Jennie Kies

I seriously wonder if people on the choosing the daily-ish links are reading my mind sometimes. It has been a COLD December here, but January and February will be worse so I've been experimenting with outside layers. I get very uncomfortable wearing two layers of pants so I generally wear wool tights with one of my summer skirts or dresses. It helps, but my shins and knees usually end up with only one layer of fabric between me and the world. Pantaloons with petticoats are brilliant though! I can hang up a petticoat next to my long coat to slip on over whatever I'm wearing. Ulla's simple design looks perfect and easy to make. I will have to stop at the fabric store when I go to town next week!

Angela Wilcox wrote:Clever use of things on hand. What did you can?

I canned pear preserves and tomato sauce/paste. See more details on the Water Bath Canning Badge Bit

I picked the pears from a tree by the courthouse and grew the tomatoes.

This is my first bit! I think the video below meets all the requirements, and I’ll put the links to each recipe below.



Pear preserves recipe here
USDA Home Canning Tomatoes

Here’s a post with more details about my canning equipment.

Whoops! I forgot the final picture. Here they are all labeled:

For my first canning experience I considered buying the traditional tools. You know, the blue pot, rack, jar picker upper, etc. There were a bunch of nice kits online. I live in a 400 sq ft house though and I don’t have space for more stuff.  I already had stew pots and tongs with silicon grippers so I figured if I could raise the jars off the bottom of the pot, I could still do it.

I looked into a lot of different options for raising the jars and most seemed like a pain. Even the special rack probably wouldn’t have worked because I was using little jars I got a Habitat ReStore for 50 cents each. In the end I decided to cut four circles out of an old wire screen and lay them on the bottom (I cleaned them up before using them). They fit perfectly in my stew pot because I cut them the right size.


Instead of the special tongs, I used a pair I already had. They worked well to put the jars in and get them out again. Since they’re nice and small, they fit in between the jars very well.


I have decided to buy the funnels. I tried my normal funnels, but they did NOT work. I also tried using a serving spoon, but I still made a big mess that required wiping the edges. I think the funnels will be worth storing. They’re useful for other things and small.


After boiling the empty jars to sanitize, I put them in the oven on a preheated cookie sheet so they stayed hot. They were also out of the way while I did everything else.


I was very surprised and pleased that my jars all popped just a couple of hours after I took them out. This was my first time canning by myself with alternative tools so I count it a huge success! What about you? Anyone have alternative canning tools that they use?

One of my favorite discard recipes is for crackers. I found the recipe at the link below. I’ve tried a few different spices, and I add some texture with flax or sprouted rye berries. You can use up a lot of discard with these crackers. Make sure to spread the batter VERY thin!

https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-discard-crackers/

Saralee Couchoud wrote:Don't EVER tell a permie it's not possible. It just takes engineering.

It was an elegant solution to the problem and you engineered a beautiful cake!

I love this thread! I've been looking into using ollas too and wondering about using my Bokashi compost tea in them. I used the plastic bottle method last summer, but I didn't really like it.  It's hard to find any instructions for making your own so I'm looking forward to checking out the videos and links that people have posted. I did find one site that I thought provided some good details: Ollas Irrigation - You can order clay from their site and they give detailed advice about firing.

The shed covering the pressure tank and whole house water filter was entirely inadequate. Mice lived under the tank and in the fiberglass insulation. Bunnies pooped everywhere and all kinds of animals appreciated the water dripping from the filter housing. Last winter, despite turning off the pump and blowing out the pipes, one of the valves and the pressure gauge broke. It just wasn’t going to work since I need running water this winter.



I had A LOT of different ideas about how to repair, improve, extend or replace the shed. I almost bought a prebuilt wooden shed for several thousand dollars. I thought about digging down and putting all the pipes in a basement/root cellar under a little guest house built out of recycled materials. It’s difficult and expensive to get help around here so I needed to be able to do as much by myself and with volunteers as possible. With simplicity and cost in mind, I finally settled on buying a simple metal shed kit for about $500.

