Tag: DIY

Growing potatoes in reusable shopping bags


I was chatting with my friend Amy awhile back, and she expressed a curiosity about growing potatoes in a grow bag. Of course, curiosity is contagious so I had to do a little research of my own. What I found out was that potato grow bags were a little pricey, to me anyway. So I researched a little more. Didn’t want to use garbage bags or trash cans or tires. Then I realized that I could use landscaping cloth and sew up a few, but I didn’t need to buy as much as was in the package, not for an experiment. If I spent that much I might as well buy the grow bag! So I hit on maybe using my reusable HyVee grocery bag, its black and approximately the same dimensions, just square not round, but its porous! And only cost $.99!

So, off to Earl May garden store, picked up 6 seed potatoes, on sale.

Folded down the sides at least 4 inches, filled with soil, and planted 7 “eyes” of my potatoes.

Covered them with 3″ of soil, and watered thoroughly.

We’ll see how this goes, I planted so many in each bag so in case a few questionable “eyes” don’t open.

When the plants are 8″ tall, I will add more soil, then add more again when there’s another 8″ of growth.

Who moved my cheese?

Last fall, I signed up for a cheese class at Prairieland Herbs with my friend Amy. I was a little apprehensive, wasn’t making cheese hard? I mean, all that measuring and temperatures and rennet? Wasn’t rennet hard to get and didn’t rennet fail sometimes and then bye bye milk?

Weeeelll, this cheese class cleared up all those myths and more!

Miss Effie (aka Cathy Lafrenz) is a great teacher, no pressure, and lots of fun. Plus she knits, bakes, quilts, and spins and basically if its DIY, she’s all over it!

I used Picket Fence whole milk (3%) in class and made a luscious ball of cheese. I used 1% this time, and made a nice lowfat ball of cheese.  So use the milk your diet will allow.

(You will want to use an instant read thermometer, trust me)

Beginning to curdle.

Heat one gallon of milk to 55 degrees, add 1 1/2 tsp citric acid crystals dissolved in 1/2 cup non-chlorinated water.
It will begin to curdle.

Adding rennet.

Heat it a bit more, to 90 degrees, then add 1/4 tsp liquid rennet (a coagulating agent, from animal or vegetable source), mixed with 1/4 c cool non-chlorinated water, and continue to cook to 100-105 degrees, it will curdle even more, and begin to separate, that watery liquid is the whey. Be sure to check the temp of the whey too, not just the curds.

When it reaches 100-105 degrees, turn off the heat and wait until it begins to solidify and pull away from the sides, about 5-15 minutes, or more, your experience may vary dependent on the milk and the rennet and any other unseen things that are out to get you that day.
When the whey is clear (if the whey is still milky, keep waiting until it clears) the curds will be shiny, thick, clumpy clods, then pour your curds gently into a colander and drain. You may choose to save the whey to use in baked goods, soups, it does still contain many nutrients.

Draining curds. Drain your cheese well, gently pressing out all the whey, heating and squeezing.

Place the curds into a microwaveable bowl and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute on high, take it out and squeeze out more whey and stretch it. Use a wooden spoon as its hot, or use your hands if you like pain. Heat it again for 35 seconds on high, and repeat the squeezing and stretching. Do that one more time. Now is the time to add some sea salt if you choose, just sprinkle on and knead it in.

Fini!!

As you stretch and knead, begin to smooth it into a ball, if it breaks instead of stretching, reheat for 35 seconds again.
When it looks smooth and shiny and feels like a solid ball of cheese, its done!

I highly encourage you to take a class, I’m not sure I would have been successful the first time on my own if I hadn’t taken a class. But if you don’t have access to a teacher or a class, then just go for it. Use whole milk for your first time, but don’t use ULTRA pasteurized, I’m told it won’t work. Whole milk will give you a lovely product, exactly what you want the first time out.

