Happy New Year to all my readers! I wish you all, health, happiness, love and prosperity in 2011! Blogging has given me all of these things, and I am eternally grateful for all of your support these past years. The Leftover Queen is going to be better than ever this year! So please make sure you are subscribed to my  email updates, RSS feeds,  and my NEW Monthly Newsletter (see box at the top right).  You aren’t going to want to miss a single post! This year I will be focusing more than ever on my homesteading adventures, cooking real food, making my own convenience foods, making dairy products and much, much more! Make sure you are following me on Facebook (if link does not work do a search for: The Leftover Queen) and Twitter (@leftoverqueen), I often post things on there that I don’t blog about, and there are often many interesting conversations going on!

Last year I made a list of food goals for myself – and I am happy to look back at them, and see that I accomplished every single one, even though I don’t think I looked at the list once since I wrote it. The only thing I didn’t accomplish was getting sheep and goats. But that is in the works and will *hopefully* be happening this spring. The barn is just waiting for them!

In 2010, after moving to Northern Vermont, I have basically become a full-time locavore. The majority of the foods we eat are local or something we have grown ourselves. If it isn’t local, we at least buy it from a local, independent store, instead of a chain. Even our holiday celebrations are locavore. This means we have eaten the freshest foods and best ingredients, while supporting our local economy, even in these hard times. It is because of this, that I am now, more than ever convinced that everyone, no matter what their economic situation is or how busy they are, can find a way to feed their family the best, freshest food possible. We are living proof of that truth – with full time jobs, raising animals, growing food plus all our other extra-curricular activities and crazy schedules. We always share dinner together at the table, as a family – every single day.

These are all good changes. I am extremely happy with how much I learned about homesteading this past year, and look forward to many more years on this journey. I have finally found my calling in life, and it is simple: become more sustainable, more self-reliant and bring back the old, tried and true ways of doing things. This is the best way I know how to honor and respect my ancestors. Something that is so important to my spiritual practices. This means constantly evolving and learning new skills and techniques – in the kitchen, the garden, the barn and the woodlands. I want to create the kind of life where when we have a family, our children will grow up with all these skills as second nature. Something neither Roberto nor I ever had.

This year, to continue on this journey, my goals are:

Food Goals 2011

Discover the foods of my ancestors and learn about the traditional preparation of those foods~

I have learned quite a lot about my ancestry this year. As an adoptee, this has been a lifelong journey, that I was finally able to get some answers to, after following my new year’s resolution in 2010 to get my DNA tested.  I strongly believe that the best foods for an individual to eat, are those foods that their ancestors ate. Which had a lot to do with motivation towards this goal.  As individuals we have come up through the ages, riding on the coat-tails of those that have gone before us. I wrote a bit about that in this post.

So look for recipes this year from the following cuisines, as I explore the foods of my ancestors: English, Scottish, German, Danish, Dutch and perhaps even some Mohawk recipes.

Play more with dairy products ~

My doctor told me that although wheat and gluten really mess my body up – that I am one of those rare people that have a good reaction to dairy – that it actually helps me, and gives me energy! This made me so happy! I love dairy. So although in 2010 I learned the techniques for making yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, cheeses, crème fraiche, etc, I want to perfect the recipes and play with them – learn to use them even more in my cooking and flavor them.

Play more with home-brewing techniques ~

I usually make a batch of limoncello every year – but now that we are not in Florida, it wouldn’t be a locavore thing to do. So I am thinking this year about mead. Something my ancestors definitely enjoyed and definitely using local ingredients.

Eat more liver, wild caught seafood and roe ~

All important components of a healthy fertility diet. This couples nicely with one of my personal goals and wishes for the new year!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers and anyone else who is celebrating this holiday!

Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year, because it is the only real harvest festival that is still celebrated by most everyone in America. I believe harvest days are still very important  times to celebrate and give thanks for the bounty, to take a minute out of our busy schedules to take stock (hee hee) of the important things in life, like food, family, friends, all that good warm and fuzzy stuff.  And although venison is not gracing my Thanksgiving table, like I had hoped for this year, I really can’t complain, because one of these guys is.

Photo Courtesy of Homestead Hatchery

It is a Standard Bronze Heritage Turkey that we got from Applecheek Farm and it is going to be getting a high heat, maple butter infused treatment in a few hours. I am thankful to this turkey for feeding my family for many meals to come. In a later post I will talk about having a truly local Thanksgiving to really get in touch with that harvest festival feel.

