I worked long hours yesterday and barely sat down. Today is not quite so busy. Right now, I’m going to take a few minutes to research canning/pickling jalapenos since we have them running out our ears. Apparently they like cool wet weather. I don’t much that why I live in the south!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 and is filed under Cooking, Gardening, Weather.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (0)
Growing up, my parents canned stuff from the garden and my grandmother and grandfather made fig preserves. I was never involved in it. Now, between the economy, our government, and a large over abundance of jalapenos from the garden, I thought it was time to learn to can. So, after what seems like weeks of gathering all the necessary parts and equipment, we finally were able to can jalapeno jelly yesterday.
We grew the jalapenos in the basket in buckets. Tomatoes grew from a hole in the bottom of the buckets and the peppers grew on top. Unfortunately, due to F. Wilt, we’ve only managed to harvest two tomatoes. They were very good tomatoes but most have not made it to nice red.
DH and I chopped the jalapenos and then pureed them with apple cider vinegar in the Cuisenart.
We then cooked the jalapenos, sugar and apple cider vinegar for 10 minutes. Then pectin was added and it was boiled hard for 1 minute.
We then started filling jars. (Note the mess on the stove top. Becareful when it starts to boil. It will grow fast.
The recipe called for 5 jars. I’m glad I readied 6 because it filled 6+ enough to test out. It’s yummy hot.
With the lids secure, the filled jars go back into the hot water and boil for 10 minutes.
They are now cooling for 24 hours in a cabinet. I can’t wait to get home and try some.
As we expand our garden, we plan to can more and more. High on my list to get is a pressure canner. I have been researching them. I’d love any input you have on them or any aspect of canning. Like I said, this is new to us but we plan to continue.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 and is filed under Cooking, Gardening, Survival.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (2)
A while back I mentioned DH made an addition to our “farm”. Here it is:
It also has a belly mower. It’s a nice addition. He’s already gotten a ton of stuff done with the front bucket. It’s amazing how much more useful a small tractor can be over a large tractor. We had a Ford 8000 we sold. It just didn’t serve our purposes any longer.
The little Kubota is helping us make good progress on determining our property line along the back of our land. We want to put a fence up so we can start considering livestock. Goats will probably come first. They are hardy, not too picky as to their food, produce drinkable milk and are great slow cooked over an open pit fire. They also reproduce fairly well. Finding the property line hasn’t been the easiest. We should have put up a fence 20 years ago when we bought the property. The creek has moved some. The trees have grown a lot. What was a field with a bare creek running through it is now a wooded field with an overgrown creek running through it.
The tractor goes a long way towards helping us prepare for SHTF scenarios. Keeping the place clean and trimmed prevents hiding places. Plus, it is enabling us to look at having livestock and a bigger garden. Generators are also available to run off the PTO. I think we made a wise choice. But, it does mean I’ll be driving that dually for a while.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 and is filed under Gardening, Survival.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (1)
DH and I have never been rolling in money. For years DH was a mechanic. He was a good mechanic, one of the top whereever he was. But, mechanics don’t make good money. I’ve always worked clerical jobs. Money is usually tight. Plus, we tend to spend on hobbies. If gotten really great at shopping sales, thrift stores, etc. Yesterday, Cricket, Bugaboo and I went to a local large thrift shop. Cricket has church camp coming up and is growing like a weed. We hit the jackpot.
First, for me:
85% wool jacket that zips up the front, fully lined - $.76
Faux suede jacket - $.76
Tencel shirt jacket - $.76
All three make hiding a gun very easy and the tencel shirt is so light it’s perfect for summer wear.
For Cricket:
Tons of name brand jeans in like new condition for $.76 to $2 each
Some great stylish shirts, most of them $.76 each
1 pair of nearly new (I’m talking worn two or three times) Dansko Professional Clogs for $8 (these are $110 min. new)
A wonderful little purse she loves - $3
For Bugaboo:
Assorted clothing most for $.76
Bjorndal Harvard shoes, nearly new - $3
An adorable purse - $3
A belt that FITS - $2
The whole trip cost us $65. They’ll need bits and pieces before school starts but, hopefully, for the most part, this will get us to cold weather.
