Homestead Happenings

The title should be "what's not happening" ha ha!  Hubby is still working 12 hour shifts.  I see him for about 2 hours from when he wakes up to when he returns to work.  Yesterday, I woke up early (surprisingly) and noticed he wasn't home.

I texted that I was a bit worried.  He texted back "working till 10."  I texted, "can they do that?!"  That would be a 16 hour shift, and he has a one hour drive home.  Let's just say I was wide awake at that point.


In the meantime.

I have put 6 cups of shredded zucchini in the freezer.  It's not a lot sadly.  We need rain.  I can water with well water and some with rain barrels, but a good soaking is so very badly needed.  I put up about 2 more pounds of green beans too.

In order to function, including shred on the grater, I had to cut these bad boys down.  They were getting in the way of getting work done.  I have one daughter that wanted to paint them one time before I cut them, but I had to cut them.  She is our "nail tech" in training.  I could not do anything with them that long.  It's sort of a bad photo, but typing on the keyboard was a challenge.

I made my first broad leaf, plantain poultice.  I had a splinter that I removed, but the next day it looked puffed up and infected.  I put this on it, to draw out the infection.  I noticed that plantain is somewhat stringy.   Today, it still looks a bit raised.  I will try elder leaf next and see if that works better for drawing out infection.

I stocked up a few bowls of homemade condensed cheese soups.  I use them in our baked macaroni and cheese recipe.  As you can see all the ingredients are organic, including the flour.   I watch for the cheese and butter to go on sale (or clearance) and put them in the freezer until I have all the ingredients.  I do miss our goat's milk, but I don't miss the work.  Some day I'll get my routine back to that.
 

I tried a new recipe.  I was shocked I had time, but I multi-tasked.  While it baked, I worked on other things, like pay bills and stock up for winter.  I am starting to work out the older freezer storage, while making room for the new.  I only had two bags of shredded zucchini, but thawed one for a this bread.

I made King Flour's recipe for Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread.  I immediately cut several pieces to save for Hubby, as I knew one loaf of this would be gone instantly.  The kids devoured it.  It is made with honey and not white sugar.  

Hubby liked it, but is still hooked on zucchini muffins that we make with homemade baking mix.  You can find both recipes at Lazy J Bar C blogspot.   

It's going to be a hot one today, so I best get back outside before the heat drives me back inside again.  I have more green beans to pick. 

Oh, if I haven't shared this yet, the goats are just now starting to eat scraps. Not much, but they love the pea pods, and other goodies.  Daughter (Vet Tech-in-training) gave them a few slices of watermelon.  They loved it!