For those interested in food production and preserving

[FaithManor]

I've had a lot of questions and p.m.'s about dh and I's attempts to do more with food production, how much our start-up costs were etc. So, I thought I'd post here with some links and ideas.

 

First off, we do have a large garden (usually) and we have chickens and ducks. Now that said, our food production saw a serious set-back for this year when we unwittingly put donated compost on our garden plot last autumn that the farmer assured us was properly composted and "sterile" (meaning that the compost pile had been turned very often so that all of the contents were - at some point - in the center and reaching the minimum temperature do kill seeds) and that none of his compost included weeds. Lie, lie, lie....it was full of noxious weed seeds and they all came up this year. So, the only thing we have been able to do to reclaim our garden plot is burn it regularly. We burn, burn, burn so that every time the weeds come up they cannot go to seed. We should have a handle on this now for next season. As a result, the only thing produced on this property for 2011 has been wild carrots, wild scallions, strawberries, black-caps (small breed of black berries), and rhubarb.

 

My parents doubled the size of their garden plot in order to accomodate some of my canning/dehydrating needs. Thank you mom and dad.

 

But, a lot of what I need will be purchased from a local Amish farmer who has a lovely produce stand, better than reasonable prices, loves to share his food production knowledge, and doesn't use pesticides, herbicides, or commercial fertilizers. Just cow, pig, chicken, or horse droppings from his well-cared for animals who eat his home grown veggies and grains.

 

The canner I use is available from amazon with free shipping. I love this canner. I can mostly in pints and jelly jars. This canner is a double stacker which is definitely heavy when fully loaded (dh or my 14 year old boy - I knew there was a reason to feed the muscle :D) do all of the lifting for me. I can process 20 pints at one time. Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Presto-23-Quart-Aluminum-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B0000BYCFU/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1311783685&sr=1-2

 

I have two food dehydrators. One is from Harbor Freight ($19.99) and really doesn't pull all that much for electricity. The other is a LARGE one with five shelves that are probably 18x18. We also watch garage sales for old window screens that can be easily repaired. These can be used, in the event of wanting to conserve the electricity, to dry food using the good ole sun. We've done it before. It's just tougher. You have to be on the lookout for birds, bugs, and storms. It's also difficult to dehydrate outdoors in high humidity. But, again, it does work. It's best to read up on solar dehydrating before attempting it and there are lots of free articles online.

 

Jars are a major investment. Walmart sells a dozen pints for $8.99 which is $.75 each with a lid and ring. I have purchased some new. However, our area reseale stores and Goodwill nearly always have them for $0.25 or 0.35 each and I reuse my rings. You can reuse your rings year after year so long as you examine them for denting/mishappen sides. If they get bent, I throw them out. That leaves me buying just lids, $1.49 for 12 ($0.12) each for regular and $.14 each for wide mouth. I also have collected quite a few quarts which I unfortunately don't use much. I do can pasta sauce and plain tomatoes in quarts and when tomatoes are plentiful, I can about 52 quarts per year. But, for most of our veggies and fruits, a pint is the right size.

 

Once your initial investment in supplies takes place, buying lids and occasionally replacing a broken or chipped jar, makes the cost of your canning very economical if you break it down by the number of seasons you expect to use your supplies. For instance, I've had this particular canner for three years and expect to be canning with it for at least another 20 years. Gaskets (I will probably have to replace once in that time period) cost only $10.00 at the local hardware. So, my $75.00 investment, plus a gasket, plus probably not more than $100.00 invested in my 500 jars, makes my cost over the life of the canning equipment (at least 23 years if not a whole lot longer) $8.04 per year.

 

If you don't grow your own food, but have a local farmers' market with good prices, this can be very cost effective. I won't lie to you though....it is TIME consuming. So, don't go into it blind. I do a lot of canning in the fall, babysitting the pressure canner, with the ds's around me doing schoolwork and my planbook in my lap.

