Back to School Lunches

By this time of year all the kids should be back in school and you may be having the fun task of packing lunches every day. At our home there are no kid's lunches but we are still going to school every day and need some packed lunches. They are usually healthy and cheaper! Like most parents I know the ideas for fresh healthy lunches also get few and far between as time goes on. So before you start to hear the complaining from your kids or your significant other check out this article from iVillage (home of gardenweb one of my favorite forums!) that talks about how to keep lunches healthy, fresh, and will keep eaters of all sizes interested!


http://food.ivillage.com/slideshow/food/fresh_ideas_for_packed_school_lunches/

Canning Storage

As I increase the amount of canning I'm doing this fall I started to have to tackle the issue of storage space. Personally, I think one of the biggest hold-ups that stop people from canning in this modern day world is the lack of convenient storage space for all of the canned goods. Usually, people have a limited space in a pantry (if they have one at all) where they rotate the stock of goods through by what they buy at the grocery store. This allows a variety of different products to be stored but also keeps them rotating so you don't have 40 jars of tomato sauce taking up all the room you have for cereal.

So, the question becomes what do you do WHEN you do actually put up 40 jars of tomato sauce after a particularly good growing season. There are lots of different places in the home that would make good storage of your canned goods. I've even read articles of people who make storage for their canned goods under their beds.

For me the solution came with a small room in my basement that houses the oil tank (thank goodness I don't use that often!) and a pump for the cistern built into our foundation. This little room met the requirements for good canning storage

• Cool (something in the 40s-60s would be best)
• Won't freeze
• Dark
• Low humidity
• Easy access

This room fit the bill as it is underground below our front porch. It's out of the way but still maintains easy access so I don't have to ask my wife to crawl into a hole when she wants some green beans! The temperatures have been OK so far. I think over the winter I may insulate the room from the rest of the house effectively making it a "cold room." It will be slightly tougher than most since it's concrete walls but I will make due. It also has a small vent window that I can utilize if I start to store things like apples in there. Apples give off a gas that if not ventilated will accelerate the rotting process of things like potatoes (which I have stored in this room).

To make the room perfect for the canned goods I make storage in two categories. Storage for the canned goods themselves and storage for the equipment. My wife was getting slowly frustrated with the amount of new jars and big pots and pressure canners I had stored around the kitchen. For the canned goods I simply bought a set of metal shelves. I normally would just build shelves to custom fit the space but I wanted something that wouldn't be affected by dampness.

 
For the other supplies I built a table that spanned over the cistern pump. This is perfect for all the extra jars waiting to be filled.

I'm monitoring the humidity in there right now and that seems to be working out ok. If I notice any rusting on the rings I'll have to pull them off and store them differently. Hopefully, you too will be able to find some space for your own goods. Be creative there is plenty of spaces to hide these little treasures until you want them...or you need them.

Homemade English Muffins

Although I haven't posted any of those adventures yet making homemade English Muffins is a continuing step in a long line of bread-making endeavors. For some reason "dough" products like bread, sourdough bread, pancakes, English Muffins, etc. have been at the forefront of my food trials in order to prepare food for my family that is both healthy and something that we can make ourselves. I think I got wrapped up into the entire "yeast" family because I know that with some skills I can take flour, sugar and some yeast and turn it into so many different healthy things for my family. I take comfort in knowing that having these staples on hand will allow me to provide for ourselves no matter what else is going on out there.

The recipe I used to make these are as follows (found on another Blog and cited from (Beth Hensberger's Bread Bible):


1/4 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees)
1 tablespoon (1 package) active dry yeast (or a little less than a tablespoon of instant yeast)
Pinch of sugar
4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
Cornmeal (for dusting)

If using active dry yeast, combine the water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. If using instant yeast, as I did, you can just mix the yeast in with the flour and omit this first step and the sugar.

Combine 2 cups of the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in egg, milk, butter, and yeast mixture. Mix until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring in each time, until you have a soft dough that just clears the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for 3 to 5 minutes. Return the dough to a clean, greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.

Sprinkle a work surface with cornmeal. Pour the dough out of the bowl and onto the surface. Sprinkle the top of the dough with cornmeal and then roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Use a large round cookie cutter or an upside down drinking glass to cut the muffins out of the dough.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Place the muffins onto the skillet and let the bake for 5 to 10 minutes until quite dark before flipping.

An optional step, if you are concerned about baking them all the way through (which I was), is to have your oven heated to 350. After baking the muffins on the griddle for 5 minutes on each side, place them on a cookie sheet and place them into the oven for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. This assures that they are baked through.

I tried a small a small one that I had made from the leftover dough when it had cooled and it tasted great! Good bit of firmness on the outside but nice and chewy inside. Wasn't too dense and seemed to have decent crumb inside to make some good nooks and crannies. I can't wait until breakfast tomorrow!

Sweet Pickle Relish

Despite the fact that the temperature is slowly cooling off here in Zone 6 I'm still slowly collecting cucumbers off the vine and continue to try different recipes with them to see what I like and what I will try again next summer. This batch went to a sweet pickle relish whose recipe I found in the Ball Blue Book of preserving.

The recipe I followed was:

Sweet Pickle Relish
1 quart chopped cucumbers
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped sweet green pepper
1 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cup salt
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 TBL celery seed
1 TBL mustard seed
2 cups cider vinegar

Combine cucumbers, onions, green and red peppers in a large bowl;

 sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water.

 Let stand 2 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly Combine sugar, spices and vinegar in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. 

Add drained vegetables; simmer 10 minutes.

Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Yield: about 8 half-pints

One of the only things I changed with this recipe is the type of jars used. You shouldn't go UP in size because of the changes in density that will mess up your processing times (not enough heat the to center.) But, because I didn't have enough half-pint jars I used small 4oz jelly jars. This might work anyhow since we don't use a TON of relish at a time.

We even had enough to get almost a full half-pint for ourselves to keep in the fridge to try immediately.  Although I'm guessing the stuff that sits a while might get better flavor over time. Since it's Labor Day weekend I definitely think I'll have to grill some hotdogs and hamburgers and give this a try this weekend! 

A Day of Labor

The unofficial end of summer is here. It seems like I was just starting planting for the year and rueing all the rainy weather we had in the northeast early in the season and looking forward to some beautiful summer weather. Tonight as my wife and I went for a walk outside with the dog you could start to feel the coolness that is starting to creep into the evenings here. When the labor day weekend is over we are set to receive a shipment of tulips and irises that will have to be planted in preparation for the winter.

As my wife and I get busy with work again we've also been spending some time putting up more food for the winter. The post for these should come out in the next day or two. As much as I always love the summer I look forward to the change in seasons as well. About a month and we'll travel to the National Apple Festival in Gettysburg, PA and then come home and do all the apple processing of our own. Apple sauce again this year and hopefully butter, pie filling and maybe some dried this year as well. Time to get the home ready for winter. A whole new set of adventures to be had.

Interesting Discovery

Well when you are trying to build and expand on your homestead you are bound to have to step back sometimes and do some repairs and maintenance too. I spend the last weekend doing a complete upgrade to our home heating system (whole separate post there!) but needless to say at some point during the process I had to walk back past the garden to empty ashes from the furnace. Well what do you think I expect to find when I get down there.....

 

It appears as though something decided that all the hard work I did to make a gate for the garden wasn't worth trying. Something flattened one side of my fence and must have wandered around the garden...although I saw no damage to any of my vegetables. My only guess is that a nice Pennsylvania black bear decided to come through and take a look. This wasn't his first message. He also once bent the aluminum pipe that holds up my bird feeder to get a suit block and ripped apart the cage it was held in.

