Just another Day on the Farm

How to make Salt Cured Lemons

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Putting up a few Jar’s of Salt Cured Lemon’s is very easy to do. I will show you step by step in three photos!

Wash your lemon to remove any wax, rinse them well with cool water, trim the ends off and slice them into 6, remove the seeds.

Cover the sliced lemon with salt, I used freshly grated pink salt but you can use canning salt or any of your preferred kosher salts.. Cover them well, stir and coat again, all the parts of the slices should be well covered in salt.

Put your salted lemons into a jar, pushing them down as you go.. a pint jar will take 3 large lemons, if needed add a little extra lemon juice after a hour to make sure that they are covered but still leave half inch head space between lemon juice and lid.

Allow to sit at room temp 4 to 7 days, the rind will change color becoming clearish like it would in a marmalade, after a week put your jars into the fridge where they will keep for months if you do not use them all up before that!

When people talk about their pantry’s, they talk about canning, or drying food but for some reason, they forget about salt!

Salted herbs, Salted fruits, Salted veggies, Salted Meats..

So many ways to use salt to cure.. it should be part of your pantry staples!

If you want to see what the other members of the challenge is up to.. there is a link in the side bar of the main page on the website. Head on over to see the other bloggers that will be working on this challenge. I will also be sharing their posts each week on my facebook page and twitter!

Chick Care 101

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Ideally, if you already have chickens you are going to let your broody hen do all this work for you. You can help pick the eggs she is sitting on but its just so much easier to let the hen do the work if you are only wanting a smaller amount of chicks to add to your flock in the year.

However if you are wanting to bring in chicks for meat or for same aged layers ( I really recommend a mixed aged flock) then you are most likely going to be ordering from a hatchery or you are going to be buying new chicks from a local who is hatching to sell.

Both can be good sources, research both, join your local facebook chicken group and read some posts, ask who is local to you and watch for those that post chicks for sale.

Do NOT expect any more help from the person who hatched the chicks then from the Hatchery.. they are not your new best friend in this.. they did their job..

If you got healthy chicks on pickup.. the rest is on you!

Now, I highly recommend Storey’s guide to raising chickens, or Barnyard in your Backyard as two good solid basic books on your average chicken care, coop requirements, feed etc.

Some of these checks will have been done already if you bought from a local chicken breeder.. but I am going to assume you ordered in from a hatchery or that you picked up chicks from the local feed store.

So you have picked up your chicks and get to have your first look at them, they should all look bight eyed and perky, they will be hungry and thirsty, so do your best to pick them up right when they are dropped off at your local feed store, and get them home as soon as possable, if its cool or damp, remember to cover their box with a light blanket to get them from the store to your vehicle and same to get them into the house..

Yup, you read that right, into the house if possable for the first 72 hours for sure and a week is even better, now I have used both the heat lamps that is recommended or I have used my old fashioned hanging wool strips, or I have used in floor heating, or if life is really good, I can slip some chicks under a broody hen.

The current chicks are in their homemade brooder, with 3/4 on their in floor heating and 1/4 off it, the chicks are not huddled, and are moving around eating and drinking and the sound is soft coming from the brooder so I know they are doing good, if huddled, they are cold, if all apart they are to hot, they do like to sleep in chick piles but they should not be piled on each other.

So once you get them in the house, take each one out and look it over, have a bottle of food coloring handy with a q-tip, and if any chick seems smaller or weaker, put a tiny bit of color on their back or top of head, it won’t hurt them, but it will make them stand out, into the brooder they go, lots of soft pine shavings underfoot, no slippery newspaper, you can use old towels, or in a pinch straw but honestly the best is shavings, they are easy to remove any that are damp around the water dish and you will need to clean and add a bit more a couple times a day for the first days. As you put each chick in, gently dip their beaks into the water, and make sure they all get their first drink.

So put in their chick feed, now I buy mine at the same feed store I get the chicks from, I am not going to get into the debate on if it should be medicated or not, that is up to you and what you know about your area and the way they will be raised, but if its in your buildings or your soil and you don’t treat for it, you will feel the effect in dead or sick chicks.

