It has been a most busy week on the farm- bee hive check, cleaning out the chicken coop and mucking out the two goat barns. Blind Hog and Acorn are both two tired pups.
Never one to sit with idle hands, Acorn snaps the days’ haul of pole beans while she and Blind Hog talk about the week, the farm and past dining habits…
Yummers….
If Acorn is baking sourdough bread, you know for certain what they had for breakfast that day… Buckwheat sourdough waffles with the last cantaloupe of the garden…
Acorn has been a canning fool! If it stays still long enough, she will plop it in a jar and pop a lid on! Garden bounty has been most wonderful and ratatouille has filled the shelves.
Jar caps and sealing rings
canned goods
filing cabinet pan holder and the rack-o-spices
more canned goods and the store-bought things in the far back
Goats have been checked and dewormed if needed, cow herd now combined back into one group. The comet has gone and rain finally arrived. Acorn talks about the garden, missing IKEA, why travel for this pair of farmers is best done in December, and about a special goaty friend.
goats packed into the Jamba Juice
Neowise, the comet
Episode seems short but sweet- it has been a busy couple weeks and Blind Hog and Acorn are ready for an “easy day…” Wait? There are “easy days” on a farm?
This has been a killer week on the farm- working the goats (did a headcount and we have 100 exactly) more about THAT on the next podcast, weeding the garden, planting the Fall veggies, canning, cutting firewood. ALL THE CHORES!
Blind Hog came in for a break and Acorn set him down at the microphone. “A farmer’s work is never done…”
Not the exact truck from Blind Hog’s hometown, but pretty darn close!
Blind Hog talks about his Grandma Phifer and her garden when he was a kid back in the 1940’s and 50’s. She would trade eggs with the rolling store in exchange for dry goods and things she could not grow or make herself. Her older sister “Tennie” had married Rom Dodson in 1905. In 1913, Tennie died. Shortly thereafter, Grandma Phifer took her youngest child of eight (Blind Hog’s dad), left her husband, and moved in with “Uncle Rom.” They lived together for almost 50 years and never married. The more you know…
Acorn wants YOU to bake your own bread- sourdough bread to be exact and yes- it is just that easy. Think of it as a science experiment! No yeast is needed- just flour, water, salt and your sourdough starter. Here is Chef Roland’s recipe for catching your own wild sourdough starter, well-loved and stained from Acorn’s archives:
“After the starter is made, Chef’s flour and water proportions for making sourdough bread are similar to mine, but I use a wet hand to mix the dough, not a mixer, and his sourdough bread recipe calls for the addition of yeast, mine does not. I also bake the loaves in preheated Dutch ovens with the lids on at first. It is how the Acorn do.”
Making a dough, working it into loaves, and baking the bread is truly a rewarding, multi-sensory experience. Whatever you do, do NOT cut into a loaf before it has cooled. If you understand the science of why grilled/roasted meat needs to rest for 20-30 minutes after cooking, then you will understand why bread must completely cool first before cutting. Moisture needs to slowly even out through the cooling bread, under the protection of the crust. Cutting into the hot bread releases too much moisture, changing the texture. Blehhh.
starter/leaven bubblin’ and ready to go!
200 grams of the starter/leaven
700 grams of water
starter and water, mixed well in bucket
1000 grams of flour, all purpose and mix of whole wheat
sticky, shaggy dough
after 20 minutes, add the salt in an ounce of water
after a few turns in the bucket (every 30 minutes) the dough becomes stretchy and smooth
divided and resting
ready for final rise
all poofed
into the preheated baking pot
lids on 20 min
lids off 20 min
tah daaaah!
