kitchen

Remodeling Our Laundry Room

August 18, 2022 by Leigh 8 Comments

Hold on to your butts, this is a long posts.

Not everything on the homestead is about livestock, gardens and canning. Sometimes it’s about what is inside your home too. When we bought the house, we really didn’t care that the walls were wood paneled. Nor did we care that we would have to replace the floors. Those different upgrades that we were going to have to do was not a problem. We bought it for the land. Unfortunately, the house still does need to be updated and brought into this century, let alone this decade. So I decided to remodel our laundry room. To make it more of a challenge for less than $700.

Why The Laundry Room?
Final Takeaways For A Laundry Room Remodel

Why The Laundry Room?

Well, simply put it’s the most hated room in our house, bar none. No one likes doing laundry. But since I hate it the least, it’s “my” chore. Which is fine because that means that the dishes go to someone else. Score.

But it was hard to find the urge to get in there and do the laundry, or even clean the space. It was drab and was just not nice to look at. The worst part was, no matter how many times I cleaned it, it always stunk.

I could have started anywhere in the house, but this seemed to be the most manageable. Plus, if we screwed something up, it was a small space. It had the least amount of the things we hated the most (paneling) and seemed like a quick remodel would be, well, quick. There was no way to know how wrong I was.

Before the laundry remodel could start, I had to at least think about that I wanted it to look like. The first thing I did, was figure out all the things we hated about the room.

The Things We Hated:

Paneling
Lack of storage
Open shelves
Chewed and clawed up door jam
Popcorn ceilings
Lighting
No place to fold or store laundry while finishing the other laundry.

Then I figured out what I wanted it to look like. There were two things that needed to happen in that room, the paneling gone and more storage. Anything past that was fair game. So I started working on designing what I wanted.

Our house is not very big and that is just fine with us. But the downside is that we have to get very creative with storage options. I have found that putting in cabinets has helped a ton. Almost every single remodel or design idea has tons of shelves, cabinets and other storage ideas.

Where To Start: Paneling

Before we jump into the rest of this post, let me tell you something about paneling and trying to cover it. This is not for the feint of heart. Nor is it for someone not willing to work. Like most construction projects, it’s dirty, dusty, and there is a ton of heavy lifting. Don’t let any of the videos or other posts lie to you and tell you, “I just covered the crack in the paneling and painted”. That’s not what they did, trust me.

Back to the laundry room.

Once we got the majority of everything out of the laundry room, I decided to start with the wood paneling. While others may love shiplap, I hate it. So I started looking into how to cover up the cracks in the paneling and found that caulk is a good choice. Let me tell you, it’s not.

After twelve bottles of caulking, we weren’t even half way done. It also didn’t fill the cracks well. Once it dried, there would be an indent in the middle of the crack. So that failed.

When talking to a couple of friends who do construction, they suggested using drywall putty or mud. That worked a lot better, and was a ton cheaper so we went with that. But the problem we were still having was that, once dried, the crack was still noticeable.

The indent that doesn’t want to be covered

After three to four coats with the drywall mud, the crack was barely noticeable and ready to sand.

Let me tell you this, before you start sanding, make sure that you have a respirator like this one and great airflow in the room you’ll be working in. I used sheets and blankets to block off the doorway so that we could keep the dust to a minimum and it definitely helped. But the clean up was enormous.

Next: Ceiling and Electrical

Next we started working on removing the popcorn ceiling. For this job, it may have been better just to leave it. But popcorn ceilings are a close second in my hatred book. To remove popcorn ceiling you need two things, a spray bottle with water and a drywall knife similar to this, and the size doesn’t matter. You can buy a popcorn scraper but we found that it gouged the ceiling more and was harder to work with.

Then you are going to soak the ceiling with water using some sort of sprayer, we used this one. Once it’s saturated, and yes you need to soak it, you can start working to scrape the ceiling. I will tell you it is extremely satisfying to do it. I don’t know why. Once you’re done, you can sand any rough spots.

Another option for the ceiling is to just sand it if you have an electric sander. After doing the scraper, I liked this method the most because it is a one and done. I also didn’t have to worry as much about gouging the ceiling when I sanded. Plus, I was already sanding the walls so two birds, one stone.

After the ceiling was done, dry and painted, it was time to tackle the nipple lights. I don’t know what they’re actually called but they look like nipples, sorry. It was also time to start pulling the black outlets and switches and replacing them with white ones.

Cue problem #93480382 of this remodel. The electrical was done to 1980s code, so it was pretty much a fire hazard. And since our house is all wood, it would have gone up like a matchbox. After cleaning out forty years of dust, bugs and debris out of the switch boxes, we were able to replace the switches. Only to find out, everything was backwards. Since Jared is amazing, he was able to get in there and help me get everything switched out. I love that man.

Once we got the new light fixture installed, we were ready to tackle the paint.

