{"id":2692,"date":"2012-10-31T03:00:55","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T07:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/?p=2692"},"modified":"2012-10-31T03:00:55","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T07:00:55","slug":"q-and-a-storing-pumpkins-and-feeding-a-milking-jersey-oven-canning-dry-goods-and-canning-tomato-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/2012\/10\/31\/q-and-a-storing-pumpkins-and-feeding-a-milking-jersey-oven-canning-dry-goods-and-canning-tomato-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Q and A: storing pumpkins and feeding a milking Jersey, oven canning dry goods, and canning tomato soup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Storing pumpkins and feeding a milking Jersey<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just wondering where you are storing all those pumpkins. Mine are in the barn right now but they will freeze soon and I don’t want them to go mushy. Didn’t know if the cows and chickens will eat them frozen either. What do you do?<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, how much do you feed a milking Jersey a day? I am feeding ours about 8 lbs of grain and still some pasture or hay if the pasture is slim.<\/em><\/p>\n

AlleghenyStringBand<\/em><\/p>\n

We store our pumpkins on unfrozen ground, surrounded by bales of hay with two feet of loose hay piled on top. They’ll stay unfrozen for quite awhile. In a warmer climate than northern Minnesota, they’d stay unfrozen all winter, especially if stored in a barn with hay insulation. Yes, cows and chickens will eat them frozen if you chop them open with an ax so they can get at them. Of course, they prefer them unfrozen.<\/p>\n

You feed any milking cow enough good quality hay and pasture, plus grain, to keep them in good weight and producing well. If your pasture is excellent or your hay is fine quality mixed legume hay, you’ll be feeding less grain than if the pasture is about gone and the hay is over-mature grass, primarily. You may get by fine with 8 pounds of grain daily, but my guess is that you’ll need to feed her more to keep her weight on in the winter if you live in a colder climate. Jerseys are seldom fat when milking, but you don’t want her a rack of bones, either. — Jackie<\/p>\n

Oven canning dry goods<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was wondering about oven canning powdered milk. Would that extend the shelf life and what are your thoughts on oven canning dried goods ONLY such as flour, barley, oatmeal? I would never recommend oven canning anything else, but I don’t see the harm in dried goods. What are your thoughts?<\/em><\/p>\n

Erica Lutz<\/em>
\nGladstone, Oregon<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t see anything wrong with oven canning dry foods. Like you, I’d NEVER oven can garden produce or meat! Not safe. I don’t oven can because I’ve never had trouble storing dry foods without it and my canning jars are precious (I never have enough!) so I don’t want to use them to store dry foods. Besides, I store a lot of dry foods; more than would ever fit in canning jars! Powdered milk lasts nearly forever without oven canning it if you keep it in a cool, dry location. — Jackie<\/p>\n

Canning tomato soup<\/strong><\/p>\n

My husband makes this wonderful tomato soup that is known as the original 4B’s Tomato Soup in Montana. He was the one who made it from scratch for 10 years. Every winter I beg and plead him to make it for me. The problem is, he can not reduce the recipe. Every time he does it tastes different. My question is, how do I can tomato soup that has half and half in it? I want to do this so when he does make it, I have it on hand later. <\/em><\/p>\n

Darcy<\/em>
\nMissoula, Montana<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve never had good luck trying to can any soup with milk products in it. I can up seasoned tomato puree and when I want to make soup, I heat the milk\/cream and mix with the heated tomato puree as I wish. It only takes a few minutes and turns out great. Good luck to you and your husband in recapturing his lost recipe! I have confidence that he’ll get it right soon. Then write it down. (Big smile — I see myself there!) — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Storing pumpkins and feeding a milking Jersey Just wondering where you are storing all those pumpkins. Mine are in the barn right now but they will freeze soon and I don’t want them to go mushy. Didn’t know if the cows and chickens will eat them frozen either. What do you do? Also, how much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}