Around the Homestead | Northwoods Homesteader

Winter Blessings

MerrieJanuary 22, 2017January 22, 2017Leave a comment

I'm sitting here with a cup of Chai Tea and it looks like we had another dusting of snow last night. We have had several snow storms followed by rain followed by sleet and then snow again. It has made for a icy driveway but after a couple of warm days things are improving. Let's just say that the grippers (for those not in snow/ice country they are spikes that you put on your shoes) are staying on for awhile. The last thing I want to do is end up falling on my way to the barn.

There have been several little projects that have been completed over the last couple of months.

My sweet husband and I have a tradition of going to the apple orchard late in the fall. We wait until there has been at least one frost because the apples seem to be better then. We have several apple trees planted here on the homestead but they are not producing fruit yet so we give a local grower our business. We eat many of the apples fresh and I make a pie or two and of course apple crisp but canning applesauce to have the rest of the year is the biggest thing. There is nothing like some of our home raised pork with applesauce for dinner on a cold winter evening.

After Thanksgiving my husband strips the bird and we put the bones in a huge pot on the wood stove to simmer for several hours. I get the pot up to temperature on the gas stove then transfer it to a trivet on the wood stove where it will sit and get happy. I then can the rich broth to use all winter as a base for soups and stews. If you don't can please make broth anyway and freeze it. Homemade is so much better than what you can buy in the store. I can mine with no salt so I can season each soup or stew that I make with it to my liking. I make broth every time I make chicken too. This yields just enough broth of one batch of soup. Usually I end up making my Tortilla Soup with that since it also uses the left over chicken in it. I'll give you that recipe in another post.

I had been collecting juice from a triple berry mix (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries) for several months and freezing it. Now it was time to make jelly with it. Earlier I had made a delicious apple pie jam that I found a recipe for. It is low in sugar so the flavor of the apples really comes out. I also made a jam with my ground cherries. I just used the recipe in the box of pectin for berry jam.

After I finished the Triple Berry Jam I canned it is 4 oz. jelly jars and created a cute label for the top. These became Christmas gifts added to bags with home made fudge and cereal mix. It is so fun to make and give gifts from your kitchen.

My husband and I have been talking about a big project for next summer. We do not have a basement therefore not a root cellar or any real cold storage space. I use our spare room for our pantry and in the winter with the door closed it is really cool but that is not the case in the summer. Summer and fall are our times when the cold storage is really needed especially when we butcher and process our poultry. For years we have put them in big bins with ice but when you are processing close to 50 birds that is a lot of ice. So we are looking into building a cold room.

The Ripley's, the young couple that we get our CSA from at Ripley Farm, have one for their produce so we started to do some research. Come to find out the company that makes the device that turns a regular window air conditioner into one that will keep a room at around 40 degrees, CoolBot, has plans for building the rooms right on their website. This might be a multi year project since we will have concrete poured for the foundation and then build the room. We are planning on attaching it to the back of the garage so we can enter it from inside the garage. No outside entrance means we don't have to keep the snow shoveled from in front of the door.

Not only are we planning to use it for the keeping our meat cool during processing but we want to make it into a year round cold storage where the canned goods and root cellar items could be stored. The room will be super insulated and will be located where there will not be too much direct sun hitting it so our hope is that except for when we have meat cooling we will have to turn on the air conditioner very little. There may also need to be a small heating element during the winter so that stored food does not freeze during the winter. I'll try to keep you updated at things progress.

It has been nice getting updated. I know the posts have not been very regular lately. Between my and my husband's crazy schedule it has been a challenge. I hope to be better in this new year of 2017.

Visit with you soon.

Blessings,

Merrie

I Love Perennials

MerrieJune 28, 2016Leave a comment

DSC_0005 (3)

There are so many advantages to having perennials as part of your plantings. We have many different perennials as part of our yard and homestead.

The majority of what we grow are either a food or medicinal source. Although I am still studying and learning about the medicinals I have planted elderberry because everything I have read says it is an amazing plant. Even if you are not sure just what you are going to do with a medicinal perennial, if you are interested get it planted. It takes a few seasons for most perennials to get fully established so that you have a harvest so the sooner you get them planted the sooner you will have fruit.

