It's the Simple Things

There are few things more comforting than a loaf of fresh baked bread,

homemade chicken soup simmering away on the stove top,

or the gleam of my favourite cast iron cookware after I have finished re-seasoning it.

These three things are fundamental to life here on our homestead.  I bake bread almost every day.  To me, homemade bread means self-sufficiency.  Along with eggs and milk, I feel like producing my own bread frees me from the grip of the grocery store.  We can go a long time between shopping trips without feeling like we are missing out. Now if I could just grow bananas!

I love chicken soup because, to me, it is a reminder to waste nothing.  Even old chicken bones are precious because with a touch of time and a long simmer (or a quick one in the instant pot!), they will make us a whole extra meal.  I get great satisfaction out of a hint of frugality - remaking leftovers into a whole other healthy and delicious meal is my jam!  Case in point, in today's bread I substituted the water for the left over juice from a can of homemade sweet carrots that we had for dinner the other day.  I figured why waste it when it might add a touch of complexity to the flavour of our bread (and maybe even some vitamins).

Our cast iron pots and pans get daily use here on the farm and truly are at the heart of our homestead by virtue of preparing the food that fills our stomachs.  Our huge cast iron frying pan as well as the dutch oven I use to bake our daily bread were both gifted to us by my paternal grandmother.  They remind us of her with each use and how much I am inspired by the homesteading roots of her childhood and later her hobby farm years with my grandfather.

It truly is the simple things that mean the most.