Gardening is not a task for someone afraid of learning. You can't simply put plants in the ground and say "Good Luck!". Plants need help along the way and figuring out just how to help them is where the learning part comes in. It's not like plants can come along and say "Hey, I need some nitrogen here!" or "A little more water please". But, they do have ways of alerting you to a problem. My cucumbers are doing just that. I know I don't have the best soil and I also know that I haven't done a whole lot to really improve the soil aside from adding some gardening mix. What I don't know is exactly how to improve the soil for what I'm growing with little to no expense. Granted, I've read a lot of different things that would probably solve my problems, but they all require shelling out a chunk of cash that I just don't have right now.
So back to the cucumbers. Until last week they were looking great. Big green leaves, lots of cukes starting to grow, sturdy vines crawling across the ground. Then we got a couple of days of almost non-stop rain. I thought, "Great! My ground was really needing a good soaking!" Within a day or so though, I noticed all the cucumber leaves, especially those closest to the root, starting to turn splotchy yellow and then very quickly to brown. What in the world?? I thought they needed the water? My first thought was that maybe the hard rain was bruising the leaves, but that didn't make sense. Plant cells have rigid cell walls that are specifically there as a barrier to the elements. Then it was that maybe they just got too much water. But as the yellowing seemed to get worse and spread further down the vine I figured it was neither of those problems. I checked the plants thoroughly for bugs but couldn't find any in the leaves or on the stems that might be causing a problem. Off to the Internet I go to find out what's wrong.
The best thing I can find is that there is a lack of nitrogen in the soil. Our soil here has a fair amount of clay and, like I said, I didn't do a whole lot to supplement it. I did till in a topsoil mix when I was preparing the plot and I planted each seedling with garden soil. I also got a plant food for vegetables that I added in with the initial planting. Everything looked so good for quite awhile! UGH!! I guess for now I'll try a plant food with a higher percentage of nitrogen and clip out the leaves that are dead or dying so they aren't trying to pull in any resources. I still have several very nice cucumbers growing, so the plants aren't completely dead. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope they can pull through this. If not, well, lesson learned for next year and I'm really going to miss my fresh cucumber and tomato sandwiches.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Picking Blueberries
One of the things I love about summer in this part of the country is the plethora of fresh berries. Strawberries in May transition to blueberries and blackberries in June and July. There are several pick your own strawberry farms around and of course I have my favorite, but the strawberry season is over now. Blueberry farms are little more scarce; however, there is one down the road from where we live that never ceases to produce the most wonderful berries. Due to the unseasonably warm temperatures this past winter, the berries are in a week or so early, which meant it was time to head to the farm!
Saturday morning, temperatures in the 70s, clear blue skies - a perfect day for berry picking. Hubby and I headed down to the farm with our buckets in hand. As we were walking out to the bushes, we passed several people with overflowing buckets. One couple mentioned it was so easy! We couldn't wait to start picking!
The bushes on the ends of the rows were fairly picked over, but there were lots of green berries which meant there would be lots more to come this year. We chose a row and headed about halfway down before starting to poke through the bushes. What we saw were some of the biggest and most beautiful blueberries! We barely had to touch them and they fell off in our hands. Huge clumps of 8-10 berries at a time, some the size of a quarter! We couldn't help but try a few while we worked. We had to make sure they were ok for eating right?? I couldn't believe how sweet and juicy the berries were! These are definitely going to make for some great recipes.
It didn't take us long to fill two buckets with berries. Then it was off to weigh the berries and pay for them ($3.00/lb). In all we had about 11 pounds of berries. Not a bad haul for about 30 minutes of work! I'm really not too concerned about their price since there is no way I'm going to find berries like these in the grocery store. Not to mention that spending a morning picking berries with my best friend is one of the best dates in the world so it was well worth the cost.
Now I've got to get these all processed! I'm planning to do some freezing and some drying with this batch. I'll definitely keep some fresh for the next week or so (until we go again next weekend most likely) to have for breakfast with oatmeal and I might just try my hand at a homemade cobbler. I'm tempted to try making jam, but I've never made or had blueberry jam so I'm a little hesitant. In any case, these are a great batch of berries so I'm sure that whatever I decide to do with them, it'll be fantastic!
Saturday morning, temperatures in the 70s, clear blue skies - a perfect day for berry picking. Hubby and I headed down to the farm with our buckets in hand. As we were walking out to the bushes, we passed several people with overflowing buckets. One couple mentioned it was so easy! We couldn't wait to start picking!
The bushes on the ends of the rows were fairly picked over, but there were lots of green berries which meant there would be lots more to come this year. We chose a row and headed about halfway down before starting to poke through the bushes. What we saw were some of the biggest and most beautiful blueberries! We barely had to touch them and they fell off in our hands. Huge clumps of 8-10 berries at a time, some the size of a quarter! We couldn't help but try a few while we worked. We had to make sure they were ok for eating right?? I couldn't believe how sweet and juicy the berries were! These are definitely going to make for some great recipes.
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| Can you believe how many berries there are?? |
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| Perfect berries! |
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| One full bucket! |
It didn't take us long to fill two buckets with berries. Then it was off to weigh the berries and pay for them ($3.00/lb). In all we had about 11 pounds of berries. Not a bad haul for about 30 minutes of work! I'm really not too concerned about their price since there is no way I'm going to find berries like these in the grocery store. Not to mention that spending a morning picking berries with my best friend is one of the best dates in the world so it was well worth the cost.
Now I've got to get these all processed! I'm planning to do some freezing and some drying with this batch. I'll definitely keep some fresh for the next week or so (until we go again next weekend most likely) to have for breakfast with oatmeal and I might just try my hand at a homemade cobbler. I'm tempted to try making jam, but I've never made or had blueberry jam so I'm a little hesitant. In any case, these are a great batch of berries so I'm sure that whatever I decide to do with them, it'll be fantastic!
Friday, June 1, 2012
How Does Your Garden Grow?
I confess! I am a complete and utter newbie when it comes to gardening. I grew up as an Army brat so we were constantly on the move. I didn't live in the same place for longer than a year until I was in high school. I do, however, remember my grandparents having a beautiful garden. I can remember going there to pick corn and peas and green beans and helping my grandmother prepare them for dinner or for canning. It was an important part of their life and they helped me understand at a very young age just how important having a garden is. My problem is that I have a tendency to kill house plants, but I really want to have some fresh veggies that I grew myself.
With that being said, I decided this would be the year that I really dig in my heels and give gardening the old college try. I'm fortunate in that my backyard has full sun for most of the day and I have a nice flat area to use. I'm not so fortunate in that I live in the South and have a backyard full of red clay dirt. No matter what though, I was going to give this a try. Here's the play-by-play so far:
In early March I decided I would try starting seeds indoors. I mean, how hard could it be, really? You buy the starter kits, wet down the little peat moss pods, poke the seeds in, and wait. Well, apparently it's not as I thought because even though my seeds sprouted, they weren't getting solid stems and then I wasn't being so good at hardening them off outside. (That's going to take some learning!) My next decision was to get the land ready and pick up some seedlings at a nearby farmers market.
April 7 - I enlisted the help of a friend with her tiller to get the ground set for planting. It's a not a particularly huge plot so it didn't take too long to get the ground broken - turning in the topsoil however, is another story! But the final product looks good enough to start planting!
April 29 - The next step was to get some plants so off we went to the farmers market. I picked up tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, peppers, jalapenos, and a few different herbs. I also planted some onion seeds and put in a row of marigolds because I've read they're supposed to help with bugs. Then off I went to a nearby garden center for some garden soil and started digging holes. Everything is looking good so far! (For fear of any possible cross pollination, I planted the jalapenos in a pot on the porch so they aren't in the pictures. I'd hate to have jalapeno flavored tomatoes!)
May 7 - Now the fun part. Watching the garden grown. Pulling weeds. Watching the garden grow. And so on. A week later I took a few shots since everything was already starting to show substantial growth.
At this point, my garden is about 6 weeks into growing and so far so good. I picked 4 cucumbers yesterday and we had them with dinner. They were nice and crunchy and oh so fresh tasting! I think I may have to build something for the cucumbers to vine on before they take over the whole plot. Someone at work suggested getting some bamboo and building teepee with garden twine. I may try to do that sometime next week if I have the time.
I know that I've got a lot of learning to go and that I've probably not done several things right (like starting the cucumbers on a trellis to start). There is a lot of season yet to go this year so I'll keep updating! Hopefully we'll be bringing in some great homegrown veggies this year and maybe even can some homemade salsa.
With that being said, I decided this would be the year that I really dig in my heels and give gardening the old college try. I'm fortunate in that my backyard has full sun for most of the day and I have a nice flat area to use. I'm not so fortunate in that I live in the South and have a backyard full of red clay dirt. No matter what though, I was going to give this a try. Here's the play-by-play so far:
In early March I decided I would try starting seeds indoors. I mean, how hard could it be, really? You buy the starter kits, wet down the little peat moss pods, poke the seeds in, and wait. Well, apparently it's not as I thought because even though my seeds sprouted, they weren't getting solid stems and then I wasn't being so good at hardening them off outside. (That's going to take some learning!) My next decision was to get the land ready and pick up some seedlings at a nearby farmers market.
April 7 - I enlisted the help of a friend with her tiller to get the ground set for planting. It's a not a particularly huge plot so it didn't take too long to get the ground broken - turning in the topsoil however, is another story! But the final product looks good enough to start planting!
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| Garden Plot (w/Gabby) |
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| Garden Plot 2 (w/Gabby) |
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| First Plants |
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| Herbs - Greek Basil, Oregano, Dill, Cilantro, and Dark Opal Basil |
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| Onion seeds |
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| Tomatoes - heirloom beefsteak, 2 types of cherry, and roma |
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| The garden in one week |
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| Cucumbers - Straight Eight (I think!) and Pickling along with zucchini and squash in the back |
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| Tomatoes |
At this point, my garden is about 6 weeks into growing and so far so good. I picked 4 cucumbers yesterday and we had them with dinner. They were nice and crunchy and oh so fresh tasting! I think I may have to build something for the cucumbers to vine on before they take over the whole plot. Someone at work suggested getting some bamboo and building teepee with garden twine. I may try to do that sometime next week if I have the time.
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| May 29 Garden View 1 |
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| May 29 Garden View 2 |
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| May 29 - Crazy Cucumbers! |
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| May 29 - Tomatoes |
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
First Time Using Wheat
What do I know about wheat? Well, I do know that wheat is considered a staple for any food storage. I also know that it stores easily and has a very long shelf life, whereas flour is a bit more difficult for long term storage and can go rancid. Fresh ground wheat also has more nutrients than processed flour. I also know that it is a bit more difficult to work with than having flour at the ready, but at the same time, I know that it's something I should learn how to use.
I've been researching wheat prices for awhile but our family is on a pretty tight budget. I wasn't sure that I wanted to shell out a big chunk of money for a huge quantity of wheat when I wasn't even sure if I was going to like working with it. Not to mention the cost of purchasing some kind of grinder. Then one day my husband and I were walking down the main street in our little town and one of the shops had 5 lb bags of hard red and hard white wheat for sale. At $5.50 per bag I figured it was a reasonable size and price for trying something new. I'd also read that coffee grinders work alright for wheat so with such a small amount, I could probably get by without shelling out money for a wheat grinder. We picked up a bag of the hard white, brought it home, and it sat on the counter for a couple of weeks before I was brave enough to do something with it.
I had read about whole wheat blender pancakes over at Food Storage Made Easy, then actually discovered a similar recipe in one of my family reunion cookbooks. Since I am on a break from school right now and have some extra time on my hands, I decided to try making these pancakes as a breakfast for dinner. I am pleased to say they were a resounding success! Neither my husband nor I could believe the flavor difference between using regular flour (or even whole wheat) versus the wheat berries. The pancakes were denser, but more filling and much better tasting. Now he's asking that I make them every night! I'm not entirely sure that will happen, but they will likely make it into our weekend breakfast rotation. I think my next adventure in using wheat will be using our coffee grinder to make flour in an attempt at some chocolate chip cookies.
Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes (from Monica Ripley in the Martin Family Reunion cookbook from 2003)
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup wheat kernels
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp baking power
3 tbsp sugar or honey
Add milk and wheat kernels to blender and blend for 2-3 minutes on high speed. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend for 1 minute more. Pour onto hot skillet, cooking each side until golden brown.
*Note: When I first started blending the wheat and milk, it had a very thin consistency. If I had poured it on the griddle at that point it would have just gone everywhere. I ended up adding about another 1/2 cup of wheat and blending for nearly 5 minutes more until the consistency was such that pancakes would form. I think either using less milk or more wheat would work. I also used skim milk so it's possible that was the reason for the consistency.
I've been researching wheat prices for awhile but our family is on a pretty tight budget. I wasn't sure that I wanted to shell out a big chunk of money for a huge quantity of wheat when I wasn't even sure if I was going to like working with it. Not to mention the cost of purchasing some kind of grinder. Then one day my husband and I were walking down the main street in our little town and one of the shops had 5 lb bags of hard red and hard white wheat for sale. At $5.50 per bag I figured it was a reasonable size and price for trying something new. I'd also read that coffee grinders work alright for wheat so with such a small amount, I could probably get by without shelling out money for a wheat grinder. We picked up a bag of the hard white, brought it home, and it sat on the counter for a couple of weeks before I was brave enough to do something with it.
I had read about whole wheat blender pancakes over at Food Storage Made Easy, then actually discovered a similar recipe in one of my family reunion cookbooks. Since I am on a break from school right now and have some extra time on my hands, I decided to try making these pancakes as a breakfast for dinner. I am pleased to say they were a resounding success! Neither my husband nor I could believe the flavor difference between using regular flour (or even whole wheat) versus the wheat berries. The pancakes were denser, but more filling and much better tasting. Now he's asking that I make them every night! I'm not entirely sure that will happen, but they will likely make it into our weekend breakfast rotation. I think my next adventure in using wheat will be using our coffee grinder to make flour in an attempt at some chocolate chip cookies.
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| Wheat Kernels |
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| Completed pancakes! |
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| Mixed batter |
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup wheat kernels
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp baking power
3 tbsp sugar or honey
Add milk and wheat kernels to blender and blend for 2-3 minutes on high speed. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend for 1 minute more. Pour onto hot skillet, cooking each side until golden brown.
*Note: When I first started blending the wheat and milk, it had a very thin consistency. If I had poured it on the griddle at that point it would have just gone everywhere. I ended up adding about another 1/2 cup of wheat and blending for nearly 5 minutes more until the consistency was such that pancakes would form. I think either using less milk or more wheat would work. I also used skim milk so it's possible that was the reason for the consistency.
Monday, May 28, 2012
An Introduction
First and foremost, I am by no means an expert in anything that has to do with homesteading. However, I am a very good learner and I like to read, a lot. The point of this blog is for me to chronicle my family's journey as we move to a life of homesteading and hopefully, self-sufficiency. I know this won't be an easy road, but it is one that my husband and I have decided we need to travel down. We currently live in suburbia America and realize the need for becoming more self-reliant. Although we are still 2-3 years away from moving to a more permanent homestead location, we know that there is plenty we can do now on our little quarter acre to learn and prepare for the bigger challenges that lie ahead. I welcome you to join me in this adventure as I share the things I learn, both good and bad, and perhaps I'll learn a thing or two from you as well.
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