More Harvest From the Garden

Over the weekend, I made use of the available space in the passthrough between the Living and Dining Rooms. Bunches of herbs are suspended from a wire run through the open area on both sides. Herbs include: Rosemary, Stevia, Basil, Parsley, Lavender, Sage and Lots of Mint. I also harvested more Pea Pods and Chives.

Fall Garden Update

Just an update on the progress of the garden - fall planting. The first and third pictures were taken on 9-14 (mostly planted about mid-August), the second and fourth are the same areas one month later on 10-16 (beans planted at the end of August). I think that if I plant a fall garden next year, I'll make certain I plant before August 15.

The Big Score

Here's what I came home with on Market Day, last Thursday;

1 jar grape jelly

1 jar fruit pectin

2 small jars chow chow relish

2 jars sweet pickle relish

1 jar peaches in light syrup

1 turnip

1 bag frozen green beans & tomatoes

2 bags frozen watermelon

a sampler of chives

4 sugarbucks

I am still owed a sugarbuck by the Jacksons and 3oz of yeast from Sharon. Buying part of her yeast has freed up some store cash too - a good thing since I had to invest in more sugar and salt.

Market Day

We all added a little more variety to our food stores. I took home some canned goods from Mark and the Jacksons. I also traded with Mark and got a little sampling of rose hips and 2 more maple sugar cakes :). I got a nice big turnip and roasted pumpkin seeds from Mom. I owe everyone yeast. We decided to split up the 1 lb bag that I have. I know I owe Mark 3 oz. but I'm not sure how much I owe everyone else. Mark was able to free up $2.34 of his allowance because of the trade. I also traded cabbage, rice, chives and some frozen goods.

Faster Wheat Production

Mark demonstrated his faster, more efficient way to process wheat with a big clear plastic bag, rolling pin and a little bit of elbow grease :)

Adding to my stores . . .

We had a market exchange day today after family dinner. I've added the following to my stores for the winter challenge:

5 ounces of chicory root
about 1 cup of black walnut meats
1 cake of maple syrup sugar
1 jar of blackberry jam
1 small jar and 1 large jar of summer squash
1 jar of bread and butter pickles
1 jar of sweet pickle relish
1 jar of dill pickles
1 large jar of whole peeled tomatoes

I also anticipate trading for yeast.

Mark also gave a demo on threshing the wheat. Thanks for the demo Mark! I think everyone walked away satisfied with a variety of new items. Happy Birthday to Todd!!!

Sunday Forage

I went out with a friend (Dan) bow hunting this weekend, hoping to catch a deer off-guard. We had no success catching any venison, but I used the opportunity to gather some wild edibles.

As I was waiting for Dan to show up at the range I spotted a large section of the ground covered in black walnuts. I quickly filled 3 grocery store bags with walnuts. I hulled about half of them this morning so my hands are pretty well stained.

Having enough walnuts I ventured forth into the surrounding woods. Sarah Lohman had pointed out what rose hips looked like earlier in the year - I found some and collected them. The smallish berries have a fibrous center filled with seeds. Both the taste and texture were a bit surprising to me. They have the texture of a bell pepper (we ll a really tiny piece of a bell pepper) and the taste was very slightly sweet. For some reason I was expecting them to be more like elderberries. It will take a lot of prep time to separate the seeds from them all, even with such a small amount collected. No wonder they are traditionally used to make tea! They are a good source of vitamin C, so be gone ya scurvy!

We marched over to where the ederberry bushes are - I was hoping to gather what I had missed the last time. No luck, the birds have picked the rest of the bushes clean. I did head over to the area where the hickory trees are. I collected a small bag of hickory nuts; most of them were bad, about half of them with white grubs in them. If you are fishing at Spencer Lake and run out of bait, you can probably find some good grubs in the hickory nuts! Put a hammer in your tackle box!

The ground cherries out there are still not ripe.

More news from the fall garden

There are still lots of green tomatoes in the garden (1st picture). The mid-August planting of green beans are looking good (2nd picture). The last planting of green beans is progressing - still no flowers though (3rd picture). The carrot patch is overrun with kale (not a bad thing) (4th picture).

Pass the peas please

The pea pods planted at the end of August are still pretty small. They were sitting in a pool of water for several days during our downpour days (1st picture). The garden peas plants which were planted toward the end of August are growing like wild - no flowers yet however (2nd picture). The pea pods planted around the middle of August are very prolofic!!! (3rd & 4th pictures).

Turnup near the Turnips

The turnips I planted in June are progressing nicely (1st picture). The turnips I planted in August all look pretty healthy - but I'm not certain how big the roots will be (2nd picture). Look who turned up near the turnips (3rd picture).

Irony

This morning I realized the irony of it all. We are living in the future to live in the past. I don't want to live in the past or future, I want to stay present. That being said, I want to get the challenge over with so I can get back to the present. I have enough food stored in the freezer for a few days, and don't have a desire to store more food for the future. I feel that by living in the future for the past, I have missed out on present day opportunties to eat fresh food from the garden. That being said, on Monday Oct 10th I'm starting my challenge. I'm going to eat the frozen food stores and store-bought goods. I'm skipping the wheat based products for several reasons, one being time. Mark, since I'm not making bread and I still owe you sugar bucks can I give you the yeast as part of the exchange? That would give you an extra $2.34 to work with. I can also give you the onions and rice as previously communicated.
Good luck fellow settlers :)!