A is for Apples

The first of many updates here on Thirtyfivebyninety Urban Homestead. 

I'll start alphabetically ... with the Apples trees my daughters and I planted in 2008. 

We were/are trying for the Espalier method which since I'm not French has grossly alluded me as you can see. We had planned to pune way back this year but it was a great season for Apples in New York State including city orchards, we just couldn't bring ourselves to saw.  

So we didn't. 

The small window dead center is the kitchen.

I got a big kick out of  first seeing Apple Blossoms then Apples growing outside my kitchen window. Reminded me of the character Ma Joad in the Grapes of Wrath, when she talked about oranges outside her window. 

Summer 2013 

Notice how shady the Apple trees and house are. I was very surprised we got a harvest @ all.

Winter 2008

Proof that you don't need feet of space to have an Apple Orchard - this bed is just a bit over 12" wide and almost 15' long.

An Apple for Snow White

Golden Russets

Golden Russets 

The 4 in 1 Apple tree produced half a bushel of Golden Russets. Disappointing no shows for the other 3 varieties but  never the less good with cheese.
Preservation method of choice - storing in the cellar for fresh eating this Winter.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Gone-Not-Gone-Winter

YNNBuffalo 

On Friday I was pedaling around my part of the city in what else - pedal pushers & a tank top, wind in my hair, smile on my face. Life was good, very good I had one paycheck in my pocket and only two days to go to my only day off for the week on my second job.
I even got a bit of a burn on my forearms.
Life was good as pedaled my way to the next neighborhood for my last shift of the day.

That was Friday.

Today we dug out the snow shovels that I had placed behind the garage just two days ago. Today we stood in the kitchen looking out the window @ the back yard ... speechless.
I have a pang of guilt in the pit of my stomach. If I hadn't put away the shovels that late unusually hot April Friday, this sleet/snow fall wouldn't be happening now.
I apologize.
I know better.
I have no idea what I was thinking. I wouldn't have taken down storm windows nor put up snow parkas in favor of light jackets & flip flops.
I am soo sorry!

There's nothing to say.
There's nothing to do.
Or is there ?

My area is slated to have under 10" much more than plastic tarps can fend off. The plan for the cold frames is to just go old school & scrape off the accumulated flakes. The fruit trees ... I plan to shake. Yeah just shake them. Shake the wet snow off so the branches won't be weighted down & snap.
No snapping allowed.

Woods has vowed to snap a pic of me standing sentry in our urban orchard shaking trees.

On the home front we have a bit of cured firewood for tonight & Monday night. If the grid goes down due to tree branches on power lines we also have the back up of a small heater powered by propane along with a small supply but I don't see us really needing it. Instead we can just have the wood stove lit for a few hours to heat soap stone bed warmers then turn in for the night.

If this were really the dead of Winter then we'd break out the two person tents to sleep in. It's easier to body heat a small tent than a whole bedroom.

We also have that old standby, a two burner Coleman Camping Stove for cooking and heating water for hot water bottles. Don't underestimate the benefits of curling up with even a small source of warmth when your cold. There's also our supply of oil lamps which we've been putting into practice as of late, along with flash lights & solar garden lights.

The majority of our food is shelf stable no need for refrigeration. What food items that are frozen would be pressure canned for long term shelf life on the Coleman Camp Stove.

We are to use a popular term, prepared ... for the most part minus the garden & orchard pretty well set for this coming Nor'easter that's headed our way.
Are you ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

Murphy's Law

Every Nightingale needs a lamp & coffee grinder 

If you have been a long time reader of my blog then you "heard" me mention how I try not to let the gods know I have dead presidents (federal tax return) least the hot water heater starts peeing like a drunk behind the dumpster of the corner club or the car needs a new battery.

Wait for it ... the car did need a new battery because of a short in the wiring. Woods fixed that but we lost the clock & radio.
No hardship there because in this pinch we just use my solar emergency weather radio  on the dash.

Next came a bearing job rod thingy followed by a wheel alignment followed by car insurance note. The money order went out to the great insurance fund in the sky. Our only chariot has been sitting idle in the driveway, transportation needs fulfilled by bicycle, shoe leather express, or carro de publica. No problema it's Spring and we need to burn off the Winter fat.

Then the mother of all creature comforts only overshadowed by indoor plumbing, broke.
In one tenth of a millisecond by the flip of a switch we lost power in roughly 70% of our house. One moment we were all sitting in my new old parlor watching the telly then we weren't. Woodrunner had gotten up to snag a snack from the kitchen and on flipping the switch set into motion yet another M. L. E. (Murphy's Law event) this Spring.

The second story of MOH (my old house) went black along with two of the first floor rooms; the living room & downstairs bedroom. NP, we are preppers we just pulled out some battery operated L.E.D. lanterns then ran an electrical cord to the t.v. Finished watching the movie because it was due back @ the library the next day. By the third day of no power we went old school pulling out Wood's oil lamps.
The upside is that none of the vital outlets that supply the Westinghouse or chest freezer were affected. Oh yeah wait for it ... $3 savings on the electrical bill so far.

So the plan for now is to take a chill pill yeah I wrote it, take a few to regroup. We're working the  bartering angle for electrical work. So far no takers.

No hurry.
We have heat & plenty of lamps; battery, solar, & oil.
Most importantly I have a means to grind & brew coffee.
I might even invite Mr. Murphy in for a cup.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Free Canning Jars - Blessings on the Curb

Bit of elbow grease makes for a new opportunity for food preservation. 

I scored 5 boxes of tall Ball Quilted Jelly Jars last week the day before my street was scheduled for trash pick up. The boxes were piled up in front of a neighbor's house along with glassware, books, and some clothing. Neighbor who I had only really waved to on my travels was purging her father's apartment contents due to his recent death. She was on her front porch taking a smoke so I was able to ask if she didn't mind me rummaging around the huge pile on the hell strip. That's when she told me he had died of complications due to diabetes.

I offered my condolences and thanks for the jars and for the first time we chatted a bit. She mentioned how she always saw me riding around the neighborhood. Then spoke about how much in the past she enjoyed riding. I gave her my card and told her to call sometime we could go for a ride. She didn't seem too enthusiastic perhaps when I drop off a few filled jelly jars I can nudge her to go for a short ride.
When your ready I told her as I pedaled away with the jars bungee corded to my bike rack. She gave a wave with the hand that held her Indian Pride cig and gently rocked on the porch swing.

Two of the 12 packs boxes were filled with what was peaches in heavy syrup and perhaps pureed pears.
No labeling but I wasn't planning on eating the contents anyways, it was all about the glass.

Two boxes worth went to my bbgf (barter buddy girlfriend) as an early Mother's Day gift. The other 3 twelve packs down to the cellar. I need to do some serious canning this year especially since I slacked off last year.

I get allot of stares when I haul cargo home on my bike, not so much when I'm just out & about. It always pays to have the means to carry stuffs on a bike. Being street level usually results in good opportunities and the chance to make new friends.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Free Firewood Isn't Free

Someone on a forum this past month reminded me that when I say we have free firewood it really isn't free. 

There's the cost of tools unless you inherited them. 

Maintenance on tools like axes, chain saws, manual cross cut saws, ect. 

There's also the tools that you need to preform the maintenance on your firewood making tools.

Add in gas & oil for a mechanical chain saw. 

Then of course there's the cost of traveling to the source & carting the wood back. Along with the cost of the equipment used to transport ... ect. ect. ect.

So no I wasn't being totally truthful when I post that we have free firewood but this is just about as good as it gets. 

Witness to the construction of a neighborhood.

Hundred year old Maple located in the hell strip was finally after eight years of complaining, pleading, and yes even cursing trimmed.

This tree is actually in front of my neighbor's home (to the left if looking out front door), but if it had split that trunk would have bounced off his home & landed in our driveway crushing our only horse or worse my front stoop.
I think the deciding factor for the city to have it trimmed was that my neighbor's home is in foreclosure.
Bank owned properties are as much of a hassle for local governments as they are for a neighborhood. Banks/mortgage companies can be very lazy about maintaining a property especially ones that they won't ever see any return on.

Race is on to get the logs cut & stacked out of view from the street.

For the cost of a few dozen cookies the tree trimmers were putty in my hands .... actually our driveway was closer then were they had their trucks street parked. If the tree had been Oak there be no way they would have let us glean but we're thankful for the Maple.

Legally I only own half of the drive but since notice of his impending eviction the neighbor has been agreeable to not using the area to park his truck (he has a second drive on the other side) when we've need the extra space.

Log rolled back this little piggy didn't run fast enough home. 

Sometimes you have to factor in a higher cost of keeping the home fire burning.
Thank you my husband you are a good man ... and patient.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Homestead Valentine Gift

In my younger days I always expected the more traditional Valentine's Day gifts from a beau. Roses, candy, a good meal more if it was a serious relationship. I was a different senorita then ... I wouldn't have appreciated the man I am married to now.

Soap Stone bed warmer with a metal spring handle,
Take me to Bed ... I Will Keep You Warm.

We ran across this soap stone bed warmer on our last trip to our favorite mercantile but @ the time I was way too short on cash to snatch it up. Woods, being the ever observant homesteader mate that he is later went back. Of course there was a reason why he was discouraging when I asked him to buy the stone then.

The stone is heated on a trivet on the stove just enough but not so hot that I can't handle it. Depending on whether I'm just chilling in the living room then I wrap the stone in a towel to rest my cold toes on.
Bedtime application - start @ the head of the bed lying the stone down on both top & bottom sheets but underneath blankets. Slowly make your way down to the foot of the bed. Wrap the stone in a thick towel & place it under all the covers with you.
Quickly climb into bed & enjoy.

Food Warmer - Heat to almost hot, place stone on a thickly folded towel placed on table. Place pot of food on stone to maintain warm temps.

Summer use - chill stone well, place on thickly folded towel on table. Place cold salads such as potato on top to help maintain cold temps. Or use in a cooler as an ice pack.

This technique could also be used for personal cooling comfort either placing a stone behind you in the small of your back or simply kicking off sandals & placing bare feet on a hot Summer day.


Thank you my husband I love my stone.




~~ pelenaka ~~

Almost a pound

Sink full - these are the tomatoes that were grown by the gf who had bartered pork for tomato seedlings last Spring.  Hodge podge of what was ready to pick that morning, including Cherokee Purple & Howard German. The third variety floating in the sink is a hybrid canning tomato she bought @ a local nursery. 

Her garden receives all day sun like no body's business.

I have garden envy. 

Proof is in on the scale a 12.8 oz. Howard German Canning Tomato.

Dry & meaty but a bit bland. I would mix this variety with a stronger tomato tasting one such as San Marzano when making pasta sauce. 

I am on one hand very proud that she has already put in her seedling order for next spring not to mention that her neighbors have all asked her where she bought her tomato plants. One, a little old Italian gentleman asked for a tomato so his friend could seed save. He apparently was a bit taken aback when he was told that the large horn shaped tomato wasn't an Italian canning tomato. 

On the other hand seeing one grown to this size makes me realize I need to come up with a better plan or quit gardening in my backyard.  

~~ pelenaka ~~

Pathetic

This years 1st harvest of canning tomatoes San Marzano out of our backyard garden.

Ended up picking a market basket full of those mini San Marzano tomatoes. I removed the skins by the boiling hot water method, then threw them in the crock pot with rosemary, basil, and sage from the garden along with a few sauteed carrots, eggplants, onions, and peppers.  Also added some dehydrated parsley from a barter deal a few years ago.  Bay leaf came from a houseplant I use to have way back when.  Original recipe called for red wine so I subbed water with a few beef bullion cubes instead. 

Ended up being enough for 3 for dinner & left overs for hubby's work lunch the next day.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Pot to Can in

The following blog post is 5th in a series of fugal home food preservation for the novice.

So you went got a bushel or two of something that needs to be put up like yesterday which you have been doing but it's going slow. Real slow because the pot you found or borrowed only holds 6 or 8 quart canning jars. Meanwhile the produce you bought is starting to show it's age and your tired of tripping over the ice chest that holds those damn xxx, is leaking all over the kitchen floor.

Here's one solution that I've personally tried  with good results and a few minor adjustments.

A galvanized laundry tub 11.5 gallon capacity. 

Holds 15 quart jars & 1 pint.

You'll have to build a rack for the jars to sit on while you water bath can. Easy real easy let me build one snap a pic & I'll post it. 

A lid which can be anything from a piece of sheet metal with a drawer handle bolted on, or a sturdy thick piece of cardboard covered with aluminium foil. 

The times that I have canned using my wash tub I've built a simple fire pit with cinder block & used an oven rack for the grate to hold the tub above the fire.

When the ice chest is empty wipe down the lid and use as a table top to pay out the hot dogs & smores that you can cook on the fire after your done canning. 

Years ago when my three children were young they would come out with an old plastic kiddie pool and place it near the fire, filling it with a few blankets & pillows. Then they would try to rig up an umbrella to make a tent while they waited for the canning to be done.  Excited to be camping out in the back yard with a campfire. Over the din of the water rolling to a boil I could hear them talking to each other about making their tent or sleeping in the garden. 

"Now Mom, now"?

"No soon, put down the hot dog stick before someone eye ends rolling into a canning jar".

Deep belly laughs followed by a chorus of eyeball eyeball eyeball ...

"Can I have a graham cracker Mom"?

"No there won't be enough for dessert ... put down the stick and the hot dog".

"Now Mom"?

"No soon, go find the mustard and bring out a pillow for me please. I want to go camping".

~~ pelenaka ~~

who never would have thought that she would one day miss those days of canning & kids in August in the our city backyard 

Making Green

Quick update on my efforts to generate a limited cash flow growing money.
If I'm just counting coin & not the barter goods I made from my plants then I made $32.
Sold $12 @ yard sale that I piggy backed on to which was held @ my gf's the coupon queen front yard. Her home is on a busy city corner so I was hoping to I'd get enough foot traffic to sell out.

Did enjoy hanging out, meeting new people in her neighborhood & catching up with fellow urbanites that I hadn't seen in a while. I also sat on her front porch playing online games for swagbucks        (free groceries) and perhaps got a referral by emailing one of the ladies who was shopping @ the yard sale. She was interested when I told her that I got free food of of Amazon and really perked up when I mentioned that Amazon also sells diapers. She was holding a 9 month old who was all boy.

Sold $20 worth of veggie plants to a gf which will go to buy rabbit feed. I think there might even be a Tractor Supply coupon/discount going on for 20%.
Every little bit helps as the price of feed has gone up this past year.

Here's what I spent for gardening 2011 - $9 for organic bone meal, and discounted French Marigolds. $3.25 for a pack of seeds (yeah I know pricey huh read my growing money post & u'll see why) and 3 big bags of potting soil which were $3.50 each ... Let say an even $25 and I still need to buy a another flat of marigolds for bug control.

Best case scenario is that I break even and start this years garden with a clean slate no debt.
That every tomato & green bean or cucumber is pure profit. 
But then again I'm already ahead if I count in the bartering (groceries) I got from bartering plants.

Thank you God, I'll stop complaining now.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Broke

Apparently the gods realized I have moolah because everything on the homestead is breaking.
It started a few days ago and is gaining speed.

1. My oven died. And of course one only realizes it when one is ready to bake - in this case a two loaves of rye bread (still have 1/2 pound of Easter ham) and a few pies.
2. I broke my lap top. don't ask I don't want to talk 'bout it. Suffice to say that apparently I can't fix everything. Hubby's net book has a virus that he can't fix so he's seeking professional help (we'll both be offline for a while). 
3. My bicycle has a flat.

I don't no which to cry over first.
My circa 1949 Hot Point or the fact that I won't have access to the world and all that wonderful knowledge. Or that there's no fresh baked rye bread.
Or that in about another month & half I'll be broke. That what is left of income tax money will after paying the car insurance, co-pay for daughters wisdom tooth extraction (she vetoed a home procedure), and the down payment for her orthodontics, the cushion that I've been using to keep the homestead afloat will be gone.
Time to be gainfully employed.

