Water Glassed Eggs & Homemade Butter
I love to experiment with new recipes, different methods of preservation, and ways to avoid waste. Here are last week's efforts:
Water Glassing Eggs
I finally tried water glassing eggs this past week. I read about this method of preserving eggs a long time ago, but I needed to get unwashed farm fresh eggs in order to try it AND I needed to have enough eggs on hand to not cut us short in our weekly egg usage (we eat a lot of eggs throughout the week). Last week was finally the week. I got the pickling lime I had been saving for this purpose out of storage, picked out the cleanest unwashed eggs I had purchased from some friends down the road, and preserved 18 eggs in a gallon sized glass jar. I followed the instructions from The Prairie Homestead, which can be found here.
Why preserve eggs in this manner? Since we do not have our own chickens, we rely upon a couple of friends having extra eggs to sell. I wanted to preserve some eggs for those times when we cannot get them fresh from the farm and for times when we run out of eggs in the fridge but I don't want to make the 40 minute round trip to the grocery store. This method does not require refrigeration, so is perfect for those living off grid as well as for preppers and those who strive to be more self-sufficient. Articles I have read said that water glassed eggs, when stored properly, will last anywhere from six months to two years. That makes it a great option for just about anyone who would like to store usable eggs in their pantry.
We used chicken eggs for this batch, but since we recently started buying duck eggs from another friend, I plan to preserve a jar of duck eggs as well.
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Preparing to water glass eggs |
Homemade Butter
I have made homemade butter before, but I am not a fan of the stronger flavor, so I haven't made it in a long while. My husband, however, loves it. When he asked me to make some with the extra cream we had, I was happy to whip up a batch. Part of what makes homemade butter so appealing for us is the fact that we can buy raw milk (with all the beneficial vitamins, enzymes, and probiotics in tact) in our state. Thus, we get the benefits of raw milk in our butter. If you are wondering about the benefits of consuming raw milk, here is a link to the Raw Milk Institute website which has numerous articles on the subject. If you prefer not to consume raw milk, you can still make your own butter with pastureized cream.
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| Buttermilk, butter, and water glassed eggs |
Mouse Woes
One thing that comes with living in a house that is 109 years old, is the mice that find their way into the basement. We have waged war with mousetraps, but the last batch of traps I bought with the metal pedal do not work well. The mice manage to get all the goodies off the trap without setting it off. The rat trap we bought when we had a bushy tailed wood rat in the basement has been working wonders for catching mice, but we need more than one trap that works and I would like to purchase some basic, inexpensive traps. We will be purchasing these from Amazon since they are very affordable and we will have plenty to set aside for future use. We have used these in the past with great success when we bait them with peanut butter. I am looking forward to reducing the basement mouse population.
Mouse trap - after several basic mousetrap failures, I came upon the "bucket mousetrap!" It works so well, that not only in the garden do we use it; we use it in the shop and garage. Here is the basics on it. We use a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with 3-4 inches of water. Take a pop can, and poke holes in the end, and run a dowl through it so that the pop can spins. Duct Tape the dowl to the outside edges of the bucket so that the dowl is stationary and the can still spins. Place dabs of peanut butter on the can all around it. Take a couple of flat sticks to use as ramps from the ground up to the edge of the top of the bucket; I use some 1x2 pieces. Bait the ramp with 3 tiny dabs of peanut butter. (bottom, middle, and top) to intice the mice. (If you find that the mice only eat the bait, and not fall in the bucket; only use a dab at the top). This is what happens... the mice go up the ramp eating the bait, smell the peanut butter on the can and jump to the can. Down goes the mice into the water. Yes they drown, but it works. Each day I empty the bucket of mice, recoat the ramps, and add fresh peanut butter to the can (if needed). To date since, Sept 17 2023 I have captured 21 mice in the garden that have been eating our tomatoes. I have used this method for about 7 years and get around 20 mice a year. We live next to farm fields, and the mice migrate to our garden after the fields are harvested. I usually get 2-4 mice a year in the shop and garage. I leave the mouse trap set up all winter. (Terry J)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this, TJ! My husband made us one of these and you are right - they work really well! We leave one in the open area in our basement and tuck the other smaller traps in the corners and hard to reach places.
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