The Gnomestead Diary

thrillhill

thrillhill

Assistant TO The Regional Manager
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Chatham County NC
Yesterday evening, right before dark, the wife put some kabobs together to cook over the firebowl.

Mushrooms, onions, green pepper, pineapple, and small cubes of week old venison some of which were wrapped with bacon.

About the time she had them done, forum members @Studentofthegun and @Edg890 came sliding out so we could have some company for night time supper at the picnic table and enjoy this fine weather.

Dobby the house boxer was not impressed by the Sam Adams pumpkin beer. Neither was I, but the Octoberfest seemed to be a hit all around.

The wife also brought out some "ranch" flavored goat cheese that she had made from milking our goats. It seemed to be a big hit as well.

By the time we were finishing up with some sweets that the fellas brought over, the firebowl was able to return to it's default "non-cooking" full glory.

My happy weather is almost upon us!

'Twas a fine evening!



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Fairly early this morning my next door neighbor came riding up on his Polaris side by side all excited.

Last year we taught him how to ID puffball mushrooms. He wouldn't eat any mushroom even if his life depended on it, not even on a pizza. But he still gets excited to find them and bring them to us and tell us where they were.

Puffballs are really good eating.

We prefer to cut them flush to the ground, but he just pulls em up! We're glad to get them however they are harvested.

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thrillhill said:
Yesterday evening, right before dark, the wife put some kabobs together to cook over the firebowl.

Mushrooms, onions, green pepper, pineapple, and small cubes of week old venison some of which were wrapped with bacon.

About the time she had them done, forum members @Studentofthegun and @Edg890 came sliding out so we could have some company for night time supper at the picnic table and enjoy this fine weather.

Dobby the house boxer was not impressed by the Sam Adams pumpkin beer. Neither was I, but the Octoberfest seemed to be a hit all around.

The wife also brought out some "ranch" flavored goat cheese that she had made from milking our goats. It seemed to be a big hit as well.

By the time we were finishing up with some sweets that the fellas brought over, the firebowl was able to return to it's default "non-cooking" full glory.

My happy weather is almost upon us!

'Twas a fine evening!



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I needed to rub myself down with butter so I could fit into the car!

Hands down a Michelin rated experience. Thanks again.
 
They got kinda tired of me saying “oh my gosh this is good” between bites of bacon wrapped venison. But I couldn’t help myself. Between the amazing marinade and the fire bowl, they turn out better than anything I’ve had at any restaurant around here. Any of y’all that know me know I go to very nice restaurants. Angus Barn ain’t even close.

The goat cheese was also incredible.

There was a time I was a little shy about my country upbringing in Western NC. We grew our own food and traded for things we didn’t or couldn’t grow.

But as time goes on and I wear more button up shirts and khaki pants every day, it occurs to me that the competency crisis we are experiencing has a lot to do with us moving away from our roots. We are so many more steps removed from growing the things we eat. Or harvesting animals. Raising animals. Preserving things. Etc.

That’s not such a good thing. So I go over there and hang out with thrillhill and family and remind myself what it is to be a little closer to the Earth. A little closer to my old home. And not just looking at things on the computer screen for some paper that has no intrinsic value whatsoever. For some reason they let me show up and sorta sit around and watch them do stuff. I sure do appreciate it.
 
thrillhill said:
Fairly early this morning my next door neighbor came riding up on his Polaris side by side all excited.

Last year we taught him how to ID puffball mushrooms. He wouldn't eat any mushroom even if his life depended on it, not even on a pizza. But he still gets excited to find them and bring them to us and tell us where they were.

Puffballs are really good eating.

We prefer to cut them flush to the ground, but he just pulls em up! We're glad to get them however they are harvested.

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We used to find these in the pine forests in southern MI, didn’t even know they were around here. Good eating, and the only wild mushroom I’ve ever eaten.
 
Monday the wife killed and processed a rooster that was getting a little too "cocky"!

She also ground 16 pounds of deer meat, added pork fat, and made em up in little one pound bags for the freezer. At the beginning of the season we will freeze some. As the season goes on we start canning the deer meat. And if we do have any left for the freezers we will vacuum seal them. But the first burger of the year gets gone pretty fast!

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thrillhill said:
Today she canned up 5 gallons of grape juice. 6 half gallon (2 qt.) jars and 8 quart jars. Our grapes are a little small this year but we have a ton of them! What we pick this week will go towards the homemade wine.

