Where has the time gone?

I realize that it's been awhile since I've updated this blog.  No, no, no, I hadn't given up.  We have just been hard at work!

After months of renovation, our homestead officially listed last night.  Of course we have a week of odds and ends to finish, and then.... a much needed break.  At least for a week or two.

Plans are already underway to move myself, the animals and as much of our possessions during the second week of October, regardless of whether the house has sold yet or not.  The husband will remain here until the homestead is sold.  We of course, pray that it sells quickly and we can go together.

So, dear readers, be watching for lots of new posts starting next month as we begin our off grid journey!  We'll be building barns, coops, gardens and greenhouses, plus working on the mounting and installation of our solar system.

Peace be with you!

The Sad State of America's Children

Yesterday, we had one of our best friends come out to the house to help out.  We've been so busy working on finishing up the house to get it on the real estate market that a number of things have, unfortunately, gone by the wayside.  Chicken houses and the rabbit house are a few of these things.

So our friend B came out, bringing her 3 and 4 year old kids with her.  It was warm (92ish), but living in the south we are all pretty used to the warm weather.

What we weren't used to, and it was pretty apparent that their mom wasn't either, is just how soft her children, even at that age, really are.  And I don't mean that they are soft because they were hot.  No, they are soft in that within 15 minutes of looking at the animals they wanted to go inside and watch TV.  Yes, TV.  At 3 and at 4 years old.  Their mother was firm - they had come to work and help out.  I have never seen so many tears and heard so much bellyaching in my entire life!

Our friend was firm and kept them out there for over an hour (in the shaded and fanned rabbit house), working beside her until the first water break.  They came in telling me how hard they were working, but by the end of the break when mom announced it was time to get back to work, oh lord did the water works begin!

This scene played itself out at least once more before they finished the rabbit house and headed for home.  What struck me, and their mom, is just how lazy the kids are, even at that age.  They expect, already, to be catered to and to have their every demand waited on hand and foot. 

At one point, the four year old boy asked why they had to work.  Mom said it was because I needed help, and he missed not a beat and said "then why do I have to do it?".  Later, the same child was watching my husband staining the front deck and asked what his Uncle C was doing.  I told him that he was working.  "But it's hot" he said.  So I explained to him that when things need to be done you just need to do them, no matter how hot it is.  We really couldn't get him to understand, and he summed up his opinion of the whole thing for us pretty nicely.  "I don't like to work.  It's too hard."

Yes boy, sometimes work is hard.  But just who do you think is going to do it if you don't?

And I don't mention this to make my friend sound like a bad mother.  She isn't.  I think she does a fantastic job considering that she is the breadwinner of the household (as a teacher), and also tutors and helps run a program for disadvantaged youth.  Truly, she burns her candle at both ends for most of the year and I admire her all the more for it.

What I'm saddened by, is just how engrossed the kids are in the TV and with the entitlement attitude.  Her kids are not alone - I have four nephews that are no better.

The eldest stayed with us for an entire summer two years ago at the age of 12.  We spent the first couple weeks just getting him to understand that it was his job, not mine to put his dishes in the sink and pick up his clothes, and that in my house there are consequences for not doing chores.  He was also not allowed more than a couple of hours of TV per day (it was summer, and it WAS hot), and that video game time was not a separate entity but part of his daily TV allowance.  These were hard pills to swallow, but he got it, and soon he was not only participating around the farm, but doing most of the morning poultry chores and the weekly lawn mowing by himself.  He was also quick to get into the habit of the daily house chores and would bring out the vacuum on Friday afternoon without being asked.  By the time he left us he had pride in himself, some drive, and some color from this thing we've taught kids to fear called the sun.

(Of course, he went back at the end of the summer and quickly went back to old routines.  I mean, if your parents are going to do it for you, why not let them?)

The second child, who was 8 when we visited with them all at Thanksgiving, barely put his video games down to speak with any of us.  He had to be told several times to put it down even for dinner, and even then it was with great sulking and unhappy looks.  We visited for two days, and that was pretty much our entire interaction with him, except for the one fifteen minute conversation where he tried to explain to me the ins and outs of Pokémon.  By the end of our discussion I was even more confused and he returned to his game looking exasperated.  Apparently I am just not cool enough to converse with.  What can I say?

These kids aren't alone.  My husband teaches jiu jitsu, and has several children that have absolutely no work ethic.  These are kids that are 4, 6, 10, 12 years old.  They complain about warm ups.  They whine about drills.  They screw around and don't listen.  And the parents?  Well, they are often times no where to be found because they've dropped them off and run away for an hour to themselves.  I mean, who wants to listen to that complaining all the time.

I don't know how this has happened, but I see it everywhere.  Kids that can't put down the phone or the video games.  I have three dozen kids in my neighborhood and you never see any of them, even out here in the country.  Go into Wal-mart and look around.  How many of you had tans when you were a kid - just the usual product of riding bikes and playing outside.  These kids are pasty and, oftentimes, fat.  I guarantee you can't make it all the way through the store without hearing at least one "I want" or a full on tantrum. 

It's sad and it's absurd.  Lazy, pale, fat, and at least a bit anti-social.  Is this who we are now, cause it's certainly where we are heading with our next generations. 

Something To Ponder - Circles and Squares

I'm infatuated with all things pioneer - have been since I was young.  I've had my phases in life as anyone has, but in the back of my mind has always been a deep desire to live my life "Little House on the Prairie" style.  I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder's books when I was a girl, and in all honesty, I've read them a number of times.  I still love them, and I carry those stories with me every day of my life.

So it may come as no surprise that when I'm watching TV some of my favorites are Alaska: The Last Frontier, Ultimate Survival Alaska, and Mountain Men.  I also enjoy the bravery of the folks on Swamp People and the humor of the members of Duck Dynasty.

If you've never heard of these shows, I think you are really missing out.  But I digress...

The point of this post is to share something I have been pondering for a few days, from the book "The Last American Man" by Elizabeth Gilbert, the charismatic author of "Eat, Pray, Love".  American Man came out in 2002, and is the story of the life of Eustace Conway, a mountain man and one of those featured on History's Mountain Men.  

I won't go into the details of Eustace's life - I'll leave that to Elizabeth Gilbert and strongly urge anyone who is of the pioneer/homesteading spirit to look it up and give it a read.  What I do want to share is a passage from the book that has been on my mind for days, and once I shared it with my own husband, has given him days of pondering as well. 

