brush with olive oil all over.  Sprinkle with your favorite herbs and put a few in the cavity.  Again, this is open to what you have on hand.  Here's what I used:

On the outside:
-olive oil
-sage
-lemon pepper seasoning
-Alderwood-smoked sea salt (wonderful stuff, from a local lady who makes spices!)

And the cavity:
-1 sprig fresh rosemary
-3 sprigs fresh oregano
-about 1/4 onion

4.  Preheat grill--gas is best for this.  Light just one side on high.  When grill is hot, place chicken breast down on the unlit side of the grill.  You are essentially making an "oven" with the grill.  Grill with lid closed for about 90 minutes for an average 4-5 lb. chicken (ours, of course, went a little faster!)  Rotate chicken (don't flip it over; rotate like a clock!) halfway through cooking.  Resist the temptation to keep opening the grill lid to peek!  This lets all the heat out of your oven!  Test for doneness with a meat thermomete inserted in the meatiest part of the thigh--you're looking for 160 degrees.  When done, remove and let sit for 10 minutes before carving.

Simply delicious.

Factory Farm vs. Pastured Poultry: a Side-by-side Test!

We just had our first batch of pastured poultry processed this morning, and I was eager to try one side by side with a store-bought, factory-style chicken.  I must say, I was shocked at the difference; not so much in appearance, but in taste and texture.

I bought the smallest chicken our local Meijer store had, which was over 5 1/2 lbs.  Ours was about 3 1/2 lbs.  For the sake of giving you a true side-by-side comparison, I did not edit these photos in any way.

Store-bought on left, ours on right

In the roasting pan.  A little butter in the cavity along with some celery.  Sprinkled with salt and pepper...that's it!  Wanted to really taste the "chicken" flavor.

Our chicken, done!  Notice the beautiful, even browning on the skin and nice proportion of the legs to the breast.

Store-bought, done.  This bird has such huge breasts that the skin was split, leaving it to dry out during roasting.  Also notice how the whole bird seems puny compared to those giant breasts...I have no idea how that poor bird could even walk.  

I shredded a bit of breast meat from each bird to show the difference...ours on the left, store's on the right.

I think the most shocking difference to me was the difference in texture between the two birds.  The only way I can really describe it is that our pastured chicken had substance, where the factory-farmed bird was...like mush.  See the difference in the photo above?  Now don't get me wrong...ours was not "tough" in any way.  Just a very satisfying meatiness.  The mushiness of the other bird struck me as seeming really unnatural.

And how about taste?  Ours was, once again, far superior.  About the only flavor present in the store bought chicken was the salt solution they get bathed in before packaging.  In fact, the breast meat closest to the bone in the middle of the bird pretty much had no flavor at all.  The pastured chicken, on the other hand, had a rich "chickennish" flavor all the way through, in both the white and dark portions.  

Hands down winner?  Our organic pastured poultry!  We'll be running another batch starting in August, so give some a try!

Why Pastured Poultry?

I'm sure you're all wondering why it's worth spending double the cost of supermarket chicken for our pastured poultry from The Family Farm.  We encourage you to do your own research, but I'll highlight a few of the biggest reasons for you here, just to get you going...

1.  Health.  Chicken from the supermarket is raised on a grain ration almost entirely made of corn, which is high in energy but low in vitamins and minerals.  According to poultry expert Joel Salatin, "When animals are fed a high energy, low vitamin/mineral diet, they tend to have more saturated fat (cholesterol) in their meat, milk, or eggs, just like people.  When these same animals consume a large percentage of green material, the saturated fat of their animal protein diminishes."

2.  Organic.  We debated whether to give all organic feed or not, since organic feed is nearly double the cost.  In the end we decided to go all the way, both from a health standpoint and to make a deliberate point of supporting local organic farmers.  We will be getting our feed from a local farmer who has been certified organic for over 20 years.  [For pricing reasons, we would consider doing a separate batch sometime in the future that is not organic, but still raised on pasture.  If you would be interested in that, please leave a comment!]

*as a side note, we are not Certified Organic, nor are we seeking certification at this time.  We encourage you to come visit us, see how we raise our animals and get to know us.  We would much rather have our customers trust their farmers, not a government label...but that's another whole story!

3.  Humane animal treatment.  I'm sure you've all heard the stories about how poultry is raised on "factory farms"; overcrowded, reeking of ammonia from their urine, no windows, etc.  Our chickens will be outside in the fresh air all day, every day.  They will have fresh green grass every day and be able to peck at all the bugs, grubs, and worms their little chicken hearts desire.

4.  Local.  You can have the peace of mind of knowing who, where, and how your food was raised, and the satisfaction of supporting a business in your own community.  Our chickens are raised right here in Columbiaville from baby chick to broiler.  They are processed nearby at a local meat processor.  (In the next year or so we hope to begin processing our own as well!)

