Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Bruce]

Maybe in Texas I can put in a root cellar if there s none in the house.

You might need a tornado shelter anyway, just make it big enough to be a root cellar. If the twister comes through you won't have to worry if you have stocked emergency supplies!

And you are right, way back farming was a full time job (as it is now) and being the wife of a farmer was as well. Two people, two full time jobs.

 

[Baymule]

You canned goat milk? Did it taste as good as fresh? What pounds of pressure and for how long?

 

[greybeard]

Maybe in Texas I can put in a root cellar if there s none in the house.

Depends where you locate to. Many places, ground water level is too high almost all year long. Other places, it's dry as a bone but bedrock comes up nearly to the surface.

You have to be very careful emptying an in-ground swimming pool or even pumping out a septic tank....they'll float out of the ground or crack the bottom.

Even basements are a rarity. I don't think I've ever met anyone in Texas that ha a basement, tho I have seen several storm cellars out in the western part of the state as well as a couple of bomb shelters back in the 60s. (bomb shelters were a booming business for awhile.)

 

[Mike CHS]

That is a nice post but most of yours are.

 

[Ridgetop]

Do I need a tornado shelter? I thought the area of east Texas was out of Tornado Alley.

As to the canned goat milk, we used it for the calves and kids. We drank only fresh and didn't even pasteurize that. We would drink the morning milking at night and the evening milling in the morning. Leftover milk from either milking went for cooking or into the pasteurizer for the goat kids. We did pasteurize all milk we fed to the kids. I used to have 3 2 gallon pasteurizers going every morning and would do 2-3 pasteurizings each morning before picking up the children from preschool! I only pasteurized in the morning since evenings were too busy with homework, 4-H meetings, etc. I also used to put blue food coloring into the pasteurized milk before storing it in the fridge in gallon gas pickle jars so I wouldn't make any mistakes feeding the goat kids. If I ran out of fresh, the kids thought it was a hoot to drink blue milk!

I found the canning times in a WWII canning and food preservation book that was from my grandmother. I will look for it and post it. There were lots of canning times in it - nuts, meat, wild game, etc. Stuff that we just chuck in the freezer now had to be canned back then. I also have a recipe for keeping fresh eggs for at least 6 months by dipping them in some sort of liquid (I have a bottle of it in my cabinet from when I wanted to try it) and then packing the whole eggs in layers of sand. The little canning book had a picture of Uncle Sam on it and hints for a Victory Garden. My grandmother told me that they couldn't get beef during the war - it all went to the military. Instead they had to eat horsemeat. She said they ate less horsemeat because it was so rich it filled you up faster. Maybe like bison meat. I wish young people were learning these things in school.

 

[Baymule]

What a treasure you have in your Grandmother's WWII canning book. Take a picture of it and post it! That is interesting about the horsemeat.

We have tornadoes. We don't have a storm cellar, wish we did.

 

[greybeard]

Do I need a tornado shelter? I thought the area of east Texas was out of Tornado Alley.

https://www.cbs19.tv/article/news/a...exas/501-2a0c7ebc-6b53-4db2-bdb7-00928939cb68
Apr 29 2017. At least 3 BYH members' places are within confines of this map.

 

[Ridgetop]

OK. Found the booklet - the Kerr Home Canning Book, published in 1943, priced at $.10 ten cents, it was a special edition for war time. Inside the cover is a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt stating that "Food is no less a weapon than tanks, guns, and planes". It also states that "Planned food conservation for year round nutritious meals is a patriotic duty".

It even has a recipe for canning fish roe. Caviar, anyone?

To can milk, strain milk and cool to room temperature ("after all animal heat disappears"). Pour into clean Kerr jars to within 1/2" of top. Wipe top rim clean and put on lids screwing bands tight. Process in pressure canner at 10 lbs. pressure for 10 minutes, or 60 minutes in water bath.

I used the pressure canner since I wouldn't trust just a water bath canner for milk. Also I think the water might boil down in an hour and you would have to add boiling water which would mess up the timing.

There is also a recipe for canning brains. In case of zombie invasion they could be used to tempt the zombies away while you escape. (Actually, I used to make brains and scrambled eggs for DH years ago. they were one of his favorite meals.
I haven't seen brains available in markets in years, although our local market has pork stomachs, tripe, etc. It is an ethnic market and has really cool fruits and vegetables too. I had never seen a dragonfruit before but our market has them.

If anyone likes green tomato jam here is a recipe for Tomato Mince Meat:

1 1/2 pints peeled and chopped tart apples
1 pint chopped green tomatoes
1 lb. raisins
1/4 cup vinegar
3 cups sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cloves
1 cup suet
Mix all together and bring to rapid boil. Simmer until thick. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

This recipe doesn't give times or pressure. However, considering the sugar and vinegar content I think you could use a water bath canner. I would feel comfortable using the time for either tomatoes (35 minutes) or apples 25 minutes. Or find a similar recipe and use the pressure canner times.

For my Texas friends with pecan trees here is a recipe for canning pecans (or walnuts) using the oven to process:
Fill jars with shelled raw nut meats and process for 45 minutes for any size jar.

Pecans in the pressure canner:
After shelling pecans, melt 3 Tbsp. butter and add 1 pint of shelled pecans, stir I 1 Tbsp. salt, being careful not to get pecans too hot. Pac into jars, screw band on tight, process 30 minutes at 5 lbs. pressure.

I think I will just buy them at Costco.

 

[Ridgetop]

Thanks, greybeard!
If I can figure out how to print stuff off this website I will take this map to Texas when we come in the fall to check out where we plan to buy. Or not buy.

 

[greybeard]

Thanks, greybeard!
If I can figure out how to print stuff off this website I will take this map to Texas when we come in the fall to check out where we plan to buy. Or not buy.

You can see how many were in Tx from 2013 thru 2017
http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Texas/2017


(the numbers on the markers indicate F intensity, not quantity)
This is 2017: