Some perspective on "off-grid" living

OK.  I admit it.  I like the modern conveniences of life.  Indoor plumbing, a refrigerator, washing machine and dryer, lights, TV, computer.....

But, I grew up in the 1960's.  In rural Pennsylvania.  On a dirt road, in the woods.  We did have electricity.  Thankfully.

The old homestead, barn, out house, chicken coop.

 We had an outhouse (a 3 holer!)  And a chicken coop, there's also a little building down by the creek off to the right of this picture.  We called it the "pigpen" even though we never had pigs.  When we got a pony and horse, it became the "stable".  The field to the right was the pasture.

The old red barn was torn down during the early 1970s.  There was also a cow pond off to the left, just off this picture.

This was a 39 acre homestead, I lived on this property the first 18 years of my life.  I loved that place!  Most of the property was wooded, but off across the field shown on the lower right here there was 5 acres of blueberry bushes.  YUMMY!

Behind the house was a covered back porch.  Off the porch was the well.  Complete with a little well house, windlass and bucket.  We even had a church pew/bench in front of the well house for us little people to stand or sit on.

That well went dry every summer.  Which sucked!  No water.  That means using the outhouse.  When I was little, we didn't have a phone or TV.  We did have a radio.

The dirt road in winter

 This is a portion of the road we lived on.  I think we were 5 miles off the "blacktop".  The road was well maintained, but could get pretty icy in the winter.

 

And in summer

Here's the same section in summer.














Now I want to show you OUR house.

NE side of our 12 sided house Spring 2013

 We live in rural NE Arkansas, on a long gravel drive.  We're 1/2 mile off the highway.  Our property is 42 acres.  Mostly wooded.  It's very hilly.

Front porch 2013

 We have a nice covered front porch.  Complete with rocking chairs and dog houses.  Our well house is off behind the house, near the south property line.  I've posted pictures of it before.

North flower garden, veggie garden & workshop.

This section of my flower beds is off to the north side of the house.  I planted lilacs, in honor of the bushed I loved playing under as a kid.  They were located to the left of the house pictured above, beside the large corn field.

Anyway, our beds are filled with edible plants.  Herbs and strawberries.  The guineas and the dog ate most of the berries before we ever got to them this past year!

The same view during the big ice storm 2009.

Here's the same view, in the aftermath of the big 2009 ice storm.

Now, here's the thing about "off grid" living.  During this storm, we were without power for 10 days.  We do have propane heat and a freestanding fireplace in our den.  We also have a bed in the den, and another bedroom off the den as well as a bathroom.

But, no power means NO water.  And for several days, we had NO PHONE.  No cell service.

Our driveway during the big ice storm 2009.

 Our drive was blocked by fallen trees.  It took us 3 days to cut our way to the road!

South entrance 2013.

Here's the south entrance to our home.  This bed is in full sun all winter.  And mostly shade in the summer.  Which is great, because my indoor plants get plenty of sun in winter.  And they don't cook in the summer.  I like that.

I over winter my cayenne pepper, and night blooming jasmine, basil, a tomato, and aloe.

South entrance 2009.

 

During that ice storm, we made a fire ring and set my husband's Grandma's old cast iron laundry cauldron up.  That way we had a constant supply of hot water.  Luckily, we had a cast iron clawfoot tub in the bathroom off the den.  We filled a "solar shower" with hot water and could take a nice hot shower.

My brother-in-law Joey and his family, and his friend Randy drove all the way from Georgia to help us out.  My step-son Joshua worked at Lowe's at the time, so he got us a large generator that Joey brought out.  So, now we could run the water pump.

We cooked food for 7 people in dutch ovens in our fireplace.

The house was nice and warm.  We had 5-gallon buckets with melted snow/ice  to flush the toilets with.
We kept the freezer and fridge cold with the generator.  We only ran it when necessary.  I mean, come on!  It was 30 degrees outside.  The freezer's on the unheated back porch... a no brainer.  No need to plug it in, when it's already COLD.

The 7 of us did just fine during that storm.  John and I had set our homestead up so that we'd be prepared during bad weather.  We have home canned food.  We had 2 small generators, but needed that new bigger one to power the water pump.

We have dehydrated veggies.  Flour, butter, milk... and chickens for eggs.  We have some solar panels and batteries set up for solar lighting.  Hand crank radio, rechargeable digital TV, hand crank generator for cell phones or laptops.  Hand powered kitchen appliances (old fashioned ones and/or brand new ones).  Our new summer kitchen building has a wood cookstove.  It keeps the building VERY warm, and the oven is big enough for a pizza!

Do I want to live without electricity?  NO!  Without my Roku?  Or the internet?  NO!

Can I live without it?  Yes.

I love living in the country.  Walking in the woods.  Sewing on our treadle sewing machine.  Baking bread, making cheese, making butter, canning, spinning, knitting.

But do I ever want to go back to needing an outhouse?!  NO!!!

Do I have a wringer washer? Yes.  Do I have and use a clothes line?  Yes.  Do I want to stop using my washer and dryer in the house?  NO!

People who have NEVER lived in the woods, on a homestead, in really primitive condition make the whole experience sound very romantic.  In truth, it's damn hard work.

Would I want to try raising all my veggies without a gas-powered tiller or the tractor?  NO!  Could I?  Yes.

Would I want to do my canning in our 1960's pressure cooker on the wood cookstove?  NO!  Could I?  Yes.  I could.

Do I want to stop using our propane heat?  NO!  Could I?  Yes.

Sure, we could put the woodstove back in the great room.  We still have it, and all the required stove pipe.  Do I want Josh to have to chop and split wood to keep the house warm, and so I could cook?  NO!  Could we?  Sure.  But, that's hard work!

Could we butcher a few deer, squirrel and rabbits for our winter food.  Sure.  Could we catch and process fish, and store it?  Sure.  Could we can all our own veggies?  Sure.  Make all our baked goods.  Sure.

But here's the thing.  I want to do it when I want to do it!  Not because I have to.  Maybe I don't WANT to mess with cooking today.  Maybe I want to go to town and have Mongolian Bar-b-que.  Maybe I want someone else to cook me chicken fried steak.

I like living in the modern world with modern conveniences.

I'm very greatful that I grew up the way I did.  I learned a lot.  I know how to do a lot.  I hope to keep all these skills alive and teach them to others.  But I don't want the modern world to go away.  That would be a hardship.

Egg custard and veggie garden plans

My first task for this morning is to make my men some egg custard.  John LOVES custard.  And since we get 5 eggs a day, custard is NO problem!

The recipe I used is from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook... you know the one.  Page 254.

This is a very simple recipe.  Before you begin mixing the ingredients, set your oven to 325.  You also need a pie pan & 6 custard cups.  I put my pie pan on a baking sheet.  Now, put the custard cups in the pie pan and pour boiling water around them.

Egg Custard (flan)

3 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
nutmeg and allspice to sprinkle on the top

In a large mixing bowl, blend all ingredients.  Pour into the custard cups, sprinkle with nutmeg and allspice.  Bake for 40 minutes.

Here's the pictures from this morning.

Doesn't that look yummy?

I'm also planning our garden.  John and Josh tilled the garden over a week ago, before the snow.  If the weather cooperates today, it will get another pass and I'll get the "root" veggies" into the ground.  Here's what we're planning to plant this weekend.

Sweet potato

Blue and red potatoes.  Red and yellow onions.

Walking onions.  I've never seen any plants like these so I thought I'd try them.

Carrots, beets and cabbage.

I also want to get some seeds started for transplant later.  Here's the list.

Flowers for the flower beds and around the garden for insect control.

Plants for the herb garden and on the patio.

And of course, lettuce for salad all summer long.

We love big tomatoes.  Okra is a necessity.

Who could live without squash?

Or cucumbers?

And a nice, ripe melon is HEAVEN!

Our garden didn't do as well last year.  It got too hot, too soon.  Our hottest day last year was June 28th when it was 111F!  Holy moly!  We were in "severe" drought all summer, and I believe we're just finally out of it.  It's been a very dry 12 months.

Northeast walkway and garden in background.

