Homegrown Dinner
Posted on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 12:57 AM by Michelle - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I made a yummy salad tonight from the garden. It had green onions, red sails lettuce, swiss chard and beet greens. I made up some ranch dressing from scratch and threw in some chives. I had a few leftover cooked shrimp that Rod had caught and sent down for me. Fresh shrimp are SO good! This is the first time I've had swiss chard and I really like it!
Tonight I started moving dirt into the last two garden beds. I filled up the skinny one first to satisfy that part of me that needs to have immediate gratification. Then I hauled a few loads into the big bed - I have a ways to go on that one.
Once the skinny bed was full, I planted eight of the red currant bushes that I rooted from thinnings this spring. I just had them in water to see if they would get roots - which they did! I have 18 more of them that I think I will plant in pots for now until I decide where they should go.
Last night I potted up some strawberry starts. The runners take over the garden paths pretty quickly - I and just hate to pulll them up and throw them in the compost, seems like such a waste. So I dig up the ones that really have roots and plant them in little 3" pots. I also try to pot as many extra runners as I can. I set out a bunch of little pots on a bench at the end of the strawberry bed. I picked up some runners that had little plants starting and put one in each pot, using a rock to hold the runner down until the plant establishes some roots. Once the plant is secure, I will cut it from the runner. Then I will start again with more pots. Strawberry plants make a good barter item :o)
I've been thinking about trying to propagate some blueberry bushes. There are some really productive ones over by one of the storage buildings. I have some powdered rooting hormone that I could use, or I may trim some willow branches from the tree across the street and try that. Maybe I should try both and see which one works best. There are blueberry bushes everywhere along the side of the road, but it would be nice to have a good, productive patch of my own. Then I won't have to worry about someone else finding my favorite picking spot :o)
Things look pretty good in the garden. The red currants are just starting to turn pink. I have two baby zucchini. The potato plants look good. I pulled up some radishes and green onions and sent up to Rod in Skagway. The strawberries are loaded with unripe berries and more blossoms. The raspberry patch is buzzing - lots of bumble bees on the blossoms. The new rhubarb patch looks great - I think the plants must have reached down into the layer of chicken manure I put in that bed - they have really taken off in the last week. In the greenhouse, I have one little green pepper and a bunch more babies just starting to form. Nothing on the cucumbers yet, but they are getting bigger - I need to put up a trellis for them. The 3 tomato plants are getting huge - there are 6 little fruits forming now. I notice though that some of the leaves are turning yellow, brown and dry on the ends. I need to look that up and see what is going on with them - must be something about being too cold, too much water, or not enough ventilation is my guess. I picked some mint leaves and calendula blossoms and dehydrated them to use in my soaps. The chickens are doing good - getting only 3 or 4 eggs per day though. If they don't pick up soon, we will be putting them in the freezer.
Soap Business
Posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 12:32 AM by Michelle - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I spent some time this weekend working on my website for my soap business - Homesteaders Cache. I redesigned the entire site and am pleased with how it turned out. I reserved a few more names also and they all point to the same site - juneausoap.com, alaskahandmadesoap.com, and alaskansoaps.com. My goal is to improve my listings with the search engines and hopefully attract more visitors - and buyers :o)
I have added more soaps to my store. They are all listed except the new one I made recently - White Ginger - that matches the solid lotion bar.
I reserved a spot July 11 & 12 at the Nugget Mall for the Christmas in July Arts & Crafts Fair. Between now and then I'll make up some fresh lotion bars. I also want to have a sign with my logo and business name - but that will depend on how much free time I have.
Cherry Pie Filling
Posted on Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 10:30 PM by Michelle - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
My first canning project of the season was cherry pie filling. I wish I could say the cherries were from my tree, but they weren't. They were on a great sale though - only $1.28 per pound!
I used the recipe from The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest. I made this recipe once before and my notes said I used 8 pounds to make 15 pints. The original recipe is for 2 pints - I multiplied everything by 8.
Cherry Pie Filling - makes about 15 pints
8 pounds cherries
Ascorbic acid
8 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups Clearjel (regular, not instant)
10 2/3 cups water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla (or almond extract)
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons lemon juice
1. Wash and pit fresh cherries and use ascorbic acid dip to prevent darkening.
2. Place cherries in boiling water. Boil 1 minute after water returns to a boil. Drain, but keep fruit hot and covered.
3. Combine sugar and Clearjel in a large saucepan and add water.
4. Add cinnamon and vanilla. Stir over medium heat until mixture thickens. (I had to turn to high to get it to thicken, but once it starts to thicken - watch out! :o) It happens really fast.)
5. Add lemon juice and boil mixture 1 minute stirring constantly.
6. Fold in the cherries.
7. Fill jars with hot fruit mixture leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Put on lids and rings.
8. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 30 minutes.
Here are the jars after processing - the liquid changed color from light goopy pink to a nice red :o)
I like to use a can or two in the bottom of a pie plate and top with a mixture of butter, flour and oatmeal to make a quick crisp - also good with peach pie filling or blueberry pie filling.
Cherries are on sale all week - while supplies last - so I may go back and get more and make something else... :o)
Sewing Diapers
This is one of the diapers I've been sewing. It's for dd1, its from the FattyCake pattern. I love it! The outside is an upcycled shirt, the hidden and inner layers are sherpa. Then there is a trifold sherpa lay in soaker.
Busy gardening, sewing and hot weather
I haven't had time to post here for a little while. I've been very busy trying to catch up with the gardens. We went from very cool and wet weather (yes even needing to use the wood stove!) to extreme hot and dry weather. Dh set up the AC a few days ago and that helped a LOT. I have a hard time breathing when the weather gets into the 30's C and humid. During the day we've been just trying to keep cool. Come evening I've been working non stop in the gardens. I'm not sure what's worse, gardening during the hot day or the bugs in the evening! LOL
The weeds had really gotten away from us during the rainy spell. Now I have almost all the beds cleared out. I just need to finish around the cabbages and some tomatoes. I will need to finish it up tomorrow as it looks like we are in for another week of rain.
We had a cold front come through yesterday. It didn't make it any cooler then, although today is lovely! But we did get some nasty storms up this way. The worst of it just skirted around us, we received mostly rain and some thunder. But others had large hail and there were a few tornadoes.
This morning I went to the annual library book sale in a nearby town. It's pretty big and goes by donation. I look forward to it every year! There didn't seem to be as many books as last year and it was VERY crowded, but I still found some great deals. I'll share more about my finds tomorrow, but I picked up 30 videos on different topics from animals, science and drama. Lots of books on history and countries around the world. Perfect for our unit studies this year!
I've been busy sewing an knitting to. My dd3 is working hard at potty training (yahoo!) so I'm sewing trainers for her. DD1 started reacting a while back to the liners in her pocket diapers. They have a suede cloth liner that she doesn't do well with. So I'm switching her over to fitted and wool/fleece covers. Then little ds is an odd size lol so doesn't fit into many that I already have. He has a wide waist and long rise. Soooo yup I'm sewing up a new stash for him to!
I also have a big stack of skirts I've cut out and need to sew.
Flower Photos
I was talking some garden photos the other day. I really liked how these came out!
Great Surprise
Posted on Monday, June 22, 2009 at 8:23 PM by Michelle - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I had a great surprise Friday morning – Rod flew in for a couple days! He wasn’t going to come until next week – so it was a great surprise. Friday was his birthday. I took the day off work and we spent the day together. He got to see all the changes I’ve been working on over the last month – the new garden beds, the chicken fence, everything in the garden. We went to some friends for BBQ chicken dinner – yummy. I made a German chocolate cake and we made him blow out candles :o)
Saturday we went garage sale-ing and found some good treasures – mostly at one sale! Rod used to be big into collecting albums, but has them all back in Idaho. He found a box of 60 albums – they were asking $2 each, but he got them for just $40 for all. He is great when it comes to negotiating. I found a Pendleton wool blanket for $3, a few canning jars and a gardening book. We had a lot of fun.
Saturday afternoon we had dinner with friends – BBQ steak and shrimp, corn on the cob and potato salad – also yummy! It was nice to just visit and relax.
The 2 days went by very fast. Rod had to fly back to Skagway to be to work Sunday morning.
I bought 2 wooden planters and filled them with a cherry tomato and a yellow pear tomato with marigolds. I gave them to my dad for father’s day. They have little tomatoes on them already, so I hope they make lots of fruits!
I didn’t get enough sleep the past couple days, so I took a nap yesterday – woke up 3 hours later! It was still early enough that I had time to make 2 batches of soap – Tee Harbor Breeze and a new one – White Ginger. Not enough time to bake bread, so that will be on the list for tonight along with 2 more batches of soap – Oatmeal, Milk & Honey and either Alaskan Rainforest or Fisherman’s Soap (another new one).
Another Nice Day in Alaska
Posted on Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 11:28 PM by Michelle - 4 Comments - Post Comment - Link
The weather we have been having is just phenomenal - definitely not our normal rainy summer so far. We have had sun and warm weather for the past 5 weeks pretty much. Today I worked out in the yard and soaked up the heat. I didn't do any big project, just tried to clean up from my building project and make the yard look tidy. Also, since the white chicken is now back with the rest of the flock, I cleaned out the storage side of the chicken coop. I hung up a cabinet in there, moved all the non-chicken stuff to the regular storage shed and organized what was left. Looks good and feels good to be done. For dinner, I made some Potato Corn chowder and threw in some fresh green onions - yeah, something from the garden :o)
Hey Rod - look how big your tomato plants are getting - two of the three have open blossoms now! Time to fertilize.
I didn't get a chance to try out the new cleaner on the siding today, but here is a picture of the test spot I did about a week ago. It sure cleaned it up - not gray anymore!
Finished Chicken Fence
Posted on Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 11:47 PM by Michelle - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I worked yesterday and today on the chicken fence and gate and I'm happy to say it is DONE! :o) Well, except that I need a latch for the gate, thought I had one but don't. So after a run to town tomorrow it will be done. I'm pleased with how it turned out.
I gave the girls a treat of yogurt and peach sauce - they make a mess with the yogurt, shaking their head to get it off their beak, so it gets all over everyone else!
When I checked on the plants in the greenhouse last night, I discovered aphids. On the cucumbers, on the green peppers and on the cabbage plants. None on the tomatoes I could find. I got the watering can and poured water over them and rubbed them off the plants. Today while I was at Fred Meyer I saw they had lady bugs for sale, so I bought a bag of them and released them in the greenhouse. We will see how that goes - hopefully they get rid of all the aphids!
Not sure what my plan is for tomorrow. I have one large garden bed still to fill with dirt and plant with carrots, and one skinny bed for the new currents. I took cuttings from the other plants and stuck them in jars of water - I am happy to report that they now have roots! Cool!
I also want to work more on cleaning the log siding - what a chore, I just need to figure what works - which solution, what kind of scrubber. It will look so much better after I get it cleaned and sealed... Then I can paint the trim red and order up some gutters!
A great thing about summer - I never get bored! :o)
More Fence Building and Garden Pictures
Posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 at 12:42 AM by Michelle - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I had to put the garden fence on hold for a bit as I found one of my garden beds has a board that is beginning to rot. I'll need to replace it before I continue.
Rod will tell you how I always have a million projects started at any given time. He tries to encourage me to finish some before starting new ones :o) This week I've been working on the unfinished chicken coop fence. I have all the chicken wire stretched and stapled and tonight was working on putting the 2x6's across the top and bottom between the posts. Have 3 to go on the bottom... Then a gate to build.
I planted some spirea bushes inside the fence so the chickens have a place to feel safe when they are in the yard - chicken habitat.
Here are updated photos of the garden. First are the potatos that I planted about a month ago.
First blossom and tiny zucchini
Little Marvel bush peas
New strawberry bed with radishes in between - After I took the picture, I thinned them and gave the thinnings to the chickens.
Established strawberry bed with tons of blossoms
Onions look good - I could probably start harvesting some green onions anytime
And finally the raspberries are filling in nicely. They have buds, but haven't opened just yet.
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