 

For instance, today I canned Zesty California Mix. I went to the produce stand yesterday, purchased four large heads of cauliflower ($1.00 ea.), two generously sized candy onions (2/1.00), four green peppers (2/1.00), two bunches of carrots ($2.00 total), and then to the Mennonite Builk Food store for some organic brussel sprouts they had in stock and that I also knew were on sale (1.5 lbs for $1.50) plus, an organic head of celery ($1.99) . I brought everything home, chopped it up in medium size chunks, rinsed it all well, and placed it in a salt-water and lemon brine (kills bugs and bacteria) for 12 hours. Got up this morning, threw 18 pints into the dishwasher on rinse and heat dry (gets them very hot and ready for use), made up the brine (took nearly a gallon of apple cider vinegar), packed the jars, and water bathed them. (Veggies in vinegar brines do not have to be pressure cooked because the vinegar is such high acidity). They only had to process 15 minutes, but it takes a long time to get that much water to boil. It was a two and half hour job.

 

This mix costs dh $1.82 for a 20 oz. jar at Walmart. I have 18 pints (16 oz. jars) for a total cost of veggies, vinegar, spices, and lids of $0.81 per jar. Definitely a savings, but obviously not worth my time in wages. But, here is where the real bonus comes in. All of this was essentially organically grown, locally grown produce. It wasn't sprayed with 200 lbs. of pesticide per acre (the average cauliflower crop from California receives this much) and I used my money to support my local community. Very little fuel and fuel emmission was consumed to put the food on my table. I did use my electric stove and will continue to do so, but I have experimented with and figured out how to keep my canner up to pressure on the tripod over our fire ring. So, I could preserve over a wood fire if I had to.

 

Most of my production is this economical. A quart jar of plain tomatoes costs me almost nothing if my garden, in conjunction with mom and dad's, produces enough. Everything is vine ripened which adds to it's flavor and nutritional count. As a matter of fact, I don't think I could go back to store bought unless I absolutely had to because the flavor of commercially canned tomatoes is BLECH by comparison.

 

Spaghetti sauce (if I use a packet of Mrs. Wage's Pasta Sauce seasonings at $1.79 - it's zesty so I use twice as many tomatoes as called for and it turns out perfect for our family) comes out to $0.25 a quart for the herbs and $0.12 for the lid. Even if I buy a bushel of tomatoes from the farmer ($16.00 a bushel), a quart of spaghetti sauce costs me $1.07 per jar.

 

Dehydrating is simple...once you've invested the time in slicing or chopping the produce, you just layer it on the shelves and let the heat do the work. The only other work involved is placing it inside the jars and tightening down a lid. I usually do three quarts of grape tomatoes (that's three quarts dehydrated= 8-10 qts. fresh). These are our salad tomatoes for the winter. They do not need to be rehydrated as they are yummy chewy and will soften just a little when the salad dressing hits them. Last year I did 12 red bell peppers (mostly from the family gardens). I ran out by April and that was with rationing. We love it in stir fries, soups, stews, and salads. So, I need to do a lot more this year. The wonderful thing about dehydrated foods is that you have a lot of food and it takes up minimal space.

 

Also, fresh corn is $4.00 a dozen. But, if I buy a full bushel (36-48 ears depending on size since it goes by volume), I get it for only $3.00 a dozen. I blanch it (drop the husked ears in boiling water for 3 minutes) and then place an ear per family member inside gallon baggies and freeze. 3 minutes to warm up in boiling water after being thawed. I freeze blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and broccoli. The broccoli and raspberries come from family gardens, the blackberries are growing wild at the back of the property, and the kids pick blueberries at a local blueberry farm for $1.20 a lb.

 

The combo of canning, freezing, and dehydrating works well. It is a time consumer like no other.

