Queen's Edge Farm: Realtor comes todays

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Realtor comes todays

Well, the day is finally here, the day the Realtor comes to talk to me. I have been trying to get her here since Christmas, but something always pops up, either for me or her. I am not quite sure we are going to list the house with a Realtor, but I will listen to her, and we will decide this weekend, what to do. I am just anxious for someone to buy the house. I won't go on my tirade about the economy today, and while the Fed did drop the interest rate by.75%, I hope that it is enough to encourage someone to purchase now.

Yesterday, I cleaned so much, I was in physical pain by 8 p.m. I stopped and took a shower, and a Naproxen (wanted to take the Darvocet, but I still had more to do). I felt better after the shower, and between both Taylor and I we cleaned the carpets. I have boxes of stuff, half packed in the corner of the bedroom, and the walls in all the bedrooms need to be painted. You don't notice some of these things, until all the furniture is gone, and you can see how dirty you actually are. I clean EVERY day, but the more I clean, the more I find. I absolutely hate cleaning, and then come back and the kids have cracker crumbs on the table, or colors everywhere. Very frustrating, when you are trying to get ready for someone to come view the house.

Rodney arrived home late with the tractor. He and his dad spent 12 hours driving yesterday to get it. We had checked around our area, and there was absolutely nothing "used" for sale. He will look at getting a shredder, disc, and plow next. His dad did say we could borrow the disc and plow, but we need a bigger, bulkier shredder for the brush at the land.

We attend the horse seminar tonight. I am looking forward to it, because it will mean I will get a little break, and be able to eat by myself, without taking someone to the potty.

Not that I don't love my kids, but everyone needs a little time to themselves, if even just to think or pee in peace! LOL!

ETA: the horse feed seminar tonight was very informative. It was sponsored by a local feed store for Acco Feeds owned by Cargill. Logical information on feeding horses by their weight, and not feeding more than 0.5% of their body weight at one time (i.e., 1000 lbs horse would get 10 lbs feed a day, but no more than 5 lbs at each feeding, spaced ideally at 12 hour intervals. 7:30 a.m. t0 7:3o p.m. to 7:30 a.m. and so on). This is supposed to maintain them, if they are at their ideal body score (another topic, I found interesting). All the information will come in handy when we get our horses.

Another topic they discussed was their reasoning behind increasing feed costs across the U.S. Ethanol production is evidently increasing, which is taking a large supply of corn to produce, which leaves less for the agricultural community. Simple supply and demand.

The dinner provided was good. The seminar was at a local steakhouse, and they served chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, green beans, corn, rolls, and iced tea.

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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.