5.  Taste.  Pastured chicken just tastes different...more "chickenish"!  It's delicious!

Now that brings us to the final question...is it worth it?  For our family, the answer is yes.  We hope you'll give it a try...once you do, we're pretty sure you'll be hooked!

So, what's the main reason you want to try pastured poultry from The Family Farm?  It can be one of our reasons, or a reason of your own!  Leave a comment on this post and we'll randomly choose one winner to receive 10% off your first order!

We're On Facebook!

The Courser Family Farm finally has a home...on facebook, that is!  Take a look and give us a "like".  We'll be posting all the need-to-know farm updates there (like what we have available, prices, specials, all that good stuff).  See you there!

p.s.  I will write a real blog post again...sometime...I promise.

Basic Berry Smoothie

Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest!  I've been trying to use up our frozen berries from last summer since spring is coming soon.  It looks like we'll have an early strawberry season this year considering the ridiculously warm weather we've been having, so I need to make room in my freezer for a new season's harvest! The smoothie I made for lunch today was a hit, so I thought I'd share the recipe.  (Keep in mind the amounts here are "suggestions" because I wasn't measuring anyways!)

Basic Berry Smoothie


2 cups frozen strawberries
3/4 cup red raspberries
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup raw milk (or more, to desired consistency)
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla


Blend well.  Makes about 4 servings.

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 3

Or, "How is This Ever Going to Work"???

Here I'll be getting into the nuts and bolts of our homestead operation, or "the nitty gritty" as our son would say!  How exactly do we plan on being able to live off our 20 acres, you might ask?  Well, from a combination of factors, which I'll list here, in no particular order...

1.  GET OUT OF DEBT!!!  Being debt-free will be so wonderful!  We are very aggressively working on paying off our loans.  Thankfully, we are finally done paying off our last house, which we had to sell as quite a large loss due to the sorry state of the housing market.  The good side to the real estate situation is that we were able to get our house and 20 acres for an amazing price last March.  We are blessed that Dan has a very good job right now, so our plan is to be very aggressive in paying it all off.  Our goal is to be debt-free in under three years.

2.  Grow/raise as much of our own food as possible.  This summer we'll be experimenting with several things, including chickens and possibly beef, primarily for our own use.

3.  Garden like my life depends on it.  When I think of the pioneers (the true "homesteaders"!) I know that they had to have a successful garden, or they didn't eat any vegetables for the whole year.  If I'm going to be serious about making this work, I have to look at it that way.  It used to be that if my garden got overrun with weeds by July or burned up by drought, I would just say, "Oh well, I'll try harder next year."  While I'm not really interested in running a market garden for profit, I DO need to work at learning to plan better and be more diligent tending our "food supply"!

4.  Pastured Poultry.  Assuming we do ok with raising chickens this summer, we anticipate this being one of our primary sources of income.  Quite a few people are already doing it, but I really don't believe the market is saturated yet!  There is such a huge difference between the quality of pastured poultry and factory-farm, mass-processed poultry.  I want to feed my family the best and enable as many other families as possible to do so as well!

5.  Courser Deer Processing.  This is another major source of income for us, and could be even more when we get to the point where Dan can be at home full time.  As you've probably already read from previous posts, we will be moving our deer processing operation from Dan's parents' house to ours.  This past season we processed around 320 deer.  Through some advertising and marketing, we're hoping to push that number to 400 next season.  I'm also planning on experimenting with making sausage.  Currently we send it out to have sausage made, but our profit margin could be much higher if we did it ourselves.

6.  Soap and candles...which is still in the "experimental" phase!  I'm playing around with making some different blends of deer tallow soaps.  We'll see how this goes...if you would like to be a "product tester" please let me know!

7.  Other value-added products, such as all-natural jams, jellies, preserves, granola, baked goods, and the like.  Unfortunately, without a licensed kitchen I cannot sell these items online.  I'll have to stick with word of mouth, local food co-ops, and maybe selling at the Farmers' Market.  We'll see.  That sounds like a lot of work.  But I am a little compulsive when it comes to preserving things...I can't stand to see resources go unused!  So, I may as well make a little money from it too, right?

8.  Pastured beef and/or pork.  This may still be a little ways down the road, but would be a great compliment to our farm.  And I really love to eat beef and pork:-)

Well, there's the gist of it!  I'm probably forgetting something.  Of course along with all of that is just being generally thrifty.  Dan and I feel an increasing sense of urgency to be out of debt.  Maybe it's the economy, or political state of things, or just our itch to be truly free in regards to our resources.  At any rate, we would love to hear your suggestions and comments!  Have a brilliant idea for us?  Let us know!  And watch for an exciting post coming soon, including an unofficial "launch" and announcement of our homestead's name!

