Home Life

Lately my husband and I have been considering raising rabbits as a meat source for our family.  Having had rabbits for 11 years as pets, it’s been tough to get past the thought of eating our rabbits.  If any of you have or currently raise rabbit for food, how did you handle this?  I’m depending on my husband to do all of the butchering at first, but eventually I will have to learn how to do it, I’m sure.

Anyway, from my research I’m finding rabbits are a pretty healthy meat.  Decent in protein, low in fat/calories and cholesterol and best of all it tastes a lot like chicken (bonus for us, we love chicken but hate buying it at the store with the injected fluids!)  Depending upon the breed of rabbit (most common are the New Zealand or Californian) you can get about 8-12lb of meat per rabbit.  Apparently, it is more expensive for the backyard breeder to raise their own rabbits for meat per pound than buying it from the store, but I have no idea what store around us even carries rabbit.  Does anyone know?

I like the idea of raising our own meat as we know how it was cared for, what it was fed, and how it was processed.  No injected fluids or gasses here!  Though i’m learning you really have to watch who you talk to about this because apparently the idea of rabbits being used for meat is quite offensive to some people (sorry!)  Rabbit raising is something you can do on a small scale just about anywhere (we’re considering it for our apartment, raising the rabbits outside near our porch in a couple of hutches).  In most places, if not all, rabbit is not considered livestock and so even in the city you can raise rabbit and add another form of self sufficiency to your life.

And there are a ton of recipes out there for rabbit that seem delicious.  Care to share your own?

A household notebook can be a great way to keep you organized.  A household notebook is a central location for phone numbers, calendars, business cards, to-do lists, chore lists, inspiration/motivation, cleaning lists, schedules, odds and ends, shopping lists, plans, and much more.  This isn’t the typical binder you’d buy in a store!  This is something every “keeper of the home” must create and personalize according to her family

Check out this fantastic link for a full “course” in creating a household notebook, plus a tour through her own.  On the left column you’ll find a long list of others who have created household notebooks and have them displayed on their website.  Excellent inspiration and ideas for creating your own!!

I was reminded of a fun memory I had as a child.  My parents had a crab apple tree in the backyard and each year we would end up with a bunch of apples on the ground.  My dad would always pick the apples up before mowing the lawn.  As a special incentive, he called my friends and I over and offered a penny for each apple we picked up.  We grabbed big coffee cans and set out to collect as many apples as we could.  That yard was cleared of apples in no time!

Maybe this idea can be applied to your backyard, garden, orchard or anywhere else you have fruits or veggies that have to be picked up (either ripe on the vine or rotting on the ground…)

Holidays are approaching!  Something home made, from the heart, can make for a very special gift for loved ones.  You can create thoughtful, useful, and memorable gifts usually for much less than what you’d pay for something in the store, too.  This can help keep your holiday spending budget under control.  Also, keep in mind that the holidays are not the only time you can make homemade gifts!  Birthdays and anniversaries count, too!

If you do a search online, you’ll come up with a TON of home made gift ideas.  Here are a few to get you started:

• Kitchen accessories for the ladies in your life.  Tube-shaped grocery bag holders, placemats, silverwear holders, cute dish towel racks, etc.
• Home-canned jams, jellies, preserves, salsa
• Create a “homecare” basket with home-made cleaning solutions, soaps, detergent and write up a booklet full of other cleaning recipes and nontoxic cleaning ideas.
• Sew clothing or accessories (bags, purses, decorate belts, etc.)
• Home-made household notebooks, pregnancy journals, “baby’s first year” or “school year” scrapbooks for the young and school aged children (made for their parents to write in, of course).  Many free forms and templates are available online, or you can create your own.
• For the kids: bake up some home-made dough threading items, big beads for threading, puzzles and geometric shapes.  Create a felt board or a flannel board (view my personal blog to see how I did it) complete with a set of felt or flannel board peices.  Sew up cloth diapers for a new baby in your life.  Dollhouses, dollhouse accessories, wooden trucks and a toolset (created out of tools you no longer need) can make nice age-appropriete gifts, also. 
• Mason jar mixes: dry cookie and soup mixes make for nice, easy gifts.

Make a list of the people you need to shop for.  Then list their interests, wants or needs.  Then search for gifts you think they’d enjoy!

What have you done, or plan to do?

My first canning adventure is complete!  I’ve been waiting all year to do this.  My garden didn’t yield enough tomatoes for me to can all of my own however the local orchard down the road has plenty so I went to buy a bunch from them (and you know I like to buy local!).  I also bought a bushel of apples – can you guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow?  Yep – applesauce and pie filling will be canned tomorrow, a few pies will be made up and frozen, and apple slices will be dried into apple chips!  I’ll likely have to run up to grab another one.

I have a few “first time” tips I wanted to share with anyone who hasn’t yet done their canning…. For you pros, this probably seems like second nature J  The following tips are things I wish I had thought of or read before doing this - the adventure took from mid-morning to mid-afternoon!

Read your instructions carefully.  For your pressure canner (or water bath canner) AND for your recipe.  You WILL spend a LOT of time the first few times you can following the instructions.  If you have a new pressure canner, there will be a few things you’ll need to do to it before your first use, so I can’t stress reading instructions thoroughly enough the first time.

Prepare what you’ll need for canning the night before.  Get your canner, pots and pans, lids and bands, jars, cooking utensils, kitchen machines (food processors, food mills, etc.), towels (a few!), your recipes, ruler, instruction manual for your canner, knives, cutting boards, etc, etc. together and ready to go. 

Get your sink clear, clean and shiny, and as much counter and table space as possible.  You may want one place to do your cutting/veggie and fruit prep, and another place to pack your jars.  Keep your jar packing spot close to your canner because your packed jars will be hot!

Study your recipes to see if any of them can be canned together.  If you’re lucky (and aren’t going to be filling the canner at once with one item), you can combine some recipes if they call for the same cook time and pressure. 

If necessary, make a “to do” list so you can keep track of all of your time limits.  For example, your jars, lids and bands will likely need to be warmed or sterilized in hot/boiling  water for about 10 minutes before you fill them.  Your recipes will most likely have cook times you’ll need to meet before you pack them.  Your canner will need to have boiling water in it and be ready to accept jars. You don’t want your packed jars to cool before canning, so it’s important to have your canner waiting with hot water to keep your packed jars hot while you pack the rest.

Don’t forget your citric acid if your recipe calls for it.  I almost did on 4 of my quarts and a pint before I caught my mistake and put it in. 

And yes – canning with small children around IS possible.  J  I was quite worried that the kids would be into everything (remember, we have 3 kids under 3.5 years and my youngest is almost 4 weeks old).  Then again, I was only canning one item today (tomato sauce).  Maybe that’s the way to go.  Do one thing at a time if possible!

Anyone want to add in some helpful tips for first time and/or novice canners??

Do you have kids and want to find neat activities for them to do, for free?

Look no further than the internet.  Doing a search for “free printables” or “(specific topic) printables” will yeild an overwhelming result.  You can find free ideas, activities, worksheets, printable games, puzzles, and coloring sheets ’till your heart is content.

We just began homeschooling my oldest in her preschool year and we plan to homeschool all of our children through the school years.  The internet is a main resource for our schooling, to find relevant material to help her learn while having fun.

You can also find great printables in the Yahoo!Groups geared specifically for the sharing of free printables and great learning activities.