Life is so busy and exciting this time of year, from gardens to new baby animals! It keeps us busy, but it's a good busy (if you know what I mean) We have some new members to our farm. Meet Clara, she gives us such good fresh milk! She is a sweet heart, milking has been working out great. We have been experimenting with making yogurts and cheese. YUM!  Daniel takes a picture of me milking early in the morning, The mornings are cold in north Idaho! Meet Jazzy my daughter's goat, we will breed her this Fall... Our gardens are now getting into full swing. Up North we don't get everything planted till about mid/end May. A short season, so we stay busy getting the best harvest we can get :)
The boys have been finishing up splitting, and stacking a new pile of wood with Dad.
We had a couple of birthdays this month, and opted to make chocolate mousse instead of cake. Wow it was good! I will have to post the recipe soon :)
So my question is... what's up on your homestead?
- Abby Jo
Wow what a huge mix up! Country Side Magazine just published our story "Starting from scratch" We sent in the story when we where still the owners of Homestead Drying Racks.com, however when we sold Homestead Drying Racks to Mark and Erin we emailed Country Side with all are new info. and that we now could be found at Forgotten Way Farms.com! Well it looks like it got all mixed up. Soooo here is the real info!!!!!!  Erin Harrison This is Erin Harrison hanging up clothes on the Homesteader drying rack, that Daniel and I designed. We submitted this picture and article into Countryside magazine with the title of “ Starting from Scratch”.
A big mix up, they said the picture was Abby Jo (me). Not so, we hired Erin to shoot that photo when we started Homestead Drying Racks. Mark & Erin Harrison of Wisconsin are the proud new owners , we support each other. We assisted with a new downloadable emagazine the “Homestead Community Post”.  Daniel, Abby Jo and the kids!
Daniel and I are the owners of Forgotten Way Farms. This is our family.
We sell the Grandpa Jakes campfire cooker now.
We live in North Idaho, off-grid in a 1300 sqft. Farm house we built with our hands.
 This is our house not finished all the way, but close!
Just trying to clarify any confusion from the Countryside article. Daniel & Abby Jo can be found @ Forgotten Way Farms.Com
Now don't forget to download your FREE copy of this great emag and CHECK out this great giveaway that Erin Harrison is doing over at Homestead Drying Racks.com. It's Huge!!!!! Don't miss it, all you have to do is spread the word!!!! Click HERE
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In the culinary world hair is the embodiment of all things evil. The unrealized fear of cooks worldwide. Imagine feeding the in-laws for the first time, everyone is admiring the presentation of a fine meal, then the sudden hesitation, nerves glance start bouncing across the table like an unseen ping-pong ball. The unfortunate guest announces the news over the symphony of forks ringing with plates.
-“I found a hair in my food”-
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You know what it feels like to find hair in your food.
Gross. What if you found out that bread manufactures are harvesting hair from China and putting it in bread products. That would be a million times GROSS. Believe it or not it’s true. Check out this article...
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(NaturalNews) If you read the ingredients label on a loaf of bread, you will usually find an ingredient listed there asL-cysteine. This is a non-essential amino acid added to many baked goods as a dough conditioner in order to speed industrial processing. It's usually not added directly to flour intended for home use, but you'll find it throughout commercial breads such as pizza dough, bread rolls and pastries.
While some L-cysteine is directly synthesized in laboratories, most of it is extracted from a cheap and abundant natural protein source:human hair. The hair is dissolved in acid and L-cysteine is isolated through a chemical process, then packaged and shipped off to commercialbreadproducers. Besides human hair, other sources of L-cysteine include chicken feathers, duck feathers, cow horns and petroleum byproducts.
Most of the hair used to make L-cysteine is gathered from the floors of barbershops and hair salons in China, by the way. Finish reading this article HERE
Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/032718_L-cysteine_commercial_bread.html#ixzz1qqBhbZuw This post is part of the following blog hops... Fat Tuesday,
Well, my ducks have gone thru some trauma lately. We had a lone wolf (an old alpha, that most likely was kicked out of the pack), hanging around are backwoods neighborhood. Two of my four girl ducks where out of their pen (escaped) with the drake taking a walk. It was really nice out, so I saw no harm. That was a big mistake… sadly they ran into the big bad wolf, and one of my good laying ducks was eaten. Our drake fought the scoundrel, and was puncherd by his wing. I found him in shock lying by the fence.
My neighbor was over and helped my son and I fix him up. I’m happy to say he is doing doing fine, and is on the mend.
We had to remedy the situation, by adding some height to our duck fence. I love my ducks; we have got to keep them safe! No more problems so far.
 Banty egg, brown chicken egg, and Khaki Campbell egg! My family loves our ducks and the wonderful eggs they bring to the homestead. Here is one of our favorite recipes we use for breakfast. I use to make these with chicken eggs, and now I always use my duck eggs for the incredible lift it gives!
Dutch Baby
½ C. Butter
2 C. Milk
8 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 C. Flour
5 Tbs. Sugar
We add a little lemon zest too!
This make two cast Iron pans full about 8-9 inch skillets.
Put ¼ cup of butter in each cast iron pan; place that in a 425 oven until the butter is melted and bubbly (you want it hot, but don’t burn the butter) Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well and stir in slowly flour and sugar. Beat until smooth. Pour the batter into the hot pans. Bake for 20 minutes or until well-raised and brown on top.
We love to drizzle with lemon juice and berries, or maple syrup.
Lighting your darkness is not a new idea.
In the days of the old British Navy multi decked battleships, the light only grows darker and staler with every downward flight of stairs. Fear from fire was of great concern for all on board. Candles and oil lamps used with the utmost respect. To help reduce the amount of oil used during the day light hours a new passive device was commissioned and installed on the top deck boards that redirected daytime light downward. This new device helped shave needed seconds from gun drills. Instead of “feeling” your way through the gun drill you now could perform with proficiency and accuracy. These deck lights were made from green glass. The top is octagon shaped with a lip to sit flush with the deck, the bottom is pyramid shape with the reverse effect of a funnel, throwing light downward in all directions.
Here is a reproduction of the deck light.
Our unfinished house has a room with this same problem like the naval ships of old. This room does not have any outside walls to install a high window. This room is considered by some in our family as the MOST important room in the entire house. –The Bathroom- our “Bath House”.
Abby Jo came up with a great solution, she suggested moving and reframing the bathroom door from the living room to the hallway, this now leaves a blank wall to install two high window like frames made with (4) 6x6 glass blocks grouted into the frame. The blocks are obscured, but defuse the light very well. This allows for a more passive light, thus not having to use the lamps every time we go wash our hands or take bathes.
Here is the glass block
I must give credit were it is due, this utube helped inspire us to think in a new way. Even though we won’t be punching holes in our roof, it does make one think outside of the box.
Many have found their lives changed when light pushed out the darkness.
I was reading a blog post a few days ago, and saw this great trailer for a new food documentary. If you liked the movie Food INC., this will be a new favorite.
What I liked about this movie was how it showed more detail on how Joel Salatin runs his farm and why. That guy is an inspiration!
Please support the filmmakers and buy your copy at Fresh.com
Spring is coming! Hang on everyone :)
My great granny was a very resourceful woman. She lived thru the depression, and I grew up begging for any story she would tell me of those days. She always thought it funny for young girl to want to know about that time in history, but she would still tell me what I wanted to know.
I enjoyed digging in her cellar/basement; I found all kinds of goodies. I loved everything that was old and had a story. I still do, that’s why I love old simple recipes. They have stories and life in them. This oldie was my granny’s she made the best pies! It’s simple and tasty. This really was a simple desert often used during the 30’s and 40’s.
½ c. cocoa
¼ cup cornstarch (or ½ c. flour)
3 eggs
1 ½ c. sugar
¼ tsp. salt
2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix cocoa, cornstarch, beaten egg yolks; sugar and salt, then add milk gradually, while stirring. Cook until thick, beating it smooth. Pour into a pre-baked pie shell.
Just a note: I no longer use cornstarch, I substitute with arrowroot flour or unbleached flour. I also use organic sugar or honey in my recipes.
Enjoy some old fashioned goodness!
Our guest writers are back...Backwood Diaries by Don & Lisa National Chili Day
February 24, 2012
A few weeks ago we did our semi-weekly library trip. Living in northern Idaho at the end of the road on a snow packed, rained all night in a January/February thaw driveway, is a normal winter event in this northwest. A week of freezing nights and days made a ½ mile long solid ice-skating rink the width of the truck, with a steep hill at the gate. It is keeping even the bravest of neighbors home. Our homestead is about one hundred air miles south of the Canadian boarder with more freezing nights promised ahead I am sure.
Some years ago Lisa and I made a firm commitment to begin retirement with no mortgages or any other large debts, so by shear necessity that has made life simpler. You can pull the person out of the city but it takes an extra push to take the city out of the person. We are both country folk at heart and needed only a little shove to make the move to homesteading a reality. No public TV, no Internet, and what might scare some, no telephone service, makes our trip to the library a treat. We call family and friends while we are out and check our e-mail and favorite sites on line. We couldn't quite go off grid, yet, for that was too much for us all at once. We, hopefully, will proceed going off the grid gradually by converting to solar for our well this summer. Our friendly librarian had informed us that Saturday was the National Homemade Soup Day with the National Chili Day on February 24th.
As you may have read our soup day was a success. Now we are dreaming of a campfire, Grandpa Jakes and turkey chili. Dutch oven cornbread and root cellar cold slaw is at the top of my list. After cooking, maybe we'll stoke the fire and eat outside. "Maybe" it will be warmer then.... a little!
Life is starting to get back into a groove. It seems we have been so busy! I like life at a little slower pace... I guess it's the country in me. It's winter, I like to hibernate, plan my garden, read, and cook. I have a couple reviews, I really want to get done. I'm also reading a wonderful book... The The Heirloom Life Gardener, all I can say so far is I can't put it down!
Are you all dreaming up your own garden plans for this spring?
I love taking pictures of the food we cook and eat... It gets me all excited to get back into the garden, and grow potatoes, blackberries, and such! We do live in Idaho, and we like our root crops.
Last years bounty!
Daniel and I would like to welcome Don & Lisa the handcrafters of Grandpa Jakes campfire cooker as our guest writers. They will be popping in every now and then, with a diary entry from their mountain farm.
They cook with their campfire cooker year-round, so I hope to hear more on that! Yesterday was national homemade soup day… who knew? I Love soup, it’s a staple at our home. We where cutting firewood yesterday, and what do you think I made for a day in the woods? Hot soup, potatoes & chicken with crunchy round loaves of bread. What did you do for national homemade soup day?
- Abby Jo
National Homemade Soup Day- Backwood Diaries
February 4, 2012
Our twenty-three and one half acres lies about ½ mile from the county road from two different directions. Our two access driveways enter, one from the south, which is semi-flat and one from the northwest, which was a summertime logging road/skid trail turned driveway by the seller twelve years ago when we bought it. This is our first winter in our fifth wheel on the property. We are boarded by a timber company and a part time no-name creek directly north with our homestead sitting, garden first, I might add, in the canyon on a five acre meadow. With the northwest drive being basically inaccessible in the winter, the south driveway is solid ice; we get few visitors and no drive bys.
Today is the National Homemade Soup Day and our thermometer reads 19.2 F. this morning. The freezing fog hand-painted every pine needle and every knap-weed perfectly and the sun rose to a cloudless northern Idaho. Sparkles, glitters and shiny-things decorated the hoop-frame green house, winter garden, and everything else. Grandpa Jakes Campfire cooking stake is still in the ground from last spring and frozen solid. Our campfire pushes the snow back and we set our pot close to the fire. Lisa's hamburger soup, with help from our root cellar includes onions, potatoes, carrots, corn, celery, garlic, cabbage, tomatoes and olives. Standing close to the fire and watching the sun and the temperature drop, we dipped our soup into bowls, grabbed our toasted sourdough garlic bread and headed for the fifth-wheel. We will wait to eat outside when it is warmer. We know who to thank for the four f's... family, fun, fellowship and food...Who would you thank for the National Homemade Soup Day?
- Don & Lisa
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