The Home Made Pantry Book Review

Posted on November 22, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

So this our first of the book reviews, I grabbed this one-off the pile and started flipping and then sighed.. it was so basic.. I mean BASIC.. how to make butter, how to make a beef stew, how to make pancakes and cornbread..

I can not lie, I just looked at the pages, struggled to find anything that would challenge me and I then put the book down with a sigh!

I came back to it the second time and did a more in-depth look at it and read a few of the recipes.. They are solidly written, they use basic food and spices, things that I believe most of us would find in our pantry’s.  They are easy to make.. nothing hard about these recipes.. they are straight forward and would give a nice homemade result.. Tons of pretty pictures in this book.

Still I didn’t find a single recipe that made me want to dig in and getting cooking or baking. Instead I made homemade Blueberry-Ginger Crisp and Black Pepper and old aged Cheese buns.. Neither of which are in the this cookbook.. or any cook book for that matter.  They came from my own mind and my own hands..

AT this point I was worried that I might have to give a poor review on my first book so I grabbed it again with a cuppa earl grey with a dried orange slice throw in and settled in to read. Not the recipe but the full-page of her story..

That is where this book started to shine for me! Page after Page got turned over and I started to smile and laugh.. The joy of new recipes for someone who has never milked a cow and worried about the first time she made yogurt..   The lifting of her spirit when she learned she had the power to make these foods for herself and her children.

O yes.. that was the tipping point.. the book gets a solid 3.5 out of 5 starts.

The perks of the book.. its lovely to look at, its one of those eye candy cookbooks, if you like them and I think all cooks do to a point. It’s very detailed in how to make things. The food is simple, healthy and very easy to make.. All good things for new cooks or those who are learning how to do things that have always been bought..  how to make your own sour cream or cream cheese or butter etc.

But the truth is it shines as journal for me more than it does as a cookbook.. I enjoyed getting to see cooking, baking and making though a set of fresh eyes and a new voice.

The downside of the book

Cost, New at 30 dollars Canadian (I got it at the second-hand shop for .50 cents) it’s very costly for a cookbook that only has a very basic recipe every two or sometimes third page.  Its light on recipes, big on words/story/picture.

It’s not a challenging book at all. Do not get this book if you are already a good cook or homesteader.  Its suited to someone who is JUST learning 🙂

So I would like to point out that I DID NOT get anything for this review, the thoughts are my own. I bought the book myself etc.

I know that I said I would cook out of the books but on this one that is just not going to happen folks..  lol

 

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged | 6 Comments

Frosted Fern: A Christmas Mystery Plant

Posted on November 21, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Sitting nested in among the Christmas Cactus and the Pontetta’s was this new little plant to me.. The frosted Fern!

Frosted Fern

This wa a new to me plant.. its cute for sure. I can see the appeal, its got spruce like green bough’s and these cut white tips that look like they are carrying a dipping of snow on the ends.  Like many plants at stores, it was being looked after but not well.. it was overgrow in its little pot, deeply in need of a drink to its bone dry soil. It was also on sale.

I wanted to scoop all four of the little guys up and bring them home with me.. but like most things moderation is much better and given that I had no knowledge of this plant or what kind of care it would need.. I stood there wavering.. shoud I or not?

After picking it up and putting it down again.. I sighed and went.. the love of plants got me again and one of them came home with me.. I had it all wrapped up in plant cover to help it going from store to house and then I transplanted it into a much bigger pot, watered it well and started looking for information.

The best that I found was from Laidback Gardener.. a truly outstanding blog!  I have put a little of his advice here and then linked to his site for the rest of it.

