Basic Wine Making ~ So fine Homeade Wine by MM

A couple years ago Kim and I attended a basic wine making class at the Common Ground Fair.  A large, bearded gentleman in a jean jacket stood before the crowd with a five gallon bucket in hand and said, “I’m going to keep this real simple!”  Since then we have had a great deal of fun with the skills learned that day.  We give wine for gifts, bring it to holiday gatherings, bbqs, and parties.

We’ve also utilized wine for bartering as well.  Exchanging for goods as well as pay back for good deeds done.  Plus it’s just plain old satisfying to sit down and enjoy an ice cold glass of relaxation that you created yourself.

To get started you’ll need an air tight container with an air lock.   We use a multitude of different containers including 5 gallon buckets, jugs, jars, and carbouy’s.  The air lock is just a water chamber that keeps air from entering the wine and lets the gasses out.  Clean all containers including bottles with bleach and water.  Rinse well!!




We have made a great deal of apple, strawberry, and blueberry wine as well as a multitude of other fruity flavors, too many to mention.  I start by soaking roughly 1.5 gals of fruit in roughly 3 to 4 gals of water, mash it a bit and let it set in a cool place a couple of days to absorb the flavor. A refrigerator is the best bet or set it outside if it’s cool enough.  Basically your making a fruit infused water.   Next I strain off the fruit and add 10lbs of sugar and 1  tablespoon of yeast to the juice or fruit water.  Sometimes I use bread yeast and sometimes I use  a packet of wine yeast.  Both work fine however the wine yeast is a bit more user friendly.  It forms a hard layer when it drops out of suspension.   If you start with a fruit juice make sure it does not contain preservatives, which could stop the yeast from working.  This recipe will not work with grapes so don’t try it, just trust me on that!!


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We’ve also fermented tea and lemonade adding a bit of ginger which was a big hit with the ladies.  I’ll do a post on that at another time.

70 degrees is the preferred temperature for fermentation to occur so find an area in your home that is closest to that if possible.  It is not an exact science so don’t overthink it, we don’t and we are able to pull it off.  We live in an old farmhouse and the temperatures can vary room to room by 20 degrees in the winter.  The beauty and curse of wood heat.

The magic begins in 2 days.  The yeast grow and consume the sugar creating a byproduct of alcohol and CO2.  Place the container out of direct sunlight and it will make a wonderful bubbling noise until the sugar is gone or the alcohol content is too high for the yeast to survive.  They die and fall to the bottom in roughly 8 weeks give or take a few weeks.
Lastly, siphon it into sterilized wine bottles or mason jars.  Pour over ice & enjoy!

 

Making Salad Dressing

I have made salad dressings a few times but it is not something I do on a regular basis. My inspiration? A couple things…..first I went on a field trip with by boy a few weeks back before school was out. It was at Old Fort Western. I think I enjoyed it more then the kids. Here the staff talked and demonstrated how life was back in the 1700’s. One of the stations a woman made up some goodies from the kitchen garden. She made a simple dressing for the salad which consisted only of cider vinegar, water, and sugar and to my surprise it tasted pretty dang good. Easy & tasty…..caught my interest for sure!

Then about a week ago I was going back reading Food In Jar’s blog and I saw her post on how to make Chive Blossom Vinegar. Perfect timing because my chives were in full bloom! So I popped the flowers off the tops, rinsed them, filled a canning jar then added vinegar (white distilled vinegar). It sat on my counter looking real pretty for about a week. I strained it and what I had left was some cool looking pink vinegar that smelled divine (like onions).

I refrigerated the remains although I am not sure that was necessary and made a simple vinaigrette based out of a recipe I clipped out of a magazine (Cooking Light 2010) and revised to my own likings.

This recipe is approximately 4 servings

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

4 tablespoons of “Chive Blossom Vinegar” (doesn’t that sound fancy?)

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

12 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

Place all the ingredients in a canning jar, cover, shake it all about and serve immediately

SIMPLE, EASY & CHEAP!! That’s how I roll. Would love to hear what you make for dressings. If you have a link to share from a previous post of your own creations I love to read and I’m sure others would too!

Making Goats Milk Cheese

This is my first attempt posting using Windows Live Writer so bear with me, blogger has has some issues lately so I figured I’d try something different.  This past winter I gave one of my neighbors a Muscovy (not live, the ready for the oven kind).  In trade she said she’d give me some goat milk come Spring when her does were freshened.  She did just that!  With that milk I made goat cheese and Maine Man absolutely loved it.  He has recently figured out he has issues with milk products yet this cheese I’d created did not bother his gut.  Long story short……we purchased a goat.  Another one of those things I’d said I would never do again…LOL.  Her name is Dolly.  We are not quite sure what breed she is, maybe an Alpine/Nubian mix.  Regardless she is a big girl and she is sweet as ever and we’ve really enjoyed having her around.  She is producing between 1 – 1 1/2 quarts twice a day.  EXCITING….scratch another item off my grocery list ….MILK.  Besides using it for cooking & drinking I’ve only used it to make this cheese.  It is a FAVORITE with MM & Flower Girl and I like it too.  It’s also Wicked EASY to make so that helps. 

