No Tools Required! Make A Firewood Holder In Five Minutes

At last, I found an easy, inexpensive, tidy way to store a few days' worth of firewood, just in time for cold weather. And I didn't even need to use any tools to make it, because the lumberyard made the cuts for me.

Our wood burning stove is our primary heat source, and I love it! I'm warmer in winter in this house than I've ever been in any home we've lived in. An old-fashioned box-type stove with no fans or windows or gadgets, needing no special kinds of fuel, it works perfectly to radiate warmth at an even temperature through our main living areas without drafts or cold/hot spots.

We store the cordwood we buy (or that my dad cuts for us) in the alley behind the fence, and I bring up enough for a few days at a time. This is where the problem has been - I've never found a good way to stack the wood I need near the carport door, to keep it off the ground, dry... and tidy.  The log holders sold in stores are either expensive, too small or else way too long for my space, or frankly, most look awfully flimsy.

Then I found this clever idea on Pinterest. Unlike so many of the elaborate projects on there, this looked like something I could actually make (LOL!).

I bought a couple of 8 foot long two by fours (they are actually about 1 1/2" by 3 1/2" because the mill measures before they are planed smooth), and two concrete cinder blocks. The ones I used are about 8"x8"x15".  Two by fours are stronger than one by fours, so they are best for this project.

The nice folks at Home Depot cut the lumber in half for me, so it fit into my Jeep Cherokee easily.

Stand the cinder block on their sides with the holes up, right against each other. They need to be touching in order to keep them stable. You'll need about 48" clearance width at the top.

Drop one four foot 2x4 into each hole and lean it out.  That's it!  Less than 5 minutes, not counting shopping time.  Total cost for everything - $13 and change.

I loaded several sizes of logs into it. You could also make two of them, and have one for large logs and one for smaller pieces and kindling.

Another new thing this year is twig bundles (see them on top?), which I made to see if they are more effective/efficient than just breaking small dead-falls as needed. With 3 full-grown pecan trees and one bur oak in our yard, we have a LOT of small limbs to dispose of over the course of a year. I just wrapped them up with twine. I've used them for my first fire and it certainly was simpler "at the time". My hope is that the twig bundles will work well for those warm Texas winter days we don't need an all-day fire but just need to knock the chill off.  

This little project is already getting our colder season off to a good start.  Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you stay toasty warm this winter! :-)

Bill Quick Names the True Fight: Hillary Clinton's Marxist Progressivism VS Donald Trump's American Christianity

" For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12

All kinds of people have made themselves judge and jury over Mr. Donald Trump's Christian faith. For the most part, I suspect this comes from the tendency in recent decades for America's denominations to steal sheep from each other instead of seeking to attract the unchurched.  The rise of evangelicalism, with novel, poorly defined pronouncements about the requirements for salvation, has overshadowed "that old-time religion" of our grandparents and forefathers.  

Bill Quick  is not religious, and in fact calls himself an atheist. But he finally got enough of the gossip and set out a history lesson that matters to every American, of whatever faith:

" I recognize Trump’s religious sensibilities because I think they are a lot like the ones I grew up with:  Church on Sundays, Sunday School for the kids, Bible Study for mom and dad, and a generalized acceptance of Christ, the Bible, and the Ten Commandments, but not the sort of flagrant protestations of deep belief favored by preachers and their ilk.

"In short, the sort of religious glue that holds a society and culture together, rather than tearing it apart in fanatic religious wars.  ... 

"Those who, whether they make a big show of their religion (as some do) rather than hiding their lights under a bushel, but continue to think that “love one another as you love yourself, do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” most of the Ten Commandments, and a general belief that God loves you is a pretty good set of guidelines to follow will end up making a fairly decent culture and society for all.

"Unfortunately, when the bright-line fanatics get involved, and start reading various heretics, sinners, apostates, and other unfortunates out of their pathways to salvation, is when societies and cultures begin to fester with the rot of religious warfare, and the sort of blank checks true believers always end up writing in aid of advancing the primacy of whatever their faith happens to be. ....

"Hillary has a religion. It is Marxist progressivism. Trump has a religion as well – call it American Christianity."

Click over to The Daily Pundit to read it all. 

What happens in this election matters. It's not the flashy, trendy lifestyles at stake, but the ordinary backbone of American life. The matter-of-fact, work-a-day Christians are the stalwarts, as they have been for 2000 years, following Paul's admonition in the next verse, Eph 6:13:  "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

Or, as "The Message's"  version of Ephesians 6:12-13 puts it: "This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.     

"Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. "

70 Years of Gallup Polls: Americans Still Christian, Still Attend Church As Much As They Did In The 40s and 50s

Here is a good example of how the media is influencing what we think, without us even realizing it. All over the net, ministry-consultant websites quote the common belief that "church attendance is down" and "America is post-Christian".  Yet, study after study shows that Americans overall are still faithful to Jesus Christ, and still believe their religion is most important to their lives.

