What We Would Have Done Differently

I stumbled across this piece I wrote in 2002 in hindsight of our move to the land.

What We Would Have Done Differently
2002

March 28, 1999. Got to the farm about 3:30 p.m. without incident until I stuck the truck and trailer along with 14 goats, 5 chickens, 4 cats, 2 geese and a 3-legged sheep. Had been raining here all day and was sloppy, sloppy. Put up goat pens and made bacon, gravy and fried potatoes for supper on the camp fire - turned out raw and sandy. Didn’t sleep well.

March 29, 1999 Up with Dave, then kindled the fire and had coffee and read Countryside. Started laundry (by hand in 5 gallon buckets) - seemed like it took hours - and washed up dishes. Tired already. Put up a tarp shelter for the goats. Third time’s a charm, the first 2 attempts were used for a goat trampoline. Made a pen for the chickens and geese. 2 out 5 promptly escaped. Brought in firewood, straightened up the campsite, juiced up the fire and made stew. Caught a little black snake with an orange necklace and yellow belly. Wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into. . .

That was more than 3 years ago, and although those were my private thoughts, I wouldn’t have dreamed of letting anyone else know that I was feeling, shall we say, less than confident. After all, when you make the decision to live a homestead life in a plastic world you don’t want to give well-intentioned "normal" people any more ammunition than necessary. By now I’m used to being "that crazy goat woman on the hill who doesn’t know it’s the 21st century" and it doesn’t bother me to say, "You know, we probably should have . . . . . "

Although realistically we picked the most appropriate general area of the country for our needs - warm weather, adequate rain, trees for wood, no building codes or Euro-Union gun laws - we probably could have done a little more research on our specific homestead. We might have found a place in this area that was a little more ideal, but on the other hand it’s purposeless to spend too much time coveting what our neighbor owns on the other side of the fence. We’re making the best with what we have.

Our intention was to drill a well immediately, but finances and geology interfered (another research issue) so we’re still hauling water: do-able but not convenient. Fortunately we’ve got a good spring. We’re working on developing a spring-based water system, and rural water is coming in a year or so, but we should have made an adequate and reasonably convenient water system a priority. On the other hand, adversity IS an excellent teacher.

The garden was another area we approached backwards. When we leveled a place for our "temporary" house, a 1950’s vintage 8x35’ Spartanette park model trailer, we also cleared 2 large garden areas then proceeded to try to coax nourishment from unimproved Oklahoma clay and summer drought. We should have started with what we have now: a 15x20ft, well-amended, fenced plot close to the house; extensive container plantings; with gradual work on the bigger plots to increase fertility and soil quality.
When we moved here our biggest pre-occupation was with building a house. Needless to say, it’s not built yet, but we’re cozy in our little trailer with a 12x18’ addition. We would have been better served concentrating our initial planning and energy on permanent livestock housing and a roomy, weather-tight workshop/tool storage area. Another thing we didn’t consider in the beginning was adequate storage for preserved food and large food-preservation equipment.

A major headache has been our driveway. We spent many a sleepless, rainy night wondering if my husband would be able to get out in the morning to go to work. Surfacing dirt roads with good rock in high-use areas should have been a priority on our homestead.

I really don’t know where we’d be now if we would have started differently, but things have come together as things will. Our little house garden is exploding and the largest plot is perking along with green manures of wheat and rye and soil-enriching crops of black-eyed peas and mung beans. The goats are milking well, the chickens churning out eggs and chicks, and the rabbits finally reproducing like, well, like rabbits. There are jars of home-grown, home-canned pork stew meat in the pantry cabinet and hams, cheeses and bacon in the extra refrigerator.

New homesteaders, don’t fret. We all could have done at least something different or better in the beginning (if we’re honest with ourselves,) and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.  Persistence is the key.  Live and learn.

After The Storm

"Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city." Psalm 55:7-9

We knew we were having quite a bit of rain early Sunday morning, but who would have thought that we would awaken and find that we were in the midst of an actual tropical storm.

It just goes to show, take nothing for granted. We're fortunate to live on a hill, in a house on poles, so flooding is a non-issue. It would take one of Biblical proportions, and we know by God's word that will never happen again. David, Lianna and I got out as soon as the rain stopped to go take a look at the pond and creek. We could hear the seasonal creeks on both sides of the house roaring like snowmelt time in the mountains. Pictured below is normally a path, not a small creek.

We found the dam on our little pond breached, which didn't really surprise us as it had been compromised for some time.

The culvert was right there and we needed to work on the pond and dam anyway, so we considered it all blessing.

The only other damage we found was a culvert out on a road that runs the perimeter of the property and a low water crossing at the far end of our land almost out. Neither was really an issue for us.

We estimated that we ended up with about 8 inches of rain, which filled both mudholes, oops I mean "ponds" here at the house so the ducks and geese are happy. The garden, with all the rain we've had this year, is overtaken by grass and past resurrecting, but we do have a great crop of seed for next year's garden. More on that in my next post.

Tropical storm Erin seems to have ushered in fall, with maximum daytime temps the last few days in the low '90's and night time temps in the low '70's. I've noticed lots of fall flowers blooming about 3 to 4 weeks early, which I find interesting and makes me think I may need to get busy with winter preps. Saturday, before we knew we were going to make history the next day, David and I went on a backroads trip to forage for edibles and medicinals. We didn't find as many elderberries as we would have liked, as the county mowed the majority of the patch we had spotted. We did bring back some poke berries to dry for medicinal use and found a buckeye tree, which is something we've never seen here before.

A couple of tidbits: Rick Saenz has posted an entire series on simple living on his Dry Creek Chronicles Blog. It's a great read.

Here's another inspiring post from Herrick Kimball, The Deliberate Agrarian.

Well, gotta get back to harvesting seeds in the garden.

Till next time, Blessings,

Judy

An Update On Life Without A/C, and a few other notes.

I'm sweaty. It's not that big a deal. I'm at about a week without air conditioning. We did some work on the water cooler on the porch and replaced the pads, pump and drain. We resisted the urge to turn it in through the window to the house. Why? 1) The house is dark and the porch is a much nicer place to take a break. 2) The humidity generated by the water cooler will rust the guns. 3) The dogs and cats are sooooo happy. 4) It gives the children incentive to be outside, where children should be. (No, I'm not anti-child. I believe they need fresh air, sunshine, work to learn from and opportunity for imaginative play.) I figure at my age I would be sweating anyway, so I might as well save electricity while I'm at it. Even while we were using compressor A/C I kept the house at about 80 degrees. That's what I'd recommend for anyone starting this journey. Don't try to go from 70 degrees to 90 degrees overnight. Turn your temperature up a little at a time. The jump from 80 to 87.8 degrees is really no big deal compared to if I had tried to transition from 60 or 70-something. Think frequently about your grandmother or great-grandmother. It was do-able for her, it's do-able for you. Mine hauled water into the house until she was 60. And remember, the advantages to sweating include beautiful skin secondary to pore-cleansing and forced good hydration. :)

I found this on the Reformed Puritan blog:

“The time was when manufactures were literally domestic - the occupations of people in their homes. The industrious producing citizen was a “free-holder,” a name whose vital significance to British liberty our times have almost forgotten. He dwelt under his own roof-tree. He was his own man; he was the free-simple owner of the homestead where his productions were created by the skill and labor of himself and his children, apprentices, and servants. Now all this is changed; the loom is no longer heard in the home; vast factories, owned by the monopolists for whom the cant of the age has already found their appropriate name as “kings of industry,” now undersell the home products everywhere. The axe and hoe which the husbandmen wields, once made at the country forge, the shoe placed on his mule’s feet, the plow with which he turns the soil, the very helve in his tool, all come from the factory. The home industry of the housewife in brewing her own yeast can hardly survive, but is supplanted by your factory “baking powders,” in which chemical adulterations may have full play. This production is centralized. Capital is collected in commanding masses, at whose bidding the free-holding citizen is sunk into the multitudinous hireling proletariat. Conditions of social organization are again produced, fully parallel to the worst results of feudalism, in their incompatibility with republican institutions.From these changes have resulted the extreme inequalities of fortune, expenditures and luxury which now deform American society.”

~ R. L. Dabney, “The New South”. A Discourse delivered at the Annual Commencement of Hampden Sidney College, June 15, 1882. Discussions, Vol. IV - Secular.

Summer is finally here, after our long and wet spring. But, fall is in the air also. Just the other day I saw several signs of fall that were at least 3 weeks early: goldenrod blooming, blazing star blooming, broomweed getting ready to bloom along with a certain feel to the air and angle to the sun. This winter could turn out to be quite a bit of fun.

The seasons pass so quickly now, and I feel such an urgency to get done what I feel called to get done. Not that any of it matters as we are not saved by works, but I believe that God endowed us, at least some of us, with that sense of urgency. I don't know why, but I'll continue to work hard and try to influence my family to work hard in anticipation of a glorious, eternal homestead.

And just in case anyone was wondering, Oran the Superfluously Naughty One is, well, he's cleaner:

Until next time, Blessings.

Judy

Canning Pinto Beans and No A/C

I talked a bit in my last post about canning dry pinto beans. Years ago I met an older lady who taught me how. I had never heard of such a thing, but after trying it found out that, like canning venison, canning dry beans really improves the end product.

I started out with about a gallon of dried beans. I probably could have handled another 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon in my big pot.

Pick your beans over carefully (the little dirt clods with inevitably end up in your meal even with the most careful washing if you omit this step.) Give them a good washing in a couple of changes of water. Cover the beans with about twice as much water as beans. The addition of a little acid (vinegar, whey, lemon juice) helps the soaking make the beans more digestible. I use citric acid, about a teaspoonful per gallon of water. Improved digestibility = less flatulence. Soak 12 hours to overnight. The beans will about double in size.

Drain and rinse the beans at the end of the soak and cover them well with fresh water. Bring them to a boil and cook for 30 minutes or so. The canning process completes the cooking. The beans should be soft, but not done. Add any goodies you like: meat, onions, tomatoes, etc. Garlic is best added when the jar is opened to serve as it sometimes changes flavor in the canning. I added 2 pounds of lean, chunky bacon ends that I got on sale from the Oklahoma Food Coop.



Get the canner ready and throw the lids in some hot water to soften the sealing compound. Fill clean jars about 2/3rds full to allow for further swelling of the beans. Fill the jars with boiling bean juice leaving 1" head space. Add a teaspoonful salt per quart either before or after filling as you prefer. Or, you can leave the salt out altogether. It contributes nothing to the preservation of the food in this instance. Wipe the jar rims clean and cap with clean, hot lids and rings.



Load your canner.



Secure the top and wait for the steam to evacuate. It's necessary the steam replace air in the canner to allow the temperature to rise to the appropriate level for canning. Once it really starts blowing, give it about 10 minutes, then place the weight. If you look carefully you can just barely see the plume of steam in the picture below.

Process for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. A note, 10lbs pressure is a sea-level baseline and must be increased with increases in altitude. Here are the altitude adjustments for a dial gauge canner:

0-2000 feet - 11 pounds

2001-4000 feet - 12 pounds

4001-6000 feet - 13 pounds

6001-8000 - 14 pounds

For a weighted gauge anything above 1000 feet is processed at 15 pounds.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia is a great source for anything you want to know about preserving food safely.

Michael Bunker wrote an especially thought-provoking post Monday on his blog A Process Driven Life. Based on it, I've decided to stand firm on the commitment I made to be as frugal as possible now that I'm home almost full-time. I'm turning off the A/C during the week while Dave's gone. He can make the decision when he's home on how to use it and he's approved of my intended actions in this. I know 9 out of 10 of you are asking "Why?" My ready answer stands as it always has, "Because I can." On further analysis I have several reasons. 1) It saves lots of money, 2) Sweat never hurt anyone, 3) I owe it to my family to acclimate myself so I can remain productive if ever I have no electricity at all, 4) It's our intention to put off-grid systems in place and compressor cooled A/C isn't compatible with a poor girl's solar/wind/generator system, and 5) It certainly further separates us from the world because everyone we know will think we're nuts, which is OK with me. (The technique of letting our neighbors think we're nuts has helped us ward off many problems in our 8 years here on the mountain.)

I know I can do this, because we spent our first 15 months here on the farm with no electricity. We slept in a screen tent the first summer. It's all a matter of planning your work around the daily heat curve and drinking plenty of water which is a good thing in and of itself. I was raised with a water cooler. One without a pump, nonetheless. It was my responsibility as a child to go outside periodically and wet down the pads on the "swamp cooler." We brought ours from western Oklahoma, where admittedly they work better than here in the more humid central south. Dave pulled it out yesterday, cleaned it up a bit and we moved it up to the porch. I thought it would make a nice place to shell peas, and the critters and babies certainly love it.

Depending on the power requirement, if it were to be compatible with an off-grid system we may experiment with using it in the house.

I found a new and delightful blog today: Seeking The Old Paths

And finally, I found this beautiful reminder of the scripture in my front garden. It's a Texas Star Hibiscus.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Isaiah 40:6

Till next time and a further report on life without A/C, Blessings.

Judy

A Few Bits and Pieces

We all know this one well, but it never hurts to review.

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Titus 2:3-5

I received an especially generous birthday windfall recently and hot-footed it down to the local restaurant and janitorial supply. I purchased a lovely stainless steel colander and a good stainless grater along with a canner-sized restaurant quality pot and two 2-pound bread pans. Ladies, it is always worth your while to purchase quality kitchen and homekeeping equipment, even if you have to make-do with junk and save your egg money to do it. Forget the various forms of global discount stores when it comes to these purchases and go for professional quality that will work well and last. I can promise you that if our pioneer grandmothers had access to stainless steel they would have abandoned enamalware and tin in a heartbeat. I love the history and heritage of old kitchenware, but in the long run you're better off hanging it on the wall and buying quality tools for the very important work you do in the kitchen.

I found a really good bread making site, complete with instructional video. I'm on a quest for the secret to making a chewy, rustic sourdough loaf with blistered crust and big holes out of predominantly whole wheat flour. I lost the starter I'd had for several years, probably because I gave myself a bit too much leeway as to what to add to it, and have had to make another one. So far, everything seems to be going well. I used freshly ground organic whole wheat, bottled water (no chlorine) and a touch of malt flour. I honestly don't know the rationale for adding the malt, but I found reference to it here so I thought I'd give it a try. Every day, or even every 12 hours if I think of it, I've been feeding the starter by discarding half and replacing it with the same amount of freshly ground flour and un-chlorinated water to make a soft dough. Time will tell if it will all work out, but so far it looks promising.

Here are some other interesting sourdough links I found:

Sourdough Baking

Carl Griffiths 1847 Sourdough Starter - free for a SASE

rec.food.sourdough Starter FAQ

Citric Acid: For me, citric acid powder is a household essential. I started out using it in making goat milk mozzarella, and have since found many uses for it. It's great for lots of applications that call for vinegar (natural cleaning products, cleaning out the coffee pot, polishing the rust off of cast iron, etc.) 1/4 teaspoonful mixed in a quart of water makes a good hair rinse for use after using a soap-based shampoo. You get the same effect (removes soap curd and adds shine and manageability) without smelling like a pickle. Some older recipes call for "sour salt." This was nothing but citric acid. I make a refreshing summer drink out of shiso leaves (which is an whole new post in itself) that uses a bit of citric acid for tang. I buy my citric acid powder online from Liberty Natural Products.

Here's an interesting blog with a recipe for Shiso drink

I got the first batch of cowpeas canned and was blessed that all the jars sealed. Today I'm using my big, new pot to make a monster batch of pinto beans to can. Some might ask why can something that keeps so well in it's natural state? Cooking beans right can be fairly fuel intensive, plus the fact that it heats up the house. I use basically the same amount of fuel in the same amount of time canning up a large batch as I would cooking a single batch. Plus, a quart of perfectly cooked pintos is wonderful convenience food. I'll document the entire process in a later post.

And finally, Kathi, my friend at at Oak Hill Homestead faithfully posts Thankful Thursdays. They always make me feel good.

Till next time, Blessings.

