FOOD Food Shortages | What You Can Do Before It’s Too Late

[packyderms_wife]

You can reuse canning lids. It is not recommended but in a pinch you can. I don't plan on throwing any of mine out unless they are bent or the seal is damaged. Just wash them, boil the and set them aside. I have tried it with just canning water and the seals worked fine. Again only as a last resort but it beats wasting food.

The ones I saved I used for processing jellies, jams, and pickles, not meat, etc.

 

[Border Collie Dad]

Found 10 dozen regular lids at Tractor Supply today

 

[packyderms_wife]

Mine are 4-ft tall which really saves my back. Thank you YS for the mothers day present last year! They are 4x4x3 and are really cool. We're going to build hoops for them this year so I can extend the crappy Colorado season and pray to the snow gods we get them in before another late May snowstorm!

Could you post photos in the Garden subforum thread on this topic?

 

[packyderms_wife]

Found 10 dozen regular lids at Tractor Supply today

How much were they a package?

 

[bluemoon]

I am going to try and learn to can things I have growing in a garden. I live where it gets very hot in the summer--110-120. I am thinking about where I would store jars I have canned. What temperatures can canned food be stored at?

 

[rafter]

I don't have a big house. 1400 sq foot. 3 bed 2 bath. But I live a lone so I make use of the 2 extra bedrooms. 1 is a sewing room/office/food storage room. The door is always shut. (you get the picture) My guest room closet is full of more storage stuff. No one ever stays over a couple nights so they don't use the closet. I do not have a basement or an attic. I do have a garage but it is full of tools and yard equipment and my car. You make space for stuff where you can.

And since I'm canning turkey today and have 3 canning books open....all mine say 10 pounds for 90 minutes.

 

[packyderms_wife]

I don't have a big house. 1400 sq foot. 3 bed 2 bath. But I live a lone so I make use of the 2 extra bedrooms. 1 is a sewing room/office/food storage room. The door is always shut. (you get the picture) My guest room closet is full of more storage stuff. No one ever stays over a couple nights so they don't use the closet. I do not have a basement or an attic. I do have a garage but it is full of tools and yard equipment and my car. You make space for stuff where you can.

And since I'm canning turkey today and have 3 canning books open....all mine say 10 pounds for 90 minutes.

75 minutes for pints, 90 minutes for quarts.

 

[twobarkingdogs]

We don’t all live on a country homestead.

I do not mean to offend nor do I need an answer but just to possibly get you to think -

So why don't you live on a country homestead.

Didn't you just get a new gig for the next couple of years which is a work from home position. A country homestead doesn't have to be hundreds of acres it could be just one or 2. I don't know texas but if you want to stay in your current city most have an area of brick ranches on large lots which due to the design of the home make it less desirable. In the atlanta area that would be homes with carports and 1.5 baths but they usually sit on 3/4+ acres. What I had was a ranch built in the 60's on almost 2 acres in a burb of atl while everyone else was wanting the mcmansions on small lots.

Interest rates are at historically low rates so now is a good time to buy from that standpoint. And I'd guess by the end of summer the realization that the housing market is having issues will drive the prices down and you'll be more likely to catch a deal.

Where I used to work some of the old timers are expecting the work from home, at least for them, to continue and a lot are making plans to relocate 100+ miles from atlanta. A couple are going even farther away then that. Its a good time to choose where you want to live and make the leap

Again I do not mean to offend and I don't know you or your circumstances but good luck to you.

tbd

 

[Quiet Man]

Different gas jets for the furnace for propane if city gas stopped
A gas manifold that I designed that could cut off the city gas line and route propane to the house

For anyone else who is contemplating this, please know that you MUST rejet your furnace if you switch from Natural Gas to Propane. The energy released by burning a given volume of propane is about 2.5X more than for the equivalent amount of Nat Gas. Not rejetting under that situation can be very dangerous. You might burn your house down.

When I moved into my house many years ago, the furnace always seemed to run too long. After a little investigation, I discovered that the furnace had originally been fueled by Propane and was later converted to Nat Gas, but the former owners never rejetted the furnace, so it ran too cool.

The orifice in a jet for Nat Gas, for use in a given circumstance, is larger than that for Propane. This allows more fuel to burn per unit time in order to produce an equivalent amount of heat.

 

[rafter]

75 minutes for pints, 90 minutes for quarts.

Yes. I'm doing quarts.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Yes. I'm doing quarts.

We were canning hamburger patties Sunday evening, well he was, and I walked into the kitchen and said 90 minutes for quarts, wasn't sure why I was possessed to do that, and he thanked me he was going to process them for 75. We very rarely can in quarts anymore, mostly pints and pints and a half, but did so for the hamburger patties.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Not only rejetting, but you have to turn down the regulator. But that just takes a screwdriver.

 

[Dennis Olson]

So why don't you live on a country homestead.

Firstly, price. Renting a house in the country outside of austin is very expensive. Probably close to $3k a month. Secondly, I won’t be doing this gig forever, and then I need to be closer to the tech market. Now when I retire, I can do anything I want. Lastly, availability (shudder).

And then there’s the move itself. I’m not physically able to do it.

 

[Wolfcreek Farm]

I'd skip the bell peppers or maybe only plant one or two plants. They're really not that productive. I've been lucky if I get a four or five peppers per plant. Now I'm not saying don't plant peppers. Just that there's other varieties that are way more productive.

Plant them close to one another (10") or less......they like the competition.....do not give them a lot of fertilizer (will create too much continual foliage growth) until the plants produce blossoms and are ready to set fruit......also, phosphorous is crucial to the reproductive aspect of any plant.........the nature of all living things is to reproduce......if phosphorous levels are low..you will not get optimum results.

 

[Samuel Adams]

Not only rejetting, but you have to turn down the regulator. But that just takes a screwdriver.

Agreed !!

Many mechanical tasks go much smoother after........

 

[Wolfcreek Farm]

You need to plant the right varieties. I've been developing several varietues which are givung me up to 20 or nore full sized CV peppers per plant, in our short and often cool summers. There is a variety cslled Doe Hill Golden kor orsnge... can't remember) that will produce 30 or more smallish (maybe 2x the size of a golf ball) peppers per plant . The first time I gave a couple plants to my son to grow in pots, he kept snipping the blossons off, because he was sure the plants couldn't support that many fruits! He found out he was wrong...

Summerthyme

ACE is an extremely early pepper......and an OP pepper , Jimmy Nardello, is a very early Italian type which turns red quickly...............

 

[Jubilee on Earth]

$1500+

Glad you have that kind of spare cash.

I don’t have that kind of spare cash. While there aren’t any stand alone freezers on Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, Offer Up, etc, there are plenty of cheap, used refrigerator/freezer combos out there. In our area at least. Bummer if that isn’t the case in yours.

 

[Freeholder]

Freezers can be converted to refrigerators. Is it possible to convert a refrigerator to a freezer? (I am very thankful right now that I got a new chest freezer in December! With the smaller one I already had, and the surprisingly large bottom freezer on my frig, we have plenty of freezer space.)

Kathleen

 

[WalknTrot]

Freezers can be converted to refrigerators. Is it possible to convert a refrigerator to a freezer? (I am very thankful right now that I got a new chest freezer in December! With the smaller one I already had, and the surprisingly large bottom freezer on my frig, we have plenty of freezer space.)

Kathleen

Heck, I betcha so. Have had a couple of fridges that have turned to freezers over the years...when I didn't want them to.

 

[Wolfcreek Farm]

I have several hundred Tattler lids. They DO work. However, they are *extremely* sensitive to the slightest siphoning... if ANY tiny bit of liquid or food particles gets under that ring, it's not going to seal. Conventional lids, OTOH, will tolerate some siphoning... it's not ideal, but some foods (especially thicker semi-liquids like my barbequed baked beans) do have siphoning issues, even with meticulous attention to headspace, canner techniques, etc.

