The Dirty Life

I got a Kindle for Christmas and love, love, love it!!

I started reading a book called The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball and fell in love the second I read this…

“As much as you transform the land by farming, farming transforms you.  It seeps into your skin along with the dirt that abides permanently in the creases of your thickened hands, the beds of your nails..Your acres become your world”

I am only 10 pages into it so I can not say what the rest of the book is like but one paragraph made me like this woman right away.  Farming is in your blood and denying it is not easy.  I wanted off  this farm and out of this town 10 years ago and look where I am!  My house is 7 miles from the farm and I am happy to only travel to and from work and no where else.  Traveling to North Conway for groceries is a hassle, running to Walmart for diapers is annoying.  I get the diapers delivered to my door with Diapers.com (love this site!) Call me a hermit but I like my bubble. What happens outside of the 4 walls of my house or the 150 acres I work on doesn’t seem to matter.  An open corn field is where I find peace.  Cows make me happy.  The smell of manure makes me think of home. Making things grow and having people enjoy the food that we raise is wonderful.  My world revolves my kids, my family, and this farm.  Now don’t for a second think that I am some country bumpkin with no life experience outside of  the farm! One of the things my grandparents passed onto us  is their love of traveling.  Every winter we head somewhere warm and I have a bucket list of places I want to visit.

I know what’s out there but I also love what is right here.

App for the Buy Local Movement

I am really excited about a new App for iPhone’s and the iPod Touch called Harvest to Hand.  It promotes locally grown goods and tells you where to find Farm Markets, seasonal agri-tourism, family friendly farms and locally made products anywhere in the U.S. It is available at the App Store and it is FREE!

The buy local movement is growing and this is an excellent way to spread the word.  Just last week there was a ground beef recall from Hannaford for e-coli issues.  Knowing where and how your food is produced and processed is your first line of defense in the war on food safety.

Holiday Idea!

A friend of mine was telling me about a Christmas party she attended where all the gifts exchanged were from locally owned stores.  What an awesome idea and a great way to introduce people to businesses they may have never known about before.  This will be part of our family gift exchange next year!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I am very excited to see the magic in my house this year as the girls “get it” this year.

Thrifty Farm Girl!

As a busy working mom I run to the grocery store only when I absolutely have to. I am somewhat careless and don’t look at prices or shop around.  My family eats well and I am lucky enough to have the farmstand right at my fingertips and really only have to purchase fruits and veggies 6 months out of the year   I am always envious when I hear of my other mom friends and their frugal money saving tricks.   I will admit that I am not a coupon clipper (tried it and found it time consuming).  I like certain brands of things and won’t settle for less. I refuse to buy something just because it’s on sale and I have coupon if I don’t really need it.  I have however found a couple of other ways to pinch pennies and still end up with products of comparable quality.  My newest discovery is homemade dishwasher detergent!

We purchased a new dishwasher last year and after many months of being frustrated that my dishes weren’t getting clean I called a family friend in the appliance business.  Homer assured me that my dishwasher was not dud and that the combination hard water and a reformulation of all dish detergents was the culprit.  With a little inspiration from my cousin Shannon, the original Thrifty Chick of New England, I am now making my own laundry and dish detergent.  Anyone can do it and the ingredients cost next to nothing.  If it involves lots of time and labor then you can count me out…I do not have a lot patience!  But really it’s easy!!

Dishwasher Detergent

1/2 C. Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (found in the laundry aisle at Walmart)

1/2 C. Borax (right next the washing soda)

1/4C. Kosher Salt

4 packets of Lemon Flavored KoolAid (used for the citric acid and lemon scent is nice too)

Mix everything together and store in an airtight container. Use 1 tablespoon per load.

Be sure to use white vinegar in the rinse aid dispenser to avoid a white film on the dishes ( Very important step)

This batch I ran through my food processor to make it really fine as the last batch got clumpy in the container.

I will post the laundry detergent as soon as I make a new batch!

Mmmm Cookies!

I got myself an early Christmas Present!

The Cannon T3 DSLR is with me wherever I go so there will be lots of photos to share.

These cranberries are in the cooler at the farmstand…So I found a recipe to share with you all.

From the Gooseberry Patch cookbook and my friends at the Real Farmwives  (yes I follow their blog so we are friends now)

1-2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
10-oz. pkg. white chocolate baking pieces
1 c. cranberries, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 c. pecans, coarsely chopped
1 t. orange zest, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease two large cookie sheets. In a small bowl, combine flour , baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Blend in egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in white chocolate, cranberries, pecans and orange zest. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until golden brown. Let stand 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets; cool.

Inspiration Comes in Many Forms

The Real Farmwives of America are my new source of entertainment!  This group of women from Indiana have captured my attention with their witty, charming, and oh so honest blogs about farm life. This non baker is even making one of the cookie recipes they posted!

I stumbled upon the website while reading an article in the Progressive Dairyman. This months feature was women in farming and focused on Leontien VandeLaar and her pursuit of the “American Dream”.  The magazine sat on my desk for a week before I took the time to open it up.  I am so glad I did and was inspired by what I read.  One of the articles featured Annie’s Project which I had never heard of.  I am now on a mission to bring this educational series to New Hampshire for the benefit of myself and so many others that could use some Farm Management and Agriculture Accounting classes . I really wish I had known 10 years ago that the farm is where I was going to end up!  At 18 years old I wanted no part of staying in the valley and being involved the family business.  Had I had a crystal ball I would have gone to school for Agri-Business or farm management.  Ah hindsight…

Who knew that picking up that magazine could make me so excited about agriculture??  I feel like my passion for farming has been rekindled 🙂 This time of year the transition of the seasons always gets to me.  I go from being so busy that I don’t know which end is up to being so slow that we don’t know what to do with myself.  When we have time to stop and smell the roses (or read a magazine) it reminds us that we do this because we love it, because it’s in our blood.

Check the real farmwives out and see what they have to say!  I am thoroughly enjoying the honesty and loving the recipes.