Not only do we plant for fruit and medicine we also plant for pollinators. It is important to attract butterflies, bees, and other pollinators to your home and garden. When the lilac blooms in spring there are many insects that flock to it including the swallowtail butterfly you see in the picture above. This one is planted right next to our screened porch and the fragrance is so enjoyable when we can begin to sit outside in the warmer weather.

Our front yard, if you want to call it that, is fenced in to help protect the bee hives. It is a fairly small area but it is packed with perennials. It measures around 90 by 40 feet inside the fence. It contains our two bee hives and a 6 by 8 foot greenhouse. The north side of the yard is made up of the side of the house and the screened porch. Along the east side is another fenced area that is the yard for our dogs. Planted along that fence are raspberries. They do a great job of covering up the wire fence. There are only about 8 plants but it is enough for us to enjoy fresh berries during the summer. I also use the berries to flavor my kombucha.

In a raised bed in front of the screened porch I have planted four highbush cranberries. This will be the first year that we get a harvest. It may not be much but it will be fun to cook with then. I'm thinking about a cranberry apple pie in the fall, yum. Cranberries are very good for you also with lots of antioxidants and vitamin C.

Along the house on the north side of the yard facing south is my herb garden. It has been pretty much over run with oregano that was planted more than 15 years ago in the corner. So far I have managed to keep it at bay from a section where I have planted dill, cilantro, lemon balm, thyme, chives, cat mint and several others. I buried tires and planted the mint family members in those hoping to keep them in check. At the north west corner against the fence and house is my grapevine. This has been planted for at least 10 years but was just left to go where it wanted without any kind of support until we put the yard fence up. At that time, a couple of years ago, I put up the trellis wire on the house to encourage it to climb up those. It has also climbed down the west side fence. It is very attractive and the chickens hang out on the outside of the fence under the leaves in the shade.

Further down the west fence are planted elderberry, Naking cherries and June berries. These plants are just getting established with this being only their second or third summer. I'm still researching the various uses for these plants.

Along the south fence is our blueberry patch. We have 6 highbush plants in a planting bed. We save our coffee grounds and spread them on the bead every few months. From the look of the plants it is going to be another great blueberry harvest this year. Next to the blueberries are the two bee hives.

Now the center of this oasis. There are four planting beds outlined with rocks in the center of the yard. Two have strawberries in them and two have asparagus. The first bed to go in was one of the asparagus. It was planted around 6 years ago before the yard was fenced. Since then I have planted a second bed just because we love it both steamed and raw in salads.

The other two beds are for strawberries. Unfortunately one of the beds got over run by weeds which killed the strawberries. I have since weeded that bed, put in weed block fabric and planted more strawberries but they did not grow. I will mulch this bed for the rest of the season and begin again next year with new strawberries.

My second bed has become a bit weedy also but I'm working on getting them out of there before they choke out my other strawberries. These plants are putting on berries and I'm going to be able to pick some very soon.

The small greenhouse is directly north of the strawberry and asparagus beds with a walkway from the screened porch to the gate north of that. I have finally gotten the greenhouse planted with peppers and ground cherries. I'm hoping that the little extra heat in the green house will be enough that I can finally harvest some peppers this year. I have both sweet and hot peppers planted and have the door and vents open so as not to overheat the space. I am watering everyday since the extra heat seems to dry out the soil quickly and I really want these plants to do well.

In the corner between the house and screened porch I have a Witch Hazel tree that has been there since the mid 1990s. It was one of the first perennials planted after the small addition on the house was finished. The tiny flowers that you can harvest in the fall have many uses. You can make a astringent from the leaves and bark too.

Finally, back to the pollinator attractors. In amongst all the edible perennials are some perennial flowers. Besides lilac there are also three peonies, a bed of dianthus of various colors, which my husband loves, and climbing lonicera, a variety of a honeysuckle. The lonicera climbs up the west side of the screened porch to help shade the area.

