Just another Day on the Farm

October unprocessed week 2 cost info

Posted on October 9, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Oct 3rd

breakfast- oatmeal-50 cents(DH) bean salad .75 (FG)
lunch soup-pork-veggie 2.00 (dh) an Cold Corn 1.00 (FG)
supper -Venison Stew with biscuit * 3.4 pounds Venison 29.99 per kilo per 2.2 pounds -44.98 potatoes 6, 2 onions, garlic, half package mushrooms, 6 carrots total= 51.73
Drinks, Water, Coffee an tea with honey 1.50
Snack- pumpkin spice loaf x2 2.00 oatmeal peanut butter cookies (hubby only)6 cookie 1.50
Baking powder biscuit 1.00 each x2
six portions of stew-8.62

Total Costs 37.61 6 meals plus snacks and drinks average out to 6.27 per meal

Farmgal Costs 10.26 6 meals plus snacks and drinks average out to 1.71 per meal

Farmgal Saving : 27.35

Oct 4th

Breakfast- Oatmeal (DH) .50 Biscuit with leftover chicken bits (FG) 2.00

Lunch- Egg Drop Soup (FG) White broth, kale bits, spices and 1 farm egg 4.00 and Venison Stew (DH) with Biscuit 9.62

Supper- Homemade Taco’s 1 Pound Beef 6.00 (home raised canned) two onions .50 garlic .25 two large tomato’s 1.50 four large flat breads 2.67 1 head of romaine lettuce 1.00 half a cup of salsa 1.50

Drinks- Coffee, tea and water 1.50

Snacks- DH, Cookies, Pumpkin Loaf 4.50 and Cherry Jam Buns (tiny but three each for both Compared to local bakery 3.99 for top of the line fruit buns.

Total cost for the day 39.53 Total cost for 6 meals, plus 3 snacks and drinks- 6.58 per meal

Farmgal Costs : 12.59 total costs for 6 meals 3 snacks and drinks- per meal 2.09

Farmgal’s Savings : 26. 94

chicken bits left on the bones, broth was rabbit, kale from garden, farm egg, our raised beef, garden veggies, homemade flat bread an salsa, my own sour cherry jam made with local Ontario grown cherries bought in bulk for processing. I made a small batch of dough, four flat breads and six cherry buns.

Oct 5th

Breakfast- 2 eggs, Kale on biscuit (FG) 1.00 x2 Pumpkin loaf 1.00, Oatmeal .50 (DH) Orange .40

Lunch- Dh (Beef Barley Soup) 3.99 6 cookies 1.50 , Pumpkin loaf 1.00 (FG) Oven Roasted Carrots, butter and salt Top of line carrot soup cost 3.99

Supper: Leftover Vension Stew,- 8.62 x2 Biscuit 1 x2 and 1 whole fresh pinapple cut up for dessert 3.99

Drinks: Water, Coffee and Tea 1.50

Total cost : 39.11

Meal costs- 6 meals-two snacks and drinks- 6.52

Farmgal costs – 10.60 meal cost -6 meals plus snack an drink- 1.76 per meal

eggs an kale from farm, beef an some veggies from farm, all baked good homemade, leftovers and pinapple got on sale at 2 for 5

Farmgal Savings-28.51

Oct 6th

Well, hubby had a fun day today lets just split our meals up

breakfast- pumpkin loaf x 3 3.00, hot chocolate 2 dollars orange .40

Lunch- massive poutine an coke (taken for work lunch) 14

Supper as he was still not hungry when got home-none

snack – five cookies an tea x2 3.50

FG- Breakfast- Hot mushroom soup-3.99 clear mushroom-onion broth

lunch- Roasted Carrot, Acorn Sqaush with a bit of butter, salt 2.50

Supper: Roasted Pork (as hubby did not want to eat, I just had a portion of pork) 4

5 orange current cookies 2 dollars , coffee and lemonade an water 1.50

Total costs : 34.89 Breakdown, 5 meals, 4 snacks and drinks. 6.98

Farmgal Costs 25.47 (Look at what eating out did to my budget!) Take out hubbies eating out lunch of 14..

On farm costs -11.47 5 meals plus 4 snacks and drinks 2.29 per person per meal.

