CreativeTwinsZoo's journal of self sufficancy

[creativetwinszoo]

Good evening everyone!
Hope you are all doing well and keeping warm!
It's been pretty cold out recently here. Got some sprouts on my seed table-chamber

Also finally getting some carrots from the garden!! . Been sketching out some ideas for a new coop, likely will be starting to work on that soon~

Off to start cooking dinner, I'll be back soon

 

[creativetwinszoo]

my carrots haven't even sprouted yet.
kinda jealous

Booooo, hopefully they will sprout soon!
I've got to find my seeds, n sow some more and order some more while I can. These have been working on growing since probably i wanna say November? They woulda been done a lot sooner if it hadnt kept getting below 40 at night throughout December and January. Now so long as it dont get over 100 to much over the summer they'll do fine again hopefully

 

[baymule]

I used to live in town and gardened in my front yard. I planted mostly root vegetables towards the street to confuse would be thieves and tomatoes up by the house. LOL
Your garden is looking good. Those carrots! Beautiful!

 

[creativetwinszoo]

For breakfast this morning I made a simple white gravy, sliced some hard boiled eggs into it and had it over toast. Yum!

Sounds like egg gravy, (or sausage egg gravy).... hmmm need some fry bread with it and got some good eatin

 

[creativetwinszoo]

Good day all~

Just wanted to share a few photos of my garden

Cucumber, beans, prppers/onions, squash corn.

Clean n caging up finished


The tomatoes that fidnt make the cut while trimming and caging


Our first harvest!


Also our ducks and chickens are doing good as well, still not 100% sure what kind of ducks we have but think their buff ducks?

Forgive the background mess, we're working on cleaning up and out as quick as we can. Trying to streamline before things get bad again down here.

Chicken coop and run pictures will come later, once their both fully done lol.

Hope everyones doing well and enjoying little pleasure where they can.

 

[creativetwinszoo]

Hello all, hope you are all doing good!

Sorry to be gone for a bit, life hot a bit crazier than the current crazy lol.
Way back at the begin of the year had to put in an insurance claim cause the roof leaked during a storm. Been living in a hotel for a few weeks cause they discovered asbestos in the roof 😱😱

Ended up bv having to tear out all of my bedroom roof and stuffinga s well as our hall bathroom and our carport roof section!

So between that, the last dredges of classes for last semester and the regular day to day it's been buuuuuuuuuusy!!!
The awesome news is They've finally finished fixing the damage, bad news? We'll likely need to get the roof fully redone very soon. Apparently the 'new' roof we were told about is a lot older than it was claimed to be..... quite irritating.

In other news The neighbour cross the way stopped sis on her way in last night and told her it looks like we're getting ready for the children on the corn. She joked round with him a bit and he made a mention of it looking like we're the farmers of the street, mixed feelings on that lol.
I keep hoping people will stop and ask questions on how to get a garden doing and going but I might have to put up a sign to welcome people to ask once the fence is fully up.

Thankfully we've (knock on wood) had no thefts of produce yet. Lots of curious looks and people talking bout itnif some of the conversations with the immediate neighbours is any indication.
I might have to make a bit of cash off my garden selling some produce and seedlings this year lol

 

[creativetwinszoo]

Love the corn -- but, popping in the husk??? Now THAT's hot!

I have some Bloody Butcher and Painted Mountain I want to plant. If I can tame this garden enough, it should be something to sell for Fall Decorations. If not, well, plenty of chickens & goats here to eat it.

What did you do with that huge cuke? Did you just let it grow to see how big it would get? Sometimes these plants to strange things.

