Free Range on Fairview

Lately the boys have been big into my sourdough biscuits and for good reason! They are quick, hearty, and can go from sweet to savory in a matter of seconds. We love them with elk sausage country gravy but they are usually known to be topped with butter,  honey, jam, used as a sandwich, or just eaten cold for lunch. Flakey. Buttery. Comfortable. Just like me. This recipe uses all my tips to make it simple by not using fancy ingredients or tools. I followed the steps to make my own sourdough starter from the website farmhouseonboone.com and I am happy to report it is doing fantastically after keeping up on it. INGREDIENTS 1 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon salt  1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 6 tablespoons very cold butter (I prefer salted, but your choice)  1 cup fed sourdough starter 1. Preheat oven to 425°. 2. Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder with a wisk or fork until well blended.  3. Trick time: Use a box grater! Grate t

The only problem with our mostly from scratch mostly real food kitchen, is that the inner minimalist hidden inside of me feels overwhelmed if I don’t stay on top of all of it. Luckily there is always a plan and most of this will be cleaned by the end of the day.  Elk sausage patties, short ribs in the instant pot with sweet potato jo jos and chipotle aioli, dishes will rotate but they are never ending, pinto beans soaking to turn into refried beans and more for a quick dinner when needed, eggs to trade with a friend, eggs to wash and use for breakfast today, and finally-sourdough starter freshly fed and waiting for the next experiment. I’m also going to attempt grilled chicken tenderloins for lunches, chopping veggies, and {if time permits} I’m out of sauerkraut so I want to start a new batch.

When they say parenting isn’t for the faint of heart, it is so true! I find that when parenting always seems easy then I am not actually doing the best job I can be doing. There are definitely moments of joy and success, but generally it takes a lot of hard work to get there. It’s easy to let  kids get their way to avoid a meltdown. It’s easy to let them do electronics all the time to buy a few seconds of time to yourself. It’s easy to spread yourself too thin to make sure your kids don’t miss out on a single opportunity in life and get to “do all the things.” It’s easy to let things slide until it feels like every moment of your life is a hot mess. It’s easy to loose my temper and yell when someone else is doing the same thing. I’ve written a lot in the past about the different stages of parenting. The physical exhaustion of the late nights with an infant or trying to keep toddlers from tearing down the house. The mental exhaustion of answering the never ending questions o

This weekend we bought the usual groceries and now the usual chicken feed, and while we were at the store I bought a new weeding hoe for the garden. This year we are slowly buying tools we will need for the larger and more unforgiving property slowly as we don’t have a big chunk of change to spend willy-nilly like we did last year when we sold the house and were remodeling. Each little purchase has to be determined if it is going to be worth it to make our lives easier or more enjoyable rather than a spur of the moment “throw it in” kind of attitude. My 9 year old and I took a silly photo  shoot and he thought they turned out dope so I just have to share. We also had the usual Ellensburg wind blowing so I’ve got some exceptional JLo hair going on in these photos as well. Other than the plethora of tools Shane already had, some of the tools we have slowly added to our homestead in the recent year, or hope to add include: Tractor with attachments Extendable tree trimmer an