Lard, Composting, & Stocking the Barn for a YEAR – Pantry Chat Q&A

Hey you guys it's Josh and Carol with Homesteading family and welcome to this Week's episode of The Pantry chat food For thought the day we are talking about All sorts of things we're covering your Questions and you can tell we're a Little tired we're a little crunchy We've uh We've had a long harvest season it feels Like and a lot of good hard work this Fall getting lots of stuff ready for Winter so so we're feeling a little Punchy this morning but we're going to Be answering your questions that have Come in in different places we are we're Talking about meat in the compost water Glassing eggs today prepping the Homestead for winter Making lard butter you guys got some Great questions here Um a lot of pantry type stuff which is a Good thing to be thinking about right Now yeah lots of fun stuff so good but First what are you up to what's your Days looking like right now It is a fish Garden Pretty I mean we've got a few kind of Fall winter greens still hanging in We're harvesting some spinach tonight But yeah we're expecting snow this week The Hoops on The Terraces no no chart Under the Hoops but we do have lots of Kind of winter lettuces and mustard

Green and snow And uh stuff yeah Green waves mustard It's almost November here and we're Harvesting in North Idaho and we're Harvesting greens you can do this yeah Yeah absolutely so anyways because of That change though we're mostly indoors And uh we're we're full steam ahead on Homeschool and so that's really we're Getting a lot done in those books but Then there's the things that kind of all Came in right at the end of the Harvest Uh apples apple cider we've been canning Apple cider this week we've got cabbages Getting turned into sauerkraut right now So we've got a lot of things going on That's just kind of the trickle in from The Harvest And um and then we're gonna have to turn Our attention a little bit to just Getting everything a bit organized Because With everything coming in so fast Sometimes it gets to be a bit of a mess So we need a really solid kitchen scrub Down clean like deep cleaning after all The preserving that's happened in there And the pantry needs a real good Organization and hey I should do I Haven't done a video on um what's in the Pantry this year yeah I'm good I should Do that real soon here so I can take you Guys on a tour maybe always like I can Walk through the pantry because we've

Picked it up enough that I can share it With you well it's kind of cool because The pantries you focused on some Different things this year yeah and it Is looking a little full but looking a Little different yeah yeah it is so I'll Film a video for you guys coming up here A pantry tour so cool so yeah that's a Lot of what we've been up to on my side What about you you know a lot of the Same Um helping get some of those crops in And potatoes and root crops and so those Potatoes are curing down in the basement And onions we had curing in the barn Those just weren't quite curing anymore Just got cool and damp really late Onions that we brought in they were the Last of them because most of our onions Are well cured and tucked away what's in There the white onions which is really Strange that those went so late but you Know we let the onions go until they Start to fall down right when you start To get that natural process of them Breaking and Um this year the white onion they just Held on so we rolled with it and they're Nice they're big nice looking onions but Anyways they're curing also so we had to Get those out of the barn because we're Doing the same thing in the barn we're Tidying up uh getting things ready to Bring in a load of shavings that uh we

Can get under a roof out of snow this Year instead of shoveling the snow off Of the tarp and getting the shavings Which we use for Um you know Carbon the as drill Saladin Would say the carbonaceous diaper in the Barn and lots of carbon that's how you Keep your barn clean and build compost During the winter doing some deep Bedding so we're getting ready for that Or every year we step forward so this Year we're going to get the cracked corn And we're going to layer that in Chickens are going to help us take care Of the barn and keep it even and break Some of that down but then the pigs will Go in there in the spring and root it up And calm host it no we have the Kunikunis and they're theoretically Fairly they will not be doing that job Right but they are slow Growers and We're figuring them out Um and so there's still a place for a Couple of good Um bacon pigs that's what way I'm going To tournament because the coonies are Good fat pigs which we wanted lard picks And we wanted non-reading picks they're A good fit for for what we wanted to do For breeding but I think we'll still Probably bring in you know a couple of Rooting pigs each year and have you put Them to work to help us compost and Manage the barn and yeah we can still

Get some nice slabs of bacon that aren't You know traditional bacon is very fatty It's very big we're not used to that Today but but old world bacon is Actually a slab of fat with a little bit Of meat in it and we're gonna get that We have a butcher the coonies yeah we're Gonna be doing that a few weeks it'll be Interesting to see how that turns out I Think that's going to be a little more Traditional bacon right but I like my Bacon with meat in it and so I realized I think we still want to keep a couple Of those picks going anyway so we're Doing the same thing just getting Getting the property ready we got the Barn additional roof on just in time Before the weather came in because we've Got all our hay and our feed store but That just it's just some nice Improvements so we're kind of sweeping Up from all the projects and getting Ready to get tucked in because the rain Is here and it looks like it's just Going to turn to snow without even a Break in the weather So it's looking starting out coming in Like a line so it'll be interesting to See yeah definitely well and we've got Some people out hunting uh it's hunting Season yeah we got people out elk Hunting today Yeah so the the boys are out I want to Be Auto cutting

I got you stuck right here good to be Here but got so much to do but those Guys can get out and go because we could Use we're a little light on beef a Little light on a few things this year Yeah and uh so we can use a little extra Meat from the wild there you go yeah Good yeah all right so that's that's What's happening here just Rolling Along That's exciting stuff now um there was One project that I meant to keep you Guys updated on and I kind of missed a Beat there and that was my oil Sunflowers I've been talking about these Is there an experiment this year I Bought an oil press because I'm working On ways to get an actual boil like a Salad oil okay yep into production you Know I we do a great job producing lard Producing butter but I really don't want Melted lard on my salads if I can't get Olive oil for some reason yeah so that Is nothing there's a lot of good places For sard lard and that's not on the Salad and so that's a place you really Do want a good oil and I know where There's a lot you know anti-seed oils Which is appropriate when you're store Buying it but I think if they're very Very fresh seed oils they can be great For limited amounts of use like a salad And so all of my I planted black Oil seed sunflowers and Um and we harvested those those are just

Drying down a little bit more in the Kitchen and then we'll be getting ready To do a trial run on the oil press All right anyways that's exciting that's Just a whole nother little cool thing That you came up with and I never even Thought about doing on the homestead but Being able to make our own oil like that Really and sunflowers are easy to grow I Don't think we'll be interesting to see How the process goes of harvesting and Getting them all converted into the oil But most places sunflowers are grow Pretty well right so you could grow a Lot of them yeah and that's a really Good resource yeah if the whole process Turns out good so we'll see we'll see How it goes hey and if you're wondering Why the shiny Grayish whatever background today we're Actually in town we're in the office we Have some of the homesteading family Team members in town today because they Live on their places all over the Country and so we've got a few people in And we're planning for 2023 and looking At what we're going to be doing and Uh what we're going to be adding or Focusing on so anyways we're in the Office today yeah and uh this is our Little cave in an old bank vault this is Actually all concrete bank vault Oriented so chemicals a little rustic it Is

Um but anyway so we're not in the pantry We're in the we're in the concrete Bunker But if you guys have ever written into a Support homesteadingfamily.com you may Have talked to Robin or to Cali if You've ever done a video interview uh For those of you guys who are students Inside any of our classes uh you may Have talked to Annie and they're here With us getting to hang out so that's a Lot of fun to get to have everybody in Person and get to visit with them so Okay but we are jumping into questions Today so we better Jump Right In because I actually have inside the membership This morning I have a live video with Mary from Mary's Nest coming over to Talk about yeah so anyways I have to Make it to that so we don't have a lot Of time good well let's let's dive in Move Along here okay I think the first One is your read okay Uh hanako on meat in your compost video If you don't Harvest animals would you Suggest buying oval to add to your Compost or just add it if you have it Kind of thing yeah I think that's kind Of a cool question and appreciate your Thinking if you're not raising the Animals you don't have that resource and Um it is not at all a necessity for Composting and I did that video more to Show what you can do with your extra

Resources because a lot of times we're Paying somebody if we do have animals on The property and we're butchering or Even if we're butching ourselves a lot Of people aren't really thinking about It and you're paying the haul it away You're burying in a hole somewhere and So it's more to show what can be done And it's a good use of resource and you Definitely can so do you need to go buy Opal or anything no not no you don't um You know hopefully you've got some green Manure there's a lot of good argument That green manure you know added your Compost the biology that that adds makes A better compost all the way through but That's a that's a very nuanced Discussion within you know just Composting and so I like to recommend That but I like the just add it if you Have it kind of thing I like that Perspective uh work with what you have Accessible to you compost with what you Can get inexpensively you know good you Want good clean you know hopefully Organic type materials but use what you Have and if you can get access to things And great add them in yeah yeah good Let's see here uh Alan wow okay sorry We're working off the computer and my Computer is often set to Shut down off to keep it moving Um Alan on water glassing eggs can I Reuse the solution over again and refill

The bucket ah so for this we're talking About the lime solution that is used for Um for liming eggs and you know this is The first year that at this point I have Not lined any eggs Um in years many many years uh and I Should do that so we have some fresh Some good backup uh for fried eggs and Things like that is the chickens start To slow down but Um but no you really don't want to reuse The solution you want to go ahead and Pour that out and refill the bucket when You're ready to do a new year of eggs The uh the lime water in there is great For disinfecting things and especially For Uh reading areas of pests it's what they Used to use to clean their pantries at The end of the year and I don't mean That the the leftovers from the water Glassing particularly I just mean the Lime solution Um and they would clean that down Because it's so antimicrobial and the Insects just really don't like it that It helps to kind of sterilize I want to Say that Loosely it's not a technical Sterilization but it really does clean An area and kind of cut the germs way Way back so To use that solution you can go pour it Around your chicken coop edges that's a Great way it'll cut back the mites or

Any problems with chicken lice or Anything that you might be getting in Your chicken coop You can scrub areas down with it if you Have an area where you have ant problems Or anything like that you know you can Just walk around the Exterior perimeter of your house and Just pour a line of this stuff right on Down to keep insects and things from Coming in that way so there's a lot that You can do with it but I would not reuse It another time for eggs you just don't Want to take it too The solution changes as it sits you know Either you've you're losing some water To evaporation or Um you know something like that's Happening in the process and so it's Better just to start fresh Cool good how about that one okay Meaning number three prepared Mama on Preparing the homestead for winter uh One of our last Pantry chats could I Cover my dirt in my garden with hay for The winter I'm in Utah at about 6 800 Feet You just said the word I'm sorry Mary no Prepared mama The word you said the trigger word for Josh which is dirt no I was gonna Overlook that you were you were Overlooking yeah that's good some people Have to start with dirt hopefully you're

Building soil dirt is dead so that's a Inside joke there that but that is truth That dirt is dead dirt hopefully you Don't have uh dirt for garden soil but If you do you just you're building you Want to turn that dirt into soil soil as Living organisms in it and that is what Is is essential industrial farming farm And dirt they look at dirt it's just a Structure and then they they give all The external synthetic inputs Um but we want to build soil so but by Mulching which is essentially what You're talking about there and putting That hay down you are you know hopefully Converting your dirt to soil and uh yes You can do that with the hay I recommend Be careful about the seed heads that are In it if it's hay that matured with seed Eggs in it you're are going to be Planting a lot of hayseed in your Vegetable garden and you probably don't Want that so you do have to be careful With that on hey otherwise it's it's a Good mulch so if it was harvested at the Right time that is great now if you're Mulching like that and you are dealing With well you should be amending your Soil no matter what anyways every year So put down some compost if you are you Know gardening on dirt and really Needing to build it up put down a lot of Compost and any amendments and then Mulch and as much as you can put on six

To eight inches but if you've got two or Three inches worth that's better than Nothing and certainly a great way to put That Garden to bed for the winter I Should really change this bit Yeah so I know straw has a lot of Concerns about chemicals in it And I do believe hay has quite a few hey Does and this is becoming a bigger and Bigger challenge we're finding that more And more of these Broad Leaf herbicides Are getting sprayed and the hay the Grasses can survive it but broadleaf Vegetables can't which most of what We're growing in the garden are Considered Broad Leaf vegetables and so You do need to really really be careful With your hay in that case and make sure That it is not sprayed it doesn't have To be organic but it needs to be not Sprayed so with anything you got to know Your Source you've got to know if They're trustworthy a lot of people say Yeah yeah no it's not sprayed Um you got to have confidence in that And and so hopefully you've got a good Referral or you know your hay farmer or You can pull some references or Something to verify that a little bit so Glad you brought that out because that Is becoming more and more of a problem For people yeah it really just depends On the region that you live in but if You're just buying it like you're buying

