Processing acorns for food and use them in venison chili!

[@cthulhuuhoop]

Ahhh I love the homage to the mighty oak tree. 😍 I have a 35-ish year old oak in my yard and I used its abundance to grow baby oak trees for gifting to friends/family and planting them where I can. I need to experiment with using mine for sustenance for my self. Due for a mast year anytime now (:

[@akj1818]

What is a mast year?

[@erinhowett3630]

These videos are one of my favorite parts of the week ❤

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

Aw we’re glad to hear that you’re enjoying them so much 🙂

[@3katfox]

Same

[@juanferrero2009]

Dido

[@saraherber1887]

My! What good cooks you are. That chili looks wonderful. So sorry you are out of beans. So glad you know how versatile acorns are. I have a pan of them leaching out on the wood stove right now. I set them to soak out this morning and I thought of you two making your fine way in this world. I had planned on cooking mine with some oats and dried apples. I might just have to set some aside for chili. Thank you for making your wonderful videos. As an elder, I look forward to your content each week.

[@3katfox]

These videos are probably the only reason i havent given up on gardening after a miserable first couple of seasons

[@asdisskagen6487]

I am continually amazed at the robustness and versatility of wild foods that are found all around us (if you aren't living in an urban center). I'm so happy there is more material being posted on the internet of how to take advantage of the bounty around us. Thank you so much for this video!

[@lsheffield6205]

If you have any fruit left (dried, canned, frozen) you can make an upside down corn cake. Use some of your abundant honey to sweeten the corn batter and thicken the fruit. Then make it just like you would a pineapple upside down cake.

[@jyuen]

I am astounded that i have only found this channel. This style of life and low impact living is everything i aspire to in life

[@Itsmrsshasha]

Absolutely adore how well loved your kitchen equipment is. I dislike seeing other influencers with their brand new pots and pans in every new video. Not related to us normal folks who literally cook a few times a day! I first saw acorn being used in Korean dishes a few years ago. This made me want to try it even more now 😊

[@carriekalbus1415]

It is refreshing seeing the well used pots. The lady I watch for canning ideas has a canner that was from her mom. Still going but very well used.

[@roslynlim172]

There is something about your work that produces so much peace. I don't mean 'chill vibes.' I mean true peace with the land, people and yourselves. Thanks for setting a new example for so many of us

[@KateInColor]

"Mel Gets the Gelato" is a great title.

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

Haha right? He wrote it while his partner Melanie was picking up dinner and she came home with gelato for dessert 😂

[@OzkAltBldgCo-bv8tt]

I mentioned it before but I'll mention it again the Area land project has jumbo Burr oaks seeds for sale. I'll be glad when you guys move out to the country so you can grow a lot more stuff consider moving to the Ozarks and build some below ground greenhouses.

[@shirnelleeusebe8738]

Love me my health the greatest pride of accomplishment is when you get to enjoy and eat what you have grown and grow what you eat. Awesome experience

[@ZZCool123]

Thank you for sharing your journey! It's been so cool seeing that it's possible to live like the olden days. It's just a matter of choice.

[@morganburgett6842]

Thanks for explaining the different colors of the acorns! Other foraging videos I’ve watched didn’t clarify if the dark ones were safe to eat so I abandoned my efforts and put the nuts back out for the squirrels to be safe. Now that I know, I’m excited to get to try again next season!

[@This_Holy_Chaos]

Same! My son and I foraged a pile a few years ago but when we went to crack them they were brown and we tossed them 😢. NEXT TIME!

[@oliviamusselman2235]

If you’re at all interested in dyeing fabric, that tannin liquid would also make an amazing dye on wool and plant fibers! The reason it’s so good for tanning leather is probably the same reason you don’t need to prepare/mordant your fabric before dyeing with that acorn bath. You can modify the dye to turn gray and even black with iron

[@WildAndGourmet]

If you roast the squash and acorns (after processing) before adding to the chili, you get added flavour to it.

[@katgirl3449]

I feel like going over there to share a meal would be so delightful and fun just on it's own, everything you both make looks so incredible, and it's all either gardened, or foraged. Watching these videos fills me with delight

[@annam.7305]

Thank you guys very much for all of the work you’ve put into making videos for us this season! They are both inspirational and informational which is a nice change :)

[@erinhowett3630]

I foraged chestnuts a few years ago. My friends and my husband and I had a dinner with super delicious wine and all the food was centered around chestnuts. I think the standout was the Korean cut short ribs I quick seared with soy and gochuchang, and served with braised mushrooms and chestnuts.

[@indigo_falcon]

Love this.... next year I won't miss out on the acorns! I'm so excited for the growing season.

