What did you do in the garden today?

[Smokerbill]

The road commission put in ditches on the sides of our road. It's actually our property, but of course there's an easement for the road. The sides of the ditches are pretty steep.

I found a bag of alfalfa seed from many (10? more?) years ago. I took it out and tossed a lot over the surfaces that they smoothed with their bucket. We're supposed to get rain Friday morning. I hope that waters it in and it starts to grow before winter sets in.

I'd be fine with a stand of alfalfa on the side of the road. The honeybees like it.

I still have a pound or so of white clover seed that I've been planning to spread along the ditchside in front of my house. Need to get that done sometime.

 

[Sally PB]

I'm *pretty* sure I bought untreated seed. Would it be safe to sprout for fodder for the chickens? Or for people? I have 4-5 pounds of it left, so I'd like to put it to use.

I could grow a field of alfalfa for the bees.

Alfalfa is tenacious! If you don't kill it with herbicide, it takes at least a couple of tillings to convince it to stop growing. The roots go DEEP. It brings up minerals from way down, which is one of the reasons it makes good hay. The farmers here totally scalp the field when they cut it. A week later, it's growing again.

 

[Sueby]

Hey does anyone want a couple packets of kale seeds? Not my thing, they came with my Greenstalks. I'd be happy to put them in the mail to someone who'll use them.

It was nice to go out in the cold & pick dinner. The frost cover is working really well. I should be calling it a freeze cover tho.

 

[Sueby]

Yup. I much prefer men's pants. The pockets are bigger (ie, useable!), the stitching is better, the quality overall is better. I just have to find them in my size.

ITA! & what's with the stretchy jeans? By the end of the day they're all saggy & falling off. I despise stretchy jeans.

 

[akroberts1085]

It started raining yesterday so nothing to do except housework. Trying to get ready for Thanksgiving and laying flooring in the laundry room doesn't work.

 

[CedarLane]

We don't can anything anymore. Dear Wife prefers to freeze everything. I think it works great for soups and chilis but have never tried freezing broth. I would think it would be the same.

Considering the time it takes to can goods and expense in canning equipment to start with, can somebody tell me what the advantages that canning has over just freezing?

We gave away all our canning jars, lids and rings to a relative who was still canning. But I kept our pressure cooker and other canning equipment in case we ever decide to can again. I used to like canning, back in the day, but Dear Wife says it was too much effort. Freezing food is a lot easier.

Freezing broth works great. I usually can it, but if I end up with just a few more pints/quarts than will fit it my canner, I will freeze them instead of running the canner again. Freezing is definitely easier and takes less effort, but for me the primary reason I have been trying to can more than freeze is because of power outages! I'm really hoping for a Generac someday.... We lost some food this year when a refrigerator in the basement tripped when our sump pump couldn't keep up with the downpour of rain. Thankfully it was an extra fridge. There wasn't much in the fridge and the freezer wasn't full, but it was still a loss. I am so thankful it wasn't one of our big freezers.

I don't worry about losing electricity. But it still costs about $30 a year to run a freezer. The cost of heating the water for canning offsets that somewhat, more/less depending on what you freezing, what you are canning, and how much you are processing at a time. Oh, and whether you have a gas or an electric stove -gas being less expensive.

The much bigger reason -
Shelf space is much less expensive than freezer space. I just build shelves for (9'x2'x6' I had to do the math) 108 cubic feet of shelf space for less $100 (counting the original cost of the "scraps" I used.) It cost over $600 for 20 cubic feet of freezer space.

Also, I have more basement space than garage space and cannot get a freezer down the basement stairs.

Most of my jars were bought at garage sales, auction sales, or inherited but I bought enough brand new to remember the price. The price give was the price new then - its about $15 or $16 per dozen now.

Canned food is a bit lower in nutrition value than frozen food on day one. But canned food holds its nutrition value better than frozen food.

I like the taste and texture of some foods better when they are canned than when they are frozen (especially peaches). To be fair, I like other things better when they are frozen (like broccoli).

I like having both options.

Good post!

