I remember that you grew Victoria rhubarb from seed and I thought you posted about how you went about it. I just got the seed from Johnny’s, but now I can’t find that old post. Perhaps I imagined it! In any case, can you give me some pointers on growing rhubarb from seed? Thanks!
Hello! After considering the purchase of home freeze drier for few years now, I'm finally ready to commit. I vaguely remember reading, in a previous post, that you would benefit from a purchase if I use a link or a special code? If this is still true, please let me know how to do this. Hoping to hear back soon as the unit I want is currently on sale. Thank you.
Thank you for responding so quickly. I've just placed my order using the link above but didn't see any reference to your website (probably just imbedded?) Anyway, hope you get credit, and thank you for your wonderful freeze drying posts. Cheers!
I stored some eggs in the lime water and I'd say half of them the yokes leaked or broke. I'd stored them since july 2022. I wondered if this was normal?
That's definitely not normal! I've had one ever that had a broke/leaking yolk inside when I cracked it, and I tossed that one. I've put up a lot like that, so it's rare, at least in my experience. Not sure what caused it, or what would cause so many of yours to have that problem.
Robin, I had that happen recently as well. I had my excess eggs saved since May. The only thing for me is that I have one chicken who lays eggs with thinner shells. It doesn't matter what kind of treats I give, or if I have oyster shells out, she just has thinner shells. I would think hers are the broken ones in my bucket, as I was very careful storing them, but knew some went in. I hope this helps!
We've always kept our squash on the porch for a few weeks after picking then store in garage. I just read that another homesteader puts hers in the warm house for a few days until storage. Should I bring mine into the warmth before the garage?
Oh my goodness, sorry I missed this one last month and I'm late to getting back to you.
You are supposed to "cure" squash in a warm spot for 10 to 14 days before storage, and that supposedly helps toughen up their skins to improve storage. It's tricky though, because where is there a warm spot when you're picking winter squash? A greenhouse maybe, or near-ish the woodstove...but it's hard to accomplish for most people.
It's not strictly required, but it is helpful. If you can't make it happen, just be extra careful handling them so you don't ding their skin.
My question is about using eggs that have been preserved in cal lime. We have been fishing them out as we use them, and it is kind of a hassle. How do you manage them? Drain and rinse the whole gallon at once? Keep in fridge or on the counter? Or fish them out one by one?
We did them in half gallon mason jars, and it is a pain to fish them out one at a time. We drained them and then keep them in the fridge to use, but in our case, they only make it a few days that way. My kids put away either zero eggs in a day, or a dozen, and not often anywhere in between...so I just drain them in batches like that. (Sorry I missed your comment until now!)
I was gifted a head and hooves (hair, hide, teeth & nails) of a pig a friend butchered. It’s currently frozen but there must be something wonderful I can do with it. My husband loves spam so I’m thinking maybe just cooking it to death in a tiny bit of water in my pressure cooker and making him homemade spam. ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated!
I haven't made spam or scrapple, but my best friend sings it's praises all the time. I've actually never had it, or even seen it around here...it's more of a Pennsylvania thing I think? I thought spam was just ham? I didn't know it was a headcheese like thing?
Anyhow, for the head, there are a lot of headcheese type recipes to choose from, but most involve stewing the head all day, and then picking off the meat and packing it in the aspic from cooking. It should solidify if in a loaf pan when cooled, so you can slice it.
For the nails though, I did recently come across a really interesting post on that! This is for venison, but you can do it with pigs too: https://foragerchef.com/venison-trotters/
It shows extracting the meat from the nails and using that specifically.
I am pressure canning my grandmom's german potato salad. It is served warm. There is no mayo, but it has bacon, potatoes, onions and vinegar. I was trying for figure out pressure canning time, so I looked up doing potatoes, and doing bacon, and decided to go with the max time between those two. Just wondering your thoughts when you have an item with no specific instructions...am i on the right tract?
My grandmother also makes a German Potato Salad, and it's delicious. Very different from the one you see most of the time in this country, and a lot of vinegar. Her's has hard boiled eggs in it, so it wouldn't work for canning, but it sounds like your mother's might well work.
The main thing to watch is the amount of bacon in there, as bacon is approved for canning in small amounts as a "seasoning" where there's only a little bit in there...but not when it's more or less a whole jar of bacon. Cured meats are denser than regular meats, that's the reasoning. It's tricky, because the guidelines never really say how much is reasonable...but I'd guess the bacon in the recipe is just a bit for that smoky/porky flavor.
The other thing to watch is everything falling apart in the jars and turning into a puree/mush. That'd make the mixture too thick for canning. If you're able to chop pretty big potato pieces they should stay together.
Anyhow, If I were doing it personally, I'd use a recipe for a sausage potato soup and go with the canning times for that. Angi Schneider's pressure canning book has one like that (pg 167) and suggests 75 minutes for pints, and 90 minutes for quarts. That's what I'd use.
