My version of farm work

Although it hasn't much felt like it for the past week, it is still winter time. And what does one do to pass the time when the farm isn't really in full swing? Baking. Yes, lots and lots of carb-tastic goodness coming out of my kitchen. As we speak (read: type), there is a double batch of pizza dough rising on the table One for Farmer Big Al's pizza dinner. One for either mini-pizzas for lunch tomorrow, or, and this is where my vote lands, cinnamon fry bread. What's that, you may ask. Well, pizza dough cut into thin strips, deep fried, then topped with cinnamon and sugar. Heavenly.

Also freshly made on my kitchen counter are Cheerio treats with peanut butter and M&M's. Not technically baking, but still oh-so-good.

Finally, and the reason I will have to cut this post short, are the sour cream blueberry scones I am making next. Thanks to the Original Farmer (my mom) we have bunches of lovely, home-grown blueberries in my freezer calling for me to make them into crumbly, baked goodness to go with my breakfast coffee.

So what's missing from this post? Pictures. And why? Because I let my camera battery completely die (luckily not until after snapping a few Build-A-Bear shots of Emma and Mary Claire on their Valentines excursion thanks to Aunt Ashley). Anyhow, the battery is charging. Chances are, the baked goods will not last long enough to be photographed once the battery is ready. So then I will have to bake some more.

The beginning

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day from the Gryder Farm!!

Last night we prepped homemade cinnamon rolls to give our V-day a sweet start. Of course, I will have to learn to pay closer attention to my recipes since I made enough to feed a small army. But, how could eating fresh, yeasty cinnamon rolls all week long be a bad thing?

Emma headed off to school with her homemade Valentines for her classmates - salt clay hearts, painted and glittered, hung from a ribbon. She is very proud of her presents for her friends. And I must say, I do feel slightly Martha-Stewart-y representing the working moms! Emma and Mary Claire both loved playing with the salt clay for quite a while before we actually turned it into the hearts. Then, when that fun is done and the clay has cooked/hardened, it provided the second art project for the girls - painting and glittering! I am a big fan of this homemade dough and it's many possibilities. Yes, you will be receiving ornaments for Christmas made from the same concept! And I should probably start working on them now since production of everything else in our lives comes to a hault for the summer garden months.

A hard days work

Just an update.

This Saturday Farmer Allen will attend a class taught by the Clemson Extension Agent, our informal kick off to a summer market garden. After his class, we (Farmer and family) will immediately head out of town for a little extended-relative time in Lake City. I imagine this will mark the last trip for us for awhile. Allen has started prepping the soil. He has set up a special table in front of the large window in the "play room." He has pulled egg cartons to double as seed trays. All that is left is to start planting. And so it beings!

This summer we hope to start everything from seed (and by "we" I primarily mean Allen)... and given the size of the orders arriving daily in my mailbox, Farmer Allen seems to have made darn sure we will have ample seed for every kind of produce our hearts may desire. There are seeds for things I've never heard of, much less tasted. I guess as long as he's willing to cook it, I'm willing to eat it. Don't know if the same will be true of our blond-headed hellions though...