Moral Conundrum -- The "Bartering Eggs For Coffee" WILL HAPPEN!

[carugoman]

what's the point of patting dry, the herbs, with paper towels? If you're going to shove these in ice cube trays and fill with water, why waste money on paper towels? Brain fart?

 

[Davaroo]

Here is the moral conundrum: what to do about things like oil, coffee, lemon juice, baking powder, salt... lots of basic things that are not usually from our area.

Late post, here. Sorry.

No moral dilemma at all, as I see it. This isn't really about morality, to be frank. This is more of an dilemma of principle, although I am loathe to use the word dilemma at all. One of the things we moderns are so good at is creating "dilemma" where none is warranted.

Here's how I look at it. My grandmother rarely bought commercial foodstuffs. As long as I could recall, she grew everything and fed her family off their farm larder.

Except things like oil, coffee, lemon juice, baking powder, salt... those things she purchased in town. There wasn't any sort of natural food idealism or self-sufficiency worries at work with her. She did what she could on the farm, and took care of the rest as she could in town.
It's how it was.​

 

[coffeemama]

Quote:
Oh yes...a long time PNW holiday-we know it well

Thanks for the herb help-I'll have to try that.

 

[eggzettera]

So why freeze herbs instead of just drying them & saving the freezer room for something else?

 

[Jacky'sMamma]

Quote:
Like meat birds!

 

[dangerouschicken]

Yes, I had a brain fart. Thanks for reminding me

Why freeze herbs instead of drying them? They retain much more flavor! You can only use them in recipes, though. They won't look good on a plate like a garnish after freezing.

IMHO, it doesn't take that much freezer space for a few bags of herb cubes. And we have a very large chest freezer.

To dry herbs, pick in the morning after dew has evaporated. Usually no need to wash, but you can if you want. Tie in bunches and dry in a dark, warm space. We have a closet that works well for this, but some people use their attic or hot garage. It takes about a week or two to completely dry. To store, just run pinched fingers down the dried stem to remove leaves (don't crush as whole leaves retain more flavor) and put into a jar, plastic bag, or plastic container that seals well.

Edited to add: Elderoo, thanks for that point. It seems to be a resounding one. I am thinking that may be how we approach those other ingredients after all. Grandmas know best, right?

 

[ninjapoodles]

I can't remember from your post about it on your blog--did you read Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," yet? Her family faced the same dilemma, when they committed to feeding themselves locally for a year (they pretty much continued after the "experiment" was over, with a little less strictness).

Some things, they gave up entirely, like lemons, bananas, sushi, salmon, and anything out of season. Other things, that they considered staples, they went ahead and put in a supply of, always buying from sources as nearby as possible (even if that was several hundred miles), like olive oil, salt, etc. For coffee, I think they just made sure they purchased from a source that was Fair Trade and sustainable, shade-grown coffee.

I'm sure you've got things mostly figured out by now, and I really respect and appreciate what you're doing. We could never grow enough here to totally feed our family for more than a couple of weeks, but I can commit to buying from local farmers...and I sure can raise a lot of birds!

Belinda

 

[ChickenToes]

I love fruit leather...my MIL has 4 or 5 apple trees in her yard and she makes the best applesauce, lightly sweetened and with a bit of cinnamon. You can't keep me out of applesauce fruit leather.

 

[dangerouschicken]

Yeah Ninja Poodles, I'm doing that book as we type, sort of

Applesauce fruit leather is a great idea! We have soooo many apples out this way come late summer, early autumn. That would be a good change up from just "sauce."

We also do plum sauce, pear sauce, and asian pear sauce. Those would all work, too. Great idea!

See? That's how cool this thread has become! Thanks, people

 

[dangerouschicken]

Sooooo today is a super special day for this thread.

First of all, my husband finally received his grain mill attachment for his Kitchen Aid. Monday I went to Azure Standard and picked up the organic wheat. He's using everything now and making his own loaves of fresh wheat bread

Second, my many melons I have been waiting and waiting to come up finally DID come up! We are thrilled!

Third, and this is the best part of all, the guy down at my local coffeeshop is going to TRADE ME COFFEE FOR MY EGGS!

WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!

I went in this morning and asked him if the egg dishes they made were with local eggs. He said they came from Willamette Valley, but he would prefer they came from a local source. He told me he was going to use his own egg laying flock, but wild dogs killed all but one of his hens

He was really bummed about it (he had Crested Polish, RIRs, Australorps, and Easter Eggers. They all had names and were his pets). I gave him my sympathies. Wild dogs can be a real problem out here. I asked him if he was interested in trading some eggs from me when my flock started to lay more regularly (should be any day now). He was really into it. I said, "I want to trade for whole bean, Fair Trade Sumatra." He said, "It has your name on it already."

DEAL!