Raw Milk!!!

Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 07:28 by MamaDuke - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

I just had to share this information because I'm just so excited.  I received an email earlier this week from the lady we buy our beef from (Wild Type Beef) that there is now a local dairy that's selling raw milk.  I talked to the owner of the dairy farm yesterday and he's just as nice as can be.  He's been in the dairy industry for many years, operating a 1,000 head dairy farm in the Panhandle of Texas.  He and his family moved down here to Central Texas about three years ago to start their own dairy farm.  And, now they're ready to start selling to the public.

They grow their own food for their small herd, have them tested for diseases, do not give them antibiotics or hormones, are inspected by the state every month and are licensed to sell raw milk in Texas.  After speaking with our "beef lady" (Sarah), I'm going to buy our first gallon this weekend.  Yeah!!

It's cheaper than the organic milk we buy now and local!!  My goal is to spend only $100/month at our local grocery store and either growing our own food or buying it from local farmers.  I'm very excited about this.  I'll be able to make our own butter, buttermilk, whipping cream, and even cheese!!

Aaron (the owner) is also hoping to start a little market by the end of the year selling their milk, cheeses and other produce (from their neighbor). 

If anyone uses raw milk, please leave me a comment on how you do your own butter, etc. I can't wait to get started!!!

20 Day Birthday Giveaway

Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 01:28 by The Homesteading Carnival - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Contest Rules:

1. Go to The McIllece Spot and check out Amber's blog then leave a comment on this post here on Tip Junkie.

2. Please only enter once and you must have a blog to enter. (If your blog is private, please include your e-mail address with your comment.)

3. Each giveaway will only last 24 hours!! So be sure to leave a comment to enter before 8:00 am each morning.



The winner will receive: Americana door knob hanger out of a stitchery, a pin wheel,



AND liberty dolls, and a quilted flag lapel pin hand made by Amber!

YAY, how exciting. Time to start commenting!

FYI: Amber doesn't have an online shop but she does shows and special orders.

ORIGNAL LINK>>> 20 Day Giveaway - Amber

Make Your Own Rosewater Spritzer

Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 01:22 by The Homesteading Carnival - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

HowToMe!

Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 10:59 by The Homesteading Carnival - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Flower Dryer

Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 11:53 by The Homesteading Carnival - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Stitched Little Pieces ~ Flower Dryer

This week’s craft is whimsical, yet homey. A flower dryer is a place to hang flowers upside down to dry, so that the flower is preserved in a healthy state. This project will make flower drying look much more cute and desirable.

Supplies:

- Sticks - pliable sticks that will bend without breaking (I used the trimmings from one of our pear trees)
- Wire - to wrap around the sticks (I used 20 gauge)
- Wire cutters - to cut the wire
- Pliers - for twisting wire, if desired
- Twine - to wrap around wire and to give it a sweet look
- Scissors - to cut the twine

Directions:

1. Get a visual of what it is to look like by laying it out on the ground - come up with whatever shape you want it to be. While in the laying out process, I wrapped wire around the meeting place near the top of the two sides, if you have two that are needing bent and aren’t staying together, just twist the wire around them until it is stable enough to work with.
2. Begin by wrapping wire around each twig/stick intersection - several times in an X to ensure security. At this point you can twist the two wires around each other and the fold the end down, or, like I did, you can leave an inch or two of the wire to be trimmed off later.
3. After all the crossing points of the sticks are wired together tightly, go ahead and wrap it in the same way with twine.
4. Cover all signs of wire (excluding the couple inches left out for clipping later), by making X’s with the twine.
5. On the back side of the intersection, tie the two ends of twine in a tight knot.
6. Snip twine closely, but not too close. If you can see the ends from the front, that is alright, it makes it even more cute.
7. Take the wire cutters and trim off the end of the wires, close to - if not under - the twining. If the end is poking out and sharp, take the pliers and bend the wire back under the twine.
8. The back of each joined twig should look something like this.
9. This is what mine looked like before I trimmed the bottom, and wrapped twine around the joining section of the two sides (shown below).

10. Wrap the wire, all along joined area. Take the twine and lay it along the middle, leaving a tail of about three inches or more.
11. Begin wrapping twine around the sticks, covering up the twine that was laid down the middle, and leaving the tail out at the other end.
12. After covering the connected two sticks, tie a knot with the tail that was left out, and the twine that was being wrapped around. Snip close, but not too close.

This was quite fun to make, and didn’t take very long. It now resides in our kitchen, drying flowers.

Please visit Miss Emily Rose’s blog “the time that has elapsed” to see more wonderful crafts and other interesting articles! It’s one of my favourite sites to visit. She definitely has an eye for beauty.

Mustang Grape Wine, Liqueor & Canning Lids

Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 09:57 by MamaDuke - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

We picked more Mustang Grapes yesterday - making 6½ cups of juice.  I've got a batch of wine fermenting (should be ready in about a month) and 4 cups in the freezer.  I'd like to pick one more box or bag of grapes to make another 12-15 quarts of grape juice and then I'm going to try my hand at Mustang Grape Liqueur.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not in a previous blog, but I plan on giving a "trio" of Mustang Grape presents for Christmas this year:  jelly, wine and liqueur.  Hopefully the liqueur will turn out good as I've never made it before.  It's going to have to sit for about 2-3 months in a cool place - which means it should be good and ready by Christmas.

