Happy November!

Good morning from the desk of Didaskalos Farm!

Please forgive me for I know I have been MIA for a bit, just a tad consumed with every day life. Trying to get on with the business of my “new normal” as they say. We have sold ( :-( ) our milk cow Summer to a lovely family here in SC. We trust they will love her and enjoy her delicious A2/A2 milk. All of our female Gulf Coast sheep (except one) are sold and heading to Florida and Tennessee by months end. Our Jersey bull will be heading to freezer camp with a few Gulf Coast males in early December and we rejoice that we will have grass fed beef and lamb again!

We are eagerly awaiting Thanksgiving for many reasons, one being it is my favorite holiday of the year. It is a time especially for me to reflect and praise God for the abundant blessings He has bestowed upon not only me but our family in the year that is coming to an end. I do humbly rejoice and worship the birth of Jesus and His resurrection but I do not believe that these “holidays” are authentic and given all the commercialized hoopla it is not something I participate in. Advent is a time for us to reflect and worship but that takes place in the meeting the needs of others rather than selfishly consuming more “things”. To each his own and I judge no other Christian for how they live, God is their Judge and He will tear down any idols. It is our job to build up, so we focus on that.

Lord willing, my husband and I will be revamping our website in December. We will add more photos, more information as we progress on this Pilgrim’s journey called life. I have so much I want to share but time always seems limited around here. We are expecting our 20th grandchild in late January. So far the pregnancy is going well and she is growing fast. That is just one of many blessings to celebrate as God the Giver of Life blesses the Scott Family. Well thank you for reading my piece of the world wide web. I do appreciate it. Please feel free to comment. I would love suggestions if any one feels like sharing. We are planning lots of great things for 2020 so stay tuned….

Dreaded Days of Summer....

Greeting farm followers! It is HOT! need I say any more? Yesterday we reached nearly 100 degrees! And the humidity was off the wall. Pollen count for ragweed is ridiculous and many are suffering just from a little time outside. I can hardly believe it is September already. Looking forward to Fall and somewhat cooler temperatures. I am thankful for all the seasons God has given us. Some are easier to get through then others but nevertheless they are all necessary. So we bear up and are extremely privileged to retreat to a cool house. Many do not have such luxuries. As the death toll rises in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian I count my blessing and name them one by one… God is merciful and kind even in the midst of all the chaos and destruction.

My daughter-in-law was given confirmation yesterday that the baby they are expecting in January is indeed a little girl. She currently weighs 14 ounces (2 ounces above the normal weight at this age) so she appears to be growing nicely. My son has four boys already and a little girl will just add to the blessings of children. Their youngest child Gabriel will turn 3 on Thursday! He shares a birthday with my father-in-law. We are rejoicing that God in His providence spared my father-in-law’s life in July when he suffered that catastrophic heart attack. He is a living miracle that even the medical doctors had to confess. He has made good progress and we rejoice in the God of mercy!

We have the cow listed on craigslist/greenville and hopefully soon we will have a new family ready to add a milk cow to their homestead. We trust God will bring just the right folks and we wait (sometimes impatiently) for His answer. We will list our sheep next, I have delayed listing them because I wanted to get everyone’s paperwork in order but it appears that our dear registrar has taken a hiatus again. He has a lot of family responsibility but he does not feel he can hand over the reins of the registry to anyone. So we wait! Hopefully the new buyers will understand and trust that the stock we sell can be registered and traced.

I purchased a new baking book. As you all know I bake primarily with the Ancient wheat grain Einkorn. I feel it is time to expand my use of other just as valuable grains. In the past I have baked with Red Fife purchased from Anarchy Acres in Wisconsin, Abruzzi Rye and Sonora white out of Anson Mills here in SC. However, now I have added a new line up of heritage wheat grains to the list. I found a lovely mill in Texas (Barton Springs Mill) and have purchased some Marquis, Warthog and Rouge de Bordeaux. Also purchased some Sonora White from a Native Indian farm in Arizona called Ramona Farms. Also purchased some Turkey Red from Anarchy Acres. I am so thankful for these small sustainable managed grain farms who are passionate about revitalizing our almost lost heritage of wholesome grains. I pray that the products I bake from the line up of these wonderful food blessings will not only honor God but will nourish and satisfy many. I am so thankful to have these privileges given to me by God. May He shine!

Thank you for reading this blog post. I greatly appreciate it and feel free to comment. I love getting good feedback.

Welcome Monday!

