Thanksgiving Left Overs...Grab The Pressure Canner

Boy, the last 48 hours, here on the homestead, have been super busy. Busy to the point where you get overtired and then can't sleep. I am sure you all know what I am talking about. 

I bought a 24 pound turkey, just before Thanksgiving, for .59 cents a pound at Tom Thumb. Due to family health problems we weren't anticipating having more than few people for Thanksgiving. That turkey managed to feed 5 of us for Thanksgiving, 2 sandwiches on Friday, A turkey pot pie last night, my husbands Turkey salad for lunch today at work, and gave me 6 quarts of turkey stock and 11 pint jars of canned turkey (I had 12 but one didn't seal so I went ahead and gave it to the doggie rather than try to reseal it or put it in the fridge). This was my first time canning any meat but I found the process to be pretty easy.

The turkey stock getting started on the stove. The only thing that needs to be added at this point is the carrot ends and peels which will be cut up next. 

ALDI's had potatoes, onions, and carrots on sale Friday. I bought 50 pounds of potatoes for $6.70. 6 pounds of onions for $1.38, and 6 pounds of carrots for about the same price. Produce, especially potatoes, can be pricey so I wanted to stock up. 

6 pounds of onions finally cut!

First of 6 trays of onions that will be in the dehydrator.

I have the onions in the food dehydrator right now, I am dehydrating half the carrots and canned 6 half-pint jars of carrots. I will be canning pints of russet potatoes tonight. I also got a good size bag of garlic that I plan on dehydrating as well. I am going to make onion powder and garlic powder, as well as some minced garlic for the fridge. 

I enjoy having large Thanksgiving and Christmas's at our house. Not so much presents but a large dinner where we can eat and just get together. That wasn't possible this Thanksgiving so I was a little depressed, however, knowing I am able to feed my family with the turkey for several of the coming months that makes me really happy...so it is a plus. 

This Christmas won't be a large one, either, but I am trying to keep my spirit's up and realize that sometimes things just don't turn out like we plan. 

This year has been hard for me and I have struggled to keep depression at bay. I believe that makes it worse that the Holiday's aren't what they normally are this year. 

When things don't really go as we would like we just need to regroup and try again. With that said, I am eagerly awaiting getting started hand making some of next years gifts. That should keep my mind busy and some of my emotions in check (hopefully).

Have An Amazing Monday!

Cooler Weather Can Be Expensive

For a lot of people cooler weather (winter) is their most expensive time of the year. The cost to heat a home, the expense of the Holiday's,  using a car more often because walking isn't as easy, the cost of food because we tend to eat more to stay warm (or so we use that excuse), higher doctor bills because of colds, the flu, bronchitis, etc, The price of food goes up for several reasons....1. fruits and veggies aren't in season, 2. it costs more to feed cattle in the winter so the price of meat goes up. The price of propane shoots up, the price of natural gas shoots up,  the price of wood shoots up.

When we choose to be particular with the money that God provides us we show him we are faithful in the small things. I know for some money doesn't seem like a small issue but if you look at it in the realm of what God says it simply isn't as important as other things in our Christian walk.

• buy a heated throw for each person in the house. (They are $19.96 at Walmart). This is an initial investment and won't have to be done every single year. These throws shut off after 8 hours of use. Since the kids are in school they will only use theirs about 8 hours per day. It costs about .03 cents per hour to use a heated blanket. If a family of 4 uses a heated blanket for 10 hours every day that is only $1.20 a day. My guess is you won't be using it near that much since some will be at school, others at work, etc. so the cost will be much cheaper. However, that is only $36 a month to your heating bill. These throws can be moved around the house for watching tv and such since they are small and easy to handle. At bedtime throw them on the bed under the blankets (under the bottom sheet is even better) for night time use.
• Lower the thermostat. There is no need to keep a home at 70 degrees in the winter time. Most people don't keep it that warm in the summer so it isn't needed in the winter, either. If everyone is using a heated throw you can easily turn your thermostat down to 60 or so.  This saves the wear and tear on your unit, as well, helping it to last longer and saving you the cost of replacing or repairing the unit. 
• Wear warmer clothes. I despise socks. I wear them when I have shoes on but other than during that time I hate them. I have learned to keep them on my feet in the winter. I have a $6 pair of house shoes I bought at Walmart 2 years ago. They still are in decent shape and get the job done. By adding the socks I am able to stay warmer with no extra cost to the household. 
• Running a humidifier in the "heat" of the day (noon to 5 or so) will help to make the air feel more warm. it costs roughly $9 a month to run it for 8 hours per day. A huge savings over the cost of running the heater at a higher temp. This also helps your nasal passages from getting too dried out especially if you run propane or wood for heat. 
• Let the thermostat go down at night. When you are under the covers (especially with your heated throw) you can easily let the thermostat get down to the 50 degree range. Set it to go higher about 30 minutes before you wake up to get out of bed. This will knock the chill off and keep the kids warm while they are getting ready for school or you are getting ready for work. 
• I like to soak in the tub but I also like warm showers. We live in a rural area so our water is stupidly expensive. Soaking in the tub for a bit is a great way to relieve tension, warm up, and just relax. Life isn't worth being tense all the time so a warm bath is a luxury that everyone should enjoy the added benefit of making us fell warmer so we aren't pushed towards turning the thermostat up is just a bonus.  Chances are you are going to bath or shower daily anyways so use it as a chance to get warmed back up. 
• Have "inside" clothes. We all feel better when we are lounging in comfortable clothing. When you get home (if you work outside the home) change into some flannel pajama bottoms or sweat pants and a sweat shirt, socks, and some house shoes. Adding these clothes when your body doesn't already feel cold will help you to not get "chilled" and therefore you won't be tempted to turn up the thermostat. 
• Put your heated blankets underneath you (or use a heated mattress pad). Heat rises. If an electric blanket is on top of you then you aren't getting the full benefit of the heat. By placing it under you, you will actually get more of the heat and can use a lower setting on the blanket making it even cheaper to use on a daily basis. 
• Keep hydrated. Keeping plenty of fluids in your system helps to keep you hydrated which can also keep you warmer (as well as healthier).
• Use "warm" foods. A bowl of hot stew is low in calories and will warm you from the inside out. Chicken and dumplings, stew, chili, potato soup, goulash, dirty rice....all these things have carbs in them which your body can use during the colder weather. 
• Watch your weight. When I gained weight I moved around less because it was more uncomfortable. The less I moved around the colder I got. It turned into a vicious cycle. Health is one of the many things that we take for granted but being healthy helps us to deal with the cold (and heat) better. 

When you make being frugal a game it no longer seems like such a horrible concept. I rather enjoy seeing how I can scrimp and save. For my family it is a lifestyle choice. It isn't something we are forced to do at this point in our lives but rather a choice to make sure that the future holds good things as well. 

There are a lot of other things we can do to help with our expenses....some of them require a little planning in the summer months....which means you need to plan in the winter to be ready for the summer to be plentiful enough to get you through the next winter. Keep in mind that what you do today to make wise choices will ultimately help with tomorrows bills. 

Welcome to the Farm Hippie and Hopster

We added 2 new rabbits to the farm last night. These two girls were “given” to us…of course it took a lot of gas to get them BUT they are really people friendly. They are very skinny compared to our girls so it will take some time to get them where they should be....

This is Hippie…

This is Hopster…

They are sisters and are both Red New Zealand’s....they are about 5 months old and would be ready for breeding, normally, in a few months..but these girls were so NOT an okay weight that we will not breed them until they are 1 and we can get them to where they are healthy. They looked at the rabbit feed like it was a crazy alien thing so I am assuming by that and their weight that they were on a grass only diet…SO NOT A GOOD THING! I gave them some leaf lettuce, timothy hay, and rabbit pellets with a big helping of water so they should be well on their way to getting healthy.

Busy Season on the Farm

Howdy from the farm!

Please forgive my absence. We have been so busy on the farm with spring/summer issues and of course, my health, that I haven't written much lately.

Friday we were driving down one of the old roads in our little community and found some Sand Plums on the side of the road. We asked the owners of the property if we could pick them and naturally they said yes. We came home and I made my first, ever, batch of plum jam. Oh my goodness it was tasty. The process was a little long but once the jam set up and I tasted it I just couldn't believe it. 

