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grumpygreenwitch · 4 years ago

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Summer Gardening.

So it’s been a while, and for that I apologize to the... 200+ people who follow me. I’m sure y’all are here for the cat pics and the nekked men, but TOO BAD. Today you get to suffer through pics of my green children. Also, I do share seed. My seed list link will be up later in the year. To begin with, the summer flowers are out en force:

Echinacea Purpurea, the original echinacea. I do save yearly seed from these guys, although it’s an incredibly pointy, stabby and bleed-y job.

Mountain Phlox. Unfortunately, all of it around the house is afflicted with powdery mildew, so I will not share seed. But it’s still pretty to look at, and the clearwings (hummingbird moths) love it. Not pictured is the white variant, who grows on the other side of the house. Look, it was hot and I was already melting.

Peppermint Balsam. This thing is basically indestructible, for an annual. It will reseed freely (to truly Lovecraftian levels) and blooms continuously from late spring until mid-fall, when the seed-pods set. There is a dormant genetic in it for double flowers, but when it pops up it’s always been sterile. It just pops up occasionally from the peppermint seed.

I may give the roommate hell over the hostas (I hate them. They’re so useful to protect toads and control weeds, but I hate them), but they do put out pretty flowers. There are several variants around the house - white-edged, blue and green, but hostas in general are very, very hard to start from seed. I will save it on request, only. We were also incredibly lucky to have a Moth Mullein sprout in our porch bed, along with some Variegated Solomon’s Seal.The SS doesn’t put out seeds, and I don’t have enough to share bulbs (yet), but the mullein has been exceptionally generous with seed pods, and it repels bugs. It repels ROACHES. It’s going everywhere. And I may be convinced to part with some seed.

Onward!

A view from a hill. Can you see the garden? That’s OK, I can’t either. Those are peach trees, on the side of the orchard closest to the house. Unfortunately a freak storm during early spring killed all the blossoms. Also, don’t mistake ‘orchard’ for ‘organized’. There’s a pear, some apples, a plum, some nectarines? And front and center are two walnuts. I’ll probably be plunking my laurel there to see if it survives winter. And someday when I have a job and money again, I would like to drop a few Chicago Hardy figs, and maybe a kiwi trellis.

This is the big garden (and fortunately not my responsibility, or I would cry). The guys are ‘handling’ it. The weeds say otherwise.

The jasmine tree and the roommate’s garden. Because of a bad back injury that refuses to heal, I’ve been helping them on and off with it. And if you thought jasmine was supposed to stay a delightful little bush, AHAHAHAHAH. Yes, that’s a light-post next to it. For size comparison.

MY CHILDREN. Please ignore the dead soccer ball. That’d be a dog toy.

Lemon balm, amaranth, and a new bed that I’ll be finishing off during fall, for use next year. The lemon balm is a permanent row - it will overwinter just fine, and it will even keep growing through the mildest part of December. Mine didn’t die back until a few solid days of sleet in January. Unfortunately the weed fabric under the amaranth turned out to be an old roll, and fell apart on me (no big, the whole point is for it to fall apart eventually), so the weeds have kinda eaten it alive.

Unfortunately, both cucumber beetles and blister beetles love the amaranth. Fortunately, it does not seem to give a damn. It’s an incredibly resilient plant, not minding weeds, bugs, flood or drought. We’ll see what the grain actually tastes like, but so far it’s looking like a good candidate for continuous growing.

The lemon balm is lemon-balming. Planted on a lark, it’s proven to be a fantastic wind-breaker - because it grows so early and so quick, it keeps the colder winds that come down through the hollow from my more fragile seedlings, like the lettuce, dill and cilantro. You can see here where the spent flower-heads are dying but there’s new growth underneath; I really have to get in there and behead it. It makes nice hot tea, meh cold tea, and hanging fresh bunches of it around the balcony keeps the skeeters off. It also seems to be a decoy for cabbage moths.

Canary Zinnia. The seed was sent to me as a gift with one of my seed orders, and this is my first year growing it. -If- I can save some, I’ll definitely be sharing and growing again. It’s a lovely plant, very sturdy, and the bees love it.

Dwarf Castor Oil. I don’t think there’s anything dwarf about it, but then I’m a short green witch myself, so maybe it’s all about perspective. Don’t let the pods lie to you, until they dry the spikes are relatively soft. However, it being castor oil, I don’t recommend it to anyone with ducks, chickens, goats, or anything that might accidentally try talking a nibble or pecking at the beans. I do, however, recommend them from jewelry if you know how to pierce things and so on. They are a gorgeous tiger-stripe pattern.

Say hello to the chard! Say goodbye to the chard! Nothing else, absolutely nothing else since the limas, has given me so much trouble. The deer love getting into my chard bed and destroying it (ergo all the forks). And once I managed to chase those off, the blister beetles showed up in force. This will be the last year I grow it - we just don’t eat enough of it to make it worth my while, and it only occasionally sold at the Farmers’ Market.

Red lettuce - Merlot and Lollo Vino, a combination of bought and saved seed. I planted a red romaine of some sort, too, but unsurprisingly it bolted in the heat. The darker reds of my favorites, though, keep bugs off them, keep deer from noticing them, and keep them from bolting. It’s just now threatening to, and at this point its kind of allowed. I need more seed for next year. Seed for this will likely be shared by the teaspoon-ful.

Calendula! I searched for a long time to find the plain ol’ calendula officinalis ancestor, rather than a cultivar where I would have no way of knowing if the medicinal principles would have been sacrificed for looks. It’s supposed to work well as poor man’s saffron (color, no taste), and I’m going to be soaking the heck outta my feet on it during winter. The plant is... not pretty. It gets leggy and the leaves get grotty very quickly. But it’s very sturdy and as long as you cut the flowerheads off as fast as you can, it’ll keep blooming until well into winter. I usually leave it to go to seed around late September.

Green cilantro seeds. You pick ‘em when they’re brown, but before they drop off the plant. Or you pick ‘em when they’re brown-ing, and put them in a paper bag so they’ll finish ripening there and you don’t end up with fifty wild cilantro plants in your garden >_> Most of the row is already gone, and I’ll be putting in a late dill crop in its place. No such thing as too much dill!

Don’t let lemongrass lie to you. Unless you tie it up, it will not grow up neat and tidy, as most grass does. Instead it will sprawl like a dramatic wilting Elizabethan lady and do its best to end up under your feet so you’ll feel bad about it. I just tie it up with a half-blade of grass; it dries up and withers away before it can hurt the plant.

I ordered pennyroyal seed because... Well, because it’s something one should have on hand, considering the way the world is going. What I got was Creeping Pennyroyal, which doesn’t care if you step on it (mint family), smells absolutely delightful, and has the most adorable, tiny purple flowers. I plan on harvesting, drying and sprinkling it everywhere in the crawlspace under the house. Making war on cave crickets, wood roaches, and other such sundries, me.

The thyme and Spicy Oregano took a beating in the heat, but they’re slowly bouncing back. The bed behind them is more pennyroyal, desperately in need of weeding, but there’s only one of me, y’know.

SIGH. Just. You absolute, ill-mannered monster of a creature. That would be horseradish, gloriously happy to be alive, as horseradish should be. Also, NOT IN ITS BASKET. Because never mind the rules, I guess.

I don’t even know how I’m gonna dig that up come winter. With some construction equipment, I GUESS.

Decorative gourd! It’s the only one producing so far, but being the seed was 10+ years old, I’m very pleased.

And an apple gourd (I think?), from a mixture of drying gourds that was only slightly less ancient. Snake, apple and birdhouse gourds. There’s a bunch of them competing in the basket at this point, we’ll see what we will see.

And this, I think, is a great use of a dead canopy frame (the dogs ate the canopy. No, I’m not making it up.) I hope to coax the gourds to grow me a lil’ roof so I can sit in shade, surrounded by pennyroyal anti-skeeter barriers, eating my maters.

My Peter Peppers (nrehehehehe) aren’t producing yet - it takes them a while. But my Chinese 5-Color are getting started. It’s a lovely pepper, both edible and ornamental, with (so I’m told) about four times the heat of a Jalapeno. They’re tiny, with deep purple undertones to the plant. They’ll go purple-white-yellow-orange-red.

The bullhorns, on the other hand, are fairly sizable SWEET peppers on very tiny plants, and I honestly suggest staking them while they’re young so they grow a sturdy trunk, else you might end up with all of them growing at a slant.They’re just now beginning to turn colors. Keeping in mind I’m virulently allergic to peppers (less so sweet than hot, but allergic to all of them), the roommate loves ‘em.

It’s a small pepper bed - mainly to refresh my seed on the hots, and to grow sweets for the roommate. Pardon the nekked bed, the autumn lettuce hasn’t sprouted yet. And yes, that’s a mixed basil/dill bed next to it. My basil grew in patchy holes (NEVER buying from those seed people again), so I filled the holes with dill. Unfortunately, dill seed heads are so fine that they’re hard to photograph well.

The tomato row. After arguing with them for this long, I went the extra mile. Every plant has a metal stake. There’s also a double line growing at the top supporting the stakes so they don’t fall over. And they still fell over. Because why not, you unruly children, why not.

Green, white, pink and brown cherry tomatoes. Delicious!

Two kinds of cucumbers, some of the only decent shots of the dill seed-heads, and a special guest hiding in the shade. I usually plant dill as soon as the cucumber sprouts, to keep cucumber beetles off it. Otherwise I’d have no cucumbers and a lot of fat beetles.

The Muncher is a small cucumber, somewhat delicate. It’s very sensitive to temperature changes, and it’s candy to cucumber beetles - basically, it’s impossible to grow it without a heavy curtain of dill, or a heavy duty decoy. This year I got lucky enough to have both. It’s also delicious pickled, keeping its crunch and getting a good ooomph in flavor.

The Japanese Long is, as the name implies, long. It’s also incredibly bitey, and absolutely scrumptious. It’s sweet! And unlike the average cucumber, it does not go metallic when salted.

And now for the SPECIAL CHILD OF MY HEART. Seriously. I have been lusting after Blue Tea Peas since I first saw them offered, and every single time they’d be sold out pretty much the day of. This year I finally got some and... remember me mentioning that freak freeze that killed the peach blossoms? Yeah. Guess what it also killed. But two plants soldiered on. I have them heavily shielded by the cucumbers, dill and chamomile, and really I have no words for the blue. Pics don’t do it justice. I won’t have the tea this year, I’m saving as much seed as I can, but I am so pleased to have it at all!

Last, but not least, and it’s a poor shot of it, the chamomile. I cannot drink chamomile to sleep - it does put me to sleep, but it also gives me bad dreams. I plan on using it as a skin wash for all the bug bites, along with the calendula, and to give me some respite from dry skin during winter.

Stay green! See you in fall! Now back to our normal schedule of frogs, cats and nekked men!

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this-lioness · 4 years ago

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Weekend Update, Admittedly a Bit Late

I am in a mood today, so forgive me for just brain dumping. Hoping it will improve my outlook.

Well, we put off both sushi-making and counter-refinishing this weekend because Saturday was going to be (and was) so, so nice. We did get sushi from Q-Mart, which satisifed me just fine.

We were on a hunt for dwarf cherry trees, but the overall pickings for fruit trees of any kind are pathetic right now. I suspect everyone is gussying up their back yards right now, hence the shortage. Failing that, I’ve since ordered something called a “columnar apple tree”, which we should be able to grow in pots in the back. We ordered one so far, and will get another -- of a slightly different variety -- once they’re back in stock, so they’ll be able to cross-pollinate.

Picked up some additional goodies for the garden, and filled up those five garden bags I got off Amazon. Really liking those, I think next year I’ll get more of those instead of the buckets.

So right now we’re growing the following: Regular tomatoes (x2) Candyland tomatoes Red bell peppers (x2) Eggplant (x3) Zucchini Cucumber Pinto beans Corn Jalapenos Tobasco peppers Watermelon Acorn squash Onions (still not sure what kind, but I guess we’ll find out!) Parsley, Oregano, Basil and Catnip Sweet mint and chocolate mint Lavender Citronella Strawberries Plus the resident blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.

We still have the fig tree, and it still appears to be alive, but it’s in an extended dormancy. It would be nice if it leafed out and sprang back, but we really don’t know what’s up with it.

The new garden bench arrived as well, so while Marc was assembling it I scrubbed the old one back to a nice bright white and we brought it over to my Mom’s, along with a big hanging flower basket for the front. This weekend we’re going to go over and install some white lattice around the front porch, and I’m going to power-wash the siding. You can see a certain pride of home ownership in them now, which feels nice. Jim wanted more flower baskets because a neighbor across the street had some out, and he needed to show them up. Her veggies and herbs appear to be doing pretty well, too.

Their freezer came in yesterday! We brought it over and got it all set up, so some time this week I’ll probably take my Mom to BJs to stock up on Stouffer’s meals, which she is already excited about. She’s really keen to use it, which makes me happy. She’s also going to go through all her Christmas ornaments and sort out a smaller quantity to keep so that we can sell the rest. I actually plan on doing the same with ours tonight. More room in the attic, less to fuss with at Christmas.

Jim is not walking very well, in part because he’s 86 and in part because he absolutely refuses to do any kind of exercises or physical therapy that would actually help him regain some mobility. He’s finally conceded to a transport chair, so I spent quite a bit of time researching and pricing them. They sell basic ones at Walmart for like $150, but he’s 6′2″ and with long legs, so most anything “regular” doesn’t fit him. It also has to be collapsible and light enough for a 5′1″ woman (that’s me) to get it into and out of her trunk without too much hassle.

I (think I) finally found one that will fit him comfortably, however, and now it’s on order.

With any luck he’ll like it more than he hates it, and we’ll be able to take him to the lake and for little outings. At the worst he’ll despite it but he’ll suck it up for short trips to the doctor.

The greenhouse arrived today as well, and Marc has snuck off to start the assembly ahead of some expected wind and rain. We’re also waiting on the delivery of a small fountain / water spout for the front pond, as the original is really at the end of its lifespan.

Oh, that’s the other thing! While we were out looking for cherry trees we found a “bird feeding station” at one of the nurseries. They’re normally between $400 - $500 online, but this one was just $220, and I talked them down to $200.

Basically it’s an iron arbor with some miscellaneous bits and pieces to hold bird feeders. Instead we installed it in the back, straddling two of the blackberry beds, and are using it to hang any veggies that we don’t have room for on the ground (as well as the catnip, to keep it from getting loved to death.)

The berries are coming along nicely, in a bit of a bid for who wants to ripen first. Marc helped me assemble some home-made bird scares out of CDs, tin-foil and laminated brightly-colored paper with drawn-on eyes. I hope it works, although once things start ripening I may need to keep a closer eye on things. I am highly suspicious of birds.

Just the same, I cleaned out two of our old feeders, bought two more, and we filled them and hung them out front for the birds to enjoy. Maybe if we keep them fat on seed they won’t fuss around in the back (although I suspect Fidget has a lot to do with that as well.)

It’s been really nice to see the garden growing... little plants I had doubts about are getting tall and plucky. They love to grow. Sometimes we just like to walk around and check on everything, identifying the new bugs that are showing up to pollinate or just live in this tiny ecosystem we made. My cityboy husband marvels on the regular how much he’s learned, and how much he loves the garden, its maintenance and care.

I have been having some... health frustrations for the past year and change. They’re not serious, that I know of, but they have been greatly affecting my sense of self and well-being, and as time goes on and they don’t resolve it’s just getting more and more stressed out. The only medical solution may be worse than the problem itself, so I’ve spent a lot of time today trying to get hold of a doctor or counselor or someone who can point me in the right direction, and won’t just keep giving the same trite advice without actually running tests on me. I almost bit the bullet and took the damn pill they were recommending, but upon calling the pharmacy discovered it’s almost $120 a month. For something that 1) May not work and 2) May actually make me feel worse. Yay.

So no.

I have a virtual visit with an endocrinologist on the 22nd, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m tired of feeling like I’m living in someone else’s body, and that everyone’s response is basically to shrug and say, “Oh well, guess you should just suck it up forever.”

Today I made some banana applesauce muffins, and they were good.

Other than that, everything seems to be well. Cats are fat and obnoxious and happy. So are we, I suppose!

#personal

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mwcowan · 5 years ago

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Mark and Georgia’s Big Trip

Chapter Fourteen – Happy Easter!

It’s Easter morning as I write this, still Saturday evening to you in the States. It’s very quiet here as I suppose it is for all of you. I think this is especially a shock for the Philippines as Holy Week is one of the biggest celebrations of the year. Normally all of the Philippines, except maybe restaurants, resorts, and hotels, is closed down for the whole week and everyone is off work or school. A country-wide party, with many traveling for visits with family, or to take a special vacation. It’s normally the busiest week of the year here at Kawayan Cove, filled to capacity and with a daily schedule of family events, special menus, etc.. I’d looked forward to seeing this different face, but just like for you, it’s quiet as we maintain our quarantine. We’re just planning a relaxed day, and maybe cook a few special dishes (and in Filipino style much more than necessary)! We hope you are all still healthy and safe and have a wonderful day!

We’re just hanging out, we hope in relative safety, finding things to do around the house. I’ve heard from a few of you that you’ve finally had time to get around to cleaning out your closets and things like that, but being in a brand-new house our closets haven’t gotten to that point yet. And if they did, we have someone to do it for us… as I found out when Georgia decided to have Pina rearrange her closet and I suddenly found I’d lost half of mine!

Jungle Arts and Crafts

Got Georgia some coconut shells, and she potted plants in them. So boring…

Although my craft efforts were slowed somewhat as I had to make more tomato cages, I’ve had time to complete more wind chimes as well. Here are my two favorites hanging from our Mambog tree – the one on the left wins for artistic merit as I like the clam shell for the ‘wind catcher’ and the bonker is a round-ish piece of coral. Not the best chime though as the clam shell is pretty heavy and it takes a pretty strong gust for this one to chime. The one on the right wins for most musical. I used smaller bamboo, and cut the lengths in ½” intervals to make sort of a scale, then hung them in a line with a horizontal bamboo bonker. This one makes a nice higher-pitched chime and is very active in a light breeze.

I got back to the “boo” drumset. If you remember, on my second try I produced a pleasantly tuned drum. Not sure what it’s tuned to, but it’s pleasant. I thought about the variables though (minimally bamboo diameter and shape, thickness, weight, tongue length and width) and concluded that it would be nearly impossible (with my available tools, not to mention my ears) to actually ‘tune’ a set to specific or even relative notes. So, I decided that I could make a giant wind chime instead – if I could make six or so and hang them so that the bonker strikes each drum in the right spot I’d have a real nice, mellow chime. I set out to make a few more drums but I found another variable, and I have no idea what it is. If I follow the guidelines for tongue length, I find some drums just don’t seem to resonate no matter what I do. Maybe there are cracks in the body I can’t see? Also I’ve had more than one crack after I’ve made the cuts for the tongue. So, at the moment, after 8 tries, I have only two with nice tones, one that’s almost there, and 5 failures. Oh well, I have plenty of bamboo. And time.

One project that I haven’t yet shared is this table. It started with a large pot we picked up back in the days when we could still drive around. We put it on the small deck outside the guest bedrooms as a decoration, but then thought we could make it into a little table by having a glass top made. Next step was to build a ‘false bottom’ inside the pot a few inches from the top, grab a bucket of sand from the beach, and display the shells we’ve collected from the beach here and around the Philippines. Note the white cowry in the middle, which I found in Kawayan Cove. That’s its natural color (it’s not sun-bleached), and is really a beautiful shell, translucent pearly white with a purplish undertone. Its common name is the egg cowry (has a Latin name of “ovum-something”). Unfortunately it’s not rare, but it’s a nice centerpiece for our table. This is our favorite place for our morning coffee.

Phil Pharming

We’ve also been doing a lot of gardening, both decorative and functional. For the decorative part, all nurseries here are closed of course, but that hasn’t stopped us from taking walks with pruning shears in hand. We’ve picked many cuttings of plants and trees compliments of our neighbors (it’ll all regrow before they can get here again!) and are rooting and planting them around the yard. In the absence of our landscaper we’re making good progress at a very affordable price. Maybe more on our decorative gardens in a future chapter.

It’s also been time to plant a lot of our vegetable seedlings. Since the area we’ve designated as our main veggie garden is still unusable because of the incomplete landscaping, we’ve been planting at various places in and around the homestead. Removing a strip of grass from the bottom and side of the back yard gave me a place to put bell peppers, jalapenos, zucchini, tomatoes, and basil. Note those fine jungle tomato cages!

Ranny’s utilized a spot around a large taluto tree which grows right smack on our property line (we diverted a retaining wall around the tree to save it). Here he has camote (sweet potato), lemongrass, green beans, and on the outside (neighbor’s property) some cucumbers. On the other side of the house (on another neighbor’s property) he’s growing bok choy and varieties of bell peppers and chilis. He’s quite a pharmer!

The Weather, it’s a-Changin’

When we got here in January, we had consistent winds from the west and southwest, with mild temperatures (mid to high 80’s), low humidity, little rain, and puffy white clouds. These are the characteristics of Amihan, or the northeast monsoon. At this time, the winds blow clockwise around a stationary high northeast of the Philippines, drawing cool air from Siberia and Manchuria and blowing it across the Philippines from the southwest.

For a few weeks the winds were confused, back and forth, and a couple times not blowing at all which produced some pretty warm (up to 95 deg.) and humid days, and the “orange ball sinking into the sea but otherwise featureless” sunsets. But the winds are now settling into blowing from the northeast or east, signifying the coming of Habagat, the southwest monsoon. The high has moved southwest and the circulating airflow brings warmer, moister air from the equator across Southeast Asia and the Philippines. Habagat is the hotter, more humid season, by June-July it becomes the rainy season, by September-October the typhoon season. Here on the west coast we see the winds as having changed from an onshore to an offshore pattern, and in the last week we’ve started to have afternoon rain showers, which are welcome. With the breezes the temperatures have moderated again, with consistent highs of 89 +/- 1 degrees. Inland it will be getting hotter and more humid, but here by the ocean it should remain comfortable. As long as we don’t run out of San Miguel.

With the afternoon showers come some clouds, which have given us back our gorgeous sunsets. It was hard to pick Sunset of the Week, but here’s my favorite.

Happy Easter everyone, take care, stay healthy!

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raisingsupergirl · 5 years ago

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Joy in Understanding: Homemade Sushi and Halloween Shenanigans

For as long as I can remember, I've struggled to defend my deep involvement in so many things—both to myself and to others. Why divide my time when joy is right in front of me? When it has been served up for me without complication or distraction. Of course, the simple answer is that joy, itself, is an elusive thing. It is relative. It is fleeting. Its sources change from day to day. But the more honest answer is that some people can find enjoyment in all kinds of things, from simple to complex, without understanding them. But for me (and others like me), joy comes only after comprehension, after glimpsing the soul of the thing—the mastery of the thing—if only for a moment.

Most recently, I decided to try my hand at making one of my favorite foods: sushi. I had no delusions that the result would be passable anywhere other than my rural, Missouri home (or maybe a cheap buffet), but I knew that the attempt would help me better appreciate the culture, process, expertise, and artistry that define it. And with Halloween on the horizon, the experience has revitalized my appreciation for the spirit of seemingly frivolous pursuits.

There are many who will understand me. Those who "stop and smell the roses." Those who crochet, fish from the bank, and garden… I mean really garden. Not those who claw at potting soil and smash disposable decorations into the earth, but those who take time to enjoy the act for what it is—for the pure enjoyment of putting your hands on a creation that is both simple and complex beyond words. And I truly believe that we all start out this way. We look at each object and event and ask, "Why?" But somewhere along the way, we quit asking and start demanding. We don't have time to wonder because the taxman doesn't wait for dreamers. But at the end of his life, even the taxman asks, "Why?" And so, we come back to my weekend dedicated to learning something new when so many other things needed to get done.

_____. It means ____ in Japanese. I know this now because I read it. And I watched an hour-long video about it. And I repeated it and practiced it. I'm not Japanese. I've never been to Japan, or to any Asian country. I have no practical reason to learn about Japanese culture or history. But something about it all speaks to me. The quiet respect for nature. The simple, inner appreciation despite outward chaos. It can be found anywhere if you look hard enough, but it's glorified in the art of sushi. And so, I decided to try and understand that art just a little better.

Unfortunately, like all things worth doing, making sushi is far more complex than it looks on the surface. I spent hours reading articles, collecting ingredients, practicing techniques, and sharpening knives. For those of you wondering, I made fresh spring rolls, tuna nigiri, smoked salmon nigiri, a tuna roll (tuna and wasabi), a spicy tuna roll (tuna, wasabi, jalapeno, cream cheese, Sriracha mayo), a California roll (crab claw meat, avocado, cucumber, Sriracha mayo), a Philly roll (smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado), and two veggie rolls (red/yellow bell pepper, cucumber, avocado, radish) accompanied by pickled ginger, wasabi, sweet chili sauce, hibiscus tea, miso soup, plum wine, and sake. And while my first attempt was much better than expected, it was still far from satisfactory. I need sharper knives, I had to use sherry and sake as a substitute for mirin in the rice marinade, I needed slightly more water in the rice cooker, and the wasabi was hotter than expected, but I still count it as a success. Mostly because it was still delicious according to my lovely wife and kids, but also because the experience was almost spiritual. The whole time, I was fully engaged. I was focused on the task. I played traditional Japanese music in the background. I wore a ridiculous Asian-looking robe. Every slice was precise, and every arrangement was intentional. I bought in to the whole thing. And I loved every minute of it.

It reminded me of the peace I find with my fish tanks. As the owner of Aquarium Co-Op once said (and I'm adlibbing here), "If you understand how to balance a planted tank, you're once step closer to understanding how to balance nature." We're just one part of this world. Sure, we're made in God's image. And sure, we're at the top of the food chain. But we would be nothing without the dirt beneath our feet. And no matter how big we grow, our every breath still depends on the things we can't even see.

Life isn't about winning. It's not about being the best. It's not even about being happy all the time. It's about appreciation. It's about honoring life in all of its complexity. It's about facing fears and conquering the unknown. Otherwise, we're left in the darkness. And while some can pretend that the shadows are a satisfying reality, most of us need to step into the light to truly appreciate what God has created for us.

So don't be afraid to try new things like sushi. And don't be afraid to celebrate frivolous holidays like Halloween. Find joy in the silly costumes, cold hayrides, and overused pumpkin spice. Because it's all just another experience in the wildly complex adventure that is humanity. It's fleeting, and it's forgettable. But that doesn't mean it's unimportant. Like sushi, it seems simple but is, in fact, wonderfully complex. It allows us to appreciate our own existence in a way that's so easy to forget as an adult. So take a moment to truly understand and appreciate the simple things, because, before you know it, those moments will be gone, and there'll be no time left to ask, "Why?"

#sushi #sushi-maki #nagiri #spring rolls #foodie #asian food #halloween #adventure #momblr #dadblr #mumblr

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mielikki-austin · 3 years ago

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This week has been mostly free of any dramatic photo opportunities, so it will probably be a lot of cats and plants this week. 1. Chili pequin - this is a plant that showed up at the base of one of our front yard trees and I was SO STOKED when I saw it because I thought I knew what it was, and turns out I was correct! It's the species 'Capsicum annuum', which makes it the same species as the bell pepper- and the jalapeno, and the New Mexico chile, and the cayenne pepper- evidently these are all different cultivars of the same plant. Anyway, this is one that grows wild, and I was so bummed when an arborist mowed down one we had pop up last year. But then this one showed up so I put bricks around it to make sure it didn't get accidentally mowed, and now it has about five million of these tiny peppers, which can be eight times as hot as a jalapeno. And what will I do with them? Probably nothing! I am a wimp when it comes to spice. Last year a friend gave me a cayenne pepper plant that did marvelously, and it was frustrating because I had no idea what to do with all the hot peppers. So why am I so stoked that this plant showed up? I'm not really sure, other than I think it's just super cool when food grows up out of the ground without me having to do anything. It's like magic. And being able to identify it means that I have at least somewhat decent skills as a forager, which will keep me alive during the zombie apocalypse. Perhaps I will be able to trade my hot peppers for a chicken or a flint and steel or a bolt of gingham or some shit.

2. Mylo in the window - New guy has settled in well. He is such a bigger asshole than our older cat Tycho, and Tycho is a pretty big asshole. Mylo is younger and even aside from that I think he's just more energetic. He's small and compact and looks like a little cat version of a bandy-legged bulldog. He tears around the house like his tail is on fire. He gets in to everything. He's only just started getting used to our smooth floors; I think he had carpet at his former home because he had a lot of comedic crashes as his momentum caused him to slide unexpectedly. One of the ways he brakes when he runs into something suddenly is by sitting up on his back legs like a meerkat. If I can ever get a picture of this, I can die happy. Anyway, here he is, behind a plant.

3. Two planters - Eric built a second planter, identical to the one you saw a couple of weeks ago. The first holds all of my purple salvias (sages), and the new one holds my purple ruellias (petunias) which are not blooming much now, but will when they get established from what I know of them. I had a stick of one of the tall ones in a glass jar in my garden window (the one the cat is in the picture above) and it was covered in purple flowers throughout most of the winter last year.

4. Passion flower - remember these from the side of the house in Richardson? We joked that the deeply-lobed leaves looked like pot leaves, and then they got these crazy blooms on them that look like UFOs. I remember that and have always wanted to try growing them, so we got a plastic arbor for them to grow up, and I ordered a little plant from an online nursery. It's been growing slowly all summer, but it finally bloomed. The flowers are as weird-looking as I remembered. And apparently they make fruits that are at least somewhat edible! I'll let you know if that's the case.

5. New snake! - So, in researching all of these plants for the yard, I've gotten a yen to try to make an enclosure for my tiny Florida kingsnake JJ that has living plants in it. This will take a big aquarium, and a lot of times people have them and decide they're sick of dealing with having fish and get rid of them, the same way people do with boats or motorcycles. I was hoping to find a 75 gallon one, but instead I found another snake. This was the kind of snake I had hoped to get when I bought JJ, but these have gotten very popular, and are thus harder to find and a lot more expensive. But the lady who owned this one was moving in to take care of her grandmother who did not want a snake in the house, so she was unloading it for cheap, and I could not resist. She said he was pretty nippy, which kingsnakes are known for- not because they're mean, but because they love to eat and assume everything is food. This is a good thing, because while snakes are pretty easy pets to keep, the main thing that goes wrong is that they stop eating- and you don't know if it's because they're sleepy, or still full from their last meal, or don't like what you're feeding them, or they're sick. It's very frustrating. But that never happens with these guys! And I'm not sure if she was just really timid with him, or if he just senses my inner peace but he hasn't tried to bite at me so far. His name is Reggie, short for Regulus.

Stay cool! Football is starting soon!

#weeklydadletter

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peacefulheartfarm · 4 years ago

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Sheep Breeding

Breeding sheep is one of the most enjoyable enterprises on our homestead. Sheep were the first animals we introduced back in 2010. They have been a central part of our operation since then. I’ll talk about that today.

Welcome new listeners and welcome back veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. Thank you all so much for listening. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

Before we get to the sheep, what else is going on here on the homestead?

Creamery

The holes in the walls are still being filled in by Scott. Who knew it was going to take this much time to complete that task? Well, the building is rather large and parts of it are very high. That requires special ladders and scaffolding and such to be able to reach the tallest parts of the walls. Additionally, Scott is finishing the concrete block walls in such a way that they resemble stucco. It takes a bit more time and effort but the result is quite beautiful. I’m very pleased with the effect. I can’t wait to see it painted. Maybe a nice off-white stucco color to enhance the look. We shall see. I actually leave color decisions to Scott. I have no head for decorating. Thank God he has a wonderful head for it. Everything he builds reflects his eye for beauty, symmetry, style, color and so much more.

Quail

We now have seven breeding sets of quail. Count them, seven. We made a day of it. Somewhere along the line we lost one that I didn’t know about. The final count in the penthouse was 56 birds. We processed 32 of them and kept 24 additional birds for eggs.

Fowl or Foul?

After finishing the processing, we went back out to their cages and took every single bird out of their cages. Scott spent lots of time cleaning up those cages and getting them sanitized for the winter. Have you even wondered why birds are called fowl? Well there is another spelling of the word foul and it has to do with awful smells. I tend to think that this is why birds are referred to as fowl. All birds have to have their roosts, cages and runs cleaned regularly. Otherwise, they smell foul. Well, there is always some smell from time to time no matter what you do. Take that into consideration when planning the location of your chicken and/or quail homes.

Lighting

Another addition to the quail housing was adding lights. They will now have light for 14 hours a day. That is what is required for them to produce eggs. The new girls have yet to lay a single egg and the older hens, 15 of them, were down to producing no more than six to eight eggs per day. Even that would have dropped to zero or nearly zero in the near future. Inadequate amounts of light make feeding your birds through the winter counter-productive.

There is an automatic timer on the lights. It comes on at 4 am and will stay on until 6 pm. So even on a dreary day like today, they have plenty of light. We use bulbs that produce the “daylight” spectrum of light. It’s not quite the same as most grow lights. Well, I take that back. I think lots of grow lights are going to the daylight spectrum to more closely emulate growing plants outdoors. The same for the birds. We want them to have as natural a light as possible.

Egg Production

Because we have seven sets of breeders, that means there are 35 hens out there. If those lights work like we hope, we could potentially have 35 eggs per day in a couple of weeks. It will take at least a week and perhaps two for the light to affect their egg production. In addition to the light, they get lots of good nutrition and supplements to make sure they have everything they need to be healthy and productive.

Donkeys

I got to say hi to the donkeys a couple of times in the last few days. I haven’t been seeing too much of them as my homestead tasks have led me elsewhere. It’s so good to see them up close and personal. And they are personal. Donkeys love humans. They love human attention. And we love giving it to them. It won’t be long and they will be getting another bit of attention that is not so popular with them, but necessary. Hoof trimming.

Yes, they need to get their toenails done. Scott handles the nail salon and I just offer comfort while the uncomfortable deed is accomplished. All are getting more and more used to it. Daisy nearly falls asleep while it’s going on where Johnny and Cocoa still have some real fear issues with it. They are getting better each time. We shall see how it goes this time. Maybe they will have completely overcome their fear just like Daisy and Sweet Pea.

Cows and Calves

The cow girls are doing fantastic. Rosie has integrated well into the herd. She is low-man on the totem pole, as would be expected. But she is getting along with everyone and thriving in her new environment. Scott is training her and retraining Cloud to come into the milking shed and stick their heads into the milking stanchion. This is in preparation for the vet to do pregnancy checks on all of the girls. The milking stanchions are very convenient for restraining our girls in comfort while medical checks and treatments are performed. I think I’ll ask Scott about cutting off Rosie’s horns too. Once she is used to putting her head in the stanchion, we can easily saw off those horns of hers. It’s quick and painless but she will definitely need to be restrained for her safety and ours.

Calf Weaning

We are nearing the time when the calves will be completely weaned. A week or so ago, I stopped giving them their second bottle of whole milk in the evening. At the present time they get ½ gallon of whole milk only in the morning. In the evening they get ½ gallon of skim milk. As soon as my stores of skim milk run out, they will only get whole milk in the morning. That will last for a week or so and then no milk at all.

Drying up the Milk Cows

We are still milking the big girls twice a day but that is about to change. Their milk becomes less and less as the days go on, the longer they go into their milking cycle. The quality of the milk also changes as they get later into their lactation cycle. Soon it will be time to dry them up. That means we will go to only milking once a day, then once every other day and finally stopping altogether. More details on that in a later podcast. We will start that process in a week or so.

Garden and Fruits

We are still waiting on that first frost. The garden is still going. Scott said he thought that first frost might come in the next couple of days, as soon as the rain from the remnants of hurricane Zeta stops. I didn’t want the lima beans to be soaked at the same time I was forced to pick them before a frost. So I did what any other sane homesteader would do. I rushed out there this morning before the rain started and picked everything. Literally, I pulled up the plant, stripped the bean pods and piled the spent plants to the side. It only took a little while and I’m glad to get that part done. The pods were actually still wet from the last rain we had from the remnants of hurricane Delta. At least I think that one was as hurricane. I have the beans laid out on newspaper to dry.

Lots of Storms

Can you believe the number of named storms this year? I think this is the first time in my 65 years that we have gone completely through the alphabet and now five letters, so far, into the Greek alphabet. We still have another month to go in the official tropical storm/hurricane season. Eleven have hit the US coast as either a tropical storm or hurricane. Most were relatively small. Tropical storms or category one or two hurricanes. Laura was a category 4 hurricane. I believe six storms have hit the gulf coast, mostly Louisiana. Pray for them. Even category one and two hurricanes can bring lots of water damage and some wind damage.

Okay, that was a bit of a tangent. Back to the garden. I also picked a few tomatoes. I know, I know. I’m supposed to be done with the tomatoes. But there were a few that looked really good so I snagged them. I have quite a few avocadoes in the frig and some guacamole always sounds good to me. It will be missing that lovely fresh cilantro taste as all of those plants died, but we will make do somehow.

Peppers and Celery

A couple of days ago I picked peppers yet again. I have plenty of jalapeno for the guac. I have so many peppers in the refrigerator. I really, really need to get cracking on getting the pepper jam completed and drying the rest in the dehydrator.

Speaking of dehydrating. I grew all of that celery to be dried as well. That needs to be harvested but I wasn’t too worried about it being wet. The wetness will help keep it fresh as I work my way through the entire crop. Other things on the dehydrating list include, basil, parsley, oregano and thyme.

Grapes and Strawberries

Scott brought me a few grapes to try out. They are muscadine. We get a few more each year, but still not many to speak of at this point in their maturity. Soon, very soon, that will change. Looking forward to making grape jam and maybe some muscadine wine.

The strawberries have survived the onslaught of weeds and are blooming once again. Those are tough little plants. I have a plan for them for next year. More on that later.

Sheep Breeding

Let’s talk about sheep breeding. A couple of days ago I was talking with Scott about the sheep breeding schedule and what we need to do to accomplish our goals. Well first was clarifying and getting on the same page with goals. We had already discussed this so it was a matter of recalling the final decision.

Ewe in Heat

A funny anecdote related to sheep breeding talk was the ewe that was eager to get started. Just about the time we were discussing our plan, this ewe was hanging out all by herself near the closet fence to the boys. She was really persistent. Number one, ewes nearly always stay together. Nobody goes off on her own. They are skittish and careful animals. But this young lady was actively looking for romance.

I walked almost right up to her before she moved away. I was walking down the travel lane on my way to bring up the cow girls for milking. And there she was, hanging out near the gate, mooning over the boys that she could see across the field, but could not get to. I walked up to her and she finally moved away a few feet. She walked along the lane for 20 feet or so, then she stopped and looked around at me to see if I was still coming. I was. She turned and went other 20 feet of so before stopping yet again, just to make sure I was still there and that it would be impossible for her to get around me. This ewe was really persistent. She continued this behavior all the way back to the main flock.

Persistent Ewe in Heat

She stayed with the rest of the flock while I rounded up the girls and began the trek back to the milking shed. About the time I got up to the holding area and closed the fence that keeps the cows in while they await their turn at milking, she was back down there at the corner mooning over the boys yet again. Don’t worry honey, you’ll get your chance in just a few more days the great switcheroo of animals will begin. The boys will stay with the girls for most of the winter. Sometime in late spring we will separate the boys again and put all of the girls back together. Then we await the most glorious event of spring. The birthing of lambs.

Which Ewes Will We Breed?

There are currently 12 ewes in the flock. We are going to breed four of them. These will be the four older ewes. That means we can expect up to eight lambs in the spring. We had ten last year, but that came about because we just bred all of them, young and old. A first-year ewe usually has a single lamb. And sometimes older ewes will have only one lamb as well. However, it is more common that the second year and each year thereafter, a ewe will have twins and sometimes triplets.

Last year, three of the older girls had twins, one older girl had a single, another older girl did not have one at all and all three of the young girls had singles. That was five older ewes. Since then we have eliminated the oldest ewe and will be going with the four ewes between three and five-years-old. This is the current makeup of our main breeder flock. The three younger ewes will not be bred again. The reason for that is Lambert, our new breeding ram, is a ½ sibling to two of them and full sibling to one of them. That simply won’t work if we want to maintain strong genetics.

What Will We Do?

In order to accomplish only breeding the four selected ewes, it means we need to bring them all in, separate the ones that will be bred from the rest of the flock and put these two groups into separate spaces. Then we bring up the boys and introduce them to the breeding ewes. We can put all of the boys in with the breeding girls because only one of them is still intact. That would be Lambert. He is our breeding ram. This will be his first season. I will pray that he does well. We could also put the boys other than Lambert in with the ewes that are not being bred this year. That would require a second routine to get Lambert separated from the other boys. Scott will make that call when we get to that point.

There are so many decisions that go into every activity on our homestead. Each one has pros and cons. Making the same decision one year may not be the same as the previous year. Circumstances are always changing. I was listening to Kanye West in his interview with Joe Rogan talking about how hard it is to farm. He is attempting to come up with better methods to provide good nutrition to the poorer population. Farming is so much more than putting some seeds in the ground and waiting for them to grow. The same with animals. It is so much more than just putting them out there in the pasture and watching them graze. Every decision is a well-thought-out plan to fulfill a current need. Those needs are always evolving. Some decisions turn out to be counterproductive. But there is always next year and new opportunities to improve.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for today’s podcast. I hope you enjoyed the trip around the homestead. It is always my pleasure to share our peace and joy with you. Perhaps you’ve gotten some new ideas on what to do for your own dreams and perhaps you just came along for the ride. In any case, we’ll keep you in the loop.

We are heading into late fall and winter. Likely I’ll slow down a little and perhaps only podcast a couple of times a month. The spring and summer are always so full. Slowing down for winter is just another way we work in harmony with nature.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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Visit our website Herd Share page

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ALSO READ MY PRODUCE GUIDES

The Ultimate Guide to Tomatoes

The Ultimate Guide to Cucumbers

Thanks so much for reading! Happy Cooking! ~Katie

This 10 Minute Gazpacho recipe will help use some of your tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers from the garden. Customize it how you like with fresh basil or cilantro. Add a kick with jalapeño pepper. And make it a bit fancy with garnishes like sliced cherry tomatoes, microgreens and mascarpone cheese.

Ingredients

2 large ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into quarters (about 1 ½ pound)

1 cucumber, cut into quarters

1 red or green bell pepper, cored and cut into large chunks

½ red onion, peeled, cored and cut into quarters

½ to 1 clove garlic, to taste, chopped

1 cup water

2 slices sourdough bread

½ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

additional flavor boosters: 1 small handful basil or cilantro leaves, 1 jalapeno chili, stemmed.

Optional garnishes: greek yogurt, crème fraiche or mascarpone. Microgreens, chopped cilantro or basil. Sliced cherry tomatoes and diced avocado. Toasted seeds or nuts.

Instructions

1. Set up work area with chopped vegetables, blender and a large bowl or pitcher for the final product.

2. Add about half of the ingredients (1 tomato, ½ cucumber, ½ bell pepper, ½ of the onion, garlic, ½ cup water, 1 slice sourdough, ¼ cup oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper) to the blender. If using additional flavor boosters add half of them to the blender. Pulse until the mixture liquefies, then run the motor continuously until desired smoothness. Transfer the gazpacho to the bowl or pitcher.

3. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and process to desired smoothness. Thoroughly mix the two batches together in the pitcher to ensure even distribution of the flavors. Chill if desired.

4. Divide among 4 bowls and top with optional garnishes.

https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/10-minute-gazpacho/

Katie Webster | HealthySeasonalRecipes.com

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My free ebook, The Best Weeknight Dinners, includes 15 of my family’s favorites — recipes and meals we go back to over and over again. It includes simple entrees you can make start to finish in 20 to 40 minutes. And all are made with simple to follow instructions and easy to find ingredients.

Thanks for signing up! Just check your inbox to confirm your subscription, and then look for a welcome letter from me, including a link to download your free ebook. Every week you’ll receive ideas and inspiration on how to incorporate more fabulous healthy seasonal recipes into your life!

Source: https://www.healthyseasonalrecipes.com/10-minute-gazpacho/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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thecoroutfitters · 7 years ago

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You have to love autumn. The leaves are changing, the air is cooling down, and the joy of the holiday season is right around the corner.

Fall is also a time to do your canning in preparation for winter. Now, if you live on a farm, you have to harvest what you have and can it, but if you’re an urban prepper who has to buy produce, then you have to plan a little better.

Unlike a farm garden that likely provides months, if not years, of food, urban preppers have to decide how much food will be necessary to get through the winter.

Then they have to decide how much you need to can based on how much space you have, how much money you have to spend on produce, how much time you have, and how much you want to invest in store-bought goods.

Then of course, you have to figure out what’s available.

So, let’s talk a little about what you need to do to optimize your fall canning plan.

These Are The Ingenious Recipes That Helped Our Ancestors Stay Alive!

Determine What’s Available

This is the first step that you need to take before making any kind of plans at all. Are you planning on making blueberry pie filling or strawberry jam? If so, you’re out of luck if you’re planning on sourcing your produce locally. Both of those are spring and summer crops and are already done for the season.

Blueberries peak in the spring in Florida, so I can’t find them locally now. Even though strawberries grow in some places as late as November, they’re a summer fruit and peak season for them is May and June, so you may have problems finding them locally. My point is to keep an eye on the seasons for the produce that you want to can.

Prioritize

As awesome as it would be to have unlimited space to store canned goods and unlimited funds to buy the produce, that’s not the reality for most of us. So, we have to decide what you want to can and what you’re willing to buy.

I would suggest making a list of foods that you eat the most during the winter months. Spaghetti, salsa, jalapeno peppers, pickles, vegetable or vegetable beef soup. Apple pies, apple sauce, strawberry jelly. Green beans, chili. Choose what you eat the most. Then decide how often you eat them.

Say you eat spaghetti once a week and there are four people in your family. You need at least a pint, if not a quart, or sauce for each time. It’s easy to figure – do you use the whole jar of Prego when you make spaghetti? If so, you use a quart.

Now, knowing that, go through and organize the foods you eat the most and figure out how much of them you need to get you through three months, six months, and a year.

Now that you know that eat a quart of spaghetti sauce a week, that’s four a month, which means 12 quarts in 3 months, 24 quarts in 6 months, and 48 quarts in a year. Remember that this is planning to eat it every single week. If there’s a pretty decent likelihood that you’ll skip a week here and there, then dial those numbers back by a few jars.

Now do the same with each of your top foods. And don’t forget the apple pie filling. As a matter of fact, include enough to give away few jars at Christmas! J

After you know what and how much you eat, it’s time to do a space analysis. Do you have enough space to store all of that for the amount of time that you want to cover? If not, it’s time to do two things. First, pick the ones that you absolutely want to can.

Maybe you have a favorite peach crisp recipe and store-bought peaches just won’t do. Nor, for that matter, is it easy to find canned peach pie filling. You have to buy canned peaches and it’s just not the same. Maybe you can’t stand the taste of mushy store-bought green beans. Put these must-have items at the top of your list.

Now that you’ve pared down the list, you have two options. You can make enough of those favorite items to get you through till next fall, or you can pick some items off of the non-must-have list to fill in some spaces to get you through a shorter time period. This is a good plan if you’re stocking up for a set amount of time, for instance, you want to have three months of food stockpiled.

Finally, you need to go through the non-essential list and decide which items are cheaper to buy at the store. I do love home-canned green beans, but unless they’re on your must-have list, I’d buy them at the store. It’s cheaper, especially if you use coupons, and it’s more efficient for you. It leaves you time to peel all those apples or blanch the tomatoes.

That’s one of the primary skills that you need to develop as an urban prepper – the value of store-bought over home-canned. You have limited space and, unfortunately, can’t grow thirty tomato plants for $20 like a rural prepper can so you have to take cost into consideration. That’s going to vary by location; for instance, I can buy cheap citrus fruits and strawberries dirt cheap because they’re grown right here.

Most of the non-citrus tree fruits, on the other hand – peaches, apricots, apples, cherries – are crazy expensive because they don’t grow down here.

Personally, I always choose to can tomatoes and apples if I can find them in bulk (sort of) at one of my local farmers markets because tomatoes are versatile – soups, sauces, salsas – and apples are expensive.

I also can entire meals in a jar, including vegetable soup, so that all I have to do is pour it in a pan and heat it up on nights that I don’t feel like cooking. As a matter of fact, a lot of my canned goods are either ready to eat or close enough.

Source

Now that you have an idea of what you want to can and what’s in season, you need to find a source. Honestly, I found my favorite two farmers markets and my U-Pick blueberry/strawberry farm on Facebook and by Googling “farmers markets near me.” A lot of times, you can also find them under community events if you go to your town’s website.

Look around at other towns that are within driving distance. If you live in a city but more rural places are within an easy drive, search those places too. It’s a guarantee that food is going to be cheaper at rural, local farmers markets. And you may find a food co-op, too. Score!

Finally, the best source of organic, safe food is … you. Do some container gardening. You’d be surprised by how many tomatoes you can grow right on your porch or balcony, and strawberry hangers are adorable. Plus, that’s basically free food.

Urban prepping is tough – a lot tougher than being a country prepper. I know, because I’ve been both. I worked harder when I lived on the farm, but I was also in better shape and had a real sense of accomplishment every time I popped open a jar of jam or sliced up a fresh jalapeno pepper for my homemade salsa. And those fresh eggs and milk!

But, that’s not my life right now, so I, like you, do the best I can to eat healthy foods and prepare myself for emergencies given my current living arrangements. And I look at it this way – I’ve learned a ton because I’ve had to be resourceful, and even when I make it back to the country, I won’t be doing things the way I used to! Raised beds, container gardening – yeah, those tricks are going with me for sure!

Good luck with your fall canning and if you have any questions or comments, please share in the comments section below.

This article has been written by Theresa Crouse for Survivopedia.

from Survivopedia Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

#SHTF #TEOTWAWKI #MARTIALLAW #BUGOUT #PREPPERBAG #USAF #USSOCOM #ARMY #NAVY #SurvivalFirestarter #Sur

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kmusachiaeducator · 6 years ago

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YouTube Adventure & Twitter Extended Blog Post

I’ve had an interesting week with Youtube, a resource I’ve used before both for teaching and for personal use. My roommate and I have often remarked about how so many activities that once required a professional are achievable with a Youtube video. For example, I’ve begun an indoor garden to grow peppers in our garage, solely by using Youtube videos to do research! I started a new Youtube account with a new email in order to do some research this week, as I didn’t want all of my past searches for music videos or other content to color what I was researching for class. Youtube is amazing in that it will keep suggesting new videos to you until (what seems like) the end of time. Many students and adults alike remark that the “Youtube hole” is almost inescapable once it catches you.

This week, I made playlists for the different categories and learned a lot about quite a few subjects. I’m going to detail them by playlist here.

As you can see from the first playlist, I’ve been doing some exploration into ASMR videos. Wikipedia defines it by saying, “Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is an experience characterized by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine.” ASMR videos were suggested to me by a friend based on a complaint I had about not being able to fall asleep some nights. In ASMR videos, a content producer whispers into a microphone or makes noises akin to nails tapping on a table lightly. These sounds create the response in some people described as ASMR. A lot of people find these videos to be relaxing and helpful for falling asleep. I tried them out this week and definitely fell asleep quickly most nights! I found that there are a lot of content producers for ASMR videos, but I liked one in particular. The channel “ASMR Requests” makes storytelling videos where the woman pretends she is a space voyage tour guide and has some very interesting content. Her videos are very popular and come up instantly when searching for ASMR. I thought that it was really interesting how Youtube could be helping many people relax and get to sleep each night without much more than a click of a button. I’m sure a recording of the sounds would work too, but the videos add a visual element that makes the sounds more understandable. It was also interesting how many people are making ASMR videos. Anyone can make them and anyone can view them. There were some content producers that were obviously more equipped to record than others, but the quality of the videos was always relaxing.

Next, I chose to do a second playlist of my choosing by researching how to grow peppers from seeds. I’ve been researching this with my roommates since I’ve wanted to start gardening after we got some trees pulled out of our yard. It turns out that I didn’t have any knowledge on how to grow much of anything! After watching a lot of videos of the pepper-growing process, we bought a grow light and a tent and a heating mat for our garage and are going to start by trying to grow seeds in our garage. It’s still cold and wet in Houston, so the weather isn’t good for outdoor growing. We watched 7-10 videos from a user called “Khang Starr” who grows many different types of peppers, some even for competitions! We used his suggestions for what to buy for our indoor garden. We will be setting it up this weekend in order to give it a try and have already bought our seeds. We’re going to grow jalapenos, chilies, and pepperocinis at least. What I noticed while trying to research this topic was that there weren’t as many videos about this idea as there were about ASMR. The videos I did find were definitely more amateurishly made than the ASMR videos. This didn’t take away from their value for me, but I could understand why some people might not enjoy the videos as much because they seem unprofessional. For me, the fact that there were any videos on this topic made it much more approachable, especially considering the fact that no one at Home Depot was interested in helping me with my gardening adventure when I went to get some basic supplies.

For my teaching-related videos, I chose to create a Slam Poetry playlist. I had already found a few videos that I had shown students in class as warm-ups during our poetry unit, but I wanted to find more to send them for both personal enjoyment and studying purposes. I found that a lot of students in class were able to identify shift and tone from a slam poem easier than when I presented them with a text version (which is understandable). This helped me teach this concept to students. For example, the video for the slam poem “To the boys who may one day date my daughter” has a very funny and interesting tone shift. When the speaker is describing his daughter, he sounds loving, but when he describes the potential suitor for his daughter, he sounds terrifying. The shift between these two tones was much easier and more noticeable to students than in any of the poems I had presented earlier. I had a lot of students asking me for the link to this and other slam poetry videos I showed in class. I sent out a few of them in our Google Classroom and put some on our study guide for this unit. Youtube really helped me out in my classroom with these videos. A concept that might be difficult for students to understand became immediately recognizable after showing students these videos. If this is true of poetry, I’m sure it’s even more useful for concepts in science and history.

At first, I thought that the videos about teaching and learning with technology and the videos about web 2.0 tools for learning would be so similar that the playlists would have many of the same videos on them. I ended up being very wrong about this! For one, a lot of videos seemed to use a website called PowToon, which seems like an animator of some sort. I found a video that had some testimonials from students about using web 2.0 tools in the classroom, which were interesting to view. A few of them were a little dated, similarly to the ones we have viewed in the past for our class, and some seemed like they were made by school districts in an attempt to encourage teachers to use web 2.0 tools in their classrooms. I was reminded of how my admin team at work tried to teach us about TPACK after I had learned about it in my first ETEC course. Seems like we’re all catching up! On the other side of things, the videos about teaching and learning with technology offered a larger array of options. Many Ted Talk videos popped up, and even an Ellen Show video appeared! This video was a lot more humorous, but still educational since Ellen spoke with younger kids. I thought about how Youtube can really help us as educators in learning the value of these teaching tools and the opportunities we have with them. It can also help us with different methods of teaching concepts in addition to being a how-to guide for new technologies.

As for my Twitter playlist, I found a fair amount of how-to guides, but not much that I wasn’t already aware of. There were a few videos that I saved about how to promote yourself through Twitter, but that isn’t much of an interest of mine. Most of the tutorials were repetitive information for me, so I focused most of my Twitter time actually on Twitter, or rather TweetDeck, which I much prefer. This week, I kept my home page up on Twitter in addition to the Trending page and Notification page. I changed up some of my search term sections, however. I had the #etec527 term opened as well as the #BlackOutPoetry term. My classes have been covering poetry for the past few weeks and I gave students the opportunity to create their own blackout poetry this week in order to step into the role of the author. This was useful because I was able to show students a lot more examples in real time. This helped inspire them in making their own poems. I also opened up a search for #Allin4Aldine, which is my district’s hashtag. I’ve been trying to retweet anything of relevance to our class from there as well. This week at work, my partner and I planned a lot of hands-on activities for our students. For example, we played a bingo game with figurative language on Monday and Tuesday, created blackout poems on Wednesday and Thursday, and did a scavenger hunt using the website/app called GooseChase and (unsuccessfully) QR codes. I enjoyed this use of a new technology in my classroom (or rather, outside my classroom and in the hallways of our building), but it involved a lot of troubleshooting, which I ended up going to YouTube for! It all comes full circle! Because of this involved week, I’ve been tweeting quite a bit! I tweet student products so that their parents can see as well as other teachers in the district. I also tweet pictures of students participating in these activities so that others within and outside of our district can see the fun ways we are teaching content in our new school. Everyone at my school and in my district is very Twitter-happy, so they encourage tweeting as much as we are able.

I am glad I was able to add to my knowledge of these two tools this week and learn to incorporate new aspects of them into both my teaching practice and personal life. They have both had a very significant impact on my life and likely will for years to come!

Thanks for reading!

#youtube #learning #teaching #teacher #web 2.0 #blackout poetry #twitter #hashtags #english #high school #educational technology #etec527

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jeninthegarden · 5 years ago

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2020 Seed List

Seed List 2020

Less is more, …and so is more!

Always interesting to compare the formal garden plan to the list of seeds I have actually purchased. Since I order seeds online from at least 5 sources, over several months, it is only when I compile the total seed list that I realize just how far overboard I’ve gone. This year I’m really cutting back, I promise. Except that I have some seeds leftover from last year that will go bad if I don’t plant them, which would be a shameful waste. And then there are the seed catalogues, the “garden porn” with pictures of beautiful vegetables in new and different hybrid varieties, or non-native plants I have never heard of but want to attempt to grow…but I am really trying to hold back. I did not buy any herb or flower seeds because I usually just pick those up as plants in the local nursery. But I also planted some perennial flower seeds last year (I know, totally out of character!) and my husband fell under the spell of a delusion about the lavender fields of Provence growing right in our back yard, so we’re going to buy another 10 lavender plants to build the dream.

I am over the broccoli, cabbage, eggplant and daikon radish fixations. This year I

’

m enthralled with potatoes, beans, sunflowers, and every kind of winter squash and pumpkin.

Legumes:

Peas – Burpee’s “Wando”, is a warm weather tolerant variety that can be planted early and late so I’m betting on a warmer spring and early summer with this one. But Burpee’s “First 13 Pea” is the first shelling pea to have 13 peas per pod, so I feel I must try it. We also have some leftover “Lincoln” peas to plant. There is nothing better than fresh raw peas, eaten right in the garden. Over the years I have planted more, and more, and the magic number for us seems to be 250 pea vines. That takes up all the pea fence I’ve got, and a lot of premium garden space inside the walled garden.

Runner beans- I love runner beans because they taste really good! The blooms alone taste so sweet it is hard to leave any to set pods. Young pods are eaten just like string beans and the mature beans are wonderful in salad or soup or cassoulet. This year I ordered Territorial Seeds “Scarlet Emperor” with red blossoms, and Pinetree Seeds “Painted Lady” with red and white blossoms “Sunset” with pale pink blossoms. I still have Park Seeds “Stardust”, with white blossoms, left from last year.

Bush beans- Park Seeds “Velour” is a compact, bush-habit plant, very heavy-bearing bright purple, stringless pods over a long season. A great success last season so will plant the remainder again this year. And I ordered Pinetree Seeds “Turtle” black bus beans. I intend to eat the Velour as string beans and let the Turtle mature to be dried and stored, or maybe canned.

Pole beans- Last year I ordered some black climbing beans online. These were eaten by deer so will try the remainder again this year. I ordered Territoral Seeds “Rattlesnake” beans which are harvested young as a sweeter string bean, and then mature, shelled beans reportedly have a meaty texture and a flavor similar to pinto beans. Pinetree Seeds “Winged Bean” harvested like string beans but with edible leaves that taste like spinach.

Noodle beans – I like red noodle beans best because they have an almost pecan nutty taste, so I ordered Pinetree Seeds “Red Noodle”. I also have some “Mosaic” leftover, which have a more asparagus flavor.

Soybeans- I saved a lot of seeds the last time I grew them, which was 2017? So it may be too late for these seeds. Because I have so much garden space that is due, in strict crop rotation, to be planted with legumes, I ordered fresh soybean seeds, Park Seeds “Midori Giant”.

Fava beans- Pinetree Seeds “Varoma” although traditionally a cool weather crop, is also heat tolerant, so that is the variety I ordered.

Fruits:

Tomatoes – I saved a lot of seeds from heirloom, beefsteak tomatoes I bought at the green market. I’ll plant whatever I’ve got since tomato seeds never seem to go bad. And the local garden swap always has some interesting selections. My favorites are the Big Rainbow/Mr. Stripy varieties which are gold with orange and red stripes. Others in the household prefer the Black Krim or Purple Cherokee.

Corn – I have leftover Burpee’s Maple Candy sweet corn. So I will plant it and put wire cages over it to keep critters from digging it up. It is not available this year from Burpee, so I ordered Burpee’s “Kandy Korn”.

Eggplant – my fixation with eggplant is dormant this year. I am just going with a Terratorial Seeds traditional Italian black eggplant that fruits prolifically over 3 months, and the “millionaire” variety that is a long, black Japanese variety. And just as I said that, I found a mixed pack of green, purple and white fingerling eggplant from Park Seed and bought it!

Pepper – I went wild last year and then had such a hard time rescuing the peppers from drowning. I saved a lot of seeds: Burpee’s “Sweet Thing” a sweet cheyenne, “Born to be mild” sweet jalapeno, “Hot Fish” an African hot pepper, “heat-less” habanero. So I will plant all I saved and just put them in pots on the patio at the outset. But also ordered Park Seeds “Pasilla Bajio” for the mole sauce I never make, and “Early Jalapeno” which hopefully won’t need so much heat. And I ordered “Corno de Toro” which is a thin-walled, sweet pepper.

Okra – looked promising until the deer at it. I bought Burpee’s Go Big last year. I have seeds left so I will try again. I ordered Park Seeds “Rainbow Fiesta” ivory, green and pink okra. But then I saw Pinetree Seeds, giant “Cow Horn” super large, “Star of David” deeply ribbed and “Red Burgungy” dark red, and Pinetree sells very small quantities, so I ordered all of them. And I also ordered something called the “Unicorn” which, although it is eaten like okra, is actually “devil’s claw”, a member of the sesame family and a medicinal herb.

Zucchini- Burpee fordhook heirloom is an excellent staple, but the Burpee’s Sure Thing variety really does well with less sun, and is very resistant to powdery mildew so I’m going with that one because last summer was just not hot enough for zucchini. Had to order new seeds since the deer ate it all last year.

Cucumber- Cucumbers didn’t get enough heat last summer. And there was the extended growing season for the spring peas which meant the cucumbers didn’t get planted until July and just never fruited. Last year was all bush and pickling varieties. This year I am into vines, so I ordered Park Seeds “Marketer”, a nice seedless slicing variety.

Melon- Like the tomatoes, this year I saved a lot of seeds from the melons I got at the farmer’s market, so I am not sure what variety they are, but I will plant them because I only saved seeds from the tastiest melons, cantalope and honeydew. I have a few Burpee “Mango Melon” seeds left to try again.

Gourd- I bought seeds for the Serpent Melon Gourd, which is eaten as a vegetable when it is young. It is striped green and white, coils like a serpent and is bright red inside. When mature it can be a poor substitute for tomato. Doesn’t sound particularly yummy but I got “cat-fished” by its online photos. Then somebody in my gardening group mentioned it was time to start the Luffa gourds so I panicked and bought some seeds, thinking it would be very good for the environment if I dispensed with plastic sponges. And then Bushel gourds caught my eye and I got those seeds as well, because they grow to the size of a beach ball and you can hollow them, wax them and use them for storage containers. Don’t ask me what the Dipper gourds are for…please, just don’t.

Pumpkin- I am enthralled with squash of all kinds. I have leftover Dill’s Atlantic Giant, so that is the pumpkin variety this year.

Squash: No bush varieties, only vines this year. I bought a mixed pack of 50 seeds of all types of squash.

Watermelon: Not buying seeds. They are too difficult to germinate so I will just buy seedlings.

Roots:

Radish: I’m indifferent this year. The daikons were a bust. Territorial Seeds Spanish black radish were stunted. I will plant the rest of them, plus Park Seeds “Easter Egg mix” because they were on sale for a dollar. I bought more “Macca”, a Peruvian radish that is said to have an energizing effect like ginseng. Last year it was direct sown and did not germinate. I will start it indoors this year.

Beets: Territorial Seed’s cylindrical beets worked space-wise they are more carrot shaped and don’t need to be thinned as much, but it never got hot enough. I’ll plant the rest of the seeds, but I don’t have high hopes.

Turnip: I still have copious amounts of seeds left from last year, Park Seeds standard purple top white globe which is a national standard turnip grown in spring or fall and Park Seeds Alamo hybrid that produce big greens with rapid regrowth for multiple harvests, and is bolt resistant. I will plant the rest. I don’t really like turnip root unless it is pickled.

Carrot: we harvested fresh carrots for Thanksgiving and still have a bunch in the ground. First good carrot harvest in a couple years. So again, I bought Park Seed “rainbow mix, six inch regular season carrots” and Park Seed “sow all season big Nantes type orange carrot”.

Parsnips: I might plant some parsnips, but they are tricky to companion plant since they cannot be planted with carrots or celery, and their leaves get really tall and shade other plants. I might try them in the hugle. Did not buy seeds yet since I am undecided.

Potatoes: This year I have gone crazy over potatoes and am going to give them more valuable real estate in the garden. I ordered Territorial Seeds “Rose Finn” a pale, blush pink potato, “Red Mountain” red-skinned, red-fleshed, “German butterball” a gold potato and Park Seeds “Japanese yams” purple-skinned and white-fleshed. And then, I completely lost track of everything and ordered “Yacón”…It is an Andes Mountain tuber related to sunflowers.

Salsify and other odd roots - And then I really lost it. I bought Dave’s Garden “Mammoth Island” salsify and “Blue Hispanica” scorzonera. I’ve never grown these successfully because they are a bi-annual and need to be planted in their own spot, in the hugle. Then I bought Outsiderpride chicory, milk thistle and “Garnet” dandelion, to roast the roots and make tea.

Greens:

Amaranth: Pinetree Seeds “Red Garnet”. This is a leafy variety and leaves are eaten like any other kale/chard/collard green.

Orach: a violet red, velvet leafed spinach that grows on an 18 inch, upright stalk. Territorial Seeds “Red Plume”.

Claytonia: It is a succulent green that looks like a bouquet of little lily pads. Terrirotial Seeds “Miner’s Lettuce”.

Lettuce: I went with Territorial Seeds “Wildest Lettuce Mix”. And Park Seeds “Salad bowl mix”.

Escarole: Burpee “Sugarloaf” Italian lettuce leaf style with a nutty flavor, for cooking.

Endive: Territorial Seeds “Rhodos” a French, frisee salad variety.

Chard: Park Seeds “El Dorado” golden stemmed chard.

Arugula: I have a large supply of leftover seed, some saved seeds and also purchased some new Pinetree Seeds “Astro” quick growing for clipping.

Mache: Territorial Seeds “Vit” corn mache. A larger variety I have purchased in the past.

Spinach: Park Seeds “Space”heat and mildew resistant, and “Renegade”a high yielding, weather indifferent variety.

Purslane: Territorial Seed “Golden Purslane”a larger, paler and more succulent variety, with a lovely golden bloom.

Asian Green Mix: Tatsoi, Bok Choi, Mustard, Chinese cabbage, Chinese broc, chrysanthemum, shiso perilla.

Brassica:

Cabbage: I was terribly disappointed by the cabbages last year. I am not buying and new cabbages, but will plant leftover seeds of Territorial Seeds “January King” and “Large Dutch Green”. Besides that, I will buy the obligatory 6 pack of early red cabbage seedlings.

Kale: Tronchuda Beira from Burpee. I have often described it as looking like giant green roses. It tastes more like cabbage than kale. I also have leftover seeds for every other type of kale: Red Russian, Dino, curly Blue Dwarf, Black kale, I will obviously plant some of those too.

Cauliflower: Park Seeds “Veronica” which is that weird, green pyramidal Romanesco. I also could not resist Burpee’s “Fioretto” a super fast sprouting variety.

Collards: Territorial Seeds “Flash” is fast growing and re-growing, and a little more compact and upright to withstand snow.

Broccoli: I went crazy with broccoli last year and it was prolific. I have leftover seeds so I will plant the same again: Territorial Seed’s three season hybrid sprouting types: “Aspabroc” “Rudolph” “Rioja”

And, because they seem to go with the brassicas in planting rotations, the alums:

Leek: Have to have leeks for the Leeky Dance. Just planted the seeds pods left from Territorial Seeds “Lancelot” but also ordered 30 more plants of the same.

Onion: The mixed lot of every type of onion, 50 sets from Territorial Seed.

Scallions: Territorial Seeds “Guardsman”

#backyard veg garden

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josephkitchen0 · 6 years ago

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Food Preservation Examples: A Guide to Food Storage

I tell my friends there are two types of people: preppers and those who laugh at preppers. Why is preparing for a rainy day such a laughable concept? Is it outrageous to think the misfortunes that happen to millions of people could happen to you? In this article, we’ll discuss food preservation examples. And we’ll do it simply, by answering seven questions: who, what, when, where, how, why, and to what extent?

Who Should Store Food?

Everyone who eats food and wants to eat it in the future. Those that want to save money. People who have enough money now but realize they might not have as much if situations change.

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In November of 2011, fierce winds toppled power lines, igniting drought-stricken grass and brush in a residential area of Reno, Nevada. Within twelve hours the fire destroyed thirty homes. School was canceled as police, fire, and paramedic units struggled to contain the blaze. One person died, over 10,000 people were evacuated, 4,100 homes were without power and the governor declared a state of emergency. The fire came within two miles of my house. As I entered my neighborhood supermarket I encountered enraged customers. Frustrated managers and cashiers explained that the store had depended on emergency generators since midnight and couldn’t power the freezers and coolers. All cold or frozen food was discarded per health code. Angered that they had nothing to cook for dinner, the customers blamed the store instead of the current emergency.

Anyone can be left without power for hours or even weeks. Blizzards can confine people for days and it’s been claimed that a local supermarket can only sustain a community for 72 hours. Sustenance declines if the supermarket has to discard half of its stock.

What Exactly is Food Preservation?

The basic answer to what is food preservation; extending your food beyond its natural life through freezing, dehydrating, root cellars, canning, freeze-drying or dehydrating, or converting into products which last longer.

My mother preserved food from her garden. She didn’t know how to freeze dry food, and freeze drying food at home wasn’t the option that it is now with modern equipment. She grew it herself and bottled it in mason jars through water bath and pressure canning. The meat we raised ourselves sat within freezers. We consumed the food through the winter and in the spring she planted again. It was what her pioneering great-grandmothers had done. And now that I have the opportunity to garden my own yard, it’s what I do.

But you don’t have to be the one preserving the food to take advantage of it. Canned food allows consumers to enjoy meals without from-scratch preparation and to keep food for a long time. Some companies specialize in ready-to-eat meals such as pasta and chili while others market for emergency preparation. You can dehydrate fresh produce or purchase it already dehydrated. Developments in vacuum-packing systems allow dried and frozen products to last at least twice as long. Freeze-dried food can be purchased in bulk or small quantities, or you can purchase appliances for freeze drying food at home. And though frozen products have a limited life, especially in disaster situations, they can help with shorter-term needs.

What Foods Should You Store?

Store the foods you eat.

My friend Danielle spent all summer bottling fruit from the local gleaning project. She made applesauce, jalapeno and habanero jams, and prickly pear syrup. Her apartment cupboards overflowed with mason jars. And though her three young children loved the peaches and pears, they weren’t fond of hot pepper jam. Then a series of thunderstorms and flash floods struck. When the power outage continued through dinner time, she realized she had stored the wrong food. Her hungry children could not go to bed on just prickly pear syrup and Danielle did not have a working stove until the electricity came back on. What she needed was dry cereal, canned meals and vegetables, and bottled water. After that incident she slowly stockpiled nonperishable food as she could, buying extra cans of pasta or bottles of juice when she had spare cash.

If you don’t own a grain mill and don’t sprout grains, don’t stock your pantry with wheat. If your aging parent cannot consume much sodium, don’t rely on soups and canned vegetables. Without a wood stove or a yard where you can build a fire, dry beans might be difficult to consume in long-term power outages. And certainly, don’t break your budget acquiring a year’s worth of food at once when you could spend $50 per month at sales.

For a week or two, record what your family eats and how much it costs. Out of that list, consider what can be stored through available methods. Now add in items to replace your favorite perishable products. Use that as your guide for building your supply.

One prepper website advises storing soft grains, beans, pastas and mixes, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, powdered milk, canned meat/tuna/vegetables/fruits, peanut butter, tea and coffee, ramen noodles, and herbs and spices. Another website lists canned salmon, dried beans, brown rice, bulk nuts, peanut butter, trail bars, energy and chocolate bars, beef jerky, coffee/tea, and sea vegetables or powdered super greens. And Business Insider lists ten foods that would survive an apocalypse as honey, pemmican jerky, MREs (military-style meals ready to eat), hard liquor, peanut butter, Twinkies, rice, powdered milk, and ramen noodles.

Don’t forget to store what you enjoy, such as desserts and hard candy. Most situations where you need that food will be dismal and something sweet gives you a moment of indulgence during a hard time.

And especially don’t forget clean drinking water plus a way to acquire more.

When Should You Preserve Food?

Gardeners advise friends that they will be busy from August through October for food storage season. That’s when my garden pushes out the tomatoes, peppers, and squash. I harvest livestock year-round, with a lull in summer since 100-degree weather is bad for hatching chicks and pregnant rabbits.

But the best time to preserve food is when you can get the food.

Tactic #1: Grow the food yourself or align with local gardeners. When it’s ripe and ready, preserve it ASAP. If your tomatoes ripen slowly and you want to make a big batch of sauce, simply wash the fruit and stash it in freezer bags. Once the season is over you can thaw and cook down to a delightful marinara then bottle or freeze it.

Tactic #2: Buy seasonal produce and can, freeze or dry it yourself. This takes advantage of fruits and vegetables at their tastiest, cheapest, and most nutritious. In my section of the world that is usually June for strawberries, July for peppers, peaches, and corn, August for pears and tomatoes, and September for potatoes and onions as warehouses clear out last year’s stock in preparation for this year’s harvest. During holidays I can find sweet potatoes, winter squash, and cranberries at lower prices than the rest of the season. Instead of buying enough sweet potatoes to roast with butter and marshmallows I’ll stock up with twenty pounds and keep them in a cool, dry place for several months. If they start to go bad I’ll roast them then freeze.

Tactic #3: Hit sales and clearance racks. These happen year round and the trick is knowing where to go. Watch local ads for case lot sales. Scout out discount shelves. Since stores cannot sell spoiled goods or anything past the sell-by date, most food is still okay to use if frozen or dehydrated right away. Whenever I visit the supermarket I make my rounds and pick up items I can store and use. Bread reduced to a dollar per loaf resides in the freezer and comes out as the family needs it. Using this tactic we’ve enjoyed portobello stuffed ravioli with Parmesan cheese and artisan sausage for two dollars per plate.

Tactic #4: Purchase from food storage companies. Though some distributors offer 5-gallon buckets containing a month of dried goods, you don’t have to purchase all at once. As your budget allows, order fifty pounds of rice or a #10 can of flour. Gradually build your supply.

Where Do You Store Food?

I live in a two-bedroom Depression Era house. We have no pantry, garage, or basement. My home canning decorates bookshelves built into the wall. I converted a half-bath into a storage room by closing the toilet, setting shelves over it, and placing lightweight products atop. One freezer sits at the end of the breezeway, blocking a door we never used anyway, and another rests beside the dining room table.

If you don’t want a pantry in your living room, convert a closet or just put the food wherever you can. One friend built a platform from boxes of #10 cans in his family room, draped a rug over it, and set the sofa on top. My sister stacked bottled water in her apartment’s coat closet, set her shoes on top, and let her coats dangle over. Another friend stacks boxes, sets plywood atop, then drapes an attractive cloth to make an end table.

Winter squash, apples, and root vegetables should be kept in a cool, dark place. Chest or upright freezers can stay outside if sheltered from wet or extreme weather; a covered porch or carport is perfect if you trust your neighbors. Home canning withstands most temperatures above freezing, but remember that heat can decrease shelf life. Aluminum cans take the most abuse and dented products are still good as long as they haven’t been opened and are used before the “best before” date. Keep in mind factors like rodents, insects, humidity, dishonest neighbors and possible problems with weather.

How Do You Preserve Food?

Find the food preservation method that works best for you.

Home Canning: This method is best for homesteaders, gardeners and those with special diets. My friend Kathy pressure-cans soups because her elderly father cannot consume much sodium. When her father travels, he takes jars of soup so he doesn’t endanger his health with commercial food. If you want to can your own food, first educate yourself on safe methods. Home canning can save money but the initial cost is steep. New jars, lids, pots, and pressure cookers can quickly reach hundreds of dollars. Earthquakes or relocating to new homes can be hard on glass jars. For reliable instructions on how to can food at home, trust the Ball website.

Freezing: Probably the quickest and easiest method, this involves buying foods and stashing them at 0 degrees in freezer-safe containers. Frozen food is quickly thawed and can take minimal preparation, often without heating. Foods that are not safely home canned can be frozen. But though a fully stocked freezer can last up to a week in a power outage if the freezer isn’t opened, each moment without electricity compromises the food. If you want long-term and dependable storage, do not rely on freezers, especially if you live in hurricane-prone areas or anywhere with sketchy power service. Find out how to freeze different foods at Stilltasty.com.

Dehydrating: Home dehydrators cost between $20 and $300. Herbs, green vegetables, fruits, and some meats are safe to dehydrate then either consume dry or rehydrate later. Dried food weighs much less and packs into smaller spaces than foods preserved through any other method. But eggs are not safe to dehydrate at home and milk takes special care. Also, since no water remains in the food, consuming requires additional stored water to either rehydrate or to keep yourself from becoming dehydrated. Pickyourown.com has great tips for dehydrating.

Freeze Drying: Often freeze-dried food tastes better and lasts longer than dehydrated. And it weighs even less. You may wonder how to freeze dry food. But freeze drying at home requires either purchasing special equipment or following specific instructions using vacuum chambers and calcium chloride. If you want to learn how to freeze dry food, follow this link.

Canned Goods: If you spend more time at work than in the kitchen you’d probably benefit from buying food others have canned. Don’t feel guilty because your friend bottles her own tomatoes but you’re stuck paying the bills. It’s getting easier to find healthy canned products. They weigh more but survive the toughest conditions. In a true survival situation, you can acquire all the nutrients you need and even some water from canned foods. And remember to collect bottled water, either in single bottles, gallons, or huge containers.

Cold Storage: Though this is the shortest-term option, it can retain the most nutrients by keeping foods fresh and enzymes alive. Root cellars or basements prolong autumn produce for months. Some cheeses are cured in the same ambient conditions that keep potatoes from sprouting. Foods appropriate for cool, dry storage are root vegetables such as onions, beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and garlic. Also appropriate are winter squash such as butternut or pumpkins. Apples last weeks to months in the same space though peaches and pears will go bad fast. If your potatoes sprout, cut off the sprouts and green parts. Do not use any food that is withered or weeps moisture. And trust your nose: if it smells bad, it is bad. If your food is starting age but is not yet inedible you can cook it then store it in the freezer.

Brining, Pickling, Fermentation: Often converting foods from one form to another unlocks additional benefits. Fermenting wine into vinegar makes it last years longer as long as the process is completed correctly. Though the lives of yogurt and kombucha aren’t significantly lengthened, the probiotics enhance digestive and immune systems.

Smoking Meats: A millennia-old method of preserving meat hasn’t lost popularity. Our methods have just gotten easier and tastier. Smoked meat won’t last years, but it’ll extend the life a little and in a delicious way. You can learn how to smoke meats at home.

There are even more food preservation methods such as vacuum sealing and reusable lids. Use whichever methods best fit your life.

Very important: Use and rotate your food so it’s always safe and nutritious when you need it. This is easy to do if you store what you like to eat. Buy a case of canned tuna, push the old case forward and place the new one behind. Some commercial racks rotate your cans as you place the new ones in the top of a chute and grab the bottom cans for dinner.

Why Should You Store Food?

Not all of us are preparing for manure to hit the fan. We know we might need this food even if the zombies never arrive.

Preserving the Harvest: You worked this hard to grow or raise the food. Don’t let any go to waste. Surplus cucumbers become pickles and a bounty of apples becomes sauce.

Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, floods, blizzards, hurricanes, fires. Weather so cold the town shuts down and the air hurts your face. Flooding that blocks the road.

Disruption of Food Supply: This can be a drought which raises the cost of food or a strike within the transport system bringing food to the grocery store. Problems within the store itself can cause food to sell out or spoil leaving insufficient supplies for the community.

Short-term Emergencies: Maybe you need to leave home fast and either you don’t have spending money or can’t use a credit card. A 72-hour supply in a portable container can alleviate at least one worry.

Lack of Mobility: Perhaps you live in a remote area and the price of gas just skyrocketed. Or maybe you’ve broken your leg and have nobody to drive you to the store.

Unemployment: I’ve known professionals who have been unemployed for over a year because they couldn’t relocate and their skill set wasn’t hiring. Unemployment benefits only pay a portion of what you previously made, and if you struggled to make ends meet in the first place simply not needing to budget in food can make a big difference.

Disability or Untimely Death: What happens if the main breadwinner in the family suddenly can’t earn bread and the secondary adult doesn’t have the skills or education to meet the cost of living? Food storage can help that adult until he or she acquires the necessary career or education.

Budgeting: Red bell peppers can be 4/$1 in the summer and $5.99 per pound in the winter. If you know you’ll need bell peppers, freeze or can them when they’re cheap. If a store has a closeout sale on a specific pasta brand, buy it in bulk. Plus, based on a proven history of inflation, it’s reasonable to acknowledge that foods will never be cheaper than they are right now.

Healthy Eating: We all know healthy ingredients can cost more than processed food. Often we don’t have time to prepare meals that meet health requirements. Cooking in large batches and preserving can save time and ensure we have what we need for optimal health.

Sharing: Maybe you’re not the one that needs the food. If a loved one hits rock-bottom and you have a good supply of food, you can help them out without spending additional money.

Personal Convenience: If you know you’ll use chicken broth often, keep a supply so you won’t have to run to the store if unexpected guests drop by for dinner. Meals are easier to plan if you already have the ingredients.

To What Extent?

72-hour-kits, also known as bug-out bags, take care of a single person’s need for three days. But hard times can last longer than that. Most prepper or self-reliant groups advocate keeping at least three months of food, including water and medications. Having a year’s worth is optimal for enduring long-term situations like unemployment or disability.

Preserve what you can. Do it when you can and however you can. And while others might laugh at you and accuse you of preparing for doomsday, laugh back as you remind yourself that, whether fire sweeps through your town or you have specific dietary needs, you’re secure. At least, your food source is.

What are your favorite foods to preserve and which method works best for you?

Originally published in 2015 and regularly vetted for accuracy.

Food Preservation Examples: A Guide to Food Storage was originally posted by All About Chickens

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peacefulheartfarm · 4 years ago

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Canning Tomato Sauce

Canning tomato sauce is the name of the game this week. I have about 150 pounds of tomatoes picked so far. I think I will only be canning about 50 or 60 pounds of them between today and tomorrow. Some of them are still quite green. We shall see how it goes.

I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I appreciate you all so much. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the homestead this week.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

There is so much going on right now. It is harvest time in the garden. Not just to the tomatoes, though that is the big one. However, I’m going to start with the creamery and animals and finish up with garden updates.

Creamery

Scott is taking a break from working on the creamery. He finally got the entire project “dried-in”. The next big event will be putting on the metal roof. That will happen later, and in the meantime, he is using his time to clean up the construction mess and tidying up the property in general.

Mowing the fields is also happening. Cleaning up the grass in the orchard and garden area got done. General cleaning everywhere. It makes the building look so much nicer when the grass is cut and the scrap wood is gathered up and hauled off. Re-organization of supplies and tools also helps. And then there is helping me with various garden projects. I can’t turn that down. What a blessing he is when lending a hand in the garden.

Cows

Yet again, we had the ag tech out for AI purposes. Will it ever end? Violet showed signs of coming into heat yet again. Well she is taken care of yet again. Now we wait another three weeks to see if it took this time.

The calves are getting fat. They get two gallons of milk per day. I like to spoil them. Wendell is big enough to live on grass but I keep giving him the milk. He would push Virginia out of the way if I did not. He is quite committed to getting his twice daily rations of milk.

Goats

Several goats have had to have their heads removed from the fence yet again. It seems that every time they get access to a new area of pasture, they have to experiment will eating the grass on the other side of the fence. Nope the new grass is just not good enough for them. And some of them just never seem to learn that sticking their head with horns through the fence will get them caught.

Blue Herons

We have a pair of blue herons on the big pond now. For the longest time there was only one. Now there is a pair. Have you ever seen a blue heron? They are majestic and graceful in flight. I love watching them. I have heard that when you have blue heron’s it indicates the pond is healthy.

Quail

I am so pleased with how our quail operating is progressing. The hens are in full production with their laying of eggs. I have 15 hens and get 15 eggs nearly every day.

The incubator is humming along. Today the eggs in there are one week old. This process is so exciting. We have an entire life cycle operating quite efficiently. It is the one place on the homestead where everything is going smoothly at the moment. Perhaps I need to knock on wood now. I may have just jinxed them.

Donkeys

I’m thinking the donkeys are just about ready for another hoof trimming. They really don’t like it. Daisy and Sweet Pea will stand still while it is going on, but they really only come up for their trimming because of the sweet feed. Donkeys are the friendliest of animals and we love our crew.

Let me pass on a bit of trivia regarding the donkeys. Did you know that they all have a cross on their backs? There are a couple of Christian legends that say it is a gift our Lord gave to the humble donkey that carried Him into Jerusalem. They are similar stories but not the same.

According to one legend, the little donkey so loved his Master that he followed Him to Calvary. Grief-stricken at the sight, he turned away but remained at his station at the foot of the cross. The shadow of the Cross fell upon him and from that day all purebred donkeys wear the Master’s Cross on their back.

Another story recounts that when Jesus was carrying his cross to the mount, a little donkey tried to help him but couldn’t get through the crowd. When the crowd dispersed, the donkey went up to Jesus, and stood behind the cross and as the sun went down, the shadow of the cross fell across the donkey and now every donkey has the cross.

According a theology lecturer at the University of Notre Dame, the tales never actually appeared in the Bible. Other facts about donkeys and the Bible is it is the only animal in the Bible other than the serpent to speak, and it plays a significant role in more than one Christian prophecy. The prophecy of Zachariah comes to mind.

Garden

Sunflowers

Let me start with the sunflowers. I hope to harvest them in the next couple of days. The really big ones are bending over the stalks. What is happening right now is the seeds are forming. That makes those giant heads really heavy and thus the bending over. The harvesting can be tricky once the seeds become fully ripe. Shaking the plant in any way can cause the seeds to come loose.

Scott and I have a plan to work on them together. I will hold the stalk while Scott cuts it through close to the ground. Then I will gently lower the stalk to the ground. At that point, we will cut off just two or three feet of stalk with the flower. They will get tied together in bundles of three and hung up to complete the drying process. The birds are going to be really happy this winter.

Beans

I have harvested the black beans. Perhaps I already mentioned that last week. Still to harvest are the red and white beans. Then all will need to be shelled out. That’s a fun project that Scott and I will do together while watching Amazon Prime originals in the evening.

I’ve also picked the baby lima beans. The green ones I cooked and we ate them days ago. The dried ones also need to be shelled out. All of these dried beans will be used to plant again next year.

Peppers

I made a really neat string of cayenne peppers and hung it up to dry. That’s all you have to do. After they are dry, I can do a couple of things with them. I might powder them up to make my own cayenne pepper seasoning. And I can chop them up into flakes and roast them in the oven. That adds a kind of nutty flavor to them. Then just toss them into soups, stir fries, and so on. Use them as you would store bought stuff. Using your own homemade seasonings is very satisfying.

The hot cherry peppers are producing like crazy. I have so many of these lovely peppers. They are not too terribly hot. Unlike the serrano peppers that I have. The serrano peppers are the hottest ones that I am growing this year. My jalapenos are quite mild. In fact, I made some pickled hot peppers and was informed by a customer that they simply were not hot. Next time I make a batch, I’ll add more serrano peppers to the mix and fewer jalapenos. In the meantime, I need to re-label the pickled hot peppers. What should I call them? Probably just pickled peppers.

I finished drying a batch of sweet bell peppers. I did two trays of green and one of red. Right now, I have a few more green ones that are turning red. I’m ripening them in a window. I hope to have lots more of these great peppers for cooking throughout the winter and spring.

Scott has prepared the potato beds for the next planting. I’m not sure. It may be too late in the season for fall potatoes, but I’m going to give it a go anyway. We shall see how big they get.

Green Beans

The green beans bloomed again and I will have another picking from them within a day or two. The purple hulled cow peas also put on a bumper crop. Those may need three or four days yet before picking. Both of these lovelies will be fresh veggie for dinner soon.

Onions

I successfully grew a small batch of red onions. They are currently in the drying process and will be ready soon. There are a few white onions still out in the garden. They do not look like they are going to get very big. Some of the tops are already dying and that means they have grown all they are going to this time around.

Tomatoes

Now let’s talk about those tomatoes. The row is set up with tomato cages that were tied to rebar every so many feet. The sheer amount of tomatoes on the plants soon pulled that apparatus down. Yesterday, Scott went out there and tried to shore up the row. Many of the plants were laying on the ground, having broken down the make-shift trellis completely. I went out there last night to pick some and found some of the cages fell over yet again. I just need to pick and pick and pick to lighten the load.

The problem with that is I am running out of space to ripen them. I’m okay with picking my tomatoes just as they begin to turn. Once they are yellow or orange, I bring them in else the raccoon will get the results of all my fine work. I bring them in and put them on the shelves I used in the spring to start the tomatoes and peppers indoors so they are large enough to plant in the garden at the proper time. Once the seedlings are done, those shelves remain empty until this time of year when they fill up again with the fruits – literally – of my labor. The shelves are filled with tomato fruits and a few peppers.

I have four shelves currently full. There are also two 5-gallon buckets sitting in my kitchen at this very minute waiting for me to finish this podcast and return to them. They are red, ripe and ready to be turned into sauce.

Tomato Sauce

Here’s my process for making tomato sauce. It’s fairly easy as long as you have the proper equipment. I start with cleaning up the tomatoes, taking out the cores and then quartering them. I put them in a pot and start heating it up very slowly on the stove. Once they are cooked, it’s time to get the seeds and skins out.

I have a Kitchen-Aid mixer that has lots of nifty attachments. One of my favorites is the food mill. Once it is set up, all I have to do is turn it on and start dipping the tomatoes out of the pot into the hopper. The seeds and skins come out in one place and the juice and pulp come out in another place. I usually run the seeds and skin waste through a second time to get the most pulp and juice possible.

Once I have the pulp and juice, it’s a matter a cooking it down to the desired thickness and then starting the canning process. Sometimes this is a two-day project. Today is one of those times. Likely I will only get the tomatoes cleaned up and cut up today. Tomorrow will be the cooking, separating seeds and skins, cooking down to desired thickness and finally canning.

Canning the sauce is as easy as dipping the thickened sauce into sterilized jars, cleaning the rims, putting on the two-piece lids and setting them in a water bath canner for 15 or 20 minutes. Zip, zam, zowie and it’s done.

What do you think? Are you ready to give it a try? I don’t do videos, only audio. But I can recommend finding a YouTube video or two to get the details of how canning is done. One day in the future I will have a class or two here at the homestead on canning. I hope to meet some of you when that day arrives.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for today’s podcast. I hope you enjoyed the donkey story. They truly are blessed creatures. We love them so much. The quail are such a blessing. And yes, the sheep, lambs, goats, and cows are a blessing as well. Our life here is full. There is always so much to do and every bit of it is a blessing. Some things are a bit onerous, like all of the cleaning. And the quail and cow waste smells something awful, but when taken in context with everything else, you just can’t beat the joy of living every day in the presence of God’s creation.

Being able to grow our own food and preserve it for the winter is also fulfilling. It gives us a security that I would not give up for anything in the world. Especially in these days of uncertainty at the grocery store. I hope I’ve inspired you to try a bit of self-sufficiency for yourself. You don’t need a big place. A few plants in pots on your apartment balcony can provide a similar experience. Grow a few peppers and tomatoes. You’ll be glad you did.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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