Inventory

Canning season is about to begin! 

Raspberries Ready to Pick

 And I haven't taken inventory yet of what's left in the basement, so here goes... 

Lots of empty jars

Ok, somebody slap me.  Did I cook at all last year?


Lemon lime Concentrate 17 1/2 pints (the boys don't care for it- too sour)
Lemonade 11 pints
Dill pickles 35 quarts (some are discoloured and I will toss out to the birds)
Tomato juice 7 1.36L cans (store bought, but if I get enough tomatoes I'll make my own to fill the shelf)
Beets 26.5 quarts
 
Mixed Fruit 22 quarts (really?  they could have helped themselves to that...)
Cabbage 1 quart (thought I was out!)
Pectin 11 1/2 pint
Tallow 9 quarts
Yellow beans 15 pints
Salsa 11.5 pints
Pasta sauce 11 quarts (store bought, but if I get enough tomatoes I'll make my own to fill the shelf)
Relish- dill pickle- 3 pints
Relish- sweet 3 pints (this turned out not too bad once it had a chance to stew in it's juices)
Pea soup - 10 pints
Cr. Of Celery- 2 pints
Stew- 4 pints
Ham and Potato soup- 8 pints
Cr. Of Mushroom- 6 pints (blech...  I liked it at first, but after a while, not so much.  Now I'm dreading having to use the rest of it up.)

Strawberry jam- 9 pints
Too blue raspberry jam- 7 1/2 pints
Pumpkin butter- 7 1/2 pints (I'm afraid to eat it now, and don't know how to get rid of it.)
Raspberry sauce- 16.5 pints
Mint jelly- 2 pints
Blueberry jam- 9 pints
Rosehip syrop- 4 pints (No pancakes all winter?)
Crabapple syrop- 3 pints
Watermelon jam- 6 pints
Chokecherry jam- 4.5 pints (I might as well toss these.  Too sour)
Crabapple jelly- 8 pints
Blueberry sauce- 8 1/2 pints
Crabapple sauce- 5 pints

Ok, so I did cook, just not particularly well.  I was still a little out of my mind last winter.  One day at a time.

Ok, so, I need more juice.  Wine is going well, but doesn't go with breakfast.  The boys enjoyed the grape juice, I thought it tasted like sugar water.  We mixed it with the crabapple juice and both disappeared.  So I could do another batch of those.

The Blueberry Limeade is a hit, so if I freeze enough blueberries I should be able to mix them with the lemon lime concentrate and use it up.  I'll try a jug and see if that sweetens it enough.

Rhubarb juice is a big hit, but we only get enough rhubarb to drink it through the summer.

I found a recipe for Watermelon Raspberry Juice, but I haven't tried it yet.  It would be a good way to use up the part of the watermelon that won't fit in the fridge.  I also found instructions to make berry juices, which I need to try, and rosehip juice.  Having a good supply of jams, sauces and syrops will leave me ample fruit to experiment with different juices.

I'll make more dill pickles, but quit when I run out of dill.

Cabbage- huge hit.
Salsa- 11.5 pints left from 49
Relish- need more plain boring relish, and maybe some more sweet relish too.
Mint Jelly- one batch will be plenty

Tomato sauce and juice will depend on how many ripe tomatoes I get this year.

Pincherry and chokecherry wine are on the to-do list.  I might try elderberry juice instead of wine.

Tallow Candles

Super simple, nearly free lighting.  I bought these little juice glasses at a thrift store.  The larger one is from an old wax candle that was used up.

The wicks are just cotton string from the dollar store, tied to an old nut on the bottom end, dipped in melted tallow and then left to stiffen up.

I added a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of cinnamon to the tallow before pouring.  I can't say as it makes any difference.  I really don't smell anything as they burn.

Like all candles in a jar, they are self drowning.  Not a big deal, it just means I need to keep another jar handy to pour off the liquid.

Today should be the last day in the oven for the beef fat.  Most of the cracklings have stiffened up already, and I've started feeding them to the dogs and birds.  I have 4 quarts of tallow, plus the candles, and I expect I'll get one more quart by the end of the day.

Fall Food Storage- Cold Room

I'm fairly happy with the state of the cold room this year.  Despite the lack of berries, I managed to fill it up with lots of other good eats, and even added two new shelves. 

The 'store bought' shelf has more home canned goods than ever before, and I'm hoping to knock a couple more things off the shopping list on that side yet.  Here's the breakdown...

salmon- 7
tomato soup- 10
cream of mushroom soup- pints- 9
mushrooms- 16
assorted canned fruit- 12
cream corn- 10
pasta sauce- 21 + 3 quarts
apple juice- 23
relish- pints- 16.5
cream of celery soup- 1 + 8.5 pints
pickles- 2
mustard- 1
hot pepper rings- 1
manwich- 2
zoodles- 2
ketchup- 3 + 8 quarts
BBQ sauce- 8
salad dressing- 4
mayo- 3
olive oil- 8L
vinegar- 1 white, 1 apple cider, 2 quarts raspberry
beet juice- 4 quarts
pickle brine- 4 gallons

assorted jams & jellies- 196 half pints
syrop- 9 pints
crabapple sauce- 8 pints

pectin- 12 half pints
ham and potato soup- 9 pints
stew- 3 pints
tallow- 1 quart
cabbage- 9 quarts
lemon curd- 4 pints
peaches- 2 pints
salsa- 49 pints
yellow beans- 15 pints
dog food- 12 pints (chicken noodle soup, not fit for humans)

grape juice- 12 quarts
squash- 5
pumpkins- 4
seed box

I had to buy 4 more cases of pint jars and 2 more cases of quart jars, in addition to whatever I picked up at the thrift stores.  I still have a case of quarts, but I'd need to buy more pints if I wanted to can anything that size right now.  I also used all but a few half pint jars.  Which means I'll need a bunch more before berry season next year.  Some will be ready to be reused, but most of the stuff we go through quickly is in quart jars, so it'll take a couple of years to get the smaller jars back.

dill pickles- 52.5 quarts
pickled beets- 60.5 quarts
blueberry sauce- 10 quarts
watermelon preserves- 9 quarts
lemon lime concentrate- 17 half pints
lemonade concentrate- 13 pints
tomato juice- 11
coffee- 7 x 2lbs
assorted pop and juice

potatoes- 35 lbs (I need to see the potato man)
water
a bit of lard

mangels- 10 gallons
rice- 4 x 8kg
flour- 7 X 10kg
carrots- 5 gallons
assorted pop and juices

onions- 10 lbs

apples (no pic)- about 5 lbs

I'm waiting for sales to finish stocking up on rice, flour, onions, and pasta sauce (we use a lot!).  I'm hoping for a big apple sale, but I have my doubts on whether it'll happen or not.  Otherwise, just a few things needed here and there to top off the shelves.

A Day Without Water

Well, the better part of the day, anyway.

Yesterday's mishap with the shut off valve, led to one of those practical guides of how much water do we need to store.

Water storage pre-mishap:

Bowl of water in sink, soaking to loosen dried food (poured into doggie stew pot)

1 5 gallon pail, nearly full, which collects water from the relief valve on the water tank.  (used to wash dishes).

14 2L pop bottles (used 2 for dish rinse water.  I wanted 'cleaner' water for the rinse, which proved fruitless after the first few items were rinsed, used 1 in the bathroom to wash hands and flush the toilet until the snow melted)


2 4L jugs distilled water.  (used half of one to bake bread).

24 500ml bottles (drank about 4)

pot of tea (made before the mishap)

Additionally:

3 5 gallon pail of snow (dishes)
4 5 gallon pails of snow (bathtub, to flush toilet, and wold have added hot water for baths if we didn't get the problem fixed)

At the end of the day:
11 2L bottles
about 20 500ml bottles

Melting snow is definitely more convenient (and cleaner) than hauling water from the creek.  It can also be put into a variety of readily available containers once the bucket comes in the house.  I had two pots on the stove, and one on the wood stove all day, melting and heating snow.  I filled the bathtub with snow to melt slowly.  I could have easily grabbed more 5 gallon pails, pots and bowls if I needed more, or faster water.

I also left the critters to fend for themselves for the day.  Although it's not really recommended (eating snow requires more energy than drinking water), one day wasn't going to hurt them.

If this had happened in the summer, with everyone at home, with our water intake being higher, and needing to get water to the critters, we would have been in trouble.  Not because we don't have access to water- we have the creek and a natural spring next door, but because carrying water takes some forethought.  For one thing, carting 5 gallon pails are heavy, and without lids, would spill quite a bit.

So even though we had more than enough water for this situation, I'm going to increase my water storage.  2L pop bottles would work well to get water from the spring, and if I'm going to store them, I might as well store them filled.  I have a large camping jug, and I might as well keep it filled as well.  A couple more of those would be handy for hauling water, as would some 5 gallon pails with lids.  A couple more cases of bottled water wouldn't take up too much room either, and the bottles would be very convenient if I had to do this long term.

Another handy device would be a siphoning hose set aside just for water.

For the critters, I think I need to look at a 55 gallon drum.  We have lots that we use as rain barrels, and water 'troughs' for the critters, but one without the top cut off wold be good for hauling water from the creek.  Of course, long term, running the fence to the creek would be the best solution.

Dad picked up the parts I needed in town, and came over to help me fix the pipe last night.  By 7pm, we were back in business, and now I know how to do minor plumbing repairs.

Washing with Lye

For a few years now I've been planning to make some lye soap.  When I first read about it in an old timer's book, it seemed like a fairly simple plan.  I just needed to build this contraption to catch the lye.

The plan was to build a large wooden box to dump the wood stove ashes into.  Then it would be connected to a drain board connected to a bucket.  Dump the ashes in all winter.  Let it snow, let it rain, water it down, collect the lye.

And then make soap.  But the whole process was sounding rather time consuming, smelly, and somewhat dangerous.  I left it to simmer in my head.  TShadn'tHTFyet so, no rush.



And then I watched Tales From The Green Valley, a British documentary of life on a 17th century farm.  And they got a might dirty over their year on that farm.  And they had to do laundry down at the creek.  And they made themselves a batch of lye to wash that laundry with.

And they didn't make soap.  They poured the lye directly over the laundry, then beat it clean.

Well, that's easy enough, isn't it?  I could do that.  Well, I'll let the washing machine do the 'beating', but I could make lye for laundry.

I started with two 4L ice cream buckets.  They stack, and the plastic ridges hold the inner bucket an inch or so higher than the outside bucket.  I poked holes through the bottom of the inside bucket to allow the lye water drain.  I put in a coffee filter, and wood ash.  Added about 4 inches of water and waited impatiently.

It took forever to drain.  In my second attempt I removed the coffee filter.  Very little ash leaks through and it drains faster.  It seems to work best if I leave it to drain overnight though.

The lye water seems more potent.  The first load of laundry I tried needed to be rewashed.  The second load was ok.  But laundry after leaving the lye to drain overnight turns out quite nice.  I was also pleasantly surprised by the smell- almost like that fresh air scent from line drying.  A pleasant surprise in the winter.

Further research reveals that pine ash is not recommended, and soft water is.  I have pine and poplar ash and hard water, which could be why my results aren't great.

I think I'll be sticking to store bought soap for town clothes, but the lye water will be fine for farm clothes.  Time will tell, too, I'm sure.  If things don't seem to be getting clean after a few washes, I'll reassess.  

Winter Food

After yapping about the garden and the harvest all year, I thought it might be interesting to write a little foodie post here in the great white north.

I haven't been out to a grocery store yet this year.  lol.  Not a huge accomplishment, we're only three weeks in.  However, I don't do a lot of grocery store shopping in the small towns at all, and I haven't been to the city since November.

I was buying a lot of bread!  Yes, bread, of all things.  Husband was picking it up on the way home from work, parents were picking it up for me, and I even bought a few loaves at our little store.  I was still baking lots of bread, but no one wanted to eat it, least of all me.  I tried a bunch of different recipes, but I was getting nowhere.  It was all so disgusting, heavy, and smelled like beer when sliced open.  I finally gave up, and asked my dad to pick me up some new yeast.  That was definitely the problem.  We're back to light, fluffy, yummy, fresh baked bread.  Now when I think about how much money I wasted on store bought bread while trying to convince myself that that jar of expensive yeast was fine...  Yeash.  Should definitely have replaced the yeast sooner.

Vegetation wise, my few trips to the store since fall have yielded a few stocks of celery, which for some reason are hard for me to resist in the winter.  Maybe it's the crunch?  Celery is one of my favourite snack foods.  I'm up to three bags of frozen corn, because you can only eat so much turkey before you go on a corn rampage apparently.  And of course, I never leave a store without a bunch of mushrooms.  Do they actually count as a veggie?  Packed with Vitamin D, mushrooms are one of my best friends throughout the winter.

Otherwise on the veggie front, we're getting low on carrots.  We had some spoilage this year, I think due to that lovely weather we had in the fall, keeping the cold room warmer than usual. Beans and beets are the everyday go to veggies, pretty much alternating every third day.  The bean supply is getting slimmer, but not done yet.  Broccoli is gone, gone, gone.  A few turnips left, and still two pumpkins.  Finished our first ten pound bag of onions.  Onions are starting to get soft and grow, so I'm not too sure how much longer the second bag will last.  I'm into my third (and last) 50 pound bag of potatoes.  I'll need to make a trip to the potato man soon to replenish my stock.  I nearly forgot about the tomatoes, so I've just started using them up.

In the meat department, eating a few turkeys certainly helps to clear out some freezer space!  I'm actually pleasantly surprised with the reception the turkey is still getting around here.  No complaints from the boys, despite turkey sandwiches and days of leftovers.  Lots of roast beef, a bit of corned beef, and a fair bit of steak is gone, but still over half remains.  I am starting to dig for pork, which is kind of funny, considering how I avoided it for so long.  We will definitely be ready for new piglets this year.  The bit of pork we're eating is now a rare treat.  The bear has hardly been touched, on account of it all being in the garage freezer.  I do have room now to start shuffling some things around and bringing more variety closer for convenience.  A warmer day would be encouraging to get my arse in motion.

Fruit is crazy.  I think the boys are losing their sweet teeth as well.  They've eaten 1 jar of pears, and a few jars of jam.  My fruit shelves are still packed.  The apple supply has dwindled significantly, and they devoured a big pot of applesauce after I did my midwinter apple sort, removing apples with bad spots from the boxes.  Perhaps it's just that the pumpkin treats have been sufficiently satisfying.  At any rate, I will be trying to stuff more fruit into baked treats for the rest of the winter.  Blueberry sauce cookies anyone?

Reasons to head out to the grocery store...  We are getting low on rice, dried beans and pasta.  Pasta sauce has also taken a hit, and baking supplies (powder, soda, chocolate chips, and sugar) are at an all time low.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with our harvest from last year, and looking forward to doing it all over again this year.  It's definitely been our most self sustained year yet!

The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker...

Usually I am well prepared for temporary power outages.  But the other day, the power went out first thing in the morning.  We had just gotten up, lit the fires, and made a pot of coffee.  Two hours 'til daylight.  -32°C outside.  Brrr.  And that was it.  Lights out.

Normally I have an assortment of candles sitting out on the hutch in the living room, one in the bathroom, a couple in the kitchen, and one in my room.  I know where they are, easily accessible, not too much stumbling around in the dark. 

But...  The candle in my room disappeared somewhere in the pre christmas chaos.  The candle in the bathroom disappeared somewhere.  Haven't figured that one out yet.  One of the kitchen candles was burned down beyond use last time, and I hadn't replaced it.  And my hutch?  Well...  We set up the little tree this year, on account of a chewing puppy, and I cleared the hutch off to place the tree.  And in my pre holiday hum bug, where exactly did I dump all of that stuff?  Yeash.  Stumbling in the dark.

I love candles.  Always have.  Like moths to a flame.  I love the colours, the warmth, the wet wax pooling up and running away.  I told husband not long ago that I should learn how to make candles so that I could be 'the butcher, the baker, the candle stick maker'.  lol.  And then, one of the blogs I follow posted about making new candles from old candle wax.  And then the power went out.

So, after I found the candles, while we sat at the kitchen table playing chess and battleship, warmed by the heat of the wood stoves, I watched the pools of wet wax grow and spread and harden.  I kept thinking to myself, I wish I had printed that blog post.  I got an empty jar and started collecting the used wax as it dripped away.  By the time the hydro came back on I had quite a bit of wax collected.  I also trimmed off the uneven tops of some large candles, and emptied the tiny bits at the bottom of some almost finished candles.  Then I went in search of that blog post.  And I could not find it.  I wish I could give credit where credit is due, but I'm at a loss.

Instead, I googled candle making and found a variety of different perspectives.  Most of them agreed that the wax should be melted in a double boiler.  I used an old pot full of water and inserted my collecting jar and a candle in a jar that had drowned itself long ago.  I heated it gently on low heat, the wax melted fine, no broken jars or explosions.

My wicks are just thick cotton string, twice dipped in the melted wax with a plastic fork, and then laid out to harden.  For one candle I reused the little metal bit from an old candle, the other I just held in place with a bit of wax, let that harden, then continued pouring.  I used a pencil to hold the wicks somewhat centered in the jars.  More wax was needed as the wax cooled and hardened and left a dip in the center.

Both candles burn fine and bright.  The thicker one doesn't melt evenly, so I'm now searching for thinner jars and glasses for future use.  They're self drowning candles in the jars, so I poured the wax off periodically into my collecting jar as well.  Then I thought, why not make new candles while the old candles burn?  I had a little shot glass, and enough wick trimmed off from the first jars to fill it.  I poured the wax off the melting candle directly into the shot glass around the wick, making a third candle.  With a few prepared wicks and enough empty jars I could keep myself supplied with candles for future power outages during power outages.

How cool is that?

Other notes on being prepared...

-Lots of board games, cards, books, etc.  Zero boredom, short term.
-Short on snow this year.  We didn't need to melt any for this short power outage, however we'd be hard pressed to find enough clean snow to last 2-3 days this year.  The creek is not frozen, nor the spring, but  hauling water from either requires better planning.  I need to look into collecting better large jugs, and a sturdy, lightweight sleigh to haul it with.
-Tea pot.  I have a lovely little cast iron kettle on the wood stove all the time, to add moisture to the air.  However, it's rusting on the inside.  Unappealing for tea.  Of course, any pot would technically work to heat water for tea, but I'd really like a large stainless steel kettle.
-Breakfast.  I haven't really considered wood stove breakfasts before.  Low on eggs and bread,breakfast was a couple of apples each.  I know I can cook any one pot meal I might need for supper on the wood stove (roast, stew, soup, etc), but I need to pay more attention to simple meals for breakfast and lunch, especially in the event of a long term power outage, or come up with some other cooking methods.  The sun room wood stove has a small surface area, allowing for only one pot or frying pan at a time.

It's good to have the power go out at odd hours.  Helps jog the brain for future preparedness.