Our Day and a Recipe
Rhenda is better today but energy is still very low. Inhaler is helping with the breathing. Jim is a guy. Guys get sick too and just like a mother who cannot stop when they are sick, she only slows down a little. Then the fatigue comes in and forces him to rest. We were able to take a little stroll around zone A today and make some plans for the spring and 2022. It was 42 degrees and sunny and the outdoors were beckoning us out. We released the chickens who love to go into the pig pen and scratch around where they have routed up the ground. They seem to cohabitate well. No piggies have tried to have chicken dinner yet.
One of the main ways we plan to eat healthy is to grow our own food. We planned out where we will plant the corn this year. The corn that did grow was so good last year. We will have some for dinner tonight. It was non-GMO organic corn so I feel good about eating it. We want to have 100 plants and they will be in the east end of Charlotte’s field by the walnut tree. Our market garden will be north of that. Each day we put more compost on it and here is hoping we can figure out how to cover it with a high tunnel or a caterpillar. We are taking down a tree in the round-about driveway that is stickery and putting up a gazebo that will be screened for us for the evening with solar lights on the top. The rose bush we brought with us almost 4 years ago is still doing well and just needs dug around so it does not get lost in the weeds.
Our biggest challenge is the need for a trailer. Thankfully we have a friend who loans us his. We need to haul compost from Springfield because it is half the price of other places. I think we need about 10 yards of compost but we can only haul 3 yards at a time. Slow and steady is what Tonnie, the turtle, would say. As we were coming out of the barn today, Jim said, “I love our farm”, So do I. Together, hand in hand we can make it grow into something amazing.
Day 3 of the year. Being sick has been a sobering way to bring in the new year. It emphasizes our need to eat healthy because we are not ill like we could be. In 2008 when we started, we were diligent in what went into our body. We are doing that now. Junk is gone. When a chicken eats organic grain, her poop smells sweet. When she eats $12.00 a bag grain, her poop is rank. Try it. The same is true with us. We need to put in wonderful wholesome food. I got out my cookbooks yesterday as I laid around. I started loving cooking when I was 10 years old and my parents enrolled me in a 4-H cooking class. I kept my cookbook from there for decades. Not sure when I parted with it, but I am sure it was in one of our many moves.
So often now I just google a recipe and then don’t remember where I got it when I want to make it again. But my cookbooks are like storybooks of food. They delve into flavors and textures and experiments of mouth-watering joy. I found toasted corn salsa and homemade baked corn tortilla chips. I found amazing ways to cook vegetables that look tantalizing. But I will share the brown rice recipe. When I was teaching groups I always taught,,,No white flour, white pasta, white rice, white sugar. We only use brown rice and we find if we make it ahead it keeps very well in the refrigerator or the freezer. Here is a healthy recipe.
Baked Brown Rice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, minced
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth (homemade has so much more flavor)
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1 ½ long-grain brown rice, rinsed and drained.
- Set oven to 375 degrees
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Stir occasionally until well browned.
- Add the water and broth, cover and bring to a boil. Off the heat, stir in the rice. Cover and bake until the rice is tender 65-70 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven , uncover and fluff the rice with a fork, scraping up any rice that has stuck to the bottom. Lay a clean folded kitchen town over the pot and cover with the lid. Let sit for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. May add peas or other interesting items while you are fluffing.
In order to cook and not be bored with it. Find recipes that bring a little excitement into your kitchen.