A few weeks ago we took a day trip to a local apple orchard. There aren't very many in our area, so when we found this one, we loaded up and headed that way. Unfortunately, I left my camera behind, so the only pictures I got were on my ancient Blackberry. They were not very good, so I won't be posting them. We picked for about an hour in a couple different places in the orchard. We picked three boxes of wonderfully sweet, crispy, crunchy apples. The orchard owners said to find a tree, taste the apples and if we like them, pick. That's a perk of pick-your-own orchards! You get free samples while you pick! Both my son and daughter ate apples while they picked. We were all quite sticky and full when we were done. It was a fun family day. Those are few and far between in the fall due to my coaching habit! :)
Anyway, now that we have three boxes of apples sitting on my floor, I have to do something with them. Don't get me wrong, we are loving the fresh snacks and easily accessible lunch/breakfast foods, but I forget how busy I am on weekends and they sit there staring at me begging to become applesauce or apple pie. Well, I have mades several batches of applesauce and also made some fritters. Those were to DIE for, let me tell you! I can't make them too often or I will be gaining some unwanted pounds.
An apple pie has been calling my name, but I am terrified of making pie crusts. I have attempted several in past years and they always end up sticking to the counter and tearing as I put them into the pie plate. If they don't stick, they end up so dry and crack as I roll them out. I would get so frustrated that I would end up throwing the whole thing in the trash and sulk. I finally decided to suck it up and try again. My mom always said use "ice cold" water. I did and I can happily report that it was a success! The crust was flaky, but not too dry and it didn't tear as I put it into the plate. I filled up the crust with apples, sugar, cinnamon and a little cornstarch to make sure it wasn't too soggy. I put a crumb topping on this pie. I didn't want to tempt fate and mess up a crust in my second attempt in one day. Again, no pictures. Sorry. It was eaten before I thought to take any.
Since I had successfully made an apple pie, I decided to use up some of my apples that have been staring me down. Apple pie filling was made and processed in a hot water bath. This is not a very clean job, at least not in my house. I had peels everywhere, syrup sticking to this and that and pots full of water and other things cooking on my stove. Six quarts of pie filling were made and I had to stop with that.
It was getting late in the evening and I had other little things that needed to be done. You know, dishes, dinner, hanging with my kids, nothing big! ;) I'm just kidding! My daughter loves helping me, so she was in the kitchen asking what she could do to "help" almost all afternoon. When she got bored, she would go play, then not too long after that, she was back asking to help again. A 15 year old isn't too thrilled to help mom in the kitchen, so he stayed out of the way unless he got hungry. Typical boy, right?
I'm excited to try a pie with my filling, but I better not for a while. My waist-line isn't very happy with me eating the last few pieces of my first pie.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Garden Burn Out
Is it bad that I haven't touched my garden in several weeks? I get so wrapped up in wanting this large garden every spring, work the ground, plan everything out, spend hours planting, weeding and watering, and then by the time August gets here, I want nothing more than to look away. The last two summers have been more than enough to make any gardener want to throw in the towel. No rain, 100+ degree weather for weeks at a time and hot dry winds. Luckily we have a high water table that hasn't decided to dry up, but I'm afraid that it won't stick around. It has dropped several feet over the last two years. Our typically damp basement has been bone dry. Our newly dug pond is struggling to keep water in it and we are losing trees left and right. Most of our cedar trees are dead and I think the nice big oak in our front yard is not going to make it. It struggled to keep leaves last summer and this summer, not many stayed on it either. It's been bare most of the year.
Back to the garden.....The cabbage did marginal. That was an experiment this year. I've never tried growing it before and I may try it again. The few heads we did get, we ate or sold at the farmer's market. I had several people tell me they were good, so I guess we did a good job taking care of them. Another experiment we tried was cauliflower. That one was a flop. It had lovely foliage, but NOTHING showed up that looked like a head of cauliflower. I think we planted it too late and the heat kept it from finishing. Most of the other "usual" veggies grew fairly well. The cucumbers turned out bitter, but I'm sure that's from the heat and lack of water.
We are also struggling to get a milo crop to finish. The heat and lack of water stunted the growth and when it finally rained, the warmth that the plants need to finish maturing went away. I think we will be able to cut, but it won't be a great crop. Luckily it's not our sole income. It's only 16 acres, so it's a definite hobby.