Gallup results in 2013:

"Americans are no less likely to report having attended church in the past seven days today than they were in 1940 and 1950 -- albeit with many fluctuations since that time, including higher reports in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s. Americans' self-reports of the importance of religion are also no lower than at points in previous decades. "

The Pew Research Center has not been tracking this long enough to be able to make wise comparisons with our fathers' and grandfathers' generations, but the Pew survey in 2014 mirrors Gallup's 2013 & 2014 findings.

Despite this, Pew points at their 2007 results to claim that Americans are "becoming less religious". I think the Gallup research shows that statement to be somewhat an example of interpretive bias: looking at the same numbers and finding a different result. While Pew did have some differences between 2007 and 2014, the Gallup data points over the years show the futility of using two recent years to predict trends reliably.

70% of Pew's 2014 respondents continue to confess Christ as their Savior, while  Gallup found 75% of Americans are Christians in 2014, with 50% being Protestant. Gallup noted here, too,  that this is mostly unchanged over the past 70 years:

"In the 1950s, Gallup surveys showed that up to 71% of Americans identified as Protestant, and small percentages had no religious identity. Then, as now, however, well more than 90% of Americans who express a religious preference identify themselves as Christians."

Pew has an interesting survey that also shows the vast majority of Christians of all denominations are involved with their congregation. While the title proclaims, accurately, that "Church Involvement Varies Widely Among US Christians", the most pronounced variation is between high involvement and medium involvement. Only 12% overall "seldom" attend or are not currently members. Dark blue is "high involvement", light blue is "medium involvement":

 "Those who are members of a congregation, attend religious services at least weekly and attend a prayer or scripture group weekly or monthly are categorized as having a “high” level of congregational involvement, while those who are not members of a congregation and who seldom or never attend religious services and small group prayer or scripture-reading groups are in the “low” category. All other respondents are categorized as having a “medium” level of congregational involvement.
Among U.S. adults who are Christian, three-in-ten have a high level of congregational involvement, while 58% have a medium level and 12% fall into the low category. "

Please always dig into the actual results on any studies like these. Look past the headlines and past the data-point blurbs to see the facts for yourself. You will usually find that the real American world is still alive and well, despite the sensation and insanity reported by the news or pushed by politicians and activists.

Christians are standing firm against the forces that want to deceive us and destroy our faith. Remember this in your own personal battles: you are not alone when you stand up for Jesus. You are surrounded not only by the "great cloud of witnesses" Peter told us about, but also by the faithful men and women and children of America today.

Be of good cheer! When it comes to the Church in America, be heartened: souls are still being won to Christ Jesus, and most of us are still worshiping together on Sundays in the church building. Let us pray for each other and run with patience this marathon that God has set before us!

Sprouting Out Tomato Seeds For This Year's Garden

There are lots of seeds still in their little damp paper towels getting sprouted. Yesterday I took the varieties that have sprouted and moved them into their little seedling pots.

I saved egg shells to use for this, we will see how well that works.  We have a lot of calcium in our water, but places that don't might find this technnique useful to help prevent Blossom End Rot.

There are several previous posts about how to start tomato plants from seed. Click here to go to the first one, and when you get there, you'll see links to the others. :-)

We had thunder storms night before last, and this is a part of the country where the saying applies: "Thunder in February, Frost in April"!  I never plant before Easter because of late frosts, but I always start a lot of extra plants in case my first planting freezes to death!

How To Make Your Own Artist Charcoal From Grapevine

You might be surprised how easy it is to burn your own vine charcoal to use for drawing. I used wild grape vines, but you can use other non-poisonous vines or small sticks - even thin dowels will work. Experiment with the nontoxic materials available to you locally. While I burned mine in my wood stove, this technique can be used in a camp fire the next time you go camping, or in your charcoal grill.  

Planning This Years Garden & Reviewing Last Year's

In which I talk about the things I learned last year: what worked (Deer Netting!!!!) and what didn't (Oddly colored Heirloom Tomatoes!!!), and what I am looking for when I start going through the seed catalogs this year. Also, some tips on buying onion plants for Southern gardens.  If you like the video, please give a "thumbs up" and subscribe on You Tube. Thank you so much :-)

Frozen Water Pipes: How to Work in the Kitchen Without Running Water

My video on working while waiting for frozen pipes to thaw. :-) I hope this will be helpful to you in keeping "real life" going while conserving water in the kitchen when the water is off or the well is dry!  I am going to use these techniques while camping too! :-)

Home Remedies...It's Cold And Flu Season.

These are the home remedies I used while I was sick last week. They really work!



Thank you for watching. If you enjoy it, please click the "Thumbs up" button on You Tube, and please subscribe to my channel. No politics, just cooking, canning, stocking up, preparedness, foraging, nature lore, and How To! :-)  Maybe a little reenacting, cottage industry, and letterpress thrown in. :-)



Thanks so much and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all. May 2015 be a wonderful year full of happy adventures for all of us!