To stick with the thrift topic of the day, when we got home, DH had Cricket and Bugaboo change lawn mower blades and do some grass cutting.
The work just never ends.
This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 and is filed under Children, Gardening.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (0)
Whenever possible, I use organic products. We eat a lot of organic food, I use natural soaps throughout the house. I buy organic clothes. When it came time to plant our garden in buckets, I choose to use organic soil. I used the Miracle Grow Organic in the bag. When we got ready to add to our little garden, I was out of the organic soil and so was our garden center. So, I got regular garden soil. It had fertilizer in it. The plants in the regular soil are thriving now that the rain has stopped. The plant in the organic soil aren’t. They are still anemic looking — pale yellow in many cases. They are smaller — much smaller. Also, they are not showing any signs of producing. The others are producing. We have one jalapeno pepper. I am very disappointed since the majority of them are in the organic soil. I have never used anything from Miracle Grow until now. I am providing the anemic plants with fertilizer now — non-organic since I could not locate anything natural and have not had time to make any. Unfortunately, it may be too little, too late.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 and is filed under Gardening.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (0)
Yesterday was a day for a lot of work around the old homestead that has not been getting done with all the shooting related stuff we’ve been doing. With all this rain, the mosquitoes were getting awful. So, we spent a lot of the day cleaning the woods of extra brush. This helps by eliminating places for mosquitoes to spend time hiding the in the shade during the heat of the day. Also eliminates places for a lot of creatures to hide. Since Alabama is know for a number of nasty poisonous creatures, this is a good thing. The only one we saw yesterday was a huge black widow spider. She was one of the biggest I’ve ever seen and we’ve had more than our fair share around our place. For a period of about five years, you could not leave anything lying around for more than about 48 hours without finding a black widow in it. This was rough because this was when Cricket was little. We had toys all over. Picking them up didn’t help much unless we brought them all in. So, each day, I’d have to check everything in the yard. Kick it over, etc.
Anyway, we got a lot of work done yesterday. We also got the pool put up. It’s still not full but it’s getting there. Cricket and Bugaboo spent a fair amount of time cooling off in it. Yesterday was probably the warmest day we’ve had so far. It got to about 92*F. Not bad for the last day of May in Alabama.
While cleaning out a bush with me, Bugaboo found a nest. Upon inspection, she found a walking stick in the nest. A very tiny walking stick.
That is Bugaboo’s hand. She’s 8. (Though she is quick to tell you she’ll be 9 in two weeks.) She kept it long enough to show Daddy then let it crawl back in the nest and put the nest in some brush we weren’t going to be bothering this go round.
Sometimes it’s hard to look at cleaning out all that brush. Woodland Sunflowers are blooming now. Luckily, we left a lot of them.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 1st, 2009 and is filed under Children, Gardening, Life, wildlife.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (0)
Recession Proof. All kinds of information to download and print.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 and is filed under Camping, Cooking, Fundemental Rights, Gardening, Guns, Survival.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (0)
Today’s high is supposed to be 72*F. There is a cold wind blowing also. Did I mention we got more rain? Our normal this time of year is 85*F with little rain. Typically, the rain ends in March, maybe mid-April. Our record high for today is 97*F. We are going to be a full 25* cooler than that today. We are forecast to be 1* above our record low for this date tonight. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice for the most part. But, my tomato plants are not happy. Nor are the peppers. One tomato has rotted off at the base. Many of the peppers look puny. We are contemplating drilling more holes in the bottom of the buckets to enable more water to drain. But, then, when it stops raining tomorrow for the next 4 months, we won’t need those drain holes. I wonder if we could duct tape them.
I am also considering how I’m going to replace the tomato that has died. There is a basil plant in the top doing fairly well. I have an extra jalapeno I have not planted yet. I wonder if it will grow upside down in cold wet weather.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 and is filed under Gardening, Global Warming.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (0)
She wants to go shoot an AR and M1 Carbine this weekend.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 and is filed under Fundemental Rights, Gardening, Guns.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (0)
This are growing around here. The little kitten has gained nearly 3 ounces in 4 days. Our tomatoes and peppers and basil are looking great. They all have new growth. Cricket and Bugaboo are getting closer and closer to my size.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 and is filed under Children, Gardening.
Author: EmmaPeel / Comments: (0)