Nothing goes to waste! Mock Apple Pie; I smell a recipe!

 Good Morning!  Well you may be reading this in the afternoon or evening, but it's morning somewhere!  Anyway, as I write this my "experiment" is still in the process stage.  I'm hopeful though, so I'm writing in anticipation of it's success.  

How many here are familiar with the "Little House" books?  Raise your hand.  

I love the "Little House" books.  Carolyn Ingles was very innovative.  I think folks had to be then if their families provision relied on pretty much what they could grow.  Set backs had to be handled in such a way as to preserve as much as they could, regardless of circumstance.  The best example, I think, for this type of innovation is found in the Little House book "The Long Winter".  The whole book is an example, if you ask me.  I remember reading this with my daughter when she was a child.  In the beginning of the book ( for those few of you not familiar), there is an early freeze coming and so the family has to pick anything left in the garden.  Unfortunately this means the end of their garden for the year.  Carolyn, "Ma", picks everything, and I do mean everything; including some green pumpkins.  She then uses the green pumpkins for that nights dessert as a surprise for Pa.  She cuts up the green pumpkins and makes a mock apple pie, using the diced green pumpkins in place of apples.  

My daughter recently found a volunteer pumpkin plant  growing around the apartment complex she lives in.  Someone had thrown out a Halloween pumpkin last year and it had reseeded.  She picked one green, not knowing it was a pumpkin.  She thought it was another type of squash.  She picked it because it was huge!  Once we determined it was a pumpkin, I reminded her of that Little House story.  She took it to heart and made 3 mock apple pies.  They were a hit at her house.  Pretty sweet to be able to replace the most expensive ingredient in apple pie with something free.  It's also great that it was replaced with a vegetable!  Way to go dear daughter!

This morning I arose to peel a watermelon rind ( from our garden) to make watermelon rind pickles,  Yes this is a thing.  They're sweet like Gherkins or Bread and Butter pickles.  As I started to peel the rind I had an idea for something better than pickles.  Inspired by that Little House story, and my daughters success, I set out to try a mock apple pie with the watermelon rind!  After peeling just one half of the watermelon, I had 12 cups of chopped rind.  If the pie is successful, my plan is to use the rest of the watermelons in the garden (uh once we eat them) to make batches of mock apple pie filling that will be either frozen in quart bags, or canned if I can figure out the process time.  More than likely it will be frozen for use during the coming year.  

UPDATE:  Fast forward about 12 hours and I can say the pie was great!  Thanks Carolyn Ingles, and Dear Daughter!!  

Another part of the watermelon I plan to use is the seeds.  Yes you can eat watermelon seeds.  It won't grow another plant in your stomach.  Lol.  Apparently you can roast any type of squash/melon seeds.  They're supposed to be good for you.  So I've been gathering seeds all summer long, drying them and freezing them until I can do a large batch of roasted seeds.  These seeds will be stored and used in Granola or just for snacking.

So here is the recipe for the pie!

Mock Apple pie

12 cups watermelon rind peeled, diced, and with all residual watermelon fruit removed

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1 TBS Lemon juice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter

Crust for Double crust pie

Cook watermelon in 1 quart of water for 10 min on medium heat.  Don't boil.  Remove from heat and drain.  Pour drained watermelon into a mixing bowl.  Add the Lemon Juice and mix well.  Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then pour over the watermelon.  Toss watermelon to coat well.  Pour into a crust lined deep dish pie pan.  Dot with butter.  Top with second crust.  Seal edges.  Brush crust with milk and sprinkle sugar over the top.  Cover the pie edges with foil.  Bake in a 375 oven for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake 350 for another 25 minutes.  Then VOILA!

Beginning a food pantry from scratch

 Good morning!  

I have been sewing, gardening, preserving like a crazy person.  I've also been cutting grass.  Mowing the lawn these days takes on more of a work out routine due to our riding mower being temporarily out of commission.  In addition, our little push mower, while doing very well, tends to struggle getting thru taller grass; especially when the grass is wet.  These days we are high humidity and heat, so by the time the grass dries out from the nightly dew that falls, it's too hot to be outside.  As a result we've been cutting wet grass in the morning, but only about an hour at a time.  Once we complete the yard, it's time to start over again with what was cut at first.  I'm hoping soon I can get the yard to the point we can cut all at once.  

But lawn mowing isn't my topic at hand.  

