Fall Insanity!

Sorry guys!

I've got myself eyeball deep in off and online work. I have pear butter and stock to can, apples to deal with (how I haven't yet decided) cat/dog meals to make, piles of laundry to wash, chickens and rabbits to butcher, cages to clean, mouths to feed, contracts and articles to write ...
Ok, fine I will admit it:
I am in way over my head!
So I won't be posting this week. I mean, I still might if I can get my to-do list down to a single sheet of paper, which seems highly improbable.
Take comfort in the fact that when I do post again I have all sorts of interesting things to write about!
I hope everyone else is having a less hectic week.
Kindest regards,
Emily

Following Your Passion- sort of-

Lately I have been struggling with some big decisions about my future, mainly about my continuing education. It's hard to make a choice that's true to yourself when there are so many other people who will be affected by the decision you make. I know whatever I do decide someone will not be happy. I'm not going to make a case for any of the possible option but rather I want to explain why this is so important to me.

I have always been a curious and creative person. I want to learn how something works, to understand the minute details makes me so excited and puts me in awe of gods creation. By learned how things work I am inspired to create with those systems in mind.
 
I was browsing the internet for some breakfast inspiration when I stumbled upon Kale and Eggs (Or Why You Should Start a Food Blog) by Shanna Mallon and then this post about how god appreciates creativity. She talked about the uncertainty of putting yourself "out there" through blogging. That's true anytime you take a stand on a subject or go out on a limb with an idea. 

I have let this post lay since I didn't feel like I had anything concrete to say and I still don't, however it's Monday. I should be posting something about food and egg and greens/ broccoli are my new favorite breakfast and lunch.



Our hens give us more eggs than we can eat and we eat them every which way so we sell the extras. Our chickens are fully free ranging right now and locked in their house for safety at night. Since they get to eat grass to their hearts content they have gorgeous, nutritious, bright orange yolks that are richer in Omega-3s than store bought eggs or eggs from penned chicken. If you are interested in buying eggs let me know!

Depending on how big your kale is you can cut it into ribbons or leave it whole. I'm preferring it cut into ribbons these days. I also discovered that toasted sprouted almonds are sooo yummy in this.



















I toast the sliced sprouted almonds in butter or coconut oil and saute the greens in butter before adding the beaten eggs. Whenever cooking eggs remember a hot greasy pan prevents the eggs from sticking. I dislike washing pans encrusted with eggs...

         Toss in some halved cherry tomatoes after the eggs are cooked and enjoy!

This post is participating in The Homestead Barn hop,  Healthy Tuesdays, HomeAcre and Frugal Days Sustainable Ways blog hops, check them out to find other great blogs like ours!

-Week 13 in Review- Fall Gardening

Ahh...overgrown glory! As you can see the garden is more than a little weedy. Would you believe that I was pulling a crammed bucketful, sometimes two, of weeds a day for the rabbits? yeah, I wouldn't either but it's true. I have to admit, I've slacked off and started feeding pellets again. I got all busy with fruit and canning, which is a whole other post!

This garden was a joint effort between our landlords, the farm manager who recent left and ourselves. We didn't get in on spring planting for a whole host of reasons but we have been helping weed, pick and now are planting a fall and winter garden.

 You might have noticed, if you are one of those folks with an internal compass, that this garden is shaded on the south side by big trees. I don't feel like being a gripe since I am just thankful we have a garden period but you do not want anything, especially super tall evergreen trees shading your garden on the south side since that is where the majority of your sun comes from.

Lack of sun and soil low in nutrients and possibly mishandled ( I wasn't paying that much attention in the spring so I really can't say) meant that the sun-loving plants and those that need lots of nutrients didn't do so great. However the Clover has gone mad which means there will at least be nitrogen next season. Hopefully the talking about putting in a sunny garden as well actually turns into doing in the spring.

The landlords also planted raspberries along the lower fence.
 I don't know if getting established made them fruit late or what but they are just setting fruit now. Such a nice little snack...

















We found this cool little guy when we were digging up beds for planting. I had never seen a wild salamander before so I was super excited. That little salamander was really hard to photograph, talk about a creature in motion.

Here are our seedbeds! I planted beets, radishes, lettuce, spinach, arugula, mustard greens, kale, peas....and other things I don't remember. We use an wide-row inter-planting method for a few reasons:

One- I'm lazy. When you plant in wide row with minimal spacing between plants you have less pathway space to weed and less between plant space to weed since the plants help shade the ground preventing the army of weeds from getting a foothold.

Two- It confused pests. If they can't find the plant they want to eat and/or need to lay their eggs on they won't stick around and if they do find a plant to lay their eggs on their babies will have a harder time getting to the other carrots if they have to wade through beets, lettuce, radishes and everything else to get to them.

Three- Polyculture is how nature gardens (usually). Plants provide benefits to each other by growing in mixed species groups. They can provide shade or chemicals that protect other plants from pests, fix nitrogen that other plants can use, attract pollinators, provide a trellis to grow on, provide an anchor for plants with week root systems....There are many ways that plants are healthier and more resilient when grown together.

We got the warm spell I was hoping for so the radishes have sprouted and very likely others will be up when I check today. As everything grows we will harvest in order to thin and plant more greens, radishes and beets to fill any gaps. I  cut all the greens young and they grow back again again making a small area very productive. I do grow mostly loose leave greens but bunching greens can be treated the same way; it just takes them longer to grow back. 
Even in areas with a hard winter you can at least do some fall gardening. Just stick with fast growing plants such as greens, radishes, turnips and baby beets for salad greens.

I will leave you with some photos of the sad broccoli, happy aphids and dying tomatoes. Are you planting a fall garden? I hope so!















































This post is participating in The Homestead Barn hop, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways,  Real Food Wednesdays, HomeAcre and   Healthy Tuesdays blog Hop, check them out to find other great blogs like ours!

"Flash Freeze" at Home

We have a friend that makes part of his living by picking and selling berries. He told my husband that we should try spreading berries out on a sheet to freeze them. I was skeptical; I figured the berries would still just freeze together into a block that would be even harder to deal with than a bag of berries frozen all together.

I thought it would work great for the blueberries though and I figured I should at least try it with some blackberries.

I was tickled pink by how nicely all the berries froze. When you fill a bag with blackberries they squish together letting a lot of juice out and freezing into a solid block. When you freeze them spread out they stay intact and freeze much faster. Since the berries keep their shape and juices inside they don’t freezer burn as quickly and you can use fewer larger containers but still get as many or as few berries as you need since they aren’t all froze together.

You can consider this a form of home flash freezing. AJ doesn’t like that I call this flash freezing because the food doesn’t freeze instantly and there isn’t any liquid nitrogen involved. He is just going to have to get over it. This is the next best thing and this method is useful for freezing all sorts of food. It’s especially useful for freezing fruit and veggies that are fragile or usually turn to mush when frozen. 

Spreading the food out on a tray allows it to freeze quickly which results in small ice crystals that break fewer of the cell membranes in the plant. When those membranes break its like pooping a balloon; the cells deflate making the food mushy as well as mixing the different cellular contents. Besides texture being negatively affected those mixing cellular juices interact to lower the nutrient quality of the food.

 















You only need to freeze for a few hours, just until the food is solid, before you transfer to containers. I have forgotten trays overnight and I could still get the food off the tray and bagged without too much extra difficulty. 

I chop and flash freeze greens for birdie bread and to add on top of the tiels' chop when I don’t have fresh greens on hand. They would also work for smoothies or when you plan to cook with the greens. The texture of thawed flash frozen greens is about the same a lightly wilted kale. 

I also tried this with my last batch of chop, it worked beautifully. I have the chop in gallon bags and I can just scoop out a daily portion with absolutely no fuss.

I blanch peas (1 minute) and green beans (3 minutes) before freezing them but really you should theoretically be able to flash freeze either without blanching, I have yet to try it though. 

