Sunday, September 8, 2013

clouds, glorious poop, garlic, blue hands, berries, nasturtiums, candy and food - it's been a busy couple of days!

check out these beautiful clouds rolling in from the front of the house:

 

out back looked like this:

 

but very soon changed to this:

 

we have very beautiful clouds here! i love them!

woohoo - we got poop! have a gander:

 

that's 4-year old poop! we will be getting truckloads of this poop all autumn long, and amending all of our tires and beds - woohoo!

here's a nice, light way to start your day - a breakfast of pita chips, roasted in the oven with olive oil, garlic salt and onion salt, homemade salsa and homemade guacamole (which we call "gwawk-a-mole):


but if yer sending your man out to dig poop all morning, he needs some eggs, fried potatoes and fried balogna! yummeh!


remember a few weeks back when i cut all of my garlic scapes? we were intending to sautee them in butter (deelish!), but they were so pretty, i put them in a vase of water. well, look what they did:


they started forming bulbils and flowers!!!!


my friend Sue, has an excellent post up about growing your own garlic, harvesting it and curing it to use throughout the year. you can read her informative post here. she explains out all of the steps of growing your own garlic. we have grown garlic for years - we love homegrown garlic! but this year, i have been researching how to grow garlic from bulbils (which are just tiny cloves) and from true seed (which come from the flowers)! i will do a post in a few days about how to grow garlic from bulbils and true seed - it is very interesting - at least, i think it is!!!! i know that my friend Harry Flashman is waiting with baited breathe for such an exciting post - bahahahahahah!

here's a pic of my harvested garlic. jambaloney bought me that harvesting basket and i just love it!



 here's the harvested garlic in the outdoor kitchen sink ready to be washed up!

 

here's the garlic drying on screens in the sun!

 

and here it is, all cured and tied together to go up into the pantry.



i am planting more garlic tomorrow - i will plant cloves, bulbils and seeds - it is very exciting - we love garlic! the harvested garlic will keep us in garlic until spring when we will harvest what we are planting tomorrow. we eat a lot of garlic!!! we love it!

here`s a yummy supper to feed a hard-working man after he`s been out all day doing chores, planning how to build cold-frames and sharpening the chainsaw:



local, spicey sausages, local strawberries, and homegrown tomatoes, green beans and swiss chard - yummeh!

both of us have had dyed-blue fingers and fingernails for over a week! it`s from all of the blueberries and blackberries that we have been picking and sorting! our friend D paid us for picking blueberries on his farm by giving us 20lbs of blueberries which is exactly enough to last us for a year! and his berries are the best!

once the berries are picked you have about 3 days to process them!  so we spent the last few days processing our berries!


 in addition to berry processing, i have been daily harvesting nasturtium flowers!

 

once the nasturtium flowers are dried, i crush them in a mortar and pestle and make nasturtium powder. add this to any food for a nice peppery zing!

want a delicious breakfast? how about some homegrown carrots and peas sauteed in a little bit of butter, with salt and pepper - deelish!


it's strawberry season here - so of course, jambaloney picked up a ton of fresh, local strawberries. we ate a ton but also dehydrated a ton!


we dehydrated some of our blueberries too!


strangely enough, no one was able to get any blackberries this year??? thank goodness we have a ton of them on our land - we love blackberries! and we have a ton of bushes just thriving on our land! have a gander:


we picked these the other day which only added to our blue, blueberry hands!


we leave them out on a screen all day so that any little bugs have a chance at getting away before we rinse them and freeze, or dehydrate, them.


we love berries. they are so good for you!

here's a little jar of winter candy. these dehydrated, local strawberries are soooo full of sugar. we'll eat these over the autumn and winter - we only need about 2 million more.


last up - here's a delicious dinner of homegrown carrots, green beans and swiss chard all sauteed in a little bit of butter.




it's been a busy week around here...our fingers are still blue. but it has been a very rewarding week as well. how has your week been?

20 comments:

  1. Well you guys may have tiny little kymber tomatoes but you got the berries to make up for it that's for sure.

    I have serious berry envy now :)

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    1. PioneerP - ya, we do make up for our tomatoes with all of the berries! sadly enough, even though our land is covered in raspberry bushes and we got tons of them last year - no raspberries this year??? we are looking into spending the winter learning how to cultivate and properly maintain all the different berries that we have...we have so far just let them do whatever. i must admit tho, it's really nice having access to all of these berries!

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  2. Sweet Kymber,

    Those clouds, omg.....they are gorgeous. They look like your on top of the world. Makes you just want to reach out and touch them.

    That stinky poop is pure gold for your gardens and tires beds. Oh just wait until you start planting in them, I know you'll have a hefty harvest and of course stinky boots too :P

    I've never seen bulbils and flowers on garlic before. I've always seen the bulb with the stem and roots. How cool and beautiful flowers to boot. Now you have me wanting to try to grow garlic next season.

    I just love it, all those fresh berries there so good for our bodies. It's funny we bust our butts to get all of these berries and then we dehydrate them and it takes tons of them to get a full jar. But so well worth it. I could sit down and empty an entire jar of dehydrated fruit.

    You've once again out did yourself on some really fine looking meals to feed a belly after working out on the homestead all day.
    It's 11:00PM here, after looking at your pictures I'm hungry and want to raid my refrigerator.

    Have a beautiful evening!!!
    Your Friend,
    Sandy

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    1. sweet Sandy - you are so right! on certain days, the clouds just feel like you can just reach up and touch them! even on cloudy days the sky is still so blue and and the air so fresh! since the poop has been curing for so many years - it's not stinky at all! in fact - it smells and looks so good i want to eat a handfull - bahahahahah! Sandy, i have always cut my scapes and eaten them - i've never seen the bulbils and seeds before either - i was quite amazed! but we will never, ever need to buy garlic again and that is the point of self-sufficiency right? i am incredibly pleased with this garlic harvest. i just made 3 more jars of kimchi and normally i use an entire garlic bulb. but this time i used my garlic which is much stronger and i used way less than i do with store bought garlic. oh the difference is amazing! you need to grow some garlic next year!!! i hear you on the dehydrating the berries - jam likes them for his muesli. me, i like my berries frozen...i don't care if they are mushy when they defrost - i still love them. those strawberries are so sugary and sweet when dehydrated - i was quite surprised at how sweet they were! the dehydrated blueberries were crap - not sure why but i am not wasting any more dehydrating them. frozen blueberries are so yummy!

      Sandy - i sure do wish that when your tummy is a-grumblin' that i could fix you a nice meal! i have a roast defrosting right now...gonna make smashed potatoes from our potatoes, sautee some of our green beans and some of our carrots. i can't wait! i loooooove roast!!!

      much love from us to you and yours, always! xoxoxo

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  3. We didn't seem to have any blackberries down here either. I suspect too much rain during bloom.

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    1. Mr. Smythe - i think you are on to something there. we have had a ton of rain this summer and we got no raspberries. nobody else around us got blackberries either. we are looking forward to heading out in october and getting cranberries - yummeh!

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  4. You followed up the poop paragraph with that wonderful picture of a meal? LOL! Hey, priorities, I know that poop is like gold. 2nd Family that lives at the other end of our property is going to share chicken poop with us when the time is right. I need to find another source for some good poop. Really? Did our conversation just go that direction?

    Love those berries. Looks like I need to ask Santa for a food dehydrator, looks fun!!

    I'd say 'eat well' but I see that you put together some amazing meals so that goes without saying!

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    1. 1st Man, buddy - that poop is so gorgeous i am having a hard time not eating it - bahahahahah! oh yes, chicken poop is really good for the garden too...and since you bought up the whole garden centre you'll be needing some chicken poop - bahahahah! the berries are awesome! i like the food dehydrator more for veg but jam likes dehydrated berries. and you know that i love making/cooking food - i'm like 2nd Man that way. pass on a hug from us to him...and of course...to you!

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  5. dang it Gurl you guys have been busy up there. I can do with the breakfast of eggs, and potatoes but no fried bolognie...yack!
    All the berries look good though. I must follow your lead on dehydrating them.
    While at our estate, Senior noticed the pecan tree is starting to bear nuts... Guess I know what I will be doing this fall. : )

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    1. Gurlie - i can't even imagine having access to pecan trees and picking them - that must be soooo awesome! and ya gotta have fried balogna with potatoes and eggs - up here fried balogna is called "cape breton steak" - bahahahaha! i love it! i also love fried balogna sandwiches with mustard - yummeh! i'm not crazy about dehydrated berries although i must say that the strawberries are really good! i prefer my berries frozen! ugh! wish i could come down there and get some of those pecans!!!! xoxoxo Gurlie!

