Keeping the Apple Peeler/Corer in Place

My kids love dried apples. Vet2Be, who has braces, can eat them easier than he can eat regular apples. I dehydrate a lot of apples. One of our daughters loves them so much she ate 10 dehydrated apples in 24... more than once!

Here's my set up for using my peeler/corer/slicer.

I place 4 layers of non-slip shelf liner under my clamp-style apple peeler so that it stays steady on the counter. The suction cup style wasn't available when I bought my peeler many years ago. The bucket in the background holds all the peels and cores to take out to the goats.

I use a honey dip to pre-treat my apples because my kids like it. Honey dip adds calories, makes the apples a little sweeter, and helps the apples retain a fresher color when dried.

Honey Dip
Boil 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add 1/2 cup honey when the sugar is dissolved.

Dip the apples in the mixture and let them sit for 3-5 minutes. Remove the apples, drain, and place on dryer racks. I usually place my racks in the sink and place the apples on the racks so the apples can drain right into the sink.

I always leave the bottom tray empty but lined with the plastic fruit leather tray liner so that I don't have any liquid that might drip get into the motor of the dehydrator. I'm sure lining the bottom tray with plastic wrap would work, too.

I dehydrate my apples in my American Harvester dehydrator at 145F. They take anywhere from 6-10 hours depending on the size and type of apples.

You can tell when the apples are done if they are still pliable but the sides don't stick together when you fold an apple slice in half.

I don't condition my apples because they are usually eaten within a few days. If you dehydrate a lot of apples for long term storage it is a good idea to condition them.

Conditioning is when you place the cooled fruit loosely in a sealed container and let it stand for 7 to 10 days, shaking it gently once a day. This allows the moisture to move from thicker, moister pieces to thinner drier pieces. If you see condensation on the inside of the container, return the fruit to the dryer for another few hours (unless the fruit is shows signs of spoilage or mold, in which case, throw it out!)

Here is a great reference for dehydrating foods "Dry it, You'll Like It"

Canning Asparagus and Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

I started canning today. I have a lot of stuff to can and I'm not sure if I can get it all done before it gets old.

There is more asparagus (scroll down the linked page until you get to "Guide 4" and download the PDF) cooling off in the canner. These were hot packed. I might try raw packing because it will be faster. I still have about 16 bunches to go. And that's after I gave away 4 bunches!

Strawberry Lemonade concentrate. Vet2Be loves it! I had a bunch of lemons in the fridge so one batch is made with real lemons, the other batch is made from RealLemon lemon juice. I'm sure the fresh lemons will taste a bit better. But it was lots faster to make the batch with the RealLemon!

This is what the kitchen looks like right now... a big mess! (Don't pay attention to the fact that I still haven't painted the walls and the electrician hasn't come back to finish the lighting in the ceiling.)

One of the handy tricks I found out at my class was using a roaster to keep jars and water hot, but not take up any room on the stove. They are great for scalding tomatoes and fruit to get the peels off, too. I found the small roaster at Savers for $20, it was brand new. It still had Styrofoam on the inside and plastic on all the parts!

The new Presto pressure canner I got through Amazon comes up to pressure much faster than the old pressure canner I have.

Some people are worried about aluminum pressure canners, but if you treat them right (follow the manufacturers instructions) they are fine. I don't cook in it so I'm not worried about my food getting aluminum in it.

I still have 1 1/2 flats of strawberries, some to be made into no sugar jam, some into low sugar jam, and more into strawberry lemonade concentrate. I've also got 6 not-quite-ripe pineapples that will be dried. And behind the pineapples are 12 apples that will be dehydrated, too. Some will have cinnamon sugar on them and some will be plain.

Oh, man! There's still a lot of canning to be done this weekend!

Here's the page from the USDA Food Preservation Guide. I like their book because it has altitude adjustments on every recipe. There isn't a comprehensive index, just an index at the beginning of each section.

Photos of the 'Kids'

A few photos I took of the kids today.

Buckling... We think his name will be Joseph.

Joseph (in the  and Mary (in the blue sweater)

Mary inside the dog house we have in the stall. A smaller spot for them to sleep in means they stay just a bit warmer.

The buckling got his horns removed this evening. Arby's (the steer) thinks the kid smells funny and wants to clean him up.

Joseph had a shot of Biomycin 200 today. His breathing is a bit loud. We would have waited to disbud him, but the kid has horns already! We were a bit surprised it was the buckling that is having trouble breathing, we would have thought it was the doeling after all the trouble she went through when she was born. It's a good thing we check on them every day.

We can stay ahead of big trouble most of the time when we are out there often.

Annie Kidded!

Annie kidded on Easter Sunday. We came home from church and Vet2Be went to check on the goats. He came in and said Annie was getting ready to kid.

We hurried out to finish cleaning a stall for her because Vet2Be hadn't quite finished on Saturday.

Annie had a buckling and a doeling. Both needed a little bit of help. The buckling was big and his legs were tucked back, so I had to pull his legs forward before he could be born.

His little sister was born 'butt' first, which isn't a good thing. No feet came out first, just a tail.

It took us about 5 minutes of using a nasal aspirator to get her mouth and nose cleaned out enough for her to breath.

