I just finished putting up about 40# of the best pears I've ever had the pleasure to find - froze some in a spiced honey syrup, canned some halves in a similar syrup (recipe inspiration thanks to you, Ashley! ), dried a whole excaliber-style10 trays full, ate my fill of fresh - so did hubby, and made a pear cake. Now, I'm taking a break for a few days (I'm disabled, and this project really took a lot of of me), before moving on to the two cases of concord grapes that should be in, any day, now, then to the longneck squash. I'm so glad you're doing a post on grape wine - something I've not tried doing, yet!
My question is on how to get this all done with the least wear & tear on our bodies. When I was younger, I could work on projects like these 'til the cows came home, get up the next day, and do it all again, all through the fall harvest season. Not so much, these days, and I'm only 58. There are only the 2 of us, and hubby usually makes the fermented beverages (except kefir - I do those), the cheeses, saurkraut, kim chi, and yogurt - I do the rest of the putting by. We get snowed in & rained in, sometimes for 2 or 3 weeks at a time, so stocking up MUST happen, and buying it all is just too expensive - not to mention... yuck. So, I'm trying to find ways to do it all, that don't leave me bedridden for days at a time. The dehydrator has been a Godsend, and I've begun doing things in stages, e.i. prepping some of the produce one day, then sticking it in the fridge, to put it up, the next, then the 3rd day prepping another batch, etc. But, it still seems like there should be other tips, too?
I wish I knew the answer there...but it seems like I work myself to the bone every harvest season. I think your strategy of doing it in stages across several days is an excellent idea, and I often do that with canning. Prep all the fruit, fridge it and then worry about putting it up the next day.
I love the #everylittlebitcounts challenge on instagram and have been inspired to just do little food preservation projects here and there throughout the week (and not kill myself) …for the bigger projects we save for the weekends when we can get together with neighbors and make it a canning party :) I’ve also been freezing/freeze drying a lot bc it’s just easier in this season of life
We are working on our herbal medicine cabinet and I'm pressure canning potatoes right now. 😂 I decided this year to not have any empty canning jars. We still have a bunch of cabbage to harvest. I will search your site for a canning recipe first. Thank you for always being here to help. :)
Cabbage really can't be canned as is, sadly. It gets this sulfur smell funk and is just kinda nasty. It can, however, first be made into sauerkraut then canned. Many people poo-poo the idea of canning kraut because you're killing the probiotics, which is true, but that's not the only reason to make kraut. The microbes pre-digest the cabbage and make it more nutritious, increasing protein and making it more digestible. Especially if you're going to use the kraut in a cooked recipe anyway, as they do in Eastern Europe with sauerkraut soups and such, it's still lovely canned.
There are a few approved relish recipes that have cabbage, and they do ok, because it's pickled, which is similar to what you're doing making kraut but with vinegar instead to provide the acidity.
It sounds like in your case it is actually birds getting to them, in which case netting would help. It is incredibly tricky to get netting onto plants, and I've given up trying. As one other commenter notes, it just gets tangled on every single twig. The best method I've seen is to build a big PVC pipe box around the plants and then put netting on that, basically creating a fence around all sides and the top.
I was going to say also, elderberries are notorious for dropping their fruit before it's fully ripe, often as early as right at fruit set. Some years, we'll have the whole crop set...and then drop. It's something environmental, like heat/cold a the wrong time or something, so there's nothing you can do about it. Based on your description of 1000s of bushes that the birds pick off, I'd say it's the birds in your case, but just mentioning that other issue in case it helps someone else.
I’m in Alaska and managed to get two elderberries through the winter. One of them had a single cluster of elderflower - and then it didn’t. The stems were still there - just not the blossoms. No idea what ate them🤷🏻♀️
Elderberries are notorious for dropping their fruit right after fruit set...even when nothing eats them. They'll just fall to the ground, seemingly for no reason. I think the causes are environmental, just an odd year weather wise, so there's not much you can do about it. Something may have eaten them, or maybe not, just bad luck and you'll see fruit next year.
