Shrooooms

Well it's winter time and I'm having gardening withdrawal.  What to do what to do...I know! I'll grow Mushrooms!!  ok so I dont know if I will actually grow them or not but I am going to try!  I looked all over the web.  It is hard to find button mushrooms.  I am not a huge mushroom fan as far as the varieties and stuffing them and all that jazz but we do use a fair amount of button mushrooms.  It must be a top secret thing to do because not only could I not find the spores, but there were no directions online that gave me step by step instructions!

I started out by buying a form of button mushrooms that were on amazon.  They are not actual button mushrooms but are called field mushrooms.  They are suppose to be a close cousin to them and look about the same and have the same taste.  So I bought two packages of "approx 500 seeds coated in spores"  Here is the package.

So I am going to take this opportunity to tell you what I am doing and lets hope this works.  All the info I found online is different but generally the same. So here goes and lets hope for the best.

1. I took composted cow manure from my local garden supply store and placed it in a fairly large tote.  I placed in one bag and spread it on the bottom which gave me about 4-5 inches of "soil."

 2. I made three rows with my hand about 1 inch deep down the tote and took half of one of the packs of seeds and sprinkled them in the rows.  I covered them up and packed it down.

3. I sprinkled warm water across the entire thing so that the soil would be wet but not soaked. It was already pretty wet.

4. I placed a thermometer in there with humidity recorder and placed it in an area that was around 70.  Right now this is on top my pellet furnace but will be moved tonight to in front of it. (I will eventually need to put pellets in..duh)

5. I placed the tote lid on top and am going to keep close eye on the temp.  It is suppose to be 70 for the first few weeks until the spores germinate and make a whitish cobweb looking thing on the soil. 

6. Next I placed a dark blanket on top to help hold in heat and keep light out.  The room I am using has almost no light but I need to turn it on to check the pellet stove and whatnot..so that is why I placed a blanket on top.

Future Steps:

I will mist this soil everyday until I see something happen.

7. Once a whitish film is over my dirt or something simular, then I will add a 1 inch layer or so of organic peat.

8.  I will add a layer of newspaper on top of that.  I will soak this in water and ring it out so that it is damp then lay it on top.  Then I will water that everyday with a spray bottle. I will move the tote to the floor in a colder part of the room. Around 55 degrees.

9. I will check it often and when little buds start forming I will take the newspaper off, keep the lid turned catycorner a bit to let in more oxygen and keep covered until they get big enough to pick. 

If I remember I will add more pictures as I go and what I am doing but in case I dont here is what I am doing.  Hopefully they grow and I remember to at least blog the results!



Adventures in Kefir

(Originally written Nov 22)

What is kefir?
Kefir is a fermented drink.  It has like 8 or so different bacteria and a few kinds of yeast.  There is milk kefir and water kefir.  Milk kefir is fresh milk with kefir grains placed in it and it sits overnight on your counter.  Water kefir is sugar water with water kefir grains put in and it again sits on your counter overnight. Both water and milk grains are strained out and then the liquid left over is kefir.  It is very probiotic and way better than yogurt for you.  It's good for your gut and we all need that now with all the processed foods out there. The kefir grains last forever if you take care of them right and multiply so you can give them to friends.  It is very good for people with diabetes because the grains eat the sugar in the milk and water.  It helps in digestion of sugary foods also.

Milk kefir- (if you like buttermilk you will like this)
The first day I got these, I placed them in milk and put it above my microwave..it keeps an even temperature that way.  The next day I had a quart jar of product.  I strained off the kefir grains and came up with a plan to try many things.  I needed to find the best way to use this stuff.  I split half into 3 little containers and the mixed one with fresh pineapple, one with banana, and the other with apple.  Dustin loved pineapple, Kyle loved apple, and they both loved banana.  Let me just say..banana is the bomb!  The other half of it I placed it in a coffee filter and let the whey drain off.  Then split the left over stuff into two piles. One I let sit in a bowl with plastic wrap on the table overnight.  The other I put some powdered ranch flavoring in, mixed, and placed it in the fridge overnight.  Both were disgusting.  The fridge ranch one would have been good if I had used regular ranch dressing I think.  I bought this powdered ranch to use in many recipes and each one I hate..I'm going to throw it away.
Next kefir batch I decided to divide in half again.  One half made us some banana smoothies..yum!  The other half I put a loose lid on and let it sit out again for another 24 hours.  This is suppose to make it less sour..umm..whatever..dont leave it out. Its fluffy, bubbly and tastes really gross.  For some reason milk grains really love whole milk and are growing already..good I have a few friends who want them!  I have increased my kefir jar size to half gallon. Boy that's a lot of milk!  My kids really never drink milk so this is a great way to get them to.  The kefir I had that finished today I tried strawberries in...its ok.  They are store strawberries and well they aren't as sweet as homegrown.

