Homestead News, Volume 23

Things have slowed down somewhat here for the winter. Outside of the opinion pieces we have been sharing for news, in our little corner of the world things are relatively quiet. We have our daily routines of animal chores, cooking and eating, and eating. The small lane that leads to our house is about 1/4 mile if you walk round trip. Frank walks it twice a day for about a mile or so. I usually make it about half to three quarters before the arthritis in my back starts complaining. We take the half hour drive to see my mother in the nursing home regularly. Some of those trips are easier than others. Her dementia is now limiting her speech significantly and it's hard to keep her attention. So, go our days. Watching the demise of the world and wondering when it will reach our doorstep.

We have some food growing in the greenhouse along with some basil and flowers. More flowers than usual and surprisingly, some of them like to bloom in the winter.

Turnip greens

Salad fixings - amaranth, pak choy, kale, cress, lettuces

Looking out of the door that goes into the house.

Balsam - I had no idea they would bloom in the winter greenhouse.

And believe it or not, the tomatoes are blooming. I don't think they will produce because it gets too cold at night.

But this will be the first plants I set out come spring if they make it until then.



Our baby goats are all on the ground for the year. We had one set of twins and two sets of triplets. One of the does has continued her mastitis problem from last year so we gave away two of her kids when they were four hours old. They got a few good drinks of colostrum and we sent more home with them. 

Now we have fresh milk again which we both consider to be a wonderful treat.

I have been using up some of my fabric and quilt batting making lap quilts to donate to the nursing home where my Mom lives. It's part of my downsizing effort.





And speaking of eating, today is a good day for a pot of soup. It's still warm outside, t-shirt weather, but I wanted to use some of our harvest for a good hot meal.

 
I don't like the feeling that these tools are always necessary when I walk out the door to go milk the goats, or garden, or take a walk down our lane, but so go the days of our lives. Anymore, you just never know what you need to always be prepared for.

 Until next time - Fern
 

A Healing Soup

Since Frank has been home from the hospital, I have been trying to fix some meals that will be easy on his stomach, healthy and healing. After a few days, he was up for some soup, so I went through the garden to see what I could find that would make a good healing soup. This is what I came up with.

I started off with a few tablespoons of olive oil. To that I added a pound of ground pork. While the meat browned, I cut up a few things from the garden.

I picked a pepper, a few stems of immature celery with the leaves, a few carrots, onions and a squash, along with a few purple hull peas that I shelled right into the pot. After the meat was browned I poured in the broth from last year, then started adding the vegetables.

Knowing that peppers have trace minerals that are not found anywhere else, I also added some of the peppers we dehydrated last summer. The cabbage I used was the only vegetable that came from the store. Then I looked over at the tub of potatoes we dug and picked out the small, bite sized ones and added them in whole. I seasoned it all with salt, pepper, a large handful of parsley and about two tablespoons of minced garlic. I cooked it all in my cast iron dutch oven to absorb that trace amount of iron into the soup.

Knowing that most of these ingredients came from our ground, grown with love and no chemicals whatsoever, I felt very good about the nourishment I could provide Frank to promote the healing of his body. God has certainly blessed us with His bounty, may He bless you also.

Until next time - Fern

Cabbage Soup

We baked a ham a few days ago. As I was putting the leftovers away, I thought the broth would make a good soup. Next was to figure out what I could put in there that would be good.
 

We had some celery, cabbage and onions which would make a good start. So I heated up the broth and added some ham chunks.

  
I wanted to try some of our dehydrated peppers, along with some parsley and garlic.

 
While that was cooking, I decided a jar of our carrots from last summer sounded good. I added them to the pot, water and all, to add more liquid to the broth.

Next, in went some chopped up onion and celery.

Then I chopped up about a third of a head of cabbage. It didn't take long to cook everything up.

This gave us a quick, nutritious meal with leftovers to boot. We decided the ham broth was a little strong and needed to be diluted more. I added another cup or so of water to the soup before I put it in the frig. When I heat it back up I will add a diced potato. That should absorb some of that strong flavor as well.

There are so many different meals that can be made simply from things you have on hand. Our only problem is figuring out what to call them so we can give this post a title, otherwise they would forever remain nameless. We hope to soon be able to get our fresh vegetables from the garden instead of the store. There are several different things we want to try preserving this summer to extend our ability to eat homegrown food. We'll see how it goes, and share with you along the way.

Until next time - Fern

Firing Up the Wood Stove

It's that time of year, when the temperature occasionally drops down far enough for us to run the wood stove to heat the house. There are many winter days here that are in the 50's, 60's and even 70's when it is just too warm for the stove. But this week we have had some cold, wet, icy weather with high's in the low 30's. So it was time to check everything out before we lit that first fire. Our stove is a DutchWest Federal with a catalyst. When we bought it, it was made my Vermont Castings. Times change.

To check out the bottom of the stove pipe and the catalytic converter we have to take off the top of the stove. To take off the top of the stove we

have to take off the warming shelves. This is a real pain, very awkward and difficult to see. It's nice to have a small battery powered vacuum with a hose that can pick up all of the loose soot down around the damper. We didn't get a lot of pictures of this process because it took four hands to get it done. You know when you are all contorted in a knot trying to manage an open end wrench in a space that is too small, and you can't hold
the flash light or get your bifocals in the right place to see? It's not the time to

say, "Hold it right there, we need a picture for the blog!" So you will just have to use your imagination here. This is a great cast iron stove. We chose to not get an enameled version because, one, we like the looks of the cast iron and two, we are just too hard on things. I figured I would have a chip out of the enamel before long and it would be one of many. 