On the backside the other half of my Amazon order came - 12 jars of Fisher brand creamy peanut butter, 28 oz. each. Expiration date is 07/07/11 but according to that website I wrote about in my last post the peanut butter is good for another 2 years - 2013.
12 jars is pretty much a year's worth stocked for free via swagbucks
I'm looking at buying a bulk order powdered milk next. Followed by tuna, then hmm what else can't we produce nor live without ? Coffee, creamer, mayo ...what other shelf stable items would u buy with free money ?
Yeah say it with me ... canning lids.

Spent yesterday in the backyard potting up seedlings for both our use and my upcoming plant sale. I also hope to have enough for bartering opps. Just as I was washing up to get ready to pick Violets for jelly it rained again.
I won't complain because the few inches in my cellar is nothing to complain about when u think about all the flooding tasking place down south.
This weekend is suppose to be dry so besides doing laundry (clothes line) I'll be working outside.
I might have a line on permission to forage for plants on a few city lots.
I also need to cobble together a solar oven. I picked Rhubarb from the garden and coupled it with a can of crushed pineapple out of the pantry. Gonna try and bake a pie using solar.

Pray that I can pay the computer guy in pie err pray that I can build a decent solar oven so I can offer pies.
Geez I need a hankie.
Did I mention my bike has a flat ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

Yo Mama

This was my Mother's day gift from Woods, a deck of Wild Cards by Author Linda Runyon.
Picked them up @ a gun for $7 and I gotta say this gift made me pretty happy.
I've been wanting to learn more about identifying, preparing, and eating wild foods. While we have a few excellent books in our urban homestead library such as the Peterson Field Guides Edible Wild Plants, these handy dandy little deck of cards I'll actually use. There are laminated so I can touch them with dirty hands. Small enough to take with. Included was a chain so I won't misplace one or two or three of the playing cards.
One side has a picture of the plant, it's common name, & Latin name along with a more detailed drawing showing flower & leaf pattern. There's also a map that shows growing areas in North America.
The back of the card lists alias, cautions, edible as in which portion of the plant, characteristics, uses, and hints.
I also got a bouquet of pink roses for my kitchen table.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Ball Blue Book Giveaway

Cleaning out the cellar a week or so ago. As I move this box and that box, rearrange this crate & shove that crate over there I find these two new or nearly new canning utensils, a jar lifter and a funnel. No box just these two put inside an empty pot covered by a lid tucked behind an apple crate.
I really do need to either keep a running log of my canning supplies or simply stop buying "stuffs".

Finding these reminded me of when I first started canning and why.
I had just bought this old fixer upper the year before.
I had also just gotten divorced after 10 yeas of being married.
I had three young children under the age of six.
My grand total of monthly income with child support was just over $600. Thankfully at the time my mortgage was under $250 a month.
I was sitting on an elderly neighbor's porch talking about putting in a garden and freezing my harvest since I hads moved here with a small upright freezer.
The conversation turned toward home canning which I had done only once with my Abuela as a young girl. Pears from a tree she had planted. Had I ever considered canning my neighbor asked ? I was too embarresszed to admit that I couldn't afford the equipment.
Next thing I knew my neighbor was telling me to send the children to the corner deli for boxes that she had someting for me in her cellar I needed to go get.
She stood at the top of her basement steps yelling down to me to open the door to the root cellar and behind apple crates (which must be a given in Buffalo basements) stacked on shelves were canning jars. A good sixty or more.
She apologized for there not being more she had been a career woman so she only canned a few things. Nothing like her mother or aunts.
Are you sure ?
Yes oh please yes just fill them. Feed your babies.

Part of me wanted to be embarrassed. After all I was a nurse who if child care wasn't an issue could earn enough money to feed her children well. This was my shit hit the fan scenario.
As we hauled up the boxes of clinking mason jars past her she just keep saying how happy I had made her. How happy she was to know that these jars would be used.

I still have those jars ... Ball, Kerr, Atlas, Anchor Hocking, Opal, Perfect Mason, Strong Shoulder.
We still use the Squeezo she gifted us.
In our backyard. Just like she said her husband use to use it cranking away sitting on the picnic table smoking a Camel and sipping on a beer yelling to her to get the jars ready the tomatoes are coming.


Seriously, the first produce I ever canned by myself was applesauce from an apple tree located in front of the YWCA a few blocks away. I'll never forget the day I walked in and asked the receptionist if I could pick apples or her stunned reply when just as she was starting to say that those apples aren't edible she looked down and saw my three children each eating an apple.
I checked out a Ball Blue Book from the public library, and used a big stock pot borrowed from my church's kitchen.
I scored a small box of gnarly looking rings @ an estate sale and bought lids from a $ store.

Allot happened that first year.
I started a cleaning business were my clients understood that my children worked with me.
I eventually found decent affordable child care that my other two children could walk to from school which gave me an opportunity to work on call @ local nursing home.
I also learned to can applesauce.
Which we ate on cooked oatmeal.
Or baked with.
Or just plain eaten with a spoon an a bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top.
I filled those jars and feed my babies.



So yesterday I reach for my recipe binder and out pops this new Ball Blue Book of Canning 100th Anniversary Ed. that was gifted to me last Christmas. While I appreciate the sediment I already have a well worn edition of Ball's Big Book of Canning, along with Putting Food By & Stocking Up.

So in the spirit of my neighbor and dear friend who recently passed away I present my first ever give away.
If this offends u that the utensils aren't NIB or that I am re gifting a book that I admittedly thumbed through, well all I can say is that this must be the first blog post you have ever read written by me.
Let me introduce myself, I'm pelenaka, an ghetto Amish urban homesteader who is fugal.

Here's the bind - I really want to give this to a canning newbie, a novice. Hopefully someone who would really use the skills of home canning to make a difference in their home both financially and nutritionally. So I ask that if you already own a canning book & or canning utensils please don't enter.
I will also include a box of both regular and wide mouth lids to get you started. NIB I'm not that fugal.
All u have to do is hunt down those empty jars at yard sales, flea markets, or your grandmother's cellar.

That said, simply write me an email with the subject line "Ball Blue Book Giveaway" to enter. 
My email addy is located on the right hand side of my blog under give a shout out.
I'll write every one's name who enters on a slip of pink paper and  put them in a half gallon Ball canning jar then shake it up.
Winner will be picked by someone other than myself.
Not sure who yet but it's gotta be some buddy good.

Winner will be picked May 2nd by 9 p.m. Buffalo time a.k.a. EST.
You'll have 48 hours to return my notification email that your the winner with the address u want the package to be sent to.

In the event that I don't receive a reply back from the winner within 48 hours then another slip of pink paper will be drawn from the canning jar and I'll send them a notification email.
Please respond promptly canning season is sooner than you think.



~~ pelenaka ~~

 

More than a Jar

Recently pulled this out of my recipe binder and it reminded me of my early years of canning with my children, who are now all teenagers. And yes I got a bit nostalgic not that it was all calm & quiet as this picture.
Check out the children sitting at the kitchen table. There not overly happy to be sitting there but they are there, helping snap beans. Because after all putting food up in this instance is a family affair even in gender specific roles of 1940's.
Besides learning to can or at least food prep, these brothers are learning teamwork.
So did my children
They're learning the whole save for a rainy day theory. Put up while the putting good.
So did my children.
Family bonding.
K, corny but I can tell you that even my eighteen year old 6' son will ask me about my canning efforts, which leads him to asking me about the garden, which leads to us talking and sharing.

I can remember picking them up from the airport after their summer visit with Dad one year. As we pulled into the driveway I announced that I had bought them all something.
Really, what Mom?
Something you can use.
In unison - Sounds like socks Mom.
No it's a paring knife, one for each of you. I scored peaches at the farmers market. 3 bushels needed to be in jars yesterday.
Moaning, groaning, more moaning. We liked it better when you didn't let us use knives Mom.
Tell about your summer children. I missed you.


