Homesteading 101 Kitchen Efficiency and Organization

I cook our family’s food from scratch, every day, 365 day a year.  We don’t go out except on very rare special occasions.  I am too cheap and as a vegan to finicky to eat out most places…besides we live in the sticks!

As I covered in my last post about food storage.  Being prepared is also key to running a kitchen efficiently.  To know how you cook and organize your kitchen accordingly.  You do not need a big fancy kitchen to have one that runs will with few wasted steps.  In fact a huge kitchen can be a detriment to efficiency.

There are a few things that should be done before setting up or re-organizing your kitchen….

Get Rid of what you don’t use…

Be realistic.  Do you really need 3 waffle irons?  How about those 15 packets of gravy mix in the back of the spice cabinet?  While you are purging the unneeded look for the outdated, the broken beyond repair, and the things you hate.  For me it was getting rid of a frying pan that I absolutely hated.  I gave it to one of my older sons who are starting out and replaced it with one that worked much better for me.

If you have things that only get used during the holidays move them somewhere besides your kitchen…just remember where you put them.  Keep valuable kitchen real estate for the most used and useful items

Make sure everything in your kitchen is used frequently.

Seriously take a look at how you cook…

 Are you a gourmet cook that needs lots of spices?  Do you like me spend vast amounts of time baking? Do you need lots of different pots and pans or will just a few simple ones suffice?  Are small kitchen appliances something that you depend on daily or is a really sharp knife and box grater fine for you?

When you know how you cook organize stations for these tasks…

I have 4 deliberate zones in my kitchen.  One for cooking, one for baking, another for clean up and the last for eating.  Each has the tools for that task within reach.

My Cooking zone…

In this is my pots and pans, utensils that I use for cooking such as stirring spoons, knives, spatulas, ladles, etc. My most used spices are kept near by with my more exotic kept higher in a cabinet.  I also keep my non-stick spray and cutting boards handy.

My Baking zone…

I have a 3 drawers beneath where I bake that I store everything I need for all my recipes for breads and other goodies.  All measuring cups, spoons, whisks are in the first drawer.  Chocolate chips and baking chocolate along with sugars are kept in the second drawer.  Third drawer has cookie cutters, muffin liners, and rolling pins.  All my baking spices are kept within reach of this zone. Next to these drawers is a cabinet with my wheat grinder and Bosch bread mixer. Mixing bowls are within reach also.

Clean up zone…

This includes the sink and the dishwasher and draining board.  I use the cabinet directly over the dish washer to store plates and cups that we use everyday.  This saves steps when unloading the dishwasher.  Towels and dishrags are kept in a drawer next to the sink.

Finally…eating

We keep dishes next to the area we eat along with napkins and the compost bucket.  I also keep a small spice basket there with salt and pepper, Tabasco and sugar

Countertops...

These are a blessing and a curse in my house.  I love having lots of counters but also hate the stuff they attract.  Mail, newspapers, paint buckets, coats, plants (ok, like that one) etc.  It is hard not to use such convenient horizontal surfaces as a dumping ground for everything.

I have made an effort to find places behind doors for most of my kitchen things like appliances…I have found that a cluttered counter seems to attract more clutter where as a clean sparse counter seems to stay neat longer.

Waste Disposal…

Keeping small recycling bins, as well as a bucket for compost in your kitchen makes the items that are actually put in the garbage to a minimum.  It also makes clean up more efficient.

Storage…

I don’t store a lot of food in the kitchen (I use my pantry for that) but what I do store I store properly.  Oils should be kept in a cabinet out of direct sunlight.  Spices should not be stored next to the stove as heat and moisture will affect their flavor.  Make sure foods are stored in areas that are appropriate to that food.

Store your most used items on the lowest most easily accessible shelves with the least used on the highest.

Working efficiently…

If you have decluttered and organized your kitchen you have taken a huge step to efficiency.  Now when you actually step into the kitchen to prepare something you can follow a few very simple suggestions to make it even more streamlined.

