It is time to start restocking the pantry. The no-spend month was handy in getting through the stuff I don't eat, as well as noticing what types of foods I get for free or onsite and hence, they will not be on the top of the restock list, but instead on a sort of watch list in case the supply should change.
Things I get, or can get, onsite or through my own efforts:
Meat By helping people butcher, I have a pretty good supply of meat and I gain skills...oh so slowly do I gain skills. I will add the hunting rider to the fishing license mentioned below. I can get small game or big game here on the property. I can also butcher out my chickens as they get past being decent layers or I get sick of the cock duet in the mornings. The 2 roosters are on notice every day they start the concert before 4am which is now every dam day.
Eggs More free hens should
Fish. I'm going to go get a fishing license with the "stuff for land" or "household" budget line(s) this month. If I actually fish this year (AHEM Sara W!! You have been warned), that will pay for itself AND provide recreation and nature break thinking time.
Legumes. I managed to grow a very few lentils and garbanzos last year. Critters got them before I did but with more effort, I could make it happen I think. The Siberian Pea shrubs are starting to put out pods and those are an edible legume. I might be able to harvest some this year.
Camelina seeds. They are a protein boost with omega-3, fiber and they can be gelled into fake eggs like flax seeds. EASY to grow, harvest, clean and store. I kept plenty for seed.
Greens 9months of the year. Need to work harder on this and I am getting a jump on it now. My Good King Henry is up but got frozen in the bad weather. Might begin being harvestable in April. Same with some wild greens like nettles, dandelion leaves, and fern heads. If I plant radish seeds this weekend, the sprouting kind (the radish is edible but not delicious but the greens are excellent if you like strong flavors on the bitter side) I could have greens in a few weeks. I have kale coming up in the mini greenhouse. I have some kale that has been alive through 2 winters now. It doesn't put out a ton of leaves, but one takes what one can get. Lovage...god the lovage! Both a green and a seasoning. I moved as much of the roots as I could get out of the raised bed yesterday over to the big in-ground garden and planted what might be 3 large clumps. The rest of the root bits I plan on potting up and maybe selling or giving away. IF I am diligent and dry some of the greens, I might be able to stretch the supply into winter. If I get enough sprouting seeds off radish plants, that would nearly get me greens independence.
Garlic. I am still eating on last years' sad harvest (critters got most of it) and what the community teaching garden was giving away. Of course I forgot to plant any last fall, middle of the house build and whatnot, until a sudden really hard freeze and then gave up. Still for the past month or more I've saved a clove off the heads that had stored well and yesterday I stuck them in the mini greenhouse. Why not? Might work. I've had a few this past week that were starting to grow in the storage bag so I put a few of those in as well and planted on in a little pot in the wee shed. The spider plant former pot occupant froze to death a few weeks ago. Oops...
Flavoring agents. I've managed to collect dill. Could have collected and dried lovage leaves, chives, sage, thyme (multiple kinds), oregano, tarragon, horseradish, onions (walking onions mysteriously appear and disappear in the garden...I did plant them but where do they go sometimes?), garlic, mint (various types).
Herbal teas. I have wild roses, pine and fir trees, hops, mints, raspberries, and much much more that I could have been gathering leaves and petals off of to dry for winter teas. I'm testing chicory to see if I want to grow that as a coffee substitute or coffee stretcher...so far, it makes me poop to much to want to have all the time but might be worth it as a medicinal.
Berries. Still have a TON of service berries, elderberries, and oregon grapes perserved in vinegar (partly because I had access to so much other fruit all winter this time). I also have blueberries from the you-pick and I might even have some of my friend's blackberries in vinegar. My berry bushes didn't put out enough to preserve, the planted bushes. BUT they are doing better since the move to a new garden. We'll see... Service berries are pretty reliable. If I drive or walk 5 miles to the state park up the road, I should be able to get huckleberries now and then. I think I've found a spot to put my honeyberry shrubs and they are even bearing in their sad undersized pots. The hens picked them clean the day before I had about 2 cups coming ready to harvest. My blueberries have never been happy and my wild raspberries are meager. I could work harder with the pin cherries on the lower part of the property and try working with the ash berries (those orange danglers on ash trees are edible), as well as haw apples (the fruit of the hawthorn). My aronia berries and chokecherries are coming along a bit but are not happy. The gooseberries and currants put out 1or 2 berries a year so far...hope springs eternal.
Apples. I get bucket tons off the deer poop apple trees. Plenty. Need to work on more preserving them with drying, canning, and a root cellar some day.
Water. I have a well.
Mushrooms. Not many, just a few. I am trying to learn more about identification so I will have more species that I can harvest and eat.
Potatoes grow but are hard to preserve without a root cellar.
Beets also grew well in the big garden and were a good source of greens as well as roots.
Oddly, I suck at squash but am going to keep trying. I have a ghost pumpkin in the small garden rotting away with some sheep poo on it. Here's hoping it turns into a nice pumpkin patch this year!!
So, that's a great deal!
Things usually/often included in 2nd Harvest distribution locally:
Canned fruit, some fresh fruit
Canned veg, some fresh veg
Canned beans
Pasta
Rice
Bread
Those have come, in the past few months, in large enough quantities to become part of the pantry stock. Recently the canned items have been no-added-sugar and no-added salt versions (mostly) which work in my preferred diet.
I'm learning to pace myself with the canned goods...eat the fresh fruit and veg early on because it's usually a tad bruised or near the expiration date.
Occasionally there are windfalls like the 10lb bag of all purpose flour I got 10 months back or the 6lbs of red meat that we got last week. Those can't be counted on but are lovely when they happen. The usual animal proteins are dairy and/or super salty processed meat. I can't eat those and stay healthy due to personal problems. The amount of pasta lately has been bonkers so that is getting shared out and when people quit accepting it, I put back 2lbs of angel hair to make up for the chickens. They love it.
Things that are currently hard to produce and hence could be purchased as pantry stock:
Grain. I like me some grain! I might be able to get buckwheat to go but don't have the brain space to figure it out. I've planted it and it came up and flowered and put out seeds. I didn't figure out an easy/doable hand harvesting method. Once I do, then there is the cleaning and getting the hulls off and etc. I might try wheat and wild rice. I've tried quinoa (yes, I know it's not a real grain) (neither is buckwheat smarty pants) but didn't get a harvestable amount. Will try again.
Nuts. I've planted chestnuts, hazelnuts, english walnuts, butternuts, horse chestnuts (don't eat those....make soap). So far all but 1 hazelnut tree have died. A chestnut might be powering back from roots. We'll see. I really want nuts (heh heh). Good protein and an oil source. BUT I can grow sunflower seeds so once I get that going, I may need/want fewer nuts.
Oil...the meats I can get easily are pretty much super lean. Even the chickens because they are layers butchered in old age or roosters, they are not fatty. The elk a friend gave me (thanks Rik!!) was amazing and lean. Same with the ducks I've butchered with a friend. More fat on the ducks. Since we're canning, we've been taking it off. I might ask for some to render into cooking fat next time. Nut oil (heh heh heh) would be handy. It magically appears when you try to make nut butter. Instead of mixing it in, pour it off and cook with it. For now, I've been buying various oils. Coconut oil is the easiest to store, hardest to spill and I prefer it to the others when I use it as skin lotion. I may not want to smell like olive oil or canola all day and they go off flavor in the freeze/thaw/overheat cycle of my home.
Spices. Many herbs I can grow. If I get a greenhouse going maybe hot peppers will make it, or thai peppers as a house plant. Many spices like cinnamon won't. Nutmeg is from Madagascar so I don't believe it's going to make it in north Idaho. Mustard seeds...the debate is still alive on this one! Not growable in the quantities I need for making mustard for others, but maybe enough to make for me. I will run a test.
Cocoa/Chocolate. That's not going to grow here but I am going to continue to love it. That will be purchased as needed/wanted/possible.
Coffee. That isn't going to grow here. I'm working my way toward lower consumption and finding ways to stretch it. Right now I reuse the grounds. If I start with all fresh grounds and make a french press, pour over or percolated version, then for the 2nd press/pour/perc I add about 1/2 the original amount or less of fresh grounds. It's not going to win coffee awards, but it cuts the amount of coffee grounds per 2 cups by 1/4. That's about a week's worth per month. Every 4th month is free! (sort of). Cutting back on the number of cups per day also helps. I've been filling in with my back stock of tea and will keep doing that until the tea is gone.
Tea. Herbal teas yes. Green or Black tea...nope. Not able to grow that here. Hopefully I can mostly transition to growable or gatherable tea types (nettle, mint, raspberry) eventually. They don't have caffeine so I'll have to watch and see if coffee intake increases when the G/B teas run out.
Sweeteners. I keep trying to grow stevia as a houseplant! So far, no go. Honey is a theoretical possibility but I have failed for several years to get a harvestable amount and currently do not have bees. I have been cutting back on sweetener so that will be the biggest help. If I keep making kombucha I will buy sugar for it. If I eventually get a honey source going then I can try to move the mother over to that. Sometimes sugar is also helpful in a liquid to turn into vinegar. Honey vinegar is delicious but without my own honey it can be spendy.
Sourers. I can brew vinegar and the pineapple scrap vinegar I brewed is AMAZINGLY delicious. For reals! I will keep trying with the vinegars. Eventually maybe press apple cider and vinegar some of that. Other sours...I have started a perennial sorrel in the garden and learned to pick sheep sorrel. Nice sour for salads and whatnot. Hmmm...I wonder if it is still sour if I dry it! Lemons are not going to grow here outside. Perhaps a tree when I get a house.
OK! Time to inventory my seeds while enjoying a cup of pantry stock tea!
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