Christmas Gifts for the Homesteader

As the holiday season approaches finding that perfect gift for those you love can be challenging.  To me the perfect gift is first, affordable and within your budget limits.  It can be easy to get caught up in the seasons festivities and over spend. Second, the gift shows you know them personally and put some thought and love into the gift.  A gift from the heart is always appreciated and cherished.  Gardeners and homesteaders are always fun to shop for if you are into those hobbies and lifestyle choices and challenging if you are not.  So here are some ideas for gifts. Keep in mind your homesteader may have some of these items but often new improved equipment is fun to get. Accessories and supplies for these items could also be your focus and may fit in better with your budget. Affiliate links are included in this post.

Incubator to hatch chicken and game birds

Chicken egg rack or basket

Lots of styles and fun options to store eggs on your counter or look for a wire basket to gather eggs

Sourdough starter kit or needed accessories

Good kitchen scale

Useful for canning, sour dough bread making, and soap making.

Yogurt maker

Insta pots often have a yogurt function.  Other items that are useful if using raw milk are a stainless stock pot, long whisk, and thermometer. 

Dehydrator

I have been using an older cheaper dehydrator but this has some features that would be wonderful to have like a quiet fan, even heating, auto functions, and temperatures high enough to do jerky. I might have to ask Santa for an upgrade. 

Cheese making kits, mold, cultures and supplies

If new to cheesemaking a kit is nice.  If experienced there are molds, presses and always cultures that are needed.

Fermenting kit or supplies

Pruners

I love my Stihl pruners they are lightweight and sharp.  I have both lopper sizes to accommodate different branch widths.  I always carry my hand pruner in a leather pouch on my belt. I have separate hand pruners to trim goat hooves.  Check out the battery garden pruner. That could be really handy. Can't say enough about Stihl products.  A must for the the garden and home orchard. Pick up at your local hardware store.

 Books 

I always have a gardening book on my wish list plus a gardening read included in my daily reading. 

 

   

Pressure canner for canning

I like a weighted pressure canner.  Dial pressure canners need to be  checked every year to ensure the dial is accurate.  This can be done at an extension office so it's not a problem but maybe an inconvenience if you are not close.

 Stainless steel water bath canner

These are durable canners for the serious canner.  Don't forget accessories for canning if you are looking for a cheaper option or stocking stuffers.

Attachments for Kitchen Aid such as pasta maker or meat grinder

Homemade pasta is simple to make with the Kitchen Aid pasta maker. Beet or spinach powder can be added to make colorful healthy pasta.  If you raise beef, pork, turkeys or hunt a meat grinder is a great gift idea.

Smoker or accessories

I have a Traeger and love it. If your homesteader has a smoker look for accessories such as silicon gloves, sauce pots and basting brushes, marinade containers, racks for veggies and meats, pink butcher paper meat claws, prep and serve trays. Lots of fun options and a variety of price ranges.

 Rubs, sauces, for smoking.  Herbs for canning.

If you can, BBQ or smoke then having a variety of herbs, seasonings and sauces is a must.  These are fun inexpensive stocking stuffer ideas. These can be bought in kits or individually.  Any hardware store that stocks smokers and BBQs will have lots of options.  You could put together themed herb collections for canning pickles, relishes, salsa or chili. 

Vacuum Sealer

Perfect to extend self life of products you are freezing and prevent freezer burn.  Great for raw or smoked meats, veggies and fruits. If you freeze leftover bbq and smoked meats you can just put the bags directly in boiling water to reheat and it keeps meat juicy, moist and delicious.

Mason jar vacuum sealer

I love this little gadget. Mason jars make great storage jars.  I use it for dehydrated and freeze dried fruits and veggies. Great for anything you store in mason jars that needs to be kept fresh!

   

Heated water buckets

These are a huge time saver for the homesteader and provide constant water for your animals in the winter months.  They come in different sizes and are perfect for chickens, goats, dogs, cats, and other farm critters.

Insulated bibs and gloves

Doing farm chores is much more enjoyable if you are warm.  Insulated bibs, flannel lined jeans, a durable jacket, and insulated gloves are all great gift options for any homesteader

Fireplace cast iron kettle or humidifier

For those with wood stoves these add moisture to the air. They not only add humidity but you can add cinnamon sticks, oranges, or cloves to make your home smell like the holidays. Be sure to look for rust resistant humidifier that have a porcelain enamel coating.

 Muck buckets

You can never have enough buckets.  I really like the flexible ones with handles.  These can be used to haul supplies out to the garden or animals, for weeds, deadheading flowers, mixing fertilizers or potting soils. The uses are endless.  Any utility buckets or muck buckets are all great for the homestead.  

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Gardening knee pads or kneeling pads

Comfortable water resistant knee pads make weeding, planting, and harvesting much easier.  They can also be used to do household chores. Easy on the knees and inexpensive.

Seed Saving Supplies

If your homesteader saves seeds there are lots of fun gift ideas. Mesh sifters with assorted screen sizes, pollinator bags, and seed packets are a few ideas the seed saver would enjoy.

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1/2 gallon mason jars or other storage jar

These are perfect to store dehydrated and freeze dried product.  Add and few oxygen absorbers and vacuum seal the lids for longer storage.  Also great for pasta and grains.

Food proccessor

Makes slicing and grating quick and easy for canning, freeze drying, dehydrating veggies, fruits, and cheese.  Make biscuits, party, and pie crust with the dough attachment, and puree salsas.

Onion Chopper

A huge time saver for chopping and dicing onions, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes and other produce for canning. All evenly diced!

Other Ideas:

• Tickets to a local Farm Conference
• Good knife set
•  Cutting boards
• Pastry mat, bowl scraper
• Kitchen shears
• Clippers for goats
• Tattoo kit for goats
• More goats, chickens, cows, pigs, horses and ducks 
• Gift cards to favorite online nurseries and seed companies

I appreciate the holiday season as a time to reflect on the many blessing the Lord has given my family.  I enjoy the opportunity to think of others and give of myself.  I cherish the greatest gift of the season... Our Savior.  Merry Christmas!

Pomegranate Jelly

OK, I can't grow pomegranates in New Harmony.  But it sure is nice to have family in Moapa Valley, Nevada which is home of the pomegranate festival held the first weekend in November. My mom is wonderful to always bring me a gallon of  fresh pomegranate juice.  It's great to drink fresh and makes a delicious jelly. It's one of our family favorites.

The recipe is out of Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving .  This is great book. It has some really good unique recipes and produce combinations. Each recipe has tips and suggestions for how to use the product after you can it.  Some of my favorite recipes are out of this book.  And I always try new recipes each year.  No reason to eat the same thing year after year. 

 Pomegranate Jelly

3 1/2 cups of pomegranate juice
 1 package powdered pectin

5 cups of granulated sugar

• Whisk juice and powdered pectin in pot.  
• Bring to a boil.  
• Add all the sugar.  Return to boil.  Boil 1 minute.  
• Skim foam off the top of jelly.
• Add to jars.  Wipe rims.  
• Adjust 2 piece lids and process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. 
•  In New Harmony add 10 minutes to the time for high altitude.

Skim the foam off.

Fill hot jars.  I put mine in dishwasher and leave in there until I'm ready to fill them.  Wipe rims.  Keep lids in scalding but not boiling water.

Growing Pomegranates

Preparing the Homestead for Winter

A snowstorm in Feb 2013

With colors turning and leaves falling in the wind, it's time to prepare the homestead for winter. Before long we will have weather like the picture above.  Preparing now means that you can rest for a season this winter.  Just kidding when do homesteader ever rest!

Preparing the Garden for Winter:

Dig up any potatoes and cure them in preparation for storage.  Curing allows the skins to harden and bruises and small cuts to heal.  This can be done in your garage or under a porch if it is not too cold. Do not wash the potatoes just brush dirt off after curing.

Diggin Potatoes

Harvest any remaining winter squash and pumpkins. If there are nicks or unripe squash or pumpkin they go in the pig pile.  They love any treat from the garden.

Gathering the last pumpkins, squash, and dried corn used for cornmeal.

The pig pile of nicked or under ripe produce.

Squash

Winter squash will keep til spring with very little preparations.  Start by picking and storing mature squash.  The squash is mature if the skin cannot be pierced by you fingernail.  Always leave the stems on.

Curing squash

During the curing process moisture is lost and the skins harden. Acorn squash should not be cured and likes lower temperatures than other squash. They prefer temperatures of 45-55 degrees anything over that and they become stringy and dry.  A green skinned acorn squash should stay green.  There are orange and white skinned varieties.  The white skinned do not store as well and should be eaten first. 

Other winter squash should cure for 10-14 days.  They can be stored on a porch with temperature 55-60 degrees and brought in if a freeze is expected. 

Storing Squash

Squash do not like temperatures below 50 degrees.  They can be stored in a side room, basement, or a pantry that is not too warm.

Pumpkin are treated just like squash but do not store as long.  When storing both squash and pumpkins do not pile them but leave space between and do not store them on a concrete floor.

This is a great rack for storing squash.  It allows for good air circulation and can be put in the coolest room in the house or in a garage.

Pull up all garden plants.  I make two piles.  One goes to the burn pile or dump.  This includes all tomatoes, squash, and any plant that is disease prone.  By the seasons end there may be mildew and blight on these crops and I don't like to put them in the compost pile.  The second pile includes garden plants that are going on the compost pile.  This include corn stalks, not used for decorating, and disease free plants.

The burn pile.

The start of the debris going on the compost pile includes both green and brown material.

Weed one last time.  Any perennials weeds you leave are sending energy down to the roots to get ready for next spring.  Disrupting those plans will make spring weeding easier.

Put a layer of compost on top of your soil.  I don't like leaving bare ground.  

Leave cover crops to winter kill and incorporate into the soil in early spring 

Install any low tunnels on the fall garden boxes.  Be prepared to double lay when a freeze approaches meaning you will lay a row cover directly on the plants under the low tunnel.

Gather and preserve any herbs.

Drain and store  your water systems if necessary.

February 2015 snow storm.  The raised bed gardens.

The Goat Barn

One last cleaning of the stalls is in order before it gets too cold.

After the stalls are clean I lime (purchase agricultural lime at the feed store) the stalls by sprinkling lime on the floor of the stall and lock the goats out for a day.  The lime helps to kill bacteria by lowering pH and if done through the spring and summer kills fly larvae.

After a day or two, I put down pine shavings or straw, and happy goats can return to their comfy stalls in the barn. I prefer straw it seems to last longer.

Some of the 2015 spring kids.

Fresh bedding is always appreciated.

Have the kidding pen prepared and heat light ready for kidding if needed.

The buck barns get a layer of straw for the winter.

The buck barns.

Put electric water buckets in the stalls.  These are one of a homesteader's best investments.  It beats trying to dump out a bucket of frozen solid ice and hauling water for the winter.  It also gives them access to water continuously.

A view of the goat barn.

The Chicken Coop

One last cleaning of the coop and hauling all manure and bedding to the compost pile

Spray the nesting boxes and perches with pyrethrin and neem oil for pest control.  I use the same one I use in the garden.

I like using straw (weed free) in the chicken house it seems to last longer. Weed free means less weed problems with your spring compost.

If you want eggs through the winter have a light inside the coop. 

Heat lamps are not necessary as long as the coop provides shelter.

Have electric water buckets ready to plug in for freezing nights

The Duck Pen

 Provide an area for them to get out of the weather.  Large dog houses work great or a small duck house.  I actually house the chickens and ducks together.

Put an electric water bucket in their pen. 

I let my ducks roam the field garden during winter and early spring.  That allows some grass to grow back in their pen and they are great at hunting out hiding pests.

Don't Forget the Canines and Felines

 Although I no longer have dogs, I do still have cats. Provide a place to get out of the weather. Dog houses with a welping pad that heats when pressure is on is a great idea or a warm spot in the garage.  The water for my dogs and cats is a bucket system.  We have one in the garage that goes out in the morning and the frozen bucket goes back into the garage to thaw.  The cats have a couple cat houses to keep warm.

I am smiling! This IS my happy face!

Belle, the lab, is the best bed warmer.  The cats love her.

Clean Out the Freezer

Make room for the fresh pork of your fall butchered  pigs or beef or lamb.

Landscape Trees

Continue watering your trees as needed until they lose their leaves.

Pines and evergreens should get a good watering up until Thanksgiving or when the ground freezes.  They continue to transpire through the winter and need an occasional watering.  

The Orchard

I'm going to refer you to a previous post on fall orchard care. 

Fall Orchard Care and Disease Prevention 

The two most important things to do are your fall spray when 1/2 leaves drop and a cooper spray at leaf fall.  

The second thing is to paint trunks and lower scaffold branches if snow and sun scald is a problem.  Use an indoor latex paint.  Dilute it with 50/50 with water and you can add a little Neem oil to the mixture.

Berries

I wait for spring to do any pruning

You can spray a horticulture oil at leaf fall if disease or overwintering pests are a concern.  Cooper can also be used to help prevent disease, but only if you are concerned about an disease you have had trouble with.  

General Preparations

Get a load of wood and have it chopped and stacked out of the weather.

Roll up and store hoses that are not in use

Gather any tools you have in the fields or garden and store out of the weather.

Drain and cover swamp coolers

Check the strength of you antifreeze in your vehicles and add winter washer wiper fluid

Wash and get out winter gear:  Carthart overalls, coats, gloves, hats, boots etc.

 Take inventory of your garden and orchard sprays and fertilizers.  Winter is a good time to purchase these.  Organic fertilizers are fine to store and do not good bad. Chemical fertilizers do not store long term.

Get a a supply of hay for the winter.  Don't run low on any feeds in case weather prevents you from traveling to the feed store.  Feed is so important to help your animals stay warm so be sure to always feed regularly and have a few extra bags on hand.

There are things I love about each of the four seasons.  I hope you find beauty even in the winter. 

 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

"Happiness is Homemade,"  
especially if it is 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.

Combine the following dry ingredients in a bowl:

3 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

Mix wet ingredients:

4 eggs 

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups canola oil

2 cups homemade pumpkin puree

Combine dry ingredients and wet until just moist.  Add 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

Pour into your favorite greased loaf pans.  You can use any size just adjust the cooking time. Bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes.  Insert a knife in the center if it comes out clean they are done.  Allow to cool before cutting.  But be sure to enjoy a few warm pieces.

Making your own pumpkin puree is easy.  Pie pumpkins are make the best puree and are easy to grow.

Growing Pie or Sugar Pumpkins

The pumpkins above are Winter Luxury, a heirloom sugar pumpkin.

Duck eggs are great for baking. The pumpkins puree on the left can be frozen.

Pumpkin puree