House
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Preserving Food for the Long Haul
With the gardens being put to bed, the days getting shorter and the temperatures getting colder, I’ve been turning more of my attention indoors. It is time for me to fire up the freeze dryer again. š We acquired this machine last year when we needed to free up a bunch of space in our chest freezers to make room for the next batch of cows we were having processed. And I must say, I have found that purchase to be one of our best investments ever made.
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Creating a Domain in the Real World
In recent years the Powers-That-Shouldn’t-Be in this world have been shoving us all into the virtual realm, whether we like it or not. And frankly, I don’t like it. I was already quite a bit behind the times, technologically speaking –– as I’m typing this post on a hard-wired desktop computer hooked up to a printer/copier/fax machine that’s nearly two decades old. (And my wired landline telephone is stationed just around the corner, with another extension linked to an answering machine.) While I was on the cutting edge of web-design-from-scratch and the blogosphere nearly twenty years ago, I have failed miserably at keeping up with the latest & greatest of…
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Freeze Dryer Oil Pump Quandary
I’m just now finishing up my 40th batch of freeze drying with my Harvest Right freeze dryer, and I’m still loving it. š However, I have the Premier Oil Pump, which needs to have the oil changed every 20-25 uses, and I’ve been in a state of quandary as to how to manage the oil related to it.
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Freedom Scorecard
I came across this snazzy little tool presented by Tag at LifeDoneFree, which he calls a UGS Calculator. (“UGS” stands for “UnGovernable Score”.) Basically, it’s a gauge to determine how free you are based on what you deem is needed to be free. For a while now, I’ve been trying to keep tabs on taking care of our First- Things-First needs, and thensome, to get as free as we can be. And I really like how Tag has put this spreadsheet together to help monitor one’s progress on achieving freedom in the many aspects of our lives.
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Shabbat Shalom, Y’all
In 2009, or thereabouts, I began researching & studying the US Constitution, and the course I was taking led me to read the book of Deuteronomy anew. (The course itself was not religious in nature — it just referenced the books of the Bible where the Ten Commandments were listed.) So, after a short while, having meditated on the chapter containing the Ten Commandments (chapter 6), I took to heart the instruction (verses 6-9) to teach these commandments diligently to the children & talk about them all the time, posting them at one’s gates and on the posts of one’s home. Thus began my Ten Commandments Campaign.
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My Freeze-Drying Future
Last fall, we planned on processing our ginormous (yes, that’s a real word) fence-jumping Black Angus steer. However, when the day came to load him onto the trailer to go meet his Maker, a series of unfortunate events took place, to include the mangling of several cattle panels and garden fencing. Therefore his ticket to ride went to two other smaller animals, and that beast lived to see another day. š Knowing this mammal needed to end up in our freezer, sooner than later, yet our freezer space would be limited given the other two animals, we had to come up with either another massive freezer or another plan to…
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The Cost of Our Milk
Our kids love cereal, particularly our boys. I think they would eat it all day, every day if I let them. But I don’t. However, I’m fine with letting them drink as much milk as they want. That’s because our milk comes from our own animals. This is a chore my husband is not particularly fond of, and he often wonders if the cost of obtaining that milk is truly appreciated by all those who consume it. So, in the interest of having our kids better understand the cost of our milk, I started having them recently go out with my husband each time he milked and be a part of the process.
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Breakfast is Served: Eggs a la Wiggle
This morning on our day off from work, my husband served me this delicious dish. He calls it Eggs a la Wiggle. Ā š For the past several months, my husband has been using his culinary gifts in creating delectable dishes containing our farm fresh eggsĀ andĀ grass-fed beef, with cheese and garden greens purchased from the local grocery store. This morning he made his way out to our gardens to gather fresh greens, some of whichĀ he planted last season and some this pastĀ December. These beautiful greens are what you see in the above masterpiece. š HereĀ is a gallery of the ingredients used and the process by which he assembled the final product:Ā
