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Post by davida on May 16, 2012 22:01:48 GMT -5
Thought it would be fun to share some of the interesting activities and/or recipes that we are doing related to homesteading. Spring means a lot of activities both in the garden and on the farm. I was making butter tonight and thought that I would share my method.
Have you ever wondered how to make butter quick and easy? If you have fresh cream or even store bought cream, you can put it in a quart or half gallon jar and shake it to make butter. If the jar is only 1/2 to 2/3 full and the cream is at room temperature, it only takes 10 to 15 minutes. My daughter was creative enough to give the jar to my 6 year old granddaughter and have her jump on the trampoline until the cream turned to butter.
When the butter forms, pour off the "true" buttermilk and save to drink or use in cooking. It does not have the cultures that a dairy adds to store purchased buttermilk but I think that this buttermilk is much better. Then in the same jar that you used to make the butter, add cold water to the jar and shake to get all the milk out of the butter. Pour off water and repeat until the water is perfectly clean. Pour the butter in a bowl, use a spoon to get all the water out of the butter, add a little salt and/or honey and you have fresh butter. As an added bonus, very few dishes to clean.
What did you do today? Did you cook anything interesting? And Holly, would you be kind enough to re-post how you make the kale chips?
David
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Post by johninfla on May 17, 2012 6:53:01 GMT -5
I'm not sure why we do it (just always have) but when we make butter that way we always put a clean marble in the jar.
It seems to work well.
John
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 17, 2012 7:01:18 GMT -5
LOL I looked at my new raised bed and marveled at how fast the seed (even 2 year old onion sets) came up!
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Post by johninfla on May 17, 2012 7:40:29 GMT -5
As far as what homesteading thing we did....... we had a meal that was almost completely home produced: omelet from our hens, melon juice from the melons we grew last year and froze, salad with lettuce and tomatoes from the garden, fried potatoes from the garden, and bread from my wife! We were halfway through eating dinner when we realized.  John |
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Post by steev on May 17, 2012 12:57:22 GMT -5
Today I did the most traditional homesteading activity of all. I stripped the bank account so tomorrow I can go buy a mule and plow (BCS tiller) to work my land.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 17, 2012 14:44:58 GMT -5
My boys just walked out the door to start their second wood carving lesson. Today will be about wood qualities and types, selecting the proper wood for your project, and time permitting, stripping the selected piece.
ALSO, marveled at the speed of growth on my new bed! HA!
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Post by ottawagardener on May 17, 2012 15:29:57 GMT -5
Put in a new garden bed for pumpkins and sowed some seed.
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Post by davida on May 17, 2012 16:36:23 GMT -5
My boys just walked out the door to start their second wood carving lesson. Today will be about wood qualities and types, selecting the proper wood for your project, and time permitting, stripping the selected piece. ALSO, marveled at the speed of growth on my new bed! HA! Now that is neat that your sons are learning wood carving!! Thanks for sharing. It is great that they are learning a skill and learning your values. |
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Post by davida on May 17, 2012 17:15:06 GMT -5
Today I did the most traditional homesteading activity of all. I stripped the bank account so tomorrow I can go buy a mule and plow (BCS tiller) to work my land. Congratulations on your purchase. You should get many years of service from the BCS. And yes, the most traditional of all homesteading activities seems to be stripping the bank account. But every year seems to require fewer expenditures and most years are showing a vast increase of the yields of great food. |
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Post by davida on May 17, 2012 17:28:43 GMT -5
As far as what homesteading thing we did....... we had a meal that was almost completely home produced: omelet from our hens, melon juice from the melons we grew last year and froze, salad with lettuce and tomatoes from the garden, fried potatoes from the garden, and bread from my wife! We were halfway through eating dinner when we realized. John John, Sounds delicious. Last summer, we would have "farm dinners" for our friends and their grandchildren and have the same meal (except for the melon juice, we had cow juice). The kids would gather the eggs, dig the potatoes, etc. and then we would bring it into the house and cook the meal. It was great fun. I read putting a marble in the butter jar would decrease the shaking time by up to one half. It did not seem to help and the new canning jars seem to be a lot thinner and break easier so I stopped using the marble. Take care, David |
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Post by 12540dumont on May 17, 2012 19:35:05 GMT -5
I'm with Steev, after delivering the CSA boxes, I went to Mtn. Feed and Seed, where I spent my entire earnings so far from the year on soil amendments for the new field. Luckily for me, I only have to do it once.
As I told Leo when we came to the farm, my families decision after my father died, to let someone plant and take away hay from the farm every year was a poor decision. When you sell your hay, you are also selling your soil. So I am going to add long term nutrients to the new 1/2 acre. The truck is full and farm wife is off to unload. After that, I'll hull berries to make jam tomorrow.
Happy BCS'ing. You'll love it!
Kale Chips,
Steam, Dump them in the food Processor and whir, add a little terriyaki sauce, put on trays in the dehydrator overnight, one hundred and 25 degrees. Use a little spray on the trays to make them easy to peel. No dehydrator? Oven will work too. Dump the whole mess on parchment paper in a broiler pan, spread it thin and let cook till it flakes off.
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Post by Leenstar on May 17, 2012 21:42:29 GMT -5
I took this week off to plant a rather big shipment of plants I ordered during the winter.
In the past 4 days I have:
1. built a cedar and cable grape trellis and planted three grape plants under it
2. Built a cedar and cable bramble trellis and planted two types of blackberries under it
3. planted two elderberries
4. planted 2 red currant
5. planted 2 white currents
6. planted 2 gooseberries
7. Planted 2 apple trees- both multigrafted with 4 different varieties a piece
8. Planted 1 cherry
9. planted 5 blue berry bushes
10. transplanted out my tomatoes and physallis
11. planted 80 strawberries (20 of 4 different varieties) in two newly prepared beds
12. Took down a tree shading my vegetable garden
13. I forgot about planting two paw paws
14. took down my brick cold frame
tomorrow I hope to transplant my eggplants, peppers and get my curcubit trellis idea up on which I hope to plant both cukes and zukes to share my limited space. I also have to cut up that tree I took down for fire wood and trellising material.
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Post by steev on May 17, 2012 23:06:29 GMT -5
You're a busy dude, leenstar!
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 18, 2012 7:19:03 GMT -5
Thanks David, I really appreciate the compliment. We are dedicated to giving our boys a very rich and diverse education. We get a lot of flack for what we are doing, but in 25 years, (They will be 35 and 37) I figure we will have a good idea of how right or wrong we were.
LeenStar! Holy Moly Cow! I think I need a little nap to rest up from just READING that list!!!
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Post by davida on May 18, 2012 8:43:17 GMT -5
Put in a new garden bed for pumpkins and sowed some seed. So what are you planting, at this time? Our climates are so much different. We are starting to harvest "the really good stuff", a few tomatoes (Bloody Butcher), green beans, potatoes and berries. |
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