Tomatoes are just around the corner!

I have hated tomatoes for most of my life. It wasn't till about 4 or 5 years ago that I had my first fresh of the vine tomato and I was shocked at just how amazing it was. So, tomatoes have become one of the fruits that I look forward to popping up in my garden and eating fresh off the vine. This week has been a bit of a pre-tasting with a small number of tomatoes ripening in my various gardens. I have to saw if you are just starting out tomatoes are an essential to every garden. Whether flower or veggie you must have tomatoes. They can be used in a billion ways and there is nothing as tasty as a fresh of the vine tomato. Basil is a great companion plant and you are halfway to an amazing Italian meal!

I have been snacking on fresh peas for the past month but the sun has finally reached the point of frying them all along with a lot of my lettuces. however a few have survived and we are still enjoying fresh salad. We also just received a good batch of pickle cucumbers from the farm I work at so we will be making pickles real soon.

Basic Dill Pickles

8lbs. 3-4" pickling cukes
4 cp white vinegar
12 cp water
2/3 cp pickling salt
16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
8 sprigs fresh dill
8 heads fresh dill

Wash cucumbers, and place in a bowl of ice water. Soak for about 2 hours. Refresh ice as needed. Sterilize 8  1qt. canning jars.
In a large pot over med-high heat, combine vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring brine to boil.
Put 2 cloves of garlic , 1 head of dill, and enough cukes to fill in each jar. Add 2 more garlic halves and 1 dill sprig. Fill jars with hot brine. Clean jar rims and seal.
Process for 15min.
Store for at least 8 weeks before enjoying! Refrigerate after opening.

Fall, then Spring, then Summer....

It's been way too long so here is a very quick update. I came out of hibernation around February and began volunteering at a local urban farm called Growing Awareness to learn as much as I could and to just be a a part of something cool. They put me in charge of their demo garden and I started planting in the fall. early spring tons of good things like peas, swish chard, leafy greens, and kale, yum! The backyard also started to get a little more order as I planted at home what I planted at GA.
Our Chickens have been laying beautiful eggs. One lays about 9 a week and another lays these huge jumbo eggs. She is also the loudest and I can't blame her I'd yell too.

The newbie urbanstead has a ton of fun things growing all over the yard:
peas
salad mixes
carrots
leeks
onions
strawberries
watermelon
peppers
tomatoes
echinacea
beets
basil
mints
thyme
tons of wildflowers
chamomile
parsley
beans
cherries
pears
and I'm sure there is more I have forgotten.

I also started a job at a small farm, Red Tractor Farm, in order to learn more and make a little money to help out.

I have switched to a raw vegan diet which has messed with a lot of my homesteading recipes but has been great for always being in the garden and always having fresh food:).

And, I have started school again ( I wanna get some sort of agriculture degree at this point) which has been great but hard.

Anyway, that's the short bit. I will expound. I just wanted to catch everyone up.

Hiding Out in Winter

It has been a long while since I have written. I think it's the cold air. As soon as it started to creep in I locked myself inside with some knitting needles and cup of hot tea and have been knitting and baking in all my spare moments.  I have finally even mastered a simple white loaf that I make every few days from The Simple Dollar blog.  The girls in the coop should be laying anyday now and are no longer little peeps but instead big fat feathery ladies.  My garden has been resting as everything I hoped to grow through winter has died with the exception of a pea plant that seems to be hanging on for dear life.  I however have been composting and fertilizing and am excited about the return in spring. 

Still hiding till it's warmer Merry Christmas to all...

Updates on the Flock

The chickens have gotten a lot bigger and sadly we lost one:( It didn't die but one morning I went out to check on Ellie and she had grown even more over night her awkwardness replaced with really colorful feathers and she came running over and her beak was all goofy looking.  she had something called crossed beak, or scissor beak.  I did a bit of research and everything said she should be fine just make sure she's eating well and so on.  Well a few days ago, I went out to feed the girls some carrot tops and poor Ellie couldn't grab them.  She had for a few days been pecking at the feeder constantly and so I sat and watched her and she basically got a little food every five or six pecks and managed to spill all the rest of the feed on the ground.  When I let the girls out to free range Ellie stayed in and pecked at her feed and then the next morning she ran straight to the feeder and started her routine.  I finally decided that I had to replace her as I couldn't have her throwing feed everywhere and it's important to me that my chickens free range and she couldn't pick up anything with her beak.  So... I called the feed store where I got her and took her back they have some layers they keep in the back to sell eggs so he put her in with them to see how she does.  I then called my friend over at East Central Ministries as they are raising pullets to sell and I checked to see if they could sell me one early.  They told me to come by and take my pick so yesterday I went and picked up my new barred rock she is probably about a month older but has been doing great with the other girls. Asher named her Kala Polka Dot hope she lives up to that name.

Molly the Leghorn (I think) & Kala Polka Dot the new Barred Rock

I also have been taking the hens to various schools around town and talking to the kids about them.  They love it and the girls do pretty well. I really only take Annie or Duffie as they seem to be the most social of the bunch.  Today I got to go to Ash's preschool for show and tell.  Fun was had by all and I learned that preschoolers have a very short attention span.

Annie the Buff Orphington hoping for a special treat.

Last but not least we have been getting awesome little salad tomatoes from the garden and today we ate our first zucchini. For winter, I planted a ton of salad and peas and one managed to pop up where I did not plant it (weird the goings on when I am not watching) and I noticed a few salad sprouts so hopefully they make it this time.

Drowning in Pears

We have been drowning in bartlett pears all this month and I had said earlier I would share a bit about canning them so here it is.  First I will talk about harvest time.  We didn't think we would get very many pears due to the fact our tree had fire blight (probably because I didn't get the leaves cleaned up right away from last year). Fireblight is not a friend to your tree and does effect your fruit production.  However our tree still produced a ton.  We harvested over three days and since we didn't spray our trees for worms most of our pears were mostly baking pears.  I sliced a lot of them and canned them in a light syrup, some of them I mashed and made something similar to applesauce but we will call it pear jelly, and I also made my first liquer.

First, pears straight off the tree are gross... they need to age a bit...harvest your pears before they are soft and stick them in the fridge for a day, then put them in a paper bag for about 3-4 days and your pears will be aged to perfection.  (you can now put them back in the fridge till you are ready to use them)

To prepare you jars get them together and sterilize them either in your dishwasher or boiling water for 10 minutes.  Put your little self-sealing lids in warm water to soften the rubbery part. The ring lid doesn't  really matter as long as it still screws onto the jar well.

To make basic canned pears:

Take as many pears as you want and wash them, peel them, core them, you can cut them in halves or quarters.

I think I did about 4 cups for my first test batch but do as many as you feel like doing. Sprinkle the pears with the juice of two lemons to add acidity and keep them from browning.

To make the light syrup: lightly boil 6 cups of water and add 2 cups of sugar to the boiling water.

Now add the pears to the water for about 5 minutes (this is the hot pack method, some people just pour the liquid over the pears in the jars).  After 5 minutes scoop out the pears and add them to your prepared jars then pour the liquid into each jar about a half inch from the top of the jar. then put your new lid on and seal the jar snugly but not too tight.

Now I processed the jars in a water bath which is basically a big pot with boiling water that I place the jars in. The water should cover the jar tops by one inch for about 20 minutes.  I don't have a pressure canner and so I use this method.  Processing times vary but altitude and jar sizes though so do a quick search before you take my word for it;)

To make what I call pear jelly: (basically because that's what i meant to make.)

Take as many pears as you want and wash them, peel them, core them, you can cut them in halves or quarters.I probably cut about 6 cups of pears. then I put them in a large pot, sprinkled them with about 2 TBS of lemon juice and simmered them for about 20 minutes. 

When they are soft put them in a blender and blend into sauce. You could take what you have so far and can it like this.

I wanted to make jelly so I needed to add more sugar. So I put what was left back in the pot and I knew from the blender I had 4 cups of pear so I always add 3/4 sugar to fruit for jam. So I added 3 cups of sugar to the pot. Now bring up the heat to medium and stir (babysit it) till it starts to get thick and seem to stick to the spoon.  Usually about 15 minutes.  I test by placing a plate in the freezer and dripping the jam onto to it till it isn't runny on the plate.

When the jelly is no longer runny it is ready to can.  Pour it into your prepared jars and seal it and process the same as before.

I don't think the finished product is actually pear jelly but it's darn tasty and I have been using it as jelly on my toast and it's spectacular.

To make pear liqueur: I haven't tasted this yet as it's still brewing but it smells amazing.

