Ozark Mountain Family Homestead

How To Render Lard

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 15:23:00 +0000

Over the years, we have learned that with every season comes the harvesting of home grown farm products. Living near several large groups of Amish, one begins to really appreciate the 'old' way of living. One thing we have learned is that it isn't really the 'old' way of living as much as it is a smart way of living. Now mind you, I'm not ready to get rid of electricity or running water, but I enjoy knowing how to live without them if necessary.

This latest adventure of 'diving in' to the culture consisted of having a pig processed by some of our Amish friends for us. I have to say that our family does not eat a lot of pork. In fact, I can probably count on only two hands how often we eat a little bacon in one year, but the thought of buying it in the store.....well I just won't do it. We have went years without buying pork period.

A few years ago, I was delighted to be invited it one of Amish communities Bishop's home because he was excited to teach me how to make his bread. It was mainly a rough cup of this, a handful of that and a few spoons of lard. Of course I wrote all of this down and had to really make some adjustments into measurements I knew how to work with. The best thing was, he sent me home with a coffee can full of lard they had from that fall's pigs they had butchered. We had bought his bread for months because it was incredibly delicious and know I had the secret ingredient! For the next few years, I asked every Amish friend we have, to buy lard from them. I learned quickly that they do not turn loose of it easily. So this last fall, I began to ask around about having a pig butchered for our own purposes. Now we have a freezer full of THE best bacon we have ever had, and several glorious jars of pig lard for bread making.

Pig lard doesn't begin by looking very glorious though. As you can see, it looks pretty disgusting.

We have a few large pan trays that we got second hand through a commercial kitchen store. I think they are used in buffet lines, but work great for all kinds of things in the kitchen.

Pig lard shrinks as it melts but there has to be room for the liquid so don't use something that will cause the liquid lard to run over. Remember you will be moving the pan in and out of the oven with hot liquid in it, so move slowly and again, make sure your pan is big enough. I speak from experience! The first time I put way too much in the pan. These pics are from my second rendering.

You'll want to set your oven on 275° and set your tray in the center of the oven. Once it begins to melt, you'll want to decide how much melting you are comfortable with removing your tray from the oven with the liquid in it.

Halfway is where I am comfortable with removing my tray. At this point, you can use a dish towel that you have designated for this purpose or a cheesecloth to strain your liquid lard.

See how pretty and golden it is in the bowl and almost clear in the jar? Remember this is hot grease, but not hot like when you think of hot frying grease. Do not let it scare you away. Keeping the temp low really helps with the danger level. It is not hot enough to ignite in your oven.

Carefully ladle off the liquid from your tray into your strainer.

Using a metal canning funnel, I carefully ladle it into large mouth canning jars. The lard will not expand when cool, you can fill up the jars fairly full.

The first time you ladle of the lard, it will look like liquid gold and cool into a pure white lard. As you can see in the pic below, its cooling from the bottom up.

After you ladle off all of the liquid you can the first time, put your tray back into the oven so it will continue to melt. It works best if your lard has been ground up because the 'cracklins' break apart easy. Cracklins are what is leftover as your lard melts off. They are great to use in corn bread and all sorts of things, adding lots of flavor! Cracklins look almost just like cooked sausage.

After your lard melts some more, take your tray back out of the oven and ladle it off again. This time it will be a bit cloudier and will cool into a more golden looking lard. Your pure white lard from your first strain is best used in baking. The lard rendered after that is wonderful for cooking with. See the pic below, the jar in front is from the second strain.

One last thing. We keep one jar of lard in the fridge and freeze the rest of the jars to keep the lard from spoiling. It does have a shelf life, but we don't go through it fast enough sometimes so we have learned to freeze the extra instead.

Believe me, if you have never rendered lard before, it is an extremely easy thing to do and extremely rewarding! The health benefits are great too, especially compared to any processed oil or shortening in the stores and the taste is incredible!

Returning.....

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 19:34:00 +0000

It has been many months since adding a new post. With the passing of my Father, family needed to come before blogging. It still does, however, with time comes healing and an ability to not only get back into life again, but to also take the time for the little things that take quiet concentration like this blog.

Much has happened on our homestead since my last post and God has truly walked beside us every step of the way, picking us up when we stumble, dusting us off and pointing us in the right direction again and again as often as we need it.

Our little homestead has dove deep into the fun adventure of really raising rare breed poultry and all that it entails. We have completed a few construction projects along the way and added on to the house structure too. Currently we are working on another building to house many of the poultry breeds we have fell in love with and are working diligently to improve on by extremely selective breeding and hard culling.

In the midst of all of this, we were blessed to be able to attend some fun fiddle events with our daughter who competed in several contests last year and did extremely well. In her Junior division, she is now second in the state of Missouri, second in the state of Oklahoma, second in the Grand Lakes National Championships, third in the Mid-American Fiddle Championships and fifth in the great state of Texas. She also came in first in many local smaller competitions. Not too bad for her first real year of traveling to these major events. The young man that actually placed first ahead of her in several of the competitions listed, was the Grand Master Fiddler in Nashville and plays a mean fiddle, guitar and banjo. We are friends with that family and that's the wonderful thing about this circle of musicians, it is never truly a "competition" when your heaviest competitor will set down his fiddle to pick up his guitar to back you up when it is your turn. We love the incredible network of the "fiddle family" we have been adopted into that is nation wide.

Today we have been house bound due to the ice and snow for almost five days. It is beautiful and I am not sure I ever get tired of being at home. The past few days we've had chicks hatching and have also been kept busy filling the bird feeders outside.

In my absence, I have continued to take pictures constantly of everything we are doing, including yummy recipes that are irresistable! So stay tuned!

This Week on the Homestead

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 20:22:00 +0000

Last week, finally, we were pleased to find a calf in the barn! We had a feeling about one of our cows calving first due to the signs, but sometimes you just don’t know for sure. By the time we saw the calf, Mama already had it dried off and it was nursing like there was no tomorrow. Its legs didn’t even seem wobbly, so we figure it was at least twenty four hours old already. It is a beautiful chocolate brown with a fuzzy coat that makes it look like a little teddy bear.
The chocolate coats usually turn to black by the time they are full grown, but I sure wish they’d stay a chocolate color. The Highland calves are the cutest calves ever (of course I’m bias about that). We were sure another calf would come last night being that it was supposed to be so cold, but thankfully, there wasn’t a new calf this morning. What a blessing to not have to be out in the cold helping with a birth. Some friends of ours were out helping deliver lambs in that terrible cold and snow, I just couldn’t imagine! That must be why we are so attached to our extremely hardy Highlands. They don’t take much work at all unless a cougar comes through here and pounces on a calf.

We did venture out in the cold yesterday before the sun went down. We wanted to spread some grass seed before the snow came and after the birds went to bed. By then the wind had picked up terribly, so all I had to do was throw the seed into the air and the wind spread it perfectly for me. Never mind that my bare hands were frozen stiff by the time we were done, but now I’m looking forward to fresh green grass in the spring.

One thing I genuinely love about the Ozarks, is that you can put complete strangers together in a room who love bluegrass and can play an instrument and they can spend hours playing, singing, laughing and telling stories. We enjoyed a night like that this past weekend. Something extra special happens in those places that you just hardly see anymore. The children are eager to learn from their elders of all ages. They will soak it up like a sponge and the rest of the world fades away. Traditions from generations gone by are kept alive during this time and passed on for the children to teach their grand-children. Heritage is treasured. Words cannot describe what happens to the soul by music and musical fellowship. We simply feel very blessed to have these opportunities. One thing I do know, is that our daughter is a much richer person for it and so is our family and we thank those who are so giving of their knowledge and talent. Another treasured sight to see is how much the older generations value the children’s eagerness to learn the old ways and music. We all become a musical family and relationships are built that last a lifetime. We watch this process continue every week. If your child ever expresses any interest in playing an instrument, I would strongly urge you to do whatever is necessary to follow up on that interest, but don’t let them just set it aside when it gets difficult. Surround them with others who play the music they are interested in for encouragement. Practicing an instrument alone is no fun. We would not have known all of this if it hadn’t been for someone in the area, that we are extremely blessed to have, who gave us the encouragement necessary to get involved.

At the moment, there is homemade potato soup bubbling away on the stove, the chickens are enjoying their shredded greens and yogurt, the sun is shining on top of the fresh snow and the sewing machine is waiting for me to find my thread box. I am learning the art of taking a pair of jeans and turning it into a skirt….nope, I still don’t have it done, but we’ll see how it turns out. If the weather gets as nice as they are saying, it might be the last thing we sew around here for months. The eggs in the incubator should be hatching soon and we just finished making a nice big brooder box from a sheet of plywood that I’m awful pleased with. Hopefully next week I can report on the chicks!

A Variety of Chicken Eggs and Colors

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 22:07:00 +0000

Aren't these beautiful?

We have been getting such a wonderful variety of colors when gathering eggs lately, that I couldn't resist putting them all in a row for comparison. The darkest ones are from my favorite hen that is actually a

mix between a French Blue Copper Maran and a French Wheaten Maran. Also there are a barnyard variety of Welsummers, Black Australorp, Barnevelders, French Black Copper Marans, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes, other odds and ends and even some Rumpless and Tufted Araucanas.

The general chicken yard is a colorful array of birds just like the eggs pictured here.

There are several we have separated for the purpose of preserving the purity of the breed for hatching eggs, but some are a bit mismatched that we run together for eating egg purposes.

If you are not familiar with chickens and the different varieties, take some time and have fun looking at a few of the breeds I've mentioned. Their personalities and behavior are as large a variety as their colors!

I do have to add that raising chickens is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you will lose a few. Usually they are your favorite ones. At least it seems to be that way. The mean, vicious rooster you wish would disappear will live for ten years! Just kidding.

Make no mistake, we have had some of our greatest moments as a family raising these birds. We spend time together researching which breeds we'd like, making wish lists like it was Christmas. We also spend a lot of time together hatching out chicks, caring daily for them, doctoring them, building coops and the best part is simply enjoying them being chickens out in the fields. Oh, until the hawk swoops in and gives us all a heart attack! Seriously. There is no end to battling the forces of nature when you are investing your hard earned time and money down this road. Every time our guineas "sound off" at night, one of us is at the window with the flash light looking for signs of a raccoon or possom. We keep the gun loaded and show no mercy, otherwise, our favorite broody hen or best laying hen will be their dinner. It never fails.

