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 ...
Fermenting is Simple – Learn the Basics
Here at Northern Homestead, we love fermented foods. We love them because they are delicious, healthy, and simple to make. It is a great way to preserve the harvest. Learn the basics of fermenting food at home. There is a whole science on how food gets Lacto fermented by using just salt and if ...
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 ...
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 ...
How to Freeze Berries
How to freeze raspberries, blueberries, currant, strawberries, and other berries. The good thing about most berries is that they are great fresh or frozen. Berries are the most nutritious in the fruit category, plus they grow well in cold climate. We grow many varieties of berries in our garden ...