Amie was so excited about the first day of school (third grade) that she was awake until 11:30 last night. Still, she was up bright and early and happily went off to school. First thing I did after she and DH had left was visit the garden. I harvested all the beans from the other …
Category Archives: food (growing, cooking, preserving)
The Geometry of a Peach
The tribe canned peaches all day (photo essay by fellow blogger and member of the tribe here). From 10 am to 6 pm, we packed peach quarters in light syrup. I believe the last count was 50 pints. About 90 lbs of peaches. We had two canners going. One person dunked the peaches in hot …
A Day of Food
In the afternoon I felt better. A friend came over – with three carrots from her garden, instantly eaten – to sort through what turns out to be 160 lbs of peaches. We put aside the ripest ones for canning tomorrow, but the rest will be ready on Friday. We’re going to put up peaches …
Yes Peaches
A canning buddy picked these up at a local IPM Â farm today. I had pursued the farmer for over a week, asking for his seconds. I called him almost every day and each time he reported he didn’t have ’em. Then he took pity on me and gave us these firsts for just a fraction …
What’s Been Happening
I laid down the first three rows of the brick wall for the earth oven (more on that soon). It didn’t have to be pretty (we’ll cover this with mud in the end), just strong. Though I got in a groove, I decided to wait to open another bag of cement and put down another …
Berries
A ten-minute visit to “the pit” – the bramble-infested front of our property, at the bottom of the slope – yielded a handful of raspberries and a handful of elderberries. Amie loves the former and even the latter, raw, if very ripe and black. Don’t worry, we did NOT consume the other berries in the …
Living Foods
August is all about food. All the colors are coming in now: deep green collards and brussels sprout leaves, yellow squashes, red tomatoes, orange peaches, purple eggplants, and blueberries are holding in there. The bees are turning the orange and yellow nectar (over)flow into oodles of honey. At the end of the month there will …
Of Axes and Goats and Sumac
The purple loosestrife and the goldenrod are blooming (*), and the sumac is on fire (**). Life is good. I’m researching axes. I am sorely lacking in axe skills, which I think are the perfect skills to have: good for fitness through meaningful physical work, good for the mind as an exercise in mindfulness and …
Hulless Oats
I pulled the oats – Terra Hulless Oats, Avena nuda, literally “naked oats” - from their bed mid July. The plants were falling over (“lodging”) and still somewhat green (10%), which is when Logsdon recommends harvesting them. I stuck them, straw and all, in buckets to let them ripen and dry in the sun-filled protection of my porch. …
Introducing the Pullets to the Coop
We are in phase ii of introducing the little ones – three days shy of four months old, a month from laying? – Â to the big girls. Their little coop has been sitting right next to the big one for over a week now, so the girls know each other. Because their run has screen …