These pumpkin cranberry muffins are delicious in fall, or any time! They are lightly sweet and wonderful with dried cranberries.
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How to Forage for and Use Wild Apples
Can You Forage for and Use Wild Apples? Have you ever seen an abandoned apple tree with fruit and wondered if they are edible? The short answer is yes, they should be safe to eat. I’ve been using wild apples as a food source since I was a kid and…
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Making Applesauce from Wild Apples
How to Make Applesauce with Wild Apples If you have an abundance of wild apples available, check out my post How to Use Wild Apples for more ideas on how to use them. I’ve been busy for the last few days turning a feed bag full of wild apples into…
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French Toast Made with Duck Eggs
The Best French Toast I’ve Ever Made Duck eggs make the most wonderful French toast! It has a rich, custard flavor and is so creamy and delicious, you’ll have trouble stopping after two (or three or four) slices! Now that I have duck eggs every day, I’ve been working on…
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How to Use Duck Eggs
Duck Eggs vs Chicken Eggs If you’ve never had access to duck eggs, you might be wondering how different they can be from chicken eggs. Some differences will depend on the breed of duck that laid the egg. An egg from a Muscovy will be somewhat different from a Pekin…
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Homemade Applesauce Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
How to Make Applesauce Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting I recently came across a ‘windfall’ of unwanted apples and make a big batch of applesauce. I canned most of it, froze some when I got tired of canning, dehydrated apple slices, and put the rest in the refrigerator to use…
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Canning Grape Juice and Jelly
Concord Grapes! Our friends Rich and Terri live just beyond the Cheddar Curtain (aka the Wisconsin border), about a block from Lake Michigan. They have a wonderful property almost completely surrounded by native prairie and the growing conditions are amazing! Their garden is protected from our super hot Midwest summers…
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Freezing Tomatoes
Save Your Extra Tomatoes for Later! Who doesn’t love a fresh ripe tomato, right off the vine?! Well, I sure do. Our family has been enjoying Pink Oxheart tomatoes this summer. But I can only eat so many tomatoes in season. I always plant extras so I’ll have some to…
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How to Freeze Mixed Vegetables
Freezing Your Own Homegrown Veggies It isn’t difficult to freeze mixed vegetables! If you can freeze the produce from your garden, you can mix it up and preserve combinations of veggies that are harvested at the same time. Growing your own fresh veggies for the summer table is a wonderful…
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Fresh Pack Garlic Dill Pickles Recipe
These garlic dill pickles have a zesty garlic flavor that is delicious on sandwiches or burgers. They are canned for pantry storage for the winter.
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How to Get More Eggs from Your Laying Hens
Get More Eggs from Your Hens! Keeping a backyard chicken flock productive is important to most chicken owners. Get the best ‘bang for your cluck’ by following my suggestions for how to get more eggs from your laying hens! Some folks don’t care how many eggs their hens are laying…
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The Easiest Pickled Hot Peppers You Can Make!
Keeping Hot Peppers for Later My Dad sent a nice bag of hot peppers home with us when we visited family in New York recently. He had a new variety called ‘Inferno.’ I asked if they were really all that hot and he said, ‘They have a little bit of…
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How to Store Home Canned Food for Best Results
Store your home-canned foods properly to prevent spoilage!
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Canning a Bushel of Peaches
It’s Peach Canning Season on the Homestead! Between the bushel of peaches I brought back from Amish country in New York and a bag of peaches from my friend Audrey, I had some work cut out for me this week! It seems like a lot of work when I’m…
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The Pickle Crock
Making Dill Pickles in a Crock When we returned from our visit out east there were plenty of cucumbers in the garden. A few had grown to the size of small watermelons and those went to the chickens. They love cucumbers! The rest were just right for filling my crock…
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How to Make Brine Cured Pickles
Making Brine Cured Pickles Curing foods in brine is an old-fashioned way of preserving them without refrigeration. A salt solution is used to cover the food and keep it from spoiling. Brine cured pickles were a staple in many homes. I remember my Grandma M making large crocks full of…