Around the Homestead | Northwoods Homesteader

Farmer’s Almanac Was Right

MerrieFebruary 14, 2015Leave a comment

DSC_0032 (2) Well, apparently they are pretty much right on the money for the prediction of weather this winter in New England. We have had three major snow storms in 10 days for a total of around 30 inches here at the homestead. Many places closer to the Maine coast have gotten double that in the same 10 days. Not only have we had a lot of snow but it has been cold and windy. Our high temperatures have been in the teens during this time. And, here we go again with another big one predicted to start this evening and go through Monday morning with another 1 to 2 FEET of snow. The National Weather Service has already issued a blizzard warning.

The chickens seem to be doing okay with the cold. We give them some extra cracked corn to eat which helps them stay warmer. I’m more worried about the bees. Their hive has been battered by the cold winds. The good thing is that the snow has now covered half of the hive which will help to insulate it. When it gets a little warmer we will give the hive a little lift just to see how heavy it still is. This will help to determine how their winter stores of honey are holding out. The hive was packed full in the fall so hopefully there is enough food for them if they can survive the cold.

Our wood supply is doing well. It is so nice to be able to sit in front of a roaring fire while it howls outside. I like to put my soups and stews on a trivet on the stove when it just needs to simmer for a few hours to get all happy and flavorful. I also have a popcorn popper that can be used on the woodstove as well as the regular stove. It is nice to know that if needed I could cook on the woodstove.

Well, I need to top off the wood box and I think I'll fill the bathtub with water (to flush with) just in case. Even though we have a generator we don't run it all the time if the power is out so having the water on hand is a help. I also fill a few jugs for drinking and cooking and just leave them on the kitchen counter. We have extra fuel for the generator so I think we are all set for what is to come. The big task will be where to put it all once it stops snowing.

Happy Valentines Day everyone, hope that you are spending it with loved ones.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

MerrieJanuary 1, 2015Leave a comment

It has been awhile since we have visited. My husband and I were able to spend a week with our family in the Dallas, TX area early in December. Our son lives there as well as my brother in law and his family. My dear sister in law repurposed her fall pumpkins and turned them into this cute snowman that sat outside their door during the Christmas season.

Being gone for a week in December seemed to put me behind in everything for Christmas. Although I had my shopping done before we left, since we celebrated a early Christmas while we were in Texas, there was still so much to do when we got back. We did not put the tree up right after Thanksgiving knowing that the cat might want to climb it while we were away so that still needed to be done. I also do some special cooking for Christmas gifts. I traditionally make what my mother called "Crunchy Confection" which is a jazzed up version of Chex Mix. Besides the Chex cereal there are other cereals and pretzels in it. This mix is put into bags and given to all my coworkers. There are around 40 so I have to make a really big batch. I use both parts of my turkey roaster to bake the mix in. I usually make some fudge also but that just did not happen this year.

We ate at a fantastic place called Babe's when we were in Texas. They serve only two things fried chicken or chicken fried steak. With that they serve, family style, creamed corn, salad, mashed potatoes with white gravy and to die for biscuits. They are light and fluffy and delicious with their "Texas Brush" honey. It was great for all nine of us to sit around a round table with a huge lazy susan in the middle with all the food on it.

So the biscuits were so good I have been looking for a recipe to try to replicate them. Mine of course will not be quite as light because I will be using whole wheat flour. I found a recipe in Southern Living Magazine called Angel Biscuits and I have a batch going right now. The thing about this recipe is that it has baking powder, baking soda and yeast in it and after mixing they are refrigerated for 2 hours up to 5 days before rolling, folding, rolling then cutting. My dough is in the refrigerator right now so I will be getting them ready to bake shortly. The other secret is that they are baked in a cast iron skillet, which always makes everything taste better. I hope to get a good picture of the results for you.

My prayer is that all of you have a happy and blessed 2015. Talk with ya'll soon.

Fall Early Snow

MerrieNovember 15, 2014November 15, 2014Leave a comment

Well, we had our first snowfall of the year on November 1st and it was a doozy. It started during the overnight and just kept snowing all day Sunday. When it was over we had somewhere between 12 and 15 inches of heavy wet stuff. It was hard to tell because besides the heavy snow the wind blew really hard. There were times during the day Sunday that I looked out the window and the snow was falling sideways. Our power went out around 2:00 Sunday afternoon. Thank the Lord for the generator and that we have extra fuel. Since the ground was not frozen yet we could not plow for fear of digging up the ground. My wonderful husband used the bucked on the tractor to back drag it in critical areas so that we could get around in our vehicles. Besides our long 440+ foot driveway we plow out our Uncle who lives next door and Mom and Dad who live a 1/4 mile down the road.

Life goes on and we ran the generator in the mornings and evenings to get showers, animals fed and watered and to catch the news. Both my husband and I went to work as usual. I never lost power at my work and my husband has a generator where he works so we were all set. Finally Tuesday mid afternoon the power came back on.

Fortunately, the weather warmed back up for a little bit. Enough to melt off the rest of the snow except where it had been piled up. It has now gotten cold again and we had another couple of inches of snow on Thursday into Friday. Not much over 35 degrees here today but the chores must go on.

The pigs went to the butcher at the end of October but the turkeys have another week before their time so cleaning had to be done. Wrapped warmly my husband and I cleaned out the turkey pen and put down fresh bedding for them. We have had to shut off the automatic water system to barn as we do each fall so now we have waters with heaters under them for the poultry. Right now we can still use the outside faucet to fill the waters but soon it will be too cold for that and we will be using gallon jugs filled in the house to haul water.

I also got 34 pints of applesauce made and canned last week. The house smells so much like fall when applesauce is being made. There is a fresh batch of yogurt incubating right now. Made with fresh milk with the cream still on top. This yogurt comes out the consistency of greek yogurt without even taking any of the whey out.

I would like to with everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving may you be blessed to spend it with family and friends.

Getting the Garden Ready for Winter

MerrieOctober 11, 2014Leave a comment

While it is fall here in Maine and I've been working on getting the garden ready for it's long winter nap the first of my spring gardening catalogs has arrived. I have purchased most of my fruit trees from Fedco Trees in Waterville, Maine. The reason I do is they are grown here in Maine for the most part or somewhere close that has very cold winters. One of the biggest challenges with fruit trees is getting them through winter. I don't have time to baby my trees so I try to order trees that are rated for zone 3 and 4. Fedco has 5 different divisions and their website as well as their catalogs are like reading a text book for the knowledge they contain. I order a lot of my garden seed from them as well since, again, they have great short season varieties.

It was a pretty nice day here today so we went to the apple orchard this morning. I have six different types of apple trees planted here but none are producing yet so we still go to the local orchard for apples to make applesauce. This year they put together a bushel with what they call a "applesauce variety". I think there are six different types of apples in it. I have always in the past used at lease two varieties to make my applesauce because it just gives a more full bodies flavor. I am anxious to see how it turns out this year.

This afternoon was spent down at the garden. I still have more work to do but it is coming along. Since I put the raised beds in this spring I am not tilling any longer. I still have weeds that thrive but that is mostly because I did not get enough wood chipped to get them mulched before the weeds started. Instead of pulling out the weeds and leftover garden plants I'm cutting them off at the ground and leaving the roots in the soil to rot and give nutrition back. After I get all that done in my three raised beds I want to add a generous layer of compost on top and then cover the whole thing with clear plastic. Using clear plastic allows the sun to bake any weed seeds that may still be lurking in the beds. It will also helps to warm the soil in the spring so I might be able to plant a bit earlier as long as I protect everything from frost threats.

I also would like to revive the hoop house that I built about 3 summers ago. The first summer I covered the PVC pipe frame with clear plastic and attempted to build ends for it. It was difficult to keep the ends covered and still be able to enter the hoop house. I took the plastic off for the winter because I was afraid that the snow load would cave in the structure. I am now toying with the idea of using plastic panels for the sides and ends. The house is 12X20 feet so that gives me a lot of working space. I will add raised beds to the inside of this also. It is just so much easier if you are not walking on the planting surface and compacting the soil.

My class on "Getting Started with Chickens" was this last week and several wonderful folks attended. There is nothing like a few chickens and their wonderful eggs.

I'll let you know how the applesauce turns out.

Let’s Get Practical About Prepardness

MerrieSeptember 4, 2014Leave a comment

I am here to tell you that if something has been pulling at you to put a little, or even a lot, by for a rainy day you are not alone. I was raised with a preparedness lifestyle but is wasn't called that back then. My mom didn't work outside the home and my dad didn't make a huge amount of money so when something went on sale my mother stocked up on enough to last the family until the next time that item went on sale.

Today this kind of practicality is called the "prepper movement" and sometimes folks that feel they should be prepared for changes in their lives are thought of as being a bit strange. Well, we are not and I think the movement is getting to be more mainstream by the minute. There are various factors leading to this. You only need to turn on the TV or radio and listen to what is happening around the world with disasters, the economy and the declining quality of our food to know that things are changing fast and probably not for the better.

I don't want to get political here, that is not my focus. I just want more folks to see that being prepared for these changes is a practical thing. That doesn't mean that you should go out tomorrow and buy two dozen cases of MREs (meals ready to eat) and store them in the bunker that you are building. Now if you live in tornado alley a bunker might fall into the practical category but you know what I mean.

Becoming "prepared" is not something that happens overnight unless you just won the lottery. Most of us have to take it slow, buying a few extra canned goods each week as we build up our pantry. Keeping a eye out in the local bargain hunter or Craig's List to find a generator or a pressure canner or any number of things that are considered prepper items for a price we can afford. The funny thing is that it is far more practical to buy things that you would probably use occasionally even if there wasn't an emergency. A portable generator comes in really handy if you go camping or need to use power tools away from the reach of a grid tied outlet. We use our food stores everyday when we eat and it is replaced the next time we go shopping. I pressure can the vegetables from my garden every year.

Don't get carried away, make a plan, make a list, revise the list, take baby steps. Taking baby steps is a good way to move into anything new. Make sure you talk to your family about getting prepared and hopefully they will be on board too. If not it is a little harder but when something happens and what you have stored or put away for just such a need saves the day you may well get a few converts. Just don't say "I told you so", they already know that!!