Homemade Saturday: Lentil Soup

Right, so I know it's Monday already, and it may not be a great idea to start something new, late.  But I was busy on Saturday, and while I got this started I didn't find the time to finish it.  So, without further ado, here is the first Homemade Saturday post... on Monday.

This time of year, when the wind starts shifting to the north, the geese start flying south, the temperature starts dropping, and the possibility of snow rising, my ideas for lunches become more and more along one track.

Soup.

There is something so comforting, homey, filling and cozy about a warm bowl of soup (especially when sitting beside a piece of warm bread which is buried in homemade butter)  One of our more recent favorites, and one of the quickest to do when it's 11:00 and you need to think about lunch is Lentil Soup.  I LOVE lentils.  And was delighted when our friend and neighbor sent in this recipe to the children's paper that I edit.  I tried it, fell in love with it, adopted and adapted it to be my own, and made it as often as I possibly could!

1. First things first.  Melt a 1/4 cup of fat in a pot.  This could be anything from, butter, bacon fat, or chicken fat.  The last being my favorite.

2. Add 1 finely chopped onion, and 2-3 garlic cloves minced.  Saute until quite soft.  I enjoy the flavor, not the crunch.

3.  Next the important part.  Your Lentils.  Now I am a bit of a lentil snob.  Any lentil would do for this recipe, green, red, big little. BUT. I love french green lentils.  Don't even ask me why, I just do.  So, while your vegetables are sauteing you should sort and rinse your lentils.  Now, I have never done this, and have punished my family with little gritty stones in their soup...
Your amount of lentils depends on how thick you like your soup.  I like to stick to around 3 cups.

4.  Once your vegetables are soft enough add the lentils, 8 cups of broth (chicken or turkey), water would work too, but I like the richness the broth lends. Then add 1 tsp of cumin.

5.  Simmer your soup for 30 minutes or so (when I was rushed I was able to do it in 20) until your lentils are tender, and your soup is beginning to thicken.

6.  These next additions are optional but delicious! Greens: Spinach is a wonderful option and if it isn't the season for fresh, organic frozen works well, Swiss Chard is also wonderful, and anything else like it.

7.  Meat: Turkey Sausage is my personal favorite (our homemade) but you can also use ham (as I did this time) bacon, or any other meat you think will work.

8. Throw in your greens and meat, then add 1/4 cup of lemon juice (this is essential to the flavor) 2-3 tsp of salt (I never measure, it's just to taste) and plenty of pepper.

Taste, serve and enjoy!!

~Chs

Harvest Days

It is a wonderfully busy, satisfying time of year!!  Here at Lily Spring Gardens and Farm harvest is in full swing.

One of our very own apple trees (the Jonathan) produced for the very first time!  So we made an apple pie in celebration!

Faith has been the canning queen around here.  All the jars in the picture (and some I didn't get) were part of one day's work!! Pickles, apple jelly, apple sauce, canned pears, and more!

The gardens are all winding down and are only waiting for us to have time to clean them out and put them to bed.  One fine October day (which we have had quite a few of recently) Mumsie, Faith and I harvested the squash and dry bean patch.

{Gourds}

Butternut squash is one of our favorite winter side dishes!!  We love this squash, and have never been able to grow enough.

Spaghetti squash is our next staple.  Wonderful for gluten free spaghetti!

Almost completely hidden by the squash vines were our Jacob's cattle beans. These are adorable spotted dry beans which are SO photogenic. :)

 {“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”}

~Chs

Fall Raspberries

 While our raspberries didn't perform very well in the summer, this second fall bearing has been magnificent!

Every other day (or when we remember) we go out to our happy patch and pick nearly a quart of juicy red jewels.

{little froggy joined us picking one evening}

{delicious} 

Very thankful for this lovely harvest of berries this fall!

~Chs

Last Birthday of the Year

Last Monday we were privileged to celebrate the last birthday of this year for our family.  Charity turned 31.  And while the day was a little fractured and busy and the cake was a bit of a flop, we still had a delightful party celebrating our first born, beautiful, extremely smart sister and daughter.

{the "flop" peanut butter chocolate torte}

Charity is our numbers person, and computer whiz.  Whether it is formulating chicken feed, fixing a frozen computer screen, or finding out some random fact, the name most often heard would be --Charity!

Praying that God would bless her with many more years, and improving health as those years go by.

~Chs

Pearadise

At the moment Apple season is in full swing, but a few weeks ago before our dreams were swamped with Macs and Spys, fritters and pies;

 we were in Pearadise.

We had bushels and bushels of pears.  Some laid out in the basement, some strewn on papers across the garage, others tucked in Josiah's room, and the ones we couldn't spread out sitting in baskets awaiting our pleasure.

You see we had three different pear trees (owned by three different people, and therefore in three different locations) offered to us for picking.  So any spare afternoon, off we would go baskets and ladders in tow to pick the pears.  Not all the pear trees (alright, most of them) were not pick-from-ground-height.  So sometimes extreme measures had to be taken.

Often that simply meant on a ladder with a pear/apple picker to extend your reach.

Other times though, it meant standing on top of the 8 foot ladder (yes, I mean on the part that says "no standing sitting or leaning" etc..) and using the rest of your 7-8ft. reach to get those stubborn pears at the top.

Like so.

To be honest, only Josiah had the balance and bravery to attempt the a fore mentioned feat.  The rest of us applaud, caution, and stay far enough down the ladder to be perfectly safe and comfortable, if not with both feet planted on the ground.

And there are times, when even a 8 foot ladder will not suffice.  Especially if you are a young man who is pearanoid (misspelling intended :P) about reaching every last possible pear on the tree.  If you can see in the above photo, the ladder is at the bottom, and Josiah... well he climbed.  A backpack worn in front allowed for two free hands - one to hold on and one to pick.

Once the pears are all safely home, the work had just begun.  There were pears to can - plain, cinnamon, and a new one - with raspberries (excellent by the way).

 We also pressed them in the cider mill, mixed them with the early apples and create a delicious pear/apple cider to drink.

We made pear crisp, pear clafouti (or patouti as it is affectionately known here) and pear cake.  Of course plenty of them were eaten just the way God made them.

Then there was our newest find.  Pear mince!  Sweet luscious chunky pears with plump raisins, heavenly spices, and zesty lemon.  Oh the combination!  It is wonderful to eat on its own, or you could put it in a pie, and I think it would be an excellent sauce with meat.

We have since left Pearadise, but it was a lovely visit, and we have some wonderful jars of proof in our cellar.

~Chs

Where to Start?

I was going to just begin now, and not try to catch up on everything.  But that just wouldn't be right, so many exciting things... so the question now is...  Where on earth do I start?

Do I start the 3rd week of August with the horse show at Banbury, which was such a wonderful (if super hot and exhausting) day.

Or do I start the next weekend when I spent a few days up in Port Austin with Josh and Theresa helping Theresa at the farmers market.

What about the first week in September when Mom and Dad got away for a day to celebrate their 32nd anniversary.

Or the following week when Faith, Josiah and I were able to watch a fox hunt start off in Metamora.

I could tell about the first, and subsequent, super early frosts.

Then there was the wonderful week I spent up at the ELIM retreat at the tip of the Thumb helping in the kitchen.

Oh, and the delightful time we were able to spend with Annie, one of the missionaries at the retreat who stayed with us for a couple days.

Of course there is always something else going on here at the farm.. like did I ever mention that we had an Angora Rabbit?

You see what I mean, by having such a hard time choosing!!  :)

~Chs

Where September Went

Yup.

I know it.

The whole month of September gone and not a single post on the blog.  

Now please understand that this silence does not mean that there has been nothing going on.  Quite the contrary.  We have been so busy, with so much post worthy things going on, that I have had no time whatsoever to let you all know about it.  I am hoping to change that.  No, I don't expect us to be less busy in October (I have stopped hoping that a time will come where everything slows down) but I mean to try to post little blurbs and pictures along the way.  I am not even going to attempt to catch up on all the things I missed in September.. sorry, you will just have to imagine.  :P

Till next post.. (hopefully sooner that later!)

~Chs

Proclaiming their Creator

{Photos from a sunny August afternoon in a patch of wild bee-balm}