Springtime In Ohio

Hello friends...hope this post finds you all well, healthy, happy.  For the first time in nearly a year, I felt the real urge to take up pen (er, um, keyboard?) and start blogging again.  It's kind of strange, but I feel like I keep getting kicks in the seat that cause me to start moving again.  Have you ever noticed that kind of thing too? 

So I've been super super busy trying to get ready for summer.  98% of the summer garden is planted...just another small patch of onions and a couple more seed potatoes and things will be ready to roll.  I was late getting things planted, but it's in the ground now and just in time for the rains, so a few more weeks and we should begin enjoying the first of our harvest.  Size-wise, our garden is the same or just a smidge larger than last year, but in terms of variety, we've reduced what we're growing and concentrating on the main-and-plain stuff that will give us the most return.  No more exotic greens, rainbow-colored cauliflower and funky tomatoes, but plenty of taters, onions, string beans, drying beans, cabbages and saucing/juicing/drying tomatoes.  Hoping for a beautiful, bountiful harvest that will last us through the winter.

Some exciting new happenings here at our home include a lovely new, no-till garden.  Or at least that's what we're hoping for.  We used 8 yards of rich, garden-blend soil, a cubic ton of cardboard, plus all the grass clippings, straw and leaves we could lay hands on.  We're hoping to see fewer weeds, larger harvests and less tilling, but we shall see :)

More excitement...her name is Miss Maggie and she's a 10 month old Great Dane-Boxer cross.  She's a very friendly, playful dog, but she sure can look and sound mean when she needs to!  So we'll call her our first line of protection as well as our alternate dishwasher and floor mopper. 

Other areas of excitement include the fact that my beloved has only 4 more courses to finish his degree, my son was labeled as "accelerated" in 3rd grade, and my skinny, scrawny little girl is a proficient reader having learned 300 sight words and read nearly 150 books in 1st grade.  And the biggest fun....I joined a shooting group in north Dayton and acquired a new firearm (Springfield XDS .45). 

So for the past year, I've felt like I could just sit down and vegetate for a while. Just knit and play Angry Birds.  After all, my kids are good, my life is good and no real complaints.  But then I turn on the news or read Facebook and I see that things just aren't good.  It's like America as a whole is going down the tubes more quickly than ever.  I try to laugh it off and just accuse myself of being a tinfoil-hat wearing, right wing, homegrown conspiracy theorist. And then a few weeks ago, an intelligent, sensible 70 year old man made a comment to the effect that "This is all going to end in a civil war", and I felt like something in me just snapped.  It's not just me seeing this!  So, after a yearlong hiatus, I'm ready to get moving again.  I'm ready to start prepping again, learning again and blogging again.  I feel like I have my direction again and I'm so excited to get back to the grind. 

My best wishes to you all,
Andrea     

     

Let Me 'Splain

So it's been forever. 

I offer no excuses and make no apologies.

Life has been busy lately.  Busy but good.  And I think after a year of turmoil, we're starting to settle into a routine.  Routine isn't something I ever thought I'd miss and/or look forward to, but after a chaotic year, there's great comfort in routine.  So things are good now and I thought I'd share some good with you.

The Good Stuff: The early garden is planted and has survived the weird Ohio spring.  Greens and onions are ready to be harvested and served with a pot of beans and a pan of cornbread.

The "Very" Good Stuff: My mom is finished with radiation, has a beautiful head-full of hair and only has one step left in her treatment, which ends in October.

The "Divinely" Good Stuff: God has been so good and answered so many prayers lately!  After a traumatic (or maybe dramatic) period of growth, I feel like I'm walking closer with Him everyday.  When you finally, really "get" God's grace and the freedom that only comes through Jesus, what an experience!

The "Finally" Good Stuff: Only 15 more school days til I have my kids to myself for 3 months :)

The "About Time" Good Stuff: We're making huge strides in remodeling our basement (after 8 years of putting it off) and we're adding a ventless fireplace and gas cookstove for something akin to off-grid, emergency cooking and heating.

The "I Can't Believe It!" Good Stuff: I'm about to be an aunt again.  Twice.  A great aunt to boot.

The "B.A." Good Stuff: The Mr. bought a new handgun for me that's made concealment much simpler.

The "Learning" Stuff:  I made my first batch of soap last month and while I'm far from proficient at it, I'm learning more each time.

The "Nerdy" Good Stuff: The Mr. was inducted into the Honor Society at Wittenberg and is the class president.  You think he was hard to live with before.............................; )

The "Least of These" Good Stuff: I finally found a ministry to plug into at church: mission support.  It's fantastic and I literally get to help people all over the world, from orphans to AIDS patients to widows to underground missionaries to single moms and the working poor in my own community. God is so good!

I *think* postings should come at a more regular clip now.  The aforementioned routine definitely makes posting a less daunting task, yes?  Anyway friends, I've wasted too much of the day blogging.  Got thistles to pull and groceries to store.  Take care! 

P.S.  If you *really* want to follow me, you can friend me on FB @Andrea.Lynch.31

Best Weekend Ever

Hi friends.  We just finished up the best possible March weekend ever.  Sunny.  Warm.  Beautiful.  Productive.  Slow-paced.  That's what I'm talking about. 

Saturday we spent the morning watching cartoons in jammies, then we went for a visit to our neighbor's farm.  It's lambing season and OMG does he have the sweetest little lambs ever.  Makes me want one; you know, for a pet :)  Mara was determined to pet a lamb, so we lifted her into the stall and she stood bone-still for a solid 10 minutes waiting for a lamb to approach her.  Eventually this little one did; and they just stood there, gazing at each other, studying each other for the longest time.  I loved it!  After we scraped the sheep poo off our shoes, we went carpet shopping.  There's some irony, yes?  We picked out the carpet for our basement remodel, now we just have to knock out a couple walls and we're ready to go.