Just for fun...some nature study artwork from last summer!  Clockwise from top left: mine, Percival (age 3, impressive, right?), Lancelot, age 8, and Galahad, age 6.  (I change my kids' names on here to protect their privacy!)

...and the inspiration for the artwork above!  Did you know that those teenie little hooks were the inspiration behind Velcro?

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 2: Our History.

Otherwise titled: How the Heck We Came Up With This Crazy Idea!

Honestly, I have been seriously dragging my feet on this post.  I'm finding it really hard to put into words exactly how we have arrived at this point...hopefully I can put something together here that makes at least a little sense and gives you a general idea of where we're coming from!

Neither Dan nor I are farmers.  Neither of us grew up on a true farm (although Dan's family had something of a hobby farm...chickens, horses, a few pigs and a dairy cow for a time).  And certainly neither of us dreamed several years ago that we would be looking at earning a living from "the land".  I graduated from college with a degree in music ministry, and Dan is a mechanical engineer.  So how in the world did we get to where we are now?  In short, I think God has just wired us this way.  We both seem to have a natural bent to do things differently.

I suppose this journey really began shortly after we got married.  We gave birth to our first child just a little over a year after our wedding...a little earlier than what we had "planned".  Since we got married the summer before my senior year of college, this meant I never had the opportunity to go into the "real world" (haha) and get a job in my own field.  Instead, I graduated from college and gave birth to our son three months later.  At the time it was a bit of a shock.  I always knew I wanted to stay home with my children--I was tremendously blessed to have been raised by a mom who was home--but I hadn't expected that phase of life to arrive quite so soon!  However, in hindsight, I see what a blessing this was.  I never had to deal with the feeling of "leaving" a career or getting involved in a job that would be difficult to step away from.  I went directly from pouring my energy into school to directing my efforts to my home and family.  Just under two years later, we welcomed son #2 into the world (again sooner than "planned"!) and we began to give some thought to our childrens' education.  After considerable research and prayer, we decided we wanted to homeschool our kids.  I probably put in enough study hours researching education, homeschool materials, learning styles, etc. to equal another college major.  We knew it was a huge decision and not something we wanted to take lightly.

Throughout this process I came across several books that were truly life-changing.  The first is a wonder of a little book called The Mother At Home by John S. C. Abbott.  Yes, it's old-fashioned.  Yes, it flies in the face of "modern" ideas of womanhood.  And it totally transformed my outlook on being a mom.  Prior to this point, I viewed my role as stay-at-home motherhood as the "right thing" to do; the "broccoli" of life.  You know, the things you do because they're good for you but you really can't wait for the dessert you see coming later (like having "my" job, "my" time, "my" body back, etc.)  The Lord used this book to soften my heart to motherhood as a noble, fulfilling, and absolutely necessary job.  For the first time, I allowed myself to be content being "just" a mom...by the way ladies, watch yourselves when you respond to that question, "So what do you do?"  Don't treat your job like it is inferior or some sort of drudgery: sigh..."Oh, I "just" stay home with the kids..."  I've caught myself replying this way and it's complete bunk!  There's no "just" about it!  Your job is important, necessary, imperative, world-changing, kingdom-building...you get the idea.  Here's the other conversation I have frequently that is another opportunity to share the joy of motherhood.  It usually goes something like this, and typically occurs either in the grocery store or at church:

Stranger: "Whoa, four boys, huh?"
Me: "Yup!"
Stranger: "Wow, they sure must keep you busy.  Never a quiet moment for you, right?"  (Did you ever think about how this must make the kids feel?  I mean they're standing right there.  Can you imagine if someone said something like that about your husband while he's standing right next to you?)
Me:  Here is where we get the chance to take a stand--however small--for the huge blessing of motherhood.  I usually try to respond with something like, "Yes, we're busy, but these boys work really hard!" or, "I sure am glad I have all these helpers!"  Hopefully even a little thing like that might begin to change that person's perspective on children and parenting, and it encourages the kids at the same time.

Anyways...this is going somewhere, I promise!  Throughout these years we were living over two hours away from both of our families and Dan was serving as a youth pastor at a small rural church in southern Michigan.  (How he went from engineer to youth pastor is another whole story.)  After serving in that church for about seven years we decided it was time for Dan to get back into the engineering field.  Being a youth pastor was a remarkable learning experience for Dan and our whole family, but it was clear that his spiritual gifts were not quite lining up with that role, and we had a deepening desire to serve in a capacity more geared towards family ministry than youth.  So we started praying about what direction to take next.  Then 2008 happened.  The automotive industry went south practically overnight and took most of Michigan's engineering jobs down with it.  But, we still felt that God was calling us to move on, so Dan cautiously informed our church's leaders that he was going to start looking for engineering positions.  Dan sent an application to the company where he had worked right out of college, and much to our amazement, they called him in for an interview.  Within two weeks of making the decision to start job hunting, he had an offer!  He even got the same office he'd had 8 years earlier.

Around the same time, we were listening to a lecture series from Vision Forum called "Entrepreneurial Bootcamp".  Included in the series was a lecture about running a successful agrarian-based home business by a guy named Joel Salatin.  Dan listened to it first and was all excited about Salatin's ideas and lifestyle.  My reaction at the time was sort of a lukewarm, "Hm, that's interesting I guess."  Then about a year later I got around to watching Food, Inc., the documentary about where our store-bought food comes from, and there was "that guy", Joel Salatin!  Fascinated by his passion for his land (and food!), I started casually reading a little about the approach of his farm. 

Now, fast-forward a year or two.  We gave birth to boy #4, moved back to our hometown, started ramping up the deer processing business, and got a great deal on our house with 20 acres.  Once again we started dreaming about the direction our family needed to go.  I've always loved things like canning, freezing, bread-making, etc., so naturally I started thinking about how to use our property in those ways.  Dan spends about two hours on the road every day driving to and from work and is away from home about 12 house of the day.  It became increasingly clear to us that we all desired for Dan to be able to stay home so that we could all work together.  What really sort of "sealed the deal" for us was our 10th anniversary trip to Staunton, Virginia.  We planned our anniversary there because we really wanted to visit Joel Salatin's farm, Polyface.  I know, I know.  Real romantic, a trip to a farm, right?  Actually Staunton is an awesome town--we would highly recommend it!  And we were both impressed with how the farm runs, the natural, land-improving techniques, and most of all the attitude of families being able to work together at a livelihood that allows them to make the world a better, healthier place.  It felt right to us.  We bought a few of their books at the farm, including the title, You Can Farm by Joel Salatin.  Odd as it may sound, this was another life-changer for me. And you know what chapter really did it for me?  The chapter on soil improvement.  I was amazed by God's design for the earth; its complexity and natural fertility. The potential for productivity (and in turn providing high-quality food for a nutrient-starved world) was something of a revelation.  Right about now you're probably all thinking I've totally lost it.  Gone off the deep end.  Maybe so, but I can also honestly say that I've never felt such hope, promise, and excitement for the future of our family and the impact we could have on our community.  Some might call us crazy, but it sure is a great place to be.

As you can see, God has orchestrated quite a journey for us.  He blessed us with children before I had a chance to have my heart divided with a career, He molded my character to turn my heart towards my home, gave Dan and I a common vision, provided a job when the economy went down the drain, and provided us with a house, land, and a hearty dose of inspiration just when we needed it.  In the end it is our desire that this story would be about Him, not us.  It is by His grace and mercy alone that we are where we are today.  Truly as we are told in Colossians 3:23-24,

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

I apologize (sort of) for the length of this post.  Really, I could say so much more!  Like how my mom taught me to love cooking meals for the family and how to bake from scratch, or the impact the time spent with my Grandma (probably the sweetest, gentlest person I've ever known) had on my childhood, or the blessing of having a Dad who cared about being home and spending time with his kids.  I could write volumes about all these things, but then this would turn into a personal memoir!  I hope I've been able to give you at least an idea of where we're coming from.  We welcome your comments and ideas!  

Next post in the series: Our Basic Plan (or, "How in God's Green Earth Do You Think You Can Pull This Off?")

Dan takes a peek inside the mobile hen house at Polyface.

Joel Salatin demonstrates the ease of moving the pastured broiler pens during our "Lunatic Tour".

Some of the first "fruits" of our new property: wild grape jelly!  So delicious, and I didn't even have to plant or weed a single thing!

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 1: Our Vision

Ok folks, today begins my first "series" of blog posts!  How many parts to this series?  Who knows...until I feel like I've said enough, I guess!  Forgive me if it sounds a little bit like I'm thinking out loud throughout this series...because I am.  We are just beginning to shape our "dream"; our vision for what we want our family life and livelihood to look like.  It seems clear to us that God has brought many factors together into one place for us lately, and I'm going to take a little time to explain it to you.  Hopefully we here at Domestic Reformation will understand ourselves better in the process, too.

