A busy April thus far

A busy busy spring we have had the last few weeks. For starters we have really made the big push to get the raised beds finished. I knew we had the fruit plants coming around April 10, so we had to act fast. The fruit plants list is as follows:

2 Himrod Seedless Grapes
2 Bluegold Blueberry's
1 bundle (25 plants) Earliglow Strawberry (June bearing)
1 bundle (25 plants) Tristar Strawberry (ever bearing)
10 Tulameen Raspberry's

Now for the blueberries we purchased a used 50 gallon plastic container and cut it in half drilled some drainage holes in it and gave it a good cleaning. I decided to go with white because I didn't want the blueberries roots to get too hot in our arid summers.





Everything else needed to get into the ground. Franticly we built raised beds, got compost, and eventually planted the strawberries and the raspberries. The grapes however needed to wait, we were building an arbor for them and the construction was going great, but the fruit got shipped sooner than we had anticipated. Jacob is working on a how-to-build an arbor that I will let him post about.

Much of the last 3 weeks has been outside prep work, getting fruit into the ground before it starts to grow. Now this year I will trim all of the flowers from the fruit. I have already done so with the blueberries. Every site I have found says if you let the fruit plants concern itself with growing it's first year, your following harvests will be more plentiful. I think because the first year the plant spends all it's time growing roots and strength instead of fruit. It will be really difficult to wait another year for any fruit harvest, but I am told it is worth it.

Weather and Eggs

Strange weather has been happening lately. We got 3" of snow this morning, but heavy winds, thunder, lightning and hail have also been present. It is shaping up to be a wild spring again this year. Ahh, how I long for a sense of normalcy. I am kind of glad though about the weather as it is keeping me in doors. I think if it were nice outside I would be very tempted to do work in the garden. I however can't because of my injured shoulder, still it doesn't stop me from wishing.

Weather problems aside our chickens are doing splendidly! I did an egg tally because I haven't done one yet. Since our girls started laying the day after Christmas we have received 198 eggs.

December/January 59
February 66
March 73

That is 16.5 dozen! I have 3 full dozen in the fridge, I need to hit up the neighbors and see if they want any. As the light shifts we are getting pretty consistently 3 eggs a day at the very least 2 eggs. I told those girls to start churning out the eggs and they have delivered!

Earth Hour 2009

Well yet again we were the only ones on our block that participated in Earth Hour. Ok I take that back the house next to us is dark... but that's because it's for sale and has been dark since December. We started late this year too, at 8:55 Jacob and I went downstairs to the breaker room and flipped the main to the house. *Boom* quiet. I find it amazing just how much noise is in the house that we ignore. Like the fridge, freezer, furnace, water heater etc... all make a quiet humming noise, but when that is shut down everything becomes quiet. We shut down it all, everything, not just all the lights but everything. When we get done with Earth Hour we have to reprogram our clocks. We couldn't turn on a light in the house, even though walking into a room and attempting it gets pretty funny it is amazing how habitual we are.

I follow a blog that brought to my attention some of the hypocrisies of Earth Hour participants. I will admit our first year of doing Earth Hour I am guilty of this. Lighting candles. But what kind of candles. Most candles are made with paraffin a petroleum product. See previous post about the yucky side of candles. So we changed our tactic and spent the money on beeswax candles. This year we were 99.99% petroleum free, (we used a lighter to light the candles.)

We ended up doing the dishes, brushing our teeth, getting generally ready for bed, stretching, gabbing, finally we went downstairs and turned back on the main breaker to the house.

Our experience was a good one, mostly a quiet vote for the Earth. But a blog I have recently begun to follow called Eco Yogini had a much different view of Earth Hour. She went down to the "show" that was being put on, like a big new years eve party countdown and all. Saddened by the lack of "eco" thought that went into the party, she went home. I know her post is long, but it is very worth it, she makes some wonderful observances.

Glass Milk Bottle

I was at our local organic store on Friday and was absolutely wowed! Glass milk bottles, seriously? Yep! This company Straus Family Creamery sells there milk in glass re-usable bottles. Here's the scoop, you purchase the 1/2 gallon of milk and then pay a $1.50 deposit fee for the glass bottle. When you're done with the milk, simply return it to where ever you bought it and receive your $1.50 refund. The grocery store then ships the bottle back to the creamery to be sanitized and re-used.

Each bottle just has a logo on it, not "type" of milk like whole, nonfat, 2%, that can be found on the lid. Which means any jar can be used for any type of milk.

I so love this idea! I am at odds however with the amount of fuel it takes to get the milk bottle back. But at least it is something, most people don't recycle, but if they were forced to (in order to get that 1.50 back) wouldn't it be worth the cost in gas? I recycle everything I can, we don't have a pick up facility it is strictly drop off only. So most people around here are not bothered to recycle. But returning the milk bottles to the grocery store you purchased them at seems a reasonable opportunity for everyone to participate in reusing.

I made some cheese with this milk and some local raw milk. I have to let it age before I try it out, but it looks delicious!

Sugar in our Salt?!?!

So it's finally time for me (Jake/Jacob/The Amazing Husband) to finally post. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm lazy. But come-on now, Jen does such a WONDERFUL job, how can I ever compare? ;-) That's a good cop-out right? Anyways, on with the story....

Jen bought salt the other day for bread making from Safeway. Seems innocent enough right? Well, I guess not. As you can see from the pictured label, the "salt" has 5 ingredients. Since when does salt have 5 ingredients? Man, it seems like every time I turn around, ingredient lists have more and more and more and more items. Well, I had to investigate what the hell those other 4 seemingly unnecessary ingredients are for.


First off, Dextrose? Huh? What's sugar doing in my salt? Well....(1.5 hours of internet research later)... and I as far as I can tell, Dextrose is used to stabilize the potassium iodide. The potassium iodide will evaporate out of the salt over time and that is the added ingredient that is actually helpful to the human body. But I couldn't find any information on how long it takes for potassium iodide to evaporate out of the salt. So is the dextrose truly necessary if you go through your salt in a reasonable amount of time? I don't know.

That leads to another ingredient in salt, potassium iodide. This ingredient is necessary for the human body in very small amounts to avoid goiters. A goiter is an enlarged thyroid gland. If you have a strong stomach, you can look up goiter in Google and see images. The pictures are enough to realize that potassium iodide in salt is perfectly okay with me!

Next up, sodium silicoaluminate. This is an anti-caking agent. Hmmm.... okay. I couldn't find anything incriminating for that one.

And finally, sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda). This is another potassium iodide stabilizer.

So with all that, here are some of my concerns and questions:

1. Dextrose is made from corn most of the time. So the big issue with this for me is GMO (genetically modified organism). I 110% have a problem putting anything into my body that has been genetically modified to tolerate being slathered in Roundup. If you don't know how scary GMO truly is, watch the video "The World According to Monsanto" and if you not scared, you should be!!!!
2. How unstable is potassium iodide? Days, weeks, years? So if you used it in a reasonable time, would we still get the benefit of the potassium iodide without the added stabilizers?
3. How are these additives processed themselves?
4. What is done to salt to get it perfectly white?

I'm sure I'll have more questions later.

So this is what we did. We went to our local awesome organics store Huckleberrys in Spokane and got Real Salt from the bulk foods section. It has a strange pink tint to it. Not only did we save packaging by bringing our own container but we are also getting a much better product that is much less processed. Here's what Real Salt's website says:

Compared to RealSalt brand salt, regular “table salts” and also many sea salts appear stark white because they have undergone harsh bleaching and refining. By contrast, RealSalt is extracted from deep within the earth, crushed, screened, and packaged without any bleaching or refining. RealSalt’s unique “pinkish” appearance and flecks of color come from more than 50 natural trace minerals, including iodine.

