Better Late Than Never

It’s 5 am and the alarm clock buzzes incessantly, it’s across the bed on my husband’s nightstand.  He snores contently. I elbow him until he reaches up and shuts the offending noise off. This is how our day begins. I shuffle downstairs, not really awake, being sure to not turn on any lights.  I can’t handle lights just yet.  I start the coffee and feed the dogs.   We bundle up, because it’s -10 degrees, put on our headlamps and fill a watering can with very hot water.

I open the door and step out into the cold, darkness of a winter morning.  The air is like a slap, burns my nose and makes my eyes water.  The snow crunches under my boots, my headlamp shines a beam in front of my feet.  The world is silent except for the two of us.

“Hello to the piggly wigs!” I call as I climb over the gate, which has been frozen shut for about 2 months now.  My light reveals a pile of pink and gray, brown and black.  A pig pile.  They begin to stir as they see me approach with the grain bucket. Kevin uses the watering can to un-freeze the nipple on the 55 gallon water barrel.  The little ones get up, and immediately start gulping the grain.  The mama sits up and yawns, sending out a plume of steam in the frigid morning.  There’s isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.

Somehow between morning and evening chores, work day woes, high school sports and changing seasons, I have neglected one of my favorite things, writing about my experiences.  From time to time I find blog notes and ideas on scraps of paper and napkins, I’ve filed lines and paragraphs away in the back of my mind, but just haven’t made it to the page.  So….here I am!  With a renewed passion and dedication.

I have so much to catch up on:  Races and recipes.  My 8th place trophy in my first mini-triathalon.  A second round of piglets.  Hatching and raising turkeys.  Lambs and slaughter.  And all of my over ambitious, late winter yearnings.

For now, I’ll leave you with a recipe from my latest hobby, breadmaking:

Oatmeal Bread

1 C instant oats

2 C boiling water

1pkg active dry yeast

1/4 C warm water

1/2 C molasses

2 tsp salt

1Tbsp butter

51/2 C bread flour

1 Pour boiling water over oats and let stand until luke-warm, stirring  to make sure there aren’t hot spots.

2.Arrange ingredients in a bread machine with liquids first, then dry ingredients, lastly yeast. Run on “dough” setting.

OR

Stir yeast into 1/4C warm water and let stand 5 minutes.  Add molasses, salt, butter and dissolved yeast to oats. Work in enough flour so that the dough is easy to handle.  Knead on a floured board for about two minutes.   Let rest 10 minutes. Resume kneading until dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed.  Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.

3. When bread machine dough setting is finished, or dough is doubled, punch down dough and shape into two loaves. Place in 2 greased loaf pans, cover and let rise until doubled.

4.Pre-heat oven to 375 and bake for 40 minutes.

Center bread is oatmeal. (shown with crusty French and an un baked cinnamon raisin)