Hams, Hocks, Sausages, and Other Good Food..pt 1

Yesterday we were gifted a couple of small pork quarters; wild pigs given to us by our friends that are avid hunters. Today I have been working on this bounty, getting it trimmed, cut brined, and sausaged. Here is what we started with... Can there be a more fitting project for Halloween Day? I started by washing the meat thoroughly, then sorting it according to how I am going to process it. That nice big thigh on my cutting board will be trimmed and turned into ham. There are 2 small hams in the lot.

We trim off excess fat and all the sinew, all the meat and bone is sorted.

This small pile on the counter is the excess sinew. It will all be given to the chickens....and the chickens will turn it into eggs. It is a beautiful thing!

Once trimmed, the bones will go into a stock pot and be covered with water. I'll boil it until the meat is ready to fall off the bone, strain and reserve all the meat....then return the stock to the stove. It will be reduced by half and vegetables added. Then the cooked meat will be returned to the mixture and I will either freeze or can the soup.

Finally everything is cut apart and sorted. These big cubes will be partially frozen before grinding and then we'll turn them into sausage. The plate to the left is what I'm turning into dinner.

The white plate holds the 2 hams and the hocks that we will be brining and smoking. The hocks are fantastic for seasoning beans!

We make the brine using Morton's Tender Quick, brown sugar, and water. The 2 hams and the hocks are all submerged in the brine together...

We use a 5 gallon food grade plastic bucket for brining. Not only do we brine hams and hocks, we also brine turkeys, turkey hams, and make our own corned beef. I like using a clear glass lid as a weight, so that I can be assured that there are no bubbles or air pockets.

Next we put the lid on the bucket and it goes into the fridge. We will turn and move the meat every day. The hocks will probably be ready for smoking in 3 days or so, the hams will take a bit more time. If these were skin-on hams, I would have dry rubbed them and they would be ready sometime around Easter.

Fall Cleaning and Spring Planning

We started "Fall Cleaning" today. Each day this week we'll concentrate on 1 room of the house and de-clutter and clean. I will be Freecycling like crazy all week, and then Saturday make a trip to Goodwill to take whatever is left.

We started today with the kitchen. Everything comes out of the cabinets, is sorted, and organized. Then we hit the drawers. Oh my, what a project! If I can talk myself into getting rid of it, it's outta here! Next are the lower cabinets. Pots and pans I forgot existed. I figure if I haven't used them this year, it's time to move on.

Also on the to do list today was making our Fall chick order. We ordered 25 pullets that will become our layers for next year. Also on the order was.......*deep sigh*.......6 Rhode Island Red cockerels. We lost our last red roo this summer and will be starting with a new guy. We'll pick the best 1 or 2 roos from these six and put the rest in the freezer. Also on the order is a batch of Cornish Rock chickens for meat. We plan our meat chickens for fall and spring because they do not tolerate heat well. The new peepers should be here around Thanksgiving.

When It All Comes Together

Many things on the homestead are trial and error. Without a doubt, homesteading is a lot of hard work. We shed a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to pull it together at times when we want to give up. It is a labor of love, and the rewards are very sweet. You learn to appreciate little things in life, and develop a sense of accomplishment and gratitude at the end of every day.

One of the greatest aspects of homesteading is a sense of camaraderie you develop with like minded friends. Neighboring homesteads help each other....like....neighbors! We have some dear homesteading friends that raise Nubian goats as well; in fact we consider our herds "sister herds" as we share many of the same genetics, we have similar goals, and we all work together.

Cheese making has been one of our goals. We have both made many different types of soft cheeses, but never took the plunge into making cheddar. This year my friend took the plunge and purchased a cheese press and 2 months ago began her first block of cheddar.

Yesterday she brought the cheese over and together we were able to taste the first fruits of her labor! Her first cheddar had aged 2 months and was ready for sampling! WOW! I was worried that it would be too "goaty" because of the aging, but was pleasantly surprised. The result is a very nice mild cheddar. The cheese will sharpen as it ages, 6 months is a minimum for sharp cheese.

We spent a good deal of time yesterday laughing and visiting, chowing down some really good home-made goat cheddar, some of my home-made smoked summer sausage, hummus (my first taste of hummus and I'm in love), and crackers.

My conclusion....I REALLY want a cheese press now! Cheddar is on my to-do list for next year for sure!!

A Harvest Handful and a Pot of Soup

Despite the efforts of Ike's damaging winds....we had a few bean plants survive!


We also had a few other things survive, including this huge patio tomato plant (although it did get folded in half)
Anyway, here is what I picked from the garden this morning to use in a wonderful pot of soup...
No, those aren't the world's largest green beans, they are the worlds smallest Orange Bell Peppers! Their flavor makes up for their petite size. In the picture above, there are green beans, rosemary, sage, basil, 2 bay leaves, a crazy hot pepper, and 3 patio tomatoes. You can find the soup recipe here. With our own fresh ingredients, this pot of soup and loaf of bread cost around $5!

We Call Her Ninja Goat

Our dear baby goat Clover is a handful. Her mother is my favorite doe, Faith, and Clover is a spoiled brat. She has never jumped a fence....except for the gate coming into the dog's yard. This time of year there are acorns dropping like crazy, and Clover has developed a taste for them. We can't keep her out of the back yard, and sometimes she'll even wander into the house.

She started doing this when she was very tiny. She still is not very big, but it takes her all of about 2 seconds to climb the wall and jump the gate. We were finally able to get it on video. We call it "Ninja Goat".

Fall Chores

Besides all the things going on in the house, we have a number of chores to take care of outside. The 2 big chores we'll be working on this weekend is hoof trimming and cleaning the outbuildings. I despise the cold, it stays so wet and dreary during the winter months, so I get as much done as possible while the weather is nice.


Hoof health is very important with the goats. This time of year the ground stays cold and moist, which is not a good combination if the goats have overgrown or sore feet. The does are all bred now, and the bucks are going out of rut. This is the time of year when they will fatten a bit before winter. We've cut milking back to once a day, and to every other day for 2 of our first fresheners. I am praying that the freshenings are spread out enough so that we will have milk year round, we'll see. The goats didn't cooperate at all when it came to planned breedings this year. Our first kids are due around Christmas, it is a Satin X Callie breeding and I am REALLY looking forward to these kids.

Here is Satin at 16 months:

And Callie as a first freshener:

They both have outstanding pedigrees and should produce some very nice kids. With her freshening around Christmas/New Years, we should have winter milk. YAY!

Tightening our belts; examining the costs of homesteading

Typically speaking, I rub poor Lincoln's head off pinching our pennies...but in these tight economic times, I am learning to really calculate how much money we spend and where, and pinch harder when possible.

Feed prices skyrocketed this year. Many folks blame ethanol, many folks blame the high price of gas. I'm in the ethanol camp, since gas prices are down right now but feed prices are still up. As a result, we began free ranging our chickens. We have not bought any poultry feed since the end of May. Our chickens free range, get garden and kitchen scraps, and get leftover milk and whey. We have been very pleased with the results so far. Their egg production hasn't suffered, and the birds have actually gained weight. It boils down to the fact that we are at $0/dozen eggs! Besides that obvious benefit, there are other benefits also. They have kept the garden pests at a near zero rate, which helps us stay away from pesticides.

Goat feed is currently up to $17.50/100 pounds; which means the goats cost about $70/month for feed. We should be good on hay until Jan, but we are saving for another big hay purchase ($300 for the cutting), about $30/month. The return we get on this investment is all the milk we can use (and then some!), poison ivy control (and they turn it into milk!), manure for composting, and hours of entertainment. It is worth the cost, even if the costs are at an all time high, for the milk and the milk products. Besides using the fresh milk we make:
1) ice cream
2) buttermilk
3) soft cheese
4) sweetened condensed milk
5) condensed milk

We also have to consider that the $100/month spent feeding the goats feeds the entire herd. Our herd consists of 3 bucks, 1 wether, 5 does in milk, 1 dry doe, and 2 doelings.

The garden paid for itself this year, despite the fact that this was the first year for planting the garden spot at mom's. I am anxious to see how our harvested seeds do next year; but for now I am planning our fall & winter garden...more on that later.

Things that we can't grow or produce ourselves, I try to buy when it goes on sale. The biggest saving tip that I have for folks is to never need it. When the price is low, buy a lot...and never let yourself run out.

I buy my herbs and spices in bulk from here http://www.sfherb.com/ The people are great, they have great products, and great prices! I am a little obsessive about herbs and seasonings...I am always making rubs, mixes, and seasoning blends!

When possible I make things from scratch, but sometimes things are cheaper to buy than to make. These are the things that I am re-examining to try to find ways to save money.

Introduction to Homesteading

Ask 20 different homesteaders what it means to be a homesteader and you will get 20 different definitions. This is blog is all about our method of homesteading, and what it means to me.

Homesteading is a way of thinking, a philosophy of life, and a way of life. Homesteading revolves around hard work and faith in God. It is taking a step back, simplifying your life, and re-examining the way you do things. It is getting back to basics. It is not self-reliance, but a reliance on God's blessings.

We do many things from "scratch". It is very important to us that our children have basic skills such as: how to grow food, how to harvest and preserve food, animal husbandry, how to sew, basic construction methods, how to be frugal, etc. These are life skills that our parents and grandparents grew up with and have been forgotten by many Americans.

This blog is all about how we do what we do on a day to day basis.