starting seeds

Yesterday was a messy day here on the homestead. We transplanted basil, chard and spinach from the small peat pots to the butter tubs. The lettuce was too spindly, so I pulled it out.

We also noticed that:

• 11 (of 24) lupines are up
• 8 (of 10) arugula are also up

We also started:

• Viola (Tricolor Miss Helen Mount)
• Scabiosa (scabiosa caucasia–house hybrid)
• Pansy (Swiss Giant mixed colors)
• Buttercrunch lettuce (Heirloom/open-pollinated)
• Greenleaf lettuce (H/OP)
• Celery (Golden Self-blanching. H/OP)
• Broccoli (Brassica oleracea)
• Peppers: Neopolitan, Pimento, Jalapeno, and Poblano. (All H/OP)

It is a nice mix of veggies and flowers. The flowers are going into a new bed in honor of HM’s high school graduation (this coming June). It should be really pretty. We’ve picked various perennials and self-seeding annuals in a variety of colors. We’ll post a list of what seeds she has chosen soon.

Kim

Ginger Beer

Last week I made our first batch of ginger beer.  It really isn’t alcoholic, at least not as quickly as my family drank it.  This recipe makes 5 quarts and tastes really great.

Feed the Plant: Each day feed the starter 1 tsp grated (or ground) ginger and 1 tsp sugar. After seven feedings you are ready to make the ginger beer.

Making the Beer:

1. Combine the juice of four lemons and 3 cups sugar.
2. Add 5 cups boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved.
3. Add 12 cups cold water and stir again.
4. Strain ginger beer plant through muslin and pour liquid into water/juice mix.
5. Take ginger beer plant, divide in half, add 1 cup cool water and feed the plant again.
6. Bottle, but don’t cap the bottles. Let sit 2 hours.
7. Cap the bottles with a cork. This makes 5 quarts.
8. Enjoy!

Some Considerations:

1. Don’t shake the bottles. They do get quite fizzy.
2. Place the bottles where a child can’t shake the bottles or be hit by a flying cork. I’ve had a few that popped the cork right off the bottle.
3. We put our bottles in a pan of water. Ants really like ginger beer!
4. I plan on experimenting with sugar levels. Right now I am following the recipe to a T.
5. You can only get a true ginger beer plant from someone who has one.

Strawberry Yard

Work has started on the new strawberry yard. It is 10 feet wide by 30 feet long.  It is going in where the old rabbit warren was located. This has several benefits. The rabbits ate the grass and weeds down to the ground,  they dug in the earth to loosen it, they fertilized the soil incredibly well, and it is already fenced in! What more could I ask for?

I asked for a whole lot of compost. In total we will have moved 150 wheelbarrow loads of compost. Oh the soil will be rich, the strawberries will grow, and the wild bunnies will NOT be able to share in the harvest.

We ordered 25 early season strawberry plants and 25 mid-season strawberry plants.   The plants should begin arriving in late March.  We won’t get any berries this year. But I cannot wait for next spring/summer. We should have plenty.

From John Seymour’s The Self Sufficient Life:

These are a woodland plant, so they need tons of muck and slightly acidic soil. No lime. Strawberries make runners that root, and you can dig these out of the ground. Or you can make make the runners root in little buried flower pots with compost in them. Then when they are rooted you can cut the runner, remove the pot and plant them out.

Planting: Plant them 1 foot apart in rows 18 inches apart. Don’t plant them deep, and spread the roots out shallow. Hoe and weed constantly. Put peat below the plants to keep the berries clean. Every three years renew the bed.

Taking John’s advice we’ll be using some of our vegan butter tubs (with holes punched in the bottom) to capture the runners. We have a plan for rotation within the bed that should allow us to refresh one-third of the bed every year.

**The children would like me to point out that the “we” in the second paragraph is the royal we. Meaning I had the idea, they did the actual toting of all that compost.**

Sour Dough for PJ

 

Sour dough is a complex creature.  Talk nicely to it, feed it regularly, and treat it with kindness and it will reward you with great tasting bread, pancakes, muffins, waffles, and whatever else your heart desires to bake.

