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Sustainable Canning Jars
I got a pressure canner for Christmas 2010 and for the last 9 months I’ve been canning meat almost weekly. Sometimes I’ll do 3 batches in one day so I’ll have a month’s …
Basil Plants in the Garden
And mushroom
If you look closely you’ll see a volunteer mushroom growing too. Unfortunately I don’t know what kind of mushroom so we won’t harvest it, but it should be good for the soil.
Road Ruts
Several months ago, someone apparently drove down our road when it was wet. They slipped a bit when crossing our biggest wash and dug a wheel rut. That one rut was all that was needed to create a deep gash. When heavy rains came, they …
Testing OneNote as a Blogging Tool
So this is my test. Assuming it works out ok even with a suitably sized post, I could see myself really enjoying this. With this setup I can write to my heart’s content and then post to the site with minimal need for editing. So, let’s review …
Working Online & Living Off the Grid
Almost sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it?
It’s true though. We live out in the desert with no connection to regular utilities. We aren’t connected to the electrical main, we have no land line telephone and we aren’t hooked up …
Rainwater Harvesting
The center area of our land is fairly flat and clear. We’ve decided a section of this will be our primary homestead area in the next year or two.
We’re not moving the camper over there until we’ve got a well, so that we can have …
Bulk Food Storage Tips and Ideas
So today is a small grocery shopping day and I organized my pantry, then got to thinking about food storage, rotation and various other related things.
The above picture is what I think of as my “back pantry.” It holds primarily bulk goods and extras — flour, …
Whole Wheat Bread Rolls
I cook a lot. Or what might seem like a lot to most people 
I like to experiment with cooking from my pantry and food storage so that I know exactly how to use everything if I ever need to rely on it. Besides cooking …
Pallet Garden Fence
As part of my ongoing struggle to protect my food gardens from critters, I decided to try building a pallet garden. Technically it’s a pallet garden fence and while it’s too soon to tell how the plants will fare inside of it, I like it …
Protecting Tomato Plants from Critters
In one of my earlier writings, I mentioned several challenges we’ve had with trying to grow food in the desert. One of the most frustrating in our first year here has been the critters. We have bunny rabbits that run around, I’ve seen at least one jack rabbit, and …
Canning Meat
Photo 1: Regular cooked ground beef
Photo 2: Making Meatballs for the second try.
Photo 3: Left to Right: Chicken (raw packed), Ground Turkey Meatballs, Ground Beef Meatballs
I don’t use refrigeration or freezing for my food, so one of …