If you do not want to read more then here are the highlights

  • No direct sunlight needed or wanted
  • Water at least twice a week, well drained soil is best
  • Ideally place in a spot with your best higher humidity or consider putting a tray with pebbles under it that you keep a bit of water in to give that little plant area extra moisture in the air.
  • Will Grow up to a max of a foot high and foot wide but in house averages six to eights inches normally.

via Frosted Fern: A Christmas Mystery Plant

Among the plants sold during the Holiday season, the so-called “frosted fern” is certainly the most mysterious, because not only is there is so little information about it, but most merchants don’t even seem to know what to call it!
You see, this plant is not a fern at all, but what is known as a spikemoss (Selaginella), a primitive plant not really that closely related to true mosses (bryophytes) either, but rather to clubmosses (Lycopodium and others). So you could call it a “fern ally”, but still, it’s neither a fern nor a moss.

Posted in Life moves on daily | 17 Comments

No Buy Nov -Week 3a

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Nov 16th

Snow, finally the snow arrived and the first shoveling happened, I am in charge of clearing the deck and the steps, but I have to admit that I did not feel up to it and hubby did the first snow clearing of 2018.

Its a quiet day to be honest, getting ready for a putter weekend, hubby asked me to make sure it was just us this weekend, a good choice as we have had company pretty much weekly for a bit (which has been fun) but great to take a weekend off.

A bad coughing day and fever off and on most of the day which has made layering needed.. I know its me and not the house.. cold/hot

It was a writing day for me, I was just in the mood to write and put down over 3000 words in different blog posts, some posted and some coming.

Nov 17th

The farm cats are in their full fluffy winter coats but little wee Paris is just starting to grow in her winter coat, I expect she will need to wear a extra coat if she wants to spend much time outside now that its getting cold..

I had put out sticky mouse traps in a few places, I have not seen any mice or signs but its fall and its the time of year they tend to come.. I hear whining and clunk, clunk and there is my wee paris, both front paws stuck to the glue, hopping along with the disk..

Ok, I will admit that I laughed, I mean come on.. but then I rushed to her help and needed to trim her fur on her feet, I was able to detach her and then trim the hair, then washed her feet in warm soapy water and well rinsed as I didn’t want her trying to pull and then eat any tiny bits of glue or get bits stuck to it on her feet.

She was very good about letting me give a helping hand, so then I decided it was a good day to trim all the dogs toenails. man, Dezbots grow so fast, thankfully they are white so easy to trim compared to black ones.

Hubby did the town trip and got the required things we needed for a few more of our farm projects over the next two weeks, we have so much per pay day set to the side that is for farm work/repair/winter prep etc. Its truly amazing how fast that budget goes and how little comes home for it..

Still each project does matter in the long haul. I did not do much, just the basic’s to be honest and I napped twice.. I really want this fever to break.. but I did have my first 15 min of fresh air. I bundled up tight and it was so lovely to get out in the sunshine.

We had maybe a hour or so of sunshine though the day otherwise overcast and I enjoyed every minute of it 🙂 Early to bed, hubby spent his extra time working on a new short story.

Henry has a deep sleep box (tote) filled with straw in a pen inside the little barn, he still has some trouble getting his own share at the bigger cat feeders so he gets his own feed dish to eat in piece and I am happy to see that he well settled. He is a very good hunter of the barn he is in. We have decided that for the winter, he will have the run of the barn during the day for hunting, time to play and etc, but in the evening, he goes in his pen. He has it all figured out lol..  He loves his pen, its got his people cuddle chair, his ledge on the window to look outside, his sleep box and his own private feeding spots.

He runs to it and waits for you to get there.. lol.. Cats can certainly be creatures of habit.. given the amount of purring coming from him, he seems good with his new routine. Still he is happy to get out and hunt as well.

Nov 18th

O my gosh, I got to sleep though the night and no fever! WHOOT! you have no idea how excited I am that I got a full nights sleep without waking up a number of times.. I did cough lots after waking up and getting moving.  I felt great and got busy.. only took 45 min of work to have me sweating and tired..

It was such a good tired.. hubby and I got the working corner sorted and moved around and got the plant stand set up.. I am so excited to get the trays cleaned and then filled and picking out seeds 🙂

Hubby was able to get the snow fencing up on his own, while I had a bit of a rest and did a load of laundry and had a visit with mom.

