Home.Farm’s true beginnings!

So, today was a big day for us here on the HomeFarm. I can’t quite explain what was so special about today…maybe loading the FarmCar up with HomeFarm’s first bales of straw…maybe the finishing of a never-ending table-building project…I just don’t know.

Doesn’t matter, really – all that’s important is that it *felt* like a big day for us!

Here she is, the famous FarmCar, loaded with five bales of straw fresh from the Standard Feed & Seed Store in Atlanta. As you can probably imagine, after unloading her FarmCar is completely head to toe in straw remnants. I haven’t had time to vacuum her out yet – that’s a job for another day.

Two bales are now in the bed seen on the right of this photo. They will stay baled, but I will be piling the tops with composted manure and watering them for two weeks. After two weeks, the straw will have heated up and cooled down (hopefully) and something, probably greens, will be planted on top.

The beautiful thing about this method is that the bales will continue to degrade and compost, and next year I will have some beautiful stuff to spread in this box.

As for the rest of the bales, they will be going toward making some new beds. More on that tomorrow!

Peanut Butter Doggie Treats

So, I am definitely back on the project-doing bandwagon, only I keep forgetting to take pictures!  I apologize for not keeping updated, and will certainly try harder from now on.

Dexter, our miniature pincher, was about out of his favorite Trader Joe's peanut butter dog treats. Seeing as we are on a very tight budget right now and I absolutely refuse to go shopping, I did a little bit of research. Peanut butter dog treats, it turns out, are incredibly easy to make.  Plus, we happened to have all of the ingredients! 

Here’s the recipe I used.  It is a combination of several recipes on the web, just adjusted a bit for what I had on hand:

1 1/2 cups	organic whole wheat flour
1/4 cup	organic old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon	baking powder
3/4 cup	1% organic milk
3/4 cup	organic all natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon	molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine everything in a mixer and stir until smooth. Dough will be stiff and not sticky, but should still be pliable.

Roll dough to approximately 1/4” thickness and cut with an appropriately sized cookie cutter, or into whatever shape you desire.

Bake for 22-25 minutes.

Store in an airtight container or freeze for longer storage.

Dexter absolutely loves these – hopefully your pooch will too!