Writer With A Farm

For the love of growing, eating, creating and doing

● Featured Article

  • The Introduction

    Good Day all! My name is Ayana and I’m glad you’ve stumbled upon my blog today. As this is my first post, I want to tell you a little about myself I hope that it inspires you to go after the life you want.

                    I fell in love with writing accidently. I had been given a pad of construction paper and began drawing pictures.  As time went on, I started writing words within my pictures which turn into writing poems to go along with them. Soon my pad was filled more with poems than pictures.

      In high school, thought watching the show Charmed I thought my calling was to be a baker and went to a trade school for baking. While learning to bake, I was also in a poetry club and I started writing a screen play and several books. Life got in the way and I never got around to finishing them.

                    I went to college for English with a minor in creative writing, after realizing I really passionate about writing. I started working on finishing on of the books I started in college. During this time I lost 70 lbs and discovered a passion for nutrition and thought about writing a cook book. I also got introduced to Open Mic and started writing more poetry.

    Post college I applied for a writing job and actually got it but went with a different opportunity that ended up being a sales job. To this day I kick myself for not taking that writing job. I, again, started working on finishing the books I started and started going to open mics on a regular basis. I Eventually got the courage to start performing.  I started to dream of performing at big open mic competitions.

    I started my first professional job and getting caught up in getting out of debt and building a career, writing, again, took a back seat. During this time, I also discovered my love of growing things and had a new dream of eventually being a writer with a farm.  I started working more hours and bought 6 acres in which to build a farm. I met my husband, got married, became a mom and focused a lot on building my gardens and growing my own food but I wasn’t writing. I didn’t have time; it wasn’t a priority. Recently I stopped and evaluated my life.  I am making progress at getting out of debt, I am building my gardens and getting chickens, I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful and sweet baby girl and I was taking steps with building my homestead. The only thing missing was writing. My goal in life was to be a writer with a farm and the only thing missing was me taking the steps to be a writer.  So here I am.

    This blog is me achieving my dreams. This blog will encompass all of my favorite things: coffee, gardening, baking, nutrition, homesteading, poetry and short stories. I hope you join me on this journey of building the life I’ve always dreamed of and I hope following me inspires you to do the same.

  • Experimenting With Homemade Yogurt

           I’m starting to find moments of quiet and peace throughout the day. Today my infant went down for a nap around lunch time and for once my toddler is quietly and contently eating her peanut butter and jelly.  I stare out the back window watching the rain splatter on the ground and the clouds kiss the mountain top. As we enjoy our lunch I think about the yogurt fermenting in the oven.

         This isn’t an “how to” post but I look into me trying something new and talking about how it turned out. This is only my second time making yogurt. I made yogurt for the first time about two weeks ago. If you want to try the recipe I used here it is.  https://omadarling.com/crock-pot-yogurt/

           While making yogurt is fairly simple I ran into some silly obstacles as I tried to figure out how to keep my yogurt fermenting in my generally cold house.  I followed a crockpot recipe.The recipe said that after adding yogurt culture, cover the crockpot with a towel and let it sit overnight.  The next morning I wake up excited to eat some yogurt I made some homemade granola and was all ready for breakfast but when I checked the crockpot only the very bottom looked somewhat yogurt-y. I did some research about crockpot temperatures and starting turning it on for several minutes to try and get the yogurt to around 100 degrees and than cutting it off so it doesn’t get too hot. Mind you, I do not have a thermometer so I was playing guess that temperature for a couple of hours.  Only once the granola I made was done and the sourdough bread I baked were done did remember my oven has  bread proof and dehydration functions haha. Once I put it in the oven. The yogurt really started to thicken. I wanted to try making some of the yogurt ,Greek yogurt. I do not have a cheese cloth yet so I  put a coffee filter over a jar and strain some yogurt that way.

    After roughly 36 hours I finally had me some yogurt!

        Let me tell about how this yogurt has me hooked! Now I’ve never been a huge yogurt person. I enjoy it on occasion but it’s not something I think of eating everyday. I bought it mostly for my toddler who loves yogurt. This homemade yogurt though,  I eat some almost everyday now. It’s so thick and creamy and because I make the whole thing plain, each time I eat it I customize the flavor.

         My favorite flavors for yogurt is honey and ginger. My toddler enjoys it with honey and cinnamon.  Sometimes I add a little jam or jelly to it. Today I made a parfait with chia and pumpkin seeds, honey, ginger, and sliced banana.  Yogurt I find is a great quick  breakfast that doesn’t require a lot of dishes.

           Yogurt is also super versatile. I’ve added it to baked goods and used it as a base for sauces.  I even used it to make a mock tahini sauce which both my daughter and I loved.  If you stain it to be really thick you have left over whey which is a good source of vitamin b and probiotics. You can used it in smoothies, baking, pancakes, or even in soup. It adds a nice little Tang. I added it to my tomato soup and it was delicious. I’ve had so much fun with making yogurt. I’m going to try my hand at making cream cheese and sour cream next. It’s amazing the different things you can make from something as simple as a few cups of milk

    There are several ways to make yogurt if you don’t have a crockpot. The two YouTube videos I have linked below I found super helpful. My hope is that this post inspires you to try. The kitchen is a great place to experiment. https://youtu.be/vgc26G2voao?si=g8LX25QvRSfzJsxB

    https://youtu.be/fqvouttKjZ0?si=Bd_8efOtu9uff2mf

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