I'll keep this pretty basic today since future posts in the series will cover many aspects in greater depth, but let me begin by laying out our overall vision by defining some things (thanks to Merriam-Webster online!)...

agrarian: of or relating to fields or lands or their tenure.  Yup.  You heard me right.  We actually intend to "make a living off our land".  Well, mostly...more about that in a minute.  We've been blessed with 20 acres, about two-thirds of which is open land.  The rest is brushy undergrowth, young-ish forest, and our yard.   Is it possible to earn enough cash off 20 acres to live comfortably?  We believe it is.

home: one's place of residence.  Our dream is that our whole family--Dan included--will be able to work together here at our own home--our own "place of residence".  Around here we find that we get exponentially more accomplished in a day when we're all working together than when we are split off in our separate ways all day.  There's a kind of synergy that occurs when we're all working together, and it's way more fun than being apart all day.  Our family actually likes to be together!  Will it always be sunshine and roses?  Of course not!  But it's not a bad goal:)

Let me be clear: a "home-based business" does not mean we intend to become hermits or social recluses.  However, it does mean spending more time actually at home.  Less running, fewer last-minute trips to the store, better planning, more intentional time spent with friends and family.  As I mentioned above, we plan to "live off of" our 20 acres, but we will continue with Courser Deer Processing, which I suppose, being a service-based business, can't really be considered living off our land.  Currently we run this business at a different location, but our goal is to move it here for next season.  Being away from our own home so much is taking a toll on us already, and this year's hunting season is just getting started!

lifestyle: the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture.  I hesitate to call this merely a home-based "business" because it is about more than just money for us.  It's a way of life, and a way of life that is radically different than most folks.  Our dream is to have a lifestyle that not only "pays the bills", but is more rewarding, more fulfilling, more healthy, and more whole than what "normal" American culture has to offer.  And, we hope it's contagious.  We hope that when others see what we're doing they, too, might be inspired to slow down and smell the proverbial flowers...literally.


Our intent is not in any way to sound condescending or "holy-er than thou".  Right now we are in the dreaming, visioning phase where anything can happen.  It's probably something of a honeymoon phase.  Hard days will come when we wonder what in the world we've gotten ourselves into.  But for now I hope maybe you can all dream with us a little bit as the series develops, and maybe even help us shape our vision of what's to come!

Next post: the "History" of our vision (or, "How the Heck Did We Come Up With This Wacky Idea?")  No promises as to when that post is coming.  After all, it's deer season.  I'm sure you'll all be waiting with bated breath though, right?

A few shots from the south side of the property at sunrise.

Isn't it beautiful?  We are so blessed!

Courser Deer Processing!

The season is officially underway...deer season, that is!  Courser Deer Processing is up and running.  We took in 8 deer just today--we've had a promising start so far!  If you'd like more information, you can find us on facebook.  Happy hunting everyone!

Preserving Apples, Part 1

Isn't it pretty?  And they taste a-ma-zing.  Crispy, flavorful, and sweet!

I've been so thrilled this past week with the abundant apple "crop" at our new house!  And you know I can't stand to just let them sit there.  We've been on the run so much this summer that I haven't been able to do much preserving, but I'm determined to get some of those apples stored away, in various forms.

The easiest method I'm trying this year is just packing them away in the basement (which is old, cold, and unfinished).  Hopefully it'll be a good place for them to keep a few months.  I followed the instructions from an article at the Backwoods Home website.  Basically you: 1) select only unbruised, unblemished apples; 2) wrap in black and white newspaper; 3) pack carefully in cardboard boxes.  Easy.  Of course, I still have to see if it actually works!  Hopefully I don't go down to the basement in a month and find a box full of rotten apple mush.

Yesterday I made spiced crabapple butter--one of my very favorite bread-topping treats!  Making apple butter isn't hard.  It's just a lot of work.  The boys and I picked about 1/2 a crate of crabapples (and a few regular apples, just for good measure).  Then I followed this recipe, given to me by a good friend in Bronson. She found it in an "old-fashioned" canning and preserving book.  I like this recipe because you can use if for whatever quantity of crabapples you happen to have on hand.

Wash and cut apples into quarters, without paring or coring.  Place in kettle with just enough water to cover, and cook slowly until tender.  Press through a colander or sieve.  Measure the strained pulp.  Add 1/2 as much sugar as pulp.  Bring to a boil and cook until mixture is thick.  [Stir often or it'll stick and burn!!]  Pack into clean, hot jars.  Seal.

I also added some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves for a nice spiced flavor.  My 1/2 crate yielded about 10 pints. I would really recommend using smaller jars--maybe 8 oz. jars--since we usually don't go through apple butter really fast, but pints were what I had around the house yesterday!  I also recently discovered a super easy way to sterilize and seal jars for high-acid/sugar foods, from the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook.  You put your clean jars and bands on a cookie sheet into a preheated 250 degree oven for 30 minutes while preparing your food to be canned.  Then, when you're ready to pack the jars, you just pull them out of the oven, fill them (make sure you clean the rims), secure the lids and bands, and put them back in the oven for 15 minutes.  So much easier than the hot water bath method!  The book is simply beautiful as well...highly recommended!

