February, in like a lion....

.........out like a lamb. At least that's the old saying any way. I just hope it ends that way. I hate to fly and travel when the weather is bad but will if I have too. February started out for us with cold, wind, and now snow. Not just flurries. We actually had a lil snow on the ground this morning. But as the day wore on the snow melted and it seemed to warm up during the day. Not hot mind you but warmer than it was. We are supposed to get snow all weekend. We shall see how much we get. Kinda like sex, never know how much ya gonna get or how long it will last.

We got our new fan assembly that we ordered for the furnace. That was fast too. I ordered it on Wednesday and it came in yesterday. I was impressed. If we need anything else electrical I will for sure order from the same place. This is the place we ordered from. The website was kinda messed up when I placed the order and I could not get it to take my cc info. I was gonna call later in the day and make sure they didn't bill and ship me for 3 blower assemblies but before I could do that THEY called me to assure me they would only send 1 and I would only be billed for 1. That is good customer service and I guess I am a lil old fashioned in the fact that I still appreciate good customer service and human contact. They have replace parts for things mobile home related and sometimes parts can be hard to find for those.

We have not done anything here today other than eat, sleep and watch TV and surf the Internet. Talk about lazy. I have pondered my quilt today and trying to figure out how I can cut the fabric straight and keep it all even without having to buy one of those neat cutting mats and rotary cutter. I finally decided if I want to do it right I may as well suck it up and purchase one. I will need it later to finish the full size quilt from the top my aunt Connie made. So now I am cutting strips from old jeans that Rodger had to make some simple braided rugs to toss outside near the doors to catch some of the crap to keep it out of the house. I could just go buy some cheap rugs and save a ton of time and energy but ya know, I actually enjoy making things to "make do". Not only that I can actually hose the homemade ones off and let em dry and toss em back down. Easy and I am sure they will last much longer than the store bought ones. I have had those in the past and they soon fall apart. When they get too bad to wash and re-use I can toss em and make more. Easy and fast. I will cut the fabric in strips and then twist and braid it, sew the strips together with light weight fishing line and once I get the size I need stop and put em to use. Now if I was going to use them inside and wanted them to look nice I would fold the strips in half kinda like bias tape and sew them down, braid and then sew the braids. But for outside serviceable rugs that will not be necessary. OK I will go back to my strip cutting and let ya know what happens. Maybe I take some pictures along the way.

Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Where the hell have I been?

That is a good question. I have links here to many blogs that I love to read and keep up with. Duh! thas why they are here. But I have fallen short on reading and keeping up with these wonderful folks. I noticed a snippet of one of my faves that they have bought a new house. How wonderful for them. I have never met them in person but from her writing you can just tell they are good honest hard working folks. ALL the blogs I follow see to be the same kind of people. How did I get so far behind reading their writings and keeping up with them? IDONTKNOW!! And thas my best answer. I feel like I have been in a fog for the past couple months. I guess maybe I got weighed down with all the family sickness and tragedies that started a few months ago. From my sweet aunt being diagnosed with cancer , losing a brother in law and that still seems so unreal, to losing a cousin by marriage to my uncle not doing well, and another cousin finding he has a tumor. Yeah I guess all this took a tole on me and my body and mind to an extent. Especially with fibro a body does not tolerate stress well. It will send you into a deep depression and fibro fog. But I am aware that this is what I am dealing with and just cope as best I can till it passes. And it will pass. I think at this point I am on the uphill swing. You know you are in a hole when you really don't want to interact with other human beings and lose your train of thought in the middle of a conversation. That is kinda em- bare -assing to say the least so you tend to avoid situations that cause you to bare your ass. And to think I used to blame this stuff on my pain meds till I learned more about fibromyalga. If you think I am crazy just google fibro and read the symptoms and I have all of them. Yep thas why I am up and nearly 4 in the morning doing a blog post, insomnia. Now when the insomnia passes I will sleep too much. Its a vicious cycle. But I am OK. Right?

Along with all the bad stuff has been some wonderful stuff too. I am really looking forward to flying to Las Vegas next month to Rob and Amoy's wedding. Yep they are finally getting married. Amoy sent me the link to the local newspaper where they applied for their marriage license. If you would like, you can see it HERE.Gosh this makes it so real that my lil boy is really getting married. Even tho they have been together for ever seems like and we claimed her as a daughter in law all along. But I am looking forward to having a fun few days celebrating the marriage with them in Vegas.

Meanwhile back at the farm, life goes on. Well not much life out there really. Too muddy to get in any of the beds. Oh gosh and the weather today was just like spring. It was 68 here today and by Thursday it is pose to be back down in the 30's for a high during the day. AND the damn furnace fan has died totally. Well don't ya jus know it will get colder than a well diggers azz in Utah. The fan was making a loud rubbing noise last week and then the noise went away. I was afraid to say anything to Rodger but he woke me from my nap this evening looking for the parts list again that HE had left in the floor in the utility floor from the last repair. So I guess now we will need to order a fan motor for the dang thing. I vote we order the whole fan assembly for just $65 more. I guess I will see tomorrow when he orders it online. But everything else here on the farm is OK. At least from where I sit. Even with all the added expense we didn't expect I am so thankful Rodger still has a job to pay the bills. Jason is still working and is happy in a relationship now. Not to mention I got a lil granddaughter in the deal. Love that youngin to pieces. We are blessed to still have a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs and each other. I shouldn't complain about anything. If we have a house we are better off than most, and if we have food we are better off than most, if we can pay our bills and still have a job to do so, we are far better of than most. So I guess really God has spoiled us with allowing us all these creature comforts that many don't have. And we have the nerve to allow ourselves (me) to get down in the dumps when we have so much more than many others. Our health is a blessing that matters most cause without that the other stuff matters not.

Over the weekend Rodger and I went out of town to let me go "shopping". If you know me at all, you can guess how long that took. It took 2 stores, I am done , we are goin home now. I had my gift card for TJ Maxx that I wanted to find something to take to Vegas to wear. Guess I just wanted to dress up a bit. Anywho I found 2 sweaters that I liked and found a more comfortable pair of shoes to wear with that "dress" to the wedding. I was happy. And we ran into Tammy, Tara and Zoe at the Maxx too and got to chat and hang out with them for a few minutes. They went to eat and we went on to Wally world to get dog food and a few other things, crap cant remember what else we got. But then it was on to the house. Good grief that short trip wore me out. Imagine me flying all day to get to Vegas. But we had a nice day and I got out of the house for a while. Oh yeah, I got fabric to work on Liam's lil quilt. Maybe, just maybe I will get motivated to get it done before he gets here. Hell it maybe be his high school graduation gift at this rate. I will work on it, I promise. Unless I keep finding stuff to keep me sidetracked. Yeah and I will take pictures too, IF  I can remember. Give me a break, at least I did get the curtains done for my new bedroom windows so its not like I am sleeping out in the open. I really felt like I was sleeping beside the sidewalk. And really I am. So now there is some privacy in there. We still don't have a door installed on the room yet but I had some curtains that I put on a tension rod and put up to give some more visual privacy in the bedroom. Even tho its only Rodger and me here at the house. Heaven forbid someone show up the day I sleep in and he invites them into the house and there I am just off the dining room, sleepin in my drawers on top of the cover. Most husbands would at least throw some covers on the half nude sleeping body, NO buddy not mine. And there I would be. So at least now no one can "look" straight in the room. To look now they have to move the curtain and if they do, they ain't welcome here. And I would sure tell em that. I can be an ass like that.

With all the nice warm weather today, sure as anything we will get some storms. We are getting the wind now and the forecast is for possible severe thunderstorms today. And of all things Luna had a big tick on her leg today. One of them that is all swollen up full of blood. She has scratched it off and broke it and had blood on her and when I got to checking her leg that is what it had been. Good grief its January. No tick in its right mind needs to be out right now. Or maybe they all need to come out so they can freeze to death Thursday when the temps drop down again.

The other day in a phone conversation with an online friend she was telling me that she had dehydrated some of her country eggs for later use as scrambled eggs while she had plenty. I would for sure trust her advice on doing this and I WILL do some like this soon. Thursday will be a good day while its colder and I can appreciate the added heat in the house. But she told me she whips them up like she is gonna make scrambled eggs to get a lil air in the mixture and then spreads it on the trays and puts in the dehydrator at 145 degrees till they are dry. Then she breaks them into chunks and puts em in the food processor of blender to make em finer. Then back on the trays till they are 100% dried. Then she pulverizes them and she stores hers in a jar in the freezer, which I what I would do also. But if you are fortunate enough to have tons of fresh eggs from your own hens then this might be an idea so you can at least have eggs to use when you don't have fresh ones. She said she uses about a tablespoon of powdered egg to 2 tablespoons of water and let them sit in the fridge all night and whip and use as you would fresh eggs. She said them make great scrambled eggs, and if she tells me that, I believe it. My hens work so hard to make good eggs for us and it almost seems unappreciative of me to not us them to the best of my ability. So I am gonna dry some in case the hens decide to take a break. So far they have laid great thru this winter. Even on the coldest days they still laid.

I enjoy doing this lil blog, for what lil its worth. I guess it does bring some enjoyment to some people around the world. But I got in a bad habit of not responding to the nice comments folks leave on the blog. I really do read them all and do appreciate you taking the time to post your comment, that takes your time and effort and for this I thank you from the bottom of my lil hillbilly heart. And I will do my best to get better and responding to the comments you. Sorry I guess this depression and brain fog has been worse than I was aware of till now.

