Vintage Home and Farm

This saucepan brownies recipe had gone missing for a while and was sorely missed. The other day when my sister and her family were visiting, we pulled out my mom's recipe card file and I was so delighted to discover another copy of it there. Lest it get lost again, I'm posting it here. Saucepan brownies are easier on the tummy because they use shortening instead of butter. They also have a wonderful and unique texture thanks to the extra eggs. It makes a larger batch than most other brownie recipes as well. Saucepan Brownies Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat in a large saucepan on the stove: 2/3 cup shortening 2/3 cup cocoa powder When shortening is melted, add: 2 cups sugar 1/2 cup milk Bring to a boil, and then remove from stove. Whisk together in a separate bowl: 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder Stir the flour mixture into the saucepan ingredients.  Then add and mix well: 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 cup nuts Spread into a 9x...

Farm projects for this spring and summer are no longer just wish-list tasks written down on yellow lined paper. There's a visible reminder now of work to be done.  The material for the pole barn has been delivered and sits along the driveway, waiting for us to get started.  In the meantime, we decided to get the garden plot tilled and composted, so it can rest a couple months before it's time to plant. Newbies that we are, we each had to take a turn tilling up the soil. This was, of course, after we spent about two hours trying to figure out how to get the tiller onto the tractor.  Once the soil was tilled, we brought over several tractor buckets full of compost from the pile by the barn and tilled that in, too. The soil will now sit for several weeks at least, until it's time to get started sowing seeds. Next we attached the auger and experimented with drilling holes.  A deer fence will need to go up around the garden.  The auger will be ...

Spring has arrived in full force here in our neck of the woods!  One of the earliest signs of spring here is the row of daffodils that our neighbors planted along the fence by the community barn. The flowers run along the entire east side of the pasture, between the road and the fence. The flowers can be enjoyed by all, as anyone who calls this place home or comes to visit our little community drives past them when entering or leaving the neighborhood.  Plum trees are in bloom, too -- I always try to take notice of the early buds on the trees and when the flowers are just starting to open. The air has a lovely floral scent from pollen as the flower petals on this tree are just starting to fall. I'm looking forward to picking a large barrel of plums for making jam later this fall. Along my walk today, I also stopped a moment to admire my neighbor's two male bull calves. They've grown quite a lot in the past year.  My family enjoys being near the...

I recently decided to brew my own Kombucha after coming across this magical elixir in a health food store and realizing how expensive a habit it could become. In most stores, it can cost $3.99 for a small bottle.  If you were to drink several bottles of this brew each week, the cost would really add up.  Brewing Kombucha is incredibly easy and affordable, as it requires only a few simple steps and relatively inexpensive supplies. It's the unusual aspects of Kombucha that shrouds it in mystery, giving the impression of it being difficult. The greatest mystery involving this unusual brew is the scoby.  Scoby is an acronym for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast.  A scoby grows on top of the brew and is what causes it to ferment. Take a look at the scoby that is currently growing on top of my latest batch. Now, I realize you're probably thinking, Eeeeuuuwwww!  A scoby is indeed an odd looking creature growing on top.  Some people might hesitat...

Peep, peep, peep...peep, peep, peep... six tiny voices are chirping up a storm in our sun room. We picked up the new chicks on Saturday and they are now happily scratching around and getting comfortable in their new home. One of the chicks was an orphan from an earlier brood...no one had purchased her.  So I took her in.  She's rather large then, compared to the rest.  Big Bird seems an appropriate name for her. We haven't named the others yet. We'll have to observe them as they grow to see what names fit. It's been fun to observe their antics. At first very timid, the little chicks cowered against the side of their new home.  That didn't last long, thanks especially to Big Bird's presence. A couple weeks older and wiser, Big Bird showed the way and encouraged the littlest ones past their shyness. My sister, Cathy, gave me a tip last year when we raised our first three chicks: a galvanized stock feeding tank works perfectly for raising chicks...

It's been an unusually cold winter here in northwest Washington State. Punxsutawney Phil's weather prediction that we would suffer 6 more weeks of winter is holding true so far. Here it is late February, and once again we've had several more days of snow with more to come. While the snow is bitingly cold, I will say it is quite beautiful.  Walking down the long driveway to our newspaper box each morning gives me a chance to take in the frosty cold and pristine morning. Thankfully we did have a few days of dry weather about a month ago, which allowed us to get the new windows installed in the house.  We chose Ply Gem windows and had a local installer put them in.  With the divided upper panes, it's hard to notice the difference visually from the 1940s single pane windows, which allowed us to retain the charm of old-style windows, but we certainly do notice a stark difference in how well the new windows keep in the heat.  Many of the cold drafts in the ...

It's been a hard winter.  Not only did we have to say goodbye to my grandmother a few months ago -- she had lived a long, happy life and passed away at age 98.  We also just recently lost my mother-in-law. It's difficult to say goodbye, and hard to know what words to say to those who are still here, shouldering the pain of their loss. What remains in the midst of this loss is love.  Love that was expressed when we were with each of them, sharing moments together.  For my mother-in-law, of whom our thoughts this week have been consumed, those moments grew to many especially during her last five years.  We were lucky to be living near my in-laws, and were able to help when her dementia set in and grew over a five-year period.  Each week included a number of visits with my in-laws, helping out, and also having them over for dinner.  The timing of our move north about six months ago coincided with the necessity of moving her to a memory care facility ...