Posted on 09/16/2023 3:07:53 PM PDT by CottonBall
This is an ongoing thread – meaning come back to chat, post information, or ask questions any time. Hopefully the thread won’t stagnate and I’ll do better at posting weekly (or bi-weekly) topics than I have in the past. (anyone willing to post a topic now and then we'll be highly praised and appreciated).
We are in for some bumpy rides, and prepping can only help. If for peace of mind, if nothing else. We have a wonderful gardening thread and a current-events survival/prepping thread, and hopefully this one can piggyback off of those, maybe having a longer discussion about certain topics or … whatever. It's your thread, do what you like with it! (civilly, of course)
Here are granny’s threads, if anyone wants to peruse them:
nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #1
nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #2
nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #3
To Be Honest
“My volunteer turnips are the size of softballs”
nice!!
I love turnips but never thought about growing them.
“I have found some and have been learning to save seeds.”
at one time, I ordered a can of nonhybrid seeds from emergency essentials. I planted my whole garden from that can and have been saving seeds since. I almost enjoy saving the seeds as much as picking the produce.
“I have found some and have been learning to save seeds.”
at one time, I ordered a can of nonhybrid seeds from emergency essentials. I planted my whole garden from that can and have been saving seeds since. I almost enjoy saving the seeds as much as picking the produce.
My presto says to put in 3 quarts water for pressure canning, and 2 Tablespoons vinegar.
in briefly scanning the All American booklet, it says 2-3 inches water but doesn’t mention vinegar.
Would it be a good idea to use vinegar anyway, to prevent discoloration of the canner? or is the All American made of something different than Aluminum?
After seeing where they started growing after a couple went to seed, they will grow almost ANYWHERE.
I wouldn’t think of using vinegar in an aluminum pot. Acids can leach the aluminum out and I would expect MORE discoloration, not less.
I use a mixture of 1:1 distilled water and tap water to fill the canner. Distilled water will pit even stainless if used by itself, so mixing it with tap water cuts the hardness of the tap water so there’s less deposit from the hard water minerals.
Yes, there is some discoloration in the bottom of the canner up to the water line, but the metal does not look pitted or corroded. I put in a couple inches BEFORE I put the jars in to make sure its enough. By the time the jars are in the water level is sometimes about 1/3 the way up the jars, but it doesn’t matter because once the canner is up to pressure, the temperature of everything is up to the 240 F mark.
I have the All American canner, too.
Going out to watch the kids pick a million (hopefully lol) potatoes from the garden to put into storage. Reminded me of the prepper thread!
I don’t do all of this prepping stuff, other than help out where I can, but will enjoy the benefits of it!
I love turnip as well! I think it’s pretty easy to grow. Goodness knows they’re difficult enough to peel, so it’s pretty hardy.....and hearty!
Thanks for the info. I meant to get to this sooner but now I’m ready to watch YouTube videos and then can some water. Where does the time go? Every day I seem to get less and less done.
How many potatoes did you get? How do you store them? I suppose it’s no problem in canada, I mean making them stay cool enough. That’s the problem here, even in an underground dairy.
All Things Prepping, Simple Living, Back to the Basics [Survival Today, an on going thread]
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/4192413/posts
The kids got off the hook today, as it rained all last night and off and on again today. Too mucky! The potatoes last well here - we’re still using last year’s harvest. As long as they’re not cleaned and the dirt dries on them, they’re good in the walk-in fridge.
I have found some and have been learning to save seeds.
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I’ve been trying to buy heirloom seeds when I find them and then seed saving the past couple years, too. Someone suggested the book “Seed to Seed”, seed saving and growing techniques by Suzanne Ashworth. It just discusses vegetable garden seeds.
I bought it, but have only browsed it for particular plants. I’ll try to read more over winter.
It’s been about 10 years since I canned chicken. I partially cooked it and cut it into cubes (chicken breast) adding a bit of broth to it. It turned out pretty good. I mostly used it for quick pots of soup or mixing in with the noodle/rice packages for dinner. I’ve been thinking of pulling my canner out and attempting the process again this year.
This year I waterbath canned for the 1st time. I had a lot of tomatoes and didn’t have any freezer space. It worked ok for pints, but I tried a couple quart jars and had to add water to keep it over the jar without overflowing the pot. I stuck to pints after that 1st batch.
I usually pressure can beef for soups and stews, and turkey.
When we’re done with the turkey carcass during the holidays, I cook it down well and make soup broth, which I can, some with the meat and some as just broth.
It’s great to be able to make a fresh pot of turkey soup in the middle of winter. I don’t can it as soup because I don’t like the way the veggies come out when pressure canned, so always just grab a jar or the canned meat and broth off the shelf and add the veggies fresh.
I would also recommend Carol Deppe’s “How to Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties”. I has good info on seed saving, but it also tells you how to create new varieties and adapt them to your needs.
“It’s been about 10 years since I canned chicken. I partially cooked it and cut it into cubes (chicken breast) adding a bit of broth to it. It turned out pretty good. I mostly used it for quick pots of soup or mixing in with the noodle/rice packages for dinner.”
Did the canned chicken end up shreddy? Even with my not pre-cooking it, my chicken breasts end up mostly shredded. Especially if I end up moving it around too much and whatever dish it ends up in.
Met mom, you said you didn’t like the results when Raw packing. I might be thinking this wrong, I thought with less cooking it might end up more like normal cubed chicken. How did it end up when you partially cooked?
“When we’re done with the turkey carcass during the holidays, I cook it down well and make soup broth, which I can, some with the meat and some as just broth.”
I love love canned broth. Any kind. Or I guess it’s stock, since I usually make it from bones. But something about the canning process makes the flavor so intense. And I don’t even add meat
What a disappointment!
Well first start start with things chronological. I called Pleasant Hill grain and tattler. The lady at Pleasant Hill grain didn’t know anything about reusable lids. But the lady at Taylor knew all about all americans, she said that was all she used. So I was happy and proceeded forward.
I can’t remember if it was in the All-American booklet or on a video on their website. But they said to go ahead and try to get the pressure up to 15 psi, no jars in it, just to test it. Good thing I did because I couldn’t get the lid on right until I tried it several times. I finally had success, the little 15 wait jiggled away, but the pressure gauge showed zero the entire time!
That’s just not going to work for me. Not at that price! lol. Plus I had no idea when the pressure was down low enough to remove the weight. So I emailed Pleasant Hill green, at about 5:05 so now I have to wait till Monday. I hope they are easy to deal with to get a replacement.
I feel like the canner and I was making friends. Well just a little small roadblock. Maybe I’ll get another one and we will be friends also.
But I bought a whole lot of chicken! And I don’t have that many jars left so I don’t want to use the presto. I really don’t need canned chicken it was just to experiment with the canner. I cooked up some for the kittens, they’ll be happy. We’ll have chicken parmesan tomorrow night. The next night hubby said he would smoke a couple of chicken breasts. And see how they turn out.
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