Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

It's in the 60s this morning in South Alabama and I'm loving it!  Everything is so green and pretty and it is not too hot to go out and get some work done in the yard.  I've been doing some here and there, but I've really been slacking.  The morning sun comes right up over my backyard beds and after a few minutes of working or weeding, you can hardly stand it, but this morning, I spent about an hour and a half weeding one of my beds and planting some seeds. 

I had a little helper this morning.

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We still have just the one and she is spoiled rotten.  She doesn't get let out of her pen a lot because I'm so worried the neighborhood dogs are going to get at her like they did all my others.

I was weeding one of my beds and she was right up in it with me.  I literally had to keep a big stick by my side because she thinks our fingers and toes are worms and goes crazy sometimes.  I don't hit her with it, I just use it to gently push her away. 

It didn't really deter her though.  She wanted to know everything that was going on.

We had another  little helper too.  This little stick bug hanging out on the wall while we were working.

As I was going inside, I realized I had several peas growing on my pea plant.  I am so excited.  I pray they keep at it so we can have some fresh peas.  Yum!

Everyone have a great week!

This post is part of the Homestead Revival's Barn Hop

Homemade Cayenne Pepper Powder

A friend of mine brought me a box of all kinds of peppers (she works at a doctor's office and the patient's bring him tons of vegetables).  There were several cayenne peppers and I didn't want them to go to waste so I looked up how to turn them into the powder you use for baking.  I basically found that you just cut the ends off and stick them in the dehydrator.

I wasn't sure if the color would still come out red because of the green ones.  I left them in the dehydrator overnight and this morning I broke them up in my magic bullet (you could use a blender or a food processor).  It took literally a couple seconds to turn into powder.  I was so very excited because it looks just like what you would get at the grocery store.  I probably go through one a year to use for chili and cheese straws and I've been wanting to make some homemade taco seasoning.  This little bit of peppers actually made more than one of those little spice containers at the store.

It seems once or twice a week I'm learning something new I can do to help keep costs down or to make more things homemade.  It may not seem worth it when you just make a little container of powdered pepper, but when you add it all together, you are saving money and making healthier food for your family to eat, so it IS worth it!

This post is part of the Homestead Barn Hop at The Prairie Homestead.

Canning Dried Black Eye Peas

One of my friends and I did a canning session with dried pinto beans.  We went by the instructions in the Ball book and they turned out great.  I have already used them for taco soup.

Well she found where you can do the dried beans without having to cook them first.  I have done some kidney beans and black beans this way and they have turned out great.  Today I was working on some black eye peas.

First you get your hot jars ready and rinse off the beans.  Next, you add 2/3 cups of dry beans to each pint jar and 1/2 teaspoon of canning salt.  Make sure you just do the 2/3 cup because the beans expand a lot.  My friend didn't think it looked like enough so she added more in hers and she could hardly get the beans out when she was done!

Next, you fill the rest of the jar with boiling water. 

Make sure  you have any air bubbles out, wipe the rims of the jars with a clean rag and add your lids and put them in the pressure canner.

Leave them in the canner at a pressure of 15 pounds for 1 hour.

That's it!  So simple, I just love doing it.  Makes me want to go to the grocery store and buy a bag of every kind of dried bean they have there.  I will definitely be using these up this winter. 

Some people have asked why I would take the time to can the dried beans.  Well, if I have all the different types of beans that I use for chili dried in bags in my cabinet, I probably will not use them for the soup.  It takes awhile to prepare the dried beans and if I have these on my shelf, I will be way less tempted to just go to the grocery store and buy cans of beans to use for my recipes.  Now of course, fresh peas and beans to can is a way better option, but I don't always have those types of fresh beans available to can, especially the black and pinto beans, although I will have to look into that.

One more thing, one 32-ounce bag of dried black eye peas made 10 quart jars! I could not even fit one in the canner, so I guess I will let that one sit and use it for supper tonight :)

Radishes, Great for Beginners

Radishes are awesome!  And I'm not just saying that because we love radishes.  I'm actually the only one in my family that likes them.  Here are a few I picked this morning.

Radishes are awesome because they are easy to care for and they grow REALLY fast.  Within a matter of a few weeks, they are ready.  I also love them because the kids can help me pick them, they know the ones that are ready with their red tops sprouting through the dirt. 

I got a late start on all of this, I wasn't able to plant any spring crops.  Out of the few things that I have planted, only a couple showed results.  Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it putting all this hard work in with little results.  This is just a reminder to me that it doesn't happen in a day, week or months.  It's something I have to work at and I will make mistakes.  I just need to work all winter on my compost and working on my beds and getting ready for those spring crops :) 

Look at this strange little guy.  I believe he feels like he should have been a carrot.  That's okay, we don't discriminate around here.  We'll eat him anyway :)