I FISH NY

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime.

Sending him fishing, he comes home a happy man.

Here's a link to the New York State Environmental Conservation website - halfway down the page is an email link for you to submit your name & address for a free I FISH NY Guide to Freshwater Fishing in New York State map.
Free map, dig some bait outta the garden, pack a lunch, then head on out to commune with nature and hopefully fill the freezer. Or just get off the old urban homestead for the day.


~~ pelenaka ~~

RTRP by Proxy

Dehydrating old school

* reaches for phone in apron pocket,"hey what up".
"I'm @ Aldis thought I give you a ring confirm that were on for Friday", barter buddy gf in a relaxed tone. She must be shopping with out children.
"Yeah I'm good with Friday I've been gathering up stuffs to bring".
"Hey there's cranberries on sale ... discounted to 25¢ a bag ... I'm thinking chutney".
"What brand ... look alright ... I'm thinking orange cranberry sauce and dehydrating" My mind wanders to a biscotti recipe that was in Sunday's paper a few weeks back. Called for dehydrated cranberries of which I was all out. Make a few substitution whole wheat for white flour add extra vanilla. My coffee wouldn't be lonely.
"Ocean Spray ... no they look good but there gonna expires in a few days ... how many you want" ?
"How many's there ... wait I can't give you cash right away but I have TP coming in a few days ... wanna barter" ?
"Sounds good I won't pick up any then what brand ... how many ply ... " ?
"It's the good stuff quilted soft real soft 2 ply baby ... ".

LSS this was a great example of right time (after holiday sales) right place by proxy (trusted friend who shops like I think) along with biting off more than I chew with regards to dehydrating.
There's no firing up the solar dehydrator it's been in the low teens to single digit temps.
I'm down to just one base on my old brown Roncho.  Anymore than four trays filled and I risk mold.
Can't borrow bbgf's dehydrator she'll using it.
Really regretting not making or @ least buying a non-electric air dehydrator. I've added this to my wish list -Food Pantrie Hanging Food Dehydrator


I came up with this alternative which requires frequent fiddling with the berries.
Cast Iron Skillet is the easier of the two as all that is required is a clean hand to reach in and mix. Woodsrunner's heirloom cookie sheet is more labor intensive. I use chop sticks to flip each cranberry half.  The second shelf of the stand is working well with a dish towel redirecting the heat, as soon as the leeks are dry I can replace cranberries.
Hopefully it won't be more than a day of this. Stove's running @ full throttle it's so cold.

Planned preserving method - vacuum sealing with O2 absorbers in pint mason jars. Looking for 1 to 2 years of shelf life. I expect there will be allot of Cranberry Walnut Bread in our future so I'm happy with one year.

14 bags later cranberries have been either sliced (10 bags) for dehydrating or will be made in sauce (4 bags) and canned. An appropriate tune playing while I wield a paring knife.

All my life
Is changing every day
In every possible way

In all my dreams
It's never quite as it seems

Never quite as it seems 

 ~~ pelenaka ~~

Buttermilk on a Shelf

Repackaging for mid-term storage 1-4 years.

Along the lines of converting to a more pantry based menu I ordered Saco Powdered Buttermilk, 12-Ounce Cans (Pack of 6) after testing the powdered buttermilk we had bought last February from Niblack Foods in Rochester. Since I already bake bake & cook with powdered milk instead of fresh it's a nice alternative to having a cultured buttermilk product on the shelf.
Saco Foods, Inc. Middleton, Wisconsin.
Amazon worked out to be the better price even before I factor in that I bought the product with Amazon gift cards earned on Swagbucks (yeah me I've earned just over $400 this year).

Most if not all the bulk food orders are broken down for long term storage. The buttermilk powder was repackaged into pint mason jars that were sterilized for 10 minutes in boiling hot water, then air dried by the wood stove. Added one O2 absorber (bought last year from LDS website) per jar then vacuum sealed. The original expiration date is May 2015 but I'm sure with the air vacuumed, glass containers, and cool temps the buttermilk will be good for a year past that. I also froze the powder for a full week before repackaging to kill any an foreign matter much as I do when I repackage flour for extended term storage.
Cut out the directions from the manufactures containers to tape on each jar as a handy reference guide.

I left two in original packaging for immediate use, one went to a barter deal, the rest are sitting repackaged on a cellar shelf. Piece by piece I'm adding to our pantry and extend term food preps.

So far I've used this product to make Rye Bread, Buckwheat Pancakes, and of course sing it with me ...

Y'all ready to get busy? (huh huh!)

Now, buttermilk biscuits here we go

SIFT the flour roll the dough

Clap your hands and stomp your feet

Move your butt to the funky beat (huh huh)

This boy reminds me so much of my son and his dance routines back in the day. 

I miss those days my son.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Nut in my Coffee

A reader who read my post about coffee creamer on a syndicated news site that I'm linked to reminded me that my choice in creamers was an unhealthy one. And we homesteaders are nothing if not always striving to be healthy, right ?
One of the advantages of grocery shopping on Amazon is the expanded organic and hopefully healthy selection of items that due to both cost & local selection isn't always available to me.  So I wandered outside of my comfort zone (read addiction alley) and went with  MimicCreme Almond and Cashew Cream-Unsweetened, 16-Ounce (Pack of 6) Six 16 oz. cartons = $14.52 which included a promo code for a $2.56 discount. Today it's a few dollar's cheaper along with different package graphics. No shipping & handling because I ordered this as a subscribe & save.
Made in Albany, New York.

Would I order this again ?
I would despite the fact that I really prefer powdered fake coffee creamer, oh how I prefer it.
Product was as described and with enough Stevia good (ordered unsweetened due to diabetes).
I really enjoy that the other 5 cartons can be stored on a cellar shelf with out refrigeration. Right next to what is left of my order of artificial coffee creamer.

Raises a mug "Here's to drinking better", all the while thinking of the other creamer. 

~~ pelenaka ~~

Hung Out to Dry

There's been way too much drama going on here lately which is why the simple act of "doing laundry" felt so good these past few days. The wash wasn't done as old as school as I have in the past with a homemade rapid washer and a couple of plastic pails nor did I use the wringer . 

I also don't or rather haven't had a mechanical clothes dryer in over 7 years. I do have a swing arm wall mount clothes dryer that I adore even though it's been missing an arm for years. 

Thinking of painting the rack to match the walls perhaps after hubby replaces the missing arm. 

We bought this wooden clothes drying rack in Pennsylvania when Woodsrunner & I were on our honeymoon five years ago for $10. Since then I've bought another for $25 which I have yet to hang.
One drawback to small homes is lack of wall space. Which is why the drying rack is located here in the front room for all the world to see when they enter my home. That & there's a furnace duct directly underneath. The rack predates the wood stove by 3 years. Generally took a full 24 hours for clothes to dry when we ran the furnace.
Before buying this rack @ an antique store I used a floor model or as an old roommate who was British always referred to a clothes horse. There are several modern wall mount racksavailable on Amazon that have caught my eye. One or two styles would fit easily over a large picture window mounted on the wall.

Can't help myself but when the rack is open I always think of Mary Poppins

Usually when people stop by their comments range from what is it even if it is covered with damp clothes to my grandmother had one on her back porch.

Then for whatever reason, many feel the need to make the statement that they would just get a normal clothes drier (I'm not normal so why would I have a normal clothes drier).  By comparison I don't get such off comments when people stop by & I'm hanging laundry on the line. Most tell me they wish they had a place to hang a clothes line.
I smile, then casually mention our electric bill is never above $40.
Sometimes I discuss how clothes last longer when you don't subject them to extreme temps or the tumble factor.
Mostly I just am thankful that on that day, there were no stoppenfloppers or drawers hanging out to dry.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Packets of Hope on Sale (Giveaway Winner)

Thank you to everyone who gave a shout out about their gardening style and to those of you are new to following my urban homesteading blog.
I didn't use a random numbers generator to pick the winner, instead I simply wrote everyone's name down on a packet of seeds in pencil. I decided against marker in case I wanted to use them for a barter this Spring. I reached in & picked one from the bottom of the pile.

Grace, congrats ! I hope that this book will offer you much guidance @ your new place. Look for my email.

I scored a great deal last Sept. @ a farm store - 2011 seeds for 15¢ each. It took me like over an hour to go through the whole bin. People wandered over to see why there was a woman kneeling on the floor surrounded by three galvanized wash tubs. Must be something good one woman muttered as she walked over. Oh seeds is what she told her man as she walked away. He shrugged.
I know that there's a lot of advice against not using old seeds but I figure it this way - if dandelions can spreads seeds into sidewalk cracks and be successful, then I can certainly put out a garden using last year's seeds.


~~ pelenaka ~~