Mushroom Display at Local Roots Wooster

Our display today with Brown and Pearl Mushrooms.  Our display looked really nice on Tuesday night
we had Tan, Brown, Pearl Oyster Mushrooms and Shiitake Mushrooms BUT of course I didn't have my camera.

My Mother and I are having a lot of fun growing and selling the mushrooms together.  And of course Kelly is the addition to our adventure that makes it all worth it.  Thanks Kelly!!!

Mushroom Day at Local Roots Wooster

Terri is an EXCEPTIONAL cook.  She creates the most delicious recipes with just a few ingredients.  Teri made potato Gnocchi sauteed in brown oyster mushroom and butter.

The recipe is as follows:
1 lbs. potatoes 3 or 4 small to medium potatoes
1 egg
2 tbsp. EV olive oil
1 c. unbleached flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
boiling, salted water

Microwave or boil potatoes in jackets.  Peel and mash with a potato masher or through ricer (about 4 cups of potatoes).  Add 1 cup flour.  Add salt and eggs.  Mix lightly, think biscuits.  Divide into 3 portions.  Roll on floured board to a rope 1"thick, cut into 1/2" pieces: with floured finger, press indentation on side of gnocchi.  Drop into boiling, salted water and  cook until tender.  Serve or saute as follows

Saute 1-2 lbs. of brown oyster mushrooms in butter, little garlic and a herb of choice.  Add Gnocchi and serve with a little Parmesan cheese on top.

Call or email the farm for your farm fresh BROWN OYSTER MUSHROOMS sent right to your kitchen door.

Brown Oyster Mushroom Fruiting

New beginning stage of the Yellow Oyster Mushroom

This is how all of the oyster mushrooms start

WE ARE GROWING OYSTER MUSHROOMS!!!!!

I just can't believe this happend.  We were using this bagged oyster mushroom as an example for weight and length in the new grow room.  This was one that would not fruit in the old grow room and look what happened in the new grow room!!  So the new room is a definate SUCCESS.

Mushroom Grow Room is GROWING!!

Well, we have the new cement floor in  and we have started adding insulation on the walls & ceiling.  The
hardest thing so far was figuring out how to ask the bats to move out of the barn.  What they actually did was
move over.  I love the idea of bats on the farm BUT not in my working barn.  We have a shed that is very quiet and open year around but they don't like being alone, I guess.

Diary of a Mushroom Grow Room

We have an excellent bank barn to start with so that major expense has been taken care of. We are using the side of the lower barn that has been built against the earth. We stripped all the stalls, grain bins and old wood from this area and we are starting fresh. We layed new cement on the floor with drains and redid the walls so they will be able to hold moisture and yet not mold. We are trying not to make anything permanent on the walls or ceiling because I am sure that things will be moved around and changed over the next year. I will add photos as things progress. We will be growing Oyster Mushrooms in this grow room.

Yes, kids up the tree

I took my Maremma, dogs, out of my parents meat goat pasture because Hank, the buck, was playing a little too rough. My Mother was all upset because she couldn't find Carmelas babies and Carmela was crying and looking all over for her babies. Normally we would just let it go because with the Sal & Rhema in the pasture we KNEW the goats were safe but with the dogs out she thought something got them.

Well we were quite surprised to find them up a tree!

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SHIITAKE MUSHROOM LEMON CHICKEN RECIPE

Lemon Chicken


fresh shiitake mushrooms
fresh garlic
fresh thyme
fresh lemon grass
olive oil
chicken breast
one lemon

saute fresh shiitake mushrooms, garlic, lemon grass in olive oil
next add chicken breast and lemon and slowly cook until done!

I have finailly made the herbal deoderant and lip balm

I have always wanted to create my own line of herbal skin care and I am finially doing it.  But only one problem.  Will I be able to create the exact same recipe again, NOOOOO.  I got carried away with counting the drops of essential oil and just poured a dap in. 

My deoderant is all natural and NO goat milk.  I promise. But I did use arrowroot, coconut oil, clary sage and elemi essential oils.  It looks like it will set up nice but one never knows.

