Just around the homestead

It's amazing how much can change in a few years. And seems time speeds up as you age. I promised to put up photos of the beginning of our homestead. Sadly back in 1986, there were no videos and my film quality was awful, so you will have to use your imaginations.

We moved here in 1986. We had lived on 3 acres in a tiny rural community across the state line in Louisiana. We had homestead there for 5 years and were pretty settled until the school situation became to bad. We had camped out in area where we live now and had fallen in love with this area. So we put our house up for sale and found a house here but the sale pended on whether we sold there or not. Well we didn't. I was teaching school then and Sonny was managing some rice fields in Louisiana. I had gotten a job teaching up here and so we moved without Sonny having a job. We had only 2 weeks to get moved before the school year started and rentals were hard to find. So we resorted to buying a singlewide mobile home. Small compared to our house we had built in Louisiana. We rented the house down there and moved the mobile home to a rental lot up here and hurriedly moved in. That was in 1986. All the first year we looked for some acreage to buy to build again. We can see God's hand in all we did. We finally found the 6 acres and made a really low offer. It was not accepted but we just put it out of our minds and went on with life. Then 6 months later, they accepted our offer and so we bought the 6 acres for $5000. It was a steal and we accepted. God provided the money without a loan and so we proceeded to clear the property. It was cut over so the trees were small and lots and lots of underbrush. It took us several months to clear enough to realize there was a mobile home pad already on the property. 

This is what it looked like after we cleared most of the underbrush at the front of the property.

We built a storage building first and in 1988, we moved the mobile home to the already existing pad. We had always tried to do things as we saved the money and we also have tried to find bargains. So we found a little old man and wife team that would drill our well. They had an old pounding type drill so it couldn't be dug that deep. He witched for water which was so fascinating to me to watch. And they had the well dug in a few hours. The Lord blessed us in that he only went 50 feet and the well artisaned.

 The water wasn't the best as most springs in our area are full of minerals like iron and calcium. But about a year later we had a man come and install a sand filter. This thing is huge and he makes from his own mold. We moved the moblile home the summer of 1988. It was strange in that Sonny and the boys did most of the work as I was in the hospital for 2 weeks at the time. We have 3 sons between us and have raised them together. We have had full custody of all 3. So we raised them not to be afraid of work so they helped dig the waterlines and to situated everything. I came home to the house set up and ready. 

By the end of that summer I was back in full 

swing. This was the first year since we married that we had not had a garden. 

This is what it looked like at Christmas that year. We had porch built. Now remember we did not have a loan on anything but the house and we were managing to put back a little money here and there to build what we needed. Sonny was working odd jobs here and there and so we were managing ok. We were still having problems selling the house in Louisiana so we did a rent to own which wound up be a terrible idea. (That story will come later).

The next year (1989), we put a metal roof over the house. That gave a little more insulation. To cut costs, we were using a wood stove to mainly heat the house. We did have central air/heat but later I developed allergies to the mold that tended to build up in the floor duct systems so we had to revamp. (By the way: the boys were all in agri classes at school and they learned with help from their dad teaching them as well to build and weld things so they made me birdhouses and even shelves). By this time we had cleared this side of the house and we situated our garden right about this side of the birdhouse. This was our first garden spot. 

The next step was 2 years down the road. Sonny had gotten a permanent job working at a lumber mill as a construction hand. A year later he stepped into a Millwright job and then a Supervisor. So we were able to get a discount on lumber. So we sided the house in a log siding. 

We put lattice around the bottom. We get a lot of rain in the spring months and being on the side of a hill, the water runs under the house. Not ideal but at the time we had to make it work. We lived with it like this for a few years. (Remember we do things as we have saved the money). 

Our next improvement came in the way of an add-on. With three monster teenage sons, it became a necessity. We added on a small room first. 