Earlier this summer we also did some bread and butter pickles, thanks to our neighbor who grows veggies for the Clarkston Farmers Market.  We did decide to spare Cornelia the Cuke though, because she was just too cute.

We Have a Winner! ...and a new recipe!

Congratulations to Kim, winner of the first giveaway on Domestic Reformation!  Kim, please email me at domesticreformation@gmail.com to arrange details for delivery!

And for the rest of you...give yourself a little gift and mix up a batch of these scrumptious waffles:

Oh Boy! (healthy) Waffles


Whisk together:
2 1/4 cups milk (we use whole raw milk...)
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 T. molasses

Stir in:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder

Serve with butter and real maple syrup for a hearty, delicious breakfast!

"Rawberry" Milk

Well...we've been trying to make a conscious effort around here to consume less processed foods and refined sugar and to eat more whole, raw foods.  Today I had an epiphany.  It probably will seem glaringly obvious to everybody else, but for some reason I hadn't thought of this yet.  Last month I made a whole bunch of strawberry freezer jam, but it turned out a lot more like strawberry syrup because I used WAY less sugar than the recipe called for.  I've been using it to blend into smoothies, on pancakes, things like that.  But today...I had the brilliant idea to blend it with milk and...voila!  Instant strawberry milk, made with real raw strawberries and no high fructose corn syrup!  If you want specifics...I used 1 quart of whole raw milk, 2/3 cup strawberry freezer "syrup", and blended for a few seconds in the blender.  So easy and so yummy!

Skin Care Giveaway from The Farmstead Apothecary!

Time for my first giveaway here at Domestic Reformation!  I really can't wait for you to try these products--they are simply the best skin care products I have used.  Jennifer at The Farmstead Apothecary is giving away a Lavender and Organic Evening Primrose Oil Moisturizer (my favorite!) and a Natural Lip Balm (your choice of scent).  Here's the description of her moisturizer:

Moisturize, hydrate and pamper your dry skin with this lovely face cream, one of our best sellers! 

Lavender is soothing for all skin types and has a wonderful, old fashioned, flowery-herbal aroma. The cold pressed, organic evening primrose oil adds a skin rejuvenating, anti-aging, healing quality to this amazing cream with it's high amounts of fatty acids. But, the best part is, of course, our goat's milk, full of skin softening lipids and exfoliating lactic acid.

This is a wonderful, light-weight moisturizer.  I've never been a big moisturizer fan because my skin tends to be oily and everything always felt so heavy on my face, but this cream is great.  Plus, it smells lovely!  My skin care routine now includes just washing my face with one of her goats' milk soaps and applying the moisturizer.  So simple, and it works.  I can't say enough good things about her products--I have loved everything I have tried.  I  routinely use her shampoo, bar soap, body lotion, and am about to try her Sun Drench Body Butter. Check out her shop on etsy for all her wonderful products!

Now for the giveaway details...here's how to enter.  Please leave a comment to this post for each entry so I can keep track of how many entries you have!  The winner will be randomly selected on Tuesday, August 16.

1.  Mandatory entry: follow my blog and leave a comment telling me you're following.
2.  Become a fan of The Farmstead Apothecary on facebook: The Farmstead Apothecary
3.  Share this giveaway on facebook.
4.  Share this giveaway on your own blog (worth 2 entries!)
5.  Follow Jennifer's blog at www.farmsteadorganics.blogspot.com
6.  Make a purchase from The Farmstead Apothecary on etsy (4 entries!) www.farmsteadorganics.etsy.com

Don't forget to leave a comment for each separate entry.  Otherwise it's going to be really hard to track how many entries you have!

*Disclaimer: I am not getting paid in any way for this review or giveaway, and the opinions expressed are completely my own.  I think for some kind of legal reason I have to tell you that.  Also, sorry mom, but the giveaway is not open to my immediate family.  But I'll gladly share my moisturizer with you if you ever want some:)

30 Day Weight Loss Challenge

I've had enough.  Enough of looking in the mirror and saying, "That's not my body".  Enough squeezing into jeans that barely fit because I refuse to buy new bigger ones.  And most importantly, enough filling my stomach with empty calories (at best) and harmful junk "food" at worst.  After boy #4 was born, I did pretty well losing the baby weight at first.  I managed to get down to somewhere around 147 lbs. just with the help of nursing, and I was good with that.  Keeping a few extra pounds on while nursing is a good thing.  Then he started weaning himself sooner than I expected, and by the time boy #4 was 11 months he was pretty much done nursing altogether.  And guess what...from about March until now, my weight steadily climbed up to 155 with no sign of slowing, putting me into the "overweight" category for my height.  It's time to do something.  My goal is to drop 10 pounds in the next 30 days.

