Have a peek at the life of a farmer's visually impaired wife and learn a little about self-sufficiency and saving a few bucks in the process. Let's face it, the economy is challenging all of us to be frugal, so we need to help one another as much as we can.
Image of several dozen potatoes with the skins still on.
I had two 10 lb bags of russet potatoes that needed to be stored, however space is very limited in our tiny farm house with no basement nor root cellar. The logical solution was to dehydrate them.
All I had to do to the 'taters is: Wash, Slice & Dice, Blanch, Dehydrate and Store in Mason Jars. We like the skins on our 'taters so I didn't even have to peel 'em. I was going to store them in vacuum seal bags, but when potatoes are dried, they have some seriously pointy parts and will certainly poke through the storage bags.
Drawing showing the various cuts of meat on a deer.
As we were finishing up our supper this evening, our neighbor called to see if we wanted a deer from a hunting trip. Seeing how we do eat meat and it's so expensive at the store, we gladly accepted.
Anybody that half-way knows me, knows how much I love animals and have taken in more than my share of stray cats & dogs - or any animal that will hold still long enough for me to drag it home. When I can, I try to buy organically raised meat at the stores (harder to find than you think) and we do raise some chickens for meat & eggs at home. However, I am about half a step away from becoming a vegetarian. In fact, if I had to kill an animal in order to eat, I'd HAVE to become a vegetarian or just plain starve to death. When it's time to "process" our chickens on the farm, I'm nowhere to be found, but you can bet I'll be saying prayers for the birds who are about to meet their maker. I try to keep my distance from the meat birds we raise too or else I'll name them and start sewing them little chicken outfits and suddenly we've got a lot more pets. Yes, I do realize I'm being hypocritical, but the fact remains, I do like meat and I know without a doubt, our birds have had a much better life than any chicken you could buy at a store - organic or not.
Now, back to the deer. Darling hubby has only assisted with the dressing of a deer twice before, but tonight he was going to be all on his own. (Have you ever wondered why they call it 'dressing' when it's much more along the lines of 'undressing'?) When the fella that had the deer arrived, I made myself scarce as I really don't care to see deceased critters. Actually, I might start bawling my eyes out. After I said a prayer for the deer, I thought this gift of meat might be of some interest on my blog. I grabbed my camera and headed out in the dark to the garage where my hubby & son were taking care of business. Here's some video, it's not much to see and the lighting is terrible, however I'm really not complaining about that either. If you're an avid animal lover or the sight of butchering is not your cup of tea, you may not want to view this.
I tried, I really did, but I'm just not comfortable with seeing my meat with it's head still on.
When the guys were finished, they brought me a 5 gallon bucket of venison to the kitchen where I've already started to trim some of it. There's a lot of what they call "silver skin" on venison which needs to be removed as it's sinewy and will give a gamey taste to the meat. There sure isn't much fat though, next to nothing really. If I make sausage, I'm going to have to get some pork fat (it's a very neutral tasting fat) from the butcher to add when grinding or it just won't hold together whatsoever. I'll even make some jerky too in the dehydrator.
The American Indians really had it right when they thanked the deer's spirit for giving it's life so they could live.
It's been a few days since I posted anything in the "Make Your Own Seasoning Blends" series, so here's #6 - Fajita Seasoning
A white plate holding a partially folded fajita.
I think it was this fajita seasoning that planted the idea in my noggin for a "Make Your Own Seasoning Blends" series. As with all the other blends, it's easy as could be. I even stored my fajita mix in a tiny mason jar and vacuum sealed the lid to keep it fresh for ages. Here's what it takes:
1 Tablespoon Each of:
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Cumin
Chili Powder
Oregano
Cilantro
I only have plans to do one more seasoning blend, so if you have any requests, please send 'em my way and I'll be more than happy to oblige.
Poster drawing of a Rosie The Riveter character flexing her right bicep with the words "Buy in Bulk! We Can Do It!"
One of the ways I save money is by purchasing certain dry food items in bulk and then repackaging them with a vacuum sealer and vacuum sealer bags. You could use zipper seal bags, but they aren't going to be as effective in the long run since they do let air/moisture in over time. (Yes, even if you suck all the air out with a straw.) In my video, I happen to be repackaging rice, but there are a lot of foods that can be stored this way such as beans, flour, sugar, salt, oats and barley, just to name a few. There are also foods that don't store very well for long periods. These would be food items that have oil/butter/fat in them whether occurring naturally or as an additive. Some examples of this would be nuts, powdered cheese or pizza dough mix. You can still buy them in bulk, but unless you're going to finish it all within 6-8 months, don't bother with it as after that, it can and will eventually go rancid. Blech!
If you're going to vacuum seal powdery substances like flour, it would behoove you to first put the flour, etc.. in a brown paper lunch bag, then into the vacuum bag to be sealed. The benefits of using a lunch bag are: #1. It keeps the flour from being sucked into your vacuum sealer and ruining your machine; #2. Using a paper bag helps keep a uniformed shape to your finished package which makes it easier to stack/store in your panty; #3. Paper bags also block light from your food which helps it to last even longer.
Closeup image of several yellow onions with the skins still on.
Recently I was lucky enough to get a few extra small bags of yellow onions for free. Since there was no way I was going to use that many onions before they spoiled and I don't have a basement nor root cellar, I decided to dehydrate them for storing.
Dehydrating is economical & very easy and if stored properly, your food will last up to 20+ years! I highly recommend drying onions for storage so next time they are on sale snatch up a few bags, but ONLY IN THE SPRING OR SUMMER! You'll want to put your dehydrator outside on a porch or in an outbuilding/garage, hence the warm weather recommendation. Cool weather dictated that I keep the dehydrator inside and my house smelled like onions for 3 days. My clothes smelled like onions. My person smelled like onions. Heck, even the cats & dogs smelled like onions! To be forewarned is to be forearmed. ;-)
A plate holding some biscuits smothered with white country gravy.
A very dear friend of mine asked me to do a how-to on white gravy, also known as country gravy. Her wish is my command, so here is a vid on making white/country gravy which continues on to make Chicken A La King for supper.
This video is a bit longer than usual, but only because I thought it was important to give folks an idea on how much stirring and actual time is involved when making homemade country gravy.
I also have another way to make country gravy, so will post a video of that when I get around to making it. Gee, I guess you'll have to come back to Falmouth Farm to learn about that one too. :-D
