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Thread: I enjoy preserving foods for later usage..............

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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    Default I enjoy preserving foods for later usage..............

    I have canned or frozen..................soups, veggies, fruits, salmon, tuna, jams, jellies, pickles, etc.

    But for the past few years i have started drying anything that I can as the dried foods take up less space and use less power (overhead drying rack in my wood heated cabin) to preserve.

    The latest foods I have dried are........sliced cabbage, broccolli, cauliflower, wild mushrooms, squash, carrots, sliced tomatoes, beets, green beans, green peas, blueberries, black currants and raspberries. I am amazed at how well they keep, so awesome to be using them in the winter months!

    I think it is a good idea to use a variety of preserving methods.......as one year i lost most of my canning because it froze so hard all the foods in my pantry froze solid too! BUT, my dried foods survived.

    AS i live off grid I do not have a big freezer here, only the small compartment in my propane fridge so cannot keep a lot of my frozen goods here. I do have a friend who lives in town that lets me keep a big freezer at their place in exchange for some of my produce. But as I rarely get to town I need ways to keep more produce right here for winter use.


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    Senior Member Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    Well you don't need a big freezer. Back in the day sawing ice was the norm so a large deep pit lined with stone was made and filled with ice.... yes it was called an ice house and done in the depth of winter. So take it up a notch... an insulated building that has blocks in the middle and under ground with a secure door like a bilco will work too. Large blocks take a long time to defrost just make sure what ever you keep cold stays dry... so there needs to be a drain.
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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Sawdust makes an excellent insulator for an icehouse, too. We had an icehouse in our town up until about 1963 or so.

    You can dehydrate just about anything that doesn't have a lot of fat. If you have grapes or strawberries you'll absolutely love them. Home made raisins are the bestest stuff ever.
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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    might be an idea if I had access to Ice.

    no way am I hiking into town for a chunck of ice then packing it back into the bush.

    if the time comes when I have no way to keep anything frozen.....I just won't have anything frozen.

    There are more and more over wintering vegetable seeds available and lots of small game/livestock that can be consumed in one or two meals with no need to freeze.

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    Senior Member randyt's Avatar
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    I plan on getting into dehydrating. In the past I've dried stuff by the stove and on screens out in the sun. Most of our drying takes place in the fall and usually we don't have the woodstove burning. So I figure on a commercial model but have thought about building a solar model. still pondering.

    In regards to the ice, Sylvan Hart would freeze water in milk cartons and such and then pack them away in a ice house for summer time use. I reckon a fella doesn't have to cut ice to put it by.

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy
    In the past I've dried stuff by the stove and on screens out in the sun.
    She ain't talkin' about your nether garments.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    nether garments! hahahahahah


    just another reason to go nude.


    randyt, most of my drying happens in the fall too......the time of Harvesting.

    I do keep a few milk jugs in the freezer for use in my cooler when I go fishing!

    one of my books has directions for making a simple solar dryer.......I think it is in the Back to Basics book by Readers digest....I think.

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    Senior Member randyt's Avatar
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    I thought he said neither garment. lol. nude ain't bad except in noseeum season.

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Or in Kroger's. Just sayin'..........It'll be a while before I can go back there again.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    oh no....no seeums....I do not like them but they do like me.....................and the season for blood sucking insects is almost upon us.

    Must bring out the.........herbs.

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I almost agreed with you 'cause I thought you were gonna say panty hose. I found out last year I'm not an A size. That was like wrapping a rubber band around your ankle. That really hurt.
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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    A is a size???

    who knew.

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Oh, I forgot. You're a foreigner. Yeah, here they are sized by height and weight. The lady at the panty hose store said something about a trawling net but with my bad hearing I wasn't sure what she meant. I went with the size A anyway. It's size B this year. Hope that works.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    you have bad hearing too?

    us foreigners have sizes a,b,c,d exetera too...but I ain't never been near a size A, so would not recognize one if i saw it.

    another good thing about being a nudist..everyone is the same size...nude.

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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    just a portion of my pantry goods!

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    What's in your food cupboards?