How To Make Fried Green Tomatoes, Served With Cream Gravy

We had fried green tomatoes and fried chicken livers for supper the other evening. Oh and cream gravy. I make livers fairly often but had never made fried green tomatoes (my family made chow chow out of the green ones). Paul told me how to do it and they turned out great, I am a fan!!!! 

Green Tomatoes are available early in the season when the vines have put on fruit but it hasn't ripened, sometimes throughout the summer, but especially in the Fall. Tomato plants and fruit will not survive a frost, so as temperatures drop, we have to remove the still-green fruit from the vines. These can be stored to ripen slowly over the winter (I have written before about how to do that), but that is also a perfect time to fry them up and enjoy them like this. 

Start with Green Tomatoes. They are very tart, but you can also use "Not Quite Ripe" - turning but still very firm - tomatoes for a sweeter taste. The cream gravy counters the acidic taste very nicely too. It you have had them in past, and they were too sour for you. try them with gravy and see if it doesn't make all the difference! :-)

 Slice them thickly, about 1/3 of an inch thick.

Dip tomato slices in flour, then into an egg wash (one egg beaten with 1/4 cup milk), then into bread crumbs. Let sit in a single layer on a cookie sheet  for a few minutes so the coatings will stick, then fry slowly until nice and brown. 

I used bacon grease to fry them in. About 1/4 inch deep grease in a skillet, get it hot and add the tomato slices in a single layer. Turn the stove down so that they sizzle but not very quickly, you want to fry these slowly. When brown on one side, turn them over and brown the other side. 

Drain on brown paper or even a wire rack, or paper towels. Serve warm. We especially like them smothered with cream gravy. Yummmmmm!!!!

Does everyone know how to make cream gravy or would it help if I added instructions?

How To Make Whipped Cream Without An Electric Mixer, Using Only a Whisk

A little secret about milk is that the higher the fat content, the longer it will keep in the fridge. So "Heavy Whipping Cream", which has so much fat you could make butter out of it, can be bought a week or two ahead of time to be used for making whipping cream at a moment's notice.

My grandmother, Mema, made whipped cream from scratch - we never had cool whip or dream whip. It tastes divine and once you have developed a taste for it, the other products taste artificial and waxy. She used an electric mixer and I usually do too, but for a small amount to serve one or two people, it is just as fast to whip it by hand.

Here is how you do it:

Buy only heavy whipping cream or whipping cream. You can't use coffee cream or half and half. You can't use "fat free" cream. Highest fat content is essential.  Keep it very cold, but don't freeze it - alas nearly every brand today has additives that cause it to separate when frozen.

You can freeze the BOWL though, and using a chilled bowl will make it whip faster.

Pour about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of heavy cream into your chilled bowl and beat with a whisk (any kind of whisk will work as long as it is clean - don't use a bamboo one unless it is new, because they are hard to clean completely and may retain oils and flavors of other foods they were previously used with).

Beat for about 1 minute, then add one Tablespoon of granulated cane sugar.  You don't need much sugar usually because the cream itself is naturally sweet. So take it easy, you can add more later if it isn't sweet enough. Also add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (vanilla also heightens the sweetness of foods, reducing the amount of sugar needed). Continue beating for another two minutes or so until the cream is stiff enough for your liking. Taste and see if it is sweet enough.

Pile it on top of cake or pie or ice cream and serve!

Refrigerate any leftovers immediately. :-)

O Tomato! Beautiful Heirloom Varieties I Am Gathering Now!

Tomatoes here are finally ripening and I am gathering about a peck or more each day.   I lost track of what tomatoes I have where since replanting them after the freeze, so as they ripen I am looking back at my lists to figure out what they are. We are having a lot of fun tasting these different varieties that we have never had before.

Chocolate Cherry - Just today I picked the first 4 of these, have not  tasted them yet. Weirdly, all of my cherry tomatoes are running kind of behind the full sized fruit. Maybe they will keep coming all summer though. 

Brandywine or Cherokee Purple? - I have a couple of plants with nice big 8 ounce pinkish tomatoes that have green shoulders, and the green is as sweet as the pink. Great flavor, nice and sweet. 

Rutgers are doing well too for me, making big red orange fruits. I think they would be great for fried green tomatoes because they are so meaty. 

Japanese Black Trifele (anyone know how to pronounce that?) is Paul's favorite so far. Wow, what flavor. I have gotten 6 tomatoes from the plant so far, and the new fruit is a long way from ripe. This is them, below - they have a nice mahogany brown color when fully ripe, and delicious complex flavor. 

Porter are awfully pretty and uniform. They look like pink eggs, weigh about 2 ounces, and have a good flavor. I am saving seed from them to plant again too.  Look how attractive they are in the two photos below!  They are producing to beat the band. 

Henderson Pink Ponderosa is doing great for me and I like them. They are a nice size, uniform and attractive. 

When you don't spray for bugs, the bugs do share the produce. This photo below shows different problems my tomatoes have - not many fruit have these issues, but a few.

The big Brandywine or Cherokee Purple (I have never see either - help is welcome) with green shoulders is one the grasshoppers have been snacking on. See how they kind of "mowed" along it?  That portion can be cut off and we can still eat the tomato but no one would want to pay for it.

