Fair Hills Farm

Here is a recipe that several people have asked me for. This is the bread that I make every week for our family. I have a K-Tech grain mill and a Bosch mixer, which really do much of the work for me. Once I got in the habit of making all of our bread, it became just another thing that could be accomplished almost mindlessly. Any leftover flour I have after making the bread goes into the freezer and from that I make quick breads, cookies, gravy, biscuits, etc. From grinding the grain until pulling the bread out of the oven, it takes maybe 1 and 1/2 hours to 2 hours. Of course, once the bread is rising, and the mess is cleaned up, the hard work is done, so the actual work doesn't take that long. One of the things I would like to do is learn how to make sour dough starter and make sour dough bread. Maybe this year? Anyone with questions about this recipe can e-mail me at csread07@yahoo.com.

I use a large glass batter bowl to warm up the 4 1/2 cups water in the microwave (for 2 minutes, 20 seconds). While that is warming, I melt the 2 sticks of butter in a saucepan on the stove. Then I start grinding my wheat (which takes about 5 minutes). When the water is warmed, I stir the honey into the water and then stir in the yeast. I let that yeast mixture "sponge" for about 5 minutes. Once it gets bubbly, and the butter is melted (but not too hot), I pour the butter into the yeast mixture. Then in my large mixing bowl, I pour the liquid in and add to it a cup of flour with the sea salt mixed in. I turn the mixer on (with the dough hook). At this point, if you have any flaxseed, you can grind a cup full of flax and immediately pour that into the dough mixture. This is one ingredient I forgot to add to the list that I use, but you don't have to have it. I stop the mixture everytime I add more flour. If you are doing this all by hand, you start with a big mixing bowl and add the liquid first, then the flour 1 or 2 cups at a time. Keep mixing or stirring and when the dough gets into a good chunk or ball, then you can turn it out onto a floured board. I keep mixing with the dough hook until I can touch the dough and it won't stick to my fingers. The general rule for properly activating the gluten by kneading is to knead the dough 7 to 10 minutes. Then I grease my bread pans with butter, and then divide up the dough into 4 loaves and shape them smoothly and place them in the pans. ( I don't let the dough rise in a big bowl first.) I put the pans on the stove and cover them with a flour-sack towel. I turn the oven on to 375 degrees. I let the bread loaves rise for about an hour, sometimes less. When the dough is risen nicely just above the level of the bread pan, I place them into the oven for 25 minutes. On the last 5 minutes, I usually switch the top and bottom loaves, so that they will brown evenly on the bottom and top of the loaves.

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures we finally finished downloading. You can see the birthday pictures of "Cuta Ben" who just turned 1 last week. That red bucket is an antique water bucket holding some of our fire wood kindling (my birthday present this year). The two front porch pictures show our rocking chairs and some sleeping cats. The front door picture shows our 10 Commandments plaque and a reflection of the garden in the front door window, then there is the cucumber bed, some of our first harvest of the bush beans and vegetables, then more flower garden pictures and one of the bean plants.

So there you have it. Now if we can get these on homesteadblogger, too. I have all these garden pictures and I guess they really ought to go on www.homesteadblogger.com/fairhillsfarm.

June 2007 Farm Pictures

Baby Chicks!

We got brand new baby chicks today! 26 chicks arrived at our post office this morning, and Dad, Amanda & I went to pick them up around 7:30. They are the Dominique breed, so they are black with some yellow markings now, but will grow up to be black and white. 23 of them are pullets, 2 are cockrels, and 1 is a free exotic breed that the Murray McMurray hatchery included with the order. They appear to be doing real well, and are eating and drinking their food. Now all we have to do is get their chicken coop built. The other chickens will be using the old henspa coop that we have, and we're going to try to build another chicken coop for these chickens.

Ants, ants, everywhere!

I think this is the first time, maybe second, that I myself (Chris) have written on this blog. But I am anxious to write more. We are so grateful to have our place in the country, and now we really want to make good use of it. We have so many plans, so many projects, and it seems like everything takes twice as long to accomplish as you think it will! (Does anyone else know that feeling?)

We really had a good yield from our garden this summer. The tomatoes and zucchini did very well, as did the peppers. In fact, we still have a few tomato plants producing now. The cucumbers did not do as well as I had hoped, though the ones we got were delicious. I think the drought was extra hard on them, and even when we watered them, the heat was just too scorching, I think. We did not have much success with the cantalopes and honey dew melons. The vines were beautiful and we had loads of flowers, but seems after every rain (when we finally got rain), the little cantalopes would split and then rot. We will need to do some figuring on that! We finally got cabbage and collard greens planted, and more lettuce sown. The lettuce we had last Spring, before it got really hot, was excellent. All of our garden produce was started from seeds we got from Seeds of Change. I would recommend them for sure.

We have lots of work yet to do. We'd like a bigger garden, to fence a pasture for goats and perhaps a steer for grass-fed beef, and I'd like to raise a pig or two for sausage, ham, etc. We need to build a barn, too, and get some more chickens next Spring. My husband wants to plant a vineyard! One of my very favorite books is the Have-More Plan, and I think that is kind of what my goal is - a self-supporting homestead. And when you have 10 people to feed, it really does get cheaper to raise and grow more of your own food! I know that ultimately, God is our provider, and an awsome God is He. But my paternal grandparents were farmers during the Great Depression, and my Grandmother told me often of how they never went hungry because they grew or raised their own food. They had a cushion of sorts from that economic disaster, because they were already producing their own food. That is what I would like to be able to do, so we that we would always be prepared, and have some to share with others.

One thing I noticed during this summer's dry spell was that the ants seemed to disappear. But since the weather got cooler and we had more rain, all of a sudden the ant hills are everywhere! I moved a bag of peat moss in the garden, and underneath and up the side of the bag, the ants had made a large ant colony. Amanda took a picture of it when I pulled the bag a way, and we saw a nice cross-section of it. When she gets back from Grandmother's, I will have to get her to post that picture. The Bible reminds us to "look to the ant" and see the productivity and planning of such a creature. It really is quite amazing. That one can destroy an ant hill, and a few days later have a brand new one already made and thriving is a testimony to their persistence and diligence, and it is utterly maddening to us humans!

The Countryside and Small Stock Journal magazine came today. I always enjoy that magazine. I liked the article of the Dutch Belted cattle, and what wonderful milk they give. Now I want one of those, too!

I want to raise rabbits...

Hi...This is Rachel. I'm really interested in raising rabbits at the moment. I think it would be fun to raise satin angoras, because you can use their silky fur for things. I want to sell some rabbits too, and make some money off of them, so I could find a way to make some cash. Amanda is thinking about cashmere goats, and she is thinking of doing something with them, too.

The garden

Well, our garden has been doing OK. Our lettuce sprouts have been sprouting and our seedlings that we have in seed starters have been doing great too.

Our dwarf fruit trees are really "enjoying themselves" also! The peach tree had several blossoms on it for awhile, and it was nice to prune some of the branches and place them in a vase. At the moment, we have dogwoods and flowers blooming. You can really tell that spring has sprung! At the moment, it's about 85 degrees outside. We're just dying to go swimming! But Dad hasn't gotten the pool all set up yet.

Love the new look!

Mirette and her 5 little kittens!

Well, Mirette had her kittens at the end of March. Surprisingly, they are all white and pale grey! She's solid black! She also had 5 kittens, and that's another surprise! Her mother, Mitzi, only had 2 kittens, and since this is Mirette's first litter, we didn't expect her to have more than 3. It's sweet, because Mitzi and Mirette both care for each other's kittens! When Mitzi goes outside for awhile (they stay in our kennel), Mirette will watch all 7 of the kittens, and vise versa. Even though we might give all of them, or most of them away, we just felt like naming a few!

Raspberry Plants!

Yesterday, Mom's raspberry plants arrived. We finally planted them today. We planted them near the house, because they will be flowering soon, and will look real pretty.

David, Mom and I (Rachel) planted 4 of them. We're supposed to have 8, though.

We're guessing that they're sending them seperately.

We're still trying to determine whether or not those tiny green things are lettuce sprouts or grass. Oh well! I guess we'll find out soon!

Waiting For Sprouts...

We planted some lettuce in our garden recently, and we've just been waiting for sprouts! We can see some little green leafy things, but it's still hard to tell. They aren't all lined up as we expected, and we're wondering if the rain washed them down a bit. Hmmm...Well, hopefully our sprouts WILL sprout soon!

We can't wait until we can have a "complete" garden all set up!

A Visit to the Coop

Here are some pictures of our henspa chicken coop and 10 Red Star hens. These photos were taken in February, so you can tell by the foliage that it's towards the end of winter. Nevertheless, the Red Stars produced well - often at least 8 a day. They're still doing well. I can't wait until we can take pictures of GREEN meadows instead of brown!

Pictures (Mitzi & her kittens!)

We assume that the white/grey kitten is a tom and the solid grey kitten is a queen (of course, it usually takes a little while to be certain). In her last litter she had a white/black tom kitten and a black queen kitten.

We have an indoor kennel that is located behind the office and garage. The people who built this place used to raise and groom small dogs here, so it's designed nicely for our set up.

Mitzi & Her Kittens!

Last night, we noticed that Mitzi was going to have her kittens. This morning, Amanda & I (Rachel) went and checked on Mitzi (who was in the kennel). She had two little kittens beside her! One looked grey & white, and the other one looked solid grey. This is Mitzi's 2nd litter of kittens. We're still waiting for Mirette to have her kittens. (Mirette is a kitten from Mitzi's 1st litter.) They're so cute! Joseph, Abigail, Mary, David & Beth all came out to see them. We expected her to have more, because she had 2 kittens from her last litter too, and she looked bigger this time, but she just had 2.

Work To Be Done...

We've accomplished some what so far as it goes on homesteading, but we still have a lot more work to be done. We're in the process of getting our spring garden together. We've planted our lettuce already, but we're still keeping a lookout for some tiny lettuce sprouts. We've previously had a garden at our "old" house, and everything grew fine, although the garden was much smaller than the one we have now. We have our tomatoe seedlings in some planters, and they've sprouted up. We just are waiting to see how our lettuce will grow in this soil. It's primarily acidic, so our blueberry plants are doing pretty well. We're also growing 3 apple trees and 1 peach tree. They're doing great! (Much to our surprise!

) If all goes as planned, we plan on tilling up some more in our garden and planting our seedlings. We have some of the rockiest soil, too! We have taken a bunch of pictures of us in the garden planting, and we have a wheelburrow filled with rocks! (We'll have to post some of those pictures real soon!)

This Morning...

This morning, we were mostly outside working in the garden. Joseph (11), Abigail (9), Mary (6) & I (Rachel, 12) threw some grass seed in the north field. Then Amanda (16) turned on our well-watered sprinklers. We began running around the sprinkler and slowly formed a game. (We had to avoid getting wet!) David (3) got water all over himself. So did Mary. Beth (1), Joseph, Abigail & I got a few sprinkles, but that was it. We can't wait until it gets hotter, so that we can go swimming in our pool!

Mom & Amanda have been working on placing some of these huge rocks we've found on our property, and place them neatly around part of our flower garden. Well, I just wanted to post something...

Pictures of Fair Hills Farm

Here are some photos of Fair Hills Farm as of Summer 2005. (We moved to our home in August, 2005.) We have some new updated pictures that we'll have to share, too.

< Here are two pictures of our 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom house. (With a basement, where the boys sleep and our school room is located. The master bedroom is on the main floor...Which means the VERY upstairs belongs to the girls!)

< Picture of our pool & poolhouse. (Our pool goes up to 8 ft. deep, although it looks kind of small in this photo...We always have to watch the little ones! Of course, they don't usually get too close to the rim of the pool...)

< Here's a picture that has part of our pond in it. (Ahhh! The best part of the property! Haha!)

< Here's only PART of Dad's workshop and garage! (It's really long in the back!)

< Here's a picture of our poolhouse. (It is a great little bonus. It also contains 1 bathroom, which is nice so that people can change into their swimsuits or clothes without getting water in the house!)

We have several good pictures of other "bonuses" like our kennel and tree houses, etc., but we don't have enough space on this entry. Oh well! We'll post more pictures later! We'll have to compare some of the newer pictures to the older ones, because we've fixed some things up a bit.

Fair Hills Farm updates...

This is Amanda & Rachel Read (two oldest Read daughters) and we're going to be writing a blog post for today. We have been getting our spring garden ready for this year. It's been tough work!

Also, we've been trying to get school work to come together. Abigail just celebrated her 9th birthday on the 20th, so she's been the family "celebrity" for awhile.

Since Abigail is into insects, we got her a few insect themed things for her birthday. Anyway, we are starting to use some of the huge rocks we've found in our soil, and put them around a flower bed in our front yard. As soon as we get a shallow trench put in, we should be able to get the rocks in place.

Just an average day at our house...

Hello everyone! It has taken me a while to post anything, so I am finally getting around to it this evening. I am sure folks are eagerly waiting to see what a 42 year old homeschooling mom of 7 children (soon to be 8) does on a "normal" day :). Actually, there is no such thing as a normal day! But today was a particularly nice day because here in Ohatchee, Alabama, the weather was positvely beautiful and I couldn't wait to get outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

After breakfast this morning, which was homemade bread toasted with butter and jam (one of the simpler and easier breakfasts!), I spent the morning assisting the children with their "seatwork" and doing some morning chores. Before I knew it is was lunch time, and at my house, lunch sort of runs like a cafeteria! My husband, who works from home now since he retired from the military, came in from his office out in our detached garage, and he got the leftover chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes, spinach and cranberry sauce with bread.

Finally, about mid-afternoon, I got outside. I just love being outside, especially since we moved here to our place in the country. We are fortunate enough to have 22 acres of woods, hills, trails and a pond, and I just love walking around the property. I started walking years ago for my exercise, but I really love being in the outdoors aways from roads and traffic. It is simply soul-restoring to be able to experience the quiet while walking and praying!

Anyway, what I needed to do was plant my peach and apple trees which I didn't get planted last month when we planted the other two apple trees. Now, I know those things were supposed to get planted last Fall, but the trees did not arrive until almost mid- December, and we had an unseasonably cold December. So between that and the holidays, the trees got put in the garage in a bucket of water. Atleast the blueberry bushes got planted when they were supposed to be planted!

I had a few helpers today, and we took a little while to decide where to put them, then the holes were dug, the soil put in, and the trees were in. The peach already has some pink blooms on it, but I have to prune it, so the little branches will probably get put in a jar for a floral display! The most fun this afternoon was choppping down a hawthorn tree that was really in the way of our "orchard." I know my husband has a chain-saw, but why use that when you can chop it down with an ax? So I started chopping. Then I let my 11 year old son do some chopping, and my oldest daughter, and soon, down it came. There is something gratifying about chopping down a tree, even if it isn't very big. And don't worry, we have plenty of trees, and we just planted 4, to replace the 2 we chopped down so far.

Time to sign off now! It is getting late and there are still some little feet running around that should be in bed!