Refined Sipping
A photo of a cup of coffee. Esperanto: Taso de kafo. Français : Photo d'une tasse de caffé Español: Taza de café (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We have decided that coffee, at times, should be sipped, not from oversized mugs that give the drinker a wrist cramp, and certainly not from an ecologically sound recyclable cup made from previously recycled materials that were retrieved from landfill in a third world country, but from an actual porcelain cup with a saucer, accompanied by a small spoon for stirring and perhaps a chocolate cookie that is wrapped in wax paper. Have we become so enamored by our brew that we have come to overlook the joy of the ceremony, the ritual of stopping and drinking coffee in quiet contemplation, letting the steam cloud our specs, and the aroma waft thoughtfully above our head. Next time you get a coffee let it be an event, a moment of non-moving time, when your soul can gather itself in calm, heartwarming repose. Ask your coffee guru to add saucered cups to their repertoire, and if they don’t know what you’re talking about, go somewhere else.
Shall I Pour?
You have to wonder if the Wild West might have been different if there had been access to better coffee. When you started and ended your day with a coffee made from grounds, boiled over a fire, in a sock and a tin pot of water until just the smell could cause an ulcer, you figure it had to affect your sunny disposition. Imagine if they’d had a nice French pressed cup of only the best Allegro blend, strong but not bitter, and never inky, Billy the Kid might have thought twice about shooting the barber who gave him a bad haircut. A good cup of coffee can make the difference in public reactions on many levels. Throwing someone through the picture window of the local pub doesn’t seem quite as necessary when one has been properly caffeinated and thoroughly prepared for the worst, by the ingestion of a powerful dark roast with just a hint of the outdoors. In a recent viewing of the movie True Grit, I found myself wondering what a thorough cleansing and a mug of Sumatra might have done for Jeff Bridges. Matt Damon needed some sort of assistance, but I am afraid even a well-brewed espresso wouldn’t have been enough.
Perk, Drip, Press but Definitely Pour
If you don’t understand that many of life’s issues arise over want of a descent cup of coffee, it is time you learned. When you’re sipping a brew with just the right heady aroma, and that extra soul soothing richness that can be found only in superior blends of freshly roasted beans, it is impossible to be angry with the person sitting across from you, as long as they are sharing in the ritual cup. Sharing the luxury of artisan coffee, brewed to perfection puts things in perspective, makes a lot of pesky differences seem unimportant. Will our worry improve the economy by even the slightest measure? It will not. Will traffic decrease by as much as an automobile if we are angry about it? It will not. Will having a cup of exceptional coffee in the midst of a day that is over hectic and a world that is spinning out of control settle a mantle of peace over your soul and a sense of well-being in your heart? It will. At Pine Country Feed we believe in bringing an injection of positive into the everyday whenever possible. Look for your injection, arriving soon at Pine Country – coffee that will bring you joy!
The Joy of the Brew
Whether you prefer your coffee prepared by a sock of grounds thrown into a boiling tin pot over an open flame, or delicately encouraged to the height of flavor in a fine French press, it is an undeniable truth that coffee is the perfect blend of piping hot remedy and sheer spiritual experience. A cup of coffee, brewed to perfection with just the right amount of thick cream can serve as the only solution to a day that has run amuck, working its magic in sips of aromatic assurance, quieting even the most annoying voices in your head. Served after an enjoyable meal it will begin the evening with the grace and elegance of a string quartet, spreading its peaceful presence through body and mind like the music of a bygone era. Whatever the occasion, there is a coffee to make it richer, which is why Pine Country
Feed is looking forward to the introduction of its own private label, mountain roasted blend with great anticipation. A coffee blended with our deserving customers in mind. Just one more way we are letting you know that you matter to us and we want you to be blissfully happy.
Coffee People Unite!
At Pine Country Feed we are lovers of anything that adds richness to our lives – great friends, mountain air, jeans that fit, and of course a great cup of coffee. This week we are having a coffee tasting party to choose the signature roasts that will bear the name of Pine Country Feed and we can’t wait to introduce them to you. We will be deciding the names of our roasts, and we would love your help. If you have a great idea for a coffee name, and keep in mind we are going with a cowboy/cowgirl- Wild West theme, put it on our wall. If we choose yours, you’ll receive a free pound of coffee and all of our deepest admiration. So raise your cup and put on your thinking cap. Salut!