To the left of it, in the top center, is a Pink Ponderosa that some kind of caterpillar or grub has drilled into - just as they have done to the Homestead tomato on the far left and the little cherry tomato.  These have to be thrown away because the damage inside is far greater than the damage outside. I don't even bother trying to "save" these fruits.

The white papery patch on the big Rutgers is sunscald. Although I let my plants sprawl, some are still exposed to constant sun, and it has been in the 90s all week. I don't see this on every variety, but perhaps these large fruits are more sensitive for some reason.

Yeeecccch. Enough of ugly tomatoes. Here is a prettier picture to end with, These gorgeous Costoluto Genovese are ripening...

I am mixing the varieties all together when canning, just using whatever is ripe to fill quart jars. That way I can put up two or three quarts at a time instead of trying to hold them. I am doing a water bath using my stock pot with a small rack, instead of my canner. Since I have a smooth top range, this works well for me.  

Remember to follow the instructions at the National Center for Home Food Preservation in ALL of your canning methods to be sure you are preserving safely. PickYourOwn.org also has a lot of great recipes and instructions.  Both are linked  from my sidebar, over to the right.  I don't get anything for recommending these - it is important that we learn how to look after ourselves in safe ways so that we feel completely confident in our own knowledge and ability. 

Tomato Vines Loaded with Green Fruit: Heirloom "Costoluto Genovese"

I have only picked a couple of ripe tomatoes so far, but the vines are all full of green fruit. This variety I grew from seed that I bought from Park Seed. They are called "Costoluto Genovese", an Italian heirloom tomato that is supposed have an intense flavor that makes them good for canning and sauce. I love the lobed shapes on these! 

I planted many different varieties, and in the first planting I had a nice chart of which were where. But after they all froze to death and I had to scurry to replant, I didn't track placement. So until they ripen, it is hard to tell which is which. These Genovese ones are unmistakeable though. 

Mid June Garden Update: Chard, Squash, Onion Braids, and Waiting For Tomatoes!

I think the rumors that this is finally an El Nino year may prove true. God has been watering my garden every week for about a month now - including one eight inch gully washer that really DID wash a gully into our driveway - washing the gravel down onto the side of the street with the force of the runoff. I need to go shovel the gravel back into place.

It was so COLD this year! Every time we thought winter was over we would have a cold snap! I think the temperatures slowed everything down. Many things kind of just sat there, waiting. Then the past couple of weeks, things have started happening. I've been gathering Swiss Chard for about a month, baby beets with their tops on for a couple of weeks, and yellow squash all this past week. Just picked the first cucumbers today.  The grasshoppers have arrived and we are having to share with them, but they are not the plague they have been the past two years. The Deer Fencing WORKS and deer have not entered my garden since I hung the mylar on it!

My onions are finished for the year. Have I mentioned that I really LOVE growing onions. You can plant them during that cabin-fever time when it seems like spring will never get here, freezes don't hurt them.
They mostly take care of themselves, and when they are ready to be picked their tops just fall over one night. They are easy to gather and store for a long time.

This year, I planted late so a lot of mine were small.  I braided the large ones to hang for storage, and tied little net bags for the small ones. If I can raise enough onions next year, maybe I can demonstrate how to make the braids at the farmer's market.

So far, so good on my tomato plants. The vines all have green fruit on them but none ready to pick yet. It was about 3 weeks ago when I saw the first baby tomato, and over time each other plant has developed fruit.  I have lost 3 plants to an odd ailment in which the  leaves curl up lengthwise and feel hard and leathery. The plants continue to flower and even put on some fruit but they seem to dehydrate from the inside out and gradually shrink in on themselves. There are no yellow or brown spots. Everyone else I have talked to around here has mentioned this happening to their tomato plants too. From what I have read, it may have something to do with the cold nights and hot days. I have fertilized them twice since planting.

The Eggplant is starting to set fruit and there will be peppers to pick soon (peppers are another thing I really enjoy growing, but I only planted two kinds this year). Only one melon plant came up so hopefully it will bear a few cantaloupes for us.  I need to plant black eyed peas and some more beets.

All my jars are washed, and I bought more Food Saver material rolls for freezing.  Ready to start preserving any day now.  I have already made one batch of purple plum jam, and hope to go next week to pick peaches at a Pick Your Own nearby - look over on my right sidebar for a widget to a great site for finding U-Pic farms and orchards in your area.

Now if those tomatoes will just hurry up and ripen!!! :-)

Letting History Talk For Fun: Reenactments and Historical Demonstration

 In the way these things usually happen, I accidentally started myself down the road into a whole new hobby a few months ago when I did a letterpress printing demonstration in period costume. They say historical reenacting is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the world, as people engage personally in their favorite time period. Meet the newest wannabe American Civil War era civilian reenactor!

Late last summer, I heard about a museum-hosted event in nearby Stephenville, Texas: "By Gone Days on the Bosque". They were looking for demonstrators of old time crafts and life for the annual one-day fundraiser celebrating the post-civil-war period in this portion of Erath County along the Bosque River. Those were true Wild West Days, when the citizens really were  cowboys, outlaws, Indians, settlers, renegades, notorious lawmen, cattle ranchers, rustlers, fence cutters, farmers, and sheep herders.

I offered to show how a wanted poster would have been made, using wood type and my little portable press. They had never had a Printer and welcomed me. My sister served on the board of a local museum in her town, and lent me a dress she had made from a period-correct pattern. She also made me a "pinner" apron to wear. I didn't have a bonnet so I used a hair net and a doily gathered with ribbon to cover my hair. Given the short time frame, I cobbled together a fairly passable outfit (Marjorie, I have not forgotten that I do need a corset :-) ).

I went to the experts in letterpress history: the LETPRESS email list, and got wonderful advice on what to wear and how to approach it. They especially recommended the book "Newspapering in the Old West", filled with photos and detailed information that is essential for accuracy. It is one thing to tell people that women were actively employed in the printing trade, and even owned and published newspapers during that time, but showing photos substantiates it, important proofs for all of us who were educated in the myth that American women "didn't work" before the feminist movement of the 1960s.

I have attended reenactment events before as a tourist, been a vendor at antique shows, and have demonstrated printing as an art form and a modern day craft. So I expected to enjoy myself. I had the BEST time!!!! Paul's back was killing him (two days later was when we learned it really was killing him and the surgeon saved his life - see previous post for details), so I had to go by myself, but it was still loads of fun.

Since then, I have been absorbed in caring for Paul as he recovers, and have been reading up on Historical Reenacting as it plays out in Texas and considering how I can take part. Most groups accessible to me focus on the last half of the nineteenth century (Civil War, Wild West, Indian Wars). Although far from expert, my knowledge about printing and merchandise in that era would make it easiest to take on an impression of a civilian merchant ("sutler") and Job Printer.

So I guess, now,  I am nearing the stage of identifying people in near-by groups to learn about their focus and what kind of impressions their group needs, to see if any would be a good fit. It will still be quite a while before I have freedom to attend events or take an active role. In the meantime I can keep studying, read the various forums, prepare myself and some materials, and start putting together a nice, authentic costume.

Now I am wondering: is there anything I need to know that I don't know I need to know? ;-)

Starting Tomato Plants From Seed, Step 2: Moving Sprouts From Paper into Pots

 This is Part 2. The first post (click here to read it) explains how to start the seed using weak tea, paper towels and baggies. This post shows how to pick them out and move the little seedlings into pots, where they will grow until time to set them out.  

  Now, just 3 days later, most have sprouted, some even have their first set of leaflets. Some have only just begun to open, or maybe even have not sprouted yet, but they have had a good soak, so I will plant them all now.

Use tweezers to gently pick them up by the seed casing (the cotyledon)  - never touch the root! Tug gently, straight and level, to remove from the paper without bending the plant.  If the root has already penetrated the paper and doesn't pull free easily, don't worry - instructions below on how to save it.

Lay the little plant, root end down, against clean wet potting soil in a paper cup, newspaper pot, peat pot or plastic six pack from other plants.

  Cover gently - but not deeply - with more damp potting soil. Just barely cover it. It is ok if you get a bit of earth on the cotyledon, it will grow out of it.

If the seed has not yet sprouted at all, put it with the point side down and just barely cover it with a sprinkle of dirt.

 If the root is caught in the paper, simply cut out a square of paper around the root, being careful not to touch or cut the root in the process.

Then just plant the piece of paper towel along with the little plant:  root down, covered with soil, cotyledon side up, barely covered at all. 

Place them all under lights to keep them warm and give them the light they need. I used T8 daylight bulbs in cheap 4 foot shop fixtures that hang from chains. Hang the lights about 2 inches above the plants.

And watch them grow!!!  Be sure to mist them daily, maybe twice daily if it looks like they need it. I used bottled water so that it won't have any chlorine in it, but you can also use tap water that you let sit overnight first.  If you don't have a spray bottle that gives a fine mist, you could also use an eyedropper. Even better, according to many, is to water from below by poking holes at the base of the cups, setting them on a tray and putting the water in the tray. If using newspaper or peat pots, you wouldn't even need to make holes. :-)

 I laid a tinfoil shade over the fixture to keep the light and warmth in, and to let the light reflect as much as possible onto the plants.

 

And there they are, right at a week  after they were first put into their papers: little heads popping up, some getting taller already, others still stretching to get the kinks out as they wake up from their long sleep.  

Have fun with your seedlings, and I will post again soon to show how they are coming. :-)

UPDATE March 11, 2014: The third post is up: click to read - and thank you! :-)

How a Thank You Note Made My Day

Since the new Texas Cottage Food Law took effect September first, I have been baking bread to sell at our local Farmer's Market. It has been fun, because my bread always sells out and people are very happy to have it! Last week I took some to a small pioneer day event, and sold out there too.

The law requires that we put a label on our foods, and include our address on it. Today in my mailbox was the kindest Thank You note from a customer:

"Dear Friend,
My daughter and I visited Pioneer Day...on Saturday. She bought me a loaf of wheat bread. Oh my, it is wonderful. Had some on Sunday morning with ham and an egg. [here she drew a smiley face]  Made me happy all day. Love it. Thank you for sharing your time and talent with others.
Sincerely, [her name] "

This sweet lady and I do not know each other, so I was doubly enchanted by her note. Little kindnesses such as this add joy to life if we focus on "just for today".

This has given me much "food for thought" about this latest hobby, and the potential for good in the simplest things like real home-made food.

 I am going to miss these kinds of interaction when the Farmer's Market closes for the season in mid-October.

And I will look especially forward to having veggies to bring to it in the Spring!




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Outside The Box and Working: A Full Service Independent Gas Station

 This is an older, independent filling station. They have a convenience store ("Cheap Smokes, Pop & Snacks"), but that's not the principle draw for their business. It is located on a busy but out-of-the-way road through an older, declining neighborhood in a small town in Oklahoma. Their gas is priced about the same as the other self-serve stations in town. It is 100% gasoline, no ethanol.

The owners, a man and his wife, pump your gas for you when you drive up.  They took my out-of-state check without question.

 

Because they pump the gas, they are VERY fast and my car is filled up & I am on my way "sooner" than if I were doing the work myself.  At 105 degrees, I was able to sit in my cool car while they put the gas in. Last winter, I stayed in the warm vehicle and didn't have to hold that freezing metal nozzle!

An outdated building, an outdated location, an outdated concept.  I am betting they don't have a Facebook page or business Twitter account.

And there is a double line of cars three deep every time I go there. These pictures were taken at different times on different days.

People, THAT is customer service. THAT is figuring out a way to make a living with what you have.

American Free Enterprise is stubbornly alive and well and working hard, despite the best efforts of marketing sophisticates and government bureaucrats.

God bless America, and Americans like these! :-)

Linocuts and Letterpress: Printing Seed Packets and Cottage Food Labels

I've been having fun this year in the print shop, turning out seed packets for saving seeds in.  The Pecan Corner Press is a hobby, and this kind of ephemera is what I usually produce. I use handset type and some fun old cuts.  I've been taking these to the local Farmer's Market since the grasshoppers and deer have eaten all my gardening efforts this year.  The empty ones are great for saving seed and tucking into a get well card or garden club seed exchanges. Some people even said they were going to use them in their little miniature display cabinets.

My Swiss Chard went to seed this year (it is a biennial, and can be harvested as long as it lives - it is never tough or bitter), so I made the linoleum cut and filled these to see how the seed would sell. This is the old variety, Fordhook, and they can be planted in Texas all the way though the fall.

I didn't take a press but I have taken a locked-up chase and it has drawn a lot of interest.  I have a ways to go before I sell enough to pay for my market fees, but this is a good way to support our little market and help it grow.

 
 When September rolls around, I'll be able to offer more items - we all will. Texas passed a Cottage Food Law a couple of years ago that made it possible to open one's home to sell baked goods and jams. It is a common-sense approach that recognizes that if we know the person doing the cooking, we can decide for ourselves whether we want to eat what they have cooked.  The newest version, which takes effect Sept 1st 2013, is pretty exciting, because it expands common sense to foods that are pretty much going to be safe to eat and allows us to take our products to Farmers' Markets and locally sponsored Fairs, as well as sell from home.

 Here's another place where we - Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Tea Party, Occupy... pretty much everybody but the Socialists and Communists - can come together, I think. We all want personal sovereignty over our food!!!!

 So, in anticipation of HB 970 (still awaiting the final rules to define exactly what items we can sell), I have been carving linoleum blocks to use on labels for my homemade jams, jellies, relishes, sauerkraut, syrups and baked goods. The linocuts, combined with Art Deco era typefaces, give the labels a fun old fashioned look. These are the first proofs of a few of them, printed on dry-gummed paper. I will tweek the colors and ink coverage a bit for the final labels.

Homemade Sweet Cherry Ice Cream: First Freeze of Summer Fresh Fruit

 I know it isn't quite Summer yet, but it is here since I have made the first batch of homemade ice cream. It is cherry season, at least in those places where they grow cherries. Central Texas doesn't get cold enough and gets too hot for the quaint stone fruit, so this is something we must import from places like.... New Mexico*, which I think of as close enough to be almost local.  Anyway, whereever they come from, fresh cherries are abundant and relatively inexpensive right now.

I found a bargain on some that were past their prime, and had been drastically discounted. For ice cream, we want them cut into quarters rather than halves, plus they need to be fully ripe, so this is a good use for imperfect fruit that has reached full flavor. The necessity of tiny pieces of fully ripe fruit I discovered last year when I made the mistake of using commercially frozen peaches in large chunks. They froze so hard that they were not pleasant to eat.