This is:

In the long list of things learned from this past 18 months, having food on hand seems to have stuck in everyone's mind.  All the naysayers that laughed and said "I'm coming to your house", are now seeing the wisdom of having food on hand.  Gardening and canning supplies are selling out, as are shelf stable foods.  Even chicks are a sought after commodity.  This is all great to me, don't get me wrong.  I think we all should keep food, first aid, and toiletries on hand "in case".  It doesn't have to be because of a pandemic or other end of the world as we know it situation.  It can be in case of a job lay off, an illness that puts someone out of work, an unexpected large bill or to help out others who may need it.  It also helps save money, because you can buy large amounts of items when they go on sale; at least 6 weeks worth to get to the next time they go on sale.  

So, are you interested in starting a pantry?  Are you wanting to get it sooner rather than later?  Emergencies aren't usually announced until they happen.  I know it seems daunting to try and do it in this climate of higher prices, smaller supplies, and a shared wide spread interest in doing the very same thing.  It can be done!  I know it can be done, because I had to do it this go round.  (sigh)  Yes, I had become complacent.  I had about a 6 week supply on hand mainly because I just happened to have purchased my normal monthly groceries a few days before shut down happened.  It lit a fire in me though, and I've spent the last 18 months getting things back to where they were.  

So if you're interested I will share what are some steps to take to start.

1)  Take inventory of what you have at the moment.  You have a rough guestimation of how long that will last.  I'm trying to resist the urge to tell you to run out and buy pinto beans and rice.  You actually can get them pretty easy right now.  If your family eats a lot of pinto beans and rice type meals, then by all means go for it.  It is a great way to have at least something in the pantry, but if your family won't eat it, well....One of the reasons for an inventory is to make a list of things your family eats NORMALLY.  

2}  If you are limited for space like we are, spending that space and your money on premade mixes, boxed meals or other processed food will limit how much you can store.  Plus cause you to spend more in the long run.  It's best to focus on ingredients and put them together yourself.  It's cheaper, healthier, and takes up less space.

3)  Time for choices here.  Until you get your pantry stocked, you'll need to make a trade of certain things in your grocery list for the ones needed for your pantry.  What are your little splurges?  Might have to switch from soda to tea.  Not a bad switch FYI.  On the flip side of that coin, it may be once you cut out the premade stuff, you find you have a little extra to spend on a splurge or two.  The main point is to make stocking the pantry a priority.  

4)  Okay, unless you have a stockpile of money( Kudos), you will not be able to get everything all at once.  If it makes you feel better, get a large bag of beans and rice so at least your family doesn't starve.  I mean, I don't care how picky an eater you are.  If you're faced with beans or starvation, you'll eat the beans.  So once you have the beans and rice and feel you can take a breath, focus on staples;  Flour, sugar, salt, fats, baking items, canned meats ( or frozen if you have the space), and peanut butter.  It doesn't take much money to grab a few of these in your normal shopping trip.  In fact for $15 ish you can snag some of each of these.  For instance in my area, Walmart has unbleached all purpose flour regularly 1.22 for a 5 lb bag.  It's good flour and a good price.  Grab a few extra each trip and your pantry will grow.  

5)  Watch for sales!  Sales run in cycles.  Thanksgiving to Christmas have the best sales on cooking and baking items.  You can get some really good deals.  When you do, take advantage of them and buy what you can.  Labor day, 4th of July, and Memorial day seasons are great times for anything cookout worthy; meats, condiments, etc.  Easter is great for Hams, and eggs.  Also produce sales will be based on growing seasons.  Strawberries, cold weather vegetables, and grapes are big from say Feb to April.  Corn, tomatoes and peaches are big here in the summer.  Pumpkins, sweet, and white potatoes are great in the fall.  Learn the sale times and price ranges in your area.  It's healthier to eat seasonal anyway.  Buy these fresh items in bulk and learn to can!  Or you can freeze them.  Most veggies will need to be blanched before frozen, but can be frozen.  

6)  Okay, your pantry needs fun stuff!  Now with sugar, salt, flour, fat, and soda you can make a good cookie, but chocolate is the order of the day.  Nothing like chocolate to make your day.  Watch for after Halloween, Christmas, Valentines day, and Easter sales.  I don't care what shape the chocolate is in, it taste the same and bakes the same.  Also, Christmas is a great time to stock up on chocolate chips and nuts.  

