This weeks preps check-in

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My prep this week was to collect enough American black walnuts to make about 20 liters / 5 gallons of "blackwater".
You can use blackwater to pour on the ground and get rainworms to come running out so you have fishing bait or something to make a small soup with. You can also use it as a "piscicide" which means using it on fish as you would use a "herbicide" on plants, or a "insecticide" on insects. The zodiac sign for Pisces (fish) and the latin word is used here to describe the blackwaters use.
Pour some blackwater (or just lots of black walnut green husks) it to still water and the fish cannot breathe if they get into it. It paralyses their gills and they do not get enough oxygen and just come belly up to the surface of the water and you have food without using too many calories to get it...saving calories is saving the amount of food you need after the SHTF...
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I was on a roll yesterday. I got 9 pints of sausage canned, 11 quarts of green beans, and I ended up vacuum sealing and freezing the case of corn I got. Started out this morning canning 14 pints of hamburger meat. My new pressure canner is ginving me fits. First of all, apparently I didn't get the lid exactly right on it and I could see a little steam coming out side of lid. So I turned burner off, let the pressure go down to zero...removed lid, adjust it, started it back over, quadruple checked to make sure lid was evenly on. After going through motions of allowing steam to vent 10 minutes, I put "jiggler on", it got up to 10 lb. pressure but the jiggler never would jiggle. I looked around sides of lid, found another spot with a little steam coming out again! This is my second go around with turning the damn thing off and started it over again. That hamburger is going to be cooked to death! I have put oil around the lid as recommended. It has been working fine til this morning. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the lid also got stuck after I had to turn it off and let pressure go down the first time. It was locked on tighter than a drum. I searched and found a youtube video on the trick to getting the lid to pop off. Geez! I will say this morning I am using the double stack since I had 14 pints. I wonder if that is having anything to do with my issues this morning? It is the only thing I have done differently.

This is getting to be a pain the arse. I should have had the hamburger meat completley canned by 12:30 today counting the 1hr. and 15 minute canning time, but instead I am spending time re-starting the process. I am about done with it if it doesn't get going this next round. I don't even know if I can restart the process that many time or not.
 
True Gary! I thought about that after I posted. My learning curve seems to take a bit longer than most.

So my update is...I let all the pressure go back to zero again. Removed the lid and removed the canning jars on the second layer, put in pints just in the bottom, actually measured the space around the lid on the canning pot all the way around instead of just eyeballing it. Cranked it back up...this time it worked perfectly.."jiggle and all" My timer just went off so I can now cut the heat. I did learn I need to be more careful and make sure I am going through checking everything correctly instead of getting in a hurry. I think where I had good luck the first few uses, I took, for granted I had this down.

I have one more round with the remaining jars of meat, then I am done for the day!

Where is Texpreep? I want to know how he did with trying out the new canner.
 
Cindyd said:
True Gary! I thought about that after I posted. My learning curve seems to take a bit longer than most.

So my update is...I let all the pressure go back to zero again. Removed the lid and removed the canning jars on the second layer, put in pints just in the bottom, actually measured the space around the lid on the canning pot all the way around instead of just eyeballing it. Cranked it back up...this time it worked perfectly.."jiggle and all" My timer just went off so I can now cut the heat. I did learn I need to be more careful and make sure I am going through checking everything correctly instead of getting in a hurry. I think where I had good luck the first few uses, I took, for granted I had this down.

I have one more round with the remaining jars of meat, then I am done for the day!

Where is Texpreep? I want to know how he did with trying out the new canner.
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Some people like to lurk. I lurked for 2 months before signing up.
I look at it this way, they liked your post enough to like it and had to be signed into like it.
 
Cindyd said:
I did learn I need to be more careful
Click to expand...
A short story to help you.
Once upon a time...a captain got into a jeep with his sergeant and told him to drive back to Headquarters, he needed to see the General and said: DRIVE SLOWLY...WE ARE IN A HURRY!
The sergeant took off and after not getting too far, he made a mistake and they slid into a ditch and it took them over an hour to dig the jeep back out, making them late for the meeting with the General, who of course was pissed off.
On the way back home, the Captain asked the sergeant: DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW WHAT I SAID BEFORE??
The answer: YES SIR, drive slow enough and careful enough to make sure nothing can GO WRONG...

