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.

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!

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!

Naturally dyed Easter Eggs

Easter has totally crept up on us, once again!  This post may be a little last-minute, but hopefully you'll find it in time to maybe give this a try!  We're planning on coloring our eggs on Friday, so these pics are from last year (at our old house...pics coming soon of our new house!)  This is really simple and I thought the eggs turned out quite nicely!  The procedure is basically the same for both blueberries and cranberries:

1.  Put 1 bag/1 lb. fresh or frozen berries in a sauce pan
2.  Add 2 cups water, bring to a boil, and cook and stir for about 5 minutes.
3.  Strain, cool
4.  Add a few tablespoons vinegar to help the dye adhere to eggs
5.  Dip away!  We found it helps to leave the eggs in the dye a little longer than with regular food dyes.

The yellowish eggs were dyed with tea.  Just steep it nice and strong and add a little vinegar.  This year I would also like to try using onion skins...I think they might give a deeper yellow.  We didn't find the tea dye to be very effective...

Let me know if you try any of these...simple, cheap family fun!  And please, whatever you do to celebrate Easter, make sure you share the real meaning with your children.  Easter eggs are fun, but they are only a reminder to us of the real thing: new life in Christ.  Jesus died for us, was buried, and rose again to save us from sin, death and the devil.  Take some time to read about it straight from the Bible and talk about it with your kids.  Your family will be blessed!

Eggs before...

Eggs in process...definitely best done outside!

How to make dandelion jelly

It's almost that time of year again...dandelion season!  At least the snow has all melted finally.  I think the last trace in the yard disappeared sometime this afternoon.  Hard to believe that last year at this time I had already made a batch!  But it's definitely not to early to start prepping.  This recipe is really so easy and the kids love to help.  The same procedure can also be used for violets, lilacs, or just about any edible flower.  Dandelion is delicious though.  The taste is a lot like honey.  Big thanks to my friend Jennifer for giving me the idea last spring!  Here goes...


1. OK, pick about 2 quarts of dandelion flowers, try to get as little stem as possible. Some recipes I read said to actually cut off the petals with scissors, but I didn't bother and it was fine! 

2. Put all the flowers in one big jar or container and pour boiling water over all of them, just enough to cover. Let it "steep" (like tea!) for several hours or overnight.

3. Strain through a jelly bag, pillowcase, coffee filter, whatever...then add enough water to equal 3 cups of liquid.

Combine in large sauce pan:


Dandelion "water"
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package powdered pectin
couple drops yellow food coloring, if you want

Bring to a full boil to dissolve pectin, then stir in 5 1/2 cups sugar. Return to a full boil for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Ladle into 1/2 pint jars, screw on lids, and boil in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. That's it! Makes about 5 jars.