RealSalt’s incredible taste is truly unique and something only Mother Nature could create. We bring RealSalt to you in its natural state, without additives or chemicals of any kind.

For Real Salt's website, click here.

So this is what we'll be using for now until something/someone convinces me otherwise.

Peace In!!!

Birds helping Birds

I have Buff Orpingtons and many bird houses on the side of my house. This is what I noticed today. Think spring!

Beans Beans Galore

So I have never been lead astray before by the glorious website Pick your own. I used plenty of the recipes for last years canning. So now that I have my lovely kitchen scale I decided it is time to can some beans. The measurement for beans is in weight not cups so I couldn't can until I got the scale.

Well the canning dried beans link from pick your own says that roughly 9 pounds of "dried" beans will yield 9 pints of finished canned beans. WRONG! Maybe if it was 9 pounds of rehydrated beans. So this is what happened I measured out beans and got them soaking per the directions on the website. It became very clear and if I would have really thought it out, it would have been obvious I am going to end up with WAY more than 9 pints.

Heres the starting measurements (dried):

3 Lbs. Kidney beans
8 Lbs. 14 Oz. Great Northern White beans
7 Lbs. Black beans

At this point I was expecting equal parts of each of those numbers in pint sized jars. Meaning 3 jars of kidney, 9 jars of white, and 7 jars of black. That didn't happen.

Upon further research it turns out roughly (depending on the bean) 1 pound of dried beans after all is said and done will yield you 3 pint sized jars.

So I soaked, boiled, then pressure canned my stupid amounts of beans. I will be sharing this with my parents and really getting good at putting beans in everything! It is a good thing they last about a year because I am going to need that long to use them all.

Final count: in pint sized jars

11 Kidney
30 G.N. White
24 Black

65 pint sized jars, well guess what's for dinner?

Homemade Yogurt

This is so easy it's kinda stupid! I have been making my own yogurt for about 2 months now and it just occurred to me post about it. Jacob and I did some basic figuring about the cost effectiveness of making your own yogurt. Here is the simplified version.

1 Gal of milk (safeway organic) $6

1 less than quart of safeway organic yogurt $7

4 full quarts of yogurt per gallon of milk makes each yogurt quart $1.50 each

$7 if they make it OR $1.50 if I do.

Now that is the simplified version, we went into how much each yogurt (starter package) plus the yogotherm (see link below) would set back each quart of yogurt and it still came out to be ridiculously cheeper to make it ourselves. Ok enough blabber... here we go.

Ingredients and Tools:

1 quart of milk (any kind)
2 Tbl. Dry milk powder ( optional, makes for thicker yogurt)
1Tbl. thickener like pectin or gelatin ( optional )
1 packet yogurt starter Or 2 Tbl. yogurt with live cultures
Big sauce pan make sure you have stirring room, so 2 quart or bigger pan
plastic or stainless steal spoon
Yogotherm or equivalent if your handy (see below)

Ok so heres the rub I use milk, dry milk powder, and I have only used 1 yogurt starter... the rest if the time I have used 2 Tbl. of yogurt left over from the previous batch. If you don't have or want to purchase yogurt starter you can just go to the store and buy a new yogurt and use 2 Tbl from it to start your yogurt. It really is extremely easy!!!

1. Heat milk and optional thickeners, mixed well to 180* stir often so the milk doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. I have found it is slow going until the milk gets to 160* then it leaps to 180* very quickly. Keep an eye on it and don't boil it, if you do... get new milk and optional thickeners.


2. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool to 116*


3. At 116* add the starter packet or the saved from last time yogurt ( I promise this does work ). Mix well and place in the Yogotherm for at least 6 hours or until desired consistency. I leave mine overnight.


Ok let me explain what the Yogotherm is. The inside is a plastic container roughly the size of a large cottage cheese container, with separate lid and all. The outside is a plastic lid and bottom fitted with styrofoam. About 2 inches on all sides even the lid. You could probably make something like this with a plastic container for the inside and a cheep grocery store "beer cooler." And it wouldn't be as expensive. Now don't get me wrong the Yogotherm is really not expensive be cause it isn't an electrical device like a lot of "yogurt makers". This baby doesn't plug in, it relies on the styrofoam to keep the yogurt at the correct temperature. The whole thing is $40 and I purchased mine from CheeseMaking.com.



The advantage to the yogotherm is even temperature control. With a homemade device you might have weird or different experiences. I love this little guy and think it was totally worth it!

Yikes cold front

I think our Bee isn't broody anymore but she is still torn about leaving the coop. She likes to stay right inside the door just thinking about leaving. The other two girls have to muscle her outta the way so they can leave because they have no such compulsions. Poor thing. At least she isn't as grouchy pants, it was funny the "gobble gobble" sound she would make when I reached under her. Easy humor, what can I say.... I don't get out much.

We are experiencing an extreme cold dip. Right now the temp is 3*! Windchill -8! Our normal lows right now are in the 30's, it's a good thing we got about an inch of snow a few days ago to add as an extra mulch to the poor tulips and crocus that are trying to "think spring." I checked on my garlic and they are safe and snug under all that hay and shredded paper. Which is a good thing, I need that garlic! Braids and Braids of it!

Not much else is going on around "the farm" as we call it. It's funny how now that we have chickens we live on a farm.... ah weird city foke. All the real farmers are going...WHAT?!?!

Stay warm!

Broody Hen

So Bee, as she has come to be known is broody. I laugh every time I go out to collect eggs from our one nest box. She has been revving up to it for the past few days now. I could collect the eggs and she would then leave the nest and behave like a normal chicken. But today that changed, apparently the "instinct" has set in and she is in it for the long haul. Not sure how long that is going to be but at least it is cause for humor. I have thought about contacting Lucky a farmer friend to see if he has any real fertilized eggs she can hatch, because none of her's will!

Bee almost gobbles at me every time I stick my hand under her to feel for eggs. She looks at me with those accusing eyes of her. How dare I steal her eggs! HA HA HA, it really is funny. Maybe tomorrow I will get a video of it so everyone can make fun of my sense of humor.

The other two hens dumb and dumber or really White Back and Burned Nose (come on all three are the same breed it's hard to tell them apart) aren't sure what to do with themselves. They get all the good stuff now, no fighting over the oatmeal or the scratch *insert evil laugh* Those two are running the joint now because the Queen Bee is out of action at the moment. There may be an uprising or a Monarchy change while Bee is occupied who knows!

Made From Scratch

I came across this blog while searching random green things called Cold Antler Farm. A wonderful blog about a woman my age and homesteading. This gal Jenna had written a book called Made From Scratch, so I picked it up at the library. A lovely book about her adventure into becoming a self sufficient woman.

Mostly her ups and downs about the reality of farm life. The chapter that really struck me was about the rabbits. She has to go through a tough experience putting down one of the rabbits. Truly eye opening because most of the books and magazines gloss over the reality of farm life. Like, what happens if your neighbors dog gets into your yard and starts a massacre of your free range chickens? Or your rabbit breaks its back and needs to be killed quickly?

Gardening, sled dogs (or pack dogs), and cooking are all topics she discusses. Made From Scratch, also goes into antiquing. Everything was made better back then right? Well why not go purchase it then, plus your buying something with history and supporting local businesses. I already garage sale, thrift and antique shop, but what a lovely way to get that idea out there to the general public. A great book, not very long it was was a rather quick read for me.

Oh, and Made From Scratch won the Books for a Better Life award under the green category.

I have many of those books on my to read list, if you scroll further down the page too all the finalist books are listed as well. So many great reads.... now if I just had more time.

Garden Yikes!

I think I had stars in my eyes when thinking about this garden. I am pretty sure I thought, that an 80 x 35 foot garden would be easy to plan and get ready. Well as this major snow has melted we've been discussing some MAJOR oversights in the garden design. Namely, water. How are we going to water this thing? By hand, every morning at 4 am before it reaches 100* by 10 am? Or at 9 pm by hand giving a pint of blood to the mosquitoes every night?

Secondly weeds! I like the square foot gardening method. Which is similar to what we wanted to do, only our garden is laid out in mounds. Ok so the sides of those mounds of soil is.... well bare soil = weed city! With Jacob just out of surgery and 2 more scheduled for this year this is starting to sound like disaster. Now don't get me wrong I'm not giving up on getting my hands dirty this spring. I ordered almost $200 worth of fruit, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and grapes! All of these guys get some priority time! We still have to build an arbor for the grape vines and get 2 plastic barrels to cut in half for the blueberry containers. There is so much work to do around here it's kinda stupid. Along with the re-designing of the bed layout and the major water oversight we have some serious planning and brainstorming to do.

We kinda ran out of time last fall, mostly because of canning season which there will be less of this year. I really can't wait until all the snow is gone. It will be nice to see the garden... even if it's just mud.

Tortillas

So for Christmas this year I got a tortilla kit. The kit is really unnecessary for flour tortillas. For corn tortillas you must use a press, but flour you roll out. The list of tools is as follows: Flat round 12" or bigger pan, (preferably cast iron) a rolling pin, measuring cups and ingredients.

Flour Tortilla Recipe
2 3/4 C. Flour (I use white flour, but I am going to start incorporating whole wheat flour, just too see.)
5 Tbl. Butter, I used olive oil and they came out fine
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 C. warm tap water

I mix all these together with my hands. Sometimes I need to add more flour or water. The dough should be held together but slightly tacky light bread dough.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead it for 5-10 minutes. Cover and let it rest while you clean up and get the pan, rolling pin set up. Warm the pan up to a medium heat. The tortillas don't cook long and it helps if the pan is already warm. Divide the dough into 12+ pieces. I found I can get around 15-17 tortillas but I like mine a bit thinner. Round out each divided piece into a little ball.

This is the tortilla press, I use it when making flour tortillas but it isn't necessary. Using this if have one or can get one is pretty simple ( but the dough sticks to the metal so I use parchment paper to avoid a sticky mess.)

You really don't need this though, just take a dough ball smash it sorta flat with your hand on a floured surface and begin the rolling process.


A once round ball, smash it with the palm of your hand so it is easier to begin rolling out. I still have to roll out the tortilla even with the press. Because flour tortilla dough is so elastic it must be worked to force it to retain shape.

The smashed result. Then I take this flat (round until I start rolling out) little guy and stick it on a floured surface.

A word about the floured surface. Make sure there is enough flour so that the dough piece can spin in a circle freely. So that the dough rides on a cushion of flour so if you spin it.... the dough will move. This helps when rolling out, rotate the tortilla one quarter with every roll to help keep it in a somewhat round shape. I say "somewhat" because this is where practice makes perfect... and I am still very new at this.

Once it's rolled out it's time to go in the warmed pan medium heat works well, but play with it because every stove is different. The tortilla should only cook for about 15-30 seconds per side. Once it starts to get bubbles or large air pockets it is time to flip.
See what I mean about "somewhat" round? It's an art form I am learning... don't give up they taste great even if there square!

*sings* "Tiny bubbles...."

Sometimes the tortillas have tiny brown spots, that's normal. If the pan is too cool or you don't like the tortillas cooked that long, you may not get the brown spots. Either way it makes for a yummy burrito!

The rack of cooling tortillas. I think I got 15 out of this batch.


The whole process for me with clean up is about an hour. I am sure once I get more practice at it, the time will shorten considerably.