More Homestead Blessings
The original version of this post appeared on our family blog, before we began As For My House.
I was thrilled to find preview copies of the three new Homestead Blessings DVDs in my mailbox recently. These were like a fun new “season”.
The first three DVDs took place in a cozy indoor kitchen / workspace.
These are all set outdoors. You might expect Gardening to be in the garden, of course, but even Canning is set in a lovely outdoor “summer kitchen”.
Perhaps even more than the original trio of DVDs, these are very general topic overviews.
They would be great for someone to watch who thought, “Wow, canning? I think I might like to try it, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin…”
You get an overview of the equipment and processes involved, some fun tips and anecdotes, and a bonus “music video” of a song by the lovely West Ladies (a different one on each DVD). It’s really not enough of the nitty-gritty to go out and do the activity, in most cases.
The Art of Canning
One thing I wished, after watching, was that the recipe for the pickled eggs that they made in the video had been included in the .pdf recipe files.
I know you’ll probably want to go get a canning book to really get into it, but why not put a whole bunch of recipes on here?
Having already read Canning & Preserving for Dummies
I popped the DVD into the computer to get the recipe… And ended up popping it back in the DVD player and having Nick watch that segment again and transcribe the recipe.
But aside from that…
I was nice to watch them actually go through the process with a couple of water bath canning projects (jam, as well as the pickled eggs), a pressure canner project (green beans), and then do a few other goodies, like sauerkraut.
Their simple, open style reinforced that canning is normal, and simple to do. It was very encouraging!
The Art of Gardening
Gardening was, perhaps, the weakest link in this chain.
The ladies showed off some of their garden, and talked a little about some topics like tools and container gardening. There was even a segment on composting, which was perhaps the highlight of the DVD.
They planted some green beans and some potatoes, and had some great specific techniques for each of those (potatoes that aren’t dirty?!).
Truly, it would be hard to make a DVD about gardening that was really “comprehensive” – there are an awful lot of variables for each person’s situation (climate, soil, space, etc., etc.). But while this had a few tidbits of really interesting information, overall it left me feeling (still) that gardening was a huge undertaking and I had no idea where to start, what to plant, etc.
On a side note, my very favorite tidbit of information from this DVD was Hannah’s dress. It looks like she took a pair of baggy overalls, split the legs apart, and sewed a triangle panel into the front and back to make a long, adorable overall dress. It is SO hard for me to find long enough skirts, but clearly I could find long enough overalls on the men’s rack… and this sounds more in line with my sewing skills than trying to make something like that from scratch!
The Art of Herbs
The “Herbs” DVD had the advantage of having no preconceived notions – I had no idea what about herbs they were going to talk about.
Vicki did a fairly comprehensive overview of herb gardening.
She walks us through her garden, showing the different herbs, and explaining what type of light and food each plant prefers. She also touches on the herb’s harvesting and uses.
They had several interesting herb uses and projects, as well – vinegar tonics, herb butter, herb teas (with some interesting twists!), and drying your herbs for later use.
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Whether or not you’ve watched the first three installments of Homestead Blessings, if you’re interested in learning these homekeeping arts, you should check these out!
Until August 10th (Monday), there’s a pre-order discount directly from Franklin Springs. After that, best bet is likely to be Amazon.com