I used all Tattlers from July on last year, because I ran out of regular lids and money was tight. I had more seal failures than I liked, but canning things like home grown green beans, it wasn't a huge loss. Oddly, I've had good luck with them canning meat stews and dog food.

When they do seal, though, they've stayed sealed for me, for at least 10 years. Probably fewer then 2-3 jars opened in storage, out of a few hundred. No problems with rusty lids, or later "surprise" seal failures due to some minor siphoning.

That said, I bought a case of flats in February (over 3000 lids... in earlier times, that would have been about 4 years worth, but now should cover 10 years, unless things get even more interesting!) But I'm keeping my Tattlers... I'll still use them for juice, and probably dog food. And in the event of a real SHTF, they'll be invaluable. With the case price lids at 17 cents each, I'm also removing them very carefully when I open jars, and storing the used lids. My Amish neighbors reuse lids several times... I'd prefer not to, but will keep "once sealed" lids for backup.

Summerthyme

I recoat the gasket on the lids with food grade silicone caulk....let the lids season for a couple weeks....then use those lids for vaccum packing dry foods.

 

[Wolfcreek Farm]

Freezers can be converted to refrigerators. Is it possible to convert a refrigerator to a freezer? (I am very thankful right now that I got a new chest freezer in December! With the smaller one I already had, and the surprisingly large bottom freezer on my frig, we have plenty of freezer space.)

Kathleen

By using a Johnson temperature control you can use a freezer as a frig......but you can't take a frig and use it as a freezer.

 

[Dennis Olson]

JoE, I’m not going to start buying fridge combo units to get 1.5 cu ft freezers. Not going to happen. Others are free to do as they wish. Since I live alone, I couldn’t possibly consume enough food to rotate through TWO (or more) refrigerators.

 

[20Gauge]

I'd skip the bell peppers or maybe only plant one or two plants. They're really not that productive. I've been lucky if I get a four or five peppers per plant. Now I'm not saying don't plant peppers. Just that there's other varieties that are way more productive.

They are not the first year or two. They are perennials that seem to do better the in later years. We have some that are nearly if not a full 7 years old. They are still producing. Are they nice and big and pretty? No that is a 1st fruit. Later years are smaller and have thicker skin. Flavor comes out better also.

The problem is that everyone seems to treat them as an annual.

The plants grow from 3ft to 10 ft tall. We keep learning new things about them. I have two pictures. One shows how the fruit changes from what we are familiar with to a smaller tastier version in later years. The other picture is of the plants themselves. The top of the white pvc is 5 feet. The plants are between 8 and 9 feet tall.

Yes, peppers don't produce like grain does. Yet it is a tasty thing to have and an excellent addition to many dishes.

 

[20Gauge]

Mine are 4-ft tall which really saves my back. Thank you YS for the mothers day present last year! They are 4x4x3 and are really cool. We're going to build hoops for them this year so I can extend the crappy Colorado season and pray to the snow gods we get them in before another late May snowstorm!

We have learned that having them off the ground or built taller is a life / back saver as we get older.

 

[bluelady]

I'd plant what I wanted. The idea is to spare the back. If you are gonna do raised beds why not raise them all the way...

Here is a YouTube series on making the "ultimate" higher raised beds from cinderblock. 7 videos, 2 minutes to 30 minutes each, very detailed and including cost of materials. He also added a very sturdy cover to keep deer out. Building a Rasied Bed Garden

I'm linking one so you can see what they look like; this is the last in the series where he adds the cover, 31:01.

View: https://youtu.be/eNt2_oGlJag

 

[rafter]

They are not the first year or two. They are perennials that seem to do better the in later years. We have some that are nearly if not a full 7 years old. They are still producing. Are they nice and big and pretty? No that is a 1st fruit. Later years are smaller and have thicker skin. Flavor comes out better also.

The problem is that everyone seems to treat them as an annual.

The plants grow from 3ft to 10 ft tall. We keep learning new things about them. I have two pictures. One shows how the fruit changes from what we are familiar with to a smaller tastier version in later years. The other picture is of the plants themselves. The top of the white pvc is 5 feet. The plants are between 8 and 9 feet tall.

Yes, peppers don't produce like grain does. Yet it is a tasty thing to have and an excellent addition to many dishes.

It would be wonderful to live somewhere where the garden could be kept going 12 months of the year!

 

[20Gauge]

It would be wonderful to live somewhere where the garden could be kept going 12 months of the year!

The PVC is the frame work for plastic to allow us to greenhouse the plants during the freezes. Otherwise, we couldn't keep them going.

It also gives us the ability to wall of the plants from the dam*ed deer. If you are not careful, they will mow down 6 months work in an hour at night.

 

[Cardinal]

The PVC is the frame work for plastic to allow us to greenhouse the plants during the freezes. Otherwise, we couldn't keep them going.

It also gives us the ability to wall of the plants from the dam*ed deer. If you are not careful, they will mow down 6 months work in an hour at night.

Pictures are always great. hint-hint.

 

[20Gauge]

Pictures are always great. hint-hint.

Here you go.

The produce is a weekly haul that we get from late May until late September.
The plants you see are the ones that produced the produce you see. At that time only 5 feet tall Mayish picture
The plastic covers the plants you see in the previous picture in December

 

[Cardinal]

Nice 20Gauge, thanks.

 

[summerthyme]

It would be wonderful to live somewhere where the garden could be kept going 12 months of the year!

Yeah, really! We treat them as an annual because we only have about 4 months of frost free weather around here... it's just too difficult to try to pot them up and move them indoors for 8 months a year! But really... if you like peppers, look for a couple open pollinated varieties (Doe Hill Golden, previously mentioned, is excellent- small, round peppers, but super thick walled and wonderfully sweet. Kevin's Early Orange is a *really* early variety that changes from green to pumpkin orange when ripe. Yellow Belle produces dozens of smallish, triangular shaped fruits that start out pale yellow, then ripen through tangerine, orange and finally lipstick red. They're milder flavored than many, and a basket of them in assorted staged of ripeness is just beautiful. I'll have to see if I can find some pictures of my harvest in previous years)

I started by crossing Doe Hill Golden with Kevin's Early orange, and also I crossed them with Ruby Giant. I'm in my 6th year of refining the varieties, and now have one which produces thick walled, heavy, rounded peppers which are 3x bigger than the Doe Hills, and ripen to a gorgeous dark red. The orange crosses have split into two varieties- one is a dark pumpkin orange at maturity, and the other is a deep gold. All of them produce at least 2-3X as many fruit as the original large parent varieties.

In the process, I'm getting plants that are much more acclimated to our particular climate- mostly cool summers, fairly short seasons. I find the whole process to be fun and interesting. Even the ones which don't meet my standards (not enough peppers, wrong shape, too thin walled, etc) are perfectly edible and delicious. I dry bushels of them every summer, while saving seeds from the best fruit/plants.

Summerthyme

 

[WanderLore]

Summerthyme, what do you think of the purple bush beans? They are supposed to turn green when cooked. I haven't tried them but thought it might make spotting the beans easier?

 

[20Gauge]

Yeah, really! We treat them as an annual because we only have about 4 months of frost free weather around here... it's just too difficult to try to pot them up and move them indoors for 8 months a year! But really... if you like peppers, look for a couple open pollinated varieties (Doe Hill Golden, previously mentioned, is excellent- small, round peppers, but super thick walled and wonderfully sweet. Kevin's Early Orange is a *really* early variety that changes from green to pumpkin orange when ripe. Yellow Belle produces dozens of smallish, triangular shaped fruits that start out pale yellow, then ripen through tangerine, orange and finally lipstick red. They're milder flavored than many, and a basket of them in assorted staged of ripeness is just beautiful. I'll have to see if I can find some pictures of my harvest in previous years)

I started by crossing Doe Hill Golden with Kevin's Early orange, and also I crossed them with Ruby Giant. I'm in my 6th year of refining the varieties, and now have one which produces thick walled, heavy, rounded peppers which are 3x bigger than the Doe Hills, and ripen to a gorgeous dark red. The orange crosses have split into two varieties- one is a dark pumpkin orange at maturity, and the other is a deep gold. All of them produce at least 2-3X as many fruit as the original large parent varieties.

