The weather has been unbelievably nice this past few weeks! I started working on getting our garden seedlings started. I also moved my plants from the grow lights in the house out to the green house. The weather has been so nice, I haven’t had to heat it yet!
For some time I’ve thought about starting a homesteading link up. Now that we are moving into the fall season and things are slowing down it’s a perfect time!
Why the Homestead Potluck? A potluck is a gathering of friends all bringing their favorite dishes to share. While many of us can’t gather together in person, we CAN still share our recipes, craft projects, and general news from around the homestead. This is open to ALL homesteaders, urban homesteaders and rural a like.
It’s been a busy week here on the homestead. Although a cold and rainy one! I’ve been blessed with lots of apples that we will be working though. My Aunt shared apples from her Mac tree, a friend of hubby’s shared apples from their farm. Also our 2 trees are waiting to be picked!
I think there will be a lot of applesauce, apple butter and baked apples in the next few weeks!
Please save the Homestead Potluck button at the top of the post to link back to this post!
Spring is early this year. We are going to be starting our garlic and onions. Dug out the row maker and it needed a little TLC.
You can see our original video showing the row maker and garden spacers from last year.
Spring has come to the homestead and with it the first harvest crop. Maple syrup!! We only have 2 maple trees on our property, but that yummy sap isn’t going to waste.
If you’ve been following our video homestead series, you’ll know that making maple syrup was our first video.
When the temperatures started to rise we headed out to tap the trees. After the first day we had collected about 2 gallons of sap. It was strained and set in a large pot on medium heat to evaporate. When it was almost finished dh transferred it to a small pot. This is were the “trouble” started. We got busy and forgot it was cooking… The sap came to a boil, when I spotted this I turned it off, when it cooled it was rock hard in the pot. Hmmm…
Maple Sugar Harvest 2010
Well I thought why not heat it up and pour it out on wax paper. We’ll have maple candy! I turned the temp on low and started to soften it. I stirred it up making sure it wouldn’t burn. But something unexpected happened. As the sap was heating up it started turning to powder in front of my eyes. It was amazing to see! What we were left with was maple sugar! And it is soooo delicious!
I wish all kitchen mistakes could be that good. LOL!
We’ve received some questions about the tractor seen in the background of our vids. Hubby thought he’d take some time to do a vid about it.
It was hubby’s birthday recently and he received a history of tractors book. He really likes it! This video shares some highlights from the book and his thoughts on it.
This is the copy hubby has.
This is the newer edition still in print.
Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to get back to work!
I enjoy canning our own conveniences food. Store bought soups are expensive and high in salt and other additives. I love having home cooked suppers on our pantry shelves. Lets face it we ALL have crazy days that we are tempted to pick up fast food. I try to keep a stock of home canned food available for times I’m just to tired or sick to cook supper.
Every fathers day people in our area host an antique tractor tour. It’s always a lot of fun!