(Obviously since it's not a tested recipe, it's at your own risk and all that...but you know that I'm sure.)
Anyhow, let me know how it comes out. If you like it, I'd love to try the recipe myself. Send it along if you're willing.
We did use large potato chunks hoping it wouldn't get mushy. I looked at various pressure canning info and went with the item that took the longest (bacon). It worked! The vinegar flavor mellowed a bit, but we just added more when we warmed it up before eating. Overall I'm very happy with how it came out! The basic ingredients for this recipe are chopped up bacon, sauteed with onions, celery seed, apple cider vinegar and potatoes. Some add sugar, but we don't. Served WARM! Yum!
I am fermenting/making Indian lemon pickle. It only has lemons, spices, and salt. I would love to water bath can it, but haven’t found any instructions or recipes. Is it possible and how long would you process? Thanks
Hmmm...that is a darn good question. It's definitely going to be acidic enough, given that it's both lemons and fermented. The only thing that gives me pause is I'm sure there's a lot of lemon peel in there...which is dense...but marmalade has a lot of lemon peel too.
It has to be hot packed, so you're going to need to bring the lemons to a simmer on the stove before filling the jars. You also might have to add extra lemon juice to the pickles to make sure there's enough liquid in the jars to keep everything submerged.
And the instructions for dill relish are:
"Ladle the pickle relish into jars (pint or half pint), leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process in a water bath canner, 10 minutes for half pints, or 15 minutes for pints."
Make sure you adjust for altitude if you're over 1000 feet in elevation.
(Obviously since it's not a tested recipe, it's at your own risk and all that...but you know that I'm sure.)
Hi Ashley - I made several of your fruit wines, and we have found that they are a bit sweet for us. I did adjust some recipes a bit, but is there anything we can do to reduce the sweetness of the batches we have made already? We haven't made fruit wines before so maybe we just aren't used to them as yet. I guess we should reduce the sugar for our next batches? Thanks so much in advance!
I remember that you grew Victoria rhubarb from seed and I thought you posted about how you went about it. I just got the seed from Johnny’s, but now I can’t find that old post. Perhaps I imagined it! In any case, can you give me some pointers on growing rhubarb from seed? Thanks!
I do indeed have an article on growing rhubarb from seed! Here you go: https://practicalselfreliance.com/growing-rhubarb-from-seed/
Hello! After considering the purchase of home freeze drier for few years now, I'm finally ready to commit. I vaguely remember reading, in a previous post, that you would benefit from a purchase if I use a link or a special code? If this is still true, please let me know how to do this. Hoping to hear back soon as the unit I want is currently on sale. Thank you.
Thank you Monique, that's so kind of you!
Yes, this link here has a special code in it: https://affiliates.harvestright.com/683.html
They're on sale for most of this month. I hope you love yours as much as I love mine!
Thank you for responding so quickly. I've just placed my order using the link above but didn't see any reference to your website (probably just imbedded?) Anyway, hope you get credit, and thank you for your wonderful freeze drying posts. Cheers!
It worked! Thank you so much!
I hope your love yours as much as we love ours =)
I stored some eggs in the lime water and I'd say half of them the yokes leaked or broke. I'd stored them since july 2022. I wondered if this was normal?
That's definitely not normal! I've had one ever that had a broke/leaking yolk inside when I cracked it, and I tossed that one. I've put up a lot like that, so it's rare, at least in my experience. Not sure what caused it, or what would cause so many of yours to have that problem.
Thanks!
Robin, I had that happen recently as well. I had my excess eggs saved since May. The only thing for me is that I have one chicken who lays eggs with thinner shells. It doesn't matter what kind of treats I give, or if I have oyster shells out, she just has thinner shells. I would think hers are the broken ones in my bucket, as I was very careful storing them, but knew some went in. I hope this helps!
We've always kept our squash on the porch for a few weeks after picking then store in garage. I just read that another homesteader puts hers in the warm house for a few days until storage. Should I bring mine into the warmth before the garage?
Oh my goodness, sorry I missed this one last month and I'm late to getting back to you.
You are supposed to "cure" squash in a warm spot for 10 to 14 days before storage, and that supposedly helps toughen up their skins to improve storage. It's tricky though, because where is there a warm spot when you're picking winter squash? A greenhouse maybe, or near-ish the woodstove...but it's hard to accomplish for most people.
It's not strictly required, but it is helpful. If you can't make it happen, just be extra careful handling them so you don't ding their skin.
Yes, I'm glad to see this prompt!
My question is about using eggs that have been preserved in cal lime. We have been fishing them out as we use them, and it is kind of a hassle. How do you manage them? Drain and rinse the whole gallon at once? Keep in fridge or on the counter? Or fish them out one by one?
Thanks,
Rana
We did them in half gallon mason jars, and it is a pain to fish them out one at a time. We drained them and then keep them in the fridge to use, but in our case, they only make it a few days that way. My kids put away either zero eggs in a day, or a dozen, and not often anywhere in between...so I just drain them in batches like that. (Sorry I missed your comment until now!)
I was gifted a head and hooves (hair, hide, teeth & nails) of a pig a friend butchered. It’s currently frozen but there must be something wonderful I can do with it. My husband loves spam so I’m thinking maybe just cooking it to death in a tiny bit of water in my pressure cooker and making him homemade spam. ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated!
I haven't made spam or scrapple, but my best friend sings it's praises all the time. I've actually never had it, or even seen it around here...it's more of a Pennsylvania thing I think? I thought spam was just ham? I didn't know it was a headcheese like thing?
Anyhow, for the head, there are a lot of headcheese type recipes to choose from, but most involve stewing the head all day, and then picking off the meat and packing it in the aspic from cooking. It should solidify if in a loaf pan when cooled, so you can slice it.
For the nails though, I did recently come across a really interesting post on that! This is for venison, but you can do it with pigs too: https://foragerchef.com/venison-trotters/
It shows extracting the meat from the nails and using that specifically.
Perhaps look up a receipt for scrapple?
Hi Ashley, I don't have any questions, but I want you to know I am learning a lot from you. Thank you
Thank you Brenda!
Where did you find your gummie bear mold?
That one came from amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gummy-Bear-Candy-Molds-Silicone/dp/B0798HX8KR/
I am pressure canning my grandmom's german potato salad. It is served warm. There is no mayo, but it has bacon, potatoes, onions and vinegar. I was trying for figure out pressure canning time, so I looked up doing potatoes, and doing bacon, and decided to go with the max time between those two. Just wondering your thoughts when you have an item with no specific instructions...am i on the right tract?
My grandmother also makes a German Potato Salad, and it's delicious. Very different from the one you see most of the time in this country, and a lot of vinegar. Her's has hard boiled eggs in it, so it wouldn't work for canning, but it sounds like your mother's might well work.
The main thing to watch is the amount of bacon in there, as bacon is approved for canning in small amounts as a "seasoning" where there's only a little bit in there...but not when it's more or less a whole jar of bacon. Cured meats are denser than regular meats, that's the reasoning. It's tricky, because the guidelines never really say how much is reasonable...but I'd guess the bacon in the recipe is just a bit for that smoky/porky flavor.
The other thing to watch is everything falling apart in the jars and turning into a puree/mush. That'd make the mixture too thick for canning. If you're able to chop pretty big potato pieces they should stay together.
Anyhow, If I were doing it personally, I'd use a recipe for a sausage potato soup and go with the canning times for that. Angi Schneider's pressure canning book has one like that (pg 167) and suggests 75 minutes for pints, and 90 minutes for quarts. That's what I'd use.
(Obviously since it's not a tested recipe, it's at your own risk and all that...but you know that I'm sure.)
Anyhow, let me know how it comes out. If you like it, I'd love to try the recipe myself. Send it along if you're willing.
We did use large potato chunks hoping it wouldn't get mushy. I looked at various pressure canning info and went with the item that took the longest (bacon). It worked! The vinegar flavor mellowed a bit, but we just added more when we warmed it up before eating. Overall I'm very happy with how it came out! The basic ingredients for this recipe are chopped up bacon, sauteed with onions, celery seed, apple cider vinegar and potatoes. Some add sugar, but we don't. Served WARM! Yum!
I am fermenting/making Indian lemon pickle. It only has lemons, spices, and salt. I would love to water bath can it, but haven’t found any instructions or recipes. Is it possible and how long would you process? Thanks
Hmmm...that is a darn good question. It's definitely going to be acidic enough, given that it's both lemons and fermented. The only thing that gives me pause is I'm sure there's a lot of lemon peel in there...which is dense...but marmalade has a lot of lemon peel too.
If I had to guess, I'd use the canning times for pickle relish. My recipe is here: https://practicalselfreliance.com/sweet-dill-pickle-relish-canning/
It has to be hot packed, so you're going to need to bring the lemons to a simmer on the stove before filling the jars. You also might have to add extra lemon juice to the pickles to make sure there's enough liquid in the jars to keep everything submerged.
And the instructions for dill relish are:
"Ladle the pickle relish into jars (pint or half pint), leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process in a water bath canner, 10 minutes for half pints, or 15 minutes for pints."
Make sure you adjust for altitude if you're over 1000 feet in elevation.
(Obviously since it's not a tested recipe, it's at your own risk and all that...but you know that I'm sure.)
Best of luck, and let me know how it goes.
Hi Ashley - I made several of your fruit wines, and we have found that they are a bit sweet for us. I did adjust some recipes a bit, but is there anything we can do to reduce the sweetness of the batches we have made already? We haven't made fruit wines before so maybe we just aren't used to them as yet. I guess we should reduce the sugar for our next batches? Thanks so much in advance!