Mae-Ken Do Farm

Blog Update

2017-02-27T13:10:00.002-05:00

It's official for now. We have a new website and I will be updating my blog there. It just makes sense to only have one blog to try to keep up with. You can find my new posts here http://www.mae-kendofarm.com/blog.

I'm not deleting this blog because I may come back to it later to post more of my personal thoughts and projects.

Thanks for reading.
Mae

Seed Catalogs, Greenhouses and Fence

2017-02-06T09:12:00.003-05:00

This weekend we were looking at seed catalogs. Boy how I love looking at them. All the possibilities, hopes and dreams for the coming spring and summer. Looking at them just makes me want to get my hands dirty. The covers are beautiful and inspiring. I have been circling the varieties I want to try, and making plans of where and when to plant them.

I just love the front of this one in particular. Isn't it beautiful? You can request their catalog here.

Greg has ordered the plastic for a greenhouse and he and Daniel will be building it this weekend. Excited doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling. We ordered heating pads and planting trays this weekend. They will have to build tables for the greenhouse. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as they get started on the project.

We had someone come and give us an estimate to finish all the rest of the fencing on the farm. WOW! Fencing is expensive, but at least it will be done. We are planning to purchase cows soon. So the fencing is really needed. Hopefully, it will pay for itself in the long run.

I am getting so excited for Spring!

Have a great day!
Mae

Back to the Grind Stone

2017-01-30T13:58:00.000-05:00

As you know, I have been away from my blog for too long. There has been so much going on that I just haven't had time to devote to the blog.

Now that I am back, the blog will be changing. It will be more about our farm and what is going on on the farm.

With that said, here is what's been going on:

We just got back from the Southern Sustainable Working Group Conference, better know as SSAWG. If you have never heard of this group you should really check them out if you own a farm. The conference was a 4 day event with "short courses" which last for a full day and a half day. They offer field trips and mini courses. These all take place on Wednesday and Thursday. The the full conference starts on Friday and is jam packed with classes that have instructors that are experts in the organic farming field. Greg and I took a short course on Permaculture and learned so much about how to set up our farm to make it more productive and sustainable.

There were so many ideas given to us that our heads are spinning. We are considering going Organic, but we really need to see if it's worth it in the county we live in. Our county is on the poor side and we aren't sure if they can afford organics and that brings us to just being a sustainable farm, Which would still be using organic practices and be good food for the community. We are researching right now to see which way we want to go.

We picked up three organic seed catalogs at the conference. Searching the seed catalogs, to place our order is a very exciting thing right now. We are also making plans to plant more fruit trees, blueberries and more black berries. And also, adding cows. Greg is going to the market on the 11th to see what he can find there.

A greenhouse and high tunnel are in our near future as we work toward our goal of full time farming.

The chickens and eggs are still doing well. We are getting about 10 dozen eggs a week and for the most part we are selling about half of those. Meat chickens are still being sold, slowly. The herb garden that I have wanted for a long time is finally in the planning process. I am super excited about that. I have already been making bath bombs, foot scrubs, and bath salts, but I want to start making herbal teas to sell at the farmer's market.

We have lots of work.

Have a great day!
Mae

Sunset on the Farm

Gerogia Trip

2016-04-04T14:45:00.000-04:00

We just got back from Georgia a couple of days ago. It was really good to spend time with family, attend the Peaches to Beaches yard sale and hit a couple of plant nursery's there.

We went to Tyty Nursery to buy some muscadine and scuppernong grapes to grow. They had a couple of varieties that should do well in Kentucky. I would recommend this nursery if you are looking to buy fruit of any kind. They know their fruit and have a lot of variety.

It was a beautiful day and the nursery is beautiful.

Beautiful architecture.

We also visited the County Farm in Appling County. I have heard my sisters talk about going there for years to buy plants to sell in my sister's flower shop. Never did I imagine what the County Farm was! You just have to see this place! They have over 40 green houses and the prices are very reasonable. There was just too much to see.

It was a great trip and some good time spent with family.

Have a great day!
Mae

Easy Mexican One Dish Pasta

2016-02-22T11:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a new recipe for you to try. It makes a very large amount of food so I cut it in half for the two of us and still had plenty of leftovers for lunches that week. It is quite tasty and pretty economical. It really isn't one dish since you have to boil the pasta, but it's still easy, quick and not very messy. I don't have a picture of the completed dish and this one is a little dark. You can still get an idea of what it looks like.

