Tag: homestead food

  • How to Ferment Vegetables

    How to Ferment Vegetables

    Fermenting vegetables grown in your garden accomplishes two things at once. First, it enhances the nutritional value of the vegetables by preserving them at their peak. Second, it preserves the vegetables, so you can enjoy them all winter long.

    The process used for fermenting vegetables is simple. You need the right equipment and the right ingredients – and before you know it, you’ll have a pantry full of delicious, fermented vegetables for your family to eat.

    Fermentation Equipment

    The equipment you need to ferment vegetables is minimal and inexpensive. Here are the basic things you’ll need to have on hand:

    • Jars or containers to put the vegetables and pickling brine in
    • A sharp knife and cutting board for preparing the vegetables
    • Airlock tops (we like ones that are compatible with Mason jars) to keep oxygen out of the jars
    • A pickle packer (usually a wooden stick used to pack the prepared vegetables into the jar)
    • Weights to weigh down the vegetables

    You can buy these items individually or in fermentation packages.  Here is an easy, complete Fermentation Kit from Amazon you can try.

    Fermentation Ingredients

    The ingredients you need to ferment vegetables depend on the method you plan to use. However, there are only a few variations you need to know about. Here’s what you’ll need:

    1. Fresh vegetables from your garden
    2. Salt, whey, or a starter culture
    3. Water

    There are many types of salt, but some are better suited to fermentation than others. Two of our favorites are sea salt and Himalayan pink salt. Both add a nice flavor. You can also buy pickling salt although it’s not the best choice if you want a natural, minimally-processed salt.

    The water you choose for pickling can make a big difference in the final product. If you use tap water, you should boil it or run it through a reverse-osmosis filter for the best results. Well water often has a high mineral content. That can be good for some kinds of fermentation but it’s not particularly good for some fermented products like kombucha.

    How to Prepare the Vegetables

    The method you use to prepare your vegetables for fermentation depends on what you’ll be preserving. Some vegetables, such as cabbage, ferment most effectively when they are shredded. Others, like cherry tomatoes, can be fermented whole.

    It may take some trial and error to arrive at the proper preparation. You may want to start by fermenting just one type of vegetable. Later, you can mix vegetables to create pickled salads that are ready to eat out of the jar.

    The Pickling Process

    The next step is after you have prepared the vegetables is to place them in the jars, cover them with brine, and weight them so they can ferment properly.

    You want to use weights on top of the vegetables, so they stay submerged in the brine. That’s a very important step that some first-time fermenters skip.

    There’s an art to knowing when vegetables are done with fermentation. You’ll have to rely on the specific recipes you use to be sure when they’re done. They need to be kept in an anaerobic environment (air free) while they ferment.

    When they are ready, you’ll be able to remove the weights, seal the jars, and put them in cold storage. Prepared properly, fermented vegetables will keep for months.

    Wondering What to Make?

    If you’re wondering where to start, here are some suggestions for easy fermentation:

    • White or red cabbage (sauerkraut)
    • Kimchi (spicy Korean cabbage)
    • Pickled green beans
    • Pickled tomatoes
    • Fermented carrot sticks or slices

    Do you have a favorite recipe for fermented vegetables? Tell us about it in the comments!

  • How to Secure Food When Your Garden Fails

    How to Secure Food When Your Garden Fails

    Gardening is the first place to start if you’d like to be more food-independent on your homestead, and for good reason! There’s nothing quite as satisfying, healthy, and cost-effective as growing your own food. But, sometimes crops fail, or your garden doesn’t produce as much as you want.

    It’s always important to have a plan B, especially when it comes to food, as well as supplementary and alternative options for food. If your homestead is for the purpose of being totally self-sustainable or prepared for when SHTF, you’ll need to make sure you have multiple sources of food beyond your garden.

    Here are some options for food sources to plan on when your garden fails:

    Learn to forage

    Know what grows wild on your homestead and in your area, where to find it, and when it grows. Keep careful record of this, either in a notebook or with pictures (physical records are probably best as you never know when electronics won’t be reliable, but there’s a good chance it will correlate with a situation in which you’ll need extra food!). You’d be surprised how many edible foods there are out there, and even before you you’re in need you might greatly benefit from learning what you can forage!

    Store food

    As with so many topics on this blog, we will always recommend learning to can, ferment, and dry your food to preserve it for the long-term. Invest in a root cellar if you can, and when your garden is fruitful, preserve everything you can. Always try to have  more food than you need!

    Raise animals

    Raising animals should really go hand-in-hand with gardening if you want to be food independent on your homestead. It’s also a great way to have an alternate food source if your crops fail, since the same conditions that might cause a small harvest from your garden might not necessarily affect your animals. Plus, they reproduce on their own, no replanting needed! (Although you’ll probably need to learn a bit about birthing livestock if you want to rely on this).

    Learn to hunt

    Like foraging, it’s very important to know what sources of food are available in your area, and hunting is crucial. Equip yourself with some weapons and learn to hunt now, so you’ll be prepared when you need it as a reliable source of food. Invest in a deep freezer so you can store whatever you get. This is nearly 100% free meat, so it’s an excellent way to stock up.

    If you enjoyed this, you might also like….

    Can You Defend Your Family When SHTF?

    Natural Healing Secrets You Need to Know…

    Effective Primal Diet Hacks…