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.
Allow me to introduce you to one of our kids' favorite books. The children call it "Christmas Family" for reasons that become obvious as soon as you read the book. One of the key moments in the early part of the book is the family preparing candles from the wax of bayberries, to burn on… Continue reading The Day Before the Day Before Christmas
It is that time of year! Winter Squash season! Ellie is well known for the deliciousness of her steamed squash. This is probably related to the fact that she does not believe in skimping on the butter or the brown sugar. First step is to cut the squashes in half and scoop out the seeds… Continue reading Squash and Buttered Roots
Saturday was a busy garden day. Daddy and Winnie and Seppi got out there early, prepping last year's legume row to be ready for winter wheat. Of course, we do not hold with muzzling the ox that treadeth out the grain. In other words, snacks for everyone in the garden. This is a radish. We… Continue reading Fall Harvesting: Apples, Wheat, Taters, and Garlic.
Last week we re-vamped the first flush diverter on the South side of the barn, and added an outlet for the rainwater tank. It worked amazingly! So much easier than the factory configuration. As set up in the kit there is a small nipple that threads on that is supposed to drip and empty the… Continue reading Odd Jobs
This has been a very busy week and a lot has gone on, so buckle up. It's time for a catch-up post. Literally. Mommy took Evie and Ellie to the fair last Wednesday. No, the other last Wednesday, the 6th of August. That's how far behind we are. They immediately started winning prizes. Ellie got… Continue reading Catch up post
The radishes are done for the first half of the season, and we harvested the chiogga beets. Now it's time to replant the beds. But first... A mater! One beautiful little Heirloom Marriage, ripening right on the vine! I am so happy! Broccoli for lunch. Trust her, she is very skillful with that thing, and… Continue reading Prepping garden beds
While our sauerkraut may have royally failed, we have been having better success with rutabaga, beet and parsnips. We put them in canning jars with 3-4% brine, and set them first on the kitchen table, and then, when the sunlight was too bright there, on top of the piano. The beets were quite delicious, sweet… Continue reading More Lacto-fermentation experiments
Before the latest cold struck we were planning on hosting Lord's Day dinner last Saturday. So we went to our garden and harvested some winter veggies. Winter beets. We put these in back on 8/21, but they didn't really amount to much. They sprouted, but only three were bigger than my finger. We'll leave the… Continue reading Winter Roots
Pardon me for using that dirty word on a blog that is supposed to be PG. We don't usually talk about it, but it is, unfortunately, a necessary part of life, one that we all have to deal with, alas, until the Kingdom comes. I am speaking, of course, of unrighteous mammon. A.k.a. money. Manure… Continue reading Manure: It’s kind of like Money
We've been meaning to get to this one for weeks, ever since the first frost. We had 6 big cabbages in the garden, and Daddy wanted to make sauerkraut. Unfortunately, that was November. It is now January. One thing and another has conspire to keep us out of the garden for the last two months… Continue reading Kraut!
Little Farm in the Big City 