The Old Folks Home

[microchick]

View attachment 1537401

And unfortunately all too true!

 

[Alaskan]

Someone needs to plant a lot of hardwoods up there!

They just won't grow here. Or at least not without lots of help.

We can grow birch, cottonwood and aspen, but not everywhere, and you need to help it along the first 10 years... make sure the moose don't eat them down.

As a result there isn't much birch, cottonwood, or aspen that is cut down .... so little is available for firewood. It does burn better than spruce... but none of those are hardwood I don't think. Middle of the road I think for burning???

I live too high for those deciduous trees to grow. I have 1 birch I have managed to nurse along... and a 2nd on my driveway (lower down). But I live towards the top edge of the spruce growth zone. A little higher up and there are zero trees.

 

[Alaskan]

https://www.almanac.com/content/best-firewood-heat-values-wood-burning-tips
https://www.firewood-for-life.com/eucalyptus-firewood.html

Good list!

I wonder what kind of Birch we have... can't remember.

 

[microchick]

We burn hickory and oak but if we have elms that need to go they go and burn well when seasoned. If we want HOT long lasting heat we burn Locust. We have both Honey and Black locust in the timber. Hate the Honey locust. Those spear they call thorns will penetrate the toughest of boot leather or plain leather if they can get to the side of whatever footwear you are wearing.

 

[ronott1]

We burn hickory and oak but if we have elms that need to go they go and burn well when seasoned. If we want HOT long lasting heat we burn Locust. We have both Honey and Black locust in the timber. Hate the Honey locust. Those spear they call thorns will penetrate the toughest of boot leather or plain leather if they can get to the side of whatever footwear you are wearing.

We used wood from dead cotton wood trees to heat the house when I was younger. It burned well but did not smell good!

 

[chickadoodles]

Ron your lucky to get to see all the birds coming and going. That's nice.

@penny is it you that makes your bread dough in the bread machine then bakes it in the oven? If so can you please give me the specifics on how to do it? I bought a bread pan and I want to bake my dough in it in the oven. For some reason my bread is coming out funny shaped on top and it's terrible! If I put it in the pan and shape it do I need to let it rise before and after putting it the pan and how long do you bake if for on what temp?

 

[ronott1]

Ron your lucky to get to see all the birds coming and going. That's nice.

@penny is it you that makes your bread dough in the bread machine then bakes it in the oven? If so can you please give me the specifics on how to do it? I bought a bread pan and I want to bake my dough in it in the oven. For some reason my bread is coming out funny shaped on top and it's terrible! If I put it in the pan and shape it do I need to let it rise before and after putting it the pan and how long do you bake if for on what temp?

Except for the bird flu! They could infect my flock...So far so good though!

 

[chickadoodles]

Except for the bird flu! They could infect my flock...So far so good though!

Ya I understand that. We covered most of our run before the bird flu hit here.
And we did not have any problems here.

 

[microchick]

I saw them harvesting conifer wood on one of the episodes of 'Life Below Zero' and laughed when one of the participants showed himself shoving a big old chunk of spruce in his stove and there was about a 3/4s inch coating of creosote on it. DH chuckled and said 'bet he has lousy fire dept response where he lives'

Conifers don't grow really well here. We had an abandoned Christmas Tree farm. 85% of the trees are dead but the remaining have spread seeds everywhere. We have one big long needed pine in front of our house that is doing well so far but the other trees only last so many years then they croak. Forester said that the soil here just doesn't support pines.......which would make sense that an Amish farmer would try to go and start a farm without having the soil tested first.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Waiting in the dentist's office. I feel an urge to flee!

I like the dentist now take them out hand them say here

Ron your lucky to get to see all the birds coming and going. That's nice.

hated the canadian geese when I lived on Lake Whitman now no wild birds 3 outside cats feed chickens in their coops

@penny is it you that makes your bread dough in the bread machine then bakes it in the oven? If so can you please give me the specifics on how to do it? I bought a bread pan and I want to bake my dough in it in the oven. For some reason my bread is coming out funny shaped on top and it's terrible! If I put it in the pan and shape it do I need to let it rise before and after putting it the pan and how long do you bake if for on what temp?

nope do not use a bread machine I do most in bowl then pour it out finish kneading let it rise in a buttered bowl 90 minutes then knead again put it in a bread pan let rise 60 minutes then bake . This is from Ron the recipe I use for bread
White Bread
7-10 cups flour 1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs salt 2 pck. yeast

3 cup water 1/3 cup olive oil(or peanut)

Heat water to 110°, put salt, sugar, and yeast in a bowl and pour water over and add oil, stir with wire whip until dissolved.
First Kneed
Stir in 4 cups of flour until mixed well. Add more flour until you have a stiff dough and then kneed until dough is smooth and elastic (3-8 minutes).
Cover and let rise about one hour.

Punch down and knead until smooth. Divide dough into thirds, shape into 3 loaves and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour) and then bake at 400° for 20-30 minutes. Bread is done when the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it and internal temperature is 195 to 205 degrees.

Variations:
Replace Sugar with Molasses, Honey, Raw Sugar or etc.


Up to half of the flour can be replaced with other types of flour or nuts and etc. Whole Wheat flour will absorb more water, so let the first kneed be a bit sticky.

Each cup of water will make one loaf of bread. Adjust the ingredient amounts to match the number of loaves you want.