Painting Over Wood Paneling

Now, before we jump into painting, you need to know something about wood paneling. Much like painting previously painted wood, you need to sand your paneling. If you don’t, the paint won’t stick. We took our sander around the room and hit every single wall. Then we washed the walls with warm soapy water. We wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to have another problem, which of course we did.

I used Kilz Primer, because the previous owners had cats and I’m pretty sure the litter box was in the laundry room. So it stunk. After I hit the walls, ceiling, baseboards and door jams, you could still see the wood paneling AND the cracks.

We did four coats of primer and you could still see the orange through the paint. I was not happy. Mind you at this point, I still hadn’t picked a color for the walls. But after seeing that we would need a darker color to help hide the wood? Gray it is.

Storage

I’m not a decorator, but seeing everything start to come together is my favorite part. There were a lot of phone calls and text messages sent to my family and friends because I am absolutely clueless when it comes to this stuff. The two things I knew that I wanted was it to feel clean, even if it wasn’t, and to have a ton of storage.

Previously, when it was time to do laundry, we had a storage rack like this. It worked okay, but it was temporary because we lived in a rental. When we moved into this house, we couldn’t really use it. It blocked access to the attic and didn’t fit between the basement door and the dryer. So anytime we had to go into the attic, we had to unload this thing and move it out of the way.

So I started measuring. I figured that I could put cabinets and shelves over the washer and dryer. I decided that I wanted to use cabinets and industrial pipe rod to fold our clothes. Here come the kitchen cabinets. The unfinished cabinets are much cheaper and are usually in stock at the stores.

I also grabbed a couple of decking boards to use as the tops and used a propane torch to burn them. To attach the boards to the cabinets, I used 1in corner brackets. Then, I found my stash of cabinet pulls and finished it off.

When we were placing the wall cabinets, we decided to use a French cleat system and it worked pretty well except, you could see where the top cleats where too low and too wide. This resulted in having to get a word art sign that could hide it.

Then came the shelves. We bought 1x10x10 boards and these shelf brackets. I really love these brackets! I’m not a fan of the normal shelf brackets because they look cheap to me. While these brackets were more expensive, I think it looks more finished.

The final touch of this remodel, was adding different storage containers for laundry detergent, bleach, etc. I didn’t want to just leave them in their packaging because, well it’s not nice to look at. While that may not bother some, I do want my home to look a little more put together.

Today, my laundry room looks like this and I couldn’t be happier with it.

Final Takeaways For A Laundry Room Remodel

–Drywall Tape -Next time we will be using drywall tape to help cover the cracks in the paneling better.

-Lighting- bright white light bulbs will help keep the room looking bigger instead of the more orange-y/ yellow-y bulbs.

– Use drop cloths to protect your floors if you will not be replacing them

– Give yourself at least an inch when measuring for cabinets. We ended up having to cram that smaller cabinet between the washer and dryer. The good news is that now my washer can’t walk out when it’s unbalanced.

-You don’t have to buy every decoration when you hit the final stage. You can, but I liked being able to find things as I liked them instead of switching things out and wasting money.

I know this was a long post. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking around. While this laundry room remodel took a couple of months and is still not quite done, it has been great. We have lived in rentals our entire marriage and it’s nice to be able to work together and make this home ours.

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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.

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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 planned to or not.

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 fresh 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 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 for 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.

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

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

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Cook Time 5 mins

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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Our Homestead Buying Guide

August 4, 2022 by Leigh Leave a Comment

I’ve been getting asked a lot, “Where do you buy x?” So I figured I would take the time to list out where we buy the stuff for our goats, chickens, canning, seeds, garden stuff, and other odds and ends that we have used and really like. This is a VERY link heavy post, so here is our affiliate disclosure again. It doesn’t cost you a penny, but it does help us here on the homestead. The other thing is that I am not going to push you to buy anything that we have not already bought, tested and liked/loved. You don’t need that and to be honest, that’s not who I am. Here is the Homestead Buying Guide.

PS: if you don’t have a Honey account, or you shop online a ton, I highly suggest you download it. You can use my code here. They are great because it can automatically search for coupon codes and you earn cash back on purchases. I’ve earned $300 in the last year. It’s worth the minimal effort. AND you can add items to your honey list which will tell you when prices have dropped or if it’s at the lowest price.

Goats:

You can read any of my posts involving my goats here.

We get most of our goat gear from Tractor Supply. Their prices can be higher than a local feed store on some things but cheaper on others. For example; my local feed store has alfalfa pellets for $17.99/ 50# bag. Tractor supply has theirs for $19.29 as of 7/31/22.

Buckets– We get these for feed, water, and so many other things. They are really useful.

Troughs- We use two different kinds. This one is the one we hang on the fence at different points to give them feed, alfalfa, or whatever else. We use this one for portability or if we are hanging a temporary feeder in a kidding pen for them.

Balling Gun– This helps us get pills down into the goats without having to worry about getting bitten. Yes, that happens a lot.