After Frank finished contorting and putting everything back together we both agreed that it was just too much trouble, so next year we plan to leave the warming shelves off when we inspect the stove again. They are pretty and make for nice aesthetics, but we don't trust them to sit anything very heavy on, so off they go.

We keep a bus tub (a plastic tub used in restaurants to clean tables) nearby to keep our equipment in when it's not in use. For now we used it to hold the ash and soot we were cleaning up.

Our equipment consists of: this excellent fire poker (this is one of the best we've ever used - plain and very effective), metal dust pan, brush, the handle used to open the doors and damper,

a small flashlight to see the thermometer, a bag to carry wood and a pair of welder's gloves that work great.

Now that we have everything cleaned up, it's time to light a fire. We have a number of battery operated lanterns that we use on a regular basis. If the grid goes down we will be able to recharge them with solar panels. We feel this type of lighting will last us longer than others that require fuel storage. It came in real handy on those dark spots where it was hard to see. Just for information purposes, this is a Coleman LED, variable rheostat, with eight rechargeable D cell batteries. The only negative is the batteries will not charge in the lantern. They have to be removed and charged separately. But eight D cells on low power lasts a long time.

This is a small stove, but it can quickly heat up our small home to the point that we open several windows a bit. We always keep a window close to the stove cracked open for ventilation and oxygen renewal. There are several settings on the stove to review and familiarize ourselves with again: the damper, air intake and catalytic converter. We always review the manual each year to make sure our memories are correct. Fire is not something to take lightly. It can be the end of all you have including your life, in very short order. So even though it is a pain to take the stove apart and inspect it each year, we always do so before we use it. It is well worth our time and effort to insure our safety and the safety of our home.

After the first fire or two, we had everything up and running right. Our stove has an ash pan that needs to be emptied once or twice a day depending on how much wood we burn. This is one chore that requires much care. Frank uses the poker to stir the coals and cause the ash to fall down into the ash pan below the firebox. We keep a heavy cast iron pot of water on top of the stove for moisture.

 We empty the ash pan out on the back porch. There is a small galvanized can there just for that purpose. Frank carefully carries the ash pan out the door. I get the door and the lid to the ash can. We feel this chore is much safer when performed by two people, but it can be completed by one person.

As the ash can fills up over the winter, we empty it into the garden for the calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, aluminum and sodium it contains. As a side note, you can also use hardwood ashes to make lye for soap. I have also used it around the base of 
new squash plants to deter squash vine borers and other insects. One time when we emptied the ash can in the garden the coals weren't quite out and when we looked out the window there was a nice line of fire going across the garden. It didn't take long to put it out, but it is something to learn and remember.

Now that we have a good fire going, I think it is time for some soup. I tried something like this a couple of times last year, but I don't remember how it went. There is a small flat surface on top of the stove that will hold a small pot. I am careful not to cover up the thermometer that goes with the catalytic converter. I think this was the reason I got the smaller cast iron dutch oven. My other one is just too big to fit on this small surface.

It is great fun to go into the store room and pick out things we have grown and preserved to put into a meal. This time was no different. Yesterday I baked a goat loin and had some meat leftover that would go great in a soup along with some green beans, squash and carrots. I used corn, onion and tomatoes from the store. The potatoes we grew in the spring are starting to sprout quite well, so I used some of them and a jar of the dried pinto beans we canned. Add some salt, pepper, dried minced garlic, barley and parsley and we're in business.

Now to let it simmer on the stove for the afternoon and dinner will be ready. 

The blessings of a simple life never cease to amaze me. It's not that this life is not a lot of work. And it's not that this life is not way outside the norm and looked upon with some derision. After all, it's so much easier to go and buy it at the store. It's just that this quiet, simple life is what feeds our souls with a deep and abiding satisfaction. It gives us confidence and knowledge that we can provide for ourselves given the time and opportunity. I pray that the privilege of living our lives the way we see fit will always be an opportunity before us and not a memory behind us.

Until next time - Fern

Soup When You're Sick

When I was feeling under the weather recently, I thought a good, hearty soup would be good for me. So, I started looking around at what we had that I could use. Here is what I found.

We had cooked some pork spare ribs a few days before and I had frozen some of the meat. That was simple and easy. We also had some of the broth which was a good start for the base. Into to the pot goes the meat and broth. 

Next, I came up with these ingredients:

• There was plenty of minced garlic in the rib broth, so I didn't add any more.

• A jar of carrots we canned in the spring.

• A can of corn.

• A jar of pinto beans we canned this summer.

• Salt and fresh ground pepper.

• A couple of onions from the grocery store.

• Potatoes we grew this spring. I found quite a few pretty small ones and thought this would be a good meal to use them up in before they get too soft.

• A handful of green beans, part of our last harvest of the year.

• And a handful of barley, something I always like to store and have on hand.

Now the soup was starting to look pretty good. Then I realized I had some:

• ripe tomatoes and 
• a piece of a bell pepper in the frig.

These would also taste good and add some good nutrients. 

I didn't take very many pictures this day. I just didn't think of it since I was feeling pretty crummy. The soup turned out great and we ate it for several days. There was also enough to freeze up some. I told Frank when I started I was just going to make a small pot of soup. After we started putting it all together, I changed my mind, well not my mind, but it just wasn't turning out very small. I have always made a good sized pot of soup or beans, then frozen the extra in quart sized freezer bags. It makes for a great, quick meal on those days that we are busy, or I just don't feel like cooking. Then we can still have a good, nutritious, home cooked meal.

Lucky for us, I had made bread the day before I got sick. This was a good, healthy meal - easy to make and easy to eat. Think about what things you will need on hand to be able to make meals for your family in a collapse or downturn situation. You may have the chance to practice those skills sooner than you think.

Until next time - Fern