• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

Preserve 1 million calories at the Harmon house

 
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
This is a thread to document how I preserved a million calories of organic or better food with no plastic!
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
To begin the season, I made 6 quarts of cherry syrup. So late to have cherries in July! I know! It was a weird year. Anyways! I grew the cherries. I stewed them quite a bit so that only a little local honey was needed per jar. Google says that one cup of cherry syrup has 8,472 calories to start off the totals!
20220726_171007.jpg
6 quarts of cherry syrup
6 quarts of cherry syrup
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
A few different canning projects from last year that count: 1. common native plum syrup. I think the scientific name is "potawatomi plum" or maybe the indigenous name? It's what my father in law calls them. Anyways, my kids can never say this, so they call them hippopotamus plums! They grow 2 miles from my house, and it's a common Sunday walk for us. This is 2,680 cal
Next is 2 gallons of pear juice. These pears came from my friend, Debbie's house, 2 miles away. This is 1,888 calories.
Finally, I have 16 cups of salsa verde to count. I made this from green tomatoes and tomatillos in my garden. That makes 1,280 calories.
5,848 calories this post.
20221010_150509.jpg
5 pints of hippopotamus syrup
5 pints of hippopotamus syrup
20221020_090515.jpg
2 gallons of pear juice
2 gallons of pear juice
20221026_081359.jpg
16 cups of salsa verde
16 cups of salsa verde
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Ok, back to this year. Here I have crabapple cider in 6 quarts. Straight off my tree! 120 calories per cup gives me 2,880 calories for this post.
20240825_151224.jpg
6 quarts crabapple apple cider
6 quarts crabapple apple cider
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
In July, I butchered and plucked the 27 chicken and 1 rooster that made it through my trip to Wheaton Labs. (started with 50! 23 died due to poor help while I was away) . It took me two days. I packaged them in butcher paper before putting them in 2 gallon plastic bags and storing them in the freezer. So they aren't technically touching plastic. I'd love to know if anyone has any more sustainable ideas on how to do this.

Google says that one large, whole chicken, with the skin on, is about 1978 calories. I think that's a modest estimate, since my birds were close to 6 pounds, dressed out, and most store-bought fryers are 4.5 to 5 lbs. So I'm adding another quarter to make it 2500 per bird.  28*2500 is 70,000 calories. This goes towards my freezer total.
20240805_185509.jpg
me, teaching my kids anatomy while I deviscerate
me, teaching my kids anatomy while I deviscerate
20240805_204927.jpg
One load of the chickens
One load of the chickens
20240805_205111.jpg
wrapped and bagged
wrapped and bagged
20240811_170523.jpg
all 28 birds
all 28 birds
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
87,200 calories so far
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Next is a LOOOONG string of apricots.  Here are 5 quarts of apricot jam. And then freeze drying. Each pan of food in the freeze dryer is about a quart of preserved food. All the apricot trees came from a little old lady's house down the street. I didn't know her before this year! Her name is Ellie.  The other trees I am used to gleaning from didn't fruit due to a late frost, but her tree was sheltered from the storm. I met her by knocking on the door and asking if I could pick her tree. I biked them home by the grocery bag.
15000 calories
20240809_151025.jpg
5 pints of apricot jam
5 quarts of apricot jam
20240811_150055.jpg
Apricots for DAYZ
Apricots for DAYZ
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I would pre-freeze the apricots, so as to reduce the electricity needed in the freeze dryer. They are crunchy! Totally worth the time and energy. My kids love them. Each jar represents 4 cups of dried apricots, about 300 calories per cup, google says. That's 16,800 calories.
Then I did 8 more quarts of apricot jam. That's about 24,500 calories, since each quart is just under 3,000.
20240813_135331.jpg
14 quarts of dried apricots
14 quarts of dried apricots
20240811_145925.jpg
more apricot jam
more apricot jam
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I pressure canned extra broth from my chickens. Not many calories, but packed with flavor from tons of homegrown herbs! About 152 calories per quart, making 912 calories there.
I also preserved some ginger gummies for my kids to eat when their tummies are upset. Each cube is about 45 calories, estimating off of these ginger gummies: https://www.mynetdiary.com/food/calories-in-sweet-ginger-gummies-by-gin-gins-pieces-46044361-0.html making about 2,250 in 50 pieces, which I would estimate is in this 2-cups in my jar.
I pickled some veggies this summer! Here is a gallon of kraut, only 100 calories per quart! Haha! Why add it up here? 400 total on those.
3,562 on this post

20240813_083356.jpg
6 quarts of pressure canned chicken broth
6 quarts of pressure canned chicken broth
20240818_080800.jpg
2 cups of ginger gummies
2 cups of ginger gummies
20240830_102730.jpg
1 gallon of sauerkraut
1 gallon of sauerkraut
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
This was a first for me! Grape jelly from grapes I grew. It's my first season of fruit! The new vines yielded 9 pints of jelly.... besides the ones we ate fresh! Since 1 TBSP of grape jelly is around 50 calories, there's 800 calories per jar. 7,200 calories
Next, I made and stored flax crackers. Sprouting the flax seeds and dehydrating them should make them a viable/shelf stable a little longer. I used 6 cups of seeds for this recipe, plus veggies and spices. I estimate 6,000 calories for this jar. (A half-gallon pickle jar)
13,200 calories this post
20240826_113039.jpg
grapes!!
grapes!!
20240830_102031.jpg
9 pints of grape jelly
9 pints of grape jelly
20240901_172334.jpg
flax crackers
flax crackers
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
The last batch of apricots! Each pint is about 800 calories, making 4800 for these jars.
I missed the cherries for the year! Usually I put up several quarts of choke cherry syrup, but this year, I was at Wheaton labs for the entire two weeks of the chokecherry season. :'-(
Then come the apples! Starting with crab apples in July. The first round of fruit leather for the year comes from crab apples from a tree in my local park. After the kids and I play for awhile, we pick crab apples and bike them home. Each sheet of fruit leather is about 4 cups of sauce before dehydrating, about 664 calories. These pictures show 6x4 sheets= 24 sheets = 15,936 calories!

20,736 calories this post
20240831_185336.jpg
6 pints of jam
6 pints of jam
20240829_170952.jpg
washing crab apples
washing crab apples
20240901_172435.jpg
there's about 4 cups of sauce in every dehydrator sheet.
there's about 4 cups of sauce in every dehydrator sheet.
20240901_173216.jpg
here's 6 sheets, cut up
here's 6 sheets, cut up
20240901_173505.jpg
then I put them in paper sandwhich baggies
then I put them in paper sandwhich baggies
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Next comes endless apples and tomatoes, in the form of applesauce, different flavors of fruit leather, freeze dried apples and tomatoes, and a few tomato sauce products, depending of what was ripe and what I had available in the garden at the same time!
37 quarts of applesauce are shown here and 24,568 calories
1 quart of salsa 256 calories

24,824 calories
20240908_122707.jpg
13 quarts of applesauce
13 quarts of applesauce
20240917_130847.jpg
7 sheets of fruit leather
7 sheets of fruit leather
20240918_080639.jpg
12 more jars of applesauce
12 more jars of applesauce
20241002_074755.jpg
5 quarts of applesauce and the first quart of salsa!!
5 quarts of applesauce and the first quart of salsa!!
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
The salsa comes from my own tomatoes and peppers and onions and spices, except cilantro, which didn't do well for me this year. Weird!
The honey crisps that got preserved were mostly freeze dried. Each tray represents 5 big apples or several smaller ones
Salsa: 1280
fruit leather: 3948
dried apples: 9,750
20240918_151825.jpg
next come the windfall honeycrisps. These are off the trees in my backyard
next come the windfall honeycrisps. These are off the trees in my backyard
20241006_123649(1).jpg
and honeycrisps from a friend's house, a quarter mile away. Literally I walked to their house. But then 50 pound boxes of apples were too heavy. So I had to come back
and honeycrisps from a friend's house, a quarter mile away. Literally I walked to their house. But then 50 pound boxes of apples were too heavy. So I had to come back
20241003_121125.jpg
about 6 sheets of fruit leather. It's purple because of American Nightshade, or garden huckleberry it can be called. yummy!
about 6 sheets of fruit leather. It's purple because of American Nightshade, or garden huckleberry it can be called. yummy!
20241010_100212.jpg
5 more quarts of salsa
5 more quarts of salsa
20241014_085008.jpg
15 freezer trays of apples
15 freezer trays of apples
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
220,800 calories so far
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Next, I stored 200 pounds of potatoes, (locally gleaned. I picked them up from the school drop-off point, just half a mile from my house. This time, loaded with 50# boxes, I used a trolley. half a mile never felt so long) 63,000 calories
20 pounds of parsnips, 6,821 cal
30 pounds of sunchokes in my tiny root cellar ( two large sprinkler boxes underground) 10,000 cal

79,821 calories
20240921_160444.jpg
potatoes
potatoes
20240921_161018.jpg
they are separated by straw
they are separated by straw
20241014_115437.jpg
sunchokes 30#
sunchokes 30#
20241014_165538.jpg
going in the cellar
going in the cellar
parsnips2.jpg
20#s
20#s
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
More tomatoes, man!

