Featured referenceHomestead reference charts
Three field guides worth bookmarking — canning times, cellar storage, and safe cooking temps.
| Food | Pressure | Pint |
| Green beans | 10 lb | 20m |
| Corn | 10 lb | 55m |
| Tomatoes | water bath | 35m |
USDA/NCHFP processing times & pressures for common foods.
View full chart →
| Item | Store | Keeps |
| Onions | cool, dry | 9 mo |
| Potatoes | cellar | 4–6 mo |
| Apples | cellar | 6 mo |
How long fruit & veg keep in the cellar, fridge and freezer.
View full chart →
Network
| Doneness | Target |
| Rare | 125–130°F |
| Medium-rare | 130–135°F |
| Well-done | 160°F+ |
Safe pull temps for steak & burgers, from Popular BBQ.
View full chart →
More from the Brand Avalanche network
-
As the temperatures drop nationwide, snow blankets the ground and Christmas approaches, folks all over are beginning to indulge in their favorite holiday traditions. For some, this is cheery fires and yule logs. Others cut evergreens to adorn with festive ornamentation. Still others decorate their whole houses in lights. But for many, it’s the simplest…
-
Have a few seeds left over from the growing season you’d like to preserve for next year? Turns out, you can actually save your seeds until conditions are again ripe for planting. Read on to find out how. Before we get started on particulars, its important to know some basics about the seeds you are…
-
There are all sorts of ways to cure meat, but most at some point require cold-storage to prevent rot. There’s salt curing, smoking, drying, and good old-fashioned freezing, among many others. With one method of curing however, you don’t need to worry quite so much about how quick you eat your meats, or where you…
-
If y’all couldn’t tell by my incessant postings about hunting and pumpkins, fall has arrived, and that means it’s time to batten down the hatches in preparation for winter. Once you’re done winterizing the camper, stacking those last bits of wood and trimming your figs however, there is still one last garden chore left to…
-
Have you heard of Chicken of the Woods? No, it’s not a dove, or even a turkey—it’s yet another vibrant, easily identifiable mushroom that will make a delicious addition to your table. Read on for how to identify this mushroom, as well as some great ways to prepare it. This large polypore is easy to…
-
A topic we’ve covered regularly on this site, though perhaps not regularly enough, is that of poultry. Probably the most common “gateway stock” for budding homesteaders, chickens are relatively simple to care for, easy to acquire, and can be used for either meat or eggs. Read on for the first in what will be an…
-
So there’s a precarious looking arbor sitting trunk-distance from your humble home. Or maybe you just need firewood. But before you start swinging that axe or pushing that saw, you may want to know a few actual methods for how to fell a tree. Read on for some tactics that may come in handy, when…
-
The weather has turned crisp, the leaves have begun their annual metamorphosis into fiery colors of red and orange, and your neighbor, Del, has the most stunning patch of pumpkins you’ve ever seen, yet again. Your kids envy this section of his garden, and eagerly wait for his go-ahead to select the year’s jack-o-lanterns. Even…
-
Figs. While commonly associated with decadent Roman living and the diets of the well-to-do, the ancient fig is actually far less delicate, and far easier to grow than what you’ve probably heard. Originating somewhere in Mesopotamia, the fig has been a delicacy for millennia, serving both as a standalone treat, and a natural sweetener. In…
-
Love your animals? Have predators that love them for a different reason? Have a special, childhood attachment to Eeyore? Sounds like you may be in the market for a good old-fashioned defense donkey! You heard me right, that ornery barnyard brute may actually have a use beyond pulling a cart, and biting a chunk out…
-
A few weeks ago, I posted a series of articles detailing the uses for, and construction of rain barrels. As I scanned the comments later, along with noticing quite a few folks pointing out my error of switching oxygen for nitrogen, I saw a few people mentioned that, in some sections of the country, the…
-
Love tropical fruits, but live pretty far outside the tropical zone? Keep an eye out for the good old “Appalachian Banana.” Indigenous to the temperate regions of North America, the pawpaw gained a quite foothold thanks to colonial fans of the fruits. Two such men were George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who cultivated pawpaws throughout…