Canning Tomatoes. . . . 09.14.2017

Oh my!  I just looked at my calender and realized it's really halfway into September.  Has anyone else had that "Awh Ha" moment?    School is in full swing in our house;  I have 4 still participating in our Bibby Christian Academy; one in 9th, 7th, 5th and 3rd this year.   The excitement for beginning a new school year lasted all of  . . . 30 minutes.  No, I'm really kidding. . .  it was more like 3 days!  Lest you think that after 16 years of homeschooling I have it all together, pssshhh - Homeschooling is an ever evolving learning process for not only the students but for momma.  We always begin the new year with an annual "let's burn last year's papers" fire in the fire pit.  That coupled with some really dry pallets made for a very enjoyable evening with delicious smores.

Tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere.  That has been the motto of my kitchen part of August and into September.  When the tomatoes ripen, one must can tomatoes, make salsa (green and red) and spaghetti sauce.  Have I ever mentioned that my hubby my family really likes tomato based recipes?  So, hop in the car with us as we travel to our favorite spot to get THE BEST organic tomatoes.

It's only a 20 minute drive from our home, southbound on the 101.  If you haven't taken the time to travel through the Avenue of the Giants. . AKA - the Northcoast Redwoods. . .you need to!  There is something magical about driving through these towering giants looming over the top of you.  Gene and Ginger Sarvinski are the proud owners of the Corn Crib.

Sunflowers greeted us a we pulled up to the stand.  My children were more enamored with the sweet dog that needed some attention (which I am absolutely sure, she gets an abundance of all day long!)  Our first trip out there we loaded 80 pounds of tomatoes into the back of the van.  While that seems like a lot, it's really only 4 big boxes.   Since, then we've been back for 4 more boxes.  Yes, I am that crazy tomato canning lady!

The girls helped me immensely one day. . . it was homemaking skill learning day.  I'm not sure if they will can food for their family one day, but I sure think it's a skill worth passing along.  It is frustrating knowing that we can buy already processed food so much cheaper than canning our own. .  BUT . . I'm committed to teaching these children of mine a different way of life.  The time went by so much faster this way and it's a memory I will treasure for years.

Every good canner needs good products.  My water bath canner is on the verge of springing a hole in the bottom of it, so off to a flower planter it goes.  I'm due ready for another one anyway.  You will also need a set of tools.  George's favorite tool is the magnetized lid picker-upper - he calls it a "fishing pole," and always asks if he can go fishing with me.

In the end, after a lot of hard work and energy, you CAN(no pun intended) end up with a pantry looking full and stocked for the winter.  Plus, you will have the satisfaction knowing that you put it up with your own hands.  The Lord intended us to work hard. . 

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. Exodus 20:9

You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. Job 1:10-11

I said in my heart,
"God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work." Eccl 3:17

August 2017. . . . Farm Update

August has come and gone.  While everyone else in the nation has been enjoying unbelievably warm temperatures, the Pacific Northwest has struggled with slightly foggy, and much colder days.  This is due to the extreme heat inland in Redding and to the south of us in Garberville.  But that hasn't stopped the Preciouspeas from having a great summer.

Blue skies and slight breezes make for the perfect getaway to Samoa Beach in Eureka.  It has become a new favorite spot for the littles.  The inlet is just the right depth for swimming.  Sand squishing between the toes, sand castle building and maybe even a few gymnastic back flips and cartwheels have been know to happen while we enjoy our days relaxing here.

My mom lives in Sebastopol, so one weekend we decided to hop in the car, drive 4 hours to a hotel for more swimming fun and a chance to view Grammie's collage artwork displayed at a local community center.

Just a few blocks from her apartment was a beautiful community park, complete with a rather large pond (green as it may be).  What fun we had when we found an abundance of ducks, even several momma hens and ducklings.  It just so happens that it helps to have a huge bag of rice cakes in the car to pull out to feed all of these starving hungry said ducks.

Wait a minute?  "Did you say that you just fed the snacks mom had planned for the ride home to the ducks? " Hmmm.. . .   good thing mom was planning on stopping at "In and Out" on the way home for a late afternoon treat.

One Blessed Acre Farm is going to be featured as one of the vendors at the Fig Twig Market again this year.  If you are local, please put this great event on your calendar, November 3 and 4 at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds. 

So, therefore, soap making is in full swing at our house.  HELP!  I'm running out of curing space.  Making over 200 bars of soap takes quite a bit of space to house while it's going through the four week curing process.

Being helpful to friends in need always brings joy to my heart.  Heather had butchered her two turkeys and they needed to be canned.  I have never canned meat before, so not only was it a learning experience for me, it was a time saver for her. 

Have you ever canned raw meat before?  While the process isn't difficult, the actual canning time was long.

My 30th high school reunion happened this month also.  It was an amazing night out with my wonderful hubby. 

We attended a beautiful wedding first.  Just imagine 300 guests sitting on hay bales overlooking our valley with a little breeze blowing, watching and awaiting the bride who ascends up stairs cut into the side of the hill by her hubby-to-be.  The reception was held in the bride's family barn and it was an image straight out of Pinterest or Instagram.  White twinkling lights, white linens with white china and crystal goblets..... appetizers galore, a donut/chocolate bar and so much good food.  We actually left our kids with friends of ours while Mike and I headed off to the reunion.  The kids described their evening to us later the next morning.

High school reunions are interesting. . . . .   I loved seeing that the same old antics that happened when we were young, still happen when we are old.  Every class has that same funny guy who cracks everyone up in the room and in our case we had two!  The biggest lesson I learned over the weekend was how selfish I was during high school.  I feel like I didn't take the time to invest time into getting to know my classmates on a more personal level.  I was too focused on my own goals and desires. . . . I should have taken time to get my eyes off of myself and onto others. 

The Lord has been leading me on a new path. . . one of selflessness.    I have been pondering how to invest more time into others needs instead of my own.  I have recently started using doTerra Essential Oils.    I am absolutely loving the energy I'm experiencing and the kids are enjoying the benefit of the oils at night to help them sleep better.   This company also is doing great things for the communities around the world where they source the plants from to create the essential oils.  

I want to share this new information and company with anyone who is interested in improving their health, vitality, energy levels, stress levels and detoxifying their life.  As soon as I get my website up and running, I will get a link up on the side so I can share this with everyone I can.  My goal is to also incorporate these great oils into my existing lotions and soaps.  So stay tuned. . . 

Planting Has Begun 06.05.17

From the left to the right around the back of the garden; we planted peas, jalapeños, lettuce, parsley, celery, spinach, radishes, chard, kale, more lettuce, carrots, chamomile, volunteer calendula.  Through the center rows I have planted broccoli, Brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, cabbage, more carrots, lettuce and spinach, dill, chamomile.  Off to the far right is bush beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and pumpkins.

The beds are slightly larger this year to allow for the larger crops to be in the center and the faster growing crops to the outside.  Is anyone else as garden fickle as I am??  Each year I always try some new layout and then journal the results in my garden log to refer to later.  Some things work really well and others are an epic fail.  

This year the General Manager is trying something new in the garden.  I think he secretly enjoys getting his fingers dirty in the dirt, even if he won't admit it to anyone else. . .  According to Modern Farmer straw bale gardening is great for those gardeners who are faced with the start up expense of raised beds or want an ideal growing container for vegetables.  We have this stubborn spot behind our pea trellis that just isn't big enough to plant anything - last year it grew potatoes, but it was extremely hard to keep weeded a weed magnet and the soil is very poor in this area.  Needless to say our potato harvest was low.

So, when you are dealt tricky problems in your garden, you have to be creative.  To get started he wet the bales down - more like soaked them!  Then he covered the tops with composted manure, bone meal and fertilizer.  Two weeks waiting time is necessary to start the breakdown phase of the hay and then he's going to plant the potatoes into the bales.

Bone Meal

When the harvest season ends, the bales will be soft, saggy and gray — but that’s exactly what we want. Because piling the straw together and leaving it to compost over winter, will give us a mound of beautiful compost to fill all of our pots and planters next spring.

Has anyone else tried straw bale gardening?  If so, leave me a comment and let me know if the bales were successful at growing whatever you planted in them.

Growing Comfrey For Strawberry Beds

Comfrey is a powerful perennial herb - that means it usually dies off in the winter, only to bloom back to life in the spring.  It is amazing in the garden–attracting pollinators and beneficial insects, providing medicinal value, and enriching soil with nutrients.  About 3 years ago, a friend dug up part of her comfrey plant and sent it home with me.  We transplanted it in our side garden bed and there it has grown abundantly.  Here is how I use comfrey to improve my soil and enhance my strawberry beds.