Farmgal savings 9.42

Oct 7th

Breakfast-Oatmeal .50, orange .40, (DH) hot chocolate.2 , 3/4 of cup of cold diced pork 4 with a 1/4th of salsa .75, coffee (FG)

Lunch- FG (Harvest Soup) 3.99 , Pork and Roasted Carrots 5

Supper- Harvest Soup X 2 at 3,99

Snacks and Drinks 7 cookies, Potato Chips (just oil, potato, salt) and homemade dip, Water, Apple Juice, Coffee and Tea. 7, 2, 3, 1.50

Total for the day 30.47 average out to 5.07 per meal, 6 meals and snacks and drinks

Farmgal Costs : 8.82 costs total out to 1.47 per person, per meal including days snacks and drinks.

Oct 8th

Breakfast- Green Grapes 4.50 and Hot coffee or tea for both of us.

Lunch- Omelet, 2 eggs each, 1 onion, half a red pepper, a cup of mushrooms and half a cup of old aged cheddar cheese. 3 x2

Supper : Green Salad 2 x2 2.99 and Harvest Soup x2 3.99

Snacks Popcorn with butter 3

Drinks, Water, Apple Juice, tea and coffee 2

Costs 29.46 six meals, drinks and snacks per meal cost : 4.91

Farmgal costs :13.05 Cost per meal 2.17

Totals Week 1 (remember was only 2 days long)

Total Cost 62.02

Farmgal Total Cost :26.65

Savings for the week- 35.37 or .57% savings

Total for the Week 2 is 211.07 averages out to 5.02 per meal including snack-drinks

Farmgal Total of the Week is 66.79 Averages out to 1.59 per meal including snack-drinks

Total Savings for the week is 144.28 or 68% by being on the farm.

Now I did my best to eat like normal while still doing all unprocessed foods Challenge for October.. so I am aware that I am still doing some of my regular normal cost saving things like making bigger portions and then eating leftovers and as hubby was taken out for his lunch, I was grateful I did not have to add that to my food bill.. It was eye popping to realize that one meal could be more then my total day food costs..

Combined overview to date.

Total – 273.09

Farmgal Total – 93.44

Savings with percent 179.65 or 66% savings overall

Now comes the scary part for me..

if we eat the way that we do and bought from the store, we need to increase the spending x2 for the national average of 4 per house, our overview so far only covers nine days but its a work in progress

546.18.. national average says we need to spend between 1200 to 1600 per month for four people family.. I have already “spent” 546.18 of my max 1600 in nine days, I am seeing a clear issue.

Even on my Farmgal savings, I am at 186.88 for the 9 days if done for a family of four..

Well, what do you think? expected higher savings? thought farm raised meats would be cheaper? liked the link backs to the meals? and recipes for things served?

Healthy Harvest Soup Recipe

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Healthy Harvest Soup

2 quarts Broth Made from a pork with bone in roast
2 cups of garlic scrapes
2 cups of red pepper diced…
1 large carrot diced
1 cup of cooked acorn squash
1/2 cup of pearl barley
1 cup of diced pre-cooked pork
1 tsp of Basil or Horseradish Dried Crumbled Greens or Dried Nettle greens crumbled.

This soup is quite flexible, but I will do it in detail because it got RAVE reviews.. I took a 4 pounds shoulder roast of a pasture raised pork which was pretty lean with bone in and I put 2 cups of frozen chopped Garlic Scrapes and 2 cups of diced frozen red pepper into the bottom of my good heavy cast iron baking pot and I put the meat on top, and added water till it reached 3/4th up the roast and it went into a slow oven at 300. It was cooked till it was fall apart tender, reducing broth about half.

I pulled the roast, using it for a few things and then I chilled the rest overnight in a nice flat pan and I deglazed the sides and bits on the pot for an extra quart of broth in the end, leaving me with 2 quarts of pork-veggies broth

Then I strained it and diced the scrapes into smaller bits for eating in the soup, I had leftover roasted carrot, squash and pre-cooked pork, in it all went with some dried greens, and half a cup of Pearl Barley, the first soup was taken and eaten when then barley was just cooked, and it was good but it hit its “rave reviews” on reheat, the barley was full and plump.

Posted in Life moves on daily, Winter Eating Challange | Tagged Dried Nettles in soup, Garlic Scrapes Soup Recipe, Pork Soup Recipe, Soup Recipe, Using leftovers in soups, Using Sqaush in soups | 5 Comments

A Question for you all? Canadian Thanksgiving Mini Challange

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Hi to everyone but this is mainly at the moment for my Canadian readers.. thanksgiving is this weekend! Got a wee thanksgiving mini Challenge for you all. photo off net

Can you make one or more item on your dinner table 0 mile?