For the first feeding, I put the feed out in their little silver chick feeders and water ones, but if you only have a few chicks, you don’t need to spend on that, just use a low dish and put a couple nickels in the bottom and the shine will get the chicks all interested. sprinkle their food lightly over the shavings and then have a full small dish for them where the regular feedings will go.

If you have ever watched a momma hen with chicks, she shows them how its done, and she has a sound that says come here, grub is ready, try and do the same with your chicks, make whatever sound you want, I cluck for the chicks and we whistle for the turkeys, they learn and figure it out very quickly and it will be very helpful as they become adults and you want to move them around.

So the main four things chicks need are

Heat- most folks use heat bulbs to make this happen, red seems to be the color of choose on this , but I can honestly say that the infloor heating works well for when they are in their brooder box’s and the wool hanging strips* work very well for when they are bigger and moved into their first out of the house pen if you don’t have power there.

* This tip came from a old homesteading book, find a worn wool coat of blanket and cut it up into stripes at least a foot long, hang them off wooden dowls in at least three to eight rows, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch off the ground, and the chicks will move into the wool stripes and it will retain their body warmth, I have done this a number of times and if I ever had to go to raising chicks without a mom or power or the warmth of a wood stove to put the box by, this would be the ideal choice for me.

Food- I buy chick starter but soon enough I will be adding in extra’s, bits of fresh greens, as these are fall chicks, the greens will be soon hard to come by outside, no worries there, I have lots and lots of seed saved that will be used for sprouting, and these chicks will get fresh sprouted greens a couple times a week to make sure they grow big and strong. They will also get a feeding at least once a week of finely mashed up shelled hardboiled egg, and a couple times a month, I will raid my worm box’s and they will get some nice small fresh red wigglers to fight over.
Water-Right now the chicks are on filtered water, once they are at least a week old and well started, I will move them over to straight well water, when it comes to water, room temp is best, but in time, they will get luke warm water a couple times a day as will the laying hens, with just a touch of apple cider vinager added to the water during the winter. The key to water is that its cleaned often, and that the dish is washed inbetween.
Shelter/Bedding- It is very important to have a clean shelter and if you have had bird in it before its very important that it was cleaned between, it should be both draft free and at the same time have a good exchange of fresh air, the bedding was touched on above, it needs to be non-slipper or you will often end up with leg issues on the chicks, you need to keep a couple inchs of bedding , remove the damp or dirty bedding, you can use a cat litter scoop or on a bigger floor once they are bigger, you can use the stall bedding forks an then put down fresh bedding. Straw compacts and smells alot more then the cidar chips do.

Extra’s little perches or items to jump up and off, just for playing really, and soon a tiny bowl of grit will be need to be available to them.

Now once they are started, you need to listen to them, you will quickly hear be able to figure out a few different sounds, the most basic are

I’m content -This is the sound you want
Excited about food/water or you coming to visit
Wrong- Regardless of what is wrong, the sound is the same.
Fighting-Someone got peeked or a leg got grabbed, even at this young of age, they are figuring out who is boss chick, vs who is lower ranked.

Now, each time you check on them, and watch them for at least a min or two, take the time after just watching them, to check on your food colored chicks, gentle cup them and give them a check over, are they bright eyed, are they clean eyed and clean beaked, is they bottom clean and dry? Do they feel full in body? If you need to, pick up a unmarked chick and compare how they feel to you in weight, hopefully close yes? If the above is all good, then back into the bunch they go, but if any of the above are showing, time to move them to a clean empty fish tank set up, with a heating lamp on it, half screen, half light, and they get the same treatment as above till they are well and growing just great and then can be moved back into the baby flock, its not a good idea to keep a “off” chick or chicken with the main group.

Now if you ordered in a 100 chicks, you might want them out in a pen with multi lamps, but you still need to spend those times with them and listen.. pull the babies that need it and bring them in the house for care till they are ready for the bigger pen/larger group.

Move a chick or two over to the now well baby for a few hours and then do a fresh feeding for the whole gang and move the two or three back at the same time.. this is the easiest way to re-introduce your chick back to the group.

I think I have covered my chick raising basics, got any questions? or comments? please feel free to ask..

This re-work of my chick care 101 is part of the 31 day Self-Reliance Challenge. There is a link on the sidebar on the main website page to take you to a list of all the other bloggers that are part of this challenge. Don’t forget to check them out and see what they are doing!

Posted in 31 Day Self Reliance Challange, Chickens | Tagged Chickens, Chores, Farm Fresh Eggs, Farm Life, manure, Raising newborn chicks, Tips for raising chicks | 4 Comments

How to use the Baggy Method to Start Seeds

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

The Baggy Seed Starting Method is very easy to do and its very worth it!

All home harvested seeds and older seeds should be given a germination test using this method NOW! in seed ordering season.

I can not stress this enough, its worth taking a little time and figuring your seed germination rates. If you look on bought seed packages, it will give a germination rate on it, normally it will show over 80 or 90 percent. Smaller seed houses often do not list this and I find that can be because germination rates “can” be lower or just because they do not want the extra print costs for changing this per type of seed.

None the less, we are the gardeners and there is NOTHING worse than saving seed and planting out whole rows of seed that barely comes up. In years past, I have had this happen and just went.. hmm and gave them a bit more time.

In today’s climate change and with the higher need for our gardens (not matter their size) to produce, I changed this over years ago and went to the baggy method. There have been a number of springs that I have a very short window of cool seed starting before the soil jumps to warm starting seed timing. three years in the past ten, we have had very short spring windows before summer heat came crashing in.

I no longer have time to “see” what happens and plant again.. I want that edge, that leg up and I am betting that you would like the same leg up!

Test out at least ten random saved seeds from home saved. However for those fresh rare seeds, test them a bit later, so that you can pot them up.. No wasting those genes when they are limited to begin with!

Now I know that this method is not “green” in the sense that I am using a plastic bag and paper towel.. sorry I will give this a think.. and maybe play around with it to see if I can do this kind of testing without using them and still get steady return rates

I used Brussel Sprouts which need a huge lead time in my garden zone, I start them in Feb to get a outstanding harvest late season.

You will need paper towel (not tissue or bathroom, they are to fine and will rip far to easy for this process, but tissue is just fine for homemade seed tape.. A plastic baggy and seeds.

Now I put a goodly amount of seed on the paper, you can do it in more tidy lines if you want, or you can do as I did, the key is that it must be on one side so that you can fold the paper over it.

This amount of seed was to start my plants, you can use a lot less if you are just testing your germination rates.. these rates should go into your garden tracking book.

Fold it in half and then using water off your fingers or a spray bottle, wet the top sheet till its nicely damp but not to wet or dripping.. the paper should be wet enough that after about 60 second or so, you can see all the seeds clearly though the top layer but the very outer edges are still soaking up the water.. hope you can see what I mean in the above photo.

Fold it gently in half and slide it into the plastic baggy and then open it back up.. it should take up most of the space on the bottom of the bag. if you want to do larger amounts of seeds you can scale up to the point of a full sheet of paper towel and the largest baggy.

Then seal the bag most of the way and then blow in some air into the bag so it puff’s up some and then mostly seal it closed. Place your baggy in a warm spot, dark is fine.. top of fridge or spot by the heater (not on the heater) and watch them go..

now we can move it over to the next step if you are using your started seeds.

Now you pick and choose the seedlings. As you can see the germ rate on these Brussel sprouts seeds was outstanding.. I left them in the baggy till they were turning into true wee sprouts, then I moved them carefully and planted them up into their pots..

A mear 24 hours after being planted.. they are up and looking fab! They are now set up with a greenhouse topper, under the grow lights, once they get big enough that they move from the starter shelf to the grow shelves they will remove the top.

In total I planted out 30 strong seedlings, and feed 11 of the didn’t make it to the chickens bucket.

Compared to dropping two or three seeds per pot, I used a lot fewer seeds, so if you are seed frugal, this is a very useful tool. (you often hear about this type of seed saving in square foot gardening books)

Now, I say that one of the perks is that you don’t get to just select your seedlings based on the true starting leaves but also on the root as well. Now is time to start your cull process.
Anything that does not have even proper true leaf was removed.. Anything with very short or with reduced root structure or the few that had very long and thin roots was culled out.. at this stage, being part of the pack is just what I am looking for.

