Queen's Edge Farm: A variety of things....

Thursday, April 24, 2008

A variety of things....

The ladies at church are doing a bible study by Elizabeth George, titled "Discovering the Treasures of a Godly Woman" using Proverbs 31. I have only attended one study, and it is going to prove very interesting. We have two SAHM, and the rest are working moms, so needless to say there will probably be some insightful and lively discussions.

This morning I was up early to finish getting the house in shape for this afternoon's showing. Most everything was done, but I need to do last minute things, that I had purposely left until last minute, just so I wouldn't have to do them twice.

1. wash dishes
2. sweep
3. mop
4. vacuum
5. laundry

I made laundry soap this morning. Hannah had to "help", which she does by stirring, and helping to pour the finished liquid into the containers (sigh) - she makes a mess normally.
Lauren sat at the bar and watched and asked me if I had enough ingredients to make soap for a year (I keep talking about having enough food/supplies for a year). I told her I had enough of the pink Zote soap, but needed more borax and washing soda (I only have one new box of each, in addition to my almost empty open boxes.) She replied "I think you must be the most prepared person in the world." This made me laugh. I told her I was probably the most prepared of our immediate family and friends, but I was WAY behind the curve compared to a lot of people. Here is a picture of an internet "friend" who has about 3 years worth of supplies. The picture only shows a portion of his basement.

Taylor finished cleaning the backyard, and went to Rodney's work today to unload all the trash into the dumpster. Blake helped him, using the forklift, as it was LOTS of stuff. It took Taylor 2 days to load it on there.....

I picked Taylor up around 2:00 p.m. and headed back to town to drop a Watkins order to a customer, then headed for the land to take some old carrots, other veggies, and the tops to the strawberries that I cut up to the chickens. They were totally out of water!They sure do drink a lot! That's 2 gallons in one day. I filled the ditches in the garden, and then we left. All of this took about an hour, and we arrived home a little before 4 p.m. Everyone got cleaned up and we headed into town to Carino's Italian Grill for my birthday dinner. It was really nice. We then headed over to Academy to get everyone outfitted for boots. Rodney will wear his to work, but Taylor and the girls need them for the land, to help protect their feet at least from snakebite.

We arrived back home, and I tried to help Taylor with his homework, and once again he waited to the last minute, and we had a computer problem. This left him with no time, and no resources, as the homework was due by 10 pm tonight. He will NEVER learn. He just LOVES to procrastinate. Very frustrating! He won't be attending college in the fall, it's just a waste of all of our times. He can get a job or work on the land.

I worked on an amended tax return for a client, and tried to print the final tax return for another three, but in the rush of cleaning up, I cannot locate the passwords for these clients, so will have to appear stupid, and call and ask them for them...How embarassing.....but there's no help for it...

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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.