Being careful to work slow is sometimes the fastest way to do something since you make less mistakes which eat your time and patience in the end...it is still ok to make mistakes, just not good to repeat them, Gary
 
Cindyd said:
I was on a roll yesterday. I got 9 pints of sausage canned, 11 quarts of green beans, and I ended up vacuum sealing and freezing the case of corn I got. Started out this morning canning 14 pints of hamburger meat. My new pressure canner is ginving me fits. First of all, apparently I didn't get the lid exactly right on it and I could see a little steam coming out side of lid. So I turned burner off, let the pressure go down to zero...removed lid, adjust it, started it back over, quadruple checked to make sure lid was evenly on. After going through motions of allowing steam to vent 10 minutes, I put "jiggler on", it got up to 10 lb. pressure but the jiggler never would jiggle. I looked around sides of lid, found another spot with a little steam coming out again! This is my second go around with turning the damn thing off and started it over again. That hamburger is going to be cooked to death! I have put oil around the lid as recommended. It has been working fine til this morning. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the lid also got stuck after I had to turn it off and let pressure go down the first time. It was locked on tighter than a drum. I searched and found a youtube video on the trick to getting the lid to pop off. Geez! I will say this morning I am using the double stack since I had 14 pints. I wonder if that is having anything to do with my issues this morning? It is the only thing I have done differently.

This is getting to be a pain the arse. I should have had the hamburger meat completley canned by 12:30 today counting the 1hr. and 15 minute canning time, but instead I am spending time re-starting the process. I am about done with it if it doesn't get going this next round. I don't even know if I can restart the process that many time or not.
Click to expand...
My wife had the same issues with her new canner too. Eventually she got it right. Now we have jars of canned stuff filling every space in the house. The shelves in our closet are filled with jars of hamburger and stew meat. Next on her list is canning plum, blackberry and raspberry jelly. We didn't get any grapes this year because the yellow jackets ate all of them.
 
bill harrell said:
A dude , one day next spring when it that's, plan some work for me and you, I'm gonna come help you. You have all winter to contemplate. ( My grandpa's used to say, " you show me a farmer that's caught up, and I'll show you a lazy S.O.B.) but , many hands make work light.
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Bill I like you dude I love the red neck take. It’s usually my go to attitude
Farmers and Rancher are a different breed. I loved going to my families different farms, helping my buddy on his milking. But it was a farm.
Ranching is totally different. You let things go natural and intervene when they need food.
My friends back east may call me a farmer I say rancher. And I know the difference
 
EastenerWesterner said:
Hope you got a Post hole attachment for that demand.
I almost always say yes unless it’s where I know it’s shallow bedrock.
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I have a post hole auger for the tractor, but this time of year the ground is too dry. Most holes I end up digging by hand anyway. The ground is either too rocky or it's inaccessible to the tractor.
 
Arcticdude said:
I have a post hole auger for the tractor, but this time of year the ground is too dry. Most holes I end up digging by hand anyway. The ground is either too rocky or it's inaccessible to the tractor.
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Sometimes I predrill with a 6 inch hand held power auger before I bring out the 12 incher. The 3pt post hole digger is the one attachment that scares me on the tractor. Too many things that could go wrong.
 
Killed 4 old hens that had quit laying and canned chicken and broth. Should make great chicken soup and gumbo this winter. Paper plates spread across the dining table with seeds drying of butternut squash, zucchini, okra and plum tomatoes. Enough seeds to plant acres if necessary so should last for several years. Vacuum sealed in jars dehydrated figs, okra and sweet potato leather. Also put dehydrated okra in mylar. Canned 2 cookings of butternut soup (14 quarts). Walnuts picked up and washed with all hulls removed. I will let them dry for a bit then start cracking. Also made a couple quarts of hickory syrup with cracked hickory nuts. Mr. DD uses it to make his BBQ sauce.
 
DirtDiva said:
I will let them dry for a bit then start cracking.
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Don't know if it helps, but not everybody likes to crack nuts...I use my adjustable vise-grips to crack walnuts. You can open them to about the right size, crack the nut without crushing it all-together. Turn it around and crack from all sides...works for me.
 
GaRp58 said:
Don't know if it helps, but not everybody likes to crack nuts...I use my adjustable vise-grips to crack walnuts. You can open them to about the right size, crack the nut without crushing it all-together. Turn it around and crack from all sides...works for me.
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We actually have a heavy duty nut cracker designed to crack walnuts and such. Bought it many decades ago and has been a good one.
 
GaRp58 said:
Don't know if it helps, but not everybody likes to crack nuts...I use my adjustable vise-grips to crack walnuts. You can open them to about the right size, crack the nut without crushing it all-together. Turn it around and crack from all sides...works for me.
Click to expand...
Same here. I crack off both ends first with the Vise Grips, then start cracking around the shell until pieces fall off.
 
DirtDiva said:
Killed 4 old hens that had quit laying and canned chicken and broth. Should make great chicken soup and gumbo this winter. Paper plates spread across the dining table with seeds drying of butternut squash, zucchini, okra and plum tomatoes. Enough seeds to plant acres if necessary so should last for several years. Vacuum sealed in jars dehydrated figs, okra and sweet potato leather. Also put dehydrated okra in mylar. Canned 2 cookings of butternut soup (14 quarts). Walnuts picked up and washed with all hulls removed. I will let them dry for a bit then start cracking. Also made a couple quarts of hickory syrup with cracked hickory nuts. Mr. DD uses it to make his BBQ sauce.
Click to expand...
I'm debating on whether to kill some of my old hens that have quit laying....can't bring myself to do it yet. For some reason the newer ones I got few months ago are not laying either and I think they should be by now. I'm getting 1 egg here and there in a day and have 18 hens in that one area! 13 4+ years old and 1 is actually 8 years old! The 4 newer ones are 5 months old (not laying!) Yet.

I got 12 -new, now 12 weeks old in a separate area...hopefully in couple/few months they will be laying! We go through a lot of eggs...I'm very ticked off having to buy eggs right now!
 
Cindyd said:
I'm getting 1 egg here and there in a day and have 18 hens in that one area!
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Sorry for your egg dilemma. My BIL was here yesterday and was surprised that we get 3 eggs daily...and only have 3 chickens!!!! He has 8 hens and a rooster, but gets only 4-5 eggs --each week---.
Don't know what it is that we are doing right, but we ARE NOT GONNA CHANGE anything for the moment.
 
They've always been good layers but I think they are just aged out and the 4 younger ones I'm hoping just aren't quite there yet to start laying regularly. Nothing else has changed in their environment. If the other new dozen younger ones I got couple wks ago don't start laying in 2-3 months I'll really be worried something is up.
 
The hens that I have laying at the moment are 3+ years old. I am not running a geriatric chicken home. Once they reach that third year they become canned chicken for soups, stews, gumbos and broths. I call them stewing hens and is what my mama always used for making soup and gumbo. Tough as an old boot but pressure cooked or pressure canned or cooked for a long period of time in a soup or gumbo and they are great and do not fall to pieces in your soup or become stringy. Make phenomenal chicken and dumplings!

Different breeds lay for different amounts of time and it also varies with the day length and light. I like the breed Buff Orphington. They are a large, mild mannered, light skinned bird good for both meat and eggs. They lay large brown eggs and start laying for me around 6 months. Every 3 years I buy new chicks from the hatchery. My spring chicks are now 5 months old. So it is time to cull out the older ones and can. Buffs will also hatch their own eggs which is also a plus.

Some people put lights on their chickens in the winter to keep them laying all winter. I do not. I have 4 duck hens that lay all winter so I just eat duck eggs when the chickens fall down on their job. Ducks lay year round or my Khaki Campbells do.
 
That sounds good DD, you likely convinced me!

BTW! I have an update to report as of this morning, when Larry got up I was already working and he asked me if I saw the eggs he left out, which I did not. He took care of the hens yesterday since I worked late. We got 4 eggs yesterday! Gotta be the newer ones that are right at 5-6 months old! I was expecting the newer ones to start laying by 4 months. I just have no patience. Yes, I love the Buff orphington's, I have had those as well as Olga my black orphington, she is the one that is 8 years old and still a beauty! But I ain't eating her, she's too old to mess with.
 
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