I pre-heat mine most of the time. When the food is in the oven there is a thermal mass that will help hold the heat. Even on partly cloudy days the heat doesn't make great jumps up and down, only gradual ones. In the winter I have started some pots on the top of the wood stove in cast iron...
We see the same storm comming... just a couple of days later. Yay for you on anticipating! We mowed and weed eated the grasses, 4 to 5 feet high, cleaned the chicken house and harvested the onion crop. The wood stove pipes got cleaned yesterday in anticipation of needing a fire. Get ready...
I have had my solar oven for about a year and a half, and wouldn't trade it for anything. It has really revolutionized the way I cook. I use it very often, but there are considerations of cloudy days and if there is too much wind. Mine is a Sun Oven brand, they go for $279...
We do this. We have a storage tank and when we do a big watering of the garden we turn the pump off and water from the tank. Then we turn the system back and the well slowly refills the tank. We could not do as large a garden without this technique. Before we installed it we were dropping...
If you grow food it's a good idea to know new ways to cook natural foods. I cook very differently from how I was raised, and am still experimenting, learning, and changing how I feed our family. My most used books from the kitchen shelf are:
Stocking Up, Rodale Press
Putting Food By...
I have a Family Grain Mill and flaker (makes oatmeal and flaked barley)
http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/family_grain_mills.aspx
I have had mine now for four years, absolutely no problems. Comes with a free hand crank in case the power is out. I was shocked to see that the prices have gone up...
Thanks so much! this is exactly what I am looking for. Wow that site has a LOT of winter squash. I bookmarked the site and will probably place an order this winter.
Squash are good in pies, sweet breads, soup and chunked in stews, as well as mashed with butter. I didn't keep the butternuts...