In general, I believe in moderation.  A bowl of ice cream now and then isn't going to kill me.  Snacking on chips and salsa isn't all that bad.  But when it's a BIG bowl every night plus a whole bunch of chips and salsa right before bed...that's just getting out of control.  And one thing I've discovered since having kids is that, for whatever reason, I no longer have much self control when it comes to food.  I can't do moderation.  To really see any change I have to do something drastic.

Now, don't go and get nervous for me.  I'm not going to starve myself or anything (I'll show you what I ate for breakfast in a minute!)  My "diet" goes something like this:

1.  Aim for 1500-1600 calories a day
2.  Cut out pretty much all refined/added sugar
3.  Avoid excess carbs.  I know from experience that I have more lasting energy and feel much better when I get most of my calories from proteins and "good" fats, with a hearty dose of veggies to fill me up.
4.  Record what I eat in an online food diary, at least until things are a little more under control.  Having to write down every last thing makes me think twice!

I also plan on exercising daily.  I've been using The Biggest Loser: The Workout - Boot Camp (already on level 2!), plus doing pilates and fitness ball exercises for my abs and core.

I'll also be keeping you up to date once a week on my "stats".  I'm just as excited to see how these numbers change as my weight!  Here's my starting point:
Weight: 155
Waist: 31"
Hips: 42"
Thigh: 25"
Upper Arm: 12"

Anyone care to join me?  My total weight loss goal is 20 pounds, but I'm going to focus on tackling the first 10 right now.  If you want to make a similar decision, please leave me a comment and tell me your goals!  I'd love to have some extra help and support!  Also, here are a couple links you may find useful:

Online food diary/calorie counter
Free Nutrition Type Quiz --very informative, and was really accurate for me.

And, as promised, here's what I ate for breakfast!  I can't really take credit for the idea...I saw it on Food Network a few days ago.  And, by my calculations, it's only about 250 calories a serving!

"Deconstructed" Sweet Potato Hash
Serves 2

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 medium sweet onion, sliced
1 T. butter
water
salt
tarragon
2 eggs

Melt 1/2 T. butter n a small frying pan, then arrange sweet potatoes in a single layer. Cover with water and bring to a simmer.  Cook gently until water has all evaporated and test doneness (about 20-30 minutes).  Near the end of the cooking time, sprinkle with tarragon.  If necessary, add a little extra water if they need a little more time. Remove to serving plates.

Meanwhile in a separate pan, heat remaining 1/2 T. butter over medium heat.  Add onion and cook slowly over medium heat while sweet potatoes cook.  Put on plate at the same time as potatoes.

Fry two eggs using whatever method you like and add one to each plate.  Season it all to taste and enjoy!

I like my eggs over medium.  Yum!

Permaculture Strawberry Rescue!

Well, sort of.  You remember when I said I was so excited about planting all my little strawberry plants a while back?  I must have been crazy.  I just went and tilled up (ok, husband tilled up...) two long rows in the field north of our house and stuck them in the ground.  Now, since we haven't even been living there yet to tend to them, the beds look like this:

Do you seen any strawberries in there?  No?  They're there...somewhere.  Seriously, you think I would learn. Every spring I get planting fever, start tossing things in the ground and reap serious consequences later!  

I've been picking up lots of interesting tidbits from a book I'm reading right now called Earth User's Guide to Permaculture by Rosemary Morrow.  I was particularly interested in the concept of sheet mulching to start a new bed.  Oh, how I wish I had read this two months ago!  The basic concept is like this: 1.  Mow grass.  2.  Cover with cardboard.  3.  Layer mulch, composted manure, etc.  Since it was too late for me to do the whole process with my strawberry beds, I did my best with what I had to improve the situation!  First, I pulled out the weeds between the strawberry plants.  Then I cut cardboard squares basically to fit the shape between plants (and we have LOTS of cardboard to work with from the boxes all our new kitchen cabinets came in!)  Then I covered the spaces between the strawberry plants with a mixture of hay, pine needles, leaves and grass clippings that I had sitting next to the patch.  It wasn't completely composted yet, but it'll have to do for now.  Then I soaked the whole thing down with water.  Later when I get my hands on some manure (not literally...) I'll top it off with that too. So now, the portion of the bed I worked on looks like this:

not perfect, but a huge improvement!  This is only about 1/4 of the whole thing.  I'll keep plugging away at the rest!

