Homesteading is a journey. Some months you accomplish your goals by leaps and bounds. Other months, you fall back a few steps.
The important part is to keep working hard to progress forward in your goals. It doesn't happen overnight. Many websites make it seem easy, but it isn't. It takes baby steps to get to the big projects. So, I'm starting this monthly homesteading update to share our progress and setbacks. I hope that you find them useful in your journey of homesteading.
September
I was very tempted to avoid posting anything about this month because it was so sparse. Then, I remembered my promise to share the good and the bad.
September was a month of adjusting to life with a new baby, starting fall sports, getting back into normal after being in the hospital and just........ life. We may not have achieved a lot but here it is:
- I tried canning cowboy candy.
My son grew an abundance of jalapeno peppers this year, so I tried to find ways to preserve his harvest. We tried cowboy candy. There are a variety of recipes out there, but it mostly consists of spices, apple cider vinegar and sugar. You make a syrup, simmer the peppers in the syrup, pack the jars with the peppers and then cover with syrup and process in the canner.
Tips:
-- Wear gloves or avoid touching sensitive areas after making this condiment. Ask me how I know!!
-- If you end up with more syrup than peppers, don't throw it out. We used the remaining syrup in a crockpot with pork roast. It tasted great!
- I attempted to make fruit leather.
We were gifted an abundance of apples.
They needed to be processed immediately. I decided to try making fruit leathers. I mixed the apples with some strawberries that my mom had frozen earlier in the year.
With a little help, I poured the mixture onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
The cookie sheets were placed into the oven at the lowest setting for several hours.
The first batch, I poured too thickly. It took much longer to set than recommended by online recipes. The second batch I poured much thinner but didn't watch it as closely. The second batch became harder and broke off into pieces. It was still edible but was more like a tough jerky or cracker than a fruit leather. It's a bit of an art in learning the exact method.
- I dehydrated the remaining apples.
I have a tool that peels, slices and cores the apples - Apple Peeler Slicer Corer. It makes the job a breeze and is fun for my little helpers to assist in the activity. I soak the apple pieces in lemon juice to prevent browning and then place onto the dehydrator trays. I set the timer for the recommended time and temperature and leave it.
The result is a tasty snack that my family loves!
- Cookie adopted us.
We discovered a "stray" young cat. It was very friendly. She decided to follow the girls to the house and has never left. Someone either dropped off this cat in hopes that we would adopt it, or we stole our neighbor's cat. No one has tried to claim her, so we named her Cookie, and she is now a fixture at our homestead.
- Lucky died.
Lucky was our original angora buck that we used for breeding. He was a few years old when we adopted him and we believe he simply died of old age. There were no signs of infection, change in behavior or indications of injury that led to his demise. We simply found him in his cage. He had a good life with us and we appreciate everything that he taught us about rabbits. RIP Lucky.
We were able to focus a bit more on the property in October. I will update you on those homesteading adventures soon.
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