Just another Day on the Farm

Homemade Pork Rinds

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

This is not your store bought Pork Rinds, these are the homemade kind that you chew and chew and if you like pork rinds your mouth just waters at the flavor and texture of these babies. Anyway you cut it, these are in limited supply, which just makes them all the more special. So in this case, I got a fresh pork belly with hide on and made bacon, after the bacon was ready but not cured yet, I used it as fresh bacon. It went into the oven at 350, the first thing you will notice is that the rind is going to change color, it will go from a dark pink to a soft tan color, it will lighten somehow in tone from a dark warm to a cooler light..

At that point, you want to sneak out, cool it down just enough to work with it, and cut it off the bacon itself, I try and leave about 1/4 inch of fat on it, if you have bacon (meat attached) you can leave it on to cook for a bit longer but you are going to need to pull it off as it cooks, you just wan the hide and fat left..

Now you cook it.. if you see this.. its not ready, if that fat is still bubbling out.. keep baking that baby..

What you want to see is this..

Once you it, you get it out of the pan and cut it into stripes before it has a chance to cool and get all crispy, at which point it will become very hard to cut, some folks like to cut the stripes into cubes, I like to pick up a piece and give it a chew to get peices off, but if you like it more tidy by all means feel free to cut it down in size. Its worth noting that this was clearly a pink pig, and that my black skinned pigs would give a light black rind.

Homemade Baked Beans

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

The Bacon is ready, at least if you want to eat it fresh, which we did a few peices, the rest is now hanging to cure and be used in a number of wonderful ways.

Given that I had homemade fresh Bacon in the house, I ~~wanted~~ needed to make Baked Beans, so first I put the navy beans out to soak overnight (if you don’t want to soak, just boil them in fresh water, changing it twice and rinsing to cut down your time) but for a energy saver, soak the beans overnight, then bring them to a boil in a large pot and gentle simmer till just tender.

At the same time as this I was cooking bacon and making Pork Rinds (that is another post and coming soon), I put the peice of bacon with rind on in the oven at 350, and let it go for a good 15 min till the rind changed color, at that point I pulled it out, and very carefully sliced(with my skinning knife but any small very sharp narrow blade will do) the rind off and put in back in the pan to cook, same with the bacon.. cooked another 15 to 20 mins or so till done.. Pulled the bacon out and let it cool, pulled out the bacon rind, and quickly cut it into stripes before it had a chance to cool down and get all crunchy.

Then I took my cooked beans, drain them and put them in that cast iron pan full of hot bacon fat, and drippings, added one qts of homecanned crushed tomato’s, a pint of homemade Chili sauce, 1/4 a cup of molassies, some black pepper and some keens hot dried mustard powder to the mix, at this point the bacon was cool enough to handle and I cut it into small peices and stirred it in, covered and baked, I would guess that it would be about another hour or hour an half at a slow simmer in the oven till close to done, at which point, I uncovered it and gave it alittle extra brown time for another 15 min or so.. and then I eat two bowls piping hot from the oven.. it was fabulous.

Now lets try that for folks that don’t home can

6 cups of Navy Beans-Soaked and cooked, which will double to triple in size
One large can of V8 Tomato Juice
One can of Tomato Paste
One large onion diced fine
1/4 cup of fancy Molassies
1/4 cup of brown sugar or maple syrup
half a pd of the best bacon you can get-cook, diced in peices, keep the fat in the beans.
1/2 tsp of black pepper and 1/2 tsp of dried hot keens mustard powder

Follow the directions listed above in the order and how to put it together.. Add a bit more tomato juice if you want more sauce. Now if you are wondering about the difference, my homemade Chili has the onion, brown sugar, spices in it already.

Posted in Charcuterie, Food Production and Recipes, frugal | Tagged Charcuterie, Food Production and Recipes, Frugal | 5 Comments

Shopping (for the No Buy)

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Ok, here is my report, So made a list, worked the list, fiddled around with the list and away we went today..

