It might be winter, but we’re working right along

We’ve been working every day on the new addition. Will’s so glad to be here, he’s like a little kid in a candy store…only with a hammer in hand. Both of us have had to do things “just temporary” because we were in a huge hurry or too broke to do it right. We made a sort of informal pact; we’re doing this homestead RIGHT. So we’re pulling out all the stops on our new addition. I’m going around each and every window, door, crack and joint with a caulking gun and cans of Great Stuff (foaming insulation). And even though we have 8″ of fiberglass insulation in the ceiling, we’re adding another inch of rigid foam board inside for additional insulation. We WILL have a toasty living room!

While I’m doing this blog, Will’s out hanging Sheetrock in the new laundry room so I can “mud” it tomorrow while he hangs vapor barrier and Sheetrock behind where our wood stove will be. We got the Metalbestos stovepipe all hooked up and cut through the roof today, as the weather was cooperating; we have another Arctic blast heading for us in a day’s time, bringing the temperature plummeting down to sub zero again for several days. Brrrrr… We’re hoping to be able to hook up the wood stove soon; propane for our two little heaters is expensive. And we are cheap.

Readers’ Questions:

Water storage

We are trying to find some 55 gal plastic drum for catching rain water. Do you know where they can be purchased? We are going to build a garage and want to catch the water to use on our garden.

Wayne Leamon
Old Fort, Tennessee

Ask around at your local building supply stores and farm stores. These are best purchased locally, because of the shipping cost. If all else fails, you can buy new ones that are for potable water storage from Emergency Essentials (BePrepared.com). — Jackie

Butter from goat milk

Can you make butter out of goat’s milk? I’ve never heard of anyone making anything except goat’s cheese…If so, does it taste good (assuming one enjoys goat’s milk)?

Toni Marckini
Weston, Massachusetts

Yes you can make butter out of goat milk. It is a bit more difficult, as goat milk is naturally homogenized and the cream does not rise thickly to the top of the milk, like cow milk does. But you can skim it by using a covered 9″x12″ cake tin or use a cream separator.

Well cared for goat milk from healthy goats tastes just like the best cow milk. No one has ever eaten at my table who could tell they were drinking goat milk. Mom thought it would “taste like a goat” and wouldn’t touch it. But I sneaked it into her glass. Soon she was asking for it! When she went into the hospital, she complained that their milk didn’t taste as good as her goat milk at home.

I make butter, several cheeses (mozzarella, ricotta, feta, chevre and cottage cheese), ice cream, sour cream and many puddings from goat milk. I seldom have any left, either!) — Jackie

Goat meat recipe

We just had our 1 1/2 old wether butchered and would like to know if you have some good recipes for goat.

Mary Ingold
Kalispell, Montana

My favorite chevon (goat meat) recipe is to take a boned roast and marinate it in Italian salad dressing over night. Then roast as usual, drizzled with a little olive oil. Add a bit of water to keep from sizzling. When it is about an hour away from being done, add quartered potatoes, carrots, onions and rutabagas, tossing with the pan drippings. Pretty darned good!

You can find hundreds of chevon recipes online by just typing chevon recipes into your browser. You’d better be hungry! Wow! — Jackie

Canning carrots

We grew carrots (but didn’t thin them out much) so ended up with carrots about 1″ diameter, 6-8″ long. We canned them in quart jars (6500 feet altitude), cut in 1″ long chunks. The problem is that the carrots are very watery when eaten. They just don’t taste good at all. I grew up with canned carrots in England, and these are too mushy and wet. Suggestions?

Kevin Long
Elizabeth, Colorado

Some varieties of carrots can up better than others. The super sweet, crisp “store” types taste great, but sometimes don’t can up too well. Another hint is to always hot pack carrots and other vegetables when you live at a higher altitude. They are actually cooked less in the canner that way. Also, canning them in pint jars saves additional time in the canner, which results in over-cooking them. This is why they are too soft and watery. Keep at it and you’ll find tasty carrots on your pantry shelves. — Jackie

Pressure canning butter

Less of a question than a few suggestions. I have only fairly recently started canning (within the last 3 years or so) and was doing it rather sporadically, but given the deteriorating socio-politico-economic situation I have stepped up my pace. While I haven’t been canning regularly, I have been shopping regularly, especially when the local Mega-Super-Buy-It-Center-Mart puts their supplies on clearance at the end of the season. Hence I had about a dozen cases of various sized jars out in the (unheated) garage. I was having problems getting the lids off bringing them straight in from the chilly Minnesota winter days, until I discovered that setting them in warm water for a few moments made the lids unseal with a familiar ‘ping’.

