Bells of the North Homestead

T-minus 19 days till April 15th.  19 days till our honeybees arrive.  22 days till April 18th, the day we get about 20 to 25 trees removed from the front of our property by BlackHawk Works , a local company that has expertise in taking down trees in tricky locations.  The tree removal will help us with our future potential project; solar panels which will allow our house to be a bit more self sufficient as well as get rid of the moss on our roof and reduce the fire danger. Whenever, the daytime temperatures start staying above 50 the birch sap will be flowing and we will then be collecting the sap to be boiled down into syrup.  See this article about that. Meanwhile, at just about the same time we will be hiving our brand new Italian honeybees, direct from California.  As long as our daytime temperatures stay above 50.  If you're curious about our new beekeeping undertaking, see this article.  Within the next weekend or two we also have a lar...

I'm always looking for something new to learn, whether it be spinning my own yarn, canning a new recipe, or making soap so when I came across a really good deal at my local grocery store I just couldn't help it.  I had to try something that I had only read about previously.  Rendering animal fats into solids. If I were to render pig fat the end result would be lard; while if I render beef suet (fat) the end result is tallow.  While shopping at our local grocery store I inquired in the meat department if they sold beef fat.  The butcher excitedly jumped up and said "Sure Ma'am, how much would you like! We've got lots!"  Not knowing how much it would take to create how much I just stammered to the gentleman working the butcher shop area "Uhhh, 2 or 3 pounds, I guess?".  He jumped away to fulfill my order, he almost seemed excited to give away these scraps that sooner or later I would turn into something wonderful. As I waited another store patron ask...

I write this now, coming from about 4 months, give or take, experience now at reducing our electricity bill each month. Energy here in Fairbanks, Alaska is expensive.  In fact per the US Energy Information Administration only a few other states are higher.  In case you're curious, Hawaii is the most expensive with New York and Connecticut following.  We're number four on this list.  Unfortunately for us here in the Golden Heart City though, we have a nasty little surcharge added onto our bill due to a legal issue that our Electricity company had some time ago, so it pushes that cost per kWh up around an extra .9 cents.  That doesn't seem like a lot but when you multiply that times 400, 500 or 800 kWh. It adds up. The most important thing one has to keep in mind when trying to lower an electric bill is, while keeping an eye on your cost per month, you really want to look at your total kWh usage per month. If you do this you will be able to dissect the applian...

Since the last time I have written on our electricity bill and our efforts in reducing it we’ve had a few developments.  Now keep in mind with all of this.  We do not have some of the typical high energy items that many have.  We have no water heater that draws energy nor do we have electric heat.  We do have, however, an ancient waterbed.  Thankfully that will be replaced very soon.  Another item to keep in mind is this is Fairbanks, Alaska so we have to plug in our vehicles if they are parked outdoors when the temperatures go below -20.  That happens quite frequently here in the winter months so to combat that problem I have purchased an outdoor timer that will only turn on power to the vehicle plugged in for two hours prior to our possible departure time. Also, originally as I began writing this, my husband had been at home each month, anxiously searching for a job.  That means that we have had one adult around the house for almost 24 hou...

Fairbanks, Alaska, dubbed the Golden Heart City has a lot of positives to it.  The people here are welcoming and friendly.  The town is a great place to raise kids; it has a small town feel to it; there is very little traffic except for the two usual times of day and even that, after driving in I95 traffic on the East Coast is nothing.  All in all, after all the places I have seen in the US, it’s the type of town that I feel I can really settle down and put down some roots.  However, a big negative here are the energy costs.  Unfortunately, gas for cars and generators, fuel for heating and fuel for electricity runs high here so this makes the cost of living much higher here than it is in many places in the lower 48.  When moving here, we moved from a townhouse in the military community where we did not pay for our electricity, back to our house where now we do. When I first saw our very first electricity bill I was shocked.  $299 for one month,...

Recently I received a box of Woolzies Dryer Balls to try out and I decided the perfect time to give them a shot was on the loads and loads of laundry that comes back with us when we go camping. Now first keep in mind. I do not use store bought laundry detergent.  Some while back we switched to homemade for several reasons.  If you are interested in reading more about that follow this link . So please keep in mind, your results might be different than mine.   Some of the claims about Woolzies dryer balls are: Softens naturally Reduces drying time by 25% Reduces Static Helps eliminate wrinkles Now I have to say, I have a old year 2000 Kenmore dryer that takes a long time to dry clothes. It usually takes at least two full cycles, 60 minutes each to dry our clothes, 120 minutes total. Using the six Woolzies, drying time has reduced down to about 90 minutes or so.  Right now that doesn’t hit us as hard simply because we are living in military qua...

SALVE/sav/Noun:   An ointment used to promote healing of the skin or as protection. How many out here use Neosporin for your cuts and burns? How many out here would like to make your own salves with your own homegrown herbs for little to nothing? I do grow a lot of my own herbs. That's how I learned how to grow many of the fruits and vegetables that we grow now after all. Herbs are great for the novice gardener as most of them really do not want or need much attention. Think of weeds. For instance. Dandelion. Broadleaf Plantain. Chickweed. These are all plants that tend to propogate themselves freely in many yards, much to many homeowners dislike and yet every one of these is edible and actually useful to us. Herbs benefit from an almost lack of care usually so my garden usually has an odd assortment of both medicinal and culinary herbs. There are really three basic ingredients to any salve. Oil. 1 CUP. I really like Olive Oil the best as it tends to be the cheapest o...

How many of us go to the grocery store and pay for Vanilla Extract?  Raise your hands. Wait, no, never mind, because of course I cannot see you but if I could I would bet most of my readers here would raise their hands.  I know I normally would.  That is until recently when I discovered I could make my own Vanilla extract for use in baking and cooking and save a bit of $$$$ in the process.  This is just so easy that I cannot believe more do not do this.  Really. Why is it that so many things are actually pretty easy and yet we all believe they are difficult? Well except mayonnaise. I have yet to successfully tackle that one even with scores and scores of eggs down the drain or in the trash. Okay, now first and foremost.  Please keep in mind. I just started my bottles curing this weekend so I have yet to try out the finished product.  I cannot tell you yet what my thoughts are on the finished product that I have made.  I will be doing that in ...

Gardeners all have their own particular way of storing seeds.  Our tried and true methods to keep our seeds dry, safe, cool, and most of all, viable. For me, approximately five years ago, give or take, that meant storing them in their original envelopes in a tupperware container and hoped that they wouldn't get wet.  Many times I would get frustrated each year when I would try to start some seeds and I would have no success with germination.  Little did I know I needed to keep my seeds in a little better conditions than what I was doing. I sometimes did start a plant from seed but I would always succumb to running by the nursery, the local Home Depot or Lowes and get $20 worth of plants. Once I started growing more unusual varieties though, this could not work.  Most nurseries and greenhouses along with the big box stores simply do not carry varieties like Black Cherry Tomatoes, Delicata or Rouge vif d'etampes Squash.  I don't think I've ever seen any local s...

We did it.  We finished our September challenge!  And since we did not spend a single dollar during the last weekend of September (other than gas and eating out because we did not know we'd be away from home so long on Sunday) we finished the month spending a grand total of....$53.83 at local grocery stores and $432.52 at local farms, farmers markets, dairys and chicken or beef producers.  Total for a family of three for 30 days: $486.35 Had we removed some of the items that we purchased to help us stock up for the winter, this final number would have been more near $350.00. Some people claim that "But It costs so much to eat healthy!"  Well here you go.  It cost us $486.35 for the entire month and we were eating pretty darn healthy and we were stocking up our larder for the winter!  Fresh produce, straight from the farm, fresh milk straight from the dairy, fresh delicious eggs with buttery orange yolks, wonderful, tasty pasture raised chicken...

We're nearing the end of the first 30 days of our Challenge that we set for ourselves and I have to say, I really miss, most of all, pretzels.  Small, Snyders pretzels.  That was my favorite snack food at work and for almost 30 days I have not had any of those.  I really miss those.  Instead my snacks have been the usual grape tomatoes and sliced cucumbers, apples and cheddar cheese and saltines and a bit of goat cheese that I managed to make last for almost the entire month.  Today I treated myself and made a big ziploc bag of air popped popcorn topped with melted coconut oil and a tad bit of butter and then I sprinkled Nutritional Yeast, some salt and paprika on top. The end result is very similar to movie theater popcorn but loads healthier.  Yeah, I was craving junk food today.  My son has been thrilled lately as he's gotten as many apples as he has wanted (Actually he's only allowed two per day) Still though, we've managed to stay on...

Twenty Days Now.  And believe it or not we don't feel all that deprived.  We have spent $40.76 at the local grocery stores on groceries.  This includes things like parmesan cheese, some Kale that we forgot to pick up at the farmers market, peppermint patties and raisins.  Remember by the way, we're allowing ourselves a total of $60 per month at the local grocery store. We have spent a total of $366.93 at local farms and the Bel Air Farmers Market .  Last week helped that number inflate quite a bit as we spent almost $60 on fresh picked apples at Lohrs Orchard . So all told we have spent $407.69 this month on groceries. Now just remember however, some of these purchases have been towards items (like the apples) that will produce snacks, meals and desserts for the next year.  This time of the year we're squirreling away anything that can be preserved.  Whether it is dried into chips, canned in chutneys, salsas and sauces or frozen, ...