Thursday, May 10, 2012
Thankful Thursday
I am thankful to be able to watch the new beginnings of life at my home. It is such a great joy to hear the peeping of our little duckling. He/She is still alone. Today he spent many hours in my pocket. If we are quiet we can hear the peeping from inside the eggs. I have told them to hurry up because Uno is waiting to snuggle with them. He/She is waiting.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Up until Wednesday
On Sunday I made clabbered milk
I placed ½ gallon milk out with only a paper towel over it. I secured the paper towel with a rubber band. On Monday I had clabbered milk. I froze the mixture in ice cube trays for mesophilic starter. 1 cube equals 1 oz. of starter. I can’t wait to try it out on hard cheeses.
I went to see my Sister in Law from Chandler. We had lunch/dinner. Then we went through her craft room. She is not crocheting as much as I do. She also watches the hoarders and has decided to get rid of things she no longer uses. I came home with 3 boxes of yarn. I am so excited. This will save me tons of money. Thank you, Thank you.
I also brought the dog kennel back when I went home.
On Monday I made yogurt
Place 1 gallon milk in crockpot turn on low for 2 ½ hrs. (mine took 3) until temp is 180
Unplug crockpot for 2 hrs. until temp is 110
Add 1 cup yogurt with live cultures
Wrap whole crockpot, base and all with a large beach towel
Put in oven with only light on, leave in for 8 hrs.
I froze mine in ice cube trays and put remainder in easy serving cups
I ended up with enough yogurts for 4 Thermophilic starters (I plan on using frozen cubes for next time)7 cubes equals 1 cup yogurt.
And 12 cups to eat later
Of course this is after I ate some. I couldn’t resist.
On Tuesday I made mozzarella
Place 1 gallon milk in stainless steel pot, add ½ cup lemon juice, heat slowly to 90
Remove pot from burner and slowly stir in 1/4 tab rennet diluted in 1/4 cup coold water
Cover and leave for 5min
Cut curd in 1 inch squares
Put pot back onto heat and heat slowly until 110 stirring slowly
Take off burner and continue to stir slowly for 2-5 min
Transfer curd to glass bowl with slotted spoon
Press whey out with hand until curd gets cold
Place into microwave for 1 min press and fold cheese draining whey out until cold
Place into microwave for 30min press and fold cheese draining whey out until cold
Press into a ball place cheese into cold salted (non-iodized) ice water
I served mine to my oldest with wheat thins.
Tuesday night an egg hatched from the homemade incubator. I named him/ her Uno.
Isn’t the duckling darling.
On Wednesday I made laundry soap
Long ago my sister from the north taught me how to make this laundry soap.
Fill a pot with 1 gallon water heat on stove while shredding zote soap with cheese grater. Stir to dissolve.
Fill a 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons water. Add 2 cups borax and 2 cups washing soda
After water soap becomes liquid add that to 5 gallon bucket. Stir and cover until the next day
Soap will become a gel. Pour into user friendly containers. I use gallon sized vinegar bottles.
You can use as much or as little as you like. I use ½ cup in my new washer. I was worried because it wasn’t High Efficiency soap. It works great.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
This Week
This week very busy and not busy at the same time
On Saturday and Sunday
We sold our goat kids. Craigslist went great. They went in pairs to two separate families. One family brought their dog kennel. I can not tell you how useful a wire kennel is for the homesteader. We have used ours to move every animal on our homestead. From chickens and ducks to pigs and goats. And of coarse dogs too. My husband's sister borrowed ours in November and we have not gotten it back yet. Busy. The other family brought nothing. They took the goats in the front of their 2 seater truck. Funny. We brought Abby home in the cab of our truck too.
We had to purchase a new washer and dryer. Our washer was breaking. My husband had to jimmie rig it to make it go. Last Friday my oldest dried a pen and it ruined the dryer. Besides the store was having a sale that we couldn't pass up. I figured our old set would give out any day now and the sale would be over.
On Monday
I filed in for a coworker who could not work. The Manager / Lead on call called me on Sunday night to ask if I could start at 7am. I said sure. He apologized for calling me after 10:30pm. I only assume that is when my coworker called him. Which was good, because they have a 2 hr policy. Meaning you must call 2 hrs before your shift to call off. She could have waited until 5am. I would not have answered my phone. Sleeping. We have 2 people in our department who repeatedly call off, or leave early. I am surprised that they still have a job. This just makes in less fun for those of us that do show up on a regular basis and work the whole shift through. We got a delivery of new Polo shirts. Our company was honnored as Best of Heart for our city. Big thing.
On Tuesday
I started to MILK THE GOATS again. Well only the Mammas. We sold all the babies this past weekend. I am only milking once a day because of my schedule. Together they are giving around 10 cups each day. I have made basic chevre and am attempting to clabber the milk. Homemade buttermilk, kind of. I am trying to make my own
I also went to my oldest's parent teacher conference. He is not doing so well. I am unable to help him at this age. Other than nagging and making sure he is up to get there. He has a mind set that he is in control. Which by his marks he is struggling. My oldest goes to an alternative, computer based, night school. Work at your own pace. Apparently he is going at a snails rate. In the past he chose to not participate. Sometimes even not showing up. He is very far behind. He will be 18 in September and has approximately 2 more years to go as far as credits are concerned. This is because of all his, should we say, extra curricular activities. When someone says that you think church, sports, clubs. Oh no I refer to this as girlfriends and buddies. When you go to the park to hang out and smoke you miss a lot. Oh no mom I'm not smoking. Yeah right. I am almost sure he will not get a diploma.
On Wednesday
I began to work on my mother's project. She needed some head bands made out of towels. Her head sweats and these absorb them. To make a towel head band. You take a hand towel and cut it in half. Sew those halves together to make a tube. Add elastic and wala a towel head band. But when my husband delivered them they were to small. I must have a much smaller head. Because I did try it on as I created it and I had growing room. Does your head grow when you are an adult? I will take the elastic out and replace with a bigger piece next week.
On Thursday
My husbands manager came to the house to deliver a barrel of chemicals. They go through a lot of this particular product. If you buy it in bulk it is cheaper. Up until now the company hasn't had anywhere to store it for our district. Why not on our homestead? I just hope we get to keep the barrel when it is empty. You can never have enough watering troughs for the animals. But my luck says it will need to be returned for a core charge. Anyway I made sure to have a display of cookies and muffins to go with teas and coffees. They didn't even come inside. Oh well.
On Friday
Pay day Friday. Run here, Run there, Run everywhere. I did stop at the Humane Society thrift store. It is an old house that they display items people have donated to sell. A great find. I found 2 gallon jars with lids for only 50 cents each. Yes with lids. I have a problem keeping lids. It is like the sock monster. You know the one, who every once and a while eats just one sock.
On Saturday
My youngest has a school project due on Monday. We wont go into how long he has known about this project. He needed to create a catapult. Not just any catapult but and exact model of the print out. My husband took him to the store for all the supplies. Now what would we do if we had no money? Would he fail this assignment? I am sure someone had trouble with the money aspect. Anyway he constructed it and then they played. He is very proud. He even said I could post it on my blog.
We began constructing our second chicken coop. The hens are getting too big for the chicken tractor. It should have gotten done a long time ago. Busy again. We got 2 poles in the ground and then my husband told us we needed to go get cleaned up. We needed to be somewhere by 7.
He took us to see the Avengers. I had a very nice time. No one kicking the seat. No screaming or talking children. Just enough popcorn and soda. The movie was very good. Remember to wait for the ending or the beginning of the next movie. I think everyone forgets that. mesophilic starter in hopes of making cheddar cheese. Each recipe calls for 4Tbsp. This is so fun. Next week we will try to make the cheese. Unfortunately you have to wait for Cheddar to age. But you know what they say about those that wait.
We sold our goat kids. Craigslist went great. They went in pairs to two separate families. One family brought their dog kennel. I can not tell you how useful a wire kennel is for the homesteader. We have used ours to move every animal on our homestead. From chickens and ducks to pigs and goats. And of coarse dogs too. My husband's sister borrowed ours in November and we have not gotten it back yet. Busy. The other family brought nothing. They took the goats in the front of their 2 seater truck. Funny. We brought Abby home in the cab of our truck too.
We had to purchase a new washer and dryer. Our washer was breaking. My husband had to jimmie rig it to make it go. Last Friday my oldest dried a pen and it ruined the dryer. Besides the store was having a sale that we couldn't pass up. I figured our old set would give out any day now and the sale would be over.
On Monday
I filed in for a coworker who could not work. The Manager / Lead on call called me on Sunday night to ask if I could start at 7am. I said sure. He apologized for calling me after 10:30pm. I only assume that is when my coworker called him. Which was good, because they have a 2 hr policy. Meaning you must call 2 hrs before your shift to call off. She could have waited until 5am. I would not have answered my phone. Sleeping. We have 2 people in our department who repeatedly call off, or leave early. I am surprised that they still have a job. This just makes in less fun for those of us that do show up on a regular basis and work the whole shift through. We got a delivery of new Polo shirts. Our company was honnored as Best of Heart for our city. Big thing.
I started to MILK THE GOATS again. Well only the Mammas. We sold all the babies this past weekend. I am only milking once a day because of my schedule. Together they are giving around 10 cups each day. I have made basic chevre and am attempting to clabber the milk. Homemade buttermilk, kind of. I am trying to make my own
I also went to my oldest's parent teacher conference. He is not doing so well. I am unable to help him at this age. Other than nagging and making sure he is up to get there. He has a mind set that he is in control. Which by his marks he is struggling. My oldest goes to an alternative, computer based, night school. Work at your own pace. Apparently he is going at a snails rate. In the past he chose to not participate. Sometimes even not showing up. He is very far behind. He will be 18 in September and has approximately 2 more years to go as far as credits are concerned. This is because of all his, should we say, extra curricular activities. When someone says that you think church, sports, clubs. Oh no I refer to this as girlfriends and buddies. When you go to the park to hang out and smoke you miss a lot. Oh no mom I'm not smoking. Yeah right. I am almost sure he will not get a diploma.
I began to work on my mother's project. She needed some head bands made out of towels. Her head sweats and these absorb them. To make a towel head band. You take a hand towel and cut it in half. Sew those halves together to make a tube. Add elastic and wala a towel head band. But when my husband delivered them they were to small. I must have a much smaller head. Because I did try it on as I created it and I had growing room. Does your head grow when you are an adult? I will take the elastic out and replace with a bigger piece next week.
On Thursday
My husbands manager came to the house to deliver a barrel of chemicals. They go through a lot of this particular product. If you buy it in bulk it is cheaper. Up until now the company hasn't had anywhere to store it for our district. Why not on our homestead? I just hope we get to keep the barrel when it is empty. You can never have enough watering troughs for the animals. But my luck says it will need to be returned for a core charge. Anyway I made sure to have a display of cookies and muffins to go with teas and coffees. They didn't even come inside. Oh well.
On Friday
Pay day Friday. Run here, Run there, Run everywhere. I did stop at the Humane Society thrift store. It is an old house that they display items people have donated to sell. A great find. I found 2 gallon jars with lids for only 50 cents each. Yes with lids. I have a problem keeping lids. It is like the sock monster. You know the one, who every once and a while eats just one sock.
My youngest has a school project due on Monday. We wont go into how long he has known about this project. He needed to create a catapult. Not just any catapult but and exact model of the print out. My husband took him to the store for all the supplies. Now what would we do if we had no money? Would he fail this assignment? I am sure someone had trouble with the money aspect. Anyway he constructed it and then they played. He is very proud. He even said I could post it on my blog.
We began constructing our second chicken coop. The hens are getting too big for the chicken tractor. It should have gotten done a long time ago. Busy again. We got 2 poles in the ground and then my husband told us we needed to go get cleaned up. We needed to be somewhere by 7.
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