30: Cutting Back on Food Waste and Trash by Canning and Pickling with Sailing Totem's Behan Gifford

When we’re out on our sailboat in Mexico I am often thinking about trash. We have to rinse out, crush,  compress and store our trash, sometimes for over a week - and then carry it to shore in a dinghy or on a paddleboard. 

It’s an annoying process that makes me seriously want to reduce the amount of trash I create both on the boat and in the van. And not only just GARBAGE, but food waste as well.

In fact, I recently read a startling article in the New York Times about food waste where I read these crazy statistics: 

• The average U.S. household wastes nearly a third of the food it buys. 
• Households account for 39 percent of food waste in the United States, more than restaurants, grocery stores or farms.
• In the United States, food waste is responsible for twice as many greenhouse gas emissions as commercial aviation.

Let’s think about that again. Our rotting food waste in landfills creates MORE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS than commercial aviation. Incredible, right?

Behan Gifford of Sailing Totem is an expert in reducing both garbage and food waste on her sailboat. She has wonderful tips and advice and what WE can do RIGHT NOW to make a difference.

Here's Totem's blog post about trash creation on a sailboat: https://www.sailingtotem.com/blog/2020/10/how-do-you-deal-with-garbage.html

Links to Products Mentioned in this Episode

• Tattler Reusable Wide Mouth Canning Lids & Rubber Rings
• Harvest Guard Reusable Canning Lids 
• Canning Meat on Board Blog by Sailing Totem

Follow Behan and Sailing Totem: 

• SailingTotem.com
• Behan and Jamie's coaching business
• Sailing Totem on Instagram
• Sailing Totem on Facebook

If you listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify, a quick rating or review will really help me out. Thanks!

Find out more about Q&A Day, where you'll get 1-1 virtual coaching with me: https://thewaywardhome.lpages.co/qa-day-podcast

Want to live the van life but have no idea where to start? My FREE Van Life Starter kit has specs and measurements on 10 different vans, van buying and build ideas, remote work ideas and websites I use to find free campsites.

Download it here: https://thewaywardhome.lpages.co/van-life-starter-kit-podcast/

Transcript

behan: 0:00

Love not having all of the junk that comes out of buying, you know, a, a prepared meal, prepared food in a, in a three-dimensional container, that is just garbage. You can't throw that overboard. You cannot, and the places that we arrive in may not actually have the ability. To deal with

kristin: 0:17

it. In this episode of the Wayward Home Podcast, I'm thrilled to be speaking with Bien Gifford of Sailing Totem about just how little trash and food waste they create on their sailboat, which should be an inspiration to all of us. She gives us food preservation tips, including pickling and canning, and how they get their boat ready for long voyages at sea, let's go. Welcome to the Wayward Home

behan: 0:36

Podcast, all about Van Life, boat Life, and Nomadic Living. We'll bring you tips, interviews, and stories from the. And on the water. Now, here's your host, Kristen

kristin: 0:45

Haines. Hey there. I'm Kristen with the wayward home.com, and I spend half the year in my campervan and half on my sailboat. Right now, I am actually sailing around in the sea of Cortez near Loretto on the coast of Baja, Mexico. So when we're out on our boat, I'm often thinking about trash. We have to rinse out, crush, compress, and store our trash sometimes for over a week, and then carry it to shore either in a dinghy or on a paddleboard. It's an annoying process, which. Seriously want to reduce the amount of trash I create both on the boat and in the van, and not only just garbage, but food waste too. In fact, I recently read a startling article in the New York Times about food waste, which I'll link to in the show notes. Check out some of these crazy statistics. The average US household wastes nearly a third of the food it buys. Households also account for 39% of food waste in the US more than restaurants, grocery stores, or farms. In the United States, food waste is responsible for twice as many greenhouse gas emissions as commercial aviation. Let's think about that again. Our rotting food waste in landfills creates more greenhouse gas emissions than commercial aviation. Incredible, right? So all this made me think about my friend Bien Gifford from sailing totem.com. I've been following bien for years and she's one of my mentors and role models for sailing, cruising, and food storage and preparation on a boat. Namely, the lack of trash she and her family create while their boat is on. The move just amazes me. They have one article. All the trash they made on a 30 day passage across the Pacific Ocean and it all fit in one tiny plastic container, which is just astonishing. You can see that picture and blog in the show notes. Bien is also super into canning, food preservation and pickling, which also cuts way down on trash and food waste. Luckily, bien and I were both in Porto, Penasco, Mexico at the same time. When our boats were at Cabella's Boatyard, we met up in her apartment to chat food storage and food waste. Her boat Totem is undergoing a complete retrofit, and so they've been staying in an apartment nearby. I asked her to tell us a little bit about her story and just how long she's been sailing on

behan: 2:48

sailing totem. So we started in 2008. We left to go cruising with three kids aged four, six, and nine at the time. Um, they are now, they. They have flown the floating nest. Um, they are all now in college or college graduates. Um, but in the process of 15 years of Totem being our home, we have slowly circumnavigated and, um, had the chance to try and hopefully not waste too much food and. 48 countries so far.

kristin: 3:16

That's so amazing. And one of the questions I remember asking you was, how do you guys, you know, cross an ocean, you know, 30 day passage and not create just heaps of trash? Cuz I tend to buy a lot of canned foods and I, you know, make too much

behan: 3:29

trash. Yeah, that's such a good question because I think there is also this perception that in order to do passages we must buy lots of canned food. And that's, that must be how we subsist as sailors and um, spoil. I can't stand canned food. There's very few food that comes in cans, which I like, but I do really like the stuff that I've canned myself. So let's maybe call that jar the things that we've put into glass, like ball mason, Kerr type, uh, jars and preserved ourselves and, um, and that. To me means I'm eating better, but I'm also reducing the amount of waste that we have because it really is amazing to me too. Part of that is pre-planning, but that, that we can have all of our waste for weeks at a time fitting into all of our soft waste fits into one little plastic bottle that we kept for the purpose is astonishing. Um, when I think about the way that we would produce, um, on. And, um, and well, there are a lot of reasons we can get into, I

