A little bit of Randomness....

Today, is a random post, but those can be the best sometimes...don't ya think?

I walked around the yard today and took some pictures and added them here. This week is a prep week the final week before girls camp and summer activities.

This is also the week we will be slaughtering chickens. I am hoping to get them all slaughtered and canned up before friday, but we will see. We have been putting it off waiting for a new canner we ordered last week that is bigger and holds more jars.

Canning is a favorite thing for me. I really like the basicness of it and enjoy opening those jars of summer goodness during the cold days of winter. Having the right tools is important.

Hubby and I are planning and putting together more food storage. I think we have bounced around it over the years and we have quite a bit, but now its time to get serious.  So Saturday we bought 2 apple and 2 peach trees and more blueberry bushes. We also plan on getting bees soon at least the equipment and if we can still order bees than order some, but if not then wait till spring to order the bees.

I don't want to store sugar and I want something local, producing our own. Also the bees will help pollinate our garden for us. :0)

One of the trees even has a few peaches on it. And one of the apples has blossums.

The garden is growing and doing nicely. Though others are already getting a harvest of a few things we are not. I plan the garden so that we can start harvesting after girls camp, that way hubby doesn't have to worry about an abundance of veggies.

Squash, Trail of Tear beans, and sunflowers.

The trellis' are working out really well.

The gardenias are blooming and smelling so sweet, I just love them.

At Down to Earth she is posting about making vinegar, this is something I have been doing alot of. So far I have made pineapple and apple. We use the apple for our shampoo regime. Its fun to make these things that so many think you have to buy at the store.

Last week I went through all my recipe books and printed recipes and tossed a bunch or added them to the yard sale pile. I thought why keep these things I no longer use and will not since I am changing how we do things and eat.

I thought one way to help yourself in change is to get rid of the temptation so all the recipes I have never and will never use are gone now. It feels good :0)

Well that is all sour dough pancakes to make and some other sour dough goodness to whip together for later baking.

Have a blessed day

Love,

Erika

Summer Clothing

We've been sewing this past week as well as gardening since this week is our spring break. I thought I would share with you some of this things I made.

I love the black and white of this skirt there are flowers in white all over and I finished the hem off with little white lace.

I love the lightness of this fabric it will be cool to wear this summer and the peonies on it makes it even nicer. I refurbished lace off of a tiered skirt and had enough to trim this one and the next one.

This one is a light green and just as light. I love this pattern, it is Simplicity 2609 and also has a tiered skirt. I have two skirts cut for that and will hopefully be able to get to this this weekend.

I finished another skirt but before we could get a picture I dropped a big bottle of hand soap from the top shelf in the bathroom, so about 7 ft and it splattered me, the floor, the wall, the cabinet door, and the stool I was standing on. It was all so funny really I was happy with myself for not to getting upset over spilt soap :0) since I couldn't stop it.

But I still have 3 blouses peasant style, 1 apron, and 2 tiered skirts to finish. Then we will see what if I am still itching to sew and maybe I'll sew some more. Oh and a church dress for Ash.

We planted flowers today lots of them and the garden is planted some we are hoping to finish most of it Saturday morning and mid day. Before and between conference sessions for church.

Hopefully I will be able to post pictures before next weeks Plain and Simple.

Have a blessed day and weekend...

Love,

Erika

Canning

While the boys were gone we stayed up late and slept in late the last 2 weeks have been a little topsy turvy at our house. But, Ash and I did go to a upick field and pick 6 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes and 2 of green peppers and hot peppers. We are are planning on canning salsa, spaghetti sauce, freezing sweet peppers, and canning the hot but that will be this week.

Friday night after watching 2 movies we decided to can up dewberry jelly. I had crushed and strained the juice out of some of the berries we had froze in the spring and so we canned it up. We used sugar free pectin and when we were all done we had 10 pints of yummy jelly. I have some apples no one will eat and so I will make apple butter with them. Such fun processing your own picked or grown goodness.

Garden

Our Blueberries

Our house is a little messy right now with painting and things going on. Tonight we are going up to camp for family night I hope to get the rest of the house straight today before hand.

Gourds, the don't grow well here at all. On the coast we had them growing everywhere but here the sandy acidic soil kills them. So I put them in a pot this year, they are doing much better. And are even bigger than his picture which is over a week old. They are climbing on the fence now.

Eggplant started from seed I didn't think they would do well. We have lost one from moles but they are doing great.

The meat chickens are growing and crowing one of them is very good at it. They love when I at out there in the garden. I will throw them scallop squash they love anything I throw in.

One area of contender green beans we have another area but I used a technique someone told me I had to use in sandy acidic soil and they are a flop. This patch is done the way I usually do it. This week they are covered in little purple flowers won't be long we'll be picking yummy beans. And in another area we have wax beans doing just as good.

Yguy's popcorn are doing great this year.

His watermelon too. When I came home from camp there were 3 big melons growing away on these vines in the pic there weren't any. And I took this a week before I left.

