Queen's Edge Farm: A Busy Weekend

Monday, March 31, 2008

A Busy Weekend

This weekend was a busy one. Friday evening the girls went out to the parking lot. Lauren said she was going to teach Hannah had to ride a two wheeler. I didn't really believe her, since Hannah is 4. Saturday morning (early) they were back out there practicing. By 10:00 am, they called me to come outside and Hannah was riding up and down the parking lot across the street!

I could hardly believe it. Hannah looked so little! I wish I had my camera charged. Once I get it charged I will take a picture of her riding.

I called and told my mom, and "Grandma" said to go buy her a helmet. We managed to get a helmet, knee/elbow pads, gloves, a kickstand, a basket and a horn. Everything matches together and the bike too! She looks so cute, but the pads, gloves and helmet have come in handy. She has fallen several times, and would have skinned palms if not for the gloves. She hates the helmet, because it makes her sweat, but I told her she has to wear it.

Taylor and I headed to town after seeing Hannah. We stopped at a cake shop to purchase some empty food grade, five gallon buckets. I am using these to store food in. I have been putting flour, cornmeal, rice, beans, etc. in the freezer to kill any bugs or bug eggs that come in the food, then you let it return to room temperature before storing in the buckets. I am doing a variety of buckets, some will have only loose rice, cornmeal, or flour. Other buckets will have a mixture of things, like bags of rice, beans, lentils, chocolate chips, mac n cheese, sugar, flour, brown sugar, pasta, and such. I put a few bay leaves on the bottom, and a few on top of the stack of dried goods. Bay leaves repeal any other bugs from invading the food. (I also use these on my pantry shelves, cabinets, drawers.) The bay leaves really seem to work. Spent the afternoon, totally cleaning the house and doing laundry.

Last night, Rodney and Taylor worked at putting up corner posts for the fencing at the land. I left early with the girls because the lightening was geting bad. By the time we got home, the guys arrived shortly. Rodney said it got really bad so they headed home too. Last night the thunderstorms were bad. Hannah got scared around 2 a.m., and came and got in bed with us. She hates thunderstorms, and is always scared of tornadoes. We've had to many in her short life. She always wants to get in the bathtub with her pillow. (we plan to build a storm shelter at the land)

Put a ham in the crock pot this morning (was up early due to phone call Rodney received abotu storm damage at his work) so we'd have lunch ready when we arrived home from church. Today after church, Mary (Candi's oldest daughter) came home with us. She and Lauren get along really well. After lunch we headed to the land. It was 90 degrees and really hot! The girls all got in the water, and rode the four wheeler around the land. Lauren and Hannah fought all day today. Mary even told me that they were very mean to each other. Lauren too! I had to get after them several times today, and everyone went to bed early tonight.

Now, I am trying to wrap things up, and head for bed. It's almost 1 a.m.

Good morning everyone!

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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.