7)  Increase your skill level during this time.  It will do you no good to have all these staples on hand and have no idea how to use them.  Even dried beans have a process to cook them.  Learn things like gardening, canning, baking bread, and increasing your cooking skills.  You would be amazed at the number of items we buy at the store that can be made at home.  We've been trained into thinking that's the only way to have them, but it isn't.  You can check out some of my recipe pages and see things like :  Pancake syrup, Chocolate syrup, Taco seasoning mix, Season salt, Ranch dressing, Granola, Granola bars, Ketchup, Sausage, Dog treats, Yogurt, Bread, Bagels, English Muffins, and Crackers.

8)  Take small bites at a time.  In other words, shoot for one month pantry first, then 6 weeks, then 3 months, then 6 months.  Don't try to d it all at once. 

9)  Since you're buying items your family uses anyway, it's important to rotate out your stock.  That means you use the items that will expire the soonest.  For example you will pull flour from the first bags of flour you stored and use that first before you pull from the next bags of flour.  

10)  Few tips:  Freeze your flour, rice, and beans a few days before storing in your pantry.  This will kill off any buggy eggs and such that might be lurking.  I know, gross, but factual.  Storing large amounts of items in a 5 gallon bucket is handy.  Unless you are storing outside in a barn or for multiple years, 5 gallon buckets with tight fitting lids and maybe an O2 absorber are sufficient.  I wouldn't worry about mylar bags and gamma lids.  The lids that come with the buckets are fine, but invest in the handy lid opener for $4 or so.  It's worth it!  Now if your are storing for Armageddon then maybe get the mylar bags.  If you freeze the above items before storing, rotate them out, and are only storing a pantry for say 6 months, then just go with the buckets.  

11)  Okay ,last thing.  Once you get an item to the level you want, then you get to the maintenance phase of pantry storage,  That is, you only replace what has been used that month.  That's great in that now you can replace only when the items is on sale.  You will always get the good deal!  Oh and a side perk, no crazy trips to the store when bad weather is on the way.  You get to stay at home in the nice warm house while everyone else is running to the store for milk, bread, and eggs.  

Not my America

 Sorry guys, while I'm working on some homesteady posts, there are too many things going on right now to not speak up.  This being my only outlet, It has to be here.  Sorry, or "your welcome" depending on how you look at this.  

The past week has shown some pretty scary things.  Things I never in my lifetime thought I would see in the United States.  I feel like I'm living in another country.  Founding Fathers?  What Founding fathers?  In actuality, the past 18 months have had some pretty scary things, and I'm not talking Covid.  Well except this:  In the name of "Public Health" the powers that be have managed to 

1}  Shut down the majority of small businesses.  Yet the large businesses, big business if you will, were allowed to be essential.  Yes, online stores, including mine, saw an up tic in business as people were shut down at home, but brick and mortar stores, restaurants, gyms, etc were closed, many of them never to open their doors again.  How convenient it is to move our economy to a digital platform.  Easier to control things that way I expect.  The powers that be say they aren't printing money so much as "digitizing" the currency.  I guess if our currency is blips on a computer screen, it won't matter what the number is.  Problem is, that hems consumers(citizens) in to the one form of transaction easiest to control.  It will allow every purchase to be tracked, buying patterns to be analyzed, etc.  Good stuff!  

2) Determine what workers can stay employed and what workers can't be employed.  The ultimate hand on the scale.  But hey we'll send you a check in the mail and all will be well.  

3)  Steal private property in the form of the moratorium against evictions.  Instead of just allowing renters to file for assistance and help who needed it; the government actually decided that private land owners couldn't collect rent from their tenants.  While I understand some tenants needed help, not all did.  Even the Supreme court ruled that the Moratorium was unconstitutional and said it had to expire.  Yet the CDC, an unelected body, has allowed it to continue with the current administrations blessing.  These private land owners are not Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.  Many times these are retirees that are using rents to have an income stream during retirement, or small investors.  Many of these owners have mortgages on these properties that still need to be paid.  They have no recourse if the tenants abuse the property, or can pay the rent and are choosing not to because they can't be evicted.  

4)  Determine who gathers, and when.  Church services are bad, protests are good.  At holidays we could gather together with members in our own household, but not too many.  So if you were someone who lived alone, well sucks for you.  I'm thankful we don't live in an apartment complex in New York!  I can only imagine what that was like.  YIKES.   

