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Homesteading – Page 82 – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Category: Homesteading

  • 5 Tips for Storing Food in Harsh Conditions

    5 Tips for Storing Food in Harsh Conditions

     

    Storing dry foods can be tricky. Ideally, you want to store your food at about 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit, with low humidity (less than 15%). Of course, that just isn’t possible for a lot of people, especially those who live in exceedingly warm or cold climates, floodplains, etc. So how can you improve your food’s longevity, even if you’re storing it in harsh conditions? Follow these tips.

    • Be selective with expiration dates – Canned goods can usually last years past their expiration dates, but it’s a good idea to choose the ones with the longest dates to be sure that your food doesn’t go bad while you’re not paying attention.
    • In humid conditions, store food higher – Your gut instinct might be to store food in the basement, but if you live in a floodplain, that can be problematic. Store food in the attic or one of the upper floors of your house to avoid flood damage and minimize humidity.
    • Invest in a vacuum sealer – if you’re bagging up dry goods, you can extend their shelf life in any conditions by sucking the oxygen out of them. A vacuum sealer is an inexpensive investment for longer lasting food.
    • Date your food inventory – Your canned goods will likely have expiration dates on them, as well some of your dry goods. If you’re doing your own canning or bagging, though, make sure to put the dates on all containers. Then always use the oldest dated foods first before moving on to newer containers.
    • Grab some Five-Gallon Buckets – If you’re worried about pests getting into your food supplies and/or you want to keep them fresher longer, invest in some five-gallon buckets with tight-fitting lids.

    With these tips, you should have no trouble extending the shelf life of all of your canned and dry foods, even in harsh conditions.

    If you like this, you might also like:

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  • Is it too late to start my garden?

    Is it too late to start my garden?

    Summer isn’t going to last forever, so should you just wait until next year to start your garden?  No.

    While your potential for late planting will depending on the zone you are living in, there is still time to get plants in the ground for almost everyone even without season extension tools like a green house or low tunnel.  Leafy greens and root crops like carrots and radishes easily tolerate the declining amount of sunlight and cooling temperatures this time of year in most places.

    Late-Season Start

    Find out what the first frost date is for your zone, and check out the packages of what seeds you have available for crops that can be harvested prior to your first frost date, if planted soon.  If that’s a little too much math for you, or if you don’t have seeds currently and are unsure what seeds you should purchase for late summer early fall here is a link to a free online planting calculator…

    Planning Ahead 
    Don’t be discouraged if your favorite crops didn’t make the list for late planting.  There will always be next year, but that’s no reason to wait.  A functional and productive garden takes more than seeds in the ground, and there is plenty that can be done any time of year to get you ready to grow what you are more excited about.

    You could starting building raised bed frames.  This doesn’t require spending tons of money at your local big box home improvement store on lumber.  Untreated wood (you will always want to use untreated wood in constructing raised beds so as not to contaminate your soil and food with harmful chemicals) can be easily be obtained in most areas in the form of used pallets.  Make sure you ask first so you don’t get the cops called on you for stealing, and make sure you are taking the unpainted pallets, the blue or red pallets the ones that the business is going to want to keep most of the time and the ones that you want to avoid because of contaminates in the wood.

    Winter Compost

    And every garden needs compost.  You can always start a compost pile. Things don’t break down as fast in the winter, but you can keep things reasonable warm in your pile by doing simple things like placing it in an area that receives sunlight and covering it with black plastic. If you don’t have a garden already, don’t wait, break the inertia and get started today so that next spring you can have a much more productive growing season.

    If you like this, you might also like:

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  • Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Garden

    Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Garden

    Most gardeners don’t live in the tropics or have acres of land to spare, so choosing the right crops and materials to start a garden with is something you aren’t going to want to take lightly.  It could be a third of the way through your growing season before you realize that you wasted all of that time, energy, money, and space in your garden just to grow crops that you aren’t going to benefit from.

    Over-enthusiastic seed purchases

    One thing to avoid is getting your ideas of what crops you are going to grow from a seed catalog.  Seed sellers don’t make most of their money off serious gardeners that have mature gardens already in place. Gardeners with a garden that is several years, or even decades old, are going to be able to get the bulk of their seeds for the following year from the crops they are already growing.  Beginner gardeners who don’t have a seed stock of their own and in many cases don’t know what crops to grow are most likely seed catalog’s biggest customers.

