Where does our homegrown food come from in the winter? As you know we grow a garden year-round, so do we have a greenhouse big enough and suitable to grow what we eat during the winter months? These are good questions, let's take a closer look. The year-round garden Growing food year-round ...
Food Preserving
Organizing a chest freezer with plant food
Growing our own food and preserving it for the winter is a big part of what Northern Homestead is about. We preserve food in 5 different ways, and one of them is freezing. Organizing a chest freezer with plant food can be a bit different from a freezer full of store-bought foods. Everything in our ...
Fermented Hot Pepper Paste
Fermented hot pepper paste is a must-have in our house. If you like spicy food, you will love this paste. It takes just a few minutes to mix it up, but you can enjoy it for years, really. Since it is hot it lasts for a long time, so it's very worthwhile to make it. Fermentation is a great way to ...
German Dill Pickles Recipe
The Germans have many pickle recipes, this yummy German dill pickles recipe is one of them. It is a traditional recipe, and like so often with recipes from other countries and continents, it does not comply with the US rules. So as always use at your own risk. Pickling ...
Growing and Preserving Basil
Basil is a great culinary and medicinal herb. Fresh and preserved (dry, or frozen) basil is great to use. Not just the taste, but also the scent of basil is unique. Fresh basil adds a summer fragrance and taste to a dish or salad. Basil is also great for teas and oral health. The basil herb is ...
5 Ways to Preserve Food
Living in a cold climate with a short growing season - food preservation is a must. In order to be able to eat homegrown food all year round, we have to store it away. Here are 5 ways to preserve food that we use. Long time storage Into this category fall simple dry storage, root collaring, and ...
Canning Dried Beans
Beans are a big part of a whole-food plant-based diet. The easiest way to have them available is by canning dried beans. Since we have a glass cooktop, we do all our canning on it. Here is how we pressure can dried beans on a glass cooktop. It works great for us, take what you like and leave what ...
Using a Water-Sealed Fermentation Crockpot
If you have followed our blog for any length of time you will know that we love fermented food. If you are new here, welcome! I would assume that you came here to learn about using a water-sealed fermentation crockpot. We have been huge advocates for simple fermenting using whatever pots, ...
Canned Zucchini Salad
Canned zucchini salad is an old Russian recipe using zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes. These 3 summer vegetables combined and spiced up with lots of garlic make a very delicious dish. Served as a side dish with some baked potatoes, or whole-grain rice, it makes a real dinner. Traditionally the ...
A Dozen Ways to Preserve Apples
It's apple time around here and apples are everywhere. Apples are one of the fruit crops that do well in cold climate and short growing season. We sure need a dozen ways to preserve apples. We do not always make them all, but love to have the options for many varieties. The apples we can grow ...