Fire Cider and Numerous Other Things

I think this is one of those things that everyone knows about and I'm a bit behind the times.  I'd never heard of Fire Cider until a friend mentioned it in an email as if I should already know about it.

I looked it up, got a recipe and made a batch yesterday.  I found a recipe at http://mountainroseblog.com/fire-cider/ .

This is supposed to boost your immune system.  It has to set for a month before I can use it, but I'm thinking it might also work for our livestock.  I currently buy a natural immune booster for them.

Since I was on a healthy kick, I started more wheatgrass.

This is a sprouter that I bought over 20 years ago and used it for the first time a couple of months ago.  The wheatgrass tastes great and it's good for us and our cats and our chickens.

I might as well throw everything into this post.  My honey just asked if I'd blogged about his new toy.  So here's a picture.

You can't see it, but there's a grapple hook on the loader and we can haul two large round bales at a time.  Best thing?  The cab is enclosed with a HEATER!!!

Last, but not least, we had a surprise last week...

Praise God, the weather has been warm.  This guy is from a cow we bought last spring and I guess she was exposed to the bull a bit earlier than we thought.  I named the calf Surprise.  He's healthy and jumping around like he should.

Time for a late breakfast.  This is turning into a lazy relaxing day.

Growing Winter Greens

Another sustainable food source experiment. I've wondered how to keep greens available during the winter months if, for some reason, we were unable to purchase them. We live where -40 is a temperature we see a few times in the winter. Somewhere I read (could have been at Herrick Kimball's site http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/) or I may have picked up some book I have, anyways, way back early homesteaders would dig up turnips, put them in pots and bring them in the house for the winter. The greens would grow and they would harvest them, then they would grow again. I decided to try it with beets.

I only have one, but it's growing quickly and I've been nibbling on it. I suppose if I were serious about it, I would have five or six in the house. Another source of fresh greens are sprouts. Use whole wheat, alfalfa, radish, onion, lentils, etc. Place in a quart jar, soak in the jar for 5-10 hours or so. Rinse, put cheesecloth, held in place by a canning rim, on the top of the jar. Place at a downward angle for drainage. Rinse sprouts 2-4 times a day. Once sprouted, they are full of vitamins. This is a good way to use up extra seed you may have harvested. God Bless.