Even as summer draws to a close, our late season crops continue to produce amazing harvests. After a few soaking rains, I simply can't keep up with my pole beans! We plant the variety Blue Lake Pole Bean and use a cattle panel trellis to support the growth. Because we love fresh green beans (our favorite recipe is a simple sauté with sesame oil, soy sauce, and sesame seeds) we eat most of our harvest fresh from the garden. However, we try to preserve green beans for winter enjoyment with at least one of the following methods: canning, freezing, dehydrating, or fermenting. Four Ways to Preserve Green Beans Harvest Festival: Preserving Tomatoes, Green Beans, & Peppers Preserving … [Read more...]
How to Hang Onions for Storage
Many years ago, a friend taught me her method of hanging onions for storage. I tried it right away, and was hooked! This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to hang onions, because it only uses a rope, and the onions themselves. What I love most about this method is that you can easily see each and every onion, so you can keep track of any that are rotting. That is much more difficult when your onions are stored several layers deep in a basket! Before hanging, you'll want to make sure your onions are fully cured - I like to lay mine out in a shaded, covered, but well-ventilated location for two weeks or so, until the outer skins are papery and the stalks are fully dry. When you're … [Read more...]
How to Make Shrubs, or Drinking Vinegar
During a recent heat wave, Brian and I found that water was not replenishing our bodies or quenching our thirst. We did not have any of our homemade sodas on hand, so we searched through cookbooks to find a simple, refreshing drink that we could make with ingredients we had on hand. We found shrubs. Shrubs, or drinking vinegar, were popular during the 17th and 18th centuries, and have enjoyed a revival in recent years, not only in home kitchens but also in cocktails. A shrub can refer to a type of fruit liqueur, or a non-alcoholic beverage made from a sweetened, vinegar-based syrup. The addition of vinegar preserves the fruit syrup, and also adds a tangy and thirst-quenching quality. A … [Read more...]
How to Make Sauerkraut
One of the easiest fermented foods to make at home is sauerkraut. With only two ingredients - salt and cabbage - it's hard to get wrong, and the results are so delicious that you'll want to make it again and again. Check out this tutorial on how to make sauerkraut, and once you've mastered the basic recipe, try adding new vegetables, spices or herbs to make a more sassy flavored kraut. How to Make Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut 1) Start with the freshest cabbage you can find. Green or red head cabbage is perfect, but you can also use Napa cabbage. 2) Slice, grate, or food process your cabbage of choice. I like my sauerkraut on the chunkier side, so I use a knife to coarsely chop the … [Read more...]
How to Make Homemade Soda :: Three Herbal Recipes
When it's hot and we've been working in the garden or barn, the most thirst quenching drink we can imagine is something cold, sweet, and fizzy. A soda. Occasionally we find organic, all-natural sodas at the Amish bent and dent store and enjoy them as a treat, but in general we find them to be too sweet. Recently we've gotten in the routine of creating something even better: homemade sodas infused with herbs and flowers. They are among the most delicious beverages I've ever tasted, so today I'm going to share how to make your own homemade soda from herbs and edible flowers you might already have in your garden. How to Make Homemade Soda First off: there are naturally fermented sodas … [Read more...]
Lacto Fermented Garlic Scape Recipe
It's garlic scape season! Garlic scapes are the edible flower stalk of hard-neck garlic that shoot up in late May or early June. It is important to remove the scapes so the garlic plant can put its energy into developing beautifully big bulbs. (Check out my Ultimate Guide to Growing Garlic for more information on growing great garlic!) Luckily, garlic scapes are intensely flavored, delicious, and versatile, and taste wonderful in a variety of dishes, including this lacto fermented garlic scape recipe. Lacto Fermented Garlic Scape Recipe Ingredients 1 Quart brine (To make the brine: Add 2 TBSP salt to 1 Quart of water. Shake to dissolve the salt completely.) 15-20 Garlic … [Read more...]
Cilantro Pesto Recipe
Cilantro is one of those love it or hate it foods. You rarely come across someone who does not have a passionate response - either positive or negative - toward cilantro. Perhaps it's the soapy flavor that some people experience, or perhaps it's just that cilantro has a strong odor that really sticks with you. Personally, I love cilantro, and it's a staple in my garden, from spring through fall. The past few years I've been working hard to successively sow cilantro so we have it through the entire salsa season. This year, volunteer plants have popped up all over the garden, making cilantro growing effortless at last. I had to pull a few larger plants last weekend to make room for … [Read more...]
Foraging for Wood Nettles
One of the most delightful wild edibles in our forest is the wood nettle (Laportea canadensis). While similar to the more widely known stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), my experience is that wood nettles are far superior as steamed and sauteed greens. With their bright green color, and asparagus-like flavor, they taste like the very essence of Spring. Foraging for Wood Nettles Wood nettles like full or partial shade, and are most often found in bottomlands or in hardwood forests. Our largest stands are at the lowest point of our forest and nestled among oaks and black walnuts on a north-facing slope. Although our neighbor, Mike, first introduced us to the wood nettle a few years ago, it … [Read more...]
How to Bake in a Solar Oven
When we first moved to NE Missouri, we purchased a Sun Oven brand solar oven. It came highly recommended by our friends and neighbors, and we were able to do a group purchase for a small discount. Three years later, I can say with certainty that it is one of the most useful tools on our off-grid homestead. In this post I'll share my best tips on how to bake in a solar oven so you feel empowered to give it a try! Why bake in a solar oven? Because we do not have an oven in our home, we use our solar oven year-round, as often as possible. It allows us to bake, roast, dehydrate, and heat with great ease. Even if you have a home oven, I would still recommend making or purchasing a solar … [Read more...]
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