 

Besides egg production, we do also raise a piggie each year. He gets lots of discarded produce from area markets, tons of weeds from my parents land that is not currently in use, and when necessary, some purchased feed. We take a small piglet off a local 4-H'ers hands (one that isn't going to grow out enough for them to bother with for show) as a weanling (4-6 weeks age) for $55.00. With butchering (we deliver alive to a meat processing facility that does kosher processing as well so the animals are humanely put down), our total cost tends to run in the $1.75 lb range and that includes the smoked bacon and hams as well as the maple cured sausage links. I will say that I believe that our area of the midwest, highly agricultural with a very poor economy, is probably lower in price for produce and for services such as meat processing than many other areas of the U.S.

 

Happy harvest season,

Faith

[Happy2BaMom]

Thanks, Faith, for the great info. I've always enjoyed and learned from your posts, especially re: self-sufficiency & related topics.

 

We are also starting to garden/dehydrate/can/freeze, etc. It is a lot of time. However, I also notice how much my kids are learning, even though they don't seem that interested. THey understand where food comes from, what needs to happen to it in order for it to become a meal, and how much effort it is to ensure there is enough food for winter.

 

Plus we are eating organic for SOOO much less than what I would pay in a store.

 

Speaking of killer compost, did you see the Mother Earth News article on the relatively widespread issues with pyralids herbicides getting into compost (because it goes through the animals manure & isn't broken down by composting)? You have to be so careful with outside compost now.

 

Thanks again for the info! Happy canning!

[FaithManor]

Speaking of killer compost, did you see the Mother Earth News article on the relatively widespread issues with pyralids herbicides getting into compost (because it goes through the animals manure & isn't broken down by composting)? You have to be so careful with outside compost now.

 

 

It's pretty frustrating, the compost issues! Next year, dh is putting a little taller fencing around the garden and we are netting it. So, as soon as the snow melts, the ducks and chickens will have free range in there. As spring develops, they'll eat huge amount of nasty bug larva plus they'll consume a lot of the seeds that may still be left. Then we'll round them up and throw the spring pig inside. Not only will he aerate the soil from all of that rooting about, but he'll kill the weeds early in their life cycle and dig even deeper for bug larvae. Additionally, all of the animals will leave behind their special "compost". Then we'll put piggie back at mom and dad's to grow. There is hope that we'll be able to reclaim the garden. If that doesn't work, then for 2013, dh is likely to pull up another huge portion of the yard and start over. Sigh.... I don't even want to think about that. As for the chemicals, I had heard that a number of pesticide/herbicide products do not break down through animal digestive tracks and are excreted right back to the soil. At some point, agricultural science is likely to have to determine what binders must be added to soil in order to neutralize the other chemicals. Of course, who knows how safe the binders will be! I seriously consider some Big Ag companies to be truely evil.

 

Faith

[Live2Ride]

Another small farmer! I love it. I was just going to start a post asking if anyone does some of these things and there yours was.

 

I have the exact same canner that you do. Bought it as my first major investment in starting our garden and small farm. I also have a large Nesco dehydrator with 8 trays, plus mesh and liquids inserts. I have so many jars and I don't give them away anymore. Much of the time when friends want homemade stuff for Christmas, I ask them to save the ones previously given and we trade. That helps keep down cost and they get more yummies, lol. Plus people in my area and church know I can a lot so many times they give me jars. I have more quart jars in the attic than I know what to do with, but I'm slowly filling them up a little at a time. I am working on making my own spagetti sauce in the next few weeks that will fill atleast some of those jars. I also had a great crop of green beans and I've been putting them in quarts as well.

 

I have a nice sized garden and a small farm, lol. We have raised a calf, pigs, chickens, milk goats and now sheep. I like the sheep and so do many of my friends :D. I have 16 lambs born this year with many of them spoken for.

 

The nice thing is that my son is able to earn some merit badges for scouts with many of the things we do here. He built our compost bin, started the seeds (with his sister), tilled and planted the garden, picked weeds, did some companion planting with flowers, harvested and helped can. I've been very pleased with his involvement.

 

Here's my blog with a recent post on what I've put up so far this year.

http://www.attherainbowsend.blogspot.com/

 

One thing that surprised me was the jalapenos we did this year got off to a slow start, but they sure loved the dry hot weather! I've got some out there over 4 inches in length! I made jalapeno jelly with some of them already and it was good!

[FaithManor]

I love sheep! We don't have enough land to keep any, but I farm sit for a local fiber farmer. I adore playing temporary shepherdess. My middle boy also bottle feeds bum lambs who are returned to the flock when weaned. As much as he fusses over his little baa's, I have to admit that I like to do nothing more than grab a good book, hot water bottle, and some old towels, and sit in the rocking chair warming up a rejected lamb! Pure joy, that's what it is.

 

What breed do you have? Are they primarily for meat, fiber, or both?

 

Faith

[Annie G]

Wow- you all are impressive!

 

I live in town, but have farmers within ten minutes, so I can buy lots of local fresh veggies. I do put up 36 bags of cut and creamed corn every year- blanched, cut/scraped, and frozen. But this whole concept of dehydrating is new to me- is it shelf stable all year after dehydrating, or do you freeze it? Do you treat tomatoes differently than you would, say, peppers?

 

My freezer is huge, and I really only freeze corn, zipper peas, and fresh fruit. I have room and time to do more- maybe dehydrating is a next step. No jams, though- we only buy about 3 jars of jam a year so I don't think we'd use enough to make it worthwhile. Unless you guys do something with jam that I don't know about.

[Alyeska]

Thank you so much for taking the time to type this out! I printed it for future reference. We will be moving soon and will have a small farm with a garden, so your advice is very helpful.

[Happy2BaMom]

I am just starting with dehydrating. I just bought the mother of the dehydrators (the 9 tray version). You can either purchase the book that Excalibur recommends, or this is another good one.

 

You don't need to freeze dehydrated food, although some people do - it can extend shelf life. I plan on using my seal-a-meal on the various packets of food to keep them fresh. I like the space-saving nature of it, plus dehydrating preserves so many nutrients.

 

We're going to get miniature dairy goats next year, plus a few turkeys. Pigs, well, not so much, but I'm inspired by you, Faith!

[Live2Ride]

Oh mini goats...make sure the fence is secure from the get go! You'd be surprised at the ways those goats can invent to get out! I liked my goats, but I like my sheep more, lol

 

I raise Gulf Coast Natives, I have a blog post here about them, and if you click the red link in the post you can see more info and pics. They are meat and wool. (and don't mind my poor ragged looking girls. We had just inherited most of them from a friend who passed away and they weren't being fed well because he was so sick-they picked up weight again shortly thereafter and now look lovely).

 

I really enjoyed my pigs...but they sure are smart. OUrs figured out how to remove the chain link gate to get the acorns under the tree outside their pen. I wired the gate to the hinges and they figured out how to unravel the wire at the bottom and push the wire up off the frame...so we rewired it with wire pieces sticking out from the frame to stick them in the nose if they got to thinking about doing it again..they learned...the stinkers. They did a wonderful job on the garden though at the end of the season!

 

I love dehydrating. We are able to really save space in the freezer (I have two full sized and then the kitchen fridge/freezer combo) and on the shelves. I have the jar lid attachment for the food saver vacuum so we just jar everything and seal. Dehydrated zucchini dry fast and are shelf stable for some time. It's like a 1/3 dried for every one cup fresh. I do all my cherry tomatoes for salads (I actually prefer them that way) and I think I'll try some in olive oil after dehydrating. YUM!

[Jennifer3141]

Faith, I just love your farming posts!!!

[LauraGB]

Wow - great post, Faith! Thank you so much for sharing!

[Soror]

I've tried to get into preserving but it has made me nervous and witht being prego or with a little one it seems there is never a good time. However, I think this year is finally the year! I bought that Presto canner last year but just opened it today and canned 2 batches of beans on my own - 10 quarts total. I meant to do 14 but I miscalculated. It went off without a hitch and all my jars sealed. I've got an Excalibur that I use but usually I don't do enough to have any to put up- we go through it too fast! Lately I've been making fruit roll-ups with it and everyone loves them! Next on my list is more beans- I've got 5 lb of dried black beans coming and blueberry jelly sweetened w/ honey- I bought some Pomona's last year but never used it. I really enjoyed the canning actually.

 

We don't have a garden as of now either, for reasons to many to name, but I'm still holding out hope for this fall! We raise meat rabbits as well and had our first butchering a few weeks back. I'm still hoping to get chickens for eggs, dh has said maybe this next year. It was supposed to be this year but it didn't happen. We have a starter orchard as well but it is only 2 yrs old and not producing yet. Dh really wants to get bees as well, but I expect a few more years for that. We seriously considering goats for milk but I really prefer cow milk to be honest and we don't have good land for cows. Maybe pigs but it wouldn't be cost effective right now as I can get it from the Mennonites for $1.45 pd. My goal is to start producing those things that we use the most and save the most money

[FaithManor]

I've tried to get into preserving but it has made me nervous and witht being prego or with a little one it seems there is never a good time. However, I think this year is finally the year! I bought that Presto canner last year but just opened it today and canned 2 batches of beans on my own - 10 quarts total. I meant to do 14 but I miscalculated. It went off without a hitch and all my jars sealed. I've got an Excalibur that I use but usually I don't do enough to have any to put up- we go through it too fast! Lately I've been making fruit roll-ups with it and everyone loves them! Next on my list is more beans- I've got 5 lb of dried black beans coming and blueberry jelly sweetened w/ honey- I bought some Pomona's last year but never used it. I really enjoyed the canning actually.

 

We don't have a garden as of now either, for reasons to many to name, but I'm still holding out hope for this fall! We raise meat rabbits as well and had our first butchering a few weeks back. I'm still hoping to get chickens for eggs, dh has said maybe this next year. It was supposed to be this year but it didn't happen. We have a starter orchard as well but it is only 2 yrs old and not producing yet. Dh really wants to get bees as well, but I expect a few more years for that. We seriously considering goats for milk but I really prefer cow milk to be honest and we don't have good land for cows. Maybe pigs but it wouldn't be cost effective right now as I can get it from the Mennonites for $1.45 pd. My goal is to start producing those things that we use the most and save the most money

 

 

That's sounds really great! My apple trees (planted almost three years ago) are absolutely rebellious! Seriously, I don't care how much I do for them, they grow sooooooooooooooooooooo slowly and never produce an apple! I figure when I'm about 90 and well past making applesauce and pie, they'll produce their first bumper crop! :D

 

Faith

[LauraGB]

That's sounds really great! My apple trees (planted almost three years ago) are absolutely rebellious! Seriously, I don't care how much I do for them, they grow sooooooooooooooooooooo slowly and never produce an apple! I figure when I'm about 90 and well past making applesauce and pie, they'll produce their first bumper crop! :D

 

Faith

 

Ugh! You're not kidding! My apple trees are three years old this year, and between all three of them, after the mighty winds a few weeks ago, we've a collective 23 apples :001_huh:. I thought it was just me. Talk about disapponting. But my peach tree, also three years old, has sooo many peaches this year! I'm so excited! It's either a Reliance or a Metro (I think it's a Metro), and boy, that's a gift that keeps on giving. I love that thing.

[Soror]

I think we planted our orchard at the worst possible time as well, it has been such a pain. Between the droughts, floods, and the deer it will be a miracle if it ever grows.

[Elvis and Miss Kitty]

Wow, thank you all for your wealth of information! I've been wanting to try canning for years, but have never been brave enough.

Think I'm going to give it a try!:)

[Live2Ride]

It's not hard I promise and I find it much better to store bought especially because you know whats in it!

 

It just takes a little time, reading, and doing. Just remember to have everything clean and jars hot. Follow the directions and you'll be good!

 

The pressure canners of today are a lot safer than the old ones.