Preserving Floyd: Pressure Canning Meat Class 9/14

I'm ironically following up the last post with an invitation for you to join me this Saturday, September 14 2013 for

Pressure Canning Meats

How do you guard against losing that freezer full of meat when the electricity goes out?
Want to have meat ready to add to other ingredients for quick meals?
How can you take advantage of meats on sale at great prices?

Pressure can it!

Learn how to safely preserve your meats in a shelf stable jar. Pressure canning can be used to preserve game, domestic meats, poultry and fowl, and fish. Ground meat, cubes and meat strip techniques will be covered.

Class is hands-on. Students will take home a jar of canned meat. Please wear comfortable closed toe shoes. An apron is suggested but optional. Class size is limited so please register early.
Date: Saturday, September 14
Location: Farm Bureau, 335 E. Oxford St., Floyd, VA 24091
Time: 1:00 pm-6:00 pm
Fee: $25 in advance, $30 at the door, space providing.
To register contact: Rebecca Shannon at 540-745-8514 or hfpcac at swva.net. Please make checks payable to Rebecca Shannon. Payment may be mailed to 153 Gracie Lane NW, Floyd, VA, 24091
 

Please remember, the only reservation is a paid reservation.

Feeding Floyd: Pink Slime is Back!

From the state that decided to punish drivers with a $64/year tax for trading in their gas guzzlers for a more responsible higher MPG hybrid fuel vehicle comes this little gift for your school-age children:

PINK SLIME IS BACK IN VIRGINIA SCHOOL CAFETERIAS

Oh sure, they call it "Lean Finely Textured Beef" but remember, what it is really, is the meat scrapings off the bones of thousands of cows, mixed together and treated with ammonia, then slurried to create a product that looks like this:

This LFT beef, or ammoniated Pink Slime, is then mixed with ground beef as filler in order to "stretch" it or make it appear to be more 100% ground beef than it actually is.  This is the stuff that is fed to your kids in school and it doesn't even come up to the quality and safety standards used by fast food restaurants like McDonald's (source).

So, one more time everybody, grab your ankles and say WOO-HOO!

Thank You, Virginia!

NOT!

Preserving Floyd: Attention Fermenting Folks!

Got an email from Brian Moss at the SustainFloyd model farm.  He has 2nd quality organic red cabbage for sale at .50/lb

Brian says, "I did make some sales..... to a kraut maker a while back. Heard that it worked out really well for him. The heads are super dense, and the color holds up great through the fermentation."
Contact Brian at 252-558-5636 or bmoss18 at gmail dot com.

Also, Farmers' Supply in Floyd just got in a full line of Ohio Stoneware crocks, weights and lids, including these really sweet fermentation crocks:

I'm trying really hard not to run down there and snag one for myself!

The root crops, cabbage family crops, and other fall fermentables will be hitting the farmers' markets soon.

get ready...get set...

FERMENT!