Hoof Trimmers- We’ve bought two of these, and I’m a fan of this one. It just seems sturdier and I like it better. BUT this one from TSC is fine too. It’s not that I don’t like it per se, I just prefer the orange one. If you’ve got some money to spend, I would HIGHLY suggest the Hoof Boss. I’ve seen it used and it does a fantastic job. It is on our wish list of things to buy.

Meds- Now, I’m going to say this. We treat a lot of aliments on our homestead here. But we also have an amazing vet that we can call any time… almost. But having a few meds on hand is going to save you a ton of heartache. Meds to get from a vet: Thiamine and Banamine. Things to have on hand that you can get from a feed store: Red Cell, Probiotics, LA200, Tylan 200, Safeguard or Cydectin (or your choice of dewormer), electrolytes, Iron, B-complex, and Copper Wire Bolus. On the copper wire, make sure you get kids or adults based on what you have.

Chickens

You can read about how we brood chickens here. The list below is just links to the items we have bought.

Incubator- We use this one and have had great success with it. The only thing I don’t like is the size. I wish it were bigger but beggar and choosers.

Brooder lights- We have used CHE’s like this one, but it can cause the chickens to attack other chickens. So a red light and housing is what you really need. We also use pine shavings for bedding for both the goats and the chickens.

Feed- When we have chicks, we start them on a medicated feed. This helps with cocci and other harmful organisms. Remember, you really only need a week or two worth of this feed. What we do is feed approximately 1#/ chick. If you have two chicks, you would need 2#, if you have 50 you need 50#. This is not perfect, it’s really a guess. When we do our meat chickens, we buy one bag of chick start and that’s it.

Feeders/waterers- We use this feeder when they are little, and this one when they are bigger. However! If you’ve got some money to spend or you are only interested in buying one thing, this is the feeder you need. I love it! AND we can hang it, which really does decrease the mess. It also works fantastic with the ducklings.

On the waterer, we are still trying to find something that we love. When chicks are little, they need a ton of water, but they are also extremely messy. So finding one that isn’t going to make a mess but also be easy to fill has been difficult. This waterer is good, not great, but it will get the job done when they are little. As they get bigger, we use this one. We found that the metal ones did not hold up well at all. If you have a waterer you love, let me know in the comments.

Canning

Alright! I’ve been waiting to do this one!

Canners- This is my water bath canner and this is my pressure canner. I’ve got two of the presto pressure canners and I love them. One of these days, I am going to get this mack daddy. I can process 19 quarts a time. Which replaces BOTH of my other canners. The price tag is steep at around $500 but it’s got a life time warranty and it’s worth every penny.

Jars- All I’m going to say is this: when you think you have enough, double it. Then double it again. Here’s why. I have over a thousand jars. When I can, I can for an entire year. So when I am figuring out how many jars of tomato sauce I need for the year, it’s not a couple dozen. I can 104+ quart jars. When I can green beans, it’s not a couple pints. It’s 146+ quarts and 146+ pints. Same with corn. Soups and stews is another big ticket item in my house. We are talking 200 quarts and 200 pints-ish. Sometimes it’s more. That’s already 600 quart jars that I need. So while you may not need that many, be prepared that you will need more than you think.

Funnels- Yall, you will never, and I mean never have enough funnels. I love the metal funnels and I have at least 6 of them. Make sure to get wide mouth and regular!

Jar grabby things- Get a bunch of these too. You will lose them or the handles will break while you are mid canning.

Books- Canning cookbooks are some of the best investments that you can make. This book is hands down the best period. Buy it. She’s got a ton of amazing soups in there and they are divine. This is another really good one with some great recipes. If you are new to canning, I will recommend getting a Ball Book. There is a ton of great information in them. BUT after you get some experience, or after doing your own research, take it with a grain of salt. Some of the recipes are extremely convoluted and contradictory. Lastly, I’m not a Prepper, per se. BUT I do put up my own food because after the pandemic, I realized that relying on the grocery store isn’t a super smart idea. That being said, this book has some great recipes, ideas, and more for being self reliant.

Check back for more items as we find them and add them to the list!

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How To Start Canning

July 21, 2022 by Leigh 1 Comment

Y’all! It’s canning season! I am beyond excited! Over the next few months I will be sharing with you ALL (okay, most) of the canning recipes that I have accumulated over the years. From things like salsa and broths to more complex stews and soups. I’ll also show you how we can basics like corn, green beans, and beans. But today? Today I want to talk to you about how to start canning.

How We Started Canning

I have always been fascinated by the idea that I didn’t have to go to the grocery store to buy food. You mean I could have a garden and animals that provided food for me? And I could put in a little work and have healthy food throughout the year. I also didn’t need a million freezers to store food and have to worry about a power failure? So I started researching, because that’s what I do when I don’t understand something.

I found out that canning is actually pretty simple. Put the food in a jar, tighten, and put it into a waterbath canner or pressure canner, and set the timer. The hard part comes in knowing which way to process the foods and for how long. If you don’t allow the “pearl clutchers” to get in the way, you can have shelves and shelves full of healthy food that will last for a couple years.

With this knowledge in hand, I went to work. I started with canning apple sauce and over the years, I have canned hundreds, if not thousands of jars of food.

Take the fear out of canning

What do I mean by pearl clutchers? Well, these are the people that whole heartedly agree that what the USDA, FDA and Ball say, you must do. There is a ton of fear about canning that is perpetuated by these organizations. They make it feel like the only thing you can can are jelly, jams, and a couple of soups. To give you an example: The Ball Book Of Canning says you cannot can chili with beans but on the next page, you can can ham and bean soup. That doesn’t make any sense.

So my take on it is this: if the store can put it in a can, or Grandma didn’t kill her entire family, then it’s probably okay to eat. If I follow basic kitchen cleanliness while I cook, follow proper canning times? It’s probably okay. When I take the jar off the shelf to make it, and it looks good, smells good and I boil it for 10 minutes? It’s probably okay to eat.

Random tangent

The latest update from the CDC says that in 2018 there were 242 cases of botulism in the US. Of that, only 18 were foodborne. Only 3 of those cases were linked to home canned food. You can read the full article here. Does it happen? Absolutely. But there are 329.5 million people in the US as of 2020. That means that your chance of consuming botulism is pretty close to zero.

Do your research, find solid recipes, and get to canning. It will be okay.

Let’s Get Started

So you have decided to take the plunge and start canning. But what do you need to get started? My friends over at Southern Dream Homestead has a great blog post on canning and I highly suggest it. But the short version is this:

Water Bath Canner, the first ad, similar to the one below. I like it simply because I can use the pot for various other things. When I am pressure canning, I use huge pots for soups and stews making 36 Quarts at a time. This can also be used as an old fashion stock pot and as a water bath canner. The utility is great!

The second picture is my pressure canner. At $165 it’s a little steep BUT try finding one at Walmart, Target or other stores. They may have it cheaper. Edit to add: Here is a link for a pressure canner from Walmart.

The third picture is arguably the most important when it comes to canning. Great recipes. I have made several of soups/ stews in this cook book and they are absolutely divine. The chicken chowder and enchilada soup are family favorites.

The fourth is a great cook book with easy to follow instructions. It’s got processing times, instructions and a couple quick cheat sheets for you. The fifth is a pretty cool canning book that has some more off the wall can-able things but also shows you how to use them in part two.

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.

Lastly, you need tools. This one is a bit more expensive, but the tools feel a little more quality than some of the others. Regardless, you should probably get a couple sets of jar grabbers, funnels, ladles, etc.

You may have noticed that I left out jars. Get Ball Mason Jars, period. Yes, you may have some success with other jars. You may even find some obscure brand that holds up amazing. However, Ball is tried and true for a reason, their jars will literally stand the test of time. But PLEASE don’t buy them from amazon. You are going to pay through the nose for them.

The best place I have found for mason jars is Wal-Mart. Depending on where you live, your prices will vary, but I can get a case of quart mason jars for around $16 and a case of pint for $12. Half gallons come in a 6pk for $12. Amazon wants to double or triple that price. So shop around. Oh, and stock up on lids whenever you can find them.

Finally, get yourself some good sturdy shelves. You do not want to spend an entire summer canning your heart out, getting burns, and sore muscles to have your plastic shelves fail. I’ve got a great tutorial on how we built our canning shelves and after several years, we still love them.

So get your supplies and get started in the kitchen. I promise you, when you don’t want to sweat your butt off making dinner, that can of chili or chicken noodle soup is going to taste amazing. You can find my make ahead pickle brine and green bean recipes by clicking the links. Those are two very easy ways to get started on your canning journey.

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Do You Have To Homeschool If You Homestead

May 15, 2022 by Leigh Leave a Comment

A ton of people think that homesteading and homeschooling go hand in hand. They’re not wrong, but not totally right either. For a lot of people they simply can’t put the time into doing both. If their fulltime job is homesteading, they may be too busy planting, harvesting, canning, and taking care of animals. If they homeschool, they may be too busy creating lesson plans, helping with work and teaching. So do you have to do both? Not at all. But we do.

We Homeschool and Homestead

I mentioned in this post about how we work and homestead and work. I also briefly mentioned the homeschool aspect of our daily life here. We decided when we started homeschooling the boys, that we did not want to homeschool traditionally. The idea of them sitting at the kitchen table and laboring over busy work made my skin crawl. What was the point of that? Why not just keep them in public school?

There are days when we are wrapped up in other chores that require our full attention, like getting the garden put in or putting in fencing. On those days they have more traditional work like writing an essay or working on repetitive math like fractions, multiplication, etc. But for the most part they are out with us working on firewood, butchering chickens, or just hanging out doing goat math.

