Gardening For My Family

A New Season

2010-09-18T14:49:00.005-04:00

As fall comes this week, my summer crops are winding up for the year. When you finish harvesting all of your crops, you can turn your garden over. We will turn our garden over by working some compost and composted leaves in the garden. The fertilizer will break down more over the winter. The aged compost already in the ground should help make spring planting easier.

Gardening for My Family is also having a change of

season. I have decided to let this be my last post. I will not be stopping gardening, however, just blogging! I will still be learning and researching, but I just will not be recording it on my blog. Ending Gardening for My Family will free up my time for other projects that I would like to do.

I hope that you will enjoy the new season of Fall this year, and that your garden reaps an abundant harvest!

"...a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;" Ecclesiastes 3:2

~Anna

Zucchini Fries

2010-08-16T17:22:00.000-04:00

Zucchini is a type of summer squash. The name "zucchini" came from the Italian word "zucchino" which means small squash. Zucchini was also grown in George Washington's and Thomas Jefferson's gardens. Additionally, many American settlers also grew squash and zucchini

This year, I planted 4 hills of zucchini. Next year, I will probably only plant 1-2 hills because it produces a lot! We have harvested lots of zucchini and have been trying new recipes in order to use it. We normally will make zucchini bread/cake with our extra zucchini, or cook zucchini and squash together. However, this year we had a bumper crop. We have made a zucchini bake with tomatoes, onions and cheese and zucchini fries. Here is the recipe for the fries:

Baked Zucchini Fries

from Tasty Kitchen

1 cup Breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons Dried Minced Onion

1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

1 Tablespoon Dried Basil

1 Tablespoon Dried Oregano

1/2 Tablespoon Salt

3/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

2 whole Medium Zucchini

2 whole Eggs

2 Tablespoons Milk

2 dashes Salt And Pepper

Mix together breadcrumbs, onion, garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper in a small bowl to make seasoned breadcrumbs.

Preheat oven to 400F. Slice zucchini into sticks.

In a shallow dish, mix together eggs and milk and season with salt and pepper.

In another shallow dish, spread out breadcrumbs. Toss zucchini slices in egg mixture then toss in breadcrumbs until evenly coated.

Liberally spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Arrange zucchini in a single layer and then spray liberally with cooking spray.

Bake for 10 -15 minutes, flipping slices half way through. Zucchini is done when the breading has browned and zucchini has softened .

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2010-07-26T16:28:00.004-04:00

This year, we found some tomato hornworms on the plants. Tomato hornworms are the larvae of hummingbird moths. The small yellowish-green eggs are laid underneath the leaves. The worms have a red-orange horn at the end of their bodies. They can be 2-4 inches long. The worms can devour most of a plant in 1-2 days. The worms are hard to find as they are almost the same color as the stem of tomato plants. Can you see it in the picture below?

The worms were extremly hard to pick off. We had to use pliers to yank them off the vines. We even considered cutting off the branch that they were on! The braconoid wasp will parasite some hornworms. The paracited worms look like they have rice grains on their bodies.

I hope that you will not have any problems with these hungry worms in your garden!

Harvesting Dried Coriander

2010-07-08T16:30:00.001-04:00

This week, we harvested some coriander. Coriander is ready when it turns brown. If it is still green, or not completely dry, it has a slightly bitter taste. The 100+° weather certainly dried the herb! The complete plant usually is brown when the coriander is ready for harvest.

Coriander is from the same plant as cilantro. Cilantro is the early flat leaf of the plant, not the fern like later leaf when the plant goes to seed. Coriander is the seed of the plant. If it stays on the plant too long, coriander will fall off and grow new cilantro plants.

Momma and I cut off some coriander with the stalks. I twisted the coriander off the stalks into a paper bag. I cleaned out the impurities by dumping handfuls of coriander down a paper towel into a container. The coriander rolled down, leaving most of the dirt and stems behind on the paper towel. We harvested a half pint full of coriander to use this winter!

Blossom End Rot on Tomatoes

2010-07-02T10:14:00.004-04:00

This year, the Better Boy tomatoes have blossom-end rot. Blossom-end rot is noticeable by a dark watery or soft brown spot on the bottom of the vegetable. It will commonly engulf the whole fruit which will fall off the vine. Peppers, tomatoes, squash, and watermelon are most commonly affected.
Blossom end rot is not caused by organisms like many plant diseases. It is usually caused by environmental conditions which include long periods of wet weather followed by dry weather or deficient calcium in the soil. There is not much that you can do to save the affected veggies. You just have to pull them off the vine and hope that it does not continue. There are a few things that you can do to help prevent the rot before planting:

Test the soil before planting. I should have done this with my garden since we have new soil. The bed that was affected was the one without the compost since we ran out. I think that the soil probably needed lime for additional calcium. If the dirt was not acidic enough, then I should have added gypsum for acidity.
Mulch around the plants to help hold moisture. My uncle gave us some straw pads that his baby turkeys came with in their crate. The pads should help with both weeds and moisture.
Avoiding extra fertilizing helps with the pH levels.

I hope that your garden is doing well and does not have any diseases or problems!

Early Summer Garden Update

2010-06-28T12:35:00.005-04:00

It has been very hot here in the Valley. The heat has gotten the lettuce and spinach, so we planted squash and zucchini in their places. There has not been much rain, but with extra watering, the other plants are growing well.

There are little cherry and better boy tomatoes growing. There also are lots of blooms on both tomato plants still!
The okra is growing great with the heat. The zucchini and squash have sprouted and are beginning to grow little leaves.
The cucumbers have blooms and the some of the cabbages are ready to harvest. The peppers have blooms and are growing peppers.
The pole beans are growing up the tepees and some are over the top of the tepees. The bush beans have blooms and a few little beans.
I hope that your garden is growing and producing well too!

Harvesting Peas

2010-06-21T13:37:00.004-04:00

This year, we planted some sugar snap peas. We planted six rows to enjoy. On Saturday, we got a bucket of peas, and today we harvested another bucket. There are still some blooms and unripe pods, so we hope to pick some more fresh peas within the next few days!
There are two classifications of peas, English and Southern. English peas include garden, snap and sugar varieties. Southern peas include black-eyed, purple hulls, creams, crowders, pinkeyes, and silver skins. Southern peas also go by many names such as field peas, cowpeas or protopeas. This year's peas would be considered part of the English varieties.
Peas are vining, so they can grow up a trellis. We purchased some 6-foot tomato stakes and stapled chicken wire to them. The peas even grew over the top of our trellis!
Another interesting note about peas is that any over-ripened pods left on the vine will signal the plant to stop producing. Also, over-ripened peas get starchy and do not have as sweet as a flavor as ripe peas. Peas also do not stay at the ripe point very long, normally just a day or so. We are picking our ripe pods so our plants will keep producing!

Floating Fruit and Strawberry Jam

2010-06-11T14:27:00.010-04:00

Last Saturday, Momma and I made some strawberry jam. We made 9 pints. Momma and I used the same recipe as last year from the Ball Blue Book. However, we quadrupled the recipe last year, used two types of pectin and ended up with floating fruit over a strawberry syrup.

Strawberry Jam
Yield: About 9 pints

4 quarts strawberries
2 packages powdered pectin
1/2 cup lemon juice
14 cups sugar

Wash strawberries; drain. Remove stems. Crush strawberries one layer at a time. Combine strawberries, powdered pectin and lemon juice in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, or until slightly gelled. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

The first load in the canner separated. However, the second load of 2 did not since the jam sat out while we were waiting. I added the wait to the recipe... We also had our first jar breakage - thankfully it was an empty jar!

Since the second load started to gel while we waited, we realized that the others would probably gel as well, even though they were separated. We have a helpful e-Book on canning that noted that rolling jars with separated syrup and fruit after they sealed would mix the fruit and syrup together and allow it to set up correctly. We rolled the separated jars and the jam mixed and set up!

The great e-Book is called Every Step in Canning by Grace Viall Gray. Even though it was written in the early 1900's, I have gained some very helpful and useful tips on canning. It also is an interesting read to see the history of canning and how it has progressed over the years since then. Mrs. Gray also was a home economics teacher and used some of her expertise in the book. This e-Book is available at Olde-Books.com at a very reasonable price. I highly recommend it!

Rhubarb - Pie Plant

2010-06-03T17:36:00.006-04:00

This Monday, Momma and I made strawberry rhubarb jam. We made 11 half-pints. This is the recipe that we used. We will be doing some strawberry jam again within the next few days.

My Momma's Grandma (GaGa) always made strawberry rhubarb pie and jam when Momma was growing up. GaGa would drop the pie off at Momma's house after Momma got home from school. Momma would sneak a piece before her parents got home from work just like GaGa planned.

Rhubarb actually has a sour/bitter flavor and is combined with strawberries in pies and jams to make it sweeter. They both come due around the same time. It was introduced to Europe in the17th century. It was nicknamed the "pie plant" for its common use in pies.

We tried to grow a rhubarb plant, but Kathie, our dog, decided to dig it up for us. We got our rhubarb at Heartland Harvest again this year!

Groundhog Deterrents

2010-05-21T15:28:00.003-04:00

Recently, I was told that a friend of our family was having some problems with groundhogs eating their cabbage and other plants. It interested me and I found some ideas for groundhog deterrents. Some things that can be done to get groundhogs to leave are to:

Fence the garden with chicken wire 3-4 feet high with 1 foot underneath the ground. Groundhogs can jump ordinary fences and burrow underneath. The fence can also be angled with the fence leaning towards the garden to block the groundhogs farther out.
Trap the groundhogs or shoot them.
Place ammonia soaked rags around the garden. Groundhogs do not like the smell of ammonia. Ammonia does not damage the plants either. The rags will need to get re-soaked after a while to keep the scent fresh.
Sprinkle epsom salts on the plants. Groundhogs disgust the taste of epsom salts and will not eat the plants. The epsom salts also are beneficial to the plants as well. The salts will need to be reapplied frequently because they get washed away easily.
Hang disposable aluminum pie pans and dishes around the garden to frighten the groundhogs off. Whirligigs and windchimes also can scare the easily frightened creatures away.

Busy Days in the Garden

2010-05-18T19:40:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy in the garden these past two weeks. Here are some snapshots of the garden.
I have planted cabbage, herbs, beans, limas, tomatoes, okra, cucumbers and turnips.
We have gathered lettuce, radishes and onions.
Momma and I also weeded the garden.
Daddy, Ben and I have also added the pea posts for the peas to climb up. We also made tepees for the pole beans and limas to climb up as well.
I hope that your garden is doing well too!

Natural Rodent Control

2010-05-01T11:55:00.007-04:00

I have been having some trouble with mice in the garden. They have been around the garden and the yard. Ben and I have been noticing them running across the driveway. Momma read in the Grit magazine that if you cut up an old garden hose, it looks like a black snake and scares away the mice. We did not have an old hose, but we did have an old lawnmower belt that broke a few weeks ago. Daddy and I cut the black lawnmower belt into 3 parts that were each a yard long. I put our "black snakes" into each garden. We have noticed a drop in our mouse population around the garden. It must look realistic since it scared Momma too! Our "snakes" keep out little rodents but not big dogs. Kathie "killed" one of our new snakes and brought it to us. :) Do you think that the lawnmower belt pieces look like snakes?

Spring Tip #2 - Seeds

2010-04-23T17:40:00.006-04:00

Last week, Daddy and I planted the spring garden. We planted radishes, leaf lettuce, peas, head lettuce, carrots, leeks, onions and garlic. We will be planting again in May. Last week, our area had a relatively major frost, but the seedlings are doing well. The seeds that we planted are cold weather plants, though they still need to be covered.

I have learned by experience that seeds can get too old. :) This year, I checked the backs of the packets to check the date so that I could see how old they were. Most seeds can last up to 3 years, but there are some that do not last as long. I used my gardening books and made a chart for easy reference on the seed life. (You may need to click on the chart to enlarge it.)

A Natural Plant Energizer

2010-04-09T14:47:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday, Daddy, Ben and I got some aged manure from my grandparents' farm. We used it to fill up the middle bed and to mix with the clay-soil in the other two beds. Ben and I also added compost to the beds.

Aged manure is excellent for soil. It should be tilled in prior to spring planting. Fresh manure causes burning of plants because of too much nitrogen. Aged manure reduces the risk. Another way to reduce the hazard of damaging the plants is to combine manure with compost. When added to tight, compacted soil, aged manure loosens the dirt. It also reduces garden runoff. One great benefit of manure is that its nutrients are released slowly, fertilizing the soil. Manure enriches soil carbon, which is a great plant energizer.

Spring Tip #1 - Blueprints

2010-04-02T15:19:00.006-04:00

If you are like me, spring makes me want to start gardening, but it is a bit too early for planting here in the valley. One of the things that you can do for your garden while you wait to plant is to make a blueprint. Blueprints help with planning a garden. If you make a blueprint, you don't have to worry about where you are going to plant your vegetables when you begin planting! Also, it is helpful for the plants not to be grown in the same area as the previous year. The vegetables would have already taken the nutrients out of the soil that they needed. I have kept my old blueprints so that it's easy to see how the garden was planned out last year. It also helps me to be more efficient with my garden space.

Homestead Blessings

2010-03-31T19:28:00.003-04:00

I have enjoyed advertising Homestead Blessings on my blog. My Momma and I have learned a lot from the West ladies. There are 9 DVD's in the set. The topics covered are herbs, gardening, canning, soap making, bread making, candle making, dairy, cooking and sewing. For a limited time, Vision Forum is giving a 45% discount on the whole set, which makes it available for $99! The offer ends April 1 at midnight. They are also offering a 25% discount on each of the 3 three-packs. I wanted to let you know about this sale because it would be a wonderful opportunity for you and your family to own these educational DVDs!

Spring Giveaway!

2010-03-23T16:57:00.005-04:00

Over at Graceful Designs, they are offering a spring giveaway! Hannah is a wonderful gardener, friend and cardmaker. She creates great photography, calligraphy and watercolor cards.

The winner of the giveaway will receive

Iris Glow or Spring Bouquet water color cards
3 photography cards of your choice

In order to enter, go to Graceful Designs blog, and leave a comment on the giveaway post. The giveaway ends March 31, 2010. You can visit her blog for more information.

It's Almost Here...

2010-03-15T16:31:00.007-04:00

Spring begins this Saturday! Our daffodils and crocuses have sprouted. Some of the crocuses have even started to bloom! My spring onions have also grown some, as well as my herb patch, which has some sprouts of cilantro. I am going to be posting some hints on spring garden cleanup, so keep watching for updates!

Quotations from the Garden

2010-02-25T14:08:00.004-05:00

"When families outsource their food production and processing, they lose the economic and educational benefits that such activities engender. Remember, a dollar saved is worth almost $1.50 because you don’t have to pay taxes on what you save—only on what you earn. So if you don’t have to earn it, you don’t have to pay taxes on it. If a family can displace $5,000 in groceries, that’s worth $7,500 of earned income. Suddenly home economics takes on new significance.

Rather than seeing multi-level marketing or newspaper routes as the only solutions for family-based business, we need to appreciate the opportunities in neighbor-oriented food sales. A rule of thumb in vegetable production is $1 per square foot of ground. In intensive raised bed and square-foot gardening type systems, this can be quadrupled. But even if we assumed the lowest figure, that’s more than $40,000 per acre."
–Joel Salatin
(From the HEAV Magazine Article "Turn your Home and Yard into a Profit Center" by Joel Salatin)

Prayer for Josiah

2010-02-16T14:41:00.006-05:00

Josiah Carman is a two-year old twin. He is the grandson of one of our friend, Deb Maubach. Josiah was born with Hurlers (MPS I). Hurlers is a disease that affects the production of an enzyme that breaks down glycosaminoglycans. When glycosaminoglycans are not broken down, they will damage cells, tissues and organs. Normally, Hurlers patients do not have a very long life expectancy. Josiah's family decided to let Josiah have a bone marrow transplant. Through the LORD's sovereign hand, the bone marrow transplant can some times help with Hurlers patients' health and length of life. Josiah's twin brother, James, let Josiah have some of his bone marrow. James was very brave.

Josiah's family has asked for prayer. Josiah has excess fluid in his body which needs to come out. He has been very sick and can not keep anything down. He has a temperature because he can not keep the Tylenol in his body. Josiah also needs prayer that his throat will stop swelling. If he can not get the fluid out, he will have to go in the pediatric ICU and be intubated. Please pray for this little boy as his body battles to get better. You can read more about Josiah here.

Snow and Garden Thoughts

2010-02-04T16:26:00.009-05:00

We got a "sugar coating" of snow this week. However, it will not be just a sugar coating before long. We could get over 2 feet of snow this weekend!
Snow is like a blanket over your garden. It helps to insulate the roots of plants through out colder temperatures. (It helps with my spring onions and garlic!)
With snow around, do not forget to feed the birds! My family and I love to watch the birds as they eat the seed. Also, in the summer time, birds help keep the bugs away in your garden.
I have been planning for this year's garden, so I will be ready when spring comes. Spring is in March, and that is just around the corner! The stores already have seeds in stock for this spring. While I am unable to do actual gardening outside, I can at least begin my "blueprint" for this year.

Coffee Grounds and Coffee Tea

2010-01-22T15:34:00.005-05:00

My parents drink coffee every morning. We have an excellent supply of used coffee grounds. If you do not drink coffee, Starbucks gives away their used grinds. If you asked, other coffee shops would probably save them for you.

Coffee grounds are a great way to fertilize your garden. They have 1.45% nitrogen which helps to enrich the soil and to grow leafy vegetables. Coffee grounds are also a good source of calcium and magnesium for your garden. Interestingly, they are not acidic after they are brewed and have a PH level of 6.9 which is suitable for most plants. Coffee grounds can be used in your compost or applied directly to your garden as fertilizer. When you add the grinds to your garden, make sure you do not cover the dirt thickly since the grinds will develop a fungal layer if you do.

The grinds also can be made into a liquid fertilizer which is called coffee tea. All you need is ½ pound of brewed coffee grinds and a 5 gallon bucket filled with water. Let it steep until you are ready to use it on your garden. If you have a busy schedule, it might be easier to “short-cut” the coffee tea process by lightly sprinkling the used grounds on the soil directly before watering.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-21T13:51:00.009-05:00

With 2 feet of snow and drifts 3-4 feet high, I do not think that I will be doing any more gardening this year!

I look forward to gardening with you in 2010!

Gifts from the Garden

2009-12-11T15:48:00.007-05:00

This year's fall garden, I planted some turnips for the first time. Although turnips can grow quite large, they are best when they are about 2 to 3 inches wide. All of my family loves turnips. We think that they are best sliced with salt and pepper. You can cook turnips like potatoes, but they lose some of their flavor.

I gave some of the turnips to Grandpa. The turnip greens that I harvested went to Grammy. Turnips are one vegetable that she did not have in her fall garden this year. We will also be giving salsa made from the garden this year to Grandpa. You can go here for some other gift ideas.

Quotations from the Garden

2009-12-04T16:10:00.002-05:00

"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in."

-George Washington Carver

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T13:09:00.007-05:00

My family and I are celebrating our Thanksgiving with our Momma's dad, and Daddy's parents.

Ben and I love our Grandma's recipe for Cranberry Salad. It's a good way to remember her on holidays. (We make it on Christmas, too.)

Cranberry Salad
1 can apple sauce (we have used both chunky and regular)
1 can whole cranberry cranberry sauce
1 large box cherry jello
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Mix jello and water until dissolved. Add other ingredients. Mix well and chill before serving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Holiday Savings

2009-11-25T11:01:00.004-05:00

We love the savings on the day-after-Thanksgiving. However, Momma and I do not like to fight the crowd. This year, Teaching Good Things and Generation Cedar are offering discounts on their products.

Teaching Good Things is offering a sale with 30% off of all their DVD's and e-books, plus free shipping and free gift wrapping. (This sale excludes the DVD bundle, which already has 40% off.) All that you need to do to receive this sale is to enter the coupon code BIGSALE when checking out! This sale starts on Thursday, 11/26, and ends on Tuesday, 12/1.
I have enjoyed learning to crochet and decorate cakes with their DVD's. Right now, I am using their crochet DVD! It is very easy to follow and informative.

Generation Cedar is also offering a sale on their products. The sale is $10 off orders of $50 or more, or $5 off orders of $25 or more. This sale includes their e-book bundle, which has 40% off normally, their skin products, Scripture Songs CD, both tangible and downloadable, baby gift items, and single e-books. This sale is only applicable the day-after-Thanksgiving.

I thought that you would like to know about these sales so that you don't have to fight the crowds!

Pecans and Pecan Recipes

2009-11-19T13:55:00.009-05:00

Yesterday, Ben and I shelled pecans. Some of our friends had given us some pecans from Georgia. Thank you!

Pecans are tree nuts, and native to North America. (Note: Some people are allergic to tree nuts, so use caution!) George Washington and Thomas Jefferson planted pecan trees at their plantations. In Albany, Georgia, there are 600,000 pecan trees, and a pecan festival is held there every year. Also, Texas adopted the pecan tree as their state tree in 1919. Pecans have no cholesterol or sodium, and are an excellent source of fiber, protein and natural antioxidants.

When you shell pecans, you need to make sure that the center divider between pecan halves is removed. The divider is very bitter! Ben and I cracked the pecans by using vice grips. We would make the vice grips a little bit tighter than the pecan, and then cracked them. The pecans cracked easily!

Here are some recipes that we might be trying with our pecans:

Pecan Pie

1 cup white corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups roasted pecans
pie dough

Melt the butter, and mix it with the corn syrup, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla.
Gently beat eggs and then add them to the batter and stir until the batter looks as it did before the eggs were added
Take your pie dough and roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch in thickness. Then, place the rolled dough in the pie pan. Cut the excess crust off around the edge of the pie pan, leaving 1 inch around the edge.
Fold the inch edge of the pie dough under itself so that it folds in half. You can also pinch the dough around the edge of the pie pan.
Pour the pecan pie filling into pie shell and sprinkle the roasted pecans on top of the pecan pie filling.
Bake at 350° F for 1 hr. - 1 hr. and 10 min.
After the pie has been in the oven for about 30 minutes, take it out, and put strips of foil around the edge to keep the pie crust from burning. The filling will be runny and quite hot. Then, put the pie back in the oven for the rest of the time.
After about 30 minutes, test the pie to see if it is done by sticking a knife in the middle of it. If the knife comes out clean, the pie is done, and if it comes out dirty, it needs about 10 more minutes in the oven.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pecan Pie Cookie Bars

2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, divided
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 large egg, beaten
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350° F. Spray bottom of 13x9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and butter. Spread on bottom of the pan, and bake for 20 minutes.
In a medium bowl, beat together egg, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and remaining brown sugar. Stir in pecans. Pour on top of baked cookie layer. Bake 25 minutes, cool and then cut into bars. Store leftovers covered at room temperature.

Picking Persimmons

2009-11-12T11:22:00.009-05:00

Last Tuesday, Ben and I went and picked some persimmons in the field. Our neighbors told us about the trees, so Ben wanted to try this wild food! He thought that they were very tasty! The persimmon trees were loaded with the fruit. They are very sweet, but they have many big seeds in the center. A good frost makes the persimmons sweet.
Adelia and Lina Beard described persimmons in their book, Wild Food on the Trail, as, "The persimmon is about the size of a plum, but is flattened at the poles. It grows close to the branch and its calyx is large. The color is yellow generally flushed with red. Some writers describe it as juicy, but I would not call it that; the flesh is more like custard or soft jelly."

I have Wild Food on the Trail in an e-Book format. It is a very helpful book when it comes to identifying wild foods. Wild Food on the Trail also has some drawings of some of the fruits, berries and the leaves of the plants for easy identification. I got my copy of this helpful book from Olde-Books.com. Right now, Olde-Books.com is offering a coupon for a dollar off on this useful book, which is valid until November 18, 2009. The coupon code is persimmon.

We enjoyed picking persimmons. It was fun to pick our own "wild food on the trail"!

Making Autumn Olive Jam

2009-11-05T15:23:00.004-05:00

Last week, my friend Hannah and I made autumn olive jam. Autumn olives are small, red and slightly white speckled berries. They are somewhat like the shape of an apple, though they are only 1/4 inch tall. Autumn olives have a slightly tart taste, though when Hannah and I picked them, they were very ripe and quite sweet.

