Canning at home can seem like a daunting task, especially if you've never done it before or didn't grow up in a household where canning was a regular activity. The process requires a bit of courage and the right equipment to start preserving your own foods safely and effectively. From personal experience, the journey to mastering home canning can stem from necessity, such as the need to control dietary restrictions, and morph into a rewarding hobby that offers both satisfaction and a plethora of homemade goods.
To begin canning, certain tools are indispensable. These include a quality canner that can accommodate both water bath and pressure canning methods, canning jars along with new lids and rings, essential canning tools like a funnel, jar lifter, and bubble remover, and labels to ensure everything is clearly marked with contents and date processed. It's essential to ensure that jars are free from nicks or cracks and that lids have an intact seal to ensure the safety and longevity of the canned goods.
Lastly, proper storage and adherence to approved canning recipes are crucial to the success and safety of your canning endeavors. Canned goods should be kept in a dark, cool place like a pantry, and older items should be used first to maintain freshness. By utilizing only approved and tested recipes, you safeguard against the potential risks of foodborne illnesses, ensuring that your home-canned foods are not only delicious but safe to consume. This beginning guide underscores the importance of preparation, quality supplies, and following safety guidelines to embark on your own canning journey.
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Creating nutritious meals from scratch starts with a well-stocked pantry, focusing on several key categories. Grains and dried legumes, such as wheat, oats, and rice, offer a versatile base for various dishes, from baked goods to soups and main courses. Fats and oils, including high-quality olive oil, coconut oil, and butter, are essential for adding flavor and nutritional value. Natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and molasses provide healthier alternatives to refined sugars, enhancing the flavor profile of homemade treats.
For those embarking on the journey of cooking and baking from scratch, maintaining a pantry filled with baking staples, meats and proteins, and a variety of fruits and vegetables is crucial. Ingredients such as baking powder, baking soda, yeast, and dried herbs and spices are indispensable. Seasonal fruits and vegetables enrich meals with optimal nutrition and flavor, while a stock of meats and proteins ensures a robust meal plan. Preserving these items allows for year-round enjoyment and convenience.
Incorporating convenience and comfort foods into the pantry ensures a balance between homemade meals and practicality for busy days. Canned goods, broth, and frozen vegetables simplify meal preparation without compromising quality. Meanwhile, stocking up on ingredients for comforting dishes like homemade soup, cookies, or bread provides nourishment and solace. A strategy of buying in bulk, preserving foods, and rotating stock ensures a pantry that supports healthy, homemade meals while minimizing waste.
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It's that time of year again...time to plan out your garden and get some seeds started. But, how do you know what seeds to get? Should you get any ole seed you come across? Or should you be picky and choose organic, non-gmo, heirloom...the list goes on.
When it comes to starting your garden, selecting the right seeds is crucial for a successful harvest. With so many options available, it can be overwhelming to decide which seeds are best suited for your needs. In this post, we'll look at the differences between organic, non-GMO, and heirloom seeds to help you make informed choices for your garden.
Organic Seeds:Organic seeds are harvested from plants grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. They are produced through natural methods that promote soil health and biodiversity. Choosing organic seeds ensures that your garden remains free from harmful chemicals, supporting both your health and the environment.
Non-GMO Seeds:Non-GMO seeds are not genetically modified organisms. They are grown from plants that have not been genetically engineered in a laboratory. By selecting non-GMO seeds, you can avoid the potential risks associated with genetically modified crops and support traditional breeding methods that prioritize natural diversity.
Heirloom Seeds:Heirloom seeds are open-pollinated varieties that have been passed down through generations. These seeds often have a rich history and unique characteristics, making them prized by gardeners for their flavor, appearance, and adaptability. By choosing heirloom seeds, you can preserve genetic diversity and cultivate plants with a connection to the past.
Hybrid Seeds:Hybrid seeds are created by cross-pollinating two different plant varieties to produce offspring with specific traits, such as disease resistance or high yield. While hybrids can offer certain advantages, such as uniformity and vigor, they do not produce seeds that reliably reproduce the same traits in subsequent generations.
Now that you know the difference between the different types of seeds, here are a few tips you can use for choosing seeds:
- Research Your Climate: Select seeds that are well-suited to your local climate and growing conditions. Consider factors such as temperature, humidity, and sunlight exposure.
- Read Seed Descriptions: Pay attention to seed catalogs or packaging labels for information on plant characteristics, such as maturity date, size, flavor, and disease resistance.
- Support Seed Diversity: Choose a variety of seeds to promote biodiversity in your garden and help preserve rare or endangered plant species.
- Consider Your Goals: Determine your gardening goals, whether it's to grow your own food, attract pollinators, or beautify your landscape, and select seeds accordingly.