In the process, I'm getting plants that are much more acclimated to our particular climate- mostly cool summers, fairly short seasons. I find the whole process to be fun and interesting. Even the ones which don't meet my standards (not enough peppers, wrong shape, too thin walled, etc) are perfectly edible and delicious. I dry bushels of them every summer, while saving seeds from the best fruit/plants.

Summerthyme

The wife has not begun breeding the plants yet.

What she does is similar to what you describe. The ones that don't produce or lack flavor or lack whatever are culled and new versions are planted of some similar variety. It has taken years, but she now gets 94 peppers per sq ft of gardening now.

Think about that 94 peppers per sq ft of ground.

All she gets are heirloom so she can breed them at some point. They are partially segregated by type, so who knows if they are cross breeding already or not. We have had some strange results on some plants we got that were already started as well as some of the seeds that we ordered.

Different tastes than advertised, different colors than advertised, etc.

At this point due to our microclimate, I really doubt we could repeat what we do anywhere else without a few years of experience.

So get your garden going now.

 

[Cardinal]

I joined a local women's homesteaders group. I am going to start a seed library for the group. I specified heirloom or whatever does well in our part of Ga.

 

[Jackpine Savage]

I have a shooting buddy that is what you call a character, in a good way. Last December, he bought a pig on the hoof from a farmer, shot it in the lot, loaded it in his minivan, and hauled it to a friend's house that had a skid loader to hang it. Then he put his smoker to work. He was so happy with the results he got another pig, except this time he borrowed a trailer

I guess I'm going to have to get back on Faceborg to keep up with the character mentioned above. A different buddy just called and said he had posted a video of himself with a borrowed stock trailer loading up 12 free finished hogs at a farm.

It's really tempting but things are heating up in my county. One meat packing plant just sent home 70 people sick. Another laid off 200, not sure if that meant they were shutting down completely or not.

 

[Cardinal]

I guess I'm going to have to get back on Faceborg to keep up with the character mentioned above. A different buddy just called and said he had posted a video of himself with a borrowed stock trailer loading up 12 free finished hogs at a farm.

It's really tempting but things are heating up in my county. One meat packing plant just sent home 70 people sick. Another laid off 200, not sure if that meant they were shutting down completely or not.

Wish I lived near you.

 

[rafter]

The PVC is the frame work for plastic to allow us to greenhouse the plants during the freezes. Otherwise, we couldn't keep them going.

It also gives us the ability to wall of the plants from the dam*ed deer. If you are not careful, they will mow down 6 months work in an hour at night.

Yes to the deer. I lost over 100 heirloom tomatoes plants in one night due to a herd of deer during a drought.

 

[rafter]

Summerthyme, what do you think of the purple bush beans? They are supposed to turn green when cooked. I haven't tried them but thought it might make spotting the beans easier?

I planted the purple bush beans for years. I love their taste! I tried the purple pole bean and wasn't impressed. And yes they turn green when cooked...a bright green.

 

[WanderLore]

I planted the purple bush beans for years. I love their taste! I tried the purple pole bean and wasn't impressed. And yes they turn green when cooked...a bright green.

Hey thanks! I am thinking I will give them a try if I can find some seeds. We love the cooked green beans with a little onion and garlic and soy sauce, oh yum!

 

[rafter]

Hey thanks! I am thinking I will give them a try if I can find some seeds. We love the cooked green beans with a little onion and garlic and soy sauce, oh yum!

Amazon has some. Everyone else is pretty much sold out.