Prep of The Day Thread

Today, Monday, July 13th, so far I've canned 14 qts of mustard dill speers( no garlic) and working on a bushel of Roma green beans.

By tonight, should have them all canned.....estimate 36 qts.

Another two 50 foot rows of Roma's about three weeks out. Lots of flowers on them and bees going wild.
 
For some reason, wife decided to start doing a little restock of the pantries today. Made the comment that the Market Basket was wiped out of paper towels again. Strange I tell you.
 
This is my first year to try potatoes. I was expecting to harvest in the fall. My leaves started turning yellow and the plants started laying over. I researched a bit and it averages between 60-75 days to harvest. Mine are about 68 days. I pulled up about a third of them last weekend and they are ready. I am going to harvest the rest and try canning all of them this weekend.
 
This is my first year to try potatoes. I was expecting to harvest in the fall. My leaves started turning yellow and the plants started laying over. I researched a bit and it averages between 60-75 days to harvest. Mine are about 68 days. I pulled up about a third of them last weekend and they are ready. I am going to harvest the rest and try canning all of them this weekend.

You could roll the dice and replant to see if you get two harvests. Even if you just grabbed a bag from the grocery store.
 
I had planned on raising rabbits starting next year but today my wife texted me from the back yard to come out quietly. I went out, she was sitting in her chair next to mine. Under my chair was this tasty little morsel, I mean cute fluffy bunny. She had been sitting there for close to 20 minutes watching my wife, two feet away from her. We have a ton of rabbits in the yard so not surprising to see one. There were three hawks circling almost directly overhead too. Anyway, I picked her up with no trouble and she's waiting for the new hutch to arrive. I'm going to see if I can put out a couple of small animal humane traps and catch a few more. Only problem is, my wife and son named this one. UGH. But, I don't care. We're going to have rabbits one way or another, and we're going to eat them. With gravy. On toast. In stew. On a spit. On the grill. Served with a delightful lemon butter sauce. Maybe even ground up into rabbit burgers.

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My daughter Pumpkin has two monster rabbits. I swear they're those welsh giants. I don't mean they're big. They're frigging HUGE.

I constantly send her recipes for rabbit stew, roast rabbit, rabbit ka-bobs... you get the picture.
 
UZI2 would you mind sharing your pickle recipe, I could never get them crisp enough for us.

How crisp are you looking for? It is the rind that remains crisp, the inside of the cuke will always be softer. Serving them COLD will always give you a crisper pickle.

I do not add any pickling lime which is what people add to crisp their pickles. I just don't process them in the hot water bath too long. I do about 7-8 minutes for quarts.
When refrigerated, they are plenty crisp enough for me.

Most people and recipies call for longer processing times.....it just makes mushy pickles. There is enough salt and vinegar and spices in the brine to prevent spoilage. Water bathing the jars just long enough to form a good vacuum seal is really all that is needed.

I don't follow any real strict recipe, I taste the brine, consisting of distilled white vinegar, pickling salt, water and a little sugar to take the bite off the vinegar.

For garlic dill spears I add a large sprig of fresh dill, ( or a 1/2 tsp of dill weed if I run out of fresh dill) two or three cloves of fresh garlic, 1 tsp of mixed pickling spice, 1/2 tsp of mustard seed, 1/2 tsp of celery seed and sometimes about three cloves of Jamaican Allspice.
I cut the spears, stuff the jars full, add the spices to each jar, then add the boiling vinegar, water and salt brine up to 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims, Cap the jars and hot water bath process for no longer than 8 minutes. Remove, let the caps pop and remove the rings.

In all the years I've been doing it, I've not had a mushy batch.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: A grape leave on top of the pickles will add some tannins that will keep the pickles more crisp, bit you will need to accomodate that in the headspace so the jar is not too full.
 
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This is my first year to try potatoes. I was expecting to harvest in the fall. My leaves started turning yellow and the plants started laying over. I researched a bit and it averages between 60-75 days to harvest. Mine are about 68 days. I pulled up about a third of them last weekend and they are ready. I am going to harvest the rest and try canning all of them this weekend.
Are you supposed to let them dry for a bit to allow the skins to toughen?
 
