Apple Heaven

We have a system in the family that if you get a bumper crop of produce, anyone who helps process the fruit gets to also share in the labors. Needless to say, I was thrilled to help my mom process some apples that she had been given. We made jars of sliced apple slices which can be used for pies or fruit salad. We also used my Ninja blender to turn a second batch into apple sauce.

Lessons of Faith from the Bean Row {Fresh from the Garden}

When you live on a farm, there are life lessons all around you. Lessons in how to treat each other and lessons in spirituality. Being in nature, tends to bring people closer to God. I suspect it has something to do with being surrounded by something that man did not make. It helps us to look beyond ourselves. This is one of the reasons I love gardening. There are so many incredible life and spiritual lessons wrapped up in gardening...and this week, my lesson in faith came while weeding a row of beans.

I didn't seek out a lesson. I never do. They just sort of come to me while I meditate in the garden. Do you do some of your deepest thinking while gardening? I seem to. I am shocked at how much I talk to myself. And plants. I talk to my plants. Because that's normal. (nod your head at me in agreement) Anyways, yesterday I was working on replanting a row of peas that didn't take. I am 99% sure birds stole all my peas. As I was replanting, there wasn't a single pea to be found anywhere. It's not the first time that's happened. We lost a row of corn and beans last year for the same reason. But that's not where my lesson came from. Though of course, this scripture NATURALLY jumped into my head:

“And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them." (Matthew 13:4)

Except they didn't fall by the wayside. They were planted and still got devoured. Stupid birds.

6 Tips for Planning Out A Bountiful Garden

I don't know about you, but this latest batch of weather has given me serious GARDEN FEVER! It's hard to believe that just 2 weeks ago we had a couple inches of snow, and that a week ago the high was a mere 35---because the last couple days it has been in the mid-60's with crystal clear skies and fabulous spring breezes! If you are like me, your garden is calling your name loud and clear! Since it is still too wet and too early to do any "real" hands-on gardening, it is a great time to be in the final planning stage for your garden! Here are six tips to help you get everything lined up for your gardening season in the weeks before you can get your hands dirty!

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1. Catalogs, catalogs, catalogs!

I never use just one catalog. This year I have a whopping FIVE different catalogs for organic heirloom seeds which is very awesome! It's very exciting to think that there are more companies out there for those of us who desire better quality seeds. I begin having catalogs arrive the moment the new editions are ready--I'm a bit obsessed with catalogs. LOL. I start marking things I am interested in right away, and see what catalog carries the greatest quantity of my goodies.  I know that I will need to pare down my list later, but for now, I just go through and mark everything of interest. I also ask my boys what vegetable they want to grow this year and let them pick a variety. My favorite companies for seeds are Baker Creek Heirloom Seed, High Mowing Seeds, Annie's Heirloom Seeds, and Seed Savers Exchange.

Some of the things you will order have a limited window for ordering due to the type of plant. Others will sell out quickly. Many seeds you need to have in hand by the middle of March or beginning of April to get them ready to go. It's time to make your list, check it twice, and then get those orders placed!

My Top 5 Must-Have Products for the Canning Season

It's harvest season here on the farm. Our garden is putting out a record number of beets and cucumbers and I am working everyday to keep up with them! Soon it will be the tomatoes and beans turn. We can only eat so many fresh, which means we need to turn to ways to preserve them. While I do freeze some of it, over the last 3 years, I have shifted over to canning our harvest. To anyone who has never experienced it, canning can seem like a frightening venture. But I have learned that with the right equipment, it is actually a very straight forward process that will fill your pantry and cellar with great rewards!

The links on this blog and in the posts may be affiliate links.  Please see my disclosure policy for full details and thank you for your support!

1. Water Bath Canner

When we made the decision to start growing a harvest for preservation, the first thing we purchased was a Water Bath Canner. I knew that more of our harvest was going to be used for high acid canning products, which meant I needed the Water Bath version first. 

Okay. Crash course lesson. If it has vinegar or a high acid content, it can be processed in a water bath canner--things like pickled products, salsa, and some tomato sauces. If it is something without much acid base (beans, corn, carrots, tomatoes, etc) you have to use a pressure canner instead.

