Kitchen Happenings: More Wine & Jerky, Indoor Garden, Castile Oil Spray & Dehydrated Apples
Another week has passed since my last Kitchen Happenings and so much has been coming out of the Golden D Homestead Kitchen. At first I was a little low on sharing ideas, but then my parents stopped by yesterday for a visit. My dad had his monthly blood draw at the hospital and they have to drive near my home, so they stopped in bearing gifts and, for a two-fold visit, were seeking some things from me. My mom was looking for some help with the Samsung Tablet we gave her for this past Christmas. Dad got an Amazon Fire Stick with tons of goodies and mom got a tablet. Now these two retired lovebirds, who just celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary last month, can spend time together snuggled on the sofa together.
My mom was running low on her herbs, so I restocked mint, catnip and marjoram for her. She also brought me some real neat kitchen supplies that I will be sharing next Monday for the weekly needleworkmonday event. Watch for it next Monday- super excited to share and I will be having a giveaway too!
What's Been Happening In The Golden D Kitchen
Gifts From Mom & Dad
They had stopped at a local butcher/country store that specializes in meats; all kinds from venison to buffalo and everything in between.
Well my dad grabbed some elk tenderloin they had in their meat case; knowing I would love it. So I decided to make some jerky out of it. I marinated it overnight and got it ready on the dehydrator as soon as my husband was out the door to work. Yeah, he's anxious for snack tonight! Plus I saved some to make my rendition of Philly Steak Sandwiches for dinner one night this week. I have it marinating in the refrigerator.
In their travels the last few weeks, my mom came across a good deal on some Simple Truth Castile Oil, so she grabbed me three bottles; and I set to work mixing up some lemon scented (essential oil) spray cleaner. Another way I have stopped using store-bought, chemical-riddled cleaners.
My Other Kitchen Happenings
Wine
After last week's racking and bottling of my first batch of wine, I immediately started a new batch using 100% organic Concord grape juice.
Dehydrated Apples
I took some still good apples that were either bruised or a little winkled and got them prepped for the dehydrator. These are perfect for snacking on or to chop up and add to my breakfast yogurt cups
Indoor Garden & Grow Tent
8-foot tall grow tent in the kitchen corner with tomatoes, catnip, feverfew and other herbs from my indoor winter garden.
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Thanks so much for the Valentines gift @goldendawne you are awesome!! Happy Valentines Day!!! :)
Can't tell you how much I smiled seeing the indoor grow tent in the kitchen! I had one in my bedroom until a date said "You really need to get that the hell out of here!" :P
That indoor grow tent in your kitchen is awesome! :) hooray for a winter garden in such a convenient place!
I love the grow tent. What kind of light do you have on the inside? Does it have any exposure to the sun? Thanks for sharing my friend.
It's a 600-watt ( 276w power draw) light fixture I got online last summer.
It has both a vegetative and flowering mode.
I love your grow tent! What model is it and do you love it? Any complaints? I would like one. Our house gets cool at times and I think the tent idea would really help.
It is this one- Lighthouse Hydro Hydroponics Grow Tent , 32 by 32 by 84-Inch
We found it on Amazon last year and I bought it to have on hand, just in case so glad I did.
The only problem I had was the assembly. Getting the last two pole in was VERY difficult. But once it's up, it's easy to move, fairly light weight.
I don't care for it being in the kitchen because it looks so MASSIVE! I may end up moving it into my spare bedroom just so it's out of sight. I am thinking of adding a shelf inside but worry that the light may not get to the lower plants; so my dad said to buy a wire rack and use that instead of an actual wood shelf. Which I may do.
Very interesting, thank you for the info. We have our whole seedling grow operation in the kitchen (well ...our whole main floor is pretty much one room). Its ugly but convenient. I would love to be able to grow full sized plants. Not sure If the energy usage would bee too high for us to do that but it would be so cool! If I were at your house I would be sniffing all the plants ....it's like having spring in a bag :)
Me too... the gardening table, the grow tent, the supplies... all of it is in the kitchen. My kitchen is quite large but I'd like to move some of it out of there. Told my husband we don't need the spare bedroom, can't I just turn it into an indoor garden central?
That sounds SO awesome. I would love an indoor garden room! I hate that our spare room is taken up with a bed when it could be so useful for us for the 3/4 of the year that no one is using it! I think we need to build a guest shack :)!!
how is that castile soap at cleaning different surfaces? i havent tried it yet on countertops as i am a bit concerned about that soapy film that can get left behind sometimes.
yay for jerky & double yay for apples in the dehydrator! i need to get to making more jerky with the meat i have. i also need 5 more hours in a day 😁
I mainly use this castile soap cleaner in the bathroom. GREAT on the tile and for quick clean-ups in there. I do use on the countertops but sparingly.
AIN'T THAT THETRUTH!!
Ditto!!!! Except I need about 10 more haha
Oh my. What an interesting life you lead.
I'm really curious as to what elk steak tastes like. I've never seen it let alone tasted it.
I've never seen those indoor grow tents either. What an education I'm getting here! 😊
Dried apple is my go to travelling snack. How long do they take to dehydrate and, yes, you've guessed it I've never seen one of those either. 😁
I'm so impressed with all the stuff you get done and then top of all that you do so much on Steemit. What an inspiration!
Elk is a cross between beef and venison but has an almost sweeter taste to it. Hard to explain but it is very good. I've never made jerky out of it before so I'm curious how it will come out. Usually I make a roast or BBQ it with seasonings or a teriyaki marinade.
The apples took about 13 hours. I sliced them all fairly uniform but the thicker the slices the longer it will take.
The grow tent was a God-send this winter. My tomato plants were doing fairly well until Mid-December when the sun was its furthest away.No window in my house could give them enough sunlight. So I broke down and got the tent and extra lighting.Not only did it save my plants, but the catnip and feverfew have been thriving!
There's so much happening in your kitchen! Everything looks so delicious. I doubt we'd get anything as exotic as elk here but the rest is good inspiration to get creative in our own way.
After the garden/greenhouse and being on steemit, the kitchen is my favorite place to be.
Elk is very good. Not everyone likes it though. If you like venison, then you'd probably like elk too.
Thats one very busy and productive kitchen!
That's a very cool little green house. I haven't tried elk, but I hear its wonderful.
It is! It's been years since I've had elk too. My dad said he saw it in the meat counter and knew he had to get some for me.
Up north... about 3 hours from me is an area of Michigan known as Elk Country. Near Atlanta and Lewiston, I'd love to go on a day trip one autumn. I was up there once back in the 1990's and actually saw a small herd of elk. THEY ARE HUGE!
And the grow tent was a life-saver for my tomatoes. I've been thinking of starting my seeds early this year and using the tent before the move out to the greenhouse.