Recipe Ideas Needed

It looks like we may have planted too many yellow squash plants this year. We are already drowning in them and they just started coming off. What do you do with yours other than frying, stewing, grilling or adding to spaghetti? Any casserole or bread ideas?

We also have a lot of banana peppers. I am planning to pickle them but have misplaced my Ball book. I'm hoping to put up a batch of pickled peppers (perhaps a peck of pickled peppers) this weekend but I was wondering what else you would use these for.

Seed Selection

I think starting your own seeds is a very important part of gardening. There is, by far, a greater variety of seeds available than plants that have already been started. Between all the seed companies online, you are sure to find that one special variety you have been itching to test out in your garden. The most important thing is the greater availability of heirlooms seeds.

Most seed companies sell their special hybrid seeds, which is good for you because they can combine the best characteristics of two different strains of the same vegetable in hopes of a superior product. It is good for them too because if you want that same hybrid once the seed packet is empty you have to buy more from them, which is in turn bad for you. If you sprout seed from a hybrid fruit you aren't guaranteed to get the exact same plant as the original. There is often even variation in separate plants grown from seeds of the same hybrid. It is the nature of genetics.

If you grow plants from heirloom seeds, save them, and then sprout them the next year you will get an identical plant. That means you don't have to buy more seed, you just grow them.

As always, there is some 'fine print'. Some plants are a pain to let go to seed. I never plan to harvest seed from lettuce because they are just so small I don't think I have the patience. Also, we like growing a Mesclun mix of leaf lettuce, but to grow our own seed mix we would have to collect seeds from each type of plant.

Be wary of cross pollination. If you plant two types of heirloom tomatoes side by side and the wind blows just right (or a bee goes from one plant to the other) they will cross pollinate and then boom, you have your very own hybrid. That is not necessarily a bad thing, it is just unpredictable.

I don't want this to come across as a rant against commercial hybrids. I use them, most of the seeds and plants I am using this year are just that. They have their place. I am using them this year because I got off to a late start and didn't have time to sprout my own. I specifically went after the disease and heat tolerant hybrids since I have had a problem with each in the past.

I also save hybrid seeds to see what kind of plant the second generation is; not as a main crop that I depend on for food but as an experimental one. At my heart, I have a scientific nature and a good portion of my garden is experiments in progress. I suggest you do the same, carve out at least some space in a garden devoted to experiments. Try a new hybrid to see how it performs. Try a new growing method such as growing melons on a trellis or potatoes in a box of hay. Or, just sprout some seeds from your favorite hybrids from the last harvest. You won't necessarily get the exact same kind of plant, but you may end up with a superior one. If the experiment fails, you still have the rest of the garden full of reliable plants. If it succeeds, well then you have a new trick to add to your gardening know-how checklist and you have more tasty food to eat.

I buy heirlooms, when possible, because I like to have the option of saving seeds and like having a pretty good idea what I can expect from the plants grown from those seeds. I also prefer heirlooms because they are the old and tried-and-true strains that have been productive for generations.

A big part of homesteading for me is to carry on traditional practices that people used time and time again in the past but seems to have been mostly forgotten by the last two or three generations. Another big part is sustainability. Saving heirlooms seeds fulfills both of those. Saving your own seeds has one more important advantage because you can save seeds from your healthiest and most productive plants. By productive, I don't mean focus solely on the plant that made the most fruit but the one that produced the most of the fruit you wanted. If you buy a couple beefsteak heirlooms plants (like I did), even though they are the same strain, each plant won't have the exact same tomatoes. If one plant has mostly 1 lb. tomatoes but the one beside it produced smaller fruit that had a better taste, you have to make a conscious decision whether you want to help natural selection along with the goal of larger tomatoes or better tasting tomatoes. When saving seeds it is important to pick out your best fruit or vegetable from the healthiest plant to increase the chances for a successful harvest next year. If you continue to do that for a couple years you will have a strain that, through natural selection, has the best characteristics for your own little micro-climate, your own perfect strain, for free.

This started out as a post on how to make seed starting boxes but, as is a habit of mine, I just sort of hopped up on my soapbox and rambled away.

The box instructions will be in the next post...I hope...

Seed-starting Boxes

And because I feel guilty when I have a post without pictures of my dogs, here are some failed attempts of getting a nice picture of all three sitting together.

Murphy says, "Don't mind me. I'm just passing through."

No, we won't look at the camera no matter how many times you ask

The stick is calling to me!

*sniff sniff* You smell that?! Someone just put hotdogs on the grill 2.37 miles that way!

Pallet Projects

I don't know if it is because I have been building little things out of wood since I was young or if it is just a quirk of homesteading, but it seems like there is always some small something or 'nother that needs to be built. Luckily, I work in a warehouse with a good supply of pallets.





There are some downsides to re-using pallets. The wood is not the highest quality and breaking down the pallet is time consuming. I usually could build my current project from new wood in less time than it takes me to reclaim what I need from a pallet and time is a precious resource. But, so is money and the pallets are free so, I am really just trading my time to save money.