Drop the following in a wide mouth half gallon jar.

1/2 lb of pears sliced

1 1/2 cups of vodka

1 pinch of cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

1 pinch of cloves

2 coriander seeds

Seal the jar and steep for three weeks. Strain and filter. Taste and adjust flavor by adding fruit or sugar syrup (below).

Steep another 3-4 weeks, strain. Ready to use! This yields about 1.5 pints of liqueur.

Make a syrup by adding 1 cup of sugar to 1/2 cup of boiling water. boil together for about 5 minutes till the sugar dissolves.It must be cool before adding it to the jar.

Giving Pears to friends:  Another great way to use up your pears is to give them to friends.  A friend of mine made me some pear baklava with the pears I gifted her and I recieved many fun things in trade for the pears I gifted my neighbors with.  Anyway these are just a few ideas or how I have used my abundance I didn't expect this year!

Food Delivery Day

Today we received our first delivery from Los Poblanos CSA.  I had been told many things and we often buy their produce at the farmers market so I figured I should check it out.  I would tell you about the awesomeness I found online at their site but you should really discover it's greatness yourself.  I will say we will be saving money on produce and are now able to order almost all our food at one place and have it delivered to our home!  Anyway My fridge is full of freshness from the farm and there are only two things I had never seen before.  I will post later about what they are and how I can use them.

On a much sadder note my poor pumpkins seem to be dying and I can't figure out why.  I also found out today Los Poblanos does a u pick pumpkins which is pretty cool.

Anyway made some chai mix this morning so I enjoyed a nice hot cup of chai while I fed the girls some carrot tops...a little known fact is: if you store your carrots in the fridge with the tops on they will drain the carrots of nutrients and so the carrots don't last as long. So chop those tops off and feed them to your chickens!

Ash Eru

Well, I was inside blogging when Alf notified me I should check on Ash.

The kids are not allowed to play on the rocks in front of the chickens cause the rocks get pushed down and we have to re-rake till we move them.  So Ash made a sign and decided to protect the chickens from the falling rocks.  The sign translated is supposed to let Aislin know she is not allowed on the rocks.

Goings on around the Stead

So it's been awhile but I finally have a computer and thus I am able to write a bit more and update you all on everything that has been going on lately.
So since I left you last we have built our little coop in the backyard completely from things that we found or received for free from fellow freecyclers.  We had hoped to have a big coop raising party but then we realized we had no money to throw a party and so we decided to wait another week which would have been fine but apparently chickens are sort of like mutants when it comes to growing.  So we went out to check them Sunday morning and found they had all like doubled in size so we had to act fast.
They are enjoying there new digs though and I think it came out just fine for a free coop;)

The garden is doing very well.  We have a lot of cucumbers and tomatoes ready for harvest I have been harvesting pears all week and will be canning a lot of them for the winter.  I will post some info about canning when I start the process since I don't have a pressure canner I will be using the water bath pressure method which is just fine for acidic foods or even foods you add a bit of citric acid to. Overall as the weather is starting to turn a bit I realize that the garden experience this spring and summer has been mostly good.  I have learned a ton.  I now know when is the best time to plant tomatoes.  How to effectively burn a tomato plant to death,  How quickly squash bugs will eat your little squash plant, The awesomeness of the praying mantis, How to effectively freeze a tomato plant, Birds love seeds, birds are smarter than you think, Bees are our friends, good soil is the trick to growing anything, Albuquerque soil mostly sucks.

All together I killed garlic, a potato, 2 large tomato plants and a squash plant, some strawberries, and tons of beans and peas. I later realized something was eating them from underground (still unsolved).

I realized that those cool little snails are my hugest enemy and now pay Ash 5 cents for every one he finds.

Chickens are good for your health I wake up with the sun every morning to let them out and feed them and suddenly I have all this time to enjoy my garden and the nice breezy grey of the morning when I can read my bible or just enjoy the silence.  I have learned that the garden is frozen in the morning like it did all this hard work through the night and is taking in a deep breathe or praise for it's life. The chickens have helped me enjoy that and soon they will help me enjoy a fresh egg with it!

Oh the beauty or creation just passes us by way too much!

Finally with the Chickens!!

