Wonderful Wheat!

We've been experimenting a bit with wheat lately here at the suburbia farm. We don't have the space to grow it ourselves, but we can still enjoy many benefits of this wonderful product.As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have access to a food cannery that allows us to buy and can wheat and other products into these silver cans. (When I lived in Philly, we had to drive to South Jersey, so it's nice living in Arizona where it's only a few minutes away.) So, whenever you see me pulling ingredients out of these cans, you know what that's all about. Having staple ingredients such as wheat, sugar, beans, and dry milk in our food storage helps us in being more self-reliant. In case of a natural disaster or job loss or whatever, we'll be more prepared by not only having these ingredients on hand, but also knowing what to do with them. Wheat, in particular, can sit on the shelf for 20-30 years! It is full of vitamins and good protein and fiber. My mom gave me her old wheat grinder. It is so great! Just turn it on, pour in the wheat, and out comes the wheat flour! I try and use the wheat flour instead of white flour whenever I can- breads, pastas, muffins...

Let me just recommend that you grind the wheat outside though. Despite it being a very loud process, it can also leave a little bit of a powdery residue over your entire kitchen (just like the first snowfall of winter- how lovely).

Then, going along with our wheat kick, we got a crazy idea...grow our own Wheat Grass! Wheat grass is one of natures healthiest substances- some research has even proven it to cure diseases! Hubby found a cheap tray at Home Depot and drilled some holes for drainage- you could use any plastic container. We laid a baby blanket in the bottom (to absorb moisture), laid down the wheat grass, and in 1 day, yes ONE day, we already had this...

This picture was taken at day 5. All we had to do was moisten the grass every day and it just grew. Now, I know you all have a window sill or porch or rooftop or somewhere that you could grow wheat grass. You don't even need soil! The roots just kind of tangle themselves into the blanket. We also tried a few layers of paper towel and that worked fine too.

After about 9 days, we were ready to harvest our wheat grass. Pulling out the trusty juicer, we ran our clippings through a few times with some apples slices- to give it substance and sweetness. Look at that bright green color! It's almost unreal! The taste? Well, it's not like I'd want to drink this all day long, but I'm willing to drink a shot of it every morning to keep me going healthy. Just one ounce a day is all the vitamins we need. Can you believe we're growing our own vitamins?.. and you can too!
After your first harvest, you can let it grow back one or two more times, but each time will be a little less nutrient. Growing wheat grass is an ongoing process. It takes quite a bit of wheat grass to make enough juice for two people. That whole container made about 10 servings of juice, so we'll be getting a couple more containers. A friend of ours freezes his wheat grass juice in ice cube trays, then pops them out and stores them in baggies. He gets two cubes out every day and puts them in cups to melt for him and his wife. Brilliant! Just don't leave your trays outside where the chickens can eat them...apparently they really like wheat grass...

Vegetables: Parents vs. Kids

Does this sound this sound familiar to any parents out there? At the dinner table: "Kids eat your vegetables. Kids eat your vegetables. KIDS, put down your juice and eat your VEGETABLES!" (There are a couple veggies JoJo and Jeepers will actually eat, but eating a full variety of veggies is so important.) Sitting at the dinner table one night, it seemed like we'd tried everything to get them to eat their vegetables...when my husband came up with a brilliant plan. JUICE! As I sat with the kids at the dinner table, Hubby got out the juicer and went to work. He started with half a head of purple cabbage (we knew we wouldn't finish it before it went bad). He added a couple carrots, an apple, and some grapes and suddenly we had magic purple princess juice! We said, "Fine kids, don't eat your vegetables, but you have to finish your juice."
Jeepers finished it before I could even get the camera out. JoJo gave it a happy thumbs up. It's no seceret now that we sneak veggies into the juice, but they love it just the same. We make it together, coming up with different recipes. We use "ugly" apples that come in the bags, citrus from our trees, tomatoes, carrots, and even wheat grass (more on that later!). The juicer is just about the coolest things they get to help with in the kitchen- they just put a whole bunch of grapes in the top and out comes grape juice from the bottom... how cool is that?!..and they are allowed to drink as much of it as they want, so everyone is happy!

**of course this is under strict parental supervision**

We try and not waste anything at the "farm," especially food. Being less wasteful makes us more appreciative of the food we have. The juicer spits out all the fibers and skins of the fruits and veggies into the blue bowl. This is an excellent source of fiber and most of the time we feed it to the chickens, but sometimes it can be added to your food! Soon, I'll post a delicious recipe I made for apple muffins using our fresh ground wheat and apple fibers. Yummy and healthy!

The Need to Knead

Making homemade bread is a time honored tradition in my mom's family. To me, there is nothing better than homemade bread, just out of the oven. When I make my own bread, I know that it's not full of extra sugars and preservatives...it's just pure homemade goodness. I use half white flour and half wheat to make it healthier. I will share with you my family's recipe-as well as tips to make it a successful experience, in case it's your first time. The recipe makes four loaves, so it lasts my family about a month (extra loaves store well in the freezer). There's really no need to buy bread at the store because this is super easy, cheap, delicious, and healthy! Remember, there's the added benefit of working together with my family to make this happen. Jeepers and JoJo love measuring ingredients and rolling out the dough. Hubby helps by grinding the wheat (more on that later).