[@SeattlePioneer]

So.... how is acorn collecting and processing going for you?

[@juliehill8292]

I love this channel! I truly enjoy all of the videos but admit I wouldn't know where to start at figuring on what to add in chilli when it comes to pumpkin and acorns. I think what struck me as it often does watching your posts is that these are all food. I may not associate these ingredients with what I would put into chilli and that's really wonderful. What I mean is that I have pigeon holed pumpkin as an ingredient for pie or maybe sweets only ingredient but there are so many uses other than the obvious. Thank you for broadening my food horizons lol. Another very enjoyable video thanks again.

[@saramsciarrillo]

This is the first long form video of yours I’ve watched and WOWZA it is lovely and enjoyable and interesting and relaxing and fun!

[@bushpushersdaughter]

I so love your videos and the inspiration you have given me. Please tell Ethan for me that his music is beautiful.

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

Will do!

[@moamoa7067]

Yoour channel really makes me so excited for the coming season and what u actually can cook and create with all the abundance ❤, so much to grow and forage!

[@bearzhere]

The gifts of the trees is amazing! Here in MN is has been the warmest winter on record and we are a month early collecting sap. Our two huge trees have been gifting us for two weeks and after next week it is time to give them a rest until next year. I will have to try using acorns in my chili and other cooking. Thanks!

[@sostoked07]

I wonder if you could make nut butter from acorn? Here in the Philippines we have a dish called kare-kare, which is ox tripe or ox tail braised with an assortment of veggies in a rich, savory sauce made from ground peanuts and rice flour. Though our climates are very different, I still love your videos! You've taught me so much about sustainability and food security sans the overpricing and excessive processing. 😊

[@sophiamartins1870]

Your videos bring me so much peace :]

[@r.ed.4637]

I loved watching your Living off the Land series! I just purchased your bundle. I am super excited to watch it. I appreciate you two and the content you create. Last fall, I was inspired by one of your videos to go looking for black walnuts. My cousins and I found a guy who was glad to let us forage for them on his property because sooooooo many had fallen. We processed and stored them. It was messy, but ut was fun! Now, I am looking forward to making black walnut ice cream, which I grew up eating. It is difficult to find now. I am also looking forward to making a tincture this year and a salve. I am new to foraging, so thank you, in advance, for all I will learn from your bundle. Also, thank you for the spring sale!!!❤ May God continue to bless you and the work you do!!!

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

So glad you’re enjoying the videos! And that’s awesome that y’all started foraging black walnuts. They’re one of our favorite wild foods 🙂

[@caramelcocoa234]

Your skin looks amazing 😻!❤❤❤

[@SarahLovesFood]

I foraged acorns one year and used them to make acorn muffins (I just used a cornbread recipe and replaced the cornmeal with a acornmeal). They had the most lovely moist, tender crumb and an interesting flavor. I've been wanting to try this again, but haven't seen any oak trees where I currently live so I haven't gotten around to it.

[@shirnelleeusebe8738]

We have a wide variety in the Caribbean I love being from the nature island of the Caribbean we have a good property and my children are involved in doing their own garden and love planting even at 6.

[@one_who_walksa_head.7152]

Made this today on my wood stove. Incredible flavor!

[@shriyansij]

Man, you guys are such an inspiration. Your energy and kindness just shines through :) Such capable people!

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

Aw thanks! Glad you’re enjoying the videos. As for how I chop the pumpkin, I’ll just say this… I still have MOST of all of my fingers 🤣

[@one_who_walksa_head.7152]

I love the cooking videos. Please continue with them.

[@Hippie_faithe]

Aside from you guys being rockstars 😎, your content is so soothing. 🧘🏾‍♀️ Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Also, I think it’s pretty dope you all offer educational resources for all walks of life. Peace ✨

[@zarkthemuffin]

Yall should write a book! This looked amazing

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

Good timing, we're actually submitting our first draft to our editor today! Don't hold your breath though because I don't think it will be available until next Spring.

[@zarkthemuffin]

@@HomegrownHandgathered omg thats so exciting!! Congrats! Writing a book is hard and its a big achievement! When it comes out I’ll definitely buy one!

[@plurnagaoithe]

I have yet to try hot leaching acorns as a stew ingredient - I always make them into flour. I’ll have to try that with the acorns I have rehydrating in my fridge this weekend!

[@SeattlePioneer]

Several years ago, I collected and processed acorns and used them in pancakes. That was good, but the real lesson to be learned is how much labor goes into producing most of the food we eat. Acorns, like most food, take a lot of labor to turn in to edible food. I decided that if I was ever exposed to famine conditions, I would be glad to be collecting and processing acorns for food, just as the Indians did. But these days, I collect acorns to feed to the squirrels. I leave a bowl outside my door and leave one acorn at a time. Each time a squirrel take that acorn, I replace it. If I raised pigs or chickens, I might well collect acorns, grind them up and use them for animal feed.

