Surprise! It's a Grain Mill!!

I'm so excited to share this news with the world....

I officially grind my own grains!! I mill my own Flour!! I make by bread from "scratch"!! I can finally say that I know what fresh flour smells like!!! And I could not be more enthusiastic about this new venture!!

 Okay, I'll try to keep my giddiness under control so I can write this post.

My love of freshly baked bread all started when we bought our little corner of the world to begin our homesteading. The first thing I knew that I needed to learn, to be a true producer instead of consumer, was making our own bread. I had never before even considered making this part of my routine. I didn't even know what exactly yeast was or how it worked...But I wanted to learn.

I started out learning how to make bread without a bread machine. I figured that this would give me a better understanding of the whole process, and it did. It was so rewarding to send a warm loaf of freshly baked bread over to the neighbors house for the first time. Especially with a batch of freshly made butter, which is what I did. It was amazing-Learning how to make bread and wanting to do it so often that we had more than enough to share!

After doing it that way for a few weeks, my sister offered me a bread maker and I figured I'd give it a go. The bread however was not up to my expectations. It made a tall square loaf with a hole up the middle! What?! That's not what homemade bread is supposed to look like at all! So I took the advice of a friend and starting doing it half in the machine and half in the oven. It works beautifully and makes it more practical for me to keep a fresh loaf on hand. I'll give you guys my recipes for that in one of my upcoming posts. For now I have to get back to the topic at hand...My new grain mill!!!

I was totally surprised by my husband this Christmas when he let me know that he was buying me a present this time whether I approved it in the budget or not...it was happening and I wasn't aloud to complain. This is especially sweet since my husband usually doesn't do gifts. Back rubs are kind of his thing on my special days and I have never found reason to complain about that..I love them! But this Christmas he just wasn't sticking to the usual arrangement and he told me very matter of fact-ly that there was nothing I could do about it. I was excited and a little bit puzzled at what it could be. I don't ask for much and certainly never anything too expensive. After he ordered it (at my sisters house, on her account and paid her by check...sneaky, eh?) I'd told him I needed the amount so that I could balance the checkbook. When he told me the amount, I almost died!  What in the world could he be getting me that costs so much??

Well you guessed it. It was a grain mill!!!!! But not just any grain mill- It was a Kitchenaid Mixer with a grain mill attachment. 

Oh.My.Gosh.

A Kitchenaid and a grain mill...I know, I know- It's a little bit more exciting than a back rub, I'll give him that credit, but already knows that. Actually, this is how the rest of our week played out:

Me: "Justin, you forgot to take out the trash again!!"
Justin: "Hun...I got you a grain mill!"

See? he's a pretty smart guy. It worked for like a week...and then I remembered that I had carried, delivered and nursed all 3 of his babies so clearly I win the "who did what for whom" game! Not that the mill gift isn't high up on the awesome list. It just takes second place to the miracle of birth.

Bet you didn't think you'd find that in a flour post...hah!

Getting back to the point here-
I couldn't believe that this wonderful man had not only gotten me this gift, but that he had remembered me commenting on a blog post over a year ago about grinding flour. I had NEVER said to him that I wanted a Kitchenaid...but man, did I ever!!

 

 Here are some pictures I snapped in action last evening as I was grinding my wheat berries.

 

 

My beautiful wheat.

My grain mill

 

My grain mill-in action

 

And my fresh wheat flour.

 

I would recommend anyone who already makes homemade bread to seriously look into a mill. The flour is really a lot cheaper for me to grind myself than to buy it packaged, so I figure eventually the cost will even out.(but that's just my way of making the cost "feel" better) Plus the health benefits are priceless.

 

 I had read a lot recently about the benefits of eating fresh flour and that even the healthiest grocery store flours need to have preservatives added as flour does go rancid. To read more about that and wheat in general, read this: http://thewholetruth.org/Health_Wheat_FAQ.asp

 

I buy my wheat berries at a local Mennonite store and keep them in a food grade bucket so I'm not having to run a few times a week to get more, However I don't buy so much that I can't use it within a short period of time. You'll have to see what works best for you.

 

Do any of you mill your own flour? What kind of grains do you use? I'm just learning myself so I'd be interested in hearing any combinations of grains that work well for you. I love learning from those who are experienced!!

 

Have a good day everyone and Happy Baking!!

 

 

Our Story

Hello!

 

I'm Georgia and my husband's name is Justin. We have three beautiful daughters that we are trying to teach to live humble, simple and grateful lives.

(A picture from when our youngest was born)

 

We did not always have this specific goal in life. Just last year we decided that we were going to sell our very big, very nice home. A home with 5 bedrooms and 5 bathroom and sat on 2.5 acres. A home with an in-ground pool....

 

                                  

 

(our old living room)



 

 

 .....So we could buy a 3.5 acre property with spectacular river views within walking distance of all of my family and friends. The appeal of this property was easy to see...the less appealing aspect of it was that instead of a house, in the center of the property...was a trailer!  Now I'm not judgemental about trailer living but we knew it was going to be a very big adjustment for us to go from 5000 sq. feet (literally our kids would ride their Barbie jeep through the old house) to a small trailer where we would have a strict "no running inside" rule. Needless to say...within 24 hours the trailer property was ours and the big house was going on the market.! I can honestly say that we have never regretted taking such a huge leap of faith and the rewards have been endless. Plus the trailer's pretty cool. It was pretty and new and super clean. Now go ahead and check out the new view.....

 

 

 (what we see out our sliding glass door)

 

When we moved here we did not even know what "homesteading" meant. We just knew that we were getting chickens and going to plant some tomatoes. We also assumed that we would have had a house built by now. (wrong!) Right after we moved here I remember having an old friend stop over one morning (Hey Katieann!!) and she listened to all of the dreams I had for our new property and said that her and her family were  "homesteading" too. Imagine that...There was a word for what I had been dreaming of!! I could hardly wait to start researching!! Within minutes of googling the word she had taught me, I had my life's mission spelled out in front of me....

....Produce more, consume less, be humble, be grateful, give back to our community, have a stellar garden and raise some animals with love and humanity. It was also clear that I wanted to raise my daughters to work hard, live on less, eat healthier and know where healthy food comes from.  We've been happily homesteading ever since!

 

 

So that's our story! well, that's the very short version of our story and  how we ended becoming homesteaders. I have so many things to fill you in on that have happened here in the past year but will have to get to each thing one at a time.Until then...thanks for stopping by our little homestead!

The Neefe Family

Organic Homemade Degongesting Vapor Rub

 

It's that time of year again.

 

When every kid you see has a snotty nose and every mom is carrying around tissues in their pockets. Nothing quite soothes a cold the way that Vick's Vapor Rub does and since we have ventured into our "homesteading" lifestyle I have sworn off running to the store to buy everything we need (or that we think we need) I have been instead running to the kitchen  to try to make something similar. This recipe is absolutely amazing to me, even though I've only smelled it yet with my congested nose, I believe that it smells the same or better than the name brand stuff. I made it a few days ago and have been using it 3x daily since then. The other great thing is that you can customize the strength of it by simply using less oils. I think that makes it a little more appropriate for my kids. You could even play with the oils you are adding to the Eucalyptus. I chose to add Lavender and chamomile. It's soothing and relaxing..Just the comfort I'm looking for when I'm feeling under the weather!

 

Here's how I made it: (as you can tell I don't really measure when I make stuff so I'm giving estimates...you can figure out how thick, thin or strongly scented you'd like it to be and go from there. You can't mess it up, if you want to change the consistency after it cools just put it back in a warm pan and add more beeswax or oil!)

 

 

You'll need:

 

1 cup- organic Evoo

1 tbls. -Beeswax shavings (Try to find a local source for your beeswax, if you can't hen you can order it online)

30ish- drops Eucalyptus essential oil

20ish- drops Lavender essential oil

15ish- drops of chamomile essential oil (or any other essential oil you think compliments the Eucalyptus)

 

To make:

 

Put Evoo and beeswax in a small saucepan over low heat until beeswax is melted, stirring often. Remove from heat and add essential oils. Pour in pretty jars ( I used 4oz. Jelly jars)  And..

THAT'S IT!!  Easy, huh?!

 

 

   

The oils in it help it to have a decent shelf life, but you should try to use it within one year.

