Archive for the ‘Homesteadin’’ Category

So I’ve been getting all this great, fresh, organic produce from Grant Family Farms, but half my family is in Texas! So what have I done with it all?? Well some of it I shared, but the rest of it I prepared and either ate it or froze it. I wanted to share some of these wonderful recipes with you.

Since we are currently harvesting our cold weather crops, I had a lot of spinach to work with! The day I brought it home, while it was still crisp, I made a Spinach Strawberry Salad with it.

Spinach Strawberry Salad

Chop spinach leaves into bite-size pieces. Place in big bowl.
Slice Strawberries and place on greens.
Drain one can of mandarin oranges and place on greens.
Sprinkle with pecans.

Sprinkle salad with salt and pepper to taste.
Then pour a little olive oil and vinegar over the salad.
And eat up! It’s so simple, yet so yummy! You can even add some grilled chicken if you have some.

The rest of the spinach I cooked. I ended up with 10 cups cooked spinach! That’s a lot of spinach. So I made Spinach Balls and Spinach Lasagna. I froze the remainder in 2 cup portions.

Spinach Balls

In a large mixing bowl, mis together:
2 cups cooked spinach
3 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
6 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 t black pepper
2 drops pepper sauce
1/4 t nutmeg
2 t soy sauce (I use Braggs Amino Acids)

Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Then shape into 1-inch balls. I chose to freeze my balls by placing them on cooking sheets not touching. Once frozen I placed them all into a zip-loc freezer bag. Or you can proceed to bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Spinach Lasagna

In bowl mix:
1 pound Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan
2 1/2 cups cooked spinach
3 eggs

Cook Lasagna noodles according to package.

Spread spaghetti sauce on bottom of casserole dish. Then layer noodles, spinach mixture, Mozzarella cheese, and sauce until all ingredients are gone. Be sure to cover the top of noodles with sauce.

I chose to freeze mine at this point, but you can follow thru and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

I also had some rhubarb to experiment with. I’ve never had rhubarb before, so this was fun.

First I made a Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch and the kids LOVED it! It was yummy. But I do suggest eating it all up while its warm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix these ingredients together in a casserole dish:
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 pint sliced strawberries
1 T honey

In a bowl mix together:
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 t cinnamon

Pour oat mixture over fruit. Bake for 40 minutes. Your whole house will smell like strawberries!

This week I’m gonna try Strawberry Rhubarb muffins. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

I’m on this kick right now. It’s all new to me, but very exciting!

Turning unused items into something useful is fun and rewarding. We do this all the time, but never really considered it art. For example, my husband took unused wooden pallets and made beautiful barn doors for our barn. We take empty milk jugs and use them for water jugs. We use old clay pots for pencil holders. And I love cutting up old denim and using it for new creations such as gift bags, sand bags, and purses. But there is so much more you can do with old things. The old adage, “One’s junk is another’s treasure,” takes on a whole new meaning for me!

I picked up Big Green Book of Recycled Crafts ( Leisure Arts #4802) at the library today. What an inspirational book! So many fun ideas and most of them pretty simple. Altered Art for the first time is another book I have that is fascinating! This one requires a bit more effort, but for those of us that like a challenge and giving unique gifts, this one is for you!

But don’t feel like you have to limit yourself to a book. See what ideas you can come up with. I love to use books as my jumping board. It fills me with ideas and then I take what I have on hand and create my own art. My girls like to make homemade paper from construction paper scraps. And if you think about it, using leftovers creatively is recycled art too! I am anxious to hear your ideas too!

These two shots are two different barn doors my hubby has built. I just love them!

I’m so very thankful the spring/summer weather! But what is even more exciting about this time of year is all the babies! Right now we have baby birds nesting in our barn. I love to listen to them chirp! Soon we will have baby rabbits, chicks, and kid goats. We will be busy this summer running an animal nursery, but what fun! And once all that is over, we will have our own baby in November.

Another favorite part of spring is homeschool book shopping. As one school year ends and another begins, all the homeschoolers come out from their busy schedules and start the hunt for next years curriculum. I love this hunt! We hit used book sales, state book fairs, catalogs, teacher supply stores and online retailers. We spend time planning out next year and then try to fit all we want to do in our schedule and our budget. This is my favorite time of year!

And with warmer weather brings out the desire to clean up outside. So we have setup the BBQ pit and porch swing and take advantage of it whenever we can. I love picnic tables, potato salad, hamburgers, and watermelon. They all scream of summer!

