Our brick surround worked well around our wood stove, holding the heat nicely. But Will has been wanting to put in a stone hearth under the stove, along with a stone wall behind the stove and on both sides of it in our octagonal living room. So he decided Saturday was the day. The stones were already gathered in the greenhouse for much of the winter. (Yep, I stumbled over the pile for weeks!) But when he was ready, so were the stones. He framed in the hearth with 2x4s, laid plastic down to keep water from the cement from dripping onto the insulation below the floor and we started mixing concrete in the good old wheelbarrow. He mixed the first batch, then I did the next two. But he felt sorry for me as it was hard mixing, so he called in a friend of ours. In half an hour, I had a big, strong young man on the end of the hoe, mixing more concrete. (With my falling-off-the-roof bad back, mixing concrete with a hoe is not an easy job!)

In three hours, we had a new stone and concrete hearth and after three days, we wrestled the wood stove back into place and hooked up the stove pipe. Will’s going to leave the forms in place for a week so the edges cure good and hard, but we’re burning wood in the stove again and are very pleased with the result. The wall stone work will come later on when we have time. — Jackie

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Canning chicken

I am getting ready to can up some chickens that are taking up space in my freezer. I’m not having much luck locating wide mouth half pint jars in our area since they are out of season, however I have an abundance of Kerr jelly jars and am wondering if they are strong enough to withstand pressure canning? My last batch I canned in pints and that is just too much for most of my recipes.

Adell Struble
Aledo, Illinois

I’m glad I can be of help! You can either can up your chicken in regular half pints if you dice the meat or if you prefer larger chunks, go ahead and use your jelly jars, provided that they are the type with the screw down rings, not the old style jelly glasses with slip-on lids, meant for using with paraffin. The jars, themselves, are plenty strong enough. — Jackie

Saving seeds

I have three questions for you. First, I saved yellow crook-necked squash (heirloom) seeds from two years ago from a few very large, overgrown squashes that eventually dried on the ground. The seeds appear to be papery and have no thickness to them, and they’re not sprouting. The only seeds that sprouted were the commercial ones I bought. They were thick and seemed more viable than the home-saved ones. Do you think they were not thick and/or viable because the entire squash dried out on the ground? Maybe I should have picked the squash very ripe but still alive and pulled the seeds out then. Any thoughts on this? Second, do you know about how long it takes for eggs to become fertilized after putting a hen and rooster together? It seems like I heard at one point that it’s about two weeks. Finally, how long after a hen starts laying would her eggs (with a rooster of course) be viable for hatching? I’ve always waiting about two months, but someone mentioned to me yesterday that a month should do just fine.

Dallen Timothy
Gilbert, Arizona

To save seed from summer squash, let the squash mature until the skin is hard and tough, so you can’t puncture it with your fingernail. Then harvest the squash and bring it indoors where it will not freeze for at least 3 weeks. Then harvest the seeds. They will be plump and viable. Rinse off the strings and any meat, then dry them on a paper plate or cookie sheet in a warm, dry area. DO NOT put them in your oven, even at the lowest setting or they will not stay alive. Same goes for an electric dehydrator.

Eggs are considered fertile about 10 days after a hen and rooster are together. After two weeks, you can begin saving eggs for hatching and they should be viable, whether you use an incubator or let the hen set the eggs. — Jackie

Shelf life of canned bacon

I recently came upon the article about canning bacon, it looked quite clever and I can’t wait to try it. My only question is what is the shelf like of canned bacon? I know the store bought canned bacon says its about 10 years, but that home canning shelf life can vary from that.

Elizabeth

Home canned bacon will last nearly indefinitely; commercial “preparedness” bacon says “10 years” to be “safe” from complaints. I’ve never had home canned bacon go rancid or otherwise bad. — Jackie

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Canning hamburger

This is the first time I’ve ever canned hamburger. The canning went well, and we canned in pint jars. Around the top of the hamburger there is a ring of grease, even though we rinsed the hamburger well. The question is, will this ring of grease cause all my cans to go rancid?

Andy
Vail, Arizona

Absolutely NOT. This grease is normal and will help your meat fry down nicely when you open the jars. It’s nearly impossible to get all the grease out of meat that you home can. You just don’t want to can up really greasy meat for fear of a few jars not sealing. Your burger is fine. — Jackie

Spicy tomato

I would like to plant a grape or cherry size tomato that has a bit of a “spicy” flavor to it. Is there such a thing? If so, what varieties do you recommend and where can I get them?

