It's been way too long and I've missed telling our story so I'm making the commitment of writing every week. I want to stay connected and let everyone know what we are doing or maybe what we aren't because sometimes life happens and nothing gets done. This week we got some play time and papa got some garage time in. With the cold weather and kids getting antsy we hit up one of our local kids museums to let out some steam. It's a science museum so learning and fun is a win win. We are wrapping up the holiday season so we put away the Christmas decor with the exception of the tree. Lil man isn't ready to see it go so we compromised and decided that January 1st it will go out the door. With a half hour here and there papa was able to get into the garage and fabricate. The wings are on the splitter and will make splitting firewood a bit smoother. You can check out our Instagram page for pictures here.
Now onto our goals and wishes for the new year. We had some hurdles in 2016 that slowed us down but we will recover and accomplish even more this new year or at least try really hard. So what do we want to check off the homestead list in 2017?
Well let's see one thing we are crossing our fingers we get is HONEY. It's been almost 2 years since we put our hive together and we are looking forward to tasting what those beautiful little creatures have created. I wish we had a colony of 60,000 troops to get stuff done here, but then what would we do with all that free time. Next on the list is the garden, we are always working on improving it and this year we will be expanding it. Last year we had the ability to build raised beds and it made such a fantastic difference in our harvest and battle against the deer. So this year we will continue with that and build a few more along with starting a strawberry patch. I'd like to eliminate being tripped up by all the weeds in between the beds so I'm wanting to put down some bark plus it will make it more attractive.
There are a couple crops we want to experiment with this year on expanding. We are trying to plan for the future and see if it's possible to grow enough of a few crops to sell at some local farm stands. First off we need to figure out where we will plant them and clear those spots out for the crops. It will be a lot of planning but we want to get started on it to see if it's possible.
A non-stop goal is fencing, it takes time and a lot of money. So little by little we are getting fence boards up and making the homestead safer and ready for livestock. With the addition of the 3 point post hole digger we are thrilled to finish up some big sections this year maybe even get a gate or two up. If we can get enough up along with cleaning up our "junk" area in the barn we can finally see one of our dreams come true and get some piglets. Since day one we've been wanting to raise our own pork and we are determined to do it this year.
With all the hard work we'll be doing some down time will be needed so we are counting down the days until we get back out in the trailer and camp. The road is calling and we want to explore some new areas and go back to a few favorite spots. A bit off topic is one of my personal goals which is to be more organized in our home. It gets so easy when we come in tired after a long day to not pick up or not put things back where they belong, but in the end it's more frustrating because we can't find stuff. I'm going to try my best to break that bad habit, I think it will help us all.
To end on a sweet note I want to provide all of you with my peppermint bark recipe. I posted pics of our candy making a few weeks ago on Instagram and it's super easy to make that no one should go without making it.
Peppermint Bark
Ingredients:
2- 12 oz bags of white chocolate chips
2- 12 oz bags of semi sweet or your preference chocolate chips
1 tsp of peppermint extract
approximately 1/4 C of crushed candy canes, depends on how much you want on it
parchment paper
10x15 rimmed cookie sheet
Prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Next it's time to get some frustrations out by beating on candy canes into little chunks. I make a double broiler with a pot with about 2-3 inches of water which will need to start to simmer and then place a cook safe bowl on top with the semi sweet chocolate, once the chocolate starts to melt, keep stirring until all is melted and nice and smooth, I use a rubber spatula which makes spreading a lot easier which is the next step.
Pour the bowl of chocolate onto prepared cookie sheet and spread out evenly. Then place cookie sheet into freezer. Making room in the freezer is the hardest part of this recipe. While the first layer chills I go ahead and wash the bowl and spatula so I don't have to dirty up any other dishes. Once the first layer is set you can begin on the white chocolate layer and get the cookie sheet out and put it close to you.
Set up the double broiler again, now the white chocolate layer is where the peppermint extract goes into. Once the white chocolate has a good melt but not all the way melted put in the extract, if you do it once it's all the way melted it will cause lumps and you'll have to spend more time getting them out. Once it's nice and smooth you'll need to work fast to pour it out onto the first layer and spread it out because it will melt the chocolate layer and smear. It's not bad but it won't look as pretty. So I pour out in small sections all over the sheet then spread it all together.
You're almost done, once white layer is spread out you get to make it pretty with broken up candy cane pieces then into the freezer for final chill. It takes about 30 minutes and then you can enjoy your bark. I do have to warn you that it can be painful to break up bark with sharp candy cane pieces stabbing you, I recommend cleaning something like a hammer to make the job easier. I love making some for us and packaging up the extras for little gifts.
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