Queen's Edge Farm: Tuesday...a spendthrift day

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Tuesday...a spendthrift day

Woke up to another chilly morning. Yesterday was the first day we had to break out the heat. Right now I am sitting by the wood stove keeping warm. We don't have a raging fire going, just a small one to chase the night chill away.

Spent a couple hours at Home Depot this morning checking prices for lumber and such to add on to the house, and finish Taylor's apartment out back.

This evening we went to dinner and then headed over to Lowe's where we picked up the generator. It wasn't the one I really wanted, but it was probably the best choice. I needed one with an electric start instead of a pull one, because of my arthritis. There is a pull start on it too, but I have a really difficult time with those. It is a 5500watt, with a 8500 starting watt, 10 hour running on 5 gallons of gas, quiet, and came with a 2 year residential warranty. We also looked at new pumps for the well, but decided to work with the one we have already to see if we could get it working better. It's fairly new, and hasn't seen a lot of use.

I also purchased a 750 watt inverter today to use with the car. This will enable us to use a light, fan, and the TV/VCR combo, plus a few other things when needed.

Our last trip before heading home was stopping by the Sportsman Outdoor store where I wanted to check out more ammunition. I had purchased a case of shotgun shells last night, along with 4 boxes of 30-30 cartridges, and 3 boxes of 9mm cartridges. Tonight I purchased 500 rounds of .22 LR hollow points. We already have 2 .22s, but I also looked at two other guns tonight that are on my "want" list. I gave in and purchased the Henry Repeater - Golden Boy .22 LR. I am so excited!

I also signed up and am an official Watkins Products Associate, so if anyone would like to order anything from me, please let me know. To check out what is available you can go to http://www.watkinsonline.com/. Don't order from there please, I will let you know when my site is setup, but this will give you an idea of what is available from Watkins. I am really excited about this new venture, as I have always heard of Watkins, and they are over 140 year old company. My friends and family know how I am about history and heritage, so this company makes a perfect fit for me.

1 comment:

Peggy said...: let me know when you have your site set up. I love wakins products. The wakins man use to visit my grandmas once a month and I loved shopping out of the back of his station wagon. After growing up I purchased spices and other products from a wakins dealer in the mountains but since moving here haven't so can't wait to stock up; October 23, 2007 at 9:27 PM

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.