Oh give me a shed where I can process all our harvest
and preserve so it will last us
and make a brew in a bottle or two,
Where I can cut up all the beef
so tender I won't need teeth
and have plenty of cheese to spare.
Today I am setting up to cut up the beef that has been in the coldroom these last two weeks. This will happen on the back covered area beside the house. The only place large enough and with the facilities I will need- power, water and shade. So I have removed all the toys and tools and then hosed down the floor and tables prior to scrubbing them down with detergent and hot water. I then hauled the big cutting boards, mincer and meat band saw from the shed and cleaned them up too. Then a variety of knives and hooks are needed, scales, tubs, plastic bags and wrapping paper are brought out and prepared.
Tomorrow I will begin actually cutting up the beef.
Our plans for a food processing shed would make everything a whole lot easier. We already have the shed, the problem lies in that we have filled it with all sorts of other stuff that must be stored out of the weather. So we need a new shed.
The final food shed will be our main processing area for the produce from the farm. We already have a large coldroom but will be adding at least one cheese fridge (set at 12.5 degrees Celsius), chest freezers, a large and deep sink as well as a kitchen sized sink for washing up, large draining boards, a stove and oven, and plenty of work benches and shelves for storage. Here we will process our beef, poultry, pigeon and pork. Process the dairy and make cheese, yoghourt and cream. Preserve fruit and vegetables. Brew booze. Extract honey and do whatever else is needed to keep ourselves in tucker.
Now I realize this may sound like a tall order but we actually have almost all of the equipment we will need, we just need another shed so we can move my workshop out. So I like to think the end goal is close. We have begun clearing a space next door for the new shed although I still need a man with a big machine to come in and level it off properly. The new shed will be roughly 7 X 9 metres, a little larger than the food shed, and it will house my workshop (mostly my woodwork shop) in two thirds and have a closed store in the remaining third for garden tools. Along the front we will add a covered cement apron so we can get to the house in the wet season without getting too wet. I think it will also be a lovely place to sit out in the afternoon with some quiet work such as testing the quality of the latest brew.
Dream on Ulf!
ReplyDeleteWe all have (or should have) plans and it is great to see you have a very special project at hand. As I always say, "no food processed or stored means I don't eat", so I am with needing something specific to do the processing.
My chooks get processed out under the shade of a tree in autumn.
My dehydration of fruit and vegies gets started at the kitchen sink if they need washing but usually prepared otherwise on the verandah where a few drips of juicy ripeness onto the floor doesn't matter when it is hot in the middle of summer.
My top bar honey production, not requiring a spinner, is squashed in the bucket in the kitchen then hung in cheese cloth under a tall chair in a corner in the lounge room away from ants.
Our bottling starts at the kitchen sink then processed on the verandah so we don't add too much more heat inside during the peak of summer.
Soap making is done on the verandah so we don't add chemical smells inside the house.
The list could go on but I think that is enough, but then I could dream of a specific building to do all this in.