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RESOURCES, GOAL SETTING, RECORD KEEPING

P u d d l e d u c k P r e s s M O U N T A I N G R O V E , M O

Copyright © 2018 by Tessa Zundel.

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Healthy Meal Planning .............................................................................7

Once a Month Meal Canning Schedule ....................................................9

Food Storage Planning and Goals ..........................................................17

5

“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces –

just good food from fresh ingredients."

―Julia Child

•

The following information is being provided for your use as a member of our news-

letter family. We’re so glad you’ve joined us! These pages are an excerpt from:

• Our blog (https://homesteadlady.com) and our publication

• The Do It Yourself Homestead Journal

• The Do It Yourself Homestead, our 400 page go-to manual for homesteading.

We hope this short e-book will be helpful to you as you plan your food preservation

for the year.

Be sure to read to the end for a special offer for our newsletter family con-

cerning The Do It Yourself Homestead.

•

The first section of Health Wise Food Storage is a discussion of healthy meal plan-

ning, including a Once a Month Meals Planning Schedule for Canning – a home canning

spin on the once a month meals idea. If we methodically preserve food throughout the

year, we don’t need to stress or, worse, not get it done at all. The second section is comprised of pages from our homestead journal publication

complete with areas for brainstorming, setting goals and making lists.

There's no question that eating from home with fresh ingredients is better for

your health and well-being. It can also you bring you closer together as a family - yes,

just something as simple as eating a meal together can make your family stronger. Here

are some common roadblocks to getting the family together for dinner:

1. It's rare that we're all home at the same time.

2. We don't have time to prepare home-cooked meals.

3. There aren't many meals we all enjoy without complaint.

4. If I add in home-canning, I just don't know how to get it all done every day.

First of all, deep breath! I know how you feel and I'm right there with you doing my

Yoga belly breaths. It's all going to be fine - things have a way of working out. Let's

deal with these obstacles one by one together:

1. Ok, so you don't have everyone all together every night. Whatever. Just

work with what you have and allow schedules to adjust as everyone sees that

eating at home is important. Here's a little article on improving the dinner

hour together. Believe me, if you stay diligent about the family dinner hour,

they'll come around.

2. Re-define how you think of the phrase "home-cooked" and be flexi-

ble. Some nights you might be in your kitchen an hour or two before din-

ner preparing beautiful, healthy meals. Spend some time planning those

meals because they're very special. Other nights, especially during the

school year, you may be filling a slow cooker or solar oven in the morning

and not thinking about dinner until two minutes before you serve it. On

even busier days, you'll be grabbing home-canned foods from your shelves

and creating instant meals in a matter of minutes. These are your “once a

month meals”! These are the days that will make the canning schedule

suggestion below all worth it.

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Start this once a month meal canning plan and you will be able to eat

healthy meals every day of the week with your family. So what if dinner is

on your knees on a paper plate as you watch your kid's soccer game? Does

it really matter in the grand scheme of things if you're slurping down stew

from your once a month meal canning schedule about an hour before bed-

time because that's when you all got home from that awesome recital? Be

together, eat good food.

3. Have picky eaters? It happens, even in families where children are ex-

posed to healthy foods at a young age. The best advice I have is to just

keep trying lots of variety in your meal planning. AND, very important,

ask your family's opinion on recipes and meals. Find out what they like

and then find ways to make those recipes healthier. It takes practice and

hard work but, as a parent, practice and hard work are your bread and but-

ter.

In your once a month meal canning schedule, be sure to include the chil-

dren in the kitchen. Have every family member help with some part of the

canning process. Here's an article that can help you get started with

that. Also, be sure to read the article referenced in number 1 above - it re-

ally can help with this issue.

You can't do all the things every day. Is that really news to you? You're one person

and you're doing the best you can. Roll your shoulders, lighten up and give yourself

some room in your schedule to plan and prepare. This once a month meal canning

schedule is going to help you stay focused - each month you just do one thing.

If you want to do more, go right ahead! Otherwise, just stick to this once a month

meal canning schedule and don't sweat the small stuff.

If you're new to home canning, be sure to read this article on knowing when to use a

water bath canner and when to use a pressure canner. Here are a few other posts for

information sake:

• Water Bath Canning from They're Not Our Goats

• Pressure Canning from Attainable Sustainable

Home canning is NOT too hard for you. You CAN learn to do it - pun totally in-

tended. To make it easier on yourself, though, start with water bath canning. The equip-

ment is cheaper and the canning (or processing) times are generally quicker.

•

When you're ready, move on to pressure canning. You don't have to be afraid of

pressure canning. Like anything else, it just takes a little practice. A quality pressure

canner is more of an investment, though. You can start with a modern Presto pressure

canner, which are much cheaper. However, I can't in all honesty recommend that you

do. Prestos are fine for a season's worth of canning, perhaps, but over time they can just

plain wear out.

The cheapest thing to do is to find your Grandmother's Presto pressure canner (the

metal is much thicker than the new ones) and just buy new seals, gauges and

weights. We did this and I'm able to use it every year. However, the seal needs to be

replaced frequently and is not as reliable as I’d like. I'm finally purchase the All-Amer-

ican pressure canner, which doesn't require a seal and is so very reliable. I love it and

am very happy with how well it processes.

Now, this list of meals or meal components to can each month of the year is SIMPLE

on purpose. If you are an experienced canner and look at this list and think, "Bah, I can

do this stuff in my sleep!", go right ahead and customize it for your year and your fam-

ily. You are a smart person and know what you can do.

For beginner-canners, this list is meant to do two things:

1. Empower, not overwhelm you.

2. Inspire you to begin this year.

The most important thing to do after you read this article is to write down your own

plan. Write it on your calendar, in your homestead journal, on the back of your hand -

whatever! Just write it down and tick off, one at a time, every item on your once a month

meal canning schedule.

These twelve items, one for every month of the year, will give you the components

to make healthy, home-cooked meals. No running to the store, no scrambling to get it

all made in time. Just re-heat and serve!

FYI, this list is completely adaptable to your region, farmers market, backyard gar-

den, personal schedule and personal tastes. If you're a backyard gardener, or you're used

to shopping your markets for seasonal foods, you'll notice that this canning schedule

follows the harvests.

•

If you don't know how to can these items, we've included instructions for each

one. You can plan your trips to the farmers market or the grocery store around your

canning schedule. Each item represents one facet of home canning. For example, when

you learn to can carrots, learning to can potatoes won't seem too hard because the pro-

cess is pretty similar. If you take the time to learn how to can one item, you’ll pretty much know how to can a lot of other items.

JANUARY - DRIED BEANS

Beans are a protein-rich addition to any meal. They will require a pressure canner to

safely preserve.

• Grow a Good Life can teach you how to can dried beans here.

• Our favorite thing to do with canned beans is to make a quick refried bean

recipe like this one from Attainable Sustainable.

• Or, this brownie recipe from Small Footprint Family - just replace the store-

bought can in the recipe with your home-canned beans.

• Here's a great collection of home-canned bean recipes from Rootsy Network.

DIETARY RESTRICTIONS

If you're eating Paleo or Keto right now and don't consume beans, try canning some

extra batches of the things you can eat like broths and meats. Don't NOT make this

once a month meal canning schedule just because yours will be different from

mine.

No excuses - it's time to can! Simply adjust all of these months to fit your dietary

needs, keeping in mind what's fresh in your area at any time of year. I highly en-

courage seasonal eating, not just seasonal canning. For one thing, it’s generally more economical to eat and can with foods that are in season.

FEBRUARY - MEATS/MORE BEANS FOR VEGETARIANS

Winter is a great time to plan to can meats because meat growers near you will be

doing their yearly harvests in late fall/early winter. Take advantage of nutrient-dense

local, well-raised meat and preserve it this month. Meat requires a pressure canner to

safely preserve.

Combine home-canned meats with broths and veggies for a tasty stew. Combine

them with rice, quinoa or pasta with your favorite pasta sauce. Canned meat is highly

versatile!

• The National Center for Home Food Preservation can help you learn to can

just about any meat.

•

• Here's how to can home-grown or store-bought chicken from us here at

Homestead Lady.

