Queen's Edge Farm: Good Morning from South Texas!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Good Morning from South Texas!

In the never ending support of "global warming" I want to welcome you to South Texas and our balmy 24 degree morning. Yep, global warming at it's best LOL! (Ah, global warming, that mythological beast that many naive, and gullible Americans that have actually bought into.)

It was very cold this morning, I got up early to start the fire, that way the living room will be warm for the kids. This was made difficult as we neglected to bring a load of firewood from the land, we will get that today, hopefully. I have about 10 pieces of wood, which I hope lasts until the day warms up to the promised 64. We will need wood for the rest of the week, as it is expected to be cold, nights and mornings for a while. We have the wood, but it's not at the house, but about 15 minutes away. ETA: Yeah! we got some wood! Thanks to Rodney and Lauren ;-)

I heard some scary news this morning on Good Morning America. Apparently, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield denied prosthetic legs to a young woman, and it was a big battle for her to get them approved. She eventually contacted GMA, who helped get them for her, after talking with her state's insurance board. This is scary, because Rodney's company changed to Anthem beginning the first of the year. Wonderful! I am getting ready to have a baby, and they are my insurance carrier, and they have problems abiding by their insurance responsibilities. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence does it? I am trying to really leave this insurance issue in God's hands, though I a confess it is hard. For some reason my name didn't get added to Rodney's policy, though his company has tried to assured us that I am covered. Well, not according to the insurance company, who I talked to personally. They have no paperwork, and my name is not in the system whatsoever. I really hope everything is in place by the time I give birth. I am so used to handling things myself, that it has been difficult to let Rodney handle it with his HR office. I feel like I need to take over, but I don't work there, so I don't want to get him in trouble, by insisting that SOMEONE do something....FAST. So, I sit here, hoping and praying that everything is taken care of, and I don't get turned away at the hospital.

The cats have taken over the chair by the wood stove. It's cold over here in the corner by the door to the dining room, and I guess they aren't dumb animals after all ;-) since they picked the warmest spot. The dog normally tries to kick them out of the chair when she comes out of her room, but lately they don't budge, so all three share the chair.

I need to pick up a little, and get my bread started. I am cooking a ham tonight for dinner (it was on sale after Christmas). I will have to put my bread to rise on top of the wood stove, or it won't rise.

Please pray for me! Have a good day everyone!

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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.