Today we will talk about how to tap into one of the easiest foods to grow on your land in our area: Chestnuts! Specifically how to harvest, store, grow and prepare them.

What mother nature is providing

• Drought -  That means all the usual mushrooms that we harvest at this time of year are not blooming. The good side of this is that firewood has seasoned on the forest floor over the summer and is dry and easy to burn -
• Creek mint
• Venison

What we are preserving this week

• Stocks and stews
• The final set of frozen summer tomatoes
• Before the freeze: harvested comfrey and other herbs and they are hanging to dry in the kitchen

Preparing Chestnuts (Look you can buy them on Amazon!)

• Scoring: I like to use this tool. It operates like a stamp and makes me fear less for my fingers!
• Roasting
• Boiling
• The open fire method

Three ways to eat chestnuts

1. Roasted
2. Added to stuff: Casseroles (like the dressing, tuna, etc), breads you are baking, dressing
3. Chestnut griddle cakes: 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, 4 cups chestnuts (in shell)

Today, we will have a Holler Homestead update. I want to share with you some of the stories from our part of the country that have happened in the last few weeks, take a look at where our focus is as we seek to increase the food we produce on site and talk about what we are focusing on moving into the new year.

What we are preserving this week...

• Apple cider - the final round
• Apple sauce
• Drying herbs: Basil, comfrey, peppermint
• Sauerkraut

What mother nature is providing...

• Watercress!
• Oyster mushrooms!
• Tomatoes
• Chilies
• A cabbage update - we have some :-) and carrots too!

• A deer from the neighbor
• Holy Helicopter Batman
• Sweet potatoes successful for the first time
• CANT OPEN ONE OF MY HIVES
• Firewood - ho!
• The great cleanup of 2016

Advice on my cookbook: 365 pages, one recipe each? 12 months? A weekly recipe?

Song: Thanks Dave, by Kirk VanDerveer