I use veil material instead of netting now. It is inexpensive and you can cover the whole plant or make it drape over the top with clothespins holding it down.
I have the same problem with squirrels & my peach tree. After 4 seasons with a mature, very productive peach tree, the squirrels completely wipe them out weeks before they're ripe - and they just take a bite, then throw them on the ground. I bought a net, in January, but once the fruits appeared(when you're supposed to net them), we couldn't get the net over it, because it hung up on every single leaf, twig, etc, and in the process, tangled up horribly. Hopefully, we can both get some ideas.
I put in an order for a half bushel of concord grapes and a half bushel of niagara grapes. First, can I make meads with each kind? I love Niagara wine, would the mead taste similar? (I have a few small batches of mead going now). Second, what other things would you recommend I do with these grapes? I would like to make small batches of jam or jelly. Anything else I should try??
Both should do well as a grape mead I would think, and provided you use the lightest clover honey you can find, I think it'd taste a good bit like the wine you buy without honey.
Jam and jelly are always good options, and beyond that, I've heard that concord grape pie is delicious. Never had that one myself (yet), but it does look tasty.
For a natural lip balm, I like using just a basic salve recipe and infusing some nourishing herbs like calendula. If you want to put it in tubes rather than salve tins, then you'll need to make it a bit stiffer with a bit more bees wax: https://practicalselfreliance.com/herbal-healing-salve/
I haven't yet found a natural deodorant recipe I like and I've had allergies to most deodorants on the market. I'm currently using Lume deodorant, which is expensive, but works incredibly well and I'm not allergic to it.
Ashley, I found a product at the local health food store which is a turmeric sauerkraut. Took a chance. IT WAS AWESOME!!! I now want to make my own and Fall is a good time for fermentation products. Have you heard of this? Any idea about proportions? My turmeric crop is probably ready to be harvested. - Howard
I've seen that at stores around here but I haven't tried it. Good to know it's tasty!
How much turmeric to put in is based on your taste, and there's really no way to go wrong there. You can grate up quite a bit into it, or just a smidge.
I found this recipe, which only has 1 tsp of fresh grated turmeric....and that seems like not all that much to me. It is a small batch though, and it'd be a shame to over-do and then not be able to eat it. That's probably a good place to start: https://www.feastingathome.com/turmeric-sauerkraut/
Hi Ashley I'm a little late responding but it's a busy time of year. I'm waiting for the apples for canning but until then I'm harvesting wild elderberries, rosehips, crabapples, and juniper berries. Farmers markets aren't as prolific as usual, but it's been unusual weather. I'd usually be elbow deep in tomato sauce and pickles; this year not such a great harvest. Love your letters and always enjoy new ideas.
Yeah, I've heard that many parts of the country had horrible growing weather this year and crops just aren't what you'd hope for. Sorry it's hurting your farmer's markets!
Once again your post consumed 3-4 days of my time, happily, but led to this observation and question. Does your hawthorn fruit have extra protein{worms}, and if yes do you ignore, and carry on making jelly? Mine did seem sweeter with the added protein.
I'd say generally I'd go with sweeter for the added protein...it really shouldn't impact it. That said, I haven't really had issues with worms in my haws. They're often enough pocked marked on the outside like they're wormy, but I don't really see worms in them when I cut them? Maybe they're really small worms, or maybe I'm just turning a blind eye...either way, it makes a great jelly.
Can wine/ mead recipes be interchangeable? If not technically so, at least in principle, it would be really nice to have some sort of guide. As as a newish winemaker been struggling to find definitive info on honey/ sugar substitutions, and if substituting changes the ratios on any other ingredients.
You can substitute honey in place of sugar in any winemaking recipe. That will give the wine more body, thus potentially eliminating the need for things like grape juice concentrate, mashed bananas and a whole host of other things people add to sugar wines to prevent them from being too light/watery.
As to other ingredients, you'll still want just about everything, including yeast nutrient, tannin, acid blend, etc.
The main difference is that honey takes longer to digest for yeast than plain sugar. Primary should be more like 14 days (instead of 7-10 for sugar), and secondary should be at least 8 weeks ideally (instead of more like 4 in sugar wines). Meads actually often really benefit from a much longer secondary, even up to 6 months.
The last thing is yeast choice. Ideally, choose a yeast that does well in mead, or a light white wine yeast. Fast fermenters like champagne yeast often give off flavors as they try to digest honey.
So the main thing in a nutshell, is give meads twice as long, and try to choose a good yeast.
Working on upkeep on the old spring. Want to make sure all wood and screws on cover don’t leach anything bad into water. Don’t think I can attach photo
Make sure they used a natural wood there on the cover, like cedar, rather than pressure treated lumber. Pressure treated is no good around drinking water.
I have no idea about screws and what if anything they'd leach. Usually you use brass screws when working around water so they don't corrode.
Question: I am wondering if I should drink a different kind of tea/herb every day. Would if be beneficial or make the herbs "less powerful" for when we actually need one? Thanks for your insight.
Perhaps if you're taking something everyday it would acclimate you to it, but usually the things you're taking everyday aren't the therapeutic herbs that are just taken when you're sick. Usually they're adaptations like tulsi or calming herbs like chamomile, and those are great for everyday use. You're not usually taking the really potent stuff daily, so I wouldn't think it'd be an issue?
I just started fermenting. Have beet kvass going. But I ordered Wild Fermenting by Sandor Katz, because I heard that he teaches low/no salt fermenting options. Since I am supposed to be on a low sodium diet but want the probiotic benefit I’m interested in that. Have you tried that?
The salt in fermentation is not strictly required, so you can do it without if you do it right. Salt is just there to inhibit other organisms (because the lactobacillis doesn't mind salt, but most things do) until it can get acidic enough that the acidity inhibits other microbes. If you use a starter culture, usually yogurt whey, you can make low or no salt ferments.
I’m looking forward to your whole grain, beer, tutorial. I’ve malted brown rice and wheat, with the intention of using for beer. Unfortunately, they become moldy before I could use them. I’m not sure if you’ve used bitters other than hops. I’ve heard dandelions have been used as bitters before hops became more popular. I’d be interested in your opinion regarding bitters for beer.
We have made beer without hops (known as Gruit), and it's very different. It is how they used to do it back in the day, hops only became popular in the last few hundred years. Dandelions, yarrow and lots of other plants were used as bittering preservation agents. Our palates aren't really accustomed to that anymore, as it tastes very different than beer with hops, but it's tasty in it's own way.
Whenever I need a recipe or process, I search your sites first! They are always spot on! Thank you for your hard work ☺️
Ditto! I am always also glad to find one of your articles when I search for something and havent remember to check your site :D
Thank you so much Lisa!
I just finished putting up about 40# of the best pears I've ever had the pleasure to find - froze some in a spiced honey syrup, canned some halves in a similar syrup (recipe inspiration thanks to you, Ashley! ), dried a whole excaliber-style10 trays full, ate my fill of fresh - so did hubby, and made a pear cake. Now, I'm taking a break for a few days (I'm disabled, and this project really took a lot of of me), before moving on to the two cases of concord grapes that should be in, any day, now, then to the longneck squash. I'm so glad you're doing a post on grape wine - something I've not tried doing, yet!
My question is on how to get this all done with the least wear & tear on our bodies. When I was younger, I could work on projects like these 'til the cows came home, get up the next day, and do it all again, all through the fall harvest season. Not so much, these days, and I'm only 58. There are only the 2 of us, and hubby usually makes the fermented beverages (except kefir - I do those), the cheeses, saurkraut, kim chi, and yogurt - I do the rest of the putting by. We get snowed in & rained in, sometimes for 2 or 3 weeks at a time, so stocking up MUST happen, and buying it all is just too expensive - not to mention... yuck. So, I'm trying to find ways to do it all, that don't leave me bedridden for days at a time. The dehydrator has been a Godsend, and I've begun doing things in stages, e.i. prepping some of the produce one day, then sticking it in the fridge, to put it up, the next, then the 3rd day prepping another batch, etc. But, it still seems like there should be other tips, too?
I wish I knew the answer there...but it seems like I work myself to the bone every harvest season. I think your strategy of doing it in stages across several days is an excellent idea, and I often do that with canning. Prep all the fruit, fridge it and then worry about putting it up the next day.
Thank you. I appreciate your quick response! If I figure out a more effective way, I'll share it, too. :)
I love the #everylittlebitcounts challenge on instagram and have been inspired to just do little food preservation projects here and there throughout the week (and not kill myself) …for the bigger projects we save for the weekends when we can get together with neighbors and make it a canning party :) I’ve also been freezing/freeze drying a lot bc it’s just easier in this season of life
We are working on our herbal medicine cabinet and I'm pressure canning potatoes right now. 😂 I decided this year to not have any empty canning jars. We still have a bunch of cabbage to harvest. I will search your site for a canning recipe first. Thank you for always being here to help. :)
Cabbage really can't be canned as is, sadly. It gets this sulfur smell funk and is just kinda nasty. It can, however, first be made into sauerkraut then canned. Many people poo-poo the idea of canning kraut because you're killing the probiotics, which is true, but that's not the only reason to make kraut. The microbes pre-digest the cabbage and make it more nutritious, increasing protein and making it more digestible. Especially if you're going to use the kraut in a cooked recipe anyway, as they do in Eastern Europe with sauerkraut soups and such, it's still lovely canned.
Recipe Here: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/sauerkraut.html
There are a few approved relish recipes that have cabbage, and they do ok, because it's pickled, which is similar to what you're doing making kraut but with vinegar instead to provide the acidity.
Thank you! I will use the link you gave. 😁
for the last 5 yrs I have been trying to grow elderberrys.
my best success (growing) has been with hardwood cuttings.
in the spring, I get the flowers, which turn to green berrys.
then to red.
it is at this stage, that the birds eat all the berrys, before they ripen to the black berrys..
I see sites online, with whole fields of rows, and rows, of fully ripened berrys.
next yr, I will put netting over the rows I have planted.
after flower stage.
it is very frustrating, considering the hrs, and effort, I have spent on these plants.
the netting is my last hope.
in my area, there are literally 1000s of bushes, but they never get to fully ripe.
I put this out there in case any of your viewers have had the same results.
cheers
Sundance Creek
northern ontario
It sounds like in your case it is actually birds getting to them, in which case netting would help. It is incredibly tricky to get netting onto plants, and I've given up trying. As one other commenter notes, it just gets tangled on every single twig. The best method I've seen is to build a big PVC pipe box around the plants and then put netting on that, basically creating a fence around all sides and the top.
I was going to say also, elderberries are notorious for dropping their fruit before it's fully ripe, often as early as right at fruit set. Some years, we'll have the whole crop set...and then drop. It's something environmental, like heat/cold a the wrong time or something, so there's nothing you can do about it. Based on your description of 1000s of bushes that the birds pick off, I'd say it's the birds in your case, but just mentioning that other issue in case it helps someone else.
I’m in Alaska and managed to get two elderberries through the winter. One of them had a single cluster of elderflower - and then it didn’t. The stems were still there - just not the blossoms. No idea what ate them🤷🏻♀️
Elderberries are notorious for dropping their fruit right after fruit set...even when nothing eats them. They'll just fall to the ground, seemingly for no reason. I think the causes are environmental, just an odd year weather wise, so there's not much you can do about it. Something may have eaten them, or maybe not, just bad luck and you'll see fruit next year.
I should have been clearer - there were still flowers on the stems and they disappeared. I am not familiar with anything eating the flowers 🤷🏻♀️
I use veil material instead of netting now. It is inexpensive and you can cover the whole plant or make it drape over the top with clothespins holding it down.
I’m in Southwestern Ontario. It’s the same issue. You have to be faster than the birds….or put up netting.
I have the same problem with squirrels & my peach tree. After 4 seasons with a mature, very productive peach tree, the squirrels completely wipe them out weeks before they're ripe - and they just take a bite, then throw them on the ground. I bought a net, in January, but once the fruits appeared(when you're supposed to net them), we couldn't get the net over it, because it hung up on every single leaf, twig, etc, and in the process, tangled up horribly. Hopefully, we can both get some ideas.
I put in an order for a half bushel of concord grapes and a half bushel of niagara grapes. First, can I make meads with each kind? I love Niagara wine, would the mead taste similar? (I have a few small batches of mead going now). Second, what other things would you recommend I do with these grapes? I would like to make small batches of jam or jelly. Anything else I should try??
I just came across a specific recipe for Niagara wine! Here you go: https://swguildpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Jack-Keller-Complete-Requested-Recipes-Collection.pdf#%5B%7B%22num%22%3A847%2C%22gen%22%3A0%7D%2C%7B%22name%22%3A%22XYZ%22%7D%2C70%2C770%2C0%5D
I had to look up Niagra wine, I've never had it. Apparently it's quite popular and there are home kits for that, and even jugs of pressed juice for making homemade wine (https://labelpeelers.com/wine-making/fruit-wine-base/vintners-best-niagara-wine-base-128-oz/), you learn something new everyday.
Both should do well as a grape mead I would think, and provided you use the lightest clover honey you can find, I think it'd taste a good bit like the wine you buy without honey.
Jam and jelly are always good options, and beyond that, I've heard that concord grape pie is delicious. Never had that one myself (yet), but it does look tasty.
Looking for good recipes for natural lip balm, deodorant, sunscreen. Love your work!
For a natural lip balm, I like using just a basic salve recipe and infusing some nourishing herbs like calendula. If you want to put it in tubes rather than salve tins, then you'll need to make it a bit stiffer with a bit more bees wax: https://practicalselfreliance.com/herbal-healing-salve/
I haven't yet found a natural deodorant recipe I like and I've had allergies to most deodorants on the market. I'm currently using Lume deodorant, which is expensive, but works incredibly well and I'm not allergic to it.
We don't use sunscreen in our house, but I've heard so far as natural recipes go, this is a good one: https://wellnessmama.com/beauty/homemade-sunscreen/
It's basically just a salve with zinc oxide in it. It's not all that different than badger balm baby mineral sunscreen, which is basically the same thing (look at the ingredients): https://www.badgerbalm.com/products/baby-sunscreen-mineral-zinc-oxide-spf-40
❤️🙏❤️
You have some amazing bear molds for gummy bears. Where did you get that gummy bear mold from??
Those are silicone gummy bear molds, just from amazon. This one maybe? Or something like it. There are a lot of makers for this, in many different shapes: https://www.amazon.com/Gummy-Bear-Candy-Molds-Silicone/dp/B0798HX8KR
Ashley, I found a product at the local health food store which is a turmeric sauerkraut. Took a chance. IT WAS AWESOME!!! I now want to make my own and Fall is a good time for fermentation products. Have you heard of this? Any idea about proportions? My turmeric crop is probably ready to be harvested. - Howard
I've seen that at stores around here but I haven't tried it. Good to know it's tasty!
How much turmeric to put in is based on your taste, and there's really no way to go wrong there. You can grate up quite a bit into it, or just a smidge.
I found this recipe, which only has 1 tsp of fresh grated turmeric....and that seems like not all that much to me. It is a small batch though, and it'd be a shame to over-do and then not be able to eat it. That's probably a good place to start: https://www.feastingathome.com/turmeric-sauerkraut/
Hi Ashley I'm a little late responding but it's a busy time of year. I'm waiting for the apples for canning but until then I'm harvesting wild elderberries, rosehips, crabapples, and juniper berries. Farmers markets aren't as prolific as usual, but it's been unusual weather. I'd usually be elbow deep in tomato sauce and pickles; this year not such a great harvest. Love your letters and always enjoy new ideas.
Yeah, I've heard that many parts of the country had horrible growing weather this year and crops just aren't what you'd hope for. Sorry it's hurting your farmer's markets!
