Cooking with Chef Jo: Hand Pies and Mini Pies with a Lard Crust

When I had a houseful of people (children, spouse, and assorted friends) over it was full fledged pies for dessert.

Now,  we are just a small homestead of two sexagenarian widows. We really don't eat that much. Baking a full pie is wasteful because we can't eat the whole thing before it goes bad. This is the bad thing about making everything from scratch without preservatives. It just doesn't keep very long. But I think of all the desserts I make and fruit pies rank #1.

So what's the smarter option? Hand pies and mini pies that are baked on demand. I'll make a full recipe lard pie crust and freeze the extra portions. Yes, I said lard. Hands down, it's the flakiest pie crust I make that's oven baked not fried pie. I swore off frying pies after my husband's first heart attack. I still used lard pie crusts, but I picked my battles with cholesterol. They are portion controlled by their nature of being three to four bites. You really don't need more than that after a full meal or even as a snack. I do tend to roll my crust thinner to allow for more fruit in each pie also.

A word or two about your flour choice...

The difference between regular, all purpose flour and pastry flour is the gluten and texture. I never worried about the gluten content because you really have to knead the dough to activate it, but the texture is another story. Have you ever felt cake or pastry flour?  Yes, it's sold at the grocery stores under several brand names like the one shown. It's ultra milled until it is silky. You can't feel the coarseness of the flour. It's texture is like powdered sugar because it's powdered flour. You can achieve the same texture with all purpose flour and a blender. Just grind the heck out of it until it's super powdery. That's what I do.

This is what I use for my pastries and cakes. I may write all purpose flour in the recipe, but when I make it, I grab this as my go to.

My lard pie crust recipe is pretty standard. It can be found in numerous cookbooks already published. My technique may be a little more labor intensive, but well worth it.

Basic Lard Pastry
2-9" pastry crusts
What you'll need

2 3/4 cups of flour
8 ozs of lard
1 tsp salt
2 TBS sugar
about 1/2 cup water, it will depend on the humidity and how long ago the wheat was milled*

Note*- we grind our own sprouted wheat here on the homestead. It is non GMO soft winter wheat we get from Amish country in NC. So the age of milled flour is not in question. We know. If you buy flour elsewhere, the date and conditions it's milled in isn't known.

Putting it together 

• Break lard into tablespoon sized pieces and freeze about 30 minutes.
  
• Sift flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Stir it through with a whisk to deflate the mixture a bit.
• Mix the lard into the flour mixture. Squeeze each TBS of lard into the flour breaking it into about four pieces. Each piece is thoroughly coated with flour.
• You should end up with pea shaped pieces and some loose flour in the bowl. This is the most labor you'll do to this crust. Refrigerate covered for 30 minutes to allow the fat to harden up some again. This will make the fluffiness/layers in your crust as you roll it out.
• Add 1/4 cup of water and toss the flour mixture with your open fingered hands. Scrap your fingers and hands when needed.
• Continue to add water until the dough begins to form a small balls of dough form.
• Bring the dough together into two balls equal sized. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
• Take one ball out of the refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured board or counter.
• Press your rolling pin vertically across the top of the ball to flatten the ball to about half to 3/4 of the thickness.
• Lift the dough and give it a quarter turn and repeat the vertical press.
• Now you can easily roll the dough to 1/8th to 1/16th inch thick without over working the dough.
• If I need to reroll my scraps, I return the dough to the refrigerator for 30 minutes, but I rarely have to reroll my pastry dough. I prefer to use once rolled dough for optimum flakiness.
• For making mini pies, the ring of a wide mouth canning ring is the perfect size for the bottom crust for a standard muffin cup. For hand pies, cut a 6" triangles (you'll use 2 for each pie) or a 6x9 inch rectangle.
• Add 1-2 TBS of your fruit filling.
• For hand pies, brush the edges with water and fold in half. Crimp the edges to seal the filling inside the pastry.
• For the mini pies, I usually cut a second wide mouth canning ring sized top to give me ample dough to make a pretty crust edge or lattice the tops.
• Cut two to three slits in the top of your pies for steam to vent while baking.
• Place the remainder of your pies on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze for an hour.
• Place the frozen pies in a freezer bag to pull however many you want to cook later.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes in the oven, or 320 degrees for 15 minutes in your air fryer.
• You may egg or milk wash your pies and sprinkle sugar on top before baking.  
• Wait 5 minutes before you eat them or you risk burning your mouth badly. Done that, OUCH!

