Saturday BlogRoll call

Lynn over at The New Home Maker informed me of a product called Squeezo. Never heard of it? Neither had I. I searched for it and found it at a site called All Seasons Homestead Helpers. A website that I can just drool over and think, someday when I have the money, I'm going to get that and that...oh, and this! Thank you Lynn!

Blogathon 2006 is the official website for blogathon. I have kept it in my blog roll for next year. This site is way I stayed up for 24 hours, posting a new entry every 30 minutes, raising money for Farm Aid.

BookCrossing a wonderful website. Do you have books sitting on your shelf gathering dust? Well no more! At BookCrossing you can register your books, getting a BCID#. Place the number inside your book and then leave your book in a public place for a stranger to find. This is a great way to remind people that reading is important, and a simple way to help promote literacy. You can see my bookshelf here; eireannaigh's bookshelf

Cinco De Mayo Food is an article with a little history about the 5th of May and recipes that can be used in your celebration.

Hope you enjoy this links as much as I do.

Call me Slacker

I did none of the things I claimed I was going to do yesterday. There was no time. I broke out the new food dehydrator that alrescate sent me. This thing is great!

So I'm easily amused, some people would kill for that.

This one is nothing like my old one. My old one took almost all day to dry tomato slices. Every 30 minutes I would have to turn the screens to make sure it dried evenly. If I didn't, one side would burn and the other side would still be wet.

The new one dried tomato slices in 2 hours. 2 HOURS! I didn't have to turn the screens. It has settings so you decided how hot it needs to be. And it came with instructions. Instructions people!

It also came with a small screen so my herbs wouldn't fall into the motor, and this, this is the best part, it came with a insert that you can make fruit leather on!

I knew the dehydrator was coming. But see in the last 10. . . well, it's been more like 14 years, I have learned to deal without. My last dehydrator was a gift from my in-laws. Something they bought at on auction. Food dehydrators are not on our essentials list, as we can use the oven in it's stead. So this gift from alrescate was much more than I expected. I felt like was 5 years old and it was Christmas morning. My husband even giggled at me when I was enthusiastically telling him and showing him all the details. He thanks you alrescate and sends his love as well. He also agrees that we should send you our thanks, and I know the best way how.

In other news that can be filed under, you’re an idiot Phelan;

I went to the feed store and was looking at egg incubators. They had them for $40 USD a piece. One was boasting about all this extras it had. I picked the cheaper one that had an egg turner, as the other one couldn't boast of that. {It was $5 USD cheaper} I brought it home, showed my proud-to-be-my-husband. and took it out of the box. You can see where this is going. All it was, was the automatic egg turner. ~sigh~ Luckily my husband told me it was ok, and we would by the set-up in pieces, just like we do most things. Silly me.

Today's mail

I almost wept when I opened up this package.

Thank you alrescate, you are a dear friend. And you will be repaid for your kindness.

A Mundane kind of Day

Finished up some baking, and cleaned up the kitchen. I am not sure what I need to do today yet. The popcorn needs to be harvested, more onions need to be braided. That reminds me, I need to make some onion and herb sandwich rolls. I should make some watermelon jelly while I am at it.

spaghetti sauce and zucchini day

We have never been successful growing our own tomatoes from seeds. We try every year, and every year a few will sprout and then die. So every year we must buy seedlings. This year my husband was in the locally owned hardware store, a locally owned nursery was selling some of their plants in the parking lot. My husband saw "FLAT SALE" and bought several flats of tomato and peppers.

On close inspection we found that the plants were showing the beginning signs of becoming root bound. Hence the sale. But we decided to make do, and now we are worried. I just now got enough tomatoes in to can 5 quarts of spaghetti sauce. We had really hoped by tripling our plants we could have enough tomato products to last until next harvest. I am probably the only one here that wishes for this, but I wish for an Indian summer.

We have always been successful at harvesting tomatoes. This year I am at the point that I want to cheat and by some miracle gro to help them out. If something doesn't change soon, we are going to have to prepare to grow one tomato plant in our hydroponics closet and leave another veggie out.

Even our peppers are having a hard time. Unless someone came along one night and dumped chemicals on our soil, the plants being root bound is the only explanation I have. here's where I sigh

I digress, I made spaghetti sauce yesterday.

The recipe I was going to follow called for 6 lbs of tomatoes, and only 5 pints of pureed. Sorry, but 6 lbs of tomatoes make more than 5 pints of puree, so I used another recipe, one that I had fixed what problems there were in the past.

I washed my tomatoes, scalded them in hot water for 3 minutes. Shocked them in cold water to stop the cooking processThis colander has seen better days.

and then cored and peeled them.

I would like to state that after 6 lbs of tomatoes, that my back was killing me. Also, make sure you have no little scratches on your fingers. The acid from the tomatoes burns!

