Joyfilled

@Jeepers, I've been wondering. We eat a fair amount of chorizo in our home (it's a Mexican sausage). Can I can that on its own? I'm guessing the consistency would change, unless I cooked it before? Or raw pack it? I'd love to store this staple of our home, outside of the freezer!!

Would love your bean soup recipe if you would be so kind!! 😊

....have you started? What have you canned? Or do you have plans? Trying to get my groove going! How do you get motivated?

Here is what I'm hoping to can this year:

Pinto beans

Black beans

Kidney beans

Spaghetti Sauce

Diced tomatoes

Tomato soup

Tomato sauce

Salsa

Jalapeno jelly

Pickled jalapenos

Banana Peppers

Chicken stock

Dill pickles

Dill relish

Apple sauce (if we have access to apples)

Peaches

Chili

Ground beef

Sloppy Joe Mix

Chicken noodle soup (without the noodles, of course)

Cranberry juice

Pineapple chunks

There are more things, but seeing this  much in black and white gives me an idea of what kind of work I have ahead of me. We don't eat green beans, and I'm not sure I should can potatoes. Is it a good idea?

1 hour ago, Jeepers said:

We rarely hear anything about it up here.  

We don't either....

Ours is coming along....nothing I can harvest yet, except for some of the herbs. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow!

Wedding is July 16th!

....and it's fun, and tiring, and fun, and exciting and stressful. But we're getting 'er done!

I'm making a list. We're keeping the budget LOW...think $2000 or under. I'm making the cake/cupcakes, some of the food and cookies. We made the invitations, and just generally are trying to keep the amount down. Neither our daughter nor us see the reason to spend a ton of money, so we're keeping it small and intimate (75 people or so).

Again, with everything that's going on, it's nice to be looking at pretty wedding stuff....but it's hard to be in full garden/food prep mode at the same time. We're making it happen, though!

2 hours ago, euphrasyne said:

One of our next door neighbors has chickens.   They used to get over the fence and into my garden, but my kid said something when putting the chicken back on their side one time and they put in a coop.  It has been peaceful ever since.   Their chicken coop is one of those portable screen gazebos.   80% of their yard is an inground pool and they have the coop right up against the fence by us.  I'm not sure how the inside is set up.  He is military and gone frequently, she is deceased wife's mother and raises the kids.  DD14 was friends with the oldest daughter, but her dad was deceased wife's 1st husband and her dad came off deployment so she went to live with him.  The grandmother speaks Spanish and not a lot of English.  Sadly, I only speak a little Spanish and the eldest daughter is gone so we don't talk much anymore.  

I am fluent in Spanish if you need help with a couple of phrases! 

I totally missed this....I need to check in more often!! Happy birthday month, Jeepers!

Happy, happy birthday!!

14 hours ago, Mother said:

Joyfilled, I used to plant tomatillos years ago.  I am contemplating trying them again.  We will, of course, be needing your salsa recipe in the future. 

You bet! I canned it back in 2020, and we are still enjoying them. If our plants do okay this year, I'll be making more and canning it again. So rewarding!!

I think the whole thing is crazy. I know in some states you have to have a chef's kitchen just to be able to bake cookies to sell. Kansas is relatively simple in their requirements, and honestly, they seem to be common sense (at least what I remember)....keep refrigerated items at certain temperatures, etc. I get that. When it gets to dairy and meat products there are also more rules, but I don't know what they are as I don't intend on selling any, not even our own eggs. I won't even use our own eggs in baking for public purposes (in the summer I make chocolate chocolate-chip zucchini muffins to give away).

Someone there was selling enchiladas, baked goods, fresh produce. One little girl was selling her paintings, but I don't think she sold any. I'm not sure they will sell very well.

Thank you, everyone!! The shower was simple, but nice. She felt very loved and cared for. Got some things she really needed, other things that she didn't so much, but all of them she really appreciated.

Thank you for your kind words, too. Hubby and I started out with not one, not two, but three households. Mine, his, and his grandparents that he inherited (some, not all their stuff). But that meant that we had to struggle through other things to make our relationship strong, it didn't come naturally....but strong it is. I hope this happens for them as well!!

Gone are the days of simple rules, etc. I know that it's to protect people, but wow....seems like it's at the expense of other people. 

I have looked up cottage laws in KS, and they are pretty lenient. We don't have any plans to do anything that needs refrigeration, not even eggs (we do have chickens, but use store bought eggs for projects like these). 

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas, keep them coming!!

I feel like a lot of kids in her generation (including those related to me) are putting off marriage until they are "settled." Buying a house, established career, etc. Not them! They will go through all of that, but together. 

And yes, we've got their back. ❤️

On 6/7/2022 at 7:44 PM, Annarchy said:

thinking about it, but for now…. Waiting to see if they produce again.  
 

My car, said it was 110°. Over 100° in the shade. Yup, AZ summer is here…

 

Picked a medium sized zucchini, a couple of days ago, today I found one , about the size you can get at the store.  Sliced ‘‘em up & fried them… a 1/4th tsp of butter for taste, fried in a tbs of olive oil.
 

 

The first batch of 3, was a Mexican recipe, sautéed onion & diced tomato, zucchini, and corn, with a tsp of tomato bullion.  
 

Made , home made sour cream & chive noodles… minus the additives and preservatives you get in the boxes.

 

Collected 4 tomatillos from the 2 plants growing…

 

 

Not exactly sure what I’ll make out of them, yet…

 

I’ve never heard that about termites, Virginia.  Our desert termites, the queen lives in the soil, the workers forage above.  If they find a food source, the move the queen closer.  IDK.  I’m grateful we have enough desert fauna, to keep them away from our house.  