Judy

Tomatoes, Cowpeas and Stagefright

I have 2 favorite ways to preserve tomatoes. Both save space, after all the bulk of the tomato is water, and concentrate the great summertime tomato flavor. One way is by dehydrating. I like to use small to medium sized paste type tomatoes cut in half. I scrape out the seeds and salt lightly before putting in the dehydrator at about 110 degrees and dry them until crunchy. The ones you buy in the store packed in oil are more leathery and that's nice, but for efficient preservation I like them dry so there's less chance of mold. I can always reconstitute them to the degree I prefer before using. The second method I like is to preserve tomatoes as paste. Again, tomatoes are mostly water, so I start out by chopping them coursely, salt them and heat them briefly, then pile them into a colander over a bowel to catch the very best tomato juice in the world. After they drain I run them through a food mill to remove skin and seeds and put them into the crock where I cook them on low with the top off until they cook down into the most lovely tomato paste you ever tasted. No crockpot, no electricity, no problem. Pour the puree into shallow pans, cover with cheesecloth or something similar to keep the bugs out and let the sun do the work. Undoubtedly the Lord wished me to talk about tomatoes this year instead of dealing with them, as I have none. Now southern peas, that's a different story. . .

I've talked before about "manna from Heaven" on the homestead. That's whatever crop produces in abundance in a particular year. Some years, here on Tabletop Homestead, it's been squash. That's not going to be this year, as best I can ascertain I have my first case of squash vine borers. This year the winner is. . . .

Southern peas, otherwise known as cowpeas or specifically black-eyed peas, cream peas, crowder peas or several other names. They're all Vigna sp. in the Latin.

I'm going to be putting together a list of good recipes for southern peas as the beginning of my personal cookbook. I nag David all the time, when he makes something delicious, about not writing down what he put in it, but I'm just as bad.

A good list of black-eyed pea recipes.

More recipes.

301 black-eyed pea recipes.

And so it goes. Google "recipes" and search "black-eyed peas" within the original search.

This is one particular recipe that interests me, as I'm also trying to build a repertoire of whole wheat recipes and bulgar isn't hard to produce at home from stored whole wheat. I was also thinking about how one could substitute things like lamb's quarter or poke for the spinach. I haven't tried this recept yet, but I believe it has the makings of a good basic recipe that could be adapted to other nice additions (tomatoes, peppers, nuts or seeds, fresh cheese or sour cream, etc.)

SPINACH WITH BLACK-EYED PEAS

Printed from COOKS.COM

---

1 lb. spinach, frozen or fresh (defrost frozen)
1/2 c. bulgur wheat #2, soaked 20 minutes
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
1 c. dried black-eyed peas
1 med. onion, minced

Steam spinach; drain and chop; set aside. Cook black-eyed peas until well done but still firm. Drain and set aside. Brown onion in oil. Add peas, mix well. Add to spinach and wheat (bulgur). Add salt and pepper to taste.

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Genesis 3:10 KJV

At work the other day I pulled up my blog to show off the previously posted picture of Oran the Superfluously Naughty One. Then, when several people said that they wanted to read more I actually had to leave the room. The thing is, I have kept my life very compartmentalized. Folks at work know I'm a little different and I often get "Well, when things go nuts I'm coming to live with you" but still, I have two lives. Now, the people I work worth are dear, dear people who I love, but up to this point I've basically blogged to an anonymous audience. I almost feel now like someone who's pulled up to a stoplight enthusiastically singing a song or giving themselves a good talking to when they look over and realize the people in the next car are watching their every move. It kind of makes you want to duck your head and go "Oops." I'm a little concerned that now that I actually have to come face to face on a regular basis with people who may read my musings it might somehow distort the integrity of my writing. I happen to be the most introverted person I know and have over the years learned to manage this in a people-oriented field of work. I know, though, that God takes us out of our comfort zones in his own time and at his own good pleasure and on that note I welcome my new readers and re-commit myself to keep sharing honestly what goes on here at Tabletop Homestead.

Until next time, Blessings.

Judy

There I Go Again

I promised in previous posts to be more faithful in my writing, and wouldn't you know it a month's passed with nary a peep from the Tabletops (that's the Table Hills, or Tabletop Hills, or Tabletop Mountains in south-central Oklahoma for those who don't know us.)

