Brrrr! ~ Chicken Coop Repair ~ Carrots

To all of you who read through yesterday's long post, thank you for your dedication and patience to read through it.  Today's post will be much shorter.

It's was gonna be a cold night last night (second freeze warning), so I trudged out to the barn and brought in more wood.  Hubby is already starting to show the signs of sleep deprivation and exhaustion.  He's a grouch.  He apologized, but he'll need a lot of rest after this long work week.  

It was a chilly 30°F this morning, and the wood stove was going strong.  In October.  So odd.

The coop got a good cleaning, and I stuffed the roost with extra straw.  I had to wait a bit for the temperature to rise, but it was still cold out there.  The ladies and gent will want the warmth in this cooler weather. 

I had to fix their coop ladder too, and as I fixed it I noticed a hole chewed through the chicken wire.   It's between the main coop and the emergency smaller coop (door is shut on it, so it must have a hole in the ceiling of the loft inside).  I haven't gotten eggs for about 5 days now, so do you all think this could be work of a rat?  Possibly living up in the loft?  Hubby and I set traps and fixed the hole.  I'm pretty sure it's a rat.  Just one more thing to deal with right now. First time for this to happen in 10 years.  We have plans to build a new coop, but we have a lot on the "board" right now. 

Carrots were blanched and put into the freezer.  I had to buy them this year, but I have a good start at a winter supply.  I got 5 lbs. put up so far - about 5 meals.

I replaced the smoke alarm batteries.

Feeling a bit off, but thankfully not "sick" Hubby and I have opened a jar of our Four Thieves Vinegar and taken it for the last few days.  I am also sipping fresh ginger tea.  I know we both need rest so I took the rest of the day off.   Tuesday was a check it off task-type day (long day).  I wish I could say the same for Hubby, with the case of a day of rest.

Tomatoes ~ Garlic ~ Plantain

Hubby and I were sipping coffee at 5am on the porch Friday morning (won't be many more mornings to do this), and the radio had garden talk and advice going on.  They gave advice on whether to pick your tomatoes and bring them in to ripen or have a tomato fight.   If you pick green tomatoes when it's in the 70's, they will ripen in two weeks.  If you pick them in the 50's, it will take 4 weeks. 

I decided to get out there and pick them all.  We had a frost warning, and after that they won't be any good.  The ladies and Stud Muffin Sparta had a hay day helping clean up too.

As for the garlic, it depended on the weather at 4:30pm when Hubby got home.  Rain was in the forecast.  We managed to toss down some peat moss, and get the garlic bed tilled just before rain arrived.  

Once the parsley left the dehydrator, plantain went in.  I'm hearing more people are getting bitten by spiders this year, and requiring doctor care.  It's also good to have on hand for a medicinal tea as well as a tincture.  It's good for colds, flu, bladder issues, bronchitis, etc.  You can also eat plantain for it's nutrition (calcium, vitamin K, A, C, and B-6, and more), but I have yet to try it.  I'm wondering if I should blanch some for winter?  I guess it depends on time, if we get a frost and so forth.  I'll be adding plantain to soups this winter as well.  It is highly nutritious.

It was perfect weather one day to get back to this job - removing nails, sawing them up, and stacking them for kindling.  We already have some cut and stacked.  

Got two quarts of pickled hot banana peppers made.

Current dishcloth on the knitting needles.

Saturday morning we woke up to a chilly 39° (felt like 34°F).  Due to the rain, no mowing could be done, nor gardening, but we still had a list.  First, work on our daughter's car, second pick more plantain if we didn't get a frost, fold laundry, run to the library, prepare more winter kindling, dog proof the house, clean bathrooms....and on and on.

Sunday the weather was a bit nicer.  We gained two dogs - Mia and Jesse.  Not sure how long we'll have Jesse, but it could be until June of next year.  Sunday morning Hubby helped me plant all the garlic.  Woot woot!  So happy to get it in the ground.  More mowing was done.  

It rained last night, so I was even happier not to have to water the garlic.  So happy that the sweet potatoes are still getting time to grow too.

It's too wet to work out in the garden today, but I have much to do inside as well.  I'm hoping for a good laundry drying day outside as the rain clears up.

Youngest got me with the plastic rat.  She stuck it in the cupboard and I opened it to get a glass.  Ha.  I'll have to find somewhere to hide it and get her now.  

Preparing for flu season ~ Preserving Lemon and Lime Juice

I highly prefer freshly squeezed lemon juice in my homemade remedies etc.  To prepare for winter here is what I do to preserve real lemon juice.

I do not have a juicer, which now I'm wondering if I should buy one.

I used my hand lemon squeezer, but either will work to juice fresh, organic lemons.

Pour juice into a clean, empty ice cube tray and freeze until solid.  Each cube (in my tray) holds 1-1/2 Tbsp. of lemon juice.

Remove cubes and place in a freezer container or freezer bag, label and place back into your freezer.

There you have it - real lemon juice on hand all the time.

...and of course I didn't waste the zest.  It went into the freezer as well, as these were organic lemons.

I use freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice in my homemade ginger-ale, so I froze lime juice too.

My goal has always been to purchase a Meyer lemon tree and grow my own, but that'll only happen when I have an extra $50.00.  That is how much they cost here.  Of course you can purchase organic bottled juices as well.  I have used them as a back up plan, to make homemade ginger-ale.

Dinky Green Bell Peppers

Our green pepper plants we started from heirloom, organic seed, are producing.  However, they are not tall enough, and as you can see, the peppers are half or less the size they should be.  I only saw these and a few more out there.  It sure doesn't help me start the day in a happy, motivated, upbeat, peachy-keen attitude.

I can't weed very much due to the ground being so wet yet, but I managed to pull all the thistle from my front flower beds.  I was contemplating what to do, with nothing to harvest, nothing that could be easily weeded etc. 

A few balls of pizza dough made it to the freezer, but that was about it.  I am out of everything all at once it seems.

I have had a few very nice tea breaks on the porch with this cooler weather.  I'm still working on the crocheted lapghans, but I can only handle sitting idle for so long.  I decided to head to the garage and at least try to clean up some stuff.

Corn Relish Skillet Corn Bread ~ Extreme Clean Continues

I love our home canned corn relish. It's great on fish, meat, and one daughter (vegetarian), love it with her mashed potatoes when she lived at home.

I drained some and added it to basic corn bread.  It was delicious.  Next time I'm going to try this with einkorn flour. 

Recipe:
1 stick of organic butter, 2 Tbsp. divided (see note below)
1 1/2 cups einkorn whole grain flour
3/4 c. organic cornmeal
1 Tbsp. non-gmo baking powder
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 farm fresh eggs, beaten
1 1/4 c. organic milk
1 1/2 c. home canned corn relish, drained well

Mix dry ingredients.  Mix wet (melt butter) and add to dry.  Heat your 10 or 12 inch cast iron skillet with the 2 Tbsp of butter (note: I used organic non-gmo olive oil and it worked great).  Bake in a pre-heated oven at 425°F.  Depending on the size of you skillet, bake 20 to 35 minutes.  Check center, if needed, using a wooden toothpick.  Cool a few minutes before serving.

Corn Relish - I use the Ball Canning recipe found: Here

If you are a regular follower, you know that I've attempted to extreme clean my bedroom closet, utility room and garage for 4 years now.  Every time I clean it up, the kids put things everywhere, and it's right back to a big total mess of chaos.

Finally, finally, I have my bedroom closet about 89% of the way purged.  Hubby has to go through some clothing, and I have to get busy on some unfinished crochet/knitting projects - too many bags in there of those buggers.  Oh it is looking so nice too.  I'm super excited to get started on the garage and utility room now too.

I have found a home for 2 softball helmets and my oldest daughter is coming over soon to take some school supplies I'm purging.  Just too much stuff now that the kids are all moved out (but one, and I can actually keep things organized and clean). 

On top of that I managed to re-stock the comfrey poultices.  I have a nasty bruise on my knee and needed one anyway.

Found this little article in while purging.  

Thought I would share. Now go wash your kitchen dishcloth - 4 billion living germs??!!

Preparedness ~ Weeding and no rain

I drained another jar of 4 thieves vinegar.  It lasts a year in the fridge, so if I have the ingredients I'm making another jar during this hot, hot summer.  It's a blessing to have during winter when sickness runs rampant, and with one still in school, germs are a plenty.

Un-burying the herb has started.  I'm about to mow down the carrots though.

Upon pulling the tall weeds in the end of the herb garden, I noticed my green onions were killed off for the first time in all the years I had them.

I have about 4-5 left, so this was a sad moment.  That end used to be packed with so many green onions, I'd have to pull some bulbs every two years.  The parsley is dry as a bone and the dirt is like concrete there too.

Spent yesterday morning in the potatoes, and more to weed.  They look terrible. It's very iffy at this point if we'll get much of anything.  The potatoes will most likely have a post of their own soon.  What a mess.

We seriously lack rain.  The grass is bone dry, and even the plantain is starting to die off.  However, we are hearing that the rain is returning possibly late tomorrow and all through the weekend.   My goal is to weed out all the potatoes before it arrives, and hope for the best.

Yesterday, I was down right exhausted, so I made a cup of hot tea using part gingko and part nettle, to restore my energy.  It worked too.  I could actually breath better too.

Reality

It's either too hot or too wet, and this is our reality.  This is a small side of the front porch flower bed.  I have trees growing in it, ha ha ha ha!
  

The mailbox flower bed.  Trees are growing there too, ha ha!

If you look close enough, you'll see my roses in that weed field next to the house, and in front of that, across the sidewalk my weed packed herb garden.  I wasn't kidding when I said the weeds were so tall, I could see them out my windows.

Another view of the herb garden.  Even the grass can't be caught up with, nor the trimming.  You should see my vegetable garden.  It looks like we are growing hay out here.

On a good note.  I tried something new this year.  I took 5 geraniums inside over winter, and 3 survived.  Check out this one. . .

The plants I kept out in the living room, near the wood stove over winter, did the best.  Sure saved money on buying annuals.

This my friends is a row of beets.  A very long row, and that is a row of carrots to the left and the horribly looking peas to the right.

Two and a half hours later, I found the beets.  Some are looking really good, while others are a bit small.  I didn't finish the row in that photo either.  

The tomatoes have been resurrected, but are pretty small.  The cut grass has fried up in the sun and sort of made a mulch for them though.

My carrot row.  It's about 40-some feet long.  

After a few feet of weeding, I had to stop and water it.  There was no way the weed were coming out in that dried up dirt.
So yeah, the reality of gardening this year hit our homestead hard.  So hard, there is no way to keep up with it all.  The garlic needs pulled, and everything needs weeded out.  Well, the garlic isn't coming up until we get rain next.

Somewhere in there are 4 rows of green beans that go all the way to the left.  Yeah, I'm about to mow it all down and just buy it this year.  

Just like all the rest of the garden - half didn't make it, some are nice and big with blossoms, and some are dinky.  Some simply fell over after I pulled the weeds.

Here is all that wood from my younger brother.  It was not all unloaded when I took those photos either.  It's stacked 6 feet tall in the first photo too, and I'm starting a second row.  

Pre-Weekend Update ~ Finished

The weeding continues daily.  I have to make decisions on which is more important, and sooooo mucchhhhhh needs weeded.  It's a battle of water one day, weed the next, because it's been getting fried here on a constant basis.   

If you've ever weeded carrots, you feel my pain.  Pictures to come soon.

Storing Sweet Potatoes without a Root Cellar/Basement

I have found several ways to store up my sweet potatoes this winter.  Aside from the potato bin indoors, and the burlap bags in another cool/dark room, I am stocking them up in other recipes.

Ginger-Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Butter.

This is a Better Homes and Gardens canning recipe, but it is not boil canned. It goes in the freezer.  Recipe is not online, but is in their magazine (Canning, preserving, freezing and drying) and book I believe.

Frozen Mashed Sweet Potatoes.  I had been told by so many people "you can't freeze potatoes."  I beg to differ.  You can, but you bake and mash them first.  I add nothing to them.

I have been very successful with this process (this works well with white potatoes as well).  I bake the sweet potatoes, mash them, and freeze them on a baking sheet in 1/2 cup servings.  I take them out, and place them in container or freezer bags and simply heat in the oven when needed for meals.  I used foil the last time to line my sheets and the foil stuck to the potatoes.  I used parchment paper this year, and it worked perfect.

Aside from enjoying these with a meal, I can also thaw them to use for sweet potato breads, muffins, and even brownies.

Also, freeze the white mashed potatoes (or red), in 1/2 cup servings.  I utilize this for making rolls too vs. using "potato flakes" in the recipe I use.

You can always dehydrate sweet potatoes as well.  This will be my first year and test tasting them this way.  I have dehydrated (and canned) white potatoes in the past, but the texture after dehydrating is not the best tasting.

And for the first time, I will wrap a few up in newspaper and attempt at growing my own slips without a root cellar/basement.  I'll be storing them in the refrigerator or in a burlap bag of their own.   According to my research, the larger the sweet potato, the longer it will keep in a cool/dark location.


As for storing white/red potatoes?  Canning (pressure canning) has been the best option for me, along with freezing them mashed in single servings.  The taste is much better than dehydrating. 

You can pressure can sweet potatoes too, but I have yet to purchase a pressure canner. I borrowed one to can the white potatoes (to give it a try and check out one of the brands).

You can read my post on our experience canning the white potatoes: here.

Pumpkins ~ Prepardedness (a slight start) ~ Pranks!

I had a bit of a delayed start in my day at home yesterday.  I had another follow up at the new doctor.  

Grad daughter drove me, so my leg wouldn't be stressed.  I took along a book I'm trying to finish (that I found tucked away in my night stand).  I'm still reading my fiction book too.

The news?

Spider bite is healing, leg swelling is going down - doctor is very happy.  I don't have to go back for 2 more weeks, but I will be taking up stock with the company who manufacturers gauze and roll gauze (ha ha ha!).  I can exercise too, but have to start slow.  Woo hoo!  On the road to recovery!!

I ended up home after lunch time, and well, it left me with the question what to tackle next.  Oh, I have a funny to share (not so funny to me, but to a kid of mine)

I have more tomatoes, but I cannot can sauce related items late in the day, or I'll be up all night long.

I decided to roast all 6 pie pumpkins I recently brought in.  Most people who go through the lengths of cutting these, removing seeds, roasting them and pureeing them, go right back to buying Libby's canned pumpkin. 

Keeping Track - Prepardness

As we enter into a new year, a new gardening season, and a new stock-it-up season, I am tracking more.

It's not to late to start (I told myself).  We ran out of items over this winter, and I want to be better at that.  So, in my own planner, in which I keep track of bill payment dates and such, I am now writing down what we use.

Every time I open a package of paper towels (writing down the number in the pkg.), Kleenex, peanut butter, softener salt (always running out), dog food, cat food, coffee (oh, we drink a lot of this), I will write it in my calendar.  At the onset of next winter, I will have a better idea of how much we use, and what to pre-stock before the snow starts falling.

First Snow ~ Winter Work

It's not hard to believe, in our state anyway, that were were out on the motorcycle on Friday, with a high of 73°F.  Saturday, we woke up to very cold temperatures and had flurries all day long.  I honestly thought we'd wake up to a good amount on the ground, but....
 

...this is what it amounted to this morning.  Sorry for the blurry photo.  It's cold out there and I snapped it pretty quickly.  

I almost didn't think I would get up to blog today either.  I fought a migraine all night long, and my lavender freezer pack was not re-freezing fast enough.  I am pretty sure I kept Hubby up all night fetching it, etc. and so here I am attempting to kill off the last of the migraine with caffeine. 

Hubby and I spent the morning cutting, and splitting wood.  We got a good amount done, but we'll need a few more good long days to get it re-stocked. We have not yet fired up the wood stove.

It's football season, so while Hubby watched his game, I cleared the front porch of furniture.  My college Vet-tech-in-training, had been on the computer doing homework all day.  She saw me outside, and offered to help.  There are just a few small items I need to clean up, but the big stuff is all back in storage.  Cushions are all inside awaiting a good day to wash and then dry outside.  I still have to cover the back porch furniture yet.  I need one more tarp.

It was finally time to set up a heat lamp in the coop.  I generally put two, but last year we used one and it worked fine. 

We still have lots and lots of things on the "big job" to-do list.  We have a kitchen floor joist that needs replaced.  That's next if we can manage it with weather.  Say a prayer we can get it done.  I actually saw Hubby staring at one of the trees we need to cut down too.  He's getting a plan, so I'm all for that.  It's been a long time coming. I caught him looking in the big barn too.  Another plan?  Perhaps.  We are considering pulling the entire barn down on a good day, and cutting up the hard wood for for the wood stove.  Thankfully, he has a few nephews that have helped tear a barn down over summer.  Time, the right help, and good weather.  That's what we need.  

Random Tidbits

I used a portion of a head of cabbage to make a carrot/cabbage/potato frittata (loaded with fresh chives).  I found 4 pea pods while gutting the garden, so not to waste them, they went in too.

Tincture Time ~ Bilberry Vinegar

(sorry for the blurry picture)

I strained the two tinctures I made recently - mullein, and bilberry.    Now I'm ready to make one that I feel will be good for varicose veins.  

It includes:

Barberry Bark
Bilberry leaf
Bilberries

However, after I got my herbs out, I started wondering if an infused oil (to make a rub) would be better?

Leek Confit ~ With Thyme

My "date night" plans went "ka-poot."  Right out the window on Friday night.  Our date was planned for Saturday, but Hubby was called to work a 12 hour shift.

By the time he would be home, it would be way too late for this gal to go out, and way too cold, so I took to the kitchen.

We needed some extra heat in the house anyway.  The warmest hour was about feeling like 0°F.

Random Tidbits

Over last weekend, there was a shooting in a town where I typically grocery shop.  The man shot two people, then got in his car (with kids) and drove miles towards our area.

That chase landed literally almost at the front of our homestead.  Just another reason to be prepared out here.

Update on the Frozen Mashed White Potatoes

Quite pleased with the results of the frozen mashed sweet potatoes, we pulled some frozen mashed white potatoes from the freezer recently as well.  I froze these in 1 cup portions as well.  Our grocer only sells organic white so that's what I froze, but if they start selling organic red skin potatoes, I'll use them as well.  And if you are new to reading my blog, our garden was flooded out, so I had very little harvest, hence the buying of potatoes in 2015.

The results?

Update on the Frozen Mashed Sweet Potatoes

A few months ago, I baked organic sweet potatoes, mashed them, then froze them, bagged them separately, and then put those bags into one large bag.

I know it's only been four months, but I dug someone for dinner the other night to test them for the first time.  Even though they were bagged twice, I still had some ice on them.

They were delicious, and tasted as if they were baked.  They were thick and tasty.  It was like eating a baked sweet potato without the skins.