Nice tomatillos!! I make green salsa with them. Hubby planted 3, and only one of them survived. Would the cold have gotten them? Hope we get a good harvest from the one!! 

Not sure where to put this, so feel free to move it if needed.

Today was our small town's (pop. 500ish) first Farmer's Market!! We aren't participating yet (I can't do everything, so it will have to wait until after the wedding), but it was fun to shop and get to know people!

I was wondering if you could help me with price ideas. I have no idea what to charge, and I realize things change from area to area, but it will at least give me ideas. Here are some thoughts of what we would like to sell:

* Herbs. Bunches of herbs, dried herbs. If the fresh ones don't sell, then I'll dehydrate them and sell them that way (or use them). Oregano, basil, thyme, mint, peppermint, chocolate mint, sage, stevia (maybe, I'm kinda stingy when it comes to stevia), etc.

* Breakfast burritos (made by 10 yo DS), filled with eggs and chorizo.

* Chocolate chip cookies (made by 8 yo DD).

* Chocolate, chocolate chip zucchini cupcakes (made by 9 yo DD).

Other ideas are homemade cards (by me and DDs), drinks (lemonade, cold coffee, etc), extracts, etc. Lots of ideas....so little time.

What are your experiences with Farmer's Markets? Is there something about them that you absolutely love? Any advice, ideas? I'm all....eyes.

....and I'm SO excited!! I've been asked to give the devotional, her sisters and I have our gifts ready, and we're set to go. I hope (in a Mama Bear kind of way) that she gets lots of loot, stuff that she wants and needs (not in that order). She and her fiance are truly starting from scratch. He's is school with a full time job, with the goal of becoming a pastor someday. Life will be rough for them, but God will be with them.

For now, it's a bright spot in a dark world.

2 hours ago, euphrasyne said:

I use dehydrated hashbrowns all the time.  Just soak them in hot water then use as you would frozen only the cook time is much much less.  

 

I like having the ingredients on hand to make things rather than the made thing.  it gives me greater use and more possibilities.  

Yes! Me too. Some times they are nice to have ready to eat (fast food), but having the ingredients flexible is nice, too. I appreciate knowing that I can store them dehydrated. Less use of freezer, which is my goal right now!!

6 hours ago, Midnightmom said:

I think you would have to dehyrate the ingredients separately, then rehydrate them once you want to combine them to make your hash browns. Alternatively, you could can your potato mix and fry it up later as a scramble, not patties. 

You're making me hungry. 😂 

It's a hash brown casserole, though. It has cream of chicken, sour cream....I'd obviously not dehydrate those, but I wonder if I could do the hash browns by themselves, then reconstitute them and use them in the casserole?

I'm a timid dehydrator person. I dehydrate herbs (mint, oregano, basil, sage, rosemary, etc). I've done apple and banana slices, but I think that's it. Oh! I also bought some frozen veggies and have dehydrated those. I would like to branch out to do more, but I'm concerned about how they come out later.

What would y'all suggest I dehydrate that would be pretty close to normal? Green peppers? I freeze them for now, but if they reconstitute pretty close to their original state? That would save a lot of freezer space!! Carrots....what was the verdict of celery? I just don't want to blanch....I don't mind using frozen (I believe that counts for blanching?). Also....hash browns. Do those reconstitute pretty well? I make a yummy hash brown casserole for Christmas morning, and would love to be able to continue that tradition. Would dehydrated hash browns work? I have so many questions....thank you for your patience!!

....and I hope it encourages you, too.  Keep going. I know it's tiring and a lot of work, but keep planting, weeding, making things with your produce, etc. Keep at it. Trust God for the rest.

13 hours ago, Mother said:

Joyfilled, I loved our Guernsey/ jersey cross milk cow. She was so tame we could go out to the pasture and milk her.  She gave gallons of rich creamy milk daily and would milk over two years without being bred. 
 

We have three small 45 watt solar panels that give us plenty of 12 volt power but we’d have to run an inverter to even consider running our freezers, even our smallest one, as inverters use too much electricity to convert to 110.  One of our solar panels is brand new in the box and we are hoping if our hooked up ones are affected the boxed one wouldn’t be.  Not sure about batteries but we always keep one or two charged but not connected to anything.  I’m not sure there is any definitive answer to that.  

And....your cow 🐮 story sounds lovely. I most likely wouldn't milk it, but would process the milk....but seeing her in the pasture would be amazing!! 😊

13 hours ago, Mother said:

Joyfilled, I loved our Guernsey/ jersey cross milk cow. She was so tame we could go out to the pasture and milk her.  She gave gallons of rich creamy milk daily and would milk over two years without being bred. 
 

We have three small 45 watt solar panels that give us plenty of 12 volt power but we’d have to run an inverter to even consider running our freezers, even our smallest one, as inverters use too much electricity to convert to 110.  One of our solar panels is brand new in the box and we are hoping if our hooked up ones are affected the boxed one wouldn’t be.  Not sure about batteries but we always keep one or two charged but not connected to anything.  I’m not sure there is any definitive answer to that.  

I think I'm just hoping we don't have to find out. 

It just occurred to me (duh! 🤦🏼‍♀️), rolling blackouts would affect gas stations, stores and the like, too, I would suspect. I'm sure hospitals have generators, and possibly grocery stores, too. But those generators take gas....and gas is already expensive. And so is food. What will that do to the cost of cheese (since that's what this thread is about after all, heh...)??? 

I like this channel....I haven't tried this yet, but this is what they have to say about it:

Thought I should mention that I thought you wrote "lawyers" not layers. Your post was a LOT funnier with that in mind.