Around the Homestead, Gardening, In The Kitchen

Organic Gardening & Tamale Pie

Gretchen

I am already getting into spring mode at our farm.  This weekend will be spent pruning our fruit trees and shrubs and starting a few seeds.  Organic Gardening offers an Almanac where you can select your region and it will give you a month-by-month guideline for things you should do each month.  February is pruning month for my area. 

We are still awaiting the first baby lamb of the year.  The girls appear as if they could go at anytime, but still no babies.

I made tamale pie for dinner on Monday, it was really good.

Tamale Pie

1 lb. of hamburger

1 Onion

1 T Olive Oil

1 qt. Frozen corn

3 T. Taco seasoning

1 qt. Ro-tel

Topping:

1 ¼ c Whole wheat pastry flour
¾ c Cornmeal

2 T Sucanat
2 t Baking powder
½ t Sea salt
1 c milk, buttermilk, or fresh cream
¼ c Olive Oil
1 large egg or two small eggs

Cook onions in olive oil in a cast iron skillet until transparent.  Add hamburger and cook until no longer pink.  Once the hamburger is fully cooked add ro-tel, taco seasoning and corn.  Simmer 5 minutes.

In a bowl combine milk, oil, and eggs and mix until well combined.  Add dry ingredients and mix with a fork until just moistened.  Don’t over mix. 

Pour the meat mixture into a 9×13 casserole dish.  Top with cornmeal mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

We top our’s with a little ranch dressing and homemade salsa. 

I try to make the NT salsa whenever possible.  However, now that tomatoes are out of season and I refuse to buy them at the store here is what I do for salsa.  I have a lot of canned ro-tel in the pantry, so when we run out of salsa in the wintertime here is what I do.

Quick and Easy Salsa

1 qt. homemade ro-tel

Chili powder to taste

Place ro-tel and chili powder in a food processor.  Tah-dah.  It’s quick, it’s easy, and it taste pretty good too.  You could always add cilantro, garlic, and other seasonings if you would like.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week.

Around the Homestead, Herbs

iHerb

Gretchen

I just found a pretty great site.  Keep in mind I have not ordered from this site yet, but would like to know if anyone has used it.  I was on Katie’s site reading about her love for Wahini rice and went in search of it in bulk.  I came across iHerb and as always pick a product (this time it was a 25 lb bag of Lundberg, Organic wild rice.  I waited for it to calculate the shipping for the usual $10-$20 usually charged.  What, $4?  I added another bag to see if it would increase, recalculated, $4!  So, I started perusing their products and found some interesting stuff. 

I’ll let you know if I order and how it goes!

Have a wonderful day!

Animals, Around the Homestead

A warm and windy weekend…

Gretchen

In Kansas you learn fast you have to take the good with the bad.  If you have a 72 degree in January with gusts up to 30 mph, you still think it is a nice day.  We took advantage of the nice weather over the weekend and got quite a bit done.

Friday, Randy was off work because he had worked really late the night before.  So, we went to a town 30 minutes away to get our passport pictures taken and saw a girl I went to high school with and had a nice chat.  Randy and I went out for a nice lunch and spent the remainder of the afternoon hanging out together and stopped to visit our neighbors on our way home.  Saturday, we picked up limbs around our house from the ice storm.  We are MAYBE a quarter of the way done.  It is really a mess.  Sunday, we spent the better part of the day building our shute. 

Halfway There

The finished product.

Here are the girls and Hank just relaxing and doing some cud chewing while we worked and slaved on their shute.  Randy tried to lure them down the shute with a bucket of corn at feeding time.  Our registered Texel ewe, June, was the only one who followed and got hand fed a bite of corn.

Here are the Banties roaming.  We have chicken wire between the dogs and where the chickens roam.  The little black dog in the background doesn’t look like much, but he is a cold-blooded killer.  Notice the ice we have been scooping out of our stock tank.  The sad looking cedar trees have been converted to back scratchers for the girls, notice all the wool.

Sunday, we were invited to Mom and Dad’s for dinner so after we finished up our evening chores we headed down there the hang out with them and eat.  I also took a few pictures of his baby lambs to send to my cousins in North Carolina. 

Spooky and I had a little photo shoot two weeks ago, so I thought I would share.

Gotta love camera strings.

and of course a self portrait

This is what our older, wiser cat, Cooter, thought of the photo shoot.  He high tailed it out of my reach.