• Can corned beef - yum, yum - with A Farm Girl in the Making here.

• Can moose meat with my friend Amanda from Idlewild Alaska.

• If you want to combine the best of beans and beef, follow Angi at Schneider

Peeps as she make a one-can meal of chili con carne.

• Here's another from Angi that you might be ready to try, as well - beef stew.

The beauty of having a stew already canned is that the kids can re-heat it for

a quick meal even if you're not around.

MARCH - SOUPS AND BROTHS

Having soups and broths on hand make my life SO much easier. They will require

a pressure canner to safely preserve. If your family is smaller, go ahead and can up

soups. My family is rather large, so I usually can various components of soup - meat,

veggies, broth - and then toss them together.

If I could use half gallon jars successfully in my pressure canner, I would. However,

they tend to break and are not recommended for anything but high acid apple and grape

juice. Darn it. Eh, that's ok, the quart jars are sturdy and easy to store.

• My friend Kathie at Homespun Seasonal Living is a soup canning guru -

click here to read a great article on how to can soups. She even has a book

on how to turn these home-canned foods into gifts throughout the year - I

love this book!! You can read about it here.

• Here are two on canning meat broth, or stock. One from Reformation Acres,

plus another from her on explaining how to peel chicken feet for canning

(especially helpful if you're growing your own meat birds on the home-

stead). Another article from Fewell Homestead that has a video with it.

Broth can be added to any casserole, soup, sauce or even just a basic rice pot for

added protein. Remember, with once a month meal from home-canned products, you

will probably need to do a little mixing, unlike most freezer meals. Think about what

components to meals you'd like most to have on hand. Is it meat? Carrots? Tomatoes?

Maybe condiments like ketchup or pickles?

The more you follow a once a month meal canning schedule, the more you'll see the

versatility of these products and be able to make quality plan to fit your family's needs

every year.

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APRIL - CARROTS, POTATOES OR BEETS

All of these root crops can be canned handily in the spring. Carrots and beets are

spring crops and you can preserve them fresh from the garden. With potatoes (which

ripen mid to late summer or into the fall), you'll be preserving the last of the previous

year's harvest. As long as the produce is free of mold or other imperfections, canning is

a great way to save a product that is still good but fading fast.

You will need a pressure canner for low acid foods like vegetables.

• Here's a printable from Timber Creek Farm on how to can root vegetables -

FYI, this link will take you to a free PDF to print.

• Here's a good pickled beet recipe from Small Footprint Family.

• If you have golden beets, check out this unique recipe from Ann at A Farm

Girl in the Making.

• Grow a Good Life can walk you through canning carrots.

• Reformation Acres can show you how to easily can potatoes. Plus she has

10 other ways of preserving them outlined in this article! Don’t discount other methods like dehydration as you follow your home canning schedule.

MAY - BERRY JAMS AND JELLIES

Do I really need to extol the virtues of jam? Jam gives life to toast, pancakes, ice

cream. Jam is a way to experience summer in the dead of winter. Most berry fruit is

highly perishable so making jam is the perfect way to preserve this fleeting harvest.

Jam is part art, part science and the more you make, the more varieties you'll dis-

cover. We'll limit our resources here to BERRY jams and jellies.

• Here's my current favorite - Dark Cherry Mulberry Jam (you can also make

it with just mulberries).

• Mixed berry jam with raspberries, strawberries and blueberries from 104

Homestead is a great way to use up random berries leftover from pies and

fruit salad.

• Here’s blueberry jam without pectin from Attainable Sustainable.

• From Homespun Seasonal Living you can learn to make Strawberry Maple

Jam which doesn’t have granulated sugar added to it. • Here’s a blackberry jam recipe with a shredded apple pectin substitute. Ever

run out of pectin in the middle of making jam?

JUNE - WHOLE FRUITS

The joy of having whole fruits on hand is that they make fantastic snacks and treats

when you don't really want something full of processed sugars. If you need a quick

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topping for pancakes, filling for crisps and cobblers or an impromptu winter fruit salad,

these whole fruits will come in handy. A water bath canner is usually sufficient for

fruits but be sure to check each recipe for instructions.

