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I think the important thing is that you have stable genetics. Open-pollinating and heirloom varieties both fit the bill. Congrats on the seed acquisition. Even if you have some germination problems, you're still ahead.

The only way to be sure is to raise several generations of the seeds. Typically the plants are crossed to produce the first generation F0 and the seeds are the second generation F1, which are sold to gardeners. Subsequent seeds are F2 a total crap shoot because you don't know how they were...

I'd like to do something like this some day. However, I need to work on ice storage first. If you're just using the freezer to make ice, I don't think there's much energy savings. If you use the winter to freeze the ice (in MN we have winter, as you can imagine) it's really actually...

Alternate year production in fruit trees can be as sign that you're allowing too heavy of a crop to set. Try French Breakfast radishes. They can be eaten when mature without the usual peppery taste and woody texture. Slice and bake with potato and onion slices, dotted with butter.

I've heard this before, about the jams stored at room temp. Makes sense but DW is practically in a panic to refrigerate things and I don't care enough to lobby for a new policy. I suspect that part of the room-temp-jam success is based on using it in a reasonable period of time. What's salad...

Woo hoo! Feels great, doesn't it? Just wait until you get use one of your jars!

Can't see youtube from work, but I think everyone knows that misinformation is an issue, regardless of the medium. Oh, I found another site that's more specific [1] about the discovery of canning. Apparently the initial experiments were done with jars and cork stoppers. Still, I think...

I put up a few jars of strawberry and some more of peach. I've made low-sugar jams before but have since heard that the sugar is part of the process. I like to have ingredients on hand and fruit purees are really handy. But if they're too sweet, it makes them less versatile.

This phrase triggered a memory about the history of canning. Apparently it's military technology, at least, it was originally. Before that, other methods were used--probably a lot of dried field peas, wheat, salted and fermented stuff, etc. But I read that the invention of canning used huge...

What about canning jams that are made without a lot of sugar? Are there food safety issues?

Why no flat sheet? It's considerably warmer in the winter and convenient in the summer when the duvet isn't needed.

All of the options sound OK with me. Personally, I'd prefer less debt but some things are worth taking a risk on. We've had several talks about how much land you need. I recently spoke with my wife's uncle who came up in a family that grew their own food. He described about half an acre of...

For a while there were lots of horses that had been dumped by their owners. It was during the recession. That got me thinking about how much it costs to keep a horse. My little survey (N=2) came to about 1,000 $ per year if you have your own land and barn. Boarding is another story. To put...

I assumed the feather should be cut at the tips of the non-flight feathers.

Even adding straight 5% vinegar isn't a guarantee of adequate acidity. Turns out that there's all kinds of buffering potential and it differs from one variety to another. Besides, the temperature cycle and whatever chemistry goes on during long-term storage may effect the pH. There's enough...

Did you clip the flight feathers symmetrically on both sides? I've read that clipping on one side is more effective. Otherwise, you're not cutting off enough of the feather. Too short and you risk injury to blood feathers as new flight feathers develop.