Non Electric Homestead McMinn County (Cleveland: wood floors, fit in, price)

[1967hammer]

Good thing you have a door on the outhouse

BTW when I first read about your "leather britches" I thought you were talking about pants you were gonna make out of leather... lol Then I saw a pic of them hanging on your porch. What are leather britches anyway?

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by 1967hammer

Good thing you have a door on the outhouse

BTW when I first read about your "leather britches" I thought you were talking about pants you were gonna make out of leather... lol Then I saw a pic of them hanging on your porch. What are leather britches anyway?

Thanks for asking. I assumed the same thing and have no idea what they are.

[mbmouse]

Originally Posted by 1967hammer

Good thing you have a door on the outhouse

BTW when I first read about your "leather britches" I thought you were talking about pants you were gonna make out of leather... lol Then I saw a pic of them hanging on your porch. What are leather britches anyway?

If I am not mistaken (which I am often ) I believe it refers to a style of drying things such as beans and other small veggies. You string them up, hang them to dry. I think you can do this with certain flowers and herbs to dry too. The most popular thing to preserve this way is hot red peppers.
Not a clue in the world as to why it is called "Leather britches" though hahahhaha.

[younglisa7]

I am also one of the dummies that thought you were making pants. What exactly are leather britches? What kinds of beans or veggies do you use? How long will they keep once dried? I love the idea with the apples. I didn't even think about it but I'll have to try drying apples. We have so many apple trees but I have no idea what kind.

I like you turkey pic. Ours are way too skittish. As soon as they see you they are "gone".

It's good to hear you and Chris are doing well. Keep up the good work and take care of yourselves.

Lisa

[Rainna]

I was wondering about leather britches to. Glad to learn about them. I always string red cayenne peppers but had no idea you could do apples like that. I have never dried apples before but our trees are full this year and I would like to try doing this. About how long does it take for them to dry and how do you store them?
Thanks for sharing and keeping us updated on your progress. It is so exciting.

[Forest Breath]

Leather Britches are green beans strung up to dry. You cna string them whole or break them up. You let them dry completely and can either leave them hanging on the string in the house all winter, or take them and put them in airtight jars, flour sacks (or any cloth sack), or covered bowls, etc. When ready to cook them, you soak them overnight, cook them for at least 3 hours...up to all day. It is best to cook them with hamhocks, fatback, bacon, saltpork or something, an onion, a tiny bit of garlic, salt, pepper.

I have a book called Appalachian Cookery and it has some neat things in it like that. I decided to dry the apples and will even try some dried pears as well. I dried some field peas and October Beans and put blueberries out to dry just this morning. Right now I just do not have a lot of time to can things and we will need winter food. Drying seems to be a bit easier for me this year. I am even going to dry some pumpkin. Next year I will can more, but still plan to dry things.

[Lake.Lady]

Forrest Breath,

What a truly 'special' thing you have accomplished. I am learning so much from your experience which I hope to be able to do someday myself. Please keep the pictures coming.

Best wishes for you and your homestead.

[jpntd00]

My husband and I bought some land outside of Jackson, TN and are getting ready to build our house....not sure rather it will be "berm" or what just yet. I have gotten some great ideas from your post and am enjoying ever minute of it!

Thank you and keep on posting!

[Forest Breath]

I think sometimes we work 10 times harder on weekends than we do during the week. Friday we had dinner with Vickey and Norm. We got up early Saturday and went to the Amish Market. I was not able to find some bushel items I wanted to get, but I did get some beans to string up and chili peppers as well. I got a few other items and we decided to go to the bakery in Tellico. With all the house building and things, I have not been in awhile and I use to go several times a month. We had a quiche (bacon, swiss, tomato and spinach) and it was delicious. Vickey and Chris got the huge cinnamon rolls and I was too tempted by the chocolate covered cherry brownie. And yes, it was as good as it sounds. I got lots of bread as well, herb flatbread, olive herb bread, cinnamon cranberry pecan swirl. I just wanted to take that hot bread and head up to Santeetlah and spend the entire day! But there was tons of work to be done at home so we headed back. Chris stopped at a few yard sales. I got some glass gallon jars to put all my dried beans and fruit in and we got another molded pond to go in our herb garden.

After we got home, I started stringing peppers, pears and beans. Amanda came over with Perrin and we got Lakota as well. Amanda and Chris chopped wood. LOTS of wood. I don’t think either of them has ever chopped wood, so listening to them was quite entertaining. We worked on things until almost dark. Amanda went home and we decided to have a fire down near Hackberry Haven. We moved our fire pit down there and invited Shannon, Tim, Devin and Vickey over. The kids roasted marshmallows and had a blast! It was really nice and peaceful down there.

Sunday: Chris, Lakota and I got up. We started cleaning the house, moving things around and getting the truck loaded to go to the landfill. We headed out, had lunch with Amanda and Perrin, bought rugs for the house and all the animal feed. We then went to Lowes and got piping for the permanent water system and several other things. We also got weather wrap for the house, that goes down before the board and batton. We got gutter stuff for the front porch and then headed home. Right away we took trash to the landfill, Shannon picked Lakota up, I dropped the truck off at work and Amanda brought us home. Me and Chris spent the evening putting down hardwood flooring and rearranging the kitchen area until it got too dark to do anything. He chopped a little more wood. My knees feel bruised! LOL The house is looking nice though and the rugs made it look even better.

We are supposed to get rain from the hurricane. So we are making sure our collection system is at its best so we can get all the barrels filled up. A bigger, better coop for the Rhode Island Reds is at the top of the list now, as they have started laying a month sooner than I expected. Siding is another big issue right now, one that requires a lot of money unfortunately. It will all fall into place however.

In the family area: Jimmy had another chemo treatment today. I know he will not be feeling well this week. Hazel is doing well. Lakota’s team won their first game in football and she is enjoying being a cheerleader again. Devin’s team lost but he got to play (he is the littlest player on his team). Perrin was a pistol this morning! I am glad I was leaving for work! Cletus and all the cats are fine. I got Cutie some hairball treatment treats and they seem to be helping very well with her gacking problem. Shannon and Tim are good, even though his factory laid off over 100 people and changed his hours to a shift where the kids will only get to see him every 13 days! Amanda is good and managed to work every single muscle in her entire body by chopping wood. Vickey and Norm are good, had fun in Cherokee and plan to go to Florida in October. Chris is wonderful and life is good.

[Forest Breath]

Chris spent yesterday with Amanda chopping wood while I was at work. They also fixed one of the downspouts to collect water. The overflow will actually be turned between the barrels with a downward slant and will go into another container. Now if we will just get some rain, we have the back side of the house all set up with the gutter, two downspouts and the capacity for about 200 gallons of water to be collected with an overflow into another container. The front side will have the gutter ran into a downspout and pipe under the ground to come out into the two pond system we will have in the herb garden by the front porch, with an overflow into a pipe with hole to irrigate the herb garden and flowers.



The wood collection is going well and I think we will be OK on our wood supply for the winter, if things continue to go as they are. We will fall another 2 trees this weekend and that will provide us with plenty of wood for this winter (about 5 cords). The wood stove I want it $1600 and I am not sure I will be able to afford that before Winter. The siding and insulation come first. Hopefully I will be able to get that one and I will be able to BAKE! If not, we will just go with a small box heater instead of a stove and I will make do cooking stews on the top of it. I secretly hope I can come up with that $1600 though. It is really the only SPLURGE type item I have wanted for the house.



The wood floor is done from the kitchen wall to the back door and all the way across the house with the entire living room area done as well. That looks REALLY nice. We will be running the pipes to the outside of the house someday I think and also run a pipe from the barrels into the house at the kitchen sink with a small hand pump. That is not a huge priority to be honest, as I do not mind carry water in for dishes and laundry and hauling the buckets out to dump on plants that need it.

Yesterday evening I put a bit of soap on the slide and added some water. I let Perrin take his pants off and slide bare butt down the slide. Yeah…cheap entertainment and fun for the grandson. LOL It was fun watching him zip down the slide at full speed too. Well, until he hit bottom and slid about 3 more feet through the yard on his butt. He just got up and went right back at it again though. Honestly, it is good to see the grandkids have fun at the house without relying on cartoons, TV, computers, video games and electric entertainment. It is good for them.