O my.. its my 2000th post on the blog!
To which I say.. THANK YOU! My Dear Readers, I would not be here without YOU!
It will be a grand time coming folks!
Wow! 2000 Posts! WOW
Posted in Blogging
Tagged 2000 post anniversary, 2000th Post on my blog!, Blogging, Farm Blogging, Homestead Blogging
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Jan canning Overview
Canning Log 2015
- 8 pints Elderberry Syrup
- 2 pints Red Current Jelly
- 2 pints Red Gooseberry Jelly
- 2 Pints Green Gooseberry Jelly
- 2 Pints Rasberry-Ground Cherry Jam
- 18 Pints Beef
- 18 Pints Beef
- 18 Pints Beef
- 9 Quarts Beef-tomato mix -Soup Base
- I pint render lard
- 2 pints Red Current Jelly
- 4 pints of canned Salmon
Total Jars Canned to date : 95 pints*
* if it was canned in a quart, I just broke it down to 2 pints for ease for counts
It would have been more but I was able to get a new freezer which gave me more flex but I still have rabbit butcher and not a single space inch of freezer space left at the moment, I do plan on canning up a goodly amount of meat yet.
Citrus Season will be on use soon and expect that I might do a little canning on that over the next while we will see.. I have included a years worth of canning in a list below, as you can see it reflects the farm, what we grow and raise etc.
I am very hopeful that I will be able to can at least 1200 to 1500 jars this year, both old favorites and new recipes.. wish me luck for a grand garden season, we need it, three years ago, we had the hot drought year, the year after we had wet damp rot year and last year was a amazing garden year.. but for me it was a broken, sick and or gone during the heavy harvest time, hubby froze and or root cellared pretty much, no canning.
if there is something on the 2011 list you really want to see the recipe on, let me know in the comments 🙂
So many new readers.. here is the canning overview for 2011
Current 2011 Canning Season
- Strawberry fruit -3 Quarts-2011
Strawberry Fruit -12 Pints-2011
Cranberry Marrow Fruit-1 Quart-2011
Danilion Honey- 3 pints-2011
Sweet Relish- 5 pints-2011
Blueberry Fruit-6 pints-2011
Blueberry Jam-12 pints-2011
Blueberry/strawberry/rhubarb fruit- 12 pints-2011
Strawberry Jam-3 pints-2011
Apple Jelly 15 pints-2011 - Apple Syrup-7 pints-2011
- Apple Juice-6 pints-2011
Maple Syrup -7 pints-2011
Rhubarb Jam -4 pints-2011
Rhubarb Fruit-12 Pints-2011 - Plum BBQ Sauce-8 pints-2011
- Canned Turkey-8 Pints -2011
- Plum syrup-8 Pints- 2011
- Plum Pie Filling-8 Pints-2011
- Plum Fruit-16 pints-2011
- Strawberry Syrup-4 pints- 2011
- Mixed Herb Jelly-4 pints-2011
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling -4 pints-2011- Spicy Carrot Salsa – 6 Pint Jars- 2011
- Pinapple (tidbits)-10 8oz Jars, 4 Pint Jars, 12 Quart Jar-2011
- Pickled Purple Cabbage-3 Pint Jars-2011
- Lamb Bone Broth -6 Qts-2011
- Canned Lamb Stew Meat- 6 Qts-2011
- Rabbit-2 Qts-2011
- Apple-Sumac Jelly-8 pints-2011
- 12 pints of sweet pickle relish-2011
- 9 Pints of Chow-Chow-2011
- 6 qaurts of Zesty Tomato Sauce-2011
- 9 Pints of mutton Stew Meat-2011
- 9 Pints of Mutton hamburger Meat -2011
- 36 pints grandma’s pickled beets
- 36 pints of spicy pickled beets
- 18 pints of canned beets
- 24 pints of regular bread and butter pickles
- 36 pints of English style Bread and butter Pickles
- 24 pints of baby dill pickles
- 48 pints of canned corn
- 12 pints of plain tomato sauce
- 12 pints of sour cabbage
- 4 pints of canned grape leaf’s
- 36 pints of aprcot fruit
- 37 pints of Peach Fruit-Halfs
- 12 8 oz jars of Brandy Peach Melon Jam
- 9 pints of Peach butter
- 28 pints of Grape Juice
- 5 pints of Chokeberry Juice
- 24 pints of Elderberry Juice
- 24 Quarts of Baby Garlic Dill Pickles
- 40 Quarts of Apple Sauce
- 48 Pints of sliced Peach Fruit
- 10 Pints of Red Pepper Pasta Sauce
- 10 Pints of Green Pepper Pasta Sauce
- 10 Pints of Green an Red Peppers.
