The Ritual of Country Breakfast

There is nothing quite like the ritual of a country breakfast. It is orchestral and steeped in American tradition the way the Mass is for the Church. It has order and familiarity which always leaves you satisfied. As a child, I remember my grandmother making big breakfasts on the weekends. She would turn on some Christian talk radio (I think) and begin the litany of sounds and smells that would produce our familial communion. As she worked, the back door would open and someone would walk in that was just "stopping by". It might be Ruby the neighbor, Brucker who was Ruby's neighbor, cousins, aunts, children...you name it. They all stayed for breakfast. Mama (that's what I call my grandmother...don't laugh) would hand me a juice glass and direct me to cut out the biscuits she had just rolled out. She taught me to rub the edge of the glass in flour first so the biscuits would drop out better.

The cast iron skillets on the stove would quietly sizzle with bacon and sausage -- never one or the other but both.  I remember watching her pour out some of the grease into a small crock on the stove. She would use this later for green beans, cornbread, or a host of other dishes. What was left in the pan would be used to make milk gravy. To me, this was the star of the show and one of my favorite biscuit condiments. After spooning some flour over the hot grease, she would slowly stir and cook the roux (she never called it that) until it had a golden sheen and a nutty smell. Then she would take it off the burner to cool a bit. All the while, the dinning room is filling up and she takes a break to offer coffee to the congregants. On most mornings, the leaf would be added to the table and our sanctuary became a cluster of mismatched chairs, stools, and highchairs.

Back at the stove, Mama would return to her gravy while she heated the other skillet that would host the eggs. A spoon of nearly solidified bacon grease would be tossed in and the oven light would be turned on to check the biscuits. They are just beginning to rise...still plenty of time. As Mama started to add the milk to the cooled roux, I would begin to dig out the plethora of honey (always with the comb), sorghum molasses, home canned jellies and jams. It was always a challenge to fit everything on the table and sometimes thing would be relegated to the side hutch. From the kitchen Mama would ask how we wanted our eggs done. She would fry some and scramble some so that everyone would be happy. This was my clue to start searching for a place to sit. Chairs were filling fast and I would most likely sit on the tall stool. I liked that seat best anyway because it put me at the same level as the adults.

Finally, after an hour of cutting, stirring, frying, and baking, we have recited the prayers and are ready for the great sacrifice. At Mass, this is a hushed time, but at our table the sounds are elevated. This clinking of china and fork, laughing, and the occasional "oh my Lord" from Mama fill the room and fill my memories.

Mama is still at it though she presides over her morning kitchen less than she used to. Family has spread out, neighbors and friends have moved or passed away and the table rarely needs the leaf. In my family we are trying to carry on the ritual of a country breakfast. We don't do it often but when we do, I am transported back to that hot kitchen and to my faith in the importance of tradition, family, and slow mornings.

Home Roasted Coffee

I love coffee. I think I love it as much for the nostalgia and comfort it give me as the robust taste and promised pick-me-up. Coffee holds a special place in the history of this country and in homestead tradition. Think of cast-iron pots bubbling with cowboy coffee as settlers huddle up inside covered wagons, waiting for the warm roasted beverage to give them the boost of energy needed for the day's travel. Swirling in the center is a clump of egg and sometimes shells to collect the loose grounds (see recipe below). Picture a 1950's kitchen and picture-perfect housewife. The smell of coffee in the air each morning brings the family to breakfast and to the percolator, its glass cap offering a peek at the rich coffee bubbling inside.
All of these images have cultivated my curiosity into this beverage and how it is created. Most of us go to the grocery store and grab a can of ground coffee, spoon it into a plastic coffee maker, pour in the water and presto, we have coffee. My interest always centers on what it take make a product, rather than buy it at the store. Is it possible to make my own roasted coffee? Yes! It is easy and affordable and I want to show you how.

Ingredient:


The first thing you need is some green coffee beans. Raw beans have a grayish-green hue and you can buy them affordably online. There are several vendors and if you Google "green coffee beans" you will find dozens. These days we are buying more and more online so why not buy your coffee online too? The good thing about these raw beans is that they last practically forever. You could buy them in bulk and roast them as needed. This is a huge advantage as preground coffee in the supermarket will go stale in days.

Equipment:


This is where the online stores will try to get you. There are tons of attractive, scientific looking coffee roasters...each one promising to give you the perfect roast. The real homesteader, in my opinion, is constantly concerned with balancing extremely high quality with frugality. We all want the best but we don't want to pay a fortune to do something ourselves. If we had that kind of money, we could order a ton of roasted Starbucks beans (NOT that I think that is the highest quality). Homesteader...you are in luck. I have found a very inexpensive solution to the coffee roaster. It will produce high quality roasted beans but leave some in your wallet as well. Are you ready?

The average, everyday POPCORN POPPER!!!!

This works perfectly and costs a fraction of the price of a coffee roaster. You will also need a coffee grinder. I don't have a cheaper solution to this one. Sorry.

Method:
You can use about a half cup of beans at a time in the popcorn popper. This may mean doing a couple of batches but you should have plenty of roasted beans within a half hour. This should be done outside as the beans will produce some smoke and chaff. All you need to do is put the green beans in the popcorn popper as you would the corn. Turn on the machine and place a large bowl beneath the chute. Sometimes a stray bean will pop out and you will want to catch it and put it back in.
As the beans go and get warm, a papery chaff will come off and blow out of the popper. This is normal and you can just let the wind carry it away. Watch the beans as they turn from green to blonde to golden. This process takes a while (maybe 10 minutes) but the final stage can go quickly and it is easy to burn the beans. They will start to turn dark brown and the amount of chaff will decrease. Keep and eye and let the beans roast to the color you like. After a couple of batches, you will be able to tell whether to let them go longer or to stop sooner. When they are done, turn off the popper and dump the beans into a bowl or baking pan. You want to cool the beans quickly because they will continue to cook and may still burn if you don't. I recommend putting them in a bowl and placing them in the refrigerator.

Now you have roasted coffee and all you need to do is grind.

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment. I would love to know your tips and tricks with roasting coffee. Below is a recipe taken from Mrs. Seely's Cook Book copyright 1902.

Boiled Coffee

Use as much ground coffee as is needed, allowing one tablespoon of coffee to one cup of boiling water. Place on the range, and when it comes to a boil, uncover and remove from the fire. Let it stand two or three minutes, then cover it, and replace over the fire. The instant it boils, remove and let it stand five minutes.  It is then ready to serve.  Sometimes an egg is beaten up and with a little cold water is mixed with the coffee before the boiling water is poured on.  This is to clear it.

Upcoming Posts

Thanks to those who read my first posts. Here is a look at some upcoming posts I am working on:

Roasting Grean Coffee Beans
Building a Stepped Box Garden
Vegetable Garden Design
Dried Gourd Birdhouses

If you would like to offer advice or information about these topics in advance, please send me a comment or email me at:
nicholaslemonds@gmail.com

Thanks!

Basic Homemade Soap

So one of the first projects we wanted to try was to make homemade soap. I remember going to antique stores as a kid and seeing these rugged looking bars of pale yellow soap. My grandmother said that it was lye soap and that her family used to make it growing up in rural West Virginia in the 30's and 40's. My grandfather told me stories about my great grandmother making lye from water strained through wood ashes and then mixed with lard. This seemed like such a cool process...to turn ash water and fat into something that could clean your body. After doing some research, I have recreated the basic process of making lye soap and I want to share it with you if you have never done this yourself. With the right tools and ingredients, soap making is a simple and affordable homesteading project. Here's how:

**Disclaimer - Working with lye can be extremely dangerous and can cause serious injury. Proceed with caution.***

Basic Soap

This recipe produces enough soap to fill half a bread pan. 

Ingredients:

• 15 oz. Fat (you can use vegetable oil, lard, olive oil, or any other oil by itself or in combination)
• 5 oz. Distilled Water (filtered water or tap will do also)
• 2 oz Lye Crystals*

Equipment:

• Ceramic or Glass Bowl
• 2 Measuring cups (I used one 8oz and one 16oz)
• Spatula
• Spoon
• Temperature Gauge (I used a digital temp gun)
• Hand Blender (you could probably use a wisk or spoon)
• Digital Scale
• Bread Pan or other mold
• Baking Sheet
• Drying Rack
• Knife
• Towel
• Plastic Wrap

*A word about lye - The most traditional way to make lye is to strain water slowly through a bucket of ashes. This was not something I wanted to try the first time I made soap because I don't currently have ashes and to me it seems a little inexact, especially for a beginner. I purchased Roebic Crystal Drain Opener at the local tractor supply store. The container says "100% LYE". There is also a process of turning salt water into lye using electrolysis but I don't have the equipment to do that. See sources below for more information.

Instructions:

Begin by gathering all ingredients and tools. As stated above, you can use any oil you want (as far as I know) and you may also use a blend. To better replicate what my grandparents told me about making soap, I used half vegetable oil and half lard. Place your bowl on a digital scale and zero it out. Then add your oil and fats as desired until the scale reaches 15oz exactly. Exact weights are crucial for saponification to occur - more on this below. If you are using lard or any other solid fat, heat the bowl in the microwave just until the fat has melted. 

 Next measure out your water in one measuring cup and lye in the other. Be sure to weigh it out like the fat on the digital scale. Don't trust the lines on the cup. Also, make sure to wear gloves because the lye can burn the hell out of you. DO NOT LET IT TOUCH YOU!!!


Continue with caution during the next step. Very slowly, add the water to the lye crystals and stir with a spoon. This should be done outside or in a well ventilated area since this step produces caustic fumes. Adding the water to the lye will cause it to heat up very quickly. My first temperature check was about 3 minutes after adding the water and the gun read 174. You need to wait now until the lye water cools a bit. I let my lye cool to about 130 degrees.

In the meantime, heat your oil in the microwave to within 10 degrees of your cooled lye water (my water read 128 and the lye was 130). When they are nearly the same temperature, slowly add the lye water to the bowl of oil. Stir the solution with a spatula. Once all is incorporated, blend the solution with a hand blender on low speed. Be sure to keep the blender at the bottom of the bowl and tip the stick at the bottom to release any air bubbles. Begin by pulsing the blender slowly and then, if your solution is deep enough you can keep it blending, just be sure not to mix a lot of air.

After about 5 or 10 minutes of blending, the soap solution will begin to get thick. This is because saponification is taking place. I am not an expert on this so here is the definition according to chemistry.about.com:

Definition: Usually, a process by which triglycerides are reacted with sodium or potassium hydroxide to produce a glycerol and a fatty acid salt, called 'soap'.

Basically, all you need to know is that it starts to get thick. You want to get it to the "trace" stage when you can drag the spatula accross the surface and leave a small track. This reminded me of pudding that was a little thin.  See the photo below. At this point you can add essence oils, dyes, or abrasives such as ground oatmeal or pumice.

    Now you are going to pour the soap into a mold of some kind. I used a silicone bread pan. Anything should work as long as it won't leak. Cover the mold with plastic wrap and then a towel and let it sit for at least 24 hours. After that time, you can unmold the soap and cut it into bars. I used a crinkle cutter made for cutting vegetables.

You have soap!!!

But...you aren't done yet. You need to let the soap dry out for about three weeks or it won't last long in the shower or next to the sink (think about that water-logged bar that mashes easily). Our soap has been ageing for about two weeks now and feels very good. I can't wait to use it!

