Moist Zuchinni Bread Recipe

Moist on the inside, a nice crunch on the outside, this recipe is my favorite when it comes to making zucchini bread. My husband loves it in his lunch at work. It is also good with your tea in the morning and in the afternoon and for dessert after dinner or really anytime you want to enjoy a sweet and delicious treat. I use a wooden spoon to mash and mix the ingredients all together.

Moist Zucchini Loaf right out of the oven at Little Utah Farm.

MOIST ZUCCHINI BREAD

Recipe makes 2 8X4 Loaves
You can put this batter into one large loaf pan and bake it longer.
Turn on the oven to 325 degrees
bake 40-60 minutes
To begin
Grease and flour 2 8x4 loaf pans

RECIPE

Sift into a bowl and set aside

3 cups of white flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of baking powder
3 tsp of cinnamon

Mix well together in separate bowl

3 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups of white sugar
3 tsp of pure vanilla



 Add flour mixture into egg mixture and mix well

The mixture can be thick so do the best you can. I use a wooden spoon to mash it all together.

Add and Mix In

2 cups of shredded zucchini
1 cup of chopped pecans or grated carrots (optional)


Pour mixture into 2 greased and floured 8x4 loaf pans

Bake at 325 for 40-60 minutes.
Begin checking for doness at 40 minutes.

Important: Check to see if it is done by sticking a clean sharp knife down into the center.

If it comes out clean its done and ready to take out of the oven.

Let the bread sit for 5 minutes then loosen the sides and remove from pan. Let cool completely, wrap in plastic and store in fridge. Good alone or with cream cheese, butter, or peanut butter.

Enjoy!


Thank you for visiting Little Utah Farm

Until next time,
Believe in your dreams!

Weeds and Bare Root Willows

In the summer of 2007 when we arrived in Utah, our land was barren, a diamond in the rough. We pulled all the wild thorny tumbleweeds and discovered muscles and joints we didn't know we had. 


 Weeds and bare Root Willows
 www.LittleUtahFarm.blogspot.com

When the cooler days of autumn came, we decided to go out and clear the pasture out back. Having a tractor would have been wonderful. It was on our bucket list for sometime in the future. For now we entertained the idea of hiring out someone to plow a 1/2 acre. We called a man who had a tractor but it would have cost $700 to clear the whole thing. $100 dollars an hour.

We decided to DIY. We grabbed our shovels and set to pulling the big old grey and boney tumbleweeds and cleared the debris that the former owners left behind. Funny, we discovered when we pulled on the weeds we nearly tumbled backwards as the roots had let go of the soil. The tumble weeds just lifted out easy with the tip of the hoe or a scuff sideways with our boot.

We had a good laugh after that. To think of all the work we did on those fresh young weeds back in spring along the pasture road. They had quite a hold into the ground and you got to get it all or they will grow back. There were many such lessons when we first arrived here on Little Utah Farm.



Bare Root Purchases For Beginners

 Have you ever had that planting fever in spring where you want to order everything in the catalogue?

 It is like going shopping when you are hungry. In late winter of 2010 I had this happen to me. The pictures show blooms with beautiful bright colors and the prices are cut in half for the big sales in the mail order Burgess' Seed Catalogue.

 I had ordered a dozen Hybrid Willow plants for a wind barrier behind the llama shed.  I was in quite a hurry to get it going so I selected those fast growing wonders. We also ordered some 6 Poplars Screen Hybrids to go in  front of the garden fence.

As I placed my order, I felt my heart racing with enthusiasm. Dreams of lovely lush green trees passed through me day and night. I envisioned the 3' to 4' plantings and played reruns of it till the day they arrived.

I recall, with a little snicker* the feeling of receiving 40 some shrubs and trees that I ordered from Burgess Seed Catalogue. The bare roots came inside a plastic green bag. All of them. I remember the day they came like it was yesterday. I got a knock at my door  and saw that the post lady was parked out on the graded road.