After lunch, it was time to bundle up and take advantage of the sun, the lack of wind and get some outside things done outside, we got siding snapped back together, we got new foam liner into the windows to help block drafts. Hubby got a new liner up to block any drafts on the deck door.

I had just enough energy to ask hubby to bring in my ten gallon fish tank that we got when we have “bright eyes” the turtle and hubby uses it each spring when he saves tadpoles and raises them up till they climb out and move into our yard.

It took a good scrub and then I got it set up and moved Blue Bruce the fighting fish into his new digs.. so much room.. the fish bowl the plant seemed huge and Bruce was big.. lol.. now the tank seems very empty, I do have nine snails and one fish.

I have done my research and at some point I will get a few more plants and a few more aqua critters to fill up the tank more.  You have to be careful on what you put in with a Batta fish as roommates.

Hubby still had get up and go but I was pretty much done for the day. I went to bed very early.. hubby worked on taking up tiles in the one room so that we can get them off the floor and get floor repaired and new lino installed in this room.

Nov 19th

Well, I had gone to bed before 8pm and I woke up when hubbies alarm when off at 4:45 am and have been awake since, I am sure I will need a nap at some point today. Still I had a amazing sleep.. I think I am finally on the mend. (Nope, while I did lay down to rest, I did not nap)

It snowed overnight and there is just a inch or inch and half of snow on the deck/steps to clear off today.  Its to keep snowing off and on all week long is what they say.  I need to pick a book to start reading in list of books to review.

Excited on the savings we have done over the first part of Nov..

We have reached our goal of setting the “house/grocery/allowance” weekly budget to the side  and we have saved enough to cover Miss S spay and after care. The nice thing about this is that we did not need to touch savings to make this happen, we just tightened our belts and eat out of the pantry/off farm.

I can’t say that we have been ultra frugal this month in some ways, we did get the big Christmas present that had been on our buy list, we did order in the thermal curtains on the black Friday sale prices.. They were on a very good sale with free shipping.

However we have reached past our first goal for extra savings, so I do take that as a win! If we save enough to reach the second goal by the end of the month, it will be a full success regards of our little setbacks.

I had found this pretty lady/planter in the fall at the second-hand store for .50 cents and today I potted up the baby Aloe Vera plant into her basket. I think its cute.

Got three tray of soil set up for the grow area, cleaned the trays, pots and tops, prepped the soil, sorted the seeds and I planted out the salad micro-greens.

So far I know I will be planting..

Herbs
Chives
Green onion bulbs
Garlic
Pea’s
Pumpkin Seeds
Maragold’s

I think I might start slipping a sweet potato as well, just get some vines going for potting up and growing by the big living room windows..

I think I am going to do four to six pots of pumpkin plants that will be transplanted out into bigger pots that will run along the half wall in front of the side window. I hope that there will be enough light, otherwise, I might have to set up another light row somewhere else to keep them growing. Will keep you posted on how it goes.

I also spent a goodly amount of time on a reno project, its slowly coming.. Its friend visiting tonight/game night as its Monday 🙂

 

 

 

Posted in No Buy November | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Spider Plants “repotting”

Posted on November 19, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Spider Plant “Chlorophytum comosum”  

It’s a favorite plant of mine, I have always liked this ribbon striped grass like plant since I was a child. It is easy to care for and very hard to kill to be honest. It can be grown in indirect light. It can be set on a shelf or hung in a basket.

Now I have to admit that the smaller younger plants look great in their smaller pots and will add a great texture and color to lots of spots to pick from in your house.

The big plants to me look better in a big old hanging pot so that you can see the flowers and the baby spiders it will make to the best advantage.

The plants are fast growing so you will need to re-pot them up until you get them to the big size you want and then you will need to do select trimming to keep them at that size.

I was very pleased to re-pot these two up today. They have doubled in size since I got them and I can’t wait till they send out their tiny white flowers an decide that they might like to produce a few babies.

