Author: Merrie

Published on Leave a comment on Fall Is Here

Happy first day of fall.  The weather has sure been showing sign of the new season.  We had our first frost on the September 15th which sure seems a little early.  The garden was mostly done anyway now it is just a matter of getting it ready for winter.  Since this is the first year of my raised beds I'm going to try a new method.  The goal of the raised beds is to not till the beds anymore and to disturb the soil as little as possible.  So instead of pulling up all the spent tomatoes, beans and squash I am just going to cut them off at the ground and drop the plants in place on the raised bed.  I will then cover everything with a good layer of compost.  After dampening the earth well the beds will then get covered with a layer of clear plastic which will superheat the soil to kill any weed seeds that may be in the soil.

Besides getting the garden ready for winter we have to finish getting our wood in for the winter.  The woodshed is nearly full but it is nice to have it overflowing.  We ran a little short this last winter since it was a really cold one.  Besides the hardwood for good heat making we also split a good amount of cedar for kindling.

The barn got its fall cleaning this last weekend adding a good amount of bulk to the compost piles that we regularly turn and rotate.  Next month the pigs will go to butcher with the turkeys following just before Thanksgiving leaving only the laying hens to keep through the winter.  Oh yes, we also have the bees to get through the winter.  There is some preparation to get their hive buttoned up for winter.  Since this is our first winter with the bees our goal is just to get them through winter alive.  We have been feeding them so they can put away a lot of honey for winter food.  Their hive will also get wrapped in tar paper to help keep the wind chill out.  Moisture can also be an issue so a way to soak up the moisture so that it does not freeze in the hive is also important.

Our apple trees are not yet producing so it will be off to the apple orchard to get a couple bushels to make applesauce and to dry to use is many different recipes.

This is a busy but wonderful time of the year.  With cooler weather comes soups, baking bread and hot spiced cider.  Enjoy!!

DSC_0003 (7)

Published on Leave a comment on Let’s Get Practical About Prepardness

I am here to tell you that if something has been pulling at you to put a little, or even a lot, by for a rainy day you are not alone.   I was raised with a preparedness lifestyle but is wasn't called that back then.  My mom didn't work outside the home and my dad didn't make a huge amount of money so when something went on sale my mother stocked up on enough to last the family until the next time that item went on sale.

Today this kind of practicality is called the "prepper movement" and sometimes folks that feel they should be prepared for changes in their lives are thought of as being a bit strange.  Well, we are not and I think the movement is getting to be more mainstream by the minute.  There are various factors leading to this.  You only need to turn on the TV or radio and listen to what is happening around the world with disasters, the economy and the declining quality of our food to know that things are changing fast and probably not for the better.

I don't want to get political here, that is not my focus.  I just want more folks to see that being prepared for these changes is a practical thing.  That doesn't mean that you should go out tomorrow and buy two dozen cases of MREs (meals ready to eat) and store them in the bunker that you are building.  Now if you live in tornado alley a bunker might fall into the practical category but you know what I mean.

Becoming "prepared" is not something that happens overnight unless you just won the lottery.  Most of us have to take it slow, buying a few extra canned goods each week as we build up our pantry.  Keeping a eye out in the local bargain hunter or Craig's List to find a generator or a pressure canner or any number of things that are considered prepper items for a price we can afford.  The funny thing is that it is far more practical to buy things that you would probably use occasionally even if there wasn't an emergency.  A portable generator comes in really handy if you go camping or need to use power tools away from the reach of a grid tied outlet.  We use our food stores everyday when we eat and it is replaced the next time we go shopping.  I pressure can the vegetables from my garden every year.

Don't get carried away, make a plan, make a list, revise the list, take baby steps.  Taking baby steps is a good way to move into anything new.  Make sure you talk to your family about getting prepared and hopefully they will be on board too.  If not it is a little harder but when something happens and what you have stored or put away for just such a need saves the day you may well get a few converts.  Just don't say "I told you so", they already know that!!

Bee Prepared
Bee Prepared

Published on Leave a comment on Beans and Rice for Food Storage

PantryPantry RevealedWell if you are going to store extra food you need someplace to put it.  Here is my additional pantry.  As I have said before I do not have a basement so when our son left home I took over his bedroom.  Since the regular closet was already repurposed as storage for things other than foodstuffs I had to come up with a different idea.  What I did was build a additional storage space in the room.  As you can see by the photo on the right there is a heavy duty shelf and on the left is a corner shelf.  I have described this to you in a previous post but I thought I would share some pictures since we were talking about food storage again.

