Canning Spree

I’m on a canning spree. I gave up on my garden and just bought veggies in bulk from the store. I got roma tomatoes for $29.

First we made diced tomatoes. Then we made salsa.

Where To Put Extra Canned Goods

We have very little cabinet space in my kitchen. In the past I stocked canned goods in shallow tubs under our bed. I need to start stocking up again now our income is going to improve I need to stock up for slim times again. However my quart canning jars don’t fit under the bed. So what to do?

Here’s one option I found. http://welloneofmyblogs.com/2012/06/23/secret-canned-goods-stash/ It is placing canned goods behind books on the shelf. I am also researching other ideas. Anyone have something to add?

Making Goat Milk Soap

Here is an easy recipe I love.

3 pints ice cold milk (slushy)
1 12 ounce can Red Devil Lye
5 1/2lbs of Lard
2 oz glycerin
2 Tbsp borax
1/3 cup honey
Oatmeal and essential oils if you like

1. Out milk in a stainless not aluminum pot
2. Very slowly pour lye in.
3. Stir constantly
4. Add honey
5. Let cool to 85 degrees
6. Warm lard to 90 degrees
7. Pour in lard into lye/milk mixture
8. Stir constantly with a spoon
9. Add borax & glycerin
10. Keep stirring till thick like pudding. It could take quite a while. I now use a stick blender with a metal shaft to save my arm from falling off.
11. Now add essential oils or ground oatmeal if you like.
12. Pour into molds.
13. Cover molds with a rag
14. Next day cut soap with a thin wire. Guitar strings work best.
15. Stack soap so air can flow around the soap. Cover with light rag. I use a pillowcase to keep the dust off. Let cure six weeks.

Make sure you use 100% Lye.

This is what 5 1/2 pounds of lard in a pot looks like. Just in case you are wondering. Lol

This is the milk lye mixture. It turns yellowish tan to caramel color as it reacts to the sugars in the milk. The colder the milk the lighter the color.

Here is the peppermint soap in it’s lined box mold. I got fancy and sprinkled peppermint tea leaves on top. Kinda looks like banana pudding with pepper.

Here is a batch of the lavender I did. I tried coloring with paprika. Didn’t add much color to it. I sprinkled oatmeal on top.

And here they are the next day when I cut them to cure.

See the peppermint is no longer yellow.

Crafty Weekend

This week I have been feeling very crafty and well with a fridge full of goat milk you gotta use it or loose it. I made a batch of goats milk soap on Sunday

Then made two pots of cheese. We flavored with Italian herb blend. We made three containers of a spreadable cheese for crackers and veggies, and one cheese my daughter molded.

This is us storing the milk until boiling. That little pot in the back is boiling my handkerchiefs I use for straining the cheese.

Here is the big bowl of herbed cheese mixture.

This is all the whey left over. We made whey lemonade with it. Yum!

This is a picture of my daughters experimental cheese press. “Jenga!” She yelled when she used the cups to balance the weight.

Here is her molded cheese the next day. I then took some unflavored goat cheese I made earlier and experimented to see if I could replace cream cheese in a strawberry cheesecake cobbler I saw on Pinterest. It worked great. So great I didn’t get a picture of it when it came out of the oven.

Then later that night I tried homemade baby wipes ya know with the paper towels cut in half. Works great!

Then on Monday I cut the soap into bars. I still need more practice on cutting perfect soap. The bars will now cure for 6 weeks.

New Goat Milk Strainer

Oh if you only knew the ohhing and ahhing that was going on when this arrived in the mail. I finally broke down and bought one. It was less than $30 with everything includes plus shipping. This is the pint size filter. Oh it amazing! We were using funnels and coffee filters. And it would take forever. We would have to go through at least three filters in one time of straining. Now just one round filter does it all and QUICK! Time saver for sure!

Sock Monkey Cake

Okay not a homesteading topic really. But I did bake it so kinda I guess. Lol. It’s just so cute! I made a big two layer cake and a smaller “smash cake” for his first birthday.

Yummy!

A Clean Idea ~ Orange & Clove Vinegar

I read about this somewhere on Facebook. I can’t remember who posted it. Anyway, with Maddy going into surgery soon the idea of deep cleaning is heavy on my mind. My kids love to eat oranges and clementines “Cuties”. So since we have peels around anyway what a great way to use them.

I already use the vinegar and baking soda trick to freshen the drains and had heard vinegar is great for cleaning things other than just hardwater remover. I just hated using because of the smell. I found out vinegar is actually a disinfectant. Cool beans! And if you soak a bunch of orange peels in a jar of vinegar it will not only boost the cleaning power because of the orange oil but it also cuts most of the vinegar smell leaving a nice citrus scent instead. I thought I must try this! I also added a few whole cloves because I read the cloves are actually a antimicrobial.

Here’s a picture of the two jars we made today. One this morning. One this afternoon. I opened the one made earlier and it actually smells nice. Wow! The directions said let steep for two weeks then strain and pour vinegar solution into a spray bottle. You can dilute with water if you like. Its great for countertops, walls, windows and all general cleaning. I wonder if its okay for ceramic tile floors or our vinyl wood plank flooring. I guess I’ll have to find out!

Gingerbread Men

Here is our rather crazy looking gingerbread men the kids and I decorated.

“Eat more Greens” This one says.

And then I dropped the bowl of the unfrosted ones. Whoops! Don’t you love my twisted sense of humor. I did a “chalk” outline of one of the poor subjects of our cookie crime scene. Yep, I’m a sick cookie.

And here’s our monster eating a cookie. Nope not one from the floor. Bat boy approves!

Rabbit Yum!

I had put the word out to a good friend I was looking for a buck rabbit to breed our new doe Aggie. And wow did she pull through! She not only found us a good breeding buck she also found us a bred New Zealand doe and two other cull bucks to butcher!

I just butchered one and its now cooking on the pot on the stove. I’m about to head out to butcher the other. What a wonderful blessing! The family is excited to have rabbit meat again.

By Gone Days 2012

Every year we do a booth at the local By Gone Days on the Bosque festival. We do a bake sale booth we call MacDonald Country Store. Here’s some pics from this year.

Our oldest son came with us this year. He learned how they used to wash laundry. He made a corn husk doll and a rag doll. He also got to pull the cord and fire a small cannon! We all watched the gunfighters and enjoyed all the booths.

We got about 3 hours sleep the night before so we were exhausted. Until next year!