Working With Food

What To Do With Those Cherry Tomatoes

August 27, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

Every year I say, “I only need to plant 5 cherry tomato plants.” Only to turn around and end up with at least 10 plants and a million cherry tomatoes! I don’t know how these plants do it but they are machines when it comes to cranking out pounds and pounds of fruit. But come the end of July, I am drowning in them. So here is my favorite round up of cherry tomato recipes and other things we do to use them all up.

Before we get too far into this post, I wanted to give a suggestion about keeping a garden journal. A digital garden journal is a fantastic way to keep track of past, present and future gardens. Our Digital Garden Journal is a great way to keep up with everything without getting too overwhelmed.

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Even if you aren’t an amazing gardener, you can probably grow all of the cherry tomatoes you could ever want. Trust me. Every year I struggle with our tomatoes. We lose a lot to pest pressure and blossom end rot. Despite various different methods of treating both, we end up with very few tomatoes. I’ll never stop trying to grow them because when I finally get it right, it will be glorious.

Cherry Tomato Ideas

Fresh eating!

That’s the first and best way to use cherry tomatoes. Now, I’m not a big raw tomato lover. In fact, I can’t stand the taste of raw tomatoes. BUT the sweet million cherry tomato variety? It is my favorite and I can usually eat those raw without being grossed out. I much prefer doing something with those tomatoes. I usually make my own sauce, even with cherry tomatoes. It makes a really great sweet sauce.

This recipe for Marinated Cherry Tomatoes from Natasha’s Kitchen is great for hot weather snacking. My family doesn’t like big heavy meals when it’s hot out. So something like this is really great for us.

We eat a lot of pasta and sometimes the heavy tomato/pasta sauce is a bit much when you are wanting a quick lunch. This recipe from A Spicy Perspective is a great way to use up some cherry tomatoes and have a great quick lunch. Add some protein and you have a easy dinner too.

This Roasted Cherry Tomato Spread from A Salty Pot is another delicious option. You can spread it on crackers, salad or even a cold pasta salad.

Have you ever had Bruschetta? Get some crusty sourdough bread or Italian loaf and enjoy this Bruschetta recipe from The Sunshine Hustle. Here is another amazing snack, appetizer, or in my house, a meal.

Meal Prepping With Cherry Tomatoes

Most of the recipes above can be used in meal prep, whether it’s for lunches or dinners. Really, you could cook your cherry tomatoes with some eggs. Delicious.

But making up a couple of meals with these beauties and storing them for the week would use up a lot of these babies.

Preserving Cherry Tomatoes

After a couple handfuls of tomatoes, even the biggest tomato lover will be burned out on them. So another option is dehydrating. I love to dehydrate these guys for sundried tomatoes. I have a huge dehydrator that I can put several hundred in. Usually, you set your dehydrator to 145* to 155* and let them go until they are dry. This can take anywhere from 5-24hrs depending on your temps, humidity, and water content of the tomatoes.

Cherry tomatoes also freeze okay. But remember, when you thaw them out they are usually extremely mushy. This is due to the high water content in them.

My favorite method, second to dehydrating them, is to can them. This can be done either by keeping them whole or halving them. I prefer to pack the jars, fill with water to 1/2″ head space and then process for 40 min (pints) or 45 min (quarts).

Lastly, give it to your livestock. We grow extra plants of everything for two reasons. 1) if one plant fails, we need to have a back up. 2) if that plant doesn’t fail, we can feed it to the animals. My pigs pack on the pounds every summer.

Cut Back On Next Year’s Garden

If you are anything like me this is absolutely not going to happen. I am still going to plan for 5 cherry tomato plants and then start 15. That’s how it works. Because an overabundance is better than under.

But if you are consistently getting more than you can handle, look at cutting back on your numbers for next year. I hope this post helps you figure out what to do with all those maters. Just remember, there is a blessing in overabundance.

Easy, Cold Pasta Salad

August 20, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

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It’s the dog days of summer and getting a good lunch on the table is surprisingly difficult. At my house, lunch is usually covered by left overs. But over the last several days, the boys have eaten EVERYTHING in my fridge. So I had to dig deep to figure something out. So enter the easy, cold pasta salad.

What’s So Great About My Pasta Salad?

Well, it’s literally the easiest, laziest, and good pasta salad I’ve ever had. Now, as a rule, I don’t like pasta salad. I’ve tried so many different kinds and they are all pretty gross. Sometimes it’s a texture thing, other times it’s an ingredient issue, but it’s always nasty. But my easy, cold pasta salad is a pretty great treat when your hungry and it’s freaking hot outside.

Easily Sourced Ingredients

The only thing I put in my pasta salads are things that are easily found in my fridge, freezers, or cabinets. Sometimes, that makes for a very interesting lunch, but so far it’s worked pretty well. In fact, I have never gone to the store to get ingredients specifically for this. I’ve also never set out to specifically make this.

The caveat to that is that I always have shredded chicken, small steaks, and veggies in my freezer. I’ve also got some weird salad dressing that needs to be used up too.

Good Texture

I have a lot of sensory issues when it comes to texture, specifically with my food. I can usually get down a couple bites of scrambled eggs before I am gagging and can’t eat anymore. Which sucks, because I actually like eggs. But these sensory issues has created a lot of problems when it comes to trying new foods. Including pasta salads.

The reason I came up with this recipe is simply because I was hungry and didn’t want anything hot or heavy in the middle of summer. And let’s be real, a salad isn’t going to cut it right now.

My Easy, Cold Pasta Salad

The steps are incredibly easy and really, you don’t need a recipe. I like to experiment with recipes and cooking so rarely, if ever, do I have a solid plan in place. If you need a step by step recipe? I’m probably not your girl. But if you just need a foundation to create your own, I got you covered.

The Recipe

Are you ready for the easiest recipe you’ll read?

Boil pasta of your choice to your done-ness (I like al dente for pasta salad)
Prep your protein
Drain your pasta and run cold water over it
Add in your veggies or fruit
Add your salad dressing
Mix everything. Store in fridge if needed.

That’s it

Making Your Own Pasta Salad

The options are endless for making your own easy, cold pasta salad. You could put pretty much whatever you want into it. But I try to make sure it’s got a good protein (I prefer shredded chicken or small steak) and some frozen veggies to help cool everything off faster.

Combinations

Steak with frozen corn and peas with Caesar dressing
Shredded chicken with frozen strawberries and walnuts (or some nut) with a flavored baslamic
Mini shrimp with with bacon bits, peas and baby corn with oil and flavored vinegar
Crab with wanton strips and peppers and soy sauce

Try It And Let Me Know

I love making these different combinations and hope you do too! Let me know in the comments what you like to do with your easy, cold pasta salad!

Easy, Cold Pasta Salad

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Cook Time 20

Servings 4

Ingredients

1 box Noodles
2 cup vegetables or fruit
1.5 cup salad dressing
1/2 lb protien
1/4 cup cheese
Pinch Salt for pasta water
2 Tbsp Oil for pasta water

Instructions

Start your pasta water. Once at a boil, add noodles and cook till just done (al dente)
While your pasta is cooking, cook your protein if needed
When protein is done, place in freezer
Prep your veggies or fruit. The recipe that I am using above was with frozen veggies, so I didn't have to prep anything
When pasta is done, drain and then rinse with cold water for about 30 sec to 1 minute.
Add everything into a big bowl and mix with salad dressing of choice.
You can serve immediately or place in refrigerator.

Easy Meal Prep Ideas

August 13, 2023 by Leigh Leave a Comment

Everyone knows that you should meal prep, right? We know that it saves money, it’s healthier, and can save a ton of time. But the reality is that sometimes, it’s absolutely…. boring. Some people can’t stand the thought of eating the same thing over and over again. Others love the ease of meal prep but just don’t have the time. Or if you’re like me, you have 3 jobs, homeschool, homestead and run a blog. I absolutely LOVE left overs, but I just don’t have a lot of time to make 2-3 different meals a day for 4 people for 5-7 days. I just can’t do it. But I am going to start this series why I meal prep, how I save money, and the ease of doing it. So let’s get started with my easy meal prep ideas.

Why Should You Meal Prep

The better question is, why don’t you meal prep? Is it because of time constraints or money concerns? The thought of making a week’s worth of veggies sound like a terrible idea? Maybe you don’t know how?

But I’ve got you covered! The meals that I will be dropping over the next couple of weeks will not take any additional time and will save you money. Well, unless you use a more expensive ingredient. The recipes are easy to follow, make and reheat. I feed 3 growing boys (yes, the husband is included there) on these meals and I’m not stranger to a good meal either.

At the end of the day, you should meal prep because it’s easier than constantly try to make various meals every night for dinner. Or figure out what you are going to do for lunch for the next week. The dreaded question of what’s for dinner is finally answered!

My Meal Prep

Well, first let me disclose my definition of meal prep…. it’s left overs. That’s it. But there is a lot more to it than that. First, when I make my meal plan (which you can see in our members only area), I look at the entire family’s schedule. For example, in July I worked about 100 hours a week between my three jobs. August wasn’t much better. Jared was working on my greenhouse and I didn’t want him to have to try to figure out what to do for dinner. So when I made my meal plans, I made sure that when I worked a 48 hour shift, I had plenty of left overs. Or when it was Jared’s turn to cook dinner, he had plenty of left overs to choose from. Or the random days that the boys were home alone for a few hours, they had virtually whatever they wanted.

Sign up below to receive access to multiple freebies. Look for an email with the password and instructions to access our members only area.

How I Meal Prep

Above I said I make a meal plan after looking at the schedules. But the easy part is that I double or triple the recipe. Yup, when I make tacos, I double the recipe so I can have tacos, nachos, or burritos. When I need to use up some eggs? I make a huge batch of my breakfast scramble. Then I end up with breakfast burritos or breakfast bowls.

Tools For Meal Prep

Containers

You can use whatever containers you want. Really, there is no wrong container to use. Well, if you use paper, they aren’t going to last long. But glass or plastic are good choices. I personally use these, these and these. When I meal prep, I am putting up anywhere from 2-20 meals. So glass isn’t an affordable option for me. However, one really good option is mason jars with plastic lids.

Labels

When you are meal prepping you want to know when you cooked something and what it is. Sometimes, it’s just not easy to tell what something is in a container. Or when you cooked that batch of rice. I like these labels because they have been pretty easy to use and remove. These are dissolvable which I like.

Misc. Items

I would recommend having huge stock pots whenever possible. When you are trying to mix up a batch of spaghetti in a small pot? Disaster. I have these in 22Qt and 20qt (I have 2 of these).

Also, grab an instapot. I have used it to cook a frozen chuck roast that are fall of the bone tender in just a couple hours. I’ve also made huge batches of beans, rice, etc. It’s a very handy little gadget.

Easy Meal Prep Ideas

I am currently working on the recipes for you guys. But like most of us that are looking to start meal prepping, I am insanely busy. I am working on the spaghetti first and will keep them coming as the weeks progress. But I wanted to give you ideas to get you started with your own meals that you already cook at home.

Kitchen Journal

Also, I highly recommend getting a kitchen journal. The reason is because you will find that something you make doesn’t freeze well. Or you find that you don’t like the taste of second day pasta. Or a certain recipe is fantastic when it is tripled. It’s better to write it down than forget it. Your journal doesn’t have to be anything crazy, I use these bullet journals for everything.

Make A List

I know you are probably hoping for some recipes. But before I start dropping those recipes, I want you to think about your own meals that you make. Do any of them taste good reheated? Write those down. Then I want you to think about your standard sides that you make every week. Write those down too. Things like pasta, rice, mixed veggies, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, etc. How many of those can you make ahead? Then I want you to think about any combinations that you can put together. Once you have made your list, we are going to start brainstorming various ways to use it.

Combining For Easy Meal Prep Ideas

To give you some examples, my meal plan will look something like this:

Breakfast

S: Sausage, bacon, eggs, biscuits

M: Breakfast Bowl

T: Breakfast Burrito

W: Breakfast Bowl

Th: Breakfast Burrito

F: Breakfast Bowl

S: Slow Cooker French toast

Lunch

S: Pasta Salad

M: Steak with noodles

T: Steak sandwiches

W: Shredded chicken with rice and mixed veggies

Th: Steak Nachos

F: Spaghetti

S: mac n cheese with shredded chicken

Dinner

S: Steak with rice and mixed vegies

M: Spaghetti with garlic bread

T: Whole Chicken with noodles and mixed veggies

W: Tacos with Spanish rice and beans

Th: Pork chops with rice and mac n cheese

F: Homemade Pizza

S: Chicken Veggie Soup

Now before you get overwhelmed, because I KNOW it’s a lot, start with your dinners first. What are you going to have for the week? Once that is figured out, you can try to figure out what you want to do with your left overs. Or you can purposefully make extras so you can have them later.

Explaining My Easy Meal Prep Ideas

For example, on Sunday pasta salad is for lunch. Look at all the times you have pasta for the week. The answer is 8 times. While that may seem like a lot, and it kind of is, you are looking at 21 meals for the week. If you make rotini noodles like these, you can make all of your pasta at once. This is where that kitchen journal will come in handy. I know that one box of pasta is enough for lunch for our family. Also, I know that one box of pasta is enough for a side for my family. So by the time everything is all said and done, I only need 4 boxes of pasta for 7 meals and I need 2 or 3 for spaghetti night.

But you’re not going to add any sauce or seasoning to this pasta. Instead, you are going to make all of your boxes (except for the spaghetti night) and then toss the pasta with oil, and separate into containers. So if you used 5 boxes of pasta, you’ll use 5 bowls. Same with your rice.

