Summer harvest

I'm hanging in there. We are in survival mode around here, trying to survive the heat.

It's still hot and dry around here, although we have gotten a couple VERY small rain showers in the last week. Any little bit helps.

My "old" apple tree isn't looking good at all. I was so excited that it was full of apples this year, but with the drought, the apples have not grown and they are small and hard. I am wondering what to do with them. The dwarf apple tree has received at least a once a week watering and the apples, though not abundant, are growing nicely.

The okra is doing ok. Nothing outstanding. The heat makes the pods "woody" even when picked young. We have enjoyed a few dinners with okra. I'm thinking it is also the type of okra I grew.

The cucumbers are slowly growing but very bitter right now due to the heat even though I have been watering the garden.

The jalapeno peppers and garden salsa peppers are doing great as well as the tomatoes. Oh the tomatoes could be doing better, but I'm still getting a good harvest. Sunday I harvested another approximately 20lbs. I need to get them weighed today when I process them. There were several that had BER and had to be thrown away.

The new strawberry plants and grape vines are doing good. We do water them since they are new plants this year.

The three new fruit trees also get watered and are hanging in there.

The heat this year has really affected my husband and I. One of the medications they have me on makes it hard for me to handle the high temps. I have to get out early in the morning to get anything accomplished which isn't for very long before I have to come in. Between working the long hours and keeping up with the things that must be done inside, it leaves me drained!

I was able to get the tomatoes weeded and some much needed staking done this weekend. I'm just trying to hold on for cooler weather and a vacation!

Look what I found on our homestead...

Most people will find a stray dog or a cat occasionally on their homesteads. A few will find a cow, horse or maybe even a goat that has gotten loose.

But not many find this:



A buff orpington hen!

I noticed her at the north side of our property Saturday. I didn't see her all day Sunday and figured she had met her match.

Then yesterday when I got home from work she was there again. Yesterday was very hot and she wasn't walking around foraging like she had been Saturday. I made a couple calls to the closest neighbors to see if they had recently bought chickens and all said "No, we thought you got more chickens".

So I took her some water. Later around 8:00 I found her roosting in one of our evergreen trees.

Not sure what we will do with her yet. But I figure if she is still here in a few more days I better get the smaller chicken coop cleaned out and prepared for her. She looks to be a younger hen.

Ahhhh, the life on acreage in the country. You never know what you will find.

Aerial view of our homestead

This is an arial view of our homestead. This arial picture was taken about two years ago. It looks a little different now. We have dug a pond and lost a couple trees due to high winds.

When we moved here eight years ago we named it 5 Moore Acres. I'm hoping there will be a new arial picture taken in the near future. It is fun to compare them.

Does anyone know a rain dance?

I really do hope we get some rain.... soon!

Seriously?

Not just Wonder either. All bread was this price or higher.

How We Problem Solve

This is how problems are solved around my house.

Happy Friday!

Look what I bought...

There has been so many things I needed to weigh and the little plastic scales I had didn't seem to weigh correctly.

They weigh in grams! And you can tare the container which makes it alot more accurate. This will make soap making so much easier.

They will also be great when I make cheese.

I picked mine up at a local Wal-Mart. They were less than $20.

I've ordered a book on cheese making and can't wait til it gets here. Have any of you made cheese lately? What is your favorite to make?

Annoying Wally World Pop Up

I think I have finally gotten rid of what ever was causing the annoying Wal Mart pop up on my site.

If anyone is still experiencing this, please don't hesistate to let me know.

Thanks!

Foraging and Eating Cattails

Foraging food is not just for survival in an emergency situation, it's a great way to supplement your food budget. In the last few years I've learned more about edible mushrooms and wild asparagus to go along with the knowledge I already had of certain weeds such as dandelions and polk. Be sure to research anything growing wild before eating. There are always dangers, and you need to familiarize yourself with them.

The latest that I've learned about is cattails. Did you know you can eat cattails? Me neither.

The cattail is one of the most important and common wild foods that is foraged. Being most important because cattails provide edible food all year round, provide calories and starch! Here is what I've learned.

Stalks/Stems/Shoots - Best from early spring through early summer. The stems have a cucumber like flavor. People say they are great in soups, salads, peeled and eaten raw. Eat the stem starting at the white end, as you go up, peel away more leaves to get to the tender center.

Flower spikes - Best late spring. Gather when green. Boil for a few minutes. They say they taste like corn on the cob. Wild Blessings will show you how. The 3 Foragers teach you how to make Cattail Flower Griddle Cakes. The recipe can be found here.

