VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Aug 20, 2015 8:56:35 GMT 10
BTW, we have never felt the need to add salt to taste; whatever comes out of the canner tastes just fine without it. We must admit that the our canner has been one of the best 'investments' we've made. Looking forward to putting away more veg in jars as frozen tastes poop in comparison.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Aug 20, 2015 8:45:51 GMT 10
Shinester, the above link is also who I deal with (aka New Generation Preserving), and they are very accommodating especially with getting good freight rates to the boonies.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Aug 17, 2015 21:40:15 GMT 10
Opened two jars of duck and one of potatoes (both processed via the raw-pack method in my All American canner a couple of months back) the other night and boy, the duck was like the best duck confit we'd ever tasted and the spuds were also superb. All hail the pressure canner, eh? The reason for the two jars of duck is that we chucked in half a duck in each, but it was soooo good smelling as I opened the first that I raced out to the shed and got another one Wife says buy bigger wide-mouth jars and breed more ducks for canning. Not sure a goose would fit, though lol. New Generation Preserving have given me a pretty good quote for freight on a bulk order of jars so may just lay out some coin and stock up. Veg.
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Post by VegHead on Aug 10, 2015 16:43:58 GMT 10
Has anyone done any in-depth research into cold press juicers (for maximum juice and nutrient extraction)? I'm terribly overwhelmed with all the hype each company has in it's advertising and for the cost a what presumably would be a good unit ($400+) a purchase I'm not going to make lightly. (I'm tending towards a Optimum 600 at the moment.)
Looking forward to any and all replies.
Veg.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jun 7, 2015 9:17:26 GMT 10
I'm with you Gray; our daily life revolves around our wood burning stove and all the connotations that go with running one Up early this morning to stoke her up, the hot water for our morning cuppas provided from a Thermos from last night's hot water, then on the stove-top goes the chook and pig's morning grains (we heat the chook food to keep them on the lay during winter). Next to the stove sits a glass plate that holds two frozen venison shanks defrosting for tonight's dinner; they'll go in the low oven for slow cooking later this afternoon. Then a big stock pot of water will sit on the cook top for most of the day and will provide our washing up water, and next to that there is always a kettle on the boil.. Also, there'll be a big pot next to it, being stirred and fussed over - this will be potato and leek soup which will be cooked and then ladled into jars for pressure canning later this evening. Of course, the heat source for the canning will be the wood stove. All praise the wood stove hahaha.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jun 6, 2015 9:41:03 GMT 10
Shinester, Could you please explain what you mean by 'moving the problem a little wider?' Cheers.
Another great book for nutrient recycling is "HUMANURE HANDBOOK" A GUIDE TO COMPOSTING HUMAN MANURE. Might even be a source for your bio-gas? If I remember correctly, Geoff Lawton did a video on a farm bio-digestor that I thought was rather good.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jun 5, 2015 20:28:13 GMT 10
Yah need a hothouse Jay lol.
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Post by VegHead on Jun 5, 2015 19:04:02 GMT 10
1. De stink pets. A handful rubbed on your dog’s coat neutralises the lingering odour. 2. Hide stains on paving. By sprinkling ash directly on the spot. 3. Enrich compost. Before the organic compound gets applied to soil, enhance its nutrients by sprinkling in a few ashes. Adding too much, though, ruins the mix. 4. Block garden pests. Spread evenly around garden beds, ash repels slugs and snails. 5. Melt ice. It adds traction and deices without hurting soil or concrete underneath. 6. Control pond algae. One tablespoon per 1,000 gallons adds enough potassium to strengthen other aquatic plants that compete with algae, slowing its growth. 7. Pump up tomatoes. For the calcium-loving plants, place 1/4 cup right in the hole when planting. 8. Clean glass fireplace doors. A damp sponge dipped in the dust scrubs away sooty residue. 9. Make soap. Soaking ashes in water makes lye, which can be mixed with animal fat and then boiled to produce soap. Salt makes it harden as it cools. 10.Shine silver. A paste of ash and water makes a great nontoxic metal polisher. 11. Put it in the chickens’ dust baths (or give them a dust bath yourself). 12. Used in small quantities in your compost barrel, to deodorize and balance the alkaline pH. 13. Wood Ash is a good water purifier.
Veg.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Jun 5, 2015 16:46:33 GMT 10
We may barter some of the honey but generally it satisfies our own needs. One hive is more than enough for two people, well for us anyway.
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Post by VegHead on Jun 5, 2015 15:13:42 GMT 10
And here's a pic of the hive with the roof on. One day we hope to have more than just this one
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Post by VegHead on Jun 5, 2015 15:12:07 GMT 10
Here's a wee pic of our Kenyan Top Bar hive being inspected by my wife. The best book on the subject is Top-Bar Hive Beekeeping: Wisdom and Pleasure Combined by WA Mangum. I know, yet another Yank book, but this one is worth it's weight in you-know-whatsits.
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Post by VegHead on Jun 5, 2015 10:00:58 GMT 10
Hi Shinester, I believe this new book due for release may contain many of the answers to the questions you have asked in the above threads: Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening Innovative Techniques for Growing Vegetables, Grains, and Perennial Food Crops with Minimal Fossil Fuel and Animal Inputs
"Society does not generally expect its farmers to be visionaries." Perhaps not, but longtime Maine farmer and homesteader Will Bonsall does possess a unique clarity of vision that extends all the way from the finer points of soil fertility and seed saving to exploring how we can transform civilization and make our world a better, more resilient place.
In Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening, Bonsall maintains that to achieve real wealth we first need to understand the economy of the land, to realize that things that might make sense economically don't always make sense ecologically, and vice versa. The marketplace distorts our values, and our modern dependence on petroleum in particular presents a serious barrier to creating a truly sustainable agriculture.
For him the solution is, first and foremost, greater self-reliance, especially in the areas of food and energy. By avoiding any off-farm inputs (fertilizers, minerals, and animal manures), Bonsall has learned how to practice a purely veganic, or plant-based, agriculture—not from a strictly moralistic or philosophical perspective, but because it makes good business sense: spend less instead of making more.
What this means in practical terms is that Bonsall draws upon the fertility of on-farm plant materials: compost, green manures, perennial grasses, and forest products like leaves and ramial wood chips. And he grows and harvests a diversity of crops from both cultivated and perennial plants: vegetables, grains, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and nuts—even uncommon but useful permaculture plants like groundnut (Apios).
In a friendly, almost conversational way, Bonsall imparts a wealth of knowledge drawn from his more than forty years of farming experience.
"My goal," he writes, "is not to feed the world, but to feed myself and let others feed themselves. If we all did that, it might be a good beginning."- See more at: www.chelseagreen.com/I know I'll be getting a copy!!!Also, one that I am reading now is The Nourishing Homestead (A Practiculture Way to Grow Nutrient-Dense Food, Produce Healthy Fats, and Live the Good Life) by Ben Hewitt. Granted, almost my entire library on such titles are American, simply because we don't do books here very well with our limited population. That said, authors such as Handreck, French, Coleby and Bennett (and Cundall to a degree) are not to be sneezed at. The best of the Yank stuff is still being written and published - they are finally changing their ideologies towards their food, society, etc. Exciting times in the print world! On another thread, about building and keeping nutrients in the soil we practice Actively Aerated Composts Teas, Composting, Manure Teas, Green Manuring, Animal Manuring and Humanure (yes, my wife even squats in the veg patch for a urine hit!), with very little outside stuff brought in and NO manufactured fertilisers at all. What is produced on our plot stays on the plot also. Veg. And as a late EDIT: John Jeavons and his French-inspired Biointensive Methods are brilliant but be warned that you can 'burn out' your soil very, very quickly if you muck up this way of intensive gardening. I follow a number of his principles and they do indeed work, but requite a lot of work (watering three times a day as an example) so not for everyone. Carol Deppe's Resilient Gardener is another book that I cannot recommend highly enough; it is based on veg growing in hard times (injury, unemployment, droughts, etc) and focusses on the five main food staples. There's just so much info out there and so little time to augment the words to action. Oh well, not dead yet so must keep trying
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Post by VegHead on Jun 4, 2015 7:59:09 GMT 10
Harvest once per year, but this is a new hive and thus is still in the 'foundation' stage Last hive we did, a conventional type, yielded 22kgs. Those are good yields above Shiny.
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Post by VegHead on Jun 3, 2015 21:10:47 GMT 10
Hey Joey, we one of those Kenyan Top Bar bee hives shown in your first thread post and they are really fab.
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Post by VegHead on Jun 3, 2015 19:58:27 GMT 10
Excellent video Joey.
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Post by VegHead on Jun 3, 2015 10:28:47 GMT 10
Bio-gas? No you've got me thinking!!!
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Post by VegHead on May 29, 2015 18:29:02 GMT 10
+1
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My BOV
May 20, 2015 16:22:00 GMT 10
Post by VegHead on May 20, 2015 16:22:00 GMT 10
Cheers Frank.
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Post by VegHead on May 19, 2015 17:24:10 GMT 10
Yeah, me too with that song. However, I believe too that we are in for a big fall.
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Post by VegHead on May 19, 2015 17:01:27 GMT 10
No argument from us… our main car is a Suzuki Alto and we've even chucked sheep in the back lol. But you did ask for pics(?) of BOVs. ps: most of our long range hol/trips have been done in the Alto to save money, the 4wd is only used when really necessary because we're tight-arses
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