The dangers of soy...

Greetings farm followers. My blog post today is about the dangers of soy and why we do not eat soy ourselves nor feed it to our animals. Sadly I have had a several folks over the last week call and ask if our eggs were soy free. Apparently the egg supply is extremely limited and folks are getting concerned. By God’s grace I was happily able to tell them that not only are our eggs soy free they are corn free as well. To give some facts on the dangers of soy I have attached an article from the Weston A Price Foundation. This article pretty much sums up everything I have come to understand about the dangers of soy.

https://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert/#gsc.tab=0

We are extremely careful not to use soy or corn in our poultry, turkeys or duck feeds. We consume their eggs so it makes perfect sense not to load them up with things we choose not to put in our human bodies. We stopped using soy and corn in our feed more than 15 years ago. As soon as we knew that a corn free, soy free option was available we signed right up. It is not enough for us that our products be organic, our products must produce health and not cause disease. Especially be aware if you are consuming either of these products via conventional farming methods. I can pretty much guarantee they are GMO and heavily sprayed with glyphosate (Roundup). There is tons of published research on the ill effects from that product.

So please folks know that the information shared today is meant to educate and not insult or demean anyone. Knowledge is power and being able to be in control of these bodies that God has given us is truly a blessing.

So you want to be more sustainable? Great let me give you some advice...

Greetings farm followers! We live in very challenging times. The economy is a looming disaster and trying to navigate it can be very perplexing. I write these blog posts to share with others my experiences in this life. God has given me much and I am overflowing with gratitude to Him so I want to impact as many people as I can before He calls me home someday. I have been farming pretty much organically small scale since 2004. Folks are looking for information so they can be more independent and that is a good thing. That being said with that independence comes more responsibility. Having a farm or homestead requires a good deal of knowledge. Ignorance has consequences. I do not mean that in a demeaning way but sometimes the grass looks greener on the other side because you have not walked that field yourself to see all the weeds. With all the new Homesteading events popping up and Instagram posts and reels bombarding folks with these “easy solutions” to everything I encourage everyone who is at least thinking like that to avail yourself of whatever educational events, books and material you can. You must come to a better understanding of what these endeavors entail before you jump in with both feet.

Having a few garden beds is relatively harmless but when you decide to bring other living things on your land you better understand what they need in regards to care. From my own personal experience of raising sheep, cows, goats, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks, bees and pigs these living creatures need specific things. Feeding them alone is quite costly. Illness and injury will come and Vet care is very expensive. Finding a good large animal Vet is near impossible these days. Invest in a Mentor, a physical Mentor. Having someone who is doing it or has done it help you to navigate will save you a ton of HEARTACHE and money and the animals less suffering. This lifestyle and believe me it is a lifestyle or a calling as I feel led to live this way requires a good deal of physical input. So you better be up for the job or have a ton of cash to employ others. There is nothing wrong with supporting small farmers who are doing it right. God will bless that believe me. Go work in their fields with their animals before you take on a very big responsibility. No man is an island and I know quite a few organic farmers who need help. I celebrate the renewed energy folks are being given but take on these endeavors with a full understanding.

Einkorn Sourdough Piadina-Italian Flatbread

Piadina! This is a great little Italian flatbread getting its name from the areas of Italy on the Adriatic Sea says the late Carla Bartolucci in her awesome cookbook Einkorn. Now the flatbread in this recipe gets it leavening via sourdough. You can use yeast or baking soda as as some do and also olive oil can be swapped out for lard as well. As Summer as approaches these great little flatbreads are awesome vehicles for fresh veggies!

1/4c refeshed sourdough or 1 tsp. active dry yeast. (60 grams)

1 cup warm water, @100 degrees (236 grams)

1/4c EVOO or leaf lard (50 grams)

4 1/2 c einkorn AP flour, plus more for dusting (510 grams)

1 1/2 tsps sea salt

In a medium bowl, dissolve the starter or yeast in the warm water. Whisk in the oil or leaf lard. Add the flour and sprinkle sea salt on top. Mix the dough with dough hook or stiff spatula until most of the flour has absorbed the water. Transfer to a work surface and knead till smooth about 2 minutes. Return dough to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours if using yeast and 4 hours using sourdough.