• Canning Peaches or Nectarines in honey or sugar from Family Food Garden.

• Canning apple slices from Reformation Acres.

• Spiced plums from Back to Our Roots - I've made this with and without the

orange and its good both ways.

• Canning pears with honey and vanilla from Simply Canning.

JULY - PICKLES AND PICKLE RELISH

The best thing about pickles is that they're easy to make in a water bath can-

ner. They're also wonderful additions to tuna mixes, quick grilled burgers and summer

potato salad. All these meals whip up quickly and benefit from having relish on hand

to add spice and flavor. Besides, did you know that you can pickle more than just cu-

cumbers? Here are some ideas:

• Dill pickle relish with a secret ingredient for crispness from the 104 Home-

stead.

• Kosher dill pickles from Joybilee Farm.

• Bread and butter pickles from Grow a Good Life; also from Rachel is a great

pickled garlic scapes recipe (especially good if you grow hard neck garlic in

your garden).

• Dilly green beans from Attainable Sustainable.

• Zucchini bread and butter pickles from Family Food Garden.

• Pickled purslane from Homespun Seasonal Living.

• Pickled jalapeno relish from Reformation Acres.

• Watermelon rind pickles from Small Footprint Family.

AUGUST - SPAGHETTI SAUCE AND MORE

Once the tomatoes come into production in the garden you can start to drown in

them! I dehydrate a fair amount of my tomato harvest because I like the ease of blending

them to powder for sauces and paste. However, sometimes it's nice to have spaghetti

sauce, or other tomato-based sauces like barbecue on hand.

Typically, a water bath canner is sufficient, but be sure to check each recipe for rec-

ommendations. You may discover that you have to work in two or more days in the

month for tomatoes on your once a month meal canning schedule if you really like hav-

ing them in your pantry throughout the year. Canned tomatoes are useful in so many

recipes so just keep notes on how many quarts you go through each year. Adjust your

•

"once a month meals" canning schedule when you need to turn it into "three times a

month meals" canning schedule. It's all good.

• First of all, you'll need to read this from 104 Homestead on how to peel to-

matoes easily in case you need to do that for any tomato canning recipe.

• Canning whole tomatoes with basil and garlic from A Farm Girl in the Mak-

ing.

• Seasoned tomato sauce from Grow a Good Life.

• Smoke barbecue sauce without the liquid smoke from Reformation Acres.

• Homemade V-8 from Urban Overalls - this stuff is better than store bought

by a long shot.

• Cherry chipotle barbecue sauce from Nitty Gritty Life.

• Black bean and corn salsa with tomatoes from Schneider Peeps.

SEPTEMBER - CULINARY RELISHES LIKE CAPONATA

Italian caponata, or gvetch if you're from Russia, is a mixture of tomatoes, onions,

peppers, zucchini and even eggplant. It's kind of like a "garden sink" recipe for the end

of the season which fits perfectly into your once a month meal canning schedule. If the

acid level is high enough in these recipes, you can use a water bath canner; if you want

to be safe use a pressure canner. Be sure to check the recommendations on the recipes.

These relishes are wonderful on sandwiches, topping baked potatoes and even as a

pasta topper. I also dump a pint or two into spaghetti sauce to add some dimension of

flavor and vegetables. Try a tablespoon on toast with a little feta cheese.

• A recipe for gvetch - a great way to preserve the eggplant harvest.

• Zucchini relish from The Spruce Eats.

• Zacusa relish from Homestead Honey.

• Caponata from No Recipes.

OCTOBER - APPLE SAUCE

Nothing says October like apples simmering on the stove! There are several ways to

preserve apples and I'll list a few here.

Apples fit nicely into a once a month meal canning schedule because they're very

easy to integrate into breakfasts and desserts - two courses that often get skipped because

of time constraints. We all know that skipping breakfast is unhealthy, but what's so bad

about skipping dessert? Well, because we don't skip it! Instead of eating home-baked

treats from healthier ingredients, we grab something packaged while were out. Pack-

aged treats are a nutritional wasteland.

Ok, I'm done lecturing. Bottom line don't discount the place for home preserves to

round out desserts in your once a month meal canning schedule.

•

A water bath canner is great for apple recipes. If you're new to canning, stick to

applesauce. If you've made that before, you can try one or two of these other ideas.

• Caramel applesauce is a sweet twist on a classic taste; if you prefer a plain

applesauce, simply use raw, granulated sugar alone in this recipe (as opposed

to the coconut sugar it calls for). Seriously though, this caramel apple flavor

is amazing!

• Spiced apple jelly from Grow a Good Life.

• Apple Butter from A Farm Girl in the Making.

• Apple pie filling from Nitty Gritty Life.

• Pear and apple jam from Timber Creek Farm.

NOVEMBER - CRANBERRY SAUCE

Cranberries are usually only for sale around this time of year (North America) and

so I make sure I work them into my once a month meal canning schedule. Cranberries

are best suited to speedy breakfasts and as quick relishes over something like a pork

roast. A water bath canner will do for these recipes.

I also keep cranberries in the freezer for smoothies throughout the year and for vari-

ous recipes. However, power outages happen all the time where I live, and I don't like

to rely solely on my freezer for food preservation.

• Whole cranberry sauce from Fresh Preserving.

• Cranberry honey mustard from Homespun Seasonal Living.

• Jalepeno red pepper jelly with cranberries from Family Food Garden.

• Cranberry Jam from The Self-Sufficient Homeacre.

• SBC Canning's method for canning cranberry juice - this is really so simple

and tasty.

• Cranberry orange relish from The Inspired Home.

DECEMBER - PUMPKIN

Pumpkin is one of my favorite things to grow in the garden and it's really very easy

to can with a pressure canner. If you run out of time because of the holidays, simply

keep your pumpkin and other winter squash at room temperature out of the way in a

pantry until you can get them canned up. Hard-skinned squashes like pumpkin will last

for several months in a pantry closet. Do NOT put them in cold, cold storage or they'll

rot.

When you're ready to can pumpkin, follow the instructions exactly and use a pressure

canner to put up chunks of pumpkin, not pumpkin puree. According to testing, pumpkin

is not safe to can as a puree.

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• Canning pumpkin from Simply Canning.

• Pumpkin cheesecake muffins from Attainable Sustainable.

• Pumpkin coconut almond granola from Grow, Forage, Cook, Ferment.

• Winter squash pie from Learning and Yearning.

• Gluten free pumpkin cheesecake from Joybilee Farm.

• Just for kicks, a simple handmade pumpkin soap recipe from Nerdy Farm

Wife.

MAKE PUREE FROM HOME-CANNED PUMPKIN

Here are some quick steps to draining home-canned pumpkin and making puree:

Carefully use a spoon or butter knife to pop the seal of a jar of home-canned,

chopped pumpkin.

Set up a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and dump the contents of the can into the

strainer.

Let the contents drain for a few minutes.

Pick up the strainer and gently flip the pumpkin inside, using a circular motion to

move the pumpkin around the sieve. It hops around as you flip it and the excess

water fall through the sieve.

If you still feel like the pumpkin pieces are hiding more water than you'd like to

have in your puree, you can place a light weight (something like a ceramic bowl or

a heavy plate) over the surface of the pumpkin to gently press out a little more

water. Don't apply so much pressure that the pumpkin starts pushing through the

sieve, though. Leave this as long as the pumpkin is still weeping fluid.

Remove the pumpkin from the sieve and place it in your blender body to blend into

a puree. If you discover that your pumpkin is now too dry to blend well, add a

teaspoon of your reserved fluid to blender body at time to loosen the mixture.

As an alternative, if you like a chunky puree, you can simply use a stick blender or

even your stand mixer to puree the pumpkin to suit your tastes. For something like

a pumpkin pie, I keep my puree as dry as possible. For a pumpkin bread I leave it

just a bit damp.

Sometimes I'll even add pumpkin puree to the dough of our traditional Christmas

Tea Ring. Pumpkin goes with nearly everything - it's a delightful vegetable.

•

Begin today to have a home storage program that works for your family. By planning

and organizing we can limit waste, keep rotating our inventory and seeing to it that we

have stocked healthy products on our shelves. Use the following prompts to set your

own goals for this year.

1. Take an inventory of your food storage.

2. Make a list of anything canned, bottled, boxed, or bucketed. Note the expi-

ration date of each item; if you can’t find an expiration date, try to remember when you purchased it and make a note of that on the item itself.

3. If you have a commercially packaged product, it should have a “Best if used by” date somewhere on the packaging. You can also look online at the man-

ufacturer’s website for more information.

Train yourself to write an expiration date on everything you purchase or

preserve as part of your food storage program. I use a large, permanent marker to write

on the sides of buckets and cans so I’m able to quickly spot aged-out products in my

storage room.

Look up the recommended amounts of food for a year’s supply, taking into account the size of your family. Note how much of each item you still need to purchase to have

“enough”. Bear in mind, these recommendations are for the bare minimum amounts of

food to keep your family alive—you won’t be dining in excess with these amounts.

• You can use a simple online food storage calculator from About.com:

http://abt.cm/1R1wocw

• Or access a much fancier one from Food Storage Made Easy:

http://bit.ly/1RxpjkG

Don’t freak out if the numbers you write down look really big. You don’t swallow a pan of lasagna whole, do you? Of course not! You cut it up into single-size servings,

until the whole pan has been served. Apply this same principle with acquiring food

storage; just do a little bit every shopping trip and learn to can, dehydrate and otherwise

preserve everything you’re able. As beloved children’s author, Maj Lindman wrote:

•

“One thing at a time and that done well is a good plan.”

:

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Listed in the text of this section of the book are some really helpful tools to have and

to learn to use. Here, I’ll list them again: water bath canner, pressure canner, dehydrator,

solar dehydrator, solar oven, cheese press, steam juicer, oat roller, grain grinder (both

electric and manual) and a food storage room.

Pick one of these, acquire it and learn to use it.

:

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If you have the space in your home already, I suggest you set up a food storage area

first. (If the idea of setting up a space for stored food seems too daunting right now,

how about figuring out how to use a grain grinder? Or a canner?)

• You should choose the coolest room in your home for your food storage

(basements work well, if you have one).

• You should also cover the window, if there is one, to avoid direct sunlight

resting on your stored foods.

• You want enough room for your food storage, as well as enough room to

walk around and access items as easily as possible.

Sturdy shelving units come in really handy in a food storage room, too.

•

:

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If you already have a food storage room or you want to start your new one off on the

right foot, make sure you earthquake-proof your storage items as much as possible.

Here are five simple steps to get you started securing your food storage against earth-

quakes and other potential hazards:

1. Brace your shelving against a wall stud or the floor using proper hardware.

If you have multiple shelving units, you may want to secure them to each

other, as well. Do NOT skip this step!

2. Secure your glass-preserved produce individually. Having your hard work

ruined by broken, glass canning jars would not only be an irritating waste of

food, but also a real danger. The easiest way to secure your glass jars once

they’re full of produce is to simply put them back into the box in which you

purchased them. These boxes have cardboard dividers inside that protect the

jars from breakage. If you no longer have these boxes, fashioning your own

cardboard dividers would be a simple matter once your jars are placed on

their shelves. The thicker the cardboard, the more protection the dividers

will supply. Use a box cutter to easily cut up salvaged cardboard boxes and

place strips between your secured jars. You could also use individual sleeves

of bubble or Styrofoam wrap, similar to what is used to pack and ship dishes,

but this would be a more expensive option. For upcycled materials you could

use old socks, the sleeves of shirts or the legs of pants cut into appropriate

lengths to place over your jars but still allow them to sit flat against the shelf.

3. Secure jars on the shelves with straps, wire mesh, or bars to prevent them

from sliding off in the event of an earthquake or other disturbance.

4. Secure stacks of boxes or buckets with cords or rope. You could also use a

cargo net. You still have to be able to access your food storage, so try a few

•

different methods and decide which is less annoying to work around. You

may not be able to prevent your stacks from toppling entirely, but you can

break their fall with a few well-placed braces.

