Page 74 of 93

A House – Update VII – Floored

October 19, 2010 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

With the foundation beams up, it was time to start on the floor.

Floor Joists

Given the approximately 8 foot spans, I chose to go with 2x8s for the floor joists, which I planned to overlap on each beam, spaced 16 inches on center. (I had originally thought I would need the entire piers under the floor; but in looking back, given there is planned to be a porch, I probably would have brought the ends of the floor to sit right on the beams.)

I started with the ends, which I decided to double because they were going to support the gabled walls; and I staggered them, similarly to the built-up beams. Also, since I would be overlapping the joists as they crossed the beams, this would offset the joists 1 1/2 inches off from the 16 inch on center layout, which would cause problems with being able to lay the subfloor down evenly centered on joists. However, having these end joists doubled would allow for shifting the subfloor boards to once again end up sitting evenly centered on the joists. The final subfloor board in a course would end up 1 1/2 inches off the end, which I would cut off and put back on the other side, which had been shifted 1 1/2 inches away from the end:

After putting them up on both sides, I ran a header string from each built-up joist…

…which would be used to line up the internal joists with each other:

Once a joist was in place, I toe-nailed it to the beam….

And finished them by hammering them in further. Being right-handed, it was fun to learn and practice hammering with my left hand:

And here is one side of the joists all set in a line:

This is the overlapping of the joists. With any warped boards, I would sometimes have to clamp them together to be able to nail them together properly:

I added spacers between the joists to straighten them and give the overall floor more stability. Also, I put them on the beams, again, for more stability:

After getting the joists in place, I added the header boards:

Because we are planning on having an inner wall down the middle of the house, and the middle of the house is in between two beams, on every other joist on the middle row of joists, I doubled the joists to give extra support to that wall. I doubled joists for another inner wall that’s to run parallel with the joists; and in this picture, I added several doubled joists in a row, which is where we are planning to put our wood burning stove:

To help against wind lift and to better secure the joists to the foundation, I attached each joist where it crossed each beam with hurricane clips:

And here are the joists completed…

…facing South…

…and facing West:

Subfloor

For this, I chose 3/4 inch tongue and groove plywood; the tongues and grooves fit together to make the places where the boards span floor joists much more stable. I also heard it was good to glue them to the joists and use screws, so I used external Liquid Nails for the glue and 3 inch deck screws to secure them, placing screws 8 inches apart on the board edges and 1 foot apart at the internal points on the joists. The board would be fastened down short end to short end across the whole platform, making a “course”; and each course would be staggered from the previous one by half the board.

When I first started, I didn’t really think through which long end type I should place against the first outside corner, the tongue side or groove side of the board. Well, I chose groove side, because it didn’t seem right to use the tongues side. Well, this stroke of genius started me on a path where with each subsequent course I was trying to fit the groove into the tongue. Needless to say, it was quite difficult, although I finally did get into a pattern where I’d loosen the screws next to the tongue of the previous course and use the mini-sledge hammer to knock them up and loose from the glue so they would flex better when I was trying to slide the groove onto the tongue. I also learned to clean out the groove and clean the tongue so nothing was in the way of them coupling. All of this worked ok until I learned from those much smarter than me that you could hit a board against the opposite site to force the tongue and groove together. I thought I had tried it before; but when I tried it again, it worked great. Of course, by then I only had about a course and a half left. 🙂

At any rate, given how long it took to get the floor on, I figured it was going to be a while before the house is dried in, so we painted the subfloor with water sealer, tinted cedar color (just to make it darker as a personal preference). Notice the stagger pattern of the boards from course to course:

Here is a course where the boards were shifted 1 1/2 inches to accommodate the overlapping of the floor joists, and I cut off the other overhanging end of the last board of this course and brought it over to this end to fill in the gap:

And here is the platform finished. Thanks to Sue for all of her helping me get the boards in place, and for painting the rest of the floor and repainting my terrible painting job!

Even though it took several months, it’s finally done; and we thank the Lord for the continued progress on the house.