I canned some, and freeze dried more, depending on how many jars I had left.
Sauce: 2620 calories
Diced: (assuming a pint has about 90 calories)
3600 calories this post
20241016_084844.jpg
4 pints of diced tomatoes and 2 quarts of pasta sauce
4 pints of diced tomatoes and 2 quarts of pasta sauce
20241017_083832.jpg
3 quarts diced tomatoes, 3 quarts marinara sauce
3 quarts diced tomatoes, 3 quarts marinara sauce
20241021_115459.jpg
6 trays of diced tomatoes
6 trays of diced tomatoes
20241018_093321.jpg
4 trays of tomatoes
4 trays of tomatoes
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Next come hunting season. Although I attempted to fill my own tag, I failed to secure a deer myself. (Dang it! The bb would have been awesome!) However, I was gifted two beautiful bucks over the season, which I hung in my greenhouse and butchered myself.
20241030_095146.jpg
A large buck, hanging in my greenhouse, waiting to be butchered
A large buck, hanging in my greenhouse, waiting to be butchered
20241104_201229.jpg
Grinding burger and sausage that I wrapped in butcher paper and froze
Grinding burger and sausage that I wrapped in butcher paper and froze
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
First off, to get a pressure cooking bb, I made venison stew. 4680 cal
Then I tried my hand at venison jerky with some of the roasts I saved. I'll calculate it by pound. 6006 calories
10686 calories of jerky

20241016_161918.jpg
prepping the stew. All the ingredients except black pepper and celery were very local
prepping the stew. All the ingredients except black pepper and celery were very local
20241017_093654.jpg
6 quarts of venison stew
6 quarts of venison stew
20241021_125906.jpg
2 lbs. 8 oz
2 lbs. 8 oz
20241021_125957.jpg
5 lbs. 13 oz
5 lbs. 13 oz
20241021_164824.jpg
sliced and ready for seasoning
sliced and ready for seasoning
20241022_125800.jpg
drying on silicone mats
drying on silicone mats
20241023_091508.jpg
stored in jars with a vacuum jar sealer
stored in jars with a vacuum jar sealer
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
This ground deer got frozen. Since only 10%, or 100,000 calories of this bb are allowed to be frozen, I will only count 30,000 calories of the deer meat I froze. So 42 pounds.
20241118_172052.jpg
7 pounds 11 oz
7 pounds 11 oz
20241118_170013.jpg
6 pounds 7 oz
6 pounds 7 oz
20241118_160207.jpg
5 pounds 15 oz
5 pounds 15 oz
20241118_164140.jpg
7 pounds 14 oz
7 pounds 14 oz
20241118_153547.jpg
4 pounds 14 oz
4 pounds 14 oz
20241104_203108.jpg
6 pounds 15 oz
6 pounds 15 oz
20241030_143806.jpg
6 pounds 8oz
6 pounds 8oz
20241030_143727.jpg
6 pounds 16 oz
6 pounds 16 oz
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
344,907 Calories so far
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
The rest of the deer roasts will slowly be processed into jerky. About 5 pounds at a time, as that's what we have learned my family will eat before it goes bad. (Sucks when it molds in two months! So much work...)

I also harvested and stored corn kernels.
Deer: 4,590 cal
Corn: 2,444 cal

    7,034 cal
20250102_113013.jpg
6 pounds 5 oz
6 pounds 5 oz
20250103_210342.jpg
Grown in my GAMCOD garden
Grown in my GAMCOD garden
20250102_210445.jpg
Finished jerky
Finished jerky
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Finally, with this deer, I saved enough lard from butchering to process over half a gallon of tallow! 16,849 cal

And the rest of the never-ending tomatoes....
2,610 cal
19,459 for this post
lard.jpg
[Thumbnail for lard.jpg]
tomatoes.jpg
15 more quarts and 7 more trays of diced tomatoes.
15 more quarts and 7 more trays of diced tomatoes.
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
So the grand total for the year for my food storing efforts this year is 371,400 calories.
I did store more food than this total reflects which wasn't local or organic. There is also quite a bit more meat in my freezer than the 10% rule allows. I also froze quite a load of veggies in plastic bags in the freezer. I'm sure that I reached 500,000 altogether, but that's not what we are counting for this bb.
Half a million for one year isn't bad!
Over the next few months, I may eek more calories out of roasts that turn into jerky, or fish/venison that gets pressure canned. But mostly, this bb is on hold til next harvest season.
 
pollinator
Posts: 365
Location: Hamburg, Germany
119
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Rebekah Harmon wrote:So the grand total for the year for my food storing efforts this year is 371,400 calories.
I did store more food than this total reflects which wasn't local or organic. There is also quite a bit more meat in my freezer than the 10% rule allows. I also froze quite a load of veggies in plastic bags in the freezer. I'm sure that I reached 500,000 altogether, but that's not what we are counting for this bb.
Half a million for one year isn't bad!
Over the next few months, I may eek more calories out of roasts that turn into jerky, or fish/venison that gets pressure canned. But mostly, this bb is on hold til next harvest season.



Wow, this is impressive!

Dumb question: why not freeze dry the venison?
 
Rebekah Harmon
Apprentice Rocket Scientist
Posts: 853
Location: 4a, high mountain dessert
410
3
kids foraging rabbit fiber arts medical herbs bee
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

Rebekah Harmon wrote:So the grand total for the year for my food storing efforts this year is 371,400

Wow, this is impressive!

Dumb question: why not freeze dry the venison?



That's an interresting idea! Sounds like a good experiment.

 
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead, that tiny ad sure bled
12 DVDs bundle
https://permies.com/wiki/269050/DVDs-bundle
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic