Windowsill Garden

It's cold outside- I'm sure you've noticed.  Even Florida has noticed. You got snow, Florida.  Don't deny it.

I'm working on a windowsill garden.  It's not much- a few scallions I saved before the bag I purchased went bad are happily growing in a small half pint mason jar.   Fun story- scallions regrow themselves very easily.  Even if you start with just the white bulb, a tiny bit of root and about an inch of stem, stick it in a jar with a little water, let it get some sun, and boom- new stems to be harvested and enjoyed!

In another half pint mason jar is a few stems of Cilantro.  I'm trying to root it, because it supposedly can be done.  I'm running in to problems, and have no idea why.  So far the first few stems eventually turned yellow and died, all without producing a root. Hopefully this set will do better- I use cilantro rarely, so it kills me to buy a bundle and have most of it go to waste, even if it is only a dollar or so.

I have a few inner pieces of Romaine lettuce left in the fridge from a head we purchased last week.  I plan on cutting the stem down to just a few inches and placing it in water.  From what I've seen, in just a few weeks the head of Romaine will regrow itself!

What a great way to have a small garden in the winter and stretch your dollar even farther!

-Kristen

Early Frost

We had some random frosts, a little earlier than expected.  Luckily, most of my lettuce survived until I could put it in the garage (the benefit to container planting!)

The temperatures today reached the high 60s/low 70s, so I am expecting that the containers will be able to move back outside soon! 

I believe I am left with six lettuce plants.  That's not bad, I just hope I have enough time to grow them out to get a decent yield- at least enough of a yield to pay for the baby plants!

I have to admit, I'll be a little relieved when the growing season is officially over.  It's been a rough year.

-Kristen

Garden Robber

We lost another tomato to our garden robber.   This is the second tomato that has been partially eaten on the vine.  Add in an already pitiful yield and we just can't afford to lose more produce!

I think the obnoxious, whiny birds that are living around the house are robbing our plants of their ripened tomatoes.  We've managed to get two tiny little tomatoes, approximately roma sized, off of our "Better Boy" plants.  Ugh.

I think I will tie a plastic bag to one of our tomato sticks and position it near the plants that are fruiting.  Hopefully the bag moving in the wind will discourage the small birds from scarfing up our vegetables.

The chickens enjoyed getting what was left of the tomato, again, so at least it wasn't a complete waste.

I also purchased the book "Container Gardening for Dummies" yesterday from a clearance table. Hopefully it has some helpful hints and tips for me!

-Kristen

Jalapeno Happiness

We went to visit with some folks from our church today.  It wasn't the best day for it, since Tim and I are both exhausted from a long night at a rabbit show.  We didn't get home until the wee hours of this morning.  While I got more sleep than he did, I still feel ready to drop.

Regardless, we went to eat lunch with the couple and the lady, Diane, offered Tim a big, beautiful bowl of Jalapenos to take home with him.

It seems that while she loves to grow them, she doesn't care for the spicy jalapenos.  Of course, her plants are fruiting like crazy, while ours have only a single, pitiful jalapeno on them.   At least the one I thought was dead is finally beginning to bloom!  The rain we have had lately has everyone worried about small harvests.

I'm trying to decide what exactly we will do with all these jalapenos.  Tim isn't a big fan of pickled jalapenos, but I may try a jar again anyway.    I know he'll eat some fresh or in various dishes.

I definitely think I am going to try making a small batch of  "Cowboy Candy"- aka Candied Jalapenos.  I figure if they don't turn out well, at least we didn't spend a lot of money or use our entire crop of jalapenos on them.  I also want to include a jar or two in some Christmas gifts!

-Kristen

Summer Yummin'

We have had a ridiculous amount of rain lately- the yard is sludge, but at least it helps keep those awful temperatures at bay.

The best part of summer, in my humble opinion, is the bounty from the vegetable garden!  Unfortunately we had to go with the container garden this year and so far I am not terribly impressed.  Our first two tomatoes were tiny and split open- the chickens enjoyed the treat, but BOO that we didn't get to use them ourselves!  One tomato plant is doing pretty well, it has a ton of blooms and the few green tomatoes on it's branches are already larger than the first two from the other plant.  Now if I can just keep it from going bad because of all the water!

Our green pepper plant is thriving in it's pot.  We even have three tiny peppers (and a ton of blooms), which I find amazing.  Last year it was late August before we had green peppers, even though we planted earlier than we did this year.

One jalapeno is doing well, we're just waiting on it's single pepper to be ready to pick, but I have high hopes for a large yield later in the summer.

Our Hot Banana Pepper is by far the success story so far.  We've had several peppers that have found their way to our dinner table and WOW are they hot.  They have the power to make you sweat and light your mouth on fire- which is perfect for those light summer dinners of sandwiches and salads.

I miss our large garden, complete with corn, onions, cucumbers and other money-saving Summer must-haves, but I've still got high hopes for the plants we have.  Every little bit helps and it just isn't summer around here without a harvest from the garden!

-Kristen

The Garden Plan

So I decided to go with a container garden this year.  I am a little sad, because this will mean less plants and no onions, cantaloupes, etc.  We're keeping it simple this year, just some tomatoes, peppers and lettuce if I can find it.

I've decided to do something a little different as far as planting the tomatoes go- to keep my costs low, I am going to try planting in the 50lb rabbit feed bags! A picture tutorial will follow.

If this works, I save the costs of buying all those containers and I won't have to do any weeding! Not to mention it will be a little something extra that the bunnies will be helping with, since they are already going to provide the bulk of the soil I'm planting in! Might as well use their feed bags to further assist in the planting!

Now the biggest problem is going to be how to keep the chickens away from the ripening fruits and veggies this summer. :)

-Kristen

Cheap Plants

With it being planting season, there are tons of places you can go to find cheap, healthy garden plants!

Try your local High School- many FFAs have greenhouses on campus and look to sell plants at rock bottom prices to raise money for their club.  It's a great way to support your community and save money.

Prison Farms.  Yes, Prison Farms.  There happens to be one near me and they offer the best prices around.  Like the FFA, it helps keep the money in your local community and helps pay for programs that give prisoners life skills. 

Farmer's Market- another local place to try for great prices! You can also find a wide range of plant varieties here.

Craigslist- You never know what you may find here! Perhaps someone started 15 tomato plants, expecting half to die.  Now they have more than they need and will happily sell them off at a buck each.  It's worth a look!

-Kristen

To Garden or not to Garden-

I'm having a major dilemma on whether to garden or not this year.

Part of the problem is I hate to weed- hate it.  Our lawn care guy (church provided, sigh) mows so that the lawn clippings fly into the garden, making the problem worse.

Last year we put down black plastic, which killed the onions.  We lost two tomato plants to an ant invasion.  The tomatoes were very small on the plants that did survive.

We don't own a tiller.  We have to either rent one, or depend on the kindness of others to get our garden place tilled.

However- I love making fresh salsa, and having hot banana peppers for summer sandwiches!  I love feeding the excess produce to the chickens and giving it away to friends. I love the satisfaction of growing something myself!

So what to do, what to do.  I need to make a decision quickly, it's warming up here in North Carolina!

-Kristen

Seed Starter Chart- by Temperature

A helpful chart for all of those hoping to get a jump on starting our seeds this year!  It came from the folks over at rootsnursery.com

-Kristen

No Eggs and Other "Homestead" Thoughts

I am now longing for the days when we had dozens and dozens of eggs- so many we were having to boil them and feed them to the dogs. 

It has been two weeks now and there have been no eggs laid.  The Ameracaunas and the Australorp are still too young, the bantams have apparently gone on strike.  They appear to be in a molt, but still- I need some eggs!

I procrastinated too long in making the winter garden.  The first round of seedlings died and we've been so busy I haven't given much though to replanting them.  I may try starting some lettuce in a pot, but I haven't really decided yet.  I hate to not have anything growing right now.

In another week, the Florida White bunnies will be here!  Tim's ultimate goal for these guys is to transition them to a natural diet and transport them down to Haiti.  There they will become the foundation stock to breed animals for meat and perhaps even pelts.   Before they do that, they will provide us and the dogs with meat. Exciting!

It's also hunting season! We don't purchase beef anymore, having decided to mostly eat venison.  While we have quite a bit in our deep freezer right now, who can turn down more delicious roasts and backstrap?  My Dad has even managed to talk us in to going hunting with him.  The last time I went, my little brother caused us to miss a shot on a beautiful buck.  I hope we have luck this time!

I have a pumpkin and a bag of apples that need to be processed.  I'm going to can the pumpkin to have ready-pumpkin-pie filling. Tim has also demanded a return of the seasoned pumpkin seeds.  I haven't decided if the apples will be apple chips or apple butter yet. Either way, the rabbits and the chickens will be thrilled with the cores!

So there we have it- while we're short on eggs and vegetables right now, we're rich in meat, thanks to butchering the broiler chickens and the deer from last year.

-Kristen

Grow Food, Not Grass Movement

As the push towards healthier food and household sustainability continues, there is a movement making it's voice heard- the grassroots (vegetable roots?) campaign to "Grow Food, Not Grass".

They make an excellent point-  what benefit do you get from grass? You have to mow it, which takes time, effort and money (think gas for the mower, repairs to the mower, etc).  What do you get in return?  Sure, it's pretty when it's well kept.  That's about it. 

Instead, through some creative landscaping, you can replace some or all of that grass with plants that actually give you some benefit.  Fresh herbs in beautiful beds, vibrant reds, greens, and oranges as you plant edible plants in areas that were before just grass. There are tons of excellent ideas online about how to "upcycle" old pallets, croc shoes, etc. in to making decorative plant holders or no-weed garden plots.

Now, I'm not saying you have to give up your whole lawn, or even that you do have to replace part of it with garden beds.  It would be less attractive in the winter when less things are growing, I need somewhere for my dogs to go poop, and frankly I just enjoy walking barefoot on grass at any opportunity.  However, I am saying- think about that hard to mow corner of your yard- the one you hate.  Everyone has one.  What about putting some fresh herbs there?  What about a vegetable garden?  So you're looking to plant a few more trees...could they be fruit trees?

It never hurts to have some of your own food growing and really it doesn't take very much time to do it.  There are so many ways to cut down weeding, from container growing to putting down plastic or other sheeting that helps keeps weeds out.   Plus, you have the option of growing your own organic food or controlling what is on the plants.  You have the option of canning, freezing or eating fresh those yummy treats that you have to have each summer- like cantaloupe or watermelon.   You do it much more cheaply by growing your own. 

So maybe, one of those folks who finds yourself sighing and saying "I wish the lawn would just die" or "Gah, I have to mow it again"- just maybe growing food, not grass, is the right option for you.

-Kristen

Harvesting and Storing

I have come to the conclusion I need more storage space.  Oh and about a billion convenient gadgets, but that is another story.

We put up two food-saver bags full of chicken- one of just the breasts and another bag with a whole chicken.  We also put up a back of thighs and legs- that will go to the dogs at some point, neither Tim and I like to eat thighs.  I don't want them to go to waste though!

We put up a few ears of corn- just four, since we had two with dinner and saved back two for another dinner soon.

I also finally put the apple chips in small food-saver bags.  They had been "seasoning" in mason jars on the counter (basically, I wanted to make sure there was no excess moisture to cause them to ruin, and it was easy access to snack on them!)  I went from four jars on the counter to just one- these will be the chips we eat first!

The garden is dying, but I've been reading about how to store green tomatoes so that they will continue to safely ripen.  Some folks have mentioned they have made green tomatoes last into November! I'm very tempted to give this a try, since it would be nice to not have to toss a ton of perfectly fine produce.   The cantaloupe vine is all but dead, however that last cantaloupe is very stubbornly hanging on.  I would have thought it would have been ready before now, but nooo.

I'm drying corn husks as we speak- these will go up for rabbit fodder in the winter.  If we have a mild winter like last year (unlikely) it will be unnecessary, but if not, it will be some welcome (and cheap aka. free) roughage for the rabbits.

Speaking of drying- I have more apple chips to make.  Not to mention a watermelon that is begging to be cut and dehydrated and another bag of apples being given to me soon!

Apple butter time, I guess!

-Kristen

Winding Down

Well, the summer garden is winding down.  The cantaloupes still on the vine are smaller than the first fruits, the tomato plants are either dying off or producing very small amount of very small tomatoes and yet oddly enough, the green pepper plant is still blooming. 

Go figure.

I'm going to have to purchase tomatoes at the Farmer's Market if I want to get that hot batch of salsa made this year.  I have to admit, I'm fairly disappointed in our tomato yield.  The big boy and better boy plants (of which there were only two, thankfully) only gave us a few small tomatoes.  The romas did well, except that little black ants took over one entire plant and ruined all of them. So half our plants either under produced or were killed by bugs, so I guess we didn't do too badly overall.  It's still a disappointment though.

The tomatoes I am still pulling off the vine are being fed to some of the pet rabbits and to the chickens. I might as well get some use out of them, as there are too many for us to eat, but too few to make it worthwhile to do the canning or to try to make salsa.

I have the seeds started for a fall garden. I'm hoping I can make the seeds survive.  For some reason, mine always grow these really tall, spindly little seedlings that never "bulk up" and ultimately die.  I'm hopeful though- ever hopeful. If I can't make the seeds find the will to live, we will have to do without fall produce- at least homegrown produce. 

So far I have lettuce, spinach, broccoli and radishes planted.  I'm planning on getting some more dirt and starting a second bunch of seedlings a few weeks behind these, so everything doesn't come ripe at once, like it tends to do.

Fingers crossed!

-Kristen

Flash Freezing Veggies

I recently mentioned Flash Freezing peppers from the garden, for use later on in the year.  A friend asked me to explain exactly how this works, so here we go!

You can do this either with whole peppers or pre-cut peppers.  Remember, these aren't going to be great for eating plain or in something like a salad, frozen peppers are much better for cooking.

Whole: Wash off your pepper(s) and then pat them dry, making sure you remove as much moisture from the outside as humanly possible.  I like to dry mine off, then let them sit another hour or two- or even a day longer to make sure they are as dry as possible.  I'm neurotic like that.   Trim the stem as much as possible, then place the pepper(s) on a baking sheet.  Make sure if you are using multiples that they don't touch.   Stick them in the freezer.  I usually leave mine for a day.  Take the peppers out, transfer them to a freezer bag and stick them back in to the freezer. 

Voila! They will last 8 months in a deep freezer.  They also thaw very quickly

In Pieces: Wash off your pepper(s) and pat them dry.  Slice the pepper(s) in chunks or rings- whatever you prefer.  You'll be cooking with them later, so keep that in mind.  Sprinkle the pieces on a baking sheet, making sure that none are touching.  Stick them in the freezer and leave them for a day or so.  When you take them out, they may look "frosted"- that's fine, it's perfectly normal.  Scoop the pieces in to a freezer bag and remove as much air as possible.

There you go! You can take out as few or as many pieces as you want if you pre-cut them.  They will last 8 months this way as well.

So there you go! Flash freezing your peppers now can save you significant money later on when they are out of season and grocery stores are charging $3 each for a small one!

-Kristen

Canning Time!

Somehow, miraculously, the garden sprang back to life.  The week of  no sunshine, just overcast skies and rain has certainly worked it's magic.  I even saw some baby green peppers growing!  We netted over 5lbs of tomatoes in the past few days- mostly romas.  I can't tell you how many went bad though, apparently some ants took over one plant.  The chickens are enjoying those fruits, so that doesn't upset me as much as it would have in past years.  With so much produce....it was salsa makin' time!

I canned 14 half pint jelly jars (8 oz) of salsa, plus three 3 pint jars.   I'm exhausted because that quantity meant I had to pressure can two batches- so I was up until nearly midnight, after starting the salsa making process around 7pm! Thankfully Tim helped or I'd probably still be working on it.  I literally had to claw my way out of bed inch by inch this morning.

While the salsa took care of most of the tomatoes, we do still have extras laying around, as well as extra peppers.

My thought is I'll prepare some pint jars of tomatoes and jalapenos.  That way when winter rolls around, I already have half my work done for making the chili that Tim likes so much- and I don't have to go out and pay out the nose for expensive peppers.   I may flash freeze some extra peppers as well for regular cooking purposes.

What appeals to me the most about canning is...well I guess it's the security.  I feel like a squirrel sometimes, but it's nice to know we have food no matter what- even if it's salsa and tomatoes, you know?  In this wonky economy, that's nothing to sneeze at!  Not to mention you are extending the summer harvest, which is always more than you can eat, and using it in the winter.  No buying greenhouse tomatoes for $2 a pound.  No paying $3.50 for a single, small green pepper.

As the garden keeps producing, I'll keep canning! I recently found canning jars and rings for half what I usually pay at Dollar General.  Hooray!

-Kristen

A Homesteading Update

I've been out of town since Wednesday- now that I've returned home, so many things seem to have changed!

The garden has gone absolutely feral.  The cantaloupe vine has expanded to the edge of the garden, then hooked a left and started climbing the peas trellis.  The cucumber has taken the opportunity to expand and began crawling on top of the cantaloupe vine and the pea trellis.  Also, we have teeny peas now.

We learned that planting onions under black plastic works fabulously to keep down weeds.  It also keeps the soil too damp and causes your big, beautiful onions to rot.  RIP onions.  We did manage to salvage a few, they are out drying as we speak.

The chickens are doing wonderfully, we had four eggs when I returned!  I'll be boiling those up and feeding them back to the chickens since they laid in the nestbox for a while in the heat.

I'm trying to sell the last rooster.  He is loud and obnoxious- fingers crossed someone wants him! I have him paired with the hen of the same color, so hopefully they go as a nice set.

I have some exciting things in the works as I work on building up a mini-working farm in a housing develop on parsonage land!

-Kristen

First Harvest!

As a massive rainstorm hits us, we managed to run in to the house with the first harvest of the year!  Well, I ran in to the house.  Tim was stuck outside, belatedly trying to put up tomato cages on massive tomato plants.

Look at the size of the broccoli! It's ALL that big! I was amazed.   The hot banana peppers aren't exactly tiny themselves though.

One thing that is slightly worrying me- we already have green peppers at a decent size! Since I planted those to go in salsa and we don't have any tomatoes even close to ready yet, I'm getting a little twitchy.  Normally the green peppers are the last thing to come in- this year they are way early! Maybe that means we'll get a better harvest than normal.

-Kristen

Vegetable Gardening

This year I am planning on doing a fall garden- which will consist mostly of lettuces, onions and broccoli.  I decided to go on and do some research early to find out when to do my planting- I'm sure glad I did!  I'll have to get my seeds started as early as late July/early August to have the seedlings ready for the cooler temperatures.

I guess this means I need to go on and buy my seeds now.  It won't be long until stores stop carrying them, as prime summer planting time is rapidly approaching.

I discovered that the chickens really love broccoli leaves and rutabaga leaves.  Since it was never my plan to have rutabagas, this makes me especially happy- perhaps they will like rutabagas themselves as well. 

Meanwhile, I couldn't figure out why my sunflowers weren't sprouting.  I inspected the garden today and it was just as I feared- something dug up the seeds and ate them! *sigh*.  Guess I will have to start them inside after all.  I was trying to be lazy- I should know better by now!

The hot banana pepper plants are flourishing.  We've even picked our first pepper off one! It is growing several others, which thrills me.  The green pepper plant has a baby pepper on it as well.  It seems like this year they are fruiting very early- especially the green pepper plant, which has always been more of a late bloomer in my mind.

Our cucumber plant is doing beautifully- it is blooming, along with a few of our tomato plants, including the "volunteer".  I also saw "baby broccolis" on a few of the broccoli plants!  The onions are shooting up like weeds and several of them are reproducing as well.  I may hold back their babies to plant in the fall garden.

I think we have some volunteer shoots of corn in one of the onion beds- which blows my mind, as I didn't plant corn this year and it was on the other side of the garden last year!  We have three shoots growing together- I know I need to thin two out, but I always hate to do that.  It feels so wasteful to destroy growing vegetable plants.

The peas are shooting up like weeds- it's incredible! I'm beginning to worry they aren't going to have enough space to climb, but ya know- I only have so much room!  Perhaps next year I'll plant the "three sisters" and let them all grow together naturally.

-Kristen

Happy to be home!

We're home, we're home! 

The vacation was fun, but in most cases by Day 5 I am more than ready to be home.  Pictures and stories will be coming soon.

All the animals are doing great- the smallest set of chickens have mostly integrated with the flock, though they still prefer to hang out together.  At least there aren't constant fights! They have gotten so big, it's amazing!

The rabbits are all doing great as well- several of the babies are old enough to wean now and one little guy has hopped out of the nestbox!

The biggest surprise was the garden!  It looks fantastic- the volunteer tomato plant has blooms on it, as do several of the pepper plants and the cucumber plant!  The peas are shooting up with a vengeance that amazes me.  I was even able to pick our first bit of produce today- a hot banana pepper.  Woo hoo!

We added in a cantaloupe plant today.  I nearly bought some cilantro and basil, but I honestly don't use either very much.  The cilantro would mostly be for the salsa and one bundle from the grocery store is more than enough and cheaper than planting my own.  If we ever get our own home, I will definitely be planting a herb garden.

The cats are thrilled with life now that we are back.  They always act like they don't love us, but they totally do :).

-Kristen

Labor of Love

This weekend has truly been a lot of what we call a "labor of love".

It started out bright and early Saturday with a trip to Lowes with my Dad.  We purchased another set of insulation for the rabbit barn while Tim was at home pulling out cages and cleaning trays.  When we returned, I ran inside to order pizza for lunch.  Tim was off to go pick it up, while "Deddy" (I am going to spell it phonetically, rather than what I consider the more childish "Daddy") and I started cutting insulation in to strips.

After a quick lunch, we worked until 7pm, putting up insulation, cutting "specialty" pieces and putting up a heavy duty plastic to shield the new insulation from stray urine streams.  When young bucks figure hit puberty, a favorite game is to see how far they can shoot their pee.  Gross but true, especially in the presence of other males!

Unfortunately we ran out of staples in the home stretch- we were literally shy just the last few to finish putting the plastic around one window and the last small space by the door.  It figures!

We completely rearranged the barn- I pulled out 10 cages for sale and moved my hay container in to one corner.  I plan on putting up shelves to accommodate nestboxes and other supplies.  The rabbits seem to enjoy the new space and I can't believe how much room we have!

Sunday was a more work- after a farewell church luncheon for the intern, we got down to business!  We took a quick trip back to Lowes for zip ties, wire cutters and more staples of course.

Once home, it took less than 5 minutes to finish putting up the plastic.  We move the new AC into it's window and it's running now on a test basis so I can get a sense of how great the insulation is going to work.

I reinforced one of the walls of the chicken coop with a taller, heavier duty wire- thus the need for the wire cutters.  We also moved around their ceiling tarp so that they have more sun on the west side of the coop.  They seemed to love the new sunshine- though the new suet holder stuffed with chickweed and dandelions may have sweetened their temperaments too.

We bought a packet of sunflower seeds and I planted six today.  My plan is to harvest the blooms for us and for the chickens to enjoy, especially after pricing bags of bird seed! Yeoch! I thought rabbits were an expensive hobby, but bird seed gives rabbit food a run for it's money!

So we've worked ourselves to death this weekend.  My back is super sore, but I'm so happy that all the animals are taken care of- I can go on our vacation and not worry about them... as much.

-Kristen