I purchased my canner at Wal-Mart, and interestingly enough, it is identical to the one I grew up seeing my mom use. This is a great inexpensive beginning tool for successful canning! If you know you aren't ever going to do anything but pickles and salsa right now, it's all the canner you need.

2. Pressure Canner

Last year, we experimented with tomatoes and beans, which meant that I needed to go ahead and invest in a pressure canner. I wanted one that would last me for the long haul, so I invested in a solid cast aluminum one from All American. And yes, it's made in the USA which is a great bonus. This one is heavy duty, and it's so easy to use. Simply open the box, read the SUPER detailed directions and go for it.

Pressure canners can also be used for just pressure cooking--making it multi-purpose! Now that I own both types of canners, I can preserve any harvest. I look forward to trying it out on dry beans this year, and of course my tomato sauces. This is a 21.5 quart which is a great size for the amount of canning that I do, but they have smaller and larger volume ones available. 

3. Reusable Canning Lids

I was introduced to these gems a few years ago, then I forgot I had purchased any. One day I found them and I have been using them ever since. They are totally safe for canning (BPA free), AND once you invest in a batch you don't have to throw them out upon opening each jar. Simply toss the lid and rubber ring into a bag to use next canning season.

I highly recommend getting enough for the regular AND wide mouth jars--I purchased 24 of each to get started. They are so easy and yes, they seal well! I like that I know they won't rust like some of the metal ones do. They are so much cheaper in the long run than having to buy new boxes of the metal lids. And if you need to, you can replace the rubber ring at some point. I am going to buy myself another dozen more of each size since I have been using them so much. If you haven't tried them yet, snag a box and just give it a try. They are ideal for high acidic foods like salsa and pickles.

Something else I like, if you get a jar that doesn't seal, you can simply take off the lid and ring, wash them really well, and re-do the process. No throwing any lids away. I usually have 2-4 jars that won't seal...but when I re-process them, I usually get them all sealed the second time.

4. Canning Tools

I wouldn't be able to do my canning half so well if I didn't have a LARGE collection of jars of various sizes, my jar tongs, my magnetic lid grabber, my jar rack, my jar funnel, and my little blue headspace measure. Each of these things plays a vital role in my canning process and I'm lost if I can't find even one of them. Fortunately, you get the Utensil Set when you buy a water bath canner these days--but if you don't have them, you can still buy them individually for less then $10.

5. Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

This is my best friend during canning season. it gives me a play by play on how to can just about any item I could grow AND it is chock full of canning recipes! I use it heavily every single year and am so glad I purchased it two years ago. I have my favorite pages marked and reach for it as soon as the harvest begins.

This year I've made pickles using a recipe from here, and will be doing beets and hopefully relish. I also used it last year when I was canning my beans.

Interestingly enough, compared to my grandmas from years past, it hasn't changed very much through the years! You can find it at most any store that carries canning supplies (I bought mine at Kroger), but you can also find the Ball's Blue Book online.

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I hope this gives you a starting place on the things that are useful for setting up your canning supplies. The great thing about canning is that once you set yourself up, there really isn't much additional expense...especially if you go with the reusable lids!

From Peelings to Potatoes~ A Gardening Cinderella Story

About 2 years ago, we decided to dive into the world of a family garden. One of the crops that Love-of-My-Life was adamant about planting was potatoes. His father, however, told him that we wouldn’t be able to grow them because he himself, had never been able to. Well, we took that as a challenge, and since our property does not have the same soil as his does (ours has far less clay), we were very hopeful that we could successfully grow a potato crop. What we didn’t realize at the time was, we were going to be discovering one of the ultimate forms of vegetable recycling (and a serious money saving tip) in the process.

When you decide want to grow potatoes, the first thing that everyone tells you that you need is…potatoes! It is commonly known that seed potatoes are the way to grow your next years potatoes. But what do you do, if you don’t HAVE seed potatoes? This was our dilemma the year we decided to grow our own potato crop.  We didn't have any, and we really didn't want to spend the money to buy any. So what did we do? 
We looked in our potato bin.