Pollen - Flour. For a short time in late spring or early summer, before the flower spikes turn brown, the green pollen can be gathered by carefully bending the flower head into a bag, and shaking it gently. The flour will fall into the bottom of the bag. Pollen is high protein. It can be combined with flour to make pancakes, muffins and biscuits.

Corms- Best in the fall. Can be eaten raw and are said to be great roasted.

Rhizome/Root - Best harvested in the winter. This can be dried into flour and even made into jelly. Tactical Intelligence has excellent instructions on the flour process. Also check out this great article fromMissouri Conservation. It has all kinds of recipes for each part of the cattail and other edibles!

Our pond has cattails and I'm going to try them. What do you think? Do you have a favorite that you forage for?

Is it possible to have a zero waste package free grocery store?

Brothers Lane Company of in.gredients thinks so!



According to Earth911, shoppers bring their own containers the first time, weigh and label the containers with its tare weight, which will be deducted at the cash register. The store will also provide compostable containers for customers who don’t want to transport their own containers; shoppers will be encouraged to reuse the containers before eventually composting them.

How cool is that? I hope we can get one here in the Kansas City area.

I'm insurance poor!

In just the last three years we have went from paying $200 a month for health, auto and home insurance to $500 for all three which now have higher deductibles on the car and health.

Shopping for insurance is a pain! Trying to compare apples to apples is near impossible.

Anyone have any suggestions?

One hour, 3 Humans, 52 Morels!

Three morels, do you see them?

Two more!

And two more!

So fresh they hadn't even totally uncurled!

A "true" morel will be hollow.

When sliced length-wise, it is hollow from top to bottom and one piece.  There is NO cap on a stem.  False morels will have a cap that sits on the stem.

                                                          False Morel photo courtesy of Northern County Morels

The above picture is a false morel.  See how the stem is only attached at the very top. Here is two sites that are very informative. Northern County Morels and Edible Mushrooms or Poisonous Mushrooms

Today we found a total of 52 morels.  Our knife we took wasn't sharp enough and some pulled away from the ground when trying to cut them.  It's a good idea to cut about 1" up from the ground. This will leave spores to produce more in the future.  We left small (smaller than your thumb) ones as well as a few dried up ones for the same reason. 

I really enjoyed being outdoors with hubby and my son, teaching my son how to forage correctly for morels.  Now I just have to convince him to eat them!

Who else has found any this year?

Look what hubby found.... MORELS!

Our first morels of 2011. Little grays.

There wasn't many, but mmmmmmmm, so good.

The sun is out today and we are hoping to find lots more tomorrow.

Have any of you found some?

Look At This!!

I hope everyone is getting a break from the snow and bitter cold temps.

I have been catching myself coming and going.

My loving hubby made me sit down and take a look at this. It's been a long time since I laughed so hard. I wanted to share with all of you. Enjoy!

What I've Been Up to...

The Sunday after Christmas I was feeling very down. Two very important people in my life wasn't here for our family Christmas celebrations, my oldest sister and my grandson.

My son had been very upeset all day Friday and Saturday because the mother of his son had decided he wouldn't be getting him this year like we thought. She has moved to Oklahoma and married.

That Sunday morning I decided if she wouldn't bring him up here I would call and see if she would let me go get him and surprise my son. An online friend has taught me "The answer is always no if you don't ask".

She said YES! It's a 630 mile round trip. ugghhhh But it was sooooo worth it. I had him all week (and my son, his wife and my three stepdaughters) until yesterday with the exception of Wednesday thru Thursday when him, his daddy and stepmom went to their house to get the girls ready and packed to go to their dad's house for the weekend.

Can I just say I am pooped! lol But we had a wonderful special time with him.

Yesterday I was trying to clean up after lunch and my dishwasher element burnt up. Thank goodness we were home and smelled it before it caught the whole thing on fire and my home.

Then last night at around midnight we lost our water. There was a big main water break and the water finally was restored at 5pm tonight.

So although I have no dishwasher, I had no water either!

The whole dishwasher thing has my head spinning. I even bought a one month subscription to Consumer Reports to see what they said. The dishwasher they chose for best performance for the money has sooooo many negative reviews on it. The one dishwasher I picked out at Sears today has soooo many negative reviews.

What dishwasher do you all recommend? I do not want to spend over $450. I will be able to get a rebate from my electrical company as long as it is energy star rated. So tell me your thoughts.

I Don't Like Spiders & Snakes....

or possums in my house!

The weekend was not boring!

First we found

in our garage.  Uhm, not just no, but HELL NO that's none of us holding it!  There is no time for pulling out the camera and taking shots of snakes in my home.  The one in the garage that my husband "disposed" of was just like it though!  Size and color.  I hate snakes in my home!  This is the second home I've owned and the 4th snake.  What is it with me and snakes that like to come in?

 

Then Saturday night we found this

 

 

 

insert another resounding HELL NO, I didn't take this pic.  But the baby possum in my garage was very angry and looked just like this!  He was guarding the bag of dog food with every thing he had.  All you could see was teeth and the hissing sound he made warned you it wasn't going to be an easy fight to shew him back outside. 

 

Two cats and two poodles in the house and they still come in. I'll have a heart attack if I ever get a skunk in the house!

So, what interesting critter have you found in your home lately?  Nothing? NOTHING at all?  LUCKY YOU! :p

Steady wins the gift giving race

I've been slowly getting my gifts bought and made for this year.

Here's what I finished for some of the younger girls including my three granddaughters.

If you havn't been to any craft shows, shopped etsy or visited any crafting blogs; then let me introduce you to the washer necklace.

They are very popular with young girls, tweens, and teens. And I just know my thirty-something funky loving sister will love hers also when she finds it in her stocking. The granddaughters' will receive theirs in their advent calendar I am making for them.

They are quick and easy to make. I had everything in my craft stash except for the washers (.12 each) and the dimensional adhesive. I bought the Glossy Accents for $5.75 at a local scrapbooking store. So if I figure in the necklace cords I already had on hand, (bought on clearance) I'm out around $10 for the 7 necklaces shown. There is still almost a whole bottle of the glue left, I just need to buy some more .12 washers.

This one will be given to the nine year old who loves funky jewelry. I've decided I'm going to add some beads to all of them like THIS.

This one is for the 4 year old princess.

And this one is the six year old's. She loves anything pink and girlie.

If you would like details on how to make these, visit HERE


Ok, I'm off to work on the advent calendars. Can't wait to get them done and show you!

What are you up to? Baking and freezing breads? Cookies? Making something special? OR, are you avoiding the "C" word at all cost right now? lol

What I've been up to....

I went to a NEW thrift store and found these. I love the little wine crock. I paid $5 for it. It doesn't have any chips or cracks in it. The inside looks like it's never been used. Now I just need to find a wine I like to drink. lol All of you know I love cloth napkins. This set of four were brand new with the tags on them. I paid .49 a piece!

My fridge magnets were looking tired. I collect bottle caps and decided to make these cool magnets out of some of them. The bottom three are some beers that were consumed here at the farm. Any time a new beer comes out, we have to try it and then I keep a couple of the caps. The top three are vintage unused bottle caps that I've had for years. They are cork lined! That tells you how old they are. A glue gun, some magnets and five minutes I had a new look on my fridge.

Here is my final harvest of my jalapeno and serrano peppers. I've been drying some of the jalapenos in the oven to grind into jalapeno powder. The serranos are just lying out on paper plates to dry. When I start grinding, I'll post more on them.

So what's been keeping you busy this week?


To see other great projects and make new friends, visit:

Silhouette SD vs Cricut Expression

I'm tired of my Sizzix machine. It is so outdated. Buying the dies for it is becoming harder and harder.



There are tons of projects I want to do and so many Christmas gifts I could make and a new digital cutting machine would make life much easier.

But which one is the best?

The Cricut Expression?


OR

The Silhouette SD?



Do you have either the Cricut or the Silhouette SD? Have any of you had a chance to do a review on either? Which one do you think is better and why? Also I would love to see some of your projects! Fill my comment box up with your opinions and projects!

From Canning to Baking!~Cupcakes, Bread and Cinnamon Rolls

I've been baking up a storm the last few days!

First I baked Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes with Mocha Butter Frosting. They turned out great and we all loved the taste!






Then I baked Onion Soup Bread. I was totally surprised my kiddo loved this bread. He doesn't eat onions, although he likes onion flavor. It has something to do with the texture of onions. I guess the soup didn't have enough to bother him and what little it does have, they are crunchy. He told me it was so good I should make a bunch of loaves and sell them! lol



Today it was rainy here again and damp. I decided to make some home made cinnamon rolls. I used my bread machine on the dough cycle and I don't think it made it any quicker! But they turned out lovely.



Look at that gooey yumminess!



The weather is getting cooler here as well as the days getting shorter. I shouldn't rush fall or winter, it will be long enough on it's own. But I do miss the type of cooking I do during these months.

How about you? What have you been baking?