5 Acres & A Dream

Worried About Our Winter Wheat

2012-02-10T16:49:00.000-05:00

Our winter wheat has gradually been turning yellow...

Having had only one small experimental patch of wheat in the past, this is neither my area of expertise nor experience. After numerous hours of internet research (links to resources below) I decided it was likely nitrogen deficiency. This self diagnosis was via photos and descriptions, and isn't something I feel entirely confident about. Considering that this is where we planted the field corn last summer, and that corn is what's considered to be a "heavy feeder" (i.e. requires lots of nitrogen), it seemed the most logical conclusion.

My first treatment was to scatter leftover chemical nitrogen we purchased two years ago, after a soil test as we prepared the big garden for the first time. Chemicals are not my first choice, but it was what I had. How much was my biggest concern, because too much nitrogen isn't good either. In the end I didn't have a whole lot. I noted some greening up here and there about two weeks later, but not enough.

Last weekend I bought a sprayer attachment for my garden hose, and sprayed the wheat with fish emulsion (5-1-1). I'm still waiting to see if it will make a difference, wondering how long it will take, and hoping I'm not too late. In my uncertainty about things, I tend to be cautious in my conclusions and actions. We know this field needs a lot of work (as does everything else around here), so this problem isn't a tremendous surprise. I did plant pole beans with the corn last summer, and scattered as much compost as I had when I planted the wheat, but it obviously wasn't enough. Next summer I will plant my cowpeas in this same spot, and plant the corn in the back, where I tried to grow sunflowers last year. Hopefully that will help.

My philosophy about gardening and homesteading has always been that doing something is better than doing nothing. Not only because I think that every little bit helps, but because I realize that even if it doesn't turn out the way I hope, I'll learn something. Experiential knowledge is the best, I think. In this case getting even some wheat would be better than getting none, but I really don't want to lose any. What happens to the wheat may test how well I really believe what I say.

Resources:

Simple flow chart of mineral deficiencies - Hebrew University
Nutrient deficiency chart - NC State University
Herbicide & nonherbicide injury symptoms (in wheat & barley) - University of Minnesota
Guide to wheat pests & diseases - International Maize & Wheat Improvement Center
Color pictures of mineral deficiencies in wheat plants - Thomas Wallace, M.C., D.Sc., A.I.C.

Worried About Our Winter Wheat © February 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Calculating Protein With The Pearson Square

2012-02-08T15:00:00.000-05:00

When I read the comments on my "More Thoughts On Growing Animal Feeds" post, I realized that there are quite a few of you researching and pondering the same thing, and coming up with a similar conclusion, that it's a complicated and often discouraging topic. Methods and opinions often contradict one another, as does the research. For goats though, most agree that forage (grass, browse, hay) should be the mainstay of their diet, supplemented with grain as needed, free choice minerals tailored for one's particular location, and plenty of fresh water.

Here is something though, that is useful for those of us wanting to make our own grain mixes, whether homegrown or purchased. It's the Pearson Square, a tool that can be used to calculate the amounts of two components needed in a particular mix. It was originally developed to standardize the fat and protein contents in commercially produced milk. Since then, it has been used for wine making, juice mixing, cheese making, baking, and of course, feed formulation. I read about it awhile back but didn't undertand it until Karen sent me a couple of links, this one at Colorado State, and this one from the Virginia Cooperative Extension. The first article helped especially, and in an attempt to master it myself, I'm going to try to explain it to you!

It can be used for any animal and any nutrient, but since I've been pondering protein, that's what I'll use in my examples. I'll start with whole wheat and cowpeas, things I've grown successfully here.

Problem: Determine the amounts of whole wheat and cowpeas needed to mix a goat feed of 16% crude protein (CP).

1. Target amount goes in the middle of the square.

-----------------------------------------------------
Example: I'm working on crude protein for goats, 16%

2. Values for the feed stuffs are placed at left hand corners

Rule: The number in the middle must be

intermediary between the numbers at the corners

---------------------------------------------------------
Example: 16 is between 13 and 23

3. Find the differences across the diagonal

Rule: subtract the lower number from the higher.
Number order doesn't matter, just the difference.
Write these in the right hand corners across the diagonal

-------------------------------------------------------
Example:
16 - 13 = 3
23 - 16 = 7

4. Look across the horizontal legs of the square for the parts needed for the ration

-----------------------------------------
Example: Going from left to right, I would need 7 parts whole wheat
and 3 parts cowpeas to get a 16% crude protein ration

The parts aretranslated as weights, so for example, I could mix 70 pounds of wholewheat and 30 pounds of cowpeas to achieve a 100 pound dairy goat ration of 16%.

Obviously the Pearson Square is very useful if only two things are involved. But what if I have more? What if one year I harvested 100 pounds of wheat (13% CP), 50 pounds of grain sorghum (10% CP), 90 pounds of cowpeas (23% CP), and 45 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds (16% CP). How would I know what amounts to mix to get my 16%? This gets trickier. I would have to make two mixes first, figure out the crude protein in each mix, and then use the Pearson Square to calculate how much I'd need of each. Wheat and grain sorghum could be combined as my grain mix, while the cowpeas and BOSS would be my protein supplement. This means math!

Problem: Determine the amounts needed to make a 16% crude protein feed mix with more than two ingredients.

Step 1: Find the percentage of each component in the mix.

Using the grain mix as an example, I'd first need to find out what percent of wheat I have, and what percent of sorghum. The easiest way would be with an online percentage calculator like (click here) this one. In that case you can skip to Step 2. If you're having to do this out in the barn by hand, or just want to understand the process, the formula is

Formula to determine the percentage of the parts

Example: to find the percentage of each ingredient in my grain mix, I first need to know the total (whole) weight.

100 lb wheat + 50 lb sorghum = 150 lb total

100 lb of wheat is what % of 150 lb?

Plugged into theformula...

Calculating the percentage of wheat in my grain mix

100 divided by 150 is .6666666 parts of 100. Rounded up, it equals 67%. 100 lb of wheat would be 67% of my 150 pound grain mix.

For the grain sorghum, 50 lb of sorghum is what % of 150 lb?

Calculating the percentage of grain sorghum

50 divided by 150 is .3333333 parts of 100. Rounded down, it's 33%
50 lb of grain sorghum would be 33% of my mix.
CHECK: 67% wheat + 33% sorghum = 100% grain mix

Step 2: Find the protein in the grain mixture

The formula is:

So for my grain mix, I'd plug in the percentages I calculated, and the crude protein for each:

I would follow the same steps for my supplement of cow peas and BOSS. I'll spare you the calculations, but the answer would be a mix of 20% crude protein.

Step 3: Plug these numbers into my Pearson Square

Calculating the parts needed for a homegrown dairy goat grain mix

The equal number of parts in my final mix means I have a 50/50 blend of the two mixtures.

There is website to help you figure this out too, the online Pearson Square calculator at prechel.net. You need to know the percent of each mixture plus a target percentage, also the weights. The calculator will give you the weights of each component needed to achieve the goal. That goal could be any nutrient: protein, fat, calcium, etc.

When I researched crude protein in various grains and seeds, I discovered quite a variation in estimates. Soil condition plays a huge factor in this, the more deficient the soil, the lower the protein and other nutrients will be. For now, I thought it best to stick the lower percentages. As we improve soil fertility, I know the nutritive value of our grains, hay, vegetables, and forage will improve as well.

I don't know if that makes any sense to you dear readers, but writing it out like this has helped me tremendously. If it's still confusing please let me know. I had to work through my own examples to get a grasp on it and will have to refer back to this post when I actually start doing it. I'm just thankful to have another tool tucked under my homesteading belt.

Calculating Protein With The Pearson Square © February 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Mean (And Other Chicken News)

2012-02-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Mean, formerly Lady B

I have renamed my original Barred Holland hen. Not that I actually name any of my chickens; when addressing them I call everybody "Mrs. Chicken." Except of course our rooster. This gal though, had always been referred to as "Lady B." Until recently that is. She is now known as "Mrs. Mean".

In our original flock, she was at the very bottom of the pecking order. She was constantly being picked on and chased away by the others. She had so many feathers pulled out that she was forever half naked. Fortunately these grew back, but when the new chicks arrived she made sure that she was no longer on the bottom.

While very sweet and friendly toward the humans, she is definitely not so toward the Buff Orpingtons. Most of the time she just chases away whichever one is handy. Or gives them a peck, or a yanks out a feather, just to remind them what's what. On occasion though, she gets her ornery on. For example, one day I heard panicked squawking and a frantic flurry of wings in the hen house. Fearing some critter was after the chickens, I took off running. Turns out Mrs. Mean had decided to occupy and defend all of the nest boxes, and was chasing all the pullets out of the hen house. I removed her to the goat shed and egg laying resumed after that.

Old and new all grazing & bug hunting together

Other than that, I am pleased to report that our chicken situation has evolved into a happier place. My two flocks, old and new, have finally blended together and everybody seems fairly happy!

Calling a chicken conference at the buck gate

I do have to say that this rooster is not as romantic with the ladies as Lord B was. Lord B used to sidle up to his intended and dance when he was in the mood. While she stood there, mesmerized by his fancy footwork, he would hop on and do the deed. From our observations however, his aim didn't appear to be too good. It wasn't surprising then, that only 3 of the 9 eggs I gave Mama Welsummer hatched.

This guy announces his intentions by puffing out his wings and chest, charging his victim like a raging bull, and grabbing on at a gallop like a rodeo rider. Consequently he has earned himself the nickname of "Cowboy." He is hitting the mark however, so perhaps we'll have a brood of Buff Orpington chicks one of these days.

The junior Barred Holland pullet, one of
the "Mrs. Chickens," & Cowboy

Another interesting observation is that my original hens expect said rooster to find tidbits for them and turn them over. Like Lord B did. Cowboy however, had no clue he was supposed to do this. They're getting him trained however. Now when he finds something, he may start pecking away but they all run over, push him aside, and help themselves. At that point he starts making the "look what I found" cluck, so perhaps he'll eventually catch on to his duties.

And that's the chicken news for February, 2012.

Parting shot: Mrs. Mean, hopeful for some tidbit

Mrs. Mean (And Other Chicken News) © February 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Why I Love Canned Green Beans

2012-02-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

With a quart jar of canned green beans, this is a super easy throw-together-at-the-last-minute vegetable; total time less than 30 minutes. The perfect side dish for any Italian entree.

Green Bean Caesar

Mix together in a 1.5 or 2 quart casserole dish:
1 quart canned green beans (can use 1.5 lb cooked or frozen)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or any vinegar, lemon juice, or pickle juice)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced onions (fresh or dehydrated)
1 clove minced garlic (can use 1/8 tsp. garlic powder)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Topping, mix until crumbly and sprinkle over beans:
1 tbsp olive oil or melted butter
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp bread crumbs

Bake uncovered at 350º F, 15 to 20 minutes or until topping is browned.

Why I Love Canned Green Beans ©February 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Goat Update: PG? Or Not

2012-02-02T16:03:00.000-05:00

The question of the year is, are Jasmine and Surprise pregnant?

I admit that I've been very doubtful that this is an affirmative. They certainly don't look like it when they're just standing around....

Our goal is to raise Kinder goats, and this year we attempted to breed the girls (both Nubians), to Gruffy, our Pygmy buck. We even built a Pygmy buck assist to compensate for the size difference. The problem was, that neither doe would cooperate when it came to being put in front of it. No matter how amorous their behavior toward their suitor, when it came to that, they side stepped, bucked, bolted, and wiggled every whichaway. Since it took both of us to hold her in place, we never actually witnessed whether Gruffy was being successful or not. On top of that, both girls both seemed to go in heat at the same time, dividing Gruffy's attention and giving him, and us, double duty.

After two months of uncooperative nonsense, I finally threw my hands up, propped open the buck gate and said, "fine, you figure it out". I let all the goats run together for the next several months. I realize that's not a very professional approach to breeding, but 6 or 10 attempts a day to "help," didn't seem to be doing any good.

I know it supposedly isn't possible to tell if a goat is pregnant simply by looking at her; only a sonogram is considered definitive, and I'm not doing that. There are signs that she's settled (goat folk lingo for pregnant), such as not going into heat again, but even that is difficult. Last year, Surprise was still quite flirty with Petey every three weeks or so. Looking back, I know she was already pregnant, despite her behavior.

It could still be a bit early, but every now and then I look at them and think they're starting to look a little bulgier than usual. Like when they lay down to runimate...

Jasmine, bulging on the left? Or is it rumen?

Surprise, bulging on the right? Or is it the light?

Maybe it's just that I'm wishing so hard for it to be true, that I think they look bulgier. Being half Pygmy, the kids would be smaller, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

If it's so, our first potential due date wouldn't be until toward the end of the month, though I'm pretty sure neither doe settled her first heat. The next potential due date would be around the middle of March, but it's entirely conceivable that it could be later than that. That gives me all the longer to hope for bigger bulges. No matter what, I give them the care of pregnant does and will be prepared for the dates circled on my calendar.

I do know that both are exceedingly happy these days, though perhaps it's the pretty weather. They run, and leap, and play. They run up with their "pet me" faces whenever they see me. At the very least, that's something to be thankful for.

Goat Update: PG? Or Not © February 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Of Kitchen Cabinets & Countertops

2012-01-31T16:30:00.000-05:00

I read in a kitchen design book that a typical kitchen remodel can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $60,000. I was shocked. I assume that the $60,000 price tag includes solid gold faucets for the sink? I'd rather pay off our mortgage. I reckon though, that if one hires a kitchen designer, architect, contractor, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters; plus buys all new cabinetry, appliances, lighting, windows, and flooring, one could rack up quite a bill.

We're replacing quite a few things in our kitchen too, including the windows, door, cabinets, countertop, exterior walls, and light fixtures, plus putting down a new floor. However, we're doing the planning, designing, and installation ourselves. Even so, I'm conscientious about the cost of all these things, because they represent hours that Dan has to be away from the homestead. I consider too, that every dollar saved on one thing, can be invested in something else we need. For the base cabinets, I scoured Craigslist for weeks, looking for bargains. I finally found someone selling a truckload of 2nd hand cabinets. Everything was pretty much picked over by the time we got there, but we were able to buy two pieces. The other two I needed, we got new from the same builders surplus warehouse where I bought the two new windows and the kitchen back door. We spent a total of $270 for almost 9 feet of base cabinets plus an over-fridge wall cabinet.

I thought we did great until we laid them out. What the gentleman sold us as a 54 inch blind corner cabinet, turned out to be 57 inches. That was 3 inches too many to fit on that wall!

Shortening one of the base cabinets.

Super Dan to the rescue. He managed to shorten that cabinet so that everything will fit across that wall. Fortunately that blind corner will butt up against 12 inch deep wall shelves rather than another 24 inch cabinet, so the lost inches don't matter quite so much. (To see proposed floor plan, click here.)

Though all the cabinets are oak, the trade-off for mixing and matching is slight variations in size, different finishes (or unfinishes), and different styles of door framings and drawer faces. I can live with that though, considering the price we paid. My "fix" for this will be paint. While I personally think it's approaching sacrilegious to paint oak, there's no way I could match the stain color. I'm hoping that being the same color and having matching hinges, knobs, and pulls will visually tie them together and minimize their differences.

The laminate colors match my dining nook
wallpaper border quite well

We also have the countertops, which we bought sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. While Dan loves granite, we bought laminate because of budget. That doesn't hurt my feelings though, because I'm not too crazy about granite anyway. I found ours in stock at Lowes. Stock pieces offer less selection, but are much more economical than special order (these were $10 less per linear foot). We bought a standard 10 foot countertop with a molded in backsplash for the cabinets I showed you above, and a 4 by 8 foot sheet of laminate in the same color pattern. We'll use this to make a matching DIY countertop for the peninsula. Well, Dan will. ;)

What we bought wasn't my first pick. The one I actually liked best was the least expensive, which pleased me. Not that price is always a top consideration; I also thought it was the prettiest. It was lighter in color (which is why I liked it) but unfortunately, didn't work with my color samples; it was too yellowish. I might not be fussy about my cabinet styles matching perfectly, but I am fussy about matching colors! Dan liked these best anyway, because they have that granite look. I liked them because they were the second least expensive. Best of all, it coordinates with the colors in my dining nook wallpaper border.

We still have to get the kitchen sink, but that's a ways down the road yet considering we have to install the floor before the cabinets, and we're still waiting on that. It's just nice to finally get glimpses of it all coming together.

Of Kitchen Cabinets & Countertops © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

More Thoughts on Growing Animal Feeds

2012-01-29T18:00:00.000-05:00

Chickens & goats, just hangin' out

On the heels of ordering spring garden seeds, I'm thinking not only what to plant for us, but what to plant for our critters as well. I first wrote about growing our own animal feeds last July (Food Self-Sufficiency & Animals). This is one of our self-sufficiency goals, and no small one as we're learning. We've made some initial steps in that direction, but I have to confess; the more I research this topic, the more questions I have.

With goats, there seems to be a lot of controversy regarding feeding grains, particularly amongst homesteaders and small holders. As ruminants, goats' digestive systems are best suited for grass, hay, and forage. The problem with feeding grain to goats, even cracked grain, is acidosis. Acidosis occurs when something slow to digest, like grain, ferments before it's moved through the gut. This creates an acidic condition called acidosis. Acidosis can be fatal to goats, which is why care must be taken when changing their diets or increasing grain. It's also why many goat owners offer baking soda free choice on the side.