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What are you using for processing time on the 1/2 gallons? We’ve been making juice in quart jars like that and have wanted to can larger quantities but “the powers that be” claim half gallon jars are a no go. The wife don’t want us to die. 🤣
 
hp468 said:
What are you using for processing time on the 1/2 gallons? We’ve been making juice in quart jars like that and have wanted to can larger quantities but “the powers that be” claim half gallon jars are a no go. The wife don’t want us to die. 🤣
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40 minutes

Yeah, the "the powers that be" are full of crap. Any, and I mean ANY and all food can be canned safely.

If you or your wife are on the book of faces check out this group:

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

It's fun to watch when the Europeans chime in.
99% of them water bath and/or open kettle and dry can.
Pressure canners aren't really a thing over there.

They think American canners have lost their minds. They don't have government agencies advising them not to do what they've all successfully done for 150 years. Super interesting to hear about their experiences vs. our modern expectations.
 
hp468 said:
What are you using for processing time on the 1/2 gallons? We’ve been making juice in quart jars like that and have wanted to can larger quantities but “the powers that be” claim half gallon jars are a no go. The wife don’t want us to die. 🤣
Click to expand...

And pick up "antique" Ball Blue Books whenever you see them and a lot of the "old" info is in them (including the 40 minutes for 1/2 gallon jars). If nothing else it's eye opening as to what was done back then that the .gov now says will kill you.
 
thrillhill said:
40 minutes

Yeah, the "the powers that be" are full of crap. Any, and I mean ANY and all food can be canned safely.

If you or your wife are on the book of faces check out this group:

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

It's fun to watch when the Europeans chime in.
99% of them water bath and/or open kettle and dry can.
Pressure canners aren't really a thing over there.

They think American canners have lost their minds. They don't have government agencies advising them not to do what they've all successfully done for 150 years. Super interesting to hear about their experiences vs. our modern expectations.
Click to expand...

thrillhill said:
And pick up "antique" Ball Blue Books whenever you see them and a lot of the "old" info is in them (including the 40 minutes for 1/2 gallon jars). If nothing else it's eye opening as to what was done back then that the .gov now says will kill you.
Click to expand...

Figured as much, we don’t have FB but I’ll do some digging. Thank you!

I’ll add, wish you were closer. Ain’t many around here interested in the old ways, my family that knew this stuff has mostly died off or their mind is now gone.
 
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"Might I inquire as to what the stuff in the glowing jars is?"

Some kind of glow in the dark "gravel" off Amazon.

I received it as birthday gift so not exactly sure but I've looked at stuff like that before and it should be pretty easy to search out on there.

It doesn't actually glow that good just from sunlight. I had hit those with my Streamlight TLR-1 HL prior to taking the pics. (Yeah, it was on my Glock 19X. It's okay. I was quite prepared to destroy them and I was able to ascertain the tubes of glass with fake rocks were not my teenage daughters sneaking back into the house prior to using my weapon-light as a flashlight. And yes my night vision returned within 3 days. :eek:)
 
thrillhill said:
Yesterday evening, right before dark, the wife put some kabobs together to cook over the firebowl.

Mushrooms, onions, green pepper, pineapple, and small cubes of week old venison some of which were wrapped with bacon.

About the time she had them done, forum members @Studentofthegun and @Edg890 came sliding out so we could have some company for night time supper at the picnic table and enjoy this fine weather.

Dobby the house boxer was not impressed by the Sam Adams pumpkin beer. Neither was I, but the Octoberfest seemed to be a hit all around.

The wife also brought out some "ranch" flavored goat cheese that she had made from milking our goats. It seemed to be a big hit as well.

By the time we were finishing up with some sweets that the fellas brought over, the firebowl was able to return to it's default "non-cooking" full glory.

My happy weather is almost upon us!

'Twas a fine evening!



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I love where I live, but every thing has its drawbacks. One of them is no longer living 25 min drive from your place. Sigh
 
This thread is making me hungry.............. off to find my non farm fresh snacks from the store 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
 
Been a laid back couple of days on The Gnomestead.

The girls are still puttin out regular. Wife was able to top off one of the water-glass jugs that'll carry us through the winter.

She's made a about 3 cases of pickled okra so far. But now she's just putting up a few here and there.


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yard mongrel said:
You do anything with those Hardy Oranges?
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We make jelly from them on occasion. It's not that great compared to the other options we have here. But not bad. Kinda fun on pork and fish as a glaze, especially when smoking them in the UDS.

But we mainly do it just because we can. Stay in practice so we could do it in "the bad times".

Ward off scurvy and all that! 😁
 
thrillhill said:
We make jelly from them on occasion. It's not that great compared to the other options we have here. But not bad. Kinda fun on pork and fish as a glaze, especially when smoking them in the UDS.

But we mainly do it just because we can. Stay in practice so we could do it in "the bad times".

Ward off scurvy and all that! 😁
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This guy says to put a slice in a gin and tonic

www.eattheweeds.com

Hardy Orange - Eat The Weeds and other things, too

Is the Hardy Orange edible? That depends on how hungry you are, or which century you live in. A native of China, Hardy Orange (Poncirus trifoliata) aka Trifoliate Orange, was once grown in northern Europe where the fruit rind was candied and dried. As a cold-hardy pseudo- citrus American...
www.eattheweeds.com www.eattheweeds.com

I used to work a neighborhood that was completely festooned at one end with those things, and couldn't help but think what a handy livestock deterrent they would have been.
 
I was fortunate enough to get my hands on some Gnomestead cheese. This was the rosemary one.

The cheese is very mild. Not like the goat cheese you get at the store that has a bit of a tartness or sourness to it. The cheese seems to play nice with every pairing.

When I went to Mexico, we ate at Nancy Silverton's Mozza in Costa Palmas. We had a dish that had a cheese served with different toppings and buttered toast points. Here's a picture.

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But, here in Chatham County we don't have capers the size of grapes. I couldn't quite emulate it. Which was a bummer because the Gnomestead goat cheese, in my opinion, is BETTER than what we had at that restaurant down there.

So, I did what I could.

Started off with some Divinia olives, caviar, and a bit of the cheese.

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Then some fig loaf. Despite the savory quality of the cheese, it worked well.

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Some things are traditional for good reason. Little bit of summer sausage now.

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Since the fig worked...what about some fig jam? This might be the best yet.

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Mozza's toast points are far superior to mine. But...I have to say that it was excellent. I washed it down with a bottle of Kabar brown ale.

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However, the best way of all might just be to eat it plain on a cracker. Or...fold it gently into an omelet with a little chopped spinach and bacon.

I didn't think about the omelet until I'd eaten the whole package. Still have some for the morning...

Ya'll are gonna want to get some of this cheese.
 
Looove some Chicken-of-the-woods!! One of several I can ID w/o the books.
The Turkey Tail is medicinal, correct?
 
Studentofthegun said:
Ya'll are gonna want to get some of this cheese.
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Glad you enjoyed it. it all,looks good except the caviar, which I’ve tried and am not a fan of. Question for @thrillhill do you keep the nanny and billy goats separate? I’ve been told that what many think of as the “goat” taste is actually from the presence of billy goats and the pheromones. I’ve had goat ice cream that had no such essence and wad told that the dairy pays special attention to keeping them separated and that was where the “goat” taste came from.


Then I was at a total wine and more, dude, doing a sampling on a Sunday morning. Beside the store manager getting slurred spee h, we tried one that made me think “goat” and “dirt”. The funny thing was this other couple raced about it.
 
HawgBonz said:
The Turkey Tail is medicinal, correct?
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Correct

We try to find enough Turkey Tail and Lion's Mane each year to have a tincture in the morning year round.

Doesn't pan out that way EVERY year, but most of the time it does.

We took that branch and laid it in the back of an old wood hauling trailer that I rarely use. If it doesn't rain often the wife will water it. We'll harvest those when they are bigger.
 
noway2 said:
Question for @thrillhill do you keep the nanny and billy goats separate? I’ve been told that what many think of as the “goat” taste is actually from the presence of billy goats and the pheromones. I’ve had goat ice cream that had no such essence and wad told that the dairy pays special attention to keeping them separated and that was where the “goat” taste came from.
Click to expand...

Yes

Honestly that is fairly rudimentary knowledge amongst dairy goat keepers. Kinda like using fencing keeps the goats in one place. That level.

If you run into goat dairy product where that appears to not be the case, you are either dealing with super hippy-dippy crowd or internet farmers.
 
Had a lot of company over this weekend. Firebowl was in fine form! It was hard for me to keep track of everything (except my bottle of Buffalo Trace 😇).

The wife said she made another 10 "tubes" of goat cheese. Plenty for trading if anyone around here wants any.

I think she said she started 5 gallons of wine from some of her grapes. I saw a big ole jug/carboy in the house. Need to get a pic.


Grapes and buckeyes
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Goofy Minerva running through something important to my wife. No idea what. I can't keep up with all her plant stuff!
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Mo grapes
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And even mo grapes. And she made more grape juice. Canned a few leftover green beans. And made/canned bone broth (deer, squirrel, and rabbit bones).
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