Making Tracks

The moose have not been back. Apparently, moving all the bales of hay with all the machinery necessary was too much for them and we haven't seen them in two weeks. While this is kind of sad and frustrating for me as I love to take pictures of them, it may also turn out to be a good thing in the short term as the deer have started to return.

I'm not sure what it is between those two species but they seem to have no love for each other. As soon as the moose turn up the deer disappear but now that they have left the deer are back. So far the only evidence we have of their return is tracks left in the snow which we probably would not have noticed except they are only about 35 to 40 feet from the house.

One thing however puzzles me. We found four sets of tracks so it is a pretty small group but one set was VERY tiny! Who is this little one? Surely it is way to early for any babies to be born as that usually doesn't happen until late April or May, but there is no doubt this is either a very stunted little one, a late surprise from last year or a very early one for this year.

Adult tracks

Itty bitty tracks

You can be sure I will be keeping a close eye out to see if they stay around so I can take some pictures. Deer can be much more difficult to photograph however as they are very shy. Oh well! Here's hoping! 

Frugal Tuesday - Costs to Raise Chicken for Meat

If any of you have raised chickens for meat you most likely are very well aware of some of the differences between home grown and "factory farm" grown chicken. For one thing, they don't taste anything like what you purchase in the stores and if you have raised them with the freedom to run all over the farm they can be a bit tough to eat and the flavor is much different. Of course this depends greatly on the breed as well. The beautiful guy you see in the photo is definitely not very tasty. He has been running around all over the farm having a great time with the ladies and as a result his muscles are very well developed so he would be very tough and require a lot marinading to make him remotely palatable. He is also too old. Oh well...  Lucky for him he is not a meat bird. :)

But lets say you wanted to raise some chickens specifically for meat. Would it be cost effective? Is that a factor? or do you just want food you have raised yourself or maybe something organically or humanely raised?

The best and cheapest way to do this of course would be to have your own multipurpose hens raise or at least hatch the chicks for you but this isn't always possible especially if you want them to all be ready to butcher at the same time or want a meat bird that is.. well meaty! Another way to use your all purpose breeds is to save the eggs for a while and then using an incubator hatch them all at once. This way you can separate them from the rest of the flock and watch their diet much more carefully.

This is what I found in my area, but where you live prices might be quite a bit different, so it is always a good idea to do your research before taking on a project like this. My reasons for raising chickens for meat are a bit varied. Personally I don't want birds that have been fed antibiotics and kept in tiny little cages or even so called free range barns with no room to really move and never seeing sunshine or doing what chickens do. I want my food to be raised well and fed well. In short I guess I want to know where it is coming from. If butchering is something you have difficulty doing you might be able to find a butcher around who will do it for you but I would rather do it myself so I know it is done correctly and quickly. It's never a fun job but I always figured if I'm going to eat meat I should be able to do that part myself as well.

So, enough said! Lets count the cost so we can see if its doable. One of the most popular meat chickens here is the Cornish Giant. Many chickens breed specifically for meat can have problems with their legs as they grow very quickly, therefore they must be fed a proper and monitored diet so as to no over load them. The nice thing about them is they can be butchered anytime after 8 weeks although I prefer 10 or 12 weeks of age and the feed to meat average is two pounds of feed for one pound of meat. This is pretty reasonable especially if you can find a decent price for feed.

First of course you need the starter feed then the grower and they come in 50 pound bags. Roughly you can average about 4 to 5 chickens finished per bag of feed. So... Lets say we were going to raise 25 birds to start what would it cost? Remember these are my prices (I found a new feed place with GREAT prices!) check your area and see what they are for you.

Purchased chicks: $1.82 each. 25 x $1.77 = $44.25
Chick Starter: 50 lb. bag - $9.99 1 x $9.99 = $9.99 (they only need it for the first 3.5 weeks but 25 birds will probably eat a whole bag, especially if you mix it in with the grower feed for a bit)
Grower Feed: 50 lb. bags - $13.99 4 x $13.99 = $55.96
Total cost = $110.20

This works out to approximately $4.41 per chicken. Not to bad really when I consider in the store the cheapest chicken parts I've seen it lately is $2/lb and whole birds are usually about $8 on a real good sale.

But, is there a cheaper way? Of course! However, this depends on where you live and if you are able to acquire grains for cheap or free from nearby farmers. Meat or grower birds need on average 20 percent protein to start but once they are 3.5 weeks old the protein levels need to be lowered to 17% and at 7 weeks to 14%. By using a high protein mix (which has 35% protein) and mixing it with grains at about 3 to one for the 3.5 to 7 week range, and a bit less after that, I can save a bit of money. Depending of course on what type of grain I find. There is a great protein chart here which lists almost all types of feeds and their protein content.

So... Counting the cost this way.

Purchased chicks: $1.77 each. 25 x $1.77 = $44.25
Chick Starter: 50 lb. bag - $9.99 1 x $9.99 = $9.99
Grains from nearby farms - Varies (last time I had to purchase some I payed the farmer about $20 for about 420 lbs. and for these birds I would need about 150 lbs. Which would be about $7.14.
High Protein Feed: 50 lb. bags - $18.99, 1.5 x $18.99 = $28.48
Total cost = $91.11 or $3.59/each bird

Of course you may find another way to acquire feed. Perhaps you can grow it yourself or have other grains of higher protein content in the surrounding farms. Either way, despite the work involved its worth it. Besides, if you love chickens the way I do, the work is half the fun! (well, except for the butchering of course)

Money saved this year if I raise 25 of my own meat birds? $108.89 If I raise 50 (which is more likely) its $217.78. Piece of mind? Priceless!

Thank you to Frugally Sustainable, the Prairie Homestead and Common Sense Homesteading for their blog hops.

The Winter Continues

When we woke up this morning we were supposed to be in the midst of a snow storm. I was actually looking forward to it as we have had so little snow this winter and the ground isn't even really covered. It's been a very unusual winter and although it was cold (almost - 30 with the windchill) and snowing, by noon the snow had disappeared and the sun was out full force. I sure can't complain about sunshine as we don't have any power unless we have sun but I sure had been looking forward to snow. Oh well.... We will no doubt receive some of the white stuff when we least expect it.

Life has been very relaxed and static lately. There is so little going on! The moose have disappeared for a while probably due to the tractors and trucks which moved all the hay off. Of course we are keeping busy with projects, especially Mountain Man who has a long list of things he wants to have completed by spring. Still, when I was speaking with one of the children the other day I was asked how I was doing and my reply was, "doing good! Just hibernating and waiting for spring." That's exactly what it feels like, I almost envy the bears who do hibernate and only come out when the weather warms up. Of course that is only an "almost" I sure wouldn't want to have missed any of our adventures this winter!

Mountain Man is working on numerous projects which I can't wait to share with you all, but I thought I should update you on just a couple things today. First off, the coffee table is finally finished! If you remember a few weeks back I posted about his building a coffee table, but the picture I had of it was not a finished project. So, after a bit of tweaking (he does that all the time! Creates something and then "tweaks" it until he is satisfied with the final result.) here it is.

I must say I love it! Especially the character of the knots and the grains of the wood! I can hardly believe it didn't cost anything except time. Oh, see that plug in sitting on the floor? The corner leg has a cut out where it fits perfectly. This way we can plug in laptops or anything else we need without hunting for a plug behind the sofa's. 

My second update is on the restarting of celery. I have to say I was just a bit skeptical if it would really work but since I potted it two weeks ago it has really started to take off and I even snipped the tallest stalk today just because I wanted to taste it. I really couldn't seem to help myself and almost decided to snip a few more so that all the stalks were even but eventually controlled myself and left them alone.

How nice it is to have something growing! I can't wait to start planting my veggies!!! I actually have the dirt ready but once I went through my seeds I realized I was weeks early so they are just sitting there waiting for me. Sigh!

The Owl Who Came to Dinner

So... I'm sitting here this lovely morning with my steaming cup of brew and wondering what I could possibly talk or for that matter write about when I happened to glace at a picture of a few years back. One of my favorite chickens...  and it hit me. Remember when I told you about the worries I had about the owls and the hawks living so close by? Well... Sit back a bit and get comfy.

It was a beautiful sunny summer day. One of those days that is wonderfully warm but yet has a beautiful breeze that keeps all the little bugs away. The kind of day when you want to be outside. In fact you have to be outside because it is just too nice not to be. So, there I was puttering here and there but not really doing much of anything. I watered a few plants that looked a bit dry and spent quite a bit of time gazing at the yard deciding where I was going to put my flower gardens as the landscaping wasn't done. Really? I was just killing time and listening to the wonderful sounds of the sheep in the pasture and the chickens clucking while enjoying the feel of the sun on my back. Sigh...  Those are the days! One of the big reasons why I don't want to live anywhere else.

Suddenly the idyllic day was shattered with the raucous calls of chickens in danger, dogs barking and then Mountain Man yelling. What??!??! What was going on? Do I run for a gun or run to see what is happening? I ran! I was too far away to get to the gun and close enough so I could see what was happening in a few seconds. My heart was beating like a jackhammer as I raced around the side of the house.

Of course, by the time I got there the fuss was all over and all I saw was Mountain man reach down to pick up the remains of one of our teenage birds that had been hatched that spring. While we started to walk towards the house with this half-grown bird carcass he related to me what happened.

He had been on his way to his tool shed when he heard a racket and looked towards the chicken coop just in time to see an owl grab one of the chickens. The owl then, with heavy load in it's talons, tried to take off but was unable to gain any lift due the the chicken it was carrying. As luck would have it, it was heading straight towards him and could not get higher unless it dropped its catch which it refused to do. It was flying so low that by the time it was right beside him it was still below waist height, so... he kicked at it! It dropped the chicken and flew off to one of the trees and sat there looking at us! He pointed it out just as it was flying away.

I still shake my head at this scenario! We had been loosing about a chicken a day for the last week or so before this happened and had not figured out what was taking them. Now we knew! It was only by luck that Mountain Man happened to be there to see it and to stop it. We never lost a chicken after that. I guess the owl was so startled he decided to look for easier prey. The fields are full of mice and gophers so he or she wasn't going to go hungry that's for sure.

So, what did we do with the "rescued" chicken? Well, there was nothing else to do as it was dead. We ate it for dinner. Yum!

Recipe Thursday - Moroccan Inspired Meal

In the winter time our meals often consist of a homemade soup or stew and while these are wonderful and delicious there are time I crave something just a little different. I love to cook and I especially love to come up with something new (or at least new to me), as a result I often consider recipes as a sort of guideline and rarely follow one exactly.

A couple years ago a friend of mine introduced me to Morrocan food and I was hooked. The flavors are so fantastic! So, I wondered... Could I come up with a stew that was morrocan flavored? Moroccan Tagines are really just a stew with different spices. All I could do was try it and see and since I had a lovely jar of preserved lemons just waiting for me to try, I figured why not?

First I wanted to get the spices mixed and ready. This isn't a necessity as there are a lot of recopies out there which don't do this but I love spice mixes. So, here we go!

I know, I know, I really need to organize my spice rack so they are neat little jars.

My Moroccan Spice Blend

2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

That's it! Mix all together well and store in a nice little jar. I will say that was all the spices I had on hand and I would have loved to add a few more such as cardamom and some coriander but they don't seem to exist up here so I will keep looking.

Moroccan Flavored Stew

1.5 pounds meat (preferably lamb but you can use what you have on hand although the flavor will be slightly different) I chopped it up into nice bite sized pieces the same as I would for any other stew
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic or good substitute
2 teaspoons parsley
The flesh of two preserved lemons. Chop it up, discard the seeds and save the rind for later. This is where you might want to change it up a bit. If you really don't like much lemon only add one.

Place all items in a nice heavy pot and simmer on a very low heat for about two hours. Then add the rest of the ingredients.

1 1/2 cups beef broth. I would have preferred wine but it tasted great with just the broth
2 medium potatoes
3 carrots
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup olives
the rind of the lemons chopped up
2 teaspoons of the spice blend made earlier. I loved this blend but if your spices are much fresher you might want to start with 1 teaspoon and taste it after a bit before adding more.
salt

Simmer on a low heat for another couple hours, until the vegetables are nicely cooked through and the flavors blended.

