So It Begins Again

It's Planting Season! Ya!!! Yippee!!!! Yes, it's that time of year again. Busy, busy, hurry up, and wait. The anticipation leading up to the next few weeks has been building all winter. We've actually had a few days of warm (almost 80 degree) weather. So we've gotten a lot done for planting the garden previously. I'm still trying to dig all the compost out of the bunny/chicken hoop barn. It's slow going with a garden rake and shovel.

During the waiting period while things grow in the garden and indoor seed starts, we'll be dismantling the bunny/chicken hoop barn and eventually the chicken coop and run by the food storage out building. We're realigning them better and rotating them 90 degrees so there's less muddy areas. I don't know why Mel didn't think of it when she first built them.  In their current position, they run against the downhill slope so rain water gets trapped.

Meanwhile, we went to Tractor Supply and bought some Rhode Island Reds and Americana chicks to increase our flock of egg layers. They were straight run so we'll have to see how many hens to roos we get. We did try wing feather sexing them, but they are far from day old chicks so we'll have to wait and see. If we end up with more than 2 roos in a bunch they'll be destined for freezer camp. We could sure use the meat, but egg layers is what we want. The roos are nice for producing fertilized eggs for hatching but that's about it in our enclosed pens. Right now, Mel is saying "no" to hatching eggs, but we'll see. She also says "no" to butchering our own chicken. Again, we'll see. You do what you have to when facing the possibility of going hungry and Mel's a huge carnivore.

The latest stay at home dates is the end of April, but honestly, it could be longer. I'm not a fear monger. I'm just looking at the numbers of new cases each day. Eggs are in short supply in the grocery stores now. You'd be hard pressed to find raw meat in our grocery stores. Most of it is processed with all that breading and chemicals. Yuck!. With our stores building running low in meats and vegetables, I'm just praying we have enough to see us through this SHTF scenario until we can restock our pantry.

The longer America in general stays out of work, the harder it will be for the little guys (businesses) to survive and the shortages will get worse. Fresh foods will be harder and harder to come by.  People will be sourcing food wherever they can, even from us lowly homesteaders. I have no problem feeding others once our own needs are taken care of.

There are church based or community food banks that have almost bare pantry shelves now with this virus. Some food banks have even closed which makes matters worse. Desperate people do desperate things when faced with hungry children at home. Making it dangerous for everyone. I've seen it happen before and didn't expect to see it happen in the US, but it very easily could. Yes, I partially bought into the 'land of plenty line.'

I just ordered a pound of yeast from Amazon and more powdered whole milk while they still have it. I was running low on both. Have you noticed how many "Not Available" postings there are on Amazon! I never thought I'd see the day. There's more available listing for brewer's yeast than baking yeast. Now that's scary keynote to the times. More people are interested in their daily bread than drinking. Usually it's the other way around.

*Note to self- make a sourdough Herman. I let the old one die. Bad Jo, bad! In my defense, I did spend more time in the hospital and recovering last year than I have in almost a decade.

Now, if you are truly desperate, there's Ebay. Ebay used to be the place to find cheaper things. Now, it's home to price gougers. A friend of mine bought two mega rolls of toilet paper for three times the store prices. Yes, she was that desperate. Here's a woman who washed her husband's diapers and pads, but won't use personal cloths for herself. It sort of boggles the mind, but to each their own. I offered to send her some, but she'd already bought it.

Back to the topic of this post. The quail cages are built and awaiting quail. While I'd planned to do this in March, too many other income eating things occurred. So now, I'm calling a local breeder for adult quail and hatching eggs next week.  I'll buy two dozen birds and two dozen hatching to begins with. This way I can cull unneeded males immediately for freezer camp. In 18 days, I'll have a dozen chicks or more given a 50% hatch rate. In six to eight weeks, these will start laying eggs and they extra males will go to freezer camp or be sold. I can incubate more eggs, but Mel can also sell the eggs too. Three or four quail eggs equal a chicken egg. So it will take more of them to make anything with them. At $6 for a dozen eggs, or breeding quads for $30, this will add up to quick income for homestead expenses and expansion plans. It will provide income while Mel's chicks age up to lay eggs (6 months). That's a nice chunk of change in the interim.

Now, honestly, what good is money? Other than paying bills with if you can't buy groceries? Everyone has to eat. My Momma used to say when people asked why she gardened, "You can't eat money?" You see, my Momma had experienced the food shortages in WWII Japan. Her father was wealthy, but they couldn't buy food. So he bought out a bombed out air field and offered a place for farmers a safe place to farm. The American wouldn't bomb an air strip that had been destroyed already. In those days, most air strips had their own water supply and ponds. So with no electricity, farmers came to farm the land. My grandfather built huts for their families out of recycled bits and pieces. They paid my grandfather a portion of their crops. Food was used to eat and to barter with for other essential needs.

My Momma also said, "There will always be an again." She prepared us for living without and how to survive. My grandmother did the same thing having raised a family of ten during the Great Depression. I never forgot their teachings. So ask me now, why I homestead and try for a more self sufficient lifestyle. While this virus may only create hardships for a few months, it's a wake up call to the US just when everyone was forgetting 9/11. Get ready. There will be an again. So, the busyness of spring time begins again on our little homestead.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Cooking with Chef Jo: Bacon Cheese Casserole

See it wasn't an April Fools' joke!

