Month: September 2010

I joined a local food club, “Paradise Food Club”.  My first order came in this past Monday.  I’ll try to share my order every month so you can get a feel for what is available.  I was really excited to hear about this club.  It is, unfortunately, not a local or even state sourced program like I had hoped.  The products come from a United Natural Foods warehouse in Indiana.  That means I will continue to seek out local sources of food and other goods whenever I can.  The nice part is that I now have a great variety of natural and organic products at my fingertips instead of being stuck with the one or two options offered at the grocery store. Here’s what I ordered this month: 5# regular raisins (not organic) $11.13: about the same as the locally owned grocery store’s sale price 30 oz. Jason’s Naturals Aloe Vera Body Wash $11.24:  nice big bottle with a pump dispenser, natural/organic, paraben free, neutral scent so we can both use it.  I tried it tonight and it isn’t as super foamy as normal wash but I’m sure once I get used to it I won’t notice.  Also the bit

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This is one of the first recipes I started using regularly when we got married.  It is so, so good.  I posted in a couple years ago as part of my 9 Things We Do With Apples post.  When I referred back to that this year it wasn’t written as clearly as I’d like.  Besides, a recipe this good deserves it’s own post. 1/3 cup shortening 1 c sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp baking soda 2 c chopped apples 2 Tbsp sour milk (or buttermilk, I use a little milk and vinegar) 2 c flour 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup nuts (optional) Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream together shortening and sugar. Beat in eggs. Mix in sour milk, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour, mixing well. Stir in chopped apples or nuts. Pour in to a greased loaf pan. To make topping cut 2 Tbsp cold butter into 4 Tbsp white sugar and 1-2 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of the loaf before baking. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. I usually forget to preheat my oven fully so mine take about a

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That hardest part is starting, right?  So I’m just going to start this post and see where it goes.  I’ve been mulling it over in my head.  I reread last year’s post for inspiration.  Still, I basically got nothing. Last year I had a lot to write about because things were so hard and then, in the end, things were going great.  This year was pretty uneventful.  In a word, it was wonderful.  Absolutely wonderful. We laughed.  Mostly at ourselves, our dogs, at dumb things like farting or hiding from bats.  We laughed so we didn’t cry when June stole an entire freshly baked pie off the kitchen counter before Brian tasted a single bite, and again when we could only get one TV channel and the internet was out. Thank the Lord, we didn’t cry much this year.  I cried occasional tears of happiness and relief when things were going so well and coming together so nicely.  I still shake my head when I look around and see all that we have accomplished together here on the farm. Do we fight?  Of course.  Here’s how pretty much every fight went this year:  One of us would say something to

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I was trying to find a good picture to use in my Thoughts on Marriage post. Instead, I ended up having some fun playing around with other pictures. These are from a recent hay day at our new friends’ The Glasers. What do you think?  Have you played with any pictures lately?  Care to share?

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