We decided that unschooling was the way to go. The boys wanted to learn about things that interested them. Chase wants to be a line man and Jaxson wants to be a train conductor. So they researched those things and we started formulating “lesson plans” on those jobs. If they decide they don’t want to do that anymore? That’s fine, we find something else they want to do, we go do that. The whole point of unschooling is keeping the child at the core of their learning. Not forcing them to learn what we want them to learn about.

My friend over at Homeschool Lady has her own reasons for homeschooling. She talks about the freedom that homeschooling gives her. Her principles align with ours in that she allows her kids to do the work that interests them. While we don’t have any religious reasons for homeschooling our kids, many homeschoolers do.

Jaxson can’t focus longer than a few minutes on any given task and forcing him to is cruel. All it does is frustrate everyone and he doesn’t actually learn anything.

Chase prefers to get all of his work done as quickly as possible so he can go do whatever he wants.

Learning is not one size fits all and people have forgotten that. Unschooling focuses on the individual.

Don’t worry about what others say

There are some hardcore homesteaders that say you have to homeschool your kids. Meh, you have to do what’s right for you and your children. Period. If that means unschooling, homeschooling or public school, do it.

There are others that are going to tell you that you are ruining your child’s education by homeschooling them. Again, I say meh. My kids are probably more well rounded and educated than public school kids, if only because they live in the real world and work vs sitting at a desk.

Having mom and dad up to their elbows in produce, isn’t really conducive of “proper” homeschooling. But there are great lessons there.

Helping mom and dad butcher a chicken is a great way to teach anatomy, food preservation,

Should You Homestead and Homeschool

You don’t have to, homesteaders have sent their kids to school for hundreds of years. But if you can, I feel like you should at least try it. Give unschooling a try. But if you can’t, or don’t want to, there’s no reason to feel guilty over it. There is no wrong way to learn except to force it.

My boys have flourished since being out of public school.

Does their handwriting suck? Yup

Can they tell you about every single part of speech? Nope

Will they pass standardized tests? Probably not

Are they happy? Are they learning? Are they becoming capable? Yes, Yes, Yes.

But you know what they can do?

They can pull a goat kid, hatch chicks, butcher chickens, bottle feed a goat kid. They know how to care for a sick goat.

They can plant, harvest, and process a garden.

They can build a chicken tractor (with help because Jaxson doesn’t need to be around a saw). Building a shed is not a problem either. Cooking a healthy dinner is a breeze too.

They know how to find the resources they need to answer a question, fix something, or make something.

In short. No, you don’t have to homeschool to be a homesteader or vise versa. You just have to love and take care of your kids, land, and animals.

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Homestead Daily Schedule

April 28, 2022 by Leigh Leave a Comment

On our homestead, this looks a little different than most. Due to our work schedules, one of us is gone 48 of 72 hours. Sometimes more. However, the goats still need to be milked, fed and let out. Chickens and ducks still need feed, water, and be let out. Dogs are also hungry and need to go to the bathroom. And all the other chores need to be done. So regardless of who is home, the daily schedule looks pretty much the same.

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What Is Our Daily Schedule?

Most days start around 8am. Earlier for the one going to work. Blu gets her morning meds and mom needs coffee. The first set of dogs are let out and showers start. Jaxson gets his bandages changed and the boys start working on their chores. I will usually start a load of laundry and work on it throughout the day.

Each kid rotates chores for the month. One has chickens, dogs, cats, counters, and bathrooms. The other has goats, dishes, cars, and dragons. They will flip every month unless they really like a chore. Jaxson really likes the chickens and ducks. Chase really likes the goats. If they want to switch they can, if not they keep it.

Now we also make sure that they have fed, watered, and let out all of the animals as well as check to make sure bedding is good and everything is picked up for the most part. We start our chores for the morning, which generally includes helping whichever child needs the most help. Since Jaxson is currently injured, he needs more help with the chickens.

After everyone is done and animals are fed, we start working on school work, this is usually around 930-10. Jared and I have different views on this. Usually I let them unschool and Jared is more structured. Unschooling is when the child directs what they would like to learn about. I feel like this gives them the opportunity to learn about the things that interest them and helps them learn better. Jared prefers to help them with “normal” school work.

Neither way is wrong and the boys seem to enjoy having the flexibility. Win Win.

After eating lunch, we usually start working on whatever projects we have for the day. It could be finishing the chicken coop, canning, working on the garden, or firewood. Earlier this month we got our new buck and Jared had to rush to get the buck pen finished, so having the flexibility to get these things done is pretty awesome.

This still counts as their schooling since they are learning things like how to follow the instructions on how to put together a metal shed. Or how much firewood makes a cord and then measuring the stack that they’ve made. They also get crash courses in animal husbandry if an animal gets sick and needs medications. They’ve also been a huge help in the garden and ask a ton of great questions. Most that I don’t have an answer to, so we ask google a lot of questions.