Let’s check out meats next. I have steak 4 times on the menu. I talked about cow sharing here, and that’s the only reason I can afford to have steak as often as we do. But if you don’t cow share, this one may be a little more difficult. When I cook steak for the family, I usually do the “good” steak; ribeye, sirloin, etc. But when you are cooking in batches, a flank steak or round is just as good for steak nachos, or steak sandwiches.

Finally, Saturday night we are having chicken veggie soup. But the more accurate term would be a Brunswick stew. You know, the stew that puts everything but the kitchen sink in it? This soup is the end of the week, left overs are going to the pigs meal. Any unseasoned rice, no sauced pasta, meats, veggies, etc is getting added into this pot. And it is freaking amazing….90% of the time. Sometimes, it’s not very good and we just plan for a hodge podge meal of whatever is left over. The meal plan above would be a good hodge podge or stew. The combinations we have come up with over the years is unusual. Steak nachos with mac n cheese for example.

But What About Breakfast

Really, any meal that you can put in a crock pot is a winner at this house. For breakfast, I will usually start them in the evening before bed so it’s hot and ready in the morning. I have a tiny crock pot I reserve for this. I’ve done breakfast scrambles, french toast, oatmeal, etc and the all time favorite tends to be the scramble.

But usually what I do is pick a time where I am going to be off for at least 6 hours. Then I make 5# of bacon, 5doz scrambled eggs, 5# of southern style hashbrowns, 3# of sausage, and 3# of diced/ chunked ham. I cut the bacon to bite sized bits and cook everything separately. Then I get these bowls and assemble. It’s a ton of work. But it will literally feed us for months.

These bowls do great in the freezer and I pull out enough for Jared and I to take to work, as well as a couple extra for the boys. It’s a lot of work on the front end, but man does it save time in the mornings.

The Easy Part Of Easy Meal Prep Ideas

You don’t have to have entire boards on Pinterest to have easy meal prep ideas. Instead, look at what you are already making and see if you can make a little extra for lunch for a couple days. It doesn’t have to be Insta-worthy. It just has to feed you, save some money and be healthy.

I will keep posting recipes under this tag and category as well as on my other social media, which you can find below.

How To Can Dried Peas

December 5, 2022 by Leigh Leave a Comment

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I combed the internet looking for how to can dried peas and came up with very little. Most posts where about canning beans with a little footnote about canning peas. Below I’m going to walk you through the step by step process of how to take those little dried marbles and turn them into a shelf stable jar of deliciousness that saves me a ton of time.

Why Not Buy Canned Peas At The Store?

The short answer is because it’s expensive. A single can of good quality peas is easily $1.50 by me, but I’m cheap and the store brand is usually about $.60. When I buy food, I buy a lot in one shot. So by the time all is said and done, I’ve spent about $15 to $36 on 24 15oz cans of peas. Is that a lot? No. But I feel better knowing that the only thing in my jar of peas is peas.

The other part is that whole dried peas are a ton cheaper as well. I can buy a 10# of whole split peas for $15. Plus, if they are kept “right” they can last for a long time on the shelf just like they are. If I don’t want to can 10# of peas in one go, I can put them in a mylar bag with some oxygen absorbers and store it.

The reason I choose to can dried peas is because dried peas take a LONG time to cook. I have zero desire to stand in my kitchen that long so I go ahead and can them.

How To Can Dried Peas?

This recipe is the one I came up with a couple years ago and just followed the guidelines for beans. If you are a strict follower of the Ball Bible? Maybe not follow this recipe. I found Ball’s recipe produces very mushy peas that did not hold well. Since I don’t mind breaking the rules and this recipe is mine, you take on all risks associated with following it. I’ve never had a problem in all the years I’ve canned like this, but I can’t guarantee your kitchen or skills.

This method of canning peas is called dry canning. I’m not really sure why because when you dry can potatoes, you don’t add any liquid, on this one you do. I think the difference between the two is that when you are done, your peas should have soaked up most of the water.

You can find all the supplies you need on this blog post.

Step 1:

You should always be in the practice of soaking your peas or beans. This helps get all the dirt and debris off your peas and that was in the bag. However, I’ve never soaked peas or beans because there has never been a problem. I do rinse them though.

Step 2:

If you have soaked your peas, GENTLY, scoop your peas with either a cup (for quarts) or half cup measuring cup (for pints) and put them in your mason jar. If you haven’t soaked them, you don’t have to be as careful but I wouldn’t be overly rough either. Also, I suggest wide mouth but whatever works for you. At this point you can add salt if you wish, we don’t. 1 teaspoon for quarts 1/2 teaspoon for pints.

Step 3:

I work in batches, so I only fill however many jars my canner will hold. Also, I only can peas in pint jars. I don’t have a lot of use for a quart of peas. So I will fill 10 jars with peas, then fill the rest with water leaving 1″ head space. This allows for expansion of the pea.

Step 4:

Fill your canner with the recommended water amount. My Presto 23-Qt with 3 quarts of water but be sure to check your manufacture recommendations. Then add your filled jars to the canner.

Step 5:

Bring your canner up to pressure by using your manufacture recommendations. I will usually fill my canner with 3 qts of hot water and put the burner on high. Then as my canner is reaching temperature, I will fill my jars with hot water. After about 5 minutes I will secure the lid. 10 minutes after that I add my weight. I process for meat times 90 minutes for quarts and 75 minutes for pints. For my altitude I use a 15# weight.

Step 6: When you are done processing your jars, let the canner naturally depressurize. This can take a long time but don’t rush it! Once it’s depressurized, you can use your jar grabber and take your jars out to cool on a towel. Make sure to label!

That’s really it!

Pressure Canning Dried Peas

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Equipment

1 Pressure Canner
2 Cases Pint Jars
Basic Canning Supplies

Ingredients

5 Lbs Whole Peas
Salt if desired

Instructions

Rinse peas and disguard any rocks, bugs, etc that may be in the bag. I've never had this problem so to be fair, I don't usually rinse.
Scoop 1 cup of peas into a quart jar or 1/2 cup into a pint jar
Fill the rest of the way with water, making sure to leave 1" headspace
Optional! Add 1 teaspoon for quart or 1/2 teaspoon for pint
Fill your pressure canner with water to manufacture recommended level
Add jars to canner
Process for 90 minutes for quarts or 75 minutes for pints
Allow canner to completely depressurize before opening
Once depressurized, pull out jars and place on a towel until you hear the beautiful *ping*
If any jars fail to seal, refrigerate and use within 4 days.
Be sure to label your jars!

Keyword canning, peas

2023: Infrastructure And Self Reliance

October 26, 2022 by Leigh Leave a Comment

When Jared and I sat down to go over our infrastructure for 2023; the projects, plans, and goals, we really wanted to get us to a place were the projects were done. That way we could focus our finances in other areas. Now, we all know that projects on the homestead are never truly done. But if we can get some of these bigger projects out of the way? We will be well on our way to self reliance and that is huge.

What Does Self Reliance Look Like To Us

The best way to set up goals is to ask yourself some questions. Like WHY do you want to be self reliant? What does self reliance look like to you? How are you going to become self reliant? These questions will have answers, but more often than not, they lead to more questions. But to give you our starting off point, we see self reliance as a way to decrease spending, reduce off farm hours, and create a eco-system here on the farm.

The more we become self reliant, the less we will spend at the feed and grocery store. The less money we spend at the grocery and feed store, the quicker we can pay off the farm and any debt we have. The quicker we pay off our debts, the more we can reduce off farm hours. If we can create an eco-system where our garden and land feed our livestock, and we can harvest our garden and livestock. Then we will be back to reducing our need for the feed and grocery store.

This symbiotic relationship with our land and livestock are paramount in not only becoming self reliant, but being good stewards to our land and shepherds to our herds.

Setting Up Our Infrastructure

As I’m sure you can tell, Self Reliance is the keyword for our lives for the next few years. It is the cornerstone of every single thing we are doing and planning. So we are starting the first year with infrastructure. I talked in depth about what infrastructure is in this blog post. But the point of that post was to get you to think about your own infrastructure and what that means for your homestead.

When it comes to our homestead, we are really trying to focus on self reliance. Keeping in mind that the 3 big dreams are spending less money, reducing off farm hours, and creating an eco-system are the most important things. We created our infrastructure list and plans around that.

The goal of 2023 is to set up the homestead with those three big dreams in mind. For example: we have made the hard decision that if we can’t sell our bucklings, they will become meat goats. We’ve also made the decision that we will no longer buy chickens because we like the way they look, or how many eggs they lay. All chickens will be a meat variety instead of dual purpose. The gardens are going to go be overhauled into a “bulk garden” and a “kitchen” garden. We are going to start working on water movement so that we are no longer laying hoses throughout the property to get water to animals and gardens.

Meat

Then there’s closing the holes in our food security. One of the things we decided was to focus on heritage breeds. While they take more time to mature, they are more efficient with what they eat. We recently purchased 2 American Guinea Hogs so that we can stop relying on other farms for our pork. We are also going to be purchasing several Bourbon Red turkeys to further reduce our dependance on the grocery store or other farms.

The caveat to these animals is that we are also only going to buy animals that can work as well. One of the things that we learned at the HOA conference in Virginia, was that the animals should work for you too. Pasture rotation is a thing we knew about, but when listening to the lectures, we learned about what pigs can do for revitalizing the soil.

Gardens

Our gardens are going to look very different then they did last year. We are going to bring the pigs and chickens into our side yard and allow them to root, scratch and poop on that area and will turn it into another garden. That garden will hold all of our squash, cucumber, melon, herbs, etc. Then we will turn our old garden into the “bulk” garden for corn, tomatoes, peppers and food for the animals.

We are making lists of what we buy at the grocery store and of that, what can we grow? One of the things we can grow to spend less money growing cumin. We use a TON of cumin and at $20 a container, that’s a lot of money every year. It’s the same thing with lettuces. We feed our bearded dragons mustard, turnip, collard greens. At $4 a bag, and we by 4 bags a month? That’s a huge savings if we grow those things ourselves. Not to mention, that the pigs will eat the excess turnips.

Animals

We already discussed the hogs, turkeys and chickens. But to go a little more in depth, every single animal on our homestead is going to have a purpose. And if they require additional feed that the farm can’t produce? That is something we need to look at or they aren’t going to stay long. This has led to some hard decisions when it comes to our personal animals.

We aren’t going to just get rid of them. But this thought process has shown us the amount of money spent on the dogs, cats, dragons and snakes for pleasure, hurts our bottom line of spending less. That means 1) no new animal will be brought to the homestead unless it serves a purpose and the farm can sustain it. And 2) has made us really look into how we can feed animals alternatively without affecting their health.

Another point with the animals is keeping around animals that are not producing. The animal lover in me struggles with the idea of just butchering an animal because it is no longer useful. But the homesteader in me says, but that’s their job. It’s very conflicting and confusing.

Permaculture And Self Reliance

This word has been rattling around my head for the better part of a month. One of the things we have been talking about pre-conference was that while we could afford our $600/mo feed bill, we didn’t want to. After the conference, we realized that we could grow most of the food our animals need without having to use as much feed. This lead us to the idea of permaculture.

The plan, and resulting infrastructure, is that we are going to use electric netting to rotate the pigs and chickens throughout the property. We’ve had a lot of predator problems with our chickens and we are hoping that by giving them a safe space, with electrified netting, this will keep the predators down. For the pigs, we are planning on giving them a large space to root and poop in hopes that they will break the soil and allow the good things to get into the soil. After they have worked the soil in that area, we will move them to the next area and let them continue through the property.

While I love my compost, and we will always have and use it, the idea of schlepping wheelbarrows up hill and all over the property is not my idea of a good time. BUT I can take bedding waste, wasted hay, and other compostables and just put it in where the chickens are. They can spread it around and the soil can break it down there.

Another part of permaculture is instead of ripping out gardens when they are done, we can put the pigs, chickens or goats in there and let them “rip out” the garden. This will reduce our work load, feed them, and put them to work. That seems like a win to me.

Bringing Self Reliance Into The House

While at the HOA conference, we were told that the house is not as important as the land. I, wholeheartedly, disagree. While the personal how’s and why’s of that is not important, what is important is that having a safe, secure, and comfortable home, is just as important as the land. And yes, part of it is vanity on my end. While I don’t want the best of the best and need designer things. I do need my home to be safe, secure, and comfortable.

We have to update our electrical panel, breakers, and some wiring. We need to take down some trees that would absolutely demolish our home if they fell. Then there’s the fire safety aspect of putting in tile accents in front of the fire place. We have to paint the exterior of our home because cedar siding will be damaged if it is not taken care of property. Oh, and our back deck is about to fall of the house. So while yes, the land is important so is the house.

I understand what these other homesteaders were talking about in regards to making sure that the land is the priority. But at the same time, so is the home. I know that they don’t mean, “Don’t worry about the electrical panel! You need to put pasture rotation into effect first.” But at the same time, me being comfortable in my home is equally as important as the land. And to be honest, we can do both.

The Food Storage Room

One of the other ways we are going to work on our self reliance is to finish up our food storage room. While most will call this a pantry, it’s going to be much more than that. In this storage room, we will have all of our canned goods, garden harvests, coffees, etc. It will also have a dehumidifier and vents on a thermometer to help control the temperatures. It will be insulated and have a door to keep animals out. We will also be storing our crockpots, stock pots, and other larger kitchen appliances in there so that we can reduce the amount of space they take up in the kitchen.

So I will be working on making the house comfortable for my family, while Jared is out there cutting down trees and replacing the electrical panel. I may even help him paint the house.

What Is Your Self Reliance Infrastructure

At the end of the day, you have to do what is right for your family, your land and your animals. It’s not about them or me. It’s about you and what you are trying to accomplish with your life. I hope this post has opened your eyes to what you want to do with your homestead.