After all the fruit was cored and peeled, I put them through my food processor and pureed them. I put my quart jars hot water to sterilize. and cooked up my spaghetti recipe. Once that was done a managed to ladle the sauce into the jars without burning myself. TRIUMPH!All the while I had my hot water bath simmering. Using the rack I submerged the jars, turned the heat up and waited 4 hours for the water to rapidly boil. Somehow/reason I never got enough heat to get the water to boil. This is a first for me. I have always managed to use a hot water bath successfully. But alas! I have a tendency to "blow it"

I removed the jars from the hot water bath and put them in the pressure canner. 5 lbs for 25 minutes. Apparently when I learn a new skill I lose the old one.


I also had 6 lbs of shredded zucchini to deal with. Using my zucchini nut muffin recipe, I made one big loaf and several {and I do mean several} muffins.We are eating the loaf and I froze the muffins for winter. I still have more zucchini to do something with. Any suggestions?

KF_in_Georgia informed me that you can use corn starch to clot up a bleeding bird toe. My question is; would that work on a bird that scratches? Or do I need to hold the rooster down for a while?

Trimming the Roosters Toe Nails

My parent in-laws came out for a nice friendly visit. While they were here, my husband took them out to see the new poultry we had acquired. What's wrong with that rooster, my father-in-law asked. On closer inspection we saw that he had a piece of string wrapped around his spur, cutting into it. As much as that rooster hates us, we just couldn’t stand to see it suffer.

I watched in amusement as my husband chased him around until he could be cornered and trapped. My husband began to unwrap the string, and just as he was about to release the rooster, it pecked him and spurred my husband's calf. And you thought I could make sailors a couple states over blush!

Vengeance is mine sayth the husband, as he was relentlessly teased by his father. A man that once ran a medium sized chicken flock. My husband suck it up and took it like a man, yet there was that glimmer in his eye that warned me that I was about to get hurt myself.

As soon as the parental units left, it was decided that we must tend to the rooster, clean his wound, clip a wing and trim some nails. Good for you, have a blast...tell me all about it when your finished. Maybe I shouldn't be sarcastic, I seem to get into more trouble whenever I open my mouth. I was ordered {he wasn't in a good mood} to look through the homesteading books to see how to go about doing such things. There wasn't too much info on tending to a spur wound, we already knew how to trim a wing, and the books said to use small clippers, scissors or dog nail trimmers on the talons.

I brought out with me some peroxide, a ratty towel and dog nail clippers, only to find my husband and the rooster in a old west style show down. They were eyeing each other to the death. I handed the towel to my husband, as I kept an eye an that rooster myself. It loathes me. I have looked through the homesteading books to see how one should deal with a scornful rooster. Kill them. What an answer...I have the distinct feeling that the people that wrote these books, don't put up with much.

With towel in hand, the chase was on. I watched with much amusement as my husband dove and raced after the bird. Once cornered, the towel was dropped and the rooster relaxed in his artificial darkness. My turn. I looked closely at the spur wound. The string had made a clean cut and took the spur off. I poured a little peroxide on it, temporarily reviving the rooster from it's torpor, I screamed in response. I am a wuss.

Next I {yes I not we} trimmed the nails. I have never done this! How far up!?! What if it bleeds? I don't want to hurt the son of a scratcher! Stop telling me how to do it! How do I do this? First couple of nails went smoothly. I cut only the clear part, leaving the discolored part of the nail, it was obvious that there was a vein in it. Soon I cut too deep {not a surprise} IT'S BLEEDING! My husband attempted to reassure me as he took the edge of the towel to put some pressure on the wound. I poured a little peroxide on it, and hoped for the best. If only I could have placed a Pokemon band-aid on it.

The wing was simple, I had seen my husband do it to the geese. I usually hold the geese, as the gander was imprinted on me, and goose realizes she is not to bite the hand that feeds her. They loath my husband. It's nice not to be the only one hated. Gander is easy to get a hold of, he will allow me to pick him up, then he sets about cleaning me and talking up a pleasant storm while my husband pulls out the ganders wing and trims them down. The goose on the other hand, takes some corralling, I have to allow her to threaten me, then grab her by the neck, gently pulling her under my arm and holding her like a football.

The rooster still had a towel over his head, and my husband partially laying down on him. I clipped the feathers of one wing. As soon as we had finished, I stepped back and my husband released him from the imprisonment. He is a cocky cock, shook and ruffled his feathers, gave us a menacing death glance, strutted a few feet, then turned and was on us in a flash. Screaming and cursing ensued. But what does one expect after trying to be loving and caring towards a spiteful creature?

We manage to escape with little injury.

In other news, we ordered a new batch of chicks. 10 Americanas, 10 Black Australorps, and 5 Black Stars, they should be here next week. I did order all females.