5. Place anti-slide, rubber shelf-liners on your food storage shelves, especially

wherever you have glass bottles. This can’t take the place of straps or bars on your shelves, but it can provide a bit of traction.

Bulk food orders are a great way to build your local food storage community. You

can organize group buys and discounts with local friends and family using a simple

email list. Collect the names and email addresses of people interested in participating

in group food storage buys and then network with each other as you find great deals.

Use the table below to keep track of your contacts.

Companies like

• Azure Standard (www.azurestandard.com)

• Rainy Day Foods (www.rainydayfoods.com)

• LDS Bishops Storehouses (to learn more, visit this link:

http://bit.ly/1Ml2T6c)

Those like Thrive, Prepper’s Market and Valley Food Storage can all accommodate

large, group orders and are happy to help you answer storage questions. Azure Standard

can be particularly challenging to navigate, with their very specific drop off schedules,

so be sure to educate yourself on their methods—they’re always happy to help! Sometimes the best way to assist the people you know to help themselves is to just

offer them an opportunity to participate. Many people aren’t unwilling to store healthy food items against a day of hunger or to save some money, but it doesn’t occur to them to get organized and actually do it until you come along and invite them to participate

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in a monthly group order. These group buys work equally well with fresh produce from

CSAs and even dairy orders from local farmers who offer such services. From wheat to

beans to zucchini, there’s something for everyone to store.

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Food Storage Inventory Year: ___________

Item: Expiration: How Much More Needed:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tessa Zundel is the homemaking, homeschooling, homesteading mother of five chil-

dren and wife to one long-suffering man. Although she has called several states and

properties home over the years, she now resides in the great state of Missouri in the

middle of acres of fairy forests and hidden ponds. She is the author of several books

including The Do It Yourself Homestead and is the voice behind the blog Homestead

Lady. She has also contributed to online and print magazines like Hobby Farms. She is

an advanced master gardener and has worked with several community groups in areas

of home education, gardening and seed saving.

Most days you'll find her hauling her good natured, adventuresome children around

to learn about herbs, small farm livestock, fiber and other lost arts, whole foods and

home education. There's always something being tinctured, fermented, built or milked

around here - just ask the long-suffering man!

Feel free to connect with me online—I’d love to hear how your homestead efforts

are progressing!

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Homestead Lady Blog: www.homesteadlady.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/homesteadlady

Twitter: www.twitter.com/homesteadlady

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/homesteadlady

The Do It Yourself Homestead has its own Facebook Community to provide an im-

mediate network for you as you pursue your homestead education. Join us here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TDIYH/

Because you’re family now, we want you to have all the tools you’ll need to progress on your homesteading journey. We don’t profess to have access to all the tools, but we

can offer you a discount on at least one we find valuable!

Our book, The Do It Yourself Homestead, is 400-page homesteading how-to resource

that was specifically crafted for the serious DIY student. We offer instruction, encour-

agement and advice from not just our family, but countless other homesteading families.

The book details many topics that are close to a homesteader’s heart:

• The Homestead Kitchen

• The Homestead Garden

• Going “Green” on the Homestead

• Livestock for the Homestead

• Homestead Finances

• Homestead Families

• The Homestead Community

• Becoming a Prepared Homestead

The best part about this book in our humble opinion is that it’s written on four dif-ferent levels of homesteady-ness. Simply choose the beginner level, if that’s where you feel comfortable. Or, start with the more advanced information and challenges, if that’s what you’re ready for.

The Do It Yourself Homestead is offered in two different formats – print and e-book.

Today we’d like to offer you an exclusive discount on the e-book version. By clicking

the link below, you can learn more about the book and the special coupon created just

for you as a newsletter subscriber. There’s absolutely no pressure to purchase; this link is just for information’s sake, with an option to buy if you feel like it’s a good fit for your family.

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The coupon code is provided with this link, should you like to use it for a deep, deep

discount on the e-version of The Do It Yourself Homestead:

Click here to be redirected to the information page and coupon code.

Or copy and paste this URL into your browser:

https://homesteadlady.com/the-diy-homestead-now-on-sale/

FYI, this is the ONLY link that will provide your discount.

Please do not share it with people outside our newsletter family.

Thank you for being with us!