• Slowly heat milk to 185 degrees
• Add 1/4 cup of vinegar
• Keep temp @ 185 stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes.  Soft curds will form.
• Line strainer with cheesecloth then pour curds/liquid into strainer (remove liquid)
• Sprinkle cheese with salt (I use a coarse sea salt)
• Tie corners of cheesecloth together and hang allowing it to drip for a few hours.
• Add seasonings (dill, pepper, and/or garlic) if desired
• Break up with fork & refrigerate

 

Local Food Finds

For Mother's Day Maine Man and the kids gave me a book titled

Bringing Food Home ~The Maine Example

by Merry Stetson Hall

I meet the author of that book a few years back at a conference about local food co-ops. I overheard her speak of this book she was writing and I thought to myself...sounds like something I'd like to read. Funny thing is MM never knew anything about me meeting her or the book she was writing. So almost every night before the lights go out I read a few pages. I LOVE IT more then I ever thought I would. Someday I may even share some tid bits from the book here. It has inspired me to be a faithful supporter of our local farmers markets regularly despite the fact that we produce a good deal of foods right here. In effort to encourage others to "know there farmer" and make more of a conscious effort to buy local I will share my weekly local food finds here throughout the summer along with a random photo or two. (Boy that was a long sentence....hopefully my grammar teacher is not one of my followers...lol)

This weeks finds:

1 lb of asparagus ( I picked a 1 pound from our gardens but I needed another to make that that tasty soup I keep talking about for my farmer friend)

bay leave plant

dill seedlings ( I neglected to start any yet and it is by far one of my favorite herbs)

2 lbs of haddock

P.S I apoligize for the abnormal spacing in this post and some of the other posts. Not sure what is going on with blogger lately. Anyone else having issues?

Kennebec Organics Soil review

Recently Kennebec Organics supplied me with a sample of their NEW potting soil/seed starter for an Achorn Farm review. It was amazingly light and fluffy with a rich mahogany color. It looked good enough to eat. Not really but you get the picture.

For years I've used the commercially available over the counter Pro Mix. I figured if it was good enough for the professional gardener it should certainly should work for us.

With this in mind I set out on a head to head comparison between the big box stores and a new local business.

My initial expectation was that I would find a 10- 20% measurable difference between the two soils. However, to my surprise the results were far greater then I expected. The Kennebec Organic soil on the LEFT grew twice the size of the Promix which is on the right. I will be interested to see if this equates to twice the yield at harvest time. But more important than the numbers, healthy vigorous plants produce more nutritionally dense food which is one of the main reasons we garden.

These bell peppers were grown side by side using the same seed tray, water, and light exposure. I know which seed starter we will be using from now on.
Remember... plant SMARTER not HARDER with Kennebec Organics!

Currently this product is available at Visions on KMD in Oakland, ME (465-8200)

~Maine Man

Scenes from the Green House

All Maine Man's hard work is paying off.

These pictures were taken over a week ago.

This week we ate our first greens of the season, 2 weeks later then last year.

The kids and I only planted 2 flats and MM has done the rest.

He's the green thumb in this family! You grow it and I'll cook it is my motto ;)
SO thankful for all the fresh greens. All winter I have been buying them at the local natural food store and it is not cheap.....something like $9.99 a pound....yikes!
Bok Choy is one of MM's favorite. The best way I like it is in an Asian Salad but we do eat it often is toss salads.
Would love to hear your favorite way of eating it!

Peas

Garlic....notice the chicken is on the outside of the fence. They've been free ranging since last fall but they are soon to be cooped up. They are VERY destructive to the gardens. MM has a a small garden started so far but he has it fenced in.

The Little Things in Life are the Big Things

I know......I've been a BAD blogger, nearly 2 weeks from my last post. It is nice to feel missed as evidence by an e-mail I received last night from my cousin.

One of our Muscovies hatched out 10 ducklings a couple days ago. Aren't they just the cutest animal EVER? CB's incubator is full of duck eggs so we have more on the way.
Life has been busy but.....I will be posting again real soon.

GOOD DAY EVERYONE!

Liquid Gold

As asked by a few readers to share the entire process of collecting sap and making syrup here goes...I first posted back in March when we tapped our Maple trees. There are a couple ways to boil down sap which we've experimented with in previous years, gas and/or wood. The method we currently use seems to be the most cost effective and least labor intensive. To boil down exclusively by gas is very expensive and cooking over an open fire is a lot of work! This year we only tapped 3 trees. 2 taps in the two big trees and 1 in the small one so we had 5 buckets to empty every day.