Although I don’t get to garden this year, I am looking forward to all the farmer’s markets and fresh produce available! There is nothing better than a vine-ripened tomato. And farmer’s markets have more to offer than just produce. You can find fresh breads, fresh cut flowers, homemade items, jams and jellies, and so much more. I even found homemade tamales one time.

Summer also has to offer many fun events. There are summer reading programs, fairs and carnivals, summer camps, field trips, and family reunions. Take advantage of this wonderful time of year. I hope I have inspired you to get moving and enjoy the weather and the many opportunities around you!

I hope to provide information on buying food in bulk. As I am new to this area (Colorado) I don’t have any sources as of yet.

I have learned that you can get some good deals on Amazon.com and most qualify for the free shipping! Check that out.

Here is an excellent article written by Marilyn Moll and a link to testimonials following:

I received the following letter of inquiry about baking and grain storage:

Dear Marilyn,

“Looking at the prices for the grains, I don’t think it would be cheaper to buy and grind your own flour, so I’m wondering what the benefit would be. How would you store that much grain without bugs or vermin or mold getting into it? It seems like a fabulous idea, but how do I do it?” Connie G.

Here is my response:

Dear Connie:

Thanks for writing and asking great questions! Let me answer your questions one by one.

First of all, I do believe that when you compare homemade whole grain bread to commercial equivalents you will not only have significant cost savings but you will have the satisfaction of filling your home with a fragrant aroma and beautiful, nutritious loaves of bread that can not be compared easily to commercial bread.

Whole grain bread offers significant nutritional benefits because it contains at least 26 naturally occurring vitamins and minerals along with good quality fiber and wheat germ oil missing from commercial breads. The grain refining process removes the bran, and the wheat germ oil and most of the nutritional value. White refined flour has four B-vitamins left in it which are not in the original proportions. That’s It!

Consuming white flour product is like being robbed. Your body needs nutrient dense foods and refined flour baked goods are devoid of health enhancing nutrition.

Your body needs nutrient dense foods for good health. The term “nutrient dense” refers to foods that naturally contain a high spectrum of vitamins, and minerals. Spending our family’s precious grocery dollars on items that are largely manufactured and processed from inferior ingredients is associated with a number of common degenerative diseases, such as hemorrhoids, constipation, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and allergies which are associated with low fiber diets along with the consumption of refined and processed foods.

Economics of Home baked bread

Recently, I calculated the cost of making Marilyn’s Famous Whole Wheat Bread. My cost came in at just over a dollar even at the higher cost of grain. There is probably less than 25 cents worth of grain in each commercial loaf of bread. Today, a 1 1/2 pound loaf of whole grain costs at least $4.00.

By using your own quality ingredients you will be able to make superior tasting bread for a lower cost because you will be eliminating the cost of the plastic disposable packaging, the bakery’s overhead for producing the bread, the transportation costs to ship the bread from the bakery to the store, the bakery manager’s salary, costs of undesirable ingredients and other costs of purchasing ready-made breads.

Depending on the size of your family and how many loaves of bread your family consumes each week, you can calculate the annual savings. For example, in my family, we consume four loaves of sandwich bread a week. Commercial equivalent bread costs $4.50 in my area. Compare $18.00 a week with $5.00 a week! If you make cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, homemade pancakes, waffles, biscuits etc., you can quickly add up the savings over commercial flour.

Health Benefits

Several years back, a customer told me that she quit baking her homemade bread for a while, and that is when her son had an appendicitis attack. She believes it was related to returning to a white bread diet. The emergency surgery and hospital bills were covered by insurance, but their portion of the bill would have more than paid for a brand new mill and mixer.

The point I’m making is that when we take responsibility for our family’s health, medical bills can diminish dramatically. Another customer contacted me recently and reported that making nutritional changes in her family’s diet during a one year time period had cut their medical expenses in half that year compared to the previous year. This resulted in savings of over $1,000 for her family in medical and pharmacy bills. Our family has not needed to see a doctor for other than emergencies (a broken arm, a bike accident) or sports and camp physicals for many years.

Satisfaction

A mother who is busy at home cooking and baking from scratch for her family will enjoy the fruit of her labors not only financially and nutritionally but also in terms of better health. Her children will arise and call her blessed. Her husband will also. She will enjoy the intrinsic rewards of knowing that she has been a wise steward of her family’s resources and provided well for her family (Prov. 31).

Grain Storage

Whole grain can be stored for hundreds of years as long as it is stored cool and dry. The bran, or outer coating of grain, protects the each grain from deterioration until the bran is broken and ground into flour. Once flour is made, every particle of the flour is exposed to oxidation and nutritional deterioration.

I have always stored grain in six gallon plastic food grade pails or buckets in the coolest part of my house and never had any troubles with pests or mold. A cool place and a dry place are key. Storing whole grains is not only economically wise in uncertain times but nutritionally superior.

I also believe it is biblical to store grain as you recall the story of Joseph who was lead through dreams to store seven years worth of grain for a famine that lay ahead. I’m not predicting a famine, but I do believe in uncertain times grain and food storage is our protection against economic hardships.

More . . .

This post is just for fun. So enjoy the lessons I learned this week . . .

Don’t feed the goat alfalfa while milking. ~ The alfalfa ended up in the milk, so it wasn’t a good combination.

Don’t touch an electric fence, even with gloves on. ~ It hurts!

Duck tape doesn’t stick in freezing temps.

People will actually buy roosters. ~ This was a fruitful discovery.

Make sure the trailer hitch is locked, or you will lose the trailer. ~ A mistake that I was thankfully able to handle.

When babies are sick, don’t plan on getting anything else accomplished. ~ But I did enjoy the cuddle time.

A mattress is so much more fun than any of the hundreds of toys.

Farm kids learn about the birds and the bees way earlier than I would have liked.

Mommy’s and son’s have strong bonds, even in the goat world.

Avoiding gluten is extremely difficult to do.

I love the flexibility of homeschooling and the learning opportunities it affords, for kids and adults alike.

And friends are a priceless gift from God!

My challenge this week is to try growing something new, strange, or unusual. My favorite “experiments” was pineapple sage. What a beautiful flower with the sweetest aroma! I haven’t been able to find another plant when I was ready to plant one, but I am always on the lookout. So today I am going to mention a few interesting plant varieties for you to try.

Pineapple Sage is really a beautiful addition.

My parents owned and worked a nursery and landscaping business and we were always getting in new plants. And every year my mom would order Venus Fly Traps. What a wonderful discovery for a kid! Now you can get them at wal-mart. They can be a little tricky to keep alive so follow the directions carefully. And if trapping flies is in your agenda, check out the Dragon Arum. And you won’t want to keep this one in the house! My mom bought one, one time. They are very intriguing, but very stinky!

One year we were given a bunch of discarded tomato plants. About half of these plants were Mr. Stripey’s. At that point I had never heard of this variety, but planted them anyway. Oh what a surprise! They were interesting looking and very tasteful! The only trick was knowing when they were ripe. They are not a dark red tomato, so we let the first ones stay on the vine too long.

I’ve never grown any, but I have sure enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen with different varieties of potatoes. You can get fingerling potatoes, blue potatoes, and the all red potato. 4th of July here we come!

And one of my more memorable plantings was a moon flower. My mother mailed me seeds from her plant and for a year we enjoyed the beautiful white flower that you had to get up early to catch. Another one of my mom’s gifts was a potato vine. It’s heart-shaped leaves are unique and lovely.

What have you grown that was different?

Its getting that time of year. You know, the time of year where your pants start itching to plan a garden. Its too cold to actually get outside, but I love looking thru catalogs and drawing diagrams. My tip today is all about seeds!

I already have my garden plotted out and as soon as I get a pretty day I will get out there and clean it up. You know, use a piece of machinery to tear up the ground! Of course I need to wait until its not frozen anymore.

Have you ever gotten into companion planting? I have tried it, but never gotten too into it just because of lack of time to research it. But I found this great website with lots of helps for companion planting. I do plan on adding some of this in this year.

Another great addition I am going to do this year is rabbit manure. I have a load of manure that I am gonna mix into my sandy soil. Thank you my bunny friends!

Another part of planning your garden is figuring out what you are going to plant. What do you eat throughout the year? How much do you need to plant? Can you can the excess produce? What will grow well in your area and what won’t? How much access do you have to water? How many people do you need to feed? Do you want to save your seeds for the next year? After you have answered all these questions, you can start shopping!

Here are my favorite seed catalogs:

Burpee Heirloom Varieties

Heirloom Seeds

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Seed Savers

Please feel free to share your favorite shopping spots.

Try Something New Friday, my first, is all about making homemade lye this week. When I had my dairy goats (and am anxiously awaiting my new dairy goats) I saved some goats milk for soap making. Lye was easier to buy back then, but it can be hard to find now due to its use in drug making. So in preparation of upcoming soap making days, my husband has been saving all his ashes from the BBQ pit. But how exactly do you make lye – the old-fashioned way?