that crazy chicken lady!

JayeDee over at Life in the Lost World is one generous gal. Get on over and check out what she's giving away. Ok ok, enough arm twisting...she's giving away a $25 gift certificate to Heirloom Acre Seeds. Now that's a give away I can appreciate.

It’s Bacon!!

Recently I posted here about the supply of pork we were fortunate to get when our Amish friends butchered a hog. It came on Christmas Eve, so Christmas day I was weighing, cutting and packaging pork. Since I had a slab of bacon in the lot, I was also scouring the net to find an easy way to cure it. I set it to cure on Christmas day, so it was no surprise that on New Year’s Day I would be finishing up the bacon making process.

There are several ways to make bacon, but regardless it’s with either a brine soak or a dry rub. I finally got the picture and decided to go with a dry rub for ease. I made my own simple rub from kosher salt, brown sugar and freshly ground black pepper.

For a slab of bacon weighing about 3 ½ pounds I used a mixture of;

4-5 T. kosher salt

1 ½ -2 T. ground black pepper

3-4 T. brown sugar

Mix well. The directions that follow were acquired online, although I was in too big of a hurry to save the url or make a note of it so unfortunately I can’t give credit where credit is due, a least not at this time. : (

After rinsing the pork well and patting it dry, I cut it into two pieces to make sure each piece fit into a gallon bag well. Next lay out your pork on a large piece of parchment paper or wax paper. Rub your mixture into the pork on both sides and into creases well. Once you’ve done this, place pork into gallon size Ziploc (or any other sealable) bags. Add any remaining rub and shake to distribute. Place bags onto a flat tray and refrigerate for 7 days, turning over every other day.

This is the bacon after 7 days in the fridge.

After 7 days the bacon should feel fairly firm to the touch. Take bacon from bags and rinse well under cold running water to remove excess spices. Pat dry.

And again after rinsing. Looks good!

Now, heat your oven to 200◦. Transfer the bacon into appropriately sized cake pan(s) and roast until meat is brown and internal temp is 150 – 160◦. This will take 2 – 2 ½ hours.

Remove bacon and place onto cutting board. With a large thin bladed knife you will remove the tough outer layer of skin.

a job for Cooper-man!

Allow bacon to rest until it has reached room temp. Once cooled, pat dry and wrap in wax paper and refrigerate. Or slice off a few pieces first to fry up like we did. : ) Once completely chilled, store in a plastic bag. It will keep up to 10 days refrigerated or up to 3 months in the freezer.

How did our bacon turn out you ask?

We were impressed and gobbled it up.

I was thrilled it wasn’t a failure since I’d never did a home cure before and even more thrilled at how good it was. Yay! Bacon with no harmful nitrites and nitrates! I can detect the taste of pepper and salt in this bacon but it’s not overpowering and definitely nowhere nearly as salty as commercial bacon. I may add a little more freshly ground pepper when I fry up the next skillet full. But even if I don’t, this is pretty darn good bacon. And the best part, besides doing it myself without the poisonous additives? It was easy!

resolutions of joy and wonder

I’ve never been one given to making New Years resolutions. However the idea came to me today to make a few resolutions based on pleasure. Maybe the snow and cold have me thinking of things I regret not doing more of in the past couple of years, things that I truly enjoy that bring me a sense of beauty and wonder. Whatever the case may be, here are a few of my New Year’s resolutions for 2009.

my joy & wonder resolutions for 2009:

plant more flowers

grow more love

listen to music more often and dance and sing along!

spend more time on a blanket under the stars

smile more, laugh more

So, I bet you can think of a thing or two that brings you joy and wonder or are just plain fun. Things you’d like to do more of just for the sheer pleasure of it. Do tell!

Happy New Year

Wishing you and yours a blessed & fulfilling New Year.

May your light shine brightly.
May peace abound.
May your dreams be realized.
May you embrace the challenges that come your way and in all things
May you be grateful & blessed.

what nourishes your spirit?

For a lot of years my life was hustle bustle. I was either busy raising my children or working outside the home or both. I seldom did anything for myself; my life was so busy doing for others. Besides, I thought putting myself first was selfish…my family, job and home came first. There was seldom time or energy for me. A friend told me that she had to put her own needs first. I admitted to her that this (at that time) seemed selfish to me and I felt that one should be selfless in what they did. She proceeded to tell me her reasoning. She said that if she didn’t take care of herself first, how could she be effective in taking care of her family or anything else? It took me a long time to get that. I mean really get it. The only thing I did for myself was to drop into bed at night, exhausted from the day’s challenges. I began to resent all the demands on my time and energy.

It took awhile, but finally I got it. I realized that it was necessary to allow myself some personal time outs to be better; calmer, more patient, healthier, and more effective as a parent, a wife and an employee. You could say I finally recognized the value of my own well being and how that affected everything else. I decided (yes, it was a choice) to start being a little kinder and gentler with myself. I started taking time off from my job. Eventually I developed a meditation practice. I began journaling to find out who I was and what really mattered to me. I guess you can say that is when things began to change. I began seriously realizing my own value as a person and the value of time alone.

