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Home n' Stead RSS Feedhttp://www.home-n-stead.com/index.htmlGet notified of new posts!enlundfam@jamadots.comCopyright 2006-2012 The Lund Family2014-10-13T18:57:04-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:56:46 -0500Simple, Authentic Tomato Saucelundfam@jamadots.comHome2014-10-13T18:57:04-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/ede8d575b8d897aeb2414f015d036692-52.html#unique-entry-id-52http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/ede8d575b8d897aeb2414f015d036692-52.html#unique-entry-id-52
Well, I think I've finally got something so close that it can be called "homemade Stuc's," and the best part about it is it's also the easiest of all the methods that I've tried to date. This is a simple, extremely flexible way to preserve tomatoes that will fit into anyone's busy fall schedules. Put the tomatoes aside until you're ready to process them, without losing any of the "fresh-picked" flavor and goodness. This sauce has a perky, sweet salty flavor that is reminiscent of fruit leather with a hint of cherry.

Step 1: Get a clean bucket with a tight fitting lid, some "Real" salt, or pickling salt, and the freshest, ripest, highest quality tomatoes you can find. Wash, trim and slice the tomatoes in ½ and put in the bucket, sprinkling a handful of salt for every gallon of tomatoes. Cover tightly and set aside for at least 4 days, and up to a few weeks. If you need a longer storage time, they can last several months, even up to a year, in a cool temp, but the resulting sauce won't be quite as fresh tasting. You can add tomatoes to the bucket as they come in, but don't forget to add extra salt as well.

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Step 2: When ready to process, strain off the liquid. Bottle the liquid and use it in soups or drink it. Stack tomatoes on a broiler pan, with slats for drainage and a pan underneath to catch the liquid. Bake at 200F for 4-½-5 hrs. Carefully remove from the oven and pour liquid into a bowl, again, reserving for future use in soups. Blend pulp, seeds, skin and all in a Vita-Mix or Champ and there you have it, delicious tomato paste!! Alternatively, you could process through a food mill.

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At this point, you can either:

-Freeze it in freezer bags or plastic containers.
-Ferment it according to Weston-Price type recipes, i.e., adding a few tablespoons of whey per quart, and this could be done while processing if you choose this option, then leave at room temp for a few days before putting into storage.
-Refrigerate and use within a couple of weeks.
-Process according to traditional canning recipes.

OR

EDIT: This method will require you to reduce the liquid enough that the sauce doesn't ferment in storage. Aim for a 20% total reduction in liquid, i.e., 5 gallons of whole tomatoes becomes 1 gallon of sauce. You get a greater reduction by increasing the fermenting time to at least 2 weeks and by longer baking.

The larger jars in the above batch showed signs of fermentation after 4 days, with a clear liquid settling out in the bottom of the jars, and the tops bulging through the olive oil. If this wasn't checked, a thick cheese-like plug would have formed on top, and the bottom would have become fermented, still good but not as tasty and sweet. It can be remediated by adding sweetener and combining with a more flavorful sauce, but it's not ideal and should be avoided. The good news is that if it does start to ferment, you can quickly salvage by straining the sauce through a cheesecloth, hanging for an hour or so until clear liquid stops dripping steadily, and then spreading pulp on a stainless steel sheet and baking slowly at 180-200 for an hour or more. (You may save yourself some hassle by doing this before attempting to store.) Also, the smaller the jars the less likely you'll have a problem. Check to see that the olive oil is undisturbed on top of the jars every few days for the first couple of weeks of storage.

This is a bit saltier than most sauces, so you may want to reduce salt in recipes when using the sauce.

For pizza sauce, I added freshly grated garlic, Spanish thyme and Fennel and used immediately.

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Here's lunch, a piece of leftover pizza with a freshly picked garden salad, made with savoy cabbage, red cabbage, arugula, daikon radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and topped with homemade French dressing. Mmm, smells like Stuc's, Mom!! :-)]]>EM Rinse Hair Colorlundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-10-30T15:04:25-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/3c4c6bcf3df67e1a010a78928c067a7a-51.html#unique-entry-id-51http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/3c4c6bcf3df67e1a010a78928c067a7a-51.html#unique-entry-id-51 P1010718

Look at what EM's have done for my hair!!

The photo on the left was taken in March of this year, when I started to notice a richer color in my hair as a result of using our Luv'n Life Soap and drinking polypore tea. I may have also used EM with polypore as a rinse at this time.. not sure exactly about the timing of that. Anyway, I've noticed a slow increase in color over the months, and then decided to try my Black Walnut Hull EM as a rinse... wow!! Not only did the color of my hair return almost to the color of my youth, but it's nearly as soft as it once was!! I want my dh to try it, but he thinks he's earned his silver and is not sure he wants to relinquish it. Note, the picture was taken after using the rinse 4 times over the course of 5 days, but the color pretty much changed with the first rinse.

Just for comparison's sake, I've looked into using henna as a natural hair dye and it imparts a much deeper red than this, unless it's combined with other herbs, in which case it goes darker. You have to mix the henna the night before using, than leave it on for several hours, taking extreme care not to stain skin, sink, floor, etc., and rinsing it out sounds like an ordeal. In contrast, I simply poured about ½ cup of my Black Walnut EM on my wet, just shampooed hair as a rinse, quickly rinsing it out... no mess, no fuss, no staining, no waiting... voila!! An added bonus is that this makes the best conditioner I've ever used!!

If you want to try this yourself (I'm not guaranteeing anything, this is extremely experimental!!, but please share your results if you do!!), I have instructions for the way I brew EM's here, and then I simply fill a bucket with black walnuts and either cover them with AEM (activated EM's), or brew the EM's on the black walnuts by adding molasses, EM starter and possibly some wheat bran, good salt and whatever other herbs/clays/minerals catch my fancy at the moment). A similar method could work with polypore mushrooms or any of the herbs that are typically used for dyes, and might work with kombucha as well as EM... experiment at your own risk, but please share!! (You might want to test possible brews with hair clippings first.)

]]>Goumi Berrieslundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-10-17T15:15:02-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/d96e47e28e145092e249e627467ed365-50.html#unique-entry-id-50http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/d96e47e28e145092e249e627467ed365-50.html#unique-entry-id-50

While they produced a few berries last year, which my then 9 yr old son proclaimed to be delicious, this is the first year of true bounty. The fun part about these berries is that they're ripening when everything else is dying off, and for those of us who like to snack while we garden, that's extremely important. Some of us enjoy big handfuls of these whenever we pass by (others wrinkle their noses at their tartness/astringency, which they say goes away when they're fully ripe). Perhaps ours aren't fully there yet, but we're enjoying them anyway, as are the birds, which seem particularly plentiful this year.

No one has to tell me that these have special nutrients that my body is craving, as I can sense the antioxidants and essential fatty acids, especially when blended into the creamiest ever kefir yogurt. There must be some polysaccharides in these babies, as something is turning this kefir into a smooth, delicious treat. Mixed with a handful of frozen strawberries, a scoop of honey and a tsp of konjac (not really necessary, as the goumi berries thicken this up nicely), this is the tastiest yogurt ever, and quite possibly the prettiest (ok, it's a little rustic in that there are some small fibers from the seeds, the pickier amongst us will sieve this before serving, but I like a little extra fiber).

So there you have it, an inexpensive, easy to grow, beautiful, life giving and productive bush to grace the homestead! bushesberries01

]]>Brewing Polypore "Root Beer"lundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-03-29T18:56:26-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/1b8787c594b3b9485aa98a704d17bd75-48.html#unique-entry-id-48http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/1b8787c594b3b9485aa98a704d17bd75-48.html#unique-entry-id-48
Now, when the sun is shining, the last thing I feel like doing is drinking hot tea. It's now time for sparkling, throat tickling SODA! But I still love my shrooms and they still love me, and the awesome thing is that we have discovered a wonderful way to enjoy each other in intimacy, while keeping it cool. Sorry, sun's getting to me. :-)

OK, couldn't be more simple. I have a stockpot full of polypores that I brew continuously, taking from as needed. Every couple of days, I strain out a gallon and add it to approximately and on the generous side of 1/4 c. molasses and 3/4 c. honey with a tsp of ginger powder. I leave some air space as shown in the jar on the right, and brew until it's starting to look fizzy as shown on the left, unless I get impatient and drink some early. I never measure such things as molasses and honey because they're a terrible mess to put into measuring cups and you really can't go wrong. Adjust it as you go along, it's very forgiving and will comply to your wishes. Sometimes I add a little of a previous batch to the next batch… seems like it might help speed things up. Takes about 4-5 days to start to get fizzy. That's why I always keep another jar in the queue. Don't tell your family about it or you'll have to make bucketsful. ;-) Plastic lids are nice because they allow fizz to build up without exploding… don't try this with a tight fitting lid and definitely keep a very close eye on it.

Check out my Homemade Soda Recipes article for more soda ideas.

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]]>Sourdough Bread in a Clay Bakerlundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-03-26T21:23:06-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/10221a1d2620e274ac89bbb9baa20862-47.html#unique-entry-id-47http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/10221a1d2620e274ac89bbb9baa20862-47.html#unique-entry-id-47
To get right to the point, it's all in the cooking utensil, a clay baker. You might not appreciate at first glance just what a difference this will make, but there are several reasons why this is really what makes or breaks this process. First, clay makes everything taste better. You wouldn't think it is so if you haven't experienced cooking outside of your electric oven, but if you've ever had bread cooked in a wood stove, you know there's a big difference. Even the smell of the bread is noticeably better. But, a wood stove isn't the ultimate… a clay oven is. We made one of those one summer, and baked the most incredible breads and pizza in it, but simple it was not. It took 2 hours of constantly stoking a hot fire, and then carefully cleaning out all the charcoal and hot coals, before a person could bake. So, a romertopf clay baker simplifies things a lot, while giving a very authentic clay baked flavor and texture.

The other thing that makes the baker so simple is that you don't have to bother with a second rise. I set the bread dough up at night, and sometime mid-morning the next day, I grease my romertopf (just the bottom), roll the dough a bit and shape into a loaf, and flip it into the romertopf. I then slit the top several times with a knife, cover it, put the pan in the oven and jack the temp up to as high as it will go, 500 or so F. That's another thing that I learned when cooking in the outdoor clay oven… super hot temps make the bread puff up the best and give the nicest crusts.

You are not supposed to put a cold clay baker into a hot oven, so I don't turn the oven on until the baker is in the oven. Also, you should soak the baker in water for 10 mins prior to us if you haven't used it in a few days or more. I almost never bother with that step since I use mine so frequently. I figure it doesn't have a chance to fully dry out.

If my oven is already hot because of something else cooking in there previously and I don't want to cool it down, I just set the baker with the bread in it on the back of the oven to warm up a bit before putting it in the oven.

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So, once the bread's in the oven, the only thing you have to do is wait until you smell it getting done. I often turn it down to 325-375 after 20 mins or so of baking, but I almost just as often forget to do that and it really won't affect the end results. It's very hard to ruin anything cooking in a clay baker. On average, a big loaf will take approximately 1-1/2 hours. I leave the lid on the whole time, and I often leave it in the oven with the lid on to cool down. This will keep the crust soft. For a crunchier crust, take it out when it's hot.

So, is that the simplest way of making sourdough bread you've heard of yet? I can guarantee you that it's the tastiest as well… this bread doesn't hang around here for long, but, if ever I have leftover crumbs, they find their way into cheesecake crust, meat loaf, croutons or stuffing… nothing goes to waste!

Oh, and if you're put off by the price, these are something that will come up for the thrifty. They're often at rummage sales or thrift stores, or can be found on craig's list or even e-bay. Mine both came from thrift stores for about $4 each. The best part for me is that I can make clay pottery from my own soil, and that's what I hope to do this summer. We've made test pottery and it works quite well. I figure I'll have one step ahead if I already know how to cook in it. BTW, if you want to check these out on Amazon, here's the link

… there are various sizes.

And one other note for the thrifty, yes, these do break, as mine did, only because I was doing something stupid, making gravy in the bottom at too high a temp over a burner. The good news was that I simply turn the pot upside down and was able to use it with the broken side as the lid, fitting together the 2, and eventually 3 and finally 4 pieces. When it got to 4 pieces, my ingenious son had mercy on me and followed this pretty simple method of stapling it together, which actually works quite nicely.

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I should also add that I never cook meat in anything but clay since discovering this. Besides the romertopf, I also use lead free clay pot liners for cooking small amounts of meat for, say, a stir fry, right on the burner at a low temp, with another clay pot liner to cover. These are cheap and rarely break if temps are moderate to low flame on a gas range. The meat stays juicy and is very hard to ruin.. the longer you cook it, the more tender it gets. A friend checked out the Deroma brand about 4 years ago and they said it was lead free, no glaze.. just terra cotta.

With the clay bakers, even tough old roosters get tender, and every roast seems to be the best I ever made. Honestly, my cooking has gone from great to fabulous with my roaster, if I do say so myself. :-)

PS I just found this cool site that has more info about clay pots, with different types of pots for sale.

And if you're looking for a basic sourdough recipe, care of starters, and other starter ideas check out my web page.]]>EM fermented chicken pooplundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-03-17T19:28:48-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/f003dff339e99e1f73af4992edadead9-45.html#unique-entry-id-45http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/f003dff339e99e1f73af4992edadead9-45.html#unique-entry-id-45There were experiments showing that this was successful in recycling chicken poop into feed for pigs! So I just thought I'd do this with the coop cleanings one season and here's what happened:

We had a barrel of chicken coop doo, hay mixed with manure, and poured EM's and a little molasses every 10 gallons or so. Then I covered it with a black plastic bag and bungee cord and put it down by the garden to let it ferment until the next season. Well, the bag shredded from the weather and it ended up getting rainwater in and lots of air and it stunk to high heaven so I thought that it would be too disgusting to put on the garden and just dumped the liquid part out on the lawn. It was amazing how the grass grew ten times longer and bright green in that area compared to duller and short all around it. The even more amazing thing was when our cow was near there she immediately found the spot and ate every last blade of that grass with relish. ]]>EM's Proven for Radiation Protection/Remediationlundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-03-16T19:34:49-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/35e4a05b727901ec5854642646487a31-44.html#unique-entry-id-44http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/35e4a05b727901ec5854642646487a31-44.html#unique-entry-id-44
Here's a quote from this amazing article:
In addition, there is a group of farmers in Fukushima Prefecture a little further from ground zero who have had their produce tested for radiation. Again, the results are remarkable:
In the area of Date city of Fukushima prefecture, there are many farmers who have used EM well over 15 years. Mr. Makuta Takehiro has organized about 50 EM farmers under a supply chain management called “Agri-SCM”. The recent Tsunami and earthquake has forced approximately 10 farmers out of farming, leaving only 40 farmers in the group.
In order to prevent unfounded conjecture, Mr. Makuta took the harvested crops and vegetables of “Agri-SCM” farmers to Isotope Research for radiation measurement, all of which results showed “not-detected”. According to Mr. Makuta, some farm products from low contamination areas have shown high concentration above the allowable level when EM application has not been made. All EM applied farm products from Kohriyama and Fukushima cities have proved “not-detected” level of radiation, which seems to indicate that EM farming can solve radiation problems.

Also, for those looking for more info on EM's, this is an informative article.
]]>EM's for the Garden, Russian stylelundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-02-24T15:21:05-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/b8ca5befb47bfa5d3f624d7935661721-43.html#unique-entry-id-43http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/b8ca5befb47bfa5d3f624d7935661721-43.html#unique-entry-id-43
In Russia, the term "EM's" has come into common use to describe homemade brews made to enhance soil fertility. A recipe for such a brew is offered in the book "Growing Vegetables with a Smile:"

50 gal water
lb of any compound fertilizer containing trace elements or, even better, 1/2 gl of dried bird droppings
1/2 bucket of compost
1/2 bucket of rotted straw
Fresh grass and leaves, if desired
1 c ashes or lime
2 lb of sugar
2 buckets of rotting fruit (or some 2 qts of old preserves)
Pinch of any kind of yeast
Ready in about a week (yeast is multiplied but not yet died out). At this point, a liter of curdled milk can be added for extra lactic acid. The resulting concoction is full of nutrients, microbes and stimulators. Watering with this brew invigorates plants and has a long lasting effect.

Want an easier and just as effective method?