In the old summer kitchen in our farmhouse we have an ancient Ashley wood stove. We simply remove the cover and boil down the sap in a shallow pan directly atop the wood stove. We add to the sap as it boils down throughout the day and towards night we stop adding to it. Most every evening we would boil down the remains of the pan inside on our gas range. It was just easier to tend without fear of turning it into sugar. Instead I boiled it over a few times and made a HORRENDOUS mess :/

After boiling for a few hours I tested the syrup by placing a spoonful in a cool dish to check for consistency and color. If it is to my liking I would pour into hot canning jars while filtering with cheesecloth. Cap it and turn the jars upside down for the caps to seal.

Viola....Liquid Gold!

Over 5 gallons of it. Do the math and that is approximately 200 gallons of sap.

It is currently going for $50/gallon in this area.

We've enjoyed it on homemade waffles, maple syrup shakes, over ice cream, blueberry-maple muffins and this week I hope to to make some granola with it.

Every Picture Tells a Story

Last weeks we started hearing squeaks coming from Country Boy's incubator.

Within a few hours they were busting out of their shells. We helped the above chicken break out a bit because he was really struggling and one of the last to hatch. We've never had good luck with "helping out" but amazingly this little guy survived.

Not a great incubation rate this time around. Only 10 out of 40 eggs hatched. Better luck next time around. The key is to keep a moist environment which we lacked on a little towards the end. Our bad!

CB sold them within a couple days. Now he has his incubator filled with Muscovy eggs. We also have a Momma Muscovy sitting on a nest of eggs. Hers will hatch out way before the batch in the incubator. Remember last year when one of our hens hatched out and tended 26 ducklings? Now that is just crazy!

Growing Mushrooms in Maine

I have been wanting to grow mushrooms for a couple years now since seeing Shitake mushrooms at the Common Ground Fair. A vendor had logs displayed and a never ending line-up of people paying good money for fried Shitake mushrooms.

Looking back in my archives I even have a picture of them on a post I did in Oct 09'.If your a fellow Mainer you may find that post useful as it displays local mushrooms and where they are found. The last picture on that post is of the Shitake's growing on the logs.

I bought the above plugs at a local market for $30 for 200 they came from Oyster Creek Mushroom Company. We planted approximated 3/4 of them and gave the rest away to a friend.

We made it a family event... melted down some paraffin wax. You are suppose to use a double boiler, but who follows directions...really?

Maine Man gathered Oak logs approx 4 ft long and directions said 4- 8 inches in diameter, 1 tree was sacrificed in the making of this project. Drilled the holes w/ a 5/16th bit every 8" evenly spaced around the log. Then the we all took turns pounding the inoculated dowels in the holes, making them flush with the log. Lasly we sealed the plugs with some melted wax. Easy & Fun project to do with the kids! They stayed up an hour past their bedtime helping out. Now the logs will be stacked in a shady area in a square rick or log cabin formation. We should be able to harvest twice a year, Spring & Fall. I will be sure to update our progress on growing mushrooms in the future.

Country Boy Can Survive

I have NO doubt this boy could survive out in the wilderness! On the other hand, I would never make it out alive unless of course I had Maine Man or County Boy there to bail me out. A few weeks back CB was getting a little stir crazy (aka driving his mother crazy) so MM bought him a pellet gun. CB will spend part of this Spring into Summer working around the farm to pay it off. He offered to give us some cash after he sells some chickens he is hatching out but we declined. I think working for things you want provides for a valuable lesson. Almost every day after school he ventures out on to the back forty with MM. He goes his own way as MM cuts wood. A porcupine was his first kill with his new gun.
After the kids were ever so persistent their dear old dad, MM reluctantly cut it up and believe it or not I cooked it up. I baked it in a baking bag and it came out pretty darn good. MM and I had a few bites and the kids ate the rest. Actually they all but sucked on the bones. I really can't get over how much of a carnivore Flower Girl is. In a survival situation I could easily eat it but after seeing it dead, smelling it, and the cooking it I found it a little challenging to consume knowing I had an assortment of other foods to eat. We also saved some of the quills for future projects.

Sappin' Time

If you look closely you can see the sap running down the bark.
CB helping his Dad drill some holes in the maple trees.

Couldn't help but take a picture of this. CB's friend got his outdoor gear wet so we supplied him with a stylin' attire. Camo overalls and my flowered bog boots. LOL.
I have been sworn to secrecy so I will never tell which friend it was!

Last night was cool and today was a beautiful day filled
with sunshine.

I'm sure the buckets are filling right up.

Tonight we will begin the boiling down process on top of the wood stove. This weekend we may boil some down over an open fire. The wood stove is our preferred lazy-man method. But, there truly is nothing like the taste of maple syrup boiled down over a fire.

