Oct 27, 2008

Welcome to My Kitchen-Me too

 

"WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN"


1. Do you have magnets on your fridge? 


Yes, holding up the childrens' school projects.
   
2. Do you have a calendar in your kitchen, if so, what's the 
    theme of it? 
   


Nope.


3. What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool? 
    My flour grinder.  It's a heavy duty monster and I think it could grind bricks.


4. Are you lucky enough to have a pantry of some kind? 


Yes.  We're in the process of building our new kitchen and my honey put a pantry in.  It's not done yet, but when it is , y'all will be green with envy.



5. What is your favorite appliance? 
     Maybe I should have put my flour grinder here.

   


6. Do you have an eat in kitchen (table in it)? 
     Yes.  We don't have a dining room.


7. Do you have a bread box? 
    Nope.  We don't have cupboards or counters in our kitchen yet, so I store our bread on a shelf next to the sink.


8. Do you have a picture of your kids on the fridge? 
     Pictures of other peoples' kids. Pictures of ours are hanging in the livingroom.


9. Do you ever cook breakfast in your PJs? 
    Occasionally on Saturday mornings when everyone is so hungry that they can't wait. 


10. Do you have a favorite cookbook that you use?
     I have a cookbook that I made that has all of my favorite recipes in it. 


11. Are you lucky enough to have recipes that were passed
     down from your mom or grandma? 
      Yep.  About five years ago, my aunt made cookbooks for some of us.  She put in recipes from my grandma, and a couple of aunts that have now gone on to glory.  It's a treasure.


12. Whats your favorite food? 
      I love fresh vegies and home made dip.  Also, a good pizza with lots of garlic and cheese. 
 
13. Whats your favorite thing to cook?
      Anything that my family enjoys. They love marinated chicken breasts on salad, anything Italian, pasties, and my son loves any soup that I make.   


14. Is your coffee pot electric or stove top? 
      It's electric.


15. Do you ever make your own bread? 
    Yep.  It's all my children will eat.  We ran out of bread yesterday and my dd bought yeast and said she'd have to make it, because I was busy.  I think she forgot, so guess what else I get to do today?


16. Name one thing that you have hanging on your wall  in
     your kitchen. 
      Well, it's not sheetrock.  We have insulation and plastic.


17. Is there a clock in your kitchen? 
      Yes.  One that was given to me by our old 4-H club for being a leader.  They were so nice.


18. Do you have a bowl of fruit sitting on your table or
     counter?
      Usually. Whatever fruit is in season, is what it holds.


19. What type of canisters do you have? 
      No counter, no canisters.


20. Does your kitchen have a theme? 
     Themed "Under Construction".
  
21. What's for supper tonight? 
      Fried summer squash w/onions and garlic, applesauce, leftover hash, and maybe pumpkin cake


22. Do you have enough cabinet space?
    No.   But someday we will have cabinets.


23. Does your family use paper plates? 
      No.


24. Do you have a good set of china picked up? 
      No.  But I've been collecting antique dishes with floral designs.  I really like them and they are a bit fancy.  I have a tendency to use our good china and good silverware for everyday.  I also like candles for every meal and a nice tablecloth.                  


25. Do you wear an apron to work in your kitchen? 
      Only when I haven't changed out of my church clothes.


26. Name one thing, if anything, that you would like to
     change about your kitchen. 
     I would have it all finished.  Walls up, cupboards in, windows in, counters in, floors in, OH YES!




Oct 22, 2008

A New Homestead Newspaper and other things

Yesterday the kitchen was warm and the smells great.  Don't you love when the kids come in and say "What smells so good?"  I canned applesauce, rose hip syrup, V-8 juice, cooked a couple of pumpkins, froze some and made 4 dozen muffins, made cabbage rolls from the V-8 juice.   Thank you Lord.  I didn't get the salsa done, but that can happen today, Lord willing.


The wood furnace is up and running!  I put the first fire in there last night.  The chemicals from the paint and from the new stove pipe had to burn off, a smell that wasn't so great, but it was warm.  I'm so thankful for this new stove.


Today it's out to the barn to clean some more and try to get the new goat pens done, haul some wood into the house and violin lessons in town.  Maybe some house cleaning and, of course, schooling.


There's a new homestead newspaper on line.  It's free and  if you'd like to check it out, the site is- http://www.freewebs.com/homesteadernews


Have a good and Godly day.


 


 P.S.  We picked up not one but two Angora bucks on  Saturday.  We'll have some nice kids come next spring, Lord willing.  Pictures later.

Oct 21, 2008

Oh yes we can, can

Can that is.  I just finished up two batches of rose hip syrup, that was supposed to be rose hip jelly.  Happens everytime I make it.  I think I need a new recipe.


I have V-8 juice simmering on the stove, soon to be sieved and put into jars and canned.  Then to finish off the apples and put some applesauce up.  Next up is the rest of the ripe tomatoes which will make about 8 quarts of salsa.  I have a couple of pumpkins in the oven and would like to get some pumpkin muffins made and some pumpkin pancakes.  When the V-8 juice is done, I'll use some to make some cabbage rolls to put in the slow cooker.  By that time my honey should be home and I get to drive tractor and bring hay bales home.  Someone please help my house! 


I love going down to the canning pantry and looking at the fruits of my labors.  I know you enjoy it too.  All the lovely colors and jars.  Canning is addicting, but it sure helps the grocery bill.


With all of that said, time to get off my duff and get that V-8 juice finished.


From Glory Farm

Oct 17, 2008

Rose Hip Jelly and An Angora Buck

Today we're going visiting.  We're going to pick rosehips at a friend's house.  I used to make rosehip jelly and tea and I'd pretty much forgotten that they even existed.  Very  high in vitamin C.


Rose Hip Jelly


4 cups rosehip juice


7 1/2 cups sugar


1 bottle liquid pectin


Remove blossom remnants and stems from rose hips.  Prepare rose hip juice by  placing crushed rose hips in a pan, cover with water and cook for 15 minutes or until soft, strain through cheesecloth.


Measure juice, stir in sugar.  Place on high heat, stirring constantly.  Bring to a full rolling boil.  Add the liquid pectin and heat to a full rolling boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute.  Remove from heat, skim off foam, pour jelly into hot containers and seal.  Rose hips should be picked after the first killing frost for the best flavor and jelling.  This jelly is a good source of vitamin C.



Tomorrow we're taking a road trip down south, near the cities, to  pick up an Angora buck.  We don't go this far very often.  To church is about as far as we usually travel these days.  This is a treat for us and I pray the Lord blesses our day and helps us to bless those that He puts in our path.  Lord willing we'll have Angora kids in the spring and have some to sell, fiber to sell, and a way to help our farm pay for itself.


Our two oldest girls are on a camping trip this weekend.  CCCCCold.  They went  up to the Boundary Waters.  It'll be a trip they remember, one way or another.


Have a marvelous weekend, all.

Oct 14, 2008

Treating livestock herbally

I found a wonderful site for treating livestock with herbal supplements.  At this farm, they deal mostly with sheep, but have info and links for other things as well.  There's an herbal deworming spreadsheet that helps put information in a more readable form.   http://www.reedbird.com/index.html


I hope you find this useful.


From Glory Farm

Oct 7, 2008

Pics-Harvest Festival and Plowing

These pics are from a couple of weeks ago.  Our town has a Fall Color Festival.  I only took a couple of pictures.  There are three rivers that converge in our town.  This is a shot from the bridge right downtown.  It was beautiful.



Our son also took part in the tractor pull.  He placed third (out of three ), but he did his best:



My honey plowed up a few acres on our north 20.  I think we're putting in oats and alfalfa next spring, and somehow want to get some wheat in. 



Here's a picture of the plowed field.  Isn't it lovely? 



I guess I sound like I'm boasting.  I just love this land and all that the Lord has blessed us with.  I want to be a good steward and use it for His glory.


From Glory Farm

Using the Harvest

 What are you getting from your garden?  We have harvested cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions,sunflowers, kale, pumpkins, apples and plums this fall.  With this harvest there are a number of things I make.


