for the love of turkey broth...

since one of our goals for 2014 is to build up our food pantry I thought it only fitting to share with you all what I did with my our left over birds.

we had a houseful on Christmas day.  family and friends filled our home, along with laughter and the occasional nap :).  we bought two turkey's in hopes to have enough meat...thankfully we did. 

before I continue please know that thanks to Laura@heavenlyhomemakers and her awesome idea of cooking the turkey ahead of time, my whole day wasn't spent stressing over birds, but spent enjoying our company and our food.  anyhow, onto the blog post.

after deboning the birds, the bones and all the 'extras' were put in a HUGE roaster along with some water and a dash or two of ACV (apple cider vinegar) and set on low.  they cooked and cooked and cooked and after cooling and straining...viola!  turkey broth!

sweet right? 

 

 

aren't they beautiful?  I must admit that after the canning and cooling process I lined them up in order to take a picture for my blog and I found myself smiling and giggling.  some don't know the true joy of homemade canned turkey broth, but I do.  I had visions of soups, casseroles and whatever else I can put it in dancing through my head. 

 

after labeling/dating them all, I carefully put them downstairs in our basement/pantry, and there they sit, waiting to be used. 

 

 

 

what did you do with your bird and your leftovers?  

another mouth to feed

meet spade...our newest member of the family...

according to his previous owners, he is a chiweenie?  I honestly don't know about the breed or the mixed breed that he is, but what I do know is that he is stinkin' adorable.  he is 6 months and he is already adored by everyone in the family.  we are in the process of house training, which I am not a huge fan of, but oh well. 

how many of you had the pleasure (sarcasm) of house training?  any tips or tricks you recommend in hopes to make the process a little less 'messy' because if so, I would love to hear them.

peace and love to you all...

2014 is officially here!!!

so I am not too sure how any of you rang in the new year, but here on the farm, we had a wii bowling tournament, ate donuts and drank sparkling white grape juice out of Christmas colored plastic wine glasses.  we party hard around here wouldn't you say?  :)

2013 was a rough year for us.  it was a year filled with trials and tribulations, but we pulled through...together...stronger. 

we look forward to 2014.  we look forward to what it will bring along with all that we hope to get accomplished.  here are just a few of the things we hope to get done/learn in 2014...

1.    get the horse and donkey pole barn finished
2.    build a few more pens for the does
3.    grow a bigger garden
4.    start a medicinal garden
5.    learn to chop firewood (me)
6.    can more
7.    build up my food storage
8.    drink more herbal tea
9.    make our own laundry detergent
10.  make more of our food from scratch
11.  menu plan
12.  learn to make soap
13.  harvest our own brom
14.  get my thyroid disease under control
15.  rid negative people from our lives
16.  slow down
17.  simplify
18.  listen more and talk less
19.  blog more
20.  read more

...and the list goes on.

what are some of your resolutions/goals for 2014?  please share!

peace and love to you all

an answer to prayer, plus a little hard work...

So if you haven't been to my fb page then you might not be aware of this but we just had an answer to prayer the other day.

Hubby and I had been wanting to add to our flock of hens, but just didn't have the finances for it.  We were looking for hens that were already laying, but that weren't too old.  A very dear friend of mine, a fellow hippie farmer up the street knew of a lady wanting to get rid of her current flock due to their decrease in egg production.  With absolutely no hesitation I told her 'YES!'

For those of you who are unaware of this, this is very normal in chickens.  This process is called "molting" and it happens every winter.  The days get shorter and the temperatures get cooler and that is a sign to chickens that it is time to renew their feathers, by loosing the ones they currently have.  It is also very common that during the "molting season" that chickens quit laying eggs.  Some chickens quit completely until molting/winter is over, and some still produce, but very little.  This can be discouraging to a first time chicken owner, such as myself because I like fresh farm eggs and hate to loose them for any amount of time. 

If you notice in nature, all 'living' things need a break, even Mother Earth.  Plants, insects and animals all go through different types of 'changes.'  Whether it be a change in their coat, like with dogs, or dormant like many plants and trees, all of these 'changes' serve a purpose.  The same happens with chickens when they molt.  They get a much needed 'break,' and since I am not one to change the natural cycle of things, I just do what I can to help them during this time.  I up their protein in their diet and make sure they always have clean water, which I do regardless.  During spring and summer they free-range and eat all the bugs they can stuff in their beaks, when winter rolls around the 'bug' population drops, hence the protein in their natural diet drops significantly.  So by making a few 'tweeks,' like sprouted grains to their diet and allowing them to do what it is that they do, naturally, they will be back to their normal, egg-laying selves before we know it. 

So long story short, the 13 hens we just received, for free mind you will require some work, some TLC and some time, but with patience and perseverance I have no doubt that this answer to prayer will be just that...an answer to prayer.  These birds will provide us with protein packed, organic, free-range eggs that not only nourishes our bodies but the bodies of our friends and families. 

Wishing you all a wonderful day and last but not least...

Peace and love to you all!

i give tattler lids two thumbs up!

So I have been wanting to try Tattler Lids for my canning for a while now.  A week or so ago when I was in the local grocery store here in our little town I saw that they started carrying them.  Since I am a big fan of the wide mouth jars, and they had the Tattler Lids for the wide mouth jars, I didn't hesitate to grab a box of 12 ct for $5.99.  Not bad right?  For those of you not lucky enough to grab them up at that price, you can always find them here (affiliate link) too.

Fast forward to a couple weeks later when I finally got around to canning some homemade organic honey sweetened applesauce and viola, good to go!

There was no real "trick" to it other then making sure that the lids were on the jars correctly and that the rings weren't screwed on too tight.  I did have a few that didn't seal properly, but it was due to the lids not being centered on the jar correctly.  I didn't have to reseal them because applesauce doesn't last long in this house, so I just popped them in the fridge, needless to say...they are gone!

So long story short...I love them, I think they are great and most importantly...they are reusable, which makes this Hawaiian hippie farmer, very happy.

Peace and love to you all!

time sure flies...

I can't believe that it has already been over two weeks since my last blog post!  Wow...where did the time go?  I have no idea.

Anyhow, it is winter here in the Midwest and morning chores takes longer...sometimes a lot longer, and this is one of the reasons why...

due to our very cold weather, this farm hippie had to battle frozen water bowls, VERY empty feed troughs and flat tires (not due to the cold), but hey, such is life right?  Right!

Beloved was gone for about a week and a half, which I hated by the way, so that is another reason why chores took longer then normal.  Thankfully he is back, and after some sleep and a few home-cooked meals all is back to normal.

I was also thankful to have a few mornings to myself so that I could enjoy some quiet time.  Just me, some tea or coffee, and a good book...utter bliss.

There are so many other things going on not only here on the farm but just in general. 

But...that will be another post.  Thanks to all of you who comment and "like" these posts on the fb page, it means so very much to me. 

So for now, I am headed to make a nice cup of herbal tea and hopefully get some more reading done.

Until then...peace and love to you all.

diY dishwasher tablets *update*

So I decided to take the plunge and attempt to make my own dishwasher tablets/detergent.  I run my dishwasher ALL THE TIME!  It by far is the hardest working machine we have.  It always pulls through for me and I am so thankful for it. 

My diY-inner being was screaming for me to find something that I could make myself, while saving me money and giving me the peace-of-mind of knowing what was in the product I was using.

After searching the internet for a recipe I settled on this one.

The only changes I made were that I added a little more lemon juice and I also added some lemon essential oil.  I just love the smell of lemon, don't you?

So after I mixed everything up I let them sit out overnight, mainly because I wanted to make sure that they had time to 'set,"  well also because I didn't actually make them until about eleven that evening. 

 Here they are the morning after...

 

 
...it took no time at all to 'pop' them out of the mold and put them in my trusty jars.  I have a very unhealthy addiction to jars, if you haven't noticed by now.

So, the real test was would they work and would I like them?  Well...drum roll please...they worked!  They rocked and they smell great and they fit perfectly in my dishwasher detergent door thingy!

Score!  Cross this one off my list! 

Have you made your own dishwasher detergent before?  If so, how were your results?  I would love to hear all about them!.

Peace and love to you all!


*update*
after using these for a week or so, I noticed that there was a cloudy film on all my dishes.  I tried adding vinegar to the rinse cycle, but no luck.  I have since then switched to an organic form of dish tablets until I find a recipe that works.