![\"newborn-cherry-jpeg.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/newborn-cherry-jpeg.jpg\" "\\"newborn-cherry-jpeg.jpg\\"")
\nWhile we’re still rejoicing at the birth of Bill and Kelly’s son, Mason, we had our very own baby yesterday.\u00a0 Okay, so it’s a baby goat, but hey, it’s the best I can do!\u00a0 Actually, she was not expected until the end of the month, so she was a total surprise.<\/p>\n
We were having serious generator problems.\u00a0 As in two were in the shop and the third backup totally melted down.\u00a0 Oh great.\u00a0 We use them half as much and have even more trouble.\u00a0 Isn’t that backwards?\u00a0 I’m leaving in two weeks for a weekend flight to visit a sweet guy I’ve been writing to and talking to on the phone for 18 months, in Washington, and I want to make sure that David and the friends who will be taking care of Mom in our home won’t have any trouble while I’m gone.\u00a0 (I’m a huge worry wart!)<\/p>\n
So when I had nightmares about generators and our friend Tom suggested we buy a new Honda generator (brushless), I decided I’d better do it, even if they were $$$$$$.\u00a0 Ouch.\u00a0 So while all this was going on, I went out to do chores and missed our black and white Nubian doe, Luna, at the feeding trough.<\/p>\n
Oh oh.\u00a0 Yep, I went inside and she was getting ready to give birth.\u00a0 I watched and soon a head popped out, but the feet were over the head.\u00a0 Not the normal birth presentation.\u00a0 I still waited and waited.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 So I hauled bales of hay to the gate which David had SCREWED shut after they’d gotten out recently, climbed in the pen and delivered the kid.\u00a0 A DOE!!!\u00a0 I’ve been waiting for a doe from Luna for years and here she is.<\/p>\n
Today she’s up and frisky.\u00a0 And we’re using the new Honda generator.\u00a0 Pretty soon I’ll need a license or something because we have 6 generators in various states of repair.\u00a0 Actually, 5 work.\u00a0 Usually!\u00a0 Sigh.\u00a0 Life was so much easier without all the technology!\u00a0 But we’ll get it whipped yet.\u00a0 And I’ve got a nice mini-vacation coming up….the first in years.<\/p>\n
Readers\u2019 Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n Can I freeze the eggs?<\/strong><\/p>\n I am the happy owner of 20 beautiful hens and 2 dashing roosters. My question is this, is there a way to longterm store the eggs? Can I freeze them in anyway? Also, what is the breeding and gestation time for hens. My roosters are breeding now and I would rather the hens not go broody until warmer weather. Could you help shed some lite? Love your magazine. Thanks!<\/p>\n Sherry Preedy You don’t have to worry about your hens.\u00a0 Roosters breed year around, but hens very seldom go broody until summer hits.\u00a0 Their bodies know when it’s time to sit on eggs, even when you provide them with artificial light in the winter. — Jackie<\/p>\n Hulls in my compost My question: what do I do now? I have two compost bins ready to go into the beds in the spring, but with hulls in them. How long does it take for this inhibiting to dissipate? I looked on the web and Natalie Dimitruck Old fashioned ketchup recipe Sheri Bowlin <\/em>I’ll give you what I’ve got and hope it’s what your mother remembers!<\/p>\n 4 pounds ripe tomatoes Chop vegetables fine and blend well.\u00a0 Add other ingredients and mix well.\u00a0 Let stand, covered overnight.\u00a0 Then bottle into sterilized jars.\u00a0 This product must be kept refrigrated or you can heat it to boiling then home can it as you would spaghetti sauce then it can be kept on the shelf. — Jackie<\/p>\n Hard water, salami recipe Also, I have been looking for a salami recipe. Yrs ago I able to eat home made salami an old family made and processed in the basement. It was so wonderful.<\/p>\n Thank you for everything you do for us!<\/p>\n Jo Ann Nelson Here’s a salami recipe, although you’ll find dozens of other ones, as well, like you do any other recipe.\u00a0 This one is modernized, instead of using casings, you just use aluminum foil.<\/p>\n MIXED MEAT SALAMI<\/p>\n 2 C waer Mix water, liquid smoke & spices Store in the refrigerator up to 10 days, freeze or home can, if desired. — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While we’re still rejoicing at the birth of Bill and Kelly’s son, Mason, we had our very own baby yesterday.\u00a0 Okay, so it’s a baby goat, but hey, it’s the best I can do!\u00a0 Actually, she was not expected until the end of the month, so she was a total surprise. We were having serious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMeade, Kansas
