Blue cornmeal

One of my goals this year is to learn to use new ingredients, gadgets or tools that I have acquired but are still sitting around waiting for me to get to them.  One of the ingredients is blue cornmeal.  My sister first expressed an interest in finding blue cornmeal.  We looked locally and close by but did not find any, so we ordered some online and shared it when it arrived.  I hadn't used it yet but decided that it was time so I searched out recipes for cornbread. 

I don't have a go-to recipe for cornbread.  I  haven't made it very often and when I have I have used the recipe on the cardboard container.  Being snowed in and not expecting to be able to run to the grocery store for a couple of days I was looking for recipes that called for buttermilk since I had that and didn't want to use the last of my milk.  I ended up combining ingredients from a couple of different recipes and the results were pretty good.  I am in my second day of nibbling on the cornbread.   I think I will make some of the cornbread into croutons for adding to salads, soups and chili. 

I am not out of cornmeal yet so I think my next project will be learning to use the tortilla press that I bought this summer and make some homemade corn tortillas.  Stay tuned.

If you are interested in the cornbread recipe it can be found here.

Lorri

Snowed in

Typical Minnesota January.  We have already had several significant snow events and our ground is pretty well covered.  Some of the animals that live in our grove have been bolder in their search for food.  A couple of days ago I had a bunny checking out the dogs' food bowl.  Usually this time of year the Blue Jays are interested in any left over food in the dishes but I haven't had rabbits before, at least not that I know of. 

And then the next day I had three pheasant hens up in the yard digging and scratching just out from my front door.  I hear them in the grove and sometimes see them fly in there from the road but this was the closest I have seen them to the house.  Of course as soon as I opened the side door they flew off.  I walked over to where they had been and saw that there was an empty ear of field corn.  All of the kernels has been removed.  I imagine the dogs brought it up from the field across the road at some time. 

I have decided to try to feed them, but trying to find a way to to do it so that they can eat without harassment from my two dogs.  I put food out yesterday, but now I will wait until the current weather passes.  We are in the middle of a three day weather pattern.  The last couple of days have been cold with windchill warnings.  It was -14 I think at the lowest.  Today and tonight it is warmer but we are getting snow.  One prediction is 4-7 inches and another is 8-12 inches.  Schools were cancelled and people were encouraged to stay home.  I don't know how much snow we actually got.  It has been snowing for much of the day.  It is still snowing and looks like it will snow much of the night.  It is windy and so the snow is deep in some spots and absent in other spots.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be even windier and a blizzard warning is next.  By tomorrow night I am hoping that it is done.  So far everything is working, no power outages or branches down.  I have these nifty new heated hand grips for my snowblower, a Christmas gift from my kids that help keep my hands warmer when I am snowblowing--probably my Sunday project. 

I haven't minded staying home.  I have gotten started on some projects that I have needed to do.  Today I sorted my garden seeds into a new container that arrived this week, a baby step in getting better organized for the garden.  

Keep warm!

Lorri

One week into the new year

Well, we are one week in. How am I doing?  I am started.

Bullet Journal

My bullet journal is a blank book and I am customizing the pages hoping to meet my needs.  Some of the journals are beautiful with artwork and fancy lettering.  Mine is going to be more minimalist.  If I can get the hang of this I can try and add fancy later but that is not one of my strengths.  I started out with three year at a glance type calendar spreads.  In each of the calendar spreads I have the name of the month and the numbers but not the days of the week, so they are not specific to one particular year.  I am not going to necessarily start a new notebook next year so I can keep using this calendar ongoing. 

On the first four page spread I am putting recurring things like birthdays and anniversaries.  The second four page spread I will track my dad's medical tests and procedures.  I go with him to all of his appointments and I am hoping this will be an easier way to stay on top of his tests and procedures.  My third year at a glance calendar will be the garden calendar.  I debated on placing that calendar in my garden journal but since I will be generating a to do list from the bullet journal I will start out with it here.  I plan count back from our last frost date and label the weeks before our last frost, and going forward after the last frost date and the weeks leading up to our first frost date in the fall.  I will also track the 'seasons' of the winter growing in the greenhouse.  This will help with knowing when to start the different seeds so that they are ready to be transplanted at the right time. 

My bullet journal next has a month at a glance.  This will have appointments and other nonrecurring things that are specific to one particular month.  I will also have a week at a glance which is where my to do list for each day will be.

I am going to give a habit tracker a try.  My friend Kim is using a gratitude journal.  I like that idea and so I am adding a gratitude page.

I have so many things that I want to accomplish this year and unfinished projects from last year.  So starting in the back of my book and working forward I will make a brain dump page for each of the areas of the farm that needs some attention.  (That would be all of them!)  From those brainstorming pages I will pick and choose and prioritize projects and make a list of goals that will span the year.  24 goals would be two per month.  So far I am getting titles on the brain dump pages, not much brainstorming has happened there yet.

Lorri

2019 regrets. I have a few.

Happy New Year.  This time of year always seems to be a time of reflection and review and thinking about the new year.  Whether that is an intentional thing or an accidental thing, for me it just sort of happens. 

2019 was both a challenge and a joy.  I have a lot to be grateful for.  But 2019 was a fight from beginning to end.  Mother Nature did not cooperate.  My garden was a disaster.  The farm repairs seemed to be unending.  Nursing as a profession is hard on the body and this old nurse's joints protested a lot.  So many projects I wanted to get done didn't happen or are still only partially finished.  Blogging was practically nonexistent.  I wasn't even finding time to read my favorite bloggers.  I have recipes I wanted to try, new or new to me kitchen tools that I bought or was gifted that I haven't used.  Holiday decorating was minimal.  Holiday baking consisted of a batch of rosettes and a batch of krumkake, one batch of Russian teacakes and one batch of peanut blossoms.  All at the last minute.  No fancy cookies which I love to make. 

Now that the holidays are past and outside stuff is less, it is time to take a hard look at how to cope better in case 2020 turns out to be a repeat of 2019.  No more limping from one problem to the next.  It is time to make goals and plans that are reasonable, rethink some things to make them more manageable.  If I can no longer do it all I want to make sure that stuff like blogging and trying new recipes makes it to my to do list.  I have picked up some cute notebooks and I am starting a bullet journal, a garden journal, a holiday journal and a meal planner.   

Wish me luck.

Lorri