What’s New for 2023: Mary’s Nest Channel Update

Today, I’m excited to share my Mary’s Nest 2023 Channel Update to fill you in on all the fun things I have planned for my channel in 2023. I’ll have videos all about making bone broth, cultured dairy, ferments, sourdough, herbal home remedies, and more tips on how to stock the Prepper Pantry. Plus, I’ll have a few surprises too!

In this blog post, I’ll also cover some of the content I created in 2022, including YouTube Shorts and YouTube Community posts. And I’ll talk about our experience with the hard freeze we had in Central Texas in December 2022 too.

Looking Back at Mary’s Nest Before 2023

Can you believe I started my Mary’s Nest YouTube channel almost four and a half years ago? In July 2023, I’ll celebrate five years of publishing videos on traditional foods and more. Since I launched my channel, I’ve created almost 600 videos, ranging from recipes with step-by-step instructions to live streams and in-depth chats.

In today’s 2023 channel update video, I talk about some of the content I created prior to 2023. We covered a lot of ground in 2022 with videos about baking, fermenting, dehydrating, making meals with real ingredients, stocking the Prepper Pantry, and more!

I especially want to thank you, my sweet friends, for all of your kind words, encouragement, and questions. I love creating these videos for you, and I’m so glad we’re on this traditional foods journey together! 😊

YouTube Community

I have social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but you’ll find me the most active on YouTube, where I publish my videos. I also try to post content regularly on my Mary’s Nest YouTube Community page.

In my YouTube Community, I share new and popular content, as well as discuss current topics. Periodically, I also conduct polls and ask questions to see what video content you’d like me to make or if there are questions that I can help answer either in the community or in a future video.

For example, at the end of 2022, I asked my Mary’s Nest YouTube Community for questions that I could answer in a future video. I received so many questions that I wound up creating two full-length videos to address as many as I could. Here are the two in-depth videos where I answer the most popular questions, including:

• How to deal with picky eaters?
• What’s something that you don’t know about me?

YouTube Shorts

In 2022, I also started creating YouTube Shorts, which are vertical videos under a minute in length. YouTube launched this new format to help attract viewers who were used to watching this type of content on other platforms, such as Instagram or TikTok.

When I first published my initial set of YouTube Shorts, I had to reassure folks that I wasn’t planning to replace my long-form videos with shorts. Many of my sweet friends were worried that I was going to stop making my full-length recipe videos or detailed discussions. I’ll always make my in-depth videos, but I’m trying to publish YouTube shorts to introduce more people to traditional foods who may not typically watch longer videos.

I must say that I’m still trying to perfect my YouTube Shorts. Shorter is better, so I’m trying to keep my shorts to 30 seconds or less. I also want each YouTube Short to provide some value, no matter how “short” it is. If you have any recommendations, please feel free to leave me a comment on this blog post or on one of my YouTube Shorts.

Looking Ahead to 2023

In my Mary’s Nest 2023 video update, I talk about the different areas of traditional foods that I want to explore with you. For example, I look forward to expanding my videos on home remedies that can help you and your family. (You’ll find my previous master recipes on using medicinal herbs later in this blog post.)

Among other topics, I also want to explore more recipes with sourdough and making ferments, which I often refer to as being persnickety. We’ll explore new recipes together and have a lot of fun in the process.

And, of course, you can count on me making more videos on how to stock your Prepper Pantry with real food and on a budget. Having a Prepper Pantry with real food is one of the best ways to help your family prepare for any unexpected future events, such as natural calamities or supply chain disruptions, that may prevent us from getting groceries or other essential supplies from our supermarket.

Shopping Videos

My videos where I take you shopping with me to find essential traditional foods or Prepper Pantry supplies were popular in 2022, and I look forward to bringing you along with me again this year as we look for bargains that will keep our pantries well stocked with real food and essential equipment.

Here are a few of my recent videos where I took you along with me into Costco and Aldi. Both times, I met people who saw us filming in the aisles. They were very friendly and wanted to share their product experiences with me. I pass their tips along with mine in the following videos.

Thank You, Sweet Friend!

I want to thank you for subscribing to my YouTube channel, visiting my website, subscribing to my newsletter, and being my sweet friend. As you can tell, I love talking about traditional foods, teaching traditional techniques, and keeping traditional ways of cooking in the kitchen alive for us and for future generations.

I especially enjoy being your free resource for traditional foods recipes and more. I’m sorry that I can’t answer every question or respond to every email or comment, since my team consists of just me and my husband, who loves helping me in the background by filming, editing my videos, and giving me big hugs.

However, I hope that I’ve been able to address many of your traditional foods questions. I also hope I’ve been a ray of sunshine in your lives to help you on your journey from a processed foods kitchen to a traditional foods kitchen. We’ll have a lot of fun together this year!

Start a Kitchen Journal

As you begin 2023, be sure to create a kitchen journal to help you record the recipes that you try in your traditional foods kitchen. For example, through your record keeping, you can find the best place in your kitchen with the best temperature to store your ferments. (I found one of the best places to be our bedroom closet since it has the right temperature between 68°F-72°F most of the year.)

If you run across a recipe in a magazine or printout a recipe from a website, you can store those in hardcopy form in your kitchen journal. (I show you some of the handouts I downloaded and printed from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board in my kitchen journal video.)

Through my videos and blog posts, I also provide a lot of free handouts you can print out and store in your kitchen journal. In case you missed them earlier, here are a few handouts to help you start filling out the contents of your kitchen journal.

Winter Storm in December 2022

Much of the United States was hit with extremely cold temperatures for part of December 2022. I read about the terrible snowfalls in the northern part of the US, where Buffalo, New York, received an incredible four feet of snow.

In Texas, we were fortunate to have drier weather, but temperatures in our area plunged into the mid-teens (14°F-17°F), and one of our faucet pipes froze. We normally leave our faucets dripping when the outside temperature dips significantly below freezing, but a pipe on the northern part of our house still froze.

When water flowed through the rest of the house, but no water came out of that frozen pipe, we became concerned. We didn’t have this freezing problem when we lost power during the terrible snowstorm in 2021, but we kept the pipes dripping, and we had a layer of snow on the house at the time that might have served as insulation.

Here’s a picture of how the landscape looked in 2021, with lots of snow on the ground and deer tracks nearby.

My 2021 experience taught me a lot about how to build up emergency supplies, and I share my tips with you through a number of videos, including How to Build a 2-Week Emergency Food Supply, which includes a shopping list and meal plan you can download and print out.

Freezing Pipes in 2022

For our cold weather concern in December 2022, we cranked up space heaters around the sink and the nearby wall and looked for other actions we could take. Should we turn off the water to the house or keep it on? We wanted to do everything we could to avoid a broken pipe.

The plumbers we called were all busy helping folks whose frozen pipes already broke, but they were kind to share their advice with us. Unfortunately, the tips from various plumbers and Internet sources gave us conflicting advice. Since there was no consensus on what we should do, we decided to keep the faucet open to the frozen pipe and the outside water on and flowing into our house. (And we said lots of prayers too!)

As the outside temperatures rose above freezing, we heard the loud sound of water flowing into the house, and we ran over to check on the faucet with the frozen pipe. Yeah! Water was flowing freely from it again, and we didn’t have to worry about any pipe breaks.

Central Texas houses are not built for such cold weather, and hopefully, that was the last of the hard freezes for this season. All this winter work (and worry) sure builds up the appetite!

Winter Meal Recipes

Working and playing in the cold weather can build up your appetite. So here are a few cozy (and hearty!) meals you can make to keep you warm and well-fed. Beef stew is one of our family’s favorites!

Winter Menu Plan

In today’s 2023 channel video update, I talk about my winter menu plan you can download, print out, and keep in your kitchen journal to help give you ideas on how to plan your family’s meals for the week. The menu plan is full of links to hearty dishes, which are perfect for the cooler weather, but you can also apply the ideas for each day of the week for any season of the year.

Master Herbal Recipes

Herbs are powerful, not only for culinary uses, but also for medicinal ones. You can use them to make a whole host of recipes and remedies that may help lessen the symptoms of what ails you. These home remedies include teas, oils, salves, tinctures, and syrups.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or medical professional. If you are not feeling well, please seek professional medical attention and medicine. And if you are thinking of supplementing your treatment with home remedies, be sure to talk to your medical professional about them. It’s important that you get the medicine and treatments you need to get back to good health. (Mary’s Nest Website Disclaimer Text)

What are Master Recipes?

I call the following recipes, “Master Recipes,” since you can use the recipe with any selection of herbs that you like. I fill out the printable recipe with the ingredients I use in my corresponding video, so you can try the herbs I selected for the master recipe first. Then, after you’ve tried out the recipe, you can switch the herbs out to use other ones that you’d enjoy or like to try.

The medicinal herbal tea master recipe is the easiest to get started with. Afterward, you can move on to oils, salves, tinctures, and syrups. Note that there’s something special and soothing about having a homemade syrup on hand when you have a tickle in your throat!

How to Create Your Prepper Pantry

If 2023 is the year that you resolve to create your Prepper Pantry, I have an extensive collection of videos to get you started. Here are the first three in my series that talk about:

• Why you need a Prepper Pantry
• How to stock your Prepper Pantry with real food
• How to stock your Prepper Pantry on a budget

When you budget five dollars a week to stock your Prepper Pantry, it’ll take time for you to build up your supplies. If you have the budget and want to accelerate the process of stocking your Prepper Pantry, I show you how in the following video, which also includes a free inventory checklist you can download.

Whether quickly or over time, I hope you’ll resolve to create a well-stocked Prepper Pantry in 2023 to help you and your family weather any unexpected events like the ones we encountered in 2020.

Previous Channel Updates

Can you believe it’s 2023 already? If you’d like to look back for a bit of nostalgia or a glimpse into the topics that were important to us over the last few years, here are my channel updates for 2022 and 2021.

Looking for Beef Bones for Bone Broth?

If you’re ready to start your traditional foods journey by making your first batch of bone broth, you’ll want to use beef bones from grass-fed beef. If you can’t find beef bones in your neighborhood supermarket or farmer’s market, check out US Wellness Meats for their wide selection of beef bones, grass-fed beef, and chicken feet, which will ensure your bone broth is high in collagen.

• Use discount code MARYNEST and my link to save 15% off regular-priced items on your US Wellness Meats order. You can shop for a variety of products, including:
  • Beef Bones
  • Grass-Fed Beef
  • Free-Range Whole Chickens
  • Bone-in Pork Chops
  • Chicken Feet

This post is not sponsored. I’m a long-time customer of US Wellness Meats because I have always been impressed by the quality of their products. Check out my US Wellness Meats unboxing video to see the types of products you can get, including bones for beef bone broth!

Grind Your Own Flour with the Mockmill

In my 2023 channel update, I talk about one of my favorite kitchen tools, the Mockmill electric grain mill. Since I store whole grain in my Prepper Pantry, I need a way to turn the grain into flour for baking or for use in other recipes. I have a manual grain grinder, but I much rather use an electric one.

After I did A LOT of research, I decided to buy a Mockmill. And am I so happy I did! The Mockmill is a very affordable but beautifully crafted German-made mill that stone grinds grain with settings ranging from 1 to 10—fine to coarse ground grain.

And I have great news! The folks at Mockmill are very kind to offer my viewers and readers a special one-time discount on any of the grain mills that they sell.

• Use my affiliate link for a special one-time 5% discount on Mockmill Stone Grain Mill products, including Ancient Grains, like Einkorn, Emmer, and Spelt. (The discount will appear when you checkout.)

Note: You can also get the new Flake Lover’s Flaker from Mockmill. Using this device, you can flake whole grain in minutes.

You can see me unbox and try out the Mockmill 100 Grain mill in the following video. (This is not a sponsored post, I bought the Mockmill products that I show you, and I’m a happy user of their devices in my kitchen.)

Masontops Mason Jar Fermentation Kit Discount Coupon

In my video update, I talk about fermenting as one of the areas that I’ll focus on in 2023. Although you don’t need any special equipment to start making ferments, the Masontops kit can help you simplify the process and enable you to create your ferment successfully. In my Masontops unboxing video, I show you my Masontops Complete Mason Jar Fermentation Kit and go over everything the kit includes.

• Use promo code MARYSNST for a one-time 15% off Masontops and Breadsmart products on Amazon.com. (This is not a sponsored post. Masontops provided me with a special discount code for my viewers. I like their products, and I think you will too.)

Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List

For an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This comprehensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!

Kitchen Academy Videos

Are you looking for more traditional foods videos? If so, I invite you to join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members of this optional paid YouTube community get access to exclusive videos, live streams, and other members-only perks. Plus, your YouTube comments include a special members-only badge.

In the following members-only video, I talk about the homemade dog food I made to help my dog Indy who has a chicken allergy. I’m amazed that a dog can have a chicken allergy, but I am glad that I found a combination of ingredients that has helped his symptoms.

Stay in Touch with Mary’s Nest

1. Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
2. Subscribe to Mary’s Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
3. Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy (Optional Paid) - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
4. Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook (Optional Paid) - Get a printed book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.

I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!

Trending Posts on Mary’s Nest

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Shop for items used in this blog post or video

Favorite Prepper Pantry Supplies

• Wireless Fridge and Freezer Exterior Thermometer
• Life Straw
• Water Disinfection Tablets
• Water BOB Tub Liner
• Cast Iron Trivet
• Tea Lights
• Glass Kettle
• Manual Can Opener
• Battery Powered Can Opener
• Long Lasting Ice Packs
• Igloo Cooler
• YETI Cooler
• Electric Cooler
• Jackery Solar Power Station
• Jackery Portable Solar Panels
• 10 Gauge Power Cord
• Kill A Watt EZ
• Hand Crank Flashlight
• High Powered Flashlight
• Hand Crank Emergency Radio

Favorite Kitchen Supplies

• Favorite Aprons
• Spice Grinder
• Countertop Burner (On my kitchen island in many recipe videos.)
• Handheld Vacuum Sealing System
• Vacuum Lids
• Whisk
• Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
• Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
• Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
• Flour Sack Towels
• pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)

More Kitchen Supplies with Discount Codes

• Mockmill Grain Mill (for making homemade flour)

Learn more about Mockmill electric grain mills for making fresh flour and their Flake Lover's Flaker that flakes whole grain in minutes.

• Masontops Fermentation Kit

Use promo code MARYSNST for a one-time 15% off Masontops and Breadsmart products on Amazon.com.

Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide

• Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
• Visit my Shopping Guide page
  Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Lehman's, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, Plan to Eat, and More!

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