Kitty Love....

So if you've been reading with us for awhile, you know that both of our guys are allergic to cats.  You may also remember that we ended up with two kittens dumped on our road that we took in.

Tim is also camera shy!

Well,  both are doing very well.  Tim is truly a barn cat.  He is not one to be petted or loved on.  He will get within a few feet of you, but that's about it.  He does come out when I call, but doesn't "come".

Tom, however, is quite the ham!

Now, Tom on the other hand is my little love.  He comes when we call.  Is frequently (now) found sleeping on the chair on the porch.  Follows me around in the garden and wants to be petted and loved.

Both of the cats are used to hunting, but also seem to enjoy the vegetables that I bring out for the chickens.  Both eat tomatoes, and chicken food.  They have left all the babies (chicken, duck, guinea) alone.  And since Tom has started coming up to the house...we haven't seen any mice in almost 2 months!  These are GOOD cats.

Fall is in the air...

I didn't do as well as I wanted with the recipes for the lacto-fermenting.  But since so many have been purchasing them and coming here for recipes, my goal will be to post a new recipe....every week, let's say.  I like to try them before I put them up, so we don't again end up with the ickiness that was the green cherry tomatoes.  Someone actually did it successfully, so I might have to try it again.

In all the work/excitement of doing the farmer's market every weekend and getting lots of crops in and canned, I haven't been blogging the homestead happenings as much.  I have heard from you that this is not a good thing...so I will try to get caught back up and let y'all know what's been happening here.

We've had a lot of babies hatched in the past few week.  We've had ducks hatching most of the summer, but the mama's were walking them all over the 2 acres that they free-range on, and I think they would get worn out and then we'd "lose" them.  However...out of the last clutch of 11, we've had 2 survive and thrive.  They are about 6 weeks old now and doing pretty well. 

We also had baby chicks hatch in the Asparagus bed about 6 weeks ago.  We had 4 hatch, and lost 1 to the water trough.  The three that are left are a really good size now.  Two look like golden comets, and the other like a barred rock.  Then about 2 weeks ago, we had 3 hatch out of a clutch that was being sat on in the nest boxes.  Those three look like golf balls still, but two are a golden color and the third is white with brown  and looks like the mama Americauna that hatched them.

Our two female guineas sat on a nest that they laid in the middle of the zucchini patch.  They had 30 eggs altogether.  I wasn't sure if we even had a male guinea (I do!).  We had 6 of them hatch.  We've lost 2 in the past two days...I think for the same reason as the ducklings.  She has them all over the yard.  They are growing quickly, so hopefully we won't lose anymore.

Both of the female rabbits "missed" this time as we should be getting bunnies (a week ago).  I'll let that go for a few more days and then try them again.  We have one female rabbit that has been loose in the yard most of the month.  We see her on almost a daily basis and she stays near the front of the barn (or in the grain barn breezeway), but haven't been able to catch her.

We added a new grown turkey hen about 2 weeks ago, so Thanksgiving now has a girlfriend/wife.  She is a Bourbon Red turkey and her name is Reba.  With Reba, we also received two Runner ducks.  Runners are funny to see because they are not down low like regular ducks.  They "stand" upright.  Boy has named them Trot and Sprint.

With Fall coming on, there are still lots to do around the homestead.

• We need to get the chicken coop ready for winter.  This involves (hopefully) putting up a new back wall.  Putting plastic up over the windows.  Pulling out all the old 'dirt' and putting fresh sawdust in.  Putting straw along the walls to help insulate it from the cold.  I would also like to put up a better fence to keep them near the coop, rather than on the porch.
• Still harvesting and putting up the tomatoes for the winter.  Replanting the few cuttings that do not have blight so maybe I can keep them going in the pump house for a few more months.
• Digging the potatoes.  I think that's still about a month away.
• I replanted green beans in July, so those are just starting to come on.  They are a big seller at the farmer's market....and we love them too.
• Shoring up the big barn to try to keep it warmer this winter.
• The landlady says they will be coming to put new insulation and siding on the farm house.
• We still have farmer's market until the second Saturday in October.
• Looking for further streams of income as my short term disablity has ended and we're not sure what is going to happen next.  I am still only able to do things for short periods of times and then have to rest.  My seizures are somewhat under control with medication, but the medication makes me a bit of a zombie.  (OK, so I was already an airhead before...this is not a long trip.:) )
• Fall cleaning to get things ready to be stuck in the house for the winter.