I hope you enjoy researching some of these beautiful breeds!

Lavender Orpington Chickens

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 00:39:00 +0000

This is an update for all of you who fell in love with the little silver chicks we brought home last spring.

The top picture is of two of these baby chicks that are now

full grown roosters. We sadly lost one little chick, but our Lavender Orpington flock is complete with two roosters and three hens.

If you'd like to keep up with what is going on in our chicken world, or would like to purchase any of our hatching eggs, find our Poultry page on Facebook under Ozark Mountain Poultry Farm. Send us a friend request, we'd love to add you!

This Week on the Homestead

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 00:12:00 +0000

So how many of you have had their fingers just itching to get into the dirt with this January thaw?

I know I have! I did not give in to it, but instead have been gathering eggs to incubate.

Hatching eggs is a bit more rewarding when starting this early in the season compared to planting. I have learned that from experience and have had a greenhouse over run with so many plants that
I didn’t have room for them all.

Our first hatch will be some beautiful Lavender Orpington eggs and hopefully some French Blue Copper Maran eggs. If you aren’t sure what types of chickens these are, be sure to look them up.

It is a long story of how we got into all of the different varieties. Our daughter absolutely loves chickens. We had several run of the mill birds for laying eggs, but she would pour over the pages of the egg catalogs, studying every breed she could find. One day my husband gave her an assignment. She was to list ten different rare breeds that were popular and the reasons for why they were popular. Most of the reasons listed were for hardiness and a high demand for hatching eggs and chicks. She worked very hard researching her list and spoke to many professional chicken people before composing her list. Then my husband told her to chose her favorite top three breeds. She chose the Rumpless Araucanas, the Lavender Orpingtons and the Barnevelders.

It has been quite a long year with learning how to raise them, but we are finally at the point of hatching out our own eggs. Through all of this learning period, I found a few breeds of my own that I absolutely had to have thanks to some new “chicken” friends (I won’t mention any names, but you know who you are). My favorite breeds are the French Black Copper Marans and the French Blue Copper Marans. My most recent little flock are called Icelandics. They are the most interesting to me and very rare.

We aren’t able to hatch a whole bunch at once until we acquire another incubator, but I am saving up for it! Probably a good thing or the chicken house would be overrun with chicks a long time before spring!

Once we get the eggs all set for hatching, I may not be able to resist starting some seeds.

The steadiness of the seasons is comforting, especially at this valley in our families life.

My father, the patriarch of my maiden family, is slipping away into glory.

I cannot say enough about all of the wonderful caregivers that have helped us through this journey. We have been blessed with a physician that is an incredible testament to his profession. We have brought my father home to spend his last days in comfort.

The physician himself has visited often and each time kneels beside my father’s bed and with tears in his eyes, he prays. He has been my parents physician for several decades and during that time became a treasured friend. I share this part of our journey with you for those who have walked this path and for those who are walking it now. May the Lord bless you with His peace and comfort. For without it, this journey is unimaginable. I treasure these sacred moments with my father, but I will meet him again one day and he will be watching for me.

Life is a blessing. I see God’s hand each day during this time and in everything, even as small as hatching out little chicks. I thank Him for the rhythm of life, the steadiness of the seasons and am grateful when I am able to slow down enough to notice the small details of what makes life glorious. Our life is but a vapor, a wisp in time.

Because of those sacred moments, I will forever have etched deep in my mind and senses the gaze of my father looking deeply into my eyes and hearing him say the words "you are a wonderful daughter" and the warmth of his hand cradling my cheek as I wept while saying good-bye....yes, he will be watching for me.

This Week on the Homestead

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 00:44:00 +0000

What a beautiful, crisp, fluffy snow we’ve gotten! We didn’t get enough ice to bother us much, which is a wonderful blessing. Watching the snow fall here in the woods was quite a sight to behold though. With all of the impending winter storm warnings we received, we had plenty of time to replenish the wood pile, add some much needed insulation to the chicken coop, bed the bunnies down with extra hay, and fill the bird feeders all the way to the top. The only thing left to do was
to snuggle in and watch the beauty of the snowfall. Even though the weather causes a bit of extra work with frozen water and difficulty getting around, we love how it seems to slow down time a bit too. Life seems to move at a slower pace and that is a true blessing. Did you know that scripture refers to this weather as a “treasury of snow”? Job 38:22-30 is an extremely interesting section to read regarding not only the importance of snow, but how treasured it is. I know farmer’s treasure the snow very much. Up north, where it gets extremely cold, the snow is greatly treasured to safeguard not only the plants, but it also safeguards against frozen pipes and septic systems. One year, there wasn’t a significant snowfall before the below zero temps came and everyone was scrambling to protect their underground assets with tons of straw. Growing up here in the Ozarks, those steps of precaution were new to me since we never seem to need to do that here. Of course, the winters up north introduced me to a lot of new things that I won’t bore you with, but needless to say, winters here in the Ozarks are a breeze in comparison.

It is hard to believe that we are well into the month of December already. It is time for all that scrumptious baking that we don’t do the rest of the year, including those extra sweet goodies that we guard against except for during Christmas time. One of our favorite treats (and extremely easy, so easy you won’t believe it) that we like to make is Christmas Bark.

Source

It can be made as Peppermint, Chocolate, Toffee, Cherry, or whatever type of baking chips you prefer. It’s best to use a cookie sheet with shallow sides and then line the bottom of it with saltine crackers.

In a saucepan, combine 1 cup butter and 1 cup dark brown sugar.

Bring it to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.

Immediately pour it over your crackers and spread it to cover your crackers.

Have your oven ready at 400° and bake for 5 to 6 minutes.

Remove from your oven and sprinkle 2 cups of chocolate chips (or whatever flavored chips you like) over the top.

Let it set for about 5 minutes for the chips to get soft, then spread them evenly.

Top with pecans or Christmas colored M&M’s or fun sprinkles or use several toppings.

Let it cool completely and then break apart.

This is a really fun kitchen project for even the young children. We sometimes like to use a combination of chips to swirl them together too. The ones made with the toffee chips are extremely delicious with the butter and brown sugar combination. Also, a batch of these makes great Christmas gifts!

Now my mouth is watering. We are heading out today to do some Christmas baking shopping and you better believe those ingredients are on my list! Maybe I can get home in time to make some today. I hope you are enjoying some time in the kitchen with your children and/or grandchildren this season. Those memories for them and us are priceless!

Have a blessed week and especially remember to not burden yourself with a flurry of activity that causes you to lose sight as to what Christmas is truly about. It can be so easy to do. Being peaceful and content can also be a great gift to others because it can be contagious and what a great feeling to spread!

This Week on the Homestead

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:59:00 +0000

Life has been so busy with preserving the abundance of apples and pears we have been blessed with this year. We still have some that we will be making apple pie filling with and jar up some simple Apples for Apple Cobbler. We've made several batches of Apple Butter too, but I did it a bit different this year. Instead of using regular sugar,

I added maple syrup and honey until it was sweet enough for me. Recipes tend to call for too much sweetener so I just add a half cup at a time until it is just right. You can click on this Apple Link for all the apple posts.

As you know, I haven't gotten around to post the third part on our barn project, but I am gathering the pictures for it so hopefully I can get that post done soon.

One of the duties on my plate recently has been to write an article for four local newspapers each week. Why I haven't been sharing them with you.....well I just didn't think of it! The article is basically about things that I would post on this blog, so this morning while I was writing, it dawned on me to begin to share them with you.

Unlike the newspaper article though, I can share up to date pictures with you. For instance, the above picture is of our favorite fiddler in our woods from this past week. I couldn't resist trying to capture the beauty of Autumn, especially with the music bouncing off the trees (sorry I couldn't capture that for you).

The scenery was our outside joy this past week, while our inside joy has been a warm fire in the stove during the cool evenings.

Ok, well on to the weekly article:

THIS WEEK ON THE HOMESTEAD

What a beautiful week it has been! Just when we thought our warm days were gone, we are blessed with a blue sky and a warm sun, which allowed us lots of time to do some finishing up around the place for winter.

With such nice weather during the past week, we enjoyed turning the chickens loose to chase the bugs and scratch through the leaves to their hearts content. Day by day, we noticed one missing here and there. The final tally is that five have gone missing. We happened to find one yesterday, but there have been no signs of the others. We’ve run down the list of possible predators, coon, possum, hawk, fox, weasel….it has all happened in the early afternoon from what we can tell and it has been one at a time. Black bears and even a cougar have been spotted in this area, but they don’t tend to be chicken predators. We have guard dogs, but sometimes they sleep pretty heavy in the afternoon and the chickens tend to wander over into the fields where we can’t see all of them. All of the ones that disappeared have been smaller pullets with the exception of an older rooster. After all that has happened, we decided to keep the chickens in the chicken yard and turn the guineas loose. I’d like to see whatever it is try to get one of them, at least without a ruckus that gives them away. Guineas travel in a flock and tend to create havoc when anything out of the ordinary happens. One of the reasons we have them is to alert the chickens to danger, but it can tend to get a bit old when they enjoy raising a fuss even when the wind changes directions.

On Sunday we enjoyed a long overdue visit from some friends of ours from Springfield. Some people would consider their family of seven large, but around here, a family of seven is just getting started! The children seemed to thoroughly enjoy being turned loose in the woods and interacting with the animals and birds. There is something about the freedom of a child being a child when they can get back to nature and truly learn hands on from God’s creation. The sun set came too fast and they had to say goodbye, but the squeals, giggles and joy of the children linger in the trees. I’m not exactly sure the chickens were sad to see them go.

Our weekly visit to the nearest town is always heartwarming. Instead of just going to town to shop for necessities, we live in an area where going to town means seeing friends and neighbors. That is one of the things we love about a small town. People know you by name and are quick to say hello, shake your hand or hug your neck and share the latest news until time demands you move along to finish your list before returning home. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. We even stopped by the local vet this week only to find a beautiful draft horse there being prepped for the gelding process. Not only was our daughter allowed to watch, but she was recruited to help. Much to her joy, it was quite the experience she will never forget.

I understand that we are facing some colder weather for the next several days so I’ll say goodbye for this week in order to stock up on the fire wood and transplant some of the plants that I want to bring in.

Have a blessed week!

Barn Home Project ~ Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 20:10:00 +0000

Barn Home Project ~ Part 1

Let's see, where did I leave off? We picked a beautiful spot, cleared the trees, leveled the ground, anxiously awaited getting the well drilled, brought in too many loads of gravel to count, and got everything ready for the concrete.

The top picture is of the trees being cleared for the electricity to be put in. Believe me when I say that we fretted something awful about this part. This location is heavily wooded and they were telling us that they would cut a 40' swath of trees. It may not look that bad in the picture, however, nothing could have prepared us for what looked like a

tornado had gone through. Prior to the clearing of the trees, you couldn't see into the woods very far. After they were done, we could see clear over to the next pasture. It has kind of grown on us though since we can see our Scottish Highlands lazily grazing over there through the front picture window.

Next came the concrete trucks.

We still don't know how the concrete trucks got all the way up the hill, but we are grateful they did. One of the other things we had to consider was a place for these trucks to turn around. After clearing the trees for the electricity, we absolutely refused to take out one more tree. Thankfully, the concrete trucks were able to circle the house to turn around.

It was fun watching these men work together in unison. They had a great sense of humor....until after the concrete was hard they informed me, with a dead pan face, that this was their first concrete job, they were just hesitant to tell me before they did it. Needless to say, I was not amused, however the joke was on me and they thought they were hilarious!

This concrete process began early in the morning, took all day and into the wee hours of the next morning. The Amish crew has a driver that also works on the construction crew. When the sun began to set, the driver headed for the nearest hardware store to get some big construction lights. The sun went down and we still couldn't see any lights up at the construction site. About 9:00 p.m., I headed up there in our truck and saw a sight I never will forget. As I topped the hill, my lights came upon Amos with the machine that smooths out the concrete surface. He was working in utter darkness while he waited for the driver to bring back the lights. Leaving my lights on, I quickly jumped out of the truck to ask how on earth he was still working in the dark. His only response was 'I can feel my way along'. Our concrete was incredible when he was finished.

It was also fun to see how quick they framed the walls in.

The water on the floor is from melted snow. Remember this is still winter, lol.

This back wall is the kitchen area. We designed it with one long counter and no top cabinets in order to capture the beautiful Ozark Mountain view. We picked this spot specifically for the view and I wasn't going to cover it with kitchen cabinets. The long opening now accommodates four windows with the kitchen sink centered in front of them. One thing I have learned from the design of an Amish house is the joy of having a large pantry so we designed one into the plans and won't have any lack for space regarding cabinets. Here is a picture showing the outside of the back wall. Part of this design is open from the back kitchen wall to the front living room wall to enable the wonderful breeze that blows across the hills. It keeps the house cooler in the summer which is truly a blessing!

Below is a shot from the outside showing the shop/garage wall. We are planning to someday, Lord willing, build a kind of a lean to off this end for storage purposes.

Below is the front wall taken from inside. As I referenced earlier in this post, if you look through the center window, you can see the cattle up on the next hill. Just ignore the ugly electric pole! We will probably end up growing something in that area so we don't have to look at the electric poles.

Here the roof is fixing to get put on. Do you see this little concrete pad sticking out in the middle of nowhere? We had leftover concrete and had to come up with something quick to do with it, so we made a spot for a little patio. We knew we might have a small amount of extra concrete so we framed an 8' by 10' area for a chicken coop, but then there was still extra so we thought of the patio idea. Since the framework was still in place for the foundation, Amos refused to put it as close as possible. He said it would look like a mistake, which he could not tolerate, lol. So we put it out a ways and built a little porch between it and the house. I plan to plant several kitchen herbs in that area so they will be handy for me to step outside and pinch off when I need them.

In order to remind us that this was still indeed winter, a beautiful snow fell and the winds turned very cold.

However, the work continued and we began to really see it take shape.

Remember, if you have any questions, be sure to ask! I'll go searching for more pictures for Part 3, until then, have a blessed week!

Canning Over An Open Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 12:24:00 +0000

Yesterday I thought I'd try this little video to give you a little more than just pictures and words on a page to share with you what I was doing. I get so nervous during any form of recording, I didn't explain too well the steps that led me up to this point.

As I mentioned before regarding this building project, we are doing it as debt free as we possibly can, which includes not going to the big stores and buying new appliances.

We already had a fridge, but needed a stove. I really enjoy cooking over a gas stove, but even used, they are pretty pricey.

Several Saturday's were spent traveling to the city to visit the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. For those of you who aren't familiar with what type of store that is, picture a Goodwill for construction items.

One thing you must understand is that we aren't attempting to do this as debt free as possible for our own purposes, scripture tells us not to be a slave to any man, which means several things to our family. One of those things is that we should not have any debt. That is extremely difficult to do, but very possible if you are willing and determined.

So on this journey, we pray ... a lot. We always want to provide the best for our children and God promises He will provide for us, so we pray about our needs. Our need was for a stove.

We walked into the Re-Store and directly in front of us was a Whirlpool oven and glass top stove combo. We circled it a few times and discussed it and walked around the store and returned to it. We asked for information about it and the clerk stated it had just been put on the floor, donated by a home owner that had purchased a new one. It had been tested and all of it worked. If we purchased it, we had three days to try it and return it for store credit. Price? Barely over $100 for the combo. A Whirlpool oven and glass top stove combo in almost perfect condition for barely over $100. I almost cried. To me, this was my Father in Heaven smiling at me saying 'See, I will provide for you'.

My Mother has a glass top stove and it is a true blessing, especially in regards to cleaning it. No it was not gas, but at that point I truly did not care.

Thankfully we had brought the truck that day. It is now in our new kitchen and works great. One glitch though. I have to be very careful how I do my canning on it, which leads to my little video above.

If you look at articles online regarding canning on a glass top stove, they state that you can as long as your canning pot has a flat surface and the pot can only be 1" larger than your burner. The burners are not that big on the stove. I only have one smaller stock pot that would work, but no rack to fit it.

Solution? I had seen something on Pinterest about canning outside over a fire so I went back and found it.

In the video I wasn't too sure about the whole process, but I can now tell you that it works extremely well and I am hooked. I just might pick a cooler day next time though!

Just after I finished the short little video, the water began to boil, I fed the fire to keep the boil going and timed it for what I needed. When the time was up, I simply removed the lid with a hot pad and removed the jars. I found a flat board to place the jars on to cool and let the fire die out. Simple! Also I had a feeling of success at being able to do something without the need for modern things, which I happen to love.

I did not get to the pickles that I mentioned in the video, that is on the list for today!

Barn Home Project ~ Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Barn Home Project ~ Part 2

To begin with, I apologize for being so absent on this blog. I realize some of you are not on Facebook and do not get those updates. Last fall we began a journey of building a new homestead. We knew before we started that is was not for the faint of heart, but still, we had no idea how trying it would be.

The intention was not to build anything fancy or anything that had "curb appeal", but for it to be functional, serve it's purpose, and most important of all, to be as debt free a project as possible.

First we had to choose a building site. The choice wasn't all that hard since there is a beautiful, wooded outlook on the crest of our own personal Ozark Mountain. The tricky part was figuring out how to get the well digger trucks, gravel trucks, concrete trucks and lumber trucks up to the top.

As you can see, it isn't even an easy walk up, but after much discussion, we decided to take it as it came and figure it out then.

The next step in this process was to decide what type of building, what size, which way to face it and then we began to square it off and mark the trees that had to be removed. In the above picture, you can see the trees are marked and a few fence posts marking the outside edge of the building. Our faithful companion is always near, watching every move we make so she will probably be in several of the pictures I post throughout this process.

The outlook is very open as you can see a bit in the picture below, but the building was to be nestled in the trees so we didn't want to take out any more trees than absolutely necessary.

After getting the trees cleared for the building site, we were still waiting on the well diggers. Due to the severe drought last summer, the well diggers were extremely busy putting in "government wells" that had been granted people who took a big hit regarding their livestock. We were on a two month waiting list, which put us into the winter months sadly enough. Ever hear of digging a well in the winter? We were skeptical, but as we are always happily discovering, the good Lord does everything in His time. By the time the well diggers could come out, the surface of the ground was frozen just enough for their massive trucks to get up our little mountain. If they had come earlier, they wouldn't have made it. Isn't God good?

We rejoiced on this day! Not only did they get up the mountain without *much* difficulty, but we were blessed with an abundance of water and pressure! There was a small difficulty, but nothing a chainsaw and some strong men couldn't take care of. The first route they tried was too steep. The second route had a great oak in the center of it. Sad to have taken it out, but it will serve a good purpose when we get the chance to lay the flooring in. Every tree that was taken down will be used in this building.

Our other reason for being so excited about the well was because the builders couldn't begin building without access to water. Now they could finally begin!

Our first cup of living water on our new homestead. In a word..... GLORIOUS.

Between the time that the well was drilled and the pump installed, we had a pretty good snow, but it didn't last very long and the builders were able to begin to figure out where to put the foundation and put the forms in place.

The temperatures were still pretty cold and the ground was still frozen, however, the gravel trucks were not as successful as the well diggers. We had to have truck after truck come in and pour gravel all the way up to the building site. I think that gravel company is still talking about that job ;-) The trail was narrow, just enough room for their trucks and they had to take a lot of precaution not to jump their trucks sideways into a tree. It took them two days to complete the road and fill the base of the building. I'm sure you wouldn't even want to guess how many truck loads of gravel it took!

A tractor was used to spread the big pile left by the gravel truck into smaller piles, but the rest of it was spread out by hand. It was a beautiful sight, as smooth as butter. Then the tunnels were carved out for the plumbing and smoothed back over. The rebar came after that in preparation for the concrete.

Now you'll have to excuse me, I am not familiar with all of the technical construction words. After calling things by the wrong names for a few months, I gave up trying to figure it out. Those builders don't know my sewing and canning terms, so why do I have to know what all their terms mean? Anyway, like I said, don't mind me if a call something by the wrong name. Like in the pic above, I see a shovel and two spreader things and a pic of some sort. See? Good enough. Of course they just laughed at me and wrote me off as a goofy female.

I hope our process can be a benefit to others, so if you have any questions that I don't address in a post, please simply ask.

Be sure to watch for Part 2 when I get some more pictures sorted.....until then, have a blessed week!

