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
