Saturday on the Homestead

-

 


Well it is a gray drizzly morning out..  I keep saying to myself, “I am not going to let this get to me, I am not going to let this get to me, I am not going to let this get to me”.  Not sure it is working!!  LOL..  I have loved the sun and will now have to wait very patiently for its return.  The weather forecast predicts the next 5 days to gray and rain. 


 


So for today I have some soap making on my list of projects to tackle.  I have bookkeeping to catch up on and I have laundry to do and a laundry room to straighten up.  I will be assigning some of my children to help with these tasks.  I also need the kids to go outside and pick up their now wet toys and the wet swim suits that were hung over the deck to ‘dry’.   


 


Emily is making some buttermilk pancakes this morning.  We soaked our flour in buttermilk last night.  talk about yummy tasting pancakes!!  I have started doing this reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.  And I have been so happy with the results not just in taste but I believe health wise this is important. 


 


I also have 4 loaves of bread to make today.  I made 3 loaves of sourdough yesterday.  I am still keeping up with feeding my sourdough daily and weekly making 3 loaves of bread.  Today’s bread is also from Sally Fallon’s book and I soaked my bread and some butter in buttermilk all last night.  That should, hopefully, take care of the bread needs for the week.


 


I am currently research and looking for a recipe for sprouted wheat tortillas. If anyone reading this has a recipe for this they could share or can direct me to a recipe that would be great! 


 


Yesterday my daughters and I made lotion.  I love making lotion and I started the day with thoughts of making some to replenish my little store, however between all the special requests from my girls and a friend.. I ended up with none for my store!  That is ok.. another lotion making day will come.  In the meantime we are enjoying more fuzzy navel (scented stronger for me and a friend who just love this stuff!) and vanilla raspberry was Hannah’s choice and sweet pea scented was Emily and Leanne’s choice.  I will say that an afternoon of all those scent oils going on in my kitchen, I had a bit of a headache!  Too much of a good thing is just not always good!   I was also testing out the addition of a few new ingredients to my lotions so when I do have them for sale I will be excited to offer them.  I added shea butter and liquid silk to the lotion and talk about leaving our skin soft and wonderful feeling.. 


 


Anyway, enough lotion talk..   The kids are going to make ice cream today:  Maple Vanilla..  which is vanilla ice cream sweetened with maple syrup (the real stuff).    This will be nice and healthy stuff..  made with our own raw goats milk, fresh free range chicken eggs, maple syrup and that is it! 


 


Well the pancakes are ready and it is time for a late breakfast..  it has been a lazy slow morning here on the homestead!

Comments

  1. dhcfarmMay 20, 2006 at 6:22 AM

    I've just started reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Falon...it's going to take my family some convincing to chage our ways! LOL!! Once things settle down here, I'm going to try making sour dough.


    Your lotions sound wonderful!! I really need to head over to your shop and check it out. I've always wanted to learn to make my own soap, but have gotten up the courage to do so. Another one of those things on my list of "want to dos".


    I love your blog and website and visit often. You are really a big encouragement to me :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. southernbelleMay 20, 2006 at 6:52 AM

    Sounds like a wonderful day planned in spite of the dreary weather. : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. CircleZMay 20, 2006 at 11:05 AM

    We're trying sourdough tortillas tonight for the first time. Not sure how THAT will work out... Let us know if you find a good "sprouted" recipe.


    Amey

    ReplyDelete
  4. DalynMay 20, 2006 at 2:11 PM

    Nourishing traditions is my constant companion these days! LOVE that book!

    Please go look at my blog- you will see my baby! My favorite doe had her kids today, and I posted a picture of one. Check out those ears!


    Wednesday is on!

    I'll double check w/ you the beginning of the week.

    ReplyDelete
  5. CarolMay 20, 2006 at 3:49 PM

    Mmmm pancakes. We love those things around here. Sounds like you had another busy day.

    ~Carol

    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