not quite balmy.......but we're warm! and tuesday lookback humor

new scarf

(and i edited to add tuesdays archival humor click HERE)

we got a new back up kero heater.
i ordered it sunday online to be picked up at lowes
bernie ran to get it, we prepped it monday, and set it up yesterday
ran it a few hours in the living room- turned it off when we went to bed
wow
this morning the studio was 74...
the woodstove didn't have to work as hard
the birds water wasn't frozen
and it was actually warm
not florida in august warm.......more like PA in May warm
it's -4 this morning out side and windy!

we did do a few other things... covered the basement windows with plastic
etc

now i know it's been a few days since i posted, bernie and i have been rushing around working to make sure we get through this latest cold snap.
i cooked a lot of stuff ahead due to his schedule change and also ....with the cold snap we used to hear transformers exploding all over the mountain, and we'd lose power
so this way with the food already cooked, it's just fast to reheat on the woodstove
i finally was able to uv coat my digital prints to fill my order during a brief heat wave of 45 degrees
(i didn't open the etsy store yet but i am starting to get orders anyway! which shocked me!)

over the years we've acquired more and more emergency equipment and experience.
we've got oil lamps, and candles, flash lights ( i am really liking the 'headlamps)
water storage, food storage, back up heat
(for back up heat you need to have things that either don't need electric to heat you....or have a battery start.......so woodstove and kero heater for now.... and maybe adding a pellet or biomass stove in the front room for later)

and over the years i've also realized that having food cooked, and waiting helps too....
boy it sure helped us during the power outage of sandy! and we had that generator!
i found it takes a few days to get used to the 'new normal'

anyway.... we're warm, we're fed and we still have electric!

the other good news is that even with the really frigid temps plus windchill, the water buckets did not freeze.....
so i know that the birds are ok
although i am still a bit worried about the quail....but they have a LOT of hay, and each other
plus a lot of food so they should be fine
another thing i noticed is that the birds eat a LOT more during cold weather
i give the chickens extra stuff like suet or even chicken fat....

(they are omnivores and even cannibals so i don't feel bad about it as they will eat each other or a weaker chicken given half a chance - actually that whole 'vegetarian chicken feed' is not healthy for chickens, as they will and should eat bugs etc, it's natural and healthy for them)

i should probably figure something fatty for the ducks....but since i have muscovy and they don't actually have fat layers....relying instead on down to keep them warm,--- they too love their protein in the form of worms and bugs.... small mice, small birds..... reptiles etc..... they also love greens.... so they get some scraps from the kitchen too

we've been putting leftover cooking fats and stuff out for the wild birds and animals too
and luigi the button buck was back but i am hoping he's moved on now...

now with bernie's new schedule, and his location, he can stop at the provisioners to pick up the bulk chicken breasts when they are 1.65 a pound (not bad for boneless skinless, and not injected with saline either so you get what you paid for)-- i can call it in and it will be ready at the dock for him to just pay for and pick up

so are you folks staying warm? safe? i hope so
it's brutal weather out there
i know that the midwest and mountain regions are really in the deep freeze.... arctic type weather so you all stay safe

saturday is the new sunday...

or at least it is around here!
friday was bernie's saturday, he took me to the doctor for my eyes
the doctor said i am doing better- but i have to continue the drops for a few more weeks if not months
and it's slow
really slow
right now they are killing me, hot, tired....... and painful
a few hours sleep will help too
i renewed the drops but they won't have them at the pharmacy until monday i was told.... i hope i can hold out that long

i cleaned the woodstove while it was HOT....i had to, it had a 4'' coal bed in it and this stove hates a coal bed like that, it won't heat with that large a coal bed.......
so i left the door unlatched, and burnt down the coals... every 1/2 shifting out the hot coal from the ash and dumping the ash in the ash bucket.

we went to town, (this was today but when you read this...it will be yesterday)
we got a LOT of errands done, cat food, quail food, mailers for the prints of my work, hit a sale at the grocery and stocked the pantry on stuff we'd run down on.
i have to mail out some prints this week.....

now.....shhhhh don't tell bernie but i am probably getting another duck....a girl duck.... i need the eggs.....
this one is technically a grand duck of mine!
just what we need right?
but i'll be freezing duck eggs from her -it's not totally decided yet but it's most likely
now the only errands we didn't get done was the post office, and i forgot eggs...... all this poultry and i am buying eggs?????????? oye

this coming week i am hoping to start mailing stuff out..... i have a few things that were supposed to be mailed two months ago but then we had the test of the emergency preparedness system....
which means NON ESSENTIAL stuff.......stopped dead.