Easy Mexican One Dish Pasta
2 lbs ground beef
2 pkg dry taco seasoning
2 boxes macaroni and cheese
2 cups salsa
2 cans tomatoes with chili peppers
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 16 oz tub sour cream
Corn chips, crushed

Cook ground beef in electric skillet until brown. Drain. Add taco seasoning, tomatoes, salsa, beans and cheese packets from macaroni and cheese. Mix well. While beef is browning, cook macaroni
according to package directions, until noodles are done. Add noodles to ground beef mixture. Stir well and simmer a few minutes. Before serving, add the sour cream and mix well.

Top with crushed corn chips and serve.

I don't care for beans normally but this was quite yummy.

Have a great day,
Mae

First Time Processing

2015-10-13T09:51:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the first time we processed our own chickens. It took us 4 hours on Saturday and a couple hours on Sunday to get them all done.

Saturday was the processing day and Sunday was packaging day. We killed, scalded, plucked, and cleaned on Saturday. This is a picture of the cones we used. There are two on each side. We have 8 cones total but only used 4 this time, since we were only processing 26 birds.

Doing the dirty deed.

Scalding

Our plucker doing it's job

We purchased a used Featherman Pro Plucker, and it does a wonderful job. They birds came out with only a few feathers still attached but I think that was because we either didn't scald them long enough or we didn't run the plucker long enough. But I remember plucking chickens by hand when I was a kid and trust me, this is the way to go!

We cut 10 chickens into parts including boneless skinless breast. 2 chickens were in the scalder just a little too long so they went straight into the crockpots and now we have 3 bags of shredded chicken in the freezer and had a chicken casserole last night. All the others were left whole. We have a few of them sold. We marked 10 of them for sale but I hope all 10 don't sell. I would like to keep enough to get us through until Spring when we raise some more.

It was a lot of work, but well worth it. We have chickens in our freezer that we know where they came from, how they were treated, and what they were fed. We also know that they were processed cleanly.

Have a great day!

Mae

Growing the Farm

2015-09-09T16:25:00.000-04:00

This summer has been quite different from the past summers on the farm. We produced only 1 tomato in the garden and so far that has been the extent of our garden this year. The spring and early summer were just too wet for our garden. Then when it did finally dry up the weeds had taken over. But other things have happened that have been really good.

We have raised our second flock of 50 meat chickens and sold all of them. We are working on the third flock. This flock was supposed to be for our personal use so we only ordered 25. We received 28 but lost one of them. And some of them are already sold.

We had a Farmer's Feast here in the county and provided 25 chickens for it. It was a really nice dinner on one of the other farms in the county. People from all over the county were invited and several from outside the county. I hope this will help in advertising and bring in a few more clients. Our eggs are available for purchase at one of the local hardware stores and we have raised the price on them to $3.00 a dozen. So we have increased sales and price, making us a little more money.

We are in the process of purchasing our own chicken processing equipment which will save us a $4.00 processing fee. It was $3.00 last time we had them processed but the processor told us they were going up. It will also give us more control of the environment that they are processed in.

Next year we are going to try our hand at raising turkeys and possibly rabbits for meat purposes. We already have clients interested in both. There are also plans to put in a large strawberry patch where our garden was this year and move the garden to a different area.

Even though we didn't really produce any vegetables on the farm this year the chicken industry is growing for us.

It seems that there is just so much going on with the farm all of a sudden. God's timing is always perfect and his blessing should always be treasured.

Have a great day!
Mae

Summer

2015-07-14T12:01:00.000-04:00

Summer is really different this year. We have had so much rain our chances of getting anything from the small garden we planted are pretty slim.

Last night we had a really bad storm. Lots of wind, blew branches all over the yard and toppled the patio set.

Sunday evening we did have a chance to ride the UTV around the farm and pick blackberries. Most of them still aren't ripe yet so we only had about 2 cups after we picked all that we could get to on the fence rows and the domestic ones we have planted. I went on a search for something to make from that little bit of blackberries, and this is what I found on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/278026976972915942/. I made it last night and it turned out really good. Greg and I both liked it. Here is my picture. I took the picture this morning and the glaze has kind of seeped into the cake but it was still delicious.

This was my breakfast this morning. I really like how the berries seem to just liquify and become wonderful little pockets of yumminess.

It seems like it's really hard to find recipes that only call for a little bit of fruit or vegetables so I am creating a Pinterest board for recipes like that. You can follow it here: https://www.pinterest.com/maen/a-lot-with-a-little/.