41 one seedlings, and I culled 11 or 26 percent of them.. we will see if all the once planted out make the grade.. I am game for all 30 but I really want 24 plants, and I am hedging my bets by doing a few extra.

I took a training course on growing plants with seed saving and plant breeding improvements and it was outstanding, I have never looked at gardening quite the same way. I used to garden for what was in front of me right now.. Now I garden both in the here and now but also with an eye to the future of the plant genes and what could be

Click on the Self Reliance Challenge Banner to be taken to post with all the other members in the challenge or at any time, click on the Banner on the side bar of posts on the website to see what the others are up to.

Posted in frugal, Garden, seed saving | Tagged Frugal seed starting methods, seed germination tests, Seed starting, Seed Starting baggy method, using the baggy method for seed germination test | 33 Comments

Feeding Back your Egg Shells to your Hens

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

feedingyoureggsheelsbacktoyourhens

The Hens are laying like mad at the moment. It feels like spring with the glut of older and pullet eggs coming in the house at the moment..

We are getting between 7 to 8 dozen a week at the moment, 2 dozen are being hard boiled for this and that, fresh are being scrambled for breakfasts and extra’s are being feed to the pig/hounds/purrpots.

That leaves a lot of shells (well other then the pig, who gets them whole), I could crush them and use them for the compost/garden, which is what I will switch to in the spring , when the hens will all be out eating bugs and such and crunching up their shells for extra yummies.

However in the deep of winter, the girls are getting their oyster Shell but it never hurts to increase their Calcium Carbonate intake in a totally safe and natural way.

I never feed back raw shells or bigger pieces to them.. Its just not worth the risk of creating egg eaters to me. I collect them in a bucket, letting them air dry as I collect a few days worth at time, then after I use my oven for something else, I turn the heat down 200 or you could go 250 if you wanted and I bake them 20 to 30 minutes.. Its not fussy here, you want them dried out.

Once they are cooled enough to touch, I just take the potato masher to them and get them to the point you see above.. lots of folks do feed them just like that, I have read it in books but I go the final step, I throw that into the blender and give them a final grind.

*The main ingredient in eggshells is calcium carbonate (the same brittle white stuff that chalk, limestone, cave stalactites, sea shells, coral, and pearls are made of). The shell itself is about 95% CaCO₃ (which is also the main ingredient in sea shells). The remaining 5% includes calcium phosphate and magnesium carbonate and soluble and insoluble proteins.

This blend can be sprinkled into their regular feed. Its a healthy way to recycle their shells back to them in the deep cold dark winter. It also cuts costs for their bought Oyster Shell and saving money is always a good thing!

Love Chickens? Here are a few more posts that might interest you?

Want to learn how to keep your Chickens Laying in Winter?

Want Chicks? Tips on Working with a Broody Hen!

Buying Chicks from the Hatchery? Chick Care 101

Posted in Chickens, frugal | Tagged drying egg shells, egg shells, Feeding Back your Baked crushed Eggshells to the Chickens | 9 Comments

Guest Post “New Year Goal Setting” by The Practical Dreamer

Posted on December 30, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

The Do’s and Don’ts of Goal Setting for 2019 – Setting Yourself Up For Success

With the new year quickly approaching many of us are turning our thoughts to New Year’s resolutions and goals for 2019. In fact, a quick google search for “Goal setting 2019” returns over 12,000,000 results, and a quick browse through those results shows a dizzying number of approaches and techniques for effective goal setting.

Yet statistics show that nearly 80% of News Years resolutions (which are effectively goals by a different name) fail by the second week in February. How many of us have made a resolution in the last week of the year to work out more? Or save money? Effectively we are setting a goal for ourselves for the upcoming year.

Yet most of us will fail to meet that goal rather spectacularly. I know I’ve done it, and I’m willing to bet you have, too. So does that mean that resolutions and goal setting simply don’t work? I know a lot of people who refuse to set goals and resolutions. They don’t see a point. I’ve been there. Yet, as Winston Churchill is often quoted as saying, “He who fails to plan is planning to fail.”. So, then, is there a right way to set a goal (or make a resolution) that will succeed?

Absolutely! They key is to set yourself up for success, which means following some fairly simple do’s and don’ts.

Do manage your expectations

Knocking off a list of dreams for the new year can be deceptively easy. I want to make more money, exercise more, and lose weight. Simple, right? Except it’s not. How are you going to make more money? What exactly do you mean by exercise more? How much weight?

If you’ve set a goal that is completely unattainable you’re destined to fail before you’ve even begun. In order to set goals and resolutions that will last past Valentine’s Day they have to be realistic and reasonable. Of course they should be a stretch, but not so much that you can’t ever get there.

Do celebrate your success

This one goes hand in hand with managing expectations. We all want something amazing to happen in 2019, and it’s totally possible. However, our tendency as humans is to concentrate on the negative. Instead of celebrating that pound lost last week we beat ourselves up that it’s “only” a pound when Julie down the road lost 5.

A huge part of why most of us miss hitting our goals is because we are so concentrated on what we *didn’t* do that we totally fail to acknowledge what we did. Small wins are important. They are what will ultimately get us to our goal.

Do forgive yourself

This is the flip side of celebrating success. You’re human. I’m human. Every single one of us is going to screw up. We’re going to fail. We are all utterly, beautifully imperfect. It’s part of what makes us all unique. So for goodness sake forgive yourself!

Seriously, you’ll make mistakes. You’ll fall flat on your face. Over, and over, and over again. That does not, however, make you a failure. So take a minute or two to wallow in your latest set back, but then pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and move on. Don’t beat yourself up. And for goodness sake don’t give up! Learn from your mistakes. Maybe re-examine your expectations and adjust accordingly.

Don’t compare yourself to anyone else

You are you. You will always be you. Which means you can’t possibly be someone else. So don’t expect yourself to move towards your goals the way anyone else does. If someone else is succeeding, celebrate them. Support them. Don’t judge yourself based on their success, though.

That is the quickest way I can think of to demoralise yourself and knock you off the path to your own success. I can think of a million beautiful platitudes about the journey being your own, and ever single one of them is true. You will get there if you let yourself, but it may not look the way you expect, and it certainly won’t look like anyone else’s path. Stop comparing yourself to others and celebrate what you’ve accomplished!

Do break things down into bite sized chunks

Moving into the practical for a moment, break things down! Seriously, “Lose weight” is a great goal, but it’s overwhelming. How are you going to lose weight? Do you need to exercise? What does exercise look like? What about your diet? Do you need a gym membership? What about….argh!! Stop! Looking at the big picture is great, but not exclusively or you’ll drive yourself nuts and walk away from the whole thing as impossible.

Break it down. In January cut out soft drinks for 30 days and see where it gets you. My husband lost something like 20 pounds just by cutting out Pepsi for a couple months. February you’re going to look at portion size and adjust things there a little. March you’ll start looking at moving more. Take the stairs at work. Park at the back of the parking lot and walk in. April you’ll add an after dinner walk now that the weather is getting nicer. May you’ll add a weekly bike ride with the family. Not even 5 months in and you’ve made 5 fairly easy changes to your lifestyle and I’ll bet your weight has shifted down.

The best part is that by breaking it down into bite sized chunks and giving yourself time to turn each step into a habit you’ve set yourself up for lasting success. The same types of chunking down can work for any goal you’re working towards.

The key is to make it manageable.

Set yourself up for success!

Do remember to live!

It is so easy to get caught up in reaching our goals to the point where we put blinders on. I am famous for it. I’ll be so concentrated on reaching whatever goal I’m working on that I forget about living my life. How many times have you told yourself that you’ll buy that gorgeous outfit when you’ve lost 10 pounds, or you’ll plan a vacation when you pay off your credit card debt? We’re all guilty of it.

The simple fact is that we each only have one shot at this life, and if we waste it driving towards goals, what’s the point? I know I don’t want to reach the end of my life finally having lost all the weight and made my fortune only to look back on my life and realize that I didn’t actually enjoy it. I’ve come to the realization that I would rather take an extra month or two to pay off my debt if it means taking my family on a small vacation now, rather than waiting years for the right time. Or lose the weight slower because I’ve had a glass of wine or piece of cake with good friends.

Obviously we need to be realistic (see point 1!!), but it’s also important to love the life we have while we’re living it. Not “some day”. Live today. Plan for the future, set goals, dream! But also, play with your kids, enjoy the sun on your face, go on a date with your loved one. Do something you’ve never done before. Create a bucket list and cross something off it!

Heck, that might even be a good goal for 2019…cross one item off your bucket list (and yes, it’s totally cool if you didn’t know it was on your list until you did it…).

At the end of the day we all have some idea of where we want to go. It might be something fairly short term like the weight loss example I keep coming back to, or it might be something bigger. Something life changing. Regardless of what your goal is, you can absolutely get there. What are you goals for 2019? I’d love to hear about them!

Personal Note from Farmgal

I want to give a shout out to Melissa, I have known her for a number of years now, first meeting her here in Ottawa area, then staying in touch as her family moved to England and back again. I will be sharing a guest post now and again over the year in helping to promote her new adventure as a life coach.

Melissa has always been a amazing ear to have listen and give sound advice afterwards. I am proud of her for taking this skill to the next level along with her training done towards this.

I have worked along side her on a few different community based programs and I can honestly say that she just gets calmer and steadier in times of pressure. Its a lovely skill to have in life!

If you have a goal to reach and want to work with a couch to help make them happen! Do consider sending a Note to Melissa and seeing if you connect. Check out her New Facebook page and please consider sharing it on your media if you would be so kind. Lets get her information out so folks can find her 🙂

Melissa Clarke is a wife, a mum, a daughter, and a life coach. When she’s not running to keep up with her children she can be found creating, reading, or working out (although that doesn’t happen nearly often enough!).

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Realistic Dreamer Life Couch | 4 Comments

Canning Dark Brown Beans

Posted on December 29, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

It seemed like the perfect day to can up some dark spicy beans. I set a whole bag of navy beans to soaking last night, changing the water twice. This morning into my big pot went the beans and my 3 change of fresh water and into a simmer they go till tender.

At that point it was nice and easy to finish off the recipe for getting them ready to can.

Three cans of tomato paste 8 oz
Half a cup of Montreal Steak Spice
1 cup of Fancy Molasses
1/4th cup of seasoning salt

Mix it all together, bring it back to a boil, it made 14 pints and I used the jars to put up a nice mixed veggie soup for Dh’s lunches.

Into the pressure canner for 75 min for pints. I normally make my Dark Brown Beans with bacon in them as seen above but these ones are meat free

In our store, only Libby’s carries the Dark Molasses Beans (the maple ones and the lighter ones are far more popular locally here in ontario, where as in Alberta the Dark Molasses ones are very popular).

They used to go on sale for 50 cents a can for years and that was cheaper then I could make them myself..

Then they moved the price to 77 cents a can and then it jumped to a dollar a can..

Now for the last year.. they never went on sale.. I have not seen this kind of bean on sale at all in 2018 and I was looking for it.. the maple went on sale for 1.00 and I saw the regular kind on sale for 1.20 each..

No, they have been sitting on the shelf at 1.70 per can.. Given that the canned food is processed and that means it also is taxed at 13 percent here between the fed/province tax and that can of beans now costs 2.02

That’s a crazy high amount for 390ml of canned beans.. I just can’t do it..

As I want to eat more beans this year, not less! I am going to have to make more baked in the oven in smaller batches and can more up for instant grab and go jars.

So I am back to canning all my own beans as I can do them for .63 cents per pint at this time. I will need to play around with recipes to get them as close to the kind I like.

Posted in Charcuterie, food, Food Production and Recipes, frugal | Tagged Canning, Canning Baked Beans, Cost cutting measures, Dark Baked Beans, Frugal | 5 Comments

Orange Cranberry Jam

Posted on December 28, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Cranberries are such an awesome treat for Christmas but watch for those sales that “should” come after boxing day on them. It’s a perfect time to pick up extra bags and make up some awesome Cranberry jam.