While this method worked great I might try adding it all to the pot at once next time and just leaving it throughout the day while I'm busy with other things. I think it might work great as a crockpot meal although you would have to adjust the amount of liquid to about 1 cup.

I really would have like to made some couscous to go with this meal but I didn't have any so the next best thing I could think of was a nice moroccan flat bread. I looked at recipe after recipe but couldn't find one that would work with the ingredients I had so I decided to make a simple bread made in Africa and India called Roti. Every family has a slightly different roti recipe but the basics are all the same. Here's my version.

Flat Bread

This bread is really easy to make but it does take a while for the dough to rest so start it about an hour before the stew is done.

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup milk
Olive oil

Mix the flour and salt together. Measure water and milk in to a small dish to mix together. You don't want the liquids hot just nicely warm. Add liquids to flour mixture to make a soft dough. Using your hands cover it with a light layer of olive oil and allow to rest covered in a warm place for about 1/2 and hour.

Now to roll out the dough. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Dip each piece in flour and roll out with a rolling pin to a nice slim 8 inch round. Flouring as necessary so it doesn't stick to the counter. Heat a nice heavy skillet to medium heat. Fry each piece for about 30 seconds on one side then flip over. Fry about another minute until the bottom in browning a bit then flip over again. Fry for about another minute. See the dough puffing up? Cool isn't it?

If your dough doesn't puff up keep trying but don't tell any of your friends, especially if they are from India! This bread needs to be kept warm and eaten right away as it will stiffen otherwise but you can brush it lightly with butter to keep it soft and if you need to store it you can soften it in the microwave with a sprinkle of water or a dampened towel.

I was so impressed with the way this turned out that it will be a favorite in our house from now on. Mountain Man especially loved the bread!

Going to Town

Well, we went to town yesterday. Now you might wonder.... O.K... So whats the big deal about that? You are no doubt thinking I would be itching to get to town after being cooped up on the farm for the last few weeks and you would be right, up to a point.

Going to town is exciting when you only do it every two or three weeks. I actually put on makeup and do my hair! (gasp!) Can you imagine? Now I am not a slob in any way but when I am on the farm I don't bother with make up (unless you consider Chapstick makeup) and doing my hair usually means just putting it up in a clip or those lovely new spiral holders "spin pins" made by Goody that work so well. Farm attire usually consists of old, well worn, soft, jeans and a t-shirt or sweater. Going to town means I actually get to wear some of my good jeans and sweaters! O.K, now I'm sitting here laughing to myself and wondering why I am telling you this!  I guess I'm just trying to convey what a different lifestyle this is and what my mood started out as on "going to town day".

Going to town is not just about the fact that I get to dress up like I used to do every day, it is about the whole process. One thing I learned a long time ago about saving money is this: if you don't leave the house you can't spend it. Of course that is not true strictly speaking because you can always purchase items on line but I think the majority of us spend most of our money when we are physically in the store.

One of the things both Mountain Man and I have been doing is making a list of exactly what we need in town, and I do mean exactly what we need. If it isn't on the list we don't purchase it, period. For instance Mountain Man had a craving for blueberry pie so it was on his list as I didn't have any blueberry preserves. Planing like this requires a bit of preparation, sometimes quite a bit of preparation!  Just think about it. If you live in town you can stop by a store at any time and I know when I lived in town I was at one store or another almost every day of the week. Now when I think about that time I just shake my head...  what was I thinking?

That's exactly what it is, a different way of thinking. When we made the decision this winter to only purchase what was "on the list" and to only go to town every two weeks or more we noticed a complete difference in how we viewed what we need. If I decide I want to make a certain item or food I can't simply just do it. I have to plan for it. The more I plan it seems the less I need. Weird. Now there is always the exception to the rule. If something vital breaks or if it is for a paying project of course that is different but those don't happen very often in the winter. My list today ended up being about 12 items and may of them were little trinkets I needed for a few craft projects. As for groceries? I purchased a total of five items. Five! Worth a total of $18, and I won't need to go anywhere for two weeks.

So, how did I do it? It's all in the planning! Take a look at your pantry or what is in your cupboards, fridge and freezer. One of the things I found when we didn't live like this is that SO much goes to waste! I would purchase a product, often times fruit or veggies, and end up throwing about 1/3 to 1/2 of it out due to spoilage. Sometimes an item I had purchased for the freezer would be stuck in the back and not used, then by the time I found it, it was freezer burnt and inedible. I was so caught up in what I wanted at the moment that I didn't make a plan. If I felt like eating a certain meal that's what I did. If I needed to purchase something to make it? Out I went to get what I needed. I don't do that any more. Now I look at what I have and what needs to be used up, and then decide what I can make out of it. Much more efficient! This is also the reason I'm finding I just don't need as much, and since we have so many canned goods usually what I end up buying is just fresh fruit or veggies.

So, there we were, in town for a shopping trip and I really didn't need much of anything. As we drove from store to store (Mountain Man's list was bigger than mine) I found myself getting more and more irritated. I didn't like the smell, I didn't like the crowds, I didn't like the traffic. ARG! All I wanted to do was go home. Finally we were finished and on our way back to the farm...  Big sigh! But all the way home I kept asking myself why? Why was I so frustrated by the process, why didn't I want to be there? and the big question in my mind... am I becoming anti-social? Gasp! It took a bit of conversation (we had a good 45 min to talk while we drove) but I realized the answer is no.

I love to go places. I enjoy entertaining. I especially love to travel and see places I've never been but I also love the calm quietness of where we live and wonderful lack of the need to hurry, hurry, hurry. Ah! There it is! In town I felt like I had to rush to get this done, to go here, to purchase that and was frustrated by my inability to find a few items I felt I needed. Now, at home, I know if I don't have what I need I will just improvise or do without and finally... finally! I have come to accept it. Took me long enough! Sigh...  enough rambling for one day... I'm off to make some tea.... maybe read that book I haven't finished or start on another craft project. Hmm...

