Soybeans

Sorry I haven't been on here lately. I have been really busy and not feeling to hot either. I am going to post how I shelled and froze soybeans, the other day. This is our first time doing this. A wonderful woman out our church and her husband grew alot of soybeans this year in there garden and asked if we wanted some. Well, who can say no to free food! :)

So while we were picking the soybeans I asked her how do you use soybeans in cooking? What do you put them in? She told me you can put them in a stew like any other vegetable. They put it in stir fry and with corn for a type of succotash, instead of lima beans. I am going to do some more research on how to cook with them. Any one else use soybeans before with their cooking? How did you use them?

So here is how you shell soybeans....
Once you pick them you will put them in boiling water and blanch them for about 5 mins. then strain them out and then you can easily push on the pods and the beans will come out. The beans have a clear skin on them, if you just squeeze gently the skin will come off. ( You will be very sticky by the end of this process) :) Then you will want to rinse them again in a strainer and put them into individual bags for meals. Tada! Here are some pictures:










Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! :)

Katie

Canning so far and homemade laundy detergent

I thought I would share the recipe I use for laundry detergent. It cost about 7cents per load! :)
Here is how I make my homemade laundry detergent.

1 bar natural soap (ivory is best) grated
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup borax

Mix together. Use 1/4 cup per load of laundry.

Kyle enjoys helping me make this!

I wanted to update on how my canning has been going this year. Still not doing huge amounts but getting there. I have done pickles( dill, bread and butter), stewed tomatoes, ketchup, peaches, applesauce only to small jars( hopeing to do more this fall). And hoping to get more applesauce and do some pie filling to finish up.

I just thank God everyday for all He has given us and for all this wonderful food he gives us to can and eat! What a loving and caring God! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Busy Busy

Today was a busy day! I froze 6lbs. of potatoes and 3lbs. of green beans. Our freezer is really looking like it is getting ready for the winter. I am hoping to get enough frozen/ canned that we won't need to buy fruits/ veggies during the winter months. I am going to go to Roots market on Tuesday night next week and go to the produce auction. !!! I am so excited! I have never been there before but our one neighbor went and got a huge box of produce for $1.00 and 6 tubs of ice cream for $1!! Crazy! She said she would take me but even not maybe Tom and I will go! Yay!!

On a worse note, it was so hot today! It was 93 degrees and our corn I think had it's last day. Thankfully my zucchini is still hanging in there. I did see a couple of flowers blooming so hopefully I can get a few zucchini to freeze. I can't wait for fall to be here that is for sure. I am not a heat person. I love spring and summer because I can plant my garden but the heat is just crazy. Hopefully next year we will have a more mild summer.

Kyle starts our church's "school" next tuesday! He is really excited and so am I to have atleast 3 hours to run errands or just to have time to myself sort of. :) Hopefully Tyler will be sleeping during this time. I can't think of anything else for tonight! So I hope you all are doing great!

Happy Homesteading from the Wagner family! :)

This is a picture of our corn so far! Still to small to pick but getting there!

And the pictures of the bug I found on the green beans today. Anyone have any ideas what this is?? It is a worm of some sort wasn't sure if anyone new what kind. (Sorry the pictures are so blurry, it was tiny and my camera couldn't focus to well on it.)


These are pictures i wanted to post of our rain water barrels. This has really come in handy when we don't get a lot of rain for a couple of days. :)

Does anyone else have a rain barrel system? I would love to know what yours looks like or how you collect your rain water!

Visit to a goat farm!

Earlier this month we went to visit a running goat farm to see how they ran it and just to get an idea of a small operation they had. What a blast! We learned a lot and of course Kyle loved being able to be with the goats. It was hard to get him in the car! I think when we start our goats we are going to be purchasing from them for sure. It is also nice they are friends of the family as well :)

Laundry Line!!

I thought I would post pictures of the Amish style laundry line Tom put up for me , for our anniversary! :) I love it!!

Our night at the fair!

On Tuesday night we went to our local fair and had a great night as a family. Of course the first place we had to stop was to see the livestock! :) Goats, sheep, beef and heifers! Then on to the petting zoo and baby chicks hatchery (which both were Kyle's favorite!) Then we had some cheesburgers for dinner and milk shakes for dessert. ( I know not the healthiest meal but hey it was the fair! ) After eating dinner we went and played on the tractors from Tom's work. Then one last visit to the animals. Kyle just loves animals, I can't wait to have some of our own for him to grow up with! then we headed home, Kyle was so worn out he fell asleep in about 5 mins. of being put to bed. It was a great night!