Make sure you have all the ingredients you need before beginning…I know this sounds like common sense but I can’t tell you how many times I have been 3/4 of the way through a recipe and found that I was missing an ingredient that I was sure I had.

Gather all your necessary  equipment…don’t waste while working by looking for the measuring spoon or the beaters for the mixer.

Clean up as you go…harder for some of us I will admit.  Have a sink full of soapy water ready even if you use a dishwasher.  As you get something dirty put it in the sink so the food won’t dry and cake on making it much harder to clean later.

Don’t let the dishes pile up on you…nothing is more discouraging than coming into your kitchen and seeing a mountain of dishes.  It does nothing to inspire you to be creative in your kitchen…in fact it might just send you out to eat, and that is not what we’re hoping for here!

Make sure your kitchen is clean before retiring for the night to the couch or going to bed...I know for me this is hard.  After dinner is done I am tired and in no mood for kitchen clean up.  But those mornings that I get up and the kitchen is clean it makes my day so much sunnier.  It also makes me inspired to come into and cook for the family…instead of running away!  So wipe the counters and load the dishwasher, put everything back in its place, you will thank yourself in the morning!

Make extra...if you are making lasagna it is just as easy to make an extra pan for the freezer since you have the mess out anyway.

Remember no kitchen set up is etched in stone…rearrange and tweak it till it works perfectly for you and the way you cook. Making the commitment to cook from scratch may seem overwhelming but  in a well organized kitchen, cooking and baking seems less of a chore and more of an adventure!

Oh and one more tip…

It saves time to have a computer in the kitchen to look up recipes or in this case write a post for NDiN…I actually made bread while writing this!

Fun on Winter Nights!

There is so very little that I enjoy about Winter but one of my favorite things to do is to star gaze during Winter. A few Christmases ago, my family got a telescope. The kids’ name was on it but everyone knew it was really for me (is that wrong of me? Wait…don’t answer). I grew up in the middle of nowhere in a place where there was almost no light polltion, whatsoever. I looked up plenty and, I suppose, appreciated the variety and sheer number of stars that one can see from a dark location. But I never really appreciated that viewpoint until I moved to the city where viewing the Milky Way or even seeing the Big Dipper can be a challenge at best. The fact is, though, I live in the city. While we try to do many things as if we live in the country, some realities are inescapable.

So viewing stars is not easy in the city. But, it is certainly possible. Not only is it possible, it can still be prety awesome if you work at it. One thing that makes the Winter particularly appealing for stargazing is that the typical Summer-time haze is not an issue. Although the air is crisp, it is incredibly clear. Without haze, light pollution has a less significant effect. Just don’t lick the telescope in Winter.

One of my most favorite things about Winter viewing is that a number of planets are available for viewing without waiting until the middle of the night. It gives us a chance, as a family to spend time together, gazing into space and pondering life, all before the kids’ bedtime. Well, I probably do more of the pondering than my kids do, but they will follow suit in time I am sure. So, back to the planets…Saturn is spectacular in the Winter-time. My telescope is not terribly powerful, but it is plenty strong enough to allow us to gaze upon Saturn and see, very clearly, its rings. Of course, our view of the rings is nothing like that you will see in the magazines, but I was in awe the first time I saw it with my own eyes. It takes quite a bit for the kids not to run a mile a minute, but when they saw Saturn, they were silent.

I am no astronomer and I do not have all sorts of star charts mapped out in my head. Rather, I use a most excellent program called Stellarium. Stellarium is a free program and is written for Windows, Mac and Linux. Within the program, you set your viewing location and the program shows you the “current” sky. You can alter the time setting within the program to find when a particular planet will rise or explore stars and nebulae visible right where you are located.

If you are looking for an excellent way to spend time with your family this Winter, consider spending a few dollars on a telescope (mine is from Orion and was under $200). Download Stellarium and prepare to be dazzled by the wonders you will find!

Warren can also be found at My Home Among the Hills writing about the adventures of life in WV.

Salt + Cabbage + Time = Sauerkraut

In my family, you always eat sauerkraut on New Year’s day to ensure a prosperous New Year. This tradition has been passed down through generations of my dad’s family. When my grandmother died, my dad took over the reigns as the chef on New Year’s. He’s developed his own special recipe that’s quite tasty, even for non-sauerkraut lovers. If you’d like to see his recipe check out my New Year’s Day post.

Several years ago, when we started to eat more locally, I started making the kraut for our New Year’s meal. I typically start the kraut in October so it has 4-6 weeks to ferment. But you still have time to get a batch in before the holiday!

Sauerkraut that ferments at cooler temperatures – 65 or lower – has the best flavor, color and vitamin C content. The fermentation process takes longer at these temperatures, around 4-6 weeks. That’s probably why it’s traditionally made in the fall. Looks like I’m making mine at the right time, it should be ready in December and waiting in the fridge for New Years!

Making sauerkraut is quite easy all you need is cabbage (red or green), salt, and time (generally 3 T of salt for each 5 lbs of cabbage). Slice up the cabbage as thinly as you’d like, I usually do some really thin and some thick for variety. Transfer some sliced cabbage to a big glass bowl and sprinkle it with salt, then smash with a wooden spoon or potato masher and mix. Continue adding cabbage and salt and mixing and smashing until the bowl is half full. At this point I usually let the cabbage sit for 10-15 minutes to wilt because this makes it easier to pack into the jar I use as a fermenting crock. If I had a big crock I’d salt and smash right in the crock.

Transfer the cabbage to a jar or crock, smash it down and continue working until all the cabbage is salted, smashed and packed into the jar. Let the cabbage sit overnight, if the brine hasn’t covered the cabbage make some brine (1.5 T of salt to 1 quart of water) and pour over the cabbage. Weigh the cabbage down to keep it submerged below the brine. Some people use a Ziploc bag filled with brine, I use a canning jar to weigh down the cabbage because I’m not comfortable using plastic. Let it sit for 4-6 weeks until it stops bubbling and it tastes like sauerkraut. Make sure you check the kraut every couple days and add brine if the level goes down. I typically end up adding some several times during fermentation. After 4-6 weeks (or less if it’s warmer) you’ll have kraut (taste to see if it’s done). You really can’t get much simpler. When it’s finished store in the fridge and enjoy whenever you want. You can enjoy cold as is or cook it in recipes. You really can’t get much simpler.

When I was making this I thought about all the women in past generations of my family that spent time each fall making sauerkraut for New Year’s. Connecting with our food heritage is such a wonderful thing. Hopefully our nieces & nephew will grow up with fond memories of eating Grandpa’s Famous Sauerkraut on New Year’s and continue the tradition with their families.

Do you have a specific food or recipe that has been passed down through the generations of your family?

Haircut 378

Due to technical problems here at the Roost I missed my Friday post about Grazing and my chance to post my Frugality pictures on Sunday.  The grazing post will happen in the next few weeks, but the Frugality Pictures are on a still smoking hard drive and somewhat inaccessible.  So, first a thought about frugality.  Buying a cheep outlet strip instead of a good quality surge protector is not a savings.  Neither is the few seconds saved by not backing things up.  Hopefully that lesson is now learned.

Yesterday was haircut day at our house.  A family togetherness exercise that happens about every six weeks.  After 15 years of haircuts we are finally to the point that there are few tears, little fear, and a bit of efficiency.

  It wasn’t always that way, but it is a pretty good time now.  So we chatted about life as CC clipped my hair.  We laughed about how long she had been cutting my hair and how steep the learning curve had been.  She got good fast.  Having to go out in public with someone is motivation to do a good job on their hair.  She cuts all our hair.  (I cut hers too, until she can’t stand it any more and goes out to have someone who can do more than cut a straight line do it.)  She even cut hair for the cowboys on the ranch we worked at.  They would trade beer for haircuts.  By the end of the evening the cuts got a bit interesting, but no one seemed to care.

