Baking and Cooking with Lard ~ Chocolate Cherry Crunches

(The upper two on the right were made with a half cherry and the others a whole cherry)

Another future goal of ours, is to raise pigs for meat, and of course have lard.  

I spend a lot of time researching ways to utilize something before we raise it for food. 

 

(Photo source: Amazon)

I have found this wonderful book at the library (again, a great place to read books for free).  However, I may have to add this book to my personal homesteading library. 

I did not have enough dough to cover 24 whole maraschino
cherries.  I started to cut them in half, however, in the end, preferred the whole cherry in the cookie.  Next time, I need to use less dough per cookie.

These would be great for Valentine's Day or Christmas.

I am sure the debate over shortening and lard will continue for years, and doctors will have their opinion.  But when it comes down to it, it's about what's real and what's not real.  And of course, everything in moderation.

The "Old" Ways and Laminate Floors

(Tiger warming on the carpet in front of the corn/pellet burner)

My son asked me, "what does it mean to want to go back to the old days?  Do you really want to go back to horse and buggy?" he asked.

My answer is always yes.  No gas, no oil, no car repairs, no costs of new cars/trucks, no insurance, no car tags each year, etc etc. 

Yes, the horse will need fed, and the horse poo will need shoveled, but there are new inventive ways today, where horse poo can be used for heating homes.

I'm one of those people who are tired of handing out their hard earned cash, caught up in the hamster wheel of "get paid to pay bills, to back to work again."  Hubby is tired of it too.

So...could I possibly convince him to rip out the carpets and put in laminate flooring?   It may take several years to do both areas downstairs, but I'm definitely going to try.  I'm sure the carpet keeps the floors warmer, but here's my statement, and I'm sticking to it....

The Vacuum

~It runs on electric (we have the highest in the county)

~It is constantly needing repairs as it is used daily

~the current vacuum we have needs a new belt.  I went to 3 stores to buy belts that are said to be used on our model.  Not!  After burning up two of the new belts and one not even being tight enough, I had to resort to going on-line and buying one (with shipping costs) for $7.02.  You'd think this is no big deal, but with the daily use, and having no other option but on-line buying for parts, it's more bother and cost than a good ol' broom and dust pan.

~ a broom and dust pan cost me nothing but physical work, and we could all use that in our lives.

~with our allergies, the carpet is a magnet for allergens and all of us could use a break from it.

~with kids and dogs, and having to haul in wood all winter, it would be easier to clean.

~no costly replacement for new carpet in the future.

~no expenses on carpet shampoo or using an electric carpet cleaner, and we would have more space not having to store it.

~it will be safer to have in the rooms with the wood stove and corn/pellet burner.

~I am constantly saving old sheets and other fabrics, for rag rugs, so rugs would not be a problem if needed, and would not cost me anything but physical work and thread (depending on if I braided them or crocheted them). 

The end result - Simplicity.  

The downside?

What will I use to suck down all the spider webs? Ha ha ha!

Maybe I can convince him of one room first, and see how it goes.

.....adding it to the "wish" list.