To back up here some, we had a spot cleared off up the hill and water run to the site. We had plans to build another smaller house when the boys graduated and moved out. We wanted a partial underground. Well after the boys graduated and moved along with their lives, we realized we had the mobile home paid for at this time. And we really didn't relish the idea of a big loan or mortgage to pay off again. Our house was comfortable and so we decided to just keep fixing it up and so we expanded the room we had added on. We made 2 rooms and did the outside in shiplapping to match the rest of the house. 

We have since cut the tree and installed a chainlink fence around the part past the wood fence. We had daschunds and we even built a doggy door in the side between the door and windows. 

O and Sonny even built the doors. 

This is pretty much how it is now without the clutter. The first add-on we changed into a laundry room/pantry. 

We took the old tiny laundry area and made into a smaller pantry. I never really organized it until this year. The other room where the double windows are we turned into a dining room. We had a terrible ice storm in 1999-2000 which tore down some huge pines, cedar and wild cherry so we took these logs and had them sawn into lumber and used the cedar for the walls inside the dining room. We had the pine treated and used it for flooring.

 In the midst of adding these rooms we had completely remodeled our master bath with Western red cedar walls and we had removed the carpeting throughout the house. (Photos will come later).

Since then we have added the gazebo over the patio area and added the cook shack. Then we added another gazebo over a sitting area with a firepit. They will be shown in the video I'm working on.

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Well I'm stopping here. As always....

General canning

I used to can more than freezing our produce but lately even with 4 freezers, we need to leave room for our meats. We will be splitting a steer and pig with our son and daughter-in-law this year in addition to the wild game Sonny brings in. 

I do have some news. I have made a video of our place and will put a link up later here on my blog. I really need to redo the looks of my blog. I set this up when I was making vintage crafts and had my shop. Now I mainly want to concentrate on our homestead.

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Today's post will mainly show a few canning basics. These will just be random photos of what we have done with basic descriptions.

We mainly can shell beans. I'll show later what we do with green beans. We sit on our patio with 2 fans running and do our shelling. Then we wash the beans and blanch.

Then I bottle and use the juice from the blanch to pour over my beans only up to the bottom ring of the screw part. That leaves about an inch headspace.

I had a hard time finding canning lids. It seems with this pandemic people must be stocking up. All the stores were completely out. I usually keep a lot on hand but since we didn't can last year, I thought then I would stock up this year. Well finally found some of these I could buy in bulk. They were cheaper than the ball and really I like them much better. The seal is wider and thicker and so far our jars have sealed well. Not sure how they will last over the long haul. We'll see. 
We always pressure can our beans and peas. Anything with high sugar or acid content we water bath. 
Here is our canner. You don't have to have an expensive canner but I'd dearly love to own the All American pressure canner. If you can afford it, that is the one to buy. But I've managed over 30+years to get by with 2 of these presto canners. 

I basically prepare the jars for canning and then we carry outside and do the pressure and water bath canning. This keeps heat and humidity from steaming up our house. 
Once they are canned and the pot has cooled. We remove from the canner and completely cool on our picnic table. Then I label jars and wipe down and store. 
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A personal preference for us with green beans....we really don't like them canned. They lose their flavor after a couple of months. So basically we dill them. I just treat them the same as I do when I make dill pickles. 

I make lots of relish, salsa and pickled things. The bottom photo the jar on the right is blueberry syrup. All these we only water bath. 
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Well sad to say I tried to upload my video this morning to youtube and think my file must be too big. I will try to revideo tomorrow morning with my big camera and up load from my computer. 
So until tomorrow.......

Homemade Pizza

Sonny and I have been eating at home before the quarantine was in place. I have trouble with some foods eaten out with stomach upsets. I've almost eliminated this problem by fixing all or most of our meals at home. One of our favorites if PIZZA!!!!!

So here is my recipe with photos.

I use any kind of dough I might have on hand as usually it is something I can make quick. So I get the canned dough usually the store brand. I've even used the Pillsbury crescent roll sheets, puff pastry and even made my own. So this is the quick version using the canned pizza dough. I have a stone backing sheet which is the perfect thing to use as it gives a good crust on the dough.

I start by spraying with an oil. I like the olive oil sprays the best as the regular Pam has canola oil which is not a real good oil to use. I try not to spray the sides. 

I let the dough sit awhile after unrolling so that it warms enough to spread. I spread out the dough and up the sides. Using the stone baking sheet, the dough seems to cling better to the sides. 

I open a jar of pasta sauce. It can be a store brand. I pour about 1/4 to 1/3 of the jar into a bowl and add dried oregano, minced garlic and dried basil. My homemade pasta sauce has all but garlic. 

I spread the mixed sauce on the dough.

Then I chop whatever veggies I have on hand like onion and peppers. I use just a small amount of ground meat...any kind. I've used hamburger, ground venison, pork sausage. I've even mixed it. I crumble and brown in a skillet. I pour it into a bowl and add the chopped veggies and saute until they are a little soft. Not all the way cooked. 

I sprinkle these on top of the sauce and then drain a can of mushroom pieces. I keep my pantry stocked with mushrooms and black olives. I chop the black olives up and add them as well as the mushrooms.

If I have some fresh small tomatoes, I may slice them on top. I always peel my tomatoes before eating.  I digest them better peeled.

Then I top with any kind of grated cheese. I love the Mexican blend but use whatever I have on hand. I tried some fresh grated parmesan cheese on top of the other cheese and it was terrific. I've even used fresh mozzarella. I love some cheeses. Some of the stinky cheeses I hate. 

And here is the finished pizza already sliced. I couldn't wait.

Yum!!!

And healthier than eating out. Usually pizzas bought out are so greasy. Mine is not but I use hamburger and sausage that we make and much is venison but mixed with fresh lean beef or pork. 

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Next post will be a canning post. 

and as always. 

Harvesting and Putting by

We have been covered up in work lately. The garden has been ready to harvest. It's been a strange year. We had so much rain since spring which is a good thing and can be a bad thing. The early rains we got were a little too much and drowned out some of the garden. We replanted the green beans, pinto beans and black eyed peas. The green beans did OK. Not as much as some years. The pintos were awful. From what we planted we only put up 9 quarts.

(To click any link just click on the highlighted or underlined parts)

 We usually get 3 or 4 times that much. The rains also did a number on our fruit harvest. We got just enough plums to eat fresh. We did get enough peaches to freeze 6 quarts. That is not much considering we have 6 trees. The apples we usually get at least 3 bushels and one year we got 17 bushels. We only have the one tree. This year we only got 1 bushel. So I thought I would show you how I canned cinnamon apples.

I start by filling a dishpan with water and add citric acid. I buy it in bulk from SanFranciscoHerb company. (click the link to go to the site). I mix in about a half cup to that much water. I then peel, cut them in quarters and core and put them in this water. This keeps the cut apples from turning brown. 

The apples this year were a tiny bit wormy. I don't worry about it. I just cut around the wormy section.

Next I put my clean canning jars in the oven on 200F. and clean rings and new lids in a water pot and bring to a simmer. 

Next I put water, sugar and cinnamon into a pot. I use the ratio of 2/1. 2cups water, 1cup sugar. Then I add several tablespoons to the water. I just don't worry about measuring it as we like lots of cinnamon. I also use cinnamon flavoring.  I also buy these in bulk.

I bring this to a boil and gently simmer for 1minute. 

The pot looks kind of gross but that is the cinnamon. I have not yet scraped the sides. Once it has simmered 1minute. I add the apples. I don't measure how many. I just try not to overflow the pot. I continue to push the apples down into the syrup until it comes back to a boil.

Our apples are granny smith and they tend to mush easy. So I do not boil these. Once they come to a boil, I turn off the heat. You mainly want them to heat through. This keeps them from floating in the jars once canned. 

