Homegrown Chamomile

I love chamomile tea! So much so that growing chamomile was on the top of my priority list of things to grown!  We got a late start getting it as the nursery didn’t have any until a few weeks after I inquired about it.  So thankful they went the extra mile and got some in!

I went out a few weeks ago and picked a bunch of it. Dried it and put it away for my winter stash.  Unfortunately, Maggie woke up this morning with a headache and just feeling kinda poopy, so she asked for her pillow, her Winnie The Pooh movie and a cup of chamomile tea.  I gladly obliged! 

Maggie perked up after she thought about the tea and said, “hey mom!  The flowers we grew made the tea and our bees made the honey!  That’s why this tastes so good!” 

So even though I was bummed the first of my winter stash was gone, I was so happy to provide something that I made, something I grew to make my baby feel better!

The flowers you see in the picture above were picked earlier this week and are in the process of drying now.  Looking forward to harvesting a lot more to get us through the winter!

Preparing Summer Squash for the freezer!

The whole reason (well, honestly, one reason) I wanted to do a garden was so that we could have lot’s of healthy, homegrown veggies for the freezer.  Nothing like making soups and stews and other foods from your summer garden during the Fall and Winter months.

We have had our fill of summer squash, so I decided I better get some processed before it went bad.  We have 2 crookneck squash and 2 goldbar squash that are really pumping out the produce!  My zucchini on the other hand…..well, I'm slightly disappointed.  I hope to have better luck next year!

When doing this process it’s easiest to do batches.  And use just picked produce.  What I have showing in this picture made 9 different batches.  Had I had more fresh squash available I would have done more.  I will be doing this again soon!

First thing I did was wash everything off.  No dirt left on it. 

Then I sliced it up into about 1/2 inch slices. 

It then went into a boiling pot of water.  I blanched it for 3 minutes.  The reason I blanch it is because all vegetables and fruit have enzymes and bacteria that in time will break down.  It will destroy the nutrients, color, flavor and texture while being frozen.  Blanching squash destroys the enzymes. 
Cover your pot while blanching. 

Now here is where I got busy and forgot to take pictures!  Once your 3 minutes of blanching is over, remove your squash with a slotted spoon and place it in a bowl of ice water.  The ice water stops the squash from cooking more.  Leave it in for about 5 minutes or until cold.  After doing this with 2-3 batches of squash I had to dump out some water from the bowl and add more ice.

Same with the boiling water.  After about 3 batches I needed to add more warm water.

Once the squash was done with it’s ice bath, I removed it from the ice bowl to a smaller bowl that had a strainer over it.  This way the water could leak out and it wouldn’t be so wet when I went to place it in baggies. 

This is when I wish I had a vacuum sealer!  Someday.  But for now I just bagged up 1-3 squash, enough for a soup or something in individual baggies, then put 4-5 of those bags into a freezer bag.  And, because I'm cheap I like to put a paper label in with the name, date processed and date of “expiration” on it.  I say “expiration” because depending on how it’s frozen it can stay good for 5-14 months.  It doesn’t go bad, it will just start to lose some of it’s taste.

It was very easy and a pretty clean project.  So much easier than canning!

   Bobbi

Onion Extravaganza

Sunday afternoon while Chris was fixing the goat pen I harvested our onions.  I had a couple that I had to toss out, but I am pretty impressed with what we got.  I did think they would be a bit bigger, but I'm not complaining!

  I love, love, love onions!  We already harvested a few a week or so ago and they were wonderful.  I’m sure these will be just as good!

Worth the wait….or so I'm told!

    
















 






















 
 
As you may remember from my post the other day we had a sweet cherry tomato turning red on the vine.  I’ve checked it while watering, tempted to pick it, but waited.  Waiting by the way is not one of my strong points!  But I held back and did the right thing.  Thinking about how yummy that first little red pop of goodness was going to be!


    I needed to go down to the garden to gather some herbs to make the chickens some tea and low and behold that tomato looked ready! 

 

Well, Maggie was with me, so who do you think got to pick it and eat it.  Yes!  The girl.  And she made sure to tell me how juicy and sweet it was.  I will get the next one! 

Anticipation.......

I found these two little gems in the garden today....can't wait to enjoy them!

Maggie's cherry tomato plant

First Blackberry that has color!

Can.not.wait!

  

This week around the garden.......

