Seasonal Foods: Frozen Wild Mushrooms

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There is nothing more delicious than wild mushrooms.

There is nothing more delicious than wild mushrooms. Our neighbor Joe Trotta brought over a big box of wild mushrooms for us. Thanks, Joe!

Normally, we saut? the wild mushrooms with some butter and sea salt and eat them right away. With over 20 pounds of wild mushrooms to process, we decided to try Joe’s method of storing mushrooms for winter consumption.

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Cover and cook the mushrooms in butter and sea salt until tender.

8-10c wild mushrooms
1/4c organic butter
1tsp sea salt
Clean and wash off all the dirt from the wild mushrooms and let them dry. In a very large fry pan, cover and simmer the mushrooms in butter and sea salt until very tender. Remove the mushrooms and cool. When the mushrooms are cool, portion the mushrooms into freezer bags suitable for your household needs. The frozen mushrooms are good in soups, stews, omelettes, pizza toppings, side dishes or wherever you normally use canned mushrooms.

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Let the wild mushrooms cool before packaging into freezer bags.

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Package the wild mushrooms in portions suitable for your household.

Urban Homestead: Personal Stories About Growing Food

GO BOX Storage has just opened a new Facebook Page called the GO BOX Permaculture Project. Please go and “Like” us! We appreciate the support.

growing-your-own

Growing your own food is a very liberating experience. Start your own urban homestead and be healed by real food.

In our society, growing food yourself has become the most radical of acts. It is truly the only effective protest, one that can ? and will ? overturn the corporate powers that be. By the process of directly working in harmony with nature, we do the one thing most essential to change the would ? we change ourselves.
Jules Dervaes

This post is an index of all the gardening and farming experiences we have had over the last few years. During our time in Kamloops we have greatly increased our knowledge about permaculture, forest gardens, and pasturing. We have learned how to slaughter and process meat and fowl. We have learned about secondary food processing. I have watched my health, and the health of my family, get better. Good food is a real healer.

We have become aware that food is a political issue. Just talking about food becomes a political discussion very quickly. Unlike?Jules Dervaes, I am more concerned with government forces that create the regulations, rather than corporate forces that may be working in the background pulling stings. Governments have the power to create laws which control the courts. Government created laws are backed up by the use of force and imprisonment. Corporations might dream of having this kind of power but it’s only a dream. Corporate powers can lobby but the real power sits with government.

There are political decisions being made right now that are resulting in greater barriers for small scale farmers and ranchers to sell their products to the public. This means you will have greater difficulties finding local food. These problems seem to be intensifying right now, or maybe I am just becoming aware of what has been going on for a very long time.

Producing our own food has been a fascinating journey. I hope that sharing our experiences will encourage others to grow their own urban homestead. Doing so will increase food security for everyone. I hope these stories will also help people who are disconnected from their food supply to appreciate the work that goes into producing quality food.

Local Food
Eating Local Challenges: Part I
Eating Local Challenges: Part II

Winter Storage
U-Pick Strawberries, Cherries and Blueberries for Winter
Winter Storage Part I
Winter Storage Part II
Storing Soft Fruits

Pasturing, Forest Gardens, Permaculture and Gardening
Terracing a Slope and Planning a Pasture
Making Friends with Deadlines
Pastures, Electric Fences and Milking Problems
Predators and Neighbors
Learning About Garden Weeds

Chickens
Chicken Scratch and Fresh Grain for Home Milling
Chicks, Chicks and More Chicks
We Have Organic, Soy-Free Eggs

Dairy
Looking for Pasture for Dexter Cows
Kamloops Herdshare Program
Patty’s Second Birth
Milk, Milk and More Milk
Change of Plan
Looking for Another Cow
Olivia’s New Calf
Olivia and Cinnamon
Olivia’s Illness
Patty’s Third Birth

Slaughtering
Slaughtering Chickens
Whizbang Chicken Plucker
Visit to the Killing Floor at Kam View Lake Meats
Slaughtering Chickens II
Heritage Hogs and Ranfurly Farm
Slaughtering Lambs and Hogs

Food Philosophy, Food Politics and Food Security
Slaughtering in BC: Information You Need to Know
Pastured Poultry Profits
Let’s Talk About Raw Milk Safety
Joel Salatin’s Vision of a Local Food System
Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick
Wrong Turn
Are you a producer or a consumer?

Housing
Trick or Treat: Earthships and Zero Energy Homes

Winter Storage: Kimchi and Lacto-fermented Green Tomatoes

crock

This is one of my fermenting crocks. I have about five different types and sizes. You can pick up crocks at garage sales or buy them new.

It is that time of year again to be thinking about winter stores. I spent the day making kimchi. Kimchi is by far my favorite lacto-fermented food. This recipe is based on a Korean Sauerkraut recipe from Nourishing Traditions. It uses mostly local produce that you can get at the Kamloops Farmer’s Market.

If you have never made lacto-fermented vegetables, please read Wild Fermentation. Remember to use organic or un-sprayed vegetables because the fermentation culture can be killed by residue pesticides or herbicides. Ask the Rubinsons at Silver Springs Organic for their organic fermenting cabbages for best results.

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This is a favorite breakfast with grilled steak, kimchi, eggs and garden fresh greens.

Kimchi
2 large organic fermenting cabbages, finely sliced
1 large organic onion with green top, grated or chopped
6 large organic carrots, grated or chopped
2c organic daikon radish (any type of organic radish will work), grated or chopped
4T organic ginger, freshly grated
1 organic hot red pepper, finely chopped
6 organic garlic cloves, freshly grated
4T sea salt
4T whey (if not available add an extra 1T sea salt)

In a very large bowl mix together all the vegetables, salt and whey. Put the mixed ingredients in a fermentation crock or follow the directions in Wild Fermentation. I use two types of fermenting crocks in my household. I have two 10L Harsch Gairtopf Fermenting Crock Pots and various sizes of Medalta Crocks.

Lacto-fermented Green Tomatoes
4-5 pounds organic green tomatoes
2 organic garlic cloves, whole
1 organic hot red pepper, whole
1T sea salt
2T whey (if not available add an extra 1T sea salt)
enough fresh water to cover green tomatoes

This is a good recipe if you find yourself at the end of the summer season with too many unripe tomatoes. Only use the hard green tomatoes that have not turned color at all. Follow the directions for Lacto-fermented Horseradish Dill Pickles. The green tomatoes need the same treatment as pickling cucumbers. If you like dill better than hot red peppers, try replacing the pickling cucumbers in the recipe with green tomatoes for a dill favor. The green tomatoes should be tried in a month and the flavor will improve over the winter.

Updated November 8, 2010: I originally wrote this posting back in early October. I had never tried making Lacto-fermented Green Tomatoes but I had lots of green tomatoes and nothing to lose. I have just opened my crock to find a coat of white slimy mold on the top. I have learned from experience not to worry about the mold as long as there isn’t a horrible smell. The mold on top actually seems to protect the contents below. I carefully removed the slime and cleaned the sides of the crock. I lost a bit of the mold to the fluid so I washes the green tomatoes in fresh water (no chlorine please) and filtered the liquid with a sieve. I returned the green tomatoes to the crock and poured the liquid back in. I moved the crock to our cold storage area for the winter. I tried a few of the green tomatoes. They remind me of a cross between an olive and a very crunchy pickle.