My favorite item in the makeup department is lip gloss or lip balm.  I made a lip balm with olive oil, organic bees wax, calendula, nutmeg essential oil and sweet orange essential oil.  It is also setting up nice.

My computer skills are very limited so we will see what the labels look like after I am done.

UPDATE::::  My brother wanted to try my soap on his hair to see if it helped his thinning problem on the top of his head.  He called and said "I can't believe this but my hair is filling in on the bare spots."  My brother keeps his hair REALLY short so it is easy to tell were he had the bare spots.  He has only been using it maybe 2 weeks.  Needless to say this really please my brother but I am extactic!  My prayers are being answered.  My prayer is to be able to help people with my line of natural products.  Unless you have or had a skin disorder or hair loss you really don't understand how it CAN disrupt your life and self esteem.  I had itchy skin for years.  My legs, back and arms always itched.  I went to every kind of doctor out there and everyone had a different answer but NOT ONE worked for longer than a month.  This is the first year, in many, that I am not itching.

A MOTHERS LOVE

My girls are SO SWEET!!  This is a photo of my queen dairy goat Lady and her 1.5 year old daughter Joy. 

We do have a couple of new additions to the farm.  Carmela is the proud mother of TWO bucklings.

The boys are Kiko Boer cross.  I will post some kid photos later.  My Mother  has a herd of "meat" goats.  We have

yet to sell one for meat and I am not sure what we will do when the time comes. 

WELL, MY BRIBE WORKED!!!!

My "little" 6 year old nephew in the tub with suds on his hair from my  goat milk soap.  You really can't tell how well it lathers because he has really blond hair.

I have been using it on my hair for over a year and my hair is a lot thicker.  It has to be from the soap.  I think it is just simply cleansing my hair follicle.  I sent some home with my brother today to see how it works on his hair.  It doesn't work over night but after a couple of months I really started to noticed a difference.

By the way isn't my SHY nephew adorable?  I did not ask him for the monster face, it was his idea.

Photo Bribe

Can you believe I actually had to bribe my 6 year old nephew for a soap lather photo?  Well, I did and it worked!  He has a MAJOR sweet tooth so off to Buehlers, the grocery store noted for their bakery section, I went and it just so happened that Buehlers had his favorite on sale CREAM STICKS buy 3 get one free.  I  thought well if one doesn't work 4 will and I also added rootbeer.  Rootbeer and cream sticks are his absolutely favorite thing in the world.  Notice the maple that has maybe a bite left.  It also happens to be one of my Mothers favorite.

Goat Races in Australia $10,000 purse YES $10,000

http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2010/05/05/2891455.htm

The Tree of Knowledge Festival goat races are now the richest in Australia, with $10,000 in prize money they're drawing competitors and spectators from across the state.

Recipe for homemade Buttermilk

It's very easy. You should try it.


All you do to start off with is to buy some buttermilk from the store.

Here's the recipe:

How To Culture Buttermilk


1 quart whole goat milk

2 tbsp. cultured buttermilk



Warm the milk to 72 degrees. Stir in the cultured buttermilk. Allow

mixture to set, covered, at room temperature for 12 hours or more. When

thick, refrigerate.



Use store bought cultured buttermilk or a buttermilk culture from a

cheesemaking supply company to start your first batch. When purchasing from

a grocery store, be sure to get the freshest you can. Check the expiration

date.  Be sure to save some from the previous batch to reculture the next one.

Just like yogurt, buttermilk can be kept going for a long time.

My neighbor is a very talented photographer

Vera Wang tring to flick a dandelion seed off her head.   She is precious!!  After  EVERY milking before she gets off the milk stand she gives me tons of hugs and kisses.  She will not get off the stand until we exchange XXXOOO.  She is the one that used to be really distant and didn't care whether she got attention or not.

Edible Wild Mushroom

Sponge mushroom is the common name for an absolutely scrumptious wild mushroom found in woods of

Ohio.  This is a big family event every spring to see who can the find the most and the biggest.  This spring was pretty sparce as far as mushroom finding went, for my family anyway.  The mushrooms are only out a couple of weeks during the spring and they don't seem to repeat in the same area each year. 

We soak them in sea salt and then saute them in butter.  They are great with steak, eggs just about anything cooked or grilled.  This is not a mushroom that  is eaten raw  or on salads.

My Latest Adventure Growing Shiitake Mushroom and Herbs

I have always wanted to grow mushrooms along with medicinal and cooking herbs.  Well now I am .  It has been a lot fun.  We had some shiitake mushrooms last night and they were EXCELLENT.  All I did was saute them in butter and OH what flavor.  I will also be involved with growing oyster and hen of the woods mushrooms.  I will show the mushroom growing process on my blog as time goes on.

The herbs are still at the seedling stage but they are really shooting up and will need to be transplanted soon.  I have a deep heart felt desire to make and create things that make people feel better and improve their quality of life.  The mushrooms are and herbs are grown chemical free.  My goat milk soap and salve, soon to come, are also make as natural as possible.  My salve that I am working on is for people with severe skin problems.  I will talk about that more later.

I will be selling my herbs and mushrooms from the farm.  So you will be able to stop by or order fresh from the farm products.  I will also have a basil garden for fresh pesto, pepper patch for salsa, tea garden for fresh or dried teas.  The medicinal herbs will be listed on the website when they are ready.

A NEW ADVENTURE

WE MADE IT SPRING IS HERE!!!

This is my favorite time of the year.  The leaves are just peaking out on the trees and flowers are popping up and getting ready to bloom.  Every place I have lived since leaving Ohio in my 20s I have planted peonies from California to South Carolina and they never really did flower and if they did the scent was not a knock out fragrence like I remembered.  Well my brother told me last year that I could come over and dig some of his up so my mother and I went over and dug up all kinds of stuff including a clump of "peonies".  Well they are bleeding hearts not PEONIES.  So I am going back on my search.  I can not live in Ohio with PEONIES and they must bloom this year!  So I need a big clump.

WE MADE IT SPRING IS HERE

I am so excited to experience SPRING again.  The grass is green and trees are flowering.  What a beautiful time of the year! 

EWG's FoodNews :: Shopper's Guide to Pesticides

EWG's FoodNews :: Shopper's Guide to Pesticides

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SOAP SAVER

I keep meaning to mention the use of a soap saver with my goat milk soap.  A soap saver keeps the soap dry in shower and allows water to flow.  By using a soap saver your soap does not sit in the water and melt.  It extends the bars usage.  My bars last me a month and I use it as a body bar and as a shampoo bar.  I also use it as a shaving bar my legs.  The bars are really gentle on your skin and  they leave your skin feeling moisturized, not dried out.  Oh, by the way they are full of lather!!

You may check out the farm website for the soap savers
http://sites.google.com/site/forgetmenotps/Home

One More Month Until Spring

We had a thaw and I got all excited thinking spring was REALLY on its way and then it happened, yes it snowed.

My Goaties love the winter weather. They along with my two Maremmas have started to shed. It seems kind of early to me but they know what is going on better than I do.

I am really going miss my spring kids with my dairy goats this spring but I will be happy with early summer or fall kids. My Fathers Boer Kiko mixed does will be kidding. So we will have babies just not the fun loving and entertaining Saanen Dairy kids.

I am finding a big difference between the meat goats and my dairy goats. The Saanens are very loving and the Boer/Kiko goats kind of like attention but not really unless you have peanuts.

I am ready for SPRING

It looks like timbered land and it is actually the lake and goat pasture. It may be nice to experience the change of seasons, which it really is BUT I am ready for spring! Moving back to snow after being away for over 25 years has become a learning experience all over again. I have yet to master taking my snow pants off and boots without stepping in the snow that falls from
off of them. Due to the 20 degree and below weather the goats have been limited to the barn. But today the sun was shining so I decided to take the goaties out for a romp in the snow. They loved it! They did jumping jacks up and down the barnyard. Stanley the barn kitty played in the barnyard along side the girls. It looks like we MIGHT get a break in a couple of days from all the cold. That will be nice.