CrabGrassAcres

Got babies all over the place here. I've had to assist with a few births. Last yr one of the does had twins and one had nose and foot out and the other had a foot out. Both heads wedged tight. I had to lay down on the ground and shove my arm way inside to untangle them and push one out of the canal with the doe straining against me. I had a pounding migraine after all that.

Mt Rider, the woven plastic kind. Looks a lot like plastic tarp material. I think they just heat seal the overlapped edges to make the bag.

I've wondered if you could iron plastic feed sacks into a larger piece, sort of like a DIY tarp?

I HATE bermuda grass! Row covers will shade the plants from much of the heat and lower water requirements. You can do a hoop type frame over the bed and use remay.

Ole Joe tells Hillbilly Mama, "Ma you got somethin' stuck to yor teeth." So Hillbilly Mama takes her teeth out, wipes 'em on her overalls and asks "did I get it?"

Stewing chicken is about a pint of skinless boneless meat. One of my big roosters about a qt. Big ole broiler, 2 qts. Itty bitty game rooster, 1/2 pint. LOL

And they think pig meat is nasty! LOL

Just make sure it is something he likes.

I usually just boil the fruit in some water with a little sugar. How much depends on the fruit. Then I put it in a jelly bag to drip, just like making jelly except I don't put near as much sugar in it. After that you can freeze the juice, drink immediately or can it.

I have in past picked up cartons from a local liquor store that had dividers in them for bottles. Don't know if those would work for canning jars.

I sure can't afford enough of those to store all my jars! They seem rather overpriced to me.

I used dry herbs and dried onions and garlic from my pantry.

Well, I made bologna with a qt of canned pork that I ran thru the food processor with the broth, 1 teasp garlic 1 tbs dried onion, a pinch of oregano and a pinch of thyme, a couple teaspoons of liquid smoke, 3 eggs and 1/2 cup of powdered milk. Baked it at 300 in a small crock till a knife in the center came out clean. Turned out pretty decent! Slices nicely.

Philbe I'll look for that recipe. Twilight, I think they do use gelatin, I didn't want to have to buy any though, don't know what all is in those packs.

I've made lots of meat salads, looking for something a little different.

Its the sticking it all together so you can slice it part that has me beat.

I have a lot of meat that I canned, chicken, turkey and pork mostly. I was wondering if anybody has any good recipes for making lunchmeat or sausage out of the already cooked meat? All the ones I can find call for raw meat. I'd like to have something a little different than what I've been doing with the canned meat.

I cook the juice from my home canned blueberries till it is reduced enough to jell. I can the berries in light syrup, about 1 cup of sugar to a qt of water so I usually add a little more sugar to taste. I don't like it too sweet and I like a strong flavor. I don't use pectin or lemon. I pour it into sterile hot jars while the jelly is hot.

Day length has more to do with lettuce bolting than heat does. Keep your day length shorter and you can grow the lettuce longer. Also cutting heavily will delay bolting. The red lettuces are more resistant to heat than the green too.

Would it be possible to make a plastic sheet tent over the plants in the bathroom? Something hung like mosquito netting would be over a bed is what I'm thinking of.

Daughter is gluten, soy and corn free. I don't eat soy or any beans at all as they badly affect my kidneys and I get gout. I'm on a chronic kidney disease diet so have to watch the protein and phosphorus intake and avoid oxalates. I bake and cook nearly everything from scratch. I cook separately for daughter and for myself. I raise most of our meat, all our eggs and dairy. I have to be sure the goats don't get any gluten as daughter will react to the milk. The only meat I don't raise is beef and I try to get organic grass fed whenever possible. I just put a goat in the freezer and will be butchering the pig shortly. He is over 300# now. We eat a lot of home grown chicken, some duck and turkey. Right now I'm in eat down mode and trying to use up all the meat I've got canned.

If you buy production hens, they will lay nearly every day, but rarely will one set. Then get some game type hens for your setters. Old English Game bantams are absolutely the best setters I've seen. I've got one setting down in the barn on the bags of oats and she doesn't even budge when I'm in there moving bags around and making noise. She didn't even get up when the feed delivery came and two strange men were in there stacking bags. They almost tossed a bag of oats on top of her! I have some OEGs that set nearly continuously all yr. They will take care of the babies unless I grab them first and put them in a brooder. In that case the hen will usually go right back to setting. I'd keep the setters in one area with their rooster and the egg layers in a separate area with their roosters. The setters will cover the larger eggs, just not as many if you are using bantams. Cornish hens will set very well too, though I haven't found them to be the best moms. Most of mine will set constantly (except to get off once a day to eat and drink) and not get off the nest to care for chicks, I have to grab the chicks as they hatch.

We had barely pulled out of the drought, hit extreme this past summer, and are sliding back in.

When I was hauling water and ran out during snow season (because the road was too bad to pull the water trailer over) , I would keep a large pot next to the stove, full of snow. Have some HOT water on the stove and add snow to it until it is full of slush. Let it get hot before using if you aren't running it thru a really good filter. If no filter, boil whatever you are using for cooking or drinking.

50s yesterday, 60s today, 70s tomorrow. Freezing overnight last night again. Most of it is missing us again. We rarely see very cold here.