Soap

It's been a bit hectic these last few days. My better half left last week to work in Georgia for 6 weeks so I've been learning how to feed myself and do my own laundry in her absence. Haha I'm only kidding

The two eggs that my guinea hen has been sitting on hatched! One of the babies was trampled by mom as she thoroughly freaked out anytime one of the ducks even looked in her direction so I took it upon myself to "rescue" the other one. He is now living quite comfortably in a large plastic bin with a heat lamp on the kitchen table. Good thing I have the house to myself for another couple of weeks. I think I frazzle Ashley's nerves a bit with all the animals I keep allowing to live inside.

This is Godfrey. He spends most of his time running around like a crazy person and pecking at his reflection. The dogs think it sounds like someone knocking on the door and they've been going crazy non-stop!

I shouldn't be left home by myself for extended periods. I always end up finding some new project to work on or some harebrained experiment I want to try.  My newest project has been to venture into making homemade soap. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about the subject and earlier tonight I decided to jump in feet first.

Looks almost like a delicious custard huh? I don't recommend eating it.

If it turns out well I plan on posting more on the subject later.

Bacon Fat

Wait! Don't throw out those bacon drippings!

If you're not using bacon grease in your cooking, you're missing out on good 'ole southern flavor. Most people seem almost disgusted when they hear me talk about cooking with bacon grease. What they don't realize is that back before everyone lived within 5 miles of a grocery store, people had to be resourceful. It was unacceptable to waste anything that could be reused or re-purposed.

So why save bacon grease?

For one thing it's very thrifty. Bacon grease can be used for almost anything you would use butter for when you want that smoky bacon-y flavor. If you cook a lot, butter is relatively expensive and if you're like me, anything you can save on your grocery bill is helpful.

Bacon grease is also a healthy fat. Don't believe me? Ask Google. You will probably be surprised at what you'll find.

Bacon makes everything better. That's just one of the simple truths in life. 

Here are my favorite ways to use bacon grease:

• Greasing a pan
• Cooking green beans
• Sauteing vegetables
• Scrambling eggs
• Making cornbread
• Making pancakes
• Cooking rice
• Adding to mashed potatoes (cut out some of the butter to make the proportions correct)

What are your favorite uses for bacon grease?

Seasoning Cast Iron

 

So you've decided you want to start cooking with cast iron. Great! You're on your way to beginning an exciting love affair with one of the absolute best ways to grill, sear, saute, blacken, bake, and even fry your food.

Cast iron cookware has been used for centuries for its versatility as well as durability. If you take care of your cast iron it will take care of you in ways that modern cookware just can't compete with. In addition to trace amounts of iron (a nutritional requirement for good health) being added to every dish prepared in it, cast iron can be moved from the stove top to the oven and back seamlessly which allows for a myriad of new techniques to be used when preparing steak, chicken, and desserts just to name a few.

Flea markets and Craigslist are great resources to find cast iron cookware at a discount. The majority of the cast iron I've purchased this way has been covered with so many layers of old seasoning that it looks corroded beyond repair. Fortunately, thanks to the durability of cast iron, I have yet to find one that cannot be cleaned up to look almost brand new. I even have one small 6-inch skillet I purchased that was made in the early 40's that I was able to restore to nearly new condition! 

There are several ways that you can restore and season cast iron cookware. I know of several people who have had it sand blasted to remove all the old seasoning and rust although I have never tried it for myself. It is also possible to take a copper scouring pad and, with enough elbow grease, scrub all the old seasoning. However, I have found this to be a tedious and exhausting process. The most efficient and thorough way I have found to remove old layers of caked on seasoning is soaking the cookware in lye. 

The process itself is very simple. First, though, you will want to have a couple of items on hand before you begin this process:

• Lye (can be found at Lowe's marketed as a drain cleaner)
•  Plastic container - I used a 3-gallon Rubbermaid tote with a lid 
• Heavy duty rubber gloves rated for use with chemicals 
•  Copper coated scouring pads 

Fill your plastic container with 2 gallons of water
Add the cast iron you're going to reseason
Add the entire 18 oz. of lye to the water 

The pieces I restored had spent the last couple of decades building a pretty thick layer of crud so I let them soak for 4 days. 

On the fifth day, I took the container to the kitchen sink and using the rubber gloves took the skillets out one at a time and thoroughly rinsed them out. Most of the grime rinsed right off but I still scoured everything with the copper pads and dish soap just to make sure i got off all the lye.

After everything was cleaned off I could actually see the manufacturer marks stamped unto the iron. Three of the skillets were older Wagner Ware pieces!

