We are about 90 percent done in the kitchen now, the new subfloor and lino is down, the painting is done. The window cover is going up soon, the new hutch gotten second hand is looking fine.. With the new fridge and losing one of the freezers and replacing the dryer, and I am already down 10 kiliwatts power use per day.. now that will add up fast..
Now comes a very old recipe, I found the “bones” of this recipe in a cookbook from the victora times but have played around with it enough to be able to call it Farmgal Fruit BBQ Sauce and its fabulous on lamb or pork! and pretty tasty on chicken as well (does not work with duck), it does go nice in taco’s or mixed in with ground meat/veggies over rice
Ok, so you put your plums, tomato’s and currents in your big jam pot, add your wine, vinager, sugar and spices and simmer boil for 30 to 40 min, then take off heat, allow to cool just slightly and transfer into your blender, blend till smooth, then back into the pot and check your spices, might want to add a touch more pepper, salt etc. Then simmer to till its as thick as you like your BBQ sauce to be, as my tomato’s are for sauce , it only took another 30 min but the more juicy the tomato, the longer this will take, keep your heat low and simmering and dont’ forget to stir fairly often.
This is going to give you a sweet, tangy, fruity and yet a bit zippy BBQ sauce. Processed like normal for a hot water bath process for ten min. Makes 8 pints
Just love this new to me second hand hutch I picked up for 15 at the local second hand store, that was one of there higher priced items, I have seen over the years but so worth it.
it fits with just inches to spare in my pass though space and while I will need to put up a curtain wall on the backside of the living room, I like it.. will get doors made for the open bottom area.
You know that challenge, throw away a hundred things and declutter your home..
Well, lets see.. Farmgal has a bad habit of buying 1 or 2 dollar boxes at the farm sales, I only want one thing and I might find a extra or two that can be used, gifted or put away as a repeat of a known to use and will wear it out..
The rest.. well the rest tends to sit, somewhere in the house, Cellar or outbuildings..
And….
Throwing away a hundred things.. I am in fall clean mode.. We are replacing the lino in the kitchen, which lead to replacing the sub floor in the almost 100 year old part of the house, and that meant deep cleaning, and if you are going to deep clean, and paint and put down new lino and new base boards and so forth..
And… you rented a huge (as in the biggest the dude had) garbage bin,, you might as well fill it.. so I am going though every drawer, every cupboard, every book case an so forth.. what can go, what can I give to second hand and what do I want to keep.
Turns out, lots to all three of those.. I am of the firm mind, two is one and one is none, it does not bother me to have six of something I know I need, use and wear out, if the new item costs x and I can pick it up for pennies or less on the dollar, but on the other hand, if its a magazine that I read ten years ago, have not looed at it five.. its time to go..
If its a cookbook that I read, and did not like the reicpes.. does not fit the farm.. it can go..
We are positive that if we do the whole house and outbuildings that we can fill the bin, when I ordered the bin, I thought I would be putting a good amount of scrape metal in it, dryer, fridge, washing machine, freezer but the gentleman that came and payed to haul my old van away.. also came back and took all of that, this opened up a huge! amount of room in the bin, and we are not wanting it to go to waste at all..
This will be the third bin we have rented for the farm in the 11 years we have been here.. this is the first bin that I feel is a clearing of OUR extras, the first two bins was all about cleaning up the farm, and boy did our old farm have lots of things to clean up..
So if you are in town, have you ever taken the 100 item challenge, and if so, was it as easy for you.. if you are on a homestead, are you of the mind that you keep everything, just in case, or are you of my mind set, clear what can not and is not being used, to make room for not just what you do use but many copies for them for when you can get them at farm sales, or on sale or barter and so forth.
I will not count how much is going but it would be safe to say, we have been successful at this challenge 10X over by the time we finish..
I was thrilled to have farm Helper #3 come for the afternoon, she rode over and we hauled, dragged and filled the big rented bin over half full, we bedded down trails, worked in garden and mowed grass. I was so grateful to have a extra set of hands, a quick wit, and a work drive rare to teens but not in her family..
The lovely older mare she rode over with is very good friends with my Brandy Girl, who was so pleased to have her come visit, caleb has ridden with her as well.. it was lovely to see the herd of three for the afternoon
we relaxed in the bean Teepee of course.
Yesterday I was picking fresh paste tomatos, these amazing small dark yellow and orange ones and of course a few deep red plum style ones as well.
I chopped them into large pieces and into a pot, added salt, pepper, a tiny touch of dry keens powdered mustard , and a big old pat of butter and simmer to blend flavour together
I took a quarter pound of beef ground and added salt, pepper, and lots of fresh dill, cooked then in a bit of bacon fat, three min per side med heat, then take the meatballs out, and pour your tomato sauce, chunks in to deglaze the pan.
Make your pasta as normal and because I had company, I did it in big bowl to serve and then mixed before dishing up, rave reviews, tender little meatballs, the fresh tomatoes were picked ripe five min before making,.. this dish was all about show casing them.
I found this in a cold cookbook that I got, not done the research on if its really a good balance, I would add in some live active cultured yogurt to help with tummy but otherwise, its pretty solid to other recipes that I have personally used over the years
I love the warm to blood temps, old recipes just assume you know the basics, that you know to beat the egg, that the whole milk would be fresh from the cow and that clearly everyone would have cod liver oil in the house.
Where does frugal cross the line from saving to costing us more
When the 21 year old dryer that came with our farm broke weeks ago, I just moved everything to the line drying.. which is used a lot but I need the dryer to remove pet hair from our clothing.
when the farm sale (for 20 bucks) older fridge started acting up, I limped along until it truly broke..
When our trusty old van started giving warning signs, I listened but we still got over two years worth of drive her sweet time out of the old girl.
and then there is my kitchen floors, they needed repair work, we had patched them over the years on the farm.. but the truth was, we really need to pull the lino and replace.
As it turns out we also need to replace the whole subfloor as well..
Now I could have gone on Kijji and found replacements and that is just what I did for our new to us lovely 4 by 4 suv with hitch we are the trucks 4th owner and she has been very well looked after, and if we continue to do so, we should easily get a good number of years with her.
But after talking it over, based on one thing, a very big thing.. we went new for both the dryer and the fridge. The dryer in power costs savings to move to the new model is huge, and add in the fact that it has a senser that turns it off when the cloths are dry, regardless if I turned the timer for longer and it is just awesome.
In Ontario, they say that the cost of hydro will go up 40 percent of the next four years.. that is a crazy hike, and so with those kind of prices, the savings on the new, will repay itself even faster
the fridge was chosen as a big all fridge, because we have a freezer in the main floor and because I wanted to ideally stop running two fridges for half the year or more. Milking takes up a lot of room, and then all harvest season long, I need the room.
It also has a fast chill setting with will be amazing with the fresh milk and small soft fruits..
The floor is different, we thought we could do it quickly.. wrong.. but when its done, it will be good for another ten, 15 or twenty years, As a dear friend said, normally folks do this kind of deep repair and redo to get a place ready to sell.. you my dear, get to enjoy it after.. I loved that way of seeing it.
I called in some help in a number of ways, I called a friend to scrape the van for cash(paid for our new toilet that uses half the water per flush, yes on the well water) I called to have scape metal (the old dryer-fridge and a freezer) hauled away
Add to that for the third time since on the farm, we rented a huge bin and we are doing another farm cleanup, the repair work first, then the farm cleanup. One of the things that we are most excited about, is that we are allowed to put yard waste in the bin, all our bags of sun cooked wild parsnip we have pulled over the season will be heading off the farm..
The pocket book is whimpering but lets face it, in savings, tax free or the like, I can get a better return putting it into saving money on the power bill and see a better return and that is so very sad indeed
What about you, have your replaced anything in the past year to help save money in the long run.
No photos from this event as hubby stayed home that day, but I did another couple public speaking event in aug.
I did a backyard chicken and Quail talk, well, I meant to do that but it ended up that the focus was on chickens, lots of questions and feedback, I did bring speaking notes, which helped keep me on point but I am also ways that I do a lot of free flow in terms of answering questions from the folks that attended.
Then I did a critter kit overview.. love my critter kits..
Then I did a talk on training your eye and creating a wild food map..
This was a interesting talk, it covered the basics of learning , shape, color and movement, using the seasons to find and forage wild food both in country and city.. Creating a food map.
Where I lost everyone was when I asked what to do in each of the four seasons in regards to learning and a tracking info.
So before I write the answer here in a day or two… hopefully with quotes from readers..
In spring, you look for flowers, marking trees or bushes on your map and on the bush to find later, you would also track water movements and so forth..
But this one appears to be the one that surprised most.. what are the big things in winter that you would be watching for.. in regards to creating your food map..
An GO!
So while I am so excited to have a new laptop and to be back online, I am also crazy busy, so today is a photo update..
The in full cover amazing bean teepee.. and if you facebook at link to a video we put up on the farm page there.
Then one of hubby in the inside for you..
Then one of my old boy relaxing on the new lino, whiles it being relaxed and laid out in the living room..
I hope to get a true post up for you in the 24 to 48, till then.. photos it is.. so much new to share its coming!
Just another Day on the Farm 