My recipe is a custard-type. It uses egg yolks and is cooked. This makes a luscious, rich ice cream with just the right amount of body. Mema used flour to thicken hers, but I never liked that, I prefer the smoothness of the eggs. The fact that we can buy yard eggs with golden yolks from our neighbor's happy hens is a bonus.

It takes a little practice to learn how to make a custard. There isn't really any secret, just have to be whisking the eggs really fast while pouring a stream of the hot milk into the eggs to "temper" them, then whisk the hot milk really fast while you pour the tempered egg yolk back into the pot and finish cooking. Until you get the hang of it, pour the whole cooked batch through a strainer when it is cooked. That will remove any "scrambled eggs". Eventually you won't need that step any longer.

*(*THINK FOR YOURSELF TIP O' THE DAY: I won't go into the politics of the northwestern state fruit growers and the unreported twists in a lot of the mess our domestic food and immigration policies are in but it is something worth researching sometime. Hint: you will learn a lot if you read news from about 1995 through 2005 on sites sympathetic to Migrant Labor, Fruit Growers, etc. )

Now without further ado, on with the recipe!
 

Fresh Cherry Ice Cream
Makes about 1 1/2 Quarts

1 1/4 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Whole Milk or Half and Half
5 Egg Yolks (freeze the whites to use for meringue)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Heavy Cream (Whipping Cream)
2 Cups Cherries, pitted and coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 pounds)

Pit and chop the cherries, stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and set aside until the end.

Scald the milk in a 2 quart saucepan ("scald" means heat to steaming but do not boil).

Whisk the egg yolks and 1 cup of sugar in a mixing bowl.  Temper the yolks by pouring about half the hot milk in a thin stream while whisking the egg yolks very fast. I like to use a pyrex measuring cup for this, just dip it out (careful not to burn yourself) and pour. Makes it easier to keep whisking if you don't have someone to help you.  A stand mixer is also a good helper for this task - it can be beating the eggs whilst you pour.

Then pour the tempered egg yolks back into the rest of the milk while whisking the milk. Cook and stir, to prevent boiling, for 3 or 4 minutes until the mixture has thickened some. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temp. It is at this stage that you can strain it if you wish. 

After the custard has cooled, add the heavy cream and the vanilla extract.

Freeze in your ice cream freezer, following manufacturer's directions. Pay special attention to the need for salt in the freezing process - it is the salt that lowers the temperature below that of ice alone to enable freezing.

When the custard is frozen, remove the dasher and fold in the cherries. At this stage, I transfer my ice cream to freezer containers and put them in the chest freezer. If you want to finish the freezing in your ice cream maker, leave the canister set in the ice, remove the lid and the dasher, stir in the cherries then replace the lid securely, fill the whole bucket with more ice and salt, cover with a towel and let it sit for an hour or two until you are ready to serve, adding more ice as necessary.

I used to use a hand-cranked freezer, but last year I bought an electric one - mainly because my little manual one was not large enough. The electric one seems to take longer to freeze, but since I am not powering it that doesn't hurt! :-)

Enjoy!


About the photo:  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream gets pride of place for its picture in my great grandmother's Pink Cherry Blossom Depression Glass. Big Granddaddy gave this set to Big Grandmother for one of their anniversaries, and I inherited it from her.   Isn't that vintage spoon adorable? It says "Betty Lou" on the handle, and is Carlton Silverplate. I have a funny little collection of figural spoons. I'll take pictures and show them here sometime.

How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut from Scratch

Sauerkraut, drained, rinsed and ready to eat!

 My family made pickles, but never sauerkraut. We ate it though: a regular weeknight supper at my grandparents' house was "weenies and sauerkraut". Paul's mother, Thelma, made her own kraut when he was a baby. She said when he was toddling around, he would reach into her crocks and get handfuls of kraut to eat! Cabbage in any form is still one of his favorite vegetables. We have sauerkraut fairly often, cooked in lots of different ways or on hot dogs (Hebrew National, thank you!).

 The health benefits of fermented cabbage or cucumbers are huge. But we don't get the same benefits when the pickles are made with vinegar or the kraut has been processed to death and treated with all kinds of "preservatives". The Lactic Acid that turns cabbage into kraut, makes it sour, and prevents it from spoiling once it is fermented, comes from the action of lactobacilli. These little friendly bacteria keep our digestion working properly, help remove toxins from the blood (sauerkraut was an old staple in hospitals that treated alcoholism), and now it looks like sauerkraut can even help prevent cancers. AND fermenting the cabbage bumps up the Vitamin C content tremendously (is there nothing Vitamin C can't do? ;-))!

 

Usually by the time I think of doing things that require time to ferment, it is already the height of summer and too hot for things to "bubble" properly. But one day in April, I took advantage of the very cool Spring we had this year and tried my hand at it.

For this batch, I used a gallon glass jar. Next time, I am going to use one of Big Grandmother's crocks - I am sterilizing it in the dishwasher right now. You could easily use one of the old style "crock pots" without plugging it in. You would still need to use the plate or bag method to weight down the cabbage to keep it under the brine. Be sure to read up on how to use various containers and weights BEFORE you get started. The National Center For Home Food Preservation is a reliable reference for safe canning and preserving methods.

