Gardening 101

Vegetable Garden

A friend of mine recently asked me to come over to discuss gardening tips, as she is just starting her first garden this year. As I was making some notes to discuss with her, I thought it would be a good idea to share some things here. With all this economic stuff going on, it seems to me that more people are looking for ways to save money. I have seen MANY more people at the store with a stack of coupons. I have seen the clearance shelves empty. I suspect garage sales are going to be a big hit this year. In my fifteen years of marriage, I have NEVER seen food prices go up the way that they have in the last 2 years or so. It is unbelievable!

I truly think that people are going to start thinking about gardening for the first time if they do not already have one. I have been gardening for about 4 or 5 years. Another friend had come over and helped me get started. I do not by ANY means consider myself an expert! But I have learned a few things along the way, with the help of library books, DVD's, asking my parents, and garden-savvy neighbors.

The first thing I would recommend is decide what kind of garden you want. What is the purpose of growing your own food? Is it to have fresh produce throughout the summer or do you want to grow enough to can or freeze for the winter months to come? I honestly would recommend to start small because it can really become overwhelming when the harvest starts coming in. Another question to ask is how much space do you have? Is there shade or plenty of sunshine in your garden area? I personally have 2 raised beds for my garden and we are planning to add 2 more this year.

The library can be your best friend right now! Look in the 635's section to find loads of information. Gardening does not have to be complicated. If I can do it, anyone can. Start small, inform yourself, and have fun! It is relaxing and enjoyable and you really reap the rewards.

For you homeschoolers out there, what a great learning experience for the children! Science in action! There are so many ideas, just endless. Letting each child have their "own" garden, starting seeds in a jar in order to see root growth, knowing what the Bible says "whose seed is in itself..." Just lots of wonderful ideas out there.

I'm rambling now. Thanks for sticking with me this long. I will try to update some ideas or "how-to's" in future posts. Happy gardening!

End of a Season

The summer is over and the garden is done. My garden did not do as well this year. I think there are a few reason why and I will be changing some things for next year. First, I tried to grow an organic garden...just to see if I could. I don't normally use a lot of fertilizer, but I do use some. This year, I used nothing and I did not even get enough tomatoes to can. Drastic difference from years past! I did freeze some, but not many. #2 reason, my great idea of planting the sunflowers along side of my tomatoes did not work the way I thought it would. Sure, it looked pretty and it worked to hold them up, but they got so large that they actually shaded the tomatoes. :o(

From my watermelon & cantaloupe patch, we only got to eat 2 cantaloupes and 1 watermelon. I finally picked my lone watermelon yesterday, I kept waiting for it to get bigger but it didn't. We cut into it and it was soooo sweet!

I am still getting some hit and miss tomatoes and peppers, at least up until we get the first frost. At least I have learned a few lessons for next year.

We will be going and picking apples soon to make our apple sauce and apple butter. I will post recipes when I do. I will also make apple jelly; this can be done with apple juice that you get at the store and it is sooo easy and spreads better than store-bought.

What about you? How did your garden grow?

Squash Chips

Now that that harvest is coming in, what do you do with all that extra summer squash? I always heard that you can't freeze or can squash. So, I always shredded it and froze it in 2 cup portions to use for zucchini bread. A friend recently shared with me that you can freeze it in slices or chunks. Yippee! Squash (or squish as my 4 year old calls it) will taste extra good in my vegetable soup this fall and winter. You can get the directions for freezing squash here.

For those of you who grow squash, you know how abundantly it comes on. I still had some squash after freezing a lot of it. Well, I decided to use the dehydrator I got for my birthday and made some squash chips :o) They are great for dipping and have the texture of a chip, a nice healthy snack. Dehydrating food is the oldest form of preserving food.


Squash Chips

• wash summer squash (or zucchini) and leave the skin on


• slice about 1/4 inch slices


• place on dehydrator screen


• I sprinkled some garlic salt on ours, try some different spices!


• dry for 8 hours at 135 degrees

Before

I got mixed reviews from the family. If you don't normally like squash, these chips may not be your favorite until you acquire a taste for them. Keep trying with different flavors and maybe some dip? (we didn't have any dip to try them with)

After

Happy snacking!

