A Poem

As I was looking through an Amish cookbook I saw the following poem:

"It's Up To You"

Author unknown

Have you made someone happy or made someone sad?
What have you done with the day that you had?
God gave it to you to do just as you would.
Did you do what was wicked or do what was good?
Did you lift someone up or put someone down?
Did you hand out a smile or give them a frown?
Did you lighten some load or some progress impede?
Did you look for a rose or just gather a weed?
What did you do with your beautiful day?
God gave it to you.  Did you throw it away?

I need to start asking myself this everyday, I want to live everyday with purpose and not regret.   I never want to say "what if" or "I should have done that".  I believe things happen for a reason and for some reason I saw this poem and for some reason it just struck me.  Would I have a positive answer for each question asked, no.  Can I work on some things, yes.

Late Fall Weekend in Pictures

This past weekend Brandon spent the night and on Saturday afternoon we took a ride.  Below are some scenes he captured.

An old twisted tree.

Idle irrigation sprinklers.

Some turkeys, I carried on a nice conversation with them.

A tombstone that looks like a tree trunk.

A very brave doe gleaning a corn field, this was the second day of shotgun season.

A different looking house that has its own wind turbine and solar panels.

A horseshoe is holding this old headstone together.

It looks like winter is on its way.

Canning Cranberries

Yesterday I picked up 10 bags of Ocean Spray Cranberries for 99 cents a bag, some cranberry juice, 4 oranges and a can of frozen orange juice.  First batch I made cranberry sauce; and used the following ingredients:
4 bags of cranberries rinsed and bad ones picked out
4 cups of cranberry juice, you can use any liquid you choose
4 cups of sugar

Put the cranberries and liquid in large pan, bring too boil and boil about 10 minutes or until the cranberries are soft.  I then ran them through the food mill to create a sauce, I took the "waste" and ran it back through the mill to make sure nothing went to waste.  Put the sauce back in the pan, added 4 cups  of sugar and returned to a rolling boil for 1 minute.  Cranberries are high in natural pectin so nothing is needed to make it jell.  Put in jars and processed for 15 minutes.  I got 12 half pints and a small bowl for Thanksgiving.

Second batch I made cranberry orange sauce and used the following:
6 bags of cranberries
4 lg oranges
1 lg can of frozen orange juice and then cranberry juice to make 6 cups of liquid
4 cups sugar
6 Tbsp no sugar needed pectin

Washed the oranges and then cut them up in chunks, added the liquid and brought this to a boil and boiled 5 minutes.  Then I added the washed cranberries and cooked this mixture until the cranberries were soft, about 10  minutes.  I put this mixture through the food mill and again ran the "waste" through again to cut down on waste.  Put the sauce back in the pan and added 6 Tbsp of pectin, with the addition of the oranges and orange juice I needed added pectin so it would jell.  Brought this to a boil and then added the sugar, returned to a boil and boiled 1 minute.  Put in jars and processed for 15 minutes.  I got 4 pints, 8 half pints, 3 quarter pints and a nice bowl for Thanksgiving.

Of course I tasted both and both are very good.  For the liquid you can use water, or any flavor of juice.  If you use honey or any other sweetener you will need to add pectin to make it jell.

Cranberries washed and ready to make sauce.

Cooked cranberries going through the Kitchen-Aid food mill.

Ingredients for the cranberry orange sauce.

Cut up oranges with the liquid ready to cook.

This is the waste from 10 bags of cranberries and 4 oranges, not much went to waste.  Feed this to the chickens.

Pectin used for the cranberry orange sauce.

Finished product, cranberry sauce on the left and cranberry orange sauce on the right.

http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2012/12/barn-hop-90.html

Weekend in Review

Friday was doctor day where I got the cast off and stitches out and a brace on.  I will have to wear the brace for 2 weeks and then will start therapy.  The brace is hot and for sure a fashion statement.
Brandon came over to spend the night and to take some pictures for me of the canning jars that I am putting on eBay.   He took pictures on Friday night and some more yesterday morning.  Then we went for a ride out in the country and Brandon took some nice pictures of the scenery.  Renee picked Brandon up when she got off work.  Before I put all the stuff for taking the pictures up I took some more pictures.  Now I need to get the descriptions done and will post them later this week.
Went shopping today to get some things for Thanksgiving and picked up 8 bunches of celery to dehydrate and 10 bags of cranberries to can.  I plan on doing the cranberries tomorrow and Tuesday Ron will help me do the celery.  I was hoping to get a couple turkeys to can but the prices are higher than I wanted to pay.  I will keep my eyes open after Thanksgiving to see if I can get a bargain.   

My beautiful brace.

It's black and will go with everything.

Hand after first washing in 2 weeks.

Have I Said How Much I Love Craigslist????

Craigslist it is the worlds best site.  I know I've told you about how a couple months ago I placed a "wanted ad" for canning jars.   I've had several people answer it and have purchased jars from 1 person and 5 have just given me them free.  So far since Saturday I've gotten 11 dozen jars free.  1 dozen of the wide mouth quarts I got today are still in their sealed box.   The 7 dozen jars I got today are from an older gentleman that lives less than 2 miles from our house.  If you have craigslist in your area it is worth it to place an ad that simply says "canning jars wanted".  I put a picture of my canning closet on the ad and the last 2 people who have given me the jars have mentioned the picture and both said they wanted to give them to someone who would use them.  We were talking to the gentleman today and he was telling me about all the fruit trees he has and said I could come and pick the fruit he doesn't want.  Free jars and the possibility of free fruit.  I will never have to buy jars again.  Again if you use craigslist take all security precautions.   

Vegetable Soup

This week I made a wonderful pot of vegetable soup using ground turkey.  I browned the turkey in a soup pan then added a jar of my mixed soup vegetables, pint of tomatoes, quart of tomato juice and 3 tablespoons of beef base.  The soup had a wonderful tomato taste and was very low in fat.  The turkey used was some of the turkey breasts that I ground last month.  Soup is one of my favorite meals at this time of year, an easy one pan meal.

Check Your Weekly Grocery Ads

Now is the time to check your weekly local grocery ads to check for items that you use and are on sale.  You can dehydrate, freeze or can these items to enjoy later.  Items to check for right now that will be on sale will be:
turkeys; can, freeze, grind your own ground turkey
hams; can or freeze
celery; dehydrate or freeze
cranberries; can, dehydrate, freeze
sweet potatoes; can or dehydrate
potatoes; can or dehydrate
onions; freeze or dehydrate
If you are too busy this week to put up any of the above items up remember you can freeze the meats until you have time, cranberries can be put in the freezer right from the store and done later and the potatoes and onions will be OK for a couple weeks.  The only thing that really needs done immediately is the celery.

Also on sale will be cream of mushroom soup, green beans, sugar, flour, baking items.  If you use any of these items now would be the time to stock your pantry.  If you buy items ONLY when on sale you can save  a lot of money.  I can't remember the last time I purchased an item that wasn't on sale.  Even when I did not can I always purchased items when on sale only.  If you can change your buying habits and buy on sale items only and stock up this is the only way to do it.

Example, if you eat canned green beans regularly, buy a case when on sale and put them up.  Then when you see something else you use all the time purchase it in bulk.  Slowly you can build up your pantry and save money doing so.  Don't forget watching for meat items to be on sale and stock your freezer.

To me it's a challenge, be a wise shopper and buy when on sale only.