This picture was taken last year on March 31st.  The garden is in the background.  Notice that the onions are already in the ground and the soil is DRY?  The peonies were blooming already.  The peaches were DONE blooming.  It was 86 degrees that day.  Simply amazing.

Josh had just come to live with us that month.  My brother-in-law Joey and his wife Lisa were also living here then.  We had a house full. 

Joe tilled the garden and got the onions planted.  Lisa had lots of plants started in pots for a sale were were going to be in at the Hardy Gym.

In 2011, we had floods.  The Spring River didn't flood as long as some of the other local rivers.  The Black River and the White River were still over flood stage when we took a trip to Georgia for the 4th of July.  In fact, the Mississippi was so high that weekend, we were concerned we might not make it back on time!  We have a long growing season here.  This tomato was still blooming in October.  Notice Curly Joe our lavender guinea behind the tomato?




 We had a pretty good garden in 2010, but for some reason I don't have any pictures of it....  Hummmmm.  I think it's because my grand daughter was here all summer.  And I hurt my back that summer.  That was rough.  So I wasn't outside as much, digging in the ground.  But our homestead still looked pretty good that summer, as you can see from this picture.

Tammy and Ariel catching tadpoles in the "pond".

I know we had beets and carrots in the garden that year.  Ariel helped me dig them up and eat them.  I remember she really liked the Bull's Blood beets.  They're very sweet.  She even asked me, "Can I stay up late and eat beets?"  WOW!

Here's the garden in 2009.  That's the hickory tree that fell in the garden (I discussed this in my last post).

John out standing in his garden.

And the veggies we got that year were excellent.

Playing with fermentation

Yesterday, our friends Jim and Beth Saxe brought us some "fresh from the cow" whole milk.  Man, I'm excited.  So, I decided to spend the day making "fermented" food.

You see, my friend Gena Stout brought me a kombucha "mother" last week.  And it's been fermenting for the past 8 days, so it's time to remove some of the liquid and refresh it.

OK first to the milk.  I'm going to make it into cheese.  I usually get my milk from my friend JoAnn McElderly.  But she has a large family and so I've kinda been squeezed out.  So when Beth offered to pick up my jug and bring me some milk I was very enthusiastic!  Yes Yes Yes!

I usually make a batch of mozzarella cheese, then process it a second time and make ricotta.  The left over whey goes into a batch of bread.

But today I decided to try a new recipe.  Feta is a cheese we really like, so I decided to try making it.

I get all my cheese making supplies from The New England Cheese Making Company.  Here's the link to their site.  New England Cheese Making Company

I decided to learn to make cheese after Gena came over one day and taught me how to make mozzarella and ricotta using the microwave.  That was a fun day!  And boy that cheese is tasty!  That's when I decided to get my own cheese making supplies and some books.  I started with the Complete Home Cheese Making kit.  Complete Home Cheese Making Kit.  Don't forget to order red wax if you want to make some hard cheese.

Later, I also got the The Deluxe Goat Cheese Set Deluxe Goat Cheese Set.

The recipe I'm going to follow today for Feta is found on page 7 of their little handbook from the Home Cheese Making Kit.

Feta Cheese
1 gallon whole mike
1 packet Mesophilic direct set culture
1/2 rennet tablet crushed and dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water
Cheese salt for brine

I started by heating the milk slowly to 86F using the indirect heat method.

Heating the milk

I then added the started culture and stirred.  I kept the milk at this temperature for 1 hour.

The culture is very important.  Different cheese are the result of different cultures.  This direct set culture gives the milk the distinctive flavor associated with Feta cheese.  Having the right culture for the cheese you want to make is very important.  After making this batch of cheese, I need to order more of this particular culture.

While I was holding the milk and culture at 86F, I crushed my vegetable rennet tablet and dissolved it in water.  I only needed 1/2 a tablet.

Here it is, dissolved.














After an hour had passed, I added the rennet to the milk and allowed it to rest for another 1/2 hour.

Milk with culture and rennet resting at 86F

While the milk was resting, I started working with my kombucha.  I hadn't tried kombucha before.  Gena is a real fan of it, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Here's a Wikipedia article about kombucha.  Kombucha.