I was blessed a few weeks ago with the opportunity to cut down my working-in-town hours to one 12-hour shift per week. I can't go on enough about the benefits we've reaped despite the cut in cash. Ladies, if you're edgy, stressed or vaguely ill for no apparent reason and you're working full-time, consider cutting back. Put the figures on paper. Consider your gas; vehicle maintenance; value of the vehicle lost due to mileage; clothing; meals eaten out; time taken away from frugal pursuits such as gardening, sewing and food preservation; and the time you lose transitioning between your town job and your role at home. You'll probably find that you don't make nearly as much as you think and the intangible benefits of peace for your spirit are priceless. Though some might disagree, but I speak from having walked way too much of the path of the world. Women are hard-wired to the home. Some just hide it better than others.

The main reason I haven't posted lately is because I've been so blessedly busy here on the homestead. I've concentrated on getting the house in order and am ready to move on the the barnyard and garden. Without sounding like a groupie, which I'm not, I have to add that I've gotten back to my Flylady routines and the fact is they work. There is a segment of the population, especially among ladies, whose minds just flat work differently. Yes, prayer is essential. Discipline is essential. Flylady simply provides a way to slow down and organize our thoughts. She truly understands and capitalizes on how the easily side-tracked female mind works. Learn a few basic principles without turning the teacher into an idol, give glory and thanks to God and it's amazing what can be accomplished. 'Nough said.

My birthday was this week and I asked for and received a tiny voice-activated recorder. I lose 90% of the good ideas that come to me while I'm busy. I've tried carrying a pad and pencil but inevitably end up sweating all over the paper and stabbing myself with the pencil. My dear husband's first question was "How are you going to keep up with a recorder when you can't remember what you had for breakfast?" Then, being the helpful and resourceful man that he is he gave me a little pouch on a string that's just big enough for my recorder and my cell phone which he insists I carry on me when he's gone. The string is long enough to go around my waist and the whole thing works great. Now I can sit down in the evenings with my days "dictation" and transcribe it to the appropriate list, computer file, calendar, etc. I'm on a roll!

Another recent blessing has been satellite internet. It's enabled us to disconnect our land-line phone and it generally works well. The biggest benefit for me has been in the downloading of large text and audio files. Here Dave's finishing up the mounting pole:



We're still working on finishing the pig butchering and I experimented with canning some of the bacon I'd made. Here in southern Oklahoma it's just too hot to hang it, no matter how well it's cured and smoked, so I did a little research and this is what I came up with for my method. I fried the cured and lightly smoked bacon until it was about 3/4 done, packed it into sterile 1/2 pint jars using a jar funnel to keep every speck of grease off the rim, put on hot lids and pressured at 12 pounds for 90 minutes. I added no liquid. At this point, 2 weeks after processing, every jar remains sealed. (Fine print disclaimer: Do as I say, not as I do. Always follow USDA guidelines for home canning). Here's some of the bacon in progress:



The rain we had in June was nothing short of amazing. This is my front herb bed with fennel, sage, soapwort, catnip, and tansy.



I'm in the beginning of a learning/doing curve regarding the Christian woman's headcovering. Knowing that I would need something extremely practical for the kinds of work I do on the homestead, I recently ordered several sizes of scarves in cotton, rayon and silk from Dharma Trading Company. This is a company that specializes in fabric dying and painting and they have lovely quality "blanks", various clothing pieces in white and black. In addition to the scarves there are several pretty, modest dresses and skirts that show promise. My order arrived quickly and I was very satisfied with the quality. This is one of the scarves, a white cotton "gauze" which actually has the feel of a light, finely woven cotton sack towel. It's 27" x 27" which is about the smallest I prefer. It doesn't slip, stays tied and soaks up the sweat. (Yes, I know, Yuck! But it's a fact of life on a homestead in the southern plains.)



And this, well I just don't exactly know what to say about this other than this is Oran being Oran and, well, it's a full time job.

"Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. " James 1:21

Gotta get busy. Till next time, blessings.

Judy