I have also started using some of the things I got in my Mountain Rose Herbs order.  Their coconut oil is wonderful and less expensive than I could find it anywhere else (even including shipping).  I used my citric acid to make mozzarella over the weekend.  And hope to get in my lip balm tubes I ordered on eBay so I can make lip balm this weekend.

We have started using Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar on our dog’s food to try to combat some skin allergies Koal is having.  We use one teaspoon morning and evening.  We didn’t know if they would eat their food with the ACV on it, but it hasn’t affected their eating at all, and Koal is a very picky eater.  Hopefully it will help neutralize their little systems. 

Monday was house cleaning day since it didn’t get done Friday.  I also made homemade corn tortillas (I’ll post this a little bit later), enchilada sauce, and crockpot enchilladas.  I also made mozzarella, cream cheese, yogurt, and kefir, so I had a pretty productive day. 

Now it’s back to the office to work!

Green Living

Earth-Friendly Products

Gretchen

I have been searching the internet for recipes, sources, and ideas for making my own beauty products.  I have come across a couple interesting sites I thought I would pass along: 

More than Alive     This site offers bulk herbs, recipes, and some wonderful books.

Kitchen Cosmetics     Recipes

Abundant Earth      Anything organic or recycled (mattresses, blankets, candles, etc.)

Mrs. Meyer’s     We had some problems getting our kitten, Spooky, to use the litter box.  We use the cheap litter with no fragrance and thought this may be the problem.  So, I bought some of Mrs. Meyer’s Pet Litter Freshener.  It made all the difference in the world.  Now Spooky uses the litter box like he is supposed to.  After reading the label I discovered it is baking soda with clary sage, chamomile, lavender, grapefruit, cypress, and orange essential oils added.  Hmmm, you think I could make this for less than $4.99 a bottle?  Me too.

We are hoping to finish up our passport process with pictures on Friday and going to the post office Saturday to turn in our paperwork and pay.  Then, if we decide we want to go to Canada while we are visiting family in Michigan, we can.  If we decide we want to go to Norway with my in-laws, we can.  Or if by some unbelievable chance we plan a trip to Ireland, we are all set.

Inspirational

Happiness…

Gretchen

 

This is from Mercola on Simple Secrets of How to be Happy.  I found it enlightening and thought I would pass it along.  They are things we all probably know, but could use a nice litte reminder.

These are the principles I use to be happy. They work for me, and I hope they work for you:

1) Improve your relationships with friends and family – Happiness starts at home. Start by improving your relationship with your parents, brothers, sisters, and children. Smile when you greet them, do things for them, don’t allow them to get angry with you. Maintaining healthy loving relationships and friendships can promote happiness. Remember that love makes you beautiful.

2) Be an optimist – Optimism generates good feelings.

3) Develop a genuine smile and laugh a lot – Act happy – It works. Smile into the mirror for a half hour without stopping. Smiling makes you happy and the more you smile the more happy you become. We all like people who smile. It also makes us more attractive.

4) Pray – Become religious or spiritual – This only works if you believe in God. If you want to be happy then ask God to make you happy. Prayer helps you accomplish things.

5) Be generous and share with others – Give more than you receive because being generous will make you happy.

6) Treat time as a friend – Don’t watch the clock.

7) Exercise your mind – Keep yourself busy with some new project or ideas.

8) Work your body – Exercise regularly. Studies show that aerobic exercise is an antidote for mild depression and anxiety. “Happy minds reside in sound bodies,” says Dr. Myers.

9) Have fun in life – Keep cool under pressure.

10) Pursue achievable goals.

11) Have high confidence in yourself.

12) Respect the disadvantaged.

13) Age gracefully.

14) Give compliments – Take every opportunity to be complimentary. Want to make someone like you? Every time you meet a person smile and give them a compliment.

15) Be honest – With honesty comes openness. People respect honest and open minded people.

16) Keep an open mind – Most people seem to think that they know everything that they need to know. There’s plenty of wisdom to go around.

17) Treat difficulties as challenges –Life’s an adventure and every obstacle in life is one of its challenges. Treat life as a game. What fun would a game be if you could never lose?

Homemaking, In The Kitchen

Lavender Linen Spray

Gretchen

I LOVE this recipe and use it every night before bed.  Just one spray on your pillow at night is perfect.

Lavender Linen Spray:

3 cups Distilled Water

3 oz. Vodka

15-30 drops Lavender Essential Oil

1 Amber Glass Spray Bottle

Sterilize the glass container by placing it in boiling water for 3 minutes.  Allow to cool.  Pour distilled water and vodka into the glass bottle, using a funnel if needed.  Add the lavender essential oil and stir or shake until mixed.

Oh, I about forgot to mention.  Look for the mini bottles of Vodka near the checkout at your local liquor store.  They are either 1.7 oz or 2.7 oz, I can’t remember, but buying one or two of these would save you from buying a pint.

Around the Homestead, Homemaking, In The Kitchen

Monday at Home…

Gretchen

Monday I was home by myself.  It was extremely cold, so I tried to get chores over with early in the morning so I wouldn’t have to dread them any longer.  I drug a hose out of the building and everyone got fresh water, fresh salt and mineral, and I Everyone was doing well.  The sheep and llama don’t seem to mind the cold very much.

I got a slow start on housework when I returned indoors.  It was just one of those days I was really dragging.  I baked bread, walked on the treadmill, worked on our taxes, and did some reading and note taking.

In the afternoon I made another loaf of bread called:

Quick Sourdough Bread

I used all olive oil (4 T.) instead of butter just because it was easier, whole wheat bread flour, and sucanat instead of sugar. 

Any tricks on how to measure out flour without having to sifted would be wonderful.  I think I would make this again if I didn’t have to sift three cups of flour.  It’s not bad.  Mine didn’t need 40 minutes to bake, however.

I also whipped up a pot of Broccoli Soup that was really good.  I used “fresh” cream I had frozen and it worked great.  We had Sloppy Joes and Broccoli Soup for dinner.  It was a perfect day for soup since it was so cold and yucky outside. 

Sloppy Joes:

½ lb hamburger

1 cup beans, cooked (I use leftover pinto, black, whatever I have)

Ketchup, Mustard, and Sucanat to taste

Served on homemade bread with canned sweet green tomatoes, Yum!

As promised, here is the ketchup recipe I used this summer to can homemade ketchup from tomatoes out of our garden.

Ketchup:

2 gal. tomato pulp

*This consists of the juice, ran through a food mill, and boiled hard for one hour, you should have 2 gallons remaining once it’s boiled.

1 cup cane juice crystals

1 cup sucanat

3 cups white vinegar (could possibly be decreased so it’s thicker)

1 t. ginger

1 t. allspice

1 t. ground mustard

1 t. cinnamon

3 T. sea salt

Tomato Paste

Once you have boiled the tomato juice hard for one hour, add one add sugars, spices, and salt.  Boil for another 30 minutes.  Bottle and seal.

I canned mine in pint jars although it was still pretty thin in consistency.  When I was ready to use it I took two pints of the ketchup, put it in a pan, added one 6 oz can of tomato paste, cooked on low until the tomato paste was dissolved, and then placed in a quart jar in the refrigerator.

Hope everyone is staying warm and had a nice weekend.

Animals, Around the Homestead

Friday…

Gretchen

I’m going to do something a little different this time around.  I’m going to make separate entries for the different days I was a away from the computer and couldn’t post them.

Friday it was really cold and windy here.  First thing in the morning I got started on laundry, cleaning the kitchen, made the bed, and baked bread.  Once the sun came up, around 7:30, I headed outside to do our chores which include feeding, watering, and changing the litter box for the cats, opening the door, feeding, and watering the chickens, and breaking the ice on the sheep’s water, looking them over really well, and turning off their building lights.  I also try to fill our four bird feeders at least twice a week with millet or sunflower seeds.  Then I head back inside to warm up with a cup of hot tea.

Dad and Randy went to an auction to look at a tractor for us, and a grain truck for Dad.  Dad’s hoses were frozen that morning and he couldn’t get his sheep watered.  So, once the sun had been out for an hour or so I headed down to their house to water his sheep.  An hour and a half and 16 tubs and stock tanks later everyone was watered, and I was on my way home.

Once I got home I still needed to vacuum the house, get dinner started and do the evening chores.  I vacuumed first then headed outside to do the chores.  We were out of corn, so I loaded up four five gallon buckets and headed to Grandma’s where the corn is kept.  I gave the sheep their corn, collected eggs, and fed the cats.  When I got inside Randy called to see if I had started dinner yet, “nope,” he suggested we go to dinner, just the two of us.  I can’t even remember the last time the two of us had gone to dinner together, probably on our California trip in September.  It was so nice.  We went to a nice little restaurant in a town 20 miles away (that’s about as close as it gets here).  We talked and laughed and just enjoyed each other’s company.

Remember the dog we found last week?  Well, no one had claimed him and his time was coming to an end.  So, we were debating what to do.  We felt responsible since we were the one’s who found him and picked him up.  So, we decided we would bring him home with us and as long as he got along with our dogs, couldn’t jump the fence, and didn’t harass the sheep, he could live with us.  We would go the next morning to pick him up and bring him home.

Around the Homestead

Sunday…

Gretchen

Sunday was cold and windy again.  Randy set a heater up in his shop and worked on the engine for a pickup he is trying to get up and running.  I stayed inside, walked on my treadmill and made lemon squares.  My cousin came over mid-morning with his loader and unloaded our orange VW Bus off the trailer so Dad could have his trailer back and Randy could start working on it. 

I wish I had taken pictures.  It was really amazing how he unloaded it in the wind and cold and didn’t hurt it a bit.

My Grandma invited us up for lunch since my cousins were out visiting, so we headed up there to eat and visit with everyone.  Afterwards my Aunt and Uncle came to our house to visit and check out the VW bus we are restoring.  Luckily the house was clean; my biggest fear of people dropping in is that our house will be messy.  Whew!

In the afternoon we watched the last of the playoffs (Chargers vs. Patriots).  Sorry if there are any Patriot fans out there, but I just keep thinking of the saying “cheaters never prosper” and wonder when it is going to kick in.  We were cheering for the Chargers all the way. 

In between games we ran to my cousin’s house to get a tool back he had borrowed and visited for awhile with them.  He has a nice round top shed with a hug wood burner inside.  It stays nice and toasty in there, but whenever we leave Randy and I struggle from the dry heat.  It really makes us rethink a cookstove or woodstove if we build a house.  Hopefully a big pot of water will balance it out.

We also stayed up for most of the Packers vs. Giants game.  My family (Dad, Mom, and Brother) are huge Packers fans, so Randy and I cheered relentlessly for the Giants.  Now the Super Bowl, Patriots vs. Giants, Go Giants!

Animals

A Sad Saturday…

Gretchen

Saturday morning we got the car ready to go to the vet and pick up the new member of our family.  When we got to the vet’s she came out to talk to us about the dog.  We were fully prepared to pay his $90 vet bill and bring him back on Monday to be neutered also.  When she began talking I had a huge sinking feeling him my stomach.  He had multiple complications from a previous surgery, she had called all the vets in the area who could have performed such a surgery, and none of them would release any information to her.  He has a metal plate on one cheek, a bone chip lose inside she couldn’t locate, a dislocated jaw bone on the other cheek, and the list goes on.  I just started to cry.  I had built myself up so much to taking this little guy home with us that hearing he would most likely need to be put to sleep was more than I could take.  She also said he showed signs of abuse which we had noticed when we found him a week ago.  The vet was wonderful to reassure me we were making the right decision.  She estimated the surgery he would need at $2,000 or more if complications arose, and there were no guarantees the surgery would be successful.  So, we left the vet sad and mad at people who don’t take care of their animals yet again.  My philosophy is humans chose to domesticate dogs (and cats, horses, etc. for their own personal gain).  Well, now it is our responsibility to care for them since we have bred all their instincts to survive in the wild out of them.  Not to mention a pack of wild dogs are a bigger threat to livestock than any predator in our area.  They kill not only for food, but for sport.

When we got home I worked on the shirt I am sewing and almost have it done, but need to pick up some elastic to finish it.  Randy and I also made three yarns balls for my Grandma with the yarn from our llama’s wool.  She is crocheting an afghan for us.  After evening chores we curled up to watch a movie and snuggle with our dogs, wondering how anyone would treat an animal unkindly.

Koal

Ash (mid-lick)

Koal Teasing Ash

Also just thought I would share this with you.  This is our kitten, Spooky, the first day we brought him home in October.

See how sick he is?

This is him now.

It’s not always a happy ending, but we must enjoy the blessings and not dwell on the bad.  Not to say it doesn’t still make me sad to think about the dog we couldn’t save, but I know he is in a better place now.

Here is one last picture I forgot to post on Friday’s entry.  This is our Australian Cattledog, Ash, hiding under the desk (luckily I had pulled the chair out) while I vacuumed.  The dogs don’t love the vacuum at all.  Sometimes they bark and attack it.  Other times they run from it and hide.