Farm Stands, Pickled Beets and More - EP 1043

Today, I take your questions in an old-school LFTN Variety Show: Pickling beets, more about our new farmstand, how to prioritize what you grow in your smaller garden space, how to prioritize your time on the homestead and more. We will also cover our usual Monday segments.

Featured Event: River and Imanee’s Solstice Meetup at Haven Villiage, June 21 - I will be making cheese in case you want to come see that. 

Sponsor 1: DiscountMylarBags.com

Sponsor 2: The Wealthsteading Podcast, InvestableWealth.com

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

• 20 quarts of extra tomato sauce from last year
• Initiating canning season with round one of pickling
• Drying herbs from the garden on rotation - adding it to the homestead store
• Preparing meatloafs in advance while also cooking them for now

Weekly Shopping Report

Dollar Tree was first.  The drink selection always changes, but there was plenty of stock.  That’s all we needed in there this time, after adding a variety of storage containers and the like, and minor health items over the past several weeks.

The online price of a 2x4x8 stud at Home Depot is still $3.85.

Aldi was last.  We found everything we wanted.  There have been a number of price changes since the last report, but nothing dramatic.  Egg and milk prices have definitely come down.  Staple prices were: bread (20 oz. white): $1.39; eggs: $3.46 (-); whole milk: $2.66 (-); heavy cream: $5.29; OJ: $4.25 (+); butter: $3.75 (+); bacon: $3.99; potatoes: $4.39; sugar: $3.29 (+); flour: $2.35; and 80% ground beef: $4.69 (+).

I may make an additional trip tomorrow to Walgreens as I recently opened my last melatonin, and I want another wrist brace.  I will likely also stop at the adjacent Food City for another bag of Meow Mix (that our cats ask for by name).

Untainted regular gasoline at Weigels is still $3.59/gallon.

Frugality Tip from Margo

Down here in Florida we are getting ready for the Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday.  For two weeks we get to purchase things such as batteries, coolers, tarps, radios, fuel tanks, and generators and not have to pay sales tax.  We are currently in the market for a new generator and we are going to save about $100 buying that during this break.  So look up your states tax holidays and see what you can purchase during them and save some money.

Happy Savings y'all

Main topic of the Show: A variety show

Tina in Arkansas asks:

“I’ve got more beets than we can eat—how do you preserve them?

Nicole Sauce’s Pickled Beet Recipe

1/4 bushel beets makes about seven quarts

Brine:

1/2 cup pickling or kosher salt

5.5 cups 5% vinegar

6 cups water

Per quart jar spice mix (add to jar)

2 heads dill weed

2-4 cloves garlic

1-2 hot peppers (cayenne or jalapeno)

6 peppercorns

Process method: Cold pack

Process time: 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts

(wait 6 weeks before eating so everything tastes well blended)

Aunt Helen’s Beet Pickles with an extra step (Courtesy of Mama Sauce)

1/4 bushel beets makes about 10 pints.

Brine (make enough batched to cover beets)

1 qt vinegar (5% acidity)

6 c sugar

2 TBSP salt (plain, kosher, or pickling: may not be iodized)

2 tsp pickling spice

Lots of beets

Boil beets in water. Skin and slice more thinly than for a regular pickled beet: say 1/8” or thinner. Pack in glass container or containers. Keep track of how many beets you’ve pickled (for backpack portion control.)

Bring brine to boil. Completely cover beets. If you plan to eat these without further processing, pack and seal in wide-mouth Mason jars in the usual fashion. If you plan to dehydrate, why not pickle in a single glass bowl?

Cover and let pickle for 2 weeks. Then you can eat or dehydrate them.

To dehydrate:

Drain beets. You can save and reuse the pickling solution a time or two before you should dump it and make fresh, so you can run successive batches.

Mark from middle Tennessee asks:

“What’s your setup for the new farmstand—how are you building it, and how are you handling payment without having someone there full time?”

• Start with what we have
• Considering pickup hours beyond opening for the gatherings here
• Honor system set up is step 2
• Waiting on feedback from the community
• Want to add something to the store? Contact me

Lisa from Kentucky writes:

“We’ve downsized our garden space this year—how do you decide what to plant when you’re working with limited square footage but still want to preserve food?”

• List
• Decide what you like to grow and what grows well
• Layer your beds
• Develop local relatiionships

David in Texas asks:

“What’s the cheapest way to test a product idea from your homestead before going all-in? I’ve got eggs, herbs, and soap—but don’t want to waste time.”

• Wrong question

Nate in Kentucky asks:

“How do you approach banking and online payments without getting sucked deeper into centralized control?”

• I dont worry about it. Do you want to build wealth and make a profit in your business? Then you shouldn’t either. 
• How do we opt out of the system? Become ungovernable
  • Relationships
  • Cryptocurrency - learn it and use it
  • Skills and Homesteading

Rachel from North Carolina asks:

“How do you keep your business tasks organized when your farm life, podcast, and everything else are constantly pulling at you?”

• My3Things
• Sometimes I don’t

Ian in Alabama says:

“I'm thinking about building a greenhouse—what lessons did you learn from the swim spa greenhouse idea that might save me time and money?”

• Im not putting a greenhouse there is what i learned
• Tailor it to your needs and climate

Patrick from Ohio asks:

“I want to host a small event on my property—what’s the best way to start without getting overwhelmed by logistics or liability?”

• Start with a party

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

Community

• Follow me on Nostr: npub1u2vu695j5wfnxsxpwpth2jnzwxx5fat7vc63eth07dez9arnrezsdeafsv
• Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
• Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
• Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b

Resources

• Membership Sign Up

• Holler Roast Coffee

• Harvest Right Affiliate Link