This is a very simple recipe to make and can up using a water bath method.

4 cups of cranberries (or two small bags)
1 can of frozen orange juice (I used no pulp)
2 cans of water in the orange juice tube
1 tsp of salt
5 to 7 cups of sugar (I went with five because I didn’t want to it to sweet, please do not reduce it below 5 cups if you want to can it.. you can reduce it below 5 cups if you want to freeze it. If you want it sweeter, can use up to seven cups of white sugar)

Take your cranberries/juice/water/salt and add it all to a big heavy steel pot, bring it to a boil and then drop it down to a simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes till the cranberries start all popping, if you want chunky jam, use a potato masher, if you want a smooth jam, carefully take it off the stove and hit with a stick blender till you get the smoothness you want.

Put it back on med-heat and add your sugar stir in and continue to stir while you bring it to a boil, skim the foam. Jar into hot jars, wipe your rims and into a hot water bath for 20 minutes for shelf stable Orange Cranberry Jam.

Bet you thought I forgot the pectin? Nope.. I just like this one as is. Its got natural thickness to it. Its a cross between a jam/butter in texture.. just lovely!

If stored in a cool dark pantry, it will be good for up to a year. Use it for jam but so much more than that. .use it in salad dressings, use it in sandwich’s its outstanding with old aged cheddar cheese! and don’t forget to consider using as glaze for meat, or adding a kick to your homemade BBQ.

Made 4 pints plus a bit leftover for fresh use.

Posted in Canning | Tagged Easy Orange cranberry jam, How to make orange cranberry jam, Making homemade jams, Orange Cranberry Jam, Waterbath canning | 9 Comments

Happy Anniversary

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

20 years of being together with my wonderful mountain man and today we are having our 19th wedding anniversary. Its been a challenging year in many ways and I am beyond grateful that you were at my side though it all dear!

Note to self, must take more “couple” photos though 2019.. So many great single photos but not nearly enough “couple” even if they need to be selfies LOL

Posted in At the kitchen table | 5 Comments

Self Reliance Challange 2019

Posted on December 26, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Once again Lisa is having a 31 day Self Reliance Challenge for bloggers to join in with.

Make a resolution to be more self reliant in 2019! Being more self reliant helps save money and increase your confidence and skills. I’ve pledged to share my self reliance posts, tips, and plans with you in January 2019 as I challenge myself to learn new skills!

I am going to be working with fellow bloggers listed on her page, I also have included a link to the main site with all the bloggers in my side bar if you ever want to check them out in more detail.

If you are a Pin Gal the group has you covered! Follow the link to our board, where you will see all the new posts from all the homestead bloggers in the challenge.

If you are blogger and want to join, please feel free to drop me a note or go right to lisa’s site and see will get you all set up. You do not need to post daily and you are allowed to link back to older posts as well.

I am trying something new this year.. I have written out a schedule for the full 31 days and I have a daily plan on what goes out when. I might love this or I might hate this! Its a busy month and I am interested to see if this will help or hurt me for keeping things on track.

Sometimes having a subject matter can be great and other times if I am not feeling the writing flow with it, I can’t get it come out when something else needs to be written first. In hopes of keeping it moving correctly, I have one backup post already done for each of the “general” seven day subject matters done in the plan. This means if I hit a bump on my writing, I can use the pre-written one and or the older post that is related to the subject matter and well worth bringing out again.

I break all the rules because I do write most of my post fresh daily, rather then writing ahead of time but I think that most of the time that is perfect for my blog as I keep to the season’s and the happenings on the farm and our outings/trips and so forth.

I am not taking on any “new” for this challenge.. instead I am going to focus hard on what I KNOW inside and out.. I am going to try and look at programs/kits/How to that are second nature to me and share them.

These will be tried and true write out and tips on how we do things on the farm, with new fresh updates on posts written years ago with new photos in some cases. While I admire so many of the bloggers trying new things and new challenges and learning curves.

It got my thinking cap on and I decided that I would go the other way!