1/2 c. of sugar or a c. of old preserves
3 qt water
pinch of baker's yeast

3-4 days, brew is flourishing. One c. of brew to bucket of water, once a week on seedlings and transplants and twice a month on adult plants. In a test, young plants developed nearly 2 times faster than those treated with EM and other store-bought stimulators.

"In general, the more beneficial ingredients are combined, the better. Mix together greens, comp;oat, half a dose of a chelate fertilizer, some form of sugar, lactic acid bacteria, and yeast, and you will get an effective and unequivocally harmless infusion. You could even call it the "drink of the gods" - nectar and ambrosia for plants. But even such "Herbalife" works only when it can penetrate the soil under stable moisture conditions. Otherwise, the microbes will die."

I will add my 2 cents to this method, and suggest that a person may want to consider adding some mycorrhizal fungi to the brew. Mycorrhizal fungi are mushroom species which enhance the growth of plants by helping to deliver nutrients and water to their roots. Fungi, like other beneficial bacteria, get destroyed by any invasive or abrupt action on the soil, such as tilling, chemical fertilizers, flooding, and leaving soil bare.

The spores are present on all parts of a mushroom, and multiply when cultured on sweet, just like yeasts do, so adding pieces of mushrooms or spore powder to your brews will help your gardens grow, and if you want to take the care to learn your mushrooms, you can do this with species that are also edible and enjoy extra fruit from your garden's fertilizer.

You can read more about mycorrhizal fungi and even purchase some spores to add to your brews here.

I will discuss the mycorrzial mushrooms that we cultivate in our garden area in a future post.

Think SPRING! :-)]]>EM Probiotic Article Updatedlundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-02-02T20:40:47-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/EM%20Probiotics.html#unique-entry-id-42http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/EM%20Probiotics.html#unique-entry-id-42If you aren't yet using EM Probiotics on your homestead, you may be missing one of the simplest, most inexpensive and most empowering gifts from Nature. Take a look!]]>Polypore Mushroomslundfam@jamadots.comHome2013-01-27T13:20:19-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/fe9a7b61ff8c26475aa18ca181f0da6a-41.html#unique-entry-id-41http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/fe9a7b61ff8c26475aa18ca181f0da6a-41.html#unique-entry-id-41Restarting the Home 'n Stead Blog! (and FORUM!!)

The purpose of this blog is to share some of our most exciting, freeing discoveries within the natural world. I'm going to start with this one, because this is such a great example of how something can come along out of "nowhere" that is so mind-blowingly awesome! Just when you thought you had a pretty good idea of what existed in your backyard, who could've imagined that there lies hidden a delicious, even superior tasting FREE coffee substitute that is alkalinizing rather than acidifying, and is THE superfood of the year, or maybe the era, or maybe of all of history! Why isn't EVERYONE talking about this? A FREE, simple to use, DELICIOUS, life giving COFFEE SUBSTITUTE that has many potentially LIFE-SAVING uses and might be right in your own back yard, or down the road from you, hanging on old or dying trees?

POLYPORE MUSHROOMS…
Survival Kits Growing on Trees

Tripping Over Mushrooms

Not like you might be thinking, but only in the sense that we had bags and boxes full in our hallway after discovering these beyond amazing gifts, and how much fun it was to hunt for them. When I set out to find me an "elusive chaga" this summer, I had no idea that I was about to embark on one of the most exciting and fulfilling treks of my life.

I had learned that chaga was an epic anti-oxidant, and was anti-cancer, ant-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic and even anti-fungal. It is adaptogenic, which means that it stimulates the immune system only specifically where this stimulation is needed, so doesn't cause the strong reactions that other immune boosters can cause in some people. I expected to find something that I might just be able to tolerate, that would be "good for me." What I didn't expect was to learn that not only chaga, but virtually all the other tree growing polypores (gill less mushrooms) can be made into health giving, delicious teas BESIDES having a variety of other life-saving uses.

Some Basic Mushroom Lingo

First, a quick primer on mushroom lingo. A polypore mushroom is a mushroom that doesn't have gills… when you look at it from the bottom side, it appears smooth at first, and, on closer inspection, tiny little tubular pores are noticed. It's very important to positively identify your mushrooms! You might as well learn right up front that there are a lot of different common names for particular polypores, and some sources will call one mushroom a certain name and another will call a different mushroom that name. For instance, chaga is sometimes called the tinder conk, but then some sources are referring to the hoof conk when they say "tinder conk." And then there's the "false tinder conk," which sometimes refers to the aspen conk and other times to the hoof conk (which is sometimes called the birch polypore). You get the idea… mycology is a work in progress. Once you get your positive identifications, then you can play with your pet names any way you like. We decided that the aspen conks looked like "wampagoodusses" and the word was just so much fun that it stuck. (At the bottom of this article, I list the latin names along with the common names for reference.)

Chaga is actually different than the other polypores in that it is actually not the fruit body that is consumed, but rather the sclerotium, similar to what would be an underground root, only this one grows on trees. A chaga looks like a burl, or a burnt mass, usually 10-15 ft. up on the tree. It needs to be removed with a hatchet, and the surface that meets the tree is golden and can be easily ground. Both the black and the golden parts have health-giving properties.

Some Uses of Chaga and Other Polypore Mushrooms

Tea

A fantastic tasting coffee/tea substitute… it's not even fair to call it a substitute, since I think that black tea and coffee must have been a substitute for chaga/polypore tea… mushroom tea is far superior, to my taste, and it is highly alkaline. It feels wonderful in my stomach, and I can drink it all day. It greatly compliments cheesecake or a piece of chocolate. It warms my insides on a chilly day, and makes me feel like I'm really getting something worthwhile, almost like I could easily survive on this tea if I had to. And no, this tea doesn't have the slightest bit of "mushroom-y-ness," as one might expect. Chaga by itself is not bitter, and actually has a vanillin/chocolate/coffee-esque flavor of its own. The other polypores have more flavor, and more bitterness, and some do have a hint of mushroomy-ness. Some of us prefer the bitter polypores combined with the chaga and others prefer their chaga tea plain. Some like their tea with honey and cream, and some enjoy a bit of peppermint or cinnamon added.

Collecting Mushrooms is

a Family Effort Enjoyed by All Ages!!
That's a red-banded polypore and we're bound and determined to bring it home!

Below are sone fall gatherings…
turkey tails, both kinds of birch polypores (we call the one on the back of the tree the hoof conk) and a reishi (varnish conk). Turkey Tails in Fall

My mushroom tea mixture includes the red banded polypore, turkey tails, varnish conk (reishi), birch polypore, artist's conk, aspen conk, hoof conk, chaga and gilled polypores. These are all commonly found in the western UP, except for the red banded polypores and varnish conks, that favor the old growth forest up in the Porcupine Mountains. You can make a tea out of any or all of these. The turkey tails are the easiest to find, the most abundant and actually have the most documented health benefits.

Brewing

If you're a kombucha lover, or would like to try it, you might try making it with chaga or polypore tea instead of black tea. If you're a home brewer, you may try replacing your hops with a little chaga.. "The Fungal Pharmacy" suggests 2 heaping tablespoons of ground chaga to a five-gallon wort in place of hops. It's also a great idea to add some polypores to just about anything that you're cooking up. For example, I always add some turkey tails to my rice, stews and soups (just remember to take them out before serving, they're a bit chewy), and I love to put a chunk of chaga in my large canning projects, like tomato sauce. Because they inhibit bad bacteria and molds and have been known to speed fermentation, we add them to homemade vinegars and wines. We also add polypores to our EM brews that me make on our farm and for our personal consumption, because the spores will multiply in a culture and have similar, sometimes even better, health benefits as the whole mushroom. You may find, as we do, that these ferments can improve the quality of health in your animals and in your family, and that they can give your gardens some new vitality.

Soaps and Salves

We also use strong teas (called extracts) and ferments in our soap and in salves. We think we've now got the best soap recipe ever, combining EM's with mushrooms, which we will be offering for sale from our shop sometime in the near future. This is the natural hand sanitizer that so many have been searching for, and this one noticeably softens and heals skin.