The Homestead Holiday Gift Guide

October 2, 2022 by Leigh 1 Comment

The holidays are coming and with that comes the desire to get those that matter to us gifts that are meaningful and useful. If you are living on a homestead, or have relatives that do, this list is packed full of great ideas to help you get the most bang for your buck. While also get something that they will love. Some of the things on this list are things that are on our own holiday wish list. Others are things that we have already bought and absolutely love. This homestead holiday gift guide is sure to have something for your homesteader.

If you are a homesteader, and your family doesn’t know what to get you for the holidays? Share this with them. Or, if you are going to a holiday party and need a hostess gift? Check out the $0-$50 section below. It’s got a ton of great ideas.

Homestead Holiday Gift Guide

I have broken this guide up into price points because that’s important. No one wants to find the perfect gift and realize it’s outside of their price range. Also this entire post is filled with affiliate links. Buying from these links doesn’t charge you any extra but it does allow us to make some extra money for the farm. You can read more about our affiliate disclosure by clicking the link.

But First Some Housekeeping

The holiday season is a time for giving. As the giver, you are giving someone a gift that you thought they would like or that made you think of them. And friends? That is amazing. As the recipient, it is an awesome feeling when someone hands you a gift and says, “This made me think of you.” But also as a recipient, I don’t want you to waste your money on me. I would rather you donate that money to a good cause like animal rescue, save the bees, or really anything where the money actually goes to the cause.

Sometimes though, the gift giver simply wants to give you a gift. And if you are getting a gift for a homesteader, you may be a little lost on what to get them. You know they don’t want anything, but you are bound and determined to get them something. Most homesteaders would love to receive a gift that works on the farm. So let’s talk about homestead holiday gifts.

$0-$100 Gifts

First and foremost, GIFT CARDS. I can not stress this enough. I know, it seems like such an impersonal gift. But it is seriously the BEST gift I could receive and I know a lot of other people feel the same. I hate wasting money and when people buy things that I can’t use, it bothers me. Not because I’m spoiled, although that is true too. It’s because that person spent their hard earned money on things that won’t get use, can’t be returned, etc. So seriously consider gift cards to places like Home Depot, Tractor Supply and Amazon.

Digital Prints, Digital Art Work, or Printables– I have several different digital photography prints in my Etsy store and they are a huge hit. Unlike regular artwork, these are digital and can be printed at any size you want. These make fantastic hostess gifts, too. You will usually find prints for less than $10 and it doesn’t cost more than a few more dollars to have them printed at Walmart, Target, Sams, etc.

Ask About Their Amazon Wish List– Almost anyone that regularly shops on Amazon has at least one wish list. I have 10. But ask them for a link to their wish list so you can be sure to get something that they will love.

Donations– Every year there is that one person that you have absolutely no idea what to get them. I’ve got a family full of them. Instead of getting them a present that is going to hang out in the garage for the next 5 years, you know who you are, make a donation to their favorite charity. Get them a card, explain what you did, and put the receipt in the card.

Books– If your homesteader is a bookworm then I’ve got the list for you!

Homesteading

Cookbooks

Animals

Gear- Whether it’s stuff for butchering, milking, or building having extra gear is amazing. Gift cards would be amazing for this stuff as well because you may not know the difference between hoof trimmers to get, or which power tools they need batteries for. But I will tell you this, getting me gear so I can do my chores better? Score.

Sharp Things

Tools

Miscellaneous

Cast Iron, the good kind from antique stores.
Boots are always a plus
Coveralls! Seriously.

Seeds!!!!!!!! This would probably be better as a gift card, but I don’t know many homesteaders that will turn down packets of seeds. Tomatoes are usually pretty safe. Cucumbers are too if they have livestock. But check and see what they grow. and then check out Territorial Seed Company or Eden Brothers.

Plants- Territorial Seed has some great plants including coffee plants! Etsy is also another great place to get edible plants so consider berry bushes, grape vines, etc.

$100-$250 Gifts

You had better be pretty good to get something off this list. While I know I haven’t been super good, if my family is reading this? I would like this milker please!

Greenhouse– There are some greenhouses that will come in under $250 that are great for seed starts or house plants that are too big to come inside. If you know they are short on space, a greenhouse may be a great option.

Pressure Canners– I will never say no to an additional canner. I’ve been saving up for this canner, but just having another one is a time saver for me. The All American 931 can hold 19 quart jars and is a double stack. When I’m hip deep in canning season, this helps a lot. The Presto is a great canner and you can usually only get 7 quart jars in there.

Camp stove- Along the same lines as a pressure canner, having additional burners would be amazing. Not to mention not heating up the house. This camp stove has been on my list for a while and I’m hoping to get one before next canning season.

Bench Grinder– You have no idea how quickly sharp things get dull on the homestead. Having a good bench grinder is a great gift to give. Jared is able to sharpen all the knives, scissors, shovels, axes, and more with ours.

$250+ Gifts

If you’ve got a from scratch chef that has made you some amazing meals, check out this Kitchen Aid Mixer. Yes, it’s pricey but well worth the money spent, especially if that means you are going to get some awesome home cooking from it. This one is on my wish list as well

Got a homesteader that has goats? Or other hooved creatures? Hoof Boss is definitely a time and back saver. When we have to trim hooves, it takes hours. It’s hard on the back and trying to wrangle all the goats? Well, they’re lucky they’re cute.

Chainsaws– Now, this one will need a little bit of research, but an extra chainsaw is always great to have around. Not to mention the chains, sharpening equipment, etc.

At The End Of The Day

Your homesteader will love whatever gift you give them, we are grateful like that. But if you want to give them something that they will use, or need, check out some of the offerings on the homestead holiday gift guide. Or better yet, ask them what they want or need. I’m sure they would be ecstatic to receive something they need.

Homestead Infrastructure

September 10, 2022 by Leigh 5 Comments

Over the last several weeks, Jared and I have been going through our budget and project list for 2023. We decided that this year, we were really going to focus on the infrastructure of the homestead. I knew we couldn’t be the only one, so I wanted to put together a post on homestead infrastructure and what it means.

If you are just starting in your homestead journey, I have the deal for you! In The Homestead Bundle you will receive our Hay Calculator, Profit Calculator, Digital and Printable Garden Journal, The Backyard Homestead eBook, the Simple Budget, Schedule F worksheet, and Herd Health Sheets. That’s a $55 value for $39.99!

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Every homestead is different, so every infrastructure plan is going to be different. But I wanted to go through our list of homestead infrastructure with you so that you can get some ideas on what you want to do with your own homestead infrastructure and why. If you have your own ideas, please list them in the comments below!

What Is Homestead Infrastructure

The first thing we need to do is define infrastructure: “the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.”(Dictonary.com).

But what does that mean for a homestead? We aren’t necessarily operating as a society, community or enterprise. We are also not necessarily building roads, grids, or buildings on a large scale. But that doesn’t mean that the same idea doesn’t work.

When I talk about homestead infrastructure, I’m talking about barns, sheds, and other outbuildings. I’m also talking about fencing, pastures and gardens. It comes inside the house in the form of canning, storage, freezers, and energy efficiency. As your coming up with ideas on what your infrastructure will be, think about all the things in your local community.

Grocery stores= garden, fruit trees, canning

Milk, cheese, butter, eggs and meat= cows, pigs, goats, chickens

Roads= Trails or walk ways to barns, livestock pens, gardens, etc

Grids like water, electric, gas= wells, solar, firewood

Schools, community center, grocery store= home

By setting up your own infrastructure, you are going to prepare yourself, family and homestead for future success. Also remember, if you can’t do something like build a barn or put in an acre garden, that’s okay too. Just work on the things you can do.

Why Infrastructure Is Important

When you are setting up your homestead, it is incredibly easy to get overwhelmed with the things you want to do or think you should do. I wrote a couple blog posts about setting goals, mistakes we’ve made, and things we have learned, but the biggest take away is that you need to know what you want, and how to get there.

Infrastructure on your homestead is so easily overlooked because you think you’re doing it with every project you do. But if you really stop and think about it, are you actually setting up something that is going to last for years to come, or are you simply reacting to the things you think you should be doing?

For example:

We bought goats on an impulse. Then as we bought more goats and as winter was barreling down on us, we decided to build a goat barn. They say hindsight is 20/20, and they are right. That first barn kind of works but is also kind of a disaster. Does it keep them dry? Sorta. Does it keep them warm? Yes. Will it keep predators out? Uh, maybe?

The barn is built right in a rain run off area. When we built it, we had no idea. But now it’s becoming an issue with all the summer rains we have gotten. The entire thing has about 2 inches of muck building up the sides, there are leaks in the roof and the “ventilation” we thought was a great idea? Not so much.

That being said, the infrastructure we put in? Isn’t working. That’s okay-ish. It’s a learning experience. But it’s also expensive.

Had we planned our infrastructure better it would save us money, time and a ton of frustration. That’s why it’s so important. But the learning part? That’s important, too.

Setting Up Your Homestead Infrastructure

For the planners, this is the best step. If you’re a do-er, find yourself a planner. I say that because I am a planner and I have about a million lists floating around for different projects and plans. In fact, I have a “hard copy” of my Pinterest in a 3″ binder. Jared is a do-er. He has zero desire to plan and that is just fine.

Our list of infrastructure is five pages typed and while yours doesn’t have to be that long, it does need to be that thorough. What does it need to have on it? Check out the example below:

Project: Goat Barn

Dimensions or Specs: Current: 8×13, Increase to 12×16. Current “milking area” will turn into a weaning pen and new milk parlor and kidding space created. Door from inner barn to milking area to avoid having to haul goats outside to be milked. Inner barn area will be increase to 8×10 minimum. Storage area in kidding/milking area for milking supplies. Bedding racks to get them off the ground. Gutters to IBC’s to help with water.

Resources On Hand: current barn will be torn apart, bleached/cleaned and painted. Materials that are reusable will be reused.

Resources Needed: t1-11, studs, paint, new hardware, more roofing, plywood or similar for bedding racks, screws, concrete pavers to get wood off the ground and possibly gravel in barn and in dry lot that will be created around the barn

Plan of Action: Jared and I will build a couple new goat shacks so the girls can have a place to go for the days that their barn will be moved. Barn will be torn down, cleaned and painted. New area for barn will be cleared and leveled. Water run off trenches will be “installed” to divert water from barn. Pavers placed and walls built. Interior built and painted. Pavers for milking area. Gravel, if decided, will go into inner barn, weaning area and dry lot.

Estimated cost: $1000

Sign up for our newsletter below and get access to our project planner worksheet. It’s a much easier template you can print out and start planning your own infrastructure. If you’re already a member click this link

Homestead Infrastructure Ideas

Below are just a few of the things on our infrastructure list and each one has it’s own Project Planning Worksheet in my binder

IBC’s for firewood and water
Fencing for new livestock
Meat animals
Fence in Upper Garden
Goat Barn

Firewood/wood lot
Energy Efficiency
Yard hydrants
Solar panels
Generator
Hay Barn

Outdoor kitchen/ butchering area
Erosion control
Food Storage Room
Well Bladder
Attic Gables

Before you get overwhelmed, remember, this is MY entire 2023 focus. Paralysis by analysis is a thing and you don’t need to get overwhelmed. Make a list and see what you can do. See what it’s going to take for you to do those things. Then get to work.

How To Can Corn

August 27, 2022 by Leigh Leave a Comment

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Whether you got a great deal at the grocery or your garden has exploded, learning what you can do with surplus corn is great. There are so many uses for corn; feed for livestock, food for people, dry it for popcorn or dry it for corn meal. The options when it comes to corn are endless. But today, I want to show you how to can corn.

What do you need?

Corn- We had approximately 120 ears of corn and it didn’t take us long to get it all processed. It also yielded us 32 quart jars

A Pressure Canner– we have two of these that run pretty much non stop since they only hold 7qts each

Canning Tools

Jars– Pints or quarts will work

Either a corn de-cobber like this or a knife and a bunt pan

Salt is optional. We don’t use it but if you want to, make sure you have enough salt for the amount of corn you have

Don’t forget to add these items to your Walmart cart and have them do the shopping for you! It saves time and a ton of money.

Shucking Your Corn

120 ears of corn is a lot and I absolutely despise shucking corn. I will snap green beans until my fingers fall off, but shucking corn? No thank you. This is usually Jared’s job because he really enjoys it. It’s his version of green beans. If I had two bushels of green beans to go through, and he had two five dozen bags of corn? We would be in heaven. We both turn our brains off and let the beauty of our homestead take over.

After he shucked all the corn, he put it into our huge cooler filled with water. The husks and silks go to the chickens and compost for the garden. I guess we could have given it to the goats but they weren’t interested in the husks.

De-Cobbing Your Corn

There’s a million ways to skin a cat, and getting kernels off a corn cob is no different. We have tried a ton of different gadgets over the years. To be honest, the best one we have found is a knife. Those gadgets may work for a specific size of cob, or only once. The knife is going to work 100% of the time. So if you want to “waste” your money, any of those linked will work…. maybe.

We use a knife and bunt pan or just a knife and a cookie sheet. Nothing fancy. The downside of using this method is that it can dull your blades because you are constantly smacking the knife into the metal. But I like sharpening my knives so that’s not a deal breaker.

As you are getting all those delicious kernels off your cobs, keep in mind that the corn milk will spray EVERYWHERE. Don’t keep open drinks, electronics or anything that shouldn’t get wet anywhere near where you are working. Oh, and it’s extremely sticky.

