How Much FOOD We Preserved as NEW Homesteaders | 2023 Homestead Pantry Tour
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- čas přidán 8. 12. 2023
- Welcome to Calico Cow Acres! We're Mickayla and Taylor. We’re starting from scratch on a previously abandoned farm in the foothills of North Carolina, and we're working to transform it into our dream homestead!
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If you get a chance, look at your estate sales, you can find mason jars, brand new in the box like giving them away or tell your friends if you have in that area to look out for you, you can go to thrift stores as well, but the estate sells you get them for like nothing I have a lady that goes out and she has brought me at least at leastI don’t know 56 cases of mason jars some brand new from an estate sale and some from a garage sale and she did not charge me anything so whenever I can whatever I can I make sure I give her some
How do you find estate sales? I am new to canning, and my family just moved cross country, so I would definitely love to find jars for less. I’ve checked close thrift stores but have yet to see any jars there.
we'd love to have more time to explore estate sales this year. I know you can find some gems!
Mickayla, you are doing amazing, especially for someone so young. You absolutely saved money. And, more importantly, you know it's good quality food with ingredients you can pronounce. The money you spent on the jars is an investment as you will get many years of use out of them and won't be sending metal cans to the landfill. Looking forward to seeing all that you two continue to accomplish!
Thank you so much! I look at the jars as an investment, too! I figured people would find it beneficial to see the cost comparison, still though :) Thanks for watching!
What you've canned this year is so impressive!! I've been canning for about 14 years and finally got brave enough to purchase a pressure canner this year. I've got about 12 pints of chicken and 20 pints of broth on the shelf. It's a huge sense of accomplishment! Loving your channel so much! 💜
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you tackled your pressure canning fear. It opens up a whole new world of options!😄 thank you so much for watching 💕
My favorite thing to can was the first thing I learned to can. Tomato juice. We like goulash and have used my canned juice for so long that the last time we used store bought juice, 2 bites, and my adult son said it didn't taste right. Jams and jellies would be my second favorite.
Very much admired you for being brave enough to start something that was totally foreign you. I grew up watching and eventually doing so much canning freezing and dehydrating our foods. I am now an eighty two year old woman who continues to garden and can. Love doing and teaching other how to do it. I also have always followed the rules. Many of our grandchildren were for hers and I helped them with their canning and preserving projects for the county and State Fair entrees. Made great memories with them that they often talk about. Does my heart good to see so many new young people homesteading and preserving. You are both doing a fantastic job. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! How cool that you've passed those skills onto future generations. I hope to do the same!
Goodwill and salvage stores are a good place to look for jars. Great job for your first year. There are never waste because chickens love canning season too.
I’ve never found jars cheaper thrifting than they are new. Everyone tells me this and i guess I’m just not this lucky lol 😂 I’m so excited to have fully grown chickies this year so we can feed them all our scraps during canning season! They’re going to love it
You as a young person you should be able and very proud to look over and see all your hard work. Not very many young people can. I'm very proud of you. God bless.
Awe thank you! It’s so cool to see how much we canned this year. It didn’t feel like that much throughout the year, but wow! It added up for sure!😁
So inspirational and real life. I’m so lucky your channel popped up on my home page a while ago❤
Thank you! We’re so glad our channel popped up for you, too!☺️
Agreed👌
When you get your room there ready for shelving, I would suggest you get your husband to build you shelving and measure the jars to where you don’t have any overlapping so they don’t fall so we did wood for shelving. I think I started out with that those wire shelving, but we turned into wood shelving and heavy duty brackets, and oh and you can probably find sometimes Wood real cheap at a garage sale or Barnwood or it maybe I’ll have Barnwood I don’t know but look into some wood shelves
We definitely plan to build wood shelves down in our canning area. They’ll be nice & sturdy & built to fit jars specifically. We already have the plans sketched out! Just need to funds to build them😁
Favorite canning project this year has been tomato sauce, diced, crushed. Enough for a family of 12 for an entire year from 100+ plants of different types
thats amazing! I bet you feel so good to have that stored in your pantry!
Wow did Great!!!
