2 comments for “Homestead Stew: Eating What You Grow”
Much of what we cook with, what grocery stores sell, comes from far, far away. As an exploration of eating what our land could provide, we made a big pot of what I called Homestead Stew, using only things harvested from the homestead. (excluding a little salt and pepper)
For the meat, I had two gray squirrels, taken to reduce the number of potential apple thieves. (See Fruit Thieves post for backstory.) These were pressure-cooked to get the meat off the bones. The cook-water, with a little salt and pepper, became the broth. The chickens enjoyed picking the bones for little bits of meat I’d missed.
As an additional protein source, I soaked up a cup of the dry beans I grew last year. These weren’t necessary but I liked adding a bit more heartiness to the stew.
Since I did not get a potato harvest, and I don’t grow wheat for noodles, for the starch, I cooked up a batch of hominy from last year’s flint corn harvest. I simmered a cup of corn kernels in “lye” water consisting of a 1/2 cup of sifted wood ash in a three cups of water. It took a couple hours of simmering to puff up and soften the kernels which were then rinsed several times and the gelatinous remnants of their tough pericarps rubbed off.
For veggies, there were still some carrots and rutabaga in the bucket of sand in the “root cellar” (earth sheltered garage). To these were added three walking-onions from the onion patch. The chive-like tops provided a nice bit of color as well as flavor.
On a whim, I added in some frozen okra from the year before. After the fact, this wasn’t a wise choice. The broth developed a bit of a slimy texture. My mistake was in not using some of our tomato juice (also from last year’s harvest) as part of the stock. Classic gumbos use okra as a thickener but their tomato base cuts the slime to where it’s only a thickener.
Still, it was what the land provided and I ate it all with gratitude.
Many of the fruits and veggies in grocery store produce aisles come from farms far away. If, due to some crisis, the trucks stopped rolling, you would not see broccoli from California, onions from Washington, potatoes from Idaho, etc. You would have to work with whatever grew locally and maybe only what you could grow yourself. If you ate only what your land produced, what would you be eating?
One of the ‘tricks’ to eating what your land provides is to preserve much of your harvest — to time-shift your bounty for later. Trucking has spoiled us. We’ve become accustomed to having a variety of fresh fruit and veggies year round, regardless of harvest seasons.
Not all foods lend themselves to being time-shifted. Many greens, like spinach, lettuce, and kale must be eaten soon after harvest. Refrigeration will add some time but you don’t eat lettuce six months after harvest. What you need are foods that will get you through the winter and early spring before new growth has come up. This is traditionally called the Starving Season — or as a book title 🙂 the Hunger Season — as it was common to run out of stored food before the new food was available.
Are you growing foods that can be time-shifted?
Grains were one of the first crops to be domesticated by our ancestors. The kernels of wheat, rye, barley, or corn could be stored for years if kept dry. Corn is easier for the small-scale home gardener. (See my Hominy post for important details about living off of stored corn.) The super-abundance of carbs harvested in the fall could be turned into meals as needed.
Root crops like carrots, potatoes, rutabagas, beats, etc. can be kept in cool, dark places like root cellars. If conditions are right, they’ll last through the winter but not much beyond that. Some “winter” squash varieties are the same way. They can last for months after harvest for consumption when there’s three feet of snow on the ground. They won’t, however, stay good for years.
Dehydrating (traditional ‘drying’) can preserve some ephemeral foods like tomatoes, peppers, and green beans.
Modern canning methods increase our options. Canning fruits and vegetables (even meat, in pressure canners) lets us improve our variety during the winter. Some foods are better for canning than others.
Part of having a successful survival garden is growing what can be time-shifted. With some planning, you can have a variety of stored foods from which you can create your own version of Homestead Stew.
Have you already created your own Homestead Stew? What did you get to include?
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Now that’s a good stew! The hominy was a great flavor to add, you could also let the hominy dry a bit after you soak it in lye and clean it up, then grind it to a fine flour and thicken and flavor the broth like that. I’d want some lard or tallow in it,too, brother squirrel is mighty lean. I’ve always got potatoes, peppers, beans, and tomatoes but if there is no meat to add hopefully you have one or two or three eggs, crack the eggs w/o breaking the yolk and add it to the stew a few minutes before it’s done, you won’t believe how good that stewed yolk tastes.
IvyMike,
Thanks for the tip about the stewed yoke. I’ll have to try that next time. Thus far, the hens are still laying well. Yes, squirrel is might lean. While it didn’t go in this particular stew, I do keep the “schmaltz” (rendered chicken oil) from harvested hens. That is a ‘fat’ the homestead produces.
Good tip on the ground hominy flour as a thickener too. I do dry batches of hominy and keep them in a jar for just such grinding. That’s usually for masa to make lopsidied tortillas but thickeners are good too.
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