Yesterday I decided to make some Jalapeno jam. Oh what a treat that was. The house smelled really strongly of peppers so I can actually say the jam was breath-taking. 

I woke up this morning to a water leak so we had to head to town to get a part to fix the leak with. As we were driving down the country roads we found a massive thicket of sand plum trees. We stopped and asked if they used them. The older man and wife told us they planted them 10 years ago, made jam once, and we could always pick them when they were ready. What a treat. We gathered what few bags we had in the truck with us and went to picking. Today we ended up with 13 pounds picked in just a few short minutes.

I will have to wait until tomorrow or Tuesday to process these but they are here at the farm to be dealt with. I will probably go Wednesday or Thursday to all of our "approved" spots and do another picking so we can set back even more jam. The only cost to us is the pectin, the jars, and the 50 cents worth of gas to drive to pick them so I am pretty pleased with that. 

This past spring we had a tree get hit with lightening. It has finally started to give way in the good parts so we cut the part that was hanging down today and decided to go ahead and cut that up for this winters firewood. Morgan was hard at work.

Like with all things here on the farm we all must work, including the chickens. They were hard at work cleaning up the bugs, dust, and all kinds of goodies.

In true homesteading spirit we threw the limbs over to the goats to eat the leaves before we will cut the smaller stuff down for starting fires.

Every single piece of the tree has a purpose and will be used on the farm in the next 12 months. Absolutely nothing will go to waste.

Most of our animals are pretty good about doing their jobs without much coaxing like my little Turken Rooster.

Some are photogenic

There are those who just like to "hang out" and have good conversation.

And sometimes they demand attention and love to a degree that most people wouldn't believe.

BEFORE going back to work in the garden eating insects.

or before watching your sister do all the work while you just stay on the sidelines.

Please forgive the messes on some of the outskirts of the photo's. Morgan was working in the yard, cutting trees, and moving things around while I was trying to take photo's around him without disrupting him. He was pretty understanding of my desire to have the camera out today so I am tickled about that. 

Hope you have a blessed week full of exciting, new adventures. 

Looking Beyond Daily Frustrations

Today has been one of those days where every single thing has frustrated me beyond measure. Actually, it has been one of those weeks. No matter what I attempt to do either gets all messed up, or my to-do list is longer than the amount of time to do it in, or something breaks, or dinner burns, or animals get sick, and so on and so forth. 

Nothing went right this week it seems. The washer broke, the goat's leg got cut, it stormed for 2 days and is now muddy so we can't plant, the tractor plow broke, and then the other tractor plow broke, in the same spot as the first one, nonetheless. We ran out of time to butcher the hog because of the rain making that part of a to-do list for another weekend. To tractor decided to stop working, it has been too windy and rainy to have the windows open, but humid and hot enough that the air was sticky without some breeze or air conditioner, or something to move the air. I have had a headache off and on for about 11 days and we aren't sure if it is the CML or if I am having an allergy, sinus, or blood pressure problem.

It has been a never ending struggle this week to not be overwhelmed (I lost the struggle several times and had to "start over"). In times like these I find it really easy to be angry at God instead of stopping long enough to pray and take one moment at a time. I am not proud of this. It happens more often than I would even like to admit to myself. 

Today I went out to plant the garden, it is still too wet. I had to help Morgan get the tractor deck back on, which fell back off when he hit a rock. I had him go ahead and put up my clothes line because I knew I couldn't dry clothes that were sopping wet without ruining the dryer and causing the electric bill to sky rocket. I was able to get the washer fixed  (Thank you Jesus) and so now I am able to wash clothes and spin them out. The good that come from this is without the washer being messed up the clothes line wouldn't have gotten put up and I would be wasting energy using up the electricity. This is a HUGE blessing for several reasons.

• I will save on energy bills
• I will get vitamin d from spending some daily time in the sun
• The sun will kill any bacteria on the clothes
• The clothes will smell fresh
• The clothes will last longer because they won't be going in the dryer
• I won't be heating up my house using the dryer
• I will get extra exercise by taking the clothes outside to dry

If I had been looking for the blessings all week I am sure my week would have gone much easier and it would have been much less stressful. 

