Plum Orchard Farm

How It All Started...

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 16:48:28 -0800

Hi, and thanks for stopping by! Today, I thought I'd share how buying a vacation home in the N. Ga mountains led to a total life 180!

We've always loved the area around the Blue Ridge Mountains, and vacationed with family there for many years. Last year we rented a house on a lake in a small town called Hiawassee, and knew this was the place we wanted to keep coming back to.

For months we stalked realtor.com checking out every house and piece of property that came onto the market. Then one night my husband grabbed my arm and said, "I found it!"

It was a quirky little farmhouse on 5 acres with an amazing mountain view. We made an offer the next morning, and after it was accepted made plans to drive up to see it in person.

Nothing could have prepared us for the beautiful country road that led to the tiny white house on the hill. Even before pulling into the driveway we knew this was the vacation home we had been looking for. We hiked around the property, then shook the owner's hand letting him know he had a deal!

The house had been completely remodeled, but the layout is a little wonky lol. The master bedroom is at one end while what's considered the master bathroom is at the other end. No big deal unless you have creaky floors and a toddler that wakes at every noise! We weren't concerned though, because this was just supposed to be our vacation home....right?

We decided to spend the spring at the house furnishing it and getting it ready to be added to the vacation rental sites. We figured we could make a little income off it while we weren't there.

As we worked on the house and cleaned up the property we began to realize just how much we all really loved it. Jake wanted to be outside all the time, picking up rocks and sticks and digging in the dirt. He followed Robert around outside all day long , and never asked for cartoons or his ipad.

We also realized just how little we needed to feel comfortable and...Read More

Fluffy Soudough Discard Pancakes

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 10:30:59 -0700

Ever wonder what to do with your sourdough discard? Being new to sourdough, I've just been happy to keep my starter alive, let alone deal with the discard. Plus I never have alot, so I can't try a lot of the recipes out there.

After playing around a bit, I discovered it doesn't take a lot of discard to create the fluffiest pancakes I've ever had! Bonus is that you can use Einkorn flour which for those of us with gluten sensitivites can make it possible to eat wheat flour again! If you don't know much about Einkorn flour, I encourage you to do some research. There are countless articles that explain the benefits of switching.

Recipe:

1/2 cup sourdough discard

2 eggs (room temperature if possible)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup Einkorn flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Heat a non stick pan or griddle coated in butter on medium high heat.

Mix all dry ingredients plus sugar, and whisk together.

Add the dry ingredients and whisk until just smooth.

Lower heat, and pour 1/4 cup batter for small pancakes, or 1/2 cup batter for large pancakes into pan. Let cook 2-3 minutes until the pancake is bubbling on sides, and they start to look cooked. Flip with spatula and repeat on other side umtil pancake is finished and a golden brown in color.

Top with whatever you like! My son asked for syrup, chocolate chips, and sprinkles on his lol. I added syrup, crushed walnuts, and bananas to mine!

Enjoy!

Shrimp Pesto Artisan Pizza

Mon, 06 May 2024 13:20:41 -0700

Last night my husband made THE MOST delicious pizza I've ever eaten, and I decided it was too good not to share!

And yes, I did contribute by making the dough which I got from Lisa (Farmhouse on Boone). It's the only pizza dough receipe I use, and everyone who eats it swears it's the best crust they've ever had.

It really is!

Anyway, I'm going to stop rambling now, and drop the recipe below lol!

1 lb shrimp, chopped

1/2 stick of salted butter

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp paprika

1 jar basil pesto

1 cup mixed chopped kalamata olives and Pepperoncini

1 1/2 cups arugula

3 cups 3 cheese blend (goat cheese crumbles, shredded mozzerella, shaved parmesan)

salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Preheat pizza stone (optional) in oven to 400 degrees

Melt butter in skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp. Season with Thyme, Paprika, salt and pepper. Saute until shrimp is cooked. (4 to 6 minutes.)

Roll out pizza dough on parchment paper (the paper makes it easier to transfer to the stone), and generously top with pesto. Add shrimp, olives and pepperoncini mixture, and arugula. Top with cheese and a pinch of salt. Bake for 15 minutes.

Finish with balsamic glaze if desired.

There you have it. Let me know if you try it!

The Garden House is Done!

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 10:14:54 -0700

It's been a bit since I've shared anything, but I feel like our plans got a little stagnant for while. Things are finally beginning to move again with the completion of our garden house! This project was a huge undertaking for my husband, and took several months to finish.

Part of the reason we moved to the country was to try our hand at growing some of our food. We've been learning alot since starting our seeds (like don't start from seeds lol), and now have a few vegetables and herbs that look like they may make it, but today I wanted to brag on my hubby a little.

This project started out as just a pen drawing on a piece of paper and today is a beautiful spot to practice a little gardening and hone our not so green thumbs. The video below shows how he did it. Let me know in the comments your best gardening tips, or if this is something you'd like to take on!

Hem Curtains The No Sew Way

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 16:51:09 -0800

Hi there and welcome to another post! Today, I'm sharing how I hemmed five inches off the curtains in my son's room without a sewing machine. I've never sewed anything in my life (well maybe a button that fell off my coat once. It didn't go well), so being able to hem these curtains without a single stitch was absolutely necessary lol. I watched a bunch of tutorials before attempting this, then narrowed down what I thought would be the easiest way to do it.

Supplies I used:

Curtains (duh)

Fabric shears

Iron on adhesive

Iron/board

Measuring Tape

As a side note you can do this without even taking your curtains off the rod, but I didn't have enough room to work that way. I did, however, measure the bottom before removing the curtain.

First, I set up my iron/board and made sure to use the right heat setting. My curtains are 100% polyester so I adjusted the heat accordingly. Next, I flipped my curtain over and laid it front side down on my ironing board. Then, I folded the bottom up five inches which is how much I wanted hemmed.

Next, I ironed a crease into the bottom of the curtains. Since it was wider than my ironing board I worked in two sections.

Once I had a deep crease, I unfolded the curtain and applied the HeatnBond Hem Iron on Adhesive right at the top of the crease line.

Then, I folded the curtain over the tape and ironed the crease again to melt the adhesive. Make sure to read the directions on how long to leave the iron on the tape. This one said three to five seconds. I worked my way all the way down to the end of the curtain in sections since I have a small ironing board.

Finally, I cut the excess fabric away from the hem and that's it! Perfectly hemmed no sew curtains!

I will definitely be using this method...Read More