Saving $$ Through the Year

With grocery costs skyrocketing, I am constantly looking for ways to cut those costs. With a family of 8, it is sometimes difficult to keep our grocery bill low. But, it is possible. First, ask the Lord to give you wisdom in this area. God has shown me many resources and put me in the path of many people who are looking for the same things as I am. I specifically look for frugal ways of living and but added to that, I want to feed my family un-processed, low sugar, whole foods.

frugal + healthy = LOTS OF $$$ reasonable budget

Here is one of the many ways to cut costs in your grocery bill. Stock up when produce is in season! This is KEY!! If you want blueberries right now, you can get a great price, because they are in season. What if you want to make a blueberry dessert or add blueberries in your fruit salad in February? You pay 3 times as much (or more!) But if you plan ahead, you could throw in some blueberries for your healthy smoothie in November without breaking the bank.

There is a wealth of information out there, so I am not going to try to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. I am just going to give you a few pointers and ideas of what to look for at various times of the year. Most produce can be easily frozen. You can get tips for preserving food here.

• January-Citrus fruits and pears
• February-Chocolate
• March-Frozen veggies
• April-Broccoli and cauliflower
• May-Asparagus, buns, ground meat
• June- Strawberries
• July- Blueberries, peaches, plums, watermelon
• August- Corn, tomatoes, peppers, beans, zucchini
• September-Apples
• October-Pumpkins (if you wait until Nov 1, you can get them FREE), sweet potatoes
• November-Turkeys, baking items
• December-Citrus fruits, cranberries, ham

These are just to name a few! Here is what I did with my blueberries this week.

Wash berries

Lay flat on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight.

Put frozen berries into gallon bag, seal, label, and freeze! "Fresh" blueberries until next July :o) If they (grocery stores) can freeze and preserve foods, then you can too; at a huge saving to you!

My Garden & the Coming Harvest

I have been gardening for a few years for several reasons. Fresh produce is always better from the garden and it cuts costs in the grocery bill. This year, I have grown an all organic garden, just to see if I could. So far, so good. We had a ton of rain this past month and things are growing beautifully. I also tried something that I found in one of my gardening books. I planted sunflower seeds next to each tomato plant to stake them together. The sunflowers are very sturdy to hold the tomato plants up and in a few weeks, it will be beautiful! Next year, I think that I will plant the sunflowers a few weeks before the tomatoes so they can have a better start.

My bed of tomatoes and sunflowers

Cucumbers, melons, squash, peppers, and broccoli bed

See my little cantaloupe?

Mulberry Jam :o)

The other day, my father-in-law calls up and says that they have a Mulberry tree that is loaded down with berries, would we like some? Ummm...sure! We don't turn down fresh produce of any kind. So I did a quick search for any type of mulberry recipes from my favorite food preservation site and decided to try some jam.

I did find when doing my search, that you have to be careful in the type of mulberries that you get, apparently some are poisonous. We determined that his were okay so we layed out a tarp and started shaking! The tree was loaded but not many fell :o( So we tried to pick some but most of the branches were too high. Needless to say, we didn't get many.

We came home and washed them and cooked them. I added a pound of strawberries to be able to make some jam. After washing and cooking them, I ran them through my foley food mill to get out the bigger seeds and stems (the stems on the mulberries are a pain to try to remove by hand!). I would up with 3 cups of cooked berries, so I added 3 1/2 cups of sugar (!) and 3/4 of a pack of pectin and cooked until it gelled. I put them in a water bath for about 10 minutes. I only got 3 of those little jars and then a little extra (for us to have a taste!) It turned out delicious! I think I overcooked it a little though because it didn't seem like it was getting to the gelling point and I kept it on but then it got harder to spread. Oh well. We can always make syrup with it. You just put it on the stove with a little butter and heat on low. Much cheaper than the fruit syrups at the store!

We'll go back next week to see if we can get more berries.

Week of Strawberries Part 3, Freezing Whole Berries

Frozen berries are very versatile. We mostly use them in smoothies in the summer but you can use them in muffins, breads, pancakes, etc... It is best not to just put them into a freezer bag because they will all clump together. Instead, you want to freeze them individually so that they don't form one big clump. This works for strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc...