 

Isn't it amazing how simple these things really are to make at home?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Chickens

 

 

So since I'm trying to fill you in on some of the happenings around here over the past year I of course have to tell you a little bit about my darling girls out back.

 

Last year at this time we were eagerly awaiting our order of 10 chicks. I had researched the breeds I was interested in and decided on 2 each of 5 different breeds. (all about the same size, dual purpose birds) We ended up choosing Americanas, Buff Orphingtons, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Reds,  and White Leghorns. They have gotten along flawlessly over the past year and I'm happy that we chose to go with mixing breeds. We picked our order up early spring last year and they spent a few weeks in the house in a storage tote getting to know us all. Oh man did these girls (and as it turned out...1 boy) ever have unique personalities! We had initially planned on raising these birds for eggs and later on in life for their meat but this group of birds will NEVER make it to the table. They are our pets and we love them too much! We will eventually be getting a fair amount of broilers and raising them knowing that they will be for food, until then our birds are for eggs only. Anyway, back to the point. Here is a picture of them when they were one day old and in their tote.... weren't they sweet?

 

 

Here is when they moved to their new coop. They were so happy to be able to run around! See Dandy dipping into her food bowl?

 

 

 

Aww...here is Winnie one of my reds, checking out the new coop. She is my sweet and slightly shy bird.

 

Oh my gosh...And Briquitta...The top of the pecking order around here and my most curious chicken. She is front and center in every picture because she is so intrigued by the shiny camera.

 

Okay sorry for all the pictures but I can't believe how fast they've grown!

Here are some of my ladies now, enjoying some nice hot oatmeal I made them yesterday.....

 

 

 

I could talk about them for hours but I will leave that for another day. I should introduce them to you more formally by telling you their names.

 

Our ladies are:

 

Briquitta

Gertie

Henny (Henrietta)

Dandy

Mama (Mother Clucker)

Winnie

Betty White

Chicken Little

Gypsy

And RIP Nugget, the rooster that we shot because he was a jerk to our kids. But that's a separate post entirely.

 

Thanks for getting to know a little about our birds. You'll be seeing lots of updates about them....And eventually the full story of Nugget the Rooster!

 

 

Super easy sugar scrub

 One of the quickest things to make yourself is this vanilla brown sugar body scrub. I made it as part of my  Christmas present baskets this year. I wanted it to have a warm and cozy winter smell so I chose to use brown sugar and vanilla to scent it. You can whip up a batch of this and clean up your kitchen in less than 5 minutes so I figured it was a great recipe to start my blog with. I keep a mason jar on the side of my tub and it leaves my skin feeling luxuriously moisturized. Here is the recipe:

 

 

 

1 cup brown sugar

 

1 cup white sugar

 

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

 

and a few teaspoons vanilla extract

 

Stir all ingredients in a bowl until combine. (If it's too runny just add more sugar. If it's too dry add more oil) Put in a pretty glass jar and you're done. Here is a photo of mine. I chose to put it in a wide mouth jelly jar for my gifts and tied some jute around a piece of brown paper bag to make it match my rustic gift baskets.

 

 

 

And here is a picture of one of my gift baskets since I know you're all just dying to see them!

 

 

 

 

 

What homemade gifts did you give for Christmas this year?

 

 

 





So I'm going to be a blogger

I feel the need to have a space where I can share all of my homesteading adventures with those of you who'd like to read about them. Everything from learning how to prepare whole food meals for my husband and our three daughters to butchering pigs, inoculating mushrooms spores or sharing my all natural home product recipes that I've tried and loved. We've been on a path towards simple living for the last year and half since we sold our 5,000 square foot house (along with nearly all of our belongings) to create a home life where we are producing more then we are consuming. We bought 3.5 acres of land overlooking the beautiful Susquehanna River in Lancaster County Pa and have been enjoying the simple things in life ever since. I've been so humbled by the things I've learned since taking this leap of faith and so grateful for the friendships I've been lucky enough to have made.

This is my first time ever doing a blog and this is my first post so as you can imagine, I'm typing this particular post as quickly as possible. I promise there is more and better posts to come!!

Thanks for reading,
Georgia

And since I have to practice putting up pictures, I decided  to post one of our first two piglets. This is a picture of Piggly and Wiggly last year helping us to till the new garden. Aww...