Happenings on the Homestead~November♡

A cheery greeting to you friends. I trust that you all have had a wonderful week? 

November so far has been quite a successful month for us regarding the homestead, our garden is doing well and our plants are finally thriving after a slow start!

We have been harvesting different fruits, veggies, herbs and flowers almost every day, and have been enjoying the simple pleasures of everyday life in the country. We feel truly blessed and thankful that the Lord has gifted us with so much♡

I hope that you enjoy this month's 'Happenings on the Homestead♡'

"The true way to live, is to enjoy every moment as it passes, and surely it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

My Muscovy duck, Marguerite, recently laid her first egg. I was so excited to find it in the coop, as I had been waiting for over a month for her to start laying!

I used one for scrambled egg, and enjoyed the different taste...it is rather strong, very fatty and extremely rich...quite delicious!

My Mom's strawberry patch is yielding so much fruit, we pick a beautiful bowlful every morning, and have been enjoying them as snacks♡

"We didn't realise we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun."

Winnie the Pooh

I finally harvested my red onions, after six months of watching them grow.  It was such an amazing feeling to pull them up and see their beautiful, red bulbs...there is a grand total of 150 onions...not bad!

I thought that I would share a recipe for a delicious brown bread, which we recently enjoyed with some summery toppings~ homemade cheese and pickles! This is the perfect homesteading loaf, and I hope that, if you make it, you will enjoy!♡

Brown Bread Recipe:

1 kg brown bread flour

625 ml warm water

3 sachets dried yeast {7 g each}

2 tablespoons sugar

1 level tablespoon fine salt

Flour, for dusting

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius {350 degrees Fahrenheit}.

Sieve the flour into a large baking bowl, and create a well in the centre.

Pour half your warm water into the well, and then add your yeast, sugar and salt and stir with a fork.

Slowly, but confidently, bring in the flour from the inside of the well.

Continue to bring the flour into the centre until you get a stodgy, porridgey consistency, then add the remaining water.

Continue to mix until it is stodgy again, then you can be more aggressive, bringing in all the flour, making the mixture less sticky.

Flour your hands and pat and push the dough together with all of the remaining flour.

Knead for 4~5 minutes, until you have a silky, elastic dough.

Flour the top of your dough, and place it in a greased bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise in a warm area for about half an hour, until the dough has doubled in size. 

Once the dough has doubled in size, turn the bowel upside down, tipping the dough out.

Divide the dough into two, equal portions, and place into two, greased bread tins.

Allow to rise a second time for another half an hour, or until doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen in the pans, place them into your preheated oven, and bake for 25~30 minutes.

You can tell if the bread is cooked through, by tapping the bottom of the loaf, if it sounds hollow, it is done.

Allow to cool on a rack, and serve with a thick layer of butter, and homemade strawberry jam.

Enjoy♡

A couple of weeks ago, we purchased two apricot trees, and today my Dad planted them...we are hoping that next year we will be able to harvest our own apricots~Our collection of fruit trees is growing nicely...!

Friends of ours passed on a big box of seeds they no longer needed and Caleb had fun planting some in pots, labelling them himself...so precious!

"Beauty surrounds us, but we usually need to be walking in the garden to know it."

Rumi

Every morning my sister Nancy picks a bunch or two of flowers, arranges them in a pretty jars and then places them in various places around the house. We are truly blessed to be able to pick so many beautiful flowers♥

What is happening on your homestead?

Blessings, Gabrielle

..."and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we have commanded you."

1 Thessalonians ~11