I so love starting anew. I didn't realize how much pressure/stress/anxiety I was feeling about the holidays until the holidays were over. SO glad they're over! No more obligatory baking, cooking, card-sending, merry-making. Now I can do those things because I *want* to, not because I *have* to. I feel so much lighter and hopeful now and I can look forward to the coming months with joy instead of dread.
So I've spent the past week giving thought to what I hope to achieve this year. Yeah, there's the usual 'lose 10lbs and be a better person' goals, but the ones I really want to focus on are homestead-related.
1)Plant gooseberries. My plan is to rip out the butterfly bushes on the south end of the house and plant 6+ gooseberries. It will look prettier than butterfly bushes...and surely taste better :) Can't wait for that first batch of gooseberry sauce for a big pork loin.
2)Start an asparagus patch. Darling Miss Mara has been begging for an asparagus patch for about 2 years and thus far, it hasn't happened. But this year, I'm determined it will happen. Not sure where exactly. More research is necessary.
3) Try multiplier onions. These intrigue me, these 'Walking' onions. They're interesting to look at, and if it means that I'll never have to plant onions again, well that's reason enough to grow them.
4)Try 'New Jersey Tea'. From what I read, New Jersey tea is a real close substitute for black tea....and I love me some black tea. Plus it's a perrenial, so that's a winner.
5) Locate Wild Ginger. We eat a lot of ginger, but it won't grow in our area, so this Wild Ginger may be a good substitute. Supposedly tastes *just like ginger*. We'll see.
6) Before fall, construct a hoop house for winter greens. It didn't come to pass last year, but maybe this year will be our year? Anyone with experience with growing greens in a hoop house? In Ohio? In winter?
7) Produce some sort of sweetener. Gonna try my hand at making maple syrup. If that fails, then maybe sorghum?
What are you hoping to accomplish this year?
9 comments:
We made maple syrup last year and it's not that hard at all, just time consuming! It's also fun! Just remember to not leave it out if you're boiling it outside. I had a huge turkey fryer full and left it on the porch one night and a bear knocked it over and we lost a bunch of sap. :( So sad! Live and learn though I guess. We did make a quart of it last year. It was SO good, too!
Thanks for the encouragement...thankfully we don't have any bears in this area :)
Can you give me some details on how you boiled it down? Over an open fire, I'm assuming?
Our gooseberries are 3 years old and no berries so far. The asparagus is a winner. Have you thought about bees? I need to get the New Jersey tea as well.
Hi Kathy-
I very, very briefly considered bees, but I don't think it's a good fit for us. A) I'm afraid of bees. B) There's no out-of-the-way spot to keep them. C) I don't know anything about beekeeping other than it's a major investment D) Did I mention I'm afraid of bees? We have maple trees, so that would be the obvious place to start.
I would love to hear your attempts at producing your own sweetener. That is one of the areas that I worry about, but we have no maple trees and I don't want to attempt bees in the suburbs right now. We buy locally-produced honey, but I will have a problem if I ever have to live without sweetener!
Hi Jennifer-
This is going to be an adventure for sure. We have a handful of mature maples plus access to many more, so syrup seems like the logical choice. As I told Emily yesterday, if the Pilgrims could make syrup (without the internet access!) so can I. Thankfully, my cousin is a beekeeper, so if nothing else, I'll support his business :)
I have grown greens and lettuce mixes in hightunnel/ hoop houses in KY zone 5/6 I was able to harvest salads and greens from Nov-March when the spring outdoor cold frames started up. This link may be helpful
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/NewCrops/introsheets/hightunnelgreens.pdf also elliot colman books are very helpful (four season harvest etc.) Good luck. Crickett
Anon...that link is fantastic! Thank you so much! We're Zone 5 bordering 6 so I think it's a feasible project for us. A huge percentage of the fresh veg we buy during the winter is greens and lettuces....if we could grow our own during the winter that would make a big dent in the grocery budget!
Hi Andrea
Great list of goals, and I look forward to reading along while you work to me those goals..loved the christmas photos..blessing on you and yours!
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