Smores!

So every year I wish I could do some outdoor thing for my birthday.
Another reason to hate having a December birthday.
So this year, instead of opting for some random restaurant, I had an indoor Cook Out / Smores Party!
And check out my set up!
After grilled hamburgers, corn on the cob, and deviled eggs, we all gathered around the table to enjoy some indoor smores.  I even cut up some strawberries to add with the chocolate and man was it good.
Got the idea for the marsh mellows on pinterest.  Have no idea who originally came up with it though.
Anyways, that was my weekend fun.

Sourdough Breadmaking for Newbies

Its Sunday.
Wonderful, sleep in till noon, do whatever you want Sunday.
I'm not a church goer as you can tell.
I know, I know.  Cue the finger wagging.

Anyways,
In the colder months, on my days off, I try to find something fun to do around the house.
When I'm not making orders for etsy, or doing some laundry, I LOVE to bake sourdough bread.
Today was very cold and boring, and I hate doing laundry, so sourdough time!
I'm still quite a newbie, however there is one recipe that I've got down pat.

So I decided I would share to my fellow novices how to make a simple, yet favorite sourdough recipe.  (Now, since originally making this post I have learned that this is not traditional sourdough.  I will soon be adding a post about natural yeast and what I have learned thus far.)
I found it on allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/san-francisco-sourdough-bread/detail.aspx)
I just don't use the onion egg wash on mine.  I like it simple.  Thanks to my sister-in-law for showing me this one.

You can also find several sourdough starter recipes on there too.  Just browse around.

You also want to feed your starter every now and then too.
There are lots of opinions on how to feed your starter, but this is how I've done it:
Pour out (or use) half of your starter.  Add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water.
If your starter has a lot of liquid formed on top, only add about 1/2 cup of water.
After a few times your starter will be less watery and you can go back to equal parts.
Let it sit 2-3 hours covered, but not air-tight, then stick it in the fridge.

All right, back to the bread making!

So, to begin, make sure you have your starter at room temp before using.
Also be aware that bread takes Patience.  So you if want your bread to be ready at dinner time, start no later than 11:30 a.m. or 12 p.m.

Mix together 1 cup of flour, the sugar, salt, and active dry yeast.  (Traditional sourdough does not use any other yeast than your starter.)  Next add the warm milk, softened butter and starter.  Now, gradually start adding in the rest of your flour.  About half way through mixing, it will become very thick and too hard to mix with a spoon.  This is where the messy part begins.

Make sure you set out the rest of your flour needed.  Flour up your hands and start mushing that dough around.  Keep adding flour gradually to the mixture. Your hands will be very very sticky but once the dough stops sticking to your hands, your probably done.  The dough will still be a little sticky, but you want it to be one big soft ball of dough that's just slightly gooey.

Now for the fun part!
Clean off a big section of your table very well.  Sprinkle flour in a circle about twice as wide as your dough.  Plop that baby down.  Sprinkle even more flour on top and begin kneading your dough.
To do this, fold your dough in half and then push downwards with both hands. (I'm using one because I cannot photograph and knead correctly at the same time.)  Use your palms to really push down on it.







You're going to knead for 8 to 10 mins.  I always do 10.  As you knead, it will get thicker and thicker.  As it does, you'll want to push down harder.  I like to slide my palms back and forth a couple times while pushing down more and more.  You can find your own way of doing it though.  Have fun with it!  Its a great way to take out your frustrations. 



Once its a good and thick, elastic feeling ball of dough, you're done with this.  Make sure not to add too much flour at a time.  The wetter the dough is, the more moist your finished bread is because the oven will bake off some of the moisture in it.

Grab a bowl and grease it with butter.  Butter makes everything better!  It also keeps the dough from cracking or sticking to your bowl.  Put your dough in and roll it around in the butter once or twice over.

 Cover with a cloth and let it sit until it has doubled in size.

Now is the time for patience.  It will take 1-2 hours to double.  The colder it is, the longer it takes.  Mine took 2 hours because it is so cold today.  If its not perfectly doubled its ok, but don't let it go too much more than double because what goes up, must fall down and it will not turn out right if this happens.

