Queen's Edge Farm: Thunderstorms.....

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Thunderstorms.....

more rain, and the roof is leaking again. I am really frustrated with the insurance company. I will be calling them again tomorrow. Their delays are increasing the damage to the roof, and they are back peddaling on paying for the damage. This is what happens when you pick some no name, fly by night insurance company (which I didn't pick).

Spent the entire day in town driving Taylor around. I dropped him off right before 10 am, and then went to pick up a textbook for one of my classes. Then stopped at Candi's house for an hour to wait for Taylor's first class to be over. The girls worked on their school work in the car, and Lauren finished up her reading comprehension questions at Candi's.

I picked up Taylor and dropped him off at the golf course for his golfing class. Then picked up some lunch at Chick Fil A for everyone, before rushing back to get Taylor from the golf course. He had lost his High School class ring somehow while playing. Go figure!

Rushed him back to campus for a work study job interview, then headed home. Arrived home a little after 3 pm. Starting picking up the house, which is still a mess, but I am throwing stuff out, sending boxes of my dad's stuff out to the garage, washing clothes and moving furniture.

Moved the book case from the foyer to the hall by Lauren's room, and placed the rest of the homeschooling books on the shelves, along with the encyclopedias. Moved the hall tree back to the foyer to free up the wall in the living room, for a small table/desk and placed the computer there, but it needs to be worked on so I will need to call my sister about coming out to help me.

Sorted laundry, washed more clothes, moved the bed in Lauren's room, and placed a pan under the drip. I am so tired, and finally stopped around 9 pm, when my feet started hurting.

I am hungry, and I didn't eat dinner. I cooked for everyone (chicken breasts, baked potatoes, bread) but didn't eat, as I was on a roll cleaning. Still more to do, and not looking forward to it....

I did manage to finish Lauren's lessons around 6 pm tonight. We did a little all day, between running Taylor around, cleaning, and making dinner. Today we started in the Prairie Primer that uses the Little House books and we worked on the following:

1. Read the 1st chaper in Little House in the Big Woods and finished 10 questions for reading comprehension
2. Talked about the different ways to preserve meat/food.
3. Learned vocabulary such as venison, leather, lard and trundle bed
4. She reseached bears on http://www.wikipedia.org/ and http://www.bear.org/ and took notes for a report she has due Friday.
5. Talked about how in the Bible it states when we are children we learn as children, and as we grow older we are more able to understand the world around us and what the Bible says. Reviewed Piaget's developmental stages and talked about it.
6. Talked about how the Bible states that the heart of the parents are turned to the children, and vice versa, making family important to each other.
7. Talked about manners and why we shouldn't interrupt each other, and how the Bible states that we shouldn't think higher of ourselves than others.
8. Worked on review of multiplication tables,and concepts to see where she needs more work and where to advance to...

That's about it....

1 comment:

Peggy said...: Oh how I wish you could send that rain our way!; September 5, 2007 at 1:42 PM

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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.