We talked last time about how you can build up your storage a little at and time and that you should store what your family will eat.  Now that you have kept your list for a week or two I'm sure you realize that there are many things your family eats that can be made a part of your food storage.  So how about those staples that you hear about all the time:  beans and rice?  Should you store them if your family does not eat them?  Well, yes and no.  Beans and rice are really cost effective for what you get and they will fill you up if you are hungry.  However, if your family does not normally eat beans and rice and you do not know how to cook with them there is not much point to having a five gallon bucket of each in your storage.

But wait, now may be the time to introduce your family to beans and rice and experiment with cooking both.  Rice is fairly simple to cook it is just two time the water as rice with a little fat, either oil or butter, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed.  Cooked just like this rice is fairly bland but goes really well if you have a meat and veggie mix with a little sauce to go on top.  It is really easy to flavor plain white rice with just some herbs and spices.  Try some different combinations and flavors that you know your family likes.  I add garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper for a little southwest flavor.  Curry can also be added for a Thai flavor.  Just adding a can of tomatoes with basil and garlic or chilies will make the rice delicious.  Rice can also be substituted for  Don't be afraid to try different things.

Beans on the other hand are a little more involved to prepare.  They have to be soaked then simmered in order to get them soft enough to eat.  It is not complicated, just time consuming.  I would suggest that you pick up a bag of dry beans at the grocery store and read the directions on the back.  Some packages may also have a recipe to use your beans in.  Some of the most popular are baked beans usually made with navy or pea beans.  Black beans are really popular right now in many southwest recipes.  They have a great flavor and I use them in my tortilla soup recipe.  Pinto beans are the basis of refried beans just smash them up add some bacon grease, garlic powder, salt, pepper and a dash of cumin and there you have it.

It may take a little more convincing to get your family to eat beans than rice but it is worth the effort.  Beans are a good protein source if meat is not available or if you want to have one meatless dinner per week.  This will not only be delicious but it will also help with the grocery budget.

The one thing that was mentioned for both beans and rice was some of the herbs and spices used to flavor them.  We haven't mentioned it to this point but storing these items in your pantry makes meal preparations so much easier not to mention more flavorful.  Next time let's talk about what and how to store these great items.

 

Published on Leave a comment on Food Preservation and Storage

Fall is coming quickly and the garden is producing well.  So, what to do with the surplus.  Sharing with family and friends is great but if you are fortunate you should have enough to put some by for winter.  I use several methods to preserve my garden produce.  Which method depends on what the fruit or vegetable is.  I regularly use canning and dehydration for food preservation.  I can green beans, tomatoes and jam.  I like to dehydrate fruit, some vegetables and potatoes.  Having these fruits and vegetables on hand either canned or dried makes meal preparation fun and easy.  There are many days that as I'm leaving for work I ask my husband to get something out of the freezer for dinner, meaning the meat part of the meal.  I don't know until I arrive home from work what I will be working with for dinner.  I know for some of you this will not work for you but I like the challenge of figuring out what to make to compliment whatever meat is waiting for me for dinner.   Being able to pull canned green beans, applesauce or pears out of the pantry to go with the meat that we are having for dinner is a great feeling.  No trip to the supermarket needed.

Now, maybe you don't can or dehydrate but you can build up your pantry so that you can be creative on a moments notice.  You can start small and build your pantry slowly.  The most important thing to remember is to store what you eat and eat what you store.  There is no point to putting cans, bags or boxes of food that your family will not eat.  It is a waste of space and money.

So, let's get started.  Keep a list of what you and your family eat for a week or so.  Now, what ingredients from those meals would keep in your pantry?  Make a list of the staples from each meal that you made.  These are the items that you should begin to fill your pantry with.  These are also probably already on your shopping list.  So when you head to the grocery store instead of just getting one jar of pasta sauce, green beans, soup or whatever, buy two.  One will be for your weekly meal and the other will go in your pantry. Each time you use one of the items in your pantry put it on your shopping list and purchase two.  After several weeks your pantry will start looking good.

Over the next few weeks I will talk more about food storage and being prepared if you cannot get to the supermarket.  So please check in often.  Sign up and receive notice of the next post.

Fresh beans from the garden
Fresh beans from the garden