New stove

Hopefully I will have a new stove soon. i have a person coming today to see if I can change my electric stove to a gas stove. I hope its not to expensive to do that. Then I have to figure out what stove I want and a new Refrigerator. I shopping I will go a shopping I will go.

Cannery and processors tour

This Saturday the Georgia Organics sponsored a trip to a commercial cannery and processing  plant. It was so interesting. Anyone can use it, you bring the food you want to can and your jars if you are going to use tin cans they have a supply of them.  There are big tables, cookers, steamers, juicers, and pressure cookers. The meat processing part is in a separate room with more tables, saws, vacuum pack machine, curing locker, hanging locker and a locker you can rent space in to keep your meat frozen. The people that work there are wonderful. And will help you if you need it.

I came home and canned my salsa. it took me all day to chop and assemble all the ingredients and then I can only put 7 quarts in my canner at a time. At the Cannery I could put 90 cans in at a time. This will take some thinking and planning to go  to the cannery .

My quest to eat all organic has proven to be a little more difficult then I thought it would. I can't find organic food. Yes I have gotten some but to find 50 lbs of tomatoes is hard to find. I'm still  searching for a organic farmers I can just go out and buy mu veggies from.

More later

Last week

It has been awhile since I Blogged. So here goes. Volunteered at the Attack of the Killer Tomato that was last weekend. All the food was very good. All had to have Tomatoes in it. 30 restaurants. A great band played and everyone I saw was having a great time.

I helped my brother and his wife unpack 3 pods of their life. I came home and looked around. I am motivated to declutter even more. I am still looking for the perfect place to retire. Maybe not retire but to live and not move. Have my garden and animals were they have a permanent home.

I planted lettuce yesterday and my squash will be moved into bigger pots today, I planted some seeds and they are going great but I don't remember what they are.I didn't mark the container I think they are cabbage.
I guess I will find out .

My fresh goat Feta cheese was so good. Cheese is so easy to make. My journey to becoming more self -sufficient is getting closer. I'm looking now for Organic Tomatoes so I can put up my Salsa, Spaghetti Sauce, Pizza Sauce. I need about 50 lbs. One day I will have grown them all in my own garden.
Have a good day.

Cheddar Cheese and peaches

Wow this weekend was filled with lots of fun. Saturday I went to the local farmers market. I was a little later then last week. There was more people buying everything they could get there hands on that was fresh right from the garden.
I bought a box of peaches, dehydrating some right now Made Peach Liquor with some more. I made a spicy Peach Barbecue sauce and last night had some with my fish dinner. I have a few peaches left that I will can later today.

I also made Cheddar Cheese, it is still drying then I could put on the wax. Then I have to wait about a month before I even know if it turns out. It was very easy. I think I have a new project.

Now I have to get my goats. So I will have fresh milk.

Made Mozzarella Cheese today

My Mozzarella Cheese turned very good. I could of eaten all of it at one time. I went online and looked up in several cheese books I have for a recipe.  There were so many recipes and most had the same ingredients, it was the process that was so different from recipe to recipe . So I finally just picked one  and made it. The whole process was about 1 1/2 hours. I should be able to get it down to 1 hour.
 I ended up with 3 balls  and 2 were easy to finish but the last one just would not get stretchy and shiny. So I just ate it. It was so good.

Milk is about 86% water so when you are through making cheese you have a by product. Whey can be fed to animals, put on your garden or make Ricotta Cheese. That is what I did made Ricotta Cheese. I cooked and cooked and nothing so I added some vinegar and cooked some more still nothing. By now I'm getting a little discussed so I strained the whey in the cheesecloth and I got maybe a handful of cheese. I asked my friend Nancy Coonridge from Coonridge Organic Dairy.  in Pie Town NM. She told me if I made the Mozzarella with citric acid then the whey would not make Ricotta Cheese. Which is exactly what I did. My next patch of Mozzarella Cheese I will try another recipe

My next cheese is going to be cheddar cheese.

More later.

Canning in season food

When I started this quest to be self sufficient I did not know much so I got busy and the first thing I taught myself was how to can food. I bought the best canner there is. American pressure canner. I read as much as I could on the internet and in books. My first food I tried was  a Salsa recipe I found in Mother Earth News. It has potatoes in it so you have to use a pressure canner . I was scared to open the first can. But I finally did and since I didn't get sick then everyone else eat and soon all the Salsa was gone. I have made another batch this past winter. Its all gone also. I wanted to make it so bad I used all ingredient out of season. I don't know how much the first two batches cost . But I know what went into the food, And it turned out really good.

So this year I will can food all from what is in season. And I'm trying to eat all organic. Which has proven to be harder then I thought.  I went to the farmers market last Saturday. The vegetables looked so much better then the ones in the grocery store. I bought some lettuce then I went and bought  lettuce at the grocery store and had a taste test. Wow there is a difference.

Most food  I have canned have been meals or soups. Spaghetti sauce with meat and without. I also had a hot Spaghetti sauce it was an experiment I through in a couple of hot peppers. It was so good. I have canned squash soup, chicken soup, split pea soup,  chili with meat and without meat. A sausage tomato dish we love.

When it comes time to fix a meal I just go down to my storage room and get a jar and the rest is easy.

So this year I will restock my shelves with organic in season food. It is worth it. I love looking at my stocked shelves in the winter and I did all of it. And if the power goes out I can still have food.
More later

new air conditioner and furnace

Tomorrow we get our new air conditioner and furnace. To get ready for them to be replaced we had to clear out 6 feet on all sides of the furnace in the basement. The other air conditioner and furnace is in the attic. After 8 years of putting everything in the basement that we didn't know what to do with and might be a chance we would need years from now. We had a lot to move. But now I know what I can sell, give away or throw a way. Our units are 30 years old . We should be able to see a difference in not only the efficiency but the monthly bill.

The side of the house were the units are I have been wanting to pit up a trellis garden but knew we were getting new AC and furnace so I now will be able to go forward with my plan.

More later.

July 26 2010 My first blog

So I finally decided to blog. I have been learning a lot about how to be more self sufficient in my daily life. Eating Organic, planting my own food, ways to persevere my bounty, making my 30 year old house energy efficient and more to come.

I have taught myself to can food. Which has come in handy at dinner time. And in the winter when when all you want is a bowl of home made soup but don't have time to make it. Its so nice to go to the cabinet and open up a jar of soup you made and you know what is it.

I will post more later.