They are both healthy and doing well!

Here's the buckling.

Here's the sweet little doeling. She is really friendly, probably because we had to spend so much time cleaning out her airways.

Master Food Preserver Program

I just finished taking the Master Food Preserver Program through the USU Extension Service. Not only did I have a great time and meet some wonderful people, I learned alot!

Today we finished up with Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate, which Vet2Be has almost finished. Along with some Pickled Corn Relish. Along with a few other great recipes which I'm excited to try.

If I pass the test, my next responsibility will be to volunteer for 40 hours in our community teaching how to properly preserve food.

Hopefully I'll be posting some of the food projects here, how they turned out, and how much time it takes from fresh food to finished product.

I think I've over booked myself for this weekend. On the list of foods to preserve: 2 flats of strawberries, 21 pounds of pineapple, and 28 lbs of asparagus.

My married daughters and I started participating in Bountiful Baskets, and they had strawberries, pineapple, and asparagus available.

The plan:
Some of the strawberries will be dehydrated, some will be made into jam
Some of the pineapple will be dehydrated (Son1 said he would help) and some will be canned.
Some of the asparagus will be canned, and some will be frozen.

I ordered a Pineapple Corer Slicer Peeler Cutter because a few of the women in our class have it and love it! Hopefully it will be here by Friday.

I also ordered and already received a Progressive International Canning Scoop. I love it! I canned some ground beef last week and the shape of the scoop made it so easy to get into the corners of the pot. It holds 1/2 pint, which is so much nicer than a regular ladle, it has a hook so it sits on the edge of the pot, and the shape of the handle is comfortable to use.


I also have been using my new embroidery machine like a crazy woman, but I'll post some of those projects later.

I've also had alot of chances to babysit my grandson, which has been so much fun!

I haven't planted the garden yet, so many things are keeping me busy that I haven't blogged for months! Hopefully the garden will get some seeds next week.

Goodbye Ginger and Janice

We had the vet come out to put down two goats yesterday.

The first was Ginger. She was Vet2Be's first goat. He bought her when he was 10 with money that he had saved. She was an Alpine x Saanen cross and was one of those goats that you just love. She was sweet and friendly and even a 2 year old could lead her by the collar. A 'wonder goat' if there ever was one.

And besides being so sweet, she gave alot of milk. We milked her through for 3 years. She gave at least 1/2 gallon a day when we were milking her once a day through the winter. Milking twice a day she usually gave more than a gallon.

About 3 years ago she had an allergic reaction on her udder to something. It never went away. Not only did it never go away, some of the sores continued to grow. Then the sores turned necrotic. The vet came out about 2 months ago and surgically removed the necrotic tissue. She was planning on coming back within 6 weeks to remove the rest of the tissue and try some reconstructive surgery. We would never have bred her again, but she was such a sweet goat that we wanted to give her this chance.

But it didn't work. Within a month the mass on her udder was bigger than what the vet removed, and another sore was growing quickly om the other side of her udder.

We did all we could do for 3 years, and it was time to let her go.

Janice was a Saanen. A sweet goat, but not great back feet. We nick-named her "Grandma Goat" because she didn't mind taking care of any of the other kids. She would let kids snack whether they were hers or not.

This spring she had two beautiful kids. But something happened to her hips during delivery and her hips were all 'wonky'. That's the best way to describe it.

She managed okay during the summer, but had a hard time getting up and down. She limped alot. She would sit out in the pasture to graze instead of wandering and grazing. She couldn't get up on her back legs to head butt anyone, either. It's sad when goats can't play.

We haven't had an especially cold winter, but it was still taking it's toll on her. She got very thin. It was time to let her go, too.

I don't have any photos today. They all ended up on a storage/back up hard drive. I'll have to dig it out of the box and post photos later.

Although the day was very sad, both Vet2Be and I cried alot, we were glad that the two people who loved them best were with them when they crossed the 'rainbow bridge'.

We'll miss those two.

They were very special to us.

Preemie Hats Machine Knitting Pattern

These are the hats that Spunky knit for the NICU.

The machine we use is a Silver Reed LK150. It's my most versatile machine and I love it.

The pattern makes a hat that is 10" in circumference and it fit QT's head when he was born 6 weeks early.  Here's a great chart if you want to make a different size preemie hat. Bev's Country Cottage.

Tension 1
Gauge: 5 st/ inch, 9 rows/ inch using fingering weight yarn. We used leftover scraps of baby yarn and sock yarn.

Cast on with scrap and ravel every other needle 52 stitches.
Knit 14 rows, hang hem on empty needles.
Knit 20 rows (you can add a pattern here)
Transfer stitches to every other needle. Put empty needles in non-working postion.
Knit 6 rows
Cut yarn with a 12" tail. Using a double eyelet tool (or chenille needle) remove stitches onto tail. Don't gather yet.
Seam about 2" of the back of the hat, then pull and tighten the hole at the top.
Finish seaming and bury yarns in brim.

We decided to not knot the yarn, every loose end is either woven in or buried in the seam.

Please let me know if you have any trouble with the pattern. I'll do my best to clarify or help.