So we have been putting off getting chickens because we had hoped to be moving to Kentucky and then all our plans changed and we are staying here in Albuquerque and so I am moving forward with all my Kentucky plans here. So the first thing on my list was get the garden going which I have started and is slowing creeping over the whole yard I will take pics next time.  Alf actually suggested we get rid of our front lawn and plant veggies that is how much I have converted him to my crazy ways!! The second thing that needed to happen was chicken so we went this weekend and got our nice little flock of five.  They are in the super cute stage still and we are all having a blast watching them do their little chicken things like trying to fly and fighting over invisible things and straw.

I also finished my first self watering container and am planning a larger one very soon.  I am hoping to start the master gardener course here but am looking at the application and it is slightly intimidating so I will keep you posted.

I haven't been posting as much since Alfy has been doing webwork and currently has the run of the computer but he will be getting a work computer and I will be getting old betsy.  So I will post a ton more. I have so many things to talk about but for now just wanted to let you know what was up:)

Color Kits

I hate finding little bits of crayons in the bottom of my purse so I made this first little color kit as I've been wanting something to keep in my purse that would keep together the kids crayons. I figured it would be cool to add a little space for a small notepad or book and so I left a little spot for a small moleskin or other cute pad.  Anyway it folds up nicely and protects my stuff from the kiddos coloring items and protects the crayons from my purse.

On a completely different note, our house has been on the market for 110 days and I am now hoping since we waited this long we will be around for the cherries and peaches.  My spinach is growing quite nicely and I hung out some lavender to dry earlier today.  Maybe to make some little sachets:)

Fun Fabrics for pillows

Pillows are a great project for any beginner seamstress!  You can't go wrong with fun fabrics and if you don't have money for fabric look around your house for old sweaters, window treatments, sheets, and any other type of fun print you can find.  I even fill my pillows sometimes with scrap fabrics I save from my various projects.

 I have been helping my new friend L with getting her house looking hip and fun.  It has been great because I haven't been able to do too much with my house since everything needs to look neutral. She has similar style so I feel it's like an outlet for me to help her.  Anyway these are the fun pillows I finished for her in the commercials for the Lost finale.  Anyway can't wait to make more.

Sewing some more

Just finished a cute little bedspread and pillow for Aislin's bed.  I have been wanting to get this stuff done so her room looks a little more put together and so I am glad to say it is done.  I used scrap fabric for almost the whole thing. I found the fun top fabric at the flea market for a steal.  I hope that I have enough left to make a small dress.

Cherry Trees... learning the hard way.

I have been absolutely enthralled with progress of the cherry tree.  Watching it bloom and shed flowers and then little cherries appearing has been exciting. So.. today when I went out and saw my little cherry babies on the ground I was a little freaked out.  I pulled out my iphone and began the search for what was wrong with my beautiful tree. I discovered I have borers which basically suck and are hard to get rid off.  This does explain why the peach tree in the front yard was having a hard time when we moved in and why my cherry tree looked a little sad near the end of spring last year.  Anyway I rushed to the store and got some spray and put Alf to work right away.  We cut off the dead looking parts of the tree and sprayed it down.  We also sprayed the little peach tree out front which has some peaches coming out so hopefully we can keep them both alive.  We still will get a good batch of cherries this year ( or someone will) just not enough to feed the entire block:)

The Wonderful World of Toothpaste

I had mentioned making toothpaste in one of my previous blogs so I thought I should give you an update and share the recipe.  This recipe is not good it is actually awesome.  I will not use store bought toothpaste again.  Alf actually brought a  good size tube of fancy paste home from his parents house and it totally pales in comparison.  This toothpaste is whitening my teeth, and keeping them feeling shiny like when you get your teeth cleaned at the dentist and it leaves your mouth minty fresh.  So try it.

Toothpaste Recipe

Ingredients:
6 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
4 tsp vegetable glycerin ( can me found at whole foods in the skincare area)
4+ drops of peppermint oil ( add the oil to taste )
2 packets or splenda or sweetener of choice.

Mix all ingredients to a paste-like consistency. store in an airtight container.
That's it.

I have mine in a little tupperware in the bathroom.
Alf says he prefers it over the other toothpaste too so I have to gives little experiment an A+.

Happy Mother's Day to me.

I don't think I have had as much fun on Mother's Day.  At first I thought our plans to skip church were not really gonna work in my favor as every mom knows Mothers day is the one guaranteed day of the year for flowers.  Alf laughed at me when he realized my only reason for wanting to go to church was a free flower.  Well anyway I have been wanting to go to the museum for awhile as it's free on Sundays and we always have had church so we went to the Albuquerque museum ( which is the art museum here).  It was pretty cool to see and then we topped it off with some Doghouse hot dogs.  All day Ash kept telling me it was my day and I could have whatever I wanted.  Alf got me some flowers and took on dinner and bedtimes.  It was a great day.  Ash said he likes getting to go special places everyday and wants to know what we are doing tomorrow.

Zoo Day!

We have been wanting to take a trip to the zoo so we all loaded in the car this morning and headed over.  It was slightly chilly which was perfect as there was not a million people there.  We dragged along our nephew and Alf took the day off so there was fun had by all.

Whooo Are You.

Sewing is by far an essential skill to any homesteader and I think if you can't sew at least a little you are really lacking a wonderful skill.  I enjoy sewing as it gives me a creative outlet but also serves in very practical ways.  I like to challenge myself and my next big challenge is definitely a summer dress for Ais.  The only trick to sewing for me is getting it done with the kids doing something else as the machine is just way too exciting and they hang there little heads over my machine, and chatter, and constantly want to touch. Since I have no desire to explain how my kids finger is now stuck in my sewing machine to the doctor. I try to plan out my sewing time.
Anyway, I have been wanting to get some sewing done and didn't have time to take on the dress but I wanted an owl to add to my decor.  So I drew out a little pattern and sewed him up.  I think he came out looking pretty cute.  I let Ash take care of him but he has been warned not to go "all Boy" on him as he is delicate.  he has been watching over the fish.

The clothesline and fresh flowers

Today has been nice and bright.  I went out to check on the flowers and decided to decorate a bit with them.  We have a lot of lavender in our yard and I think it should be used so after reading how to cut it and a million ways to use it. After arranging a nice vase full of fresh flowers I went to check laundry and since I was washing some blankets I thought it would be better to use the line to dry.  Last time I used the line I couldn't figure out how to keep it from sagging.  So I found the metal poles and set it up and then it still sagged. Finally I put the cord around the little circle on the metal line holder and that seemed to work great the blankets are outside blowing in the wind.  I can't wait to try our some lavender recipes... yes you can cook with lavender.

I have conquered butter!

I have been wanting to try to make butter and haven't had the time till today.  Today is cinco de mayo but I had butter on my mind and nothing was going to change that.  I had some cream in the fridge that was going to go to waste if it wasn't used up soon.  I poured it into a mason jar capped it and let it sit all day.  In the evening I grabbed it off the counter and went to watch some tv.  I gently shook it while I watched, I wanted to relax not concentrate too much.  The cream sloshed back and forth for the first half of the show I wondered if I was doing it right.  It got nice and thick and started to coat the inside of the jar.  I wondered if it was ready but instead I kept shaking and suddenly I heard a thud.  Well just like that it separated into butter and buttermilk.  I shook a little more and then headed to the kitchen opened the jar and inside was my butter!  I strained out the buttermilk with cheesecloth and then rinsed the butter with water.  Kneaded it a little and got nice and buttery then put it into a little butter tub.  I of course toasted some bread and shared some with everyone.  It was so easy I will probably never buy butter again.  I like that I can salt it, or add any flavors I like and know I made it!

Liquid Hand Soap Recipe

I made some hand soap today since I had some glycerin I bought to make toothpaste yesterday (which came out great), I figured I would go ahead and make some handsoap since we needed some and well I had the time. So here is part of the batch. I think it came out well.

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

1 bar of soap or soap scraps you have on hand

7 cups water

1 TBS glycerin

1 TBS honey

peppermint oil

lavender oil

1. Grate the bar of soap.

2. Pour 1 cup of boiling water into a blender with the grated soap and set it on “whip.”

3. Add 1 TBS of glycerin, 1 TBS honey, 7 drops of peppermint oil, and 7 drops of lavender oil. Stir.

4. Let the mixture cool for 15 or 20 minutes and then “whip” it again.

5. Add cold water until the mixture measures 6 cups total.

6. Whip the mixture again.

7. Pour the mixture into a storage container without the lid and let it cool.

8. Fill a pump dispenser with your soap. Be sure to shake well before using.

The cherry tree and the apricot tree are sprouting pretty little fruities!