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    Senior Member Thaddius Bickerton's Avatar
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    Nice pantry,

    soon as I get my camera some more batteries I'll try to go post up what's in the root cellar. (the pantry is pretty much just canned goods n store bought stuff.

    The garden is mostly in the root cellar.

    I been adjusting and setting up to add a lot more good filling stuff instead of luxury peppers n such this garden year.

    Aiming at more yams, taters, corn squash n beans, peanuts. Also putting in some more blueberries and blackberries on the fence lines as both a better fence and cause I like em. Got a good many trees going to and will be taking my try at pear jams n such this year. (the lady up the road toward my mountain mostly makes my fruits into jellys n jams in trade for some for herself, but I gotta learn to do it myself to to be happy so I'll be apprentice to her when season rolls around.)

    I have a good many trades going on for skills in exchange for raw materials this year.

    Best one so far is I'm trading the extra hay from a couple new fields to the fellow down the road for him to pasture n help me cut up some beef this year. (gonna get rip - my retired buddie that lives alone and is about a hermit -- to get in on the butchering. Keeps him busy n involved with people, and I get out of butcher work. win win win)

    Anyway end of ramble and thanks for showing your stuff. Looks like you have a pretty nice dream going on up there in the cold north country.

    Thad
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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    Bartering is the only way to go!!!

    I have not put in a root cellar as I have a high water table on this property. Though I have thought of building one above ground and just filling over it with a mound of earth.

    Funny how so many south of the border still think we live in igloos up here in canada! While there are colder areas in Northern BC, I live on the south coast and we have a great climate here..........not too cold in the winter, and not too hot in the summer. Just perfect!

    I used to grow all sorts of 'fancy' veggies too, but now just plant easy to grow and best for harvesting veggies and fruit now.

    I have added a lot of heritage vegetables, they may not produce as heavily as some of the hybrid varieties but I prefer the taste of them.

    I am going to try to grow some grains too....Quinoa is the one I am trying this year.

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Vancouver is one of my favorite cities. No bugs, moderate temps year round. Anything you want to do. Hard to beat Vancouver.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Resident Wildman Wildthang's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Darkevs View Post
    Bartering is the only way to go!!!

    I have not put in a root cellar as I have a high water table on this property. Though I have thought of building one above ground and just filling over it with a mound of earth.

    Funny how so many south of the border still think we live in igloos up here in canada! While there are colder areas in Northern BC, I live on the south coast and we have a great climate here..........not too cold in the winter, and not too hot in the summer. Just perfect!

    I used to grow all sorts of 'fancy' veggies too, but now just plant easy to grow and best for harvesting veggies and fruit now.

    I have added a lot of heritage vegetables, they may not produce as heavily as some of the hybrid varieties but I prefer the taste of them.

    I am going to try to grow some grains too....Quinoa is the one I am trying this year.
    Do you have polar bears where you live? That is the only animal I know of that looks at man as just another edible on the food chain.............Jus kiddin!
    But I do have a food prep question. Last year we grew a bunch of hot peppers. Neither the girls or I know how to can or preserve foods, so we had all of these peppers and didn't want to waste them. We put them in canning jars, filled them with vineger, and set them on the pantry shelf. That was almost a year ago, so will they still be good for use as pepper sauce?

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    Off Grid! Darkevs's Avatar
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    haha, no, no polar bears in my area. Just big ol' black bears.........though with all the new 'Green' hydro projects (what a freakin' joke they are) around my area, a few Grizzlies have followed the roads to our area lately. It is amazing how much damage to the enviroment so called green projects have caused. If I was younger and had no responsibilities that kept me tied to home......I would love to spend my time fighting these projects. ANywho..end of rant.

    Peppers in in vinegar? I have never stored foods unproccessed in just vinegar, unless they were kept in the fridge. So I do not know if yours will be safe to use.

    here are a few links about storing peppers................. http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8004.pdf http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...227119009.html

    I dry mine. I have dried whole cayenne peppers from 4 years ago and they will still make your eyes water.

    Might be an idea to store them in Vodka. Then you can have....pepper shots! hahahaah
    Last edited by Darkevs; 04-24-2012 at 11:38 AM.

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