I remember when it would cost more than $30 per month to run a freezer. We would still be using that freezer with or without all those frozen goods that could have been canned.

That is true. I'm sure that would be a big consideration if we had a large family. But it's just Dear Wife and myself, and one freezer holds as much food as we need.

Dear Wife prefers our frozen food over canned goods. Like you said, it matters what you are canning or freezing.

I like some foods better frozen and some better canned. One thing with frozen foods is remembering to get them out early enough to thaw...pre-planning! I prefer the taste of frozen applesauce. My husband wants his applesauce ready to eat when he wants it so he like some on the can shelf so about half gets frozen and half gets canned--helps applesauce days go faster too!)

I don't generally have room in the freezers. We buy in bulk (think half a cow at a time bulk, lol). Shelf space is always available. I would prefer to freeze things, it's easier & less time consuming but I just don't have the room. Defrosting is a bit of a pain, so canning wins there.

I can run low on freezer room especially at certain times of the year. This fall I want to can some of our older chicken pieces and some tomatoes that are still in the freezer to make room before we butcher this winter.

I think Dear Wife would agree with you. But we have the room in the freezer with just two of us in the house. So lack of room has yet been an issue for us.

We all have different needs and preferences. I've had some issues with my back this year that have made me wonder about how much I can. I just have to learn to pace myself and not plan such big days.

 

[gtaus]

I'm really hoping for a Generac someday.... We lost some food this year when a refrigerator in the basement tripped when our sump pump couldn't keep up with the downpour of rain.

That's too bad. We have a freezer out in the garage, with the GFCI circuits that can trip off just by looking at them, so I bought an inexpensive alarm that sounds off if the power outlet loses power to the freezer. I can't find the exact one I bought years ago, but there is a light on it as well. Something like this....

It's pretty cheap insurance compared to the cost of losing all that food because you did not know that you lost power to the freezer, or refrigerator. I like a loud alarm because our freezer is out in the garage.

 

[fuzzi]

We don't can anything anymore. Dear Wife prefers to freeze everything. I think it works great for soups and chilis but have never tried freezing broth. I would think it would be the same.

Our freezer is full of all kinds of food, including many items that cannot be canned, of course. We repurpose lots of plastic containers for freezing food, so no expense there. All we do is label and date the container with masking tape and a sharpie. We typically use the frozen goods in less than 6 months. There has been almost no freezer burn if we use the food up by then.

Considering the time it takes to can goods and expense in canning equipment to start with, can somebody tell me what the advantages that canning has over just freezing?

We gave away all our canning jars, lids and rings to a relative who was still canning. But I kept our pressure cooker and other canning equipment in case we ever decide to can again. I used to like canning, back in the day, but Dear Wife says it was too much effort. Freezing food is a lot easier.

I freeze bone broth, it works just fine.

 

[fuzzi]

I think some smaller businesses still live up to that standard. WalMart came to our community and wiped out a lot of our small businesses. I guess we get what we deserve. WalMart here is known to treat the customers bad, and their employes even worse. And yet, the WalMart doors are open and the small businesses are shut down.

It's a different world than the one I grew up in. I don't feel the same relationship shopping at WalMart like I did when I bought goods at the small mom and pop stores I grew up with in our town.

Ethics and honor don't have much place in any of our big stores. Home Depot now has all their tools locked behind cages so you cannot even pick them up and test them for feel in your hands. Yeah, you can go looking for an employee somewhere in the store that can open the case, but even testing out a tool has now become a big issue. I guess too many products walk out the door.

I wonder if I will live enough to see that all our products and goods are ordered online and just delivered to the house like Amazon orders. Lots of stuff I used to buy locally are now only offered online even at our brick-and-mortar stores. Post COVID, some of our fast-food restaurants have permanently shut down their in-house services and are now only drive-through.

Part of the reason some of the restaurants are now drive through only is a lack of help.

 

[fuzzi]

When I finally found a pair of fabulous fitting, warm, and well made winter work boots, I bought three pairs and squirreled them away. I'm still wearing pair #1 5 years later.

I have three pairs of sneakers squirreled away in the closet. When I find shoes that fit I buy extra.