On a good note I went back down to the garden today and bent the stake and fence back up and did some harvesting. I got 4lbs of Roma tomatoes off that I will add to the collection that will become sauce later this fall. I also peaked at a few cucumbers that are getting ready to go that I might be making ANOTHER round of pickles this weekend. I'm hoping the others batches turned out ok before I keep making more and more!
 

Once I get a few pictures taken I will give an overview of the furnace upgrade and I"m sure I'll have some more stories by then. If you're near NEPA like I am enjoy the beautiful cool weather!!

Cucumbers Part II (Bread and Butter)

To follow up my last post on cucumbers and kosher dill pickles I made at the next harvest a batch of bread and butter pickles. I once again started with 4 lbs of picking cukes from the garden. If you need to refer to my notes on home canning and preservation please see my previous post on cucumbers.

This recipe came straight from the Blue Ball Guide to Preserving book. For this recipe the mandolin ($3 garage sale!) came in handy. I start by taking my cukes and slicing them 1/4" thick slices.

 

These were washed and cleaned and set aside. It was then time to do the same for onions. This time I set the mandolin to 1/8" slices and did the same for onions. 

  

For this recipe the cukes and onions were layered in a large pot dividing over each layer 1/3" of canning salt. (It's important to note that you must use a canning approved salt for this. I use a Kosher salt. Regular table salt has a compound in it to keep it from clumping that will turn everything cloudy. It will be ok to eat but will probably look so bad you won't want to!) 

  

This is then covered in ice and left to sit for 1.5 hours. Mine actually sat for about 2 hours until I did other things and got back to it. 

  

When this was all set I made my mix in a large pot:

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons mustard seed

2 teaspoons trmeric

2 teaspoons celery seed

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon peppercorns

3 cups vinegar

When this was boiling I then rinsed and drained the cukes and onions multiple times and added this to the pot as well. This was all brought back to boiling again before it was packed into clean heated jars. 1/4" of headspace was left and the jars were processed for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

 

I love these because they truly that have jar of pickles look! Again I have to wait 4 to 6 weeks to be able to go after them and find out! Notice how they were dated on the top before they were stored. I'm hoping to have at least another round of two of cukes out of the garden so I can try some more recipes. Plus, one of the joys of doing this is being able to share fresh healthy food with friends and family. 

Cucumber Harvest (Kosher Dills)

One of the things I've been educating myself with during this process is how to properly preserve food that I get fresh from a farmer's market or from my own garden. This way I can enjoy freshness from my garden all year long as well as have a supply of food that doesn't require refrigeration and therefore very handy in case of emergency.

Before I begin to talk about my experiences making pickles I'd like to stress that if you want to do some home canning of your own you MUST follow proper procedure. All the recipes I use and the ones you should use all need to be approved CANNING recipes not COOKING recipes you want to put in jars. In fact a lot of recipes that have been used by families for years (one Grandma handed down, etc.) aren't considered safe by today's standards. When in doubt a great resource is the National Center for Home Preserving.

Ok, that being said my quest for pickles began with growing pickling cucumbers in my home garden. I can go into detail more about that process but suffice to say I harvested about 4.5 lbs of pickling cukes for a recipe that calls for 4lbs.

 

  

I washed and cleaned the cukes and cut them into spears. To start the process I prepped and added to a stove pot

14 cloves garlic, peeled & split
1/4 cup salt
2 3/4 cups distilled or apple cider vinegar 5% acidity

This is all heated until it is boiling (this is important...make sure if a recipe calls for boiling you do it!) 

While this is heating you need to get yours jars and lids ready. The jars I put in the dishwasher to heat and sterilize them (this recipe calls for 7 pint jars). The rings can just sit and wait and the lids I put on the stove in a pot of hot water (DO NOT BOIL). Boiling will soften the seals too much and cause them to fail.

When this is boiling remove garlic and place 4 halves into each clean jar, then pack cucumbers, adding 2 sprigs of dill and 4 peppercorns.

