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Making Coffee

06 Aug 2010 by viggie

I have another “methods I’ve tried” post for you.  This time it has to deal with making coffee.  I’ve always been a fan of coffee.  Growing up my parents set a 16 year old age limit to coffee drinking.  I was so excited I remember my first cup of coffee more clearly than I remember getting my license!  Needless to say it was one of the first things I sought to be able to make by hand when I decided to simplify my life and be a little less dependent on gadgets and electricity.  I started out by getting this gorgeous antique coffee mill.  It works so nicely and only takes 4 easy cranks to make enough grounds for 2 cups.

coffee mill

I started out with a peculator for brewing coffee. I’ve heard people wax poetic about the beauty and taste of peculated coffee, but my tastes must not be very refined because it just tastes like coffee to me. You have to pay a bit of attention to it as it’s brewing and give it some time to cool before carefully handling with potholder. I also go through the trouble of cleaning all of the pieces each time. The taste is good for this one, but it is a bit of extra work compared to the next method.

percolator

This is an old french press my mom gave me. My parents still use a french press, but it’s larger than this cute little single serving set. If I remember correctly, I actually got this one  as a gift for her from Gloria Jeans when I was a kid. It’s a beautiful set and is easier to use than the peculator, as you just put your grounds in and cover with hot water. Then use the plunger to trap the grounds at the bottom when it’s done. It always leaves me with mild brew, but it’s also great for making tea with loose leaves too.

2041

Category: Household  Tags:  3 Comments

Usability

23 Jul 2010 by viggie

The one thing that bothered me about my house was the size of the eat in kitchen area. I have been using an old hand-me-down table I got from a Church friend when I moved into my first apartment. It was (ugly but) serviceable, but just did not fit in the space I had. I went several years with one chair being unusable against a wall, and having to move the usable chair whenever I wanted to get into the kitchen cabinets or make use of the extra counter space.

old kitchen table

Now that I’m working in my kitchen all the time and making it a point to sit at the table and eat, this was getting to be a sore spot for me. I spent some time looking around locally and keeping an eye on craigslist for deals, but didn’t find what I was looking for until I searched online. I came up with this adorable (and inexpensive) 30 inch cafe table. I hate the thought of buying new things just to “upgrade” to something nicer, but this has really made my kitchen more usable.  Two people can eat at the same time now and I have easy access to the counters and kitchen storage space.

new kitchen set

Category: Household  Tags:  2 Comments

Canning Potatoes

25 Jun 2010 by viggie

I was busy practicing my new canning skills again this week. This time I did 10 pounds of red potatoes, which filled 7 quarts with enough left over for mashed potatoes at dinner. I took the advice I read from a couple of my forum friends that made prepping easier. The blanching step was skipped entirely. I peeled mine, but you don’t have to. Then I diced one at a time and threw the cubes directly into a bowl of water to keep them from discoloring.

I boiled the jars to sterilize them then quickly loaded the hot jars with the potatoes and covered with boiling water. I used 1/2 tsp canning salt per jar and processed according to the pressure canners instructions for 40 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure.  Don’t they look wonderful :)

I did have one mishap.  When I was unloading the jars the bottom fell out of one of them and dumped potatoes all over the canner.  That would be why only the 6 surviving quarts are shown in the picture.  I guess I had to break a jar sooner or later.

canning potaotes

Category: Canning  Tags: ,  2 Comments

Rapid Washer

20 Jun 2010 by viggie

I’ve been doing laundry by hand for a few years now.  I thought I’d talk about the different methods I use and how well they’ve worked for me.

doing laundry

I learned to do laundry on a washboard from my Great Aunt when I was quite young.  I like this good old fashioned method, but raking fabric across textured steel is understandably hard on your clothes.  I’ve been saving this only for the real dirty stuff, like clothes I’ve worn out in the garden.  I do a REAL good job of throwing myself into my work so it looks a lot like a wallow in the dirt while I’m out there and the clothes need serious help.

wonder clean

I picked up a Wonder Clean a little over a year ago.  It’s the Lehmans version of a Wonder Wash. This is a nice little contraption mainly marketed towards campers and RVers.  It saves a lot of time and muscle power.  The problem is I’ve found it’s only really useful for very light duty work.  This is my choice for washing my office clothes each week, which just need refreshing but aren’t actually soiled.  I can fit 5 plus sized tops and 5 pair of underwear in it at a time.  The skirts I simply wash less often as they don’t really encounter dirt of sweat when I’m sitting in a cube all day.

rapid washer

This week I got a Rapid Washer.  I’ll need a bit more time to see just how well it works for everything, but thus far it looks like it’ll be my recommendation for all around usefulness.  It agitates the clothing much better than the other methods and adds the novelty of allowing me to do my wash outdoors.  It also gives the neighbors the opportunity to say “I told you so, that backwards neighbor finally lost it completely!  Look what she’s over there doing now.”

In winter, it’d work just fine if I set my wash buckets up in the bathtub to catch any splashing.  I think it’s also my answer for doing large items like sheets, as I can just throw those directly in the tub and use this plunger washer in there.  Bedding is the one thing I haven’t been able to manage to do by hand, and have been taking them to my parents when I go to visit :D

Do you do laundry by hand?  I’ve love to hear your experiences!

Category: Household Chores  Tags: ,  5 Comments

Canned Vegetable Broth

21 May 2010 by viggie

I shared earlier that I like to make my own veggie broth from scraps.  It gives those poor unappreciated ends and peels a good use and saves money buying over boxes of broth.  I used to have to make a few cups at a time in the crockpot and use them pretty soon.  If I had a reliable freezer I could have froze the excess, but sadly that was not the case.  Now that I have the pressure canner, I was excited to try making up a big batch to can.

I didn’t have near enough scraps to make 6 quarts of broth, so I used some of the veggies I dehydrated last year to make up the difference.  I simmered my broth extra long to condense it to avoid canning large amounts of water.  Then I followed my canners instructions for preparing the jars and lids.  It had me fill my quarts and process them for 25 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure.

I always thought of canning as being a big hassle.  I suppose it is in a way, but I find myself enjoying spending an evening in the kitchen canning, cleaning, and reading.  And I get a surprisingly large amount of satisfaction every time I go to grab something from the pantry and see my growing stock of home canned goods.

canned veggie broth

Category: Canning  Tags: ,  One Comment

Dandelion Jelly

14 May 2010 by viggie

I saw this recipe for Dandelion Jelly over at Moo Said The Mama and saved it to try later. I was so excited that later ended up being the next day though. It didn’t gel quite as much as I would have expected but it still turned out just fine and is similar to honey but with a nice warm taste to it. It made 5 half pints for me and I’ve been having it at night on toast for an easy dessert.

dandelion jelly

Category: Canning  Tags: ,  2 Comments

Around the Urban Homestead

09 May 2010 by viggie

I was able to plant on Mother’s Day last year, but the weather isn’t cooperating this time around.  We had some flurries yesterday and frost last night.  So instead I picked up my pressure canner a little ahead of schedule so I could work in the kitchen instead.  I got the tool kit and some extra lids with it right away.  I already have mason jars laying around for storing all of my dehydrated food, but I’m starting to see now just how many I’ll need for a good harvest and will start budgeting in some each month.

new canner

I decided to practice on some dry black beans using this tutorial.  But be sure to compare to your canners instructions, mine wanted me to fill up to the lowest water mark rather than a full 4 inches. The first batch I did a lot of stopping to read instructions and had some trouble getting everything timed right. The second batch went really smoothly and I feel comfortable using the canner without fear of exploding now :D

And I came away from the experiment with lots of canned beans.  I got 16 pints from 4 pounds of dry beans.   I’ve been using mostly dry beans when I cook, but I have a 50% success rate in remembering to get them soaking before bed and wake up early to get them cooking in the crock pot. This way I did the work all at one time and have lots prepared and ready for cooking with.

canned black beans

Category: Canning  Tags: , ,  4 Comments

Making Vegetable Broth

08 Mar 2010 by viggie

I started making vegetable broth a couple of years back.  I just save up my veggie scraps, peels, and herb stems in a baggie in the freezer.  When I’m ready to make broth I dump the baggie contents into my crock pot and fill with water.   I usually do a quick fridge check to add any vegetables starting to go limp, and snip some fresh herbs from the aerogardens to add to it.

veggie broth 1

You want a fairly small ratio of vegetable matter to water.  I think mine ends up being around 1 part veggie “stuff” to 4-5 parts water.  My”stuff” ends up being largely potato peels, onion ends and papers, carrot tops and tails, and celery trimmings.  It’s let to bubble away all day on high for some rich tasting vegetable broth. This one can only be seen through because I had to use the flash.

veggie broth 2

When it’s done I use a strainer to scoop out the veggie scraps and press the liquid out of them. I’ve heard of people adding soy sauce at this point too for added flavor and the sodium content we’ve come to expect in broth. The scraps are added to the compost bin and the rest is ready to use in soups!

Category: Household  Tags: ,  4 Comments

Cast Iron Muffin Pan

01 Mar 2010 by viggie

I went to Cabelas with my dad this weekend so I could check out their cast iron section. I remember that they had a whole row devoted to it. I only have an 8 inch pan, so my plan was to pick up a 12 inch. While we were browsing though we stopped to comment on a cast iron muffin pan and tryed to figure out the odds of prying muffins out of those deep wells.

gift

He ended up finding a muffin topper pan hiding on a shelf. We were both so tickled by the idea of muffin tops and shallow wells that muffins were sure to slide easily out of that he bought it for me when I tried to limit my purchase to the one thing on my list. So I came home with two pieces of cast iron for the price of one…lol.

I really like the muffin tin, and the muffins slide right out of the pan :)   Thanks Dad!

muffin top

Category: Household  7 Comments

Around the Urban Homestead

21 Feb 2010 by viggie

The big excitement this week was a very lucky antique find. I saw a posting for a $57 Alfred Andresen spinning wheel and called immediately. The woman had it as a conversation piece and didn’t know anything about the wheel functionally, but my Aunt who’s a spinner sweetly came along and checked it out for me. I ended up coming home with it for an even $50.

There were two minor things for me to fix. Somewhere along the line someone decided the hole that the flyer sits in wasn’t necessary and filled it in. I was able to push all of it through with a screw driver. The legs were also a bit wobbly, and I shimmed those up enough that the pedal doesn’t fall off anymore. I spent some time taking it apart and wiping it down with denatured alcohol to clean off the accumulated grime. And I read that crochet thread makes a good drive band, so now it’s all strung up and ready to go. I’m very excited to start playing around with it. :)

ETA: I’ve been looking for more information about the wheel, and the only article I’ve found is this snippet stating they found it listed as being imported from Norway in a 1902 catalog.

my new spinning wheel

Category: Around the Urban Homestead, Spinning  Tags: ,  2 Comments
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