Dump the Gadgets, Get a Knife

Recently, I suffered a small bout of insomnia and tried watching some late night TV in the hopes it would put me to sleep.  It did eventually, but I was astounded by the amount of kitchen gadgets advertised to make life easier.  Most of those gadgets are replacements of some sort for a good kitchen [...]

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Tomato Tunnels

I planted 36 tomato plants this year… Half again as many as I usually plant…one bed is dedicated to nothing but saucing tomatoes. They are in three different of my 4′ x 12′ beds.  I usually put them in the ground, surround them by their tomato cages and then cover them with clear plastic to give them [...]

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Reader’s Question :: Food Preservation

Jody’s Question: I’m having a problem with getting over my squeemishness of food preservation.  I read a bit in the post about preserved lemons that really hit home with me:  the ’modern scaredycat-ness’ bit.  As I move more and more into canning and such, I find that I really don’t know anything about storage times as I have been relying on [...]

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Family Medicine Chest: Herbal Lozenges and Pills

the family medicine chest is an ongoing series on the fourth thursday of each month. a few months ago, i discussed making herbal cough drops. another step up on the ladder of herbal medicine making is making herbal lozenges and pills. both are made roughly the same way but pills are smaller and meant to [...]

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Homesteading Question: Original Vision Vs. Present Reality?

Last year on my personal blog, I decided to put forth some questions I had, in order to see what sorts of responses I’d get from what we loosely term the homesteading community of bloggers.  There is a wealth of wisdom to be had of the firsthand sort. In much of the future planning Jack [...]

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Pinkeye

Fly season has begun. They are always a challenge when you have livestock. Fortunately our animals don’t spend much time in the barn when it’s warm and the chickens do a pretty good job cleaning up the pasture and eliminating the flies. They still make me a bit paranoid. Growing up we were obsessed with [...]

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Coconut Covered Carob Balls

A fun, healthy lunch box or picnic basket treat: Coconut Covered Carob Balls 1/2 Cup Wheat Germ 1/2 Cup Carob Powder 1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter 1 Cup Honey 1 Cup Soy Milk Powder 1 Cup Sesame Seeds Unsweetened Shredded Coconut for rolling Mix all the ingredients (except coconut) together using a food processor or a [...]

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Berry Cordial Making

We like to experiment around my house and often times these experiments turn into wonderful gifts.  This is one such experiment: Homemade Berry Liqueur/Cordials. Step 1: Cut up 1 pound of Berries and place in a clean glass jar.  Pour one quart of vodka on top of your berries (use cheap vodka, no sense in [...]

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Rhubarb Apple Bake

I have rhubarb taking over my kitchen not to mention my garden bed that it resides in!  At least three times a week I make something with rhubarb just to try to keep up with it.  Here is far and away my family’s favorite way to eat the stuff… Rhubard Apple Bake 6 Cups of [...]

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Homemade French Dressing

Fresh greens from the garden or farmers market are just crying out for fresh dressing too.  Salad dressings made at home from simple ingredients everyone has in their pantry are a good way to cut out additives in our diets, and add one more recipe to our scratch cooking files.  But, if your family is [...]

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