Farmhouse Sugar Crusted Raspberry Muffins

Farmhouse Sugar Crusted Raspberry Muffins

I don't think I have told you about our farm business. We grow red and yellow raspberries and blackberries that we sell from our farm stand. We love spending the summer months welcoming folks to our farm to pick berries. The whole family is on on the fun. (I'll post more about that later.)

But right now in the middle of winter we are all dreaming of warmer weather and craving fresh picked berries.

Fortunately, we froze a few raspberries this summer. Yummy!!

This is the perfect morning for warm Farmhouse Sugar Crusted Raspberry Muffins. I had a hard time keeping my littlest farm boys away while I snapped a few pictures.

Farmhouse Sugar Crusted Raspberry Muffins

Farmhouse Sugar Crusted Raspberry Muffins

2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter melted
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
Sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add melted butter, milk, egg and vanilla.  Mix well.  Fold in frozen raspberries and fill greased muffin tin about 3/4 full.  Sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar over each muffin.  Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes 12 muffins.

They are sooo good with homemade raspberry jam!

Farmhouse Sugar Crusted Raspberry Muffins and Homemade Raspberry Jam

Enjoy!

                        

Cherilyn

Farm Made Gifts

December was a busy month for us on the farm. We decided to make homemade gifts for our family. We love re-purposing and salvaging things to use on our property and in our home.

My creative and resourceful Farmer made Rubber Band Riffles for 3 nephews. He used salvaged boards and spray painted them bright colors. They looked great!! (This is a picture of the guns he made for our little Farmer Boys. They have seen a lot of use!)

Rubber Band Riffles

While my Farmer was working in the barn on Christmas. I was digging through scraps to make my niece a little rag doll. I took some inspiration from the Toy Ads. I found a plastic doll made to look like a rag doll.  Why not make a soft cuddly doll instead? I had so much fun sitting at the kitchen table sewing this little Dollie.

Scrappy Rag Doll

Every Rag Doll needs a quilt. So I went back to my scraps and found a few bright fabrics and little bit of ric rac. Here is the little scrappy stacked coin quilt I came up with.

Scrappy Doll Quilt

We found a huge box to fit all of our Farm made gifts and sent them off to family.

My Farmer and I were so excited to hear that they loved our little gifts.

Cherilyn

Linky Parties:
http://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com/
 http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/
http://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/
 http://housewivesofriverton.blogspot.com/2012/01/one-year-blogaversary-and-new-linky.html

Ruffle Tote Tutorial

Have you seen these cute Ruffle Totes on Pinterest? I came up with my own pattern and made a bunch for Christmas.

They are quick and easy to make.

Supply list:
Tote bag (13x13 I bought mine at Joann's in a 3 pack)
1/2 yard of 2 coordinating fabrics
1 spool of 1 inch gross grain ribbon

Cut 4- 2 1/2 inch strips WOF (width of fabric) from pink fabric.

Cut 4- 2 1/2 inch strips WOF from black and white print.

Mark a line 3 inches from the bottom of the tote bag all around the bag. *Mark a line 2 inches above the first line around the bag. *Do this 2 more times so that you have 4 lines drawn on the tote bag.*

Sew 2 pink fabric strips together end to end to make a big circle. At this point you can finish the raw edge by adding a narrow hem on each side or leave it raw edge. (I hemmed mine). Then on the top edge do a basting stitch. Gather the ruffle and place on the bottom line. Sew onto bag. (I used white thread in the bobbin so that the sewing lines would not be too noticeable.)

Now do the same thing with a black and white strip. Repeat alternating colors. After all the ruffles are attached Topstitch the Ribbon over the top of the ruffle.

Flower:
Fold scrap strip of pink in half baste along raw edge. Gather slightly and roll in a rose shape hand Stitching as you go. Attach to the tote bag over the ribbon seam.

All done!! Now you have a super cute Ruffle Tote Bag!

Cherilyn

Link Party:
<a href="http://www.yesterdayontuesday.type

<a href="http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/ " target="_blank"><img src="http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq266/bec8257/insp-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Beyond The Picket Fence" /></a>

 http://www.somewhatsimple.com/sys-blog-link-party-with-a-giveaway-from-champion-me-books/

 http://thecraftyblogstalker.blogspot.com/

 http://www.skiptomylou.org/
 http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/
 <center><a href="http://quiltstory.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Fresh Poppy Design" src="http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r262/gaganjimenez/mainbuttoncopy-2.png" /></a></center>

Baby Chicks!

We visited a Hatchery this week and picked up our chicks. 

They are just Adorable!!!

 

 

Are you thinking of raising chickens too?  

Here are a few ideas that have worked well for us on our farm. 

First of all we did a lot of reading and research into raising chickens.  

My go to book would have to be "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow. It has been a valuable resource for everything from chick care to setting up a coop. 

Another book useful book has been "Keeping Chickens" by Jeremy Hobson and Celia Lewis.  This book is full of beautiful pictures and information about different breeds of chickens.

 If you are looking for a basic country farm life reference book I recommend, "Storey's Basic Country Skills" by John and Martha Storey. They do have a nice section on raising chickens.

 Based on our past experience and research we choose 

Rhode Island Reds and Barred Plymouth Rocks.  

 These traditional breeds are known for their brown eggs, hardiness, and temperament.

They are so cute!! 

Here is our brooder setup

We use: 

35 gallon plastic container 

Chick waterer

Chick feeder 

Heat lamp with dimmer switch

Chicken wire

Thermometer

Chick grower/starter feed

Vitamin pack from the Hatchery

pine litter

 

   

My Handy Farmer cut wood blocks for the water and feed to keep them stable.  Then we covered the bottom of the box with wood chips.  

Chicks need a heat source to keep warm and healthy.  

We use a heat lamp on a dimmer switch so that we can control the temperature in the brooder.  In the past we used incandescent bulbs and we would decrease the wattage as the chicks grew, but now we are unable to buy those bulbs so we had to come up with a new plan. 

My Handy Farmer put a dimmer switch together using salvaged parts he had in the barn.  It works like a charm!

Warm Happy Chicks!

 Cherilyn