How To Home Can Greens - Getting Off The Grid

Fall is the time to enjoy greens of all kinds, especially turnip greens, mustard greens , kale  and collards. 

There is no sense in letting them go to waste, home can them for later, home canning preserves food for years! 

So how to do this? 

First you plow, or till, the dirt and make it softer, toss out seed and that is it!

In a matter of weeks you will see those greens coming up, another week or so and they are ready to pick and eat. 

Yes it is that simple! 

Lets get started.

Pick the greens by pinching off the outer leaves, by leaving the inside leaves the plant will continue to grow and you will have more greens. Do not put up the plants.

Once inside put them into a sink and fill with cold water, allow them to soak a few minutes, maybe 5 to 10, and then rinse them off, if you think you have any type of bugs on them just add salt to the soaking water. 

Now they go into a very large cooking pot and add only one half water, the greens will make their own juice too. 

While those greens are cooking wash and sterilize your canning jars. Set aside on a clean towel, put seals into the bands also setting those aside.

Get your pressure canner out and add 3 quarts of water and a splash of vinegar. Put the canner on the stove top and get that water mixture hot. 

Now that your greens are cooked pack the jars 3/4 the way, then add the juice to one inch head space ( that means to where the jar lid band will go) and 1/4 teaspoon canning salt. 

Wipe the jars rim with a clean damp cloth, making sure no food is in the way. Apply seal and band, tight but not really tight.

Place the jar into the pressure canner and out the lid on. Once the pressure has built up for 10 minutes put the jiggler on (10 pounds)  and time once it begins to rock for 30 minutes for pints and 45 for quarts.

Remove the canner from stove eye to a near by counter top. Allow pressure cooker to cool.

Remove the home canned greens to a towel to finish cooling, when cool enough to touch remove bands to use another time. 

That is how easy it is to home can greens. 

By Andria Perry

Photos by Andria Perry

Getting Off The Grid - First Of The Fall

Its been a while since I have talked about the homestead. Seems life is in the fast lane and I have not slowed down to sit and talk about the homestead.

Summer has came to an end, as far as the calendar is concerned, and Fall is on us. Here in central Alabama the temps are the same as in summer so I am still waiting for the fall weather to come by and set a spell.

The Homestead :

I have not really did much on the homestead, I have been in the business mode.

I am not sure if I will try the greenhouse this year, it flopped last year, however I still have it. 

I have planned out the entire homestead, how to always have something to harvest, now I need to apply that plan and get life going. 

I need to build another dog house and rake the pine straw, other than that all is good.

From The Garden :

A dry spell came and stayed a while, slowed down or killed, any vegetables that were or may still bear till freeze. 

Then we had a couple days of rain and with that rain I got greens up and growing.

Finally I got to harvest enough to put in a green salad. A week later I picked 2 huge sacks.

The okra is still bearing, I am getting a few quarts a week now, I am giving away more than I keep at the moment.

The stockpile :

I have been lazy, I know this. Seems all I have canned or frozen are fruits. 

I still have muscadine juice waiting to be made into jelly.

But I did get off the road long enough to home can greens. I did the first yesterday, I got 7 pints of mixed greens. I will try to do more later so that I will have at least some put away for that rainy day.

I have been slicing okra for the freezer so no shortage of okra but I have been sharing as much as I keep with the elderly. 

The Learning :

 I have not learned anything much about homesteading this past month. But what I have learned is that people are not as nice as they pretend to be. 

I have to say, I am what you see, what you see is what you get.

By Andria Perry

Photos By Andria Perry

Come by and see me : Sunshine`s homestead creations 

Getting Off The Grid - Only What Is In Season

Its all a learning process, we, or I, have lived all these years having a mixed life of grocery stores and a garden. 

Taking all of those suggestions out of my head is the hard part, the suggestions that are implanted by t.v. commercials that we should try this or that delicious product, found at your local grocers.

This will take time to see that God gave us everything we really need to eat and its not in a box or wrapped in plastic. Its the trees filled with nuts, the vines with sweet berries and the dirt sprouting seeds and greens.

It takes time to get back to life, to real living.

The Homestead :

This year had been a tough year with the garden vegetables but not so bad for the fruits, especially the wild fruits.

Its time for many fruits to be ripe and ready for the picking, early September is also a time to pick a few herbs and roots for medicine. Since I am just learning this part, I wont pick and dry but the stuff I know, like dried corn silks. However, some dig Ginseng.

The grass has slowed down so I can rest a little more on that part. 

I still have not accomplished cleaning out a space for the building, but its got to be done. And Soon.

It is Muscadine time!

From The Garden :

Its September! The spring/ summer garden is spent, all that is left is okra and that product has slowed down due to the lack of rain.

The new green beds are in place but with little to no rain I have not seen a single seed sprouting.

I am still getting a few figs, I mostly pick those and eat them right there under the fig bush that is now a tree.

