Even if you have grid power here are some helpful ideas!
   Wow, it's hot! Temperatures  here in middle Tennessee are soaring into the upper 90's and 100's with humidity almost matching. Thought we'd share a few tips about staying cool!
  Try not to cook inside your home. Grill outdoors, make a camp fire, set up a "summer kitchen"- we have a small wood cookstove on our porch and we start the fire real early in the morning and get any cookin' done before the heat of the day. 
  Eat sandwhiches, salads and fresh raw veggies from the garden.
  Make fresh vegetable and fruit juices- these will keep you cool and give you energy!
Something we learned from our Amish neighbors years ago- in the evenings when the air has cooled off a bit, open all your windows and doors for the night through. Then in the morning before it gets hot again close them up and "trap" the cool air in for the day. It really works! Our house can generally stay 8-10 degrees cooler that way.
  Take cold showers!
  Go to the creek, river, pond, or garden hose! We have found that the best way to cool down is water. The colder the better!
  Eat lots of watermelon. It has electroclytes in it and can help replace any you lose from sweating.  Here are a few drink recipes we really enjoy during the summer:
"Live" Water
To 1 quart fresh cold water add:
1 slice of lime
2 or 3 slices of cucumber
2 or 3 sprigs of fresh mint. Keep cool in fridge and drink as needed.

 Vicki's Lemonade
In a quart jar add:
1 fresh squeezed lemon
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp. maple syrup {or more for your liking}
Fill with fresh, cold spring water, screw on lid and shake real good. Enjoy!

Have A Happy Heat Wave Y'all!

   

Our Dexter/Jersey cow, Maybelline, had her calf - a beautiful heifer!

Look at that adorable little face! Another future milk cow, yee-haw!

Cow bonding.

Both mama and baby are doing fine, despite the humid, sticky, summer heat.

Meanwhile on the homestead, the flowers are blooming...

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow...
Matthew 6:28

Nasturtiums radiant and wonderfully edible.

Here is a delicious recipe we have been enjoying this summer and thought we'd share with y'all. 
Summer Green Beans
3 TBS.  Olive oil
1 LB. fresh green beans, snapped
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 purple onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp. salt
2 handfuls fresh basil
Layer ingredients in order given in a heavy bottom pot. Cook over medium high heat till green beans are tender. You don't have to stir this, or add water- tomatoes and green beans make their own juice as they cook. Cecilia created this simple but tasty recipe last summer and its now our favorite way to eat green beans!

One of our blue heelers, Sackett, ever ready to do a job. Good Dog.

Stay cool y'all and remember our new book "Bella the Blue Cowdog" is coming soon!

Tie on your apron and come join us in the kitchen as we mix up family holiday favorites with new and affordable ingredients from the homestead!

Pumpkin (Butternut) Pie

2 Cups butternut squash (prepared)

2 Eggs

1 1/2 Cup brown sugar

2 Tbs. vanilla

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice


Preparing Butternut Squash

Cut butternuts in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds.  Place in baking dish, skin side down, and add 1/2" water.  Bake at 350 degrees until very soft, approximately 45-60 minutes (depending on size).

Mix all together and pour into a pre baked 9" pie shell.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Dear Frirends,
  We are so excited about our new youtube series, "Homestead Hints,Tips, Recipes and other Blessings"! It is our hope that these quick yet informative videos will inspire, encourage and instruct you all in simple, yet useful ways to help make your family flourish and your homestead happy! So check us out every now and then here on our blog and Lord willin' we'll keep y'all posted!
                                                            Blessings,
                                                                The West Ladies

Well the sap is running and we have tapped around 30 trees and have cooked down about gallon of syrup so far. It takes 30-60 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup depending on the year. This year it is taking about 60 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup. 
The beautiful sugar snow we had last week has really helped with the sap flow since the nights are right below freezing and the days are up in the 50’s. The other night we read a chapter out of “Little House in the Big Woods” about how Pa went to Grandpa’s to make maple syrup and sugar. Another good book to read about making maple syrup is 
“Maple Sugar for Wendy Foot” by Frances Frost. It is an older book but a great read aloud for the whole family to enjoy.
There is a lot of hard work involved in making maple syrup, but the product of beautiful amber color sweetness to pour over hot pancakes is a great reward. The “tapping” of the trees, collecting the sap, boiling down the sap into syrup which can be a long process in itself. But the good news is, you don’t have to live way out in the boondocks or even have a farm to make your own maple syrup! If you have a few sugar maples in your yard, you can tap those trees, collect that sap and cook down your syrup in your own kitchen! We have friends who live in downtown Birmingham who are making their own maple syrup right there in the city! Here is a good book list for you to gather information from:
Making Maple Syrup, By Noel Perrin ( A Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin)
Backyard Sugarin’ By Rink Mann ISBN 0-914378-20-1
The Maple Sugar Book By Helen and Scott Nearing ISBN 0-8052-3400-4
And remember there is a world of information out there on the internet!
Here are a few facts about making maple syrup:
When the temperatures get below freezing at night (32 degrees) and stay above freezing in the day, that is when the sap is running up the trees from the roots to the very tip top branches to get the tree ready to begin budding. It is at this time that you want to tap your trees. For the state of Tennessee, this usually happens at the end of January or the beginning of February.
The older the tree, the more sap it is able to produce. The Maple tree can live to be a hundred years old, some have even lived to be up to 300 years old.
The American Indians were the first recipients of maple tree sweet sap; they then shared it with the early American settlers.
Once a tree is big enough to tap (at least 10 inches in diameter) it can be tapped year after year.
Sugar Maples do not reach tappable size till forty or fifty years after planting.
Maple trees that have been tapped produce larger quantities of sugar water and contain more nutritive materiel than trees that have not been tapped. Tapping does not hurt the tree at all.
1 gallon of maple syrup weighs 11 pounds.

We use maple syrup for all kinds of things. Many times we substitute regular sugar for maple syrup. It is our main source of sweetener that we use, so it is very important for us to make at least 8 gallons of syrup for the year. 
In between boiling down sap we have been making sour dough starter using freshly ground rye flour, brewing Kombucha tea (both recipes we got from Sally Fallon’s “Nourishing Traditions”) organizing our sewing room, quilting and playing in the snow!
Here is one of our favorite recipes using maple syrup:
Maple-Pecan Popcorn
8 cups popped popcorn 
1 cup pecans, toasted
½ cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar or raw sugar
½ cup maple syrup
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
Grease a large bowl with butter or oil. Add popcorn and pecans to bowl and toss together. Line a large baking sheet with foil grease with butter or oil, set aside. Combine butter, sugar, and syrup in a heavy bottom saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, then cook, without stirring, until mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer (we just let it get real hot and bubbly for approximately 3 to 5 minutes). Remove immediately from heat and stir in salt and baking soda (mixture will foam). Quickly pour caramel over popcorn mixture and with an oiled spoon, stir until thoroughly coated. Turn mixture out onto baking sheet and spread into a single layer. Allow to cool slightly, then break into bite-sized pieces. Enjoy!
Well, I better be getting off this computer trap and get busy with the days living! Ya’ll should do the same! J
Proud to be Southern Sap Suckers,
Cecilia for the West Family