NZ Filbruns

Hurunui Mouth

March 18, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One evening, when Gayle got home from work very early, we told the boys that we would take a picnic to the Hurunui River Mouth if they would get chores done quickly. Of course, they did, and we had a lovely evening there.

Moving Day

March 17, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We were finally able to move on February 15th. That was quite a busy day, as you can imagine—actually, it was quite a week! We had been waiting for the power to be hooked up so we could move, and on Tuesday that week it was done. The electricians finished rewiring the house on Thursday; we cleaned Friday and moved Saturday! Wednesday was spent finishing the kitchen and painting. Thursday Gayle and the boys moved our firewood while I did things at home. We were very thankful for help cleaning on Friday, and for friends who helped us move on Saturday. We didn’t get very many pictures, because all hands were working so hard with the move, but I’ll share the few we did get!

The living room is filling up!

The piano was one of the heaviest things we had to move.

Trying to get the piano in!

The cattle had to move that day, too. It is about 7 km from the old house to the new, so we walked them down the road. From left to right are our steers, Curry and Checkers, then Red Heifer and her mother, Mrs. Moo (Nervous Nellie), the cow we’re milking while ours is dry. She goes back to her owners when they move to their farm the first of May.

As we went past our former landlord’s house, one of his dogs joined us! We couldn’t convince him to go home, so he went with us the rest of the way, and then Gayle took him back when they went for another load.

Our new home! This is the back door, the west side.

January Pictures

March 16, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Time to catch up! Here are some pictures we took back in January that I never shared.

The littlest fellow still needs naps, although he doesn’t necessarily want them. One evening he fell asleep, and I laid him on the couch. When he started waking up awhile later, he ended up like this! While we were working on the new house, he took naps on a blanket in the corner of the living room.

This is a close-up of the windowsill in the living room. For 16 years, flies and bees had been the only occupants of the room! We scrubbed the white windowsill, then sanded and painted it—now it looks much better! I was amused at the layers of old paint on the outside; can you see all three?

The kitchen remodeling, getting closer to completion!

I painted the living room ceiling. It is wallpaper, but was looking old and dirty. The paint really freshened and brightened the room. I had to glue a lot of spots up, too.

The boys love playing around the creek!

The creek is nearly dried up.

Today’s Activities

March 15, 2014 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

This has been another busy day. We started out butchering roosters and making tomato juice, and while I cut up the roosters the boys worked on their projects. We also picked apples and made applesauce, and the boys helped their daddy cut off the rest of the cornstalks from the garden and bring them home; we’ll husk the corn tomorrow.

Now it is tomorrow; I didn’t get this finished last night. So, I’ll add the pictures and try to get it posted today!

Boy # 2 is working on building a workshop to store his tools in, in this picture.

The base for boy #2's sleepout. — The base for boy #2’s sleepout.

Boy #4 working on his sleepout--a defunct freezer that served as a swimming pool for a couple of years. — Boy #4 working on his sleepout–a defunct freezer that served as a swimming pool for a couple of years.

And this is what the kitchen looked like!

tomato juice, applesauce and a jar of lentils to fill the canner,

Gayle and the boys brought home all the corn, then picked it off the stalks and husked it.

The cows enjoyed the stalks, husks, and cobs. They would have enjoyed the corn, too, but we didn't share. — The cows enjoyed the stalks, husks, and cobs. They would have enjoyed the corn, too, but we didn’t share.

Drying Laundry

March 5, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

My solar-powered dryer isn’t working today…

…but the wood-fired one is!

I will be back soon with more posts! We finally moved two and a half weeks ago, and I’m almost done unpacking. We started school last week; today is our sixth day. I’m finally feeling like we’re getting into a routine again. We’re on our third day of rain and cold, so very thankful for that good woodstove in the living room. We also love this coal range (wood cook stove) in the kitchen. We run it for a couple of hours in the morning and have all the hot water we want for the day, plus can cook breakfast on it. This picture shows the boys cleaning out a shelf of honeycomb that the professional chimney sweep missed. They checked into it when the stove smoked badly the first couple of times we used it. It works great now!

Caraway Red Cabbage

January 31, 2014 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

I had a large head of red cabbage in the garden, so I cooked it up this evening. We have a favorite way to make it–a recipe handed down from my Dad’s Belgian family.