As we de-cob the corn, we put all the kernels in a smaller clean cooler filled with clean water. This starts the soaking process.

After the corn has soaked for thirty minutes to one hour we will either change the water and let it soak again or we will go ahead and get it into jars. The reason we would resoak is if the water was completely white. If you don’t want to soak, don’t mind the milk, etc. Don’t soak or resoak. It won’t hurt anything.

Prepping For Canning

Once your kernels have soaked, it’s time to get them into jars. The first step to this is to make sure your jars are clean with no chips, cracks, dings, or dents. Usually, I just give them a quick wash and let them dry while I’m getting my canner ready.

I have two Presto 16qt canners and they hold seven quart jars. So when I can corn, it’s a multi day process. I also have a three burner camp stove that I can on to help keep the heat down in the house. I’m hoping to get one of these bad boys soon, but at $500 it’s a little steep right now. The trade off is the ability to stack quart jars in it.

Getting my canner ready simply means making sure that the canner is safe to operate per my manuals instructions. Mine uses 3qts of water and once that’s in, I put it on the camp stove to get it boiling.

Back to the kernels, I start draining/straining out the kernels from the water and adding them to my jars. Once filled to a 1″ headspace, I add fresh water, wipe the rim with a damp vinegar rag and place the lid and ring. Remember only fingertip tight. That means you should only use your finger tips to tighten the ring, not your bicep.

They go into the canner as they are ready. Once my canner is filled and the water is ALMOST boiling, I will put the lid on and lock it. I usually let me canner vent for 5-10 minutes depending on how full it is. Meaning, if it’s filled with pints, I usually go 10 and quarts 5. But follow your canners instructions. Place your weight and wait for your weight to jiggle or rock. Then slowly start to lower the stove temp until the weight is barely moving. We don’t want the weight to blast off into space.

Corn is processed at 55 minutes for pints and 85 minutes for quarts at 10# but if your elevation is over 1000 feet, go with 15#.

I also have a quick reference guide that you can download get in my members only section. Sign up below and you will be emailed the password.

It’s Done Processing, Now What?

Depending on your set up, you can just turn the burner off and let the canner depressurize naturally. Or if you have a camp stove and the other side is in use, you can CAREFULLY move the canner somewhere it can cool down. When I say careful, I mean be friggin careful! Seriously, no one needs to have their face melted off because the weight moved. If you’re using your stove at home, do not slide it. Pick it up. If you can’t pick it up. Just don’t even touch it. Seriously, it’s not worth the risk.

After the canner has cooled and the pressure valve has dropped, you can crack the lid and allow some heat to escape. I usually weight 10-20 minutes and then remove the lid completely. Once the contents have stopped boiling, I will unload the canner and place all the jars on a toweled surface.

That’s it!

It’s not hard to can corn at home. And it definitely beats store bought every day. But I’m sure you have some questions. So…..

How many ears fit into a quart or pint jar? It takes approximately 4 ears of corn per quart or two per pint.

Do you use salt? We don’t, but that’s only because we choose to season our food when we cook it.

Is there a zero waste method? Sure, you can boil down the cobs and make corn cob jelly. You can also drink the milk. Our zero waste method is to give it all to the animals. They love it.

What if I don’t like canned corn? You can absolutely freeze it instead. Just layer a cookie sheet with parchment paper and do a single layer of corn. Once frozen, put into a freezer bag.

What if I have extra jars but not a full canner? You can put them in the fridge for immediate eating or you can freeze them. Another option is to can water. This will give you sterile water in case of emergencies.

What if I don’t have coolers? Or a big cooler? Work in batches. If we know that each jar takes approximately 2-4 depending on the jar, then only do a full canner full at a time, and store the rest in the fridge. You can also use a clean sink.

Canning Corn on the Cob

This is the fastest and easiest way to can corn on the cob

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Equipment

1 Pressure Canner
1 Canning Tools
1 Jars Look in the post above for the rough conversions on how many jars you will need

Ingredients

1 Corn on the cob
1 Tbsp Per Quart jar Optional

Instructions

Start by shucking your corn and getting as many of the little hairs off.
Grab either your de-cobber or knife and start cutting the corn off the cob. This can be tricky so watch your fingers.
Place corn in clean water to help get the milk out. You may have to rinse and repeat if your corn was really milky
Using funnel, scoop corn into jars leaving 1" headspace
Fill with water again, leaving 1" headspace.
Remove any bubbles with chopsticks, straw, or other debubbling tool
Wipe rim with damp vinegar towel.
Add lid and ring and put into canner
Fill canner with water to manufacture recommendation. Ours is 3 quarts
Set it on the stove and get the water heating, we usually put ours on high as we are loading it
Once the canner is loaded, place your lid per manufacture instructions.
We let our canner vent for 5-10 minutes then place the weight on the vent pipe.
Once the weight starts rocking, slowly decrease the stove temp until the weight is just barely rocking.
Let this process for 85min for quarts and 55 for pints
Once the time is done, remove from heat and let the canner cool and depressurize naturally. This usually takes about 30-45min depending on processing time
Once the canner is safe to open, remove lid and, if the contents of your jar are not obviously boiling, pull the jars out with the jar grabby thing and place on a towel to cool completely
Remove rings and wash threads. Corn is extremely sticky so the rings may be hard to remove. Not doing so can lead to mold, rust and rotten food.
Wash the threads of your jar (where the rings were) with warm soapy water. Write the date and store

How To Make Kombucha

August 8, 2022 by Leigh Leave a Comment

I did a whole post about how to bring back your kombucha. But I realized, I never did a post about starting booch in the first place! There are a million articles, blog posts and more about making kombucha but I wanted to tell you how I do it and the products I use to make kombucha.

I almost exclusively use Cultures For Health for all of my culture needs and Farmhouse Teas for our second batch needs. We do collect a commission from links at absolutely no cost to you. This helps us keep our blog and homestead up and running. You can read more that part here. Back to CFH and FHT.

The reason is because they are pretty much a one stop shop when it comes to all thing fermented or cultured. That being said, this post is heavily linked with their products but also products that we use on our homestead. Feel free to click through the links to find what you need.

Shopping List:

Vessel– I use one very similar to this one but mine is a thrift store find. You can absolutely use something smaller but make sure it is glass.

SCOBY– I bought mine from CFH. I have enjoyed their other cultures and have been very happy with their SCOBY and other cultures.

First Ferment Tea- This is where it gets a little tricky. While I love CFH, I prefer the Three Sisters Black tea blend from FHT. I’ve tried other tea blends and they’re okay, but I really like this tea for my base blend.

Second Ferment Teas- For my second ferment, I really like the Strawberry Mojitio and the Mango from FHT. Those are specific to their kombucha teas. BUT they also have some great teas that work with a second ferment. The first is their iced tea blends. If you like iced tea then you can make it on its own, but I don’t. I prefer to do a second ferment with it instead. The other is using their herbal teas. They have so many different fruity flavors that really make your booch delicious.

