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Yammy Cinnamon Rolls
There’s nothing in life the Farmer’s Wife enjoys so much as a good Cinnamon Roll, and this, my friends is a very good one. It can be a dessert, a breakfast, an any-time-you-want-it, or of course, served alongside dinner as a vegetable. Yes, you read that right. The Farmer’s Wife has managed to justify a Cinnamon Roll as a vegetable! First it was the Holiday Pie for breakfast and now this! Oh, you’ve never heard the Holiday Pie for breakfast rational? It goes something like this: Well, it has Eggs, doesn’t it? And Milk, right? What can be more breakfasty than that? Oh, that crust? Just think of it as…
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A Restful Day
All is quiet on the Farm on Sundays, as each member gets the rest they need.
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Great Grandma Waite’s Holiday Pie
There are few things that spark a twinkle in the Farmer’s Wife’s eye like Great Grandma Waite’s Custard Pie–it’s all the loveliness of Christmas and childhood in one smooth, creamy bite. But, only if it’s done right. If it’s done wrong, it’s a bunch of sweetened scrambled eggs in a soggy crust. So, let me show you how to do it right. First, the Crust is made. Now, this particular crust recipe may or may not be the one Great Grandma Waite made with her pie, but it is the one the Farmer’s Wife uses all the time. So, that’s the one we’re going with. You take 4.5 ounces all…
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Oktoberfest on the Farm
Most people don’t know this, but the Farmer has a lot of German in him. Which means, of course, that at some point in the month of October the Farmer’s Wife makes a German Feast (same as the Irish kind she makes in March for her side of things). Now, there are many good things that German folks eat, and I’m sure all over that country and world, those things are consumed and celebrated, but on the Farm, only three recipes are made: Rouladen, Spaetzle, and Sweet and Sour Cabbage. It’s the same each year. And most years others come to enjoy celebrating the Farmer’s heritage. This year that came…
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And Speaking of Field Trips
One of the very best things about being a home-schooled family is all the Field Trips you can and should take. For the Farmer’s Wife that’s local stops every Friday, with a longer trip planned a couple times a year. The Friday Field Trips this year have included Nature Hikes (Lockport Nature Trail on Slayton Settlement Road), Apple Picking (Lynoaken Farms), and having the kids run and play at the park (Day Road Park, Lockport, NY). It gives the kids a chance to get together, and get some much needed energy spent. But it can also be educational, too. In the case of LynOaken, they have over three hundred and…
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Chocolateee Chip Cookies
The Farmer’s Wife is asked to make these every day, and once a week or so, she says yes. Because, you see, they are everyone’s fa-vor-ite. And it’s because these are no ordinary chocolate chip cookies, no, these are: Chocolateee Chip Cookies To make them, the Farmer’s Wife takes 1/2 cup softened butter and mixes it with 1/2 cup of sugar, both in the brown and white variety (as in 1/2 cup of each). Now she doesn’t just mix them, she beats them fine until all is light and fluffy. To that she adds one room temperature egg and beats it some more, somewhere in the way of three minutes.…
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Enough for a Crowd: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Every Tuesday night in forever so long, those who live on the Farm host friends and family for a night of togetherness and prayer. Some nights there is scarcely more than the Farmer and his own family, but last night there were nineteen souls present. And what does one feed nineteen souls when one has tomatoes come in and a freezer full of pork and lamb? Why, spaghetti and meatballs, of course. And that’s just what they do. Fifty-seven meatballs are served (not counting the two stolen by the Farmer the second they’re out of the oven), and a pot of Sauce. Now, I know you’ve heard about the Sauce,…
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To Home school or not Home school? That is the question.
Over the course of days and months and years many have asked the Farmer’s Wife why she should choose to home-school her children, especially lately, when so many are taking the notion into consideration. And to each and now to you as well, she gives the same answer. “It’s a question we ourselves ask each year.” And that is true. Each year a family meeting is held, where it is decided if home-schooling is still the best choice for their family. Some years it’s not. This year it was. And here is why: People who are making decisions about school–how to have it, or even if to have it keep…
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The BEST Coconut Cream Pie (Seriously)
The Farmer’s Wife has sooooo many eggs, she hardly knows what to do! “I know,” she says. “I will make the BEST Coconut Cream pie!” And so she does. First, she starts with the Crust. For that, she takes 3/4 cup flour and stirs with it 1/3 cup confectionary sugar and a pinch of salt. To that she cuts in 4 tablespoons of cold butter. The Farmer’s Wife uses an old fashioned pastry blender, but you can use a food processor or your hands if you don’t have either of those. She keeps mixing until the butter is as small as peas. To that she stirs in one egg yolk…
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Make Your Own Scratch-Made Pizza
Pizza is a frequent thing on the Farm, be it cooked on the grill in the Summer or baked then broiled on a stone in the oven all the other Seasons long. (The Farmer’s Wife has been after the Farmer for one of those Brick Pizza Ovens for years, but as of yet, the Farm remains Oven-Less.) No matter the time or the toppings, one thing remains the same and is vital for a truly good Pizza, and that is: the dough. The dough at the Farm starts the day before, with an Italianisk Bigga–that’s what gives the dough it’s flavor and all those bubbles. To make a Bigga, you…