The Very Busy Day

I've had this post in my head for a while now. I haven't done "a day in the life" post since we were building the house but I wanted to give some of the information that lives in my head a proper home where it can be accessed by others. For my kids mostly but if I can encourage you to try something new as well, then I think it's a win all around. Just for the record, this is not even remotely what a typical day looks like at our house. Yes, we do all of these things but not on the same day. Some days we’re in the kitchen and other days, like today, I'm at my desk writing. I also thought it would be a good time to write some things down as we’re doing them so come along! We’re inviting you into our kitchen on our very busy day!

My watch agrees, today is a good day! Let's do this!

We start first with the sourdough because it takes the longest. I actually decided to document this as I was mixing the dough so sorry, no pics. For sandwich bread, I like this recipe.

Up onto the stove it goes. It has to sit for several hours. Yes, that's a shower cap on it. It's reusable and saves on the stretch wrap so that's what we use. 

In our house, Abby feeds and cares for the starter. She takes very good care of it. Thanks Abby!

Today, we’re making yeast bread as well. We usually just use whatever works best for what we need and what we have time for and because this doesn't take as long as sourdough, it will be ready for dinner.

We grind our wheat. Before you think we’ve gone all Laura Ingalls on you, what that means is that we buy the wheat berries, usually from here (they ship all over Canada) and we put them in the dry container of the blender and press a button.

And voila, freshly ground grain. We usually use a hard red spring wheat but I've been using red fife recently and I like it as well. This is a very simple way to grind your own grain! And no bonnets or donkey driven rotary mills required! 

In the interest of keeping things real, when I pulled my mixer out of the drawer, I pulled the drawer off the track so repairs were needed.

For the amount of bread we make, we use this mixer. We don't get paid to endorse any particular product. This is just what we like. We tried a KitchenAid once and blew the motor in 6 months. Back to Bosch for us. 

For yeast bread, we have a favourite recipe from the Food That Really Schmecks cookbook by Edna Staebler. Thank you to Phil's mom for gifting us this book so many years ago.

This is what it looks like with just whole wheat flour. 

And then add the white flour. This is about a 60-40 ratio of whole wheat to white. 

Just from the bowl...

...and after kneading although this step is sometimes skipped in the interest of expediency.

Sourdough and yeast buns set to rise and now to that pot in the bottom left corner.

We have a dairy cow and she gives us almost 4 gallons (approximately 15 litres) of milk per day! Yup per day. So we make a lot of dairy products! This is approx 12 litres waiting to be made into mozzarella cheese.

The first thing to do is dissolve 1.5 tsp of citric acid into 1/4 cup of clean, warm water per gallon and stir it into the milk. Here I'm using 4.5 tsp of citric acid into 3/4 cup of water. Next, warm the milk slowly to 30-31C. Of course my digital thermometer would not work today so I'm using the candy thermometer. 

A lot of cheese making is just waiting for the right temperatures, so while we’re waiting, I'll go ahead and make our dinner buns.

Yup, the dough is ready!!

I added a few hot dog buns to this batch. Admittedly, not my best work but I'm often more about speed than presentation and I was in a hurry today.

While the buns are rising, the milk has reached temperature so it's time to add the rennet which helps the curds and the whey to separate which is a necessary step in making cheese. I usually buy my cheese making ingredients here but I had run out so Peavey Mart to the rescue. 3/4 tsp in a small amount of cool water and mix it in with just a couple strokes of your spoon. Cover and leave to rest for 30-60 minutes or until the milk has set and you have a clean break.

While waiting for the cheese, it's back to the sourdough for one of the many stretch and folds. 

I'm not a purist and I'm usually in a hurry so this is what that sometimes looks like. I know there are better ways. Did I mention I'm more about getting things done quickly? I feel I did.

Time to test the curds for a clean wall. 

It looks good.

Cut the curds into approximately 1/2 inch cubes and let them rest for 5-10 minutes. Mine look like a toddler cut them for me. You know what I'm going to say.

Next, I'll slowly heat the curds to between 38.8 -41.C (102-106F). It should take about 20-25 minutes to heat them up and then they'll sit for another 20-25 minutes at that temperature. You can eliminate this step if you want a softer cheese but this is what we prefer. 

Now it's time to drain the curds.

Here you have the curds and whey. 

This step also takes time so back to the buns.

Into the oven they go and I have a quick minute to grab some lunch.

Fast food today. Not ideal but it does the job.

I can't tell you what a privilege it is to work together with my kids. Thank you so much Abby for your hard work! Whether you’re making bread or washing dishes, I’m just glad to be with you! 

Once the curds have been drained from the whey, the whey goes back on the stove. No way! Sorry, I couldn't help it!

The curds sit a while longer. That's just how we like it. 

Now it’s time for Ricotta cheese with the leftover whey. It needs to be heated to between 190 and 200F.

The trick is not to let it boil so this step usually requires someone to stand at the stove and keep an eye on it.  When it reaches the right temperature, add 1/2 tsp of citric acid or 1/4 cup of white vinegar for each gallon of whey. And then it gets covered and goes to the back of the stove to cool.

Buns are done and in time for dinner.

...and the drawer is fixed! Thank you Phil. 

Now to deal with these curds. They get cut up again and about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of salt put on them...

...and add boiling kettle water over top. The idea is to melt the curds back together and then stretch them together.  It's not looking particularly stretchy yet. 

"First we stretch the cheese" 

(If you know, you know!) 😉

More time to sit in the hot salt water.

It's starting to get a bit stretchier but it's still not there yet. Back into the water.

We can deal with the sourdough while we’re waiting. There are several options here. We could put this dough in the fridge overnight or shape it tonight. We’re going to shape it tonight because we (Joe) want(s)  it for breakfast tomorrow morning. The longer you leave it, the more sour taste you get but it really doesn't affect it otherwise. There are a 100 different ways to do it.

Putting this one into a parchment lined bread pan because sandwich bread just works better for us.

It's a pretty big pan. That is a traditional bread pan next to it. It's covered and back to rise.

Meanwhile, back to stretching the mozza! It's getting there.

And finally, that's the stretch we’re looking for. You can get quite a good arm workout from stretching cheese! I don't think I got a picture of the next step because you have to work quite quickly but the next step is to form it into a ball, cool it down under cold water and drop into bowls to go into the fridge. We like ours plain so that's it, cheese is done. 

This is a healthy starter. Great job Abby! Bubbling away and ready for more bread tomorrow.

Joe does all of the milking and let me just say, that is no easy task. I could also listen to their chatting and laughing all day. Makes my heart so happy to hear!

A quick dinner of egg salad on fresh buns tonight. We don't make big meals on busy kitchen days. 

Lydia is taking a turn keeping the floor under control. Honestly though, it’s a full time job! So thankful for willing hands to help where they can and she does a top notch job! 

The sourdough has risen and is ready to go in the oven. It has taken about ten hours to get to this point. We could also put it in the fridge like this and bake it in the morning but it's going in now. You're welcome Joe. 

Anything food related is put away and it's onto the next thing.

Years ago, I found this soap recipe that uses very simple ingredients. I found it on Homestead Blessings

and we've been using it ever since. We have used the tallow from our beef and our own milk but today we’re using vegetable shortening and water.

Hannah measured the ingredients for me. Thank you Hannah!

Because everything has to be weighed carefully.

The only other ingredient in this recipe is lye (sodium hydroxide). It's a common misconception that lye is not a natural product because of how caustic it is but it is very natural. And it is very necessary for the saponification process that gives you soap. After the soap sits for 2-4 weeks, the lye is completely gone and all you are left with is a wonderful, soft, creamy, sudsy soap.

We mix the lye and water outdoors because the fumes from the lye can be quite strong. 

Even though many precautions are taken, we always keep white vinegar on hand to neutralize the lye should any accidentally get on skin. 

After the lye is mixed into the water, it will heat up quite quickly.

Time to mix all of the oils with an immersion blender. Soap making equipment is for soap making use only though. 

Once it all mixes in, we’re just waiting for it to hit the trace stage, when all of the oils have emulsified.

At this stage, essential oils can be added or whatever is on hand. Sometimes cinnamon or oats or both.

This is Lemongrass Verbena. Peavey Mart again for the win.

Into the moulds they go and we can knock one more thing off our list. 

And just in time because the bread is ready to come out of the oven.

Remember that whey that was on the back of the stove waiting to cool?

Into the cheese bags it goes to drain overnight. 

And last thing, it's time to make kefir.

I'm fairly new to kefir making but it is relatively easy to make. 

Drain the kefir grains and add them to fresh milk.

It feels a little weird putting milk into the cupboard but that's how you do it. The milk on the left has fresh milk and kefir grains in it and the milk on the right has been drained of the grains and is going back in for another 24 hours for double fermentation.

