Feeding animals, hauling hay, processing our own meat, I can do all of these things. Tell me why i cannot read an easy pattern?? I can tell you i can laugh at myself about it now, but a few days ago i felt like i was just stupid. I have come to the conclusion that just because I am a farm girl does not mean that I know or can do everything. Guess what, I am totally OK with not knowing everything too! 

I am sticking with this learning as Master chef is interested in sewing and wants to enter clothing construction for the local 4-H fashion show.

So I am going to do the only thing i know to do, reach out to my mom and have her try to teach this hard headed farm girl. :) 

I know for myself, I usually don't post failures or things that don't turn out the way i think it should. 

Not all of us farm girls can do everything even though we want everyone to think we can.

I just want everyone to know that it is fine to not know how to do everything!

Pickled sausage, oh how I love thee. I seek it out when I go to the store, I have to have it if I find it. Now I can truly say not all pickled sausages are created equal! I have had the MMM this one tastes great to the yuck where is the trash can! I have always wondered how they were made and if they were really just a pickled hot dog. After looking for some recipes I found one that I wanted to try. 

Here is what you need:
This recipe can of course be cut down to a half batch or increased to a double/triple etcetera
-3 cups white vinegar
-3 cups water
-3 Tbs Kosher salt 
-1 Tsp garlic powder(I didn't have any powder so used freeze dried garlic)
-1.5 Tsp Red pepper flakes (or less if you don't like it to be too spicy)
1 Tsp. Paprika for color(not necessary if you don't want it)
-Jars for storage

 1) Put the water, vinegar, and salt in a pot and bring it to a boil

2) Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients

3) Allow the brine to cool 
4) Cut hot dogs in half and place them in clean jars

5) Pour brine into jars and refrigerate for several days, the longer the better!

I used quart jars and each jar held 12 hot dogs cut in half. I started with 2 jars but as i was pouring brine into the jars I had enough to make another jar.These have been in the fridge for 24 hours and I tried one this morning and i think this is a keeper recipe for sure!

Master tonic? I keep hearing talk of this all over facebook and other places . All I can picture in my mind when I hear about this is Gypsy's parked in their wagons trying to sell people elixirs and tonics with claims that it will cure EVERYTHING. Well after reading more about it, I decided I needed to try this cure everything elixir. 

Here is what you will need:

Master Tonic Recipe

2 bunches of garlic, chopped
A decently sized ginger root, grated
A decently sized horseradish root, grated
1 huge organic red onions, chopped
24 or so small habanero peppers 
64 oz raw, unfiltered, organic apple cider vinegar (Bragg)
4 quart size glass jars with plastic lids

After assembling everything into one location i proceeded to chop, chop and chop some more! Next time(of course if there is a next time) I will purchase all ready peeled garlic! After chopping everything I grated the horseradish and ginger root. 

I then took my 4 quart jars and proceeded to divide them up.

 After dividing up the goods i covered them in ACV and put a lid on it.

Now what needs to be done is put them in a cool dark place and shake everyday for at least the next 12-14 days. This tonic will be used to ward off illness and to take if you do get sick to maybe make your sickness disappear faster! We will see how this turns out in a few weeks! Apparently it makes a fabulous marinade to!

I cant believe that it is February already! This weather is all over the map for sure! I have started getting my compost for the garden. Since we mostly container garden we need to refresh the soil. Since we have used this soil for 2 years now we are doing a total refresh! Mr. Fix it and Master chef have taken 20 of the tubs and dumped them into a spot that I want to till up to grow onions, beets and radishes. I tilled the spot before they dumped them into the space and have gone back and tilled the used compost all in! I have my list of plants that I want to purchase all ready to go for this season. I know alot of people ask me why i don't start my own. Well i have found a wholesale outlet that will let me purchase flats from them. They charge me $7 a flat, i just have to buy the whole flat and they want me to buy at least 20 flats. It is still cheaper to buy them from them then start them myself, this way i don't have to heat my greenhouse! 

Kidding season is over for us. It was an ok year. Had a few hiccups and now we have all healthy and happy kids! The mommas all look alot happier not being as wide as a tank!

Now is the time to start looking in some places for a final markdown on canning items. They are in the final push to get them out the door before the new items come in. I have found gallons of vinegar for .49¢, Mrs. Wages pickle mixes for .49¢ and also canning jars are marked down! Great time to stock up for that summer canning run!

What is on your planting list? Anything new? old? a go to? 

Do you have a first aid kit? Do you know where it is? How old is it? Is everything inside still good? Would anyone else besides you know where to find it? It always seemed to work that way here when we needed it no one could seem to find it. I needed to find a solution to this always lost first aid kit. As I thought about this i came up with a great idea for a very easy to find first aid kit. I first started with this.

A red bucket was the perfect way to start my new never lost again first aid kit! Of course this was just the start. Now i needed a much better way to open and close this than those lids you need to have all your fingers, toes and elbows to open! After looking around I found these gamma lids. If you are not familiar with them this is what they look like.

I then went to the dollar tree and purchased alot of there items that i know that we would use up around here like triple antibiotic ointment, burn cream, band-aids, gauze pads, tape, oral tooth gel, eye drops and of course a multitude of other items that we like to keep around. 

I picked the red bucket as when you look at first aid kits the cross is most always red and white so this combination screams first aid and it is very easy for anyone to open it, you can even open it one handed if you have a cut and need in it. 

Living on a farm out in the country it is always nice to have a first aid kit that is well stocked with anything you might need or even anything your animals might need. 

So do you have a first aid kit AND do you know where it is? 

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and will have a happy new year! 


 I can tell that gardening season is coming around again as the seed catalogs have been pouring in. I have several catalogs that look like a kids wish book with things that are circled that i would love to try! Problem with trying new things is finding room to plant it all! I have finally decided that i need to invest in a good tiller. What is on your wish list to plant this year?




 My other nanny goats are still holding out on me! :) One poor girl her belly is so big it looks to almost drag the ground. I hope for her sake she delivers soon. 


 For the new year i want to try my hand at fermenting. I have several kindle books to read but i am more of a hands on learner than a book learner. So i decided to just jump right in and I ordered my airlocks from amazon.com. I figured no time like the present to start some sauerkraut since it is almost new years and everyone has cabbage on sale!


Vet girl and Master chef have been busy with 4-H related activities. They are both going to compete in consumer decision making and they are also on a cooking team to compete in a food competition next month!

I sure didn't realize it had been this long since i had posted on here. Spring gardening hit me and I had produce running out my ears. I tried my hand and making my own pickled okra and it worked well. I planted 72 okra plants so of course i had plenty of okra to play with. I also sliced and froze close to 50 cups for future batched of gumbo! 

I did some water bath canning also. I was harvesting jalapenos by the 5 gallon bucket load. Last year i had tried some candied jalapenos and they were a hit so this year i tripled the jalapeno plants and WB canned 50 pints of candied jalapenos. I don't think i will need to plant that many plants this spring.

Now that it is fall we are in full swing of baby goats, bottles and milking! It is amazing how fast your fridge fills up with milk when you get over a gallon a day! Master Chef (son who is 14) has been gathering recipes so he can learn to make some goat cheese. I found some heavy cream at the grocery store on mark down and he made some homemade butter and got the buttermilk to make some homemade biscuits. 

4-H is keeping Vet girl(daughter who is 17) very busy. She is going to participate in the food show, her, master chef, and 2 other friends are going to be competing in the food challenge. While she is there she is going to compete in the food poster contest and the Texas AG ID contest. She has almost completed her fourth year of her main project which is the Veterinary Science program. 

Will close this catch up post with a picture of a baby goat!