Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce

Winter is coming and so are the holidays this week at the Holler Homestead. Today we will go over this week's pantry tip, talk about winterizing the homestead and I'll share 5 country gift ideas.

What mother nature is providing

• Cabbage
• Venison - bacon wrapped loin
• Mushrooms

Using the Prepper Pantry

• Why is it called the prepper pantry?
• Potato soup (Bacon)
• Protection from freezing
• Honey Extraction
• The weekly squash - week 1: Roasted butternut squash
  • Tip on how to cube it without losing a finger tip

Winter is coming

• Cabin draining
• Duck water
• Pump house
• Attic
• Root Cellar
• Bad Windows
• Screened in porch

Five Country Gift Ideas: Look around - what do you have or what can you make that would be special?

1.Chestnuts with a pretty instructions sheet

2. Fancied up preserves, canned goods, or other homemade items like vanilla extract

3. SachetsLavendar on Amazon....

4. Repurposed country items: horse hames, horseshoes, etched bottles

5. Meal in a jar (Take any recipe, put the dried parts in the jar. Write fancy instructions to make the meal by adding the non-dry items.

Lentil soup example...

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil (NO)
• 2 cups chopped onions (YES)
• 2 cups chopped carrots (YES)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (YES)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (YES)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander ((YES)
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric (YES)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (YES)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper (YES)
• 6 cups vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth (NO)
• 2 cups water (NO)
• 3 cups chopped cauliflower (about 1/2 medium) (NO)
• 1 3/4 cups lentils (YES)
• 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (NO)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (YES)
• 4 cups chopped fresh spinach or one (YES)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (YES)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (NO)

Cook on low until done - salt to taste.

Pro-prepper resource for this: http://rainydayfoodstorage.blogspot.com/p/meals-in-jar-recipes.html

Song: Grandpa's Song by Sauce

Holler Homestead living is the topic of the day. Today is Monday, December 5, 2016 and this is episode 14 of Living Free in Tennessee. With the production of the Center Hill Sun absorbing the whole weekend, I thought it would be a good day to talk about what day to day life is looking like in December.

Show Sponsor: The Genesis House

http://www.genesishouseinc.com/

What mother nature is providing

• Watercress
• Mushrooms
• The super kale plant

Stories from the prepper pantry

• Easy pantry management - load from the back, take from the front!
• The Survival Podcast Recommended Episode: http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/1759-food-storage, FOOD STORAGE FOR MODERN SURVIVALISM
• First thing's first: Soft potatoes, potatoes with eyes, squash that looks at me wrong, soft onions
• The last week of Watercress -time to freeze it for winter stews
• Using up the canned goods from 2015 - by pulling them out

Stories from the Holler

• The fires in the Smokies - 13 people dead so far
• New Chestnut Recipe
• The WOODSTOVE
• Tennessee Food Summit - Joel Salatin and Jeff Poppin
• Update on the new duck and chicken hoop coop

TN Food Summit --- Joel SalatinInform betterCreate LoyaltyBecome storytellers and teachers: Or food coaches

Three things you can do to start taking control of your food

1. Establish a regular family meal
2. Build your pantry
3. Find risk points: In the next two months, are there times that will be very busy? Where are they, how can you prepare something now to deal with that.

Yes winter is nigh, go out and make it a great week!

Today we will talk about how to tap into one of the easiest foods to grow on your land in our area: Chestnuts! Specifically how to harvest, store, grow and prepare them.

What mother nature is providing

• Drought - That means all the usual mushrooms that we harvest at this time of year are not blooming. The good side of this is that firewood has seasoned on the forest floor over the summer and is dry and easy to burn -
• Creek mint
• Venison

What we are preserving this week

• Stocks and stews
• The final set of frozen summer tomatoes
• Before the freeze: harvested comfrey and other herbs and they are hanging to dry in the kitchen

Preparing Chestnuts (Look you can buy them on Amazon!)

• Scoring: I like to use this tool. It operates like a stamp and makes me fear less for my fingers!
• Roasting
• Boiling
• The open fire method

Three ways to eat chestnuts

1. Roasted
2. Added to stuff: Casseroles (like the dressing, tuna, etc), breads you are baking, dressing
3. Chestnut griddle cakes: 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, 4 cups chestnuts (in shell)

Today, we will have a Holler Homestead update. I want to share with you some of the stories from our part of the country that have happened in the last few weeks, take a look at where our focus is as we seek to increase the food we produce on site and talk about what we are focusing on moving into the new year.

What we are preserving this week...

• Apple cider - the final round
• Apple sauce
• Drying herbs: Basil, comfrey, peppermint
• Sauerkraut

What mother nature is providing...

• Watercress!
• Oyster mushrooms!
• Tomatoes
• Chilies
• A cabbage update - we have some :-) and carrots too!

• A deer from the neighbor
• Holy Helicopter Batman
• Sweet potatoes successful for the first time
• CANT OPEN ONE OF MY HIVES
• Firewood - ho!
• The great cleanup of 2016

Advice on my cookbook: 365 pages, one recipe each? 12 months? A weekly recipe?

Song: Thanks Dave, by Kirk VanDerveer

Today, we talk a bit about the importance of community, explore five ways to prepare hatch chilies, and discuss how to preserve the chilies for winter.

Highlight Recipe: Southwestern Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients: 4 heads broccoli. Steam, chop, drain 1c celery, chopped 1/2 c onion, chopped 16 oz can green chiles, chopped (or similar volume fresh or roasted) 1 c sour cream 1 c Cheddar, shredded 1/2 c almonds, chopped or slivered

Combine in 1.5 qt casserole dish: broccoli, celery, onion, green chiles, sour cream Top w/ cheese. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle w/ almonds. Serve.

Song: Tripped Out by Sauce

After a personal break, we are back at it and today I chat about a few health care options and our experience with health insurance and healthshares.

Also today, a bit of a homestead update.

Squash, Squash, Squash! The many ways to eat squash is the name of the game in this 8th episode of Living Free in Tennessee. Today we will take a look at four ways to use squash that you may not have thought of and that can be used as a basis for many fantastic dishes as you work through your summer squash. We will also talk a little bit about elderberries and I will share a tip with you about canning tomato sauce when you don't have enough tomatoes to process at one time.

Evo Sprayer I love more than the Misto one - and yes this is an affiliate link.

Song of the show: Learning What Leaving Is by Sauce

Untested (by me) poke remedy to poison ivy: http://duplin.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/cookingcorner/pokeweedcure.htm

Wild things we are eating this week:

1. Blackberries
2. Daylilies
3. Gathering lots of leaves for teas: sasafrass, mint, bee balm, blackberry leaves

What we are preserving this week:

1. Corn
2. Jams
3. Beans

A word on managing canned goods: Audit your stock and organize it.

Fermenting Garden Excess

• Book Recommendation: Sandor Katz, The art of fermentation: http://amzn.to/29x4vOs
• Handy (FREE) video reference! Sandor Katz: http://www.wildfermentation.com/sandorkraut-the-video/
• Fermentation Lids I like and use: http://amzn.to/29wfESJ
• Brine website I like: http://www.probioticjar.com/brine.html

What you need

1. Vegetables
2. Salt
3. Vessel: Jar, crock, anything really just no metal or plastic
4. Wood spoon or other tool to help you push it down
5. A way to weigh the veggies below the liquid (NWEdibleLife)
6. Cool dark place

Troubleshooting

• White scum
• Black scum
• Off smells - fermentation smell or baby poo?

Song of the Episode: Suicide by Sauce

Want to see a balanced documentary on how animals are raised for food in the US? Check out At the Fork, AtTheForkFilm.com! Today I am joined by John Papola, producer of this film to talk about what motivated him to trust in human nature and produce a film that is balanced and educational rather than preachy.

Get tickets TODAY at AtTheForkFilm.com.

Also covered on this episode:

1. Quick shortbread recipe
2. What is seasonal this week in Tennessee