I guess it's ok that I get a little garden burn out by the time August comes around. School starting is always a busy time for us. Our oldest son started high school this year, so that has been a big change. He is driving to school now. (GASP!!!) It has made my life soooo much easier. I don't have to sit around and wait on him after school and other activities that are immediately after school. He can just head home when he is done. Our daughter started her 2nd year of preschool this year and is also getting involved in activities in the evening. It's amazing how quickly they grow up. Before I know it, she'll be heading off to her first day of high school.
I am also a volleyball coach at a neighboring school. That keeps me busy till 6 or 6:30 most nights and sometimes longer. It's something I love, so I feel it's worth it. Being a positive role model to teenage girls is something that I feel I can do to give back. That's a post for another day!
My thoughts on the garden burn out leads me back to looking at the year and understanding that it's ok to get tired of it. If all I did was garden all year long, it wouldn't be so exciting each spring when the catalogs start showing up. Each season comes with its "things to do" lists that need to be done. Having a little time off helps me get that itch and the excitement to tackle these projects.
Time to put the garden to rest, so I can be ready to roll when spring comes around!
Back to the garden.....The cabbage did marginal. That was an experiment this year. I've never tried growing it before and I may try it again. The few heads we did get, we ate or sold at the farmer's market. I had several people tell me they were good, so I guess we did a good job taking care of them. Another experiment we tried was cauliflower. That one was a flop. It had lovely foliage, but NOTHING showed up that looked like a head of cauliflower. I think we planted it too late and the heat kept it from finishing. Most of the other "usual" veggies grew fairly well. The cucumbers turned out bitter, but I'm sure that's from the heat and lack of water.
We are also struggling to get a milo crop to finish. The heat and lack of water stunted the growth and when it finally rained, the warmth that the plants need to finish maturing went away. I think we will be able to cut, but it won't be a great crop. Luckily it's not our sole income. It's only 16 acres, so it's a definite hobby.
I guess it's ok that I get a little garden burn out by the time August comes around. School starting is always a busy time for us. Our oldest son started high school this year, so that has been a big change. He is driving to school now. (GASP!!!) It has made my life soooo much easier. I don't have to sit around and wait on him after school and other activities that are immediately after school. He can just head home when he is done. Our daughter started her 2nd year of preschool this year and is also getting involved in activities in the evening. It's amazing how quickly they grow up. Before I know it, she'll be heading off to her first day of high school.
I am also a volleyball coach at a neighboring school. That keeps me busy till 6 or 6:30 most nights and sometimes longer. It's something I love, so I feel it's worth it. Being a positive role model to teenage girls is something that I feel I can do to give back. That's a post for another day!
My thoughts on the garden burn out leads me back to looking at the year and understanding that it's ok to get tired of it. If all I did was garden all year long, it wouldn't be so exciting each spring when the catalogs start showing up. Each season comes with its "things to do" lists that need to be done. Having a little time off helps me get that itch and the excitement to tackle these projects.
Time to put the garden to rest, so I can be ready to roll when spring comes around!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
New Ventures
I'm trying something new this year for the farmer's market we attend-crafts. We'll see if this is a hit or a miss for our little market. I saw an idea a few year's ago at a garden show. I'm not sure what they used for their toadstools, but I knew that I could use old implement disks from the farm to make mine. This idea has been stewing for about two years now and I've finally decided to dive in and tackle it. This is how I made mine. Any variations can be made depending on what you have available to you.
What you need:
1 implement disk
1 can red rust sealing spray paint
white acrylic paint
1 large landcape nail
1 large washer
1 10-16 inch post
All steps were done outside or in the garage with the doors open. This can be a messy project!
I started by using a wire brush to scrape off any rust and dirt from the disk. I didn't buy any of the disks. We had some that we were wanting to discard. There are always farmers wanting to get rid of old ones, just find one near you. I also used a Scotchbrite pad after the wire brush to make a finer "sanding" effect. Wipe down the disk to remove any extra dirt or rust. Let it dry for an hour or two depending on the humidity. Lay your disk on some old newspaper or cardboard and spray a coat of paint. Let it dry completely between coats. It will take two to three coats of paint. Once you are happy with the coverage let it dry for about 12-24 hours.
Once it is dry, start painting your toadstool spots. I used white acrylic paint, but you can paint it whatever color and in whatever design you prefer. I went with a simple spot design. I didn't make my spots perfectly round or all the same sizes. Toadstools are perfect in real life, so I didn't think these should be either. Apply two coats for your spots and let dry completely.