— David

How To Render Lard

October 8, 2010 / David & Susan Sifford / 16 Comments

As most of you know recently we had our sow, Missy, butchered. The butcher gave us all of her fat. which I rendered into lard. I thought I would share that process because it’s so easy, and people don’t think of lard as a great source of healthy fats anymore.

The fat usually comes in bags of large, thick, strips:

To enable the fat to melt quicker, I cut it into 1-2 inch pieces. It seems to cut better and easier if the fat has been chilled and is less rubbery in consistency:

Then I put it all into one or more simmering pots. (Any stock or soup pot or even large sauce pan seems to work fine):

I place the pot onto a burner and turn it to the lowest setting. Some people might prefer to put a heat diffuser under the pot to more evenly distribute the heat and protect the fat from burning. I don’t have one yet, so I just put the pot right on the burner. As the fat heats up, it will turn rubbery and creamy white in texture and appearance:

As the fat continues to melt, it will become increasingly bubbly. Rendering fat is not something you can start and come back to in a few hours. Due to the fact that it is very hot and can burn easily, you want to stir it fairly often (not constantly, but you want to be nearby enough to keep an eye on it). Also, please be careful not to look directly down into the pot as the fat is extremely hot and can pop up into your face and burn. I also don’t usually put a cover on the pot, as the condensation drops down into the fat and causes more popping if I do. But do whatever you prefer and feel is safest:

There will be a point where the bubbling will start to subside after a period of time (a few hours in my experience):

After the bubbling subsides a bit, you will see the pieces of cooked fat called “cracklings” floating in the liquid fat. At this point, the rendering process is close to complete; and you want to watch to make sure your fat doesn’t start to smoke or the cracklings scorch. This makes for burnt lard, which is still usable but not desirable:

I have learned it is better to turn off the heat sooner than later to ensure no burning of the lard. When the bubbling has mostly stopped, I turn off the heat; and the cracklings start dropping to the bottom of the pot:

After a short time, most of the cracklings should sink to the bottom of the pot leaving pure liquid fat waiting to be spooned out and put into hot jars. Some resources will say this process can take up to 18 hours, and maybe I’m doing it wrong, but the method I use seems to only take a few hours per batch. Perhaps I’m not getting all of the liquid out of the fat pieces, but right now I don’t have the luxury of more time, and I’m not sure how one could get much more from letting it simmer a lot longer. And mine always starts to smoke if I leave it longer anyway. So, whatever method works best for you is the best method!

Since the melted fat is EXTREMELY hot, it is best to heat up your jars before spooning the fat into them. I take clean jars, place them on the rack in the oven, and turn it on to warm or a little higher, and let them heat up while I’m prepping everything else. Then when I am ready for the jars, they will be nice and warm/hot to accommodate the very hot liquid:

To prevent little tiny particles of cracklings to get into the lard, I filter the liquid while spooning it into the jars. You can use whatever method works best for you (cheesecloth, paper towel, mesh strainer with cloth, etc.) I recently found that a goat milk filter works great, so I’ve adopted that method. I place the filter into the canning funnel that fits into the mouth of the canning jar, and it makes a nice filtering setup:

Since most of the cracklings have sunk to the bottom, it is very easy to ladle out most of the liquid fat into the jars:

I tip the pot to get the last of the liquid out:

All that is left are the cracklings after spooning out the liquid fat. I munch on a few as I process the fat but don’t usually do anything with them except feed them to the chickens. However, some people I’m told put salt and seasonings on them for a tasty treat.

I try to press out as much fat from the crackings as I am able, but there is still a bit left in them. I used an antique lard press a few times but came to the conclusion that the amount of extra fat I was getting was not really worth the mess the press made and the resources required for clean-up. But some people may be very loyal to them. It’s certainly a personal choice:

And here is the rendered fat ready to be sealed and either stored in a cool place or canned and stored. I usually end up yielding several quarts of lard when we butcher a pig, and since Dave and I don’t go through it quickly, I like to pressure can it. I was surprised that there is VERY little information on the Internet about canning lard. I probably way overdo it, but I can it for 90 minutes as if I were canning meat, because I can’t find any reliable information otherwise. So I can it a lot to ensure its safety. If you can reliably provide additional information from your own lard canning experience, I am all ears and would greatly appreciate it. Until then, I’ll play it safe. I have not experimented to see how long an uncanned jar of lard will last down in our root cellar but hope to remember to try it next time. But I would hate for all those quarts to go rancid from not canning them before we are able to use them. This way they are good for years.

The rendered lard hardens up and turns white (or a little darker depending on the type of fat rendered and if it got burned in the process). The lard will turn to liquid again if heated:

I love using lard now for many, many things. I use it to pop popcorn, on bread for grilled cheese sandwiches and toast, as an oil in recipes and baking, etc. It may sound icky but it’s a wonderful and tasty organic animal fat. My friend Shannon, once again, has a great blog post on healthy fats, and lard is right up there at the top of the list. I had to be re-educated on the benefits of healthy animal fats, and I’m assuming most people think it’s very unhealthy, but I believe we truly need these healthy fats in our diets. I hope you take a few minutes to research it for yourself.

Also, I’m sure most people may not have a freshly butchered pig “hanging around,” but I’m told many local butchers and processing places will either give away or sell their fat, so you may want to check that out in your area.

Lastly, if you don’t have a copy already, I highly recommend the Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery to get you started on rendering lard. It is truly a survival book for those of us just starting out on our domestic, animal husbandry adventures.

We also currently make homemade fat lamps with our lard, and I hope to experiment making soap from lard as well and will let you know how it goes, Lord willing. You can also render lard out of beef tallow (fat), so maybe sometime we’ll be able to butcher one of our Longhorns and I’ll be able to share that adventure as well. As always we are so very grateful for God’s provision to have this homemade healthy fat resource.

Susan

The Orchard – Update II

September 27, 2010 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

This Spring we were very excited to harvest our first peach crop! It is still hard for me to believe, having grown up as a city girl, that you can actually grow your own “stuff” and not have to go to the store! Sadly, and as silly as that sounds, it is still such a new concept to me.

We currently have four peach trees in our little orchard; and we were so thankful to see the big, colorful, healthy peaches hanging there, each a gift from God:

It wasn’t a large harvest, but plenty for us to eat and preserve:

We cut up and placed some on the solar dryer, which turned out great! They are now in canning jars on the counter to grab when we want a snack:

I also found a very easy recipe for canning peaches (I didn’t even skin them, and they came out fine). I also used minimal sugar to create a very light syrup instead of the normal heavy syrup. They were delicious, and I still have a few jars down in the root cellar for winter time:

Lastly, but certainly not least, I have been wanting to experiment with making chutneys; so I found a great peach chutney recipe in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. I recently mixed it in with a chicken and rice dish, and it was delicious! I have since made other chutneys as well, but plan to devote another blog post to that. But, in short, I am SOLD on chutney!

We are so very grateful to God for His gift of these peaches, among all of the other produce from our orchard this year.

James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Susan

Mess Hall Missy

September 17, 2010 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

As most of our regular readers know, this is our sow, Missy. She had a litter of 11 piglets recently, of which 9 survived healthy and strong, thanks to God. Once the piglets were weaning age, we decided to sell all but one Dave currently calls “Runt Girl,” which we hope to mate with a boar traded to us from our neighbor, Michael. Missy also was the runt of her litter and a real survivor, enduring a couple of dandy injuries, so gentle, and a great mom. We debated on possibly putting her through one more round of mating but decided it would cost too much to keep her in food for those several months, and finding a boar her size would be difficult and probably expensive as well. The decision as to how soon to take her in to the butcher was pretty much made for us the day a gentleman and his son came out to buy two of our piglets. Missy turned into a mother bear and was giving Dave a hard time, even to the point of becoming dangerous. So Dave called the butcher and made an appointment to bring her in the next Monday morning.

