A Little Tongue Tied

 So much has occurred since my last post and you would think I would find it easy to write all about it today. However, with the recent darkness and the sad decision by Congress a couple of days ago, the words are just not flowing like they usually do. And if you know me and know my history of having to wear a "mouth necklace" along with a dunce cap for speaking too much in Elementary School, you know that finding it hard to express myself is somewhat surprising, if not a miracle. 

I will do my best, push forward and fill you in on our recent escapades and future plans because I know you all have been waiting with bated breath....

The purchase of our "Lease to Purchase" home has been completed and there is much relief that we can now do what we want to OUR space. Hubby has started his new position and finances have stabilized. His business is in the process of being sold  and we have felt a relief and heavy burden lift from our shoulders. We feel like the warm Spring weather has definitely brought new life to our family.

The garden has been started. It is a work in progress to get it to the exact look that I want and expect it to take a couple gardening seasons to be even close, but it is a start. My asparagus has already begun to pop through as well as the onions. The strawberries are in their second year and are doing well. I fear they will be trying to take over the whole garden if I'm not on top of them everyday. Almost all of the 15 beds have been planted. I am just waiting for a little warmer weather to plant the corn.

The two blueberry bushes I purchased this year are in the ground and the Concord grapes, Red Seedless Grapes, Black Raspberries and Brandywine Raspberries are waiting to be planted. I still plan to purchase some fruit trees and Golden Raspberries this year and next year I will add more blueberries and grapes.

We are very excited for the other two additions to our homestead this year; our flock of chickens and a puppy.   Our chicks should arrive the week of the 24th and we are counting the days. I have only ordered 5 chicks; one for each of the kids and one for myself because, hey, I'm just a big kid when it comes to pets anyway. I let each one of the kids choose the type of chicken they wanted, each different, so that they are easily distinguishable. A is getting a Plymouth Barred Rock, Z is getting a Golden Buff, I is getting a Rhode Island Red,  K is getting an Australorp and an Ameraucana (lays greenish blue eggs) is coming for me!     http://www.meyerhatchery.com/productlist.a5w?session.subcategory=Chicks&session.subcat_id=1033&cat=1020

Our puppy, Joey, as has been named by Z, is only about three days old today and should be arriving at around 8 weeks. My older sisters dogs had puppies and of course I have to have one!  They are black lab/rottie mixes and so so adorable.

For this year, I'm thinking its about all we can handle, but plan for next year to add a Top Bar Beehive http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/Top-Bar-Beekeeping-Method.aspx
as well as a Nigerian Dwarf Doe. Again, if you know me, you know that having to wait patiently is very difficult and I keep having to stop myself from contacting people selling their goats.

Otherwise, we are waiting for school to end for the school year, especially since our youngest son and the neighbor boy plan on living outside like Native Americans all summer. Totally cracks me up, but hey, I'll let him try it. We also have a trip to Williamsburg, Jamestown and of course Busch Gardens on the agenda and lots and lots of camps. Hubby will begin traveling with his new position so it will be an interesting adjustment, but we are ready for the task!

Maybe I wasn't tongue tied after all  ;)

Homemade Maple Syrup from our Front Yard Tree

As a true lover of pure maple syrup, I've always loved Vermont, it's sugar houses and all of their sweet goodness. My husband and I had even toyed with the idea of buying our own Sugar Bush farm in Vermont years ago, but knowing how much I hate bitter cold winters, we decided against it.
Either way, I've always wanted to make my own maple syrup and began tapping trees in our yard years ago, but without proper knowledge of the process, never followed through. This year is different!

Did you know you can tap any broadleaf tree and turn the sap into syrup? Not all syrups will taste as yummy as Maple Syrup or produce as much sap, but you never know if you will like it until you try. We are very lucky that we have 2 Sugar Maple trees in our front yard. Sugar Maples have the most sugar content and sap flows rather freely when the nights are below freezing and the days are warmer.

I had my husband drill a hole in the two trees. In one, I put a tap that I purchased online and the other I put a silicone tube in with the ends of both inserted into clean gallon jugs.

Each tree on a warm day has been producing about 2 gallons. 2 gallons of sap makes almost 8 oz of syrup.

After collecting a gallon of sap I pour it through a dish rag covered strainer in order to filter out any dirt or debris. I then bring the sap to boil and evaporate as much water as possible. This takes a long time and by the time most of the water is evaporated, another gallon of sap has been produced. I add this sap to the pot and continue to boil, stirring occasionally. The sap will start to darken and smell and taste sweet.

Technically you want to boil the syrup until it is 7 degrees hotter than the temperature to boil water, usually 212 degrees. Since I don't have a candy thermometer, I use the spoon test method. After noticing the color is close to what you want and stirring it with a long spoon or spatula, hold the spoon up and see if the syrup drips off or sticks to the spoon. If it begins to stick or apron off the spoon it is ready to be turned off. You do not want to go to far or what you will have after it cools is maple rock candy.









Cool the syrup a little and then filter it again through a funnel with a coffee filter. It will not go through quickly and you don't want to rush it or the product will be cloudy and full of sugar sand.

Voila!!! You have delicious pure maple syrup that you made yourself!

Notes :
There is a lot of steam when you boil the sap, which is why most people prefer to begin the process outside.

Also, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup

Plans for the Suburban Homestead Garden

As Spring approaches, I am gathering all of my ideas, homesteading books,gardening plans online and pictures on Pinterest to get an idea of how I want to set up our gardens this year. Since this will be the first summer I will be a stay at home wife and mom in a very long time, I have BIG hopes for a canning garden.  One book has been a great help. The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603421386/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=12985126307&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6904400051510319935&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_jfi9drfs7_b

This book shows lots of great ideas for 1/10 an acre, 1/4 acre, 1/2 acre and a full acre. We have almost 3/4 of an acre in our little suburban neighborhood and I wouldn't want to take all of my childrens play area, so I am sticking with the 1/10 acre plan with a few adjustments to fit our needs.

Here is a drawing of what I want to work on starting next month. WARNING: it may be hard to read and is not drawn to scale by any means.

I also found a great site with garden plans that I am going to use for the 4 by 8 beds. http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KGPPreplanned
I know a couple of the beds will have some of the same vegetables, but I figure that will allow me to add many different varieties and have lots of canning opportunities as well as fresh vegetable eating this summer.

The flowerbed in front of our house is mostly shaded throughout the day, so using one of my favorite sites motherearthliving.com, I was able to find 7 herbs that grow wonderfully in shade. http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/7-herbs-that-grow-in-shade.aspx

And with the help of pinterest, I found the design I want to use for the front herb garden.

I am so excited to get started!!! Spring can't come fast enough at the Stapler Suburban Homestead!!!

Rustic Fireplace Cooking- string roasted chicken

One of my obsessions, er, I mean, hobbies is history and the idea of being able to be self sufficient or live like those before electricity and indoor plumbing did intrigues me. As my family, myself including, have grown accustomed to the modern world, other than camping, gardening or dabbling with chickens, we've done very little to be self sufficient or living rustically. Although the idea never leaves the hidden corners or my mind. ;)
During the preparations for Hurricane Sandy, I was researching cooking in the fireplace incase of loss of electricity and I found several sites, including videos, explaining how to cook a chicken in front of a fireplace. Well, once the seed is planted, until I see it through, it begs to be watered.
Last night, I just couldn't ignore it any longer. I stopped by the store and picked up all the necessary tools; whole chicken-check, meat thermometer- check, trussing needle- didn't have one, so I picked up a set of nut cracking tools which had a long scraping thing to get the excess nuts from their shells hoping it would work, and butchers string- again, the store didn't have it, but I went to the meat department, asked the guy if he knew where I could get it and he gave me a bunch from the store for FREE. Gotta love that!
On arrival from home, I put the video on youtube on while I used the spices and seasonings I had available in my pantry to season the chicken. First, I rubbed in salt and pepper, then ground ginger, then rubbed olive oil, red wine vinegar and a little soy sauce on top. Then I decided garlic cloves may be delicious, so I rubbed those on too and then shoved those under the skin in multiple places. I covered with plastic and let it sit about a 1/2 hour.
Next came the tricky part, trussing the bird. Let me inform you that I was vegetarian for 16.5 years and my children, except for my 3 yr old were vegetarian as well. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I started craving meat and at the same time my preteen boys wanted to try meat and well, we've slowly become meat eaters ever since, with exception of my 8 year old. So as you see, cooking meat is relatively new for me as is shoving a needle like object into something that looks rather like a baby, but I try to make it less gross or intimidating and held the chicken up like a puppet to lighten the mood. Seeing as though the nut scraping tool does not have a place to thread the string, I tied a knot, which after many different trials, I placed the tip into and then wrapped the string around the tool and began to truss the bird as best as I could ensuring no hanging body parts and making the bird secured to the string to be hung.
Next, I made sure a nail was placed in the center of my mantel so I could tie the string and that it could hold a heavy bird. I tied the string around the nail so that the chicken was about 6 inches from the hearth and placed a pan to catch drippings underneath.

This is where I believe I went wrong. Even though my fire had been going for hours, we had let it cool down and I should have heated it up so that there were very hot coals, but I tied the bird up thinking that it would take at the most, an hour and a half. I made sure I basted the chicken with the oil, vinegar, soy sauce and salt and pepper anytime it looked dry and I kept the string wet with water so it would not catch fire. Also the bird spins due to the heat but sometimes it needs a little turn to keep it going.
The directions said to check the temp at an hour. It wasn't even near warm. So we waited some more. Two hours in. Nope. My husband decided the chicken wasn't close enough so he hooked a wire to the fireplace to loop around the string to bring it closer and it helped. The chicken began to roast beautifully.
Tons of firewood and FIVE hours later and the chicken finally reached the correct temp so I cut the chicken down, covered and let it rest for 15 minutes. Even though it was now 12:30 am, I had to try it. Honestly, it was the best chicken I have ever tasted! Not sure if it was worth the long wait or the amount of firewood we went through and it has me second guessing my original plan of cooking the turkey and pie in the fireplace for Thanksgiving, but I can add it to the list of things I've done that are out of the norm and a little glimpse of what it might be like to be homesteading. I definitely recommend trying it if you ever have the time!