Mrs. Kravetz

Recently a more famous urban homesteader I has had some tribulations due to her farming activities.
She got popped for selling ... wait for it, let it simmer, exhale ... selling chard.
Seems that her raising rabbits for food may have sparked the dime being dropped to Oakland's code man.
An act of food terrorism.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Put ah Lid On It

The following blog post is 2nd in a series of fugal home food preservation  for the novice.

Pictured are examples of what is left of my meager lid stash hovering some where around 200 maybe a bit more. More than likely a bit less.
The wide mouth lids are only used on the half gallon mason jars that are used for dry storage/vacuum sealing. I made a decision years ago to only stock regular or small mouth canning jars, so then I only needed one size lid - regular. Others will disagree as wide mouth is nice when your trying to stuff a chicken breast into a jar but, generally speaking regular canning jars tend to show up in the second hand market more often. Regular lids tend to be on the store shelves longer.
The Ball box with the yellow graphics is pre-Internet. On the back is a mail order form to send away for a Ball Blue Book 32nd ed. $3.50 check or money order. Top tab reads,"Thank You for Buying This American Made Product".
Remember what I wrote about not using wire bail canning jars (jar rubbers), and how I had even bought a few boxes. Apparently I own allot more than a few boxes.
This box has a date of 1975 which brings to mind just exactly how long are jar rubbers good for ? What exactly is a split tab & why was it needed.
Side of the box advertises the 29th ed. of the Ball Blue Book for $1. The back of the box gives directions for use with zinc caps.
The next box of regular dome lids dated 2002 and except for the box graphics is unchanged from what is sold today. Besides the helpful one eight hundred help line the company's website is listed. And as before a canning recipe (freezing & dehydrating) book is offered for $ 4.95 + $1 for postage & handling. We bought these thru eBay 4 or 5 years ago worked out to 12¢ or 14¢ each.
Lat Summer I was able to score new Ball lids using coupons that were doubled due to a Tops special promotion.

Years ago I use to buy American Harvest or Golden Harvest brand lids for 99¢ per 12 or 8¢ a piece @ stores like Family Dollar and Big Lots. Last year when I checked they were $1.69.
This brand is my favorite to use for the simple reason that the lids are blank. No graphics no logo just a blank lid ready for a quick scribble of date & contents in marker.

Wish  I had some sage advice on buying lids for pennies but I don't.
Just know what prices run so you can spot a deal, keep checking eBay for case lot sales, and if your in a $ store and lids are under $2 a box grab me ten.

Paraseal Wax, W.&F. MFG. Co., INC., Buffalo, New York 14240 net weight 1 pound - 25¢.

Produced wax novelty candy such as those wax lips and coke bottles we all loved as kids.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Got Balls ?

The following blog post is the 1st in a series of fugal home food preservation for the novice.

K, by Balls I mean jars. Canning jars. Mason jars.
NOT Mayonnaise jars. I don't care if every auntie you have ever known always canned in them don't. They aren't made for canning.

The six canning jars pictured are from my 1949 Ball Blue Book of Canning, back cover. Cost was 25¢.
The top left jar with the gold Ball dome lid is what you want. Accept no substitutions unless you want to use the zinc screw caps or wire bails for storing buttons, dried herbs, or peanut butter cookies.

Very sweet Grandmothers and thrift shop owners with an agenda will try and tell you differently. They will regale you with stories of how they themselves or their dear mothers or wives canned with wire bail jars, (pictured in the middle). They will tell you with authority that the rubber rings (bottom right hand corner) needed to use the wire bails can still be purchased, and they are right. I myself have bought a few boxes.
They will with a smile on their face and a distant look of joy in their eyes tell you that jelly jars (bottom left) need only paraffin wax and a lid to contain that which is known as heaven on earth, marmalade.
They will tell you this and they will be wrong.

Know your jars. Know your lids. Always check the rims for cracks or chips.

That said know your price point on what a new jar retails for. In my area a six pack of quarts can go for $6 and some change to a high of almost $10 for quart size. My rule of thumb is that I won't pay over 30¢ for a jar. The exception is half gallon jars.
I once bought over 250 jars for $25 on ebay from a woman who was cleaning out her mother's home. I've also had limited luck with craigslist as well as church thrift shops and auctions or estate sales.
Jelly jars & pints are harder to locate and generally speaking are priced higher. While I won't think twice about parting with quarts pints and jellies are another story.

That said the majority of my quart canning jars have been free. There is just something about meeting another canner especially a newbie who is in need of jars that compels an old canner, more so if the jars are just sitting idle in the cellar. It's a hard task to just throw away perfectly good mason jars. Which is why so many who once canned will tell you that even though it may have been years since they heard the ping of a lid sealing they can't just throw away perfectly good mason jars.

How to obtain free canning jars

1. Place a sign on your front door "Canning Jars Wanted".
2. Leave index card with your N&N (name & #) at senior centers.
3. Tell everyone that you have started canning. Jars will find you. 
4. Let everyone know that the perfect gift is canning jars.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Scarp'ng 4 Eggs

K, ignore the date stamp on the pic it's off by a few weeks.
2nd, there was suppose to be a follow up pic of quiche that I made using these eggs,
cheese from the great buy out, and home canned Swiss Chard along with other veggies from our garden. Problem was family ate the pie before I had a chance to photograph it.

These lovely eggs were purchased from Harper Hill Farm with money earned from selling our tin cans & scrap metal to a metal salvage yard. After collecting cans & a few metal what nots totaling 4 huge trash bags full this is how the stats played out Gross - 215, Tare - 140, Net - 75, Price - 8, = $6.
Yes, u read right six clams, six marigolds, six greenbacks, one fin & a Washington.
I had expected more. Not a whole lot more but more.
Since we were in the same county as our friend and we needed eggs I decided to blow my whole wad of dough on her wonderful multi-colored eggs.
Well that and I wanted visit with her kids. K, I'm throwing farm terms around. By kids I mean baby goats. Who much like lost puppies will snuggle up against you when you hold them and let out a cry that sounds like a baby. Did I mention that new baby scent that all new babies have even goats.

So the great tin can scraping exercise is wasn't a complete waste but I think that I'll stick with soda & beer bottles. There's a redemption center on almost every block.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Full Disclosure

The following is a guest post by my husbands Woodsrunner.



OK, I suppose I should reveal the expenses I pay out of pocket.

To start health and dental insurance set us back around $390 a month.

Another $12 a paycheck goes into a legal fund in case we ever need legal assistance.

I get paid every two weeks. On pay week I put between $35 and $40 worth of gas in the car, on the off week I add another $25-$30.

$15 a paycheck goes into a savings account to cover car repairs and emergency expenses.

$26 a paycheck goes into a checking account at a separate bank, most of this goes to cover prescription co pays that I am required to purchase mail order. This account also pays my Dr visit co pays which recently were increased As pelenaka wrote our ER co pay is now $750, our routine office visit is $55 up from $35.

$10 a payday goes into our land fund account.

3% of my gross pay goes into my 401k, that's the amount my employer will match.

I do give myself $75-$90 a week walking around money. Some weeks $30 of that buys the family a pizza or Chinese takeout for a treat. I buy my morning coffee,bread and cold cuts for lunch, lunch out once a week and a daily diet soda.

The pocket money also covers the occasional misc grocery expense or repair materials for the house which will now be paid with the Lowes gift card.

The $38 a month basic cable and Internet bill also comes from this money.

I do have one credit card. It's balance has never exceeded $350 (our utility trailer). Current balance is a whopping $28 and will be paid off next paycheck.

I empty my change into a jar at the end of each day. Saturday mornings I put the jars contents into my "hobby" account. this week it was $9 worth of change, some weeks it has been as much as $20. Any bonuses that work pays out goes into this fund along with payouts for unused vacation time, etc. This money buys my collector guns, pays our $135 a year club membership, along with hunting & fishing licenses and stuff like that.

Personally I think we do really well managing our money.

Woods



Few points that I'd like to make -

Gas allotment - it's been a colder winter than normal so we all don't walk as much as we could. Coupled with extra trips to pick up daughter from work & nightly med runs for my mother (I'm everyone's medical officer). I'm just not comfortable with either of us walking at night. Bike weather soon. Woods also drives into Rochester a twice a month to visit with his grandmother. He has also attended a few of my daughter's track meets @ RIT. There is also the occasional event (gun show) that he goes to.
Take out food, I got nothing, it's wrong. More so if I write that I all most always have the ingredients to make pizza or stir fry. Eggs rolls not happening.After months of searching for the best deal we could get on wifi the basic cable package +internet was it.


Utility trailer - the most outstanding benefit is that we can haul firewood without scheduling around a friend's truck not to mention the gas money or obligatory thank you pie. There are also the times that opportunity meet chance. Driving along and oh there's a down tree and it's Oak ... We have also hauled away building debris instead of renting a dumpster. Trailer is a much cheaper alternative to purchasing a truck. The credit card was a no interest for a year deal not sure though if he has paid it off in the year time frame but he's close. It is also his one credit card.
Club membership is a Gun & Rod club where we target range, hike, hunt, and take advantage of sportsman classes and events. Cheaper than a closed gun range not to mention it's family time. It's also where Woods goes to get away from city sidewalks.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Just the facts ...

Thought I share with everyone our financial stats for the past year as it was pretty sobering to say the least. Flip side is that although we are below the poverty level we do lead a somewhat middle class life. What & where all those dead presidents have been spent on since February.

Reportable income a.k.a. husband's paycheck - $21,507.
My quiet money - $2,300.

Federal refund - $7,890.
State - $2,410.

1st, state refund belongs to hubby. It goes into the land fund. Portions have however gone to buy investments (guns). Once I realized that he has never lost money on his "hobby" my objections disappeared. $400 & something went for car repairs - wheel bearing, oil change, NYS inspection.



Federal belongs to me or the household. My first thought was to buy a new roof or a good portion of. Then I realized there was a few other things that needed to be taken care of.

Yearly Car Insurance - $368 for 2 drivers. Someone not me has a few tickets so this cost will decrease next year.

$1000 gift card (home repairs & improvements), Lowes was running a promotion where they would add 10% to the card.

Dental co-pays - ranging from $30 to the whopping $1,013 for my dental surgery & 4 courses of antibiotic therapy. One daughter needed two cavities filled $113.60. Apparently the coating that was applied over 7 years ago doesn't last forever. I need to babysit her oral hygiene routine. Mid month there will be another $300 for her work up from the orthodontist. Quote was $4,000 to $4,500. 10% down (me & hopefully the ex) & monthly payments (daughter). There is also an upcoming wisdom tooth extraction for her.

Clothing - bought 2 winter parkas for myself & 16 y.o. daughter. Along with Woods belated Christmas gift and long underwear $120.93. Scored free shipping, $10 gift card & upromise money.

Preparedness Supplies - bought $327 worth of mylar bags, O2 absorbers, Red Wheat berries & Oats #10 cans from LDS website. Also bought medical preparedness supplies last weekend spent $43.

I have also been paying the usual monthly bills such as mortgage out of the refund money as well as coupon shopping.
I also want to purchase a few more items that would fall under the preparedness category.
Still need to bulk buy beef, chicken, and pork.
Researched having daughter's orthodontic work preformed at a dental college in our city but her teeth aren't drastic enough so she'd be low on the waiting list. Then there is the transportation & scheduling factor. The dentist we are going with is within walking distance of her high school and they offer before school appointments.

Woods gives me $400 for household expenses.
The ex sends $100 to cover the costs of daughter's health insurance. While NYS does offer an alternative health insurance we prefer not to have the state in our business.


~~ pelenaka ~~