I follow the Amish Canning Cookbook method of making fruit filling while each fruit is at its optimum ripeness. I pick my Clear-jel up from Amish country when I go as one of my bulk staples. I'm assured of its non GMO status. I usually  get 2 dozen hand pies or 2 dozen lattice topped pies out of one recipe of crust and 2 pints of fruit filling. If I do a crumb topping on my mini pies, I'll get 4 dozen. So it's at least dozen desserts for the two of us to enjoy anytime. Or for a savory option, I'll make empanadas, pizza fillings, or meat, onions and meat sprinkled with herbs on top.

Waste not, want not- Above I mentioned not preferring to reroll my dough.  I'll take these leftover pieces, brush them with butter, and stack them 3 layers high. I'll brush them with an egg wash, and sprinkle sugar on top. I'll bake them on parchment paper the same as the pies. I'll save them in a bag as snacks dipped in jam. Enjoy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

Starting Seeds for Spring Planting and Beyond

StWhen it comes to starting seeds, some people will wait until they can plant to seeds in the soil. That's fine if you want to wait the whole time to maturity, seeds that don't sprout, or have them wither and die off in the first weeks of life leaving empty patches in your rows. I understand why you would do this if you were planting acres of one crop, but most homesteaders don't. We grow more manageable rows that are 10', 25', or 50' to get the yields we need for our personal consumption, or have extras to sell at the local markets. We aren't commercial growers. We grow what we like.

For example take tomatoes. We love tomatoes on this homestead. We sauced, stew, dice, and even dehydrate them. Plus we'll eat them fresh all season long until the first heavy frost will kill the plants. I calculated how many pounds of tomatoes we'd need to accomplish our goal of a year's worth of produce. There are several kinds of seeds you can buy. Our choice is heirloom and grow them chemical-free. For canning, I like Roma tomatoes. They are oblong versus big and round.several hundred pounds of these to can. For fresh eating nothing beats Purple Cherokee and Beefsteak. While, technically can these also, I usually don't. We just 💓 good old 'mater sandwiches during the summer. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it.

The same goes for green beans.  Although a harvest of a little over eighty pounds will be needed for long term storage plus fresh eating. These will be grown in succession planting for a harvest until frost for fresh eating. I prefer bush beans to pole beans. You'd think as little as our gardening space is (less than 1/8 an acre) that I would grow vertically, but with this vegetable I'd rather not.

So here it is the middle of February and I'm just now starting my seeds for my spring garden. The couple inches of snow fall was unexpected, and then I remembered the video Mel sent me just two weeks before I moved here  in March 2016 of it snowing. It still kind of threw me off starting my seeds indoors like I planned.

So what am I sowing indoors?
Assorted lettuces, spinach, carrots, onions, radishes, beets, English peas, celery, green cabbage, and napa cabbage. With my limited planting space, I can't grow enough broccoli or Brussels sprouts to make it worth my while.

So how many plants will I need to plant for a year's worth for the two of us?
Assorted lettuces-I cut the outer leaves as they grow but still I started a 10x20 flat tray of them. I usually buy a variety of lettuce seeds we like and mix them all together to plant them. I'll start several trays a couple weeks apart before the summer heat starts. Then plant again in the fall. If Mel builds me a high tunnel greenhouse, I can continue planting through December.
Spinach-This is a tough one to guesimate because we also use them in salads. But I planted 40 plants and that should yield me about 7 lbs.
Carrots- I dunno, who can count carrot seeds? I sprinkled about half a packet over a 5"x10" container.
Onions- Again, as with the carrots, tiny specks of seeds sprinkled over a 5"x10" container.
Radishes & Beets- I mainly grow these for dyes and the greens, Twenty-five each and planted in succession.
English Peas- On average the figures are 30 plants per person. So I sowed 60 seeds
Celery- This is another cut as it grows. I sowed ten seeds and do succession planting.
Green cabbage- I sowed six to make my sauerkraut and freeze some. I'm the only one that eats it. I may dehydrate some to put in soba noodles.
Napa cabbage- I sowed six of these as well for Kimchi and stir fry. It dose not preserve well.

The summer garden indoor seeds begins the last of March and April. That's hard for me to believe since our last predicted frost date is mid April. We won't actually plant any of the seeds I start today until May 1st.

Cooking with Chef Jo: Canning Tomatoes in Winter

Canning in winter is so much more comfortable. We heeat our home with a wood stove, so it does double duty during the winter. We just pulled two cast iron eyes off an old gas stove to cook on. Ours is an old wood stove and the cooktop is rusted in spots. It's not energy efficient like the newer models, but it works.

