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.
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
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
He who would organize a farm, plows a furrow in the sea. Abraham Lincoln (probably). Especially a farm with kids on it. Nevertheless, we keep trying. By the way, for those with a lot of canning jars, the glassware boxes from uHaul make excellent storage for empty jars (standard quarts and pints, not half gallons… Continue reading Organization
Yesterday Mommy woke up with a fever and aches and chills. You know, the whole flu-like viral syndrome. Same thing Evie had earlier in the week. We had plans to get the turkey stock from Thanksgiving canned, as well as put the last of the carrots in the freezer, but Mommy was not feeling up… Continue reading Last of the Carrots
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family! With yesterdays turkey carcass simmering on the stove with onions, carrots, celery and bay leaves, the house is filled with the smell of fresh turkey stock. Later today I will be straining and canning this up for use later use in soups. The… Continue reading Gobble Gobble!
On Monday we pulled the last of our carrots and parsnips. It was a lot of fun, and took less than an hour, and then there they were in boxes in our garage. So far so good. Of course, the most time consuming part of any harvest is not the harvesting, but the preparation or… Continue reading Putting Away the Parsnips, a Sick Day
Well, Folks, we definitely had a good time at the Ciderfest. It was not so big as we had thought (feared) it might become, and that was just as well, because it still took us 8 hours from first press to the last jar sealed. Of course the process began weeks ago, really, with collecting… Continue reading Ciderfest 2023
Last Monday, we finally got around to digging the beets. Next year we need to maintain some closer follow up on them, and get them out of the ground no more than 60 days after they go in. Some of them were quite overgrown and they had a sharper, stronger flavor than I am used… Continue reading Beets in the ground
Last Saturday the three older kids went on a trip with Deedee and Papa over the pass to Yakima. While they were there they picked two boxes of apples: golden delicious, empire and gala. They brought them home and dropped them off in our garage so of course, what did we do Monday morning? We… Continue reading Lost in the (apple) sauce
