Homesteaders

[flocktastic]

Nope.   I've had opportunity but lacked the desire.  Who knows?  They could be something I would really like, but I've never had the nerve yet to try them. 

My dogs love it raw...it's a soft meat they don't have to bury to let it get gamey enough to chew easily.  They wolf it down in seconds. 


Composting is good.  I don't pluck any longer unless I want to save some feathers, which I just pull off dry....usually I just skin nowadays.  Those skins with feathers get left for the local scavengers~ coyotes, foxes, skunks and possum.  I don't have to worry about feeding them, as I have my own predators handy to keep them off my flock. 



I was just noticing this the other day....how incredibly trash filled the ditches in my area are nowadays.  As lawlessness abounds in this time in the world, the evidence is all along the roads.  I visit my previous address a couple of times a month and the roadways are pristine there, the homes are all well kept, farms neat and clean, etc.....then I come home and the closer I get to my home county, the dirtier the landscape and homes get.  Makes it hard to come home sometimes. 

It's an unspeakable sadness to see such beauty marred by corrupt people. 

My husband and I were discussing this the other day. A lot had been cleared between our town and a neighboring town for some sort of project or construction and as soon as they got it cleaned up and level, someone dumped a big, old dirty couch off there.
REALLY???? I don't get it?! Haul your junk to the dump...or hire someone to pick it up, donate it - whatever. But why would you want to junk up the landscape? Destroy the beauty...there's beautiful green pastures...cattle....annnnnd an old, dirty couch. Great.

 

[RustedOak]

I grew up with my grandparents and they ate beef liver 2 times a week. The smell made me so sick I spent those days with friends. As for chicken liver, I guess I could feed it to the dogs. Do I just boil it and feed it to them or do I feed it to them raw?

My small dogs would not eat them raw at first so I would boil them for them. Each time, I cooked them a little less until they took them raw. My shepherd/husky mix didn't have that shortcoming. She'll eat it all, raw or not lol (I still can't stand liver)

 

[RustedOak]

We haven't processed any yet but I figure when we do the mess will go to the dogs. What's the best way to get rid of all the feathers?

I add them to the compost or bury them. If the animals can't or don't eat it, it's returned to the soil. No waste.

 

[RustedOak]

Why eat out when it's fairly easy to make good eats at home?

Accck!! 2 days ago I had a crap up the kitchen day. Ever have one of those days when you open the fridge and get an overpowering urge to purge? The fridge, not the contents of yer stomach (Probably not cos yer saner than me). I spent the previous couple of days cleaning up broken branches from the ice storm last week and had neglected cooking. I looked in the fridge and noticed all the fresh veg and 2 whole chickens that needed something done with. So.. 8am cut up chicken, remove bones. 8:30am add onions, carrots, celery, carcasses, spices, water to stock pot. Cook stock, skim scum, skim scum, yadda yadda. 9:30am fry chicken fat and skins for the mutt. Mix up bread dough for dinner. 10:30am vacuum seal some chicken parts and put in freezer. 11:10am dice up chicken not frozen for chicken/rice soup tomorrow. 11:30am divide risen dough put into pans. 11:45am. prepare asparagus, leek, gruyere quiches. 12:10pm put quiches into oven. 12:45pm put bread into oven. 1:00pm take quiches out of oven. 1:20pm take bread out of oven. 1:25pm eat pastrami sandwich for lunch. 2:00pm cut up 2lbs. broccoli, dice an onion, peel & dice 2 cloves garlic, dice leek greens (the dark green bits that most people throw away). Add 2Tbs butter to dutch oven, toss in previously cut up veg and cook to death for 20 min, add in water, chicken stock & 1/2lb spinach and cook for 3 mins. add shredded parmesan & cheddar cheese and puree with blender, let cool then put in freezer containers to freeze overnight to be unmolded and vacuum sealed tomorrow. 3pm put quiches in fridge. 7pm eat some quiche with fresh bread. 8pm strain stock, cover and put outside overnight to cool. 8:30 p.m. Look at kitchen.... Arrrgh!...Arrrgh! again.. then let the cleaning begin.



Today: Stocked up on stock and soup.


Kitchen is nearly back to "normal".

Now you're just making me hungry!

 

[RustedOak]

Right! I don't understand the train of thought! What do the think will happen to that junk?

They don't care what will happen to it. They just don't want it to be their problem anymore and take the easy way out. That's how most of society is these days sadly.

 

[Woodsdweller]

Quote:
Are you planning to publish an annual anniversary cookbook in your spare time?

If you need more recipes, I have plenty from campfire fare to pub grub to fine dining. Fry on a rock to modern appliances.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Are you planning to publish an annual anniversary cookbook in your spare time?   

If you need more recipes, I have plenty from campfire fare to pub grub to fine dining.  Fry on a rock to modern appliances.

I'm probably not going to publish, it's more for the kids when they move out. I can't let them leave with no cooking skills. They love my cooking so with the book they will be a little closer to home all the time.

 

[Serenashome]

I'm probably not going to publish, it's more for the kids when they move out. I can't let them leave with no cooking skills. They love my cooking so with the book they will be a little closer to home all the time.

Ah I thought the same thing. Sent one of mine away to college with an under the bed tote full of cookware for her dorm... she comes home with "what's for dinner" requests every weekend. She says it tastes better when I cook it.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I'm probably not going to publish, it's more for the kids when they move out. I can't let them leave with no cooking skills. They love my cooking so with the book they will be a little closer to home all the time.

Ah I thought the same thing. Sent one of mine away to college with an under the bed tote full of cookware for her dorm... she comes home with "what's for dinner" requests every weekend. She says it tastes better when I cook it. 

My parents were very big in the "know how to take care of yourself" too. But when i first moved out to college, i had all the skills nessisary but none of the money. I ate alot ramen noodled and mac n cheese, just because they were so cheap and did not go bad. I did not really start to cook for myself until i moved to an apt. (But even then it is hard to make a meal for one cheaper then i could go get a hamburger)

 

[Chicken girl 15]

My parents were very big in the "know how to take care of yourself" too. But when i first moved out to college, i had all the skills nessisary but none of the money. I ate alot ramen noodled and mac n cheese, just because they were so cheap and did not go bad. I did not really start to cook for myself until i moved to an apt. (But even then it is hard to make a meal for one cheaper then i could go get a hamburger)

We live on a tight budget so we eat a lot of rice and chicken seasoned in a million ways . I know college and starting out is hard , that's why I'm making the book for them. Each recipe can be altered to fit the budget. Usually we can feed all 8 of us for less than $20 worth of groceries.