Amishway Homesteaders

Walmarts has pulled all canning stuff to put out the CHristmas stuff for this year, right next to the Halloween stuff that has been out for a month!

speaking of facebook- I can't tell you how many times someone has told me something and I question it and they say " it HAS to be true it was on Facebook!" well sorry folks but that doesn't work all the time.

............................. and that is just another reason why we are here and not there.

$7.00 now and they last for years so think of it as $.50 a year worth of insurance for making all the jars seal and you not getting burned! Soon you will be buying up jars and lids so you can can more, be on the lookout at yard sales for glass jars as they are very cheap that way and all you have to do is wash them really good and you are all set. We buy lids on sale at end of canning season (and store them well) for next year’s canning to save a bit of money. After canning wash and dry your rings and they will also last for years. Now get canning.......................................

Last few years here have not been good for anyone having anything to do with snow? Low sales of snow blowers, ice skates, snow shovels, etc. Have all been put on deep sales all winter long. Snowplow people have had it ruff trying to make payments on their trucks and snow plows without a lot of snow to plow. The Ski place near us has closed early the last few years as they had to make snow and that ain't cheap when it keeps melting.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass song - The Stripper Yes that was what I used to use in my juggling act. got a lot of laughs as I stopped juggling and started takings things off when that song came on as part of the show. thanks for the memories............................. way before -

it is NEVER to late to start! as long as you DO start. So many people 'talk' about doing things but then they keep putting it off until it is to late. NOW is the time not as soon as I can get to it.

Well..................................... All our Amish Friends use a winger washer and they don't have electric to run it. They just take off the electric motor and put a pulley on and then run a gas engine (outside) and run a belt from it into wash house. Some now use a 'flex hose' that spins from the engine to the gear without belt? by the way – Same engine is used to run the meat grinder, wheat grinder and they even use it to turn the alternator (used form a car) to charge the batteries to run electric fences. So you see you CAN live without that electric and do just fine! That's the main reason I don't think we will be having any trouble when we will just go from Amishway Homesteaders - to - Amish but we will miss all you guys!

What's Your Bumper Crop This Year? WEEDS! And lots of them with the weather and no rain than lots of rain than no rain this year things have been hard to keep going. But Tomatoes are doing OK and they are growing higher than the 5 1/2 foot cages I grow them in. Some plants are over 6 feet and still going with tons of tomatoes. Peppers were slow to start but now the plants are full and turning nice and red. Peas did very poor this year both snow peas and reg. peas? Most of what I found this year is it all depended on when it got planted as to how well it did this year. I had to do a lot of hand watering in the early part of the growing season and now don't have to water at all?

Good for anybody on here that does that! It means we will never have a cupboard that is bare. This will also help IF and when we get snow and can't get out to the stoes, As it has done in the past.

Need another reason to prep? This one will make you say: “Eureka!” Backstory- We have been very busy doing this and that, going here and there, and helping out wherever needed. And the last few weeks seems to be from sun up to sun done, and then some. So things we had planned to do like shopping or food cooking in bulk sometimes got put on the back burner being replaced by something more important. Last week we had plans to go shopping on Monday but that got changed, then we thought we could squeeze it in on Thursday, but that too didn’t work out as we were needed longer at the Amish Farm Picking stuff for market. Maybe over the weekend? But Saturday’s Plans got changed and then on Sunday we took a day off and when to Ithaca, NY So anyway here it is Monday and we have no food in the house to eat! (other than all the food we have in the house). So Lori said to make ‘sandwiches’ out of something and she would be right back from visiting the neighbor. But I didn’t want sandwiches so I got creative…… Went out to the garden to get some tomatoes, but there was a very nice eggplant all ready for me so I picked it, went to the cellar for a jar a pasta sauce and came in to the freezer for some shredded mozzarella cheese. Back in the house I found the bread crumbs I had made from old bread and got out an egg from the refrigerator. Guess what I made – Eggplant Parmesan! And that was a lot better than PB&J sandwiches! (this time) So It got me thinking, how many times we were too busy to shop and had to raid the canning jars to cook Dinner or go out to the Garden and ‘pick supper’ as we call it. So remember it is another way of saving money and eating well when we can or have a garden………. Or BOTH! Yes Lori came back inside and said it didn’t smell like sandwiches! But was glad for a hot meal instead, before going to work today.

OK - I was wondering where to put this one and here it is......................... It was in a catalog we got from countrydoor.com I wish I could post the picture as it says it all! Vertical Rotisserie Oven! (page K #E) This is just BAD! Think of a big black round thing with a glass front door. Now put your chicken onto the metal thing standing up in the middle so it 'stands up" (legs handing down to bottom tray and wings out to side) Now push start...................... AND the inside lights up so you can see how it is cooking! AND it rotates!!!!!!!!!!! I swear the chicken in the picture looks like it is Dancing on a stage! How can you eat it after seeing that? all they need to add would be stripper music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we know the bees that make ours (amish ) and we know the person that took that honey out of the hive (also amish). also know and watched when it was pulled form the combs. and I helped 'jar it up'. and man it is so good and fresh!

I still have (and use) a hand pumped jar sealer! (Think of a small balloon pump or one to fill basketballs) you can use any jar-screw top or canning jar. First you use a tack to punch a hole in the top, and then you take a piece of tape (with a small rubber piece on it- looks like a Band-Aid) over the hole. Then you put the pump with suction thingy over that and start pumping! IF you need to get out a bit of whatever you have in jar just lift the tape a bit, the air rushes back in and then you just put back on the lid and pump again and it seals! How cool is that! It has to be over 25years old and still works!

this is me! take me the way I am! Know of people that clean and pick up the house BEFORE the cleaners come in to clean each week! HELLO! is that not why you hired them?

This one is easy........................................... Seeing they ALREADY are buying meat to 'give away' they are just going to use that money to buy from 'the farmers'! And that means the people they WERE buying from are now out of the loop! or maybe they are now in the other loop? Those people that are out of work and on Welfare!

How about that tomato slicer! It looks like a fly swatter with metal lines but it will cut a tomato into even slice for sandwiches and lazy people.

Robie must have his mind on the new house.................. he is repeting jokes?

cute

With all the weird weather this year and not much growing the price of feed was going up and you know they are going to just pass the price increase on to us. I am seeing that come this fall EVERYTHING is going to cost more due to weather....................... And THAT means gas prices too - as they will find some way to blame it on weather that they are going up to $4.00 a gallon again!

More room for Michael! and some more room for other things as well! Great to be a home owner - but you do know now all the "fix ups' in the place will be YOURS to do!

for me- hand crank bread maker, swing-a-way can opener, metal screw top can opener ( I am to old to open most without Lori- I grunt , she opens) plug-ins: The Crockpot! ( we are so busy this thing is the best for meal making! and to come home to a wonderful smelling Kitchen, the best part)

I just read in this months Countryside Magazine about cleaning cast iron pans. Love that magazine! One of just a few that I read from cover to cover.

Don't you girls know we do that so you 'think' we don't know what we are doing and then you make us stay out of the kitchen!

it has been going around here too. Lots of friends are feeling it.