I’d been fretting about today’s post and the lack of frugality pictures.  As she clipped away I started counting up haircuts.  She has been cutting my hair for the last 15 years.  That’s about 120 haircuts.  I’ve probably gotten my hair cut by someone else 3 times in those 15 years (and never been happy with it!)  When I have gone out to get my hair cut the price has been around $15.00.  Thats quite a bit of money.  I asked CC how many times she had gone out for a haircut.  She goes about once a year.  I cut it the rest of the time.  Then we added in the kids.  Combined they have had about 160 haircuts in the last 15 years, and gone out maybe 5 times.  So, here’s the breakdown,

Me     120 – 3= 117

CC      120 – 15 = 105

Kids  160 – 5 = 155

Total = 377  haircuts at an average of $15.00 each (CC’s would cost more and the kids a bit less.)

Thats a savings of $5655.00 over the past 15 years. 

We have had 3 sets of clippers in that time. (Probably could have done it with one, but we moved to NZ where they are on a different power system.  Replaced clippers then and when we came back.)  The clippers cost about $40.00.  One of them came even came with a training DVD which improved the quality of our haircuts a lot.

Remodeling A Family Affair

Yesterday in our Frugal Photo Post I posted a picture of one of our remodel projects.  It is the one we are in the middle of right now.  It is something the whole family pitches in on and helps.  Our older boys work there when they can, making time around college and their other jobs.  Hubby goes over after work and I go over when I can with the little ones.  We work together on it until it is done.

When we first got married we did not want to rent so we purchased a house within the first year of our marriage.  As fate would have it my husband got a job across state less than 1 year of owning the house.  We tried and tried to sell it but had no luck.  So we rented it out.

We had never considered owning a rental but had not choice.  We lucked out and got very good renters.  They paid their rent on time, took good care of the house and treated it like their own.  We ended up having them as renters for over 20 years!  It also began our adventures in getting older houses, fixing them up and renting them out.

We lived in 8 different houses in our first 12 years of marriage.  We would move into them, fix it up, move out, rent it.  We did this over and over all the while looking for our ‘perfect’ piece of property in the country.  We finally found the 10 acres we are now on and decided to build.  All of our previous experience was invaluable when building our own home.  It saved us  money being our own contractors and doing much of the work ourselves.  It is also very satisfying looking around our home and knowing that is was our own sweat and labor that built most of it.

Being a landlord is not for everyone and we have decided that this will be the last until hubby retires.  But with the way the economy is and with 401k’s not being what they used to be it helps to have a ‘back up’ income for emergencies and for retirement.

As nice as the extra income will be in the future what I really like is the chance to get to bring an old house back from the brink.  To find the old love letters in the walls, to see the vintage wallpapers, to refinish the old growth floors, and to bring to life an old but charming kitchen.  There is something about a house that is a hundred years old that almost talks to you as you work on it.  There is a sense of history and depth that a modern house just does not have.

It has also given us the opportunity to learn many new skills.  I can wire a house, lay tile, sheet rock, and lay hardwood.  Hubby does his own plumbing and siding. The big boys know how to do all these things and more…

Of course the little ones get to learn about workplace safetly, lol!

Yes remodeling is a family affair around here!

What interesting things do you do together with family or friends?

Kim can also be found at the inadvertent farmer raising organic fruits, veggies, critters, kids…and a camel!

Being Frugal our Sunday Photos

We decided that the weekend after Thanksgiving is usually a time to think about shopping.  Black Friday, the alarm going off at 4:30 am, early morning doorbusters, the mall, the crowds…the mayhem!

Since we like to swim against the current around here we are sharing photos of  ‘being frugal’ .  Now this we do admit was a bit of a challenge, but it was fun…much more so than fighting the crowds to get to the 50% off socks!

Enjoy!

For a couple dollars in seeds I grew well over $100 of pumpkin if I had bought it canned.  Roasted, pureed, and frozen for use all winter…no pumpkin shortage here!

