I know I haven't updated in a while.The last post I wrote,wouldn't post due to some malfunction with Blogger,and it got lost in cyber space somewhere.
Since then,we have signed up to help the local food bank rescue harvests that would otherwise go to waste.Groups of volunteers go out and pick vegetables,fruit,etc that would otherwise just sit in the field and rot.Tuesday was our first day,and boy oh boy do they move fast....in just under 3 hours the group harvested more than 300 boxes of apples.
We were going to go back and help this morning,but I woke up with a very stiff and sore back,so probably should not be doing a lot of bending/stooping today.Otherwise we would be on our way there right now to help harvest squash and cabbage this morning.
What I did not expect when we got there Tuesday was to come home a about 40 pounds of apples that we were given.
When we got to the orchard,the guy in charge pointed to one row of trees and told us we could pick and keep all the fruit from that row.YEAH! We got about 10 pounds of apples,nice little bonus!
In my email it said to bring your own buckets,bags,etc to pick into,so I took three bus tubs with me.We picked into those and then dumped them into the boxes gently.
As we were picking,we learned that we could also pick some for ourselves as long as we weighed it and logged it on the sign in sheet by our names,ok,sounds good,so when we ran out of boxes to fill,I filled a tub to take home,and that weighed in at 20 pounds,I logged it on the sheet as directed and put it in the car.
After more boxes arrived,and we were done clearing off the trees,the guy said anyone that wanted to walk back through and pick up apples that had been dropped or fallen from the trees could take all they wanted.I thought,cool,and filled up the other two tubs I had brought with us.So we came home with a grocery bag and three bus tubs full of apples.I shared some with a friend,and took some to my Mom on the way to work yesterday,and I think today I will start drying some for treats later.I love cinnamon covered dried apple slices to snack on.
I really like that fact that this program saves food that would otherwise go to waste,and it gets given to those in need.I didn't expect to come home with so mush for ourselves,but it was a nice little bonus.From what I understand you don't always get to bring some home,but when there is an abundance like with the apples,they are very generous.
I would encourage anyone who reads this,to try and take some time in one way or another to help your local community.In today's world,there are more and more people in need than every before.
So if you can help by doing something like this,of working a few hours in a soup kitchen,or even work with people directly and help to teach them to grow some of their own food,any way that you can help,will be a bigger help than you might think.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Successes and failures
So those who've been following the blog know that this spring we did two potato experiments.The first one,we built potato "condos" or towers...the idea is that you can grow up to 100 lbs of potatoes in a small area,by adding layers to the tower as the plants grow,adding more soil or growing media,and continuing on until the thing is about 4 foot tall.
WELL....today was harvest day as the tops have died back,so no more potato growth would be expected.So we started removing the layers,and dead plants,and....another layer...and another.....Well,we had stopped well short of the four feet in height,stopping at about 3 feet...we didn't find any potatoes until we got down to the original bottom layer where we started....only then did we come up with roughly 5-7 pounds of potatoes in each of the two towers.....100lbs eh?
What we found here is that the potatoes did not form any higher in the soil than the seed potatoes were planted...
THEN experiment number 2....growing potatoes above the ground in straw.Well,we had to stop due to light loss and mosquitoes,but 5 feet down the row,we've come up with only about 2 pounds of potatoes....What we did find was a LOT of pests....bugs,mice,etc had eaten a lot of the crop,and a large portion of what we did dig up had been damaged in one form or another.I'm guessing right now that we'll end up with less than 10 pounds worth of potatoes in the entire 20 foot row.
All in all I would say both experiments failed drastically,and that most likely to get a dependable harvest,one should probably stick to the old fashioned way,dig a trench,plant them,and then hill around them only once or twice at the most...
But for our time and effort,it's not going to be worth it for us to continue to try and grow potatoes here.The time and energy will be better spent on something that we know will give us a good return.
WELL....today was harvest day as the tops have died back,so no more potato growth would be expected.So we started removing the layers,and dead plants,and....another layer...and another.....Well,we had stopped well short of the four feet in height,stopping at about 3 feet...we didn't find any potatoes until we got down to the original bottom layer where we started....only then did we come up with roughly 5-7 pounds of potatoes in each of the two towers.....100lbs eh?
What we found here is that the potatoes did not form any higher in the soil than the seed potatoes were planted...
THEN experiment number 2....growing potatoes above the ground in straw.Well,we had to stop due to light loss and mosquitoes,but 5 feet down the row,we've come up with only about 2 pounds of potatoes....What we did find was a LOT of pests....bugs,mice,etc had eaten a lot of the crop,and a large portion of what we did dig up had been damaged in one form or another.I'm guessing right now that we'll end up with less than 10 pounds worth of potatoes in the entire 20 foot row.
All in all I would say both experiments failed drastically,and that most likely to get a dependable harvest,one should probably stick to the old fashioned way,dig a trench,plant them,and then hill around them only once or twice at the most...
But for our time and effort,it's not going to be worth it for us to continue to try and grow potatoes here.The time and energy will be better spent on something that we know will give us a good return.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Stocking the pantry with goodness
OK,so Blogger is still messed up and won't let me post pictures,so I'll add a link to my list of links on the right side of this blog page so you can click on it anytime and see updated photos of what's happening around here.Just click on the top link,that's the one to my photobucket garden album,it will keep you up to date as far as photos go.
My pantry shelves are filling quickly with home canned goodies,and I just know that this winter we will have no worries about running out of some things.From the mountains of tomatoes we have been blessed with this year,I've made everything from chili base to pizza sauce...salsa,and pasta sauce,we will need none of those items for at least a year.YEAH!
My goals for the gardens are to eventually grow enough food to support us for the better part a of a year by canning,freezing and drying the foods that we grow.
Although 65 tomato plants is still WAY more than we needed,about 1/2 that I think would be enough to provide us with a year's supply of tomato based foods.
I haven't dug the potatoes yet,but plan on it sometime this week,the tops are starting to die off,so that tells me,whatever crop is there,that's all we're going to get.
I can leave the carrots where they are until the ground gets too cold,but I will probably have already pulled and frozen them by then.
Of the many things we grew as a first this year,the Kale went nuts....and I don't even like Kale,but the rabbits seem to enjoy it.So if it gets planted again next year it will be strictly as rabbit treats.
The winter squash is about done too,I don't think we have the soil just right for it,as it only grew a few,and then died off quickly.Oh well,live and learn,and try again next year.
The popcorn is trying,the stalks have been knocked down twice by storms,but there are a few ears forming,so we may at least get a small sampling of it.It needs a long growing season,so next year,if I plant it again,it will have to be one of the first things planted in the spring.What we have out there did not get planted until it was nearly July,or it may have been during the first week of July,I'm not sure.
The broccoli could have done better,but I think to get enough to make it worth freezing,we would need to plant about 8-10 plants rather than just the four we did this year.
The cabbage has done well,but I don't think we will be planting that again,as the only way we really eat it is in the form of cole slaw,and you can only make so much of it,and it does not keep.So I think that space would be better used on another crop.
This coming week we are going to be able to start pulling up the plants that are done producing,and they will be run through the shredder and added to the compost pile.
Once we start getting the garden beds cleaned out we can start adding the shredded leaves,compost,plant matter and rabbit manure/straw/shavings to the beds and let it sit all winter,tilling it in early next spring.
We are going to leave one bed empty next year,and that will be the base of our crop rotation/sheet composting project,leaving one bed empty every year,to use as a place for compost making,and then rotating them around so that every year one will not be planted,allowing the soil to rebuild.This way each bed will go three years without having the same crops planted in it,hopefully helping to prevent any plant diseases from taking hold in the gardens.
My pantry shelves are filling quickly with home canned goodies,and I just know that this winter we will have no worries about running out of some things.From the mountains of tomatoes we have been blessed with this year,I've made everything from chili base to pizza sauce...salsa,and pasta sauce,we will need none of those items for at least a year.YEAH!
My goals for the gardens are to eventually grow enough food to support us for the better part a of a year by canning,freezing and drying the foods that we grow.
Although 65 tomato plants is still WAY more than we needed,about 1/2 that I think would be enough to provide us with a year's supply of tomato based foods.
I haven't dug the potatoes yet,but plan on it sometime this week,the tops are starting to die off,so that tells me,whatever crop is there,that's all we're going to get.
I can leave the carrots where they are until the ground gets too cold,but I will probably have already pulled and frozen them by then.
Of the many things we grew as a first this year,the Kale went nuts....and I don't even like Kale,but the rabbits seem to enjoy it.So if it gets planted again next year it will be strictly as rabbit treats.
The winter squash is about done too,I don't think we have the soil just right for it,as it only grew a few,and then died off quickly.Oh well,live and learn,and try again next year.
The popcorn is trying,the stalks have been knocked down twice by storms,but there are a few ears forming,so we may at least get a small sampling of it.It needs a long growing season,so next year,if I plant it again,it will have to be one of the first things planted in the spring.What we have out there did not get planted until it was nearly July,or it may have been during the first week of July,I'm not sure.
The broccoli could have done better,but I think to get enough to make it worth freezing,we would need to plant about 8-10 plants rather than just the four we did this year.
The cabbage has done well,but I don't think we will be planting that again,as the only way we really eat it is in the form of cole slaw,and you can only make so much of it,and it does not keep.So I think that space would be better used on another crop.
This coming week we are going to be able to start pulling up the plants that are done producing,and they will be run through the shredder and added to the compost pile.
Once we start getting the garden beds cleaned out we can start adding the shredded leaves,compost,plant matter and rabbit manure/straw/shavings to the beds and let it sit all winter,tilling it in early next spring.
We are going to leave one bed empty next year,and that will be the base of our crop rotation/sheet composting project,leaving one bed empty every year,to use as a place for compost making,and then rotating them around so that every year one will not be planted,allowing the soil to rebuild.This way each bed will go three years without having the same crops planted in it,hopefully helping to prevent any plant diseases from taking hold in the gardens.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
My how they grow fast.
Ok,I can't seem to sleep,so I might at well do something somewhat useful and give you guys a real update on here.It's 4:30 a.m. and I been awake for half an hour with acid reflux,so rather than sitting on the couch miserably waiting for my insides to settle,I'm going to update you on the rabbit project.
Our buck has grown HUGE since we got him in the beginning of July,and at nearly 10 lbs,he's ready to start earning his keep,but we still need to get a doe the proper age/size as the two little ones we brought home the other day will not be old enough/big enough to breed until next spring if they do grow big enough at all.
We're going on Tuesday to pick up the fourth and final(for now anyway) addition to our rabbitry,a purebred New Zealand doe that is about the same age as our buck,and is ready to be bred.
If we were organized enough,we could have the first litter in just a few weeks,well before it gets too cold out,but the old shed still needs to be redone,and a trip to Home Depot is a must.The doors need fixed/replaced and there is a hole in one of the walls.
I wanted to post a photo update for you so you can see where we are in this little project,but for some reason Blogger is not uploading my images today.
Our buck has grown HUGE since we got him in the beginning of July,and at nearly 10 lbs,he's ready to start earning his keep,but we still need to get a doe the proper age/size as the two little ones we brought home the other day will not be old enough/big enough to breed until next spring if they do grow big enough at all.
We're going on Tuesday to pick up the fourth and final(for now anyway) addition to our rabbitry,a purebred New Zealand doe that is about the same age as our buck,and is ready to be bred.
If we were organized enough,we could have the first litter in just a few weeks,well before it gets too cold out,but the old shed still needs to be redone,and a trip to Home Depot is a must.The doors need fixed/replaced and there is a hole in one of the walls.
I wanted to post a photo update for you so you can see where we are in this little project,but for some reason Blogger is not uploading my images today.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
I haven't been slackin' just busy.
I haven't had enough time to sit still long enough to update my little blog here.We've been super busy with the garden harvest,getting the whole rabbit thing in order,pet sitting on the weekends,and on Tuesday we will be picking up our fourth and final addition to the rabbit family.
I went Wednesday after work to pick up what I thought was just one female rabbit,but when I got there the woman pretty much begged me to take all four of them,two bucks and two does.Well I did...they are not purebred New Zealand,they are a crossbreed,but we'll see how well they grow,they may stay on the small side.....if nothing else they can contribute to the fertilizer needs of the garden,besides,the one little doe likes to be held and cuddled.
We kept one buck and one doe,and a friend of ours took the other buck and doe.So all are in good homes.
In the busiest part of the season that we are going through right now,my dear husband has come down with West Nile Virus,so things have not been normal around here for several days now.
While he is on the mend,it will be several more days before he will be up and around enough to be able to be of any help.So here I am with no extra hand,and running like crazy trying to get everything done in between work shifts.....
I went Wednesday after work to pick up what I thought was just one female rabbit,but when I got there the woman pretty much begged me to take all four of them,two bucks and two does.Well I did...they are not purebred New Zealand,they are a crossbreed,but we'll see how well they grow,they may stay on the small side.....if nothing else they can contribute to the fertilizer needs of the garden,besides,the one little doe likes to be held and cuddled.
We kept one buck and one doe,and a friend of ours took the other buck and doe.So all are in good homes.
In the busiest part of the season that we are going through right now,my dear husband has come down with West Nile Virus,so things have not been normal around here for several days now.
While he is on the mend,it will be several more days before he will be up and around enough to be able to be of any help.So here I am with no extra hand,and running like crazy trying to get everything done in between work shifts.....
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Milestones
I just got an email from our realtor wishing us a happy anniversary for being in our home for 2 years now.
It got me to thinking about just how far we've come since we changed the path of our lives and decided to pursue something more self reliant and self sufficient.
It seems like I don't really think about it all that much,but when I stop and look or stop to write a few things down,it makes me see just how far have come toward reaching our goal of self reliance.
This all goes back to 2001 or 2002 when we were over 40K in debt(the bad kind)and had nothing to show for it,we were trying hard to keep up a lifestyle for people that made way more money than we probably ever will,and trying hard not to let it show just how bad we were sinking in the sea of debt we had created.
Our "friends" were all the type that made a lot more money than we did,and often let it show that they were taking pity on us for all our bills and not having a lot of extra cash flow.
The final days moving up to where we called it quits,we had numerous falling outs of sorts with these friends,many of whom just didn't see why I felt the need to be so independent,and why I was perfectly fine letting my husband go tromp around the woods for a week during deer season without worrying about where he was or what he was really doing.
They didn't understand why I was ok with having to mow the lawn myself or shovel some snow,or take my own car in to get fixed as needed.I didn't need someone to do all that for me.A husband should be a partner to stand beside you,not someone for you to hide behind.i wasn't raised that way,I wasn't raised to sit back and let the man of the house do everything.
It was around that time,we became so disgruntled with our lives,our selves,and everything around us,that we nearly called it quits....but as fate would have it,we didn't,instead we took a look at how we were living,seeing what we were doing wrong and what it was that was making us so freakin' miserable.
Turns out we didn't need therapy,we didn't need a divorce,what we needed was a lifestyle change.Why were we trying to live a lifestyle for people who made so much more than us? Why were we trying to keep up?
So here we were,strapped with 40k in debts,living in a crappy old mobile home in a crappy old trailer park,barely scraping by working two full time jobs....not having any children,our only dependents were our pets.So why couldn't we pay our bills? Because we were stupid,there,I said it,we were DUMB..
SO,we looked for an answer and found it in a debt repayment program.Sure we could have filed for bankruptcy and probably been able to do so,but WE created those debts,WE spent that money that we didn't have...so WHY would we expect someone else to pay for it all? I have higher standards than that.
There are situations that do call for bankruptcy as the only option,and I really feel for the people who must make that choice,but it wasn't for us.We chose instead to pay it all off,no matter how long it took.pay it off we did,slowly,it took us all the way until 2008 to get it all paid down,but we did it.
Something else we did during that time though,was learn,and educate ourselves.We didn't want to go back to living that life again.I learned in that time to sew quilts,cook,can and grow food at home in a container garden on the patio.I had some help from my Mom learning to sew and can,but for the most part it was all hands on learning.
In 2009 we were finally able to realize our dream of home ownership,and purchased our first home.It's not a huge fancy farm out in the middle of nowhere,heck,it's not even a farm,but fate stepped in again and for some reason unknown to us,we are meant to live where we are,in town on our 1 1/2 acre lot,where we've built our raised bed gardens,planted all sorts of fruit bearing trees and shrubs, and vines.
This year has been a lot of work,and hopefully we will be able to see some of the pay off as the trees mature and begin to bear,and shrubs and vines starts to produce,and gardens get better as the years go by.
It's not the lifestyle many of our friends chose,and many of them probably still wouldn't understand,but maybe,just maybe that's why they are no longer a part of our lives.Those that are in our lives now,are there because they accept us for who we are,how we live,and don't expect us to change to fit into their lives.They are the ones who don't think we're nuts for wanting to raise our own meat animals,and fully understand the satisfying kind of tired you feel at the end of a day of working around the house and canning food to fill the pantry with.
But all this goes back to choices,the ones we made those few years ago,and the ones we make now,I can mark this anniversary as one of those milestones in life that marks where the old is gone and the new begins,and the progress we've made in between.
It got me to thinking about just how far we've come since we changed the path of our lives and decided to pursue something more self reliant and self sufficient.
It seems like I don't really think about it all that much,but when I stop and look or stop to write a few things down,it makes me see just how far have come toward reaching our goal of self reliance.
This all goes back to 2001 or 2002 when we were over 40K in debt(the bad kind)and had nothing to show for it,we were trying hard to keep up a lifestyle for people that made way more money than we probably ever will,and trying hard not to let it show just how bad we were sinking in the sea of debt we had created.
Our "friends" were all the type that made a lot more money than we did,and often let it show that they were taking pity on us for all our bills and not having a lot of extra cash flow.
The final days moving up to where we called it quits,we had numerous falling outs of sorts with these friends,many of whom just didn't see why I felt the need to be so independent,and why I was perfectly fine letting my husband go tromp around the woods for a week during deer season without worrying about where he was or what he was really doing.
They didn't understand why I was ok with having to mow the lawn myself or shovel some snow,or take my own car in to get fixed as needed.I didn't need someone to do all that for me.A husband should be a partner to stand beside you,not someone for you to hide behind.i wasn't raised that way,I wasn't raised to sit back and let the man of the house do everything.
It was around that time,we became so disgruntled with our lives,our selves,and everything around us,that we nearly called it quits....but as fate would have it,we didn't,instead we took a look at how we were living,seeing what we were doing wrong and what it was that was making us so freakin' miserable.
Turns out we didn't need therapy,we didn't need a divorce,what we needed was a lifestyle change.Why were we trying to live a lifestyle for people who made so much more than us? Why were we trying to keep up?
So here we were,strapped with 40k in debts,living in a crappy old mobile home in a crappy old trailer park,barely scraping by working two full time jobs....not having any children,our only dependents were our pets.So why couldn't we pay our bills? Because we were stupid,there,I said it,we were DUMB..
SO,we looked for an answer and found it in a debt repayment program.Sure we could have filed for bankruptcy and probably been able to do so,but WE created those debts,WE spent that money that we didn't have...so WHY would we expect someone else to pay for it all? I have higher standards than that.
There are situations that do call for bankruptcy as the only option,and I really feel for the people who must make that choice,but it wasn't for us.We chose instead to pay it all off,no matter how long it took.pay it off we did,slowly,it took us all the way until 2008 to get it all paid down,but we did it.
Something else we did during that time though,was learn,and educate ourselves.We didn't want to go back to living that life again.I learned in that time to sew quilts,cook,can and grow food at home in a container garden on the patio.I had some help from my Mom learning to sew and can,but for the most part it was all hands on learning.
In 2009 we were finally able to realize our dream of home ownership,and purchased our first home.It's not a huge fancy farm out in the middle of nowhere,heck,it's not even a farm,but fate stepped in again and for some reason unknown to us,we are meant to live where we are,in town on our 1 1/2 acre lot,where we've built our raised bed gardens,planted all sorts of fruit bearing trees and shrubs, and vines.
This year has been a lot of work,and hopefully we will be able to see some of the pay off as the trees mature and begin to bear,and shrubs and vines starts to produce,and gardens get better as the years go by.
It's not the lifestyle many of our friends chose,and many of them probably still wouldn't understand,but maybe,just maybe that's why they are no longer a part of our lives.Those that are in our lives now,are there because they accept us for who we are,how we live,and don't expect us to change to fit into their lives.They are the ones who don't think we're nuts for wanting to raise our own meat animals,and fully understand the satisfying kind of tired you feel at the end of a day of working around the house and canning food to fill the pantry with.
But all this goes back to choices,the ones we made those few years ago,and the ones we make now,I can mark this anniversary as one of those milestones in life that marks where the old is gone and the new begins,and the progress we've made in between.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Personal Security.....a fully stocked pantry(part two)
Ok,we talked about how to build up your pantry inventory,now we need to talk about what to do with it.
Hoping that you didn't go out an buy 100 pounds of dry beans your family will never eat,let's talk about meal planning.
In order to cook during an emergency,you need either a camp stove or a grill with at least one side burner for boiling something in a pan.
I have one of these---->
A good camp stove is worth it's weight in gold.They are for the most part simple to use,don't really take up a ton of storage space,and you can get fuel for them at nearly any store(stock up at the end of summer when things go on clearance).I got this one on clearance at Cabelas several months ago,and it's awesome.While you may not need an oven,they do come in handy.
However you don't need anything nearly that fancy,a simple one burner type stove that screws onto the top of a fuel bottle will work too.
Now you have a fully stocked pantry,a means to cook the food,and some water stored.
Don't forget to also stock up on things like medications for your family,pet food for your pets,batteries for flash lights and radios,any other little things you might need to make life more comfortable until the emergency passes.
Hoping that you didn't go out an buy 100 pounds of dry beans your family will never eat,let's talk about meal planning.
In order to cook during an emergency,you need either a camp stove or a grill with at least one side burner for boiling something in a pan.
I have one of these---->
A good camp stove is worth it's weight in gold.They are for the most part simple to use,don't really take up a ton of storage space,and you can get fuel for them at nearly any store(stock up at the end of summer when things go on clearance).I got this one on clearance at Cabelas several months ago,and it's awesome.While you may not need an oven,they do come in handy.
However you don't need anything nearly that fancy,a simple one burner type stove that screws onto the top of a fuel bottle will work too.
Now you have a fully stocked pantry,a means to cook the food,and some water stored.
Don't forget to also stock up on things like medications for your family,pet food for your pets,batteries for flash lights and radios,any other little things you might need to make life more comfortable until the emergency passes.
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