Right on... I so agree whole heartily.
I have some cannied goods from grocery. But they are staying on my shelf.... rather eat fresh or my own canned goods....
Even My Hubby ask why I do all of this. Ate some Big brand name chicken at Family function yesterday. But eating such is a rarity with me,,,,,
I just think most able bodied people who dont are lazy , sheepole. Just my humble opinion
If I could buy local grass fed beef and poultry more readily I would.
That why I try to grow more of my own veggies, here even in suburbia. Taking up even 1/2 my front yard....
Just chiming in
Thanks all
jean

I like raw better but only my raw not yours. I love raw deer heart but only if I saw it shot and I took it out. the next day I would bake it before eating. I pick my fruit and eat it while picking, I will wash fruit at a pick your own orchard (even if they say organic). I don't worry about a 1/2 worm in my corn, I do worry about seven on the corn from a farm stand. when I dig carrots I brush the dirt off and eat while digging if I buy carrots I wash first. I drink out of streams only if I know what is up stream. after 55 years I hope my dirt intake has made me mildly resisant to a few germs.

Apparently the dirt is a source of vitamin B-12 which you otherwise can't get from veggies.

I met a woman this week who used to work in the dairy industry. She spoke about when there was a snowstorm there would be a run on milk and then for the rest of the week, very little milk would sell. So, they would take it back and mix it with fresh milk so the effective bacteria count would go down to an "acceptable" level. Then, they'd repack it and sell it. Yuk!!

I buy my milk raw from a local-ish (drive 45 minutes) dairy. We also do all that hippy granola head stuff - dairying, canning, gardening, fermenting, etc. Actually, everyone around us seems to be in awe of what we do and how amazing the food we put on the table is. I am really lucky to live in a part of the world (Western MA) where we have a great and growing abundance of fresh, real, organic and otherwise phenomenally good local food.

It it weren't for silly things like a mortgage and other bills, I would gladly give up work to manage our home and do all the "granola" stuff full time. We do a lot and certainly a lot more than most of our friends/family but work really gets in my way, LOL! Most think we are crazy for what we do; we raise pigs for slaughter every year and usually raise a few more with ours to give to my in-laws and several friends. My DH deer hunts and we love venison in all forms. We have chickens so have multitudes of eggs. We have a calf now which is a new endeavor for us so we'll see what happens with that. I have had very bad luck with my gardens since moving, thought it was a zone learning curve, but still manage to get quite a few things out of it. I never buy garlic nor onions, I put up quite a few jars of pickled beets this year. We had potatoes, tomatoes, brocolli, peas, beans, corn....lots more!

I have a good friend who thinks I'm nuts for doing all this because she says you can get a can of green beans on sale for $.50. It's not the same to me. Aside from the issues that previous posters have mentioned about the cleanliness or organic value, there is quite a sense of satisfaction in taking a few dry seeds and seeing them through to your plate. Very seldom do we eat a meal where at least one item isn't home grown. So I get what you're saying!! Lori

I love making yogurt in my crockpot! I don't use raw milk, though. I wait for milk to be on sale at the store, stock up and make batches, then freeze my bounty!

I didn't know you could freeze yogurt. Does it separate when it thaws?

A little bit. I made the mistake of freezing it in ziploc bags first time. I was a huge mess. I had whey everywhere! What I did this time around was freeze in baby food containers so when I make my morning smoothie, it's already in prefect amount. You will have to stir it once it is thawed, but I found it wonderful to be stocked up in the freezer. I used to love grocery shopping, but I have found it easier to make a smuch as I can at home from scratch with a little one. It saves me time and money and no unwanted additives.
I now save all my containers from the store or buy some freezer safe ones and use those too.
My husband thought I was nuts when I started doing all this, but he sees a huge difference in our grocery bill and in quality.

I love making my own yogurt! I eat it just about every day and when I started to make my own yogurt, I cut waaaay down on my grocery bill!

I've been gardening for years. I'm in the South, and right now is prime gardening season. I love being able to go out my back door and gather greens and herbs for salads! And I freeze part of what I grow every winter.

I recently started making marmalades, and am going to can some of the greens that are in the garden.