We do our own remodeling…it takes longer but saves tons of money.  Besides the satisfaction of a job you know is well done.  All of our older boys now know how to frame, wire, plumb, sheet rock, tile, and side a house.  You can’t put a price on that kind of knowledge!

Purchased 18 years ago this month.  Chevy Astro Van, 8 passenger extended length with towing package…hauls hay, sports teams, bags of leaves, groceries, lumber, widows, a dog and a goat!  Yes that is 264,750.7 miles on it!  I’m hoping to get at least 20 years out of this van…more if I’m lucky!

Baking my own organic whole grain bread 2x weekly.  Grinding my own grains purchased in bulk saves me 100’s of dollars from my yearly grocery bill…although I do it for the nutrition and taste more than the money savings…though that is nice also!

Lastly is skipping the monthly fee of cable or satellite tv or even the latest movie in the theaters to sit on the porch swing and watch God’s sky show!  Its free and oh so much better for your soul!

So what interesting or unique ways are you being frugal?

You know you’re a Gardener when…

When a line of plastic garbage bags gets you excited!

Want to know what’s in my bags…bettcha do!

It’s beautiful, and nutritious…

Look!  Fo0d for my garden…lovely leaves destined to be shredded and put down as much.  To break down into lovely healthy soil for next year’s garden.

Yep…you know you’re a gardener when you are thrilled by plastic bags full of leaves!

 

The Day Before Thanksgiving

It’s the day before Thanksgiving
And while I’m employed
I’ll get to work early,
Yet slightly annoyed.
How can I focus?
I’m much too distracted.
There’s so much to do
In the time so compacted.
There’s a turkey to roast
And you know, that takes hours.
It can not be rushed.
No, it’s not in my powers.
Sweet potatoes for baking
Need scrubbing and peeling.
So deliciously spiced.
Oh, the smell sends me reeling.
Preoccupied with thoughts
Like this all through the day.
‘Til the very last customer
Is sent on his way.
Then, I make my way home
To wear my other hat.
I’m the mommy, the wife,
And the cook and all that.

I plop down in my chair
Parked in front of the fire.
With so much left to do
Still before I retire.
Then I see that my boys
Have been working hard, too.
There’s not quite so much
Left for me to do.
The turkey’s been soaking
For hours today.
It’s ready for cooking
(or most of the way.)
My little’s been washing
The veggies and stuff.
He too young for chopping,
But still, it’s enough.
I remember again
As I hang up my hat
How important they are
And I’m thankful for that.

Asking the right question

I usually check the news in the morning while I’m waiting for the coffee to get done.  I try not to obsess, but I like to keep up with what’s happening in the world at large.  So, this morning I turned on CNN and listened to a bit of the wrangling over the Health Care bills.  Everyone who came on had their little bit they were supporting or fighting.  Everyone hanging desperately on to their little bit, pulling in their own direction.  It reminded me of leading my goats to pasture.  Every morning I have to take our 12 goats to what ever bit of pasture we have fenced for the day.  I hook them all onto one long lead, grab the collars of the two leaders, and we all walk to the paddock.  The goats pull against each other rather than fighting with me.  Since I have the two strongest going the direction I want, we usually get there without much trouble.  If they all decided to go the same way for a change, there would be no way I could control them.  (An Alpine dairy goat can pull about 400 lbs, times 12… my 150 lbs wouldn’t stand a chance.)

Anyway, I was thinking about dysfunctional governments, the broken healthcare system, and how unlikely it was that anything meaningful would come out of this process as I went to do chores this morning.  I walked into the barn and this is what I saw

Epiphany!  All the little pieces of my brain came to gether and I Understood.  They asked the wrong question.  They asked how they could fix the system, and everyone grabbed a bit to fix or protect.  They should have asked “What is the best health care system for everyone?” and worked from there on creating one that worked.

