Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Using my pressure canner!


Here is The Beast!


My new water bath canner-
it's bigger than my old one!


My first pressure canned item-
green beans!
Pretty, preservative-free,
some grown by me, some bought from the farmer's market.
I will make sure to plant more beans next year!


Jackson being squishy!
Gotta love a cloth diapered booty.
He's quickly potty learning, so he won't be in them much longer!
Bittersweet.

Friday, July 8, 2011

garden update + a little canning

A little garden update-

My peas have bitten the dust!
No production in over a week :(

My corn really never did grow like it was supposed to.
Better luck next year, maybe?

My squash never produced jack.

My zucchini has really slown down production.
Only getting a few a week.

The cucumbers are still doing really well!
Lots of peppers!
Tons of green tomatoes- some ripening, finally!
Lettuce and kale- yum.



Kale


Little jalapenos


yellow cherry tomatoes ripening


a big tomato ripening!
finally!


I jarred fresh blueberries!
Quite a few pints this week.


apple butter that I made for our buddy Jason, who just got out of the hospital after battling pneumonia for over a week!


apple butter that I made for us and for gift giving- half pint jars instead of pint jars this time, so they will go a bit farther since it takes a TON of apples to do one batch

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Have I mentioned lately

that I adore my garden?


Today's haul was a 12 pound bag of:
3 kinds of peppers: sweet bell, jalapeno, and green chilis
huge zucchini



loads of cucumbers!


delicious salad greens (a bit bitter, which is perfect)
lots of green beans!

((Oh, and my Bradley natural childbirth book! haha))


A picture of our salad from dinner tonight.
It just does something for my soul knowing I planted the cucumbers and lettuce from seeds-
and now it sits on our dinner plates.

It's official- I am addicted to gardening.

Our skin is glowing from the time outdoors, our meals are healthier, our carbon footprint is smaller, we've in turn discovered a love of rain barrels, composting, and the chickens love the scraps they get from me trimming up the veggies! And the chicken treats turn into delicious eggs that I get to cook with, bake with, and give away!


This is a picture (that I jacked from her Facebook) of a Thank You present we dropped off at our buddy, Darlene's house. She took care of the kids for me for many hours so I could be at the hospital with my dad when Tim was traveling for work. We sent her a few eggs, peach jam, blueberry jam, strawberry jam, apple butter, peaches in light syrup, and dill pickles! It is nothing compared to what she did for us while my attention needed to be elsewhere, but it was nice that my garden (and farmer's market), chickens, and newly discovered canning skills could be useful for gift giving!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

A week in my garden and kitchen-

It's been an incredible week here!
Probably why I haven't been posting near as much as I should!
Warning: This post is a big pic heavy!


The peas are here!
And they are delicious, friends.

Last night, we had spinach salads topped with sliced cukes and green peas.
The flavor was sweet and fresh. Love it!


We've been eating our homegrown zucchini!
It's so fresh, cutting it is like cutting butter.


We could use a bit of rain, but the cukes still grow!


We had so many (a dozen in a day and a half) that I made dill pickles!


The yellow cherry tomatoes!
Growing like crazy.
I think there are 3 dozen green ones on this particular plant!

Grew these specifically for Jackson-
Keelin doesn't like fresh tomatoes, although I'm hoping that we can sway her this summer!


He emerged from the sandbox long enough to have a tasty treat!
Check out his sandy little paws!
hehe :)


What I brought in from the garden on Monday-
a zucchini, a dozen cucumbers, a pink egg, a cream colored egg, and a blue egg!


It was our first 3 egg day ever!
We're usually happy to find one- thrilled if there is two!
The third egg means that a new hen has started laying.
Very exciting!


I got some amazing peaches at the Farmer's market!
AND these are my cukes sliced up for pickling in the sterilized jars.


About half of what I made Monday night.
I made 4 pints of peach jam, 3 pints of Moscato wine jelly, and almost a dozen jars of dill pickles!

Oh, and I pickled a few jalapenos for Tim!
Just cuz I love him.


A shot of round 2 of peach jam making.
This batch came out much better than the first, for some reason.

The last of those peaches?
I'm thinking about making Spiced Peaches!
Anyone ever made them before?


This is a picture of what I've put up this week-
-tomato jelly
-peach jam
-moscato wine jelly
-dill pickles
-pickled jalapeno peppers
-apple butter
(although a special post is coming about the apple butter!!)

My father is helping me get a place in the basement ready for all of my canning. It's best to store your jars in a cool, dry place that's pretty dark. We're cleaning up an awesome cabinet to do jar duty- will post pics when it's finished!

Monday, June 6, 2011

fruits of our labor!


A blue egg!
3 cucumbers!
1 jalapeno pepper!

May not look like much to you, but this is what our backyard gave us today!
SO very exciting.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The payoff is coming!!! (garden)

I was discouraged a while back with how much work my large garden was requiring and I was getting a bit pessimistic about whether or not it would pay off.

Boy, does this slow food idea require some patience!
:)
Not everything is exciting enough to take a photo of, but here are some of the highlights of my gardening week (pictures taken yesterday)


The kale is looking fantastic! It's huge!


Hola, jalapenos!
These are the size of my thumb!
Yum!


Cherry tomatoes- I can't wait to throw them in a salad!

These tomatoes are going to be delicious!
I think this one is dubbed "salsa."


Lots and lots of little cucumbers!


They're coming right along!


Yummy lettuce!
Salads taste better when you walk outside to pick them.


Yes!! That is a teeny zucchini!
And it just so happens to be overgrowing my poor carrots in the bottom right hand corner.


The bean stalks are 6 feet tall!


The peas have flowers!


Loving the sunflowers!


Jackson was soaking up some Vitamin D!
And acquiring some dirt!
:)


Precious, dusty, little piggies!


My fellow gardeners/homesteaders, how does your garden grow?

Monday, May 30, 2011

A little garden update!

These photos were taken last week!
I've been a bit out of the blogging loop thanks to our internet service provider being pretty close to useless!



Climbing green beans!


At last count, I found more than a dozen teeny, green tomatoes!


Come visit us, pollinators! Our little flowers need some lovin!


Sweet peppers!


Lettuce!


Corn!


Reach, little peas!


Sunflower!!!


Kale!


Jalapeno!