These were some of the many things that happened over the past 18 months, but not all.  What has me fuming, and concerned are the things happening now.  Every morning brings another stunner.  For example, this morning I read CNN had fired 3 employees who arrived at work unvaccinated.  PHI, Private Health information I guess is no longer a thing; nor is HIPPA or a Patient Bill of Rights.  Fired!  I hope they can find work somewhere that's a little more understanding, not just of their decision, but of basic biology and how vaccines actually function.  There are now, effective September, Vaccine Passports required in New York City.  Nurses, NURSES, and other healthcare workers are being told to get the shot or find another job.  These are people that have cared for Covid patients over the last 18 months, and they didn't have a vaccine when they did!  But now they're being told to take the shot or lose your job.  How many of them probably have natural immunity from already having Covid?  Nobody cares.  If it doesn't further the narrative and enable more control, they don't want to hear it.  We have no long term studies on these vaccines and what they may cause down the line, and yet people are clamoring for young children to get the shot.  Don't get me started on Masking and especially masking young children.  Why are people clamoring for children to get the shot, vaccine passports, firings for non compliance, etc?  Because of the never ending assault of fear mongering coming from the media, social media, and government.  Trust me they're all the same entity.  

SOME FACTS:

1) If you're vaccinated you're protected, and have nothing to worry about.  Well that's if the vaccine works, and if it doesn't, why are they pushing it?  Plus now they're looking at booster shots?

2)  Children rarely have a bad time with Covid, and aren't good carriers of the virus.  While there have been children that died, they all had severe comorbidities and died with covid, not because of it.  The number is very small, around 300 in the entire US.  If you're concerned about the minuet chance you may still get the virus from a child, see fact #1

3) Natural immunity is a real thing.  It is I promise.  In fact studies coming out of both Great Britain and Israel show that natural immunity is stronger, can last a lifetime, and be a better defense against Covid( and it's variants) than the vaccines.

4) The Delta Variant, while more contagious, isn't as lethal.  

5) You can't contain a virus as a general rule.  That's been my main objection to all of this craziness.  It will find a way.  But you really can't contain a virus with an open southern border where people from over 100 countries pour thru, unvaccinated, unmasked, and untested.  So when you're losing your job, your income, your rights "for the protection of others", remember that.  

We, as a country, are being divided; on purpose.  Divided into Liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, Trump supporter (or terrorist depends on who you ask) or Trump Hater, Masked or unmasked, and vaccinated or unvaccinated.  It is believed that Liberal Democrat Trump haters wear their masks (sometimes 2 or 3) and are getting their vaccines.  Conservative Republican Trump supporters don't wear their mask or get a vaccine and go around blowing in old peoples faces.  Just saying.  

Why are we being divided?  Who has benefited from the last 18 months? Ask yourself these questions and really look at the past 18 months.  Is it Big Business, Big Government, Big Pharma, China?  I used to not consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but what do you do when there is so much material to work with?  You ask yourself these questions and look at the last 18 months closely with an objective but critical eye and tell me what you find.  

 

My Body My choice right?

 Or does that only pertain to my wanting to kill my unborn child?  

All the voices that chime in support of a woman's right to choose fall silent when the choice really does concern only her own body.  Cause you see, abortion isn't a choice she makes over her own body, but a choice over the body of the unborn child.  Making the choice to take( or not)vaccines or other medical treatments is a choice over ones own body, and in this case, includes both male and female individuals.  But now we're hearing about vaccine mandates, and mask mandates (again), even for those vaccinated.  In fact the current DOJ has declared that mandating vaccines is legal.  FYI, it isn't his job to declare that, more like the Supreme Court.  But I digress.  

And Ladies, insert the word "abortion" if you're prolife, and "pregnancy" if you're prochoice and see how that rubs you now.  I'll do it for you.

"It's legal to mandate ABORTIONS". How does that sound now for the pro-lifer out there that thinks the government should mandate masks or vaccines; especially vaccines

"It's legal to mandate all pregnancies be carried to term".  How does that sound now for the pro choicer out there who thinks it's fine for the government to mandate masks or vaccines; especially vaccines.  If it helps clarify any more, it's a white man that's saying this so....

IF YOU ARE VACCINATED, YOU HAVE LITTLE TO FEAR FROM AN UNVACCINATED PERSON.  According to the powers that be, your vaccination keeps you from getting, if you do get it at all, a bad version of Covid.  So if you want to "Follow the science", then leave the rest of us alone.  Unvaccinated people are at risk, not you.  

