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we've been snowed in for almost 3 weeks now. got out 1 day between snows and freezes. the weather is suppose to break on sunday and next week should be warm and Very wet. Almost all of the Greenhouse components have arrived, there was 1 day warm enough to paint the PVC poles. PVC can not come in direct contact with the UV/radiant/thermal coated greenhouse plastic or the plastic will deteriorate faster, voids warranty if you have one. we got a deal instead of a warranty. greenhouse plastic of the size we are using would have cost 200 bucks To Ship on top of the 3 to 400 price tag. The folks at Gritt's Greenhouse happened to have an ancient roll that no longer fit their Ginormous greenhouses it was a considerable savings. thanks Gritt's Greenhouse for hooking us up with the plastic for our greenhouse and a bunch of used coconut hull hydroponic grow bags (to be used for seed starting soil amendment/potting soil) the solar food dehydrator is finally complete, waiting for assembly. after analyzing the cost & time of building a cabinet style dehydrator box we were pleased to find this double shower tent that should serve the purpose by hanging our collapsible dehydrating racks from the roof and injecting the solar can heater air at the bottom of the tent. we're mid process on bottling 2 batches of blackberry wine and a gallon of elderberry. h's producing a low budget infomercial for a friends product. it was suppose to be finished by now be we got snowed in. mouse over the image for caption - click to make it huge One of the main reason most people eat low quality food is convenience. Another reason is that many Big Ag Companies spend a lot of money on lobbyists to make it as difficult as possible to know what you're really eating and Farmer Markets rarely have have ads on TV. So we found some convenient tools for those of you with smart phones that can make eating healthy less of a hassle. These are the websites for some really cool FREE Apps. If you're not reading this on a mobile device, you'll need to search for their apps from your device. The Center for Food Safety offers the Guide to Avoiding Genetically Engineered Food app. Since labeling of of Genetically Modified food is not required in most places; this is not something that you'll find on the packaging (if you can read the packaging). After you've found the 1 bag of chips at the grocery store that doesn't contain genetically engineered anything then you can look up that item on the What's In My Food app. This app will tell you all the pesticides used in the growing of your store bought food. If the 2 apps above have you feeling hopeless you'll be appy to know that there are some fresh organic produce options near you and these apps will make finding them much more convenient than sniffing the breeze. FarmStand is a app that will direct you to the dearest farmers market wherever you are in the world. This would be great when your traveling I suppose; because when your home you'd only need to use it once. The Locavore app is much the same as FarmStand but it also helps you find out what food is in season, offers local seasonal recipes and includes Pick It Yourself farms and road side stands. Harvesting and processing the food has become an all day everyday event. we have lots of food to save from rot. We 2 are drag assing around the farm these days trying to stay awake and on task. Preserving the food we grow is essential to food security through the winter and is a top priority in regards to sharing the wealth of the land with the family who owns this farm. Any locals wanting to help us eat &/or preserves some of this .. give us a call or an email. we will update the photos on this post regularly or daily
and update the following statistics and needs as the season progresses. Currently Cooking: On Going dehydrating veggies Stirring TWO 6gal batches of Blackberry wine daily & 1 gallon of elderberry wine 1 gallon blackberry vinegar collecting seed On Deck: parsnips, watermelon, ground nut Preserved Food: pickles, 3 pints tomato paste, chamomile tea, jewel weed salve frozen: veggie soup, corn, turnips, nasturtium greens, swiss chard, paw paws, lots of pesto, jalapeno paste water bath canned: 7 pints stewed tomato, 5 quarts veggie soup, 10 quarts of Pasta Gravy, 6 quarts & 5 pints of Blamo Sauce, 4 quarts apple sauce, 2 pints & 4 quarts turnip, 3 quarts sweet potato dried: eggplant (jerky, slices, cubes), squash (slices & chips), sweet peppers (roasted & regular), jalapenos & jalapeno powder, cucumber chips, 5 mint varieties, ying yang beans, basil, oregano, scarlet runner and other bean mix, onions, garlic, garlic chives, nasturtium flowers, ParCel Leaf, leather britches, tomato slices, tomato powder, jewel weed nuts, amaranth chipotle peppers, holy mole peppers, long horn peppers, elderberry, rosemary seed saved: Spider Flower, Cilantro, wild flower mix, mustard, chamomile, swiss chard, asparagus Last night we dined on food from the garden for the 1st time this season. Arugula, turnip green & green onion salad and a side of poke greens complemented our leftover pasta dish quite well. Sorry, no photos.
We've planted the arugula and turnips extremely dense so that we can eat them young as we thin out the plants. We have some extra plants that are very healthy: cherry tomato, watermelon & cantaloupe; if anyone would like these young seedlings, let us know otherwise they will be replanted in the wild and we'll see what comes of them. Several of our plants have yellowing/spoting/drying up going on. We've purchased a soil testing kit and have collected the samples but have to wait until the samples dry out to do the testing. |
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December 2015
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