Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick
Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.
At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."
Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.
A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."
[snipped]
She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.
"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
http://waltonfeed.com/old/mama/buttrpie.html
Buttermilk Pie
* 2 cups buttermilk
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 tsp salt
Bring to a boil and add this mixture
* 1 Tbsp butter
* 3 Tbsp flour
* 3 egg yolks
* 1 tsp vanilla flavoring
Stir until it thickens, pour into a baked pie shell and cover with meringue made with the whites from the eggs or if you prefer you may top the pie with whipped cream
HINT: Apple cider vinegar mixed with honey and consumed at the rate of about 2 pounds per week is said to cure arthritis. Another person claims that by simply consuming 100 pounds of honey a year has cured his arthritis. [Editor note: That’s a quarter pound of honey a day! Who can eat that much???]
This recipe has always caught my eye, it needs nutmeg and could always have coconut, etc.
It reminds me of not having refrigeration, so there was 3 kinds of milk, fresh, blinky [a little sour] and soured milk.
We put sugar on clabbered milk and called it clabber, I buy it in the store and call it Yogurt.....LOL
granny
http://heatkit.com/html/bakeoven.htm
fornobravo pizza oven plans
Pizza Oven Plans
Forno Bravo has a great series of e-books available for free download on its web site (registration required).
Included are step by step plans for 3 styles of authentic Italian brick pizza ovens. Recommended.
Also available are oven management, cooking and bread books. A great new pizza book was just added (June 10/07)
Pizza oven from Forno Bravo plans, by MHA member Scott Goodman
Also:
Online Brick Oven Forum
The Forno Bravo forum has over 1700 registered members, and is the largest online brick oven forum.
Backyard adobe - We built this simple oven at our neighbour’s 20 years ago. It is based on the traditional Québec oven shape, an elongated dome.Backyard adove oven
Click on image for assembly photos.
Building an Horno: the Adobe Bread Oven
by Michael Moquin - Detailed adobe instructions.
Greg’s Earth Oven
Good adobe oven building instructions with illustrations.
Ben’s Art - nice selection of clay ovens modeled on “Bread Ovens of Quebec”
[a small sample of the photos and plans for the worlds bread ovens..Links..]
http://waltonfeed.com/old/yeast.html
Yeast Cultures
Jump within page to...
* Method One
* Method Two
* Method Three
* Notes on Yeast and Yeast Cultures
Method One
As told by Maud Shurtz (born 1896)
contents © Al Durtschi
We kept our yeast culture in a gallon crock jar. When making bread, we used all the contents except about a cup. This gave us the `seed’ to rebuild our culture. We did this by adding cool potato water, some mashed potatoes, a 1/4 cup of sugar and a cup of flour. We then gave it a stir, and set it in a warm place near the stove. When potatoes were cooked for dinner, we added the cooled potato water to the yeast culture. If all went well with our culture, the yeast was ready for the next bake day. If for some reason the yeast died, we carefully washed and sanitized the crock pot then went to the neighbor’s place for another start.
Method Two
As told by Rose Adamson (born 1915)
contents © Al Durtschi
When making bread, my mother pulled a piece of dough off maybe the size of a cup and threw it in the flour bin. The day before she made bread again she went to the bin and got the bread dough which was now large and flat and quite hard. She put this in a bowl of warm potato water with some sugar and let it sit in a warm place. The next day when Mother was making bread she poured the now frothy yeast culture into the bread makings.
(Note from the author: In trying this out, it worked fairly well unless it was left in the flour bin too long. I found that if I left it more than a week the yeast culture died.)
Method Three:
Yeast Cakes
By Bob Scott
* 1 pint fresh buttermilk
* corn meal
* 1 cake of yeast
* 1/2 cup of white flour and more corn meal
Bring the buttermilk to a boil then remove it from the stove. Stir and add corn meal until quite thick then cool. Soak yeast cake in warm water. Stir into above and let stand (rise) overnight. In the morning stir in the white flour and extra corn meal to make the dough very stiff. Roll out to thickness of boughten cakes and cut into squares and let dry.
Use like store bought yeast cakes.