In particular, grain discussions always seem to mention corn. Corn appears to not be digestible to goats, and whole corn can cause diarrhea in addition to acidosis. Unfortunately, corn and corn gluten are common ingredients in commercial pelleted feeds.

Surprise & Jasmine love our weedy homegrown hay

The key to feeding less grain, is good quality hay and forage. For us that means pasture improvement, which is another goal we're working on. The breed of the goat seems to matter too. We currently have Nubians and a Pygmy. The Nubians are not what's considered "easy keepers," i.e. not easy to keep weight on them. While Pygmies can keep their rumens big and bulging on just hay, the Nubians can't. Kinders fortunately, inherit the feed to flesh conversion ability from their Pygmy genetics. (They inherit their copious rich milk production from their Nubian side).

Another feed controversy is soy. Not only because of non-digestibility (especially in raw soybeans), but because if contains so many phytohormones, which can cause thyroid and other hormone related problems. (This makes soy a problem for human consumption as well.) Soy, like corn gluten, is for protein. At 45 to 48% crude protein however, soy is hard to match in a feed mix.

De-seeding black oil sunflower heads. Just rub the heads over the screen.

Not only are corn and soy common ingredients in commercial feeds (both for livestock and for pets), but both are likely genetically modified products. These are strong motivators for growing and mixing my own feed. However, doing so without soy presents a protein challenge. Milking does are said to need 16% protein, laying hens 16 to 20%, though how they came up with those figures, I don't know. Since this is higher than what most grains, hay, and forage contain, it becomes a puzzle as to how to achieve at least a 16% protein content in a natural diet without soy.

Protein puzzles me on several levels. Animal scientists speak of "crude protein," which is actually the nitrogen content of a feed. This seems a useless concept, but it is how the protein in animal feeds is measured. They also speak of "digestible protein," which is what the animal can utilize. Human nutritionists on the other hand, speak in terms of "complete proteins" and "essential amino acids." I find myself wondering why these concepts can't apply to animal feeds as well.

Things I consider growing for protein include alfalfa or other legume hays (clover , vetch, lespedeza), though I'm not certain yet what varieties grow well in my part of the country. One good protein alternative for me, would seem to be comfrey. At 22 to 33% protein, it can be fed fresh (the goats love it) or dried like hay. Comfrey, like alfalfa, also provides calcium. Grain amaranth is another possibility, with crude protein levels of 12 to 17%. Some folks say though, that since it's in the pigweed family (reportedly poisonous to goats), it shouldn't be fed to them. Many other goat owners however, report no problems. Something I haven't tried yet but plan to experiment with this summer, is flax seed. At 20 to 25% crude protein, it seems worth a try.

Protein for the chickens is easier to manage. For one thing, they love raw goat milk! And whey, and meat scraps, and grubs from the garden. Protein for chickens is another reason a worm bed is on this year's homestead goal list. The milk also provides much needed calcium for egg shell production, as do those egg shells themselves. Dried and finely crushed, the chickens love them, and between these two things, their shells are strong and hard without supplementing with oyster shells (something I can't produce for myself).

Ozark Razorback cowpeas

I'm still buying packaged layer ration which is offered free choice, but have stopped buying scratch (a mixture of cracked corn and whole wheat). I give them homegrown whole corn and a big head of amaranth in the morning, and a little more corn at night. They actually seem to prefer this to the commercial feed, along with whatever bugs, seeds, and greens they can forage for themselves. They don't eat a lot of layer ration anymore. Every couple of days I give them a quart of milk, plus the finely crushed dried egg shells. Last summer I grew a seed crop of Ozark Razorback field peas, all of which I hope to plant this year for feed. Then I read that the trypsin in raw beans is toxic to chickens. sigh

This is where my own research almost becomes a problem. Animal diets, like human diets, seem to be shrouded in controversy; one person claims X is dangerous while another swears by it. Pulses in particular, are said to be indigestible unless processed. So now I'm supposed to cook for my chickens and goats too? I begin to ponder, and wonder how people fed their animals properly before industrially manufactured feeds became available. Some might say all livestock until that time was undernourished, though I realize that soil nutrients have been depleted over the decades. It seems to me that the more scientific the process gets, the more complicated things become. Not that science hasn't benefited us greatly, but when it walked in the door, the simple life seems to have gone out the window. On the other hand, perhaps our pursuit of high production purebreds has forced us to rely on high production feeds as well?

For the goats, I've experimented with my own grain mix of 2 parts oats, 2 parts whole wheat, and 1 part black oil sunflower seeds, all locally available. Whether I have that on hand or am feeding commercial pellets, I also supplement with alfalfa pellets for protein and calcium, since our homegrown hay is not the best quality yet. To my last batch of grain mix, I was able to add the BOSS I harvested from the garden, plus most of the seed I collected from my harvest of broom corn.

Broom corn: "whisks" for me, dried leaves and seed grain for the goats

Broom corn is actually a sorghum. The sorghums can be grown for grain, syrup, or broom making in my case. It did very well for me and I discovered that the goats also relish the leaves, either fresh or dried. Actually I've learned that quite a few things (herbs, greens, & leaves) can be dried and tossed into the hay as a treat. This year I plan to plant a variety called Mennonite. It reportedly can be used for syrup making and grain.

I've also been experimenting with gardening for them, seeing what else we can grow and forage that they'll eat. For goats, it's all relative. Something they'll turn their noses up at during summer when there's more choice, is the very thing they'll fight over when winter pickins are slim. I planted a few items just for them in the winter garden, mangels for example, and collards, which we can eat too. They get greens from the turnips, beets, and kale, plus mangel thinnings, turnip roots and some of my stored sweet potatoes too. They like rose hips, cabbage, and broccoli leaves as well. I'd hoped to have pumpkins and winter squash for them as well, but mine didn't do well this year. Next summer I'll plant sugar beets for them, and Jerusalem Artichokes for them and us too. A good article about goats and garden vegetables can be found here, "Planting a Goat Garden".

Well, this has been a long post, and I know some of it is redundant; very similar to what I wrote in my first post on this subject. Though we've made some progress on this, my questions obviously remain the same. If you don't have critters or aren't interested in growing your own feeds, I've probably lost you long since. Unfortunately it would appear that I still have more questions than answers. Does everything in life have to be this complicated?

More Thoughts on Growing Animal Feeds © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Garden 2012: Seeds

2012-01-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

My collection of seeds from 2010 & 2011,
I also still have a few from 2009

I've inventoried my saved seeds, I've perused the seed catalogues, and I've doodled some on graph paper. I think I'm ready to make this year's seed orders.

My seed collection is expanding a little every year, and I have a couple of year's worth of saved seed. My ultimate goal is to be totally seed sustainable, but there are still some things I need to learn. Plus I am still experimenting with varieties and various plants. Based on the seed viability charts, I'm hoping to be able to rotate both what I grow, and the seeds I save. I'm thinking this will give us the greatest variety in the longrun, and help me avoid accidentally crossed seeds. Here's what's in those jars, containers, and shoe boxes pictured above:

Amaranth, Golden Giant
Basil, sweet
Beans (both green & dried)

Black Turtle
Hutterite Soup
Kentucky Wonder
State Half Runner

Beets, Red Detroit
Broom Corn
Broccoli (undecided on which is best)

DeCicco
Waltham 29

Buckwheat (just a handful)
Calendula
Cantaloupe, Hales' Best
Carrot, Scarlet Nantes
Corn

Stowell's Evergreen (sweet)
Truckers Favorite (field)

Cosmos
Cowpeas, Ozark Razorback
Cucumber

Marketmore 76 (we like this one best)
National Pickling

Lettuce

Oakleaf
Parris Cos

Marigolds (several varieties)
Melon

Hales Best
Green Nutmeg

Okra, Clemson Spineless
Peas, Wando
Peppers, Chinese Giant
Popcorn

Calico
Japanese Hulless

Pumpkin, Small Sugar (hasn't done well)
Radish,

Cherry Belle
unknown (! probably crossed in spite of myself)

Squash

Acorn, Table Queen (winter)
Buttercup (winter)
Butternut, Walthams, (winter)

Tomato (didn't save Brandywine 'cuz we didn't think it was as tasty as Rutgers)

Roma
Rutgers

Turnip, White globe purple top
Watermelon, Small Sugar (gonna try bush type this year)
Yarrow
Zinnias, several varieties

The fun part is figuring out what I want to order. In the past I've always tried to divvy my order amongst all the seed companies I want to support. Each year though, I order less because I've saved more. Now, all that shipping & handling adds up. This year I figured out which two companies carry everything I want, from the ones that send me catalogues that is.

I've ordered from Shumway since the 1970s. Even though they don't carry organic seeds, and don't necessarily specialize in open pollinated seeds, they still have a good selection of heritage seeds, plus carry things others don't, like mangels, sugar beets, collards, bulk farm seed (pasture grasses and legumes, and field corn).

Buckwheat, 5 lbs (for weed control?)
Collards

Vates (for the goats)
Morris Heading (for us)

Elderberry bushes, 2 (adding to my elder bush hedge)
Sugar beets, Bucklunch (for the goats)
Strawberries, 50 (to replace those lost by the wire grass)

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Beans, long, Red Seeded Asparagus (testing another variety)
Celery, Tendercrisp (celery was Dan's request)
Cushaw, orange (instead of pumpkins)
Oats, hulless (for us, will plant hulled for the critters)
Sorghum, Mennonite (for animal feed until we get a sorghum press)
Summer Savory (2nd try)
Summer squash, Tatume (still experimenting with varieties)

In addition to these, are the seeds I bought on clearance last fall, from Sustainable Seed Company:

Beans, Dwarf Horticultural Taylor (for drying)
Eggplant, Florida Highbush (another 2nd try)
Peppers (expanding varieties)

Habanero Orange
Tampiqueno

Poppies, Flanders Red (childhood reminiscences)
Tomatoes, Amish Paste (just to try another variety)
Watermelon, Bush Sugar Baby (bush to save bed space)

I've also finally figured out where I want to plant some Jerusalem artichoke. Rather than mail order these however, I will just buy them at someplace like Whole Foods. Same with my potatoes. Mine did lousy last year, so I'll start all over with Red Pontiac seed potatoes, which we love and are locally available.

Everything else will be grown from saved seed, with the exception of sweet potatoes, which I'll grow from slips. Of the two varieties I planted last summer, Vardaman did the best, so I'll use it for the slips. I did consider a different variety of field corn, Hickory King. When I researched grinding cornmeal, it was highly recommended for that purpose. However it boasted large kernels and since I also use mine for chicken feed, I decided to stick with the smaller kerneled Truckers Favorite. I have no complaints about the corn bread it makes, and I have plenty of saved seed from last year's harvest.

The next step is figuring out what will go where! More garden fun. :)

Garden 2012: Seeds © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Test Frying Those Canned Green Tomatoes

2012-01-25T05:28:00.000-05:00

A quart of canned green
tomato slices

We had grilled burgers for dinner the other night, and you know what sounded good to go with them? Fried green tomatoes along with some sauerruben to complete the meal. It was a perfect opportunity to try the green tomato slices I canned last November. Several folks asked then, if I'd share how well they worked for frying. So here are the results, along with how I made them.

My recipe is the same as I use for other batterless fried foods:

coat tomato slices with seasoned flour, bread crumbs, or corn meal
dip in beaten egg & milk
coat in flour again
pan fry until golden brown in about 1/4 inch fat of your choice

One nice thing about cooking on a wood cookstove, is that you
can rub grease spatters right into the cast iron cooktop.

A few notes on the process:

If I'm using fresh tomatoes, I slice them about 1/4 in. thick. The canned ones were sliced a little thicker, 3/8 to 1/2 inch.
Coating with flour first, helps the egg & cornmeal stick to the food being fried. I used to skip this step and then wonder why my breading always fell off in the pan.
Can add salt or other seasonings to the egg mixture rather than flour if preferred. Or salt hot out of the pan
Frozen eggs work well for this.

When I first took the tomato slices out of the jar, they were soft from the canning process. However, they held up beautifully and were just as tasty as fresh. The fun part was that everything except the seasonings and fat, was homegrown: tomatoes, milk, eggs, corn meal.

In that original blog post, readers discussed frying frozen green tomato slices in the comments. There was mention that these turned out soggy, so The Weekend Homesteader did some experimenting. She reported on her blog, that if breaded straight from the freezer and put still frozen into the pan, they turned out just like fresh. Good to know, eh?

I asked Dan if the canned green tomatoes are a keeper. He and I both wholeheartedly agreed that indeed they are.

Test Frying Those Canned Green Tomatoes © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Waiting On The Kitchen Floor

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

The next step in our kitchen remodel is the floor. This is a big purchase, one we had to save up for. We discussed all the flooring possibilities, and ended up choosing 9 inch wide pine plank flooring. Dan thinks this is the best option, considering how uneven and dippy our kitchen floor is. He definitely did not want ceramic tiles, and if we chose a vinyl floor, we would have to rebuild the floor to correct the problem, like we did for the wood cookstove only more extensively. (He said leaving it as is was not an option.) With the planks, we hope to shim where it's dipped, and come out with a fairly even and level floor in the end. This will also give us a thicker, snugger, more sturdy floor. Our house was built without subflooring. I don't know if this was typical of 1920s construction, but the only floor is one layer of 3/4 inch oak. The boards are no longer air tight, so I'll be glad to put down a vapor barrier and another 3/4 inch on top of that. As a bonus, a plank floor will go with our country kitchen motif.

The floor isn't scheduled to come in until the end of January, so while we wait, we're doing a lot of little kitchen projects. The first was a jack for a kitchen wall phone (currently I have to run to another part of the house to answer the phone, on the rare occasions that it rings.)

Also completed the wiring (switch above) for the dining nook light....

This is one of the mini pendants I purchased awhile back.

Dan's also working on what will become some of our wall cabinets. These, we purchased awhile back as well. Since they were built to be floor cabinets, he needed the legs cut off,

and to stain and poly....

We got the pot rack installed....

Because my kitchen is small, I will have limited cupboard space. Consequently I have been looking at every alternative for storage that I can. This had been sitting around in a box for awhile, just waiting for the right moment to hang.

I've have painted the back door...

Dan also woodburned a new door inset for our key rack! The key rack was here when we bought the house.

Original key rack

It was attached to the wall, full of old keys, and turned out to be a handy place to keep them. I liked the old inset, but I really like the one Dan woodburned for me better....

New door inset for key rack

Most recently, we installed the ceiling fan I bought last summer.

What a difference this makes in pushing the warm, wood cookstove heated air out of the kitchen and into the back bathroom and dining room. I have to say that with the two woodstoves, our house is finally warm this winter. It's not that we have a lot of square footage to heat (about 1400 sq. ft), it's the placement of the stoves. The soapstone stove should be adequate to heat all that, but being in the front of the house with a maze of doors for the heat to pass through, and the back of the house was always cold. The wood cookstove takes care of that and the ceiling fans on low reverse do wonders to circulate the heat. On top of that, the kitchen retains heat for quite awhile, thanks to the new insulation.

As you can see, we haven't been idle. Buying smaller items along the way was a good idea. Not only because it spreads out the cost, but because Dan is a project person and when the weather doesn't cooperate for outdoor projects, he has something to do in the house.

Hopefully once we get the floor down we'll have mild weather for the staining and finishing. After that will come the cabinetry. We have some of it, but some of it will need to be purchased (another save-up-for item). Then comes plumbing (I have the fixture but not the sink), countertops (we bought these about a month ago), and the seemingly endless (right, Mama Pea?) list of finishing up jobs, mostly moulding and trimwork. With a little good providence, my new kitchen should be ready for business this spring!

Waiting On The Kitchen Floor © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

A No Waste Way of Life

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I've been a bit slow to figure this out, but one day, while we were getting ready to make a trip to the recycling center / landfill, it occurred to me that the only things we throw away come from things we purchased, not from things we produce on the homestead. While we waste nothing that we grow, gather, produce, or raise for ourselves, our trash bags were filled with wrapping, packing, boxes, containers, broken parts, broken items, all from things we bought. On top of that, I am required to buy those trash bags just to throw the stuff away. This is frustrating on many levels. As a conscientious inhabitant of the earth, it goes against my sense of responsible stewardship to throw anything away. As a consumer, it's frustrating to know I've paid for every scrap of packaging and filler I have no use for, because those costs are passed on to the consumer. Plus, it takes time and fuel to dispose of the stuff, either mine, or a disposal company's (with the additional cost of paying for their service). As a homesteader it can be downright discouraging, because it means I'm still far too dependent on the consumer system.

Industry's answer to this recycling. Many products and packaging are now manufactured with recycled materials. Well, we should have been doing that all along. But have you noticed how these products almost always cost more? In my way of thinking, if the manufacturers are really wanting to do something to help the environment, shouldn't these cost less, to encourage everybody to buy them? Instead, it is expected that we will willingly pay more, for the sake of saving the planet. I don't get the thinking here. If their bottom line is money, doesn't it follow that mine is too?

The eye opener for me was when we lived in Florida. I was researching staring an herb farm, and somehow got a free subscription to a small business owners magazine. The first issue was about businesses going green. This was right up my alley, so I read it from cover to cover. When I set the magazine down, I was dismayed. Not one article, column, tip, ad, or letter to the editor, ever once mentioned environmental concerns, responsibilities, or motivations. The entire gist of the magazine was about profit, and concerns about losing profit because "green" products are more expensive to manufacture. The advice focused on advertising tips, semantics, gimmicks, how to balance the cost with short cuts, and using environmentally friendly products to bait customers.

