Making pickles is a lot easier than you think. In fact, pickling almost anything is a great, low-cost way to “control” your vegetables (organic, local etc.) without having to drop $12 a jar for the ones at the local Co-Op. I know, I know, we […]

Reposting this one because we recently did a batch with one of our friends and doubled it so we could have 5, 1 pound bags of Chorizo ready in the freezer at any time! Super easy! A plus for the homemade “bulk” sausage crowd is […]

You have heard me before talking about the merits of curing, fermenting, and preparing a pantry, and ultimately a life on your own while leaning less on the big stores and more on tried-and-true, multi-generational recipes based on a combination of flavor and survival. I […]

It was 5 years ago that I last posted on jerky. So much has changed in my life since then, most importantly, gained a wife and 2 new daughters. Way back when I was learning and experimenting, I (we) learned a lot. I mean a […]

St. Patrick’s day in America is special. It’s is the only day where everyone claims the same heritage, unequivocally consumes more alcohol than even New Year’s, and people are willing to eat corned beef and cabbage. Rich, poor, red, yellow, black and white, we are […]

While on my ongoing journey to try and do just a little more each year ourselves, meaning, cure, ferment, prep, and grow foods that we can now easily get at the supermarket, I found a book that gave me the confidence to cure more and […]

I just made another round of pork belly on my Traeger so thought this was worthy of a re-post. “I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and […]

The boys and I have had a blast making homemade jerky this summer.  We have experimented with several different recipes, have maintained some consistent techniques, and yet have learned some valuable lessons. Click on the appropriate version in case you wanted a recap. Version 1 […]

My progression with homemade beef jerky has been fun, and the boys seem to enjoy all of this experimentation (did I tell you how much they love jerky?). I tried a second recipe for beef jerky and I actually think it is a step back […]

As a single dad of all boys, you can  probably guess where a fair amount of my food budget goes. If you guessed vegetables, while it probably should be, you would be wrong.  The older boys seem to crave two things. Milk and meat.  I […]