Heat an ungreased cast iron pan on medium low heat or baking steel to about 425 degrees. Surface must be hot enough to cook the dough, not burn it or dry it out.

Divide the dough into 10 equal portions. While working with each piece make sure to keep the others covered so they do not dry out. Roll each piece into a little tight ball and cover with plastic wrap as you work. Roll each piece into an 8” disc. Flatbreads are thicker than tortillas so do not roll out too thin.

Place each Piadina on an the ungreased, heated surface and cook for about 2 minutes. You want nice little golden areas on the piadina. Flip and cook the other side for approximately 3 minutes.

Line a basket with a clean kitchen towel and keep the piadina warm while you finish rolling and cooking each one. Serve warm or at room temperature. You can store these in a plastic bag for up to three days (if they last) or freeze up to one month.

Recipe adapted from Einkorn by Carla Bartolucci.

Grinding wheat...

Good morning farm followers. Today I thought I would write a short post on grinding your own wheat berries or any other grain you would like to make into flour. As most folks who read my humble blog posts know I use Einkorn wheat here most of the time. I have been a grain mill owner for well into 15 years now. Being the mother of five children “large ticket” items become more affordable when the cost is shared amongst 5. :-) The first mill I was gifted was a Nutrimill and I still have it after all these years. About two years ago I upgraded to a Mockmill 200 simply because I wanted a quieter less heat generating mill. Nutrimills are very loud in my opinion and they throw off a good deal of heat. My Mockmill is definietly quieter for sure. It has so many positives that if you are looking for a new mill or perhaps your first Mockmills are great choices. I purchased my Mockmill from Breadtopia but you can get them from Pleasant Hill Grain.

While I have no power to predict the future I can discern the times as to how it relates to myself and my family. Economically we are in dangerously disastrous times. Over the last two years everything has been turned upside down and life is getting more complicated by the day. Food is and will continue to become a major issue. We are already seeing shortages and delays worldwide. My faith in God is what I use as my barometer and I know that hard times are upon us. I will not go into a deep theological dissertation right now but preparation is wise at this time. So milling your own grain is wise especially if you use wheat regularly.

I purchase my Einkorn All Purpose flour from Jovial Foods. Unfortunately their growers are in Italy and sometimes getting their products to their Headquarters/Warehouse in Connecticut is a bit of a transportation struggle. I buy my flour in 10 pound bags and unfortunately we are finding that they are out of stock. I bake regularly so I need consistency. So praise God in steps Einkorn.com When I found out Jovial was out of my 10 pound bags I received an email from Einkorn.com that they were now officially up and running milling AP flour. Now they are located in the Grand Tetons in Idaho and grow einkorn themselves but were milling whole wheat. Now they are milling all purpose flour!! Yay!! I have placed an order for forty pounds due to arrive this week so I will test their new AP vs Jovial’s AP.

About four months ago I ordered 100 pounds of einkorn wheat berries so my supply of einkorn is great but now to mill my own becomes a bit more complicated. But it is doable. So I grind my einkorn berries on the finest setting on my Mockmill then I bolt it. Bolting is the process of sifting out the coarser parts of the grain leaving the fleshy white part of the inside. The bran and endosperm are mostly removed and you have a more “all purpose” flour. I use two screens on 5mm and one 4mm which I purchased from Amazon. Whole grain baking is great and I do bake that way a lot but I use far more AP flour in my recipes so my choice is to know how to mill myself. So if you have any questions or suggestions please free to comment.

Remembering Carla Bartolucci

Yesterday was the first year anniversary of the passing away of Carla Bartolucci. A year ago I wrote a brief post giving tribute to Carla for her work with Einkorn. The Blog post has been one of my most read posts so it just goes to show that Carla made a tremendous impact upon the lives of others. Einkorn because of Carla has been demystified in many ways. I as a baker have been made better by her painstaking knowledge and her love of making einkorn the grain of choice around here. Her family continues to bring honor to her work and as Giulia continues to take the reigns with her family Jovial will do well. They have good products and I am so very thankful that I was able to spend the time watching Carla’s teaching videos to become more knowledgeable to be able to teach others. Thank you Bartolucci Family for sharing the treasure of you mother, wife, CEO and overall great person with the world. I am a better person for it.