Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Making Some New Breads

I have been experimenting with quite a few new breads this winter, a few of which I am really excited about.  In fact I made three new breads today.  Here are the new breads that I have made:

Ricotta Bread
This would make a very good sandwich bread, have not tried it yet since I just made it today.  It is a very moist, somewhat sweet, yeast bread.  I toasted a piece today, and it was very good, kind of a melt in your mouth kind of good.

 
English Muffin Bread
I was a little disappointed at first when I tried this bread because it did not seem to remind me of english muffins.  Then I toasted a piece, I gave my mom a piece and said "now that is what english muffin bread is suppose to taste like!"  Toasted it tasted just like an engish muffin, but in my opinion even better.  I forgot to take a picture of this one, sometimes I get to excited to try a new bread that I forget to take a picture, that is why most of my breads are cut in my pictures, I forget to take the picture before I cut the loaf.

 
Cast Iron Dutch Oven Bread
This one I made more or less just for us, not really planning on making it for the markets or shows.  It was a recipe that I found in one of our cast iron cookbook, and since I have been going cast iron crazy lately, figured I would give it a try.  It is a different kind of bread, would probably be good with a soup, it has a hard crust and is chewy on the inside.
 

Irish Soda Bread with Raisins
I decided that I wanted to make a couple different kinds of Irish Soda Breads for my shows that are on the weekend of St. Patrick's Day.  One I wanted to make with raisins and one without.  I found two recipes that I liked, and I got so lucky that I loved them both right away on my first try.


Buttery Irish Soda Bread
This one I made kind of special, because it contains quite a lot of butter and to make it even more Irishy I bought a special kind of really good Irish butter.  The crust almost has a Ritz Cracker kind of taste because of all the butter.  Soooooo good!
 
Croissants
I can not believe that I do not have a picture for this one, I have already made them a couple of times.  Shows you that I ate them so quick, since they were soooo good, that I did not get a chance to take a picture.  I have Terry (who sells at the Brunswick Farmers Market) to thank for bugging me enough to where I ended up making these.  Terry kept telling me that I have to make croissants, I told him he was crazy, and I was not going to spend a week making croissants for him.  Most recipes that I have seen for croissants (at least the ones that seemed like they would turn out good) always required around a week of playing around with the dough, knead, rise, roll out, rest, roll out, refrigerate, and on and on.  But I found a recipe, from a good source, that I could have them done in one day, so I figured I would give them a try.  I big doubts that is would work out, in fact the whole time I was making them for the first time I figured I was just wasting my time.  I figured that I would be disappointed and they would turn out dry and hard, boy was I wrong.  I think they are better than store bought croissants!



Well those are the breads that I have made this winter so far, but I still have some other types of breads that I am planning on making this winter.  I know I am planning on making some new breads this coming spring for my shows that I will be attending, so everyone can look out for some new kinds of breads on my table starting in March.  Let me know if there is any kind of bread that you would like to see me make this coming season.  Will see everyone soon!
 

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

2019 Garlic is in the Ground!

For almost a month now our garlic has been in the ground.  It took 3 straight days to get it all in, all 6,000 cloves of garlic.  I think it was the coldest weather that I have ever had to plant garlic in, and it was windy too.
 I planted garlic in two different areas this year.  Here are the two areas, covered with straw and ready for winter.






This picture was taken on the third and final day of garlic planting.  We had to get done with the garlic planting because it was suppose to rain all next week.  We ended up having to spread straw by the headlights of my truck.

This is what the ground looks like after having pealed and planted thousands of garlics.
 

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Brunswick Pumpkin Festival!

It is Pumpkin Festival Weekend!
Come see us this weekend, for lots of fun!

Free hayrides!
Free kids face painting!
Free fun activities for the kids!
Pick up your pumpkins, there will be a wide range of sizes and varieties available!
Tour the farmhouse museum!
There will be live entertainment throughout the weekend!
And of course (including us) there will be lots of vendors selling everything from vegetables to hand made crafts!  There will also be food trucks on site!

So come see us this weekend at:
Brunswick Heritage Farm
(Location of the Brunswick Farmers Market)
4613 Laurel Road
Brunswick, Ohio 44212
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Sunday, October 7, 2018
10am to 5pm


Monday, April 16, 2018

Farm Update

Here are a few updates on what we have been busy with lately at Real Veggies Farm.

Inside seed planting has started just over a month ago.  Right now I have started in my basement: cabbage, swiss chard, kohlrabi, eggplant, rhubarb, asparagus, onions, sweet peppers, basil, some other herbs, and a few other things.  Over the next couple of days I need to start my kale, mustard greens, some lettuce, and a few other things.

Right now I should be planting my lettuce outside.  Unfortunately due to the weather it does not look like I will be able to get that done within the next week.  So I am planning on starting some of my lettuce in my hoophouse and transplanting it outside, that way I may have some lettuce for some of my shows in May.  Everything outside right now is like a very cold swamp, not what it is normally like this time in April.  Hopefully some time soon our weather gets a little warmer.  I am getting a little tired of seeing snow in the weather forecast.

I made a trip out to the farm last weekend to see how my garlic is doing, and it seems to be doing quite well.  You can not see the garlic very well, but it is there.

 I have some good news to tell everyone.  Starting this coming weekend we will now begin accepting credit cards!  A few weeks ago I decided that I was going to get a smart phone, so that I could begin accepting credit cards.  Tomorrow I am going to be retiring my flip phone for good, and switching over to my new smart phone!  Everything has been tested and ready to go, all I have to do is switch over my phone and we will be ready to accept credit cards this weekend.

Also on another happy note, this year will be our 10 year anniversary of selling at Valley City Farmers Market.  Last year 2017 was Valley City Farmers Market's 10 year anniversary.   

 

Monday, March 19, 2018

Two Shows In One Day! Saturday, March 24, 2018

This weekend on Saturday March 24th we are going to be attending two different shows.  You can find my parents at Elyria High School Craft Show, and I am going to be at Columbia Station Middle School Craft Show.


Saturday, March 24, 2018
Columbia Middle School Craft Show
Columbia Station Middle School
13646  West River Road, Columbia Station, Ohio
9am- 3pm 





Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Introducing.... Homemade Bagels!

I have been meaning to make some homemade bagels for quite some time now, and guess what?  I finally made some bagels, and boy are they good!  In fact I have a feeling that this may be something that you can look out for at my table, for future craft shows.

Homemade Bagels.....  Coming Soon!
 
 I also have plans to experiment with making a few other new kinds of breads this month, but it is going to have to be a surprise.  Check back soon to see my progress, and find out what kinds of breads you may find at the Real Veggies Farm table for 2018!

Can not wait to see everyone soon, starting in March!

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Recipe - Sweet Potato Cornbread

This is a recipe I have not made since 2012, because I have not had any of my own sweet potatoes since then.  I am thinking that this year I will have to grow some sweet potatoes, for sure.  I believe that I made it the first time for Thanksgiving in 2012.  I am not a huge cornbread fan, always seems to be a little too dry for me, but this was not your average cornbread.  It is the most moist cornbread I have ever had.  I think the sweet potatoes were what made it so very moist. 


Sweet Potato Cornbread
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed sweet potato
2 tablespoons butter
    + enough milk to make 1 cup
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together cornmeal, salt and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, stir together sweet potato, milk, butter (melted and cooled), and eggs.  Mix dry ingredients together with wet.  Pour into a 9"X9" casserole dish and bake for about 30 minutes.

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