So what do I can in winter? Every harvest time for tomatoes, I'll wash, core, cut out the bad spots, and bag up 2-gallon bags of this produce and store them in our chest freezer. I'll wait until winter to make my sauce and diced tomatoes. My canners are in too much demand with all the other vegetables that need to be canned immediately like green beans, peas, corn, pickles, and assorted other vegetables during the other months. Tomatoes can definitely wait. By water bath canning my tomatoes in winter it serves another purpose. It adds humidity to the air. Wood heat is great except it's a very dry heat. Any wood product (furniture) and your sinuses suffer with this dry heat. This year is the exception because of the garden FAIL, but this is what I usually do.

 How about dried beans and other legumes? Soups and stews? Chilis? Meats? The amount of food you can can in winter is almost endless. I can almost can  canner load every day during winter. That's 5-19 pint jars worth of food stuff every load. Think of the time savings and the efficiency since we're already heating the house with wood anyhow.

Enough about that. Today I'm making tomato sauce and diced tomatoes on my wood stove. The diced tomatoes will go quick enough. The tomatoes are a breeze to peel because they are partially thawed and slip their skins easily. I took out twelve 2-gallon bags out of the freezer the night before and left them in the sink overnight. I'll process them two different ways: those tomatoes that are still frozen solid will be cut in half and go into my big stock pot, and those who can slip their skins easily will go into a dishpan to be diced. It usually comes out to a 75:25 ratio frozen solid to partially thawed. My water bath canner is already on the wood stove providing moisture to the air. The big stock pot is placed on the other eye to allow the tomato halves to thaw and simmer while I deal with the diced tomatoes.

Keep in mind, we still haven't purchased propane for our gas stove yet. So canning on the wood stove is essential.

Canning Diced Tomatoes

• Place the tomatoes to be diced, in a large strainer. I bought a sink sized colander from Amazon years ago. I allows me to strainer a large quantity of food stuff a one time.  A must have for any bulk, self sustainable canner like me.
• I'll place a clean dishpan under this colander to catch any juice that drips out during this process. Dishpans are cheap enough from the Dollar Tree.<G>
• I'll slip the skin off the tomato and place the skins in a bowl. The chickens love these!
• When the colander is full, I'll line up canning jars that I've pulled from the dishwasher and begin filling them with the tomatoes I dice.
• Once filled, leaving 1" head space, I'll add 1/4 tsp of canning salt.
• I'll ladle up the juices from the dishpan and pout into the jar.
• I debubble, wipe the rim with vinegar, and place the flat and ring on the jar.
• I've placed the plate from my pressure canner into my water bath canner so I can can more jars at one time.
• I'll place my jars into the canner. Once the canner comes back to a boil, I'll set my timer for 30 minutes.
• Once the timer has gone off I'll remove the jars and let sit for 24 hours. Wash them and store them.

Now what you've probably been waiting for... my tomato sauce. Now we add oregano, onion, garlic, and basil to our tomato sauce. It's in most of my tomato based recipes anyhow. If you don't want it, don't.I use this as a base for Sloppy Joe's, chili, spaghetti sauce,pizza, and meat loaf glazes. It's for every recipe that I use tomato sauce in. Remember, it's been on my wood stove while I prepared and canned. Now, those tomatoes have released their juices and reduced some in my 3 hours of diced tomato prep time. Twenty pounds of tomatoes went into the diced tomatoes.

Jo's Tomato Sauce Recipe
 What you'll need

40 lbsTomatoes, halved and reduced
1 TBS salt, Kosher, canning, sea salt, Himalayan Pink
2TBS dried Oregano
3 tsp black pepper
2 TBS dried Basil
1 head of Garlic, peeled and minced
2 medium onions, minced or 1/4 cup dehydrated
2 medium bell peppers, minced or 1/4 cup dehydrated (optional)


Putting it all together

• After the tomatoes have warmed and are all thawed, strain off the liquid. SAVE IT!! This is tomato juice for drinking you to can it later.
• You are left with most of the pulp and skins of the tomatoes. Return this to the pot* and heat (low to medium).
• Add onions, herbs, and bell peppers to the pot.
• Simmer for two hours to let the herbs and vegetables give off all their goodies to the sauce.
• With a stick blender, blend the mixture smooth.* 
• Ladle into hot jars, wipe rims, lid and ring jars.
• Place in water bath canner for 30 minutes.
• Remove from canner and let sit for 24 hours. Wash and check seals, store in your pantry.

Note*- Notice I left the skins of the tomatoes in the pot. This adds to the color, flavor, and taste of my sauce. There's a lot of vitamins in those skins too. Why waste them?
I like my sauce with little chunks in it so I don't blend mine totally smooth.

As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of ways to use this sauce. I'll repeat this process several times over the winter until I use all the tomato harvest for the year. In a good garden year, I'll net 300 lbs of tomatoes. Now that's good homesteading economics!

Unfortunately, last year's garden was a bust so I ended up buying Roma tomatoes from a local produce house so I did them earlier. Yuck!! The taste was not as good and vibrant as our home, organically grown tomatoes are. Well, there's always 2020's harvest to look forward to. Really yummy for my tummy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

The Babies are in the Coop, Now What?

4-week old chick before the move

The chickie babies are happily moved into their coop.  Next week, we'll allow them to check out outside. It should be interesting watching them explore their new territory. We wanted to teach them where home is first. They are still small so we don't expect them to explore their full 25' run this week, but we've got several independent, adventurous chicken that may. As we've learned, the rest will follow in the coming weeks. The days are still short and cold so it will deter them a bit from ranging too far from the coop. So the plan is to open the coop in the early afternoon when it's warmer.

In blue, 4 county area with us in the middle

So now what? The next step is to order one more 15 lot of Assorted Rainbow Hens from Myers Hatchery. That should give Mel enough eggs, starting this summer, to start selling fresh chicken eggs in a four county area. After that, she'll start her regular chicken farm business with birds and hatching eggs to sell. I might mention that none of the driving distance to the farthest edges of each county is more than 30-45 minute driving distance from home. That's also added into the egg price. She's picked a central location in each county to deliver the eggs to. The customers will meet her on specific days and times to purchase the eggs. Yes, she even went so far to get permission to use the spot from the owners of the property. It's only common courtesy, right?

Off the hand and onto the perch.

She is also going to set up a tent at the county's chemical-free farmers market each Saturday from 8-12. She'll be selling eggs and homestead crafts. We don't yet have a tent, but we do have a patio umbrella and chairs. We have a small, fold up table for crafts and plenty of scrap material to make a table covering with for this season. The coolers with the eggs can be house inside the vehicle to maintain the required coolness of the eggs. Yes, Mel has taken the required egg selling course and is certified to sell eggs. This is required and regulated by the state of Georgia. Although the farmers market is only open until September, she should be able to garner more customers for year around delivery of her products. That's the plan anyhow.

Meanwhile, we'll hit Tractor Supply up during their Chick Days for her breed specialty large pens in lots of 25 chicks each. The shipping is too much from the hatchery. Of course, these are sold in only straight run birds.  All extra roosters will be culled for homestead use this year. It will be quite noisy around here with all those chicks in brooder boxes for four weeks. But we can handle it, we're pros at raising chicks.

Choosing breeds and training chicks...

from Meyers  Hatchery site

Of course, genetics play a part in training chicks. We usually choose breeds for friendliness, fairly docile, and great producers.  Even so, we tend to stay away from the white egg layers preferring brown eggs. It's not that white eggs have less nutritional values, but our customers want nonwhite eggs. To them, standard white eggs can be bought at any grocery store. Customers are willing to pay a premium for colored eggs. We want that market! Our eggs aren't cheap, but they have bright, orange yolks, our chickens are raised in luxury compared to large scale egg producers, and each one (no small task) is lavished with the best food and care. Happy chickens lay healthier, better eggs.

Into the coop you go.

We start training our chicks from the first day they enter our homestead. After the initial water, warmth, and food training, we handle each chick daily. At first, it's just putting our hand in the brooder box and talk to them to get them used to our voices. Over the next few days, each will be handled and brought to our eye level. We talk to them constantly at this point. We check for any illness, poopy butts, pasty butts, and their general health. Any health issues are attended to. We'll do this several times a day until every chick is done at least once. Believe me, it goes faster with less stress to the birds with two people doing this.

Each day, the chicks' tension and fear dissipates. The more adventurous chicks will even run up to your hand when it's introduced into the brooder box. Within a week, they will try to perch on your fingers. It's a lot less stressful for you and them when they do this. Eventually, the whole brood will be fighting for position as soon as the lid

Moving day for you my dear!

comes up to be the first. At this point, you have them trained for life to be people friendly. They trust you not to hurt them so they are more relaxed about being handled. Within a matter of a few weeks, you are firmly imprinted on their minds as care givers to them. It's sort of like raising children, only much quicker.

We'll do the same for any chick or critter on the homestead even adopted ones. And yes, quail are still in the mix too.  Somewhere between the second purchase of hens and the TSC Chick Days we'll have quail eggs in the incubator. Being how small quail are, they can brood in a large tote. So that's the now "what's next" for Mel's chicken farm operation. Hopefully by 2021, she'll have her business producing its own self sustainable, steady income with room to expand farther.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Cooking with Chef Jo: Garbage Pizza Soup

When I was pregnant with my fourth daughter, I craved pizza. When I was not craving pizza, I was craving oysters, but that's another story. Not just any pizza would do. I wanted what my next older adopted sister called a garbage pizza. She was pregnant with her first child also. Whenever my husband worked an overnight shift, Nene would stay the night and we'd pig out on a large pizza between us on my queen sized bed.

The Garbage Pizza is a combination pizza of the Pizza Hut's Meat Lovers pizza and every single other topping the restaurant carried. To call it a loaded pizza was an understatement. Even with a medium thick crust, it defied being picked up to eat. We found the best way to eat it was to let the pizza cool 15 minutes so the crust would stiffen up some. Of course, it woouldn't be a true pregnancy craving without some additions. Namely Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and a good douse of hot sauce. We'd order a salad each, just to say it was healthy meal.

Fast forward a dozen years or so, I was working at a restaurant that had a soup and salad bar. I soon got tired of the tried and true soup recipes, and was itching to true something new. My memories of our pregnancy craving came to mind. So I created a recipe for a Garbage Pizza soup. Now that you know the story, it's on to the recipe. Be aware I'm canning this recipe to put in the food storage as well as serving it for dinner.

Jo's Garbage Pizza Soup
 21-1 cup servings

What you'll need

1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb Italian sausage
4 slices cooked ham
1-4.2 oz can anchovies
1/2 lb mini pepperoni
1/4 lb bulk sausage
2 large onions,chopped
2 large green bell peppers, chopped
1 lb white button mushrooms, wiped and sliced
10 black olives, sliced, about 1/4 cup
                                                                                    10 green olives, sliced, about 1/4 cup
                                                                                    1/2 lb spinach leaves, coarse
                                                                                     chopped, and blanched and dried
                                                                                    1/2 cup sweet Greek pepperonchini, sliced
                                                                                    5 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced*
                                                                                    2 qts of diced tomatoes or 2-38 oz cans
                                                                                    3 qts of tomatoes sauce, or 3 cans of Hunt's
                                                                                     roasted onion and garlic spaghetti sauce*
                                                                                    2 qts beef broth
                                                                                    1 TBS oregano, fresh or 1/2 TBS dried*
                                                                                    1 TBS basil, fresh or 1/2 TBS dried*
                                                                                    1/2 TBS ground rosemary, fresh or 2tsp
                                                                                     dried*
                                                                                    1/2 TBS marjoram, fresh or 2 tsp dried*
                                                                                    1TBS red pepper flakes
                                                                                    3 Bay leaves
                                                                                    Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano cheeses, and crisp, crumbled bacon (1 slice of bacon per serving) for service.

*Note- When using Hunt's spaghetti sauce reduce the starred items by half because the sauce is already seasoned
 with these.

Putting it all together

• Brown the ground beef, Italian sausage, pepperoni and sausage in a large stock pot. 
• Remove the meat from the pan and drain half the grease from the pan.
• Add onions, peppers, bay leaves, and mushrooms to the pot.
• Stir in and smash anchovies and cook until the onions begin to sweat.
• Add diced tomatoes with juice, herbs, olives, and garlic to the pot. Stir well
• Return the meat to the pot plus the ham with the vegetables.
• Bring mixture to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Add water if needed.
• Add tomato sauce/spaghetti sauce and beef broth to another pot and bring to a boil.
• Pressure can using the hot pack method. Hot jars, hot lids, hot soup.
• Ladle meat filling into the jars filling them halfway.
• Fill the remaining space by ladling tomato mixture.
• Debubble, leave 1" head space, wipe rims, lid, ring each jar, and put in your canner.
  
• Pressure can 65 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts per your altitude.
• Be sure and leave enough in your pot for dinner. Combine sauce and broth mixture with the meat mixture.
• Continue cooking at a low simmer for 2 hours.

For service heat soup and sprinkle a combination of cheeses and bacon on top of each bowl. The addition of hot sauce or sirrarcha is entirely optional. (grinning) Serve with a crusty Italian loaf of bread and a salad.

Enjoy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

Weather Dilemma: Starting Seeds

Yes, I know it's  still February 

It's been a crazy winter weather wise this year. Part if me wants to go ahead and start my early spring seeds, but another, sager, part says hold off for two weeks because winter is far from over. Our last frost date is in April.

I like to plant English peas, potatoes, and assorted cool weather crops in the ground by Easter, April 12th. Which means I should go ahead and sow transplants now. But experience has taught me, in the NE GA mountains, that a hard freeze with snow lasting several days will occur around the end of April and the beginning of May.

That's for a normal year. But this winter has been far from normal. We've had a few freezing cold days and nights, and only seen snow flurries a handful of times this winter. It actually snowed yesterday for the first time. Total accumulation was predicted at 2", but here on the homestead we got 8"! With the highs today being in the 50s again, it'll melt and it will turn to ice by morning, but even this is different than previous years when there was snow on the ground and ice everywhere. It's been too warm. Nights may be in the 20s, but the daytime highs have been in the 50s or more. It's almost like I'm living on the east GA coast again. The insect population is going to be horrible this year with not enough freezing weather to kill them off. For organic or chemical-free gardeners like us, this is bad news. It's going to be a constant battle against them to get a decent harvest.

Do I chance it? I may delay starting my seeds inside another week. Just to be safe. I can always start making the starter plugs of "soil" this week. These transplant plugs will be inserted into larger soil blocks after their first true leaves emerge. After all, there's no real nutrition available in seed starting mix and once the true leaves form, they'll need the compost boost to grow into healthy plants/ transplants. I'll not only be starting vegetables, but bug deterrent flowers and herbs. Think several hundred plugs/transplants. I'm planting for a year's worth of harvest and self-sufficiency.

This is the main difference between my ideal garden and Mel's. Mel's garden is strictly fresh eating ig we get anything. While I have nothing against this type of gardening, but I believe in planting enough plants and staggered plantings to do both. So while she will start a dozen or so seeds, I'll start 30-50. I may not plant all fifty, but choose the healthiest plants of the bunch for our main vegetable patch.

The not so robust transplants won't go to waste, They'll find homes in other areas like among flower beds and new planting areas. They may not produce as well as those planted in the main garden, but they'll do their job of breaking up and feeding the soil for the next planting season. You might have guessed that I don't follow recommended guidelines for plant spacing either. I'll companion plant the dickens out of the space I have. With so little space available to grow vegetables in (about 1/8th of an acre), I have to to get the harvest I need. I cut the standard spacing by half. But in planting this way, I'm able to grow more with less.

For example, when I plant my potato barrels, I'll grow dill in the same pot. The dill deters potato bugs. In my asparagus patch I'll grow parsley and beans or peas for a complete ecosystem. I can harvest three times as much from the same space, but there is another reason for companion planting this way. Asparagus is a perennial root. They are also heavy nitrogen feeders. Parsley deters asparagus beetles. So the beans and peas feed the asparagus. The parsley provides ground cover, works an insecticide, and provides us with plenty of herbs. Parsley is also self sowing so you plant it once and it keeps coming back year after year. So after I cut a few stalks this year, I'll sow a packet of parsley seeds to fill in bare patches and plant my green beans or peas between the stalks. It also cuts down on weeds I have to pull. I'd say it's a win-win scenario.

So my dilemma is solved. I'll sow my seeds indoors next week.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

It Finally Looks like Winter at the Cockeyed Homestead!

First it was the rain storm which made me thankful we're on a downhill slope. Flash flood warnings started about 2AM and continued throughout the day.Everywhere was mucky mud when I went out for critter care duty. Each step sucked my shoe down 1/2". But we came through it unscathed. No standing water anywhere. It all ran downhill to the creek 600 ft down. If that thing starts to flood us. I hope we have an ark handy.

I thought this was pretty.

Imagine our surprise when the weather gurus changed the forecast from rain to snow! It was a windy 52 degrees outside. No, the storm was suppose to miss us, wasn't it? Well, the snow started falling at 9AM just as predicted. He also said there  would be 2" of accumulated snow. I just came in from changing out the water bottles and emptying the ice from the chicken water bowl to replace it with hot water. It's 32 degrees outside and gorgeous!

Well as we all know, weathermen lie.

It's still snowing! So far it's 4"-6" deep in some places. In the half hour it took to take care of the critters, the handrail on the stairs had about 1/2" of new snow on it. I had wiped it clear when I went down them. But I did mange to snap some pictures with my camera.

Snow has a way of covering up all our building clutter. LOL A white clean blanket. I just realized the camera caught a snow flake falling. It far upper left. I didn't know my phone could do that.The snow came down in giant flakes. Nice dry flakes which formed a pretty nice snowball which I threw at Mel in the bathroom when I came it. It's the kind of snow that I remember well. Perfect powder back in my skiing days and my childhood in Nebraska.

 The view of the back stairs. My family and daughter in Alaska is probably laughing at this saying, "That's not snow" then points to a window looking outside, "This is snow!" Yeah, I know. I remember well the pictures of a man standing on top of his truck with his hand raised up, and he couldn't reach the top of the snow bank.

 These spare bunny cages are buried six inches under the snow.

Propane tank al a mode!

A picture of the ravine from the top. This is what I climb up and down to pick up kindling for the wood stove. I've made it ten feet down so far of the over 600' drop. Just beyond where you can see, there's a five-foot drop off and a twenty-foot drop off before it slopes down with 2-3 feet drop offs down to the creek bed. The southern side of our homestead. The creek forms our property line to the south and west of our homestead.

 

A tree down (on the right) along our side driveway. It missed Mel's new Blazer by about ten feet. It came down with the storm and snapped in half... now covered in snow.

 Back of the bunny/chicken hoop barn. The wild blackberry thicket to the right on the other side of the barn is covered in snow. To the upper left is the beginnings of the 50' ridge line going up to Reynaldo's and Luna, his German Shepherd puppy, place. All of our dogs have become communal dogs coming and going to the two properties at will. If you can't find them just call Rey or us because they are probably here. They protect it as a pack. The coyotes or any other predators don't stand a chance now. Nnyus is training both puppies now.

Those are the pictures I took. I hope you enjoyed them. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the fifties so it's bye-bye snow. It sure was pretty while it lasted.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Cooking with Chef Jo: Baked Beans Two Ways to Can

I bought jars from Walmart early one winter. When I went to pick them up, the lady asked me what did I have to can in the winter? I told her about my method of water bath canning tomato sauce in winter and my yearly supply of dry beans. She replied, "I never thought of that. It makes sense."

I use my water bath canner on my wood stove (heater). When cooking things like soups, stews, beans, or sauces for canning why not use the wood stove and make it do double duty?  But, I find it too difficult (or lack the patience) one-handed to control the fire to pressure can on it. In a pinch, it can be done though.

Today, I'm canning baked beans two ways. I'm down to 6 jars. Eek! One is a raw packed, no soak, bean dish. This one is from an episode on our YouTube channel (this is the written recipe to go along with the video) and the other is a soaked bean and Mel's favorite recipe for molasses beans. I personally like both.

Jo's Baked Beans
10 1/2 pints

What you'll need
2 lbs navy beans
3 onions, chopped about 2 1/2 cups
1/2 cup carrots, grated
1 smoked turkey wing
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp black pepper
                             1 cup of molasses
                            2 cups brown sugar*
                            2 qts vegetable juice (V-8)
                            2 TBS oil

* Notes- We make our own brown sugar 3 cups white sugar to 2 TBS molasses

Putting it together

• Wash and pick through beans.
• In a large saucepan, heat the oil until hot.
• Add turkey wing, onions, carrots, garlic, salt, cloves, dry mustard, and pepper.
• Saute until the onions are partially cooked. They will be softened, but not translucent.
• Add vegetable juice, brown sugar, and molasses. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Make sure your brown sugar is dissolved.
• Pull out the turkey wing and chop the meat.
• In your clean into hot jars scoop 1/2 cup of dry beans for pints (1/4 cup for half pints or 1 cup for qts). The jars do not have to be sterilized, but your do not want to add hot liquid into cold jars.
• Add a few pieces of turkey to each jar.
• Ladle the hot liquid over the beans and turkey.
• 1" head space.
• Put on the lid and ring.
• Can 65 minutes for pints 75 minutes for quarts based on your altitude.

 These beans have very little liquid as true baked beans do not. The beans are firm but done.

Mel's Molasses Beans
Makes 10 1/2 pint jars

What you'll need

2 lbs small white beans
2 cups molasses
1 cup brown sugar
4 TBS dry mustard
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp allspice
3 tsp salt
                                                 1 qt water
                                                 1 qt Heinz ketchup*
                                                 5 slices of bacon, cut each slice in 1" pieces
                                                 1 cup onions, finely diced
                                                 1 TBS oil

* Notes- Do not substitute another brand. It will not taste the same.

Putting it together

• Wash and pick through beans.
• Soak beans overnight in water and baking soda
• The next morning drain the beans
• In a large saucepan, heat oil, and add bacon and onions.
• Stirring cook for 2 minutes. Bacon and onions will not be fully cooked. Remove from pan.
• Stir in water, ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, allspice and salt. Bring to a boil while stirring, and remove from heat.
• Ladle 1/2 cup of the tomato liquid into each jar.
• Spoon 1 TBS of bacon and onion mix into each jar. 
• Add 2/3 cup of beans into each jar.
• Top off each jar with enough liquid to cover the beans and leave 1" head space.
• Wipe rims, lid and ring each jar and place in a hot pressure canner.
• Process 65 minutes for half pints and pints, and 75 minutes for quarts.

This recipe produces a runnier type beans similar to store bought canned beans.

There you have it baked beans two ways. Enjoy!

People often ask me why I can my own beans. I'll can black beans, kidney beans, black eyed peas etc. a year's worth during the winter months. Why do I do it? I mean I could get them for about $0.98 or cheaper at the store, right? First of all, I organically grow a lot of my dried beans and vegetables, and most from heirloom seeds. Second, I know where my food comes from and how it's grown. Third, I know there are no flavor, color, nor preservatives/chemicals additives in what I can at home.

Fourth, I know who touched and prepared my food. Whether or not they were sick, or washed their hands. As a previous food service worker, I can't even count the times when there has been cross contamination violations. Workers touch their face, rub their noses, touch their clothes, reach into this our that bins with the same gloves on. As a chef, I personally went through, at a minimum, 2 boxes of gloves (industrial sized boxes of 1K gloves) a week. I actually pulled myself off the serving/prep line because I developed a rash on my hands from washing them so many times, even though I was wearing gloves!

I just don't trust other people when they are out of my sight. They do enough within my line of sight to make me cringe. I'm the type of person restaurants and food production factories hate to see coming because I'll call them on it. Getting down off my soap box now. Thank you for reading and try the recipes. Your taste buds will thank you.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo

Moving Day for the Chicks

We had our first showing of snow this winter. Flurries that melted as soon as they touched the ground. It lasted about twenty minutes to be followed by rain and more rain as the mercury in the thermometer rose to the daily high of 50 degrees. Now on to the chicks...                                                                                                       
 
Of the fifteen Assorted Rainbow chicks we bought from Meyer's Hatchery, fourteen made it to four weeks old. One chick died just after its one week birthday. Today is moving day for the rest of the chicks. They are fully feathered, and over the past week, they've been acclimating to the colder temperatures during the day. They are honestly too big to stay in the 2x4x2 brooder box. They've quadrupled in size and have been trying to fly.

We contemplated setting up a bigger area for them to brood them a little while longer, but figured we'd just move them to the new grow out coop instead. This grow out area was built inside the old hoop greenhouse. It's within 10 feet of my bedroom window. It will be easy enough to run a power cord out to it from the house for a heat lamp. It is only February with nighttime lows in the 20s. They are still too little to are cuddle together for extra warmth they still need.

Soon our girls will be this big.

They have plenty of fresh straw for bedding. The two-gallon poultry waterer and feeder will be put to good use again until spring thaw will allow the automatic drinking cups can be used. We set up a 35-gallon rain harvesting bucket just for this purpose. The gravity fed system will give them ample hydration during our hot weather months. The automatic feeder (4" PVC pipe)will hold a few days worth of feed for them. They are both situated under the coop for protecting the feed from the weather.

So for the next couple of weeks, their coop will be their brooder and home while we build their outside run, There is still space within the greenhouse structure for them to explore and be outside all within the 3' tall pallet sided area. For the base of the open area and run is dried leaves 1' thick for them to scratch in, and bona fide dust bath area full of sand and wood ash for their pleasure. Until now, they've made do bathing in pine shavings.

We hope!👍

As soon as the hens are big enough, they'll join their sisters in the bunny/chicken barn. In March, we'll be ordering more chicks and quail hatching eggs to kick off Mel's poultry farm off with a bang. This order for chicks will include roosters. The plan is to order chicks in lots of twenty throughout spring and summer every other month so we have a good mix of bloodlines to start. From there she can hatch out our own eggs.

The focus of the first year is egg production and sales. She's laid out a delivery system for a three county area. The second year, she'll sell chicks, poulets, layers, and roosters for added income. Again, each sets of chickens and quail must pay their own way and fund the next set of coops and runs. The quail have a quicker turn around time in the profit margin so selling both is good business sense.

More pictures of Mel's growing poultry farm coming soon!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo