Little Homestead In Boise : Happy Yule, Independence Days Challenge, He's Back.... Decking The Halls @ Our Little Homestead

Happy Yule!

If you live on a farm, don't forget to put out some porridge in the barn for the Tomtens

1. Plant Something- Paper white narcissus, for inside

2. Harvest Something- Just eggs for now

3. Preserve/Store Something- Making Gravlax later today, simple and tasty. This will be for later in the week.

Recipe for gravlax-

1 lb. salmon (I buy wild caught frozen, pretty cheap), 4 TBL. sea salt (or kosher), 6 TBL. sugar (can use brown), 1 bunch fresh dill. Mix dry ingredients, pack onto both sides of the salmon (skin can be left on), sprinkle 1/2 the chopped dill on both sides, wrap tightly and put in baking dish. Drain the dish as needed for 3 days, turning daily. Unwrap, rinse, pat dry, slice thin, and enjoy! I serve with rye bread or crackers, lemon slices and mustard sauce.

Recipe for Mustard Sauce- 3 TBL. of the following- light brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, 1TBL. vegetable oil, 1 TBL. sour cream, 1-2 TBL fresh chopped dill. Whisk, and enjoy!

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Winter baking stuff on sale, Christmas lights and new snowman on sale for outside our front door. The old one was falling apart. LED lights are so much brighter and use a LOT less energy. They also last forever! Getting some breads and salmon today at the grocery outlet.

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe- Making a duck for Christmas dinner, with a new Lingon berry sauce recipe I'm inventing!

6. Build Community Food Systems- Buying local when I can. We ate out at a local, family owned restaurant last week, with scratch made pastas, yum!

7. Recycle/Re-Use- Donated a lot of winter decor, we're downsizing. I try to scale down more every year. I don't like the cluttered look. It's also stuff to store, when we're not using it! Got rid of our BIG Christmas tree that ate up way too much space. Donated it. We bought a brand new display one at a thrift store. A local nursery had gone out of business, and donated a lot of leftovers. It's tall, slim and fits much better in our small living room. A whopping $10.00! I fluffed it and will decorate today.

8. Skill Up- I figured out I could use my little tea pot to brew a pot with the new Keurig machine. I used the Luzianne iced tea cup 3 times, and it came out nice and strong. Cheap and effective! It's so fast too, compared to heating up the kettle on the stove. I made Irish Breakfast tea this morning- emptied the tea into the new My K Cup filter, ran thru 2 times, nice and strong. You really can brew almost anything with this!

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- I will be re-covering 2 free chairs Dave brought home from work, that were headed for the dumpster. I bought fabric that is poultry related:) Will post pics when done...

He's Back....

I looked out 2 days ago, after the snow, and saw our little Kestrel was back. After he left I looked at the picked clean leftovers. It looks like he took down a ground dove. Surprised me as he's not that much bigger, just a LOT faster! Since we have so many city birds here, this doesn't bother me like it might some other people. Sparrows, finches, etc., have lots of young every year. We'd be overrun, or they'd starve, if a predator didn't bring some down.