*


Homemade spaghetti sauce-tomatoes, garlic, onions, basil, thyme, sage, oregano, majarom, cayenne, savory from the garden


Homemade salsa-tomatoes, onions, cayenne from the garden


Cream of carrot soup


Tomato soup


Kale soup


Meatball stew-using carrots, potatoes, onions and beans from the garden


Scalloped hotdish-carrots, onions, potatoes


Speedy boiled dinner-cabbage, potatoes and carrots


Cabbage rolls-cabbage, tomatoes


Runzas-Ask for the recipe on this one.  These are delicious,  cabbage and onions


French Fries


Onion Rings-love these


Coleslaw


Applesauce, apple pie, baked apples, fresh plums, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes


These are just a few ideas.  What do you make with your fresh harvest?


You know, even with stretching our grocery money, I'm still spending about $100 a week on groceries.  There are six of us, and I can't think of how to save any more than I am.  Any suggestions?




 


Oct 2, 2008

Garlic Works Wonders

Fixed the fence yesterday, got all of the critters back in their respective pastures and what do you think I see out the kitchen window this morning??????Cows in the horse pasture?  Good guess and you'd be right.  I can't figure out why our fence isn't charging.  Lord give me patience.


*


It may be time to start up the furnace.  We're having freezing temps at night and the house gets down to 60 at night.  No wonder everyone heads for a hot shower first thing in the morning.


*


Well, the headcold is still in the house.  Ds and I both ate a bunch of garlic yesterday and I believe that's why we both feel so much better today.  (and why no one gets close to us.)It usually works very well.  Dd is still feeling poorly and is next for the bathtub.  She doesn't want the garlic unless I mix it in with chicken noodle soup.  That's doable.


*


Time to get my wool socks on and get the chores done. 


Have a good and Godly day.


From Glory Farm

Oct 1, 2008

Being Flexible-It's Just Not Me

It's  starting to be one of those days.  The two yougers are sick with a decent headcold and I think I feel their pain.  Or at least I'm starting to.  This means I get to do chores alone and I was just informed that we have donkeys and cows in the horse pasture.  This doesn't look good.  Morning plans out the window and walking fenceline, repairing and herding the animals back to their respective paddocks is on my list. 


Sun is out, birds are singing, it's a nice day for a walk!


Write more later.

Oct 27, 2008

Welcome to My Kitchen-Me too

 

"WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN"


1. Do you have magnets on your fridge? 


Yes, holding up the childrens' school projects.
   
2. Do you have a calendar in your kitchen, if so, what's the 
    theme of it? 
   


Nope.


3. What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool? 
    My flour grinder.  It's a heavy duty monster and I think it could grind bricks.


4. Are you lucky enough to have a pantry of some kind? 


Yes.  We're in the process of building our new kitchen and my honey put a pantry in.  It's not done yet, but when it is , y'all will be green with envy.



5. What is your favorite appliance? 
     Maybe I should have put my flour grinder here.

   


6. Do you have an eat in kitchen (table in it)? 
     Yes.  We don't have a dining room.


7. Do you have a bread box? 
    Nope.  We don't have cupboards or counters in our kitchen yet, so I store our bread on a shelf next to the sink.


8. Do you have a picture of your kids on the fridge? 
     Pictures of other peoples' kids. Pictures of ours are hanging in the livingroom.


9. Do you ever cook breakfast in your PJs? 
    Occasionally on Saturday mornings when everyone is so hungry that they can't wait. 


10. Do you have a favorite cookbook that you use?
     I have a cookbook that I made that has all of my favorite recipes in it. 


11. Are you lucky enough to have recipes that were passed
     down from your mom or grandma? 
      Yep.  About five years ago, my aunt made cookbooks for some of us.  She put in recipes from my grandma, and a couple of aunts that have now gone on to glory.  It's a treasure.


12. Whats your favorite food? 
      I love fresh vegies and home made dip.  Also, a good pizza with lots of garlic and cheese. 
 
13. Whats your favorite thing to cook?
      Anything that my family enjoys. They love marinated chicken breasts on salad, anything Italian, pasties, and my son loves any soup that I make.   


14. Is your coffee pot electric or stove top? 
      It's electric.


15. Do you ever make your own bread? 
    Yep.  It's all my children will eat.  We ran out of bread yesterday and my dd bought yeast and said she'd have to make it, because I was busy.  I think she forgot, so guess what else I get to do today?


