Home made Apple Sauce

 

Applesauce By Malex Welte Applesauce is a wonderful way to use fresh apples. Applesauce with cinnamon and a dash of vanilla is very good. I prefer my applesauce cold but some find warm applesauce a delightful treat on a cool autumn or cold winter day. And homemade applesauce can’t be beat!!! I am sharing with you the process of making applesauce. I had the opportunity to help my mom make several quarts last fall. First, get fresh ripe apples, either green or red is good depending on your preference. A red variety apple, like red delicious or pink lady is sweeter, where a green Granny Smith is tart and a bit sour. Peel the apples and place into a bowl of water with one tablespoon of lemon juice; this just keeps the flesh of the apple nice and fresh. After the apples are peeled, core and dice them. Place them in a pot and cover with about one inch of water. Heat apples on medium heat, stirring often until apples are cooked and soft. After, the apples are softened mash them up to your likening, you can send them through a food processer and make them pureed or just use a potato masher to mash leaving apple chunks. We added about 2 tablespoons of cinnamon to our batch of about 50 cooked down apples. Sterilize quart jars by washing in warm soapy water and placing into 250 degree heated oven for 15 minutes or run through dishwasher on sanitation setting. Place flats in a few inches of water and boil gently for 5 minutes to prepare rubber seals for the jars. Fill jars with applesauce leaving 1 inches of head space. Wipe the jar lip with moistened paper towel to remove any debris from filling the jars and put a warm flat on top of each jar, taking care to not burn your fingers, and tighten the ring to finger tight on top. Place filled jars into a water bath canner and fill canner with water until it covers the top of the jars by 1 inch. Process the jars on mid-high heat until boiling, keep an eye on water level to make sure the jars are well covered and water does not boil off, and then set a time for 15 minute processing time. When finished carefully remove jars from canner on to a towel on counter. Let cool and check seals before placing into storage. Any unsealed jars can go into the refrigerator for immediate use. Sealed jars go into pantry to enjoy all year long or as long as it last!

Home made "Solar Oven"

Solar Oven by Jadence Welte

A Solar Oven is something you cook in using the sun's power. I first saw a Solar Oven at the Homestead Expo last August held in Marshfield, MO. It was an interesting item and an interesting idea. So, a few days later, after we were home, my siblings and me decided to make our own. Malex, Matthan, Mirren and I gathered material. We collected a cardboard box, plastic wrap, and foil covered cardboard that was reflective. We also gathered marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers. We assembled the "oven" with the foil facing up to reflect the sun and the plastic wrap over it to keep in the heat. It worked! We were able to melt the marshmallow and chocolate enough to get S'mores to enjoy.

The end...until the next adventure!😉
 

Emily Dickinson

                                                                  

Emily Dickinson

By

Matyus Welte

For school I was assigned to write about Emily Dickinson, which I find very difficult to do because I don’t like her work or much that I have read or heard about her character. I personally find it interesting that a lot of the well known poets were, in their own time at least, considered insane. Emily, much similarly, was considered different in her time, being a recluse that didn’t emerge from her room as an adult. Emily locked herself in her room and refused to see anyone. Her sister discovered her poems after Emily’s death and pursued having them published. Despite Emily’s peculiarities, she wrote words that in today’s society are considered “beautiful” or “fascinating”.

If you want to read about Emily Dickinson or read some of her poems to form your own opinion look for these books at your local library. 

“Becoming Emily: The Life of Emily Dickinson” by Krystyna Poray Goddu

“On Wings of Words: The extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson” by Jennifer Berne

“Emily Dickinson” by S.L. Berry

“Poetry for Young People Emily Dickinson” by Frances Schoonmaker

BEST HOMEMADE TOMATO SOUP EVER!!!!

We traded jalapeno peppers to a friend for several pounds of her rare heritage tomatoes. There were all kinds of varieties. Brandy Wine, black truffles, green zebra and I don't even know what else! Our family is very fond of tomato soup and I thought it would be nice to can some homemade soup for the long winter months when the taste of summer would be a distant memory. 

I happened up on this "Fresh Tomato Roasted Garden soup" and decided to try it. It was so good, 

I dream of it! 

First step is to wash about 10lbs of tomatoes, cut out stem and slice in half. Put them in a large Dutch oven or stainless steel bowl. Quarter two large onions and add to the bowl. Chop two to three garlic cloves and add them to the bowl. Add 2 tablespoons salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, one cup of torn fresh basil and parsley. Swirl in two to three tablespoons of olive oil before placing in 400 degree preheated oven and roasting for 45 minutes. After removing from the oven, I ran the roasted veggies through my food processor to break into little chunks. In a large stock pot I put two store bought cans of tomato paste and two large (28 oz) cans of pureed tomatoes. I added my chunks to the pan and cooked on low for 15 to 20 minutes. If eating fresh, add 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of cream, as well as, 2 teaspoons of stevia (or sugar). Stir well and serve. 

If canning do not add milk and sweetener until you heat it up later. Wash quart jars well in hot water and soap. Fill jars with hot soup until 1/2 inches head space. Place flat on on jar that has been boiled in hot water for 5 minutes and tighten ring to finger tight. Place filled jars in a water canner and process with 1 inch of water over the top of jars for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool, check lids for seal before placing in pantry.

 

Welcome Fall!

Fall is my absolute favorite season! The changes in nature are so dramatic and beautiful. I love harvest time, too! All the hours of planning, prepping, watching and watering come to fruition. It is so satisfying to harvest your own food. But there is nothing that brings me joy quite like my pumpkin patch! I always plant extra because I love the beautiful blooms, the jumbo leaves and sharing the wonderful, orange globes with others. 

This year we planted Jack-o-laterns and sugar baby pumpkins. We kept several for ordemental purposes and processed several as well. We even toasted our seeds for a yummy snack. Now we can pull a jar of grown-in-our-garden pumpkin puree from our pantry and make a yummy treat all winter long.

I am already picking my varity for next year and begging James to make my patch four times the size of this years. My patch this year may or may not have been four times the size of last year!

TIP: to grow round, non-odd shaped pumpkins, place pumpkin bottom down, (when it is possible with out damaging the vine) as soon as possible on a paper plate or a ceramic tile. This takes the pressure off the sides of the pumpkin as it grows and helps ot have a beautiful, uniform shape.

Literature study and poetry

 "The Scavengers"  

by Michael Perry

Novel summary: 

In Ford Falcon's world, people live UnderBubble or OutBubble-in the protected cities or in the wilderness without electricity, gasoline, or any modern conveniences. Her family lives OutBubble in a slapdash shelter on Skullduggery Ridge near Goldmine Gully, an old trash heap where they scavenge for lumber and supplies. A partnership of government and corporations have genetically modified URCorn, a miracle food that makes people stronger and healthier. That is, if you can eat it. And the GreyDevils, strange creatures, human mostly, will do anything for URCorn. Anything. Add in solar bears and weird weather that can't decide whether it is summer or snow and you can bet life is not easy. But there's something much more mysterious going on, and Ford Falcon things it has something to do with her father. 

We read "The Scavengers" this semester and are working our way through the Progeny Press study guide for the book. In the book the main character, Ford Falcon, shares a love of poetry with her mother, specifically Emily Dickenson's poems. So, we have been doing a bit of poetry reading and I assigned the children some writing assignments. We studied about alliterations and consonance, a flow of sounds and words that create an almost musical effect. Alliteration is a poetic device in which a beginning consonant sound is repeated for dramatic impact. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the middle of words. An assonance is the reputation of vowel sound repeated in a sentence.  The following poems don't follow these rules exactly, and really they are more humorous that musical, but they were written with the thoughts of alliteration, consonance and assonance in mind.

Hope you enjoy. 

Hillbilly Hay

by Mundan Welte

"Hillbilly hay" that's what people say

when they see the over stocked trailer coming their way.

Some might say it is the wrong way.

But rather they shake their head and say 

"My, oh, my! Hillbilly hay!"

Farming is Charming

By Matyus Welte

Farming, from the outside, doesn't look charming.

But its argument is very disarming, this you might find alarming.

But a simple look and you will be hooked.

Now that we shook the lie that our government cooked,

in one of their meetings, listen to this pleading!

We are farmers needing, if you want to keep eating.

The Chicken Massacre by Jennady Welte

                 The Chicken Massacre 

By Jennady Welte

 

 In August we traveled to Braymer, Missouri to visit with our older sister Janel and her husband Isaac Rude, but also, with the intent of killing meat chickens.

Monday the 26th morning, we woke up and made breakfast. We ate quickly and dressed in our worse clothes, knowing that guts and blood was going to be everywhere. Then, we went outside to the yard where the butchering station was set up and the chickens were to be collected in crates.  Scrap, scrap, scrap went the knives as they were sharpened for killing the chickens. Up went the killing cones and the water was heated for dipping the chickens in. The chicken plucker was set up, the tables ready for the eviscerating. The containers for clean butchered birds were prepared with fresh water, as the innocent little birds slept in peace.The Rudes took time to talk and quickly demonstrate the process to us. Specifically with great detail of how to remove all of the vital organs. 

When the birds woke they set waiting to be fed but feeding time would not come that day or any other day. For they only had a few hours left to live. As the birds waited, the Rudes and us headed to the coop to round up the chickens. There were lots of flapping of wings, but finally all were caught and put in cages with bricks set on top of the cages to secure them.

The massacre started!

Out came the chickens two by two and into the killing cones they went. Slit. We cut their throats. We tried not to cut the esophagus. They bled out slow with a steady flow of crimson. Then, into the boiling water they went. The water was hot enough to loosen the feathers but not so hot as to scald off their flesh. Then, to the evisceraters who remove all vital organs. When that was finished the carcasses were rinsed and put in ice water. We repeated this process from the morning to noon, about four hours in total. We did a final wash of the carcass before we bagged them.

After, we showered and napped for a long time. We all were very tired.

 

  

THE CHICKEN MASSACRE WAS FINALLY 

OVER!