(Taking a little break from Home Dairy Month to talk about gardening today. Look for another home dairy post coming on Friday!) I've always been a pretty basic gardener. Although I've always totally admired what I thought to be the "fancier" methods like raised beds, Square Foot Gardening, or lasagna gardening, but I never thought they were for me... I figured I'd always be a "use a tiller to rip up the dirt each year and plant in ...Continue Reading
How to Make Fromage Blanc {Raw, Cultured Soft Cheese}
As much as I like real food and blogging, I don't really consider myself a "food blogger." Food bloggers make beautiful food and showcase it with stunning photography on their blogs. Me? I'm lucky if I can get my homemade tortillas to remotely resemble a circular-like shape, and if I can make a entire batch that doesn't have any holes, I'm thrilled. However, sometimes I still like to pretend I'm fancy, so it's kinda fun to say ...Continue Reading
Got (Raw) Milk? Why We Went Raw…
To a lot of people, there seems to be a certain romance attached to the idea of milking your own cow or goat. Yes, I'll admit that they are days when it's pretty cool to walk outside and bring in a couple gallons of fresh milk that was produced right out my front door. But there are plenty of other days when it ain't so romantic.... Like milking during a blizzard... Or trying to find a non-mucky place to put your bucket after a ...Continue Reading
How to Can Dry Beans
For me, one of the keys to cooking real food is to have a pantry stocked with real food 'building blocks' that I have prepared ahead of time. I always have a supply of homemade broth/stock, home-canned tomato sauce, applesauce, pickles, and multiple other items. It makes it easy to put together a real-food meal without spending 6 hours in the kitchen each and every day. I love cooking with dried beans (black beans, red beans, ...Continue Reading
French Bread Recipe
French bread comes from the store, right? Did you know that I was approximately 22 years old before it occurred to me that a person could make homemade French bread? Yeah, for real... I had it in my head that you simply had to schedule a trip to the store to grab a loaf or two of French bread if you wanted to serve it with your spaghetti or lasagna that evening. So imagine my surprise, back at the beginning of my real food journey, ...Continue Reading