Yogurt making update!

The homemade yogurt is a huge hit!!  My boys love it!  They had it for breakfast and wanted 2nds and 3rds.  The yogurt is made plain without sweeteners.  So, I added a little honey and frozen blueberries from last years blueberry picking.  It makes a perfect breakfast- very easy and quick.  The yogurt was very easy to make, just boil the milk, let it cool to room temperature, then mix in the live culture or plain yogurt starter, then pour into jars in the machine and plug it in.  It takes between 6-8 hours to finish in the machine depending on whether you use whole or skim milk- skim takes longer.  Then you refrigerate it for at least 3 hours before serving.  So, make it the day before and refrigerate overnight for breakfast and/or school lunch.  Serve with a piece of homemade bread toasted with homemade butter- does not get much better than that!  Plus, it is so good for you.  The live cultures/bacteria are excellent for your digestive system which needs to be performing at top notch to ward off illnesses. 

Making Yogurt

I purchased my first yogurt making machine this past weekend- found it on craigslist!  Crazy the items you can find on craigslist- love it!  Anyway, today is the day the machine comes out of the box and into my kitchen.  Per the directions, seems pretty easy.  Add milk with a yogurt culture or some plain yogurt from the store.  Then fill up jars with the milk and culture and put into machine and plug in for 8 hours- seems easy enough!!  We shall see- will update here later on progress.  Also, on the agenda today:  pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins.  I have two very large pumpkins sitting on my kitchen table staring at me that came from the CSA.  My boys said they wanted a break from pumpkin soup, so bread and muffins it is, and of course more baby food!  Just found a very cool local food delivery website.  It is called Kitchen Table Cuisine, and they have everything from milk to veggies to flour to meats.  Also, found out there is a local grain mill on Edisto Island- hoping to get out there Friday and check it out.  There is also a local mill in Awenda (I think) called Anson Mill- he specializes in grits, flour, and cornmeal using ingredients/recipes from plantation times.  Very cool historically!  Update on the garbage output:  so far so good, only one 13 gallon trash bag- actually last week we made it 12 days on one bag.  Recycle, reuse, or compost, or feed to chickens!  Toilet paper rolls make excellent craft projects for kids,  Start a craft box in your house, and add empty containers, tissue rolls, milk cartons, egg cartoons, etc. to it for your kids' art projects or take and donate to art teacher at school.  They always need supplies like these.
Update on female/male chicken.  Yes, he/she still is having gender issues- poor thing.  It really cannot decide what it is suppose to be doing:  it crows, mounts other hens, but still lays an egg- every day!  Go figure!  From what I have read, this sometimes occurs with all hens, but they say he/she will never be able to fertilize the eggs.  So, basically we just have a cross-dressing chicken!!  Fun trying to explain that to four very curious boys.  I am planning to write more on composting later, right now must attend to hungry boys in my kitchen!

Eating local while out of town

Well, I have been meaning to post on here since I got back into town Monday, and guess what, here it is Thursday morning and I am finally sitting down to the computer.  I forgot how time-consuming returning from vacation can be:  all the unpacking, the clothes washing, attending to info pile-up, and getting boys ready for school!  Anyway, I think I am feeling somewhat under control of things (using the term somewhat very loosely)  As I said in my last post, I have been visiting with my sister, her family, and my parents in the charming town of Beaufort.  My sister lives in Montana, so it is always a big deal when she comes home b/c we only see each other twice a year.  She has two boys herself.  We all stayed at my parents house- yes, if you do the math, that is six boys under the age of 10 under one roof!  My parents are very brave and patient people!  As customary in our family, we like to prepare meals and all eat together.  Being my sister lives so far from the ocean now, we like to indulge her with as many meals from the ocean as possible!  Our Friday evening meal was a dish called Frogmore Stew.  For those of you reading this not from around here, no, it does not actually contain frogs.  It is named after the small community it originates from, Frogmore, which happens to be located in Beaufort.  In the stew goes shrimp, sausage, corn, and potatoes.  Fresh local shrimp for the stew- cooked til just pink!  As customary, we lay out newspaper on the table and just dump the stew right on the table for eating.  Eating fresh local shrimp not only taste better, it provides jobs and income for local shrimpers who have been supporting their families for generations by shrimping.  Then, on Saturday, what we all had been so anxiously anticipating, an oyster roast!  The oysters were harvested from the pristine May River which is right in Beaufort County- salty and delicious.  You really cannot beat standing under the majestic oak trees overlooking the river eating oysters that were just freshly harvested and steamed to perfection!  Add that with a toasty outside fire pit going and the company of great family and friends- absolutely wonderful!  As an added bonus, my uncle fried some local fish he had caught- what a feast we had!  We are so lucky and blessed to live in an area that sustains such an amazing diversity of delicious food.  However, we must always keep in mind that in order to sustain this diversity, we must support local harvesters, and above all care for our environment, especially our rivers, lakes, and oceans! 

Cooking with Tat Soi and Turnips!

If you had told me 3 months ago, I would be cooking tat soi and turnips and liking it, and my boys would be liking it, too- I would have probably said, "tat- what?".   This very green leafy veggie is one of the choices we get with our CSA share.  I picked it out on Sat. because I had never heard of it, much less eaten it!  After Monday, there was no more soup in a pumpkin left, but there was plenty of cold, soup eating weather still hanging around.  So, I put on a pot of beans to simmer, then I pulled out all the veggies in the fridge and started chopping.  One of the veggies was tat soi.  I still was unsure what to do with it, but to me it looked and felt similar to a collard, so I decided to chop it up to and add it to my soup.  Into the soup went beans, turnips, sweet potatoes, onions, celery, carrots, and yes, tat soi!  I also browned some fresh chicken sausage given to us by my father-in-law from a local meat man in Lexington- it is delicious!  I added this to the soup as well, and let the soup simmer all afternoon.  The soup filled the house with warm, earthy scents and made it feel very cozy inside while it was still icy and cold outside.  The boys and I also made more homemade bread to dip in the soup.  We had a side salad with fresh greens from Johns Island top with fresh goat cheese.  So far, nobody is complaining about eating locally, and we are still in winter- just imagine the meals when spring and summer roll around!  I can already taste and smell those vine-ripened tomatoes with homemade mozzarella cheese!    Today, we are headed out to pick up our weekly share from the CSA, and make a big batch of egg salad.   Our hens have been laying like crazy, apparently this cold weather does not bother them at all!   Once you taste fresh homemade egg salad, you will never want to eat any other kind again- nothing beats collecting the eggs in the morning and having an egg salad sandwich by lunchtime! 
Update- I will not be blogging for the next five days because my sister is coming home- finally- all the way from Montana!  We are all going to be in Beaufort at my parents house- 6 boys under the age of ten- all under one roof!!  My parents are very brave and/or crazy!  Guess, we will find out what is growing locally right now in Beaufort!  Can't wait to bring home some more fresh lemons and make a lemon pie!  And, of course some more hot toddies!  Happy eating everyone!

Soup in a pumpkin!!

On Saturday, we went to pick up our first CSA share.  It was a really great experience- veggies everywhere- brought in straight from the farm- so fresh!  We brought home:  broccoli, cauliflower, collards, carrots, salad greens, sweet potatoes, turnips, even grapefruit.  Also, they had pumpkins!  Apparently the farm had a bumper crop of pumpkins this year, so they still have them around.  I must confess I have never done anything with a pumpkin, except carve it and roast the seeds.  So, I asked one of the lady's working at the CSA what to do with it, and she suggested to cook a soup in it, and that is what we did.  Sunday, my husband cut the top off and cleaned the seeds out.  Then we filled it with cut-up fresh veggies from the CSA, some ground venison, sage from our backyard, and put the top back on. We put it in the oven for 2 hours on 350 degrees.  The pumpkin seals up like a slow cooker.  It came out delicious!  Every time you ladle the soup out, you would scrap the sides and get some pumpkin, too- very good!  After dinner, we cut-up the rest of the pumpkin and froze it to use later on in soups, breads, and/or pies.  We served the pumpkin with the soup in it on the dinner table, and the boys loved it!!  It made a very nice centerpiece, too!