- 9 Pints of Peach Pie Filling
- 9 Pints of Spicy peach fruit- with whole cloves
- 10 Pints of Peach/Elderberry Fruit
- Gallon of Crabapple Vodika
- 10 8oz of Crabapple homemade pectin
- 12 Pints of Grape Jelly-Dh’s Ma’s favorite of all time
- 12 pints of Lamb stew
- 14 pints of italian stewed tomatos
- 14 pints of Tomato/Onion stewed
- 14 pints of diced tomatos-Roma’s
- 9 pints of Beef Veggie Barley Soup
- 13 Quarts of lamb veggie soup
- 14 Quarts of Spicy Lamb Stew
- 18 pints of Lamb Chili
- 5 8 oz jars of Wild Plum Jelly
- 6 pints of Chokeberry Juice
- 5 pints of rasberry Fruit
- 4 Pints of Spiced Pear Juice
- 14 pints of Pear Fruit
- 14 pints of Spiced Pear Fruit
- 14 Pints of Bandy Honey Pear Fruit
- 7 pints of Chili Sauce
- 4 pints of Spicy Pear Grape Jelly
- 14 pints of Lamb tomato pasta sauce with veggies
- 14 Quarts of stewed soup tomato’s
- 4 8 oz jars of Spicy Pear Marmalade
- 24 pints of stewed tomato’s
- 12 pints of spicy tomato sauce
- 12 pints of autumn fruit
- 12 pints of Pumpkin marmalade
- 12 pints of sweet pickled pumpkin
- 12 pints of sweet/spicy pickled kolorabi
- 12 pints of Kolorabit relish
- 12 quarts of canned pumpkin cubes
- 24 quarts of Mixed Pumpkin Fruit
- 13 pints of French Onion Soup
- 14 pints of cooked mixed Beans for soup
- 7 pints of lamb sauage patty’s
- 7 Quarts of Split Pea an Ham Soup
- 7 Quarts of Canned bone in Chicken
- 12 Pints of Canned Deboned Chicken Breasts
- 7 Pints of Canned Duck Breasts
- 11 Pints of Canned Duck Legs/Thighs bone in.
- 6 Quarts of Canned Whole Rabbit -Bone in
- 4 Qaurts of Lamb Broth
- 3 quarts of Chicken Broth
- 5 Quarts of Duck Broth
- Total to date for 2011-1296 Jars canned.
Posted in Canning
Tagged Canning, canning log 2015, canning log jan 2015, Lamb Stew, Pint Jars, Quarts
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Mung Bean Sprouts and Recipe..
Dried Mung Beans can be turned into wonderful home grown sprouts for use in a number of tasty dishes, I started sprouting about ten years ago as a way to be able to offer the hounds fresh ground greens once or twice a week in their diets thoughout the winter and slowly have started using them for both the hounds and the humans of the house.
Take the beans, an wash them, then fill a jar with cold water and let sit overnight, then drain the water out and place the jar in a cool dark cupboard, each day for three to five days fill your jar with fresh cold water, swirl around, an drain and then back into the cupboard, I never get those big huge white 3 inch sprouts they sell in the store, I get about an inch to an inch and half long with a lovely sweetan slightly nutty crunch.
Ready for use, these are just at the start stage, I will use them up over the while, most likely grinding them to add to the monday bread making recipe.
However if you are looking for a nice way to serve them as a side veggie, give this one a try.
- Two cups fresh mung bean sprouts
- One onion -Peeled and Diced-browned
- One Clove Garlic-Peeled and Diced-browned
- One large Mushroom-Diced and browned
- Butter, Salt, Pepper, Soy Sauce, Brown Suger, an Red Wine to make a little sauce.
Winter Critter Overview..
Ok, so I am going to rock though the ones that are doing really well and focus on the Problem area..
So the hounds are all holding well, even my older hounds which are feeling the cold this year as pretty darn healthy, everyone is eating well, keeping weight (silly gooses blew their winter coat early and are all now cold).. My oldest is as deaf as they come at this point but he is otherwise healthy and happy..
The purrpots are doing well, my oldest purrpot Priss at 17 is struggling a bit to keep weight on, she is on kitten food and wet food daily, our youngest little purr-monster aka, sweek-bob Miss Mimi is growing well. Everyone in the middle is doing well, Sunny Cat is just tickyboo, but he is no longer thin.. a big boy now. Second biggest cat on the farm now, but Midnight Sun is of course a lot bigger yet..
Other then a touch of frost bite, a sneak fox! our birds are all doing well with winter, the hens are in revolt between the cold and the lack of sun and the fact that I do not run lights in their pen inside, means that we are getting very very few eggs. On the other hand, we have picked up our higher protein goose and duck feed to get our layers in tip top condition with high rates of hatch.
The Horses are coming threw winter with flying colors, this is Calebs first winter with me, and so I have been keeping a close eye on his weight, and coat.. 
They both are getting a little bit of extra care in the sense of one cup of feed with a equal mix of one to three oats, so they get a total of four cups of feed, plus time on the horse lick, and salt block, with all the free feed hay they want to stuff themselves with.
I need to find time to go sit in the piggy pen and get you some cute new photos, but has not happened yet, they loved the move up from the big barn, they went from two wee porkers that would come out of their huge deep pile of bedding to eat, drink, do their bathroom and then run back into their warm bed, to being playful happy girls that need toys, and things to roll, carry and chew on.. they also clearly have started putting more of their daily feeding into growing, and less into keeping warm.. they still have a big old fluffy bed to sleep in but they use it a lot less..
I had hoped to start getting them to dig and turn pens in feb but unless we get much warmer temps, we have another ten days of deep cold coming, it will not be happening.. They are very different pigs, Apple is long and lean, where Ella is short and stout, big hams.. its like looking at one that could be a model and one that is built like a little brickhouse. Apple however has gotten more pushy about taking over the best bites, so we have moved them over to two feeding dishes and I will at some point need to make them a new bigger feed trough
The rabbits are huge and in full perfect winter coat and I need to get my butchering done! but they are healthy as can be.. they always do better in the cold then they do in the heat of summer.
Then come the problem critter, the sheep, while some of the sheep are perfect, growing well, good coats and are fat and fluffy.. I have a few that are struggling to keep their weights up this winter.
This is a combo of reasons, all related to my lengthy illness and time in alberta, Hubby made sure that the sheep had full access to the pasture, 24 access to hay and water but he did not keep up on the worming program, nor did he give their Vit Shot and they did not get flushed in the fall to boot..
This meant that when I got up finally well enough to give everything a good hard look, the sheep were all wormed, feet done, shots given and the thinner put on a graining program to increase calorie intake, and extra bedding put down in their resting place for increased warm.
but the hard facts are this, we have had a hard brutal cold winter, and so a few of my need a little extra sheep, have been pulled from the main flock and put into their own pen in the barn, this allows me to feed them on the grain program without being mobbed, it also me to watch closely on both weights and what they are eating for hay, it allows me to feed a bit of extra higher calorie portion of pelleted feed..
They are recovering but they clearly felt the effects of a heavy worm load.. which is telling to me in regards to what kind of load my pastures are holding..
If only I have the ability to just move them to a new pasture, sigh, but I do not have that choice on my limited pasture land.
We are waiting and waiting for lambs this year, so after talking to my new ram breeder, looks like that breed tends to like to wait till nov to breed.. ok then.. so we will be having very late lambs for us if that turns out to be the case. that is whiskey in the photo, sure a healthy and sweet boy
Working for the greater good..
ok, compared to what lots of folks do this might seem minor but it still took hours of work now and will take hours on the back end.
Somehow threw the magic of..
That’s a great idea… to lets do that…. to we need some to do it..
Yup farmgal ended up in leader mode.. how does that happen..ahhh so be it
the bulk plant buy is sent, ordered.. my local garden group members if they worked with me on it, is bringing in
1000 strawberry plants
275 raspberry canes
500 2 year old asparagus crowns
and that’s on top of the bulk (run by others) sweet potato buy and regular seed pototo bulk buys..
it will be good here on the farm to expand all three harvest programs and amounts and it will be wonderful to help another ten plus gardeners do the same..
The Savings by being able to buy commercial in bulk is outstanding… example, 14 cents per strawberry plant 🙂 and that incudes their shipping an tax, the plant itself is only 11 cents.
No Buy Feb is coming up fast on me this year..
Well, its a good thing I have been doing this for a while.. it makes getting ready for it fairly easy at this point and yet it also means I know how much this will hurt as well..
Yup, I am planning yet another No Buy Feb.. This will be my 4th year doing this..
The goal..
Become more aware then ever of what we are spending our money on..
Personal goal.. Each winter as you can imagine, we get a bigger power bill then normal, the joy of no buy feb, it that it helps save enough money that not only do we walk out wealthier at the end of the month but that we can easily make up the difference.
As always I will do one week updates on where it hurt, where it worked and detail what my cheats are..
So the regular two cheats are in place..
Critters– Anything related to the critters is off limit, be it food, or vet care or bedding etc.. however, nothing extra above and beyond.
Example : if I want doggy treat, while it is a critter, its a treat, and therefor must be hand made for them..
There is one extra cost critter items this month but its time related, and part of my continue education, which is a equine first aid course..
Garden- I need to be able to order plants, seeds and other garden related things for our years food supply.
However, I can not just go buy a new seed heat mat, because it would be a want, not a need.. you get the idea.
The one extra cost item in regards to garden, farm and critters this month is the Eco Day event that is happening this month, I am already booked to attend, so I am not paying this month but I will be attending, however I will not cheat, if its not provided at the event, I will bring everything else with me in my bag.. NO buying 🙂
Ok, there is just two more to talk about..
1) my 20 dollar, fruit and veggie box
Its already paid and I will be spending 20 for next months box, this only can be ordered and got once a month.. and in the winter, I count of this box to provide a nice mix of fresh things for the house and kitchen
2) One lunch out.. A dear friends sweetheart only comes up to Canada about once a year, and we get together and have a lunch out.. They have been hold this off for me to get better but like the others, it needs to be done in Feb
We will have a budget for the lunch out and ideally we will keep to it..
Now on the rest.. No buy Feb, is just that.. NO buying! No shopping, no eating out, no coffee while you do your this or that.. no, oh, that is on sale etc. No E books other then free ones, whimper.. No ordering movies that come out.. double whimper!
Ps, I got my Valentine Day presents a couple weeks ago, just so you do not go! Hey, I am not so sure on the hubby.. we will see..
Meatlovers homemade Pizza
This bad boy has ham, bacon and homemade sausage.. three kinds of pork, some spice heavy tomato base and mozza cheese on my fresh bread bottom..
Herbed Garlic Bread Croutons
To this melted butter and a herb and garlic blend..
Then mixed and baked till golden
It has a number of uses but its first was as the topping to my homemade mac and cheese.. but that is a coming post.
Bacon.. o my goodness Bacon..
There was a posting in the newspaper that said bacon is out.. to which I say piffal
I loved bacon before it was trendy and I will love bacon after its not in.. LOL
The two big pigs gave us back over 30 pounds of bacon each, for a grand total of 66 pounds, I expect if I weighted the packages, its closer to 70, as the pound is a average, they tend to go over rather then under.
I had to laugh a little at the butcher, he said, and I quote.. the sow gave you really fatty bacon, but the boar gave some really nice bacon.. Well the bacon above is from my girl and its true that a pound of bacon did give me a cup and quarter of wonderful bacon fat after I cooked it up, but it was awesome!
I was very pleased with the taste , I did wonder if being five years old, I would have a issue with the flavour of the pork.. NO, its wonderful..
Its all a learning curve, its would be very rare for a breeding sow to reach the age of five and still have excellent pork, but that is the difference between small homestead raised vs commercial.
Now we needed to cook up a roast that had ripped its paper wrapping and it was my boy, I was pleased at the beginning how little boar scent it had but towards the end of the cooking, as the fat began to carmelize in the pan, I could tell by my nose that it was Kermit, so it was with a bit of a hmmm, that I sliced it up and took my first bite.
I had nothing to worry about, the meat is stronger then store bought for sure but its excellent, in fact less then Angelo, which both ourselves and anyone who got his meat both enjoyed..
So given that locally, they are now charging 5.95 for 350 grams of bacon, lets call it a flat 7 dollars per pound.. and I will go to the round up for ease.. so 70 pounds of bacon at 7 dollars..
So they gave me approx. 490 dollars worth of bacon… so glad I did not need to buy that at store prices.
Green Covers for garden use
Hi Folks,
I got asked a question the other day, what I used in a frugal way to do ground cover and I have to admit that my big ones are pretty darn simple..
Wheat
Barley
Oats
Mustard Seed
Radish Seed
The first three are because I have tend to have whole grains available pretty much all the time for my feed, and it means if I turn and prepare the ground, I can sprinkle it down heavy in one of them, within a matter of days, its sprouted and it will come in hard and thick and give those weeds a huge run for their money, and its got great bio mass to cut, drop and plant over and or turn under depending on what I am doing.
The other common one is Raddish seed, its just so easy to grow, harvest and have jars of this seed on hand.. it could be called old faithful, but it can not be left as long, it needs to be turned quickly, as you do not want bulbs forming, so its a very fast turn around.
Then here is Mustard greens, I like growing them, not only easy to grow, you can take a harvest of baby greens off for a number of weeks without effecting overall growth, through in the bio mass when you cut and chop, but the big joy of using mustard is that it has a great effect on the soil but its a bug trapping crop! Just can not ask for more..
Posted in gardens
Tagged Green covers, Growing your own green covers, Mustard greens, Mustard Seed
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Just another Day on the Farm 