This year I wanted to stop and take a moment to give thanks for all the many blessings we have received this year. Most notably, moving to this beautiful part of the world, and beginning a life of purpose, living close to the land and its many creatures that feed us in one way or another. I am thankful for family and friends, new and old, a special reunion with my biological sister Myia, who I was able to meet less than 2 weeks ago. I am thankful for our animals that make life so fun – our indoor furry friends,  and our outdoor feathered friends.

I hope that all of my readers have a wonderful day today, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, enjoying this day and all the blessings it brings.

Cows at my favorite local farm, AppleCheek Farm

Do we as Americans have a right to chose the foods we eat? Seems like a simple enough question, and I am sure that many of you reading this, think of course we do! After all this is America, land of the free…But it would be a mistake to become complacent about the food that is available. Our complacency will lead to the extinction of small family farms and in turn local food systems. This is one of the MAJOR issues of our times. Think about it. Think how deep it goes, how over-arching. If Americans lose the right to chose what foods they eat, it is major infringement on our rights as a free people.

I know when we moved out to the country to start raising animals and vegetables for food, I had a lovely idyllic dream that one day, sooner than later, I would sell sheep and goat cheese at our many local farmers markets. It would be a way for me to share my love of these animals and the wonderful delicious and healthy food that can be made from their milk. The American Dream, right? Well for small farms it is more of a nightmare. In the name of food safety the government has passed and is soon to be passing more legislation that calls into question the ability of small farms to even operate and exist. Through this legislation small farms are set up for fines, seizures of product and even jail time. If we allow this to happen, where will it stop?

There is some legislation that is up for vote imminently. That is S510 designed to provide greater controls for food safety. However, if the bill passes the FDA with have greater control over the ability to execute raids, seize products and force recalls on small producers. The Farm-to-consumer Legal Defense Fund, who spoke about the bill at Wise Traditions, explained that the bill can be used to strategically drive small producers out of business all in the name of food safety. A similar story with the meat industry a few years ago. In that industry, USDA overwhelmed small plants with paperwork requirements, most of which had no real connection to safe food making their ability to operate business impossible.

We almost live in an idyllic world up here in Northern Vermont with so many family farms and local foods. As I write this, I think about what would happen if they were all of a sudden GONE. Or if the friends I have that run these farms were raided by people armed with automatic weapons, traumatizing their children, families and animals. Not so idyllic is it? Everyday these small farms are living on the edge of ruin and our government is doing all they can to make that a reality, all in the name of food safety.

Now before I delve into this any deeper, let me ask you, are cigarettes legal? How about alcohol? And what about high fructose corn syrup? Yep. All legal and all studied and shown to major health problems and even death. So how in the world is drinking raw milk or eating raw cheese more of a threat? How is producing and eating foods that have proven over the test of time to be healthy and nutrient dense foods, warrant SWAT-like raids on small family farms when you can walk to your local convenience store and easily get all three of the other above mentioned foods? The government allows our citizens to chose to ingest harmful things, but is taking away our rights to eat foods that are good for us. Does that make any sense? Many of us chose not to consume those products, and those people who fear raw milk products, based on mis-information can also chose not to consume those products. But to allow raids and product seizures thereby not allowing the public to chose…that is at the very heart of our independence.

Please go watch the trailer to the upcoming movie, Farmageddon!

So if you care about small and local farms, support them. But I ask that you take it a step further. Contact your local senators and voice your concerns. Visit the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund for how and what to say to your senators.

You can also help those family farms who have already had their products seized, their lives in ruin. Even $5 can help these families get the legal aid they need to get back to doing what they do best, farming.

PLEASE CLICK ON THESE LINKS TO DONATE!

Estrella Family Creamery

Morningland Dairy

Please go see Kelly The Kitchen Kop for more posts like this!

Last month in my post My Life As A Squirrel, I discussed various ways of preserving foods for winter. I did an overview of various preservation methods, advantages and disadvantages to those methods. I also made the case for why we, as Americans should be preserving more food. If you missed that post, be sure to check it out, it is full of great information.

I have also been featuring lacto-fermented foods on this blog . My most recent foray is in traditional juniper berry sauerkraut. You can see the recipe at the end of this post. My posts on lacto-fermentation have raised a lot of questions and comments from my readers about this ancient art of food preservation. Is it safe? For many the process of lacto-fermentation goes against fundamental things were have been taught about food safety. We have been taught to be afraid of food, in a world of industrial big agriculture, salmonella and e-coli scares.

