Heartland Farm: Crafty Tuesday ~

Having set aside every Tuesday as my "crafting" day has opened the door to a multitude of ideas on how to spend them. I am never without inspiration or a long list of what to, need to, like to projects. I am thinking it would be much help to me if I already had the decision made on what I was going to tackle. Some of my crafting time is eaten away in trying to decide what I am going to do and gathering needed items. So I've started a list of project ideas and a organized schedule of sorts to help me out.

In the Sewing Room~

One thing for sure that I will be working on each Tuesday is the "BOM- Block Of the Month" challenge I started a couple of weeks ago. See my first square here. The squares are promised not to be hard, but for a novice machine quilter they are proving to be a little more of a challenge to me. None the less I was pleased that I only had to remove one line of stitching to finish the 2nd block in this series. It's called a "Wonky Pound Square"

Crafting in My Kitchen ~

Is another area I try to create in each Tuesday too. This week I decide to try something new in my yogurt making adventure. Each batch in the past I have added a pkt. of cultures purchased from where I get my cheese supplies from. They are not overly expensive, but the fact that we are making yogurt on a weekly basis now means we are going through them like a wildfire. In reading from other sources, many use a few tablespoons of plain cultured yogurt from the store. In keeping with eating fresh I didn't want to add something processed to my natural untampered goat's milk. So my maker makes 7 servings at a time. Lon and I eat one apiece, giving us 3 days worth of homemade yogurt. So I decided to use the 7th serving to start my next batch today. Following my usual recipe instead of adding the culture packet. I add a couple of tablespoons of the last batch we made. Setting it on the counter to incubate into some yummy goodness. It will take about 8 hours or so to finalize, so I will have to let you know how my experiment turns out. At face value it would be a frugal way to keep us in yogurt and not have to spend money that could be used in another area. Fingers crossed.

The other kitchen creation today was making some more foaming hand wash. I had found a recipe on line back before Christmas. It is an easy 1-2-3 craft. Using only 3 ingredients, talking about frugal! I scented this batch again with Lemongrass essential oil, adding some Tea Tree E.O. for antibacterial help to the container before blending. It turns out great and cost mere pennies to make. Here's the recipe if you want to make some yourself. If you have an old foaming pump bottle they can be used with this blend.

Foaming Hand Soap

1 part Castille soap ~ I used 2-4 tsp.

3 parts distilled water

25 drops Essential Oil of choice ~ I used less, till scent was right for me

I put soap in first then added enough water to fill a 9oz. recycled foaming pump bottle. Added essential oils and shook gently to blend.

Kitchen Capers on Monday ~

I decided to add a regular baking session to my Monday's Home Blessing time. We are trying to eating all of our breads without the added chemicals and preservatives found in store bought. Choosing instead to use whole grain flours, fresh eggs, our goat's milk and other simple ingredients.

I love baking breads, the feel of warm dough, the heavenly aroma, and the rich taste on the tongue. I am still learning, but my loaves and buns are coming out better with each batch. Having a sourdough starter I have been trying different recipes that can use "the cup of throw away" required each time I feed it. This week I pulled out a new recipe called "Clay's Multi-Grain Sourdough Sandwich Bread." A long name for a wonderful loaf featuring a blend of hearty grains.

It rose beautifully and baked to a lovely brown color. Soft and full of yummy holes makes you think it is store bought except for the mess in my kitchen. Plans are to use it for toast on some of our morning breakfasts and slicing it for eating with meals or even making a sandwich.

Though our favorite way to eat sandwiches in on the easiest recipe for buns I have ever come across. I've made 2 batches so far and Lon has labeled them "The BEST," living up to their name as "Beautiful Burger Buns." They are a breeze to make in the bun pan we bought this Christmas.

Though the recipe calls for 8 buns and my pan only holds 6. I had to improvise with 2 English muffin rings to finish out the dough. After baking these yesterday I have to decided to increase the bun count by adding a couple more rings to divide the dough into 9-10 portions. They rise a lot and the buns are soft, buttery and delicious, but a little too large for me. So making more should bring the size down to a better portion just right for hamburgers and lunchtime sandwiches.