Robert Foster
Concord, California

I don’t know of a “spicy” flavored tomato, but our very favorite cherry tomato, bar none, is Sun Sugar. It’s a golden cherry tomato with a very fruity, sweet taste. I dehydrate some and we eat them like apricots for a treat. Try them. I guarantee you’ll love them. — Jackie

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Squash bugs and cucumber beetles

We had such a hard time with squash bugs and cucumber beetles last year that we thought about lightweight fabric covers this year. The problem was so bad last year that we just dug them up and burnt them. Never had this big an issue before and never used the row covers before.

Can you tell me how this would effect the pollination of the plants? Would they bear fruit or would the fruit be greatly reduced?

We are planting this year in a different garden on the 5 acres so they are not in the same area as last year.

Nana From Texas

Squash bugs and cucumber beetles can sure make a gardener sick. Yes, a floating row cover will help a great deal and no, it doesn’t usually affect pollination at all. Other treatments can include picking and squashing all visible bugs and eggs under the leaves early in the year and spraying with neem oil and/or Surround. By burning your plants last year, you will probably not have as great an invasion as you did last. But it pays to be vigilant anyway! Good luck. — Jackie

Antibiotics

You mention “antibiotics” a couple of times, but how is one supposed to get these meds when they are so tightly controlled? I have access to animal-grade antibiotics, but are these safe for humans?

Bob Harris
Barnesville, Minnesota

Many doctors will give you a prescription for antibiotics if you tell them you will be traveling to a remote area and would like some on hand in case of a serious cold that turns into a bacterial infection or some such plausible reason. Others will not. Antibiotics are antibiotics, regardless if they are labeled for veterinary or human use. My late husband, while in vet school, went to several drug manufacturing companies and watched the assembly line divide with some bottles receiving a human label and others, a veterinary label. Of course, doctors would be horrified to hear you’re considering taking “veterinary” antibiotics! But they’re sure better than NO antibiotics in a life or death situation. — Jackie

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Spindly seedlings

Could you please take a photo each week or so of how your seedlings look in the house? Mine start out fine, but end up spindly and anemic-looking.

Sandra Agostini
Nixa, Missouri

I’ll post a few photos of our seedlings’ progress. Meanwhile, seedlings usually end up spindly because there’s not enough light. If your window isn’t providing enough light, pick up a 4-foot shop light and hang it over them, only a few inches above the tallest leaves. That does nearly as good as a more expensive Grow Light. As the seedlings grow taller, raise the light a bit, keeping it quite close to the plants. That’ll do the trick for you. I have lights above my plants even in the south-facing greenhouse windows to use on real cloudy weeks. — Jackie

Dehydrating onion blades

Once again, I need to ask Jackie, What to do with lots of onion blades? My winter onions are so pretty, because of lack of space, I pull them up in spring, dry them, set them back out in fall, won’t be long I’ll be pulling them up, the blades are so green and pretty, and they are not dried up, and not wanting to throw away good stuff, I just thought you might have the answer, You have been so very helpful, I have canned things the last 2 years that I never knew you could. Four of your “Growing and Canning Your Own Food” books are in the hands of my family,

Estes Mills
Texarkana, Texas

I would cut off the leaves about two inches above the bulb, before you pull them, then chop them into rings and dehydrate them. I use a lot of these like you would chives, in soups, casseroles, etc. I, too, hate to waste anything! I even hate to thin carrots! But I do it anyway, sweating, and grinding my teeth.

I’m glad you like Growing and Canning Your Own Food. (Have you seen Jackie Clay’s Pantry Cookbook yet? It’s full of down-home good recipes for using all of your garden and pantry food. And not one weird ingredient in the whole bunch!) — Jackie

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Plugging along

Speaking about “We were a “little” upset to hear that Obama declared Peacetime Martial Law, but life on the homestead goes on. Wow, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard you comment politically before. Glad to hear you give an opinion (with which I completely agree).

