All last winter, David went out to a nearby clearcut and hauled wood home. It’s great wood; ash and birch, primarily. Nice hardwood! We had plenty for last winter, but we did have to carry and split quite a bit during the cold. So this year, we’re getting a jump on next winter. We’re getting our winter wood all split and hauled into shelter right now so it will be dry and convenient…with no winter splitting. Horray! David is on a mission.

My oldest son, Bill, had our little Ford 8N down at his place all fall and winter, giving it a good overhaul. He even painted it! And when it came home, it also had a beautiful three point hydraulic wood splitter on it. Bill had bought it real cheap, but it wouldn’t handle the long wood he burns in his outdoor wood stove. So he passed on the savings….and great little splitter….to us! We had a great pile of gnarly pieces of wood that didn’t like our splitting maul and axe. The splitter creaks a bit but splits them all easily. My back and David’s thank it profusely.

We will be building a wood shed/bulldozer/tractor storage shed, but for now, we are storing the wood by the truckload, under our porch. There is a huge space where our walkout basement will be, and tonight, there are five truckloads of split wood piled there; only a beginning. Good day’s work, I think.

Readers’ questions:

Kitchen tins

First, let me say that I wish you were my neighbor! You seem to be a genuinely warm , caring person. Plus, it’d be great to have your knowledge and expertise a phone call away! Secondly, I want to thank you for answering my question about brown sugar and botulism. What a relief!

Here’s my question: In some of your pictures I’ve noticed you have quite a few tins (the kind that are usually sold around Christmas filled with goodies). I was curious as to what you use them for, and if its food storage, do you have to line them with anything first?

Jennifer Tilton
East Palatka, Florida

I love my tins! Every year I pick up a few at Christmas time, when they go on sale. Some were gifts from family and friends; some I got at the dump and others I picked up at the thrift store. I use them for all kinds of dry foods; beans, split peas, sugar, brown sugar,flours, pasta, cornmeal, and even dehydrated foods. No, I don’t line them with anything. I just wash them well with hot soapy water before I use them and each time I empty one. Foods keep nicely in them and they are a cheerful decoration in my kitchen, as well. — Jackie

Canning sun dried tomatoes

We want to can our own sun dried tomatoes in oil. We will do our own drying and packing them in olive oil with spices. How do we go about canning and what is the process?

Kathy Mustonen
Renton, Washington

There is a whole lot of conflict out there regarding canning sun dried tomatoes in olive oil. The problem is possible botualism. I’ve never found a dependable home canning recipe processing times for olive oil. There is more of a problem when garlic is added to the tomatoes as a flavoring, but still I feel it’s better to put your dried tomatoes in a jar of olive oil and set it in the fridge to store for a couple of weeks for use “fresh”. The tomatoes themselves store very well, dehydrated, so you’ll always have the ingredients right at hand. — Jackie

Recanning mushrooms

Would you clarify your blog about recanning mushrooms from a #10 can? When I froze them last time they became rubbery and distasteful. I would like to can them into smaller jars if possible. If possible, how many minutes do I can at 10 lbs. pressure. Really enjoy your blog and so happy for you and Will!

Pam Foster
Minneapolis, Minnesota

You will can half pints and pints for 45 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. I would heat them up and pack them hot into hot jars. You’ll find they work well, this way. Enjoy. — Jackie

Canning trout

I’ve had a really good trout season this year. My question is how do you can trout . Ive canned tuna before and it was great. Thanks. P.S. Am really enjoying your on line site also.

Peter Ricupero
Shelocta, Pennsylvania

The easiest way to can trout is to cut it into jar-fitting pieces and soak one hour in a cold salt brine (1 c salt to 1 gallon ice water). Drain well. Pack trout into pint or half pint jars, skin side next to the glass, leaving 1″ of headroom. Process at 10 pounds pressure (unless you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, and must consult your canning manual for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude if necessary) for 1 hour and 40 minutes.

You can also smoke the trout (my favorite!), then pack and process as above. Neither uses liquid. — Jackie

Ice cream using powdered milk

Asked last year, but did not get an answer: Don’t readily have half & half milk available. Need Recipe for Homemade ICE CREAM using Powdered Milk, Can Milk and/or Vit.D store bought milk. Thanks

Clinton Hoffman
Dunbar, West Virginia

Sorry your question didn’t get answered last year; sometimes one gets lost in the shuffle. Here’s one recipe for you; there are dozens available online; just type in homemade icecream made with dry milk.

3 c milk or liquified dry milk
8 egg yolks
3 c fruit
1 c sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat milk and sugar, but don’t boil. Whip egg yolks and add 1c of hot milk mix. Then pour this into the rest of the hot milk. Heat gently, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Cool, then add vanilla. Refrigerate till cold or overnight.