Around 5 or so, the garden gets watered. And as long as no one gets hurt, JAXSON, dinner is around 6-7. After dinner chores are much the same as morning chores except in reverse. Animals get fed, watered, and put up.

The boys are allowed to play on their electronics until 930 and then it’s showers and start getting ready for bed. Currently, Jaxson gets bandage changed and then lays with his foot propped until bed time.

That’s about it. Every homestead is different and come summer/fall there will be a ton of canning in there as well but for the most part the day to day life is pretty mundane. Though the occasional trip the the vet, doctor or ER is not out of the realm of possibility.

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Can Homesteading Save Money

April 27, 2022 by Leigh 6 Comments

No, at least not at first. In fact, homesteading will cost you money. A lot of money. I talked about how much money you need for homesteading here. But that is a conservative estimate and definitely not all encompassing. In the year since we have owned this property we have exhausted our emergency fund four separate times. We have spent thousands of dollars on our goats between vet bills and general care, fencing, etc. So can homesteading save you money? No.

Why Homestead Then?

Homesteading is not necessarily about saving money. Sure, there are somethings that we have saved a ton of money on. We no longer buy eggs because our chickens have solved that problem. We don’t have to buy chicken at the grocery store because we butcher our own. I am able to grow most of our own lettuce for our bearded dragons which by itself saves us $15 a week. But when you look at the $100/month we have saved by how much we have spent? We are solidly in the red.

Because the farm is an LLC, which I highly recommend you do, we are able to write off a lot for taxes. That being said, last year’s return was eye opening. We spent over $3,000 in vet bills and another $5,000 on feed. That was only in six months. This year we are on par to double that. That doesn’t include the well pump that went out, or the water heater. Or all the fencing and structures for the goats and chickens.

But homesteading is not about saving money. It’s about living off the land, having livestock, learning new skills, and being self sufficient. Of course homesteading means different things for different people.

Can Homesteading Save You Money?

Once you get your homestead set up, you may find that will start saving money. When you put your garden in, you can spend a lot of money between irrigation, soil, hoses, and more. But once that garden is producing and you are reaping the benefits of fresh fruits and veggies? You will break even. The following year, provided all your supplies are in good shape, you will probably save money.

Since I can, I save money by preserving that harvest in jars. The initial set up of canning equipment, jars, and produce makes that first year a loss. But I can normally buy bushels of green beans, corn, tomatoes, etc and can them and save hundreds of dollars a year on those items. Again, the savings come later.

What I have found is that homesteading is a long term goal and commitment. You are probably not going to save money your first or your second. If you are starting your homestead from the ground up, you will probably not see a positive until year five. But it really depends on your goals. If you want your homestead completely self sufficient but you are starting from scratch, it will take time. If you came into a property that has fencing, a barn, and garden. You are probably already ahead of the game.

If you are already saving money on your homestead, I would love to hear from you!

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How To Pressure Can Green Beans

April 26, 2022 by Leigh 2 Comments

Jump to Recipe

I am extremely picky when it comes to green beans. I cannot stand mushy green beans. But the thought of the skin of the green bean scraping against my teeth is enough to make me want to vomit. So the only way I will buy, can or otherwise consume green beans is frenched green beans. Today, I went to my local farmers market for strawberries. Yes, they are worth the two hour round trip drive and I saw they had bushels of green beans! Score! So today I’m going to show you how to can my french cut green beans.

The first thing you need is fresh green beans. Straight from the garden is the best but today we are working with what we’ve got. I got a bushel which is about 30# of green beans and will yield about 25 quart jars of beans. This is not precise. Sometimes a bushel is only 25# and only 18# of usable green beans. So be prepared for less or more.

Next, you need a frencher. Now there are about a million different frenchers on the market. I have this one and while I love it, it does get stuck if the bean is too big or too hard. It also requires you to attach it to a counter, table, etc and sometimes it just doesn’t work that well. But it’s the best crank version and I don’t like the manual ones.

Then you’ll need a couple bowls so you can snap to your hearts content. This is seriously my favorite part. No one wants to help because it’s pretty mindless which is why it’s my favorite part. Last year I snapped two bushels of green beans in six hours. I took my time and got to watch my farm. I watched the goats play, the chickens scratch, and my boys help Jared build. All while I took a load off.

If you don’t know how to snap beans, it’s very simple. Snap off the ends at about 1/2 inch, roughly. Throw the ends in a bowl. Then snap the bean in half or thirds depending on how big you want your pieces. Just work through your bushel/ bag. If you have goats or chickens, they will love you for giving them the ends.

Next clean your sink and let them sit in cool water for about 30 minutes. You don’t have to do this step but I feel like it gets all the dirt and grime off your beans. You can do this first if you want, it’s totally up to you.

