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Well, I was born in the States, but grew up in Northwestern Ontario and then lived in Winnipeg for about 20 years. So...I sort of consider myself a Canuck :) I love the Gem jars I have, simply because the glass is so much thicker and stronger! I don't have any of the glass lids, but did end...

I never peel crabs either. The first ones I ever had were so tiny that if you were to peel and core them, you'd be there weeks, and end up with a tsp of pulp from each one, LOL. I use the crabs for pickled apples, jelly and juice. I also used all that pulp for butter and it was very tasty! I...

Have you ever made juice from the crabs, Moolie? The first year I canned, it was with crabs...did all kinds of stuff and still had more. So I just cut 'em in half and threw 'em in a pot with some water and cooked 'em. Then I strained them and kept the juice...it was really great and DS loved it!

Fired up the ole pressure canner yesterday...5 qts beef roast, 6qts chicken, 12 pts ground beef, 5 pts beef stock. Prepping carrots today for canning tomorrow morning; hopefully can get to the Sustainability Fair in the afternoon. Then the pressure canning should be done...whew! It just takes...

Today it's ground beef, beef roast and chicken. Spent yesterday afternoon, grinding, cooking and cutting up. It's all in the fridge and ready to pack and process. Gotta make a run for more jars first, tho, LOL. Hoping to prep carrots and mushrooms while the meat's processing. Busy, busy...

I've been seriously considering meat rabbits, but don't think it's do-able in our present situation. We'd have room for a couple, but if I didn't have quite a lot, I don't think I could "do the deed" to Mr Flopsy" ;) If we had enough that we didn't really see them as individuals, it would...

Grandma used a pressure cooker quite a lot, so I was only moderately afraid, LOL The new ones are a lot easier to operate, too. I got the big pressure canner to can chili and it came out really good. I've never canned just meat before, but will before the week is out. Stopped at the market...

Gotcha! What about renting the barns for storage? Minimal people issues that way, collect the rent in advance. Gotta second the notion of working with friends...I've rarely seen it work well :( Best of intentions and all but there's too much gets in the way...can ruin both the friendship and...

It does help to have a very arid, sunny climate and a concrete driveway in the front when the chickens are in the back :) You could put some boards out and put a temporary fence around it while they dry. I'm afraid to try to store them if they're not totally dry...worried they'll mold.

Ours go crazy for it! We only have 6 and just use the grains as scratch or supplement, so we don't use that much. A neighbor of ours brews her own beer, so we just walk up and fetch it. We dry it on the driveway and then store it in predator proof containers. Free feed they love and is good...

Very clever, but wouldn't work for me...for SURE I'd catch a toe in the openings and fall right up the stairs! LOL

Colloidal silver and echinacea will both help bolster your immune system. I'm in complete agreement with Emerald...warm salt water is excellent for a mouthwash...no pain but it really does help keep things clean and flushed out.

IMO people need to help each other as much as possible; I think it's what we're here for. I try to do that now as much as I can, so I can't see that changing in the event of a disaster of some sort :)

I'm a tad confused...there's time to travel, but not to work? Not being rude...truly...just wondering :) Have you thought about perhaps making someone a manager for the boarding? You do the paperwork part of it and let them deal with the day-to-day stuff and the people? You could offer a...

DH built our chicken coop almost entirely out of material we had laying around from previous projects, a few things we got for free off Craig's List and Freecycle. The only things we had to buy was hardware and paint. Still have most of the paint for future projects so I figure the coop itself...

Great idea Emerald! I hadn't thought of that...think I'll check it out. Sure would beat having to buy the stuff. Thanks!

Sounds like my kind of stewed! I strained this year rather than cooking down. Didn't make it quite as thick as I'd like but at least the jars aren't half full of sera. I just dumped the ground stuff in a colander over a bucket and let it sit for a while. Then put all the pulp in one bucket...

She stores the milk in half gallon canning jars. When she opened the fridge, there was a good 3 to 4 inches of cream on the top of each jar. Of course, by the time we poured 'em into our bucket, drove it home and poured it into our own jars (we'll just take clean jars and swap 'em out next...

OMgosh! The milk is wonderful! I had to taste it of course...to make sure it's okay for my animals ;) Very nice young woman, got to meet the cow who's a lovely Guernsey named Buttercup. All three dogs came running, chasing the car and alerting her to visitors and getting scritches. Mama...

I actually spent quite a lot of money to save quite a lot, LOL. Stopped at the market to get some lids. They didn't have any but did have bottom round roast, buy one get one, and sirloin at buy1 get 2, and broiler chickens for .77/lb. Also got some freebie carrots (about 15 lb) and apples...