One Pot Skillet dinner

Well, the hoppin johns and collards finally ran out at our house.  There was just a serving of hoppin johns left, so me not wanting to waste anything, decided to create a meal around that last serving.  Thankfully, it can easily be incorporated into one of my family's favorite meals- the one skillet dinner.  Start with a cast iron frying pan (really should have one of these- in my opinion, they cook the best) drizzle liberally with olive oil, then brown ground venison (from Lexington Co.) with a cut up cayenne pepper, add diced onions and/or celery, sautee briefly.  You want the veggies to still have crunch.  Then, start adding what is in season, or leftover from fridge.  In our case, butter beans, tomatoes (frozen from last season), leftover hoppin johns.  I cooked the butter beans separately with the last piece of turkey, therefore, you can use some of the broth in the skillet, and if you cook extra, you can save it to start a soup over the weekend.  I also cook a separate pot of brown rice (from GA) for the skillet dish to be placed over.  Cook extra so it can be added to your soup over the weekend.  After the meat is browned, you can add some worcestershire, black pepper, sea salt.  Then, sit down with your family and enjoy!  Oh, don't forget the hot chow-chow on top!  I will have to say that my boys were begging for seconds and asking if they could take it for lunch today!  Yeah, for eating local!    And, I must give a yeah to my hens out back- 7 eggs yesterday- go girls!!  Guess they must have gotten the memo, either start laying better or be in the pot!  They certainly stepped up to the plate! 

Honey instead of sugar

Since there are no local sugar refineries in the area, we have been gradually making the change over to honey as our sweetener, which is really a good thing because honey is much better for you than sugar, and it can serve many other functions as well (ie. it is a great antiseptic, and wonderful for calming a coughing child).  Plus, the more people that consume honey the more bee hives will be needed which will in turn benefit our fruits and veggies which need bees for successful pollination.  Ok, off of my soapbox.  Anyway, I saw an ad in our paper for local honey (within 5 miles of my house- pretty darn local).  I called the man and he told me where he was and come anytime to pick it up.  His instructions were to park out front, walk around back to the half open gate, come through gate, and knock on door of small building out back.  Now, I am kind of thinking, I am going to buy honey or something illegal?  But, as it turns out it was truly honey, beautiful golden-hued honey- right here in my neck of the woods!  As it turns out, he keeps his bee hives on the Clemson Ext. land in exchange for his bees helping to pollinate their crops.  How cool is that!  Both get to benefit, and now me and my family do, too!  We have been enjoying it a lot on our homemade bread, biscuits, and cornbread.  It also has been helping with all of my boys' sore throats and coughs this time of year.  And, for mom and dad, it helps make a wonderful hot toddy- just mix it with some sweet tea vodka (locally distilled right on the island), and a squeeze of fresh lemon (fresh from a neighbor of my parent's in Beaufort), and some hot water- great relaxing drink on these cold evenings!

