Homestead Acres » how to http://homestead-acres.com Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:16:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Homestead Series How To Can Ground Beef http://homestead-acres.com/blog/recipes/homestead-series-how-to-can-ground-beef/ http://homestead-acres.com/blog/recipes/homestead-series-how-to-can-ground-beef/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:23:49 +0000 Kim http://www.homestead-acres.com/blog/?p=903 [...]]]> Canning ground beef is so easy to do and very convenient to keep on hand!  I prefer to keep canned meat on hand rather then frozen for a few reasons.  It is always ready to use, no waiting for frozen meat to thaw out.  Yes, I know I could take it out of the freezer the day before but I always forget.  Canned meat keeps longer then frozen, and it never gets freezer burned! Also more then once I’ve had someone unplug my freezer with disastrous results. However a long power outage would have the same results.

A few years ago, I changed the way I canned ground beef.  Instead of pan frying it in small batches, then having to drain and rinse the fat off I started boiling it. I can place large amounts of ground beef in my stock pot, cover it with water and let it simmer until it’s cooked.  This saves me time, I no longer have to cook in small batches.  I can get it ready then go and attend to other jobs.  I no longer have grease splatting around my stove.  One of the best advantages is a nice large pot of soup stock!  After boiling the ground beef, I strain the broth and set it in the fridge to cool over night.  The next day skim the fat off the top.  You can now season the broth however you like.

 

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Homestead Series How To Can Ground Beef

Rating: 5

Cook Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

  • Ground Beef
  • Water

Instructions

  1. Place meat in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until cooked through.
  2. Drain off stock, reserving to use latter for soups.
  3. Spoon meat into jars and leave 1 inch of head space. Cover with boiling water or beef stock.
  4. Wipe rims and add lids. Tighten rings finger tight.
  5. Place into canner.
  6. Pressure can for 90 minutes.
  7. After canner depressurizes set on a towel to cool, let sit for 24 hour so the seal can harden.
  8. Take jar rings off, wipe the jars clean. Label and store in a cool dry place.
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]]> http://homestead-acres.com/blog/recipes/homestead-series-how-to-can-ground-beef/feed/ 21 Homestead Series Making Row Spacers http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-making-row-spacers/ http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-making-row-spacers/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:20:17 +0000 Kim http://www.homestead-acres.com/blog/?p=82 [...]]]> Over the years of gardening we’ve come up with some helpful tools. This video shows the row marker my husband built. It quickly and easily marks out 4 rows at a time. No more string lines!

We also show the planting spacers we made for our children. Children love to help in the garden! But they don’t always understand how far apart to plant seeds. These spacers have been a wonderful help to us!



]]> http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-making-row-spacers/feed/ 1 Homestead Series Make Your Own Laundry Soap http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homemaking/homestead-series-make-your-own-laundry-soap/ http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homemaking/homestead-series-make-your-own-laundry-soap/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:18:02 +0000 Kim http://www.homestead-acres.com/blog/?p=80 [...]]]> I started making my own laundry soap 6 years ago. We love it and I hope this video helps you.

To Make Liquid Soap

1 bar ivory soap
2 cup borax
2 cup washing soda

Shred the ivory using a cheese grater, place in a pot with some water and melt over low heat.
Pour the borax and soda into a 5 gal bucket, add hot water and stir to dissolve.  Add melted soap mixture, stir and fill up the bucket the rest of the way.
I use 1 cup per wash load.

To Make Powdered Soap follow the same steps as above, but do not mix with water.  I use 2 tbs of powder in my top loader and 1 tbs in a front loader.  Adjust the amounts to suit your water type.


]]> http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homemaking/homestead-series-make-your-own-laundry-soap/feed/ 3 Homestead Series Building A Potato Hiller http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-building-a-potato-hiller/ http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-building-a-potato-hiller/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:42:04 +0000 Kim http://www.homestead-acres.com/blog/?p=78 [...]]]> We grow a large amount of potatoes each year. The past two years we have harvested between 2500 and 3000 pounds of potatoes. Our garden area is to small to use a tractor to hill the potatoes but still a big job by hand.

To save a lot of time hubby built this wonderful potato hiller!

 

]]> http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-building-a-potato-hiller/feed/ 0 Homestead Series Building A Greenhouse part 1 http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-building-a-greenhouse-part-1/ http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-building-a-greenhouse-part-1/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:39:02 +0000 Kim http://www.homestead-acres.com/blog/?p=61 This spring we are building a greenhouse out of salvaged windows.

]]> http://homestead-acres.com/blog/gardening/homestead-series-building-a-greenhouse-part-1/feed/ 2 How To Cut And Split Firewood http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/homestead-series-firewood/ http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/homestead-series-firewood/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:28:13 +0000 Kim http://www.homestead-acres.com/blog/?p=56 Some helpful tips and trick on how to cut and split your own firewood.

 

]]> http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/homestead-series-firewood/feed/ 0 Homestead Series How Wood Stoves Work http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/homestead-series-wood-stoves/ http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/homestead-series-wood-stoves/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:25:01 +0000 Kim http://www.homestead-acres.com/blog/?p=54 Many people can be intimidated by wood stoves.  We hope that a basic introduction to how a wood stove works, will help with this.  Wood is a wonderful and affordable way to heat your home.

]]> http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/homestead-series-wood-stoves/feed/ 0 Intro To Our Homesteading Series http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/intro-to-our-homesteading-series/ http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/intro-to-our-homesteading-series/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:15:54 +0000 Kim http://www.homestead-acres.com/blog/?p=47 My husband and I have started a homesteading how to series.  Our gole is to help people new to a homesteading way of life to learn the basics of different tasks.

]]> http://homestead-acres.com/blog/homesteading/intro-to-our-homesteading-series/feed/ 0