Most perennials require little care once they are planted and established. Some, like the dianthus, peonies, herbs and strawberries die all the way back in the winter and spring up from the ground in the spring. Others, like the cranberries, blueberries and elderberries, their leaves change colors and fall with the season and you have beautiful stem structures throughout the winter.

Please consider adding perennials to your yard whether is be in the city or country. There is nothing better than enjoying and harvesting year after year.

Blessings,

Merrie

Spring Cleaning

MerrieApril 16, 2016Leave a comment

Well, we finally had a warm enough day to get the barn mucked out from the winter. We do a good cleaning when it starts to get cold in the fall. From there on out throughout the winter we just keep adding shavings as needed to keep a clean surface for the chickens. Over the years we have found that leaving the shaving and chicken manure in the coop over the winter actually creates a little heat for the birds. I'm guessing that even though it is cold there is a little composting going on with the various layers of materials.

Since most of our compost is made up of what we clean out of the barn and those things are seasonal we keep several piles going at a time. Each year there is a new pile created and we work on about a 5 year cycle. That means that we have five piles going at once. We have a spot on the property where the piles are lined up along the woods road. It is pretty easy to tell which is the new pile because it is the lightest in color. These in the picture are ready to be turned.

During the winter the piles just sit and do their thing because there is no bucket on the tractor we cannot turn them but once we take the snow plow off and put the bucket back on we turn the piles on a regular basis. Early in the winter when we get our first few snowfalls the piles melt really quickly and you can see the steam rising out of them. We know they are doing their thing.

Unfortunately for us we do not have a lot of green material to go into the pile. It is mostly shavings and manure which means that it does not break down as fast as it might. There is usually plenty that is ready to go from several years back when the spring comes and I want to put some around the fruit trees and again in the fall when I put it on the garden as it is put to bed for the winter.

I did take advantage of last Sunday afternoon to can some beans and pea soup. We had one of our hams for Easter so I used the bone and some of the leftover meat to make a pea soup. It is so convenient to have soup on the shelf if you need a quick lunch or dinner. I know on days when I'm working but my hubby is off he likes to have soup for his lunch.

Besides the pea soup I also canned some black beans and ranch beans. The black beans were just plain and we use them for tortilla soup, nachos and any thing else that they work for including salads. The ranch beans are pinto beans with spices in them. Chili powder, cumin, etc which makes them great as a side dish to almost any meat from the barbeque. In fact I think we will have some tonight with the steak we are planning on having. Yes, we splurged and bought some beef from a local farmer. It is the one thing that we do not raise but enjoy once in awhile.

Here is a sneak peek at my seedlings. I got then started about 10 days later than I would have liked to but we had a family funeral and time just got away. These are the broccoli and cabbage.

I'll thin them in a few days. These should be able to go out into the garden as soon as I can work the soil a little. They don't mind cool weather. I'm hoping that I can harvest before it gets too warm then I'll be able to plant something else in their place.

I have started several types of peppers so I need to get out and get the greenhouse set up for them. Hopefully there will be a pepper harvest on the homestead this year. We use a lot of pickled jalapenos and I am looking forward to canning our own.

Here is one more sign of spring here in Maine. The lady bugs are in the house. So far it has only been a few but some years there are so many that you have to vacuum them up.

DSC_0004 (3)

Happy Spring everyone.

Blessings,

Merrie

Maple Syrup Time

MerrieMarch 12, 2016Leave a comment

The maple syrup season here in Maine is underway. Well, some people actually tapped their trees as early as the end of January, early February this year. It has been a very different winter throughout the country and we are no exception. We never had any really cold temperatures. There were a few nights below zero but those came and went rather quickly.

So, I looked at the forecast and it looked like we were in for a streak of below freezing temperatures at night and 40-50 during the day. This is perfect sap weather. I came home from work and tapped the trees. By the time I was finished I was using the headlamp to see but you have to do things when you can.

My dear husband was off work the next day and he got the cooker set up. Right now we are using a propane outdoor cook stove that we got on sale at Cabala's a couple years ago. Eventually I want to build a rocket stove system to do this. We have so much small twigs and other wood scraps around here that I could boil the sap without paying for fuel. For now though this is the easiest for us to manage.

