We had quite a day. David has been working hard on his truck, which needed a $900 transmission rebuild, rather than a “cheap part.” Luckily, he and his girlfriend, aided by Will, pulled the transmission, and David and friends, Niles and Ian, helped him put it back in. Both jobs were tedious and cold, as it’s now 19 degrees F…on a warm day! Tonight, the truck rolled off the ramps under its own power. Whew!

And today, Will is nearly finished rebuilding our old yellow John Deere 1010 crawler, Old Yeller. There are just a few adjustments and some tranny fluid and reverser fluid to add, and it should be good as new. Double whew! I’ll be so glad when there isn’t a vehicle parked in the new storage building, propped up by blocks and jacks. (I’ll bet the guys will be too!)

To celebrate tonight, I baked a lemon cake with cream cheese and pie cherry frosting for the crew. (1 plain lemon cake mix, plus 1 8oz. package of cream cheese, softened, mixed with 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. lemon juice and 1 can of on-sale canned cherry pie filling for the icing) I had to laugh when I broke the eggs in a bowl. One was from our chickens, the other is a store egg. Orchard chicken egg= orange yolk, firm white, store egg= pale yellow yolk and runny white. Our chickens had molted and I had to buy a couple dozen eggs. Boy am I glad we don’t have to buy them all the time! I wonder what they feed those poor chickens?

Readers’ Questions:

Hopi Pale Grey seeds

If you have some extra Hope Pale Grey Squash seed sometime I would like to have a few.

John Oler
Watonga, Oklahoma

Sure, John, I’ll be glad to send you some seeds. Unfortunately, I have found that some crossing with Amish Pie Pumpkin occurred (I thought they were different species! Wrong. Both are C. Maximas). You may get a couple pink squash! By careful culling and breeding you can breed back to pure Hopi Pale Greys in a couple of years. But if you want pure seed, you can get it from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Let me know. — Jackie

Canning ham

I started canning some ham in pint jars. It was hot when I started and they went for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Then it ran out of water. My husband thinks it went long enough but I am worried.

Nancy Foster
Dallas City, Illinois

I’m assuming that you were pressure canning your ham. I would probably keep the ham, but be sure to check it well, then bring it to boiling temperature for 15 minutes BEFORE using each jar. Five minutes isn’t a lot, but it’s always safest to process the food for the entire length of time. — Jackie

Good grain mixture for pizza dough

I was wondering if you know of a good grain mixture for high gluten flour for tossing pizzas? To buy this flour is about 8 times the price of regular all purpose. I’m not sure if it’s a mixture or if there is a specific method to removing the starches from the flour.

David Rose
Buena Vista, Colorado

I’ve had very good luck by simply using a good hard wheat flour, and adding a little dough enhancer. I get mine from Emergency Essentials. I also use their very good yeast, which I can buy for less than $4.00 a pound. While I don’t toss my crusts, the dough is certainly elastic and “alive” enough to handle that. I’m just not that coordinated! — Jackie

Using potato water for bread making

In the article “Try Growing the Popular Potato” in the ninth year anthology, author Alice Yeager mentions using a mixture of potato water, flour, salt, and sugar to take the place of yeast in bread making. I can’t find a recipe like this in the BHM recipe index and was wondering if you had a bread recipe that uses this technique. My search of the net only yields bread recipes that call for adding mashed potatoes along with yeast.

Kathy Yount
Elizabeth, Arkansas

I believe what Alice was referring to was the old practice of catching wild yeast in the sugared potato water/flour, which makes sourdough starter. Although this can certainly work in some cases, in others, you end up with something other than a wild yeast…or a poor tasting one. It’s safer to start a sourdough from a tried and true batch and keep it alive, using some and replacing some of the flour, sugar, and water as you use up the starter. In that way, it keeps going indefinitely. — Jackie

Bread pans

I have been making my own bread now for about a year. I am just using metal bread pans, but am reading in other places about stoneware pans and cast iron bread pans. I use cast iron skillets a lot. Just wondered what you used or what you thought was better.

Terri Starrett
Dow, Illinois

I use heavier tin bread pans. I’m sure that stoneware or even cast iron would probably work well, but I sure have no complaints about my plain old bread pans. And they are a lot cheaper, too!

P.S. Let me apologize for being so late answering you. A couple of my e-mails got misplaced. Yours is one. — Jackie

Boiling home canned foods

Have always seen specific instructions to be sure to boil home canned vegetables for a certain number of minutes before using or even tasting them. Is it necessary to boil home canned meats and soup stocks before using them?