Little side story, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a pig squeal while being handled, but it really unnerved me the first few times. You would think they were being skinned alive. One day I was helping Dave capture a boy and girl piglet to be put into the truck cage and delivered to a local man. We both had battled some kind of food poisoning a couple of days before this and were feeling pretty weak, in addition to dealing with the debilitating Texas summer heat. It was very physically taxing for Dave after several tries to capture these little guys. But we finally got a system together where we would funnel them into their pig shed; and Dave would corner the one he wanted, and then tackle it. He tackled one, and picked it up; and it was kicking and squealing; and he turned it backwards and asked over the squealing, “Is this a boy?”; and being that I was so flustered from the noise and commotion and didn’t see the little boy parts, I said “No, it’s a girl”; and as soon as he let it go we could see it was a boy after all. Dave looked at me in disbelief and was so sick and exhausted, I was horrified! I bent down and threw my head in my hands and said, “Oh, I’m soooooo sorry, I thought it was a girl!!!!!!” I guess the way it was being held the little testicle sacks were tucked in somehow. Dave was very frustrated but was gracious with me because he saw how terrible I felt about it. Long story longer, that little boar escaped twice from its cage over the next 24 hours, and we had to do it all over again. But we were finally able to safely capture and sell the remainder of the piglets. Thank God for keeping everyone safe and healthy, and for bringing buyers for the piglets. We learned a lot through that whole experience.

Getting back to Missy: we still miss her; but, as you’ll see below, she continues to be a wonderful blessing from God. She was ready to be taken home from the butcher after about a week. Dave’s job of capturing and selling the piglets had mostly ended, but my job to preserve Missy had just begun. In an effort to keep costs down, as well as processing time, we chose to have much of the meat ground up and cubed. Generally, we do not run our freezer to keep any foods in storage indefinitely; but we did run the freezer just long enough for me to process everything via pressure canning. This time it took me about 2 1/2 weeks to get through it all because I had to miss a few days here and there to take care of other things. We only had to run the freezer about 6-7 hours per day to keep things cold enough; but that meant running the generator also, which can get expensive in a hurry; so I was on a mission to get it done as quickly as possible. I was also able to render all of the fat into lard (blog post coming on that, DV) and make soup stock out of all the bone and rib meat. (Dave has a phobia of getting sticky BBQ sauce on his face and fingers, so I just go ahead and simmer the meat off the rib bones; and it makes for delicious meat and soup stock!)

And here is the end result!

Included here are ground pork, mild and hot ground breakfast sausage, cubed pork chops, steaks, ham and shoulder meat, rib/bone meat, pork stock/broth and lard. We kept out some pork chops and steaks to BBQ over the couple of weeks I was processing it all. MMMMMMMMM! Delicious! And speaking of soup stock (or pork broth), I wanted to mention two things: I had borrowed a set of these stock pots from my neighbor, Danielle, and was so pleased with them that I bought myself a set. They have proven to be very decent quality and useful for all kinds of simmering/cooking/rendering, etc. at a great price – FYI.

And secondly, my friend, Shannon, wrote a great blog post on making homemade bone broth. In that post, there was another great link to an article regarding the amazing health benefits of homemade bone stock/broth. I highly recommend reading them when you have a moment.

Boy, I sure do appreciate Dave building that summer kitchen. It has made a world of difference in my canning experience, in having more room and keeping heat out of our camper.

So, thanks to God’s direct provisions and resources, we now have many more jars of homegrown pork meat, all processed and down in the root cellar, waiting to be eaten. It’s such a beautiful thing after a busy day on the farm to go down into the cellar and grab some of this and some of that of the Lord’s provisions to fix for supper, or any meal for that matter.

We look forward to many more pig litters and direct provisions from God, according to His will.

Susan

Ice Cream!

September 8, 2010 / David & Susan Sifford / 3 Comments

I like ice cream! Sadly, the stuff you buy in the store has a lot of junk in it. But really, what is ice cream? In its most basic form, it’s simply soft-frozen milk. Well, it just so happens we have milk coming from our goats! And so, we found a very simple ice cream making recipe using plastic bags, and thought we’d try it. We just needed some ice, rock salt (to super cool the milk), and some flavoring.

