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fritillary 1 comments labels agrarian economy food sovereignty 19 october 2009 wintermilk making soymilk and tofu well i suppose we re not totally out of things to blog about on the homefront since we will be leaving the farm in the spring and winters are a hardship on animals up here we won t be keeping any livestock this winter and since dairy and egg production are on hold through the dark and extremely cold months of january march we won t be missing much last winter we purchased rice and soy milk in bulk to carry us through the goat s milk drought since the only other option within our range is commercial cow s milk but we got to thinking about making soy milk and tofu this year instead now we have each been through the spectrum of diets from vegan to vegetarian to weston a price traditional meat and dairy based diet for the most part veganism and vegetarianism grew naturally out of an urban environment and we got interested in weston price and the well known cookbook nourishing traditions as we started raising our own livestock we now have a hybridized diet since raising meat eggs and milk is still resource expensive in the north requiring large amounts of land and grain hay supplies to last at least 7 months a year we do not entirely rely upon meat and dairy to supply our protein in fact to raise these products out of season we need to grow high protein legume feeds for the animals legumes we could just as easily grow for ourselves i enjoy the milk and egg glut that comes with the spring and early summer but treat these foods as seasonal items and for meat we consume 10 lbs a month for two adults plus as much gelatin rich broth as i can put away legumes make up the rest of our protein requirements along with learning about such nutrient rich foods as a good bone stock and lacto fermented vegetables advocated by the weston price foundation we also became weary of soybeans and in the process did some in depth research for myself from what i have read on both sides of the issue and even from the livestock perspective i understand the dangers of a heavily soy based diet to be primarily from improper preparation or from an imbalance of calcium when replacing soy for milk soy along with other legumes and grains is heavy on the side of phosphorous and low on the side of calcium the opposite of milk so as we phase out dairy products and begin using more properly prepared soy based foods my main concern is fulfilling our calcium requirements especially in the winter months when our green foods are at the lowest so i did a calcium audit of our typical winter diet and found that the base line is at about half of a recommended daily intake of 1000mg in further researching calcium rich foods sesame seeds and poppy seeds pack the highest boost of calcium way above the alfalfa sprouts i had expected to close the gap another great surprise was that many of the spices i use in our winter foods the kinds of spices often found in curry or gharam masala are also some of the most calcium rich foods these spices are mostly of the umbrelifa family cumin caraway anise fennel and coriander it seems that calcium comes in small packages well after a lengthy pre amble here s some of the delicious foods we prepared with our bulk sack of soybeans first of all here s a link to some tofu and soymilk recipes since i won t be giving detailed instructions here basically the beans are soaked and blended with water then the slurry is boiled for 15 minutes to destroy the enzyme that makes raw soy indigestible when it is filtered the liquid is soymilk and the pulp is called okara one pound of raw soybeans which i bought in bulk for 75 cents a pound made 3 quarts of soymilk in later processing i was more careful not to let the soymilk reduce like it did in my first batch below along with about 4 cups of okara i added a touch of sweetener and a pinch of salt to each quart of soymilk and i m really pleased with the result more about the okara below in my next batch beginning again with one pound of raw soybeans the filtered soymilk is re heated and curdled very similar to cheese making to form tofu curds there are a few curdling agents including calcium sulfate which would fortify our tofu with calcium but i couldn t find it locally and used the more commonly found magnesium sulfate or epsom salts be sure to use the salts made for internal purposes read the label the curds are pressed in a cheese press type of contraption forming a nice firm tofu one pound of raw beans produced 1 1 2 pounds of pressed tofu the whey is mild tasting and makes a nice soup base or bread making liquid first tofu fry tossed with a kale red pepper and onion stir fry yum now back to that okara it retains most of the fiber and carbohydrates and about half of the fat and protein from the beans here s a link with some really inspired recipes to use and enjoy this unfamiliar by product of soymilk tofu making the patties below are made