Queen's Edge Farm

Friday, October 24, 2008

Getting started on my wheat field (sorry no pictures, camera is out of whack, need a new one). We are mowing down the garden area, and expanding the length and width. I'll measure exactly soon, Rodney is borrowing one of those rolling tape measures that has the clicker in it, and gives you the measurement. Once this is done, we will work manure into the area, then I will take turns laying my large tarp over the area to have the daytime heat kill as much of the weed seeds as possible. We will be actually planting the wheat by mid November. This is the first year we will be planting wheat, so we will see how it goes.

We appear to be running over with deer, turkey, coyotes and hawks lately, as well as, raccoons. I hope they don't eat too many of my fish. We are finding lots of evidence of raccoons in the mud around the pond.

Lost one of my old hens last week, I think it must have been old age or something, as she didn't have any apparent injuries. I feel bad she was one of the first hens I ever started with, and was nothing but a trash or game chicken, but she gave me experience in caring for chickens.

The chickens I have now are so different, so fat and healthy looking compared to her and her two sisters.

I do have too many roosters, four cuckoo marans if anyone is looking for a rooster, and wants to add dark chocolate colored eggs to their genetic line.

We cleaned up around the cabin this week, depositing trash that the dogs manage to drag out, as well as, splitting more wood. It really needs to be stacked but we'll get to that eventually.

Rodney is working on caulking the cabin windows to get them water tight.

On my list to buy this weekend are fire bricks for the old wood stove, so it can be taken out and installed in the cabin. This is just a necessity. I cannot have the girls in the cabin in such cold weather, and risk them getting sick. We are out of the wind, but the chill and extreme dampness is a problem. Lauren always has a cough after we stay the weekend, so some sort of heat is absolutely necessary before we stay in the cabin again.

I took the girls to Sea World today for a couple of hours, they were having their annual Halloween themed stuff today. We normally don't celebrate Halloween, but we did go and the girls sat and watched a teenage magician and we went to a Creepy Creature show which featured live animals (burmese python, hissing cockroaches, lizards, lemurs). A very good field trip and I am listing this under a science lesson, as the talk was very informative.

The girls played on the Pirate ship in the kid's area, as well as, played in the sand.

Well, off to bed, we have a busy day tomorrow with cleaning, and attending a hay ride in the evening.

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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.