The McDonough General Store

This afternoon I had to take a drive about 7 miles away to our little country store in the neighboring town of McDonough. It was such a beautiful drive, the leaves are turning and are beautiful shades of gold, red, green and brown. There is one farmer on the way there who lives at the top of the hill who farms with horses, and it was my lucky day as he was out there with his two gorgeous horses. I think they are Belgiums, and they are just so majestic with their harness on and hitched up to his wagon. What I especially like is that when you go past, it is so quiet, just the gentle rattle of the harness every now and then.

McDonough is one of those little towns that most people just drive through to get somewhere else. This town has many homes that are little farms with a big variety of farm animals. Most being horses and chickens, some pigs, many goats and a few with miniature horses and even a donkey or two. There are a few houses with the eggs for sale signs out front.

The McDonough General Store is the typical Mom & Pop type store with Mr. and Mrs. Gorman being the Mom & Pop. The store seems to be pretty busy when we go there. It has become our favorite place to go for what we call "fast food", which just means that I don't have to prepare and cook it. They have a nice deli and sell various sub sandwiches, we buy a couple pounds of lunch meat so we can make sandwiches at home. Also they have a old-fashioned ice cream parlor. The customers that come in there all seem to know one another and probably have all their lives. If you are new though, they will welcome you warmly and include you in their conversations.

The McDonough General Store looks as if it should have a pot belly stove right in the middle of it, and maybe one day it did. Now it is filled with a good selection of groceries that you are most likely to run out of. Except for gas and kerosene. Right now it has a sign out front on the gas pumps "Sorry, Out Of Gas". Too much money to fill it up. Besides most people probably only buy a little to get to the next big town to fill up, so there is really no profit there. Now the ice cream freezer is probably one of their best sellers! When we go there, we usually pick up a half gallon of Hershey's Moose Tracks ice cream........our favorite!

During the summer and holidays it gets alot of traffic from Bowman State Park which is very close by. The Fingerlakes Trail isn't much further than that so hikers usually end up picking up supplies there also. Many people from NYC and NJ come here to get away from the city as we aren't too far from there. So you never know who you'll meet there.

So if you ever get out this way, make sure you stop in there and say hi.

Have a good day!

katlupe

Lil' Red, My Little Red Hen

In my previous life, I lived a cushy life. Had my hair and nails done at a salon almost weekly. I had a membership at an exclusive health club plus I had a beautiful home gym in my home. I went almost daily somewhere to "race walk", like the various school and our local university tracks. Drove a beautiful corvette that I stored every winter. Now, I look at myself in my mirror and say "how did you ever stand it?" What a waste that existence was!

Now I think about all the money I spent on those trivial things.......and think about all the great homestead tools I could have bought instead! I keep picturing my first husband, (who was a Long Island transplant) if I brought home a pet chicken and told him, that she was going to be living in a dog kennel in our kitchen! Wow! What a reaction that would have set off!

My present husband and I were certainly meant for each other, just didn't find each other till later. So we are making up for all that lost time. Anyway, I received a call from my mother in August of 2000, and she told me to come to her house and she had a chicken for me. I thought she meant one in the freezer or something along those lines. She said to bring my cat carrier......??????? So when I got there, my niece was carrying a big Rhode Island Red chicken around under her arm. Now, I was into homesteading, but had no experience with chickens as of yet, but I had to act like I was not afraid of being pecked and know what I was doing. So I brought her home.

She had come onto my parents' porch the night before, and my father saw her and shooed her away. He had no idea where she came from. They live in the country, but do not have animals themselves. In the morning she was back on the porch perched on a bench with her head under her wing, sleeping. So the kind hearted Daddy that I have, fed her some scraps.

So I brought her home in the carrier and she seemed fine. I was cooking supper and my husband was sitting on our deck with the cats and our dog around him, when she just flew up onto his lap. She just sat there. I think she was trying to butter him up to letting her stay.

I was trying to figure out where to keep her. We live deep in the state forest in upstate New York, and there are lots of critters out in that forest that like chickens. So I dug our dog, Nikita's puppy kennel out that she had long ago, outgrown. Made a little box for our chicken to sleep in. Added newspapers on the bottom and fastened a water and a feed dish on with one of those little bungee type hooks. I named her Lil' Red. Her and I bonded almost instantly. She followed me everywhere. Even met me at the car when I got home from shopping or anywhere. She was noisy when I was gone. My husband said she'd cackle like crazy if she heard me drive in the driveway and she was inside in her kennel.

I knew absolutely nothing about chickens. So I went to our local feed store and bought a bag of laying mash and crushed oyster shells (they told me that I needed it for her). Soon it became apparent that she loved being a house chicken! I had read that you can't really keep one alone as they like to be in a flock and they won't lay if they are alone. Well, our Lil' Red made us and our other animals at the time, 2 cats, 2 horses and especially our dog, Nikita her flock. She would go out with the horses and they were fine with her there picking up their scraps. Nikita and her though hung out together and she loved to be out there with Nikita when she was eating a bone, so she could pick up the bits that would drop from it. Nikita would growl at her, and it never phased her one bit.......she'd just scratch and peck her heart away.

Then we got different cats. One in particular, Callie, really liked Lil' Red alot and hung out with her. Though there was a period in Callie's life where she got real sick and almost died. I nursed her back to health and she is good still today. But while she was sick, she would not turn her back on Lil' Red and acted like she did not trust her. Once she was okay again, she was back to playing with her and rubbing on her beak.

I will finish this story later this week.

Hope everyone has a happy homesteading day!

katlupe

My Frugal Grocery Shopping Plan

With the price of groceries increasing so much in the last few months, along with the price of gasoline and other things, I am diligently working on a very frugal grocery shopping method. Another important factor in my plan is that we have shut off our gas refrigerator with the hope of saving enough money by not running it to purchase solar refrigeration. So I have to sacrifice.

When you are not using refrigeration or a freezer, you have to preserve even the foods you bring home from the grocery store as well as your garden produce. So instead of buying a few different packages of meats, you buy the number of pounds of meat that will fill your canner twice. For me that is going to be 14 quarts. Many people choose to do pints of meat, but my husband is a hard worker and a big eater. So I have to do quarts.

I look at my local stores' flyers, and my local Price Chopper sends me their's in my email as soon as it is available. I buy my meat there so that is where I start. I know that the day I buy the meat, I have to come directly home and start canning. I have everything ready to go. Go early in the day and get started and you will have it done before you know it.

I have been studying my grocery receipts and check book to see exactly where my money has been going. What I found was that we have been spending way too much on food out. We don't go out to eat often, but we do pick up pizzas, subs, wings and very rarely, Chinese foods (my favorite). So I am going to nip that in the bud right now, before it becomes a habit.

I listed most of the meals I make and the ingredients needed for them. Now I will try to stock up on those ingredients and not sway from my lists for anything extra. So for now my plans are to can ground beef, ground turkey, chicken and turkey. Plus canning chili and beef stew. That doesn't sound too expensive nor too hard to do. Jackie Clay, my favorite writer (Backwoods Home Magazine) says you should can about 3 varieties of chili so you don't get tired of it. So I will do that, one being a vegetarian type, as sometimes I serve it with a sandwich and do not want the extra meat.

For now, my plan is to have the food on hand for 20 different types of meals. That way you do not eat the same meal too many times in any month, unless you want to. The most important part of my plan is to purchase the food, especially the meat, when it is on sale. I am looking forward to trying this and will let you know how it goes and how much money I have saved.

Have a great homesteading day!

katlupe

Breakfast On The Homestead

Here are some quick and easy breakfast recipes. I have been working on my stocking up list and had to make some recipes of what we like to eat for breakfast. Some days we just grab a fruit and yogurt or some toast and jam, but I really like to make something substantial to get through the day.