Time to Fire Up the Grill

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Apple-Butter Barbecue Chicken

One morning last week, we woke up to some glorious weather (about two days before the strange May snow storm). The air was warm, the breeze adding just the right amount of coolness and it was suddenly spring.

We sat on the front porch for a while, just soaking it up, deciding what exactly needed to be done that day.

Just like everyone, we had a list of hundreds of things to do, so we tried to narrow it down. However, it seemed that whatever needed to be done inside was going to have to wait. We weren't going to waste such a beautiful day inside.

So the day went like this....

Raked and burned several piles of leaves
Sat on the porch and drank some sweet tea
Transplanted at least 100 tomatoes
Sat on the porch and drank some sweet tea
Planted more cucumber and zucchini seeds
Sat on the porch and drank some sweet tea
Prepared some grass fed Highland burger and chicken breasts for the grill
Mowed the yard
Dug through the shed looking for charcoal...
Didn't find any charcoal, so we ran up to the our tiny little country corner store for charcoal
Gathered sticks to start the charcoal (we use a bbq starter for the charcoal)
Whipped up some yummy coleslaw
Put the meat on the grill
Sat on the porch and drank some sweet tea while enjoying the delicious smells
Gathered around the table and savored our first BBQ meal of the season!

Usually my husband does the grilling, which I dearly love, but he's working some really strange hours lately and I've decided that I need to learn how to bbq. Instead of ruining several meals before I get the hang of it, I began to search around on Pinterest. Now, I'm hooked!

There are several extremely tasty looking ways to bbq that goes way beyond simply burgers and chicken! I've known you can cook almost anything on the grill, but I had no idea how and the delicious sounding sauces are my favorite!

Here are a few I've found that are on my list to try:

Honey Cranberry Barbecue Sauce

Chipotle Maple Barbecue Sauce

Barbecue Roasted Salmon

Grilled Chicken with Sweet and Sour Fig Barbecue Sauce

Herb Grilled Chicken with Creamy Broccoli Orzo

Top 10 Grilled Steak Recipes

Top 10 Grilled Vegetable Recipes

Grilled Asparagus Medley

Chermoula Grilled Chicken Pita

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

These are some unbelievable looking recipes! And since this week, the freaky snow and ice are gone, I am in search of some more great grilling recipes for Mother's Day!!

May you have a blessed weekend!

Pumpkin Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 00:05:00 +0000

For those of you who don't live around these parts, we have had an ice storm and snow the past few weeks. The ice is pretty, but usually unwelcome because of the fear of a power outage. The snow around here is pretty too, while it lasts, but usually it will melt off the next day. That is not the case this time and it feels like we have been living in a snow globe for the past five days. It is pretty, and we so seldom get any snow that I sure don't want to complain, but I haven't had the heart to romp around in it either.

Needless to say, if you follow our Facebook Page, you can tell that I have had a little more time on my hands than usual!

I have used the time to organize things, clean, get caught up on household paperwork and try some great new recipes, well, new to me.

This is about the time of year when I really work at using things that are hidden back in the freezer, or have been sitting in the cupboard for several months. Some of the things, I have gotten for rainy days and then never used them mostly. Do you ever do that or are you more organized than I am?

Well last fall, we got a bunch of pie pumpkins from the local Amish community and so there are several bags hidden away in the freezer. During harvest time, we use a lot of it and preserve a lot of it, but after the initial excitement of fresh pumpkin, the pumpkin that gets preserved tends to get forgotten about until this time of year. So......guess what! Oh! And we just got a gallon jug of raw, wildflower honey and I had to try it out. We have doing most of our cooking with honey and coconut oil and have been pleasantly surprised at how delicious it is! There isn't a drop of oil in our home except for coconut oil. Finally! It was really hard for me to give up all of the other oils even though I truly believed how bad they were for us. If you haven't made the leap, but really feel you should, just do it!

Ok, back to the Pumpkin Bread.

This recipe isn't from one of our local Amish friends, but it does come from a Mrs. Eli A. Mast in Holmes County, Ohio, and it is delicious! I made some slight adjustments, that I'll share with you, in order to keep to our way of cooking, but here ya go!

Pumpkin Bread

1 c. cooking oil (we use softened coconut oil)

2 c. sugar (we use 1 cup honey and 1/2 cup turbinado sugar)

3 c. flour (we use 2 c. unbleached white flour and 1 c. stone ground wheat flour)

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon (we like cinnamon so I use 3 tsp.)

1 tsp. allspice

2 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

2 c. pumpkin

4 eggs

Now here is the easy part, mix all the ingredients in one bowl.

Nothing like farm fresh eggs! We have been very blessed to be getting about 10 eggs a day through the winter. Thankfully all of the hens and Mackey (our Black Copper rooster) have stayed pretty healthy all winter. Can you believe it's almost time for the eggs in the incubator to be hatching already? Spring is coming!

Now split the batter into two greased (yes, grease them with coconut oil) loaf pans, bake at 350° for 1 hour.

Your home will smell delicious and you will also have a yummy treat!!

Easy Apple Cobbler

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:54:00 +0000

One of our greatest blessings, is our beloved daughter. She has such a teachable heart and she is one who lives life whole-heartedly. Her heart is committed to learning all that she can, to be first, a Godly woman, second a Godly wife and third, a Godly mother. As any of you know, that is quite an undertaking and a daily struggle for all of us. She is a joy and truly always has been one.

Being able to know how to feed your family well, is crucial and these days the sad fact is that the majority of girls are being raised with career goals in mind instead of being taught how to run a home. Young women are graduating from college with no knowledge or desire of knowing how to run a family. Chances are, they will have a family, but their family will suffer from their lack of knowledge and so will they. One of my goals and duties is to equip our daughter with the knowledge and experience of running her home well. Not only will she and her husband be blessed by it, but our grandchildren will prosper because of it too. We have to think generationally. My heart breaks when I hear of the most important goal of a parent being what college their children get into as if their job is done after that. How sad for the future generations of this country.

To begin with, start young! Since she was old enough to dig her hands into a bowl of flour, she has been helping me in the kitchen.

Were there huge messes? Yes.

Has there been great failures (by both of us)? Yes.

Did things take three times longer to do? Yes.

BUT......perseverance pays off.

Since the age of eight, she has been able to be turned loose in the kitchen with great results. Now don't think I gave her a huge dinner to create back then, we began with simple baking. The first time I remember challenging her, was with a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. I stayed out of the kitchen and when she was done, the cookies were perfectly gooey with dripping chocolate and the kitchen was clean. I was thrilled and so was she!

Since then she has loved to be the master of her domain in the kitchen. She can easily fix a full meal now too. The point of telling you all this is to encourage you to teach your children how to cook. Find recipes they can help with, and be challenged with. Let them make messes, let them make mistakes and reassure them that it is perfectly ok to make a mistake. You will be blessed in the long run and so will they!

Today, she threw something very easy together, but is extremely delicious! Also, it would be a great recipe to begin to teaching younger children something easy, fun and yummy.

APPLE COBBLER

1 stick butter

Melt stick of butter in an 8 x 11" glass pan

(I find that a 9 x 13 makes the cobbler too thin)

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together and pour on top of melted butter in pan.

1 quart of cooked apples

(or 1 quart of blackberries, blueberries etc.)

Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon.

Pour apples over batter.

for

Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

Be sure to have a serving of it while it is warm! And, if you can afford the calories, add vanilla ice cream!

The apples we use are from the apples we picked and canned at the peak of apple season. Find out how we do it by following this link Preserving Apples. It is super easy. Canning apples this way is perfect for future use in cobblers, pies, muffins etc.

I hope this inspires you to get into the kitchen with your children and not only make some memories, but give them the important tools they need to help them be self sufficient and may you be blessed for it!

Crockpot Beef Stew with Sweet Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:36:00 +0000

Another Christmas has come and gone. The cold air of winter has settled in and nothing warms your bones better than a hearty winter stew!

There is something magnificent about the timing of God's creation and especially the rhythm of eating with the seasons. I can't seem to get my fill of root vegetables and it got me to wondering about how we just had a heavy harvest of root vegetables, the weather turns cold, the sun is scarce and how healthy those root vegetables are. They are obviously what our Creator has provided for our health through the bleak months of winter. It makes SO much sense!

Now, if you are familiar with grass fed beef, you know how delicious it is, especially when cooked very low and slow. It will literally melt in your mouth. This recipe includes our home grown Scottish Highland, grass fed beef with some delicious canned tomatoes grown fresh in our garden and some of our own root vegetables and some from our Amish neighbors. YUM!

Here is our way of making Beef Stew...

Using a gallon size plastic bag, dump in a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour depending on how many pounds of stew meat you are using. We use about two pounds or more at a time. Add a teaspoon of garlic powder and onion powder and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Shake it all together and then drop your meat into the bag and shake it up so all the meat is covered.

Pull out a nice size cast iron skillet and cover the bottom with some oil, we use coconut oil. Brown the meat in your oil while cutting up your vegetables.

In the bottom of your slow cooker, pour in a quart of canned tomatoes or 28 oz. of canned diced tomatoes, juice and all. Mash them up a bit with what ever you have to mash them with. You can also make this in a Dutch Oven.

Roughly chop up 2 medium sized onions and add to your tomatoes.

Roughly chop up 2 ribs of celery, peel and chop 4 carrots and a few smaller sweet potatoes. Our neighbors grow them so big we never use more than one in a batch of stew. You could literally feed at least three people with one sweet potato, they are so big! You can also just use regular potatoes too if you'd like, but sweet potatoes are much healthier and add a nice variation to boring old beef stew.

Sprinkle your spices over the veggies, you might have your own favorite that you like to use like we do. For stew I'll add 1/2 teaspoon of basil or more (we love basil), 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon rosemary, 1 teaspoon parsley, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt. You might want more salt depending on your own taste. We try to use as little salt as possible.

As you can see, in this batch I used a few handfuls of baby carrots instead of cutting up carrots. They didn't cook as well, I should've at least cut them in half first.

Add your browned meat.

Now, don't forget about all the yummy drippings still in your skillet. I will open a quart of canned beef broth, pour a bit of beef broth in the skillet to loosen all that goodness up and pour it over the meat and vegetables. Save a 1/2 cup of beef broth and pour the rest of the quart over the meat and vegetables. Give it all a bit of a stir.

