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A Quick and Easy Bread

Yeast breads are delicious but unless you have a 5 Minute a Day bread dough stored away in the refrigerator, planning ahead is required. Most of the time, I want something on the table in under an hour. There are several quick bread options, but lately I’ve been making Popovers.

Rich and eggy, with an open center just right for butter and a dollop of jam, popovers may be the easiest possible bread to make. Here’s how I do it:

Popovers

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 425º. Lightly grease a six cup popover pan or use a nonstick pan.

Add eggs, salt and milk to blender. Mix briefly. Add flour, mix for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the blender, mix again for 15-20 seconds or until all flour is incorporated. Distribute batter evenly in popover pan, filling each about 1/2 full. Bake for 40-45 minutes until puffed and browned. Remove from oven and immediately insert knife blade into side of popover near the top to vent steam. Serve with butter and jam.

The popover pan is essential. It is similar to a muffin tin, but has much deeper cups to allow the batter to climb up the sides of the cups and “pop over”.

Try some for yourself.

 

What is a Real Farm?

What is the definition of a real farm?

Is there a certain amount of acreage required? Maybe a minimum amount of produce raised? Perhaps keeping livestock meets the qualification?

We have asked ourselves these questions as we build this slice of the country we call Five Feline Farm. At first, we referred to it as just the “farm”; a tongue-in-cheek expression of our postage stamp sized property plopped in the middle of large fields of corn, soybeans and wheat. As we discover our mission to live a full life with a blend of old skills and modern conveniences, we also found the answer to being real.

Is there a minimum required acreage?

We have five and a half acres. From this fertile land, we can grow a lot of the produce, herbs, fruit and nuts we need to keep our pantry and freezers full. There is even enough excess to sell at the Farmer’s Market. It takes a lot of planning and hard work but it is a joy to bite into a warm tomato fresh from the garden or add home grown roasted peppers to a pot of chili in the depth of winter.

How about a minimum amount of production?

The line of products we offer in our Mercantile, whether on line or on site is limited only by our time and imagination. We sew cat toys from scraps of fabric and stuff them with catnip grown and dried on the farm. There are balms and soaps and jams and baked goods all created right here. We even offer farm roasted whole coffee beans.

Are livestock required?

Did you know honeybees are considered livestock? It’s true according to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Beekeeping has changed our perspective on many things. We are better consumers and more aware of good practice in how we approach planting, fertilizing and particularly pest management. We use this practical mantra: “if it’s good for the bees, it’s good for us”. Plus, any excess honey harvested beyond what we personally use is sold. 

So our answer to the question….

Yes, Five Feline Farm is a real farm.

 

Five Feline Farm is growing beyond our wildest dreams. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for daily updates.   

 

Longing for Summer

We escaped the clutches of the January 2019 Polar Vortex and were blessed within days to experience over 50º weather. No, we didn’t fly to a southern state, it all happened right here in the Midwest. Those couple of days of sunshine and warmth had me longing for fresh food. Perhaps something from the garden: freshly pulled carrots or a warm ripe tomato. Or maybe a few fresh morels gathered from just beyond the edge of the yard.

But it is still February in Central Illinois. Gathering any of those things fresh fom the earth is still a few months away. We do what we can in the meantime. There is a container of fresh alfalfa sprouts growing on the counter, ready to add to a sandwich or salad. That crisp, fresh crunch is a welcome blast of nutrients.

A basement grow station is providing fresh basil, rosemary and cilantro in addition to the starts of tomatoes, peppers and onions that will populate the garden in a few short months. On days when it warms up just enough, say to 30º or so, it’s ok to open the cold frame and pick a salad of baby lettuces and spinach.

The next best thing is to forage in the freezer or pantry for preserved items. The freezer is full of tomato sauce, carrots, peppers, onions, garlic bulbils, strawberries and peaches. We even have some Elderberries waiting to be processed into syrup. The pantry holds rows of home canned tomato juice, pickles, jellies, jams, pie fillings, hot pepper sauce, relishes and our special Bloody Mary Mix.

So until the sun warms the soil enough to garden, we will feast on these things and dream of summer to come.

What summer food do you miss most?

Winter Philosophy

At this writing, we are experiencing a Polar Vortex dipping into the middle of the U.S. It brings us some of the lowest temperatures and wind chills in recorded history.

We have taken the steps we can to prepare:

  • Check the propane level for the house and the generator
  • Close off the porch
  • Stock up on birdseed to help our feathered friends
  • Dig out our warmest clothes
  • Make sure the vehicles are full of gas

Like many of you, we prefer long days of warm sunshine, being outside working in the garden or mowing the grass, and sipping cold iced tea in the afternoon shade. We don’t like to be cold or to shovel snow when it piles up in the driveway or drifts in front of the garage door.

Some people cope with the cold dark winter by moving south to warmer weather, but we hunker down and stay put.

There is also a beauty to winter we must not forget. Winter gives us time to do some of those inside chores we put off until after gardening season. It offers us a time to rest from the hard labor that often comes with outside work.

In the midst of the vigilance required to stay safe in bitter cold and snow, while we wait for the sun to drift further north on it’s daily rounds, let’s remember to be grateful.

Here’s a short list to get you started:

  • Long evenings to read a book
  • The beauty of pure white snow pouring a cleansing blanket on the brown landscape
  • When fog freezes on the trees turning everything into a wonderland
  • The blessing of a warm house

What are you grateful for?