Visit Our New Website!

Visit our new blog! https://www.ironoakfarm.net/

Iron Oak Farm is in a new place with a new face! After the birth of my daughter, I took a break from blogging, particularly for outside brands. While I enjoyed my time with these amazing publications, it's time to focus on sharing our own homesteading experience with our own readers.

In many ways, in the past, I would save my best ideas, best how-to's for outside magazine articles, and it started to feel like the Iron Oak Farm brand was getting the left overs. I can do better by our readers. The new blog will be more focused, include more how-tos, and will be cleaner, fresher and better organized! It's not done yet, and I am adding more posts each day with enthusiastic passion!

I'm so excited to share our new site with you all. I'm getting such energy from knowing that all of our homesteading adventures will be in one place and available to our readers under "one roof".
While I welcome you to our new site, the old blogger site is still live and all of those posts are still available to read, so if you had a favorite, it's not going anywhere. :)
https://www.ironoakfarm.net/

New Site Location!

Come visit us at our new location at https://www.ironoakfarm.net/

Cheesy Cream of Broccoli

This cream of broccoli soup is actually a modification from my favorite cheesy onion soup. I'm finding that with a good cream of "something" soup base, you can change up the ingredients and create a bunch of different flavors.

This would be really good with asparagus, or you could swap the Velveeta for Parmesan and add blended tomatoes and basil for a creamy tomato.

I'll share if I make different versions and how they turn out.

Cheesy Cream-of-Broccoli Soup

White Sauce

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

12 oz can evaporated milk

In a small saucepan melt butter, add flour. Cook on medium heat until you smell the flour...nutty smell.
Add milk slowly whisking each time. Set aside.

Soup

3 tbsp butter

2 sweet onions diced half inch pieces

1 tbsp chopped garlic (2 cloves)

1 cup finely diced celery

1 cup diced carrots
1 generous crown of Broccoli diced in small florets.

Lawry's seasoning salt

2 chicken or boullion cubes

1 quart chicken bone broth

8 oz Velveeta cheese cubed

white sauce above

In Dutch oven melt 3 tbsp butter. Add onions. Cook until translucent.
Add garlic, celery and carrots. Sautee’ on medium low until the carrots begin to soften.
Season with Lawry’s or your favorite seasoning salt. Add bone broth and boullion.
Heat to simmer. Add broccoli and heat until bright green and just tender.
Add Velveeta cubes, stir until melted. Then add white sauce slowly. Stir after each addition.
Let simmer on low 20 minutes stirring often.

Morel Mushroom Hunting Season Farm Shirts

Check out our new Farm Shirt design just in time for Morel season! I'm working on adding new designs to our Bonfire store. To check out this shirt and others click the link!  
Iron Oak Farm Shirts!

How to Speak Chicken Book Review

 How to Speak Chicken

I’ve never felt emotionally closer to my flock than after reading Melissa’s book;

I had the pleasure of meeting Melissa Caughey at the 2015 Mother Earth News Fair in Wisconsin. At the fair, we naturally found ourselves discussing our flocks. I can say that Melissa truly loves her chickens. She speaks about them as though they are old friends. If anyone knows how to speak chicken, it’s Melissa!

Most books about chickens are about necessities. They cover the basics of raising healthy birds. This is the first book I’ve come across that delves into the true personalities of chickens.

Melissa speaks to the fact that chickens are not simple egg laying machines, but rather are capable of a wide range of emotions, communication skills and complicated thought processes. Chickens not only have complicated relationships with each other, but are capable of connecting to humans with a deep and compassionate bond.

One of my favorite sections of this book begins on page 34; Chicken Language Explained. It serves as a field guide to the language of chickens. So many of these chicken phrases are familiar to me, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I read aloud the bawking noises with the sound of my own chickens in my head.

I also love the section on page 60, the Positions within the Flock. Melissa uses the word “Sentinel” to describe the position of a hen that takes the lead in a rooster-less flock. I’ve been searching for this term since I started raising chickens. I love that Melissa breaks down the flock pecking order and names each position.  

I also love how she describes the relationship with roosters. I happen to love roosters and with the hen being so coveted , I find that there is a lack of recognition for the beautiful other-half of the chicken world. A flock with a rooster really is different than an all female flock.

The section on brain function is fascinating! Melissa shows how chickens are not only able to be trained, but are capable of math, problem solving, decision making and even physics!

Melissa shows that there is more to keeping chickens than simply feeding and egg collecting. It’s beautifully written, and full of gorgeous images, personal testimonies and most of all, chicken love. 

To purchase a copy click here: How to Speak Chicken by Melissa Caughey

Be sure to check out Melissa's other book: A Kid's Guide to Keeping Chickens by Meilssa Caughey

And her website: Tilly's Nest

Our T-shirts Are Back!

 No Bees, No Food T-shirt

If you've been following the Iron Oak Farm page for a while, you may remember that at one time we offered screen printed T-Shirts. We ended up abandoning the idea because it was too difficult for us to keep all the varieties of colors and sizes in stock. (There were too many variables). But I've recently teamed up with BONFIRE and our T-shirt designs are now available again! There is a better selection of styles, colors and sizes than we could provide alone. With BONFIRE I have to sell 5 shirts by February 8th for the printing to take place. If I don't reach the goal, your money will be refunded.

This Design is available in the:

Classic T-shirt
Slouch Women's Tank Top
Women's Fitted T-shirt
Long Sleeve T-shirt
Hoodie
Child's Classic T-shirt

And in a range of colors and sizes that you can select.

We're starting with our most requested design, the No Bees, No Food. I hope you enjoy!

Click the Link to purchase! No Bees, No Food T-shirt

Temperature Blanket

October and November Temperatures from 2016

I first heard about the idea of a temperature blanket some where in the middle of last year. I vowed to begin one of these amazing blankets come the first of the 2018 year.

A temperature blanket is a knitting/crochet project where you assign a temperature range to a rainbow of colored yarns and each day you knit/crochet a row or 2 depending on the day's temperature.

There are so many variations that can be applied to this project, you can do a different stitch depending on if it's sunny or windy or raining that day. But in the end, you have something of a record of the temperatures for that year.

In the end, I decided instead of doing the coming year that I would knit the temperatures for my daughter Evelyn's first year in our hometown. She was born on October 5th, 2016 so that day's temperature is the first row in my blanket.

Temperature Range

I decided that each color would represent a 10 degree range going from sub zero to over 100 degrees. We live in Michigan, where all of these temperatures are a possibility. If you live in a climate that doesn't have a lot of variety in temperature you can do every 5 degrees, or even every degree.

Finding Yarn

It can be difficult to find a brand of yarn that carries such an assortment of colors. Choosing the colors was by far the hardest part of this project. I decided on the Lion Brand Heartland Yarn Collection. (yarn size 4) It's a beautiful soft yarn that is heathered, giving it a rustic homespun feel. I chose earthy- jewel tones, and as it knits up, it reminds me of the rock layers in the grand canyon.

 My yarn colors:

100+       Isle Royale #189
90-99      Redwood #113
80-89      Yosemite #135
70-79      Yellowstone #158
60-69      Everglades #173 (available online only)
50-59      Joshua Tree #174
40-49      Kings Canyon #180
30-39      Cuyahoga Valley #171
20-29      Olympic #109
10-19      Glacier Bay #305
0-9          Mount Rainier #150
sub 0       Katmai #151 (available online only)

Once I found all my yarn colors, I rolled the yarn in to balls pulling from both ends of the skein so I had a double ply (knitting 2 strands at once). I made little tags with the name of the yarn and the temperature that the color represented.

Pattern/Gauge

I wanted the pattern for my blanket to be as simplistic as possible. My goal was to really let the color variation stand out. In the end, I decided to use 10.5 circular needles and to double the yarn ply.

