Turkey Creek Farm Peace, Love, and Harmony Granola!

This was me in April 1980.


















My how time flies! And how trends change. Are you diggin' the Farah Fawcett flippy do here?


















Will and I had just been married not quite a year. {Sigh}

I love how the new generation (and mind you I'm not that old!) has embraced chickens in their back yards, and baking their own artisan bread, and eating organically, and drinking goats milk, making their own cheese, growing vegies, shopping at the Farmer's Market, buying local, and embracing the handmade...it's all great. I mean really, really great! Granted, it's nothing new, but it's comendable considering there is so much at their fingertips provided by the Wal-Marts of the world.
Circa 1980 Valley, Nebraska. Nana visiting my rather sad little garden

















Why it is so important, and why this type of lifestyle is of such value, is that it keeps the old ways alive, and shines a spotlight on how it should be: living naturally, by the seasons, off the land, by your own resources. I think they've even coined the phrase, "the new food movement!" Go figure. I think people are just craving simplicity in their life.

A book I have thoroughly enjoyed from front to back this summer is "Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression," by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. Get it on your Kindle. Now that is a book about what it means to depend on the land, to live by the seasons, to spend the majority of your days planning, planting, harvesting, preparing, and putting by. Despite the current economy, people, we have it good!

And here's my recipe. I eat granola just about every day in one variation or another. And this recipe is so versatile you can add, or take away, what you like or don't like. And change up the nuts and fruits. Sometimes I feel like a tropical dried fruit mix, and sometimes I like dried cherries, blueberries, and walnuts. It's kind of whatever you like.

And wouldn't lavender honey be wonderful!? If you don't have any, infuse your own! Directions here!

Turkey Creek Farm
Peace, Love, and Harmony Granola

Dry mix
3 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup chopped pecans or almonds (or pepitas, sunflower seeds, cashews, etc.)
1 tablespoon of flax seed
1 tablespoon of wheat germ
Wet mix
1/2 cup honey (lavender honey is especially good!)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried culinary lavender buds (for peace, love, and harmony!)
Fruit
1 cup of whatever dried fruit you like; raisins, chopped dates, dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, tropical mix, etc. (Today I had raisins, dates, and cranberries in the pantry)
1/2 cup coconut (I sometimes add this to the dry ingredients for a toasted coconut flavor)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.















Thoroughly mix wet ingredients in a seperate bowl.














Now combine the two. Just use your hands.














I use a cookie sheet with a lip and my silpat non-stick pad, but you can grease your cookie sheet, or spray with a non-stick spray. Spread your granola mix out.














Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. It can brown really fast so you want to keep an eye on it. This morning I went to turn off the sprinklers and it got a little more golden brown than I like!














But I ate it anyway!














And there you have it, Turkey Creek Farm House Granola for Peace, Love and Harmony!






















Great on yogurt! Goes especially well with our Hippie Joy soap! Lavender, patchouli, hemp oil (and those are ground flax seed ya'll!)














Far out!

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