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Eating Simple

Autumn on the Homestead

Here is a quick little update of what’s been going on around the homestead in the last month or so…

Made applesauce, apple butter, apple chips, & apple scones. Apple tea is still on the “to do” list.
Pumpkin puree & pumpkin butter
Honey spiced cake – (orange, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, coffee, & vanilla)
Autumn Spiced Cajeta (cajeta with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, & vanilla)
Honey toasted goat cheese ( cinnamon, cardamom, & goat cheese)
Barn & coop cleaning and straw restocking before the winter weather hits hard
Getting our new buck, Kosher, adjusted to life on the homestead. The girls took to him immediately and he snuck out of his pen the first week on the farm. We’re hoping to see some goat kids in the next few months!
Starting to transition from the summer go-go-go around the farm to more of the “hunker down, drink lots of tea & fire cider, do indoor projects and go to bed early” that winter tends to brings.
Ordered some new oils from Eden’s Garden for the upcoming holiday season. So far, my favs are Cinnamon Leaf, Nutmeg, & Sweet Orange – smells like Christmas and was super affordable.
Started reading the C.S. Lewis sci-fi series (again) – so good. Also, you should shop here for cheap books. Seriously – so much cheaper than Amazon.
Had several custom orders on my Etsy shop & several orders of udder wipes that sold this past month, which I think is kind of hilarious. But I obviously love it because IT’S UDDER WIPES.

We’re looking forward to what some are calling an”el nino” winter. Which for Colorado could mean feet of snow, gallons of hot tea, and truckloads of wood pellets for the stove. We have family coming for the holidays and we intend to be fully present this year (as opposed to last year).

Projects on the to-do list this winter: knit socks, knit mittens, sew a dress (or quilt), crochet a blanket with this pattern, develop a fodder feed system for the animals, build a magical book shelf (think Belle from Beauty and the Beast) complete with 12 ft aspen ladder for our ever growing book collection… I’m sure there is more, but I’ll stop there before I get completely overwhelmed.

Quote of the month:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts & be thankful.

Thanks for following our journey!

Linking up with Leigh Kramer.

October 30, 2015

High Altitude Chocolate Beet Cake

“Is it better to be feared or loved? Loved, because people associate with you because they want to, not because they need to. We need to eat beets, but we want to eat cake. Be the cake of the world.”
― Jarod Kintz

OR just be the chocolate beet cake of the world.

I haven’t done TOO much baking at our homestead yet – for many reasons. One being we are at 9,200ft elevation, and sometimes major adjustments are needed when baking. & I’ve been so busy milking goats, dehydrating veggies, and just getting settled on our farm, that I haven’t had a TON of free time.

However, once I saw this magical photo (taken by a homesteader in Vermont) a few weeks ago, I knew I would most likely be able to find a few free hours to make it happen.

Jessica lives in southern Vermont and can be found making all kinds of homemade goodies @sugarhouseworkshop or www.sugarhouseworkshop.com

The recipe below is from Jessica, who is somewhere around 1,500ft – however, I’ve made minor adjustments to work for our elevation. I included both recipes because I’m assuming that the population who would be reading this and live at 9,200ft is minuscule.

High Altitude (9K ft) Chocolate Beet Cake

3-4 medium to large beets, peeled and chopped
2.5 c all purpose flour
1 c sugar
1/2 c dutched cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
3 eggs
3/4 c warm water
1/4 c oil
1 tsp vanilla

Low Altitude (1K ft) Chocolate Beet Cake

3-4 medium to large beets, peeled and chopped
2 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c dutched cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
3/4 c warm water
1/4 c oil
1 tsp vanilla

Cook beets in lightly boiling water for 15 minutes or so until soft and easily pierced with a knife. Purée beets in a blender or food processor, and set aside 1 1/4 cup. Heat oven to 350. Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl, and in a separate bowl combine eggs, water, vanilla, oil, and puréed beets. Whisk to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir together until thoroughly mixed. Coat a 9″ pan liberally with butter or oil. Pour in batter and bake 45 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool at least 20 minutes, then remove from pan and pour glaze over.

Chocolate glaze

1/2 c cream
1 tsp maple syrup or honey
3oz bitter or semi sweet chocolate, chopped

Heat the cream and syrup over low-medium heat until simmering. Add chocolate and stir to melt it throughout. Pour over cake and allow to set at least 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

*Feature image credit

September 10, 2015

Country Living, Eating Simple, Herbal Tea

Honeybush Sarsaparilla Herbal Tea

I love experimenting with new herbal teas.

I have no idea what I’m doing, I just buy loose leaf teas & herbs and try mixing a few together.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

This time, it did.

I recently bought some Honeybush tea from an herb shop nearby and hadn’t really experimented with it until recently when I was having a little bit of a sweet tooth after dinner. With the summer starting to end and temperatures dropping significantly after dark here in Colorado, some hot herbal tea sounded cozy.

And it was.

And here’s the recipe:

Honeybush Sarsaparilla Herbal Tea

1-2 TBSP Honeybush loose leaf tea
1-2 tsp Sarsaparilla root

Steep in boiling water for 5-7 minutes

Optional:

1 TBSP cocoa powder (for energy)
1/2-1 tsp Valerian root (for sleep)

Here’s where you can buy honeybush, sarsaparilla, valerian if you don’t have a local herb shop.

