Homesteading and Historical Agriculture

I have been absolutely terrible about updating this blog. It has been almost a year since I last posted something, and I need to get back into the habit of posting things on here (on a regular basis).

So...Updates... Like usual...

First off, it's almost Autumn, my favorite time of the year (yay!!!), which means soon we will be going apple picking and on trips to the pumpkin patch, and larges amounts of tea, cider, and hot cocoa will be consumed.

Second, I have been working in a bakery for the past 4 months, making yummy croissants and pastries, and I really have been enjoying it.

Third, my schedule was so busy this last spring and summer, and I'm living in an apartment, so I really wasn't able to grow anything. Next year though. Next year it is on!

Also, I just updated the pages on my blog, and now have a new page titled, "Historical Agriculture and Homesteading Skills", which is a list of, you guessed it, historically used homesteading and agricultural skills that I plan on increasing my knowledge of, and putting into practice. I'm sure that I will be adding more in the near future, but I think I have enough items by now to keep me pretty busy. I'm thinking of taking one or two items at a time and really focusing on them before moving on to the next items.

Lastly, here is a picture of pumpkins for your enjoyment:

~ Hannah ♥

October!

 

 

 

October is finally here!!!!

 

My favorite month, in my favorite season.

I have had a great start to the month, and I hope that you have too!

I haven't had much time this year to work on any new farming skills, and I wasn't able to garden this year, but I have big plans for next year, and I still planning on widening my knowledge and being as self-sufficient as possible this Fall and Winter, starting with the harvest.

So as a start to my October, the twins and I went apple picking.

 

 

We ended up picking 105 lbs of apples, although 30 of those went to the restaurant, and 10 or so I gave to my mom, so I have about 60 lbs left to use for sauces, and rings, and pie filling.

Now I just have to figure out how to make room for all of the canned goods I will be making.

 

I also was able to spend some time on my boss' farm, learning to drive a tractor, and playing with chickens, and I finally was able to break in my boots.

 

Me holding "Freaky Eye"

 

Be on the lookout for more posts on this blog, and if you are in the mood for a good cup of cocoa, check out my French Style Hot Chocolate recipe on my Bel Sogno blog.

 



Applesauce

I can proudly say I tried my hand at canning, and it was (mostly) a success. I have meaning to use my canner for the better part of two years, and I finally decided to buy some apples and try it out. I wasn't sure how many to use, and I figured that I should make a huge batch my first time, so I ended up buying around 20 apples to start off with.

 

After barely fitting the apple slices into two large pans, it definitely seemed like I was going to end up with more applesauce then I did, but I guess I didn't realize how much they would boil down.

 

 

I did have to adlib a little here and there. For example, I didn't have a foodmill, so I ended up using a sausage grinder/stuffer attachment on a mixer for this, and it did work surprisingly well. I also completely forgot about my canning funnel, and couldn't find it in time, so I did get a couple burnt fingers when I dropped boiling applesauce on them as I was trying to ladle it into the jars.

 

 

Luckily though, I didn't make any major mistakes and I ended up with for jars of delicious (if I do say so myself), homemade applesauce. I will just have to remember to be a little better prepared next time, in order to save my fingers.

Magazine Offer

Thought I would share this offer I found over at One Hundred Dollars a Month! Discount Mags is offering a year's subscription to Urban Farm Magazine for only $4.50, with the coupon code 2479, as opposed to it's listed price of $15! Hurry though! This offer expires tonight at 12:00am EST!

Online Courses

Just thought I'd share a new site I came across! It's called Coursera and offers free online courses from Universities all over the world! There are a few related to agricultural topics, as well as some in business planning, computer sciences, etc. I just signed up for a 5 week Equine Nutrition course that's taught through the University of Edinburgh, which will hopefully be helpful in the future when I eventually have horses again. Anyways, enjoy!

A Good Start

Well I'd say that I have gotten a good start on my resolution to improve my crocheting skills. I finally learned how to crochet at the end of last year, and honestly I can't figure out why it took me so long to start! It's so gosh darn easy! So far I've made a scarf for each of my twins (although I still have to finish weaving the loose ends in), and I just taught myself how to make a popcorn stitch, and started to crochet an afghan. Unfortunately though, I've run out of yarn and both times I've gone to the fabric store since, they haven't had any in. Oh well, I'll get it soon enough!

Here are pictures of my projects so far!

New Year "Resolutions"

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

Now, I realize that this is a couple days late, but I wanted to publish a post with New Years resolutions, and decided to think things over a few days. I don't often make resolutions at the beginning of each new year, but I've decided to start doing it, so that I have something specific to work on for the year and have a specific amount of time to complete goals in. New Years resolutions always seem to center around things like losing weight or getting rid of debt, and while I do have goals like this, they are on going and I'm not going to make resolutions like that. Sure, this year I definitely want to make sure that I stay healthy and definitely get rid of any debt I have (and more importantly not incur more), but these won't be my resolutions for the new year, they're ongoing.

 

Nope. This year, I am making goals that include skills to become more self-sufficient, knowledgable, and just to improve my overall quality of life. Some of them may seem small compared to others, but I find them all equally important, and I'm sure I'll end up adding more as I think of them, but here's a starting list:

 

Improve my sewing, knitting, and crocheting skills

Learn to use power tools (besides just a drill)

 

Expand my vegan cooking abilities

 

WRITE MORE

Learn to can

Expand my gardening knowledge

Build or buy a dehydrator

Grow and preserve as much of our food needs as possible for the year, and especially next winter

Shop local as much as possible

...and that's it so far...

Do any of you have resolutions for the new year that you'd like to share?
 

It's that time of year again!

Time to make jam!

Mattocks and Lemon Balm

The last couple of days have been beautiful and I've been taking advantage of the nice weather and helping my mom and step dad with outdoor projects at their house. Wednesday was spent clipping raspberry and loganberry canes and burning debris, and Thursday I spent moving small logs and wood pieces, cutting back peony bushes, pulling and dumping weeds, and learning how to use a mattock. For those you that don't know, a mattock is much like a large pickaxe and is often used for digging into hard soil, as well as removing tree trunks. I got to learn how to use one by spending a good amount of time hacking away at the roots of a small oak  trunk. I finally was able to remove the trunk, but, needless to say, my whole body is going to be sore for the next day or two, since repeatedly swinging one of those over your shoulder is definitely a full body workout. I am perfectly fine with being sore tomorrow though, because I know that I'll have a reason to. Whenever I am sore as a result of doing some physical activity I actually almost enjoy it, because I feel like I've earned it and I know that I'm building muscle. That may make me a masochist, but oh well. On another note, I found a perfect little lemon balm plant that had started to grow right in the middle of my mom's strawberry patch, and since my mom considers thinks of these plants more as weeds than herbs, since they always sprout up and spread everywhere, I'm taking this one home to use in my container garden.
 Below are some pictures I took Thursday. For some reason they ended up kind of wonky looking though. I guess next time I should try using an actual camera instead of my phone.

The mattock
(aka my new favorite tool)

The hole that the stump had been in.
It looks smaller in this photo than it was
 (probably 3 and a half feet).

The offending stump.
(again it looks a lot smaller than it was :P )

A terrible picture of Bumpers the cat. I'll get a better one soon.

My new Lemon Balm plant :)