Well it is almost time for Rodger to get up for work, so I thinks I will drink my coffee with him and maybe go on to bed a lil later this morning. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I dont do nasty weather

Our weather turned to shit last evening and has been crappy all day today. We got rain, sleet and freezing rain all night and some today. Some parts of our state got snow. At this point I think I rather have the snow that this ice stuff we have. It was too slick to walk outside today. I went out earlier today to let the chickens out. That was a feat in itself. I opened the door on their building and they flew out the door and hit the ice coated slope in front of their building and slide down the lil bank. Really took them by surprise. Was funny to watch them stop dead in their tracks and then try to make it back to the building. Some not as smart as others stayed out in the icy stuff all day. I think they were glad to go back to roost this evening as they did go inside earlier than normal. You can say it is slick when the cats and Luna cant walk in the yard. I got a good laugh this afternoon. I went out on the front porch and as usual the lil possum that Rodger has named Weasel now got startled and took off. She was tryin to run down the sidewalk to go out back. Luna was running full speed from outback meeting Weasel head on. Weasel lost her traction and fell and Luna attempted to jump over her and lost her footing and fell on poor lil Weasel. You had to be there. The cat jumped up and hissed at Luna and Luna tucked her head and tail as if to say "sorry bout that" and made her way on the porch. The critters finally decided it was time to stay put somewhere and not try to walk or escape danger in this weather. I had to take it really easy as to not fall and kill me when I was out feeding the critters too. It would have been a good day to have ice cleats on ya shoes here.

I made chili for us for supper and made potato soup for Jason. Good hot food for a cold nasty day.He and Miranda ate with us after Jason came back from taking Mary Kay to work. It was far to slick for her to attempt to driver her lil car out of here. But he made it there and back and is going back to pick her up when she is off work tonight. Miranda stayed with us here at the house so she is not out in a vehicle on the road in case they should get stranded or God forbid have an accident. No matter how old my kids are I guess I still worry about them being out in bad weather. Guess once a mother always a mother.

I accidentally found a blog online that I love. The lady that does the blog I think is in Kentucky somewhere and she posts tons of great recipes on her blog. I guess what grabbed me was she cooks like we do. We don't dodge fat or count calories. We don't eat low fat or processed food. All and all we eat pretty healthy stuff. After all now they have decided that real butter is better for ya than margarine, and if you eat a really low fat diet most times you do miss out on the good fats that keep your cholesterol in balance. But THIS is her blog site. Have a look and enjoy her recipes. If you post a comment let her know how you found her blog. Anyway I made the brownie recipe she posted HERE. In the process of making the brownies I found out I needed to fill my sugar canister. So off to the summer kitchen I go, on the ice to get sugar. I made it there and back and got the brownies done. They turned out really good. And that is the first time I have made brownies from scratch in years, well since my kids were little. I guess just with Miranda being here today motivated me to think back on my boys being little and so I made the dessert. Funny how having young kids can bring back happy memories and for some reason it just gives me energy when she is here. She is a sweet child, very pleasant to be with. Now dang it I ain't goin out there no mo tonight or tomorrow IF it is still coated in ice.

For all my friends out there with animals of any kind outside. Whether it be just your dogs, cats, or what ever, make sure to keep some water out for them. I became well aware of that today when I let the chickens out this morning and their water container was frozen. I filled some old bowls for them and found Luna drinking one of them dry. So I refilled it again for her and the cats. This is something I have to do twice a day or more. Even your barn cats and working farm dogs cant find drinking water with things freezing up in this weather. So please be sure to give them a drink as they need water even if the weather is bitterly cold. OK just my gentle reminder for today. I guess I thought of this when I realized today that all the outdoor water sources the critters here usually use were all frozen.

Not much else happening on this frozen cold homestead, so till next time, blessings and warmth from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Things that make ya go "OH SHIT"

