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The containers of sausage and hamburger was gifts from the Amish neighbors. Very good flavor...but no grease, NONE not even with the sausage. Wasn't dry though.When we asked if they had the sirloin ground instead of the scraps,they thought it might be because their animals are grass fed and ran in a pasture.
Along with those items...I baked the pumpkin that had been on the porch and pureed it and put in 1 cup servings in the freezer. This is one of the pumpkins that was growing in the compost pile left from the previous owners. Hubby buried one of the other ones that had went bad between the grape harbor and the electric pole. We will see if it grows anything.
I bought the flour, sugar etc that I had on my Dec buy list. Still need cashews and ground pork but will get that when we go to doctor appts on Tuesday.I got a couple pork roasts, one we ate, the other is now in the freezer.
We were working on what to plant in the gardens and I listed what we ate then we decided to plant more in the garden so I am back square 1 on planning the gardens. BUT the focus is to grow as much as we can of what we eat and eat in season.SO if we want broccoli in Dec we have to have it in the freezer. IT's also to grow more of my own plants from seeds rather than buy the plants. We started listing what fruit we can glean, we have 2 different apple trees that we hope will do better with us trimming them and using dorminate oil. Neighbor lady has pears that she's already said that we can have some after Amish neighbor gets what he wants (he does handy man work for her as she is a widow).
Hubby starts working for ODOT (temporary job) Dec 24th but he is off Christmas. We decided that this coming Monday we would start the routine as if he was working.Fixing breakfast for him and packing a lunch that doesn't have to be heated (I ordered through The Prudent Homemaker web site for a thermos from Amazon.) He has for the majority of his working life worked 3rd ,even when he farmed with his Dad so this is a big change for us as I am used to him being home during the day.
Brother was clearing out the cabinets at Dad's house and found coffee that had not been opened so he split it between us. We don't usually drink decaf so I mixed it with our regular coffee grounds 1/3rd decaf and 2/3 rd regular. It will stretch our coffee by 2 months.
While sitting on the love seat with Charlotte I realized we had a draft coming from the window that was behind the window, even with a storm window on it. Got to checking all the windows and found what Hubby called cigarette paper cracks at base of windows. He had enough corner round to deal with the front room windows and I used oil lamp wicks that didn't fit my lamps to fill the rest of the as the window sill is actually above the bottom of the window. Made a lot of difference. In checking this we realized that the thermostat was put on a wall that has a heat duct right behind it causing the thermostat to read 4 degrees warmer that is should. We now have thermometers in 3 areas of the house to maintain the house at 68 degrees except when we are gone when I lower it.
Our mechanic is working on our son 2's car since it broke down (radiator has a hole) and son 2 is now driving mine.Since I need an oil change our mechanic offered to do it when son 2 goes to get his car and then we only have to make 1 trip to pick it up instead of 2.
I will be researching seeds for the gardens this coming week to meet what we have decided to try to grow.
Blessed Be
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How nice that your neighbors share with you. We are doing no decorating this year as we are going out of town. Kind of sad but a lot less work for me.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh when I saw he pictures of the Cool Whip cartons containing meat. I freeze most of my food in bread or produce bags and a roll of 40-year-old freezer paper I found when we moved. Milk cartons for soup when I can get the cartons (they are big and they are square). The inside of my freezer looks like a recycling bin! A long time ago, Brandy at theprudenthomemaker dot com mentioned that whenever she thinks there isn't another nickel to squeeze, she thinks of something. I took up the challenge and gave up 95% of the zip-lock bags I had been using. This was about two years ago. Funny thing, 30-40 years ago this is how I froze all of my food.
ReplyDeleteus too, I do vacuum most of my stuff now because it's common for me to have 2 yr old meat and it's not usually freezer burnt when vacuumed.
DeleteMy meat is usually frozen up to 6-12 months, because I never buy a whole side at once, for example. Just supermarket loss leaders. The recycled bags work fine for this length of time. I usually poke a straw in the top of the bag and suck out all of the air before I freeze it. Freezer paper would easily last two years. My FIL was a hunter and that was how he wrapped his meat. I admit that I like to be able to see the contents through a transparent bag, vs. freezer paper. I'll bet your Amish neighbors use freezer paper when they run out of packaging they can recycle. What fuel do they use to run their freezers?
DeleteOur Amish in this area use no electric or propane stoves or propane refrigerators, no freezers. They can their meat like they do the veggies/fruit or they smoke it or have it smoked like a KY ham. They use ice blocks (think old ice box before the frigs) or they have a spring house(like my Daddy did growing up).
DeleteMikemax - what a good idea using a straw to get all the air out. Just when I think I've heard all the "tricks" someone mentions something new.
DeleteI will give this a try as I don't have a vacuum sealer.
Other thoughts for free/foraged food: Blackberries and mushrooms. You may find a wild plum tree. Italian prune-plums usually produce huge crops, so if you know of someone who has a tree, don't hesitate to ask. They will probably be glad you did! Also, you can probably get strawberry starts (runners) free from anyone who grows strawberries. We just built a raised bed for this purpose.
ReplyDeletewith several large Amish families around there usually isn't much to glean. Those around us know we have always grown a large garden and didn't get one in this year. I am thankful they shared what they could.
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