Hi Anita, won't be able to do so for a bit, but I am willing to give canning my own homemade bacon and seeing how it turns out later this fall, thanks for the update and info, good to know! I have found that I really like corning the lamb and then canning up corned chunks,

Anita,

Was the bacon you used sliced thin? Most store bacon is, and the texture of it is already limp since they tend to do artificial smoking. What do you think would be a good thickness to slice? Its too late for my pork for this year in terms of slicing, but I think I will give it a go. I can think of a few uses for fried smoked pork crumbs as long as the taste is reasonable.

Anita the bacon sounds great. I will add that to my list of stuff to do.

Although I have been sick with a migraine for the last week & a half I have managed to get a few things done:
a years worth of fish food
did up about 60 (250ml) jars of jam
9 jars of Saskatoon sauce - I like it better then blueberry
Mylar bagged everything that I had in the house that could be bagged - close go 100 bags done
bought totes to store the Mylar bags for now - easier to move I hope
filled my front hall with stuff to go to auction

Got everything set to put the siding on the extension tomorrow. This will finish the exterior work and we can begin working inside. We have decided to get the pantry done first thing as the jars are starting to add up and we have plans to be canning the tomatoes this weekend, which means I need those pantry shelves done ASAP. Then we can get everything that is in the rubbermade bins sorted and placed on the shelves to inventory. I will be so happy to get the home office back, as it has been used to pile up food and other supplies...besides that, I want to get my computer off the kitchen table too!

...and did I hear someone say that magical word....AUCTION?

Anita,

Was the bacon you used sliced thin? Most store bacon is, and the texture of it is already limp since they tend to do artificial smoking. What do you think would be a good thickness to slice? Its too late for my pork for this year in terms of slicing, but I think I will give it a go. I can think of a few uses for fried smoked pork crumbs as long as the taste is reasonable.

It was regular sliced bacon from the grocery store. I think two or three times as thick might be better.

wow what I did his week doesn't seem like much in comparison to you guys, but hey I did something lol.
I dehydrated some more garlic for garlic powder, it tastes so much better than store bought.
Dad gave the last of his tree's plums, not very big or sweet, so I dried those too.

wow what I did his week doesn't seem like much in comparison to you guys, but hey I did something lol.
I dehydrated some more garlic for garlic powder, it tastes so much better than store bought.
Dad gave the last of his tree's plums, not very big or sweet, so I dried those too.

Sounds like you did a lot too. Love home done garlic powder 😀

wow what I did his week doesn't seem like much in comparison to you guys, but hey I did something lol.
I dehydrated some more garlic for garlic powder, it tastes so much better than store bought.
Dad gave the last of his tree's plums, not very big or sweet, so I dried those too.

Slow and steady wins the race! Some weeks nothing gets done and the next week "yer" Mario Andretti!!! Keep up the good work!

I canned apple chunks for baking yesterday - more to do today along with some apple sauce.

i got all my rain barrels installed finally. it's been cloudy all weekend and no rain 🙁 all the parts are drinking water standards so i'm not worried about chemicals in the water/hoses etc. with filtering it could be used to drink.
had to do some plumbing, so instead of paying someone to do it, i'm paying them to teach me. . . made 4 more raised beds for the areas i can't dig down to plant, and bought a few more hoses so i can water from the rain barrels or the house any part of my property. . .

i've also decided i'm not packing wheat in 5 gal buckets any more. i have enough of that packed away that when they are all empty i can re pack those buckets from a 55 gal drum of wheat, oats, beans, rice, pasta etc etc. so i ordered some mylar bags for 55 gal drums.

think that's it. . .

entropy - where are you getting your 55 gal drums?? Sounds like a reasonable plan.

kijiji, a guy down in Elmira. . .
honest lad, doesn't work on Sundays, but will deal with you after work (he works 5am to 8 pm and then met me at 10 pm to sell them to me.

he has 55gal steel drums with lids and clamps, and 1000 gal ICB totes. all used for sugar or grape juice.
send me a PM if you want more info, i'm sure he'd be happy if i gave his email out for some sales.

These are great prepps. I have a small artisian well in the basement actually but my main well is outside and I'd really like to get a manual back up for it.

MrandMrsW -great additions! Pump and grain mill are the two most important items on my list. Where did you get them from and what kind? I want to get these things this fall.....
I did read an excellent article in Backwoods Home Magazine on 'Prepper Power part 2' which went into alternative water pumps ......

Finally got the storage pantry insulated and wired!
We now have 50sq.ft of storage space for our food items of which the freezer will take up about 10 sq.ft.
We will be spending the weekend moving the freezer in and building the shelves custom size to fit our various rubbermade totes, metal cans, store bought and home canned items. Also need to keep room for potatoes, onions, and squash from the garden.
Should be a busy weekend, but at least my computer won't be surrounded by my home canned food anymore!

Thanks MrandMrsW! I'm checking out those Grain Mills. Metcalfe is within driving distance. Do you buy your grain there as well?
I looked at the Pitcher Pumps and I actually have one and I didn't even know it! I'm just unsure right now how I'd hook it up to the well if necessary. But I did read an excellent article about something similar in Backwoods Home Magazine, Prepper Power Part 2 http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago137.html
I've been negligent this week about adding new preps since I just got back from my son's wedding in BC - and it cost me quite a bit of money! Hopefully I can buy the grain mill in September......
Tomorrow I begin adding more food preps to replace the preps that my kids at home used while I was away! But at least, thank goodness for those preps since we live in the country (with no public transportation) and they don't drive.