Tag Archives: canning

Is A New Year A New Beginning?

RewilderLife Posted on by

 

A reflection on 2023 at 4 am on January 1, 2024

Is a New Year a new Beginning? Of course it is!

I’ll be honest, I’m ready for 2024.  2023 was rough.  I’m bruised, battered, beat up, defeated, and exhausted.  I battled pneumonia or RSV for weeks and weeks (my doctor is not even sure), shingles, and more.  There were several deaths in my immediate circle and I didn’t make some of the progress I wanted to on the land and in my personal life.  BUT I endured.  I made it. I got back up.  I battled through illness and exhaustion. I grew from the experience and have gained some tools and resolve to become the healthiest and most productive I can be (more on that later). I saw a meme about the New Year, it said, “It’s okay if all you did was survive last year.”  Thankfully I did way more than survive. Despite some of my biggest failures and my biggest obstacles I had some of my highest and most humbling experiences.

I will name just one weekend that I still have to pinch myself over.  I spoke/taught at The Indiana Homestead Conference on canning (a link to see my presentation).  I met Harold for the first time in person at the conference, but it felt like we were old friends (if you don’t know who Harold is, he is my co-host at The Modern Homesteading Podcast). I also met and got to share some lunch with Joel Salatin. I enjoyed a conversation with Shawn and Beth Dougherty. Amazing people who have been mentors through video and books for years, even if they don’t know it. This was a huge victory for me in overcoming using tech, I made a slideshow!! A huge victory in overcoming fear of public speaking!! And a highlight of a year that as I said above, was pretty rough.

So I guess, if your 2023 was littered with bad news and struggles, look for the nuggets of success and happiness.

IF a New Year is a new beginning, so is every single day.

When we made goals and resolutions that didn’t stick remember we have a new day, even new moments all throughout the day. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress when it doesn’t need to be.

Starting is progress!

AND

Failing is progress!

When I started giving myself permission to fail that was one of the best personal breakthroughs I ever accomplished. It has allowed me to do more, experience more and be healthier and happier. I have stopped that negative self talk and instead I have started to give myself pep talks. I have accepted that failure would happen. AND that has helped me pick myself up and try again. Do I still want to quit, HECK yes (and sometimes that is the right thing to do, more on that another time).

So go out there and start 2024 by DOING and FAILING.

 

Go be untamable…

unstoppable…

GO BE WILDER!

 

 

Hey, these are affiliate links to Amazon, I do get a bit of compensation on things you purchase once you follow that link. I do not see who purchased any items, so your privacy is still intact.

 

Shawn and Beth Dougherty’s The Independent Farmstead

Joel Salatin’s Polyface Micro (he has many books, this one is just geared toward a smaller scale)

 

Also, a link to my canning series over on The Modern Homesteading Podcast page…

https://www.modernhomesteadingmembership.com/how-to-can-bundle

We do have a membership over there if you are interested.

https://www.modernhomesteadingmembership.com/

The Week In Review–Wildings

RewilderLife Posted on by

This last week has been productive and yet it feels like its been a year and not a week since Thanksgiving. I have had a lot on my plate lately but I have accomplished some bigger projects this week including finishing up the corned venison today by canning it and making a dinner with it. I posted the recipe in the last blog post.

 

I have been battling some kinda something, who knows, the weather here has been all over the place so it could be allergies or it could be a virus.  Either way I have been using lots of wildcrafted and herbal teas.  Pine needles, elderberry, goldenrod, hibiscus, staghorn sumac, peppermint, and nettles. It has been helping me keep the sinuses clear which is usually where I am hit with illnesses the most.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I pressure canned the extra turkey after I made bone broth in my roaster.  The bone broth cooked for 2 days.  Bone broth is simply bones cooked for a long enough time for the bones to start to fall apart.  I use a bit of apple cider vinegar to help with this, I make my own from our apple trees every year.

 

 

I made several dinners with the venison we harvested.  One was Tenderloin medallions quickly fried in tallow, some of the frozen remnants of the garden (link to video of me harvesting the garden at 27 degrees), and fried potatoes in onions from the late summer harvest. Another was venison and mangalitsa hog tacos with fresh microgreens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, the microgreens!  I have an abundance starting in the basement garden.  This is my third year growing inside, I love it.  It is so nice to enjoy some nice microgreens with dinner.  Later we hopefully will enjoy some loose leaf lettuce and herbs.

 

 

What else did I get done?  Oh some boring stuff like paperwork, moping floors, some online stuffs, social media, and some really cool podcasts. Next week I have some epic things to share…that is all I will say.  But they are pretty exciting and have left me baffled and humbled by my community of friends.

Until next time…

RWL