I leveled the ground and removed the ill-advised sewage pipe located very close to the well head. I built a frame from recycled 2x6’s with the long side facing South. After filling the frame with crushed rock, I used concrete blocks to create a foundation. Leveling and squaring took a lot longer than I expected. Using the foundation to prop the tank, we were able to raise it so it would rest on blocks instead of the rock.



It took three people to assemble the shed itself. It sucked constructing it in the persistent wind; some panels tried to take flight. Using an additional tie down kit, we secured the shed to the concrete blocks in ten places. It’s not connected to the ground in any other way, and it hasn’t blown away in some recent severe winds so that’s nice. It’s also well-insulated now.

I filled gaps with caulk and spray foam. We used aluminum tape, foam board adhesive and spray foam to install 2” R-Tech insulation panels with the reflective side facing the inside of the shed. I had read a lot about insulating a metal building. I don’t really have to worry about condensation because it is soooo dry here, but there is a gap between the walls and panels. I want to keep it warm and use it as a greenhouse space. That’s why I also installed a used window to let light in when I open the doors.



I wrapped the tank and filter in reflective bubble insulation over the heat tape. I extended a flap of thin insulation board to cover the gap between the sliding doors. I filled in gaps with spray foam so it’s well insulated. I added shelves on the left side of the door because shelves are nice and they stabilize the whole frame. On a sunny day, it’s quite a bit warmer inside. I would love to be able to start plants inside there this spring. I have an extension cord inside that is currently running just the heat tape on the pipes. I have a timer power strip that I can use to run grow lights and a space heater if necessary.



All in all it cost about $1000. It took about as much time as I expected. I had help from five different volunteers. It turned out really well although it can be slightly blinding inside when it’s really sunny.

shauna carr wrote:
Stone mulch works much better to keep the moisture in the ground without absorbing any, but obviously doesn't add nutrients, and a build up of debris based mulch on top of it will start to cause problems like any other thick mulch will. Also, for new plants, rock mulch makes it harder on them as it tends to raise the ambient temperature and fries the plants (I have killed SO many plants, ouch).

But...that leads me to some of the positive mulch concepts that have worked for me.  

For new plants, a thinner layer of organic mulch has done pretty well - didn't absorb too much water, and was thin enough that it broke down a bit faster.
And while rock mulch was too much for the plants, strategically places stones did well.  A stone or two near any plants, underneath where the stones are somewhat shaded and so not going to absorb as much heat from the sun and fry the plants, have been very helpful. The ground stays wet underneath them, they don't fry the plant, and when it's a few stones, but not a sold mulch of rocks, then some debris builds up between the stones naturally and you get a little organic nutrient adding mulch and a little water preserving stone mulch, and it does pretty well.  When my perennials grow larger, I may add more stones to the shaded areas, and keep things going like that.

I got the stone idea from an acquaintance who was working on a project in NM, trying to recreate some gardens they'd seen in ancient Anasazi ruins. They speculated that if gardens were planted, and then after sprouting had stones placed in between all the sprouts to keep water loss to a minimum, it would cut down on hugely on water needs. It worked great there, but it was done in a canyon, where there was a lot of shade, and here in the sonoran desert, it doesn't work as well without more protection from the sun.

Shauna, your advice is great! I’ve been researching stone (also called lithic) mulch. The Anasazi invented it in NM, but Easter Islanders and other peoples around the world did too. This article by Dale R. Lightfoot is fascinating and provides a historical look at the development of this technique worldwide. If you google his name and lithic mulch, there are a lot more articles out there.

I’m at 8000 ft in Colorado and every time I dig a hole, I end up with a pile of rock from gravel size on up. I’m starting to gather my piles and plan to set aside an area to try stone mulching. This summer is going to be one big experiment to figure out what works in this high, cold and dry land. I’ll share what I figure out!

Kevin Olson wrote:I have an old KitchenAid bowl lift mixer (K5A, I think - thrift store find, built like a tank).  If I buy one adapter for the KA, can I use it to power both the grain mill and the flaker?

My KA belonged to my grandparents, and I love it. I didn’t know I needed a grain mill until I started looking at this post. If it would be possible to buy an adapter to power the mill and flaker with the Kitchen Aid, that would be awesome! They would be a welcome addition to the meat grinder and pasta maker attachments. Isn’t it great when you can find a product meant to last?