They do need a well-drained pot, (none of these no hole bottom pots you see at times now in the store) when it comes to your spider plant, please get a pot that has a drain hole to it. Having said that, they don’t like to have wet feet and so its a good idea to let them dry out a bit between watering

If you let it go to long, you can get little brown tips on the ends of the leaves, don’t worry just tip them off and they will keep on trucking.  They are a hardy plant for sure.

Spider Plants are on the top ten plants to have to help clean your air on the Nasa list of plants they recommend to clean air quality in a enclosed space.  I think I would need a lot more plants but every little bit helps right 🙂

Do you have a spider plant? I bet your grandmother did! What is your oldest plant? Do you or have you gifts baby spider plants to family and friends? Its a great starter plant for kids rooms.

 

Posted in frugal, Garden | Tagged , , | 21 Comments

Odd Bits Sunday

Posted on November 18, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

How is your Sunday? Good I hope, I wish you the very best

I have worked many a sunday in my day so I know that not everyone has the day off but if you do, I hope your chore list is short and you get some down time with family or friends doing something you love.

Hubby and I are in slow mode, well I am slower then him, as I tire so easy but we got the work table corner area all sorted and tidied up and moved to a new location for a number of things.

The reason for this was that I really wanted to get my two tier plant growing rows set up and going so that I can start radishes, micro greens and Salad Greens to go with my sprouts.

The mirror got a clean up and got put behind to help reflect the light back to the plants rather then hit the wall. This is a very sheltered area of the house and draft free. The plants will do well here.

Then we needed to get the snow fence up and around the storm garden to be.. aka the new pond LOL right now its a big hill and a pond. It certainly would not be safe to have that unmarked in the winter snow.  While its not that deep, its just not worth any risk.

At that point, we needed to do a little storm repair while the sun shined and it was only a calm -10. In the last high winds some of the siding up high had popped out of its track and while it was loose it was holding in current place.

Still if the wind hit it just right, it could have come off and so up the ladder hubby went while I bundled up wearing a very thick scarf wrapped around my head and ears stood on the end and handed things up and down the ladder..

One of those silly little things that take two people and time to get ready and then takes no time to do itself 🙂

Then we took a look at the two big windows that were drafting, we had planned on doing something from the inside but the issue is that we can not put a film on, the hounds like to bounce up to the windows and bark like mad when folks come or go.

So we had a good look at and went, I think we could do a thick foam insulation from the outside that would make a huge difference if we pushed it into slot just so.. so the next two hours was spent up ladders, working with foam.

Success, as soon as I put my hand on the inside a noticeable effect.. wonderful!

As I have a good amount of time where I am down resting, I researched thermal curtains and did a bunch of work on figuring out what we work best for us and give us both sun/heat blocking in summer heat and had PROVEN thermal blocking in winter.

I finally tracked down a company that had done tests and had real numbers to show and they happen to have a amazing sale on for black Friday.   Hubby and I went over the numbers and decided to go for it.

The data says they are able to reduce heat loss at windows by 25%, now that might not seem like much but it would add up over time.

Decided on a Rust color for the living room and a sage green for the bathroom. Now we see how long it takes for them to get here with the postal rolling strikes in effect.

Well, hubby just got excited that his battery is fully charged so off we go to put up new insulation on the door frame for the deck door..

Posted in At the kitchen table | 3 Comments

Nicotiana Rustica – Aztec Tabacco

Posted on November 17, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

I have ordered in a new kind of tobacco to me, it’s often called the Aztec Tobacco and it has a crazy high rate of nicotine. The average tobacco has 1 to 3 percent, this plant on average has 9 percent.

Now don’t worry I have not suddenly taken up smoking.

This plant is coming to the farm for me to use as a naturally grown and produced  on farm pesticide.  I already make a drench from Rhubarb Leaves for some uses and I have used tabacco for other uses on the farm.

Its a very old remedy with a lot of fork lore around it and on the other hand I have seen it in action, I still remember seeing chaw being used to help heal a eye issue on a horse in my teens. It worked quite well, I remember wanting to know why? The answer was.. because it does..

