Member of. . .

I Remember
Battalion Chief Dennis Cross
World Trade Center

Apologies

To the blogs I enjoy reading. My blogroll says you have updated, so I go to take a peek, yet yesterday's post is still up, so I refresh, and still it is the same post. So If you have a site meter, I am not stalking you, or obsessing, my blogroll is a liar!

The good and the bad

One of the great things about living out here, is that one of my neighbors has his own landing strip. A corn farmer by trade, he flies out over us every day. Low enough that we can see him waving to us as he passes. He also seems to be friends with people like the Red Baron. { I don't know if this is the same guy, if you follow the link, but it is a similar plane} If the Air force base in the city is going to have an air show, we get a free preview a few days before as the stunt planes converge on our neighbors property.
They take to the air and have dog fights and show off their acrobatics. My sons love it. They stand it the field, the necks straining upward, jumping and screaming in pure joy.



We have been very busy the last couple of days. With the Labor Day weekend upon us I am expecting many people in and out the next few days. Thus the down side of living out here, bikers. Once in awhile it is decided that our house is the perfect gathering spot. I am not usually notified of this in advance. When a major holiday approaches, I need to be prepared for stop overs. Sometimes we can go the whole year without anyone showing up, sometimes it seems like every holiday I have a tent or two propped up out back or more than one large burly man peeing on a tree. I need to invest in a porta potty, like they'll use it. The house is cleaned and I have frozen extra food stuff, just in case. But this preparedness slows down my food preservation.
I did manage to can 5 half-pints of Pear Jam and 3 pints of Peach Butter. If you have a favorite recipe, leave it here in reply or on the forum where my recipes link to. Please, I could use some new spice in my life.

I have been talking with one4worldpeace {remember her? she was the one harassing me during the blogathon. Of course without that friendly harassment I might not have made it through the night} She has been giving me some good advice about bee keeping. Maybe I can get her to write a guest blog about the subject.

The Texas FarmWife has received some sheep, She should really update her blog and tell us about it, hint hint.

OH MY! 3 posts in one day!

Head over to SHOOT MY BLOG.

There you can see the pic I took for SHOOT MY BLOG. Plus you can take your own pic, and might be able to win yourself a new computer. {I didn't know about the contest until after I sent in my photo}

This is a very cool way to promote your website or blog.

For my friends in the US that barter

From the IRS website;

Barter Exchanges


A barter exchange is any person or organization with members or clients that contract with each other (or with the barter exchange) to jointly trade or barter property or services. The term does not include arrangements that provide solely for the informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis.

The Internet has provided a medium for new growth in the bartering exchange industry. This growth prompts the following reminder: Barter exchanges are required to file Form 1099-B for all transactions unless certain exceptions are met.

Under the exceptions, barter exchanges are not required to file Form 1099-B for:

1. Exchanges through a barter exchange having fewer than 100 transactions during the year.
2. Exempt foreign persons as defined in Regulations section 1.6045-1(g) (1).
3. Exchanges involving property or services with a fair market value of less than $1.00.
4. Transaction involving corporate members or clients of barter exchange may be reported on an aggregate basis.

Forms 1099-B are due by February 28, 2006 (March 31, 2006, if filing electronically). Failure to file can result in significant penalties (Internal Code Section 6721). The penalty is based on when you file correct information return. The penalties are:

* $15 per information return if you correctly file within 30 days (by March 30 if the due date is February 28): maximum penalty $75,000 per year ($25,000 for small businesses defined below).
* $30 per information return if you correctly file more than 30 days after the due date, but by August 1; maximum penalty $150,000 per year ($50,000 for small businesses).
* $50 per information return if you file after August 1, or you do not file required information returns; maximum penalty $250,000 per year ($100,000 for small businesses.

Small businesses – lower maximum penalties. You are a small business if your average annual gross receipts for the 3 most recent tax years (or for the period you were in existence. If shorter) ending before the calendar year in which the information returns were due are $5 million or less.

As I barter less than 100 times a year and I do not use an exchange program of any kind , I am exempt from filing {that's how the law reads} Follow the Barter link for more informative links.

