Why You Should Can Your Own Food

The Food and Agricultural Organization (www.fao.org) published a report in June 2011 showing that worldwide, the price of food jumped 39 percent in the last 12 months. If you are responsible for keeping the pantry stocked in your household, you have probably seen the price of your groceries creeping upwards. In the not too distant past, families such as yours coped with the same issue and had a solution in place: food canning.

Food canning allows you to grow or  purchase as much as you want, even if you can't consume it before it spoils. It also allows you to store food that is only available during its season and use at your convenience.

If you decide to create your own soup stock, tomato sauce, soups or dishes, you will know the exact ingredients that went into the dish. When you preserve these dishes through canning, you won't need to worry about allergies related to dyes and preservatives used in modern food processing. Keep in mind that in canning, you are not limited to fruits and vegetables alone because meats are suitable for canning also.

Another advantage to canning is that there is no electricity requirement to store your food, just a suitable environment. Take a moment to open your refrigerator and see what you have inside. What would perish if your electricity went out for a few hours? How about a few days? Odds are that you would have to consume everything that wasn't frozen right away and then finish the frozen food within the next day or two. Canned foods have been known to last for years and remain as delicious as the day it was canned. 

This scenario outlines an ancillary benefit of food canning, which is a step towards increased self reliance. You will be the owner of skills that will keep your family fed in times of crisis. Depending on the severity of the crisis, these skills might also keep your neighbors going as well. In the event of a long term food shortage/disaster not only will you be fed but also have items to barter with. In this unstable economic climate having a backup is not just smart, it is a survival necessity. 

Commercially canned food has come under increased scrutiny recently and toxic levels of the chemical BPA (bisphenol-A) has been found within these very foods we bring home to our families every day. This toxic chemical is found within the lining of commercially canned goods, and it wasn’t until just recently that researchers from Consumer Reports discovered that it had been leeching into the food from the cans themselves. 
The canned good companies having the highest concentration of BPA were found to be Del Monte Green Beans, Progresso vegetable soup, and Campbell’s condensed chicken noodle soup. Over 100 independent studies have proven BPA to be damaging to the human body. Prostate and breast cancer, diabetes, sexual development, obesity, and adversely effects our learning abilities. All 49 brands tested were leeching BPA into food at some level.

Take control of your food and the health of you and your loved ones. Canning is easy. Do not be intimidated. There are books, videos, and neighborhood classes being held. Roses Ridge Farm recently just held our first and hopefully more to come in the future. If you can boil water, you can can. :-)

Life On the Funny Farm

So I have been a bit busy and caught up in daily life goings-on. What am I so busy with anyway? Well, here is a little once over of what life is like over here and what we do...

If you didn't already know my "real" job is as a licensed veterinary technician, which I have been for 11 years. I am an animal person and so is my Hubby. Currently our farm consists of our dog, cat, parrot, cow, 2 goats, 13 chickens, and a bunch of quail. Luckily my Hubby does most of the animal care, unless an emergency arises (which in our house is more often than not.)

Roses Ridge Farm is my business, artistic outlet, and passion. Started out of necessity for our son and then nudged ( or swiftly kicked I should say) into existence after being laid off, RSR is a huge part of my day to day life. In the beginning there were 6 bars of unscented goats milk soap laid out on our kitchen table. Currently there are 50 bars drying on a rack in what was once the parlor of our 18th century home, in a variety of scents (pumpkin pie is the recent fave). Lotions, scrubs, lipbalm, dog shampoo, and baby powder have all been added to the list, along with a new line of glycerin kid soaps, Beach Bubbles. It takes me about 45 minutes to make one batch, after I get setup, and I've been trying to get in 4 a week. Eventually I would love to crank out 10 batches a week...that is my dream right now.

Typical day "off" ( I still work as a tech)- consists of sending child off to school, Roses Ridge Farm production, chiropractor appointment ( I am very much a believer of holistic medicine), canning (new hobby!), chores, picking child up, little league, cooking, and maybe a second to breathe. Maybe. Weekends consist of all of the above, minus school, but also possible markets, such as The Old Beach Green Market, gardening, researching, repairs, chores, chores, chores. Did I mention chores? Because when you have a farm, whether large or small, they never end!

Living in an old house has its quirks, some a little more "adventurous" than others. Recently I some how busted the cold water on our kitchen faucet. It only runs hot now. Our kitchen/dining area is not heated or air conditioned. We are an energy auditors worst nightmare with the seams and tiny holes everywhere. The recent hurricane ripped asphalt shingles off the oldest part of the roof exposing wooden shingles underneath :-/. But its worth it. It's worth the craftsmanship (the beams are huge and put together with wooden pegs), the history, the feeling of stewardship of keeping something for generations to learn from in the future.(its having the old "haunted house" of the neighborhood ;-) ) So sometimes my chores are a little different or difficult. Did I mention our dishwasher died over a month ago? My hands are VERY clean.

We are a green family. We recycle. We garden. We compost. Our diet has drastically changed after watching "Food Inc". No fast food, no additives, no processed garbage.( ok sometimes it does sneak in there.) We shop farmers markets and local farms for all our produce and meat. We use only our own homemade soap. Plastic is a dirty word. Except for our son's room, I don't think any of our furniture is less than 10 years old. Antiques are wonderful to us. Our son has never eaten an egg that was not laid on our farm. Our heat is mainly supplied by a wood stove and we are slowly learning how to "plug up" the holes in the house. Canning and dehydrating are next on our list of things to accomplish. My husband is into learning to make our own solar panels. Someday we would love to live "off the grid".

So that is some of our little slice of "heaven" here. It's a crazy little farm and we love it. Let's see what else we can get into...