Extracts and canned oranges

Extracts are super simple and don't need more than a paragraph to explain. Mainly it is a side item I do with leftover or food waste.

Place peels, seeds or leaves (tear the leaves) in to jar. If you don't have enough to stuff the jar full, it can be added to over time.  Pour vodka, moonshine or rum over them. The stronger the alcohol the better. Tightly screw on the lid, then set out of your way and out of your mind for a week, vigorously shake. Do this for four weeks. Strain and place into a separate jar. Do not open near a flame.






Canning Oranges
You will need oranges, peeled and segmented
Water or orange juice or a light syrup of your making ( basically a sugar water mix, the more sugar the heavier the syrup). I prefer a lite sugar water to a syrup as it helps the oranges taste fresher.

Place your orange segments in your sterile jars, leaving an inch of head space, as they tend to float. Bring your liquid to a boil, then pour over the tops, leaving a half inch of space. Lids on tightly, and water bath.

Lower altitudes, 5 mins. Middle of the road 10 minutes. Higher altitudes, 15 mins.

This is usually finished before you are done candying the orange peels.

Candied orange peels

I was going to write, Four Things You Can Do To One Orange. But thought that might overwhelm some of you. because it did me. Plus it would make this post three hours long. So let's tackle things one at a time. Just keep in mind, that this project takes a good amount of time, and you will be doing other things as we move through it.



You will need
1 horror movie (DeadTime Stories 2 times out well)
6 oranges
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water

Wash your oranges. No soap. Cut the ends off.



 Next you are going to score the orange in quarters. Only the skin, don't cut into the meat. If you do, juice will spit out at you while you peel the peels off, and mangle the fruit. Peel the skin and the pith off the orange. The easiest way is to follow your cuts, then peel off the middle. If that makes sense.



Cut the peels into 1/4 inch strips. Don't worry about the uniformity of them, because it just won't turn out that way. Place the peels into a pot and cover with cool water. Bring to a boil over a high heat, then dump the water. Repeat this step a total of three times. This will mellow the bitterness of the pith. Remove the peels from the pot.

Whisk together the water and sugar in said pot. It will be a milky color. But it will dissolve on its own later. Bring this to a simmer, and keep it there for 9 minutes, until you reach the thread candy stage. Those not familiar with that term, candy thermometer should read 230f.

Add the peels, push them under, but do not stir the concoction. If you feel this overwhelming need to do so, resist and swirl the pot. Stirring will cause these unsightly crystals to form. Adjust heat to maintain the simmer, and cook 45 minutes or longer. Depending when the edges of the peel become translucent.

Drain peels, reserving the syrup for another project ( it is now simple syrup infused with orange) roll the peels in sugar and set on a rack to dry. 4-5 hours.



To store them, place sugar in a plastic bag, coat bag, place peels in and close airtight.

They are close to those gummy oranges you get at the store made with the evil to end all evils corn syrup and no actual fruit. And these are really good dipped in chocolate.

No foolin today

It's early evening as I write this to you. I am exhausted, sunburnt, and there could possibly be blood dried somewhere under the caked on mud. I am sitting under a rapidly leafing maple, trying to cool off from this absurdly summer day visiting us so early in April. I hear it told that we will see 60's in a day. An actual spring would be most welcome as I am tired of living in a famine time.

The farmers around me say they too are done with this struggled survival we have had to live in for a year now. Many will lose everything if more rain doesn't arrive soon.

Winston ( bull ) put on a show for good neighbor, enough to scare the scream out of him. I see good neighbor running through the field, yelling and Winston trying to get him to play. I told good neighbor not to chase him like that, and I got a scowl in return. Winston is by no means out to get you. He wants to play, he gets all excited and kicks his heels up in the air. His head swing is because they have a blind spot directly in front of them, he has to, to be able to see where someone is. I had to save good neighbor. Winston, my spoiled baby, bellowed as good neighbor walked away, then licked my face and waited to be scratched. I think he really hoped that good neighbor would have been his new playmate, but it was not to be.

I spent several hours yesterday, hot fencing the field. A quarter of a mile worth of wire later, I have a very upset Urth (cow) and a sun burn. Urth walked right up to the wire. She has seen it before, but not this shinny, brand new wire, and zapped her. She has stopped talking to me, for now.

Before I forget, Yart, your namesake (calf) has warmed up well to us. And now follows us around, bellowing, wanting to fist bump. ( her nose to our fist. She bumps we wait) no scratching yet however.

I sit here and begin to drift off. I have to stay awake however as I have more work to do before darkness swallows the yard.

We planted several trees, and propagated several apricot trees. Strawberry beds are done, and the garden is ready to be sowed. The onions were replanted and fenced in to keep the free rangers from pulling them up yet again.

I have dug, and fenced, been stuck in the mud and lost a shoe, I have tended to delicate plants, and been bitten by a chicken. Been rabbit kicked, and bum rushed, sunburned and calloused. Bee buzzed, tangled, smoked out, and pooped on. And I couldn't be happier that it's spring.

Rainy Day? Good time to prep for preserving

Spring in the Heartland means storms, lots and lots of storms. You can use these days to catch up on your neglected housekeeping as the garden has kept you a bit too preoccupied for such mundane things, or you can forgo all of that and begin some preparation for your up coming fruit and berry harvest.

Simple Syrup is a staple to making just about anything out of your berries. You can find my directions on how to make it here>>> The Secret to Simple Living? Simple Syrup.

Strawberries shall be plucked soon, and simple syrup helps preserve them in various ways, you can make pop, pancake syrup, preserves and some very fancy dinner sauces.

It's good to keep on hand for real sweet tea.

I love using it for my pears, making lilac syrup, and for peaches. The uses are just about limitless. Canning is no biggy, as you will replace the simple syrup later with the flavorings you add to it.

Oh it just started raining here.

Farmers Cheese, Lilac, and (giggle) Kumquat

Farmers cheese is super simple (I say very too much, super seems appropriate here). You can make it with both cow and goat, skim or whole, but not with pasteurized milk. But I do have a trick for those of you that can't get raw milk.

If using store bought milk, heat it to 75F and add 1 cup cultured buttermilk (from the store) and it will help if you add 1/2 tablet of rennet to every 1 gallon of milk.

If using goats milk, you might want to think about doing half goat half cow, as it takes up to 5 days for goats milk to sour enough.

What we are actually going to do is make cottage cheese, then do something a little different to make it farmers cheese. Here we go.

1 quart of milk will make 1 cup of cheese. You can use as much as you want since we are not adding any other ingredients to this besides some optional salting at the end, and that is to taste. Pour your milk into a iron kettle or pot, or even a stainless steel bowl. Do not use aluminum. This container will be used through out the process. Place you milk and container in an area that you use to allow your yeast breads to rise. Not too cold and not too hot. Leave it to clabber for a few hours to a few days, depending on the temperature and your good bacteria count. (and if you are using goats milk).

When the milk is set, it will be jelly like. The solids will have formed one large curd and will be floating on the whey. Using a long knife, cut the curd, creating squares that are 1/2 inch to 1 inch squared. Gently stir, you do not want to break up the curds more, merely keep them from clumping back together. Now you have to slowly heat up you curd on a stove.

The temperature at which you stop heating determines the type of cheese you will get. A low heat will get you a soft cottage cheese, 110F or less. For Farmers cheese we need to slowly get the temperature up to 120F. You need to take 30 minute to slowly get you curds up to the temperature. Increase your heat a little every 5 minutes. Hold it until it reaches you desired firmness. To test, pinch the curd, if it remains in a ball your done.

Drain your whey, reserve for your chickens. If the curd is very sour, go ahead and rinse it carefully in cold water. Press the cheese into a dish. it will keep for up to 10 days, if covered and refrigerated. Crumble on top of your pizza or into your salads.

Lilacs. Yes, you can eat the blossoms.

Just like my warning with the roses, don't just go picking any one's lilacs. You need to know what has been sprayed on them. Do not eat any of the green parts of a lilac please.