Once they are clean, I run them through the frencher. If you don’t have a frencher or don’t want french cut beans just skip this step. But make sure that you snap your beans a little smaller about an inch long.

Next get your canners ready. You need a pressure canner. I have two similar to this one but mine don’t have the gauge. You don’t HAVE to have the gauge. If you head to your local Wal-Mart they should have one that doesn’t have a gauge. While you’re at Wal-Mart go ahead and get at least two cases of quart mason jars. Ball is the most common and the only brand I buy. Also pick up the tool pack that has a canning funnel, canning tongs, and the de-bubbler. It should look like this.

Your specific canner should tell you how much water to put into it. My canner says three quarts. It will not fill the canner, and you don’t want it to. Go ahead and fill it and get the water boiling.

While waiting on your water to boil, you’re going to start packing your jars. Using your funnel and clean hands start packing your green beans into your jars. I usually pack till the green beans are about an inch and a half from the top. I usually push down to get as many beans in as possible but you also don’t want to pack it so full. Set it off to the side until you have a canner full. This is usually seven-ten quart jars depending on the size of your canner.

Once you have a full canner ready (not in the canner yet), go ahead and fill each jar with room temperature water till you have 1″ head space. Head space refers to the space from the top of the food/water to the top of the jar. Next, you’re going to use the de-bubbler to get all the air bubbles out. I’m not going to lie to you, I gently tap the jar on the counter until all the bubbles are at the top. It’s worked well for me, usually because I can’t find the de-bubbler thing. Add more water to the jar to maintain the 1″ head space.

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.

Then wipe the rim of the jar with a paper towel or rag dipped in vinegar. Put the lid and then ring on and you are ready to put them in the canner. I usually place them in the canner all at once so that nothing starts cooking before I’m ready.

By the time you are ready to start adding your jars, your water should be boiling or close. Go ahead and place your jars in the canner and place the lid per your canners instructions. The normal process for most canners is to let the canner vent for ten minutes before placing your weight on the vent. But again, follow your canners instructions.

My canners have a pressure lock that will pop up once it has come to pressure and shortly after that the rocker will rock. Your canner may be different.

Once the weight starts to rock, or you are up to your PSI on your gauge, you start your time. I will also usually drop the temp on the burner at this point too. I have it on high to get everything up to pressure but will usually drop it to medium to medium high once the weight is rocking. You only want the weight to rock about once every few seconds. Usually mine just gently jiggles.

Green beans need to be processed for 25 minutes. Depending on your altitude will depend on your actual times. I process mine at 25 minutes at 15 PSI for quarts because I am over 1000 feet above sea level.

When time is up, simply turn off the heat and wait about ten minutes. After that you can move your canner off the burner. Some people move it before, some never touch it. It’s up to you. If I’ve got multiple canners going, I will pull mine off the burner.

You MUST let your canner depressurize naturally! This is none negotiable. At best, you will ruin your food. At worst you can warp your canner or blow up your kitchen. Let’s not do that. Once the pressure lock drops you can remove ONLY the weight. Once the pressure lock drops and you have removed the weight, give it about ten minutes or so and then you should be able to crack the canner open. There will be steam that comes out so please be careful. Leave the lid on for another ten minutes or so. The other way you can do it is just put your canner off to the side and let it set for about an hour to hour and a half. This should give it plenty of time to depressurize naturally. When in doubt, leave it alone.

You can then take the lid off and carefully lift out the jars using the jar tongs. Again, be very careful. The contents of the canner and jars are extremely hot. I put the jars on a folded towel to start to cool. Within 24hrs you will hear the sweet pinging of success! You can test your seal after 24hrs by pressing down on the lid. If there is give, it’s not sealed. If it sealed, you won’t feel or hear anything when you press it.

Anything that is not sealed needs to go into the fridge or be eaten within a couple of days.

But that’s it! You will love your green beans!

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Print Recipe

Pressure Canned French Cut Green Beans

The best green beans that you can make and can yourself.

Prep Time6 hrs

Active Time2 hrs

Total Time8 hrs

Equipment

1 Pressure Canner
1 Canning Kit Funnels, Canning Tongs, and Debubbler
1 Green Bean Frencher
2 Cases of Quart Jars You can use pints but get double the amount
All Bowls and Stock pots You will probably need every last one by the time this is all said and done

Materials

1 bushel Green Beans

Instructions

Snap your green beans by snapping off the top and bottom. Then snap them into desired lengths. I tend to snap mine in 2in sections but it's not a big deal if they are longer or shorter
Rinse beans well. I usually have a big stock pot full of water and I just throw the beans into that as I snap
Once you are either done snapping or you have filled your first pot, drain the water. Now you will start frenching. If you are using the crank tool then make sure you've got a pot under it. Start feeding your green beans through it.
When you arms feel like jello from cranking, take a break and fill up your pressure canner with water to per manufacture instructions. Mine says 3qts.
Get it on the stove to start boiling.
Next start filling your jars with green beans. I tend to pack my jars pretty full. Fill with room temperature water, wipe the rim with a vinegar rag and place a lid and ring on it. Tighten ring to finger tight.
Set it off to the side
Once you have a full canner of jars, gently set the jars into the canner. If the water is already boiling you can secure your canning lid. Follow manufacture instructions on using your canner. Every single one is different.
Process for 20 minutes for pints and 25 for quarts at 10# of pressure. Adjust for altitude.
When processing is over allow canner to depressurize naturally. This could take a couple hours depending on your model so be prepared.
Once canner is cool and safe to open, bring your jars out and allow them to cool. Listen for the ping and check your seals the next morning. Anything that doesn't seal, put in the fridge and eat within a couple of days.

How We Organize A Deep Freezer

April 23, 2022 by Leigh Leave a Comment

Seriously, how is it that I can organize our freezer and within a month it’s back to being a disaster. Every time! But I have finally figured it out! I saw this hack on Pinterest and figured what did I have to lose? If it doesn’t work, I can reuse the supplies. But if it works? Well, my sanity may just be returned. Maybe. So how did we organize a deep freezer?

Read All The Way Down For The 6 Month Update

Let’s start with before

Yup. A disaster. Would you believe that I reorganized everything in February when we butchered our meat chickens? I cleaned everything out, defrosted and wiped everything down. You wouldn’t know it to look at it now.

What you see here is about seventeen meat chickens that have been broken down into parts and bagged. What you don’t see is the half a cow that has to go in here. Now, I will say, we bought the half cow knowing that we would have to get a second freezer because there was no way we were going to fit half a cow, 17 chickens, plus all my creamer.

Yes, it’s an addiction. No, I’m not sorry.

Bean water addiction aside, we needed more freezer space. But I knew that if I didn’t have some sort of a system, we were going to end up with a massive chest freezer that was nothing but piles of meat. Let’s be real here, not much sucks more than having to dig through frozen meat to find the one piece of steak that’s at the very bottom.

Enter Milk Crates To Organize A Deep Freezer

Milk crates have saved my sanity when Jared brought home the cow. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous that three coolers of meat was going to create more chaos than me. But we worked through it and got everything separated into five milk crates. They are overflowing but still stackable.

The idea with the milk crates is to have the ability to pick up and move them to get to what is below them. So far it has worked beautifully and I will be buying more crates for my upright freezer to handle that disaster.

The problem with the using milk crates in the upright freezer is not having the ability to see through them to what is inside. Yes, we could label them but if my kids won’t put things up where they go, do we really think that putting a label on the crate will help? I guarantee it won’t.

One More Tip

We also write on our freezers. This helps keep an eye on inventory levels…. when someone remembers to deduct what they took out…. which no one does. But it’s a good idea.

Now if anyone has a plan for a DIY smoker that would be really helpful.

6 Month Update Of How This Has Worked

In the effort of full disclosure, this idea is fantastic. But it lacking in some areas and could improve in others. Here are the pros and cons

Pros

It has absolutely made finding things super easy
While it doesn’t necessarily save space because the milk crates do take up space, it has created “sides” for things to go. Pig on one side and cow on the other
The inventory system works well, as long as there is marker around it somewhere

Cons

Adding inventory that doesn’t fit the category of the milk create has created a massive headache. Things like a whole chicken or bacon.
Because the milk crates don’t have lids, things get disorganized very quickly. Like trying to find ground beef under a ton of pork chops.

Alternatives?

One of the things we are looking into is getting wire shelves and using them as separators. My thought is this, everything is going to end up in piles anyways. Why not create a system that organizes the deep freezer into piles. We’ll then take the milk crates over to our upright freezer and see how it works over there.

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kitchen

Hold on to your butts, this is a long posts.

Why The Laundry Room?

The Things We Hated:

Where To Start: Paneling

Next: Ceiling and Electrical

Painting Over Wood Paneling

Storage

Final Takeaways For A Laundry Room Remodel

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Shopping List:

Make it

Pulled from Bringing Back Your Booch from here

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They say you shouldn’t cry over spilled milk

How to make Goat Milk Coffee Creamer

Flavorings

Goat Milk Coffee Creamer

Equipment

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

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Goats:

Chickens

Canning

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How We Started Canning

Take the fear out of canning

Random tangent

Let’s Get Started

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We Homeschool and Homestead

Don’t worry about what others say

Should You Homestead and Homeschool

But you know what they can do?

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What Is Our Daily Schedule?

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Why Homestead Then?

Can Homesteading Save You Money?

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Pressure Canned French Cut Green Beans

Equipment

Materials

Instructions

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** Read All The Way Down For The 6 Month Update**

Let’s start with before

Enter Milk Crates To Organize A Deep Freezer

One More Tip

6 Month Update Of How This Has Worked

Pros

Cons

Alternatives?

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Read All The Way Down For The 6 Month Update