Sunday after church, we spent the afternoon outside, enjoying the sunny 65 degree day.  We planted the first 200 onion sets, with another 400-500 to be planted later in the season.  We also got leafy greens planted in a raised bed and the site for our new tater bed prepped.  Well, partially prepped.  We're creating a tater bed behind the rear fence, 3 feet deep and approximately 100 feet long.  It should be able to provide for us the #200 of potatoes we're hoping for this year without taking up precious garden space.  Along with the 3ft X 75ft bed for onions and about 10 feet for sweet potatoes, we should have plenty of root veggies to last us into the following spring.

So before I sign off, I thought I'd share with you what turned out to be one of the best investments we ever made.  After much naysaying on my part, Jeff bit the bullet and bought a new yard sweeper last summer.  I thought it was a complete and total waste of money;  if we want grass clippings, we could rake them, right?  Wow.  Was I ever, ever wrong about purchasing a yard sweeper.  Last year, from our little 1.18 acres, we would get 2-3 trailers full of grass clippings each week to mulch the garden with.  What I found yesterday under all those grass clippings was wonderfully loose, dry, easily turned soil.  No need to till.  Few-to-no weeds.  Planting onions was absolutely effortless.  Didn't even need a pitch fork to turn the soil.  So if you've thought about a yard sweeper, please do not hesitate!  You'll thank yourself next spring :)     

Of Taters and Tabasco

Feeling much, much better this morning!  Much more myself, much more optimistic.  And much less pain!

I spent yesterday finishing up the shopping for Mara's big 6th birthday party....she turns 6 on February 2 and we're having a blowout at my mom's on the 4th.  Should be big fun...more details later.

I also got my garden for the 2012 season plotted out and seed list nearly finished.  We had a fairly good season last year, despite the weather-related challenges.  Last year, I reduced the varieties of stuff that I planted and concentrated more on the 'meat and taters' of our diet.  I plan to do the same thing this year.  It's fun to plant 25 different types of tomatoes, but when it comes down to it, we keep going back to the plain jane slicers, cherry and paste varieties.  Last year, thanks to the generosity of Farmer D, we had enough tomatoes to can sauce, crushed tomatoes, soup, juice, etc and I've found it so convenient to have those foods in our storage.  Definitely got to do that again!  So while having purple, speckled and striped tomatoes are fun, this year's garden will be different. 

On the planner for 2012:
Greens (kale, spinach and lettuces)
2 plantings each of carrots and beets
Potatoes (late, early and sweet)
Cabbage and eggplant
Cucumbers and zucchini
Lots of peppers (hot, sweet and Tabasco)
Onions, shallots and garlic (which are already in the ground)
Green beans
An early planting of sugar snap peas followed by a shelling bean
And of course, lots of tomatoes. 

For our permanent plantings, we're adding an asparagus patch, Egyptian walking onions and gooseberries and whatever else we can squeeze in.  Should be a good, good year. 

I'm most excited about the potatoes and Tabasco peppers.  Last year we harvested 110# of white potatoes and 30# of sweet potatoes and I'd like to at least double that.  250# of potatoes sounds like a lot, but I like the idea of never having to buy potatoes again.  And Tabasco peppers....well it's just plain fun making your own fermented Tabasco sauce.  My goal is to keep replacing factory food with homemade and every product we can make is a step in the right direction. 

What kind of plans are you making for the 2012 garden? 

Gardening Goals

After a refreshing couple of days of introspection, life is feeling much brighter in my corner of the Knobs.  I feel more myself.   The kids finished up VBS Friday, so our pace of life will be much slower over the coming weeks.  Thank God for that!  Fun stuff from our mini-micro-farm: the first raspberries of the season!  We spied the first ripe yellow raspberry on Wednesday and the first black raspberry on Friday.  There is simply nothing more luscious than sweet raspberries, still warm from the sun.  Oh yes.

So, Amy over at Homestead Revival did a great post a few days ago about setting gardening goals...and that's something I've been working on over the past year too.  At first, when we started die-hard gardening, I wanted to plant everything!  A hundred tomatoes, purple beans, red carrots, a dozen different types of peppers, corn, lots of different lettuces.  And that was fun, but it sort of waylaid me from my goal of being able to grow and put up enough produce to last us through the following year.  There's only so many hours in the day and so many square feet to work with on our little homestead.  So this year we implemented our 'intentional gardening' plan. 

During the past winter, I decided to really dig down and get back to the basics.  Or as Captain Jack Sparrow would say:   "The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can’t do." 

-I can't grow enough fruit to keep us supplied all year.
-I can grow enough berries to make jams, preserves and jellies to last the winter.
-I can grow enough onions for an entire year.  Ditto garlic and maybe potatoes too.
-I can preserve enough tomatoes in the form of juice, salsa, dried tomatoes and stewed tomatoes  to eliminate the need for store-bought tomatoes.
-I can fit a few squash plants into the garden and have enough squash to last til spring.
-I can't grow good sweet corn, being surrounded by hundreds of acres of field corn.
-I can build a growing tunnel and supplement our root crops with fresh greens during the winter.

Savvy?  If you go into your gardening season with a clear idea of what you hope to achieve, oh it makes things so much easier.   

So this year, there are no purple beans.  Limited amounts of space for lettuce.  Eliminated the sweet corn.  Instead we're really concentrating on beans, onions, potatoes, carrots, squash, tomatoes, garlic and peppers.  All of which are staples of our everyday diet.  All of which can be preserved by some means, whether it be root cellaring, dehydration or canning.  All of which are becoming increasingly expensive at the grocery store.  If we have a decent harvest of these crops, it will fill in the bulk of our diet for the coming year and need only be supplemented with some fresh veggies for variety.   And that was the point of die-hard gardening to begin with, right?  Grow what we eat and then eat what we grow.

What kind of gardening goals/plans are you following this year?   

Time In The Garden

Believe it or not, there was enough time between showers yesterday to get outside and work in the garden. 

Honestly.  It must be a miracle. 

It has rained every bloomin' day since Sunday so the peeks of sunshine yesterday were nothing short of miraculous.  In those glorious 4-6 hours, Mara and I worked our fingers to the bone trying to get plants in, seeds sown, soil fluffed and a nifty, round trellis thingy (that looks a bit like a carousel) assembled.

In Mara's garden, we thinned out the volunteer sunflower seedlings and planted broccoli.  Then we took a ginormous clay bowl and planted carrots.  She did the planting and watering and proudly showed her Papaw when he came by to pick up a rain barrel.  We still have some spinach to sow, but otherwise, her garden is coming along nicely.

In Isaac's garden,  we thinned out sunflower seedlings and got the bed ready for yellow pear tomatoes, snow peas and maybe a couple eggplants.

In Mama's garden, we re-sowed some carrots that didn't germinate very well, filled a small raised bed with lovely black soil and planted cabbage and brussel sprouts.  Then, we worked that nifty trellis thingy into a row between peppers and planted cucumbers on one side and Italian yardlong beans on the other.  I'm hoping it stands up to the fierce winds we get out here on the Knobs; just in case, I'm going to have the Mr. stake it down.

Our plans for today, a day in which we're supposed to have sun all day long (gasp, I know) is to finish our covered raised bed.  We're using the U-shaped legs from the defunct trampoline to make the framework and the jumping surface to make a shade-cloth to keep our greens cool.  When winter rolls around, we're going to replace the shade-cloth with either a plastic sheet or corrugated plastic to make a lovely hoop house.  After the framework is done, we fill and plant spinach and kale.

Also on the agenda is planting the remaining potatoes using the straw bed method.  I've never tried growing potatoes in straw before, but I've heard good things, so this will be our year to experiment.  I have a bed of potatoes planted using the traditional dirt; they'll be my control taters :)  I'm curious which bed, the straw or the dirt, will produce the most?  If there's room, I may try to squeeze a few more onions into the gaps in the garden as we can never have too many onions.

Saturday is supposed to be another lovely, sunny, warm day and I hope to plant the tomatoes and eggplants, and maybe get them mulched really thickly with some old straw.  And of course, after all this rain, the grass needs cut desperately.  Desperately.  I'm thinking a bushog might do a better job than a lawnmower at this point. We'll see how it goes and how much we really accomplish in the next 48 hours.     

Optimist. Realist.

I consider myself an optimist with a dash of realist thrown in for good measure, but I don't feel so optimistic right now.  Right now, I feel like we have the perfect storm building and it's going to crash over our heads in the next couple of months.

In consideration of the news of late, I have a weird feeling in the pit of my belly.  Not anxiety.  Not fear.  Anticipation maybe?  It's hard to watch the news and not come away with that funny feeling of anticipation.  I don't particularly care about politics.  I'm not afraid of terrorism.  I'm not worried about Bin Laden and friends.  (I wasn't worried about him before, so why worry now?)  I'm worried about food.

I can speak first hand of the flooding locally.  Creeks are up.  Lakes are up.  Reservoirs are 20ft above normal levels.  Roads are closed.  Fields are underwater.  Fields that aren't underwater are so mucky they can't be planted.  And this is considered mild flooding.  It will probably be several weeks before farmers in my area can plant their wheat, corn and soy crops; and that's if it stops raining TODAY and doesn't rain for a week or two.  They're a month behind as it is.

I read of flooding in the heartland along the Mississippi River; of levees blown, flooding thousands upon thousands of acres of good, rich farmland to save a small town.  I'm sure the small town appreciates it.  I pity the farmers who won't be able to use their land for many years because it's a mire of silty, polluted mud.  My heart goes out to them.

I read of droughts in the western states, Texas and Colorado, where the soil is so dry it's cracking and crops are drying up under the feet of the farmers.  Many are predicting a harvest of Nil.  Nothing.  Zip.

Our perfect storm is forming right now.  Devalued dollar.  High gas prices.  Catastrophic weather.  Ruined crops.  Limited food supplies.  Increasing inflation.  I can't help but think that this is Wrath of God stuff.  He talked about this kind of thing.  In Revelations.  Somehow I find comfort in that.  But back to the subject at hand; food.   Where there's no crop, there's no harvest.  Where there's no harvest, there's no food. 

I'm anticipating a real tough time this fall; when no corn is harvested to feed livestock.  No soy harvested to produce a myriad of products, from tofu to salad dressing.  No wheat harvested for cereals and breads (and doughnuts!)  If those 3 grains aren't available, demand turns to other grains; millet, barley, rice.  Anything to fill the void.  And those shortages, in one form or another, WILL be passed along to us, the consumers.  In higher food prices.  In food shortages.  In smaller packaging.  Is it out of the realm of possibility that we could see empty shelves at Walmart this winter?

As I said earlier, I'm an optimist.  I think in some way, we'll pull through.  I'm optimistic that a dry spell will occur so farmers in our area can plant.  I'm optimistic that the flooding along the Mississippi will recede and farmers will produce some sort of crop.  I'm optimistic that drought-stricken areas will receive rain.  Call it a God-thing.  Somehow, good will out.  Prayers will be answered.  Alls well that ends well. 

But I'm also a realist.  And I realize that we should look to the ant and be ready for a tough season.  This year, I plan to can anything and everything I can lay hands on.  This year, I plan to skip low-yielding crops and plant vegs that will produce a lot of calories in a small area.  This year, I'm stocking up on shelf-stable foods, especially those that will be impacted most by the loss of grain crops.  I'm weaning the kids from daily meals of meat and finding filling dishes that are based on less expensive ingredients.  Finding local sources of products like meat, milk and fruit.     

And I'm praying.

For cessation of rainfall in the heartland of America.

For the recession of flood waters along the Mississippi.

For an end to the drought in western states.

For a release from the crazy weather patterns threatening America for the past couple months.

And, while we're at it, protection from terrorists.  Foreign.  And Domestic.      

Peas, Onions and Winter-greens

Hi All.  Remember me?  It's been a little while, eh?  Thanks to you who dropped me a line....I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just been quite the busy little woman.  Trying to devote more of my time to actually doing what I love instead of just writing about it :)

How about that crazy Midwest weather?  We're forecast for rain everyday this week.  And I think we had rain everyday last week, except maybe Thursday.  I can't recall at this point.  What I do know is that the weather held off long enough this morning to get 2 bundles of onions and 3-30 feet rows of peas planted.  I can't wait to snack on raw snap peas!  The garden is looking pretty good this spring, which is saying something after this winter.  The rhubarb is ripening, the chives and sage are green and edible and the biggest surprise of all: fresh kale!  A few kale plants I neglected to pull last summer really wintered well and there's enough for dinner tonight.  Beans, greens and cornbread at the Run tonight! 

For the fun-science segment of this post, the Mr. and I have a recycling experiment going.  Not talking about tin cans in the green bin.....but using a defunct trampoline frame to build a hoop house.  Or two.  This project is only in it's very early infancy, but I'm encouraged that Mr. is thinking along these lines.  Else he's cheap and just doesn't want to fork out the dough for a proper greenhouse!  (Love you!)  Either way, based on the results of the neglected kale, I'm thinking we could grow a few greens during the wintertime with the help of a hoop house or row covers or something.  And there's plenty of aluminum from the trampoline to do it.  Pictures later........

Anyway, gotta get moving.  I've got a flower bed to revamp before the cranberry bushes arrive on Wednesday!  And the boy is begging for another batch of homemade bagels. 

Catch up with you later.

Children's Gardens

Yes, another garden post.  Can you tell I have seeds and springtime and gardens and warm air on the brain?  Daydreaming about summertime is the only respite for the soul when it's cold, gray, snowy, icy and otherwise dreary outside.  I keep telling myself that all this snow is a good thing; that it's refilling reservoirs and water tables after last year's drought, but enough is enough already!  Is one 40 degree day too much to ask??? 

So, I dream about gardens and lovely green, growing things.

The kids are dreaming of summer and  finalizing their garden plans too.  3 years ago, we plowed up a small space around the clotheslines poles for each child to have their own personal garden.  It's only 5 foot in diameter with the aforementioned clothesline post in the center, but they've so enjoyed having their own little spaces!  I love that they choose their favorite foods to plant and tend...and I love how they take people out to see what they've grown.  At 3 and 5, they were already developing pride in what they could do.  That is simply awe-inspiring to me. 

Each year when the seed catalogs come in, the kids pour over them trying to decide what to grow each year.  They've tried some unusual items: white cherry tomatoes, ground cherries, huckleberries, pink eggplants.  Most of those things were gross, but some of it was a smashing success, for instance sunflowers, sugar snap peas, yellow pear tomatoes.  One thing is for sure, my kids aren't afraid of experimenting.

So what's on their agendas for this year?  Isaac is planning on sunflowers or walking stick kale, yellow pear tomatoes and sugar snap peas.  Mara is set on sunflowers, broccoli, carrots and spinach.  All their favorite foods :)  My kids are learning to grow what they eat and eat what they grow.  A mama can't ask for more than that.

How have you encouraged your children to get involved in the gardening process?

Preparedness Challenge: April Edition

Can you believe it's been more than a month since we've talked preparedness? This past month has just blown by; a blur of beautiful weather, yard work, holidays, eye-opening experiences and outings with the kids. This is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year. The grass is green, the fruit trees are covered with blooms, wild mushrooms and asparagus are popping up everywhere you look and every morning, I get to wake up to birds tweeting in the tree at the back of the house. It IS a wonderful life!

Part of the beauty of practicing preparedness is that, well, like the old story goes "I can sleep when the wind blows." Ever heard that story? Prepare a little every day, spiritually, physically, mentally and you'll have nothing to fear. If you're prepared for the storms in life, then you can better appreciate the beautiful, sunny days.

That said, how have you prepared for life's storms over the past month?

Store Something: This month we put up dried corn and wheat, dehydrated fruit, bottled water and a few other goodies. I've also been playing around with a Foodsaver and am pretty excited about the new possibilities for food storage.

Grow Something: We planted most of our garden yesterday, with the exception of the warm weather plants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant). We haven't planted the corn patch yet as we want to be sure that it's a 'soy' year instead of a 'corn' year and we don't end up with a patch of corn so dry and nasty that even the raccoons won't eat it.

Harvest Something: Within the next day or two, we'll have rhubarb ready to go! In addition to rhubarb cobbler, I want to try canning rhubarb in chutney form.

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Preserve Something: Strawberry jam, 2 batches! I know what you're thinking: "Bad homesteader! Using commercially grown berries instead of locally grown." Deal with it! I was desperate!

Learn Something: I've learned so much over the past month! All the things I'd learned as a youth about God transferred from my head to my heart. Suddenly, it all made sense.

Practice Something Useful: I'm still knitting away! I knitted a dishcloth with an impression of a fish on it. I say 'impression' because it isn't quite right and it only gives you the suggestion of a fish. Just like an Impressionist painting! Call me Monet. We went fishing with the kids, although I'm not sure that you'd call catching a 6 inch long fish useful.

Do Something the Old-Fashioned Way: This one is a little tougher. We collectively spent about 2 weeks sick in late March, so our usual old-fashioned habits took a backseat to convenience. It's no fun baking bread when it's all you can do to drag yourself out of bed in the morning, right? I did mix up some killer tonics to try and beat the cold. My ginger tea was delightful whether you're sick or not.

Have Fun! This HAS been a fun month. We had our Easter celebration, took the kids fishing, played Charlie Brown football and enjoyed a Kindergarten spring program last night. What is it about 90 kids doing the chicken dance that is so darn funny?????

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So that's an overview of our lives over the past month. What have you done so that you can sleep when the wind blows?

Thyme In A Garden

April and May are the most beautiful times of the year around my little homestead! Take a look!

Gonna-be peaches.

Gonna-be cherries.

One corner of the herb garden. I simply love chives...in addition to being tasty, they're beautiful when the purple flowers pop up on top of the green spires.

Massive rhubarb plant. I don't know what I did, but this plant dwarfs the 7 around it. At nearly 4 feet wide, it should be providing rhubarb for cobblers in another week or so.

Gonna-be blueberries!

Hosta, popping up near the garden shed. In another month, this entire bed will be smothered by mint, so enjoy the hosta while you can.

Strawberry plants in their raised bed.

Call this a happy accident. When you fill your raised beds with commercial garden blend, you just never know what will pop up.


Isaac's garden, freshly tilled and topped off with soil leftover from the raised beds. Given his choice of veggies to grow in his own little garden, he's sticking with his favorites: sugar snap peas and yellow pear tomatoes.

Happy spring, y'all!!!

Garden Planning

It's hard to consider your garden when it feels like 7 degrees outside, but spring is only 48 days away so it's time to get busy! There will be some major overhauls this year as I surrendered 2 deep raised beds in order to raise strawberries. I keep telling myself it will be worth it when those sweet little berries start to ripen! We'll also be doing some crop rotation due to last year's tomato blight. And unless it's a soy year, we won't be planting corn. (Darn you, cross pollination!)

This year, we'll be raising the usual stuff; half-runner beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, snap peas, onions, but we'll be using our corn patch for squash and maybe a few pumpkins. Even if we DO plant corn, we'll go the 3 Sisters route and plant the squash intermittently with the corn.

Did you know that if you have problems with raccoons in the corn patch, planting squash and pumpkins will help? It's true! Apparently, raccoons don't like the bristly, prickly feeling of the squash and pumpkin vines. I don't know if that's true as I've never asked a raccoon what it does or doesn't like...but the years we've had vines growing throughout our corn patch, we didn't have any problems with those doggone little scavengers. So there's your useless piece of information for the day.

The funnest (?) part of it all is starting the tomato plants! Last year I had dozens upon dozens of tomato varieties, but this year, it will be narrowed down to under a dozen varieties. My favorites from last year:

Russian Big Romas. Imagine those little Romas you find at the grocery...now imagine them larger than your fist. Oh yeah.

Trophy. This variety has officially dethroned my usual choices for the all-purpose big red slicer/juicer. The Trophy tomatoes we grew last year had no splits, mars, blemishes or cracks despite the blight and terrible growing weather. They also had no problem with rot and grew to enormous proportions!

Amish Paste. This is a thick, juice-less, nearly seedless variety perfect for paste, sauces and such.

Debarao Black. Small, dark tomatoes that are sickeningly sweet, lacking the acid bite of most tomatoes. We used them for salads and drying.

Black Cherry. Small, dark, sweet and incredibly delicious. They'd probably be great for salads, but the ones we picked rarely made it in to the house.

I was blessed with seeds from all over the country, through exchanges with friends and family, but many of my seeds come from a site in New York called WinterSown. Heard of it? Go through the Gateway to Seeds, play the little word game, print off a form and send in an SASE for free seeds. Yep. That's it. OR, send in a small donation and get tons of free seeds! If you're wanting to try out different varieties, but find the price of seeds cost-prohibitive, try WinterSown!

Well, it's time to get back to reality. All 19 degrees of it.

Praising and Prepping!

Have I told you lately how much I love the church my family attends? I love it. I never thought I'd enjoy a mega-church (if this one qualifies as a mega-church), but now that I've figured out the ins and outs of First Christian, I love it. This has been an important year for me, spiritually. I came home to God after a long hiatus and am seeing things in a whole new light. Scriptures make more sense to me, and thanks to a funny pastor, the sermons are enjoyable and enlightening. That's not something I could say about the small congregation I used to attend.

Anyway, Craig preached a moving sermon today on moments that sort of freeze time; moments that are history-making, whether you realize it or not. And the birth of Jesus was the biggest of those moments. He really challenged us to use our imaginations and think about what it must have been like that night, when an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing God was born into a helpless, shivering baby on the floor of a stable.

Imagine the God that parted the seas, calmed the storms, brought the plagues wrapped in a scratchy blanket and laying in a feed trough.

Imagine that for an instant the doors between Heaven and Earth were torn open and God stepped through them, surrounded by the Heavenly Host.

Imagine the Angels crowding through those doors to see the miracle happen and then unable to contain themselves, singing to humble shepherds in the fields.

Imagine the thoughts going through the minds of the shepherds! "After waiting for thousands of years, He has arrived!"

I can't even begin to say it as eloquently as Craig did.