Have a great day!
Mae

Mama's Lemon Pound Cake

2015-06-23T15:15:00.004-04:00

For Father's Day I decided to make my mother's Lemon Pound Cake. The only reason I call it my mother's is because she used to make it for every special occasion or family get together. It's actually a recipe straight off the Duncan Hines Lemon Cake mix box. And since I found a square tube pan at a yard sale recently for only $1 I made it square. Mama never had a square cake. And she never glazed the cake.

It is a really good and easy cake to make. The recipe is:

1 box of Duncan Hines Lemon Cake mix (I think you could use any lemon cake mix)
1 box of Jello instant lemon pudding
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into a greased and buttered tube pan. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

For the glaze I just mixed a little confectioner's sugar with some lemon juice and milk.

Next time I will make a couple of changes. 1. I will add some lemon juice to the water. I thought it could have a little bit more lemon flavor. 2. I will use only lemon juice with the confectioner's sugar to make the glaze.

The cake was really good without the changes but I just wanted a little more lemon flavor.

Have a great day!
Mae

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs...

2015-05-06T10:27:00.004-04:00

So we have eggs running out our of ears. Yesterday we got almost 3 dozen eggs. We are selling quite a few but they are still piling up on us. I have decided to start cooking at least one egg dish for supper each week. I am looking for recipes that use a lot of eggs. If I cook breakfast for supper, which I do on occasion, I only use 3 or 4 eggs and that just isn't enough.

Last night I made a Fritata and we really enjoyed it. This was the first time I had ever made one.

Here is the recipe:

4 Tbsp. olive oil
3 medium sized potatoes, shredded (or you could use frozen hash browns)
1/2 pound ham, diced
1/2 package frozen spinach (squeeze out liquid)
12 eggs, raw, scrambled
1 1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat olive oil in oven proof skillet. Saute potatoes for about 5 minutes. Add ham and saute for 2 more minutes. Add spinach and stir well. Add eggs. Do not stir. Cook until eggs start to bubble a little. Top with cheese. Place in a 350° pre-heated oven and bake until eggs are set and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit for a couple of minutes.

Since I did this from scratch, I really didn't measure so this is loosely what I did. I think next time I will remove it from the pan since the pan continued to cook and the eggs on the bottom got a little over done by the time we were done eating.

Have a great day!
Mae

Hopefully Back to Normal

2015-04-27T11:58:00.001-04:00

It has been a long road getting back to my normal routine. But hopefully, I am back. I will have to have about a year of physical therapy to get total use of my left foot back. But at least I can walk!!

We have replenished the chickens that were killed by the neighbor's dogs and now we have more eggs than we know what to do with. Greg has found one customer who uses about 6 dozen a week and that will help a lot. We are getting more than a dozen eggs a day now.

I have been researching egg recipes on Pinterest. You can follow me at https://www.pinterest.com/maen/. Eggs are a very economical way to feed your family. When you think about the price of meat these days and compare that to a dozen eggs it's pretty easy to see that eggs, even though they seem expensive, are still a cheap way to feed your family. You take a dozen eggs add a few leftovers to them and have a meal that will feed your family for around $3.00. And it's a great way to use up the leftovers. Add a little leftover green vegetable, some leftover meat and some cheese, maybe some chopped onions or other herbs and bake a fritata or crustless quiche and you have a complete meal in just a few minutes. Serve it with toast and it's a great meal.

One of the bee hives didn't make it over the winter so we ordered more bees and established them in the hive yesterday. If the weather permits we will open the hive on Wednesday to see if the queen has been released.

We still haven't planted anything, it's been too wet to get into the garden. We are thinking about turning our garden into a strawberry bed and moving the garden to one of the fenced in areas. It will be a bigger garden than what we have now. And, this year we are going to make a real herb garden. In the past I have just planted all of my herbs in pots or containers. I am really excited about that. I also want to plant some Asparagus, Rhubarb, and grapes this year.

We are also looking into buying goats again. It has been a while since we have had goats but we really want to get some more and start over.

How is your Spring going?

Have a great day!
Mae

I Can't Believe It!

2015-02-13T12:28:00.001-05:00

It sure has been a long time since I posted but, there was a lot going on. The holidays happened then I had foot surgery on December 30. I had a torn PT tendon and Plantar Fasciitis. The tendon was repaired and the Plantar Fascia was snipped. It has been a long journey since then and I am now in a boot and on crutches and/or scooter. I have been going to Physical Therapy 3 times a week and the Podiatrist once a week. I am now back at work for 4 hours a day. On the good side of all this I lost 11 pounds while recuperating.