Strawberries have vast nutrient needs, which include nitrogen, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, and a few other trace elements. Most of these essential nutrients can be found in comfrey.  The roots of the herb comfrey reach deep down and absorb essential nutrients, which then accumulate in its leaves. Comfrey leaves make a great fertilizing mulch when chopped, transferring the nutrients to the soil. 

Comfrey plants are easy to obtain at most local nurseries or garden stores and now they can even be found online.  


To create this mulch, simply chop the leaves and use them as mulch throughout the strawberry bed.  I collected a bucket full and then distributed it through the strawberry beds around our different garden areas.  We grow strawberries in a couple places around the home; main garden, front edible area, and individual containers.

Strawberry beds have to be beautiful!    One of our beds is just starting to sprout flowers.  We remodeled our bathroom, taking out the claw foot tub, and upcycling it into the garden.  Doesn't it make an adorable strawberry bed?

Strawberries are a favorite in our gardens.  We could have a whole field of them and still probably not have enough.  I hope this simple suggestion of adding comfrey mulch to your strawberry beds helps you to grow your best strawberries.

Slow Garden Progress

 (this was our garden two years ago)

Our homestead garden is coming along so slowly this year.  We have two areas where we plant in our yard; the gated area right off our front porch and then our larger plot to the side of the house.

In our front yard I have a majority of our perennials, herbs, our pear tree and blueberry bushes.  It's become a hodge podge of plants, but it works nicely as an herb garden when cooking and usually the kids pick the blueberries or the pears when they need a snack.  One day I hope to remove the grass and put in some more raised beds for flowers, more herbs and perhaps a kitchen garden.  Honey, when you read this, please don't roll your eyes, I know you love your precious lawn. .  it's just one smallish area.

Sunday, after church was spent planting 25 new strawberry plants, some of which went into the front garden.  When these strawberries are ripe, they don't stand a chance to five strawberry lovin' children's fingers .  The remainder went into a new bed in the main garden in hopes of having some left over for strawberry jam later this summer.

In our larger plot we have our actual garden vegetables; onions, carrots, lettuce, chard, kale, jalapeno peppers, broccoli, peas, beans, cabbage, garlic, cucumbers and of course pumpkins.  I have realized with this last winter being so wet, that I must put on patience.  Memorial Weekend has usually signified our "official" gardening season for our family, but the last weeks have been sunny and warm and my fingers are dying to get outside and plant. 

When we first got into gardening about 9 years ago, I bought this book.  This book was designed to help gardeners with small spaces make the most of planting and growing.  You've probably heard of it, Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.  We took our two 4 by 4 foot boxes and grew a couple of tomato plants, some lettuce, carrots and spinach and thought we were on top of the world.  While that meager beginning may not seem like much, it spurred a desire inside of the General Manager and I to grow more of our food.  By spacing out each of our crops systematically, it allowed us to actually grow more vegetables that first year in our new home in California.

Tomatoes are a work in progress in our coastal climate.  We had a greenhouse for the last several years, but a couple of windstorms and one 14 year old teenager not looking where the back of the lawn mower bagger was destroyed what was left of the rickety plastic house this winter.  We were going to try to erect a hoop house out of cattle panels this year.  BUT, do you ever have time and supplies become obstacles.  So, thank heavens for grow pots.  I found this amazing deal on Amazon the other day.  My only problem with this solution is the cost of the dirt to fill all of the pots.  I may as well have just bought organic tomatoes from Costco at this rate.  I keep reminding myself, "grow your own. . . it's healthier. . .it's teaching the kids to be more self- sufficient. . there's nothing like the taste of a fresh grown tomato."  Have I convinced you yet because I'm still trying to convince myself!

How is your garden growing this year?

Garden Beginnings

The winter doldrums' are about to be over.  I look forward to this season every year, but it really is the kick start to our busiest time of the year.  Gardening season is knocking at my back door here in the Pacific Northwest.  Our family is just waiting patiently for the sun to come out for more than one day a month.  I say that tongue and cheek, but really I think we have had rain solid for the last 4 months.  Once the sun returns, Mr. Sunshine will warm up the soil enough to begin planting.   I have learned over the years that being patient while gardening is just one of the many character traits every gardener learns.

This year was a treat for us, because my friend Heather at Mountain Home Quilts invited the girls and I up to Crescent City to a little farm called the Dutch Gardener.  We piled into the car and drove the two hours over several patches of roads that quite literally scare the living daylights out of me to drive upon.  I happened to catch one selfie while stopped at a traffic light of course, and the girls were both engrossed in their reading.

That just meant that I got to listen to my 80's jam a little bit longer!

Our haul home included two rhubarb plants, because for some unknown reason, I killed off my gigantic rhubarb plant that I've had for 4 years, 5 marigolds, 7 tomato plants, 2 jalapeno pepper plants, basil, lettuce, celery, parsley, and a couple of assorted flowers and herbs.  There were thirty - 4 inch pots in the back of my van.  Somehow I managed to forget buying zucchini starts, to which my kids will be ecstatic!  They absolutely hate zucchini and all of the many ways that I try to hide it in their foods.

I had already ordered my seeds from Territorial Seed Company back in March.  We have had the best germination rate with seeds from Territorial.  It is most likely due to the fact that they are an Oregon based company with their seeds already acclimated to our wet, rainy and cold weather.

Back in March, the General Manager had 50 tons of manure dumped onto our front lawn.  This is what said manure pile looks like after it is hauled in the garden.  You'll probably notice the deep, deep ruts left in the lawn by the tractor.  These ruts caused said General Manager to kick himself for days.  Have no fear dear, it's growing back in nicely.  Soon we won't even remember how wet, rainy, dreary and overly saturated our front lawn really was!

HAPPY GARDENING!

When I've run out of excuses

Well, it has happened. . . . I have run out of excuses as to why I've not been posting and keeping you updated on my blog.  Somehow each day I vow to sit down and journal the happenings of our day and the next thing I know, life has taken over and it's been weeks, months and possibly even a year since the last time I posted something.

Our garden was planted over Memorial Day weekend.  I wish I could remember if that is early or late for us.  I did check back on my garden journal and see that each year we've planted a different weekend.  I believe that is the best advise I can give to new gardeners - keep a garden journal.  Not only should you write down your successes, but also your failures and everything inbetween.  When gardening, a gardener can use all the help possible to navigate through the uncertain journey from year to year.  It's one way you can remember the years that you've had to replant carrots, not once, not twice, but three times before you gave in to the dreaded slugs that demolished them each time the precious carrot sprouts came up.  And be sure to record each and every attempt to thwart those evil slugs, with Sluggo, diatomaceous earth, crushed egg shells, wood ash and then finally giving up and drinking the beer that should have gone into a bowl for them to drown in!

Our house has been in complete utter chaos since last September when our upstairs toilet overflowed and turned our house upside down after having half of the downstairs drywall and flooring removed because of mold.  Out of this extensive remodel we moved our front door, gutted our existing kitchen, moved and expanded our downstairs bath, and created the Shangri-La of all laundry rooms for momma.  My favorite part of the remodel was taking the old (plastic) claw foot tub and putting it into our garden as my new strawberry bed.  Who makes a claw foot tub out of plastic anyway - Really?  The thing never held any heat and was totally uncomfortable to sit in.  The tub has now earned it's weight in gold, well, actually red gold - we harvested at least two pounds of strawberries from it and all the plants were new.  Enough said!

So back to the garden. . .   I planted the basics this year, lettuce, spinach, radish, kale, onions, carrots (not so successful here), broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, beans (I tried purple bush beans), potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins and cucumbers.  Some of the exotic plants we tried were purple peppers and cayenne peppers. There are two main reasons I call these plants exotic.  One, because we have never tried to grow them before and two, because we had lost our minds when we bought them, knowing full well our temperate coastal climate was not ideal for them   I was too embarrassed to post a picture of the pepper plants because they are so pitiful in the garden space.

Harvest up to now has consisted of strawberries, blueberries, lettuce, spinach, radishes, kale, four cucumbers, four zucchini, a dozen or so carrots that Abby and the General Manager planted, several gigantic onions and one cherry tomato.  It really brings me joy to be able to eat out of our garden and to eliminate some of our grocery costs.  For very little money in buying seeds, a couple bags of lime and a rather large bottle of Sluggo, it is so satisfying to be able to eat healthy foods from our garden and not wonder about where it came from or what it went through to get to our table.

I hope you have a great week and if you want to see more posts, please be sure to leave me a comment on what you'd like to be updated on.