Supplements for the Homestead - Animals and Gardens

After a few weeks of brewing tea with the combination of mushrooms, I crumble/cut up the remains and add them to my bokashi (a type of silage) that gets fed to the cows. They could be added to homemade dog food, or even people food if desired (chaga powders well and combines in most foods without being noticed). If nothing else, they will make fantastic garden amendments.

Miscellaneous Household Uses

The spent polypore mushrooms can also be used for oil candle wicks (see below), or blended with water and then dried to a paper/felt like material. This pulp could have some potential use in homemade plasters. The polypores can also be pounded into amadous (a leather like cloth), which has uses such as drying flies used in fishing, has been used for making hats and some clothing and can even enhance smoking materials. It burns like a punk, with a nice, incense like fragrance. A friend swears that this smoke has anti-mold properties, so if you have a mold problem, you may want to give it a try. Some Indians used the smoke for sore throats. Polypores are also used to make natural dyes of a variety of colors.

Food

Not just for tea, tree polypores and chagas serve as a tasty and nutritious, easily accessible wild food.. it's best to grind the soft golden inside portion of the chaga with a mortar and pestle (reportedly, to preserve the polysaccharide bonds which are broken when blended with blades), and then add it to raw cookies, cakes, crusts, crumbles or wherever feels good. It has a mild, cocoa like flavor that goes great along with chocolate and nuts. The other polypores can be nibbled on when they're soft, or ground into a powder and added to foods. These are more bitter than the chaga, start slow.

A Wick that Never Burns

Th

e polypore mushrooms can be used as a wick that never burns!! We have done experimenting in the past with burning various fats in homemade oil candles, and the most difficult aspect was creating the perfect wick. Here all along, nature had already created the perfect wick and it was dangling throughout the forest, just waiting to be picked up. The pore surfaces of the polypore mushrooms easily wick up oils as thick as bear fat and lard without ever burning themselves (as long as the oil doesn't get used up). The wick can be as large as desired, creating a corresponding flame size. A small wick doesn't smoke at all, and there's no odor as there was with every other kind of wick that we've tried. A simple burner or candle can be made completely from the woods, with some oil in a carved out rock, or in a carved out mushroom itself. I made a candle from a c lay pot that I made from our own clay and fired in a sawdust pit , filled with a little bear fat and a piece of a hoof conk. These lamps are much safer than kerosene, as they don't burst into flames if spilled… as soon as the wick is tipped it goes out.

Fire Starting

Some polypores and Chagas are commonly known as "tinder conks," due to their superior fire starting and fire keeping potential. Some also create white rot in logs, which is highly flammable and can save the day when a fire needs to get started on a rainy day. The hoof conks were traditionally used as storage containers for taking tinders from one camp to the next.

Medicine Cabinet

Besides being used internally for so many diseases, polypores can also be used as bandages that bind wounds, facilitate quick healing AND provide an antibiotic effect.

Collecting

While the polypores do most of their growing in the spring and summer, you can harvest them any time of the year. It's best, however, to lay them in the sun for a few days, bottom side up, to absorb the Vitamin D.* They actually will do that for you, storing it up and giving it back to you when you drink the tea.

Further Information

If you're as interested in the health benefits of polypores and other mushrooms as I am, you may also love the book "The Fungal Pharmacy." It's incredible how much research throughout the world has proven a myriad of health benefits of mushrooms, and this book is chock full of it! I also love Paul Stamets' "Mycellium Running," which I credit for igniting the mushroom fire in me. Here he is wearing his mushroom hat.

Here is the list of polypores that we've found here in the UP and use regularly:

Chaga -Inonotus obliquus- on birch
Birch Polypore -Piptoporus betulinus- on dead standing or freshly fallen birch
Hoof Fungus -Fomes Fomentarius- found on dead standing or fallen birch
Turkey Tail - Trametes Versicolor - found on fallen logs and stumps, bleached white when old, but with radial shading, coloring is bright when fresh
Artist's Conk - Ganoderma applanatum - found on hardwoods
Red Banded Polypore -Fomitopsis pinicola- on dead hardwoods, conifers, aspen and birch in northern conifer forests, reddish orange band
Aspen Conk - Phellinus tremulae - on large aspen, very anti-fungal!
Gilled Polypore -Lenzites Betulina- found on fallen logs and stumps, not as common as turkey tails, gills or large pore surfaces on the bottom, thin, white, roundish
Reishi/varnish conk - Ganoderma tsugae - found on hemlock

A few interesting links:

Using Mushrooms as a Pet Supplement
Collecting Chaga (many pics)
Primitive Camp Lamp with red-banded polypore
Birch Polypore Fungus as a Razor Strop or Bandaid
Health Benefits of Mushrooms
Chaga for Lyme's Disease
Chaga Recipes
*Drying Mushrooms in the Sun for Vitamin D

You're welcome to join our forum if you'd like to further discuss mushrooms or any other topics related to living in harmony with creation.

]]>Back Online… lost forumlundfam@jamadots.comHome2012-11-12T11:40:44-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/114c7c43f6acbb06d2ff88cf4443b5cb-40.html#unique-entry-id-40http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/114c7c43f6acbb06d2ff88cf4443b5cb-40.html#unique-entry-id-40
So sorry for my prolonged disappearance from the internet… Forumer completely lost our Forum, all data from the past 7 years, gone, so I guess we’ll say good-bye to the old and welcome in the new. It’s fitting, since my birthing out of religious programming over the past couple of years has changed my outlook on things a bit, and I really hated the “preachy tones” that I would sometimes set in my old postings. So, perhaps you’ll notice, if you’ve followed me before, a tad less rigidity and a greater admiration for all human experiences…. we’re all amazing!!

For a quick update, we’re continuing to build up our homestead and to come up with creative ideas which enable us to work with nature, where gifts flow exponentially, in order to promote health and happiness for ourselves, our community and all of creation. My latest fascination is with mushrooms.. edible, medicinal and extremely useful for cleaning up the mess we’ve made of nature. Possibilities are limitless, as it is with all of creation… the idea of scarcity was man-made to keep us in shackles. We’re free and living on an amazingly abundant, bountiful planet!

For folks who are wondering how our house and heating system have held up for 5 years of INTENSE use, here’s a quick update on that:
We’ve not needed to do any maintenance on the structure, inside or out, since a little extra filling in of gaps where logs continued to shrink the first winter. All is holding up well and not showing any signs of erosion. One problem we’ve had this year is the arrival of the deer mouse… a much more formidable adversary than your average mouse. They’ve been a challenge, but right now I’d say we’re holding our own. We also had some bees try to make home in a wall this past summer, but they were quickly outed.. yes, with chemical warfare.. open to suggestions for natural alternatives. No other problems with pests or bugs.

The house continues to keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The rocket stove is our only source of heat, but we do have a lot of bodies and cooking and computers running in here, which keep things warmer. The only time it’s ever on the cool side is when it’s windy and cold outside, and that just means it’s sweater weather in here. Our bedroom can get cool when it’s really windy, especially, since it’s on the northwest wall… wishing I had had the cold room on that wall and the bedroom on the northeast wall. That would have made the cold room cooler and our bedroom warmer by far, but a cool bedroom is a blessing for a peri-menopausal woman. :-)

Our earthen floor hardened with hemp oil has shown little change since the first season of use. We’ve only oiled it once in 5 years, except for the kitchen and entryway, which got a couple of coats. The homemade paints are not very washable, so the main walls have had a couple of fresh coats of paint over the past 5 years.

For those who feared our house was too small for a large, industrious family… you were absolutely right!! What were we thinking??!! That’s easy, actually, we were thinking we need to make the house as small as possible to stay within our budget at the time, and we were absolutely right… we ran out of funds and time and have been trying to climb out of the debt we accrued ever since. I guess that’s a fear that anyone undertaking the leap from a “secure” job to the homestead has, but we keep managing to pay bills and to do what we need to do within the small living space, and no one is the worst for it, so all is well, though, yes, we often discuss plans for an addition.

The flocks and gardens have been very good to us, obviously responding to the love we pour on them. We buy very little outside of our homestead, and every year we boost our percentage of homegrown or wildcrafted food. We still brew our EM’s (efficient microbes) by the barrel and feed them out generously to keep everyone healthy on the farm.