Add 2 bay leaves. Put the lid on and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, whisk up 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of the beef broth that was saved. Stir it into the stew. Put the lid back on and cook until it has thickened a bit.

Don't forget to take the bay leaves out and you are ready to serve up some of the healthiest food your family could ever eat!

Beef Stew with Sweet Potatoes

1/4 - 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2-3 pounds stew meat

Place ingredients in bag and add beef. Shake till covered.

2-3 Tablespoons oil

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.

Lightly brown beef. Remove from skillet and set it aside.

1 quart (28 oz) diced tomatoes

Pour liquid and tomatoes in slow cooker and mash.

2 medium onions

4 carrots

2 ribs celery

2 to 3 sweet potatoes

Peel and roughly chop vegetables, place in slow cooker.

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. rosemary

1 tsp. parsley

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

Sprinkle spices over vegetables

Add the beef to slow cooker.

1 quart of beef broth = 4 cups

Pour enough in skillet to loosen meat drippings and pour over meat and vegetables. Save back 1/2 cup of beef broth and pour the remaining broth over the meat and vegetables. Stir a few times.

2 bay leaves

Add bay leaves.

Put the lid on and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup of reserved broth

Whisk together and add to slow cooker. Stir in.

Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes until it thickens a bit.

Remove the bay leaves before serving.

ENJOY!!

If you'd like to make this recipe with a Dutch Oven, simply brown your meat in the Dutch Oven, add your beef broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about an hour.

Then add your vegetables, spices and your thickener (flour and broth), stir into stew, cover and simmer for another hour or more.

** You can add additional tastes to it by adding some A-1 Steak Sauce to your stew and Worcestershire and/or Ketchup too. Sometimes I add a few drops of our Ozark recipe BBQ sauce from Silver Dollar City to make it extra specially YUMMY!

A Simple Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 14:54:00 +0000

Source

It is that peaceful time of year again.

Yes, Christmas ... peaceful.

Time to enjoy the peaceful rest of the winter season as nature does.

Time to enjoy and treasure family and friends.

I've found that the older I get, the more I discover what is truly worthwhile in life.

I've found that the simpler something is, the more I deeply enjoy it.

All of this marketed Christmas rush does nothing but teach us a "new normal".

Why? For the almighty dollar.

Christmas has been reduced to money and I for one, fell for it for quite awhile.

Not anymore.

What is on my list this season?

Time with loved ones, to truly look them in the eye and have a heart to heart conversation.

Making sure I say the important things that need to be said to them.

Laughing, sharing memories and most importantly, creating memories!

Ok, so how does one do this?

By being intentional.

Intentional

I'm not sure too many of us can really get our minds around the heavy weight of responsibility this word carries, but we need to.

How?

I believe it is different for each one of us, but instead of doing more for Christmas, try doing less.... on purpose.

If you only had one person to give a gift to, what would you do?

How would you truly express what they mean to you?

Remember, it isn't truly the gift, it is how you make them feel.

What is the one thing that is MOST precious to each one of us?

Time.

One of my favorite things that I love to get from my precious Mother each year is a Christmas basket.

She carefully picks out little goodies that she knows I like.

Simple things, like my favorite nuts, favorite chocolate, favorite fruit, a handy kitchen gadget that she saw I needed last time she was in my kitchen, my favorite Christmas cookies that she makes just for me....whatever she can think of that is specific to me.

That gift says she knows me and that she remembers what I like, which makes me feel special.

It is simple.

It isn't something that took a lot of money.

It took a lot of heart.

That means something.

While thinking about these things, I decided to find simple ideas that say these things to those that I love.

For this I turn to others that are more creative than me for ideas.

Here is a cute little sack for giving homemade cookies instead of a store bought tin can.

Source

It is a very simple tutorial for making these out of any fabric you choose.

Here is something else yummy to make, Cinnamon Honey Butter.

Source

Follow the Source link to the tutorial and 15 other wonderful ideas.

Here's another great idea that could inspire your family member or friend down the path of learning to make their own someday! What's that old saying 'Feed a man for a day, teach him to fish...."

Source

This type of gift could help give back in so many ways by enlightening someone to the possibilities!

Here is another one that gives the gift of warmth.

Source

As she explains..."I've heard them referred to as microwaveable heating pads or therapy bags or microwave corn bags...but I don't think any of those terms adequately convey the feelings of homespun warmth and snuggle-ness that you feel when hugging one of these wonders."

I'd have to agree. The recipient of this gift will remember you every time they use this and how this gift to them makes them feel.

Here is one of my favorites and this is the area that I truly need to be more Intentional with, small things that tell my husband how special he is to me.

Source

Follow this Source to find several little ways to remind your husband that you know what he likes and that you have taken special time out of our your day to remind him. This gal has come up with some cute ideas and maybe it will inspire you to come up with your own special ideas for him.

Another important thing to me is spending time creating Christmas memories with our children and grandchildren. The older they get, the more creative it seems I need to be. Thankfully, our daughter is creative and loves a table full of fabric, pine cones, glue guns etc....

Not only do you create memories, you have created something they can keep throughout their lives to remind them.

Here are a few ways to make homemade ornaments to have each year for them to hang on the tree.

For the little hands ...

Source

For the bigger hands ...

Source

There are SO many ideas out there, simply google 'Handmade Christmas Ornament' to find too many to choose from!

And last but not least, make some sweet memories with family. Not just the children and grandchildren, but with great grandparents too.

Grandparents and Great Grandparents are the core of family and should be included, if possible, in the whole family's memories. Create a baking day for everyone to gather just to create! Talk about having some precious memories and hopefully pictures!!

Here is one of our favorites to do because everyone gets to choose how they decorate them.

Source

Follow this Source to find some yummy recipes!

And one more idea is to print or create your own gift tags. There are some great ideas out there to make your gifts unique.

Source

For many other hand made ideas, visit my All Things Christmas board on Pinterest and make this Christmas a little more simple.

From our family to yours,

May you have a Blessed Christmas!!!

Homemaker's Organizer Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:21:00 +0000

I just had to share with you, who may not have seen this yet, that there is a giveaway going on for this incredible Homemaker's Organizer!

It could also be called a Homesteader's or Gardener's Organizer too because it contains some extremely helpful pages on garden layout, canning inventory, freezer inventory, harvest and preservation records etc.

If you follow the links to the giveaway, it explains it in great detail and where to actually purchase your own copy for yourself or for all of your favorite homemaker's/homesteader's on your Christmas list! OR you can simply click on the picture above and it will take you straight to the Amazon page.

The writer of this incredibly, complete Organizer is a dear friend of mine that lives right here in the Ozarks and she has donated one of these to bless one of you with!

ORGANIZER DETAILS......

Healing our Highland

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 13:55:00 +0000

It is finally time to share with you our journey in healing our Scottish Highland calf. The struggles and sadness have been great, and on most days we have fought to continue, but hard work is never a waste of time. We decided that if nothing else, if the end result was terrible, we would at least have learned from it. Little did we know we faced pneumonia, dehydration, paralysis and a lot of rehabilitation for this little calf.

Warning: picture below may be disturbing.

I had began to post several different times on what had happened, but never could bring myself to share it until now. Not knowing what the outcome of this would be, I didn't know if our efforts would be worth sharing. We still don't know what the final outcome will be, however, we are more encouraged than ever at this point.

In speaking with our vet recently, he wished we had video taped our process. He said it was a miracle and that he never would've believed the outcome. He has never heard of such progress before and we have struggled to not allow that to go to our heads!

This precious little calf was born on the last day of July 2012. She is a Scottish Highland calf and she is the cutest calf I have ever known. We were thrilled when her Mama brought her up out of the woods for us to see.

Over the years, we have learned how fiercely strong and durable the Scottish Highland are. Mama's have babies without help and sometimes you may not see the calves for several weeks if you have a lot of deep woods like we do. They keep them hidden extremely well. Sadly enough, this time, this calf wasn't hidden good enough.

After a few weeks, Millie (our Mama cow), brought the baby back up out of the woods. We were shocked to see the condition of the calf. It had apparently been attacked by something.

You can see her whole side has the hide stripped off. Upon closer examination, you could see gouge marks and scratches. We couldn't believe she was still alive.

Our closest neighbor stopped by to see about the calf. He has several hunting dogs and he knows this area very well. He verified our thinking, that a cougar or some big cat got a hold of this calf. Another neighbor that lives near by with beef cows told us that he loses at least two calves a year to the big cats. He believes that, because he finds the remains up in the tree branches. It was easy for us to believe this due to the trauma of the injury and because we had heard a mountain lion scream behind our house in the wee hours of the morning several months ago.

We knew that we needed to doctor the calf, but Mama wasn't about to let us go near her.

Thanks to some wonderful neighbors, we were offered a trailer load of cattle panels to set up a corral and help to round up the Mama and calf. Within minutes a large corral was in place with two sections. One for Mama and one for the calf, which allowed for them to remain next to each other.

The next task came with learning how to doctor the calf and teach her to bottle feed after being on Mama for a few weeks. Both of which was interesting since Highlands are mainly a hands off breed of cattle, we had never bottle fed before or separated Mama and baby.

I have to stop here and say thank you to my special friend and neighbor, all around farm girl and patient teacher! She came over and patiently walked us through what we needed to do. Her husband and his Amish friend had already been by earlier to set up the corral and round up the calf out of the woods too. I'm telling ya, you just can't live life without good neighbors!

After many patient attempts, the calf finally accepted the bottle and we were able to get the injury covered with medicine. This picture shows success, or so we thought, after almost a week of struggle.

Shortly after this picture was taken, we received several days of cold, damp, rain, courtesy of Hurricane Isaac. Even though we live in southern Missouri, we usually get a bit of whatever comes up through the gulf.

This was disastrous for us. We had a shelter provided for the calf, but didn't realize that she would stand out in the rain. Just a little bit after the temps dropped and the rain started, we ran out to find her soaking wet, standing in the rain. We moved the cattle panels around so she couldn't get out from underneath the shelter. Then we completely dried her off, fed her warm milk, and bundled her up in a large soft pile of straw. It wasn't enough. We continued to check on her, she seemed warm and happy laying there in the straw, gobbling up all the milk we fed her. Finally, the sun came out and the ground dried up, but the calf wouldn't get up. At first we didn't think too much of it until she wasn't even sitting up anymore.

