Ghee That's Good!

As I said recently, on our Whole30 program ghee (similar to clarified butter) is allowed.  That is because ghee has no milk proteins.  It's used widely in Italian, Middle Eastern, and Indian cooking.  And it is better than butter for frying.  Butter's smoke point is 392*F while ghee heats all the way to 482*F (higher than a lot of oils).

It can be expensive to buy but is SO easy to make.  All it takes is a crock pot and containers to put your ghee into!  When selecting containers, you need something with straight sides (canning jars just aren't the thing although they do work) and a lid.

As with most things, the better the product you start with, the better finished product you will end up with.  But considering this was an experiment ~ I wasn't keen on possibly ruining a few pounds of expensive top-shelf butter.

I went to Sam's...

So four pounds of butter went into the crock pot.

I set the temperature on High and let it go (NO lid).  The recipe I was following warned the first time doing this to keep an eye on it as some crock pots take only 3-ish hours and others can take up to 6 or 7 hours.

Took a while for it to come to a boil.  That is when the foam started forming.  Those are "impurities".  I don't even want to know what they are...

Getting thicker...

FINALLY the foam is starting to brown.  

You let it keep going until the foam AND the solids at the bottom are a toasty brown.  It will smell soooo good.  Once browned, turn off the crock pot and let it cool just a bit.  Seems my crock pot is the 6-7 hour variety.  I should have let it brown more but it was getting late.  Time to be done.

Strain the ghee through a sieve lined with cheesecloth by ladling it from the crock pot.  Skimming most of the foam off the top makes it a neater job.  

When you get to the solids at the bottom be prepared to see some major funky looking stuff.  I tried straining it out too but it clogged the cheesecloth way too fast.  Next time I'm not worrying about getting every single drop of ghee.

And here is our finished ghee.  So easy and so tasty that this will become a staple in our home.

Going the Whole30

I don't remember what got me to look at the "Whole30" food plan last December.  Maybe just curiosity.  But I found it interesting enough to spend a couple weeks looking it over and thinking about it.  I knew that both of our diets really needed to change.  Too much junk food.  Too many processed foods.  Too much bread, pasta, etc.  Too much sugar.  I started to wonder if the 'aches and pains' of aging have more to do with dietary issues than age.

In the end, I decided not to start it up in January.  The main reason... OK, the only reason... was I didn't think Himself would buy into it and I definitely couldn't manage it without him being on board.

Just what is the Whole30 plan, you ask?

Basically it is a 30 day food elimination eating plan.  It's of the sort of thing you do when trying to find a food allergy/issue.  And that actually is what the plan is about.  "Think of it as a short-term nutrition reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system."

For 30 days you are very rigidly eating only the allowed foods.  Your basic foods...straight up and natural.  Meat.  Veggies.  Fruit.  Herbs.  Simple oils.  And other such things.  Or as Himself calls them ~ ingredients.

You are NOT allowed to eat... Diary.  Grains.  Sugar.  Artificial ingredients.  Alcohol (not even for cooking).  Legumes (green beans and peas are allowed).

NONE.  ZILCH.  ZERO.  NOT A NIBBLE.

 Or you have to start all over again.  Ouch!

But it is only 30 days.  Well, actually 40 days because you have to reintroduce the foods back slowly and one at a time to see which ones (if any) are causing you issues.

Guess what folks?  Himself and I are starting this program on Monday the 8th!  He decided it was worthwhile to give it a shot if for nothing else than to break some food cravings.  We have been using up any of the "NO" foods we have that would go bad in 40 days.  We picked the 8th because it is after a weekend away.

I know what our 'withdrawals' will be over.  Not sugar.  Nope, for Himself... cereal and bread.  For me... dairy.  All. Of. It. 

But it is only 30 days.  We can do 30 days.

If you want to know more, here is the Whole30 web site:

https://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/ 

A Big Pot of Potatoes

In line with my March homestead skills challenge of "garden, soil, & seeds" I decided to try planting a potato tower.

We started with some potatoes that sprouted in our potato bin.  I set them aside and they really put on some long leggy sprouts.

On 18 March Himself planted them in this container which is 'half whiskey barrel' size.

They are VERY enthusiastic potatoes... this is on 25 March!  I added more dirt about half way up the remaining space.

About a week later they were well over the top of the planter.

I topped off the dirt and added a wire cage that Himself made.  The pool noodle around the top keeps me from getting scratched up by the sharp edges.

I added straw about 1/3 up the wire cage.  At first I completely covered the potato plants but then I thought better of it.  Straw is used to mulch kill weeds...right?  So why wouldn't do the same to the potatoes?

So I pulled the straw out of the middle and indeed, the potatoes were looking a bit pitiful.  So I did a straw donut instead.  Straw on the sides and dirt in the middle.

When we got back from Missouri on 15 April, I put in another 1/3 height of straw as that is how far they had grown up.  Just their crowns were above the dirt/straw.  I decided this would be my last layer as I wanted some portion of the cage to support the plants.

And here they are on the 24th!

They seem quite happy with their container.

Do you think I'll get baby potatoes??