Rise and Shine Casserole

6 slices dry whole wheat bread

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 cups milk / shredded cheese

1/2 tsp dry mustard

3 eggs, beaten

Salt and Pepper

Tear bread into small pieces. Layer 1/4 of the bread and 1/4 of your cheese 4 times in a casserole dish. Pour melted butter on top. Combine remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix well. Pour mixture onto casserole. Refrigerate overnight. First thing in the morning, bake for 1 hour in 350 degree oven. Variations: add crumbled fried sausage or bacon, ham, cooked beans, jalapenos, shredded cheese. Smother casserole with chili, chili sauce, cooked beans, or gravy.

Home Made Hashbrowns

Slice potatoes in half and boil for ten minutes. Cover with cold water and refrigerate overnight. Shred (peeling the potatoes is optional) and fry in oil in skillet until brown on both sides.

Another Way to Hashbrown Potatoes: Boil potatoes whole, let cool, place in a well-oiled frying skillet or on griddle, mash with a potato masher, fry until crisp on bottom, flip until done on the other side. A Third Way to Hashbrown Potatoes: Use leftover baked potatoes, place in well oiled skillet, mash with a potato masher, fry on both sides. Note that with all recipes for hashbrown potatoes, the secret is to cook the potatoes the day before and refrigerate overnight..

Redneck Eggs Benedict

Large biscuits

2 eggs, boiled

1/8 lb sausage or bacon

2 potatoes, hash browned

2 cups cheese sauce or gravy

Homemade Large biscuits.

Slice in half, layer on each biscuit half, in this order: fried hashbrowns, 1/4 boiled egg, fried sausage or crumbled bacon, top with cheese sauce, gravy, or other sauce.

For Redneck Eggs Florentine: substitute cooked turnip greens for meat.

Potato Pancakes

To 1 cup leftover mashed potatoes, add 1 egg and 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour, optional is to add a 1-2 Tbsp. chopped onion.

Mix thoroughly, make small dollar size pancakes, fry on medium griddle on both sides until done. Homemade applesauce is delicious on top and the traditional way to eat Latkes in the Jewish home.

Creamed Eggs

Add 2 to 4 hard cooked eggs, cut into quarters, to 1 cup medium white sauce.

Serve hot over toast or biscuits or rice. You can sprinkle with paprika and parsley, crisp bacon bits, etc. Variation, add small amount of fried sausage to the white sauce.

Oatmeal Pancakes

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 egg, beaten 2 tbsp butter

1-1/2 cups milk with 1 tbsp of vinegar in it (or use buttermilk)

Soak oats in one cup milk for five minutes. Add other ingredients, mix well. Heat griddle (test for hotness by sprinkling some water on it, if the bubbles "skitter" around the pan, it's ready). Make small pancakes, turn when brown. If you don't have vinegar or buttermilk, use regular skim milk and increase baking powder to 1-1/2 tsp and omit baking soda.

To make the pancakes extra fluffy, separate the egg yolk and white, beat separately, add egg yolk and milk, then add stiffly beaten egg whites.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 cup 100% whole wheat flour

1-1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tablespoons oil

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon honey

1 egg

This makes a light and fluffy pancake. Mix dry ingredients, add the oil and mix thoroughly, beat two eggs and add to 1 cup milk, mix with dry ingredients. This 1 cup recipe makes pancakes for two adults, 12 -14 dollar size pancakes. Serve with peanut butter and homemade jam.

Buttermilk Pancakes

1-1/4 cups buttermilk

2 tbsp oil

1-1/4 cups flour

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

dash of salt

Mix ingredients, cook as described in Oatmeal Pancakes. If you use plain milk rather than buttermilk, adjust baking powder as described in Oatmeal Pancakes.

Breakfast Tacos

1 cup cooked rice or fried potatoes

1/8 - 1/4 lb sausage

chopped onion

corn or flour tortillas

2 eggs beaten

chopped jalapenos

hot sauce

salsa

Fry sausage (or bacon, or ham) with the onion and jalapenos and drain the grease. Add rice or potatoes, stir until hot, add beaten eggs, scramble together with the sausage. Meanwhile, heat the tortillas on a griddle or directly over a low flame. Divide sausage/rice mixture among the tortillas, add hot sauce/salsa, and/or cheese as desired. Makes 6-8 tacos. Variations: (1) smother with hot dog chili sauce. (2) Add fresh chopped tomatoes, and/or chopped black olives, and/or chopped green onion.

