Queen's Edge Farm: Busy Day

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Busy Day

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but we were really busy today, mainly doing things we wanted to, instead of have to ;-)

The girls and I, Taylor too, went to church this morning. Being that it is the last day of the month, we had our "home church" day at the Pastor's home, with a lunch fellowship afterwards.

From there we dropped Taylor off at his grandparents and headed to the land to take Rodney some lunch, and to feed the animals. When we arrived, Rodney was in the cabin sitting at the table, taking the solar lights out of the box. It was really simple to put them up, as near the roof of the container/cabin are these little loop hooks, that I guess were used to tie down shipments during transport. Rodney just stuck the bracket through the hook. We put one in each area of the cabin, bedroom area, kitchen, and living room/door area. We have the solar panel outside charging, and will bring it in and plug it in, inside of the cabin. We couldn't mount it, and then connect the lights, as we wouldn't be able to have the lights where we need them. I'll try and take a picture of the lights (nothing really fancy, but we will have lights) and post at another time.

The lights are similar to the one above.

Then Rodney helped me move the cabinet from the porch to the kitchen. I cleaned it up, and organized the shelves, then swept the entire cabin, dusted the furniture, and straightened the beds. I even cleaned the chimney of the kerosene lamp, removing the soot. Everything is nice and neat, and ready for us to stay this weekend. We plan to get 2-100 foot extension cords to connect to the electric pole, and running to the cabin, so I can plug in the small compact refrigerator. Then along with a 5 gallon water dispenser, we will be good to go for a while. With the next major project being the installation of the toilet.

I had to take Lauren to her friend's birthday party this afternoon, and then pick her up around 6:30 p.m. We then had dinner, and Rodney and the girls made paper air planes and flew them in the front yard in the DARK. I took a couple of pictures, and will post those later too. The girls and Rodney were having a lot of fun with the airplanes, until one landed on the roof. Of course, Rodney's flew the best,

Lastly, we set up the baby crib (very confusing for me, as it didn't come with directions, but Rodney figured it out) then we moved the crib to the corner of the bedroom, until I can get the nursery cleaned up.

This is the crib we purchased, that I will be using for the baby. It's one of those portable ones, but it is what will fit in the nursery, plus, I can take it with us to the land when we stay the weekend. I will also be getting a Moses basket, but this will be the baby's main bed.

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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.