The layer pullet chicks are still the most interesting thing going around here. Everyone else, be they 2-legged or 4-legged, is just sort of hanging around waiting for spring to show up.

It won't be here tomorrow...ice and snow are on deck, so we sit and wonder whether the kids will get to school or not.


5 years ago:

Flirting

4 years ago:

Round 2

One of these things just doesn't belong

Everyday miracles

And everyday losses

Watch horse

Q&A: Blood Spots

3 years ago:

What's going on

Visitor

2 years ago:

Polishing off his stash

Corn recipe #2: Smokey corn chowder

Sale barn

1 year ago:

Small Farm Business : The Checking Account

Is it spring yet?

Ask the Readers : Collecting Payment

Don't hate us because we're beautiful

Snowbound

Duck rainbow

How to Cook : Ribs

Small Farm Business: Taxes

Tax time is nothing to sing the blues about!

Last night was our tax appointment, and believe it or not it's a fairly pain-free process for us. We were in and out in an hour!

Prior to starting the farm we always did our own taxes. But once we had to start filling out that Schedule F we enlisted professional help. It's worth every penny for us to not have to spend time keeping up on things like tax law changes or depreciation schedules on our breeding stock.

There are 2 things I do to make tax time go easier. One is to keep an "income tax" file folder, and during the year throw any documents we'll need at tax time into this file. Things like the kids' school registrations, property tax statements, vehicle registration papers.

The other is to keep a list on the computer of every paper document we need to take with us to our tax appointment - the things I just listed plus which banks we receive interest from or pay interest to, which investments we receive dividend statements from, our mileage log for the farm truck, etc. I did this a few years ago, and now each year I just pull up the prior year's list, update it, gather the listed documents, and go.

The final thing that makes tax time so easy is our QuickBooks program. I just print our accountant a Profit & Loss Statement, a Balance Sheet, and the detail on any assets we sold or purchased during the year.

We sing a happy song at tax time...



1 year ago:

And the answer is...

As I was saying...

Best. Wheat bread. Evah.

One of the cookbooks I got for Christmas was King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. I don't do a ton of baking, but I also hate resorting to store-bought cookies and whatnot for snacks for the kids. So I thought this might be the ticket to some reduced-guilt goodies.

The first recipe I tried was the chocolate chip cookies. I didn't share them here because I wasn't blown away or anything. But actually the rest of the family liked them just fine. I thought the wheat flour I had on hand at the time was maybe a little off, so I need to make them again with fresh flour. And then I made biscuits, but I rolled the dough too thin so I need to try them again, too.

Last Sunday I decided to try their 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread recipe. It wasn't a difficult recipe, and there were no strange ingredients - I had everything on hand. orange juice, water, butter, whole wheat flour, sugar, dried potato flakes, dry milk, salt and yeast. So the only thing I found myself whining about was how much waiting-around time there was in the recipe. What can I say, I'm a Gen-X'er. I want my MTV, and I want it now.

What?

But this. This was one of those things that was totally worth the wait. It was the softest, lightest, tastiest whole wheat bread I've ever eaten. So good, I forgot to take a picture of it. And the family devoured the entire loaf alongside a pot of vegetable beef soup.

So I made it again Monday. You know, for the blog. So I'd have a picture to share with you. Because I'm giving like that.

The entire book includes weights as well as measurements. I love that - I weigh everything because it's more accurate and, more importantly, dirties fewer dishes.

There's several recipes using sprouted wheat berries that will be fun to try - I ordered seed sprouting trays with my garden seed last week. And the honey-oatmeal sandwich bread sounds yummy. When I get some whole wheat pastry flour I'll try a cake. Stay tuned...




4 years ago:

My buns are burning

2 years ago:

Eating from the freezer

1 year ago:

Prepped

Showoff

The gold star chicks are a month old now, and have acquired some skilz. They can fly up to the top edge of the brooder pen. They can fly from the top edge of the brooder pen to the floor outside the brooder pen. They can poop all over my garage floor. They cannot always find their way back inside the brooder pen, but most of the time they do.

Next up...the best. wheat bread. evah.


4 years ago:

Chicken therapy

Houseguest

BWD

3 years ago:

Timber!

Sculpture

Photo Friday : Baby

2 years ago:

Frosting

A couple of sweeties

It's time to play

1 year ago:

Itchy

Ode to one of our favorite winter books

Prequel

Basking

The pigs are enjoying the gradually warming sun (and some fall apples they found when the snow melted.)


