Yeardly Arthur

Just because you're cheap (or frugal) doesn't mean you can't have nice things. Like smoked meat without a fancy smoker.

I'm not ready to build a real, live smokehouse. I can't abide the thought of spending what they are asking for at the hardware store for a metal cylinder smoker, and for the moment I can't get my hands on a 55 gal drum. (Besides, those things are false advertising, They don't ever come with 55 gals in them. I've checked.)

I do have bricks. I have sand. I have old barbecue grill grates, and even a couple of oven racks. I also have an old enamelware wash basin, and a brand new washtub. The tub is big enough to cover a large turkey or a couple of hams, and at least three chickens.

I start with a lot of charcoal, and it's nice to add some waterlogged hardwood, hickory nuts and/or pecan shells on top for flavor.  No, you don't have to use the water basin. This set-up works just fine as a regular barbecue grill.

If the diagram and photo leave anything else to the imagination, I'm happy to explain myself.

I'm got my eye on a couple of ash and slippery elm saplings  to harvest next fall, to try my hand at steam-bending a walking cane. I imagine I'll need to make a bending jig beforehand, but I believe I can use my BBQ/Smoker box to generate and hold the steam for the job.

Something I did not find in any of the previous posts, which may be worth noting: Canes and walking sticks are widely used and collected by martial arts enthusiasts, who may represent an additional market to stick makers.

Tereza Okava wrote: I was too lazy to go up the hill to get wire. Does that count? (laziness is the mother of invention)

We are very big on using available materials, I think probably most permies are.

I have found my people.

Judith Browning wrote:
Are you heatiing it up just the once every day as Christopher mentions or on a low simmer continuously?

We have an electric stove. It's the first thing I turn on in the morning, the smallest burner on the lowest setting with the lid on tight, and it usually is bubbling by noon. We turn it off at bedtime, and it stays warm through the night. Our kitchen is on the shady side of the house, so the heat isn't really noticeable in summer, but it's definitely a bonus heater in winter.

Among of the many things my kids never want to hear me say again is “Use available materials.” It was my standard response when they tried to wiggle out of doing a particular chore:

“I couldn’t find a shovel.”
“Then use a stick.”

I taught them not just by decree, but by example as well, mainly through a lifelong practice of inherent laziness. Why walk all the way over to the shed for a hammer to drive a stake in the ground when a brick is just a step or two away?

I have found infinite value in leftover broomsticks and shovel handles of all sizes, so much that I keep several scattered around the gardens for seeding, digging, and poking anthills and hugelkultur beds. Similarly, since I’m always misplacing my pocketknife, broken kitchen knife blades are safely hidden outside in stump splits and wall cracks for trimming weeds, splitting bark, and cutting twine. I’ve been known to use an old serving spoon to plant seedlings, and a tin can for digging small furrows...

What odd things do you find are handy around the garden?

We've kept a perpetual stock pot on the back burner for decades. It's hardly a novel idea, as the practice goes back centuries, at least in Europe. It's a wonderful way to use vegetable ends and tops, and nothing works better to rid bones of meat and gristle. The broth is always on hand for making soups and sauces, deglazing pans, sautéing veggies, and even poaching eggs. We only change it out when it gets filled up with more solid than liquid. Then we strain it all and use the juice to start the next batch of broth.

The bones and other undissolved material goes right into the compost pile. I have a bone bucket close by to save whatever skeletal remains are sifted out later. These are almost always buried beneath our tomato plants to prevent blossom end rot and add potassium and phosphorus. Other than coffee grounds, green mulch, and a little Vitamin P,  I never have to add fertilizer to the tomatoes.

Yeardly Arthur wrote: I'll grind up the berries and add it to the big jar of plantain and curly dock flour, my go-to for recipes calling for extra whole grain.

After ten minutes of harvesting, a day of Passive Vehicular Dehydration, and another ten minutes of hand-rubbing and winnowing, I decided to go ahead and make some bread.

I have old broom sticks and shovel handles stationed at strategic points around the garden for seeding, digging, and sounding hugelkultur beds. I suppose I could try the pipe and funnel method, but so far it doesn't seem necessary. Just poke a hole, and drop in a seed. If I miss, or if the wind blows it off to one side, I knock the seed back down the hole with the stick. Good to have a back-up plan, though.

Fred's Mystery Plant looks an awful lot like ground cherry.
After 11 years, it's probably taken over the whole farm.