I've cast on 200 stitches and the blanket will be 365 rows long. This should be a good size blanket somewhere around 70" by 100".

I knitted the garter stitch for 5 rows, and am knitting the garter stitch for 5 stitches to start the row, then stockinette, and ending with 5 stitches of garter. This will keep the blanket from curling.

I'm also knitting in the previous color tail into the first 5 stitches. This will save me from having to tie in all the yarn tails at the end.

I'm at the 3 month mark here and the blanket it 20" long. (October, November and December 2016)

Finding your Temperatures

October 2016

You need to decide if you are going to take the high, low, or average for the day. I am knitting the high temperature. I feel like this will give me the most variation in colors.

I am doing the temperatures from October 5th, 2016 to October 4th, 2017.

October 2016

You can find a history of weather temperatures from Weather Underground. Just type in the year and city you want to see.

October 2016 through January 2017 4 months!

Check out our Facebook Page as I post updates as the blanket comes along.

Fair Isle Knitted Bobble Dot Pattern

I shared this knitted item on our Facebook page and many of you said that you'd like to see the pattern.

This is my first time writing a pattern so forgive me if there are mistakes.

I would love to see photos if you decide to knit this.

And let me know your feedback on how easy/difficult it is to read the pattern.

Let me know if any of you know of an easy to use online knitting graph. I made this one in Paint Shop and PicMonkey. But it was tedious.

Materials:

5 double pointed needles size US 5 3.75mm

Worsted weight yarn cream and burgundy

Darning needle

Small crochet hook

sts - stitches

k – knit

m – make

c1 – color 1

c2 – color2

k2tog – knit 2 together

ssk – slip, slip knit

Cast on 12 sts in dominant color leaving a long tail of yarn about 12” to sew up opening at the end of project.

Divide the sts between 4 needles, each having 3 sts.

Row 1: Knit all sts c1

Row 2: For each needle c1: k1, m1, k1, m1, k1 ( 5 total sts per needle)

Row 3: Knit all sts c1

Row 4. For each needle c1, k1, m1, k3, m1, k1 (7 total sts per needle)

Row 5: Knit all sts c1

Row 6: For each needle c1, k1, m1, k5, m1, k1 (9 total sts per needle)

Row 7: For each needle knit c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1

Row 8: For each needle all c1: k1, m1, k7, m1, k1 (11 total sts per needle)

Row 9: For each needle knit c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1

Row 10: For each needle all c1: k1, m1, k9, m1, k1 (13 total sts per needle)

Row 11: For each needle knit c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1

Row 12: For each needle all c1: k1, m1, k11, m1, k1 (15 total sts per needle)

Row 13: For each needle knit c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1

Row 14: Knit all sts c1

Row 15: For each needle knit 2c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, 2c1

Row 16: Knit all sts c1

Row 17: For each needle knit c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1

Row 18: For each needle k1, k2tog, k9, ssk, k1 (13 sts per needle)

Row 19: For each needle knit c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1

Row 20: For each needle k1, k2tog, k7, ssk, k1 (11 sts per needle)

Row 21: For each needle knit c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1

Row 22: For each needle k1, k2tog, k5, ssk, k1 (9 sts per needle)

Row 23: For each needle knit c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2, c1

Row 24: For each needle c1: k1, k2tog, k3, ssk, k1 (7 sts per needle)

Row 25: Knit all sts c1

Row 26: For each needle c1: k1, k2tog, k1, ssk, k1 (5 sts per needle)

Row 27: Knit all sts c1

Row 28: For each needle c1: k2tog, k1, ssk, (3 sts per needle)

Pull a length of yarn about 10” and thread through a darning needle. Sew through the 12 sts left on needles to bind off and pull to cinch.

Stuff the bobble with polyfill through beginning opening. Then use the tail to sew through the rim and pull to cinch.

Using a small crochet hook crochet the tail creating a loop for the bulb to hang. Sew the end to complete the loop.

Work in remaining tails. 

Butterkin

This pumpkin variety looks as though it is a baby-version of the Long Island Cheese pumpkin. it has the same squat shape and buff skin, only these pumpkins grow around 4 lbs at maturity. The flavor is actually most similar to the butternut squash and can be prepared in the same way.

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page. 

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin

This is one of my favorite pumpkins. The squat Cinderella shape and understated buff skin looks waxy like a wheel of cheese. This pumpkin is perfect for pies. These pumpkins are usually heavy for their size and the flesh is sweet and plentiful.

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page. 

Delicata Squash

The Delicata Squash is a sort of cross between a winter and a summer squash. Though it has a winter squash-like outer skin, the skin is more delicate, hence the name. The squash can be prepared similar to a summer squash...steaming, sauteing etc.

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.  

Ohio National Poultry Shop Shopping Haul, CC Post

Check out all the goodies I got while we were visiting the Ohio National Poultry Show over at Community Chickens!

Golden Hubbard

The Hubbard Squash has a thick, hard skin which makes it perfect for winter storage. The flesh is sweet and gets even sweeter as the squash ages. It's a great all-around squash that freezes and cans well. Good for pies and roasting.

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.  

Attending the Ohio National Poultry Show, CC Post

Zach and I attended the Ohio National Poultry Show on the 11th and 12th of November. Check out my Community Chickens post to learn about this amazing experience!

Attending the Ohio National Poultry Show

Flat White Boer Pumpkin

The Flat White Boer Pumpkin is a pure white pumpkin with that flat Cinderella shape, only the bottoms of the sections tend to have a drooping look to them, almost as if the pumpkin is melting. The squash originated in South Africa after the Dutch Boers who were the Colonial power at the time. Boer is the Afrikaan word for "farmer".

The flesh of this pumpkin is very sweet making it a perfect choice for desserts and pies. 

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.   

Kabocha Squash

Kabocha is a Japanese variety of squash. It is also known as Japanese pumpkin. It has a fine textured yellow flesh that is rich, sweet and nutty in flavor. Delicious roasted or in finely blended soups.

 To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.  

Gold Nugget Squash

These beautiful squashes are perfect for the gardener who's short on space. The gold nugget grows from a bush-type plant rather than a sprawling vine like most winter squashes. It has a sweet buttery flavor perfect for roasting.

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.  

Harvesting Chestnuts

 A couple weekends ago we visited LeFever Chestnuts located in Fenton, Michigan. I've never been to a chestnut farm, but I think after this first experience, going forward, it will become a family tradition each year.

When we arrived, the air was crisp and filled with the sweet smoke of the open fire roasting pits. The chestnuts had fallen to the ground and there was a ring of brown spiky balls encircling each tree.

The husk of the chestnut is covered in sharp, brown spikes that remind me of a hedgehog. Inside each husk is 2-3 chestnuts.

The deep orange brown color is beautiful!

To choose a good chestnut, you want it to be rounded, and the flat side minimal and not concave. The skin should not be wrinkled.

Once we collected our chestnuts, we brought them to the barn to be weighed and paid for. Then we moved to the cutting station to prepared them for roasting. An "X" should be cut in the skin on the rounded side.

When roasting, this "X" will open up and makes shelling the nuts easy.

Beautiful, nutty, sweet, earthy and smoky. The chestnuts were delicious and had bits of caramelized areas where the fire had roasted the open flesh. I can't wait to add these to our holiday dressing!

Gold Acorn Squash

The Gold Acorn Squash is similar to the Green, however it can be harvested early and enjoyed similar to a summer/winter squash hybrid. The squash is sweeter than the green variety however, it tends to be slightly stringy for an acorn.

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.  

White Acorn Squash

The White Acorn Squash is a cousin to the more traditional and popular green Table Queen. The different range of color varieties of Acorn are becoming more abundant in stores and markets thanks to the heirloom movement.

The white squash is almost indistinguishable from the green in taste and can be prepared in the same way. Perhaps slightly milder in flavor, but very subtle.

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.