Q and A: Mesquite beans and volunteer potatoes

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Mesquite beans I was just wondering, can you eat mesquite right off the tree, and do they have to be ripe, or does it matter? Pete Bowie, Arizona You can eat green mesquite beans off the tree, cooked...

I’m filling up the hoop house we made at the seminar

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At our recent homestead seminar we built a hoop house so that everyone could see how cheap and easy it is to put one together. And as most folks had seen the results of...

Will is starting to cut hay today

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With the Oliver out of commission for the time being, it looks like we'll be putting up square bales for a while. And as the hay is just right, Will didn't want to wait...

Q and A: canning cheese, elephant garlic, and storing brown sugar

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Canning cheese I can milk, butter, and am going to can up yellow cheese this weekend. Can you can up cream cheese? I freeze it now, but it ends up crumbly when it defrosts. That's...

Q and A: moving chicks outside, meat grinder, and condensation in canned pecans

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Moving chicks outside We live in the northeast (New York) current temps 27-38 highs and 8-30 lows. We hatched 5 chicks November 7th, 2012. They are currently housed in our warm basement (72 degrees). We...