Queen's Edge Farm: Christmas Eve

Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve

A short comment on last night's Christmas party. It was a lot of fun for me, and I am glad everyone stopped by. I was worried I wouldn't have enough food, but as usual, I over did things, and have several desserts left, though the large Dutch oven of Southwest Soup I made was GONE! I was so shocked, as well as, pleased that everyone liked it.

Today was a busy day. We had finished all of our shopping along time ago, so today we got up early, had breakfast in front of the wood stove, then packed up the vehicles with the lawnmower, weedeater, generator, gas, food, water, gun, ammo and headed to the land. Rodney wanted to try and get the well pump started, and I wanted to take a water sample to have tested. It didn't work out, while the pump had a 220 cord, apparently it pulls more amps and kept kicking the circuit breaker off on the generator.

I am just going to call and get the power turned on out there, so we can test the water, and be able to have somewhere to plug in power tools to get started on the house.

I arrived earlier than Rodney at the land, and set up "camp". I pulled out my little camp stove, and warmed water for tea. The girls thought that was worth giggling over. They played with sticks, pretending they were horses, and riding them through make believe drive throughs at DQ and Burger King.

We all went and set up the targets to shoot my new Golden Boy .22 LR. The gun holds 15 shots. Rodney shot all 15 in the center, I shot 11 on the target, Lauren got 1, Taylor and Hannah got zero.

We then headed for home around 4 p.m., after spending all day out there. We rushed into town to drop off Candi's present she had ordered for Brian and that I was holding for her. The church also had a small gift for each family, and the kids in the congregation. Brian had been sick, so they missed church yesterday, and my Christmas party last night. I dropped that off too.

We then headed for Home Depot for PVC pipe (which closed at 5 p.m.) so we headed for Lowe's (they closed at 6 p.m.). We stopped for dinner at Taco Bell, and the made it home before dark.

Cranked up the wood stove as it was getting really cold. I had the kids take showers and get their PJs on, while I mixed up sugar cookie dough. When everyone was ready we cut out and decorated sugar cookies, drank hot cocoa, and watched the Santa Clause on tv. Blake and a neighbor stopped by to say hi. Sent them off with a small gift for each of their kids (a book and a coloring book).

I mixed up dough for cinnamon rolls for the morning. I just need to wait for them to rise, and then I can roll out, and have ready for the morning to pop in the oven.

Waiting for the kids to go to bed in 10 minutes, so I can get their gifts out.

I am very tired. Who knew that walking up and down 10 acres of "prairie" would be so tiring? I also have a bad sunburn! On December 24th no less! It was in the mid 70's today, and the sun was shining bright. I just didn't think to take sunscreen this close to Christmas. Now I am paying for it. My face is bright red, and my lips hurt. LOL!

Well, I am off to check the NORAD tracker to see how close Santa is, I want to get to bed before he gets here...don't really want to handle the conversation on how naughty I have been this year....yikes!

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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.