Here are some benefits of Sarsaparilla & Honeybush, if you’re curious. Also: Honeybush is very similar to Rooibos in taste & the fact that they aren’t technically a tea. They also are both caffeine free.

ENJOY & SHARE!

*There are, in fact, affiliate links in this post

** Feature image credit

September 9, 2015

Country Living, Eating Simple, Simple Living

Life with Goats

When we closed on our house at the end of June, we had no idea we were going to have goats by the end of the week.

Well, sort of.

We had been looking for some male goats to eat our 6.5 acres of very high brush (since we didn’t have and didn’t plan on getting a lawn mower). But when a local goat expert said she was selling some of her milking goats, we were super interested.

Now, just so you have a good idea about the level of experience we are talking about; before this photo, I’d never milked anything in my life.

I was a little nervous about potentially having goats because there was just SO much unknown for this city girl. However, after getting some brief milking lessons, tips on how to save money on goat feed (post to come on details of this, if you’re interested), and where to buy hay – we felt much more confident. I think that much of this was because our goat mentor made it seem super attainable. She didn’t have a huge list of organic materials that the goats just needed to have to enjoy a long, healthy life. She didn’t have a whole list of criticisms of what “other goat owners do”… you know the kind of criticism that makes you feel like you’ll never be able to do anything right?

Nope. Instead she shared money saving techniques and tricks, and contacts for buying hay – and most importantly, encouragement: “You got this!” Which was the biggest thing that we both (me especially) needed to hear; that this thing we were just jumping into blindly, that it was totally do-able. That doesn’t mean we’ve done everything perfectly, but we’re learning (reading books, listening to podcasts, & asking a lot of questions) and the goats are still alive and milking!

Here are some photos from the past few months

Here are some things that we & neighbors have made from the goats milk so far:

Mozzarella cheese (plain, garlic & onion, and pepperjack)
Yogurt
Cardamom ICE CREAM (so.good.)
Ricotta
Cajeta carmel
Homemade Fudge
Feed for chickens (super high protein is great for our little pullets)
Used it in baking in place of cow milk

Something slightly magical (yes, I said magical) happened when I first milked these animals. I got SO pumped about having our own homestead, taking large steps towards being self-sustaining. There is something so invigorating about taking care of your animals, and they in turn take care of you. Whether that is through milk, meat, or fiber. I’m learning so much through taking care of these animals.

September 3, 2015

Country Living, Eating Simple, Simple Living

Spicy Zucchini Chips

Super easy. Super amazing. Super Simple.

We use an Excalibur Dehydrator that we got last year when we were living in Brighton and we love it.We’ve made dried bananas, raspberries, blackberries, and dried apples are our fav.

But lets just keep it simple and get to the good stuff.

And here’s the recipe for you who will copy/paste/print the heck out this sucker.

Spicy Zucchini Chips

4-5 medium zucchinis
Cajun seasoning
Olive Oil

Slice the zucchinis as thin as you can without cutting yourself (OR use a food processor)
Toss in a bowl with drizzled olive oil
Sprinkle Cajun seasoning and toss some more
Lay the sliced and spiced zucchinis on your trays – not touching or layered on top of each other.
If you want them EXTRA spicy, sprinkle some more seasoning.
Stick them in the dehydrator for 2 hours or until as crispy as you like!

(You can also use an oven. This recipe says to stick them in at 235 degrees F. for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours.)

Enjoy and share!

*Feature image credit

September 1, 2015

Country Living, Eating Simple, Simple Living

Life on the Homestead

Working full time and taking care of 50 animals takes quite a bit of time – but seriously loving every minute. Until I can update again, I’ll share a brief overview of whats been going on around the homestead.

– Made some Elderberry Ginger Syrup

– Experimented with making a high altitude adjusted Chocolate Beet Cake

– Learned how to save money and make our own goat feed

– Still learning about raising pullets

– Watching ducks make a massive mess everyday in their food & water

– Making reusable “utter wipes” for the goat milking

– Canning summer fruits and veggies

– Visits from family

– Homemade yogurt

– Using the dehydrator more often to preserve summer goods

– Goat cheese making

– Sourdough successes

Processing Homestead Life

After moving around and having constant change for the past few years, its been really great to have some routine and structure. Milking every morning and evening, feeding animals, making cheese and sourdough, finally being able to actually throw away moving boxes (!!!) and settle in. It’s been kind of crazy how fast all this has happened. It’s such a different life than what we were living before – and such a refreshing change. I don’t think I realized how absolutely peaceful living on a homestead, taking care of animals, and being SO busy with things that I love doing, was going to be. In the craziness of what our world & culture looks like these days, this verse describes perfectly what we sense God is calling us to and what we find joy in:

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to work with your hands, so you may win the respect of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone”

We also have the most amazing neighbors ever. I’m serious. I can’t even tell you everything that they’ve done for us in helping us get going – not only are they pros at homesteading, they are just really fun people and we are super blessed to have great friends living just down the road. You should follow them here or here.

I also have to brag on the husband a little bit – he’s been working extremely hard over the past few months at work & sacrificing time spent on the farm, so that we can actually have this place. #imlucky

I hope to have time to post more updates with recipes, photos, and stories – but for now I’ll leave you with this quote from Abraham Lincoln

“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”

Linking up with Leigh Kramer

September 1, 2015