Is it possible to have too many apples? It’s been a bumper year for apples on our Ohio homestead. We’ve made enough applesauce for ourselves and our extended family, shared some apples, and they still keep coming. Fortunately, there are lots of other great ways to preserve this versatile fruit and enjoy eating it all winter. Here are a few delicious solutions to try. Continue reading
Our favorite gardener and in-store instructor, Karen Geiser, has shared this recipe during her frequent seminars at Lehman’s in Kidron, Ohio. For those of you unable to make it to the store, here’s her easy method for flavorful, oh-so-healthy fermented sauerkraut. Continue reading
Well folks, we have come to the middle of August, when the children are bored but not ready for school yet, and our taste buds are tired of s’mores and potato salad. (Yes, this is possible.) Continue reading
Here in the mountain foothills of North Carolina, July and August are the time to start canning and pickling. Many varieties of hot peppers grow like weeds in our hot southern summers. Here are some great recipes you can make to preserve that sweet, spicy deliciousness and enjoy it all winter long. Continue reading
Like so many couples, one of our wedding gifts was a glass 9″x13″ baking pan. Just like the old standby ones our mothers had as we were growing up. Back then, it seemed huge for just my husband and me (although we do love leftovers). Continue reading
Dave’s stack of sorghum stalks, ready to be crushed.
(Editor’s Note: Last year, Dave Ross tried his hand at growing sorghum, then pressing and cooking the juice into the delicious old-time syrup many people remember. Here are his adventures in sorghum farming!)
Sorghum. At last the project has reached completion. From mail-ordered seeds that arrived in May, to sorghum syrup in my jars on the counter, to molasses crinkle cookies. It was a fun, educational experience, but honestly, I probably won’t raise it again. Sorghum syrup can be purchased from a local Amishman for a good price per quart. Lehman’s also carries it year-round, and that makes the effort of raising, stripping, taking the stalks somewhere to get them squeezed, and cooking down the sweet juice into finished syrup, more costly than buying it locally. Still, there was value and fun in the experience, and I’m glad I did it. Continue reading
After our family does something strenuous together here on the farm, we’re all hot, hungry and need to cool down. My sweet and generous husband wants to go out for great big strawberry ice cream cones or pull a carton of store-bought out of the freezer. It didn’t take long, though, before we all realized this frequent habit wasn’t helping us at all (dairy allergies, bumping up sinus issues, more colds). Continue reading
It’s cookout season! If your family is like mine, I never know how many are truly coming until the food starts cooking and the surprise hungry ones arrive. Continue reading
It’s the season of abundance. The bush fruit is approaching its peak. Eggs are coming faster than we can consume them and the cow is giving copious amounts of creamy milk. Finding ways to use it all up can be a challenge. Much fruit has been juiced and gorgeous jars of crystal clear raspberry jelly grace my pantry shelves. More has been set to ferment with sugar and yeast and will provide healing syrups during the winter cold season. Eggs have been fried and deviled, pickled and poached but still they come. Cream has been churned into butter and the milk is curing into rounds of cheddar cheese. Continue reading
Here’s a fantastic new recipe from our favorite “wandering cowboy,” Mark Pendl. Mark is currently traveling the American West in his horse trailer, researching wild ponies for an upcoming book. Trust us when we say he knows campfire cooking! Try this “cowboy gourmet” French Toast at your next campout, or in your cast iron skillet at home. Continue reading