• Wash your berries. Gently put berries into a sink of cold water and swish around.


• Drain berries in a colander.


• Place berries on a cookie sheet in a single layer and put into freezer for several hours.


• Label your gallon size freezer bags with the contents and the date.


• After you take them out of the freezer (use a potholder, it is very cold!), they may stick a little, just use a pancake turner to gently take them off the cookie sheet. Place them in your labeled freezer bag and put them back into the freezer.


• They are ready to use anytime! You can take out what you need and close it back up for next time.

Week of Strawberries Part 2, Freezer Jam

As part of my Strawberry series, I will show how we do things here at home. Let me just mention, I AM NO EXPERT! These are just things that I have learned by trial and error. Some ideas may seem very simple, but let me tell you, I had NO idea how to do anything in the kitchen when we first got married! Hopefully, this can be a small help to someone.

Strawberries are best when they are fresh picked. If you can pick them yourself at a Farm Market, U-pick place, or even better, at home, then that is best! You know exactly how fresh they are.

The key is planning ahead! When planning a trip to pick any produce, it is always best to call ahead to make sure they have plenty to pick. Also make sure that you have PLENTY of time to process your berries the same day you pick them. It is always cheaper to pick it yourself than to buy it there. For example, it was $4.75 per pint to buy at the market and $1.25 per pound to pick yourself. If you don't know where any U-Pick farms are in your area, check here. (There are also step-by-step instructions on preserving many food items on this site.)



We always make Freezer Jam. One of the main reasons we pick berries! That is what I will start with. Strawberry Freezer Jam

• Select your berries. Put them in a sink of cold water to wash. Just swish them around in the water and drain.

• Hull berries and place into a large bowl. This is the bowl you will use to crush them in.


• Crush berries with a potato masher.

• Measure out 4 Cups of crushed berries (this may vary with the type/size box of pectin that you use).


• Mix your freezer pectin & sugar. The one that I like best is Ball Freezer Pectin. It will tell you exactly how much sugar you need for the size package of pectin that you have. The package that I had said 1 1/2 cups sugar.


• Stir your pectin/sugar mixture into your crushed berries and mix for about 2-3 minutes.


• Ladle into your clean can-or-freeze jars or any freezer containers.


• Let it sit for 20-30 minutes and then label & freeze.


• Good for 3 weeks in the refrigerator or a year in the freezer.

It tastes like fresh strawberries all year long!

Week of Strawberries

Sweet and Juicy Strawberries

We went strawberry picking today! I love this time of year when we can go to farm markets to buy fresh produce. It just seems so wholesome. The kids and I had a great time picking 26 pounds of berries! Yes, you read that right! 26 POUNDS! Yum :o)

Strawberries are so good for you too. They are full of Vitamin C and Flavonoids. They are good plain, in desserts, smoothies, salads, etc... I am going to be posting strawberry recipes all this week, including how we process them here at home.

Happy eating!

A Taste of Summer

Last summer, my zucchini plants were overloaded with more zucchini than I knew what to do with. That, along with the bags of zucchini from friendly neighbors & fellow church members (I never turn down garden produce!!) I had a problem. A good problem!

Preserving zucchini is easy! Although in the summertime, I enjoy zucchini and squash sliced and sauteed with a little butter, diced onion, and garlic, I had a hard time finding how to can or freeze sliced zucchini. Instead, I shredded it.

I used my shredder attachment to my kitchen aid mixer (thanks to my dear MIL). After shredding, I placed 2 cup portions into sandwich bags (make sure to squeeze out all the air). I was able to fit 4 of these bags into a gallon size freezer bag. Label and freeze! It will be ready when you need it!

Now for tonights' treat, Zucchini Bread.

3 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini

• if using your preserved, frozen zucchini, use 2 bags, which should be 2 cups each. Make sure you squeeze the excess water from your thawed zucchini.

1 8oz can pineapple (drained)

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup raisins

Begin by mixing together eggs, oil, and sugar. Add and mix in vanilla, zucchini, and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients, then add to your mixture.

Lastly, add your nuts and raisins. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. I bake mine in my roaster due to my old over. I burn everything in my oven as it is 40+ years old. It turns out perfect in my roaster.

I'd love to hear new suggestions on food preservation!