Our New Venture -- Home-Baked Goods

Now that Michigan law has changed in our favor, my daughter and I are starting a home-based baking business.  I'll add a few things to the egg sign we already have by the road.  Now, it will say "FRESH EGGS, PIES, HOMEMADE BREAD, APPLE BUTTER, STRAWBERRY JAM".

One thing that works in our favor is the fact that we live right along M-21 between Capac and Port Huron.  We get a lot of traffic, so we are hoping that people will stop for some of our homemade food.

Another thing we will do is distribute samples with our price list to offices in town, and offer to deliver once a week.  With the holidays approaching -- and the fact that people are so busy now -- we might just have some luck!

Smart Source Printable Coupons

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You can print coupons from smartsource.com, and the great thing is you only print the ones you want!

I love using their coupons to save money, and if you match the coupons with your local ads, many items will be free or nearly free!

Print Your Red Plum Coupons here!

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Recipe: Apple Streusel Breakfast Muffins

These muffins are so moist that all 4 of my kids loved them -- which is really rare!  I tweaked one of my recipes (Betty Crocker Cookbook) just a little to use what I had on hand, and the results were really good.

Muffin Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1/4 cup coconut oil (you may use vegetable oil)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour (or a combination of both)
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped apple (fresh is best, frozen is good also)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare streusel topping (below).  Grease 12 medium muffin cups.  Beat milk, oil, vanilla and egg.  Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Fold in 1 tsp of cinnamon and chopped apples.  Divide batter evenly between muffin cups.  Sprinkle each with 2 tsp streusel topping.  Bake 20-24 minutes.  Immediately remove from pan (or they will stick.)

Yield 1 dozen muffins; 185 Calories each.

Streusel Topping:

1/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tsp firm butter (or margarine)
1/3 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix until crumbly.

Product Review : Wire Egg Basket from eNasco

 After a year of using wicker baskets to collect our eggs, I was tired of the mess.  When I went to buy an egg basket last year at our local Tractor Supply, all they carried were woven wicker baskets.  They were pretty, but the eggs were easily broken by my children when they carried them in from the coop. (I think some running may have been involved.)

Broken eggs = really messy baskets.  And woven baskets are kind of hard to clean.

Last week, I decided to see if I could find something else that would work.  I remembered the wire basket my husband's grandpa had for his chickens, and that was what I wanted for my eggs.  I called all of the local farm stores, and none of them carried wire baskets.  Then, I did a Google search, and found exactly what I wanted!  I ordered the largest basket that eNasco has, and I LOVE it!   I will have about 45 laying hens soon, and I need a basket that will hold all the eggs.

I let my kids test it out by doing their usual thing when they gather eggs (which probably involved some running), and none of the eggs were broken in transit.  One of the best things about this basket is that it is coated with vinyl.  I can wash the basket when I wash the eggs!

The baskets come in different colors and range in price from $11.50 - $16.95.  I was pleased by how quickly I received my order, and I will definitely order from eNasco again.

Small business highlight --- The Doggie Tailor

One of the great things about blogging is that I get to highlight some of the great things that are happening in Michigan.  The economy here is not good -- which most people know very well.  We have lost more jobs than just about any other state since the auto industry started having problems.

However, this has caused something EXTRAORDINARY to happen.  Many people have started small businesses!  Our economy is rebuilding, but in a new way.


One of those small businesses -- The Doggie Tailor -- is owned and operated by Kristy Frantz.  She not only designs beautiful dog clothes, but her family sews them as well.  She has been in business for 2 1/2 years now, and she has clients all around the world.

Her pretty Yorkie, Polly, is her model.  And -- I must add -- a very willing one.  I got to sit in on a photo session, and the dog absolutely is a diva!  She LOVES to pose for the camera.  It's hilarious!

Since she is committed to keeping her product "Made in the U.S.A.", you will appreciate the fact that the product is made with great care in St. Clair County, Michigan.

AND -- this is the best part!  Right now, she has a fall special.

20% off your total purchase when you visit her website!
(Limit 1 discount per customer -- please do not try to use the coupon code more than once.)
Coupon Code:   FALL20        Expires October 1st.

Visit www.pcdogclothes.com


If you know of any other small businesses that deserve to be mentioned, let me know in your comments below.

Our baby chicks are here!

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I had been up late on Thursday night because our furnace went out.  I know it's summer time -- but no furnace means no blower for our central air.  My husband was working late, so I had to deal with it.  And I don't know about you, but I have a hard time winding down after excitement.

Friday morning, I was surprised when I got a phone call at 7 a.m.  It was the post office.  Our baby chicks had come!

If you have ever raised chickens, you know that the most exciting part of having chickens is getting the baby chicks.  They are so fuzzy and cute!

Our hens are really curious about those chicks.  Normally, they like to spend all day outside, but they have been in the coop watching over the chicks since they came.