Making a Starter:  Mix 1 cup unbleached flour, 1 cup lukewarm water, and 1/2 cup crushed grapes (organic, with skins on, inside a muslin bag) together and let sit in a warm place for one week.   Each day stir the starter.  On day four give it a feeding of 1/2 c flour and 1/2 water.  At the end of that week remove the bag of grapes.

Strengthen the Starter:  Twice a day feed the starter (like in day 4 above).  Don’t forget.  This strengthens the starter and mellows the flavor.   With a new batch of starter I do this for a week before using the starter.

Bread Day One:

1. Morning:  Mix 1 quart of starter with 2 cups unbleached flour.  Let sit for an hour.  Feed the remaining starter and return to warm spot.
2. Morning:  Add 3 c whole wheat flour to the dough.  Stir well.  Add enough unbleached flour to make a workable, but soft dough.  (** Sometimes I add a little honey–especially if I will be serving children or making the dough into cinnamon rolls.)
3. Morning:  Knead 8 minutes, place in oiled bowl, cover and let rise 20 minutes.
4. Morning:  Turn dough out on floured surface and add 1 TBSN (or less) salt.  Knead again.
5. Evening:  Divide dough in half and shape each half.  (I shape mine in floured round baskets or an oiled bowl).  Place dough in cool spot or the refrigerator.

Bread Day Two:

1. Remove dough from refrigerator and let come to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven (with bread stone) to 500 degrees.
3. When hot, mist the oven with water, flip bread out of basket onto baker’s peel, cut a small slice in the top of the loaf, and then slide onto baking stone.
4. Bake 10 minutes at 500 degrees,  mist the oven and turn oven down to 400 and bake an additional 35 minutes.

Happiness

My friend E (see I do have at least one friend!), came up with this meme and tagged me.

Here is her explanation of the meme: “Okay, now your part. You must figure out five things that make you happy, watch the trailer, share it with others and tag 5 people. You will link them to your blog post about happiness and go to their website and let them know in a current comment field that they have been tagged. Participation is completely voluntary.”

So here is the trailer:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jSW2mzOumno

Here is my happy list:

1.  New balls of wool yarn just begging to be used.

2.  Seeing my family gathered in the same room.

3.  Knowing Spring is just around the corner and that means chicks, bunnies, little plants, and gardening.

4.  Long walks with time to think, pray or talk to my walking partner (HM usually).

Archive Meme

Katecontinued tagged me with this meme.

Archive Meme Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. … but there is a catch:

Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about.
Link 4 must be about something you love.
Link 5 can be anything you choose.

I think this is a great way to circulate some of the great older posts everyone had written, return to a few great places in our memories and also learn a little something about ourselves and each other that we may not know.
Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be *newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better….and don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments!

Here are my links.

Link One:  Family

Link Two:  Friends (eegads, I just realized I never post about friends.  I do have friends, honest I do.)

Link Three:  Me

Link Four:  What I love

Link Five:  My choice 

January riot numbers

Our total reduction is 88.6%. In other words we are currently using 11.4% of the American average. Here is how the categories break down for the month of January.

• Gasoline: 30% including our commuters.
• Electricity: 10%
• Heating and Cooking: less than 1%
• Garbage: 5%
• Water: 12.5%
• Consumer Goods: 10% normal goods for this month.

• Food: 30% local/homegrown, 40% bulk/organic, 30% supermarket. We’re purchasing even more fruits and veggies from the supermarket.

What is needed to reduce the last 1.4% is even stricter water measures or lowering our consumer goods budget. We’ll try lowering the consumer goods budget for February and see how that goes.

help!

OK.  I have an orchard ordered.  I have a variety of reference books,  but nothing that deals specifically with fruit trees or berries.  Does anyone have a “best of the best” recommendation?

Kim