Bottles- I really like old GT kombucha bottles, but it can get confusing when I end up having to buy some and can’t remember which is which. So I also get these swing top or Grolsch bottles. I use these swing tops for everything from booch, tea, lemonade or creamers.

Make it

Pulled from Bringing Back Your Booch from here

First, brew your new sweet tea. I like my tea a little stronger and sweeter so I use 6 teaspoons of half black/ half green tea. While I have a kettle going for water, I add a cold brew filter to a wide mouth, half gallon mason jar and add my tea to the filter. Once the water is boiling, I pour over the filter and let it sit for about 10 minutes or until I remember I have it steeping. I could set a timer, but I usually don’t remember I even have one.

***** Very important! Use dechlorinated water!!!!! If you are on city water or are unsure if you have chlorinated water, use bottled spring water or leave a gallon of water out on the counter for 24 hours. If you use chlorinated water you will kill all the good bacteria we are trying to grow!******

While the tea is steeping I add about a quart of cold water to my vessel. I also use ice to get the water nice and cold so that I can keep the process to a minimum time wise. I use a vessel very similar to this, but mine is a thrift store find. The biggest thing to remember is that any spigot that you use will get clogged with debris from the SCOBY so make sure you are cleaning it whenever you make a new batch of booch. Rinse REALLY well because we do want GOOD bacteria to grow, not the bad kind.

Once the tea is done steeping, I remove the filter and compost the tea. Then I stir in about 1 1/4 cup of plain sugar into the mason jar with the tea. I stir until the sugar is almost completely dissolved. Then I add the tea to the vessel and add about another 2.5-3 quarts of cold water. I usually just use the half gallon mason jar so I can get any tea or sugar that is left behind. Before adding your SCOBY and starter tea, make sure that none of it is more than about 70*. If it is, add more ice or cold water if necessary to hit that 70*. A little colder is fine, too hot and it will cook your SCOBY and probably kill it.

Once your sweet tea is cool and in the vessel, add your starter and then finally your SCOBY. It’s worth repeating though, you don’t want to add your starter or SCOBY to tea that is too warm because it will kill your SCOBY. Anything over 75* will start to cook the good bacteria and yeast that makes up your SCOBY.

This is all called your first brew. This takes the longest time but gives you just under a gallon of booch for pennies compared to the store.

I love kombucha. As a former soda addict, it gives me the fizziness and flavor from soda without having all those harsh chemicals.

Goat Milk Coffee Creamer

August 6, 2022 by Leigh 8 Comments

Jump to Recipe

When life hands you lemons, you are supposed to make lemonade. Well, I did that yesterday. Today, well today there was a mishap in the freezer. Instead of letting it get the best of me, I decided to get a project done that I have been meaning to do, but never had the time…. Today was the day I was going to make a batch of goat milk coffee creamer, whether I wanted to or not.

Before we get too far into this, I have a great course on the basics of goat care. I call it Goat Crash Course: Goat 101. In this course, I explain things like types of shelter, types of feeds and hays, basic assessments and so much more! Check it out!

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They say you shouldn’t cry over spilled milk

I don’t know who “They” are but I almost cried today when I went to put up two half gallon mason jars of goat milk. When I looked in our freezer, I saw that two jars had burst and I felt tangible pain. I started checking over my other jars and sure enough twelve half gallon mason jars were broken. I had a decision to make, either leave them in there and deal with each jar as we pulled them out to use it. Or fix it now while I had the chance. I’m not one to kick the can down the road, so I grabbed a milk crate and brought all twelve jars upstairs.

Finally after almost six hours, I finally had all of the milk melted, jars thrown away, and all twelve jars triple strained. I wanted to cry every time I found a glass shard, but this is precious milk. This is the only milk I can drink without stomach issues and when we have to help bottle feed, this is the milk we use. Not to mention, the only way I can get more is by breeding goats, and then waiting six months.

After everything was all said and done, I had managed to salvage all the milk except a few drops, only to run out of freezer bags. **facepalm** This is my life.

Now, I am not 100% sure what caused the jar failure. I have frozen mason jars for years and never had an issue. If I had to guess, I would say either a head space problem or half gallon mason jars shouldn’t be frozen. It doesn’t really matter since I won’t do it again, but it would be nice to know for the future.

Anyways, the whole point is I have one and a half gallons of goat milk that I need to do something with. I could refreeze them, and I may still. But right now, I am making coffee creamer. I may even try my hand at making cheese so stay tuned.

How to make Goat Milk Coffee Creamer

I’m going to start this with saying this, you do NOT need goat milk to make your own creamer. Any milk will work. However, since I have goats and gut issues, I use goat milk.

Using a 1:1 ratio whisk your milk and condensed milk into a thick bottomed sauce pot. You can make your own condensed milk by adding about 2/3c sugar to 2c of milk. Stir until sugar is dissolved and then let simmer for about 30 minutes without stirring on low heat.

Allow it to heat for a few minutes to mix really well. If you are going to use any flavorings now is the time to add them. I’ll go over my flavorings below.

Pour into your creamer vessel, I use these if it’s going in the fridge, or old creamer containers if going into the freezer.

Allow to cool. Then store in either fridge or freezer.

That’s it! You don’t have to be some wizard to make creamer. If you don’t like “Foo Foo” creamer, just whisk your milk an condensed milk together. Done.

When you are ready to drink it, make sure to shake really well first.

Peppermint Mocha on the Left and Cinnamon Cake on the right

Flavorings

All flavorings are based on a quart, so adjust your recipe as needed. Also start with small amounts and then add more if you want. It’s harder to take away than to add more.

Peppermint Mocha

1T cocoa powder 1t peppermint extract (be careful with peppermint extract, it tends to taste very oily)

Cinnamon Cake

1T cinnamon, 1t butter extract, 1t cake batter flavoring

Banana Nut Bread

1t cinnamon, 1t butter extract, 1t cake batter flavoring, 1t maple syrup flavor, 1t banana flavor

Pumpkin Spice

1T Pumpkin spice flavor on this one, you can add additional cinnamon or cake batter to give it a more cake-y taste but test it first with just the pumpkin and see how you like it.

While I’m still mad about the jars breaking, I am glad that I was able to finally get around to making creamer for us. I just hate that it had to be like that. Oh, well.

Goat Milk Coffee Creamer

5 from 3 votes

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Cook Time 5

Servings 1 Quart

Equipment

1 Thick bottomed pot
1 Spatula
1 Whisk
1 Quart Container

Ingredients

14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
14 Oz Milk
Flavorings

Instructions

Pour milk into thick bottomed pot and start heating on low
Stir in condensed milk
Add any flavorings you want
Whisk together until combined. If using powdered flavorings this could take a while. Let sit for a few minutes and then whisk again. Repeat until most or all of the flavoring is dissolved
Add to quart container and allow to cool before refrigerating

Notes

You can absolutely freeze this if you have a freezer safe container.

Keyword Coffee Creamer

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