`

I've done this with sliced bananas, berries, greens, chop, peas and beans. I'm confident this would also work perfectly with lots of other things such as peppers, onions, cooked beans, homemade tater-tots and leeks. The possibilities are endless!!!
You can find a flash freezing update and a video of flash freezing chop now, just follow the link.

This post is participating in The Homestead Barn hop,  Healthy Tuesdays, Real Food Wednesdays, HomeAcre and  Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways blog Hops, check them out to find other great blogs like ours!

Making and Canning Salsa

We love salsa. Fresh or canned, smooth or chunky, cabbage salsa or regular we love it. I make this recipe fresh or to can. I prefer to cook the tomatillos and then puree and add the other ingredients but you could puree them raw if you are canning salsa since you have to cook the salsa anyway

I use my Cuisinart to chop and puree the ingredient. I puree the tomatillos but everything I use the pulse button and just course chop. I add the seasoning, vinegar, juice and processed garlic and cilantro last. If I am canning the salsa I stir in the citrus juice, garlic and cilantro after the salsa is cooked just before jarring.

~Salsa~

makes about 7 pints, water bath canned for 15 minutes

Full colander of tomatillos(6 cups?), quartered

6 large tomatoes

8-16 peppers Hot and/or sweet depending on how hot you like your salsa

I used 9 hot peppers
 8 little ones and one large

1 medium onion

1 head of garlic

1 bunch of cilantro

 Juice of:
3 lemons

2 limes

½ cup apple cider vinegar
season to taste with:
Cumin
Cayenne powder

Chili powder
Ground pepper

salt






The tomatillos need to be cooked. If you are canning the salsa simply puree them before adding to the pot. For fresh salsa, cook and puree them before adding to the other ingredients. If you are canning your salsa cook at least until it boils hard. I prefer to cook it until it starts to thicken a little before jarring. 
I made this batch a few week ago and I'm working on another today, along with prune preserves, yum!

Tell me about salsa in your family, super hot or mild, chunky or smooth? 
This post is participating in the Homestead Barn Hop, Healthy Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways and The HomeAcre Blog hops, check them out to find other great blogs like ours!

-Week 12 in Review-

I can feel summer winding down. The land reminds me of a bear searching for a den. Restless, hungry and fat with the feasting of a spring and a summer almost past.  The rain is coming. I should maybe say its here since its already been raining for a week but I hope there is one more dry spell left before it comes to stay for the next eight months.

There are tomatoes still green on the brown slimy vines and I can only look at them with exasperation. I plan to pick and wrap them in newspaper to ripen slowly if the rain is truly here to stay.

We went and got Paisley and another kitten fixed at Pasados Mobile Spay Center Tuesday. last week I bred our young black doe with the buck that’s here from the landlords’ uncle; I’m convinced  he is a Champagne D’Argent.  The others will be bred throughout the month, other than that the week was been a slow one. I made another batch of Chocolate zucchini cookies. This time I wanted to see how they would turn out gluten free, by replacing the whole wheat flour with gluten free flours. I used sweet potato instead of plum puree since it was what I had on hand. They were still yummy but without the gluten they were noticeably more crumbly so I would recommend adding an egg or another half cup of ground flax if you make them gluten free.

The approach of winter and classes resuming puts me into a preparatory frame of mind. I’ve started organizing and taking stock of our pantry and freezer. I plan to make and freeze lunch and breakfast foods for those days we are short of time. I hope I will be able to post as frequently during the academic year as I have been this summer; in the event that I can’t, I’ve starting stockpiling posts.

I’m looking forward to the demands of class, mulling over new ideas, having my beliefs challenged, writing and reading more. AJ and I are both looking forward to mushroom season, it’s the best thing, the only good things about the rain here.  

I’m in one of those moods where I could just keep writing about random things but really I’ve said all I have to say about last week. Once again, thank you for taking the time to be here reading this.

Kindest regards,

Emily

This post is participating in the Homestead Barn Hop, check it out to find other great blogs like ours!