Homestead Braindump

...because I'm too lazy to make multiple posts outta this stuff.

• When we got home from vacation, we noticed Kung Pao was spending a lot of her time in the nest box. Eventually, we realized she was spending ALL of her time in the nest box.  She got all puffy when you got near (good thing she wasn't a RIR, or we'd never have been able to get to the eggs!), she had plucked all of her tummy feathers and was VERY warm.  From what I've read, the 2 best ways to discourage broodiness are to lower their body temperature and to make them as uncomfortable as possible on the nest.  First, I hoped stealing her eggs would work, then I moved her off her nest several times a day, then I put an ice pack in the nest box, then we started dumping her in buckets of cool hose-water.  Nothing.  She is now quarantined in an elevated dog crate in the yard.  It's drafty, uncomfy and at the very least will hopefully keep the broodiness from spreading.  Although, nick said he spotted another of the girls without tummy feathers.  ugh.  This is definitely affecting egg production.  

Get away from my nest!

Do I look comfortable to you?!?

Roses

I am pretty darn far from a master gardener.  As a matter of fact, Nick does most gardening because I KILL PLANTS.  But, one thing that is my task around here is pruning all of our trees and the raspberry and rose bushes.  Growing up, my parents had this really old, hardy rose bush  and every "dormant season" (late fall to early spring) my dad would cut the thing to the ground, nothing left of it.  And every year, it would grow back just as healthy as before and it would blossom all summer and well into the fall.

We moved in the winter and in the spring, upon seeing a rose bush, I dutifully cut it down to nothing.  It grew lovely, tall stalks... too tall to support their own weight, but there was not one blossom.  The next year, I refrained from cutting it and it blossomed beautifully, but it looked like this:

Preserving Eggs

In the fall, when our girls had just started laying, it was all we could do to get enough eggs to not have to buy more.  Once they finally started to pick up the pace, the cold weather settled in and their laying stayed on at a very reasonable pace.  we only had 3 or 4 extra dozen eggs all winter long.  But our girls are young and now that the weather is steadily warm, it takes less than 2 days for them to put together a dozen eggs.  We are swimming in them.

Swimming in Greens

Spring is leaf time, in the world of vegetannual.  (Which btw, if you haven't checked out this site or Animal, Vegetable, Mineral I highly recommend them) And let me tell you, we are swimming in leaves!  Mostly arugula, but some spinach too.  This is the first year that we've been able to successfully grow spinach.

Persimmon Paste?

Remember all those persimmons I picked before they were ripe?  Well, they never did ripen :(  But my neighbor Linda (who told me about the persimmons in the first place) picked more than she could deal with and she gave me the extras.  

She also lent me her food mill, which turned out to be a kinda bad idea.  The skins & seeds clogged it and it literally took a week for Nick to get it clean.  It turns out, the best way to extract the pulp is to put the fruit in a mesh laundry bag and twist 'till you can't twist anymore.  It took me a while to figure that one out tho and it made a mess in the mean time.  

American persimmons aren't edible when raw.  It won't kill you or anything, but the tanins will mess your tongue up pretty thoroughly.  Everything I've read (and my neighbor Linda) said that if you cook them, they'll be edible.  

I was really surprised when i put the gelatinous pulp in a pot and it quickly became the consistency of thick mashed potatoes or paste.  It smelled great though, so i took a nibble and, while it was better than raw, it still did a number on my tongue.  

Honestly, I'm not sure what will happen if I put the stuff in a recipe.  Linda's been on vacation, so I can't ask her yet.  In the mean time, I have a pile of freezer jars full of paste that'll make ur tongue feel crazy.  Guess everything can't work out like you hope.  

Oh, and have a cute pic of the chickens, courtesy of instagram and my new iPhone.  

All Done

No More, no way no how.  I have filled up every jar in the house (sometimes multiple times) and bought a small fortune in more jars this year.  I am officially declaring full-blown canning season done.  That's not to say I won't still fill a jar or two here or there, but there's not a lot of harvest season left and there are even fewer jars left.

I now present to you, My Canning Cellar:

Fall in a Jar, Pt. 2

We got home late Sunday night with our car full of fresh, unpasteurized cider in old liquor bottles.  We tossed everything in the basement fridge and went to bed.

Fall in a Jar, Pt. 1

If apples aren't the trademark of early fall then apple cider certainly is.  It smells incredible, it tastes incredible and when it's warm, it can fight off even the dampest of chills.  It's the official drink of haunted houses, hayrides and corn mazes everywhere.  Have I mentioned I like apple cider?

Well, this year we got an extra special treat cuz some college friends who recently moved back to the area so he could attend seminary have a cider press and invited us to make a day of it.

Farmers Market Challenge: Week 3D

Final installment this week, and I PROMISE next week won't be ANYWHERE near as long-winded.

I Bought that basket of apples, intending to make applesauce with them.  *Sidenote, Am I the only one that gets disappointed each time they dump the contents of a basket into a plastic bag instead of handing you the basket with the fruit, no matter how many times it happens?*  Anyways, they did indeed become applesauce (3 quarts and a pint of it).  But just like last week, I was stuck with a bowl full of peels and cores.  I still had last week's saved in the fridgs 'cuz I had hoped Nick would boil them down and make wine of them (he's done that with pears before) but I had no such luck.

Farmers Market Challenge: Week 3C

Yeah...so, this 3 part series is now a 4 part series...but we're 3/4 there!

Canning tomatoes is one of those extreme controversies in the canning world.  Forever, conventional wisdom stated that tomatoes were acidic enough to be canned on their own without added acid.  Maybe that was true at the time, maybe it wasn't but a lot of people bought into it and very few of them died.  A recent article I read actually said that the prevalence of heirloom tomatoes in the 70s introduced a lot of less acidic tomatoes into our diets and gardens and todays tomatoes are actually less acidic than those of days gone by.  Whatever the case may be, the USDA recommends adding 2 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar or 1/2 tsp citric acid to each pint of canned tomato product (half that for pints).

