July slowly coming to and end...

Greetings farm followers! I am usually a very positive person, but I cannot help but admit it has been an awful Summer here in the Upstate of SC thus far. We have had weeks of relentless heat in the upper 90’s and humidity that has been off the wall. We have gone weeks without rain then we get a deluge of rain which makes everything muddy and more difficult to manage. I am thankful that God controls everything and when my heart gets in this condition I can turn to His word and be encouraged. We have lived here for about 10 years now and if the truth be told I do not think I can handle another Summer like this. I know God brought our family here so I will continue to ask Him for direction as I ponder our future.

Life on the farm has been very challenging of late. We have had quite a few losses this Summer. We have an aging population of livestock so we expect life to end for many but nevertheless it breaks my heart every time. We have gone over our cleaning and disinfecting routine making sure that we have not missed anything. At the end of the day we have to leave it all up to God asking for His guidance and blessing upon their health and survival. We are responsible to be good stewards of what God entrusts to us and when we do our part we have no other choice but to trust God to work it out.

We have decided to finally dry our milk cow Lissa off. She will be artificially inseminated with some sexed semen when the Farm I have chosen has it available, but for now I need a rest and so does she. She is still cycling without interruption so I am trusting that will continue till we have a confirmed pregnancy.

We are adding a small flock of quail to the Farm so hopefully we will have some quail eggs in the future.

That about does it for updates. Hopefully you all are managing well in all the heat and chaos in our country. God is still on the throne so keep the faith. Jesus never fails.

Einkorn Mocha Coffee Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 2 cups (240 grams) einkorn all purpose flour

• 3 teaspoons baking powder 

• ½ teaspoon sea salt 

• 1 cup (240 grams) sour cream or plain yogurt 

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

• 3 eggs yolks 

• ½ cup (100 grams) sugar 

• 8 tablespoons (113 grams) butter, melted 

• 4 tablespoons instant espresso powder or 4 espresso shots 

• 6 ounces milk chocolate bars, roughly chopped

For the Crumble:

• 1 ½ cups (180 grams) einkorn all purpose flour

• ½ (100 grams) cup sugar 

• ¼ teaspoon sea salt 

• 12 tablespoons (170 grams) butter, cut into ¼” cubes 

• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 

• 4 tablespoons instant espresso powder 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9x13 pan and set aside. 

2. For the cake, sift together the flour, baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside. 

3. In a stand mixer, combine the sour cream, vanilla extract, egg yolks, and sugar. Whip on medium-high for 5 minutes or until pale and frothy. Add in the melted butter, espresso powder, and chocolate pieces. Mix to combine.  

4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and use a spatula to combine the two until just combined, being careful not to overwork the cake. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and use the spatula to evenly spread it on the bottom of the pan.  

5. Place the cake into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. 

6. While the bottom layer of the cake is baking, combine the crumble ingredients in a bowl. Use a pastry cutter to work the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse sand. 

7. Remove the cake from the oven and sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over top of the slightly baked cake. Return the cake to the oven and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until completely set in the middle.  

8. Let cool completely before cutting and serving. Dusty with powdered sugar, if desired. 

   Recipe courtesy of Jovial Foods

Einkorn Chocolate Chip Cookies (Jovial recipe)

Makes 22-23 Cookies

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons (170 g) softened unsalted butter

• ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar

• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 3 cups (360 g) Jovial all-purpose flour

• 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• 1 ½ cups (230 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips

• A pinch of flaky sea salt, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

2. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand beaters, beat together the butter and both sugars until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

3. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.

5. Add the dry ingredients slowly in three batches, scraping down the edge of the bowl as needed, and mixing until all the dry bits are combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Scoop generous 2 ½ tablespoon balls (1½” in diameter) onto the baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each. Sprinkle the dough balls with flaky sea salt, if desired.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and set in the middle. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying.