Frugal Tuesday - Keeping Busy and Saving Money, Sewing Jars

So, even though it has been rather warm here for this time of year there is still nothing I can do outside and as a result I am left with rather a LOT of time on my hands. This would no doubt not be a problem except I can't stand having nothing to do or feeling cooped up. I suppose that is one reason I started blogging in the first place! I know spring will be coming soon but it can't be soon enough for me and I think I'm starting to go a little stir crazy. The land here is so quiet! Except for the moose and occasional fox, magpie or crow there is nothing. Silence envelopes everything. It is like the land itself is holding its breath and waiting for spring to arrive.

To try to fill my time I have been doing some crafty type things. Since I have quite a few women friends (although most in faraway places) I figured I better get started on some gifts for them throughout the year. I can save some money by making their gifts as well as hopefully save my sanity at the same time.

The first thing I decided to make is some little sewing jars. I have seen quite a few of these come across Pinterest as you no doubt have and I think they are kind of cute. So many younger women don't sew or even mend any more, and even our daughters, who have been encouraged to learn, don't seem to know their way around a needle. It isn't unusual for me to go visit and have someone ask. "Mom? Can you fix this for me?" Of course then we have to find something to fix it with!

So, here's what I made today. Who knows? Maybe it will inspire someone to pick up a needle and thread and fix a tear or replace a button instead of discarding the item. :) They didn't take too long, and since I have more canning jars then I will ever use, cost very little except my time.

Sewing Jars

How I did it....

First I gathered some materials: (one of the sites I browsed said to use cardboard so I cut some out but didn't use it)

• a piece of cloth ( I had some jean material so decided to use it)
• a piece of felt
• a nice little mason jar with lid
• a few sewing notions purchase in town (you could try a sewing shop or even a dollar store)
• a bit of stuffing
• some pins
• a glue gun or a needle and thread

Cut the cloth to about 2 inches bigger than the lid...

Take a piece of stuffing about this size and place on the cloth then place the lid on top right side down. When finished the puffy part needs to be on top of the lid. 

I started out with the glue gun but soon realized I wouldn't have enough glue to finish!

I ended up sewing the first part. I didn't take long and it didn't have to be pretty. See my little piece of felt waiting to hid the thread? I just used another lid to cut it to the right size.

See? Fits perfectly! I ended up having enough glue to for this part thanks to Mountain Man having to go to town for some items.  All you do next is take this and push it into the jar lid so the puffy part sticks out the top.  The only problem I ran into was that the layers of cloth made it difficult to put the lids back on the jars. Hmm... What to do? Then I remembered I had a ton of old time jar lids. The ones with the glass inserts. These lids are much bigger and were the original lids for these old jars. 

See the difference? Once I switched to the bigger lid it worked like a charm! These old lids are also much better for wear and tear as they never rust and last forever.

All finished but a little on the plain side so I dressed them up like you see in the top photo with some ribbon and a little card.  Not bad for a days work and I love that sense of accomplishment. Hmm... What can I make next?

Also linked to Frugally Sustainable's Blog Hop and Prairie Homestead

A Drive in the Country

We took a little drive the other day and I just thought I would share with you a few of the photo's. One of my favorite hobbies is taking pictures of old buildings and I am seriously considering making them into a coffee table book sometime in the distant future with descriptions of who homesteaded there. I just love to imagine who lived there and why the family isn't there now. I think often about how difficult it must have been for those first pioneers to settle this land. They dealt with such harsh conditions! Fridged temperatures in the winter, mosquitoes and fly infestations in the summer, disease and illness with no doctors anywhere close by. I've spoken to many an elderly person who lost children to diseases they couldn't name as there was no one to diagnose them. So, anytime I am driving anywhere and I see an old abandoned house or farm I can't help but wonder at the story behind it. Here is one old farmstead I couldn't pass up so with the owners permission I took some pictures. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did taking them.

It's hard to figure out what this building was first used for. It's doubtful it was used for a residence although it might have been, at least for a while while the house was being built. It's likely it was used as a barn.

This garage and shed still had some items left in them. Harness equipment and a few odds and ends as well as an old kerosene egg incubator which I wish I had taken a picture of.

The logs they used to build with are not very large. The average width across is probably only about 4 to 5 inches. Can you imagine only having logs that width with mud packed in between for insulation at 30 below?

This little building interested me so I decided to walk over and take a closer look. It was actually a one room house. There was still an old bed against one wall and a cupboard and some chairs as well as other things strewn about. I'm wondering if it was the very fist home build on this quarter. How many people do you think first lived in it?

                                    

Some item inside. Not wanting to force the door open due to the snow I took these pictures through the open door. I had also only brought my large lens so was having difficulty taking any close up pictures!

An old wood stove tipped over and left. It must have been a beauty in its day. Love the color! Wonder what I will find on our next drive?

A Little Bit o' Fun

So, I stumbled down the stairs yesterday morning and as usual glanced outside to see if any of our moose friends were about. They have a tendency to eat late in the even and early in the morning so, often by the time I am really up and about they are bedded down somewhere for the day. But, what should I see? Two, count them! Two beautiful boys eating in the field behind the house! All right! I was awake now!

I rushed to get dressed, (come on clothes! Oh boy! Now my shirt is inside out and backwards.. I'll fix it later. Why does it take so long to dress when you are in a hurry?) quickly grabbed my camera and headed outside hoping they would still be there. They had barely moved! Yeah me! The funny thing is I wasn't exactly quiet and I know they knew I was there but just didn't care. In fact they didn't even bother to glance in my direction, just went on eating and browsing for food. Look at them! Aren't they gorgeous!

I'm really not sure who this guy is. I know it can't be Rocky or Bullwinkle as his antlers are huge and it looks like he hasn't shed them yet. It's not that common but sometimes they don't shed their antlers until spring.. We have some new visitors!

To give you a bit of perspective as it is hard to see in the picture how big he really is here he is walking close to a huge bale of hay which is about 5 1/2 feet tall. If he was actually right up beside it I think you would see that his shoulder is about eight inches or more higher than the bale which would make him over 6 feet tall.

Meanwhile his buddy was grazing about 100 yards away.  He is either fairly young as his antlers are itty bitty or (most likely) he shed his earlier and they are just starting to grow back. In any case he sure looks nice and healthy.

So there I am, happily clicking away at these two boys and then I happen to glance to my far right and what should I see? A female moose! Yep! She was there all along and I just didn't see her! By the time I moved my camera around she was moving off and I almost didn't get her picture.