kristin: 4:23

guess. Yeah, totally. And yeah, as we're sitting in your kitchen, I'm looking around at some of these jarred foods, which is, you know, phenomenal. And I'm just wondering, like, I just tried a potato that you dry can or dry can or dry jar. Dry

behan: 4:37

can, that's right. Yeah. So, um, some of the stuff on the sideboard here, they're, um, they're potatoes that, yep. Like I said, uh, It's sort of, well, the different ways of referring to it, it's like dry pack, so there's no liquid in there and it means that instead of being mushy, they're actually still textured like a potato. Um, and then I have a few jars that are actually prepared meals. So some people might be buying cans of like dainty more stew to heat up. Um, and that's great for them. But I have a homemade version in a jar, which each one is I know perfect for my husband and I, uh, for dinner. Two jars, if it's a family, maybe three when they were teenagers. Um, and we're good. The other one is, um, what we call, uh, burrito in a jar. And it's basically the mix. It's got rice and beans and seasonings and um, you can put meat in if you want. You can make them veggie. Um, but that's all canned up and ready to either literally heat and eat or, you know, go ahead and put it on a tortilla and add whatever toppings and things that you have access to.

kristin: 5:34

I love that. And what prompted you to just to start, um, jarring and canning and creating your

behan: 5:40

own food? Um, it took, um, a little bit of scarcity. It did take that. Um, I am inspired by my grandmother and my aunties who helped me. Foraging and preserving, um, pickling mostly when I was small and, um, my parents loved to eat, but uh, food preservation wasn't part of their lives. So it was really something that I came back to through my relatives when I was older. Um, foraging in the Pacific Northwest seasonally. So much fun. And it was, I, it's still one of the things I really miss about being on land or not being on land and, and traveling, is access to that. They're still forging to do everywhere. It's always a little. Then you gotta relearn it every time. But having, trying to find ways to, I guess, um, reconnect with that part of my family, but also to be able to provide for them in ways that get more ha more difficult when you're a away for longer periods of time. We do not have a freezer on our boat. Uh, well we have a tiny one now. We didn't have one for many years. And, um, I have omnivores actually. They're enthusiastic carnivores, some of. And so not having a freezer and maybe not being able to go to a grocery store for a month or even a few months means we're gonna have preserved meat on board and we could go to Costco and we could buy a case of canned chicken off the shelf at Costco. And there's a lot of. Shelf stable, preserve meat options you can get. But I just feel like they're all a little bit disappointing and when I make it myself, it um, it's much tastier. Um, it's definitely rewarding and I don't have any of that waste at the end of it cuz I just reuse. All of the jars. I'm imagining

kristin: 7:14

those huge things of, you know, canned chicken and canned tuna that you get at Costco. And like if you're doing a 30 day passage, you just have bags and bags of cans on your boat, right? I

behan: 7:23

think it would. I, I, I guess so. I don't know. I, like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't wanna have to carry that around and, but you do wanna have easy meals cuz if you're rocking around on a passage. Which, um, which all boats do, it doesn't matter if they have one hole, two holes, three holes, whatever, um, passages are, are active. And if you're, whether you're doing the herky jerky on a cat, um, or the slow roll on a mono, you just might not wanna be chopping onions at the counter that day. You might want something that you literally can warm up and eat so that everyone's happy. You've gotta have a well-fed crew to have a happy.

kristin: 7:56

So true. And you mentioned that you've learned some of this, like your family did this. So when you started, did you go back to them and ask questions? Was that available

behan: 8:03

to you? Um, it was, it, well it wasn't, it wasn't, it wa it was in the sense that, um, my interest was rekindled at a time when we were still living on land, um, with access. To my family members and now they're far away. I don't tap them, um, as much as I could. I've kind of found my own way in new, with new things, but um, but it does come for me that they're there. And I love now that my daughters actually live very close to the two aunties that connect, um, in particular back to canning and preserving. Um, and they have a chance to learn that with them.

kristin: 9:06

So you learned, um, kind of out of necessity, scarcity, needing to create, you know, food for your crew. And then you probably did, you start thinking about like, oh my gosh, I'm saving so much trash and this is good for the

behan: 9:15

environment. A hundred percent. I love that aspect so much. I love not having all of the junk that comes out of buying, you know, uh, a prepared meal, prepared food in a, in a. Three dimensional container that is just garbage. Um, you know, you can't throw that overboard. You cannot, and the places that we arrive in may not actually have the ability to deal with it. I mean, we may land at an island and yes, they're, you know, people live there and so they have a way to deal with their waste, but the way that they deal with their waste could be actually costs a lot of money to transport it back to a place where there's an appropriate option for incineration. The smaller islands often don't have that, and so what happens is they end up in. You, I appreciate of the choir right in front of me here. Um, but they end up in these, uh, low temperature burns, low temperature by incineration standards, which means they're producing, I think, the most toxic possible gases out of that waste, which is really depressing.

kristin: 10:07

Yeah, it is. And you and I are both living in Porto Penasco, which we've, um, experienced the burning of the garbage dump. Right.

behan: 10:13

You've experienced, it's so bad, like having to wear p p e inside your.

kristin: 10:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, that happened to us last year where we woke up to smoke in the boat and we thought the boat was on fire and we're like, wow, they burned garbage here. Like, I didn't know, because I feel like we're just so removed from it in the US that we don't realize that, like, wow. Gar, I wondering if more people smelled the smoke and, and realize the effects of garbage and landfills if they would try to do what you're doing. I don't know. What do you think? Do you think

behan: 10:39

they would, I don't know. I, I think that people look to cast blame and they would probably do. The, uh, the gringo groups doing here, which is blaming lack of will in the government when it's a lot more complicated than that, I think. And if we

kristin: 10:50

do our part, like, you know, try to think about it and try to reduce our own waste. Mm-hmm. That's just one thing you know, we can do. Which I love. Like I know when I go, um, shopping here in Mexico, I try to do my part a little bit, which I bring cloth, um, produce bags, like to the fruit, Tori and to the grocery store. And I don't use their plastic, I don't use their plastic bags. Just trying to like internalize some of these. Things to not create so much waste. And I'm wondering if, like, have you seen this like in the sailing community also? Cause we live in such small spaces. I wonder if that's part

behan: 11:19

of it. Yeah, I feel like also the fact that we have to carry everything to our boat and then carry it back. Um, we don't just open the back trunk of our vehicle in front of our home and unload things a very short distance. Um, we might be carrying it in a backpack for quite a while and then actually, and then carrying what's left. As waste. Again, I think we're a whole lot more conscious about it than most people are about the level of, of waste and what packaging it looks like and making different choices with how we buy things. I remember when we got to Australia, um, in 2010, late 20 10, 1 of the things that shocked me the most after being first in Mexico and then going through the Pacific Islands for a couple of years was that suddenly everything was. You know, in a little container like a styrofoam or whatever container with plastic on top, things that don't need that, but it's just how they fit into the bigger, um, supply chain, I guess, to hopefully minimize waste. But at what cost? Yeah, I don't know. But it was astonishing to us to walk through and not actually. Uh, have direct contact with fresh produce, but only be able to kind of squint at it through the sheen of plastic.

kristin: 12:26

That's interesting you bring that up. Cuz I do notice that also when I go to stores sometimes in the US how everything's in the clamshell or in the bag. And I love going to the farmer's markets or the fruit orias here cuz things aren't, maybe they came outta bags at some point, but when I look at them, they're not in bags. That's

behan: 12:40

right. Yeah. Well, and it's probably a lot less packaging because they've arrived in bulk. And we see some of that. And it's not plastic, it's burlap, it's, or it's a reusable bag as opposed to single use for per consumer packaging. When you've

kristin: 12:53

sailed around the world, have you seen cultures that more go to these fruit stands and these individual markets rather than using all the

behan: 13:00

package stuff? Yeah, I feel like that's more the norm. Um, but it also aligns pretty well with prosperity. Um, you know, from a financial standpoint that the wealthier places, the more things are packaged up to look. The way that a higher dollar spending consumer wants them to look like. Some people are uncomfortable with stuff that's not perfectly clean, that feels wrong, and there's just nothing wrong with it. You just can take it. You can pick and choose and clean yourself. It's fine.

kristin: 13:25

That's true. The other day I bought some eggs at the fruit dor here in Mexico and they're like covered with. Chicken poop and stuff. Mm-hmm. And they're not refrigerated, which I know why, and it's totally safe and, and fine, but a lot of Americans would, or anybody from wealthy nations would probably be like, Ugh, I can't handle dirty

behan: 13:39

eggs. Yeah. Take it. Yeah. It's, it's true. It's true. It's

kristin: 13:44

just so funny what we've become accustomed to just growing up somewhere wealthy, that you know that we need to kind of change those, those mental barriers

behan: 13:52

a little bit. I remember. School in Taiwan, um, going through vegetables with my mom and actually that she would say she would, uh, lean towards one. Those that had some bug bites in them because we knew that they were probably closer to being organic than the ones that had zero.

kristin: 14:09

I've a hundred percent done that. I've gone to farmer's markets. I'm like, that kale is full of holes. Yes. So that's probably a good thing. Oh, amen. Awesome. So how much like caned, um, food do you think you create when you guys are about to leave and go on a longer passage? Or are you creating just this food all the time? It really

behan: 14:27

depends on cycles of life and right now I probably have a lot less than usual actually. I definitely have a lot less than usual because we are parked in Mexico with. Really easy access to really fresh produce, and that's fantastic. We, there's just no need to have deep provisions and so, and so I don't, um, I do it more for fun. Um, you know, and because I'm slowly building up the stash that I think will be helpful for us down the road when we don't have as easy access. Because, well, right now we've even got a car that's insanely easy. Um, it's not taking time out of our day to have to go track down a place and then walk there and walk back. But, um, but yeah, I'm looking, I'm looking forward to getting back into it. I've already in the back of my mind, you know, I, I, I've already got, I've got, you know, a flat or two of. Of jars stashed away. Jamie's like, ah, really? You need more? Why do we need more? I'm like, you know why we need more. Come

kristin: 15:15

on. Yeah. My boat cabinet is also filled with jars. Thanks to what I've learned from you, I started doing, uh, pickling and I haven't canned yet. Yay. But yeah, but

behan: 15:24

pickling, okay. Well, we should can together sometime, because I actually think the first time is the hardest and there's just like this like. So many things to keep track of. It feels like the first time and then you do it once and you're like, oh, that was so easy that you just get into the rhythm of it. Yes.

kristin: 15:36

I need to take you up on that cause I'm slightly afraid of canning.

behan: 15:39

Yeah, it's totally fine. So, but let's talk for a sec about the jars. Cause as we're talking or you're talking about how we both have them on our boat, I think people think that, well you can't have glass on a boat, but because it would break surely and cause terrible problems with, um, the broken glass on board. I have never in 15. Had a jar break for reasons that were hashtag boat never. I have had a couple of jars break, I think three total over that time, which I probably would've broken it in a kitchen at home on land two. Yeah. Um, and they were all due to either, um, there was. Uh, in one instance it was probably like an air pocket inside I do pressure canning and the jar under pressure just kind of went pop, and it could have been a fault in the jar, probably. I didn't get some air bubbles out, something in that realm. Um, another one was, um, actually the way that the jar got. Pushed into our refrigerator, which is an irregular shape against the back of the hu, um, hit at an oblique angle, um, by something else. Um, and it just like, you know it, well imagine like, you know, um, opening a bottle of champagne with the sword move. It was sort of like that, except without the fizzy bubbles and the delightful glass afterwards, you know. But basically jar, jar crack, and then contents spilled. I probably would've done something like that along the lines at home too, so for sure not because they're bouncing around in a locker and I don't protect them in any special way really. I just pack them in for the most part so they're not moving much. Mm-hmm. And if we're going to be moving around a whole lot, Stuff, a tea towel in there so that you know, there's just something to provide cushions so they're not sliding around, making annoying noise and you're done. Yeah. That's all you need.

kristin: 17:21

Yeah. We've never broken any of the glass on AR boat either. And I even had a wine bottle fall off the counter at Anchor and the boat started to rock. That was my fault for leaving it on the counter. It didn't even break. Just filled wine in the build, you see? Yeah. Well, A tragedy of its own. Tragedy of its own. Definitely. But yeah, I love that that the point about glass. You can have glass on boats and it's necessary for canning, you know, and it's so cool that you have, I'm looking at right now your really awesome reusable plastic canning lids, cuz the other one's just rust. And that's one thing that's bugged me about using jars. But you found these, these cool solutions.

behan: 17:57

Yeah. So my, my two. Tips on canning aboard a boat is the, the jars, uh, bands and lids that come with them don't last. And what you need to have are either a regular supply of fresh, um, lids that you can use, but, uh, because. Okay. And this does stray from FDA requirements, but everybody, you know, you, your kitchen, your rules, as my rebel cans would say, um, and I, I reuse lids, metal lids, if they're not damaged, if they're unblemished. Um, these are intended for re reuse and it's that much easier to peace of mind about reusing them. And they don't rust. The, um, the lifespan on these, I don't know if there is a lifespan. I think I've had some of these lids for at least 10 years after getting frustrated with getting to Australia 2010. You know, lids resting, bands resting, not wanting to use them and not being able to replace them because these jar sizes are unique to the US and the BA and what I could find in Australia. It's actually a wholly different system that's used for canning down there. And I, I didn't wanna have to like buy things all over again, so. Mm-hmm. That sort of defeats the purpose little. And then the band's the same thing. It's just milder steel and they rust out. Um, and it could be a problem. Um, yeah, they rest, uh, first because ew, you know, rusty and, and not secure. But also because, and I'll show you the jar in a minute. I have a jar that was gifted by a friend during the pandemic where she made pickles and she didn't know that you actually should take the band off the jar after it's sealed. You should only have the lid on there. Mm-hmm. Because the bands rest. And they will literally, I mean, you, you're very familiar with corrosion, galvan corrosion on a boat, and you know, metals kind of basically locking themselves together when they get corroded. And what's happened with these pickles that I'm dying to get into, which she gave me, is that the band is completely locked on to the top and you, I can't get, I'm gonna have to cut it off. I'm to literally cut it off in order to get at those pickles. Oh my God. I will. I

kristin: 19:54

am, I'm sure I didn't know that about not leaving the, uh, the band on it. No, that's a really good tip.

behan: 19:59

I have no idea. So the follow on to that is that, um, you have to buy these sort of extra nice bands and they're not quite in the category of stupidly expensive, but they are a little pricey considering it's just for bands, uh, for a jar. Um, and the heavier duty stainless steel. Um, I'm holding one right now. It is at least five years old. I actually think it might be quite a few years older. And it is. I'm not the best housekeeper. Let's face it. This thing is unblemished despite survi, you know, surviving me for many years. And, um, and all you need then is the number of bands that you're gonna have in your canor plus maybe an extra set at any time because you're just gonna take'em off and use'em on the next star the next time, not leaving them on. That's a great

kristin: 20:41

tip. You don't need 10,000 of those on your boat, which I probably have like 15 on'em. I have to get rid of those and get those nice ones. Yeah,

behan: 20:47

you need a whole bunch of the lids though.

kristin: 20:49

Yeah, that's true. A lot. So do you just simply use a pressure cooker to do

behan: 20:54

your canning? Yeah. Again, um, your Kitchener rules not FDA approved. They would say, you must use a pressure canor. It must be a capacity of X leaders, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. I use a pressure cooker. Um, I think it is worth getting informed on appropriate, um, uh, PSI for canning for different foods, really understanding your pressure cooker and what, um, how to identify when it's a different, um, pressures and mm. And then pay attention and it should be perfectly safe, but yes, not FDA approved. What

kristin: 21:25

are, what are the fears about it that, that, that it'll explode if it has the wrong psi? Is that some of the fears

behan: 21:31

surrounding that? So the fear is actually kind of a legit one in the sense that, um, insufficiently canned goods, um, especially, uh, vegetables are the most prone to this. Um, Uh, could be subject to botulism. Mm-hmm. And that's lethal. Mm-hmm. Um, it can make you very, very, very sick. So, um, it is a good thing. Um, but it also is clear to me at least that the FDA regulations go pretty far over the top. And I realize there's a public safety interest there. They're trying to make, they're trying to, I guess, um, create them for the lowest common denominator of rule following. And I would rather. What the why and then choose what to do myself. Yeah, yeah,

kristin: 22:10

totally. I've noticed that about FDA rules about certain things. They're just so stringent about, you know, even leaving food out or, you know, all these things that I've broken the gazillion times. And like you said, if you understand the science and you take your own, you know? Yep. Take the matters into your own hands.

behan: 22:24

Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Your kitchen, your rules. Yep. Choose. Um, I sure don't wanna poison my family or myself. Totally. I'm very motivated to un try to understand it and I'm also really motivated to eat well cause we love to eat and we just want to enjoy our food,

kristin: 22:39

so. Yeah. Totally. And it's way better than dainty more as you said, making your own stews like that, that you can, you know, open in the middle of the ocean. That's pretty special. Mm-hmm. It is. It. Yeah. And so aside from doing, you know, these meals, you also do a lot of pickling and, and fermenting, right?

behan: 22:54

Yes. And what's your favorite? Yeah. Um, so the current favorite is probably kimchi. And it's kind of funny because, um, so it's not necessarily shelf stable actually. I mean, you do it at room temperature, but then when we're in the tropic. To keep that kimchi from actually going over the top. It needs to be put in a cool place. Um, I first made kimchi in 2013 and actually found a picture of my inaugural kimchi jar, and I sent it to, uh, my daughter yesterday when I found it as proof because I couldn't get anyone on the boat to eat it at that time. And I thought, this is the most brilliant way to have crunchy vegetables when you haven't been able to buy vegetables for weeks. I mean, what you miss for folks that haven't had that, Is the like crunchy mouth feel thing that happens from like, you know, biting into an apple or a carrot or something like that. Um, cuz your pre preserved vegetables are, you know, there's a bit of mush involved.

