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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Oct 13, 2020 17:21:32 GMT -6
My husband came home with 20 pounds of peanuts, 20 pounds of apples, 5 pounds of pecans and sweet potatoes. Back to canning boiled eanuts and applesauce. Making apple cider vinegar and apple hot tea and dehydrating sweet potatoes for bark or powder. Back to it! Sweet potato bark? Do tell! Sweet potatoes cooked and mashed with apple juice, cinnamon and maple syrup. Then spread the mashed potatoes thin on parchment paper on trays in the dehydrator. Dehydrate until crispy. Then I break into pieces like bark or you can powder in the blender. GREAT in oatmeal or as a snack. You could probably make pies with it too if you powder just reconstitute with boiling water. Search it on the blog and I think there is a tutorial.
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Oct 16, 2020 17:41:17 GMT -6
Got all the dried beans shelled today. My hands hurt!
Still have a 5 gallon bucket of green peppers, the last of the season, to go into the dehydrator.
Going to can boiled peanuts tomorrow.
Looks like we will have first frost tonight.
Picked all the watermelons. The ripe ones will go in my tummy and the not so ripe ones to the chickens.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2020 20:57:29 GMT -6
Got all the dried beans shelled today. My hands hurt! Still have a 5 gallon bucket of green peppers, the last of the season, to go into the dehydrator. Going to can boiled peanuts tomorrow. Looks like we will have first frost tonight. Picked all the watermelons. The ripe ones will go in my tummy and the not so ripe ones to the chickens. Try the Vicks on the top of your hands, wrists and the palm area!
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Oct 17, 2020 5:52:33 GMT -6
I will Toodles sounds interesting.
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Oct 20, 2020 10:33:30 GMT -6
That is it I am done! With a grand total of 903 jars canned this season and 413 already in the pantry that leaves a grand total of 1316 jars of just canned food alone in my larder.
Two full freezers and an as of yet uncounted amount of dehydrated food in buckets packaged in mylar.
And also additional long term storage grains and dried goods such as rice and beans in storage buckets also.
I am finished canning for the season because I am out of jars. Yes I have filled up every jar I own so it is time to quit.
I will continue to run the dehydrator as I still have some late potatoes and elderberries to dry.
Concentrating now on garden cleanup and upkeep of the lawn. Dealing with all those fallen leaves is a pain but mixed with the chicken and duck litter makes great compost.
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Post by handmaid on Oct 20, 2020 21:49:45 GMT -6
Wow. That is amazing, Dirtdiva!!! Great job! This group is so encouraging. Where my family lives in AZ everyone is self-sufficient due to high desert, small town necessity. One can talk about stocked supplies and what-not, and no one blinks an eye. But here in suburbia-ville-itonia, it just isn't normal. All ya'll are inspiring.
On a side note, DirtDiva's comment earlier regarding how she focused her pantry and why she is downsizing it next year made me think hard about pantry inventory. Over the past two years I have taken all our food receipts and listed out quantities of certain items purchased in order to track our spending and see where to invest time stocking up. But the inventory side of it was super complicated in my brain. So it clicked with me today that rather than expend a lot of energy trying to figure something out, I would just get a fridge notepad, and log any time we used up something. And that would be my shopping list now. Replace from inventory, and then each week purchase what was used up. Not sure I am explaining it well. Just for some reason I realized it doesn't have to be complicated. And I can baby step this process as well.
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Oct 21, 2020 7:48:54 GMT -6
Good Girl Good example I have 5 coffees and I open one so that is what is on the top of my list to replace. Every time you open something replace it. i feed my pantry always ( if possible ) Same with my garden if I eat 50 jars of green beans I know I need to replace 50 jars of green beans. When you open a jar fill it with something anything that you eat. My pantry is never empty and I gradually refill it through out the year. So much easier on my body than those canathons.
