Here’s how to freeze all of that excess summer squash and zucchini.
Wash the squash. Slice. I slice mine between 1/4 and 1/2 inch.
Blanch the squash for 3 minutes. To blanch, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Pour the squash into the water and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from boiling water and cool immediately by submerging in ice water.
Drain and freeze.
I really like the bedspread we normally use, but it is very dark and wintery looking. I was wanting a lighter look for summer, but didn’t want to go out and spend a lot of money. I had a white bedspread we had used back when we had a guest bedroom before kids. Since my bedroom walls are a burnt sienna color, I didn’t think white would look good in there. So, I made a trip to the Wal-Mart and got some tan liquid rit dye. I took the bedspread to the laundry mat and dyed it there. I couldln’t believe how expensive it is to wash clothes there – $2 – and I didn’t even use their dryer. I just brought it home wet and hung it out on the line.
This is the bedspread before dying it.
This is after. I took the camera to the laundry mat to take pictures, but totally forgot while I was there. Notice our cat. She wouldn’t get off for me to take a picture – that is HER spot. She does look irritated though that I was bothering her.
If you have extra berries and would like to freeze them for eating this winter, here’s how. I have used this method with blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries.
Rinse and drain the berries.
Put them in a tray and freeze. They should be in a single layer. This step freezes the berries individually so you can get them out a few at a time.
After they are frozen, put them into freezer containers and seal.
Enjoy eating your berries all winter long!
Here’s how to freeze broccoli so you can enjoy it all winter long.
Wash and drain the broccoli.
Blanch the broccoli for 3 minutes. To blanch, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Pour the broccoli into the water and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from boiling water and cool immediately by submerging in ice water.
Drain the broccoli.
Pack into freezer bags, squeeze all the air out and freeze. Now you can enjoy homegrown broccoli sometime this winter.
This is one of my favorite summertime recipes. Unfortunately, it is also the dessert that led us to discover our daughter has a peanut allergy.
1 package chocolate wafer cookies (crushed)
1 stick butter
3/4 cup peanut better
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup milk
2 – 8 oz cartons cool whip
Melt butter and combine with crushed wafers. Press into 9×13″ pan to form crust.
Blend peanut butter and cream cheese, then add powdered sugar and milk. Blend until smooth. Add cool whip and blend. Pour over crust. Drizzle chocolate syrup over top. Store in freezer until ready to use.
This is our homemade chicken waterer. As in the feeder, we used two buckets of different sizes. We cut off the bigger one to 2 1/2 ” tall and drilled 3 holes for wires to hang the waterer. In the smaller bucket, we drilled 4 holes around the top at the level we wanted the water to be inside the waterer. To use it, we just fill up the smaller bucket with water, put the bottom part on and flip it over. The suction holds it all in place.
Here’s our homemade chicken feeder. We used two buckets of different sizes. The bigger one, we cut off all but the bottom couple of inches. In the smaller one, we cut half oval shaped holes for the feed to come out along the bottom. Then we screwed the smaller bucket inside of the bigger bucket. We added a cone made out of cardboard to the middle of the small bucket. This helps keep the feed going to the outside edges instead of settling into the middle. You could skip this part and just shake it occasionally to keep the food coming out.
Here’s the chicken tractor my Dad built for our chickens. He used almost all recycled materials. He had to buy a couple of hinges and we had to buy the wire for around the bottom. It is 4′x10′ and about 6′ tall. We used regular chicken wire around the bottom because they will only be in that part during the day. We used hardware cloth for screens on the top part to keep them safer at night.
Notice the wheels on one side. My husband is able to move it around the yard by lifting the opposite end and pushing it around. The chickens love to eat the weeds in our yard and they seem to be leaving the grass alone. They are our organic weed and feed!
This is the ramp they use to go up and down. It is on a pulley system, so we can open it up every morning and close them up at night to keep them safe.
We have a separate door to access the nest boxes. Hopefully they will start laying eggs in October.
We have this door on the end for letting them outside to free range when they get bigger. It will also be used to clean out their litter. You can also see some of their roosts.
This is the main access door we use regularly to get to their food and water.
We enjoy having a campfire, both here at home and while camping. So, we make these fire starters frequently for my husband. We have also given them as gifts to other camping family members.
Items Needed:
Pine Cones – we have an abundance of these on our property
Wax – we use broken ones or the ends of burned down candles
Sawdust – we got a bag of sawdust from a local woodworker
Melt the wax in the top of a double boiler.
Dip the pine cones into the wax, then immediately into the sawdust.
Let Dry. We store them in a bag I made out of old jeans.
(Edit)
I made the denim bags using the same basic technique as the fabric storage cubes. I just didn’t add the cardboard and made them smaller to fit the size of the jeans.
Some people think peas are too much trouble to grow, but if you’ve never had fresh peas you really should try some! They are much sweeter tasting than store bought peas. My son used to call homegrown peas “chocolate peas”. If you decide to grow them and have any extra, you might want to freeze them for later.
Here’s how to freeze peas.
Wash and drain the peas.
Shell the peas, then wash again.
Blanch for 2 minutes. To blanch, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Pour the peas into the water and boil for 2 minutes. Remove the peas from boiling water and cool immediately by submerging in ice water.
Drain the peas and place into freezer bags and freeze. With peas, I just put as many as I can into a quart size freezer bag. Then, I just take out the amount I want from the bag each time we have peas. I figure if you were buying peas at the store, they come in a bigger bag so why not save some freezer bags.