kristin: 23:47

Yeah, true. Like when you're simply doing a stew, like we're looking at our potatoes or whatever they

behan: 23:51

do turn mushy thing, it's soft. Everything is kind of soft. So you miss the like crunchy vegetable thing, which is where sprouts get so appealing too. Right. But I thought Kim. Perfect way to have crunchy vegetables. I'm gonna start working on this and that'll help us have, uh, veggies all the way across the Indian Ocean, except that nobody would eat them. And I was making them like mild, not spicy, not too garlicy. Anyway, now, now it's a favorite. Um, one of our daughters doesn't tolerate dairy very well. And related to that, we started doing a lot more Asian style cooking cuz there's not a lot of dairy in Asian food. And it, um, Kimchi. She is the one who got us back into making kimchi. She makes killer kimchi. And, um, I need to learn from her to get it down. Yeah,

kristin: 24:32

that's so, that's amazing. I love that story. And are you creating other, like, crunchy vegetables too, like carrots or what other? Some other,

behan: 24:38

yeah. I really like doing carrots and beans because they're easy and rewarding. I've, uh, I've got some. Asparagus. So here where we are in Mexico, it is asparagus season and there's so much beautiful fresh asparagus, like big bunches of it being sold for like, you know, a couple bucks on the street. And yeah, so we've had a lot of that lately and that's gonna be gone soon. Actually, we're probably getting near the end. Um, so I need to try to pick up a bunch of that to have, have for later. Um, and then the asparagus and the carrots, you can either, you can do refrigerator pickling, but you can process them a little bit too, um, so that they're shelf stable and then, Boom, you've got your shelf-stable vegetables. Wow.

kristin: 25:13

I'm totally into this idea of asparagus pickling now. Cause I've seen it everywhere and it's so cheap.

behan: 25:18

Yeah. The asparagus is, and, but if you look at trying to buy a jar of pickled asparagus in a store somewhere, yikes. It's really expensive. Um, you know, there are some costs of course to doing this. Like we have to have the power to be able to do it. Um, whether it's propane, whether you're using an electric can, um, we have to have to have the time to be able to do it, especially using. Uh, pressure cooker, stove top method. Um, it's, I have to be there a hundred percent of the time paying attention to make sure that there is no chance that the pressure has dipped below a level that means basically botulism risk and I gotta start all over again. Mm-hmm. Um, that like resets the clock on the pressure canning. So, um, yeah, it can be a bit of a commitment, especially if you're trying to juggle a bunch of things or a bunch of kids or whatever. Yeah.

kristin: 26:03

And, um, so do you pressure, can you know everything? Like if you were going to go on a longer trip, like a ocean passage, would you pressure everything first or do you do it at sea sometimes? I have

behan: 26:13

never done, uh, pressure canning at sea. It's just a little too much. Um, I mean, I can imagine circumstances where I might, I do it more in anticipation of being gone. And I guess it nest into my provisioning method, which is, um, when we've got a passage, when I'm trying to provision for, um, let's say up to a month, um, my method is to write down a whole bunch of, uh, different options. Like a do a dozen different things we'd have for breakfast, a dozen different lunches, a dozen different dinners, things that we like to have for snacks and desserts and stuff like that. And then from each of those meals, figure. What I need to buy or make in order to have those ready. And then we just work our way through them. There's not a schedule on, you know, on the second Monday we're gonna have peas and carrots and canned chicken and mashed potatoes. No. Yeah, yeah. Um, it's a little more, it's a lot more organic actually, because it's also using up the freshest food that we have first. Um, and it's what are the climactic conditions we have? Mm-hmm. Sometimes you really need food that will stick to a bowl instead of slosh in your lap. Wow. And sometimes you need food that's gonna be really mild, cuz your stomach's not quite there. Yeah.

kristin: 27:18

Yeah. And I also, the canning, especially, you know, the pickling of vegetables that mm-hmm. Also shores up room and, and boat fridges, which as we know are not very big. So, yeah. No,

behan: 27:26

that's huge. So when we went to Papua New Guinea, it was. Three months plus that we knew basically no stores, no nothing. And minimal available on shore. I mean, we did a lot of trading there for produce, but you can only eat so many yams and then you're like, yam out. Yeah. Um, can't handle another yam. Um, and so, yes. We did a ton of food prep before Papua New Guinea to be ready for that, and there was no way we could have fit everything for our three kids at that point. Were creeping into like teenage years and they were eating so much food they could eat us under the table. We, we just needed to have a lot.

kristin: 28:00

Yeah. That's incredible. So we're all your boat cabinets like full of, of canned food? We, we

behan: 28:05

definitely dedicate a lot of space to Yeah. To preserve food. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

kristin: 28:10

Great. And I also see on the counter, um, going, moving away from the fermented in the, can you have bread? Yeah. Um, and so you bake, I'm guessing on the boat

behan: 28:18

as well? Yes. Really like baking. Um, when we were floating around the Sea of Cortez during the pandemic, our daughter Marin, actually g really got into it and it was great. I think she had a baguette coming out of our solar oven every day. So good. Um, and yeah, fresh bread, uh, like we were talking about earlier in Mexico, the bread is, um, it's not the kind of bread that you and I like. We, you know, um, it's very, it's soft, it's sweet. Um, and I really love more, I guess, um, sourdough, more kind of like big open chrome crusty crest. Oh yeah. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. And there are some islands where we can get that, but overwhelmingly that means we're making our own. Mm-hmm.

kristin: 29:47

And were you guys also doing that, like during your world travels, like doing the break, the baking?

behan: 29:52

Not as well. It depended on where we were because one of the challenges with a lot of boat ovens is that they're not insulated. Uh, we actually are in the process of replacing our oven and we found one that's actually insulated and I'm really excited about it. But we had a force 10, which is pretty common on boats, not insulated. That's great. When it's cold out. Mm-hmm. That's not great when you're, In the tropics because it's a heater. I mean, we would deliberately choose things to like bake and roast and stuff when it's cold out because it heats up the whole boat. But when, when it, when it's a sweat bucket, you don't wanna do that. That's a good point. Yeah. Yeah. So this new one, it, um, it's, it's a little smaller in terms of capacity, but I think it's gonna be fine. And it's from the uk it's called Janice VAs. Um, I can't wait to start cooking with this thing. Yeah, that's exciting. And it's supposed to use a lot less propane as well, which I guess makes sense. If you're better insulating. Yeah. You don't need as much fuel, so,

kristin: 30:41

yeah. Cool. Mm-hmm. Um, there's another, I, I don't know if you ever tried this, but last year when I talked to you, you said you're gonna try to make tofu or, or Tempe or did you ever do that? I did,

behan: 30:50

yes. I made, I've got the starter right here. I made Tempe and tofu. Um, the tofu was a fail, sadly. And. But I think I know what I did wrong, and I really wanna try again. I just haven't quite had the bandwidth. The Tempe was delicious, like, and I love Tempe and, and fresh Tempe. I'm sorry guys. What you get at Trader Joe's strength wrapped in the refrigerator section is, uh, it like pales in comparison. It's just not really. Uh, the same. Um, if you like it, you'll love Tempe. If you don't like it, don't, don't knock Tempe. Just try it again when you get the good stuff. Interesting. Yeah.

kristin: 31:21

So you said starter, which reminds me of sourdough. And this is a

behan: 31:23

fermented product, right? That's right. Yeah. So you actually create this brick as you've seen, uh, you know, trader Joe's or whatever probably, um, of, uh, it's a mycelium, I guess. It's a, it's a fungus that grows and holds those beans together. And so, It's a little tricky because you have to manage humidity and temperature and it has to be within this range for a certain period of time in order for the spores to do their thing. Um, and uh, and mine was not pretty, uh, but it tasted really good. Uh, so I am, I'm very game to try again. Actually, the trick with it is gonna be, Um, carrying starter or figuring out how to make my own starter, because you can, but that might be like, I don't know, super uplevel Tempe making that is not within my capacity at the stage. Or we'll just, we'll just sail back to Indonesia and

32:11

get

kristin: 32:12

it. Yeah. Can you get it? Um, in the States? Can you mail order it or how could somebody get it if they wanna try that? I think,

behan: 32:17

I think that's a really good question. Um, I have had it, uh, once in the states where it was really good and fresh and it was, uh, this past. Uh, December, when our daughters moved to Bellingham, Washington, we went to the farmer's market and um, there's a vendor who is like, uh, I believe they're the only licensed producer of fresh Tempe in the state of Washington. Um, and they had phenomenal fresh Tempe, like absolutely over the top Awesome Tempe. Um, I was asking the. Mega Asian food store to us here in Mexico is called Lilly's, and it's like a Costco sized all Asian foods place. There's two in Phoenix and one in Tucson. Um, and they told me they have it in the freezer section, so it's not. Fresh. Fresh, like it's not still alive, um, but it's fresh and then frozen, which I think means it should be an entirely different taste experience, more like the real thing. Wow. Yeah. That is

kristin: 33:14

so interesting. And I know that, you know, I eat predominantly vegetarian food or you know, vegan food. And when you travel around the world, one thing is it's hard to find this stuff. Like there's no Tempe here. Yeah. In Porto Penasco.

behan: 33:24

Yeah. No, no, definitely not. But you can sometimes find tofu. That's right. I, I, we were chatting, we're, uh, Trading texts when the tofu showed up at the nearest supermarket because you gotta let your friends who like Tempe or Tofu know.

kristin: 33:36

Yeah. Yeah. I go buy a ton of it when I see it at the lay and sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. Otherwise I'm eating beans, not stuff. Yeah.

behan: 33:43

Yeah.

kristin: 33:45

So cool. So what are some other things that you've tried to, to make that I don't know about or that we haven't?

behan: 33:50

Um, so do you believe you could canned bread? No, I know you can. Canned bread actually, I'll show you. Yeah, I'd love to

kristin: 33:58

see. Oh

behan: 34:00

my gosh, that's a can of bread. This is so cool. So you might have had something called, um, this is actually a regular wheat bread. Wow. And it's, that won't rot in there. Well, it's, I don't know how long it's gonna last. This is, this is actually my inaugural one, but my, um, I've been watching this for a while, is something to try that I thought would be a special treat. Yeah. But it's, it's definitely in the category of. I don't know. I'm not, I'm not a prepper. I just wanna have good food that's available and I can make bread pretty easily most of the time. I don't need it in a jar. I just love experimenting and knowing that I could do this. What I might actually make in a jar that could be shelf stable would be, um, a cake. Oh, or brownies or something like that. And so I've been eyeing those recipes, but because I made bread today, I threw some dough into the jar and we'll see what happens. I'll let.

