Syurp-ing!

Here's a bit about our adventures in mapel syruping. We really appreciat the work that goes into each drop of the real stuff. It is worth every penny!

We went out to help 0ur friends the Adelsbergers with their Maple Syrup today. It was FUN. Kids, snow, frozen mapel sap, buckets to haul, 4X4 ing in the mud, through washes and corn fields, FUN! We harvested more than 100 gallons of sap. LOTS of buckets. The kids were tired by the end. The fire was hot (Josh built a cool (HOT) evaporator (he says its the 1.1 model, 2.0 is in the works. Somehow I didn't get pictures of it. Maybe HE will post.) Lunch was pancakes and fresh maple syrup. Brilliant! (Mrs. Adelsberger is sending me the recipe, but it is based on Sue Gregg's whole foods cooking) I'm hoping to have more to publish soon.

The kids loved the pancakes and the syrup. They haven't liked the whole wheat pancakes I've made in the past, so that is a plus.

Crackers

So here's the cracker making process. The recipe is here so I won't repeat it. We changed a couple of things. We used regular sesame seeds because that's what we had. We also didn't put them on parchment paper. It would have been faster, especially if you cut them into small crackers, but we didn't have any parchment paper in the house. (Someone must have eaten it...)

Here's what we did...

Mix

Mix

Knead twice

Divide into 12 parts

Roll

Roll some more

Season



Bake

Eat

The pasta roller is key. I never could have gotten them this thin. I don't have the time. We learned that you have to start on the widest setting and step down in small steps. Flattening first helps. The crackers currently have a 2.75 out of 3 rating at our house. CC didn't vote, she isn't here right now. JJ thought they tasted kind of like crackers. RR said OH YEAH! Can I have a whole stick! And I liked them and can see some potential for other flavor combos. Over all a success on a project we have been struggling with.

Breaking the Cracker Barrier

Today we are going to make another attempt at making great crackers. They are the one elusive snack item left for us to master. We are going to attempt these Crispy Sesame -Semolina Flatbread Crackers. I'll post the process and the results later this afternoon.

Wish us luck!

Tomorrow we are going over to our friends the Adelsbergers to help with their syrup making. They started last week. The kids are excited to see how it's all done. More on that tomorrow.

We are doing the Real Food Challenge - Friday Wrap-up over at NDiN today. Check out how we did and share what worked for you and what didn't. (I know you are all part of the challenge...)

Real Food and A Box Full of Kids

This is the first day of the NDiN Real Food Challenge. I had a post about our first day and the instant challenges we (I) found feeding everyone "Real Food". But I'm posting this instead.

A Box Full of Kids

If you read this blog regularly you know we have been struggling with a kid who couldn't stand when she was born. She is the black and white one on the right. Her name is Patty. It took us some time (and some suggestions from a few helpful readers) to pin down the problem. She had White Muscle Disease. That's a vitamin E/selenium deficiency. She seems to be doing pretty well now, but her sister (who appeared strong when she was born) died today. Her heart just stopped. (That is another effect of selenium/vitamin E deficiency.) As I looked more closely at the whole herd it became apparent that everyone was suffering some of the effects of this deficiency. I've dosed everyone up with cod liver oil, extra kelp meal, and a selenium rich mineral supplement. Should solve the problem for the goats.

So, you are probably wondering what this has to do with Real Food and the Real Food Challenge. Well, here are my thoughts for the day. What I discovered was the deficiency in my goats came from their feed. They have been on hay for a couple of months now, and confined to the barn for about a month (the snow is so deep there is nothing for them to nibble on and no reason for them to go out to pasture. It would be pointless for them and more work for me.) The 'organic' hay I bought this year is from a new source. They are new to the organic game, and their fields have just 'transitioned'. Before they changed the fields had been farmed traditionally. In researching White Muscle Disease and ways to deal with it I found that selenium was depressed in plants grown on soils with low pH and on soils subjected to chemical fertilizers. It had not been a problem in the US until after the wide spread use of chemical fertilizers began. Vitamin E deteriorates in plants that are stored for long periods of time. This year we used first cut hay from a farm where the fields had just recently switched to 'organic' practices. The food caused the problem.

These kinds of studies are readily available for animals and animal feed. BUT, no one talks about it in relation to human food and human health.

Today has made me rethink this challenge and what I'm doing. I'm a farmer. My business is food. Producing fresh, nutrient dense, balanced food for my family and my community is my responsibility. That's an idea I intend to explore more this month. The how and the why of Real Food.