I'd Rather be Potting

If I was a bumper sticker kind of girl, the title of this post is what my bumper sticker would say !

Instead of making pots I've been:

Moving equipment across wintery roads

March 23, 2011. My 16 year old daughter had a day off school and she was quickly enlisted to move
 the extractor out to a field

I'm following behind with the 15 ton tandem grain truck

here the extractor is set up to a bag and auguring the grain into the truck

I'm standing at the end of the 10,000 bushel bag here.
There's quite a bit of snow in the fields this year so that has to be cleared away from the bag with snow plows and some human shoveling before we start .

dumping the grain into the storage bins in our yard

during harvest, out of necessity, some of the grain is bagged with a high moisture content. It must be dried before shipping or storage.
The high moisture grain goes into the wet bin on the right, augerd into the dryer (you can see the steam) the the dry grain is then augered into the holding bin on the left before being shipped or stored

here we are loading railroad cars for shipment. The grain is usually shipped by rail across the  prairies, over the Rocky Mountains and out to ports on Canada's west coast, either at Vancouver or Prince Rupert. 

This is a shot of my studio from my kitchen window... where I'd rather be !

East meets west over the breakfast table

I hear that the maple sap has started running and the sugar shacks are gearing up for a sweet season !

Since I can't jump on an airplane and go to a maple festival, I decided to do the next best thing and make these buttermilk and flax seed pancakes.

Nothing better than combining the best canadian grown grains with the natural maple sweetness from Quebec !

Heres my recipe if you'd like to make some too:

1 cup all purpose wheat flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 rounded tablespoons of freshly ground flax seed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs

 3 cups buttermilk * 

 4 tablespoons unsalted butter - melted

1. Heat griddle to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. In a 4 cup measuring cup add buttermilk, eggs, and 4 tablespoons melted butter; whisk to combine and warm gently in microwave untill warmed through. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
2. Test griddle by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush, brush 1/2 teaspoon of butter or  bacon fat onto griddle. Wipe off excess.
3. Using a 4-ounce ladle, about 1/2 cup, pour pancake batter, in pools 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
4. *you have to use the real buttermilk or the batter will be runny
5. smother in warm maple syrup and enjoy !

I hope that this years sugaring off season is a bountiful one !

I'm going out to the studio and make some maple syrup jugs