First Stop was to get the oil changed-Need
Lucked out and found the container I wanted and had been looking for, but could not find and it was on sale for just under five dollars(had ten as the approx budget) DH pushed for a second one of these, he won because both cost the same as I had planned for one.. So did that count or not? still not sure.. but both are already in use and will be a daily used item-Need for at least one.
Stop Two- Cheese Wiz, Massive sale -loss leader, 4 dollars off compared to normal.. three limit, I got three, hubby got three.. Planned stock up, I am happy with this one.
At the same store, had planned DH’s ma b-day gift buying.. had the amount figured out and thought I had it picked, got there, didn’t like it in person near as much as I did in the flyer.. looked, shopped and ended up with four gifts instead of two, under budget by 4 dollors to boot..-Need
Stop 3-Food Shopping, got in, followed list until we got to the planned frozen veggie, I like a certain cheap mix of veggies for soups/stews, and its not been on sale at all this winter, darn if it was not on sale today.. so for the cost of one bag, on sale I got 3 bags(two more then the list said but price was right) Otherwise stayed on the list, and didn’t give in.. but sure spent a great deal of time saying.. Walk away, don’t look.. just get in and get out! DH said I HAD to look at one thing on sale.. looked at it, looked at him.. Pointed to the paper.. and said.. IS IT ON THE LIST? His reply was Gotta Pen.. Smart mouth.. LOL We didn’t get any.. we don’t need it..

So that’s my report ladies..

Posted in frugal | 3 Comments

Breaking Trail

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

As anyone who lives in a area with snow knows that there is a reason that we have snowshoes and snow ski’s because both of these allow us to stay on top of the snow, instead of needing to break or keep trail.

I think that most folks who don’t live on the farm or spend any great time in the woods, would have a hard time grasping just how much extra energy it takes to break trail..Most folks today are just to used to firing up the tractor or the snow plow and within a short time having a new clean path to walk on.. but for the sake of this post.. try and think what it would be like if you didn’t have that choice. Even those that get out to the cross country trails need to remember that these trails are groomed for your use.

Check out the new snowshoes, they are so small, light weight and easy to use compared to the only fashion ones, which have their own charm and uses in certain conditions. The new ones are great for every day use.

I have read it in books and have done it myself and I have to admit that it works well, and its a real energy saver, here is one of my helpers..

This sweetheart has broken many a trail for us over the years, in many different conditions but as you can see from the white on her face, she is starting to get up there in years, she is always game in heart but there are times now, where the body needs a break.

Want a extra good workout.. break trail in snow, it will leave your heart pumping, your lungs puffing and your legs burning in short order!

Posted in farm | Tagged Farm Life, Lily | 6 Comments

That is the third time this morning on the radio..

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

That they are talking about the rising costs of food across the globe and the effects its having in regards to some of the riots we are seeing, they are qouting the fact that for the past seven months that we have seen increase’ if you want to read more details, check out this article

I am interested to see how soon some of those costs will also show up in my critter feed costs? I know last year was the first time in six years that wheat was growing in the different farms around us, and I noted that to a few of the different folks in passing, and they all said the same thing.. Wheat was a “up” crop last year.. it replaced a great deal of the fields around here of soybean.. want to bet that you see that trend stay in place this coming year?

So are you seeing a increase in your area for the basics? Are you planning on gardening this year to help reduce your costs? or perhaps increase your gardens in size? Are you finding your food budget not going as far as before? If so, care to share what you are in fact cutting out, or are you spending more to maintain your current level? and if so, got an idea of how much? 5%, 10% or more?

For myself, I am seeing it, the big one that I notice is flour, sugar, rice and oatmeal.. I am also really seeing the rising costs in the fresh food department, driving me more towards my own home canning and frozen fruits and veggies.

The cost of frozen veggies is one thing I have really noticed this winter, the prices around here at least are not good on this product, the most reasonable bags are 2 kg so 4.4 pds worth of veggies and they are running right around 5 dollars plus tax, which means over 2 dollars per pds, when last year, I could get the same bags on sale for less then a dollar per pound, they have not gone on sale at all this year, and these are not top of the line-these are the store brands, hit green giant and you are looking at over 3 dollars per pd..

So let me know how it is goes in your neck of the woods…

Posted in food, frugal | Tagged Canning, Frugal, Garden | 4 Comments

sheepie update

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

So FF and Puff Daddy are doing great, Puff has totally got this figured out and is now able to walk down and back from the barn, his only issue is that he a brat and thinks that everyone “must” love him, he has started really well on his hay and is way to cute to watch him chew his cud on his ever changing old towel bed, he now has a old bucket stuffed with fresh hay in one corner of his area.

Hay Baby and Spot continue to do very well, Hay Baby is also spoiled to the ends, as Woolie who lost her baby has adopted Hay Baby an so the mom’s share her, and she freely nurses on which ever mom she would perfer at that moment

Bubbles just had a lovely set of twins on Ground Hog Day, they are colorful and smaller then the singles as twins should be but both are up and nursing well and mom is very bonded with both of them..