See her belly hanging low? I'm thinking there is definitely a baby on the way! May can't come soon enough now and I sure hope we are able to get a glimpse of the young one.

So, since yesterday was such an exciting morning I hoped this morning would prove to be the same, but, alas! No moose friends to see. It is however a rather beautiful morning as the trees are all frosted over and glittering like jewels in the morning sunlight.

Oh how I wish some of the moose would have been around this morning! What a back drop this would have made to the photo's.

Here is a close up of the frost covering the trees. If only the camera could pick up how it shines and glimmers in the morning sunshine. Have a great day and weekend everyone!

Recipe Thursday - Mountain Man Makes Chocolate Bar

What is it with some people and sweets? It seems like a little isn't enough and lots just means make more. Whatever it is, Mountain Man has a sweet, sweet tooth and if I don't bake enough, or even if I do, sometimes it still isn't enough and he craves something more. Especially when it comes to chocolate! Sigh..... I've gained only a couple pounds this winter but if I'm not careful I will gain a couple more!

Well....  this last week apparently the cookies, scones and other treats were not quite enough to satisfy his craving so he decided to do something about it himself. Now, I certainly don't mind when he takes over in the kitchen! There is nothing so satisfying as watching a man cook. At least for me that is. But it's what he makes I have such a problem with, as I know it will be something I want to eat and don't dare. It will also be something he takes great pleasure in tormenting me with. In his laughing good natured way that is. He loves to take very, bad for me things, and break them into very small bits, put them in front of me and say, "see, its just a small piece." He knows full well that I can never stop at just one! Oh dear! Whatever will I do with him? (shaking my head and laughing out loud). So without much more adieu here is his recipe (or rather what I saw him put in it) that I couldn't seem to stay way from this week...  But be prepared! It is NOT good for you!

Mountain Man's Chocolate Bar

Search cupboards to see what is available. Pull out chocolate chips and salted peanuts. Place on counter. Look and root around some more...  Hmm... Not much there. Suddenly spy cornflakes. Gaze at them thoughtfully and finally grab them too.

Find medium sized pot in bottom cupboard. Place on stove in nice warm spot. Start pouring in chocolate chips until you think it is enough. Add some more just in case it isn't.

Stand by stove and stir chips with wooden spoon while they melt. Be careful not to melt too fast and don't burn them.

When all is nicely melted remove from heat. Pour in peanuts. Give it a stir. Pour in corn flakes. Stir a bit more. Maybe a few more cornflakes. Yep! That's about right.

Scrape into a shallow baking dish and spread out (usually my 9 x 13 cake pan). Cover. Take outside where it is freezing cold or place in refrigerator for an hour or so. (Just a side note if I was making this I would put wax or parchment paper on the bottom of the pan first and I would use the crisped rice instead of the corn flakes.)

Once cool and hard bring back in and crack into small pieces. Place in front of wife with wicked grin knowing she is going to eat some because she can't help herself. Settle back to watch and grin. Maybe move it a bit closer to her so she sees all the lovely little bits waiting for her to eat. Grin some more.

Sigh.... See what I mean? Oh, and if your wondering why there isn't a picture.... It's because we ate it all! and I gained another pound........

If You Are Looking for a Community

The more I read and browse the internet, the more I find others like me who have chosen a slightly different type of lifestyle. Some are preppers, preparing for whatever the future may throw at them.  Some are environmentalists who want to save the earth and live as green as possible. Some are survivalists. Others consider themselves a combination but not fitting in one group or another. Me? I consider myself a type of homesteader and someone who wants to be more self-reliant. But no matter who or what brings someone to live this close to nature, to raise and grow their own food, there is a commonality.

Yet, even with what seems to be growing numbers of people deciding to opt out of what I call the "modern lifestyle" many of us are left without a sense of community. I live in a very rural area and my neighbors are modern farmers and think we are rather odd living the way we do. Much of the older generation is gone and there are few left to teach us the old ways of living. I lament daily on the wisdom has been lost with the older generations. My grandmother lived pretty much the way I live now but I can't turn to her and ask her how she did it or how she dealt with this situation or that.

It is, I believe in our human nature to seek out others like ourselves and learn from them. To that end the internet has become the tool of choice for many. There is so MUCH information out there and so many who are willing to share what they know. Of course not all information is necessarily good information, but still, even from making mistakes we can learn.

It is on the internet we can "meet" people of like mind we can bounce ideas off of or someone to pose a question too. If perchance you are one of those people looking for a community of like minded individuals I would like to introduce you to Earthineer.

This community was created and organized by Dan Adams about two years ago. It is, and I quote,"a community and social site for self sufficiency - gardening, preserving and canning, seasonal cooking, beer and wine making, crafts, keeping livestock and everything in between. Whether you're an accomplished gardener who jars tomatoes and braids garlic, a home-brewer who grows their own hops, or a beginner looking for advice, Earthineer helps you connect with people who share your interests."



Well, I'm off to town today! So much to do and so little time! Maybe I will take my camera along just in case...  :) Have a great day!

Frugal Tuesday - Cost per Chicken for Eggs vs Buying

So, I got to thinking again the other day and you know how once I ask a question I have to find the answer. If you haven't guessed most of my questions are posed to me through conversations with Mountain Man. He is always asking me to prove to myself whether it is best to do things one way or another and since I love to learn it works out great for both of us. Today's question is this. How much does it really cost to feed chickens in return for eggs, is it really worth it or should I just buy them from the store or a neighbors.

My first thought is that it's a no brainer. I know eggs from free range hens are much healthier than anything store bought and I love having chickens around. Their funny antics keep me laughing and they produce wonderful high protein food for my family. What's not to love?

However as I try to set aside emotion to analyse this I keep coming up with more questions.  Did you purchase the chickens full grown? As one day olds? At about 5 or 6 weeks of age? Or were they hatched out on your homestead by a broody bird? Each age has a different price tag attached to it. The cheapest is to allow one of your hens to go broody and raise some babies for you. Barring that, the least amount of work is to purchase 5 or 6 week olds from a neighbor for about $4 or $5 each. For the sake of making it easier lets assume you did the last option and purchased 3 hens. If you want babies you will need a rooster as well which will add to the cost but if you don't the hens will lay eggs just fine without one. Lets just concentrate on the hens for now and if you decide to add a rooster the cost can be added on later.

