Tabla de contenidos para Winter 2018 en Capper's Farmer

After a busy day, who wants to spend a lot of time preparing supper? I know I don’t, and I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one. That’s where casseroles, bakes, and one-dish dinners come in. Luckily, here at the Capper’s Farmer office, we have thousands of recipes in our archives, so I decided to search our database for some quick and easy, yet delicious and satisfying, main dishes. As is usually the case with recipes, most of the ingredients can easily be substituted or omitted to fit your taste preference or what you have on hand. Following is just a sampling of the recipes that fall into the category of great-tasting, simple-to-make main dishes. I hope you enjoy them. TUNA NOODLE BAKE Yields 6 to 8 servings. 1…

Winter tends to be a tough time of year for us all, but it can be especially hard on pets. Here are some tips to help you protect your four-legged family members this winter. • Keep pets indoors as much as possible during cold weather. Like humans, animals can get frostbite. • Trim the long hair on the bottom of your pet's feet to prevent ice balls from forming. • If your dogs and/or cats live outside, it’s important to provide an insulated home for them in winter. In addition, be sure to line the shelter’s floor with blankets or straw to ensure warmth. Also, check their water supply often to make sure it has not frozen. • While outside playing or on a walk, if your indoor dog begins…

When most people think of chives (if they think of them at all), they primarily think of a garnish atop a baked potato, a bowl of soup, or a salad. But chives are much more than just a garnish, and they warrant consideration as both a dietary and medicinal staple, particularly as we deal with increasingly virulent infection strains and rapidly rising cancer rates. Chives, a member of the Allium family, which includes garlic and onions, have been found to be effective against serious bacterial infections and are useful in cancer prevention and treatment. This beautiful perennial herb is a great addition to almost any meal and any garden. A Brief History of Chives People have used chives for more than 5,000 years. Native to Asia, chives were originally consumed…

Imagine what your garden might look like if you couldn’t go to the store for packets of seeds, or flip through a catalog filled with seeds from across the globe. Imagine the only things you could plant were whatever you managed to save last year, or what your neighbor had shared with you. Now, imagine if that garden, planted with whatever seeds you could get, was your main source of food for the year. It might have contained two kinds of beans, one string bean and one for shelling dried beans – or maybe only one kind for both. You may have been able to raise two peppers, one hot and one sweet – as long as the seeds your cousin Back East sent sprouted for you. You could plant…

Garden Replica of Childhood Farm I had always wanted a flower and vegetable garden combined with memories of the farm where I was raised. A while back, after visiting the farm, now owned by a first cousin and his wife, my husband and I decided it would be fun to build a replica of the old red barn, built in the 1900s, as well as the railroad bridge that was located nearby. My husband constructed the barn and bridge, and then I painted and placed the doors on the barn, the tracks on the bridge, and the steam locomotive on top of the bridge. As a child, we had a windmill with a stock tank, dogs, cats, cows, chickens, sunflowers, and a Chevy pickup similar to the ones we used…

I went to the grocery store yesterday, but that’s not big news. I’m no stranger to grocery stores, but on this occasion, I was transported back in time to Dave Brumfield’s general store in my hometown, in the mid-1950s. Ah, yes … the good old days. Now before any naysayers get all wound up about the social issues of the time, the myth of the good old days, and the rest of the claptrap relied on to salve consciences, let me say that, in some instances, they are exactly right. To an 8-year-old in my humble village of less than a thousand people, however, social issues meant who your best friend was, and we lived in a different world. There was no daycare, there were parents … and if a…

Even though fuel and electric costs continue to rise, you can minimize the hit to your pocketbook this winter. From replacing your outdated HVAC system to simple sealing solutions, here are some energy-saving techniques for every budget. 1 HEATING AND COOLING USES ABOUT HALF THE ENERGY IN AN AVERAGE HOME. If your HVAC system is between 10 and 15 years old, consider replacing it with a more energy-efficient model, and if you have the spare cash or can roll the cost into the financing of a new home or remodel, consider a geothermal – also known as ground source – heat pump. Geothermal heat pumps provide a way to heat and cool the home with minimal electricity, because they use the subterranean earth as a heat source in winter and…

CHUNKY CHILI Yields 12 to 16 servings. 3 pounds ground beef 1 large onion, chopped 3 quarts canned tomatoes with juice 11/ 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1/ 2 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste 4 cans (15 ounces each) red chili beans Diced hot peppers, to taste, optional Salt and black pepper, to taste Shredded cheese Diced green onions 1 In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown ground beef and onion, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Drain off excess grease. 2 Transfer meat mixture to a large stockpot, and place over medium-high heat. Stir in tomatoes, brown sugar, chili powder, and chili beans. Add hot peppers, if using, and stir to blend. Season with salt and pepper. 3 Reduce heat, and let chili simmer for at least…

No wonder more and more folks are making a beeline for beekeeping. A single hive of these tiny, social pollinators can provide 40 to 60 pounds of golden honey per year, as well as a few pounds of useful beeswax. Plus, many crops need honeybees (Apis mellifera) to achieve good fruit set and high yields. This pollination benefit is becoming increasingly important because of the use of toxic pesticides, which affect bees’ food supplies and results in lower pollinator populations. For the willing homesteader or backyard gardening enthusiast, dedicating a small amount of time every couple of weeks to maintaining a beehive will render sweet returns indeed. Like any livestock, bees need care and attention, though the time commitment can be far less than for dairy goats or even chickens.…

Heading for an auction or thrift shop? While you’re there, take a second look at those old tables, chests, and whatever else is shoved back in odd corners – and don’t be overly turned off by ugly paint or varnish. What’s under the surface may be a quality piece of furniture that will make a nice addition to your own home, or a welcome source of extra cash. Often, the difference between junk store dust catcher and collector’s item is the simple step of refinishing. I’ve put some time into learning this skill, and find it very useful and profitable. My house is full of old furniture that I bought for next to nothing and made beautiful for little cost. Restoring Old Furniture My first and most important piece of…

Back in 1955, a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books followed in the My Folks series, all of them filled with true tales from our readers. The following are stories, or portions of stories, that were printed decades ago, without any fact checking, meaning that all the details may not be accurate, but instead are what was…

Hand tools, including hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, and tape measures, remain as essential on the farm today as they have been for decades. As much as farming has changed in the last 150 years, though, the use of these tools has not. Tape measures have been used to measure land for fields, pens, and lots; lay out structures; and measure construction materials, depth of postholes, and length and diameter of bolts and rods. They’ve even been used to measure the girth of livestock to determine live weight. Fairly Recent Development The first written mention of a cased tape measure was in 1838, in England, when Charles White was sentenced to the penal colony in Australia for the theft of a measuring tape wound in a metal case. Ancient Romans measured with…

An old plow (1), a seeder/planter (2), a dump rake (7), and a corn grinder (9), from Kaylyn Masters of Burlingame, Kansas. An antique John Deere crawler (3), from Peggy Lemos of Converse, Texas. A rusty Ford tractor (4), from Jeff Humphries of Cedar City, Utah. A vintage tractor (5), from Savannah Johns of Paragould, Arkansas. A trio of tractors (6) and an old McCormick Deering tractor (8), from David and Debra Propst of Lincolnton, North Carolina.…

Snow and ice season is here, and if you aren’t prepared, you could wind up spinning your wheels or lying flat on your back. Managing the white stuff is a life-saving necessity for folks who live out where the pavement ends. For others, it’s a combination of convenience and cost savings. In either case, with the right tools, winter’s worst doesn’t have to slow you down. From a novel shovel design, guaranteed to save your back, to machinery that promises to effortlessly put snow where you want it, to ice-melting flamethrowers, to traction devices that will keep your feet beneath you and your tires rolling true, we’ll show you how to plow your way through the season. And with any luck, we’ll all have some fun in the process. Ice…

Through the years, we’ve published tens of thousands of recipes, and we have most of them archived. This section highlights those recipes, which appeared in previous issues of the magazine. Roberta Duncan, of Kansas City, Missouri, requested a recipe for an easy-to-make cream cheese frosting, made with almond extract, like her mother used to make for frosting cinnamon rolls. CREAM CHEESE FROSTING Yields about 2 cups. 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature 1 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract 1 In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer), mix together butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Beat in powdered sugar. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. 2 Spread over cooled…

Last year, we had the pleasure of talking to Trisha Yearwood about the 10th season of her television cooking show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, which premiered in August 2017 on Food Network. Trisha is well-known for her award-winning singing career – and for being married to country singer Garth Brooks. And for the past several years, she’s gained fame as a best-selling cookbook author and host of Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, where her Southern hospitality shines as she brings to life the stories and recipes from her cookbooks. Her first two cookbooks, Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen and Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood, were written with her sister, Beth Yearwood Bernard, and their mom, Gwen Yearwood. The third cookbook, Trisha’s Table, was written by Trisha and Beth, after their mom passed…

I've never worked in a sawmill, but the technology fascinates me. Most tractor shows have an operating sawmill, and I enjoy watching as the spinning blade reduces a log into usable lumber in no time. The most elaborate mill I’ve seen is the Briden-Roen steam sawmill at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, Minnesota. A huge, high-production mill, it's powered by a Case 110 hp skid steam engine and several smaller units, including one used to hoist logs into the mill. Sawmills are still very much in use – that’s where all those boards for sale in Lowe’s come from, just in case you wondered. There was a portable mill down the road from me a year or two ago, and lots of permanent mills remain in operation,…

Five years of experience raising free-range flocks on my organic farm, Mama Tierra, in Bowdoin, Maine, has led to some useful, albeit hard-won, insights. I did some homework and spoke to other flock owners before undertaking this adventure, but mostly I followed the “Just Lay It” approach, and simply learned by doing. It’s a tried-and-true New Englander strategy that, for better and sometimes worse, can have a long, mild – yet consistent – learning curve. Before deciding to liberate your fowl to freely follow their bliss, here are a few things to consider for a successful free-range endeavor. First, let’s be clear about what constitutes “free-range.” It is a fallacy to qualify free-range eggs as those produced by hens raised outdoors or that have daily access to the outdoors. This…