Autumn olives are invasive, and Hannah's family's woods have many of the bushes. All of the trees were loaded with the berries, and we picked about 16 cups.
After we picked enough berries, we washed them and picked off most of the stems.
Next we cooked the berries with a bit of water and mashed them with a potato masher.
Hannah and I placed the crushed berries in a sieve to strain out the seeds and skin.
We used Pomona's Pectin and followed their instructions for the amount of pectin that we used.
Hannah and I made 9 half-pints of jam!

Autumn Olive Jam
Makes 8 cups

8 cups autumn olives, stemmed
1/2 cup water
7 cups sugar
1 small package dry pectin

Cook the fruit and water in a large stainless steel pot on high/med for about 5 minutes, while crushing with a potato masher until most of the fruit has been crushed and seeds are extracted. Remove from heat and pour through a sieve or put through a food mill to strain out the seeds. 8 cups of fruit will come to 4 cups of pulp.

Measure 4 cups pulp and return to saucepan, adding 7 cups sugar. Add 1/2 tsp. butter, if desired, to help reduce foam. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Quickly stir in the pectin and the sugar and boil for exactly 1 minute longer. Remove from heat and skim off any foam, if necessary.

Ladle quickly into hot sterilized jars, filling to 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims and screw lids on tightly. Process in boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

Thank you, Hannah, for letting me help you!

Canning Applesauce

2009-10-29T15:42:00.006-04:00

Last week, Momma and I canned applesauce. We bought our apples at Carter's Mountain Orchard. Momma and I used a bushel of york apples for our apple sauce. We probably won't do anymore than a bushel a day since we started around 10:30 in the morning and finished around 4:30!
I cut the apples using an apple corer, leaving the skin on.
We placed the cut apples in a pot with an inch of apple juice at the bottom.
We cooked the apples until they were soft, stirring them often.
With our bushel of apples, we had 4 pots on the stove full of the cut apples!
After they were completely cooked, Ben helped us when we cranked the food mill to make the sauce. :)
Momma and I seasoned the applesauce with a bit of sugar. You can also add cinnamon and other spices if you want. We had two large pots full of fresh applesauce!
We filled up the quart jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
We processed our quart jars in the water bath canner for 20 minutes. (Pints process for 15 minutes.)
Momma and I made a total of 16 quarts of applesauce! Our hard work will taste great when the snowflakes fly this winter!

Winterizing your Garden

2009-10-21T16:21:00.004-04:00

This week, we had a rather heavy freeze, with temperatures down to 29! I had to clean up my garden by pulling plants that would not make it through the freeze. I also will be planting some bulb root crops that will come up in the spring. Here are some things that will help get your garden ready for winter!

Garlic should be planted in the next few weeks. You should separate the bulb into cloves. I plant my garlic about 2 times deep the length of the clove, and I plant each clove about 3-6 inches apart. The point of the garlic clove should be up. Gently cover the cloves with dirt and pack it down. In late November, mulch the garlic with straw which protects the sprouts from cold. Keep the mulch over the garlic until late March.

I get onion bulbs from my Grammy to plant for spring. Momma loves spring onions because of their mellow flavor. They can be planted much like garlic, but in closer spaces of 1-2 inches between each bulb.

Clean the leftover plant debris from the garden to prevent insects from overwintering in the garden. Diseases get established in the garden’s soil from overgrown gardens. Haul all of the plants out of the garden to prevent the possible diseases.

Summer-bearing raspberries should have their 2 year canes removed. The canes that are left will bear fruit next year. Summer bearing raspberries only will bear the fruit when they are 2 years old. Fall bearing raspberries should be pruned after the first freeze.

Cool weather crops, such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, do not need to be protected from frost. They can normally stand temperatures down to 22-25 degrees Fahrenheit. Some people actually think that the flavor is better because of the frost!

Hoses and drip irrigation systems should be drained and stored for the winter. One freeze can destroy the hoses and nozzles!

When your leaves fall from the trees, and they cover your yard, you can shred the leaves and put the in your compost. (Ben and I love to shred our leaves by raking them in a pile and jumping in them with Kathie! (: ) You can get excellent compost by building (or buying) a composter and placing the leaves in it over the winter.
My garden is mostly ready for its dormant stage during winter. Is your garden ready?

Garden Tours - Part 6

2009-10-15T16:01:00.014-04:00

A few weeks ago, we visited our adopted grandparents. Grammie has a raised bed garden at their country home. She grew some kale, kohlrabi, beets, cabbage, purple hull peas, peppers, blackberries, cucumbers, and heirloom tomatoes. Grammie is also growing a fall garden this year with lettuce and other greens.

Grammie also cans many vegetables and meats. She canned pickles, green beans, tomato sauce, beets, okra, salsa, apples, pears, venison, chicken and other vegetables and jams. Did you see the antique square canning jar in the lower right corner?

Grammie's rural garden is surrounded by beautiful mountains. She also has an electric fence around the garden to keep out the unwanted deer! She has used an irrigation system this year for watering.

Thank you, Grammie, for letting me tour your garden!

You can read Grammie's blog at Titus 2 Joy.

Gardening Giggles

2009-10-08T19:10:00.005-04:00

As this gardening season winds down, here are some funny pictures that we took this year.
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Maggie grew some long, flowing, corn silk hair! Kathie, as always, was a trustworthy supervisor. :)
And, when jalapeno peppers are dried, a jalapeno monster comes! :)

However, when we froze corn, Ben thought that we had corn coming out of our ears!Lends a new meaning to carrot top...

So, what does Ben do when he waits for his sister? Any guesses?He claimed that he was framed...

Harvesting Turnip Greens

2009-10-01T16:38:00.004-04:00

In this year's fall garden, I planted turnips. Turnips are cool weather root crops. The root can grow up to 5 inches in width! The greens of turnips are edible and can be cooked like spinach. They also can be eaten raw in salads. Like lettuce, the greens will get bitter in hot weather.

Turnip greens should be harvested only once if you also want the root. They also should only be gathered around the outside of the root so the plant will be able to grow more. Turnip greens should be picked when they are 2-3 inches tall.

Turnip greens are high in many vitamins and minerals, as well as low in calories. They will not lose many vitamins even when they are cooked. Turnip greens also help prevent some cancers and other ailments.

We will try some turnip greens this weekend from my fall plants!

Curing Garlic

2009-09-24T16:01:00.005-04:00

I grew some spring garlic this year. Normally, garlic is grown in the fall. It will hibernate over the winter and grow in the spring. However, I planted my garlic this spring, and it turned out just fine.

There are three types of garlic: stiffneck, softneck, and elephant garlic. Stiffneck garlic is much more temperamental than softneck garlic. It has a central stem, while the other types are all throughout the clove. Also, stiffneck garlic produces scapes that are edible when they are young and tender. Stiffneck garlic is also harder to find, though it stores much longer than softneck. Softneck garlic is normally the commercial garlic found in stores and as the seed-cloves. It is the kind that I planted this year. Interestingly, elephant garlic is not really garlic, but it is a member of the leek family.

Both uncured and cured garlic are edible. Curing garlic is like drying it. Uncured garlic is fresh out of the garden. It must stay in the refrigerator, while the cured garlic does not need to be refrigerated.

When you cure garlic, you should make sure that air will be able to circulate around the garlic. A good way to ensure that it will circulate under the garlic, is to get a screen to keep it off the ground. I made sure that the garlic would be in a dry place so it would not draw moisture.

To cure my garlic, Ben and I made a wooden frame out of some planks. We made some feet for it out of blocks of wood. (Kathie had a good time with us!)
For a screen, we stapled chicken wire to the frame.
I dug the garlic, and shook out some dirt from the roots.
Then, I immediately placed the garlic on the screen. I removed the screen out of the sunlight into our garage.
The garlic should cure for 2-4 weeks, or until the skin on the outside is papery and dry.

Garden Visitors and Beneficial Insects

2009-09-17T14:45:00.005-04:00

Today, I found a toad in my garden. He was napping in the flower pot that I had placed in the beans to attract toads. Ben and I often find toads in front of our shed. Toads help decrease the amount of unwanted insects and bugs. However, not all insects and bugs are bad! Some beneficial insects are

Assassin Bugs - These queer insects are both ugly and helpful. They have an unusual appetite for pests. However, they have a painful bite which is sometimes infectious and disease spreading.
Earth Worms - They dig through the soil, tilling it up. They also help add nutrients back to the ground.
Garden Spiders - They catch insects of all types.
Green Lacewings - The larvae is commonly known as the "aphid lion". It eats not only aphids, but also leaf hopper nymphs, spider mites and caterpillar eggs.
Hoverfly (Also called syrphid flies.) - Their larvae eat aphids and other small pests
Ladybugs - Both the larvae and the adult are helpful in eating aphids and other soft bodied pests.
Minute Pirate Bugs - Thrips, tiny caterpillars and aphids make up this little predator's diet. They love high temperatures and high humidity.
Parasitic Wasps - The most beneficial type of wasps are parasitic wasps. They lay their eggs on cabbage worms, cutworms and others pests.
Praying Mantis - Though considered a beneficial insect, praying mantises do not know the difference between beneficial insects and pests. ALL insects that move are fair prey to them!
Spined Soldier Bug - A member of the stinkbug family, the spined soldier bug harpoons and kills its prey.

A good place for some pictures of the beneficial insects is Veggie Gardener.

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*Note* I am going to be posting once a week through out the winter months. I hope to post on some things to help get ready for next year's garden! Don't forget to stop by this winter for a visit!

Freezing Okra

2009-09-07T08:08:00.007-04:00

Last Friday, Momma and I froze okra. It is a very easy method of preserving when you do not have enough okra to cook immediately. We blanched our okra because it destroys enzymes and bacteria. Enzymes and bacteria will discolor and change the flavor and the texture of the okra

We washed the fresh okra from the garden. After that, we blanched them for 3-4 minutes.

We immediately placed the blanched okra in ice water for five minutes to cool it down.

Once the okra was cool, we drained it.

When the okra was drained, I cut it into 1/2 inch slices for soups.

After the okra was cut, I placed them in a bag.

Momma and I vacuum sealed the bag and froze the okra.
We enjoyed working together and preserving some of our harvest to enjoy later in the winter!

The Fruits and Veggies of My Labor

2009-09-04T17:19:00.009-04:00

The LORD has provided many blessings in food this year.

Momma and I have canned:

We also have other canned goods that were given to us:

tomato soup
pear honey
blackberry jam
bread and butter pickles
apple butter

Momma and I have also helped can:

tenderloin
pears
autumn olive jam

We also hope to can some applesauce later this fall.

Momma and I also dried many of our herbs and some of our vegetables which include:

Momma and I haven frozen lots of produce that our neighbors, friends and family have given us:

corn
zucchini
tomatoes
raspberry jam
blueberry jam
strawberry jam

We will enjoy the frozen, dried and canned fruits, herbs and vegetables over the winter!

"And God said, 'Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.' And it was so."
Genesis 1:11

An Update on the Fall Garden

2009-08-31T19:50:00.010-04:00

I have been harvesting many things out of the garden this year. The summer vegetables have been producing quite rapidly. I planted many of my family's favorite cool weather vegetables in my fall garden. Also, my Grammy has given us a lot of tomatoes which we have canned. Her friend, Katy, has generously given us many green beans. We have been enjoying fresh produce from the garden all summer!

I planted the fall garden with turnips, radishes, leaf and head lettuce. I also got some cabbage plants from the greenhouse. Most of the radishes and turnips are for my Grandpa since he loves them. He also does not buy them very much, so fresh turnips and radishes will be a great gift.

I have harvested okra, cherry tomatoes, goliath tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, snap beans and yellow squash. The cherry tomatoes have been quickly producing every day! The garlic that I planted earlier this spring is almost ready to harvest. We harvested the pumpkin, and it makes a nice fall decoration.

Making Salsa and Pizza Sauce

2009-08-27T14:06:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, we made some salsa and pizza sauce out of Grammy's tomatoes. We got 40+ ripe red tomatoes. I also had tomatoes out of my garden, which we used in the pizza sauce. Grammy said that she does not want to can any more tomatoes, so we will do some more salsa, pizza sauce and possibly ketchup next week.

Momma and I used packaged seasoning mixes this year for the salsa and pizza sauce. We used Mrs. Wages and Ball seasoning packages.
For the salsa, we scalded the tomatoes. I slipped the skins off of the tomatoes after the were scalded, and Momma cut them up.
Then, we mixed in the package and simmered it for 10 minutes. After simmering the salsa, I put it in the jars and canned it in the water bath canner for 40 minutes.
When we made the pizza sauce, we scalded the tomatoes and slipped off their skins. Momma made a puree out of the tomatoes in our blender. After grinding the tomatoes up, we added the seasoning mixture, and simmered it for 25 minutes.
Once I filled up the jars, I canned them 40 minutes in the water bath canner.

Momma and I enjoyed working together and canning 20 pints of salsa, and 10 pints of pizza sauce!

Planting the Fall Garden

2009-08-24T16:39:00.006-04:00

Today, I planted the first part of my fall garden. I sowed lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce and radishes. I also hope to plant some cabbage, turnips, garlic, spinach and onions. (An update on the cabbage regrowth: The heads regrew to about 2 inches. There is another cabbage plant which has a head growing to 4 inches. The cabbage was a bit strong. I am guessing that it was the result of the recent hot weather since cabbage is a cold weather plant.)

While I was turning up the garden, I had to pull some dead squash plants. Ben and I have been wanting to make a whistle out of the squash stems. We tried to make them today, but we were not successful. Ben and I researched how to make them on the internet and found a very interesting site with lots of whistle ideas and garden games. We have seen the whistles made before, so we know that they can work. Have you ever made one? Did it work?

Canning Green Beans

2009-08-21T15:05:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday, we canned the green beans that we picked at Katy's garden. We canned our beans without salt. You can also pickle green beans but I have never tried it.

Green beans have to be canned in the pressure canner so that the high heat kills bacterial growth. The pressure canner only needs to be used for low acid vegetables, fruits and meats.
We picked the beans early in the morning. Ben, Momma and I snapped the beans before lunch. (Maggie sat on my lap while I took out some of the older beans from their shell.)
Momma and I washed and packed the beans into quart jars. I filled the jars up with water leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
I canned the beans in the pressure canner for 25 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.
We canned a total of 16 quarts to eat in the winter!

Picking Green Beans

2009-08-19T19:29:00.004-04:00

Today, we picked green beans from Katy's garden. Katy is a special friend of my Grammy. We gathered about 2 five gallon buckets of stringless green beans. Ben, Momma and I picked the beans with the help of Katy's granddaughters, Rachel and Sarah. In an upcoming post, I will write about the canning of the beans.

Green beans are best when they are eaten fairly early in their growth. The seeds in the pods should not be fully developed when picked. If the beans grow bigger than the diameter of a pencil, they will not be as tender. We picked some that were really big today so that we could harvest the seeds to go into a big pot of green beans for supper. Daddy loves the seeds within the beans! If you pick your beans off the vine whenever they are ready, they will produce all summer.

Katy has a colorful garden with flowers that makes it enjoyable to harvest vegetables. Her house also has flowers in brilliant colors all around it. Thank you, Katy, for the beans!

Wild Blueberries

2009-08-17T17:21:00.005-04:00

Last week, my family and I went camping at Grayson Highlands. When we were hiking, we stumbled upon some wild blueberry plants. The next day, we picked some for our pancakes. We filled up a 13 oz container with the berries. We are not sure whether the berries were huckleberries or blueberries. Some other hikers said that they were huckleberries, though most said that they were blueberries. We also found some blackberries, which made Daddy happy. :)

Wild blueberries are high in antioxidants. They are often smaller that the regular blueberry. Blueberries are from the vaccinum family. Wild blueberries were often used as medicine by the Greeks, which is where their family name originates. Momma and Daddy first had wild blueberries in Maine before Ben and I were born. They were quite surprised to find their favorite blueberries in Virginia!

We enjoyed picking the blueberries in what Daddy refers to as the "Rockie Mountains of Virginia"!

Compost Posting

2009-08-12T08:35:00.003-04:00

I am going to be doing some up-coming blog entries on composting. Ben helps me take care of the compost pile. You can tell from the picture that our compost gave us a gift of a pumpkin plant! Each day, it gets more orange and bigger!

Here are some interesting facts and that I will be covering:

Why compost piles should not stink
What to put in your compost
Compost maintenance
How to effectively use your compost

Check back for some 'Compost Posting'!

Cabbage Regrowth

2009-08-10T15:45:00.000-04:00

After I harvested my first 6 heads of cabbage, I decided to see if my cabbage would grow back. I had read in one of my gardening books that cabbage would grow back. The weather has been so much cooler this summer, so I thought I should try. All of the plants have been developing heads, so I will see if they will amount to anything. I hope the cabbage white caterpillars from earlier this season do not bother my plants. I will sprinkle garlic and cayenne pepper again because I am beginning to see some signs of their munching!
I have been planning for my fall garden, and I will definitely plant some cabbage. We love raw cabbage to eat as a vegetable for lunch. My family goes through the cabbage! Homegrown cabbage has a sweeter flavor than ones bought in the store. Later this month, I will plant my cabbage plants. Cabbage can handle a freeze and if it is a mild fall, it might make it until Thanksgiving!

Dehydrating Green Bell Peppers

2009-08-07T11:15:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, we dehydrated some bell peppers. The peppers were from my garden. Momma will use the peppers in sauces and other crock-pot recipes. We sliced them and dried them at 145°. The dehydration time varies on peppers depending on the amount of water content that they contain.

On Sunday, when the tomato plants fell over, one of the plants fell on one of my pepper plants. It partially broke the stem. Ben mentioned using masking tape since he had read it in an old book. So far, the plant has been healthy and has blooms. Thank you, Ben, for the idea!

Bell peppers are native to South America and North America. I also discovered that paprika is made out of red bell peppers.

I have more peppers ripening in my garden for one of my Daddy's favorite dishes. Daddy loves stuffed peppers! Below is the recipe Momma uses from Betty Crocker's Cookbook.

Stuffed Green Peppers
makes 6 servings
6 large green peppers
1 pound hamburger
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup cooked rice
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cut thin slice from stem end of each pepper. Remove seeds and membranes; rinse. Cook peppers in enough boiling water to cover 5 minutes; drain.
Cook and stir hamburger and onion in 10-inch skillet until hamburger is light brown; drain. Stir in salt, garlic salt, rice, and 1 cup of the tomato sauce; heat through.
Stuff each pepper with hamburger mixture; stand upright in ungreased baking dish, 8x8x2 inches. Pour remaining sauce over peppers. Cover; cook in 350° oven 45 minutes. Uncover; cook 15 minutes longer. Sprinkle with cheese.

Freezing Corn

2009-08-05T18:07:00.004-04:00

Today, Momma and I froze some yellow corn. Our generous neighbors gave us 112 ears from the 2000 ears of corn that they picked from their field. (They still have not finished picking!) We have wonderful neighbors all around us who share their harvest with us. We got a total of 16 quarts of corn to freeze.

Momma and I shucked corn in the garage while Ben mowed so the pests would stay away. (One pest was our dog who loves to steal corn!)

Maggie kept us company while we shucked.She also was the kernel test-taster.I was in charge of cooking the corn and moving it to cold water.Momma took the corn off the cob using a corn cutter.

We'll love this corn in the winter!

Green Tomatoes

2009-08-03T14:49:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, we had a downpour! When we came home from church, my large tomato plants had fallen over in the mud caused by the rain. Daddy and Ben found some metal posts in the shed and helped get the tomatoes upright again. While they were fixing the plants, some green tomatoes fell off the vine. My GrandRiley (he does not like to be called Grandpa etc.) loves fried green tomatoes. Momma and I decided to make some today out of the tomatoes that fell off. Here is the recipe that we are going to use:

Fried Green Tomatoes
from All Recipes

4 large green tomatoes
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour*
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 quart vegetable oil for frying

Slice tomatoes 1/2 inch thick**. Discard the ends.
Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium-size bowl. Scoop flour onto a plate. Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs and salt and pepper on another plate. Dip tomatoes into flour to coat. Then dip the tomatoes into milk and egg mixture. Dredge in breadcrumbs to completely coat.
In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so that there is 1/2 inch of oil in the pan) and heat over a medium heat. Place tomatoes into the frying pan in batches of 4 or 5, depending on the size of your skillet. Do not crowd the tomatoes, they should not touch each other. When the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. Drain them on paper towels.

*Momma and I looked at the comments, and some said to reduce the flour to 1/2 cup. Momma said that she might add more cornmeal.
**Another person said that the tomatoes were too thick and made them 1/8" width so that they would be crispy.

A friend of ours who has eaten them said that the fried green tomatoes were tangy. I'll update this post tomorrow with what we thought of this southern dish.
Update - 6:38 PM - We have just finished frying our green tomatoes. We all loved them - even me! (For those who do not know, I am not a major tomato fan.)
Momma and I would also like to make green tomato relish sometime. Here is a recipe for green tomato relish:

Green Tomato Relish
from Mommy's Kitchen

12 large green Tomatoes (cored)
4 green bell peppers, seeded
1 red bell pepper, seeded
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons yellow mustard seed
1 tablespoon celery seed
2 cups cider vinegar
2 cups granulated sugar
5 teaspoons salt

Chop the tomatoes and peppers very finely. You can chop them either by hand or in small batches in a food processor. Put the chopped vegetables in a large pot, add the mustard seed, celery seed, vinegar, salt and sugar. Stir well and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook while stirring often and skimming as needed. Simmer until the relish cooks down and thickens into a relish, about 2 hours. Turn into hot sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath.

Okra - A Southern Plant

2009-07-31T10:59:00.003-04:00

I planted okra this year for the first time in my garden. Okra is a warm weather plant. As a member of the mallow family, some of okra's cousins are the hollyhock and the hibiscus. Okra originated in Africa and is mostly grown in the southern states, since the temperatures are higher in the summer time. My okra has not been growing as well since we have been having cooler weather. Hopefully, we might be able to get a little okra if the weather warms up.

You can go here to find out how to pick okra. When okra is fresh, it is best eaten in a few days, but if you have an over abundance of okra, you can either freeze it or can it. We like ours in soup. Ms. Charlotte canned hers with tomatoes, which Momma thought sounded good. Another good place to go for some okra recipes is Veggie Gardener. I hope to post later in the season if I get any off of my plants.

The answer to the Garden Guess is an okra leaf. Thank you to all who guessed on my post!

Carrots

2009-07-29T11:51:00.004-04:00

This year, I planted some carrots. Our family loves carrots, especially raw for a snack. Carrots are a root crop. Queen Anne's Lace, celery, anise, caraway, dill, cilantro, cumin, chervil, fennel, parsley, parsnip and poison hemlock are members of the carrot family. Queen Anne's lace is sometimes known as 'wild carrot'. Poison hemlock is a poisonous plant, so it might not be good to forage for a wild carrot, since poison hemlock is a member of the carrot family and looks just like the rest.

Carrots can be a variety of colors from the traditional orange to purple. The orange type was first noted in Babylon. Charlemagne grew the purple type in his garden. During the 13th century, carrots were introduced to European countries by Arabian traders. The explorers brought them to South America in the 1500's. After World War 1, carrots started to be produced commercially in farms to sell in America. Now, carrots are a common vegetable in many gardens.

When I dug some carrots, I wondered if carrot tops were edible. After some research, I discovered that some people think that they are edible, but some think that they are toxic. I found out that the stem tastes like a bitter carrot. I nibbled at the leaves, and thought that they did not have a very strong taste. Some people consider carrot tops to be poisonous to children, but not to adults. After the controversial research, Momma and I decided that the compost could have our tops :)

Here is a good place for some carrot recipes.

Garden Guesses

2009-07-27T18:24:00.003-04:00

What is this plant? (This is a puzzle, not a problem. lol ) Please comment with a guess. I will post the answer on Friday. Check back to find out.

Please comment even if someone has already guessed your answer. This is for all ages! Enjoy the puzzle from the garden!

Cucumbers

2009-07-24T11:23:00.005-04:00

I have recently been getting lots of cucumbers. Daddy took some cucumbers to the people that he works with today. Daddy and Ben helped make me an arch for the cucumbers to grow up. I have 12 cucumber plants, since Daddy loves them so much. I planted two types of cucumbers: poinsette 76, and regular burpless hybrid.

Cucumbers are a member of the cucurbit family, which also includes squash, melons and gourds. They originated in India, near the Himalayan Mountains. The Bible mentions them in 3 places: Numbers 11:5, Isaiah 1:8 and Jeremiah 10:5. During the Roman Empire, cucumbers were grown for the Emperor. The Middle Ages also had cucumbers, as Charlemagne had them grown in his garden. Christopher Columbus was the first to introduce cucumbers to Haiti, and later, Jacques Cartier found cucumber plants being grown in South America. Cucumbers are widely used now as they are easy to grow in the garden and are tasty in many foods. The phrase "cool as a cucumber" originated from a poem that was written by John Gay in 1732.

Cucumbers are a good source of silicon, chlorine potassium, sodium, sulfur, fluorine and magnesium. Cucumbers also help digestion and constipation. They also are used in some beauty products.

Have you ever had a bitter cucumber? We normally have some in the middle of summer. Bitter cucumbers are caused by a chemical which is in the leaves and stem. Different fluctuations can allow the plant to place the chemicals in the fruit. Here is a list of the fluctuations:

Heat Heat can stress the plant causing it to produce bitter cucumbers.
Uneven Watering If a plant is unevenly watered causing it to go through stages of drought and over watering, it will also stress the plant.
Temperature Fluctuation If the temperature drastically fluctuates over a long period of time, the plant will become stressed to make it produce bitter cucumbers.

My family loves cucumbers and sour cream. I should have taken a picture of them last night, because Momma makes hers "by taste" just the way Daddy loves them. This is a very rough estimate of the ingredients. Here is her recipe:

Cucumbers 'n' Sour Cream
Enough cucumbers to fill a large serving bowl
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup sour cream
chopped green onion
ground black pepper (optional)

Slice peeled cucumbers into a large bowl. Add some chopped green onion to the cucumbers. Mix vinegar and sour cream together and pour over the cucumbers and onions. Stir until everything is coated completely. Sprinkle with ground black pepper and serve.

Ms. Charlotte at Canning Jars etc. posted on bread and butter pickles. Momma loves bread and butter pickles, so we might try this recipe. No one else in our family really likes pickles. Momma also has thought about making cucumber relish. A good place to get some other cucumber recipes is here. My brother and I just love to eat them plain too!

Jalapenos

2009-07-22T14:08:00.008-04:00

Yesterday, I dried some jalapeno peppers with Momma. We grew them in our practical pots. Jalapenos peppers are moderately hot. They grow best in full sun with lots of water. Jalapenos are ripe when they have a bright sheen over their green flesh. They can ripen longer and go into shades of dark green, black and finally red. The red jalapenos are sweeter, but are still hot.

The hottest part of the jalapeno is the ribs. Any thing that touches it also becomes hot. (The seeds are hot because they come into direct contact with the ribs.) It is necessary to wear gloves and protective glasses to protect your hands and eyes from being burned by the oil. If you do burn your hands from the jalapeno, you should apply rubbing alcohol on the burning spot to remove the oil. Then you soak your skin in milk to help take away the burning. If you do not have a dairy product, you can wash your hands in warm soapy water, and then soak your skin with olive oil or vegetable oil for one minute before you rinse the oil off.

You can dry the jalapenos like Momma and I did in our dehydrator, but you could air dry or oven dry them. Here is how Momma and I prepared and dried our jalapenos.

I washed the jalapenos while wearing gloves to protect my hands from the jalapeno oil.
Once the jalapenos were washed, I cut half-way around the top of the pepper with a paring knife like you would coring a bell pepper. I sliced all the way around the pepper so that it would be in half.
Momma took the seeds out while wearing rubber gloves. She said that she could still feel a little burn through the glove!
I laid the jalapenos on the racks of the dehydrator.
The jalapenos dried for 11 to 12 hours at 145° until they were brittle. Most people dry theirs for 3 to 20 hours depending on the size and pepper.

We packed our jalapenos in a glass jar to use later for spicy foods. My Grandpa loves them in salsa! I think that jalapenos' name should be changed to "hot"apenos!

Wild Blackberries

2009-07-20T11:07:00.004-04:00

My family loves to camp in our pop-up camper during the summer and fall. When we went camping this past weekend at James River State Park, we found some wild blackberry plants while we were hiking. Daddy has always loved blackberries. Ben, Daddy and I enjoyed the blackberries as we picked the juicy fruit from the thorny plant. We normally will pick local blackberries in early August. Momma and I freeze the blackberries for cobblers and pies in the winter.
Blackberries have been around for a very long time. They were used by the Greeks and the Romans to treat illnesses. Blackberries are high in antioxidants. The wild blackberry plants have thorns, and they may grow near poison ivy. Be careful when you are picking the blackberries because both plants have three leaves! Most wild blackberries are tart, though I found out that when they are soft, they are sweet. There are blackberry vines and bushes. The bushes are more frost hardy than the vines. Boysenberries and loganberries were bred from blackberries. There are tame blackberry hybrids that are thornless and much easier to pick.

"Pansy" Weekend

2009-07-16T07:47:00.005-04:00

Today, I have another special from Olde-Books.com. They are offering a coupon for $1 off of Tip Lewis and His Lamp, by Isabella Alden, whose pen name is Pansy. Isabella Alden happens to be one of my favorite authors, so I am pleased to offer this e-Book to you.
Here is how to get the discount off of the e-Book at Olde-Books.com:

Go to Olde-Books.com and enter by clicking the welcome book.
Enter the code "gardeningformyfamily" in the blue box titled "Enter Coupon" nearest to the bottom of the left menu. You will not need to add the item to the cart, as when you click the "Submit Coupon" button, you will be automatically sent to PayPal checkout with the discount automatically applied.
The offer ends on Sunday at 12:00 midnight EST.

Enjoy the e-book!

Garden Giveaway!

2009-07-14T07:19:00.004-04:00

Today, I got an offer from Olde-Books.com to host a giveaway for 2 days. It ends on Wednesday night at midnight. Olde-Books.com is offering my readers a free gardening e-book from the late 1800's. It is called The Book of Sports - Gardening by William Martin. This book is part 3 in the Book of Sports collection.
Here is how you can get this free book:

Go to Olde-Books.com
After entering the store, click on Contact.
Fill out the contact form, and then say in the comments box that you came from Gardening for My Family, and that you would like the free e-book called The Book of Sports-Gardening by William Martin.
Olde-Books will reply to you with an email. The pdf e-book will be attached to the email.
While you are there, check out the other gardening books in the section Skills for the Family.

Please check back Thursday for another special offer from Olde-Books.com. Enjoy!!

Mint

2009-07-13T18:42:00.003-04:00

Last week, we dried mint to use for tea this winter. The mint family has many members, such as oregano and catnip. There are many different flavors of mint. Some of the flavors are chocolate mint, apple mint, pineapple mint and spearmint. We grow spearmint and apple mint. Mint is very invasive, so having something to do with it helps. When we trimmed back our mint, we dried the trimmings. Jane, at Seeds to Sew, had a great idea for mint. She used their extra mint for refreshing cool mint towels. With the increasing heat here in the valley, staying cool is a job! Do you grow mint? If so, what kind do you grow?

Harvest from the Garden

2009-07-10T10:21:00.006-04:00

I have been getting a lot of produce from the garden. The whole garden is filled up except in two places where onions had been. Most plants are picky about following after onions. I will get it ready for a later planting this fall. The garden blueprint is placed above to show where everything is growing.

Here is a list of the produce that I have gotten from the garden:

carrots
red leaf, green leaf and head lettuce
spinach
peas
green beans
cabbage
onions
radishes
cucumbers
herbs

Yesterday, Momma cut some cabbage. If you remember, I had been having some trouble with some caterpillars eating my cabbage. So, when Momma cut the cabbage, she found one under a leaf! It was exterminated after some pictures. Hopefully, that was the one and only culprit.

Garden Tours - Part 5

2009-07-08T11:20:00.018-04:00

Last Saturday, we visited our friends, the Burkholder family for the 4th of July. Mr. Burkholder grows a garden for their family. He is growing raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb, lettuce, pole green beans, pole lima beans, bush lima beans, lots of tomatoes, squash, cabbage, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, wineberries, strawberries, cucumbers, zucchini, radishes and potatoes. Mr. Burkholder also is growing walking onions. Have you ever heard of walking onions?

Mr. Burkholder has a very creative mind. He developed a drip irrigation system using PVC pipe and a liter bottle. Mr. Burkholder uses this system for his blueberries and rhubarb. The bottle neck was screwed into the PVC pipe while he torched the pipe in order to hold it together. Next, he poked holes in the pipe so that the water would slowly drip out. He placed a cap on the bottom so the water would stay in the pipe.

The water that Mr. Burkholder for his drip irrigation system is from his rain water collector that he designed. Here is how it works. The water rolls off of the roof and into the gutter. The gutter is directed to a hose that is connected to the top barrel. The top barrel is connected with a hose to the bottom barrel. The water drains down to the bottom barrel, where a nozzle is connected. When they need to get water to refill the irrigation system, they turn on the nozzle which is gravity fed. He is planning on painting the outside of the barrels black so that it will not mildew inside.

Thank you, Mr. Burkholder, for letting me tour your garden!

My First Blog Award!

2009-07-06T14:32:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, Ms. Charlotte over at Canning Jars etc. nominated me to receive the Kreativ Blogger award. I was touched that Ms. Charlotte would pick me. I love Canning Jars etc. because I am just learning to can, and she kindly answers all of my questions. She even encourages me on my own blog! Thank you, Ms. Charlotte for giving me my first blog award!
In order to accept this award, I have to write 7 things that are interesting about myself.

I enjoy reading old and out of print books. (One of my favorite sites is Olde-Books.)
I play the piano, and I will teach myself the ocarina. The ocarina is like a flute.
I record silly songs with my brother that we make up. Ben and I call it "BenAnna Radio".
I love animals, especially Kathie, our black lab, and Maggie, our black cat.
I have a pet hermit crab named Rosie. Rosie is 1 1/2 years old, which is quite old for a hermit crab.
I like to scare my brother and listen to him scream especially now that his voice has changed! :)
I enjoy camping with my family and our dog in Virginia State Parks.

These are the blogs that I nominate to win the award:

The Girotti family at Mountain Musings. They are great friends, and have a very unique blog. Mrs. Girotti always felt that somebody in our family needed to have a blog, so I took the challenge.
The Castleberrys at Farming Wisconsin. They blog about their homestead life on their family farm. I also love reading their books.
Mrs. Brodock at Teaching Good Things. I have enjoyed her garden challenge, and I appreciate her thoughts and encouragement.
Mrs. Bettie Need at Titus 2 Joy. I love her godly encouragement as a young girl! She also is my adopted Grammie.
The Servens at The Serven Clan. They blog about their life as a family. I enjoy listening to their CD's. We are learning to sing parts at church using their CD's.
Mrs. Murphy at Linda's Contemplations. She has some great thoughts and some wonderful stories. One of my favorite stories is Sammy, our new dog.
Granny Miller. She has stopped blogging, but she has left her blog on the internet. I still enjoy reading about her agrarian life. She always took time to answer my questions.

To accept the Kreativ Bloggers award, do the following:

Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Thanks to everyone who visits my blog! I enjoy learning about gardening for my family!

Garden Sitting

2009-07-03T19:31:00.005-04:00

I have been garden sitting for some friends of our family this past week.

Ben and Momma helped me water the plants and pick some produce.

Hannah said that we could keep some of the vegetables and berries. We all loved the raspberries that we picked. We picked enough berries to make some freezer jam.

How many did you eat, Ben?

Brave Ben saved us from the fake snakes!

I hope that you had a great time, Hannah!

Dehydrating Parsley

2009-07-01T14:25:00.003-04:00

Momma and I dehydrated some parsley to use during the winter when fresh parsley is not available. We normally use it on breaded chicken and fish.

Parsley is from the carrot family. It is not very strong, but has its own flavor. Parsley is commonly used as a garnish in many dishes.

One thing that you can make is a creamy parsley or a ranch salad dressing. (Ben loves ranch dressing!) We have had a lot of lettuce, so different salad dressings are a treat.

Parsley Salad Dressing
Ingredients:
½ cup salad oil
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
3 scallions, finely chopped
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sour cream (or fresh plain yogurt)

Combine all ingredients except sour cream in food processor, blender or bowl and mix well. With machine running (or using whisk if preparing by hand), slowly add sour cream, blending thoroughly. Refrigerate in an airtight jar. Makes about 1 cup.

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Ranch Salad Dressing

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons dry parsley flakes
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons onion salt
1 quart mayonnaise
1 pint sour cream
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon salt
1 pint buttermilk

Directions:

Combine all ingredients. Allow flavors to blend overnight. Reduce recipe in half if desired.

Makes 2 quarts, and stores well chilled for a few weeks. Use for salads or any other recipes requiring a ranch dressing.

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The stems and leaves of parsley can be dried. Dehydrated leaves are used for flakes, while the stems are best for powder. The stems take much longer to dry than the leaves do. We only dried the leaves, since we do not use parsley powder. We dried the parsley leaves for 20 hours at 110°.

Below is the process that we used with our Nesco American Harvest dehydrator:

We washed the leaves and let them dry on a towel.
After the leaves were patted with a towel to remove excess water, we laid them on the rack of the dehydrator.
Once the parsley was dehydrated, we broke off the leaves and placed them in a glass jar.
We have two jars of parsley flakes for the winter!

Garden Tours - Part 4

2009-06-29T14:46:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday, we visited Heartland Harvest for a tour of their farm and gardens. They have 584 acres. Their beautiful gardens are huge! Below are some pictures from our tour of their gardens.

They have potatoes in a separate field down the road from their house. One group of rows is red potatoes and 3 more groups of rows are white potatoes. In the same field are some pumpkins. They use oats as mulch in both the field and the garden. Mr. Showalter grows the oats, and then turns them into the ground in order to enrich the soil.
They are growing beans, squash, watermelons, strawberries, rhubarb, tomatoes, cucumbers, asparagus, lettuce, spinach, grapes and onions. Their tomatoes also had blight like mine did this year. The asparagus has gone to seed, but the plants are still beautiful. Their rhubarb is about done. We had gotten our rhubarb at Heartland Harvest this year since our plant is not ready to use. The Showalter family uses black paper around the plants to keep the weeds down. I was excited to hear that Mr. Showalter uses garlic to keep pests away like I do. He uses garlic in a spray form, though I used the powder. (He has a lot more space to cover!)

The grapes grow over an arbor. We tasted some of their grape juice at our home fellowship for communion. It was very good!
Thank you, Heartland Harvest, for the tour! We are glad that you are our neighbors!

Cabbage Patch Kids

2009-06-26T13:56:00.003-04:00

I planted some cabbage in the garden this year. The plants have some heads growing. A problem has developed in the cabbage patch. One of the heads had been chewed. I examined it further and found something that looked like dark green eggs.I guessed that they were eggs or "cabbage patch kids" developing into a new pest. The picture below is of the eggs. I removed them by squishing them. Then, I sprinkled garlic powder on the cabbage. Garlic is a natural insect deterrent. If they are aphids, they also do not like garlic like ants, their friends. Both are pests in the garden.

After some research, these are some of the ideas I had.

Is it aphids? They come in a variety of colors, including green.
It is not coddling moths, as their eggs are transparent. (They eat cabbage)
Is it a cabbage loop worm or a cabbage moth?
Or, is it entirely something else?

I still do not know who or what the "cabbage patch kids" are. I am leaning towards aphids. If it is aphids, I need ladybugs! If you recognize this problem, please comment and give me your ideas and suggestions on what they are, or how to treat them.

Lemon Balm and Toads

2009-06-24T16:02:00.005-04:00

On Tuesday, Momma, Ben and I went to the greenhouse again. We got a lemon balm plant. Lemon balm is a member of the mint family. It is an herb that is not commonly known. The herb has a strong lemon flavor and many uses. One problem with lemon balm is that it takes up a lot of space, as most mint family members do. Its uses are varied. Lemon balm can be used as bug repellent, lemon flavoring and medicinal purposes. Bria's Bug-Be-Gone Natural Herbal Spray is a lemon balm based insect repellent spray. (Bria's mother, Mrs. Crawford, has a great CD that you can get here.)

A good recipe with lemon balm is a vinaigrette salad dressing.

Lemon Balm Vinaigrette
This recipe is from Old Fashioned Living. You can get more good lemon balm recipes here.

3 tablespoons light olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
6-8 leaves lemon balm
Fresh black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons wine or regular vinegar

Stack the lemon balm leaves together and roll, then with a very sharp knife cut thin strips, and then chop finely. Combine with the other ingredients and serve with steamed vegetables or mixed salad greens.
Ben and I used to catch toads and play with them. (Actually, we still do!) Just recently, I read that toads are good for the garden. Ben found a toad in the shed, and we put it in the garden to catch bugs. We decided to name him Chub, since he was so plump. Chub was deposited next to the peas and carrots. Toads like secluded places, and that location was perfect camouflage. Can you see him in the picture below? Hopefully, Chub will do his job and rid the garden of pests.

Garden Tours - Part 3

2009-06-22T15:36:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday, we went to Grammy and GrandRiley's farm to deliver a Father's Day present to GrandRiley. Before my family left, Grammy gave me a tour of her garden. Her garden has fed many families over the years. She is very generous with her excess produce!

Grammy is growing tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, lima beans, lettuce, corn, asparagus, onions, peppers and green beans. Grammy normally will can some of her produce. She has some raised beds and a one large regular garden.

Grammy's stone bench is an interesting decoration. It was built by Uncle Kirk. He found a limestone slab in the field and made the bench. Grammy decorates it with yellow daylilies and pink coral bells. What a relaxing place to rest after working in the garden!

Some of her favorite gardening time is in her flower garden. Many different colored irises decorate the outskirts of the vegetable garden. Grammy also has some coral bells, zinnias and other annuals around the raised gardens. She also garnishes the border of the washhouse with pansies and daylilies. Do you notice anything around the daylilies?

Did you find what was in the daylilies? It was Brady! Brady is a collie puppy that Grammy and GrandRiley got a few weeks ago. All of the collies that they have had love to lay in Grammy's daylilies. Isn't Brady cute?

Thank you, Grammy, for letting me tour your garden!

Practical Flower Pots

2009-06-19T16:10:00.004-04:00

Momma and I made some practical flower pots this year for the first time. We put some vegetables, herbs and flowers in them to beautify our patio and to help the family food bill. We designed 3 practical pots. The 1st one has apple mint, spearmint, two types of lavender and red leaf lettuce. We have already enjoyed the red leaf lettuce in our salads. It also has some marigolds for color and bug protection. Eventually, the pot will be only mint and lavender for tea and gifts.

The other two pots are the same, and they decorate the front corners of the patio. We call them "hot" pots. They have bright colored flowers and hot jalapenos. Both pots have orange marigolds, carmine glow, zinnias and jalapeno pepper plants. The peppers are for salsa and already have little jalapenos on them.

We got our idea from Mistimorne greenhouse. Momma and I saw some "edible" pots when we went to the greenhouse in May. They had a "Salsa Garden", a "Salad Bar Garden", a "Pick and Eat Garden" and a "Fresh Eatin' Garden". Some of the edible pots had lettuce, tomatoes, marigolds, basil, jalapenos, bell peppers, parsley and other safe to eat plants. We thought that it was a great idea! What do you think?

Gardening and Herbal Gifts

2009-06-17T11:07:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, Grandpa came over to our house for a Father's Day present from me. I gave him some radishes that I had especially grown for him. I also supplied him with some leaf lettuce for his neighbor and himself. We have had a lot of leaf lettuce with all the rain we have been having. Plus, we started getting some butter crunch head lettuce, which is Daddy's favorite.

Besides giving away fresh produce, you can also give away some herbal gifts from your garden. Remember how I had talked about drying oregano? I found some things that you can use dried herbs for-not just cooking. I thought that these two were very interesting for presents.

Herbes De Province
I thought that this one might be like Mrs. Dash®, a no salt seasoning

2 Tablespoons dried basil
1 Tablespoon dried marjoram
½ Tablespoon dried rosemary
1 Tablespoon dried summer savory
2 Tablespoon dried thyme
2 teaspoon lavender flowers
1 bay leaf

Mix together and store in an airtight container.

Dried Flower and Herb Sachets
This would be good to scent clothes or beds...

Make a small bag with a somewhat open weave. Leave one side open to stuff the herbs in.
Mix together enough dried herbs or flowers to fill the bag.
To enhance the scent, a few drops of essential oil can be added.
Fill the bag with the flowers or herbs.
Sew the bag closed, or tie the end tightly with ribbon or string.
Gently rubbing the bag will crush the herbs and make them release their fragrance.

Tips and Ideas

Good, strong-scented flowers and herbs to fill the sachets with: lavender, lemon balm, lilac, mint, rosemary, roses, scented geraniums and thyme.
To scent the bathroom: Let them float in the bathtub or tie a string just long enough to hold them under the faucet.
Holiday and seasonal fabrics help turn this simple sachet into a thoughtful gift

On a future post, I will give some gift ideas for using fresh herbs. It is a joy to share your harvest with family and friends!

Dehydrating Oregano

2009-06-15T16:13:00.006-04:00

Last week, Momma and I gathered oregano from my herb garden. Oregano is a member of the mint family. We decided to dehydrate the oregano to use this winter. Momma and I dried it in our dehydrator which our family uses for a variety of foods. Here is how we preserved the herb.

Early in the morning, I went to cut the oregano in order for the good oils to stay in the plant. Momma and I gently washed the oregano and allowed it to dry on towels.
After most of the water had evaporated from the oregano, we placed it on the racks of the dehydrator. We dried it for 15 hours at 105°. We then checked the dryness. Some of the herbs were dry after 15 hours, but most had to go a little bit longer.
We broke the leaves off of the stems and placed the leaves in a glass jar.
After all the leaves were dry, we placed a plastic lid on the jar and marked it. We labeled it since a lot of herbs look alike when they are dehydrated!

Momma and I hope to dry some other herbs from my garden when we have an abundance of them. Have you ever dried herbs?

Updates and Blights

2009-06-12T11:44:00.005-04:00

My garden has been doing quite well lately. We have been harvesting leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, spinach and onions. My cucumbers have sprouted and are growing. I raised the squash from seed, and it is a little behind the other plants in most people's gardens. Also, bad seed does not help matters much. :) The buttercrunch head lettuce is almost ready for harvest. The peas have gotten some blooms, as well as the peppers and jalapenos. The carrots, radishes and cabbage also have been developing.

However, the cherry tomatoes are not exactly healthy. They were doing well until Momma and I noticed yellow and brown spots on the leaves. I researched it and found out that they had early blight. One of the causes of early blight is hot weather with lots of rain which is exactly what has been happening recently with our weather. We have experienced hot and humid weather with thunderstorms almost every night and rain, just the perfect combination for early blight.

Would you believe that another cause for early blight is plainly too little water? All types are treated the same. You DO NOT need to water the infected plants as often, unless they have the blight from too little water.

Here is what I did. I first put cornmeal on the soil around the plant to dry it. Then, I put grass clippings around them as mulch. I read that you should put mulch around the plant to keep the moisture in the roots, but not near the leaves. I trimmed off the bottom leaves so that air could circulate through the plant. I got some Serenade® fungicide spray to apply to the plant to destroy the blight. This spray is supposed to be organic. If you want to try to make your own fungicide spray, here is a good place to look.
The blight on the tomato leaves looks yellow/light green with some brown spots on some of the leaves. Have you ever had early blight? If so, what did you do?

Garden Tours - Part 2

2009-06-10T15:47:00.008-04:00

Today, I went to Hannah and Mrs. Girotti's house while Ben worked on their lawn mower. (He does small engine repair.) I toured Hannah's vegetable garden and Mrs. Girotti's flower garden. You can visit Hannah at Graceful Designs Cards and Mrs. Girotti at Mountain Musings.

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Hannah's Garden

Hannah has 2 large gardens. She is growing squash, zucchini, cucumbers, garlic, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, corn, lettuce, arugula, spinach, peppers, beans and parsnips. Herbs, berries and fruit complete her garden. The herbs consist of cilantro and basil. Hannah's berries are blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. The fruits that she raises are cantaloupe and watermelon.

Hannah was the one who gave me the suggestion of putting up peas on chicken wire. She uses chicken wire with posts for a fence around each garden. She has a lot of trouble with deer trying to eat her produce, and the chicken wire helps to stop them. Thank you, Hannah, for allowing me to tour your garden!
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Mrs. Girotti's Flower Garden

Mrs. Girotti plants flowers around Hannah's garden. Yarrow, lavender, cat mint, coneflowers and wild blue indigo decorate the outside of the vegetable garden. However, she does not limit her flowers to the garden alone. Mrs. Girotti planted some flowers around the outside of the house and porch. She has more lavender, different colored petunias, begonias, geraniums, and pansies.

Mrs. Girotti enjoys antiques. She creatively planted her flowers in an old wheelbarrow, a watering can and a metal tub. You can view more of her pictures at her blog. Thank you for showing me your flowers, Mrs. Girotti!

Garden Tours - Part 1

2009-06-09T08:34:00.006-04:00

Over the next few weeks, I am going to be doing some garden tours. The gardens that will be featured are ones of family and friends. Enjoy the tours!
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Mrs. Shifflett's Garden

Mrs. Shifflett has 6 raised beds. She also has some pots with herbs in them. Her daughter, Olivia, tends one of the raised beds and part of another. Olivia is growing some yellow pear tomatoes, bush beans, banana peppers, yellow squash and Mr. Stripey tomatoes. Mr. Stripey tomatoes are heirloom tomatoes. They have stripes of red and green or yellow.

Mrs. Shifflett planted potatoes, large bell peppers, yellow peppers, beef steak, better boy and volunteer tomatoes. Volunteer tomatoes are the plants that come up on their own from previous years. She also grew spinach, onions, zucchini, cucumbers, romaine, green leaf and red leaf lettuce.

Did you notice the red plastic pieces around the tomatoes in the picture in the upper left corner of the collage? They are called Super-Gro tomato boosters. The red color of the boosters are supposed to ripen the tomatoes faster. The water wells slowly let the water out to the plant. There are three fertilizer holes that are filled every three days with new fertilizer. The plant is grown in the hole in the middle. I will be excited to find out what happens with the boosters.

Mrs. Shifflett has some herbs growing in pots next to her porch. She enjoys having them nearby so that she can go outside and easily get fresh herbs for her cooking. (The picture is in the bottom left corner of the collage.) She is growing parsley, cilantro, dill, rosemary, thyme, chives, oregano and basil.
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I hope that you have enjoyed the first garden tour. Thank you, Mrs. Shifflett and Olivia, for allowing me to post about you and your gardens!

Pressure Canner Testing

2009-06-05T17:16:00.009-04:00

Today, we went to the local co-op to test our pressure canner with our extension agent. The agent tested the canner first by looking through the petcock. Then, she added pressure to the lid to test the gauge. She said that our gauge was great, except that it was off by 2 pounds. The extension agent explained that all we needed to do was add 2 pounds to the poundage that the recipe said. Otherwise, she noted that the canner was in very good condition. We asked her how old she thought that it was, and she guessed that the canner was about 40 years old. We got the pressure canner off of eBay for a very reasonable price. I can't wait to use it! Here is a great place to visit to find out more about pressure cookers. The link is to Canning Jars etc., a blog that Momma and I both enjoy. We like to read the posts and ask canning questions to Ms. Charlotte. She responds quickly and is very kind and understanding. I love learning from her. You can visit her blog here. (Thank you Ms. Charlotte!)

Strawberry Pie!

2009-06-04T12:13:00.005-04:00

This morning, Momma and I made a strawberry pie. The recipe is from Momma's Aunt Kay. It has always been a favorite in our family. I always look forward to June for strawberry pie! YUM! We use a deep-dish pie shell from the store, but you probably could make your own pie crust.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons strawberry jello
1 deep dish pie shell

Bake pie shell according to directions. Allow to cool. Mix sugar, water, cornstarch and jello. (Mix cornstarch with dry ingredients before adding water.) Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute. Cool. Pour over strawberries in pie shell. Chill in refrigerator over night. Serve with Cool Whip.
We made one, although I am hoping that we can make some more pies before the season is over. Do you have a favorite strawberry recipe?

Strawberries!

2009-06-03T16:44:00.006-04:00

Today, Momma, Ben and I got some strawberries for jam. We got 12 quarts! We also bought some rhubarb for strawberry rhubarb jam.
After we got home, Momma and I made some strawberry jam and strawberry freezer jam. We got the strawberry jam recipe from my Ball Blue Book of Preserving. Out of 8 quarts of strawberries, we got 16 pints of jam! I loved to listen to the lids "pop" and seal as they came out of the canner. With 2 more quarts of berries, we made strawberry freezer jam. The other 2 quarts will be used for ice cream and strawberry pie. I will post on the strawberry pie soon.

Here are the 2 recipes for both the strawberry jam and the strawberry freezer jam.

Strawberry Jam

Yield: About 6 pints

2 quarts strawberries
1 package powdered pectin
1/4 cup lemon juice
7 cups sugar

Wash strawberries; drain. Remove stems. Crush strawberries one layer at a time. Combine strawberries, powdered pectin and lemon juice in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if neccessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
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Strawberry Freezer Jam

Yield: Maybe 2 pints. (We had some different sized jars from the jelly you can get in the store.)

1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cups crushed strawberries
1 package freezer pectin

Mix together pectin and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add crushed strawberries. Mix well. Ladle into freezer safe jars. Place one-piece lids on the jars. (We used the lids that came with the jars.) Let jars sit 30 minutes. Place in freezer.
I had a long, but happy day. I cannot wait to can some more!

Monday Mystery in the Flower Garden

2009-06-01T10:56:00.005-04:00

Today, Momma and I noticed that a beautiful flower had bloomed in the corner flower bed. We did not know what it was, so I decided to see if any of my readers might know what this pink flower is.

Here are some guesses and clues that Momma and I came up with. Unfortunately, our guesses did not produce answers.

It might be one of the flowers that Grammie gave us last year with some irises.
The plant could be a wildflower, since we planted some seeds in that spot a few years ago before the irises.
It also could be from a seed that a bird dropped. We have a lot of birds come to our yard.
Our flower is 1½ feet tall.
The flowers are somewhat like that of the petunia and the morning glory. (We had morning glories there many years ago...)
The leaves are narrow and jagged.

Can you help solve our mystery? Please comment if you can help us identify this plant!

Bye Bye Ants!

2009-05-29T15:41:00.006-04:00

Ants are sometimes garden pests. Otherwise, they are quite interesting to watch. The ants are very thorough in their work and are mentioned in the Bible as examples of diligence. A problem of being so industrious is that they are persistent in destroying the garden too!

Yesterday, I was working in my garden, and I was wondering why a bush bean plant was not coming up. I had planted older seeds, but all the others plants had sprouted and grown. Next to the spot where there was no seedling, there was a bean plant that was "stuck" in the dirt. So, I carefully removed the dirt where there was no seedling. I was expecting to find an unsprouted seed. Instead, I discovered a mushy little bean plant with ants crawling all over it! I dug around some more and found their colony. Ants were running all over the bean plant that was next to the colony. I eliminated a few ants, but many still existed. I needed to protect my plants!

I came inside and looked in my gardening books, but they only mentioned ants twice with barely any information to get rid of them. They classified them as garden pests. I agree with the pest part! I really did not want to use a pesticide to kill them. Momma did some research for me to find out how to destroy the ants organically. I got busy studying.

Some plants keep ants away. The options I found for plants that ants dislike were pennyroyal, mint, onions and garlic. I did not have any spare plants or room for them, so that was not a choice.

I could have used cucumber peels nearby the plants since ants do not appreciate them either. With having Kathie, our lab, that might have been just a little bit too tempting for her to enjoy a cucumber peel snack in my garden. You can also use lemon juice to keep ants away. I might try that later...

After all of my studying on organic pest control for ants, I ended up using a mixture of cayenne pepper and garlic powder. Cayenne pepper is good to sprinkle around the ant hills to rid a garden of them. Since they dislike garlic, I added that too. I sprinkled the mixture on the ground around the area with the beans. I placed some coffee grounds over top of the spicy concoction to hold it down. Coffee grounds also help to keep them away. I will post on coffee grounds' benefits for a garden later.

Do you have any organic suggestions to rid gardens of pests, especially ants?

Update: It is Saturday, the day after the experiment, and the ants are gone! Hopefully, they are gone for good. I added a little more of my garlic powder and cayenne pepper just to be safe. I also added more coffee grounds. The concoction does work, and if you have ants, you might want to give it a try!

A Harvest for Little Tait!

2009-05-28T09:37:00.004-04:00

The LORD has blessed Little Tait's family! He has provided for their needs! Here is what the Zimmermans said on Little Tait's website:May 27 Update: Thanks to the blessing of God, and His working through the thousands of people who supported us, we have met our June 3 goal of $51,644 a week early! Honestly, we never expected to receive this much response, and are in awe of the Lord's mercy and power! We are still waiting for negotiation on the $650,000 hospital to be completed, and are working on the "small" miscellaneous bill, which total over $15,000. We appreciate your continued prayer and support, and will keep everyone updated as we hear back from the hospital and other doctors.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

Lovage

2009-05-27T15:35:00.005-04:00

Lovage is an perennial herb. It can grow up to 6 feet tall. Lovage tastes like a very strong celery. All of the plant is edible, including its roots, stalk, seeds and leaves. We use the leaves in our salads. The stalk can be used as celery, but you definitely do not need as much. Lovage's stalk is not an alternative to celery sticks, since its flavor is so strong. It is best used in salads or soups.

The seeds of lovage have a sweeter celery taste. They can be used as celery seeds in recipes. They are ripe in early summer. You can harvest them by waiting until the seeds are brown. You cut it a little below the seed stalk and dry them.

When you harvest lovage the first year, you should not gather very much of it. You should only acquire it from the outside of the plant. After the first year, you can reap all you want!

Our lovage plant is 15+ years old. Momma and Daddy transplanted the herb to our home in the country when they moved from the city. We have used our lovage plant ever since.

If you have lovage, what do you use it for?

Garden Blueprint!

2009-05-26T10:58:00.003-04:00

Here is an update on how my garden is looking.My cherry tomatoes were from my Grammy. Thank you, Grammy! A few of the cucumbers were killed from the frost. I will replant those hills. My cilantro has taken over some of the herb garden, so I am going to trim it back today.

Peas and Posts

2009-05-22T17:44:00.003-04:00

My peas have been sprouting with all the rain we have been having lately. Peas are members of the lagoon family. We decided to stake them this year to help contain them, so they wouldn't take over the garden. Daddy and Ben staked them up last Saturday. The stakes were wooden with chicken wire stapled to them for the peas to climb. The peas are doing well now and are growing up the chicken wire. I will post on the harvest later.

An Update on Little Tait

2009-05-21T09:28:00.004-04:00

Little Tait is doing quite well now. He was a preemie baby, and his parents are facing extremely high hospital and doctor bills. The first bill they got was negotiated down to $51,644. The original price was $186,789. They have raised $38,062 as of May 19. They only need $13,582 more! This bill is due on June 3, 2009. If they do not raise the money, the bill will be turned over to collections. May the LORD bless their efforts and may He give his people a generous spirit.

This post, I am going to be endorsing some businesses that are giving money to Little Tait.

Graceful Designs Cards. Hannah, a good friend of mine and the owner of Graceful Designs, is giving 5% of all her total sales this month to Little Tait.

BreezyTulip's Studio. Miss Breezy is giving $10 of the all of the sales of the print "The Library" to Little Tait.

Visit Simply Vintagegirl Blog for buttons on Little Tait. Thank you, Miss Emily Rose, for the buttons!

Rhubarb

2009-05-20T16:55:00.011-04:00

Rhubarb is a member of the buckwheat family. Rhubarb is a perennial. It should not be harvested the first year and only a little bit the second year. Beginning the third year, you can harvest as much as you want. Rhubarb is has a tart flavor. It is a light red or red on its stalk.

I do not grow rhubarb, though I hope to do so soon. Momma loves rhubarb. We got some rhubarb from Heartland Harvest, which is just up the road from us. Momma and I used the rhubarb in some jam and a coffeecake. Here is the rhubarb jam and coffeecake recipe that we used.

EASY Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Yield: 2 pints

5 cups diced rhubarb (about 10 stalks)
1 small can crushed pineapple (drained)
2 cups sugar
1 small pkg strawberry Jell-o

Mix together the rhubarb, pineapple and sugar. Let stand 2 hours, then boil 8-12 minutes. Remove from heat add the dry Jell-o, stir and pour into jars or plastic containers. Refrigerate for immediate use, freeze or process in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes with 1/4 inch headspace.
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If you do not like Jell-o in your jam, here is another recipe

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Yield: 6 pints.