Lilacs are great if you use them as a simple syrup. Use my strawberry simple syrup recipe replacing the strawberries with lilac (strain flowers out before storing)


Lilac Sugar

Fill a pint canning jar 1/2 way with plain sugar. Sprinkle the lilac over the top, then cover with more sugar. The jar should be 2/3 of the way full. Sprinkle on more lilacs, then more sugar, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Place the lid on tightly, shake the jar and hide it away in a cool dark place. It is ready to use in 2-3 weeks. The longer it stands to more fragrant it becomes. Replace the sugar that you use, shake and store again. This is great for your baked desserts.

Lilac Muffins (makes 2 dozen)
2 cups lilac buds and blossoms (no green part of flower)
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Rinse lilac buds in water and allow them soak. Beat eggs. Stir in oil, sugar and vanilla. Blend in the flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Pour excess water off lilacs. Add to the batter. Pour in prepared muffin tin. Bake at 325F for 30 to 40 minutes.



Lilac Jelly

4 cups lilac flowers
2 cups boiling water
steep flowers, by covering and
allowing to sit for 24 hours
For each 2 cups of liquid add
juice of one lemon,
1 pkg pectin
boil
add 1 cup sugar
allow to boil for 5 minutes
Place in 1/2 pint hot jelly jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

I was asked about rosemary as well. Rosemary is indeed a very strong herb, use it sparingly in most recipes. I use rosemary with my meats, as Mrs. Fuzzy stated in her reply yesterday about Sage, rub the meat with it, then dispose of it. One of the great things you can also do with rosemary is make a bread.

Rosemary Bread
1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary (less for taste and if using fresh)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

For a bread machine, set this at white bread, and go. If not, mix together all the dry ingredients. Using a separate bowl, mix together the wet. Blend both bowls together, and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until the dough is silky smooth (5-10 minutes) do not over knead, and try not to add too much flour to the mix) Place in a grease bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until double in size, 2 hours. Punch down, and gently knead out air bubbles. Place into a greased pan and allow to rise again, 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350F and bake until golden brown on top and hollow sounding when you knock on it. Because ovens vary so much, check the bread after 40 minutes.

Kumquats are a wonderful fruit. I have an article about them over here, and it does include three recipes. (including making your own pectin)

Marmalade
3 cups chopped kumquats
1 cup water
6 1/2 cups sugar
1 pkg pectin
Prepare the kumquats, half the fruit and remove seeds, chop coarsely or slice thinly

Combine the chopped kumquats, with water, and pectin. Add the sugar and bring to a hard boil (cannot be stirred down). Boil for one minute. Pour into sterile jars and seal, process in a hot water bath for 5 minutes.

Glaze (for a pound cake)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 cup chopped kumquats (pureed)
4 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp lemon Jello gelatin

Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, Jello and water. Cook over a medium heat until thickened. Stir in the chopped kumquats. Pour over a slice of pound garnish with whipped cream.

Kumquat Citrus Butter
1 1/2 tablespoons softened butter
4 de-seeded kumquats with rinds, minced until pulpy
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix with your fingertips, ensuring that the fruit and seasonings are incorporated into the butter.Store in an air tight container. (great on fish)


As for you Cygnus. You can use any browny recipe with your herb, just make sure you use real butter. Animal fat is the catalyst. Oh jeez, I just told on myself. (giggle) But of course most of you know about my naughty little past.

My Mommy and me

Many of you already know who my mother is. She did a wonderful job guest writing for me when I had lost my computer. She could have gone all parental on me and dragged up some very embarrassing info. Ah, but let us not tread in that direction.


Instead allow me to take a moment and tell you how my mother and I work together.

Yesterday, my youngest son, my mother and I went on a little trip. We drove an hour south from my house to the apple orchard on Eden. There we were confronted by a 200 lbs weimaraner (maybe not 200lbs, but she is a very fat dog) and we proceeded to fill the back of her car with 250lbs of red delicious apples and 30 lbs of peaches. We were quick and efficient, clearing out all the fruits we could reach and shake down. We did this in under 2 hours. Then back to her house where we unloaded and headed 30 minutes east to raid her s-i-l's grapes. We easily gathered 150 lbs of those. Once back to her house, we separated grapes which seemed to take much longer then the actual picking.

Now my mother is addicted to gleaning. On the way home, we discussed knocking on peoples doors that had apple trees rotting in their backyards and see if we could take them. My husband laughed when I told him and informed me that if I wanted to go into the apple butter business, that gleaning would take 70% of the overhead out of the picture. hhmmm. . .

Today my mother and I will be making grape jam at her house. My mother and I work well together, but we can be odd. We behave almost as if we are drunk without actually drinking. Those poor firemen that were forced to listen to us that one night.

Keep your fingers crossed that we don't end up losing half our skin to a fire bomb of purple goo.

Beneath the Planet of the Tractors

We didn't get to the cultivator yesterday. My husband took the center buster over to our good neighbors field to help him out a bit. Today is my husband's last day of semi-retirement, he starts his new job tomorrow, lots will need to be done. We have a long list of must do this now chores, only so that our weekends won't be jam packed. We have plans to hit up some motorcycle rallies this year, and we can't have all this homesteading stuff get in the way. (this is where I would wink)

Shear goats and sheep
put up new fencing
build banny boxes
cultivate garden
plant some of the garden

That is on today's list. I did build a quick banny box yesterday. My good neighbor has some columbine bannies he didn't want. They were his grandpa's. But they don't do well in the winter, grandpa was not wanting to deal with them, though loved them, and now good neighbor doesn't have the time for them. So I took them. The are a gorgeous pair of birds. Remind me to get some photos for you all.

Have you seen Beneath the Planet of the Apes? I love those movies, but the one scene when the apes are entering the forbidden zone and there are all those dead apes hanging like scarecrows, it is that scene that I remembered after we covered our fruit trees. The flowers survived!

Hard Freeze Center Buster

Last night we ran around, placing black trash bags over all our fruit trees that have already began to flower. We even hoped the fence and covered our good neighbor's trees as well. Looking out this morning, I can see the frost covering everything. I hope we were able to save them. Similar thing happened last year, and we lost all our peaches.

The tractor is now being used. We went down to our local farm store and purchased a center buster and a cultivator. And it was no sales tax day! We saved $27US on that. The center buster was put into use yesterday, today the cultivator, and tonight planting. The lowest that the temperature will get the rest of the week is in the 40's. So it won't be until next week when I need to worry about another hard freeze.

Soon, however, we will be worrying about hail and tornadoes.

What to tell ya

My father would say that whenever there was a lull in a conversation. That was usually my cue to ask something or say goodbye.

Same ole same ole around here. We have had a first round of severe storms of the seasons. Nothing too nasty. I hope my Plano, Tx readers are ok.

I got a phone call yesterday from an orginization that is raising money to get more politicians into government that are pro-organic foods. If started his speil an I interupted, knowing wat he was going to say about what the USDA is allowing to be organic. I feed him back the info, before he could say it and he seemed surprised that I knew. He actually said that most people didn't get it. We chatted a bit more, and soon I was the one lecturing him. I got him interested in NAIS and he asked questions. By the end of the conversation he thanked me for teaching him something.

Speaking of NAIS:

DeLauro, who is a longtime advocate of a mandatory program pointed out there are mandatory ID programs in European Union, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Australia. When the U.S. program was originally announced by USDA in 2001 it was to be mandatory, she recounted. "Early on USDA recognized NAIS would help the U.S. in world competition." Read the entire article here.

Also from Feedstuffs

Last week USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a draft Business Plan to further the implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). AMS encourages participants in voluntary marketing programs such as the USDA Process Verified, the Quality Systems Assessment and the Non-Hormone Treated Cattle Programs to meet the inherent animal identification requirements by using NAIS. Entire article here>>>

It's beginning to look a lot like spring around here. Our fruit trees are in bloom.

***

***

How to Candy a Vegetarian Homesteader

Candied citrus peels are relatively easy, once you know how. Actually, just about anything from sausage to flower petals can be candied, and truly taste good, not just palatable.