COSTS:
Our goal was to create a simple soap that would have been like the kind my ancestors made. You can get as fancy as you want...and spend as much as you want. Of course you have to by the products in larger quantities than it took to make this batch but if you break it down, this is the cost, including tax, for almost two pounds of soap.
Distilled water - $1.06/gallon; 5oz = 4cents
Lye - $10.89/32 ounces; 2oz = 68cents
Vegetable oil - $2.73/32 ounces; 7.5oz = 64cents
Lard - $2.18/16 ounces; 7.5oz = $1.02

Total cost per batch = $2.38

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please comment and share your soap making experiences, recipes, etc.

Thanks!

Homesteading Goals

As I stare at this pile of homesteading books on my desk, I realize that one could quickly become overwhelmed with where to start, when to start, and what to do. There is gardening, home energy, building, preserving, housekeeping, animal keeping, and the list goes on and one. This post is about putting our priorities down on paper (digital paper that is).
Goal #1 - Recycle

• We are fortunate enough to have a city recycling collection that comes by our house once a week. Until recently, we have not used this service. About a month ago, we decided to start sorting though our daily trash accumulation and recycling what we can. This has turned into a trash reduction of about 60%!!
• Now that we are recycling, I want to begin to think differently about our trash. What can we compost (see below)? What of the recycling can we re-purpose? 

Goal #2 - Gardening

• Compost - We have actually started this already. I built a compost bin about two weeks ago from scrap lumber and we are filling it with kitchen scraps, shredded leaves, etc. This has also dramatically cut down on our garbage.
• We are planning to have a garden this spring. We are still in the planning phase but we would like to have herbs, lettuce, corn, tomatoes, beets, onions, beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, corn, potatoes, carrots, rhubarb, squash, and cabbage. I am hoping to do this in a plot about 24'x24'. We also plan to use some containers and boxes.
• We want to make gardening a family activity where everyone helps. Being a teacher, I have the summers off so this will help in terms of time spent weeding, etc. 
• We plan to use a variety of preserving methods for the food we cannot consume. This will include canning, drying, smoking, and freezing.

Goal #3 - Chickens

• I really, really, really want chickens. I am going to try to build my own coop and have about 4 chickens to start. I would like to start with pullets. I am still in the research method on this. 
• The primary goal would be to have fresh eggs and manure to compost but I would also be open to an occasional meat bird.

Goal #4 - Housekeeping

• We want to do as much as we can in the home with homemade products. This will include homemade soap (see upcoming post), home-brewed beer, cheese, and other items.
• We want to be more conscious about where the things we buy come from, what methods are employed in manufacturing them, and what alternatives are out there. 
• Less store-bought!!

At this point, we are not taking the plunge to alternative energy or massive construction changes. This may be something we look into later.

Please leave comments with tips, suggestions, etc. both about homesteading and our blog!

A Place to Start

I'm not sure if anyone will ever read this but as I contemplated what to write for my first blog entry, I decided that I needed to organize my thoughts about what our family's "homesteading" goals really are. I also wanted to introduce my family and myself to any readers that may come along.
My wife Amber and I are in our late twenties and live outside Birmingham, Alabama. My wife has a corporate job and works from home. I teach high school Spanish. We have two boys - one is 5 and the other is 16 months. We have a small home in suburban Birmingham with a backyard measuring only 6600 feet. We both love our jobs and have a great time as a family.
So why are we deciding to try homesteading? To begin, I don't really like the term "homesteading" because by it's definition, everyone who ones a house is actually homesteading. What my family and I are trying to do is to simplify our lives, redirect our priorities, and become as self-reliant as possible. Some of these goals are short term and others are going to take a while. For us, this is part of the journey. We know that we are one speck of sand on a beach of others who have done this before us and those who will afterward. We aren't sure where this will take us and where it will end but we hope to learn a lot in the process. We also hope that along the way you will find pleasure in reading and sharing.