Something to know about us unvaccinated folks:

1)  No we do not think there is a micro chip imbedded in the vaccine.  

2)  Not all of us are conservative leaning.  We didn't get this idea from Republican leaders.  

3)  We do have a brain and think for ourselves.  

4)  We have concerns about vaccines that are

a) being used under emergency authorization

b) being given with no recourse for liability should something happen

c) Is only able to be under emergency use authorization because it was reported there were no treatments for this virus.   We couldn't hear about Ivermectin, Hydroxychloriquine, Regeneron, Zinc, and Vitamin D.  Interesting.

d)  A vaccine being pushed by a government that is also responsible for: Masks don't work to masks work.  Kids can't spread or get a major infection to kids 2 and older need to wear a mask.  6 ft separation to 13 ft to 3 ft to 6 ft again.  Once vaccinated you don't have to wear a mask, but then you do.  Lately it's get vaccinated and you don't have to wear a mask.  That turned to vaccinated people need to continue to wear a mask.  Walmart is okay to shop in, riot/protests are okay to be in, but church is off limits.  Essential workers have to go to work, wear a mask the whole time, but return home to your family in shut down, remove your mask, and go about your day.  Essential workers take your life in your hands to serve the community, but we're going to give extra money on top of unemployment to those unemployed; even when the job market is open again and they refuse to go back to work because they are getting paid more to stay home.  

Ya know all those kind of brilliant things that make us put our full faith and trust in our fearless leaders.

Why would we be resistant to a shot in the arm that can't be undone once done?  At least I know if I get Covid, it will either kill me , or immune me.  So will the vaccine I guess, but at least if I have to fight off Covid, it will be because my immune system did what it was supposed to do and not what it was orchestrated to do by people without the original creators manual.   Plus studies coming out of both Israel and the Cleveland clinic are saying naturally acquired immunity is more durable.  

It all boils down to this.  We have our reasons for not jumping on the vaccination bandwagon; for a virus, I might ad, with a 99% survival rate.  Reasons that are thoughtful, and educated. 

Over the past 18 months I've watched in awe as many of the things I learned being trained in the healthcare field, were ignored.  Common sense has flown the coop to be replaced by political expediency and fear.  People have willingly handed over their rights as citizens of what's supposed to be the free world.  How can I feel comfortable having a permanent procedure done to me and mine when attempts to share or obtain information, to make an informed decision, have been thwarted at every turn.  

To be honest, the more they push the  more I dig in.  

Back off and let us make our own decision.  We know the risks we face.  

Busy with blessings!

 It has a been a crazy few weeks of trying to keep my head above water when it comes to all things homesteady... and Etsy.  

Last year, with the "Rona" making it's landfall and the subsequent shut downs that followed; my little Etsy shop took off.  It went from down 11% to up 48% by the end of the year.  I thought once tings opened up again; things would slow down a bit.  They did for a short while and I was only up slightly over last year.  Then the last three weeks happened and I'm up another 7% year over year.  The extra money, still not enough to be considered a full time income just a side business, has helped make ends meet due to hubby's surgery, recovery, and now cut hours at work.  The cut hours are not because of his recovery, but rather a situation in the company.  

In addition to Etsy taking off, the garden has as well!  I've started to put up tomatoes in the form of sauce.  That's just started so only a few quarts at the moment.  I have, however put up three quarts of fermented salsa, which is AMAZING!  Rubic has been plowing thru it daily.  Needless to say, It's hard to keep on hand.  I'm pretty proud that, aside from the onions, everything else has come from the garden. 

To date I've put up

14 quarts of yellow squash ( final tally).  We actually still had squash from last year, so this is more than enough.

3 quarts of dehydrated squash. (final tally)-  That's equal to about another 9-10 quarts canned

2 ish pints of sweet peas ( first time ever!  Planting more in fall)

3 quarts fermented sauerkraut ( final tally, but planting more green cabbage in the fall)

3 quarts fermented cucumber pickles

6 quarts of tomato sauce ( ongoing).  The tomatoes are just starting to really come in, and in , and in.

5 quarts of tomato juice( ongoing)

3 quarts of fermented salsa (ongoing)- with Jalapenos coming in.

1 half pint of sundried tomatoes with fresh garlic and basil stored in olive oil ( first trial run. Will do more I think

4  pints butternut squash (ongoing).  I had to cook these because I didn't leave enough stem at the end to cure them.  They're in the freezer.

10 butternut squash curing to be stored as is.(ongoing)

1 pound dried navy beans (on going)

1 pound of pinto beans ( and saved some to plant next year) (ongoing).  These were organic Non GMO beans I had bought last year for eating.  I tried my hand at planting a few just to see.  I got a few beans last year and planted them this year.  They provided this pound of dried beans and 95 additional seeds for next year.  Next year will be a good pinto bean year and they will have been free, free!

Countless bulbs of garlic

 

Dehydrated about 4 gallon bags of kale ( final tally, but will plant again in fall).  Saved enough seeds from one plant to start my own commercial Kale farm.  Awesome!

8 pounds of frozen blackberries (ongoing)

4 quarts canned blackberries (ongoing)

19.5 quarts of green beans ( ongoing)

3 gallon bags of corn on the cobb.  ( final tally) We weren't wanting very much corn.  Just wanted a few ears for fresh eating.

6.5 quarts of grated zucchini( final tally, but planting more possibly in fall)

10 pints spiced red cabbage ( final tally, but planting more in the fall)

3 quarts of Beets and 3 quarts of beet juice.  The beets went to my mom who loves them, the juice will stay here to be made into jelly.

In addition to that I've made 4 half pints pear butter and 3 quarts pear sauce.  These pears were given to us by a friend and I gave her eggs.  I've dehydrated various herbs as well as green bell peppers which have just started to come in with the jalapeno peppers.  I've set aside black berries ( not included in above tally) and raspberries to make jam later on in the fall.  I try not to can any more than I have to in the summer.  Many of the items above were fresh eaten in addition to those portions preserved for winter storage.  I did have broccoli, but only enough for fresh eating.  I'll plant more in the fall to see how it does. Strawberries and blueberries have been hit or miss.  We had a late freeze that took out the blueberries, and the strawberries aren't putting out near what they did last year.  I had some sweet potatoes that sprouted in storage, and so I planted the slips.  I was about a week late, but maybe we'll get something.  I'm not out anything.  I had the space.  

We also incubated 39 eggs and have added 17 healthy baby chicks.  Not all the eggs were fertile.  Plus we did lose a few babies the first time around in the incubator.  Of the 17, it's estimated about a half and half split between hens and roosters.  

I've frozen about 15 dz eggs for winter, for when the hens aren't laying.  

Wow!  This ended up being quite a list.  Longer than I thought.  I haven't listed all this as just a pat on my back "see what I did" post.  It's rather more like a praise report in that in the middle of cut hours, surgery, financial tightness, God has provided.  It's my job to put a seed in the ground, and care, but God brings the increase.  There have been times over the last few months when I thought we wouldn't be able to make ends meet, but something always happened to fix that and we would be okay.  

Hubby's hours are still cut, but Etsy is still going , and the garden is still growing.  We are so blessed, and I can't be more grateful.  

 

Things are starting to pop!

 Hello again!  Some how the actual results of the farm are starting to come in when I was under the impression I was still in start up mode!  When did that happen!  Don't get me wrong, I knew my plants were getting bigger and putting out blooms.   I've been dehydrating spinach, kale, and herbs.  My yellow squash and Zucchini were starting to come in, but never enough to can.  We were having squash with meals and such.  Then all of the sudden BAM! I had to pull out the canner today.  I ended up with 4 quarts of yellow squash and almost a quart of sweet peas.  It took an entire grocery bag of unshelled peas to get me that one jar.  I do have quite a few peas set aside to use for seed next year.  So hopefully next year I'll have many more jars.  I probably would have more if I wasn't picking and eating the pods before they developed peas. 

But that's not all!  I still have quite a bit of zucchini to grate and freeze, and just put up 2.5 quarts of sauerkraut to ferment.  That's those 3 wide mouth quart jars that look like funky baby bottles.  There is a glass weight holding the cabbage under the juices.  The juice is a combination of salt and juice from the cabbages.  Then there is the weird lid on top for the kraut to ferment.  This will ferment for 7-14 days and then be stored in the fridge.  This means hubby gets to have brats and kraut for fathers day.  I'm afraid that's all of the sauerkraut for now, though.  I had to pick what I could and pull up the plants due to cabbage moths/worms.  UGH!  Hopefully they won't get to my red cabbages for a bit.   I'll plan on planting cabbages again in the fall.  Actually I'll be planting cabbages, broccoli, peas and cauliflower in the fall.