~~ pelenaka ~~

who still gets teary eyed thinking about the afternoon we all sat around a wash tub filled with ripe peaches in the backyard, the peach juice dripping down our arms as we talked and sliced in the late Summer sun.

Positive Reinforment

One method to keep me/us plugging along on my fugal lifestyle is to have frequent positive reinforcement. Sometimes it's as simple as writing on the lid of a can. Or box or bag.
This is a good method to also encourage family members to lend their hand @ pantry shopping. While my middle daughter would rather do the dishes for me so I have time to clip coupons or make a barter good, my last baby enjoys the actual shopping. It's nice to have that second person to cart watch or crawl around on the supermarket floor checking expiration dates.
Canned Tuna fish was a bonus buck buy (also on sale) @ CVS months ago.

Working on more long term food shortage goals past the normal 3 years that home canned food can be stored. In that category my main concern is meat. Hence the 38 cans of Tuna accumulated in the cellar.
Hope to catch a great deal on SPAM before my coupons expire. Who would have thought that something like canned potted meat would become soo expensive.

Woods was making me lunch, something soft that I could manage since I recently had dental surgery for the 2nd time.
I'm stalked by a dead beat Tooth Fairy.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Brass Monkey Cold

Today was the second day of warmer temperatures here on the urban homestead - it was 33 degrees and drab today. Tonight the real cold comes back to torment us.  

NP I'll take it sure beats our all time record setting low of -9 last week.

Snapped this pic of our freak'n Winter wonderland  while I was listening to my Christmas gift from Woodsrunner. It's an eton brand solar/hand cranked/battery powered radio/flash light/cell phone charger. Also will charge ipods. Great to get a quick weather update from NOAA.

Lite weight and very compact. Good since my car is a bicycle with baskets.

All that's left of our wood pile is 2 to 2 1/3 cords of wood. The 1/3 being hard Maple which gives more heat than what we have been calling Bass wood. Don't ask me what Bass wood is. It's a term that husband uses. All I know is that it is wood best burned in early Autumn or late Spring or during warm January days such as today when I'm wearing thermal underwear under my thick sweatpants.
It was free so that has to count for something. And we were by no means freezing.
When it was bitterly sub zero cold we also burned Oak pallets along with the Maple. Still it was diffacult to keep the house any warmer than 56 even with the stove blazing at those low temps. No wonder that this ballon framed built house orginally had 3 coal stoves.
So far to date the furnace has only been on for about 40 hours this heating season. The majority of that was durning those below zero nights to keep the cellar warm enough so the water pipes didn't freeze. As of now our natural gas bill has been $92 but that's without a proper meter read.
Electric bill was impressive in that we only used a bit over $12 worth of current for last month. However we paid out over $34 in service charges, taxes, tariffs, line charges, blah blah blah ...
Having the furnace running for those few nights reminded me that I so much prefer wood heat to forced air. It's true what they say, the flame warms you to the bones.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Worth Dying For?

Black Friday.
Neither hubby nor I went shopping.
I'm doing a no buy Christmas for the most part & hubby is well - he gets into shopping in a frugally morbid type way. I'll explain later lets just say he torments the gift recipient for weeks.
DD#2 rode her bike out to a strip mall with a coupon for 20% off and bought new sneakers with her own money. Pretty proud of her except for the fact that it was snowing, icy, & bitterly cold. Oh yeah and peeps were out acting like fools and there she was on her bike.
Couldn't wait until I could hook her up with a ride. So from now to the day these 'neakers bite the dust they will be known as to die for.
Speaking of to die for here's a clip from channel WIVB 4 Buffalo on a stampede @ Target. It's funny now because as far as has been reported no one was seriously injured. The one guy who has pain written all over his face managed to drag himself over to electronics to find a relative, then go to the ER where they T&R'd.
Yeah it's all fun & games til some one's crushed in the door way of a national discount chain.
No word on if he scored a t.v.

Cyber Monday - hope to score a deal on long johns for myself & the girls, along with a pair of Winter boots for me. Would also like to score a great deal on a Berkly Water Filter.