Bruce W. Krafft
Columbia Heights, Minnesota

Thanks for the invitation, Bruce. I very, very seldom get to the Cities. It’s too hard to arrange for care for Mom. But maybe some day…

I’ve never heard of pressure canning butter; I’m afraid it would scorch. I’ve done cheeses and that tends to taste over-cooked…sort of like the cheese topping on a pizza. It’s not bad, but not like fresh cheese. Water bath processing it for 60 minutes results in a nicer product. But, again, canning dairy products is “experimental” canning that isn’t recommended by experts. — Jackie

Raspberry salsa

I’m writing to see if you have a raspberry salsa recipe. I had some at a potluck and it was great. I couldn’t track down the maker for the recipe. We raise quite a few raspberries so it would be nice to score such a prized formula.

Dinah Jo Brosius
Battle Ground, Washington

There are several raspberry salsa recipes, but here’s one for you:

2 cups fresh raspberries
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
3 tsp. chopped jalapeno pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

Gently mix in bowl and refrigerate for an hour or two to let flavors mingle. Serve chilled. — Jackie

Supplementing soil, dehydrating on a pellet stove

1)I live in Tyrone New Mexico (elevation almost 6000 ft and I understand that I am on top of mine tailings with 1 – 1 1/2ft of topsoil). Any ideas of how to supplement my soil? I can’t really grow anything here. Please don’t tell me to go the Extension Ctr – they are useless.

Anonymous
Tyrone, New Mexico

You can redeem your soil, even with such a dubious start. You are lucky to have a foot of topsoil; I’ve worked with less than half of that! Add any and all organic material you can. If you can afford a load of black dirt, buy it. If not…and it can be expensive, dig in straw, manure, pine needles, leaves (I know you probably don’t have these readily available), corn stalks or any green manure crop you choose. I’ve used Sudan grass, peas, annual rye grass, wheat, beans and annual alfalfa. Maybe you have a friend with a horse or some goats who would love to be rid of manure? If possible, compost the manure, as fresh manure is hard on many crops, causing them to grow tops but no food. If you can’t compost it, add it in the fall, and till it in; most will rot by spring.

Adding a few bales of peat moss to your garden will also help, as most New Mexican soil is alkaline and the peat, being acid, will help even the pH.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with putting out water for wildlife; we encroach on their natural habitat, making many natural watering sites unavailable. If you have javalina, be sure your watering containers are well anchored; they are strong little buggers!

I have three electric dehydrators that work very well; you might try a different one. Mine are very efficient, enabling me to dehydrate even without steady power. I start them in the evening, when I plan on running the generator to wash clothes, use tools, etc. By the time I’m done for the night, the food is nicely started and I finish up the load the following night. You can also dry around your stove, above or beside it, but be prepared to change the trays around as they don’t dry evenly. — Jackie

Pecking chickens

We are having problems in the chicken coop with beak pecking-kind of cannibalistic. I think I remember hearing that you could trim chicken beaks to help prevent this. Do you know what this entails and how to safely do this? Or any other suggestions? The chickens haven’t been out of the pen for several weeks now with the severe weather here in northern Minnesota this winter-maybe they are bored cooped up!

Debra Brown
Littlefork, Minnesota

You CAN trim the upper beak of chickens to reduce cannibalism. But this is quite severe, done with a cauterizing cutter, as you trim back to where there is blood supply; without the cauterization, it would bleed. I would remove any chickens with any bloody pecked areas. Then let the chickens outside. Even for a few hours in the afternoon. It’s amazing what this will do for them; they peck snow, flap around and enjoy themselves; totally forgetting boredom and pecking. Giving them something “special” to peck on also helps; a squash, cabbage, head of lettuce, trimmings from the store (free). Soon the weather will turn nice again and they can be out all day, as they wish. And the pecking usually stops. Re-introduce the pecked chickens after they have healed, putting them in at night so the others don’t notice the newbie. — Jackie

Canning frozen vegetables

My local store has frozen mixed vegetables on sale. I wonder if you could give me directions for canning them? Thanks so much! P.S. I tried your meatball recipe with the cream of mushroom soup and my family loves it!

Sarah Axsom
Natchitoches, Louisiana

Glad you liked the meatballs with cream of mushroom soup. We love them too.

To can up frozen vegetables, bring them to a boil in a large pot full of water. Then pack hot in hot jars, leaving 1″ of headspace. You need to process the mixed vegetables for the length of time necessary for the vegetable with the longest processing time; often corn or potatoes. They can up quite nicely. This also works when your freezer suddenly dies or you have a long power outage that threatens your freezer full of food. — Jackie