My hands rubbed together in anticipation as our postwoman opened the back door of her mail truck and brought out a large green sack. "What? Well hmm." I thought , "That sack is probably just the bulbs and small perennials I ordered". She sat the sack down with her one hand and gave me a friendly smile and waved with the other to bid me good day. "Wait, isn't there more?" I asked. "That is all." she replied. As she hurried back down the driveway, my heart sunk into my solar plexus.

 I shook off my disappointment and  ripped open the stapled bag. The smell of glorious earth came fuming up into my nostrils. It was love at first sight as I gazed over the little bare roots of my future trees and shrubs. While gently placing the skinny red- brown roots into a bucket of tepid water, I wondered how long it would take before they would grow into trees. I soaked the roots overnight.


Digging Yourself A Hole In Clay

 

 By the way has any of you ever dug in to the hard pan layers of clay?

The shovel may go in as far as the tip and then you hit what feels like rock. This is the hard pan of clay. Little by little it does chip away with the shovel.  I came to a softer layer half way down, from an ancient alluvial fan, and that made the last half of digging the hole a breeze.

20 holes later....

I successfully planted 20 trees and shrubs. I got the routine down.

Only 20 more holes to go...


How to plant bare root willows in clay:

My holes were 2 feet deep and 1 1/2 feet in diameter. Usually you make the hole twice the diameter of the root ball but I had heard stories of the hard clay stopping the roots and trees dying out of the blue, so I made the holes bigger than the spindly roots.  For the hybrid willow wind brake,  I placed the holes 31/2 feet apart.  

1. dig your hole as much as you can ( it may not be all the way yet) if it is not hard just skip steps 2-4
2.  fill with water to the rim.
3. wait 30 minutes or until the water has soaked in you may dance around the plant for optimum fertility
4.  continue digging your hole ( it will be softer now)
5. mound 1 part soft rich earth mixed with 1 part of manure in the center of the hole
6. lift the tender bare roots out of the water while thinking encouraging thoughts
7. gently untangle the roots and spread them over the mound gently, set her down, then breathe
8. put some of the soil mix on top of the roots, filling the hole half way and tamp the soil down gently to remove any air bubbles. I added some water at this point.
9. fill the rest of the hole with soil tamp down a bit then water really good
10. nurture your plantings like they were your children. Water them regularly especially in dry hot weather. You can mulch them also just not too close to the stem.


The catalogue book was right.

The little branches I took out of the green plastic bag did grow really fast just like the catalogue said they would. they grew 4 feet the first season. Now look at them !

My magnificent graceful willows after 3 years. They are about 15 feet! They are just about to bud into beautiful slender leaves. I watered them faithfully, admired them from afar and every time I feed the llamas.  I stayed in faith during the many woe be gone stories and warnings of my neighbors. " Oh my trees never made it, they died,"  they said. Their efforts or lack there of, produced nothing but dead wood. My story was going to be different. These plants would grow big and strong and provide shade and glorious green in the summer. And they did.

Looking up the willows. Hybrid willows planted from bare root. 3years old.
www.littleutahfarm.blogspot.com

Just wait till they are all leafed out. These are amazon sized willows, are happy as can be. The catalogue says they will reach 60 feet tall. They provide shade, protection, yummy snacks for the llamas and satisfying songs in the breeze.


EPILOGUE

It is almost spring 2014. It has been 4 years since my trees and willows were planted. These hearty plants and trees have given us such joy and greenery and shade. The Siberian Elm that grow here in Utah like weeds have rooted in some bare spots and really filled in some of the bare spots quite nicely. Our willows are now flowering after the cold harsh winter, and the bees will come shortly as it warms up.







The willows are gigantic and tower way above the wind harps ( telephone lines). The hybrid poplars tower way above us as well. We are so excited to see them leaf out this year. These memories bring me so much joy and laughter. I ain't done yet. I am still learning and discovering on Little Utah Farm.

