Posted on 12/30/2012 6:33:21 PM PST by teenyelliott
So, I'm sure at least one person here on FR has wondered what happened to me, maybe two of you. Before I really really stopped posting, many of us had discussed the possibility, and or the desire, to get out of the city to our own little homesteads and try to grow some food, for security, for peace of mind, for whatever reason.
Well, my family did it.
Two years ago we made the jump. We bought a place in the country, and have spent the past couple of years setting up our little homestead. We have a big garden, many chickens, some ducks, some guineas, some sheep, some goats, and a barn for all of them. A woodstove, a hand pump well, even a solar chicken coop.
Any of my old pals, and any new ones, come check us out! Would be pleased to hear from you, and share what we are learning.
Please ping any of my old buddies that you know of; I seem to have misplaced my old ping list!
Thought I’d share my newest endeavor. And get some input on my next one.
I realized I had very little sugar stored away, compared to the wheatberries and beans. While I am not in a position to grow much food or raise animals, I place myself in ‘prepper’ mode instead of ‘homesteading’, and will rely on a couple of year’s worth of stored supplies until such time that I can move and become a homesteader, like teeny.
So, I bought a bunch of sugar on sale and some buckets. I already had the mylar and oxygen absorbers. But I realized sugar is better without the absorbers, since that makes it rock hard. And sugar will store indefinetly without them anyway. So I put sugar in gallon-sized mylar bags, used a straw to suck out any puffiness from the bags, and ironed them shut, making sure the seal was as wrinkle-free as possible. yeah right - who has really had a lovely, shiny, non-wrinkly seal? Anyway, I had enough room in the bags to make the seal quite wide, so the bottom portion was somewhat smooth compared to the rest. I put the individual bags in a bucket, snapped on the lid, and was done! I don’t think I’ve ever stored anything without oxygen absorbers and it was super easy not having to worry about them, how long they’ve been left out, having to work very quick, etc. The reason I used individual gallon bags is - that’s all I had. I did have one 5 gallon one left from Emergency Essentials - but it is so thin that I don’t trust it. I could see light through some of the ones I got from them - so beware if you order some from there. I don’t know the mm thickness but the gallon ones from LDScatalog are obviously thicker. Anyway, I also thought I’d rather have smaller portions available to use than 5-6 gallons, and have the rest protected by mylar. The thought of bugs in the sugar made me ok with wasting some bucket space by having 4 mylar gallon bags instead of 5 gallons of sugar all together.
Now, my next endeavor - cornmeal! On a prepper thread here, they were talking about having canned cornmeal. Back when I was planning my preps, I thought cornmeal already ground went rancid. I was told to buy dent corn and then grind it. (My grinder doesn’t handle popcorn, which is more readily available at Emergency Essentials, Honeyville, etc.) I never did get any. But in reading about cornmeal, as long as it is degerminated, it has a longer shelf life and if mylared/oxygen absorbered - can last 5-10 years. So I have 20 pounds in the freezer as we speak, to freeze any critters. Then my plan was to put that in the oven at a low temp for an hour or so to both dry it out and to kill any more critters. Then pack it into gallon mylar bags (again, just my new preference although I have the majority of SP in 6 gallon mylar bags), throw in oxygen absorbers for freshness and to kill any remaining critters, and seal ‘em up. I know I do overkill on the bug thing and only need to either freeze or bake, but I’ve always done both because I’m squeemish.
Any ideas on the cornmeal project are welcome! thanks, CB.
I use large clay pots with cow manure and potting soil. Add some limestone gravel and put a two inch layer of gravel in the bottom of the ‘large’ pot before adding soil mix and celery sprout. You will be amazed at how much root structure a healthy celery stalk generates. These roots once the stalk is cut off make excellent mulch for the potting soil.
I was wondering how much root space they needed. So I better wait until it warms up enough here to put them in the ground, since I don’t have large pots or a way to water them when gone.
My gardening problems - or learning how to garden - are because I’m gone to the mountains off and on during the summer. My gardens in the valley haven’t done well without attention. Although the weeds thrive! And what I’ve planted in the mountains, like raspberries and potatoes, haven’t done well when I’m gone because of a lack of consistent water.
Italian Garlic Knot
1 cup warm water
2 T oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1 T yeast
Garlic Butter Ingredients
2 T oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 T butter
4 garlic cloves
Combine the warm water, oil, sugar, and salt. Add flour and dry yeast all at once. Stir. Knead dough for 8 to 10 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to make a smooth, elastic dough. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes. Heat oil and butter in a skillet and add minced garlic and salt. Cook and stir for about 5 min. Grease two large baking sheet. Punch down dough and roll out on a floured surface into a 12 x 12” rectangle. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into twelve strips each 1 inch wide. Cut strips in half. Tie each strip into a knot. Put twelve per baking sheet, covering with a towel and rising for 20 to 30 minutes, until nearly double. Brush each lightly with some of the garlic butter, trying to get bit of minced garlic on the rolls. Bake at 375° for 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer immediately to a large bowl, pour remaining garlic butter over rolls, and toss to coat.
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I’m having some people over for dinner and thought I’d try this recipe. I’m pretty sure I got it from one of granny’s threads because I have pages of recipes in my ‘to try’ file, most of them from her.
They are pretty good and very easy to make. The knot is a cute idea and really easy to do. They look fancier than they are. The only thing I did different was I used up all the garlic-butter in basting the rolls so had none left to toss them in. Not sure I’d want to ‘toss’ hot and squishy rolls anyway - they probably wouldn’t be so pretty after that! The garlic bits added a lot of flavor so be sure to slip those in the crevices of the rolls. After being cooked, the garlic isn’t overwhelming - just tasty.
Done! Not sure how often we will use the ping list, so just check this thread every now and then to see what everyone is putting here. It will be an ongoing thread.
Thank you so much! Added you to the ping list, but make sure to check this thread every now and then, and please (all of you), share what you know. This will be an ongoing thread for everyone to share and learn.
Took some photos, and will get them up tomorrow.
Oh Lord, that is tragic. People just don’t know the value, or the history, of the things they throw away for the sake of “convenience”.
Actually, I use many of them as individual waterers, and they last about a year. I fill the bottom with enough river rock so that the jugs don't blow away, I poke a small hole in one corner of the bottom, and when filled the jug will slow water a gallon to a single plant.
2.You can also can flour, sugar, etc, using the oven to heat them...CANNING DRIED GOODS IN THE OVEN
3.I have also heard of people using 55 gallon drums of corn (or beans, etc.)...prior to sealing, you put a mason jar in the middle of the grain, kind of just squish it down so that the top is still open. Put a candle in the jar, light it, then put the lid on. The flame will use up all the available oxygen and then burn out. No oxygen, no bugs. Cool idea, seems like it would work.
As far as corn meal goes, Buy whole and grind as you go.
DelaWhere used to talk about oven canning too. I could never quite understand the scientific process that caused the lids to ‘ping’ when no air was removed, so I’ve never done it myself. I’ve only used the oven to kill critters before adding an oxygen absorber.
I have wheatberries stored, not flour, because the wheatberries last for decades and the nutritional value of flour the highest right after being ground. The hard shell around the wheatberry is nature’s perfect encapsulator. We probably don’t even need to go the extra mile of using oxygen absorbers and mylar - wheatberries have been found in Egyptian tombs and were still edible.
Pretty neat idea with the candle! Sounds like an old-fashioned remedy that is still valid today.
Those sound yummy! Thanks for posting-going to try them soon.
Thanks for the dent corn idea and Honeyville. They have great shipping prices so that’s doable. If I can’t figure out how to find some locally.
My grinder can handle dent corn, so that’ll work well.
BTW, is the picture of the sheep on your website one of your critters? She has such a sweet face.
Th oven thing, I assume it is the heat that causes the jars to seal. I made some applesauce a few months ago, and it was so hot when I put it in the jars they sealed all by themselves, without traditional canning.
All the photos of animals on my site are ours. If you are talking about the banner photo up top, that is Wally, our little Southdown Babydoll wether. I have a bunch of his wool sitting right here to wash and process, if I ever have time!!!
Growing Celery, Day 10 Growing Celery from Scraps
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