 I don't agree with the entire philosophy behind permaculture.  The whole thing takes a pretty alarmist view of the depletion of the earth's resources, especially water and fuel.  To be honest I think we've been fed a pretty big line from left-wing environmentalist groups (perhaps more on that another time...) and I certainly don't agree with the "redistribution" of "resources" recommended in this particular book.  This ultimately leads to the end of our rights to personal property.  But...there are some really great ideas in this book!  I love the concept of only using what you have on your property for your projects, and aiming at producing no waste.  I love the feeling of freedom from having to run to Home Depot or a garden store every time I want to start a garden project.  Chances are, I have everything I need already!  It just might take some creativity.  And maybe a little extra elbow grease:)  

And since we're all about making our homes and lives beautiful...why not look cute while digging in the dirt?  This cargo skirt is the best thing ever.  In my pockets I had my phone, keys, box cutter, and sunglasses with room to spare.  And who says you can't wear an awesome necklace in the garden?  I bought this in December to wear to my husband's company Christmas party and decided to pull it out again today.  Happy digging, everyone.

Photo courtesy of boy #2.  Not too bad, huh?

Recipe: Rhubarb Bread with Honey Lemon Glaze

I was feeling a little Martha-ish this afternoon, so I decided to experiment with rhubarb a little bit!  My mom teaches my two oldest boys and some of their cousins a group singing lesson, and their recital is tonight.  I thought a nice fresh loaf of bread would be a great little appreciation gift.  My in-laws (where we are still living!) are starting to have lots of rhubarb ripe for the picking!  I decided to try a quick bread and it turned out great!  Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sour milk (or buttermilk)
4 eggs
4 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour with great results)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped fresh rhubarb

Glaze:
1/2 cup honey
2 T. lemon juice

Heat oven to 350.  Grease 3 loaf pans.  Beat sugar and margarine, mix in rest of wet ingredients.  Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.  Fold in rhubarb.  Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes.  Immediately after baking, poke bread with a fork several times on the top and brush on glaze.  When bread is cool enough to handle, remove from pans.  Makes 3 smallish loaves.  Delicious!  I also found a cute printable label to put on it.

What's been in your oven lately?

Nettle Tea!

I love spring, especially once we get past that "brown" phase and things start to green up!  And boy, is it finally happening here!  I wanted to share this recipe/how-to with you because it helped me so much last spring.  Towards the end of my pregnancy with Percival (I was due around the 1st of May) I started getting this awful, itchy red rash on my arms and legs.  The best thing I could figure out was that it was PUPPS, not uncommon during pregnancy.  It was the most annoying thing.  Ever.  I couldn't sleep (as if sleeping wasn't hard enough at 8 months + already!) and I could hardly enjoy anything even during the daytime because I itched ALL the time.  I showed it to my doc at a checkup and his answer was basically, "Put some steroid cream on it and hope you have that baby soon."  Well, sorry doc.  Wrong answer.  I started researching online and found that many believe PUPPS is caused by an overtaxed liver--your blood volume increases so much during pregnancy that your liver just can't keep up, so those extra toxins start rearing their ugly heads as a nasty rash.  One of the remedies listed on some herbal sites was nettle tea, and we had nettles in abundance!  I started drinking several big glasses of it every day and within just a few days, the rash was almost all gone.  Now a year later, I'm going to try it again just to see how it helps.  I haven't been eating too well lately, so it probably won't hurt to give my body a little cleansing boost.  The taste is just sort of "green". Nettles are LOADED with vitamins: vitamin A, C, B vitamins, and antioxidants. God's natural energy booster! 


Here's how:
Pick a bowlful of nettles.  WEAR GLOVES.  They're nicknamed fireweed for good reason.  And whenever you're going to consume wild foods, make sure you've correctly identified it!  You'll find tons of pics of nettles with a quick google search.
Wash them well.  I use a salad spinner.

Put in a pitcher, cover with boiling water, and steep well.  I prefer to drink it cold.  After a day or so it'll start to turn really pretty bluish.  This is normal and fine!

How to Repair Fruit Trees with Rodent Damage

...hopefully.  As we were happily off playing in the caves of Kentucky, the fauna back home were having a heyday with all the fresh plantings we left for them.  Dan and the kids got me a small orchard for my birthday/mother's day--10 trees in all.  And it sure didn't take the critters long to find them.  When we got back from vacation, the worst of them looked like this:

I did a little searching online and about the only solution I found was to cover the wounds with tar to prevent further infection and hope for the best.  Here's what you need:

Small amount of tar (like driveway sealer...check the back corners of your basement before you go buying any!)

plastic/latex gloves

old paintbrush

flexible drainage tile

cable ties (zip ties)

Wearing latex gloves, just paint the tar over the wound with the paintbrush to completely cover it. Supposedly as long as there is at least a small amount of bark left going from below the wound to above it, the tree can recover.  I really hope so...I was looking forward to homegrown fruit in a few years!  To prevent further damage, we just cut lengths of flexible drainage tile to cover the lower portion of the tree, cut it lengthwise to slip around the trunk, and secured it with cable ties, like this:

At the other end of the yard...the boys got to spend an hour planting about 20 blue spruce across the front of the property for privacy.  It cut our school day a little short, but quality workin' time with Grandpa is hard to beat!