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Post by handmaid on Oct 21, 2020 13:46:29 GMT -6
Good Girl Good example I have 5 coffees and I open one so that is what is on the top of my list to replace. Every time you open something replace it. i feed my pantry always ( if possible ) Same with my garden if I eat 50 jars of green beans I know I need to replace 50 jars of green beans. When you open a jar fill it with something anything that you eat. My pantry is never empty and I gradually refill it through out the year. So much easier on my body than those canathons. I guess my fear, just in thinking this through, is that with filling jars as they empty someone might end up with a fabulous sale on something and have no free jars to process it! Since you have experience with this, does that happen much? On the flip side, storing empty jars is a pain in the patootie. This is definitely where knowing what your family eats, and average quantities, and the ebb and flow of seasonal produce and sales comes in handy. Having a pandemic helps with motivation. Lol.
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Oct 22, 2020 12:35:15 GMT -6
Good Girl Good example I have 5 coffees and I open one so that is what is on the top of my list to replace. Every time you open something replace it. i feed my pantry always ( if possible ) Same with my garden if I eat 50 jars of green beans I know I need to replace 50 jars of green beans. When you open a jar fill it with something anything that you eat. My pantry is never empty and I gradually refill it through out the year. So much easier on my body than those canathons. I guess my fear, just in thinking this through, is that with filling jars as they empty someone might end up with a fabulous sale on something and have no free jars to process it! Since you have experience with this, does that happen much? On the flip side, storing empty jars is a pain in the patootie. This is definitely where knowing what your family eats, and average quantities, and the ebb and flow of seasonal produce and sales comes in handy. Having a pandemic helps with motivation. Lol. No not really! Or not for me. I have so many different thing that I use out of jars I usually have a steady flow of jars cycling through. Coming up is pumpkins going on sale after Halloween. Next is ham and turkey from the holidays. Black eyed peas will go on sale after new years. March is cabbage sales for St. Patrick's day. Refill any kraut jars that need it fridge. Sales in May for Cinco de mayo on taco seasoning and ground beef etc. is a great time to make a big batch or two of taco soup. There is a cycle and I may not fill every empty jar but a batch or two a month adds up quick. Now how much Covid will effect this is a question.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2020 10:46:21 GMT -6
Rainy weekend here, good for the green patch which is bright green and emerged to drink up all that rain. I am ready for them and have smoked turkey necks and/or pork fat back waiting to season a batch to cook up. Still have jars and lids so hopefully will can some jars soon.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2020 10:52:56 GMT -6
Made two sweet potato pies over the weekend from scratch. I once had an elderly neighbor who I used to take 1/2 gallon ice cream to. She would not accept it unless I accepted a quart of her canned sweet potatoes. I sure miss this sweet lady! We had a great friendship. Those pies makes me think of her.
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Oct 27, 2020 7:22:23 GMT -6
Changing out a window that had a small mishap with a hickory nut projectile. We thought we had them all picked up. Had a heck of a time getting the old one out and damaged the sill inside so now I will have to replace and repaint that. Lord it seems the work is never done. Luckily Lowes had a replacement window the right size in stock.
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Post by handmaid on Oct 27, 2020 21:27:55 GMT -6
Changing out a window that had a small mishap with a hickory nut projectile. We thought we had them all picked up. Had a heck of a time getting the old one out and damaged the sill inside so now I will have to replace and repaint that. Lord it seems the work is never done. Luckily Lowes had a replacement window the right size in stock. Well you do write the Hickory Holler blog......
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Oct 29, 2020 7:40:22 GMT -6
Changing out a window that had a small mishap with a hickory nut projectile. We thought we had them all picked up. Had a heck of a time getting the old one out and damaged the sill inside so now I will have to replace and repaint that. Lord it seems the work is never done. Luckily Lowes had a replacement window the right size in stock. Well you do write the Hickory Holler blog...... Darn nuts
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Post by DirtDiva Admin on Nov 9, 2020 9:26:54 GMT -6
My world right now is leaves, leaves and more leaves! I love my big shade trees but they can create a mess. We use small push mowers with bags to chop them up then use them as mulch and the makings of compost.
Cut down everything that was dead from the freeze. Peonies, Iris, Day Lily tops all gone to the compost bins. Thank God for a leaf blower.
Goals for this week:
Dig up blueberry sprouts!
Dig up blackberry sprouts
Prune blackberries
Prune grapes
Prune gooseberries
Plant more daffodils
Rain Tuesday and Wednesday
I am tired already!
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