I forgot to mention yesterday that in addition to saving the fat from the meat to make tallow, I also saved the water I used to pre-boil all my potatoes to use to make potassium broth and all the shells from the eggs I froze. I save the egg shells because they can be used to throw to the chickens to help boost the calcium for egg production (we also use oyster shell) or you can grind them into a powder and use to sprinkle around tomatoes to give them calcium that will prevent blossom end rot. As always, I saved all of my vegetable peelings in my compost bucket that goes out into my big compost tumbler in the yard that I use to amend my soil for each growing season. This morning I am finishing up my Easy Crusty Bread and making two loaves of slicing bread for the boys lunches this week. My yogurt came out thick and creamy! I may use some to make whey for fermenting beans and vegetables and make herbed yogurt cheese. I finally got out my manual hand mill I bought ages ago to try grinding wheat. It’s fun…and a workout. Maybe I will also bake some Honey Wheat bread to taste the fruit of my effort! My dehydrated potatoes were sealed in mason jars using my food saver. The food saver I have has an attachment you can buy to seal regular or wide mouth mason jars and it works great but is not a substitute for canning. I use jars instead of bags for the potatoes because if you seal them in bags they will crack into pieces. I still have 5# of beef jerky to make in my dehydrator now that my potatoes are done along with all my garden chores. It’s 70% chance of rain and is already 82 degrees outside so I’m not sure how much work I’ll get done. Wish me luck!
Flickr Photos
Sugar Creek Homestead 
Leave a comment