Monday, January 3, 2011
New Soap Varieties of Goat Milk Soap
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Giveaway for Genesis Today Products!
Enter at the link below -
http://hopescafe.blogspot.com/2010/06/genesis-today-natural-foods-juices.html?showComment=1276708277774_AIe9_BGkEY8LJAM12ctQ-ycuurqAYKRlfNnI8LEsIkVTcT6AAvIpQgpdf-IJBEJUKs-JhthqAcIh-7_bcNOhLsgZOYOW2PEvYRZnKgdJ9TLsv4O-5bGP7ZBUMZ_QCi15lILuDgKrt_dOKXEwbEA_5mzWcQkNr7pg03hR1v7GPsHLn8EUsNHuIOh2UaQhr3GxpcffaP28aIxggonliCg2DNh68wOLhvAKZDjeOCJmF5fWGo76P9qym2W2G1I8GB9LZYWSn3-jegzO#c6811175900774749375
Belle
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Happy Tree Tapping and Sap Collecting!
The year before last, my family tapped ten to twenty Maples. From those Maples we collected anough sap to make syrup that lasted us up until this month. We are working on the last quart of Maple syrup now.
I hope to collect enough sap to make syrup that will last us until 2012. It is nice to only have to tap the trees every other year, even though I love doing it. Last February, Mom was sick and we didn't collect any sap.
I hope to make enough syrup to share with all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents so they won't have to buy syrup from the store.
Since I have tried the Maple syrup we have made from the sap from our trees, I could never, ever go back to using that old maple flavored corn syrup that they sell in the stores and call maple syrup. Most of the pancake syrups sold in stores are made from corn syrup and artificially flavored with maple. I do know some who like that flavor......not me! I like the real thing! It is so nice to be able to make my own and know exactly where it comes from and what is in it! I also love that it is another way to be self-sufficient and not rely on stores.
I will show pictures here on my blog when I begin to collect sap and make syrup!
Happy tree tapping to all that tap trees and collect sap!
Belle
Please visit my store - http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/ !
Thursday, October 15, 2009
So much has happened to my life.......
My blog is not very personal, but I need to tell what is going on in my life right now.
A lot has gone on in my life this year. The last few months have been hard. My mother passed away recently. She had been very sick. I miss her terribly. Sometimes I think that there can be no way she is really gone, but then reality hits.
I wish she could have stayed longer than the short while that she did. I do know that she is in Heaven. My Mom was a wonderful person and I know for sure that she is now in Heaven!
I know that the eternal life in Heaven is the most beautiful life that we will all have someday if we love God and Our lives here on earth are nothing compared to the life we will have. Our life on earth is short. I beleive Heaven is beyond imagination.
I know everyone has their own belief and thinking. My belief is there is a God who is in control of everything, he is our creator who also created every living thing, he has a plan for all of us, his hands are in each of our lives, God loves us all, there is a life after the one here that is so much more beautiful, there is a Heaven, and that our loved ones are there watching over us, and waiting for us to join them.
Mom, I know your spirit is with me always. I will remember all the love you have given to me, all the beautiful memories of our life together, and I will always know you beautiful spirit. Thank you for your love and caring. I love you and always will.
Belle
homesteaderbelle@yahoo.com
Monday, July 13, 2009
How to make Fried Zucchini - with pictures
My family uses zucchini in a lot of different ways. We use zucchini in cakes, muffins, and breads. We cook zucchini on the grill with potatoes and other veggies wrapped in aluminum foil, on kabobs (marinated meat with veggies and fruit on a skewer), and we make Fried Zucchini.
Fried Zucchini is my family's favorite! Not a summer goes by without my family eating Fried Zucchini!
A week or so ago, my aunt, my cousin, and my Granny came over and we fried zucchini together. I took some pictures of the making of Fried Zucchini. I am going to share the pictures I took and how to make it, for those of you who do not know how.
Lightly salt the medallions.
< ......then dip both sides of medallions in flour........
Brown both sides of the medallions. After both side of the medallions are browned, put them on a the plate with a paper towl on it. Serve Fried Zucchini warm.
Tips: If the bowl of egg gets watery from dipping zucchini, it is best to get a new bowl of egg.
If the oil in the skillet gets too hot, it will burn. If the oil is getting too hot, the heat should be turn down to a lower temperature.
If the skillet looks like there isn't enough oil or like it is running out of oil, add more.