Sometimes I’m surprised to hear that people don’t understand WHY we do what we do, as, to me, it’s self-obvious, but, for the sake of those scratching their heads at why anyone would want all that “extra work” of a homestead, I’ll try to surmise as best I can. In one word, GOODNESS… our first homestead was named “For Goodness Sake Ranch.” That’s because for me, it was all about Goodness, while Bill would say, “For goodness sake, Meg, you went and bought ANOTHER critter!!” Those dynamics haven’t changed much… we continue to celebrate life on the homestead while Bill frets about the growing hay bill, but he will reluctantly admit that we have all always been well provided for. To me, when a person sets out to do goodness, they don’t have to count the nickels to figure out how it will all work out… Goodness repays goodness. There’s that passage in the Bible that has always been my favorite.."Therefore do not worry, saying, ; What will we eat?' or 'What will we wear? For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ( Matthew 6:31-33)

I believe that money was created as a means to enslave humanity, and that the minute a person decides not to be enslaved by it, it has no power over them. Lack of money simply is no excuse not to do the right thing for those who have faith. The dark forces of this world have all the money they want at their disposal, and use it freely to destroy creation and all that is Good. Would a loving God allow His children to be overcome due to a lack of money?

]]>An Up-to-Date Picturelundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2010-02-17T22:30:07-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/e937091bb6694f7e65d630e433c869d9-39.html#unique-entry-id-39http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/e937091bb6694f7e65d630e433c869d9-39.html#unique-entry-id-39
This blog is pretty dead now, but since a lot of people still read the housebuilding archives I thought I should post a more recent picture of the place. It's been a few winters now and it's still keeping us warm!

Anyway, there you go!

Have a blessed day!]]>Long Overdue Updatelundfam@jamadots.comHome2008-06-14T11:27:30-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/b79143071cdf22c8a34254bf72d497d9-38.html#unique-entry-id-38http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/b79143071cdf22c8a34254bf72d497d9-38.html#unique-entry-id-38
We had to turn our refrigerator back on in the middle of April, and we're using the hot water heater quite a bit now... feels like we've gone backwards since the warmer weather has come in. Just had to do some patching in the cob bathtub. It's not quite as water tight as we would like, as there has been some molding and softening where water drips. I'm going to try a waterglass based homemade paint. I also have to repair a few minor cracks in the floor, over the area where the flu for the rocket stove goes through, and in an area that took a lot of abuse last winter, where our boots were left to drip dry. Other than that, and a few dents, the floor has held up quite well, even in the entry ways and at the kitchen sink. It seems like dishes "bounce" more often than break, when they fall on the floor. It's easy to maintain, and I love how "clean" I know it can be.. no dirt or buggies lurking under carpeting. It's so nice to be able to repair and maintain my house with materials at my fingertips.

Everyone is busy with spring time projects, as Mary's BLOG will attest, and all are happy and healthy. We're building a vertical log cabin for a friend on our property, so we're getting to experience a new natural building technique. We used one of the mules and one of the ponies to pull the logs out of the woods for us:

Our animals are all doing well, and so far everyone is enduring the dreaded month of June (fly season) without too much difficulty, thanks to the cooler weather. The gardens are coming in nicely as well, and we're so looking forward to fresh vegetables and strawberries... already enjoying greens and radishes.]]>Doing the Little Things lundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2008-02-21T13:59:09-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/9b129403913a2d6a47ec2cd3d46307b1-37.html#unique-entry-id-37http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/9b129403913a2d6a47ec2cd3d46307b1-37.html#unique-entry-id-37
We have quite a bit of wool and fiber to work with, from our own icelandic sheep and angora bunnies, plus alpaca wool from Bill's sister. The younger children card the fiber for us, and I have been spinning it. I am finally getting a fairly even and fine yarn, and am working on my first project with homespun.. an alpaca fiber throw. We are all eagerly awaiting our own socks from start to finish from our own homestead.

Here are some recent projects that the kids have made:

It can sure be a lot of fun when we're all sitting around working on our quiet projects. The kids have little games that they play, such as "Storekeeper," where the storekeeper tries to get the shopper to say "black," "white," "yes," or "no." Such a silly game, but it's loads of fun.. an amazing amount of creativity and humor comes out during their little scenarios.

We are getting ready to start building a vertical log camp, and will be using the horses and mules to pull the logs out of the woods. Also looking forward to making maple syrup, and drinking all of the luscious, detoxing sap that we want.

Outdoor fun has included skiing behind Lina this winter. Here she is getting dressed up for play:

Bill and Andrew are continuing to work on some of the finishing in the house, as well as planning the new camp. Bill has joined the kids' bluegrass band with his bass... it's so much fun to have the house fill up with homemade music.

The peaceful end of a winter day on our UP homestead:

]]>Living in Our New Houselundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2008-01-12T20:09:00-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/4d1c392cd7009e9db7ad11b92a9754a3-34.html#unique-entry-id-34http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/4d1c392cd7009e9db7ad11b92a9754a3-34.html#unique-entry-id-34

I'm loving living in a cob/wood house with an earthen floor, earthen bathtub, rocket stove with cob bench and a cold room.
The house feels plenty roomy to me... 1300+ sq ft goes a long way when you design it yourself to put the space exactly where you need it. I actually feel quite spoiled and pampered in here, with the high ceilings and big, deep windows. After 15 years of mobile homes, it just feels so foreign to me, as do the solid, sound proof walls. The floor to the kids' room is not sound proof, however, so we really have to watch our night time conversations... they love to hear us talking about them at night :-). And when our little dog, Molly, jumps off the girls' beds in the middle of the night it sounds like a herd of elephants (ok, well that's a bit of an exaggeration).

The cold room is working well as a walk-in cooler in place of a refrigerator. I don't have to do anything with the vents unless the lows are going down to negative numbers at night... there were only a couple of nights like that so far, and I didn't think of closing the vents, so the potatoes that were right near the vents froze. So far, that's the only loss, and was my own fault. Keeping food away from the vents seems to be sufficient to keep things from freezing (though I will try to remember to close them when we get our bitter cold season... IF we get our bitter cold season). I have the few frozen things that I had out in coolers outside, and that has been fine, even with the recent January thaw. Andrew is talking about rigging a cold water cooler for the summer, based on the Amish principle of using cold water from the pump, only ours will come from our well... that would give me the extra "cool" that I need for milk and a few other things, and the cold room would hopefully suffice for everything else in the warmer months. We eat most things fresh then, anyway.

The cracks in the floor were nowhere near the problem that I had feared. None have pulled up or worsened, and most "healed" with the oiling. The floor feels wonderful and it's very easy to clean and maintain. The only negatives are that it is quite soft, and dents easy, and the area in the mudroom takes quite a beating during the really snowy times, when kids are hanging snow covered snowsuits and boots back there. It's ok if I remember to wipe it down with a towel, but otherwise it gets soft and the very top layer can buckle. (We have a very thin top layer that acts like a laminate... the floor itself remains intact, but it's that top layer that can peel or dent easily... it's because of the weird way that we ended up having to do it, so I don't think that a normal earthen floor would have those problems.) Anyway, all in all I love the floor and never want to change it. It feels healing and soft to me, and I love going barefoot. It's especially nice that we have it heated in the living room, and I would highly recommend that. It's cooler in the bedroom, but not cold and clammy like concrete. Here's a pic of the girls making the garland that shows the living room floor:

The house is staying a very even and comfortable temperature with the rocket stove heater. People are amazed when they visit in the afternoon and feel how warm and cozy it is in here, with the bench still warm, and we tell them that we haven't had the stove on since the previous night. With typical wintertime temps of highs in the upper twenties, we usually run it 8-10 hrs/day. That not only supplies our heat but all of our hot water. We are getting good at timing it and keeping showers short. The hot water tank holds the hot water even when the oven is off, so, for example, this morning we were able to run 3 comfortably hot showers and still had hot water to spare for dishes from the previous night.

Without a doubt, my very favorite feature of the house is the cob bench. I never imagined how much I would LOVE the bench. I love everything about it, the way it feels, the way it looks, the way it makes me feel, how easy it is to clean and maintain... you really have to experience the bench to appreciate it. Here's a pic of the kids "feeling at home" on their cob bench:

I also love the smell of the house. It's fresh and earthy and woodsy all at once. I hope the smell never changes.

Taking a shower in the cob tub is like bathing in mountain stream, without fear of onlookers and leaches :-). There's a clean fresh smell in there, and the walls and floor feel "real." We do have to dry the floor in the tub after showering, but other than that it's very low maintenance... no build up of scum on the walls or anything like that.

I loved the way the girls decorated the house for Christmas, and I am really going to miss the tree and the nativity scene. The house seems to have been made for them. Here is a picture of us waiting for Jesus, with the "Sun" coming up in the East in the background.

]]>New Website for Kids' Movielundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2007-09-21T13:26:53-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/a5b960893c0838d9ce4eee7a6b88fe5d-31.html#unique-entry-id-31http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/a5b960893c0838d9ce4eee7a6b88fe5d-31.html#unique-entry-id-31
Lund Family Production's 'MOSES and the Battle for the Upper Hand'

]]>Getting Ready to Move In!lundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2007-09-21T12:04:31-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/5dc51d19ef6f8be61d25679bcb1bf37e-30.html#unique-entry-id-30http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/5dc51d19ef6f8be61d25679bcb1bf37e-30.html#unique-entry-id-30
The cob mortar has held up very well through its first year, especially considering that it was left exposed without a roof for much of last summer, while it was still fresh. It wasn't our intention to do things that way, but it's how it worked out. Despite the abuse, the cob mortar showed very little wear. We patched shrinkage cracks with clay/sand/manure/hemp oil and then oiled the whole exterior this summer with hemp oil. A few logs were loose so we tightened them with shims and patched gaps as well. Adding hemp oil to the patch mix really makes the patches stick like glue. I have patched some floor with the same mix with great results as well.

Living room and loft view from front door. Earthen floor after 3 coats of hemp oil.

Wall above rocket stove.

Looking down at staircase from loft.

Looking down into living room from loft.

Earthen floor in master bedroom (4 coats of hemp oil applied, experimented with waterglass in this room as a precoat prior to oiling, will get one more coat of oil and one more oil/beeswax).

Loft bedroom (1 of 2).

Activity room/loft over living room.

]]>House Building 2006 Slideshowlundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2007-03-16T20:13:17-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/dfcc11960ba4c830e7395d5e6aac5b58-29.html#unique-entry-id-29http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/dfcc11960ba4c830e7395d5e6aac5b58-29.html#unique-entry-id-29

]]>Beautiful Winter!lundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2007-01-25T20:04:34-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/30e3a94837855ba9d1a1596a4c6b9ee2-27.html#unique-entry-id-27http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/30e3a94837855ba9d1a1596a4c6b9ee2-27.html#unique-entry-id-27
The last couple of days, I made a big pot of oatmeal, and enjoyed my bowl with raisins, apples, bananas, chopped walnuts, a touch of honey and fresh, thick jersey cream, cozied up in front of the fireplace, with snow flakes gently falling outside, and the kids still snuggled in their beds around me. The simple pleasures in life!

Each day, we have been spending a lot of time outside, shoveling snow and playing with the horses. One of the new mares that we got was very high strung at first, and Mary thought she would NEVER overcome that and get to riding her. Following simple practices of natural horsemanship, staying patient and calm and persistent, she has gotten SO MUCH better. She is really a beautiful mare, with a sweet and strong spirit. It's hard not to fall in love with her. Today, Mary had an almost perfect day with her. She rode very lightly, doing all that she was asked in just a rope halter. Mary and I were both ecstatic, and felt that we had accomplished a great deal together.

Now, we're starting the other mare. We've been playing games with her, saddling her up and sitting on her. She's very calm and good and eager to please. She'll make a great kids' horse very soon. We're hoping to have her trail ready within the month.

I also want to work more with the mules, and their ground driving. They are really getting close to being able to pull a cart, but unfortunately, we don't have one. We also want to get them riding.

The girls and I are on a huge fiber kick. We are trying to find a spinning wheel and carders, as we have a huge box of alpaca fiber that needs to be spun. Meanwhile, we're honing up our knitting and crocheting skills, and Mary has even learned how to knit socks!

Andrew and Bill have been doing the electrical and plumbing in the house, and the other kids and I do the laths and plaster when they get a wall ready for us, which is rather infrequent. The rocket stove seems to be keeping the house quite warm.

I took a "vitality test" for kicks this past week, and it said I will live till 95! And they didn't even ask about the healthy foods I eat, except for servings of fruit, veggies, whole grains and nuts. There were questions about how often I felt angry, sad or depressed, or stressed or anxious in the past month... "0" to all of them... as a matter of fact, "0" to all of them for as many months as I can remember since we've lived here, except for a little stress over a few external things here and there. I am deeply at peace. The rest of the family is as well, though sometimes Bill worries about money. The whole family agrees that it has been the best 1-1/2 years of our lives!

]]>Windows and Doors are In, Interior Walls Going Uplundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-11-29T15:18:53-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/917c5b27fec7c163af1a1015b0a87285-26.html#unique-entry-id-26http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/917c5b27fec7c163af1a1015b0a87285-26.html#unique-entry-id-26

The interior is taking shape. The interior walls are slatted, then coated with a sticky clay/sand/chopped straw plaster.
Here is a close up of the first plaster layer.

Then a smooth plaster is applied, made with sifted sand, clay slip, flour glue, EM ceramic powder and EM, and finely chopped dried manure, and troweled smooth. In this picture, the very top part of the wall has not yet been plastered with the finish plaster. The wall ends up with a very soft and pretty stucco look. There are a few options for finishing, and we will probably do some experimenting with different versions of natural paints and finish plasters.

]]>Rocket Stove lundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-11-29T13:50:48-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/4484cfe0790e00c7537dd94ecc58a597-25.html#unique-entry-id-25http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/4484cfe0790e00c7537dd94ecc58a597-25.html#unique-entry-id-25
This first picture shows the brickwork that makes up the rocket stove. The wood gets fed into the shorter stack, on the right, which will be capped off with the silver barrel to the right. The flames angle towards the tall stack, called the heat riser, in the horizontal burn tunnel. The heat riser will be insulated with the piece of sheeting that Andrew and I are shaping (metallic printer's plate) filled with clay/sawdust. A large metal barrel is placed over that, with about 1-1/2 inch of gap around the perimeter for the hot air to travel down towards the flue.

Here is the insulation container in place and filled.

This picture is taken from the same angle as the above to show the finished rocket stove.

Here is the bench in progress, showing the layer of stones and the ductwork going through the bench and down into the floor. There is a clean out trap built in on the top left, which can be accessed from underneath the bench.

This picture shows the straw rich cob towards the outer layer.

Here is the bench with the finish plaster coat on.

Here is the bench as it is today. The rocks will be cleaned and polished and the bench will get several coatings of hemp oil to shine, harden and waterproof it, plus some homemade cozy cushions.

]]>The Gable Endslundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-10-17T19:02:14-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/fe686506300932e990bc0242b884abe4-24.html#unique-entry-id-24http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/fe686506300932e990bc0242b884abe4-24.html#unique-entry-id-24
We have finished stuffing one gable end, and just started on the other today. We plastered the inside of the one with 4 coats of earthen plaster. Our mix was similar to the mix that we used in the cordwood, only we used an extra part manure in place of the sawdust and doubled the flour glue, psyllium and kefir. The outside will be finished with cedar shakes next spring.

It's a pretty bad pic, but it's all we've got for now...

Metal roofing going on. Turned out to be a pretty straight roof for round poles, if I do say so myself. :)]]>Building and Using Outdoor Cob Bread Ovenlundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2006-10-17T13:22:10-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/edc56469c9112777b9e8a9800c1c35cf-23.html#unique-entry-id-23http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/edc56469c9112777b9e8a9800c1c35cf-23.html#unique-entry-id-23
The process was to first pour about 8 5-gallon buckets of sand in the area that I wanted to build the oven and level it. Then we laid the cinder blocks, leveling them as we went. Then we built up an egg-shaped mound of wet sand, again using about another 8 buckets of sand. We used bricks to help contain the sand while we built it up.

When we liked the shape and size of the sand mound, we covered it with wet newspaper.

Over that, we put a layer of sand/clay cob a few inches thick, and then another layer of my regular cob mix, another 2-3 inches thick.

Then we allowed that to dry for 4 or 5 days. The weather was cool and damp.

