May prepping
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Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Description: (General discussion regarding the next pandemic)
URL: http://www.avianflutalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=28019
Printed Date: April 18 2024 at 5:20am
Topic: May prepping
Posted By: Penham
Subject: May prepping
Date Posted: May 04 2012 at 8:07pm
| So is everyone working on gardens this month? I had good intentions of getting some plants started but have been so busy, I have done nothing. I have still been buying a few extra items each time I go to the store, so my stockpile continues to build. What is everyone else working on? |
Replies:
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: May 04 2012 at 10:18pm
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I am waiting for Mother's Day to plant my tomatoes and peppers. Foothills and Denver may have rain snow mix on Sunday so I am glad I did not plant my tomatoes like some of my neighbors.
Snow peas are doing really well! They love cold weather. Then I have been still building our BOBs. Need to get some compression sacks for our 0 degree sleeping bags. Nothing worse than being cold in a stessful time so I got warm bags. However they are big so need compression sacks. |
Posted By: HoosierMom
Date Posted: May 05 2012 at 5:03pm
| Seed starts sitting in the dining room! Have lost a few, and wild strawberries starts wilted in the sun a few days ago. (putting them out to become accustomed to sun and weather). Still have approx 30 tomatoe plants hopefully @ least 20 will make it into the garden next weekend ! |
Posted By: Littleraven
Date Posted: May 06 2012 at 1:43pm
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Dehydrated about 10 jars of spring onions. Just getting in some sweet potatoes around here so I'll be thinking on how to put some of those up. Florida tomatoes are up here but I like to get the local ones so I'm waiting. Still trying to get my pecans shelled from the fall and have lots of herbs growing from last year and the warm winter we had. Have been trying to dehydrate white potatoes when they are on sale and finally found a great way to do that--they look beautiful when dried, no preservatives and taste great re-hydrated if you partly boil them just till they are still very firm, slice them and dehydrate them. Put them up in vacumn sealed jars. They are excellent when you cook them with cheese in a casserole.
------------- There's a Bad Moon on the Rise |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: May 06 2012 at 10:04pm
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Good thinking on the potatoes Littleraven. Do you peel them first?
I have never tried to dry potatoes because you had to put them in some chemical first. I am going to do what you did find them on sale and get'er done! |
Posted By: starspirit
Date Posted: May 08 2012 at 2:54pm
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Hopefully I'll have lots of potatoes from my garden to dehydrate.Thanks Littlehaven for the tip.... |
Posted By: starspirit
Date Posted: May 08 2012 at 2:55pm
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Little haven what type of dehydrator do you have? |
Posted By: Penham
Date Posted: May 09 2012 at 4:27am
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Drying the potatoes is a great idea! My store has 10lb bags on sale for $2.49 right now. I might have to try that. Are you talking about putting them in canning jars after dehydrating them? How do you get them vacume sealed?
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Posted By: Littleraven
Date Posted: May 11 2012 at 5:12pm
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Hi you don't have to peel them but the peels fall off for the most part when you partially cook them. I just slice away after cooling slightly and if there is a peel or two left I don't worry about it. Dehydrate them and they do great. Put them up dried in jars and then vaccum seal them. I know they say that you can always pick potatoes up cheap but I would say that when they are on sale like Penham says that's when to put them away. Very easy to do and if you find them in the stores frozen and cheap like in the bags of loose hash browns or obrien style- just dehydrate them straight from frozen to dried--they do great. Seal them in jars and rehydrate like those expensive camp meals with a little boiling water --wait about 5 minutes and then fry right up. The sliced potatoes work wonderful with the dried cheese and milk and a little canned butter and then bake. You can even put them on a wood stove on top with the casserole dish inside of an iron dutch oven and get them to about 350 or the same out on an open pit fire. Just don't be in a hurry as the outside oven must reach the right temp to bake your potatoes as a casserole dish would. Of course you can easily pressure can them but I just love to see them dehydrate up with no chemicals and become a wonderful staple that I did't pay Betty Crocker prices for. :)
------------- There's a Bad Moon on the Rise |
Posted By: Littleraven
Date Posted: May 11 2012 at 5:30pm
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Oh yes starspirit I just have a Nesco with about 15 round trays and screens--bought it 15 years ago or so. I dehydrate potatoes after partially boiling and slicing them at about 155- 160 degrees for 2 hours an then 130 degrees until dry. Red potatoes which are on sale a lot this time of year also work well but they are creamier in texture when re-hydrated--also boil them very firm and then chill--I run cold water over them so they don't keep cooking even when out. Dehydrating may not be as good as freeze dried but I have fixed these up after 3 years with a good seal on the jars and not missed a beat on flavor or taste. Potatoes are easy to fix in a bad situation with just boiling water and whatever you might have to season and go with them.
------------- There's a Bad Moon on the Rise |
Posted By: Littleraven
Date Posted: May 11 2012 at 5:58pm
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Also remember you can keep cheddars and certain hard cheeses good for long periods if you keep them very clean, wrap them in cheese cloth and then dip them in cheese wax after you get them and keep them in a cool dark place safe from critters. I also put pieces in the big jars that you can sometimes find and vacumn seal. They can age the longer you keep them and so they become sharper in flavor so start with a mild cheese to put away.
------------- There's a Bad Moon on the Rise |
Posted By: HoosierMom
Date Posted: May 12 2012 at 8:03pm
| 32 heirloom, non GMO tomatoe plants in the ground. Little cages constructed to keep the bunnies out. Actually all heirloom plants/heirloom plants put out in the garden. May not have the harvest but the plan is to harvest seeds each year for the next year...Fingers crossed. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: May 12 2012 at 10:04pm
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Dang, I thought I was crazy buying 10 tomato plants! Hoosiermom, what do you do with all those tomatoes? I purchased 4 heirloom to see how they do at my higher altitude and my north facing garden. They take almost 90 days so that is really late for my area so will see.
I will be interested in how you harvest your seeds. Keep us posted. |
Posted By: HoosierMom
Date Posted: May 13 2012 at 4:47am
Well, honestly we my family, kids, granmas love tomatoes. I can them in qts, for chili, salsa etc. If Im running short on time I will freeze them. I have Apalachian roots and a favorite is macaroni and tomatoe-cheap and yummo. My plants are sooo small compared to the ones I would buy at the garden centers, Im really nervous, so I did bump up the # of plants. Basically on seed harvest, you let the seed "guts" ferment in a jar with a cheese clothe the dead seeds float to the top when it begins to mold, pour off the dead, seperate, rinse and then dry the seeds on a dry paper towel or something similar. This is definately going to be a learning year, however I would rather do it now than BEFORE its a skill of necessity I figure... I might be getting my first tomatoe in September, who knows! Ohh yes and more cages....the bunnies were circling the perimeters this morning !
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Posted By: Penham
Date Posted: May 20 2012 at 5:30pm
| I bought some tomato plants and strawberry plants today and got them planted. I bought one thornless blackberry bush, but haven't decided where to plant it yet. My apple tree that produced alot of apples every year has died, so looking to get that replaced later this week. |
Posted By: Littleraven
Date Posted: June 05 2012 at 3:47pm
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Why we prepare: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/10-things-that-we-can-learn-about-shortages-and-preparation-from-the-economic-collapse-in-greece
------------- There's a Bad Moon on the Rise |