3 years ago:

Big boy toys

2 years ago:

Cat box

1 year ago:

ReindeerCalf games

Matt's calves...

...wanted to say "Happy Birthday!" to him.



(Happy birthday, babe!)


2 years ago:

Happy Birthday

1 year ago:

In honor of Matt's birthday

Watering

Despite the springlike conditions above ground this week, under ground things - specifically, the water line to the shed - are still very winterlike and still very frozen.

So daily, out come the hoses. And once the watering is done, the hoses have to be rolled up again and hauled into the garage so they don't freeze.


4 years ago:

Calving season

3 years ago:

A day in the life

1 year ago:

Cow dog in training

Warm moon

This warm moon, and the warm weather (40's today!), and tonight's thunderstorms (thunderstorms!) could almost convince a person that spring is on its way.

But I won't be fooled. I've lived in Iowa long enough to know better than to get my hopes up about spring. Not yet.

There was a time when I'd be more than ready to kiss winter goodbye by now. But nowadays, for the most part, I enjoy winter. Cooking comfort foods. Farm conferences. Snuggling on the couch under a quilt, watching movies. Catching up.


"There's a point where you can give up on winter--when temptation can enter your soul, prying its way in like cold air through the cracks in your cabin--around January sixteenth or so, and this can make you realize that February's coming, and beyond February, March.

See, I don't yet realize that March will be the hardest month. Early February's the coldest, and often the snowiest, but March, strange, silent March, will be the hardest.

The danger in yielding to thoughts of spring--green grass, hikes, bare feet, lakes, fly-fishing, rivers, and sun, hot sun--is that once these thoughts enter your mind, you cant get them out.

Love the winter. Don't betray it. Be loyal.

When the spring gets here, love it too--and then the summer.

But be loyal to the winter, all the way through--all the way, and with sincerity--or you'll find yourself high and dry, longing for a spring that's a long way off, and winter will have abandoned you, and in her place you'll have cabin fever, the worst.

The colder it gets, the more you've got to love it."

~Rick Bass fr. Winter -Notes from Montana


(HT: Wish Jar Journal, Keri Smith)


3 years ago:

Friday funny

Barn fire

In case you were wondering

2 years ago:

Barn door

Sewing

Miscellany

1 year ago:

The other pup

Meet Carmel

Visitors

How to Cook : Vegetable Beef Soup

Drifts in the garden

Golden Polish

Music to my ears

I've written before about what music means in my life. So scenes like this thrill me beyond measure. (Get it? Measure? How punny of me :)



Rafe asked Santa for a guitar for Christmas, and Santa delivered. And Rafe has been kind of enough to share his gift with Olivia, who in turn bugs her dad to teach her new chords as soon as he gets in from chores after work. And what's the first song she wants to learn? Smoke on the Water.

*~*~*

On another note, I was given this nice accolade:




from Jill @ Blue Gate Farm

I'm supposed to list 5 addictions, so here goes:

1. My Bloglines feed reader. I think subscribing to 78 blogs might qualify as an addiction.

2. And I suppose The Internet in general qualifies as an addiction. In my heart I want to be Ma Ingalls, but I'd need wireless internet access in that log cabin.

3. Sugar, in all its various baked and/or processed forms.

4. Photography & scrapbooking. I'll lump those together for the sake of keeping this list to 5. Right now my dining room table is completely covered in pictures and albums.

5. And it seems fitting to end this list with...music. I love to play it, listen to it, discover new stuff, sing it, study lyrics.

And now I'm supposed to pass this on to some other lovely bloggers. And I'm going to pick on some of my favorite bloggers who have been a little absentee, in hopes of prodding them for an update. I'm conniving like that.

1. Between Plow and Wood. They bought a farm, and then seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. I can relate.

2. Gracious Acres. They sold a farm, and then seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. My internet-turned-real-life friend, Matt calls "L" my long lost twin.

3. Farm Aspirations. They moved, had a baby, and then seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. I can relate.

(Are you sensing a theme here?)

4. Diary of a Farmer. A farmer and a full-time firemen. That more than explains his absence, but he's a very enjoyable read when he does write. And I'm insanely jealous of their farm setup.

5. Clodhopper Farm. Peter is less absentee than the rest of this list, but he still doesn't update often enough for my tastes.

So there you have it!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to actually write about farm-related stuff! Maybe get some footage of Matt's insane watering routine, now that the water line to the shed has frozen, or an update on the chicks.