Monday on the Homestead

-


Today is supposed to be a record hot day.  It looks like it will get up into the low 90’s.  This is very unusual for this time of year up here in the Pacific Northwest.  Can’t say I mind it though. 


 


The first thing I am going to do this morning is find a few more water buckets.  We will be hauling water 5 or 6 times today if we don’t increase the buckets.  The goats need lots more water on hot days. 


 


The chickens do too..  So I will need to find something else for them for extra water.  Buckets and containers in various sizes are valuable things on a homestead this way I always have lots of options!


 


Hannah does her volunteer time at the vet’s office this morning and then she is off to a cleaning job in the afternoon.  I am sure by the time she gets home she will be ready to cool off in the pond!


 


Sometime today I am going to drive over to one of our rentals and do a little cleaning and a few other things; we need to get it rented soon.


 


I have my regular laundry and housekeeping chores to work on this morning and see if I have enough milk to tackle a bit of cheese.  I have had that on my to-do list for awhile, but the milk is used for yogurt, buttermilk, drinking, smoothies, baking and ice cream!  Which is great, but today I will be hoping for the cheese! 


 


I had a lovely Mother’s Day.  The kids gave my hugs and homemade cards and pretty necklace that said ‘mom’ on it..  I appreciated their show of love to me. 


 


Sierra is still at my friend’s house (who lives in the city).  She has been there since Thursday night having a great time with her two best friends.   So I need to talk with my friend so we can arrange something to bring her home.  With the cost of gas I think meeting at a half way point will be the best choice.


 


Dinner tonight will be chili and tortilla chips and a salad.  I am going to make it up earlier in the day so I don’t have to mess with it tonight when it is so warm in the house.


 


Yesterday being the beautiful day that it was I took the camera outside and took a couple of pictures. 


 


This is a picture of our pond.  Now all the trees have their leaves back and it things are looking quite lush around my area.


 


Remember I shared about our visiting ducks?  Well I tried to get a picture of them, but it is not the greatest.  I will keep trying!!  Sierra and I named them Mildred and Mallard.


 


And finally I was on my deck and zoomed in and got a pic of a few of my goats.  My 2 bucks are on the right and my Boer/Nubian cross (Kloey) is the white one and in the middle is my Lamancha goat (Milkshake).   They keep my bucks company.


 


 


 

Comments

  1. IlonaMay 15, 2006 at 2:10 AM

    Wow, I don't remember it ever being that hot here where I live. Your photos are beautiful, I love that light shade of green : )

    Sounds like you had a wonderful Mother's Day!


    Ilona

    ReplyDelete
  2. CarolMay 15, 2006 at 2:24 AM

    Oh my, that hot in May. Tonight it's suppose to get down to +1C where I live and has only been around +10C during the day. It's still too cool to plant our garden. The pictures are so pretty.

    ~Carol

    ReplyDelete
  3. CathyMay 15, 2006 at 3:52 AM

    Hi Crystal,

    I am so glad to read you had a wonderful Mother's Day. Had you in my thoughts friend.

    Your homestead is amazing!! Your pond is gorgeous and how great it is to have a pond on your Homestad...that would be our dream!! Plus, your view....WOW!!!! Love to you all my dear!!

    Blessings,

    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  4. DonnaJoyMay 15, 2006 at 5:33 AM

    Sounds like you are getting my weather and I have yours - only in the low 80s today and just beautiful outside!!

    Love the pictures of your homestead!!! The one with the pond could be a post card.

    Happy Belated Mother's Day - you know you are like a mother to us all over at the homestead - though I am older than you - I hold you in the highest esteem!!

    Bless....

    Donna

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this ...
Read more

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine...
Read more

Canning Beef Stew

-
Image
In my last blog post I shared that I had bought 10 pounds of beef roast. I cut it all up and used 4 pounds in 2 crockpot freezer meals ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-more-crockpot-meals-for-freezer.html ) . I used the other 6 pounds of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to can beef stew. Here were the general proportions I used in canning 7 quarts of beef stew.. 6# beef 2# potatoes 2# carrots 1# onions 1# celery After I cut up the meat and got the freezer meals done I moved to the beef stew. I peeled and cut up the potatoes and carrots. I chopped up the onions and sliced the celery. I pulled out 3 quarts of veggie stock from my freezer to use for liquid in the stew. You can use beef or chicken stock or you can use water. I did not add anything to thicken the liquid as usually thickeners don’t hold up in canning. You can thicken the broth after it is opened if you would like. I added 1 teaspoon salt to each of my ...
Read more