I'm sure there's a bunch more...but typing this has made me realize...I must go get busy!!

I don't recommend...

The recipe for the pickled green cherry tomatoes.  Usually, I try the recipe before putting it up, that way the ones that are 'duds' don't get passed on. 

I really, really didn't like them....at all!  Now you might try it and get a better batch, but I'm not even sure I'm going to take the time to do it again to see if maybe it was just a bad batch.

Enough said.

What recipes are you trying?

Apologies!!

One of my wonderful readers let me know that my blog was unavailable for quite a few days this week!  Upon checking, I discovered that I had received a huge amount of spam comments and Blogger had pulled down the blog for me to confirm that it hadn't been infected with malware, etc.  So all the recipes that were scheduled to come up....didn't.  And I "lost" them.  I am working to recover all the posts that are missing (from Wednesday-Friday)

We had a very busy day today.  The farmer's market did great today.  I had at least 5 people ask me if I could sell them some salsa!!  Also, a wonderful lady told me that I should put our jars up on Etsy.  Hey, that is part of my 101 in 1001.  So tomorrow I will work on that along with more recipes.

On Wednesday, I went to a friend's house and taught her how to can peaches.  We had 2 bushels to put up.  We only got 1/2 a bushel done, then (6 quarts & 10 pints that we split) then we each had another 3/4 bushel to put up on our own.  My wonderful gus knew that I've really been hurting for the past few days, so they pitched in this afternoon and we got the rest of the peaches done.  14 more quarts and 9 1/2 pints of jelly!! Yeah!

I also put another quart of salsa in the lacto-ferment jar! I still have 2 quarts of blackberries to do...and 20 pounds of zucchini...and 10 pounds of tomatoes...and a big basket of polano peppers that were gifted to me from Dragonfly Farm (at the market today). 

Lacto Fermented Green Tomato Pickles

1 wide mouth quart preserving jar

enough green tomatoes to fill the jar to 1 inch below the lid (only use tomatoes that are totally green, the ones that made you crazy at the start of the summer) I actually used green cherry tomatoes from the branches of the tomatoes plants that I needed to trim!

1 dill head or 1 fresh dill sprig or 2 Tbsp dried dill or dill seed)

1 hot pepper with the stem pulled off (optional)

1 large or 2 medium or 3 small cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp canning and pickling salt

4 Tbsp whey - I use kefir milk whey(or substitute an additional Tbsp of canning and pickling salt)

Filtered water

Wash the tomatoes and remove their stems and place in the clean wide mouth jar to 1 inch below the rim. Add the garlic, dill and hot pepper between the tomatoes and add the salt and whey, if using.

 Fill the jars with water to 1 inch below the rim and screw on the airlock lid. Store at room temperature for 3-4 days (3 days when kept at 72°) before placing on the top shelf of your fridge. They can be eaten after the 3 - 4 days but are better after a month of storage. It's normal if the brine is fizzy or there is white foam floating on the top.

As a full disclosure thing, the green tomatoes in the photo are not fermented yet. When done they will be more of an olive green color, and the brine will be cloudy. I  wanted to post this while there were still green tomatoes for people to use.

Corn Relish

3 cups fresh corn kernels
1 small tomato, peeled, seeded and diced
1 small onion, finely diced
1/2 pablano pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons of cilantro leaves, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sea salt
4 tablespoons whey

In a large bowl mix all ingredients.  Pound lightly with a wooden pounder to release juices.  Place in a quart-sized wide-mouth mason jar and press down with a pounder until juices cover the relish.  The top of the vegetables should be at least 1 ince below the top of the jar.  Cover tightly with airlock (filled to the line with filtered water) and keep at room temperature for about 3 days.

