Fall Garden To Do's

Fall Garden To Do's
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you. 

The air is crisp and cool and the harvest is in. There are still days of nice weather yet to enjoy outside. Fall in the garden is a time of rest and preparation. The ground has produced its bounty for you and is now turning dormant for the winter. But for next year's garden, there are a few things you can do now to care for that soil, so it will continue to produce a bounty for you next year. 

First remove any cages, panels, or supports you placed for the plants over the growing season. For me this looks like tomato cages, cattle panels for the beans, small cages for peppers support. As part of this process, you will be taking down any vines that are still standing and laying them on the ground. 

Next gather your helping hands and start hauling compost. This is for a traditional in-ground garden and any raised bed gardens. I usually shoot for 1-2 inches across the in-ground garden and fill the boxes back up in the raised beds. Different people use different materials for their compost. Horse, sheep/goat, cattle, chicken manure works well and does best if applied in the fall so it can begin to break down over the winter. If you wait until spring the manure can be too rich and burn the plants. In this case you will need to apply extra water. 

If you are refilling raised beds you can go ahead and cover the beds with 4-6 inches of mulch for the next year. This helps the moisture, and reduces the weeds in the beds for next season. Raised beds have the advantage of not needing to be tilled every spring as well, so you can take a step ahead on your spring work here. 

If you are planning on garlic you can plant the cloves in the fall and mulch them with around 6 inches. They do well over winter and can then be harvested early in the summer allowing for a second crop of something else. 

Finally relax! Step back and enjoy what you have accomplished this year. If you took notes throughout the growing season, review them over the winter. What did you plant? How much? What was produced? Was there enough or too much for you to use? Start making your plan for next year and how much you will want to grow. 



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Freezing Corn

Freezing Corn
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you. 

I love growing my own food. Part of growing all the food is not only eating it fresh in the summer, but preserving it for winter use. One vegetable we eat a lot of is corn. Freezing corn is a simple but time consuming process. The best way is to get a group of friends and family and make a party out of it, splitting the end product. 

You will need freezer bags quart or gallon works best or other freezer containers.
Large stock pot for blanching.
Cutting boards and knives

Step 1. Pick and husk the corn. By far the most time consuming task. This is hands down the best place to have a lot of people helping. Many hands make the work quicker and the stories better, and less likely for a dog to steal an ear (maybe that's just my dogs).

When selecting the ears, look for big ears, with brown silks. When you bend them, they should break from the stock easily. If they don't leave them for another time or person.

Remove all the husks and silks from the ears, and any worms or bugs. I recommend this step outside.


Step 2. Cook the corn. Bring the cleaned ears inside (chest coolers work great for carrying the cobs) and place them in a pot of boiling water, for 3-5 minutes. The corn will turn a bright golden yellow color when it is done.

Step 3. Cool the cobs. Take the hot cobs and place them in ice cold water. I like to use my sink, with the water as cold as it will go. The idea is to stop the cooking process quickly. Step 2 & 3 combined are called blanching.
Step 4. Remove the corn from the cob. I like to use a regular knife for this step and cut into a sheet pan. My mom always used an electric knife. Cut the corn off the cob and cast the cob to a bucket. If you have chicken they will feast on this cob. Cows like to munch on them too.
Step 5. Label and bag. Label your bags and fill them. I like to use quarts, as that is about the right size for our family. This year we did a couple gallons for family dinners (and because we ran out of quarts).
I like to use a coffee cup for the scoop/measuring tool. Fill with approximately 3 scoops and press the air out. Most bags or containers will have a fill line on them. Then flatten the bag.
Step 6. Freeze. Flatten all bags and stack them up. You can put them in the freezer right away, or wait until you have a stack then place them all in the freezer at the same time.

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Freezing Sweet and hot peppers

Freezing Sweet and hot peppers
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you. 

I love growing my own food. Part of growing all the food is not only eating it fresh in the summer, but preserving it for winter use. One vegetable we eat a lot of is peppers. Freezing peppers is a simple and quick process. I grow both sweet peppers and hot peppers. I use the same process for both. 

You will need:
Freezer containers or bags. I like the freezer containers, or vacuum seal bags.
Cutting board and knife (I like my nifty chopper, it makes the cutting so much faster or a food processor 
Peppers

Step 1. Pick the peppers from the garden. Depending on the variety, how big or what color the peppers will be when finished. Many hot peppers will turn red. Sweet peppers have many colors, so be sure to check which kind you planted before picking. 

Step 2. Wash the peppers. I dump all the peppers into the sink and gently scrub them. 

Step 3. Slice the pepper in half and remove the stem, seeds, and any bad spots. For hot peppers I will use for canning recipes later, I leave the seeds and chop them in a food processor. 



Step 4. Cut the peppers. I used to slice the peppers up with a knife, but I found this handy chopper that made the process so much faster and diced the peppers.


Step 4. Freeze the peppers. Place the peppers in freezer containers filling to the fill line. I used freezer containers last year, and plan to use vacuum bags this year. For the hot peppers, I use containers approximately the size I will need per recipe for simplicity. 

Step 5. Fill the freezer. Once you have all the peppers packed, label the containers and place them in your freezer. 


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Freezing Carrots

Freezing Carrots
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you. 

I love growing my own food. Part of growing all the food is not only eating it fresh in the summer, but preserving it for winter use. One vegetable we eat a lot of is carrots. Freezing carrots is a simple and quick process. 

You will need:
Freezer containers or bags. I like the quart freezer containers, or vacuum seal bags.
Cutting board and knife (I like my nifty chopper, it makes the cutting so much faster)
Stock pot
Strainer/steamer
Carrots

Step 1. Pick the carrots from the garden. Depending on the variety how big the carrots will be when finished. I like them a little bigger than my thumb at the top. You can gently remove the dirt from the top of the plants to see how big the carrot is before you pick them. I break the carrot top off and either leave it in the garden as mulch or feed it to the chickens. 
I like to use a basket with a wire mesh bottom so I can easily hose the carrots off outside before they come in for a final wash. 

Step 2. Wash the carrots. I do a first wash outside with the garden hose. It saves a lot of the dirt coming inside. Then I dump all the carrots into the sink and scrub them. I do not peel the carrots, so I make sure they are scrubbed clean. 
Step 3. Cut the carrots. I used to slice the carrots up with a knife, but I found this handy chopper that made the process so much faster and diced the carrots the way my kids like them. 
Cut the tail and top knob off, then cut to the desired size. 
Step 4. Cook the carrots. We don’t like mushy vegetables in our house, so I cook the carrots for 3-4 minutes, then take them out. They will change color a bit while cooking which is how I determine they are done. 
Step 5. Cool them off quickly. Ice water works great for this. You want to stop the cooking process, so cooling them as fast as possible is necessary. I use my sink with ice bottles,or run the water on cold over them until cool. 
Step 6. Freeze the carrots. Place the cooled carrots in freezer containers filling to the fill line. I used freezer containers last year, and plan to try vacuum bags this year. 
Step 7. Fill the freezer. Once you have all the carrots packed, label and place them in your freezer. 

UPDATE: After breaking several choppers I started cooking the carrots first, then dicing them. This works much better and doesn't break the chopper blades. 


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How to Can Green Beans

How to Can Green Beans
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you. 

I love growing my own food. Part of growing all the food is not only eating it fresh in the summer, but preserving it for winter use. One vegetable we eat a lot of is green beans. While actual processing time takes a bit, it is a simple process. 

You will need:
Canning jars
Canning lids
Canning rings
Canning salt
Green Beans

Step 1. Pick the beans from the garden when they are the approximate diameter you want, and are plump and juicy. Length really doesn't matter here, as you will be shortening them later.
If you come across some that look to have little juice and can see the seeds just leave them on the plant. At the end of the season, just when the plant is drying up, go back and pick them. You can use the seeds for next year's crop.

Step 2. Sterilize the jars. Get your water on and jars in and let them boil. Usually by the time I have a pile of beans big enough for all the jars, the jars are sterile and ready to pack. I also start my water on and started heating in the pressure canner at this time too so it is hot and ready for jars as soon as they are packed. Step 2 and 3 are usually happening at the same time for efficiency. 
Step 3. Clean and snap the beans. I usually dump the beans in my sink, rinsing the ones that need it, and snap them onto the counter. It is beneficial if you have a lot to can, to snap them sitting down into a clean bucket or basket.
You are snapping the beans to about 1 inch pieces. To 'snap' the beans simply break them in pieces with your fingers, no knife required.
Step 4. Salt the jars. Remove the sterile jar from the water and carefully dump the water out.

For a quart Jar you need to add 1 Tablespoon of canning salt to the jar. I put it in the bottom right away so I don't forget. Make sure it is canning salt and not table salt. There is a difference!
Step 5. Pack the beans. Pack the beans in the jar to 1 inch from the top. Then add HOT (like near boiling) water to 1 inch from the top.
Step 6. De-Bubble. This step is very important!
Slide a long spatula along the edge of the jar 2-3 times to remove any trapped air bubbles.
If an air bubble is trapped and not removed your jar could explode in the canner.

Step 7. Lids. Rinse the, one time use, canning lids in hot water. This is new compared to older lids which you needed to boil first. Then set them on the jar and attach the rings down as tight as you can. 

If you are using reusable lids you will want to boil the seals and follow the instructions from the manufacturer. I purchased some from Tattler at www.reusablecanninglids.com. 

If the jar is too hot to grab you can use a lid tighter as shown to help.


Step 8. Into the pressure canner. Using jar lifters pick the jars up and place them in the hot water in the pressure canner.
Once all the jars are in, make sure your water is 2 inches above the jar lids. 
Step 9. Close the canner and wait. The hard part is done. Now the waiting.
Seal up the canner and turn your heat on high. Wait until you see steam coming from the vent as shown.
Step 10 Adjust the pressure and wait some more. Adjust the pressure to 11 pounds and wait for the canner to reach pressure. In a weighted canner you will hear it. It's loud and sounds like water is on somewhere in your house.
My weight is in 5 pound increments. Always adjust higher rather than lower. Thus mine is set at 15 instead of 10.

Step 11. Set the timer and wait again. Once the canner is to pressure set the timer for 25 minutes for quart jars.
After the timer goes off, turn off your heat and let the canner depressurize. You can use a hot pad and take the weight off. It will be very hot. The canner will easily open once it is depressurized. You should NOT have to force it open. 

If you have another batch to do, start packing the jars now and about the time you're done the canner will be ready to open.

Step 12. Remove the jars and let them cool. Using the jar lifters, carefully lift the jars out of the hot water and place them someplace safe to cool. I use a towel doubled up.
At this point I usually walk away until the next morning. Check the lids by pressing in the center. If a lid pops back up, it is not sealed. Easiest solution? Put it in the fridge and use it within a week. Label the jars and store them away for later use!




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Using fear for opportunity

Using fear for opportunity

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What is a fear you carry deep inside? One that not many may know about, but affects many of your everyday decisions? Me? That somehow there won’t be enough, and my family will be left short. 

 

Why does this affect my decisions? Because the last thing I want is for my family to be short somehow. Short of food, finances, or simply time. 

 

So what do I do? First, I try to not let the fear overtake me. I acknowledge that it is there, and then remind myself of all the ways God has continued to provide for us in the past. My heart calms, and I can clearly think towards my next step. I then thank God for His provision and ask that He continue to remind me when that fear comes up again. 

 

This fear has also been a motivator for me. When I started staying home, our income was drastically cut. While we would no longer be paying for daycare or as much in gas, we now had to pay our own insurance and the grocery bill would be increasing. How were we going to offset the cost?

 

I looked around. We already lived on an acreage. I had gardened some in the past, and was getting pretty good at it. Why not take it to the next level and have the garden provide as much of our food as we could! 

 

And so it began, in more earnest. I planted more of what I knew we would consume and less of the extra stuff. I learned how to preserve our food supply for the winter. I also started learning how to grow more of the vegetables my family liked, so we weren’t buying as much at the store. 

 

The garden is still expanding and growing. I use the winter to learn more about the next vegetable or fruit I want to grow. I take notes and perfect the methods for our farm. I’m playing with double cropping and starting a permaculture orchard now. 

 

What started as a fear of not being able to buy enough groceries, has turned into a huge garden with the potential to meet 80% (currently around 50%) of our family’s veggie and fruit needs when it is all mature. All this from not giving into the fear, but stepping back and looking for the opportunity in the fear. 

 



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4 Beginner Gardner Tips to Save YOU Time

4 Beginner Gardner Tips to Save YOU Time

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We are in the heart of gardening season in Nebraska. Plants are up, cool seasons done, most of the weeding is done, and the fruit of the labor is starting to show. It is honestly the best time. Water the garden and pick the produce and enjoy! The early hard work of establishing plants is done and the bulk of harvest is yet to come. 

 

I’m often asked when people see or hear about my gardens: “How do you get it all done?” The short answer, ‘Little by little.” I started small with my garden, a few simple easy to grow plants and have expanded from there. Every year my garden has grown a bit, with more plants, more variety, and more space. Along the way I learned a few things that help cut down on the amount of work over the summer.

 

#1 Mulch. Not just the 1-2 inches of mulch or dusting like you do when planting grass, but deep mulch. Like 4-6 inches of mulch. Why that deep? Not only does it help the moisture stay in the soil better, it blocks much of the weed growth. Will you still have to weed? Yes, but much less. Who has time to spend all day weeding anyway?

 

#2 Tackle small parts at a time. This one hit hard this year. I would look at everything that needed done, planted, weeded, prepped, watered, and simply become overwhelmed. Once I reminded myself to tackle small chunks at a time, it made the job more do-able and less stressful. I divide the garden into sections for planting, weeding and watering and stick with the smaller parts. I am more likely to finish one section before it gets too hot or the kids need me that way. 

 

#3 Try one new thing at a time. This is huge for beginners. I started with a sweet corn patch my hubby planted, some pumpkins and cucumbers that took over, and maybe a tomato plant and pepper. I cannot even count how many plants I have now without walking around the gardens. Each year I added one or two varieties to try. Became good with those and added more. I also started with small patches to experiment with so space isn't wasted.  

 

#4 Companion plant. This took me a few years to catch on to. It actually started by accident, when I couldn’t fit all my tomatoes in one spot in the garden. The results were worth repeating year after year! There was less bug damage to the overall crop when plants were mixed together. This year I took a spin on it and planted my tomatoes all in beds together, but planted basil around them. Basil tends to repel the bugs attracted to the tomatoes and I wanted more basil. It was a win-win. Check out the list of friend/foe plants I made earlier for more details. 

 

What are some lessons you’ve learned from your hobbies that others would benefit from? 



 

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What do you do when you feel like your passion is being put on hold?

What do you do when you feel like your passion is being put on hold?

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Tough question, but one most of us will face at some point. Something we loved doing must be put on hold for a time, sometimes known, sometimes unknown. Hobbies or passions are held or altered for different reasons: life circumstance, health, finances.


When this happens there usually is a process of grieving. You deny that you really have to give that hobby up and find ways to still include it. Then you have feelings of anger or frustration that you just can’t make the hobby work. You might try bargaining for time, money, health, to get just a bit more of that passion. Then you fall into a bit of a depression as you long to do what you used to love. Finally you accept that maybe one day you will be able to do your passion again. 


Feeling like my passions are being taken away has happened to me recently. I am a strong willed, independent, woman. I love riding horses, and being in my gardens. With the addition of each child my time riding has decreased, but I am ok with that as I still have them and have continued to care for them. My garden has increased as our family has increased, filling much of my used to be riding time, because it is something else I enjoy and the kids can do it with me. 


Late this winter however, I saw both of these hobbies start to be limited and felt them being taken away. I had started bleeding heavily during pregnancy and found I had a large subchorionic hematoma. I was put on activity and weight restrictions of 10 pounds, until the bleeding stopped. This made it impossible to feed hay to my horses, help my kids ride, or start yard prep for the garden. At first I was ok, ‘it’ll only be a couple weeks, then I can resume’ (denial). But the two weeks turned into a month and still no end in sight. In total I bled 7 weeks. Even after it was done, I was still advised to keep the lifting light and limit activity so nothing would reinjure. 


I was angry. Angry there was no clear reason or answer to why. Angry I couldn’t take care of my portion of the chores, upset I was having to rely on everyone else to feed hay, get feed, pour the feed into the cans, and do the heavy lifting in the gardens. 


I then went through a bit of depression as I realized all the things I might not be able to do this summer. Planting was going to be difficult, weeding, mulching. Planting the bushes was out of the question. Clean up in the wind break was on hold. My plants I started suffered, as I didn’t care for them like they needed. 


Only recently have I been able to accept that I will not return to full normal activity until months after delivery. That has been helped by being surrounded by friends and family that are willing and able to step in and help, with the chores I cannot do (thank you to my husband, who does the bulk now with his own cattle chores). Friends who come out and help with the big garden days (Nicole and Andrew) and get the digging, mulching, weeding done. 


Is it still hard? Yes. I want to do so much and don’t like relying on others to have to help me all the time. I have accepted that some things just won’t happen this year, but there is next year. I also know this is not forever and one day I’ll be back to full speed. But that buggy horse is sounding really good right now….




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Chokecherry Syrup

Chokecherry Syrup

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The other day my beautiful mother-in-law messaged me to see if I wanted any of her chokecherries. Of course! Now what do I use them for that my kids would actually eat? How about syrup?! The mulberry syrup went over well, and was now gone, may as well try it. Recipe at the bottom.

Turns out the frost killed most of the chokecherry blossoms, so there wasn’t much, but there was enough for me to experiment with. Ivalee, James and I set out one afternoon to go pick what was there. She was actually all over the picking until the easy low ones were gone, then climbing the fence was way more fun. We did manage to get an ice cream bucket full. Which was around 8 cups. They then sat on the counter overnight until I could deal with them in the morning. 

The next morning, I was in a hurry, so I dumped the bucket into the pot and added the water. No, I didn’t wash them, or sort the leaves out first. I stirred the berries around a bit and like magic the leaves and steams floated to the top! I scooped them out and let the cooking begin! The recipe I was following said to strain the juice off and and reboil the seeds and pulp to get more juice. I did not have that kind of time. But I got to thinking about my favorite red juice. It is actually a puree, so you receive the benefits from the entire berry. Why not with chokecherries?

After straining as much juice as I could through the cheese cloth (and spilling some all over the stove, the lighter on my gas stove still hasn’t recovered), I dumped the pulp and pits into the blender. Looking back, I should have done half at a time. The full amount was a little much for my blender. Once everything was blended smooth, I added it back to the juice. Heated it back up and added the sugar, orange and lemon. You can use real orange and/or lemon juice, but I didn't have any, so I used the oils I did have. Let everything cook and then pour into jars and process! I ended up with 7 pints of deliciousness. You definitely need to shake before using, but it tastes amazing!


Recipe

  • Equal parts chokecherries, water, sugar (example: 4 c chokecherries, 4 c water, 4 c sugar)

  • 1-2 drops Orange essential oil (to taste)

  • 1-2 drops Lemon essential oil (to taste)


  1. Add chokecherries and water into a pan. Bring to boil, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes

  2. Strain juice through cheesecloth and squeeze as much out as you can. 

  3. Blend up pulp and pits in blender

  4. Re-strain through cheesecloth

  5. Add sugar and orange and lemon

  6. Stir occasionally over medium heat for 20-30 min

  7. Pour into hot sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes

  8. Shake before use and enjoy!

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The Best Way to Dry and Store Herbs for Maximum Freshness

The Best Way to Dry and Store Herbs for Maximum Freshness
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you. 
UPDATED July 11, 2024
 
Summer is the perfect time to enjoy fresh herbs, but what happens when the growing season ends? If you're like me, you want to savor those flavors all winter long. In this blog, I'll share the best way to dry herbs and keep them at their freshest to enjoy all year long.
Why Dehydrating Herbs is the Best Method
In the past, I laid my herbs out in old crates in the basement to dry. While this method worked, the herbs often lost much of their scent and flavor. Then, I decided to try dehydrating them, and the results have been fantastic. They retain their aroma and taste much better, even in the dead of winter. 
How to Dehydrate Herbs
Here's a step-by-step guide to dehydrating herbs using a dehydrator:
  1. Prepare Your Herbs:
  • Wash and pat dry your herbs.
  • For larger herbs like chives and basil, cut them into smaller pieces to ensure even drying.
  1. Set Up the Dehydrator:
  • Place the herbs on the dehydrator trays. For smaller trays, I like to add a fine mess screen and the solid tray on the very bottom tray. 
  • Set the dehydrator to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
  1. Drying Process:
  • Leave the herbs to dry for at least 12 hours.
  • Check if they're dry to the touch. If not, give them more time.
  1. Grind and Store:
  • Once dry, grind the herbs using a coffee grinder or blender.
  • If the hers seem a little damp, I’ll dry them another couple hours ground.
  • Store them in airtight glass jars to keep them fresh.
Benefits of Using a Dehydrator
  • Retains Flavor and Scent:
Dehydrating herbs helps to preserve their natural oils, ensuring they maintain their original taste and aroma.
  • Time-Saving:
The dehydrator speeds up the drying process, saving you time compared to air-drying methods.
  • Versatility:
You can dry a variety of herbs simultaneously without worrying about mixing flavors. As long as you use different dehydrators at the same time. 
Storing Dried Herbs
Proper storage is crucial to maintaining the freshness of your dried herbs. Here's how I store mine:
  • Use clean, dry glass jars with solid lids.
  • Label each jar with the herb's name and the date it was dried.
  • Store the jars in a cool, dark place to keep the herbs fresh for longer.
Dehydrating herbs is a great way to enjoy summer flavors year-round. By following these simple steps, you can ensure your herbs stay fresh and flavorful. Don't forget to experiment with different herbs and storage methods to find what works best for you.
If you need more tips or personalized advice on preserving herbs, feel free to reach out. Let's keep those flavors alive together!
 
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