My first canning party!!! 64 jars + 200 ears of corn

My oh my oh my!!! If you follow my blog you may recall me talking about forming a canning club. If not, you can read about it here.

So today was our innagural meeting. We are still trying to think of a name.... Anyways today it was just me and my friend E.

We started out with pickles. Bread and butter, dill, kosher dill and spicy dill.
We did spears, coins and whole small pickles.

I got my daughters involved.

It's great to be able to teach them skills and know how. Here is my oldest helping to pack the jars before we pour the liquid on it.

Totals:
Bread and Butter: 9
Dill: 10
Kosher Dill:9
Spicy Dill:8

Then we did some jars of pickled jalepenos. These are great as we use them on EVERYTHING. Lots of mexican inspired dishes, and even on salads and in omelettes.
Jalepenos: 10

Then on to the Blueberry jam...Yum. Thats all I can say about that.
Blueberry Jam: 10

Then we did Pepper jelly. This is very thick and  almost a chutney and is great to use on cream cheese as an appetizer type dish, or on beans, or even just on plain toast. Delicious.

Look at how beautiful they are. Great for gift giving also. These puppies are spicy!!
Pepper Jelly: 8

Then if that weren't enough, we each put up 100 ears of corn. That means we shucked and silked 200 ears this morning....

Corn: 200 ears

I must say that I'm exhausted. I mean really tired. It is so worth it though. Great company and knowing that I'll have great food for my family in upcoming days.

Total for our first canning party 64 jars and 200 ears of corn. Not too shabby I would think for our first meeting:)

Until next time, Happy Homesteading!!

Linked up to The Morris Tribe, Homesteading Barn Hop,Carnival of Home Preserving,Preparedness Challenge

How I Fry my Okra

Like most gardens in the South we have an abundance of Okra. I plan on pickling some, but honestly it is just so delicious right from the vine, into the pan , onto my plate. I fry it. I'm a good Southener..... I do use olive oil though, so that helps....

Start out with your okra, and cut up into "coins". I like to put mine into a colander, as it helps with the washing later on. I also like to cut up a garlic clove or two and tonight I put a few cayenne peppers from the garden in it for spice. Yum-me.

When everything is cut up I start to get the frying pan HOT. I pour in olive oil ( you can use other kinds of oil too, like vegetable if you want).

Then I wash the okra and kind of shake it to get the excess water off. Then I dump all of the newly wet okra into my mixture I made of yellow corn meal with a little salt and pepper.

I than shake off the excess corn meal mixture and put into the frying pan. And I wait. And I smell the delicious aroma, and I wait some more. And I stir. You want to reduce heat and kind of let simmer after the initial "shock" of the hot oil.

Add a few baby roma's fresh from the garden and another cayenne, and you have a delicious, frugal, delicious, ( did I say that already???) meal.

And a close up just to make you jealous...

Until next time, Happy Homesteading...


Linked up to What's Cooking Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Ways, It's a Keeper Thursday

Book Review- Farm Anatomy- The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life

I recently read this book. Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life. It's writen by Julia Rothman and is easily found on Amazon, or local Libraries I'm sure. This was a fun little book. I have to say that I really appreciated the cute illustrations. There was illustrations from everything from soil profiles and makeups to different breeds of chickens. There were step by step directions to building projects and how to plan certain things in your garden. Overall I think this was a very fun, light read. It wasn't as "intense" or fact heavy as many farm-y books I've read lately. It was fun, light, lots of fun colorful picture and my two small kids liked looking at the pictures also.

There were recipes included in the book also that were very good. Some great bread recipes.

I think this would make a good gift also for someone. I love to gift people books, and this would be great for the beginner or the experienced. Just an overall joyful read.

Half Off of Ranger Rick Magazine for Kids

I saw this deal on Eversave and thought that some of my readers might enjoy it. I got a subscription to the Ranger Rick for my 6 year old daughter who
1) LOVES animals and outdoors and
2) LOVES getting mail. So I thought this was a great way to get her even more interested in reading. There are 3 different subscriptions you can buy
Animal Baby: for toddlers
Big Backyard: for preschoolers
Ranger Rick: for school aged kiddos

I remember getting this as a child and loved running to the mailbox to check to see if I got anyhing and then pouring over each and every word and picture when I got my magazine. Oh fun times!

Hopefully someone finds this useful!

The Perfect Summer Salsa

I've been meaning to blog about my favorite salsa recipe for a while but I kept forgetting... Alas I remembered to take a pic of it this morning as I was getting ready for a family get together.

Black Eyed Pea Salsa

- 2 15 oz cans of black eyed peas ( rinsed and drained)

Then really everything else kind of depends on what is in the garden right now but here is what I did

- half of a red bell pepper
-half of a yellow bell pepper
- 3 serrano peppers
- half of a large purple onion
-3 garlic cloves
- 1 large sliced tomatoes
1/2 c. Seasoned Rice Vinegar ( this is what makes it YUMMO)

Dice all of the peppers/onions/ garlic / tomatoes and put in the bowl with the peas. Then pour the rice vinegar over the top, stir and chill for at least an hour.

I love this salsa and everyone always requests it. It is so cheap to make and I typically have all the ingredients on hand. Make is spicier by adding jalepenos or more serranos.
I'm telling you this stuff is fantastic!

Linked to Monday Homesteading Barn Hop, What's Cooking Wednesday, Consider the lillies

Keeping it real: Realistic expectations about your homestead Part 3.

Keeping it Real: Realistic Expectations about your Homestead Part 3

I've written two other posts about this subject, you can find Part 1 here  ( about Working, Land and School ) and Part 2 here ( about Food)
This post will focus on animals, and I'll have to have a Part 4 about Frugality.

I want a huge farm. I really do. I have always loved animals, and even as a child dreamed of marryinga  rancher and moving to a secluded farm in Montana and my job would be to feed the animals and keep lambs have babies.... Of course I didn't realize what hard work that actually was, but hey I was like 8.
I think that as a homesteader wannabe, I envision rolling meadows with frolicking goats, and a beautiful barn with an old milk cow named Bessie, a flock of chickens that stay at my feet when I'm hanging out the laundry, a couple of sheep I can shear and make my own yarn, maybe some turkeys gobbling in the distance. Ah yes..... that is what I want.

REALISTICALLY though we don't have the time or space to deal with that many animals. We have a flock of 18 chickens which give us plenty of eggs for our family , plus enough to share and even sell a few dozen every now and then. We've had guineas and a peacock or two through the years, and have tried our hand at ducks, but for now we are happy with the chickens.

I honestly don't even like goat's milk or goat's cheese. I do like the goat's milk soap though, so I might could justify having that I could make some lavish soap with goats but honestly I don't know if that is justfication enough. We do have a goat. His name is Clifford and he is a Nigerian Dwarf. He's a fun pet, but that's about the extent of his contribution to the homestead.

Here is a picture of him out in the snow this past winter.

We have 2 rabbits, but again they are pets. They are fat and lazy and won't hop away even if they have a chance. We have guinea pigs too. And a dog... and a cat.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it is OKAY! Not every little slice of homestead heaven has to have a milk cow, you don't have to produce all of your wool, you don't have to raise pigs ( which is fine with me by the way). It's important to realize your limitations and just start small.

I think chickens are a great place to start when looking to be more self sufficient. They really do make nice pets, and the eggs from free range chickens are amazing. Plus I probably have one of the only 6 year olds on a planet that begs me for boiled eggs and takes one to lunch everyday despite the other kids at school telling her it smells funny...

So what have your experiences with animals been? Are you to your "threshold" yet of animals on your place? What are you looking to get in the future?

Happy Homesteading.....

This post is linked up to the Monday Barn Hop and the Morris Tribe's Blog Carnival.

Strawberry jam? Yes please!

Ah strawberries. Yes it's already that time again. Time for the temperature to start to warm up, everything is blooming, birds are singing and active and gardens are all put in and just awaiting the time to be harvested here in a few months. Around here that also means STRAWBERRIES!!
We eat quite a bit of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches around here. My girls love them and they are great to take on picnics or as snacks. I have one daughter who will only eat homeade muscadine jelly, but the other one, as well as myself and the husband love us some strawberry jam.

There is nothing like freshly picked, sweet, juicy strawberries. We normally eat just as much as we put into our buckets.... But some do make it inside to make our beloved jam with.

Nothing  like the sweet smell of spring....

I love the small little jelly jars. I try to pick those up at yard sales and stuff. So we are starting the year off with 4 pints of strawberry jam plus 2 half pints. Then I ended up freezing 4 quarts. I use those for my famous Strawberry cake :) I'll have to post about that next time I make it.
I hope to do at least one more batch before the season is over.

This is linked up to Morristribe's Homesteader Blog Carnival. and The Prarie Homestead and TALU Tuesdays