Once it has doubled, punch down on the dough a few times until its been flattened a tiny bit like so.

Then wait 15 mins.  While waiting, get out your bread pan or cookie sheet and grease with butter like we did earlier.  If you get as bored as me, you can take a few photos of your elf with the dough.  Yeah, I know, very creative.  

Now, divide your dough in half, or as much as you like, and form your loaves.  My husband requested a long, skinny tube of bread so I also did that.  Yeah, don't ask me.  I just did what I was asked.

Wait until it has doubled again.  It will take about the same amount of time as before.  Preheat your oven, then put them in for about 30 mins.  The smaller you make your loaves, the quicker it will will bake.

You can tell that the bread is done by tapping on the bread with your finger.  As long as it sounds hollow when you tap, it's done.  It's good to check the bottom too, as that is going to be the softest part.  This skill takes a few times to get down pat, but if you under cook it, you can always stick in the oven on 300 degrees for 10-15 mins.  It will be just as good.

Now, wait till its cooled down, if you can, and enjoy!  Isn't it a beauty?  I just love seeing the transformation of bread as you make it.

I like to make my own butter for this bread because it goes really well with it.  Just take some whipping cream in a jar and shake for about 20 mins until its a really solid mass of butter.  Add some salt if you want before shaking.  Pour out the buttermilk on top and its ready.

Just don't store your butter in a glass jar in the fridge.  Otherwise you will hand a slice of bread to your husband who will then bite into glass and make you throw away your bread because you didn't realize the glass was in the butter, not the bread... just sayin'...that would really suck..


To see the full recipe go to:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/san-francisco-sourdough-bread/detail.aspx

Happy Baking!

Primitive Ancient Slinging

This week, my husband decided he wanted a rock sling.
He's been all into primitive weapons since he made our latest PVC Pipe Bow.
So I studied up on making one with paracord.  Surprisingly, it takes a lot of effort and cordage!
I love how it turned out though.  Especially with the Olive Drab color.

The next thing out of my mouth was, Etsy!! 
Yeah, its now available to buy in our etsy shop: MaximumPack.
And I will custom make each one.

Though of course this ment we had to be "responsible shop owners" and test it out. :)
Let me tell you, it has a very sturdy, pliable pouch and holds the rocks very well.
It does however take a LOT of practice to be able to aim with it.

Now our yard is divided into 2 sections: Bow & Arrow and Rock Slinging. (As far away from windows as possible!)  What else should we add to our mini training field?  Hmmm..

Survival Kits are in!

The Ultimate Pocket Survival Kit is now available in my Etsy Shop: MaximumPack

I have been planning survival kits forever.

Before I had picked out the containers, I was meticulously wrapping thread & fishing line, cutting individual pieces of aluminum foil and knife sharpeners, and making every piece as small and compact as possible. 

Planning out what was needed was fairly simple.  I just wrote down everything I would want to have in my pocket if I needed to survive a short time.  That's what makes this kit so awesome.  

I worked so hard on this design, I almost wanted to keep it for myself.

 

To find out what all is included in this Pocket Kit, check out our etsy store linked below.  Now available for purchase!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/171069322/ultimate-pocket-survival-kit?ref=shop_home_active

Or just search: MaximumPack on etsy.com

Amping up the Mess Kit

Everyone who's anyone has probably got a mess kit.  But that's no where near everything you need to survive.  In this video I show how to improve your mess kit without compromising space.

Survival Camping (sort of) 2013

My hubby has been dead set to get out into the middle of nowhere and just stay there.  Yeah, sorry babe.  Aint happenin'.  Don't get me wrong, I love sleeping on the ground, huddling up to a campfire, and foraging for dinner and firewood.  But I have got to have a warm cozy little home to go to after a few days.  So, when my brother-in-law said, lets go camping in the middle of the woods, it was go time.  After much groaning, the hubby decided on a hammock instead of building a shelter out of sticks and leaves.