The tomatoes are taller than their stands. hubby brings me home flower stands that are throw away at graveyards and this year they aren't big enough. :0) I have been out there tying tomatoes up and today will probably add some other support. There are little tomatoes all over the place.

Some Garden Photos

This week I have auto posted posts since I will be gone and away enjoying a few days cooking for a bunch of hungry teenage girls. We will be in the land of Oz since the theme is based on the Wizard of Oz. It will be so much fun.

The following pictures are from around the garden Sunday evening.

Cucumber flowers, these are Parisian Pickling see the little pickle.
The Zinnia bloom is from seeds we saved from last year.

Above is our garden, this year we are doing deep mulch, no till. We haven't tilled at all. In the fall we loaded it with horse manure, cleanings from the chicken house and yard and thru out the winter rabbit manure. In Jan we spread 2 old round hay bails. Three would have been better but the 2 were free, we used oak leaves to mulch the rest.  See the round wire cage we have 4 of those around the garden that we filled with leaves so we could pull out what we needed. The area closest to the leaf cage is where I had a bunch of green beans, the rouge rabbit had nice meal. So we hand turned it under and layered leaves and I am planning on planting something there after camp.

We also have tried a different way of doing things in a few areas and I am very unhappy with it so we went back to what we were doing and things are starting to produce and actually grow.

And below are some of the things we have started from seed all of them even the Fig Tomatoes. Spaghetti squash, butternut squash(I love the leaves on this varity), Red Figs, yellow straight neck squash(we have a nice bowl full on the counter every other day or so), zukes, and mammoth sunflowers in Yguys garden.

And a little friend in the popcorn Yguy is growing. I love this picture I put it as our wallpaper on the laptop.

A challenging month for sure!

Well, two challenages in one month! What was I thinking? ;) I was already planning on growing some wax beans I bought from Baker Creek Seeds and saving seeds from them, so I thought since I already plan on doing this then I will jump right in. Both of the links for these are on the sidebar.

We already save seeds from some of our flowers which are pretty easy. You can't go wrong with zinnias and marigolds. But I have been wanting to step it up a notch so I bought 2 packs of beans and one I will be using for canning and eating and the other will be for growing and saving the seeds. I know overkill, we like these beans though so I wanted to make sure I had enough. :0) Plus you never know...I always plan way ahead and over plan and it works for me.

I have Red Fig, Yellow Pear, a pink variety tomato, and eggplant seed started. I used toilet paper rolls for the "pots" reusing items I already have on hand. I have been doing that alot this winter. I will post about that later.

  I cut the rolls in half and reused, see there is that word again, the drawers from those plastic cabinets on wheels you can use for dressers etc. They are really cheaply made since they don't hold up very long. I have been using them in the barn for storage in the hay loft but wanted to toss them the drawers are great for starting seeds in and I am not adding to a landfill or spending money on trays. I hope to put alot more effort into our growing of food and preserving of food this year. Upick farms for fruit are hard to come by around here I have found blueberry, blueberry, and blueberry. I am wondering if I should go into the upick farming business for something besides blueberries.

The real food challenge, for this month I want to cut out all foods from fast food, walmart, and Sams. It is so easy to grab a piece of pizza while we shop at Sam's or stop by a fast food joint's dollar menu on youth night or while we are out taking our kids to yet another activity. So I am going to set this goal this month (my family doesn't know) of no out to eat.

I will discuss this with hubby tonight and keep the kids out of it. What they don't know doesn't hurt them, right?

Next  month will be harder...I promise like no soda pops... of any kind...whatsoever! Would homemade root beer be included in this..?

Growing Green Onions

I am the only one in the house who loves green onions or scallions. I put them on egg sandwiches, sandwiches, salads, tacos, well you get the picture.

A few weeks ago we had a gardening lesson at church. A sister told us about an interesting way to grow scallions. I thought it was pretty neat so when I came home I had to try it.

Well it took we a couple of weeks before I did it since life is way to busy right now but finally last week I got my pot ready which is a plastic container that I drilled holes in the bottom I wanted to be able to put in on the windowsill and not spend any money on a fancy pot for them.

You take the scallions and cut off the bulb make sure you have all the bulb. I cut off about 2 inches at the most with the roots and bulbs and used the rest for the meal. As I have used them I just stick them in the pot of most dirt while I am cleaning up from the meal.

Four of them I did all on the same day since I saved them for a few days the other 2 I did a few days later. The first 4 are sprouting nicely and I am excited. The other 2 are showing signs of growth even after only 2 days in the soil.

The plan is since I am the only one who likes scallions is to have a constant fresh supply without buying any more this spring and summer. We will see if it works so far it is doing just fine. You would just trim off the top and leave the bulb in the soil to keep growing. I am going to start some from seed in the garden soon just in case though :0)

"He who lives only unto himself withers and dies, while he who forgets himself in the service of others grows and blossoms in this life and in eternity."

Gordon B. Hinkley

1st pickings..

The kids and I picked green beans, butter beans, 4 zukes, a squash, and a small spagetti squash. Which should be bright yellow but its not in the picture.

We planted a little package of butter beans among the contender green bean this year so it was fun picking. The kids kept saying "Oh look another yellow one!"

Tonight for dinner we are having green beans, zukes, and a spinach quiche. I love all veggie meals.

But we are going to can some of these as well. Since Friday morning will be 2 more bowls full if not more. Acorn squash are in abundance, as well as butternut and white scallop.

Have a blessed day!

Picnic Anyone?

Ma brought a basket covered with a white cloth. "Something to help make your supper," she said and her lips trembled. "Come back soon, Laura."
taken from These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder....

Well my daughter isn't going away to be married and this isn't covered with a white clothe but I see the basket she handed Laura looking like this one.

I found it at the consignment shop a couple weeks ago and when I went back yesterday it was still there waiting for me. I fell in love when I first saw it but passed it up but yesterday it was still there calling my name.

I thought of putting my yarn and knitting needles in it since I am still teaching myself that little womanly art. Don't ask how it is going..... but I won't give up. I want to knit or crochet dish clothes I need someone to help me show me but it is an art that is slowly dwindling from existance at least in my area.

Anyway hubby said his family had one just like this one when he was growing up. The kids loved it especially Ash. They both want it for picnics!

So picnics it is! Good thing we go on them sometimes....

A Year's Supply...or just about....

This week Ash and I are home alone the boys are at scout camp. Such fun for them Yguy hasn't taken a bath all week hubby says. But he has swam everyday in the lake. He got high score at archery till the last group the shot came up and a boy got 5 points ahead of him. But still that is very good!

We have been busy all week but today we went to a U-pick farm and had a blast. We fill 5 gallon buckets with hot peppers, sweet peppers, roma tomatoes. I am hoping the peppers will be our year supply but since hubby loves jalopeno peppers and banana peppers we will see. We picked about 55 lbs of produce and we have started canning the jalopenos as soon as we got home. Here are some pictures. Yes the 1st is a waterbath canner FULL of chopped peppers.

Heres just a portion of the fields this is where we picked the tomatoes.

Grow

"The garden behind the little house had been growing all summer. It was so near the house that the deer did not jump the fence and eat the vegetables in the daytime, and at night Jack kept them away. Sometimes in the morning there were little hoof-prints among the carrots and the cabbages. But Jack's tracks were there, too, and the deer had jumped right out again." Taken from Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The deer aren't in our garden or even trying but we have a rabbit who is. I see rabbit stew here in the very near future. :0) This is our green beans, and squash. Hubby helped me mulch it over the weekend.

I see so many gardens this year...where there weren't any before they look great and I pray they all have success.

Playin hard on Memorial Day!

I hope your playing hard on this Memorial day.....

Or takin a much needed nap with your favorite, person, pillow, or, warm bed or all 3.

Garden Planting!

Yguy is at work today with hubby doing to boy thing. And Ash and I are doing the girl thing which right now entails cooling off and reviving ourselves with lunch.

We are finally getting the garden in the ground. Sweet corn, nasturtiums, zinnias, marigolds, scallop squash, zukes, butternut squash, spagetti squash, watermelon, okra, cucumbers, cantalope, green beans, butterbeans..... We still have to get tomatoe, hot pepper, eggplant, and sweet pepper plants but we have left areas open for these. Oh and get seeds for yellow squash I forgot these well I thought I has some. Oh and I plants dill, basil, sage, and parsley seeds.

We are so busy it has taken us a while to get our act together to get it all tilled under. Hubby and I worked on it 2 evenings after dinner and work. One night we burned a gigantic pile of dry brush in the middle of the garden and then tilled that in last night.

We also are ordering meat chickens in June after we get summer camps out of the way and are fencing in an area next to the garden for them as well as for turkeys. But that is something hubby and I will do in the evenings after the heat of our days cools off.

Book List

My goodness nine days since I posted last.... Whoops well life is more important that sharing my whacking life but I do love doing. I have decided to scale it back some and just get over my blogging addiction. :0) So when I do post it will not be just twaddle to take a Charlottle Mason phrase.

We decided to discover a new library within our community. And in this small little country library is treasure trove of books I have wanted to read or books on topics I want to read about or things I need to be reaquainted with.

The first books is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle A year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. It is great book with lots of stories and great information on what her family learned when they went back to the land with there food. She is a captivating writer and I was hooked on her words of wisdom, love for food, and her farm.

They also have a web site. I suggest this book to anyone wanting to take back control of the food they eat its enlighting and encouraging. I actually felt guilty buying a fresh made pizza from Walmart today for dinner LOL.

Another is Let it Rot, do you compost I know there are places on the net to learn and read up on it but I can't take my computer to bed and read it I prefer books. And this book is a refresher course for me and I love it.

And Saving Seeds this is something I am very interested it especially after watching a documentary on Monsanto and GMO foods. Scary what science is doing to food taking control of what we eat is a focus we should all think about. And reminding myself of that fact and learning all I can helps me make those good choices for myself and my family.

click pictures for link to Amazon for buying info.