My Boreal Homestead Life

I have been canning for years, decades really.  During  that time, I have been told countless times that it is so much work and that it would be easier and cheaper to just buy it from the store.  Those same…

Whether a person buys potatoes from a local farmer, buys them in the store or grows their own, long term storage ability is dependent on the variety and the conditions under which the potatoes are stored.  But like most homes…

Whether a person grows a garden, visits a farmers market or receives produce from other gardeners, a person can often be faced with more produce than they know what to do with.  There are many preservation methods, but ranking up…

It has been an interesting gardening year to say the least.  Although things may not have gone as I had planned with the garden, I was surprised to be able to get a garden harvest like I did. Enough in…

When fall rolls around, besides the produce coming in from the garden, there is quite often a surplus of apples and crabapples that are looking to be used up.  Although keeping them as fresh as possible in some manner is…

If anyone would have told me years ago that we as a society would be doing things like canning water, I would not have believed it. Nor would I have believed that I would be canning water.  But all one…

As the journey continues into pressure canning reusing odd shaped jars with their associated jar lids obtained from store bought items, I expanded my earlier exploration to include reusing quart size category glass jars with their associated jar lids also…

The other night I realized that I was running out of Vegan Beans and so I decided to make a batch this week.  I also decided that I wanted to put my fears to rest regarding reusing commercially filled glass…

There has been a long standing debate about whether or not a home canner should be reusing canning lids, one piece lids and rubber gaskets.  But with the canning lid shortages that were experienced in parts of the world over…

With the canning jar shortages that were experienced in parts of the world over the last number of years and the home canning season getting started,  if we have not done so already, we start to think about supply of…

The fruit of the chokecherry (Prunus Virginiana) has long been used for making a delectable jelly and syrup to grace the homestead pantry shelf. With its cherry like flavor it is a perfect addition to those breakfast foods.  Recently, I…

The fruit of the chokecherry (Prunus Virginiana) has long been used for making a delectable syrup to grace the homestead pantry shelf. With its cherry like flavor and a hint of almond  it is a perfect addition to those morning…