For instance, if I had seen that the rain is causing the grass to grow which feeds our goats I wouldn't have gotten so upset about the rain. If I had realized that the pig not getting butchered means she can be fed out more and mean more meat in the freezer I wouldn't have been so upset by the rain. Had the washer not broken I wouldn't have gotten the clothes line out. Had Daisy, the goat, not been limping I wouldn't have known she had gotten hurt and wouldn't know to keep an eye on her. 

I must always remember to look for the good things. Even during the worst days there is always a reason to smile and to Praise God. 

"Calgon, Take Me Away"

When I was a young kid there was a commercial where a mother, ran ragged from the "stresses" of the day just wanted to take a bath in this wonderful, relaxing, amazing smelling, bath salts to soak all the cares of the day away.  (For those of you who are from an age this side of the 70's I have added a video for your amazement).

Stress can mean different things for different people. With that said, many people are stressed about things that wouldn't bother another person. What stresses one person out can be a comfort to someone else.

Lets use me as an example. I can run a billion dollar a year restaurant, make schedules, order food, keep the drive-thru moving steadily, cover shifts, count money, make change, go to the bank, pay bills, make payroll, do end of the day paperwork, do opening paperwork, and run a position in a restaurant and feel right at home trying to do all these things in a few hours. For me, it is relaxing. I "get" it. I am "good" at it. Now, we will use today as an example. In a matter of 6 hours I had 2 anxiety attacks. Both were to the point that I broke down, my chest hurt, I was crying, and almost immobilized....guess what happened to cause this? The first one came when I tried to fold a king size fitted sheet.  Don't get me wrong, I love my king size bed. In fact, we just got it not long ago. I excitedly ran out and bought a second set of sheets so I wouldn't have to launder the one set and put it back on the bed, leaving the bed unmade while the sheets were being laundered. HUGE mistake...now I have to fold the other set of sheets. I am telling you that someone smoked some strange stuff before they came up with the idea of king size fitted sheets. I was so stressed out I couldn't handle it.

Now, before you laugh too hard let me tell you what caused the second anxiety attack...a basket of socks. I am not EVEN joking. I have always hated socks. I almost wish I was born in this era where wearing mismatched socks was fashionable. (I hate it when I see kids doing this). Socks stress me out beyond measure. I use to throw them all in a basket and everyone would have to dig for their own socks. I learned several lessons by this...1. they will always grab MY socks and I will end up with none. 2. they wear them mismatched so grabbing a "pair" of socks is no big thing to them. 3. if I just leave them in the basket then I have to face the stupid basket of socks every day to get a new pair and I learned that was just too stressful so I do actually fold them now. (FYI...buy the same kinds of socks and make them all white and mating them is MUCH easier...plus I have 16 pairs now..which means I only have to do this chore once every 2 weeks.)

For this kind of stress you learn how to calm yourself. To breath and start again in a few minutes. To walk away, to ask for help, to leave it for another day or another time...or to realize that it isn't life or death. If the socks don't get folded no one is really going to be bothered by it.

Since I stay at home full-time now these two things are a routine job for me. Well, as routine as they can be. However, they aren't the only thing that causes stress in my life. I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. It came about as the result of several very traumatic events in my life in a short period of time.  It is like a battlefield in your mind. A war that is being raged against every single one of your senses. It is horrible and can be horrendous.

For this kind of stress you may been medical intervention. Medication, counseling, or other things can help to ease this stress....however, it may not ever go away completely.

We all have things that stress us out in different ways. For some people big things just send them over the edge, for others, like me, the small things eat my lunch on a regular basis. The answer lies with finding what works best for you. A hobby, a walk, reading, a phone call to a friend, journaling, there are so many things that one can do to combat stress.

With today being National Stress Awareness Day I hope we are all able to realize that we all have small and large stressors....we are each different....things bother each of us differently. No two people are alike in every aspect. If nothing else, if you see someone else stressed out give them an extra smile, say a thank-you, open their door for them, help them pick something up off the floor. DO SOMETHING...if we all help each other with the small things life would be a lot less stressful.

Spring has sprung...and babies have been born.

