Getting Off The Grid - The Late Fall & Inventory Of Canned Goods

In Alabama we are going into late fall, meaning we have a few cold days and nights but we are not into the set weather pattern.

We can still grow many plants without protection. Collards do well in the colder temps as well as turnips and kale. The mustard greens look okay but you can tell the cold has touched them a few nights, the turnip greens are turning purple themselves but it foes not change the taste at all. God blessed me with greens this year.

Since I am not as advanced as some off the grid I do not have a hot house, greenhouse or cold frames, yet. I tried the greenhouse but I was not ready and knew nothing so it flopped. I have  A LOT to learn.

I am also still working to make a living, I don`t have it down on how to live free and not have to have some sort of work away from the homestead. I would love to rely on whatever the homestead has to offer as an income, hard work but I would do it any day than to have to leave for work. This is something more to learn.

I still need the root cellar/ storm shelter. not only to store the home canned foods to keep them cooler but to store fresh as well. If we have a tornado warning I can use it as shelter.

I did sort of an inventory a couple weeks ago. I only got the one room, so I know I have more in the pantry to count. But here ya go, this is what I have for now.

Jelly, jams and pastes = 250 half pints

Vegetables = 116 pints

Soup and Chili = 58 pints

Pickles- peppers - relish = 43 pints

Fruit = 37

Total counted = 504 pints/half pints

I did stop at the fruit and did not finish counting, I have yet to count the pears and blackberries. Plus I may get to home can more kale before the year is out.

This is only the home canned, I did freeze some, a lot of okra, but I am trying to get away from freezing to get rid of the deep freezer when I go solar. This is a hard habit to break!

I need to learn how to grow more vegetables. I need to preserve more nuts and mushrooms.

How did you do home canning for the summer of 2018?

By Andria Perry

Photos by Andria Perry

Getting Off The Grid - Green Before It Was Cool

"A flower child is what you are, just born a little to late to run with the others," is what my brother told me when I was a kid. I am not sure how he meant it but I am sure I know now. 

I am not normal.  I would rather grow my own food than buy, I would rather make my own soap than buy it and I would rather cure myself before even thinking about a doctor.

I had made the statement online once that I am going green and I got made fun of by some asshole, telling me I did not know what being green was, so I learned to keep it to myself.

Although there are some things I cannot give up at the moment, being a car, because I live in the woods and I am working as a caregiver, I have reduced the amount of buying. I sit back and think do I need this or do I want this? Usually its a want and when I realize that fact I save my money and do with what I already have. While many people meet for lunch and shopping, I decline the offer and suggest a picnic and fishing at the local lake/park.

Don`t know how to clean fish? I got that covered, click here on "How to clean Bass" 

I know all have heard the three R`s, meaning Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, there is another R and its Refuse.

I actually think that refuse should be at the top of going green, by refusing then you do not add to the problem.

Reducing is always an excellent option because do we really need 50 pairs of dress shoes? Do we really need to redecorate every year?

Reusing. This one can get weird. I have seen YouTube videos about reusing items and making crafts, I prefer minimal so I`m not always cleaning junk, I reuse the glass containers the most, I try to buy in glass when I can.

Recycling is awesome, it take less energy to recycle than to make new, however, plastic is plastic no matter how you get it so I try my best to lay low on the plastic. I make sure every can, tin and aluminum, gets recycled and most recycling plants will pay you to bring in the "trash."

In these times of high tech I am sure I wont ever go back to the "good ole days" of candle light and no t.v. but I can do my part in reducing the amount of energy that I do use, or actually get that solar powered house I been looking for all these years, if its Gods will. 

This week I have practiced "refuse" when I got the mail asking me to subscribe to magazines again. I put that letter in the recycling.

I am thinking about writing a monthly update on how I am doing with this whole GO GREEN! thing, its a journey, one well worth my time.

How green are you?

By Andria Perry

Photo By Andria Perry

Getting Off The Grid - I`m Still Homesteading and Cooking Roots

Life is always about ups and downs, No one is always going to have the perfect life and no one will always have the down and out parts of life. Its how we handle each situation and move on that is important.

Living on a homestead is the same, so I am figuring out. You have to go with the flow and not fight it, what will be will be, its all Gods will. 

I was not blessed with some foods that I eat regular but I am blessed beyond my imagination with another.

This summer it was all about okra. I did get the perfect amount to put up for myself as well as shared with so many people. 

This fall its all about greens, where I am not seeing many collard plants I do have curly mustard, kale and turnip greens, now with a little age I have those wonderful purple top turnips. I have gave away as many greens as I have canned or more. 

I do enjoy giving fresh vegetables from my garden, especially greens, the wonderful punch of vitamins in eat bite. I do not ask for anything back but at times someone will give me something from their homestead as a trade but its not necessary.

Winter is here, no not by the calendar but by the cold air and freezes, so there is not much I can grow, yet, without a cold frame or greenhouse. I still do not have the greenhouse thing down.

So, its dreaming time, make that plan.

My plan is to let this homestead make me money while I live on it. I never dream little, I have big dreams that I will take slow and one step at a time. When I seen it by just looking, I did write it down, drawings and all.

For now its just the time of the year where I need to look hard at what the homestead has to offer me and get busy gathering it.

Now Lets Cook!  

Turnips taste spicy when ate raw and completely different when cooked, more like the taste of the green but more intense. 

Today I made boiled turnips with butter.

First trim off the tops and the roots.

Wash the turnips in cold water.

Cut the bigger ones in half so the will all cook properly.

Add just enough water to cover the turnips and boil on medium heat.

When done, you can stick a fork in it and its soft but not mushy.

Add salt, a sprinkle of sugar and a generous amount of butter.

That is it! Enjoy.

What is going on, on your homestead? 

By Andria Perry

Photos by Andria Perry