And since we can't drink it fast enough, some goes into the freezer for use in smoothies etc. Yum yum! Now it's time for bed! That was a busy day!!

This is the Ricotta cheese that has been draining overnight. 

It is a very soft cheese and is amazing in lasagna and other casseroles. 

Into the freezer it goes.

And the leftover whey goes to the pigs. 

They are very excited for their treat!

A walk out here brings garden vibes. There's still a fair bit of snow though!

More milk to use up so today it’s time for yogurt. That's the cream content on top. We take it out to use in our coffee or to make butter but we like a full fat yogurt so it all stays in today.

When I say making yogurt, what we’re doing is adding one cup of this yogurt to the milk...

...and finding a place to keep it warm (108-112F) for the rest of the day. We have a yogurt maker and can use the slow cooker but the method that gets the best results is to fill a bucket with hot water. The hardest part about making yogurt is remembering to keep the water warm. 

After the yogurt has set, we drain it as well for a couple hours to get a thick, Greek type yogurt consistency.

And then add milk back into it to get the consistency that we like.

This was just after our cow calved. Look at all that yellow cream!! There's more cream than milk!

Perfect for butter. As the calf gets older, the cream content goes back down but we (and he) enjoy it while we have it. 

Time to unmould the soap and cut it into bars.

We mostly just make plain soap. That's what works the best.

I tried getting all fancy with the spices and added some carrot juice to this batch and it turned out looking like cheddar cheese. There's nothing wrong with it but there is just something not quite right about how it looks.

Maybe one day I'll make lovely coloured soaps? But today is not that day!

This is yesterday's sourdough sandwich bread. 

For traditional sourdough loaves, I like this recipe. Plus it has a tutorial that is very helpful.

So good! It goes perfectly with a pot of soup on a chilly day.

For Challah bread, this recipe.

For pretzels, it's either back to Edna Staebler or for sourdough discard pretzel bites, we like this one. Don't plan on having any leftovers is all I'm saying. 

And for rusk, which is like biscotti, if we’re not using a special family recipe, then we use this one.

The mozzarella is ready.

It makes a very tasty snack on fresh sourdough bread.

And the rest goes in the freezer for pizza nights.

Some quick leftovers for lunch and it's on to the next thing.

Cookies! Because who doesn't love pumpkin cookies? These are for a church function but there’s enough for us too.

Seriously, I need to rewrite this recipe. It came from a realtor's newsletter many, many years ago but is still our favourite. 

On busy days, we keep our meals very simple. This is ground beef & gravy mixed with the carrots, beans and corn we canned last summer and we serve it over rice or potatoes. It's easy on a night where it's been a busy day and we are out the door in the evening.

I love it when Hannah sews at the table while we’re working. Look at this adorable dress she finished today.

Time to put my feet up for a bit. 

Dinner clean up crew. Joe does a good job of keeping our floors clean tonight. Did I mention this was a full time job? Thank you Joe!

We were out tonight but when we got home, it was time to make kombucha. Earlier in the day, I boiled the water and sugar and put tea bags in and let it cool until we got home. 

There are so many ways to make kombucha. In the summer, we use fresh fruit and we might experiment with different teas but today I'm keeping it simple. Just a small amount of juice and honey and the kombucha that's been fermenting in the closet all week. Again, I'm not a purist. I sometimes don't even measure my ingredients *gasp*. 

I rinse all of my containers with apple cider vinegar and also my hands so I don't accidentally murder the scoby.

Look, the scoby (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) made a new scoby.

Sometimes I make it in smaller bottles but realistically, this is going to go quickly so one big jar works for all of us.

Yummy bubbles forming already. It will sit on the counter for a couple of days to carbonate and then into the fridge it goes. 

Don't think that working in the kitchen is standing in one spot all day. I walked almost 4 km in there today! 

Keeping busy in our homes is such a joy and a blessing. Serving those around us is truly a privilege. Whether we are making meals or washing dishes, or caring for animals, whatever our hands find to do, doing it with all of our might as unto the Lord. Maybe you have little ones so your day might look completely different than ours. It wasn't that long ago that I had littles too and I remember wanting to do more than my busy day allowed. It changes so quickly. Just embrace the season you are in and use the time that you have been given wisely (speaking mostly to myself here). Try something new, bless someone by giving them your time. You might just be surprised to find you have more of it than you think.

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Titus 2:3-5