I can't say I follow those guidelines to a T, but I come close and I'm comfortable with my canned tomato products.  The USDA link above has all of their tomato guidelines tho, if you've got any questions.

Consistency Confusion

I'm (already) scheming for next year's county fair.  What can I say? I got a taste of ribbons and I can't get enough.

Actually, I'm just so pumped about banana butter and it's possibilities.  Spiced Banana Butter?  Walnut Banana Butter?  Bananas Foster Butter?  But the thing is, I quickly find myself bogged down in consistency matters.  First, what banana butter (and the variations I'm considering) aren't:

Farmers Market Challenge: Week 2

I went to the Farmers Market with $20, and I bought...

Umm, I guess I went to the farmers market with $30 and picked up $5 worth of stuff for a friend and forgot I had that other $5... (oops)

I went to the Farmers Market with $25, and I bought...

Farmers Market Challenge: Week 1

The farmers market here is on Thursday afternoons from 3-6.  Last year, I went every-other Thursday.  This summer, I worked every Thursday, so no farmers market for me :(  But now that the school year has started, my Thursdays are my own again and I actually Have a 6:30 yoga class right down the street from the farmers market (how convenient).  My plan/challenge to myself (and you can take it up too, if you like) is to head to my farmers market every week my schedule allows through the end of the season (our market goes through October) armed with $20 and see where it gets me.

Last week, I went to the farmers market with $20 and bought:

Handmade Basil Linguini: $4

3 Beautiful Eggplants: $2
(sorry no more pics of the items straight from the market...thats what happens when u don't think of a post 'til after you've already done the work)
2 Big Baskets of Tomatoes: $9
8 Green & Yellow Bell Peppers: $4
Half a basket of Jalapenos: $1

Preserve Swap Reminder

Don't forget about the preserve swap deadline on September 15th.  just email me at scratchliving@atlanticbb.net if you want to participate.

And don't give me any of that "I didn't make much variety" or "I don't think anyone will like what I made" crap.  I had a friend last week tell me she was leerie to participate cuz all she made was Strawberry Jam and I'm allergic to strawberries.  A. Unless only one person signs up, I won't necessarily be the person you're swapping with and B. Nick eats most of the jelly in this house and he'd consider it quite the delicacy cuz not only don't I make it, but cuz I can't make it.  Moral of the story: give your work more credit and quit doubting!

Food Processor Salsa

Food Processors are incredible.  I'm not sure how any kitchen survives without one... and mine didn't even have one 'til a year and a half ago.  Today I'm combining two faves, Food Processors and...wait for it... Pinterest.

We finally got enough tomatoes and sweet banana peppers from our garden to make salsa and this recipe seemed WAY easier than the slaving I remember as a teen when my dad had a garden.  I didn't bother removing the skin or seeds from the tomatoes and used way fewer jalapenos, but I really love the proportions and it was so easy to make.  My biggest complaint is I only got 5 1/2 pints out of it, and it irks me that I always wind up with half jars of everything I make in the fridge.  

Oh, and I got a chance to use some of the stash of antique canning jars a friend gave me.  <3

Oktoberfest Mustard

I really need to quit being such a picky eater, or I'm never gonna be able to taste test the stuff I make.  This one was a particular request of the hubbs.  German-style beer mustard.

Preserve Swap

Every canner has only two hands, 24 hours in a day, a certain set of talents, recipe knowledge, equipment and produce availability  That being said, I feel like I never have the variety in my canning cellar I'd like to have.  I'm willing to bet you have the same problem.  That is why I'm proud to announce the First Annual Living From Scratch Preserve Swap!

Banana Butter... Who Knew?

About a month ago, my dad gave me a book called "Preserving the Fruits of the Earth".  He got it from his grandma (my great-grandma).  The Sub-Title is "How to "Put Up" almost every food grown in the United States in almost every way".  It's not kidding.  Its hard to believe only 230+ pages could contain all that info, but it figures it out.  There are multiple preserving methods and recipes for every american plant, fish and animal you can think of.  Some of its more exotic entries are Buffalo Berry Jelly, Pickled Eel, Candied Kumquats and how to clean and can snapping turtle meat.

Amongst all that craziness, I uncovered a recipe for banana butter.  I've never heard of such a thing, but it sounded wonderful AND bananas are cheap.

Washington County Fair

The last few years, ever since moving to a county that takes their Ag. Fair seriously, I've been telling myself I was gonna enter some goodies.  Didn't matter what, I just thought it'd be a cool thing to do.  Last year, I even had some stuff together, but was quickly discouraged by not knowing the ropes.  This year, I stumbled through the ropes and regs and actually entered some stuff, and Nick did too.  Yesterday, I dropped our goodies off and the judging was last night.  The results are in and I'm so excited to share!

Brrrrr...

No, Pennsylvania hasn't had a freak summer snow storm (actually, it's been quite miserable here), I've just been taking inventory of our freezer stock.  Of course, tomatoes aren't in and the corn is only about halfway in, but it's getting a little full in there so I figured it was time to take inventory.

On a tangential note, we've started to pick our corn (unfortunately, too soon for our corn roast next weekend.  Looks like we're gonna hafta buy some).  The method for freezing corn is simple: Husk it, blanch it, cut it off the cob, cool and freeze.  Unfortunately, I ran out of vaccuum bags just as the corn started coming in.  I sent Nick to the store for more.  After much frustration on both our parts, he came home with freezer quality quart-sized ziplocs and a straw (what a stinker!).