I Tried a THING... Balsamic Sweet Onion Jam

 A good friend mentioned making this last year... it sounded odd and well, not very good at the time. We talked about it again this spring and for some reason, it sounded pretty good this time! And, good enough for me to go find the supplies to make it myself! NOT JUST ONCE but TWICE! I made two batches... shared some and will probably share it in some Christmas packages! It is soooo good on a burger and roasts and ... well... MOST meats actually! 

                                                              Recipe: (found on Pinterest)

Super easy to make! NOTE: I did use more butter then recipe called for so that it wouldn't burn... and I used more onions too... the cooking down process took longer too!

               It was SOOOO WORTH THE TIME and the ONION PEELING TIME! LOL

HOME, HOME ON THE RANGE.... I mean "Homestead"

So much has happened in so little time....

1) We got the chickens...  37 (2 extras) the meat birds arrived April 9th... so cute and fluffy! We had a really chilly spring, which is probably why we generally choose to do mean birds in late summer... they seem to have an easier start and then 8 weeks later it is only end of September or early October when they go to freezer camp!

2) We got our hens....  funny story! We got 7 little fluff balls! They shared the brooder with the meat bird chicks with a divider between them! It was amazing what 2 weeks meant in the difference in body size! I REALLY wanted to get barred rock hens, but it wasn't meant to be, so we got 3 golden wyandottes, 1 silver wyandotte and 3 Americanas (blue eggs)! A few days later I was headed to town and the thought came to me... "check out Tractor Supply, they MAY have some barred rocks!" SOOO, I did... I went to town for Chinese Food and came home with that PLUS 3 little rocks!

3) We had to build a chicken house... and help Austin and Abby build theirs too!! AND BOTH needed to be done around the same time!

4) ONE of my sweet rocks turned into a ROOOOSTER! Can you imagine!? LOL It's ok with me, some members of the family aren't as amused as I am!

5) They are all moved in! YAY

Our Homestead is Changing!

Our homestead is changing... it is springtime 2020 and with all the quarantining of the last month until who knows for sure when, we've decided to dive a little bit deeper back into animals again!

After a little bit of pondering, and at the prompting of a certain 8 year old grandson, we decided to get a few laying hens! We have had them in the past, but not for the last 6-7 years. It's time... fresh eggs and a little shared responsibility will be a good thing! With that all decided, it's time to look at some possible 'houses and yards'! (UGGGH.... I really do NOT like wintering animals!)

We are sharing an order of 25 chicks with my son and his friend... so 3 families will be having a fun spring! They will arrive next Friday (4/24) and we are excited!!

• shavings 
• starter/grower feed
• waterers are clean
• feeders all cleaned up 
• brooder all set up

NOW WE ARE AWAITING THE PHONE CALL FROM THE POST OFFICE! 

Our first phone came in the morning... 4/16

with our first batch of meat birds... we are getting 35 of them and another 50 in August!

Second call happened April 24th with our chicks... hens for our hen house (eggs)!!

I brought up the idea of turkeys again...  as I do each spring! LOL And after thinking about it for a week, it is a NO GO! The poults are $9.49 each and then 14-18 weeks of feeding and watering them... ehhhhhh, we nixed the idea! (again) 

Maybe a rabbit trio??  MAYBE a couple of piglets??  Who knows what will come next!! We have the
tomatoes & peppers all started and growing strong! In another couple of weeks, we are hoping that the night temps will be warm enough to move the seedlings out to the greenhouse! 

LOTS of busy-ness happening all over the place!  Spring time is a wonderful time of year!

 

 
 

Christmas Jam & A Lesson Learned

It's that time of year... I've only been waiting only since mid-end of winter, 

when I couldn't find any fresh cranberries in the grocery store anymore!!!

I was shopping last week and I SAW THEM!! 

They were beautiful! 

I could NOT resist and I bought 5 bags of fresh cranberries!! 

(Then of course, I HAD to buy 4 pounds of fresh strawberries and 5 giant oranges!)

I made Christmas jam for the first time just before Christmas last year and saved only 

2 small jars for our consumption! 

That was a mistake... for it is truly delicious, and I had no clue that fresh cranberries 

were only available seasonally! 

I set out yesterday to make 5 batches of my new favorite!

I bought 4 dozen jars to use as gifts ... 

the store only had 2 dozen of my 'tried and true' beloved, Ball jars... 

so I opted to get 2 dozen of a different 'off' brand. 

They were pretty enough and would make for great gifts!

It's a good thing that I water bath my jams... because 

I couldn't really tell if the seals took or not before!

 In case you are wondering about the recipe.... here it is! 

SUPER EASY, SUPER DELICIOUS 

and a 

SUPER CHRISTMAS GIFT! 

 My lesson learned...  stick with Ball Jars!!