Hay to mulch with one that's a little Expensive a mulch but if that's what you Can do great just you know know the Source make sure somebody can confirm to You that that has not been sprayed with Any of the broad leaf herbicides There you go okay let's see here moving On Deborah Scott on a whole Year's worth Of lard in one day I love it when we get Have a day like that where you just get So much oh so much stuff yeah very cool Yeah it's a good good use of time did I Understand you're putting some jars into The freezer this is in charge of large Is she understanding correctly she puts Some jars into the freezer and will they Not burst uh great question you know I Had the hardest time for a long time Uh with jar breakage in the freezer and Then I finally just took a little bit of Time to think about it and understand What's going on it kind of comes down to Jar Anatomy so you can very successfully Freeze with glass including Mason jars Canning jars of all type you just have To think about the way that something Expands when it's in the freezer so Um you know just assume expansion is Going to happen the thing is is that Jars have a nice curvy shape up at the Top If you go buy jars that are Specifically for freezer like freezer Jams or things like that they're always Totally straight

And and this is the key is because if You're taking your regular Mouth Jars And they have that nice sloping shoulder At the back there yeah kind of that Bell Up the top Um you've got to make sure you count Your headspace As starting at the beginning of that Curve So you want to make sure that you don't Have [Music] Um Any food about an inch below above an Inch below that curve if that makes any Sense at all you got to make sure you Just stay well away from the curve in The jar because that's where as your Food expands if it's already up to the Level of those shoulders there Um as it expands it doesn't really have Anywhere to go even though technically There's jar space at the top as it gets More and more Frozen it's more and more Of a solid Force pushing up into that Glass and that's where you're going to Get your cracking so just make sure when You're thinking about headspace for Freezer foods That's every bit as important as it is For canned goods for if you're going to Store them on your shelf but you count The top of the jar AS wherever the curve Starts not the actual rim of the jar

Once you do that then yes you can freeze In those jars you can freeze broth you Can freeze lard you can freeze jams you Can freeze all sorts of things in there And you won't have a problem alternately Get a completely straight sided jar Which would be like you know a wide Mouth pint would be generally most wide Mouth paints you can buy it's completely Straight right up through the neck and Up to the room cool yeah Very cool those are some good tips right There hard one once you've cleaned glass And melting stuff in the freezer no good Let's see here Bonnie Mosley on how to Make butter three different ways can you Make ghee from your homemade butter and You might want to let some people know What ghee is yeah people aren't familiar With that so ghee is the Shelf stable Form of butter and that's where you're Removing all the dairy proteins out of The butter so you know when you have Lard and you render your lard you're Removing all of the meat proteins all You know pretty much all the proteins Out of the fat in the lard same thing With Tallow because those don't store Well they can't be shelf stable like That they don't handle heat well those Proteins they start to go bad right That's where the bacteria lives is and Stuff like that Um

And so making ghee is essentially just Rendering your butter it's where you're Melting it down and you're pulling off All of the dairy solids all the milk Solids out of your butter and leaving Just pure Um butter fat and that makes the butter Shelf stable for long periods of time it Does a lot of different things to them It helps people in places where it's Very hot and they don't have great Refrigeration Um ghee is a very very common food fat To be cooking with and it's just a Clarified butter that has had all the Solids removed out of it and all of the Milk protein so yes you can absolutely Do that very cool Okay here's a another one on how to make Butter three different ways but Um more of a farm question Gretchen Sharp on how to make butter three Different ways may I ask what kind of Cows y'all have when I was young my Family had both holsteins and jerseys And the cream from the jerseys was as Thick as cream cheese I think that's a cool question because We kind of tie into there a little bit Yeah what kind of cows we have yeah Absolutely uh well we have both beef Cows and we have dairy cows but I think You're specifically asking about dairy Cows in this question and we have

Something that's kind of locally known As a black jersey she's our second black Jersey and that is a Friesian uh Jersey Mix and a Friesian is kind of the Heirloom version of a Holstein so so Yeah we had two of them and they've both Been phenomenal cows you get the nice Thick cream on the top they've been our Favorite cows over you know a half dozen Or more cows we've had over the last 15 Years and Um they do they produce a little bit More very very good producer but we Still get a very good cream line and They're not as high Maintenance they don't take as much feed Maintenance as say Um a large Swiss yeah cow dust or even Some other currencies we really really Like them yeah let's see okay you wanna Sure let's see Jennifer Coates on Getting that pantry full what you need To know when you stock up Says Josh can you please talk about bone And blood meal as chicken feed and is Fertilizer is it the same stuff do you Use it Um and Carolyn do you make those things Yeah interesting so Um we don't use those things for chicken Feed blood meals essentially just dried Blood and it's going to be high nitrogen So it is good for fertilizer and the Bone meal likewise if that was powdered

That's high it's high phosphorus I'm going by memory here uh along and Both of them have minerals in them so They are good fertilizers Um what we do just because we raise and Process so many animals as they go into The compost pile like we were talking About earlier they just generally go in There and so essentially we're using Them we're just composting them as Opposed to breaking them down Individually drying them yeah and Whatnot so we take all the blood Um some of the bones will be you reuse a Lot of the bones other places first Eventually they make it to the compost Pile one way or the other but Um and so that's what we do but you Could I've actually thought about uh Blood meal you can dry some people will Take it and take that blood from Butchering and dry it out and use it to Sprinkle other people will take it and Mix it with water and then actually just Pour it into the soil one to ten part Yeah to water it down yep The 10 ratio the bones are a little Tougher to crack I've always thought and If I had the time I would look into Actually something that would that you Could break the bones down and cry track Them and pulverize them to make a powder If you wanted to specifically have them For supplements instead of just going in

The compost you can definitely do all That stuff it's just there's work and Processes to do that that they are Um they are valuable well and as for the Chicken feed part of that question no we Don't use them for chicken feed what we Do like Josh is saying we get them in The compost which goes in the garden and Then the chickens get a lot of the Leftovers from the garden and it kind of Creates this cycle where they're getting More the vegetative matter that has been Grown using these things in the compost You know and it's there's so many Different ways to use things and you Have to figure out what works best on Your farm with the resources is we're Trying to create these Loops we're Recycling and getting even multiple uses Of things so you know we'll you know Talking about bones we'll eat the meat Off the bones which have been cooked and Then they'll maybe get me broth out of Them and then and then you know maybe They'll go to the dogs and the dogs kind Of finish them off and then maybe They'll go to the compost pile and but But you try to find those Loops where Everything goes back in and is returning And Nature's really built to do that if We can use it and so sometimes there's a Lot of cool ideas like taking the time To make blood meal but is it worth your Time I guess yeah you just you have to

Look at your own situation and figure That out now you might have resources to A butcher shop and some of those things And you don't have a lot of space but You want some amendments for your garden Then that could be a great resource and A great thing to do yeah to create a Nitrogen supplement or different things Like that so just just take those things And doesn't matter whether we do it or Not and know that like how do you apply The resources you have access to to make Something work and make a good recycling Loop and multi you know using something Multiple times those types of thinking With the resources you have is what's Really important to do yeah I think in In this in this life that we're all Trying to live Let's see here Stephen l on I never had Lines when I needed them until now So that's a video on the whole on Fermenting whole lines as in Citrus We've been talking about the chemical Lime or lime what do you call that is That an element is that a chemical lime Powdered lime powdered lime um Well it's mineral elements it's usually Calcium you know some ratio of calcium And magnesium is this okay predominant Uh in in Lime not in the fruit line yeah Right so we're talking about fermenting Citrus limes here and his question is Can you keep topping up with new limes

For about two weeks I find that you can Do that while you're still in active Ferment so while you're seeing bubbling And you're seeing it change you can go Ahead and add new lines in there you do Have to make sure to add new brine to The top to make sure they're all Submerged but after that period you Really don't want to just stick new Lines in there Because the active ferment has died down And You know when when it's fresh and it's Really active all that bacteria is in There hunting out all the bad bacteria Like it literally becomes a scavenger And goes and finds and attacks all the Bad bacteria the yeast anything else That gets into there after it dies down Though it's not so powerful of the Ferment as far as the bacterial activity It still got all the great health Benefits going for you but Um but it doesn't quite have the ability To attack of Invaders in the same way if I can put it that way so if you drop a Fresh lime in there and let's say it's Got a little bit of something on it you Know even if you washed it it might Still have a little something in them Past that active ferment time you may be Just introducing some bad bacteria that Then is going to take over and ruin your Whole batch but while it's actively

Fermenting you can stick something in There and it will be quite cleaned off Of anything bad very quickly during the Night of ferment so yeah Um let's see short organic on getting That pantry full what you need to know When you stock up how are you storing Your feed and we're talking about Getting the pantry full but I assume This is we were tied trying to remember In that video we'll be talking about Storing feed as well like outdoor feed That's what we're talking about I think She's referring to animal feed and not People feed I think so too but this Context was the pantry full so we're Going to assume you're talking about Animal feed which is not in our pantry But is up in the barn and so I guess you Could say we have a giant Pantry in the Barn And we you know we just store it open Um we don't have a lot of issues to deal With here it's not so humid that we're Always fighting some of the moths and And some of the larvae and things that Can hatch and feed so we're not dealing With that we actually haven't talked About that a little bit on the last Pantry chat one or two ago we talked a Little bit about on on you know dealing With that situation Um we also have a lot of barn caps that We keep very intentionally so they keep

The mice and the critters out on the Feed and we buy in bulk and because We're a little larger We Buy in Um you know thousand pound totes as Opposed to bags but we've bought in 50 Pound packs and just stored them in a Dry cool place uh and dry is the key Thing there and so for us that's all out In the barn close to where we're going To use it in the winter we get a lot of Snow so we actually did a barn addition This year to make more room to store Things so that we could bulk up a little Bit better and also not be tripping we Had so much crammed into the barn it was Hard to get around in so Um But you know dry cool yeah it was good And uh you know dark is good direct Sunlight definitely just like it Deteriorates things in the pantry if it Had it it does deteriorate hay or grain If you're getting hot sun beating down On it so I won't say dark because you're Just not going to create a dark room but If you can protect it from from direct Sunlight as well that is a good thing Very good all righty and Holly Ann on Render your own lard my son has pig fat From January 2021 if I render today in October 2022 will it be good for a year If properly stored good nice details in That question I like it no I'm assuming That the pig fat that your son has from

January of 21 has been stored well Wrapped in the freezer yeah that's going To be really important big piece to that So if you're not if there's not an issue Of freezer burn or things like that Going on then yes you can go ahead and Render it and the Um the rendering process is really What's going to determine your shelf Stableness for uh you know for the next Year for the actual lard it's really Important that you're getting all that Moisture out that's like key I know I'd Probably say it like 20 times in the Video but make sure you're removing all Of the moisture from your lard that's Why you simmer it until you stop getting The big bubbles because the big bubbles Are the water evaporating out right the Liquid coming out and when you get hot Enough you guys all know you go to deep Fry something until you put the food in That that fat is hot but it is not Boiling as soon as you put something in With any moisture that's where all those Bubbles erupt right and so you need to Get to that state where you don't have Moisture in there Um the trick with lard is doing that Without overcooking your lards you have To just you know low and slow low and Slow just keep being patient but as soon As you've got those bubbles all out of There then you're ready to store it so

That's what's really going to handle the How long it stores for on the other side Assuming that your fat is good to start With so no freezer burn Um and obviously it couldn't have been Sitting out somewhere if it was you Wouldn't it'd be so nasty you couldn't Even get close to it it would be putrid That's a long time in the freezer you're Talking talking a year and three Quarters of another year so hopefully That was wrapped really well Um and just yeah be sure and in a deep Freezer not your regular freezer things Don't keep well that long in a regular Freezer in like a chest freezer or an Upright deep freezer hopefully it was There and again like Carol mentioned Wrapped very well yeah you just don't Really want to mess with that if it Wasn't now if you look at it and you Feel like Um there is freezer burn on it while it May not make great food lard there are a Lot of uses for conditioning leather Wood handle tools Cutting well not even do cutting boards But I do cutting boards but but I mean With the older large no no you're right Yeah yeah but you know Um oiling things of any source is a Great use for that so you know don't Count it as unusable it means to go to The trash even if it's beyond food grade

It just you need to make a Differentiation between food grade and Non-food label it accordingly yeah right Very cool well I know you've got to get On here and meet with Mary for Mary's Nest in a moment so it's been great Hanging with you guys and hopefully uh Your Gardens are wrapping up and you're Using into fall here uh with the full Comfy pantries that sounds good that's a Good feeling this year see you soon Nick Here goodbye