Prepare fruit like you would if you were going to eat it. Then pulse through a blender till it’s like you want it in your ice cream.
Mix in with your ice cream mixture and stir well. Process in an ice cream maker or freeze in a covered bowl in your freezer, whipping two or three times as it freezes. Enjoy! — Jackie

Canning and spices

A few quick questions about spices and pressure canning: Which spices don’t work well pressure canning (like sage turns bitter?) and should I back off on the hot spices when I can chili? Am I better to go “bland” and then spice it up when I’m heating up my meal from the jar?

Melissa Pillow
South China, Maine

Most spices get a little stronger with canning. As far as my own experience goes, only sage seems to be a “problem” when canning. I use lots of other spices, but go a little light on them when canning. When I do chili, I really don’t though; I have not found that using your regular spice amounts in chili causes any problems. Can it when your taste buds say it’s perfect and you won’t be sorry. — Jackie

Banana pudding recipe

Do you have a recipe for banana pudding made from scratch?

Elizabeth Walker
Adel, Georgia

My recipe for banana pudding is simple:

1 c sugar
2 Tbsp slour (heaping)
3 egg yolks
2 c milk
4 bananas

In a medium saucepan, add sugar and egg yolks. Mix well, then add milk slowly. Add vanilla. Heat on medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Mix in sliced bananas, then refrigerate in a covered bowl.

There are more recipes available online; just type in homemade banana pudding! The internet can be so much fun; when the &*(^&*%(%$ computer works! — Jackie

Drip irrigation

I have just found this site this year, your articles have been a great inspiration. I have gotten back to canning, looking for ways to have quick meals during the week (I always forget to defrost stuff). I forgot how much I actually love to can (It’s fun).

A number of years ago, after my grandmother gave up her vegtable garden, I asked if she had any canning equipment she was willing to part with. I was expecting some jars, lids and such, but instead came home a 21qt preasure canner (manual is dated 1957). This canner is large and works great.

I am starting to plan a garden for the first time. I have grown a few tomatos before, but not much else. I am in the process of clearing out weeds, grass and rocks from the area I will use (discovered my 8yr old son likes to garden and is more than happy to help me dig up the weeds). Hopefully I will be ready for the fall (cool weather) plants. Living in Southern CA irrigation is an absolute must. What would be the best type of sprinklers or such to use?

Payne Sharon
Buena Park, California

Drip irrigation is a great help in any dry or hot climate; I use it even here in northern Minnesota to conserve water. It puts the water on the plant roots, not into the air and between the rows and plants. A deep mulch, laid on top of the drip line, will also do a whole lot to keep your plants happy and the soil moist.

I’m so happy that you are getting into canning and gardening! My son, David, also loves to garden and we have had a lot of years of fun out there in the food! You’re not only raising food but building great memories. — Jackie

Honeysuckle jelly

I read your articles all the time and have learned a lot. I didn’t know before, but now i’ve come to a block. I there a reciept for honeysuckle jelly or was someone just pulling my leg. Keep teaching jackie.

Marjorie Fox
Glouster, Ohio

Yes, Marjorie, there IS a honeysuckle jelly! Just don’t use berries for Japanese honeysuckle, which is a non-native with BLACK berries. You use the native honeysuckle with red berries.

2 qts ripe red berries
1/2 c water
1 c sugar per cup of juice
3 oz pectin

Put water and berries in large saucepan and heat. Simmer 15 minutes then strain through a jelly bag. Measure juice and add sugar. Bring to a boil and boil 1 minute, stirring well. Add pectin and boil for 1 minute. Skim off foam if desired and pour hot into hot, sterile jars to within 1/4″ of top. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Enjoy! — Jackie

Sun-starved gardener

I live on a 1 acre lot in the middle of a pine forest in Zone 7. My problem is that I am only getting around 4 hours of full sun per day, and am a first time gardener. The trees block out most of the sun. This is in a neighborhood that has many restrictive environmental covenants, so cutting down trees is not an option.

Also the ground here is pure clay, so I had to construct a large 4′ x 8′ container, and also have a number of pots which I move around several times during the day to ‘follow the sun’.

I’m currently trying to grow a wide variety of heirloom vegetables including lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, onions, melons, bell peppers, and corn. I can’t afford to set up an indoor grow room, and can’t cut down any trees to maximize the sun.

I’m just wondering if you have any ideas about how this sun issue will impact my garden yields, and maybe get some suggestions from you on what kinds of vegetables would be ideal for these conditions.

Joseph Paciarelli
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

This is one of those try it and see how things work kind of situations. You may be pleasantly surprised. I’ve been told “you can’t” so many times in my life it’s become a joke! There is that “ideal” must have 6 hours of sunlight thing. But I know gardeners who are successful with much less than that, and that live in colder climates, as well. Let us know how things work for you and hang in there. I’m rooting for you! Of all garden crops, onions and greens are the least “sun loving” of all crops I’ve grown, followed by broccoli and cabbage. — Jackie

Processing wheat at home

If I grow enough wheat for personal use then how do I process it for use? I read something about it but can’t find it. You mentioned cutting it, a little green, and letting it dry before shelling it. Do wheat kernels have a husk on them like oats do? How much would be needed for two senior adults?
Can I buy some wheat from a farmer and do the same thing?

Caroline Dempsey
Bradford, Pennsylvania

Wheat is easy to process at home. Yes, it does have a “husk”, kind of like oats do. But the wheat easily comes out of the chaff on thrashing, where the husk clings to the oat grains, making it hard to use. (Fortunately, for homesteaders, there is a naked oat variety that doesn’t have this problem!)

You would just thrash the dry wheat out onto a clean tarp, pour it into a bucket, then winnow it on a windy day. This means you would slowly pour the wheat from a bucket held high, into a tub below. The wind carries away all dust and chaff, leaving clean wheat “berries”. Yes, you can buy wheat from a farmer and do this. But I’d buy it right out of his combine unless you are sure of clean storage facilities. Rodents can be a problem in some bins and you wouldn’t want rodent droppings in your wheat.

How much wheat is enough? That depends on how much you will be using. When we lived very remote, my husband, young son and I went through 25 pounds a month. This made our breads, rolls, pies, cakes, cookies, noodles and more. I was surprised to use this much, but when you never go “out” you will use much more flour than you did before. — Jackie

Will’s brief, too short, way too short, visit ended this morning. Actually I had to say goodby twice. He was scheduled to fly out of Duluth for Washington yesterday late afternoon. I drove him the 80 miles to the airport, said a sad goodby, then drove home after he’d cleared security. But when I got 60 miles away, he called and said his flight had been cancelled due to FOG! He’d have to fly out in the morning. So back I went to the airport and home again. We got 5 hours restless sleep, then this morning back we went to the airport. Sigh.

Having him here was great. He was like a kid with a new toy; he’d missed homesteading life pretty darned bad and enjoyed every minute of being here. Well…maybe not when the tiller wouldn’t start and the rope broke.

Readers’ questions:

Recipe for Snapper Turtle

Sorry that i was not specific, I like to have a recipe for Snapper Turtle and also if I could can the the Turtle Meat or Soup.

Kerstin Gauntt
Cedarville, New Jersey

My favorite recipe for snapping turtle is to pre-boil the skinned, cleaned turtle, then cool and dice the meat and remove the bones. I add:

1 quart of home canned whole tomatoes, 3 diced medium potatoes, 1/2 c celery, 1 diced medium onion, 1 Tbsp brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste, then simmer the stew until done.

Yes, you can home can your snapper stew/soup. You must pressure can it at 10 pounds pressure (if you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, check your canning manual for directions on increasing your pressure to match your altitude, if necessary) for 90 minutes for quarts and 75 minutes for pints. — Jackie

Vacuum packed croutons

I am an avid reader of Backwoods Homes with lots of past issues. I look forward to your column more than any other articles. Only after your articles gave me the confidence, did I buy my first pressure canner. I have now enjoyed canning homemade vegetable soup, your meatball recipe, pinto beans and will continue to can much more of our own food.

I also have dehydrated foods for years and now have a question for you that I cannot find the answer to anywhere else. I buy feed bread from the discount bread store for animals, i.e. goats, chickens, horses, donkeys, dogs, and more. You should be able to dehydrate this bread into “croutons”. Could I then seal these croutons into vacuum sealed packages for long-term storage? I was hoping to be able to still use it for feed.

What do you think?

Fran Chaisson
Longville, Louisiana

You can dry your own croutons and vacuum pack them in bags. But don’t expect them to stay great for human food. I have and they’ve always gone rancid. They would be okay for animal food, though, but it would probably be too labor intensive to be much use to you. Probably grains would store better, use less room/labor. I’ve used this day-old bread and if you can get it for a good price, it does help stretch the feed bill! — Jackie

Dealing with the high cost of feed

As you know the price of chicken and animal feed continues to rise. Now with all the rain, crops in some areas are done for. You and I know this will raise the feed costs. Is there something we can mix ourselves for feed especially for chickens? I have egg layers and soon will have meat birds. I really appreciate any suggestions you may have. I let my birds free range now but in the winter they live in the coop and need feed. Thanks so much! Cindy Hills from WI

Your pictures of the work accomplished on your land are wonderful and inspiring!!

Cindy Hills
Wild Rose, Wisconsin

We’re working on this one, ourselves! Every time I get feed, it’s gone up a dollar per hundred pounds! Wow! This is a big one! We are clearing some land we had planned on using for horse pasture, but will be planting small grains, instead. The land is pretty rough now, but in a year or two, we’ll be ready. You can cut your feed bills by growing extra squash and pumpkins. Sounds weird, but poultry really does love it and it’s good for them, too. In the winter, leafy alfalfa hay can be soaked to give “green” feed. Other garden crops, such as carrots, turnips, rutabagas, etc. are also relished by chickens. If they don’t eat them well raw, simply simmer up a pot when you cook supper. When it’s cooled down, mash the chicken “mess” and they not only love it but the warm feed will be appreciated. If you can, try to grow some of your own feed. A few long rows of field corn, a wide bed of wheat or millet can be easily added to most large gardens to be used as poultry feed. It’s going to be a tough one, but we inovatative homesteaders will come through with flying colors! — Jackie

You cannot can yogurt

Over the last few months I’ve been trying my hand at making yogurt. We don’t eat much of it at once, so I tried keeping a bit of the starter in the freezer for when I want a new batch. However, most of my yogurt comes out like a cross between yogurt and cottage cheese, and the most recent batch was more like cream cheese, nothing at all like yogurt! Is this happening because I froze the starter? And if it is, do you know another way to preserve starter? Could it be dried?

Also, can yogurt be canned? My parents sometimes get annoyed about me taking up their fridge space. Plus I’m trying to build a house in an area that doesn’t have electricity, and may need to go without refridgeration in the near future.

Thank you for all your advice over the years. Thanks to your inspiration I now have 5 acres and have been planting fruit trees, and I’m trying to build raised garden beds, although they’ll end up more like terraces because the hillside is so steep.

Melanie Rehbein
Fitchburg, Wisconsin

No, yogurt can’t be canned successfully. And the starter doesn’t really freeze too well, either. You’ll find you’ll eat more yogurt if you’ll mix it with fruit and/or freeze it slightly sweetened, then whipped up partly frozen. It comes out like soft serve ice cream/frozen yogurt and is really good! Instead of going without refrigeration, consider a propane or propane/electric fridge like is used in camping trailers. It uses little propane and does a great job. That’s what I use and I’ve had one for over 17 years. Yogurt starter can be dehydrated, but doing it at home is a little iffy. You CAN either buy a bag of powdered starter culture (Hoeggers Goat Supply) or simply pick up a small carton of live culture commercial yogurt to start your own when you want to make some. — Jackie

Preserving excess meat

I have regular amounts of left over smoked meats, Brisket, Chicken and Pork tenderloin. How can these be put up for future use besides freezing. Can they be pressure canned or dehyrated.

Angela Brown
Chelsea, Oklahoma

If you are not living off grid, I’d dice this meat up and freeze it in individual freezer bags as per variety, adding more as you get it. Then when you have enough to make canning worth your time, thaw it out, heat it gently to hot, then can it. I’d add broth to keep it tender and nice. All of these meats process at 10 pounds pressure (unless you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet and must check your canning manual for directions on increasing your pressure to match your altitude, if necessary) for 75 minutes for half pints and pints (very handy!) or 90 minutes for quarts. — Jackie

Growing at 10,000 feet

I am a longtime subscriber to and reader of BHM. It appears that next Spring I’ll at long last be able to build on the 40 acres of Colorado mountain land I’ve owned for 20 years. My goal is and always has been to make the place as self-sufficient as possible. The elevation of the property is 10,000 feet and obviously has a short growing season. My question is twofold. First, do you have any hints for extending the growing season? And second, can you tell me what vegetables and fruits (if any) might be suited to that altitude?

Chuck Hanna
Castle Rock, Colorado

Congratulations, Chuck!!! Your adventure begins! We lived at 7,400 feet in Montana’s Elkhorn Mountains and loved it. Season extenders that work for us are a plastic or otherwise greenhouse, plastic tenting over sensitive crops, Wall’o Water plant protectors and small hoop houses. We grew just about everything; peas, onions, spinach, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, corn (chancy), green beans and more.

I started my tomatoes, squash, etc. inside, then moved them to a hotbed made of railroad ties and old windows later on when the weather warmed up. I had to shovel snow off the spot a week or so before planting to let the soil in the hotbed warm up as we had so much snow.

You’ll have to experiment with fruit. Talk to your extension office and see if they can give you a few pointers as to varieties. We couldn’t grow tree fruits; too deep snow and too many elk and moose. But I had rhubarb, bramble fruits, strawberries and wild chokecherries galore.

Have a great time!!! — Jackie