On a more important note - we were able to spend a very nice Thanksgiving @ my in laws. Brought my Mom who enjoyed meeting her favorite son in law's parents fro the first time. A nice touch was my MIL bought a few plantain bananas which she asked my mother to cook for us. Mom was more than happy to show off cooking up some platanos.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Tomato Hunting

After we went apple picking @ my brother's suburban backyard we headed downtown to the Rochester Public Market in search of deal on canning tomatoes. No deal to be had as the tomato harvest wasn't yet in full swing, but we did get a deal on bananas & peaches.

While there we partake of good food @ Juan & Maria's Empanada stand.

Unique food offerings for all tastes.

The other white meat - Rabbit. Health & Harmony Natural Foods stand was doing a brisk trade.

Really enjoyed getting to know the owner & his son. Bought a few pounds of Redmond Real Salt.

Community garden a few blocks from public market in the Marketview Heights neighborhood.

A great spot without shade. I have garden envy.

~~ pelenaka ~~
Good day spent with a good friend

As American as

When my Mommie saw this photo she remarked," Usted tiene un selector de América Apple ".

No Mommie I have a good friend who happens to be an American read white, that picks apples.

This is my brother's Apple tree next to his house in a very upper middle class neighborhood far far away from where I live.

I won't dell on the fact that he has a corner lot with an ungodly amount of Sunshine on a daily basis.

My brother grows mostly lawn and a few shrubs besides this fruit tree.

This will be the last harvest from this Granny Smith (?) tree. The inner core is rotten & as of last week a good sized limb broke off. It really isn't very stable. The Americana shouldn't be up there.

Later this fall hubby will stop by with his chainsaw and our daughters. I have a few years to convince my suburbanite brother to go in on a pig with me. Then we can smoke us some hams.

Between the two of us we picked about 7 bushels of organic Apples.

I keept about 4, bbgf got the rest since it was her ride that we used to go pick.

Thank you to the person who planted this tree in the early 1970's. I have enjoyed the last 4 harvests.

You have provided me with Mint Apple jelly, Apple Butter, Applesauce, Pie Filling, and have been a contributor to our homemade cider. I unlike my brother will miss you.

Prepping on my electric stove @ 0148 raining pitchforks & paino stools

It took myself & two daughters along with a hand cranked apple peeler to work up a bushel of apples into pie filling. 100% organic never been cared for apples have allot of blemishes that need to be cut out. I believe a bushel should give me over 15 quarts of pie filling. I'll know tomorrow after service when I plan to can this batch up. Used tapioca instead of clear gel or cornstarch.

Look like cocktail franks huh?

Nothing goes to waste. Apple cores are being dehydrated for rabbit treats later this Winter.

I plan on bartering my fresh baked Apple pies made with organic apples this Winter.

~~ pelenaka ~~ 

 

field to pantry shelf

I need to apologize to my BBFG. I doubted that there was an green beans in this field. That being said don't judge a newly harvested field from a car. Sometimes the goal is hidden in plain sight.



Learn the way grasshopper learn the way. Teaching a son to fish so to speak, age 3.

To the left is about 30 feet of green beans that weren't mechanically harvested due to low hanging tree branches on the neighboring playground. Prime picking. I was able to glean enough green beans to fill my 10 gallon bucket.

Scored canning lids for free thanks to Ball coupons and my local mega mart doing a one week dollar coupon doubling. Thanks also to a non canner bbgf who printed me off extra coupons. And a neighbor who gave me hers from the Sunday paper. 84 small mouth lids. Good deal down to my last 332 acquired from an eBay auction years back.

Gone are the days when Big Lots or Family Dollar priced American Harvest for just under a buck. Currently in my area selling for $1.50. Wally World going for close to $3.
Since I am canning using electric not wood despite the lids being free (remember after 9 years of canning all equipment has been paid off) I really don't know how much my 1949 Hotpoint stove pulls on the meter. For July kWh is $1.46. I figure between two pressure canner loads = 18 pints, prep, and what not I will have had the stove on for 3 hours.

Any takers out there on calculating a rough estimate for me ?

~~ pelenaka ~~