Homesteading | Self Sufficient Living | Living off the Land
Cinnamon rolls, gingerbread cookies, pumpkin pies, and spiced tea. As soon as I feel that hint of autumn crispness in the air, I shove the cinnamon and nutmeg to the front of my spice drawer and prepare myself for a season of warm, spicy treats. I especially adore cinnamon since it's a great way to add an extra touch of sweetness to a recipe without having to add any additional sugar. The Prairie Kids love it on their homemade ...Continue Reading
There are two things I don't like about canning. #1- I don't like how hot it makes my kitchen. But since building a summer kitchen isn't on our current to-do list, I can't do too much about that problem for the time being. #2- Many canning recipes call for boatloads of sugar... For some recipes, like my honey-sweetened Chokecherry Jelly or my Strawberry Freezer Jam, I've learned how to use alternate sweetener or ...Continue Reading
I LOVE eating cherries.... But I HATE processing cherries. This is a problem. It's always been my personal rule to skip tedious canning recipes (aka I refuse to individually skin tomatoes even for my canned tomato sauce recipe...) Yet, the siren call of the cherry weakened my resolve this year, and I impulse-bought a box of bing cherries from Azure Standard. (Which I promptly forgot about until the Azure truck ...Continue Reading
If you would have told my 18 year-old self who HATED cooking that she'd someday write a best-selling cookbook, she would have called you crazy. Little did I know that I'd fall in love with cooking on a windy Wyoming homestead miles from civilization. It's funny how life surprises us sometimes, isn't it? The Prairie Homestead Cookbook celebrated its 5th birthday this week. It's been a best-seller, named an Amazon Editor's Pick, ...Continue Reading
Homesteading doesn't stop because the garden is full of snow or the hens have decided to go on an egg-laying hiatus during the winter. This time of year doesn't mean that there aren't any outdoor homesteading chores to do: the animals still need to be fed, ice needs to be chopped out of the livestock water tanks, and the snow needs to be shoveled. But the winter months seem to be a bit slower without the hustle and bustle of gardening ...Continue Reading
