Update on Rethinking Our Food Systems

When I thought of homesteading I always imagined a pioneer life and I had a certain vision in my head. My picture included fresh baked bread at every meal and lovely home-baked desserts.  We began a journey of trying to figure out how to replace all store bought groceries with homegrown food. Could we grow wheat and sugar beets? What about vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder?

In addition, we enjoyed cooking from scratch in a healthier and more traditional manner. As I explored recipes and implemented ideas from others, we began using things like sucanat and coconut oil. This further complicated the matter.

After years of growing and processing we came to realize that we approached growing our own food all wrong.  We had to re-think our food system.  Instead of trying to grow our “image” of homestead food or grow the diet we were use to, we had to eat what we could grow.

The first change we made was to realize that we needed to stop purchasing vegetable oils, including coconut oil. Traditionally people on farms used butter, lard, and tallow for all their “fats.” We began growing the pigs a little larger and rendering every bit of fat we harvested in butchering. We also started saving poultry fat. We have quickly realized that all of our fat needs are met here on the farm. We haven’t yet found a good substitute for mayonnaise. Butter makes more of a hollandaise and lard mayonnaise is gross. We eat less mayonnaise these days.

This past summer we changed our approach to starches and grew large amounts of items that produce well in our climate and environment. We also chose to grow food that we had tested storage methods for. We focused our efforts on dry corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets and winter squash.  We also tried to extend our season by planting more food in the hoop house.

Our food stores continue to be full and are providing for us at every meal. Successes include enough carrots to allow us to juice, enjoy in soups, and eat raw. We stored many carrots in sand in boxes in the cellar.  Each week we clean out the boxes of any bad carrots and feed them to the animals. We also left multiple rows of good sized carrots in the garden and a few rows of smaller carrots. On dry days when the ground is not frozen we dig carrots from the garden and on the other days we grab some from the cellar.

Squashes were cured and placed in the cellar and have been a good side dish for winter meals. We struggle with preparing squash in new and interesting ways. We did find a new recipe for a delicata squash and arugula salad, which has been refreshing. We have narrowed down our favorite squashes and in the coming season we will plant just four varieties – delicata, acorn, spaghetti, and hubbard. 

The beets were abundant and have stored well.  To be honest, they are not our favorite food item. We also are trying to find new and interesting ways to eat beets.  Juicing has been helping to reduce the numbers.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes were items we were already familiar with as was corn to some degree. We increased the dry corn and have it hung in the barn to keep dry. We shell and grind as needed and have learned new ways to cook it including polenta.

The hoop house is still producing and has lettuce, celery, green onions, cilantro, kale, and Swiss Chard growing. A separate cold frame box has spinach. These items are providing fresh food to supplement our frozen, canned, dried, and cellared items.

We continue to need to focus our menu more and more on what we have stored and to supplement less with purchased items like wheat and sugar. Snacks for the kids is the hardest to figure out on an on-going basis. Everything is an opportunity to learn and explore alternatives and we love what we are learning.