Queen's Edge Farm: Hodge Podge

Monday, May 19, 2008

Hodge Podge

Today has been a busy day. This morning we picked up our breeding pair of New Zealand rabbits. The two are one month old, and are now housed in a pet carrier with a little coastal hay, rabbit pellets and water. The small female is named LuLu and belongs to Hannah, and the male is Peter Rabbit (original, I know) and belongs to Lauren. I told them they can name these, but not ANY of the babies that we have. I don't plan to keep many as pets, but will sell them to other 4H members, and plan to butcher some for meat. (Sh! don't tell the kids, they won't eat dinner, if they think I might put rabbit meat in the meal.)

After picking up the rabbits, we ran to the land to pick up the pet carrier, stopped by the feed store to purchase a food dish and water bottle, plus a 50 lbs bag of rabbit feed and a 50 lb bag of chicken scratch.

We dropped the rabbits off at the house really quick and headed into San Antonio to have lunch with my friend Perla. We haven't seen each other in several months, due to both of our schedules, so it was nice to sit and talk.

We arrived back home around 2 p.m., to the water being off. I just love when the city works on the water lines without giving notice. I was a little upset, called the city, and asked to be put on the agenda for the next council meeting. I have a couple of issues I'd like to address, though I don't expect ANY resolution, as the city leaders, don't actually care what I think (I'm female, and under 60), plus my last name is Edge.

This evening, Lauren, Shaina and Taylor went to the city park to play tennis for a while. Rodney, Hannah and I headed to the land. Rodney cut down the coastal hay, and we will let it dry for a couple of days, before raking it up and putting in the barn. We don't have baling equipment, so we will be resorting to the old fashioned hay stack. This is our first cutting.
I sprinkled my garden with DE. I think gophers are getting my corn and tomatoes. Entire plants are missing, where they were standing only the day before. I am going to dump some used kitty litter down their hole, as I have heard that may get rid of them. We'll see. I badly need to harvest some basil, but haven't purchased a dehydrator yet. Tried to try them in the oven, and it didn't work. Other herbs I have dried by just hanging up, but apparently basil molds easily, and in humid weather you just can't do this effectively. I may freeze this batch, and work on getting the dehydrator. My St. John's Wort is growing pretty good, but none of the other (legal-LOL) medicinal herbs that I planted germinated. I am going to re-plant, so we'll see what happens. Two more eggs today (one yesterday). Whoopee! I was out of eggs, so I hope this means the hens are going to start laying more regularly, because if not, chicken nuggets are looking mighty attractive.

Oh! earlier when we went out to the land to get the pet carrier, there were five young red tailed hawks under a mesquite tree, sitting on the ground. Lauren went through the gate, and slowly walked up to them, she got pretty close before they flew off. She was very excited! When we left there about 10 sitting on fence posts and the side of the road across from our driveway. I don't know if it's mating season, or if these are babies. (Once about a month ago, we counted over 35 red tailed hawks on the property.)

My baby brother is getting married in November. It's hard to believe, time sure has gone by so fast. I remember when he was born. Makes me feel old!

Tomorrow Candi and I will be getting together. We plan to go to the FEAST office and look in the used book room for curriculum for the fall.

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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.