This excerpt is from a talk Eustace was given teenagers at a nature center.

"I live", Eustace said, "in nature, where everything is connected, circular.  The seasons are circular.  The planet is circular, and so is it's passage around the sun.  The course of water over the earth is circular, coming down from the sky and circulating through the world to spread life and then evaporating up again.  I live in a circular teepee and I build my fire in a circle, and when my loved ones visit me, we sit in a circle and talk.  The life cycles of plants and animals are circular.  I live outside where I can see this.  The ancient people understood that our world is a circle, but we modern people have lost sight of that.  I don't live insides buildings, because buildings are dead places where nothing grows, where water doesn't flow, and where life stops.  I don't want to live in a dead place.  People say that I don't live in the real world, but it's modern Americans who live in a fake world, because they've stepped outside the natural circle of life.

"I saw the circle of life most clearly when I was riding my horse across America and I came across the body of a coyote that had recently died.  The animal was mummified from the desert heat, but all around it, in a lush circle, was a small band of fresh green grass.  The earth was borrowing the nutrients from the animal and regenerating itself.  This wasn't about death, I realized; this was about eternal life.  I took the teeth from the coyote and made myself this necklace right here, which always circle my neck, so I'd never forget that lesson.

"Do people live in circle today?  No.  They live in boxes.  They wake up every morning in the box of their bedroom because a box next to them started making beeping noises to tell them it was time to get up.  They eat their breakfast out of a box and then they throw that box away into another box.  Then they leave the box where they live and get into a box with wheels and drive to work, which is just another big box broken up into lots of little cubicle boxes where a bunch of people spend their days sitting and staring at the computer boxes in front of them.  When the day is over, everyone gets into the box with wheels again and goes home to their house boxes and spends the evening staring at the television boxes for entertainment.  They get their music from a box, they get their food from a box, they keep their clothing in a box, they live their lives in a box!  Does that sound like anybody you know?"

By now the kids were laughing and applauding.

"Break out of the box!" Eustace said. "You don't have to live like this because people tell you it's the only way.  You're not handcuffed to your culture! This is not the way humanity lived for thousands and thousands of years, and it is not the only way you can live today!"

I think he sums it up pretty nicely.  

I'm rounding off the corners of my life.  It may not be a circle yet, but I'm getting closer every day.

How about you? 

Kinder Goats: Another All-Purpose Goat

Back last year you may have read my post on the pygmy goat, and how it is an all purpose goat breed, giving not only meat but milk.

In continuing my goat research, there seems to be another fine choice amongst goat breeds for the homestead or self-sufficient minded:  the Kinder Goat.

The Kinders are a medium breed goat, averaging 100-125 lbs, so larger than the pygmy but smaller than a number of the other breeds, and are a mix of Nubian and African Pygmy.

What you get is a truly fantastic crossbreed that:

• Produces milk that is often sweeter and higher in butterfat than other goats.
• Dresses out at 60% when used for meat.
• Has one of the highest feed conversion rates of any goat species.
• Is large enough to be useful but small enough to easily handle.
• Does not have the birthing troubles often attributed to the smaller breeds.
• Is like able and friendly.

Kinders are amazingly prolific as well, usually have twins to sextuplets!  

This is truly a cross that is worth looking into for any small homestead, as the Kinder seems to have got absolutely the best of both worlds with the strong milking ability of the Nubian, and the muscle/meat of the Pygmy.  There also seems to be some claim to the same disease and parasite resistance that is often seen in true African Pygmies.  Coloration in these goats seems to be as wild and as varied as seen in the Nubian breed.

For more information or to find a local breeder, I recommend you visit www.kindergoatbreeders.com.

A New Farm Addition - Freya the LGD

If you've read some of my other posts, no doubt that you've figured out I'm an advocate of using LGDs - Livestock Guardian Dogs - to protect poultry and livestock.

We've had our Great Pyrenees, Goliath, for just over a year now, and since his arrival we have not lost a critter to predation.

As we are moving into breeding goats we've made the decision to add an LGD.  Goliath is a big dog and unfortunately plays too aggressively with goat kids (we knew this when we bought him as it was the reason he was being sold), though he does just fine with adult goats.

 So, with that in mind, we decided that Goliath would continue to be raised with and protect our bucks and poultry, while a new LGD would live with our does and eventually, our goat kids.

Naturally I decided that a puppy would be our best bet - one that was born and raised with goats was the ideal.

I found several in our local ad, the first being a litter of Great Pyrenees puppies.  The ad said the parents were experienced livestock guards and were used for sheep.  Perfect!  So I contacted the owner, and after talking to him via email for awhile, found out that though the adults were used with sheep, the pups themselves were raised in the barn away from the flock because the mother was overly protective and had bitten a sheep while raising a previous litter. 

Umm... no.  No thanks.

Next we had a litter of Anatolian/Great Pyrenees pups.  These were all male and I really wanted a female, but I contacted them anyway.  After a few discussions I learned that it was pretty much the same story - momma is too aggressive when she has pups to be in with the stock.  

Finally, I saw an ad for Komondor/Great Pyrenees puppies.  I had to do quite a bit of reading about the Komondor since I knew very little about them.  They are fairly rare dogs, and are actually classified as a sheepdog.  Pure Komondors have hair that will cord and are fascinating looking dogs.

So I called the man from the ad and spoke with him at length.  He had two pups currently available, and a litter of 10 that would be available the next week.  He assured me that all the pups were raised with goats and that he would save me the female that was currently available.

Saturday we made the hour and a half journey to his farm.  When we reached the opening for the goat field, our truck was suddenly surrounded by eight tall, lanky, curly white dogs.  They hadn't barked even once, but were surrounding us and just watching.  The man drove into the field and we followed, parking close behind before getting out.  Each of the adult dogs approached to within a few feet and eyed us warily but didn't bark.  Once we had shaken hands with their master, they slipped back amongst the trees, shrub, trailers and such to watch over their large herd of goats.  

I was enthralled.  Their was no doubt that these were working dogs.  In fact, a goat kid came up to check us out, and before we knew it there was a dog right there.  It never threatened, just watched, and when the kid had fulfilled its curiosity and ambled back to its herd mates, the dog did as well.

It took some looking to find the puppy we'd come for, but she was finally located asleep in a hollowed out tree on the edge of the goat field.

We brought her home and have named her Freya.  She is leery of humans but is warming up to us.  She enjoys chasing the goats - not chasing per se, but more like running to catch up with them while they are running away from her!  When they stop running she lays down, and its clear she just wants to be out there with them.

I'll update the blog as we go and as she grows, but so far we are very pleased with our little gal.

A Man (or Woman) Is Only As Good As Their Word

I want to talk about honesty, your word, and your reputation.

When I was growing up, I was taught that a man was only as good as his word, meaning that if a man made promises/deals/commitments and kept to them, that man could be trusted.  A man that didn't keep to his word was a man not to be dealt with and was a liar.

Somewhere along the way people have obviously forgotten this.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've had people call, text or email about something I've had for sale and then not show up.  I guess that's become the norm.  Personally, if you do that to me, I keep your name and your number, and you don't get another chance to buy from me.  Ever.  Because to me, you've failed at your word and are not to be trusted.

The other thing I get a lot of, is low ballers.  I understand that times are tough, but every time I list something I count on at least three offers of half or less of my asking price.  Every time.  Without fail.  Now, I'm not saying that you should never offer less for something, but be sincere in your offer.  What bothers me is that these people are honestly just trying to take advantage of other people.  Think I'm wrong?  Let me share this with you:

Last year I had some mixed breed chicks for sale.  $2 each.  Reasonable in my mind since purebred chicks in our area are $3 or better.  A man calls me, offers me fifty cents a chick, and when I said no thank you he berates me and tries to brow beat me into giving them to him at what he wants to pay.  Meanwhile, he's on a poultry board that I'm a part of too, offering MY CHICKS at $3 each.  How do I know they were mine?  Because when I refuse to sell them to him at that price he posted that the deal to acquire them had fallen through.  (And, they were a pretty specific mix).

Needless to say, I have not and will not ever sell to this man.  Period.  He's called me many times and always offers 25% of the asking price.  I know he's a reseller, and that would be fine if he didn't always talk to me like my prices are crazy high and lie to me about what he's planning to do with them.  To me, honesty is everything.

Misrepresenting what you're selling is another thing that drives me crazy and will get you on my "no business" list.  What do you thing of this scenario:

I was over buying some rabbits from a young gal and we got talking about chickens.  She asked me if I would take a look at her flock and chicken house to see if there was something she was doing wrong since her flock of twelve were beating each other up and she only was getting 1-2 eggs each week.  It took only a minute to see that her flock of twelve hens were really two girls and 10 roosters!  She'd bought them from a guy just two weeks before that that had raised chickens for thirty years.  The poor thing had paid $10 each for those birds!  Distressed, she asked me to look over her pullet chicks and we went over to the pens.  They were supposed to be pure barred rocks.  Not only were they not barred rocks, most were roosters!  

It's obvious that some people will take advantage of those who don't know any better.  Other people will flat out lie to you, and when caught in their lie will try to make you sound crazy:

I've been after a stock trailer for awhile.  There'd been one in our local Craigslist for the last month at $3200, which based on the photos and age was kinda high.  I called and offered $2500, which I thought was more reasonable.  The gal I talked to told me she just couldn't come down any lower because she had just put brand new tires on it and was into it $3200.  Another month went by and I had some more cash saved up.  It was still posted, so I called her again.  When the lady went on to tell me all about how she had $3800 into it and it was a steal at $3200 I froze.  I told her that I had called her last month and had offered her $2500 but she had said she couldn't because she had $3200 into it.  She paused a moment.  Then said, well, yeah, that's true, but then I put brand new tires on it.  When I pointed out that that was the same story she'd given me to justify the $3200, she said I must be crazy and must have the wrong trailer.  Needless to say perhaps, but I didn't go look at that trailer.  

If you can't be honest about what you are selling, I'm not going to buy from you. 

Anymore it seems like no big deal to agree to something then change your mind and back out; to miss an appointment, get something for nothing or engage in other questionable behavior.  People do it because other people do it and its no longer any big deal because around every corner is another deal and its just not a matter of life or death.

Yet.

Consider this though - what happens if society falls apart and suddenly you are in the position where you have to buy, sell or barter to stay alive?  The first time you back out or try to take advantage of someone may just be your last time.  

Or maybe society doesn't fall apart, but the economy doesn't get any better (and gets worse).  Bartering is already growing in popularity in many areas.

If you can't be trusted to honor your word you are going to be in for a world of hurt, never mind the moral implications that lying is just plain wrong.

I know that I have a reputation in our area for fair and honest dealing - the repeat business and referrals I get tell me so.

What does your reputation say about you?

Just some food for thought.

Are YOU Ready For A Grid Down Event?

Imagine that you wake up and turn on the coffee pot.  Nothing happens.  So you turn on the television.  Nothing.  Check your cell phone.  No signal.  What you don't know is that the entire grid has collapsed due to an EMP.  Are you ready for this?

Of course, grid down events don't have to be as long term or as dramatic as this.  Think hurricanes, tornadoes, or just severe storms.  In any of these cases your electricity might be out hours, days, weeks or in extreme cases, months.

I'm sure lots of you read this with the "who cares, I'm ready" mentality.  Are you really ready?  Got your water, food, shelter, medicines and a way to protect yourself?

Wait... I said... are YOU ready?

I'm always surprised when I see really "preppers" that are physically in poor shape.  When you have to depend on your body to survive, will it be able to handle the stress?  (And I think there is a difference between being overweight and in poor shape.  Myself, I am carrying probably 30 more pounds than I need.  But I'm active, great blood pressure, normal cholesterol and the doc says that I'm perfectly healthy despite a little too much padding.)

I'm not going to tell you how to get in shape, there are a thousand of blogs and websites out there that talk about that.  I will tell you that you need to start now; not tomorrow and not next week.  Acquiring a decent fitness level takes time.

The other thing that surprises me is "preppers" who aren't acclimated to their area.  If you keep your house at an even 70 degrees year around, are you in for a surprise!  Life outside your four walls fluctuates, and, depending on where you live, fluctuates A LOT.

For us here in the deep south, that means dealing with hot and humid summers and cool damp winters. 