Eggs, potatoes and strawberries

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I would have liked. Something ate all 12 of the eggs that I was allowing the banny hen to hatch out. I didn’t find any shells, so I don't think the chickens are egg eating. We do have black snakes in the area, so I will blame it on them, or skunks, or racoons. One good thing that has come out of this, is that they are no longer laying in the barn and have gone back into the coop. I have had a hard time getting every one back in there at night. Our goats like the chicken scratch, and will bully their way into the coop, scaring off the hens. So my hens are pretty much free ranged. It never surprises me much when I find one {hen} sans head. what surprises me is the fact that a skunk would go after them, it's not winter and there is plenty of prey around. I just wish they would eat the whole bird instead of just their heads. {no, I will not post a picture of it}

I did manage to can 4 pints of baby potatoes. Rolly pollies had gotten to some of them under the lazy bed. People hate certain insects because of their potential harm, or over all creepiness. I don't mind insect, they do many things to help out in the garden and inside the home, But rolly pollies, I am starting to despise them. {yes dad, even enough to stop playing house with them}
I also made some strawberry muffins with some of my frozen strawberries. 28 muffins to be exact. What wasn't eaten last night, was frozen for later. Today I had to bake some more bread items with my veggies.

Cheryl has a recipe up for a Whipped Ricotta, that I am looking forward to making next spring. I was going to do it with my frozen ones, but decided to wait.

Urban Homesteading: Gardening

Urban homesteading is quite possible to do. However you should realize that this does take time, energy and many frustrations. It's not an easy fix to financial woes. And to be successful, you will need your neighbors, especially if you live in an apartment.

Let's start with the apartment garden. If you have a patio, balcony, stoop or counter top you can grow your own garden. It's a little late in the season to start gardening, but you do have time to prepare for next spring.

Container growing is simpler than what I do. You do not need to worry about weeds and the heat. Try growing carrots, lettuce and cabbages on counter tops. Install a grow lamp to get the sunlight needed. Grow tomatoes on a trellis. There are also miniature varieties of trees, such as banana, lemon, lime and orange trees that can grow in the corner of a room. Pineapples are easy to grow indoors as well.

If you do have some money to spend on the type of container you can use, look into an upside down tomato planter or a Tomato Success Kit. If you do not have money to spend, wash out and save the plastic containers from your milk or pop bottles.

There are hydroponic systems that can be set up inside of a closet, or on counter tops. These will run you into some money, but will end up paying for itself. My husband and I built a free standing closet, and use a hydroponics system to grow spring veggies in the winter time. The things that can not be canned, like lettuce. Hydroponic systems do not use soil, so you can save some money there.

Grow lights can also be used for darker rooms. We have an empty cubby under our master bathroom counter. We have placed a grow light, mounting it to the under side of the counter top. Then covered the opening with a black shower curtain. That allows the heat to stay in the small area. We are unable to grow anything tall in this manner, but we can start seedlings in the dead of winter, and have fresh herbs all year round.

Roof top gardening is something else I have seen and heard of. I have never tried this, so I will refer you to IDRC.

If you are lucky enough to have a yard, your options are much broader. Look into raised beds to help simplify, as well as double rows, so you can save room. Obviously a double row is twice the size of the traditional row. 4 feet is a good width, you can access the middle easily. With tighter spacing, the less weeding you will end up doing.

We have empty lots in the city. Families have come together to rent out a lot and start a public garden. They grow all the vegetables they are able to, even setting aside a row for the poor. You don't have to have a lot of money to Urban Homestead, but you do need the friendship of your neighbors to become successful at it. A neighborhood co-op is the best resource that a Urban homesteader can have. It does take a lot of veggies to survive harvest to harvest. Talking with a neighbor, getting them interested in growing one or two vegetables that differ from your own, will allow more diversity in your menu. As you grow your tomatoes, have the neighbor grow peppers, and when they come in, share the bounty with one another.

There is absolutely no reason to rely completely on the government or business owners for all your needs. Just remember that things can not happen all at once. Buy a packet of seeds while you are at the store, save the seeds from the veggies you eat {uncooked}. Save pop and milk containers to use for your garden. Experiment a bit to see what will be successful for you.

Just be patient, if you are determined to be an Urban Homesteader, than you will succeed. Ignore the naysayers, and follow your needs.

I hope this helps you get an idea of the things that need to be done to begin your Urban homestead garden. As always, feel free to ask any questions.

Editoral:

I started this blog as a way to document my failures {and successes when they happen} I never thought that I would find such a diverse group of readers that were interested in self reliance. It makes a heart happy to know that I am not alone on my 5 acre plot.



or build your system slowly, like we did, just place hydroponic system in the search box below;