Picture post

Above - Peanuts

Pumpkins that ripened too soon

Horse shed that was made out of recycled materials.

A bit of pantry

So as much work as I have been doing I have alot of pictures that I need to get onto this blog. I figured I would start with the pantry that seems to be filling so very fast I am having a hard time finding shelves for all the goodies that are getting canned up. I also have the freezers full. ANd the top of the freezer with canned goods. The dehydrater has been running non stop with tomaotes, onions, pumpkin, and potatoes. We are really pleased with the vegetable pantry and now on to the fruit.

Homestead happenings - August

With everything growing like crazy my family has really seen how much a mom can juggle at one given time. It gets really hectic and confusing at times but its really amazing how much you can get done in a 24 hour period.
Keeping- Tomato soup ( thanks A for the recipe), hot juice, and tomato juice are the things being processed at this time. With the occasional bushel of green beans thrown in just for good measure. But really With 50+ pounds of tomatoes coming out of the garden in a day the juicer has been working over time! The pantry is full with an added 4 shelves put up which are all full also. The freezer also full. Its a good feeling when you know how well your family will be fed this winter.
Outside - We built a shed for the horses and also a much larger pasture for them to room and eat. It feeds them plus we now have about 40 minutes of mowing gone!! And as if cutting out the grass wasn't a big enough plus we also have no money out of our pocket for all the materials used. The shed was recycled from a bigger shed we took down for someone. We also got a kids playhouse which was recycled. the posts we had from when we first moved here and never got around to building the fence. The fence was given to us by a neighbor, he took it down to put up new, the fence is in great shape. He said it was going to the landfill - NOooooo. Okay he brought it to us. Yippee!!
Inside - still going through things to have a yard sale. this will take some time with the garden flourishing like it is. Our electric company sent us a letter about a program to help the environment and save energy. So we are signing up for that.
Well that's about all for now. I am trying to get the fall planting in the ground and the raised beds ready for the winter months with new horse manure on them for next years planting. You know you are a homesteader when you are thinking and planning for 6 months from the month you are actually in. HAve a great weekend!

Tomatoes in abundance

We are pleased that the tomatoes are coming on strong. We are averaging about 10 pounds a day. That's alot of tomatoes. With that many we have been making juice, sauce, and next up some salsa. I borrowed my moms juicer which made my job less and much easier. I love that thing. I would recommend it to anyone. It makes the juice go one way and the seeds and skins in a different direction. Shaving alot of time off the whole process. Also there are other attachments you can get for jams and pumpkin. A great buy if you process alot of tomatoes.

July update

We have really been busy around here to say the least. I know there is still 2 days left in the month but being it was raining I thought this maybe my only break from the gardening chores that have been keeping me on my toes for the whole month. So with that said our poundage for July is 258. Yes 258 pounds harvested from our gardens for this month!
Also with a rouge estimate saving us $187.38. Still calculating the rest of the produce so I am sure that amount will continue to grow.
Our tomatoes are having a rough go. With the rainy weather they have been introduced to a bout of blossom rot but are coming out of it. They are heavy and we have been having to tie them up over and over again. They are tall and I am pleased with the looks of them already, although I have one problem. I forgot where I planted the ripe green tomatoes. Hope to find them soon.

Freezing, canning, and salting Oh my!

Although the weather feels like Fall it still is indeed Summer. The harvest season is in full swing. With peppers, cabbage, blackberries, corn, potatoes, and brussel sprouts all needing to be canned, pickled, froze, or dried we are i n the midst of our busiest time of year. Oh and did I mention putting up fence, 7 birthdays, and building a barn for the horses? Yup all that means a whole lotta late nights bonding with my kitchen. (Sigh) The pleasures of homesteading. ya gotta love it.

Our first set of corn has really set out alot of pounds and makings for some savory meals come winter. The potatoes are coming up and we have about 20 pounds in the pantry, where its cool and dark. When the potatoes come up new veggies have been filling the holes in the garden or raised beds. We have a lot of veggies in the pantry, almost nearly full, making me wonder where I will end up putting the rest of our harvest. I'm sure the cupboards could hold a bit more with a little rearranging.

Yesterday we went over the hill to check on posts for the fencing and alas the blackberries were ripe and much more to our surprise the wild animals didn't eat them all. SO we got a container and had a fun time picking them wonderful berries which will be jam sometime today.

Garden in July

The garden is in full swing. We have had an extremely weird summer with very few days over 90 degrees. More days with rain then without and more cooler autumn like mornings. But none the less no matter how the weather is this summer we must take it and try to do some good with it. The green beans do not like the weather but the cucumbers and tomatoes are loving it.

The first picture is of the potatoes, then cucumbers above the milk jugs, the milk jugs are where the early potatoes were which now is the broccoli, then above that is the peppers, melons, then onions.

Second picture, the one with the blue step stool in it, has beans and corn in it.

The third picture consists of zucchini, tomatoes, and corn in it. As in the previous post the tomatoes are doing wonderful, the corn seems to be stunted a bit ( maybe due to the weather).
None the less we are taking what we can get and if we need more the farmers market is right down the road. Hopefully we won't need it much but its there if we need it. I sure hope they have organic.

How is your garden growing?

Getting over the fear

, the fear of the pressure canner. With help from other gardeners and harvest keepers I finally gave in and used the pressure canner. I was really shocked how easy it is to use, now I looking for anything and everything to can for the pantry.

Now I am hoping the green beans will start really producing so I can can more then one jar at a time.

4 days in

and already we are having a bumper crop. With the tomatoes still yet to ripen we are experiencing tremendous yields. Vegetables are in my home laying everywhere, the pantry filling quickly and still have yet to pressure can anything. But the water bath canner has been getting quiet a workout. I find myself trying to figure out where I can place more shelves in our walk in pantry.
Oh yeah sorry for rambling but Happy 4Th of July. this July our family is celebrating our freedom of grocery stores. Looks like we will have little or no grocery store time. Thus this is more time spent with the family having fun weather it be just chillin or maybe a free time like fishing.
Okay back to the vegetables, in 4 days we have harvested 38 pounds 11oz these pounds are coming from onions, cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, potatoes, beans and herbs. This is also done completely organic. Absolutely no pesticides what so ever.
Today we planted some fall broccoli and some more tomatoes bringing the total of tomato plants to 156 give or take one or two. I'm still hoping to can 1500 jars of food for this year. Hoping that will get us through till the next harvest.
Happy 4 Th of July!

Worthy of another year

So when we were planting the potato seeds earlier this year we were hoping for the best and just praying that we would grow enough potatoes to pay for the seeds that we bought. We purchased 3 different varieties small red ( shown in photo), Yukon gold, and russet Burbank. We spend around $20 dollars for our seeds and got 6 rows planted. Last night we grabbed the produce basket and up the hill we went to gather the red potatoes. The kids were having a blast - one trying to find the biggest potato in there hole and the other trying to find the most potatoes in theirs.
After clearing out the row, I came in to the house to weigh our treasures, 13 pounds of wonderful potatoes. That with the potatoes we have already harvested pays for the seeds and some seeds to save for planting next year. With 5 rows of potatoes still in the ground it looks to be a wonderful potato year.

June harvest total

With this month approaching an end it is time for me to post our harvest for the month.
This month we produced 87 pounds and 4 oz. of good wholesome food from our own land.
I also have 31 jars of pickles canned, 4 bags of fresh green beans in the freezer and zucchini bread in the freezer.

As I was canning today my daughter was talking about how one day I will have to go to her house so I can help her can her own garden. It made me smile and I was pleased to hear that she will want to keep her garden bounty for use in the colder months also. We ended up making 18 quarts and 2 pint jars of dill pickles yesterday. About 30 more jars of a pickle variety we should be set till the next harvest. With the way the cucumber plants are producing this year we should have no problem getting those without bartering or trading for more cucumbers.

Todays agenda

With the heat gearing up the central air will be on for a day of canning. Yeterday between rain showers I was able to get over 20 pounds of produce from the garden most of it from cucumbers. The above picture shows only a few of cucumbers harvested yesterday.So with the cucumbers growing fast the canning MUST start. Thats what I will be doing today. I will let you know how much I get canned. Last year we got only 10 jars of cucumbers becasue the plants died quickly. I hope to have way more then that this year.

What are you canning?

Ones first attempt to pressure canning...

I first went to my garden shed thus this shed also stores all my empty canning jars. Sorting through hundreds of jars, deciding which size to use, making sure they are not damaged in any way takes time.
Of course then they must be washed. So into the house we go to wash the jars I picked in hot soapy water. While those were soaking I was able to get the dishwasher unloaded and was thinking about storing the clean jars in it until I needed them.
I then went to the pantry to fetch my pressure canner out of the pantry. With eyes gleaming and heart pounding I was thrilled it was finally time to use my wonderful investment I made a few months ago. I sat down to read the instructions once again. I have never used a pressure canner before, shucks I have never seen anyone use one before. So reading the instructions a billion times hopefully will be enough for me to understand how to use it. I then, as illustrated in the book, proceeded to attach the gauge and regulator. Looks good. Last but not least I did the rest of the prep in the book for all first time Pressure canners.
Getting all that done I was excited to be ready to pick the green beans I have been longing to can. Every year we freeze them and this year is exciting for me. To get more freezer space and the green beans on the shelf. Anyways picking the green beans picked plenty for about 5 pint jars. Good enough for the first time , small batch, just in case I do something wrong and something should happen to them.
Get back to the house and then, its time to start supper. Dun dun dunnnnnnn Hmmmmmm. I guess the canning will have to wait, the beans will be with supper, and the rest will go to the freezer. Bad news is I wasn't able to use the pressure canner yet, good news is I have 4 quart bags of green beans in the freezer.

Mid-month harvest update

With the garden growing fast and I would be completely unable to stay caught up if it wasn't for the rain. Of course the rain is probably the reason the gardens are growing so very well. Anyways with that said I am posting my June harvest thus far - in 15 days we have collected 20 pounds and 3 oz of fruits and veggies from our land.
On the preservation side I have put up carrots, peas, onions and a few potatoes. We are very excited to see how close or maybe even over we will come to our harvest goal.

Perfect start to a gloomy day

With several rows of potatoes I am pleased to see all my hard work with hilling them, picking off potato bugs, and pulling the weeds from around them is starting to pay off.

I collected 3 pounds of red new potatoes yesterday for our supper. Along with the very big and handsome onions in the picture also. The gardens are doing so very well this year. It must be the compost that I have been piling on the gardens throughout the year.

The harvest total for this month is drasticly rising which is good if we want to reach our goal weight!!

Peas and Carrots

With so much going on here on our "bit of soil" there is little time for computer. With that said this will be the first of a "grape" post. When I say "grape" I mean bunch of posts. With that said here I sit basking in the dark - maybe you was thinking sun? Sorry Like I said there is lots to do mostly in the daylight hours and no time or very little for basking.

But with so much to try to fit into the day we somehow get it all done. After getting out of the pool today the second time, or maybe it was the third, oh well. We then went to the raised bed garden to see if there was anything to munch on. I was happy and hte kids excited when we pulled the best looking carrot out of the ground. They said " look mom its a store carrot" This is the first year we had carrots that didnt take a whole row to make a side dish.

Todays harvest 1 pound of peas, 11 oz of carrots, 2 oz of potato.

This June month of harvest totals will be very exciting to see how heavy we are weighing!!

Jan., Feb., March dollars

How much things cost. I hear about it all around. Wow you plant this much it must cost a fortune. Well this is why I am going to keep updates here on what I spend and what I save through the year to see just what REALLY comes out on top.

This years supplies so far:

seeds - $75

100 strawberry plants - $39

5 fruit trees - $40

utility light for growing seeds - $10

mini greenhouse to start plants early - $40

soil - $40

Total so far - $244

Yes that seems like a lot of money but I bought things gradually and I hope to get it back through harvest. Also most of the things won't need to be bought again next year if I do it right. The soil was a unexpected purchase which we thought our compost would have been ready before we needed it but it didn't get hot enough soon enough to make the compost to the dirt we needed for the many raised beds we built this year.
So when I harvest produce from our garden I will weigh it and go by the "average" price per pound for here in our state. Then I will add it all up and see how much money I have saved by growing our food instead of buying it at the local market.