Canning meat

[NH Homesteader]

Haha kangaroo? Ew. We don't eat much beef either but hunt for venison. I would probably be a vegetarian if it wasn't for my husband, or an occasional meat eater anyway.

How are the big production farms over there? I don't know if they have better or more humane practices than here.

 

[sumi]

Yep, Kangaroo. I was amazed, as the Irish are not the most adventurous when it comes to food. (Which reminds me, we found some canned baby octopus in Aldi a few months ago. I was soooo tempted to buy a jar, just to put it in my kitchen lol)

Production farms are not huge here and much of them are used to graze dairy cows. You'd find acres and acres and acres of land to graze maybe 20-30 cows. Poorer (rocky) grazing land are used for sheep, who often free range all over the place. Achill Island was particularly bad for this, the sheep are everywhere, including the roads. I came <this> close to hitting one twice when driving there. Farmers mark them with paint to identify them and go dump them there to graze. Residents who don't want their lawns mowed keep their gates closed and fences repaired.

 

[NH Homesteader]

So Ireland is not in the CAFO business I presume?

 

[sumi]

Ireland leans more towards "grass fed farming". Letting cows graze when the weather and seasons permit and give them cut greens when not, over winter, for example.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Ah well I envy you on that. Of course you have more grass, lol!

 

[sumi]

The only problem is the "grazing season" is so short! The have to keep the cows indoors half the year, because it's so wet and messy out here. I love Spring when the cows start coming out and the calves A dairy farm on the edge of the village put their calves out along the road I walk on and I often stopped to talk nonsense with them and let them suck on my fingers and try to eat my sleeves.

 

[sumi]

@waretrop I got my Ball canning book today Now I need to start looking for the right equipment. I'm not in a rush, I want shop around and make sure I get good quality everything. That and right now, there isn't much around here to can :/

 

[waretrop]

It is great to re-gift things. My friends would not mind. Now don't you have flee markets or thrift stores. We still have some garage sales and moving sales here going into winter. If you lived closer you wouldn't have to buy much.

To get canning jams, jellies, tomatoes, pickles and yes, like another place we are talking about, "water", all you need is a water bath pot, for probably 7 quart jars, with lid. You also need a wire rack that fits in the pot, a jar lifter, a large mouth funnel and a dozen jars. If you buy new jars they come with lids and bands and if you find just a mason jar at a flee market then you will need to buy a box of lids and rings. The rest of the stuff you will find in the kitchen, like towels, butter knife, and tongs.

When you acquire all these things you can practice canning water...LOL Let us know when you are ready and we will tell you how to do it...

 

[sumi]

That was a wonderful gift, thank you again

Canning water? Remember I live in Ireland! The longest dry spell on record for the last 18 months was 4 weeks without a drop and that was very unusual. I think I will try with something "safe" so I don't accidentally kill anyone or myself and then once I have the hang of it, I'll try some meat, probably poultry of some description. Turkey or chicken.

Thank you for the tips on what to buy etc. I will make a list and see what I can find. We do have car boot sales here and markets in some towns have secondhand kitchen and other things galore.

 

[waretrop]

LOL no no sumi. Go read this, it's only 3 pages. It is quite interesting.

http://www.sufficientself.com/threads/5-water-storage-myths.15027/

It would be good practice and then you would have good clean water stored. LOL