Why Annie Has Been MIA For Two Weeks

As some of you know, I am recovering from a weekend stay in the hospital. I have been inexplicably ill for several months, and it finally all came to a head last week when I found out that my gallbladder was no longer playing nicely with others in the sandbox of my body.

I had an emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In other words, I had my gall bladder removed.

I found out a few things while living through my ordeal. First of all, it had never occurred to me that my gallbladder was to blame. In hindsight, of course it was my gallbladder!

Almost every time I ate, I had pains in my abdomen for 5 seconds to 30 minutes. Every time I drank coffee. Every time I had a hamburger. Every time I ate pizza. Every time.

Here is the kicker: my gallbladder became infected due to a very large gallstone. The gallstone happened due to my sudden weight loss (40 pounds over the past 6 months.) The sudden weight loss is due to a sugar and dairy allergy that I had formed over the past few years. So, as a reward for losing weight, I got the grand prize of losing an organ!

I am so glad that the doctors found out what was wrong with me. As the months passed, I became sicker and sicker. I started to pass out at the most inopportune times. I could not breathe well. I became weaker and weaker.

Last Thursday, I was in so much pain, that I called TC to ask him to drive me to the doctor’s office. After a preliminary check, I was sent to the hospital for lab tests. I was on my way to one hospital, but was in so much pain, that TC took me to the nearest one. It is a tiny, country hospital, located in ruralville USA.

Our little hospital met and far exceeded every expectation and hope that I had. The entire staff was exceptional. Friendly, knowledgeable, and amazing! If I only learned one thing this past week, it is to never underestimate your local, country hospital.

Give the small hospitals a chance. At my country hospital, the following happened. The ER doctor talked the surgeon into staying late at his office to see me. The surgeon admitted me to the hospital to manage my pain, then stayed even later to read some tests that he ordered. In the morning, the surgeon came back, bright and early to order more tests, read them, and do an emergency surgery on me.

Once in back in my room, I was taken care of by a wonderful staff of nurses and aides, as well as my entire family and several friends. Being released the next day, I have been home recuperating for the past week.

Now that I am home and starting to feel better, I will hopefully have a bit of time for writing, especially since I am still under full restrictions for another week. More writing time means more posts full of tips and recipes that you may find useful.

So, there you have it. Why I haven’t been around for a while. Why you should try small town hospital. Why you will see more posts on my blog. I have missed you all, and look forward to hearing from you.

Here’s to living each day to the fullest, seizing everything you can out of life. Everyday choose joy!!!!

~Annie

Annie’s Simple Peach Preservation

Today I harvested my first crop of peaches from my orchard.  I planted my peach trees three years ago, so I was very excited to have so many loading my trees, ready for harvest.

I have always found peaches to be very easy to process. Others have not found this to be the case, so I thought I would take a bit of time to explain my method, in hopes that others might be able to use it.

Annie’s Simple Peach Preservation

• Wash Peaches
• Fill large pot with water. Heat to boiling.
• Once water is boiling, gently place peaches into water. Let peaches be for about five minutes.
• Check peaches. Look for loosening of peach skin. Once several have loose skin, remove from boiling water.
• Place peaches directly into ice water. Keep water cold by continuously running cold tap water in bowl that is holding the peaches. Peaches will shrivel a bit, and skins will become looser.
• Select peach. Pinch skin between thumb and forefinger. Pull. Skin should pull right off of entire peach. Discard skin. I place mine in the chicken pan as a goodie for the chickens after I am completely finished.
• Thrust thumb into peach until you feel the pit. Peach should split open easily, popping pit into your hand. Discard.
• Repeat!
• Once you have skinned and pitted all of your peaches, you may preserve them one of two ways. You may freeze or can them.
• If you desire to can them, follow the directions in the Blue Ball book.
• If you desire to freeze them, (as I do,) allow them to cool, then place in a labeled 1-quart freezer bag. I like to pre-measure the peaches so I will have the perfect amount for whatever recipe I may be making.
• Lay flat in freezer. Once frozen, bags will be easily stackable for storage.

That is it! See? Simple! No more peeling the peaches with a knife. No more long hours bending over the counter. Well, at least not as many. I hope you find this method as useful and quick as I do.

Enjoy this wonderful season of canning and freezing, my friends! Way too soon the snow will be flying!

~Annie

If you would like to Follow Homestead Annie on Facebook to get more tips and recipes, please click here.

Annie’s Fast And Easy Freezer Corn

The other day, while on the way to Little Bug’s violin lessons, I noticed that the local farmer once again had his sweet corn booth set up by the side of the road.

For those of you that live in the country, it is a fairly normal sight to find an unmanned vegetable booth with a list of prices, a container of bags, veggies, and a can to throw your money in. It is operated on the honor system, and I love it.

I bought ten dozen ears of corn from the self-serve roadside stand, and traveled on my merry way. On the way home, I called my sweet mama and asked her if she would care to join me in a “Put up the sweet corn so we can eat it this winter” fest. I enticed her with free bags of sweet corn for her own freezer. She said yes almost immediately.

My sweet mama is the fastest person this side of Heaven when it comes to cutting corn off of the cob. Seriously. That woman puts us all to shame. However, using the tips and methods that we use, you can be finished with your sweet corn lickety-split as well.

Annie’s Fast And Easy Sweet Corn.

• Husk all of your corn before you begin. I like to do mine outside, the evening before, if possible. I store it, neatly stacked, in a cooler overnight. I give the husks to our goat and pony. Some people use them for compost. Others throw them away.
• The following steps are made for a two-person team, but can be modified for one or for three or more.
• Set up the following: two cake pans on a waist high table. Two knives by the cake pans. Two shallow, large pans. One large bowl. One smaller bowl. Microwave steamer (I use the large steamer from Pampered Chef. If you do not have one, a covered bowl will work just fine!) A rubber spatula. A one-cup scoop or measuring cup. Quart sized freezer bags. A permanent black marker. A large bucket or bag to place corncobs in.
• Once you have everything from the above list in place, you are ready to begin. From this point, it took my sweet mama and I 45 minutes to process, bag, and freeze ten dozen ears of corn.
• Grab an ear of uncooked corn. Place it, wider side down in cake pan. Using sharp knife, cut kernels off in a vertical motion, rotating the ear as you go. Once finished, place empty cob in container. Repeat until cake pan is full.
• Empty cake pan into large bowl. (First person continues to cut corn off the cob while second person starts the rest of the steps. During any lull time, the second person returns to the cake pan, cutting corn off the cob.)
• Transfer enough kernels of corn to fill the steamer from the large bowl, to the small bowl.
• Place contents of small bowl into the steamer. Add 2 Tablespoons of water. Place in microwave for five minutes. Refill small bowl with uncooked kernels so that it is ready for the steamer.
• Once corn is steamed, remove from microwave and pour into large, shallow pans to cool. Repeat steamer process as directed above.
• Using the permanent marker, write the date and contents on the quart-sized bags.
• Using the one cup scoop, measure in however many cups you want per bag into the quart-sized freezer bags. As a reference, our family uses 3 cups per bag.
• Squeeze all of the air out of the bag, sealing it in the process.
• Shake bag in a horizontal position, flattening it in the process.
• Lay bags in freezer. Once frozen, bags may be stacked for storage.

Yep. That is it. While it may seem like a lot of steps, once you get used to the routine, it will go quickly. As I mentioned, my sweet mama and I did 10 dozen ears in 45 minutes. The main holdup is waiting for the corn to get steamed in the microwave. If you have the next batch pre-measured, it will make it go much faster.

For pictures of the steps, just visit Homestead Annie’s Facebook page here.

Have a wonderful day, my friends!

~Annie

Annie’s Tips For A Successful Yard Sale

JP and I live a debt-free life. We also live on one income, making budgeting for the “wants” of life a bit more challenging. One thing that we have wanted for a number of years is a television.

I realize that flat screen TVs have been around for several years, but we have never had the money, nor desire, to get one in the past. We had inherited our 24 year-old television from a family who had it heading for a dumpster, nine years ago. It has serviced us well. Sure, we had to turn it on from a universal remote, praying each time that it would revive itself. Sure, you can’t read most of the wording on the screen. Sure, it weighs almost more than two grown men can manage, but it was free, and it was fulfilling a “want” in our lives.

A few weeks ago, I went to our state museum. They had a display on television broadcasting. There, plunked down in the middle of the display, was our TV. Our television had become a museum piece. It was time to think about a new one.

While we wanted a new TV, we simply had zero funds to purchase one. It was time to get creative. Enter: a yard sale.

I adore going to yard sales. I go to hundreds each year, scouring each for clothes, tools, and other items that we may need, yet cannot afford to pay for full price. I have even had sales at churches as fundraisers for different groups. However, I have avoided having sales at my home.

 I set aside this feeling, and went to work. The end goal was enough money for a new television, and a cleaned-out house to boot.

TC was my right hand throughout the entire process. While all of our eclectic family helped, TC was the mainstay. The encourager. The muscle. The comic relief when I started going over the “this is too overwhelming, let’s just forget it” ledge.

It took us two weeks to thoroughly go through the entire house. As is under beds, all closets, cabinets, drawers, and even the basement.

I borrowed tables and sign holders. Took out an ad in the local paper. Posted it on Facebook. Set it all up (6 large tables, 2 large trailers, and a tarp worth of things.) and waited.

People came in droves. Droves. They wanted to make deals and I wanted to sell my stuff. It was phenomenal. I was busy for two days straight.

The third day it poured rain all day, so I posted that everything was free. This helped get people to my house to take away the last of the treasures. In this way, I did not have to haul everything to the Goodwill.

By the end of the third day, I was down to two or three small boxes and one bag of stuff to donate to the local charity resale shop, and had made enough to get an even larger television than we had ever thought possible.

I am not sure why I avoided yard sales at my home for so long. Perhaps I will have another one someday in order to raise money for another “want.”

Whatever way it goes, I am thrilled that our eclectic family worked together towards our specific goal, and we made it.

I encourage you to think about having a sale of your own. Sometimes it is worth a little bit of hassle in order to meet the end goal.

Annie’s tips for a successful yard sale:

• Price your items to sell. Yes, I realize that it was expensive when you bought it, but this is a yard sale. People will not pay high prices for the opportunity to haul your things away. You must stay in the mind set that you are here to get rid of your things. If you have things that are still worth a lot of money, you may want to look into selling them on ebay or craigslist.
• Be willing to bargain. Many people want to make a deal. Be willing to do so. If you really want $10 for that awesome set of sheets that did not quite fit right on your bed, price them at $15 and be willing to take $7. When people know you will make deals, they will stay around longer and buy more.
• Have someone there with you if at all possible. Having one or two extra people at your sale with you is a great thing. They can help answer questions, take money, bag things and be general moral support.
• Greet everyone with a smile. People love to be greeted. It shows respect and proper etiquette. Most people that go to yard sales are friendly and open for chatting. Be willing to be the same way. I have left countless sales because of the rude behavior of the owner.
• Advertise well. Make sure to list the big items that you have for sale. Furniture. Sizes of clothing. Vehicles. Toy sets. Appliances Etc. Write the dates, times, address, and clear directions in your ad for the paper. Be sure to invest in the ad for the paper. All the regulars will know to look there, and will map out their plan of attack. You want to make sure you are part of their plan.
• Mark your sale well. Use neon pink or orange poster board and a large black marker. At the very least write “SALE” and an arrow pointing in the direction of your sale. You may also want to add the address and the hours of operation. Do not clutter the sign with lists of what is for sale. That is why you took out an ad.
• Group like items. Kitchenware. Linens. Clothing (hang clothing if at all possible.) Toys. Tools. Etc.
• Sort toys and put back into sets. Complete sets of toys and games will sell better and for a higher price than loose toys all thrown in together. Yes, this will take a bit of time, but it will be worth it financially. Trust me.
• Bag the tiny toys and place one price on entire bag. People will willingly pay a few dollars more for a bag of Barbie accessories that is all together, rather than having to search through a bin full of miscellaneous things.
• Have bags ready for your customers’ purchases.
• Have enough change to get you through the day.
• Offer to take your customers’ selections from them while they are still shopping. This will give you a chance to add it all up, as well as free their hands to select more items.
• Always be rearranging items on your tables to fill in empty spots. No one wants to feel like they are getting the leftover items at a sale. Make sure your tables always look fresh and inviting.
• Make sure your items are clean. Take the time to clean your things before setting them out on display.
• Enjoy the day! If your sale goes like ours, you will have neighbors and friends stop in to say hello. You will meet new friends. You will end each day exhausted, yet content.

Yard sales are the perfect way to make a bit of money while at the same time cleaning out unused or unwanted items from your home. I hope your sale is as successful as ours!

~Annie

If you would like to follow Homestead Annie of Facebook, simply click here.