Monday, October 12, 2009

Life on the farm - 10.12.09

Joe and brother-in-law Jay are still down seeding winter wheat at the Tammany farm. They are hoping to be done in the next day or two and then will get the equipment moved up here to begin the seeding process on our Genesee farm. Once all the seeding is complete, life slows down for us and our guys will then only work a 40 hour work week instead of the 100 (or more) hour week. We don't have livestock, so the winter months provide a little bit of respite before the busy spring work cycle.


For me, it seems like life is always busy. Most of it is self-imposed tho! My daughter, Jen and I were vendors at the Red Barn Fall Festival this past week-end and it was lots of fun & lots of work too. We call ourselves S-Wheatie-Pie and we also have a blog that both of us will try to keep up (what did I say about self-imposed busyness! ) From our booth, I would people watch and it just reconfirmed that people take pleasure getting out and enjoying the farm scene. I saw moms, dads and kids picking out pumpkins, going on a hay ride and just enjoying a day in the country. The weather was sunny, but quite cold with temps in the mid-40's, so you know they really wanted to be there and brave the chilly weather. It was a perfect "Amerciana" kind of event.

After a successful day on Saturday of selling our treasures, I got the bright idea that I should make up some Pumpkin Butterscotch baking mixes to sell. So I found my old beat up cook book with the sticky pages and globs of goo on it and made up 12 dry mixes and then one batch to give out samples . The recipe is as follows:

Pumpkin Butterscotch Bread

1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 c water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup butterscotch chips (you can either add into the batter or sprinkle on top once the batter is in the pan - either way is yummy). I personally like to sprinkle the chips and 1/2 cup of walnuts on top

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and turn batter into a greased and floured 8 x 8 pan. Bake @ 350 for 1 hour or until done.