another piece of the Puzzle

Our Circulating Pump showed up on my doorstep today. Now I realize most people wouldnt start jumping up and down over a circulator pump ( especially a girl) , but its kind of a big deal, its another piece of the Off The Grid Puzzle.
Over the past 3 years we have only really talked of our plans to remove ourselves from the power grid, only in the past year have we really taken that step to "make it official". For most, the dream of Going off the grid is just that,, A Dream... I mean, unless you plan on living in a tent, pooping in a bucket, getting all your water from the creek, and cooking over a campfire ( and all of those are great lifestyle choices, just not the way we want to do it.) you are GOING TO spend some money. You can spend up to 30-50K on a solar array just to live a "normal" lifestyle.. who has that kinda cash?? certainly not us.

We are poor,,lol.. I laugh, but I give you truth. We live paycheck to paycheck. we are frugal , we work hard, but we are poor. So we are attempting ( and will succeed!!) to do this the cheapest way possible. When all is said and done we hope to only spend around 6,000.00. although I have a feeling it will end up being more,, because well, thats just how it always works when you are pricing something ;)

In march of 2012 we purchased the controller and inverter for our solar array,, 2 fairly expensive *Pieces of the Puzzle*** next will be a generator, then panels, then batteries..all expensive too,,lol

Now I am sure you are just reading along, patiently, and thinking, ok ok.... so what is the circulator pump for???!! This will be hooked up to our woodcookstove, will continously circulate the water as it gets hot to ensure that that we dont have an exposion of hot water/steam, there are other parts that go into the equation too ( Im sure my husband would correct me on this, but hey Im giving ya a basic idea, he is the brains behind all of this).. what I am trying to say is, as of this Fall , all of the hot water in our home will no longer be heated by our hot water heater, but will be heated by our wood cookstove.. pretty cool huh?? Now do you see why I am sooo excited!
another piece of the puzzle...completed. :) Now get chopping Robb, fall is almost here ;)

Party In the Garden

Life has Been ( as always) busy busy here at the Cool Homestead. Keeping up on all the garden space has been a challenge, and since there isn't too much time for relaxing during these months. We do what any homesteader would do, Take the party to the Garden! ;) We are busy harvesting, preserving, pulling Honey, attending our local Farmers Market, and Having a Blast in the process.

Strawberry Salsa

We moved to our little Homestead here in 2006 and since the spring of 2008 I have been trying to grow strawberries, and every year was a fail. They were small, rotten, eaten by slugs, and If I came in the House with 2 cups I was extremely excited. I left the patch in the same spot for 2 years, and then realized that it probably was not getting enough sun. I finally planted a new patch last year, a small one, approximately 30 sq ft.. I planted the plants in rich composted soil. I fertilized with Fish emulsion early in the season, and then put straw down when the fruit set,,, in other words I BABIED the HECK out em!! It was all worth it.. SUCCESS!! I had HUGE berries,, I was picking small bowlful everyday! Well, this got me excited to make the patch even bigger, we consolidate 3 raised beds into one big 100 sq foot patch last fall, and I then Transplated the Runners into the new section, and thinned out the original section which was jam packed with plants.... This spring happened fast, it went from 40 degrees to 80 degrees, and was like summer By The beginning of March.. You are thinking, thats great, how wonderful,, summer in March... Mmmmmmmmmmm, NO! Warm weather early means Plants bloom early, which is great as long as you arent going to get another FROST or FREEZE... which did Happen, for almost a week straight!! sometime in late April we had a BIG BIG cold snap.. and I have thousands of blooms on my strawberries!!! All that warm weather created some a seriously early berry patch! The first 2 nights were frost, and then came a FREEZE.. Im pretty sure I didnt sleep that night.. each night we covered with tarps, sheets and clothespins and hoped for the best.... well all the work paid off, we saved the entire patch.. We are BURIED in strawberries this year. Even after Little Miss Norah raided that patch daily,

I have been picking about a GALLON a day, and they are still coming faster than I can pick them! Instead of throwing another Jam receipe at ya, I figured I would share this.. **STRAWBERRY SALSA*** I found it In Western North Carolina Magazine and decided to give it a try for an Upcoming Party.. to say it was a HIT is an understatement. Enjoy!

****STRAWBERRY SALSA***** -2 Lbs Strawberries, sliced -1 Jalapeno Pepper (optional) -1 yellow pepper seeded and diced -1/2 red Onion diced -1 Tomato seeded and chopped ( i couldnt bring myself to buy a tomato from the store, so i used some that I canned last year) -1/2 Bunch Cilantro -Juice of One Lime -2 Tbs Olive Oil -1 tsp salt -1 tsp sugar *toss together in a bowl, Prepare within a Few hours of Serving to ensure strawberries retain texture

Eggs In a Nest

Spring has sprung!!which means dirty feet, dirty clothes, dirt in the hair, dirt in the house from all that time spent working the earth getting the seasons gardens ready... AND it also means Lots of fresh green salads for dinner!!
But what to make besides salads??? What do you do with an abundance of Swiss Chard that has doubled in size from last weeks rain, and the dozens of eggs ( even some double yokers ;)piling up in your fridge now that your chickens are laying overtime?? ****Eggs in a nest****!!..
This recipe was taken from the Bestselling Book " Animal, Vegetable, Miracle ( a year of food life) By Barbara Kingsolver. The author and her family set out to eat ONLY LOCAL for an entire year... Definetaly worth a read !!!

On to the recipe

EGGS IN A NEST

-2 Cups Uncooked brown rice ( cook rice with 4 cups water in covered pot while other ingredients are being prepared
-a few tablespoons olive oil
-1 medium Onion and garlic to taste
Saute onions and garlic in olive oil in a wide skillet until lightly golden
-carrots chopped
-1/2 cup dried tomatoes ( or fresh if you dont have dried from last yr)
-1 REALLY Large Bunch Of Swiss Chard coarsely chopped.
Mix with the other vegetables and cover the pan for a few minutes, Uncover, stir well, then Use the back of a spoon to make depressions in the cooked leaves, circling the pan like numbers on a clock,

-8 eggs
Break and egg into each depression, being careful to keep the yolks whole, Cover pan again and allow eggs to poach for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from Heat and serve over rice.
Serves 4

The only mistake I made was not using enough Chard this time around, I would use double what I did!! but it was still DELICIOUS and Filling,, and not to mention cheap, especially when you have your owns too ;)
Happy *Local* Cooking :)

baby steps

We have enjoyed a nice short winter here in the North Carolina Mountains. Its been a while since I posted but am going to to my best to Keep everyone updated on whats going on here! lets just say A LOT, if you know us, there is always way too much going on, but if there wasn't well then I wouldnt have anything to write about ;)

Our 2012 Focus, besides planting, and preparing for the 2012 Bee Season, if our Goal of removing ourselves from the power Grid Completely.
Right now Robb is working on a Passive Solar hot water Batch collector.
Its basically a giant insulated box, with a stripped down water heater inside, The sun heats the water, and the water is then pumped into our existing water heater. SO basically the Sun Is preheating our water. This should cut our present kwh usage of 400-500 a month (which is pretty damn good, average household uses about 1000 kwh a month) down considerably.
This winter we will also hook up our Woodcookstove to our hot water, and the now existing Electric hot water heater will be turned completely off and used only as a Holding Tank, meaning all of our water will be heated by either the SUN or WOOD!
Here are some photos of the Passive SOlar hot water batch collector (including one of my husband worshipping the sun,haha),, its not quite finished , still needs the glass door attached, and still needs to be piped into the house, but gives you an idea..
next up,, SOLAR PANELS *** Baby steps...I have to keep reminding Myself ;)

When life gives you Potatoes

This year was a fine year for Potatoes at our lil Homestead. Thanks to our Kitty "Bluegrass" there was minimal damage from the moles (They prefer to sample each n every potato, taking only one bite.. just enough to ruin the potato for storage, but still edible in the next few days )


We ended up pulling about 120 lbs of potatoes this year.! which is great,,, as long as you have a place to store them ; root cellar, basement.. which we have neither of. In the years past I have stored them in my pantry, which usually works great, although I have never had this many, so they usually got eaten before they had the chance to go bad.


So what do you do, when life gives you 100+ pounds of potatoes?
Make PIEROGIES of course!! In addition to canning potatoes, and canning stew, it would not be a winter at the Cool residence if Pierogies were not on the meal plan atleast a couple of times a month....

WHATS A PIEROGIE??
Ive been asked this quite a bit. so to make it easy,, here is the official definition

Pierogi (Polish pronunciation: [pjɛˈrɔɡʲi]; also spelled perogi, Börek, pierogy, perogy, pierógi, pyrohy, or pyrogy) or Varenyky are boiled, baked or fried dumplings of unleavened dough traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit. Of central and eastern European provenance, they are usually semicircular, but are rectangular or triangular in some cuisines.[1

I have only ever made mine with potato and cheese, but plan on making some saurkraut ones this yr. You can really add whatever you like.. Hubby likes me to add Jalapenos to the potato n cheese ones. Ive even thought about taking this dough recipe and filling these babies with apple pie filling.. fried up and served with ice cream, yummmmmmmmmmm..

Ok, on to the RECIPE.... I have used other recipies in the past, but this one ROCKED, the dough was very easy to work with. and the end result was fabulous.


Potato and Cheese Pierogie
Dough
4 Cups All Purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 Cup Plus 2 Tbsp cold water
3 Large Egg Yolks

Potato Filling
4 Medium potatoes peeled and cut into small chunks ( I would say more like 6)
2 Tbsp Butter, plus extra for frying
1 Small Onion
1/4-1/2 Grated Cheddar Cheese , or more, depending on what ya like

1. TO make the dough, combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the center and add the water and egg yolks. With a wooden spoon, stir constantly, until the dough holds together, adding a litte more water if necesary.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for 2 minutes. Put the dough back in the bowl , cover it with plastic wrap and set aside
4. For the filling, boil the potatoes in a large saucepan of salted water for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are soft
5. Drain the potatoes and mash them by hand
6. Meanwhile, melt 2 tbsps of butter in a small skillet. add the onion and saute for 5 minutes, stirring often.
7. add the Onion, cheese and salt to the potatoes and mash them in.
8. Break the dough into quarters. Roll one out thin on a lightly floured surface
9. Use a biscuit cutter or a water glass, cut the dough into 3-3.5" circles. roll out and cut the scraps, repeat until all dough is used.
10. Put a heaping teaspoon full of filling in the center of the circle.
11.. moisten the edge of the circle with a wet finger tip, then fold it in half and press the edges together firmly to seal

***IF YOU ARE FREEZING THE PIEROGIES FOR LATER USE, place them on a cookie sheet, place in freezer until frozen, remove, place in plastic freezer bag. remove air with straw( to prevent freezer burn) label, date and put in freezer. If you are ready to enjoy,, continue on to step 12 :)

12. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
13. Drop the Pierogies 8-10 at a time, into the boiling water, simmer until they rise to the surface, and continue to simmer for an additional 4 minutes. remove from water and set aside on papertowl or kitchen towel.
14. Melt a little butter( we use olive oil) in a large skillet ( we prefer cast iron;). using a slotted spoon place them in the skillet and fry lightly over medium high heat for several minutes.
15. Serve hot with melted butter, sour cream, or extra cheese, if you so desire! Comfort food at its finest.........
Enjoy!

Autumn : A Time For Reflection

I awoke this morning to what seemed to be the first cool morning in close to 6 Months. 65 degrees , overcast, slight breeze, ABsolutely Beautiful... It was definetaly an Autumn Morning....
I yearn for this time of year, cool mornings, Fall foliage in the Mountains, starting up the first fire in the cookstove, but most of all,,, MOST OF ALL,, finally slowing down here at The Cool Homestead.
Its been an extremely hectic Spring and Summer.. we went from 6 hives to 25 Hives this yr, experienced quite a few swarms, pulled close to 300 lbs of honey, tended to close to 1200 sq ft of garden space, grew hundreds of veggies starts and herbs to sell,vended honey , veggies and plants at the farmers market once a week, canned my behind off ( over 200 jars and still canning, that goes on until about October ;), cleaning coops, butchering chickens, standard yardwork, hive inspections, building hives, splitting hives, chopping wood for winter( with a maul, no log splitter here), weeding,trying to manage my sewing business, ( or lack there of! ) all while husband was gone 50 hours a week at day job! and I had a 4 yr old In tow at all times here at home... you get the picture....hehehe
WHY? why? why?.. seems to be a question ( or a look) I get when people ask us what we do in our spare time... We dont go out to the movies, or out to eat, or out to the bar... We dont have lunch with friends much or go to the mall. We dont spend our entire summers at music festivals or bonfires, or have friends over every weekend...

SO what DO WE do for fun??? we Jump in the creek, run through the forest, turn up the music and have a beer while we extract and bottle honey, meet and talk to fabulous people at the farmers market, enjoy the solitude of the national forest,watch chicken TV,.(we do go see some live music and we do have your standard FUN too ;)
Living as secluded as we do( we live an hour from absolutely anything), and working as much as we do, is hard for some to understand... Its not a life for everyone , but it is the life of a Homesteader, and I feel a Intensly great sense of accomplishment,satisfaction and contenment looking back on 2011...

Autumn still has its work cut out for us.. chopping wood, planting fruit Trees, fall gardening... but things are slowing down...a time to **REFLECT, learn, grow and Plan for a Fantastic 2012 at Bee Kind Family Farm :)

Blessings
The Cool Family