Scenes from Saturday

Tilling the garden

Sharing the last of the swiss chard

Talking to Happy

I don’t like digging carrots

And that’s why I’m doing it in November.  I’m lucky there’s no snow.

Nothing like having an audience.  How do they know I’m digging carrots? (they like carrots)

At least the garden hose isn’t frozen.

I manage to get everyone (me) and the dog (okay, just me) soaking wet.

It’s time consuming, back breaking, dirty, and tedious.

I don’t like digging them but I like eating them!  I guess that’s why I’m doing it.  I’d better get back at it or it won’t get done.  I see carrot salad in my near future!

What’s your favourite way to eat carrots?

This post is part of the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop, hosted by GNOWFGLINS, Sustainable Eats and Culinary Bliss

Harvesting cabbage

So you’ve harvested a few heads of cabbage from your garden before they split and you pull up the plants and dispose of them, right?  No, wait.  If you leave the plants in the garden, in a few weeks you’ll have more cabbage!

They won’t be as big, of course but just as good.  You should get 3 or 4 soft ball-sized cabbages per plant, plus more smaller ones.  You can do the same thing with broccoli.  The extra spears will have more flavour than the original head.  Maybe there’s been a frost or two and you’re thinking it’s time to put the garden to bed for the winter, now you have fresh cabbage!  A last hurrah from the vegetable garden. 🙂

Radio Show

Sylvia Britton from the Christian Homekeeper Network has asked me to be a guest on her internet radio show.  You can listen live this evening at 7pm CST or listen later.  If you listen live, you can be a part of the chatroom.  Register an account,  so you can participate in the chatroom, otherwise you will only be able to read.  Click here, and it will take you straight to the radio show.

We’ll be talking about homesteading type things; gardening in Manitoba, our animals, our milk cow and what I do with all that milk and much more.  I hope you’ll join us!

Crabapples

That time of year again.  The crabapples are ready and there’s too many of them!  I always feel like I need to use what God gives me.  But in this case, there is no way I can. You would think these little sour apples wouldn’t be good for anything but they have a wonderful flavour.  After a frost, the sweetness increases and makes them even better.  I plan to make some juice sweetened with a little honey. I made some jelly – they make wonderful jelly with a beautiful colour.  I also made some crabapple liqueur, which is very simple to make.

Tomatoes, tomatoes

And more tomatoes…

That’s just the start of it!  Everyday I’ve been taking care of one bowl full, then going out to the garden to pick another bowlful. 😯  They are doing so well this year, it must be all that good manure I put on the garden.  Tomatoes are so versatile, though huh?  I’ve canned several quarts and a few pints, made 2 batches of ketchup and now I’ll start making tomato sauce.  I don’t season it to make spaghetti sauce, I prefer to do that when I’m cooking.  I find having plain sauce is something I can use in more recipes.  We’ve been eating tons fresh too!

A few years ago I picked up a tomato press.  Is that what they are called?  You can use it for anything.  It’s great for making apple sauce, especially here where the apples that grow are quite small and tedious to peel and core.

No end in sight yet but I know we’ll be enjoying them all winter long!

What do you like to make with tomatoes?

Garden pics

Zucchini, tomatoes, and cabbage

Green beans, beets, swiss chard, and peas

Where I wish I was!

The garden is doing pretty good.  Vegetables other than what are listed are rutabagas, lettuce, carrots, dill, cucumbers, kale, potatoes, onions and kohlrabi.  The radishes are finished and the lettuce is about done too.  The peas and beans are just starting to bloom.  The tomatoes are all in bloom and there are some small green ones.

I tried to grow more vegetables that will last the winter and less vegetables that are eaten fresh only.  We really like having fresh lettuce from the garden so I think I’m going to put in another seeding where the radishes were.

The last couple days I’ve been watering.  We could really use some rain.  Watering helps the garden survive but it really doesn’t thrive like it does with rain.

How is your garden doing?  I’d love to see pictures!

Greenhouse

Okay, so it’s not the greenhouse I always dreamed of having. 😀

All these years I have been starting my bedding plants on the living room window sill. Difficult to do now that I have 2 cats in the house. I thought this solved the problem beautifully! And at a minimal cost and effort. I have it sitting on the deck on the south side of the house where it is sheltered from the wind and gets lots of sun all day long. I put a cement block tight against it at the base to help make it more secure in case a really strong gust of wind decided to try to move it. Fairly common here on the prairies. 😉

The vegetables I started are tomatoes, cabbage, butternut squash, and leeks. Herbs: parsley, basil and dill. And some ornamental sunflowers. These are just from seeds I had. I didn’t think I’d be starting bedding plants this year until I found this greenhouse so that’s why I only started a few things. The rest I will purchase for this year. Next year I’ll do more. 🙂

Anticipating…

I bought this potted gerbera last fall for my autumn table. Now its bloom reminds me that spring will come. 🙂

For behold, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone.
The flowers have already appeared in the land; The time has arrived for pruning the vines, And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.
Sgs 2:11-12

Pecular carrots

I was digging carrots out of my garden and found a bunch of them were really weird looking. Do you know what causes this?

Where the tops go

Oh, the life!

UPDATE: All the manure I put on the garden last fall helped the tomatoes but apparently was also the cause of those funny looking carrots.