Already Growing your Veggies! Pressure Can Them!

If you're already growing your own food and haven't yet delved into the preserving world of pressure canning and water bath canning, you're really missing out on a great opportunity.

In addition to saving money by preserving your hard-earned harvest, a pantry full of jars of food will give you confidence that your family will stay safely fed through these current uncertain times.

Here is a great list of items you'll need to get you started.

First, to learn the basics of pressure canning, a good book like this one is very important.

There are some essential kitchen appliances that you will need to get started. The cost of some of these items may seem a bit daunting at first, but the investment will be well worth it.

First, you will need a pressure canner. NOT a pressure cooker, but a pressure canner. A pressure canner is used to cook, sterilize, and preserve low-acid foods that are to be canned for future use.

Pressure Canner

Another way to can food is by using a water bath canner. This is a large pot with a jar rack. It is used with all high-acid foods. High-acid foods include all fruits, jams, jellies, pie fillings, pickles or condiments, and tomatoes with added lemon juice.

Water Bath Canner

You will need a good supply of canning jars, lids, and rings. These three items come together in a case of canning jars.

You cannot use just any jar in canning food. Canning jars are specially designed to withstand the high temperature of steam pressure processing and the low temperature of freezing. These jars will be labeled as canning and/or freezing jars.

Canning Jars

These jars come in a variety of sizes, most commonly found are:

Pints.

Pint jars are great for just about anything you want to add to them for smaller portions.

Quarts.

Quarts are a great family-size jar. They are ideal for canning whole fruits and vegetables like peaches and green beans, or for just for canning larger portions.

Half Pint or Jelly Jars

Half Pints. This small size is great for creating gifts or small batches of jams, jellies, or preserves. Some smaller or cut vegetables may fit in these jars if using a wide-mouth canning jar.

Canning jars also come in what’s known as “regular mouth” and “wide mouth” jar openings. The only difference is the size of the jar opening.

You can sometimes find some canning jars at thrift stores, or maybe you have a relative that no longer does canning and has a stash of jars. If you find some of these older canning jars, you may need to buy lids and rings to go with those jars.

Canning Jar Lids and Rings

There are reusable lids available now that are called “Tattler” lids that are made in the USA. They also come in sizes suitable for both wide mouth and regular mouth jar sizes. You can use these with pressure canners, water bath canners, and vacuum sealers.

Tattler Lids

There are also plastic lids for canning jars for use in storing the jars in the fridge after they've been unsealed.

Plastic lids that fit canning jars

You will need various kitchen utensils to make your canning projects easier. You can buy a kit of items like the one below that has most if not all of the items you will need.

Utensil Kit

Or you can purchase items separately. You will need:

Funnel that fits jar openings

Ladels

Jar Lifter

Other supplies you may need, depending on the types of food that you intend to can, are:

Pickle Crisp (for pickling veggies and pickles)

Citric Acid, commonly used for home canning tomatoes

Canning Salt (Not regular salt)

Real Fruit Pectin for homemade Jam and Jelly recipes.

5% Vinegar You will probably use large amounts of this. Vinegar is used in the pressure canner to prevent minerals from hard water from building up on the jars or on the inside of your canner. Vinegar is also used along with water to fill jars of some foods to be processed.

5% Vinegar

There are also seasoning packets available for use in canning like salsa tomato mixes, pickle mixes, potato seasonings, etc. Mrs. Wagers' brand is very popular with canners.

Mrs. Wagers' Packets

So what are you waiting for? Learn to pressure can and water bath can and start saving money on food and getting some much-needed food security!

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Ten Steps For Vegetable Garden Success

Ten Steps to Veggie Garden Success

Successful gardening doesn't come by accident, and in my opinion, there is NO SUCH THING as a green thumb. Success comes from good pre-planning and thoughtful follow-through. It's knowing what each vegetable plant needs to grow to a successful harvest and giving each plant what it needs.

Monetizing Your Homestead to Market Success

by Lance Cody-Valdez

You’ve got a homestead you can be proud of and have plenty of homemade products that you know people would be willing to buy, ranging from soap to cheese to woodcrafts and more. The only problem is getting your products out on the open market!

If you’re looking to monetize your hobby farm, look no further—this guide from The Homestead Village Blog will break down everything you need to know about monetizing your farm’s products from start to finish.

Establish Your Business

Planning to sell goods means planning to operate a business. It’s important to consider forming your business as an LLC—it reduces your personal liability and provides tax advantages. While this can be costly using the services of an attorney, you can save on cost, time, and paperwork by using a formation service online. Each state has different requirements, so be sure to check them before going forward.

Create a Brand

Firstly, you need a brand that your future customers can associate with your hobby farm. If you don’t have one already, make sure your farm has a unique name. Add some signs to the farm and any place where you think you might invite customers to do business in person.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to start an online website for your hobby farm. Make sure to register a domain name and website title that is similar to the physical name of your hobby farm.

By building a brand, you’ll ensure that no one forgets where they bought that excellent homemade chair or delicious goat cheese from, setting yourself up for future profits and success later down the road.

Marketing Your Goods

After creating an iconic brand, you'll need to market your goods so people know that they can buy from you! Marketing in this day and age is best undertaken as a mix of in-person and digital marketing.

In-person marketing can include:

Putting up posters in your local community
Putting ads in your local newspaper
Setting up signs on the road around your hobby farm

Digital marketing means:

Using digital ads, like Google Ads, to advertise to locals in your area
Creating a top-tier website to make it easy to order your products online

As you market your goods, be sure to emphasize:

What you sell and your products' prices . What makes your hobby farm unique? Is it the atmosphere, the types of products you offer, or specific aspects of your products, such as a unique flavor of food?

Collaborate with Graphic and Web Designers

As you draw up a marketing campaign for your homesteading business, it might be wise to branch into online marketing. If you make a website to sell your goods or want to come up with creative, attractive online ads, odds are you'll need to speak to a graphic designer or web designer.

Hire a graphic or web designer with a strong portfolio and examples of their prior work. That will give you an idea of whether they’ll be good for your entrepreneurial endeavor or if you should find someone else.

Once you find someone, be sure to communicate with them regularly. As you swap ideas, compress any JPG files to email important information or design ideas back and forth.

Selling Products for a Profit

As your marketing train leaves the station, you'll need to ship your products efficiently. That may mean enlisting the assistance of a shipping company to get your products to online buyers.

Alternatively, you can sell your hobby farm products in town by having a “shipping day” once per week. You can take orders all week, then load up your truck or car with all the products you sold to ship them to customers or to meet buyers in person if the customers are from your local community.

As you sell your products, be sure to keep a detailed record of each profit or loss. Good accounting is the hallmark of a steady business no matter the industry!

Be the Homesteading Hero You’ve Always Wanted

At the end of the day, selling your hobby farm products is more than possible: it’s profitable! As you reach greater success, you can take those profits and put the money back into your farm to expand their operations. Who knows? In no time at all, you might be running a bustling entrepreneurial enterprise from your backyard!

This article is brought to you by The Homestead Village Blog. Homesteading is a journey, an adventure, and an ever-evolving quest to make our homesteads more beautiful, run more efficiently, and be the haven that we've dreamed of creating for ourselves and our families. For more information, please visit my website today!

Seed Growing Set-Up

Affordable Seed Starting Setup

Okay. $908 for a four-shelf "plant growth cart"? Saw it on Amazon. Yes, it has the lights attached, it's conveniently on rollers, and it's ready to use. But $908?

After spending way too long searching for a seed starting setup that wouldn't completely break the bank, I decided that it was worth the time to put one together myself, and I'm really glad I did.

Why Birds Aren't Using Your Birdbath

It’s been said that birdbaths attract more birds than bird feeders do. I believe that may be true as I know plenty of people who have several feeders but no birdbaths in their yard and they are wondering where their bird visitors are.

If you have a birdbath that is open for business but no feathery customers are visiting, you may find the reason below.

This article presumes that you are familiar with the basics of making projects with hypertufa. If you aren’t familiar with the process, or just need a refresher, go to our Hypertufa 101 article with step by step hypertufa-making instructions, by clicking here.

I have made several hypertufa projects and by far my favorite mold for making planters is wicker baskets. They can readily be found for a few bucks at second-hand shops so I don’t worry that they will be destroyed by the process.

When you firmly push the hypertufa mix into the wicker basket’s cracks and crevices, the final look has a basket imprint which I find hard to match by any other method.

Types of Wicker Baskets

The thickness and strength of the wicker basket is important. Baskets that are thicker with a tighter weave will give you the deepest imprint on the final project but will be more difficult to de-mold later.

Recipe for Wicker Basket Planters

The common mix recipe of one part Portland Cement, one part peat moss and one part vermiculite or Perlite works well for small to medium planters.

Building on the Inside of the Basket

The above wicker heart was used as a mold to build the hypertufa on the inside. It will be a small planter just big enough for a mini hosta or sedum.

Wicker Baskets are generally used as inside molds so that beautiful wicker design is imprinted on the outside of the planter. It’s important to firmly press those hypertufa meatballs into the basket.

Here's a thicker basket filled with hypertufa.

DeMolding from a Wicker Basket

There are a few things you can do to make de-molding the project from the wicker basket easier.

Greasing the inside of the basket with Vaseline or cooking spray before adding the hypertufa mix is one way.

A trick I have learned is to vertically slice one area of the basket from the top to the bottom. Then place some duct tape over the slice to hold the basket steady while you build.

When it's time to demold, pull off the tape and begin the slow process of demolding at the area that you previously sliced open.

There are few garden projects that are as easy and rewarding as making hypertufa garden art and planters.

If you haven't tried it yet, read our Hypertufa 101 and get started! You'll be hooked in no time.

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Making Seed Tapes

I used to think making seed tapes was a waste of time and I didn’t understand why gardeners would spend time making them.

That was until I was at my wit’s end trying to thin out carrot seeds that I had direct sown. I find it nearly impossible to get the spacing right on those tiny seeds. So I tried the seed tape thing and made enough of them to fill a four by eight foot raised garden bed.

The result? The carrots germinated with just the right spacing – NO THINNING! I was sold.

Don't Cut Corners in your Veggie Garden!
You Can Be Frugal and Successful!

There are a lot of ways to cut corners in the garden to save money. Buying garden supplies such as containers, watering cans, etc from a second-hand store is one way. Building your own raised garden beds or trellises is another.

Feeding Bread to Wild Birds

Generally, bread is not safe to feed birds on a regular basis, and the general category of “bread” for this article includes any bread-like product including buns, bagels, crackers, chips, etc.

Zebra Finch

Choosing the Best Birdbath

We all prefer birdbaths that add beauty and whimsy to our yards, but the birds themselves may be looking for something else, things that were designed for them in mind.

Seven Best Annuals for Veggie Gardens

Gardens can tend to look rather bland and can be more practical than beautiful. The addition of beautiful flowering plants can bring back the beauty that every garden deserves. Using the right annual plants strategically will not only bring the garden back to life visually but can help your veggies stay healthy and pest free.