btw, i can recommend an occasional test of your emergency systems, prior to maybe having to deal with things like no electric for a week.....or no money coming in...
i did discover that i needed to put away gift cards to grocery and other stores, that don't expire and have no administration fees... so the art supply store and some grocery stores have cards like that..
i haven't looked into amazon or home depot or even the pet store but i think it's a good thing to do

ok i'm going to run now.....i may update this if i get time to paint
if not well you'll have to wait until YOUR sunday (which is our new monday)

take good care

where in we talk about some odds and ends

HERE is today's funny post from the past (once a week on tuesdays normally ok?)
i've been thinking, while we test our 'emergency preparedness system'

besides not having enough milk for drinking, (we do have nonfat dry and some *not many* cans) 

we also don't have 'don't feel deprived' things

like that great sale on lightfast colored pencils we missed due to unexpected bills...

although i have a stash of yarn, and beads

and i have made double sure i have water color paper put by

i've been thinking, i need to stash gift cards to the art supply, yarn, grocery...... 

and not the cc/debit prepaid cards......cause they charge you a fee...and they charge the merchant a fee (that sure doesn't seem right to me......what do you think?)

but mostly STORE gift cards do not charge a fee nor do they expire....and most have either an e-card or free shipping on the gift card itself

i am so adding that to the list, along with dried whole milk, dried eggs, and a few other odds and ends

(and a LARGE cold frame-wired over to thwart the damn squirrels that ate most of my winter crops this year)

a fast pantry note, if you are working on a pantry, please let me know either by email (see the email me thingie up on the right?) or in comments,

cause if you need specific questions answered chances are good i either have the information or can direct you to were you can find the information.

these days, frugal is the new 'in' thing.....so is frugal green....both very good things. 

also buying local and from small companies.... to folks local to us (no matter where in the world you live)

we live very frugally here, for us at times it has been a necessity and at times it's been a choice, even when we didn't need to.... frugal has bad press but we decided that we could and should live a bit lighter on the earth......

and i want to pay that idea forward (so ask any questions on 'how to' )

ok this will post tomorrow morning

so good morning!

for me it's actually monday afternoon, and i am rooting around in the house looking for shells to paint

take good care

vi

how to make stock, more pantry notes

here is a past post for you to laugh over, it's from when Thaddeaus Peabody was young (we all know and love the little devil cat from hell right?)
it's called 'are you sure you are a cat'

a bit more pantry notes:
essentials- things like baking soda and baking powder, salt, herb/spices, sugar, flour, various oils and flavorings, rice, pasta, cocoa, jello,  home canned pickles.....things like that
things we need every day, i try to always have a backup on the shelf. i occasionally do run out but it's pretty rare now.
i have a list for this too.
i also have a smallish cabinet for some of this
now if you have your list of meals, this list, and an idea of what you'd like put by, we can talk about what type of freezer containers for the meals, and jars for either the dried stuff and the home canned stuff.
i use a vacuum sealer, freezer containers, and currently for the milk i froze, empty spring water bottles. (those are for short term freezing of milk)

for the emergency pantry, i keep actual cooked meals in the freezer and home canned jars of foods such as stews, that really helped during the power outage we had with hurricane sandy. i was able to reheat food on the wood stove. *** i use the OLD corning ware that can go on the stovetop and in the oven, not the french white stuff that is not stove top safe

the turkey stock i froze the other day, is in quart round freezer containers, labeled with the month/year and the type stock 'turkey' ....
if you get into the habit of every time you make a chicken or a turkey, and you use the leftover carcass to make stock, you shouldn't ever have to worry about having stock in the freezer again.

*** a fast way to make stock- you can reroast the carcass or bones to make the stock a darker color, but i don't always do that...i do however scrap the 'fond' out of the bottom of the roasting pans, and i save ALL the leftover juices for the stock.

fill a stockpot with cold water, add the carcass or bones, and if you want to use them, vegetables such as onion or leek, carrot, garlic, celery, and possibly if you like the taste a parsnip.
(save the parsley and or dill for later on in the cooking process)
simmer for a few hours, adding water if you have to
if you do salt, (i don't usually) use kosher salt, as the taste is better i think.

don't be afraid to taste your stock, and also if you need to ....let it simmer down and concentrate it to save room.
when it's finished, strain out the bones, and the veggies.....
you can put it in the fridge overnight then remove any fat layer that's on the top, but i do keep some fat with the stock...... as my dad used to say, 'you need some of the fat' turns out he was right, as there are fat soluble vitamins in it!

stock in the freezer is something i've always done, i've also canned stock for the pantry
that is done in a pressure canner at 10# for my elevation, 15 minutes.

i am also hoping to get around to listing some of the books i love for canning, dehydrating, and putting food by.
plus maybe a list of some of the varieties of veggies i grow for freezing and canning...
if you are interested please let me know.

now the other thing i wanted to tell you folks, i am thinking of moving the blog to wordpress, i've been with blogger for about ten years now, and i am thinking that it's time to move on
i have over 1600 posts here, some useful, some funny, some just daily life, and a few vents on when stuff goes wrong.
right now i am extremely disappointed in google, and blogger so i am going to think seriously about this
if i move to wordpress, it would be a paid website hosting due to the sheer size of the this blog,
which means i would also have to really decide to actively make this a job. that is in addition to painting...... i think i could do both interchangeably
if you have any opinions on this let me know ok?

til next time

vi

painting update

here is a fast update on my nest painting... it's actually a lot further along though.
and i am already starting to look forward to the finish on this and starting the next one (6 seems to be my normal series, with the crows being an anomaly right now -- however i plan on doing series of 13 for calenders in the future)







to get back to discussing the stocking of a pantry, i would like some feedback from you folks, if this is at all helpful to you.
in the meantime, once you have a list of meals, also make a list (separate paper) of the things you use with them, such as ketchup, coffee, other condiments, you can even list things like napkins.

*** now i have found that almost everything goes on sale at least once a year, with the possible exception of the 'grain free' cat food that we feed the cats....... for you to save the most amount of money, you need to be able to stock enough to last you from one of the 'best price' sales to the next.....
for some things that is yearly but most stuff that is about six months. take butter, we tend to see it on sale here in may, and then again november. it's under 2.00 a pound on sale- so i tend to get at least enough to last me to the next big sale......and throw it in the freezer.  if you don't have a big freezer this won't work for you, but there is also a way to CAN butter..... just a thought***

when i decided to stock the pantry for a full year, i made a LOT of lists.
for a two week pantry it isn't too bad, the list of meals, then double or triple the ingredients, and pick them up. plan for the sale items that week for your meals
also keep buying water,....
i pick up things like batteries, periodically when there are sales, ditto on the light bulbs
i hit a great sale in september on pasta, that normally is about 1.50 a pound, i got it for 67cents a pound..i bought 15 pounds and i put it in mason jars. we eat about a pound for a supper and a lunch for two......that is going to last a bit added to what i already have on the shelf

i would also suggest strongly learning to can if you don't already.
now canning most fruits and tomato products involves a boiling water bath.. i used to use a 'canner' for this, now i use my big stockpot with the pasta insert! works great.

i would also like to suggest that you start either batch cooking, or double/triple your recipes. Storing the extra in the freezer.
when i worked outside the home, i cooked one saturday a month, we went food shopping friday night, and i cooked and put away raw meats in the freezer on saturday. now what works for me is batch cooking.
chicken parts on sale, i get 40 pounds and cook some into recipes and freeze some in marinades....
of course normally once a year i get 120# of boneless skinless chicken breasts (when they are under 1.80 a pound) and i slice them, cube them, bread some (link to my 'bread coating for chicken, pork, etc), and freeze some in marinades.

now a word about where to store everything..... i have a very small house, without closets, and the kitchen is a nightmare-(it's a glorified hallway with four doorways, all of which are essential, very little wall space, too narrow for an real island, and NO COUNTER TOPS- and due to a new faucet, terrible water pressure) ... we also have a damp basement with a partial dirt floor .... the joys of an old house,.... so storing the pantry is in several locations.... even in the damp basement, which doubles as night and winter quarters for the poultry, and a cold cellar for the potatoes. (mom was right, there always is a silver lining if you look hard enough)

for me the challenge to be ready for emergencies and to find new and better ways to save money is not only compelling but it's bailed us out on more then one occasion, so i wish that for you as well.
during hurricane sandy we were just slightly uncomfortable. the biggest thing was no running water.
during times of financial difficulty this made the difference in our surviving or starving.
and during better times, we were able to save some money towards retirement.

now if you want me to continue this as a sort of formal series here, please let me know
for us ..... living this way is a way of life.
without even thinking about it, i get ready for each season.
i even pick the seeds for the garden by what keeps the best for drying, freezing and canning.
(which can be a whole other series)

in the meantime
my turkey stock for the other day is in the freezer, part of the ongoing pantry.

painting updates, pantry notes *** pretty long pt 1 of many

i was up most of the night painting, i think it's starting to come along now. i am starting to like what i see here. however i will be cautious with my optimism, as i don't want to become so enraptured with this painting that i don't see if i make a mistake. it's good to keep a critical eye on your work. 

this particular series will be larger in size then my original ones, and i think more intricate, reflective of where i am in my life now.

i do like the 'peeking into' aspect of this painting, a glimpse into a sheltered and secret world. 

some of my favorite things are in this painting, maple leaves, wild berries, the nest and eggs. 

this painting was extremely soft starting out, and still is mostly, but i think things are starting to sharpen up a bit, which they needed to.

now onto another thing that i was asked about recently...

starting and maintaining a home pantry without making yourself nuts. yes it can be a huge job but it's easy one step at a time.

our forefathers (really our foreMOTHERS) marked the rhythm of the seasons of an agricultural based year, taking things in plentiful and season and preserving them for times of want and winter.

for us, it is more a matter of making sure that if there is a hardship, such as illness or job loss...

or a storm, or money is tight, we can survive. despite the supermarkets all around us full of food and goods, sometimes they are beyond our grasp.

so i am going to try to help you put a pantry together if you don't have one, increase your pantry if you do have one, and try to help you save some money while you are doing it.

***please note that when i refer to our pantry it includes batch cooking freezer meals, dried foods, canned foods and homemade 'tv dinners'' part of our pantry, as during hurricane sandy (no running water and no electricity for over a week and then no hot water for another 2 weeks) the food i had already cooked ahead was what we reheated on the woodstove.  it also includes extra amounts of things like coffee, tea, sugar, lightbulbs, toilet paper..... 

first you need a plan. 

and a notebook (i use a three ring binder- and i get a ream of prepunched holed paper for it)

ok, what do you eat during the week (please don't say 'take out every night'..or we will have to talk)

let's just say an average week

make a list of your suppers

here's mine for cold week in fall: 

sunday- pasta and sauce (salad)

monday- meatloaf, baked potato, carrots (gravy optional)

tuesday- chicken stir fry with mixed veggies, brown rice

wednesday- porkchops in apple cider with homemade mac/cheese and home canned cole slaw (yes it stayed crisp
thursday- chicken soup with no knead bread

friday- homemade pizza

saturday- beef stew

summers are in a way, easier as we eat a lot of salads out of the garden, but we'll just do this normal type week.

what else does your family eat?

make a short list of favorite main dish meals

i have a list of about 60 different main dishes put away.......

now you know that you have to eat daily,

so decide for now, how many days or weeks you would like to have stocked for?

***i started out when we were first married (37 years ago) stocking monthly, we shopped once a month, i spend saturday cooking and then we ate for the month without worry....just picking up milk and maybe eggs or bread and some fresh veggies weekly (we lived in an apartment at that time and i worked full time outside of the house)

when we moved here, we started to stock up for 3 months at a time, but soon graduated to 6 months at a time....and finally to a year at a time.

let's say you want to stock for two weeks, 

you know you need 14 meals, but say your family LOVES homemade pizza and you have that every friday night....ok so that really is only 13 meals (cause one is doubled)

and say you make a big roast on a sunday, then cut it up for stew, and the leftover stew is now going into a pot pie, ...hmmmmm see what i mean? (hint, cut the roast into stew chunks before you put it away on sunday, and it's ready to go for a fast stew during the week.)

now i know at this point in the process, i was sitting there overwhelmed and wondering how i was going to do this, where i was going to put everything, afford everything, .....and just remember everything. if you're at that point right now, just remember, i too was there, we were on a very tight budget, we have an extremely tiny house, no closets, a damp basement, a total wreck of a kitchen without kitchen counters, and i was scared, so if i can do this YOU can do this, 

ok so we have a sample week of supper menus, and a list of other meals your family likes

plus an idea of how many weeks (2) you want to try and stock for.

now we do some math,  first off you take the meals you know you will repeat ......so that would be say two meals of  homemade pizza

and you are going to make a roast either of beef or chicken or even turkey, and cut that up for a stew, and the pot pie.

now you just have to fill in the others (fill in your own meals ok-i'm working on a pdf for you to download)

1. roast
2. stew and/or potpie
3. chicken stir fry 
4. meatloaf
5. pizza
6. pizza
7. pork chops
8. pasta
9. soup and sandwitch
10. baked chicken
11. tuna casserole
12. tilapia fillets with parmesan coating
13. enchiladas
14. chili

ok so there is about a two week batch of meals...just supper at this point, cause lunches are normally leftovers (so i just make extras- enough for a meal or two for the freezer and a bit leftover for lunch the next day)

now we are going to break it down into manageable units ( which is going to start tomorrow as i have been working all day and my eyes are exhausted!)

please leave any questions you may have in the comments and we'll work them out as we go along

dehydrating 102- & pantry cooking- PHOTO heavy

to continue from yesterday
(for rho)
today i am going to show you how to use some dried veggies in a meal.
i took pictures and posted them of the tortilla potpie bowls the other day (scroll down) if you would like to make a pot pie using tortillas (which we do as it's fast)...and that is a whole wheat tortilla in the photo.

melted butter with olive oil added

1/8 cup flour added

now as to filling, i tend to leftovers for potpies, and normally i start with a roux, which is a mix of equal parts flour and a fat .....
for pot pies i use a mix of butter and olive oil for the fat.

starting to whisk flour in

beef stock added

so lets say we start with a tablespoon of butter and one of olive oil, melt the butter in a heavy bottom pot, then add the oil and let that heat a bit
then add about 1/8 cup of flour, you can use all purpose
 whisk that together
i used beef stock in this, about 1-1/2 cups

finished sauce

you can use whatever you have on hand. you can even use bullion reconstituted if you absolutely have to. (ignore my crappy non counter, i am still trying to get counters in the kitchen!)

whisk it while heating until it gets thicker and smooth.
it should be lump free doing it this way
btw, this will also make gravy if you need to, the very same method, but use the pan drippings after you separate out the fats

dried onions in mason jar

dried veggies soaking

 meanwhile i took some dried veggies and started to soak them in hot water as we aren't going to do a true soup or stew. i just grabbed whatever i had close on the shelf, so it ended up as diced eggplant, vidalia onions, and some diced sweet peppers ( i need to dry another batch of carrots it looks like)

chicken sauteing in pan

leftover potatoes and onions to add

i diced up some chicken breast i had.....and simmered that with the veggies and their dehydrating water- i also had some leftover potatoes and onions from the other night....yup they went in there also




added some fresh ground pepper, and a dash of paprika and garlic powder,  a bit of tomato sauce i had in the fridge (you can use a cube you froze from something else)

dried veggies added to pan

sauce added and stirred

then added the roux thickened beef stock to it all and dumped it into the tortilla bowl..








i briefly softened another tortilla(not soft enough from the look of the photo) and put that on top, then into the oven at 350 for about 20 to 30 minutes. (i like the top a bit crispy)

add paprika & tomato sauce

add to the tortilla bowl

it is pantry and leftover cooking at it's finest!....
now i like to keep a lot of whole wheat tortillas on hand for my new found love ....enchiladas!
which i make out of leftovers, and add chopped vegetables to.
so these tortilla pot pies are sort of an extension of that idea, and while the enchiladas freeze well, i've never tried to freeze these.

i know that the photos are not the best however this is a pretty good way to use up leftovers, or make overs.... i use leftover everything (including leftover gravy when i made the turkey leftover pot pie)

out of the oven!- smells great!

cover with another tortilla and bake

 now i hope this helps you, because it does help to have another way to make leftovers, and to use pantry items.


by drying your own veggies and fruits, when are in season, you save a lot of money, and by keeping a pantry full of food, you know that in case of emergency you have a safety margin for yourself and your family.

here again are some sites for dehydration
http://www.clemson.edu/sustainableag/IP147_food_dehydration.pdf

http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT200907HR.pdf

http://nchfp.uga.edu/

i hope this helps you....
please let me know in the comments

where in we discuss dehydration of vegetables 101

*** edited to add some links to official dehydration sites at the bottom of this post

as some of you folks may remember, i keep a very large pantry.
i try to make sure that we have enough of everything to last us, in case of emergencies

storms
power outages
shortages (remember the rice shortage?)
financial set backs
illness

i try to keep three methods of food storage.

frozen
canned
dried

my friend rho asked me to do a post about dehydrated foods....
so i am going to start talking about that today (which is thursday for you folks)

first off i want to tell you, drying food at home is not hard,
with some minimal care,
it lasts a very long time, properly stored,
and it's wonderful for emergencies.
or because you just can't bear to scrub, peel and slice the carrots for the stew tonight cause you are so very tired from working all day

first off there are plenty of books on this (we'll get to the book list in another post- if i forget, you remind me)

so we'll start with the real basics, the dehydrator
i have several (yes i know)
i have two excaliburs (one 9 tray and one 5) and an american harvest with something like 11 trays.
i like all of them
and sometimes ALL of them are in use at the same time!

some of the things i dry the most?
carrots
broccoli
sweet peppers
tomatoes
ONIONS (you haven't lived until you've eaten dried vidalia onions-dry them OUTSIDE-you will thank me for that one)
cabbage
herbs
oranges
lemons
limes
grapefruit
zucchini
eggplant
peaches
sliced mushrooms
asparagus
celery


(and occasionally potatoes but you have to really watch potatoes, they mold FAST)

so let's start with something very easy.
onions! in spite of the smell, and i am very very serious about drying them OUTSIDE of your living area, they will get to you if not........
onions are great to dry
i sliced them up in the food processor one year and it was even easier to do
i like them about 1/8 thick
spread them in one layer on the trays, and depending on weather, i start at about 5 hours, then flip them until they are almost crisp. these things are fantastic as a snack btw.

now mine changed color a bit but that was ok too
we also grind them for onion powder as we need them

when they are totally dry, i put them in mason jars with a 'dry can' seal i use a seal-a-meal jar sealer and a used but washed canning lid and ring
label (although onions are pretty obvious.....citrus not so much so)
i think 50 # of vidalia dried down to 4 quarts or maybe 5, i wasn't able to do them this year or last so i can't quite remember how many, but i know that i STILL have them on the shelf
keep them stored in a cool, dark, DRY place (in moist climates, either use them food grade 'stay dry' packs or maybe try the heat sealing mylar bags or both--)

i will tell you also that i hooked more people on drying food by letting them have some of my dried vidalia onions....they are like fantastic chips- seriously, they are better then onion flavored potato chips!

i basically dry citrus the same way, just sliced and dried......USE ORGANIC citrus if you are going to do that ok? and remember to label the jars...... next time lemons and limes are on sale.... pick them up and dry them
i dry these guys crisp, and i do use them often
the oranges in either blueberry orange compot or my cranberry orange sauce at the holidays
sometimes i grind up the citrus slices and throw that into cookie dough......

now some things need to be blanched briefly before drying, i usually blanch broccoli and then slice it thin and dry it- not so much things like peppers or tomatoes, or zucchinis etc.

i cut the veggies uniformly, and i try to cut them into pieces that are pretty easy to deal with, i like to dice peppers and eggplant
i slice carrots and zucchini into 1/8'' slices
i grow special tomatoes sometimes for sun drying but i dry them in the dehydrator (they sometimes turn very dark but that's ok, i don't use sulfur or anything to preserve color)


use? well....... i mostly use them in soups or stews (either soak in liquid prior or just throw them in about 1/2 or so before you're going to eat )
and in sauces- also in dips with sour cream
i like the broccoli in cream of broccoli cheddar soup

but i am going to tell you a HUGE secret.......shhhhhh don't tell bernie, and DO NOT TELL YOUR KIDS
i grind my dried veggies up and put them into things like stuffing for poultry, or into a casserole sauce,
or into meatballs, meatloaf...... hahahaha
what they don't know is wonderful for them

ok, so that's your intro to dehydrating veggies and fruits
i know it's basic but really it's not hard

ask me questions in the comments and we will continue this for a few days if you find it interesting and useful...

http://www.clemson.edu/sustainableag/IP147_food_dehydration.pdf

http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT200907HR.pdf

http://nchfp.uga.edu/