To make the bases, I wanted something that looked old and aged. We recently removed a bunch of fenceposts from our sheep lot. They were rotten at the ground level, but fine further up. We used a chainsaw to cut off the rotted part and then drilled a hole in the top to allow the nail to be driven in a little easier. I call them landscape nails, but I'm not 100% sure of the name. They are about 8 inches long and not quite 1/2 inch in diameter. Paint your washers red to match the disk. Place your washer over the hole and drive your nail in through the washer and disk. I had to keep moving the disk and washer to line back up so the holes would be covered. Once you have the nail just about in center everything and give it one last whack with a hammer.When you have it secure, place a piece of newspaper or cardboard over the disk with a hole made in the center to paint your nail head. If you paint the nail head before you hammer it in, you will chip the paint off and have to do this step anyway.
Voila! You have your own garden toadstool. It's ok if they aren't perfectly straight. I think they have more character when they have a slight tilt to them.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
New growth
We've decided to get a jump start on our garden this year by starting seedlings indoors. I tried this several years ago which ended in disaster. I had a lot of pumpkin and cantelope seedlings just flop over one day due to damping off. I didn't know what I was doing and didn't have a light, so this time, we invested in a light and we are keeping our fingers crossed that things will be successful for us.
We started out Saturday evening by planting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, jalepenos and tomatoes. By Monday afternoon, several of the cabbage seeds had sprouted! I was shocked! The package said 7-10 days for germination. We had little plants in 3! Now just about everything has a little plant or two growing. We are very excited and so are the kids. My daughter keeps asking if her "mato" has come up or not. Unfortunately, it hasn't poked it's head out of the soil, but she keeps asking everyday.
I'm hoping to start another flat of cherry tomatoes and some head lettuce this weekend. The seed starting medium is fluffy enough, so I'm not going to put them into their own little cells. I think I'm going to just fill the whole flat and direct seed them into rows, then once they are large enough to transplant, I'll just carefully dig well enough out away that they should just lift out. Again, this is just an experiment and if it flops, then so be it. I know lots of people would say that I should just use peat pots or individual cells, but I like a challenge and I like the experimenting.
I'll try and get some pictures posted of our little plants soon! Until next time!
We started out Saturday evening by planting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, jalepenos and tomatoes. By Monday afternoon, several of the cabbage seeds had sprouted! I was shocked! The package said 7-10 days for germination. We had little plants in 3! Now just about everything has a little plant or two growing. We are very excited and so are the kids. My daughter keeps asking if her "mato" has come up or not. Unfortunately, it hasn't poked it's head out of the soil, but she keeps asking everyday.
I'm hoping to start another flat of cherry tomatoes and some head lettuce this weekend. The seed starting medium is fluffy enough, so I'm not going to put them into their own little cells. I think I'm going to just fill the whole flat and direct seed them into rows, then once they are large enough to transplant, I'll just carefully dig well enough out away that they should just lift out. Again, this is just an experiment and if it flops, then so be it. I know lots of people would say that I should just use peat pots or individual cells, but I like a challenge and I like the experimenting.
I'll try and get some pictures posted of our little plants soon! Until next time!
Monday, February 13, 2012
Busy weekend
I'm not your "typical" homesteader. We own 46 acres of crop, pasture and homestead ground. My husband and I work full-time and our oldest is an 8th grader in a public school. My daughter goes to daycare and preschool at a local church. We are busy going to sporting events and other school events in our area. I try to find time in our busy schedules to get things done around the house, but I also try to have time for the kids each night too. I think it's great that there are families out there that are completely immersed into the homesteading lifestyle. They have my utmost respect and I love reading about their lives. I have started to adopt some of their ideas for our family. Everyone has to start somewhere, right!
Well, this past weekend was extremely busy. I didn't get done what I wanted, but I did get several things accomplished. Luckily, some just in time for the snow and cold winds to arrived Sunday evening. Saturday we cut wood for most of the afternoon and now have a couple more weeks of warmth stacked up outside the house. It was very cold cutting, but as long as we kept moving, we were warm enough. I think that is one of the best workouts a person can have. You are constantly bending over, walking and lifting weights. A complete aerobic and weight training workout. I was exhausted by the time evening came. I was barely able to eat dinner and make it a chair before I fell asleep.
Sunday afternoon we spent buying some supplies for our seed starting adventure. I tried starting seeds years ago, but everything died due to Damping Off. I was very discouraged and decided that it wasn't something I could do. I've decided to be brave this year and try it again. Even professionals have that happen to them, so I just need to keep trying and figure out what works for me. I want to have plants to put in the ground this spring, so I can harvest much earlier for our Farmer's Market this year. I've been researching techniques to avoid the fungal disease and think I may have a good plan. My husband has been wanting a shop light for the garage, so we bought one that he felt would work for him and a few weeks out of the year, he's going to let me have it in the basement to keep my seedlings going. What a great guy! I'm very lucky to have a husband that is as interested in gardening as I am. (Sometimes I think he may be more into it than I am!)
Hopefully I'll be able to post more this week of our seed starting! Thanks for stopping by!
As soon as I find some time this week, I'll get my seeds into their new homes and keep my fingers crossed until the first little sprouts start to emerge.
Well, this past weekend was extremely busy. I didn't get done what I wanted, but I did get several things accomplished. Luckily, some just in time for the snow and cold winds to arrived Sunday evening. Saturday we cut wood for most of the afternoon and now have a couple more weeks of warmth stacked up outside the house. It was very cold cutting, but as long as we kept moving, we were warm enough. I think that is one of the best workouts a person can have. You are constantly bending over, walking and lifting weights. A complete aerobic and weight training workout. I was exhausted by the time evening came. I was barely able to eat dinner and make it a chair before I fell asleep.
Sunday afternoon we spent buying some supplies for our seed starting adventure. I tried starting seeds years ago, but everything died due to Damping Off. I was very discouraged and decided that it wasn't something I could do. I've decided to be brave this year and try it again. Even professionals have that happen to them, so I just need to keep trying and figure out what works for me. I want to have plants to put in the ground this spring, so I can harvest much earlier for our Farmer's Market this year. I've been researching techniques to avoid the fungal disease and think I may have a good plan. My husband has been wanting a shop light for the garage, so we bought one that he felt would work for him and a few weeks out of the year, he's going to let me have it in the basement to keep my seedlings going. What a great guy! I'm very lucky to have a husband that is as interested in gardening as I am. (Sometimes I think he may be more into it than I am!)
Hopefully I'll be able to post more this week of our seed starting! Thanks for stopping by!
As soon as I find some time this week, I'll get my seeds into their new homes and keep my fingers crossed until the first little sprouts start to emerge.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Our babies have arrived!
This weekend was quite a whirlwind of late nights and new additions. Friday night I was up off and on with my daughter who was not feeling well and at 4:00 a.m. I received a phone call. It scared me at first thinking "Who in the world is calling me at this time of night, and whoever it is, are they in trouble?" I was an automated call informing me that my shipment of baby chicks had been mailed. Ok, so this is technically Saturday morning and they are coming from Iowa. There was no way they would make it to my post office by noon on Saturday. They had to be processed at the Kansas City Post Office and then make it to the Wichita Post Office as well. These poor babies would be sitting in the Wichita Post Office for over 24 hours. I was a little concerned for their health and safety at this point. Luckily the Wichita Post Office called me and said they had arrived. The only problem with that was they called me at midnight Saturday night. Again, as the phone rang and registered as Unknown, I was concerned. Luckily a person was on the other end and let me know that the chicks were there and how I could pick them up. I hoped into the car and made it into Wichita by 12:30. We loaded the box of babies into my car and headed home. Back to the house by 1:00 a.m. We got the chicks into the chicken coop and their brooder, dipped their little beaks into the water and feed and let them run to the warm light. They were so cute to watch run and peck at the feed and grit. We spent a good 30 minutes just watching them to make sure the brooder box wasn't too hot or too drafty. The did like to pile up on each other under the light, but after a while, they would venture out and explore. By morning, the were wandering around and not piling up on each other.
The pecking order has already started being established too. It is so funny to watch these chicks try to fight and one-up each other. At one point I saw a chick take hold of another chicks foot and not let go. I did intervene in that one. The little bully wouldn't let go. I normally let nature take it's course, but that poor little chick needed my help this one time. I finally got to bed about 2:30 a.m.
I was up early in the morning for church and to clean the house for a family Super Bowl party. Luckily I did most of the cleaning on Saturday and only had a little picking up to do after church and Sunday School. We watched the Super Bowl and ended up talking to my brother till fairly late, so, three late nights in a row and I'm running on empty. Hopefully some time outside with my family will keep me going.
I'm hoping to work on some of my Farmer's Market projects tonight, since my house is fairly clean. I'll be selling coasters, aprons, up-cycled feed bag shopping bags, hand scrub and some little toadstools made out of old farm disks. It's something I've been wanting to get into and now I have a place to sell them. We will still have vegetables, but will add some other things to bring potential customers to our booth.
Off to see what other adventures await us on our little farm. Until next time, enjoy the Simple Looks at Life!
Monday, January 30, 2012
I've been away from the blogging scene for quite a while now. Life is so funny, you get immersed in one thing and have a hard time focusing on other things. That's what has happened here. Not to give excuses, but life is busy and I'm trying to slow things down and take a deep breath.
We have been on our little piece of heaven for almost three years now. About to start our 4th summer. We've had lots of changes to our place and they have been for the better I believe.
Last summer we had a freak storm that came through late one night and a heat burst blasted us with 100+ degree temps for about 10 minutes at midnight. Never have I experienced something like that. It was quite scary. To set the scene...we were outside late watching a dangerous fire in the distance. It was more than 20 miles away and looked as though it was only 2 miles away. A lightning strike had hit a wheat field and had started a horrible fire. My parents had lost 100+acres of wheat that night. Anyway, as we were outside watching at 11:30 p.m., the wind picked up and lightning started to light up the sky above us. I decided we needed to go inside and not 10 minutes later the wind picked up to 80+mph. We were watching outside our window that faces west and all of a sudden the roof of our garage was lifted off of the building and slammed into the tree row north of our house. Unfortunately that is also where our electric pole is. The pole was snapped into three pieces, leaving us with no electricity-in the middle of summer.....
Anyway, because of that little storm that came through, we now have a very nice garage-WITH garage doors! That's the neatest thing! I've never had garage door openers before! Sad, I know....I grew up with a garage door that had to be opened manually.
We also started selling at our local Farmers' Market last summer. The summer was sooo hot and soooo dry that we were surprised to get as much out of the garden as we did. We had a sprinkling of snow peas, beets, radishes, squash (overabundance!), cucumbers, carrots, okra, herbs, potatoes and onions. We also sold eggs and plans to expand our flock are already underway. More to come on that!
This year's garden is taking shape. My husband has tilled the garden once this winter and we will be getting it ready to be tilled again in another month or so. Some early crops will be going in mid February, so we are hoping for a success!
Well, that's about I have time for now. I hope to be updating on a regular basis, so until next time....Enjoy the Simple Looks at Life!
We have been on our little piece of heaven for almost three years now. About to start our 4th summer. We've had lots of changes to our place and they have been for the better I believe.
Last summer we had a freak storm that came through late one night and a heat burst blasted us with 100+ degree temps for about 10 minutes at midnight. Never have I experienced something like that. It was quite scary. To set the scene...we were outside late watching a dangerous fire in the distance. It was more than 20 miles away and looked as though it was only 2 miles away. A lightning strike had hit a wheat field and had started a horrible fire. My parents had lost 100+acres of wheat that night. Anyway, as we were outside watching at 11:30 p.m., the wind picked up and lightning started to light up the sky above us. I decided we needed to go inside and not 10 minutes later the wind picked up to 80+mph. We were watching outside our window that faces west and all of a sudden the roof of our garage was lifted off of the building and slammed into the tree row north of our house. Unfortunately that is also where our electric pole is. The pole was snapped into three pieces, leaving us with no electricity-in the middle of summer.....
Anyway, because of that little storm that came through, we now have a very nice garage-WITH garage doors! That's the neatest thing! I've never had garage door openers before! Sad, I know....I grew up with a garage door that had to be opened manually.
We also started selling at our local Farmers' Market last summer. The summer was sooo hot and soooo dry that we were surprised to get as much out of the garden as we did. We had a sprinkling of snow peas, beets, radishes, squash (overabundance!), cucumbers, carrots, okra, herbs, potatoes and onions. We also sold eggs and plans to expand our flock are already underway. More to come on that!
This year's garden is taking shape. My husband has tilled the garden once this winter and we will be getting it ready to be tilled again in another month or so. Some early crops will be going in mid February, so we are hoping for a success!
Well, that's about I have time for now. I hope to be updating on a regular basis, so until next time....Enjoy the Simple Looks at Life!
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