Choose Gear Carefully (pt1) Winter boots

When you are homesteading on a dime, you try and avoid making any financial mistakes. Choosing your gear is a very important part of your life. Likewise not letting the opportunity to purchase additional or backups, to your inventory. When the deal comes along you better grab it while you and your wallet can.

You will gravitate to what works best for you in terms of boots, clothing, etc. Bear in mind that you will be using your gear much harder and under more extreme conditions than most. So you won't really be able to apply the standards you did back in town.

For this particular article, I have chosen the much lofted bunny boot and mickey mouse boot for the topic. 

Back when I was in the Military, we did our annual winter/arctic training every winter. Part of our arctic issue was the white, rubber, much coveted bunny boot. While they had their issues, I generally found them acceptable. They were indeed warm, though they really did not offer much in the area of ankle support. They also tended to be a bit heavy.

That being said I never had to actually use these boots for more than 30 days at a stretch (our typical deployment duration).. Once out of the military I returned to the customary pac boot that I grew up with. Back then Sorel was the only way to go. I recall buying a pair of sorel pacs at Fleet Farm for a grand total of $20. I used these boots exclusively (actually I had two pair) though out the Minnesota winters. Eventually after moving to Alaska I felt the need to upgrade to a true arctic boot and made the leap to a pair of black, mickey mouse boots.

Now as I mentioned, you will not be going from the house, to the car, to the office/shop, then putting on safety shoes, or penny loafers, or whatever. You will (provided you homestead in a northern clime) be in your winter boots much of the time.

Remember... you are homesteading with meager income and resources. If your boots or other gear fail... you may be in a tough spot. And you can not afford to put your money into worthless gear.

During my second winter with these boots I noticed something about my groovy winter boots that I had not noticed before. They had split at the seams. In many places the individual parts had parted ways, leaving gaps. No biggie as I was a bonified homesteader. Being prepared, I simply placed bicycle patches over the split seams. This held for awhile, but eventually (within weeks), the splits appeared beyond the patches. The boots still worked fairly well, and I continued to use them until it became apparent that they just would not go any further. I then switched back to my well worn Sorel pacs. Now these boots were purchased in the mid 80's. The soles didn't have the drip they once had and the leather uppers were no longer bright green. However they functioned as they always had.

After spring sprung and I returned to work, in order to get ready for next winter, I retired the black boots. Undaunted I bought a pair of white bunny boots... much cooler anyhow. I also decided to retire my faithful and loyal sorrel's (still had one pair). I had worn them every winter for twenty years. All I had to do was replace the pacs once in all that time. Replacement pacs are readily available by the way. Not a bad run for $20. The black mickey's had lasted two seasons before retirement.. Not as stellar.

To make the story short, I am on my second season with the white boots. The seams have already begun to split and the right boot is letting in moisture. Not good in an arctic situation.

In the above photo you will see the split in the seam. Note that MUCH of your daily movements during the day will be in a kneeling, squatting or other position. Rarely will you be standing up straight and imMobile. Perhaps I am a bit rough on my gear, compared to folks who live in a more conventional environment, but it gets to be a sore issue with me when my equipment fails in what I feel is a short period of time. I simply do not have the funds to waste on items that so not perform.

The above photo shows a split developing in the side of the left boot. This, in my opinion is totally unacceptable in the relatively short period of time they have been in use.

If I could find an acceptable way of repairing them I would be a bit more forgiving perhaps.

As I mentioned earlier, I am always on the lookout for more gear. I would never have just a single pair of boots, nor snowshoes or any other important piece of equipment, unless I had absolutely no choice. Every estate sale I come across I scout for replacement gear for future use. As long as it is in decent shape I make an offer and take it home. I currently have four extra pair of pac type boots on hand.

Unfortunately, I will have to eliminate the military vapor barrier boot from my list of choices, and focus primarily on pac boots, which have served me quite well in fifty plus years of living in northern climates.