No joke! Thankfully it looks like only a few kernals popped on a few of the others, no more as crazy like the one pictured

It's a variety called Armenian cucumber ir snake gourd isbone I've seen as well. They get very long and curly or just odd shaped. It was missed during an earlier harvest and honestly it oroducesbso quick it could have been literally a day or two alone and gotten like that :/
I'm gonna see about saving the seed from it and feeding ngf the shell to the chickens, they love them. And honestly my one row of plants has produced easily over 100 lbs now

 

[creativetwinszoo]

Hello everyone,

Just popping on for a few quick minutes with a few small updates

In person classes were cancelled for the semester so yaaay/s it's all online this semester and my agriculture processing class got cancelled till spring at least

The gardens tore up and down right now, but I'll be doing some work today and planting at least some beans for the start of my fall growing season. No eggie's beimg laid yet, hopefully soon tho 👍


Okay all, I'm off for a bit again (I do pop on to check stuff out regularly everyone I im just garbage at regular posting lol )
Hope you are all well and keeping healthy~

 

[Britesea]

You can even make cheese from dried milk powder! I have to say I've never done it, but it's nice to know it's that forgiving.
Here is a VERY easy cheese for a beginner-
Mild-flavored Paneer is typically added to highly seasoned Indian dishes, but it can shine in a multitude of recipes. It does not melt when heated. Don’t use colored vinegar unless you want colored cheese. Yield: about 1 3⁄4 pounds.

Ingredients:

1 gallon milk (cow’s milk is traditional)
1/4 to 1/2 cup lemon juice or distilled white vinegar
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat milk. In a heavy-bottom, nonreactive pot, heat the milk over medium-low to 195 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir continuously to prevent scorching. (If you don’t have a thermometer, heat until it foams but before it boils.) Remove from heat and stir to cool for a couple of minutes (to about 190 degrees).

2. Acidify milk. Milk separates into curds and whey when it is acidified. The warmer the milk, the less acidic it will need to be to separate. When the milk has reached the proper temperature, remove the milk from the heat and add the lemon juice or vinegar. Stir the acid into the milk a little at a time, pausing after each addition to check for curd separation. When the curds pull away from the side of the pot and the whey around them is mostly clear, you’ve added enough acid. When curds have separated, leave the pot alone for 10 to 20 minutes.

3. Drain curds. Line a colander with damp cheesecloth and set it over a large bowl or in the sink. Ladle curds into the cloaked colander to drain for 30 minutes. After draining 30 minutes, sprinkle salt over curds and stir. (Note: If you refrigerate the cheese at this point, you’ll have queso blanco — break out the taco shells!)

4. Press cheese. Pull the cheesecloth ends together at the top, then twist and squeeze the cheese into a disk. Lay the flattened disk down and re-dress the cheese by layering the four corners of the cloth smoothly on top of the disk. (Keep the cheese completely encased in cloth.) Place the wrapped cheese on an upside-down plate that’s atop a rimmed baking sheet (to catch the whey). Cover the cheese with another upside-down plate. Set something heavy, such as a cast-iron pan, on top of the top plate to press the cheese.

After an hour, check to see whether whey still runs out when you push the cheese with your fingertips. If so, press it longer. If not, get out your cheese knife!

5. Store cheese. Cover and refrigerate for up to a week. The pressed cheese may also be frozen for up to 3 months.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We have been having some light rains, but not enough I fear. I wish we would get a good steady soaking rain and get this summer started.

creativetwinszoo You asked for advice on quilting. I enjoy quilting, although I am no expert. You said you are saving shirts and jeans to use as fabric for quilting. It is always fun to repurpose stuff, but the fabric used for shirts is too flimsy to hold up in a quilt by itself.
That pattern you picked does look like an easy pattern to do. It would be really cute done with denim squares (from old jeans) and a variety of shirt fabrics for the triangle points. If you decide to do it this way, don't trim off the corner of the denim - only trim the inside layer of the shirt fabric. That way you are basically sewing squares of denim together and it will be a sturdy quilt top. the thinness of the shirt fabric is actually a benefit in this case. This technique will produce a fantastic quilt for heavy duty use like picnics, sitting out at night watching the stars and what not.