Letters To The Editor

Pressure Canning on Wood Stove?

Dear Editor,

On off the grid with no electric power at all – solar or other wise – is it still possible to use the pressure cooker – say on top of the wood stove??

BC Canada

Dear BC,

You’ll hear a lot of “experts” tell you that it is impossible to can on a wood stove because maintaining a constant pressure is impossible. I can tell you right now that maintaining a constant pressure on one of those old push-button electric stove tops was near about impossible – much more so than a wood stove would be!

The art is in getting familiar with your stove, learning how to cook with wood, and increasing that experience to include canners. Many women canned on wood stoves (my mother-in-law’s mother, for instance), so I know that it can be done.

To that end, I went searching the Internet for useful information about using a wood stove for canning and ran across this wonderful blog on how to cook on a wood burning stove… period! I’ve bookmarked it for myself and suggest you do to. There is a lot of useful information here! The web address for the post on pressure canning is https://woodcookstovecooking.blogspot.com/2011/07/pressure-canning-on-wood-cookstove.html.

Thanks!

The Editor

Regarding Your Article on the Top Ten Questions About Solar …

Dear Editor,

Good coverage and discussion with your “Top 10 Questions,” but you totally overlook at least two very important factors:

1. Obtaining government subsidies for solar panel installations plays into the government’s wealth redistribution program, i.e. the government uses some of MY tax dollars to help YOU to install a solar array.
2. Accepting any form of subsidy does the exact opposite of taking you “Off The Grid.” Instead, you are now in the position of being a registered energy producer, and the product of your little power plant can be totally “nationalized” by the government to re-distribute, according to their own priorities, at any time they see fit.

Sincerely,

B.L.

Dear B.L.,

You make very valid points. What’s the old saying (or several of them as I think about it…)—if you lay down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas. Or, nothing is free…everyone pays the piper eventually. Or, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Or… well, you get the idea.

You’re absolutely right. People will have to weigh the risks against the gains and see if they’re willing to take the chance that Uncle Sam won’t one day come to collect his due. It’s much the same way our churches have been stifled in free speech. As long as they accept that special status from the government, then they will never be free from the stranglehold of government control and coercion. It’s definitely something to think about in every transaction you engage in, not just tax breaks and subsidies.

Thanks!

The Editor