Next, we cut out the door and made a fire. We cooked bread in the oven, and the next day made pizza. It was good, but a little sandy and gritty. Then we learned to mop out the ashes with a wet mop (improvised with a big rag on a stick). We have cooked in the oven several times since.

We also decided to add more layers to the oven so that it would hold the heat longer. We added about 4 inches of clay/sawdust, and then covered that with another layer of plaster cob.

When I've done it right, the bread and pizza have been far and away the BEST I've ever had, but I've had a few flops in figuring out the best method/temp. One thing that I've noticed is that the bread keeps much better than my regular oven baked bread.]]>How We're Doinglundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2006-09-10T15:40:03-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/e9e3699665c83a09ef92707701d24c57-22.html#unique-entry-id-22http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/e9e3699665c83a09ef92707701d24c57-22.html#unique-entry-id-22
We had 2 frosts in a row the past 2 nights. We finished the cob/cordwooding just in the nick of time. We are now looking into alternatives for the earthen floor that we planned, because it would really be pushing it to try and get that in before freezing weather. Still, there is no sense of panic here. We will stay in this mobile another winter, if we have to. We know God will provide for us, and we will be warm and snug together.

The frosts have brought out the sweetness in the apples, which we have already been so enjoying. There has been a bounty of food, as generous neighbors have shared produce from their gardens, as well as that which we were able to get out of ours. We also have our butcher chickens ready for eating now, and they are so huge that they go a long way. We are enjoying chicken salad sandwiches, casseroles, and soups. We have barely bought anything from the grocery store in months.]]>Roof's Coming On Soonlundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-08-30T18:31:50-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/0d1a6d0d58089a1a8746d72008729c24-21.html#unique-entry-id-21http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/0d1a6d0d58089a1a8746d72008729c24-21.html#unique-entry-id-21

Here are the kids showing off the new kids. We had 3 goats kid. One had twin boys, but one of them never made it up. The others each had singles, one boy and one girl.

We got a real treat in witnessing the AWESOME birth of this little nanny goat. How's THAT for a science lesson??

]]>Ridge Beams are Up!lundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-08-03T07:08:19-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/a62bd14a30ef463f53cb71c9877c2cc7-20.html#unique-entry-id-20http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/a62bd14a30ef463f53cb71c9877c2cc7-20.html#unique-entry-id-20
The cob/cordwood crew (Mom and kids) are working on the last full wall section while Dad and Andrew get the roof on. Once the roof is in place, then work can proceed on the floor, gable ends and roof insulation. All 3 of those areas will need a large amount of clay slip/sawdust.]]>The Weather and Buildinglundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-07-30T16:17:15-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/4943f4543c8c3c483b492f2466b8ef1e-19.html#unique-entry-id-19http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/4943f4543c8c3c483b492f2466b8ef1e-19.html#unique-entry-id-19
Each day, we try to get 6 batches of cob mixed and built. That's enough to build up about 1/4 of an 8 foot wall section. We have changed our cob mix somewhat, so that each batch now contains 1 5 gallon bucket of clay (presoaked), 1 5 gallon bucket of horse manure (somewhat dried and run through a chipper/shredder), 1 5 gallon bucket sand, 1/3 5 gallon bucket fine sawdust, 1/3 c. psyllium powder, 1 tsp. EM ceramic, 1-1/2 c. flour glue, 2 T. rice bran oil, 1/4 c. buttermilk, 1 c. EM. I pre-mix the powders and liquids in 2-batch size containers for convenience.

This new mix has less sawdust and added oil and buttermilk. Cutting back the sawdust makes a prettier wall, but getting rid of it all together caused too much cracking, so we settled at 1/3 bucket instead of a whole bucket. The oil and buttermilk also make for a smoother, prettier wall, and help the water resistance of the wall.

]]>Falling Behind Schedulelundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-07-14T23:20:20-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/35b32f87057571ca94a9032303ea9dce-18.html#unique-entry-id-18http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/35b32f87057571ca94a9032303ea9dce-18.html#unique-entry-id-18
We have temps near 100 today, but the work must go on as we have fallen behind schedule. The goal was to be done with the walls no later than August 1st, and it's looking like it will be 2 weeks later than that. The earthen floor takes a long time to cure, and then requires 7 coats of linseed oil and drying time between each. We may be living with a REAL dirt floor this first winter.

(No, the posts aren't made of rubber... The wide angle lens distorted the image a bit.)

View out the kitchen window.

]]>Cobbing Awaylundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-06-27T15:20:13-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/a05a10eca5e1eba1a9c144d76a7efc28-17.html#unique-entry-id-17http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/a05a10eca5e1eba1a9c144d76a7efc28-17.html#unique-entry-id-17
We try to mix and build 6 batches of cob each day. Each batch consists of 5 gallons clay soaked in water, 5 gallons sawdust, 5 gallons dry manure, 5 gallons sand, 2-1/3 c. flour glue/EM, 1/3 c. psyllium powder, and 1 tsp. EM ceramic powder. 1-2 gallons of water are added as well. We have shallow dishes dug in the ground where we lay 8x10 tarps and mix the ingredients. The manure and clay get set up to soak for a little while before mixing. The mixing is done by stomping with bare feet, like treading grapes, and lifting the tarp to mix in the ingredients. It takes about 10-15 minutes to mix a batch. ]]>Cordwood/Cob updatelundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-06-16T18:09:53-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/035fa61c088d68ecede411a320e61f89-15.html#unique-entry-id-15http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/035fa61c088d68ecede411a320e61f89-15.html#unique-entry-id-15

]]>Spring Updatelundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2006-05-31T20:44:52-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/f6509463f98a640da76fd16b2b489667-13.html#unique-entry-id-13http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/f6509463f98a640da76fd16b2b489667-13.html#unique-entry-id-13

Spring births include 2 icelandic lambs, 1 ram and 1 ewe, both black at first, but the ram lamb is starting to look moorit (chocolate brown). Had my first taste of sheep milk today.. ewe :-). It wasn't as rich as I expected, and instead tasted almost sour with a bit of a chalkiness, or "powdered milk" flavor. My mare's milk was MUCH better.. that's good stuff, and makes fantastic kefir.

Notice how quickly the icleandic lambs grow. The 5 week old ram lamb (Danny) is in front in the picture below, and the 2 day old ewe lamb (Danielle) is in the background on the left. The following picture is a close-up of her.

We were also given 2 French Angora bunnies, much to Theresa's delight. They were horribly matted, though, so we are still working on getting their coats into shape. We named them Slippers and Mittens. Slippers has soft, velvety pink ears that look like, well, slippers, and Mittens has brown paws. Of course, we hope to make soft, cozy slippers and mittens from their silky hair. It was quite a learning experience determining whether they were boys or girls, but, after doing the research, we're quite sure they are both girls.

We put in a garden with a rustic twig fence and have just about everything popping through already. We also threw many seedballs, Fukuoka style, throughout the property. Plus, we planted raspberry bushes and strawberry plants (the plants didn't survive the shipping, so we have to replace them), built a round pen from aspen on our property for training the horses, built a rustic duck pen (still awaiting the ducks), filled our foundation with sand, built a test wall for the cob/cordwood mixture and started the timber frame on the house.

The rustic garden is on the left, and the round pen on the right. It is covered with felt that is a throwaway material from the local mill.

Here is the timber frame in progress:

We expect to start the cordwooding by early next week. If we work hard, we'll get it done in a couple of months. The guys will continue building the rest of the house while mom and kids do the cob mixing and cordwooding. Then, we'll mix the straw-clay slip infilling for the gable ends, plus a straw-clay slip insulation layer for the earthen floor. After that gets well tamped down, we will lay the earthen floor, hoping that we get to that point before it gets too cold to dry well. We also plan to make a cob bathtub and possibly a heated cob bench, if there is time this season (unlikely). Next summer, I want to build a cob garden wall around the front yard with a cob bread oven so that we don't have to heat the house up in the summer.

Yes, cob has become a fascination with me. I think I even convinced Andrew that it will be sufficiently waterproof. When my test wall was only a week old, he took a hose to it to see how it would fare. Several minutes of direct soaking didn't even phase it. Then, he put his thumb over the hose to get a direct pressure and even that took quite a while to do anything. Our mix is clay, sand, sawdust, psyllium powder, flour glue and EM's.

Here is the test wall being built. The logs are just scrappy old pieces of firewood and are not evenly cut, so the "real" walls should look much better.

]]>Maple Syrup for the First Timelundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2006-04-28T13:33:33-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/0389862c9d716930fd19145820598390-12.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/0389862c9d716930fd19145820598390-12.html#unique-entry-id-12
We caught the syrup with gallon jugs with their lids on. Some days, they needed to be emptied twice, and our trees are only 16" or so. Next year, we may use 2 gallon buckets instead.

We boiled the syrup down in stock pots on an old cast iron wood stove outside. Our first batch ended up with a hint of smokey flavor, so we got some stove pipe to get the smoke high and out of the pots. We would do better to have a large flat pan as it evaporates better with greater surface area. We found that it was better to boil down a smaller quantity at a time, because it was necessary to really keep it boiling, and the fuller the pot, the harder it was to do that. It is done when the bubbles start to get thick on top.

Our 2nd batch was caramelly rich and delicious. We ended up with a gallon all together. It was a very bad season because it got too warm too quickly.

My favorite part about the whole process was drinking the fresh sap. I drank about 2 qts. a day and could really feel the cleansing and healing from it. It also bonded me to the forest :-). We had some left over that I allowed to ferment in a glass jar just by leaving it at room temperature, covered. It was quite a tasty and refreshing drink.. sort of like lemony water.]]>Blessed Weeklundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2006-04-21T21:22:11-04:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/c5edfb3b48693d547499ce4310a66935-11.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/c5edfb3b48693d547499ce4310a66935-11.html#unique-entry-id-11This has been a very joyous week for us as we watched Spring unfold. As a culmination of this beautiful week, we were treated us to a double rainbow right over our homestead this evening. We actually had the end of the rainbow right across the road. I've never seen that before. Yes, I'll agree, we've reached the end of the rainbow here!

]]>Progress Reportlundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-03-24T16:17:38-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/8cb8a30584b10066c53dc147689167e2-10.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/8cb8a30584b10066c53dc147689167e2-10.html#unique-entry-id-10The guys are using the alaskan chain saw method to cut the timbers for the house. They are getting close to being half way done... probably 2 or 3 more weeks to go depending on how many "interruptions" there are. The "interruptions" include cutting wood (we didn't have a chance to put wood up for this year, so we need to gather dead wood as needed), getting hay to the animals (the round bales froze to the ground, it takes 3 or 4 of us to loosen them and push them over to the horses or cows.. a morning's job), getting the maple trees tapped, fixing fences (never ending chore on a homestead), and whatever I need strong arms for.

We are just starting some indoor seeds, and getting the fruit and nut tree seeds stratified. That means chilling them in moist sawdust for a couple of months before planting. Each has its own set of instructions, and I have 23 varieties that I've ordered.. sorting it all out.

The girls have been playing with the ponies and mules daily. They are taking them for walks and getting them used to the saddle and scary things. Some of the kids have been up on one of the mules and one of the ponies. They are getting used to having their feet handled, and I have started trimming (finally uncovered my trimming tools). We are also learning to make horsehair rope.

]]>Drinking in the joy of the homesteadlundfam@jamadots.comGeneral2006-03-16T19:53:32-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/61d14dd99451e48fba2024959aa0cb5d-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/61d14dd99451e48fba2024959aa0cb5d-9.html#unique-entry-id-9For those of you who haven't yet had the joy of homesteading, I don't know if words can describe it, but I'll try. It's dusk in the UP, just after 7 pm, and I just came in from tucking everyone in for the night. The chickens were just gathering together, clucking softly as I collected the clutch for the day. I carefully counted our feathered friends, yes, 16, snug for the night in their sweet smelling (thanks to EM's) roost, warm with the thick winter pack built up. I take their empty water bucket and go over to scoop some from the cow's water trough (an old bathtub we pulled out of the garage). Daisy and Buttercup are contentedly chewing on hay and lazily give me a glance. Then I walk past the pen with our 4 milk goats and young jersey heifer and say my greetings to them. They are content and healthy looking. I notice that the horses are running low on hay and see that there's some leftovers on the ground in the other pen from where the guys had rolled the last bale to the cows, so I go tromping through the deep snow to fetch a few choice slabs of hay for them. They gratefully gather near the fence, and play their typical horsey games with each other.. tails swish, ears pin, let's play musical hay piles and see who's the boss of this herd anyway. They're beautiful. I reminisce about the nice time we had with them today, taking a few of them out for their first ever walks, and how much fun they seemed to have. After initially being a bit wary, Mary's mule gave her a look of disbelief when she later went to take some of the other horses out, leaving her behind. With that typical,"I'm going to get my way" mule attitude, she jumped the fence with ease to join the party. Well, ok, I guess you can come, too, if you're THAT set on it. I'm thinking ahead of how they will love the trail rides in the future, as they are all curious and enjoy getting out and checking out the world beyond their pen. They were brave today, a good sign. The kids had fun, too. It was as exciting for them as it was for their horses. Mary and Annie got to sit on Rapid, the horse we are boarding, while we walked, and got a taste for being up in the saddle again. It was a good day. I'm now walking back and peak in at the sheep, wondering how soon they will have their babies. The black one is laying closest to me and I can see a round bulge to the side of her that is unmistakably a baby, or two?? Johnny just came running out to greet me and I show him the sheep and explain where the new baby is and how cute that lamb will be when *she* (hopefully) is born. I start to head in, but Johnny insists on showing me a neat fort that the kids made where they shoveled out a drift around the wood for the house. Looks like fun, and I'm sure they'll have a great time playing in it tomorrow. I feel thoroughly and deeply satisfied, as if I just feasted at a lovely meal.

]]>Basic Cordwood House Planslundfam@jamadots.comHouse Construction 2006-02-24T15:50:49-05:00http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/e261f4f6d94bead7564efe0323236e0f-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.home-n-stead.com/blogs/homenstead_files/e261f4f6d94bead7564efe0323236e0f-8.html#unique-entry-id-8Our house design is coming along. Slowly, but steadily..

So far, our plan calls for a post and beam frame to support the roof. The cordwood infill will not be load bearing. (For more info on cordwood, check out DayCreek, it is an excellent website with tons of info and a discussion forum to boot.) The finished house with the loft will be nearly 1500 square feet. Below are the basic layout plans. Everything is still in the pre-production stage and subject to change, but we like this design a lot so hopefully no updates should be too major from this point on.

First Floor Plan:

Something to point out is the location of our wood cookstove v.s. the utility closet v.s. the bathtub.. It is a strategic setup in anticipation of heating our hot water in a boiler using the stove.

Loft Plan:

One thing to note is that we will not be using 16''x16'' posts in the corners as the plans indicate. Instead we have opted for a method of doing the corners that don't require such massive timbers. You will see more clearly how this will work in the following 3D renderings that I have sketched of the timber frame below.

Frame Overview: (The front porch is not shown)

The cordwood is worked up first on the front and back walls, and then the side walls can be built up to them in the corners, like this:

[X][X] | | | | |
-------- | | | | |
--------
--------

Window and door frames will be free-floating in the cordwood infill. All posts and beams are 8''x8''s, except for the roof ridge beam and main roof girders. These will be 8''x10''s to accommodate the heavier load of the roof.

Post Detail:

The 8''x8'' posts are doubled to provide a good surface to build the cordwood up to. You can see the extra support under the posts, as well as the treated sill plate that rests on our foundation.

Roof and Gable:

Rafters are 2''x10''s spaced 16'' oc. The height of the loft at the center is 10'. (Yes, that is an 8''x8'' ridge beam that is pictured... The model has been updated with an 8''x10'', but these pics were most convenient at the time.) Note the extra framing in the floor next to the rim joist to provide good bearing for the heavy cordwood wall.

Loft Detail:

Here is a view looking down at the living room from the open loft. The bedrooms will be on either side of the peak, at the far end of the house. Loft joists are 4''x8''s spaced 4' oc.

Lower View:

You can see the piers under the floor in this view. The floor joists are 2''x8''s spaced 16'' oc and are double under walls and other points of added stress.

That's it! The beauty of 3D rendering is that you can take any picture you want from any viewpoint, and I think I covered all the main points of interest...

Andrew]]>