So, who's got the self sufficiency thing going in the kitchen?

[Denninmi]

Who here is into growing their own? Or canning, freezing, and/or drying? How about gathering wild food sources, such as fruits and berries, nuts, or mushrooms?

[japple]

1. Well, I do some of that. I have a garden and grow veggies for

putting in the freezer, making into relish and pickles. I will can tomatoes if I have enough. Last year, we had a drought and I didn't have enough to can. I grow strawberries and blueberries and make jams, jellies, and preserves. I've never dried anything, but I might try it in the oven this year. The only mushrooms I've ever wild harvested didn't taste good, but in those days I was feeding my head! It was many, many years ago. I'm now working in a job with random drug testing so I'm clean and sober.

[Lucinda]

2. We have a tiny tiny lot

but usually grow herbs, heriloom tomatoes, and a variety of peppers. If we had more space, we would definitely be growing more. And we have gathered wild berries in the common woods beside our house. Yummy.

[Inchworm]

3. I'm into all that

And as you know.. chickens are next :D

I'm pretty handy at improvising. I guess the costliest investment I made toward all the preserving was a pressure cooker that could handle quarts. Other than that it has been a few yard sale items that made the difference; smoker, vacumn sucker flavorsaver dealy, old light fixture.

The old light fixture + smoker = dehydrator. I've been hunting one of those electric Ronco ones used but no luck.

I grow a garden of stuff that I can can or pickle. I know a few hunters that are partial only to the tender loin, so I get buttloads of meat each Fall. My normal fishing adventure is guarding the cooler and keeping everyone in beer, but this may change when the weather breaks. I only recently found out I actually like fish lol. I always said "no thanks" because dad made us eat fish every Friday and at the time I hated it.

Hmmmm.... snow ice cream? Brang it muther nature! :D

:hi:

[noamnety]

4. I've done everything on your list

along with grinding my own grain, making my own yogurt, and making my own cheese.

Most of my supplies - pressure canner, mason jars, dehydrator - I've been able to get free or almost free from craigslist or salvation army. I don't have one of those fancy kitchens with granite countertops and stainless appliances, but I love the kitchen anyway.

[grasswire]

5. I don't like granite countertops.

If I were designing my own kitchen, I would have either cement or stainless counter. I think stainless would be my preference.

Today two huge huge maple trees were taken down on the street. I've been thinking of asking for one of the rounds for a cutting block -- kind of like Ming Tsai uses. That would be cool.

[trud]

7. I like Formica...

and those kitchen tables with chrome edges.

[Lucinda]

10. I love the cutting board idea!

A friend made me a really nice one. It's thin but sturdy, so its lightweight enough for me to haul around the kitchen. :)

[noamnety]

14. stainless would be nice

I know I would stain cement, much as I like how it looks new.

I have good old fashioned speckled formica, with the seam at the edges instead of the rolled edges. We talked about upgrading at one point and it boiled down to whether the quality of my life would really improve if I threw hundreds of dollars at a countertop. Eh, no.

[Tesha]

17. Be careful your "round" doesn't end up looking like (Ms.) Pacman!

Big end-grain cutting blocks are usually laminated
from many smaller (say 2x2" or so) pieces so the
stresses and strains are uniformly distributed,
especially as you whack on them with meat cleavers
and the like.

I'd kind-of expect a single big round of a tree
to eventually split along a radius to relieve
the shrinkage stresses as it dries. (Now we have
a piece of cedar, about 1-1/2" thick and 12"
across that hasn't done this over a decade or
so, but it has deep inclusions of bark almost
to its center, so it's not exactly comparable
to maple. Also, we don't use it as a cutting
board.)

If you want to go ahead with the "round" idea,
you might want to wrap it with some steel wire
and somehow draw the steel wire as tight as you
can, perhaps retensioning it over the years to
try and keep the wood fully "in compression".

Or maybe I, like the wood, am all wet. ;)

[Mojorabbit]

46. I love my granite

esp when kneading dough or rolling out a pie crust. Great idea on the cutting block!

[WhiteTara]

33. cheese is next on my list

is it easy? It seems so. Kind of messy looking though.

[noamnety]

35. It's easy to do plain stuff

I didn't do anything all that fancy, just a basic thing with rennet.

I already thought it was a little wasteful for how much cheese you actually get vs. the cost of milk, and trying to figure out how not to waste all the whey. Even using it for bread baking, I was falling behind.

And now I have a boatload of cheeses in my freezer at the moment from various deals I've gotten over the last few months so I am definitely not looking to make it. I am though thinking of trying to make my own condensed milk soon, since someone brought it to my attention that it's super easy and way cheaper to make. We use it to make baileys, so a cheap source will be nice.

[Denninmi]

38. I make my own ricotta all the time.

It's very simple to do, and ends up costing a lot less than buying it. A gallon of whole milk makes almost a quart of it.

To make it, just buy a gallon of whole milk. Or, you can also use old milk as long as it doesn't taste or smell bad. It's ok if it's soured in the right way, but if it smells bad the cheese will taste bad.

Add a tablespoon of yogurt or sour cream to the milk, and let it sit for 24 to 48 hours at room temp, or until it's completely curdled and you can see the whey separating from the milk solids.

Pour the whole thing into a large kettle, and heat it gently and slowly until the cheese separates entirely from the whey. This will happen when it hits a temp around 140-150 degrees, IIRC.

Then, strain it through a sieve or some cheesecloth. If you have a use for the whey, you can gather that and keep it. I generally don't.

Oh, and IF you want it salted for flavor, add about a teaspoon of salt to the milk as you begin to heat it, and be sure to stir it in thoroughly as you heat and cook the cheese. I never do this because we watch the salt intake in my household for medical reasons.

Technically, this isn't true ricotta, which is a byproduct of the cheesemaking process and which is made from the waste whey by recooking it. This product probably has more milk proteins and possibly fat than true ricotta. But, it sure looks and tastes like the stuff I can buy in the store, and is probably about half the price, especially if you can buy milk on sale for $2 a gallon.

[WhiteTara]

40. I have a source for fresh inexpensive milk

at $3. a gallon, I thought it would be worth a try or two. What is the ratio? out of 3 gallons, how much cheese would I get? I'll remember the whey part and start now trying to figure out how to use it. I know you can give milk baths to your plants for the calcium, I wonder if whey would work for that. For sure I'll add it to the compost pile.

I'm also excited about sour cream, since my milk separates. My friend has two cows and the milk is so different from each. Currently the Holstein is the milk producer and hers has VERY low butter fat. The Jersey gives creamy yellow milk while the Holstein gives pale white. I've decided to wait for the Jersey to come fresh in the spring before I make cheese.

[Tesha]

6. Our tiny lot is also dark and sloped,

but when one of the decorative islands in the front yard needed refurb
out came the bushes and crushed stone and in went some soil from a neighbor and some horse manure from several horses.:rofl:


Neighbors on the cul-de-sac have enjoyed a prettier view
as we added a nice fence and a standing stone
- and we grew a boat load of zuc, tomatoes, cukes, and eggplant.
I pickled some of the zuc - that was wonderful - and I tried some green tomatoes but they weren't anyone's favorites.
I also tried drying tomatoes, and the hubby loved them - but they didn't look like anything I've ever seen before.:rofl:

We also do a whole lot of fresh herbs on the deck, nice sun trap - if I can keep the squirrels off!
Last year I grew morning glories for them to eat and they left everything except the cilantro alone.
We've also added a cherry tree and some blueberry bushes.

The grocery bill sure goes down in the summer!

[Retrograde]

9. Squirrels are evil

Our "soil" is adobe and unless it has a lot of compost and manure worked into it is impossible to dig in the dry months (i.e., April-November). The little nutters have take to pulling my tomato plants out of their pots and burying their stupid nuts there.

How did you dry your tomatoes? I dry cherry varieties in a sunny spot on my counter (the morning sun through the window makes it downright hot) alternating with being placed outdoors in the afternoon direct sun. Works for sour cherries, too, but the fruits have to be small.

I'm nowhere near self-sufficient, but I do grow most herbs, I try to do tomatoes when the weather permits (we're marginal: sometimes we have a good growing summer, other times we get fog until noon and nothing ripens) as well as leaf crops. And lemons. I have more Meyer lemons than I can reasonably use - and so do my neighbors. Lately I've had some miner's lettuce colonize the yard, and there's a patch nearby where wild blackberries grow (and Mr. Retrograde is tall enough to reach the ones everybody else can't).

[Tesha]

13. Drying the tomotoes...

> How did you dry your tomatoes?

Just baked them low-and-slow in the regular
convection oven (a pretty big volume for not-
too-big batches of tomatoes). They didn't get
too dry, so then I sank them in olive oil and
refrigerated the results.

Sun-dried tomatoes aren't to my taste, but
Mr. Tesha likes them a lot and he pronounced
these very good. I think he actually liked
them moister; we bought a measure of "official"
sun dried tomatoes at our favorite Italian
deli and they haven't been going as fast as
mine did. And when we tried to use the deli
tomatoes on a focaccia recently, they burned
much more readily than did mine.

At the end of the season, a neighbor loaned us
an electric dryer, but we never got a chance to
try using it. It might have been: "Here, if you
store this over the winter, then I'll *KNOW*
where to find it next season!" ;) But if we do
still have it next season, we'll try it!

[Phentex]

16. it's chipmunks for us!

and what my husband has come up with isn't pretty but it works!

[Tesha]

18. We've considered squirrel stew ;-).

It's not that we mind feeding them; we sort of
figure that what's really going on is that we're
indirectly feeding the big raptors that have
lately become much more numerous around our
hilltop. But we wish we could keep the squirrels
from completely destroying some of our crops.

Maybe little teeny electric fences 'round the
seedlings?

[trud]

20. I leave peanuts for the squirrels

and they leave my veggies alone.

[Phentex]

23. these little pests get plenty of acorns...

my brother from out of state used to marvel at how big and fat the squirrels around here are. We have years where you have to shovel the acorns and I am not kidding.

So the digging of flowers and vegetables by the cutest little rodents on earth is quite annoying!

[Tesha]

19. What's a "Meyer Lemon"?

How does it differ a just-plain-old lemon?

(I ask because you mentioned them and because we
bought some very nice "Meyer Lemon Marmalade" from
Lollipop Tree so I was wondering...

[Retrograde]

22. A slightyly sweet lemon that looks a little like a small orange

They're more cold-hearty than the "normal" varieties, and they can take a little frost, so they're grown a lot in the Bay Area. I sometimes think there's a zoning requirement that every house have one :) They became a big fad in trendy food circles a few years ago because they're rarely grown commercially and therefore exotic, but to me there just those yellow things that are all over the tree. They bear all year, but the biggest crop is in winter when I don't need that much lemonade.

[Tesha]

26. Thanks! (NT)

[hippywife]

24. I love, love, love Meyer lemons!

They make the best lemonades and granitas! Try them and you will be hooked! :hi:

Used to be able to get them from an organic farm in TX but they don't list them anymore. A bunch of us from the coop here would go together on a case of them. They were baseball sized and delicious!

[Tesha]

25. Thanks to both of you! (NT)

[japple]

27. I love Meyer Lemons, too. They are almost never available at

the grocery stores in my area. But I love them because they have beautiful thin skin with fine pores and juicy, flavorful fruit, unlike the big, waxy, dimply kind from Florida. The only good lemons I ever got from Florida were ones that were given to me by people who grew them.

The bag I bought at Kroger earlier this month were gorgeous. I posted an earlier thread about that bag of lemons and making lemon marmalade from them.

edit to add: they also make a lovely houseplant, with glossy green leaves and ecstasy-inducing fragrant blossoms. They are quite easy to grow from seeds, but they are susceptible to scale, which often has the upper hand before the grower notices the problem.

[yellerpup]

8. How I wish!

We live in a 4th floor apartment, no deck, no window boxes, no access to gardening whatsoever outside the garden club (public spaces) and the historical society (I don't go there for personal reasons). I do haunt the farmer's markets along the river during the spring/summer/fall and make jams, some pickles, cordials, liqueurs, and candied fruits. Of course, I can hop on a train and be at a Broadway show in under an hour, too, so there are trade-offs and there are trade-offs. I grew up in the country and miss the wild onions and eggs in the spring and picking pecans in the fall and all manner of vegetable and fruit gathering and in between. I like your set-up, though. It has a familiar look and feel to me. Thanks again for photos of your birds!

[pengillian101]

12. Got a windowsill?

[yellerpup]

21. We aren't allowed to have anything on the outdoor

ledges. Inside, I have some plants that can stand high heat (SW exposure) but anything on the outside of the sill could get me evicted. I love your photo. I would enjoy having a little window garden. :hi:

[pengillian101]

30. Windowfarming is indoors

Maybe this would work for you - there's a video at the link. It's a worldwide group that shares tips and tricks.

http://www.windowfarms.org/

:hi:

[yellerpup]

42. Very interesting!

Thanks for the link. :hi:

[The empressof all]

32. I got a deal on one of those areogardens at Bed Bath and Beyond

I got a six pod one for under $50. It was still a lot of money but I grow more basil and parsley than we can use. When I see them on sale again I'll buy another to try the cherry tomatoes. I have lots of outdoor space but I love having fresh basil all winter. It was well worth the expense.

http://www.aerogarden.com/

[pengillian101]

37. If you only have well water available, it's spendy.

City water works in the Aerogarden.

I've had one for a few years and I love some aspects. But it is not cheap to run for me.

Well water is not suitable, so had to buy bottled water. Not a good value for country folk, to BUY water...

:-)

[yellerpup]

43. Nice suggestion.

I'll see if there is one I can squeeze into the apartment! :hi:

[Lugnut]

11. We had an abundance of tomatoes and pickle cukes last year.

I made Claussen clone pickles with the cukes and roasted a bunch of tomatoes to freeze. The pickles are very tasty but a little too salty. The tomatoes were very easy to make and are delicious.

I sliced the tomatoes and spread them out on baking sheets. Then I drizzled EVOO on them, crushed garlic from my neighbor's garden along with some Italian seasoning and roasted them at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. After they cooled I dumped them into Ziplock freezer bags and froze them. They make the best spaghetti sauce I've ever eaten.

We have an 8' X 8' raised planting bed to plant in so we only plant what we can use. There is nothing like going into the back yard to pick fresh cucumbers and tomatoes for a salad.

[Phentex]

15. a small garden, a lot of composting...

a bit of freezing. We are going to try to grow berries this season. Had pretty good luck with lemons so far.

[kestrel91316]

28. I'm "into" growing my own, but not actually to do it anymore since

the house I was renting got sold out from under me. Sigh.

Today I canned some pickled eggs - I got the eggs at 99c Store for $1/dozen, which you probably can't beat, raising your own. But someday I do want actual laying hens.

[lizziegrace]

29. I have a vegetable garden and can and freeze what I harvest

I buy produce locally at farmer's markets and can it as well. I'm out of freezer space and bought a pressure canner this past summer. I've canned tomatoes, peach marmalade, pickles, peaches, corn, carrots, homemade baked beans, split pea soup and chicken soup. I found 3 dozen quart canning jars on Craigslist for $2/dozen. Perfect condition. :-)

I'm going to begin looking for a dehydrator for herbs other stuff. Hope to find one on Craigslist or at a thrift store.

I use the artisan bread recipe (no rise and makes 4 loaves) over 2 weeks.

I can't live without my large crockpot (with a temp probe and automatically switches to warm), a small one to cook steel cut oatmeal and my rice cooker.

I've always got a gallon of iced tea in the refrigerator so I'm not tempted to buy soft drinks.

Love this thread. Lots of good ideas. :)

[pengillian101]

31. Easy peasy, no muss freezing of tomatoes.

I found this online several years ago and it works great!

"Q Is there an easy way to can tomatoes without the mess?

A There is -- and the technique is: Don't. As in, don't can; instead, freeze. If you have the space, you can pack in a mess of fruit, keep all the lively, fresh complexity of a great tomato because you don't sully it with heat, and barely mess up a counter.

Here is how to do it. Buy only big-flavored, assertive tomatoes with high acid/high sugar for best flavor in freezing or canning. Rinse them, remove their cores, but do not skin or seed (much of a tomato's character and goodness are in the seeds and the gel around them). Pack them into heavy-duty plastic freezer bags, press out air, seal and freeze. To use, just drop the frozen fruit into whatever you are cooking (skins will slip away quickly), or defrost and use tomatoes raw in salsas or whatever. They lose their shape and mush up a little, but every bit of their character will still sing out.

Lynne Rossetto Kasper hosts "The Splendid Table," American Public Media's national radio food show, splendidtable.org. Send questions to table <at> mpr.org. Star Tribune."



Well, I am even lazier than THAT. I don't core them, I just rinse, pat dry and freeze with the stems on. I use a vacuum sealer, but you don't need to.

I found out later, when they are frozen, just run under hot water for just a little bit and the stems slip right off! Truly, if you have freezer space - this works beautifully (with NO work) :-)

I have done this now for several years.

[WhiteTara]

34. I'm trying that this year.

The idea of canning seems overwhelming to me; but, this I can do.

Thanks for the great tip.

[pengillian101]

36. Oh good,

Glad to help. I rather misspoke. The SKINS slip off, but the stems need pulling.

This is such a good idea somebody else figured out.

We still have about 6 freezer airtight bags of six each tomatoes from last season. Nice treat when the snow is like it is for chili, stew, soup, etc, this time of year. :-)

:hi:

[WhiteTara]

41. I'm excited for spring to begin

I've done a lot of hardscaping, bed building, arbor building type things. Next is the fence which really needs to be up very early so there's no chance of animal damage and of course, the drip system. I'm drawing that out this winter so I can do the work quickly in the spring before the heat comes. Fruit and nut trees come in the middle or end of February and this year, I'm going to the Baker Seed Company open house and buy lots of their starts so I can see what I like and save seed from them! If you have never seen one of their catalogs, I suggest you go here and request one. http://rareseeds.com This catalog is so beautiful! non gmo corn seed too!

[Phentex]

39. I did that from laziness...

my father-in-law gave us way more than we could eat. I pretty much did what you did and found them perfectly fine for sauces and soups. We aren't big on raw tomatoes so I mainly cook with them anyway.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

44. I do that also, just put tomatoes whole in a zip lock bag

especially when I get tired of canning or the jars run out. One of my favorite things to do with the frozen tomatoes is to perch one or two on top of a beef roast when you put it in the oven to bake. It makes for an amazing flavor and great gravy.

[Mojorabbit]

45. I am

Have a big garden and lots of edible landscaping. False hawksbeard, plantain, and sow thistle as well as oxalis weeds up now to add to meals. Hubby bow hunts and I just finished making sweet italian sausage and breakfast sausage, rendering some fat for lard and processing the rest of a wild boar for later meals. I get a lot of satisfaction doing things from scratch.