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For those who are building out an apocalypse pantry (or live 150 miles from a Costco), 4.5 lbs of chocolate chips vacuum packs in 3 qt jars with a tiny nibble left over. #winteriscoming #steadthread https://twitter.com/anntorrence/status/1270389062734471168
Imma trying salted limes a la salted lemons because why not?
4 lbs of pecans goes into 4.5 quarts. I usually pack nuts in jars but assessing our developing peach and apricot situation, Iâm conserving them for fruit and tomatoes .
3 lbs almonds = 2.5 quarts
These bags will go into a 5 gallon pail with a gamma seal to protect from mice
These bags will go into a 5 gallon pail with a gamma seal to protect from mice
Pine nuts in 5 one cup bags in the freezer. They spoil too fast on the shelf. Portion in sizes that make sense for how you use them out of storage. I adore pine nuts on salads and pasta Alfredo. Get THAT canning funnel with the fill markings. Accept no substitute
Who knew? @costco righteously prints the quantities on the bags. Mine were apparently not so densely packed. Ex I got over 9 cups of almonds, not 8
Yes, with these units. Large mouth works better, no clue why. I will re-use metal lids for dry packing jars. https://twitter.com/mlanger/status/1271505463721381893?s=21
Dry goods mostly sorted now. Safely storing a two cart Costco run takes far longer than the shop. I do it in stages over a couple days. More on whatâs left to do later. #steadthread pause
We planted the last of the main garden crops until fall today. I make DIY seed mats for carrot seeds. I hate thinning carrots. These are properly spaced at planting. 70-80 carrots per mat. Seeds tacked down with flour/water paste. #VictoryGarden
We have a few other carrots planted elsewhere for summer use, but these are timed to mature just about the time I can store them in my makeshift thrifted cooler root cellar. We will eat these until April, weather gods willing.
Cheapest dollar store napkins, certainly not organic but flimsy. Separated into single ply. Dot w/paste, drop a seed in each dot. Let dry. Ideally I do this in winter. This year, not so ideal. Scarlet Nantes storage carrots, do okay in our clayish soil. 100 frost free days left
I did do a bunch of fun mixed salad mats for the earliest planting: turnips & radishes, lettuce & bok choi, etc. Beet/chard seeds are too big, just plant them by hand. All the other greens work.
Figure out your last frost free date, your extension service can tell you. Better, ask an old timer neighbor for truly local info. I start planting fall greens 60 days before the first frost. I live at 7000â, the heat index is low. A warmer climate might not need so many days
Itâs shocking how much greenery is coming out of a 4x8â bed. I counted at least 10 gallons of spinach from just one bed. You could raise a heap of spinach, lettuce, etc in a small space. But seeds are hard to find so get on it.
Highly recommend Eliot Colemanâs book on four season gardening if you want to learn before starting a project. Anyway, thatâs whatâs happening on the ole #hmodernhomesteading front this week. #steadthread out.
Since Iâve outed myself as a half-baked prepper, might as well carry on. I believe in prepping not for the end-of-times calamities, but most likely emergencies and inconveniences that you will face.
In our case, skunks. #steadthread.
In our case, skunks. #steadthread.
My grandmother, who hated a Reagan with a passion, a story for another day, used to say that if he started a nuclear war, she hoped the bomb would hit her on the head. I pretty much agree. I donât prep for that.
Skunk kit: 1 qt of hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 c baking soda, good squirt of dish soap, disposable gloves, rags. Make a slurry out of the ingredients.
I do prep for the most likely things: being first on a car accident on our blue highway, both of us going down at once with a super bad cold (who wants to go to the drugstore when you feel like shit?), having to evac for a forest fire...
The #steadthread languished after the heartbreak of the deluge. https://twitter.com/anntorrence/status/1288117666327064577?s=21
This was always a back-up plan: https://twitter.com/anntorrence/status/1295711610598617088?s=21
But not all was lost. I harvested garlic today. It needs to dry a few days before I weigh it, but it is sufficient for a year, including my planting stock. Garlic takes a long time...9-10 months, but not much work, maybe weed it a couple times
Or over plant with deliberate weeds. I grew spinach with it, 10 gallons that I mostly dehydrated for winter. Soup, risotto, pesto, pasta.
Last fall I had planted garlic in a bed where we had just harvested potatoes. No matter how hard we try, we never get every last tiny one. Potatoes are as prolific as rabbits, to stretch a metaphor.
Anyway, we had a volunteer potato in with the garlic, so I brought that in too
3.5 lbs of free food. From one plant. We usually plant four 4x8 beds in 17 plants each. Weird number, but thatâs what fits. If all our potatoes were that productive (they are not) weâd raise 238 lbs. My point is you can grow significant calories in a small space. In a normal year
So we are on the zucchini dole from kind neighbors outside the hail zone. The cukes are making a valiant attempt to recover; the tomatillos escaped unscathed. My winter squash is toast, some cabbage and root veg might be okay.
Money can solve this problem, but I think a lot about how it would be if it couldnât. And plant on. Fall greens will replace the garlic this week.
And itâs been a near thing on the garlic. This is whatâs left (about 10 cloves) from last yearâs crop, fermented in April, just before it started to sprout. Fermented is better than store bought, but fresh will be nice again. #steadthread pause
Tying this tweet into the #steadthread, but I didnât come here to say I told you so. I have something else on my mind today. https://twitter.com/anntorrence/status/1302028641090502658
Actually, I did say that in April. I also bought a heap of reusable lids 
I ainât talking to hear myself make noise. https://twitter.com/anntorrence/status/1249375754523009024
I ainât talking to hear myself make noise. https://twitter.com/anntorrence/status/1249375754523009024
Itâs been about six months since we hunkered down (March 8 to be exact, indelible on my brain now), and I started this thread not long after. If you listened to any of my advice, hopefully you put together a couple weeks supply of basic, easy to prepare foods. If not, why not?
If you did, I want you to do something now: rotate those canned goods out of your pantry and into the car. Take them to your nearest food bank collection point. I promised to remind you. Itâs time. https://twitter.com/anntorrence/status/1240844533799063552
Now that we are six months into this mess, you know better what you need. Go replace the donations. Donât think of it as âpreppingâ. You are just storing a future donation for a while. If you canât be bothered to shop, mail a check. Hit them up on their website. Send cash.
But as they say, put your own oxygen mask on first. Two weeks of meds, food, pet food and hygiene stuff, ready on the shelf if you need it. Do that now, in one big shop or bits as funds allow. Put some cash aside too if you can. But once you are there, remember the food bank.
That is what I need to say today. I do believe we could be in for a wild ride these next few months. But if you are at the food bank now, itâs already crashed and burned. Rotate your two week supply and bless someone during their realtime crisis. #steadthread out