A Word From Manna Pro
Last spring about zillion of you bought our baby chicks and ducks which we are assuming means you have eggs by the dozen. You can only eat so many omelets so we thought we would suggest a visit to the Manna Pro site where they are offering a free download of egg recipes from their web followers – www.mannapro.com- click on the download for the Egg Cook Booklet. While you’re there be sure to enter The Happy Homesteader promotion for a chance to win a free $5,000 Backyard Homesteader Makeover. The Manna Pro site also offers some great tips for cleaning and storing your fresh eggs, nutritional information for raising goats and pigs, and a word about raising rabbits. We thought while we were at it we would re-publish our recipe for Cast Iron Eggs just to give you one more choice.
Melt two tablespoons butter in a cast iron skillet on your stove top, add one cup of sliced mushrooms and cook until tender and dark brown. Crack eight to ten eggs on top of the melted butter and mushrooms. They will be crowded and the uncooked whites will overlap as though they are running together. Sprinkle with garlic salt and course ground pepper and allow the eggs to cook undisturbed for about four minutes. Cut two ripe tomatoes into thin slices and lay overlapping on top of the eggs. Allow the eggs to cook for three more minutes on the stove top. Finally, sprinkle with one cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Place the skillet into a 350 degree oven and let bake for six minutes. Serve by scooping out onto plates with a large spoon – no slicing.
Pajama Excursion
Let’s face it, shopping is a demanding proposition. It can be a feet throbbing, purse gaining poundage with every step, music blaring overhead making your head throb, standing in line, where in the world is a bathroom experience. Shopping at Pine Country Feed is actually none of those things, but truth be told, a nice glass of wine, your toes bare and propped up on the ottoman, not a line in sight can sound pretty good, and soon it will be yours. Shopping at Pine Country Feed will be an armchair adventure, laptop in place, browsing at your leisure. The On-Line version of your favorite place to shop for all of your “have to have” accessories, jeans, boots, jackets, hats, blouses and the most remarkable, can’t be found elsewhere home goods on the planet, is coming to a living room, or a king sized bed with tons of pillows to cradle your head, near you. The only thing better than a peaceful afternoon at Pine Country Feed, is a midnight splurge at Pine Country Feed On-line. Fire up the laptop. We’ll keep you posted.
Pumpkin Up
The cool mornings and frosty nights are calling to your inner pumpkin. It is time to bake, so do it proudly and use the very healthy, rich and creamy pumpkin whenever you can.
Pumpkin Cupcakes
Mix together 4 slightly beaten eggs, ¾ cup vegetable oil, 2 cups sugar and 1-15oz can pumpkin. Combine with a mixture of 1 ¾ cup flour, ¼ cup corn starch, 4 teaspoons pumpkin spice, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda and ¾ teaspoon salt. Beat just until well blended, fill lined muffin cups two thirds full and bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. The center of the cakes should bounce back to the touch when they are done.
Allow the cupcakes to cool for 30 minutes at least then frost with a combination of 8oz softened cream cheese, 3 tablespoons softened butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 4 cups powdered sugar. After frosting refrigerate lightly covered cupcakes until you are ready to serve.
A hot cup of coffee and a pumpkin cupcake and you’ll be fortified for days. If you feel weak after 24 hours, eat another cupcake!
By Any Other Color
We spend a lot of time in the kitchen – cooking, eating, doing dishes, drinking coffee, eating again – and it needs to be a place we feel called to, a room that tells us we are home. Sometimes we get so busy thinking of the kitchen as a “utility” room that we forget to make it work aesthetically. On the flip side, a kitchen that suffers from décor overload can make us feel disorganized and stressed. The kitchen does have to support the work that goes on there, but it should also be pleasing to the eye. Martha Stewart who simply refuses to work in a kitchen that is anything less than beautiful , suggests an investment in small appliances, bake ware and utensils that are not only functional, but that are pleasing to the eye. A mixer can beat the egg whites into a meringue just as well when it is lime green as opposed to something the color of Cream of Wheat. Have some fun, add some color, or go the other way and take every drop of color out. A totally white, or a silver and black palette can be stunning. Your kitchen works hard and it is screaming for drama, something that says to the world, “the food cooked in this room may change your life”. Make your kitchen a place you want to be after dinner is done and the dishwasher is running. And while you’re there, put your feet up. You work hard too.
Cup of Sanity
When you’ve tried everything you can think of, the fact still remains, it is Monday and there is no getting around it. It happens every week, usually just once, but that is enough, and one truth seems to remain unchanged over the years. If Sunday happens, that day of afternoon naps and dinner with family, then Monday is certain to follow, and nothing but creativity and true grit will get you through it unscathed. It is the day of the week when it just seems easier to beat someone up than hear them out, but there is a remedy that will help you check that rude demeanor at the door. Make Monday your special coffee day, not just coffee, but a coffee drink with foam and perhaps a drizzle of chocolate, and add a muffin, and eat it at your favorite coffee place, where everyone is happy to see you, even though it is indeed Monday. When you wake up on Monday knowing that this indulgence lies ahead of you it will make your first day of the week feel like a regular, lots to do, get it done kind of day, so your week will not even have a Monday but rather a “coffee treat” day. Now that is worth getting up for!
Cuppa Josephine
At first you assume it will be a morning like any other, then you are struck by the aroma that opens doors, that shifts the world into a compatible structure, the scent that makes any morning a bit brighter simply by its presence. The coffee is brewing, and it isn’t one of those “$10 for a giant can for medicinal purposes” coffees. It is a freshly roasted bean, brought in from the one place on earth that has several hours of bright sunshine, followed by cool dry nights, with just enough rain to help the roots hang on. It is ground to the texture that makes coffee and water combine into the magical brew that insists you close your eyes at the first sip and say, “that’s what I’m talking about”. Coffee cannot be defined by a non-coffee drinker, because the spiritual experience that happens when the blend and the brew are just right is just that, an experience. Pine Country Feed is all about the “experience” and one day soon their shelves will sport the coffee that you have waited for. So keep a weather eye. Salvation is coming.
Cast Iron Eggs
When you need to put together a healthful meal and your kitchen time is limited, turn to your cast iron skillet. This recipe for a crispy, cheesy egg 
dish is a modification of a Martha Stewart recipe and is easy, quick and fabulous!
Melt two tablespoons butter in a cast iron skillet on your stove top, add one cup of sliced mushrooms and cook until tender and dark brown. Crack eight to ten eggs on top of the melted butter and mushrooms. They will be crowded and the uncooked whites will overlap as though they are running together. Sprinkle with garlic salt and course ground pepper and 
allow the eggs to cook undisturbed for about four minutes. Cut two ripe tomatoes into thin slices and lay overlapping on top of the eggs. Allow the eggs to cook for three more minutes on the stove top. Finally, sprinkle with one cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Place the skillet into a 350 degree oven and let bake for six minutes. Serve by scooping out onto plates with a large spoon – no slicing.
Serve with warm biscuits, butter and jam, or hot cornbread with butter and honey. Add some fruit and you’ll have a meal fit for a king or even a cowboy!
Home Sweet Home
Sometimes there is nothing better than having a place of your own.
Welcome Home
Walk down the street and have the bank president come running out to tell you hello. Bring home an Aspen tree from the nursery and have two neighbors and the guy at the stop light tell you the best way to plant it. Take your dog along when you cash a check at the drive up at the bank, and find a milk bone in the money tube when it comes back. When you stop into your favorite coffee shop find the barista standing behind the counter with your favorite drink freshly made and waiting for you. It’s called living in the mountains, where we do business with our friends and our neighbors become family, and if the snow on your drive is over a foot high you’ll have a line of people waiting to help you dig out. We might need our coats and boots in May, but we may be out in shirtsleeves in mid-December, because once in a while we have those “just like spring” days just before Christmas. We love living here, and we love the other people who love living here, because people who make their lives in the mountains have found a place they call home and it’s a home we are all privileged to share.
Scoops
“Here is a simple but powerful rule – always give people more than what they expect to get.” Nelson Boswell
Cup of Sanity
When you’ve tried everything you can think of, the fact still remains, it is Monday and there is no getting around it. It happens every week, usually just once, but that is enough, and one truth seems to remain unchanged over the years. If Sunday happens, that day of afternoon naps and dinner with family, then Monday is certain to follow, and nothing but creativity and true grit will get you through it unscathed. It is the day of the week when it just seems easier to beat someone up than hear them out, but there is a remedy that will help you check that rude demeanor at the door. Make Monday your special coffee day, not just coffee, but a coffee drink with foam and perhaps a drizzle of chocolate, and add a muffin, and eat it at your favorite coffee place, where everyone is happy to see you, even though it is indeed Monday. When you wake up on Monday knowing that this indulgence lies ahead of you it will make your first day of the week feel like a regular, lots to do, get it done kind of day, so your week will not even have a Monday but rather a “coffee treat” day. Now that is worth getting up for!
Friend of my Heart
“Friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil – but
it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small silly
presents every so often – just to save it from drying out completely.”
– Pam Brown
Incredible!
We love having breakfast for dinner, so if you’re not doing the Leave it to Beaver thing of sitting around the breakfast table in your high heels and string of pearls each morning, these eggs are great with pancakes and sausage for an evening meal.
Whip one dozen eggs in a bowl with a whisk until all yokes are broken and the whites and yokes are combined. Add one fourth cup half and half, two teaspoons minced garlic, one teaspoon salt, two shakes of course ground black pepper and one cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Pour into a hot skillet of two tablespoons melted butter. Push the egg mixture around the pan with a spatula just until eggs are firm, (don’t overcook), sprinkle with diced fresh tomatoes before serving.
Eggs are a healthy source of protein, vitamin B12 and riboflavin, they are high in selenium which is an antioxidant AND they are low in calories. If you want to maintain the low calorie theme, skip the pancakes and sausage, and serve your eggs on a toasted, open face, whole grain English muffin with a side of sliced bananas, red grapes, and a chunks of cantaloupe. Enjoy!
Top of the List
“I have horses, I drive a truck and I wear cowboy boots. First I’m a Texan!” Henry Thomas – actor, singer
By Any Other Color
We spend a lot of time in the kitchen – cooking, eating, doing dishes, drinking coffee, eating again – and it needs to be a place we feel called to, a room that tells us we are home. Sometimes we get so busy thinking of the kitchen as a “utility” room that we forget to make it work aesthetically. On the flip side, a kitchen that suffers from décor overload can make us feel disorganized and stressed. The kitchen does have to support the work that goes on there, but it should also be pleasing to the eye. Martha Stewart who simply refuses to work in a kitchen that is any less than beautiful , suggests an investment in small appliances, bake ware and utensils that are not only functional, but that are pleasing to the eye. A mixer can beat the egg whites into a meringue just as well when it is lime green as opposed to something the color of Cream of Wheat. Have some fun, add some color, or go the other way and take every drop of color out. A totally white, or silver and black palette can be stunning. Your kitchen works hard and it is screaming for drama, something that says to the world, “the food cooked in this room may change your life”. Make your kitchen a place you want to be after dinner is done and the dishwasher is running. And while you’re there, put your feet up. You work hard too.
Out with the Old
March is the signal that spring will indeed be coming. There are no promises of when but it is generally understood that if we have gotten through the serious winter months March will probably throw us a couple icy spring storms with really heavy snow, but we will also start to see some days warm enough for sweaters. It isn’t advisable to put the mittens away completely, but you can probably take them off the string around your neck. With the prospect of spring comes the desire in most hearts to get into shape, to get organized and to get busy with some new projects. It is the time of year when we invest our energies into accomplishing something in and around our homes, with the hope that when the summer warmth is upon us we will be able to maximize our outdoor hours. We suggest starting with getting organized, and that is best accomplished with a reward system. Every time you clean out a closet, you get to purchase something new for your house or yourself as a reward. Clean out your clothes closet, get a new blouse; clean out your cupboards, get a new set of dishes; clean out your barn, get a new horse; your garage, new car. You get the idea. The main thing to remember is that you are not being extravagant, you are reaping the benefits of springtime productivity. It’s our system and we’re sticking to it.
Shall I Pour?
You have to wonder if the Wild West might have been different if there had been access to better coffee. When you started and ended your day with a coffee made from grounds, boiled over a fire, in a sock and a tin pot of water until just the smell could cause an ulcer, you figure it had to affect your sunny disposition. Imagine if they’d had a nice French pressed cup of only the best Allegro blend, strong but not bitter, and never inky, Billy the Kid might have thought twice about shooting the barber who gave him a bad haircut. A good cup of coffee can make the difference in public reactions on many levels. Throwing someone through the picture window of the local pub doesn’t seem quite as necessary when one has been properly caffeinated and thoroughly prepared for the worst, by the ingestion of a powerful dark roast with just a hint of the outdoors. In a recent viewing of the movie True Grit, I found myself wondering what a thorough cleansing and a mug of Sumatra might have done for Jeff Bridges. Matt Damon needed some sort of assistance, but I am afraid even a well-brewed espresso wouldn’t have been enough.
Let it Snow!
We have waited for winter to actually come and it is here – with bells on. The snow is piling high and the temperatures are dropping low, which are the two extremes required to make winter in all its glory. The roads seem to get plowed and sanded adequately, leaving the driveways blocking all means of passage. What we need is Willard’s two Percherons with a sleigh attached, a pile of blankets and a thermos of hot chocolate. We could fly like the wind over the mountain roads and think of ourselves as pioneer adventurers, reliant on our trusty steeds, and our wits, our only concern, whether or not the fire will still be burning in the fireplace when we get home. There is something invigorating about the weather when it takes over our lives, reminding us that we don’t really have the say over the universe that we think we do, and that regardless of how busy we are, or how smart we are, if the snow is blocking the drive and making it impassable there is nothing to do for it but enjoy!
