Homemade Playdough
Posted: April 21, 2011 Filed under: Art & Healing, Child Centered Activities, In the Kitchen 1 Comment
2 Cups plain flour
2 Cups colored water
1 Cup salt
1 Tb cooking oil
1 tsp cream of tartar
Put ingredients together in medium to large size pan and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. 
Take out of pan and let cool slightly before working with hands.
Thinking about textures and shapes, find some fun and age appropriate (safe) objects around your home for little ones to explore with the playdough.
Store in ziplock or plastic container in refrigerator.
E woke up from her nap in a “funky mood” so I decided we’d give some playdough a try. I figured this would either send her over the edge with stimulation OR be a wonderful sensory experience. She watched me demonstrate several techniques, such as rolling out a coil, rolling a ball, and using a toothpick (I trimmed the points beforehand) to make faces on animals. Soon, she was using the tool to make her own faces, saying aloud each part as she carved it. It was exciting to watch her so curious and absorbed. After she’s had a number of experiences with a single color (learning how to manipulate with her hands and various tools) we’ll add some new colors and see where we go.
Day 4 – arugula and mixed green sprouts
Posted: April 20, 2011 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, Farming off the Farm, Little Green Thumbs 1 Comment
Buttercup Squash Bread
Posted: April 18, 2011 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, In the Kitchen 2 CommentsInspired both by a Buttercup Squash we were gifted and Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio, The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, I created a variation on his Quick Bread to create probably the best squash bread and squash muffins I’ve ever had. We made this for my daughter’s birthday dessert and topped with whipped cream cheese. She’s starting to show interest in cooking and helping so I had her alongside to combine and mix the pre-measured ingredients. 
The breakdown I’m going to give you is Ruhlman’s ratios tripled (I had a surplus of fresh, roasted Buttercup to use) which translates to about 3 loaves of bread or about 30 muffins (we divided up to make 2 loaves and about 12 muffins)
24 ounces of flour (I altered amounts here as an experiment. I like to mix my flours so I used about 11 oz white, 12 oz whole wheat, and added in 3 Tb of local Buckwheat flour)
12 ounces of sugar (to cut down I added just 4 ounces and was satisfied with sweetness)
3 tsp salt (I opted for no salt)
6 tsp baking powder
18 ounces of milk (if you were not going to add pumpkin and just wanted plain quick bread, you would increase to 24 ounces milk for this triple recipe)
6 eggs
3 sticks melted butter
3 C roasted and cooled Buttercup meat – whisk couple times to break up clumps
Solid tsp of ground nutmeg (our addition)
2-4 Tb of chopped crystallized ginger (another addition) – OH MAN
Preheat oven to 350. Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl, and all wet in another. Whisk to combine. Butter or spray tins/pans. Bake about 30 min. for muffins and about 50 for loaf. Toothpick test for doneness.
I learned the hard way that the loaves must have time to COOL before removing from pans…otherwise you’ll have something in between a loaf and a muffin all over your counter.
Getting Started
Posted: April 17, 2011 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, Farming off the Farm, Little Green Thumbs Leave a comment
Untitled, 1995, 38″x 48″, Acrylic
Posted: April 16, 2011 Filed under: Art & Healing, Gallery - Visual 2 Comments
Today she is 2…
Posted: April 14, 2011 Filed under: Gallery - Visual 2 Comments
and our lives couldn’t be much sweeter. Happy Birthday E
Making Yogurt
Posted: April 12, 2011 Filed under: In the Kitchen 3 Comments
Ok, so there’s little more satisfying than making yogurt. It’s a simple process that yields tangible results. You heat some milk, add a little culture, keep nice and warm, and voila, you’re done.
My family consumes quite a bit of yogurt so making it ourselves is smart for us. Plus, I like knowing exactly what goes into the product. In addition to protein, calcium, Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin D (just naming a few here), yogurt with live/active cultures provides immune and digestive support. I learned first-hand how the probiotics (“good” bacteria) in yogurt helped my daughter’s digestion during illness.
I like Kathy Farrell-Kingsley’s recipe from The Home Creamery because it’s super simple, and I can use items already in my kitchen. I’m all for a yogurt-making machine if you have one, but I like to find ways around accumulating more “stuff”! Here are Kathy’s directions with some of my thoughts added in:
4 Cups milk (organic skim or whole preferred – and local when possible!)
1/4 Cup yogurt starter (my first starter was from store-bought, organic and live cultured yogurt. Now, I just reserve 1/4 C from previous home-made supply and incorporate into new batch)
Heat milk to around 185 degrees in large pan, then remove from heat and let cool to about 110 degrees (cooking thermometer very helpful here)
Next stir in your 1/4 C starter and mix well (whisk is recommended). Pour into CLEAN, glass containers and cover with lids (I use various sized glass jars I’ve collected). Kathy says the temperature of the milk should stay at about 110 degrees while culture forms (6-12 hours depending on your preference for tartness and firmness). She has great suggestions for how to incubate:
-put jars into picnic cooler with few additional jars of hot water and keep lid closed (this is what I do and when possible I try to refresh hot water)
-put jars into gas oven with pilot light but DO NOT turn on oven
-put yogurt into a thermos
-wrap jars in blanket
Experiment and see what works best for you. I’ve been as happy with yogurt incubated for 6 hours as with 10 hours. Enjoy!
Seeds have arrived
Posted: April 7, 2011 Filed under: Child Centered Activities, Farming off the Farm, Little Green Thumbs 1 Comment
Looking forward to fingers in the dirt! We expect to pick up some starter cherry tomato plants and pole bean seeds as well. Hope to break ground in a couple of weeks.
On this gray day…
Posted: April 4, 2011 Filed under: Gallery - Visual 1 Comment
a meditation on things black and white
an Art Farm 