So many of the questions asked as because So and so tried it and it worked so he told me and I used it and it worked..  (of course those type of things did not work all the time and thankfully today we can call the vet and get help)

Still there are two very proven ways that tobacco does help in.. one is as a spray that can be used in the gardens and when used carefully and with thought, it can help clean out worms in certain critters.

Like all things when plants are grown in the real world, amounts flex from plant to plant and trying to figure out doses is always tricky and we learn as we go.

Still I am excited about adding this new plant to my farm, the native bees will love the flowers, guests will think its a pretty plant and very few will even know what it is to look at and me?

I have something new to learn and work with that will ideally give me a useful product in the end..  Win-Win

Do you grow Tabacco in your garden? if so why.. if not.. why not?

Posted in frugal, Garden | Tagged | 13 Comments

Friday Rambles “Winter has arrived”

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Just another day on the farm


Hello, come in.. Put your boots on the melt tray and let me shake out your coats and such. Would you like a hot chocolate today? It just seems right for this first snow storm of the season to offer hot Chocolate, but if you prefer grab a cup of coffee or I can make a pot of tea?

Ps, that reminds me that I need to get my basket of washable floor slippers so that I have them ready for guests.

The first snow storm at the end of 2018 has arrived, we did not get much really, not sure what the fuss is about, its only four inches! with a bit more in drift here on the farm but I know they got a lot more in other areas and Its a Massive Storm that covered many states and province’s  in Canada.  They say that we are not done yet that more snow is on the way yet so maybe it will be more in the end.

I found it very interesting that “normally” we get 6 of these storms a year.. want to guess where we are at in 2018? 11 and counting..  and let me tell you if you live on the east coast of Canada, they are getting even more.. they are from what I can see averaging at least two a week for the past month at least.. never-ending storms.

While the cold has arrived here, I am watching and praying for those effected by the fires and I have not forgotten all those effected by the hurricanes. I am so sorry for those that have been effected including folks I have known online for years.  A dear friend of mine lost her home in the “camp fire”..  I am so sorry.

You have heard me blog before about the damage done with now confirmed Six tornado’s touched down in the Ottawa valley and across into the Quebec side of the Ottawa city area.

Katrina made this video public and I think its very important to put a real voice and face to some of the things I was talking about in terms of finding ways to help folks. I am glad they reached their fund-raising goal and that they are getting help but I also want you to here in her own words just how many more little things there are.. how the system is set up for a bleeding out on a thousands tiny cuts.

I was watching the news last night and they had a number of owners from this “weather event” talking about the coming cold, the coming snow.. the fact that they still have holes in roofs, holes in walls and more. That if they can not get things at least patched, they will be forced to move out of their home due to the cold.

I agree, a blue tarp will not keep out the cold/snow.. and in many case’s they are not allowed to even try to fix it in a more temp way as they are waiting for insurance to do so, or in the case of some of the folks, they are waiting on land lords, who are waiting on insurance and contractors.  It was talked about  and I agree.. those with the skills are working full-time and more if they want to be.. they are working!

I am honestly worried at the amount of folks I am hearing about that are going into a Canadian winter in holiday trailers or campers. It can be done, I know this. But honestly a small wood cabin with a wood stove would be better than a camper in many ways but that is a lot harder to come by close enough to drive to work or where the rebuilds will be done.

I have to admit that I am also surprised at how many folks say, we will rebuild. I say this because of the Fort Mac Fire. I know that a lot of folks never came back, I would like to know the data on this. If you are a home owner or land owner, what percent rebuilds and what percent of renters stay or move.  I wonder if there is a difference.

In the case of Fort Mac if you believe the news about 25% of them do did not go back, they found new jobs, new homes, new places to settle and they were talking in the news that two years later some people are still waiting on their rebuilds.

Which bring me to the question, are those rebuilding, building with an eye to climate change? I know that most folks having lost their home, do not want to have a eye on what could come.. they are in the moment, in the now!

