Urban Orchard Part 1

Part 1
A few Sundays ago DH & I sent our daughter's to the movies via a Christmas Gift Card so we could go fruit tree shopping a few hours away in Canandaigua, New York. That in itself was a bit of an expirence becomming lost and slightly distracted with the numerius antique shops in the region. The only thing that stopped us was the fact that if we need the cargo room & $ for plants. So all total we spent about $150 for 3 apple trees, 1 cherry tree, and 2 grape vines and some sorta oil that DH said we needed for an insectiside. Gas was about $10. Bonding time priceless.
The Nurseryman who helped us was extremely knowledgeable & patient with us or rather me. Seems that aprently once in the warehouse I forgot I only farm >1/14 of an acre. I wanted everything. So once DH gave me a reality smack & we explained to him what we wanted to eventually accomplish he was very helpful in a very non salesman way. He even was able to give me his opinion on what different types of fruit tasted like which helped me decide (canning possibilities).
Oh he verified that more than 2 fruit trees is an orchard. We have an orchard!
www.millernurseries.com

~~ pelenaka ~~

Barter-add

Needed : 260 jelly jars non wire bail type with or without rings. Also foraging/gleaning rights for fruit such as apples, peaches, & pears.
Offered : Handyman services, housecleaning, yard work (ready a garden for spring planting), pruning, cider, when in season; organic blackberries, 3 bushels potatoes, 100 lbs. of squash. Possible trade organic commercially butchered beef.

Here's the deal. Just spoke with my children's school in regards to attendance which is 180 days. 180 days of lunches. 180 days of eating a jelly jar of canned fruit per child.
Which is really 360 jars filled for two daughters. 2 lunches per day. 5 Lunches per week.
Fruit needed is about say 500 lbs. if I did the math right.
Lofty goal huh?
So I need about 200 more jars having about 170 jelly jars in inventory. Also need to see about getting deals on a bulk buy of fresh fruit. Apples would be the cheapest but can't see daughters eating applesauce 5 days a week no matter if it were spiced or not.
Can't recall what a bushel of fruit was fetching @ the farmer's market provided that a bushel is X amount of pounds, which it never is. Varies. Besides we are in an inflation so cost is a variable.
Lids bought last year by the case were 6¢ each.
So if I'm able to barter for jars or even if just use my already paid/free jars then the questions is how much $ to fill each jar. Cheaper than store bought individual fruit cups ? Should I factor in the green aspect of no further expended energy to make the plastic containers ? Take into account that I am assured what the contents are - as in semi to completely organic (tainted food supply like peanut butter) ? Also cost factor of sugar, spices, and orther ingredients.
All I wanted to do was have fruit on hand for school lunches that was low in sugar and preservatives, low in cost, and easily stored.


Sometimes I really need to be medicated.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Realizing limitations

This is one of my pedigreed Satin Angoras just short of being a year old. Can't tell you which one 'cause I'm so new ( or perhaps lame) that I didn't mark the cage. In any event this is either the Fawn or Red Satin. We had attended our 1st Rabbit show in Syracuse when DH fell in love with this breed dragging me down with him. Yeah that's it, gonna go with that at least until he reads my blog! The idea was that these would be a good dual purpose breed both meat & fiber. I think he thinks I spend way to much $ on yarn.

Well truth be told I have bit off more than I can chew in the rabbit department of our homestead. Future plan is to bring the rabbits down to a buck & two does then breed up for freezer camp.

So if your in my area of Western New York ...

Here is the link for the National Angora Rabbit Breeder's Club http://nationalangorarabbitbreeders.com/blog/

Dirty Laundry

These are the 3 basic ingredients in making your own laundry soap minus the water.

To be truthful this is only really fugal if you can manage to buy the components on sale or with coupons. Fortunately over a year ago a local M&P chain grocery store went belly up so I was able to stock up on the washing soda & borax. I have yet to find any store brands of these two. The Fels Napa can easily be replaced with a pink laundry bar soap from Mexico named Zoot, if memory serves me right. Check out any of the $ stores in both the cleaning & body care sections.

I used Fels because I was able to find it for a buck. Yes, I stocked up buying 12 bars.

Or if your really a hard core homesteader you could render your own lard (provided if was obtained cheap) and saved up a year's worth of wood ash to filter your own lye (storage & effort issues). File that effort under "Good to know in case".

I have a front load washing machine which after 4 years hasn't suffered from this old fashioned laundry detergent. I don't add any essential oil because well that would add to the cost which this time around works out to 3 cents per load. Also once the fabric softener is added can't say I can smell the essential oil.

On the subject of fabric softener - tired vinegar while it is great for a rinse cycle removing soap residue it isn't fabric softener. Softner takes on a whole new meaning when your machine spins like a jet engine & the clothes are line dried.

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap

2 cups Washing Soda

1 cup Borax
Cut up the Fels, combine with 2 cups water in saucepan heat until soap is melted. Add this to a 5 gallon pail with 4 gallons of warm water. Stir in dry ingredients until well mixed. 1/8 cup or less works for us in my front load washing machine.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Inventory

On the Winter chore list is taking stock of our homesteading activities by examining our efforts. Food for example. This category is further broken down into sub categories - cost, effective method of storage, and need vs. want.

Keeping a well stocked pantry is by far our most fugal method of saving both money and time. On average we spend about $100 per month for a family of 5. This includes eggs (organic from a fellow rural HT'er), raw milk $2.50 per gallon, paper products, personal care items, commercially caned foods like pineapple, sugar, honey, baking supplies, grains, peanut butter & meats. By putting up our food both grown & commercial when it is the cheapest we can get up to a 300% return on the dollar. Coffee & sugar are two examples. Bonus is few last minute unplanned grocery trips usually during a snowstorm (priceless).

Tip - each month buy a grocery store gift card $25 or less to be used for discounted & loss leader specials only. Easy way to budget funds. Keep card in with coupons and calculator.

Second most valuable aspect is that making food preservation a family affair teaches values such as charity, teamwork, thriftiness and skills such as food preservation and living without money. No matter if my children grow up to be the next Bill Gates I know that if given a bucket of dirt, seeds, and canning supplies they will always be able to survive. Can you say Enron or negative outcome of NAFTA ? Or our nation's recent recall on Beef supplied for school lunches?

As you can see by late February this corner of our pantry is disorganized. All the best laid plans of farmer & caner have been put asunder by many hands looking for this jar or that.

Here's a quick run down of what is there among the many empty jars; applesauce, canned carrots, chili beans, cider, corn, dehydrated celery, eggplant, grape juice, jams - carrot cake, strawberry-rhubarb, red current, mulberry, pickles - b&b, dill, pie fillings-apple, peach, green tomato mince meat, salsa, spinach, tomatoes - stewed, and vinegar both apple & white. There is also a few jars left of squash butter a jam type spread good on cornbread. Total filled jars is 267.

Oh tucked in the back corner are about 6 pints of canned butter. My attempt at long term preservation of real butter bough as a loss leader ($1 per lbs.) Now waiting on a soap recipe.

So from organizing the shelves I have discovered that the squash butter should be canned in jelly jars & less of it. That we need @ least 40 quarts of chili beans along with an extra 20 quarts of stewed toms. That canned eggplant & spinach is the bomb in veggie lasagna so need is 10 quarts each for the year. On the subject of pickles despite what DH says he can't eat 6 pints of dills in a year.

That I should can up 2 quarts of Bread & Butter pickles for Church potluck in addition to 6 pints for home use.

Totally under estimated need of canned green beans, sweet corn, peaches, and dehydrated green bell peppers. Also need to find another type of juice to can.

Will also experiment with canning up jelly jars of fruit for packing in lunches. This would replace the expense & hassle of keeping fresh fruit in stock.

Now to work out the planting & acquiring (bartering/foraging/gleaning) list which preserving inventory is based on.

The only meat that we raise is rabbit which hasn't translated into a large percentage yet. Our meals generally run around 50% to 95% of self produced ingredients.

Fall/Winter menu -

S- Pot Roast & pie.

M- Chicken soup & baking powder biscuits.

T- Veggie lasagna (homemade ricotta, black olives, dehydrated mushrooms, onions, garlic, canned eggplant & spinach, & tossed salad).

W- Beef Veggie Soup, homemade rye bread or Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, carrots & corn.

T- Puerto Rican Rice with chicken or Homemade Macaroni & Cheese with tossed salad.

F- Homemade Pizza, or Haddock Fish Fry.

S - Veggie Chili & rice, corn bread or German potato salad, sausage.

Alternate is always Spaghetti & tossed salad.

The shelves are those plastic ones that hold a thousand pounds easily wiped down with a bleach solution. The lines that are in a square pattern are nylon clothesline bought at the $ store. Since I have both young children & cats the homemade netting helps secure jars.

~~ pelenaka ~~

"As God is my witness I'll never go hungry again", Scarlett O'Hara.

No Payment Due

I'm SO mad I could cut my nose off to spite my face. SO mad I could take my axe & chop down the electric pole out in front of my house. SO mad well you get the picture.
Above is our electric bill with what would normally be a nice phrase & round figure to match. No payment due - $0.00.
Proof positive that that being the Wattage Warden pays off. That all the threats followed up by sheer terror works. That pulling plugs on electrical appliances pays off in no phantom current.
Bathing & meals by candlelight leaves change in my pocket. Outdoor garden lights have indoor applications , my ice box has true value ... blah blah blah.
Reason for my anger is that my two previous bills were way over estimated so I ended up with a credit. This bill was based on an actual reading hence the no payment due spiel.
This is why I am mad.
Mad because my power company won't recognize that we don't fit in their estimated graph pool that they base 9 billing periods a year on. Mad because when it is all said & done I have given them a source of cash flow to use without charging them interest.

Reason #2 I'm SO mad is that our actual useage cost $21.48 while the cost of delivery was $36.32.
Upside usage was 319 kWh down from 436kWh last year (34 days).
Wattage Warden powers on.
~~ Pelenaka ~~