About 2 weeks ago, Greg was working from home to help me out and it was a good thing he was. The neighbors dogs came into our yard and killed about 14 chickens. I really don't understand why when you live in the country you think your dogs can just run wherever they want. These people actually have a fenced in yard and about 8 acres fenced in that their dogs could stay in but they are always outside of their property. I just don't understand letting them roam that way. Every time I go to work I have to stop and wait for them to get out of the road.

The neighbor was understanding and said he would pay for the replacement of the chickens, but it's really hard to figure out how much a chicken is worth. It costs us $123 to replace them but that is with younger birds that aren't laying yet. We still have to feed them for 6 weeks before they are laying. And then to factor in how many eggs they ones we lost would have laid over the next year and a half is impossible.

I just don't understand it. Please be respectful and keep your dogs contained.

That's all for now.

Have a great day!
Mae

Thanksgiving Dinner

2014-11-05T11:23:00.003-05:00

With the sales that are going on right now for holiday food, I am thinking about Thanksgiving dinner. A lot of the things I need for our Thanksgiving dinner will be purchased this week. I will also be stocking up on a few things that will last us beyond the holidays.

I always purchase at least 2 turkeys, sometimes more. There just isn't a lot of meat you can purchase for $.99/pound. I have picked up a couple of turkey breast for $1.79/pound, already. Anytime I can find meat for less than $2 a pound I think I'm doing good. Hams will also be on sale this week and while they are a little over $2 a pound I really like the brand that is going to be on sale, Cumberland Gap Semi-boneless hams will be $2.19/pound.

Canned vegetables, and soups will also be on sale for as low as I have seen them in a while. So I plan to purchase a couple of cases of both.

We have discussed our Thanksgiving dinner and here is what is on the menu so far.

Turkey (of course)
Dressing
Giblet Gravy
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Broccoli Casserole
Corn Casserole
Rolls
Pumpkin pie
Pecan pie
Sugar cookies for the littles

I think we've got the carbs. covered.

Here is the recipe I use for the corn casserole

Corn Casserole
1 pkg. corn muffin mix
1 can cream corn
1 can whole kernel corn
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter

Melt the butter in the casserole dish in the microwave. Add corn and sour cream, mix well. Add beaten eggs. Add muffin mix and mix thoroughly. Bake at 375° for 35-40 minutes.

I think I might try this in the before Thanksgiving to see how it turns out. I have this slow cooker* West Bend Slow Cooker and I think it might make it very well. It seems to cook a little differently than a slow cooker with a crock. It browns meat much better and because of that I think the crust would set better in this than my other slow cooker.

Have a great day!
Mae

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Harvesting & Drying Herbs and My $1 Drying Rack

2014-10-03T10:13:00.001-04:00

A few of my herbs are still producing like crazy, so this past weekend I spent some time cutting, washing & preparing them to dry.

I try to cut my herbs early in the morning. I have read that this is the best time to do it because they have rested overnight and their oils and moisture are concentrated in the leaves. During the day they are growing so the oils and moisture are spread throughout the plant. They are then taken in the house and given a dunk in some nice cool water.


Herb Bath

Then they are laid on a towel to drain for a bit. Once they have drained I fold the towel up over them and pat them dry.

Draining

I have tried several ways to tie them up and have settled on twist ties. They are very flexible and if you add two of them together they are long enough to tie around the herbs and whatever you are going to hang them on. When they begin drying the stems shrink and fall out of strings and rubber bands. Twist ties allow you to tighten them up as the herbs shrink.

Herb Bundle with One Twist Tie


Second Twist Tie Added for Length

Then they are hung on the drying rack. Remember the drying rack I told you I bought for $1.00 at a yard sale? Well here it is not quite loaded but still doing it's job.

$1 Drying Rack

It even has room on top to put extra egg cartons. I am sure this is not what it was intended for but it works really great for this purpose. The Okra is for decorating purposes, and the Sumac may be used for tea and decorating. I really like that color for Fall and am thinking it might look pretty cool stuck in the Christmas tree. If I use it for the Christmas tree, I might have to figure out how to dip it in something to keep the little balls from falling off.

I am loving how it looks and smells!

Have a great day!
Mae

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Herb Chicken

2014-09-25T11:25:00.002-04:00

My new electric pressure cooker finally arrived and it has been being put to the test. I have boiled eggs in it, roasted potatoes in it and my latest adventure was a "throw it in the pot and see what happens chicken". I used boneless skinless chicken breast, salted and peppered them, and browned them in the cooker with a little olive oil. Then I added, onion, celery, fresh basil, oregano, sage, chives, and garlic. Then some dried rosemary. Put the lid on and pressured it for 20 minutes. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product before it was devoured.