Carmel has bagged up today at check in and is waddling like nobodies business so she is now jugged up as I don’t believe she will be long before she has her little ones, she seemed happy to go into the jug and very much giving me the “look” that says.. soon..soon..

Posted in sheep | Tagged sheep, Sheep Milk | 2 Comments

Weigh in Week 5/11

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

A Goal for this year.. to camp more.. A warm hello to “red” in the photo, do you remember the summer of the bears?? That lovely view is by Yellowknife NWT.

Goals for the past week

continue to detox my body and give it extra care in food choices -Yes and No, I didn’t do as well as I would have liked to honest.
sleep as required, if I need a nap, take one -yes, and I did just that!
keep your food journel in detail, -keep your meals simple -Yes, Red River is my friend
Drink extra water to flush system -yes
Kettlebell workout daily -Yes but not as many as I would like..
Eat Protein for breakfast each day -yes
Eat more Protein daily this week -yes
Take the time to enjoy the little things this week -I tried but it was a rough week..
Go out at least once with the camera and just wonder around and look at the world from the veiwfinder.

So here is my weigh in for the week and it came as a surprise, I expected that I would have gained or maybe lost a little bit.. so I was amazed when I was down 2.6 pds this week.. so a total of 46.8 pds. I will believe the scale but I don’t feel less, I feel heavy and tired to be honest, but I guess its more mental. Thankfully the sun is shining for the first time in days.

Goals for this coming week, lets keep it simple..

Food Journel daily
Sleep as needed including allowing myself naps
Drink my jug of water daily
No eating after eight
Eat a bigger breakfast with a smaller supper
Make turkey/veggie/barley soup for lunches.
Finish off my Bacon and get it curing.
Twice this week work on staff training with DH.

Posted in Goals | Tagged Goals, Weight Loss | 8 Comments

An the Duck Flew by..

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

….as I was sitting down to write my weigh in post, I saw something that caught my eye out the window, high up in the tree where my turkeys roost was a large brown and white bird, O No was my first thought (owl, hawk, dang Turkey Vulture) nope, it was one of my ducks and she flew out of the tree, past the house and over the house in blink, so out I went to find her.. after tromping around in the knee high snow plus difts and no sign of her.. finally came back around the other side and there she was out in the snow, with a grumpy look on her face.. took a bit but got her back in the safety of the little barn, now just need DH’s help to get her caught and back in the duck pen. Silly! Bird. Would love to know how she got that high up in that tree.. someone needs a wing’s feathers trimmed. If you trim on wing’s worth of feathers off, it makes the bird uneven and they can’t fly well until they get a new set of feathers in and then you need to do it again.

Posted in Critters | Tagged Ducks | Leave a comment

Complete Book of Breads-Bernard Clayton

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

I don’t shop at Chapters often, and when I do, I tend to shop the very much reduced tables, but my momma had told me about a certain book in the cooking section and asked if I might be interested in a copy, so I headed over there to find the book and see if I might want one, I didn’t after looking at it, it called for to many things that I don’t grow or typically use in the house..

However this book caught my eye, it big, it got to be at least three inchs plus thick, if you stuck it in a bag, you could use it as a weapon folks, its a good hefty book, and then I opened it.. wow, the recipes from around the world, it has yeast bread, flat breads, sour dough breads, sweet breads, quick breads, a whole little chapter on all the different ways to home start your breads ( I am going to try the grape leaf starter this year) and I slid down to the floor and just started reading, which is were DH found me, on the floor reading this book in my lap, and yes, I paid full price for that book, while my DH looked on with horror at the price. It was worth it, I would guess that I make something from it once or twice a month for the past two years.

If you have never baked a day in your life, this is a great book, it has some of the best detailed write ups that are easy to understand in terms of learning to make bread, I like that each recipe gives you three choices on how it’s made -by Hand, by Mixer or by Processor. This means that even if you have bad hands, you can still use this book to make all your own homemade breads.

This book gets a full 5 out of 5, if you don’t make your own bread, might I highly recommend you consider starting to do so.. it is such a simple thing to learn to do and its one of those old fashion skills that should be considered a basic.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Homesteader Books | 3 Comments

The years are flowing by..

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Its a cold grey snow blowing day this morning, and my little girl would be a year older. The years are flowing by, and I wonder sometimes what would she have been like? Who would she look like now? What would she like to do? Who would she be? How would she have laughed? Would she have been quiet or would she have talked a mile a minute? I will never know, it was not meant to be.. Here but for a brief moment and then gone, but not forgotten..