Are you supposed to let them dry for a bit to allow the skins to toughen?

If you want something like a baking potato, yes. The ones that I planted are Chieftan, which are thin skinned red potatoes. I am picking them before they get too huge to fit in jars. Small potatoes picked early are considered "new potatoes". Toughening the skins is for storing in a bin until ready to eat. That is what my father in law does.
 
Thanks! A grape leaf is all I ever used, maybe it was the time. I'll find out soon enough.

Maybe try two and maybe add a 1/4 tsp of sugar to offset the tannin taste a little, but yes reducing process time will definitely give more crunch.
 
Just prepped 5 gallons of sweet relish ingredients.

Cukes halved and deseeded, green bell peppers, red and orange sweet peppers( but mainly for looks), 4 bags of vidalia onions.

Everything processed (chopped in food processor )mixed together and salted then put in the fridge to desiccate overnight. In the morning, it is drained in colanders, ( and squeezed in cheese cloth if very wet) then put in the cooking pot with spices, sugar, cider vinegar, then brought to a boil and and cooked for about 10-15 minutes, then ladled boiling hot into sterilized pint jars, rims wiped then capped and its done.
Must be sure not to let the sugar to "candy".

I've made over 1000 pints of this relish over the past 23 years and never had one go bad or not seal.

EDIT: Added a bunch of spare parts to the AR parts inventory, 10 sets of new gas rings, 6 new firing pins, 10 firing pin retainer pins, 15 cam pins, 10 new extractors with extractor pins and springs, 10 #32 O rings, 6 ejectors with springs, 2 spare standard charging handles and 26 new steel Korean 30rd mags.

Yesterday I checked all my ARs for gas key clearance ( the two quarters trick as recommended by School Of The American Rifle) and added a quarter to a few of them behind the buffer spring. Regreased the BCGs and reassembled.
 
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After draining, the cooked batch of relish yielded 24 pints.

Amazing how much water comprises five gallons of cukes, peppers and onions.

Listening to the lids popping as I type. [smile] [thumbsup]
 
Are you guys retired? How the hell do you have time for any of this.

Time is always there, it depends how you use it.
I don't watch TV so that right there is many hours spent doing more constructive things.

List the things you do that take up your time then stop doing those things that give no return.
 
Are you guys retired? How the hell do you have time for any of this.
Thats what I ask when I see people out riding their motorcycles or going fishing all the time. With two jobs, a garden, a house, a wife + I don't have a lot of free time and when I do it's usually home improvements.
Cooking my first batch of beef and chicken right now. It's proving difficult to get the flame low enough to keep the pressure down and feel comfortable about walking away for more than two minutes. Our stove is glass topped gas and this whole setup of cooker and 16 pints is too heavy I think. I am using a propane cooker, what do others use?
 
Thats what I ask when I see people out riding their motorcycles or going fishing all the time. With two jobs, a garden, a house, a wife + I don't have a lot of free time and when I do it's usually home improvements.
Cooking my first batch of beef and chicken right now. It's proving difficult to get the flame low enough to keep the pressure down and feel comfortable about walking away for more than two minutes. Our stove is glass topped gas and this whole setup of cooker and 16 pints is too heavy I think. I am using a propane cooker, what do others use?

If you can't get the flame low enough, you are using too big of a burner. Once a pressure canner is up to pressure, the flame can be reduced to almost a flicker to maintain pressure.
Try a propane Coleman stove. Get it to pressure on your large burner then move it Coleman.
 
Thats what I ask when I see people out riding their motorcycles or going fishing all the time. With two jobs, a garden, a house, a wife + I don't have a lot of free time and when I do it's usually home improvements.
Cooking my first batch of beef and chicken right now. It's proving difficult to get the flame low enough to keep the pressure down and feel comfortable about walking away for more than two minutes. Our stove is glass topped gas and this whole setup of cooker and 16 pints is too heavy I think. I am using a propane cooker, what do others use?

