Queen's Edge Farm: School Is Now In Session

Monday, May 7, 2007

School Is Now In Session

My first sunflower blooming! Isn't it beautiful?!

Today was Hannah's first day home from preschool. Since I am home full time now, I needed to save the money I was spending on her daycare/preschool. She had been going full time (7:45am to 3:30 pm) and then I cut her back to part time (7:45 am to 11:30 am), but when I could no longer justify even that much, I decided to keep her home.

In addition, to having Hannah home with me full time, I started a new organization program. I am combining elements of Flylady and Large Family Logistics program. I don't really have too large a family (3 kids, 2 adults) but figured something was betther than nothing.

After dropping Taylor and Lauren off at school this morning, Hannah and I came back home. I worked on my laundry, did some pick up cleaning, and worked for about 2 hours on my Music homework. I need to finish by Wednesday and take my final. Afterwards, Hannah and I worked on writing her name, phonics and music. I am not going to stress about it now, but Hannah writes ALL her letters and words backwards. I will write the letters/words down, and then she writes from right to left backwards.

We then worked on phonics at www.starfall.com. We primarily worked on the letter A but jumped around as Hannah picked out different letters. After that we listened to short samples of different composers on Starfall. Lauren liked Mozart but didn't like Scott Joplin. She said the music was "ugly" and sounded like "dinosaurs". Who knows what that meant?

Worked outside a little today. Man! the skeeters and ticks are bad! I have sprayed and it didn't help. I firmly believe that the rain must have washed the Seven Dust away. I will have to wait until June or July when we NEVER get rain to spray again. It's disgusting! Ticks are starting to come inside now. Everyone out in this area is having the same problem, so at least I know it's not just us.

My rye grass is up in the new garden section, along with the pumpkins, corn, watermelon and beans in the new garden section. Flowers are also popping their heads up.

The girls are outside in the little plastic pool I bought today at HEB, it's so hot, and they got tired of sharing the 30 gallon plastic trash can they were using as a "pool". Two of them couldn't fit in at the same time.

The first "swim" of the season. I used the well water (see spigot in back) so the water is really COLD! It's a small pool, but it was affordable, and is better than nothing.

The puppy, Muffin Girl AKA Demon Dog was racing around the backyard, trying to get the cat to play with her. Chip, the cat was laying on the trampoline reaching his paw down, and when the puppy would race over, he would pull his paw back up.

And now, what you have all been waiting for....the anticipated movie release of that all time favorite horror film......ta da da

"PUPPIES OF THE CORN"

2 comments:

Homekeeper Mom said...: OH how cute! But you know I am in love with your dog anyhow. My kids are going to be so jealous of your new pool! We will have to get one after we move. They can take turns in it, lol!!

~Candi (Homekeeper at Heart); May 8, 2007 at 6:35 AM
Peggy said...: I love your blog! Will be back to catch up by reading your older posts. The sunflower is beautiful!; May 8, 2007 at 7:01 AM

Grandma's Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs active dry yeast or 5 tsps if using bulk yeast
1/2 cup warm water (not too hot)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening, butter, margarine
2 tsps salt
2 cups milk, scalded
1 1/2 cups cold water
10 to 12 cups flour (white or whole wheat)

Yield: 4 loaves

Soften yeast in warm water, springkle in a tsp of the sugar
In LARGE mixing bowl blend sugar, shortening, salt and milk until shortening is melted. Add cold water, cool to luke-warm. Stir in yeast. Gradually add flour to form a stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and satiny, 5 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover with foil or damp towel. Let rise in warm place (85 to 90 deg) until light and doubled in volume about two hours. Punch dough down by plunging fist in center. Knead dough for about 5 minutes.

Roll out one fourth of dough to a 16 X 12 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 TBSP of melted butter. Combine 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (or more to taste). Sprinkle mixture over dough. Starting with 16 inch side, roll jellyroll fashion. Either cut into 16 1 inch slices or leave as a whole loaf. Place on a greased pan, cover and let rise in warm place until light, about 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees about 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix one box 10X sugar with 2 tbsps water. If too stiff, add more water until icing consistency, add a drop of vanilla too. Spread on baked bread while bread is still warm.

2010 Homestead Stats

Laundry Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small washpan or bowl that holds about 2 gallons.

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the washpan. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Transfer soap (using a funnel if necessary) into empty plastic laundry holders, milk containers (I use my empty glass milk bottles and old Fab containers) Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

5 cups grape juice (about 3 1/2 pounds of ripe grapes)1 (1 3/4 ounce) box of sure-jel pectin7 cups sugarBefore getting started it is best to clean the entire kitchen, making sure the sink is empty. Bleach the sink and all utensils used in making jelly (I do this as I sell my grape jelly as part of my homesteading business.)

Wash the canning jars in warm soapy water, and rinse well. Set off to side.

Place a large pan of water on the stove to heat. Once it starts steaming, place lids and rings in the bottom, and 2-3 jars (depending on if you use actual jelly jars or pints) to sterilize.

Next make the grape juice using clean washed grapes (make sure you use rubber gloves when picking or washing wild grapes)To 3 1/2 pounds of clean grapes (6 cups of grapes) add 1 1/2 cups water.Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.Strain and squeeze out all of the juice with cheese cloth (see paragraph below)
I didn't have cheese cloth, so I poured the grape mixture into a large spaghetti strainer with a large pan underneath. I had to stir it around some as the skins and seeds would sink to the bottom, and clog the colander up. Stirring allowed the liquid to drain out. I then used a large metal spoon and squished it some to get more of the juice out.

In a very big pan, put 5 cups of the juice (it’s okay to add no more than ½ cup water to even out amount)Add the fruit pectin to the juice.Mix well.On high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.Stir in sugar all at once, and bring back to a full rolling boil, again boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly.
Remove jelly from heat, skim off foam
Use a large spoon inserted inside the jar to lift CAREFULLY out of the water. DO NOT TOUCH THE INSIDE OF THE JAR OR THE RIM WITH YOUR HANDS.
Ladle jelly into hot jars, place a lid and ring onto jar (do not tighten yet).
Set jars to the side. After a while you should start hearing “pings” as the jar seals.
When jars are completely cool, tighten rings and store on pantry shelf.**SIDE NOTE: Wild Mustang Grapes are normally ready the end of June, so be prepared. Keep an eye open for vines on the side of the road, or any that friends and family may have growing in their yard. Many people just let them grow and don’t do anything with them, so it shouldn’t be hard to find a good supply. Also, the more you pick off the vine, the more the vine produces new grapes, so you probably won’t EVER run out of grapes to use until the vine dies or you get sick of making jelly. Good luck and feel free to contact me at queensedgefarm@yahoo.com for questions.