There are as many, if not more, advantages; the largest being that every bit of wood and nail I reuse is something saved from a landfill. I started by taking only the double-length and odd sized pallets that would have gone to the dumpster but, as I think of more things to do with reclaimed pallet wood, the more I start eyeballing the nicer pallets that would mostly likely be reused by someone else.

The pallet wood has character. Most of the time it is rough cut, often with knots, bows, splits, and breaks. Even on the same pallet, most of the slats aren't the same thickness since many have been repaired at a couple points in their lifetime. They are darkened by age, stained, and covered in the insidious 'warehouse dust'. That character gives the finished product a rustic feel that fits right in with rest of the homestead. The challenge is to take this ragged wood and put it to the best use.

I have built a few things already from this retired wood:

A 6-hen nest box

A hopper feeder for one of our rooster pens that holds 5 gallons of feed. You add feed from the top and it drops down into the trough as the chickens eat it.

A cold frame

A seedling box

The seedling box is 12”x24”. An upcoming post will be directions on how to build one, but the example will be a 12”x12”. You can put soil directly into them or, of course, use small pots like I did in the picture.

Framing raised beds in the garden using two slats nailed together for stability

This bed is framed using the 2x4 runners from the double-length skids

Unfortunately, every time I finish one pallet wood project I think up at least 2 more.

Some things I hope to build in the near future:

• Chicken Tractor
• Greenhouse Foundation
• Potting Table
• Shade Shelters for the Chickens
• Garden Bench/Chairs

I am sure there will be more before that list is complete. Good news is that there are more pallets for the taking than I have time to break apart.

Spring 2011 update

So, I finally had some time to make an update. Now that it is actually spring and we are doing farm time things, I have something to write about.

We finished fencing in the garden finally. Sorry the pic is a little blurry, was taking pics quickly while there was light.



It is 48'x20'.

We got it tilled, which was absolutely no fun. Established centipede sod has some mighty deep roots to dig though.

Garden before tilling



In process of tilling



We found an old foundation in one corner of the garden.



The blocks were about 4-6 inches below the ground and made of solid concrete in a partial rectangular panel. The tiller wasn't too happy since I kept running into them once I thought I had dug the last one out. It was quite a surprise since Krystal's grandparents had the land since the early 50's and no one remembered a building being there.

After tilling



For the first tilling, we rented a front tine for the weekend. Of course 2 weeks later the grass was making a strong comeback. Luckily, which is not something I say in regards to myself often, we found a used tiller for sale online just a couple miles from our place. It works great and cost about 1/3 the price of a new one.

Last weekend we bought some tomato and pepper plants from the local farm store and got them planted. The spring kinda sneaked up on me and I never got around to starting my own plants so we bought some local ones.



We have just gotten started, we still have to lay down a frame around most of the beds, get the beds leveled out and soil amendments added.

Farm Picture of the Day: Pears

Our pear crop is looking good this year, so far. We pruned the trees in late winter and thinned the pears once they started growing a little bit to give them some room to grow. They should be ready to pick at the end of August. I'm thinking pear preserves may be in my future.

An Update of Sorts

We haven't posted here much this spring and summer because we haven't really been doing much around the farm. We started fencing off our garden area early in the spring. We had all the posts put in and 1 1/2 sides fenced in with wire.

Matthew ended up getting sick with a lingering infection that we finally got cleared up within the last month and, now, we noticed the 2" x 4" welded wire we used is too loose because the posts are so far apart. So, we have undone the worst of the fencing and have started to reposition the posts so they are closer together.

We got 2 of the 5 posts in today but with the heat and the lack of rain making the ground so hard, that was as far as we got. Hopefully, we will get the other 3 posts done this week and will be able to get the ground tilled soon so that we can have a late summer/fall garden.

Garden and Chicken Pictures

Watermelon growing on a trellis

Jalapeños!

Yellow Squash


Tomatoes


Something is going on with our tomato plants and they seem to be dying.


Purple-hull Peas


Okra


The chicks are one week old today (well, five of them today and five yesterday)


We're starting to see a lot of wing and tailfeathers growing in, now.


Chicks
-Krystal
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Sprouts

Not only do we garden outside, we do a bit inside. Our main inside garden is a tasty little gem called sprouts. We grow a variety, mung bean, alfalfa, radish, adzuki bean, lentils, clover, and some others I can't remember at the moment.

Growing sprouts is very easy. We use the jar method most of the time. The equipment is minimal. You need a wide mouth quart jar, a screen lid, some seeds or beans, a place to drain the jar, and a towel to cover it.

These are three different kinds of lids we currently use.

I strongly suggest buying a metal screen lid which is the first in the pic, we got ours from the local health food store for only $1.99. I plan to buy more and switch to using those exclusively.


I don't suggest the all plastic lid unless you have no other alternative. I have never used them but I think you are better off with making your own from screen fabric and duct tape. The all plastic ones look like they may limit the air flow a bit much and are very expensive.



If you can't find the a metal screen lid locally, you can make your own. I have yet to find any online for a reasonable price. To make your own, just get some window screen fabric (from a hardware store like Lowes) and cut squares that are about 3/4 inch larger than the ring lid on each side. Center the screen over the top of the jar and screw the top down slowly. The screen will make it a little difficult to screw on the lid but don't force it too much or you will cut the screen. Once the lid is on securely, tape the excess that sticks out around the edge up on the ring lid. Don't be stingy with the tape, it has to support a jar full of wet sprouts when you turn it upside down to drain it. I suggest using duct tape since the lid will be in water often. The green duct tape is something that Krystal bought for another project and I used it because I was too lazy to run out to the workshop and get the proper grey kind.

An alternative but less secure method is to take the lid from the wide mouthed jar and cut the screen just a bit larger than the lid. Place the screen on the inside of the ring and screw it down. I tried taping a piece of screen to the top but the water draining out of the jar weakened the tape and the screen popped off, spilling the bean sprouts into the sink when I went to rinse them.

I prefer the first method because the screen is supported by the lid when screwed on and by the tape when it is not. With the second method, the screen falls out when you unscrew the top. I have only used the second method once and cannot guarantee that the screen won't pop out from the weight of the wet sprouts like when I just had it taped to the top.

The drawback of the window screen is the mesh in what we used was bigger than some of the smaller seeds such as alfalfa and broccoli. If you can find some tight metal screen that would be better. The only way we could find some quality fine mesh metal screen was in an expensive sieve so it just wasn't practical. The ones we got from the health food store work much better.

An alternative I found on the web suggested using plastic available in the craft section of Walmart. It works, but I am not very happy with the results and leave it as a last resort. There is thin plastic filling most of the holes. I usually have to take the top off to fill the jar with water when I go to rinse it, and once again, it limits the airflow to the sprouts. I took a toothpick and tried to poke through most of the holes but grew quickly bored and only noticed a slight difference when draining. I even tried to heat plastic enough to melt the stuff covering the cells but I mostly just burnt all of it. I rank this about equal to the plastic ones from Handy Pantry only because the homemade ones most likely don't work as well but are a lot cheaper.

Now to the actual instructions.


First start with some seeds or beans. We buy our beans locally, and order the greens' seeds from Handy Pantry. Usually only a tablespoon or two of seeds will fill a quart jar. Fill the jar with 4 parts water for each part of seeds and let them soak for about 8 hours.


After soaking, drain the water from the seeds and give them another rinse. Spread the seeds as much as possible along the side of the jar and invert it to allow the excess water to drain. I use a plastic bin with a wooden grate I made. A cereal bowl or dish drain works well also.


Cover the jar with a towel or keep it in dark in some other manner. After a couple days, allow the green sprouts access to sunlight for a few hours so that they 'green up.' You can see 3 jars doing just that in the background of the above pic.

To go a bit off-topic, we never get a chance to eat at the table because there is always some project going on there. Currently you can see our sprouts and Krystal's inside herb garden taking up the majority of the space.

More green spouts enjoying the sunshine.

Bean sprouts are usually kept in the dark during the whole growing process; that is how you get those white sprouts you see in grocery stores. We usually don't set them in the sun like we do with the green sprouts but ours always end up with a few green leaves but, they taste just as good. For thicker crunchier bean spouts, place a weight on the sprouts to stress them a bit.

Rinse the seeds/sprouts until the water you are dumping out runs clear 2-3 times a day, each time inverting the jar to drain. Try to break up any clumps forming by swishing it around in the water. In just 3-5 days depending on the seeds used, you will have a wonderful jar full of nutritious, tasty sprouts.

This is the results of 1 tablespoon of clover sprouts, 3 days of rinsing, and a couple hours of sunlight.

Dump the sprouts out in a large bowl of water and swish them around with your hand to break up the clumps. This shows the importance of the large mouth jar because it would be much more difficult to get the sprouts that have filled the jar out of a narrower opening.

Now for the worst part, dehulling. I am not sure why we need to dehull but it has always been suggested. One reason to dehull was that the seed hull holds a lot of moisture and shortens the shelf life. I do it because I don't think they look very appertizing and the chickens love them. Once the clumps have been broken most of the hulls will either float to the top or sink to the bottom. I use a slotted spoon to skim the hulls floating on the top. When scooping the sprouts out of the water, I am careful to not scrape the bottom of the bowl and disturb the hulls on the bottom. The good thing about alfalfa is that the hulls are so small that they flow right through my colander which makes it easy.

For storage, if I plan to use them soon, I place a paper towel in the bottom of a plastic container. Otherwise, I omit the towel. The paper towel helps draw the moisture away from the sprout to stop molding. If you plan to keep the sprouts more than a couple days, it is better to just rinse and drain them every day or so to keep them fresh. Obviously having a paper towel on the bottom when you try to rinse them would not be a good idea. You can even leave them in the sun for a couple hours to freshen them up if they start looking a little unappetizing.

This is an inexpensive and easy way to grow your own nutritious food all year long.

-Matthew

Garden Pics

Matthew used grass clippings to mulch in the garden.

More mulching

This black bean is really thriving.

As is the okra.

These watermelon vines are being trained on a trellis.

This watermelon is being grown in a pot hanging from our pear tree. You can see a bloom and the first melon starting.

Squash blossom.

First squash is growing!

-Krystal