Snacks for kids

Last night, my boys were with me when we stopped for toilet paper- an obvious necessity.  However, you can still buy within a tri-state radius just read the labels, and you can find one that does not come from hundreds of miles away.  So, as we were headed to the check-out my boys, as like most children, were wondering what they could have for school snacks/after school snacks.  After, looking at several regular snack boxes/packages and seeing predominantly mid-western origins, we came to the conclusion that snack time was going to get creative.  Of course, my boys took a little convincing on this part. As you know, those snack food companies do a wonderful job of seducing your young ones' eyes and mind.  But, they are so very detrimental to their health.  When we got home, we sat down to brainstorm over snacks.  Yes, I know it is winter and our choices are limited in the fruit department, but there are some easy veggies:  carrots (grown in backyard or local farm), sweet potato french fries/chips (local farm/farmer's market), pecans (ask around or farmer's market), home-cooked bread (much easier than you think, more to come on that) dipped in olive oil.  As far as fruit, we were pleasantly surprised to find grapefruit grown right on James Island at the local market- yeah, some vitamin C.  Also, we are hoping to find ingredients for granola.  For dinner last night, we still had beans and rice but we added coleslaw made from cabbage grown right on Johns Island- very tasty!  As I said above, more to come this week on baking bread from scratch!  Also, we are going to attempt to make homemade butter- apparently shake a jar with a marble in it for a few minutes.  Sounds like a good project for very energetic boys, assuming they do not try to throw the jars!

Cloth Diapers

Wanting to make the switch to cloth diapers.  Figure with baby #4 we have done enough polluting the landfills with diapers!  Not sure which cloth diapers to go with, any info./input would be appreciated! 

Joining a CSA

Going out to Johns Island today to join a CSA!  Very excited, for those of you unfamiliar with a CSA- it means community supported agriculture.  This means for an upfront cost (really reasonable for fresh veggies/fruit), every week you get fresh produce grown from a local farm.  This helps the farmer out by having a direct market for their produce and helps you out by eating fresh and local!  It is a win/win!  Plus, you get to know your local farms/farmers, and your food will be so fresh it will probably still have dirt on it- how cool is that!  Side note, I am a dirt lover!  Nothing smells quite as good as fresh wholesome dirt, teeming with life!  Anyway, do a little research in your area and I am sure you can find a CSA to support or at least a local farmer's market.  We are blessed to live in a wam climate where we can grow all year long, so we can have access to a CSA and/or farmer's market year around.  Yummy collards (I really could live off of them!), radishes, lettuce, cabbage, kale, and other winter veggies!  We grow as much as we can in raised garden beds, but with four growing boys we can always use more fresh produce, plus we can freeze or can the surplus!

Hens turning into roosters?

I know it sounds crazy, but one of our hens has started acting like a rooster.  Pouncing on top of the other hens, fluffing herself up in front of them, chasing them around, and then the other morning while we were all outside enjoying the sunshine, my oldest son said, "shh, everyone listen!"  We all stopped what we were doing and listened, and what we heard was a very strange sound, like a gurgling, or a small engine trying to get started noise.  Then, after more listening we realized it was a crowing sound coming from the chicken coop.  Let me back up, and add, we have had chickens for about five years now, adding new chicks every spring to keep the flock producing eggs for our family.  Over the past five years, we have had a few roosters grow up from our baby chicks, so we know the sound of a young rooster just testing out their new lungs.  It is not a very appealing sound.  And ,since we live in the city in a neighborhood, they have had to make the move to the country.  However, this latest group of chicks, thanks to my husband's careful selecting, grew up as all hens.  And, after a bit of a slow start have all been laying eggs very successfully for us.  But, it seems one of them has decided it no longer wants to be a hen...I have read about this strange phenomenon once, but if anyone else has any info on this subject please let us know.  Not quite sure what to make of it.  The boys are totally excited, b/c as they said, "Mommy, since it crows softly and not early in the morning, we can keep it right?"  Guess we might be building an incubator soon?  Our very own spring baby chicks would be awesome!  But, again I do not know much about this whole sex change in chickens, so any info would be greatly appreciated!

No hot water!

