Homemade Yogurt **Updated** Cheese and Buttermilk

[Backyard Buddies]

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Thanks for the great link! Who knew that I could buy raw milk at a store that I shop at all the time, especially here in OC?!!! Thanks so much!

 

[BrahmaMama]

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It is very important that you make sure you know the proper way to can different foods. Some foods will spoil and grow deadly bacteriaif not canned with the correct method. Foods high in sugar (jelly, jam, preserves etc), things packed in hot vinegar (acid) and most tomatoes can be canned by a hot water bath. Things like spaghetti sauce, stocks etc MUST be pressure canned.

You can get alot of FREE information on food preservation from your local extention office. They are your tax dollars at work. Make them work for your benfit in helping you learn what you need to know.

ORChic, excellent advice. I use unbleached muslin alot too.

Thank you MissPrissy, I will definitely stop in there; I go to the little town it's in, at least once a month. I think the bigger city we live close to (Sioux Falls) has one also. Might have more info too. I *think* alot of stuff I will be canning will use the hot water bath, but it doesn't hurt to learn the info on everything especially if I do want to make spaghetti sauce, or whatever else would require it. I'm writing down a list of what I plan to grow...trying to figure out rows, placings etc. I want to keep a journal type thing to, so I can keep track of what will be canned/when to harvest etc.

 

[ORChick]

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Uh...not in a good way, lol! BUT, I have the Golden Spangled, and I've *heard* that the Silver's are not quite as "flighty." Mine are flighty..very! And when I finally catch one and hold them, they scream-and I mean scream, their heads off! Nothing like my sweet Brahmas, or friendly white Rocks. They are also the only ones that have actually pecked *at* me when I'm holding them I only ordered them because they looked like your typical "pretty rooster" that you see in pictures, on coffee mugs, etc. Red, with green and black in them....and they don't even look like that. So much for me going by a little picture in Welp's catalog, lol! I was happy with everyone else though; and have now learned to use hatchery pictures, along with researching everything on Feathersite.

Well, I've kind of set my heart on the SSHs, so I think I'll go ahead with my order. I hope the New Hampshires will offset any negative from the Hamburgs LOL.

As to canning, your library most likely has a selection of books on the subject. I admit to never having tried the pressure canning thing, but I do (did, before DH got ill) a fair bit of water bath canning. I think for sauces or stock the pressure canning might be something I would try; personally, I am not fond of the texture of canned veggies, I prefer to use my freezer - but I'm in trouble if we ever have a major power outage LOL.

 

[BrahmaMama]

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Uh...not in a good way, lol! BUT, I have the Golden Spangled, and I've *heard* that the Silver's are not quite as "flighty." Mine are flighty..very! And when I finally catch one and hold them, they scream-and I mean scream, their heads off! Nothing like my sweet Brahmas, or friendly white Rocks. They are also the only ones that have actually pecked *at* me when I'm holding them I only ordered them because they looked like your typical "pretty rooster" that you see in pictures, on coffee mugs, etc. Red, with green and black in them....and they don't even look like that. So much for me going by a little picture in Welp's catalog, lol! I was happy with everyone else though; and have now learned to use hatchery pictures, along with researching everything on Feathersite.

Well, I've kind of set my heart on the SSHs, so I think I'll go ahead with my order. I hope the New Hampshires will offset any negative from the Hamburgs LOL.

As to canning, your library most likely has a selection of books on the subject. I admit to never having tried the pressure canning thing, but I do (did, before DH got ill) a fair bit of water bath canning. I think for sauces or stock the pressure canning might be something I would try; personally, I am not fond of the texture of canned veggies, I prefer to use my freezer - but I'm in trouble if we ever have a major power outage LOL.

Oh I just love the look of New Hampshires, have fun with them!

Funny you mentioned freezing...I hadn't even thought about it while talking on here....was just talking to DH about the sweet corn I froze last year, and that I would freeze that again this year, but hadn't even thought about other veggies. I just recently switched over to frozen corn, peas, and green beans (from store) after growing up with canned...not bad price, and sooo much more tastier. If I'm going to be doing some of that, I suppose I should invest in a sealer/air suction outer thingy Lol! Can't think of the name....vacuum sealer, there we go

I have to think....if my power went out in the winter here, i'd just set the stuff outside, lol! It's supposed to get down to -10 and -11 below the next two nights, just air temp. Tomorrow I guess there will be a wind chill advisory...ick! I can't wait for spring

 

[ORChick]

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Well, I've kind of set my heart on the SSHs, so I think I'll go ahead with my order. I hope the New Hampshires will offset any negative from the Hamburgs LOL.