- If you are gardening as a food source, also consider how many people you are growing for and how much you need to grow in order to have a years' worth of food per person.
Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, choosing the right seeds is essential for a successful and sustainable garden. By opting for organic, non-GMO, and heirloom seeds, you can support healthy ecosystems, preserve genetic diversity, and enjoy the rewards of homegrown produce bursting with flavor and nutrients. Happy gardening!
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Starting a homestead from scratch is not only possible, it's a journey that can begin with surprisingly humble beginnings. At its core, homesteading is about embracing a lifestyle of self-sufficiency, incorporating elements such as gardening, food preservation, and raising livestock. This lifestyle allows individuals to live in closer harmony with the land, regardless of whether they own it, highlighting the adaptability and resourcefulness that define the homesteading spirit.
The path to homesteading involves a thoughtful assessment of one's current resources and an alignment of priorities. Key considerations include the availability of land (owned or otherwise), space optimization, and identifying which aspects of self-sufficiency are most vital to start with, like food preservation or gardening. Future homesteaders are encouraged to cultivate a mindset of resourcefulness, leveraging community connections, repurposing materials, and remaining adaptable to overcome challenges and setbacks.
Embarking on a homesteading lifestyle is a step-by-step process that begins with an evaluation of personal goals and available resources, followed by a deliberate plan to develop the requisite skills and connections. Despite its challenges, homesteading offers a rewarding way to achieve a self-sufficient life. With patience and perseverance, anyone can make the transition towards becoming a successful homesteader, embodying resilience and a deeper connection to the environment.
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I was recently talking to moms at our homeschool co-op. A topic that kept coming up was homesteading. The thing that kept coming up was "I keep wanting to get into homesteading, but I don't know where to start"...then when they realize that my family is homesteading without owning our own land, the questions really start to flood in.
So, just how do you get started homesteading? Well, for my family it has been anything but "normal". Just like everyone else, we imagined we would first own our own land. But instead, we started with 12 possibly pregnant meat goats and 2 great pyrenees dogs. How? Well, there are actually a few ways to make this work.
1) if you know someone with a lot of unused land, they may let you use it to get started on.
2) look around your area and keep an eye out for large areas of land that need to be maintained. Find out who owns the land and see if they would be willing to let you lease it for your livestock. (you might be surprised at how well this can work!)
3) quickly purchase some land!
We are currently doing #1 but also looking into option #2 so that we can expand faster. Yes, we still want our own land. But with the economy like it is right now, it just isn't a good time to be buying land. And we certainly don't want to keep waiting to see our dreams come true.
Even if you aren't ready to jump into livestock. There are still some ways you can get started homesteading. Here's a short list of things you can do to help work your way into being a homesteading family. And you don't have to own your own land for these!
- backyard chickens (I'm setting these aside from livestock b/c they can be done right in town with minimal space)
- start a compost
- grow your own food (indoor and outdoors!)
- preserve your harvest (canning, dehydrating, freezing)
- save your seeds!
- bake bread
- have a sourdough starter
- make your own bone broth
- make granola for cereal or as a topping (I love this recipe!)
- make/use reusable paper towels (aka unpaper towels)
- make your own cleaners
- get into herbalism (even better if you grow your own herbs!)
- make your food from scratch
- make your own spice mixes, sauces, etc
- make your own fermented drinks (like Kombucha!)
- make your own dairy products (like yogurt!)
- buy meat, eggs, and milk from a local rancher
Learn from others (youtube, social media, books, etc). There are So many great homesteaders who started from the ground up. And chances are, they didn't all start out the same way. You are bound to find one you can relate to who you can learn from and follow.
Here are a few that I like to follow:
In addition to this I'd like to add that downsizing your home is a huge plus in homesteading. Let's face it, homesteading is a full-time, 24/7 "job". It will keep you super busy! So the less you have to do around the home (cleaning, organizing, digging for things you can't find), the better!
If you'd like some help in downsizing, I can certainly help you in the kitchen! Only keep what you need and organize it to best suit your needs...I can help you with that!
If you need help coming up with a plan on how you can get started homesteading now (regardless of your skills or amount of land), I can help with that too!!
Just contact me and we'll develop a plan for you that works!
But if you are looking to downsize your entire home, honestly, I'm still working on that. But I do have a great recommendation for someone who can help you!
Join our HomeGrown Homestead community—a place where we learn, grow, and share our homesteading journey together, fostering a bond of shared wisdom and experience. (everyone is welcome!)
Step into Lavender & Coffee: A Sip of Serenity, a haven for moms seeking support and community on their journey to fulfilling their roles as wives and mothers with grace and purpose.(for moms only)