I see what you're saying but you have to enjoy life too. You could die of Covid tomorrow and never get any use of your preps. Don't get me wrong I want to start prepping more but there has to be a balance.
 
I see what you're saying but you have to enjoy life too. You could die of Covid tomorrow and never get any use of your preps. Don't get me wrong I want to start prepping more but there has to be a balance.

Balance?

If you don't shift the benefit/balance continually into your favor 100% you are doing it wrong. There's no such thing as balance when in the end you are ill prepared and run out of food, water, shelter, guns, ammo, fuel, etc.

Prepping is not a one and done thing, it is a continuous lifestyle that encompasses many facets of living.

You could die anytime, that is not how preppers look at life......they "plan and prepare" to live with the least amount of interruption of their lives when things go sideways.

The problem non preppers have is the mindset of "Normalcy Bias". Tomorrow is not guaranteed to be just like today or yesterday. I always plan for the worst and hope for the best. People who suffer from normalcy bias never plan for anything and are always hoping for the best.......until they are caught with their asses swinging in the breeze.

Become more independent.......you'll only get there by shifting some of your priorities and planning towards the future and some dedication to it.
 
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Are you guys retired? How the hell do you have time for any of this.

I do a bunch of stuff while relaxing. Like reloading for instance. I can process rifle brass (resize&deprime/trim/crimp removal) while watching a favorite show or movie.

Any mindless task like that can be coupled with entertainment. I listen to a lot of podcasts. But I do it with a wireless headset while doing other things. Even when moving the lawn, I have my headset on learning something.
 
Have not checked back here in quite some time. Outstanding work All! It will be nice have other "Survivors" to Thrive with...~
~Enbloc
 
Finally bought a bunch of dries beans and lentils to supplement my canned stuff. Where is the best source for buckets, lids, mylar etc.. Amazon doesn't seem to offer much.
 
I saw Gamma lids at Tractor supply for a good price. Home depot buckets are food grade and they also sell a white bucket for a dollar more. It will probably cause a storm but I have read several pieces/ seen videos comparing mylar and vac pack bags with similar results, see what you can find.
 
Finally bought a bunch of dries beans and lentils to supplement my canned stuff. Where is the best source for buckets, lids, mylar etc.. Amazon doesn't seem to offer much.

Uline.....they ain't cheap but they have an excellent product line and fast shipping. All my preps are in mylar, nitrogen purged, O2 absorbers and in food grade buckets with gasketed lids.

Buckets don't really have to be food grade if you are using mylar liners, they're just convenient for carry and stacking and keeping most rodents from chewing on a bag.
 
What's nitrogen purged? First time I've seen that. Hoping to just sea mylar with an iron and have an o2 absorber in there. Also how do gallons transfer to lbs? The bags all seem to be by the gallon.
 
What's nitrogen purged? First time I've seen that. Hoping to just sea mylar with an iron and have an o2 absorber in there. Also how do gallons transfer to lbs? The bags all seem to be by the gallon.

A nitrogen purge, is putting a tube from a nitrogen tank with a regulator at about 2 psi into the bottom of the mylar bag with product in it. The nitrogen is heavy and fills up the bag displacing most of the air/oxygen within. A couple of O2 absorbers removes the rest in a couple of hours so you end up with little to no oxygen in the bag. It will actually draw the bag to a slight vacuum.

Gallons to pounds depends on the product. A 5gal bucket with mylar liner holds about 23-25 lbs of wheat. Don't worry about pounds, just go by volume.
 
I'm trying to divvy things up 5lbs or so at a time so I don't break open a whole 25lb bag of something at once. Or is that not a great idea?
 
Smaller portions are fine.

I was dealing with pallets of 50lb bags of assorted grains at the time.

Weigh out 5 lbs and see what cubic space it takes up. Buy appropriate size bags ( 5-7 mil thick if you can get them).
 
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