2011 Garden

Ok, I have avoided posting for a while, because there wasn't much to say. The dry summer caused an almost complete failure of the garden. We were able to get more turnips than we could eat, enough tomatoes to keep us in fresh tomatoes and make pasta sauce twice, and the cabbage was successful. Out of the 40 planted, we harvested 38. We ate several, gave away some, and attempted to make sauerkraut. A fly got into the crock and ruined the kraut. When I went to can it, there were maggots crawling all over. Next year I will make the kraut in individual canning jars.

So, this year was a bust. And even if the garden had produced, it wasn't large enough to provide for a year of food. We will be expanding for next year.

The plan: increase the size. Roto-till the area, rake smooth. Layer newspapers over entire area, then cover with thick layer of straw. Come spring, we will put in soaker hoses.

In the meantime, we are working on a way to keep the greenhouse above freezing, and will be planting more in there to grow through the winter.

The fruit trees we planted are doing well. I also discovered a crabapple tree at the back of our property.

I purchased 12 pounds of raw honey today. Most of it will be stored for future use.

With the help of family and friends we made and canned 74 pints of apple butter.

Goats and Chickens

Well, due to finances, we are holding off on the goats and chickens. The goal now is to get these in the early spring of next year. That will give us the rest of this year to get the goat fence installed, build a chicken coop, and remodel the barn with stalls for the goats.

I am using any free time I have to research and learn as much as I can about both of these animals.

First Produce from the Garden

Turnip Greens! We had some for lunch today. Not too bad. I also noticed that we have small tomatoes coming on, and lots of tiny peas. They will probably be ready in a week or two.

Strawberry Jelly

Ok, I couldn't get to the jelly until today. I got about 6 cups of juice this time, but I didn't process 6 pounds. We ate some, and I gave some berries away, so I probably only started with about 4 1/2 pounds. I just refrigerated the juice until I was ready to process.

I got 5 - 8 oz jars of strawberry jelly! It jelled perfectly and looks so pretty and tastes great!

Strawberry Syrup

I got 8 cups of juice from the 6 pounds of berries I hung last night. I processed this into syrup and got:

• 9 - 8 oz jars,
• 2 - 6 oz jars, and
• 2 - 4 oz jars

This is a slightly thickened syrup that can be used as is, or thickened by adding corn starch and heated. It's yummy!

I got the rest of the berries cleaned and hung to drain.

Strawberry Season

I picked 12 pounds of strawberries today at a local farm. They are beautiful. I will be making strawberry syrup and strawberry jelly.

I cleaned half of the berries and put them to drain overnight. I will make the syrup out of this batch.

Laundry Soap

I made a batch of laundry soap today. I decided to do a powdered batch this time. I grated 2 bars Ivory soap, mixed in 2 cups borax and 2 cups washing soda. The instructions say use 1 tablespoon for each full load. It went a whole lot facter than making the liquid soap, and I no longer need that large 5 gallon bucket sitting in my way in the laundry room. It will be interesting to see how well this works.