I am going to look into purchasing a pair of Steger Mukluks, which have come highly recommended. If I can make the purchase this winter, I will test them and give a report. I also plan on fabricating my own primitive mukluks out of reindeer hide (domestic caribou), and black bear, for field testing.

You may find that the military VB boot to your liking. I hope your experiences are better than mine. However, if you do plan on using them in a remote setting be sure to have an additional pair of winter boots available.

Just in case...

Home canning of meat and berries

Living in a remote setting like I do, I have neither a refrigerator nor freezer, to store my food. Fortunately in northern climates, that isn't a difficult issue to overcome. Homesteading is simply taking a bit of a step back in time. After all, this has already been done. There is no reinventing nor pioneering in any stretch of the imagination.

When I need to keep food cool, in the brief summer/warm months, I simply keep items in a sealed bucket in the creek. In the colder months just setting stuff in the corner on the floor of the cabin will suffice.

However this article is about canning, as there is just so long meat, vegetables and berries will keep without proper preservation techniques. Canning is, in my opinion the most effective way to store long term. It isn't rocket science, in fact you can equate it to reloading ammunition. Buy a manual and follow it. it is just that simple.

I bought several canners, years ago, and delved into it a bit before I moved into the sticks. However my experimenting was quite casual, and only for practice.

Two summers ago, I found myself in a situation, with a problem bear, (see "the break in bear", posted here). After I had killed the bear and found that any attempts to secure a ride out either with a charter service or a friend not available, i decided to take the bull by the horns and get the bear 100% processed at my homestead. In reality I was already set up. It was just the sudden turn of events that caused a minor, temporary panic. Once I gathered myself together I got on with the task. It went somewhat as follows:

Since the daytime temps hovered in the mid 60's I didn't have much time, and the meat would go bad. It was obvious the next few day's would be rather full. My process was to par-cook the meat to buy me some time. So I slow cooked the meat in my large dutch oven, on the kitchen propane stove while I fired up the cache cooker, to run the canner and the stockpot used for sterilizing the cans, lids, etc. Now under normal conditions you do not need to cook the meat as the canning process will do that.

I focused on cutting the meat into cubes to be used in stews and chili, rather than steaks etc. As soon as a batch of meat was cooked, I'd fill the sterilized jars as I saw fit and added water up to about 1" from the top of the jar. I then placed a lid, from a pan of hot water onto the jar and screwed on a ring to just finger tight. I placed all the jars into the canner and filled the canner to the specified amount. The canner lid was locked on and brought up to temperature. Once there the weights where placed in the canner vent and the flame adjusted until the weights slightly jiggled. This takes a few minutes to adjust but is no big deal. The directions suggested 75 minutes for the canning process. During this time, I sterilized more jars and cut and cooked more meat. There was always something to do...

Once the processing time was reached I shut off the heat and waited for the canner to cool down.

Pic of canner and jars being prepped.

Once the canner has cooled down. I removed the weights and waited for steam to stop coming out of the canner. Basically I relieved the pressure.... I then placed the jars (very very hot) onto a towel, using a pair of tongs designed for the job. As the jars sit and cool the lids will pop from time to time, sealing and unsealing. This is totally normal. Once the jars are cool to the touch, you can test the seal by thumping the lid with your finder. It the seal is broken you will hear and see it pop. This is not a total defeat, as all you have to do is inspect the lid, re clean the rim of the jar and try again, perhaps using a new lid.

Then you simply repeat this process until you are done. In the many quarts and pints of bear meat, every and all jars sealed. The cooking time of 75 minutes at boiling temps totally cooked the meat and stored it securely.

Preserving vegetables is no different. Simply wash and cut the potatoes, carrots,etc as you see fit. Place the food in the jars packing as tightly as you wish. Fill jars with water (and a bit of salt if you wish), then can for the suggested time.

Canned food does resist freezing, in that enough fluid boils out of the jars that in the event of freezing temps, there is not enough liquid left to break a jar. I have not had any jars break although I did lose a few seals. This was no big deal since if the temps allow liquid to freeze, so will the meat, thereby preventing it from spoiling. I simply placed the jars outside. In effect I lost no jars...

Canning fruits and berries is no different although you will have to decide what you want the end result to be. Juice, syrup, or jam?

The initial processing is pretty much the same. The main difference is in the amount of sugar, and pectin you decide to use. In the case of my canning high bush cranberries, which I decided to can mostly as juice, I began by placing a large batch of berries in my stock pot, and adding aboutt an inch or so water. Heating the water and mashing the berries with a potato masher began to produce a lot of juice!

Cranberries and water in stockpot...

Berries and masher...

Within a very short period of time you will get a lot of juice. In fact you can even pour off the first batch and add water and get a bit more juice out. The cranberry has a rather flat dislike seed inside which will need to be separated along with the berry skin. I found that straining through typical U.S. army mosquito netting worked very well.

After a large batch of juice was obtained I needed to add sugar, to taste. If anybody has tasted a cranberry raw, you will know that it is not the type of berry you will eat a lot of without some help in the sweetening department. However the store bought juice is way to sweet for me. I simmered the juice, adding a bit of sugar and stirring it in, until I came up with a flavor that suited me. Now I'm not sure the exact combination, however my jam worked out to be 2/3rd cup sugar per pint. That is no where near the recommended recipe for any of the pectin companies which recommended 3 cups plus, sugar per pint! Rest assured that if you do it slowly to taste you will end up with a lot less sugar than the store bought stuff.

Once the sugar was added I increased the heat, and let the sugar thicken the mixture up, to a thinnish cough syrup consistency. I then poured the syrup into the sterilized jars to about 1" from the top. I placed a lid and ring on nd put the jars in the canner.

The recommended times for fruit is much shorter than mat, but be sure to follow the recommendations of the canner manufacturer. When the juice is done, it will be a semi concentrate. I found that a dilution of two parts water to each jar was about right, or until the juice left no film on a glass when swirled.

That is simply how it goes...

Making syrup for pancakes is the same, except you add pectin during the heating process. Note that low sugar cranberry jam will not set up as firmly as you might want. In my case I found that adding blue berries solved this, and most of my jam was blueberry or a blueberry/cranberry combo. If you want a store bough firm jam, you will need to add a Lot more sugar. That is totally your call.

The finished product..

A few notes on thinghs concerning canning. My canner's don't use pressure valves. My models use the weights that go on the vent hole. I find these very efficient, and they do not go out of spec! The worst that can happen is that you lose them.But not having to worry about whether they are reading properly is definetly something to consider.

If you are having a good berry year, can a lot more than you will need. Next year may be a poor berry year.

I have found that if you are very gentle with the lids when removing them, you can use them over several times. As I mentioned. If a jar does not seal, simply clean the rim, inspect/replace the lid and re can!

I have had nearly a 100% sucess rate in my canning. The only jar that failed, failed in freezing. However no food was lost. If I can do it.... you can do it!!

Firewood basic (pt2)

You have chosen your woodstove, and you want to install it. May I recommend that you put the chimney going straight up from the stove through the roof. Preferably near the peak. The reason for this is that it will help minimize any leaking that may occur due to melting snow load.

This is just a personal thing, but I find it to be a good idea.

A chimney liner should be used at the roof of course. Asbestos lined ones are available for a whole bunch of dollars. Remember.... you are homesteading on a dime. My solution was to run my 6" pipe through an 8" pipe and line the larger with fiberglass insulation. I made spacers out of tin, to hold the liner in place on the smaller pipe, and it has worked very well. A chinese hat should be placed on top of the chimney. I have a friend who likes to use a T instead, with the T facing into the prevailing wind. He claims it is nearly fool proof and I believe it. I wish I had thought of it!