I’ve learned not to feel guilty when I take time for myself. Often in the middle a days worth of chores I will rest because that is what my body is telling me to do. I have learned to listen. Some days it’s a 20 minute catnap or a half hour on the sofa with my crocheting or a cup of coffee and a book. Some days just a little time in the fresh air connecting with nature or time spent here, connecting with all of you is just what I need. We all need to nurture and renew our spirit. When we neglect to do so, we can find ourselves feeling overwhelmed and/or resentful, stressed out, anxious, angry, tired, depressed and/or physically ill.

Managing your time is important if not crucial to establishing guilt free time for yourself as well as staying on top of responsibilities. For me, this is where list making is important. Either before I go to bed or when I get up in the morning and am having my first cup of coffee, I sit down at the table with pen and paper and make a “to do” list for that day or the next.

Knowing how I am about making extended lists, I will either make two columns; one for the “must do” priorities and another for the other things I hope to accomplish that day but aren’t as important. Or I will make one long list and put a little star beside the priorities. I do the best I can and most days accomplish more than I expected to. Other days I may not do as much, but I don’t lose any sleep over that fact. I just add those things to the next day or another. Sometimes I get caught up enough that I can take an unplanned day just for doing what I like; sewing, puttering, writing or spending time with friends. But again, managing your time is what gets you there.

Later in the week I hope to talk about why simple living is smarter living and how it frees up more of your time and energy. In the meantime, think about what nourishes and renews your spirit. If you’re not sure then be direct and ask yourself. Try to discover those things that bring you joy, relaxation and other positive feelings. It could be a craft or hobby, journaling, reading, walking, relaxing to music or any number of things. Add one or two of them to your daily list as a reminder that they are just as important as anything else you do and then do them. Practice doing not doing…you’ll thank yourself. : )

and now we return to your normally scheduled broadcast

No matter how you celebrated, I hope your holiday was/is filled with love.

Our Solstice Eve was shared with my niece and her husband as well as our daughter, son in law and grandaughter. Later in the evening after coming home from my niece's, my twin sis, her husband and our friend Bill came out and spent the evening with us, rounding out the day.

On Tuesday following Solstice we met our daughter in law half way between our homes and brought the two older (5 and 7 years) grandsons home with us, after a nice lunch with all three and their mom. Tuesday consisted of playing games, making chocolate dipped pretzels and having pizza for supper, followed by ice cream!

On Christmas Eve, with boys in tow, we drove to our daughters to house to spend the afternoon and evening with our family and to return the boys to their parents as well as bring our grandaughter home with us in order to get her to her biological dad's this morning for his holiday visitation. It was late when we got back home last night, about 10:30. When I let the dog out I found a note stuck in our front door. It read, "Don't Delay" on the front. I thought, what the heck? It was from our Amish friend Sam letting us know they had butchered a hog and no matter how late, we should get over there and get what we wanted because tomorrow may be too late, it was first come, first serve. We had told them we'd take some of the pork when they butchered, but thought we might get more notice than that!

So, with the car still warm and the money in his pocket, Coop headed the mile or two to Sam's to see what he could get. He came home with a bag containing over 20 pounds of casing sausage, a couple of pounds of bulk sausage, plus loins and a bone-in slab. Oh yeah and a slab of pork belly to make into bacon. We stored it all in the garage overnight to stay cool and this morning I got to work. First cutting appropriate sized links of sausage for freezing...


then taking these loin pieces and slicing some thick chops as well as a roast. The bony piece was cut in half for roasts...I'm thinking pork and kraut here. I made a dry cure of salt, brown sugar and freshly ground black pepper for the bacon. I've never cured bacon before, so hopefully this will turn out well. Once cured we'll smoke it on the grill or dry it in the oven.

I had planned a more productive day, but after lunch a nap was just too irresistible. After the busyness of the past week, I guess there's nothing wrong with that and finding myself happy to be here at home where it is just the two of us with our dog and cats and the peace and quiet and nothing needing my immediate attention. I admit, no matter how I miss them and how happy I am to spend time with my family, I am always happy to return home as well. Tonight there are dishes to be done and a floor to be swept among other things, but these things will still be here tomorrow. For tonight, I think I hear the sofa calling me back, along with a good read and a cup of tea. A peaceful night awaits. I wish you the same as well.

welcome winter!

For the first time in many days we awakened to sunshine streaming in the windows. There was the illusion of warmth outside all morning and afternoon, despite increasing wind and cold. The last time we checked the temperature (about 7:30 PM) it was 0, so far the coldest night we've seen. Welcome Winter and the longest night!

Happy Solstice to all and to all a goodnight!