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.

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

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

One day’s harvest of cucumbers and squash.

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

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!

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!

Before:

After:

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

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.

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.

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:

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

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.

April Garden

May 21, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One morning in early April, it was already getting frosty when I went out to check on the garden at 12:30. No, I don’t normally go outside at that hour, but it was so cold that I was checking for frost to try to protect the tomatoes. I turned the pump on to try to keep the frost off them. When I went out at 6:30 to look, the entire garden was encased in ice! By 8:00, when I turned the water off as the sun came up, the ice was about 1/8 inch (2-3 mm) thick on all the tomato and pumpkin leaves! The little boys had fun going out and carefully taking the ice off a big leaf and bringing it in to show me. They put several of those crystal leaves in the freezer to show Daddy when he got home. I figured that was the end of the tomatoes, zucchini, and pumpkins.

That afternoon, I went out to the garden again. I was very surprised at what I saw! The next two pictures are the garden that I watered, which was encased in ice. The plants had not been hurt at all!

This picture shows the pumpkins in the next garden, across a narrow walkway. They were not protected with water, and were killed! I knew there was some sort of science behind that, so I looked it up. Apparently, as the water freezes into ice, it releases a tiny amount of heat, which keeps the plant above freezing temperature as long as the ice stays wet. If it gets dry, for example if a breeze springs up, the plant will be damaged badly. You have to keep the water running till the sun comes up, to prevent damage. It was very interesting to see this in action!

I harvested about half our pumpkins that afternoon. My three littlest had fun helping me haul them around and wash them. Then, they ran across them!

Today

April 23, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Yesterday we spent the day in the city, with a couple of appointments and shopping for Mr. Inventor’s next project: making a large trailer. He needed gas for his MIG welder, and steel for the frame of the trailer. I had told him I was not going to try to help him figure that out, so Gayle took the day off work (yay! We ought to come up with excuses like that more often!) and went with us. On the way home in the evening, we had been invited to a friend’s house for tea. After she extended the invitation, she realized that yesterday was Passover. Their family celebrates the Christian Passover, so she invited us to join them for that instead of just an ordinary meal. What an interesting experience! I was awed at the way the Jewish customs, which are not detailed in the Bible, point so directly to Jesus. It made for a late night getting home, but was very worthwhile.

Today, then, I was very tired, and after a short nap this afternoon I finally got to the kitchen again to try to get something done. I was feeling like I hadn’t done anything yet today—and then looked around and decided to take pictures of all the projects that were underway. Nice to know that I have done something, after all!

I’m making a batch of cheese—and seeing this picture reminds me that I need to check it!

I put chicken legs and a large pumpkin in the coal range oven this morning. This is my favorite version of a slow-cooker—nearly free, and the water is heated at the same time!

Bread is now baked; we were totally out.

We butchered a turkey, two roosters, and two ducks this morning, when I saw a couple of turkeys in the garden one-too-many times. The turkey was the size of the roosters, but will give us a meal (I plan to roast it in the coal range in a couple of days; if I put meat in early, then let the fire go out after about six hours, it’s just right for dinner.)

I finished the chicken broth that I started several days ago, after we butchered 13 chickens.

Mr. Imagination wanted juice, so I helped him make some apple/carrot juice.

We’re also enjoying two new babies! We brought these kittens home last night; the family who fed us the Passover supper had six to choose from. I chose the black one; her name is Linda. Mr. Inventor chose the tabby; his name is Leif. They are so much fun!

February Garden

April 2, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The garden is now looking pretty sad, after drying out with six more weeks of no rain, a howling wind one day that sucked the moisture right out of the leaves, and then a frost, but it was gorgeous in February. For once, I got a few pictures of it near the peak. Mr. Intellectual grew this beautiful sunflower.

The pumpkins from two gardens grew toward each other. Just after they met, though, we decided we needed a path between them to the gate at the far end, so we redirected the vines to keep it open in the middle.

For a little while, it felt almost like a tsunami spilling out of the garden! The pumpkins and zucchini were trying their best to take over the world. The frost has nearly finished them off by now, though.

