Queen's Edge Farm: Out of the Storm?

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Out of the Storm?

After several doses of Elderberry, Echinacea and Goldenseal tinctures, plenty of juice, vitamins and chicken noodle soup (which Hannah claims gets rid of "seases" right?) What!? you don't know that "seases" means diseases LOL! - the girls are better. I felt a little blech last night, but feel much better tonight. I think taking the Rezist may have helped me avoid getting as sick as Hannah. She was the sickest, which is probably because her first dose of Elderberry was hit or miss, since it was fight to get her to take it and she spilled some of it.

I went to the grocery store and spent $260.00 on dried goods (flour, cornmeal, grits, oatmeal, salt, etc.) Tomorrow, I will go and spend around the same and stock up on meats for the freezer.

I also went to the Academy, and with the exception of the ammunition for the 30-30, finished purchasing the number of rounds I feel is a safe bet to have. Ammunition has gone up so high! A 20 cartridge package of 30-30 ammunition is $10.99! I bought five boxes, to give me 100 rounds. I need 900 rounds more to finish out my inventory. The 9mm and .22LR was available at a good price, so I was able to get what I had planned. The 30-30 will have to wait, and I will have to only buy a few boxes at a time. I don't want to spend $1,000 at one time on ammunition. I cringe at the thought.

We stopped by Lowe's to pick up some paint rollers for Rodney to finish the bedroom. He also replaced the light switches and outlets in the foyer, and will work on the living room tomorrow.

After Lowe's I stopped at the Dollar Tree to get a few items on my list that could be picked up there for cheap (dish cloths, masking tape, toothbrushes).

Came home and cleaned out the refrigerator, washed out the drawers, threw a trash bag full of yucky stuff away (I hate cleaning the fridge). I have a wash tub of old veggies that I will take out to the chickens. I then spent about two hours, organizing the pantry with all the new items I bought. I have several bags of beans, rice, egg noodles and a variety of pastas to find containers for...for now, I just double bagged and tossed in a handful of bay leaves to keep the ants and other crawlies out.

These are then stacked in my empty kitchen cabinets, because I have packed almost all of my dishes. So, now every cabinet in the kitchen has food in it, with a shelf in the bedroom, and a 5 gallon bucket of wheat berries in the kitchen floor. I feel a little better, but would still prefer to have a year's worth of food on hand. I "think" I have about 6 months now, but I could be wrong.

We missed church this morning because the girls were sick, but they stayed home with their dad while I ran around getting things done. Tomorrow we will hit Sun Harvest for a few more herbal tinctures for my medicine chest. Lauren's friend, Cheyenne, will also be coming over to spend the night tomorrow, as it is Spring Break for the public school system.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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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.