Queen's Edge Farm: February 2010

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Farm Record

Came home from co-op to find that Dolly had delivered her baby. We thought she had been pregnant when she came to us, but not so sure. If she was, the dad is a Nubian, if not it is one of our Boer bucks.
Initially, I thought the baby was a girl, not sure now, will have to go out and double check..Apparently, does and bucks have teats, and you have to check under their tail to verify the sex.

Cold weather set in last night, and it beginning sleeting last night around midnight. Rained, and sleeted all morning, only to be broken in by a few small moments of SNOW flurries! Yes, that is right ladies and gentlemen, I said SNOW. IN SOUTH TEXAS! We have an 80% chance of additional snow tonight, with a low of 28. Yeah!

It is cold today, currently 38, and I have been using a lot of wood to keep the woodstove raging hot and the container snuggly warm.

Getting ready to put the makings for soup in the crockpot for tomorrow's lunch.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

I had written a long post and it got lost. Shoot!

Weather today is chilly, down to 32 last night, and 29 expected tonight. Lauren is learning about electrical circuits and has been making them with any batteries that she can find.

Hannah made scrambled eggs and french toast in homemaking yesterday. She looked very cute wearing the apron I wore at her age.

James is getting really big. I am trying to feed him more table food, but he isn't having it. He ate two tiny bites of scrambled egg/cheese, two bites of pear baby food, a handful of cereal, about 1 oz of whole milk in a sippy cup, and then wanted to nurse...his favorite thing. He is cruising around the entire cabin, going from furniture to furniture to door frame. He is fascinated by the fire in the wood stove and just stares, shakes his head and says "no no, hot".

Getting dressed to go to the shoppe. Just to clean up a little, too cold to stay for long. Can't wait until I pick up some more propane so I can use the heater there...

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Life has been hectic lately. Many thing happening, some good, some bad. I feel very blessed most days. The weather hasn't been quite as cold, and I have been happy about that..makes it easy to heat the house.

The rain has been wonderful, though it has kept me cooped up inside more than I like, but it has afforded us the opportunity to complete our schoolwork. It has rained so much the past few days that the place has been flooded in spots. I had to park a ways from the cabin, as I couldn't get close to the place. We had to wade to the house in the dark, cold and water. Kind of fun ;-)

With help the barn has been cleaned out, and was in pretty good shape, until the goats got in there again and messed up many boxes. Those goats drive me crazy.

The fields have been shredded and I've picked up the majority of the trash. One snake lost it's life in the process. Thought it was a rattlesnake, but it was a bull snake instead.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

James turned 1 yesterday and today is Taylor's 21st birthday. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I remember Taylor being born, and it seems like yesterday.

The weather is cold and rainy today..it rained all night. Supposed to rain all day today and tonight.

Getting ready to head to town for a doctor appointment for one of the kids. Co-op started this week also. It's fun, but I can't muster enthusiasm for it right now.

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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.