Jan. Farm/Homesteading Chat Thread

[okiemama]

Fried chicken with mashes potatoes and gravy.

Beef n noodles

Chicken fried chicken steak

Chilli

He also loves my sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie (both made from actual sweet potatoes and pumpkins of course)

[ctj101502]

hi all, . not as deep into homesteading as the . rest . off you, but hoor to get there. we only . have 3 acres so a nice sizes garden is planned this spring along with our couple dozen hens. I canned for the first time this fall by myself and that was about of trial and e error but fun. now we are eating Apple stuff from my efforts in the fall.

ugh got a kindle for and am horrible at typos

[raisingcropsandbabies]

Originally Posted by okiemama Fried chicken with mashes potatoes and gravy. Beef n noodles *+ Chicken fried chicken steak Chilli He also loves my sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie (both made from actual sweet potatoes and pumpkins of course)

Oooo, I haven't made Chicken Fried Steak in a long time!!! That one is going on my menu for this month! DH will be thrilled (I used Pioneer Woman's recipe last time).

-Funny side note about winter and cows. The herd of cows by our house spend their day licking the salt off our vans... I forget this every year and I walked out to the van the other day and was staring at the doors and windows thinking, "Why does it look like lick marks???". Then a cow walks around from the other side of the van and lightbulb moment. haha. I love going to town with our vehicles tongue streaked...

Time to get back to the kids. Still need to do Captain Obvious' schooling today... I should not be counting down the hours until bedtime when it's only 2pm. I just want to watch Downton Abbey and sew.

[aiyana4969]

wow, lots of new people, love it!

missc, my mom does take care of the kids a lot. usually I end up doing them off at 5:30am a and hubs picks them up after work or after he wakes if he's had a mid shift. but it's still a minimum of 6hrs a day and days off he has them for nearly 15 (I'm at work for 12.5hrs and its an hour drive each way.
DH has been telling me for 10years that my being at home is the best for the family, he leery me work because I really needed to get out and feel useful. idk, I guess I'll meditate/think/pray on it some more. the decision has to come from me and be what I want for DH to be ok with it even tho he doesn't like me working. does that make any sense at all, or are we just really weird?
oh and my mom taking care of the kids is a source of contention between us as it is because DH can't stand my mother, the fact she does in the house, or how the kids act when they get back from being spoiled at "Giggi`s". my mother however loves the time with them (and in her mind being there hero for helping out, plus we have the same job art the same place so she credits herself with getting more the position and adding a super CAN to the ER team). outside of our little family unit there's always so much drama

[missc]

I didn't want to multiquote everyone, so here goes and I bet I forget half or more of what I was going to say!
Macy, welcome! 1/2 acre or 100s, I really think homesteading is a state of mind! My husband and I just moved out of a subdivision and onto our property (we built a house this past year). I don't miss it, but would if our good friends who lived next door hadn't moved just before we did.
RCB, I don't know how you managed to grow peppers! My peppers have never turned out well, but my last garden was in a low area. I have high hopes for this year! T would love an entire gardenful of peppers. I do enjoy homeschooling, although it took me until November to "channel my inner kindergarten teacher" and put up sight words, the alphabet, and numbers on my kitchen cabinets (we homeschool in the kitchen). And I have to ask - because I've never made homemade noodles - but what do you do with the mixture once you mix it together? How do you form/make the noodles? Do you bake them? Beef and noodles sounds like something that my family would totally be up for.
Amanda, I have wanted bees, but T is not quite as sure. RCB, I love bartering like that. Our neighbors have asked if they can tap our trees for maple syrup this year, and we said yes, as long as the girls can help in their 'sugar shack' some. And they keep us in ready supply of maple syrup and it ROCKs! I would love raw honey though!
And oh my goodness, I don't have lick marks, but I definitely have the dirtiest cars at work - with turkey feet prints!
And Amanda, T and I talked pretty extensively about me working the Saturdays...but he wouldn't make the decision for me although I would have respected him if he had. I think he wanted to be able to watch the kids while I worked, you know? And to give me that time and be able to say he could do it... I don't think you guys are weird at all , and will pray and think of you guys as you make this decision.
AFM, I'm home now . Work was/is fairly stressful right now, but I'm thankful to be home on the farm! The puppy is settling down, thank goodness, and we found a stash of 8 duck eggs yesterday. I took 8 dozen eggs into work today (I sell them at work) that we gathered over the holidays. It's nice to get that out of the fridge!

[millermom1110]

Well...my hubby isn't much of a country boy, though he does drive around a big old rusty Ford pick-up. LOL he just goes along with my crazy homesteading ideas. His favorite food is anything fried and/or pizza. We rarely eat out and so it's mostly homemade pizza...whole wheat crust is my stipulation. :P

I was wondering if any of you ladies have tried winter sowing your seeds? I stumbled upon this idea in a gardening ebook and it sounds awesome... Very frugal, too.

[dublinup]

RCB-As usual, we are mirroring. I got snuggled down on the couch the other night. Then realized my mom's house had no heat since she was out of town and obviously there was no woodstove going. It has been hovering around zero here. I had to peel myself off the couch to go over and get some heat going so her pipes didn't freeze.

I quit milking my cow the week of Christmas, since I expected my new lady to move in that week. Turned out my new cow wasn't bred, so she stayed at the dairy for the next round of AI. I feel pretty lucky to not be out milking in single digit weather. Lucky me.

[aiyana4969]

Originally Posted by dublinup RCB-As usual, we are mirroring. I got snuggled down on the couch the other night. Then realized my mom's house had no heat since she was out of town and obviously there was no woodstove going. It has been hovering around zero here. I had to peel myself off the couch to go over and get some heat going so her pipes didn't freeze. I quit milking my cow the week of Christmas, since I expected my new lady to move in that week. Turned out my new cow wasn't bred, so she stayed at the dairy for the next round of AI. I feel pretty lucky to not be out milking in single digit weather. Lucky me.

the only time I haven't missed my goats is the past week with single digit temperatures and 3get off snow. but then again I do actually still miss them and if ODD hadn't been allergic I'd just milk them in the basement this week (we have a walk out basement and my milk stand was right outside the basement for to begin with).
raw honey has worked well for my allergies and for the two with asthma and allergies, think it's help for goat allergies? yeah, I doubt it too.

[raisingcropsandbabies]

Hi All you Wonderful Ladies! What's going on this week? Discussion: I thought it'd be fun to share what books you read that really inspired you to become homesteaders/farmers (either fiction or non)? Is this a life you dreamed of living since you were young?

AFM: As a kid, I was obsessed with pioneers and their spirit. Lots of prairie dress up! haha. I read Christy (which I still reread every year), Little House on the Prairie, and everything Janette Oke as a young teen, which just fed my love of homesteading/backwoods/farming. At 12 yrs. old I said I was going to marry a farmer. There was a book called Pioneer Women that intrigued me... so many stories of survival and that "make do/can do" attitude. Those are the books that really stuck out to me when trying to remember. What books inspired you all?

Today is Captain Obvious' pediatric chiropractor appt. so we will be gone much of the day (it's quite a journey to get there). I have a freezer meal set up for supper. As soon as the kids go to bed, it will be time to work out and then I am going to serge 26 mama cloths. I spent last night cutting them all out while watching Downton Abbey (be still my heart!).
DH got out the lard press for me to clean up and oil for Thursday (FINALLY getting around to rendering fat... something came up every week in December and we couldn't do it!). He reconditioned the cauldron and a friend is dropping off firewood on Tuesday.
DH needs to figure out what date we are butchering one of our cows so I can get supplies ready for that. We usually butcher in January and so I better get on that! The first year I helped I snapped pictures of some of the process. I finally learned how to post pics on diaperswappers, so if anyone is interested; let me know.
Nothing too new on the farm other than the same old chores.

Amanda-have you decided on what you are going to do about work?
Missc-You are going to make me jealous with that maple syrup barter!!! haha.
- For the noodles: mix dry ingredients, make a well and dump in eggs. Mix it up. Knead it a bit until it's better combined. Roll out on a VERY floured surface until very thin (you may have to add more flour as you go). Then use a pizza cutter to cut into thin strips, then cut across to make them the size you want (DH likes shorter noodles). SOme people use them right away, but I let mine dry the whole day on racks and towels. when they are dry, you can freeze them or use them. To use: stir into boiling broth/water for 20-25 minutes (just depends) until tender and plump. The earlier posted ingredient recipe is new to me (I used to use Betty Crocker's egg noodle recipe and sometimes did half ww/half white flour, but am switching). The directions for the noodles are all the same though!
Dublinup-Oh my goodness, this is getting crazy! haha.

[raisingcropsandbabies]

Originally Posted by ctj101502 hi all, . not as deep into homesteading as the . rest . off you, but hoor to get there. we only . have 3 acres so a nice sizes garden is planned this spring along with our couple dozen hens. I canned for the first time this fall by myself and that was about of trial and e error but fun. now we are eating Apple stuff from my efforts in the fall. ugh got a kindle for and am horrible at typos

Hi! What is the plan for the garden this year? I'm pretty basic with regular stuff, but like to hear what others are doing.