Olivia Brooks

  When I got my first three hens, I thought egg storage would be the easiest part of keeping chickens. Collect the eggs, put them in a carton, done. It took about two weeks of a counter covered in unmarked eggs and one uncomfortably close call with a floater that had clearly been sitting around too long before I realized I needed an actual system. Now, a few years and a few dozen more hens later, I have a routine that works, wastes almost nothing, and gets me through the slow winter months when production drops. Here is exactly how I do it. It Starts With Not Washing Them The single biggest shift in how I handle eggs happened when I stopped washing them the moment they came out of the nesting box. A fresh egg comes with a natural protective coating called the bloom, or cuticle, that seals the thousands of tiny pores in the shell. That coating is what allows a fresh egg to sit safely at room temperature in the first place. Once you wash it off, that protection is gone for good, ...

If you're serious about self-reliance and long-term food storage, there’s one canning method that consistently comes out on top: pressure canning . While water bath canning has its place, and newer methods like steam canning have gained popularity, neither compares to the reliability, versatility, and safety that pressure canning brings to the table. Whether you're putting away meat, hearty soups, beans, or low-acid vegetables from your homestead garden, pressure canning is the gold standard. Let’s dig into why every prepper should make this method their go-to for food preservation. Safety First: Pressure Canning Kills More Than Just Time Low-acid foods —like carrots, green beans, potatoes, and meats—are prime candidates for long-term storage, but they’re also the most dangerous to preserve incorrectly. These foods can harbor Clostridium botulinum , the bacteria responsible for botulism. A simple boiling water bath isn’t enough to kill those spores. You need the high heat of...