As promised, this week's recipe is my Momma's Bacon Cheese Casserole recipe. A funny story...my dad's favorite things in the world to eat are tomatoes, bacon, and cheese. So Momma thought she'd won the jackpot with this recipe. I have no idea where she originally got the recipe, but it is old. The very first time she made it, my Dad came home, packed his sea bag, and went with his unit because Russia decided to put missiles in Cuba (1962). He said it smelled good as he went out  the door. After the fifth attempt and him heading out the door for some emergency or other, she gave up trying to make it for him, but she made it for us several times when he was deployed.  In fact, he never tasted it before I made it in 1997 though many times Momma made it.

It's one of my favorite budget friendly meals that feeds a crowd. It freezes well too. When I was making this to freeze, I used the 3 for $1, 4x3 foil pans from Dollar Tree for the two of us. I simply make it in the pot and before I bake it off, I'll cover the pans with lids that came with the pans and put the extras in the freezer. This one recipe will make four meals for us.

Momma's Bacon Cheese Casserole
Serves 8

What you'll need

1 lb bacon, cut into 1" pieces
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 16 oz whole tomatoes
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
1 lb medium egg noodles
2 slices bread, torn into bite sized pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Putting it all together

• Cook noodles per package directions minus 2 minutes cooking time. The noodles will be al dente.
• Cook bacon until crisp in a pot.
• Remove bacon and place on paper towel to drain.
• Pour out all but 1 TBS of bacon fat. (save it for seasoning)
• Return pot to medium heat, add the onion and garlic. Saute until tender.
• Pour liquid from the tomatoes into the pot to scrap all the yummy bits from the bottom of the pot.
• Squeeze the tomatoes until it breaks off into bite sized pieces into the pot.
• Bring mixture to a boil.
• Add the bacon back to the pot. Stir well.
• Add the bread pieces to the pot. Stir well.
• Add 1 cup of Parmesan cheese. Stir well.
• Check for needed salt and pepper. Add if needed. (Both the bacon and Parmesan cheese are salty)
• Add the cooked egg noodles. Stir well and pour mixture into a 9x13 pan.
• Sprinkle top with remaining Parmesan cheese.
• Bake 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese browns.

Serving suggestions- Serve with a tossed green or spinach salad, and some crusty rolls.

Don't let the ease of making this dish fool you. It only takes about 40 minutes to make, but it's oh so delicious! For these tough times, I used my canned tomatoes, canned bacon, home dehydrated onions, home dehydrated garlic, I made my egg noodles, and used two of the crusty rolls I made instead of the bread slices. I also raided my stores building for the Parmesan cheese for a total from food stores meal. Enjoy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

Sheltered in Place?

Week 2

Call it sheltering in place or self quarantine during this virus pandemic, it's business as usual here on the homestead. Will we have shortages in groceries? Admittedly, some in the coming weeks. The cupboard is almost bare. While Walmart and Ingles are doing their best on restocking the shelves, the demand is high. I am forever thankful that we are only two here to feed besides the critters. We aren't desperate by any stretch of the imagination.

Now we're in the second week of self/county government imposed isolation to try and contain the spread of the virus. This week the number of those with active viral processes (not just tested positive) has jumped to 12 and those infected with flu number 50 hospitalized. So the generally imposed quarantine isn't working or maybe it is. There's no telling how many more cases of the virus or the flu there would be if it wasn't put in place.

Many are reaching stages of boredom and feeling the isolation of it all. That's the thing about homesteading, there's always more work to do than we have time for. For a week now, Cara, our English cross satin angora has sat in her cage with a blown coat. She's waiting to be plucked clean of it. I just haven't had the two hours to spare. I've been in garden mode digging out the bunny/chicken hoop barn and moving the wet compost to the garden.

Luna and Frankie, Reynaldo's dogs.

This week, I'm trying to keep Luna, Reynaldo's German Shepherd, from killing another hen. Because Luna has started attacking chickens, her little "brother" Frankie follows suit. Frankie also isn't house trained so he's leaving puddles and piles on our carpet. Grrr! We didn't get these dogs to train. They are not our dogs, but because we have dogs, their playmates, they have the run of the place also.

Nnyus is still training both younger dogs, Kassity and Luna, about protecting the properties from predators. Nnyus has little patience for Frankie and has let him know in short order. She's an old dog and her days of raising pups is ancient history. Frankie is slowly learning to respect his elders because Nnyus is getting stronger in her reprimands with him. Luna finally learned "go home" this week. The puppy, Frankie, was dragged several times out the door and told to "go home." He still doesn't get it yet, but he will.

So sheltering in place is the same old, same old thing for us. The cockeyed critters keep us hopping. The critters have at least a month and a half's worth of food in the bins for the dogs and cats. The chickens can free range if feed runs out. There's an ample supply of worms and bugs to feed all of them with just a minimal supplement of grains. The rabbits go through a 50# sack of feed every two months and have an extra 50# bale of timothy hay in the storeroom. So they are all good for at least three months or more.

We've got enough paper goods for six months so we won't have to use our backup flannel sheet personal cloths. But, we have the luxury of choice. Choice is an oft over looked luxury when faced with shortages, but for the most part we still have it.

I might not find a chuck roast or stew meat to make
a pot of beef stew or beef and vegetable soup, but what I did find was Hormel's beef toast in au jus. I bought the limited two for the basis of my beef stew. Heck, the meat was almost cut the way I needed it so it was a bonus for my purposes and instead of  eight meals it made twenty-four. Having the know how to stretch what you got comes in handy at times like these. That and being able to make things from scratch are main advantages of surviving this quarantine.

My lettuces and radishes are big enough to cut a few leaves for salad to go with our meals. What with foraging the weed population (dandelions, plantain, assorted weeds), we can have a fresh green salad twice a week. It will only get better with time as spring progresses before the garden is fully harvestable. In the end, we'll make it through.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo