The Homesteading Balancing Act

Been quiet around here, eh?  I promise that I haven’t forgotten about blogging.  Let me tell you a little about the homesteader’s balancing act.

Homesteaders typically lead very normal lives – they just add a whole bunch of chores to it!  Most homesteaders have the dream of working for themselves and producing what they need, maybe having a small home business to support their families.  But very few I’ve run into can pull it off.  We’re generally working “normal” jobs, raising kids and involved in typical activities, all in addition to trying to raise our own food, taking care of needy animals and maintaining our land.  It can be exhausting sometimes just to sit down and make a to-do list (precisely why my husband hates them!).

This time of year is when the balancing act really comes into play.  Spring is full of activity for homesteaders.  So we’ve been busy mowing and weed trimming, garden prepping and composting, fruit tree and vegetable garden planting, storing up wood for NEXT winter, and the list goes on and on.  (Let’s add military duty and a pregnancy to that for good measure, and you know why this blog has been quiet lately!)

You may ask then, is it worth it?  Why not just go to the grocery store or farm market to buy your eggs and produce?  And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.  But we homesteaders are fiercely independent…we like to do things for ourselves.  We may seem crazy (and sometimes we do, literally, go crazy balancing it all), but the joys and rewards we reap from our efforts are like nothing else.  So we keep plugging along.  We’ll never get to the end of our to-do list, but does anyone, really?

Food Fridays – Healthier Sweeteners

I am a sugar addict.  I love sweets.  More specifically, I am a chocolate-anything addict.  As many times as I’ve tried to cut back on sugar intake either to lose weight or just be healthier, I always fail.

We’ve all heard about high fructose corn syrup and its dangerous effects on our health.  Many people have begun to try to avoid it.  But have we switched to anything better?  Really, any refined sugar (including raw sugar, which I often use in baking) is not great for us.  And don’t even get me started on artificial sweeteners….  They’re worse than any refined sugar out there and we’re starting to see the long-term health risks associated with these sweeteners.

So what can we do to satisfy that sweet tooth in a healthier way?  Although I haven’t had success in cutting sugar completely out of my diet (and let’s face it, what kind of life would that be?), I have made some significant improvements in the types of sugars that satisfy my sweet tooth.  There are plenty of nutrient-rich options out there.  Yes, they can be more expensive than refined sugar (which really doesn’t make sense, since more labor has to go into processing them!), but that only helps me out in reducing my sugar intake!

Fruits and veggies – Yep!  They have natural forms of sugar in them.  You can’t go wrong there.

Raw honey – With it’s anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties

Pure Maple Syrup – A natural sugar that is abundant in my part of the country!

Sucanat/Rapadura – This is dehydrated cane juice and is less processed and refined than other cane sugars.  It also substitutes very easily for sugar in recipes.

 

One of my favorite bloggers has a much better article on natural sweeteners and has researched this subject a lot more than I have…take a look at her thoughts!

Plan for Storing Up in Season

In this part of the world, we can’t just grow anything any time we want.  There are seasons for everything we eat (and often times we can’t grow it here no matter the season!).  So how do you have strawberries on your pancakes in the middle of winter?  Or real blueberries for muffins?  Or tomatoes for a soul-warming chili on the coldest night of the year?

Well, you can pay exorbitant prices for mushy, nutrient-lacking tomatoes at the grocery store, or you can store up your own in season.  Oftentimes we don’t think ahead about this though and are caught off-guard.  We all of a sudden realize that fresh tomatoes (or raspberries or zucchini) are here and won’t stick around long, and frantically freeze/can/dry as much as we can in an afternoon.  But if we had a plan for storing these foods for the year, we’d be much less stressed and much more efficient when the time comes!

Here’s a list of the main things we’d like to store up while they’re in season this summer/fall:
Asparagus
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Blueberries
Wild Raspberries (picked from our property)
Spinach
Broccoli
Cucumbers (for pickles)
Peaches
Onions
Carrots
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Corn
Green beans
Apples
Pumpkins/Winter squash

The other part of planning is having the tools ready to properly store each of fruits or veggies you want to keep.  The most common methods for preserving are freezing, canning and drying.  Do you have enough jars and lids and the proper canning equipment ready for when those first veggies are ready?  Or containers to freeze fruit well without worrying about freezer burn in a few months?

I encourage you to make a plan, think ahead this season, and see how much you can store up!

Food Fridays – Corn Chowder Recipe

It’s cold here again…how about a nice soup to warm you up?  We had this just a few days ago, and it definitely hit the spot!

Corn Chowder

6 slices bacon

3 cups corn (fresh or frozen)

1 medium onion, chopped

½ green sweet pepper, chopped

3 cups chicken broth

2 medium potatoes, cubed (with or without skins – your preference!)

½ teaspoon each of basil, oregano and parsley (or you can use an Italian spice blend)

Salt and pepper to taste

4 teaspoons flour

1 ½ cups milk

Cheddar cheese

Cut bacon into ½ inch pieces.  In stockpot, cook bacon pieces until just crisp.  Remove bacon (reserving fat.  Add onion and green pepper to the bacon fat in the stockpot.  Sauté until veggies are soft and tender.  Drain fat.  Stir in chicken broth, corn and potatoes.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes (until potato and corn are tender).

In a small bowl, combine flour, seasonings and about ½ cup of hot broth (from your stockpot) until smooth.  Add flour mixture and milk to ingredients in stockpot.  Cook and stir until slightly thick and bubbly.  Stir in cooked bacon and ½ cup cheese (if desired) and heat through.

Pour into bowls and sprinkle with more cheddar.  Serve with fresh, crusty bread, and eat to your heart’s content!

Combat Weeds Organically

We gave up chemicals in the garden a few years ago, without much thinking about the challenges it would then bring!  Above all, weed control and fertilizing.  We found an easy solution to replace chemical fertilizers – composting (a post on that another time).

Weed control, on the other hand, has been an uphill battle.  Weeds are never-ending.  They are the one and only thing I dislike about gardening.  Often, I end up giving up by the end of the season and letting them take control of the garden.  But that only decreases yields and leads to more problems.  This year I am determined to not let them win.  So I’ve been desperately searching for some organic methods to controlling weeds.

Come to find out, there are lots of ways to battle weeds without chemicals.  Here are a few:

Corn gluten – This is found in products like organic Preen.  You sprinkle it on the garden before the weed seeds germinate for the season, and it keeps them from sprouting.  However, corn gluten prevents all seeds from germinating – meaning your good seeds, too.  I tried this one year without a ton of success.  Maybe I applied it too late, or not frequently enough (you have to keep applying throughout the season), but I still had lots of weeds.

Black plastic – I have not yet tried plastic.  Black plastic is definitely an effective method of weed prevention.  However, you have to be careful with it.  First of all, it attracts heat.  Sometimes that can be beneficial, but if you’re not cautious, it can easily fry your plants.  Also, it is an impermeable material, which prevents water and nutrients from getting through to your plants.  If I get really desperate, I may try black plastic next year.  But I’d rather use a method that actually adds nutrients to the soil.

Landscape fabric – Landscape fabric works similarly to plastic, but it is porous, so it does allow water and some nutrients to pass through.  It’s not quite as effective as plastic (some really persistent weeds can still penetrate it), but it is a really good option.  I’m using this in my perennial herb garden.  The fabric will last several years, so once I get the garden weeded and the fabric laid down this year, I shouldn’t have to worry about it for awhile.

Newspapers – In our vegetable garden, we’re opting for newspapers to help control weeds.  The newspaper will obviously break down over time, but it’ll add nutrients to the soil as it does.  We’ll lay several layers thick of newspaper down across our entire raised beds, and then we’ll poke holes where we put in plants or seeds.  This will be covered with a layer of mulch.

Mulching – There are lots of organic mulches out there that will actually benefit your soil as they break down over time.  Grass clippings, wood chips, bark and straw are all good and common options.  Just be sure to lay a nice thick layer (I always skimp and make it too thin, which doesn’t work to prevent the weeds from getting through as well).

Whichever method you choose, I wish you luck in winning the battle against weeds this season!  (Notice I didn’t say “war”…even if you win the battle this year, they’ll be back for the fight next spring!)

Things We’ve Given Up – Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food

Well, given our crazy weather, planting is on hold for a bit.  Our seedlings are still coming along, but I won’t be moving any of them outside this week with the weather that’s being predicted!  So on to another topic.

In our homesteading journey, we’ve been discovering lots about processed food versus real food.  Unfortunately it has meant giving up eating some of my favorite (unhealthy) things!  At least most of the time….

I have to admit…this one in particular was hard for me.  Velveeta is in SO many yummy recipes.  Casseroles, creamy soups, queso dip…doesn’t it make your mouth water just thinking about it?.  But once I learned about pasteurized processed cheese food, I felt like for our family’s benefit I needed to find an alternative.

In general, it’s been super easy to just replace Velveeta (or other processed cheese) with cheddar.  However, just recently I came across a family recipe that just didn’t work with cheddar – our favorite broccoli soup.  The cheddar got all clumpy and nasty, and completely ruined the soup.  Needless to say, I will be doing some experimenting with that one!  (Next time I think I’ll make a roux with butter and flour, whisk in the milk and add the cheese to melt, just like you would do to make a cheese sauce for homemade mac and cheese.  Then I’ll add that to the broth and other soup ingredients.  We’ll see if it works!  I’m open to suggestions!)

A quick internet search will find you several more articles on pasteurized processed cheese food if you’re interested in reading more.  In doing so, I also found this alternative homemade version of American cheese.  I’ll be giving that a try as well!

And even though I whine about my lack of Velveeta cheese, I can honestly say that my body feels much happier and healthier with the changes we’ve made, to a diet with more real food and less processed “stuff”!  (And, besides, I’m not against indulging once in awhile….)

Square Foot Gardening – Raised Bed Preparation

As I mentioned previously, we’re giving Square Foot Gardening a try this year.  Our seedlings are well on their way, and now we’re working on preparing the raised beds.  We have some existing raised beds in our garden area built by the previous owners of our property.  But in order to grow everything we want to, we needed to add one more raised bed this year for the potatoes, carrots and parsnips that need a deeper space.  My husband built one out of scrap wood we already had and wooden stakes.  It might not be pretty, but it’s free!

Now what to fill it with?  SFG recommends “Mel’s Mix”, which is a combination of equal parts of compost, peat moss and vermiculite.  You can see our compost dumped in the raised bed in the photo above.  That’s from two compost piles that have been decomposing for a year (one of them even older).  We’ll mix that with peat moss, and then we’ll be ready to plant.  Why skip the vermiculite?  Its purpose is to lighten the soil and hold moisture.  Peat moss does the very same thing.  And since vermiculite is pretty expensive at our local garden store, we’ve decided to skip it.

Once we add the peat moss, our next step in preparing our raised beds is to mark off the square feet.  I’ve bought twine that I’m going to use to do that later this week.  Then it’s time to plant cabbage, lettuce, onions and spinach!  I can’t wait!

A quick garden update: We’ve already planted our peas (along that fencing behind the raised bed).  The tilled area behind it will have pole beans and melons, growing on similar fencing, and to the right will be sweet corn and popcorn with winter squash planted among the rows.  Although we’re growing everything else in SFG raised beds, we decided to still plant the big space-takers in the ground.  And lastly, I just cut our first asparagus!  So excited to see what truly fresh asparagus tastes like tonight!

Food Fridays – Venison Sloppy Joes Recipe and Fresh Rolls

I have TWO recipes for you on this great Food Friday!  Last week I tried making Sloppy Joes with our venison sausage.  It was delicious!  And what are Sloppy Joes without a good roll?  So here is also a link to our favorite recipe for homemade hamburger and hot dog rolls.  We use whole wheat flour and they turn out great!  (And the rolls don’t take as long as you think to make!)