from the unchicken nuggets recipe in the link above since the okara is high in soy oil it can be used to replace some of the fat in baked goods it is also a fluffy type of grain and can replace eggs for a slightly firmer texture in cakes or muffins i tried the toasted okara recipe which has a lightly nutty coconutty flavor that can be used to replace toasted coconut in recipes and it smelled so good i decided to try a granola i mixed half rolled oats and half cooked okara omitting oil fat sweetened to taste spiced to taste added sesame seeds for calcium and toasted in the oven as granola it s absolutely delicious better than traditional oat granola i have no doubt we will find many ways to incorporate this new ingredient in our diet okara can even be dehydrated and ground for easy storage or to make your own soy protein powder making tofu and soymilk at home requires about the same amount of time as dairy milk and simple cheeses but the cost return is higher than dairy products 75 cents worth of soybeans yielded 6 of soymilk or 8 of tofu not counting the okara and whey by products soy milk can also be made into soy yogurt using the same dairy yogurt starter growing our own soybeans would no doubt require less time and land than maintaining a single dairy goat year round in our bio region and climate so for now we have soymilk next to the goat s milk tofu 2 3 times a week and goat s meat 3 4 times a week a happy hybrid posted by freija and beringian fritillary 5 comments labels home dairying kitchen arts 13 october 2009 the wrap up the garden is all but finished for the year just a lonely row of cabbages kales and brussels sprouts along with a patch of frost hardy parsley and a few late onions in the ground everything else has found a place in the pantry the spice rack or the cool room tomatoes of all stages from green to yellow to pink are ripening an abundance of green yellow and red peppers will keep for a few weeks at least the potatoes are in their bins carrots and parsnips in their sacks pumpkins and squash on their shelves even the rooster and the bucks have found their way to the pantry this weekend as canned meat and rich broth well the rooster only got as far as the table really one of the many harvest feasts we enjoy this time of year so it s quite a bit quieter around here it is interesting wrapping up the season but this time not making those thousand preparations in anticipation of next year s garden no seed saving since we want to start again with bio regional varieties although i am a thousand times tempted to stash away a few packets out of a reflexive sense of preservation but we have no rare varieties in need of salvation and the practical consideration of moving cross continent by bicycle keeps our load light of course there are some things we will be shipping across like my trusty pressure canner my treasured spinning wheel our solar panel etc but there is no safe passage for seed so i let them scatter and smile at the thought of all of these volunteer vegetable seeds springing up in the re planted pastures after we are gone when we go no one will take over our garden it will go back to pasture cut for hay once a year but i take heart in knowing we have made some small improvements to the soil we leave our treasures for the worms the insects the invisible biota living out their secret lives and for the birds that have become our constant companions in the garden the kitchen this time of year has the feel of industry the pressure canner sputtering wood stove chugging along and food always food in every stage of preparation and storage there s always a job to do but not in a bad way each job has it s pleasure and satisfaction i sometimes feel as though i have a thousand clocks in my head or rather kitchen timers each one set sometime in the spring when seeds were planted kids born each one with it s own duration this is the time of year when everything ticks down i m constantly scanning the timers and tending the tasks that are nearest to completion i just have to scan my overflowing kitchen spilling out into the living quarters this time of year to see herbs in various stages of drying baking beans to shell curing pumpkins behind the wood stove shrivelled ground cherries in the warming oven nearly dry ripening fruit to sort and process it used to be quite overwhelming in my first few fledgling years as a well a housewife i no longer object to this word because i understand the skill competence and dedication it demands well truthfully i m only a part time housewife and only when it s too cold to pleasurably work outside now i don t mind the small circuit of my daily routines always in proximity to the warm stove the heart of the household but as soon as spring breaks i m a caged bird set loose i m a gardener a homesteader and grudgingly maintain the house emptied of it s stores of food hollowed out dormant but this winter feels different we are spinning a cocoon this winter weaving new dreams with new adventures and making room for a new beginning instead of the thousand preparations for next year s garden we have the thousand preparations for a move and mostly what consumes our immediate interest is our cycling adventure we are bike obsessed researching tandems anything we can find about them and touring gear and routes and tips a tandem bicycle is perfect for us i love the idea of the cooperation and coordination required on a tandem we will be so much more in tune with one another and working together on tough climbs the same way we work together in the garden and household coordinating our efforts working with efficiency and enjoying the companionship besides tandems are fast i ve also realized that i ve come full circle with this blog i ve written about a 12 month cycle of growing and preserving our food it has been good it is a good record of what we have achieved on a bare piece of land on an empty road and i hope it has been informative after all i know how much i have learned in the process but we have come to a natural end realizing there is only so far the two of us can go on this road to self sufficiency without turning to capitalism s infrastructure to support us the ironic hypocritical conclusion to the independent quest of self reliance from where we are we can see that communalism collectivism eco socialism whatever tag you want to put on it is the least destructive way forward perhaps the only way so this blog may find it s natural conclusion or it may evolve or we may move on to a new blog leaving this one to archive the food skills we acquired perhaps returning to it when we plant our next seeds either way we ll let you know posted by freija and beringian fritillary 11 comments labels agrarian living bicycle power food preservation homesteading 30 september 2009 how to get those tomatoes naked i rarely enjoy the task of removing tomato skins and sometimes prefer to leave them for certain things such as last week s chutney where the combination of textures apples with their skins on peppers etc conceal the tomato skins but for a good tomato sauce skins off is undeniably better i ve tried a few methods dropping the tomatoes in boiling water to remove the skins and pressing the raw tomatoes through a food mill which separates both skins as well as seeds the boiling water method works just fine but it is a rather hot process working on a wood stove and the heat tends to wear me out faster than the task and the food mill is a slow process but only leaves me with a puree when sometimes i would rather have some of the texture of the tomato meats and seeds in the finished product so it was with excitement that i read about a trick to remove tomato skins raw in a 1980 organic gardening publication i ve been wanting to try it out and see if it is a viable method for removing the skins from large batches of tomatoes so i set out with a 20lb pail of ripe roma tomatoes i have a pleasant work counter and stool so that i can sit at a comfortable height to do large food processing tasks here s the technique use only ripe tomatoes paste types work best but it works for all varieties scrape the tomato skin with the back of your pairing or small kitchen knife scrape back and forth a few times applying slight pressure like you are shaving the skin rotating the tomato to work around the whole fruit you will start to see the skin wrinkle under the right pressure and the texture of the tomato changes to that of a water balloon as if there s a layer of water just under the skin this method separates the skin from the flesh underneath then slice off the stem end and peel down from the top the skin should come off easily i found this to be a method comparable to the boiling process perhaps a bit slower but no standing at a hot stove waiting over a steaming pot for the water to re boil i certainly enjoyed the task more and felt less worn out afterward and sometimes that s more important than the length of time a task takes naked tomatoes ready for processing add a few diced peppers and garden herbs and we ve got a taste of summer to grace humble winter meals what a delight when the harvest basket is full of such vibrant color and flavor posted by freija and beringian fritillary 5 comments labels cooking with wood food preservation kitchen arts older posts home subscribe to posts atom search this blog email to reach us contact growthechange gmail com syriphid fly blogs we read afrigadget afrigadget com relaunch am i bugging you yet love seeing insect articles in major newspapers appropedia blog we re the people don t just support progressive change arduous blog this is the end my friend bikejuju the bicycles of ethiopia from a bike obsessed traveler casaubon s book but what will we eat at the apocalypse now chiot s run new blog crunchy chicken homemade greek yogurt farm natters of mice and various snakes and new duck feed station fast grow the weeds on life in the milk lane four green acres ruby gold tomato sorbet sweet had the radis...