It’s Fall. Is that why I feel I’m stagnating? I’ve plenty to do: still a lot of canning and cooking, some harvesting, and a whole lot of work on next Spring’s garden, not to mention our Fall and Winter garden. But I feel the need to do new things, to keep the skill set growing. …
Category Archives: homestead
Independence Days, Week 7
Plant. Due to a miscalculation of the weather on my part – or the weatherman’s part? – I didn’t get to transplant the seedlings and sow more winter veggies today. Tomorrow, I hope. I did get to clean up the garden beds. Moved the pepper plants inside – but I will not call them houseplants, …
Amie’s Art Gallery
Amie is drawing like a mad woman nowadays – wanting to become an artist and all that requires lots of practice – and she was taping her drawings all over our walls, with lots and lots of tape, of course. Fearing for our paint job, I gave her a large stack of cheapo IKEA frames …
Spudtacularly Disappointing
In the balmy 60F weather I dug up the last two potato towers. All in all there were three bins, 4’x4′ each and filled up to about 3′ high. In one I had put 2.5 lbs of Salem, in the other two 2.5 lbs of Bintjes each. I harvested 1 lb and 1.5 oz of …
Independence Days, Week 6
The Indian summer came, went, and came again. Last Friday we hit 37 F – cutting it pretty close – but yesterday it was 70F. It’s going to get cold again soon, though. Plant. Moved (replanted) the 2 rhubarb plants, because in the end we chose their first bed as one of the beds to …
Canning Update
101 jars. Top row, left to right: 3 pints pickled cucumbers 6 8 oz cranberry peach preserves 9 8 oz fig preserves 8 pints apple sauce 5 pints basic tomato sauce 7 pints green bell pepper 7 8 oz peach salsa Bottom row, left to right: 9 quarts green beans 6 pints peach pie filling …
The Whole Mama
Life is sweet. In the mornings when Amie is at preschool I rewrite my book. It’s rather good, if I may say so myself, at least, I like it… In the afternoons Amie and I play, read and make art. We do our chores: filling the buckets with rain water, tending to the garden, canning, …
Independence Days, Week 4
Amie draws worms and a little girl watering the grass with the complete and barely-used artists set found at the landfill. Mm, something else seems to have come along from the landfill (click to enlarge) (*) Warning: there’s a lot of “didn’t do” this week – it’s been a bit of a down-week… Plant: Amie …
Next Year’s Summer Garden
Here’s another TO-DO list, of sorts. Keeps me organized and accountable. Ahum… What I didn’t have this spring and summer and want next summer broccoli (was too late on this one) peas (ditto) green and red peppers (ditto) some hot peppers onions (tried but failed: all rotted in the wet) squash (tried but failed: lots …
Riot for Austerity – Month 10
This month there were no shifts in the household: just the three of us, which makes the reckoning much easier. Amie feeds the compost tea some molasses Gasoline: 27% This stayed the same as last month. The school year hasn’t started yet, so DH is spending more time working from home and Amie isn’t daily …