Pay attention to the size of your fruit. The following instructions are for 8 lemons, but if you use homesteading math, {2 banny eggs = 1 chicken egg, 2 chicken eggs=1 goose egg} 1 lemon =1/2 orange, while 1 orange = 1/2 grapefruit, you can adjust the recipe to your needs. You will need 8.5 ounces of water and 4.5 ounces of sugar per orange {use the homesteading math}

• 8 lemons
• 4.25 cups water
• 2.5 cups sugar, plus more for coating

If you have a citrus peeler use that, if not a knife will work just fine. Peel the lemons carefully, trying to keep the peels intact {as much as possible}. Set the peeled oranges aside and reserve for another use. {like eating them}

Using a very sharp knife, cut away the bitter white pith from the underside of the peels. The remaining peel should be approximately 1/8” thick. Do not fret if small amounts of the white pith remain.

Slice the peels into long, thin strips approximately ½” wide.

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan set over a medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Heat, uncovered, 5 minutes or until the sugar/water comes to a boil.

Add the strips of peel to the sugar/water and turn the heat down to low, simmer. Simmer, uncovered, until the syrup reduces to a quarter of its original volume
{the syrup will barely cover the tops of the peels}. Do not stir during this process, unless you want large sugar crystals {not really recommended}. The simmering will take around 2 hours.

Remove from heat and allow it to cool. Once it has cooled, drain the peels in a colander. At this time, turn your oven to 200F.

Place about one cup of sugar in a small bowl, and then dredge the peels in the sugar until they are well coated. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Add more sugar if necessary.

Place the sugar-coated peels in the heated oven and allow them to dry out. This should take about one hour, but be sure to check on them every 20 minutes or so to ensure that they are not burning or cooking in any way. If this is no feasible you can also allow the peels to be left to sit out overnight on a drying rack instead of being placed in the oven.

Once the peels are completely dry, scrape off any excess sugar clumps. Store them in a dry location and they should keep for at least 2 weeks.

Homesteading as a vegetarian.

As some of you know, I qualify my butchering post at the beginning. I was a vegan, then a vegetarian for most of my life. Things changed when I became pregnant, then my resolve caved when I moved to the country. It can be done, being a vegetarian homesteader. Unfortunately I am no longer in the mind set to really give good advice. You would need to learn what crops can be grown at which time, so that you seasonal eating doesn't become only a canned diet. Any homesteaders that blog, please leave a link if you are a vegan or vegetarian so that my readers can see how you live.

I wish you luck.

Anyone else wish to ask about a how-to?

Side note; here is an update on the man who's farm was raided by the government and forced to comply with unnecessary testing.

Blueberry Butter

Ah, canning season. When all the burners on your stove are on high, your air conditioner whines, and every fan in the house is going, yet they are still not enough to keep you from sweating as you slowly stir you soon to be jarred foods.

Butters are simple, and the flames are kept on low, well at least one of them is. Butters also don't use all the sugar that jams and jellies do. A general rule is, once you have crushed and smoothed out your pulp, measure it, and add 1/2 cup sugar to every 1 cup pulp. Make sure use use a heavy pot and a wooden spoon. Heat mixture on low and cook for a very long time. Did I mention Butters take a long time? Stirring frequently so that it doesn't stick and burn to the bottom of the pan. You are ready to can once it has reached a nice thick spreading constancy.
Poor into hot sterile jars, place in a simmering hot water bath, bring to a boil {this can sometimes take forever} cover and process for 10 minutes. Remove from hot water bath and DO NOT mess with the lids. Allow them to cool completely before touching them. Sometimes the lids are still popped out when you pull them out of the canner. That's ok. Don't force them down, it will work out on its own as long as you processed them correctly.

Now my oldest child managed to take over the batteries to my camera, as soon as I find them I can take photos of the finished product, which looks like a jar of very dark bluish purple goo. So yummy.

I plan on making some more fruit butters today, and maybe get some other canning done, though I doubt that will happen.

What are you canning?

Oh, and Rosemary. Let me clean up my side bar a little and I will get those tags posted. I will leave them up for a few days. Edited to add, that it has been added, but to the bottom of my page. It is rather long.