Full Freezers

We picked up the remains of our pig last week. Love the look of these sweetly wrapped morsels of goodness.
We run three freezers and they are completely full. Actually I did not have enough room for all the pig fat. If any of you locals are interested in some to make lard with and/or for bird treats come on over.

With the price of gas steadily rising I have heard that the price of food will double in price.

I cannot even imagine as there are so many in this country that are going without.

Maybe it will eventually be less expensive to raise your own and more people will go back to it?

That would be nice!

P.S. The picture on my header is a dish I made after getting the idea from a fellow blogger, Amaranthian. Love her blog, lots of great culinary ideas! Besides being tasty it only required one pan. Cook up the bacon, set aside, cook up grated potatoes in the grease, then cook your eggs atop. Note to others: don't take a shower while your taters are cooking :)

Making Treats for our Feathered Friends

Last year for the first time I made some tasty treats for the birds. I posted recipes here.

The other night my girl & I made some without following a recipe.

*We cooked up some pig fat in the oven in my cast iron kettle, the remaining was liquid fat and crackles, I believe that is what they are called. (little pieces of fat)

*Threw the crackles in the processor.*Dug deep into my fridge to find the bacon grease and such I had been saving for the last year or so, against Maine Man's will. Melted it down. He's a bit of a throw away kinda guy and I am a save it kinda gal. I just know I will find a use for it someday! Hence why I do the recycling, as painful as it can be.

*Threw in some bird seed, a bit of cracked corn, a few tablespoons of peanut butter. Mixed it all together and dished it out into pans and plastic containers of all sizes.

I was wishing I had saved a bunch of those plastic containers you get when you buy suet blocks in the store. I only had 1 and it was perfect for this project. Maybe I will put something on Facebook and see if my bird feeding friends will save some for me.

*Set the containers in the barn overnight

*Perfectly hardened! Popped the suet blocks out of the containers. Placed one outside for the birds and the rest in the freezer.

Little Messy but FUN!

I spy with my little eye...

....Something green in February~ONIONS~

Nice to see seedlings sprouting upon the window sills!

Last night was the first meal I cooked since my procedure.
I am not 100% but definitely better then I was pre-procedure.
Today was the first time in a while I did not have to lay down and did not take ANY meds.
Wooo hooo!
Nice to be back in the kitchen!
Many (not all) of the meals we cook come from the farm.
When we first started raising our own food each homegrown meal created a stir of excitement.
Now we often take it for granted.

We had pork chops from H1 who went to the butcher shop last week.
MM has processed some of our pigs in the past but with everything going on as of recently it was best to pay someone else to do it.

I also cooked up some mashed potatoes from the root cellar, we have enough left to bring us into summer I think.

For a vegetable I cooked up some Butternut squash. That stored nicely in cool storage...(Country Boy's closet) He was real impressed with me :/
Buttercup is my favorite but it was the worst for storage. Had I paid better attention and in the future I will Always eat those up first. Acorn squash & Spaghetti squash stored quite well but the Hubbard & Butternut by far stored the BEST! I am certain we will have enough until next years crop.

Duck Eggs- day 8

Duck eggs are my ABSOLUTE favorite to bake with! I cherish them in the winter because it is the only season of the year I get them. The rest of the time the hens are either sitting on a nest of eggs for hatching or they are free ranging at the pond. They don't seem to be as ritualistic as chickens laying in the same spot. They are real good at hiding their eggs.
The shells are like 100 times thicker then a chicken's egg
(slight exaggeration on my part but you get my point)
Not like a chicken egg. If you have hens you know the deal. You slip it in your pocket, accidentally lean against something and you have a pocket full of yokey nastiness. Do you know how many times I have done that?
I have lost track. Even did it once at the kids school.
Waiting for them to get out, stuck my hand in my pocket and you know it.
I learn lessons hard and slowly.

Have you ever baked with duck eggs?
You must try just once. The only way to describe the end result is "fluffier".

Putting Food on the Table ~ day 6

Today we let the kids play hooky. They went out ice fishing with Maine Man.

Country Boy's first Pike (5 lbs)
And a 1 lb Brook Trout

They waited for me to get home and see the fish before they cut them up.


Some people take their kids out of school to go on elaborate vacations. We let ours skip out for an occasional hunting and/or fishing trip because MM often works the weekend.

To make myself feel guilt-free I consider it a Homeschool Day;)

Subjects covered today: Science, Phys.Ed, Math, and Home Ec

Can you guess what we are eating tonight?

In my next life I plan to be an independently wealthy, homeschooling, stay-at-home Momma. (with a Nanny for respite ;)

For now I will just be thankful that I only have to work part-time. And although we do not technically homeschool I can find comfort in all the ways we supplement our children's education.