Something else that bothers me, is that thanks to advertising, the media, and a few well meaning but out of touch environmental groups, there is a trend to make the consumer feel guilty about destroying the planet. While we do have responsibility in regards to our personal habits, I can't help but point out that in our modern way of life, we can only choose from what's offered to us. If I go to the store and am offered six brands of toilet paper, all wastefully manufactured, what can I do. I doubt the greenest person on earth is going to deny themselves toilet paper just to make a point. I know that's a silly example, but if we don't have a choice, or can't afford the "right" choice, then why are we being blamed for the problem?

I think most of us will agree that our 21st century lifestyle, with all it's choices and conveniences, comes with a price. That price comes in the form of overflowing landfills and pollution from the byproducts of the manufacturing process. Recycling is one good answer, assuming the recycling process is more energy efficient than the manufacturing process, which it isn't always. Even so, it is only a new innovation because trash and garbage are a relatively new innovation. Before the industrial age, folks had less. In having to make do with less, they were creative and clever with what they had. They produced very little actual waste. This was their way of life.

Now, our economic system is based on manufacturing rather than agriculture, and on ever increasing profits and "consumer spending," rather than meeting needs. Consequently, we have become trapped in a buy / waste cycle, so that the only way to truly waste less, is to buy less. However, we are repeatedly told that confident consumer spending is the key to economic health and growth, the key to pulling us out of the recession. When folks stop purchasing, companies lay people off, jobs become scarce, and we approach economic disaster. So. More buying = more waste = destroy the planet. Less buying = less waste = economic disaster. What a conundrum!

Such realizations demand action, and I'm no exception. I'm not however, going to jump on any bandwagons. With all respect to those for whom they are important, movements are not the answer. Not that they don't stem from good motives, but movements tend to turn into advertising ploys, fads, and political weapons. I say, let's just start doing what we ought to have been doing all along, and training our children and grandchildren to do the same.

What we ought to be doing as consumers, is learning how to make do with less. How to do without. How to be creative with what we have. How to be content with what we have. How not to be suckered by advertising, fads, and trends. How to resist impulse buying. How to analyze whether or not we really need a thing. How to accurately appraise the value of that thing. How to do more for ourselves, grow more for ourselves, make more for ourselves. You frugal folks understand this. And the economy? Well, I've said it before; the economy never should have been based on a consumer / profit system in the first place.

Is a no waste way of life a realistic goal? Is it something we can actually achieve? Honestly, unless given enough time, I don't know. I do know however, that without a goal, no progress is made, and that this is an area in which I still have freedom to make choices. So, no challenges, no invitations to join me, just sayin' what's on my mind. Something for each of us to think about.

A No Waste Way of Life © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Good Chickens, Stupid Song

2012-01-18T05:50:00.000-05:00

With apologies to Dorothy, The Wizard, and the Land of Oz

I'm off to feed the chickens
Those wonderful chickens of ours
They need the feed to lay the eggs
If ever some eggs there was

If ever the moulting will come to an end
If ever the pullets will grow into hens,
Because, because, because, because, because,
Because we love eggs for the things they does

I'm off to feed the chickens
Those wonderful chickens of ooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuurs

Don't you just hate it when you get some stupid song stuck in your head? Actually, I can change it now.

Our very 1st Buff Orpington pullet egg

So with apologies to the Campbells and the Scots....

The chickens are laying, Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro
The chickens are laying, Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro ...........

Buff Orpington, Barred Holland, & Ameraucana eggs

Good Chickens, Stupid Song © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

A Question For Pickle Pusses

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Leftover pickle juice

What do you all do with your leftover pickle juice? Being the frugal sort, I cannot stand to throw anything out if it might be useful. Pickle juice is one of those things that is useful, but I have more of it than uses for it. We like it in homemade cole slaw, and Dan occasionally adds a bit to a glass of water, to give it some zing. Because of the salt and acidity, it's one canning liquid I won't use to water any plants or in the compost. I'm sure it could be used in salad dressings. Does anyone have any recipes? Any other suggestions?

A Question For Pickle Pusses
© January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

This post is linked to
Barnstead Barn Hop #45
Click the link for more or to join in.

New Oven, Old Pans

2012-01-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

My Sweetheart wood cookstove has a nice deep, but narrow oven. I was concerned about whether or not my favorite bakeware would fit, so I got it all out to see. My favorite cookie sheets failed the test.

Favorite cookie sheets

These are old Air Bakes, which I love because I'm prone to burn cookies on the bottom. Unfortunately, they are a smidge too wide. The cookie sheets I never use, on the other hand, fit fine.

Not-favorite cookie sheets

That means my rectangular cake pan and muffin tins will fit as well, because they are the same width and length. My larger cookie sheet...

Large cookie sheets

... is one I seldom use for cookies, but I do use it a lot roasting vegetables. If it fits, this one ought to as well....

Roasting pan

This is the roasting pan I use once a year for the Thanksgiving turkey. With the rack on the bottom, I think there's plenty of room for that once a year bird.

Covered roasting pan

This smaller covered roasting pan, I use for whole chickens.

Stoneware clay baking dish

The stoneware baking dish above was a thrift store find. It's by Pampered Chef and was apparently never used. It fits nicely as well, but I've never really cooked with clay or stoneware before. Any tips?

Large bread pans, for bread or meatloaf.

My new oven can hold two large bread pans nicely, though I like the next size down better, because they force the dough to rise taller and the slices are a better size for us. The real test though was this....

My beloved pizza stone. Alas.

My beloved and weekly used pizza stone. It doesn't fit!!! The dinky one that came with my old toaster oven and have never used however,

My not loved at all pizza stone. Hmph.

... fits just fine. Rats. This is a dilemma. Since Friday night pizza is mandatory at our house, I think the best solution would be to see if I can order a second oven rack (the stove came with only one.) That way I could bake two smaller pizzas. The part is listed in the owner's manual, so I'll have to see what I can do.

New Oven, Old Pans © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Homegrown Ginger

2012-01-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

About a year or so ago, I purchased some fresh ginger to use for something, I can't remember what now. Anyway, I had a rhizome leftover and wondered whether or not I could plant it. We use a lot of ginger, but being a tropical plant, I didn't know if it was possible to grow in the house. I did a little online research, and finally found good information in Tropical Permaculture's article, "Growing Ginger Root". I decided to give it a try and planted my rhizome in a 2 gallon pot.

It was slow to start, but eventually grew into a pretty potted plant (above). When frost was imminent I brought it indoors, and pretty much left it alone until all the leaves died back. Just a few days ago, I pulled the dead leaves and dug it up. It was lovely because I could smell the ginger even before I got it out of the pot.

I didn't know what to expect, but there were several good size clumps of rhizomes. I should have weighed them, but didn't think about it at the time; it's all in the bowl in the photo on the left. It's not a year's worth for us, but it's a start. Considering how easy it was to grow, growing more will be no problem, though at the moment I'm not set up for many house plants due to our remodeling projects. I ended up replanting two of the budding rhizomes, and washed the rest to make candied ginger.

I looked at a lot of candied ginger recipes. The two I liked the best were from Alternative Medicine About.com because it was the simplest, and this one, Candied Ginger Simplified, because it was so thorough. I used 2 cups of chopped ginger, 3 cups water, and 1 cup sugar. I looked for a recipe using honey instead of sugar, but didn't find anything satisfactory. Also, I did not peel the ginger, I'm just not into peeling things if it can be helped. If that effects it unpleasantly, I'll peel it next year.

I simmered it until it was soft, drained, and then dried in a slow oven on a cookie sheet. The last step was to coat with sugar, something I did because it seemed traditional.

We use candied ginger medicinally, because it is excellent for nausea, upset stomach, car sickness, flatulence, or any other digestive problems. It really settles a queasy tummy in a jiffy. I also use a lot of powdered ginger, both in baking and in any herbal formula that might be strong on the stomach, like a fresh garlic drink. I haven't yet mastered fine powdering herbs, so I'll save that project for another year. We use some fresh in various tinctures. It's also an ingredient in several tea blends I buy.

All I'll need to grow a year's worth is a number of large pots. And a place to put them during the winter. I'll have to keep track of this batch, to get an idea of how long it lasts, and how many rhizomes I'll need to plant. So nice this is so easy to grow.

Homegrown Ginger © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Last Rooster Standing

2012-01-09T09:30:00.000-05:00

It is with great relief that I can say we're finally down to only one rooster. This was the second batch of chicks we've raised, but I have to say that the two experiences were vastly different.

Our first chicks were of mixed breeds: Delawares, Ameraucanas, Welsummers, and Barred Hollands. Out of 24, we ended up with 13 roosters. Almost all of those were either scardy cats or greedy guts; they either ran away at the first loud noise, or else they pushed every other chicken out of the way and gobbled down all of the feed. There was only one that actually took up what I would call roostering, i.e. keeping an eye out for the hens and finding them things to eat. He was obviously the one to keep at the time.

Out of this year's batch of 18 chicks we had ended up with 14 survivors. Eight of these were roosters. They were different for several reasons: all but one was the same breed (Buff Orpington), were hen raised, and had an adult rooster already on the premises. A rooster that chased them all over the place, I might add. The biggest difference however, is that with our first batch, it was every rooster for himself. They all competed with one another for the food and the hens. These however, banded together as a pack. They would forage together with one keeping watch and giving warning if I walked around the corner. They would chase, corner, and jump the hens. One would pin her down while the others all pecked at her head.

All of this caused no little upset in my original flock, especially once Lord B was gone. Mama Welsummer had a place in the new pecking order, but the other Wellie and Barred Holland refused to leave the coop. The Ameraucana sisters vacated it altogether, taking up residence in the garden tool room of the coal barn.

I realized part of what was going on was because we already had a flock rooster. I assumed once he was gone however, things would settle down and another would naturally take his place. That wasn't the case. There were changes in the cockerels' social structure as we thinned their numbers, but none became any more attached to the pullets and hens than any other. They were their own team.

I watched them carefully over the days, trying to figure out which rooster would be the best one to keep. At first I looked for the characteristics that make a for a good flock roo. As we thinned them out however, I realized that the next guy in the pecking order simply moved up, and nothing else really changed. In the end, I chose this guy....

... not so much based on personality characteristics, but for some reason, he didn't hang out with the other Buff Orpingtons as much. In fact, he could often be found with with my older hens. They in turn, kept a wary eye on him, but didn't run in terror every time they saw him. I even saw him try to sweet talk one of the older gals one time, with some tidbit in his beak. I figured if I kept this guy, he would eventually be accepted by all the hens, and I might have a chance of restoring peace in my chicken yard. In addition, he was one of the largest cockerels, which is a quality to pass on to offspring.

With only one roo, the chicken yard was immediately quieter and calmer. Since there's less roosters now, there's less crowing in general, but even on his own, this one doesn't seem to crow as much as Lord B did. Nor is he constantly "talking." With no other roos around, the chosen one has no competition and no one else to hang out with (nor run away from), but the hens. Initially he spent more time with the older girls, but gradually migrated toward the Buffs.

Now that things have settled down, he tends to stick with the Buffs. All the chickens spend the night in the coop (the Ameraucanas consented to come back), but it's still as though we have two flocks. Lord Buff will chase the older gals back into the coop if they try to come out into the yard, though he doesn't harass them like the other cockerels did.

About the only original hen who is happy with the new set-up is Lady B, my original Barred Holland hen. She was at the absolute bottom of the original pecking order. She was picked on terribly to the point of having most of her feathers pulled out. Now, she's closer to the top, over most of the Buff pullets. She's a happy camper.

I'd like to think that things will eventually work out. Perhaps they will. At least things have settled down in the chicken yard.

Last Rooster Standing © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Now I'm Cookin'

2012-01-07T06:10:00.000-05:00

Did you get that?

Does that mean what you think it means? Yup.

That means that Dan finally got the chimney pipe installed and we're at long last using our wood cookstove. Because the stove spent almost a year in Dan's workshop, we're treating it like new. That means half a dozen or so small, break-in fires to dry out the firebrick and cast iron top. These are prone to pick up moisture and in our humidity, that is surely the case. Plus, we don't think the original owner used it much.

I've had quite a few readers ask me whether this is a new stove or an antique. It was purchased new by the people we bought it from, and is still being manufactured by AGA MARVEL in Ontario. That was important to Dan, because it means we can purchase replacement parts if needed. Being new also means it has a UL listing, and had built in dampers instead of requiring a stovepipe damper.

This kind of damper is installed
in the stovepipe, versus...

click to enlarge

dampers that are built in to the stove.
Both types regulate air flow

We did look at a number of antique stoves first. While relatively cheap (in the $400 to $700 range), every one we looked at had problems: long gone door seals; loose legs; missing grates, missing firebrick, missing doors, missing plate covers; cracks in the fire box, oven, or cast iron top; pitted cast iron; and if they had them, the water reservoirs usually had holes. The companies that made these stoves are long since out of business, so finding replacement parts would be near impossible. We also researched having repairs done, but these would have cost more than the stove. And if the system couldn't be made airtight, it would have been a real waste of fuel, heat, and money.

We finally found my dream stove on Craigslist, a Waterford Stanley, but even used, it was going for more money than we had. Patience paid off however, and we finally found this one, a Heartland Sweetheart. It came with a water reservoir, and the sellers were including their double walled stove pipe, insulated chimney pipe, connectors, collars, caps, etc, plus a floor protector. We paid $2000 for everything, which I figured new would have been somewhere close to $8000.

I absolutely love cooking on it. Even a small fire heats the cast iron top over the firebox quickly. A pot of oatmeal can start to a simmer within five minutes. That's in one of my stainless steel pots. Cast iron takes longer to heat up, but that's where removing a burner plate and setting the pot into the hole comes in handy. I'm still learning damper settings as well as the temperature variations across the flat top. I love being able to regulate cooking temperature merely by moving a pot or a pan. I haven't tried the oven yet because we're still doing our break-in fires.

Another plus, the warming oven. I hate putting hot food on cold plates, but now I don't have to any more. The warming oven is wonderful to warm plates, bowls, mugs, and soften butter. I'll also be able to use it to start yeast and raise bread dough.

Best of all, my kitchen is warm now. I feel so blessed.

Now I'm Cookin' © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

My Winter Garden in January

2012-01-05T06:05:00.000-05:00

Cabbage-collards (front) & turnips (back)

My garden hasn't changed much since the last time I showed it to you. I've mulched a few more beds and some things have grown a little, but even that has been slow. We've been eating more out of it than we did at this time last year, because the weather has been milder, much more so than our first two winters here. Not that I'm complaining about this, it's actually been more typical for this part of the country. Last year by January, we'd already had several snows, and the garden was pretty dormant. This year, plenty of rain but nary a flake in the sky and the temperatures have only dipped below 20 F a couple of times. Most daytime recoveries are in the 40s at least.

Front to back: Scarlet Nantes carrots, Detroit Red beets (reddish in
color, hard to see), both from saved seed, and Siberian Dwarf kale

That's means we're still enjoying various greens such as lettuce, beet, collard, cabbage-collard, and kale.

Dwarf Siberian Kale

The kale is Dwarf Siberian, last year's freebie thank you seed packet, from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. A number of years ago I grew a curled Scotch kale, but no one in the family was very impressed. Dan and I really like this variety however. It's great raw in salads, as a steamed green, or ingredient for soup or stew. The goats like it too.

My radishes have grown huge.

Probably China Rose & Pink Beauty Radishes

Surprisingly, they are not pithy nor too hot. They make a very tasty salad with that fresh kale.

We're also enjoying beet roots and plenty of turnips...

Purple top white globe Turnips

We share the turnip greens and trimmings with the goats. We like turnips a variety of ways: roasted, steamed, boiled and mashed (with or without potatoes), and mostly as sauerruben.

Lacto-fermented turnips, a.k.a. sauerruben

Some things are slower to grow, so I'm still waiting to harvest, like carrots and my parsnips.

All American Parsnip
Last year I planted Harris Model, but nothing grew

Other slow growers include broccoli ...

Waltham 29 broccoli from saved seed

Waltham 29 is supposed to be ready in 85 to 90 days, but I planted these the third week of September and the largest head was only about the size of a quarter. I harvested them all just the other day, when we were forecast to dip into the teens with a high of only 30. Frost kissed is one thing, frozen is another. I got enough for us to have in a broccoli, kale, dried cranberry salad.

This cabbage too, was slow....

I don't remember the variety

This is one of the nine purchased plants I planted last April. I harvested it along with the broccoli. It will make a tasty sauerkraut.

Lastly, the winter wheat is growing well,

Winter wheat

and the seed catalogues are arriving in droves. I reckon it's time to start thinking ahead toward spring. :)

My Winter Garden in January © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Kitchen Remodel: Dining Alcove Ceiling

2012-01-03T06:40:00.000-05:00

One of the things we liked about our original kitchen, was the tongue & groove walls and ceiling. Unfortunately we had to take some of the walls down for structural repair and insulation. These were mostly exterior walls which we finished with drywall. The remaining walls we left in tongue & groove. When it came to the ceiling, we had two ideas: leave the T&G and add decorative ceiling beams, or install a tin ceiling.

I admit I wasn't real keen on a tin ceiling, but Dan loves them. This was what actually led to our decision to give the dining alcove a different look from the rest of the kitchen. We could use tin panels on the alcove ceiling, and still have our beams in the main part of the kitchen. Plus, because the alcove area is small, 5.5 by 7.5 feet, a tin ceiling would be affordable there; in fact, it cost us less than $275.