16. Name one thing that you have hanging on your wall  in
     your kitchen. 
      Well, it's not sheetrock.  We have insulation and plastic.


17. Is there a clock in your kitchen? 
      Yes.  One that was given to me by our old 4-H club for being a leader.  They were so nice.


18. Do you have a bowl of fruit sitting on your table or
     counter?
      Usually. Whatever fruit is in season, is what it holds.


19. What type of canisters do you have? 
      No counter, no canisters.


20. Does your kitchen have a theme? 
     Themed "Under Construction".
  
21. What's for supper tonight? 
      Fried summer squash w/onions and garlic, applesauce, leftover hash, and maybe pumpkin cake


22. Do you have enough cabinet space?
    No.   But someday we will have cabinets.


23. Does your family use paper plates? 
      No.


24. Do you have a good set of china picked up? 
      No.  But I've been collecting antique dishes with floral designs.  I really like them and they are a bit fancy.  I have a tendency to use our good china and good silverware for everyday.  I also like candles for every meal and a nice tablecloth.                  


25. Do you wear an apron to work in your kitchen? 
      Only when I haven't changed out of my church clothes.


26. Name one thing, if anything, that you would like to
     change about your kitchen. 
     I would have it all finished.  Walls up, cupboards in, windows in, counters in, floors in, OH YES!




Oct 22, 2008

A New Homestead Newspaper and other things

Yesterday the kitchen was warm and the smells great.  Don't you love when the kids come in and say "What smells so good?"  I canned applesauce, rose hip syrup, V-8 juice, cooked a couple of pumpkins, froze some and made 4 dozen muffins, made cabbage rolls from the V-8 juice.   Thank you Lord.  I didn't get the salsa done, but that can happen today, Lord willing.


The wood furnace is up and running!  I put the first fire in there last night.  The chemicals from the paint and from the new stove pipe had to burn off, a smell that wasn't so great, but it was warm.  I'm so thankful for this new stove.


Today it's out to the barn to clean some more and try to get the new goat pens done, haul some wood into the house and violin lessons in town.  Maybe some house cleaning and, of course, schooling.


There's a new homestead newspaper on line.  It's free and  if you'd like to check it out, the site is- http://www.freewebs.com/homesteadernews


Have a good and Godly day.


 


 P.S.  We picked up not one but two Angora bucks on  Saturday.  We'll have some nice kids come next spring, Lord willing.  Pictures later.

Oct 21, 2008

Oh yes we can, can

Can that is.  I just finished up two batches of rose hip syrup, that was supposed to be rose hip jelly.  Happens everytime I make it.  I think I need a new recipe.


I have V-8 juice simmering on the stove, soon to be sieved and put into jars and canned.  Then to finish off the apples and put some applesauce up.  Next up is the rest of the ripe tomatoes which will make about 8 quarts of salsa.  I have a couple of pumpkins in the oven and would like to get some pumpkin muffins made and some pumpkin pancakes.  When the V-8 juice is done, I'll use some to make some cabbage rolls to put in the slow cooker.  By that time my honey should be home and I get to drive tractor and bring hay bales home.  Someone please help my house! 


I love going down to the canning pantry and looking at the fruits of my labors.  I know you enjoy it too.  All the lovely colors and jars.  Canning is addicting, but it sure helps the grocery bill.


With all of that said, time to get off my duff and get that V-8 juice finished.


From Glory Farm

Oct 17, 2008

Rose Hip Jelly and An Angora Buck

Today we're going visiting.  We're going to pick rosehips at a friend's house.  I used to make rosehip jelly and tea and I'd pretty much forgotten that they even existed.  Very  high in vitamin C.


Rose Hip Jelly


4 cups rosehip juice


7 1/2 cups sugar


1 bottle liquid pectin


Remove blossom remnants and stems from rose hips.  Prepare rose hip juice by  placing crushed rose hips in a pan, cover with water and cook for 15 minutes or until soft, strain through cheesecloth.


Measure juice, stir in sugar.  Place on high heat, stirring constantly.  Bring to a full rolling boil.  Add the liquid pectin and heat to a full rolling boil.  Boil hard for 1 minute.  Remove from heat, skim off foam, pour jelly into hot containers and seal.  Rose hips should be picked after the first killing frost for the best flavor and jelling.  This jelly is a good source of vitamin C.



Tomorrow we're taking a road trip down south, near the cities, to  pick up an Angora buck.  We don't go this far very often.  To church is about as far as we usually travel these days.  This is a treat for us and I pray the Lord blesses our day and helps us to bless those that He puts in our path.  Lord willing we'll have Angora kids in the spring and have some to sell, fiber to sell, and a way to help our farm pay for itself.


Our two oldest girls are on a camping trip this weekend.  CCCCCold.  They went  up to the Boundary Waters.  It'll be a trip they remember, one way or another.


Have a marvelous weekend, all.

Oct 14, 2008

Treating livestock herbally

I found a wonderful site for treating livestock with herbal supplements.  At this farm, they deal mostly with sheep, but have info and links for other things as well.  There's an herbal deworming spreadsheet that helps put information in a more readable form.   http://www.reedbird.com/index.html


I hope you find this useful.


From Glory Farm

Oct 7, 2008

Pics-Harvest Festival and Plowing

These pics are from a couple of weeks ago.  Our town has a Fall Color Festival.  I only took a couple of pictures.  There are three rivers that converge in our town.  This is a shot from the bridge right downtown.  It was beautiful.



Our son also took part in the tractor pull.  He placed third (out of three ), but he did his best:



My honey plowed up a few acres on our north 20.  I think we're putting in oats and alfalfa next spring, and somehow want to get some wheat in. 



Here's a picture of the plowed field.  Isn't it lovely? 



I guess I sound like I'm boasting.  I just love this land and all that the Lord has blessed us with.  I want to be a good steward and use it for His glory.


From Glory Farm

Using the Harvest

 What are you getting from your garden?  We have harvested cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions,sunflowers, kale, pumpkins, apples and plums this fall.  With this harvest there are a number of things I make.


*


Homemade spaghetti sauce-tomatoes, garlic, onions, basil, thyme, sage, oregano, majarom, cayenne, savory from the garden


Homemade salsa-tomatoes, onions, cayenne from the garden


Cream of carrot soup


Tomato soup


Kale soup


Meatball stew-using carrots, potatoes, onions and beans from the garden


Scalloped hotdish-carrots, onions, potatoes


Speedy boiled dinner-cabbage, potatoes and carrots


Cabbage rolls-cabbage, tomatoes


Runzas-Ask for the recipe on this one.  These are delicious,  cabbage and onions


French Fries


Onion Rings-love these


Coleslaw


Applesauce, apple pie, baked apples, fresh plums, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes


These are just a few ideas.  What do you make with your fresh harvest?


You know, even with stretching our grocery money, I'm still spending about $100 a week on groceries.  There are six of us, and I can't think of how to save any more than I am.  Any suggestions?




 


Oct 2, 2008

Garlic Works Wonders

Fixed the fence yesterday, got all of the critters back in their respective pastures and what do you think I see out the kitchen window this morning??????Cows in the horse pasture?  Good guess and you'd be right.  I can't figure out why our fence isn't charging.  Lord give me patience.


*


It may be time to start up the furnace.  We're having freezing temps at night and the house gets down to 60 at night.  No wonder everyone heads for a hot shower first thing in the morning.


*


Well, the headcold is still in the house.  Ds and I both ate a bunch of garlic yesterday and I believe that's why we both feel so much better today.  (and why no one gets close to us.)It usually works very well.  Dd is still feeling poorly and is next for the bathtub.  She doesn't want the garlic unless I mix it in with chicken noodle soup.  That's doable.


*


Time to get my wool socks on and get the chores done. 


Have a good and Godly day.


From Glory Farm

Oct 1, 2008

Being Flexible-It's Just Not Me

It's  starting to be one of those days.  The two yougers are sick with a decent headcold and I think I feel their pain.  Or at least I'm starting to.  This means I get to do chores alone and I was just informed that we have donkeys and cows in the horse pasture.  This doesn't look good.  Morning plans out the window and walking fenceline, repairing and herding the animals back to their respective paddocks is on my list. 


Sun is out, birds are singing, it's a nice day for a walk!


Write more later.