When I fall off the horse...I tend to lay on the ground for a while before I get back up!

So...in true fashion of my blogging history, I took a hiatus (after SWEARING that I would blog more often). What are you gonna do though?

Meh!

I try to get into this whole blogging thing, but does anyone actually read my ramblings??? Probably not, but whatev!

This is just a run down of what we have been up to since September...

...harvesting crops
...expanding the gardens
...dealing with constant sinus infections (B-Real's doctor keeps throwing medication @ him instead of running tests that might present the reason to these infections/migraines...go figure)
...Christmas order CHAOS!!!
...local shows
...putting our items in 2 brick & mortar shops
...tearing apart my studio/office to move it to a larger room...the fact that this isn't done YET speaks to my procrastination, and I'm about to tear my hair out @ the dysfunction that is my new studio/office!!!
...new friendships
...ending of toxic relationships
...Holiday craziness
...fell into a partnership @ one of the brick & mortar shops

What's to come:

...new lines in the shop
...a separation of the shops (yes I know I tried this once before & it drove me crazy, but we need to separate our kids items into a completely different shop...just to keep the shops in a neater order)
...spring :)
...more blog posts (bahahaha!!! I know, I know...I always say this...but for reals this time!)

So that's the rundown for right now. I am also planning on doing a beYOUtiful contest. I was so inspired by the link that I decided to do one myself @ our blog! I can't wait...I think this is the only reason why I am excited about blogging right now, but I'll take what I can get right now! ;) 

Well, that's all for now folks!

Cheers,
Jess
Nutshell Farms

The Seasons They Are A Changin'

It's getting to be that time of year again. . . you know. . . HARVEST Season! While Autumn is my favorite time of year, the last several years have also become increasingly more hectic with every passing fall.  Every year I tell myself that I will be "more organized", "ahead of the game", so on and so forth. 

Well, this season has started off no less hectic/chaotic than any other year. . . in fact, I am already contemplating throwing in the towel! Say 'to heck with it all', and hunker down til the first snow has fallen.

LOL Okay, so maybe that was a little over dramatic, but you get my point!

I am ready for cooler days, crisp evenings, bonfires, fresh baked apple/pear/pumpkin bread, and soup. . . Oh how I long for soup! Since today and the next couple of days will be record-ish highs, I will have to fore go any ideas of simmering up huge pots of steamy belly-filling goodness.  I do see some cooler days on the horizon though, and I am ready (impatient would be more accurate).

Here are a couple recipes that I am yearning to try:

I have to admit that I have fallen in love with The Pioneer Woman, she is my super hero! Her recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup looks so yummy! She is so down to earth, and her food is definitely "family friendly" recipes.

I stumbled upon the Use Real Butter blog just the other day. . . and she has my mouth watering for this Chocolate Stout Chili! I LOVE Chocolate Stouts (or any stout for that matter)! I fell in love with them upon drinking my first 'Lion Stout' at my favorite restaurant up at the lake house. . . Shay's Chop House is one of the best places to eat! "You have to chew it before swallowing" would be B-Reals description of it, and since he started low-carb the heavy thick beers are out of the question for him! More for me! :) 

This last recipe is from In Jennie's Kitchen, which I have admired her wonderful recipes for quite some time now. My heart aches for her and her children during the difficult situation that they have faced. Kale, White Bean and Ravioli Soup isn't a traditional "bean soup". . . but the kale gives the soup a nice texture! Come on, who doesn't like Ravioli anyways?!?

So I challenge you, in between the hustle and bustle of the upcoming Harvest/Holiday season. . . try some fabulous new soup recipes (don't forget to share them with us/family/friends)!

Cheers,
Jess

P.S. Hopefully there will be a more consistent flow of blog posts. I really enjoy doing it, but when things are hectic blogging falls to the wayside. So I will be starting slow & steady on this new blogging regimen, trying to complete one blog post every week (no matter how small/large). Are we taking bets on how this will turn out? ;)

This upcoming Labor Day weekend will not go to waste on me! Oh no, while everyone else is enjoying festivities. . . I will be slaving away canning, creating, and OCD style organizing my upstairs rooms (fingers crossed that all 3 rooms get done)! FUN FUN!

Baking disaster: My Arch Nemesis

Check out my new article, “ Epic Fail: Life After a BakingDisaster.”

There have been MANY fails in my kitchen, not only with baking…but in cooking as well!  While most people don’t get to encounter these fails, they are there…haunting my dreams at night.  Depending on the severity of the fail, my usual instinct is to retry to recipe.  More often than not, there will be two batches of some baked item on our counter; one that is prize winning delicious, and one that is a flop.  Now when I am saying “flop” I mean there is something less than perfect about the recipe, but only minor tweaking is necessary to achieve desired results. 

What does one do when something entirely fails though? 

It has always been my philosophy to totally avoid a particular failed recipe for quite a while, normally setting that recipe on the shelf for months (sometimes years) before there is another attempt.  I have found lately that there have been more fails than successes with the low-carb baking that has been attempted. 

The low-carb diet really isn’t conducive to enjoying baked goods; however, there are many wonderful recipes out there now that are aimed at the low-carb lifestyle.  I personally have found that the synthetic ingredients needed for these treats are expensive, somewhat difficult to locate in a rural area, and somewhat hinky towards my digestive system.  Although I have had difficulty partaking in the low-carb items, B-Real truly enjoys being able to have baked treats that don’t add large numbers to the scale each week.  So for him, I continue to attempt delicious low-carb treats!

One nemesis of late has been the “Peanut Butter Brownie” recipe from one of our low-carb cookbooks.  Several attempts have been made, each time an EPIC failure arises!  The first attempt consisted of a severely undercooked middle, with dust bunny dry edges.  Other attempts since have been just as unsuccessful.  The latest attempt has confirmed (between both of us) that it’s time to move on!  While I am not one to give up on a recipe, it has become abundantly clear that delicious low-carb peanut butter brownies are NOT in our future.  While the brownies cooked more evenly, the middle was still more “fudgey” than the edges, the chocolate portion was very light in color and had a more cake-like texture, and the overall taste was “synthetic” and instantly turned the stomach after eating. 

How does one recover from such an “epic fail”?

Dust yourself off, and try something else! I tend to switch gears & go for a “tried & try” recipe, bringing about some good baking karma.  It can be very discouraging when you have tried a particular recipe numerous times, and each time it turns awry!  I had a 10 minute vent session to B-Real about synthetic products and what they could be doing to a person’s guts (I was really on my soap box for a hot minute).  I trudged along though and tried a recipe for some Low-Carb Pecan Sandies…long story short…not a home-run either.  B-Real promised to eat them, but the texture was very grainy/sandy and when baked they oozed some buttery grease.  BLECH!  I keep holding onto the fact that the Low-Carb Tortillas that I have been making are AMAZING!! The tortillas taste more like flat bread, and there is WAY more flavor in those bad boys than are in regular corn or flour tortillas!

While not everything I have made the past couple days were a fail, it is hard to recover from those kind of blows to my ego.  I guess I will have to try again another day.

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend everyone! :) 

Cheers,

Jess

Nutshell Farms

Wacky Weekends...

So the weekend has come & almost gone already...where does the time go?

I started the seeds for our garden (YEA! I accomplished something more than laundry), B-Real & his dad tilled up the front yard (we had our front yard dug up this winter & had to replace our sewer pipes...blech!), and I am going to be trying my hand at some sugar scrubs...which I am VERY excited about! The first 2 batches of soaps are almost ready to sell; I just need to trim, then weigh, then "package".

Our first batch was an "unscented" style vegan soap. The second batch was Chai Tea with Vanilla & Cinnamon vegan soap...only I don't think I added enough fragrance to them...the natural oils have a pretty strong scent of their own, and I aired on the side of caution...didn't want anything that was too over powering in the scent department. Here is a sneak peek of the soaps:

This is our "unscented" vegan soap...smells wonderfully natural!

Chai Tea with Vanilla & Cinnamon Vegan Soap



The photos aren't the greatest...but the soap is curing in the furnace/wine room. There is only one light in the entire room...but here is a photo of some of B-Reals wine:

From left: Strawberry Wine, Garlic Wine



Now I know what your thinking...GARLIC WINE!!?!?! Actually it is for cooking or marinades, and it is VERY "garlicy"!  He also has a large batch of grape wine (it is to the left of the Strawberry Wine in the brown grocery bag). Now all he has to do is stabilize the wine, and we can bottle it! :)

Hopefully tomorrow I will get my butt in gear & make some gooseberry jam...mmmm...my mouth is watering just thinking about it! I'm sure there are lots of people out there that are thinking...what the heck is a gooseberry??

Well, it is a SUPER tart berry, and the only reason I love them so much is because my Grandma & Grandpa Z had two huge bushes of gooseberries...and Grammy Z would make the most DELICIOUS gooseberry pie! The crust was melt in your mouth, with sugar sprinkled on top, then the juicy plump gooseberry sauce in the middle....sweet yet tart...  Oh how I miss my Grammy Z & her AMAZING baked goods! She would bake things from scratch, with NO recipe, and I never learned how to make her pie crust. I am however a 'Champion of Jams' (I gave the title to myself), and my gooseberry jam on a fresh baked biscuit is as close I will every get to Grammy Z's legendary gooseberry pie!

But I digress...I have begun to ramble. Well, I really should get back to the grind & finish at least today's to-do list. :)

Oh...for those of you that have stuck in there throughout the rambling, and have found yourself at the end of this blog post...here is your treat! Each weekend (til the end of April) we will be offering a coupon code...all you have to do is enter  TGIW20  in the coupon code section @ checkout @ you will receive 20% off your entire purchase! :) 

Have a wonderful day!

Cheers,

Jess

Nutshell Farms

"Urban" Farming

So we have "officially" drawn out the gardening plan! YEAH! We are much more prepared, and organized (thankfully) this year! Each year that we have had a garden; or grow anything here on the farm, we have learned something new...mostly through trial & error...and some research.

We have our Heirloom seeds (this will be the very first year we use ALL heirloom seeds), and the garden is mapped out on paper. Now all we have to do is: start the seedlings, make the paper planting pots, till the gardens, lay the brick walkways...and plant away! :) That seems like a LOT of things to do, but we have a few weeks before we will be putting everything in the ground.

B-Real & I have stumbled across some excellent articles on the "Urban Farming Movement". While we do call it "the Farm"...Nutshell Farms is found with in the city limits of our small Northwest Ohio town. We have huge stacks of cut wood for our wood burning stove (which we heat our entire house with), 2 large garden spaces, a strawberry patch, apple tree, pear tree, and at the back of the lot we have a palatial chicken coop with an outdoor run. So as an homage to the Urban Farming Movement, and to all those self-sustainer's out there...here are some of my top picks from Etsy today! :)

Herb Barn   $475.00

created by: ECOGRO

Deluxe DIY Cheese Kit  $50.00

created by: Urban Cheese Craft

Rustic Stoneware Garden Markers  $24.00

created by:  Fenster Blau Studio

Seed Bombs  $21.00

created by: Visual Lingual

Well, thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to check out todays featured shops for more great products! :)

Cheers,

Jess

Nutshell Farms