When the jars or packed your going to pour the hot liquid into the jars leaving 1/2" of space at the top (this is called headspace and again is important to do as the recipe asks). You then adjust the 2 piece lids of the jars and put them in the boiling water bath canner and process for 10 minutes. Following canning guidelines to ensure a good seal! (Remember the site above!)

When they are done and cooling on the counter they look great!!

 

For this style of pickles I will have to wait 4-6 weeks before I can open the jars and dig in to see how they taste! One tip I definitely learned is to start to boiling water EARLY! Even on the power burner of my gas range it takes a while to get all that water boiling....most of the prep time really.

So for an easy hour I have 7 full pints of Kosher Dills that will last approximately a year. I love the idea of knowing they are sitting downstairs on the shelf and that I controlled everything that went in them!

To close if you want to follow it this way here is the recipe I used in it's entirety:

Kosher Dill (Heinz Recipe)
4 lbs pickling cukes
14 cloves garlic, peeled & split
1/4 cup salt
2 3/4 cups distilled or apple cider vinegar 5% acidity
2 3/4 cups water
12 to 14 sprigs fresh dill weed
28 peppercorns

Wash cucumbers; remove 1/16 inch from blossom end, cut in half lengthwise. Combine garlic and next 3 ingredients; heat to boiling. Remove garlic and place 4 halves into each clean jar, then pack cucumbers, adding 2 sprigs of dill and 4 peppercorns. Pour hot vinegar solution over cucumbers to within 1/2 inch of top. Immediately adjust covers as jar manufacturer directs. Process 10 minutes in BWB. Makes 6-7 pints.

Sitting down to the table

We've lived in our little homestead for just over two years now and there is so much I want to talk about already to share what little things we've done to make ourself more self-reliant. I decided to start with just one area and that is food! Ever since we moved here I began to think about food more in the context of what is needed more than what is wanted.

While we aren't one of these 100 acre homesteads that could very easily be cut off from modern conveniences I began to ponder the "what-if" questions and realized that in this day and age being cut off from food supplies could be a very real possibility. With all the food scares of recent months and the fact that problems quickly turn into panic in a large scale I decided that one of my goals would be setting up a food supply system that met several goals. While we are here I wanted our food supply to be:

• Healthy
• Balanced
• Sustainable (as long or as much as possible)

and I wanted to have the tools and the know how to provide food even when I couldn't just drive 20 minutes to the store and get some. I'm currently living in a state that is WEEKS late passing a budget and all of the basic government facilities are taking a hit. Who knows how long food will be readily available if it truly hits the fan.

Thankfully, some of these "old school" practices are being rejuvenated again so it wasn't impossible or extremely expensive to gather some of the materials I needed to get started. I'll break down some of these as the blog continues to grow including recipes, steps, pictures and more.

The Beginning

Welcome to the launch of Sugarloaf Homesteading! After a long time of searching on the internet I found that I just didn't find a type of homesteading that fit my "niche." Most places I looked for information were for homesteads on large plots of land or urban homesteading which really just didn't fit my setup. I decided then to start this blog for the rest of us! I wanted to see if I could fill an area of homesteading that hasn't really been talked about.

For me the homestead came in the size of 4 acres at the base of the Appalachian Mountains in eastern Pennsylvania. While we didn't buy this home with the thought in mind of homesteading I quickly started to realize the many benefits and challenges that would come from trying to be as self-reliant as possible on a small track of land.

I think the biggest appeal to me as I started trying different things and expanding my knowledge is just how much CAN be done in such a way that I truly feel that there are conveniences available to me when I need them but at the same time we are self-sufficient enough to survive on our own. I'm amazed at the feeling of comfort I have as I lay in bed at night and know that today was good and if tomorrow is not I can still provide for and take care of my family. In a world that sees a lot of economic turmoil, political change, health concerns, etc. I have made it a priority to help fill this space for the "small homesteaders" and share what I've learned.