Sights on the Farm

Today I share pictures of life on and around our farm.

I hope your remaining days of summer are filled with beauty and peace.

5 Ways to Preserve Peaches in a Weekend

Last week my husband came home with half a bushel of fresh organic peaches from a local Amish farm.  Since I am desperately trying to avoid getting fruit flies in my house this summer, and the peaches were good and ripe, we had this weekend to do something with them.

Before I get started, let me just say that the fruit flies were not my only competitors for these peaches!

#1 Steamed Peach Juice

I don't particularly like to can produce, but my husband loves doing it, so he brought up the enamel water bath canning pot and our steam juicer from the basement and decided to make some jelly and peach juice.  Be forewarned that canning makes for a messy kitchen, so my pictures will not be pretty or decorator-perfect.

After washing everything from our very rustic, spider-loving farmhouse cellar, he placed the canning jars in boiling water to sterilize.  All he had to do with the peaches was cut out the pits.  The rest of the peaches went into the top of the Mehu-Liisa stainless steel steam juicer.  There is water in the bottom section for the steaming, and the pure juice settles in the middle with a tube that hangs out of it and into your clean mason jars.  

Within about 30 minutes, there was enough steamed peach juice to start pouring it into the canning jars.  This is a little bit thicker than juice, so we actually use it as concentrate and mix it with water in a pitcher for drinking.  Once all the juice had been extracted from the peaches, my husband placed the lids and rings on the full canning jars and placed them in the boiling water in the enamel canner with the lid on for about 20 minutes.  He made 6 quarts of juice to put on the pantry shelves for the winter (actually 5 because we drank one already.)

#2 Peach Mint Jelly

In the meantime, my hubby had picked 2 cups of fresh chocolate mint leaves from the side of our house and had it steeping on the stove.  This made about 4 cups of a strong mint tea concentrate, but only 1/2 cup of it got used in the recipe.  The remainder was made into a pitcher of iced chocolate mint tea.  Once the peach juice was finished being steamed, he reserved 4 cups of it for the jelly.

Then the trusty old Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving was pulled off the bookshelf and opened to page 36.  We used the recipe for Mint Jelly, but altered it quite a bit.  My husband doesn't always measure ingredients, so to the best of my knowledge, the following recipe is what he made:

Peach Chocolate Mint Jelly

Make the mint tea extract with 1 cup of fresh chocolate mint and 1 cup of boiling water.  Let steep  for about an hour.  Measure out 1/2 cup of it and combine with 4 cups of peach juice and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice in a large saucepot.  Add 3 cups of sugar and stir until dissolved.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.  *Cook until gelling point or until jelly sheets from a spoon.  Ladle hot jelly into hot jelly jars and put on caps.  Put into the hot water bath canner and boil for 10 minutes.

*This made 2 full pints and 6 half-pint jars of "jelly."  I must be honest here and admit that I was out of the house buying more sugar and freezer bags while Hubby was making this.  It did not set up like jelly, which has happened to him before.  I suspect he disregarded the part of the recipe that says to "cook till gelling point."  We are using the jars of "jelly" as syrup for pancakes and waffles and ice cream instead.  By the way, any kind of mint could be used.  It just so happens that the chocolate mint has been prolific here this summer.

#3  Peach Sauce

After the juice and jelly were made, there were still plenty of peach parts left.  All the pulp and skins were dumped out of the steam juicer and into our Roma Food Strainer shown above.  These strainers are so easy to find now.  I googled them and discovered they're even sold at Target and Kohl's.  We bought ours years ago from the Lehman's catalog, along with all kinds of other homesteading supplies and kitchen tools.

Once we ran the peach parts through the food mill, we were left with delicious peach sauce---just like apple sauce.  It was a little tart, so it was a good thing I went out and bought more sugar because we ended up adding 2 cups of it, along with 1 Tablespoon of nutmeg and 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon.

This made over 3 gallons of peach sauce, and Hubby scooped it into large ziplock freezer bags.  They went into our chest freezer to add to our winter collection.  The children got to eat a bit too after dinner that night.  Any pits, skins, or other bits of peaches were given to our goats, sheep, and any chickens smart enough to be nearby.

#4  Frozen Sliced Peaches

After the hard work of steam juicing, jelly making, saucing, and canning was done, I came along and sliced up another portion of the half bushel to freeze.  My husband actually hates to do this because it requires peeling and slicing the fruit, which drives him insane with boredom.  I went through 1/8 of a bushel and put about 1 1/2 gallons of sliced peaches in the freezer for making pies and cobbler in the winter.  Sometimes I add lemon juice or Fruit Fresh to prevent any discoloring.  Other times I add a little bit of sugar.  This weekend, however, I added nothing.  I figure we'll be stirring sugar into any dessert or pastry recipe anyway, and once they're baked, you won't be able to notice the discoloration.

#5  Dried Peaches

Our final method of preservation is probably our favorite: dehydration.  Our Excalibur Food Dehydrator is the best at drying fruits, vegetables, and herbs in our opinion.  It's now even sold in the coolest preppy colors!  Who would have thought?  I will write another post on all the things you can do with one of these, but for now, I'll stick to peaches.  We simply peeled and sliced the peaches, and then placed them on the dehydrator trays.

Once the trays were full, we put the lid back on the front, plugged it in, and set the temperature to 135 degrees.  It takes between 8-16 hours to dry, depending on how thick the peaches are sliced and how humid it is in the house.  We used to dehydrate in the kitchen, but the juice sometimes seeps out the bottom, and the fan on the dehydrator makes the kitchen more hot, so we now do it in our spooky (aka "rustic")  basement.

Out of the dehydrator came these delicious dried peaches that the children love.  If they're kept in longer, they are crisp like chips.  These were more chewy and are not good for teens with braces, by the way.  They can also be re-hydrated by putting them in a container of water in the refrigerator all day. We placed these in quart-sized ziplock bags which were stored inside large metal tins in our cellar to keep the dampness out.  They take up far less space than canning jars and don't require the electricity that a freezer uses.  A full dehydrator fills about 4 quart bags.

{She probably looks like she just swallowed a lemon, but she was actually savoring last year's dehydrated peaches and apples while her daddy made juice.}

All in all, a half bushel of peaches yielded 1 1/2 gallons of frozen peaches, over a gallon of dried peaches, 5 pints of "jelly," 6 quarts of juice concentrate, and 3 gallons of peach sauce,  not to mention what we ate and shared with neighbors.  This was done in a weekend, but we really could have finished it up in a day.  However, we have other projects and events going on, so we spread it out a bit.

**I would love to hear about any methods of peach preservation that you use!  Either make a comment below or go to my new "Contact Me" page and send me an e-mail.

Make Your Own Pizzas Without Spending All Day in the Kitchen

     For several years, most of our foods from the bread group were made by me from scratch.  This included bread, rolls, biscuits, pancakes and waffles, crackers, tortillas, pie and pizza crusts, and desserts.  I tried my hand at pasta making, but that didn't work out so well, so I did buy boxed pasta and rice.  I purchased flour in bulk and yeast in bags, not individual packets.  My family loved it, but after two years of spending all day in the kitchen every day of the week, I felt like Almanzo Wilder's mother in Farmer Boy...only I was NOT cheerful. 

     I awoke in the morning knowing I was going to be whipping up some coffee cake or pancakes or biscuits from scratch while gulping down some coffee and listening to hungry little ones whining about how long until breakfast was ready.  As soon as the breakfast dishes were washed by hand (no dishwasher in this old house,) it was time to start making the bread dough so it had plenty of time to rise before baking it for dinner.  Midday meant making snacks, punching down the bread dough, starting dessert, and washing more dishes.  By 4:00 I had to start preparing dinner and baking the bread. After spending all day in the kitchen (with little breaks to wash and hang laundry,) I had nothing to show for it because my family consumed every morsel ten times faster than it took me to prepare it. 

     I reached a point where I realized that I was not enjoying my life.  We had this wonderful farm on the side of a mountain with incredible views.  We had a big family full of beautiful, healthy children full of wonder and exuberance, but I was too exhausted at the end of the day to really enjoy them.  I felt years beyond my actual age, and I understood the weariness that mothers on the frontier must have experienced to get up each day and perform the same mundane tasks over and over just to feed and clothe their families.  It was then that I decided I didn't have to be Ma Ingalls, and I went to the grocery store and bought a loaf of bread---the first loaf of bread not made by me in over two years.  I haven't made bread since.

     But this week, some part of me missed the smell of yeast and the feel of dough squishing under my knuckles, and I decided to make homemade pizza once again.  It isn't nearly as time-consuming as bread making, and none of the pizza shop creations can compare to fresh, homemade pizza as it comes steaming out of the oven.  So I share our family's pizza recipe with you today in hopes that you and your little ones enjoy making this together as much as we do.

For the Crust:

1 envelope dry yeast (or 1 Tbsp.)

1 cup warm water

1 1/4 cup unbleached white flour

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Soften the yeast in warm water in bowl.  Add 2 cups flour, salt and oil.  Add more flour as needed to make a soft dough.  Knead on a floured surface for about 5 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl.  Cover with a wet towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled.  I let it rise for most of the afternoon. Then punch dough down and pat into a greased pizza pan.  This recipe makes one large pizza.

For a quick, no-cook sauce, I use a small can of tomato sauce and add salt, pepper, garlic powder, fresh or dry basil, and fresh oregano and spread over the pizza crust.  For those of us who like spice, I add red pepper flakes.

Add mozzarella cheese and whatever toppings your family loves.  This week our pizzas were topped with ground spicy pork sausage, and one pizza also contained canned sliced mushrooms, and fresh banana peppers.  This is the part my younger children love to help with.

Making homemade pizzas used to be a Friday evening tradition for our family.  I've taken a sabbatical from my days in the kitchen when I made almost every food from scratch, and I'm beginning to miss a bit of it.  This dish is a good one to bring back into our lives without spending all day in our farmhouse kitchen.

Peach Cobbler: Healthy Breakfast or Delicious Dessert

This is my family's favorite cobbler recipe, and with peaches now in season here in the Northeast, I will be making this at least once a week.  We love this as dessert with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, but I have also been known to serve it up for breakfast since it's more healthy than many of the commercial breakfast items found in the supermarket.

Peach Cobbler

Filling:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

4 tsp. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 cup water

4 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches (about 8-9 medium sized peaches)

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, and nutmeg.  Add 1/2 cup of water.  Cook and stir on medium heat until thickened and bubbly (about 5-10 minutes.)  Add the sliced peaches, lemon juice, and butter.  Heat until warm.  Place on a warming burner or on very low heat.

Biscuit Topper:

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup softened butter

1 slightly beaten egg

1/4 cup milk

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in the butter until the mixture is slightly crumbly.  Combine the egg and milk and beat gently with a fork.  Add all at once to dry ingredients and stir.

Put the hot peach mixture in a Pyrex baking dish or 1 1/2 quart casserole.  Scoop the biscuit topper in mounds on top.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Can serve with ice cream or whipped cream, or just eat plain.  This feeds our family of 7 with no leftovers and the children are begging for the "scrapings."

Summer Alternatives to Childhood Electronics

Last week I viewed a video by Buzzpo.com ("So Incredibly Sad: This is How 3 Generations Answer the Same Question") that was shared on Facebook.  It interviewed three generations of Americans and asked them how they spent their summers as children.

The grandparents mentioned berry picking, fishing, and helping in the garden.

The middle-aged parents said they gathered together neighborhood children to play baseball or build forts.

When today's children were asked how they spend their summer days, they described their love for video games, texting, and hours spent on their tablets.

They said they wouldn't know what they would do with themselves if they couldn't have their electronics.  

Their video games relieved their stress and made them forget about everything and everyone else around them.

While I agree with the message that was sent from this video---that children should spend more time in nature---I think that American families were misrepresented.

I know that my children are not the only ones who spend their summers building forts, making sailboats, and wading in creeks.  One of the blogs that I like to read describes what a summer day at her house was like when the children spent their afternoon and evening outside instead of being plugged in: thistlewood farms.

Amongst my friends, I see teenagers baling hay, raising animals for the fair, fishing, and kayaking.  Younger children are designing their own comic strips, sewing their own clothes, decorating cakes, reading numerous books, camping and swimming.  Some families are going to foreign countries to give aid to the needy.  The children that I know personally are not spending 6 hours in front of a screen daily.

While it can be challenging for parents to pull children away from their electronic devices, it is being done.  There are plenty of American families living a summer alternative to the hollow gaming and texting filled days portrayed in the video shown by buzzpo.  Even if the media doesn't show us, there are plenty of us throughout our nation.

Pesto Pasta and Coral Cupcakes

This time of summer brings plenty of fresh basil here in the Northeast.  We normally grow a ton of it on our farm either in the soil or in our aquaponics system.  This year, however, we forgot to plant any, so I purchased a large bunch at a farm stand this past weekend.  Besides drying it for the winter and using it with fresh tomatoes and Parmesan cheese, my other favorite thing to make from basil is pesto.

To begin, you need a nice bunch of fresh basil.  This bunch is enough to make a double recipe.

For a single batch that will feed at least 4 adults, you will need the following:  1/2 cup olive oil, 2 cloves garlic or about 2 tsp. minced garlic, 2 tsp. crumbled dry parsley, 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds or pine nuts, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 2 cups of firmly packed fresh basil, and 1 cup of Parmesan cheese.  You will also need a pound of pasta.

First, combine the olive oil, garlic and parsley in a blender.  Process until smooth, and let stand for about 15 minutes.  Then add the sunflower seeds, salt and pepper and process until blended.  Finally, add the basil and Parmesan cheese gradually, and process until smooth.  You might need to get a long spoon in there to mash the basil down to the bottom so all the leaves get blended in.  It will look like a green gremlin exploded in your blender.

While you are doing all of this, you can cook your pasta al dente.  When you drain it, make sure you save 1/2 cup of the liquid that your pasta was cooked in.

You will then combine the pasta and the 1/2 cup of reserved liquid in a bowl and mix well.

The final step is to stir in the pesto sauce.

And this is what you end up with!  I sometimes make very large batches of pesto and put it in plastic freezer containers which keep for up to a year in a chest freezer.  It might last longer than a year, but I wouldn't know because we eat it before then.  It actually looks and tastes like fresh pesto and is such a treat to have in the middle of winter.

If you're fortunate enough to have a 13 year old in the house who has extra coral colored frosting left over from making a cake for the fair, you might even have some pink/coral cupcakes for dessert.

Do any of you have some good basil recipes?  I am always on the lookout for more meals using this herb.