Pumpkin Bread

What could be better on a brisk winter's night than a cold glass of milk and a slice of homemade pumpkin bread. Or in the morning with a hot cup of coffee. Our pumpkin harvest of Long Island Cheese Pumpkins was healthy this year. With  pumpkin canned in jars and pumpkins stored under the stairs this is a wonderful treat for the family as well as a way to use up some of that excess pumpkin stock.  An easy recipe that makes 2 loaves so there is even plenty to share and either freeze or send home with the grandchildren. Makes great muffins also. I have even used this recipe with sweet potatoes or butternut squash substituted for pumpkin puree. Each has their own distinctive flavor. Dress these loaves up with some nuts and raisins and wouldn't they be great wrapped as holiday gifts. I think I will leave a couple loaves in the mailbox for the mail carrier. 

Pumpkin Bread

1 quart canned pumpkin chunks or 1 15 oz can pumpkin

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup ..1 stick unsalted butter

2/3 cup water

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups white granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda 

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ginger

optional:

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts

If using home canned pumpkin chunks open jar and allow chunks to drain in colander reserving liquid to use in place of water in recipe. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. 

In large mixing bowl combine all liquid ingredients together mixing well. (pumpkin, water, eggs, oil, butter and vanilla. Add sugars and mix until well blended.

In another large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.

Combine dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until blended. Add nuts or raisins if desired (do not over work dough)

Pour into greased loaf pans

Bake approximately 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Link To Farm Girl Blog Fest

The Weekend Homesteader Review and Giveaway

Recently I was asked to review the new book being released by author Anna Hess called The Weekend Homesteader, A Twelve Month Guide To Self Sufficiency. 

This is a great little book broken down into 12 months of projects with a homesteading skill suggested for each weekend of the month. You'll find projects that range from everything from building a clothesline and hanging laundry to no till gardening.  Baking bread, bees, seed saving, food preservation, chicken keeping and much much more. Each project is broken down into goals, costs, time required and difficulty. For the new homesteader this book is a must. Not a book that gets bogged down with too much technical information but rather an introduction to new skills explained simply and concisely from an experienced homesteader and entrepreneur.    

This would make a great holiday gift for anyone interested in homesteading, permaculture, self sufficient living or just general  gardening and food preservation. 

Whether you are a novice or longtime homesteader, rural or urban, there is a project in this book for everyone.  

You can find a link to Anna's blog The Walden Effect listed on my right side bar. 

Skyhorse Publishing has kindly sent an extra copy of The Weekend Homesteader to give away to one lucky reader. To enter the giveaway just leave a comment below about what you think the most important homesteading skills are and what were the easiest and most difficult ones for you to learn.  I'll pick a random winner Monday December 3 from the comments. This giveaway is open to continental US residents only.   

The Weekend Homesteader is now available at Amazon.com for $10.43

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Meet Marlowe and Moxie

We have held our breath for the last two weeks afraid to get too attached to these little guys knowing how the odds were against them. We've heated bottles every two hours around the clock and bottle fed them.  At last we finally feel we are somewhat in the clear for the moment at least.  We would like to introduce you all to Marlowe and Moxie.

Now with their eyes open to see the world these little guys are growing like bad weeds!

They now bark and growl....

They've graduated to a big puppy bottle and are downing almost 2 ounces of milk at a feeding.

They waddle around on shaky little chubby puppy legs. 

Mostly though they still just eat, poop and sleep

And to our sweet Sadie girl who is no longer with us we so want to say.... It's okay ! You did not die in vain to give these puppies life. 

We have decided we will keep both of them. You cannot imagine how attached we all are to these two little pains and we know we could never give them up now. They will grow up on the same farm as their mother and sleep in a box under the stairs on those cold winter nights just as she did. Their puppy noses will give sweet puppy kisses to the same loving humans that she did. We have bid her goodbye and grieved for her while caring for her pups. In some way we almost feel as if she has watched over these two little pups for the past two weeks. Everyday they grow stronger and we hurt less. I still visit the grave daily and talk to her.  But more now I talk to these puppies. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Canning Pork And Beans

As I use jars of food during the winter from my pantry I like to refill them with things I use often or homemade convenience foods. My thought is that those jars could set around full just as easily as they could empty. My husband loves pork and beans and since I had a bunch of empty pint jars I thought that it would be a good way to refill them.  So the last trip I made to the supermarket I bought a couple extra bags of dried navy beans.  Thanksgiving weekend I decided to fill some of those jars while I had a few extra hours. I was hand binding a quilt and I could sit in my rocker and sew while I waited for pots to heat up and cool down.  

For this batch we decided to try a new method of canning them without presoaking the beans but rather just placing clean dried beans directly in the hot jars. It actually worked pretty well although the test will be in how they hold up over time.  

Canned Pork and Beans

3 pound bags navy or great northern dried beans

1 quart homemade ketchup

1 quart home canned tomato sauce

2 onions chopped 

6 cups water

2 Tablespoons Cajun Garlic Sauce (optional)

1/4  cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon prepared yellow mustard

2 tablespoons Molasses

1 teaspoon garlic powder

 1 /2 teaspoon canning salt per pint jar

1 one inch bacon piece to each pint jar

Wash and remove any stones or discolored beans from dried beans.

Mix tomato sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, water, mustard, cajun garlic sauce and onion powder in large pot and bring to boil along with additional pot of boiling water. Prewarm lids and rings and also start warming canner and water. 

I added 1/2 cup clean dried beans to each hot pint jar. I added chopped onions to taste and 1/2 teaspoon canning salt also to each jar.

to each pint jar I also added a 1 inch slice of bacon of our home cured bacon

Once my tomato sauce mixture had come to a full boil I added 1 cup hot mixture to each jar of beans

Then on top of the bean mixture and tomato mixture I capped each pint jar off with boiling water filling to within 1 inch of top.

Then I stirred the mixture and removed all air bubbles. I wiped the rims with a clean wet cloth to remove any residue.

Then I applied hot lids and rings finger tightening only. From there they went into the pressure canner for 75 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. 

Another 20 pints of pork and beans ready for the pantry.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Another Quilting Project Completed

I've posted in the past about this quilt on the frame. It is a king size quilt that was brought to me to be hand quilted by the relative of a neighbor. I HATE to quilt for other people because I always feel so guilty about what I have to charge them to do it. Therefore I almost never do it. Every now and then someone will talk me into it and that is the case with this one. It is a quilt top depicting all the states with their shape, state flower and state bird all done by hand in embroidery. It also has a block with a large blue star for each state. 

The good news is that this monster is finished : ) Hand quilted, the sides are bound and it is ready to go to it's forever home. 

Notice the center medallion depicting the USA.

I shudder to think of the number of stitches that went into this quilt in the hand quilting alone not counting the embroidery. I just did the quilting as it was brought to me as a finished top. 

It certainly made a very vibrant and colorful quilt. I have two quilts with this same pattern that my husband inherited from an elderly aunt. She did not embroider the states but rather did them in embroidery paint. For some of you younger girls embroidery paint was popular back in the 60's and 70's. It was a permanent paint that came in little tubes that you squeezed on to your quilt design to permanently color it.   

For someone with a blue and white or patriotic decor this quilt would be perfect.

Lots of work went into this quilt by both the owner who did all the embroidery and myself who did all the hand quilting.

This is meant to be a Holiday gift for a family member  of the owner. I hope that they treasure it for  a lifetime and get great joy from it. 

Now back to that wedding quilt for my son and his new bride.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Link To Clever Chick Blog Hop

Left Over Turkey?

Cooked all that bird and now have turkey laying around? 

Try making turkey broth or canning meat and broth!

How to can broth

Try turkey jambalaya

Turkey Jambalaya Recipe

Turkey Pot Pie

How to make pot pie

Or how about those homemade noodles and turkey

recipe for homemade noodles

Right now we are enjoying smoked turkey salad on homemade rolls: )

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Link To Clever Chick Blog Hop

Down Home Thanksgiving

Like most of America here on the farm we enjoyed a traditional Hickery Holler Thanksgiving meal.  Unlike most of the country we never ventured off of this land for the bulk of the ingredients. The little guy above was butchered the day before and prepared in a brine overnight. 

He weighed in at 9 1/2 pounds and spent Thanksgiving morning in the smoker occasionally being injected with turkey broth and butter.

He was accompanied by the usual sides of cornbread stuffing made with homemade cornbread and green onions, garlic and onions grown right here on the farm along with farm fresh eggs, home canned turkey broth and turkey meat off the pantry shelf. 

Add to that mashed potatoes from potatoes produced right here and turkey gravy made again with home canned broth out of the pantry.

Add some homegrown green beans and these tasty rolls to finish off the meal. 

And for dessert a delectable pumpkin cake with brown sugar glaze made from those homegrown pumpkins and a hot apple pie made with home canned apple pie filling. The apples coming right off that tree behind the garden.  

So while most of America was scrambling around their supermarket of choice fighting crowds and standing in line, Thanksgiving holiday dinner for us was just as far as the pantry door. The menu determined by the abundance of the last gardening season. 

And when I do decide to venture to that supermarket it is usually for the staples that we do not produce such as flour, sugar, oil (although in a pinch I always have lard) and dairy. Even my corn meal and dairy I prefer to buy fresh from the local Amish families when available.  

So for us here at Hickery Holler, like our forefathers before us, we really are celebrating the Harvest. Our table like our pantry overflows with healthy nutritious homegrown food. And we are thankful for another year of harvests, the health to sow and gather, the wisdom to preserve and plan for the cold winter ahead and the ability to rest until again it is time to sow a new year of bounty. 

The work is hard and arduous but the rewards of our lifestyle are many.

What percentage of your holiday feast did you produce?

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Great Site With A New CookBook!

If you have been around this blog for anytime you have heard about Thy Hand Hath Provided blogspot before. I am a daily reader of her blog and adore not only her writing style and sense of humor but also her recipes.  She is a canner like myself and one of her greatest posts is a post on Canning Overload Disorder which I am a chronic sufferer of : )

You can find the link to canning overload disorder symptoms  HERE ! 

She has a new cookbook out that would be great for the Holidays....and if you are purchasing gifts I love to help out my fellow bloggers. Besides that she is a great cook and I love her recipes.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Thanksgiving Blessings

Our blessings are plentiful here at Hickery Holler Farm and we count each and every one of you as one of them!

As we take time to be thankful we would also like to wish  every one of you a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Blessings from The Holler 

The Canned Quilter

Happy Birthday to the Puppy Pile : )

My two little mutts were a week old yesterday. Pulled from the womb of a dying mother, the only survivors out of a litter of 9. These two were miracles from day one. With their hope for survival extremely low it has been a challenge. There was no mothers milk to give them a good start, only me, a heating pad and a bottle. 

I refused to give up and let these two die after their mother gave her life for them. I have gotten up every two hours for the last 7 days to warm bottles and feed these two. I now have such an appreciation for mother dogs. My gosh humans are a cake walk compared to these little squirming things. I have never wiped so many little poopy puppy butts in my life. 

I haven't been posting much so please be patient with me. I will try to keep up......but sleep deprivation is a terrible thing : )

With cleaning the house for the upcoming holiday, processing venison, keeping up with laundry and preparing to cook a holiday meal it has been a massive job. Thankfully everyone has chipped in for poopy puppy duty. You know the drill.......warm the bottle, feed the puppy, burp (yes puppies must be burped), then wiping their little bum with a warm rag to make them poop. The mother would use her tongue( EEEUUUWWWW!!).  

I may need a vacation by the time they are weaning age......  

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

A Hunting Story

Previous kills

Through the many years that we have owned this property there have been many deer killed here. O Wise One no longer really hunts the bucks for horns as so many do in this area. He hunts very close to the house and gardens and likes to take out young does for the table only.  

Horns hold little appeal to him any more : )

Yet the herd remains large and strong. We wage a constant battle with these animals over land and food. They tend to prefer to graze my gardens, blackberry bushes, fruit trees and  asparagus beds if allowed the chance. It is a constant struggle for domain. Some years we win and some years we lose. I cringe to think of the dollar amount attributed to loss of crops and fruit trees over the years here on this land. 

Appropriately we are working on our fourth deer in the freezer. O Wise One went hunting the other morning and killed his doe. After the doe was down he walked back to the house to get the 4 wheeler and trailer to haul the doe back to the house. It took about 30 minutes. On returning to the carcass he was too late.  The coyotes had found it. 

Coyote damage to deer carcass

In the half hour it took him to return to the animal, indeed the coyotes had already found an easy meal. This was in daylight ( early morning) and less than 500 feet from my garden. The coyotes managed to eat the rear of the animal but we were still able to salvage some of it.    

Venison Tally To Date

19 roasts

16 bags deer steak

12 bags stew meat

38 pounds of venison burger

We are at about 110 pounds of pure venison (no bone) in the freezer. Cleaned well, trimmed of all fat and membrane and frozen in vacuum bags. Deer season closes tomorrow but an additional doe season will re open in just a few days. He will attempt to get one more specifically for jerky and to make sausage and then we are done. 

O Wise One will be killing the Thanksgiving turkey tomorrow. How's that for fresh ? 

Then the two big guys above will be the next thing to butcher. One for us and one for my oldest daughter and her family. 

That should pretty well take care of the freezer. With homegrown and butchered chicken, turkey, rabbit, venison and pork in the freezer this should fill our meat needs for the coming year. With everything produced right here on this farm. 

Indeed we have much to be thankful for this coming holiday and everyday. Healthy and plentiful food raised responsibly on a small scale. Not for profit but for our consumption only. Not always cheaper than supermarket food .... by the time we purchase grain, but definitely better.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter   

A Weed Free Garden

I recently listened to a great podcast on keeping a weed free garden that I wanted to share with everyone below. 

PodCast On A Weed Free Garden

If you like that podcast check out the blog of Dr. Lee Reich appropriately names In Lee's Garden. It is a wealth of information on gardening in general.

In Lees Garden Blogspot

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter