Steven's Granola Recipe

Yum, yum, yum.  You'd be wise to make a double batch, as this won't last long!

2 1/2 c. oats (Old Fashioned, but Quick would work)
1/2 c. brown sugar*
1/3 c. nuts or sunflower seeds
1/3 c. honey
1/3 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. wheat germ
1 t. spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, or other)
1 t. vanilla or almond extract
1/2 c. dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots, or apples)

* or 1/2 c. white sugar, 1/2 T. molasses OR 1/2 c. white sugar, 1/2 T. sorghum!

Chop large nuts and fruits down to raisin size.
Combine oats, nuts, fruit, wheat germ, brown sugar, and spices.
Combine melted butter, honey, and extracts.
Toss the oat mixture with the butter/honey mixture to coat.
Bake at 325 for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.  It's done when there is light browning around the edges.
Cool in the pan, stirring for a crispier granola or in a storage container for a chewier granola.

My personal notes:
Don't put hot granola in a storage container or... it melts.  Let it cool for at least 10-15 minutes in the pan.
Parchment paper makes quick work of cleanup.
Don't let the granola cool without stirring or you will have a tasty, rock-hard slab attached to your cookie sheet (and then you can't eat it!)

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Strawberries!

Today, we crawled out of bed early in order to go strawberry picking at Jester Creek Farms near Newton.

Then we saw lightning, heard thunder, and I discovered James had to go outside in the middle of the  night as our gate had been blown off during a heat burst (it was 102 F at 12:45 am!).  Still, it was only sprinkling on and off, and we were planning to pick with my mom, sister, and BiL.  Off we went...

When we arrived, she was a little surprised to see us, as she wasn't sure we would come in the rain, but it didn't look like the weather would necessarily be better later, so pick we would!  Pick we did.  James carried Bear Cub Q for a while, then my sister held him when she was done with her share.  The Screamer held a basket and graciously allowed me to fill it for her.  The Assistant picked sporadically (and spastically... am I allowed to say that) and then allowed me to graciously fill her basket also.  Wasn't that kind of them?

21 quarts later (for the whole family)
11 quarts later (for our family)... we had a blast.

Half of our household's harvest

When we reached home, I went to work, washing, sorting, and slicing strawberries.  8 cups were mashed to 5 cups and frozen for strawberry jam.  Some were reserved for fruit crumble.  Two quarts were sliced for fresh eating.  More were sliced and frozen for homemade shakes.

Sorting (ripe from unripe and sunburned, as well as straw)

Mashing to freeze.
We will be making strawberry jam later...

 Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Potatoes!

Our first potato harvest was 3 of each type of plant, yielding 3.5 pounds, and took place on June 8 (yesterday).

 The Blue Viking potatoes, seen in the middle third of this picture, are less tolerant of the drought and sun than the Kennebec and Yukon.  I wonder why that is?

They are so pretty, though, with their purply-pink skins.

As I write this Thursday evening, we have had to delay a visit back to the land with friends as we are hearing the sirens for the third time tonight.  It could be exciting!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Wednesday's Work

Belated, I know, but at least there are pictures!

Rose Finn Apple potatoes.  These are fingerling, and planted in the new (north) bed, so they are smaller.  We'll see what golden goodness is underneath in the next few weeks!

Onions were mulched.  Poor things, they want the nice bed most of the potatoes have.

Next year, it will be their turn!

The potato patch goes on forever!

We will begin harvesting next week.

Tree onions and garlic.

Does anyone know exactly when you harvest tree onions and/or when you replant the bulbs?

We replanted some for a trial.

Until next time, remember.  This is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Cloth Napkins

I have been working on some cloth napkins for the family at the Little House.  Myle had some leftover fabric from an apron project two Christmases ago, so we started with those...

1. Cotton fabric is probably your best bet.  Cut the selvedges off your fabric.  This are the stiffer edges of the fabric.  Then, fold your fabric into fourths width-wise to see how wide your napkins can be.  Usually, for me, this is 10-11", so I begin to cut squares.  These are all 10.5".  You can make your napkins bigger, but we were making these for kids, and trying to use what we had.  Also, you can make nicely rolled edges, but these seem to hold up as well, and since they aren't our "company" napkins, I don't care if they fray a little.

2. Set your machine to a wide zigzag stitch.  Zigzag around the edges of your fabric.  I find curving at the corners is easier than going all the way to each corner, turning, and trying to start again, as the machine inevitably eats them.

3.  Trim the corners.

4.  Use.  Enjoy.

Partially finished so you can see the different stages.

Before sewing.

Zigzagged.

Trimmed.

James would like a few of these...

from a small herd in Hays, Kansas, where we recently attended a diaconate ordination.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Community

Look at the size of these tater plants! (and the size of these kids!)

 The garlic and tree onions are looking great.  Now I just need to figure out... when do I plant the bulbs that are on top of the tree onions.  Now?  Do I keep them for next year?  Some are already sprouting their own "trees," so I need to figure this out soon.

Walking to the pond

We've had rain, but not enough to even get a muddy puddle at the bottom of the pond.

Speechless.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch,