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In another thread someone mentioned Electronet Fencing, so I thought I would share my experience. I don't like it. There, but now here's why; 1) I do have to mow down to the dirt to keep the fence from shorting out, and the charge still isn't very strong. 2) The whole point of having...

I have been reading all the interesting posts about Kombucha, and I think I'm ready to try it. If anyone has extra scobies (?) to sell or trade, I'm interested. I have lots of seeds or the Readers Digest 'Back to Basics' book, or the Readers Digest 'How to Do Just About Anything' book...

I went and picked up my package of bees on friday afternoon. We were forecast to have rain and thunderstorms all day, which didn't happen, it was rainy in the morning, then nice all afternoon. When I got home (3 hour drive) I figured I would hive them on friday evening, since if we don't have...

I have the Readers Digest "Back To Basics" origional edition, as well as the RD "How To Do Just About Anything" (only 1 edition as far as I know) Both are in perfect condition. I had bought them, and then 'inherited' a whole bunch of books, including these. They have been mentioned so often...

So, there are lots and lots of 'SS type' magazines out there, which ones do you read? Are they worth the cost of the subscription? Do they repeat articles? I would like to find a good magazines on the following subjects; Beekeeping Cheesemaking Raising Farm Animals (can be species specific)...

I love fresh roasted beets, and I would like to preserve some, but I don't know the best way. I have recipes for freezing, canning and drying, which way keeps them closest to fresh? I am guessing dehydrating is probably out. What do you all like?

So I just talked to a man about buying a quarter of a beef. He guessed it would be about 5 cubic feet in a freezer. Last week I talked to a woman about buying 10 chickens. They will take up a lot of freezer space. I only have a top-of-fridge freezer, and a 5.5 cu ft chest freezer and they are...

Ok, while I am no Euell Gibbons, I do like to keep a lookout for wild foods. I recently picked crabapples and made a lovely and delicious jelly. I have picked lots of wild berries, eaten wild greens, wild carrots, onions and nuts, and seaweed when we lived on the coast. What have you...

So this year I decided to grow my own popcorn. It matured, I shucked the ears, now what? The kernels are too hard to dent with a fingernail, but I can tell they aren't as dry as popcorn should be. Do I leave the cobs sitting out for a while? Can I put them in my dehydrator? It's so humid here...

On my local craigslist there was a posting selling water kefir grains. You need to use a bunch of stuff I had never heard of, as well as..I think it was either corn syrup or sugar. I suppose the milk kefir eats the sugar from the milk, so water kefir has to have som added sugars. But how is it...

The other day I made cajeta from goats milk, and it was so incredibly delicious! I accidentaly added extra cornstarch for the amount of milk I had. I also added 1/3 less sugar since goats milk tastes sweeter to me than cow milk. It turned out rich and chewy without that mealy too-sweet flavor of...

Has anybody here rigged up their own cheese presses? Please tell me about it if you have. What did you use for specific weights? And where did you get your cheese wax? How much do you go through?

So last week I saw on Craigslist (gotta love it) that someone was clearing out their whole house, everything in it was free. So of course I raced down there, and I did get a couple boards, and things, it was mostly junk, (there is 'junk' that is someone else's treasure, and then there is 'junk'...

What do you all who have animals that need to be milked do when you go on vacation? I have had a pet-sitter take care of my chickens, but I only had three and they were all very nice. I am thinking about getting goats, but we do travel a lot, I don't want to be stuck at home all the time...

So, in answer to some of my questions, both on here and other places, I've been told "Just ask your extension agent" or something along that line. How the heck do I do that? There is no 'extension agent' listed in the phone book. And when I find them, do I have to call and make an...

Does anybody here make their own saurkraut? I especially love polish kraut, it is so earthy and mellow with a deep brown richness. I have read what little I can find on making it at home, and it seems there are 2 ways, straight up canned and fermented. I think maybe the fermentation adds the...

Does anyone know how to make stable aloe vera gel at home? I use it a lot, and don't want to snip, peel and slice leaves every day. I would like to harvest every couple weeks, process it into gel somehow and have it somewhat portable.

As I was going through my recipe box I noticed that I have many recipes I no longer use because I don't like using canned 'cream of x' soups. I am looking for substitutions that are easy, versatile, stable (can be used in baked recipes w/o separating) and if possible, low in actual cream...