[July 5, 2013 UPDATE: Second batch completed, as easy to make as the first, and we enjoyed some of it yesterday. But I learned I cannot use antique crocks. They have crazing that absorbs the liquid and that would also prevent them from being sterilized. Stick to glass or modern options such as the crock pots mentioned above, or brand new crocks. Thanks to everyone who has stopped in to read this! I hope it has been useful to you :-) ]

I got my recipe from here,  and they also detail the method: it is originally an Extension Service recipe from the University of Georgia. It is the same recipe that is given in many cookbooks and other websites, but I chose this one because it is very simple and the instructions are complete and matter-of-fact. I've added my notes within it, and given the lower portions for making a small batch.

I loved that there is also a recipe for making sauerkraut out of Collard Greens! It is too warm here in Texas for cabbage to do well, but we can grow some collards. Collards are one of those biennial vegetables that you can keep alive all through the year, making it possible to have fresh home-grown veg even in the dark of winter.  The Collard Sauerkraut Recipe is just below the one for cabbage. I haven't tried it yet.

 

Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

1 head of cabbage or about 5 pounds
3 tablespoons of canning or pickling salt (you could use kosher salt but not sea salt or iodized salt, the iodine will interfere)

Discard outer leaves. Rinse the whole head under cold running water and drain. Do not use disinfectants or vinegar rinses on it, just a simple wash with plain tap water.

Cut the cabbage in quarters and remove cores. Shred or slice to a thickness of a quarter (about 1/8"). You can use a knife if you don't have a mandolin but don't chop it into little bits. Long shreds are what we want. I used one head of cabbage, and shredded it fine with a mandolin (be REALLY careful with those and always use the safety guards, make sure someone else is in charge of the kids while you are using it, etc. Most important: THINK and pay attention - don't get distracted by anything.).

Add 3 tablespoons of salt. If the weather is very warm, you may need to use a little more salt. Toss well and mix thoroughly with your hands, then pack it all into your fermenting jar or crock. Leave space at the top, maybe 4 or 5 inches, for the brine to cover the cabbage completely.

 Here is the hard work part: beat it down firmly to bruise it and start drawing the juice out.  I used a wooden meat pounder, or you could use a jelly mortar. I hammered on it a while until I was tired. Then I made a brine of one quart filtered water and 2 tablespoons of kosher salt, brought it to a boil, and let it cool to room temperature.  After it had cooled, I poured it over the cabbage.

I added a round piece of plastic that was the diameter of the jar and sealed weights inside a freezer bag and put them down in the brine to hold the cabbage down under the brine.  This time I used brine in a gallon freezer bag (actually two of them in case one leaked) and put it inside the jar to seal
the whole thing. You use brine in the bag in case it leaks because plain water would dilute the sauerkraut causing it to spoil. If you use a crock, you can put a plate inside it instead.

"Add plate and weights; cover container with a clean bath towel. Store at 70 to 75 °F while fermenting. At temperatures between 70 and 75 °F, kraut will be fully fermented in about 3 to 4 weeks; at 60 to 65 °F, fermentation may take 5 to 6 weeks. At temperatures lower than 60 °F, kraut may not ferment. Above 75 °F, kraut may become soft. If you weigh the cabbage down with a brine-filled bag, do not disturb the crock until normal fermentation is completed (when bubbling ceases). If you use jars as weight, check the kraut two to three times each week and remove scum if it forms."

I set my jar back in the floor in the guest room. That part of the house, on the south side, is always shaded so it stays pretty cool back there, especially down at the floor level because that room, one of the originals from about 1895, is on pier and beam foundation so cool air can circulate below.

It took right at 4 weeks for mine to be done, and I could tell it was done because I started smelling it! Mine did form some scum (scary looking stuff) but I just scooped and wiped it out before moving down to the good kraut.  

 

 I transferred the kraut and its juice directly into sterile pint jars, and stored them in the refrigerator. My head of cabbage made 3 full pints of sauerkraut.  To can for pantry storage, you would need to process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, just like any acidic food - there are specific instructions at the original link.

   

As promised above, here is the recipe for fermenting collard greens!

Collard Kraut Recipe

A big bunch of fresh collard greens, about a gallon when cleaned.
2 or 3 Tablespoons of canning or pickling salt for each one gallon of collards.

Procedure: Wash the greens well, and shred. Use the same process as given for Cabbage Sauerkraut above. Store at 70 ºF for fermenting. At this temperature it will take approximately 3 to 4 weeks to ferment. If any scum forms above the plate or weight, remove it about 2 to 3 times a week. Taste in about two weeks. Allow collards to ferment until desired flavor is reached. 

Store in refrigerator or process in boiling water bath, as directed at original link or at the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

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If you try making the collard kraut before I do, or the regular cabbage kraut, please post and let me know how it turns out!