Dan Norgard
Prescott Valley, Arizona

I don’t often get into the political/religious sidelines, but that one shook us up. But like I said, there’s not much we can do about it and we’re old enough not to beat ourselves into a frenzy about “what if?” so we just keep plugging along our path to self-reliance, no matter what’s going on in the world. We may not (and often DO NOT) like it, but we’re smart enough to realize we can’t fix everything. — Jackie

Storing canned foods

I am a woman who lives in a rented trailer and it gets very hot here in Oklahoma. Can you suggest a place in my rented home to store my canned foods so they do not get overheated?

Hawk Lessard
Wagoner, Oklahoma

When we live in less than “ideal” conditions, we have to make do. If you have an extra room, even a bathroom, you can add extra rigid insulation board temporarily to the ceiling and walls, leaving the vents for your swamp cooler or air conditioner open to cool the room. Block off the window(s), too. You can either use movable shelving or even store your canned foods in boxes, stacked against the walls, if necessary. This usually works quite well. If this won’t work, you can also stack boxes of canned goods on top of rigid insulation board in a corner or on a wall of a room, with additional insulation board against the wall and on top of the top boxes. It helps a lot. Even in less than ideal conditions, home canned food is still good for years. — Jackie

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One day it’s 65 degrees, and the next it’s snowing! But that’s springtime in northern Minnesota. On the warm days, Will’s been removing the black dirt next to the house and under the new porch-to-be and replacing it with gravel from our gravel pit. That way any moisture will drain down and away from the house. With the black dirt it would not have drained off and could have possibly affected our block basement wall.

There was still frost in the shaded corner of the yard and Will had to hack it into blocks and hand-chuck it into the tractor bucket.

Meanwhile, I’ve been transplanting peppers and pickling our surplus eggs. Eggs are real easy to pickle and store in the pantry until I need them to make deviled eggs or egg salad during the winter when eggs are not so abundant. We like them with a little “spunk,” so I add a couple of tablespoons full of hot pepper ring juice (vinegar/spices) too. I’m doing about two dozen eggs a day and they’re starting to add up. How nice!

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Canning green beans

Is it ok to pressure can green beans with a beef bouillon base and slices of bacon. It would be so much easier to just open a can and have it ready rather than having to add it when cooking.

Jacqueline Wieser
Sidney, Nebraska

You could if you processed pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes, as required for meat because you’re using beef broth as a base and meat (bacon) as an ingredient. This time is a lot longer than required for green beans alone and you may find them too soft for your liking. I’ve canned beef stew, etc. like this and they came through fine. Try a batch and see how you like the result. — Jackie

Canning refried beans

Can I re-can refried beans? I got a killer deal on dented #10 cans of a popular brand of refried beans. When I open a can I was wanting to re-can the remaining beans into pint jars. Can this be done? Would you process them in a pressure canner just as if you were canning pintos or other home cooked beans?

Lynette McPherson
Brookings, Oregon

Sorry, but you can’t safely re-can refried beans…or even homemade refried beans. The way I do it is to can up pintos with seasonings and onions/garlic, then when I heat them in a frying pan, I mash them and cook ‘em down. It only takes about 5 minutes and they’re done. You’d best freeze them or you could spread them out in a 1/8″ thick layer on your fruit leather trays in your dehydrator and dehydrate them to crispy-dry. Refried beans are a very dense product and it is not thought safe to can them as it is not certain if the centers of the jars heat thoroughly enough for safe canning during the processing time given for beans. The same thing goes for foods with thick gravy, pureed squash and pumpkin, to mention a few. — Jackie

Canning marinated pork chops

1/4 + 1/8 cup honey
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
6 cloves garlic (minced or cut fine)
6 boneless pork chops

Mix honey, soy sauce, and garlic…marinade chops, then toss on a hot grill.

My question: This sounds delicious, but I would like to can them. What would you do to the mixture, so it would not be so strong after canning, and, what would you add for liquids so as to bring the liquid lever to 1 inch from the top?

Beverly Giroux
Oxford, Maine

What I’d do is to marinate the chops then just lightly grill. Pack the hot chops into wide mouth pint jars, then just use boiling water to fill the jar to the 1″ of headspace required. The flavor of the marinade and grilled chops should provide a well-flavored broth in your jars. I wouldn’t adjust the marinade; I don’t think it’ll get too strong after canning. Do a batch and see how you like the results. — Jackie

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