Apples, and an alternative to Fruit Fresh
Written by Translator on August 15, 2008 – 7:37 pm -My neighbor, Preacher, kept my purple hulls and okra picked whilst I was in Arkansas. I returned the favor by taking him some of the peas cooked, and cherry tomatoes that he likes. He also brought me a five gallon pail full of knotty apples. I am not one to waste a gift, so I began processing them.
They were small, ugly, and full of imperfections. That is the best stock for jelly and butter. I washed them a bit at a time, and carefully cut out the bad spots. The very best, tart ones, I have reserved for a cobbler tomorrow, but the rest became stock for jelly and butter.
Tags: Antioxidant, Apple butter, Apple jelly, Apples, Ascorbic acid, Fruit Fresh, Vitamin C
Posted in Economy, Food, Frugality, Gardening, Recipes | 5 Comments »
Stocking Up 101: Stuff {Storage, Part II}
Written by biscuit on July 19, 2008 – 10:05 am -Part I can be found here.
Okay, I should be at the farmers market this very moment, but I’m leaving town for a few days tomorrow evening, and I don’t see the point of buying food I don’t have the time, room or means to handle before and during my absence. And my plans to run over to the peach festival and get a bushel or two? Good gawd almighty, what was I thinking?
Oh sure, I could just go for it and hope for the best. But I have a tiny refrigerator (for the purposes of energy conservation — yes, it does make a difference), and I’ve been keeping the air conditioning set at 80-85. Combine those two facts with a mess of ripe produce? You do the math! Besides, I’m working on a big coop order and need to be putting my energy into storing all those dry goods when they get here.
This time next year, I’ll have all this figured out — maybe.
Posted in Economy, Food, Frugality, Stocking Up 101, TEOTWAWKI | 12 Comments »
The Gardener’s Medicine Cabinet: Authenticity as a Core Principle
Written by biscuit on July 18, 2008 – 5:24 pm -I finally got my ginger and lemon grass plants over here. The ginger plants are looking wan, which is to be expected — they’ve received almost no care in months. Now, however, they’re occupying the prize spot on the back porch: smack dab in the middle of the table. I’m drenching them in water and singing lullabyes to them and shooshing the houndie grrl whenever she gets the notion to jump up and gnaw on them. Ain’t gonna happen, houndie grrl, not on my watch.
I’ve got so much more work to do, but it’s the small things like this that are keeping my head from spinning off into the stratosphere. This, and the profoundly, unbelievably generous offer of a friend to give me a sofa and a bed with a rattan headboard. zomg, I can have people over to stay up late watching bad movies, spend the night, eat dinner, whatever!
You see, I don’t have any chairs right now. My sofa and comfy chair and ottoman all fell victim to the houndie grrl. I haven’t gotten my computer chair over here yet, or my other chairs, which are old high seated metal art school chairs that I painted a brilliant blue.
Of course, in a shed at the old place, there’s all the folding chairs from the old volunteer fire department. But they have smoke damage from when the fire department burned down. They were another gift to me, but I never quite figured out what to do with them. So I left them to the mud-dobbers and carpenter bees.
Posted in Economy, Frugality | 12 Comments »
As a former …
Written by biscuit on July 16, 2008 – 6:42 pm -… wannabe farmer who has reached the decision (one that might change yet again as I continue gathering information) that smallish cities and urban areas are more likely than rural areas to survive the coming ___________ , I urge you to read this:
If managing in a catastrophe were just about growing your own food, many (but not all) rural people would probably be just fine. If it were about repairing your machines, maintaining your roof, keeping the well running, a good many rural people would be okay.
But there’s a lot more than that involved in running the kind of society we all demand, things like public health systems, communications systems, transportation infrastructure, energy supplies, banking and finance, good governance innovations, an effective legal system, etc. Places with these systems do a heck of a lot better than places without them, and these are systems many communities are in a poor position to provide for themselves. In much of rural America, those systems aren’t even working very well today.
That’s the reality.
Posted in Economy, Environment | 16 Comments »
Sunday Solar Fiesta: Passive Solar Heater Links Galore
Written by biscuit on July 13, 2008 – 9:35 am -Note: Stocking Up 101 will return next weekend.
And, boy oh boy, is there ever a wealth of information on passive solar heaters.
In my less busy days, I bought the plans for this: Mother’s Heat Grabber. Unfortunately, though, I never got around to making it, in part because my neighbors had made me so self-conscious about doing anything. Long story, but …
Posted in Alternative Energy, Economy, Environment, Frugality | 4 Comments »
Sunday Solar Fiesta: Solar Ovens
Written by biscuit on July 13, 2008 – 9:10 am -Note: Stocking Up 101 will return next weekend. Blame the mowing!
I love my solar oven. I’ve had it since 2003 and have cooked countless meals in it. True, it’s a bit glitchy — I planned to use it today to to roast a nice buffalo chuck roast, but storms moved in last night and it’s too cloudy now. And it does require moving every few hours so that it catches the best rays.
Still, it does the trick, all the while saving on electricity and helping to keep the house cool on 95 degree days.
Posted in Alternative Energy, Economy, Food, Frugality | 9 Comments »
The CSA Media Hype… Think Localer…
Written by Monkeyfister on July 11, 2008 – 8:51 pm -YES! CSAs are a wonderful and necessary step toward a more sustainable way of life that we all must embrace. Yes! But, they are getting shoehorned into a model, and getting suddenly and sorely pressured.
There are just not enough of them of scale (Centennial Farm sized) right now, and all the media push toward them is going to hurt the whole excellent idea by overwhelming it.
This will be corporatized soon, I fear. I see “Whole Foods Own Exclusive CSA Produce Bundles– Variety Priced Right!” CSA.com bubble here we come, so it is good to bring the CSA radius closest to home. I hate to sound like the Concern Troll, but, the push is pretty severe, especially right now.
PSSSSST!!! I’ve got a hot little secret for you– CSA is short for “Community Supported Agriculture,” and dig this– you can do it on a neighborhood level. Read more »
Posted in Current Events, Economy, Farming and Homesteading, Food, Frugality, Urban Gardening | 5 Comments »
Stocking Up 101: Freeze-dried vs. Dehydrated
Written by biscuit on June 28, 2008 – 12:16 pm -My cabinets are a mess, but there is some degree of method to my madness.
Okay, so there isn’t, not much, but I figured I’d try to at least claim it. I’m just not a terribly organized person. But I do like my food, and I did grow up in a household of penny pinchers and cheapskates, and I adore catastrophic scenarios and (Hu)man Against Nature scenarios, so I have some idea how it works.
Here’s what I currently have stocked:
Posted in Economy, Food, Frugality, Stocking Up 101 | 13 Comments »
Paradigm Shifts, Y2K and the Green Blowback
Written by biscuit on June 25, 2008 – 5:40 pm -While muddling through a pile of throw-away books at work yesterday, I found this: The Complete Y2K Home Preparation Guide. And oh what a gem it is!
Now, bear in mind that I’ve been haunting online survivalist enclaves and befriending well-armed mountain men for years now, so it’s pretty hard to catch my eye. But this book did, not because it’s the best out there — far from it — but because, beyond its TEOTWAWKIness, it contains countless useful links.
So I grabbed it and tucked it into my bag, to be added to my ever expanding collection of dystopia-wrangling tools.
Posted in Current Events, Economy, Environment, Frugality | 11 Comments »
Food News: Prepare for higher prices
Written by Kate Petersen on June 18, 2008 – 6:49 am -Floods seen adding to already high food prices
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The cost of everything from corn chips to beef steaks was going higher even before the disastrous floods hit millions of corn and soybean acres in the U.S. Midwest, and now food price increases may be even greater, industry sources said on Tuesday.
Torrential rains over the past week and the worst floods in 15 years have badly hit the U.S. Midwest, which directly or indirectly produces much of the nation’s food.
Food prices to soar on back of devastating US floods
Most of Iowa, in the US ‘corn belt’, has been declared a disaster zone. At least three people have died and tens of thousands have been forced to leave their homes.
[snip]
“One thing that we haven’t talked about, which I’m very concerned about and is critically important, is the damage that has been done to our agricultural sector,” [Iowa’s Governor Chet Culver] said.
“It is possible you’re talking about $US1 billion ($AU1.06 billion) to just our agricultural sector, in terms of loss.”
Nothing but cheerful food news this morning!
Posted in Economy, Environment, Frugality, The Politics of Food | 4 Comments »