A Trip to AuburnLea Farms

and a great experience!

by Russ Rock

             Castle life can be fun and it can always bring unexpected nuggets of fun. That is what happened to Linda and I today when we took a trip to the "Land" of AuburnLea Farms! An unexpected quick trip that brought more than we anticipated.

             My wife and I started our Saturday like any other. We had things to do but wanted to do something together before the chores started and distracted us from each other. After talking for a while we hit a topic we had discussed in times past but never explored. We are interested in buying bulk meats and possibly buying a whole side of beef and getting one or more of the kids in the family involved. 

             While exploring this topic we found a website that answered our questions and offered other options as well. AuburnLea Farms is where we landed and they have an excellent website that is clear, easy to navigate and a pleasure to visit.

http://www.auburnleafarms.com/the_grainery_farm_store

5500 Mollies Creek Road
Gladys, VA 24554
ph: (434) 283-8109

                Since the farm is nearby we decided to drive over and take a look at what they had available.
If you go to their website you will find not only their offering of All natural Pastured Beef, Chicken and Turkey but Sweeteners, Baking Items, Spices, Whole grains and much more.  I won't list them all, you will have to go to their website and check it out for yourself.

          Our first encounter was with two gentle and inquisitive Labrador retrievers that made sure we petted them and made a fuss over them. We then went in the store and were greeted by the Queen of the Castle at Auburn Lea farms and found her to be a wonderful woman who cares for her husband and six children. We had the pleasure of meeting some of the kids and were quick to find how our families contrasted each other. Becky and her husband have 5 girls and 1 boy, whereas Linda and I have 5 Boys and 1 girl! I had to ask the young Prince of the farm how old he was and soon found he was too young for my daughter. Oh Well!

             Becky was rich with knowledge about her products and anyone would quickly realize she prides herself in giving her family the best all natural products she can find. She does the same for any one who come to the store. You will soon discover her shelves are stocked with healthy products for any who choose to become one of AuburnLea's customers. It was a pleasure talking with her and we learned something from her we did not know.

              Of the items we purchased were Ginger ale for me (my soft drink of choice), Locally produced honey and Coconut Oil. The coconut oil was that nugget of knowledge we learned about today. Becky explained it as one of those alternatives to vegetable shortening or lard that is used in cooking. I was a little concerned about the coconut oil having a flavor that would compete with the baked items being prepared. Becky was quick to let us know the flavor was neutral and would not interfere.

              Linda and I were "wowed" by the experience and as soon as we got home Linda decided to try the coconut oil by making biscuits. Yummy, yummy yum! Linda used this recipe for the biscuits:

 http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/330/Cracker_Barrel_Biscuits48939.shtml

And here is what they looked like:

                 Flaky, tasty and no hint of coconut.... just like Becky said.

               As we drove off the farm we saw the Pasture Fed turkeys corralled inside a movable fence. The thought of Thanksgiving was immediately on our minds. I think we will visit AuburnLea Farms again and will soon be enjoying pasture feed turkey to enjoy the holiday with.
It was an awesome experience and .... thank you Becky for allowing us to share some time with you.

The Homestead Survival: Use A Squeeze Bottle To Fill Your Cupcake Pan With...

The Homestead Survival: Use A Squeeze Bottle To Fill Your Cupcake Pan With...: http://blogs.babycenter.com/life_and_home/why-didnt-someone-tell-me-sooner-part-3/#comment-16577015 Simple, Easy ... Why did I not think...

Cool mornings, warm breakfast

With the onset of Fall, the air begins to chill.  These are the types of mornings that something warm and filling is much enjoyed.

I am all about easy.  Opening a box of cereal is great.  You pour, add milk and eat.  The only problem with this is the price of cereal is so high.  Not to mention the amount of sugar that can be consumed within that bowl of cereal.

Years ago, I was looking for alternative breakfast ideas for my family.  My kids loved those days when the cost of cereal allowed for it to be a regular part of breakfast.  Expense played a big part of doing away with that idea.  Feeding 5 boys and 1 girl for breakfast can get pricey.

A friend turned me on to some awesome breakfast ideas, one of which I am going to share with you.  They liked oatmeal, but not so much that I made it every day.  This recipe is an oatmeal recipe with a twist.  I even  altered it to remove the white, processed sugar and replaced it with honey.

Now here is an even better choice when making this.  You know that leftover whey you have, from making the Greek Yogurt.  Use this in place of the buttermilk, or even 1/2 milk, 1/2 whey.  Never throw away an ingredient that you can use.

Well, here is the recipe...Happy Morning Meal enjoyment

Baked Oatmeal

3cups oatmeal

3/4 cups honey

1 cup buttermilk (replace with 1/2 c milk, 1/2 c whey from yogurt)

2 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup melted butter

Combine ingredients in a large bowl.  Spoon the mixture into a greased 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish

Bake @ 350* for 25 - 35 min  Serve warm.

The Homestead Survival: Granola in your Slow Cooker recipe

The Homestead Survival: Granola in your Slow Cooker recipe: http://www.stacymakescents.com/crock-pot-granola Coconut Oil (Organic) 16 Ounces Tropic Bee Orange Blossom Honey, 32-Ounce Bottle ...

Something Old/Something New

You know the saying, especially if you are a bride to be....Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.

Well most of that saying also applies to many of the articles we have in our home.  Being frugal can really pay off.  How many things do we toss away, just because it is old or broken, full of holes or we just don't like it any more.  The landfills in America are filled with many such items.

This morning I had the wonderful experience of seeing a blog that gave me a truly great idea for my family.  Re-purposing old sweaters.  You know you have them in your closet, those sweaters that are stretched out or you have worn it for several winters and are just tired of it.  That sweater that your children have out grown, but you hang on to it, because you know that 'someone' will need a sweater.  How about those old sweatshirt...they work just as well.

The Re-purposed idea that I saw, was to take that old sweater and make it into a lovely pair of 'new' mittens for the winter.  Yup, you are reading correctly...mittens.  I got really excited about this, because not only do we have old sweaters that we are not wearing, but I was in need of ideas that were not going to break my wallet, for Christmas presents.

I tried it.  My daughter had outgrown one of her favorite sweatshirts and had it in the give away pile.  I proceeded to take my hand and make a template, on paper, for a pattern to cut out the fabric with.  I redid the pattern to accommodate the stitching that would be done and 'thought' I had the best pattern piece there was.

Have you heard the saying:  'Measure twice, cut once'?  Yeah....me and my bright ideas....measure once and then 'cut'!!  You guessed it...I cut out the complete pair of mittens and started to sew the first one together.  Turned the fabric so that I could put my hand inside of it....NOT!!  The cut out version was the right size, the stitched version would not go over my hand.  I did not take into account the stretch of the wrist for the width of my hand.  Lesson learned.

Back to the drawing board.  Redesign the pattern and cut out a new mitten.  Stitch together and it worked!  Here is a photo of the finished product.  This 'old' shirt was from the GAP and my daughter wore it for several years.  It has now become my first prototype of a wonderful idea for Christmas presents.

Now, to give credit where credit is due.  This idea came from a Blog that I am subscribed to.  Here is the link for this idea: 

 http://homesteadsurvival.blogspot.com/2012/10/repurpose-old-sweater-into-pair-of.html

Another site to visit, to see how someone has taken something old and made it new again is:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RusticEleganceSC

Tonia makes lovely accent items for the home out of wood and hardware that would normally been thrown away.

Happy Re-purposing!!