~ from my home to yours, living the Working Pantry lifestyle ~ surviving today's economy ~ a can-do spirit and attitude ~

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

This is Why! ... part 5


part 5 

Previous entries can be found HERE.

Thus far we’ve talked about how I use leftovers to help stock my pantry and how I shop to fill my pantry.  In this issue we’re heading outside and looking at the ways I build up my pantry using the great outdoors.


38.  We grow a vegetable garden.  We grow most all of our vegetables and then preserve them for use all year long.

39.  I grow culinary herbs.

40.  I grow medicinal herbs.   This year I’m hoping to expand this area of our gardening as I learn more and more about herbs. 

41.  We grow our own fruit in our small orchard. 

42.  We grow strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries apart and separate from our little orchard.

43.  We raise chickens which gives us eggs and meat … and fertilizer for the garden after it has aged.

44.  We forage for nuts, berries, etc.

 45.  I constantly work towards growing and producing as much of our food as possible.

46.  My husband goes fishing.  My husband loves to fish, and we use his catch to add to our pantry.  Currently we have catfish nuggets and crappie in our freezer that he has caught.

47.  My husband hunts occasionally and brings home his bounty to be preserved.

48. We glean from fields in the area where we live … after being given permission by the landowners to do so, of course.  Sweet potatoes and peanuts are the two items we glean most frequently each year.

49.  We grow things inside our greenhouse.

50.  We have raised our own beef in the past and will do so again in the future.   

Okay, I’ve shared with you how I use the great outdoors to help fill my pantry, how about you?  How do you utilize the ‘outdoors’ to help you fill your pantry?

Your comments are what will make this series more helpful so please share your wisdom.

To see how I incorporate all these ways in my daily life, join me at A Working Pantry.
Patsi 

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

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28 comments:

  1. How do I utilise the outdoors to help fill my pantry? Does having food passed over the fence from my neighbours count? :-) We have a small orchard and we have grown veges in the past but don't at the present time. My husband loves fishing and does bring home some nice fish now and again.

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    1. Sherri, I love your statement 'does having food passed over the fence from my neighbours count?' LOL Absolutely!!!!!! Thanks for commenting!

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  2. I do all of those things and I also make it known that if another fisherman or hunter finds themselves with a catch that they do not want or the wife will not allow them to bring home, my door bell works and i will always take it. Sometimes my bell has rang at 10pm with a catch that had to be prepared right then. But I alway take it!

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  3. I like Sherri's thought on the passing things over the fence! Also I think what Kim said is brilliant. Many wives will not cook fish or hunted food and if you are willing and know hunters/fishermen then this is a brilliant idea!
    I kind of do this with fruit. If I see fruit dropping to the ground I will try to bump into the person who owns the tree and offer to make them jam or pies in exchange for being able to pick the fruit. I have knocked on the doors of strangers and proposed this... usually with success. Also I believe in letting friends and family know you make jam and cook and love fruit and vegies! So many people around here at least waste fruit.
    My husband goes fishing so this is a source of food.
    I grow many herbs, chilli, spinach, rocket and a few tomatoes.
    My brother is a hunter and from time to time we get venison from him. I guess it depends a bit on where you live but we are blessed with a lot of possibilities. When I am at Mum and Dads I pick a big bunch of bay leaves for my pantry from Mums tree. I try and keep my eyes open for fruit tress where ever I go. In the country I found a roadside apple tree this way that was covered in apples. You never know what you might find! xxx

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    1. Love your mindset Annabel! Great tips and suggestions ... and very resourceful! I like that!

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  4. We don't hunt, but I have friends that do. I asked 2 if they had extra venison after they filled their own freezers and their kids freezers, if they would pass on the extra to me. (I would pay for the processing). In November we were gifted with one deer ~ deboned ready for processing. I made them jelly as I had an abundance of blueberries and that was his favorite. I got another from a friend in January ~ I made her a nativity at the ceramics shop I work at. It was an awesome arrangement ~ and I've got many, many pounds of ground venison to use in spaghetti, soups, chilis, tacos, etc. Yum! And it cost about 1/2 the price of ground beef in our area!

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    1. It's great to have a network of likeminded people who are willing to 'help' each other! Thank you for sharing!

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  5. When my husband and I moved to a new town 5 years ago we debated whether to buy a house in town or in the country. We thought we might regret having a bunch of land to keep up. We found a house on 1 acre on the edge of the town. Happy medium! We grow a 1/3 acre garden and we share and preserve food. But the best part is the previous owners had planted red and green apple trees, grapes, raspberries, 2 kinds of cherries, gooseberries, blackberries, rhubarb, strawberries and maybe more! We sure don't buy fruit except for some bananas. I'll share one tip. My entire family enjoys getting jelly from us, but all that picking berries and canning in the heat got to me one very hot summer. So I bagged some berries and made some of the berries into juice and froze it. I thawed it out in the fall and winter and made their jams and jelly.

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    1. We have just a little less than an acre of land and it is plenty for us! That's a good tip about saving the berries/juice until a less busy time. I've done it several times myself!

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    2. I've done that with the fruits also. Its much more pleasant to make jelly in December or January than it is in July or August!

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    3. Gloria, My Mother does the same thing. She will freeze the current years blackberries from her bush for cobblers etc. Then usually in the early spring she will make jam out of the frozen berries clearing the freezer and getting it ready for the new season berries. She makes a great blackberry jam.

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  6. For the past 5 years our family doctor and his son would deer hunt for us. Sadly, he suddenly passed away last spring and we are looking for another hunter to share his deer with us. My brother said he would share and grind some of his. I love that he adds bacon to the ground meat. We grow berries, fruit trees and veggie and herb gardens on our city lot. We share with our neighbors. My husband brings home veggies that are shared at work that we can't get to grow for some reason. Who can't grow zucchini? We haven't been successful because of squash bugs even if we pick them off. Any suggestions would be helpful! We love hot peppers and we share with our neighbor in exchange for fresh pears!

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    1. When we have deer meat we grind it up and mix it in with other ground meats. We don't care for it by itself but ground up and mixed in with other meats is just fine and it stretches the meats we do enjoy. Have you had your soil tested? We don't have any trouble growing zucchini, it could be something lacking in your soil. Thanks for commenting!

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  7. I have tried several times to post comments to your page and they never post. I love your page.

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    1. So sorry you're having trouble posting, but this one got through! Yeah! Thank you for your encouragement!

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    2. Yay! I found you because of Annabel. I would love to know where you are located. It just gives me an idea if the same things you are doing, I should be doing (what to plant, what to gather).

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    3. Janell, I'm your neighbor over in NC!

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  8. I want to add more berries an edibles on our property. I am envious of those with nice blackberry bushes! We have apples, cherries, blueberries and strawberries. And if it ever came down to it we have lots of cattails and pine trees. I guess if you steep pine needles like tea they are loaded with vitamin C. Purslane and Lamb's Quarters are on the property too and are edible. We have grapes and Jostaberries. We have chickens and my guys hunt deer and rabbit, we always garden and can oh and even the little girls love to go frog giggin! Does regrowing celery, onions, carros and potatoes count as outdoors since I start them in here and then transplant them outside?
    Vicky

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    1. Regrowing most definitely counts Vicky! Great comment!

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  9. We do a lot of the things you mentioned. I don't have a greenhouse yet but sure want one. My husband and sons tried to build me a temporary one last year but it didn't get warm enough in it.
    We got a number 10 can of mushrooms given to us and I have been searching your site trying to find where you posted about re-canning them. Could you help me. Thank you.

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    1. Hi Lisa, Yes, you can re-can mushrooms from a #10 can. Be aware though, that they will be softer than the original. Just follow canning instructions for canning fresh mushrooms. Thanks for commenting!

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    2. This is my first time to comment, having just found your blog last week. Your posts are helpful, encouraging and faith-filled! Pantry building in my backyard includes a grapefruit and tangelo tree. We enjoy the fruit ourselves and also share with others. Our neighbors generously share lemons, naval oranges and juice oranges with us, which we are able to eat along with freezing zest and juice. We have young plum, peach and lemon trees from which we hope to eventually harvest fruit.
      We have a small container garden currently producing tiny pear tomatoes, bell peppers, green onions, basil and lettuce. We have other seedlings of peas, beans, spinach and other tomatoes that are not yet producing. Empty milk cartons are being used as mini-greenhouses with heirloom tomato seedlings to be planted soon. This is my first success getting tomato seedlings from seeds. The seeds were some I saved from a tomato given to me, after I ate the tomato, and some from a seed exchange. Some of our lettuce and flowers have reseeded themselves.
      Thanks again for a lovely blog! Elaine

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    3. Welcome Elaine! Gardening for me is very enjoyable and most of the time profitable ... except when I have a 'crop' failure. Thank you for commenting!

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  10. Gardening is very enjoyable for me, too. My husband took me to the nursery, while still using a walker, to buy plants when I first returned home from a lengthy hospital stay due to serious illness. He knew I enjoyed gardening and wanted a way to get me outside and have something for us to enjoy together. We have reaped many benefits, in spite of occasional crop failures.

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  11. Ahh, I hope to someday be able to do more fishing! Here in texas, one of the most abundant forages is prickly pear. The fruits make great jelly, and the leaves are… interesting tasting. A lot of the natives love them - I'm from TN though, and I don't think I've acquired the taste yet. ;)

    Thanks for sharing at Waste not Want Not Wednesday!

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  12. Great post. i'm so jealous. we live in the city and have limited space. what i'd give to have a little orchard. Congrats on being chosen as a featured post on this week’s Wildcrafting Wednesdays! I hope you'll join us again and share more of your awesome posts.
    http://www.herbanmomma.com

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    1. Kristin, it's 3 years later that I'm reading this, but wanted to pass on a link to a fantastic website/blog: The Prudent Homemaker. She grows a great deal of food--including from dwarf fruit trees--in her small, suburban Las Vegas yard. Her frugality is beyond compare, but she makes everything beautiful as well. http://theprudenthomemaker.com/kitchen-garden

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