Are You Ready?

Winter is just around the corner. The days are getting shorter, the air is turning cooler. My kids were so excited to see their breath outside the other morning. The trees in my neighborhood are just spectacular- I don't remember them ever being so bright and utterly breathtaking. It is definitely the time of year I start thinking of hunkering down, finding comfort in flannel sheets, wool socks, and a pot of spicy chili.

If your winters get cold like ours in Missouri do (most of the time, that is. Our weather can be pretty fickle sometimes), do you have a plan for bad weather? Blizzards, ice storms, power outages, and just being snowed in and not being able to get out to the stores? Do you keep enough food in your house to last you more than the average American's 3 day pantry? How about gasoline for your cars, chainsaws, generators, etc? What about warm clothing and extra blankets, alternative cooking methods and lighting? Do you have enough smoke detectors ( with good batteries in them), fire extinguishers, flashlights and matching batteries, a basic first aid kit, enough toilet paper to last at least a couple of days? What about entertainment- books, games, paper and art supplies to keep cabin fever at bay?

The next few posts will deal with all these questions and talk about why its important to prepare for things not to be normal, especially in winter. Maybe you've seen the people who call themselves "preppers" on tv who spend thousands of dollars on all kinds of survival gear and MRE's? My goal is not to be a victim of fear, anxiety, or irrationality. I don't feel the need to live in a bunker in the middle of nowhere with 50 years worth of toilet paper and protein bars. My goal is to make my family as comfortable in any crisis (however small) while staying within our budget, and leaning on the providence of the Lord. As a Christian, I absolutely do not think it is incongruent to both trust in the sovereignty of God to provide and to prepare for an uncertain future by stocking up and learning new skills. I know some people hold a different view, and that's fine. But the more Christians prepare for emergencies, the better off they are to help others when/if the need arises and to be a witness to the suffering as well. 

Noah started building the ark and gathering supplies well before the rains came. Joseph gathered enough food for his people when the times were prosperous that when the droughts came and destroyed everything, none of his people starved. 

The first few posts will deal with the very basics- what to prepare for, how to prepare on a budget, and what the Red Cross, FEMA, and other groups recommend. Stay tuned!

How to Make Apple Cider Vinegar...and How to Use It

Recently I bought a big box of apples at the amish store to dehydrate into Cinnamon-Sugar Apple Chips. I also made a few pints of applesauce. I could have composted the cores and peels, or used them to make jelly or maybe gotten a small amount of juice out of them, but instead I decided to try to make my own apple cider vinegar. 

Basically, you just take all the scraps- peels, stems, cores, all of it (except any diseased spots- which you won't have to worry about if you get yours from the grocery store) and submerge them in water in a container you can easily cover with a towel or cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Ideally the scraps will keep under the water completely, but usually they float to the top. Don't worry too much about that.

Sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar over the top for every quart or so of water and cover lightly- the mixture still needs to get oxygen so the yeast will stay alive and do its job. Leave it in a dark warmish place for a week. I keep mine on top of the fridge since that seems to be the warmest place in my kitchen.

After a week, strain out and compost the scraps and keep the water.Pour it back in the jar and cover it lightly again and put it again in a dark place- wrap a towel around it or put it in a paper sack. It will continue to grow the "mother" for a few weeks. It will start to smell vinegary and that is good. 

After a couple of days you will probably start seeing a filmy thing floating on the top- that's the mother. The mother is the important part (aren't all mothers?) It is full of living enzymes that are super good for you.When its done, you can use the mother to start a new batch and it won't take as long, The mother will get thicker as the weeks pass.

Keep checking on it if you're a nerd like me and get excited about weird things like this, or don't and just leave it be. When about 4-6 weeks have gone by, pour off the mother into a clean jar, along with some of the vinegar and all the sediment on the bottom. Keep it for when you start another batch with fresh apple juice or scraps. Use the new vinegar the same as you would store-bought. 

How to Use Apple Cider Vinegar:

as a facial astringent

as a conditioning rinse after washing your hair with baking soda- it promotes shine and hair growth and is anti-dandruff

as a mouthwash- it is antiseptic and also helps keep bad breath away

as a detoxifying daily drink ( mix a couple of tablespoons with water or regular apple juice)- the probiotics help with all kinds of tummy troubles

as a swelling reducing rub

as a sinus decongestant

as an insulin regulator- it is anti-glycemic

as a sunburn remedy

as an arthritis relief- the potassium helps block calcium build up in joints

Bulk Pancake Mix

Here is something really simple and quick to make that will provide you with a lot of breakfasts in a jiffy- your own homemade bulk pancake mix. And its so good too!

{From areal-lifehousewife.com}

Homemade Pancake Mix in Bulk

Author: Joy of Cooking

 

Ingredients

• 9 cups flour
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ cup plus 2½ tablespoons baking powder
• 6 teaspoons salt
• 1½ cups milk
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl and store in an airtight container.
2. For a batch of 10-12 pancakes, combine milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add a heaping 1¾ cup of pancake mix and stir just until combined.
3. Pour onto a greased hot griddle, using about ¼ cup for each pancake. Let cook on each side until lightly browned.

Make Your Own Brown Sugar!

             Have you ever seen the ingredient list on the package of brown sugar? Its just sugar and molasses- how did I not know that? Unfortunately I needed brown sugar in two recipes this week and had no brown sugar. Fortunately I did have a bottle of molasses in the pantry for some strange reason.  

                    Add molasses a little at a time to the sugar until you get the right color and consistency. 

 

Store in an airtight container.

Shine On, Harvest Moon

Fall is my favorite time of year- my favorite season that is. I love the changing colors of the trees and scents of fires burning and dug up earth. I love the feeling of breezes just cool enough to make a light sweater appreciated and the crunch of brittle leaves underfoot. It's also hunting season and I'm hoping HH gets a deer or two for our new(to us) freezer. In a few weeks we are also gettting 1/4 cow and we've never done that. i'm pretty excited at the thought of all that food in the freezers-good, clean, non-gmo,grass-fed ,barely processed food.

Its the time of year our ancestors called Harvest- something we rarely do anymore as "seasons" have all but been erased when it comes to the availability of food. Harvest time used to dictate the start of the school year, and it was the reason for initiating Daylight Savings. It was the herald of the second half of the year- the time when all the worrying over weather, all the sweat and sore muscles and labor could be justified with celebrations of thanksgivings for the bounty their God, their land, and their own hands had wrought.
Sadly, we don't really participate in harvest time anymore. The grocery stores supply their own bounties-perfect, uniform, shining examples of the best of what miracles of time and space have to give us. No mis-shaped apples, no gnarly carrots, no specks of dirt on the potatoes that betray their humble beginnings.

I'm so thankful we had a garden this year. It was a lot of work but it was good, hard work and it felt good to be out there every day with my feet and hands in the soil, getting to know our plants. At first, when the first fruits appeared I wondered if Eve had felt the same way- hoping and waiting for her own plants to grow after the heartbreak of leaving a place where food sprouted from the words of God. Did she ever, like me, jump up and down laughing like a maniac shouting "Its working!Its working!" not caring if her neighbors thought she was losing it? 

Not only did our garden provide us with food, it gave us a months-long study in life-cycles, insect identification and pest management, cross-pollination, and dependency on weather and the will of God to provide. We learned so much about how to save seeds, how to compost, why tomatoes crack, when squash vines need calcium, and how beautiful okra flowers are. Most importantly, we learned where our food comes from, and what fresh food really tastes like. We learned how many colors the inside of one tomato can hold, and when peas are the sweetest. I learned I like green beans, and our kids learned not to be afraid of a little dirt on their carrot.

Now we are tearing down what little is left standing, turning the soil and putting the beds to bed, so to speak. I'm not going to lie, its a little sad laying bare in a few hours what took months to mature. But we've been saving seeds and there is that which our ancestors must have had too-hope that next year will be just as good or even better.

Homemade Ketchup

Confession: I bought 200 pounds of tomatoes the other day.

But it's ok because I had a plan. I mean what crazy person goes and buys 8 boxes of tomatoes without a plan? Not me. Nope. Certainly not.

Ok, I had a plan for about 1/3 of them.

I also bought 10 dozen eggs and 4 pie pumpkins.

We ate alot of sandwiches that week.

And didn't do a whole lot else.

Some people thought we were a little cuckoo but now I have a pantry full of yummy homemade goodies that will last a long (long) time.

Tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, salsa, hot sauce, barbeque sauce, and ketchup.

Why make ketchup when its so cheap at the store, you ask?

Doesn't it take a long time?

Yes, yes it does. But- No corn syrup! No high fructose corn syrup! No "natural and artificial flavorings"! And a lot less salt than commercial ketchup.

Here is the recipe I used, from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I tried it out on my 5 year old- the one who can eat her weight in the stuff so she's kind of the resident expert, and although she was hesitant to try something mommy made herself, she was surprised and happy that it tasted just like the stuff in the fridge.

Makes about 7 pint jars...

3 tbs celery seeds

4 tsp whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces

1 1/2 tsp allspice

3c cider vinegar

24 lbs tomatoes, cored and quartered

3c chopped onions

1 tsp cayenne pepper

11/2c sugar

1/4c pickling or canning salt

1. Tie spices in a spice bag

2. In a stainless steel pot, combine vinegar and spice bag. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and let stand about 25 min. Discard spice bag.

3. Meanwhile, in another stainless steel pot, combine tomatoes, onions, and cayenne. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and boil gently 20 minutes. Add infused vinegar and boil gently until vegetables are soft and mixture begins to thicken.

4.Working in batches, transfer mixture to a food mill and discard solids.

5. Return liguid to sauce pan. Add sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently until volume is reduced by half and mixture has the consistency of commercial ketchup.

6.Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars, and lids.

7. Ladle hot ketchup into hot jars, leaving 1/2 in headspace. Remove air bubbles and wipe rims. Center lid on jar, screw bands on fingertip-tight.

8.Place jars in canner making sure they are completely covered with water by about 2 inches. Water bath for 15 minutes. Remove lid, wait 5 minutes and remove jars. Let them sit at least 12 hours before moving them. You can remove the bands before storing. Make sure all lids have sealed by pressing down the middle of the lid- if it doesn't flex up and down its sealed! I usually lift the jar by the lid also just as a secondary measure to make sure its sealed. Store in a cool darkish place.

And in case you're wondering about the eggs-

We go through alot of eggs for eating and baking, so some we used up, but most of them I broke individually into little plastic cups, scrambled a bit and froze to use later because our egg lady is out and we like our farm fresh eggs!