There hasn't been much activity here in the Great White North lately. I haven't been canning or dehydrating, but am more concentrating on basics like rice and pasta and sugar. My groceries are delivered Thursday afternoon and there will be things to repackage and put away. I repackage in Ziploc bags anything that comes packaged in cardboard or thick paper, like sugar bags. I haven't had a problem with bugs here, but past experience tells me bugs like paper or cardboard - plastic, not so much.
I am nearly finished writing out the old family recipes and some of the stories associated with them, for my kids. I still need to dive into my recipe box and find Mother's recipes for apple pie and peach pie.
Each summer Mother would make at least a dozen apple pies using apples from our very small orchard. Dad would bring home lugs of peaches from the grocery store and she would make about the same number of peach pies using part of the peaches and would can the rest. She stored the raw pies in the freezer, stacking them one on top of the other, forming towers of pies. We would bake them, one at a time, throughout the winter months. When her hands became too crippled from arthritis to be able to continue this practice, she turned that task over to me. To this day I love apple and peach pies. Making them - not so much. :)
Here in Minnesota, for the last day or so, we have had rain, sleet, snow - rinse and repeat. It is in times like these that I am more than happy I do not need to go outside. That will be especially true come the weekend when temps here are supposed to drop to single digits. Times like this I envy my friend in California who is picking oranges and grapefruit from the trees. :)
That's all I've got for now. Stay safe and warm.
Vicki~ My Mom made jams, jellies and canned the fruit from our trees in the backyard. Apple, Plum, Peach, Apricot and various Berries. Plus relishes and Zucchini grown from seeds from Alamogordo. We will be planting peas, mixed greens, cucumber, yellow and green squash in the protected part of the garden this weekend. Stay warm and dry, watch out for that new creeping crude out there. Red
ReplyDeleteRed...Here in the deep freeze of America, the fruits we can grow are limited. But grocery stores had boxes of all kinds of fruit, so we made jams and jellies and canned a variety. Dad did plant red raspberry bushes that grew delicious berries and in later years I planted strawberries. I would give nearly anything to be digging in the dirt just now. If the ground isn't frozen yet, it will be this weekend when we are supposed to see our first below zero temps. Perhaps the temps will freeze the latest crud. I know it does wonders for our mosquitoes. :)
DeleteWe haven't had much bad weather here in western WV so far, but I imagine our turn will come.
ReplyDeleteAnon...I hope the nasty weather misses you. WV is far too beautiful to be plagued with winter storms. :)
DeleteI'm between harvests on the oranges and grapefruit, Vicki, but am getting my share of lemons, limes, and pomegranates. The Fuerte avocados are just about ready for picking as well. That being said, the weather's been iffy here. We've had a couple of hard frosts, which isn't great for the citrus. So far, so good though. Out here in the Wild West rain is a blessing, and we actually got some a few days back. I know all about your weather though, having grown up on the East Coast and having been stationed in Alaska for several years in the Coast Guard. I can tell you though that your blood thins in the warmer climes. 30* here feels cold as the flipside of hell.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was stationed in Miami I found that the bugs have NO TROUBLE going through Zip-Loc bags! It was Tupperware or else down there. We occasionally have the same issues here at Rancho Whybother. We took to repackaging batter mixes and the like into Mason jars with oxygen absorbers, and using the vacuum sealer on them to suck the life out of anything that might be live in them. The larger quantity items like flour and sugar go into food grade buckets with Gamma Seal lids on them. So far, so good on those as well.
Glad to see you're taking a break from putting up food. Hope all else is well up in the Great White North! God bless!
Pete...Praying that the weather stays warm for the citrus harvest. With so many glitches in the food supply, we don't need another one. And the growers certainly don't need any more problems.
ReplyDeleteI meant to get back to you yesterday, but got busy with my grocery delivery. So far I am able to get all that I order with substitutions only in product brand or size. My delivery guy tells me that there are no bare shelves in the store so far, but some shelves are a bit thin of product. He mentioned canned soups in particular. And ordering meat or paper products kicks my bill into the stratosphere!
So far my method of storing dry foods is working. I haven't seen a bug in my apartment in the 25 plus years I have lived here. Perhaps the freezing temps in the winter keep the bug population at a minimum. Plus my landlord sprays around the outside of the building every year. I would love to have a better method for storage, but sometimes we need to work with what we have.
We are still having sleet during the day and snow at night. Next week we go into deep freeze weather. Time to dig out the insulated underware. :) Other than that all is well in the frozen north. Hope the same is true of the Wild West! God bless you and yours, Pete.
So far, our winter hasn't been unusual. The grovers are pretty well set with their wind machines. They've even developed and planted citrus hybrids that can take lower temps without having to turn the wind machines on. It's us little people who have issues with frost on the citrus. ...It's always good when they don't have to turn those wind machines on. We have a grove on the other side of the road, and a wind machine about 300ft from our house. When that thing turns on, it's like having the sheriff's helicopter hovering over the house all night!
DeleteIf Zip-Lok bags work for you, that's GREAT! Cheaper is ALWAYS better! We've found that the bugs come in with the product. Repackaging them in plastic also keeps the bugs from spreading out to everything else.
Meat is INSANE out here! Even CHICKEN has more than doubled in price! We're getting thin on chicken. We've managed to stay ahead of everything else. The store shelves are pretty well stocked... probably because no one can afford the stuff!
Stay warm and informed up there!
Pete...I am glad to hear that the crops where you are seem to be doing well. Although I doubt I would be thrilled with the helicoptor sounds so close! I used to buy a bag of a dozen oranges for not more than $4. A couple of weeks ago oranges were on sale for $1 each. Don't you just love it when those government types try to convince us that inflation isn't as bad as we think it is. A pox on them all.
DeleteI think I lied to you. There was an incident a few years ago when I had an infestation of little black bugs. I traced the source back to a one pound package of dry beans. I had left them in the original plastic bag type packaging. Once I tossed the bag of beans, the bugs disappeared. I am guessing some little black bugs laid eggs on that package while it was stored in a warehouse somewhere. I now get rid of nearly all original packaging.
Chicken prices here are nuts as well. I got a whole chicken a while back. Must have been lined with gold. One scrawny chicken cost me just about $15. Pete, I have come to believe that the powers that be are really trying to starve us out. I am forever grateful that I have been building up my food storage for several years. Those who think everything is just fine will find themselves in a world of hurt.
Take good care, my friend and may God richly bless you and yours.
I see you have become the latest conservative blog to be spammed, Vicki.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and yours have a blessed Christmas, Vicki. Be safe and stay warm.
LindaG...Those spaming fools have tried this before. "Delete" works really well. :)
DeleteWishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas. The outside here may be a bit nippy, but the inside is cosy.