When I moved from an apartment into my first house, a vegetable garden in the back yard was my priority. My goal was to plant vegetables in season, then can and freeze any extra for use later. While the goal was lofty, it was clear that I had a lot to learn. Take fertilizer for example. I had no idea that one kind was any better than the other. Fortunately, a kindly neighbor helped me to learn the value of soil analysis, reading the information on the packages before buying any product, and how the nutrients found in the product would affect the growth of different plants. If you are a novice gardener, let me help. I'll tell you what needs to be in that fertilizer, how to spread it properly, and what it will do for your vegetables.
When you keep livestock and operate your own onsite butcher shop, it is important that the meat be clean, free of disease and harbor no pathogens or parasites that can make your customers sick. Fresh meat is only as fresh and healthy as the butchering process and freezer storage. If your many freezers do not receive home appliance services, they can break down and spoil your products. There are ways to ensure that you never have to deal with hundreds of pounds of rotting meat.
Catching Refrigeration Problems That Go Undetected
Your freezers may have power, lights when you open them, and may even hum as they run. However, refrigeration systems can shut down while all of the rest of a freezer's system continues to run. To catch a cooling issue, hang or place thermometers in plain view inside the freezers. That way, you can make hourly or semi-daily checks to make sure the freezers are all running at optimal temperature. If you detect one that has a rising temperature and the temperature controls are fully adjusted to freezing, then you should call a repair technician right away.
Keep Your Annual or Semi-Annual Maintenance Appointments
Even though most of your freezers probably do not have extended warranties on them anymore, you should still set up and keep maintenance appointments. The repair technician from a place like Quality Appliance can perform regular maintenance, scheduled either twice a year or more for older freezers or once a year for newer freezers. He or she checks the cooling systems of each of your freezers and helps uncover any freezer system problems before they cause your freezers to shut down.
Defrosting Your Freezers
Your freezers are more effective and less likely to break down if you defrost them annually or whenever you notice thick layers of frost build-up. Additionally, a frost-less freezer keeps your meat products frozen better. The meat does not get a sort of freezer or freezer burn taste to it either when your freezers are at their best.
Ordinances Regarding Diseased Meat and Refrigeration
The Department of Health in your state regulates the production and processing of livestock for food. When issues like mad cow disease or chronic wasting disease are a concern, you have to follow protocols to dispose of the affected meat. Freezing it until you can properly dispose of it is fine, so long as your affected freezers are out of reach of the public and the meat remains frozen until you can get rid of it. (Typically, this involves double-bagging the meat and sending it to a landfill, or burying the meat where dogs and other predators cannot dig it up.)
Share16 April 2015