We left the onions lay out to dry for a little while. We have enough for a few months!

Mr. Imagination frequently checked on the pumpkins, looking for large ones. I scratched his initials into a few of them.

January Garden

February 3, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The garden is doing splendidly! My boys have been a great help again this year. We’ve picked cabbage twice; this is the first harvest—30 heads! We made 110 pounds of sourkraut that day, more than we need for the year. It took only about 4 hours from picking the cabbage to finishing the cleanup.

Another day I picked a bushel and a half of peas. It was a lovely day to sit under a tree to shell them.

Little Miss loves to eat peas!

Mr. Intellectual has his own beautiful garden at the edge of the big garden. Here is Mr. Imagination showing the size of his brother’s sunflowers and corn.

This is our corn and pumpkins, with cabbage just beyond, and potatoes on the other side of that.

Little Miss likes zucchini, too!

Mr. Intellectual has been harvesting dandelion roots as well, and making them into “coffee”. He looked up directions and figured out how to roast them. Yum!

Breakfast on the Go, and links

February 1, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We went to town a couple of days ago. Going to town, meaning the nearest city to us, is an all-day affair. We have nearly an hour and a half drive to get there, so we try to leave early in order to get everything done that we have to do and get home before too late in the evening. We usually eat breakfast on the road on those days, and the current favorite breakfast-on-the-go is egg sandwiches.

We start by scrambling eggs; we ask each person how many eggs he wants and scramble the total, with salt and pepper. Then, take a piece of bread for each egg and spread it with mayonnaise (we make our own). Put about one scrambled egg on the bread, and top with a thin slice of cheese. Put it under the broiler or in a hot oven for a few minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese.

We usually do all that the night before, and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, we pull them out and put them on baking trays again, then reheat just a little while. For my share, because I feel better if I eat Trim Healthy Mama-style, I make my own bread substitute. I grind 2 Tablespoons dried coconut and 1 Tablespoon flax seeds in the coffee grinder, add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt, and stir in one egg. I put a piece of baking paper on a small tray and bake in the toaster oven for 6-7 minutes. You can also cook in a microwave for 1-2 minutes, but I like it better baked.

Esther has posted on her blog several days this week, and I love the pictures she has posted. For some really great pictures of our boys, please go here and here and here and here and here and here.

Today’s Major Fail—and God’s Mercy

November 6, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

In case you ever render fat, please let it cool down before pouring it into a container. That’s my advice for today.

We butchered two sheep last week, and they were the fattest sheep I’ve ever worked with. I put the ribs and flaps (meat and fat around the stomach) in my big stock pot and cooked it, and today was finishing dealing with the fat. I heated it enough to get out all the rest of the water, and then poured it into ice cream containers. The first panful was only barely above the boiling point of water, but the second must have been much hotter. Before I poured it in, the thought crossed my mind that I should probably let it cool down, but I wanted to get the job out of the way. Well, that was a major mistake. Half a minute after pouring it in, the container started melting! I grabbed a ladle and started frantically scooping, but got two ladlefuls out before the container was flat! Nearly two quarts of hot melted sheep tallow had spread over the contertop and down onto the floor. The worst of it was that I had an open box just below it, with rolls of tinfoil, plastic wrap, and baking paper in it. I don’t know yet how bad the damage is—I’m waiting for the fat to solidify before I try cleaning it up. This is what the container looks like, beside one that isn’t melted.

I am thankful for lots of hot water, and that the baby wasn’t close when this happened, and that it happened back in a corner where we can’t walk.

Within 10 minutes after that episode, I went to the bedroom to change the baby. When I went back through the kitchen to put the diaper in the bucket in the laundry room, I noticed that the peculiar smell I’d been smelling was stronger, and there was a smell of burning plastic now, too. Then I saw the source—the baby turkey’s light had fallen down and the straw was black and smoking, and the side of their tub was melting! Praise God, I saw it before it actually caught fire! Time for those turkeys to go outside before the baby knocks down their light again.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!