Notes on Yeast and Yeast Cultures:
* Yeast requires warmth to grow
* Yeast goes dormant at 63 degrees F (14C)
* It works best between 80-95 degrees F (24-35C)
* Yeast slows down above this until it dies at about 109 degrees F (46C) Yeast cultures are fragile and are easily contaminated and killed by bacteria
* Keep all wooden or plastic spoons, and everything that is added to the pot as sterile as possible
* Do not use metal as your yeast culture pot (this includes the stirring utensil) - use a ceramic or plastic container
* Place a loose fitting lid on top to allow the carbon dioxide to escape
* Yeast changes sugar and simple starches into carbon dioxide and Ethel alcohol
* It is possible for the yeast to kill itself by the alcohol it produces. For bakers yeast this happens at about 12 percent alcohol content. To prevent this from happening you must keep an eye on it. When it stops frothing it is either out of food or is nearing it’s toxicity level. Add more water and carbohydrates and if your crock is already full, dump some of it out.
Final Note: Don’t expect your yeast culture to act like dried high potency yeast. It will act much more like a sour dough recipe and may take several hours to raise.
Good photos and instructions for cheese making:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/text-cPath-37_57_107.php
Salt Curing Meat in Brine
contents of web page © Al Durtschi
Curing meat by using a salt brine was a widely used method of preserving meat before the days of refrigeration. This is the way we cured pork in Southern Alberta, however it would work for beef as well:
Recipe by Verla Cress (born 1940)
OK - Brine barrel filled half way up with 1 cup salt per 2 gallons of hot water (that’s 32 parts water - 1 part salt), and a bit of vinegar -
OR
BETTER - Brine Barrel filled 1/2 way with 5/8 cup salt & 3/8 cup curing salt per 2 gallons hot water, and a bit of vinegar.
Cut your animal up into ham sized pieces (about 10 - 15 lbs each).
Put the pieces in the brine barrel and let it soak for 6 days. Now that your meat is salted, remove the meat from the brine, dry it off and put it in flour or gunny sacks to keep the flies away. Then hang it up in a cool dry place to dry. It will keep like this for perhaps six weeks if stored in a cool place during the Summer. Of course, it will keep much longer in the Winter. If it goes bad, you’ll know it!
OR... FURTHER PROCESS IT BY:
Putting it in a brine barrel, filled half way up with 4 cups brown sugar to 3 gallons water - and a bit of vinegar (note: no salt): Inject some of the sugar brine mixture into the already salted meat with a syringe, then put the meat in the sugar brine for 3 days.
Remove the meat from the brine and smoke it for 3 days. Now put your smoked meat into flour or gunny sacks to keep the flies away and hang it up in a cool dry place to store. Smoked meat preserved like this should keep in the Summer for at least 4 months if stored in a cool dry place. It will keep much longer in the Winter, or if refrigerated.
Extract from
Leslie Basel’s
rec.food.preserving
Salt, Sugar, Sodium
Nitrite and Sodium Nitrate.
Salt and sugar both cure meat by osmosis. In addition to drawing the water from the food, they dehydrate and kill the bacteria that make food spoil. In general, though, use of the word “cure” refers to processing the meat with either sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate.
Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate are the basis for two commercially used products: Prague powders #1 and #2. Prague powder #1 is a mixture of 1 part sodium nitrite and 16 parts salt. The chemicals are combined and crystallized to assure even distribution. Even though diluted, only 4 ounces of Prague powder #1 is required to cure 100 lbs of meat. A more typical measurement for home use is 1 tsp per 5 lbs of meat. Prague powder #2 is a mixture of 1 part sodium nitrite, .64 parts sodium nitrate and 16 parts salt. It is primarily used in dry-curing.
One other commonly available curing product is Morton’s Tender Quick. It is a mixture of salt, sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate and sugar. Ask your butcher or grocer to stock it for you.
[Where can these compounds be obtained?]
If you are chummy with a local butcher who does curing, maybe (s)he will sell you a small quantity. Otherwise, the Sausage Maker offers all items mentioned here. The Sausage Maker Inc./ 26 Military Road/ Buffalo NY 14207. (716)-876-5521.
© 1996, Leslie Basel
Also, check out Eldon’s Jerky and Sausage Supply
There is some concern that sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite might be carcinogenic. Also a great sausage page.
More Detailed Instructions:
This recipe was taken from a tiny home-made recipe book, “Remember Mama’s Recipes.” It was put together by the women of the Stirling, Alberta, LDS congregation back in 1973.
Brine Cured Pork
* 100 lbs pork
* 8 lbs salt (Note: 1 part salt to 48 parts water)
* 2 oz. salt peter
* 2 lbs brown sugar
* 5 gallons water
Method:
Mix salt, brown sugar and salt peter, add this to the water and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar. Skim off any scum that may form while boiling after everything is dissolved. Remove from heat and chill until quite cold.
Pack the pieces of meat into clean barrels or earthenware crocks, placing them as close together as possible. Now pour the cold brine over the meat making absolute certain the meat is completely covered. Put a board over the meat that just fits inside the container and place weights on it to make sure that the meat is emerged in the brine. When curing larger and smaller pieces of meat at the same time, place the larger pieces on the bottom and the smaller ones on top. This is so the smaller ones can be lifted out without disturbing the larger pieces. The small pieces do not take as long to cure as the bigger ones.
The meat should be cured in a temperature that is just above freezing. If the meat is cured at a warmer temperature the brine may show signs of souring. If this should happen, remove the meat and soak it in lukewarm water for an hour or so. Wash the meat in fresh cold water and be sure to throw out the soured brine. Clean out the container, repack the meat and make a fresh brine in original proportions.
* Bacon sides and loins require 2 days per pound in this brine.
* Shoulders will take 3 days per pound.
* Hams will take 4 days per pound.
After the meat is cured the pieces should be soaked in warm water and then washed in cold water or even scrubbed with a brush to remove any scum that may have accumulated during the curing process.
Hang the meat by very heavy cords in the smoke house and allow to drain 24 hours before starting the smoking.
Hard wood is the best to use for smoking and the temperature in the smoke house should be 100-120 degrees F. The ventilators should be left open at first to allow any moisture to escape. Smoke until desired flavor and color is arrived at.
The Way We Did It...
As told by Glenn Adamson (born 1915)
We never had electricity or an ice house on the farm. Since we had no way of keeping meat refrigerated, we only killed animals as fast as we ate them. ...Pork was our main staple. It seemed there was always a pig just the right size to butcher. We ate more meat out on our farm than the typical family eats now. In the summer, what pork we didn’t eat immediately was preserved. When we butchered a pig, Dad filled a wooden 45 gallon barrel with salt brine. We cut up the pig into maybe eight pieces and put it in the brine barrel. The pork soaked in the barrel for several days, then the meat was taken out, and the water was thrown away. We sacked a shoulder, a side of bacon, or the ham, which was the rear leg, in a gunny sack or flour sack to keep the flies off. It was then hung up in the coal house to dry. Quite often we had a ham drying, hanging on the shady side of the house. In the hot summer days after they had dried, they were put in the root cellar to keep them cool. The meat was good for eating two or three months this way. We didn’t have a smoke house like some people had. But what we had worked just fine. In the winter time when we killed something we didn’t have to cure it. We’d hang it outside the house or somewhere else where it was cold and it kept just fine. (We’re talking Canada, here, where it gets really cold.)
My Uncle George Ovard told me the following story when I was just a kid: He had put a pig in the brine barrel and when he went to take it out several days later he only found half of his meat. This puzzled him somewhat, but he never said anything about it. A couple of days later, one of his neighbors happened to stop by and mentioned, “I hear someone took some of your pork out of your brine barrel.”
Uncle George said, “Yes, but I didn’t tell anyone about it.” The guy had trapped himself right there.
I actually enjoy being at the Lodge. I put in far more volunteer hours than paid hours, but volunteering is part of being a member. I love it all. My husband is an officer and next month will be installed as Governor (think President of other orgs.) That wasn't supposed to happen until next year, but the Governor passed away in January and he became de facto Gov because he was next in line.
All of this reminds me I have to get the April calendar ready so I can run the copies of it tomorrow night.........SHEESH!!!!!
http://waltonfeed.com/old/mama/egpresrv.html
Preserving Eggs First of all, the eggs you choose to preserve must be of the very best quality, 2-3 hours old and allowed to cool. If they are dirty, brush them clean. Do not wash them as it destroys the natural film on the shell. Do not attempt to store any cracked eggs. If possible, candle the eggs to choose the best.
Method 1: Mineral oil, the thinnest available, warm the oil so it is as warm as your hands can work comfortably. To apply the oil, dip clean cloth in it and wipe the egg so that every bit of the shell has been coated. Now just place the eggs (small side down) in egg crates and store in a cool place. If egg crates are unavailable they do very well packed in wheat. It is important to pack the small ends down. Just alternate a layer of wheat and a layer of eggs. The eggs should keep at least 6-8 months.
Method 2: Eggs in lime water; The lime water has to be prepared first as it has to stand for awhile.
To make the solution, measure 5 gallons of water and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat then add two pounds of fresh lime or dehydrated lime, and stir this almost constantly as the water cools. Dissolve as much lime as possible.
Now set the mixture aside and let stand, undisturbed, until all the undissolved lime has settled to the bottom and only clear liquid remains on top. It is only this clear liquid which is to be used...
The crock which you will be using should be very clean. Siphon the clear liquid into the crock you will be using, taking much care not to disturb the sediment on the bottom, now pack the eggs as closely as possible into the crock in the lime solution. Be sure that all the eggs are immersed.
If the crock does not have a tight fitting lid, cover the surface of the solution with melted paraffin. This is to prevent the liquid from evaporating.
Store in a cool place.
How sweet. Thank you. Reading that really made me smile.
Cross referencing is going to get this thread to your 5,000 mark before any of us know it :)
Thank you for offering to do so.
Thank YOU for doing what you are doing. This thread has done wonders for me!!!! I really mean it.
http://waltonfeed.com/old/mama/remedies.html
Tried and True Remedies [Editor note: Please think twice before using these remedies as a few of the ingredients are now known to be poisonous.]
HEAL SORES OR CRACKS IN THE SKIN OF MAN OR BEAST: Use pine tar to Coat the sore area well to keep off insects and promote healing.
SLACKED LIME: dust on animal cuts to seal injured area and promote healing.
FOREIGN OBJECT IN THE EYE: Drop a flax seed into the eye. The particle in the eye will stick to the flax seed and the flax seed is easy to see and remove.
COUGH REMEDY: 2-3 drops of kerosene on a tsp of sugar.
COUGH REMEDY: Equal parts of oil of peppermint, friars balsam and tincture of red lavender. Mix and use drop by drop on a tsp. of sugar to alleviate the condition.
COUGH SYRUP:
* 1 tsp Honey
* 1 tsp glycerin
* juice of 1 lemon
Mix well and use when needed.
CANKER AND COLD SORES: Collect the berries from wild rose bushes and make a tea from them. (These berries may be picked and dried for winter use.) Drink a little of this when you feel a canker or cold sore coming and it should clear up. (This is nothing more than vitamin C.) A little pot ash daubed on a cold sore will also clear it away.
SUNBURN AND STEAM BURNS: Sprinkle area with vinegar.
DYSENTERY AND DIARRHEA:
1. Take a liberal amount of black pepper on a tsp and cover this with thick cream and take this to relieve the situation.
2. Toast bread until almost burned pour boiling water over this. Drink the brown water for diarrhea.
PIONEER LINIMENT: Beat one egg slightly and measure the beaten egg. Add to the egg the exact amount of turpentine as egg and the exact amount of apple cider vinegar as the egg. Mix altogether well and store in a covered jar. This is very good for Arthritic and Rheumatic pain.
HONEY: Honey has been used through the years to cure many things. Taken internally, it has been known to relieve arthritis. Externally it is good first aid for wounds and burns. Bacteria will not live in honey. [Editor Note: This was before we learned about honey being able to harbor botulism.]
I use the honey on goats udders, for chapped teats or cuts on the udder, be sure to clean it well first.
When I first had goats, an Indian man told me to take a gallon of hot water, put in a handful of salt and honey, as I recall it was a half to one cup of honey, stir well and take to the goat, as soon as she had the kids.
Some goats want it instantly, others wait several hours.
He said that the strain and shock of giving birth, robbed the goats blood of salt and strength. And that was what put them in shock after birth.
Why wouldn’t it work on humans, after a shock or disaster?
I never found an expectant mother who wanted me to test it or her. [LOL]
granny
I have to second Granny's comment. Unlike Granny, though I never throw them out, just go through too many of them too fast to get to that point. A dozen a week is nothing in this house (only 3 of us,) and if I really start cooking, we're looking at a minimum of 3 dozen in a week.
Heck I'm going to go through a dozen tomorrow alone.
Even the hubby, who swore outside cats were the ONLY livestock we would have, is doing serious looking into laying hens. And goats.
I have basil, cilantro, rosemary, thyme and parsley going strong on my kitchen windowsill. Beats paying the price for herbs at the store. The rosemary and thyme (yes, I sound like an old song, LOL) are oldtimers I winter over. The others were started from seed in early February.
I'm going to break one of my tomato growing rules this year. We've been in our new house almost four years with many weird microclimates and soil variations as the builder had scraped all the good soil and rearranged some. I had a fantastic crop of tomatoes in 2006 on a big berm in the back but it was infested with those horrible tomato hornworms. I still got a great crop. I rotated to the junk soil near the house last year and even with the addition of tons of compost and manure, they were anemic at best.
I'm going to grow corn on the north side of the berm and attempt tomatoes again to the south. My husband and son like to pluck off the hornworms and flick them into the farmer's field behind us. I'll let them enjoy the job while I'm staking the delphiniums and hollyhocks. :)
Thanks for the tip.
I no longer drive or leave the house, so don’t know if we have a costco store, we did not, the last I heard.
But then I am not the only person to read your tip, so it will help others.
Welcome and do join right in, that is how we learn.
Welcome, thanks for the bump.
I don't have Costco where I live, but I bought both multi-grain and honey wheat bread for $1.39 each for a 24oz loaf in Food Lion.
You can’t make it for that.
Not any more.
You are right eggs are good for you.
I always eat them, when my sister comes to visit, once a year, she buys all the breakfast goodies at the hamburger stand.
They make a good breakfast burrito.
I am teasing you, I do not cook, as I pass out, and don’t always have a warning.
I do not like the smell of raw eggs, so am not tempted by them.
My grandmother freezes her milk - anyone know how long that lasts in the freezer? Does it taste good?
The tomato tree was not mentioned, but I have tried it and it has never sprouted for me, so I do not know what it is.
Today, I would not buy any fancy seeds from an ad, as I think the old heirloom seeds grow better for me.
I suspect it is useless seed, as tomato seeds are hard to kill, they used to go through the sewage plant in San Diego and would grow on the sand humps in the bay.
If I wanted a tomato tree to day, I would read the descriptions for the tomatoes at SandHill Preservation [posted early in the thread]and chose one of the tall varieties, with a strong trunk.
As it grows, keep the lower branches pinched off and you should then have a tomato tree.
You are welcome to join us, we all have a lot to learn.
Sandhill Preservation is the first link:
Have you priced eggs of late? I can buy beef cheaper per pound than eggs. And even as expensive as chicken has become, it is FAR less expensive than eggs.
Not as cheap as beans, but inexpensive.
I bought butter today, granted it was on sale, but it was very close to being the same price per pound as the eggs I also bought. The butter was $2 a pound, eggs were $2.39 a dozen. 4 pounds of beans is still cheaper than 1 dozen eggs, which weighs 24oz (1.5 lbs)
I'm not trying to fight with you, just expressing my attitude that NOTHING is cheap, let alone inexpensive in the supermarket anymore.
Hello and welcome to our learning experience....
I have frozen milk for years, but have no idea how long it lasts, I would think that a month or two.
The real problem with it,is it separates and the water makes a hard ice that is still hard, while you are using the melted portion, it must thaw completely and be well shaken.
You can of course use the last part to make gravy or bread with.
Thanks for the tip on bread, we do not have your store here.
It has been at least 3 years, since my last visit to a store and my
sister did not leave the receipt for groceries, as she needed it to add to all I owed her.
She has my checkbook, for paying bills, but she lives in another state and it is easier to use her bank card and then pay herself back on one check.
If you ever want to do something special for someone, take the time to see their bills are paid, and on time, it may well be the nicest thing anyone has everdone for me.
My mailbox is 400 foot from the house, and as there is no way that I can get to it, she had all the important stuff transferred to her address in Washington.
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