Sunday morning, as I am folding a seemingly endless pile of clothes (note to self and family: jeans can be worn more than once), I hear this very loud sort of swishing water sound coming from garage area.  When I open the garage door, I am greeted with the site of water shooting across our garage, apparently as my husband put it, "our hot water heater blew up"!!  After he finally got it shut off and contained (thank goodness I married a handyman), we began to discuss what needed to be done next.  After several attempts to fix it, my husband deemed it finished!  Most people at this point would get in the car and head up to Home Depot/Lowes for a new hot water heater.  Well, our family being "different" as our friends like to say, decided to take this as an opportunity to see if we could manage without instant hot water.  Also, combined with the fact we were no longer supporting "big box stores" and did not know if we even wanted a traditional hot water heater.  We have been talking for some time of building a solar hot water since we live in such a warm sunny climate, maybe this was our opportunity presenting itself?  Thankfully, we already do not wash clothes in hot water, but the looming question beckoned, "Can we do without the standard hot shower?"  So Sunday night after dinner, first we began by boiling water for washing dishes by hand, not too bad.  Then being the night before school started back, our boys needed baths.  After several pots of heated water had been added to the tub, one by one they got in and washed.  After each one, we would add another pot of warm water.  They were a bit chilly but I will have to say it made bath time very fast and efficient!  Then it was a race to sit in front of the fireplace to warm up.  But, all in all they did not seem to mind too much- something different!  However, mom and dad were not quite as brave.  We figured we could wait another day without a shower.  Monday morning for face washing, my husband was bringing around warm washcloths heated from the kettle on the stove.  Baby's diaper changing was done the same way.  We do not use wipes so this was not a big deal.  I will say after heating water all day for various needs, it truly makes you very appreciative for the warm water!!  So, by 11pm Monday night, after a lot of discussion, and I will confess a little pleading on my part (mommy really likes a hot shower every now and then), we decided to order a small tankless on demand water heater.  Now this would not meet the demands of a regular family of six having "normal" hot water consumption, but we hope to keep reducing our need for instant hot water.  Also, we still have plans to build a solar hot water heater...will keep you posted on the progress.  As for now the small tankless will be here by Thurs. at the latest! 

Goal for the new year

So this year instead of our regular new year's goals, you know the ones like eat better, lose weight, exercise more, etc.  Our family of six (mom, dad, four boys ages 10, 7, 4, 6 mths) decided to make our goal a pledge for eating locally for one year.  We are allowing our food consumption to come from a tri state area: SC, NC, GA.  Some of you may be familiar with books of people who have pledged similar goals; however, most of those situations took place on farms in rural agricultural areas. We live in a neighborhood on less than half of an acre in a city.   But, we believe we can make it work just as well, with a few adjustments here and there, i.e. no goats in our neighborhood.  We are already pushing the limits by keeping our flock of six laying hens in the backyard!  We also have pledged to decrease our household waste down to one 13 gallon trash bag a week.  Why these goals?  First of all food taste better and is better for you when it has not traveled cross country or cross ocean to arrive on your plate.  Support for your local farmers and businesses, and knowing the face behind the food and/or product you are consuming.  Eating what it in season and appreciating it in that season.  Really asparagus and strawberries are not available in December!  Why decrease trash output, simple, there is no "away".  We live on the "away"! Ok, enough preaching, this blog site was created to keep friends and family up-to-date on our progress not to preach.

Jan. 1st started out pretty easy.  Collards from Johns Island, Organic Brown rice from Georgia, Field Peas from upstate SC, turkey breast from a local man in Summerville, SC raising turkeys, and deviled eggs from our beautiful hens in the backyard.  Oh, and the best part, homemade chow chow from my husband!  We made plenty of everything so we could have meals for a few days.  So far no protest from our boys.  I forgot to mention, everyone is allowed three exceptions to the tri-state pledge.  However, so far the only things that have made the list are olive oil (no local olive oil producer), coffee, and Duke's mayo (Virginia).  If you know of any local producers of products we can support please pass the word along to us.  We are still working out the details of obtaining fresh raw milk.  Bummed out we cannot have a milk goat in our neighborhood, we really wanted the experience of milking ourselves.  Hoping to find someone we can barter manual milking labor in exchange for fresh milk.