TurtleMama

Prayers for your sister, sweetie...and prayers for you. God bless you both as you journey this very difficult road.

One thing that is really cool about our neighborhood is that they have citrus trees growing all over the public areas, so last night I went on a citrus collecting rampage. I now have a full laundry basket of assorted oranges, and I am going to get them in the canner today. Hooray! Once the grapefruit are ripe, I'll can up a bunch of that for my DH (I think grapefruit tastes like bile...ew!). All of it for free! I really need to do some experimenting with canning my own soup. I get really sick of the watery Campbell's stuff...

I have a question to toss out there for anyone interested in answering... I desperately want to can some ground turkey, since we don't eat a lot of beef. When I make burgers, taco, etc, I always use ground turkey. Is it safe to can ground turkey following the instructions for ground beef? I'm not sure if the processing times would be different or anything. Also, could I substitute pork for beef in the beef stew recipe from the Ball Blue Book? I know that we're not usually supposed to make substitutions, so if I cannot do either of these things I'll probably just reintroduce beef back into our diets in limited amounts. Thanks!!

8 full trays of shredded Irish potatoes

4 quarts Irish potatoes

Made 6 half pints of Pearbutter and 12 pints of apples to go with my 7 quarts of potatoes. Hooray for a fun canning weekend!

Because I always listen to Violet, I am now in possession of 20 pounds of potatoes, which I shall commence canning shortly. hehehe I also have 30 pounds of apples and 15 pounds of pears...as soon as I find a recipe for pear butter, I'm going to get in my canning groove!!

Violet and Jori!!! Maybe I'll get four bags -- overcome my fear and can two, and dry two in case I'm too afraid to eat the canned ones because I'm a dork! LOL Bravo, all y'all canning ladies!

10 pounds of carrots, 5 pounds of celery. Tomorrow I'll be dehydrating approximately 15-20 pounds of potatoes and about 9-12 pounds of apples. Woo hoo! Got my first dehydrating-related injury today: a blister on my index finger from peeling and chopping all the carrots! hehehe My DH stepped up for me and finished chopping...I told him I'd be fine with a band-aid but he's my chopping knight in shining armor! LibraryMama, wish I could help you on those apples, but I'm still a dehydrating newbie. I'm certain someone will come in here who's an expert and will be able to give you some really good advice.

A store out here has 5-pound bags of potatoes for $1 each and I would love to get some and can them, but I'm terrified of getting potato dirt in the jar and then having botulism in my potatoes. How do you can potatoes with confidence? Maybe I'll get some and stick 'em in my dehydrator! LOLOL

Oooh, Daylily, I'll be right over for a nectarine snack... hehehe

Violet, do you have any advice on the drying of homemade egg pasta? I may be overly paranoid, but I always figure better safe than sorry...

Yesterday was the first day, after moving into our new little house, that I felt "together" enough to put some effort into preserving food. I had two five-pound bags of carrots and a Costco-size bag of celery in the fridge, taking up inordinate amounts of space, so I diced them, blanched them, and popped them into the dehydrator. A few hours later, I was rewarded with very dry, very teeney-tiny little-bitty pieces of carrot and celery! My husband couldn't believe how little dried veggies came from that much fresh! Next payday I'll be heading to Costco to buy more cheap bulk celery and carrots to dehydrate and add to the stash. On the eggs...please NEVER try to dehydrate them at home. You run a nasty risk of Salmonella poisoning, especially these days, with non-home-dehydrated eggs making so many people sick. Eggs are one of the things that are well worth spending the extra money on to purchase commercially -- it's so much better to be safe than sorry, especially considering that if you are planning on using these stores in the event of a disaster, medical help may not be readily available. Please don't take chances!

Thanks, Canned Nerd!!

I was just thinking that it might be a good idea to explain to people WHY botulism is to be taken so seriously. Violet, do you have an article or link of some sort that you could post to underscore the reason that we don't take any chances in our canning? I know that I, myself, did not understand the big deal about it when I first started learning about canning. I'd hate for anyone to take a chance because they don't really know what a potentially deadly illness botulism poisoning is.

Violet, you're such a sweetie! Thanks for all your help! It's good to know the whey can be reused! I would hate to waste it. Pinkroses, thanks so much, hon! LOL I've been in a "LEARN NOW" mode lately! I'll try starting the yogurt tomorrow if I get a chance. Doesn't seem like TOO much work to do on Sunday...

Dude...Violet...as always, you are a treasure trove of endless information. I adore you!

Oooh, thanks so much for the links and suggestions!! I truly appreciate it! Just out of curiosity, is there anything you can do with the whey after you drain it off? I'd hate to waste it if it can be used to make something else yummy, or if it's good for you nutritionally. Thanks again for responding.

I would love to develop the skill of making homemade yogurt, cream cheese, and sour cream -- but I don't want to depend on having a yougurt maker because I want to be prepared for making it if we go off-grid. Does anyone have any good recipes for making any of these? I know that if I can make homemade yogurt, I can then make cream cheese...and I think the sour cream is whole milk/cream that you basically just let clabber. I'd greatly appreciate any experience or recipes that anyone could provide. Thanks so much!!

Pine needle tea is indeed a wonderful source of vitamin C. It has been used to prevent scurvy, and it seems almost as if it were MEANT for that purpose...seeing has how evergreens are one of the few plants that stay green and fresh throughout winter, when scurvy would be most prevalent (were it not for our unnatural system of growing and distributing food out of season). God provides. I never heard that needle tea could cause miscarriage...definitely a good thing to know.

Violet, If I remember correctly (and you don't mind using the jar for this), it's safe to make these then store them in the fridge for short-term use, right? That way, ANM could make them for gifts or using herself since she likes the recipe, but use them within a short time so it would be safe... But I definitely would not eat these if they've been on the shelf, ANM. It's just not worth the risk...even if you've had them in the past and they've been okay, it would only take one rogue botulism spore to make you very, very sick. Don't take the chance, hon!

I'm interested to see what's going to happen in your study, Cat! Steph -- I'm a total dorko. I didn't know that many thought the anti-Christ would be a Jew -- I thought he was supposed to be European. DUH!! LOL All I know is that whichever race or whatever region he's from, I want NOTHING to do with him! How great is our God!!! Thank you, Cat, for being in His service while preparing this discussion!