Saving Money on the Urban Homestead

I got an email from my cell phone company the other day saying I had gone over my data usage. I knew instantly it had to be my stepdaughter because I have unlimited data on my phone and neither my husband or my father would have any idea how to get on the internet from their phones. I went online to check my account status and there it was—she had used the internet on her cell again even though I've told her at least a dozen times we don't have a data plan on her phone. Nothing out of the ordinary. In some areas of her life, my 27-year-old stepdaughter is more like a rebellious teenager. It's as if she's compelled to see how far she can push us. So I sent my usual stern message to her, letting her know I was aware she had done it yet again, and reprimanding her for not being more responsible at the age of 27. And then I went back to checking my work emails.

About 5 minutes later, another email from the cell company came in, this time telling me I had gone over my plan minutes for the month. Now I was getting angry. So I went back online to check our plan minutes, assuming it had to be my stepdaughter again, and was taken by surprise when it turned out to be my father. Quickly glancing at the details of his calls for the month, I realized that he had been talking with his new lady friend for long periods of time on a regular basis. So I sent my dad a stern email, asking him to please try using Skype or the like, and thought to myself, "I've got 2 teenagers to deal with now!"

Festering over the cell bill reminded me that I had a phone on the plan that needed to come off that had to be past contract, so I decided to quit procrastinating and call the cell company. It was ready to come off and I was lucky enough to get a customer service representative who knew what she was doing. She took a hard look at the details of my plan and said she could save me $30 a month without changing the services we currently have. I ended up saving an incredible $480 a year—the $9.99 phone that came off plus the $30 a month. And I'll be darned if that same customer service representative didn't save me even more by telling me about a new free service where I could assign frequently called numbers not related to the cell company (landlines, other cell providers) to a new list and calls to and from those numbers would not count against our plan minutes. I added my dad's lady friend's number right away. I don't think I've ever been more satisfied making one of those dreaded service calls. And yes, I got smart and blocked the use of data on my stepdaughter's phone.

So I smiled for 2 days thinking of my money-saving accomplishment. And then I realized there had to be more I could save if I just gave our monthly bills a once-over. I did just that over Thanksgiving weekend. I pored over all the little charges that add up. An extra $5 a month here and an extra $19.95 a month there. I weighed the pros and cons of keeping things and dropping things. Were they accomplishing what I had intended when I signed up for them? Were they providing a service of value to our little urban homestead? In several instances, the answer was a resounding NO. In the end, I was able to eliminate another $75 in wasted monthly charges. That's $115 a month. Over the course of a year that's $1,380! Add to this that our Prius will be paid off in 2 months and that equates to an annual savings of $7,635. Yes, there is a proud smile on my face.

So let me propose that you take the time to sit down and scrutinize your monthly bills. Really go over them with a fine-tooth comb. You won't believe how much wasted money is lurking in those pieces of paper filling your mailbox every month. Urban homesteading is about simplifying your life. It's about doing away with the unnecessaries and becoming more self-reliant. It's worth the effort.

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What A Difference Two Weeks Makes

Anyone care to guess what these are?

Here's the whole plant if it helps.

These are supposed to be banana peppers, but I'm not so sure.

Definitely banana peppers.

The bell peppers are coming along beautifully.

Amish Paste flowers

Gotta love those Amish Paste seedlings from Little River Market Garden.

Kale and mustard greens.

Bibb lettuce companion planted with tomatoes.

Bulb onions companion planted with tomatoes and Bibb lettuce.
I wish I could find some more onions. These were the only ones that looked viable.

A front yard garden overview just to see the growth.

Sungold 'maters popping out everywhere.

Even my swiss chard seedlings are surviving.
Mickey's only trampled them once so far.

I'm thinking it's going to be a banner harvest this year, barring Mother Nature pulling any funny ones.

I hope your garden is doing as well as ours.

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Urban Homestead Thanksgiving Turkey

Our first local, heritage, free-range, organic, Thanksgiving turkey.

Lest anyone should be feeling sorry for me, I did think to take a picture of the turkey before I left the house. Let me just say, this was the best turkey I've ever eaten. The marinade recipe is a keeper. The turkey was moist, flavorful, and cooked in much less time than a regular turkey cooks (close to an hour shorter). Something to consider for people like me with 1 oven and lots of cooking to do. And the juices made killer gravy, too.

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Next Year in Jerusalem

There's one in every family. You know, the person who speaks their mind clearly—sometimes too clearly. I'm that person in my family. I tend to say what I think clearly and loudly, and I've been known to hurt feelings in the process. I'm trying as I get older to think about what I say before I say it, soften my message a bit, and even to bite my tongue and say nothing in certain situations. But after yesterday's Thanksgiving debacle (and it was a debacle) I don't have the desire to put in the effort. I'm just too darned ticked off.

My family acted like wild animals yesterday. Vultures to be precise. And I'm very disappointed in them.

Let me give you a little background. Thanksgiving in our family is always held at my aunt's house. Three of us usually do the cooking for 20+ people, and the 2 of us who cook at our homes bring what we cook to my aunt's house. Everything was unfolding according to tradition. My cousin and I (the 2 who bring food from our homes) arrived within seconds of each other. We made sure to put out appetizers so no one would go hungry while we took some time to say hello and chat with people we hadn't seen in a while, started reheating things, and preparing the few dishes that had to be cooked at the last minute like homemade rolls.

Then the insanity started. First someone started saying, "Can we eat yet?" and proceeded to walk into the kitchen every 15 minutes asking the same question. My dad told my uncle to start carving the turkey. I sent my uncle out of the kitchen, telling him we weren't ready yet and not to listen to my father. And my dad did it over and over again, at least 4 or 5 times, even though I asked him to cut it out.

The next thing I knew, people were pushing me out of the way in the kitchen to get to the food on the burners. Keep this in mind. It wasn't late. It was only 5 o'clock. Most everyone didn't even get to my aunt's house till after 3 pm. We were going to eat by 6 at the latest—it would have been earlier if they hadn't gotten in my way. And there were 5 appetizers on the table. I was done cooking at 6:03 pm. When I finally sat down to eat, I was no longer hungry, and I was disgusted and angry. What happened to manners? What happened to respect? What happened to simple human decency?

Let me be clear. I have no problem with feeding the little ones ahead of time so they can go along their merry way and get back to playing. I have no problem with someone who has to be at work at 7 pm grabbing a plate and leaving when they have to leave. But I cooked for a week beforehand. My aunt cooked for a week beforehand. Yes, I worked that hard because I wanted to—but I wanted to because I love them. And if my aunt wants to accept that kind of behavior from people who supposedly love her, that disrespect for the love we put into our cooking, that's up to her. I will not. I will never put myself into a situation like that again.

There are 4 words that end every seder at the Jewish holiday of Passover. Next year in Jerusalem. It has many interpretations, but for me it's about hope. The hope that one day there will be peace in the Middle East. The hope that one day all people will live without war. The hope that one day there will be an end to disease, poverty, and hunger. After yesterday's maddening chaos, these words have new meaning for me. Next Thanksgiving I think I'd rather go work at a food kitchen or pantry, and help people who actually appreciate my efforts.

Next year in Jerusalem.

P.S.: It would have been nice to be able to take a picture of the table before the vultures attacked.


P.P.S.: My dad did apologize to me and I accepted his apology.

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A Joyous Thanksgiving To All

Rockwell Thanksgiving

Wishing all my friends and family, near and far, a peaceful, joyous Thanksgiving. I am thankful to have you in my life.

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How to Cook a Heritage Turkey

Thank goodness I decided to do some research on the web in advance of attempting to cook my first heritage, free-range, organic turkey this Thanksgiving. It turns out they are done cooking at a lower temperature than regular, store-bought and even free-range, organic birds (150-155 degrees versus 165-170 degrees), and they shouldn't be overcooked because they dry out more easily. The sources that I found also say not to cook a heritage turkey in a convection oven for fear of drying the meat out. This tidbit is the one piece of advice I'm probably not going to follow because I love my convection oven. I think they probably say this because a convection oven cooks at a temperature 25 degrees higher than a conventional oven. In other words, if you set both a conventional oven and a convection oven to 325 degrees, the convection oven is really cooking at 350 degrees because of the way it cooks. I've learned to make adjustments, almost always on the cooking time side of things (it's always shorter), though it's easy enough to lower the temperature in a convection oven by 25 degrees if you prefer to adjust that way. And I've always found that cooking in a convection oven helps my roasted chickens and turkeys come out moister and with a much crispier skin.

To assure our heritage turkey is moist, I've decided I'll marinate it for 24 hours before sticking it in the oven and I won't stuff it because the stuffing might not be done at the same time the turkey is. I'll make the stuffing on the side. This is the marinade I'm thinking of using, though I may adjust a bit depending on my mood and taste buds come Wednesday:

Heritage Turkey Marinade

1/4 c. olive oil
2-3 T. minced garlic
2-3 T. minced onion
2 T. minced lemon thyme (from the garden)
3-4 T. minced parsley (from the garden)
Minced zest from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lemon
3-4 T. melted butter, cooled
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste (at least 1 teaspoon)

I plan on rubbing the marinade all over and under the skin and letting it marinate for a good 24 hours wrapped in plastic wrap to help flavor and moisten the turkey meat for our Thanksgiving meal.

I'm going to give myself 5 hours for cooking the turkey since it weighs 25 pounds. I'll tent it with foil in the beginning because I don't want the skin to get too dark. And I'll baste it along the way, about once every hour or so after the first 2 hours.

I can only hope we get a bird that looks this good come Thursday, but I'm certainly going to give it the old college try.

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Seeds of Change

Or should I say Seedlings of Change.

Carrots - I planted 3 varieties in 1 bed of tomatoes.
Plan on planting more at 2 or 3-week intervals.

Mustard greens in a bed of kale.

Closeup of swiss chard I just planted the other day
in the hopes that I can get at least a 2nd planting of them.
We love swiss chard...at least I love swiss chard.

Swiss chard - 2 varieties - Rhubarb and Fordhook Giant

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First Urban Homestead Sale

First urban homestead sale.

Well, there you have it. Our first homestead sale. A fellow urban homesteader friend of mine, Sydney, is in an egg conundrum because she's only getting 1 a day from her 4 hens due to molting and a possum trauma, and trying to feed 4 people with it. But her beehives are currently quite productive. So when she saw me gloating about our egg glut on Facebook, she made the totally fabulous suggestion of us bartering—she'd give me homegrown honey for a dozen of our homegrown eggs. Somehow I think I came out on top. Not only did I get a gorgeous jar of glistening liquid gold, but also some homemade beeswax hand balm and, if I'm not mistaken, a handmade bag for the carrying.

I think this makes it official. We're really an urban homestead.

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Urban Homestead Garden Progress

Our first Sungold tomato of the season.

And here's a closeup.

Our Orient Charm eggplant is chugging along.

These organic seedlings were purchased at Little River Market Garden's first seedling sale in North Miami/Little Haiti.

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Harvest Pumpkin Rolls

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and there are lots of things that can be made ahead to make your day easier. One of them is these pumpkin rolls that I tweaked a bit from a pumpkin challah recipe I found at MyJewishLearning.com.

Pumpkin challah; I divide the same dough into rolls and
call them Harvest Pumpkin Rolls

Harvest Pumpkin Rolls

Ingredients

2 (0.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm water
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
3-3/4 cups unbleached white flour (I substitute 1-3/4 cup white whole wheat flour)
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup pumpkin (or any winter squash) puree (homemade or canned)
1/4 cup canola oil (I think I will try virgin coconut oil for health reasons)
1 egg (+1 egg for wash)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal for sprinkling on baking sheet (optional)

Directions

About 30 minutes before you start, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and, once up to temperature, turn it off.

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in 1 tablespoon honey. Let stand for 10 minutes until frothy.

Mix flour, cinnamon, and cardamom in bowl that fits your stand mixer. Make a well in the center and pour in yeast mixture. With mixer on slow speed, mix just until you reach the soft paste stage. (Don't try to completely incorporate—there should be quite a bit of dry flour left at this point.) Cover bowl with a towel and leave until frothy and risen, about 20 minutes.

In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together the honey, pumpkin, oil, egg, and salt. Add to the flour mixture and combine thoroughly on low speed. Mix on next higher speed until dough comes together. If it looks too wet, add flour in small amounts.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and hand knead until smooth and pliable. It shouldn't take but a minute or two. Let dough rest 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in it, turning to make sure all surfaces are covered lightly with oil. Cover bowl with a towel and place in oven (or other warm, draft-free place). Let dough rise until it has tripled in size, 1-2 hours. Punch down dough, knead it a bit more, and cut it into 16-20 equal pieces. Shape the rolls into balls.

Place rolls on a parchment lined baking sheet and then into the freezer until frozen (at least 4 hours, but overnight is fine). Place frozen rolls in large freezer bag, storing in freezer until about 2 hours before you want to bake them. Place them on a parchment-lined (or cornmeal-dusted) baking sheet and let them thaw and rise until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Glaze risen rolls with the extra beaten egg. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

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Do You Know Where Your Thanksgiving Turkey Came From?

Bourbon Red Turkeys

I ordered our turkey for this Thanksgiving last March. I'm serious. I really did. I ordered it from the same place we get our grassfed beef, 4 Arrows Ranch, in Citra, Florida, the closest ranch I've been able to find that provides free-range, organically-managed, heritage breed turkeys. And I can't wait to pick them up (we're getting 2; one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas) next week. Lee, from 4 Arrows emailed me about a month ago to let me know that they would each weigh in excess of 25 pounds. I was flabbergasted. I had to order a new turkey roaster to be sure I had a pan big enough to handle them.

Where are you getting your Thanksgiving turkey this year? Were you able to find a local bird? Did you raise your own? How will you cook it?

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Chicken Wars

"Their pee is poisonous like a cat's," he said. "It is?" I responded wide-eyed, quickly snapping my fallen lower jaw back into place.  "Yes," he said matter of factly.  "Chicken pee is poisonous. It will kill everything it touches." I gently offered, "I'm thinking that chicken pee isn't poisonous. Nothing has died in my yard other than the bugs or weeds they've eaten." I didn't mention that cat pee isn't poisonous either, just smelly. In the spirit of neighborliness, I thought it best to leave that one alone. "And," he asked with a demanding undertone, "What are you doing about the chicken poop?" "What do you mean what am I doing about the chicken poop? I'm cleaning out the coop once a week and putting all the poop in the composter to use as fertilizer in the garden." I was trying hard not to get defensive. If I didn't have this conversation with him, my neighbor was going to go chicken crazy and call the City on me. I had to be diplomatic. "Don't talk down to him and don't get sarcastic, Ara," I kept silently repeating in my head. "Be nice."

I knew I had to take control of the discussion. "Did you know that chickens on average lay an egg every 26 hours?" He shook his head, "No." "Did you know that chickens not only provide eggs, but also compost for the garden, eat kitchen scraps, and de-bug your yard? Their eggs have less cholesterol and are healthier than the eggs in the grocery store. They even look different—their yolks, I mean. They're bright orange and they taste so much better than store-bought eggs." Inundate him with chicken facts. It will take him a while to process them. "Don't they bring mice and rats?" he asked. "No," I answered calmly. "If anything, they would eat the mice and rats. Have you noticed any in your yard lately?" I could see sanity returning to his face as it relaxed. In one last-ditch flailing attempt he announced, "They wake me up at night." With a look of surprise on my face, "They do? I can't imagine that because I don't have any roosters. Roosters are the ones that wake up in the middle of the night crowing. My girls sleep through the night from sundown to sunup. If there's a chicken waking you up at night, it has to be in someone else's yard."

He was silent, digesting all the chicken facts I threw at him. I thought, "I've won this battle." "Hold on a second," I said. "Stay right there." I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a dozen eggs out of the fridge, and ran back out to hand them to him. "Try these," I said with a big smile. "Let me know how you like them." "Wow," he said, not being able to keep the corners of his mouth from curling. "Fried egg sandwiches are my favorite." Chicken war won.

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Content Exhaustion

It's amazing how priorities change when planting season arrives. Cooking dinner hasn't seemed quite as important to me of late as soil, composted manure, tomato cages, watering, and companion planting. Last night, grilled cheese sandwiches with chicken vegetable soup were the special of the day. Thank goodness I had the soup in the freezer. And I have to admit, they were much better than the takeout we got the night before. Watching TV, even the news, is non-existent during the day, and the few shows I've tried to watch in the evenings end up becoming background noise in my dreams because I fall asleep within minutes of settling down on the couch to watch them.

We've been working hard in the garden trying to get things planted as quickly as possible. The front yard is just about done, complete with 57 organic heirloom tomatoes from seedling sales at The Little River Market Garden in Little Haiti and Bee Heaven Farm in the Redlands, 7 organic heirloom eggplants from the same seedling sales, Bibb lettuce, chives, banana peppers, ancho chili peppers, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, Cubanelle peppers, kale, swiss chard, mustard greens, carrots, celery, a few onions, and assorted herbs. We also picked up some Seminole pumpkins from the seedling sale at Fairchild Tropical Gardens, but they need space to grow, so will have to wait, dutifully watered, till the backyard garden is ready for them.

Speaking of the backyard garden, at least we don't have to weed the beds. The chickens have taken on that duty this year. They've done a masterful job of aerating, fertilizing, and preparing them for us. The goal for this weekend is to figure out how we're going to keep them out of the beds once they're planted. I think we've settled on fence posts topped with metal cones so they can't use them as a landing point and the tallest chicken wire we can find. It seems the most economical way to go about it. I just hope it proves to be successful.

While my 47-year-old bones are weary and my muscles ache from lugging around 25-pound bags of soil, the weariness and aches are comforting. It's a content exhaustion.

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My Edible Yard Urban Homestead Update in Pictures

Rainbow Chard in containers

A view from the front

Garden view from the grape arbor

My 'maters are growing!

As if the day couldn't get better, first eggs for Leisl (White Rock) and
Scout (Easter Egger), and our first day to ever get 6 eggs. Yowzer wowees!

More soon. Working like crazy in the garden.

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Free Webinar on Chicken Diseases on 11/5/2010

There will be a FREE webinar tomorrow at noon EST called "The Word On Health Birds" featuring Andy Schneider aka The Chicken Whisperer, and Dr. Martin Smeltzer, USDA poultry veterinarian.

Learn:

• What the biggest threats are to keeping your birds healthy.

• How to keep your flock safe from predators and disease.

• What the signs are of infectious diseases.

• What resources are available to help you.

Whether you’re just getting started or are an experienced hand at raising poultry you’ll find lots of good information ... and it’s free!

Here's the link to register for the Webinar:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/birdbiosecurity/WordOnBirdsWebinar.pdf

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Lilith's First Egg

Well, I knew my White Rocks were getting close to laying because their crops and wattles were bright red and within the last 3 to 4 days they started squatting when the wind blew. Then there was the fact that Lilith kept going into the coop on Sunday to check out the nests, sitting down and talking to herself as if to say, "This is what I've got to do and this is where I've got to do it." And the results?



Lilith's first egg (11-01-2010). It's the white one flanked by
brown eggs from the Australorps and Buff Orpingtons.

 Practice makes perfect! She was so cute and very, very proud, announcing her first delivery with her own unique tune. Leisl's next in line.

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Backyard Chickens on the Urban Homestead

Leisl (back), Loretta (front); White Rocks

Scout, Easter Egger

Leisl, White Rock (notice the bright red crop and wattle)

Loretta, the baby of the White Rocks

Ida, Cuckoo Maran with Lilith (White Rock) and Rumer (Easter Egger)
grabbing a quick sip of water

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