[@rashneelraina7291]

Love the creativity! Always inspired by your videos ❤

[@lazydreamereyes]

I love how well used and well loved your pots and pans look. Thanks for sharing!

[@wejogirl]

Same. I sometimes feel sorry for the type of influencers who feel like they need to be able to link everything in their videos for followers to purchase, meaning they can't have well-used items.

[@geambro6900]

I'm so glad to see you processing acorns, I find it such a wonderful food ! I've been cold leeching them as it's easier to me. After rehydrating for a few days, I just blend with water and go on leeching again for a few days, and then my "flour" is ready to mix in whatever. I do mostly thin pancakes, " galettes" in French, with just water and half buckwheat flour and some butter. Very excited to try in a chilli such as yours since i had a great pumppkin crop this year. I hope this year is a mast year though, since we haven't had a proper one here since 2020...!

[@mary-ruthflores4107]

Interesting to see the kernels relatively whole. I was brought up to roughly pond the raw nut before leaching. And I’ve only don’t cold leaching, hot leaching is something I’ll have to try. My soil is very alkaline and our acorns are much smaller than yours. I dye wool and cotton yarn and fabric with the leached water

[@ImUpset-kg1kx]

Thank you for your videos, y'all have inspired me to try urban foraging! It is amazing what you can find when you actually try to seek out food :D Like my city has orange, elderberry, olive, oak and even pomegranate trees scattered everywhere (critters usually get to the pomegranates way before me though)!! I even noticed in the summer that an abandoned/broken down fence across from my house was growing grapes.

[@felicitysileas1051]

Wow! It looks amazing 👏 Kudos to you guys for all your out of the box thinking 😊

[@malloryw6208]

May I ask how old you two are? You look so young but have such incredible wisdom! ❤

[@nanchesca3950]

I'm going to try acorns this fall, thanks for the inspiration!

[@traceyhellsten649]

Love the videos, they take me back to my childhood in the Ga. Mountains. The only thing that I would add is a " Blessing" before meals. In the south, " saying the blessing" is thanking God for your food and family 🙏. God bless 🙏

[@jackryan6446]

Your piano player got a better quality piano to record on. Thanks, sound great. Much better than the upright he was using before.

[@lindabyrne1645]

Enjoyed watching and learning new things.

[@aj-mq5rk]

The timing on an acorn related video couldn't be better given recent news 😂

[@ilzitek2419]

You inspire me. Thank you so much. I have never eaten acorns.

[@d.f.8005]

oh, how much i love your videos!

[@soniat1348]

You guys are fantastic ❤

[@saracheung96]

hooray what a wonderful video!

[@13MoonsOverMayhem]

I wonder if the tannin liquid could be used to make a stain, ink or dye? Or maybe if you leached the shells. Your chili looks delicious!

[@beth8775]

Do you not peel the squash/pumpkin? I didn't think the skin was any good on those.

[@ImmortalLemon]

You know what…. Fuck it. I’ve got a lot of acorn trees in my area and I’m gonna try eating some of the nuts this year

[@BrandonGaza09]

Enjoying videos, keep it up guys!

[@erinhowett3630]

Do y’all have the Sioux Chef cookbook? If not, definitely get it. It’s right up your alley!

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

Yes, that’s a great one!

[@erinhowett3630]

Also I’m sure y’all know about Hank Shaw, but just in case… “Buck, Buck, Moose” is a personal favorite.

[@owl369]

Couple questions: 1. can you hot leach then dehydrate and store? 2. can you use hot leached acorn flour in half measure with other flours that have the gluten? 3. It takes me weeks to leach in cold water and even after weeks they are still bitter. Could chlorinated water be the cause?

[@archionblu]

I can't believe I never realized that the outside (sans cap) isn't the real nut part. I had no idea you had to further shell it!

[@scarstrng2813]

lovely guys keep it up

[@GrowCookPreserveWithKellyDawn]

Beautiful video. Thank you.

[@lsheffield6205]

Chili w/o beans is called real chili. Ask any Texan.

[@allimarieRISING]

Can you talk about your cost savings from living off the land?

[@kathyjohnson3064]

What do you do with the shells?

[@atv7916]

music is a bit loud, but it's a really nice composition!

[@zewas1112]

Thank you much for the detailed explaination. I read, that you first should roast the acorns. Do you have any experience with that? I´ll try it soon.