Lacto-fermented Sauerkraut

1 medium cabbage, cored and shredded
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tablespood sea slt
4 tablespoons whey (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt

In a bowl, mix cabbage with caraway seeds, sea salt and why.  Pound with a wooden pounder (we now have some of these available for sale--the wood turner at the farmer's market made some for us!!) for about 10 minutes to realease juices.  Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down firmly with the pounder until juices come to the top of the cabbage.  The top of the cabbage should be at least 1 ince below the top of the jar.  Cover tightly with the airlock lid.  Put filtered water into the airlock and keep the jar at room temperature in a dark cabinet for about 3 days.  The sauerkraut may be eaten immediately, but it improves with age.

Lacto-Fermented Salsa

4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced (personally, I don't mind the seeds)
2 small onions, finely chopped
3/4 cup chopped chile pepper, hot or mild (I bought some beautiful pobano peppers yesterday at the farmer's market)
6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped (optional)
1 bunch of cilantro (I will have to use dried)
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of dried cumin
juice of 2 lemons (I prefer lime)
1 tablespoon sea salt (pickling salt or Himilayan Pink salt)
4 tablespoons of whey
1/4 filtered water

Mix all ingredients and place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar.  Press down lightly with a wooden punter adding more water if necessary to cover the vegetables.  The top of the ;vegetables should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar.  Cover tightly with the airlock lid.  Keep at room temperature for about 2 days before tranferring to cold storage.

Pictures forthcoming...have to go and actually make it!

Pickled Pearl Onions

I'm  was going to post two versions of this recipe.  We did it very basic and loved it. I was going to post the "Nourishing Traditions" version but I can't imagine cinnamon with onions...maybe after we try it I will post it...until then....

For our version we filled the jar with peeled, whole white pearl onions from the farmer's market

You could use red pearl onions also. 

Fill the jar to the top, leaving 1 inch head space with 6% salt water brine.  Put on the airlock cap and wait.

We have also done it with cucumbers and onions (as shown on all our literature, above, and on the homepage of the www.InAPickle.homestead.com website (they look like eggs, but are actually onions).

This is a short one today because it is Saturday and Farmer's Market day!!

Lacto-fermented Beets

You will need:

• naturally-grown beets – peeled, quartered and sliced

For each jar full of peeled, quartered and sliced beets (fill the jar up to within 1-inch of the top), you will need:

• 1 cup of pure water with 1 tablespoon of sea salt –OR– 1 cup of pure water with 1/2 tablespoon of sea salt and 4 tablespoons of homemade whey (dripped out of kefir or yogurt, or from raw cheese-making)
• additional pure water

Note: If this ends up too salty, soaking the veggies in water for a time draws off the salt, making them tasty. One could also use less salt, but experimentation would be necessary — you need enough salt to suppress the putrefying bacteria.

Start by peeling, quartering and slicing the beets.

Then fill your quart jars as required to use up all the prepared vegetables. Press down on the veggies to make sure they’re packed in well and don’t fill up higher than within 1-inch of the top.

Mix the sea salt and water (and/or whey) together so the salt is mostly dissolved. If using water and sea salt, add 1 cup to each jar. If using water and sea salt with whey, add 1-1/4 cups to each jar. Then top off each jar with more pure water to cover the vegetables

Put the airlock lid onto your jar and place in a dark, room temperature place for about 3 days. Watch the bubbles and soon they will be done. Then place in your cold storage.

Sour-Sprouts (the Wallace version of Sauerkraut)

This one is takes a bit longer in one way because you need to sprout your mung beans.  Well, I suppose you could buy mung bean sprouts...but...