I then can them up in quart canning jars. I do use the off type canning jars for these if I have them because I have a lot saved from using other bought products like mayonaise, etc. They work fine in a water bath. I would not pressure can in these. I do not fill my jars completely full of apples. After bottling the apples, I then add the syrup from the pot. I make sure I clean the screw part and around the top of the rim before capping. Using a clean damp wash cloth I dip in vinegar to disinfect and it in turn disinfects the rims. I tighten the rings and Then the jars are transferred outside to the canner. Sonny does this part so no photos. He water baths them for 20minutes. The canning books call for 40 but any longer makes these type apples go to mush. 

Here is the finished product. 

We set them on the picnic table under a fan to cool and then transfer to our pantry. 

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One thing Sonny and I enjoy is a homemade pizza. My next post will show how I make one. In the rest of this post I'm showing some photos of our homestead.

Front view with patio area

Patio area. The upper section is our cook shack. We do our canning and grilling there and we eat out there as well when it is nice outside. 

Straight front view of the house.Someday I'll tell you the story of our house and try to find old photos. 

another front view. We used to have a huge iris bed in front but getting older, we decided we wanted to focus on a food garden. I did move many bulbs to the side of the drive and then gave the rest away. 

This is our garden earlier in the season. I took this photo from the front yard looking northeast. We keep an electric fence around it. Our fruit trees are scattered from there up the hill to the left of this photo.

We have 6 blueberry bushes. 2 are very old and 2 are a little younger and then we have 2 really young bushes. Our older bushes were so overgrown and needed the old wood pruned out. So this is after the pruning. They are about 1/3 the size they were before. The big bushy tree behind the top photo is our big fig tree and it is loaded this year. 

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I have some other news to cover next time as well about our self-quarantine. Later for that. In the meantime, I have been spending time on youtube. I could spend hours but have a few homesteading ones I love. This link is for the one that is my favorite. They are a homestead in Georgia. I think they have only had their place for 2 years or so. The woman is a joy to watch. Her accent is really southern and so I can relate. Their site on youtube is 

Homestead Heart. Click the link to check them out. 

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Time to close. and as always. 

More garden news and new toys

Our garden is coming off big time. Not many photos of it as it is beginning to look ragged. Our fruit crop has been a bust this year with much rain causing the fruit to drop. 

I found out something about my herbs. I have some mint plant I thought was peppermint. It seems I was wrong and it is spearmint. I had infused some vodka since last year and it stunk...smelled and tasted like weeds. So did some google searches and found that peppermint is what you need to use for infusing to get mint extract. 

The mint bloom is what led me to find out what kind of mint I have. So like the old old asparagus bed, we are killing it out and replanting both this next spring. And this time I will get peppermint.

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Our daylilies have been outstanding again this year. Sonny finally took my word that they bloom later than most flowers and I stopped him in time before he cleaned up the ditch bank.

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I spent a little money on Amazon. I bought some lids that fit on a large mouth canning jar to sprout seeds. I love sprouted seeds. I bought some mixed green seeds to sprout. I've only eaten alfalfa and mung bean seed so this is a little different. The sprouts definitely have a bite to them. 

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I also bought some fermentation lids to make kraut and other fermented veggies. This is the kit I bought.

I also bought caraway seed to flavor my kraut.

Here is mine. 

The yellow top is the sprouting lid. All you add to the kraut is cabbage, caraway seed and some water that has canning salt added to it. 

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We finally harvested all our corn off just 1 row. We got 20 bags of corn cut off the cobs and 9 of corn on the cob. 

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Sonny has been brining hams and making summer sausage. He had kept our big smoke house going this past week. Both taste so good and so much healthier for you.

Sonny uses about 40% deer and 60% lean beef. He adds the summer sausage mix, chopped jalapenos, and hard cheese. It is so yummy. 

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Hopefully this next week I'll show steps to making a homemade pizza. 

In the meantime here is the last to add. Just like God protects us under His wings.