Ya should be set for the Winter 🌱🌱🥘🥘😋
I think so too! Thank you!
I love your channel , and i see it growing so much. Both of you and Taylor's hard work will pay off one day, so much so you will have that freeze dryer in no time!🙏❤
Awe this is so nice. Thank you! I can’t even fathom being able to buy one haha it would be cool!
Beautiful job! My go-to solution for small harvests is fermentation - a jar at a time of tomatillo - jalapeño salsa can be chopped up, fermented, stored in the fridge, and then blended later into one big batch, and canned up (plenty acidic for water-bath).
You videos keeps getting better in terms of quality and content.❤
Wow, thank you!❤️
You go girl!!! You did awesome. I had never canned by my self. I always just helped grandmother and my mother and "2020" hit and my parents told me what I needed to get started. I got all the canning supplies from the big box store and FB market place. I have 5 shelves like yours full now. And tons of jars that need another shelf lol. I have binge watched all your episodes now sad I'm caught up. I came from Meg & Ben's channel. love their channel too. Keep on keeping on you got this and your inspiring so many people. I'm excited to see the renovation of your home. Have a great day!!!!
Thats amazing! 5 shelves is a ton of food. Great job! I'm so glad you're enjoying our channel & can't wait to keep sharing with you!
Also get your loved ones to start stocking up for you so whenever they come to visit they can get give them to you. I also use the mason jars for all my dry goods the big ones now the big ones I have had to buy the half gallon and I found some gallons at the thrift store for really cheap so I picked those up but I just tried to get the big pickle jars and recycle those big pickle jars.
Oh gosh this would be so cool. Most of our family has to fly to us though so I don’t think it would be an option😭
Wow, young lady! Your pantry looks amazing! Be proud of yourself! Love your videos 😊
Thank you so much!
I'm very impressed with yalls work ethic and so glad you landed back in NC. It's folks like you that make it a great state 😊😊
This is so sweet. Thank you!😌
I love the look of those shelves full of food. It looks amazing, wonderful art!
Thank you! I love it, too. I think we might have to do some built ins there eventually so I can always have some pretty jars to look at😄
Your honesty here means so much. I feel like things like things going to waste never gets talked about, but the occasional thing that gets forgotten or set aside a little too long happens. People don't tend to talk about that. I know I'll be the one forgetting things on the vine or setting them on my table to come back tomorrow, only to realize they've gone bad as tomorrow turned into a week.
I really appreciate the openness about how much you saved in the first year and how much it cost. Granted, my expenses are certainly going to be higher because I don't have a waterbath canner or a pressure canner, and my family is larger, but with this info it seems like this is a worthwhile investment before summer and fall when we can make the most of our community resources. Cost versus initial investment doesn't seem to be talked about a lot.
I’m so glad this resonates with you. I always want to try & provide as much context as possible for these types of videos & I wish I’d kept better track of overall expenses this year so I could’ve provided a more accurate number (for the garden setup & spices, sugar etc) but I highly recommend just starting to buy a case of jars everytime you get groceries (if you have the ability financially). Thats the only way I was able to justify it. An extra $15 a week was doable for us. I started that last winter & continued it through spring.
Also, I’d highly suggest prioritizing the pressure canner since you can use it as a water bath too!
@@calicocowacres Fantastic! I was wondering if that could be a better option, but it seems everyone wants to talk about having both. It's another thing people tend to be really vague about. Thank you so much! Even if I decide to pick up a dedicated water bath canner later, at least this will save us some bucks now and get us rolling a little quicker. I really appreciate it!
@@sarasynfox okay, so to clarify this I think so many people have both because they usually get a water bath first since they’re “less scary” and cheaper😂 and that’s exactly why I have both. But in reality, you can water bath can in a stock pot as long as you can fill it enough to cover the jars by 1-2 inches. Or you can get the pressure canner & use that for both processes!
@@sarasynfox sorry to get wordy with this, but I also never run more than one canner at a time because they simply don’t both fit on my stove. I only have one burner I can use on my electric stove that works for canning. So that could also be a consideration to just get the pressure canner to start with, if you’d likely only be doing one or the other at any given time.