The name says it all! :0)

The previous year, we had purchased a monster bag of potatoes from the wonderful store Costco. And it was a monster bag. I think it was 15 or 20 lbs. We are potato people. I haven't yet met a potato I didn't like. But, it always ends up that by the time you get to the bottom of the bin, there are less than desirable potatoes waiting. Usually they are soft. Really soft. And if they are actually GOOD and untreated potatoes (which MOST of what you buy is NOT--go with organic to make sure), they might even be starting to grow sprouts, or as we commonly refer to them…eyes. Most people will throw out a bin of potatoes that look like this.

You might not want to eat these...but they are perfect for planting!

That year, we discovered that our potatoes at the bottom of the bin had quite a few eyes.

Because the eyes were growing well and since eyes of potatoes are really "potato sprouts", we wondered: "If we planted these, would they grow?"

So rather than throwing out the soon-to-be-rotten potatoes-that-no-one-wanted, we pulled them out and examined them. Each of them had at least 5 or 6 eyes and they were fairly spread apart. So Love-Of-My-Life got out his knife and started slicing them apart. He figured that since it was the eye that was the sprout, he could separate them out and they might grow as individual plants. Much like separating out a cluster of tubers in your flower garden. Now instead of one potato to plant…we had 5 or 6! He continued doing this for the rest of the potatoes in our bin…then got the same quality (or lack there of!) of potatoes out of his dad’s bin and repeated the process. By the time he was done, he had a nice big bucket of sprouted potato chunks to plant.

But then we REALLY took a chance. Love-of-My-Life’s mother came out with a big bowl and asked us if we wanted “it”. What was it? It was a bowl full of PEELINGS!!!

Peelings? Why on earth would we want peelings, right? We thought the same thing at first.

But wait…you see when she peels a potato, she actually pares it. Meaning she uses her KNIFE and does more of a slicing than a peeling. This meant she had chunks of peel with eyes attached! Yep, in her effort to use up the last of the potatoes, she had carefully pared them leaving the eyes intact, then used the rest for her mashed potatoes. (If that isn't making your potato go the distance, I don't know what is!) So she was giving us a bowl of peelings with eyes.

Could THESE actually be planted and produce something?

The peelings with eyes. No smaller than a quarter.

We decided it was worth a try, because we had nothing to lose and everything to gain! So we planted it all—the sliced apart potato chunks with eyes and the peelings with eyes. It was most definitely a gardening adventure.

Baby Britches helping plant the potatoes

Love-of-My-Life sorting through our box of peelings and chunks

Carrying the next batch to plant

So what happened? Well…we waited. And waited. and then....

They grew!

Rows of big beautiful lush potato plants!

We wouldn’t believe it at first, but everything we planted grew to be big beautiful potato plants! They grew phenomenally where we had them planted. Our cat used the patch as a jungle of sorts to explore and snooze in. And at the end of the season (when all the plants lie down), we all eagerly waited to see what we could turn up underneath…for that is where the treasure of the potato hides. 

Treasure hunting under the plants for potatoes

And low and behold…our peelings had become…POTATOES! 

So excited about the potatoes he found!

That first year, we harvested 75 lbs of potatoes. Yes, you read that right. From maybe 30-50 almost rotten potatoes that we sliced or pared to keep the eyes (instead of throwing them out like most people do), we harvested 75 lbs of NEW potatoes! It was a definite success and we’ve been using the same process ever since with the same fabulous results! And the cool thing...now the potatoes we are using for our plantings each spring, can all trace their "roots" back to those first few peelings...

Some of our harvest from last year

So please—before you go and invest in seed potatoes—look in your potato bin! It’s the real Cinderella story for gardening…for who would have thought you could turn rotten peelings into next years big rugged potato crop?!

Fresh from the Garden: 5 Reasons to Love Gardening

As soon as the snows take over my farm, I start longing for spring. I feed that spring fever by ordering seed catalogs. I love to garden and ordering seed catalogs helps me get through the cold days and look forward to spring. There are many reasons that people like to garden…but I've narrowed it down to the five main ones that cause me to eagerly await it every year.

Click here to read my guest post over at Jebbica's World!