Chicken Breast with salt & pepper

Onion & Celery

Herbs & Garlic


Browning in the Cooker

It was really good. Nice and tender and very flavorful. I didn't add any liquid to the pot but when it was done, I had a whole pint jar of broth that I am saving for another use. There really wasn't a recipe for this since I just threw it all in the pot and let it cook. But I will try to recap what I put in.

2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 large cloves garlic (cut in half)
1 Onion, sliced
1 rib Celery, chopped
5 chive tops
1 small bunch fresh sage
1 small bunch fresh oregano
1 small bunch fresh basil
1 Tbsp. rosemary

Salt & Pepper chicken and brown in olive oil. Add remaining ingredients and place lid on Pressure Cooker. Bring to pressure and cook for 20 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes then release pressure.

I bought these Fresh Herb Scissors the other day. And found them very useful.

They cut the herbs in little strips, not a fine chop, but for this recipe they were great. I didn't chop anything too fine. The onions were just sliced and thrown on top of the chicken.They are made by Ball and I am loving how they work.

What is your favorite kitchen gadget? I would love to hear about it.

Have a great day!
Mae

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Update on Peppers

2014-09-19T08:47:00.001-04:00

Remember the picture of the peppers I hung to dry?


Peppers Drying

Well, I wanted to show you an updated photo of the peppers. They have truly been amazing me. First off, I thought they would just dry. I didn't expect them to change colors. I don't know what I really expected. I just imagined all those pictures you see of red peppers on a string and wished for that. Guess what? I think I might get my wish.

Peppers After 6 Weeks

Aren't they beautiful? When I first hung them, I loved the green colors together. Now They are yellow, red, orange and green. I hope they all turn red and I really think they are going to.

I love using my dehydrator but I like to dry things naturally, also. I know the dehydrator doesn't use much electricity, but it does use it and if things dry naturally they aren't costing you anything to dry them. The dehydrator also takes up counter space and in my tiny kitchen there isn't a whole lot of that to spare.

I bought a rack at a garage sale for $1.00 that has three round rods on it that is perfect for hanging things to dry. I have it hung on our back porch/mud room (which is enclosed) and I am going to be using it to dry a lot more things naturally. Once I get it filled with herbs and other things I will share a picture with you.

Do you have anything like this that turned out so much better than you hoped for? I'd love to hear about it.

Have a great day!
Mae

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What to Expect When You're Expecting...Your First Eggs, That Is.

2014-09-15T08:54:00.001-04:00

I can remember when we first got chickens. It seemed like we waited forever to get our first egg. Twenty weeks sure seemed like a long time! Then when we got that first egg as exciting as it was it was still a little surprising to see how tiny it was. So if you are about to get chickens or already have chickens and are waiting on your first egg, this post is for you.

When I walked into the chicken coop to find that first little egg, I was so excited. Then I realized just how little it was and began to wonder if I had the wrong kind of chicken. I wanted those big brown eggs, I had seen so often. Then I took that little egg into the kitchen and cracked it. Well let me tell you, it would have taken a dozen of those eggs to make a meal. And cracking it was a whole other story. The membrane was tough and hard to pull apart. But finally there was a little tiny yolk surrounded by a fair amount of white.

Since that time we have had many first eggs and our newest batch of chicks started laying last week. We have had about 2 dozen of those little tiny eggs so I thought you might like to see what they look like.

Tiny Eggs

As you can see from the picture above they barely are taller than the dividers of the egg carton. And this is a carton for large eggs.

What you can expect from your fist eggs.

1. They will tiny.
2. The shells will be a little harder than what you may be used to.
3. The membranes will be tough.
4. They yolks will be hard to break.


Scrambled eggs

I scrambled 12 of the eggs for 3 adults (2 hungry men) and it was just the right amount. As you can see from the picture above, they scrambled up nicely. It's really about all you can use them for. But please use them. They are a little harder to scramble because the yolks take a lot of beating before they break.

You should still get excited when that first egg appears, because it just means there are bigger and better ones to come. But enjoy the little ones, also.

Have a great day!
Mae

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Under Pressure!

2014-09-04T14:31:00.001-04:00

Have you tried pressure cooking? Let me tell you, it's my latest craze! Someone at my work ordered a pressure cooker from an infomercial. I am not a fan of infomercials by any means. But, she brought this thing into the office and we cooked a chicken dish from frozen boneless skinless chicken breast in less than 30 minutes, start to finish! So, I had a stove top pressure cooker at home that I got from my mother's house after she died. It sat in a cabinet for 11 years. But seeing how well the one at work worked I decided to try it. Since it had not been used for at least 11 years, I put it on the stove with some water in to see if it would seal. It did! I was so excited! The first thing I cooked in it was smothered pork chops, then I tried the same recipe with steak. Then I made BBQ chicken thighs and legs in it. They all turned out delicious! And quick. I have the Maitre's 4 Quart. But I would definitely recommend a larger one such as the Rochedo Maitre's 8 Qts Pressure Cooker

I was allowed to take the electric one from work home and give it a try. A 3 pound pot roast with potatoes and carrots was done in less than 30 minutes from start to finish! I broke down and ordered an electric one like the one from work and can't wait til it gets here. I am still considering ordering a new stove top one that is bigger in case I ever need to cook in it on the camp stove if the electricity is out.

One thing I noticed about using a pressure cooker instead of a slow cooker is the food retains it color and flavors. In a slow cooker it seems like everything taste the same. The potatoes taste just like the roast. Textures are different but the flavors are all the same. In the pressure cooker a potato still taste like a potato and carrots still taste like carrots. They pick up some flavor from the roast but they still retain their own flavors and everything isn't mush. I still love my slow cooker, I don't think I could live without one but the pressure cooker may be winning me over.

Smothered Pork Chops
6-8 bone in pork chops
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can beef broth
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. corn starch
2 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Heat olive oil in bottom of pressure cooker, brown pork chops. Remove pork chops from pressure cooker. Add onion and garlic to pressure cooker and saute' until translucent. Add cream of mushroom soup, beef broth and pork chops. Place lid on pressure cooker and heat until the pressure regulator starts to rock back and forth. Adjust heat to maintain pressure. Cook for 10 minutes. Allow pressure to release naturally. Remove lid. Remove pork chops. Mix the corn starch and water together and add to pressure cooker. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Add the sour cream and heat until warm. Serve with mashed potatoes or noodles.

These were quick and delicious. I also used this same recipe with round steak. Both were fork tender.

Have a great day!
Mae

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I Can Because I Can

2014-08-26T14:55:00.003-04:00

I saw an apron at Meijer's the other day with the title of this post on it, it got me thinking. There are many reasons to can: to enjoy garden fresh produce all winter long, to provide healthy nutritious food for your family, to stockpile for lean times, because you enjoy it, to be able to stand back and look at what you've accomplished, or because you can.

All of those reasons apply to me. It is very satisfying to look back and actually see what you've accomplished, to eat fresh peas in the dead of winter, and to know that you have some healthy food stored up when you need it. But part of the reason I can is because, I can. At this time in my life I am able to pick green beans, pull some weeds, stand over a hot stove while making jams or jellies, and keep an eye on a pressure canner while it does its thing. There may come a day when I can't do those things, but it isn't today. The good Lord has given me the opportunity, the ability, and the knowledge to can. So, to be a good steward of all that he has given me, including the produce, I can. My back may be hurting and me feet swollen at the end of the day, but I really believe when you quit doing what you can do, life just will not be as good.

There are many people out there who can can for various reasons. Some are not physically able. Some don't have the equipment, the knowledge, the space, etc. Some just don't care enough to try they are like the Grasshopper in the old story "The Ant & The Grasshopper". But if you have what it takes to can, I encourage you to can. At the end of the day you will see your accomplishments!

Canning Cupboard

Some of this year's bounty


I Can Because I Can

Have a great day!
Mae
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Canning Peas

2014-08-20T09:52:00.001-04:00

Since we are finally getting peas I am canning everyone of them I can get. My favorite are Zipper Cream and we aren't getting as many of them as we are the Purple Hull peas. I keep forgetting to take pictures of the Zipper Creams before I can them. But here is a picture of them and some Purple Hulls that I did can.


Zipper Creams & Purple Hulls

You can tell the difference because the Zipper Creams stay green. The Purple Hulls turn a brownish color. They have the texture of a bean.

To can them you shell them, then wash them. They tend to have a lot of ugly black blossoms stuck to them and they need to be washed and picked through. Then you pack them into clean, hot jars. You don't need to tamp them down or pack them too tightly. Put a 1/2 teaspoon of canning salt in each pint or 1 teaspoon for quarts. Fill the jar With boiling water leaving 1 inch of head space. Wipe rims of jars and place lid and ring on jar. Place in your pressure canner and process for 30 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure for pints or 40 minutes for quarts. Allow the pressure to release then use a jar lifter to remove jars from canner. See complete instructions here.

This is the first year that I have been brave enough to actually start using a pressure canner. I love being able to preserve our produce so that we will be able to enjoy our garden all year. It's a lot of work during the summer, but it's so worth it. Especially since you can't buy Zipper Cream peas in the grocery stores here.

If you would like to learn to can you might want to check with your local extension office. They may offer a class. Of course, there are all sorts of websites that are willing to teach you.

This post contains affiliate links.

Have a great day!
Mae

Linking with the Homestead Barn Hop

Peppers, Sunflowers & Elderberries

2014-08-18T09:58:00.001-04:00

This week's post is all about plants. Peter Piper could have picked his peck of peppers this week in my garden. I planted 8 pepper plants, 4 Jalapeno and 4 mystery peppers (they were supposed to be bell peppers). You can tell from the pictures these are not bell peppers. I think they are banana peppers. Whatever they are they are really productive.

I picked 34 off of one plant. I still have plenty of pickled Jalapeno's from last year so I researched how to dry them on strings and this is the result.

I thought they look really pretty. They should dry within just a few weeks and then can be ground into powder.

We had a 3 volunteer sunflowers come up in the garden this year from some we planted last year. They were all 3 different. One had a lot flowers on it, one is just 1 smaller flower, and the other one was huge.

That is my 6 foot 2 inch son holding it and as you can tell it covers quite a bit of him. It has to be at least 1 1/2 feet across. I haven't measured it yet but I am going to. I think it must weight a couple of pounds. I am drying it now so that we can toast the seeds. The seeds are really large.

We have also been picking elderberries. I am making a tincture from them for the cold & flu season. This is the first time I have done this so I am not comfortable telling anyone how to do it and how it works. If you Google Elderberry tincture there are a lot of people who are willing to tell you how and how it works. I will have to test it out to see, but for now mine is brewing and I am shaking it everyday. The basics are to soak some elderberries in Vodka. Some people say only use 100 proof some say 80 proof will do. I am trying 80 proof.

I have also used the juicer attachment on my Kitchen Aid to juice enough to make elderberry jelly. And still have a whole bag to do something else with. I am thinking about elderberry syrup. I just have to buy some ginger to get this done. It sounds like it may taste better than the tincture.

Have you ever made anything with elderberries? I would love to hear how you liked it and if it worked as well as you thought it would.

Have a great day!
Mae
Linking with the Homestead Barn Hop

Whew!

2014-08-06T10:58:00.002-04:00

I have been away from the blog for a bit. We took our vacation to Georgia to spend time with the family. Then when we got home it was Fair week. That week is always busy for me at work! Now the garden is keeping me busy. And I am thankful for that. I work during the day then go home and can. So far I have canned 8 quarts and 24 pints of green beans, 4 quarts of purple hull peas, 7 pints of tomatoes, 6 pints of peaches, 4 pints of peach jam, 7 pints of strawberry jam, 3 pints of cherry jelly. and frozen 1 pint of tomatoes. I made one jar of dill pickles and will be making another jar tonight. And I have dehydrated several large zucchini and a couple heads of cabbage. I picked purple hull peas last night and there wasn't enough to can so I will put those in the freezer tonight. I also picked Zipper Cream peas and since those are our favorite I will be cooking some of those for dinner tonight.

I love being able to use the produce from our garden throughout the year and am so thankful for anything the Lord blesses us with from the garden.

If you aren't familiar with Purple Hull peas, here is what they look like.

Fresh from the garden

In the process of shelling


The results of the labor

They are called Pink-eyed Purple Hulls. In the south we just call them Purple Hulls. They are related to a Black-eyed pea. We usually eat them green instead of drying them like most people are used to getting Black-eyed peas. They are so yummy! And they are easy to grow. The vines will get eaten by insects but they really don't seem to bother the peas. However, the deer love to eat them when they are young.

Have a great day!
Mae

Linking to Homestead Barn Hop

Squash Casserole

2014-06-25T10:54:00.001-04:00

I know you've been wanting to hear about something beside chickens so here you go. Our garden is starting to "come in" as we say in the south. And of course the first things that starts producing are the squash and zucchini. I am not a big squash fan myself, but Greg likes it and so does Daniel. Greg picked 6 squash the night before last so I went on a mission to find a new recipe for yellow squash. I found a squash casserole recipe that I didn't even mind eating. Hey, if you add enough cheese to something, anyone will eat it. Well most anyone. There were a couple of people in the house that still wouldn't try it.