4 cups crushed strawberries
4 cups chopped rhubarb
2 packages powdered pectin
1/2 cup lemon juice
11 cups sugar

Combine strawberries, rhubarb, pectin and lemon juice in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove form heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.
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Rhubarb Coffeecake

In a medium mixing bowl, beat together:
1/2 cup melted shortening
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Add 1/2 cup buttermilk (or regular milk)
Add: 2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Mix in 2 cups fresh rhubarb, cut fine
Spread batter in buttered 9" x 9" pan.
Top with mixture of:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp melted butter
Bake at 375º for 35 - 40 minutes.

We were introduced to this scrumptious coffeecake when we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Kentucky while visiting the Creation Museum. It has been a favorite in our family ever since.

Frost Protection

2009-05-19T14:18:00.003-04:00

Over the last two nights, we have had some frost. Daddy and I placed tarps over the plants for protection. We did some research and found out some things.

There are two types of frost, light frosts and hard killing frosts. The first night, we had a light frost, but last night, we had a hard frost. Last night, we covered some of the plant with tarps twice because the temperature was 29º.

I read that you should water the plants before you cover them. Watering them first traps the moisture and warms the plants some during the night. Another way to keep the plants warm is to place a bottle of warm water with the plants because water holds heat longer than the plants.

Also, cover your plants before dusk, since the air gets colder after the sun goes down. Covering the plants before dusk helps trap some warm air underneath the tarps. A good website to look at for more information on frost protection is here.

Easy Gardener's Soap

2009-05-18T11:12:00.004-04:00

Momma and I are going to make soap this summer. Until then, we were looking for another way to have a "homemade" soap. This is somewhat of a homemade soap though it uses store bought soap. It is supposed to help get off the dirt and grime from working in the garden without scrubbing so much. It is simple and fast to make. The soap also works for mechanics, etc.

Easy Homemade Gardener's Soap
This came from Frugal Living

You will need:

Dish soap or hand soap
Corn meal
An empty container

Instructions:

Fill an empty container with dish soap – enough for one hand washing or enough to wash your hands a bunch of times. The choice is yours.
Then, add corn meal to the soap – just a sprinkle for a small batch and as much as a tablespoon for a big batch.
Stir the mixture up, and rub a bit between your fingers to test the grittiness.
Add corn meal (if needed) until you reach the right consistency.
Use immediately, or store in an air-tight container for future use.

If you have a good soap recipe, why not comment and share it with everyone?

Gone to the Greenhouse!

2009-05-15T13:55:00.008-04:00

On Wednesday, we went to the greenhouse. The greenhouse we go to is Mistimorne Plants. It is located outside of Harrisonburg and Dayton, VA. The owners are our neighbor's brother, so we have always gone there. We got flowers, herbs and vegetables. For the flowers, we got marigolds, zinnias, snapdragons, salvias, geraniums, impatiens and carmine glow. For the herbs, we got two types of lavender, mint apple, spearmint, parsley and lettuce leaf basil. The vegetables we got were jalapenos, peppers, tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce and cabbage.

We planted the most of the flowers, mints, lavenders, a little red leaf lettuce and jalapenos in Momma's flower pots. The rest of the vegetables, herbs and flowers went in my garden. I will update my garden blueprint in a future post. In another post, I will tell you about Momma's flower pots.

A Thank You and the Winner

2009-05-14T12:33:00.006-04:00

The winner of the May Giveaway is Theresa! The DVD that was won was Christianity and Science Fiction: Reclaiming the Genre for Christ.

Thank you God's Dancing Child for commenting on the giveaway. Thank you to everyone for commenting and encouraging me as I garden for my family! It really means a lot to me when you comment.

Gutter Gardening!

2009-05-12T14:56:00.006-04:00

Momma and I were looking at Mrs. Edmond's website and saw that she had posted on gutter gardening. Gutter gardening is not really in a gutter on a roof, but it is done in plastic gutters so that you can place them on the side of the house. The idea started in Alaska where a lady had really wanted a garden. You can read her story here. Gutter gardens can also be put along a porch railing etc. I thought that it was a neat idea. It can also be used when you have poor soil, or when you do not have room for a garden.

While I am talking about Alaska, I would like to update a post that I made earlier on Little Tait who also lives in Alaska. As of yesterday, they had $29,268. They still need money for his medical bills. I think that it is exciting how the LORD has been providing for them. See Little Tait's story here.

Happy Mother's Day, Momma!

2009-05-10T18:03:00.004-04:00

My Momma is the best woman in my life. She is my friend and confidant. Our family could not cooperate without her. Momma is the best cook, washerwoman, housekeeper and doctor all combined in one! She is not world wide known, but I think she could if she wanted to be!

I love you, Momma! Happy Mother's Day!

May Giveaway!!

2009-05-08T19:42:00.014-04:00

One of my family's favorite places to buy things for the family is Vision Forum. I have been chosen by them to offer a giveaway from their new DVD titles in the Reclaiming the Culture set. I am very excited to offer this to you!

In order to participate in the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post with your name and the title of the DVD you would like if you win. In your comment, please put your e-mail address (I will edit out the e-mail address before posting your comment**). The contest will close on Wednesday, May 13 at midnight EST.

Here are the choices of DVD's.

You May Not Take Our Guns
The Devolution of Law
Top Ten Questions About Genesis and Creation
The State of Parental Rights in America
Christianity and Science Fiction: Reclaiming the Genre for Christ (1 DVD and 2 CD's)

If you would like to visit Vision Forum's website to see the descriptions of the new Reclaiming the Culture set and all the wonderful things that they offer to the family, please click through me on the button below.

I will post a winner on Thursday, May 14. Check back to find out who won! If you win, I will contact you through your e-mail.

**I got a comment and found out that I cannot edit out anything. I do not want you to get spammed, so I am going to post your comments without the e-mail address. I will post them under my name. This would be the example content of a comment: "Posted by Anna for Gardening For My Family-- This is a test comment." Please post your comments just like before. DO NOT WORRY, this is not an extra thing added to my life! I actually enjoy technical things and working with computers. I am sorry that this happened. PLEASE NOTE, THIS COMMENTING STYLE IS ONLY FOR THIS POST. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO POST LIKE NORMAL ON THE OTHER POSTS. Thank you!

Seeds in the Ground!

2009-05-08T14:35:00.006-04:00

Last Saturday, Daddy and I planted some things in my garden. Daddy made the rows, while I planted. I planted cucumbers, squash, leeks, spinach, lettuce, peas and bush beans. I planted two types of cucumbers, Poinsette 76 and regular hybrid cucumbers. The squash seeds are older, but they hopefully will still work.

I have not filled the whole garden up yet, but I am going to get some plants at the greenhouse next week. I will get some buttercrunch lettuce, which we greatly enjoyed last year. I also will be getting some tomato, pepper and parsley plants. When I get the plants, I will also plant radishes and onions. I would have already planted the radishes and the onions, but I would like to get the plants from the greenhouse first.
I added the "blueprint" of the garden so you can see where I planted everything. The circles are hills, the lines are rows and the square is the herbs. I will update the garden blueprint in a future post.

Homeschooling...

2009-05-08T10:19:00.006-04:00

Momma loves this kind of homeschooling. These are her reasons:

Daddy and I are working together in the garden as a team.
We are in the dirt working, not just reading about it.
I am finding things out in one of my gardening books and immediately putting the information to use.

Catnip...

2009-05-06T16:32:00.007-04:00

Catnip is normally thought of as a non-usable weed that comes up in people's yards. Many cats go crazy at the very smell of catnip. Maggie LOVES to eat catnip. (It is the ONLY green thing that she likes.) Catnip attracts cats, which is not a very good thing for gardens.Catnip is an herb that is a member of the mint family. It has heart shaped leaves, a hairy stalk and a light blueish-gray color. Catnip has a recognizable odor that has a faint aroma of mint in it.

An interesting fact I learned is that catnip repels mosquitoes. It can be made into a mosquito spray. However, like all herbs, some people could be allergic to it. Below is a recipe for mosquito spray that came from the Hobby Farms Home magazine. I have not tried it, so I do not know how it works. If anyone tries it, let me know if it works!

Easy Catnip Mosquito Spray

Pack a 1-quart canning jar with bruised or chopped catnip or other herbs. Fill the jar to the brim with boiling water, cap the jar and let it sit overnight. Strain and pour the resulting liquid into a pump dispenser. Store unused portions in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Olive Plants...

2009-05-04T16:07:00.006-04:00

Psalm 128:3 "Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine on the sides of thine house, and thy children like olive plants around thy table."

I wanted to place this post on my blog not because I have olive plants, which I do not, but because children are a blessing of the LORD. They are the parents' "garden" to tend.

My Momma first looked-up this website and showed it to us. Here is a background on the site.

Tait Zimmerman Jr., is the precious little first-born son of his parents, Tait and Lauren Zimmerman. He was born 3 months before his due date of February 4, 2009. Little Tait had to stay in the hospital for 3 months in the ICU. His parents were billed $186,769, but their representative was able to negotiate it down to $51,644.35. The problem is that the bill will jump up to the original amount unless they pay the bill before June 3, 2009. They are still waiting for the hospital bill, which will probably be much MUCH more. If you feel led to donate to them and wish to read the rest of Little Tait's story, please visit his site at www.littletait.com.

Leeks and Garlic

2009-05-01T10:36:00.002-04:00

As I was planning my garden, I remembered that when I planted leeks last year, there were some helpful things that resulted from them.

We enjoyed fresh leeks from the garden all winter by keeping them in the ground.
Leeks are a natural insect repellent. I planted them next to the cucumbers, and they kept away the Japanese beetles. We always had a problem with the Japanese beetles' LOVING to eat the cucumber leaves, but not last year!

Leeks are large onions that can be an inch wide. Their white part can be 3 inches tall. Elephant garlic, which is thought to be garlic, is a leek.

The wild "onions" that normally pop up in most people's yards are actually wild garlic. You can use the tops of the wild garlic like chives. A friend of mine told me that she uses the top green part chopped up for people to put in soup.

Another additional way to extend a harvest of garlic, is to cut off the unopened flowers, called scapes. They are located on the tips of the garlic plant. You can sauté them with mushrooms, or add them raw to your salad.

Did you notice...

2009-04-28T12:01:00.004-04:00

I was wondering if you noticed something strange in the last post. How often do you see white flags floating in the breeze around a garden? (HINT: It is not a carnival.) The white flags are actually for our dear little black lab Kathie, who will turn 1 in May! They are 'watch out' flags for her underground fence. Does she look like a culprit? Last year, she took a big juicy yellow tomato that would soon be ready to eat. This year we decided to stop her before she got to the harvest first! The most unfortunate thing is that white flags do not keep out kitty-cats. Actually, our cat Maggie, thinks that white flags are GREAT to get behind because A) Kathie will get zapped if she goes to get her. B) She can irritate Kathie by saying, "I can get behind here and you can't. Wanna come get me?" The picture of Maggie is really cute... Doesn't she look happy? :)

The New Raised Bed Gardens

2009-04-28T10:26:00.006-04:00

On Saturday, Daddy and Ben finished my 2 new gardens. They borrowed Grammy's tiller to help get the soil ready. We got the soil from the dry pond in the field next to us. The soil was clumpy from being wet earlier, so Momma went to Tractor Supply and got peat moss. We also added some lime that we had in the shed. The tilling worked great, and they got all the clumps out! The gardens are ready to be planted in which is wonderful! Now, I am waiting for the last spring frost, which is around Mother's Day, to plant my summer vegetables.

First Sprouts of Spring!

2009-04-24T10:15:00.005-04:00

I went out to take a few pictures of my garden and saw that my lettuce had sprouted. The lettuce picture looks a little bit blurry, but you have the idea of what it looks like. I planted some garlic this spring, and they sprouted too. Also, my family has been enjoying the spring onions I planted last fall. I also planted spinach, carrots, and peas. The spinach has not sprouted yet and neither has the carrots. I am also hoping that the peas will grow after our family cat, Maggie, dug in their row. (I do not know why she had to dig RIGHT there, but Maggie must have decided that I should have one failure to write about. :) I did find some of the unfortunate pea seeds around. I will have to post a picture of Kathie, our black lab, and Maggie in the future, so you know what they look like.)