I really did not feel like enough of an expert to answer some of those questions, being a lacto-fermentation newbie myself. So I consulted a professional! Through my good friend Jen, I was introduced to David Klingenberger owner of The Brinery, an Ann Arbor, Michigan business focused on the ancient art of fermentation. David agreed to answer some of my questions, and yours about this process of food preservation. He and I share a lot of similar thoughts and values when it comes to not being afraid of food, and what he calls the “re-skilling” that is so important to people interested in preserving traditional foods.

Lacto-fermentation has had a very long history. What personally draws you to this ancient form of food preservation?

As a young man 10 years ago, I found my way to a local organic vegetable farm here in south eastern Michigan. I felt deeply drawn to growing food, and feeding my community. As I learned the skills of agrarian life, I was drawn to lacto-fermentation. I love that it is a raw food, teeming with beneficial bacteria that not only preserve the food, but are of the utmost benefit to our health!

The process of lacto-fermenting scares a lot of people. When I write posts about it, I have even gotten emails and comments from people claiming I will kill my readers if they make my recipes. The idea of allowing vegetables and other perishable food items to sit out at room temperature for weeks and sometimes months goes against the modern way of looking at food safety. What do you tell lacto-fermenting newbies who are interested, but at the same time afraid of these types of foods?

I think there is a re-skilling and a re-learning that is necessary for our modern culture! I like to remind people that fermented foods have been very common and continue to be so. Everyone knows yogurt, cheese, salami, sauerkraut. These are all naturally fermented foods. Yogurt is the perfect example, and perhaps the most socially acceptable in our modern age. It’s a much similar process with lacto-fermented vegetables. There is a modern myth that we must destroy all Bacteria. (for example anti-bacterial soap). We need the beneficial probiotics found in lacto fermented foods!

Once the food has gone through the fermentation process, how does it need to be stored? Many recipes and books call for refrigeration, but people have been preserving foods this way before the advent of refrigeration and some say they can be stored in a cool basement. Can these foods be stored out of the fridge, and if so for how long? At what temperature? Are there some basic guidelines that you can share based on your experience?

Good question! Theoretically fermented foods do not need refrigeration! However the warmer it is the more it ferments. I have had sauerkraut in a basement for 8 or 9 months before. It wasn’t the best texture or flavor, but was totally edible and fine! So Yes, I do believe out of the fridge is fine. The middle of summer is probably not a good time to leave it out for extended periods! Make batches in the fall, and it will ferment slowly and keep longer in the cold of winter! Fermented foods will keep better the colder they are stored! And that is where refrigeration comes in! It’s not necessary, but allows more temp. control. Remember: if a proper laco-fermentaion has occurred then, you cannot get sick! I think it just comes down to taste/texture preference!

How can you tell if something has been properly lacto-fermented? Are there any tell-tale signs?

As far as I know, proper lacto-fermentation occurs under the brine! As long as the veggie are submerged under the salty brine, they will ferment! Conditions become very inhospitable to pathogens in that salty brine! The ph lowers quickly, which means the acidity levels rise! I have an electronic ph meter that I use to measure ability levels. LACTO-FERMENTATION CREATES CONDITIONS UNFAVORABLE TO PATHOGENS! Especially when their is no hermetic sealing of the jars!

Your company, The Brinery, sells several different kinds of lacto-fermented veggies. What is the first lacto-fermented food you tried, and do you have a favorite variety today?

At the Brinery I make Sauerkraut, Pickles, and Kimchi. Within those categories, I make many variations! I started out 10 years ago with good old sauerkraut, which I think is the perfect gateway fermented veggie to make at home. It doesn’t get more simple and pure than cabbage and salt! For my business, Kimchi has become quite popular. I just started making it for the Brinery, and love it! I try and do my own variation on a traditional Korean kimchi. I use dried Korean hot pepper flakes, and fish sauce for a traditional flavor. I try and source all produce from local organic farms. I also offer a vegan kimchi with no fish sauce. I have enjoyed making cucumber pickles, and turnip pickles as well. I am constantly experimenting and attempting to come up with new recipes!

Do you have any tips, anecdotes, etc. for people that are interested in learning how to prepare fermented foods? Any advice to those who have some experience but want to broaden their fermentation horizons?

