Blog

Millet is seldom grown for food in North America, but it is widely grown to eat in the rest of the world. This healthy food crop is easy to grow and prepare for the table at home. Once your soil has warmed up well this grain will grow quickly and be ready in 60 to 90 days. While growing it does not look like a food crop at all. That makes it ideal to plant not only at home but also near a camp or cabin retreat. The... Read more →

I made and bottled a batch of mostly Concord grapes into grape juice. This is an easy way to prepare fruit to keep on the shelf. It was still harvest time so I was very busy. Just one of the quart jars is just enough to make a batch of grape jelly later when I will have more time and a hot stove is even more welcome in our kitchen. The night before, I put enough clean jars in the oven, and turned it on in the morning. The... Read more →

Be sure to check out our video on Harvesting Flint Indian Corn. According to Suzanne Ashworth*, in her excellent book "Seed to Seed" Flint corn seed keeps "for 5-10 years ". I continue to highly recommend her detailed seed saving book. This figure is for seed storage in a cool dry room, not sealed in aluminized poly bags with a desiccant. Flint corn seeds not only keep better than Sweet corn, once fully mature it also is a good source of protein. Sweet corn is a... Read more →

The usual time of year to make sauerkraut in Connecticut is in the late Fall. After a few frosts, the huge heads of cabbage are a little sweeter and more tender. But mid Summer is a good time to make sauerkraut too. You will need more heads of cabbage since each one is smaller, but they are tender and and have more juices in them. The warmer Summer temperatures make fermenting faster and the room does not have to be heated to stay around 70 degrees here. The shredded mid... Read more →

Chili is one of those things which is made differently around the country. When my Yankee father made chili, it was really a chili sauce used like ketchup. He simmered together about equal amounts of diced tomato, onions and vinegar and added dry pepper and some diced sweet peppers. Once cooked and mashed it would fit down a funnel into ketchup or soda bottles which had been washed and scalded. We used it up in the Fall and with all that vinegar it kept on the shelf good enough for... Read more →

I have been using this huge hand powered grain mill for a few months now, and I continue to be impressed. It is large enough to quickly grind a pint and a half of corn. The handle turns more easily than any of my much smaller hand cranked mills. With smaller mills, I usually make more than one pass to keep the effort low. First I crack the kernels, then I grind it again, adjusted finer and finer. The total time and effort are less when you do that... Read more →

I have a small anodized aluminum pressure cooker but I am not completely satisfied with the idea of cooking food directly in any sort of aluminum pot. In tests that I have conducted this pressure cooker used about 1/6th the fuel needed to cook the same amount of beans or brown rice as a regular pan. Aluminum is great for all types of canners, where the food is inside a jar, and will never come in direct contact with the pot. Aluminum heats up much faster and more efficiently, but... Read more →

I like both pumpkins and squash as Winter vegetables because they keep without canning, drying or freezing. Only a cool dry room is needed to store them. Use our Small Sugar Pumpkins first, they keep past Christmas. Waltham Butternut Squash keeps here into the early Spring. Combined you have dark orange colored vegetables for six months of the year. Squash and Pumpkins are not hard to grow in large hills. You should harvest at least eight to twelve fruit from each hill. Plant 5 seeds in each hill. Sow... Read more →

This fast moving storm dropped 10 inches of extremely heavy snow on us in a matter of hours. Trees still had most of their leaves. With the heavy snow clinging to them, massive numbers of branches and many whole trees fell to the ground. Damage to power lines was extensive, Our electricity was out for 8 days. Some homes in our area where out for 12. That is the longest power outage I ever experienced. Branches fell across both of our vehicles. Luckily they landed on top of the first... Read more →

A Pressure Canner is required for canning meats and fresh vegetables without vinegar added. Although tomatoes are thought of as a vegetable, they are technically a fruit and the older varieties contain enough acid for water bath canning. Many years ago accidents did happen with early pressure canners 'exploding' so they earned a bad reputation. More modern pressure canners have multiple safety features. I'd still recommend you watch the canner during the whole time it is under pressure, and keep the safety relief valves or plugs pointed in a safe... Read more →