At this point, we noticed a small amount of drainage from her nose so we contacted one of our handy dandy neighbors to see what he thought. He advised us that she needed a shot of antibiotics for possible pneumonia. Well I have given many dog and cat shots, but never one to a calf. Thankfully, he talked me through it and we thought all would be well.

That was on a Saturday. We kept watch, fully expecting her to be up and around by the next day, but Sunday came and went without her getting up. Monday was Labor Day. Monday morning came and our precious little calf wouldn't even raise her head up.

Do you know how much a farm visit is from your local vet on Labor Day? We do now and it isn't pretty. Thankfully, we keep our blessings in perspective and know that it could've been much worse.

Our vet was an angel for us that day. This whole journey so far, showed me how little I knew. The entire time I felt like we were running too far behind in knowledge and skill and we were. If it hadn't been for such great neighbors and family, we would've lost this little calf.

Back to our vet though, he was extremely gentle, kind and patient. He helped us move the calf from her shelter in the field into our front yard so we could keep a closer eye on her. He assessed her condition and diagnosed her with pneumonia and dehydration, not to mention her injury. We hung an IV from a tree branch, and began to run several bags of fluid into her. He stayed for a very long time to make sure she was stable and asked that I let him know how she's doing later.

We followed his directions for changing the IV solution bags and were able to get three whole bags into her before she tried to get up and pulled the catheter out of her neck. It was after 9 pm at that point . She needed one more bag according to our vet and we didn't know what to do so we called him. He answered our call right away and counseled us for quite a while as to what we should do, what we should expect and what our options might be. I can't say enough good things about this vet.

Here she is sitting up on Tuesday morning after her IV's. Notice how her back legs are straight out? We soon learned this was a big problem.

We thought all was going in the right direction because she was sitting up and trying to get up, getting stronger.....

We moved her back into her shelter and watched for her to get up. The weather really warmed up. It got down right hot and she still wasn't getting up. We called the vet.

They suggested we bring her in so she could be examined again and be kept for a few days in a controlled environment temperature wise. After the expense on Labor Day, I was very hesitant, knowing that a vet stay could be extremely expensive.

Solution? Well.....one thing about homesteading, you make do with what you have.

The basement of our house is unfinished. Bare concrete floors and cool. A perfect place to move the calf to, or so I thought.

We made a large, thick bed of straw for her and moved her into the basement. It eliminated her heat stress. We continued to struggle with feeding her though because she just didn't want to eat. We could only get a half pint or less down her at a time. Can you imagine? We literally spent all day trying to get her required daily amount down her. Our daughter spent hours with the calf's head in her lap trying to coax her to eat. We couldn't get her to drink any water at all so I began to google for information. I found a great recipe that I feel saved her life. It consists of a can of broth, a box of pectin, 2 teaspoons baking soda and 2 teaspoons of salt, then fill the bottle with warm water. I used chicken broth even though the recipe called for beef broth.....just didn't seem right to me. Here is the link where I found their story and Broth Recipe.

Before bedtime that evening, Wednesday evening, I went down to check the calf and to try to get her to eat some more one last time. She was struggling to get up and she was soaking wet.

In the dark with a flashlight, I ran out to get fresh straw, made her another dry, warm, soft bed and moved her over to it. I couldn't figure out why she was so wet! Later, when we were told her back end was paralyzed, we learned she had lost control of her bladder.

The next morning, Thursday morning, we took her to the vet. There was nothing else we could do for her at home. As a family, we discussed the expense, we discussed the options and our conclusion was we would do what we could within reason for her.

To make a very long story a bit shorter for you.... she spent almost three days at the vet's office. There they gave her several cortisone shots and kept working with getting her up on her feet and working her back legs. They had almost given up when they discovered that she had recovered control of her bladder and that she was responding with her back legs in small ways.

We went to pick her up on Saturday, of that same week, and we received a full report, cautious optimism and counseled on what to look for in the next few days. We talked in great length about why she lost function of her back end. The vet was unsure, but thought it was a delayed reaction to the trauma of the initial injury. He explained that sometimes, trauma doesn't swell immediately and he has seen it take up to a week to show those signs. The longest and deepest gouge runs down the length of her spine to past her tail. We began to study the nervous system of a cow. There is a huge gathering of nerves at the base of their spine before their tail. Any trauma to that area would greatly affect all of those nerves. Now the question was... will the nerves completely heal?

We began by getting her up every time we fed her. The idea was to encourage the use of her back legs. We had no idea what to expect, but were extremely encouraged by the end of the first week. She was pushing up on her back legs and balancing herself over the bin. During this time, when she was laying down, I constantly worked her back legs. The vet had shown me how to fully extend each leg in a circle to encourage blood flow to the muscles. I also kept her hooves flexed so the muscles wouldn't tighten up allowing her to only stand on her knuckles.

Soon, she tried more and more to move off the bin, so we rolled up a towel and held her up with it by placing it beneath her just in front of her back legs. We were excited to see her increasingly use her legs and put more weight on them.

It didn't take very long before she got too heavy for me to handle her in that manner though. A few weeks went by and I knew we had to come up with something different. At this point, the vet encouraged us to keep up whatever it was we were doing, "it sure couldn't hurt" he said.

My dear husband's father came up with a brilliant plan. He put up a thick yellow tow rope, one of those with a ratchet thingy on it.....as you can see, I clearly don't know what it's called, but he hooked it onto one cattle panel and then another on the other side of the pen. We then took one of our girth straps, for our saddle, and got a large D ring to go over the strap. The idea was to get the calf up in this homemade sling in order to save our backs, and to allow her room to move. It served it's purpose beautifully!

Over a period of several weeks, she began to walk back and forth, the length of the strap. To begin to get her to do this, we simply encouraged her with her bottle of milk. We soon learned that we could encourage her to do almost anything with that bottle of milk, however, once the milk was gone, she got real lazy. Her bottles of water were somewhat helpful with motivating her, but nothing like the milk.

We ran into a bit of a dilemma when she began to need much more time on her feet than laying down. She still couldn't stand on her own, and we couldn't supervise her all day.....every time I tried to leave her up in her sling for a bit, this is what I came back to...

This was not helpful in any way and could've been very dangerous for her. Our time spent in her pen with her, increased greatly because she had to be kept up yet supervised.

There were SO many days where we felt nothing was improving. How much longer should we continue our efforts? The option was extremely difficult to look at, especially as attached as our family had gotten with her. However, even though she wasn't suffering, her quality of life needed to be considered. On those days when we began to think about other options, we would continue on due to habit (and procrastination). Usually within a few days of not seeing any improvement, by God's grace, we would see a hint of improvement.

She began to move forward very well. Side to side, not so much, in fact, not at all. I researched more on the nervous system of a cow and learned that they have two different sets of nerves for their back legs. One set runs down the backs of their legs and the other is for their thighs. She was having no connection between her brain and her thighs for the most part it seemed, especially her right side. We knew we needed to begin to concentrate on working those muscles and try to encourage healing of those nerves.

When she would be up in the sling, I would use the bottle to move her forward and then get her to turn to go the other direction. Most of the momentum was coming from her front end, so that when we turned, she would kind of fall over in her sling, like the picture above, until we lifted her back end up again. I began to move much more slowly, allowing her time to try to make the moves herself. It seemed that if I walked fast, she just came after me as fast as she could for her milk, but when I slowed down, she was making the brain connections she needed in order to tell her legs what to do.

It was incredible! Once I learned patience, I learned to watch for her body language and we began to see much more progress. She began to use her left, rear leg in turning and also throwing it out to the side to catch herself when she got off balance. The right leg took many more weeks, but we continued to see great improvement. A little trick I learned was that when she was laying down, if I scratched her under belly down by her tiny little udders, she would lift her leg up to the side, working those muscles and nerves! The motion of it is similar to women's thigh tightening exercises, remember those horrid things??

Here you can see our makeshift accommodations for the calf. Our little tent suffered much damage throughout several storms until we finally decided we needed to move her to my husband's parent's barn. That was a great decision and a great blessing, even though it wasn't extremely close to our house.

Every day we continued to bring her milk and water. We had introduced hay and grain to her several weeks earlier and also provided a water bucket for her to learn to drink from. Once we turned her Mama loose to go be with the other cows, our little calf didn't have anyone to imitate and she stopped drinking from the bucket. That was frustrating, however, after we moved her up to the barn, the other cows stopped by to visit her more often and she was able to watch them be cows.

It was at that time we realized that she was becoming too reliant on the sling and simply not trying. If we put the girth under her, but didn't hang her on the strap, she tried much harder and worked her legs much more in order to stay on her feet. We soon stopped putting her on the strap all together and within a few weeks, we began to take her out into a corral for her to graze. During this time frame, she actually began to get up on her own! Talk about rejoicing! We had worked for weeks for this accomplishment.

We noticed she had gotten into a feeding routine, wanting her milk bottle first, then nibbling on a bit of grain and I knew that if I wanted to take her off the bottle, I needed to get that switched over fast. Each morning, I would hide the milk bottle and offer her grain. At first she would only eat if from my hand, but after a few days, she began to eat it right out of her dish by herself. I was still hesitant to not give her any milk, but decreased it to only half a bottle each day. She began to put on so much weight, we could tell she was having trouble getting up. The sweet, kind lady at the feed store told me flatly "stop giving her the milk". So, I stopped. Of course I felt this was harsh, but necessary. It was the best thing I ever did. She now is simply grazing, drinking from her bucket and enjoying a bit of grain and hay.

Every day that goes by, we don't know if she will continue to improve, but so far....it has been worth our time for the experience and education alone.

Below is a video we took of her last week while she was still on the bottle and here are some pictures of her in the corral. You can still see where her wounds were, there are still a few little scabs healing, but see how big she is? And standing and walking on her own!!!

This video shows her walking ability at this point and a close up of what is left of her injury.

I am sure that I have left out several details and different steps of things we tried, attempts of things that have succeeded and failed. Please feel free to ask any questions whatsoever. Our hope is that this post will encourage others that are having calf problems like the posts we found online that encouraged us!

Fixing Crooked Toes on Poultry

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:25:00 +0000

Before I tell you how to fix crooked toes, I have to tell you our egg story.

We have one guinea. We have had only one guinea for a few years and she is the ugly duckling of the chicken coop, but she is the BEST when it comes to eating bugs and not destroying our garden.