Thought we were gonna' have to start callin' you the can -can gal...because...well...you can can🤣🙃🙂😆🙂🙃👍✅️💯👏👏👏👏
😂😂😂😂
Luffa with homemade soap or epsom salt mixed with a little essential oil make great gifts.
we'll have so many to gift!
Great job Mickayla! This will be a big learning year, figuring out what you really like, and maybe what you don't, and what you need more or less of. That freezer is a great asset for holding things over when you're too busy with gardens and building to can. Canning is a great winter project you can do inside! Love your channel!
thank you! definitely a year for keeping track of what we consume & what we don't. We're enjoying eating from this stash so far :)
Something funny. Here in Australia its really hard to get mason jars and especially the lids, when i asked the importer what was going on with my order, he said we can’t get many here because the Americans are hoarding them!! You’ve got my jars!😂
HAHA! It’s me👋🏼😂 to be fair, I also had a HARD time finding jars when we lived in Detroit. They don’t stock them as much in more populated areas it seems because less people do canning. We’re pretty rural now & there’s always jars at the store here!
I’m not able to can anymore but I love watching you young ones. The most helpful idea I’ve seen, is that one lady put hers up or divided hers out by years so that she pulled from her older section first. If I could do it again I would do this. Best of luck and keep it up. Think abt gift labels like “Canned with Love by xyz”. Those are lovely gifts to recieve.
Interesting! My goal is to primarily can from year to year, and use up the stores before the following year, but I can see how helpful that would be if you were trying to store for multiple years! My friends love getting homecanned stuff :) I make little fabric squares for the lids to decorate!
I have been canning for 15 years and just learned to make corn salsa it is a new favorite. I will be canning that again next year.
Oooo that sounds so good. I wanted to do corn & black bean salsa & didn’t get around to it this year!
Save the chicken and turkey bones, allow them to dry well or bake them.
Grind then for garden bone meal
Hoping to have the capacity to do this in the future!
Thanks for sharing your journey. I'm also new to canning and work full time. I spent a couple weekends last month pressure canning meals in pint jars to use as grab and go lunches when we don't have leftovers. It has worked well and I think I will appreciate them much more this summer when I have much more work than I have hours in the day.
Having meals canned & ready will be sooo nice!
I really appreciate you discussing what got wasted. No one ever discusses that and it just DOES happen.
I thought that was such a good question! I’m sureee there was more I could’ve said but the peppers & tomatillos were the only thing I could remember 😁 but YES, we’re humans and not perfect. Things get wasted sometimes!
The funnest thing we can this year was dandelion jelly. Using the dandelions out of my front yard, which we have not sprayed for like 20 something years and we canned our potatoes that we grew the little ones in a chicken stock with carrots, and it was quite yummy.
yummm! sounds so good. we always get lots of dandelions, too.
@@calicocowacres The dandelion jelly taste like honey
You did great!! I am happy for you and all you have on your shelves.
thanks so much!
All I can say is wow!!!!! 😮 that’s amazing congratulations!!! 🎊 I think you did wonderfully. 💐 Thank you for sharing your canning abilities and all that wonderful food you have saved! thank you God bless 🙏❤️🙏 and stay safe!
Thank you so much!! So glad you enjoyed it☺️
Great video! This year I made salsa verde from my green tomatoes I harvested right before the freeze. I had never made it before, and it was a hit! I also raw packed chicken for the first time this year. I plan to raw pack meat rabbits this year. Freezer space is premium as you have already discovered for yourself, 😂 I plan to can my broth from now on, I previously froze it in canning jars. You are doing a wonderful job, keep it going...❤
Thank you! I definitely would love to try canning some chicken in the future, too. And salsa verde! I have tomatillos frozen that I haven't gotten around to making anything with yet
Very much impressed. Keep up the good work
Thank you very much!
a better way to figure savings is cost to can vs purchase of same from store canned.
Agreed, but like I said I don’t have the capacity to try and calculate all of the little details this time around and jars were by far our biggest cost this year, even though we did have to buy some of the produce (usually at a discount). Hoping to try and track it a little more closely next year.
Great Video Makayla!!
Thank you!! Glad you liked it☺️
Canning the venison is so good my mom use to do that then when you open it you use the juice with the venison add the thickening and eat over potatoes and it’s great!
Mmmm this is making my mouth water! That sounds so yummy. I need to try my hand at doing canned meat in general. Especially if I get venison!
Great job.
Thanks!😊
Hey kiddo, venison chili is the best, low fat and delicious! Give it a try when you get some! Good job with your canning!
I’ve never had venison chili but venison stew is my favorite! I’ll definitely try chili this year!😋
Great job Mickayla! 👍
Thank you!! 😁
A nice start of a stocked pantry
Yes!❤️
The only thing I ever canned is Applechutney, love it!
I am impressed! Try making a sourdough pizza crust(I double King Arthur Flour's recipe) and I am able to get 4 to 6 eight to ten inch pizza crusts out of it for the freezer. It is so good!
yum! I'll definitely try it
So you really had a busy 1st year. Great job
For sure! Thank you!☺️
Thank you for sharing your thrifty way of obtaining your stuff. A lot of people get put off of canning because of the cost of the equipment. I got a pressure canner this year. I will be getting a vacuum sealer next year.
It’s the only way I can manage it, and I’m sure that’s the reality for so many others, too! I think it’s so doable if you plan it out ahead of time & decide what’s a priority first. And Shop sales!☺️
Good job! Looks like a good start on jars, just keep going! Impressive!
That's the plan! Thank you!
Glad I found your channel!
so are we :)
I would be in heaven with all that fruit, yum yum yum !!!
Taylor is for sure😋 it’s so handy to have!
I'm getting a pressure canner for christmas this year! It'll be my first go at canning anything. I really want to focus on things we use a lot of like broth, tomato sauce etc.
The broth has been such a game changer for me. It’s also so easy to do! I think you’re going to love your canner☺️
I know you are so proud…good job! It is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment as you sit in your temporary pantry. God bless you both.
Thank you! I am so proud of it. It’s amazing to see & it’s also beautiful!
You think that's a small amount of canning it's huge I wish I could have some of that keep up the good work you are so awesome
I know it’s huge! It feels like not much when you watch other channels who have huge families and wayyy more canned than this, but for us this is so much 😁 thank you so much for watching! Wish I could share with ya💕
Wonderful Job...well done!!! May this just be the beginning!! Merry Christmas to you both!
Thank you! Merry Christmas!
Amazing results from your very busy year; thanks for sharing! I mostly froze produce throughout my life but what my family loves best canned is beet pickles! Last year I learned how to can tomato sauces, sloppy Joe mix, dilly beans & a great salsa. That was because my daughter had hundreds of pounds of tomatoes coming out of her greenhouses. I was 70 years old & learning a lot of canning besides pickles. I’ve cooked for years with a regular pressure cooker so I wasn’t scared of pressure canning. I found a USDA free online cooking guide that has many recipes in it & was so thankful. Blessings to everyone 🤗💕🇨🇦
Yum beet pickles! I'll have to try that out. Sloppy joe mix is a must-try for me, too. Thanks so much for watching!
I am so impressed that you were able to do so much in your first year! Very well done. I love that you use the discount store to save money to invest in jars and other things. Thank you for sharing your journey.
Thanks so much!
A weird thing to say but, you always earn your thumbs up from me. 😶🌫️
Haha, hey I’ll take it! Thank you😊
Ok! Girl! BRILLIANT idea with the frozen diced jalapeños. I wear contact lenses and if you touch anything with a little of the oil on it…man it kills. Great job!
I wish I could share a picture of what they look like with you! I meant to show it in the video but I forgot to add it in. They’re sooo handy!
Wow, Mickayla you did such a great job. You should learn how to make cowboy candy.,,,, It's great for many uses, and I don't make mine very spicey but I use all the different peppers that I grow. You don't have to just use jalapenos.
Thank you! I’ve never even tried cowboy candy 😆 I considered making it but I feel like I need to try someone else’s before I commit hahaha maybe I’ll do a small batch next time around 😁
You can use your pressure canner as a steam canner
We use it for water bath canning a lot. I only have both because I got the water bath first since it was cheaper when I was first learning
I enjoy watching your channel. I admire your honesty and attitude. Life is a beautiful learning journey. We all have success and failure along the way. I want to give you both a “pat on the back” and say great job!! Yall are doing amazing. Can’t wait to see what’s next for your homestead.
This is so kind of you. I really appreciate this lovely comment! Thank you so much! 😊
Amazing job! This year I canned mushrooms for the first time, got a great deal at our local discount store! They turned out amazing!
Ohh that’s interesting! Might have to try that!
Beetroot we love it great job 😊
Thank you 🤗
I go to rummage sales for jars
When it gets really really cold, I have froze pair of scrap and pear sauce so I can make some jelly. I made quite a bit when my pair season was on and it was so hot so I save the rest. I probably have about 3 gallons a pair of scrap to make jelly and then some sauce to make jelly maybegallon maybe 2 gallons but I’m gonna wait for it to get really really cold because it’ll make the house hot. It was a lot of work to do the pairs even though I have central air heat it was still very hot and lotta work so I’m gonna wait, but I did prep everything.
You two are doing great. I love your videos. I’d like to see some kind of kitchen collaboration video with you and Meg Hollar.
Thank you! Now THAT would be an interesting video😯
I love your honesty and realness! You got sooooo much done! You’re goals for me for next year haha
Awh thank youuu! You can do it!
This is one of my favorite videos of yours! Thank you for sharing ☺️
Love how far you have come in a short time Pete cape town south Africa looking forward to seeing you soon
Great job!!😊
Thank you! 😄
Awesome ❤
Thanks 🤗
Wow. You two did great. Such an inspiration
Thank you so much!
Awesome
Thank you!
great video, im in the uk and im going to try waterbath canning next season. was thet
taylor snoring in the background, there was a noise in the background that sounded like someone snoring.
No clue what it was haha Tay was not home. We do have a fan running usually to try & distribute heat from our space heaters, maybe that’s what it was. Sorry about that.
@@calicocowacres no need to be sorry. 🤣😂 It just sounded like he was having a nice cosy nap. Xx
@@jeanhelliwell8160 I’m sure that’s what he would rather be doing 😂 he was at work!
😊❤น่าอยู่มากคับ😊❤
As far as canning, I would like to learn how to can sweet and mild pickled garlic!
I think next year I want to try some pickled garlic, too!
Yippee!
Thanks so much for this video! Where do you get your canning recipes?
Of course! I use the recipes from the Ball blue book. It’s linked in the description:)
💛🐥🐝🌻
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😍
Can't wait until you start with bee keeping my goal have to save the from extinction and honey 🍯 added bonus 😮🎉
Were excited for that too! We have to push it off a little longer due to expenses but hopefully sooner than later we can get some
I get the Calico, but where does the COW come from?
We wanted to name our homestead after our kitties, since they mean so much to us and have been a driving force for us to get out of small apartments & give them a forever place to call home. I’ve moved 13 times since I graduated high school 9 years ago & the cats have had to do all those moves with us as they’ve come into our lives. They’ve all moved across the country multiple times.
We had a calico girl & a “cow” print boy named Moo when I first started my blog & called it “the calico and the cow”, and as we moved on toward getting our homestead, it felt right to bring that name to it, too, hence Calico Cow Acres❤️
I sterilize my jars in the microwave with a little water in them.
👍❤🌹
👍♥️
Wow! 40 quarts stock from 2 turkeys?? How
A VERY full roaster oven 😂 & I had them going for 2-3 days on the lowest setting. We got so much gelling from them, too, I was surprised!
My property is going to be huge going from normal home to acres with barn is pretty daunting task in a new country where you sit on the wrong side of the car to drive and drive on other side of the road ouch 🤕 wish me luck ha ha 🤣 had enough of the politics of south Africa
It’s definitely a lot of work! But I’m sure you’ll do great!
Do you have fruit trees on your property like apples or pears or oranges or something? Let me know I’m just curious.
We don’t at the moment. Haven’t had a chance to invest in fruit trees yet because they’re expensive, but we’ll get there
Great job !!
Thank you!