I love preserving food through fermenting! Anyone can do it with little experience or investment. I feel it’s an important step in the re-skilling of our modern culture. Do it for health, for fun, for homesteading! Don’t be afraid. Trust yourself. Food is not scary. It doesn’t have to come from a factory or a laboratory. Food was naturally fermented at home for thousands of years! Even if you see moldy funky stuff on the top of you fermented veggies, that’s o.k. Scrape it off, and most likely, what ever has been under the salty brine is o.k! Don’t be afraid!
Anything you want to share with readers that I did not cover in the questions, but that you feel is important to share?

Have fun, eat living raw food! I think the best introductory book is Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz!

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Recipe for Traditional Sauerkraut with Juniper Berries
from The Joy of Pickling

INGREDIENTS:

5 lbs trimmed and cored white cabbage- save some of the outer leaves
3TBS pickling salt
1TBS whole juniper berries

TOOLS:

5 pint sized mason jars

METHOD:

1) Quarter the head and shred the cabbage very thinly.

2) Add salt and juniper berries to the cabbage and thoroughly mix with your clean hands.

3) When it has softened and released some liquid – about 10-15 minutes, pack the cabbage into pint sized mason jars and tamp down with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula, pour the brine evenly over the cabbage.

4) Weight the cabbage to keep it under the brine. Place a clean outer leaf from the cabbage on top of teh shredded cabbage and then place a food grade plastic bag filled with more brine on top of the leaf (1 ½ TBS pickling salt for each quart of water), in case of a leak. This helps if the brine gets scummy – you can replace the leaves instead of skimming off the scum or mold. Cover the container with a cloth or pillowcase and store in a dark place.

5) Within 24 hours the cabbage should be submerged in its brine. If it isn’t dissolve 1 ½ salt in 1 quart of water and pour as much as you need to over the cabbage. Check the sauerkraut every day or two for scum. If you find it, remove it, and replace the brine filled bags and cabbage leaves.

6) Start tasting the kraut after 2 weeks. It will be fully fermented in 2-4 weeks at 70 degrees and 5-6 weeks at 60 degrees. It will have a pale golden color and tart flavor.

7) Store it, tightly covered in the fridge or cool place. Or you can freeze it for later use.

This is part of The Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania. Check out the other great posts!

This could very well be the most important post I have ever written, for myself. It is what Roberto and I have been working towards steadily these past 2 years, making changes and big decisions in our lives to get to the point of really practicing what I preach on this blog. Changing in our own lives what we see needs improving in the world around us. Getting back to a simpler existence, one that you depend on your own hands for.  The journey has had some hard moments, many moments of doubt, confusion and frustration. But it has been extremely rewarding, fascinating, satisfying on the soul level and let’s not forget – FUN. This reflective post all started with the act of blogging about food preservation, an old-fashioned, traditional way of making sure your family had enough food to survive a cold winter.

Last Year’s Pickled Peppers

The better part of this month has centered around preserving food for the winter and I have been wanting to post about it. Some of you might be seasoned preservers, while others have just dabbled. Some of you might have not preserved anything yet, but would like to learn. This post is an overview of various preservation methods, advantages and disadvantages to those methods and the method behind the madness of my own preservation this year. I have also listed some resources at the end of this post to get you started or deepen your relationship with food preservation. I also make the case for why we, as Americans should be preserving more food, and how by taking small actions, like this, WE can truly change the shape of our food system.

I will warn you, this is going to be a bit long. I could have posted on each aspect separately, but that would put me farther behind in posts than I already am. Not only that, but my kitchen has been a constant state of “work-in-progress” for the last several weeks, and I can justify all of the mess, by organizing this post! So I opted to share a lot with you in this one massive post! So grab a nice hot drink, relax and let’s talk about preparing food for winter storage.

English Style Red Cabbage

A few weeks ago, I, along with several other Vermont foodies, were featured in an article about canning and preserving in the Burlington Free Press. The interview really got me thinking about my views on food preservation, why I do it and how I choose the methods by which I do it. The article says: “Campus likes canning because it provides a homemade, lasting food supply that is not dependent on electricity”. That pretty much sums it up.

The weather has started to turn cooler here in Northern Vermont, and like an internal timer, my mind has become a bit like that of a squirrel, or my friend “Chippy” the chipmunk that lives in our garage and wood pile. I saw her/him the other day with cheeks packed full of seeds, foraging and storing for winter. In that instant, we had a lot in common. There is an almost instinctual drive to make preparations for hunkering down for the winter while the days are still warm, but the nights are getting colder, reminding and urging us all on with our tasks.

Maybe it is because we started homesteading this year. I have always felt that I had a close connection with nature and the changing seasons, but it has really become the focus of our lives this year, with a lot more to go. Our goal for this year was to start the process and gain some of the skills necessary for producing the majority of our food in the coming years. Meaning flora and fauna. Having a garden, and livestock really puts you in tune with nature on a very practical level and when you are responsible for the comfort and over-wintering of those animals, and need to prepare the grounds for next years garden, you can’t do it on the fly, there is planning involved. Kind of like food preservation.

Tomato Preservation Heaven

I have preserved little bits here and there during the summer. I would go to the farmers market, see what was in abundance, buy some for eating, and a little extra to preserve. But last week I started feeling antsy. I only had 30 jars of various foodstuffs, and that wasn’t cutting it for the squirrel in me. So I went and bought 25 lbs of tomatoes as well as 5 lbs of Roma tomatoes. I made 11 pints plus 3 quarts of crushed tomatoes and 6 cups of oven-dried tomatoes. We incorporate tomatoes into our menu pretty much daily, and so for us, it is important to have a lot on hand. I also supplemented these home preserved tomatoes with our favorite packaged Italian tomatoes – buying in bulk when they are on sale at the store. I also bought a large head each of red and green cabbage. I made 6 pints of winekraut with the red, and a big batch of lacto-fermented sauerkraut with the green.

Fermenting, Freezing, Drying and Canning:

Lacto-Fermented Pickles

This year was my first year fermenting foods. I started with the basics – pickles,  pickled daikon, and sauerkraut. Through all my book and online research, I have not yet gotten a clear understanding whether or not these fermented foods can be stored without refrigeration. I have a “test” jar in my makeshift root cellar as an experiment to determine next year’s preservation methods. I imagine since this type of food preservation has been done for a very long time, before refrigeration, that it should be fine. But I want to be sure that the exact methods I am using yields the same results in terms of longevity. Like I said, these things take time.

I love the idea of fermenting foods – a great way to preserve nutrients, since the food remains alive . I also like the fact that there are not many steps involved. No multiple steaming pots on every stove burner. The possible downside is, I do not like relying on electricity to store my preserved foods. In the country, especially where snow is prevalent, we have a high chance of losing power all winter long. If one relies on the fridge or freezer for all their preserved foods, one could lose their entire storage and all that hard work in a matter of hours. Not a personal risk I am willing to take at this point. This is why for this year, I have not relied solely on fermentation. One of my preservation philosophies – don’t put all your pickles in one crock.

This leaves you with oven drying, sun drying or traditional canning. Personally, I like to do a little bit of everything. Keeps tastes varied and interesting, even if your storage revolves around a few main crops. It also ensures that my fridge is not going to be made up solely of pickles and kraut (even though I do use an old dorm sized fridge for my pickles and other lacto-fermented foods).

Plums, Dried Plums in Syrup and Canned Plums in Vanilla-Cardamom-Rum Syrup

Traditional canning is fun. I always love a good steaming pot in the kitchen. There is something comforting and homey about it. This year I canned carrots, English style red cabbage, bread and butter pickles, beets in wine, crushed tomatoes, raspberries, blueberries and plums in a vanilla-cardamom-rum syrup.

There is nothing better than the taste of slow oven roasted tomatoes. This method brings the natural sweetness out – making essentially candied tomatoes. I just drizzled Roma halves with olive oil, and spices and let them go in a 200F oven for about 8 hours. I also oven roasted plum halves. I sprinkled those with maple sugar and cinnamon. They came out like the best tasting prunes you’ve ever had! I don’t have a dehydrator. So for now, I have been oven-drying. We will see about a dehydrator down the line, if I end up feeling like I need one. Probably will once I (hopefully!) have a deer to process. And don’t forget to dry your herbs for winter use! Hanging in my outdoor shed I have rosemary, sage, thyme and oregano.

Herbs Drying in the Shed

The thing I love about freezing, is if I have leftover produce from any of the above methods, I can just throw it in mason jars or freezer bags, and put it in the freezer for later use. There is no method easier than that. But it is my last option. This year I froze beet greens, corn, berries, frozen tomato juice (nothing from my tomato processing went to waste), homemade pesto, red cabbage, soaked beans and grains, etc. We are in the process of buying half a lamb from a local farm. Another way to save money on your meat bill. Want to know an even cheaper way to get the best, most healthy meat you can? Join me this season and try hunting for your own.  I hope to soon be stocking my freezer with fresh venison before the end of October!

Food preservation doesn’t stop there! This year we used the majority of our garden space to grow storage vegetables – 75 feet of heirloom potatoes and 75 feet of dry beans, 3 varieties of winter squash, turnips beets and carrots for our root cellar. We might not have enjoyed the huge harvests of tomatoes and lettuces this summer as much as some, but in the winter when local produce is scarce it will all be worth it.

When I was a little girl, I loved my grandparents basement. It was filled with shelves all stocked with food stuff, paper products, etc. When you needed something, you got it from the basement on most occasions. After living for 3 years in hurricane country, Roberto and I have been well versed in emergency preparedness. That combined with this nostalgic memory from my childhood, and the fact that we live in the country, we decided to buy dried goods that we use all the time in bulk. Items like organic beans and lentils, buckwheat, quinoa and oats as well as whole wheat and spelt flours can be pricey when you are purchasing only a small package at a time. Buying in bulk not only saves tons of money (almost 1/3 of the costs) but all the extra time and gas it would take to make all those trips to the store for smaller re-fills. So I finally have my own pantry in the basement, just like my Nana did.

All of this was done in an effort to save time later in the year, because now I have a pantry and freezer stocked with all the components to make easy and nourishing meals all fall and winter long, with enough variety to keep it interesting!

Crushed Tomatoes

This post is pretty much the cumulation of what I write about on this blog – the ability to have healthy, flavorful, organic and local foods on a budget. YES, it can be done. I have taken great pains to show that, I wanted to prove that it is possible. It takes some good old fashioned work, some crazy days here and there, and it does cut into TV watching and reading time but in the end you have something to be proud of, and a healthy larder to eat from all winter long. What is more important?

Which brings me to my final point. Our food system in the USA is very sick, and it is making our people very sick – our children, spouses, parents, siblings, neighbors and friends. Take a moment and think of one person that you care about in your life that should be eating differently for their own health.  I am sure we all know a few. By doing just a little bit of raising your own food, or if you really truly can’t (and look at the book list below before you say you can’t), support your local farmer who does and we can all make a difference, together. But WE have to do it. The people. It is up to us. There is no magic wand or fairy godmother to do it for us. It is about the small decisions and choices we make in daily life and we vote with our money and where we spend it. We need to stop complaining about how sick we feel, and about the behavior problems in our children, and the affordability of good food, and really look at what we are doing to contribute to this nightmare, and then do something to change it, in our own lives. I came across an article the other day, and it has a lot of good points. I don’t agree with everything, but it does delve deeply into some very important issues, and puts the owness on the individual, which is vital.  So ask yourself, do you have the balls to change the food system?

Most of the recipes and inspiration that I used this year came from these three books:

The Joy of Pickling: 250 Flavor-Packed Recipes for Vegetables and More from Garden or Market (Revised Edition)

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

For information on Root Cellaring, this is THE BOOK:

Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables

If you want to learn more about homesteading on just 1/4 acre of land, this book is jam packed full of information on how to raise your own food (plants and animals) and then recipes, for when the harvest is in. Did you know you can harvest 1,400 eggs, 50 lbs of wheat, 60 lbs of fruit, 2,000 lbs of vegetables, 280 lbs of meat and 75 lbs of nuts on just 1/4 acre?? This book tells you how:

The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!

Another great book for the library of anyone who wants to be more self-sufficient in food, energy and household skills, this is a good one to have:

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition

Do you have 10 minutes to spare? Good, then you have plenty of time to make your own, healthy condiments to accompany your nutritious meals. Making your own condiments is cheaper and you are able to monitor exactly what goes in them, and adjust flavorings to suit you and your family’s taste buds. You can be eating grassfed beef and organic veggies from the farmers market, but if you are topping it all off with bottled condiments, you are probably un-doing much of your hard work. Bottled condiments contain corn syrup, MSG aka “natural flavors” and various other preservatives. None of which we should be eating for optimum health.

You see, eating healthy is quite simple. It is actually more simple than many of us think. People are always asking me what they should be eating to be healthier or to help this or that health problem. The reality is that there are really no magical cures specific to individual health problems. The key is taking care of our immune system and our brain health, and the battle is won. If we feed our bodies with the best possible fuel, it will be able to function optimally. How do you do this? Eat whole foods as close to their natural state as possible.

I am not a doctor, I just know what has worked for my family, and this is what I try to share on this blog.

On the path to eating healthier, there are many obstacles, most of which center on overcoming our own fears and hurdles to health. There is also a lot of un-learning to do. Some of the healthiest foods, like eggs, meat, real butter, and even olive oil have been maligned all in the name of processed foods, preservatives, industrial agriculture, over-indulging in grains and unhealthy oils. We have also been taught that eating healthy, cooking from scratch and eating locally and organic is expensive. So even if you know you should eat better, you can’t afford to. This is simply untrue. The reality is it has saved me so much money over the years, not only on food bills but also on health bills. We need to start asking ourselves hard questions as a nation. What are we willing to do as individuals to make our nation and families healthier? Can we find a few hours a week somewhere, maybe cut into our TV watching a little, to cook wholesome food for our family? Maybe then our children won’t have so many health issues. But it is up to us, as families and individuals to make those changes. So many of us are still blinded by the agendas of the food industry.

Although I am pretty hardcore when it comes to my food beliefs, I also believe in taking baby steps to get long lasting results. The way I eat now, has been years in the making, and I am still learning. Some people find success changing everything at once, but personally, I find that if I incorporate too much that is new all at once, I just get overwhelmed and frustrated and then I become resistant to change. Making condiments is something easy you can do, that takes only minutes and can really help the health of your family and your budget. So let’s get started!

Aioli (Homemade Mayonnaise)

INGREDIENTS:

3 large farm fresh yolks from free-ranging, pasture raised chickens ( I would not recommend any other eggs in a recipe using raw eggs)
¼ cup of lemon juice or raw apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked pepper (to taste)
1 TBS whey (optional), for longevity of the mayo
3 garlic cloves
1 cup olive oil

METHOD:

Place egg yolks, lemon juice or vinegar, salt and pepper and whey (optional) into your blender or food processor. If using a blender (the better tool for this) start on a low speed and then move up to high. While the machine is running, drop in the garlic cloves and blend for about 10 seconds. Then while the machine is still running, pour the oil in a thin steady stream, until emulsified. ( If you have used whey, allow the mayo to sit, covered on your counter for 7 hours before refrigeration – for the lactic acid fermentation process to occur). With the whey added your mayo will keep for several months. If you do not use whey, it will last in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks. Refrigerate in an airtight jar. Makes about 2 cups.

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Ketchup

INGREDIENTS:

2 – 8 oz. jars (organic preferred) tomato paste
½ cup canned tomatoes, crushed
¼ cup whey (optional)
1 TBS sea salt
½ cup real maple syrup
2 TBS raw apple cider vinegar
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
pinch of oregano

METHOD:

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Place in a glass jar. If using whey, leave jar out at room temperature overnight before storing in the fridge. Makes about 1 quart.

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Cranberry BBQ Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of homemade ketchup
¼ cup sautéed onions and garlic
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
½ tsp smoked paprika
2 handfuls of dried cranberries

METHOD:

Mix all ingredients together in a blender until smooth.

I am entering this post in the Two For Tuesdays Real Food Blog Hop. If you have a real food recipe to contribute follow the link and see all the other participating blogs and recipes!

One of my favorite activities in the whole world is cooking with the people I love. For me there is no greater way to share the bounty we enjoy here in this part of the world. It is not just a way to share what is offered here, but  to also get creative with my favorite people. People hear me preach the act of eating locally, and cooking from scratch on my blog and in person, and when they come to visit us, we all have a great time together living out that vision. Mostly it is for fun, but it also shows people in a personal way why we decided to make our lives here, and how easy it can be to eat locally and healthfully in a place that really strives to make that ideal a reality.

I have had the best summer because we have had quite a few guests visiting the homestead, and since all of them love food in one way or another, we always, without fail end up spending time in the kitchen or out on the deck at the grill and then of course EATING what we have created together. Such a simple yet magical act that really brings people together in a fundamental way.

Here is our summer of eating so far – in mostly visual terms.

My mom was here earlier in the season, and we celebrated her visit with lots of al fresco dining. One evening we enjoyed mead sprizters – local mead, with a splash of Italian prosecco, garnished with muddled mint and currants from our garden. Sadly at the time of her visit we weren’t harvesting many veggies yet. But we still enjoyed many local meals out on the deck!

