Carolyn (and crew) I loved this video! The labeling of items as you panned by them was exciting. Also, the "flashbacks" to techniques are fantastic. The usage of your stairwell as cold storage is ingenious. Do you keep the root on the cabbage for longevity? Great video suggestions throughout and at the end. It's lovely to see you and your family enjoying the work and the harvest together. Seriously , WELL DONE everyone! Much love from the Midwest US 💖
How long did it take before you became this organized? How longe before you started feeling comfortable with knowing how much to store? I've been making lists and was able to have food til late February with out many store trips. We are still in the suburbs. Looking for our forever property this year. (We are later in life homesteaders, it's our retirement plan) I retired early, my husband has 8 more years.
Similar place here. I hardly know where to start. . . or rather, I start to take on too much at once and end up letting things run amok. Then I take on too little and feel like I'm going to be the first person to starve when the disaster hits.
I am a full time RV'r and can't possibly do what you guys do but I have taken some of your tips and adapted to our lifestyle. I have delved into the sourdough world and no longer need to buy bread at the store.
Normally, I wouldn't even consider watching a video about an inventory of a pantry -- BUT, this was really interesting. So thank you for the tour. I probably should learn more about making cheese too!
I see that you use painters tape to label your shelves with. Good idea it will pill off easy if you decide to put something else in that space. Great idea.
I am so grateful to have discovered your channel and your teaching platform. I am learning a lot and my family and I are starting to gradually apply it in our lives 💖
Carolyn: In one of your more recent videos about stocking in supplies for your homestead for the 2024 year you mentioned the cost of toilet paper. I am sure with your crew you use a lot. Back during the pandemic my husband and I put in our first bidet as an add on to an existing toilet. The installation required no special tools and was simple. We now have them on both our toilets and have come to enjoy them. The cost of a retrofit/ add-on bidet can be as little as $50. If you forego the heated seat, blower and water heater versions. While it is true that they do use a small amount of water, our toilet paper usage has gone down significantly. Our bidet's have paid for themselves and them some. We have a clear rear and it is my favorite bidet of the two. It might be something you want to look into with the cost of toilet paper being over $20+ per bundle these days.
I am from FL but am stuck in eastern WA. When I moved here in 2017, it was a learning curve for gardening and preserving for me as I prefer to not purchase from the grocery store. Luckily I found out where the local CSA's are and also found out that 2-3 of our local grocery stores actually sell produce and meat that are from local sources. Your channel has been so incredibly helpful in this journey. It has been such a delight seeing your sweet family grow.
Thank you Carolyn. I love videos like these that help me. It is like you are my sister and I get to be part of the planning for this year. I don't freeze dry, but I do everything else and have been dehydrating. I just don't anticipate using it as much as you do. There are only two of us. Be well and thanks again!! I love your pantry!!
About the Azure Standard, I love it and I found out about them from your channel. I must try this cinnamon cider. Is there a recipe you have somewhere?
I'd consider getting or creating like a barrier to put at the bottom of each row in case there's an earthquake so your jars don't slide out. Otherwise, I love your pantry!!
Your family is so beautiful and inspiring. I have 2 of my own and don't feel quite "done" yet. But I feel like if I have another one, it'll open some sort of floodgate and I'll have like 8 more 😅
Huckleberry!!!! Last year I grew it from seed and loved them canned into perseves!!! However the ones u grow from seed are ANNUALS. I am trying to find a reliable source for perrenial and hoping they taste the same! They are probably native for you!!! ❤
Thanks for this good video, it really is informative. I'm interested in knowing what are all the food you still dehydrate. Since you have a freeze dryer, the things you still continue to dehydrate must be really good. I'm in Europe and freeze dryers are not available, and I'd like to enjoy more dehydrated food. Thanks!
We discovered dehydrated italian prune plums last summer. I traded my prolific pear tree for some, and then for some more. Typucally i freeze plum cake and make a savoyry plum sauce for roasts, but this time we dehydrated and yes, they are fantastic and we too had to ration them out…so addicting. An amazing and lovely pantry -full of variety and it truly really shows how much your kitchen hums with work in thise few months. Whew!
I'm always amazed at everything y'all have learned and become skilled in. I hope to be able to do half as much food making/preserving as you do one day, but with a bare bottom income and no one to teach me the old ways, it's information that's hard to come by.
Thank you, Carolyn, very helpful. Could you please share where you purchased your wood crates? I've seen them at various places, but I'm wondering if they are food safe. Thank you.
Have you tried putting coffee grounds around your garden to keep the cats away? I did that on another property and it seemed to work very well. I actually didn't have enough coffee grounds so I went to a coffee shop and they gave me all of their used grounds I had a large black trash bag full of coffee grounds for free
Do you have a video on your plum syrup? I have a plum tree and have never used them like I would like to. They are always very small and hard to cut up.
We originally purchased them in 2017 from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. A mild sweetness, great flavor. We harvest plenty for storage and plenty of sets for next planting, which we plant the end of October at the same time we plant our garlic. These yellow potato onions store exceptionally well in our basement with temperatures ranging 50 to 65 degrees. We absolutely Love them.
I really loved seeing people this year add water to the fat and boil it for several hours, then cool and refrigerate. Then pull off the fat cap and add in water again repeating the process. This removes some of the animal smell so it can be used without the beef /pig/animal smell for cooking and using it in soaps and creams. I was fascinated to learn you could even do that.
Have you ever made deer lard? I don’t know if there is enough fat on them but I never thought of bear lard before and we have friends who hunt them every year!
We make deer tallow. You render it just like beef tallow. I think it is probably harder than beef tallow, but I don't really know because I have never handled beef tallow.
is there anyway you guys could do a comparison video on a freeze dryer and a food dehydrator? i live in arizona and can build a solar degydrator for cheap compared to upwards of a 1000 dollars for the freeze dryer machine. like pros and cons of each and differances in the food when done each way. lover you guys videos