[@mandapanda7407]

I've never lived where oaks grow. I want to taste acorns so bad 😅

[@carriekalbus1415]

New to the channel and curious about something. Could you preboil out the tannens and can the acorns for days you are in a hurry? My uncle and his boys made acorn butter for cub or boy scouts years ago.

[@jesseherbert2585]

Neat! Does hot leaching work so well you don't need to remove the testa from the kernal? I've read that the skin on the nut has a lot of the tannins...

[@robingirven4570]

I feel healthier just watching….

[@friendlydog-p4t]

Do you grow the cumin or is it an exception item?

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

We do, but we didn't get a big harvest this year so that jar was from seed that we bought in bulk last year

[@livelaughlovelexiie]

Just curious how much money do you spend on Grociers in a year on average? I am assuming in spring and summer you are also using home-grown items as well as stocking them for winter so do you ever need to do a big grocery shop?

[@tempestuphoff4367]

There a reason that yall poured the last bit of tanon liquid out of the acorns outside instead of down the drain? Bad for septic or something?

[@amberjackson2725]

What zone do you guys live in? Love your channel.

[@naturelovegoodhabits]

I appreciate your videos very much! I am building my homestead in the suburbs in a small yard. But I am a fulltime teacher. Time is limited. Do you guys work full-time too? What are your suggestions on time and homestead management?

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

So glad to hear that you’re enjoying the videos! Yes we both work full-time and one of our best suggestions for time management is to focus on growing staple crops that don’t require a lot of regular maintenance and also try to find a local community of friends/family that are interested in helping out and sharing in the harvest. Doing things with a group makes everything so much more fun and also less time consuming 🙂

[@naturelovegoodhabits]

@@HomegrownHandgathered thank you for sharing that!

[@ElyzaTheOne]

So the peel of a pumkin us edible???

[@This_Holy_Chaos]

Love! Do you only select large acorns when harvesting, or will any size do?

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

Any size is edible, but the bigger acorns take less time to collect and shell per useable amount of nut so we usually go for the bigger ones

[@pinkyheather]

What do you guys do to get the gamey flavor out of the venison?

[@lsheffield6205]

Has to be field dressed properly and bucks tend to be a little more gamey than does. Also mule deer is more gamey than white tails. I think that white tail is mostly what they have in their area.

[@BJo4230]

Well i done heard it almost all 😂 it sounds interesting Acorns! The squirrels will be mad at me oh wells. I love healthy heartly meals ❤❤❤

[@UKhomestead]

I wish @justin Rhodes would get you on his app ❤

[@FrugalGarden]

What are y’all’s opinions on landrace gardening?

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

It’s cool! We save a lot of our own seeds and we definitely don’t have a strict breeding practice in place so most of our varieties are landraces at this point

[@rachelwickart275]

If bugs and other critters won't eat the stuff I grow or find, I sure won't!

[@DanielCho1997]

Music too loud

[@MegaJellyNelly]

Honestly, with the amount of time and energy (both physical and heating) it takes to harvest and process these nuts, I don't think this will catch on much, not when there are other alternatives. Corn is much easier to harvest and process, for example.

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

We grow a lot of corn as our main staple and while it's easier to process we also have to prepare the soil, plant, weed, and protect it from deer before even harvesting it. The oak trees are perennial and take care of themselves so all we have to do is harvest and process the acorns. They each have benefits and drawbacks, but using a diversity of staple crops has a lot of benefits for us and the ecosystem.

[@This_Holy_Chaos]

Do you guys grow cumin?

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

We do, but we didn't get a big harvest this year so that jar was from seed that we bought in bulk last year.

[@MWOODYARD]

It’s correct. Chili without beans is correct 😂

[@rifrazrabi1816]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@Perseveres]

Your videos are beautiful, as well as the music, but the music is a little too loud, especially when trying to hear you talk. It competes too much.

[@HomegrownHandgathered]

Okay noted, and thanks!

[@annefromthetwincitiesmn8847]

I wish i could live like this, but I am unable to eat 3 of your staples - corn, beans and nuts. Doesn't leave me much.

[@stormylou417]

You can always just supplement your current diet with wild and grown fruits and veggies. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

[@rriggs6547]

You can make chili without beans but you can't make chili without meat. The meat is what makes it a chili. I get that there is something called vegetarian chili. Some people also think the earth is flat. Saying something is so doesn't make it true.

[@april_may_or_may_not]

Texans will fight you if you even try to put a bean in chili.

[@laceras1611]

We can eat our bean soups without hearing this line by offended people. What a wild thing to be offended by

[@rriggs6547]

@@laceras1611I have nothing against bean soup. I also have nothing against beans in chili. I was merely pointing out that it is meat that makes a chili and not beans.