Breakfast Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough

4 eggs

1 cup hash brown potatoes

grated cheese

1/2 lb sausage

1/4 cup milk

salt and pepper

Cook sausage until browned, drain fat. Place pizza dough in an ungreased pan, spread melted butter on the dough. Spoon sausage over dough, sprinkle with potatoes, top with grated cheese. Mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour onto crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Breakfast Pockets

1 recipe bread dough - Ingredients similar to breakfast pizza

Divide the bread dough into small balls of dough about the size of a bun. Let rise, then roll into circles. Brush dough lightly with olive oil. Prepare filling, and put a couple of tablespoons of filling on each circle of dough. Lightly moisten the edge of the circle with water, and then fold over like a turnover pastry and seal the edges. Bake in a 425 degree oven until bread is done. Brush with melted butter after baking.

Tortillas and Eggs

This is a good way to make a few eggs go a long way. Fry some bacon or sausage, remove from pan and set aside. Tear corn tortillas into pieces (smaller pieces are better, say 8 pieces to the tortilla), saute in oil with chopped onion, garlic, and sliced jalapeno peppers. Saute for about 3-4 minutes. Beat 2 to 4 eggs, crumble sausage or bacon, and add meat and beaten eggs to tortillas, stirring constantly while the eggs scramble and set. For each egg, you can add 3-4 torn-up tortillas.

Crockpot Oatmeal

Put oatmeal, water, and any dried fruit such as raisins, cranberries, blueberries, cherries, etc. in a crockpot at night before you go to bed. Cook on low, it's ready in the morning. Add honey and milk to taste.


Have a good day and eat a good breakfast!

katlupe

Making Herbal Vinegar Today!

I am making a herbal vinegar today. I collect jars of various sizes and use plastic lids for them. For vinegar you would not want to be using metal lids as the vinegar will affect the lid and corrode it. So stick to plastic in this case. I never use plastic containers if I can help it. Glass. My best friend taught me that and she was right about that. Smell that plastic container!


Apple cider vinegar is my choice for my health. It was used by the father of medicine, Hippocrates. He only used honey and vinegar as remedies. With good reason too! Apple cider vinegar aides your digestion, reduces cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, useful in preventing as well as aiding in treatment of Osteoporosis, useful in bringing thyroid and metabolic to normal levels, reducing cancer risks as well as making wrinkles and grey hair less noticeable (that will probably get everyone using it immediately!).


You can purchase organic online or in your local health food store, but I just use the pasturized one right off the shelf of my grocery store. Wide mouth jars are easier to work with as you will be removing the herb when you are done. Fill your jar with fresh-cut fragrant herbs including the stalks, fruits, roots and even nuts. Fill the jar really well, all the way to the top with the herb. Be sure to chop your herbs finely. Best results and highest mineral content will come from a jar full of herbs! Really fill the jar. This will take far more herb or root than you would think. Then put your room temperature vinegar in the jar to the top. Cover and date and put it in the back of a cupboard away from direct sunlight, but it does not have to be dark. Don't forget about it. Leave it for six weeks.


Herbal vinegars taste good and are good for you. So use them often as they boost the nutrient level of your diet with hardly any effort and at harly any cost at all. Some easy ways to incorporate them into your every day diet:


Add a spoonful or two in your bean and grain dishes for flavor.
Of course, use them in your homemade salad dressing.
Add them to cooked greens.
Add them to your stir-fries.
Make soups that welcome vinegar like a borscht.
Always use your herbal vinegar in recipes that call for vinegar.
A spoonful in a glass of water sweetened with blackstrap molasses will give you a mineral jolt. Use this as a coffee substitute as it prevents and also relieves the discomfort of arthritic pain.


Plants That Make A Tasty and Nutritional Herbal Vinegar:
Apple mint (Mentha sp.) leaves, stalks
Bee balm (Monarda didyma) flowers, leaves, stalks
Bergamot (Monarda sp.) flowers, leaves, stalks
Burdock (Arctium lappa) roots
Catnip (Nepeta cataria) leaves, stalks
Chicory (Cichorium intybus) leaves, roots
Chives and especially chive blossoms
Dandelion (Taraxacum off.) flower buds, leaves, roots
Dill (Anethum graveolens) herb, seeds
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) herb, seeds
Garlic (Allium sativum) bulbs, greens, flowers
Garlic mustard (Alliaria officinalis) leaves and roots
Goldenrod (Solidago sp.) flowers
Ginger (Zingiber off.) and Wild ginger (Asarum canadensis) roots
Lavender (Lavendula sp.) flowers, leaves
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) new growth leaves and roots
Orange mint (Mentha sp.) leaves, stalks
Orange peel, organic only
Peppermint (Mentha piperata and etc.) leaves, stalks
Perilla (Shiso) (Agastache) leaves, stalks
Rosemary (Rosmarinus off.) leaves, stalks
Spearmint (Mentha spicata) leaves, stalks
Thyme (Thymus sp.) leaves, stalks
White pine (Pinus strobus) needles
Yarrow (Achilllea millifolium) flowers and leaves



So what could be easier? Just one new idea to add some nutrients to your diet today.

Copyright © 2008  Kathleen G. Lupole

Our Summer So Far

This year I have been so busy. My garden is thriving and my husband is getting alot of work done on our house. As much as he can do with his crushed elbow. He does push himself. I on the other hand have been experiencing health problems for the first time in my life that seem to effect my daily living. I had my appendix out in 1982 and a parathyroid, of which you have 4, I had one out in 2002. Other than that, I didn't usually get sick or anything like that in my whole life. This I figure is Menopausal related. So I am kind of limping along. The hot summer does not help when you are also experiencing hot flashes.

Saturday, my sister in-law and her husband came up for the day and brought my husband's father up with them. We had a really nice, relaxing day outside by our outdoor fireplace. We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the charcoal grill and I put a pot of baked beans right in the fireplace to cook in my cast iron Dutch oven. They were the hit of the day! My father in-law hadn't been here in a few years, since 2003 or close to that time. My mother in-law's health had gotton bad and she was not able to travel very far, so he hadn't been going anywhere either. He was quite taken back by all the work my husband had done on our place. And as I said above, it is not easy for him to work with his bad arm. He paces himself and does a little and comes back and does some more.

Over 5 years ago, I purchased a cherry tomato from Johnny's Seeds called Matt's Cherry Tomato and it was a heirloom. Well, we loved those little cherry tomatoes! They were so sweet and really tasty. Every year since then they just grow wild around our garden area. And many times they come up in a raised bed somewhere, so they must be in the compost also. This year, I have a spot I didn't see and they are coming up there real strong with a big thick stem and big leaves. This year, I will make sure to save the seeds and have a good supply for future gardens. I believe Johnny's still has them for sale, but the price of seeds is going up.

Yesterday, we went to visit our very close friends who moved here from Texas last year. They are an awesome couple. In this next year or so, they plan on building a earthhouse and they have a beautiful piece of land for that. They gave me a taste of her Stevia plant yesterday and I was familar with it, but had never tasted it or seen it before. It was so sweet! Like sugar. Even my husband loved the taste of it. So I think I will be growing that also. Pretty neat when you can grow your own sweetener, don't you think?

I have been busy designing a website for friends of mine who are going into the solar business online now. They have been in the solar business for 10 years now, but now they cannot keep ignoring the online potential. So I have made them a beautiful site, if I do say so myself. But have had some issues with Domain Direct who was their old server. Today, I am hoping it will all be tranferred to the new one I found for them and then I can get back to work for them on the site. The guy is a solar installer so it just made so much sense for him to sell the panels and equipment too. I will be giving the links for their site soon, but today I am not sure the transfer has been completed. When it is, I will let you know.

I promise I will be back in the next day or so. Tomorrow though, we have to drive to Owego to our church which is about 54 miles from here. We hadn't been able to go since Father's Day and now we have to get there to edit and upload the videos of the sermons on the church site. So we figure we will be gone all day tomorrow as there is about 7 of them to do.

Have a wonderful homesteading day!

katlupe