As with all northern homesteaders the top of your stove is too important to just let sit unused. By placing a rack (in the event you have a barrel or round top stove) on top you can utilize the heat rising to heat water, simmer coffee, and even cook your food. Stock pots and water bath canners will be an important item in your homestead.

 

In the photo above you can see the mounting brackets for the steel rack on top of my stove. Utilizing my woodstove to it's fullest has saved me immesnsly on propane, which I use sparingly.

The fuel you use for your wood stove will depend on your latitude. Since I am primarily a northern type of guy and have lived most of my life north of Minneapolis I am familiar with three main tree species. There are more of course, but these where what we used the most of.

Oak: the mighty oak was the real heat maker. Lesser wood was used for getting the fire going. once everything was hot you could rest assured that seasoned oak would burn the hottest for the longest.

Birch: In Minnesota we used this to get the fire going good, then would switch to oak if we had it. The bark of the birch is nearly waterproof and lites easily. The bad news about birch (there always is), is that it prodces a lot of creosote. Especially when green. So care must be taken in burning it. I'll get more into that at some point in the future.

Spruce: The most forgiving of firewood? It lights and burns beautifully when seasoned. Seasons quickly... and is very light to carry. The only down side is that it burns rather quickly. An iron stove will off set this, but if you are running a barrel stove you will be going to the stove more often. Note: with a barrel stove you will want to try not to burn through the stove?... Just a thought, as it can happen.... Red glowing barrel stoves are NOT a good idea.

Up here in Alaska I have primarily two types of wood. Birch, and spruce. I burn mostly spruce as I find more of it ready to burn. Why this is I do not know. However much of the down birch I run into is too far gone. You would think, with it's waterproof skin it would be more impervious to the elements, but it is not. Therefore I only cut up birch that is still rather green. Spruce seasons faster, and I find a lot of it lying down or slightly hung up. (I do cut down snags... I have a technique for this that is quite reliable).
Up here in Alaska, my primary available wood is birch and spruce. Since birch is my only real hardwood it has become my oak. I use it for the prolonged heat after I get a good fire going. I must admit though, to having a great liking for the white spruce that grows here. I find it in clusters of down tree's all over the place. Just a few quick cuts will let me know what condition the wood is in. Even the saw dust will give a good indication. A reddish sawdust means that the wood is getting punky, and if you are going to use it, you should do so first. What you want is a nice light colored sawdust. You will also quickly learn to gage spruces' dryness by the weight. When finding a down tree, if it has any green needles, on it at all, it will to wet to make decent firewood. That does not mean you should not cut it however. You will be needing wood next year, and by splitting it and stacking it, you will speed up the seasoning process. If the spruce is too punky, it won't split worth a darn, and it will burn with little heat. You can use it however in a situation such as tanning leather or smoking meat where you will want lots of smoke and little fire.
Birch is much heavier than spruce, even when seasoned. I don't cut much spruce unless it is very green. I will haul it, split and stack it, and make sure it is out of the weather. If done so, it makes beautiful firewood once properly seasoned.

The photo above shows two pieces of white spruce. The chunk on the left is a perfectly seasoned piece of wood which will catch fire easily and burn well. The piece on the right has started to get punky, and is slightly beyond prime (notice the white specks thoughout). It will still burn fairly well, and I do keep wood like this as long as it splits well. However if you find that your axe breaks out the side of the chunk of wood while splitting, it is just a bit to far gone. This is my opinion of course, however I get no joy out of chilly cabins, nor continually fighting my wood stove to keep a fire going.

You will become very adept at choosing wood, quickly, that works best for your needs and you simply will not waste your time with substandard wood.

By choosing proper fire wood you will get your fires to start without work. They will simply start themselves with little more than the touch of a match.

My process for getting a fire going is simple, and foolproof (as long as the wood is seasoned).

I begin by placing two larger pieces of firewood in the wood stove approximately 4-4" apart. Between these pieces I place 4-5 pieces of dry birch bark. Over these I place 5-6 pieces of kindling. Simply putting a match to the birch bark will get things rolling quickly. Birch bark loves to burn hot with a nice flame, and rarely do I need to coax anything more out of it. I simply listen for the sound of the wood popping. After 10 minutes or so I check the flame and add more wood as I see fit, without smothering the air flow. I can bring my little cabin up to a nice comfortably wasrm temp in less than 20 minutes. Indeed when I awake in the middle of the night, to just a few embers left, I can simply set more spruce on top, and within a few minutes I can hear the "woosh", of the fire taking off.... No fuss, no muss...

Wood Stove basic (pt1)

If you decide on a northern climate for your homestead you will be needing a wood stove. Remember you are homesteading on a dime and you just can't run out to the nearest fireplace store and pick up a state of the art wood stove.

Indeed you probably won't need too. In the far north, used wood stoves can be had quite readily. Normally there is nothing wrong with them. they are just being replaced by a fancier model.

In fact I have seen many excellent home made wood stoves made from culvert material, and miscellaneous pieces of old iron welded together.

We as poor homesteaders are not as interested in impressing the neighbors as we are getting the job done after all.

I honestly haven't seen very many poor wood stoves actually. Now if you are heating a several thousand square foot log mansion, then yes you may very well need a state of the art system which requires electric blowers etc. However since we (you and me), are resilient, self reliant homesteaders we know that a smaller cabin is easier to heat than a monstrous one.

I in fact am still heating and cooking on my very first wood stove... The lowly often maligned barrel stove. This stove has functioned very well, for three years now. I purchased the barrel from a local fuel oil company for $15... The barrel kit I bought for $10, used, as it was still bolted to a burned out barrel. So for $25, I had a perfectly functional wood stove. My brother in law made a grate to place inside, to keep the fire off the bottom of the barrel. Made of expanded metal, it was made to fold up, so that it would fit through the stove door. You can place sand and rocks in the bottom as well, however most of my available rocks are river rocks and was aware that they can sometimes explode. So.. I opted for the grate.

On top of the stove is a rack that with fit two stock pots for heating water, as well as my coffee pot.

The benefits of a barrel stove are also it's drawbacks. The same with an iron or cast stove. In the case of the barrel stove, it's lighter material will warm the cabin warm far quicker than a heavier stove. The down side is that it also sheds it heat quickly, letting the cabin cool down faster. With the iron stove it may take hours for the cabin to warm (depending on the size of the cabin, the starting temp inside and the quality of the firewood). However it will hold the heat much longer in it's thicker skin.

It all amounts to what you want. You will never hear me bash my barrel stove. It has kept me warm, heated my water, and cooked my food without fair for three years (going on four).

I believe this will be the last year for my stove. But dividing the $25 into the day's it has been used, I think I got a pretty good bargain.

I do have a nice iron wood stove that I have been wanting to get up to the homestead. Smaller than the barrel stove, it will free up some space. It's flat top will allow the direct contact with the stove and will make heating water and cooking (on top), much more efficient. It's glass door will also allow a handy night light.

Still....

I will miss the practical barrel stove. Carrying the unit up here was much easier than getting a nearly 200lb stove up here. While the iron stove was "free", the barrel stove is generally the most inexpensive way to get started.

My barrel stove allows enough room to have a fire and cook food with room to spare. Setting my 9" dutch oven off to one side, and setting the 6" dutch, on top, cooks food very efficiently.



The picture above shows the basic cooking process. As long as the dutch oven is placed off to the side, there will be more than enough draft to keep the wood going. In fact one of the best things about the barrel stove is it's interior volume. Cooking this way saves me a tremedous amount of propane, which I need for other things, such as canning.

In a northern climate you will be utilizing a wood stove from sometime in september until mid may. And I have often lit fires in mid summer to take the chill off on a rainy day.

If you decided to cook tear round with a wood stove you could simply build a cook house, much like was used in colonial day's to keep the house from getting too hot. In fact I am planning a cook/canning shack if nothing more than to free up room in the cabin.

To be continued...