Learning Old Fashioned Skills

In 1983, I bought a copy of this book...

The name can be bit misleading unless you take in the small print - "An Encyclopedia of Country Living".   It's kind of hard to describe, so I'll let the Wikipedia do it for me:

"The Encyclopedia of Country Living presents an exhaustive overview of virtually every topic relevant to homesteading and self-sufficiency.

Carla Emery self-published the first mimeographed edition of the Encyclopedia under the title An Old-Fashioned Recipe Book. Although she began intending to write a book, she published it in installments starting in 1970 as she wrote it, as if it were a newsletter. The first complete book was finished in March 1974. By the end of 1975 she had sold 13,000 copies. Around that time the book was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the "largest mimeographed volume in general circulation" (700 pages) and was listed as having sold the most copies of a self-published guide: 45,000 mimeographed copies as of 1977."

My 1981 edition has survived every book culling I've ever done.  Didn't need to lay my hands on it during the KonMari to know it brings me joy.  So my 'Old Fashioned Recipe Book' has stayed.  In fact, it's not unusual to hear me answer a question with "Let's see what Carla said about that."

I'm not interested in the "homesteading" thing as a life style.  But I do love the information about how to raise a garden and how to preserve what I've grown (or bought at the Amish produce auction).   I want to learn how to compost.  I want to know about about water conservation.  And other such things.

As you know, I've started the Facebook group 'Food In Jars' food preservation challenge.  And Facebook is always trying to get you to look at other 'similar' groups.  If you preserve food, then according to Facebook you must like goats, chickens, and living off the power grid.  I usually just give them a glance just to look at the beautiful chickens.  

Then there in the "suggested groups" was Homestead Skill of the Month Club.  

Alright... you know how I am about challenges!  LOL  So I checked it out.  And when it opened to the group members/admin, I saw a face that was somewhat familiar.  Hmmm.  A closer look was needed...person, how do I know you?  Then I read the name - Esther Emery.  Ah, that lovely face belongs to the daughter of Carla Emery.  She has enough of her mama's looks that there would be no denying the relationship.  No wonder she looked familiar to me, I've been looking at her mother's face for thirty-four years.

A quick look around the group's info told me that this would be something I'd enjoy.  Each month they focus on a skill needed to successfully homestead... be it in the big woods of Idaho (where Esther lives) or a New York City apartment ~ or five acres in Tennessee.

January skill was basically to make a plan for whatever it is you want to do.  Pretty uncomplicated for me: herb & veggie gardens, composting, food preservation, and so on.

February skill was a get-over for me; cooking from scratch.  Check.

March.  Garden, Soil, and Seeds.  Yes, please...I need help... badly... 

So now you know where my new challenge projects are coming from.  It's going to be fun!

Taste of China

Remember that I told you I was doing a lot more cooking?  Besides cooking up recipes from my magazines, I am learning to cook a full meal from a different country each month.  Through the month I will cook different recipes that when combined are a meal.  

For January I chose to do China because of Chinese New Year and because we love Chinese food.  For the rest of the year I will work on a meal from a country I have visited.

A LONG time ago when I was basically a new homemaker, I took a semester of Chinese cooking classes.  Somewhere along the line I misplaced my recipes and only recently found them.  So I decided to revisit those recipes.  Wow.  I was such a novice cook I didn't realize how poorly the recipes were written up.  So while I will normally have the recipes with my blog post, this time I'll have to  rewrite the recipes a bit later and update this post.

But until then, here is the photo journal of my month of Chinese:

Pork Egg Rolls

Won Ton Soup

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

Fried Rice

(Lu didn't want to teach this recipe to the class.  She said it was "just leftovers!"

Napa with Black Mushrooms

Creating My Own Serving Set - A Sunflower Tray

A few weeks ago Team Red, White, Blue had a social at "Horsefeathers", a local 'paint your own pottery' shop.  A little noshing and a lot of painting!

I wasn't interested in a figurine of any sort, so I picked out a nice sized platter to work on.  I decided to free-hand a sunflower for my design.

Then I picked my colors.

Before long everyone was busy painting.

I was a little ambitious for the amount of time we had allowed.

Keeping at it.

Phew!  Finished... I was one of the last ones out the door.

And there it sits with all the other pieces done by the group; waiting to be glazed and fired.  I was kind of nervous on how it would turn out.

The finished tray!

I'm really pleased with it.  Next social I think I'm going to keep with the flower theme on the teal background.  Maybe a peony...

To KonMari or Not To KonMari...

In March I wrote about the KonMari decluttering method and how I applied it to my closet.  (http://teri-gonewalkabout2.blogspot.com/2016/03/my-sorta-konmari-closet.html )

This summer I actually bought the book and read it.  Then I read it again.

In doing that it really started making sense to me (and I also realized that way too many of the usually negative reviews of the book were written by people who didn’t actually READ the book but rather skimmed it).  I also think there is a lot of culture bias/misunderstanding among readers/reviewers.  And finally, I think there is a whole lot of cattiness out there.

So...can an organizing method created by a young minimalist Japanese woman living in a Tokyo apartment work for a middle aged American woman who is visually stimulated traveler and creative person living on 5 acres in a 2300 sq foot house with a 2 car garage and a shed?

You bet I can KonMari!

There are several aspects I really like about the KonMari method.  First, she does not tell you how much to discard...only that you should discard things that don’t work for you any more (“spark joy”).  Reminds me of the of the popular William Morris quote: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”  I like her thought that “we should be choosing what we want to KEEP, not what we want to get rid of”.

The ‘touch everything’ sorting method is brilliant.  You can’t breeze through and say “it’s all good” because after you’ve touched 50 shirts or 100 books it finally starts sinking in that you’ve got too much stuff.

She acknowledges that “the way each client puts it into practice will naturally differ because each individual is just as unique as the way he or she furnishes the house.”

Unique...that is how I will be doing the KonMari method.

Can’t wait to see how it works out...I’m starting today!

A Black Smith Lesson

I'm trying out a new hobby.  I decided that the guys didn't need to have all the fun, so I'm taking a few black smith lessons to see if I enjoy it.

However...I picked the wrong month to start up.  The heat and humidity of July just is not compatible with the heat from a forge.

What was I thinking?

The iron wasn't the only thing getting red hot.

My lesson was to make a tapered point.

Not so easy as it sounds.

OK...I'm done!  Next lesson will be in October!!

Blowing Glass Bubbles

  I thought since Himself doesn't go out to Tacoma anymore that my glass blowing days were over.  So you can imagine how delighted I was to find out glass blowing classes were being held right in my county!  I jumped on the opportunity to have another go at it.  This time Himself wanted to try too.  And three's a party when BF decided to come.  

We ended up with four in our class, as new friend Mr. S also signed up.

(Glass ornament being formed)

The class was held at "Erin's Farm" in Cunningham, TN.   Gary and Linda have a large Christmas tree farm full of beautiful pines ready to be Christmas trees.  They also raise blueberries...so you know where I will be in July!

CONTACT INFO:

Linda Hamm

931-216-9983

erinstreefarm@gmail.com

Our teacher Algar Dole is the owner of Atlanta Art Glass (http://atlantaartglass.com/).  He comes up periodically to give workshops here in Tennessee.  

He offers different types of classes:

Type 1 - learn the basics and blow one ornament.  $35

Type 2 - again, learn the basics, but there is much more time for practicing.  You get to blow 4 ornaments.  $95

This is the first piece of equipment - the furnace which has a container (the crucible) that holds the molten glass.  The rod you see is the blowpipe.  It is dipped in the molten glass and a blob of glass is picked up.

This is the second furnace called 'the glory hole'.   When you are working glass it cools off ('cool' being entirely relative here!) and you have to bring it back up to heat.

So your blowpipe with your glass goes in here to reheat.

Oh...this is the blowpipe warmer.  The molten glass won't stick to a cold pipe.

These are diamond shears; scissors for cutting molten glass.  The way they are shaped causes the cut to be pointed rather than the long cut you would get with regular blades...almost like a 'pinch cut'.

These are the different pigments we had to color the glass pieces.

They are glass - shards, pieces, sand-like, and powder.

OK, that enough about all the bits and bobs and tools used to make our ornaments.  Let's see how you make an ornament!

Since this is a workshop with limited time to learn, Algar got the glass from the crucible for us.  Molten glass dropped about on the floor is so not good...

The blowpipe is then handed over to the student - this is Himself - and is heated up more in the glory hole.

Then the blob is taken to the 'marver', a metal table/workbench, to shape the glass.

And then back to the glory hole (this time it's Mr S).

Then over to the color bins where you roll your molten glass thru the pigment.  This time it is in the sandy-textured color.  You can see the frosty look on the glass blob.

Himself picking up some chips.

Another shot of picking up pigment chips.

Then back to the glory hole for more reheating - (this is BF working on her ornament).

Back to the pigment...  (I used a lot of the violet/cobalt).

And back to the glory hole yet again!

Depending on how much pigment you use and how quick you work (slower equals more reheating), you'll be looking into that hot red glow at least 5 times.  Each person does their ornament as the others wait...and help with opening and closing doors on the furnaces.

When you are happy with your coloring, it is time to blow!

And blow...and blow...and blow some more...

How hard is it to blow glass?  The first blow where you are starting to expand the bubble is like blowing up one of those long balloon used to make balloon sculptures.  Kinda hard.  But it is just for a bit and then it gets much easier.

When the blowing was done, Algar took the ornament over to this bucket to remove it from the blowpipe.  With a practiced tap, the pipe snaps away from the ornament.  Then he forms the hook for hanging.  To do this he picked up a bit of molten glass from the crucible...

... and stuck it to the top of the ornament.

While the glass is still soft, with a flick of his wrist he makes the hook.

Sometimes the glass gets stubborn and has to be reheated with a blow torch until, once malleable, he can form the hook.  

So...how did they turn out?

This is Mr S's ornament.

Here is BF's ball.

And here is Himself's and mine!

It was so much fun!  Next time he comes back to Tennessee I'm going to try to get a group of friends and go out again!

It's not an opportunity to miss!