Never Buy Gingersnaps again!

Think Gingersnaps suck? Don't for a minute believe that those cardboard cutouts at the store bear any resemblance to what the actual cookie is meant to be!

This is the single batch but I always double it. You can also roll all or half of the dough into a log about 1/5" in diameter, wrap in wax paper and squirrel it away in the freezer for later, just cut 1/4" slices, pat in sugar and bake like below. The original recipe comes from The Fanny Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham

¾ Cups (butter flavor) vegetable shortening

1 Cup sugar (plus extra to roll the cookies in)

1 egg

¼ Cup molasses (dark for the hard-core, light for a slightly mellower flavor)

2 Cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ tsp salt (I've been using the coarse Kosher salt in everything lately and loving it)

1 tablespoon powdered ginger (Chinese i.e. strong)

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line some cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Beat together the shortening and 1 Cup of the sugar. Add the egg, and beat until light and fluffy, then add the molasses.

Stir and toss together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon and add to the first mixture beating until smooth and blended.

Scoop out level tablespoons and roll them into balls between the palms of your hands then roll each ball in the sugar. Place about 2” apart on your cookie sheets and flatten them just a bit with two fingers. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the cookies have spread and the tops have cracked. Take them off the sheets to cool them on a rack.

Makes about 40 cookies

Amelia on the news

Amelia got a sound bite. There's a quick shot of her at the beginning then her quote is at the very end

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1485820904/bctid13882160001

Inspiration

My latest fascination is visual or illustrated journaling. In part due to the book I'm reading Danny Gregory's Creative Lisance. Check out these amazing pages by Teesha Moore.

Here's the link to her site:

http://www.teeshamoore.com/teeshasjournalpgs.html

My brother's farm

A while ago my brother sent me some pictures from his farm in Western Pennsylvania. I grew up in town about a 30 minute drive from this place. I remember the long winters and how sick of the snow I would get but I also remember how absolutely magical each season can be and I cannot say that I don't miss it sometimes! I don't know when I'll get back to this little corner of the world but I'm glad to know my brother and his wife are doing such great good work.

Here's some more about his farm.
DANCING HEART FARM
Marc & Cindy Briggs
Russell, PA

Philosophy/Theology
The unexamined life is not worth living; the unexamined faith is not worth having. We are temporary stewards of the planet, its resources, animals and ourselves - not owners. Treat Mother Nature humbly with respect, knowing that whenever you push against her, there is an equal push back, somewhere. Don't try to arrogantly strong-arm her - you and your descendents will lose. Study her, learn from her, always be aware that you never know it all. Live humbly in harmony with her knowing that each organism has its role to play. As much as possible, let pigs be pigs, sheep be sheep, goats be goats, etc., etc. Use our humanness to understand and co-operate, not destroy, compete and dominate. In this philosophy of farming, you see all of life as a part of a whole and recognize an awesomeness, sacredness and dignity in life, beyond explaining. Within this philosophy of life, one can appreciate the gift of the present by holding all things lightly, enjoying them fully and sharing them generously.

History
In 1984, my family and I moved into the 1840 farm house on 37 acres in northwestern Pennsylvania that my great grandparents had purchased in 1919. As a kid, I played on the farm, ate Grandma's berry pies and Grandpa's sweet corn and picked up worms behind the plow. Grandpa had died two years before, but Grandma lived until 2002 and continued to care for her flower beds and delighted us with stories of the old days (i.e., seeing her first car, riding to school in a horse drawn school bus, etc.).

Gardening had been a strong interest for years and I had some experience as a teenager with raising heifers, but when I started raising pigs in 1986, I was at the bottom of the learning curve. It is amazing that the longer I raise them, the smarter they seem to be. The truth is, after reading about them and talking with other farmers and going to seminars and making mistakes, I am better at letting pigs just be pigs.

The local paper carried an article about rotational grazing grants in 1987 and I asked if pigs qualified. I got a chuckle from the agent, but the next spring, I got a phone call and he said they had some money left over. So for about $700, I got $2000 worth of electric fencing and my outdoor hog raising project was born. Pigs stink and if I had to raise them inside, I don't think I would. With their portable pens outside, I can do chores without smelling like a pig and the heritage breeds (i.e., Gloucestershire Old Spots and Tamworths) love it outside on pasture.


Livestock
In 1998, my wife and I began dreaming of raising sheep and goats year round on pasture with portable three-sided pens. Wanting to enjoy our animals and do it as stress-free as possible (for the animals and the farmers), we chose hardy, Shetland sheep with tails that do not need docking and rugged cashmere goats from Montana . In the spring, we were surprised to discover that we could roo all but one of the Shetland sheep, instead of shearing. When sheep roo, the wool can be pulled off at the natural breaking point or rise of the lock. The sheep, goats and pigs all birth in the spring on pasture and we go to bed at night and wish them well. Actually, I sleep a little better than my wife does at birthing time.

