Homemaking Homesteader

Thursday on the Homestead

04:06, 2007-Aug-16 .. 5 comments .. Link

I woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday and it was not until I got back from taking Emily to her babysitting job that it dawned on me it was actually Thursday! Once again the days have just been flying by. I have been super busy, right at home.

I have done a lot of baking, soap making and house work and that has just consumed my days. With my girls gone for most of the last 7 or 8 days it also tends to make my days much busier as the younger kids and I help with their animal chores and house chores.

Leanne arrived home this morning from her 7 day house sitting/lady watching job. She said Miss Margaret was even more forgetful than before which made her a little sad. But her kids left her a note telling her where they had gone and Leanne said that helped a lot.. since she has almost no short term memory, she read the note every day as if it was the first and it seemed to bring her a lot of comfort. Leanne also said she has had enough Skip-Bo for some time now! LOL.. Miss Margaret can’t remember how many games she has played in a day.. but Leanne does!

Emily did join Leanne for a few days that she did not have to care for the twins.

I wanted to share something with you all. I posted my last blog posting on whole wheat oat dinner rolls.. and they made delicious dinner rolls.. very soft and nice. So a couple days later I made cinnamon rolls with the same dough and they turned out wonderful!! I put a simple powdered sugar (I was out of powdered Sucanat) glaze over the top.. yummy..

On the topic of bread baking I also made some French Bread out of my pizza crust recipe (http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/italianpizzacrust.htm ) and it was so yummy.. we had it with lasagna over the week. And it made great toast the next day too! If you use that recipe, the dough can be divided into 2 loaves. I have one of those nifty French bread pans to bake it in, and I highly recommend them! They are not expensive. I think I got mine from Ebay a few years ago.

I also have been making jam. I made zucchini jam and then I made some grape jelly. We were completely out of jam so I had to make what I could.. I am not sure my blackberries are ripe enough quite yet.. and with our cool summer, who knows when they will ripen up. Here is a picture of my jams:

I had some questions asked on various blogs so I hope I can remember them all and answer them..

Monique asked how I froze my bread. I buy baggies that have a twist tie, they are less than 5 cents a bag and the gallon size holds a loaf of bread just fine. The brand is, Hefty Storage Bags..

Gretchen said her fermented pickles smelled terrible.. well I would say they did not turn out. Your temperatures could have been too hot or too cool. You also need to make sure your veggies are completely under the liquid. That is why I use the ziplock bag with water in it trick.. works every time. You can see my picture instructions for making sauerkraut on my website: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/homemadekraut.htm

Jenn (how are you?.. I will get over to your blog and say hi soon!!

).. do try the fermented cucumbers.. they taste wonderful! The zucchini pie recipe is here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/zucchinipie.htm

Lisa (Lerdman4) asked how I freeze zucchini.. I shred it up and measure it out in amounts that my zucchini bread recipe calls for and then freeze. That is the only thing I use it for. It gets very watery when defrosted. Don’t drain the water.. just put all of it in, that may help your zucchini bread to not be so dry.

If I missed your question.. please ask again!!

Hope you all had a great Thursday on your homesteads!

Leave a Comment

wow!!

05:36, 2007-Aug-16 .. Posted by Cathy
Crystal,
Gosh, it would be SO nice to have those delicious looking cinnamon rolls with a cup of coffee with you.
Enjoyed reading about your day.
Love to you all my friend,
Cathy

Yummy!

06:06, 2007-Aug-17 .. Posted by Anonymous
You are a wonder in the kitchen! I hope to one day be able to do half the things you do in the kitchen :)

thank you!!

08:57, 2007-Aug-17 .. Posted by GeeksHelpMeet
Hubby and I just love your recipes. thank you for sharing so much of your experience and findings.

Saying Hello!

07:22, 2007-Aug-18 .. Posted by Anonymous
I wanted to tell you that I think you are GREAT! I started grinding my wheat over a year ago. I have spent a lot of time studying and reading books and the internet on how to do this. I ran across you website in the very beginning and you have been a tremendous springboard for my learning and creating. I love your recipes because they are in the right size and quantities for my family (only 5 kids). Your website has taught me a lot and I want to thank you. Without your help, I would not have been able to help others!!!

Thanks Again!
Stephanie
www.homeschoolblogger.com/inspired/

double grape jelly recipe?

05:21, 2007-Aug-22 .. Posted by Anonymous
Hi, I love your website and blog. I look at it often to get encouragement. I wanted to try your grape jelly recipe. From your pictures it looks as if it was doubled. I was wondering if it was and if it will jell correctly if doubled. I have a large family also, 6 children at home, 3 of them are teenagers ( one an 18 year old boy who works full time in construction). I have to double almost everything I make! Thankyou for sharing your time to bless others in their homemaking/homesteading role!