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TWENTY ACRES AND HEAVEN
I cannot describe to you how wonderful it is to live on twenty acres in the middle of nowhere.
I did not think I would love our home the way I do. Most of the land is unused. That is part of the charm of living here is how vast it appears to me. Our land goes up along the side of a mountain. There is a valley below us and a mountain on the other side of the valley. Small communities of approximately 4 families live on that side of the valley. To one side of our mountain is a road that goes to a reservoir and recreation area. To the other side are farms, ranches and cattle grazing. Before moving here I would not have believed how beautiful and peaceful this could be.
There is no way I can describe how comfortable and relaxed I feel on our property and in our home.
About ½ of the way up the property is where we placed our home and other buildings; our home, a utility room (where we monitor our off grid utilities (solar and wind power). Our property is comprised of a garage to park two of our vehicles; storage room for animal feed, tools etc. A small fenced yard for ducks, their pond, shelter, vegetation, etc., a chicken coop, our house and a storage room for all our seasonal possession, a small shed for the cats. We also raise meat birds, such as chickens and turkeys. In our future we plan pigs and goats.
We raise a large garden; which we eat fresh, can via wet pack – pressure cooked, dried, frozen etc. We purchase a beef and have it cut and rapped to put in the freezer. We purchase freeze dried food products, spices and other seasonings. We raise a garden; which we freeze, bottle and/or dehydrate. Our water comes from our own well.
We have been outside and water garden and feed the animals. My husband is listening to the radio as I type this article. Before we moved here; we had contemplating raising our own livestock; however, as it turns out, it was less expensive to purchase the beef after some else raised it and had it cut and wrapped for the freezer.
We also purchase fruits and vegetables grown in other regions and/or not available in our area due to climate, such as pineapple.
I currently purchase a case of pineapple, which I froze for later use in baking. (My husband’s favorite desert is pineapple pie.)
Currently we have an abundance of zucchini. But, then who doesn’t (If they garden – If you don’t garden – purchased them at the grocery store.) I have been grating my zucchini and freeze in the quantity required for my favorite recipe for zucchini bread and cake recipes; for later use.
Color printing, we have it at a discount price. http://www.viralprintmembers.com/Larsen123/
ZUCCHINI CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup oil
2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini, packed
3 eggs
1 cup finely chopped nuts (if desired)
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
Cream Cheese Frosting (Recipe to follow)
Beat sugar, oil, and eggs at medium speed in electric mixer bowl (or bread machine) for 4 minutes. Sift together flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Fold zucchini and nuts into sugar mixture. Fold in flour mixture and vanilla, blending thoroughly. Turn batter into a well-greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees about 60 to 65 minutes. Cool in pan or rack 15 minutes or longer. Remove pan and cool cake thoroughly on rack before frosting with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 (3-ounce) Packages cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Beat powdered sugar, cream cheese, margarine, and lemon extract until thoroughly blended.
Zucchini Bread
½ cup oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup grated unpeeled zucchini
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
¾ teaspoon soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Blend oil and sugar together. Beat eggs into mixture one at a time. Place grated zucchini in separate bowl. Fold egg mixture into zucchini. Sift together flour, cinnamon, soda, and baking powder. Gradually add flour mixture to zucchini mixture. Mix well. Pour butter into 2 greased 8 x 4-inch loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees 1 hour.
Makes 2 loaves
My husband does the gardening and I do the baking. We make a good te https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/homepage.html?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&tag=southernutahf-20am.
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Tags: gardening