Our Urban Homestead

 As we have said before we are Urban Homesteaders, basically farmers without the farm, so our little home sits in a quite little subdivision, and if you didn't know us you would have no clue who or what this house and the people in it are capable of doing.

 Some people pride themselves in the size of their home, how well decorated it is, and how many new electronic toys and gadgets they have.  In our house we pride ourselves on how many productive, self sufficient tasks we can complete.  This goal makes for a very busy and sometimes messy home.  Racey and I often say that our house is torn apart and put back together multiple times a day just because we work in it.

 This type of life style can't be lived by just one person in the family.  It takes a group of people working toward the same goal.  When our journey first started, Racey and I were the only ones on board.  Layna was the first of the kids to come around and consider some of the benefits that could be had by living this kind of lifestyle.  She had lived on her own for over a year and knew the price of food, utilities, toiletries, etc.. I must admit McKenna and McClane have both been good sports as well. This is a family operation that takes all of us but benefits the entire family.

I took this picture an hour ago showing Eddie and Racey chopping wood for the fire tonight.  If they're not careful it turns into a little "male ego" competition to see who can get the biggest stack!

Racey and Eddie worked and sweated all through this last hot summer so we would have enough wood to make it through the winter without having to buy any.  Now Racey is all stingy about when he will start a fire because he worked so hard on it.  In years past our fires were for entertainment purposes only and now they are primarily for heating (so he says!)

Heat is not the only thing that we have to stay on top of.  Laundry is a constant battle like it is in every household, and considering we don't use our electric dryer except for rainy day emergencies or when I really need to fluff what has dried on the outside line for a minute or two if it's overly 'crunchy'.

McClane is a typical teenager who frowns every time I pull the camera out!  He said this was woman's work and he didn't want me to take his picture doing laundry when he had been chopping wood just a few minutes before!  "Woman's work!" I said. Then he gave me a goofy smile so I would leave him alone and not smother him with that nice clean laundry!






Well it's Halloween evening, McKenna has worked all day outside the home and I have a hot dinner ready for her and everyone else.  We will start a small fire, open the front door, turn the porch light on and welcome all the little ghouls and goblins to our little urban homestead!

How Low Do You Go?

As the cold front moved in today I was reminded of our goal to use little to no natural gas heat this winter.  We have worked all summer collecting free firewood and plan to heat as much as possible with only that.  In all honesty, the only way for us to use NO gas heat is for the gas company to come shut the meter off!  We are just too modern and our bodies aren't accustomed to adjusting to such sharp increases or decreases in temperature.  Have you ever seen fat people shiver?  It's not pretty! But my philosophy is that you've got to start somewhere and this is how we're drawing the line in the sand on the utility issue.

What temperature do you set your thermostat at?  70 degrees... 68 degrees?  Or are you one of the wild ones who goes as low as 65 degrees?  We typically are the 66 to 68 degree family with a fire in the fireplace as often as we can manage, and I have no problem cooking and baking in the winter.  I consider all the warmth I'm generating just by actually cooking with something other than a microwave or crock-pot to be free heat.

Well this year we are shooting for a fire in the fireplace most days, and a general setting of 60 on the thermostat.  Guess who is getting zip-up footie jammies for Christmas!!! (J/K) Racey said I could have and wear them but as soon as I touched one toe on the bedroom floor I better find something else to wear!  lol!  McClane is going to fuss, I can hear it already... but what do you do.  Natural gas is a non-renewable resource and we as a planet are using it at an unsustainable rate.  Last year several reports came out showing how we almost ran out of natural gas up north.  As it becomes more scarce, and the price continues to increase how do you plan to deal with this issue?  I'm not recommending no heating or only wood heating because that's usually not sustainable either (unless you personally plant bunches of trees every year) but we need to start thinking about how we will deal with changing times.

I popped down stairs and checked our current temp at 7:00 pm and the thermostat read 64 degrees!  Since it's just October 19, and this is the first real day of cold this season I think we have our work cut out for us.  What do you think?

Racey throwing a snowball at me

All joking aside, here is the Freeze Yer Buns challenge I discovered last year at the end of winter.  This is half of what helped me see what a real issue this is.  Even if you think we are crazy and you know your spouse would never go for something like this, just give it a look.  It's good information to know.

Btw, I'm free to house sit any frigid night this winter! ;-)

Cooking What's in Season - Cinnamon Spiced Apples

I had someone at the farmer's market today ask me what I was doing with my apples this fall.  I figured since I just did a canning class this past weekend and we canned Cinnamon Spiced Apples I would show you what we did. 

First I washed the apples...

Then I peeled the apples.  You can peel with a knife, if you don't have one of these little jewels!

Next, I used the apple wedger to remove the core and cut the apple into wedges... 

This step can be omitted if you use the apple peeler corer slicer (the little handy dandy doo-dad above this pic) to cut the apples into a spiral shape.  I wanted wedges so I just used it to peel the apples.

I tossed the apples in a citric acid solution, called Fruit Fresh.  This step can be skipped as well if you don't care if the apples turn a little brown (which they will be by the time you dump cinnamon all over 'em), or if you're going to cook and serve them the same day.  Since I was having a class and sending a pint home with everyone who attended I went ahead and used it.

I tossed the apples in the cinnamon spice mixture till coated well...

Last, I melted a little butter, and tossed the apples into a pot to cook till fork tender...

  After cooking for a while the sugar and apples will create a nice juice.

This is a wonderful fall side dish that complements many different foods.  It can be used as a topping for pancakes, a side dish at dinner, or even over vanilla ice cream for dessert.  If you get a large number of apples you could try your hand at canning them, or if you're not up for that yet, cook just enough for a meal or two.  C'mon, make yer granny proud!

Here's the recipe:  Cinnamon Spiced Apples

Vegetable Beef Soup

With the beautiful fall weather we are having this weekend I wanted to show you how I prepare one of my favorite cool/cold weather foods.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes

• Carrots

• Garlic

• Onion

• Celery

• Tomatoes

• Green beans

• Okra

• Fresh ground pepper/salt

• Stew beef chunks or ground beef

• Beef broth approx. 4 cups

• 1 cup cooked barley

I like to use my cast iron skillet to first braise the beef.  I use just enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the skillet, and heat till oil is very hot (not smoking but very hot).

Notice the pan is only lightly oiled.

Once skillet is hot I lightly brown the meat on all sides.  While meat is browning sprinkle with salt, pepper, and fresh minced garlic. If you are cooking a large amount you can cook the meat in two batches so you have room to work in the skillet.

I have found if I only lightly brown the meat during this stage it comes out more tender at the end.

Notice the broth that is being created, it will give the soup a good flavor.  After meat is lightly browned on all sides pour into a large pot or dutch oven.

Next you will want to cook the chopped onion and celery till clear and soft.

I used a little broth from the meat to cook the onion and celery in.

Last you want to put all the vegetables in the pot.  I did reserve the okra for the last 30 minutes of cooking so it would not be too mushy.

Give it a good stir and if it needs more liquid then add beef broth/stock till you are happy with the level.  Bring to boil then lower heat and simmer for 1-3 hours.  The longer it cooks the more flavorful the soup will be.

This is truly an old country recipe that has been around as long as people have been growing gardens!  You can always make a double batch and freeze half for another night.  This time, as a last minute thought, I boiled a cup of barley and tossed it in right before serving just to add a little something extra to it.  You can also use ground beef instead of stew meat if that's what you have on hand. I baked a pan of cornbread to serve on the side. Like I said this is truly a old country favorite!

Cooking Pumpkin

 
This year I decided to try my hand at fresh pumpkin for some of my harvest recipes.  Lucky me got one in my Farmers Market Baskets this week, so off I go!

 First I washed the pumpkin, then cut diagonally, and scooped the guts from inside.

Save the seeds to roast!

Next I placed it cut side down in a baking dish with 1/2 inch of water.

Bake in oven @ 450 for 30-45 minutes. You know it's done when you can pierce with a fork and the flesh is tender.

Once the pumpkin has cooled flip back over and peal the skin off.  I put the pumpkin in the oven and headed for the shower so it got a little dark on the top, but I just scooped the dark part off.

This is after I peeled the skin, notice the dark part is still on the flesh.

Once pealed place in food processor or blender and mix until its well blended.

Now you are ready to use in any recipe that calls for canned or pureed pumpkin.

Here are a few recipes I looking forward to trying this fall. Click on the title below and it will take you to the website with recipe directions.

Pumpkin Bread I

Pumpkin Bread II

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Bread Pudding 

Easy Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

Cooking What's in Season

Butternut Squash

There is nothing more appetizing than seasonal food.  Watermelon in July, chili in February, and fresh berries in the spring.  Sure most of us eat those foods year round, but they don't get any tastier than in season.  A few of the seasonal fruits and vegetables to be on the lookout for around this time of year are:

• Apples
• Squash (Acorn, Butternut, etc)
• Pumpkins
• Pomegranates
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Okra
• Eggplant
• Grapes (Muscadines!)

Today I'd like to share a warm favorite served in many homes in the fall:  roasted butternut squash.  Now, I must admit, this was my first time trying my hand at this type of squash.  It came in my Farmer's Market Basket this week, so of course I had to try and do something with it.  Here's what I did:

First, I took a vegetable peeler and removed the outer layer of skin, then cut off the top and bottom like you would do a carrot.  Next I cut it in half and scooped out the 'guts'.  After that I just cut it into cubes:

After that I mixed 2 tbsp. of brown sugar, 2 tbsp. of honey, and 2 garlic cloves (minced), and put it all into a bowl.  If you like the 'salty-sweet' kind of taste, you could add 1/4 tsp. of salt at this point as well, however I left it out so each person could add it on their own if they preferred:

Then I mixed the contents of the bowl until everything was well blended and poured it onto a baking sheet lightly greased with olive oil:

 

I just popped it in the oven and baked it @ 400 for 30 minutes on a lower oven rack. Cook until the squash is fork tender.

 Noticed how the edges are a little caramelized. 

I served this as a side dish, with rotisserie chicken and (Racey found a brand new rotisserie cooker at Goodwill for $8.00!) a fresh green salad.

I will admit that McClane, our resident teenager and lover of most foods his mama cooks said it was totally disgusting and begged me to not cook it again!  On the other hand, Racey, one who is known for disliking most all vegetables, said it was pretty good and he would like to try it a few more times this fall to really get a taste for it.  He also said he'd like to try it mashed up like mashed potatoes with a big hunk of butter on top.  I think this is the type of food that can be prepared a number of ways, and some people will really like one way and really dislike another.  If this 'sweet' form of preparation isn't a hit with the folks in your house, don't be afraid to try it a different way.  You never know, you may stumble upon someone's next 'favorite food'.

Simple Entertainment

I found the metal fire pit on Craigslist for $30.00 and we built the stone pit ourselves.  We didn't use mortar so the pit can be moved as the landscape of our backyard changes

In our house we tend to crave the simple life, even in our entertainment choices.  This doesn't mean we are fuddy duddies by far! Our neighbors have been known to knock on our front door before... Heck, they have even called the police once!  Now, I must admit, the reason for the call was because Racey was chopping wood for our outside fire pit and the neighbors considered that too loud!  Honestly I think they were mad because we didn't invite them over to enjoy our wonderful company! (Just kidding)  We have found the most simple thing can be the most enjoyable.  We love to sit outside in the fall and winter and just stare into the fire.  We almost always have some type of music playing on the iHome outside.  The kids (16, 18, and 20) float through the back yard randomly and most of the time wind up crashing our party by bringing their friends over to enjoy the fire and conversation.  Who would have thought that modern teenagers would enjoy sitting outside in the dark around a fire, listening to music of their parents choice, and having simple conversation and laughs?!?

This was taken last winter, you can see my legs are covered with a small blanket.  My son, McClane is holding our dog Woofus.

Another thing we do is turn off ALL the lights and light candles or oil lamps throughout the house. In the summer we tend to play cards or even shoot pool on a miniature pool table someone was throwing away.  In the winter we love to make a pallet out of several blankets and get all our fluffy pillows and put that in front of the fire and just sit and relax.  This gives Racey and I time to decompress from our day or week and it's amazing how easy it is to talk.  We can sit there for hours just connecting and spending time together. 

Talk about frugal entertainment, this is it!  Any budget can afford this.  I'm always on the lookout for candles at Goodwill, and we get our firewood for free off Craigslist.  The only real expense is the food and drink.  We have to eat no matter what we do so no real cost there, the only expense is if we choose to have some wine. *grin*


The next time you are craving some special time with your hubby or want to get the kids to put down their smart phone before their thumbs fall off, give this a try.  In my opinion it doesn't get much better than this!