    If you are, as most beginning gardeners are, working with limited space and resources, then you don’t need to grow 15 different types of basil and kohlrabi (which you probably didn’t know existed anyway until you saw it in the seed catalog).  Try to grow crops that represent the nutrients you need and are already eating.

    Extravagant soil 

    Another thing to avoid is buying good soil to start your garden and then buying an expensive rotating compost bin as well.  If you are starting out in poor soil and adding amendments like potting soil or bagged compost to your existing ground, then you are probably going to need to add more long before you are going to be able to harvest any from your rotating compost bin and your money would be better spent little by little on bags of compost.  If you are buying soil to start raised beds, then you are going to have enough nutrients in the soil already and be spending plenty of money to start out with.

    Your money will go further if you simply buy compost to start your garden and at the same time make a compost bin out of chicken wire and two stakes which will cost you less than $15 compared to over $100 for a rotating bin with much less capacity.

    Gardens should be, among other things, a means to save money, not an added expense.  And there is no reason for them to be.

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  • 2 Ways to Preserve Spinach

    2 Ways to Preserve Spinach

    Spinach is a very easy vegetable to grow, and it offers a ton of nutrients. Plus, it’s tasty, and you can use it for numerous recipes. Of course, if you want to use your spinach after the growing season is done, you’re going to have to know how to properly preserve it. Here are a couple of simple preservation techniques that will keep your family eating spinach all year long.

    Dehydrated Spinach

    Rinse your spinach, remove any brown or unappetizing spots, and cut off or tear out thick stems. Once your leaves are prepared, lay them out evenly on a tray and place them in your dehydrator (or oven) and dehydrate your leaves for between three and four hours at 125 degrees. Basically, you want them to crumble when you touch them but not to be burnt.

    Now you can use your dried leaves to make a powder for sauces and smoothies, or you can crush them and add them to other dishes, as well.

    Homemade Frozen Spinach

    Do the same prep you’d do for dehydrated spinach, but you don’t have to worry about removing large stems. Once you’re done with this, chop your spinach leaves and stems up, and then put them in a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Take them off the heat, strain them, and immediately throw them in a bowl of ice-cold water.

    Once they’re chilled, spread your leaves and stems on a towel and let them dry. Once dry, pack them into freezer-proof bags and throw them in the freezer. Now your family will have ready-to-cook frozen spinach from your garden all year long.

    What do you think? Would you use either or both of these methods to preserve your spinach and enjoy its delicious nutrients for the rest of the year?

    Sources:
    http://montanahomesteader.com/preserving-spinach/
    http://dorisandjillycook.com/2010/06/11/three-ways-to-preserve-greens/
    http://www.thekitchn.com/we-tried-3-ways-to-store-salad-greens-and-heres-our-winner-tips-from-the-kitchn-211770

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  • How to Make Yogurt

    How to Make Yogurt

    Yogurt has increased in popularity in recent years, and for good reason. It’s a wonderful source of healthy fat and protein as well as millions of beneficial probiotic bacteria. It’s also delicious!

    Did you know you can make your own easily at home? Yogurt is nothing more than cultured milk, and, like sourdough, all you need is a starter to get going-which is actually just about 1/4 of a cup of yogurt!

    There are many different methods for making yogurt, and this is simply one of them. You can make it in a specially-designed yogurt maker, in a crock pot, even in an oven or a crock. You’ll have to figure out what works best for you, but this will give you a good idea of the process and what you might need to start your own yogurt making process!

    (Note: this recipe is for regular pasteurized milk, not raw. We’ll have to do a recipe on raw milk yogurt in the future)

    What you need: 

    To make yogurt, you only need a few things:

    • Quart mason jar
    • Candy thermometer
    • Sauce pan
    • A quart of organic milk (not ultra-pasteurized)
    • 1/4 cup yogurt starter (yogurt with “live active cultures” on the package, only use plain with no added ingredients)

    Instructions: 

    1. Bring 6 cups of milk to 160-175 degrees F on the stove. Watch closely-it gets hot very quickly.
    2. Allow the milk to cool to 110 degrees. Check frequently-you don’t want it to get too cold, it has to be right at 110.
    3. Skim off any layer that has formed once the milk is cooled to 110, and pour into the mason jar. Add your starter and mix thoroughly.
    4. Put a lid on the jar and keep at this temperature. This is the trial-and-error part, and you’ll have to figure out the best way to do this for you. You can wrap the jar in towels and put in an insulated grocery bag or cooler, or even the oven (turned off) with the light on. You can also just place the jar in a crock pot filled with an inch or so of water if you can set the temperature to 110.
    5. Check it 12 hours later to see if it has turned into yogurt. Check carefully to retain the heat if you need to let it sit for another 12 hours.
    6. To get a thicker yogurt, you might want to strain it through cheesecloth in a bowl in the fridge overnight. Either way, store in the refrigerator and use within 2-3 weeks. Enjoy!

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  • Tips for Keeping Chickens Warm This Winter

    Tips for Keeping Chickens Warm This Winter

    We recently covered how to care for chickens in hot weather, but as fall seems to be whizzing around the corner, we thought it would be a good idea to cover how to care for them in cold weather, because it’s important to plan ahead. It’s simpler than you think really-chickens can, with the right conditions, keep themselves warm surprisingly well.

    1. Let them breathe

    It seems like you’d want to make their coop completely insulated and airtight to protect them from harsh winter weather right? Wrong. While insulation is very important, and you should start fixing leaks in the roof and putting up fiberglass or foam insulation where you can, it’s also important to ensure proper ventilation in your coop. Chickens produce a lot of moisture that needs to be able to escape, and as they also produce a pretty decent amount of heat on their own, this will breed harmful mold that is more likely to kill them than the cold, so make sure there’s still some airflow through the coop.

    2. Keep them hydrated

    It’s very important that chickens have regular access to clean, fresh water throughout the winter months. Make sure to check it and refill it every day, especially as it might be in danger of freezing! This will help them keep themselves warm and keep their poop clean (eh, cleaner).

    3. Try the deep litter method

    A similar method is done for cows in winter barns with hay, this super cool natural way of trapping in heat harnesses the nitrogen in the chicken’s droppings and helps keep them warm. Line the coop with a thick layer, about six inches, of litter and/or hay, straw, wood chips, leaves, etc., then turn once or twice a week, removing wet portions, paying special attention to areas under roosts, and replenishing if necessary. (Hint: this will make some awesome compost in the spring!) You can even toss in some feed to encourage them to scratch it up and turn it too!

    4. Allow for ample roost space

    Chickens need proper roosts to be able to keep warm. If they sleep on the ground, they will loose too much heat. They need ample room to perch, and for their claws to wrap all around the roost to be able to keep them protected from frost bite. If you see your chickens sleeping on the ground or in nesting boxes, they need more roosting space.

    5. Give them room

    In the coop, if you have a larger space, you might want to section off a smaller space by hanging plastic sheeting to give them an area where they can roost and share body heat, because a smaller space will be easier to heat up. Wherever they are, make sure they also have room to scratch-because that’s almost all chickens do all day, you don’t want the poor things to get bored! If you do section off part of the coop for roosting, consider leaving another part for scratching, or make them a covered run for the daytime.

    Sources: 
    http://premeditatedleftovers.com/gardening/how-to-care-for-chickens-in-the-winter/
    http://www.backyardchickenproject.com/keeping-chickens-warm/

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  • A Simple Guide to Alternative Flours

    A Simple Guide to Alternative Flours

    There are many reasons people are flocking to alternative flours today. Gluten intolerance is becoming very common, but there are also many diets that eliminate wheat or grains, such as the whole 30, primal or paleo diets. There are a few reasons gluten-free and grain-free diets can be beneficial for your health, but that’s another post for another today. Today we’d just like to discuss a few of the basic non-wheat flours. This is useful to know for homesteaders, in case you’re interested in growing and milling some of your own flours.

    A note: all grain-free flours are also gluten-free, but the distinction here is that the “gluten-free” flours are not grain-free. 

    Grain-Free Flours 

    Coconut flour: coconut flour is one of the more popular alternative flours on the market right now, and is highly nutritious (as is almost every coconut product). It is rich in fibers and vitamins. It’s texture is gritty and because it is grain-free, is most commonly used in grain-free diets. It can be rather expensive, but most recipes that call for it don’t require very much.

    Almond flour: definitely the simplest of these flours to make at home, you can just soak, grind up, dehydrate and re-grind almonds. Like coconut flour, this is expensive at the store, but you also won’t use very much per recipe. With a lovely flavor, this has all the nutrients of almonds: iron, protein and omega fatty-acids.

    Arrowroot powder: A very light flour, it has a consistency like corn starch and can be used in just the same way. Like coconut and almond flour, this is another grain-free option for paleo recipes, and when combined with egg and milk, imitates gluten very well.

    Tapioca flour: Very similar in consistency and usage to arrowroot powder, the two are virtually interchangeable. Another grain-free flour, this is a great item to have on hand for grain-free baking.

    Garbanzo flour: Almost always found in any pre-mixed all-purpose gluten-free flour, it is very effective in gluten-free recipes as far as imitating the binding effect of wheat. The one set-back is the distinct taste, so it’s best used in savory recipes.

    Gluten-Free Flours

    Corn flour: Distinct from corn starch and corn meal, all three have different textures from each other but are all great options for gluten-free baking. Corn flour is the most similar in texture to wheat flour and is typically used in dishes like masa harina or tamales.

    Rice flour: Known for its gritty flavor, rice flour definitely needs to be used with other flours, but will add a wonderful nutritious value and flavor to whatever it is used in.

    Sorghum: Sorghum imitates the consistency of wheat flour very nicely, so it is a great addition to any gluten-free flour blend. It has a lovely texture and flavor.

    Other flours worth mentioning: quinoa, fava bean, potato starch and potato flour, amaranth (grain-free), teff, millet, buckwheat, oat, millet (gluten-free)

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  • How (and Why) to Render Tallow

    How (and Why) to Render Tallow

    Tallow used to be commonplace a few hundred years ago, before it was replaced with mass-produced cooking oils like canola, corn and soy. What it is is rendered animal fat, (it’s normally called tallow for beef fat and lard for pig fat, but the same principles apply for each) and it can be used in many ways.

    Why Render Tallow

    The reason this is ideal for a homesteader is it’s always ideal to use every part of a butchered animal, and tallow gives you a great way to use up all the fat. But it’s not just useful-its super healthy and nutritious. Tallow is rich in Vitamin K, which is essential for bone health, cognitive function and heart health, Conjugated linoelic acid which regulates the immune system and maintains a healthy heart, and has also been suggested to contribute to weight loss, and omega-3 fatty acids, which can help with heart health, eye health, a healthy pregnancy, cognitive function, balancing mood and lowering cholesterol, to name just a few.

    How to Use

    Tallow can be used for frying and cooking, in place of butter or cooking oil, as an ingredient in lotion or cosmetics, and even to condition leather or as a lubricant for certain farm equipment. Probably one of the most efficient uses for tallow is for making pemmican, an incredible, super-nutritious survival food that can last for years.

    How to make: 

    To make tallow, you will probably want to start by looking up a recipe specifically for the animal who’s fat you are rendering, just to get an idea of specifics about that fat in particular, but for the most part the process is going to be the same.

    • First, you will want to start with frozen or refrigerated fat. This is how it should be stored before you render it. When you’re ready to make it, cut it up into small pieces or pulse in a food processor until it is broken up.
    • Then, you’ll want to put on very low heat over a stove. The key is not to burn it. A stove thermometer is handy here, keep it between 200-250 degrees. Stir pretty much constantly to prevent burning.
    • Once it is all melted, you need to strain it out. A metal mesh strainer will probably work well, or a colander lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter. The liquid will be very hot, so as you strain it, make sure it is into something like an old coffee cup or sturdy heat-proof jar.
    • Once it is cool, it will be ready to store. It can keep at room temperature for up to a month, or in the refrigerator for a few months. It will keep in the freezer for up to a year. And that’s it! Enjoy your fresh, healthy, useful tallow.

    Have you ever rendered tallow? 

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