Ingredients:
2 Tb butter
1 c chopped onion
1/4 c sugar
2 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t caraway seeds
1 c vinegar
3/4 c water
1 large (about 3 pound) red cabbage, shredded

Saute onions until golden in hot butter in large saucepan; stir in sugar. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes or until cabbage is tender.

I don’t exactly follow the recipe; I used stevia instead of sugar, and I don’t bother sauteing the onions. I just omit the butter and throw the onions in raw and let them cook with the cabbage. This is delicious! We enjoy it for a meal, and then I freeze the rest in meal-size bags for winter. If any of my uncles read this, maybe they will remember who hand-wrote the recipe on a page for my mom’s cookbook? Thank you, which ever one did that, for passing on this recipe! Another generation is now enjoying it–my daughter loves it!

I got some other food put up for winter today, also–28 pounds of sourkraut, 16 quarts of green beans, and also made about 4 pounds of butter. Since there was extra space in the canner, I put in four jars of chick peas. I hadn’t soaked them, but they cooked up nice and soft in the 25 minutes I processed the green beans at 10 pounds pressure. We’ll just use them soon, since they didn’t get the 90 minutes processing they need to be shelf-stable. It was a way to take full advantage of the fuel to heat the canner.

Revenge!

January 25, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Once upon a time, somewhere around 13 years ago, a certain little 2-year-old watched her mommy fix a book. After the book was fixed, her mommy went into another room to do some other job. The little girl saw where the glue bottle was put, and she decided that her mommy’s Bible needed fixing. So, she got the glue bottle, and she very carefully squirted glue between many of the pages of the Bible, until the bottle was nearly empty. After awhile, her mommy realized how quiet the little girl was and came to investigate. She was not happy at what she found! She quickly grabbed a roll of toilet paper and started wiping glue out of the Bible. She was able to get most of the pages wiped clean, but some had already stuck together too much and there were holes in them when she was done. She still uses the Bible today, but she will always remember the day she fixed a book while her little girl was watching.

Now the little girl is a big girl, and has a little brother. The big girl likes to drink tea with milk. She doesn’t always finish her cup of tea, and she leaves it sit till later. Her little brother loves to visit big sister’s room while big sister is not in it, and yesterday, little brother decided big sister’s Bible would look good with tea dumped over it! Big sister got to spend half an hour separating pages of her Bible and trying to dry them. Now, she will always remember the day her little brother found her tea and tried to help her (with what we aren’t sure!).

This is the little girl-turned-big girl, drying the pages of her Bible. And by the way, I did have her pre-read this post before I put it up, and she said it was fine to share.

How to Cut up a Chicken

January 24, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Warning: If you don’t like pictures of raw meat, stop right here! You have been warned. This post is not for the squeamish. It is for people who like to start from scratch when making their food.

We hatched about 30 chicks in September–or rather, four of our hens did the hard work of keeping the eggs warm and hatching the chicks! Fifteen turned out to be roosters, and only one was wanted for future breeding. The rest were big enough by now to eat, and I didn’t want to move them to the new place, so we butchered them today. As I was cutting them up, I thought this would make a good post–maybe someone else wants to know how to cut up a chicken!

Start with a SHARP knife. Keep a steel close to keep a good edge on it. This is what will make or break your experience. I also like to have a wooden cutting board (anything else will dull your knife faster), and kitchen shears if I am splitting any breasts.

Lay the chick on its back, and cut around the wings, pulling the joint loose as you do.

I like to fold the wing tip back over the first joint. When you oven-fry it, then, it won't burn as easily. — I like to fold the wing tip back over the first joint. When you oven-fry it, then, it won’t burn as easily.

Next step--cut off the legs. Pull the leg away from the body and cut through the loose skin between leg and body. — Next step–cut off the legs. Pull the leg away from the body and cut through the loose skin between leg and body.

Continue cutting around the thigh, as close to the bone as possible.

As you cut, pull the leg back so the joint comes apart, and cut through the cartilage that holds it together.

I separate the drumstick and thigh. There is a line of fat that goes across; cut through just on the drumstick side of that line and you'll go right through the joint. You can also wiggle the joint to figure out where it is. — I separate the drumstick and thigh. There is a line of fat that goes across; cut through just on the drumstick side of that line and you’ll go right through the joint. You can also wiggle the joint to figure out where it is.

Now, I separate the back from the breast. Stick the point of the knife in where the wing was cut out, and cut toward the back end of the chicken.

If you look closely, you should be able to see a line of white dots, where the upper ribs meet the lower ribs. Those white dots are the cartilage that joins the two parts of the ribs, and it is easy to cut between them there (saves your knife, too--hitting bone dulls a knife fast). — If you look closely, you should be able to see a line of white dots, where the upper ribs meet the lower ribs. Those white dots are the cartilage that joins the two parts of the ribs, and it is easy to cut between them there (saves your knife, too–hitting bone dulls a knife fast).

Next, grasp each part of the chicken firmly (you'll be glad, here, if you were able to cut through the cartilage--otherwise there will be sharp bones) and pull the carcase apart, twisting and ripping. — Next, grasp each part of the chicken firmly (you’ll be glad, here, if you were able to cut through the cartilage–otherwise there will be sharp bones) and pull the carcase apart, twisting and ripping.

To split the breast in half, and have bone-in, skin-on breast pieces, take your sharp kitchen shears and cut through the breast bone and the wishbone. The breastbone is what I am cutting through here; the wishbone is lower. I cut through each separately.

After you've broken the bones with the shears, use your knife to cut the meat away from one side of the keel bone, and separate the two halves of the breast. — After you’ve broken the bones with the shears, use your knife to cut the meat away from one side of the keel bone, and separate the two halves of the breast.

To make boneless skinless breast, pull the skin off the meat. Then, cut along both sides of the keel bone, and down along each side of the wish bone. Here, I've cut along one side of the keel bone and the point of the knife is at the point of the wishbone. — To make boneless skinless breast, pull the skin off the meat. Then, cut along both sides of the keel bone, and down along each side of the wish bone. Here, I’ve cut along one side of the keel bone and the point of the knife is at the point of the wishbone.

Here, I've cut the meat away from the keel bone and the wishbone, and am boning the meat away from the bones about halfway back. — Here, I’ve cut the meat away from the keel bone and the wishbone, and am boning the meat away from the bones about halfway back.

Once you've boned it about halfway back with your knife, finish pulling the meat off with your hands. — Once you’ve boned it about halfway back with your knife, finish pulling the meat off with your hands.

Here are all the pieces of a chicken! Clockwise from top: Drumsticks, thighs, wings, back and breast bones, boneless skinless breast.

What I ended up with, from 14 chickens: A big pot of bones to turn into broth, a bowl of boneless skinless breast, and a bowlful of other pieces.

After packaging: A tray of breast meat to freeze individually, then bag, and five meal's worth of pieces. After I laid out the breast pieces, I remember that they need to be aged, so I put them in a bag and will lay them out again in three days. We always keep our chicken in the fridge for three days before freezing, so it is more tender. — After packaging: A tray of breast meat to freeze individually, then bag, and five meal’s worth of pieces. After I laid out the breast pieces, I remember that they need to be aged, so I put them in a bag and will lay them out again in three days. We always keep our chicken in the fridge for three days before freezing, so it is more tender.

As I was working, this little monkey jumped onto my back and held on!

Gore Bay

January 22, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One day last week, we went to the sea for an hour or so. The older four boys rode their boogie boards in the surf, while the little ones played at the edge of the waves, and built a house from sand. The littlest was diligently taking handfuls of sand from the wall his brother built, and patting them down onto another part of the wall!

Just before we left, we saw this container ship offshore.

Waiting for the last few to finish dressing.

We went up the hill to look for Banana Passion Fruit. Esther stayed on top of the hill to tell the boys when to come back.

Scrambling down the hill after looking for the fruit.

Concentration

January 21, 2014 by NZ Filbruns 3 Comments

I spent most of the last two days on the couch or in bed, with a migraine and breast infection. The one good part of that was that I had time to watch the little boys play. As I laid on the couch this evening, I enjoyed watching the youngest playing with some legos. He was totally engrossed in snapping them together. I love the way he sat on his feet!

A bit later, the two little fellows were going to “play bank”, and then it turned into jumping off the stool. I love the way they play together, and the youngest imitates so closely what bigger brother does!

NZ Filbruns

Thank you!