Incubator hatch day CRISIS!

It has been a craptabulous kind of night. **YAAAAAWN** I've been up since around 1 a.m. when we had a storm blow through that sounded like it was gonna take the roof with it! Today is hatch day for 3 turkeys and 20 something chicks in my new Sportsman 1502. No power, no bator, no problem...well almost no problem. The power was out for 3 hours. I couldn't just sit on my hands and let the babies die for cryin out loud..so I put candles in the incubator to keep it warm. That wasn't too bad until an egg tray started to melt from being directly over the flame. NOT good! Thankfully, it had only a couple eggs in it that I could move to another tray. Either way, I had to open the door, releasing what little heat we had going on in there, and cut it out since one little spot had melted just enough to get stuck on the wire. Meanwhile a little baby turkey was screaming bloody murder at me to close the door, he was getting cold! I did the best I could with what I had to do it with, and will update with hatch results to see if maybe I made a difference. The angry bird baby turkey is still alive, so hopefully that is a good indicator of success. I am SO very glad the storm woke me with that crazy wind, otherwise, three hours with no heat and every single baby would have been gone. Thank God I got up and figured out a way to help them!

I DO NOT recommend candles in an incubator! I would have much rather had a back up power system in place to run it for reasons such as this. I did have issues, and had to continually keep an eye on it due to the humidity needing to be just right for a proper hatch, and the temperature consolidated more above the candles since the fan was not operational, than it should have. I just pray we have a decent hatch rate after this. This was an absolute last ditch effort to save the chicks, otherwise, I would not have been so worried about keeping the temp and humidity up for non hatch days. Praise God it was ONLY for 3 hours though, LOL!!

Homemade Breadmaking Extravaganza!

So, today started out rainy, and as usual on the slow days, I try to get my baking done for the week. I started off the day with a simple white loaf for sandwiches through the week. I have come a long way since making my first loaf of bread for the starving masses here on the Farm. I have learned mostly through trial and error, collected some absolutely lovely base recipes, and finally, have found what works best for us. We like store bread to a degree, but since food allergies run amock here, we have tweaked a good solid basic bread recipe to our tastes, and by solid, I mean light and fluffy the way we like it. Here's the recipe we use. It makes a light tasty white bread that is mouthwateringly scrumptious disguised as a grilled cheese sandwich. Mmm mmm GOOD I tell ya! This will make a 2 pound loaf. I double it for my commercial size loaves, thanks to the neighbors who bought me the pans as a bribe for more bread!!

White Sandwich Bread
2 3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. oil
1 tablespoon yeast
1/8 c. sugar(we prefer local honey instead)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/8 c. lukewarm water
1 tsp. vinegar

You may add more sugar or honey to taste if you like a slightly sweeter bread. First, we add all of the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl. I do not proof my yeast, have never seen the need, but you may if you wish. I prefer to skip that step entirely. Next, you want to add your dry ingredients, saving the yeast for last, and sprinkle it evenly on top of the flour, so as it mixes, it is distributed well throughout the dough ball.

I use my KitchenAide mixer, and let rise and bake in the oven, because I've never liked the bread machine baking. You can do this in a machine though if you follow the manufacturer's instructions for your particular machine. The next thing is to preheat the oven to it's lowest setting, place the doughball in your greased pan, and set it in the oven to rise for 45 minutes. After which you bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until the top crust is golden brown.

Remove it to a wire cooling rack immediately upon taking out of the oven, and allow the bread to cool completely before cutting(IF you can stand to leave warm bread alone). My sweet well meaning husband is usually into mine before I can get it sliced and in the bread keeper!

In my experience, the best way to keep fresh homemade bread is in a sealed container in the refrigerator. I have a wonderful Lock & Lock bread container I keep ours in in the fridge, and it stays fresh for up to a week...maybe longer, it never lasts long enough to tell exactly how long it would last before molding or becoming stale. If I ever find out for sure just how long it will keep, I'll be sure to report back! 

Welcome to our farm!

Welcome to the farm! There is nothing better than working at home, making my own hours. Though the hours are long, and often difficult, I have never had a more rewarding job, or felt more purpose to my life than when I am tending our animals, gardens, and various children that don't belong to me. Everyone is welcome here, to sit and visit, have a tall cold glass of sweet iced tea, and join in the fun of various daily tasks. We very often have numerous short giggly guests running around here, helping pull weeds, collecting eggs from our hens, or gathered around the table for a home cooked meal. We are blessed beyond measure, happy as pigs in mud, and trying our best to live up to the expectations of our heavenly Father, even when we have no idea which path He wants us to take next. We live life one day at a time, within our means, as best we can, and hope to inspire and teach others to SLOW DOWN and enjoy the simple life with us. So, pull up a chair, and stay a while. There will be plenty of things to do and see once we get the blog up and running  full time. We have learned SO much since we started our little1.5 acre farmlette back in 08' and look forward to sharing our experiences and ideas with  ya'll soon!