The tin ceiling would also solve a couple of problems we had there as well. One was the holes left by two previous light fixtures, which you can see in the photo below.

A hall light used to be on the left, pantry light on the right,
but that was long before we bought the place.

The second problem, was a couple of buckled ceiling boards....

Problem: buckled ceiling boards between the old light fixtures.

Dan fixed this by cutting between the two boards with his skilsaw and then screwing them tightly to the ceiling joist.....

Solution: screw the buckled boards to the ceiling joist

This flattened the ceiling out nicely, which we needed for nailing the tin panels to. Because we have a wood ceiling, we didn't need to first install a substrate. We could nail the panels directly to the ceiling. All we had to do was run chalk lines, and Dan used a brad nailer to attach the panels.

The panels are 24 inches square, with a 6 inch pattern. Pattern repeat is 12 inches. I figured a small pattern would be better for a small space. Plus it made it easy to know where to cut and fit partial panels.

Next came the crown moulding. This was trickier and we did mess up a little. However, I doubt anyone will notice from a galloping horse.

I had a hard time photographing the whole thing, but here's a fair shot....

And here it is in perspective with the rest of the kitchen....

One end

And the other

I think that about does it for the ceiling, except for the lights.

Kitchen Remodel: Dining Alcove Ceiling © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

2012: Goals For The Homestead

2012-01-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

Here it is January 1st, and we still haven't finalized our goal list for 2012! In some ways it seems that we ought to be getting a handle on everything, and have a shorter list. In other ways, having a few major projects now behind us, seems to open the door for all sorts of other possibilities. One big item that is not on the list, is a new barn, though we definitely need one. Not including that, here's what we've got our sights set on so far.....

House

finish kitchen (this first)
stiffen bedroom floors (next, both sagging badly)
Then start on front of house. We're the neighborhood eyesore! That project includes:

porch (a big job, needs structural repair)
siding
front door

continue with new siding on the rest of the house. We need to do this before we install rainwater catchment. We don't want to move tanks and disconnect things to get to the sides of the house!

Garden

worm bed for composting (and feeding to chickens)
continue bordering my terrace beds
Expand front yard herb & flower garden by at least one bed. I'm planning this should be a new comfrey bed. I lost most of my comfrey last summer due to heat and dryness. Best option is where the trench was dug to bury the power lines. The soil's already turned there so why not. I'll order more comfrey plants as well because this is a valuable protein source for the goats.
find another (3rd) new home for the strawberries &
plant the old strawberry and comfrey beds in annual rye or something that might help choke the wire grass out
need an edger / weed whacker for the beds in the front yard. I can't believe I'm saying that but this is a problem.
incorporate more permaculture techniques

Animals

Fence in blueberry bush to protect from the goats (a must)
Prepare for pigs (at least we'd like to)
Think about getting turkeys (I'm only committing myself to thinking about it because it's not just ordering poults, it's having a place for them to live)
Continue pasture improvement

Other

The woods - a lot more pines are down; might be a resource for that new (log?) barn. Consider what would be the best thing to do with that part of the property: fence for browse? plant? with what?
Need to consider how & where to store and process our grain crops as we expand on that. Right now everything is on the front porch; probably not the best place for storage, and nowhere to thresh and winnow. Another reason we need a proper barn.
Try another grain crop? Oats?

Well, that's the goal list as it stands today. After finishing the kitchen, it's the first year we don't have a specific indoor house project as the front porch will be all outside work. That will likely change when we get a long rainy or cold spell and can't work outside. If you hadn't noticed, Dan is a project person and can't stand to sit around without something to do.

The hall bathroom is probably the next indoor project; it has plumbing problems and water damage to the floor. We're still looking toward turning it, part of the hall, and the second bedroom into a master suite, though have nothing more than a sketch toward it so far. The original house floor plan here, plan with master suite here. It's nice having both indoor and outdoor projects to adjust to the weather!

Some things on this year's list are more urgent than others and will take priority. Some things are still in the research and preparation phase, and may or may not see beginning materialization. I do find that putting things on the goal list prompts us to do at least something toward doing the things that need to be done.

How about you? What are your plans for the new year?

2012: Goals For The Homestead © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

2011: Year In Review

2011-12-30T06:17:00.000-05:00

I have really learned to appreciate these "year in review" posts. So often we only see what's undone, or remains to be done, rather than focusing on the progress we've made. Taking a month by month look back at the year is a good reminder of that.

January

We had a lot of snow in January

January's house project was continuing work on our small second bathroom. Dan installed a new water heater, turning the tiny, old pantry into a utility room. We began to think about future water conservation systems and started making plans for remodeling our kitchen. In January we got our "big snow." This was the month I lost Charlie. Our outside project was preparing the overgrown field for our first planting of field corn.

February

Things always look better on the other side of the fence

In February, we finished remodeling the bathroom. We started to tear into the kitchen, but decided we'd better do the back porch first, to use as a temporary kitchen. I also started this year's garden plans, deciding to try a companion group garden.

March

Our experimental wheat patch was coming along.

In March we worked on the back porch: put in new back door, leveled the floor, and installed a kitty door. We also interviewed electricians about moving the circuit breaker box. I worked on my goal to conquer the wire grass and I moved all my strawberries to 2 new beds.

April

April was kidding month

In April we continued to make progress on the back porch by installing a laundry sink. We planted our field corn and added two Hugelkultur beds to the herb garden. In April, our first goat kid was born, followed by Surprise's Easter twins.

May

Fort William, our log buck barn (complete with Pygmy bucks)

May's kidding was less successful as Jasmine gave birth to a stillborn. We sold our grade goats and used to money toward buying two Pygmy bucks. To prepare for that, Dan built a log buck barn. I discovered I could make whipped cream from goat milk. Hot discussion topics on my blog included 2nd year egg laying, and immunities and goats milk. In the house, we installed folding attic stairs in the back porch ceiling.

June

My companion group gardening
experiment was going well

In June we harvested our small experimental patch of wheat and fenced off a section of pasture for the bucks. We started preparations for the electrical work on the house, and I made my first experiments with cheesemaking. June also seemed like a good month to rearrange and inventory the pantry, in preparation for this year's harvest.

July

Homestead mozzarella on homemade pizza

In July, we made our Kinder herd name official. All month I had to compete with the goats for the blueberries. The field corn was out of control. In July, I mastered the art of mozzarella making, we revised our homestead master plan, and had my 1st broody hen.

August

We had 2 home hatched & 16 mail order chicks

In August I showed you our new chicks. It was the month we started serious work on the kitchen: milling our own load bearing ceiling beam, removing a load bearing post (in the middle of the kitchen floor), and replacing it with Dan's beam. This month we had a horrific storm that knocked out my computer. We finished fencing part of the woods for a buck browse, and lost our Pygmy buckling shortly after that.

September

Calico popcorn, part of September's harvest

September was the month we relocated and installed a new kitchen back door. I bought new kitchen windows to replace the old, and we got the first one installed, but not without difficulty. An extension of that project was new exterior siding on that section of the house. In September, we harvested our field corn and started the fall garden.

October

By October, the pantry shelves were full

In October I began to work out some of the details for my kitchen plans. We finished the electrical upgrade and painted the new siding. We had a bumper crop of pecans, and I got my first Meyers lemon. I also tallied my first food preservation totals for the year and we planted about a quarter acre of winter wheat. Our 1st frost was Oct. 30th.

November

In November we took major steps in the kitchen remodel.

November was the month I lost Katy. Dan finished the chinking on the buck barn. In the kitchen, we tore down the odd, old wall cabinets and moved the pantry door. We bought a water filter and I learned how to can green tomatoes for frying. All month long I foraged for persimmons for the first time, and got about a quart of pulp to freeze.

December

In December we got the
wood cookstove installed

December was mild but wet, and a big month for working on the kitchen. Dan rebuilt a section of the kitchen floor to level it for our woodcook stove, we tore out the last of the kitchen cabinets and got the wood cookstove in. We also installed the second new window, insulated that wall, and put up the drywall. I wallpapered the dining nook. In addition, the chicks were 5 months old and creating a ruckus. Dealing with that seemed to mark a change in our homestead journey.

That's our look back at 2011. 2012, here we come.

2011: Year In Review © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Riley's Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-28T07:44:00.000-05:00

Riley's Wordless Wednesday photos © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/
Just because you can right click it,
doesn't mean you have a right to it.

Kitchen Remodel: Creating A Nook Look

2011-12-26T06:03:00.000-05:00

When we first sat down and wrote up our "must have" list for the kitchen remodel, one of the things on that list was a dining nook. The place to put it? In this alcove .....

Kitchen entrance & future dining nook

.... which also serves as the entryway into the kitchen. This was not part of the original kitchen. When the house was built, this area contained a small pantry on the right, with the original back door on the left. It was connected to the 11.5 by 11.5 foot kitchen by a short hallway. Earlier occupants tore out the pantry to enlarge the kitchen, and we moved the back door to create a place for a small dining table and two chairs.

Wallpapers for my dining nook.

Another thing we wanted to do, was to give this part of the kitchen a separate but coordinating look. I knew I could do that with a different treatment of the walls, and use the flooring and color scheme to tie the two parts of the room together.

As I got to work I was really happy with this selection

My main wallpaper was expensive, so I tried to squeeze every square inch out if it that I could. I've actually never spent this much on wallpaper before, but my sweet husband encouraged me all along to create the kitchen I want. I reckon he feels safe doing that because he knows ~~what a tightwad~~ how frugal I am. I did find it deeply discounted online, but also planned to use the second paper, which I found at a thrift store. The border was from WalMart.

The bottom paper went quickly.

This was one of the few times I've been able to put up the wallpaper before the trims and mouldings. That means there are no precise measurements and exact cuts to worry about, which made it the easiest wallpapering job I've ever done. The hardest was probably that teeny tiny bathroom just off the kitchen.

And finished.

There's enough "waste" and scraps for part of the other wall we drywalled, between the countertop's molded-in backsplash and wall cabinets, plus have enough in reserve for possible future repairs.

What was left over.

Next step, the ceiling and crown moulding. That one was Dan's pick. More on that here - Kitchen Remodel: Dining Alcove Ceiling

Kitchen Remodel: Creating A Nook Look © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Homestead Lemon Cream Pie

2011-12-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

Lemon Cream Pie, a Christmas tradition

Lemon cream pie is my best favorite pie. I love pie and can list a lot of others I like, but given a choice, and if it's made with my great-grandmother's recipe, this is the one I'll choose. Very exciting then to be able to grow and harvest my own lemons, even if it's only a few.

My dwarf, potted, Meyers lemon tree first bloomed exactly a year ago, and I've watched the flowers turn to tiny lemons. I started with about 27 teeny little fruits, but the tree self-pruned until in the end I got 5 mature lemons. The first lemon fell off the tree in October, and didn't look so good. The good parts tastily flavored iced tea. One more went for tea on Thanksgiving, and one went for making green tomato jam. I saved the biggest and the best for a lemon cream pie. That along with our homestead eggs and milk, make it very special indeed.

This recipe is a very old one, and I'm giving it to you exactly as I received it. As with many old recipes, it assumes a basic working knowledge of the techniques, and I have to say that watching my grandmother make this pie for many years really helped. No one else in my immediate family cares for lemon pie, so I only make it once a year, usually around Christmastime.

Lemons, eggs, & milk, all homegrown

Ella's Lemon Cream Pie

This makes a small, lemony, tart/sweet pie, not just lemon flavored! If you're a lemon lover, this one's for you.

2 lemons, grate rind & juice
1 C. sugar (I increased to 1.25 C because the lemons were so large)
1 C. milk
2 tbsp cornstarch or flour
3 egg yolks

Cook in double boiler. Frost with whites of eggs beaten stiff with 1/2 cup sugar. Brown in oven.

Just out of the oven

Cook's Notes:

Ella was my great-grandmother on my father's side.
The recipe doesn't mention it, but obviously you need an empty, baked, pie shell.
I used my no-fail pie crust recipe for that, click here & scroll down a bit
I used Mama Pea's trick to make it behave while baking
I am not an artistic cook and rarely manage aesthetic, picture book creations. Obviously.
Cooking the filling to thicken takes fairly long, over 30 minutes. I cook it until it traces (like soap) and then some. It needs constant stirring, so I always take this time to read a book!
It sets completely as it cools.
The biggest challenge was whipping the egg whites by hand, because my Kitchen Aid is still on the fritz.
Dan helped with that.
I use my smallest pie pan, a 9 incher. Even then it does not make a thick or tall pie.
This is fine with me because it's not the meringue I'm after, it's the filling. ;)

Homestead Lemon Cream Pie © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Evaluating Our 2011 Homestead Goals

2011-12-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

The calendar is on the past page. That means it's a good time to start reflecting on what we're trying to do, and how well we're doing it; to evaluate the progress we've made on this year's goals. This year's list was shorter than last year's. This wasn't because we had less to do, it was because the goals we did have were for bigger projects. Our first year saw the need for a lot of little steps to get organized. This year we've been able to start building on that. As I look back over our 2011 goals, here's what I see:

House - we got a lot done on the house

Goals accomplished:

finished bathroom
replaced old water heater, relocating from crawlspace to old pantry turned utility room (that was fun)
remodeled back porch - as summer, canning, & temporary kitchen
relocated circuit panel
had power lines to house buried

Goals not:

install new front door (which has been residing in the hallway for almost 2 years now).

Goals in progress:

remodeling kitchen (last update on that, here). We started on it in February, when we tore out a set of old cabinets, detoured with the back porch, and then shifted our attention to outdoor projects. We resumed work on the kitchen in August, when Dan made and installed our load bearing ceiling beam. We've been hard at it ever since.

Garden - 50/50 on garden goals.

Goals accomplished:

expanded the front yard herb garden by 2 beds
started growing our own grains: field corn last summer, and wheat this winter

Goals not:

win the battle against that nasty wire grass in the strawberries and comfrey - not only did I not win this battle, but the wire grass took over my new strawberry beds as well, and presses in to new territory in the garden
hoop houses or row covers - the only progress I made on this was looking for supplies to do it. I couldn't find the right size PVC pipe, so didn't pursue it. This is the 2nd year in a row I haven't met this goal! Do I dare include it in next year's?

In addition are the goals listed in my 2010 garden analysis. I:

got my mulching done earlier
planted new things like asparagus, Egyptian walking onions, multiplier onions
tried new varieties of melons, cucumbers, popcorn, lettuce, sweet potatoes
and expanded companion planting into a group system

Animals

Goals accomplished:

prepared for kidding & milking
grew more of our own grain for feed - I put this in the accomplished list, only because of the word "more." The goal should have been begin to grow grain for animal feed, which is what we actually did. We have a long way to go to be self-sufficient in this department.

Goals not:

raise meat chickens - after much discussion, we dropped this one. Not the raising part, but the part about specific meat breed chickens. We decided to stick with a heavier dual purpose heritage breed. They don't dress out like grocery store chickens, but that's just something we'll have to accept. Dan does not like the idea of hybridizing chickens for specific purposes like meat & eggs

Goals in progress:

improve existing pasture/hay - we have the seed for this and are preparing to plant it this winter

Water conservation systems - only small steps taken here

Goals accomplished:

none

Goals not accomplished:

greywater recycling
rainwater collection

Steps taken toward these goals:

analyzed our property for such systems
fitted new bathroom and laundry plumbing with an eye toward greywater recycling in the future
bought 4, 250 gallon tanks for rainwater collection, though they're still sitting in the yard

The nice thing about goals, is that there isn't the same pressure to achieve them as resolutions. They are very useful for project planning and figuring out what to do next. They can be adjusted or changed as needed. They are also useful for evaluating one's progress, and setting the next year's goals.

If you had goals for the year, I'd love to hear about them, along with how well you've been able to meet them and which ones you had to change. I can't say this enough, but we really can learn a lot from one another.

Evaluating Our 2011 Goals © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

1st Rooster Culled & The Aftermath

2011-12-19T15:20:00.000-05:00

If you read the chicken update in my last Around The Homestead post, then it likely comes as no surprise that Lord B was the first rooster culled. Had circumstances been different, it was not a choice we would have made. It was his nonacceptance of the new chickens, and the ongoing conflict and chaos that resulted, which made it impossible to keep him.

He'd seemed a near perfect rooster: good personality, protective and deferential toward his hens, not aggressive toward humans, and provided us with hours of entertainment. He always came running when I called him, and would accompany us anytime we took a walk around the fields. As he got older however, he began to show more aggressive tendencies. He threatened to attack me twice for trying to shoo him, and Dan once, for imitating his rooster dance. This caused me to begin to keep an eye on him, but the real problem was that he was not receptive of the new chicks. Once the young cockerels began to mature, there was constant crowing and chasing and cornering and attacking. One option would have been to butcher all the young cockerels earlier than we originally planned. That would eliminate the male competition, but His Lordship didn't like the pullets either. The other option was to eliminate him.

In decision making, we fell back on our homestead goals. We would like to keep a heritage, dual purpose breed flock. Initially we thought it would be Barred Hollands, because we really liked the look of ours. They and their eggs are somewhat small however, so we considered other breeds. That was why we got the Buff Orpington chicks. The bigger goal however, is to be as food self-sufficient as possible. That means we need to perpetuate our chickens. I figure if we can hatch some homestead chicks every year, we can keep ourselves in eggs with occasional meat. If B wouldn't accept expansion of his flock now, he wouldn't next year either, or the year after that.