If you're interested in starting a kombucha culture and don't have a friend with some SCOBY to share, here's a site that can help you get started.  http://www.kombucha.org/

The SCOBY is the "mother", the culture.  SCOBY is an acronym for symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.  Again, here's the Wikipedia link.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCOBY.

It doesn't look so bad...  Here's mine, after 8 days.

Kombucha with scoby on top

I simply used a ladle to remove most of the liquid, filtered it through a coffee filter and put it into a new jug.  I hope to invest in a ceramic crock with a tap so I won't have to use a ladle to get my daily dose.  But for now, this is the method I have to use.

The dark jug will help keep my tea fresh

I put a small piece of my scoby and a little liquid aside for another friend who wants to try it.

To add liquid to my culture, I simple made a new batch of sweet tea the way I always do.  Once it was cool, I poured it into my kombucha vessle.  Here's what my finished kombucha tea looked like.

Kombucha tea is slightly sour and fizzy

I still had to time to let my cheese rest, so I decided to make some pickled eggs.  My banty hen Pebbles has been laying up a storm!  I have 15 eggs from her and I'm not ready to incubate them... so pickled eggs it is!

To make pickled eggs, you start my hard boiling your eggs.

Then you have to put pickling spices in vinegar.  I got my recipe from an old cookbook I have from 1955 "The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook" by Ruth Berolzheimer.  The recipe I'm using is on page 307.

Pickled eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mixed spices
2 cups vinegar
12 - 16 eggs

Since Banty eggs are so much smaller, I added 6 large eggs from my Cochin chickens.

I used McCormick pickling spices.  I boiled the eggs for 15 minutes.  Then I drained them and then covered them with cold water.  I left these to set for about 1/2 hour while I went back to my cheese.

By now, my curd had formed and was nice and firm.  The curd is adequately firm when you see it separating from the edge of the vessel and when a finger inserted makes a clean break.  It looks like this.

Curd "breaks" when touched

I broke the curds up, then let is rest for 10 minutes.  While it was resting, I cracked my eggs and put them into the jars with vinegar and spices.  Here's the finished product.

Eggs in vinegar and spices

Now the jars go in the fridge for 7 - 10 days.  These eggs will keep for several months.  I could also heat the jars in a pressure cooker and seal them.  They'd stay good for several years that way.  But we eat our eggs much too quickly to bother with canning them.

Now, back to the cheese.  I gently stirred the curd and slowly raised the temperature to 96F.  I stirred it every 10 minutes or so.  The curd sinks to the bottom and the whey comes to the top.

Curd on the bottom, whey on the top

I lined a colander with cheese cloth and poured the curd into it.  The whey just filtered right through.  I want to make some bread using the whey, so I saved it.  Here's a picture of the curd draining.

And the whey collected at the bottom.

I transfered the curd to a fine mesh bag and hung it to drain.  I squeezed as much whey out as I could.

Curd draining

After it had drained for 45 minutes, I placed the entire bag into the brine solution.

Curd in brine

The brine is made from 1 1/4 pounds non-iodized salt (cheese salt) in 1/2 gallon cool water.  I also added 1 tsp calcium chloride and 2 1/2 teaspoons vinegar.  The cheese will remain in the brine for 12 hours.  It should be stored at 45 - 55F, and eaten within 10 days.

Now that I had my whey, I could start my bread.  The recipe I will be using comes from the New England Cheese Making Company brochure "Goat Cheese" on page 5.

Whey Bread

4 cups whey
2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons bacon fat or tallow
1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast
4 - 6 cups white flour
1 tablespoon salt

The whey was already warm.  I heated the honey and bacon fat until it was warm (about body temperature).  I added the yeast.

Bacon fat, honey and yeast

I added this to the whey.  I then added enough white flour to make it the consistency of honey.

The dough, ready to set aside

I took my thin dough, covered it with a towel and placed it near our wood fire.  Later this afternoon, I'll add the 4 cups flour and salt, knead it for 10 minutes... and bake it following the same procedures I did earlier this week when I baked bread.

I'll post pictures of the bread as it's rising and when it done.  That will probably be tomorrow morning.

Update 3/4/13

Here's the picture of the bread after it came out of the oven.  It tastes as good as it looks!