Also, does anyone have any clever ideas on craft projects to make with used (but clean) canning lids?  I've been keeping them when I open my jars because I can't bear to throw them all out.  I hope to make some pretty mirrors with the smaller ones (like purse mirrors) but any ideas for the larger ones?  I think we may paint some of them as Christmas ornaments (for our tree and for presents) but any other ideas?  I have about 50-100 of them (yep ... that many).

Thanks!

Hey!

Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 07:45 PM by Katie - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

WOW! I haven't written an entry in like 2 months!!! It has been really hot and humid. I can handle the heat but........I dont' like humidity! Today was nice it was overcast at not to hot!!!! The flies and gnats are soooo bad in the barn. Today they weren't too bad.  I have been at the barn the whole afternoon! Here is what I did-

11:30 Got to the barn, said hi to all the horses and cleaned my tack.

12:00 Ceaned out Leo's stall and put new shavings in it.

1:00 I Brought in Leo and My friend Breanna brought in her horse Burting and bushed and tacked them up.

2:00  Rode Leo and Burting!!!!!

3:30 Untacked and put the horses in th pasture.

After that we rode the 4 wheeler for a while. It was soooo awesome!

I am going to be in a horse show August 2 and 3!!!! On the 2, I am doing  hunter jumper classes and on the 3rd, I am doing equitation. I'm not riding Leo, he is not experienced enough I am riding my riding teachers horse Sargon. Well I got to go!

Mom's Garden

Posted on 7-17-2008 at 04:56 by Forget-Me-Not Homestead - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Sharing a few photos from my garden.

My 13 year-old youngest son gave me this "Mom's Garden" rock for Mother's Day this year.  It's so sweet, just like him.  Nestled in a patch of perennial geraniums, it cheers up this shady spot in my garden.

I love purple lupines.  I think they're simply lovely.

In the background of this photo is a 10' tall, dense thicket of wild salmonberries that will make delicious jam later this summer.

My dear husband and sons gave me this pretty little Miss Kim Lilac several years ago for Mother's Day.  They were so delighted to find a flower at the nursery with my name on it.  The memory of that day is so sweet.  The scent is light, but absolutely heavenly!

May we all enjoy God's blessings of beauty, joy, and abundance in our gardens this summer.

"Who loves a garden, still his Eden keeps."  ~ A.B. Alcott

What a great weekend!

Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 05:54 by MamaDuke - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

We took a quick trip up to Oklahoma this weekend with hubby's parents and brother and had a wonderful time.  It was a very spur of the moment trip and very much needed and appreciated!  We went to the National Wildlife Refuge right outside of Lawton, OK and drove to Meers, OK (which is also a beautiful drive).  We stopped in little Texas towns on the way up there and just had a great time.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

This is the kids in front of the world's largest cedar rocking chair (isn't it huge?)

This is a haunted hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas (isn't that cool?).

Storm coming in while we were driving through National Wildlife Refuge.

And the beautiful rainbow and buffalo after the storm.

And finally, this buffalo was a mere 3-4 feet away from our truck.  The herd was moving across the road at the time we came across this intersection and cars were backed up waiting for them to move out of the way.

As I said, we had a wonderful time.  This was also a wonderful early anniversary present.  Today hubby and I celebrate 14 years of wedded bliss.  We've lasted longer than other couples who were married around the same time we were.  I love my husband very much.  He is a wonderful man and I couldn't even imagine being married to anyone else but him.

Delicious Cabbage Salad

Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 03:10 by The Homesteading Carnival - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Here is a recipe my family enjoys: Cabbage Salad. Jocelyn was the first to make it. It has taken me a couple of times to get it just right, not too sweet and not too vinegar-y. I wanted to share this with you so you could enjoy it as much as we do. :)

Delicious Cabbage Salad

1/2 medium head green cabbage, finely shredded or chopped (about four cups)

1/2 small carrot, shredded (about 1/4 cup)

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar *white vinegar was suggested, but apple cider vinegar is very good for you.*

3 tablespoons organic olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon chopped pimiento *optional*

2 very thin slices of fresh onion

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon pepper

You will have to use a sharp knife to cut up the cabbage, so ask your mom if you need to. After you chop the cabbage up, put it in a bowl, and set it aside. You can now shred the carrot onto it.

Measure out the vinegar, oil, honey, salt, pepper, and the spices and mix them up well.

Pour the vinegar mix on the cabbage and mix it up so that the dressing gets on all of it. If you want to, you can shred some more carrots on the top. You can also add some different things.

I like eating cucumbers and onions mixed with vinegar and oil. You can chop up some cucumbers and make a little more dressing to go with it. Be creative in the kitchen!

Next, enjoy it for a cookout, or a simple family lunch. It's a great salad for dinner as well.