BUT whatever you want to call it.. climate change, climate instability  or use whatever words you want.. it’s here.. it’s not coming guys.. it’s here..    Everyone wants to point at the big things and they are there.. happening world wide.

The truth is for most of us, it will be the little things. So many little things that change

This snow is a month early.. four weeks of our extended fall, gone.. Four weeks of our extended uncover grow season.. gone. Four weeks that normally prime butchering time.

I know, we need to be able to enjoy the small things, we need to love our families and friends, and we did joy in our lives..

I mean Christmas is coming.. and one of the points of why pagan tradition started was to give thanks, spend time with family and friends in a joyful way as you put the growing/harvest season to bed and feasted on the things that would not hold all winter but which where plentiful at that time.

However! They knew that hard times where coming, winter was hard time and expect it will this year for many folks across the world and in many ways the same was then..  Proper shelter, Warmth, Enjoy Food/Water and Illness.

So lets not close our eyes and lets not panic.. Both of them do same thing.. they freeze us.. they hold a person in place..

I say..

Keep them open.. see the big picture (you don’t need to stare it down, just know its there  and willing to keep open mind about it)

And go into it with them wide open and willing to change and learn and flex and Adapt!

So my challenge this week is work on something that needs to be done to help combat the cold.  We have been working on this for the past weeks. It would be nice to tell you that we got it all done ahead of time but life is busy and the farm is busy and there is always a list waiting to be done and juggle.. throw in sickness and hubby working major overtime and the juggle gets harder.

So here we are, needing to still things..

  • We will get a new liner on the door to prevent drafting
  • We will get plastic up on the outside of some of the outbuildings to help prevent drafts in buildings while still allow light in (we do this every year) but I want to a touch this year
  • We will do the inner plastic in the house on at least one or two windows that are not as sealed as they should be.
  • we will run a test on power back and confirm that its working correctly and use it for a day

I will keep you posted on how it goes!

So I will give it over to you dear readers.. what is one thing you can do this week that helps you with something weather related in your home? Be it an apartment, or condo, be it in the city or country..

What is one area you would like to improve on? can you work on it, or it to big or to late in the season? if so, is there something smaller that you can work on?

 

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

No Buy November Week 2 Part 2a

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I guess I should first the other half of the 13th, so I did speak with a nurse and was informed that I have the flu not a cold. It would appear that its one of the most common in our area and that I am right the correct typical path of being sick, and slowly digging back out to health. According to the nurse I should expect four to six weeks  in total before I feel “normal” in stamina and prep etc.  I am three weeks in but she does not count the back until my fever broke, so she says four more weeks would common with six weeks on bad side..

I am on par with what I should be doing, take meds, support with food, rest, avoid getting chilled, lots of fluids.. bla.. bla.. Bla.. we all have a pretty good idea on what the rest of the common sense advice I was given..  I was giving a short list of things that if they did not improve I was to go back for medical help.

On the most positive side I made German Potato Pancakes for supper on the 13ths, so easy, so filling and not hard on my tummy.. Spiced up hubbies a bit then mine..

Called and booked in Leeloo Mom Miss S for her spay next week, I know that the vet wants her not nursing but honestly from what I can feel she has very little milk at this point and really want her fixed before there is any change of her getting breed again.

Nov 14th

What a cold bitter wind day.. its -12 out there but with the wind, its -18 and trust me that is Brrrr weather when it hits you and we are under our first “heavy” snow fall warning starting late thursday afternoon today and going all day friday. We will see how deep it gets..  Will report and take photo’s for you 🙂

Got the last of the Christmas early box’s sent, Hubby had driven into the city so he could pick up the last thing needed that I could not get locally, which was lots of little bags of different jelly beans.

Hubby did great on keeping the farm up to date on many things but there are just things he does not think off that I do. All my house plants needed drinks today, my wonderful little blue fish needed a half bowl water change and new water added.

He forgot to water my sprouting trays, so the top trays where very dry and I just cleaned them out and feed them out to the chickens (who though they were the best treat ever) and I took the bottom trays which were ok and got them cleaned up and moved to storage for use in the fridge and got tray’s cleaned up and new batch’s started.

