Town House Homestead Tuesday.

We are taking our time and doing it as right as possible, but the waiting is killing us. We had a couple of days at the end of last week that we really did not feel well. Tired mostly, but Sunday with the help of a dear friend we pushed through. The floor was washed three times and vacuumed even more to get it as clean as possible. It was worth all the scrub. We got all of the walls touched up and started the trim and down went the first coat of floor paint. We let it dry and got the second coat on. This basement tear out and renovation is coming along great and barring no further delays in a couple of weeks we can move the studio in and re shelf the pantry.  Wish us luck. We are racing mother nature because as soon as the studio is moved out of the garage we need to fill holes to keep critters out of it.

While the second coat was drying we moved on to the third portion of the basement. We'll call it the furnace room and got the cement walls coated in white with the primer. The further wall will be blue and the wall on the left may need another coat.

A portion of the space that will be the food storage room got a start with the floor. We did just enough to be able to move shelves in and organize the pantry when the time comes that we can walk on the floor.  

As I said we are doing it to the best of our knowledge and ability. Thanks to friends, YouTube and research it is going to be nice. We have even found some one who can help with the 59 year old screen windows that need replacing.

Once the shelves are in place we will be adding the canning that we have been doing, yes, while we've waited for paint to dry and in between the regular work. Here we have pasta sauce and apple butter. 

My daughter wanted to make something from scratch doing all the work herself and the canning herself. So she spent time making the apple butter and I gave her the first basic lessons in water bath canning. It was a job well done. We put the apple peels and scraps in water with sugar to make vinegar. It's doing well and fermenting in the cupboard.

Today's adventure in the kitchen was a batch of root beer jelly. The root beer was from a recent trip through a drive through for a quick bite and it never gets consumed so today I made jelly. It tastes like root beer candy. It will be shared with friends and the excess added to the pantry.

That's what's new at the Town House Homestead this week. All the work is beginning to feel great and the results have been amazing. On October 15th we will have been in our new home for six months and it feels like it's been home forever. We still love her. Thank you for stopping by and have a great week. 

Town House Homestead Tuesday.

We are taking our time and doing it as right as possible, but the waiting is killing us. We had a couple of days at the end of last week that we really did not feel well. Tired mostly, but Sunday with the help of a dear friend we pushed through. The floor was washed three times and vacuumed even more to get it as clean as possible. It was worth all the scrub. We got all of the walls touched up and started the trim and down went the first coat of floor paint. We let it dry and got the second coat on. This basement tear out and renovation is coming along great and barring no further delays in a couple of weeks we can move the studio in and re shelf the pantry.  Wish us luck. We are racing mother nature because as soon as the studio is moved out of the garage we need to fill holes to keep critters out of it.

While the second coat was drying we moved on to the third portion of the basement. We'll call it the furnace room and got the cement walls coated in white with the primer. The further wall will be blue and the wall on the left may need another coat. 

A portion of the space that will be the food storage room got a start with the floor. We did just enough to be able to move shelves in and organize the pantry when the time comes that we can walk on the floor.  

As I said we are doing it to the best of our knowledge and ability. Thanks to friends, YouTube and research it is going to be nice. We have even found some one who can help with the 59 year old screen windows that need replacing.

Once the shelves are in place we will be adding the canning that we have been doing, yes, while we've waited for paint to dry and in between the regular work. Here we have pasta sauce and apple butter. 

My daughter wanted to make something from scratch doing all the work herself and the canning herself. So she spent time making the apple butter and I gave her the first basic lessons in water bath canning. It was a job well done. We put the apple peels and scraps in water with sugar to make vinegar. It's doing well and fermenting in the cupboard.

Today's adventure in the kitchen was a batch of root beer jelly. The root beer was from a recent trip through a drive through for a quick bite and it never gets consumed so today I made jelly. It tastes like root beer candy. It will be shared with friends and the excess added to the pantry.

That's what's new at the Town House Homestead this week. All the work is beginning to feel great and the results have been amazing. On October 15th we will have been in our new home for six months and it feels like it's been home forever. We still love her. Thank you for stopping by and have a great week. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Well, another long and busy week is behind us and the learning continues along with confusion and wonder as to why things are the way they are. 

I finally found time to enjoy the process of baking my pie pumpkin last week. It's one of my favorite vegetables to put up and it makes the townhouse smell so wonderful. I roasted the seeds and can not wait to start cooking this week. My $2 pie pumpkin yielded six cups of puree and one cup of seeds. 

It's coming up on the holiday season and I'm always looking for home made things to do. I enjoy working with textiles and have been learning more knitting stitches and making more ornaments. This is the first time ever that I have knit with five needles at once and this star is the result. I was intimidated at first, but it is really easy once you are familiar with the pattern.

Here they are in red. It uses so little yarn and I am using the leftover from my knitted sock adventure.

I also found a few minutes this week to work on a Christmas fabric ornament. I have a personal collection of red, white, and green folded fabric ornaments. These are three inches square and are the Cathedral window quilt design. I will add a bead to the middle and attach a hanger. I love folding and manipulating fabric and this is using up a lot of my scrap holiday fabric.

Isn't this the most beautiful picture of fruit, vegetables, and snacks? There are 2 large heads of cauliflower, 15 cucumbers, 5 oranges, 4 bags of baby carrots, 4 snack packs of graham crackers, 6 yogurts, 25 apples, and a large container of guacamole. Well, this was all rescued. Headed for the landfill. Yes, this is what makes me wonder why things are the way they are. It is a liability to give this food away. I am grateful that it was rescued and given to us. There's been cooking going on, sharing going on, and healthier eating going on. It can only do good if we overlook the liability. I find that as I'm maturing there are fewer things physically that I can do, but if I can be gifted food because people know I won't waste and will put it all to good use, then that will be the direction I take. From the townhouse, a great big thank you for stopping by to visit and please have a wonderful week. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

We are enjoying the herbs from the garden and making them ready for the upcoming winter months when we won't have fresh. Getting herbs to grow inside is hard here because we have little to no light or room for it. This week has been a busy one. 

We harvested the lavender and dried it. We have a good solid cup of buds to use for cooking and adding to whatever we want. Two of the plants were new and one is older and we think for the size of the plants we did well. Double last years harvest. Not bad for the room we are allowed for plants. We have a pint of lavender simple syrup brewing for iced tea and lemonade this summer. A little goes a long way. 

I harvested the spearmint for a batch of mint jelly. I liked the jelly, but can't wait to work with my peppermint.

My green onions have been so abundant that I cut some of them to freeze in oil for those wonderful winter vegetables. I also have a cup chopped in a jar in the refrigerator to use now. I also made herb butters. I made basil butter; basil, lemon and garlic butter along with parsley butter. These have been frozen for winter use.

This morning I harvested Rosemary and Sage. From this I will make more butters and oils for winter storage. I can't wait to have sage and pepper butter on my sweet potatoes. I have a lot left to the plants, so having fresh for a while is wonderful.

Bread making this week included one loaf and six rolls. More than enough for two for the week. 

This past Sunday we spent some time with a dear friend who had come home from California for a visit. It was a dish to pass event at an outdoor park and I made this bread pudding to take. I made it from this pinterest recipe http://www.pinterest.com/pin/461970874250028516/. The only change I made to this recipe was to include the cinnamon with the sugar and flour so it mixed through the pudding instead of being sprinkled on top. I also used a homemade sweet bread, that was a pinterest fail as far as a sandwich bread, and it was delicious in the pudding. Needless to say not one raisin came home in the dirty dish.

There's been plenty to do for our simple townhouse homestead lifestyle including making a new supply of laundry detergent. Starting next Monday the landlords are doing inspections of selected units and I so hope it's not ours. We will spend this weekend hiding a few things and making sure we are within the rules. I am keeping things neat and organized so they cannot find issues. I'm also trying hard to understand why we pay so much money to rent and live under these conditions but this too shall change. We are determined, but need to change at a pace that doesn't end up being a big mistake. That's what's new at the townhouse homestead this week and thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful week.

Dehydrating to keep from wasting.

First up: Apples

This is my 30 something year old dehydrator that just keeps on going. I hope I get a lot more use out of it. With apples being plentiful and reasonably priced I have been dehydrating them so that I don't waste them. As much as I love apple pie I just couldn't justify making a pie and not eat it. When I do I will make a 4 inch pie and know it will get eaten. Veteran's Day this year was spent with my Grandson's and I discovered that they like apples. They finished what I had left in the refrigerator and would have consumed all of the dehydrated one's too if I hadn't had other snacks for them. I'm so glad they love nutritious food. The thing about dehydrating is that you start out with a lot and end up with a small jar full. 

Today however it is time to do the potatoes. Some how I thought that I needed more potatoes than I could eat, but the price was right. I've cooked and cooked potatoes and filled the boys up with potatoes and now it is time to dehydrate some. After all of this I think I still have 15# left. I may end up doing more later in the week so that I don't lose them. Storage in a small apartment is tight, but I can vacuum seal dehydrated potatoes in jars and tuck them some where until I need to use them. 

I'll have to head over to Pinterest to seek a couple of simple recipes. I never in my life would have thought that I would still be using this dehydrator for anything other than the jerky I make for gifts, but when you don't have that big family around any more, and it costs less to buy the larger amounts I guess it's the thing to do. I'm building a reputation as the homesteader in the townhouse.