Homemade Mozzarella
Recipe Type: Cheese
Author: Merry Amann
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 30 mins
Last fall, I signed up for a cheese class at Prairieland Herbs with my friend Amy. I was a little apprehensive, wasn’t making cheese hard? I mean, all that measuring and temperatures and rennet? Wasn’t rennet hard to get and didn’t rennet fail sometimes and then bye bye milk? Weeeelll, this cheese class cleared up all those myths and more!
Ingredients
  • 1/4 tsp liquid rennet
  • 3/4 cup cool, chlorine-free water (most bottled waters are chlorine-free)
  • 1 gallon milk (2%, 1%, or skim)
  • 1 1/2 tsp citric acid
  • Salt, optional
Instructions
  1. Heat one gallon of milk to 55 degrees, add 1 1/2 tsp citric acid crystals dissolved in 1/2 cup non-chlorinated water. It will begin to curdle.
  2. Heat it a bit more, to 90 degrees, then add 1/4 tsp liquid rennet (a coagulating agent, from animal or vegetable source), mixed with 1/4 c cool non-chlorinated water, and continue to cook to 100-105 degrees, it will curdle even more, and begin to separate, that watery liquid is the whey. Be sure to check the temp of the whey too, not just the curds.
  3. When it reaches 100-105 degrees, turn off the heat and wait until it begins to solidify and pull away from the sides, about 5-15 minutes, or more, your experience may vary dependent on the milk and the rennet.
  4. When the whey is clear (if the whey is still milky, keep waiting until it clears) the curds will be shiny, thick, clumpy clods, then pour your curds gently into a colander and drain.
  5. Place the curds into a microwaveable bowl and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute on high, take it out and squeeze out more whey and stretch it. Use a wooden spoon as its hot.
  6. Heat it again for 35 seconds on high, and repeat the squeezing and stretching. Do that one more time.
  7. Now is the time to add some sea salt if you choose, just sprinkle on and knead it in.
  8. As you stretch and knead, begin to smooth it into a ball, if it breaks insteads of stretching, reheat for 35 seconds again. When it looks smooth and shiny and feels like a solid ball of cheese, its done!

 

Oops…I sprouted!!

I love the New Year.  Its a good time to wipe the slate clean, put the past behind and start something fresh.  Like many people, I have a list of things I would like to do in this new year, not resolutions, but goals, very fluid goals.  I must not have set my goals too high, as I have accomplished three things on my list already, that’s okay, I discovered a few more to add.

One new thing I’m doing is growing sprouts.  Sue Schumacher, a fellow Coop-er and friend, turned me on to these right about the turn of the year, December 30, to be exact.  So I sent off an order to Sprouthouse.com, and received my Easy Sprouter and 2lbs of seeds, because I didn’t trust what their Holiday salad mix was, and began sprouting right away.  I ordered a pound of seed mix containing alfalfa, clover, radish and broccoli.

 

The directions were meandering, as in, I was looking for 1., 2., 3 etc.  So thank goodness for the internet and Google.com, lots and lots of info out there.  Sproutpeople.com, has the best information.

1.  Rinse the Easy Sprouter and all the lids and insert.

2.  Put the flat-ish bottom seed insert into the perforated inner vessel and snap into place then put the whole thing into the solid outer vessel.

3.  Pour 1/4 c of seed mix into it, and fill with room temperature water.  Let soak for at least 6 hours.

4.  Pour off some of the water, then take the inner vessel and try to get as much moisture out of it as possible.  I held it in my sink and shook briskly  down until no more drops of water fell.

5.  Tap the vessel until seeds spread out and coat the bottom third.

6.  Put back into outer vessel, rotate until its sitting up and off the bottom, cover with the dome cover and let sit away from heat and bright lights.

7.  At least twice a day, rinse  with room temp or cool water, then soak the seeds for 5-10 minutes, take care to shake the seeds dry when done soaking and rinsing.

8.  In about 3 days, you should have sprouting action, keep soaking and rinsing until the sprouts are the appropriate length for eating and have grown tiny little leaves.

9.  Your sprouts will be white and the leaves pale pale green.  Sue said to up the nutritional value, green them up by exposing them to light for about 8 hours, you will do this after they get leaves and right before you put them in the fridge.

Sprouted!!

I was able to store mine in the fridge in the container, I just made sure that it was as dry as I could get it, too much moisture and you basically are making food for the composter.  Sue stores her sprouts, rinsed and in a paper towel lined ziplock.

The difference between my home grown sprouts and the store purchased was huge!  If I could have everyone who has ever had a bad sprout experience taste these homegrown ones, they would be hooked.  They were crunchy, fresh and darn near addicting.   I began to want to put them on everything.  One of my favorite snacks became crackers, with Laughing Cow Light garlic and herb spread, with a pile of sprouts on top.  My second favorite was hummus, cucumber,  and greek yogurt on flatbread with sprouts.  I was sad when I finished my first batch and immediately began sprouting another one.

I don’t have any concerns with salmonella, as I am pretty clean about my sprouts, but I do want to caution about letting them sit in a too warm enviroment, as you could start to grow mold or fungus.  My kitchen is pretty chilly, and they grew anyway, so they don’t really need much warmth and light.  Cooler temps and dimness seems to be the way to go.  I remember my mother sprouting mung beans in a glass pickle jar in the cupboard!  Which is another DIY way, but I decided to buy the kit.

Lots of information available online in regards to the nutritional value of sprouts, but Sue made a compelling statement when she said its a good way to get your greens in the winter, home grown and as local as your kitchen counter.

Oh my Lard!

 

I had heard someone mention that she renders her own lard, it was Diane Starkey to be exact, I then read a little about it on Mary janes Farm forum. I then realized that Crooked Gap Farm was having a pie bakers special on lard, so jumped at this opportunity to make my render own.

 
I use lard in my pie crust, ask my family, it makes the best pie crust, but I didn’t realize that the store brand that I buy is partially hydrogenated which equals bad and unhealthy. Well I’m not gonna eat that much less serve it to my family, so rendering my own lard is the only logical step, right? I’m not changing my crust, I’m certainly not gonna stop making pies!

I did as much research as I could find, and of course there is tons of info out there. But knowing myself, I needed an idiot proof way to do this the first time out, so crockpot lard it is.

RENDERING LARD IN YOUR CROCKPOT

Use clean largemouth jars and clean lids and rings.

(1) My lard arrived in 4 – 5 pound chunks, and was already ground up. If yours is not, cut into very small chunks or grind, it makes the whole process much nicer. You can use frozen, or thawed, it didn’t matter much in my case.

(2) Put the lard in your crockpot, add a 1/2 cup of water, cover, turn on low and let cook for about 3 hours. Check it, stir it so nothing browns or burns. I checked and stirred every hour or two.

ground, unrendered lard in crockpot

(3) when most of the fat is melted down, (12 hours for me), start filtering and putting into wide mouth jars or containers. I put a funnel in my jar, then a strainer, then a coffee filter. Filter while you jar as once it starts cooling it doesn’t filter very well. You do want to filter and not just strain, especially if you intend to use for pastries, it makes a nicer end product and no pork odor. Start filtering and jarring before the lard starts browning. When jar is full, lid it and put in the fridge. You can keep it in the fridge or freezer. Opinions vary! I am keeping the jar I have opened in the fridge, and freezing the rest.  Im told it keeps a long long time in the freezer.  Resist the urge to store it outside the fridge or freezer, I have heard too many sad stories of rancid lard for me to think that is a good idea.

newly rendered lard, this will turn a creamy white as it cools

(4) what is left in the crockpot will need to keep cooking, but keep checking and stirring and pouring off, filtering and jarring until its just solid stuff and its difficult to get any more liquid out. This lard will be light but will turn white when it cools.

(5) transfer out these semi solids to a tall pot and keep cooking on medium low watching carefully and stirring so it doesn’t burn. As the liquid rises to the top, scoop out solids and oils and filter and jar as before, just stir the solids around so the liquid filters into the jar. Keep doing this until the solids are nearly dry. Keep watching and stirring so it doesn’t burn. This lard is amber, but will turn creamy white as it cools. This will be good for savory dishes and frying.

chicharrones from ground lard

(6) cook these solids, which are now called chicharrones until crispy and dry, but don’t overcook. These are good salted for snacking, but I am saving these as a special treat for my dog 🙂

I am baking pies tomorrow, so I will see how my lard stands up, I have a feeling it will be pretty awesome, I will keep you posted!