Yep I had one of those this past weekend. I will tell you for sure my heart jumped up in my throat and was thumpin away, RIGHT there(pointing to my throat). Anyway on Saturday we finally got out and got started butchering the young roosters that have made my hens a nervous wreck for weeks now. We got 2 of em killed and cleaned and it started raining. It was a cold rain, so we decided to come inside and Rodger said he would work on the furnace while it rained and if I stopped raining we could go back out an kill a couple more between showers. We moved the washer our from the wall so he could access the furnace. He got out the screw driver and started taking stuff off and apart, using the vacuum to clean stuff as he went along. The long and short of this is he did get the elements in and sequencer in and now our electric furnace works fine again. By now it had stopped raining so we went back out to kill more chickens. Got a couple more killed and got rained out again. Back in we go. About half hour, we went back and finally after all this butchered 8 birds total. It was getting late when we finished and it was getting colder outside. I told Rodger I would just get the chicken in the big pressure canner and have it ready to cook the next day. So this is what I did. We came in late and ate supper. Jason got his buddy Jeremy to help him move the couch from our house to his and bring his fat man recliner around here an put it in our living room. All this, again between rain showers. Finally we can just chill out for the night and start again the next day
I got up a lil late on Sunday morning and about 11 or  11;30 and I went to the summer kitchen to turn the stove on and get the chicken started cookin in the pressure canner to make stock. It usually take an hour to get up to temp oh high heat if you start off with everything cold, which it was. I cranked the stove on high and I came in the house for a lil bit to get some coffee. Rodger ask me if I was ready to move the rest of the furniture and re-run the TV cables and cables to our security system. I said sure as I poured my coffee. So we unhooked all the many cables behind the TV and moved it, Rodger went under the house to re-route the cables and I was inside with one of the portable radios so we could communicate. He finally got all the cables poked back up thru the floor in the right places and limited cussin, he came out and all is well. He mentioned being hungry, I made a kettle of veggie soup from a jar, my hillbilly convenience food and we ate some late lunch. After our soup Rodger got busy tryin to re-hook all those many cables back on the TV and make it all work right. After he had all those working and he could watch TV and I got all the stuff cleaned up from under where the TV was. WE sat down to smoke a cigarette and get something to drink. When my azz hit the chair, I said "OH SHIT!!!!" Rodgers eyes bugged out and he was askin what as I headed for the summer kitchen. IF ya been following this story ya know I turned the pressure canner on about 11:30 in the morning and it is now about 3 in the afternoon. I FORGOT about the dang canner. I went out there fully expecting to find chicken parts on the ceiling and my good canner ruined. Thank God the canner was still gigglin away on 13 lb pressure and the burner still set on high. I nearly had a heart attack. That is a big no-no, do as I say, not as I do. You really should never leave a pressure canner going unattended. I am so fortunate it didn't blow the emergency plug out and spray chicken parts under pressure on the ceiling. See I tole you I turned 50 and lost my damn mind. But I bet I don't get that sidetracked again and leave my canner. None the less I got the stock strained and canned up along with some chicken. I got 3 quarts of chicken thighs, 3 pints of chicken breast meat, and 7 quarts of just stock. Alls well that ends well I guess. My friend Deb told me God watches over crazy people. I tend to agree with her now. Not sure that is the word she used, I cant remember.
Haven't accomplished much today other than got the jars of stock washed off from canning yesterday and ready to put in the cellar. Cooked supper and did some laundry. When it got dark I went out to close the chickens up for the night and gather the eggs and we were getting sleet. After about half hour of that our porch was kinda white looking. Now it is raining. So maybe the roads will be OK tomorrow when the guys head out to work. I have to go back to the eye doc tomorrow and order my new contacts script so I can continue to see.
I have plundered around online some today and came across this website with tons of good info on it for people who like to do things for themselves, the self-sufficient type, ya know. Have a look at here. On that site I found a place that really caught my attention. This is the one with the info I will be using really soon. I think I might make some homemade lotion for my new daughter-in-law and the lil grand son that is on the way. I guess ya know IF I can remember I will post some pics when I make some of those this week.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

No frost yet!

In our neck of the woods we still have not had a killing frost. On the mountains they have had a few light frost. We still have raspberries blooming an producing, peppers still hanging on. Not like I need any more but will give them to someone if they will come get em. Rodger mowed the field of purple hull peas down about a month or so ago an they are coming back up from the stubble and look pretty. We wont likely pick any more of them but the deer sure do like em. They are in there most every evening just at dark. I kinda see that as an investment in our meat supply. I am still in the process of drying herbs for cooking and medicinal herbs as well. Never know when those might come in handy. I like finding our about the wild plants that grow here on the farm and learning which ones are edible. Last evening when Rodger and I went to look about the pears on the big pear tree I saw a vine growing nearby that I identified as "groundnut". They are not peanuts as peanuts are sometimes called. They are indigenous to the area and when the country was first settled the colonist used the groundnuts as a protein source. They are very common near old Indian digs. The Indians dug the nuts an replanted the small ones to ensure another crop and food source. You can read more about the groundnut here and here. So if a person were lost or stranded in the mountains of east Kentucky and starved it might be their own fault. Because there is food to be had growing wild.

We finally got our new grapevines planted this week as well. We now have a total of 36 grapevines in the new vineyard. So hopefully someday in the near future we will have lots of grapes an I can make a good bit of homemade wine to enjoy. The raspberries are still producing and soon they need to be weeded an some small runners transplanted off them to make a new row of berry plants. The variety my friend gave me produce all summer but if we mow them down this fall they will come up in spring an only produce a good fall crop next year. Not sure if I want one big crop or pick smaller amounts over the whole summer. I think it easier to pick an put up small amounts than to be overwhelmed with tons of berries at one time that need picked. And if I have something more pressing I might not get the berries before they are a lose. I need to get in gear an pick the pears to let them ripen so I can get some canned up. I do like my canned pears as a snack. But my idea of a snack is to eat a whole quart of canned peaches or pears.

Our meet up last weekend in central Kentucky was a hit. We all had a great time, good food, new friends made and a relaxing event. I did a demo of chicken butchering and processing and the ladies that were interested I think came away with enough skill to be able to butcher their own birds if they choose. On Saturday evening I did a soap making demo and a bachelor learned to make his own citronella soap for summer time use to keep the bugs off him. He swears by the soap. A friend of his had given him a bar and he said he never had a tick, chigger or mosquito bite all summer as long as he had the soap to shower with. So now he can make his very own soap from the skills he learned in the demo. I do enjoy showing someone a new self sufficiency skill because I know that is one less thing they must depend on someone else to do for them.  At the meet up our friend Rosie showed us how to make tinctures and infusions with medicinal herbs. We walked around here place and she showed us several plants that grow in most every ones yard that can be eaten or used for medicine. One plant that I always thought was some type of clover is actually Oxalis or pickle plant. You can see pics an read about it here. Heck I pull these lil things out of my herb bed as weeds till Rosie showed us the lil "pickles" on the plants. If you can safely identify them have a taste of the lil pickles. Tart lil things they are. Back at home the other day I found a sassafras tree that Rodger had pushed over an there is a root exposed. I want to chop the root up for tea. I have always liked sassafras tea since I remember dad digging the roots when I was a child an mom boiled them in spring to make a spring tonic.Anyone on blood thinners must use caution when drinking sassafras tea as it is a blood thinner as well. Mostly used to purify the blood. Another thing that was common when I was growing up was picking wild greens in early spring. Some of the women that lived out on the hill an mom would go up the road an in the edge of the field an pick greens. I remember them picking round leaf or mouse ear plantain, young poke leaves, dandelion greens and others I can not remember at this minute. I have since learned that dandelion is a great plant to consume to cleanse the liver and kidneys. You can also dig the dandelion root to make tea in winter for the same purpose. My friend Rosie is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to edible plants an herbal uses of those plants. I just wish I knew half of what she knew.

So I had my lil mini vacation and back at home it was back to work. I am still working on canning some things out of the freezer to make room for deer meat when the guys go hunting. I guess thas kinda like counting your chicks before they hatch. I got the raspberries out and made raspberry jam last evening. Ended up with 14 an 1/2 pints. Now if I can just remember to thaw the stuff I have frozen for gumbo an get that made an canned up I should have a good bit of room in the big freezer. We are suppose to get rain this week so that will be a good project for a rainy day. I did find some clear gel when I was in central Kentucky last weekend so I may take some of the strawberries out of the freezer an make an can some strawberry pie filling.I sure don't need any more strawberry jam at this time. We have too many jars as it is. I have sliced an dried 2 half gallon jars of onion flakes in the past week as well. I use a lot of those things in cooking. I still have about 15 lb left that I might dry as well if they start to deteriorate. Our onion crop was a bust this year. Not sure it is worth all the work and expense to get sets an plant, weed and care for onions to still have to buy onions to supply our needs. Seems to me we might need to skip the work an just purchase a 50 lb bag in the fall to use an be done with it. But work is work, my body don't tolerate doing much of it these days. Even tho I have taken a B-12 shot for the past couple months I still battle fatigue, and some nights insomnia, not to mention pain all the time, the more I do the worse the pain gets. But I keep plugging along and doing all the things I love just less of those things now days. I am actually looking forward to winter and the long days of rest and not having to worry about being out in the garden and all those things. I still have my chickens to care for but thas a minor detail. I am not sure what the hell I was thinking but I have too many chickens right now. I have 15 laying hens and a rooster. Plus 8 very young chicks and another hen setting on a nest of eggs. I think when the smaller chicks are ready to butcher off I will cull out a few of the older layers to cut the feed bill a bit. I probably could cut the feed bill now if I shelled some corn to feed the hens. With the cooler weather they like corn more than laying pellets. I saw the young chicks out today and they were gorging themselves on the grass seed in the yard. I am sure they will make wonderful stock when they are grown. I just hate the thought of butchering chickens in cold weather but seems thas what I will be doing this year.
Not much else happening here on the homestead. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The slower days of fall