Paul is near 6 foot tall. These willows are giants.
www.LittleUtahFarm.blogspot.com

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Believe in your dreams and appreciate life as it is. Those dreams will materialize.
Until next time,
Deborah Moon Moen

How To Make Your Dreams Come True 101

Dream it-Be It Have It

Pretending Your Dream

Paul and I had a dream of living in the country with the four seasons and the pleasure of having our animals on a little farm where we could love, feed, and care for them. 

We wanted to gather eggs and grow alfalfa hay and enjoy beautiful mountains and wide open spaces. 

Everyday we pretended we had a farm. Yes, that is right. We pretended and created farm projects and chores in our backyard even though we were smack dab in the center of the city. 


The Vision Board 

We played a game by making a dream board or a vision board. 

We bought some white poster board and stick glue and grabbed our scissors 

1. We cut out pictures from our favorite farm and ranch and nature magazines that generated enthusiasm and the feelings of living in the country. 
2. We pasted the pictures on the poster board and hung it where we could see it in the kitchen. Some people just roll it up and forget about it and find years later their dreams had come true without their realizing it. You can display your vision board if it makes you feel enthusiastic otherwise put it away and let go of it.  Let it cook as if it were in the oven. 

This barnyard  picture of the chickens, sunflowers, red barn and garden was placed on the dream board
and used as a screen saver because it uplifted me and increased my enthusiasm.

This farm picture was placed on the Vision Board in the kitchen.
We loved the red barn, lanscape and silo.

This is our view today from our bedroom window on Little Utah Farm. The back yard,
the llama corral, my sunflowers and the red barn is our neighbor's home however it is something just like my pictures in my vision board. We have a barn and it is tan. I can paint it red any day but I like it this way.

Be The Dream

When I first began to raise my chickens in the city, it was a learning process to clean their coop and feed them. Although I enjoyed having my own chickens, I felt a little awkward in the beginning. I knew by experience that with repetition anything gets easier and easier. 

Raising chickens is really fun. this is me in my backyard in
a big city in California.

I loved gathering the eggs. The whole ceremony of caring for the chickens was very gratifying. In time it felt natural. Caring for my hens helped me develop my skills and self-sufficiency. Learning how to raise chickens in the city kept my mind occupied with interest and joy.

We even grew a little alfalfa crop in the back yard..

Gandhi said "Be the change you want to see in the world" 

Even the smallest ideas of how to live on a farm and care for it, was carried out. We began growing alfalfa in a little patch of earth just to get the feel and joy of it. It was only a 2 foot x 4 foot patch. 

Every time I went out to feed my chickens or clean their coop, our farm and the thrill of living in the country was in my mind, and joyfully in my heart.

Doubt Snuffs It Out

We must have faith that our dreams have been acknowledged. Dreams do come true. This phenomenon has been and is demonstrated over and over again as long as certain mental and emotional conditions are met. Once you doubt or worry over details like money and logistics then you keep the precious seed, that you planted with your desire, way under the soil and it never sees Light. 

Be Patient and Have Fun

Struggling, trying, hard work that is getting you down is not required. If your dream is something you love then Be in Love with life and do what you love. Laugh and have fun and the Love will reflect right back at you like a mirror. If you struggle or you are noticing your dream is not there yet, that will reflect back at you as well. 

Life is what you think it is ~ Universal principle

Dreams Do Come True

It took a few years of searching to find our dream farm. We had fun looking for property on our vacations. We adventured into Oregon near the Rogue River and dreamed our dream, then we traveled to Arizona, and New Mexico. We hadn't yet seen anything like our vision board yet, however, it was so much fun to explore. One day in June 2006 our farm was revealed to us. It was in Southern Utah high on the western edge of the Colorado Plateau. 

The little acre of land, the house, old coop and pasture was so like our vision board when our eyes met we instantly agreed silently with big smiles as the real estate agent showed us the place. 

Diamond In The Rough

Our farm was a diamond in the rough and the wheels merrily turned in our minds how we were going to fix it up. The money magically came in to pay for it and a transfer came through for my husbands work and we moved into our dream home in 2008. 

Paul and Deborah Moen standing in their alfalfa field on Little Utah Farm
July 2012