The shelter would have been awesome, however the weekend we all got off for the trip turned out to be the coldest weekend possible.  I'm talking in the 20's people.  But that didn't stop us!  We continued to plan out our backpacks and how in the hell to carry them.  Finally, the day came and we all grabbed our walking sticks, packs, water bottles, and just about everything but a kitchen sink and headed out!  It was great going in.  The packs were killing us, but adrenaline was surging through us.  We sang, we laughed, and stomped our way to a suitable camp site. 

Three of us in hammocks and the other in an army tent, we positioned ourselves in a circle around the campfire.  In hindsight, we should have been a bit closer tot he fire, so we could put our tarps up behind us and absorb the heat, but alas, we can't move the trees wherever we wish.  Also, sleeping right beside the creek like we did is not exactly ideal, but this was just a short adventure.  Each of our hammocks were layered like crazy to keep warm.  First, the traditional sleeping pad (the heaviest to carry besides the sleeping bag.)  Then we each got a one of those car sunshades and put it face up on top of that.  Those work great!  The reflective side works just like an emergency blanket.  On top of that went the sleeping bags.  Above the hammocks we hung tarps teepee style and staked them to the ground.  I tell you what, I stayed warm and cozy all night!

During the whole day we gathered firewood (not nearly enough though!) and the hubby and I gathered up some edible wild herbs.  Unfortunately, this place was not abundant.  We mainly found lady's thumb & clover.  Also, one of our peers caught a crawdad before the night was over so we had our wild dish ready.
My man got to work digging up a "Dakota Firepit."  The video on how he did this is on our blog in the 'Survival Tools' label.  This was probably the neatest and also simple project we had.  A word of advice
 though: bring some sort of back up stove.  Boiling water over a fire in 20 degree weather is extremely difficult.  Also, we dug a hole for the fireplace and it may have been easier to cook our other food if we could have pushed some coals to the side.  My meals consisted of ramen noodles (which got cold in 1 minute) and instant potatoes.  Do NOT buy the loaded baked potato kind.  I thought it would be awesome, but noooooo!
Besides my lovely dinner, I loved the trip!  I stayed warm in my hammock, got to hunt for firewood, and stare at the fire for hours before bed.  Sadly for my husband though, he did not have the most fantastic time ever.  Apparently, in the middle of the night his hammock fell to the ground and he ended up sleeping on top of cold rocks because it was impossible to fix when it is pitch dark and freezing.  Plus the paracord had stretched a good bit.  At least he was all layered up.  If he didn't have 5 shirts, 2 pants, and several socks on, he may have turned into a popsicle.


 Actually all of our hammocks stretched down a lot and we used 550 paracord so I'm not sure what we did wrong.  Anyways, we learned a great deal from the trip.  Plan it when its warmer, bring a back up stove, either bring a tent or build a shelter, and pack lighter.  The hike back to the car was the worst.  We were all freezing and hungry since we left in the morning and those heavy backpacks were not ideal!  It is way worth the money to buy the lightweight fancy stuff.  Anyways, that was our Camping Adventure and I can't wait to go again!

Dakota Fire Pit

On our recent camping trip, I tried out the Dakota Fire Pit for the first time with my new Mess Kit.  (I will be adding a video on how to Amp Up a traditional Mess Kit soon.)  Anyway, its pretty straight forward and the video shows how I did it.  Its basically like using a Rocket Stove, only in the ground.  It worked out pretty great!  Check it out..

Compost Tea - The "It" Factor

If you are an organic gardener this is something that could benefit you greatly.  Compost Tea is a tea made from completely decomposed compost that is added to water and stirred vigorously over a 3 day - 1 week period.  It is extremely nutricious and builds soil structure as well as fertilizing in a safe organic way.  Also, if the tea is added to live plants it will help create a bio-film on the leaves making the plant much more pest and fungi resistant.  This is such a natural & safe fertilizer, you could drink it! 

This is a very simple way to create a concentrated, liquid fertilizer that will benefit your garden in many ways.  Let me know how this works for you.