Recipe courtesy of Jovial Foods

A Remembrance of Carla Bartolucci

Today marks the third anniversary of the death of Jovial Foods Co-Founder Carla Bartolucci. I never had the pleasure of meeting Carla in person but it was on my bucket list. However I did exchange a few brief emails pertaining to Einkorn with her. I have written several posts over the years giving thanks for her work in the promotion and education of the wonderful wheat Einkorn. God brought her work across my path to help mold me into the Einkorn baker I am today. Though I bake in a small town way “Cottage Baker” I have had the privilege to share and teach others how to master the techniques needed to use Einkorn effectively. I have maintained a small blog presence and I have had an Einkorn Lovers Facebook Group for quite a few years now. Her instructions and her cookbook and videos are immensely helpful even to this day. I purchased a signed copy of her cookbook Einkorn when it first came out and I continue to look at the inscription with joy each time I use it. So my prayers are with the Bartolucci Family today and all those who loved her that you will know that Carla made a difference and you are all part of it. .

Spring has sprung, lookout Summer!

Greetings from Didaskalos Farm! It has been quite a while since I have written. Life has been very hectic lately. We have been dealing with a family crisis and have seen the Hand of the Lord do mighty things. It has caused my husband and I to make some adjustments to our living arrangements. We still are residing in our 9 acre, 7 bedroom/3 bath ancient property that needs ALOT of updating. However, we have had to move upstairs to the West Wing as we call it. :-) That is the area of the Farm house that we usually reserve for folks needing a place to transition before being able to resettle things in their lives ( we have had four groups go through) but apparently it is our turn. We are caring for a mentally incompetent 80 plus year old gentleman for the past 14 years. His sister was a dear Christian sister who left this Earth to Journey on to Heaven after a losing battle with uterine sarcoma. We are now caring for my husband’s mother who became widowed 5 years ago. As I seek God’s help everyday to manage everything He reminds me to count it all a privilege to serve in this capacity but it does change the dynamics in especially my role on Farm.

I have been attempting to plant my Summer garden and I am determined to get it done. I have installed two new Bee Hives and am so looking forward to honey in the not too distant future. Our meat chickens have a few more weeks before we process and I have large quail eggs in the incubator. We processed all our rabbits and have only the original doe and since the meat was so delicious we are determined to get the breeding program up and running again. We are going to start our Turkeys for Thanksgiving in the next few weeks so we can at least enjoy good meat for the holiday. We processed our two Berkshire pigs several months ago and they are absolutely delicious. We should have meat till late Fall. Our hens have FINALLY started laying again and we are overflowing with eggs at present. From the sublime to the ridiculous around here sometimes. Our Jersey milk cow Lissa has been a challenge to say the least. I thought I had a pretty good grip on dairy cows but I have learned a valuable lesson. She is really a great cow overall, trained well to be milked. Giving about 3-4 gallons of milk a day with twice a day milking now in her 13 month lactation which is quite good. No mastitis trauma Praise God so her health is excellent. However we are trying to get her bred and so far two failed attempts at AI. I will now try live cover using a bull on loan from a friend. I have decided to sell her and I think she will be a great Family Milk cow for someone.

My baking has been put on hold simply because I have not had the time to really crank up the my baking. I am baking the bare minimum to keep my family going but not filled any outside orders for sometime. I have declined several Markets/Festivals simply because I do not find enough time to do it well. I so enjoy the privilege of being able to create delicious food but until the Lord opens the door for that to take off I will wait patiently.

My Health Coaching is at a stand still. Folks are very resistant to change sadly and many continue to suffer. I am deeply aware of the economic status in our Country right now, poverty happens in many areas of our lives and low economics and lack of a sense of priority or urgency for change is a powerful driving force. Sadly I have several grown children whom my heart breaks for simply because they still do not see the connection between food and health and that FOOD is medicine.

I am now a New Country Organics Feed reseller. It has been a long time in coming but God has opened that door so I pray abundant blessing over this endeavor. I am also considering reselling Nood Clean products. This is a small business located in Taylors, SC and they have some pretty neat cleaning products. So look for the announcement of new things happening area of this crazy website.

I have a potential Bread Making Class 101 coming in late May/early June. I have been contacted by a sweet lady about offering another class. So if you are interested at all in baking bread with Einkorn please contact the Farm so we can see what can be scheduled. I am also going to include an intro to Sourdough so much can be gleaned if you desire. Still trying to settle on a price point. Hopefully we can get these classes going once again.

Well I will close this update Blog post for now. If you are interested in Einkorn and do Facebook I do have a Group called Einkorn Lovers Group. Feel free to search us out. I post lots of recipes and the folks on the Group do contribute to the conversation weekly. Till I post again! Enjoy what is left of Spring.