Because of that fact, I decided to get some more guineas. The first place I looked was on the ever famous Craigslist. There were several for sale, but too far away to be worth making the drive. I then began to search for guinea eggs. We have hatched out many chickens and a few geese, so how hard could it be to hatch out guineas? My conclusion of this was my first mistake.

On Ebay I discovered that you can just about find any type of egg you are looking to hatch. Taking the necessary precautions regarding sellers on Ebay, I bid on a few auctions from one seller. I should add, what I thought were two auctions. The first auction I bid on was for a dozen eggs and I wanted a few more than that so I bid on another auction of a few dozen eggs. I went back to check the first auction I had bid on and noticed that my bid had not been confirmed so I placed my bid again. Everything seemed to be going great until I realized that all of the sellers auctions had the same picture on it. I then went to double check the auctions I had bid on and realized I had bid on three separate auctions which added up to about four dozen eggs. If you count the extra eggs the seller adds to cover any that break or simply to give you extra for extra's sake, I ended up with 60 eggs.

This all took place when the temps were over 100 here in the Ozarks and the seller lived in New Mexico. I didn't think too much about it, but I now believe it was a serious count against me.

We happily filled our incubator and gave the extra's to some friends for them to have to hatch out for themselves.

After waiting for the incubation period, we only had 5 hatch out and 1 didn't make it. Our friends hatched out 4 so that made 9 out of 60. We were very disappointed. The seller contacted us to ask how the hatch went. We told her what had happened and she was very surprised and immediately sent us another two dozen eggs for free. She was very nice and honest with us, telling us that most of the eggs she had sent that month hadn't hatched well. She had hoped for a better hatch rate for us with as many as we had. With the next shipping, she included a cool pack in the egg package.

We incubated two more dozen guinea eggs and so far, one has hatched. I still don't believe it has anything to do with the quality of eggs she has sent because we have had some incubator issues and are surprised that any have hatched this time.

Now, if you have made it through my whole guinea egg tale of woe, I'll explain about the crooked toes.

This one lone guinea keet hatched out with feet curled into little fists. We waited a few hours to see if they would uncurl, but they didn't. So I turned to the internet for ideas of what to do. We ended up with what you see pictured above by using:

A fabric band-aid

Scotch Tape

Scissors

Have someone hold the keet and gently straighten the toes while you peel off the paper from one sticky end of the band-aid. Stretch out the toes over the band-aid with sticky side up. This is tricky and takes some time. Next place a piece of scotch tape over the foot sticky side down. Then CAREFULLY trim any extra. The first time we trimmed it, we trimmed too much and the tape came off the top. My concern is that if there is too much extra, the keet will have trouble walking.

The trick of getting this to work is to do this the first or second day after hatching before the bones harden. Our little keet is standing beautifully and walking beautifully! I would highly recommend trying this method for crooked toes on your keets or chicks. If you have a gosling with crooked toes, you would need to use other bigger materials, but the same concept might work well too. I would think that you could cut a small piece of cardboard the size of the gosling's foot as the sole of the shoe and then use some form of tape to keep it on.

Here is the LINK to where I got the original idea from and there is other good information for fixing splayed legs. If you've had this kind of trouble and have a tried and true method, please leave a comment for everyone to learn from.

Sweet Pepper Salsa Relish

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:02:00 +0000

One of my dear friends introduced this basic recipe to me a few years back. She moved to the Ozarks from the great state of Texas and brought this recipe with her. From what I hear ... there is a nice restaurant down there that people rave about called the Blue Mesa Grill. They specialize in Southwestern cuisine. I'm not exactly sure how my friend got her hands on their Blue Mesa Jalapeno Relish recipe, but I'm telling you, it's absolutely scrumptious! You can eat it by itself, slather it on hamburgers or any sandwich you please. We eat it over meatloaf and roast too. If you sliced everything small enough, it would be great on crackers.

The fun thing about this recipe is that you can play around with it and modify it to your taste depending on how hot or mild your taste is. I will give you the original recipe as I received it, but also tell you how I tend to throw whatever I have in it. For the most part, I will use all kinds of different color sweet peppers from our garden, throw in some jalapeno and Anaheim peppers for some heat and maybe even a Habanero for good measure. The sweet syrup counters the heat and makes this stuff extremely addicting. If you don't like hot and spicy stuff, simply use sweet peppers. It is beautiful all jarred up and an extremely handy way to use up extra stuff from your garden.

The first few years I made this, I didn't have a food processor so I didn't make a whole big batch due to the work. Now I have a food processor, which makes it extremely easy to run through a huge batch quickly.

For the 10 pints pictured above, I filled my food processor with about 2 medium yellow onions and 8 medium sized carrots.

This batch, I sliced the carrots just like the onions. It seemed to take the carrots longer to cook down and get soft, so for the next batch, I shredded the carrots much smaller.

The pic is bit swirly, but you get the idea. For a large batch of 10 pints as pictured above, I double the syrup ingredients. So in this 8 qt. stockpot I put about 7 cups of sugar, 4 cups of apple cider vinegar, 2 Tbs of mustard seeds and 2 Tbs of dill seeds. Dissolve the sugar over medium heat and then add your peppers. I slice up enough peppers to almost fill my 8 qt. stockpot. This batch mainly consisted of red peppers with a few green ones since that was all I had ready. Last year I made a beautiful batch with red, green, yellow, orange and sweet chocolate peppers. It was eye popping for sure. Add as many colors as you want, you won't regret it!

WARNING: If you are like me, you'll want to add a variety of hot peppers too. BE CAREFUL! Use precaution when handling hot peppers, even the mildly hot ones like jalapenos can really burn your skin. Wear gloves at all times and do not touch your face or any skin period.

One year I got a bunch of what I thought were sweet banana peppers from a friend. After slicing them up for about 30 minutes, I realized they were NOT sweet banana peppers, but in fact, Anaheim peppers. My fingertips burned for a week and I never cut up peppers from that friend without gloves anymore. He obviously couldn't remember which plants were which! Moving on ........

Add the carrots and onions and cook down until soft about 25 to 30 minutes.

Jar up the goodness in sterilized jars. I leave 1/4" headspace and process for 15 minutes. If you look in your Ball Canning book, the instructions for canning peppers is to process in a pressure cooker for 35 minutes at 10 pounds, however, that recipe doesn't contain any sugar. In that same book, there is a recipe for Jalapeno Salsa which only requires a hot water bath for 15 minutes like this recipe. Since your canning process can be an extreme safety issue, please always double check processing methods given to you by anyone. If there is ever any doubt, check with the professional on my favorite canning blog Canning Homemade! She is the expert when it comes to safe processing methods.

Ok, as I promised, here is the original recipe as I received it:

BLUE MESA GRILL JALAPEÑO RELISH

3/4 lb jalapeño peppers (seeds & membranes removed)

1 med yellow onion - app. 8 oz

4 medium carrots

1 lg red bell pepper - stems & seeds removed

3 & a half C sugar

2 C apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs yellow mustard seeds

1 Tbs dill seeds

Clean & julienne cut all vegetables

Combine sugar & vinegar over medium heat

Add vegetables & bring to boil

Simmer 20-25 min. till thickens

Add spices & simmer 30-40 min

ENJOY!!

Amish Tomato Ketchup

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:31:00 +0000

I finally did it! Ketchup is something I've never done before, but over the winter, each time I had to buy ketchup, I cringed and vowed to make it for ourselves this year.

Our tomatoes are slowly rolling in, but I didn't have near enough to make ketchup with, so I headed to Amish country for the homegrown tomatoes I needed.

There are so many recipes out there and I couldn't decide which one to try. This recipe is an old Amish recipe from my Farmhouse cookbook. It states that it is a sweet ketchup, sweeter than store bought.

One of the reasons I chose this recipe is because there is no need to peel the tomatoes. We do easy here, and peeling tomatoes is not easy so it doesn't happen in our kitchen.

One word of caution though, it is a very thin sauce-like ketchup. It stated that clearly in my cookbook, and I can verify that it is. It is delicious, no doubt about it. After making it, I thought I'd ask one of my dear Amish friends about it. She told me next time to put some Clear Jel in it to thicken it up a bit, so feel free to add it to yours if you like yours thick like store bought.

So to start things off, peel and dice 2 medium onions. Trim and cut 6 ribs of celery into 1/4" thick slices. Put about 1/4 cup of water with the celery and onions in a medium-size saucepan over medium-high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are nearly soft, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook about 3 pounds of quartered tomatoes in a large heavy, non-reactive saucepan over medium heat, partially covered, until they are very soft and almost a puree, about 25 minutes.

Add the cooked celery and onions, and continue cooking until the vegetables are completely soft, about 15 minutes.

When every thing is good and soft, strain the tomato mixture in small batches through a sieve into another nonreactive saucepan.

Be sure to squeeze all the juice out of it. Pictured above is my scrap bowl. Looking at it makes me wonder if I should've just put the tomato mixture through the blender and pureed it. Maybe I'll try that next time.

Ok, back to the recipe...

Stir into your juice 5 Tablespoons of vinegar, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 Tablespoon each of allspice berries, whole cloves and celery seeds, 1 teaspoon of ground mace and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

If you're like me, I don't have ground mace on hand so I just used nutmeg instead.

Cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Keep boiling it for about 20 minutes, stirring every once in a while to keep it from sticking to the bottom. Scoop out the berries and cloves. Allow the ketchup to cool a bit and then ladle into jars.

You can cover and refrigerate for up to 2 months or ladle the boiling-hot ketchup into hot sterilized canning jars. Seal according to the lid manufacturer's instructions.

Amish Tomato Ketchup

6 ribs celery, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices

2 medium onions, peeled and dices (about 2 cups)

1/4 cup water

3 pounds tomatoes, quartered

5 Tablespoons vinegar

1 cup (packed) brown sugar

1/2 Tablespoon allspice berries

1/2 Tablespoon whole cloves

1/2 Tablespoon celery seeds

1 teaspoon ground mace

1/2 teaspoon salt

I doubled this recipe to get the 5 half pint jars you see in the top picture. The recipe states that it'll make 1 1/2 pints. Doubled it should've made 6 half pints, obviously it didn't, but I'm still thrilled to have it on the pantry shelf!

Have you made ketchup before and if you have, what's your favorite recipe?