This has been such a strange gardening season.  We are finally getting summer (meaning hot sun!) which is really helping the garden out.  Things are finally starting to grow and finally producing fruit and veggies.

Here are a few of the tons of pears we are getting.  There are a couple of trees and they are loaded!  We have to walk under one of the trees to get to the goat pen and every time I walk under it I conk my head with a couple of low hanging pears.  It makes me happy!  :)

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Our Roo (the white bird) and some of his women.  I may be partial, but I think he is shaping up to be a mighty fine looking bird!  He is sweet too!  You can cradle him like a baby and rub his belly and he doesn't seem to care!

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Oh, lovely little red buds!  I can not wait for you to turn into pomegranates!  We have never grown them before, so this is a new, exciting adventure.  We pruned the tree before we moved in here and are hoping we did it justice!

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Zucchini and squash!  We harvested some Goldbar Squash last week to eat with dinner.

It was FANTASTIC!  Looking forward to a lot more!  And by the looks of our bushes, we

will be eating it for awhile!

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Bluebelle and Clover are settling in very nicely!  They love being next to the fig trees!

Bluebelle (the white one) has a mad crush on Chris.  Which is really funny because this 

happens often with Chris.  We have had several female animals that crush on him.  I keep telling him

he has "animal magnetism".  Yes, I crack myself up sometimes!

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Some hidden yard gems.........

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And Maggie standing next to the "quail bush".  We call it the quail bush because

there are a bunch of newborn Quail in it.  The mama and papa have been feasting

on my strawberries, and I have let them.  Now we get to enjoy watching their sweet little babies 

walking around.  They are so itty-bitty!

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We have already harvested potatoes, onions, squash, lettuce, kale, peas and lots of different herbs.  I am eagerly waiting for our tomatoes and cucumbers.  The cukes have lots of flowers (that I see our honeybees on all the time!) and the tomatoes either have lots of flowers or fruit that is finally turning red.  Our garden has been such a rewarding experience.  I am so thankful for the ability to do this!

In the Garden

The garden is coming along quite nicely!  I have been so pleasantly surprised with how everything is coming around.  We are getting closer to harvesting some things.  Potatoes, onions and strawberries are on the list of firsts.  Speaking of strawberries, I have my first ripe berry!  It's from a bare-root plant that we got from a friend at school.  She gave me 30-40 bare-root plants awhile ago.  I was so excited to add then to the already existing strawberry patches!  We are gonna have a ton of berries!  I am so proud of my tiny little ruby, here is a picture of it!

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I know it sounds a bit funny, but looking at my chives makes me very happy.  I love the little purple flowers.  They are just so pretty.  

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Potatoes, oh how I love thee!  These guys are growing so incredibly fast.  I can't wait until they are ready.  Hmmmm,  a potatoes and chives dish is in our future?

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I planted a ton of jewel colored nasturtiums in the garden.  Flowers and leaves will go nicely in a garden salad.

Hopefully there will be some left.  Maggie is enjoying the leaves already.  I'm looking forward to more color in the garden!

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Here is an overview shot of the front part of the garden.  It's hard to tell, but there is bok choi, hot and sweet peppers, lettuce, chard, cucumbers, tomatoes and a bunch of other things planted here.  Can't wait to see this spot full of big overflowing plants!

Chris and I were standing out looking over the garden last night and laughing that something in this garden is gonna HAVE to give us food!  We planted way more than we needed worried that plants wouldn't survive.  So far it looks like we are going to get something from everything we planted!  Hopefully we have enough family and friends who will want fresh produce!

What's Growin'?

One thing I absolutely love about gardening is, everyday is new.  Something sprouts, something grows inches overnight, something blooms.  I was walking around the yard yesterday alone, enjoying the sound of the water running down the creek, butterflies fluttering by.  I realised I had a smile on my face.  I felt at peace.  I felt good.  I felt accomplished.  I am growing nourishing food and medicine for my family.  I feel like am doing what I am suppose to be doing.  This is where I am suppose to be!

Here are a couple of pictures from around the yard of things that caught my eye and made my heart flutter!

Taters!  Can't wait!  Mashed, fried, hashed, twice baked, scalloped.......

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Onions....not in a perfect row, but who cares!

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Bea-u-tiful Camilia's.  I absolutely love them, Chris has never let me have them. He mumbles something about them being messy.  ??  Love that they are already here and established.  I always win, somehow!!

