It has been a while since I have done one of these and I have had plenty to report too! I really want to get into the habit of updating this blog more often and along with it these updates. I am trying to keep a photo journal of everything we do here, as we go along, to go with my updates as well. An early spring has put planting season into full swing, our neighbor brought over his tiller as promised and to my immense gratitude tilled up my garden for me. The garden is not huge, and I am ... [ Read More ]
Making Self Employment and a Hobby Farm Work Together
Many people would look at the life my husband and I have chosen and see it as the ideal American dream. We work at home; work for ourselves, are in complete control as to how much money we earn, where our business goes, and when we work. We have our small 2/3 of an acre plot which the jury is out on whether this will be big enough for us or would we want to upgrade in the future. We are on the road to practicing self-sufficiency, growing as much of our food as possible and working on renewable ... [ Read More ]
How Much Canning Do You Need For a Full Year?
Canning and preserving can go a long ways to making sure that your family's needs are taken care of over the long winter months. With the rapidly rising costs of food and the gas needed to transport it, it is becoming more and more of a necessity to do everything you can to make sure that you have plenty of food you have grown or have been able to get in season. Start with a Plan Get a Good Idea of What Your Family Will Eat One of the biggest mistakes that new and seasoned gardeners and ... [ Read More ]
Preparing For Winter Storms in the Country
This post has been an idea on a sticky at my computer for some time now and may be a little late in coming but it is a topic that has been much on my mind lately. It has been 20 years since I have had a place in the country where I have needed to worry about power outages and while I still know the basics I have decided that just the basics are not good enough anymore. I will probably write this post in two parts, because I can already tell as I write that it is going to be a long one, I want ... [ Read More ]
Homestead Updates – Our First Egg and it’s Time to Start Planning
I have had a lot of people ask me for updates on my homestead, to which my reply has been that things are a bit slow right now because of winter. This really is not much of an excuse because it has been a mild winter but much of our plans right now do center on spring arriving. This DOES not mean however that we have not been doing at least a bit of planning. I have a lot of projects in mind for the spring, but before I say anything about that I wanted to share that after all of our hard work ... [ Read More ]
Taking Care of your New Baby Chicks
Getting Ready If you have just come home from the feed store with a box full of baby chicks you may not know how to take care of them and while most hatcheries may give you lots of information about your chicks if you need more information then I hope this helps. Getting ready for your chicks before they arrive is very important, your chicks will likely be stressed regardless of where you got them from and bringing them into a warm place that is already set up for them can really help to ... [ Read More ]
The New Chicks are Here!!!
The New Chicks are Here!!! Well this post comes rather later, since as I write this the chicks have now been here for about 3 weeks, but as disappointed as I am that I did not get this posted sooner, I am going to go back and finish this post up before I post an update on how our chicks are doing. The Chicks arrived on a Thursday morning at the beginning of October, they came in what seemed like an impossibly small box, but we were completely ready for them so we opened the box the ... [ Read More ]
Basic Stuffing
Basic Stuffing Print Prep time 24 hours Cook time 3 hours Total time 27 hours Author: Prairiemaid Ingredients 1½ cups bread cubes ¼ cup celery chopped ½ cup onions chopped ¼ cup butter ⅛ tsp poultry seasoning ¼ tsp salt ¼ tsp sage 1 tsp parsley Instructions Trim bread, removing crust. Cube. Soak in cold water overnight in an amount enough to cover. Drain. Saute celery and oinions in butter until lightly ... [ Read More ]
Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid
Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid Print Prep time 24 hours Cook time 40 mins Total time 24 hours 40 mins Makes 2 braids Serves: 8 Ingredients Sponge 1 tablespoon instant yeast 1 tablespoon sugar 1½ cup warm milk 2 cups unbleached al1 purpose flour Dough 2 eggs 1 ½ teaspoons salt ⅓ cup sugar 2 ½ -3 cups flour cup butter Blueberry filling (can substitute most any fruit) 2 cups blueberries cup sugar cup cornstarch 2 tablespoons lemon juice Egg Glaze 1 ... [ Read More ]
Apple Butter in the Crockpot
Apple Butter in the Crockpot Print Prep time 5 mins Cook time 3 hours Total time 3 hours 5 mins Author: Prairiemaid Ingredients 2 cups applesauce 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp nutmeg ⅛ tsp ground cloves Instructions Can be doubled or tripled. Combine all ingredients in crock-pot and stir to mix well. Cook on High for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. It will thicken as it cooks. Do not let it burn or stick. After ... [ Read More ]