Simple Living on Cloverleaf Farm

Baking Homemade Bread

2011-03-01T09:52:00.001-08:00

The one thing we like about making our own bread, is that we have control over what goes in it. No preservatives or chemicals. Pure, natural bread...the way it should be.
Whole wheat bread that you buy in the store is nothing compared to the whole wheat and grain bread we make here on the farm.
We use Bob's Red Mill flours, and add 10 grain flour for more flavor. It creates a delicious and nutrtious bread for sandwiches. We also use it for dipping in our home made soups.
Just once, try making your own bread. You'll love the difference.

Laundry Day

2011-02-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

The sun is shinning, and the laundry basket is full. Guess it's time to wash the clothes.

In this house, we don't have a dryer. We either hang them out in the fresh air, or use clothes racks. Mostly the latter during these cold months of winter. Some of the lighter weight items do dry outside, but I hang most of the clothes on racks by the woodstove. They dry overnight, and I save a ton of money by not using a dryer. Friendly on the wallet, and on the environment.

While most people are using a automatic washer, we use a 1945 Maytag Wringer Washer. It is a bit more work, but in the long run, I have more control over it. I control exactly how much water I need to the drop. I control how long it runs, or I can shut it off for things to soak. It has a cast iron, porcelin tub, so there is no way for clothes to get rust stains from soaking. We have been using it now for 4 years, and I can't imagine going back to a "modern" day washer.

The blessing about my washer...I will bet my Maytag is around much longer than any Maytag on the market today.

Go Ahead and Snow

2011-02-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

They are calling it The Groundhog Day Blizzard.

When we look out the back window towards the gardens, it looks like someone held a white sheet across the window. You have to look past all those flakes coming down to even see the scarecrow now.
Let is snow. It doesn't really matter to us. We are keeping busy in our harvest kitchen working on packaging up orders, taking photos, and working on our next product debut.
This week, we debuted Rejuvenating Night Cream, and Herbal Infused Oils. By Monday of next week, our Elderflower Day Cream will be ready to be shipped as well. We have a few more products that will be debuting soon too.

We enjoy the simple life. We enjoy working from home. It does make for a nice commute to work, no matter what the weather is outside. The only problem we see...you can't call your boss and tell them you are stuck in your yard and can't get to work.

Organic Heirloom Veggies

2011-02-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

Life is bit slow around here in the winter, and it gives us a much needed break from the summer schedule of planting, weeding and harvesting.
It is a good time to read up on organic farming methods, and peruse over new seed catalogs.
At this time of year, we start to plan out our garden on paper. Come planting time, this does make the job a little easier...just a little. A least we know where we are going to plant most things.
This year, we of course will focus on organic heirloom again, but we are thinking of trying out a couple of new tomatoes. We like the looks and sound of the Striped Cavern from Johnny's Seeds. They are bell pepper shaped, and are hollow which will make for a great stuffed tomato. They will probably sell well at the farmers markets as well. Folks like to try new things, and we will give them a recipe for the stuffing part.
Now, we just have to wait until the snow melts, the gardens are plowed and we can put our "garden" on paper to the test.

Busy Month of May

2009-05-18T04:13:00.000-07:00

Cloverleaf Farm is buzzing with activity.
May is our time for getting the fields and gardens ready for planting.
We specialize in heirloom organic produce and get our seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds in Albion Maine. Since Albion is only about 3 hours away, normally we make the journey to get our seeds and make a weekend out of it. This year, we have so much to do, we decided to just have them shipped.
We worked on the lilac garden this weekend. We are moving the lilacs to another area in order to eradicate the bittersweet out of our yard. Bittersweet may be a beautiful plant, but it is too invasive to have on a farm. The new location of the lilacs will actually give us a privacy barrier when they grow in.
Today, we will go to Remick Farm Museum and pay our deposit on the piglets. The piglets will arrive about the third week of June. We had been searching for Tamworth piglets. These piglets are half Tamworth.
Pyewacket the cat is sure to give birth in the next couple weeks. It will be interesting to see how many kittens she has. We are not sure who the father is. She is not telling. She disappeared for a whole week back in the beginning of April. We thought we had lost her for good. Now, we know what she was up to.
Nick and Nora Charles Bunnies are still a bit people shy. We pick them up and handle them daily to get them use to humans. Nick seems to be a bit more trusting then Nora.
Our new chicks arrived on Friday. We will be selling organic chicken by the pound this summer. They are peeping away under their heat lamp in the pantry. It is hard to believe that they will be ready for the freezer by mid July.
The hens have been busy making our daily supply of eggs. We get about 4 dozen a day. We have wholesaled some eggs to a local store, and we sell the rest at our farm stand.
Farmers Market starts up in two weeks. We were hoping to do more than one this year, but I have not heard back from the one in Wolfeboro.
Summer will soon be upon us. For us this means fresh organic food right out of the garden...who could ask for more.