Can you make one or more item on your dinner table Locally produced? 100 mile max

Can you make one or more items on your dinner table local farm gate or pasture raised or u-picked, something anything that cut the middle man and came from within a reasonable distance from your home?

Let me know how it goes? Also was it something traditional to your table or did you need think outside the regular to make it happen?

Posted in Life moves on daily | 4 Comments

Orange Black Current Cookie Recipe

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Orange Black Current Cookies (traditional recipe first)

half a cup of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 orange rind scrapes for orange bits
1 orange juiced (put though strainer, no seeds and bits)
3/4 cup of dried black currents
2 cups of flour
1 tbsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
1/2 tsp of Salt
1/2 tsp of ground ginger

Cream Butter and Sugar, then add eggs, blend together, add vanilla, orange rind bits, orange juice and currents, mix together.. then add flour, on top of that, add the rest of the dry and mix together. I like to then chill this for five min in fridge, cut into two parts, roll in logs in wax paper an then cut into cookies at about a inch each, bake at 350 till golden brown.

But I needed to change a few things up for the unprocessed challenge, they turned out excellent but had to be carefully watched in the oven as they browned easier with the honey and they really needed the chill time. I also removed one egg for a bit of less liquid.

Modified Recipe Unprocessed Version

Half a cup of butter
Half a cup of honey
1 large farm egg (I wanted a big egg so it was a duck egg)
1 tsp vanilla
1 orange rind scrapes for orange bits
1 orange juiced (put though strainer, no seeds and bits)
3/4 cup of dried black currents
1 and 1/2 cups of white wheat whole flour.
1 tbsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
1/2 tsp of Salt
1/2 tsp of ground ginger

It was a bit more tricky as the amount of orange juice per orange would make a difference and I lowered the oven temp by 25 degree’s and watched it carefully, I found it was a touch sticky and I needed a touch of flour on my logs

Posted in Winter Eating Challange | Tagged Black Current Cookie Recipe, Black Current Cookies, black currents, Cookie Recipe, Dried Black Currents, Orange Black Current Cookie Recipe, Orange flavour, Orange flavoured cookies, Orange rind, recipes | 1 Comment

Venison Stew with Baking Powder Biscuits Recipe

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Slow Roasted Venison Stew with Baking Powder Biscuits

3.4 pound Shoulder Roast with a bit of bone in
2 med onions
6 cloves of garlic
4 large potato’s
4 large carrots
half a smaller turnip
8 whole mushrooms
Salt, pepper and Basil to taste.

Slow oven at 300, put your onions, garlic and roast in your good cast iron pot and cover with water up to 3/4th of the roast, (this is a slow wetter roast) for at least 3 hours and then take out, and add the sliced into 4 mushrooms, large cubed potato, carrots and turnips around the roast, cover and back into the oven for another two to three hours till the veggies are fork tender. At this point, the meat will be fall apart tender.

This made a very generous 6 portions

Lets talk a little bit about Venison..

Venison is typically considered to anything from the deer family, it is any cut or part of the deer, it can be any sex and any age.. its all still venison.

You can buy farmed Venison, I have seen those prices.. ouch! its a bit crazy locally in my area for what the costs will be but in most of N.A. there is a way to get much more reasonable cost for venison and that is hunting of course.

Yes, you need to jump though more hoops today then I or my family did as a child, its a combo of where I live today and just more modern rules.. Having said that, its not the case in many areas in the states, where instead of a draw, you can buy one or more tags for a few dollars.

For anyone that wants top of the line meat, Venison is that and then some.. having said that, it does take to certain ways of cooking.. if you are used to bland store meats, you will find it very full of flavour, if you are used to that grain feed perfectly marbled meats that are great for fast fry.. then many cuts of Venison will turn out to be stiff and dry..

Venison needs to be treated like a well raised grass-fed lean red meat.. speaking of that, where the deer lives and what is main grazing is, will effect its flavour.. bush deer do not taste the same as corn feed-hay pasture deer, any more then eastern moose taste the same as northern willow moose will..

So if you are not already hunting to help fill you freezer, I would highly recommend considering learn about it.. as the food costs continue to go up.. this is a area that if you are careful and frugal, you can get into it on the cheap side.. learn to do your own butchering and now you are really saving big!

Do you hunt? Do you eat wild game? What is your favorite way to eat Venison? Are you in a area that has lots of deer or are you in a area that you can hunt all season and come home empty handed, that you might not get a tag, that you might have to travel to get a tag?

Posted in Life moves on daily, Soups and Stews | Tagged canadian Homestead, Fall hunting, homestead, slow roasted stews, Stews, Venison, Venison Stew, wild game recipes, wild game stews | 4 Comments

Homestead Weight Loss Support Group

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Homestead weight loss support group

Do you facebook? Are you a homesteader, farmer, gardener or a whole food lover that also would like to lose a few or more pounds. I am active, I am healthy per all the battery of tests they have done on me but I am also heavier then I would like.

Want to have support from fellow whole food lovers that understand the time and effort that goes into raising, growing, harvesting an putting up a portion of your own food then I hope you will consider joining the group.

Posted in Life moves on daily | 1 Comment

Homemade Taco’s

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

So yesterday was national taco day, something that was all over the net but its also October unprocessed, no problem, I made a corn-flour yeast based dough and made flat breads for the shells. I rolled them thin and cooked them in a cast iron

I cooked up onion garlic mushooms and fresh tomatos to which I added canned burger (our beef) and taco spices, some greens an salsa an it was a awesome dinner all the way round.

For some taco history, I have linked to a site below and copied a part of it for you to read!

Some Taco History
For a dish so widely available, the history of the taco is really unknown. But according to taco expert Jeffrey M. Pilcher, the word originates from the silver mines in Mexico in the 18th century, when taco referred to the little explosives workers used to extract the ore.These were pieces of paper wrapped around gunpowder and placed into holes carved in the rock. “When you think about it, a chicken taquito with a good hot sauce is really a lot like a stick of dynamite,” says Pilcher in an online article at Smithsonian.com. “The first references [to the taco] in any sort of archive or dictionary come from the end of the 19th century. And one of the first types of tacos described is called tacos de minero—miner’s tacos. So the taco is not necessarily this age-old cultural expression; it’s not a food that goes back to time immemorial.”

Still others claim tacos predate the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico in the 16th century. Anthropologists say there is evidence suggesting inhabitants of the lake region of the Valley of Mexico ate tacos filled with small fish. The fish were replaced by small live insects and ants in the states of Morelos and Guerrero, while locusts and snails were favorite fillings in Puebla and Oaxaca.

Taco Bell is believed to have pushed the widespread popularity of Mexican food in the U.S. Founded in California in 1962, the chain of fast-food restaurants serves up a variety of Tex-Mex foods to more than two billion customers in 5,800 restaurants in the U.S. alone.

The hard-shell taco was invented long before Taco Bell, a discovery that would aid their expansion across North America. The U-shaped version is first noted in 1949 in a cookbook by Fabiola Cabeza de Vaca Gilbert. A device that would hold the taco in its U-shape as it deep fried helped in the mass production of this product. Kits are now available everywhere.

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged homemade tacos | 4 Comments

Fall Forest Hiking

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

If you have been reading for awhile or at least this year, you know that I have been camping more, taking bush type trips more and we got out for a nice hike this past weekend, I am busy enough on the farm that I am not getting away for overnights at this point.

The colors around here are just! starting to change, hints in this and that tree that is open to the edge of the main roads but back into the bush where the tree’s are creating a micro-climate not so much.. but the ferns tell a different story

Its was one of those amazing fall days, warm but cool and it smelled like fall. crispness in the air somehow.. and the mushrooms have been loving the rains.. so many to choose from..

Then there was this bad boy just hanging out.. in real life his colors and patterns were so stunning, but despite being sweet enough to let me take a few photos in different formats, this one does not do it justice but its what I have

And then was a couple lovely looking Chaga’s but to high up for me to get at them

and then this wonderful Grandfather tree that just had to be taken in black and white.. No matter how busy things are, or how much you need to do in the gardens or the kitchen or just life..

It was a wear orange kinda day and I was very unhappy to see someone working in the forest with a drone in a non- machine area. Never seen that before.. but the land itself was just what I needed.