Anyway, if you buy the beans, this is really easy.  If you've eaten up your Dilly Beans, you can just put the sprouts into the same brine and spices and put the airlock on and in 3 days you will have some of the most delicious sour-sprouts.  We call them this because it tastes a bit like really good sauerkraut, but they are crispier.  Also, mung bean sprouts tend to have a bitter-ish taste to them.  By fermenting them, it takes the bitterness out.

Mung bean sour-sprouts and veggie medley...the radishes give it the pink color.

Now, if you haven't got the brine left over, here's the whole recipe from beginning to end.

Sour-Sprouts

• About 2 cups of mung bean sprouts
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, snipped
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 4 tablespoons whey (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)
• 1 cup filtered water

Rinse sprouts well and place in a quart-sized wide mouth jar.

Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the sprouts, adding more water if necessary to cover the sprouts. The top of the liquid should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar.

Cover tightly with air-lock cap and keep and keep at room temperature and out of UV light for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

Pickled Green Beans-Our new "Chips"

These pickled green beans make a tasty snack anytime of the day…I like to grab a few straight from the jar and munch on them….betcha’ can’t eat just one --just like chips 

• 3/4 to 1 pound fresh green beans
• 1 large clove garlic, sliced
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons unrefined sea salt
• 2 cups filtered water (Or you can use the brine that we made before)

Other Items you will Need:

- 1-quart sized wide-mouth jar with an air-lock lid

OPTIONAL
- Pot of boiling water
- Bowl of ice water

Place half of the sliced garlic to a clean quart-sized mason jar, followed by the red pepper flakes and dill.

Snap off the stem-end of green beans.  (We've done it both ways and it works either way. I go towards the less is better...so I haven't blanched the last two batches ) Blanch green beans in boiling water for 2 minutes, then immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water until no longer hot. Drain the blanched beans well and pat dry with paper towels.

Add green beans to your jar, stem-end down, packing them close together….it helps to lay the jar on its side at first. Fill the jar completely with the green beans, but do not pack them in too tight. Sprinkle remaining garlic slices on top of beans in jar.

In a bowl, or large glass measuring cup, mix together the water and salt. Pour this mixture into your jar of beans to cover, being sure to leave 1-inch space from the top of the jar for expansion. (If the brine does not cover, simply make up another batch using the same ratio of salt to water.)

Place air-lock lid on the jar tightly.. Allow to ferment (culture) for 3 days at room temperature, checking after day 2. When they are done, the beans will smell and taste “pickled”, but they should still be slightly crisp.

Remove air-lock lid and replace with storage lid — transfer to cold storage.

Makes 1-quart.

Running late! I need to KETCHUP!!

I will have to post the Ketchup pictures and recipe tomorrow.  Had a new development in my life today, and also had to deal with almost 10 pounds of cherry tomatoes (low acid, yellow ones-YUM!)

Here's the recipe...
2 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste
2 TBSP raw apple cider vinegar
3 TBSP whey
3 to 4 TBSP Maple Syrup, to taste
1 TBSP unsulphured molasses
1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt, or more to taste
1/8 teason cayenne
1/8 ground all-spice
1/8 teaspon onion powder
1/4 ground cloves
1/4 to 1/2 filtered water (to desired consistency0

Place all aingredients, except water, in a large bowl.  Whisk together.  Add 1/4 cup filtered water and process until smooth.  If needed, add additional water until desired consistency is reached.  We used about 1/2 cup of water.

Place ketchup in yur quart glass jar, cap with the air-lock lide  All to ferment, at room temperature and in the dark, for about 3 days.

Remove air-lock lid and replace with storage lid. Keep in the refrigerator for long term storage.

Makes 2 cups.

We transferred our ketchup to a cleaned plastic ketchup squeeze bottle once it was done.  Here's a tip, the ketchup will keep fermenting in the fridge.  If the plastic bottle is closed tight...it will be a bit blown up from the gas.  Here's the tip...open it with caution with the opening towards the sink...otherwise you will be washing the ceiling...ask me how we know :)