They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
Last fall when the tomatoes were coming in like it was their job, we didn’t have time to sauce them, so we put them all in the freezer. Purists will no doubt shudder to their very marrows at the thought, but hey, we do what we can. The problem is that it is another example… Continue reading A very saucy post
We have harvested the beets, pretty tiny haul compared to last year, but we have a backup plan. Buckwheat is taking over. It is tall and falling over into the pathways. I think this winter we are going to add t-posts every 10 feet or so along the rows so we can run twine when… Continue reading Beets in the Freezer
One of our favorite summer dishes (and hopefully winter dishes, if our winter beets do well this year) is "Butter Beets." We call it this because we usually made it with butter, but this week we were too pressed for time and made it differently, which we will describe for your consideration. Harvesting supper! Typically… Continue reading Butter Beets (only not really).
Since we harvested the pigs last year, we have been working on our cooking skills, that is, learning how to cook pasture raised meat. We are almost out of pork chops now, and since that is one of the favorites and easiest to cook, here is Ryan’s way of doing it. (Kathleen does it quite… Continue reading Now that’s what I call a pork chop
When you want to have a date night every month, but you have a refrigerator full of leeks that are going to go bad... Watch "The Chosen" and pressure can leek and potato soup (45 minute processing time, 45 minute episodes.) You're welcome!
The last time we made pumpkin cookies, everyone complained that they were too sweet! So this time we left out half the sugar. And none of the kids liked them because they were not sweet enough. And they did not taste much like cookies, more like biscuits. So Daddy ate all the rest. Alas!
When we had the pigs butchered last fall we made sure to ask the butchers to save us the lard. Why? Because that's the homesteading thing to do. Apparently you can cook with it, bake with it, make soap and candles with it, and all kinds of other things. We have only just begun researching… Continue reading Good Lard!
The thermometer in the shop where we were keeping the pumpkins, squash and onions read 30 degrees after the propane stove failed. While the pumpkins and squash might be salvagable, the onions are almost certainly lost. As soon as they thaw they are going to turn into a nasty slimy mess. I suppose then we… Continue reading Preserving the Pumpkins
As I mentioned in a previous post, our winter squash is beginning to mold and storage, so we are having to accelerate our use of it. Early this week we steamed a pair of butternut squash after cutting off the rotten ends, and got quite a good amount of squash off of it. Left the… Continue reading So Yummy!
We had a wonderful squash harvest this year, but now we are having trouble keeping it. Pumpkins and winter squash are suppose to be harvested before the first frost, and allowed to cure in warm temperatures (>80 degrees) in the direct sunlight for a week or two before being put into storage at 50-55 degrees… Continue reading Moldy Squash
Little Farm in the Big City 