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Fall Hiking, hiking, hiking in the bush, mushrooms, Nature photos, Walking | Leave a comment

Unprocessed Food Costs -Week One

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Oct 1st

Breakfast Apple – .50 cents plus tea an honey – total cost 75 cents (me) Hubby Apple Cake Slice and tea.. 1 dollar.
lunch Half a 4 pound chicken, with a green salad 2 pound roasted chicken at 5 per pound, salad 2.00 total 12 dollars
Snack Green Grapes -4.32
Supper – Pork Chops, pineapple and green beans
Now that pork need to be 6 dollars per pound, pineapple (2 for 5 sale) but regular 3.99, honey. 40 cents worth, 5 cents molasses, 3.99 bag of fresh green beans and 30 cents of butter..
Dessert 3.99 fresh raspberries (but harvested from our raspberry patch)

Total Cost if bought at organic (pork soy free) meats, fresh veggies and raw honey and fresh fruits

Total Cost for the day if all bought- 38.08 Averaging 6.34 cents per meal and two snacks

Farmgal Total cost for the day-17.75 Averaging 2.96 per meal and two snacks

Farmgal savings : 20.33

Oct 2nd

Breakfast -Orange 29 cents, tea and honey .50 cents, hubby also had the last piece of the apple spice cake 1.00 plus tea for a .25 cents

Lunch- 4 potato’s -Large organic heritage type 1.00 1 apple .75 cents 1 large carrot- .30 cents 1 tsp of lard- .40 cents an herbs 05 cents.

Supper- Mashed potato’s 1.50 and butter .50 half a roasted chicken 2 pounds -10 and Basic Green salad with mushroom and carrot with a little bit of dill dressing. 2.99 (going for the most basic salad in a bag) and 3 tbsp. dressing .40 cents

Snack 3.99 worth of rasberies

Total 23.94 total average of 3.99 per meal

Farmgal* total -8.90 Average of 1.48 per meal

Potato from the farm, chicken from the farm, apple from a friends apple tree, some but not all greens from the farm as well as fresh rasberries from the fall patch.

Farmgal’s Savings 15.04

its odd to think of a week one as two days but as I want to do this on weekends.. that’s how it worked out.. I am running Monday to sunday for the overviews

I can say this, I think that its going to be worth figuring this out, I know that I took it for granted that we can and do eat so many things off the farm, and we are so used to costing it out at the raising price that other then the odd time that we go.. huh.. that’s a 22 dollar rabbit in the stores it tends to slip to the side

thanks to the two folks that commented one the first post..

Wow that is incredible and just solidifies wanting a farm where i too could raise my own meat. If i had to guess you are at an 87% savings on the farm. Although you are so awesome, im sure you are going to blow that out of the water. Monthly i guess around 575 for food with you 2

I am not sure that I will make that kind of savings but I do think it will be over 50% but we will see if I am right as the garden is coming in an its fall.. I normally budget in 200 a month for off farm shopping for the household an extra food, including the food box but at least a few months a year I drop that to 50 a month or per pay day, we will see

I don’t calculate anything as detailed as you – but the odd time I wander into a grocery store I am shocked at the price of food – in particular, meat, produce and dairy. I’m not clear on how a family can afford to eat healthy these days. My ultimate goal, is to spend near next to nothing at a grocery store. After twelve years, I’m settled in at between 100 and 150 a month, and most of that is on sundries (toilet paper, toothpaste, dish soap, shampoo, ziploc bags, oh yes – coffee, etc). One of our ‘rules’ is that if we’re out of something (say chicken) then we simply don’t eat chicken until we raise more.
Of course that wouldn’t work for everybody. 😊

great rule and one that I have been known to use as well, and yes I am shocked all the time in regards to the costs in the stores.. they say that it will cost a family of 4 about 1200 a month to eat healthy.. that is a lot of money..

Posted in October Unprocessed | Tagged October Unprocessed, october unprocessed mini challange | 2 Comments

Apple Sauce Cake Recipe

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Unprocessed apple Sauce spiced Cake

1/4th pork lard
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup apple sauce
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. of molasses
1/2 cup whole milk (sheep in my case)
1 cup raisins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all spice
1 tbsp. Baking Powder

Mix fat, honey, apple sauce together, then add rest of the wet an the raisins and spices, mix well, add flour, salt and baking powder, mix though but do not overmix, it will be thick batter, put into a cake pan or muffin tins and bake at 350 till golden brown and knife comes out cleanly