If you would like to grow some of your own food, but lack garden space, there are ways you can do it. Besides plant pots on the windowsill or on the porch, there is a tiered planter than can give you several plants in minimum space.
The following video shows you one of those planters...…..
There are several videos on youtube showing this method, but I found this Daddykirbs channel which seems to show the method best.
You can grow greens, hanging plants, small tomatoes, hanging cucumbers and flowers if you desire. There are now several mini-plants available that take up less space and produce full-sized fruits. I have grown some myself in the past so I know they are out there.
If you have even a minimum of outdoor space available, you can grow some of your own food.
All you need is a planter, garden soil, compost, water, started plants or seeds, and a bit of labor.
Yes, everyone, there's a way to preserve your chickens other than freezing. Sometimes there are power outages and if you are relying entirely on power to keep your foods frozen, you could very well lose your food source.
Try pressure canning some of your stock. The following video shows you step-by-step how to cut up your chickens, fill your jars, and pressure can them, then allow them to cool and store. Living Traditions Homestead is a good source at youtube if you want to learn how to keep your family fed. They have good growing tips and videos on cooking and preserving that are safe and sure for you and your family.
There are more ways than just freezing your meats to save them for future use. Canning is a long-time method used for many years to safely feed your family. Pressure-Canning has taken it a step further toward safety and reliability.
Whether you buy cut-up chicken parts or whole chickens from your grocery store or butcher, or you have your own flock of meat birds or dual-purpose chickens at your disposal, you, too, can preserve chicken for your future use.
Times get really tough when there are food shortages or pandemics. Learning how to preserve foods for you and your family in the future is a plus.
I hope this video is helpful.
Stay Safe, Keep Your Distance and Disinfect during this troubling Pandemic.
I know its happened to all of us. We buy ice cream, put it in the freezer, and after opening it a few times, we find ice crystals forming on the ice cream.
You can prevent it very easily.
All you need is a piece of waxed paper, about 3 inches larger all around than your ice cream carton.
This is what my ice cream looks like covered in waxed paper. You notice the paper is tucked right down on top of the ice cream to prevent icing.
As you can see, I have pretty much emptied this carton of ice cream but there is absolutely NO freezer burn, ice crystals or frost on this ice cream.
When you have removed the portion of ice cream you want, just tuck the waxed paper back down into the carton covering all the ice cream inside.
Stick the top back on, and place the carton back in your freezer. No ice-forming crystals will damage your ice cream. It works. I use this method all the time.
If you are wise enough to plant a garden, then there are ways to expand your food sources. When you plant many of your crops, there are the green leaves on them which are tasty and healthful. Such as turnip greens, collard greens, beet greens, even the leaves from broccoli and cauliflower. The following is a video from Living Traditions Homestead channel on Youtube. This family grows their own food and have many ideas on how to preserve them. This is one of them......
In this kitchen she is using a large pasta pot, one with a straining insert. You can substitute that for a large pot and use a hand strainer to lift out the blanched greens and place them in a colander to drain. Its the same effect. Using ice cubes in the cooling pot will cool the contents quicker but as you see here, she only uses cold water, no ice.
If you want to get more food for your hard work, try this method. Its fruitful.
No garden space?...….. how about using pots for growing herbs and food plants along with lovely flowers to beautify your life. This video shows you the basics on how to get a healthy pot started.
I am a former organic gardener and I approve her methods. I had raised beds and raised berms (now called earth beds) but I also grew veggies and herbs in pots. Among them were herbs like parsley, thyme, sage, and even rosemary along with greens like lettuce, arugula, water cress, miner's lettuce, corn salad (Mache) along with other greens like basil. I even tucked in radishes among the greens since they mature in about a month and can be harvested before other crops need the space. I also had tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers growing in pots with success. There are seeds bred specifically for small patio growing. The patio tomatoes like Tom Thumb, Totem and Tumbling Tiger are successful in pots. You can grow food, too, using the above instructions on how to fill those containers for best results.
Here are a couple of my Totem tomatoes I checked for size. They are very tasty. And the plants are full of them.
Above: Totems just starting to fruit.
These are Totems still green but abundant.
These (above) are my potted green peppers. They are not bred for patios, just regular pepper seeds. Peppers do not need a lot of space to grow a normal plant. Its still early in the season above so I have them covered with half-gallon milk jugs to keep them safe thru a cool night. Tip: Save the milk bottle caps so you can cover the jugs completely before nightfall to keep in the heat and keep them warmer thru a frosty night. Remove the caps during the day so they do not overheat in the sunlight.
Above you see my Spacemaster cucumber plant. Its specifically bred to grow in small spaces and is ideal for pots. Here's mine with several blossoms. You can use a tomato cage in the pot so the plant can grow upwards using limited space.
Yes friends, try using pots and grow your own fresh veggies and herbs. There's nothing like seeing your own plants ready to harvest and then the delicious eating that follows.
Found this info on Google about frozen foods......posted by a cook who freezes......
"While foods can stay frozen forever, they will not stay tasty forever.Freezer burn is the foe of any frozen food. It creeps into packages, covers once-delicious foods with frost, and then sucks the moisture out of them. When thawed, foods that developed freezer burn look desiccated and limp. You can cook them, technically, but they will lack good flavor or texture.Freezer burn is inevitable in even the most well-packaged foods. Vacuum sealing is the best deterrent. Second to that is sucking or pressing as much air out of your package as possible. This is one big reason why I use plastic bags for freezer foods instead of other containers — it’s much easier to get the air out of a bag than a stiff plastic or glass container.As a general rule of thumb, frozen food will keep for three months in a standard home freezer before starting to show signs of freezer burn. This is true for raw meats, cooked meats, prepared foods, breads, and anything else you might think of freezing. This said, if you pull something out of the freezer that’s older than three months and it doesn’t show signs of freezer burn, it’s probably still good to eat. How the food was packaged, how often you opened the freezer (which quickens freezer burn), and other factors can extend the “shelf life” of your frozen food". quote, unquote.
Found this chart online and thought it would be helpful with so many folks buying and freezing foods during this tough time. Its also good to know in general.....
You can make your own hand sanitizer with just a few ingredients. Its simple and easy to use. Below is a video by Dr Joe showing exactly how to make your own.....
When you cannot find any on the shelves at your local pharmacy or grocery store, you can buy a few items and make you own supply. Its not very difficult and will destroy any germs on yours hands.
Be careful out there. Stay safe.