Another thing that's new is the arrival of our 8 piece chicken nuggets!  Chick cam!

*** lost one more today, so we are now down to the lucky 7***

 Thru candling the eggs we determined 16 were fertilized.  12 of those 16  hatched so a 75% hatch rate.  Not too shabby.  Of those 12 that hatched, we lost now 5 as of the latest update.  So now we have 7 very active babies.  I sexed them yesterday and I think we now have 4 hens and 3 roosters.  The one we lost from the 8 was a hen.  The hens will replace some older hens we sold to folks wanting current layers.  The roosters are destined for the freezer.  

I have to say, all in all, I'm very happy with the incubator.  It was very easy to use.  It monitored everything, temp, humidity, and even turning the eggs.  I never had to open the lid until it was time to remove the chicks.   Things I will do differently now that I have a feel for this machine:

1)  Really stay on top of the water in the reservoir.  This incubator has a tendency to say the humidity is right until it all of the sudden isn't.  So I need to just plan on filling it a few times every day.  Full disclosure, since I didn't know it would do this, I was thrown off a couple of times.  This could have contributed to a lost chick or two.  

2)  No chicks come out until all chicks have had a chance to hatch.  Fluctuations in the temp and humidity can affect the outcome of hatches.  I should have thought of that.  It doesn't say that in the instructions, but I have heard that before.  So I think I'll have better results next time cause everyone stays put until I know all that are going to hatch; hatch.  

So there was some user error in the beginning that won't be repeated next time.  

Everything is getting big, blooming, and starting to vine up and get unruly.  Won't be long til I'm really cranking out the jars.  Looking forward to it.  Now if you ask me again after ....eh...well.  But for right now I am really appreciative of everything God is providing.  

So are you starting to see some output for all your input?  I'd love to hear about it or better yet, include a pic!  

Getting all I can from one whole chicken

 Hello again!  

I'm a little late in posting, but saving money can be busy work (smile).  I'm still watching pennies as we pay off hospital bills and try to recover from no paycheck during hubby's recovery.  He's doing great BTW.  Back at work.

Combine our own personal financial squeeze with price increases in gas, groceries, etc and it can get to be tricky.  As a result I'm trying to squeeze every last bit of good from anything I use.  Which brings me to today's topic: wringing everything I can from one whole chicken.

I got a really good price recently on a few organic free range ( all the buzz words) whole birds.  I froze many of them for later, but that day I came home and immediately placed one in the crock pot for dinner.  

I added no water to the crock pot, but just let it cook in it's own juices.  Once dinner was over I deboned the chicken for later meals.  The bones were placed back into the crock pot along with the broth from cooking the bird.  I added 2 carrots, 2 celery, 1 small onion, 1 tsp salt, 2 TBS vinegar, and water to cover it all.  This cooked on low for the next 24-36 hours.  Meanwhile the meat provided the basis for another dinner of chicken pot pie( heavy on the veggies), and a couple days of lunches.  

Once the broth had cooked, I strained the broth out, let it cool, then put it in the fridge for the fat to rise to the top.  The bones, veggies, etc. were mashed up and, to the doggies delight, doggie dinner for that night.  No need to worry about the bones.  The vinegar removes the minerals and leaves the bones soft.  Everything is mashed up to insure that all bones are soft and then the dogs get it.  They love it when mama makes chicken broth.  

When the broth is cold and the fat solid, I remove it from the fridge and scoop off the solidified fat.  This goes into a container in the fridge.  Whenever I'm needing a fat to say sauté onions to go into a chicken dish, I pull out that container.  It replaces a store bought oil I would normally use.  The broth is divided into pints or quarts and either frozen or canned.  I'll pressure can broth if I've done a large amount of broth.  One chicken usually gives me about 2 quarts, so that I freeze.  

                                                           

Now while I tell this story about a chicken, this process can be used for any type of bone in meat.  Ham, beef, even fish (although the idea of fish broth doesn't sit well with me, but some like it).  I save the fat in both beef and ham as well.  I can hear the collective gasps when people read this and think "All that saturated fat!".  I don't have a problem with saturated fat.  I have a problem with hydrogenated, highly processed fat.  Plus I'm not smearing the fat on toast (yuck).  I just use a small amount to cook with.  My over all fat intake is lower than your average person I'd guess.  

Sweets are my weakness.  That's still a work in progress.