Greetings farm followers! Hopefully everyone is doing well. We have had a few days of cool weather considering it is the end of August here in SC. We are loving it and so are all the animals. We moved the young rams over into the pasture with Titan our current herd sire and sure enough one of his sons saw fit to challenge him last night. The running speed and the forceful hits amaze me. I am surprised they do not knock themselves out. I was seeing stars just watching them. But after a few hits junior gave up and went back to the group quietly. This is the first time they have been physically in contact with our Anatolian shepherd Anna. Anna of course thought that they were her new playmates but after some stern scolding she mellowed out and this morning seems to be doing better. Theo our special little ram is not exactly sure how to handle her but the others are learning fast. Little Bull seems to care less for the new pasture mates as he already knows he is the King over there. Hopefully everyone will adjust until we can find new homes for them all. Some will go to freezer camp others I pray become herd sires one day.

My father-in-law is making progress every day! I am so encouraged by the strength the Lord continues to give him. God is so very gracious and long suffering. He and my mother-in-law are doing their best to remain independent. Hopefully their success will continue. My husband and I are waiting patiently for what God has for us to do next. Our number two prayer right now is that all of our precious animals will find loving, stable homes. Pray that God will raise up just the right folks to take them on.

Saturday I attended my son and daughter-in-law’s Gender Reveal party for our 20th grandchild. This will be our son’s fifth child (all boys) and our daughter-in-law’s third child. I was commissioned to make “cake pops”. Not an easy task when you do not use artificial ANYTHING! My sister was visiting from Pennsylvania and she and I worked for many hours making 50 cake pops for the party. 25 blue and 25 pink! They turned out good considering our first attempt but if I make them again in the future I will be looking for a better cake and icing recipe. The cake was very bland and the icing just did not dry as I would have liked. Everyone enjoyed them and there were not many left so at least were were successful. Oh and the new grandbaby due in January is a GIRL!

Well farm followers thank you for reading my ongoing story of life. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to ask. And if you or anyone are looking for sheep, a milk cow, chickens, turkeys or ducks please let us know. Please feel free to pass this on. Have a wonderful rest of August will hopefully write again to welcome September!

Happy Friday!

Good morning you precious farm followers! Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my little place on the web. I have two more jars of fruit fermenting in water. They are still in the brewing stage getting ready to become another batch of yeast water. This time they are filled with bing cherries! Not sure what bread they will become but I am sure by past experience they will be wonderful!

Today sometime I will be listing my animals for sale with prices and descriptions for each one. We are praying for wonderful safe homes for each and everyone of them. Our sheep, turkeys and our ducks are rare and endangered breeds. Hopefully some conservationist like us will be interested. We will list them on the Livestock Conservancy market page as well. As this new normal eventually becomes a reality I am sure God will continue to give direction and comfort. My father in law is doing fairly well considering all that his body has endured these past 7 weeks. God indeed is merciful to us and we trust He will continue to be.

Well Happy Friday to you all. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. I am always ready to give an answer…

Elizabeth

Good morning!! New day!

Today is a new day here on Didaskalos Farm and though our life is beginning to take a slightly newer direction, my heart is still drawn to the love of the farm. God has put it in my heart and I cherish it! Jesus is the Bread of Life and that has such a magnitude of meaning. Bread in itself has been nourishing mankind for millennia. When I discovered Einkorn over five years ago I began the journey of transitioning my baking exclusively with this ancient grain. I have learned so much but never do I feel I cannot learn even more. God’s creation amazes me every minute of the day. If we just stop to ponder all the natural processes in this world we cannot be anything but truly blown away mentally by the AWESOMENESS of it all.

Today I am baking two french boules (round loaves) of einkorn bread. Now normally I use either an organically grown yeast from a company called Bioreal or my own sourdough starter to make a levain. However, today I am using yeast water that I made from fresh figs that I picked from our tree. Wild yeast really is what it is just like sourdough. The process is very simple and I learned about it from a bread blog last year. You start with clean, cool water. Nothing chlorinated please! Side note: We are privileged to have a 700 ft drilled well here that gives us delicious artisan well water. You cut up selected fruit or herbs, or plant material of your choosing and fill a mason jar 3/4 full cap it and let that ferment for 5-7 days. I cut up about six very ripe figs and set my jars in a dark place to begin their transition. My fermentation process however did not take but three days and my water was bursting with bubbles. I mixed up two levains yesterday and let them spend sometime together so they could begin the process of rising my bread today! So today is putting everything together day! Lord willing by the end of the day I will have produced two wonderfully risen round loaves of einkorn bread! Hopefully we can entice some of our farm followers to purchase these soon to be beauties and experience true organic goodness! Thanks for reading!! Have a wonderful day!