Each adult chicken will eat approximately 1/4 pound of feed per day. A bag of purchased layer feed is 50 pounds and costs me approximately $35 (you may be able to get it cheaper where you live). That is about 17.5 cents a day per chicken. The average multi-purpose hen will lay approximately 260 eggs per year at peak performance.  It works out to $63.88 spent per chicken per year with a return of approximately 21.66 dozen eggs if you purchase all their food from a store. Remember this is also at peak performance without taking into consideration the feed to raise them to this level or for when they start producing less.

So, how much do you spend on eggs? The cheapest I can purchase them at the store is about $2.65/dozen which is $52.14 a year for the amount of eggs 1 hen will lay.  So, if I was to have chickens and purchase all their feed I am actually losing money to the tune of $11.74 per chicken. Of course I am getting all those lovely eggs and they are much better for me than the store bought ones. Also, since the chickens are free range they eat a lot of bugs etc in the summer thereby eating less purchased feed, and I give them all my kitchen scraps. Maybe in the end it works out to fairly even? But don't forget the extra's purchased such as oyster shells etc. Sigh.... OK.  It's not going to work out cheaper this way, so lets look at alternatives.

There IS a cheaper way to do it. I found this out while talking to my local merchant at a feed store. Most feed stores have a mix you can purchase that is specifically for supplementing and adding protein to grains such as wheat, corn, oats and barley. It is mixed in at a ratio of 7 to 1 depending of course on what type of grain you have on hand. One scoop of the purchased mix to 7 scoops of your mix of grain. While it is a little bit more expensive ($45/ 50 lb bag) it has a concentrated protein and is a LOT cheaper if you have farmers around who don't mind if you clean out the bottom of their grain bins for them. Free grain is always a good bargain and the hens certainly don't mind the leavings! By using this method I cut my cost down to just over $9 per year per chicken for feed. Not bad! Of course this depends on finding farmers who will allow you to clean out their grain bins for free. If I have to purchase grains in bulk from a farmer my cost goes up.

But wait! Can't you make your own mix? Sure you can, but it isn't always easy to find the grains necessary. Laying hens need about 18% protein in their diet. The grains grown locally here don't have the protein needed. Wheat is 12.5 % protein, corn is 9 %, oats is 14 %, and barley 12.3 %. So if you were to feed only grains they would not be getting enough protein except for in the summer if they can find a lot of bugs. However, if you have a worm farm and can supplement their diet, as earthworms are about 28% protein. Don't forget the whey! If you make cheese this lovely by product is loaded with protein. There is a great list of grains and their protein levels here as well as a wealth of information about creating your own chicken feed. Maybe you have farmers in your area who can supply you with cheaper alternatives.

The first eggs my chickens gifted me with. Yum!

So, what to do? Myself, I can easily get grain for next to nothing or for free but if I didn't live here I'm not sure. It works out to balancing what is good for you versus what is less costly. Myself, I will take the goodness every time if I can. But it sure is worth considering the options and doing a lot of research before just deciding to do it.

Also link in to Frugally Sustainable's Blog Hop.

A Walk Around Sunset

We had a lovely relaxing day on Saturday but I have to say all day long I was looking out the windows to see if perhaps some wildlife would show up for me to take a picture of. Finally, shortly after noon, we spotted three moose browsing on the far side of our property. Alas, they were a quarter of a mile away and even with my lovely new lens there was no way to take a picture of them. Then, a little later on, our resident fox showed up hunting for mice, but again, too far away.... frustrating!

Finally as the day was coming to an end Mountain Man asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Of course I said, "yes!" I wasn't about to be deterred by the -25 degree temperatures but I have to say bundling up enough to stay warm was a bit daunting. It wasn't long however before we were trucking through the snow in search of our prey.

Finally after about 20 min or so we heard a crackling in the woods and crouched down so as not to scare whatever it was off, but although the crackling continued nothing came toward us and nothing could be seen so we moved forward to try to find the source of the noise. We finally caught a glimpse of her on a trail but she was gone too quickly for anything but a glance. We waited... and waited.... Maybe she would come back?

Nothing...  So we started forward again with the snow crackling and crunching under our feet. It's funny how loud just walking can be in the winter time. You can barely hear what is going on around you as you are making so much noise. I'm sure a moose could come up behind us and we wouldn't hear them until they crashed into us. Ahh...  now you know what was going through my mind as I crunched along looking at my feet and trying to pick a softer, quieter place to step. Mountain Man turned to say something to me and I looked up. There she was! Right over his left shoulder and she was on the move!

I didn't even have time to say anything but started to struggle desperately to get my camera out of my jacket. Stupid zipper! Why can't I grab the zipper pull? Because my mittens are too fat to grab anything! That's why! Hurry, hurry! I glanced up still tugging at my zipper and saw her doing a ground eating lope across the field. If you have ever watched a moose run it is an awesome sight. But she's getting away!. Oh no! The zipper finally came down and I struggled to get the camera with it's long lens out of my bulky jacket.  Come on already! Finally! But she is almost at the edge of the field!

Then, just when I thought there was no way I was going to get a picture, she stopped. Just stopped. Something must have made a sound in the woods as she listened intently while I finally snapped away.

She was a beauty! I sure hope she is pregnant as I would love to see some baby moose this spring! I was thinking at this point that maybe she hadn't seen us but then she turned her head and looked straight at us before loping off into the woods.

She was still quite a distance away so this was as close as I could get with my new lens but at least I finally was able to take a picture!

After she moved off we turned and walked home. As we crunched along we watched the sky turn to violet and then pink. What a lovely way to end the day.

Of Presents and Please

For the last five weeks I have been waiting.... and waiting... and waiting. I have always considered myself a patient person but this wait was a difficult one. Why? Well...  since I hopefully have your attention let me tell you.

With so much wildlife around here and with starting my little blog I found myself suddenly taking a LOT of pictures. I mean, really! What is a blog if it isn't accompanied by at least a few pictures? Just words on a page! Not that words used creatively can't produce lovely mind images but pictures really do help.

Now I do have a lovely camera which Mountain Man purchased for little ol' me. Its a Sony Alpha DSLR A200 which is a fairly good entry level camera. I'm not that proficient with it yet but am learning fast, or at least trying too. Sadly, it doesn't have much of a zoom (I only had the 75 mm zoom that came with it) and I love to take pictures of the wildlife around here. Often these lovely creatures are just out of range for me to take a really good picture and I was getting a bit frustrated. I needed a new zoom lens!  Hmmm...  Maybe, I could make it a my birthday present this year? Well....  Maybe birthday, anniversary and everything else present?

It took me two weeks searching the internet, and some very creative budgeting but eventually I found a 70 to 300 mm lens in my price range and was able to order it.... and then the wait began. Finally yesterday (Thursday) five weeks later it arrived (apparently it sat at customs for two weeks) and I have to say my excitement was tremendous. I really wanted to take some pictures!

Off we went to find Rocky and Bullwinkle our resident moose or perhaps a fox or something to take a picture of, but of course, the minute you WANT to take a picture there is nothing to take a picture of! Where did all the wildlife go? I found myself pretty much chanting in my head as we went around each corner, "please be there, please be there!" Nothing.... Next corner.... Nothing....

Sigh.... Oh well! At least if they do come back I am armed and ready! With my camera of course!

Look at the size of that zoom lens!

Recipe Thursday - Yummy Comfort Stew!

Stew is one of those wonderful comfort foods we love to eat in the winter. Usually when I make a batch it lasts for two or three meals and we never get tired of it as the next day it always tastes even better. It really is fairly simple to make and if you use vegetables stored from the garden it is very inexpensive. Here is one of my favorite stews. I find it difficult to write a recipe as I rarely make it the same way twice, however, in an effort to be able to pass recipes on to others, including my children I will attempt to measure the ingredients.

One of the biggest mistakes I used to make (in my opinion) is starting wrong. Stew meat while a cheap cut to purchase can be made wonderful by just a few changes from the usual throw it all in one pot recipe. Don't get me wrong! I love crock-pots and use the long simmering method for many recipes including this one but I don't just throw it all in and walk away. The meat needs to be browned first and not in large batches. You don't want juices to accumulate, you want the meat to brown and leave all those delicious bits on the bottom of the pan. So, here we go!



Comfort Stew

Gathering the ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 to 2 pounds Stew meat
1 large onion, diced
3 to 4 nice sized carrots, coarsely chopped
3 to 4 potatoes, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped celery
3 tablespoons or so tomato paste
4 cups beef stock (5 if you used very large carrots and potatoes)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (if you have garlic cloves, use 2 and simmer with onions)
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon crushed Thyme
1 teaspoon tarragon
Salt
Pepper

Browning the meat. Look at all those yummy bits!

Heat the oil in a nice sized pot then in small batches add the meat and brown nicely on all sides, making sure not to add too much at a time as you don't want liquid to accumulate. Set meat aside for a few minutes. Add the chopped onion to the pot and fry it up until it caramelizes nicely. Next add the tomato paste. Stir it around and allow it to caramelize too but watch it carefully so it doesn't burn!

Now comes the fun part! Getting all those lovely bits off the bottom of the pan. Add about a cup of the beef broth and stir and scrap the sides and bottom of the pan. See all those yummy bits coming off? That's all delicious flavor you are adding to your stew. If you want to make it even more delicious you can substitute a couple cups of red wine for some of the broth. YUM! I didn't have any cheap red wine hanging around this time. Must have drank it all..... 

Once the you have gathered up all those bits and the broth is nicely bubbling away add the rest of the broth and the meat back into the pot. The rest of  the coarsely chopped veggies are next. Now it's time to think about your spices and herbs. The ones I've listed in the recipe is what I used this time but you can use whatever you have on hand. Your tastes might be different than mine. I tend to love lots of flavor in my stews and you might want to tone it down a bit. The only thing to remember about flavorings for stew is since you are making a stew with red meat you want to use stronger flavor than you would for say chicken. Here is a great article on herbs and spices to use with beef. 

Next bring it to a simmer set the pot on the back of the wood stove in a spot I know it will simmer very slowly. You can do the same by turning the temperature down. Now just leave it for a bit. About 30 min. Then come back and  give it a taste. Does it have the right amount of salt and pepper? Do you want more herbs or spices? Check the veggies to see how they are coming along. Almost there! Just leave it for about another 30 min or so maybe longer depending on how fast or slow it is simmering. There is no set time really. You want all the veggies to cook slowly and the herbs and spices to marry nicely. Once it is done I usually take it off the stove and allow it to sit about 10 min or so. Just so it cools a bit before we eat it. No sense burning your tongue on it! You want to be able to taste all those lovely flavors. Enjoy!

Linked in to the Nourishing Gourmet  and Natural Mothers Network

Weather the Forecaster of My Days

As I look outside this morning I am amazed at the diversity of nature. Normally at this time of year the ground is covered with at least a couple feet of snow. This year there is almost none and it seems like every time there is a fairly good accumulation we have some unseasonably warm weather and it melts! I've never experienced a winter like this one. We haven't even had to have a tractor come in and plow the driveway yet! I wonder what the spring will bring. Will it be dry? or will the rains come and give us and the farms around us the moisture we need? What about this summer? Will it be colder than normal? Two summers ago we had an unusually cold summer and ended up using the wood stove at least one or more nights each month! So much of what we do is dependent on the weather and living this way seems to bring a person so much closer to the land and what is happening on it.

When living in the city I rarely thought about it but our here thoughts about the weather are constant. Not worrisome, but always somewhere in the back of your mind. What will the weather permit me to do today? If it is too cold, nothing outside, but if warm maybe a quad ride to see where Rocky and Bullwinkle are, or that new moose spotted yesterday with a huge rack of horns. Even my baking is planned according to the weather. Thursday will supposedly be the coldest day this week and since we heat with the same stove that bakes our bread, baking heats up the house substantially. Why not do it on the coldest day as that is the day I will need to add extra wood to it anyway.