For our version of the recipe, we put a pint of chilled goat milk in a plastic quart-sized resealable bag, with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, and this time also some chocolate chip cookie dough chunks, and sealed the bag:

Then we filled a gallon freezer resealable bag about 1/3 full with ice, and added 6 tablespoons of rock salt:

And we put the quart bag with the milk mixture in the gallon bag, and sealed that:

And then started shaking. We usually put a towel around it because it’s very cold:

We shook it a couple of minutes longer than the recommended 5 minutes, as it seems to help things freeze better. Et voila! Ice cream!

Here it is frozen in the bag, just after taking it out of the ice and salt:

And then in the bowl:

And then in our tummies!

While this is something of a luxury, it’s nice to be able to luxuriate generally from the provisions of the land, and in a much more healthy way. As always, we thank the Lord for His provisions!

— David

Susan’s Musin’s – Journey Out of False Security

August 25, 2010 / David & Susan Sifford / 7 Comments

I’ve always been a “what if” person. Wayyyyy back in elementary school, the sixth graders got to go to a week long science/nature camp. And when I was in the second grade, I cried to my mom, “I’ll be too scared to go and leave you for a whole week; I can’t do it!” My mom, bless her heart, had to calm me down and remind me I was only in the second grade and didn’t have to worry about it right then. Well, when I finally got to the sixth grade, I had a non-conformist teacher; and our class got to camp on the beach for a week and study the California Indians; and my mom was able to go as a chaperon. My “worst fear” never materialized. Later on as a senior in high school, I was asked to be a camp counselor to the sixth grade girls at that same science camp; so I got to go after all and made it just fine 🙂

I share that little story to tell you that I have always been that way, even into my adulthood and marriage, even more so because the “what ifs” seemed bigger when I got out on my own. The ultimate (so far) was when Dave and I decided to leave our corporate jobs and families in California and move here to Texas where there were mostly unknowns. (And Texas was one BIG science camp to me with all kinds of bugs, pests, snakes, tornadoes, etc.) Most everything was being taken out from my control, which, looking back so far, has been the best thing that could have happened to me. If you have read our early blog posts, you will know that God had been teaching us from His word about His sovereignty and lovingly growing our faith to be able to make the decision to trust Him and leave everything that we considered “secure” in order to be obedient to how He calls us to live in separation from the world as His children. (2 Cor. 6:14-18; Isaiah 52:11-12; Rev. 18)

As I have learned more about type and shadow in the Bible, I see that physical Israel in the Old Testament is the type of spiritual Israel today. I am very encouraged whenever I think of the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years and all of the miracles God performed (ie: daily manna from heaven (Exodus 16), water from rocks (Exodus 17:1-6), their clothing and shoes never wore out (Deut. 8:1-4), etc.) We’re talking hundreds of thousands of men, women and children with all of their livestock; and God provided for their needs in the desert where there was nothing but His direct provision to sustain them. He provided shade by day and a pillar of light at night (Exodus 13:21,22). God had given them faith enough to step out and leave Egypt in obedience to His command, and He took care of the rest. However, it was because of taking their eyes off of God and His direct protection and provision that they were made to wander in the desert those 40 years before being allowed to enter Canaan (a type of heaven). And only the very few of the original Israelites that had truly and consistently trusted God were permitted to enter Canaan (Numbers 14:30; 32:12). The rest perished in their sin in the desert. The Israelites complained and longed to go back to Egypt because they had grown used to looking to Egypt to supply their needs (Exodus 16:3). Even though they were in bondage to Egypt they looked to it for security and material things instead of looking to God. I believe this is the situation most professing Christians are in today when they look to the world’s systems for sustenance (food, water, protection, care, etc.), but the Bible states this is not what God has commanded for His children to do.