\n<\/em>
\nYes, you can freeze eggs.\u00a0 Most folks just break the eggs, several at a time, into small plastic freeezer boxes.\u00a0 You want enough eggs to just about fill the box, leaving room for expansion during freezing but not enough space to let a lot of air contact the eggs.\u00a0 You can leave them whole or mix the whites and yolks.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>
\nI love your column! It has so much valuable information. I live in New Mexico at 7400 feet, and have been working for two years on building good compost for my two garden beds built by my boyfried
\nlast year. I feed the birds, black oil sunflower seed… and have been adding the hulls to the compost pile, and then when done I add the compost to the garden beds… but just read something about the
\nhulls inhibiting plant growth!<\/p>\n
\nfound that it will, in time, dissipate, but nothing to say how long. Do you have any information about this?<\/p>\n
\nLos Alamos, New Mexico
\n<\/em>
\nIt depends on how many hulls you added to how much compost.\u00a0 If it was just a little rakings from around the bottom of a couple of bird feeders, I wouldn’t worry too much.\u00a0 But if your’re talking about a hundred pounds of hulls in a couple smaller compost bins, I wouldn’t plan on using that compost around my tender new garden plants; instead use it where you don’t want plant growth (around mature trees, in walks, at lawn edges, etc.)\u00a0 I wouldn’t be too concerned about a few shovelfuls of hulls; if they were THAT bad, my garden would never grow.\u00a0 I feed several hundred pounds a year and those hulls go eveywhere….and my yard is certainly GREEN. — Jackie<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>
\nCould you please help me find an old fashioned cold ketchup recipe using tomatoes and horseradish? I want to surprise my mom with a “gift from the past” as she used to get a jar from my great grandmother every year for Christmas in a basket of homemade goodies. She says it is wonderful with fried potatoes.<\/p>\n
\nDayton, Oregon<\/p>\n
\n1\/2 c chopped onions
\n1 Tbsp salt
\n1\/2 C sugar
\n1 C vinegar
\n1\/4 tsp ground cloves
\n1\/3 tsp ground cinnamon
\n1\/2 tsp black pepper
\n1\/2 tsp celery salt
\n8 drops Tabasco sauce
\n1 1\/2 Tbsp grated horseradish<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>
\nJackie we love you! I got a new pressure canner not too long ago. We have very heavy water and the canner is aluminum. Can I add some vinegar to the water in the canner to stop the scale?<\/p>\n
\nVallecito, California
\n<\/em>
\nYes, you can add a little vinegar to your canner.\u00a0 But you probably would find it easier to just use some soft water, such as rainwater, spring water or water from a friend’s house for your pressure canning, as you really don’t use too much at a time.<\/p>\n
\n5 pounds ground lean meat
\n2 tsp onion powder
\n2 tsp red pepper flakes, crushed
\n5 Tbsp salt
\n1 Tbsp liquid smoke (omit if you will be smoking this product)
\n2 tsp garlic powder
\n2 tsp mustard seed
\n1 tsp coarse ground black pepper<\/p>\n
\nAdd meat and mix well with hands
\nDivide into 3 long rolls and wrap each in heavy foil and fold tightly closed down the center and on ends.\u00a0 Refrigerate for 24 hours.\u00a0 With a fork, poke small holes on bottom of rolls.\u00a0 Place foil wrapped rolls on broiler rack, on broiler pan half filled with hot water, in center of oven.\u00a0 Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1\/2 to 2 hours.\u00a0 Remove foil.\u00a0 Set rolls on rack to drain and cool.\u00a0 You may smoke at this point or not if you used liquid smoke.\u00a0 The smoking darkens the product and dries it to the familiar dry texture you’re probably familiar with.<\/p>\n