And what to do with the leftover starter/leaven you made the night before? Mix in a beaten egg and add another 100 grams of flour of your choice (all purpose, whole wheat, spelt or buckwheat) and a splash of milk. It’s Waffle Time!
starter, egg, milk and more flour
high-tech waffle iron
om nom nom nom
Cookies you ask? Yes- BY ALL MEANS make the cookies dough but who says you have to bake it all at once? Save 2/3 or more back and freeze the dough!
chocolate chip cookie dough
a few for now, but more in the freezer for baking later
Now that the bread is baked and cool, put some honey on a slice . As you enjoy the treat, think back at all the bee effort that goes into making that honey:
The usual morning routine takes a spill, but Acorn did not cry over it. Find out everything you needed to know about skyr and yogurt, the names of the three Norse Fates, and more!
goosey gooses
Callie is hooked up
Skuld is waiting
2 gallon batch of skyr ready to drain
skyr draining and this morning’s milk chillin’
The kimchi turned out great, as well as a few other pantry projects.
Summer’s heat is upon the farm and the zucchini is loving every minute.
East field, a few days before the rain and Sahara dust above…
The 21 day-long drought is about to break, Saraha dust and all. Acorn tells about the goats and the particulars of “working the kids.” Find out how kids are managed and what happens when livestock misbehave.
Elderflower syrup and rooted pineapple top
Acorn will also talk about exotic delights- like elderflower cordial and syrup, and the joy of growing pineapples.
What is the deal with rain this year? From deluge to drought! You too can become a savvy “rain measurer person,” keeping track of precip down to the hundreth of an inch!
Visit with Acorn as she gives her version of the geologic formation of the Ozarks, describes what is going on in the garden, and shares her experiment using the tops from the Brussels sprouts (yes- you ARE supposed to prune them!). Recipe to follow.
Fall seeds and planting chart
Acorn is also planning the Fall Garden… Just deciding where and when to plant the seeds.
The Badger also pulls a hat trick, leaving Acorn in stitches. Enjoy!
Brussel Sprout Tops Kimchee
4 tops cut from Brussels Sprouts, halved and soaked in brine made from 1 gallon of water with 1 cup salt, dissolved. Brine a few intact large leaves with the split tops.
2 carrots, shredded
1 lb of any bolting green from the garden- bok choy stems and tender leaves, Swiss chard stems-chopped to bit size pieces.
1 onion, sliced
2 beets, cut into matchsticks
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 “thumb” of ginger root, peeled and minced
1/4 cup hot peppers
1: Soak Brussels sprouts tops and large leaves for 6 hrs, drain but save the liquid.
2: Gently knead up the other ingredients, then add the drained split tops- you can cut these into smaller pieces too.
3: Pack everything, once combined, into a crock or jar, leaving 4″ headspace. Pack it tight.
4: Place the whole brined leaves on top to cover and pour more brine up to cover the leaves.
5: Weight the veg down with a gallon zip bag, half filled with water to “seal off the top”
6: I like to cover the top of this with a cheese cloth.
7: Keep out of the sun for 1 -2 weeks ad the kimchee ferments. Should be ready for tasting after a week, and ready to repack into smaller jars once you think it is “done.” By all means, please refer to a good book for more substantial instructions- I like “Fermented Vegetables” by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey
Neighbor Herman is putting up hay and Blind Hog and Acorn will buy all he will bale. Find out about haying, grass, grazing and everything that can go wrong. Blind Hog and Acorn know first hand.
Our neighborly neighbor
Bales in the field
Blind Hog spiking a bale
Ready to load up
Trailer loaded
Mr Hay Inspector
In the barn!
Acorn will also talk about her annual wildflower outing that she does on Midsommar’s Day. The following were found on the 2.5 mile gravel road between the paved road and the mailbox: American ipecac, black eyed Susan, brown eyed Susan, butterfly bush, cat’s claw brier, chickory, common hedge parsley, daisy fleabane, daylily, elderflower, flowering spurge, goat’s rue, heartleaf four o’clock, honeysuckle, hop trefoil, narrow-leafed plantain, oxeye daisy, queen Anne’s lace, prairie coreopsis, prairie phlox, prairie rose, purple milkweed, red clover, robin’s plantain, spiderwort, white clover, white sweetclover, wild blue larkspur and wild hydrangea.
Midsommar arrangement
And finally, why did Grant Wood of American Gothic fame destroy one of his own paintings?