June 24, 2009 by Debbie.

I don’t mean people who are old but people of an older time - our parents or grandparents or for some, even having to stretch back to their great-grandparents to find savers. I was blessed to grow up poor and budgeting was not a four letter word but just a fact of life.  A fact that made life more than livable. And budgeting wasn’t just for money, but for time and energy as well.  Anyway, my day today exemplifies how ‘old people’ saved money. Yes, I’m an ‘old people.’

Old people had a routine schedule that was pretty set. Monday was wash day, Tuesday was ironing, Wednesday house cleaning,  etc., etc. This was not just something that was embroidered on tea towels, but was a disciplined way of life. Today is Tuesday (regardless of when I actually post this; I’m typing it on a Tuesday!) and I’m already behind as I mowed the grass yesterday instead of doing laundry. Well, since I don’t iron anything I’m not too far off schedule. My ‘normal’ Tuesday schedule is to have a free day  to quilt/sew as a treat. BUT  treats come after the work is done so my free day would start after

1. milk 3 does and feed/water all goats/chickens

2. wash laundry and hang on the line

3. make cheese - mozzarella and ricotta

4. clean up the kitchen/dishes

5. sweep the house

6. answer all the emails I’ve let go over the weekend

7. hem the dress I made so I can wash it with today’s laundry

8. water the west garden

9. make and pack John’s lunch

10. give the broom a ‘hair cut’ so all the ends are even - does anyone else remember their mom doing this - cutting all the straw even at the bottom of the broom? Mom would do this til the straw was too short to use be useful as a broom. I’m going to recycle mine to the barn when that happens.

I think that’s it. Of course, that’s not in the order I did everything and I mixed up various chores, being able to run laundry/hang out clothes while in stages of cheese making but having started at 5:00 am it’s now lunchtime and I’m done with almost all of my list. Still have to finish sweeping the rest of the house. I did the kitchen and living room and am working my way out from there. All of the laundry is on the line and probably dry from our summer temps that may hit 100 today.

So what does this have to do with saving money???

Consider  that a lot of people use shopping as their ‘treat or reward’ as I use quilting/sewing. If they followed the old people’s way, that shopping treat would only come after doing the normal chores as my quilting/sewing treat. Frankly, I’m too tired to quilt or sew right now. I’m ready for lunch and short rest so I can take down the clothes and start afternoon chores.  So, shopping would be pushed away for another day and hence, money would be saved. Treats and free days weren’t every day, every week or even every month occurrence. Along with that came a true appreciation for treats and free days.  Smaller treats were greatly appreciated and not just an ‘oh, gee’ thing. People weren’t jaded by overabundance - do you remember the last time you were excited about getting a piece of gum or stopping for a small vanilla cone?

And frankly, I’m much more satisfied and happier than if I’d skipped ahead to the day’s treat, whether it be quilting or shopping.

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June 18, 2009 by Debbie.

As I mentioned in the last post I’ve had to make cheese 3 times a week to make use of all the milk I’m getting right now. That will stop soon as the Texas summer heat is coming in fast. So, it’s make cheese while the sun doesn’t shine as fiercely.  At my last cheese making I took some pictures so you could enjoy it as well.

To start at the very beginning would have been almost a year ago when the does were bred so I’ll fast forward to the morning’s milking. The actual milking consists of putting the doe in the milking stanchion so she can eat while I milk. I wash her udder, checking it for any possible injury at the same time. Dry with a clean cloth. Squirt the first 5 squirts from each teat into a strip cup - this special cup has a screen on top to catch any lumps or show any blood tinges. The first little bit of milk in the teat has the most potential for bacteria as it’s down by the teat opening. I switch the strip cup for the milking pan - a stainless steel pan that has been sanitizied. I milk the doe completely out in about 10 minutes. After removing the milking pan and covering it, I spray teat dip on both teats and release the doe’s head stall so she can leave the stanchion when she’s done eating. I carry the pan of milk into the house and do a mastitis test on it weekly.

The milk is then strained in a sanitized stainless steel strainer that has a milk filter in it.

I weigh the milk each time so I know the doe is producing a good amount. If the production drops off I will research possible problems. Betsy has been giving 3 pounds (1 1/2 quarts) at the morning milking - a good amount for a Nigerian Dwarf Milk Goat. The jar of milk goes immediately into an ice water bath to cool it down to 40 degrees in less than 30 minutes, insuring the best tasting milk!

After all the milking is done I pour 1 1/2 gallon of milk into a large stainless steel pan and put under low heat. While the milk is heating I dissolve 2 teaspoons citric acid in some cool water and 1/4 a rennet tablet in another small amount of cool water. I stir the citric acid in at 50 degrees and the rennet in at 90-100 degrees. The curded milk will pull away from the sides of the pan, showing the left over yellowish whey.

Now comes the fun part -I strain the curds out of the whey, saving the whey to make ricotta later and cook the curd 45 seconds at a time in the microwave. This stretching process could also be done in a pan on top of the stove, but this is a lazy way I like.

The cheese is stretched just like taffy. And just like taffy, it’s HOT so I keep a sink of ice water to dunk my hands in to cool them. I pour off any excess whey as I heat and stretch the curds. This heating and stretching is done when the cheese is smooth and very elastic. Right before the cheese is finished I add some sea salt. Experience will teach when it’s time to add the salt.  I mash the salt into the cheese and heat it for the last time.

After the last heating I wrap the cheese and refrigerate til needed but I use it within 3 days as it is a semi-soft cheese, not meant to be kept long term.

The remaining whey is put under heat again and brought to a rolling boil. This curds any remaining milk proteins into a very fine grained ricotta cheese. Once the whey comes to a boil and I can see the ricotta forming on the top I pour the whey through a cheese cloth and let the ricotta drain for a while.

After the whey has drained away I scoop the ricotta into a bowl and refrigerate.

I have enough mozzarella and ricotta to make a full lasagna or we make pizza and add spices to the ricotta for a cheese dip. Both freeze really well also.

I still remember once when serving lasagna for dinner the guest asked if it was homemade. I was so embarrassed to say no, it wasn’t; I’d had to buy the mozzarella and ricotta cheese instead of making my own. All she wanted to know was if it was store bought frozen lasagna………… I didn’t even know there was such a thing!

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June 13, 2009 by Debbie.

Sometimes I feel like we’re the real life versions of Ma & Pa Kettle. Remember the one show when one of the sons wrote an essay “What Our Farm is Like” and kind of stretched the facts a little? The whole family moved back to the farm and jerry-rigged the farm to match the essay, putting up false fronts and borrowing other farmers’ livestock and equipment. Well, at least we have our own quality livestock but sometimes I feel like I’m putting up false fronts, choosing which pictures to put up here on the blog. I mean I’ve never posted a picture of the junk collecting under the hay shed yet and probably won’t!

But tonight after John and I finished tackling the mowing and  weed eating I took some pictures I’m proud to share. No false fronts here! And no, there’s not one of the hay shed junk either. Use your imagination and then multiply by 50 and you’re close.

Green beans are growing protected from the guinea in the hoop house. We got so much rain for so long that pill bugs were eating the sprouts as fast as I could replant them so the rows are sparsely filled but there’s more rows of beans on the other side of the black landscape fabric.

The onions John planted in the spring bulbed out nicely and are drying in the carport on an old sheet. The potatoes are small, as we like them, so I’m digging them as we need them for meals. We eat so few potatoes that it’s not worth while to let them get too big - they just rot or sprout on us before we use them.

The canteloup, zucchini, asparagus beans and tomatoes are growing well for this time of year, considering how late it was when everything was put out - thanks to the monsoon rains this year.

The old manger box was filled with compost and potatoes planted in it as an experiment that did not work well at all. The compost dried out too fast and killed off the potato plants. The other potatoes are in the east garden, planted the old fashioned way. Cantaloupe is on the right, squash in the middle and the ferning asparagus patch on the left. (are you starting to see Ma & Pa Kettle in these pictures now?)

Another messy area - I’m growing cucumbers and asparagus beans up a cattle panel attached to the kids’ play fort. I had to protect the seedlings with chicken wire so I can’t weed the bed and grass is enjoying the nightly waterings as much as the plants we’re purposely growing.

I’m really enjoying the new sitting area. You can see the hosta behind the swing and the Swiss Chard growing in the shade house to the front and right of the swing. There’s a new raised bed in front of the shade house that’s still in progress.

The raised bed design came from Bobbi (Earthly Gardener on the blog roll). It’s cedar fence pickets with stakes only in the front. The dirt holds the pickets in place on the inside. I’m going to protect the house foundation with cedar pickets, too. I’ll plant this bed in the fall.

We spent the last two days mowing and trimming the yard so you’ve got to see pictures of it, too. Might be the only time this summer it looks this good!

You can tell by all these pictures I don’t have too much growing in the gardens right now, huh? BUT I’m doing good as a goat herder. As an update on the goats - 4 does in milk equals a lot of milk daily. I’ve made mozzarella and ricotta  three times this week and plan on making some pudding this weekend. John used a batch of the mozzarella to make home made pizza tonight …….. ymmmm, I can smell it baking as I type. The chickens are laying so well still that I’m cooking eggs for the dogs to eat for supper once or twice a week.

I’ve also made some progress on hand quilting the Compass Quilt - the feathering is sooooo slow! You can see by the quilting frame picture I’m at the bottom of the middle of the quilt. (note to Gina - I love the purse for holding my quilting supplies!! keeps everything handy)

That’s about it here at Beulah Land. Nothing exciting, just good life!

(I never should have ended this post with that line. Went out to help John with the new goat area, lifted a log and found snake #6. He was full of eggs and I hope he was the LAST. Enough excitement for now.)

Posted in Homestead living | 1 Comment »

June 1, 2009 by Debbie.

I’m having a hard time thinking of how or even IF to write this entry. My heart is sad and actually feels heavy so I may just delete it after typing it all in ….. we’ll see if it shows up or not. I’ll be as surprised at the ending as you are.

Beginning with some background - John and I listened to and read Larry Burkette’s Money Matters and almost all of his books, including his suspense novels. I love the way he presents truths, very gently but firmly.He was our generation’s Christian financial guru.Today’s Christian financial guru is Dave Ramsey, who openly admits he learned from Larry Burkette and the two gurus’ messages mesh.  It makes sense, both use truths and principles that are Biblically based.

BUT, (yes, my thoughts usually have a but in there), I have a hard time listening to Dave Ramsey’s broadcasts and cds. He’s very blunt, almost sharp and uses modern language that I’m not comfortable with - not ‘cuss’ words but slang. Yet one thing I highly respect him for is when his daughter over drew her checkbook he told her she LIED to the banker and would have to go down and apologize to him in person.

First of all, how many people would think of overdrawing a checkbook as lying? He explained that when she wrote a check she was saying she had that amount of money in the bank to cover it. Since it bounced, obviously she did not have that amount of money to cover the check she’d written and signed her name to. Another word for this is fraud. Another definition of fraud is lie.

Such a little thing. I mean, the first time, couldn’t he have overlooked it? After all, she apologized to him and said she’d never do it again. Such a little thing.

BUT he wanted her to know, to LIVE, the scripture, “he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much.” She went down and personally apologized to the banker. It is an experience that is imprinted on her heart and mind. Do you think she is likely to overdraw her checkbook ever again? Don’t you know she’s going to take seriously anything she signs her name to and take her name itself seriously?

Still, as much as I respect Dave Ramsey’s life experiences and teachings I’ve had trouble with his wording and his presentation of the truths, feeling he was speaking too strongly to some people. UNTIL this weekend. I guess I’m still flabbergasted cause I don’t know how to even explain.

Sunday after church someone told me he’s going to ‘just’ let his car go back. I wish I could say I’d heard remorse or sadness (not in losing the car either), or regret or disappointment in overextending himself but I didn’t. I hope I misread his words.  Instead the words I heard were, “The beauty of it is if the car can’t be paid for, I can just let it go back.” His reason for a $600 month car payment that he found out he couldn’t afford is ‘the car is awesome.’  BUT truth is God is awesome; a car is transportation.

Now I know why Dave Ramsey speaks so bluntly, plainly and strongly to this generation. He has to cut through the cotton in their ears. With each lie the devil serves us he must give a ball of cotton to stuff in our ears.

I wish I could believe the contrast to this story represents the majority of American population- right now I doubt it, but I did recently meet them. They are a young couple, actually the same age as the man above, who have 3 children and are choosing to live responsibly. The wife came for a Homesteading Economics class last month. They’re successfully living the Dave Ramsey plan and progressing. The best thing that stood out to me is she understands and lives the truth that to make ends meet you can either make more money or SPEND LESS. They look for ways to cut cost. She left a well paying job to stay home with her 3 children, realizing she could cut out a lot of spending associated with working mothers. She uses FreeCycle and has planted most of her flower garden with free plants or starts. They’ve learned to respect and save on the little things, knowing the little savings add up to the big savings.

The biggest contrast is the mindset. Which translates to the heartset.

I’m at a loss as to the why of this post other than I need to write it out. If nothing else maybe consider it a modern day parable mimicking the parable of the stewards.  I may personally email Dave Ramsey and tell him of my initial concern with his words but now to go for it because frankly, right now I feel less hope for the American economy than ever.  I am so glad God doesn’t change and His truths will win out.

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