Fermenting is something I've been doing for several years now, and with a bumper crop of cabbage this year, I'm going to make a lot and freeze most of it, and will can some of it, too.

Everywhere I look I see people beginning to can or ferment or put food up in whatever way they can. Not a lot of people, but I think it's making a come-back, with the bad economy.

It is just me and I want to expand my canning/preservation horizons more. But what I appreciate is knowing I did it myself. People are amazed at what I do can (however small).

And it seems that somewhere down the line, some (not all) "modern" process or technology leads to either health or environmental concerns.

I cannot replace everything...but when I can, I feel good

I like knowing what is in my food and how fresh it is. I like to bake my bread. I have a large garden( wish it was bigger) and I put up and store as much as I can, This year I got a few chickens for fresh eggs. Too bad I don't have room for a cow or goat.

I also want to keep this self sufficient way of living and the skills needed to live this way alive. Trying to pass it on to my kids.

Here is a link that might be useful: Little Homestead in the Village

smdane - how do you make yogurt in crockpot (I also have a food dehydrator and a Nesco roaster that can be set to low temps, though I don't know how well they maintain it)?

Here is what I do
I get my half gallon of milk in the crock pot and heat it for two hours (I use low) it should reach around 170-180

I allow it cool (about one or two hours) stir occasionally to stop film from establishing. You want the temp to be 115 or when you can leave your finger in for ten seconds without being burnt. I use a thermometer, lol

Take some of the warm milk out and mix in one cup of plain yogurt (called the starter) If you want thicker yogurt, add a half cup of dried milk and then add back to crock pot

Take your crockpot, put a lid on it, and wrape with a towel, I use a bath towel, and put in the oven.

After 8 hours, do a taste test. If you want it more tangy leave it longer in. Do not stir until you are ready to put in fridge.

Once you have the tanginess you want, stir well, and pop in fridge. The stirring and cold temps stops the bacteria from making it more tangy.

You can add vanilla bean or extract to it, add honey, or whatever you like. I find it best to make this before bed and when I wake up, bam, there is yogurt.

If you have any questions let me know. It's a trial and error as far as taste. If you want to make greek yogurt, just spoon yogurt in a cheese cloth or coffee filter in a colander and suspend the collander in a bowl and leave overnight in the fridge. It drips out all the whey so you have greek yogurt or yogurt cheese. You can save the whey (what is left in the bowl) for bread or smoothies.

Thanks - I saw some YouTube videos on this (some people use more, some people less, of the starter), but none of them said what the yield is. Obviously it would be less with the Greek style (since you're draining off the whey), looks like lower-fat milk would have more whey/not be as thick. But say you're using 1% or 2% milk, not whole milk, how much yogurt would you get from 1/2 gallon?

I was trying to figure out how much milk to buy, and how big a crockpot to use (I have a small one I think is 4qt plus large 6 qt), we can go through a couple of quarts of yogurt in a week if it will keep that long (also drink about 2 gal of milk in that time, but I buy 1 gal at a time since I don't have commercial-sized fridge LOL!).

Oh, and is it best to add the sweetener when the milk is warm (esp. something like sugar)? I might make 1 batch "plain" and one sweetened if so.

Thanks

generally speaking a half gallon of milk makes a half gallon of yogurt. My batches are about 3/4 the volumn of the amount of milk I use because I use non-fat and like my yogurt thick so I drain it for a long time. I never add sweetener to my yogurt because sweetened yogurt isn't as good of a starter and I keep reusing my yogurt (kind of like those "friendship" breads). Oh and I use the drained whey to make breads like english muffins and scones...

Very interesting thread! Because I'm a kefir freak I just had to do a yogurt comparison search:

Here is a link that might be useful: comparing kefir to yogurt

I use 2% or whole milk. So, whatever amount of milk you put in is about the amount you get in yogurt. I tried making a double batch in one go and it didn't turn out well, so I only make half gallons at a time. I freeze the rest. I reuse my baby food jars so I have the right amount for smoothies :)

ajsmama, I posted before I wrote all I wanted! If I were to add sugar/honey/agave/sweetner I would add it when the nilk was cooling down to the 115 part. I say this because you are wanting to kill off some bacteria in the initial heat up stage.
I use a 6 quart and it fills it a little under half way.
Yhe yogurt should stay good for a couple of weeks after makng it. I usually freeze milk and make batches for a while. I am lucky enough that krogers here will mark down milk a few days before it expires so I just toss the milk in the freezer until I am ready to make yogurt.
If you use low fat milk and want thicker yogurt, you need to add podwer milk when you add the starter, but I advise you sift it to avoid lumps.

Thanks - I will probably use the big crockpot then, esp. since it has a "Keep Warm" option that might be perfect to maintaining the 115F.

I do have to get some powdered milk. I wish stores here would mark down milk - the cheapest I can find it is $2.52/gal at BJs. Still lots less than yogurt though (and last week DD was on a yogurt kick, I had bought some store brand on sale and then discovered it had artificial sweeteners in it, so DH ate that and I bought her a quart of organic and was adding blueberries, homemade jam, etc. to it).

Now, don't get grossed out but I have about a quart of whole milk that "sell by" date was Jan 2, I bought a half gallon for baking at Xmas and we don't drink whole milk, it smells a little sour (I was thinking of using it in place of buttermilk) but isn't chunky - could I use this for yogurt?

After the milk cools down to 115, there isn't a need to use the keep warm function. The insulation with the towel and stove is more than enough :)
As far as the soured milk, I don't know. I'm sure there is some different bacteria in there, but if it were me, I might use it to make sourdough with!
If I can find the link I will email it to you!

smdane05,
I just started making yougurt and for the most part it came out great, allthough i do the heating pad meathod. My question is 1) how do u do the crockpot meathod and 2) My yougurt contains little or no whey at all. Is this ok, it has the consistancy of sour cream,

I have the crockpot method already posted, reference it and if you have questions, let me know. I would say as far as they whey is concerned, it depends on what milk you start with -- which is a matter of preference!

Ajsmama: your old whole milk could be butter or sour cream by now. I have a link on how to make butter. I will find it and post it here so you can read it. I don't know if I would use it for yogurt because it would be super sour...and it may be past the point of making it into yogurt...

It's ok if you don't end up with a lot of whey. How much whey depends on the fat content of the milk you are using. I always end up with a lot of whey because I use fat free milk and I do not add powdered milk to it, I just use a bit more starter than normal...

I also learned how to make Creme fraiche today and have a batch doing it thang right now! Yay!

Ajsmama: Here are the two links:

Tigress in a Pickle: Sweet Butter http://tigressinapickle.blogspot.com/2011/06/sweet-butter.html

Tigress in a Pickles: Cultured Butter
http://tigressinapickle.blogspot.com/2011/06/cultured-butter-and-creme-fraiche.html

Don't know if I can make butter from this whole milk since it's homogenized pasteurized stuff. Might just chuck it (I need the room in the fridge and it's only a couple of cups). Next time I'll freeze the leftovers after making stollen.

Gotta get some more milk (only picked up 1 gal of 1% yesterday since we had so much yogurt). Powdered milk came out to $1 more per gal than fresh (!) at BJs so I will just go back tomorrow or Friday when we need more 1% and buy a gallon of 1% and a gallon of whole, try mixing them and see how thick the yogurt comes out. DH ate a lot of yogurt today so I still have a quart of plain but only a pint left of the organic nonfat French vanilla - and DD has only had 1 bowlful this week!

Yeah! I made yogurt! 4C of 1% milk and 1C of whole pasteurized non-homogenized milk from local dairy. I heated it in a Pyrex bowl on top of a saucepan on the stove, got to 165, little bubbles and a skin on the edges, cooled to about 103 in bigger bowl of water in the fridge (got a phone call and left it in too long). Whisked in 1/2C plain yogurt and put in jars in a crockpot with 110 degree water, kept putting it on Warm for about 5 min every 2 hours (so swung from initial 100 to 115 to 105 to 118) for 7 hours, cooled 1.5 hrs in fridge and it's definitely smelling like yogurt, though it's still very thin. We'll see how it is in the AM - probably should have only used 2C of 1% milk, I think I have to buy some whole milk next week and try again.

Thanks for the help!