As to canning, your library most likely has a selection of books on the subject. I admit to never having tried the pressure canning thing, but I do (did, before DH got ill) a fair bit of water bath canning. I think for sauces or stock the pressure canning might be something I would try; personally, I am not fond of the texture of canned veggies, I prefer to use my freezer - but I'm in trouble if we ever have a major power outage LOL.

Oh I just love the look of New Hampshires, have fun with them!

Funny you mentioned freezing...I hadn't even thought about it while talking on here....was just talking to DH about the sweet corn I froze last year, and that I would freeze that again this year, but hadn't even thought about other veggies. I just recently switched over to frozen corn, peas, and green beans (from store) after growing up with canned...not bad price, and sooo much more tastier. If I'm going to be doing some of that, I suppose I should invest in a sealer/air suction outer thingy Lol! Can't think of the name....vacuum sealer, there we go

I have to think....if my power went out in the winter here, i'd just set the stuff outside, lol! It's supposed to get down to -10 and -11 below the next two nights, just air temp. Tomorrow I guess there will be a wind chill advisory...ick! I can't wait for spring

Ewwww - all right, maybe having an outdoor freezer built in (as it were) might be a good thing in some instances, but I don't think I'd like that all winter, every winter. I think of outdoors, in the winter, as my extra *refrigerator*, not my freezer! As I told my friends when I moved to Oregon: I am too old to have to learn to deal with Winter! Oregon's winter is already colder than I was used to, but would probably seem balmy to you (USDA agricultural zone 8). Last night it was *cold*, 25 deg. F!

 

[BrahmaMama]

Oh, I'm not used to it...even though I've been here for about 15 years, lol! I grew up in the Mojave desert in California. I really miss the hiking I did out there, I was a big rock collector as a kid, up here, I can find landscaping rock around a house, or a rock here or there in the soybean field :lol I've adapted enough to know how to dress, and that's about it. I remember when I first came up here, and seen people lumbering around in coveralls, face masks etc, I thought they looked funny, and said I wouldn't wear that...I was 13; I've changed my mind since then, lol!

I would love to see Oregon someday. My dream vacations usually consist of somewhere nice and hot, definitely with an ocean nearby, and after my first trip to Florida last year, white sand beaches. But as far as northern states, Oregon is on my list; so many beautiful pictures I have seen.

 

[ORChick]

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You made an even bigger switch than I did, then. I grew up on the Monterey Peninsula, and lived for many years in the south SF Bay area (with several years in Ireland, and in Germany, in between). I have *never* had to deal with a severe winter, and, quite honestly, never wish to. Snow, in my opinion, is a thing one visits. Oregon, at least the Oregon I know, west of the cascades, is lovely, lots of trees, lovely rivers, very green. "White sand beaches" - Carmel, Calif. - not particularly hot, but no mosquitoes.

 

[BrahmaMama]

Oh, you're making me itch for a road trip, lol! I agree on the snow thing; fun and pretty to see, not fun to deal with everyday. I was walking out to do chores today, and we had some days last week in the 30's that "softened" the snow. Now it's rock hard and "lumpy" I guess you can call it. Just totally awkward to walk on. I'm a clutz anyway, lol! And ice-ICK. I cannot stand ice. I walk extremely slow, my DH laughs at me because I automatically tense up when I get on it. I'm just waiting to fall

 

[MissPrissy]

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I freeze a lot of veggies too but carrots and green beans do much better canned than frozen. POtaoes don't always hold up well in soups and stews in the freezer either. They tend to get mealy. If you plan to preserve those types of things you MUST pressure can.

One of the things I like about the idea of a pressure canner is that if there was an extended power outage for more than a day or two I have the ability to salvage alot of what is in my freezer by preparing it for canning.

I know of many people who raise the meat chickens to cornish rock size and can them whole. Imagine 50 jars of canned chicken and stock all lined up on a shelf. LOL

You can never have enough jars. Even if I see 1 jar at at a yard sale buy I it. I have been fortunate that people also give them to me. Jars around here are going for about $10 for a case of 12. That is alot!

BrahmaMama please be aware that hot water bath canning is only good for jams and jellies and pickles and such. Other foods will not be edible with this method.

I know that sounds ominous but better to beware and careful than to have a tragic accident occur from your hands.

Read alot. Learn the methods used to preserve the types of food you grow and make. Then choose the best method for your lifestyle and abilities.

I use a combination of drying, both canning methods and freezing. I also will put stock in my quart and half gallon sized jars and freeze it. Those jars are good for freezing in as well.

 

[BrahmaMama]

I can see I have alot of reading to do! The pressure cooker is going to make me nervous, I think, but I will just have to work through that I 'spose. I definitely do not want to be responsible for making my family sick, or for that matter-anyone else!

Dawn