During the winter we try to heat our house entirely with wood, so it tends somewhere around 68 degrees on the main floor and in the mid 50's upstairs in our room (we have a two story house with only one fireplace on the ground floor).  Sure, it's brisk when you get out of bed or jump out of the shower, but it keeps our electricity bills low and if we hit a power outage it's not the end of the world for us.  Most people think we are absolutely nuts and would never dream of their house being that cold.

Summers are challenging, but not bad.  On the ground floor of the house we do run the a/c, set to 80 degrees.  I realize this is way hot for some people, but we've gotten used to it.  We don't use the a/c upstairs at all, and instead we rely on open patio doors and simple box fans.  Of course, we spend a great deal of time outside, and seem to take the 80's and 90's better than most people we know.  In the event that we lost the grid for any length of time, we can handle it.  It's far easier to adapt to a 10 degree shift in temperature than 20 or 30!

The last thing I'll talk about here, is mental toughness.  You would not believe the number of people I saw on the web complaining about having no a/c in 85 degree weather after a recent thunderstorm rolled through.  These weren't just people either, these were prepper people.  WTH?

I'll tell you how things went down for us, and I realize that our power came back on earlier than most. 

In anticipation of the storm, my husband had set the alarm clock on his cell phone and had already showered.  We had flashlights next to the bed and our NOAA radio with batteries charged.

On Sunday night we lost power at about 11pm.  (The worst part for me was that the rain came blowing in and I had to shut our patio doors so the room stayed at 80 until enough of the storm had moved through that I could open the doors back up.)  

By Monday morning our power was still out, but thanks to his cell the husband got up on time, got dressed, and had some cereal for breakfast (by headlamp).  

When I got up later the power was still out, and my biggest concern was my incubators full of turkey, duck and chicken eggs, which I had wrapped in towels when the power initially went out to help hold in the heat.  A check showed the temperature had dropped slightly but was still doing okay.

After that, I opened the doors to cool the house a bit more, then had some cereal.  Once the house had cooled a bit, I closed up all the doors and window coverings, and went outside to check for damage and to make sure the animals were all okay.

Afterwards, I came inside and caught up on some light reading and crocheting, since it was too sloppy for much outside.

By the time the power came on at noon it was nearly 80 in the house and 85 outside.  

My biggest source of stress during the whole event simply came down to whether or not my incubators would lose the 100+ eggs I had in there.  Otherwise, we didn't complain, we just carried on with our days and our lives.  Most people we know whined, went out to get coffee, or even called out of work because they couldn't shower.  

I mean... REALLY?

There's no way to know what may happen in the event that our grid every truly goes down, but if you keep a steady frame of mind, are in fairly good shape and are acclimated to where you live, you should do fine.  (If you can't acclimate to your area, NOW is a good time to look at living somewhere that you can survive.)

Skills: 9 Food Skills Every Homesteader/Prepper Should Have

There are hundreds of articles that tell you all about what you should be able to do as a prepper - hunt, forage, defend, etc.  Some of the lists are ridiculous - some are redundant.  Very few are actually practical.  I'm dividing my skill lists into categories, so be sure to check them all out. (You'll notice a lot of links to products on this page.  All of these are things I personally own and use.)

1. Cook -  Yep, I know, you are asking yourself why this is first, or have actually said "Duh" out loud.  I have cooking first because it's the thing that is easiest to start with and the most important to your survival, and is one of the least utilized skills in America today.  And when I say cooking, I mean COOKING, not reheating, not putting together a box meal and certainly not anything done with a microwave.  I'm sure there are dozens of preppers out there right now scoffing at this, thinking that any idiot can heat enough water to rehydrate their supply of freeze dried MRE's, so who needs to know how to cook?  Be honest, are you planning to live your life on MRE's in the event something happens?  And what if those precious MRE's get stolen or contaminated?  Then what?  Realistically, everybody should know at least the basics of making rice, cooking beans, preparing meats and creating breads.  Do yourself a favor now and buy some books on cooking with food storage, and start learning how NOW.  Not only does learning how to cook keep your ready for whatever comes, but gets you eating better because you can control the quality of the ingredients.  And, it's good for your pocketbook!
2. Bake your own bread - You'd think this would fall under cooking, but in all honesty, mastering the art of bread baking is just that - an art all unto itself.  The easiest breads to start with are going to be flat breads, tortillas, and soda breads.  Get the hang of that and move onto the yeast breads.  Finally, but perhaps the most important, is to learn the art of making and using your own sourdough starter.
3. Grow your own vegetables -  Once you've mastered cooking with actual foods, learn to grow them. Gardening is not for the faint of heart and takes practice and effort, so the sooner you get started the sooner you can reach results.  
4. Grow your own herbs - Herbs aren't just for flavorful cooking!  Herbs are also very important in natural healing, which I hope to have a post about soon.
5. Grow your livestock-
• Eggs - Chickens are easy enough to raise, but are far from the only poultry that can be raised to get quality eggs.  You might also consider ducks, quail, pheasants or turkeys.
• Meat animals are fairly easy to grow as well, and no matter the size of your property there is always something that can be raised for food.  (The other day I read a great article about apartment dwellers raising rabbits for food in their apartment.  If I can remember where I saw it I'll post it here.)  The best meat animals for the beginner are rabbits and poultry.  If you have room you can also raise goats, sheep, cattle or hogs.
• Dairying - Not just cows!  You can raise goats and some sheep to provide milk, which you can not only drink but create your own cheeses, yogurts and more.
6. Preserve the food you grow -  Learn the different methods of food preservation and get started, even if you haven't mastered the gardening or food growing yet!  
• Water bath - I learned how to water bath can my own jams and jellies before I ever grew a garden by visiting fruit stands and farmer markets. 
• Dehydrate foods - Invest in a decent food dehydrator or build a solar one and get started!  
• Pressure can - The only safe way to can most vegetables and all meats.
• Smoke cure meats for storage.
7. Build a root cellar - This probably could have been included under number three, but every homestead or bug out location should have a good root cellar (I don't, but that's only because we are planning one at the new house).  Invest in a good book that outlines how to build and utilize your root cellar.
8. Hunt, Fish and Dress Game - I'm sure there are lots of people who think this should be higher on the list, but I think hunting should be used to supplement a food supply and not as a food supply.  That being said, in the event that someone steals your livestock, a predator eats them before you do or you just don't produce as much as you need, hunting and fishing is a must have skill to round out your food supply.
9. Forage - In all honesty, this is a skill that I am planning to work on myself.  I've recently acquired a few good books on foraging and am looking for a local class on this.

