Southern Peach Cobbler / Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Do you ever just stop and take a good look at how things in your life are going?  I thought I should do just that.  Take a few minutes to actually count my blessings.  Things sometimes seem so terrible all around us with bad news everywhere you look. I sometimes get so worried about all those things. The thing is that I can't help to change the world if I don't first take stock of my own life. Start from the inside and work my way out so to speak. I can't think of the exact words but it has to do with making your own house "right" first.

This past week or so there have been many blessings. One of the most wonderful things I have found has been the friendships found and formed through the internet. I am truly blessed. There have been a couple of things that have happened recently that I want to share with you all.  No worries, it's all good stuff~  I'll be posting about them in the coming days. Those of you who have your own blogs will understand how having something to write about is sometimes not so easy as folks might think.  More times than not I sit down and don't have a thing in the world to write about.  But other times,  when things happen "all at once"  , I get lucky and have all sorts of things going on!  Then all the sudden I get a bit behind on writing.  But like I told my friend Felinae,  I try to never let a good idea for a post go to waste!  lol  More stuff to come~~~

  Some of you guys who have been visiting here for awhile may remember my friends who live in Missouri. Morgan and Jewells  went to look at some properties for us last year.  They took a day trip and took bunches of  pictures while  tromping around thru the ticks and mosquito's and all manner of things.  Is that brave  or what?

Well, recently they took another day trip and visited the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Missouri headquarters.  I would love to see that place but I 'm happy to live vicariously thru them this time around. Especially when I received a package from them.  I have to admit I actually danced around like a kid at Christmas as I was going thru all the wonderful seeds they sent!  I was, and still am, overwhelmed at their generosity. Is that one of the coolest thing ever or what?  Thank you again guys!  You are the greatest!!  There are all sorts of things I have been wanting to grow and haven't been able to order.  < excuse me while I do another little happy dance >

Mars loves hot peppers.  Now I know lots of people say that and mean it, but I'm not talking just regular hot peppers like a jalapeno or a serrano pepper.  Oh NO... He likes HOT peppers.  Habannero's and chili piquine, "those" kinds of HOT.  He is one of the few people I have ever met that can eat a Habanero or some other pepper just as hot. Not just a little bite or two either, but the whole thing!   So he was really happy to see a packet of Chocolate Habanero Seeds.  As a matter of fact when he finished looking at all these wonderful seeds our friends had sent, he got up and headed to the greenhouse to start a few plants!!

 There are carrots, beans, peas (real southern one's) brussels sprouts, spinach, celery, turnips, okra, cantaloupe, watermelon, 4 different kinds of neat squash.  I know I'm missing some stuff, but you get the idea.  Jewells and Morgan really did send some wonderful varieties.  < Doing another happy dance here and singing "You Guys Rock" >

We put out some of the seedlings we had started this weekend.  The cauliflower, turnips, cabbage, broccoli, and some of the lettuce are in the ground now.  We started some radishes, spinach and some more carrots too.  I'm not sure but I think Mars is out there planting some beets right now.  It was on his list anyway.

I was craving something sweet yesterday and decided I'd make some sort of dessert for dinner.  I was thinking about cake but I ran across a recipe that sounded a whole lot like one my Mom used to make.  The recipe is called Southern Peach Cobbler.  It's one with what I call a "drop" crust.  < I know, I make up my own words and phrases as I go along! >  I still have some peaches that I canned a couple of seasons ago so I figured they would be great for this.  Man, was I ever right!  I doubled the recipe and put it in a 9 x 13 pan.    You might want to half the recipe but it disappeared so fast I probably wouldn't recommend it!   I also used a full teaspoon of cinnamon instead of the 1/2 it originally called for. This is a super recipe and it's one I will be making again for sure. 

                               Southern Peach Cobbler
Ingredients

• 16 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon cornstarch
•  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup boiling water
•  
• MIX TOGETHER:
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes. 

I know when you first look at this, it seems like alot of ingredients, but if you really look at it there's really not that many!  This is SO easy to put together and OMGosh is it ever GOOD.

Sorry I didn't get any pictures of it.  Honestly, I didn't even think about it until it was about half gone!  Yeah, it's good!!

                                 ~~~ Hey ... I'm Just Sayin' ... ~~~

And the Award Goes To .....

One of my absolute favorite blogs is written by (in her own words) an "In your face ...from an opinionated rural north Idaho housewife".  I've been reading her stuff since she first started blogging.  Patrice also writes for the World Net Daily. As a matter of fact, that is where I first ran across her.  She is one of the first blogs I read when I do my daily (well mostly) reading.  She covers all sorts of things. From prepping, gardening, canning and homeschooling, to her views on the world, complete with  wonderful pictures. She writes with an honestly that I love. If you haven't checked it out   Rural Revolution is awesome.

Well,  you can imagine how utterly shocked I was when I was mentioned in one of her articles!  Not just any article either... but one that awarded me with The Stylish Blogger Award!  I was (and still am) just thrilled and honored beyond words.  Yes  I know that is hard to believe but for a change I was speechless!  She had received this super cool award from the guru of survival blogs, J.W. Rawles and passed it on to little ol' me. (and 14 others)  Kind of like "Six Degrees of Separation"  LOL.  And to be given this award by Patrice is probably one of the highlights of my blogging "career".

Of course, with the award comes a couple of requirements. This is one of the reasons that I have been dragging my feet about getting this post finished.   I had to do a couple of things. A couple of  hard things actually.  The first thing I am supposed to do is to list 7 things that you might not know about me.  Have you ever had to do something like this?  It reminds me of those psychological questions they ask on some job applications.  "What is one of your best traits?"  "What would you say is your  greatest strength" Or any of those stupid questions designed to make you search for the answers within.  I can't possibly be the only one who hates abhors can't stand these.  Ok ok  this isn't as bad as that bad but you get the idea...
It took me quite awhile to put this list together. Since I'm pretty up front here (on the blog) and I share all sorts of stuff others would consider private so I really had to think about this for awhile!

1. I am addicted to hard candy.  Almost any kind of hard candy.  My favorites are peppermint and cinnamon. I'm not saying I really like hard candy. Oh No!  Check my pockets at any given time and chances are good that I have some on me.
2. I don't text.   I figure if I need to get a message to someone I can pick up the phone and actually hear a real voice on the other end of the line.
3. I have never colored my hair.  Unless you count putting lemon juice on it.  Hey!  It was supposed to give me "natural" highlights...
4. I used to play in a band.  Not only that - I even got paid to do it!  It was alot of fun. Back in the day...
5. My very favorite treat is an ice cold Pepsi (in the bottle) and a 3 Musketeer's.   Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it! That is one treat I really miss since I gave up soda's.
6. I drive like a grandmother.   I don't speed (much), I stop at all lights and stop signs and look both ways twice before entering an intersection.  Then I step on the brakes and look again!!
7. I owned a Skink.  Stop giggling and read the Wiki description.

Now the second requirement for receiving this award is to pass this award on to 15 fellow blogger's who you believe are deserving of this award.  Now come on... This dang award is getting harder and harder to earn.  Yes, I follow alot of blogs. I think they are all great, if I didn't I sure wouldn't be taking time to read them!   I personally think that each and every one of them are "worthy" of this award.  I have no idea how to pick them. I don't want to keep giving the same shout outs to the same people I have picked for other things in the past. So I am going to try and pick ones that are NOT on everyone's radar. I'm not sure some of these folks even know I'm alive but maybe they will now.  So when you go check them out could you say hello for me??  LOL  And so, without further ado, here are my picks in NO particular order at all.  Cause you know I can't get anything in order....


A Homesteading Neophyte

Simply Living

Double Nickel Farm


Sally's Country Home

Wretha's Adventures Living 100%  Off  Grid

She Chef...Cooking Up Words and Wonders

Maggie's Urban Survival Blog

Really?!Wait!What?


Dizzy's Wanderings & Wonderings

Waiting On The Other Shoe


Country Bumpkin


The Last Frontier


Shade and Sweetwater


Self Sustained Living

Between You, Me, and the Fence Post

So there you have it. My 15 picks for the Stylish Blogger Award.  Check them all out. You won't be sorry.  I promise!  And thanks again Patrice.  You really made my week!! (month,year)

All We Can Do...

I've been doing some thinking lately.  No! Wait!  Stop laughing!  I do it occasionally and contrary to popular belief , it doesn't hurt all that bad.  Oh who am I kidding, it hurts alot!
When I started writing this I had no intention of going off on a rant.  The best laid  intentions and all that....

Like most everyone else I have been watching what is happening here on the home front.  Folks, it's not looking to good.  You would have to be blind not to see it. The ponzi scheme we call modern banking is finally coming to an end. It is only a matter of time before our dollar is worthless. We have a good start on it now!  Our money buys less and less and the cost of living takes more and more. Poverty is on the rise. We have shipped our jobs overseas and they are not coming back. 

Our civil liberties have been  dismantled and stomped all over.  Our food is being genetically altered to the point that it is becoming  unsafe to eat. And if that isn't bad enough the price of that poisonous food is increasing daily.  

People who worked their entire lives paying into Social Security are now being told that their money will be taken from them in order to pay down the debts that the government has placed on their shoulders. If that isn't bad enough it is now being called an "entitlement".  As if they should somehow be ashamed to receive what is owed to them.  And yes I said OWED.  

The main focus of this blog has always been about self- sufficiency. About following dreams and hoping to make them realities. Prepping isn't just about making sure you have all the "cool" toys and do dad's. It is about having the things you need to live a life with as little intervention from others as you can.  Being prepared for the things that come your way. 

Since money for physical preps as been nearly nonexistent lately, I've been trying to follow my own advice.  I've been doing a lot of reading.  Learning about things that I hope will help us when we move out to "the land". I'm trying to gain more knowledge.  I've been reading up on chickens and rabbits again . Making lists, trying to stay busy.   I don't know how much time we have but I want to do as much as possible to be self reliant in as little time as possible.

  I've been hearing alot of folks worrying about the way the world is falling apart.  There may not be much time left before the proverbial S hits the Fan.  All we can do is to be as ready as we can.  The level of stress  so many folks feel  under these days is tremendous. It seems that almost everyone I talk to feels like something is about to break wide open.  A finger can't be laid on anything specific, just a general feeling of unease.  I personally am going to try to keep the stress to a minimum. My stressing about it sure isn't going to make anything better.   As someone said  "All we can do is all we can do.
                        ~~~  Hey I'm Just Sayin' ...~~~

Mill vs Tiller

Wow! Another week is close to being over!  It seems that one minute time is just dragging by and yet when I turn around all the sudden another week has zipped by.  I still haven't figured out just when time started doing that. I mean I can remember as a kid everything seemed to take forever to "get to".  It was always "One day when I grow up I'm going to <fill in the blank>"  Or thinking that an eternity had passed waiting for Christmas morning.  These days Christmas is here before the Thanksgiving turkey gone. Do you ever wish that you could just go back and feel as if the first day of summer would never get here?  

    Anyway.... Mrs M bought herself the kitchen mixer that she has been drooling over for quite awhile now. It's one of those Viking Mixers. Top of the line. Cadillac of the mixer families.  The thing is a real workhorse and I'm happy for her.  Actually I am happy for me too! You will never guess what happened to the old mixer... oh wait..,I guess you can now!   LOL 

     Yep, she was kind enough to give me her Kenwood Chef Major.  Is that awesome or what??  It's an older mixer with absolutely NOTHING wrong with it except some of the paint is peeling off the base.  600 watts of pure mixing power.  It makes kneading bread child's play.  It also has some very cool attachments.  There is a meat grinder and sausage stuffer. So now I can add some more things to my list of want to do's. 
    Oh there is also a pasta maker. I've been wanting to learn to make pasta for ages.  I hear folks talk about how easy it is but I've always been a little worried about getting it right.  No more excuses for that anymore either.  Hog Heaven Baby!  Of course I'm going to have to wait until we get moved to do most of this stuff but hey... the way time is flying by that's just right around the corner, right?


All of this kind of brings me to the next thing I have been thinking about.  I have been wanting a grain mill for years now. I really want to be able to grind my own flour and cornmeal. Not so much because it's so much healthier for you (although it is) but because it is cheaper err.. less expensive to buy grain's and make your own.  Another thing to consider is that storing wheat is a much better alternative to long term storage than flour is. The shelf life of flour is pretty short.  A year or so is about as good as it gets before the flour goes rancid. You can store wheat for 30 years or more. Not that I plan on storing it that long but it's nice to know it won't go bad in just a year or so.


I've talked to lots and lots of folks, trying to get as much information from them all as I can about grain mills.  I've weighed out the pro's and con's of Electric vs Manual ones.  I've done all sorts of studying different mills and I finally picked the GrainMaker Mill.  There is some good information on different type's of grain mills under the testimonial section.  I thought it was pretty well written and seems to be well researched to. So if you have been wondering about the differences in Manual Mills check out the link  "Grain Mill Comparisons".  


I found out that they have a lay-a-way program.  That would help ease some of the pain of  spending over $4oo.oo. The problem that I ran into was that the GrainMaker is soon going up on their prices.From what I was told, the new price is going to be close to double what it is now. So I had to make a decision pretty quickly or I won't be able to take advantage of it.  So I gathered up all my information and had a talk with Mars.

Well it turns out he had something he wanted me to think about as well.  He want's to buy a tiller. Since one of the big things we are planning  on doing when we find "our land" is to garden, we are really going to need one. The garden we want to have just can't really be turned by hand every year.  Well... I suppose it could but .... what a lot of work.  He has been looking on Craigslist for a used one since tillers are not cheap! So after a little discussion we decided that instead of the grain mill that the tiller would be the better purchase for now.  Sometimes you just have to decide what is more important in the scheme of things.

And so now... back to the Kenwood Mixer. It seems that they make a grain mill attachment for it.  (You didn't really think I would just give up on a grain mill that easily did you?)  The only problem is that it looks like one will be hard to find. They stopped making the mixer a few years ago but I have found some places that still sell attachments and spare parts. The kicker is.... they sell them in the UK and don't ship to the states. 

The Kenwood used to be made in the UK. Then Rival started making them for a couple of years here. Then they quit making them at all. Something to do with the quality really going down after they moved here.  Anyway.... I figure if I can find the grain attachment I will just buy one of them.  It would sure be alot less expensive even though it won't be a Manual Mill.  So if anyone of you guys know where I might be able to find one I would sure appreciate it if you could let me know. Things will work out the way they are supposed to, right? 
                    ~~~  Hey ... I'm Just Sayin' ... ~~~

Baby

Tell me you didn't at least smile?  Come on, how can you NOT!  Have a great day!

            ~~~ Hey ... I'm Just Sayin' ... ~~~