The basil is okay, well one plant but the rest have seen better days, I will allow those to die naturally and collect the seeds. The sage looks bad, lack of rain, I had to water it to save it this year. The parsley plant has grown so much, however the oregano is still small, I may still put those in the ground, see what happens. 

The Rhubarb, that was a gift sent all the way from Michigan, is thriving in the flower pot that I put it in. I will clean the flower bed by the deck and place it there.  If its Gods will, I will be making rhubarb pie next year.

The may pops, the fruit of the passion flower, are beginning to turn, I hope I can beat the animals to some of those, they are so sweet. 

The stockpile :

This year I did make a promise to myself, no store bought fruits for jam and jelly, only what grows wild. I did make the mint jelly from my spearmint plant, I did make rose jelly from my rose bushes. I did make honeysuckle jelly from the wild vines by the woods, I did pick and make blackberry jelly from the wild blackberry bushes. I did make fig preserves. The only berry I bought for jam was strawberry.

Now its muscadine time. These wild growing berries are so sweet this year. My vines had more than last year and my sisters vines were loaded so she picked for me to make jelly.

Since they are like grapes and will rot fast, I cleaned them by washing with cold water and that is it. I boiled them with enough water to cover and then I used a potato masher to smash all the juice from inside the skins.

Since I was not making the jelly right away, I strained the juice then I put the juice into quart jars and into the fridge after it cooled down.

I really haven`t home canned many vegetables this year. I am still using what I have so its all good. But once again, if its Gods will I will home can enough greens for a few years to come. 

I am passing on pears this year because I have so many in the stock pile now. 

More about Muscadines? Like what are they? Click here : What are muscadines?  

The Learning :

Just when you think you know everything ( lol, not really) you find out new ways to live off the homestead. 

I am often asking from guidance from my heavenly father and he does show me the way when I ask a question.

I can bet that people are tired of hearing about the new store, Sunshine`s homestead creations, but its one answer that was sent and its hard to explain but one day this was just in my head and something told me "do this."

While its still a small online store, I will be adding more and more as I get it made. Oh yes everything is hand made, down to handwritten labels. Soon I hope to open a physical store and can offer homemade jellies and jam, herbs and more. 

So check out the online store many have left reviews about the products they have bought, I am always open to suggestions so lay it on me.

How is life on your homestead? 

For more information about the new online store click here : Sunshine`s homestead creations 

By Andria Perry

Photos By Andria Perry - some by wikipedia

Getting Off The Grid - The Last Days Of August

The last days of August is when we have the worst heat of the summer here in central Alabama. Things get "crispy!"

This week we have had temps soar up to 102° fahrenheit with no rain, anything left living in the garden had to be tough or die.

Some died.

The Homestead :

Life has been slow around here, the homestead is ready for the changing of season, the garden that is.

I still need to cut back bushes and small trees, I had to neglect them because of going away from home to work for pay.

I was given some really nice but used 8 x 2 x 10`s that was taken from a house, they were the floor joists, so those will be a new floor for the little house that will be built on the property in a few weeks. 

The flower beds/ herbs beds / vegetable beds are being cleaned one at a time.

From The Garden :

I finally got it done! I used a push mower to clean off the tomato patch that was more or less nothing but grass, next I got on the riding mower and cut it even shorter, as close to the dirt as I could get it.

I did not stop there, I mowed down the cucumber patch and the squash patch, they were spent, nothing more coming.

The garden got tilled over and is now ready for the kale seed and other greens I bought 10 days ago.

I get okra a couple times a week and a couple bell peppers here and there.

I am drying basil and sage.

The may pops are getting riper each day ( Passion flower fruits)

The stockpile :

The only food I am stocking is the okra, that is all I have left!

With that being said I did home can mushrooms I bought.

I also love beans, all kinds of beans so I home can me a few types for quick go to meals when I am to busy to stay in and cook all day. This week the bean is green baby Lima`s. I got six half pints so that is six meals for me.

I have yet to make it to the farmers market, its an hour drive and I need cash in hand when I do make it there. Much easier to buy when people see the money in your hand.

The Learning :

The last ten days has been a roller coaster ride! 

I am old school but living in a new world, so I will learn how to do things now but not forget my roots and ways to live free as possible. After all if there is an easier way to do something I want to know.

Building and running an online store, making the products and shipping. Its a whole new world. I have to be professional, I can`t use the words ain`t, fix`in to do that, or any of the other Alabama sayings. Plus I have to watch my spelling. 

But I won`t stray to far off, I need simple and I make simple. I do not want all that store bought stuff filled with preservatives, dyes and additives when its not necessary at all. I package simple and I handwrite the labels. People pay for the products, they want fancy packaging? ? Fancy packaging costs money, speaking for myself I want more product and pay for less packaging.

I am learning to live off the land, learn what I want in and on my body. Its still the old way, just in a new tech world that is stepping back to some old ways in the process of all this technology advancement. 

How is life on your homestead? 

For more information about the new online store click here : Sunshine`s Homestead Creations

By Andria Perry

Photos by Andria Perry