 

Once they were all rinsed, I dried them off and coated them with vegetable shortening. Next, I put them upside down in the oven and baked them at 400 degrees for an hour. When you turn off the oven leave the cookware inside overnight to cool. This puts the first layer of seasoning on your cast iron. You can use just about any form of cooking oil you want, however, most people I know use either vegetable shortening or some kind of rendered animal fat. 

 

The first thing I like to do with a newly seasoned cast iron skillet is to cook bacon. There are three main reasons for this.

1. I love bacon
2. Bacon drippings create a second layer of seasoning
3. Bacon grease can be saved to cook with later

Now that you have your very own newly seasoned cast iron skillet what are you going to cook first?

First Fall Garden

I am attempting my first fall garden this year. I have never done this before as I always thought of gardening as being a spring and summer activity. As it turns out, practically every vegetable that will grow well in the spring will also grow well in the fall! I live in the Piedmont region of South Carolina so the recommended planting dates for my area may be different than yours. If you want to get the best planting dates for your area refer to your local extension office website. They are a wealth of knowledge about everything from how to deal with garden pests to preserving your harvest.

For the fall garden, I am planting beans, cucumbers, spinach, radishes, collards, and kale. I am using the square foot gardening method for the first time and so far it is awesome! the square foot gardening method works off the premise that instead of planting in rows, smaller spaces can be more productive by planting each crop in a one square foot plot of a raised bed garden. I mixed a special blend of gardening soil to use according to the recommendation of Mel Bartholomew the creator of square foot gardening. The soil mix consists of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost, and 1/3 vermiculite. This creates an ideal growing medium that retains plenty of water while maintaining good drainage. The vermiculite and peat moss help keep the soil loose and retain water while the compost provides all the nutrients.

Here are the beans sprouting five days after being planted

Here they are again after nine days

If you are also in the Piedmont region of South Carolina, here are the recommended planting dates for the vegetables I'm growing for the fall:

• Cucumbers - July 1-15
• Collards - July 1-August 30
• Pole Beans - July 15-25
• Kale - August 15-September 15
• Radishes - September 1-30
• Spinach - September 15-30

When planting the spinach and radishes, it is possible to extend the harvest season by planting at intervals during the suggested dates. If you are also using the square foot gardening method, here is the recommended spacing per square foot:

• Cucumbers - 2
• Collards - 4
• Pole Beans - 8
• Kale - 2
• Radishes - 16
• Spinach - 9

What's your favorite fall crop?

Beginning

Let me begin by saying that writing is not one of my creative gifts so please bear with me as I fumble through this process.

My greatest motivation in life is knowledge. I am constantly reading and talking to people about my current subject of study whether that be breeding rabbits for meat or building a cedar chest. For the past several years, I have kept coming back to the subjects of "prepping" and homesteading. I have found that it is possible to prep without homesteading, however, it is practically impossible (and also not a good idea) to homestead without a great deal of prepping. Preparadness is one of the basic tenets of homesteading.

I have been interested in the notion of self sufficiency my whole life. I spent my childhood building lean-to's in the woods behind my parents house with my sister and two brothers. Fueled by reading too many boxcar children books along with bedtime stories about the summers that dad spent on my great grandparents' farm, my siblings and I had visions of grandeur when it came to those piles of sticks covered with leaves and pine needles.

In August of 2013 I bought my first house. Having lived in an apartment for two years and a college dorm room for 4 years before that, I was excited to have a space completely my own.

For the first couple of months, my girlfriend Ashley and I spent every free moment working on the house. It was a foreclosure and the previous occupants had apparently tried to destroy as much as possible before leaving. Nevertheless, we persevered through those first months of working ourselved to the point of exhaustion and turned our new house into a home. I'll be posting before and after pictures to show off our hard work.

Our first winter in the house, our heat pump stopped working during the coldest winter in almost 100 years so we learned the value of an emergency propane heater and a wood-burning fireplace.

We also experienced the biggest winter storm in over two decades that year and as a result we gained first hand experience with food shortage. Although the roads only iced over for a couple of days, the threat of the storm had caused everyone to rush to the grocery store and practically clear the shelves. Thankfully, we had plenty of food storage (canned vegetables, rice, beans, etc.) and we were able to make do with that after seeing the empty shelves at the store. Through this experience it was very clear how easily a disaster -whether manmade or natural - could disrupt the food supply and cause a shortage.

It was during this difficult winter that it became apparent that not only did I want to learn to be more self sufficient in order to have fresh eggs and vegetables. I want to have a private food source that isn't dependent on weekly deliveries.

Subjects you can expect to see on this blog:

• Gardening
• Chickens
• Rabbits
• Quail
• Ducks
• Recipes
• Frugal living tips
• DIY
• Miscellaneous homesteading information