kristin: 34:45

I actually love that idea because like we both talked about, we both love sourdough. Mm-hmm. And if I was to ever cross to the South Pacific, like my loaf's gonna be gone in like a week. Mm-hmm. I don't know if I'll wanna bake at sea. Yeah. But if I could have canned sourdough, I, they're

behan: 34:58

waiting. Yeah. Right. Just tear off hunks on watch. That sounds pretty good

kristin: 35:02

actually. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's a really cool idea. I love that. Mm-hmm. Awesome. I like all these tips that we've been discussing, I feel like aren't just for, for boaters. I feel like so many people could

behan: 35:11

anybody, honestly. Okay. I think about things I learned about cooking, uh, for cruising. That actually would've were so helpful or would've been so helpful. In my life before cruising, the one that was the biggest eye-opener for me was using a pressure cooker. Um, now we've had this whole electric, you know, multi cooker revolution with instant pots and like everybody's got a pressure cooker, but doesn't connect it as well with the fact that it's just a pressure cooker. Mm-hmm. You know, but that's what it is. But what that showed me, and I, and I got one because I, I've been told it would be really useful for cruising and it is. Um, but it also made it so easy for my husband and I to have fast, delicious meals on. Two career, super crazy busy timeline where we wanted to spend time with our kids, not have to spend too much time cooking all the time. Mm-hmm. But we cook. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, we don't get takeout, we don't go out, we don't order in stuff. Yeah. We cook. Yeah. Um, and the other thing is canned food that you can spend. A weekend or an afternoon and have a whole bunch of things that are going to be delicious shelf stable, like more or less ready to eat things that help your family eat well and be happy. Mm-hmm. That's a win. I mean, when I think back on when our son was in the, I need a meal between my meals. Stage of, of teenage boyhood. Um, it would've been really great probably to have easy, like already cooked cans in a, or potatoes in a jar that you could just dump in a pan, heat up, throw eggs in, you know, and, and like be totally satisfied. Yeah. Um, that would've been great.

kristin: 36:39

Yeah, I, I really like that idea and I feel like this is something our ancestors did and your relatives still do, but it's kind of a lost art in the day of fast food

behan: 36:47

and restaurants. Yeah, it is. It's, it's back to slow food. Right. And, and you know, talking about my family too, to me it's about a whole process where it's not just the thing itself, it's. The getting to it, it's the, you know, sourcing the cucumbers from the farmer's market or your friend's garden that you're gonna make the pickles with. And seeing that your friend's dill plant is at the perfect stage to decorate the bottles and make'em taste good and look good.

kristin: 37:12

That's true. And that also connects you to eating the food later. Cause you know where it came from. And I think that's special.

behan: 37:17

I do. I think it's not just special. I think it's really important. I feel like we've, you know, again, when we got to Australia and like food was sort of unrecognizable suddenly it's. Styrofoam under plastic. It was, um, I, I like being, uh, connected to what we eat all the way through.

kristin: 37:31

Yeah. Yeah. And that reminds me of last spring when we went cruising and one of our friends, Marga, one of our mutual friends here at the Boatyard, her father brought her canned tomatoes from her garden and Colorado mm-hmm. That his wife, Margo's mother had had canned. And she gave me a few, and I opened them in the Sea of Cortez and it was just delightful. And I was like, these came from Margo's. Garden and like such love went into them. And I thought about that every

behan: 37:54

time. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. We were also lucky beneficiaries of Mar's, mom. And um, so when Margaret was just down a few weeks ago, I sent her back with some jars to give her mom. Well, it's also kind of like canner's code, right? Because each jar has a cost. And so when you give it, you don't expect to get it back with anything in it, but it's, you hope to get the jar back, no expectations. But if you get the jar back and you get the jar back and there's something in it, oh, that's good. That's real goodness. I'm kind of hoping maybe we get something out of the garden when Margaret's back. We'll find out. Marga, if you're listening, your mom's food is. So good.

kristin: 38:30

It's so good. And I, I love that canners code cuz I have some of those cans in my sailboat. I should give'em to Marga and see what happens.

behan: 38:36

Yeah. You never know. You never know. I set her back with um, uh, margarita Jelly, which actually didn't set, I gotta try that again. And some chutney actually her mom had sent chutney down. Her mom's is better than mine. But anyway, she can, she can try and decide and I forget what else. Anyway, that's good. So

kristin: 38:53

Christmas jam. Oh, that's also fantastic. And. Oh, one other thing I wanted to touch on with you is you've sent me some books about foraging that I've started to read, and I really love those. And have you guys done foraging on

behan: 39:05

your boat? We have, um, not as much as I'd like because I feel so much of that is, uh, local knowledge specific, and I found it harder to connect with people that do foraging. In tropical places. Mm-hmm. Um, there's something that happens, uh, that's very obvious like fishing. Mm-hmm. Uh, we're foraging when we're fishing. Um, it's the stuff that's on land that's diluted me more. And part of that is, uh, I think we have to be really sensitive when we're walking around somewhere and, you know, happen to see a mango tree, even if we're in the middle of nowhere, that mango tree belongs to someone. And so we're not quite furnishing, we're taking their mangoes. Yeah. If we take those mangoes. So, so you shouldn't, um, you should find out who they belong to. Mm-hmm. Um, and the things that I would forage in the northwest. You know, it's like, it's Fiddlehead fe season. Mm-hmm. Actually, we're probably even a little past it now, but we're gonna be coming up on um, um, uh, oh my goodness. The name went outta my head. You know, the little leaves that like sting you nettles. Oh God. Nettles in the spring are phenomenal. They're so, so good. You make soup, you can make tea. Mm-hmm. Um, and, uh, and then, and mushrooms, um, hunting mushrooms with my aunties is like a childhood memory that I love. Oh, that

kristin: 40:10

sounds amazing. And you guys forged something in the Sea of Cortez.

behan: 40:14

We did. I'm glad you mentioned that. Um, it was something that we used to forage up in the northwest and I thought, I recognized it in a Bay and Baja. I thought, how can that be? Because you could not have a more different climate. But in fact, it's a very resilient plant. It goes by a bunch of different names. Um, we grew up knowing it as sea asparagus and it's, or sea beans is another common one. Um, but it grows literally, I believe from Alaska all the way down through most of Mexico. And it is, It's a delicious little crunchy green. You have to pull the salt out of it a little. First.

kristin: 40:45

I'm gonna look, I think I found it last time, but I wasn't quite sure. But if I find it, I'll send you a picture. Yes,

behan: 40:51

I'm happy to verify,

kristin: 40:53

cause I wanna start like trying to eat a little, you know, some more things. I bought a book on foraging in Arizona, which a lot of that territory is in Sea of Cortes, and so we'll see if I find any little parts when I'm out this year. Yeah, I hope

behan: 41:04

so. I hope so.

kristin: 41:06

Yeah. Cool. I'm wondering if you have like advice for people, cuz a lot of people listen to me this podcast are, are at home and they're thinking of the nomad journey. So they might not be living tiny yet, but what can they do now in their own house? Just to start, you know, dealing like making less trash is like a big deal.

behan: 41:20

Well I think it's really exciting to be able to put into practice things that you'll do in your future nomadic life, because, Brings a piece of it back and makes it real. And sometimes it's hard because our pre nomadic lives might be a little frenetic because we're doing all the things to try to get off the grid and disconnect. Mm-hmm. But whatever you can work in, and I think doing a lot of your own home food preparation, uh, for shelf stable storage is a great example. When you've got a free weekend that you can anticipate doing a bunch, or you've got a friend who you know, Already does some canning and you can tag along for the day. You can both, you know, bank some good, good memories with a friend and learn a really useful skill and put food in your pantry. I think that's kind of a win-win win situation.

kristin: 42:04

Totally. And like we talked about in the beginning on how all this excess food is ending up in the landfills. Like if you have excess food, maybe you can just, can it, you know.

behan: 42:12

Oh, truly, truly. Um, when something's getting ready to go off, actually part of the reason I canned these potatoes is I bought a bunch of potatoes, anticip. Actually St. Patrick's Day and then, you know, life threw other plans at us and um, and I thought I really need to do something with these potatoes. With the week we have coming up, it's gonna be, we're probably gonna be eating tacos on the street. Let's face it, I'm probably not gonna be cooking potatoes, so let me just get'em canned up. And there they are.

kristin: 42:34

Cool. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. And I'm guessing that you guys are very conscientious of your food consumption, especially on the sailboat where we can't just go and like, oh, my spinach went bad. Let me just go get more. Yeah.

behan: 42:44

Food waste is very painful to me, um, because it is, it's, it's, um, it's scarcity a bit there and not wanting, Not wanting to have something be unusable simply because we didn't use it soon enough. That's always, that always feels a little tragic. Yeah.

kristin: 42:57

Yeah. It feels tragic to me too, cuz these are like plants that are like, I don't know, they're healthy for us and they're things we should be eating and not throwing away. And just that methane I learned about is just, You know, so

behan: 43:07

disturbing. It is, it is incredibly disturbing. And I'm even more motivated now. I'm even more motivated. But, uh, it, it also is like, you know, it's, it comes back to how incredibly privileged we are too, that we, um, we can have control over this and we can do this, but we also don't have food scarcity. And, um, we've been through a lot of places that had, uh, very real food scarcity, very real problems having, um, maintaining a diverse diet year round. And, um, and we have a chance to do that and maybe we can share some of that. Um, but, and at least meanwhile we can take care of.

kristin: 43:36

Mm-hmm. And, and also you and I were talking about also this is something that people can do. Cause I know that people, especially me. Yeah, it's okay. I can't help. No problem. You know, I feel so bad. I'm like, I can't do anything to help the environment. It feels like this huge issue where just cutting back on what we throw out it is, seems to,

behan: 43:55

and those statistics from the times that is astonishing. Talk about a very real, very material. Individuals can do to make a difference. Yeah. And that

kristin: 44:01

makes me, gives me hope. It's like, oh, there's something I can do, and something people listening to this can maybe start doing and thinking about at least. Yeah. So. Cool. Well, yeah. Is there anything else that you wanted to say just about the garbage and food storage? Food

behan: 44:15

prep? Oh gosh. I don't know. I think, um, you know, Maybe for the someone who's not sure that this is for them because, um, it feels like a lot of work and maybe it's not great reward. Um, try to lean into those, those benefits of the environment and time with a friend. And if it's not food security, because you've got such easy access to it, maybe it'll be food deliciousness and maybe, maybe that day that is, feels like you can't make the. Is a great day to make the time because it's gonna save you a bunch of time later when you can dump your beef rendon into a pot, warm it up and have it with some rice. Yeah.

kristin: 44:53

It becomes kind of addicting to think of like, oh, what can I preserve? And now I'm gonna start thinking about canning. Yeah. Actually

behan: 44:59

shipyard days that have been really hectic, having some prepared things like this where we can have a really easy dinner instead of, you know, falling into the inertia of, uh, you're standing in front of the open fridge door, what are we gonna eat? Uh, yeah. And then going to get. Right. Makes it a whole lot easier. Totally

kristin: 45:15

great. And yeah, so how can people like find you and follow you guys?

behan: 45:18

Oh, right. Okay. So, um, sailing totem is, uh, pretty googleable and you can find us pretty quickly that way. We do also have a coaching service where we help people who wanna go do this live on the water nomad, uh, voyaging style, uh, full-time. And we would love. We are stupidly affordable. Um, and food preservation is something that we, and provisioning is something we spend a lot of time on seasonally as our, our community gets ready to head out into the

kristin: 45:45

big blue. Yeah, totally. Great. And you're on, um, Instagram and Facebook too, posting all your fun pictures. That's right.

behan: 45:50

That's right. Find us there. It's all at sailing Totem. Awesome.

kristin: 45:53

Well, thank you so much. This is so informative and I hope people are inspired to, to try some of this out. I know I am and you've inspired me to do a lot of different things, fermenting and preserving and stuff, so thank you.

behan: 46:03

Oh, I love it. Thank you so much. I appreciate so much having the chance to talk about this. I really am genuinely passionate about it. I would love to infect other people with a little bit of that, um, of that energy. And um, and we just need to share an AC anchorage and, you know, cook for each other. Thanks so

kristin: 46:16

much for listening to this episode of The Wayward Home Podcast. Seriously, cutting back on the amount of trash and food waste we create is something every one of us can do to help the environment. I know sometimes I feel powerless, like there's nothing I can do to help stop global warming, but keeping food waste from landfills is something I can do, and I hope you do too. If you enjoy the Wayward Home Podcast, do me a favor and share it with a friend or family member or anyone you think would find it helpful. Also, make sure you like and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. I'll see you next time.