Our trips into town, the gardening and almost every other aspect of what we do outside is done according to the weather. Yet many days it is hard to plan in advance! Our local weather service seems unable to predict with much accuracy what the weather will be like on any given day let alone a week in advance. So, for the most part we take whatever they say with a grain of salt and wait until morning. Then take a look outside, check the temperature gauge and see what the weather is really going to be like!

Well so much for my musings today. I have many things to accomplish. Have a great one everyone!

Frugal Tuesday - Restarting Celery? Does it work?

All over the web lately (especially Pinterest!)I've seen posts about restarting celery so I thought I would do a little experiment to find out if it really works and how long it would take to regrow. First off I used up all my celery. I have a habit of washing the whole thing and then chopping from the ends down so it was easy for me to save the root area all in one piece. Once it was used up, but had about 1.5 inches left on the bottom, I just stuck it in a glass and added some water. That was easy! Now the waiting begins. Surprisingly after a week little leaves had started to show. Nice! Don't know where my picture went for week one.... oh well! Onward we go!

In two weeks the leaves were much bigger!

Three weeks and going strong! I'm a little disappointed though as there aren't really very many shoots and I'm doubting this will work well. In-fact I was so disappointed I ignored it for the next two weeks thinking I had wasted my time. 

Week 5: O.K, maybe I shouldn't have ignored it for so long! The root system is huge now and it needs potting badly. The old stalk has started to rot but the strangest thing is what you can't see in this picture. A whole bunch of tiny little leaves starting to sprout again from the bottom! Nice! It looks like maybe this experiment wasn't a failure after all. I'm off to town for an appointment today but when I get back this little baby is going into a pot with some nice soil. I know it is a long process but I have time. Even if I don't get any celery to use until mid summer that's fine. At least I have proved it works. If I keep this up by spring time I should have three or four of these to plant in the garden. From now on celery ends do NOT go into the compost pile! Have a great day everyone!

Update: I have to say I was just a bit skeptical if it would really work but since I potted it two weeks ago it has really started to take off and I even snipped the tallest stalk today just because I wanted to taste it. I really couldn't seem to help myself and almost decided to snip a few more so that all the stalks were even but eventually controlled myself and left them alone.

How nice it is to have something growing! I can't wait to start planting my veggies!!! I actually have the dirt ready but once I went through my seeds I realized I was weeks early so they are just sitting there waiting for me. Sigh!

Thank you to Frugally Sustainable for their blog hop. 

Where Did Everyone Go?

We went to an auction last week and while we didn't find anything to purchase I took this photo along the way. These old falling down houses are everywhere around here and are such a picture of sadness and neglect. I often wonder what happened to the residents. Where did they go? Is there still some family around? Why did they leave?

I spoke to one of the residents in my area about it one day and here is what she told me. When she was a little girl the town near her farm was a busy and bustling place. It had three gas stations, two grocery stores and numerous other businesses along with a few hundred residents. Every quarter of land (160 acres) surrounding the town had a family on it. Most people were fairly poor but grew all their own food and sold grain or animals or something off the farm for money. Slowly, as it became more difficult to make money farming they moved away and those who were doing better with farming bought them out. Farms had to become bigger and bigger to survive. Eventually the town died. Today there is nothing there but a post office and a rural governmental office which manages the farm area around it. The rest of the town is abandoned and empty. It has become a ghost town.

This story is not unique around here. My mind has a hard time wrapping itself around it. Why couldn't they make a living? The answer came to me in a round about way while listening to other farmers chatting about their harvests and next years crops. It seems that each of these farmers has multiple sections of land (a section is one mile long and one mile wide) but are still considered to have fairly small farms and are having a hard time making a go of it. This baffled me! But as their conversation continued it became fairly clear.

Everyone of these farmers pays exorbitant amounts of money to the seed company. They are not allowed to save seeds from their plantings for the next year as farmers used to do but due to one company (Monsanto) owning about 40% of the worlds seed they must purchase it from them every year. As this company owns the patent on the seed! How can someone own a patent on seed? How could we have allowed this to happen? I still shake my head at it. Not only that but this same company also owns the patent on the chemicals (Round up etc.) used by the farmers. When I think about it, these farmers aren't really working for themselves they are working for Monsanto!

This whole thing blows me away and I wonder where it will all end. I do know that as long as I am able I will only use heritage seeds in my garden. I also found a wonderful site where people from around the world share and swap heritage seeds. It's not much, but its what I can do.

Our Only "Grid" Connection

There are a few different definitions of "off grid" living, or rather I suppose they are really different ideas of what "off grid" means. For some it means living without power and any connection to the outside world, including internet. For others it may mean having some solar or wind power but being connected via some grid lines such as gas, telephone, internet or cable. For me it means not relying on any public utilities companies (water, sewer, power or gas), but still having internet. I'm not sure how I would survive without being able to contact with family and use the internet. Well, maybe that is being a bit to melodramatic as we did do that for the first year.

It is a different way to live when you have no phone/internet or cable. The world is such a quiet place and in order to feel in some way connected, the only thing we could do was purchase a radio which could pick up stations from great distances. Sometimes it worked and sometimes not so much. The most fun we had was picking up stations with languages we didn't know and trying to figure out where the signal was coming from. But still I missed being able to talk to family members and keep in touch on a regular basis, so when our internet connection was established I was very excited.

Our only connection when we had not connection!

The only problem we had was the connection was so poor we would loose it for days on end and even though we had cut a swath through the trees in order to clear the path for the signal it didn't do much good. The tower where our internet signal comes from is over 30 miles away and although we had cut a large swath of trees down, which we are now using for firewood, it wasn't enough to clear the path. Finally, last year, Mountain Man was able to locate a 70 foot tower which although it had been laying on the ground for years was still sturdy and he traded something (can't remember what) to the farmer for it.

Setting it up was no easy task and once set up finding someone brave enough to climb it and set up our internet took time but oh how wonderful to have it now! Is it perfect? Nope! But then I don't know anything that is. There are times when it still goes down, sometimes for a few days at a time but at least we now have a clear signal and we know it isn't the trees that are causing the problem. Now my only fear is that a huge wind or something will come along and tear it down. According to Mountain Man I have nothing to worry about but I've always been the worrying type. The funny things is, a lot of what we use the internet for is listening to radio stations! Go figure!