New Blog

I wanted to give WordPress a try, so I've started a new blog - Please come on over and let me know what you think: Rock Farmer

Fresh Eggs

I love our chickens. I just handed a fresh egg, minutes old and still warm from the hen, through the fence to our neighbor.

Summer Tent at Midnight

The tent at midnight

back wall

view through the walls

view out to the raccoon-infested yard

We finally had a bit of hot weather, and the first Summer Tent Mamas Night. Good conversation, sorbet, and raspberries under the twinkly lights, with the raccoons skulking just feet away in the dark, trying to hack the bird feeder. I hope we get more warm nights, so there can be many more nights in the tent.

1st of July

Yesterday was the 1st of July. I wore my wool coat and seriously contemplated turning on the heat at home. We've had cold early summers before, and I'm sure we'll have them again, but I am ready for some sunshine and some heat. I want to fall asleep to the sound of the fan clicking as it finishes each turn from left to right, I want to eat bowls of cold quinoa tabouli for dinner and find the chill refreshing, I want enough heat that I can't wait to switch from flannel to cotton sheets, sheets that will be smooth and icy delicious.

I love where I live, partly because the climate is all about delayed gratification. But sometimes the waiting drives me a little bit crazy with desire.

Raspberries

Our raspberries are getting ripe. Last weekend, we picked 9; now we have enough to graze for breakfast each morning, and more ripe by lunchtime, and then another flush for dinner.

Suddenly, there are enough to eat by the mouthful,
not just one-at-a-time.

Summer Tent Update

Summer Tent Update: We're ready to go - The rain has dried, the sun has been shining, we have fresh rose petals to sprinkle about. Our first all-ages tea party of the summer tent season will be tomorrow afternoon, and my first adult-only nighttime summer tent shindig will be on a Saturday night in early July...The Summer Tent: Fun for all ages.

Summer Tent & Swine Flu

We managed to set up the Summer Tent just in time for the overcast solstice. Now we're waiting for some sunshine to heat things up, so we want to rest it our shady tent. In the meantime, I'm drinking hot tea out there and shivering off the flu. Between this viral attack and the weather, it really does feel a bit like fall around here. Still, the raspberries are getting ripe and the girls are finally wearing short-sleeved shirts - Summer has come at last!

These photos are of the first draft of this year's Summer Tent. We've been tinkering with things since I took these, and the ground is finally dry enough for a pile of pillows on a carpet of blankets. It's a work in progress until the day we take it down!

GFCF Challah - When the Braid Matters

We've been eating Grainaissance original mochi hot from the oven in place of challah since we switched to a GFCF diet. Of all the gluten-filled foods we don't eat any more, challah is one of the only things I miss. I haven't tried any of the GF recipes I've found online, because I just knew the taste and texture wouldn't match up with my memory. I'd rather find new foods than eat not-quite-right versions of traditional foods. Still, my girls miss having fresh home-baked challah for Shabbat, and I miss my weekly kneading-braiding-baking ritual. This past week, I had a pot of soup ready for Shabbat dinner, and I really wanted fresh bread to serve with it - Mochi just wasn't going to be quite right. I was running through a mental list of possibilities when I hit upon Chebe. It's such well-behaved dough, I just knew it would be easy to braid, and would hold its shape. I figured the dissonance between taste and memory would be avoided by the very fact that the two, challah and Chebe, are so very different.

I preheated the oven, mixed up a package of dough, helped Chava & Mimzy make circular braids, and put together 2 small 4-strand loaves, popped them into the oven and baked them for about 18 minutes. In less than 45 minutes, we had fresh Chebe challah ready for Shabbat dinner.

If you're looking for a GF challah, and the braid matters, give Chebe's original mix a try. Follow the basic directions, braid as desired, coat with olive oil, add sesame or poppy seeds if you like, and bake until the top is golden brown. We used 1 package of regular mix to create 4 small challot, each a generous one-person loaf. Next time I'll try making one larger 5-strand challah, hoping that the center will cook through before the top is too brown.