Fixing the Coop

2009-04-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, was indeed an unseasonal day. It got up to be over 90 in the sun. Of course that was the day I choose to fix the chicken pen and coop. The fence post have leaned, and it made the fence lean in right along with it. The chickens learned they could sit on it like a hammock. It was actually kind of funny to watch. After I fixed it up, they all looked at me as if to say "hey, you ruined our nesting hammock.
Along with fixing up the pen, came cleaning and fixing up the coop. They love to make a mess scratching around.
I also cleaned up the raspberry orchard. I can't believe how much hay mulch we had put down. They are budding now, and I can't wait for fresh raspberries.
By 7, I was ready for bed.

Back to the Past

2009-04-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

When we bought Cloverleaf Farm a couple years ago, luckily there wasn't many renovations to do. Not any majors one anyway.
We started by doing small things like replacing the ugly plastic lights with 1800's replica lighting. I could not believe anyone would put a fluorescent light fixture in the bedroom. EEee Gads it was horrible. It looked like a space ship getting to land on the bed.
We then moved on to simple projects like wallpapering the ell. I don't think it had been touched since 1930 something. The back of the door was so dirty, it looked like it had been burnt. The ell came out beautiful. It still looks like 1930 something, only with cleaner wallpaper.
We then started the downstairs powder room. We still haven't finished that. It got to be spring, and I wanted to be outdoors in the gardens. I guess we can get back to it now.
Big projects haven't really been started yet. We plan on redoing the kitchen and date it back to the late 30's early 40's.
We have started to collect items from different eras for throughout the house.

A Long Winter

2009-03-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

This winter is not as bad as last winter. Last winter we had by far more snow than we have had in this area in close to 40 years.
Thinking of the cold and all the snow they had, makes me wonder what they would have done when they first built Cloverleaf Farm.
We don't have the farm animals they would have had, but that could not have taken up their whole day.

Another One Down

2009-01-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

We finally got bedroom number 4 almost to where we want it. We had been using it as the "junk" room, but it is now almost completely back dated to about 1940's. The last bedroom will be done last since we need a place to put my fabric and sewing stuff until we find a trunk.
We hope to start working on the library this weekend. Family is suppose to be coming for Michael's birthday, so we figured we could put them to work shuffling furniture around. This back of mine is making it hard to do much of anything lately. Unfortunately, the dogs can't help with such matters. I am still trying to get them to get them to stop leaving their toys in the middle of the floor.
I would like to think that Spring will be here soon. Lots of projects in the pantry and in the shop can't be done until Spring because it is too cold out there.
Why does Winter seem so long?

Time Warp

2009-01-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Back dating a house is fun, but it can also be tedious. We aren't just talking buying a retro kitchen table and plopping it in to the room. We are going the whole 9 yards, and also back dating everything. This includes accessories, appliances, and decorations. Curtain styles, color schemes, and furniture.

Dishwasher Proves The Stupidity of Fred

2009-01-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

We moved into a house with a very dysfunctional kitchen. Stove on one side, drawers with utensils on the other. This due to the fact Fred, the former owner who lost the house to the bank, decided to put in a huge dishwasher under the cabinet. In order to do this, he had to take out 2 drawers, and a cabinet underneath. He also had to cut into the cabinet to do this leaving a huge gap that let cold air in from the foundation. The kitchen started out as a shed or summer kitchen, and we don't think the walls are thick or the floor is not insulated. Why he didn't fill it in with insulation like we did is beyond us.
We had wanted to take out the dishwasher right after we moved in, but never got around to it. We finally decided to take it out the other day, and couldn't believe what he had done. We already knew from other things he had done in the house that he wasn't too bright, but this clinched his stupidity. Not only did he mess up the cabinet, he detached the plug that came with the dishwasher, and rewired it with an orange extension cord...with the ground cut off. Not that we used it much, but we are lucky that we didn't electrocute ourselves when we did use it.
We now have a hole in our kitchen where the dishwasher once sat. For now we are going to patch up the floor of the cupboard, and put up a curtain until we decide on how to redo the kitchen. I hate to go through all the trouble of fixing it just to tear it out.