Clean Stairs

I finally got to clean the staircase this morning. The stairs are steep and were pretty slippery so we put carpet treads on them almost 2 years ago. 

Our vacuum does a poor job so I did a hard sweep with a broom with stiffer bristles. I love having the treads, but they certainly do hold a lot of dirt, as you can see.

We used to have our coats hanging inside the landing of the staircase in the kitchen. We heat solely with wood and our big stove is in the living room so the farther away you get, the colder it is, making the kitchen and laundry room the coldest areas. In the mornings it's usually only about 55* degrees. The stairs are right inside the front door, right off the living room. Since heat rises, the staircase is warm so I decided to hang our coats there to capture the heat.

No more ice cold coats to put on. YAY!!! Next, I need to scrub the risers or paint them if the scuff marks won't come off. I also want to put some pictures going up the wall above the handrail, giving it some coziness.

Canning Potatoes

Skippy had gotten a 50 lb bag of potatoes on sale over at Jon Henry General Store a few weeks ago. I have been intermittently putting them up and using them for meals. Today we are finishing up the canning process.   

Because potatoes are low-acid, they can't be processed in a water bath like pickles, jams or other canning projects with sufficient acidity.  I processed 5 quarts of potatoes at 10 lbs of pressure for 40 minutes.  

I will be "attempting" to dehydrate the remaining potoatoes for chips and scalloped potatoes. I say attempting because I have never tried it before. A dear friend blessed me with one of her dehydrators and My Skippy Man blessed me with one for Christmas.  I am also going to make potato flakes as well, which will be great to take with us camping.  They will take up much less space and will weigh less than bringing a 5 or 10 lb bag.   

I am looking forward to having fun over the next few weeks dehydrating meats and veggies and also making jerky and fruit powders.   

How many of you have a dehydrator?  What's your favorite fruit/veggie/meat to dehydrate?