The dispatch went much more quickly and smoothly than our first experiences. This time around we scalded the carcass and what a difference that made. It was a breeze to pluck! Because he was an older bird (almost 2 years) we used a temp of 180 F for 60 seconds. Temperature and time vary according to age and size, (insert nod to Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living here.)

We have to agree with Herrick Kimball, that butchering chickens will never be something we'll actually like to do. Taking responsibility for what we eat though, is something that comes with the agrarian lifestyle. In the end you don't dwell on it, you just do it. Emotions? A tinge of remorse beforehand; afterward, relief.

My hopes of at least a temporary peace in the chicken yard were short lived. As soon as Lord B was gone, somebody started crowing, almost nonstop. It turned out to be the roo that His Lordship had picked on and chased the most. The entire flock sensed the change, and our original hens hung back that morning. The first to emerge from the coop was jumped on by about half a dozen of the young roos. They chased her mercilessly and probably would have killed her except that I interfered. Soon they spread out into the pasture, and the crowing commenced.

As the morning matured, things gradually settled down somewhat. There were still squabbles aplenty and jockeying for new positions in the pecking order. Since the two groups of chickens never integrated into one flock, we essentially had two flocks who shared the same quarters. With their protector gone, my older hens were now the ones being picked on, especially those who were meanest to the chicks. We later thought we should have done several of the cockerels at the same time, to upset their social order as well. That may have prevented some of the ganging up, but I wasn't sure yet which ones to cull first. This is something I would definitely do differently, should we ever be faced with a similar situation.

For us, life resumed as usual with no sense of sadness or grief. Still, there was a peripheral awareness that something had changed. It wasn't just the loss of a rooster, a particular rooster. It was because B about his business, had been a fixture in the mental landscape of our homestead. It was as though the infancy of our dream had come to its close.

Next comes the job of choosing a new rooster. We need to get on with this soon so that things will settle down. I don't want an aggressive bully, nor a scardy cat that runs away at the first loud noise (we've had both.) Nor do I want the "friendliest" rooster. What initially appears to be friendly behavior toward humans is actually boldness without fear. Based on the experience of others, I've learned that these often turn out to be the most aggressive toward humans as they mature. What makes it hard, is that being the same breed, they all look pretty much alike. It will be difficult to keep track of the ones with the qualities I'm looking for, the potential candidates. There are at least two who seem to be getting along with everybody, so I observe carefully to find something distinguishing about them.

On the other hand, having only one breed makes culling easier in some ways. They all look alike, so distinct identities are obscure. Two other things help. One, is to never think of them as pets, to make a deliberate choice to not develop an emotional bond to them. That's why we never technically named our chickens, though in describing them I often said Lady (breed) rather than The (breed). The B in Lord B's name is actually for his breed, Barred Holland. The other, is to not assign human emotions to them. They do have their own emotions and opinions, but I have begun to realize that animals do not perceive life and death as people do. Perhaps this is because animals do not have the spiritual decisions to make that people do.

I have only one photo. Considering my topic it's not offensive, but I still debated whether or not to show it to you. For some reason it just struck me as terribly humorous, which perhaps is incongruous with the rest of this post. At any rate, here it is.

I can only add that a slow cooker or crock pot is the best way to deal with an older, tougher bird. And with that, life goes on.

1st Rooster Culled & The Aftermath © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Kitchen Window, Kitchen Wall

2011-12-17T14:54:00.000-05:00

Between this week and last, Dan has had quite a few days off. Add to that some pretty weather, and we made a lot of progress in the kitchen.

In my last kitchen update, I showed you the inner wall we torn down. Since then, Dan had been anxious to get the new window installed while the temps were still fairly mild. This is the other window I bought at that surplus builders warehouse, the day I went window shopping.

Old kitchen window

As you can see in the photo above, the old window had no framing, like the first window we replaced. It was just stuck into the siding of the house. This one did have a token header though; one 2x4.

Fortunately we had a beautiful day to do the job. Dan had to enlarge the opening in the wall, and frame it out.

New kitchen window

The new window is the same width as the old, but 10 inches longer. That means I'll have more light and a better view from the kitchen sink. It's also an energy star window, with thick double panes.

The next step was to insulate the wall.

We opted for batts

You may have noticed in the photos of my "Farewell Kitchen Sink" post, that the old insulation was the blown in type. I'm sure it helped, but there was none under the window nor under the diagonal braces at the corner studs. During winter the cold pressed in so that there didn't seem to be any insulation there at all. I'm sure that helped heat the kitchen up during summer too.

Done & just in time. The temperatures took a nose dive shortly afterward.

Dan also added 2x4s between the studs in places the wall cabinets will go. Next step, drywall...

The refrigerator and sink will go against this wall (kitchen floor plan click here), so we got the kind that's mold and mildew resistant. He installed it horizontally instead of vertically, because of the placement of the studs. They are not the standard 16 inches apart, nor are they evenly spaced. By placing the drywall on the horizontal, he could see the studs and know where to put the screws.

What a difference all this makes. The room is so much snugger and cozier. Next we'll drywall the other walls Dan rebuilt. Soon I'll be able to put up my wallpaper!

Kitchen Window, Kitchen Wall © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Around the Homestead

2011-12-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

Updates, followups, and other odds and ends since my last Around The Homestead.

Wood Cookstove Installation.

It's installed up to the kitchen ceiling, except for the heat shield. Also to do, the chimney pipe.

Calico Popcorn. - We've had some lovely weather actually, though they are frequently interspersed with cold rainy days. Those days seem a good time to shell, thresh, and winnow some of our grains. I started with the calico popcorn.

2, gallon jars of the harvest

I planted 1/4 of a pound and weighed out a yield 17 & 3/4 pounds. That's plenty for some Christmas gifts, and at least a dent in a year's supply. How much can we eat? It's a favorite snack, so lots. Of course we had to pop up a bowlful for a sample.

Poppage was fair, with quite a few unpopped kernels in the bottom of the bowl. It was pretty though, and has a very good flavor. I'm going to save at least half a pound to plant next year. How long our harvest lasts will give me a better idea of what I need to plant.

Last of the green tomatoes.

Green tomato jam, albeit an unappealing color

Besides canning green tomatoes for frying, I also made and canned a small batch of green tomato jam. The recipe used no pectin, and at first it didn't thicken up as much as I'd hoped. I extended the cooking time, but it was still pretty soupy by the time I canned it. Processing made the difference, and the jam was set when it cooled. Taste test still to come. Unfortunately it's not a very pretty color.

Chicken panic. My morning routine with the chickens begins by opening the coop door at first light. This is for the safety of the now grown newcomers because our rooster, Lord B, has declared war on all them (even after the hopeful events of the hawk attacks). My hope is that by opening the door, they have a chance to escape the coop if need be. About half an hour later, when it's lighter out, I go throw some scratch around the chicken yard.

The other day it was raining when I headed out for the second time, so I tossed on my rain poncho. As I neared the chicken yard, I heard loud squawking and saw chickens running everywhere. Fearing the worst, I ran toward the yard. As I drew near, about half the flock shrieked and ran for the woods, the other half scattered everywhere in a panic. I ran after them but they ran away faster. Finally it dawned on me that because of my bright red rain poncho, they didn't have a clue as to who or what I was. Apparently even a familiar voice doesn't instill confidence if it's coming from a big red monster. I had to take the poncho off to coax them back to the yard with some chicken scratch. So much for staying dry during morning chores.

Lord B & the Buffs. He chases them to the other
side of the fence, and makes them stay there!

Eggs. I found three eggs in the goat's hay rack the other day.

The two darker browns are from my two Welsummers. I have no chicken that lays like the light one, so could it be from one of the Buff Orpingtons? They're going on 5 months now, so it's about time they should start to lay. This one though, seems too big for a pullet egg. I'm still barely getting an egg a day, which makes me glad for those frozen eggs. There's so much ruckus in the chicken yard though (all due to His Lordship), that I wonder if the hens are either laying elsewhere or not laying at all because of the fuss.

Funky eggs. I know folks with chickens get weird eggs from time to time. These are weird not in shape, but in innards.

I found them in a place I check every day, so I know they are fresh. They felt strangely light weight so I didn't waste any time cracking them open. The shells were very hard, but the yolks were dried out looking. What little egg white there was, was tinted. I've never had this happen before and don't have a clue as to what caused it. Any ideas?

Pecans. At the suggestion of CaliforniaGrammy, I got one of these....

She mentioned it after she read my "Looks Like A Good Year For Pecans" post. It's a Dukes Easy Pecan and Nut Cracker. It was inexpensive (less than $15), is sturdily built, and does a great job. This is the kind of convenience tool I really like!

Meyers Lemon - I've harvested three, and have two more to go....

Plus it's flowering! Next year's lemons are in the making.

Kinder breeding program. Seems to be a bust. Even if the girls will stand for Gruffy, they won't stand in front of the buck assist. And they fight being held there! I'm pretty sure they're still going into heat about every three weeks. Not sure what I'll do if neither of them gets bred.

Parting Shot. I borrowed this phrase from Theresa, who always has the cutest parting shots in her blog posts. Mine was taken shortly after we got the base of the cookstove in. We'd covered it to protect it from dust and debris as we worked on the kitchen. As you see, the lid to the firebox hadn't been put on yet.....

Master Riley claims the wood cookstove.

Around the Homestead © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Of Compost & Kitchen Scraps

2011-12-13T16:00:00.000-05:00

I know others have been saying this, but it's hard to believe it's December already. That means the year's end is right around the corner, and that means it's time to evaluate how well we achieved this year's goals. I've been reflecting on those, and doing so has me thinking about almost everything we do around here, even compost.

I reckon that over the years, we've tried almost every method of composting ever invented. We've tried piles, trenches, single bins, double bins, triple bins, bins with no doors, bins with removable doors, rings of wire fencing, and a homemade compost tumbler. We've turned daily, we've incorporated perforated pipe to provide oxygen, and we've tried the same with corn stalks too (both so-called no turn methods). We've covered our piles and left them open to air. It doesn't matter how you slice it, dice it, or julienne fry it, making compost is work. As in labor. There's no easy way to get it done.

Beginnings of a new compost pile.

Our first compost piles were mostly kitchen scraps and leaves, because that was all we had. That was in the days when the formula was complicated and recipes called for specific amounts of leaves, manure, straw, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, hair clippings, sawdust, legumes, etc. Even though we turned faithfully, our compost was slow to make. Very slow. Eventually I got three angora rabbits and we discovered the wonder of manure. What an amazing difference that made.

I have to say that in the end we didn't like the bins, hoops, or tumbler. We found that a simple pile on the ground suited us best. Of all the methods we did try, we discovered that trench composting was the best way to go with kitchen scraps. Simply dig a trench in a unplanted place in the garden, dump in kitchen scraps as you have then, and cover each addition with dirt. Most things decomposed very quickly right in the garden, with the exception of egg shells and hair.

Covered to keep chickens out,
and so the rain won't wash it away

Covered or uncovered? We've tried both ways. Uncovered, we found that the compost dried out too quickly and when it rained, too many of the nutrients washed downhill. When we left it uncovered, we had the biggest, greenest, healthiest, most potent poison ivy our side of the Mississippi. More recently, we've learned that having it covered keeps the chickens from spreading it all over the yard. Some folks say it won't get enough oxygen if it's covered, but we've never found that to be a problem. The key always boils down to frequent turning. The more frequently it's turned, the faster it makes.

Rows are easier to turn than piles

Having livestock makes composting all the more productive. Every time I clean out the chicken coop or goat stalls I think, GARDEN GOLD. We like to make long rows of the straw/leaf/manure mixture, wetting each wheel barrow load well. Any kitchen or garden scraps are layered in (no seedy weeds though) and the whole thing is covered with black plastic. For me, a long row is easier to turn than a big 4x4 foot pile.

Nowadays the recipe for compost is simpler, a ratio actually, of carbon to nitrogen. The ideal is considered around 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. Since these aren't distinctly measurable in various compostable items, it is often recommended to use 2 parts "green," nitrogen rich ingredients (i.e. manure, kitchen scraps, fresh grass clippings), to 1 part "brown," carbonaceous ingredients, (i.e. dried leaves, straw, hay, sawdust). Of course, you can get as complicated as you want with this. A good detailed explanation can be found here.

My compost sifter

For me, even that's too complicated and I think making compost is something most folks can figure out simply by doing and observing. No need to measure or weigh anything, nor take it's temperature. If it's radiating heat, it's working. If it isn't, it's not. If it's stinky, it's too wet and needs air; add dried leaves or straw and turn. If it's too slow, it needs water if it's dry, otherwise manure (or grass clippings, etc) to speed it up. When it's black and crumbly, it's done. For the impatient, like me, it can be sifted, and the big chunks tossed into a new compost pile.

Ideally, I'd like to make my compost just from barn cleanings: straw, leaves, and manure. I'd rather feed kitchen and garden scraps to the animals, who can utilize the nutrition as they convert them into that garden gold. Right now we feed a lot of our scraps to the chickens and goats, but there's a lot they won't eat. In thinking about future goals, we'd like to add pigs to help with that, and earthworms for what none of them will eat, things like tea bags, coffee grounds, soggy cardboard, etc. Not sure if we'll add both of these to our goals list for next year, worms for sure. Pigs, we still need to talk about but it's something we definitely need to consider.

How about you? Care to share your experiences and best tips?

Of Compost & Kitchen Scraps © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Farewell Kitchen Sink

2011-12-11T16:00:00.000-05:00

Kitchen sink and cabinets, as they looked right before the end

Farewell kitchen sink,
I will not miss you.

Your single bowl
I didn't like.
Dish drainer
Counter hog.

I will not miss you.

Farewell countertop,
sloping,

dribbling water,
on my toes
and in the drawers.
Rolling okra
to the floor
I will not miss you.

Farewell laminate.
Outdated,
scratched and stained,
edges loose
DIY badly done.

I will not miss you.

Farewell window.
Old and drafty,
leaking cold,
Not long enough
for a good view.
I will not miss you.

Farewell sink sealer,
grungy, grimy,
mildewed.

Poorly applied.
I will not miss you.

Farewell old circuit box.
Why there?

Eye sore,

empty now.

Better in the
utility room.

I will not miss you.

Farewell dishwasher.
Broken, useless.

Best use?
drying ziplocs.

I will not miss you.

Farewell cabinets,

Narrow sticking drawers,

bad paint job
showed every stain.

Impossible to clean.

Destruction is upon you.

Farewell .........

Farewell Kitchen Sink © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Persimmons

2011-12-09T00:00:00.002-05:00

About a year ago or so, our next door neighbor told us there was a persimmon tree in our woods. When we first went looking for it, it was surrounded by brush, shrubs, and smaller trees. We didn't do anything about it that year, but this year, I cleared out around it. Starting at the end of October, I was rewarded with a few persimmon fruits.

Ours is a native persimmon tree, Diospyros virginiana, commonly known as American persimmon. Smaller and seedier than the commercially grown Japanese persimmon, Diospyros kaki, they are nonetheless considered "best" by Joy of Cooking authors, Irma Rombauer and Marion Becker. So they say in their persimmon pudding recipe anyway. Hopefully that makes up for the extra work it takes to extract the pulp from them.

From the looks of things on the ground around the tree, persimmons are a great favorite of our local wildlife. Even without the competition, my chances of getting very many seemed slim, considering that it's a mature tree and all the persimmons are waaaaaay up there.

Dan brought out the extension ladder and managed to shake a few more out of the tree. I ran these through my Foley food mill, but much of the pulp clung to the seeds so that I didn't feel I was getting much. I froze what I could, and added a little more every couple of days. I learned to go persimmon gathering in the late afternoon, as there would be nothing but discarded seeds if I went in the morning.

According to Slow Food USA, the anglicized word “Persimmon” is derived from an Algonquin word which means "dried fruit". The seeds are sometimes roasted to make a beverage similar to coffee. Here in Appalachia, the dried seeds are said to be brewed to make beer, though I've never heard of anybody doing that. The pulp can be used a lot of ways, including breads, cakes, cookies, pies, puddings, muffins, ice cream, sherbets, butters, jams, jellies, and fruit leather. Persimmon pulp can be dehydrated, canned or frozen.

By the end of November I had nearly 4 cups of pulp the freezer. At the top of my list is a persimmon pie! More on that soon.

Persimmons © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

My Best Fall Garden Ever

2011-12-07T01:16:00.000-05:00

The last time I showed you my fall garden, things were coming along pretty well. With plenty of rain, and nothing worse than a few killing frosts, it's thriving.

Fall garden & a wheelbarrow load of leaf mulch

This has been the best fall garden I've ever planted. Not everything that I planted came up, and some of it came up sporadically, but what has, is doing well.

Broccoli, needing thinning.

I admit I've neglected it because of the kitchen remodeling project. It needs weeding and mulching. And thinning.

Garlic. I planted about 100 cloves.

This is the most garlic I've ever planted, about 100 cloves. I've been increasing our garlic every year, saving and replanted all I grow. My eventual goal is to grow a year's worth with some to spare. Maybe next year?

Cabbage collards in front, turnips in back.

I planted both collard seed, and cabbage collard plants. The collards were mainly for the goats, though we've eaten them as well. The cabbage collards though, are tastier.

Kale in foreground, beets (left) & collards (right) behind.

The beets survived the deer, maybe because I covered them at night for awhile. My buckwheat was completely demolished by them however. I was able to collect about a pint of seed and dry one cutting for the goats.

Parsnips growing in front, collards behind

This is the first year I've had parsnips come up, and I'm happy about that. I've also had some flowers survive several frosts, calendula.

Calendula (pot marigold) have survived a few frosts

The green you see in the background of some of the garden photos, is our winter wheat. I planted a small patch last year, and this year I bought 50 pounds to plant. That should have been enough for about half an acre, according to Gene Logsdon, but I planted thickly and used up 46 pounds before I got that half acre covered. So far it's doing beautifully.

Winter wheat

I think it worked out well that I didn't plant the entire half acre. This way we'll be able to plant corn in the spring without having to rush to get the wheat harvested first.

As you can see, I've begun the job of mulching everything. My preferred leaf mulch is from our pecan, hickory, maple, and dogwood trees. These are calcium accumulators, and my garden could certainly use the calcium from their decomposing leaves. I also plan to pile the unplanted beds with all the leaves I rake. It's a wonderful way to spend those mild autumn days.

My Best Fall Garden Ever © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Our Dippy Kitchen Floor

2011-12-04T22:38:00.000-05:00

I mentioned, when I showed you our new ceiling beams, that our kitchen ceiling dipped in several places. Well, the floor is the same way. There are several dips actually, but the worst one is in the middle of the room, and is 3/4 inch lower than the walls on both sides.

It took a 3/4 inch thick piece of flooring (left) to bring it up to level

Of itself, this might not be too bad; it could be shimmed and a new floor installed on top. Our challenge, was that this is where floor protection must go for the wood cookstove.

Floor protection guards a combustible floor against the potentially intense heat of a woodstove. Building codes dictate size and thickness, but it can either be installed as part of the floor, or on top of the floor. We built one of cement and brick for our wood heater, though it was more of a hearth, actually. The lady we bought the stove from, gave us everything to go with it. That included a 1 & 1/8 inch thick UL listed, brick pattern cement board to go under the stove.

Cement board floor protector,
sitting on top of the old floor

The problem with leaving it on top of the floor, is it's thickness. It sticks out where all the traffic will be, and would be too easy to stub barefoot toes on, or trip over. Because of that, we initially did not plan to use it. Our first idea was to embed ceramic tiles into a new wood plank floor. That was before we realized how serious the dip in the floor was. That dip is probably one of the reasons the old ceramic tiles were in such bad repair, and why Dan wanted nothing to do with ceramic tiles for our new kitchen floor. (The other problem is that the floor joists are on 24 inch centers, which results in a lot of bounce in the floor, though he's taken care of that.)

Tiles under a woodstove would require a cement board base. The cement board available locally, comes in quarter or half inch thicknesses. We questioned whether shimming would be enough to stabilize it, and keep the tiles and mortar secure and intact over time. Because of that, we looked for a way to utilize the brick look floor protector.

Dan finally decided that the thing to do was to tear out that section of the floor, and rebuild it to make it level.

Tearing out a section of the original floor.

He also strengthened it by sistering in more joists and adding bridging.

Sistered, but level joists, bridging, and plywood subfloor

The new joists were positioned so as to level this section of the floor. He covered the opening with plywood, and put the ready-made floor protector on top of that.

Floor protector on the rebuilt section of
floor. The slant is the photographer's fault!

Because the plywood is thinner than the one inch oak flooring there now, the protection pad sits lower than it did before. If all works out according to plan, the plank flooring should be the same height, and the the two floors should be even.

The stove is in!

The crowning moment was being able to bring the body of the cookstove in! It's been in Dan's workshop for about a year now.

You may have noticed how far the protector sticks out in front of the stove. I mention this because we looked at a lot of photos where the floor protection only covers the floor directly under the stove. However, it's not uncommon for sparks to come flying out the firebox door when it's opened. I've lived with enough burns on my carpets and floors over the years, that I wanted my floor well protected! The stove manufacturer recommends 18 inches in front of the stove, but we managed 20 & 3/8 inches.

Still to do, is find the box with the plates in it, attach the warming oven and heat shield, and install the stove and chimney pipe. It could also use a good cleaning. Before we lose our mild daytime temps however, I'd like to get the other kitchen window replaced, so finishing the stove will probably wait until after that. At least it's in and it's level!

Our Dippy Kitchen Floor © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Thankful For ......Corn

2011-12-02T09:22:00.000-05:00

OK. I'm doing my Thanksgiving post way after Thanksgiving. It's just that we've had so much going on I haven't had time to get the photos sorted out and the post written!

What I'm talking about is corn, specifically the field corn we grew last summer. I grew it for the chickens and also for us, for grinding into cornmeal. Cornmeal for cornbread turkey stuffing seemed like a good place to start.

Of grinding grains, we've mostly done wheat, both hard and soft, spelt, and brown rice. Corn was a new one to grind, but fortunately my Country Living Grain Mill came with a corn and bean auger for larger grains.

From what I understand, the only kind of corn that can't be used for cornmeal is sweet corn, something to do with it's sugar content. My field corn was Truckers Favorite, an heirloom dent corn.

So called because of the indentations in the kernels. Mainly it has to be well dried out so that the kernels will actually grind, and not just be smashed between the mill plates. Here's how mine turned out.

I confess I did not sift it, though it probably should have been. (With the kitchen all torn up, who in the world knows where my sifter is.) There's not as much chaff like wheat, and I figured the bits of corn silk, medicinally good for kidneys, wouldn't hurt us either.

To test it out we had cornmeal pancakes with home canned applesauce for lunch. Very tasty! No pics, things were getting hectic at that point. And no pics of my cornbread, nor stuffing, nor Thanksgiving dinner. Suffice it to say it was all very good.

Thankful For ......Corn © December 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Cultural Disengagement

2011-11-30T00:00:00.000-05:00

I ran across an interesting article not too long ago, "The Infomocracy Dilemma: Revolution or Disengagement?" I thought it quite perceptive in regards to the mess things are in, and quite timely considering the increasing unrest of late. What especially caught my attention, was the phrase "enlightened disengagement." That got me thinking.

In centuries past, when a people disagreed with their government, they had options: revolt, change it from within, or leave. For this nation, we probably first think of the Pilgrims, the Separatists actually, who saw nothing for it but to separate from an oppressive government and start over on their own terms. Their contemporaries, the Puritans, believed they could "purify" the church/government from within, although ten years later, they started heading for the New World as well. Later, it was revolt, for reasons stated in the Declaration of Independence. After that, it was go west to new territories and undeveloped lands.

I do not believe any of these are viable options in this day and age. Revolt will only result in another greedy, power hungry government eventually, history shows us that. Changing from within is what the democratic process is all about, but look at where we are now; one party treats us like a bunch of dopes, the other patronizes us at every turn. In the end, the only difference between them is semantics. For the public, it's all a game, a show. I have finally concluded (with no apologies to Karl Marx), that politics is the opium of the masses. It keeps us divided and distracted.

The last option on the list is migration, but now, there's nowhere new to go, and no, I'm not standing in line to be one of the first colonists on Mars.

One thing we have seen, is a lifestyle phenomenon called homesteading: rural, urban, and in-between. It isn't within the boundaries of any one political party, religion, philosophy, race, or sexual orientation. The reasons for embarking on it are many. The one thing we all have in common, is that it offers a sense of "doing something about it," as well as hope and a source of security in uncertain times.

A common theme amongst homesteaders, is self-sufficiency. The problem is, of course, that we're still dependent upon the system. We all know that, and seek to cut or at least minimize those ties. We grow our own food and seek energy alternatives. Those things certainly help and give us a greater sense of freedom, but aren't the heart of what keeps us bound to the system. I'm going to suggest that there are three things that ultimately prevent most folks from truly disengaging from a culture that is failing many of us. Those things are debt, insurance, and retirement investments.

Debt. All kinds, because the things we owe on, don't really belong to us, i.e. they belong to the person or institution that loaned the money to obtain them. Another way of looking at it is, my paycheck really isn't mine if I'm in debt. The amount I owe belongs to the lender. I'm allowed to keep it because the lender profits on the interest, and hopes I'll purchase more debt. If the borrower defaults, the lender has the legal, and moral I might add, right to take take it back or collect the debt. Unfortunately they go beyond that and ruin our credit ratings, increase our interest rates, and impose unrestricted fees and penalties. Avoiding all this is what keeps us in line. Of course, if we have no debt, there's no line to tow.

Insurance, all types. Some folks think this is a necessity but personally, I've never had an insurance company do what I paid them for, not without a battle, which was usually a losing one. I think the deception here is that folks think they are purchasing a service, when in fact what they mostly get for their money, is a sense of security, but with no guarantees. Auto insurance is mandated by law; a guaranteed income for the auto insurance companies, and the lawyers one must hire to get them to pay out on claims. Health and life insurance is packaged as a "benefit," but the only ones who seem to benefit are the insurance providers and pharmaceutical companies. And soon the government. "What if" fears keep us locked in here.

Retirement investments. Actually, I could say all investments, except that not everyone has money to invest. Most folks though, feel a retirement account is a necessity. Again, it's a sense of security that has no guarantee. The problem, of which there is an increasing awareness, is corruption in the system. That, and that our perceived wealth from investments is actually a number system rather than real money, as (for example) those who lost it in the 2008 wall street crisis know very well.

Now, you might agree with me on these points, then again, you might not. I'm not going to argue or debate their individual validity, because I think each of us has the right to our own opinions and our own choices concerning them. This just happens to be my opinion, based on my own observations of what's going on around me and my personal experience in these areas. My point, is that I think these are things which keep us from truly disengaging from the system, if that's what we want. Either way, depending on how we view the future, these might be things we need to consider.

Cultural Disengagement © November 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Kitchen Remodel: Moving the Pantry Door

2011-11-28T00:07:00.000-05:00

High at the top of our kitchen remodel project list, is to install the wood cookstove. After finishing the ceiling beams, Dan was ready to start on this, but I hadn't finished stripping, sanding, and painting (which turned out to be not such a brilliant idea after all) the wall behind where the stove will go. No sweat. While I worked on that, he tackled another project on the list, relocating the pantry door.

This is the second door we've moved for our new kitchen, the first being the back door. This second door was to the three rooms added on to the house after it was built; the part of the house I call "the addition."

The original door, probably installed when
the addition was added on to the house.

The above photo was taken before we moved in. I like French doors, but this one was somewhat in the way since it opened into the kitchen. Of course, if it had opened the other way, it would have blocked one of the other doors behind it. We always kept it open, because of the bathroom. During the winter, I would hang a quilt in the hall.....

Quilt (not handmade) hung over pantry entrance.

..... beyond the bathroom door, because the pantry does not need to be heated. This helped somewhat, to keep warmth in the kitchen and bathroom, and for this reason I wanted a permanent pantry door. Since I liked the French door and we already had it, I thought the best thing to do was to move it.

It was easy enough to take the door off the hinges and pull the whole frame out once the moulding was removed.

Original moulding, door, & framing removed

We chose a spot in the hall, beyond the bathroom and utility room doors. Dan found a stud in the wall and framed out the new location. I wanted the door to open toward the pantry, so he turned it around and put the hinges on the right hand side.

The door's new framing

You can't tell from the above photo, but the door knob fits exactly between the hall corner and the freezer, giving me good wide passage into the pantry. (The door is almost 34 inches wide.)

Old door, new location. I like it.

Here it is, just finished. The bathroom is on the left, the utility room is on the right. One special touch Dan added is the shelf above the door. I have a lot of nice knick-knacks, and this will be an excellent spot for some of them.

Lastly, I painted this short hallway the same color as I am the kitchen.

Still needs trimwork & touch-ups

It's a soft off-white that coordinates with my wallpaper. When we install the kitchen floor, it will extend into this little area as well, to give a look of continuity. The ugly paneling and vinyl flooring in the pantry will probably stay as is.

The door is already doing its job to help keep the kitchen and bathroom warmer. Since it has hardware for cafe rods, I can also increase insulation value by hanging something quilted over the glass panes. Or something lacy to let some light in. Either way it'll help hide my mess in the pantry!

Another project checked off the list. :)

Thrift Store Finds For The Kitchen

2011-11-26T00:00:00.000-05:00

Every time I have a few extra dollars in my pocket, I find myself perusing thrift shops. My mind, of course, is on our kitchen remodeling project, with a view to the little things that will impact the overall result. Admittedly, some of these are borderline frivolous, but most lean toward the function side of their purchase. Here are my latest finds:

9, gallon glass jars, $1 each

stainless steel cream pitcher w/ hinged lid, $1.50

cast iron saucepan, $5

wallpaper, 2 unopened rolls, $1 each

Yes, I did get the expensive wallpaper that I fell in love with (Kitchen Remodel: The Perfect Wallpaper). I found it deeply discounted online, though the shipping and handling knocked it out of the bargain box. I plan to give the dining nook a chair rail look, using the green on the lower portion of the wall, separated from the expensive stuff with a cheap, but coordinating border I found at a big box store.

wire & wicker baskets, $3 & $4, respectively

canisters, $5 the set

one, perfect for my kitchen but could only find one, dinner plate, $1.50

Of the plate, I have to say that I couldn't resist because I will be needing new kitchen dishes. My 30 year old set of Corelle is down from a service for eight, to two dinner plates and three cereal bowls. The Blue Willow is for good dining room use, so I need something for breakfast and lunch in the kitchen. The pattern on the back of this plate says is "China Pearl, Olive Garden", and I would love to have a set. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it online. Doubt it would be in my price range anyway. :) I did find the following however, at the dollar store.

4 dinner plates, 4 cereal bowls, & 4 mugs, $1 each

Not as pretty, but the theme and colors will match my new kitchen, don't you think?

Have you found any good bargains lately?

To Mom, A Message From Your Cat

2011-11-24T00:00:00.001-05:00

"Yes, I know you're remodeling the kitchen.
Yes, I know you're stripping and scarping and painting.

Yes, I know you don't want paint chips to fall into my catfood."

"However. This is where the catfood belongs,

and this is where it must stay. Catfood simply

isn't edible in any other part of the house."

Canned Green Tomatoes, For Frying!

2011-11-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

Sue was curious as to what I was going to do with the basketful of green tomatoes I picked after our killing frost. Some we'll let ripen on the kitchen window sill, and some I'll chop up to add to things like scrambled eggs. The rest I wanted to preserve, I just didn't know how. A common solution would be green tomato pickles or relish. Well, I still have plenty of pint jars of the green tomato salsa I made last year. Pickles we only need so much of and I have plenty of those too.

Several recipes on the internet interested me, one for green tomato jam, another for canned green tomatoes for frying, over at cooks.com. I found a recipe for green tomato mincemeat too, in Putting Foods By, but I didn't have all the ingredients for that. We have plenty of jam, but I thought fried green tomatoes would be a tasty, special occasion winter treat.

The recipe didn't have many details, but this is where experience is probably supposed to step in. Following the simple directions, I first sliced....

... but wasn't entirely sure about "fairly thick." I usually slice them about 1/4 inch for frying fresh, so I went a little thicker than that, about 1/2 inch.

The slices were packed in wide mouth quart jars with 1 teaspoon canning salt. Since I was uncertain of the acid content of the tomatoes, I added 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid to each quart to be on the safe side. I filled with boiling water, leaving about a 1/2 inch headspace.

Seven quarts were processed in a boiling water bath for 7 minutes.

No floating, no loss of liquid; I was pleased. I also read somewhere that green tomato slices can be frozen for frying as well. I don't have much room in my freezer, so someone else will have to test that one out.

How they'll fry up remains to be seen. We can eat tons of fried green tomatoes, so a quart will amount to a just tasty bite of a side dish. Still, it will be a treat. At least it used up my largest green tomatoes, so now all I have to do is decide what to do with all the smaller ones.

Water Preparedness

2011-11-19T23:30:00.000-05:00

I sometimes lament the course of my homesteading life. Not that I regret having our place and what we're doing now, I just wish we'd been able to start earlier in life. As empty nesters and first time grandparents, it seems to be a bit late to be getting started. Or perhaps I should say to return to it. My first experience (way before Dan), was back in the 1970s, although we didn't call it homesteading back then. Then, it was back to the land. And we didn't live off-grid, we just didn't have electricity. Why I left is another story, but those three years of my life laid a groundwork that has influenced me everywhere else I've lived.

I was reflecting on that as I prepared for this post. Back then, having water meant digging out a mountain spring and gravity feeding the water to a faucet in the outdoor kitchen. Since then, we've lived with city water and well water, and have learned the benefits and problems of both, including emergency situations.

We have city water now. About the only benefits to it is that it's convenient and still works when a hurricane, ice storm, or tornado knocks out the power. But it comes with a monthly bill, chemicals, and other contaminants. These effect not only taste and smell (ours is terrible on both counts), but also what we have to ingest.

Well water on the other hand, varies in taste according to location. The best we ever had was naturally sand filtered when we lived in central Florida. Nowadays well water is accessed with an electric pump, so if one's electricity is down, guess what. No water. We learned that a 55 gallon drum of stored water lasts a family of 4 for only a couple of days. Well water is not necessarily free of chemicals and contaminants either, it depends on the groundwater source. Also, we found sediment and pipe corrosion to be higher with well water. Still, if I had a choice, I'd choose well water over city water any day.

We know that when our home was first built in 1920, there was a well. We just don't know where it is. Old surveys didn't indicate things like that. Our neighbor's was where his driveway is now. He discovered it when it created a small sinkhole that tried to swallow one of their cars. He had hoped to use it for watering their garden, but alas, it was dry.

Water is an area we think important to us in a self-sufficiency sort of way. We have plans for both rainwater and greywater conservation systems (see my Assessing for Water Conservation Systems post). These are slow to implement because of time and resources (one of the reasons I was lamenting), though time on the project so far, has been well spent in research, assessment, knowledge accumulation, and planning. And Dan talks about having a well dug for us. Someday. If we're allowed. One thing that we figured we could do in a more immediate sense, was to filter our water.

Like everything else, I did a lot of research and Dan even went so far as to talk to a few sales reps. If we had well water like we used to, he would have wanted a whole house filter, but with city water, we felt our concern should focus on water for drinking and cooking. The factors we considered were contaminants filtered out, life of elements, non-energy consuming, maintenance, and price. For us, a Berkey best met our needs. The clincher was not the sales pitch, but the fact that it is a common unit on the mission field, where it is being used successfully in primitive conditions, to provide potable water from sources that none of us would otherwise dream of drinking.

I'm not trying to promote this brand, I'm just very happy with the choice we made. It suits our needs and circumstances. We noticed a difference in the taste (and smell) right away. Not to mention a sense of relief at being able to drink pure water. I'm also confident we are better prepared for a water emergency, as long as we have a source of water to filter. That's peace of mind.

Remodeler's Temporary Kitchen

2011-11-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

Mama Pea (who recently finished her own kitchen remodeling project) asked what I'm using for a kitchen right now. Our kitchen is pretty much an empty room now, except for the fridge, and the sink and it's cabinet (which came in handy to stand on when we put in our decorative ceiling beams). Both will be removed soon.

The electric stove and former peninsula have been moved out to the back porch.

My canning & summer kitchen. Good for remodeling too!

We did the porch first for this very reason. Since it will be my canning and summer kitchen, this is the electric stove's permanent home. I have it and laundry tub so I can cook and clean up. The cabinet opposite, formerly the peninsula in my kitchen, is handy for food preparation or using my electric skillet or crock pot. It is were all my pots, pans, bowls, etc are stored. The tops of the washing machine and dryer make convenient close by work spaces. When we put down the new kitchen floor, the fridge will temporarily go to the left of the stove. (For some "before" shots of my back porch, click here.)

For early morning convenience, the coffee pot and toaster oven are in the dining room.

Temporary breakfast set-up in the dining room

I put the green kitchen island in here just for these. I also moved the brown shelving unit you see above, out from the kitchen to use for dishes, glasses, mugs, cookbooks, cereals, chips, crackers, etc. Everything is convenient for breakfast and lunch.

I admit it's not a set up I'd like to use for very long. Still, it's so much better than eating only soup heated up on a hot plate and washing dishes in the bathtub like other remodelers have had to do. We are trying to keep meals simple, to minimize time and clean-up. So far it's working out pretty well.

Decorative Kitchen Ceiling Beams

2011-11-16T05:00:00.001-05:00

For the most part, our plans for remodeling our kitchen focus on repair, function, and practicality. Some things though, are purely decorative. One thing we liked in the various kitchen idea books, was the look of ceiling beams.

Initially, we liked the idea of four, 4x6 beams, evenly spaced across the ceiling. When we considered price and weight, we turned to 4x4s. We also looked into faux beams, but woo-wee, those are expensive. In the end, we settled on four, 2x6s, to give the look of exposed ceiling joists.

Here's how the ceiling looked as we got started....

Before. Eventually that entire wall will be torn down, but for now,
only the top several courses of tongue & groove boards were removed

We figured we would space the "joists" at 27 inch intervals so that they would be visually symmetrical. What we hadn't realized, was how uneven our ceiling is. Not just sloping, but it bows and dips in several different places. When we held a board flush and level to the ceiling, there were gaps of up to an inch and a half against the wall in some places. Ah, the remodeling joys of a 90 year old house.

1st two decorative 2x6 "joists" in place.

Tearing down and re-doing the ceiling was not an option, so the next best thing, was to choose the two most level, equidistant places on the ceiling and put two of our "joists" there. The other two went against the outer walls (which were level, amazingly), as you see in the photo above. This meant wider spacing of the "joists," but we figured adapting was the easiest of our choices.

This decision actually solved another problem for us, that of moulding. Our walls and ceiling both, are tongue and groove, and the individual boards make an uneven gap where the walls and ceiling meet. Unlike drywall, which can be taped and gooped, T&G requires moulding to cover that gap. The "joists" against the walls serve as moulding, while giving the look we were going for.

The "joists" were initially toenailed in place, so for additional support, a 2x10 was notched to accommodate them ...

Notches were cut from a 2x10 to fit each of the beams.

... and fitted up against the "joists" and the ceiling like so.....

This is how it looked after we got it up.

This gives an exposed beam look, but also covers the gap where the wall was removed. (The small smooth panel you see in the ceiling, is not attic access. It's too small. We figure it was originally where their cookstove stovepipe went.)

The other side of the room was different however, because of the load bearing beam. This is the beam Dan made from one of our fallen pines, and used to replace the support post in the middle of the room. One of the "joists" had to be attached to this beam, but instead of toenailing or running a spike through the beam, he used pegs made from an oak dowel...

2 dowels were cut to serve as pegs to secure one of the 2x6 beams.

The "joist" had two holes drilled into the end, which slipped onto the pegs.

2x6 decorative "joist" attached to the load bearing beam

And here's how the whole thing looks after the ceiling was painted.....

After. Exterior kitchen wall .....

And on the other side...

After ..... and the opposite wall.

Funny how a project can evolve like that, and all because of unexpected challenges along the way. At least we're learning to simply take these challenges in stride. :)

After The Killing Frost

2011-11-14T00:00:00.001-05:00

We had our first frost on October 30th. It was a light frost, and most of my tender plants like sweet peppers and volunteer tomatoes, avoided heavy damage. We had another the next night and all was still well. The third frost last Friday, was the killing frost and did them all in.

After the killing frost, I harvested the green tomatoes, green peppers, and volunteer potatoes.

Volunteer tomatoes & potatoes, and green peppers

The peppers were from purchased plants, the tomatoes from a volunteer that grew in one of the front yard herb and flower beds. The potatoes were volunteers scattered around the garden.

After the killing frost, we finished winterizing the billy barn.

Chinked, with window coverings and wind block.
Awning can be lowered at any time.

Our days have been lovely really, usually sunny with lows in the 30s and highs in the lower 60s. But we've had some cold winds blowing out of the northwest, and those frosts remind us that winter is right around the corner. The boys now have a snug spot to protect against wind, snow, and rain.

After the killing frost we lost Katy. The vet said her symptoms were consistent with poisoning, though the source is a mystery.

A favorite photo of my sweet, silly Katy.

She's the only kitty I've had in the last 22 years that wanted to be a lap cat. I am so going to miss that.

The Lost Art of Bartering, Part 2

2011-11-11T11:30:00.000-05:00

This post is the third in a series of posts:

Contemplations on Value & Money.
The Lost Art of Bartering, Part 1.

In Part 1, I asked readers to participate with their own thoughts and experiences, and Part 2 shares these with you, as well as some links I found on the subject.

As might be expected, folks have various comfort levels with the barter system. Some still prefer money, but some pretty amazing trades are being worked out. I'll first share with you what folks are trading, some of the problems readers experience, and then will pass on the advice of the successfully experienced. (You can read the comments in full, i.e. not dissected, at "The Lost Art of Bartering, Part 1").

Trades folks have bartered

"My husband and I, farmers for 18 years, barter and trade often with several of our neighbors. Meat for mechanical work, honey for truck borrowing....Last year we traded enough of our raw milk over several months to get two full size commercial freezers to keep meat in our farm store." Donna OShaughnessy, Midlife Farmwife

"I'm not in a position to barter other than with what I call "being neighborly". I give produce to my neighbors, they watch my dogs. They borrow our truck to haul something, I call them to help me lift heavy things that need moved." Tami, 500 Dollar Tomato

"A local sustainable farmer needs help getting potatoes in... so I help get in his potatoes and get a 50 pound sack of potatoes for my work. It's a lovely way to help one another!" Sharon, Fitzgerald's Family Farm

"We have a yard man that comes around to many homes in our area. He walks or rides a bike and uses our mower and other tools, he works hard and does what we need him to do. We give him what we feel it is worth to us...he has no set price and is grateful for the work.... We pay him money, because that's what he needs and we need work. Sherri B., Little House in Paradise

"We are currently in a trade arrangement with friends and our goat... A friend with a herd of dairy goats (keeps ours), gives us 1-2 gallons of milk per week and she gets the rest of the milk for her shareholders... " Carol J. Alexander, Everything Home with Carol

"I did it just last month in a city walmart. I found some broken fishing rods laying there, picked them up, went to customer service and asked for a manager. We decided that a dollar was good & I paid... Together the parts made one great rod :)" Peaceful, Peaceful New Start

"One memory of the past few years, was a neighbor that had a piano for sale. It was out of reach (price wise) yet would have been perfect for our musically inclined daughter. So, my husband negotiated some lawn work in exchange for it. He's also bartered his skills or other things in exchange for things we needed or wanted." Ellie, Suburban Townhouse, Country Cottage

"We're not much on dickering, but both my husband and I are self-employed with what are considered "real" businesses (a large animal veterinary clinic and fine arts/graphics design) and we have traded out in lieu of being paid cash for work." Michelle, Boulderneigh

"Bartering is such a part of my life - usually services for services.... I can sew just about anything and these skills have gotten me repairs on my house and vehicles over the years, things I can't do" Benita, Basically Benita

"I traded some chickens and a couple of dozen eggs for a second refrigerator to store my surplus eggs in, and shortly thereafter the frig went out on me and I needed to repair it. Well, the repair man said he wanted eggs as part payment for his services. He said he had just received a couple of jars of plum jam from another customer and he liked getting the home grown food instead of being paid in all money! Then, this year, I traded 55 pounds of organic Red Cloud potatoes to a neighbor who owns an earthworm business for a couple of bags of earthworm castings." Joyce P., Swamp Creek Farm

"My neighbor and I have an agreement that he will plow my driveway and I will supply him with venison, eggs, and cider in return" Jeff

"....Turns out she also has a couple of sheep, although she's very new to them, and would talk to her husband about trading the two pigs for my last terminal ewe lamb. ..... I ended up picking up three pigs" Sittin.n.Spinning, from her post "Porcine Paradise"

Problems people have: I've tried to categorize these as best I can.

Familiarity with the process & personal comfort level:

"I find it very difficult to barter, which is probably due to not being used to this. I was raised to shop in a supermarket - and because they are rarely manned by the owner, there's no way to barter anyway!" Bettina, Woolly Bits

"... on a trip ..... we meet a lovely couple and when we got talking I said that I barter back home on the farm, they thought that was amazing as they were from countries that barter was natural but since moving to Canada, had never seen it." Farmgal, Just another Day on the Farm

"I once wrote a post called Let's Make a Deal to try to persuade women (because most men don't seem to have as much trouble with it) to ask for a deal and be willing to try it." Paula, Weeding For Godot

How to fairly assign value

"...and in exchange for the goods I make - I usually felt short-changed here, which is why I don't do it anymore..... around me (Ireland) the only place where people still barter is in bric-a-brac etc. - probably because it's fun and they don't necessarily "need" the product?" Bettina, Woolly Bits

"I think it's "easier" to deal with money. It's less personal and bartering can be VERY personal. I might look at your eggs and think omelette but you look at those egss and see the baby chicks you raised, that became the hens that laid the eggs. You see the daily waterings and feed and hawks...: Tami, 500 Dollar Tomato

"I think it all boils down to placing a value on something that means something to you. Part of making a deal is the willingness to walk away because it doesn't speak to the value you've already placed on it.... if money becomes worthless, then other things will be assigned worth, and they'll be traded instead." Paula, Weeding For Godot

"Last time we were in the big city, we passed a raggety man standing on a corner holding a cardboard sign that said, "I will work 2 hours for a meal." Maybe it was just the way it hit me, but I didn't like the barter thinking I would come up short on that one. But then, the meal I would have served him wouldn't have been pb & j on store bought bread either." Mama Pea, A Home Grown Journal

"Money is simply any common unit of account, and that is a very handy thing to have when striking deals with people.... We can negotiate with, or without, money. We can also engage in trade with, or without, money." Jeff

"... determining the amount of food stuffs was a little bit tricky. How do we price out a fair trade amount? In the end, we priced my goods at grocery store price, and his plowing at the local commercial rate. Both of us are willing price our goods at a lower rate, but having some common measure of value allowed us to come to a fair rate of exchange where we both were able to agree that neither of us was getting ripped off." Jeff

Concern about how it will effect relationships

"Doing things for friends is different, but in a way even more difficult, because you don't want to strain a friendship by asking for maybe too much" Bettina, Woolly Bits

"When I barter with people we're not close to, then I feel the transaction is complete and much easier. When I barter with friends, I am so worried I've short-changed them or they have the same concerns about me. It is just not easy to be done." My Houston Friend

Personalizing the transaction

"My husband likes to TRY to get a deal when we're shopping but he usually comes in with an offer so low that the seller becomes insulted. I've managed to save the deal with offers that are much more agreeable. However, normally I'm happy to pay the asking price." Renee, Forgotten Blog

"When I "negotiate" at the FM for produce, the "distributors" will deal on price, the actual farmers rarely do. It's too personal for them." Tami, 500 Dollar Tomato

Closure

"We barter alittle on my little place but I find it easier at times to sell my eggs and hens/roosters because it is the end of the transaction. With my friends I have tried the bartering "my time" by helping out at their place and they will come and help out at my place. With some friends this works out but with others...their coming to my place never happens." Connie, C and C Antiques and Animals - What a Life!

"...at a merchant, give $ and you are done. I've tried to be clear about what is a gift and what is barter, but I feel I start sounding too business with friends. It is weird and I don't like it. I prefer to be done when completing a transaction" My Houston Friend

Tips and Advice for making a successful deal

"I believe TRUST is the key reason some folks are afraid to barter, always feelful they might be cheated." Donna OShaughnessy, Midlife Farmwife

"I have heard many that are upset over the barter tax, but from what I understand, that it is proposed because large corporations actually have services where business trade for goods and services and are flying under the tax radar. There are several of these companies that have approached my Husbands company. They can broker large deals for companies that will otherwise be untaxed. It was never meant to be for us individuals trading milk for eggs or a barn cleaning for bread. So no need to worry...yet." Jane, Hardwork Homestead

"I guess my point is that if we are left alone we will all figure out what something is worth to us and sometimes we will use money and other times it will be a pure form of barter. What ever we do use, the importand thing is both sides get what they need." Sherri B., Little House in Paradise

"We did draw up a contract and are flexible with each other because we are friends and fellow homesteaders." Carol J. Alexander, Everything Home with Carol

"... some people are uncomfortable stating their position before, during, or after a negotiation, and that can be a problem. For instance, if they don't state their expectations clearly, somebody may feel cheated afterwards. Communication is really important." barter411

"...both parties should walk away satisfied" Benita, Basically Benita

"I can think of two parties that we barter with and I think I'm safe in saying that both we and they think we're getting the better deal!" Mama Pea, A Home Grown Journal

And lastly, some bartering tips from Theresa (Camp Runamuck), via e-mail:

"I love bartering and have spent years doing it on both ends. I use to do antique shows in New England with fine linens.Anyway, I have a few rules I live by when bartering. The first is, remember that this could be someone's livelihood and always be polite.I always ask if someone has a bit of room in their price and then give my offer. They may come back with a counter, take it or say they just don't have enough to barter on the price. I've found the best deals are those in which each party walks away feeling they got a fair price. I don't like to beat people down and I don't like those that tried to beat me down. Many items under $5, I don't barter at all unless it's books or I want multiples.

"If they have a higher ticket item I want, I'll save my bartering capitol for those. And if something is a steal, take it at asking price or be honest.I found a set of pearls, good pearls, thrown in with costume jewelry at an estate sale. Simply put, I could not and would not buy them for the $6.00and pointed out to the family that the clasp was gold and the pearls real and they would be better served by pulling it and having it appraisedor selling it at jewelry place that buys estate pieces.

"Lastly go prepared. If you are looking for furniture or find a large treasure, don't ask someone to hold it while you check measurements etc.Know your needs, real or imagined. If you go to a true auction, which I have done many times, set your limit on each lot or piece you are interested in, avoid a bidding war at all costs if you can. Many times it's dealers but once in a while it may be a young couple starting out and I try to defer to them if I can. I mean I've been there. Of course if you are in love with something, then go for it. Go as high as you need to and end when you either get it, or can walk away and not feel regret. Some of my most loved items are ones I paid a lot more than I wanted but because I love them so much I have never ever regretted the purchase and most I would have gladly paid more for.

"Mostly have fun!"

Interested in more on the subject? Candace (The Weekend Homesteader), mentioned that there are some great barters on The Waltons TV show. A good excuse to watch TV!

And here are a few articles and websites of interest on the subject:

Articles
How to Barter at The Greenest Dollar
Let's Make a Deal at Weeding for Godot
Haggle: Strange Ways to Save Money - haggle how-to at Saving Advice
Master Bartering: Strange Ways to Save Money at Saving Advice
Can I Borrow Your Tools Mate? No Worries... For a Fee - Herald Sun AU
Is Bartering Better? - Better Business Bureau
'Trade You Snickers For Smarties': The Economics of Halloween Candy at The Salt

Resources
The Center for a New American Dream
Barterquest.com
Barter411.com
mmmule.com - for travelers

So Where Do They Hang Kitchen Towels These Days?

2011-11-09T06:17:00.000-05:00

One thing I've noticed as I study kitchens in books and magazines, is that I rarely see kitchen towels in the photographs. There might be an occasional tea towel laid casually on a countertop, or over the back of a chair, but in general, kitchen towels are nowhere to be seen.

Before our kitchen remodeling project began, my dish towels had a specific place fairly near the sink. This has always been the case.

My B.D. ("before demolition") kitchen set-up

Remodeling plans put the refrigerator in that corner. It sticks further out into the room, so my little towel rack will no longer fit in that spot.

Hand painted towel rack with handwoven kitchen towels

The towel rack was made by my mother-in-law at least 20 years ago. It has been in every kitchen I've had since. It fits my new colors and theme, and so will definitely stay, though I'm trending away from the blue towels and more toward green.....

New cabinet & more handwoven dishtowels, yet to be hemmed

I might not have noticed the absence of kitchen towels in modern designer kitchens, except that once we finalized a general kitchen plan, and I started working on where things will need to go, I began to study the photos more closely. Each time I would focus on a different detail and eventually realized I rarely saw dish towels.

One "clever" idea I saw, was sliding towel rods on a track (sample photo here). This is installed inside the cabinet. My first thought was, "not with our humidity!" Besides, our kitchen is too small to sacrifice the cabinet space. Then too, my kitchen towels are a decorative feature in my kitchen; they add a handcrafted touch and a dash of color.

I don't know. Perhaps it's expected that everyone uses their dishwashers and dries their hands with paper towels these days. I have an idea or two about where I might hang them in my remodeled kitchen, but reckon I'll have to wait until the wall cabinets are up to be sure.

For the weaverly amongst you, details on the handwoven dishtowels in the above photo can be found at my fiber journal, here for the one on the right and here for the one on the left. The weave structure is Summer & Winter, one of my favorites. I wove them about 4 and 1/2 years ago, when we were temporarily apartment dwellers and weaving helped me keep my sanity.

I'm thinking I'll need some coordinating rag rugs for the new kitchen floor, so hopefully I can get back to weaving soon; maybe once I clear all the boxes of packed up kitchen stuff out of my studio. In the mean time, I'm working on getting these hemmed, and enjoying the opportunity to relax with some handwork.

Gallery of Welsummer Eggs

2011-11-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

And now, for your viewing pleasure, (and because I don't have The Lost Art of Bartering follow-up ready for you), here is my collection of Welsummer Egg photos. More on the breed, below.

Welsummers are a Dutch developed breed, introduced to the US and Britain in the 1920s. They are noted for their dark brown and speckled eggs. Egg coloration and markings are completely random, so that no one hen lays a consistent color or speckle pattern. That makes them all the more fun to keep.

On of my Welsummer hens.

We've had three Wellie hens. None of them has been particularly friendly, and usually run away if I get near. They are probably the noisiest of our hens, and will carry on at length when announcing egg laying or anything else of general interest to chickens. I've read they aren't particularly prone to broodiness, though reports on that are mixed. From experience, a Welsummer was the only of my 4 breeds to go broody this past summer. She was an excellent mother.

Mama Welsummer with her adopted
Buff Orpington & Barred Holland chicks

We also had three Wellie roos to start, but I was not particularly impressed with them. They are quite handsome, looking just like the Kellogg's corn flakes rooster (who is rumored to have been a Welsummer). However, they were the first to run away at any sign of something strange or scary. This did not (in my opinion), make them good candidates for the flock rooster. Since Welsummers are a dual purpose breed, ours went to the freezer. Like other dual purpose chickens however, one can't expect the heavy, meatier breasts of the meat breeds.

One other tidbit of interest about the breed, is that the chicks can be sexed at hatching, because of markings on the head and eyes.

Would I recommend the Welsummer breed to others? Definitely. Would I get them again? Based on our experience, probably not. Do check the comments though, because others have had different experiences with this breed. I'm glad we got some as part of our original flock, but for us, they aren't our personal preferred breed. We're still looking for that.

Kitchen Cabinets I Will Not Miss

2011-11-04T10:27:00.000-04:00

My kitchen had some of the oddest wall cabinets I'd ever seen ...

The kitchen wall cabinets that came with the house.

They weren't odd because they were handmade, nor because they were tall and extended to the ceiling (8'10"). They were odd because the bottom was 63.5 inches from the floor. That's 9 & 1/2 inches above the height of conventional kitchen wall cabinets, and 27.5 inches above the peninsula counter top.

Now, I'm 65.5 inches tall, which means opening them required the full stretch of my arm to reach door knobs. At first I though I would appreciate all the storage space, but of the three shelves inside, only the bottom one was conveniently accessible.

These don't fit into my kitchen cabinetry plans, so yesterday, down they came.

Happily, we were able to salvage quite a bit of good wood.

The wall color behind the cabinet tells me they were not part of the original kitchen. The first coat of paint on the walls was gold. They were subsequently painted two different shades of green. The last coat, the white, was applied most recently for the purpose of selling the house. I figure this cabinet was probably added the same time as the upper cabinet we tore out to put the new back door in.

So, now you see them....

Kitchen I've been living with for 2 & 1/2 yrs.

Now you don't.....

The kitchen today.

We have been busy bees, haven't we?

Gardening Update

2011-11-02T10:21:00.000-04:00

I had hoped to get this update posted by the end of October, but it didn't happen. We were just too busy with the house, getting our winter wheat planted, and then rain, so I didn't get my picture taking done.

Gardening activities definitely slow down this time of year, but there is still plenty to do. October's gardening consisted of some planting, some harvesting, and some cleaning up. The fall garden is coming along, and I still have a few things I'm waiting on from the summer garden. I still have summer beds to clean out and mulch to apply. The deer have been back in the beets, though I've been covering the beet bed most nights. They have pretty much demolished my buckwheat. All that aside, here's what's been going on.

Planting. This has included more lettuce (1st planting didn't do well), radishes, garlic, and these....

Multiplier onions

These are multiplier onions. I got them from Territorial Seed Company. I've tried for three years to grow conventional bulb onions, with unsatisfactory results. We like onions so I am trying several new types like these Egyptian Waking Onions...

Egyptian Walking Onions

These survived post office abuse, so I'm happy so many of them are coming up! The other type of allium I'd like to try is ramps. These are a wild leek and native to this area. They grow in shade, which we've got. Perhaps with all these plus wild onions, I won't need to grow the conventional type.

Our big gardening news is that just the other day, we planted our winter wheat, 46 pounds worth.

Newly planted wheat field in the background

It's in the background in the above photo, on the other side of the fence where the field corn used to be. Nothing is coming up yet, so there's nothing to see. We got it in later than I'd wanted, but there just isn't enough time in a day.

Growing. Most everything is coming along, some things better than others. I mentioned the deer damage to the beets, and am thankful they didn't get them all. I only wish more seeds had germinated (or that I had planted more).

Beet & Collard bed: beets in front on left, collards on right behind them.

Those are collard greens, to the back right of the beets. I planted them for the goats this winter. This is the first time I've grown them and we think they're tasty. More importantly, they are supposed to be very cold hardy with a flavor that improves after frost.

Also growing well are mangel beets for the goats and broccoli...

Mangel beets in front, broccoli behind

The broccoli desperately needs to be thinned. These, like my beets, turnips, carrots, lettuce and radishes, are growing from saved seeds. A packet of Dwarf Siberian Kale seeds (pictured below) was a freebie with one of my Baker Creek orders....

Kale

The yellow-orange flowers in the photos are marigolds I planted last summer...

Marigolds & Swiss chard in the old Roma tomato bed

This bed is where my Roma tomatoes used to be. They companioned the marigolds, calendula, and Swiss chard. Once the tomato plants finished producing and were pulled, the marigolds took off.

Even though I had great success with my companion group gardening over the summer, I planted my fall garden in monoculture beds. This will make it easier to find my root crops when the leaves have died back and everything is covered with mulch and/or snow.

Turnips on left, cabbage collards on right, & weeds in the middle

Turnips are a stand-by around here (we love sauerruben), but the cabbage collards are something new. I thought they were cabbage plants when they bought them, but they weren't. I'm curious as to what kind of sauerkraut they'll make. Amazingly, I have one cabbage still to head, planted last spring...

Harvesting

I'm still getting Hutterite Soup Beans, though the plants were frost damaged so that is coming to an end. I haven't gotten a lot, but they made a second showing after the hot weather passed. I also harvested my second bed of sweet potatoes last month.

I harvested my 2nd bed of sweet potatoes.
These are Porto Rico bush.

This is the type I had problems with black rot last year, so I'm keeping my eye on them. They are Porto Rico, and this year's batch is tastier than I remember last year's to be. I reckon we'll eat a lot more sweet potatoes this year, since my white potatoes didn't do so well.

My sweet peppers and tomato plants are in the front yard, in the herb garden. First frost forced the early harvest my sweet peppers, but the tomato plants don't appear to be damaged much....

Green tomatoes that will never have a chance to ripen on the vine.

Fried green tomatoes anyone? Last year I made Farmgirl Susan's green tomato relish with them, but Dan doesn't think tomato relish should be green, so I'm the only one eating it ;) (Wonderful on scrambled eggs, BTW).

Cleaning up. Nothing goes to waste. The pulled plants are relished by the goats, including those sweet potato vines and okra plants...

Goats feasting on the pulled okra plants.

A few melons were found, but in my experience late season melons don't sweeten up like summer heat ripened ones. The chickens and the goats think them a treat however.

Except for days of welcome rain, I couldn't ask for better weather. And now that the leaves are turning, it's just a great time of year to work outdoors.

The Lost Art of Bartering, Part 1

2011-10-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

This post is the second in a series:

Contemplations on Value & Money.

The Lost Art of Bartering, Part 2.

I was wandering around an antique and junque shop. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just at everything in general, when I spotted a set of Blue Willow dessert plates. Now, this is my pattern, the one I love. The price was marked $8, not bad for 5 plates I thought. I looked over at the woman behind the desk and said,

"I'll give you $5 for them."

I stood there, absolutely shocked at what had just come out of my mouth, because I have always been the sort of person who pays the asking price. As she turned to look at me, her eyes lit up and with a hint of a smile, she said,

"Sold"

Nowadays we almost always expect to pay the asking price, yet if you've ever resold anything at a garage sale, you've likely had at least one person make a counteroffer, or ask if that was your rock bottom price. The first time this happened to me, it caught me off guard, because I assumed everyone else would simply pay the asking price as well. About the only times we expect counteroffers is in buying houses and cars; we expect some negotiation before agreeing on the final price. Yet at one time, negotiating or dickering, as it was called, was common practice.

Each time he tossed something on the (saddle) he yelled, "Fifty!" And each time I tossed something better on the (other saddle) I went up fifty cents or a dollar on my offer.
.... He came up where I was beside the double-rigger, examined everything I'd put on it, and said, "Sixty-five. Final!"....
"Well," I said, "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you $85 for both outfits together...." Half an hour later we made our deal.
Ralph Moody, Shaking The Nickle Bush

After he'd watched Father work for awhile, he said, "You seem a pretty handy sort of fellow... I wish I could get you to come and help me get fixed up. I'd give you three dollars a day for your time, or trade work with you, or trade something I might have that you wanted."
Ralph Moody, Little Britches

Ma and Laura and Mary ate bread and molasses in the wagon, and the horses ate corn from nose-bags, while inside the store Pa traded his furs for things they would need on the journey.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

Then one afternoon Pa came merrily whistling up the creek road... As soon as he saw them he shouted, "Good news!" They had a neighbor, only two miles away on the other side of the creek. Pa had met him in the woods. They were going to trade work and that would make it easier for everyone.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

"Here's a piece of luck!" Pa said to Ma. Those men were cowboys. They wanted Pa to help them keep the cattle out of the ravines among the the bluffs of the creek bottoms. Pa would not charge them any money, but he told them he would take a piece of beef.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

For a long time they talked and argued. Shining tinware and piles of rags were all over the porch. For every pile of rags that Nick Brown added to the big pile, Mother asked for more tinware than he wanted to trade her. They were both having a good time, joking and laughing and trading. At last Mr. Brown said:
"Well, Ma'am, I'll trade you the milk-pans and pails, the colander and the skimmer, and the three baking-pans, but not the dishpan and that's my final offer. "
"Very well, Mr. Brown," Mother said, unexpectedly. She had got exactly what she wanted.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farmer Boy

Even today there are, in some parts of the South, old timers who still refer to shopping as "trading." They will tell you they trade at such and such a store. Of course now they trade money for goods, but it points back to their own lives "back in the day." In other parts of the world, negotiating, more often called bartering, is still common practice. Many markets in other parts of the world still practice it, which American tourists often fail to understand, to their sad disadvantage.

As fiat money (money that only has value because the government says so, i.e paper currency) loses value and trades for less, many of us become concerned about meeting our families' needs. As we contemplate what to do, we likely consider bartering. My Houston Friend made a very thought provoking comment about it on my "Contemplations on Value & Money" post. She wrote:

"We entered the barter world about 6 months ago. I needed some work on the farm and had friends with teenage boys. I agreed to pay 2 dozen eggs per hour for each teenage boy. It gave them a chance to work and they rec'd something tangible to provide for their families. I fell in love with barter.
However, it is getting harder to barter as we go deeper. Primarily with friends. The production on my homestead is my work (versus a day job) and has value. At times I give things away b/c I want to, other times I want to barter instead of using money. When you start bartering, it is harder for each side to accept genuine gifts b/c you don't know if you should give something in return. What is barter and what is sharing with friends? Whereas at a merchant, give $ and you are done. I've tried to be clear about what is a gift and what is barter, but I feel I start sounding too business with friends. It is weird and I don't like it.
I prefer to be done when completing a transaction. When I barter with people we're not close to, then I feel the transaction is complete and much easier. When I barter with friends, I am so worried I've short-changed them or they have the same concerns about me. It is just not easy to be done.
This is an area in our society that needs to be developed. It is not widely accepted b/c small farm items are not seen as commodities by many unless they have a sticker from another country.
But our fruits do have value. After my friend comes home from outside work it would be considered rude of me to walk over and ask for $100 that he earned that day. It is really no different when someone asks me to share my farm production just b/c I have it, without offering anything in return.
This is a delicate dance and relationships can be strained when you get serious about bartering on a routine basis."

I'll be the first to admit I'm no expert, but I am willing to research and share what I learn. My starting point was those excerpts from books, written by folks for whom it was a part of everyday life. From the examples (and I only used a few), here are my observations:

Barter was a commonly accepted means of obtaining services and goods as recently as 100 years ago
Both parties agreed on the system, i.e. bartering
Each person had their own idea of what the trade was worth to themselves, not in terms of monetary value, but how badly they needed/wanted what was offered in exchange
Profit was not a motive, i.e. financial and/or material gain beyond the perceived value of the service or goods
Instant gratification was not a factor
Neither was entitlement
Nobody made a deal they didn't want
Both parties walked away satisfied

I mention the last two, because we had another experience with bartering, which had unexpected results. We were trying to buy a vehicle from a new acquaintance, and Dan made a ridiculously low offer. We were expecting a counteroffer, but instead there was a very long pause, and then his offer was accepted. We were both surprised but grateful. Unfortunately, the seller later regretted the outcome because he held a grudge against Dan for as long as we had contact with them. This was puzzling because with vehicles especially, negotiating is expected. On our end, we knew our limit based on how much money we had. If it didn't work out, that would have been okay too. While we don't know what the seller was thinking when he agreed, the lesson learned is that in a bartering system, there is no place for being noble or indecisive. The true success of the deal depends upon both parties being satisfied with the outcome from their personal perspectives. Each party must respect the other person enough to accept their decisions. If nothing satisfactory can be agreed upon, that's just as okay as if an acceptable deal is made.

Many of us have a goal of self-sufficiency, but in reality, the true agrarian lifestyle requires a community of like-minded folks. (See my earlier post, "Mindset: Key To Successful Homesteading?" ) The problem throughout history however, is that there are always those who want to profit beyond their needs. Nowadays, our modern profit economics mindset makes us think this is supposed to be normal. From the examples we see this is not true. However, I mention it because it would seem to be one of the pitfalls in bartering a deal. Other pitfalls we need to be aware of is that not everyone is honest in their dealings and representation of what they have to offer. Others, just love to play mind games. They love to get "get one over" on somebody else for the sense of power it gives them. I don't have any answers for these, they are just things we need to be aware of.

I should also mention that the government wants a cut from these transactions as well. You'll have to research this for your own particular locations and situations, because like other tax laws, these are complicated, confusing, and continually changing. The bottom line seems to focus on "gain" and its monetary equivalent. What is interesting to me, is that the books I quoted from, were written about the time period of the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is evident from them, that the money valuation mindset was not entrenched in society as it is today. Our modern mindset is just that, modern, and was not the way life was conducted until urban migration.

A long post, but hopefully one of interest? I called it "Part 1," but at this point, "Part 2" is up to you. Please share your own experiences, thoughts, and opinions in the comments. If there's enough of them, I will try to compile them later for a follow-up. This is something we may all have to learn together.

This post is part of the Homestead Barn Hop #34.

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