 So results so far:
1. milk kefir only ferments one day..no more or its gross
2. banana is the best by far for fruit in this stuff but strawberry, pineapple, apple are good and will do if I'm out of bananas
3. Kids will try anything if mom asks them nicely lol
4. I need to try other fruits and keep making milk kefir

Water Kefir ( if you cannot process dairy or do not like milk)
The first day I got my water kefir I put it in sugar water.  Websites differ on what amount of sugar per quart jar.. 1/2 or 1/4th..so I decided I'd go with 1/3rd lol.  They ate good the first day.  After it sat for 24 hours I drained the grains and put them in to start a new batch.  With the kefir that was made I took some left over apple cider and attempted to flavor it.  I took two old plastic mountain dew bottles and split the kefir between the two.  Then added apple cider to each until they were 3/4ths the way full.  Capped them and put them in the fridge overnight.  Now technically it is suppose to become carbonated like pop.  In the morning I tasted it..um..it tasted a tad too much like beer for my comfort.  I let the kids sip it and they agreed.  Do not ask how they know what beer tastes like..I plead the 5th.  So we dumped it out and I waited till the next day for the new one to get done.  So on this day I went to Aldi's and found 100% grape juice and lemons.  I again drained the grains off and started a new batch..this time with 1/4th cup sugar and I placed half a lemon in there after squeezing it in there and cutting it in half.  Placed that up on the microwave.  I took the kefir water that was finished and again split it into the mountain dew bottles.  I put grape juice in to fill it 3/4th the way full and placed it on my counter instead of the fridge.  I read it will bubble more on the counter.  The other thing is that I am stuck using white sugar until the weekend cause Aldi's broke me (saving for black friday) and if you use organic unrefined sugar it will bubble more.  I tasted it this morning and it tastes just like faygo grape soda!  I had to let it sit more because it wasn't exactly 24 hours yet and it will be placed in the fridge tonight.  The lemons I added to the other batch turned out really yummy also.  It was a pain to strain out and try to get the lemon pieces out..so a new plan will have to be developed on the lemon front.  I placed it in one mountain dew bottle 3/4ths the way up and capped it.  It is now going to sit on my counter over night.  I drank the rest after having the kids take a taste.  I really like the water kefir lemonade it makes.

Results so far:
1. I love water kefir
2. The flavorings are easier to find then with milk kefir
3. I want to get cranberry juice and also try strawberry purée placed in there.

I am going to make enough of  banana milk kefir and grape water kefir for the whole family to try at thanksgiving.
Who knew bacteria and yeast could taste so good!!

Homemade Cranberry Juice

Hello! Its amazing how I have two posts in one day! I do a lot of experiments..hence the last post that wasn't really an experiment but then turns out it was.  Anyway, my youngest son wanted me to buy cranberries.  I had said something about buying them and dehydrating them for the parrots but he wanted to eat them.  After about two weeks, I decided to boil them up.  I started with the directions on the bag.  1 -12oz bag of cranberries, 1 c sugar, 1 c water.  I boiled the sugar water and then added the cranberries. I let them heat until they were soft and mushy. They will kinda change color too.  Eventually they will boil but by that time most are popped and mushy.  So we tasted it. Sweet yet bitter..but still a little too sweet.  So I decided to make juice with it. 

One bag will make a normal size grocery juice container.  Honestly unless you can buy super discounted cranberries, it will probably cost about the same as buying the juice in the store.  But it's something fun you can do to teach older kids how to boil things, watch for skin cracks (preps them to help you can tomatoes), and stirring.  I had two bags so I ended up with two juice containers.  Two bags makes 1 gallon if you have a gallon milk jug laying around.

So here is how I made the juice.

Cranberrry Juice
1 bag of cranberries or 12 oz
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

1 old juice container-2 quarts or so
strainer
blender

Mix sugar and water together in a medium size sauce pan.  Bring to a boil.  Add washed cranberries and continue stirring until it comes to a boil.  Turn off heat and let cool a bit.  After it was slightly cool take about 1 cup of mixture and place it in the blender.  Do not put a lot in there because well just don't you will regret it.  Purée that and then strain the mixture into a pitcher or pourable bowl.  Continue to do this until all the cranberry mixture is done.  Take the purée mix that you have strained and pour it into a washed juice container.  Fill with cold water.

  I suggest pouring half way up the remaining part of the container and tasting it to see if it is at your sweetness level.  I like mine poured all the way up. It will be a tad foamy but that's ok. Just cap and give a couple shakes and place in the fridge.

Opps that's not Yogurt!

So I have tried to make homemade yogurt before. I've never really succeeded.  I decided to use whole milk and a new crock pot.  My new crockpot has a warm and it only gets to 120. I looked it up..its still ok for yogurt.  So I had some starts from my yogurt adventures before and put in two ice cubes for my 2 quarts.  Let it cook for like 5 hours.  I stirred it a few times and did not see much change. But the lady said it would thicken in the fridge so I poured it into my quart jars and into the fridge it went.  Next morning I was prepared for yogurt!  Um..no.

So bright idea I have is to redo it sorta.  I put it back in the crock pot, put two more ice cubes in of starter and warm the milk back up.  I stirred it here and there and it was looking thick and creamy.  I checked it a few hours later and stirred it...um...wait..my thick and creamy is now separating into curds and whey...thats not right.  What is this stuff??  So I let it sit another hour or so.

In the meantime I look online trying to find out what is going on and did you know your not suppose to stir yogurt...at all!! Opps! I then decide I'm going to strain off the whey and see what I got.  So after placing it in cheesecloth and pressing the whey out and letting it hang... I think I have Ricotta!  That's not how it is made but it tastes the same to me lol.  Normally when you make cottage cheese or mozarella you can recook the whey and get ricotta but apparently this works as well.  It definitely needs seasoning but it would work well in stuffed shells or lasagna.

Virtual Schooling my children

So not sure if I blogged about this or not but I took my kids out of our town's school.  It just wasn't working out.  I am now home with the kids and they are in Indiana Connections Academy or INCA for short.  This is an online public school similar to K12.  They have online lessons, Skype type live lessons with their teacher, books at home to use and workbooks to make it all complete.  We have been starting school at 7am and we end at 2 each day.  Their grades are not what I would say are a big improvement but they are fairly good.  Right now my youngest son is on honor roll with 2 A's and 2 B's and my older son who hates school has 2 B's and 2 C+'s.  I feel at this point they would have lower grades had I kept them in our towns school.  School has been going fairly well.  There are days when I want to pull my hair out and other days when I am super glad they are doing well.  I really wanted to know what my kids were studying, when they were learning it, and if they were truly learning it.  I found that once we were virtual schooling, their whole attitudes changed.  My oldest would come home everyday full of hatred and anger.  You didn't dare talk to him for at least an hour.  Don't even think of trying to get him to do homework.  My younger didn't seem to have that many issues with school although his grades were poor because of expressive language issues and a problem concentrating with background noise.  It wasn't just the after school attitude that changed though.  The major things that changed were they were nice.  Now most parents would say their kid is nice on the whole..and they were..but when you come to a weekend and all you get is fighting and name calling..well that pretty much disappeared.  I am talking about ready to pull my hair out to manageable.  They never used to listen to me either...now they do.  The level of respect around here has really risen.  They still are boys and little buggers at that..but they do not show the level of disrespect they did up to this year.  It really has been an experience.  I'm still not fully convinced I like this online school.  Science and Social studies are two subjects my children need to slow down in but we've made it work.  The kids hate the writing assignments and are not free to express themselves on the subject given.  We also hate the portfolios you have to do and mail to the teacher.  So I will stick it out this year and then decide if I want to go total homeschool for next year.  That's why I haven't blogged..I am in school all day and then I'm still trying to make a go at transcription.  AAAHHHH!!! OK I think I can do this.  I just take one day at a time!

Homemade Chicken Broth

Well I bet you thought I died or something!  No just started trying to organize life and keep on keeping on.  I'll blog in a minute about what I've been doing.  So today I want to share about this website I found.  You would think I would have thought of this already but no..not me..  I found a site on making your own chicken broth.  I have tried this before but have gone about it all wrong..terribly terribly wrong.  Live and learn I guess.  So here is the right way lol.  http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2010/10/homemade-chicken-broth.html  I love this website along with another called Stacy Makes Cents.  I've spent hours today reading on different things to help our family with living frugally.  So today I decided to make chicken broth.  I actually found a video first about doing it and not this recipe so I'm going to give you what I have put in. 

Chicken Broth
1-chicken carcass
8-baby carrots
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp garlic powder
2 TBSP of apple cider vinegar
2 TBS salt
1 TBS pepper
1 bay leaf
a handful of dried carrot tops
a handful of dried onions
handful of fresh spinach

Put in your crockpot, put just enough water to cover the carcass, put on low and leave for 24 hours.  Strain off the liquid when its done and put it in a mason jar. Store in the fridge or use it right away.  Then the stuff left in the crock pot keep in there and fill it again with water and vinegar until it is just covering the carcass and let go again for 24 hours.  You apparently can get like 4 or 5 batches this way before things start completely falling apart.

So I had this problem and now its solved.  I butchered some of my chickens..the older, nonlaying ones.  I needed to make room.  I did 5 and cooked them on the stove till they were almost done.  My plan was to take off the meat and can it.  Well needless to say the meat did not come off the bone.  So I put all my chickens in the freezer in bags..carcass and all.  I was just going to pressure cook them the day we were going to eat them.  I came across this recipe and though...hm....I have a carcass laying around..in fact I have 5!  So I put one in the crockpot and away we go.  You will have to add seasoning to your taste.  What I've done is put that amount in and add stuff here and there as its cooking.  Its been on for almost 12 hours now and is developing a nice flavor.  The reason for the vinegar, I am really suppose to put in 1/4 cup..but I'm too scared, is to help break down the bone and allow the nutrients to come forth.  Something about breaking down the phytic acid.  Its the same concept on people soaking grains too..makes them easier to digest.  Apparently its all the rage and I didnt get the memo.  Anyway its already delicious.  Sorry I dont have a picture  :(                                      OH and one person said that when your carcass finally falls apart after all those batches..you can feed it to the dog as mushy dog food!  Cool no waste!

Life

Well I'm sorry if your reading my blogs all the time and then like a month goes by without a word!  Its been busy.  So here is my garden story.

 The weeds have won again this year lol.  Its just too big a garden and our yard is so small that grass, chicken shavings, and shredded paper are not enough.  I bought a weed eater to keep the big stuff down and just grow tough plants lol.

 The coons ate my corn and then a wind storm blew through and flattened all of it.  Thats how I saw they ate it.  So since we eat like 20 quarts of corn a winter I am going to either hope for a miracle from God or go buy corn at the amish dented can area.  I will have to buy about 50 cans of corn to probably measure the same amount and you know its not going to be as good cause it not right off the cob.

My green beans are barely producing.  The shallow roots that they had because they were washed to the top of the soil kept them dehydrated in our 90 degree weather.  Plus the crap grass choked them out.  They have produced enough for us to eat for dinner each week but luckily God had a plan.  I received enough green beans to cover winter, from a church friend of mine.

My zucchini died..all 3 plants.  Its ok I got one zucchini off it and that was enough to last me all year lol.  I used to love it fried but now eating it once is enough.

My winter squash died.  The same bugs that ate my winter squash also ate my zucchini plants.  I dont know what they are but they dont care about Seven liquid spray you have to use powder and I ran out this year and thanks to the government I cant buy the big bags of it anymore.

I think my pumpkins are dying lol. Yeah my garden is doing rather sucky this year.  I"m ok without pumpkins but it would have been nice to dehydrate more and the kids really wanted to carve a couple.  I am putting powder on them but we will see.  Its also very weedy there and I will have to hand pull those because of the vines.

On a better note.  Tomatoes are doing awesome. Just gotta keep the blight down and under control.  I should not have to plant them next year so that will be good.   My strawberries did great.  Rhubarb did great.  Potatoes still going but they look good too.  Watermelon and cantelope are doing excellent.  I have at least 10 of each.  I'm still up in the air about the brussel sprouts..if it stays cooler they will be ok, same with my cabbage. I"m going to plant some more cabbage this weekend and let that go.  My second planting of carrots got weeded out but I think are still going to produce something, what little plants took.  My second planting of beans didnt take but I think that was mostly old seed.  My green peppers looked horrible but then started to look good.  We will have to see about them.  They should be producing now and are just flowering.  All in all its been an ok garden season.  I was able to pick blackberries to freeze.  We will have to cut them all down this year and let them regrow.  It wont give us anything next year but the year after should be really nice.  Next years asparagus should be great too.  I really hope I can get the greenhouse done by the end of the year so that I can grow some things inside it.  With the weather being super crazy this year I need some place less seasonal.

Well there's my update, sorry I havet posted earlier.  I"m still working on my post for when I plant and harvest things so you all will be ready for next year.  Posting will be sparse for a while because my kids are attending an online school and they will be home.  Wish me luck!