That’s what happened with this lovely fence.  Three years ago we had a goat about to give birth.  It was her first time, and I could tell that it wouldn’t be easy.  I needed a pen where I could isolate her.  So I scrounged two old gate panels and a short piece of 4×4 and cobbled together a pen.  It did the job, and has served similar purposes since then.  But it wasn’t built properly, it was in the wrong spot, it was too small, and it wasn’t really goat proof.  Shortly after building this pen I realized it had some problems.  So, I fixed them.  I added a patch to the bottom to keep the kids from crawling under the fence and getting into things they shouldn’t.  I tied one of the gate panels to the other so I could open it like a gate to let mom out.  It was basically functional again.  Later one of the goats discovered she could hop the fence between the pens and then hop the gate on the small pen and get out.  After discovering her out of the pen with her nose in the chicken feed a couple of times I realized the fence was too short.  So another old gate was salvaged and wired on to the top of the fence.  That kind of worked, except over the gate area.  So I strung some wire.  Success again.  Then the cow leaned on the fence and cracked the old 4×4 so the whole thing leans.  If I don’t keep an eye on it every day someone will find a hole and slip through.

My epiphany was that I’d been asking the wrong question.  I asked “How do I keep the goats from getting through or over this fence?”  The result was the cobbled together mess in the photo.  It worked, kind of…  If, three years ago I had ask, “What do I need to house and care for my goats properly?” I would have designed and built a different system.  I would have used many of same materials.  We always scrounge here first.  But rather than spending my time trying to fix the crisis of the moment with what ever came to hand, I would have created a system that worked. 

There is an idea in Holistic Management that I try to use (but completely forgot in this case.)  “Problems push, goals pull.”  When we problem solve, we react to the part in crisis, often without considering the whole.  When we have a goal, a vision, we act to advance toward that vision.  We attend to the rudder and to trimming the sails, not just to the flapping bit of canvas that seems to be causing a problem.

Storing Food in Glass and Painting it too!

I must admit to a slight obsession.  I love glass containers.  I especially love old blue glass containers…

You know the ones our grandma’s had!

I use them for all kind of storage.  I have one in my sewing room with old buttons in it.  But I mostly use them to store food in.  This one is destined to store orzo.  I think the little glass lids are just too cool!

Beautiful, simple and made to last!  I find them in antique stores, second-hand stores and at garage sales.  They are great for storing things that you buy in smaller quantities, like chocolate chips.

Since I have switched to exclusively storing in glass everything except my very large bulk items like grains I have had to figure out how to label all my containers.  I wanted something that could easily be changed.  I have tried the making tape and marker labels but hated the sticky residue it left.  I tried paper labels but they got torn.  I finally hit upon something that works great for me…chalkboard paint.  It is inexpensive, easy to find, and easy to apply.

If you have a smooth clean glass container it is as simple as masking off…I purposely wanted the edges uneven so I ripped the tape down the middle.

Apply the tape…

Just a little side note, it is easier to do with your jars empty.  I of course did not heed this bit of my own advice and did it to a jar full of  rolled oats…proceeded to forget them out overnight, it rained and I had to be creative with using up this many oats in a very short period of time as they got damp.  So try for an empty jar…and a sunny day!

Apply your first coat of paint…

I learned that I needed 3 coats of paint for this project.  I also learned that I needed to remove the tape after the first coat was dried.  If you left it on for all three coats when you removed it tended to peel up the paint.  Since I wanted a ‘rustic’ edge anyway painting coats 2 and 3 freehand was not problem.

I also painted each coat in a different direction, vertical, horizontal, and then vertical again to get a crosshatch look otherwise you tended to notice the brush strokes more.

Let dry well and voila!

Jars that have easily changed labels that hold up to hand washing and just are fun!

I have found glassware that is made in the USA by at a few shops in the big city but for me I get mine on amazon.com, I hate driving to the big city.  They are made by Anchor Hocking and for the very large jars like I store my oats in you will pay $23.95.  

 My airtight jars are from Ikea they were not expensive but they are made in China…I am on the lookout for domestically made glass that is also airtight and easy to open and close.  If I find it I will pass it along.

So next time you are at a garage sale keep your eye out for some great glass jars, they will be a great addition to your food storage plan!