Blog

It is a wonderful time of the year. Every night I go to sleep hearing birds sing and I wake to the same sweet chorus. Also my garden is full of delicious vegetables. I am now harvesting lettuce, green beans, beets, beet greens,cabbage, broccoli,summer squash,and peppers. This years Beefsteak Tomatoes are sensational as is our Flint Indian Corn. We have 30 Beefsteak Tomato plants and they are huge! In mid May I planted 12 80 foot rows of Flint Indian Corn. It has grown taller than I am and has... Read more →

A couple of weeks ago I set out my Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage plants. They are doing nicely. We are looking forward to some fine coleslaw. I also sowed spinach, lettuce, dill, and beets.The lettuce appeared in about 5 days with the spinach and beets popping up in about 10 days. The dill was a little slower to germinate. It is now after a couple of weeks growing well.Every day I go out to my garden to see the progress. It is so exciting! I do not think there is... Read more →

Last week I sowed cabbage,broccoli,pepper and parsley seeds.Two days ago the cabbage and broccoli seedlings were peeking through the soiless mix.Now they are about 1 " tall and are under grow lights. The peppers and parsley are much slower to germinate.I will watch closely and remove the plastic covering from them as soon as they germinate.The plastic keeps in moisture enabling the seeds to germinate.In a few days I will sow some my Beefsteak Tomato seeds.It is very exciting to watch new growth.Just think of the quantity of food one... Read more →

Today we had our first snow of the Winter.I have been sitting by my wood stove shelling beans.I fondly remember the times I had with my grandparents sitting on their front porch shucking beans.There was plenty of time for some good conversation. I learned a lot from them. It has been unusually mild here in Southern New England. In fact, I have been harvesting lettuce and spinach from my garden up until yesterday. What a delight to pick vegetables this time of the year. Read more →

Imagine this scenario: You are planning for an emergency situation, so you purchased a collection of open-pollinated vegetable seeds. Saving seeds from year to year was your goal. You need to feed your family so this is serious stuff. You plant and care for your garden and have a good crop. Now it comes time for seed collection. You carefully harvest and fully dry seed for next year's garden. "All set", you think! Next year, you plant and oh no what happened?! You have some of the oddest tasting and... Read more →

All Summer long I have been busy putting up food. I have canned many quarts of vegetables, fruit, pickles and relishes. Some of which I have entered in County Fairs.That is a lot of fun!The last part of August I planted a second crop of lettuce and spinach. It has been very dry here so that needs to be watered twice a day.My dill and millet have been harvested when totally dry. I seperated the dill seed from the plant and stored it in a cool dry location. The millet... Read more →

Planting Apple trees was one of our first projects after buying our land roughly 30 years ago. I have always wanted a cider press, but they seemed so expensive. Many homestead projects are best solved one step at a time. Just keep looking for opportunities to piece together what you want. If you had unlimited money, you could shop for the best. If you had unlimited ability to fabricate, you could build what ever you wanted. Like most everyone else, I am some where in between. This article will... Read more →

The garden has been a challenge this year. First we had a long dry spell followed by many excessive rains. One of the downpours was like a cloud burst! This meant many of my small seeds,that had not yet sprouted, were washed away. So I replanted again and again. Finally all is well and the crops are growing nicely. Unfornately so are the weeds. I spend many hours a day in my garden. Sometimes losing track of time. I enjoy being out doors and love to hear the birds singing.... Read more →

My first crops are planted! Usually I plan to get my peas, spinach,beets,lettuce,onions and dill planted by April 1st. This year the soil was too wet so I had to wait for a couple of weeks.There are still small piles of snow near our garden gate. We had a bitterly cold snowy Winter. Spring has never been more welcome! I also set out my cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts plants. They are doing well. Yesterday there were many showers around. The rain was just perfect for freshly set out plants.In... Read more →

The end of February I started my California Wonder Peppers, Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage, and Moss Curled Parsley.The seeds were sown in pots using a soilless germinating mix.They have come up nicely. I have 2 grow lights set to almost touch the tiny plants. Having the grow lights very close to the plants makes the plants have strong sturdy stems. Next week I will start my Beefsteak Tomato plants.This cycle of plant, grow, and harvest keeps us in a steady supply of the freshest seeds. Read more →