Raising animals outside is good for the pasture. The earth absorbs the liquid nitrogen and other minerals far better than any bedding. I call it "direct deposit." Seventy-five to eighty percent of the minerals that go into an animal, come out the other end. By moving floorless pens to weaker areas of the pasture, nutrients are transferred as the animals seek shade and/or shelter. Minerals, salt and hay are made available in the pens which are faced away from the prevailing winds. Hay is fed on the snow over weak sections and the seeds and animal droppings build up the pasture. Pastures are rested as the pens and animals are rotated. There is no build-up of ammonia, dust, fungus, bacteria, etc. that a barn brings with it. Studies have shown animals are healthier when raised outside. Barns are for the farmer's comfort and convenience, not animal health.

Catching the animals is a challenge and one we do not have perfected. I have built lanes that are six to eight feet wide with a gate on one end and a chute with a catch box on the other end. I feed the animals in this area and, hopefully, I can trap them in there when I need to handle them. They are on pasture year-round and so I have found little need to give shots. My goal is to provide a natural, interesting and safe environment that encourages health.

I use objects to make the pastures interesting and varied: a boulder, a log or two, discarded concrete steps set back-to-back, rock piles, trees, a concrete sluice pipe and an old septic tank set on its side (a non-anti-septic playground). In the winter, I pull trees I cut for firewood or logs into their pasture, and they delightfully debark and de-twig them for me. The pigs of course have a wallow and shade. In the winter, they bed in small A-frames or a 10' x 10' pen with the front mostly closed off. With dry bedding, food, water and a place out of the wind, they winter well outside. They usually spend the winter on the garden and a sacrifice area. The Tamworths and Old Spots seem to love the outdoors. This past summer, they had an easy life with lush pasture, goat's milk, sweet corn ears and stalks, drop apples and donated pumpkins. They each also received two pounds of feed per day and were plenty heavy by winter. The pigs manure the garden and the corn feeds the dairy goats and the pigs. The goat's milk feeds the pigs. The apple prunings from the orchard feed the dairy goats and the pigs eat the drop apples and the mash from the cider-making. The Old Spots (orchard pigs) do love apples and I am sure have the ability to store huge quantities of calories of surplus farm produce on their bodies for future harvesting. The Tamworths (Irish grazers) do love to graze. Both breeds enjoy hay after being grained, when not on pasture. They farrow on pasture in May. Raising animals outside is good for the farmer. It is far cheaper than a barn, it doesn't smell, it gives me lots of fresh air and exercise and it keeps me in touch with nature. At times, at about 4:15 on a wintry February afternoon, after arriving home from work, I don't feel like doing chores. After shedding my coat and tie and putting on my insulated coveralls and boots, I am ready to go. I often work up a sweat, unzip my coveralls and sit on the tailgate of the old farm truck in the middle of the animals as the snow lights on my hat and the goats and sheep chew their hay or the pigs push and shove, making their pig-complaining sounds. I need the exercise and watching the animals in a healthy, natural setting is inwardly therapeutic and energizing.


Dancing Heart Farm is a member of the Heritage Breed Conservancy. For more about Dancing Heart Farm visit their website at:

http://www.warrenag.org/dancingheart.htm

Repurposeful

I can’t say my blog is having a mid life crisis. It’s far to young for that maybe it’s teenage angst. Obviously I’ve completely stalled out on the Milton project. Since the new year dawned I have noticed my urge to read (not just Milton but anything all the way down the food chain to Entertainment Weekly) wane and I don’t think I’m going to fight it.

Actually, I haven’t entirely given up the ghost, John Milton’s ghost that is. I ordered a recorded version of Paradise Lost from Amazon the other day and will listen to it in the car on my many errands. Since having children this is how I get the bulk of my reading accomplished anyway.

As for my blog, it is not truly an experiment. I have no idea in which direction it will go but have decided that the only thing to do is take a blind leap.

Resolved...

Gaaa where was I? I will be returning to the Milton project come Monday. After a struggle it appears I was swallowed by the Halloweenthanksgivingchristmas monster. But enough of excuses it is time for resolutions!

I resolve to write one line of iambic pentameter a day, everyday this year. At the end of 2009 I will have 365 lines of -- what. A play? A poem? Who knows what it will be but that's not important right now.

See you next year!

one year in 40 seconds