The cured meat was overdue to be pulled out and prepped for cooking I had planned on smoking it and using it as breakfast ham but decided that I would cook it as a small ham today instead. I went with a mustard honey spiced glaze.

The indoor/outdoor cats that are in and out of the house decided that today winter had arrived so the outdoor only cats are all in the barn but Sunny, Patrick and Faith wait to see that the dogs are out and then come running in to the warm house to nap when they come in.

I am sad to say that our last little pig passed away in her hut, it seems peaceful, looks like she just went to sleep and did not wake up.. I am a bit surprised as while she was a mature female, she was not old per say.  She had a good summer with lots of fresh air, sunshine, tons of fresh greens to enjoy.. I hope she dreamed of eating a dandelion flower which was her favorite treat of all! The photo above was always my personal favorite one of her.

Nov 15th

I woke up this morning within a hour of my normal wake up time. This to me is a very good sign that I am getting better.. I am in putter mode this morning..

Got the Mudpie cookies made and cooled for a sweet treat. These ones were made with only oatmeal, no coconut like in the above recipe in the full post on them (in the blue link)

The salted egg yolks came out today and will finish their drying out of the salt and I look forward to having them available for my mock cheese. As I have very limited cheese in the house and no fresh dairy on the farm.. it is a welcome way to get around this in many dishes.

Pulled my last pound of ground lamb until we take this years lamb to be processed.  I am looking forward to making mock steak with onions and gravy with mixed veggies for supper tonight.

A friend tagged me to a seed house that is offering a awesome 2 for 1 sale and so I spent a little bit of time carefully selecting Heritage seeds of garden, some of them are for the livestock feed garden, and the rest are for producing food for us.

If you want in on it, Check out the 2 for 1 seed package sale at Salt Spring Seeds  

Now remember to read his comments carefully,  and check them where you live, while they are outstanding for the west coast and for certain zones in Canada, many of them you will need to watch and read your packages carefully in order to use them in some of our harsher planting zones.

For one of the best heritage seed house’s that has some of the shortest season producers that I have ever found it would be Heritage Seed House in Sask.. she has a outstanding amount of plants that start producing between 45 to 55 days that normally take 65 to 90 days.

As has been talked about in a number of places, last spring frosts, really! early fall frosts, I had friends that got Aug Frost. Everyone from the West Coast, across the middle of Canada and for sure in Eastern Canada, the growing season in 2018 was short.. In some case 10 to 20 days short and in other case’s we lost 24 to 33 days in our grow seasons.

This means we must change our seed buying as well as our planning and planting to deal with this.. there are so many things we can do to improve our crops, we just need to think it though.

Wow, do I get chatty on these, I am going to post these early so that I have a hope of folks reading them to the end 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in No Buy November | 4 Comments

Starting the garden planning for 2019

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

It might seem early for it but I am starting to garden plan for 2019..

Normally my first thing I do is seeds.. I love seeds, I love buying heritage seeds, I love buying from little company’s and I adore trying old or odd types of plants and trying new things each year.

However this year I am having to start differently, the first thing I need to figure out is what gardens am I going to have, which ones am I working and which ones are going to fallow for the year.

Fallow : (of farmland) plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production.

That is the true meaning of fallow but I covered my fallow areas with green growth but did keep it mowed a number of times and I had dug out things I did not want growing in there.. still I did fallow a number of my gardens in 2018.

So let’s get to what I do know..

What gardens will be used in 2019

  • Bean Teepee Garden -Annual
  • Permaculture garden/mixed row -Perm/Annual Mix
  • Strawberry Bed Garden- Perm/Annual Mix
  • Horse Trough Garden-annual
  • Raspberry Garden-Perm
  • Hedgerow Gardens-Perm
  • Gate Garden-annual
  • Comfrey Garden-Perm
  • Rhubarb Garden-Perm
  • Front Garden -Perm/Annual Mix

Those I know are going to be used period and so I can plan the planting in them, at least half are come again gardens and other than a bit of interplanting they are just trim, weed and produce gardens.

Now comes the MUCH harder part how many of my gardens that have been allowed to sit fallow this year will be able to be worked and how next year..

If they are going to be fallow next year, I am going to use electric fence to run the sheep in them to keep it grazed down and to add to the land in terms of richness.  I will also consider running chickens in a tractor to really give some of the land a big time clean up and turn over.  All of the land is cleaned enough that I do not need to use a pig in this work at all.

So lets look at what we have that could be used

  • Main Garden Front
  • Main Garden Wire climber area
  • Main garden double dug root garden
  • Front Garden rows
  • Side Garden Square
  • Side Garden Rows
  • Side Garden Climber
  • Hugelculture bed- Small one
  • Hugelculture Bed -Large one
  • Hugelculture Round Garden
  • Round Bale Garden

And then there is the new area that got cleared this year that must be all planted and worked.. I don’t have a name for it yet..

Yard X = gardens????

Storm Garden to finish

and then Storm Garden Permaculture gardens raised beds will be done..

Plus I need to rework and replant the small front yard by deck..

Hubby has asked that I not extend us to much from what we did this year but I really want to have at least one extended flat land garden for three season growing including root veggies and I really want a squash garden back.

By next year all the squash in my storage and canning will be used up and need replacing. and if I can do it, I would really like at least a small corn patch for both fresh eating and for putting up for the year!

I am thinking that I will need to bring back the Front yard Rows and then a mix of the side yard gardens.. I think we will still be in a clean up and cover cropping in the main garden for next year.. I think the work that the main garden would normally get must go into working/planting and keeping the Yard X done to get it going.

I will take any thoughts anyone has? Would you keep to this years gardens only and just work the new yard in the coming year? Would you just work the front small square garden and use it for the three season an do tight interplanted garden and just REALLY interplant in the other gardens?

or would you push just a bit harder and try and make a few more work for you this coming year so that you can have less food costs, increased chances of extra to put up and hedge your bets in regards to weather/storm damage?

What are you planning to do in 2019? are you growing your garden? taking more under cover or into greenhouses? Planning on working around the weather by starting early? starting late?  Are you going to aim for shorter season seeds to crop rotate, or are you going to do a short and long season combo to try and get the best of both worlds?

Are you looking at doing more determinate producers of certain crops to try and increase your storage of staple or are you looking at doing more indeterminate in order to hope that you will get results on the edges of the season’s where they will produce till frost?

Posted in Garden, Goals | 7 Comments

Christmas Jelly Bean Advent Gift Box

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Just another day on the farm

A dear friend of mine who has spent a great deal of time overseas does the most amazing cutest little advent gift giving calendar for her little ones.

I took up a cute little dollar store 24 gift advent gift giving for hubby and myself, a way to spread out the gift giving, some of them were to eat and some where little useable gifts and others were gag gifts.

Some of the rest of my family really liked the idea but they raised the price point on the gifts in a way that I was not as happy about 🙂   This year however I was able to have a comfortable chat and dialed the cost back down.

I am excited to see how my custom made Jelly Bean (24 different kinds) gift box goes over with them getting their bigger gift on Christmas Day itself.

It was a pleasure to work with Sugar Mountain store in Orleans, they were awesome to help us get this idea off and running! The key was to figure out the right amount of jelly beans.. 12 to 15 was what the mom of the girls said when I asked her what she thought for amounts.

It takes a bit of time to count out 48 bags of beans LOL

The box’s have been sent as they need to arrive out west by the end of Nov to start on Dec 1st. I hope they get there on time as we have a rolling strike happening with our post office and they say they are a million plus parcels behind for processing.. here is hoping these treat tins are not sitting waiting.. hopefully they are finding their way though the system.

I used to be able to ship these by bus, it was much cheaper and fast but we lost our Greyhound bus’s running across our country. So this year we and so many other had to use the post office.

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged | 4 Comments