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You are here: Home / Archives for Homemaking

Homemaking

April 2017 Pictures

May 30, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Time to get caught up with the random pictures!

Remember that post I did about salsa? After I added all the other ingredients, I ended up with two pots full!

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Does Little Miss look like she has gained some weight? We were given a big boxful of shoes, gumboots, and a few dresses, her size or a little smaller. She wanted to wear all the dresses at once, so she has five dresses on in this picture!

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One afternoon when everyone was away except her and me, she found this sunflower head and sat herself down to pick the seeds out. She got a handful before she got tired of it.

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Yes, this is me laughing. I had sent a text to Gayle at work, and although he got an advertising text sent him just before that, he didn’t see mine. So, I sent him another, and we were all laughing about the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

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Gayle reading my text.

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One of our favorite meals—straw hats.

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Little Miss

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What to do with an empty chips bag—tape it shut tightly, then pop it with a bang! Boys….

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We didn’t have a hard frost till early May, but I picked all the peppers the end of April. These were all from the greenhouse. I was astounded; I hadn’t thought they did so well this year!

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This silly cat is always looking for a new spot to sleep.

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I’m fixing my bicycle!

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Gayle took the boys to the beach to get some sand, so the sandbox is full again. It’s been quite popular—although I’m glad the main popularity only lasted a couple of days; a lot was tracked into the house during those days.

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Mr. Diligence and Little Miss mowing lawn.

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Mr. Inventor, Little Miss, and Mr. Diligence all mowing at once.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homemaking, Little Miss, random pictures

Salsa

April 21, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I started a batch of salsa a few days ago. I had nearly a bushel of tomatoes that were going bad, so I trimmed them all and ground them with the stick blender. It filled this 20-litre pot about 2/3 full! I boiled it that evening. Yesterday, I got a few peppers chopped and put in, and boiled it again. Tonight, I picked a dishpanful of tomatillos and chopped them and put them in…and brought it to a boil again! Maybe tomorrow I can finish the job. Think the pot is full enough?! I’m planning to divide it into two pots tomorrow before adding more peppers, jalapenos, onions, and some tomato paste. This is the second batch of salsa for the year, but the other wasn’t this big. Yes, we go through a lot of salsa around here.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homemaking

Garden Stuff

March 12, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I sliced a bunch of zucchini for the freezer one day, and decided to try dehydrating some. I sprinkled them with salt, and they are quite good! I did learn that it’s best to oil the trays before putting the zucchini on, or they stick tight. A couple of the children had fun putting the slices of zucchini on the first time.08-IMG_1855

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I had never seen a head of cabbage like this one! It had many small heads growing out around the stem, between the leaves.

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One of the little boys was quite impressed with the bumblebees on the sunflowers.

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One day’s harvest of cucumbers and squash.

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Little Miss helped me fill jars of green beans one day. She did a good job of it.

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We did an experiment this year with the tomatoes. After reading on the blog of one of Gayle’s cousins how she fertilized her tomatoes with sour milk and had very good results, I decided to try diluting the whey from cheesemaking and the buttermilk we couldn’t use up from making butter, and water the tomatoes with it. To make it a good experiment, we only did that with half the patch. The tomatoes on the right came from the milk-fed tomatoes, and the ones on the left came from the others. I would say the experiment was a success!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Gardening, Homemaking

Today’s Big Project

August 28, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I finished a project today that I’ve been wanting to do for several months. We have a couch that is still very comfortable to sit or lay on, but the upholstery wore out several years ago. Before we moved to this house, we sewed a piece of fabric over the seat, but it had to be mended several times and was looking horribly dirty. A few months ago, I got the idea to buy some used curtains and sew a slip-on cover, and I found a matching pair of curtains at a secondhand shop for only a few dollars. Finally, this week, I got started working on the job, and finished it today. It’s certainly not a professional job, but hopefully it will extend the life of this couch for awhile!

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And, so you get a little cuteness in this post, here is Little Miss:21-IMG_0425

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homemaking

How Daily Plans Can Change Suddenly (and giveaway news)

July 27, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

First, before I show you how my evening changed suddenly and crazily a couple days ago, I’ll just say first that we still don’t have a calf. If you want to enter my giveaway by making a guess about the date of birth and gender of the calf, go here. If you’ve already entered and want to change your guess, please do. She is looking a lot closer, though—this is how she looked a couple of hours ago (it’s the 27th of July, here, by the way). I’m planning to check on her before I go to bed and again when I first get up in the morning. 3-IMG_0328

Now, back to Monday evening. I had finally gotten started sorting boy’s shirts! The last time I really worked on sorting children’s clothing was just before Little Miss was born, a year and a half ago. It was needing done! So, I had piles of shirts laying around the living room, as you can see here.2-IMG_0322

Then, Gayle arrived home from work, at about 4:45, with some chickens that a friend who is moving to Australia gave us. Included were three roosters, and she warned him that if they were put together there would be a cockfight. So, I decided that we should probably butcher them right away, and started water heating for the scalding. My boys asked if we could do a few roosters of our own that were ready, and the next thing I knew we were going to do a few old hens and a turkey, too! At that hour of the night, when I hadn’t even started cooking dinner yet! Yes, that’s the kind of craziness that happens here. Strike while the iron’s hot, though. Everyone worked with a will, and an hour and a half later I had this in the kitchen:1-IMG_0321

I hurriedly threw together some food for dinner, and got started washing and packaging birds while it cooked. By 8:00, I had this: 1-IMG_0330

Yum! I’m so thankful for children who help so well, and for good, clean, fresh meat. Esther was happy that she could change her birthday menu from steaks to roast turkey.

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homemaking

Mid-October Gardening

October 26, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We’ve been trying to get the garden planted over the last couple of weeks, and spending a lot of time weeding what we planted in August.  The day we planted peas, Little Miss wanted to help! She only got one packet open, and thankfully, peas are large enough we were able to pick them all up out of the grass.IMG_2114

My boys planted all the peas. It’s a little amusing, now that they are coming up, to see exactly how they were planted! Some rows have long empty spots, and other spots are pretty thick. Oh, well, peas are pretty forgiving. This is Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Intellectual, who was in charge of the planting. I dug the rows this time.

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Soon, Mr. Diligent and Mr. Imagination showed up to help. I think it was about here that the planting started looking funny!

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After I had all the rows dug for the peas, I started planting onions. The onion seedlings were a lot larger this year than most years. They’re looking pretty good.

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We’re eating stuff that we planted last year, still, as well as some Bok Choy that I set out in September. Here is Silverbeet (Swiss Chard), celery, spring onions, broccoli, and some cabbage that was going to seed (I cut off the leaves and used them), from last year’s garden. The carrots were from the shop; we ran out of our own awhile ago.

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Potato planting! Esther came out and helped Gayle and Mr. Inventor. She wanted to discuss the plot for a movie the children were making with the boys, and that was the only way she could talk to them that day.

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I’ve been cooking weeds more this spring than ever before. I harvested stinging nettle from the area in the bottom photo, as well as other areas that grew up in weeds. I also use mallow. I cook them together in chicken broth, blend them thoroughly, and freeze them in muffin tins to put in soups later. Mr. Imagination named the concoction for me—prickle mallow soup!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Gardening, Homemaking

Bacon Bone Soup

October 9, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Since moving to New Zealand, we have learned about bacon bones. It’s not easy to get all the meat off some of the bones of a pig, of course, so often a lot of meat will be left on deliberately. Then, the meat is brined just like ham or bacon, and smoked, and sold as bacon bones. A favorite winter soup here is Bacon Bone Soup. Gayle got hungry for it recently, so he bought a bunch of pig tails (attached to a long portion of the backbone) and turned them into bacon bones for us. I thought maybe some of you would be interested in this delicious soup.

I first cook the bones for several hours with plenty of water.IMG_2081

Then, take out the bones and add vegetables. This time, I used potatoes, carrots, and onions. Sweet potato is also very good in it. Cook till soft; add black pepper and maybe a bay leaf. Debone the meat and add it back in.

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Enjoy this delicious soup! I felt like we needed more protein, so I made filled eggs to go with it.

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homemaking, Recipes

Jello, From Scratch

September 26, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We rarely have jello salad, because I don’t like the idea of eating artificial color and flavor, and sugar. I could use plain gelatin and fruit, but several years ago I learned how to make it from scratch, and we love it! Therefore, every time we butcher chickens we skin the feet and freeze them. About once a year we have enough accumulated that I decide I need to clean out the freezer and make gelatin. This time, I took a few pictures of the process so I could show how I do it. This is my big 20-quart stock pot. There are a couple of turkey feet, but mostly chicken. And by the way, everything that has ever touched the ground or the air was peeled off.IMG_1634

Cover the feet with a lot of water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for a day…or two…or three, depending on how life is going. I keep the lid on most of the time.