Photo from: Food Network Paula Deen's Cheesy Squash Casserole

I found this recipe on Food Network for Paula Deen's Cheesy Squash Casserole:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 medium yellow summer squash, thinly sliced
1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced (I used just a regular yellow onion)
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 sleeve crackers, crushed medium to fine (recommended: Ritz)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the squash, onion, and butter (I didn't add the butter here) until soft. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan, Cheddar, and sour cream. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Place in the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle the cracker crumbs evenly over the top (this is where I put the butter, in pats on top of the crackers). Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.

This stuff was so good it'd make you want to slap your grandma. Of course, you know better, though.

Enjoy, and have a great day!

Mae

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Cooking Whole Chickens

2014-06-19T10:34:00.000-04:00

I realize a lot of people these days just don't know what to do with a whole chicken. When I was growing up that's pretty much all you got in the grocery store. Then they started selling them whole cut-up chickens and since they were about the same price it was easier and less time consuming to buy the cut-up bird. Now most people just buy the parts they want to eat. While I get that a lot of people think that is the most economical way to purchase chicken, because they may only want to eat the breast, or legs, it's not. You can still purchase a whole chicken at a price per pound that is a lot less than boneless-skinless breast. My goal today is to help you with cooking a whole chicken.

If you are purchasing a whole chicken from the grocery, I recommend washing it. Remove any feathers, or yellow outer skin. One of my favorite ways to cook it is in the slow cooker. You will need:

1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, cut in half the short way
1 stalk celery, cut in half
1 stem of fresh sage, (optional)
Salt & Pepper
Poultry seasoning

Place the cleaned chicken in the slow cooker breast side down. Salt & Pepper the back side then sprinkle with poultry seasoning. Flip the bird over so the breast side is up. Stuff the cavity with the onion, carrot & celery. Then push the fresh sage as far inside as you can. If the sage is sticking outside the cavity that is okay. Salt & Pepper the breast side of the bird then sprinkle with sage. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.

I usually serve this with mashed potatoes and gravy (made from the drippings in the slow cooker), and a green vegetable.

You should have plenty of broth in the slow cooker to use for the next meal. Once you have finished you meal, pick any remaining meat off the bones and store in the fridge. Also, save the broth because you are going to need it to make a chicken casserole for another night. You can still boil the bones and make more broth. Just put the whole carcass, onions and all, in a pot full of water. Add more onions, carrots & celery (sometimes I use the tops of carrots and the ends of onions and celery, you know, the stuff you usually throw away) bring to a boil then simmer for an hour or so. Strain and freeze in 1 cup portions.

Chicken Casserole
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth (use the can from the chicken soup)
1 bag stuffing mix (I use Pepperidge Farms cornbread)
1/2 stick butter, melted
Broth

Spread the chicken in the bottom of a 9X13 casserole dish. Mix the cream of chicken soup and 1 can of chicken broth together and pour over chicken.

Mix the butter, stuffing mix and enough broth together to give it a nice, moist consistency (usually about 2 cups). Bake at 350° until browned and bubbly making sure it is hot all the way through.

We usually have leftovers of this for lunches for a couple of days.

Sorry I don't have pictures yet, but will work on that this weekend.

Here is a link to another recipe for whole chickens:Rosemary Chicken & Potatoes

There is just so much you can do with a whole chicken that makes it so much more economical than parts. And, trust me, your family will not even know they are eating the parts they don't like when you put them in a casserole.

Have a great day!
Mae

Linking with the Homestead Barn Hop

Freezing the Birds

2014-06-17T15:35:00.000-04:00

After getting the chickens processed they were given back to us packed in ice chest with ice water on them. Ice water gets into the cavity of the bird and cools them down faster than just covering them with ice would. It took us about 3 hours to get them all in the freezer. We ordered poultry shrink bags from Nayda's Poultry. I ordered them on a Friday night and received them on the next Monday. That was very fast! We looked at the tutorial on this site: http://poultryshrinkbags.blogspot.com/ to get an idea of how to use the bags. The bags came with a straw that you put into the cavity of the bird and then twisted the bag around the straw. That worked better for us than cutting a slit in the bag.

It was very easy to do and the finished product looks really good. I haven't printed my labels yet. I ordered blank labels from Growers Discount Labels and they arrived within three days of ordering them.

Here are pictures of our packaging process:

Washing and cutting off the necks

Drying the birds before putting in bags

Bird in a Bag

Dipping in 180-200° water

Shrink wrapped

The necks were left really long on the chickens so we cut them off down below the breast. I will use them to make broth. They had a lot of meat on them for necks. It is our goal to not waste any of the chicken. We haven't eaten one yet but will be cooking one this weekend.

Have a great day!
Mae

Linking with the Homestead Barn Hop