I was too busy crying to hear him LOL.

Now onto the prepping! I read a frightening article this afternoon about projected food shortages in 2010. Yes, we've all heard about the record-breaking crop harvests. But riddle me this Batman, how can it be a record-breaking year when half of the 'Bread Basket' states have been declared disaster areas? It's only a record-breaking harvest if you can get the harvest out of the field right? For instance, soy bean harvests. The first pic shows the major soy-producing counties, based on 2008 figures. The second pic shows counties declared a disaster area in 2009.

Notice anything? There's been an awful lot of disasters declared in America's soy producing areas. But everyone is still screaming 'record crops!' Even locally, we're hearing it. The farmer took a record corn harvest from the fields behind our house, but what they're not mentioning is that the corn is molding from the record cold and rainfall.

I don't know what it all means. I'm pretty certain someone is telling half-truths though. Either way, we're hedging our bet here at the Run. We'll be stocking up on essential items like wheat, corn, sugar, rice and dairy, just in case there IS a shortage and prices skyrocket. Having a full pantry is such a good defense against inflation...stock up while it's cheap, and use it when the prices go through the roof. So, we put together a decent-sized order through Emergency Essentials for grains and dairy, and I think I'm going to try PrepareCo. for dry corn and possibly a few other items. If PrepareCo. turns out to be a pleasant shopping experience, I'll be sure to post on it. It's always good to know who you can trust and who you should avoid, yes?

If you haven't started to stock up, why wait? Just one extra bag of rice, beans, pasta or sugar and you're already started! Buy what you use, store what you buy, eat what you store. How easy is that?

Next up: Seed orders for 2010!

Best wishes from the Run.

Onward and Upward

Well, after the tragic loss of Stu to heat this morning, we've moved on, ever on. Miss Ann was wonderful enough to share an extra rooster with us plus some fertile eggs in addition to a few of our own. Our next project/skill is egg hatchery. I think that's the phrase for it anyway. We have another broody-butt hen, the Frizzle, who is on the nest, so we've decided to let her sit. She's sitting on about 10 eggs of a wide variety....Buffs, Banties, Dominiques plus a few surprises. Egg hatching is like a box of chocolate, after all...(do I really need to finish that quote?)

We're in the middle of a heat wave here in Ohio, with highs in the low to mid 90's....which wouldn't be such a big deal if it were August; but for June, that's stinkin' hot! We've kept cool in the pool, and have had a little more Wii time than usual, but that will end with the coming rain and cooler temperatures of this weekend. The crazy-hot weather has also given me an opportunity to stay inside and reorganize my food stores...we're low on some of the basics like flour, sugar and oil...now that I'm organized I can work on restocking.

Speaking of food stores, our local grocery, Krogers, has been running some awesome stock up sales! 10 for 10$ sales on 3L bottles of water, toothpaste, toilet paper, hand soaps, etc, so I've been hitting the sales hard and filling up my closets. They've also had cheap-cheap prices on staples like Ranch dressing and pasta and fun foods like Capri Sun and Gatorade, etc. (Yes, I know. Capri Sun is the Debil, but in an emergency, a couple frozen pouches of flavored water is better than nothing, right? At least my kids think so.) In the past 3 weeks, I bet I've doubled the amount of goods in my storage just through 10 for 10$ sales at Kroger. Yeah, Kroger!

Another find this past week....the hunting/camping/survival section at Walmart. I had no idea they had so much good stuff back there in that dark, funny-smelling corner of the store. I felt like a kid in a post-peak oil candy store. Space blankets and water filters and fire starters as far as the eye could see. Plus freeze-dried food, solar showers, tents, mess kits...I was so excited! Yes, it doesn't take much to excite me, but now, at least, my Bug-Out Bag is complete! And to think, I would have never wandered into the survival section had the kids and I not been hunting a fishing pole for Jeff for Father's Day. It was fate. Pure and simple : )

Fun plans for this weekend include a few yard sales, planting some salad greens in pots, pails and troughs on the north side of the house, helping Farmer Runyan with his new fence and hopefully beginning the new chicken coop. So much to do, so few hours in the day. Til next time, best wishes from the Run.

In The Gardens

Things are really starting to come to life here at the Run. Fruit trees and vines are full of blooms, peas are getting fat on the vines and our tomato plants are turning green and lush. And finally, after a short dry spell, we're in the midst of about 4 days of much needed rain. After tomorrow, our garden should be thriving and our rain barrels full to the brim!

Next week, Jeff has a week off (shutdown in lieu of layoffs) and we'll be hard at work removing spring crops and planting summer crops. On our list of plants to get into the ground, cauliflower, carrots, more tomatoes and peppers, eggplants and still more herbs. We'll also be sowing a small patch of 'greasy' beans on a homemade trellis(...pictures to follow next week). Can't wait for those! But for now, check out the beautiful pics of our springtime garden.

Bunches of baby grapes that will be summer juice and winter jam.

Rhubarb, beginning to ripen and a gift of chives in the background. (Thanks Monkey Ron!)

Last years' gift of strawberry starts are blooming and full of baby berries.

Blueberries, getting fat and juicy....just waiting for them to turn blue.

A Russian 'Big Roma' tomato plant is starting to put out new growth...should be perfect for salsa this summer!

Amish sugar snap peas...you can't see them because we ate them last night for dinner : )

Bunches of broccoli just beginning to form down inside the leaves of the plant.

A raised bed, full to the brim with lettuces...reds, greens, lollos and romaines.

This is absolutely my favorite time of the year! Spring brings the immediate gratification crops (radishes, lettuce, spinach) and the anticipation of summer crops that we wait all year for...fresh eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, beans and corn. While I can't wait for those first tastes of summer vegetables, I'm trying to savor the fresh lettuces, light rain and cool temperatures of spring. They'll be a fond memory when I'm up to my nose in tomatoes and canning in August's 100 degree heat.

Posts will probably be sparse for the next 2 weeks. The annual National Road Yard Sale is this weekend and we're planning on loading up the kids, hitching up the trailer and hitting Route 40, trying to find some good deals. Plus a fishing derby on Saturday that Jeff is itching to take Isaac to. Next week is going to be full of small projects, working in the garden and trying to catch a matinee of 'Up' with the kids. Who knows, maybe a trip to the Columbus Zoo too. So til then, take care and best wishes.

Late Season Frost

We've had the strangest weather this year. Bear in mind that Ohio weather is unpredictable to begin with, but this year, it's just plain odd. About a month ago we had a warm snap of nearly 90 degrees, tomorrow night they're calling for a frost. Sigh. Crazy Ohio weather. Makes me want to pack up and move to a slightly warmer clime....

Anywho, in an attempt to combat the frost and save my garden, I'm going to try the old 'hot water in the milk jug' trick. I've been saving milk jugs for ages in anticipation of using them as pseudo-ollos (underground waterers), but in light of the pending frost, some of them are going to be sacrificed for the good of the cause. My plan is to cover the more tender plants with plastic bags/jugs/fabric, and to protect the other plants, fill up jugs with water and allow them to soak up the sun throughout the day. In theory, the water should retain the days' warmth, slowly radiating heat to the surrounding plants and raise the temperature *just enough* to save them from a frost. That's what we're hoping for anyway. I'll let you know Monday if it worked.

Tomorrow is looking to be a pretty busy day. First thing, we have weeding and mulching to do. And when I say weeds, I don't mean cute little clover or dandelions. I mean frickin' wheat grass from that doggone straw and thistles as big around as your thumb. I might put Jeff on weeding duty ;). Then we have some raised beds to deliver to a dear friend who is testing the waters of home gardening. THEN, we were blessed, blessed, blessed with compostible goodies from a couple of freecyclers...bagged grass clippings and 20-30 gallon bags of leaves. Whoot whoot!!! All that mulchy-compostiness really does make a huge difference in the quality of the garden and above all else, leaves and grass clippings don't tend to sprout in your garden. The lesson here is to check the quality of your straw before you spread it on your garden. If it's full of grain (as this straw was), it's going to grow.

Lesson learned.

On the Menu

I have, what would appear to be, an over-abundance of radishes. Red ones, purple ones and soon, white ones too. And you can only eat sooo many radishes right? I ran across this recipe and, if I can accomplish the other chores on my list, I'm going to give this a try tomorrow. Sounds like it should be a lovely sweet/hot relish, maybe for topping burgers? Who knows. But at least there won't be a thousand radishes go to waste, right?


Radish Relish

3 cups stemmed radishes
2 large ribs celery
1 large red onion
2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tbls mustard seed
2 tsp dill seed
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 cup vinegar
2 tbls prepared horseradish

Put the radishes, celery and onion through the coarse blade of a grinder, or chop them finely. Mix with remaining ingredients and allow to stand three hours. Bring to a boil in a large pan and cook ten minutes. Pour into hot jars, leaving half-inch head space. Adjust lids and process 1/2 pints and pints in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.


*RADISH RELISH UPDATE*

Okay, the relish is done and it is surprisingly good! I made a couple minor changes to the recipes, basically substitutions for what I didn't have on hand, but all in all, not a bad recipe! The next time I make it, I will make one major change though; 3 cups of radishes isn't nearly enough bulk for the relish. Mine came out quite thin and I drained it before I canned it, so next time I'll probably double the amount of radishes, or supplement with another root veggie like carrots or something. But generally speaking, a great way to use up all those radishes!

"Life Is Good..

And blessings are abundant." That's a quote from one of my new favorite blogger/authors, Kathy Harrison. Her style of homesteading and preparedness really speaks to me, as it's common sense and yet highly effective. If you've never heard of her, check her out here;

http://justincasebook.wordpress.com/

But yes, life is good and blessings are abundant. We had a busy, busy Sunday, working around the house and yard. While Jeff worked on escape-proofing the chicken run, I transplanted tomatoes. 33 so far, but we're only half way there. I also planted several small patches of runner beans around the yard and tidied up the arbor garden. Plus washed and hung out 2 loads of laundry and *tried* to keep the house clean. The kids were the highlight of the day...Isaac running around yelling 'You can't get me!' as I watered the tomatoes, desperately wanting me to spray him with the hose. And Mara's response during a discussion in the garden about tomatoes...

Me: We're going to take a bunch of these tomatoes and make ketchup this fall. Do you like ketchup?

Mara: Of course I do. Everyone knows that.

Yesterday just flew by, but boy, do I feel it today! Ibuprofen is definitely going to be my friend this morning. In fact, it's calling my name right now. Please excuse me while I limp to the medicine cabinet.

Historically Speaking

In ages gone by, an acre was defined as the amount of land one man could plow in a day's time. If that's the case, an acre for me is about 30 ft. by 50 ft. I've been working on that doggone garden all day and it's still not plowed. The Mantis people and the Craftsman people make tillers look so easy to use...and they probably are, assuming they work correctly. Ours doesn't. I don't think it's ever worked correctly. It coughs, sputters, quits, heaves, grunts, belches, backfires, get's clogged up. (Sounds like my brother before he quit smoking, huh?)

Upon taking a break, clearing my thoughts...my great-grandpa's plow and the miniature ponies across the road are starting to look mighty attractive. Here horsey, horsey, horsey....

State of the 'Stead

I've noticed a number of other sites are doing an update on life on their homesteads, so I thought I'd join the trend and let you know what's going on here on our little bit of Earth.

Here on the Knobs, we're finally starting to see some signs of springs. Wait...are you wondering why it's called the "Knobs"? Our area consists of hundreds of small, conical shaped hills with low valleys in-between, probably a result of the last ice age. When I go up to our back yard, to the highest point, I can see the tree range on the next Knob 1/2 mile away, but little else...the fields roll down into a valley that all but disappears from sight. The Knobs are generally associated with an area of Kentucky, but there is such a large native-Kentucky population here in Ohio, I think the name just immigrated with the immigrants. So there you go; your useless piece of information for today.

Anyway, yes, things are starting to green up here in Pleasant Township. The kids and I spent 98% of the day outside today, hanging out laundry, watering seedlings and picking rhubarb...yay! We had our first rhubarb of the year; a very small bunch, but enough to satisfy our cravings for a rhubarb tart. And it was so delicious! I've waited 2 years for a taste of the sour stuff...last year, our local grocery store wanted 3$/lb and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that price. So I planted rhubarb instead. And it was a good decision because this year, they're asking 4$/lb. Crazy! My red raspberry transplants, a gift from a freecycler, are starting to leaf out. It looks like about 6 or 7 of the 10 survived....not bad odds for a bunch of bare root canes. The blueberry bushes are full of buds, the fruit trees are starting to leaf out and already some of the perennial herbs are starting to grow. What a great time of year!

The chickens are really hard at work; we had 77 eggs in Feb. and 89 in March, and we're already up to a dozen this month. Although I'd like another chicken or two, we're getting just enough eggs for ourselves and to share with friends and family. The only problem we're experiencing with the chickens right now are a pair of fugitives. Mr. Roo and Miss Buff routinely fly the coop. They don't get into any meanness, they just wander around together, scratching and pecking. And a little coercion is all it takes to get them back into their pens, usually in the form of pasta. Show them some pasta and they'll come running. Now that spring is here, we moved our portable coop to the back of the yard, with a smallish enclosure, to keep the chickens out of the garden and the kids out of the coop. I don't think they like to be cooped up, but it's a necessary thing until fall/winter comes around. Then they'll have free range of the yard to eat and poop anywhere they want to.

The house is starting to come together as well. We replaced our laminate hardwood in the living room with a lovely thick carpet, about the color of peanut shells. It's so nice to have a comfy soft place to roll around and wrestle with the kids. The bathroom, hallelujah, is nearly finished. Jeff made huge progress today...the floor is down, the toilet and sink are installed and the mirror is hung. We had a little snare on the light fixture, but that's an easy enough fix. With any luck, we'll be able to finish it up in the next day or two. With 2 potty trained youngsters, it's wonderful to have a second bathroom up and running again. And the new house rule regarding toilet paper; no more full rolls in the kids' bathroom. Ever. Think of it as a preemptive strike.

We're still eating on last year's harvest...we just finished up our last bag of frozen mixed veggies today, and we have just a couple bags left of strawberries, corn and snap peas. By the time harvest 2009 rolls around, last year's goodies should be gone leaving more space for this year's goodness. I was afraid I had really overdone the canned beans, but surprisingly, we're down to less than a dozen jars. Ditto for pears, frozen apples, etc. Our only disappointment this year was the canned carrots. No one seems to like canned carrots. And I'll admit, they're not nearly as tasty as fresh or frozen. Well, if that's my only error in judgement for the year, I'll call it a good year. For 2009, our goal is to cellar as much fresh produce as possible. I have about 1500 carrot seeds to sow, so hopefully we'll have a successful crop that we can cold-store during the dark days of winter. Same with leeks, celeriac, onions and potatoes.

Both children are growing like weeds. Isaac will be 5 in August and will be starting Kindergarten (weep, sob). He's so smart, it's scary sometimes. I'm amazed at how computer/electronics-savvy he is. The things he can pick up after one try, it's incredible. If you discover that someone has sneaked onto your computer and changed all your logos, icons, screen savers, wallpaper, etc., it was probably Isaac. He's good at the stuff. Mara just turned 3 and is keeping up with Isaac in every way. In the past 3 months, she's turned into a real talker. She doesn't just ask for chocolate milk now, she discusses how it looks when the chocolate starts to swirl together with the milk so it looks like a whirlpool. And she's become a 'girly-girl'. She's suddenly ALL ABOUT pink, shoes, dress up and hair 'pretties'. The mimicry is what tickles me; you don't realize how you sound until you hear it coming out of a 3 year old's mouth. I hate to brag, but my kids are amazing. We managed to get through the entire fall/winter/holiday season and all without a single cold. I tell you, my kids have immune systems of steel! If there's 2 things I've done right in raising my kids, it was nursing them and letting them eat "just enough dirt", as my mother in law would say.

Again, on a personal note, I'm feeling much much better. Much more like my 'old self'. The weird withdrawal symptoms are nearly gone with the exception of the occasional electrical 'zap'. And what's more, a large number of people have sent me private emails telling me of their own experiences with Effexor and SSRI's...apparently this is a larger problem than I ever realized. Why is it that doctors aren't telling their patients about these side effects? The only answer I can come up with is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. One very helpful phrase that I learned from this whole experience...."full disclosure". I'll know every side effect, withdrawal symptom, long term effect, etc. before I ever take another drug. My doctor is going to hate me, but he's going to be much better acquainted with that big blue drug book he keeps on his desk.

Well, tomorrow is back to the work-week, so I need to start packing lunch and folding laundry. For the past 2 days to have been such long days, it sure made for a short weekend. Hope you enjoyed the update about life here at the Run.