Over the last five years of living here, I have been very tempted to look back to Egypt for my security, but God has taught me in His long-suffering and proven time and time again that He is the one who is in control regardless of the circumstance. As most of you know, we live off grid here and are increasingly learning to look to God for His direct, and I mean direct, provisions. God provides the rain for our water, our food from the ground, and our meat. During bad thunderstorms, tornadoes and in all the seasons, God reminds me in His word that it is He who is in control of the weather patterns and every single strike of lightning (Texas T-storms put the fear of God in me every time). I have also learned that every heart beat is a gift from God and all my days are in His hand and have been foreordained (Psalms 139:16). He also promises rebuke, chastisement and persecution to His children (Hebrews 12) to grow them into maturity; and I am to be perfectly content with only food and raiment (1 Tim. 6:8); so, ultimately, my job is to be obedient and trust in God completely, knowing that He knows what is best for me as His child. So whatever comes my way, it is for my good; and I can have peace in that.

I now look back to the “Egypt” from which God has called us to separate as His children, and the “what-ifs” are much scarier to me now if I think of returning to “Egypt” and trusting in man and its systems rather than God.

Our community has been going through the book of Isaiah recently, and I have been soberly struck by the number of verses in Isaiah and Psalms that talk about trusting in Egypt (the world and its systems) vs. God:

Isaiah 30:1-3: “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth: to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.”

Isaiah 31:1: “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!”

Isaiah 31:3: “Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.”

Psalm 20:7-8: “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.”

Psalm 118:8-9: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.”

In my firsthand experience of living in the world and depending on its systems for my security, and now living outside the world’s systems in direct dependence upon God for my sustenance, I believe it has become almost impossible in our time to stay in the world and walk hand in hand with it everyday and not be taken into its trust and look to it for security (ie: grocery stores, city water, grid electricity, health care, money, etc.) and thereby not to the God of Israel who is the same yesterday, today and forever. And if I ask myself in which situation God glorifies Himself more, and in which situation my faith is grown more, and where I am drawn closer to God, there is no question. My job is to be obedient to how God has commanded me to live, and He will handle the rest. I pray the Lord continue to turn my face towards Him alone and trust in Him completely.

Susan

Hens and Hannah

August 18, 2010 / David & Susan Sifford / 4 Comments

Hens

Our chicken flock has been dwindling over time, due mostly to them just getting sick or dying, or getting crittered; and so we’ve been looking to find some adult hens or were planning on buying some chicks to get raising while it’s still Summer hot here, since the chicks would not have feathers yet and would hopefully be able to make it without special heating. But, the Lord granted we find someone from the local town selling her hens for a fairly good price; and we jumped on it.

We ended up with a Buffy (Buff Orpington), a Rhode Island Red, two Game Hens, and a chick that one of the game hens was raising. Before we had a kennel for the dogs, we had kept them in our chicken pen area, which was our staging area for chickens we would raise that were too large for the chicken mini tractor but too young to be with the main flock. Sadly, the dogs had pretty much torn up the fencing; but I was able to add some chicken wire and do a little repair work and get it at least workable for the new chickens:

Soon we hope to start putting them in with the main flock at night so that the main chicken tractor will become their home.

Hannah

We’ve also been looking to sell most of our goat bucks; and in someone responding to our ad about them, initially wanted to trade a buck of theirs for one of ours, as I had also indicated in the ad that I was willing to do so for our outbreeding purposes. Well, by the time we communicated further about it, they had sold all of their bucks. But I thought, maybe they have a dairy doe they would trade one or more of our bucks for; and so I asked; and they were indeed willing to trade their supposedly pregnant Lamancha-Saanen doe for our pure Nubian buck Donny.

Here is the link to the blog post we did on Donny when he was first born.

And here he is now:

And here is our new doe Hannah. I’m pretty sure they disbudded the horns; and Lamanchas have the tiny ears, although hers are really small:

We thank God for His provisions of the new chickens and goat, and pray He grant them to serve their purposes here in bringing forth sustenance.

— David

The Sifford Sojournal

Page 74 of 93

A House – Update VII – Floored

How To Render Lard

The Orchard – Update II

Mess Hall Missy

Ice Cream!

Susan’s Musin’s – Journey Out of False Security

Hens and Hannah

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