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Look at how big and beautiful this Comfrey is!  It just started getting pretty purple flowers on it.  Looking forward to using it to heal some owies that I know will occur this summer.

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And last, but definitely not least, gorgeous iris'.  These are one of my favorite flowers

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Ms. Rosa and Gingersnap heading out of the coop to snack on some mint!

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So glad to be back!

I have missed my blog so much!  I am so glad to be back!!  What a wild, crazy ride we have been on for the last  8+ months.  As you may remember, we decided to move in August of last year.  Gave notice, packed our things and put them in storage and were so excited because in 1 month we were going to be moving on to a sweet little ranch.  We spent the next 30 days plotting our garden, building our chicken coop in our minds and fixing up the house.  The 30 days came and went like a blink of an eye and we found ourselves without a place to live!  YIKES!  We looked around and found nothing that would fit our lifestyle in our price range.  We didn't want to move just anywhere, putting Maggie and ourselves through the stresses of moving just to get in somewhere we wouldn't be happy in.  Seemed like everyone wanted us to sign a year lease whenever we looked at a place.  We stumbled on to a little cabin that seemed reasonable with only a 6 month lease.  FANTASTIC, right?  WRONG.  I will just say we have never been so miserable in all our lives!  I want so badly to forget that place that I am not even going to get into it!  lol  All that to say, along with patience comes good things!

                                                           (Creek behind our house---click to make larger)

We found a lovely little place that is just perfect for our family.  Small house, big yard.  Exactly what we were looking for!  When we talk about what would be our ideal spot, this place pretty much hits the mark!

                                                          (The new chicken coop--click to make larger)


This is the old well house that we are converting into a chicken coop.  It looks a bit different now if you were to see it.  We scraped off a lot of the paint and it is now it is a nice shade of white primer.  The front door is actually on the other side of the coop.  Where the lighter wall is there is now a window and the darker side has a little door with ramp for the chickens to come out in.  We currently have 4 chickens in there now (Gingersnap, Strawberry Shortcake, Violet and Ms. Rosa), they seem to be very happy.  We need to make nesting boxes still, but they are only 11 weeks old so we still have some time.
We also have 4 more chicks in the brooder and more coming next weekend!

                                                                (New potato plant--click to make larger)

The garden area is fabulous!  When we started out there was about 450 sq ft of space, we have made it a bit larger since we have been here, it's about 800 sq ft now. Fortunately that's just the garden space and we have a TON more room for flowers, medicinal herb space, etc.  We have a ton of stuff planted and lots more that's almost ready to be put in the ground.  Our hope is to have more than enough so we can put it away for Autumn and Winter.  I can't wait to see how we do!!

                                                            (Greenhouse in progress--click to make larger)

Besides dogs, cats, rabbits and chickens we will be adding to the menagerie of animals.  We are ordering some ducks next week.  We aren't sure yet which breed.  We are thinking either Khaki Campbell, Cayuga, Runners or Golden 300's.  So if anyone reading this has ducks let me know what you have.  We are looking for a good layer, not too broody and a good forager.  I am leaning towards the Khaki or the Goldens.   decisions, decisions!
We are also excited to be planning on adding a Nigerian Dwarf Goat.  For those of you who know me well you know how long I have wanted one of these.  I can not wait.  It will still be awhile before we add her into the family, but it's gonna happen!  I'm pinching myself now!

                                                                                    (play structure--click to make larger)

Maggie has just been in heaven.  Between the creek on hot days and the play structure she has been beyond busy!  Usually she putters around with me in the garden, but she hasn't been in that garden space for more than 5 minutes!
I am so incredibly thankful to our friends, Jennifer and Jason for trusting us with their home and letting us call it our own.  We couldn't be happier being here!

The Great Sunflower Project

What a neat Science project. I just found this online. We have never done it before, but I read for 2009 they had over 50 thousand people participate! I just read there is over 70,000 already signed up for 2010! This is open to everyone in the US and Canada.

You need to register for an account. You will need to buy Lemon Queen Sunflower seeds. I have seen them all over recently. In fact, I was at Walmart the other day and they were there. Of course we picked up 2 packs of different Sunflower seeds! I ordered mine from the Sunflower Project, they were $3.00.

There are four easy steps to participate:

1.Sign up and plant your sunflower
2.Describe your garden
3.Time how long it takes 5 bees to visit your sunflower plant
4.Enter your data online or send us your form.