Thank you and they are very small. I too just use them
Once again your post consumed 3-4 days of my time, happily, but led to this observation and question. Does your hawthorn fruit have extra protein{worms}, and if yes do you ignore, and carry on making jelly? Mine did seem sweeter with the added protein.
I'd say generally I'd go with sweeter for the added protein...it really shouldn't impact it. That said, I haven't really had issues with worms in my haws. They're often enough pocked marked on the outside like they're wormy, but I don't really see worms in them when I cut them? Maybe they're really small worms, or maybe I'm just turning a blind eye...either way, it makes a great jelly.
Love you, love your blogs!
Home winemaking/ brewing question -
Can wine/ mead recipes be interchangeable? If not technically so, at least in principle, it would be really nice to have some sort of guide. As as a newish winemaker been struggling to find definitive info on honey/ sugar substitutions, and if substituting changes the ratios on any other ingredients.
Thanks!
Jen in NW WI
You can substitute honey in place of sugar in any winemaking recipe. That will give the wine more body, thus potentially eliminating the need for things like grape juice concentrate, mashed bananas and a whole host of other things people add to sugar wines to prevent them from being too light/watery.
As to other ingredients, you'll still want just about everything, including yeast nutrient, tannin, acid blend, etc.
The main difference is that honey takes longer to digest for yeast than plain sugar. Primary should be more like 14 days (instead of 7-10 for sugar), and secondary should be at least 8 weeks ideally (instead of more like 4 in sugar wines). Meads actually often really benefit from a much longer secondary, even up to 6 months.
The last thing is yeast choice. Ideally, choose a yeast that does well in mead, or a light white wine yeast. Fast fermenters like champagne yeast often give off flavors as they try to digest honey.
So the main thing in a nutshell, is give meads twice as long, and try to choose a good yeast.
Best of luck!
Working on upkeep on the old spring. Want to make sure all wood and screws on cover don’t leach anything bad into water. Don’t think I can attach photo
Make sure they used a natural wood there on the cover, like cedar, rather than pressure treated lumber. Pressure treated is no good around drinking water.
I have no idea about screws and what if anything they'd leach. Usually you use brass screws when working around water so they don't corrode.
I have douglass fir bcs somewhat water repellant and steel screws NOT galvanized. Didn’t know about brass. Will look into it
Question: I am wondering if I should drink a different kind of tea/herb every day. Would if be beneficial or make the herbs "less powerful" for when we actually need one? Thanks for your insight.
Perhaps if you're taking something everyday it would acclimate you to it, but usually the things you're taking everyday aren't the therapeutic herbs that are just taken when you're sick. Usually they're adaptations like tulsi or calming herbs like chamomile, and those are great for everyday use. You're not usually taking the really potent stuff daily, so I wouldn't think it'd be an issue?
What herb are you talking about specifically?
I just started fermenting. Have beet kvass going. But I ordered Wild Fermenting by Sandor Katz, because I heard that he teaches low/no salt fermenting options. Since I am supposed to be on a low sodium diet but want the probiotic benefit I’m interested in that. Have you tried that?
The salt in fermentation is not strictly required, so you can do it without if you do it right. Salt is just there to inhibit other organisms (because the lactobacillis doesn't mind salt, but most things do) until it can get acidic enough that the acidity inhibits other microbes. If you use a starter culture, usually yogurt whey, you can make low or no salt ferments.
There's a great article on that here: https://joybileefarm.com/fermented-vegetables-no-salt/
I’m looking forward to your whole grain, beer, tutorial. I’ve malted brown rice and wheat, with the intention of using for beer. Unfortunately, they become moldy before I could use them. I’m not sure if you’ve used bitters other than hops. I’ve heard dandelions have been used as bitters before hops became more popular. I’d be interested in your opinion regarding bitters for beer.
We have made beer without hops (known as Gruit), and it's very different. It is how they used to do it back in the day, hops only became popular in the last few hundred years. Dandelions, yarrow and lots of other plants were used as bittering preservation agents. Our palates aren't really accustomed to that anymore, as it tastes very different than beer with hops, but it's tasty in it's own way.