Using homestead skills to survive 1st lockdown.

We have been dreaming about having our own homestead for years. Now that we are both retired, we are closer to getting our own property and leaving behind the apartment.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

When the first lockdowns and panic buying first happened earlier this year, we were able to put some rudimentary homesteading skills to use.

When things were flying off the grocery store shelves we ran into a problem. We had flour for making bread but we could not find yeast (although later we had to buy flour online when that also disappeared). We had a packet of sourdough starter we had received as a gift from friends who had traveled a couple of years ago. I did find YouTube videos for starting one, I thought it was convenient providence we had it. I have nurtured it since around April. Along the way I found recipes to use the discard in crumpets and pancakes. Initially, I handmade sourdough loaves but eventually found a bread machine recipe to use.

5 GALLON WASHING MACHINE

Early on when the lockdowns started and no one really knew too much about the Covid, my wife and I were reluctant to go out in public and do laundry. Years ago we had taken a five gallon and cut hole in the top. We had taken a new toilet plunger and drilled holes in the rubber and slipped the handle through.

Since spring and summer were coming up, we could throw several items in at a time. Wash them, rinse them and then wring them out to hang up in the bathroom. We essentially washed twice a day for 5 or 6 days.

FOOD SHORTAGES

The one thing that was problematic during lockdown was folks buying groceries so much shelves were bare. Two things we could do to help our selves: stock our recently purchased chest freezer and can some of our own food.

We had a meat grinder we got a couple of years ago. We started buying cuts of beef and pork to make our own burger patties and sausage patties. We also froze some cuts for the future. We also made various soup stocks: beef, chicken, and vegetable.

We began to can produce in season. Various jams and jellies, also some pickles. Recently, we bought apples to make apple butter. We also started stocking up on flour and sugar. Well, that’s it, thanks for reading. !tan