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When you finally decide you have time to drain the broth, pour the whole lot into a colander. Discard the bones. I think I usually add some vinegar at the beginning of cooking, but I forgot this time. The vinegar helps pull the good stuff out of the bones.

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Chill the broth thoroughly, then scrape off all the fat you can from the top. The broth should be very firm. I remember one time it was so jelled that when I pulled a spoonful out it escaped and bounced across the kitchen!

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Next, clarify it. This is what I do; these instructions are from The Encyclopedia of Country Living, by Carla Emery:

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I clarified this particular batch twice, and I wish I would have taken a picture of the second time. I did it right, for once, and was able to scoop out the egg white, with most of the solids in it. Fun! Next, add juice concentrate. I have never found frozen juice concentrate here, like I got when we lived in Michigan. I make my own, though, following some other of Carla Emery’s instructions. I cook plums in a little water till they are falling apart, then drain them in the colander and freeze the juice in a plastic milk bottle. I thaw the milk bottles of juice upside down so the juice drips out as it thaws. When the ice that’s left in the bottle is looking kind of clear, I refreeze what thawed and discard the ice that’s left. It is mostly water, as the sugary part of the juice is what thaws first. I repeat the process two more times and end up with a very thick, syrupy juice. It’s great for flavoring, and much sweeter than the sour plums I start with. Just add enough juice, and some sugar/honey/maple syrup/stevia, till it tastes right.

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Then, I add fruit. This is frozen plums, blackberries, and cherries, and fresh apples and bananas. I just put in whatever I have on hand. (No raw kiwifruit or pineapple, though; they contain enzymes that will prevent the gelatin from setting.) Put in the fridge and chill, then enjoy! It is softer than commercial gelatin, and has kind of a creamy texture. Delicious!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homemaking, Recipes

Starting the Garden

September 24, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Yes, it’s a little early, but we have the garden started. I wanted to make sure the pepper plants got big enough to produce some fruit before it gets cold in the fall, so I started them early. This is what they looked like in early September; now they are outside in our “greenhouse”, so I don’t see them every day.IMG_1808

I set out Bok Choi, kohlrabi, broccoli and cauliflower that I started, the other day when we had a warm spell. It’s turned cold and rainy now, but the little plants look great, at least what I can see of them from the kitchen window (the middle window you can see in this picture; the window on the left is a bedroom, and the one on the right is the laundry). Mr. Sweetie had fun with my camera while I was transplanting.

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Little Miss had fun crawling around on the grass while I worked in the garden.

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Mr. Imagination had fun running in the dirt, and Mr. Intellectual was working on a project.

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Mr. Inventor’s ducks have been eating the lettuce and Swiss Chard that I had growing, so we informed him last week that his ducks would be locked out of the yard/garden, or eaten. He got busy putting up a duck-proof fence, and then herded them out.

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Here is the beautiful tom turkey again. I know I’ve posted a lot of pictures of him—I love watching him display!

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Mr. Imagination on the trampoline.

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Mr. Imagination picked me a bouquet of daffodils!

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These ducks wanted back in the yard!

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Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Gardening, Homemaking

Fancy Bread

July 17, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Last year sometime, I found a website titled “The Kid Should See This”. It is a collection, being added to all the time, of YouTube and Vimeo videos on all different topics. The videos are not created for children, but are very interesting for children (and adults!). I signed up for their weekly newsletter, consisting of links to five or six videos each week. Once or twice a week, when everyone is done with the morning’s school, plus science, by 1:00, and Esther doesn’t have to go back to work right after lunch we’ll watch several while we eat. This week, one of the ones we watched was about braiding bread. The woman who did the video demonstrated braiding with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 strands! We were all fascinated all the way through. Since then, Mr. Intellectual, who loves to cook, has tried his hand at a 3-strand loaf. I made bread today, and decided to make one braided loaf. At first, I tried six strands, but couldn’t remember for sure how. Rather than watch it again, I just did a 5-strand loaf. It turned out nice!

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Here is the video we watched. Mom, you would love this.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP6j7esQyjk]

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Homemaking, Recipes, Video

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The Family:


Dad and Mom (Gayle and Emma)

Girl #1, Esther, my right hand

Boy #1, Seth (Mr. Handyman)

Boy #2, Simon (Mr. Inventor)

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Boy #4, Mr. Diligence

Boy #5, Mr. Sweetie

Boy #6, Mr. Imagination

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