The data sheet is online, just fill out and submit. Or they have one you can print out and snail mail.

What a great way for them to collect/gather information on Bees. Bees are so important to our planet. They do so much more than just pollinate flowers and give great honey! Lets help The Sunflower Project and give a few minutes of our time!

So, go check them out at The Great Sunflower Project and get signed up!


I can't wait to get started on this!

Spring is on its way!

- Plant Smiles, Grow Giggles, Harvest Love -

Even though we are having some big rainstorms, the signs of Spring are showing all around us. And I can't wait for it to get here!!

Friday we started some of our seeds. I think right now we planted Peppermint, Chamomile, Pansy's, Chives, Cilantro, Basil and Lavender. We have lots more to start, but I need to make some room in the back room. This is our first year starting from seeds. I am pretty excited.

Maggie had a good time preparing and sowing. It was really fun to get to show her how it all begins. She knows about planting plant starters, but seeds are a whole 'nother thing!

Maggie carefully spooned in the dirt, slowly and with lots of deep thought. We then had to water the dirt down and then it was time to get the seeds out. She had a great time looking at the front pictures and then seeing the varying of seeds inside the packets. From teeny tiny to round large ones. Black, brown. Much different than the pumpkin and bell pepper seeds we see when we cook with those foods.

I am hoping that our efforts aren't in vain and that we actually get something. I guess if not we have a great nursery close by!

Are any of you planting gardens? Are you doing seeds? Plant starters? What are you planting?

Testing, Testing, Is this thing on?

Oh my goodness! It has been so long since I have been here. I don't really have an excuse. So off my lazy butt I go and here I am!

We had been blessed this week with some wonderful Spring weather! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and Winter seems to be coming back. It was sure nice and motivating though while we had a taste of the weather to come!

Chris build a new compost box. So excited to get that started. It's in a nice sunny spot, close to our garden and away from any windows by the house! I have missed composting. We haven't done it since we moved up here. Looking forward to seeing what we get out of it.

We planned out our garden. I think we are going to try out Square Foot and Vertical gardening. We definitely have the space for a large garden, but this looks so interesting. And, the way I see it, we can have even MORE than if we planted in our current boxes!
We got a great book at the library called All New Square Foot Gardening. We haven't been able to keep our noses out of it. Definitely a book we are going to buy for our shelves!
It looks like our garden will include:

Eggplant
Bell Peppers (red, green, orange)
Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Green Beans
Cucumber
Corn
Broccoli
Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Radish
Carrot
Beets
Spinach
Jalapenos
Parsley
Chives
Mint
Cilantro
Basil
Oregano
Sage

I'm pretty convinced we are missing a few things, so I will be adding to the list I'm sure! LOL I am so excited. Our winter garden did pretty well, so I'm hoping that our next go-round will provide us with nearly all, if not all of our veggies for Spring/Summer.

The girls are getting big. They have started figuring out their "pecking order". Cocobelle is the definite leader with Dora coming in a close second. I can see where this may be a problem. LOL Ellen, the biggest chicken of the group is the very last in line. I think she prefers it that way. She isn't very brave at all and has the loudest squawk when you pick her up. Cocobelle has found her voice. She sits up on the perches and clucks and talks away. I could just sit and watch them for hours. They really are a fun bunch.
Here are a couple pictures from earlier this week:

Cocobelle enjoying a meal worm treat:

Ellen DeHENeres:


And, Mary Virginia. This must be where the expression "chicken legs" comes from:


It's amazing how quickly they are growing. Soon we will have eggs!

Since the last time I wrote we got a new family member. A new Dutch bunny (5 mo old) named Peter. He is absolutely adorable and so, so sweet. And a contributor to the compost pile as well!
Maggie really wants to do rabbits in 4-H so Peter is a good starter bunny!

Speaking of Maggie, she is doing great with school. She is really into reading, spelling, writing right now. So we have been focused on that. I'm really proud how she has been catching on. Tonight Chris was cooking dinner and I could hear her in the kitchen practicing her spelling to her dad. I love being able to sit back and hear it. Sometimes it's really hard for me to believe she is 5 years old. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. She is such a treasure and so fun to have. I am truly blessed.

I am going to leave you with a couple of pictures from earlier in the week when the weather was so beautiful!






See ya soon!

-Bobbi