Regarding your 'failed' onion project: never touch a running system. If it works for you, don't listen to other people. I learned that the hard way, too. I really admire how you preserve all your food and all the gadgets and machinery you have for this. And it's so cute how your daughter is humming while she is helping you.
It is always a blessing to watch and hear your children as they work - they sing, hum, laugh, whatever seems happy they do. I love it. You and Cam are doing something right, very well!
I grew up with a black walnut tree in an orchard between my parents’ and my grandparents’ homes. I have great memories of playing in that tree, collecting the fallen nuts after they lost their green outer covering (which was sometimes gross because it turns black and mushy and can stain your clothes), storing them on my grandpa’s patio in metal garbage cans over the winter and grabbing one to eat whenever I wanted and smashing them open with a rock or brick on the sidewalk.
The house I grew up in had a lot of black walnuts. My sister and I one year decided to process them and make tons of money. 50 years later and we still laugh about it. After using this old crank thing to take the outer part off we tried to break them open with a hammer. Didn't work well. Than we tried with a vice. Took forever so I just started picking it up and smashing them with the vice. It was very slow going. We spent many hours on it and sold them for 2 dollars for like 4 cups. So not worth it. Than again I'm willing to bet there were shells mixed in with the walnuts so probably not high quality product either.
I bought your sisters garden planner a while back ( love it) so it was nice to see her and realize there’s the author! Love how you preserved your “ failure “ one fall it was so wet, all my onions were rotting in the mud, I had to dehydrate all of them! Needless to say we had a lot of dried onions! They were so good to have on hand! All the chopping and peeling already done! Your onion harvest was fantastic! My red onions didn’t size up at all this year.
I enjoy using our freeze dried onions. I even freeze dried my pumpkins this year -- then powdered them. The pumpkin powder was easy to reconstitute to puree and I also used it in a pumpkin spice latte mix for hot drinks. Enjoy your content. I have learned so much from watching. Thank you for sharing.
It just feels like im always sitting and waiting for new videos from you guys. I just love them! They give me so much inspiration and motivation! Thank you :)
I crack my black walnuts with my husband's vise in the garage and it is still hard to crack them. A friend told me to freeze and then crack them. I haven't tried it yet as I still have a half gallon of nuts in storage. God bless y'all and keep growing.
Thanks so much for sharing all these videos about preserving food. I have been expanding my suburban garden every year as much as I can and this year I finally grew a lot more food then we could eat during the season. So this fall and winter I trying to learn more and more about preserving food.
Onions produce a high level of ethylene gas, which will cause potatoes to ripen and then go bad, but a few feet apart in a wel ventilated space is good enough. So i think it never effected your patatos because you probably where already keeping them far enough apart, even tho they where in the same room.
A couple thoughts on the onions and possible other factors besides the storage situation (just ignore my unsolicited advice, if you already know this stuff,) I have grown onions for many years and I too have had years where my onions stored poorly. Often, It seemed to coincide with seasons that were very wet. Also variety plays a huge (maybe the biggest factor) in how long an onion will keep. Lastly when they have thick necks they typically don't dry down as well , and will rot from the inside out. If they have thick necks or are sort of football shaped I like to cure them with the top cut off very close to the bulb, this seems to help them dry down properly. If the thick neck is left on the onion, that is where they seem to start rotting from. This year was overly wet and we had quite a few rot with in a few months of harvest. I went through and took out all the bad ones and the ones that were headed in that direction. I expect to see the remainder keep for quite some time now that the biggest problem onions are gone.
I do like your inclusion of some of the more basic garden tasks such as weeding and clearing. Doing so provides a more balanced view of what it takes to grow a garden.
I have a beautiful sister named Amy, too. I love that you are equipped with the tools to quickly save any fails. I have a huge dehydrator for jerky and powders. Someday when I have a full garden I want to invest in the freeze dryer. Watching all your videos to be prepared lol.
I could almost smell the fresh onion powder all the way to Norway😍 I'm happy for you that you managed to salvage that much onion! You and you sister look like identical twins 🧡🤎 beautiful, both of you! Be blessed!
