What’s life like at my Casa. I thought I’d give you a glimpse.
So definitely read on.
I start my day off with a few cups of coffee
and of course maybe a few more throughout the day.
The dogs and cats like their breakfast, lunch and dinner of course.
And that includes the outdoor ferals I feed too.
Lately there are mulberries to pick in the morning and evening to make delicious jam and pie.
Sometimes the cast iron skillets need seasoned with a bit of shortening
to keep them in tip top shape and they cook a lot better
in my opinion if done regularly.
Life at my casa means daily caring for the garden and other plants as I grow my own food.
I discovered a few unwelcomed guests earlier as in white cabbage moths.
So I mixed up a concoction of water, onions, garlic and red pepper with a few
dashes of dish soap. It’s cooling as I type and will steep until tomorrow.
It will be strained and sprayed on all my beloved cabbage and
any other brassica plants such as squash and cucumbers among others.
I don’t currently have any hot peppers ready or they’d go in the
mix instead of red pepper.
I also add GSE which is a grapefruit extract to retard molding. Here
where it’s very humid I use it a lot to preserve things like this.
I always have lots of plants always going in the Grow room.
They will either be planted outside or continue to grow inside.
With the way things are happening in the world around us I’m doing every little
thing to prepare for food shortages and cover as many bases as possible.
On any given day you may find me making dog treats
for the dogs to enjoy now or to store for the future.
I first found this recipe and tweaked it to my liking at
https://www.askaprepper.com/diy-dog-treats-that-last-a-long-time/
I’ve mentioned making dog treats before in regard to prepping
for your animals. If you would like to read it you can find
the link below:
Have You Considered Having Dog Treats in Your Preps
I regularly make homemade dog food for the dogs. I usually make enough ahead
to last several days. I’m hoping to get ahead of the game a little and start pressure
canning some ahead as well.
When finances are a bit tight I just do what I can.
I plan to share more on this in a coming post.
Both dogs at this Casa are getting older and not tolerating dry kibble at
all. That means for the time being I make all homemade dog food.
I regularly spend time putting food stores in Wallaby Mylar Bags with Oxygen absorbers.
The only thing I don’t put oxygen absorbers in is sugar and salt.
That is unless I want a huge block of sugar or salt lol
Well this is just a glimpse of my day at my Casa.
When it cools off below 90 degrees and the shade is on one part of the
yard where the gardens are, I’ll be spraying the cabbage and other brassica’s more
and weeding. No need to water since we’ve had our share of rain here.
Century Link also came this morning and cleared the lines from tree
branches and vines from the neighbor’s cutting trees down.
So that means I have more wood cutting and clean up to do as well.
Thanks for reading, have a great day, stay safe, stay aware, and
keeping prepping one step at a time. Also don’t forget to vote for
my site at Top Prepper Sites by clicking the image below.
There are lots and lots of excellent other sites listed as well that you may find useful.
Cindy
Jamie
A word of caution on mylar bags and salt. I had a friend from Mexico, she took a trip home and one of the things she brought back with her was a 5lb bag of sea salt. She gave some to me and I sealed it up in a mylar bag. Fast forward a year maybe two and I’m checking my preps and I come across the salt. The bag felt like it was filled with liquid, I opened it up and it was like a slurry. I don’t know why this happened, maybe salt is too corrosive, maybe it was the type of salt, maybe it was something I did, I have no idea. Since then I store all my salt in mason jars and this seems to be good. I dunno, just thought I’d pass that along 🙂
Cindy
Hi Jamie,
Thank you for sharing this about the salt.
I’m so glad you did! I like Redmond Salt that doesn’t have additives like iodine and anti-caking ingredients that degrade over time like regular salt. My bad for not being specific on the type of salt I use. I was turned on to Redmond Salt by Carolyn at Homesteading Family.
There is nothing wrong with storing salt in mason jars. I do so with mine. I go through quite a bit of it and probably better get more since want to do fermenting lol
Again I’m so glad you brought this up and I definitely need to do a post on the salt differences and share more.
Have the best night, stay safe, aware and keep prepping one step at a time.
Cindy
Jamie
It was mexican sea salt, no additives. Salt is corrosive, it eats the underbellies of cars, some of it may eat mylar too.
Do you have any mylar bags of salt that are over a year or two old? Maybe it was longer, time gets away from me these days. 🙂
Cindy
Hi Jamie,
Okay so it was Mexican Salt with no additives.
You may be right since salt does eat the underbelly of cars.
I remember when I was a kid my parents bought a car from someone
in Utah where at least then used a lot of salt in winter. The car had color but was dull as could be from the salt.
I’m going to contact Redmond and ask their thoughts on the salt.
None of mine has been stored that long but if it’s going to eat through the mylar bags I’ll definitely be changing course.
I know what you mean about timing getting away from you.
I hope your day has went well and got done what you wanted.
I’m going to be making egg noodles to dry here shortly and attempt to mow some of the backyard since it’s cooled off.
I’ll let you know when Redmond gets back to me. Since the weekend might not hear anything until next week.
I hope your night goes well.
Cindy
Cindy
Hi Jamie,
I hope your day has went well.
Hey was the salt your friend gave you Colima Sea Salt from Colima, Mexico.
I was reading about it and sounds like an excellent salt. Unfortunately it’s only harvested for 16 weeks out of the year and not always available.
The response I received from Redmond is below.
Bottom line to me anyhow it seems better to store in the bags it came in or in jars tightly sealed or vacuum sealed. Since your salt was stored in mylar bags there is no way air or moisture would have got in the bags. Now I wonder if an oxygen absorber would be necessary to keep the moisture gone.
Did you add oxygen absorbers. Curious if it still happened anyhow.
“Salt is hygroscopic so it will absorb moisture, but I have never seen sodium chloride absorb so much it would liquify. In a really wet/humid area the salt will absorb water and it will stick/clump in the shaker – which is why some people put rice in their salt shakers to help the salt not stick together. Back to liquifying, I have seen that happen with a pure magnesium chloride flake (it will absorb water and turn into sort of a white goo), but never with sodium chloride – at least that I have seen or heard of. It really has nothing to do with the mylar, but rather having an open container that continues to draw in moisture. If the moisture can’t escape, and it keeps getting drawn in, the mylar bag would essentially function like a dish. So in that case, the salt wouldn’t really liquify, as much just get dissolved into the standing water until the water reaches max salinity (26% NaCl). But that won’t happen if the container is air/water tight (so no water get in). So they would want to store the salt in an air tight container. Like bucket with a rubber gasket, or a sealable bag, etc.”
May the rest of your night be a good one, stay safe, stay at peace and keeping preparing one step at a time.
Cindy
Jamie
My guess is that the salt ate through the mylar enough to allow moisture to get in. I do store some of my supplies in the basement. It still had body but had pulled in enough water to be like a wet mush or slush.
It was just something I thought I’d mention. So much depends on the environment supplies are stored in and the containers.
It was nice of the salt co. to get back to you so fast. Thank you for sharing it with me. 🙂
Cindy
Good evening, Jamie
Yes it seems that the salt must have ate through the mylar bag.
This is definitely something I’m keeping in mind now. I’m going to try a small bit in a mylar with an oxygen absorber just to see what happens. But I’m going to store more in jars and vacuum seal them.
I want to see as an experiment if either works here and what happens.
We have so much humidity here even downstairs where it’s cooler that I use a Dollar Tree version of Damp Rid all over the house. If I don’t I have mold form on dirt in my plant room. Go figure.
It would have been so frustrating to find your salt turned to a wet slushy mess.
I know it depends on the environment and what the salt is stored in but I certainly want my salt to be around awhile. Especially as prices get higher and higher and if/when there is a grid down situation. I like my salt in so many things and prefer not to do without if don’t have to.
Who knows, may come a time it will have to be bartered for.
Have the best night, stay safe, keep focused and keep preparing one step at a time.
Cindy