I get the sap boiled down to almost ready to put up and then I bring it into the house to finish. We are not a fancy operation and I don't have a hydrometer (measures the amount of water in the sap) but I probably should invest in one. I just go on the color and taste to determine if the syrup is ready to bottle. We don't actually like it too think or too dark so ours is probably bottled a little earlier than the big guys who try to be very consistent with their product. Ours is only for our personal use and it is what we like. The biggest reason we like it a little thinner is that it soaks into the waffles and pancakes much better. We also get more since we are not boiling it down as much.

I have a total of 11 taps in this year. This is the most that I have done but having the outdoor cooker will make this possible. I could have tapped many more due to the fact that there is no snow on the ground. This makes it much easier to get to the maple trees that are around the house. Every tap that we have is out and I guess I need to buy some more. We do it the old fashioned way with taps and jugs hanging on the taps. Many producers use a tubing system which works really well and if set up correctly will direct all the sap into one very large collection container which makes picking up the sap for transport back to the sugar house very easy for them. Some small producers use the tubing in a different way. They tap and just run a length of tubing from the tap into a five gallon bucket that sits at the base of the tree. Since I use one gallon jugs it means that I need to collect at least twice a day when the sap is really running so that my jugs aren't overflowing and the precious sap is landing on the ground. Having a five gallon collection bucket allows for once a day collection. I have a lot of gallon jugs and not many five gallon ones so for now we will continue to collect twice a day.

Making maple syrup is not hard work but you cannot neglect it. The season is relatively short and like most things on the homestead, it is so worth it.

Blessings,

Merrie

Spring Chicks

MerrieMarch 6, 2016March 6, 2016Leave a comment

Well, you know spring is in the air, even if it is 10 degrees outside, when the hatchery catalog arrives. We order our layers and meat birds as day old chicks from Hoover's Hatchery in Iowa. They are mailed to us the day that they are hatched and arrive a couple of days later. There is nothing like getting the phone call from the post office at around 6:30 in the morning asking you to come pick up your peeping box.

Chicks are hatched with reserve nutrition stores so they don't have any problem surviving for a day or two without food. The first thing though is to get them a drink of water after their trip. I do this by dipping each chicks beak into the water when I am putting them into the brooder from their travel box. We get the brooder ready the week before they are due to arrive. The brooder is a simulation of what the momma chicken would do for the chicks. The biggest part being keeping them warm. Chicks need a very warm environment for the first few weeks. We accomplish this with a closed box and heat lamps. The new babies actually like it 90-95 degrees for their first week. You can lower the temperature at the floor by 5 degrees each week until is is around 75 degrees. This is accomplished by raising the light farther from the chicks.

We do provide the chicks with a starter food that is medicated. This is the only time we give any medicated food to our chickens. We have chosen to do this due to the stress of travel and the fact that we want to keep all disease off our homestead if at all possible. It also helps to start the chicks out with a little boost. After that we feed nothing medicated.

After the chicks develop their regular feathers they are put down on the floor of the barn. For about a week or so we still provide them with the heat lamp if they feel they want to get warm they will gather under the light.

The arrival time of the chicks is based on a couple of things. Since we have our baby layers and broilers arrive together part of the timing is when we want to butcher. Since we have started raising the Red Rangers it takes 10-12 weeks until they are ready for butchering so that is taken into consideration. We like to have them in the freezer before summer is done. Layers also take 20-24 weeks before they start laying. This will mean that they will have a couple of months before the cold starts to set in to get the laying routine down. You need to plan all this also since it takes around 21 days for chicks to hatch so that you give enough lead time to the hatchery to be able to have chicks hatched when you want them.

This year I have ordered two breeds of laying hens that I haven't ever had before, the Golden Lace Wyandotte and the Silver Laced Wyandotte. Both are supposed to be very cold hardy and that is important where we live. I'll have pictures for you when they arrive in early May.

Raising chickens is fun and very rewarding in both eggs and meat. We like to know what we are eating and when we are able to know what our birds are eating and how they are processed it makes all the difference in the world. It is not too difficult to get started and so worth it.

Blessings,

Merrie