I went out to feed, water, and hand out treats a little bit ago. The baby rabbits were out and playing in the pen with mama. They are SO adorable. Then I realized that Snowwhite and Biter B both kitted last night during the night. They hadn't by 7pm last night and they had by this morning. It is normal for them to do that. Snowwhite didn't pull much hair. She had 6 but lost 1 that we can tell. We added some pine shavings to her nest to keep the babies warm. The last kitting she had I hadn't gotten a nest in there in time so they all passed. I am anxious to see if she is going to be a good mom. Biter B had 5 or 6 that we could see. She was a good mom with her last kitting so I am hoping that works out well. So right now we KNOW we have 15 babies in mama pens. That is a lot of babies...we also have the 9 that are already a few months old in the pen that will be going to trade days this weekend once we re-sex them and make sure which are males and which are females. I am SO excited to have new babies. There is nothing better on a farm than harvest and birthing season.

We lost 6 of our baby chicks last night. i am not sure what happened but it is sad. I need to go out tonight and take photo's of everything and post them.

I don't know if I can get a good photo of the newest baby rabbits but I will try my hardest. I have decided that Wednesday will be barn cleaning, photo taking, and treat day here at the farm.

The Dutch babies are out in the pen playing with mama and they are like butter ball turkeys. She is such a good mama rabbit.

At this point I guess I will load some photo's and get off here for today...

Spring has arrived..not just officially but event he weather is cooperating a little bit.

I love this tree when it is budding. It just makes my heart warm.

See the little peach starting on the peach tree?

Just one single tulip right now.

Just checking things out around the homestead

Everything looks fine in that direction

Is it picture day again already? Guess what mom checked me and I am actually a doe and not a buck like she thought....I had to let her know so she didn't take me to the sale.

Sheba Reba asking "You talking to me"?

Sheba and Chancelor know when it is treat time and they come running.

Biter B's babies...see they are all black. She was crossed with a Black New Zealond....she is always a good mama....can't wait to watch these little ones grow up and see how they do. The brown one, above, that is a girl and not a boy came from Biter B's last kitting.

Throw us some Chicken Scratch Mom! These two grew up together. He thinks this pretty little hen is his "girl"...although they can reproduce together the offspring would be sterile..much like a donkey and horse can reproduce but mules are sterile...yes you can go look that up cause I know you didn't know and you can't believe it lol. Here I will just give you a link to the mule story and theguennea/chicken stories so you can look them up without problems. Yes, I do want to hear your thoughts on this.

Snowball and her 5 babies.

My mom said I could get back in the nest if I wanted to...I don't have to listen to you or pose for photo's.

Hanging out at the feeder...we are too chunky our human mama says....:-)

The peas seeds decided to go ahead and come up...I won't be able to harvest anything in that raised bed lol..cause to much is in there because I thought it was all dead from the cold snap.

4 weeks old and just about 3 1/2 pounds....yes we are eating mom outta house and home.

This weekend we will be building these little ones a new pen so they can grow to the next stage.

You lookin' at us?

Have an amazing week!

Good Chicken Deals and Recent Farm Photo's

The man at tractor supply told us he would sell us all the cornish rock chickens he had left for a good price this morning if we would show up. They are getting to be pretty large and the store is having to spend about $15 a week to feed them so they want to get rid of them. It will work out well for us. In about 7 weeks they will be ready to butcher. That means we will have 3 weekends of chicken butchering. NOT my idea of fun, however, we will have healthy, organic chicken to eat the whole year and that is worth something to me.

We bought some plants yesterday that need to be put into the ground. We also bought 2 plum trees and a peach tree. The plum trees were only $9.98 each. That is a pretty good price. The peach tree was $21.98 so it was a little higher but it was also quiet a bit bigger and that would be the reasoning. Peach trees can take 2-4 years to bear fruit and Plum trees can take 3-6 years to bear fruit. Since these are first year trees it will be awhile before we see any return but at least we have them and will be able to harvest fruit about the time we get the homestead paid off. In that realm it made sense for self-sustaining food. At the time Morgan will be trying to retire we will be having fruit on the trees and can put that fruit back in the form of jellies, jams, and eat fruit through summer.

Okay Cornish Crosses, at Tractor Supply, are normally $1.99. They are meat birds and not egg birds, so the price rarely goes down. Since they are getting a new shipment tomorrow they told us they would sell us these cheaper. We got there and there was 42 birds. That means the normal cost would have been 83.58. We got 42 birds for $21. This works out for us because they have already fed these birds for 2 weeks so we also saved the $30 worth of food for those two weeks. That makes us have some amazing fresh meat in the freezer for all year long. We have a total of 70 birds that will be butchered and we saved ourselves over $100 in the process just from the cost of the birds and feed...now if you bought.

With the cost of the chicks and the cost of the feed for the 7 weeks to get them to butcher age we will have spent $183.12 for 70 birds and their feed. That makes a 5 pound average chicken $2.62. That equates to 52 cents per pound. WAY cheaper than in the store. This also allows us some other things. 1. No antibiotics in the meat. 2. No growth hormones in the meat. 3. No water added to the meat meaning no sodium added. 4. Humane living conditions with first rate food. 5. No taxes when the food is bought at the grocery store. 6. Fresh meat...it didn't get frozen and come on a truck, unthaw, and then get frozen again. 7. Clean butchering process verses butchering in a factory. 8. No fuel costs in going to the store to get the food. I think that makes 52 cents a pound an amazing price. One other good thing about this process is that they will be in the freezer for any time we want them. We will also have the gizzards, hearts, and liver which are no longer included in chickens because they are sold separate.

The blood and feathers will go in the compost. The chicken feet will be boiled for chicken stock. The only piece of the chicken that we won't use is the head.

The chicks will have to be butchered over 3 different weekends since they are between 1 and 3 weeks old. They are butchered at 7 weeks so that the meat doesn't get tough and the cost of feed isn't useless.

If you also look at the compost we will get from their droppings and the pine shavings the cost of each bird will actually go down because that is less money that we have to spend on something like that to produce on the farm.

After a couple of penicillin shots and a b-12 shot Milky Mama seems to be feeling much better. That makes me really happy. I hate when one of our animals are sick. Since they can't tell you what is wrong it is hard to deal with.

Charolette will be ready to butcher in about 8 weeks as well, we hope.

In a month we will have 7 rabbits to butcher.

That means we should have:

350 pounds of chicken 150 pounds of pork 45 pounds of rabbit

Not bad for a family I think.

This summer we are going fishing and I hope to put back about 100 pounds of fish as well.

That will give us more than enough meat to last a year. The only thing we will have to buy is beef. Hopefully, I can find someone who will sell me 1/2 a side of beef for a decent price.

The only thing we need to really look at getting is some turkeys. I would like to have 4 or 5 to butcher. Since they are about $7 each and we are out of room we plan on waiting until the chickens are butchered to get the turkeys.

Morgan planted to 2 plum trees and the peach tree last night after he got off work. It is funny to think about a homesteader doing work at midnight but it is how we have to do things right now. IN 5 years we will appreciate the fact that work was done in the middle of the night verses not being done at all.

I went to the library today to turn in some books. Lo and behold they had some farming and homesteading books on sale on the shelf. Fifty cents for hard back and 25 for paper back. I spent $4 or so.

I got some dented automatic feeders at Tractor Supply for 1/2 price. I spent $18.45 on feeders. They should have cost me $36.95. That is amazing. There was nothing wrong with the usage ability of them. The damage was cosmetic. I promise the rabbits don't know the difference.

The new baby rabbits that our doe had last weekend are like little butterballs. She, like always, is being a good mother and doing her job.The sensitivity and nature of animals baffles me. The "know how" just kicks in for the most part. It isn't like human nature. humans tend to be very self centered. Animals are very protective of their young at the beginning and easily give them up when they know they have done their job teaching them.

I suppose the next thing to do is upload photo's and go check on the animals....so here they are.

Strawberry plants that need planted.The vegetables that will be going in the ground tomorrow.The Hyacinths I bought for planting.Two of the Hyacinth's planted.Plum treePlum tree #2Peach treeCharolette is really enjoying the warmer weatherThese chicks are 3 weeks old. They will be the first batch to be butchered. Right now they are almost 3 pounds. They don't move around much because of the fast growth.Here are about 80 chicks. 48 or so of these will be butchered. The rest will be egg layers that provide eggs for my family and to be sold at trade days or the farmers market.One of the baby rabbits peaking out from the nest mama has built for them.These babies were born almost 8 weeks ago. They are getting SO big.Sheba Reba and Chancellor