Here is a great book to help in your homesteading journey

Starting Food Storage

The following is a good start to food storage. I will go more in depth in a upcoming article.

This is what we recently purchased.  I was going to list everything, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

We have two types of oil, vegetable and olive, and two types of vinegar for pickling.  We bought the canned beef stew, because it offers a good calorie count per serving, which is very important is survival foods. also bought allot of salt for preserving foods.

We poured the rice into Mylar bags and store it in 5 gallon food grade buckets.

Mrs. jeannie pushes down to get as much air out of the bags as possible before sealing it tight.

The beans are also put in  Mylar bags. we usually rotate out our beans rather quickly, so that is why they are still in the packaging. I suppose if you were going to keep your beans for a long time, you should store like we stored the rice. The rest of the items we put on the shelf. all the items we will rotate out with new, as we use them.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

• 1 bar of Fels-Naphtha Laundry Soap
• 1 1/2 cup Borax
• 1 1/2 cup Washing soap

Directions

Grate or shave the laundry soap bar. I use a food grater but I do put on a work glove before I use it since I seem to always get my finger cut while grating the bar. Add the Borax and Washing Soda and mix all ingredients together.

To use

To use just add a tablespoon at the start of your load (like any powder detergent) if a large load or very soiled add two tablespoons.

The year coming up

It's spring time.  Even though there is still some snow on the ground, and it didn't get above freezing today, I thought it would be a good time to share my plans for this year.  The following is what I hope to publish in the months ahead.

Gardening

• The finished garden barrel
• Building a PVC hoop greenhouse, to start those veggies
• Make more raised garden beds
• Four year crop rotation plan
• Composting
• Worm bins, making black gold
• Double dig for bigger plants
• Compost tea
• Rain barrels
• Trinity plants
• Saving seed
• Fall crops

Survival

• Water filter
• Food storage, what you should have in case the lights go out.
• Fire starters
• Dutch oven cooking. No stove required
• Hunting with traps and snares

Wild Edibles

• Cattails, the multiple ways to eat them
• Dandelions, Don't kill em, eat em
• Wild recipes
• Foraging for food
• Finding those nut trees

Food Storage

• Canning 
• Freezing
• Dehydrating

Fishing

• Crappie fishing, and the lures of success.
• Pan fish, it just sounds good.
• More recipes

Hunting

• Deer, One must fill the freezer.
• Venison recipes
• Sausage making
• Jerky, preserving meat

 This is a list that I hope to fulfill, and definitely add too.

Bluegill Crispy Batter Fish Fry

The following is the way I make my batter and fry those gills.

First, make sure the fillets are clean.  Rinse with water and pat dry.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Old Bay
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder ( I usually put a hint more)
Ice cold water or beer

*Ice cold, makes for a crispy batter.

Mix all your dry ingredients, before adding the liquid.  This batter works better when its thinner. I use a spoon to test the batter.  Thin enough  to coat the backside of the spoon, but thick enough when you swipe your finger across the spoon, the batter doesn't flow in.

Place those beautiful fillets into the batter.

I like to add all the fillets into the batter at once, while the oil is coming up to temperature.
You can do this step ahead of time and let the flavors mellow together in the fridge.

Into the frying pan, with about a half inch of vegetable oil.  Don't overcrowd the pan, and don't cook at too high of heat. It is said that 350 degrees is a good frying temp. I never checked the temperature, but the burner I use usually is at med. or a bit under.

Fry until golden brown. I fry for 3 minutes after the last fillet is put in, and I usually turn after about the first minute to check the bottom.

Out of the pan and onto the paper. double up the paper towel, and have a cover ready to keep them warm, and don't worry this batter is always crispy.

Serve with fries slaw and a good dipping sauce. I prefer cocktail sauce.

1 cup ketchup
2 tbs. horseradish

ENJOY.

55 gal. Barrel Planter

I am in the process of making a garden tower. I will update this post as I get further along, but here is what I have done so far.

I used a food grade 55 gallon plastic barrel, to make a garden tower. The following is a detailed description on how I went about doing this.

The following layout will give you 45 plant openings. there will be five rows, and nine slots in each row.

Measure 28" from the bottom of the top lip down to establish the first row.  This will give you 6" from the bottom of the barrel.  By using the top lip to start your measuring, this will help keep your rows straight.

Slots will be 4 1/2" wide with 3 1/2" space between.  Use the vertical seem of the barrel as your reference for layout.  Layout bottom, middle, and top rows first, since they are the same, except the the space in the middle row will be slightly larger than 3 1/2", and space on the top row will be slightly smaller.  The space between all rows is 6". The second and third rows are offset, and positioned in the middle of the slots of the rows below and above.

Next, drill the the end of the slots with a 3/8" drill bit. The benifits of this, is that it will give you a place to start and stop when you are cutting your slots. It will also prevent future cracking from that point of the slot.

After all the holes are drilled, you can start cutting the slots.  I used a jig saw to perform this step.

Once all the slots are cut, I moved on to removing the top.  Drill a hole first, and then continue cutting around the edge.  Make sure to come in about an inch from the edge in order to keep the integrity of the top rim.  The picture shows me using a jig saw, but that was going too slow for me, so I used a reciprocating saw instead.

You will need a heat gun to perform this next step. The object is to just heat the plastic enough so it's ply able.  Use a small crowbar, screwdriver or trim remover to open the slot.  Then you will be able to place a 2x4 in the slot to form it.

Inserting the 2x4 may take a little patients. I heated the outside and inside of the slot, and worked the edges with heat in order not to tear the plastic.

Bevel the end of the 2x4 in order to make installation easier.

The finished slot should look something like this.  You will have to pry the plastic down a bit with the 2x4.
This was an older barrel that was stored outside for many years, and became brittle on one side.  Cracking did happen on some of the slots and i was able to finish all but four slots.

I used multiple boards to make the project go faster.

This is how the finished exterior should look.  Try to make all the slots with the same profile.

This is how the interior should look.  next, will be the installation of the compost tube.

Ice fishing for food

Ice fishing is a great past time, and offers very good table fare.  Pan fried fish is a staple in our diet during winter,  and fish through the ice always seams to taste better.





I use a shanty and Vexlar, in  order to stay warm and locate those fish.  The fish i usually go after are crappies, bluegills and perch.

There is nothing fresher than pulling them out of the water, and putting them on ice. these fish are between 7" to 9".

Time to clean those gills. These fish are partially frozen from being on the ice.  When cleaning them, there is less blood in the flesh, due to them being slightly frozen, and the blood rushing to the internal organs.

There can be a lot of meat on these little guys.  Take your time, and use a sharp fillet knife. Work yourself around the ribs and get that lower flap.

Some people leave the skin on and scale the fish.  I like to remove the skin.  Start at the tail, and work your knife in a slicing motion between the skin and meat, while holding the tail. also, there are some pin bones located just under the top loin. You will be able to feel them with your finger. Cut them out by following the bottom line of the top fillet.

If you are not going to eat them right away, then freeze em.  Rinse them off, pat them dry, and wrap them in plastic wrap.  Mark the lake, date and how many fillets.  I also stick that package in a larger freezer bag marked with what type of fish, so I can keep my gills separate from my crappies.