Canning Corn on the Cob

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:09:00 +0000

In all fairness, I have to say that canning corn hasn't been the easiest thing I've canned, but it will be MORE than worth it when the wind is howling and the snow is falling this winter.

I hope I don't scare you off by saying that because it really isn't a big deal to do.

Tip #1 - First of all, make sure you know where the corn has come from. If you buy it from a roadside or farmers market stand beware. Be sure and know what type of corn it is. Corn is one of the biggest crops that has been genetically modified and you don't want to feed it to your family.

Tip #2 - If the ears of corn look incredibly perfect, walk away, it's been covered in chemical sprays, no matter what they tell you. When it's organic corn, you will see a worm every once in a while. That doesn't mean every ear will have worms, it just means that as you go shucking through a dozen ears, you might find a few worms. Usually it is on the tips of the ears which you can just cut off.

Tip #3 - Be sure to ask when the corn was picked, the fresher the better.

When you get home with your corn, find a good place to shuck it. This time around, I found an old empty box and shucked it inside the house due to the extreme heat outside. Usually, we gather the chairs around in a circle on the front porch and have a "corn shucking" frolic. Be sure to throw your scraps to the chickens, they LOVE scratching around in them.

Once the ears are shucked, wash them. Run your hand down the ears or get a small veggie brush to help remove extra silks that didn't get pulled off.

Cut the ends off if needed.

Gather your canning jars and make sure they are clean and sterile. Personally, I don't sterilize my jars when using the pressure canner. The jars have already been sterilized in the dishwasher and put away and the pressure canner will sterilize whatever is in there.

Using a cookie sheet to catch the kernels, stand your corn on its end and cut the kernels off.

The way I do it is called the Raw Pack process, check your canning book for the Hot Pack process.

Fill your jars with the kernels, leaving about 1" (inch) of headspace. Don't shake your jars to work the corn down and don't press it down either. Fill your jars loosely. Your corn will need the extra space as it cooks.

Add a teaspoon of salt per quart or 1/2 teaspoon per pint.

Pour boiling water over the kernels, leaving 1" (inch) headspace. Remove any air bubbles by running a knife around the inside edge of the jar.

Wipe the rims of the jars, making sure they are clean and put your lids on.

Corn has to be processed in a pressure canner. I process mine, using my steam pressure canner, according to my Ball Canning book which states 85 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure for quarts, 55 minutes for pints. That is a long time so you might want to add a bit of extra water to your pressure canner so it won't boil dry.

Be sure to involve the family, have fun with it and enjoy God's marvelous bounty!

Canning Peaches

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:36:00 +0000

It's finally peach season again! Beautiful, glorious peaches!

Last year, we had a huge shortage of peaches and we got very few put away in the freezer. This year, the Lord has blessed us beyond words with the amount of peaches there are available.

I'm not an expert on peaches, I didn't know one variety from the other until this season. Now I am very familiar with Redhavens and I can tell you that these are the best that I have ever worked with. They are extremely easy to peel and pit.

In the previous years, the easiest thing I found to preserve peaches was to peel and slice them and then plop them into freezer bags. Easy, right? Yes it is, however, since we are raising our own beef, or freezer space is extremely valuable and I've had a hankering (yes that's a word here in the Ozarks) to be able to open a jar of sweet peaches for dinner this winter.

So here's what I did. It's ALMOST as easy as the freezer method.

Peel, pit and slice your peaches into your clean quart jars. Fill your jars with peach slices about 2/3 of the way full. Add 1/3 cup of sugar to each jar. You may want it less sweet, but I went with 1/3 cup of sugar this year. Finishing filling your jars just to the shoulders with sliced peaches. Every once in a while, tap your jars on the counter gently to adjust the peaches on down. Then fill your jars with water about up to the neck of the jar. Wipe the rims and put on your lids. Process them in a hot water bath for about 20 minutes and your done! Disclaimer: The Ball Canning book states to cook them for 30 minutes. They tend to turn to mush if you do. Here is another article on canning PEACHES where I got this method from.

Here is my result, the picture isn't that great, but it'll give you the idea....

After you finish enjoying a jar of these peaches, be sure to save the juice/syrup for delicious smoothies!

If you find yourself with a large surplus of peaches that are beginning to get soft and you can't get to them right away, a dear friend of mine told me her method of saving them. Bag up the peaches and put them in the freezer. Later when you have time, let them thaw just a bit and rub off the peels. Then pit the peaches and put them in your blender. Puree them and pour them into ice cube trays to use for smoothies later! YUM!

For those of you who have been asking me where I've been, I apologize for being so scarce these days. Our area has had a terrible heat wave and drought. Between keeping everything watered and general work here on the homestead, I've barely had time to get on this electric box. Thankfully we've had a bit of rain this week. Prayers for rain in our area would be much appreciated!

Next in line for the season will be different recipes for canning and preserving tomatoes. They are just beginning to roll in, and I'll be sure to share those recipes with you too.

Until then, may you and your family be blessed and Happy Canning!

Also be sure to see how to can PEACH BUTTER and SPICED PEACH BUTTER!

June on the Homestead

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:27:00 +0000

I don't know about where you are, but it has been HOT here. Missouri hasn't seen 100° temps here in June since the 1950's. We start early in the morning getting everything soaked down, critters fed and fully supplied with cold, fresh water and then hightail it into the house before noon if possible. With temps like these though, the critters have to be checked on all afternoon to be sure none of them are suffering from the heat. Yesterday we even put fans on the chickens it was so bad, not sure what the humidity was, but it was high.

Here are some odds and ends of what we attended to this morning:

Grape Tomatoes

Cucumber and Green Bean Patch

(Straight Eight and Dasher Cucumbers and Strike Green Beans)

Jalapenos

Thai Peppers

(Cute little plants, but I'm not sure what to use them for)

Orange Bell Peppers

Tabasco Peppers

(Not quite sure what I'll do with these either)

Winter Onions

(Walking Onions)

Zucchini

(Planted late in hopes of missing the squash bug cycle)

Roma Tomato Patch

(Two dozen plants left to grow willy nilly)

Kale for juicing!

One can never have too many Hollyhocks...

Our mystery melon...

(Any produce last year that wasn't consumed or preserved went to the chickens. This spring I was delighted to find all kinds of mystery plants where our chicken tractor happened to be last fall.)

Big Beef Tomatoes

(Covered in Diatomaceous Earth for the Aphids)

This is your red flag. Here is a perfect example of what to look for before the leaves on your tomatoes begin to disappear. This is hornworm droppings. If you watch carefully, you can spot this on your leaves and remove the worms before they devour your plant in two days. Believe me, it doesn't take long at all! Once you spot this, get down on your knees and look at the underneath of the leaves just above the droppings. The big green worms should be easy to find!

See, there he is. He was on the leaf just above his droppings. (See the Aphids? Not as easy to get rid of as the worms.) Feed these big, juicy worms to your chickens and they will love you for life. Whatever you do, catch the worms early!

And last but not least, here is a fella that has never had his picture taken before:

This is our daughter's beloved rabbit, Pippen. Her grandfather and her constructed this handy dandy pen for him which includes a back and sides that can be closed up or let down depending on the weather. She absolutely fell in love with him at the pet store. They told her he was a dwarf bunny and she spent $30 of her own money on him. We soon discovered how clueless the local pet store people are when he grew into an almost full size rabbit that she could've gotten from our neighbors for $5. Lesson learned but either way, she loves him and that's what counts.

I hope you are managing to stay cool today! If you have any suggestions what I can do with those hot Thai peppers....please let me know!!

Canning Blackberries

noreply@blogger.com (Sharon) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 21:53:00 +0000

Having just barely gotten past our Blueberry season, the Blackberries are ripening! These pictured here are the thornless and tame blackberries that are famous for getting bigger than your thumb. We have gotten truly spoiled with this variety.

A few weeks back, even before blueberry season was over, a dear friend of ours called to invite us to pick his wild blackberries on his homestead. I've never seen so many wild blackberries! There must've been acres of them. You could pick all week and not be able to tell you picked at all! We did not hesitate to jump at the chance. They are delicious! I have to admit, they are more sweet than these tame ones pictured here. The only problem with the wild ones is that we braved the thorns and the ticks and the chiggers. For those of you in the northern territories, chiggers are nasty little critters that you will never forget if you get in a mess of them. They'll turn your ankle so raw before you ever know what bit ya!

Needless to say, after two trips to the wild blackberry patch to get the most tastiest blackberries I've ever eaten, three nasty tick bites and one round of antibiotics, I think we'll stick to the tame blackberries growing right here on our own homestead. However, I must say thank you to our dear friend who not only opened his fields to our family, but also fixed us an extremely delicious homegrown meal of grilled steak and chicken fajitas, before we braved the wilds.

My favorite thing to do with blackberries is to flash freeze them on a cookie sheet and then drop them into a labeled freezer bag for future smoothie use. While looking for new blackberry smoothies recipes, I came across some yummy sounding ones I thought I'd share with you.

Doesn't this one look delicious?? It is a Blackberry Banana Mint Smoothie from Eat Good 4 Life blog. We grow all kinds of mint and I'm always excited to find a new recipe that I can use the mint in. I'll be mixing this one up as soon as this post is finished.

Here is a simple but good Blackberry Banana Smoothie recipe from Taste of Home that only has 4 ingredients. What an easy breakfast!

Cooking the blackberries down for canning blackberry jam, they look a little more like raspberries than blackberries. Click the Blackberry Jam Recipe link for my EASY tried and true recipe that we make every year.

The recipe uses 7 quarts of blackberries. You may not want to make that much at one time, so just figure 1 cup of sugar for every quart of blackberries. You'll never go back to store bought jam!

Here is a little added bonus recipe, one that I found in searching for new canning recipes. It is called Maple-Brown Sugar-Bourbon-Blackberries. YUM!! Anything that uses brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and bourbon......count me in. I do not usually use alcohol unless marinating meat with red wine, but this sounds really good and the alcohol will cook off. You can find the complete recipe at Life Currents blog.

Now it's your turn! Tell me what your favorite thing to do with blackberries is! Leave me a link to your favorite post on blackberries.

Later this week we will be heading to another friend's orchard to pick peaches.....I can't wait! The thought of popping open a jar of fresh peaches at the dinner table this winter is pushing me to pick as many bushels as possible!

Happy Canning!