I use a Bosch mixer for bread making. That's what my mom uses, that's what my grandma uses, and if they had them back in the day, I'm sure my great grandma would have used it. I also use Fleischman's Instant Dry Yeast. This recipe is based on these, so if you don't have them, you'll have to modify (or consider getting a Bosch- they're awesome!).

The Homemade Bread Recipe...from the kitchen of Grandma Crane

5 c. water

2/3 c. dry milk

6 T. shortening

6 T. sugar

2 T. (scant) salt

12-14 c. flour (I do 6 c. wheat, the rest is white)

2 T. yeast

Heat the water, milk, and shortening until shortening is just melted. If you don't have dry milk, you can just use 5 c. warm milk. Pour ingredients into mixer, add sugar and salt, mix for a few seconds. (Adding the flour and yeast is always the tricky part for most people. Don't pack the flour! Just gently scoop it.) Okay, so first add 4 cups of flour. Make two wells and pour 1 T. into each well see picture). Cover up the wells with 1 more cup of flour. (The object is for the yeast to mix with the flour before it touches the liquid.) Knead the dough until mixed, then gradually add the remaining cups of flour until the sides of the mixer are clean. From this point, knead 4-6 minutes. Grease your fingers and test the dough for elasticity (take a piece, slowly pull apart, should be stretchy). Let rest covered for 20 minutes to make sure the yeast is working (the dough should rise). Grease your loaf pans. Form your loaves (*see super cool video below*) and let rise in pans for 40-60 more minutes. Bake in oven for 15 min. on 400, then 15 min. on 350. Grease tops for prettiness and let cool on cooling rack. Enjoy!!

(The temporary loud noise in the back is Jeepers opening the back door. The wheat grinder was on out there and it is loud!)

So, What's this all About?

A farm? In suburbia? Well, no, not exactly. I don't wear flannel and overalls and hubsters doesn't milk a cow at 5am (although a cow isn't out of the question). We are ordinary people, living in ordinary suburbia. We are simply trying to live off of our land and our resources as much as possible. If ever our country was in crisis or for some reason we didn't have access to the world's market of goods, we want to be prepared with the knowledge of how to take care of our family. Our primary focus, naturally, is on food. Growing, harvesting, preparing, and storing all varieties of food. Hunting and fishing are part of that as well. Sewing clothes and quilts, building furniture, even throwing pottery are all such valuable skills that tie into the idea of Suburbia Farm. It's not about the cheapest or the easiest way to live, because it definitely isn't. Nor is it about living solely off our land and never shopping at the store (because you know I do love to shop!). It's about preserving a our culture and heritage and being able to pass that knowledge on to our posterity.

There is so much pride when you grow or make something of your own. There is also so much comfort in knowing you just became a little more self-reliant!

Welcome to our Family Life!

Our family consists of myself, "Hubby," "JoJo,"and "Jeepers." So far we have one dog, Lola, two desert tortoises, Pokey and Shelly, and 10 chickens. I am a stay-at-home mom and an artist and art teacher. Hubby (or hubsters) is a dental specialist and primarily performs dental surgeries, implants, and extractions. He loves what he does, especially when his patients feel so much better after seeing him. JoJo is in preschool and loves anything from fairy tales to baseball. She is such a great helper. Any picture with me in it is usually taken by JoJo! Jeepers is a 2 year old that loves to talk, run, get dirty, and make messes...but he also loves his blankie, mommy kisses, and being helpful (or at least he tries to be helpful). One of his favorite things he yells when I'm in the kitchen is "I Help! I Help!"

As a family, we have begun this project- SUBURBIA FARM. When people ask how I find the time to do all this, they don't understand- I don't do it, WE do all this and WE do it together as a family. It has been a wonderful blessing so far; working together, baking together, trying new things, picking fruit and juicing, feeding the animals--its all together! For hubsters and I, we actually have a common interest that is so fun to research and talk about and do together ('cause, lets face it, after 11 years, you kind of run out of things to talk about sometimes). Please enjoy being a part of our family and feel free to leave a comment or two about yours and family projects you are working on!

It all started with Chicks

We lived in the busy city of Philadelphia for 7 years, after which we moved to Arizona where my hubby practices dentistry. We enjoy the abudant sunshine and suburban living. However, after our first month living here, we had already discovered 7 scorpions inside our house (not to mention 50 outside)! What gets rid of scorpions? Chickens! Hubsters got the crazy notion in his head to raise chickens and delighted in the prospect of fresh eggs in the morning. I thought, "Hmmm, okay, at least he's wanting these kind of chicks and not girlfriend-type chicks. I'll just let him get this bee out of his bonnet. Maybe one or two chickens wouldn't be so bad." We now have...wait for it...10 chickens! That's TEN!
My handy husband built a chicken coop (by himself- he amazes me) and now has a love affair with his "ladies." (again, at least it's this kind) He checks on them first thing in the morning, as soon as he gets home from work, and usually before bed.

They are laying chickens, so starting in March or so we will be collecting about 8 eggs a day...Eggs anyone?