My Handmade Holidays

With all my traveling, sewing, soap making and present wrapping, i missed out on participating in much handmade holiday conversation here at Not Dabbling, so my post this week will be a run down of all the projects i worked on this year. Check out An Austin Homestead in the next week or two to [...]

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Winemaking and Jelly: Possum Grapes

And just like that Elderberry season is gone! It’s time to move onward in our winemaking extravaganza, for it’s now the season for Possum Grapes. These tiny, buckshot-sized, purple grapes are mostly seed. They grow wild and can engulf entire trees in a season. Most people will cut them back before they have the chance [...]

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Taking Advantage of Summer’s Bounty

This time of year it’s all about eating fresh in season food and trying to figure out the best way to preserve some of it for winter. I’m trying to work on growing more fresh food during the winter months, but until I get everything figured out I’m still canning/freezing/drying fruit and veggies. My sister [...]

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No pectin Nectarine or Plum Jam

When it comes to making jams and jellies I make a LOT!  We have a big family, I bake all of our own bread and that is a combination for eating a lot of jam… Each year I do wild blackberry, white grape, apricot, and when I can get organic nectarines or plums I make [...]

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Cleaning out the Pantry

Spring cleaning not only applies to the house, but also to the pantry! This is the time of year when I start to make a concerted effort to eat up goods the goods I preserved last summer. Soon enough I’ll be pulling out the canning pots and filing jars with this summer’s bounty and packing [...]

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Making Applesauce in Winter recipe

I made and canned applesauce this fall but my stored apples are starting to get a little soft so I am making fresh batches of sauce experimenting with a few new recipes…. I have been making applesauce for way longer than I’m ever going to admit here!  In all those years I have tried many [...]

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When is My Sauerkraut Finished?

After receiving many questions about knowing when the saurkraut is finished fermenting I decided to do a post about it. I finished off my kraut this morning and took a few photos to share. After 2-4 weeks, depending on the temp, you should notice that your kraut is no longer bubbling, or is bubbling much [...]

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Sticking up for an old favorite

Update to original post – I went back to my method of partially cooking my chunky applesauce on the stove top, and then canning it.  Perfection! To each 5 quart saucepan of cut up apples, I added 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and cinnamon, nutmeg & vanillla to taste.  I cooked the apples on medium heat [...]

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