When my dad and stepmom came to visit, they both ended up cooking for us. My stepmom Kayzie made her mom’s famous crabcakes – and brought fresh blue crab with them all the way from Maryland! On another night my dad grilled some beautiful local steaks that we enjoyed with local sweet corn.

Roberto and I also got a duck as part of our meat CSA share from Applecheek Farm . I cooked duck once before with my friend Amber (who also came to visit us!!! ) but wanted to try a different method this time. So with the help of my dad, we grilled it on our rotisserie. It was lightly seasoned with herbs de provence and stuffed with orange wedges. I made a cherry sauce with red wine and oranges to accompany it. We also grilled some potato wedges under the duck letting the drippings season them.

Most recently my stepdaughter Gwen is visiting. She loves to cook, and whenever she comes to visit we end up making something yummy! This time we made the ultimate nachos – Tortilla chips covered in 3 kinds of cheese (cabot cheddar, maple smoked cheddar chunks and parmesan), homemade beef and bean chili, tomatoes and cilantro from the garden and green chilies.

Tonight she and her dad made me dinner – their specialty, spaghetti with tomato-cream sauce and garden fresh herbs with a delicious side salad – all veggies from the garden.

Thanks to everyone for your visits – and we look forward to many more wonderful meals with family and friends here on the homestead!

HELLO COMPOST!

Life has been extremely busy here on the homestead. If you are following my facebook updates, you know I have been up to my ears (almost) in dirt. I have learned in these few short weeks, that spring is the busiest time of the year in the country. If you are in the North Country, you are trying to get your gardens, fruit/nut tree groves and berry patches started for the summer, while dodging rain storms, and on occasion even snow storms! Here at Thistlemoon Meadows, it is no exception. All of this while trying to settle into a new place. We have been spending as many sunny days as we can outdoors, and if there isn’t enough of those to do what we need to accomplish, we go out in the rain – and if you can believe it, the snow storm is actually a blessing from Mother Nature, as it allows us time to go indoors and take care of household needs. It has been several years since I have really enjoyed the dichotomies that make up spring and it has been amazing – when you are working with things that grow, it kind of all makes sense. Nature is amazing that way.

(The Culture Club (this is not how I normally have my “lab” set up. If you are culturing more than one kind of culture they need to sit a few feet apart from each other, but I asked them all to gather together for  photo).

Our house is not a home unless I have set up my cultures, lovingly termed my “science lab” in the kitchen. On any given day I have sourdough starter, kefir, some kind of sour milk either viili or buttermilk, yogurt and sometimes cheese culturing. Plus I usually have various kinds of grains and legumes soaking and fermenting. It is this life sustaining and nourishing foods that get our bodies through all the hard work that comes with setting up and maintaining a homestead. And our chickens haven’t even arrived yet!

FIDDLEHEADS!

So to celebrate spring in all her glory, on one warm and beautiful day, we decided to have our first barbecue of the season. We had been to the local market earlier in the day and picked up a prized local wildfood – fiddlehead ferns. These ferns can only be harvested for about 2 weeks in the early spring, in Northern climes, like New England, and Canada. Fiddleheads are harvested early in the season before the frond has opened and reached its full height – they are named fiddleheads as they bear resemblance to the curled ornamentation on the end of a stringed instrument, such as a fiddle. Since I am a fiddlehead, it seemed like a food I should try. It is not suggested that you eat fiddleheads raw, as they have a bitterness to them before cooked, that can lead to stomach upset. I was told they taste a bit like asparagus, so I decided to just toss them with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and cook them on the grill, on top of foil – kind of like broiled asparagus, which is my favorite way to prepare it. Although truth be told, if asparagus ceased to exist, I wouldn’t miss it.

For this meal I wanted to cook everything on the grill. Steak is best when grilled, and we had also gotten a beautiful skirt steak from a local farm. I lightly drizzled olive oil on it, and then dressed it up with fresh herbs – cilantro, thyme and basil.

To accompany this meal, I decided to make poutine on the grill, sans gravy, which I guess really makes this potatoes and cheese curds – but it was light and perfect with this menu. I cooked both white potatoes and sweet potatoes on the grill in foil packets for about 40 minutes. For the last 15 minutes,I opened the packets so the potatoes could brown, and then put the cheese curds on top, turned off the grill and closed the grill lid for about 5 minutes.

(Spring Foods Dinner)

It was a wonderful evening outside listening to the night sounds – frogs, birds and eventually even a guitar and…you guessed it, a fiddle.