A word from The Digger

Gardening With Bricks

So, I feel the need to add my opinion on raised garden beds.  They are a great benefit to your garden, but what material is best to use?  I'm not a big fan of the kind with store bought, treated wood or the awful looking concrete blocks.  Too many chemicals leaking into the soil and contaminating all future plants in that area.  Using logs is very eco friendly and pleasing to the eye, but its not very permanent.  The solution to this problem was found by my husband in a trip to Lowes.  BRICKS!!  They are the very best material to use in my opinion.  They stay where they are forever without leaking chemicals and if you decide to widen the bed or change the layout of your garden it's easily movable.  Just lay them out, add soil, and plant!  Seems like a small topic, but so many people are opting for treated wood and concrete when bricks are easily find-able and long lasting (just don't drop them.)  In my opinion, the best brick to use is the kind you find from somewhere lost and forgotten.  The older ones are sturdier and add character.  Here are some photos of our garden beds from last year.

Do you have another
eco-friendly idea?
Please share! 
We are always
looking for new ideas.

The Homestead Add-Ons

So after you've found your land and built the home, you're going to want to create a sustainable landscape.  When you begin designing the gardens, leave room for the add-ons.  Below are a few ideas for a sustainable way to add to the land.

Don't forget the Greenhouse:

 

 

For the Beekeeper:

The Trellis:

We previously built our own grape trellis out of logs.  Here is how it turned out.  The only problem we had was with the carpenter bees.  This is a temporary example of greener building.

 

 

Chicken Coop:
Now most homesteaders and minimalists are going to raise an animal or two.  The most sustainable and low maintenance animal to raise is a chicken.  They need their food and nutrients and a warm hen house to sleep at night.  We have previously built a chicken coop of our own that turned out very sturdy and desirable.  Mainly because it was tall enough to walk inside and had all the necessities.  A warm place to lay with an accessible door to gather eggs and plenty of space to roam inside the fenced in building.  Here are some photos.  It wasn't quite as inexpensive as we hoped, but it was worth every penny.  The photos are before it was completely finished.

 

 

Rain Barrel:
For the sustainable gardener you're going to need some way to collect water.  If you have a shed or, in our case, a chicken coop you should definitely consider adding a rain barrel.  We used an old raison barrel with an attached water spicket.  To collect the water, we put a gutter on the back side of the chicken coop and attached a pipe at the end which was put into the top of the barrel.  We had to cut a hole into the top of the barrel lid, so to keep mosquitoes out we added a screen underneath the lid.  We had no running water here, so it was a big help to take care of our gardens.

If there's anything else I should add, feel free to share.  We are still coming up with new and exciting ways to maximize the homestead.

The Dancer

Greener Homes

So our journey so far has been a lot of ups and downs. Its all been aimed for the "back to the land" lifestyle. You know, the one everyone thinks should be so simple.  Organic gardening, raising chickens and goats, beekeeping; we're going for it all.  However, its not so simple as one would think.  The main obstacle in our way has been land.  You've got to have land.  Even if its not a lot, you still need enough to grow your family's food and your living along with privacy if at all possible.  We've been to the moon and back chasing a way to find ours.

In all this time searching for land, we've been coming up with several ideas to build an inexpensive, sturdy, and eco-friendly home.  Some were found from the web, others are creations we're still brainstorming on.  Personally, we lean towards underground building.  One of our greatest mistakes with moving above ground as far as heating and cooling goes along with the way the world is going, its not a bad idea to have a few feet of dirt above your head. However it all comes down to our budget and needs in the end.  Here are a few we found that deserve a thumbs up.

The Earthbag Dome:
This one is my favorite!

Straw Bale and Clay Home:

The Pallet House:

Recycled Railroad Tie Structure:
To build a house with recycled railroad ties we found an idea from an episode on mythbusters.  You can use them as you do with bricks by laying them flat and nailing together to form walls.  This makes for a very secure structure.  Haven't found a video for it yet though.

Plastic Bag Home:

Tiny House:

That's a pretty good list for now.  We may add more as time goes on.  I'll keep you updated when we are finally able to start the move.  For now, that's all.  Feel free to share ideas and comments.

The Dancer & The Digger