Charlene Brought

Janet Daughter of God wrote:Hows the homesteading communities going? I am looking for a Christian group who are establishing themselves with independent living centered around love for the Lord and King Jesus Christ. Ill be retiring next year and will be looking into what Gods plans for me are to live and where. Im an artist, seamstress and have many other skills applicable to a Christian community. Respond to me on this board please.
Janet

Hi Janet,

My wife and I were reading this board and came across your comment...

We're in northern Alberta, near Lesser Slave Lake, and have been growing a market garden community with the intention of  helping marginalized people stabilize. We call it "The Way Home". We believe Jesus is our Guide and that though we are a 12 step community - we believe our Higher Power is Christ.

We encourage the daily habits of honesty (about our faults - so taking up our crosses), forgiveness (70x7), thankfulness (in every situation)... and serving (for the highest good of all). Not to leave anything Christ taught us out. It's just this is a short reply.

Some of the ways we serve is by growing veggies, rabbits, chickens... spinning wool... milling flour... woodworking... blacksmithing... We'd like to grow our ability to teach, garden, etc... in a way that truly is pleasing to God and meaningful to those around us.

The Way Home helps people who have been marginalized by hosting a recovery friendly environment (we do not take in active "addicts" people do need to be sober/clean). We then encourage a form of self-employment that supports themselves and serves the community at large in a healthy way. We also encourage tiny house living as a feasible and affordable way for people to have a home and a business that can compete with big business and products from overseas while still serving the local community in a healthy way.

We do not accept all applicants. We are case by case intentional as anyone who comes into the community is someone we all have to live with...

We believe in oneness. That is, we aim to believe what God believes.

We are different. From whole grain breads to treating our own water... from making our own yogurt to weekly door to door egg and veggie deliveries... We're not Amish but in 100 years we might look a lot like an Amish community if the sky doesn't roll back like a scroll first. Possibly though, that is what you're looking for?

Maybe Purple Moosages is a good way to reply if you're interested in finding out more.

Travis & Charlene

Ketchup is one of the very good uses I have found for the small red and very sour crabapples that my family has been picking for friends the past few years (mostly to help them deter the black bears from hanging out in their yard and breaking the tree branches).  

The road to making ketchup with crabapples began the year our family was avoiding nightshades (among many other things) because of my son's severe sleep apnea caused by food sensitivities.  One day, I happened across a meatloaf recipe that had a sauce on top made with applesauce and some spices.  I used some of the crabapple sauce I had put away that year, mostly to use it up, since we didn't really enjoy eating it without adding a lot of honey to it (especially since we had much better sauce made from sweeter apples).  We liked the meatloaf and found that it reminded us of BBQ sauce, so I used the recipe a number of times to make sauces for various dishes.  After a while, I began using a BBQ sauce recipe, and simply substituting the sour crabapple sauce for tomato sauce, and keeping it in the fridge for my kids to put on things they would normally use ketchup on.

Eventually, my daughter's begging for me to buy ketchup led me to experiment with making crabapple ketchup.  The first one I tried that she loved was a "raw" recipe that called for a 5oz. can of tomato paste whisked together with 2/3c cider vinegar, 1/3c water, 3 tbsp honey, 3 tbsp minced onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp salt, and allspice, cloves, and pepper (1/8tsp of each).  I simply used a jar of my crabapple sauce (which is about the consistency of tomato paste) and mixed it up quickly before a meal on which I knew she would like to have ketchup... and she LOVED it... said it tasted just like ketchup!  Apparently the spice combination was the right one.

Anyway, from there, I modified and adjusted here and there, began cooking it to preserve in jars, etc.  This is the recipe that I have used the past 2 years to preserve for winter:  10c crabapple sauce, 4-1/2c apple cider vinegar, 2c honey, 1/2c onion powder/granules, 3tbsp garlic powder/granules, 2tbsp salt, 1tsp cloves, 1tsp pepper, 1/2tsp allspice.  I boil it until thickened to ketchup consistency and then seal in sterilized pint jars.  This year, I made a small batch of ketchup with tomato paste, just to compare... there is definitely a difference, but my daughter loves both equally well!

I hope this helps someone... I saw this thread today and had to share my story!