Ruth Marvin
Goldendale, Washington

Yes, it is recommended that we bring canned vegetables and meats up to boiling temperature and hold it there for 10-15 minutes…just to be sure that any possible bacteria is killed. This can be oven, stovetop or frying…anything at “boiling temperature,” which is 212 degrees F, below 1,000 feet above sea level or less.

P.S. I’m sorry for having taken so long to answer your question; yours was another e-mail that had been misplaced. — Jackie

We had a terrible summer, but November was pretty wonderful. It was warmer than usual and we had no snow to speak of. So we got a lot of things done in preparation for winter that we probably wouldn’t have if we had a “normal” November. But now the temperatures are quickly going down and we are forecast to have temps in the 18 degrees range for highs. Single digits for lows. Brrrr. So today I had to thaw hoses to water the horses, donkeys, and calves and carry buckets of water to the goats and huskies. While I did that, Will carried straw from a round bale to our strawberry bed in the house garden to tuck them in for winter.

He was taking a “break” from working on the final drive of our bulldozer in the entryway. Luckily, he could work on it indoors, where there was heat. It was a long, hard job, and he’s about got it done, with new bearings, clutch discs, and lots of bolts. This afternoon, after all was about done, I caught him and his trusty dog, Spencer, grabbing a nap. Well earned, I’d say!

Readers’ Questions:

Crop failures and gardening challenges

I have a couple of questions for you. Somehow, we did manage to get some mature squash in our summer of no summer here in northern Minnesota. Or at least, I thought they were mature. Sure, we had some little green ones and I just threw those in the compost pile. I cured the matures ones (pumpkins, butternuts, buttercups, amber cups, acorn squash) in the garage for a few weeks, then moved them into our storage area. They did not get frost, although we had a few nights where it was below freezing while they were in the garage.

They are all starting to mold and rot already. Did they not get enough time to mature on the vine? Otherwise, I think I’m doing everything I usually do with them and my squash usually store well into January or February. I’ve been forced to cook them up as quickly as possible and freeze them instead, which ties up freezer space.

My other question is: what variety of pickling cucumbers do you grow? I ran out of my tried-and-true seeds two years ago and have tried two different varieties in the last two years, with abysmal crop failures Two years ago (“County Fair” cucumbers) I got no pickles at all. The vines only got about two feet long and never produced any cukes. This past summer (“Homemade Pickles” cucumbers) I finally did get enough to make a couple of batches of pickles, but not the bushels and bushels we usually get. Our slicing cukes grew just fine. We probably didn’t get as many as usual due to the cool summer, but we didn’t have none either. Do you have a variety you would recommend for northern Minnesota that makes good pickles?

Carmen Griggs
Bovey, Minnesota

I don’t think it was you. It’s possible freezing weather may have caused the squash to freeze in your garage, or our nasty summer may have taken its toll. Sometimes wiping the squash down with bleach water will help (let them dry well before storing), but some years this just plain happens. Better luck next year!

Our cukes did terrible this year too. I did get a few pickles and slicers, but nothing like usual. Homemade pickles usually do great here. I also grow Sweeter Yet, Japanese Climbing, and Boston Pickler, among others. Usually all cukes do quite well, with plenty of water in dry times. They do like plenty of compost to grow in. — Jackie

Canning turkey soup

I don’t own a pressure cooker. Can I can turkey soup and how long should I give it?

Esther Fernandez
Key Largo, Florida

Sorry, but you can NOT safely can any low acid foods, including turkey, turkey soup, vegetables, or meat products without a pressure canner. The pressure canner raises the temperature of the food above that of boiling water. No matter how long you boil food, the temperature never goes above boiling. This is unsafe for canning low acid foods as it does not kill bacteria which can cause food poisoning (botulism).

I don’t want you to get sick, so try to find a friend or relative that has a good pressure canner that you can borrow. Maybe you can even have them come over for a mini-canning party so they can show you how easy it is to can.

Also, please pick up a good canning book (like my new one!) so you have easy-to-follow directions on canning all your foods. — Jackie

Classes for self-reliant living

Do you ever do classes on self-reliant living, canning, or gardening in the north? We are still trying to figure what does the best in Brainerd after moving here from Alabama.

David and Peggy Brunner
Brainerd, Minnesota

No I haven’t. But we have considered it after we get our new homestead a little more under control (buildings and fences built, etc.!) I’d really like to do this but right now we hardly have time to sleep. I’ll keep you posted when we are to the planning stage. — Jackie

Western bean cutworm moth

I would like to know what kind of moth or fly lays the eggs for the bean cut worm. I have been unable to find any info on it.

Carol Sorrells
Central Point, Oregon

I found this website page from Iowa State University that shows a picture for you, figuring a picture is worth 1,000 words. I hope it helps you. — Jackie