Gardening

Sparky is our ground hog catcher. If we hear him barking really loud that mean, "Get out here Dale, I've cornered a ground hog." Then, Dale gets his cage and between the two of them they get the rascal. Dale takes the garden eating monster to a place far away from homes and lets'em out. Sparky comes along for the ride to watch. He loves the game.

Storing Vegetables in my Root Cellar

I love the fact that vegetables can keep the entire winter in a root cellar. That is, if they are taken care of properly. Now, just to let you know, I didn’t grow all of these vegetables. We have grown all of them at one time or another on our farm. Our problem the last two years has been our stinking ground hogs.

They love to eat the garden. They especially love things with blossoms, like pumpkins.

Groundhog_capture_Sparky_dale_Hartwood_VA_DG_10200913989

Sparky and the garden eater, a ground hog

Pumpkins, guards, spaghetti, and butternut squash are the winners in keeping a winter storage. Our cellar stays nearly 50 degrees- from fall until early spring. The pumpkins and butternut squash have potential to be as perfect as when picked, if the temperature stays 50 and under. The secret is, don’t let them touch each other! They need air circulation.

Carrots store well in sawdust (non-chemical of course). Dale has enough sawdust from all of his wood working to keep me stocked. I pulled the carrots out of the sawdust so you can see them.

Sweet potatoes do fairly well in our cellar. If picked in September, they’ll store well until February. Most all the vegetables must not be washed before they are stored. They are cured after being pulled from the garden for a few days. Cured is another word for drying them out. You don’t want any moisture on them when stored or they’ll rot.

I go through onions pretty fast. I wouldn’t know from experience how long they last. Most people braid and hang them.

I also store white beans (photo below). They are actually just beans from green beans. Yep. Green beans (in my opinion) are the easiest vegetable to grow. After they are in the ground their only requirement is heat.

Ours seem to grow even when I don’t water them. They grow supernaturally, you pick them, and within just a few days the plants are loaded again! So, to get white beans- let your last crop mature on the vine. Don’t pick. After they’re mature pull the plant up and hang upside down on the fence. Let dry for a couple of weeks (they can’t be in rain so you may want to bring into barn to hang). After completely dry, bang the plant inside a can or barrel and the beans will easily fall out of the shell. Or you can open them by hand. They must be dry and have no moisture before you store them. Store in a cool, dry area. Unopened they store for 30+ years. Opened, they last a couple of years. Oh, yes and ground hogs and rabbits don’t eat our beans.

Kale (photo below) planted in the fall will grow until January, here in Virginia. This year, mine is still growing and it’s February- even though our night time temperatures have been in the teens. Kale is a great winter vegetable. Even if it hibernates January through February, it awakens the first of March with tons of nutrients for your family to eat.

My thyme and rosemary are still going strong on my porch. The porch is not heated, but it is enclosed. The temperatures go below 32– but the plants are still doing well. I water them once a week and they have sun exposure.

I made Smoked Saffron Chicken and White Beans/Portugal Style gluten-free with some of the beans and herbs. It was delicious!

Storage of winter vegetables do well in the corner of a garage on shelves. Just put covering over them for insulation. Or, if you want to be adventurous dig yourself a hole in the ground, put the vegetables inside and cover with hay or other insulated materials.

Help yourself to fresh vegetables all winter long!

In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has. Proverbs 21:20

Pumpkin, butternut squash, kale(fresh out of garden), herbs(from porch) eggs(from our coop), pumpkin seeds , curds and northern beans (white beans)– They’re all on the menu for this week!

The Weekend Harvest–Bushels of Pears/ Pear Cider

Harvesting our pears

This past weekend Dale installed a 30 ft mural that he created for the county. I’ll show you what it looks like after the unveiling this afternoon, exciting.

Saturday pears were dropping from our pear tree faster than fast, that meant harvest time. I picked as many as I had room to store. I’m going to make pear butter (the best ever) with them, but I’m waiting for Rachael to come home and video the process so you can be with us.

I use cider in my pear butter so I started a couple of batches.

After pear harvesting I mowed the yard for a few hours, planted pansies on the front path to the house, then made dinner and dessert to bring Dale and his crew at the county installation. I stayed with them until midnight so I could help hang the 30 foot header on top of the mural.

Sunday Dale had a few loose ends to finish on the installation, then came home and we enjoyed a pot roast, potatoes and vegetables. We then enjoyed a long walk around the property and found at least 50 persimmon trees growing in the back field. This is the first year we’ve noticed them having fruit. They were delicious! Yum!

We’ll be a persimmon orchard in a couple of years. We found another pear tree that’s limbs were drooping with fruit. God has been good to give us so many delicacies.

We then sat down next to the barn and pondered all the things God has laid on our heart for the future, it was a sweet time.

This was the pear tree a week before. You can see the ones picked are more yellow and ready for use immediately.

Harvested pears

I stored as many as I could in our old refrigerator and in the house . These will be used for the pear butter.

This is our antique apple press for making cider. I love it! However,I didn’t have time to clean it, I opted for the electric juicer in my kitchen.

I washed the pears, took out bad places, chopped them and then sent them through the juicer

Chopped pears

Pear cider in waiting. Buying cider at the store would be easier, but when you have an abundance of fruit you gotta make it yourself. I added homemade whey to this for fermentation and to add good bacteria.

Pulp from the pear juice

Chickens and rooster enjoying the pulp

Edward, our buck eating the pear scraps

After harvesting pears and mowing for a couple of hours I planted pansies. These will be triple in size next spring, just in time for the big wedding.