Post by woodyz on Oct 8, 2017 15:35:45 GMT -7
SO yesterday our preacher told us he was rolling up his outside gardens and fruit trees for the year and we needed to come by and pick up some things as he had too much for him to store.
Believe me, he is also the landscape guy who operates a local service and has six huge greenhouses that produce something all year. He lives on a farm with major production and storage capabilities. He stores crops at his place for giving fresh food to needy families all year long. So when he says his storage capacity is full, he isn't talking about a 55 gallon trash can root cellar.
So I picked up a bushel basket of each of apples, pears, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes and beets.
I sorted them into use now and cold store. I have about 20 of those plastic milk crates that were meant to hold 4 gallons of milk each. I put a layer of folded newspaper, a layer of fruit/veggie, newspaper, etc until the crate is almost full.
Past years I have tried sawdust/sand.chipped wood, etc. and I like the newspaper the best. Then I put a decon pellet(more a squirrel issue than mice) on the top of the last layer of newspaper and store them under the house. One side is about 3 foot high so its not too bad to get to. Make sure the newspaper does not overlap the sides, you want good airflow around the stored items.
Here our winter is mild and only cold Dec and Jan. This is a little later than usual but we are still having mid 80 days and 60 nights, I have 100# of potatoes already stored. I will use these the rest of the year so I put them in order closes to the crawl door based on what I will want to pull out each month. In March or April I will start dragging the crates out and can what ever is left in good shape.
The use now pile from the first sort will be canned this next week.
I also am having hogs and calves butchered this month, I think the 17th. Not that I really do anything myself except sort and decide where to store packages or take them to the church to give out. I have one freezer almost empty that I will put the meat I will take to KY for my Daughters at Thanksgiving. I think I am about ready to stop that practice up there and just buy what I would take there. I have found a good butcher shop there that I like where I buy whole pigs and calves in the spring anyway. It's some cheaper to take the meat from here, but some trips I want to stop and smell the roses on the trip and I always feel rushed because of the frozen meat I am hauling.
I am not going to raise as many next year. It really doesn't take much more effort to raise more because they are on auto feeders/waterers, but it takes more effort at the end. But I will never give up the home raised meat, it just tastes better and I know what is in it. I have a real good butcher here that I like and that is important.
I used to have all of the saws and knifes and and grinders and the walk in cooler, etc. that I got from my Grandfather, but I sold them when it just got to be too much for me to do. I think he was 79 the last time we had a big butcher Thanksgiving at his house, but I don't know how he did it, I had to give it up before I was 65. (such a woo sss eee).
Believe me, he is also the landscape guy who operates a local service and has six huge greenhouses that produce something all year. He lives on a farm with major production and storage capabilities. He stores crops at his place for giving fresh food to needy families all year long. So when he says his storage capacity is full, he isn't talking about a 55 gallon trash can root cellar.
So I picked up a bushel basket of each of apples, pears, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes and beets.
I sorted them into use now and cold store. I have about 20 of those plastic milk crates that were meant to hold 4 gallons of milk each. I put a layer of folded newspaper, a layer of fruit/veggie, newspaper, etc until the crate is almost full.
Past years I have tried sawdust/sand.chipped wood, etc. and I like the newspaper the best. Then I put a decon pellet(more a squirrel issue than mice) on the top of the last layer of newspaper and store them under the house. One side is about 3 foot high so its not too bad to get to. Make sure the newspaper does not overlap the sides, you want good airflow around the stored items.
Here our winter is mild and only cold Dec and Jan. This is a little later than usual but we are still having mid 80 days and 60 nights, I have 100# of potatoes already stored. I will use these the rest of the year so I put them in order closes to the crawl door based on what I will want to pull out each month. In March or April I will start dragging the crates out and can what ever is left in good shape.
The use now pile from the first sort will be canned this next week.
I also am having hogs and calves butchered this month, I think the 17th. Not that I really do anything myself except sort and decide where to store packages or take them to the church to give out. I have one freezer almost empty that I will put the meat I will take to KY for my Daughters at Thanksgiving. I think I am about ready to stop that practice up there and just buy what I would take there. I have found a good butcher shop there that I like where I buy whole pigs and calves in the spring anyway. It's some cheaper to take the meat from here, but some trips I want to stop and smell the roses on the trip and I always feel rushed because of the frozen meat I am hauling.
I am not going to raise as many next year. It really doesn't take much more effort to raise more because they are on auto feeders/waterers, but it takes more effort at the end. But I will never give up the home raised meat, it just tastes better and I know what is in it. I have a real good butcher here that I like and that is important.
I used to have all of the saws and knifes and and grinders and the walk in cooler, etc. that I got from my Grandfather, but I sold them when it just got to be too much for me to do. I think he was 79 the last time we had a big butcher Thanksgiving at his house, but I don't know how he did it, I had to give it up before I was 65. (such a woo sss eee).