I am loving the slower pace of early fall on the farm. Most of the garden has been harvested. With exception of the sweet potatoes. That may happen this weekend if it dries enough. We have had rain this past week off an on. We need water in the ground but it sure adds to more pain for me with the arthritis an fibro. But live with it I can just to be able to enjoy the wonderful weather. I hope tomorrow is nice and not too wet or cool so I can pick raspberries and whats left of the peppers in the garden. Its not like I need any more in the freezer so I will have to dry what ever I pick. I have enough raspberries in the freezer to make another big batch of raspberry jam to can and that will free up some freezer space. I do still have the makings for gumbo in the freezer too that needs to be used an canned up. Its almost deer hunting time and we will need the space. So there really are things I need to get done soon. As I will be away the first weekend in October for our annual BHM get together in central Kentucky. I look forward to meeting like minded folks and some nice folks I have chatted with online on the Backwoods Home chat room. It is always a fun time.

It is starting to get cooler at night and I was hoping my hens would be done with all this broodiness stuff by now. But just as luck would have it, my white lil hen that has hatched several clutches this year just hatched off 2 more lil fellows. I love watching lil chicks explore their lil world and learn to eat and drink. I now have a hen that has 2 of her own an 1 that is older that joined her lil family cause his momma weaned him. One hen has 5 babies with her and now the one with 2 babies. The roosters always join at the big freezer in the outbuilding when they are bigger. Of all my past several years of having laying flocks this has been the best bunch to hatch and raise chicks. So we shall keep them to keep the flock going.

Last weekend I picked the red Roselle buds to dry for tea. I started with about a gallon of buds and got those in the dehydrator to dry. Ended up with a pint jar full of dried buds in all. My daughter in law to be is from Jamaica and she tole me they use it to make a Christmas drink and ask her mom how it was done. Her mom said you boil the Roselle and a piece of ginger in water till the tea is as strong as you like and let sit over night and serve hot or cold. It does sound interesting. The ginger is good for the stomach and the red Roselle aids in speeding digestion. So it has to be good for ya.

Around here we try to raise a large variety of things containing various nutrients so as to have a better diet. What we raise is mostly organic and all are heirloom varieties so we can save our own seed. I stumbled upon this site earlier today while surfing and thought I would share the link. Interesting the nutrients available in things we consume every day. Best if homegrown or at least organic in my opinion.

Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Spring fever has hit

I do reckon I have been bit by the spring fever bug here in the middle of winter. I have had nothing better to do than sit around plottin an plannin the garden for this coming summer. And today sitting is about all I can do. Don't know how or why my back picked this day to go out. But when I rolled out of bed this morning I could hardly walk. Kinda like a knife sticking between the vertebra in my lower back.  Have had issues with my legs all day, not walking really well at all. Dang I'm too young for this crap.Have done all kinds of things to make it feel better to no avail. Pain will make your body so tired and after supper I tried to stretch out an take a nap. The nap was a success but with no relief in the pain. Anyway finally had to get a shower because I was expecting to have to go to the hospital tonight. The nursing home had called to say mom was sick and they did some test and most likely she has gall stones. She did go to the emergency room and returned to the nursing home tonight and I didn't need to go out. So hopefully the meds will make her feel better till she can see the surgeon next week. We shall see.
But I have been reading up on seed saving for some garden plants that I don't have any experience in saving and have actually learned a lot. Found a blog that contained several links that I think you all might get some benefit from as well. So I will share those with ya.  The first link will give ya an idea about how long you can store different seeds and them still be viable. The second one gives ya some ideas on best methods to store all seeds. I like these 2 pieces of info cause ya don't have to read a book in search of the simple facts on how-to. The blog that I was reading has tons of cool links on different things as well. Just some really good info and I know lots of people area seeking out information like this while we are all in the house with cabin fever. So this is kinda what my day has consisted of. I did get to chat on the phone with an online acquaintance today for a bit, well prolly 3 hours, and I so enjoyed talking to Sheri. A bunch of us from a forum that we all frequent are trying to plan a get together this fall after the gardens are kinda done. I am so looking forward to this. Then got to catch up with my friend Deb in Mississippi on the phone as well. Another great lady I met online and finally got to meet in person all to find we have oodles of things in common. So it has been a good day even with my back trying to make me miserable.
Tomorrow will be a whole nuther day and I have several thing I must get done. Got to get salt cure mixed for Rodger to take on his hunting trip so when he gets a wild hog it meat can be set to cure while it is still fresh. Then he will just bring the trimmings home to be made into sausage. I still have the remainder of my cornmeal to get bagged up and stored as well. I sure couldn't carry it back to the summer kitchen to do that today. Lucky to get my legs to carry just me to necessary places like the dinner table or bathroom. Yep some of my friends will agree, I am a mess.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

They are messin with our stuff again

Leave it to some goober in gooberment to get the big idea that we lil peons don't need clean dishes anymore. Or that if we use the good stuff to get our dishes clean we don't have enough sense to dispose of the gray water correctly and it might make more algae grow in some stream somewhere. Goodness, ya would think they had better things to do. But apparently not. This is an article on how the makers of our cleaning products are now taking out the ingredient that makes them work. BUT restaurants can still get the good stuff. Yeah well they want to remove the sodium triphosphate from my dish soap or automatic dish tabs, so be it, I will just go to the near by hardware store and get a big ole box of TSP and add a teaspoon to the dishwasher and be done with it. I have started noticing that my Dawn even does not work like it used to. Not sure how many of you make your own soap and laundry detergent and such but I have in the past. Laundry detergent is really easy to make but combining products you can get really cheap.
For homemade laundry detergent you will need Fels naptha soap, ivory or Zote.Also you will need a box of washing soda, not baking soda. Washing soda is sodium carbonate and baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. So make sure it is sodium carbonate, washing soda. You can find it in most large stores in the laundry isle. You can also find the borax there. The recipe is as follows:

1/3 bar fels naphtha, grated fine
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax

Grate soap into a large kettle and add about 2quarts of water. On low heat stir till soap is dissolved well. I do this with a whisk. Add the washing soda and borax to the water and remove from the heat and stir really well till dissolved. When it is dissolved good add about another quart of water to the soap an stir well. Transfer the soap to a bucket that is capable of holding 3 gallon or so.  When you have the soap in your bucket stir in another 5 quarts of water and mix well. Let stand 24 hours before use. It will thicken a good bit. Once it sits for the 24 hours you can stir it again and pour into a jug to use. You will only need about a scant half cup for a normal size load of clothes.It can also be used as a pretreatment. When I make my own I add the detergent to the washer as the water runs in and about a teaspoon of TSP(tri- sodium phosphate) for heavy soiled work clothes. Normal light cleaning I skip the TSP. I can make 2 gallon of laundry soap for less than $3. AND I can add the quality ingredients that make it work. This detergent does not have a scent and it does not suds.  When the kids were small I made my own lye soap and used it for everything cleaning. Grate the lye soap fine and run in the blender with a small amount of water to make a thick liquid. I used it for dishes, laundry, mixed it in more water to mop floors.A rag dipped in lye soap water and wrung out will get nicotine off anything including windows. Yes windows! Wipe dry with paper towels.
Now to dig in my recipe idiot book and find my lye soap recipe and make me some soon. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I thought I was done........

I thought I was done with the hog meat and stuff till I remembered the cracklings that I still needed to take care of. So I got them out to the summer kitchen and put them in a cast iron dutch oven to brown a bit more and get out more of the lard. They turned out nice and crunchy. And they taste even better now. Now just needed to let them cool and bag em up and freeze em for later use. While I was out there I got all the jars of hominy washed off and ready to take to the cellar to store. Not much else happening around here now. When Rodger got home he shelled some more corn for cornmeal. We have about 130 lb shelled so far and I think we may try to have about 200 lb total ground for meal. I am so glad we don't have to buy veggies and stuff like that from the store. I read an article online about the freezes in Florida that have damaged the crops down there and I really don't see how the farmers are gonna make ends meet. Not to mention how it will effect the price of what people have to pay in the store. If I had to get what we eat from the store I would panic about now. After reading this  article I know I would panic. Can you imagine $30 for 48 ears of sweet corn? And all the other things that have went up in price after the freeze down there. I am ever so thankful that God has given me the ability to raise most of what we eat and blessed us to put it away.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Interesting reading

I was sitting here last evening thinkin, which alas has a bad end for me, and got to wondering about our forefathers and the pioneers that settled this country. I did a google search on "pioneer life" and found several interesting sites to pacify me for a time. One was this one. I read the essays there and continued to explore.Food was mentioned in the essays several times but not in any detail. So I found some info on food that shed some light on the foods available and how it was prepared. Even some of the methods used back then could still be used today if the need arises. I was impressed with the method of smoking meat. Very simple and effective. Any way just some food for thought on a cold winter day. I guess being able to stay in and kinda idle this time of year I think some silly things. Well maybe not too silly. As ya know I am 4th generation here on our family farm. Most thing we do today are still done by old methods, we may or may not use modern tools. Wouldn't it be neat to preserve all that history and all those methods, recipes, and knowledge that was passed down and keep things like they "were back then". Then it struck me, we do kinda do that. Really it is all I know, the things I learned from my dad and knowledge passed down thru 4 generations. It would make one think we are so far behind in the times, but the old ways work very well. Sometimes old methods require a lil more labor but the end result is the same. Only difference is the old ways are less expensive. I know I have enough knowledge of the olden ways that if I were transported back in time 200 years that I could survive and thrive just fine. People freak out over minor things these days. Such as happens when the power is off. Don't get me wrong, I do like some of the modern conveniences. But I can live without em. If the power is off, light kerosene lights, or have tallow candles, easily made from beef tallow. Yeah I know how. How to cook without power? I have cast iron cook ware that can be used over an open fire. To clean the skillets, just wipe em out with dry grass if thas all that is available. Well seasoned cast iron needs no other care that to be kept dry. As for water, draw up a bucket from the well, As for putting food on the table, simple as far as I am concerned. Hunt, fish, raise ya own. Butchering, no problem we still do our own, the old fashioned way. And preserve the bounty. I do know how. How to bathe or shower? In the warm season, there are creeks, in winter, heat water to fill a big ole bath tub. Most people generations ago did not take a bath or shower every day. After all it is really bad for your skin which in the long run washes off good bacteria that can protect you from other pathogens. Before indoor plumbing, which by the way I was raised without, people washed up every day in the wash pan that was kept on hand for just that task. In summer it was on the bench on the porch, in winter it was on the wash stand in the house. You heat your water on the wood stove and bathe. Although growing up I did wash my hair every day and used the water to wash up, it takes so lil water to feel and be clean. Long before washing machines, even wringer washers, there was the trusty wash board. I have 2 of em. I know how to use em. I know how to make the soap and have done it. I made and used lye soap for everything when my kids were little. Everything from baths, to dishes, laundry, mopping floors to washing windows. Great stuff by the way. People get all panic stricken when they think of how to make the modern stuff work in a primitive setting. Most of the modern stuff can be replaced in a heart beat with just a lil thought. The washer for example, think of the actions of the washer. It swishes clothes up and down in the water to which you have added detergent, right? So why not fill a large tub or similar container with water, wet a bar of lye soap and rub it on the spots on the clothes and toss em in the water. Let em soak for a bit then use a stick even to swish em around in the water. Take em out, rinse em in clear water and hang to drip dry. Even in winter clothes will dry outside on a clothes line. They may freeze but if the wind blows it will soften them like no fabric softener can do. And they smell soooo good. I have helped mom wash on the wringer washer and hang out laundry in winter. Not a pleasant task, but a necessary one. Here on the farm we did have electricity when I was growing up but it got here shortly before I was born. I remember at the table after dinner dad would turn off the dining room light. It got to be one of those "what did ya do that for " questions from a lil girl that warranted this response. " turn the lights off and save electric" I am sure that was a thrifty habit he learned from living thru the depression years and having the mind set that things are limited. Gosh what a change in how people think these days. Dad was one of those people who saved everything. Now as a wife and mother and living here walking in his shoes I can clearly see why. If only If I could make my family see that way now. But life is good and can only get better. I hope that maybe my ramblings can inspire you to take a look around you and see things for what they really are. Just "things" that have been invented to "try" to improve on old things. Mostly with not much success in my opinion.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A day spent reading

I have spent most of today just reading stuff online. Well yeah I know ya cant believe most of what ya read online but some of the stuff I have been reading just confirmed my theories on some things. For one, I have been reading of the health benefits of stinging nettle. Who would a thunk it? A lil noxious stinging plant that is so loaded with vitamins and minerals that the infusion can contain the nutrients for a body for a whole day.
 Here ya go, read for yourself about stinging nettle .
And I do have a good deal of it dried too, which just adds to the fact that I will likely try it. With modern medicine as it is today, I think it would behoove us to have knowledge of some of the old remedies and know some things about natural ways to maintain our health. But it seems I start this kinda thinking every winter. Maybe its cause I am in the house with nothing better to do that read stuff that raises my curiosity. But the website I was reading from has tons of info on this herb and many other whole foods, how to naturally take care of your health. All on one cool site. Enjoy the read and I hope you can glean some healthy things from here.
We still have our cold temps this evening after night fall but today was kinda nice out. My thermometer was saying it was 40 degrees, but I think it lies more than the weather man. A lot of the snow melted but I think most of that was from the warm ground. Needless to say, I haven't been out there much today. Other than go to the freezer in the building to get something to fix for supper. We had venison stew with some "crunchy" not crusty french bread. Tomorrow it will be a nice big rotated chicken as Jason calls em. The last chickens I butchered we mostly left whole so I could roast them on the rotisserie in my toaster oven. I even have some cornbread dressing in the freezer from Thanksgiving that I will have with it. I might venture out to the cellar to see what else to fix with it. The fun part of the rotated chicken is gettin it all tied up so it will fit on the spit. I am sure if someone were watching me they would be in for a good laff or 3. I do have to say the birds look rather strange all tied up. Maybe I can take a pic to share with ya tomorrow.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella