Adventures of an urban homesteader growing greens, preserving the harvest and tending a backyard barnyard
It’s the end of the growing season and all the last of the fair-weather garden need to be harvested. Freezing is one of the quickest and simplest food preservation methods – a great option for those of us short on time with lots to preserve. But it’s not just as simple as throwing your garden veggies in a bag in the freezer. Many vegetables need
Finally, the winter garden has been planted – better late than never. Winter vegetables need enough time to get established before cold temperatures roll in. Tender plants will be damaged and killed by frost, while the hardier winter crops will endure. Not sure when your first frost date is? Check the Farmers Almanac to find the frost date closest to your location. Our first frost
The duck and chicken coops get cleaned once a week, but a deep clean a couple times a year will help keep pests and disease at bay. Our weekly cleaning process involves raking out used bedding, cleaning out food and water dishes, refilling grit and oyster shell, and laying down fresh dry bedding. Dirt and grime builds up over time though, so this twice annual
Another year is behind me and I find myself again feeling a little wiser for it. This year I decided to celebrate my birthday by enjoying all of my favorite things – my lovely family, some gorgeous landscapes and u-pick produce. Here is a photo-heavy recap. The first stop on my birthday celebration was lunch at Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River. This small town
Our harvest baskets are bigger than ever this month and we are buried in tomatoes! I am happy to report our later-ripening Brandywines are in full swing. That means we have mounds of Sunburst cherries, San Marzano sauce and fat Brandywines all coming on at once. I have been chained to the canning pot, putting up batches and batches of stewed tomatoes. But don’t think
Ratatouille is a rustic French dish that captures the best flavors of summer and distills them down in a richly flavored stew. It is the perfect recipe to make at the end of summer when you are harvesting everything at once from the garden. The recipe I love best is from the Gourmet cookbook and a version of it can be found on the Epicurious
Every week more and more jars of preserved goodies are added to our cupboard. Canning tomatoes is especially satisfying because I know we will blow through them this winter, as we always do. This year I am putting my efforts toward simply canned tomatoes (click link for recipe!). They are versatile to have in the pantry alongside a few jars of marinara sauce (again, click
It’s high time for an update on those wacky ducks on our homestead! It has been a few months since we finished construction on the duck coop and I finally got around to painting their finished duck coop. On a recent photo shoot in our backyard, the photographer said it looked like a bit of Mexico with all the bright colors. We’re been through enough
Artichokes are hard-working, versatile additions to any edible landscape. They are perennial plants, which means they will come back year after year. One of my favorite vegetables, we eagerly harvest their unopened flower heads from spring through the fall. Artichokes also make an excellent edible hedge. I planted a row of them from 4″ pots in the early spring to function as a living wall.
Figs are the jewels of summer, only lasting a couple days once picked, and their subtle flavor is something to be savored. But when our Desert King was bent over with fruit, I had to find ways to preserve the harvest before the figs were too far gone. This year I decided to cook up a big batch of Great Aunt Dot’s fig preserves. The
