Tag: food storage

homesteading, in the kitchen

Pantry Inspection

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Once the farmers’ market starts up around here, it’s time to review the pantry. What’s left of the things I put up last summer? What did we run out of and what are we still eating? Do the storage goals for this year need to be adjusted? Will I be able to defrost the chest freezer before it’s time to start putting new things in it? I seem to recall that in previous years, this process usually produced a surprise or two. Dried carrots aren’t good for much more than soup, for instance, and that only grudgingly. Bing cherries are …

in the kitchen, Seasons

Next time, I’ll know better

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If you can get your hands on 4 lbs of fresh peaches (a bit unlikely now that it’s October, but there’s always next year!), you want to make peach butter. I found the recipe over at Smitten Kitchen and was instantly obsessed. Like, I thought about it all the time and I hadn’t even tasted it yet. I got too excited and bought too many peaches, then had to borrow a scale from a neighbor to avoid mucking up everything. I even planned out when I was going to make the peach butter, at a reasonable time on a Saturday, …

homesteading, in the kitchen

Harvest Review

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The garden suffered this summer from the weather and neglect. I didn’t make it out as often as I might have to really maximize production. I should be grateful we didn’t have a scorcher of a summer; I barely watered and things still limped along, more or less. On the other hand, I did assemble a checklist early in the year to guide me through the various harvests so I would know how much of what I was planning on putting by for winter. I may have only coaxed three whole carrots out of the garden this year, but I’ve …

homesteading

Taking Inventory

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With the return of our farmers’ market, it’s time to take stock in the pantry and start planning what will be put up this year, even if the weather is acting more like late March than early May. Excepting the jam, which I apparently made in large quantities two years ago, and the apricots, which Caitlyn refuses to pack for her lunches, I think we actually did really well in eating through much of what I put up last year. We have tomatoes left, but probably just enough to get us to tomato season in a few months. The same …

homesteading, Introspection

Why I Do It

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Three cheers for all the urban homesteading bloggers more dedicated to the lifestyle than I. I’m so very grateful for their posts about their challenges: the bugs, the rats, the lice on the goats, the chickens with infected feet. I might sigh over fresh eggs or get starry eyed over fresh goat milk, but then I find pictures like this one and I’m suddenly a lot less romantic about backyard livestock. I just don’t think I’m cut out for the go-to veterinary stuff that goes with having lots of animals. Heck, I can’t even clean out the trap full of …

homesteading

Of Rabbits and Carrots

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I pulled up the rest of the carrots that were in the backyard over the weekend. They seem to have survived nicely, despite being snowed on and frozen. The greens were a little bedraggled, but the carrots themselves are short and reasonably fat, and cleaned up to a brilliant orange. The only thing left out there now is the kale, some of which is destined for a kale and yam something later this week. Quiche? Or with orzo and black beans? If I can get a similar number of carrots successfully germinated next summer, it’s possible we will be able …