I have powderized onion, garlic, and celery in the freeze drier and added them to Redmonds real salt to make my own flavored salts. Every Mason jar I own now is fillled with something freeze dried and vacuum sealed. There is a battery operated jar sealer that works great and you don't have to use the food saver machine. Chamber vacuum sealing the mylar bags adds another level of preservation.
Have had the same problem!! I find that red onions the worst to store. Now I chop and freeze not the same as fresh but at least I can use them😁😁😁 Always enjoy your videos ❤ Love from the UK x
I bought some of those plastic lids for storage of the Ball canning jars and they come with silicone gaskets so they are leak proof and probably more air tight.
So glad you were able to save them and that you still have more than a years worth! I find it best to try experiments on a small scale that way if they don't work it isn't devastating!
I am beyond believe that you still have that many onions! I'm sure you are really enjoying that larger freeze-dryer. And I'm thinking you are still using the smaller one (medium size). And the baby is growing so fast! Goodness he is so cute.
You can also freeze them for fast cooking when you need it. You can freeze in gallon freezer bags. Makes it real handy to just grab a cup when u need it. Thank goodness for sisters, huh! Nancy from nebraska
I had that problem with my onions too. I grew them for the first time in 2023 and I don’t have a cold room or basement or anything like that so I just kept them on a top cabinet in my kitchen. I feel like my only other option would be to chop and freeze them (I don’t have a freeze dryer). I do have a dehydrator but I’ve never cooked with dehydrated onions.
When I was a child we just dumped the Blk. walnuts on the drive and ran over then for a couple days and then us kids had to go and pick them back up. 😂
Black walnuts take a large one inch closed end wrench or larger, have kids sit on porch and wack each with hammers and mallets. Dig out the meat, eating half,they still put in jars salted and freeze dry. The wretches are fun.
I learned if you put down a wet washcloth or towel next to your cutting board while chopping onions, you won't cry. The enzymes in onions search for the closest moisture, that's why our eyes watter.
Hey Girl! If we can send MEN to the moon why can't we invent an air tight screw on lid for jars. There are spices with divided flip flaps used to sprinkle or pour. Why doesn't BALL or KERR invent something similar? We should demand innovations in the canning industry. You are awesome!
I wonder why stuff stored in mylar bags would last longer than a glass jar with a metal lid, I would have expected the opposite. Maybe it's the light? So you could store the jars in a dark box or something?
Red onion powder is a culinary delight it is super flavourful and this is with me dehydrating it in my oven. I have onion envy right now. We don’t grow enough for more than 6 months i have to keep trying to get self sufficient in onions
I don't know who you are, but you look like a beautiful woman of faith. You got yourself a new sub 😉 Update: Maybe for the onion, get a chopper so that you don't have to cut so many at once?
At the end of the storage season I take the left over onions and garlic that gets soft and I dehydrate them and make them into powders. It tends to work out that I run out about the time I need to make the powders. I’m impressed with the blender that could make the powder. I ended up getting a coffee bean grinder.
Ugh, I tried processing black walnuts by hand one year, SUCH a chore. First you have to smack them with a hammer to remove the green hull. Then you need to drop the nuts in a bucket of water to make sure they sink. If they're hollow, worms have already gotten inside and eaten the meat. Then, you have to let them sit on a drying rack of bag for several weeks. When they're finally dry you can crack them. I'd definitely invest in a nutcracker for this - a hammer is dangerous and a vice would take forever
I find a lot of folks don’t realize you put a canning jar lid inside the white tops and boom, you have an airtight seal. I just use our used lids for that.
I have been drying onions (green especially) for a couple years and honestly, I prefer them that way over fresh! I keep them by the stove and add them with almost everything I cook now. Enjoy!
Ugh I feel your pain with the onions! We had onion maggots this year so I had to process most of mine and cut out any bad parts. Luckily I caught the issue before they damaged too much. It was such a bummer but at least it wasn’t a total loss. I sliced a bunch of them and fermented them which we have been loving for salads and sandwiches. The rest we froze or used in canning recipes.
Thankyou very much it es very fun to watch ☺️💖 I'm allways waiting for more of Your videos their so fun to watch ☺️ GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY 🤍 and stay motivaited✨😍
I enjoy all of your videos so much ❤️ I know you are busy but I wish this video was longer than just 11 minutes 😩 Anyhow, I really really hope that new ground cover works for you! I cant wait to see next spring! After watching you guys trying to gather up all of those onions to store away, I'm thinking you could've used that French fry scooper I showed you. It certainly would fit on the bags and I to the blender. Have a great few weeks...until next time ❤️🤗 11:06
I'm super curious about this because every other bag of onions I buy from the store has at least one bad onion hiding in there and then if there isn't a bad one, they will start rotting in a few days. I've started keeping them in the fridge, they at least last a few more days but I would like to know why!
I remember when I was about 56 I had learned you should not store your potatoes and onions together as the onions make the potatoes eye faster. It irritated me that I was 56, 56 before I learned something like that.
Jessica from Three Rivers Homestead makes onion powder and her family likes it in their food. Also, she'll measure out how much is put in the mylar bags (labels them w/measurement) so you know when getting ready to use them in your recipes. I thought she had a good idea doing that. She also does it with her fruits.
I bought a freeze dryer off your affiliate link and these are the kinds of moments is paying itself off way faster than expected. Our food waste is way, way, way down.
Thank you so much! They are Bogs, I love the women's winter boots. They are the most comfortable and last the longest of all the boots they sell. Here is a link: click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=TYwrFVkpBYY&offerid=1471001.6&bids=1471001.6&type=3&subid=0
If you peel the onions add then in cold water with ice; soak then at least for half hour but hour is better then chop them and make sure your knife is sharp. No more crying 😊
Good question. I wanted to keep them inside a fenced area. I’m pretty sure between the deer and the rabbits they would eat every last one! All the other berries aren’t fenced in.
Next year I will cure the onions like usual and keep them in the cold room with everything else. It is more important to have them cold than to have them separate. Good lesson to learn for me! Onions will stay good until March or April in the cold room.
Regarding your 'failed' onion project: never touch a running system. If it works for you, don't listen to other people. I learned that the hard way, too.
I really admire how you preserve all your food and all the gadgets and machinery you have for this. And it's so cute how your daughter is humming while she is helping you.
It is always a blessing to watch and hear your children as they work - they sing, hum, laugh, whatever seems happy they do. I love it. You and Cam are doing something right, very well!
Everything deleted in Jesus name amen yaaaay
I admire you so much. I love your videos and watching you and your family working together. You have much wisdom in being a wife, Mom and gardener. ❤😊
Thank you so much!
Always inspiring Becky!
I grew up with a black walnut tree in an orchard between my parents’ and my grandparents’ homes. I have great memories of playing in that tree, collecting the fallen nuts after they lost their green outer covering (which was sometimes gross because it turns black and mushy and can stain your clothes), storing them on my grandpa’s patio in metal garbage cans over the winter and grabbing one to eat whenever I wanted and smashing them open with a rock or brick on the sidewalk.
The house I grew up in had a lot of black walnuts. My sister and I one year decided to process them and make tons of money. 50 years later and we still laugh about it. After using this old crank thing to take the outer part off we tried to break them open with a hammer. Didn't work well. Than we tried with a vice. Took forever so I just started picking it up and smashing them with the vice. It was very slow going. We spent many hours on it and sold them for 2 dollars for like 4 cups. So not worth it. Than again I'm willing to bet there were shells mixed in with the walnuts so probably not high quality product either.
I bought your sisters garden planner a while back ( love it) so it was nice to see her and realize there’s the author! Love how you preserved your “ failure “ one fall it was so wet, all my onions were rotting in the mud, I had to dehydrate all of them! Needless to say we had a lot of dried onions! They were so good to have on hand! All the chopping and peeling already done! Your onion harvest was fantastic! My red onions didn’t size up at all this year.
I enjoy using our freeze dried onions. I even freeze dried my pumpkins this year -- then powdered them. The pumpkin powder was easy to reconstitute to puree and I also used it in a pumpkin spice latte mix for hot drinks. Enjoy your content. I have learned so much from watching. Thank you for sharing.
Oh man I bet the kitchen smelled amazing during the red onion cut. I might be weird though.
I love the massive efforts your family puts into this operation. God has truly blessed you. Keep up the good work.
Did God really bless them? Or was it their own hard work, planning and massive efforts that got them this?
@@exploreAZwhich came first?
It just feels like im always sitting and waiting for new videos from you guys. I just love them! They give me so much inspiration and motivation! Thank you :)
Great job preserving your harvest. A lesson learned, not a failure.
I love you and family working and farm motivation for my family
I crack my black walnuts with my husband's vise in the garage and it is still hard to crack them. A friend told me to freeze and then crack them. I haven't tried it yet as I still have a half gallon of nuts in storage. God bless y'all and keep growing.
Thanks so much for sharing all these videos about preserving food. I have been expanding my suburban garden every year as much as I can and this year I finally grew a lot more food then we could eat during the season. So this fall and winter I trying to learn more and more about preserving food.
Good for you for pivoting and saving as many of your onions as you could.
Onions produce a high level of ethylene gas, which will cause potatoes to ripen and then go bad, but a few feet apart in a wel ventilated space is good enough. So i think it never effected your patatos because you probably where already keeping them far enough apart, even tho they where in the same room.
We freeze dry and powder onions, chives, and many other things esp herbs for seasoning! Love it!
A couple thoughts on the onions and possible other factors besides the storage situation (just ignore my unsolicited advice, if you already know this stuff,) I have grown onions for many years and I too have had years where my onions stored poorly. Often, It seemed to coincide with seasons that were very wet. Also variety plays a huge (maybe the biggest factor) in how long an onion will keep. Lastly when they have thick necks they typically don't dry down as well , and will rot from the inside out. If they have thick necks or are sort of football shaped I like to cure them with the top cut off very close to the bulb, this seems to help them dry down properly. If the thick neck is left on the onion, that is where they seem to start rotting from. This year was overly wet and we had quite a few rot with in a few months of harvest. I went through and took out all the bad ones and the ones that were headed in that direction. I expect to see the remainder keep for quite some time now that the biggest problem onions are gone.
I've never had any problems storing onions and potatoes next to each other! 😊 I have learned a lot from watching your channel!! Thanks!!❤
Oh! Did the baby not cry with the onions? Love your videos! Greetings from Belgium! ❤❤❤
Great video, thank you for sharing
I do like your inclusion of some of the more basic garden tasks such as weeding and clearing. Doing so provides a more balanced view of what it takes to grow a garden.
WOW!! You guys get so much done!!!
I have a beautiful sister named Amy, too. I love that you are equipped with the tools to quickly save any fails. I have a huge dehydrator for jerky and powders. Someday when I have a full garden I want to invest in the freeze dryer. Watching all your videos to be prepared lol.
Tha walnut shelled is a game changer!
I could almost smell the fresh onion powder all the way to Norway😍 I'm happy for you that you managed to salvage that much onion! You and you sister look like identical twins 🧡🤎 beautiful, both of you! Be blessed!
I have powderized onion, garlic, and celery in the freeze drier and added them to Redmonds real salt to make my own flavored salts. Every Mason jar I own now is fillled with something freeze dried and vacuum sealed. There is a battery operated jar sealer that works great and you don't have to use the food saver machine. Chamber vacuum sealing the mylar bags adds another level of preservation.
LOVE your videos! You guys are all amazing!
Have had the same problem!! I find that red onions the worst to store. Now I chop and freeze not the same as fresh but at least I can use them😁😁😁 Always enjoy your videos ❤ Love from the UK x
I bought some of those plastic lids for storage of the Ball canning jars and they come with silicone gaskets so they are leak proof and probably more air tight.
Can't wait to see your pantry
So glad you were able to save them and that you still have more than a years worth! I find it best to try experiments on a small scale that way if they don't work it isn't devastating!
If I won a lottery, I want my life to be like this❤
MY purple onions did the same thing. I freeze dried some and I canned Balsamic onion jam and onion soup. They both turned out great
I am going to try this thank you
I am beyond believe that you still have that many onions! I'm sure you are really enjoying that larger freeze-dryer. And I'm thinking you are still using the smaller one (medium size). And the baby is growing so fast! Goodness he is so cute.
You can also freeze them for fast cooking when you need it. You can freeze in gallon freezer bags. Makes it real handy to just grab a cup when u need it. Thank goodness for sisters, huh! Nancy from nebraska
I had that problem with my onions too. I grew them for the first time in 2023 and I don’t have a cold room or basement or anything like that so I just kept them on a top cabinet in my kitchen. I feel like my only other option would be to chop and freeze them (I don’t have a freeze dryer). I do have a dehydrator but I’ve never cooked with dehydrated onions.
When I was a child we just dumped the Blk. walnuts on the drive and ran over then for a couple days and then us kids had to go and pick them back up. 😂
I don't think Riggs will ever cry from onions. He face was so close to the trays whey you were spreading them.
Black walnuts take a large one inch closed end wrench or larger, have kids sit on porch and wack each with hammers and mallets. Dig out the meat, eating half,they still put in jars salted and freeze dry. The wretches are fun.
I love your videos with your whole family. Are you going to do a pantry tour soon?
very cool to see how the walnut machine works :)
I made onion powder from dehydrated onions. I mix red, white, and green onions. SOOO good
I learned if you put down a wet washcloth or towel next to your cutting board while chopping onions, you won't cry. The enzymes in onions search for the closest moisture, that's why our eyes watter.
Interesting!! I’m totally going to test that out. Thanks for sharing!
I’m Going to try this ❤
It works a bit better if the washcloth is between you and the onions. On the shoulder hanging down is a good option :)
That’s amazing
Thank you I have to try this!!
Hey Girl! If we can send MEN to the moon why can't we invent an air tight screw on lid for jars. There are spices with divided flip flaps used to sprinkle or pour. Why doesn't BALL or KERR invent something similar? We should demand innovations in the canning industry. You are awesome!
My onions did the same thing. I noticed some were rotting at the end of September so I chopped and froze most of them. I saved a few for eating fresh.
Not long enough, but enjoy your videos
I wonder why stuff stored in mylar bags would last longer than a glass jar with a metal lid, I would have expected the opposite. Maybe it's the light? So you could store the jars in a dark box or something?
wow, you guys in america have so much technology and gadgets for food storage that i could only dream of here in my side of the world....
Yes, we do. I know how to preserve food without all the gadgets too, but it does save time and the food lasts longer.
Red onion powder is a culinary delight it is super flavourful and this is with me dehydrating it in my oven. I have onion envy right now. We don’t grow enough for more than 6 months i have to keep trying to get self sufficient in onions
I don't know who you are, but you look like a beautiful woman of faith. You got yourself a new sub 😉
Update: Maybe for the onion, get a chopper so that you don't have to cut so many at once?
I have the Grandpa's Goody Getter and I think it's the best for black walnuts.
At the end of the storage season I take the left over onions and garlic that gets soft and I dehydrate them and make them into powders. It tends to work out that I run out about the time I need to make the powders. I’m impressed with the blender that could make the powder. I ended up getting a coffee bean grinder.
Anyone else see the snake at 5:50? Kind of funny. Amazing all the work you get done. Do you ever feel sad when you are out there by yourself?
Good eye! I had to go back several times to see it lol
Hi, every time I see you fill your mason jars, I wonder, where did you purchase your funnel with the wide mouth?
Ugh, I tried processing black walnuts by hand one year, SUCH a chore. First you have to smack them with a hammer to remove the green hull. Then you need to drop the nuts in a bucket of water to make sure they sink. If they're hollow, worms have already gotten inside and eaten the meat. Then, you have to let them sit on a drying rack of bag for several weeks. When they're finally dry you can crack them. I'd definitely invest in a nutcracker for this - a hammer is dangerous and a vice would take forever
I think the FD red onion powder would make a great addition to salad/slaw dressing or doing an onion cilantro lime crema for tacos/burritos! 🤤
I find a lot of folks don’t realize you put a canning jar lid inside the white tops and boom, you have an airtight seal. I just use our used lids for that.
Oh genius! Haha! I hadn’t thought of that either!
I have been drying onions (green especially) for a couple years and honestly, I prefer them that way over fresh! I keep them by the stove and add them with almost everything I cook now. Enjoy!
Ugh I feel your pain with the onions! We had onion maggots this year so I had to process most of mine and cut out any bad parts. Luckily I caught the issue before they damaged too much. It was such a bummer but at least it wasn’t a total loss. I sliced a bunch of them and fermented them which we have been loving for salads and sandwiches. The rest we froze or used in canning recipes.
Can I ask how did you fermented your onions please
onion jam is quite good too. no need to add sugar or anything.
Thankyou very much it es very fun to watch ☺️💖 I'm allways waiting for more of Your videos their so fun to watch ☺️ GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY 🤍 and stay motivaited✨😍
Wow you look so much like your sister!
I enjoy all of your videos so much ❤️ I know you are busy but I wish this video was longer than just 11 minutes 😩
Anyhow, I really really hope that new ground cover works for you! I cant wait to see next spring!
After watching you guys trying to gather up all of those onions to store away, I'm thinking you could've used that French fry scooper I showed you. It certainly would fit on the bags and I to the blender.
Have a great few weeks...until next time ❤️🤗 11:06
Yes, definitely! I was thinking about that French fry scooper as I was working the onions! I need to get one soon😊
Love it all
I love my red onions that are freeze dried…, the best for storage.
So interesting! 😀
You are amazing 👏👏👏
So...is that giant pile of walnut hulls by the machine something that could be used as mulch?
I'm super curious about this because every other bag of onions I buy from the store has at least one bad onion hiding in there and then if there isn't a bad one, they will start rotting in a few days. I've started keeping them in the fridge, they at least last a few more days but I would like to know why!
I remember when I was about 56 I had learned you should not store your potatoes and onions together as the onions make the potatoes eye faster. It irritated me that I was 56, 56 before I learned something like that.
LOVE the music 👍
Jessica from Three Rivers Homestead makes onion powder and her family likes it in their food. Also, she'll measure out how much is put in the mylar bags (labels them w/measurement) so you know when getting ready to use them in your recipes. I thought she had a good idea doing that. She also does it with her fruits.
Jessica is amazing! She has so many good ideas :)
I freeze my chopped onions.
I bought a freeze dryer off your affiliate link and these are the kinds of moments is paying itself off way faster than expected. Our food waste is way, way, way down.
Thank you! I'm happy to hear it's been a good investment for you! :)
Ok heres an idea. Caramelize some onions then freeze dry them then turn that into a powder. Caramilzed onions are delicious.
We grew up picking out black walnut meats. The nuts will store very well in your freezer.
Good to know!
How do you keep the paper mulch from blowing away?
7:40 the background hehe
How could i find more about the freeze dry systeem ?
I store my freeze dried onion powder in the refrigerator and it will stay nice and powdered.
What about vacuum packaging your Mylar bags?
What brand of boots do you wear in the garden? I’d love to buy from a link!
Thank you so much! They are Bogs, I love the women's winter boots. They are the most comfortable and last the longest of all the boots they sell. Here is a link: click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=TYwrFVkpBYY&offerid=1471001.6&bids=1471001.6&type=3&subid=0
If you peel the onions add then in cold water with ice; soak then at least for half hour but hour is better then chop them and make sure your knife is sharp. No more crying 😊
Do you have a freeze dryer or a dehydrator?
Was that a snake at 5:48 to 5:51 ???
How come you never planted your strawberries over with all your other berry plants? Just curious.
Good question. I wanted to keep them inside a fenced area. I’m pretty sure between the deer and the rabbits they would eat every last one! All the other berries aren’t fenced in.
What will you do with onion storage from here on our? Keep them separate or freeze dry sooner? How long can your onions stay in a cold room.😊
Next year I will cure the onions like usual and keep them in the cold room with everything else. It is more important to have them cold than to have them separate. Good lesson to learn for me! Onions will stay good until March or April in the cold room.
Im growing more red onions this year to FERMENT! My kids eat them as if they are candy!
I am close to where you are located-where is this stand??
It’s C & K produce in Rogers. If you don’t want to eat the black walnuts they will also buy what you gather for $5 a bag!
Your sister must wear contacts. When I’m wearing mine my eyes aren’t bothered.
Yes, she does!
My choice
What are the fruits in the first clip? Persimmons maybe?
Yes, persimmons.
Damn those youtube armchair know it alls!
😊😊
💜
Here early!
No such thing as failure babe ❤🙏💪👍🥰☺️💗❤️🩷💞💕💖