If any one knows the laws regarding noncommercial use of bartering { not a business, but person, between friends} please let me know, as I as unable to find anything on the IRS website. Everything I have found has to do with small business and barter exchange programs.

Blueberries and Sunflowers

Something that I can not resist is the chocolate covered blueberry. Last night around 1 am I decided to make some.It took quite a bit of will power for me not to eat the entire pint of chocolate covered bliss. So simple to make. Slowly melt your favorite brand of solid chocolate bar, dribble a bit on wax paper, place blueberry in the center then cover with more chocolate. Place in the fridge until firm {about 15 minutes} Simple, but heavenly!

Wet air and drying sunflowers make a poor combination. I lost my entire crop because of the odd weather we are having. No roasted sunflower seeds, or sunflower oil this year. Grey powdery mold has infected everything. The sunflower field a few miles from me has suffered as well. I have done well with sunflowers the last couple of years, and am disappointed that I will not have any this winter.

Flies have also invaded my home. It has been nice enough to keep the house open. I realize that many of you have never brooded chicks in your home before, but the sickly sweet smell of chick poop draws the flies {yes I clean the brooder daily}. If the weather changes and is back to it's hot dry self, I will be able to move the chicks out to the nursery this weekend. These chicks are the most paranoid bunch I have ever dealt with. I am use to the frightened chick attitude, but this bunch will jump at any small sound. And as they are located in my master bath, they keep me up at night.

Today we go on the great egg hunt. There is approximately 3 days worth of eggs somewhere in the chicken/goat/geese/turkey pen. The standard rooster is in lock up, the geese will be shooed into the barn so that my boys can help me search the ½ acre area in the hopes of stumbling on the elusive chicken egg. My layers have not laid in the normal spot, and I have only 1 hen that sets. Hens like to share nests, so somewhere out there beneath the bright blue sky, someone's laying out there, out where weeds grow tall {I like An American Tail , just in case you didn't get the last line}

Fall comes too soon.

Swing season has begun. We have had the house open the past few days to allow the fresh crisp morning air invade our indoor life. As much as I enjoy the cooler days, it causes concern for my crops. Not enough has been harvested yet. I can only plead with the fates that there will be no hard freezes for the next month. Maybe this is only a freak swing, and we will see our normal triple digit temperatures by the weekend.

The plus side is that we have seen more rain in the month of August this year, then any of the other years I can remember. The drought is almost over. That helps with our orchard. But I fear the cooler temperatures will force early harvest of my winter squash, peanuts, and sweet potatoes. I watch the weather reports with a heavy heart.

Another problem with an early swing season is the new chicks. They will not be given the time to acclimate themselves to the up coming winter. And if some of you have been reading for awhile, you will remember that last swing season a storm sucked out and killed over 30 chicks from their nursery. I can not go through something even remotely close to that again. I spent that day soaked in mud, rain and tears as I tried to save the remaining flock.

So far we have lost 2 chicks.

I am not anti-Government

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NAIS Reading;

Link removed see here

About NAIS ~USDA

Granny Warriors

Animals Not Needing Identification ~USDA

Plan for Tracking Animals Meets Farmers’ Resistance ~New York Times

Cattle-Mark of the Beast

Mark of the Beast

The USDA Shell Game on "Voluntary" versus "Mandatory" Participation in NAIS By Randy Givens

Sold Out by Farm Bureau by Karin Bergener

Animal ID Big Issue For Small Producers In Northeast States By David Bowser

link removed, see here

Why You Should Oppose the USDA's Mandatory Property and Animal Surveillance Program

SAY NO TO NAIS! {petition}

Joyce Morrison ~ 4H vs. Big Brother

I just received an article in my e-mail that scared me. No, not scared. . . terrified.

Some times the rural living and homesteading magazines can seem very anti-government when you first start reading them. I know this, because that was the feeling I got. But it isn't so much anti-government as it is anti-big brother. Governmental newspeak will entice most people to follow along, money does the same.

The longer you homestead, the more you invest your money to do right by your family, neighbors, environment and well being, the more things you notice. You don't become paranoid, you become conscious. And then. . . then you become scared.

I implore, I beg, I plead with my readers to read this article; The USDA's National Animal Identification System. Why? Because I want you to know what your elected government wants to do to homesteaders and small farmers. This effects all of us. The only people that benefit are large scale producers. They will put a monopoly on your food.

I also suggest reading National Animal ID Program Backstops Agribusiness While Small-Farm System Offers Real Disease Answers, and even reading it straight from the USDA.

You can play it safe, and allow this to happen by doing nothing. Or you can at least consider saving the small scale farmer and homesteaders, not only by buying your food from the farm markets, {Voting with Dollars} but signing Help Stop the USDA from Taking Away Our Livestock and Our Pets, and read more about the movement to stop the USDA and finding local groups by visiting NO NAIS.

The Monsanto Company supports this, they too want to control the worlds food supply by creating the terminator seed.

While your at it, stop by Family Farm Defenders.

I might have stuck my neck out by posting this. By standing up to the USA government I could bring more attention to myself then I would like. I just hope that you too will stand by me. I know paranoid much? Why would they pay attention to the small homesteader? Why indeed. There are many of us that are standing up to them, anyone of us could be picked out to be an example. No, not paranoid, aware.

I am more than canning

Canning is not my entire world, though this time of year, it seems to be. I am very busy preserving my garden treasures that I forget that there are others that might find canning only mildly interesting. Food preservation is very important, as it ensures that you will have something to eat over the next few months. If you have done everything correctly, and had a bountiful harvest, you can last out the year.

Apricot jam

But there is more to this life. I have a flower garden,

purple butterfly bush

that was over run by caterpillars,

And pumpkins,As you can tell, I don't tend my flowers as well as I should. It gets forgotten.

I thought I should make a to-do list. Not just for my benefit, but for those of my readers as well. This will give you an idea of what is coming up.

A HOMESTEADING NEOPHYTE ADVENTURE LIST;

1} Butcher a turkey for the first time
2} raid someone’s woodlot and construct a wattle fence
3} Build an under ground green building {home}
4} get sheep and llamas
5} Orchard
6} hatching eggs
7} butchering geese
8} opening the Homesteading Neophyte store {if there is interest}
9} butchering lambs
10} TAKING OVER THE WORLD PINKY!

This list is subject to change at the whim of the author's flakiness.

A weekend in review

Some days it feels as though my entire life is about canning. It can take time to remind me that there is more to homesteading then just food preservation, it's just that time of year. I have to shrug it off, and remind myself this. Brush the flour and fall spices off my dusty jeans and move forward.

Here is where I fall back. I canned a bit this weekend.

Yes, that is a Christmas throw, I am way off on my holidays.

I have discovered that I truly enjoy canning. I can make the simplest to the most eccentric recipes, can them, and store them away. No longer is that instant eating everything in 10 minutes and then listening to complaints. {When you spend your whole life eating just one person's cooking, where to you get the comparisons to complain about?}

First up I made 3 pints of Apple Pie Filling. It's not harvest time for apples here, they were on sale at the local store. Apple pie filling is very simple, and it tastes better the longer it sits.

Next was pizza sauce. I always make this, every year. My boys would eat pizza everyday, if allowed to do so. Once again I spent an exuberant amount of time, scalding, coring and peeling tomatoes. I need a SqueezO.

Dinner time! I adore country/rustic foods. I can cook just about everything, but it is the simple, every ingredient easily identifiable, menus that bring out the more creative and joyous side of myself. You get dirtier, and more frantic about timing. Simple ingredients yes, but timing is crucial to making large family meals. Corn bread made in stone ware, first, then set out, covered with a dish towel to cool only the slightest bit as you fry up large pieces of chicken breast, peel and cut up homegrown potatoes, to only mash and season later. Opening a can of homemade hominy, and starting the white gravy. Ending up with a garden salad, served with iced tea. Homemade cookies and fresh coffee round out the meal. But to get everything done in the hour you have, takes kicking everyone out of the kitchen, and timing. I also find the country meals take longer to eat, my family and friends {company} take their time savoring the foods. Everything is rich, creamy and savory. Sweets don't balance it out until the end. Alas! I had left over Country {white} gravy. Instead of storing it in the refrigerator to only be forgotten about, I decided to can it for a day I am short on time. If so inclined, I can add breakfast sausage to it later, for some old fashion biscuits and gravy.

The last canning job of the day was apricot filling for cobbler. We picked up several pounds from a local farm. I know this recipe by heart, it is one of my favorites. Yet as many times as I have made cobbler, I never noticed how much the fruit shrinks. I made 3 quarts of filling, pushing the apricots down, stuffing them, yet still leaving the required 1-inch head space in the jars. After the canning and cooling process, the fruit shrunk down to half their size. Luckily I know that I have enough canned for three apricot cobblers.


THIS IS NOT A PAID ADVERTISEMENT!

I was looking through an internet store called Farley Heath Designs. I love the handmade fabric cards. {My brother wants me to by his wedding invites through them, which I will be doing} I clicked on the link "gifts". Oh my! I can not crochet or any of that stuff. I saw these wrist warmers and knew I must own them.

I received them Saturday. They are a very thick wool. Never owned anything as thick. Of course my husband calls them hand socks, and yes they kind of are that. But I just love them, and can't wait until it gets cold enough to wear them.

So if you need cards or gifts because you are as untalented as I am, check out Farley Heath. Tell them Phelan sent you. {no I don't get anything for you saying it, nor do I get anything but a promise of a future hug for posting this.}





This is a volunteer Jack O' Lantern pumpkin.
Last year we carved our pumpkins on our front deck, some of the seeds didn't make it into the oven. Instead they ended up in my flower garden. All the books I have read on growing pumpkin say that they like full sun. Unfortunately all the pumpkins I grew in full sun, burnt up. I have nothing left. But this guy is in partial sun. Gets more shade then sun, and is doing tremendously. It has 2 pumpkins the size of volley balls already, many vary in sizes as they are still growing, and even more flowers. My husband has made the statement that next year we grow our vines in the shade.

Urban Homesteading; Meat and eggs

Raising your own meat and eggs is harder to do in an urban/suburban setting. There are many little regulations you have to track down and follow to the letter.

The largest city closest to where I live, allows you to have 2 hens per yards. No roosters. Hens are quieter, yet people can still get upset if they see you with chickens. Many people think that hens are just as loud as roosters, and they smell.

The smell isn't too bad, as long as you clean the caged area and compost the waste. But what if you live in an apartment? There might be a way around some rules. Maybe, it depends on how you work your solution. Look into show birds. If you are allowed to have a bird or two as a pet, show chickens are your best bet. You can also get a certificate to show that your bird is indeed a pure bred show bird. If room is a problem, look into bantams, they are miniature versions of standard chickens. They are not good for meat, and it does take two bantam eggs to equal 1 standard chicken egg. It might not be worth the time and expense though. It depends on you and your preferences.Bantam egg size vs standard egg

Eggs in the grocery store can range in price, and eggs at the farm market, roadside stand and rural farmers, can cost more. If you are looking for eggs from organic happy hens, go the route of the farm markets and such. You can buy in bulk and save them by refrigeration. Do not wash your eggs before storing them. Place them in a storage bag, mark the date, and they will keep up to two months in this manner. Make sure to rotate your eggs, using the oldest first.

Remember there are deals to be made. Talk to an egg seller about bulk pricing, or bartering. This will save you money, if you can find what they {the farmers} need.

Good luck with which ever path you choose to get your eggs from. Remember to be courteous, and respectful when dealing with the farm merchant. The customer is always right is not something that goes over well outside of big cities. This is their property, their lively hood, they will bargain, barter with the welfare of their family and livestock in mind. Keep that in your thoughts, and things will go smoother. You might just make a new friend and a new contact, and that is one of the most important things and urban homesteader can do.

Everything You Wanted to know about Eggs, and Some Facts you didn't.