Autumn is here!

Anyone else feel surprised by the weather shift this year? I thought I would be ready for it, but I was left shaking my head and wearing birkenstocks- another summer gone by.

This summer has been very busy work-wise, although very enjoyable! I haven't got to do all of the canning I'd like to though- when I get a few free hours, going out and picking raspberries is no longer sounding as relaxing as it once did.

My garden did fairly well this year- I had a good harvest of potatoes, and the small experimental things I planted very fairly productive- a jalepeno plant, a green pepper, and an eggplant. Growing bush beans for the first time went well, and I have a fall crop that should hopefully carry through. Carrots did surprisingly well this year, and again, I should have a lot to pick in another couple of days and then a fall/winter crop too. It was a weird year for tomatoes overall. Onions too- all the onions I started indoors did NOT do well. I'm thinking I'll go with onion sets this year, and not start onions from seed.

I have gotten to freeze some of the goodies from my garden: bell peppers, jalepenos, corn (can't take credit for growing that!), raspberries, green beans. I'd like to put up some more corn and some more bell peppers- I see a lot of vegetable stir-frys in our future!

I would still like to can sliced peaches, freeze some more raspberries, pick apples and can some applesauce. Maybe next year will be the year for a pressure canner?

I'm trying to enjoy the weather while its still warm(ish). 13 mile bike ride yesterday, Band Alumni event this weekend, Country Living Fair, hopefully some biking and outside maintenance next week. Soon it will be time to put away the sandals for the year.

Summer Payoff!

Almost ready!

In our garden, we're just entering the season where my hard work and the plants' hard work is paying off. I've been harvesting 1-2 zucchinis per week for the past couple of weeks, as well as 1-2 cucumbers, 3-5 jalepenos, and 5-7 small potatoes.

Yesterday, I had my first big harvest! 7 potatoes of decent size, 4-5 small carrots, 6 sweet peppers, 3 jalepenos, corriander seeds, as well as a zucchini and a cucumber!! After what seems like a long wait, tomatoes are finally starting to blush on the vine, and I have several that are getting close to ripening. Somehow I didn't plant any cherry tomatoes this year so I have a lot of big, green romas and brandywines just waiting.

Harvest time! 

I'm quickly realizing that I'm not able to grow as much of my own food as I'd like to in the current space I've cultivated. I'd like to re-evaluate again for next year how to expand in a managable way. For example: right now I have 5 bush kidney bean plants. Since I'm letting the beans dry on the plant, I'll only about about 40 kidney beans, which is kind of a silly amount. I planted the seeds for 10 new plants yesterday- hopefully I can get a fall harvest too!

Vacation re-cap

Our trip up north was just simply awesome. Camping was great, the beach was beautiful, weather was just right. We spent our days on the beach, went to the Leelanau county farmers market in empire to buy our 'groceries' for meals, and then spent Sunday on Old Mission Penninsula, wine-tasting at Black Star Farms and taking in the gorgeous views of vineyards and orchards!

I got a little tipsy and might have spent the hour-long drive shouting out sayings very (however unintentionally) similar to Double Rainbow exclaimations. Some of these could have been, "oh my gosh there's just so much!" And " oh my GOSH look at THAT it's so BEAUTIFUL!" as we passed by plot after plot of grape vines. Whoops!

Our last day was spent at Country Hermitage B&B which was scenic and home-like enough to inspire a lot of sadness when we had to leave. Located on a 400 acre working tart cherry orchard, its a historic home that was rehabbed in the late 90's and restored to its former glory. If you're up north, go there. Stay there.

More pics to come :)

Late Summer Project #1

I have lately been falling in love with the idea of a trash can root cellar. It's a funny thing to fall in love with, huh? Since I've started to grow my own carrots, potatoes, and onions, I've been thinking about how to store them through the winter. My basement isn't cool enough in the winter to keep the veggies at the temp they need to be, and I don't have one of those awesome, old-fashioned root cellars. I've looked and done some research about building your own outdoor root cellar, which seems awesome but like a lot of work that I don't have time or money to do right now. I did find a easy, do-able, cheap, and cute (of course a major factor haha) method from Mother Earth News, here.

Cute!

Basically, it details the process of making a miniature root cellar:

1. Purchase a 5- gallon bucket
2. Cut the bottom from the bucket
3. Dig a hole in the ground just big enough to hold the bucket with the top of it flush with the ground
4. Fill the bucket with carrots (or onions, potatoes, turnips, etc)
5. Place the lid on the bucket and place a bale of straw on top for insulation

5-gallon buckets seem like a great size too, because a whole standard-sized trash can seems like a lot! Also, what if I want a carrot and two potatoes and I've put all my storage crop into one trash can? Would I just reach my hand down through the levels o' veggies? Seems like having separate 5-gallons for each type is more practical for usage throughout the winter. Stay tuned for 'implementation phase' :)