Fried Fish, a LaMancha Dairy Goat, and Homemade Goat Milk Ice Cream

Tonight, for supper, my family and I had fried fish. My sister, brother, and dad all went fishing yesterday. They caught a bunch of Blue Gill.
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/

This Year's Garden so far...........

Has anyone started their gardens yet? I have started my gardening this year. I have only planted seeds indoors.

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!

Last night, I planted Parsley and Oregano in the Chia herb kit. I still have two pots to plant in, but I have not decided what to plant in them yet. Oregano is an herb a use very often. I put Oregano on my homemade garlic bread. I use Parsley often too. I like to make Parsley potatoes and I use Parsley in my homemade vegetable dip. I will have to share that recipe sometime.
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.

My family and I were going to plant the potatoes a week or two ago, I am sure glad that we didn't! We have had cold weather and lots of rain. The potatoes would have just rotted in the ground if we would have planted them. The rain has stopped and the ground is starting to dry up. When the ground gets a bit dryer, which will probably be in a few days, we will plant the potatoes.

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.......

Below is a picture of it. The picture doesn't show the much of the damage the dog made.

In a month or two, it will be time to plant green beans and corn. We let some of the corn and beans go to seeds and we saved the seeds. We will not have to buy corn or bean seeds this year.

This is just an update of what's going in the garden.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please come back to my blog again!

-Belle-

Please visit my store - http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/

Pecan Tarts

My Granny's birthday was this month. For her birthday, I made Pecan Tarts. She loved them! The recipe for the tarts is below.

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.

Pie dough recipe

2 cups of All-purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon of Salt

2/3 cup of Shotening

6 -7 Tablespoons of cold Water

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour and salt. Cut in the shortening till pieces are the size of small peas. Sprinkle two to three tablespoons of the cold water over mixture. Stir and cut the mixture. Add as much more of the cold water as needed.

Form the dough in a ball and put on a floured surface.

Roll the dough out to the thickness of 1/8 - 1/4 inch.

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.

Pecan Tart Filling

1 cup of Light Corn Syrup

3 Large Eggs

2 Tablespoons of Butter (not margarine)

1 teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

2 cups of Pecan Halves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit. In a mixing bowl, mix together using a spoon corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Stir in pecans. Pour pecan tart filling into tart pans.
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.

I love to make tarts! When I am at thrift shops and yard sales, I look for tart pans. I recently went to a thrift shop that was out of town and I found seven new tart pans at $0.25 each. I was so excited to find them and to add them to my collection.

Belle

Please visit my store - http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/
You can email me @ homesteaderbelle@yahoo.com/

Earth Hour - Turn out your lights for one hour

I have the date Saturday, March 28, 2009 marked on my calender to shut out my lights for one hour at 8:30 p.m. (local time) for Earth 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.

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

Making Quilts from Old Clothing

Most of the fabric that I make quilts with comes from old clothes that were going to be thrown away. I do buy new fabric when I am doing sewing for other people. All of the clothing that I can not wear or friends and family members do not want, I take the clothes and use them for making quilts and other projects.

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.

Raggedy quilts are made with a blue jean top and the back of the quilt can be made with homespun, flannel, or cotton. The quilt that I made in the picture is backed with cotton. A Raggedy Quilt is not quilted, I guess it is more of a blanket than a quilt. A Raggedy Quilt is sewn so all of the seams show in the top of the quilt. When a Raggedy quilt is all sewn together, all of the seams are clipped, then the quilt is washed ,dried, and the top of the quilt has the appearance of a pair of raggedy, frayed blue jeans.
The quilt in the picture is over six years old and has been used a lot.

-Front of Raggedy Quilt-
-Back of Raggedy Quilt-

To make a quilt top, all that is needed is a pattern, some material, a needle, and thread, you don't even need a sewing machine to make a quilt. Thin pieces of cardboard like cereal boxes, spaghetti boxes, back of old note-books work best for making a pattern.

Quilts made with small pieces, like the Double Wedding Ring quilt I have shown above, are wonderful to take along wherever I go, especially when I go somewhere where I have to wait, like when I go to the doctor, the dentist, etc..... I can get a lot of sewing done while I am sitting and waiting, actually, it seems like I can get a quilt done much faster sewing by hand than I can while sitting at the sewing machine. When I am sewing a quilt by hand, I can work on it anytime, anywhere.

I keep all of the pieces to each quilt in their own container so I don't get them mixed up with other projects I am working on. I keep my projects in tins, baskets, purses, etc....

Belle

Please visit my store - http://www.homesteaderbelle.blogspot.com/

Vintage Doiles, Wilton Garter, and Book

I have some things around the house that I am wanting sell, so I have decided to post them right here on my blog.

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

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

Our Christmas Window

The window in our kitchen is all decorated for Christmas. It is covered Christmas crafts that my mom, sister, and brother made and Christmas cards that were sent to us by friends and family.




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:

Merry Christmas!

Belle

Please visit my store, From the Past.

Handmade Christmas Gifts: Embroidered Tea Towels

I am making homemade gifts for the women in my family. I am making them embroidered tea towels. Below are pictures of the embroidry I have done for the 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

Handmade Decorative Hair Pin

In a magazine, I found an idea to make very cute, decorative pins to wear in the hair. Above is a picture of the pin I made. I made it with a bobby pin, a 12 inch piece of 26 gauge wire, seed beads, and one larger bead for the center.

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

Hanging clothes in the House

Here is a money saving laundry tip that I use-

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

giveaway

A lynette jenson book is going to be given away in a give away on MountainMorning's blog. She is celebrating her 100th blog entry!

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

Homemade Laudry Soap: How to make it (tutorial)

Today, I made homemade laudry soap. While, I was making it I thought,"I should put the recipe for this soap and how to make it on my blog." So, I will post how to make it.
This is the recipe for homemade soap make a five-gallon bucket full of liquid soap.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Supplies needed for this project:

• 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!
• 
  

First, grate the bar of Fels-Naptha with a grater, in the pot.

When I grate soap, I usually wear a mask or a bandana over my mouth and nose so I don't breathe in the fumes of the soap.

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 .

Now, put 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda) in the five-gallon bucket.


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-

Strawberry Tarts and Recipe!

Friday, I made some strawberry tarts to share with some friends.

I love tarts! I love to make them and I love to eat them.

I bought my 11 tart pans and a heart shaped jello mold, which works great as a tart pan, for only $1.00 at a flea market. I had been looking for some and I finally found them at that flea market I went to. I was very excited to get them! Below is a picture of the heart shaped jello mold, one of my heart shaped tart pans, and one circle tart pan.

Here is the recipe to make strawberry tarts.

Strawberry Tarts

Recipe for Tart shell:

Tart Shell

• 2 Cups flour
• 1 teapsoon salt
• 2/3 cups shortening
• 6 to 7 tablespoons of cold water

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening until pieces are the size of small peas. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the water over the mixture; toss gently with a fork. Gradually add more of the tablespoons of water while working with the mixture until the dough is moistened enough to form into a ball.Form the dough into a ball and flatten the dough, with hands, on a lightly floured surface.

Roll the dough into a even piece of dough.

Lay the tart pan 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.

Now, prick the dough inside the tart pan with a fork.

After the dough in the pan has been pricked, it should look like the picture below.

After the all of the tart pans are filled with the dough and pricked, they can now go into the preheated oven. (Below is a picture before they have been baked.)
Here is a picture of the tart shells after they have baked.

Now the tart shells are ready to be filled.

Here is the recipe to make strawberry filling.

Strawberry Filling

• 2 tubes of Wick's Strawberry Glaze (it can be found in the produce aisle, it is NOT THE SUGAR- FREE)
  
• 2 quarts of Fresh Strawberries
  

Wash and strain the strawberries. Core and slice the strawberries into small slices and put slices in a medium miing bowl. Add the tubes of strawberry glaze to the sliced strawberries and gently fold together with a spatula. After glaze and strawberries are combined, pour it into the tart shells.
Put a little whipped cream on top of each tart before serving and they are ready to eat. Enjoy!

Belle

Please vote for my other blog in the 2008 Homeschool blog awards. I appreciate the votes! Below is the link to vote for my blog -

http://homeschoolblogawards.com/best-homemaking-or-recipes-blog-2008/

My blog name is Born 100 Years too Soon.