 

Venison Sloppy Joes

1 lb venison sausage (or ground beef or venison)

½ medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced (or a dash of garlic powder)

½ green pepper, chopped

¾ to 1 cup ketchup

2-4 Tbsp brown sugar

Splash of Worcestershire sauce

Splash of vinegar (white or apple cider vinegar)

Small splash of Tabasco sauce (unless your sausage is already spicy)

½ tsp dry mustard powder (or a small squirt of prepared mustard)

½ tsp chili powder

½ tsp sea salt

Pepper to taste

 

Brown meat, onion and green pepper.  Drain fat (although venison doesn’t typically have much).  Add all remaining ingredients and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns

 

Have a great spring weekend!

Spring Cleaning – Top to Bottom Clean

It’s spring cleaning time!  Actually, I got a bit of a head start on it this year.  I’ve never been great about spring cleaning, but this year I’m determined to finish strong!  I’m working through one room at a time, making it clean from top to bottom.  Here’s my method – it’s very simple!

 

Pick a room for the day.  I try to schedule it out in my calendar, doing 2-3 rooms per week.

Bring your vacuum, a bucket of water filled with warm water and your favorite cleaning solution, as well as a rag and old toothbrush (for tiny corners and grooves).

Vacuum all the cobwebs and dust from the ceiling corners, as well as along any molding (I just run the long attachment around the top edges and down the corners, and along the molding at the bottom).

Then I get my rag and wash everything, from top to bottom.  I don’t try to get every inch of wall, but focus on the areas where I can see dirt or fingerprints.  Same for the door and doorframe, light switch plates, furniture, etc.

Last I use the vacuum attachment to clean around the floor edges, then vacuum the entire room.

 

Notice that I didn’t clean windows.  I wait and do those throughout the entire house at the end.

It takes me about 30-60 minutes per room, depending on the size and how much “clutter” there is to clean (although I try to take a minimalist approach on knick-knacks and such because I hate dusting, just keeping out the essentials).  It takes a little longer for the kitchen especially, because there I also have to wash cupboards and a lot more surface area.

There you have it!  A simple way to do spring cleaning!  Now back to that cleaning…

Food Fridays – Sourdough English Muffin Recipe

Here it is – my favorite sourdough recipe.  This recipe was given me by a friend.  I have no idea where she got it from, but I’m sure glad she found it and passed it on!  As I mentioned previously, I killed my last batch of sourdough by not tending to it for too long.  Since then my husband has asked several times for me to make this recipe, only for me to tell him that I have no starter.  So sad.  But, now we all have starter just waiting to be used, right?  (If you missed the Sourdough Starter instructions go here and here.)

Sourdough English Muffins

1/3 cup fed sourdough

3 cups flour, plus extra for rolling out (I generally use freshly ground whole wheat)

1 cup water

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

Cornmeal

Oil

Combine starter with 2 cups of the flour and 1 cup of water.  Stir thoroughly, and cover with plastic wrap.  Let sit at room temperature overnight, or 7-10 hours.

In AM, add baking soda, salt, and sugar and gradually add remaining 1 cup of flour, until dough looses its stickiness.  Turn dough onto floured surface and roll out to ½ inch thickness.  Cut into rounds or squares.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet, sprinkled with cornmeal.  Sprinkle tops with cornmeal and leave to rise, covered with a clean dish towel for 45 minutes.

Heat lightly oiled skillet until very hot, then reduce heat to medium/medium-high.  Cook muffins about 5 minutes per side, trying to turn only once (when sides look dry, like the edges of a pancake, they are ready to be turned).

Let cool and enjoy!  We love to use these English muffins for homemade (healthier!) breakfast sandwiches, for BLTs, or just spread with natural peanut butter.

I hope you all have a joyous and blessed Easter weekend!  Today I’m making Hot Cross Buns for the first time and, if all goes well, hopefully start a new Good Friday tradition!