Thank you so much for visiting my blog! If you like my blog, you are welcome to become a follower of my blog or you can subscribe to my blog and you will be notified by email every time I make a post.
If you have any questions or comments, you are welcome to email me @ homesteaderbelle@yahoo.com
Belle
Saturday, June 6, 2009
How to Pasteurize Goat Milk
Many people, who have arthritis, like to drink goat's milk raw because the raw goat's milk contains something that pasteurized milk does not have that is supposed to help the arthritic pain.
For my own family, I pasteurize our goat milk.
The pasteurization process is really simple!
For pasteurizing your own milk you will need -
a Candy Thermometer
a Clean piece of cheese cloth or a flour sack dish towel
a Clean Stainless Steel Pot
a Clean Metal Spoon for stirring the milk
and clean glass *containers for storing the milk
First, strain the milk through the piece of clean cheesecloth or a clean flour sack dishtowel into the clean stainless steel pot. Straining the milk will catch all of the hairs or other things that might have fallen into the milk during milking time.
Note - The piece of material you use for straining needs to be very clean. It shouldn't be washed in harsh detergents or fabric softeners, especially detergents that are scented. I suggest getting a few towels to keep for straining milk through only! To make sure your towel is clean enough, you can alway dip it in boiling water, that should kill anything that isn't good in your milk.
Set the heat of stove top to medium high. Stir the milk as often as possible if not constant.
Watch the temperature on the thermometer. When the temperature on the thermometer reaches 165 degrees Farenheit, set a timer for 15 seconds. When the timer ends, put your pot of milk into a the bowl of cold, icey water and stir.
Try to get the pot of milk into the water as quickly as possible. The quick cooling of the milk gives the milk a better flavor.
When the ice in the cold water melts, take the milk from the bowl of water, pour into clean containers, and put the containers of milk into the freezer for further cooling.
After the milk has cooled in the freezer, put the milk into the fridge. The milk is now without the bad bacteria and ready to drink. Give the milk a good shake and enjoy!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Fried Fish, a LaMancha Dairy Goat, and Homemade Goat Milk Ice Cream
The fish we fried was delicious!
Earlier today, my sister made some homemade vanilla ice cream with all of the goat's milk that she has been getting.
The ice cream was very good!
My sister bought a LaMancha dairy goat about a month ago. My family has had LaMancha dairy goats in the past and loved the taste of the LaMancha's milk. Our last LaMancha doe we had died about three years ago from old age. Since the death of our last LaMancha doe, we have had Alpine goats. The milk from the Alpine does is nothing like the milk from the LaManchas (in my family's opinion). Nobody in the family liked the milk from the Alpines, so the Alpines are now dried up and we drink the milk from my sister's LaMancha doe. My family has found, by experience with dairy goats, that LaMancha goat's milk is much more creamier and has a better flavor than the Alpine's milk. So, for now on, I think that we will only keep LaMancha goats for milk.
My sister had been looking to buy a LaMancha dairy goat for over a year. LaManchas are difficult to find in this area. She did finally find one.
The doe that she bought gives 3 - 4 quarts of delicious, creamy milk a day. The milk has lots of cream in it. My sister has been taking all of the cream from the milk and making butter with it.
I found a recipe online for homemade Mozzerella cheese that I want to make soon. If the recipe is a good one, I will share it here on my blog.
Below is a picture of the delicious, creamy goat milk.
It is wonderful to have fresh milk everyday and to know exactly where it came from.
Thank you for reading and visiting my blog! Please leave a comment if you would like to. Please come back very soon to my blog!
~Belle~
Check out my shop here - http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/
Thursday, April 16, 2009
This Year's Garden so far...........
I have planted Rudker tomatoe seeds in a planter inside the house. The seeds have sprouted and I now need to transplant them in their own seperate containers. I think I will do that later on today.
There is a lot of grass that came up with the tomatoes.
Every year I usally buy Rudker tomatoe plants, but I heard that this year, in my area, Rudker tomatoe plants will be difficult to find. I saved the seeds from the rudker plants I had last year, so I didn't have to buy any tomatoe seeds this year. Rudker tomatoe seeds can not be found in stores in this area. If I was going to buy some, I would have to order them online.
For Christmas, from my granny, I got a Chia Gourmet Herb Growing kit. The kit came with different kinds of herb seeds, four terra cotta pots, and four Chia sponges for planting the seeds in. I was so happy to get this gift!
It will be so nice to have fresh herbs growing right in my kitchen!
The pots are covered with plastic wrap incase you were wondering what the clear stuff was.
I planted Chamomile seeds in a planter the other day. After I got them all planted, I left the planter on the porch steps so the seeds could be in the sun. A few hours later, I looked outside and I saw dirt all over the step and a dug-out spot in the planter. I am guessing my brother's dog made that mess. I was upset when I first saw it, but now I am over it. I guess those things tend to happen when a puppy is around. Oh well.......
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Pecan Tarts
First, make the pie dough. I use a double-crust pie dough recipe.
It seems like the double-crust recipe I use makes just enough dough for the amount of pecan filling.
Lay the tart pan face - down on the dough and cut around it 1/4 inch away from the pan.
Press the piece of cut dough into the tart pan. Apply enough pressure to the dough so that the dough will stay in place inside of the tart pan.
After all of the tart pans have pie dough they can be filled with the pecan tart filling.
Put all of the tart pans onto a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 50 - 60 minutes or until the center surface of tart can be lighty pressed against and the surface will spring back.
Cool tarts on a wire rack.
Belle
Please visit my store - http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/
You can email me @ homesteaderbelle@yahoo.com/
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Earth Hour - Turn out your lights for one hour
Who else is shutting off their lights for Earth Hour Saturday, March 28 2009 at 8:30 p.m. (local time)?
If you haven't heard of Earth Hour, you can read about it on this link - http://www.earthhourus.org/main.php .
Belle
Please visit my store - From the Past.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Pistachio Pudding Recipe
Mmmm....I love Pistachio Pudding. My Granny always make this dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Pistachio Pudding is very simple dessert to make.
~Pistachio Pudding~
To make Pistachio Pudding, you will need:
1 Box of Pistachio Instant Pudding
1 1/2 C. Miniature Marshmallows
1 (20 ounce) can Crushed Pineapple
1 Large container of Cool Whip
Maraschino Cherries
Stir all ingredients together in a large serving bowl. After all the ingredients are stirred together, put maraschino cherry halves over the top of the pudding, cover the bowl of pudding with lid or with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator to set up.
Thank you for visiting my blog! Please come back and visit again soon.
Belle
My Store: From the Past
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Making Quilts from Old Clothing
I found this blog, http://quiltville.blogspot.com/ . The lady who has this blog makes her quilts out of old clothes. She has made some really neat quilts. She also wrote a quilt book called Scraps & Shirttails. You can preview her book here -
http://quiltville.com/scrapsandshirttailspreview.shtml .
I love to sewing and making quilts! I save all of the 100% cotton clothes for quilt making and all the flannel shirts and blue jeans I save to use in raggedy quilts and tied quilts.
Here are some pictures of one of my projects that is in the making now. It is all made from cotton clothing and the white center was made from an old sheet.
This is a quilt I am making with my mom, my sister, and my granny.
This is a Raggedy Quilt that I made with Mom, Sister, and Granny.
The quilt in the picture is over six years old and has been used a lot.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Vintage Doiles, Wilton Garter, and Book
The picture above is a new in package Wilton Garter. It is very pretty! I would like to sell this for $3.50 + $1.50 shipping costs.
This is one of those Doiles that with starch it will stand up with a nice ruffly edge. This is a nice vintage piece. This doile is about seven inches in diameter. It is for sale at the price of $ + $1.50 shipping costs.
This is a lovely country blue color doile. It is about 10 inches in diameter. It is a pineapple design. I will sell this for $+ $1.50 shipping costs.
Cottage Living
Designing Comfortable Country Retreats
by Ellen M. Plante
This book is in excellent condition with dust-jacket. Almost every page has a large color photo of cottage homes. You could get some good decorating tips and ideas from this book. I want to sell this book for $8.00 + shipping costs that I will calculate with your zip code.
If you are interested in purchasing any of these items, send me an email. My email address is hometeaderbelle@yahoo.com . I accept Pay-Pal, checks, or money orders. If you want an item, but you can't pay for the prices that I have listed, make an offer. I do combine shipping. I will ship to countries outside the USA, but I will have to charge more on the shipping cost.
I will be listing more items here on my blog soon. Come back and visit my blog again!
Thank you for looking!
Belle
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Quick-Change Cloth Pad Give Away!
I am having a giveaway for a Quick-Change cloth menstrual pad. You can read the rules of the giveaway and sign up there to win it at my store, From the Past. Be sure to leave you email or someway of cotacting you in your entry.
Thank you for reading my blog.
Belle
http://homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post.html
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Our Christmas Window
The picture below is a picture of a color-by-number that my brother colored. Mom and Brother glued the back of the color-by-number onto a piece of construction paper, laced a silver ribbon through the top, and tied it with a bow. It makes a wonderful Christmas decoration.
Everyone in my family made paper snnowflakes to put on the windows. Here are pictures of a few of them:
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Handmade Christmas Gifts: Embroidered Tea Towels
I also have a Carrot Seeds tea towel finished to match the Watermelon Seeds tea towel, but I didn't take pictures of it.
I will sew homespun fabric around the embroidery work and put homespun on the back. I will take a picture of the completed tea towel when I finish them.
I love making gifts for my family. I am also going to try to make some monogramed hankercheifs for my brother and Pap-paw.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
Thank you for reading my blog and please come again soon! Please visit my store .
Belle
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Handmade Decorative Hair Pin
A friend asked me to sell these, so I will be listing them for sale in my store. I will be selling them for $1.50 each at my store.
Please vivit my store http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/
Thank You for reading my blog!
Belle
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Hanging clothes in the House
Many people do not like hanging their clothes outside on the clothes line in the winter. I can't hang the laundry outside in the winter, because we have a wood burning fire place, if I was to hang the clothes out on the line, they would smell of smoke from the fire. So, I hang the laundry in the house. I have a retractable clothes line in the bathroom and a wooden clothes rack to hand clothes on.
Tonight, when I was hanging up the laundry, I ran of things to hang the clothes on, I quickly solved this problem by taking the handles of a broom and a mop and putting them on the top of two chairs. This added some more space to hand the clothes up. I then hung the laundry on clothes hangers and hung them on the broom handles to dry in the living room. I think it is beautiful to see my laundry hanging up in the house!
By the way, this is also a way to not use the dryer, save on the electric bill, and it is better for the enviroment!
Belle
Saturday, November 22, 2008
giveaway
To sign up for the giveaway, go to the link below , read the rules of this giveaway (they are on her blog), and leave her a comment with your email address.
Here is the link -
http://mountainmorning.blogspot.com/2008/11/100th-post-giveaway.html
Belle
Monday, November 17, 2008
Homemade Laudry Soap: How to make it (tutorial)
This is the recipe for homemade soap make a five-gallon bucket full of liquid soap.
Homemade Laundry Soap
- 1 Bar of Fel-Naptha Soap
- 2 cups of Borax
- 2 cups of Arm & Hammer Washing (not baking) Soda
- a pot and a lid
- a clean five-gallon bucket
- a spoon
- a grater (like a cheese grater)
- a large stick for stirring - a broom handle works great!
Put hot water in the pot with the grated soap, enough hot water to cover the grated soap. Put a lid on the pot of grated soap and heat the soap on the stove on meduim heat .
Fill the five-gallon bucket with hot water, leave enough head-space in the bucket to add the pot of melted soap. Stir the hot water, Borax, and Arm & Hammer Washing soda with your long stick as you fill the bucket with the hot water. Do not add the water too quickly or will get a bunch of bubbles and soapy suds.
When the pot of grated soap is completely melted, it can be poured into the five-gallon bucket. Rinse the pot with water after all the soap is poured in and put the rinse water in too, so the whole bar of soap gets into the pot.
Stir the mixture together well and it is finished! You can use the soap immediatly, but do not bottle the soap for a day or two. In a few hours after making this soap usually turns into a thick gel, much like Jello. It is best to stir the soap every few hours or as often as possible for a day or two.
After a day or more of sitting in the bucket, it can be bottled. I store my soap in clean containers, juice containers work well. Any container used needs too be clean!
This Homemade Laundry soap doesn't make a bunch of suds like the laundry detergents from the store, but it does clean the laundry. To wash a one load of laundry, use one cup of homemade laundry soap.
This soap doesn't get the whites as white and bright as I like them, so I add about a cup of color safe bleach powder detergent to the whites, along with the cup of homemade laundry soap. I like the Sun brand color safe bleach. I get it at the Dollar Tree.
This soap has definately save money for my family! I hope you enjoy this recipe!
-Belle-