It's that time of year where we have big meals, fully bellies, and lots of left overs. A few years ago I started making turkey bone broth with the left over carcass. I have also canned turkey soup from the left over turkey meat. There have been a few years where we had an extra turkey that we just stored in the freezer, with the intent of pulling it out later and having a few more turkey meals. But, the reality is that it never happens that way. Every year I end up with another turkey in the freezer just waiting to be cooked. So this year I had the idea of just cooking them all...which happened to be almost 2 1/2 turkeys' worth of meat, bones, the works!
Yes, at one point I wondered what I was thinking with this brilliant idea I had. But now that it's all said and done, I'm glad I chose to just do it all at once. One big mess, then 3 rounds of canning, and I'm officially done with dealing with all that turkey!
Here's the breakdown of how that all worked:
We used 2 roasters. Each one had a full turkey in it (15ish pounds or more) and then one of them also had a turkey breast with the bone, so roughly another 1/2 turkey. We made our regular Thanksgiving day meal. Then we took all the meat off the bones to store in the fridge. With the carcasses, we used both roasters and made a few gallons worth of bone broth. I like to let mine brew at least 24 hours, usually closer to 48 hrs. I then take the broth and strain it into jars. Once the jars are cooled, I place them in the refrigerator for a day or so, so that the fat can rise to the top and I can easily scrape it off. I store the fat in another jar in the fridge to use in other meals.
While I'm waiting for my broth to chill, I usually make up a large batch of turkey soup (no noodles) and can it up for use throughout the year. This year I had about 3 canners worth of turkey soup. 19 quarts and 14 pints to be exact. And that's just the ones that canned properly. I ended up with 1 quart and 1 pint size jar that didn't seal properly. So they went into the fridge and we had them as a meal on another night.
Next up was canning the broth. I usually can it all in pint size jars because I rarely need more than 2 cups worth at a time. It's so concentrated that I usually dilute it and still have plenty of flavor. This year I decided to can both pint and half-pint sizes. I had 8 jars of each.
That may seem like a LOT of canned goods of the same thing, but I like to share! So my mom will get some, my daughter will have some to enjoy, and I'll probably even take a small jar of soup to my Granny. That's the joy of canning...everyone can benefit and enjoy it! And very little food has to go to waste! I love having a want not-waste not kitchen!
🌸 From my homestead heart to yours —
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
– Amanda | The HomeGrown Mom 🌾
For years I have been working towards decluttering and organizing my home. But I always got stuck. I'd go through a couple of boxes, get stuck, and push them aside again until next time. I'm not really sure what got into me this time around. But I have had the BEST progress I've ever had this time around.
I finally decided to tackle the storage area of our house, which just so happens to be in our master bedroom. We have no garage, because our master bedroom is in what used to be a 2-car garage. While it's amazing to have such a large area for our bedroom, it's not always so nice to not have that extra bit of storage space. I kept saying "just one more shelf and I can take care of this"...But this time, instead of saying that, I actually found myself with EXTRA space on my current shelves.
Here's the breakdown: 5, 5-shelf wire shelves (approximately 6ft tall), and lots of floor space covered with extra boxes, luggage, laundry baskets, you get the idea. On day 3 of decluttering, I was able to go through 3 of the shelf units (the other 2 have mainly tools and my husbands things). Between the 3 shelves and things on the floor, I was able to get rid of 1 big bag and several boxes (stacked within each other and other trash added) of trash. Not because it was all gross and nasty things we were hanging onto. But more so that it was things that we thought we'd fix or reuse somehow and I now finally realize that isn't going to happen. Another couple of bags and boxes to donate, and another 4 boxes of things to donate to our homeschool group. All together, that's well over 10 boxes of stuff. That's just crazy!
I still have a few things to go through. My brain hit it's limit and I needed to put a few things aside for next time. But, I now have a floor and even some room on the shelves. I'm so amazed at all I've been able to accomplish this time around.
If you’re in the middle of your own decluttering journey, don’t lose heart. Progress doesn’t always happen all at once—it happens one box, one shelf, and one small decision at a time. Give yourself grace, celebrate the victories (even the small ones), and keep going. You’ll be amazed how freeing it feels when you can finally breathe in your own space again.
🌸 From my homestead heart to yours —
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
If you’re walking this same journey of homemaking, decluttering, and creating a peaceful, faith-filled home, you’re not alone.
I’d love to share encouragement, simple living inspiration, and homestead wisdom with you — right to your inbox.
– Amanda | The HomeGrown Mom 🌾