Food Storage 104: What Should I Store?

If you took my advice in Food Storage 101 and looked up some of the food calculators, you should have a baseline of how much food to store for your family for any given length of time.  Unfortunately, those calculators are pretty general and don't often include fruits or meats, and most only give you a listing of categories, but not items in those categories.

As I mentioned before, you need to know what you like and what your family will eat before you embark on food storage plans.  Don't store rice if you won't eat it or dislike it.  Find something that you do like in the same category and store it instead, or increase the amount you keep on hand of something you do like/use.

Now, I don't claim to be an expert, but I'll share what we store around here.  Keep in mind that we have about a 12 month working supply of ingredients that get rotated through.  

1. Grains
• Flour - we use both unbleached white and wheat flours, though I sometime have specialty flours on hand as well like rice or bean.  Don't count on storing wheat flour for more than 6-9 months (although mine has gone over a year okay) because it is more likely to go bad.
• Cornmeal - the must have fore cornbread, and useful as fish breading and cornmeal cakes.
• Oats - oatmeal is our go-to breakfast during the winter months, and during the summer I make granola with it.  Also used in meatloaf, cookies and more.
• Barley - Not a big fan, so we don't keep much, but I do use it in soups.
• Dried bread crumbs/stuffing mix - here's one you'll probably never seen on a list other than mine.  There are hundreds of recipes that use stuffing mix, and it helps make a quick, easy and moist meatloaf.  Also, it doesn't take much to make this a side item all by itself.
• Pasta - mostly is spaghetti form, though I keep a box or two of lasagna noodles and macaroni noodles as well.  (Yes, I do make my own pasta when time allows, but after a full day of working around here there isn't always time.)
• Pancake mix - the just add water type stores for a year or better and makes quick and hearty weekend breakfasts.
• Rice - both white and brown.  We really aren't big rice eaters, but I have a few recipes that we like and white rice stores nearly forever if packaged correctly.  When times get tough you can use rice or potatoes as fillers to stretch the budget as well.
• WHAT'S NOT ON MY LIST - Wheat.  Seems like every preparedness website wants you to store wheat.  Yes, it can last a long time, but the simple truth is that not only do you need to have a way to grind it, but most people don't know how to cook/bake/use whole wheat flour!  If you want to store wheat than by all means, go ahead, but please save yourself the aggravation and do some research first!
2. Legumes
• Beans - Who can go wrong with beans?  We keep a large variety (black, kidney, northern, red, navy, pinto, etc) and use them in everything from chilis, soups, side dishes, main courses and baked goods.  In our house you'll find dried beans in 5 gallon buckets for long term, mason jars and glass jars for short term, as well as commercially canned beans and home canned beans for quick and easy meals.  You'll see beans on every prepper list!
• Split peas -  The most common usage is split pea soup, but these are also good in soup and a number of other dishes.
• Lentils -  Lentils are a must have meat stretcher.  Lentils can be added into ground meats (beef especially) with little notice to those eating eat.  Can also be added to soups and cooked in a variety of dishes.  We keep dried lentils in glass jars for regular use, but also store some in 5 gallon buckets, as they keep for a very long time.
• WHAT'S NOT ON MY LIST - Soybeans.  A lot of preppers are adding soybeans to their preps, but not for us.  Recently there have been several studies done on the effect of soy on the body.  Until more research can prove to me that soy is harmless we'll continue to avoid it.  Please do your own research and make your own decisions here.
3. Meats
• We like and keep a variety.  Of course we keep a sizable supply in our freezer, but we also store homegrown and home canned chicken and turkey.  Also, I can beef and pork when I find it on sale and venison when a friend or family member has some to share.  Commercially canned tuna is also a must have for us.
• WHAT'S NOT ON MY LIST - Freeze dried meats.  I simply don't believe in them, but have no trouble if someone else does.  Personally, in the even that we run out of meats at our house we keep enough protein in the form of beans to keep going until we could get more.  (Although with several types of poultry on the farm it's hard to envision running out of meat!)
4. Dairy
• Powdered & Canned Milk - This is one of the things you'll see that we buy in the big #10 cans, powdered milk.  Useful in every day cooking of course, but if you can find the right brand it's as good as store bought milk.  We keep regular and chocolate versions.  Also, we keep some evaporated milk for cooking and such.
• Butter Powder -  Useful in a ton of recipes and keeps very long term.  #10 can.
• Cheese Powder -  Again, I use this in recipes and it stores for a long time, #10 can.
• Buttermilk powder -  Faster and easier to use than making your own buttermilk or buying it for pancakes, biscuits or fried chicken.  
• Sour Cream Powder -  A novelty item in a serious SHTF type situation, but very useful in a variety of recipes.
• Cream Cheese Powder -  Another novelty item, but can be used in so many ways.  I've even made a cheesecake from cream cheese powder.  Maybe not a great prepper item, but very useful for a homesteader (especially when living far from town).
• WHAT'S NOT ON MY LIST - Eggs.  With all the poultry I have it's very difficult to imagine a time where I'm out of eggs.  If you don't raise poultry then by all means you should keep some powdered egg (#10 can) for emergencies.  
5. Sugars
• Honey - Besides cooking, this is a must have for medicinal purposes alone.  I strongly advise everyone to not only keep honey, but learn all the ways that honey can be used.
• Sugar - I have white sugar in 5 gallon buckets for long term storage, but also keep a hefty supply of brown sugar and raw sugar for every day uses.
• Molasses - Not only good for cooking, but a variety of livestock uses on the farm as well.  
• Syrups - Corn syrup is used in some canning recipes and regular cooking recipes, so it's a must have. We also keep several small jugs of maple syrup not only for pancakes but for baking as well.  
6. Cooking/Preserving Items
• Baking Powder - A must for baking.
• Baking Soda - Not only used in baking, but so many other uses, including cleaning.
• Yeast - We like yeast breads and baked goods.  You can make good breads without it, but for the true "sandwich" type breads you need yeast, and since I tend to bake our bread, I use quite a bit of yeast in a year.
• White Vinegar - Used in canning quite a bit.  Also useful in other cooking and cleaning.
• Apple Cider Vinegar - So many uses!  Cooking/baking but also in livestock!  Helpful in getting rabbit does "in the mood", but also good for chickens and turkeys as well.  (This is an item you can learn to make yourself.  I'm going to try my hand at it later this year and will share my experience with you.)
• Salts, Table/Pickling/Curing -  In the event of a true SHTF styled crisis, you'll want to make sure you have plenty of salts in all their forms.  Pickling salts are used in, well, pickling, and curing salts are a must have for curing meats.  Table salts usually contain iodine which is important for the body but cannot be used in food preservation.
• Lemon Juice -  Used to help acidify foods for canning.
• Pectin -  A must have for jams and jellies.  You can make your own pectin, but it varies in strength from batch to batch and may not be truly safe for canning.  Regardless, I'm going to attempt to make my own later this year.
7. Oils
• I like a variety of oils, depending on what I am using them for.  We keep vegetable oil, olive oil, peanut oil, and coconut oil.  Oils have to be stored correctly and can go rancid.  Coconut oil, if unrefined and kept cool in it's solid state, is believed to be storable indefinitely.  Besides cooking, oils are handy for making your own beauty care items as well.
• WHAT'S NOT ON MY LIST - Mayonnaise/Salad Dressings - I don't feel that these really keep very long, and the ones that do are chock full of preservatives.  Besides, with a little experience you can quickly and easily make your own mayonnaise from oil and egg.
8. Fruits
• Fruits are kept in a very wide variety in our house, and in several forms.  Dehydrated and freeze dried fruits are kept as snacks and added to baked goods and granolas.  We make and use fruit pie fillings not only in pies and cobblers, but also for french toast casserole and as waffle toppings.  Butters, jams and jellies are also made on the homestead and we can some fruits just as they are to be added to a variety of recipes (or eaten out of the jar).  We also keep a good selection of commercially canned fruits like pineapple, mandarin oranges and fruit cocktail.
9. Vegetables
• Like fruits, we keep these in dehydrated, freeze dried, home canned and commercially canned forms. We also store onions, potatoes and sweet potatoes.  (We also store some vegetables in the freezer).
10. Other
• Soups, Stews and Chilis - We keep both the home canned and commercial canned versions of these. These not only make a quick meal, but being precooked they can even be eaten right out of the can.
• Condiments, Mustard/Ketchup/Salsa - With the exception of mustard I make my own ketchup and salsas, and boy are they better that store bought!  We really like Mexican foods though, and I never seem to make enough salsa to get us through to the next year, so there is always a few store bought jars around.  Condiments just make foods taste better!
• Herbs and Spices - Not only for food seasonings and necessary in some canning recipes, herbs especially are important in natural healing.
• Nuts & Nut Butters - Despite the expiration dates, peanut butter really does last a very long time if kept correctly.  We keep hazelnut, peanut and almond butters not only for cooking but for a good old sandwich!  Almonds, peanuts, cashews,and pecans are also on hand for snacking, granolas and baking.
• VITAMINS - Maybe not something that should be on the food storage list, but a nutritional must have.  

I'm sure I'm missing some items, but those are the long and short of what we keep.  Because I cook and have learned to cook from my pantry you won't find those fancy survival foods here.  Just real foods for real people.  

I will add though, that if adding a three month supply of MRE styled, freeze dried meals makes you feel more secure and able to better cope with a bad situation, then by all means add them.  Don't plan to live on them forever though, and do have a pantry of items to fall back on.

Food Storage 103: Cans, Cans and More Cans

So let's continue talking about food storage.

If in Food Storage 101 you've determined that you are the store it and forget it type, then 102 probably gave you enough info that you are ready for Food Storage 104: What should I store?

For the pantry stocking crowd though, let's talk about canned goods.

There are two types of canned goods - commercially canned and home canned.  

If you are just starting out and don't garden or can food at home now, commercially canned items are probably what you'll be looking for.  The good news is that they are widely available, and nearly everything has a canned version - meats, fruits, veggies - even breads and cheese!  Commercially canned items generally have a very good shelf life provided they are kept dry and at a good temperature, they are relatively inexpensive and widely available.  Canned goods also stack much better than home canned jars making storage simpler.

There are, of course, downsides.  Many canned goods contain some sort of preservative and/or are fairly high in sodium.  The can linings themselves may contain harmful coatings, such as BPA (do your homework on canned food companies BEFORE you buy!)  The biggest downside of course, is that with store bought cans you don't control the quality of the ingredients.

Home canning is broken up into two categories - water bath and pressure.  

Water bath canning is the best starting place for beginners, and includes things such as jams/jellies, relishes, pickles, fruits, salsas, pie fillings and tomatoes (although there is some debate on tomatoes).  The equipment for water batch canning is less expensive to get started than pressure canning, and in my opinion, less stressful in the beginning.

Pressure canning is required for all things that can't be water bathed, such as meat and vegetables.  It requires the use of a pressure canner, a very watchful eye and a willingness to follow directions TO THE LETTER.  

If you are interested in canning and don't do so already, I would advise you to get a copy of the Complete Ball Guide to Canning.  Consider it the holy bible of all things canning and make sure you have a copy of this.  I still reference mine every time I can, just to remind myself of the finer points.

So what types of foods should you can or buy canned?

I think this is a personal preference.  But here's what I keep in my pantry:

• Tuna - commercially canned
• Ham - commercially canned
• Chicken - both
• Turkey - home canned.
• Venison - home canned
• Beef chunks - home canned
• Pork chunks - home canned
• Applesauce - home canned
• Salsa - both.  We like Mexican dishes and use a LOT of salsa.
• Pizza and pasta sauce - both
• Jams & Jellies - home canned
• Relishes - home canned
• Pickles - home canned
• Pie filling - both
• Fruits - both.  I have home canned cherries, apples, pears and peaches.  Mixed fruits, pineapples, oranges and apricots are commercially canned.
• Sweet potatoes - commercially canned.
• Beans - commercially canned
• Vegetables - both
• Soup, Chilis and Stews - both
• Nut butters - commercially canned.

Why are some things both?  Well, in the case of fruits, I buy peaches at the farmers market or fruit stand since my trees are young and not producing well yet.  Even on sale, a jar of canned peaches are going to usually come out more expensive than the store sale price, so I usually can up my peaches in other recipes like BBQ sauce, Summer Salsa or pie fillings, and can in syrup whatever is leftover.  I then round out what I store of peaches for the year with commercially canned ones.  I take this approach with all canned goods.

Commercial cans - are those great big cans really a good deal?

We've all seen the XL can of pork and beans or chili at the store before, whether you were at Sam's, Costco or even just the bulk area of Walmart.  Usually (though not always) they have a lower price per once than that of the smaller cans.  But does that make them a good deal?

Maybe.  I know, I know, what kind of answer is that?  Well, I think it all comes down to what it's a can of and how many are in your family (or how many people you may be feeding at a time).

In our household there are just two of us, so the jumbo XL can of Stagg Chili just isn't a good deal for us, no matter the price point.  However, I do oftentimes buy the XL cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce, as I can use it in recipes that I later can up such as salsas, spaghetti sauces, and chili sauce.  

Food Storage 102: Freeze Dried and Dehydrated

If you've read my other posts, Food Storage 101 and Building a Comprehensive Food Storage, then it's time to move on to Food Storage 102.

Let's talk about Freeze Dried and Dehydrated Foods.

The biggest question is always:  What's the difference?

Freeze dried foods are flash frozen before being dried, which preserves more of the foods natural vitamins and minerals.  Freeze dried foods are lighter, and can be reconstituted where some dehydrated foods cannot.  Traditional dehydration requires blanching and other prep methods before the drying process can begin which can cause a loss of some vitamins and minerals.

There is a difference in cost of course, freeze dried being higher in cost due to the difficulties of the preservation process.  Dehydration is less expensive and with the help of a quality food dehydrator, achievable at home.

So in terms of food storage, what is best?

This will depend entirely on what food you are talking about, and what your end goals are.  If you are going the "store it for SHTF and forget it" route, freeze dried foods are best, simply because under correct storage they seem to have the longest shelf life with the highest retained vitamin content. They also tend to be the lightest, which is desirable if you are "bugging out" with your goods.  Freeze dried foods are also available as MRE's (meals ready to eat), which only require rehydration to create an actual meal, a good choice if you don't think you'll have a way to cook.

For those of you in the "stocked pantry" crowd (myself included), I find that both are good to have on hand, depending on the type of food.  The following is my opinion of course:

Best foods to keep on hand in dried/dehydrated form:

• Onions.  
• Raisins
• Celery
• Herbs
• Small berries and fruits (cranberries, currants, blueberries, cherries, kiwi, bananas)
• Potatoes, sweet and Irish (several ways are best, shreds, small cubes, slices)
• Apples
• Milk
• Beans
• Pasta
• Rice

Best foods to keep on hand in a freeze dried form:

• Peppers
• Mushrooms
• Strawberries (I think these are just yummier in the freeze dried form, though some folks like them dehydrated just fine)
• Bigger berries (raspberries, blackberries)
• Eggs
• Dairy products

Foods that can go either way:

• Meats - dried jerky is great snack food, but cannot be reconstituted for meals.  Freeze dried meats can be rehydrated and turned into actual meals.
• Green beans, carrots, corn, peas - if you intend to use them as a stand alone side item, freeze dried is the best choice.  If using them in soups, stews, casseroles, etc, I like the dehydrated versions.
• Pears, peaches, apricots, pineapple - again, this depends on what you are doing with them.  All make good snacks and are fine additions to baked goods and as cereal toppings, but they simply to not store as long.

Several of these foods are best preserved in other methods, which we'll talk about later.  

How should your dried foods be stored?

There are several good methods, depending on the length of time you are storing them and how much you are storing.

For big batches of things like pastas and beans, food grade buckets with Mylar liners and oxygen absorbers are great.  Of course, those are for long term storage.  I keep smaller batches of these things in 2 1/2 gallon buckets with gamma lids to keep the bugs and moisture out.  This way I can access what's in the bucket very easily and still keep them well stored.  If you like a variety of beans like we do, we keep a quart jar vacuum sealed with each kind that we use the most (pinto, black, red, kidney).  Large or extra bags of them hang out in the 2 1/2 gallon buckets.

For freeze dried foods, most of it will come in  #10 cans or Mylar pouches.  When we open up a #10 can, whatever we aren't using immediately gets redistributed into quart jars and vacuum sealed with our food saver lid attachment.  Unopened cans store easily in the pantry.

Dehydrated foods are going to vary depending on if they are purchased or made at home.  My home dehydrated items get vacuum sealed into jars.  Some items, like onions, I buy in the #10 cans simply because drying onions at home is STINKY business.  I do the same with them as I do with freeze dried foods, redistributing and vacuum sealing in smaller jars after the can has been opened.  I do keep my hashbrown potatoes in a 2 1/2 gallon food grade bucket with gamma lid, since we use them a lot and they can be a bear to get out of a jar, even if it's a wide mouth jar.

In the next part of this series, we'll talk about canned goods. Stay tuned!

Quick and Easy Calzones

I love to make a home cooked meal that's quick and easy to put together.  One thing we love is homemade pizza or homemade calzones.  Unfortunately, with the house remodel, moving plans and all the usual spring farm work, taking the time to make fresh dough is just not on my to do list.

Enter the premade Grands! biscuits.

To make biscuit calzones, all you do is open a can of biscuits and divide into 8 pieces.  Roll each biscuit out until it's flat  and thin - about 5" across.  Top with your favorite meats, cheeses and/or veggies (DO NOT ADD SAUCE), fold over and crimp closed.  (If you have a calzone press, this is even easier.)  Pop them in the oven on a cookie sheet for 17 minutes at 375 degrees and serve with the sauce of your choice.

Next time I make these I'll be sure to add photos.  We made ours with chopped turkey pepperoni, green peppers, onions, tomatoes and diced black olives.  Oh, and a blend of pizza cheese (who ever heard of a calzone with no cheese?!)  I also sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese on top of each one, or Italian seasoning.  Whatever suits our fancy at the time.

Food Storage 101: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

There are a lot of things to decide when you are getting started in food storage.  The biggest question, and one the should already be answered in your mind, is why am I storing food?

For many of us, and us at the homestead especially, there was no single answer.  We've built our food storage to:

1. Have food reserves on hand during a natural disaster.  (We do live in both a hurricane and tornado zone.  Not to mention a fairly close proximity to the New Madrid Fault Zone.)
2. Weather job losses, economic downturn, or rampant inflation.
3. Ensure that we can feed ourselves during agricultural losses.  (Nothing is worse than record heat killing the garden or a fox eating your batch of meat chickens.)
4. Avoid the GMO and  "faux foods" available at the grocery store.  
5. Be prepared for any other long term disaster situation.  (Have you watched the news lately?!)

It's critical that you know what you are aiming for, so that you can move on to the next big question:  How much food do I plan to store?

The answer to this is going to depend entirely on your situation and why you are storing food.  For the natural disaster minded, a month is adequate (please ignore FEMA's three day suggestion.  In a major natural disaster you'll be lucky to even SEE help in the first three days.)  If you are hedging against job losses, a year might be sufficient.  Of course, the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it crowd is going to be looking for two years of storage plus.

So are you asking yourself, how much food is a week/month/year?  

There are several trains of thought on this, and I tend to fall somewhere in the middle.  For one, you can always google "food storage calculator" and you'll get a ton of sites that have calculators that tell you how much of the basics you should store per person for whatever length of time you choose.  Keep in mind that for most of these they don't include vegetables, fruits or meats - things you and your family probably enjoy now on a daily basis.  

The other train of thought is to keep a journal of everything your family eats for a month, and store those items (or like items) for your determined length of time.  

Once you've determined how much you need, you'll need to figure out the next big question:  is this just food storage, or is this part of my pantry?  

I firmly believe in the idea of my food storage being a part of my pantry.  This can get tricky if you have a smaller house and have food stored all over the place (though it can be done), because the absolute trick to this is rotation.  You have to be diligent and keep an eye on expiration dates too, especially if you are buying canned foods.  For example, a few months ago our local grocery store had canned corn on sale at 3 for $1.  I bought a case of 12 (the limit) and put it on the shelves.  Two weeks ago I bought another case of corn (similar sale), and when I went to put it on the shelves noticed that it expires two months before the previously purchased case!  

If you are going the "just food storage" route, then you are probably going to be investing in freeze dried foods in pouches, cans, cases or buckets.  This is going to require a buy it once and store it attitude, and as long as you store it appropriately most "emergency" foods will store 25 years or longer.  

Now that you've answered some of the big questions, next we'll talk about what kind of foods you can/should be storing and how to get the biggest bang for your buck.

The New Kids Have Arrived!

Jasper

In mid-March we went to visit a local woman with some baby goats for sale.  I'd been looking for a small doe that was less noisy than our Josephine, and had figured if we could find a suitable replacement than I would sell Jo.  I was also looking for a buck (or two) that I could spend a little time with and grow him up myself.

What we settled on was three kids, one doeling and two little bucks.   All were fathered by a 1/2 Pygmy, 1/2 Nigerian buck, and the mothers were 1/2 or full Boer.  This is perfect for what I've wanted.

The little blacked headed buck is Rascal.

On top of it, the woman was willing to trade the doeling for Josephine, so I didn't even have to worry about selling her.

A few days ago we got the call that the little ones were ready, so after a couple of days of fixing fences and such, we brought them all home.

Initially, there was a LOT of hollering.  These guys are just 10 weeks old and have never been away from momma, so this is the double whammy - new home AND weaning all at once.  Enough to make any young goat holler.

My husband and Frankie, the doe.

We've put them straight into the pasture with our other two ladies, so naturally there has bee a lot of head butting and what not as they establish who is in charge.  It's clear that Rascal is used to being the main man in the group, because he spends the most time challenging the older goats.

Because the pasture we put them all in a pasture without a very good shelter, we dragged the old turkey pen in.  It's got a flat, fairly solid top and isn't very tall, so it wasn't long before I saw the goats on hind legs looking at the top to see if they could get up there.  With the door open they have plenty of rain shelter and shade.

I went ahead and grabbed an old wood ramp we had around here from our motorcycling days and put it to where they could walk up it onto the roof.  It wasn't long before the kids were playing on the ramp, and just a few minutes before Miss Frankie was on top, followed by Rascal.  Neither adult ever went all the way up, though they both got on the ramp a time or two.

By dark everyone was all settled down and we are hoping for a fairly non-eventful night.  Here are some pics for you of the little guys playing!

 

Amazing Baked French Toast

The hens around here have been working overtime and my fridge has begun to show it with carton upon carton of eggs.

Never one to throw away perfectly good food, I've been searching for another good egg recipe, since we don't want to eat Farmhouse Casserole every day!

After looking over a few recipes, I tweaked them together and came up with my version of baked french toast.

What you'll need:

• French bread
• A jar or can of your favorite pie filling
• Half dozen eggs
• Milk
• Vanilla
• Cinnamon
• Sugar
• Flour
• Brown sugar
• Butter

Step 1

Here's what you do:

Cube up the french bread into 1" cubes and put into an 11x7 baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  You'll want to fill the dish about 2/3 of the way full. (Note - I'm using an 8x8 dish in the photo)

Step 2

Dump the pie filling into the dish with the bread and mix it all together.  

Step 3

Beat a half dozen eggs together as you would for french toast.  (I did mine with 1/4 cup milk, two teaspoons of vanilla and a tablespoon of sugar.  Then I sprinkled cinnamon over the mixture as I beat it together until it looked about right to me.)

Step 4

Dump the egg mixture over the bread and pie filling.  Stir to make sure that all of the bread has been coated with the egg.

Step 5

Mix together one stick of melted butter with 2/3 cup of flour and 2/3 cup of brown sugar.  This will come out like a thick paste.  Spread across the top of your bread in the backing dish.

Refrigerate overnight or bake right away at 375 for about 45-60 minutes depending on your oven.  (If you've refrigerated, let it set for 30 minutes before baking.)

It's done with all the eggs are set and a knife inserted in the center comes out free of raw egg.

We've made this now with apple pie filling and blueberry filling.  I liked the blueberry but hubby seemed to prefer the apple.  I'm planning to try strawberry next.

And yes, I realize that there is a lot of sugary sweetness in this recipe.  I certainly wouldn't use it everyday, but for the occasional breakfast or holiday brunch it is fabulous!

ENJOY!