My husband asked me what I would buy and how much room it would take buy $1000 worth of food. I am at a bit of a loss. Just food I guess, not other emergency supplies like candles & batteries. I said I would research it but I don't know where to start. I would prefer canned goods I think.
So far for us rice, beans,sugar and salt would be good. I do have canning supplies, I have been canning for years and have a dehydrator. We also have a cider press. Seems like canning lids would be good to have a supply of. I also have a calf outside and goats. We just put 35 chickens in the freezer. We have and can get more wheat berries anytime. DH just planted 20 apple trees yesterday. We already have a few fruit trees. Got a big garden and seeds too. I think pet food would be good to have extra of? I think my DH was thinking of cases of canned chili or something like that for the in between times.
Anyone else have some ideas for us? What do you do? Websites to look at for ideas?
We never got a call back on the apples last week, bummer. I did get twenty chickens butchered. I was going to finish the rest today but the weather was cold, rainy, and windy and it was pretty easy to talk myself into procrastinating, lol. It is so great to have rain though we haven't had any since the beginning of October and that wasn't much. We don't have any exciting homestead projects coming up, things are slowing down for the winter I suppose.
I spent most of today dinking around online and working on homeschool stuff. I inventoried some books and did my tracking for last week and planning for next.
We have three birthdays coming up this month. Elizabeth will turn 4, Alyshia 17 and Micheal 2. Micheal is so cute. His latest funny thing is to say, "I don't know", when I say, "where's Micheal". It is so funny. Miriam will turn 6 next month. My birthday is in December too, I actually had Miriam on my birthday. Rob and Randy are the outsiders with a summer birthdays.
When I get off the computer I am going to tend to my home management binder, it needs some upkeep. Then start dinner. I think I should get started.
I was hoping to butcher 20 of my meat birds tomorrow, leaving me with 15 to do the following weekend. Then we got a call this morning offering us apples. I have plenty of sauce and we have enjoyed apples pies and apple crisp but I think this will be enough that we can get the cider press out!!! We haven't been able to make cider for a few years. At our last place we had huge, old apple trees but here we are growing them so that takes time. I am hoping I can still get the chickens done!
I am trying to figure out how I can customize the sidebars and such and I am not getting anywhere. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thank you!
I have been wanting to post about our ongoing for a few days but just am now getting around to it.
Friday we went and gleaned a bunch of field corn. We feed the stalks and the corn and I brought some of the corn into the house for grinding. After we got the corn we picked 2 coolers full of apples.
Saturday I decided to stock up on bread and make applesauce which resulted in 10 quarts applesauce and 16 loaves of bread.
Sunday I rested.
Monday I finished off the apples resulting in 7 more quarts sauce and 10 1/2 pints of crock-pot apple butter.
I have enough apples left over for pie which I think I will make today.
Yesterday I grocery shopped and got ready for my mother-in-law coming to stay the night.
I took my frozen berries out of the freezer to make jam with and after that I am done with this years preserving. I just love putting up food, I like it more and more every year. I love to see the rows of jars with their various goodies. Jams, pickles, applesauce, they are all a treat in the winter.
Rob, Alyshia, and Randy were gone for the weekend helping my mother-in-law move, then Alyshia stayed until Wednesday to continue helping put things in order.
Since Alyshia was gone school was cut back since Randy and her work on somethings together and I was busy with the apples so I skipped on the school with Miriam but of course she is always hanging around and asking a million question about what I am doing and that is education in action.
I have been wanting to customize my blog a bit but haven't gotten to it yet. Today perhaps but this is all for now.
Last night we had a hard frost and I am thinking I need to bring in the pumpkins and squash that are on the front porch, I like them there for decoration but I fear they will freeze and be no good. Time to decorate the inside of the house for fall I guess.
The most interesting thing that happened in the last couple of days was our decision to drastically cut our electricity use after reading oklamouse's posts on minimal electricity use and how it affected their electric bill. We are not cutting back quite so much but we are trying our own experiment for a month. I still use the stove,dishwasher, washing machine and some other things. For us it is mostly just lights and the clothes dryer. Lights are off limits and I would have typically stopped using the clothes line by now I am keeping it up and DH is going to put a line up in the basement and we are trying to get more wear out of our clothes between washings. We have a game with the older kids and whenever you accidentally turn on a light you get a mark and the one with the least marks at the end of the month wins. It is amazing how often we reach for a light switch and we often left them on. We also unplug everything when not in use so none of those little lights that are on everything are lit. It may be hard to see the difference though as it is starting to get cold and the heat pump and furnance are running some know.
A couple of things I did the last few days are; Monday made butter and tortillas, Tuesday canned the plum ketchup, and today I am going to make bread. I got a Bosch a few months ago and I love it, yes I am using it today. We also try to make all our bread products with fresh milled flour and my grinder is electric and I used it this morning too.
Yesterday's dinner about 99% homeraised, I love that! Pork chops from our last pig, carrots from the garden, baked potatoes from the garden, milk from our goats and butter from our cream, oh and plum ketchup on the chops . The sour cream for the potatoes was storebought and I think that is all. In the The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery, one of the books that has influenced my life the most, she calls them independance days. The days when your food is your own, that is what I strive for. It doesn't happen as often as I like but it is the goal.
Time to get away from the computer, my bread dough is ready to be put in the pans.
"Homestead" Projects going on right now -
Raising Meat Birds
Raising Calf
Milking Goats
Saving Cream
"Homestead" Projects recently finished -
Canned the Plum Ketchup
Made Plum Syrup
Dried Plums
Made Plum Jam
Today was a fun day. Our town had "Ag Appreciation Day". There was a small parade and Rob drove one of the tractors from work (he works on a wheat ranch) and Miriam rode with him. Then there was games in the park. There was a straw maze but I didn't know there would be an entry fee for that and I didn't bring cash, so we missed out on that one. Micheal was in the bib overall contest but he didn't get a prize, of course I thought he ws the cutest one! We had a pinic lunch in the park and the littles had fun playing. We got home in the early afternoon and I am tired.
Rob and Miriam in the parade
A horse race.
A sack race. Even the adults got involved!
While I am posting pictures - Here is some corn we brought in a month or so ago. All in all I put up 73, 2-3 cup bags of corn. A record for me for corn!
I made torilla soup for dinner and we are going to eat soon. I made it with one of our own chickens. Our broilers are not quite ready but they are close enough that I didn't by chicken at the store during my last shopping trip.
"Homestead" Projects going on right now -
Raising Meat Birds
Raising a Calf
Milking Goats
Saving Cream
Making Plum ketchup, still cooking down
Projects recently finished -
Sorted tomatoes
Made Plum Syrup
Dried Plums
Made Plum Jam
Cleaned out the garden, only the carrots are left
There you have it, the days of our lives, as of today.
I thought it might be fun to blog about, "the days of our lives" around here and have a journal of sorts.
So far today I have done chores; feeding the 45 or so meat birds and letting them out to range for the day, feeding the goats and milking three them, giving the milk to the calf we bought last month, and feeding the dogs and cats. Then came in for breakfast. I had a cup of coffee and a pancake.
My 15 year old son, Randy, made everyone pancakes for breakfast, he is the "breakfast boy" as we call him, except on weekends.
Made sure the little kids were dressed, my three little ones are a 5 year old daughter Miriam, 3 year old daughter, Elizabeth, and a 1 one year old son, Micheal. Some days my 16 year old daughter, Alyshia, does this but she has a babysitting job Thursdays and Fridays.
Did some "work", I have an at home office that I run to help out some friends of ours with a small business. It works out pretty well since it is a work at home job but gives us some money that we put on our home because we have a goal of paying it off in a year. Sometimes it is an annoyance though, if I am having to work and things around the home and farm are not getting done and everything seems chaos, those are the days I want to quit. Then other days are like today when I have some spare time, of course in the fall things start to slow down as far as "homesteading" is concerned. I will likely quit after the house is paid of so I can put all my efforts into the home and homestead.
Lets see, I straightened up the kitchen, checked my emails and set up this blog.
Later I hope to do more housekeeping and do my home school planning for next week and tracking for this past week. Then make spaghetti for dinner.
Most night after dinner the oldest kids do chores and after they bring in the milk Rob runs it through the cream separator to get the cream and takes the skimmed milk back out to the calf. I use the cream for butter and my morning coffee.
"Homestead" Projects going on right now -
Raising Meat Birds
Raising Calf
Milking Goats
Saving Cream
Making Plum ketchup; Yeah, that raises eyebrows but it is great on pork
"Homestead" Projects recently finished -
Made Plum Syrup
Dried Plums
Made Plum Jam
Cleaned out the garden, only the carrots are left
Tomorrow is Ag Appreciation Day and my husband, Rob, will be driving a tractor from work in the parade and Miriam will be with him. Later we need to disbud the calf and give him a booster shot.
Ramblings about what goes on around here.
I am a Christian homeschooling mom of five, we live on 6 acres with Nubian dairy goats, chickens, a garden, and various other critters.
We also try to make all our bread products with fresh milled flour and my grinder is electric and I used it this morning too.
. The sour cream for the potatoes was storebought and I think that is all. In the The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery, one of the books that has influenced my life the most, she calls them independance days. The days when your food is your own, that is what I strive for. It doesn't happen as often as I like but it is the goal.
Rob and Miriam in the parade
A horse race.
A sack race.
Even the adults got involved!
Here is some corn we brought in a month or so ago. All in all I put up 73, 2-3 cup bags of corn. A record for me for corn!