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  6. Kymber,
    I have never dried the nasturtium flowers, now I know one more thing to do with them, not just to add color to a salad. I do save the little seed pods. They can be pickled for a poor mans caper or dried and ground for a pepper substitute. I'm not a baloney fan, unless of course it is fried! Hot dogs fried in butter are way better than grilled too. :) Wish we had Berries like yours this year. A really late freeze killed all the Cherries, most of the Berries and the Peaches this year. Poop, better than gold for us gardening types!
    JF

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    1. Julie - thanks for stopping by! i add nasturtium flowers to salads, too...and also, one of our favourite ways of eating them fresh is to put some cream cheese, mixed with chives or green onion, spread that on a small piece of smoked salmon, roll the salmon up tight, and tuck it into a nasturtium flower. it is sooooo good! and you feel all decadent and whatnot - bahahahah! but ya, i dry the nasturtiums too, they make a really nice peppery spice to add to just about anything! i have never dried the little pods as i save all of my seed - i'll have to give that a try - thanks for the tip! oh ya - fried balogna baby - bahahahah! we've had a really good year for blueberries, blackberries and fingers crossed - cranberries. but no one got any raspberries - i am gonna miss my raspberries through the winter!

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  7. Good thing dinner is soon, I'm hungry. I asked the wife if she would like to get a dehydrator, and she gave me that deer in the headlights look. I would like to dry out some veggies and such for next winter for soup, stew and etc. You two stay safe. Can we say that you have been caught "blue handed"?? bahahahah

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    1. Rob - i love the dehydrator for veggies - and that's exactly it - when i get a ton of onions and carrots, etc. from the garden, i dehydrate them and then use them in soups and stews throughout the winter. if you happen to see a sale on carrots or onions or potatoes or whatever - buy up a ton and then dehydrate them and use them over the winter - it's a win-win! and yes - i think you can say that we have been caught "blue-handed" - bahahahahhaah! our fingers and fingernails are still blue, buddy!

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  8. Back when I used to raise garlic, I would always try braiding them after I got them dried out but never could get the hang of it. I always ended up like what you did, just tie them together in bunches. Much easier but not as aesthetically pleasing.

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    1. Ed - if you pull the garlic when the stems are still green, it is easy to braid them. once the stems have gone dry tho, as you know, it's a lot harder. i like to leave my garlic in the ground as long as i can so the stems are always too dry to braid. braided garlic is pretty...but to me, a nice bunch of garlic is pretty too! all i see is YUMMEH! GARLIC!!! so i don't worry about getting fancy with braids and whatnot!

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  9. I am waiting with great anticipation for more on the garlic. I love garlic and eat it in just about everything from salad to beans.

    Four year old poop! That's some vintage poop there you folks have scored. That should grow anything.

    As always, the pictures of your wonderful food make me hungry so I guess I will go make a baloney sandwich and some tater tots.

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    1. Harry - yer the best...always interested in our crazy little doings up here! we appreciate that buddy, we really appreciate it! i'll have a post in a few days about our garlic bulbils and seeds. oh ya - that poop is some fine aged poop...kind of like wine! we got it from our neighbour's sons girlfriend - they have a rescue farm and they have rescued all kinds of animals including 22 horses! imagine eh? the girlfriend, J, is always trying to get me to go to the farm. i can't. if i did i would be coming home with a truck full of animals!!! i told her that and she said that jam told her the same thing - bahahahah! but they have a ton of poop at that farm and we will be filling the truck all autumn long! i love balogna sandwiches - do you fry your balogna for the sandwich? it is so good when slapped between 2 hunks of bread and a ton of mustard - the fried balogna soaks into the bread, makes it kind of mushy - it is deelish!

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  10. Erma Bombeck had a rule for cooking that I love "If you can't garlic add chocolate, and if you can't add chocolate add garlic"

    Most of my garden is doing much better since Mom weeded it and cooler weather hit. It is acting more like a fall garden!

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  11. You guys sure have been busy! I even learned something new from you today. I had no idea you could dry nasturtium. What an awesome idea. I have some seed too! Guess what I'll be planting next year? LOL!!
    As usual your food looks so yummy. Your garden is sure being kind to you. Isn't it wonderful to be able to just walk outside and grab a meal! I'm pretty jealous of all your berries. One day we want to plant blackberries and blueberries. I'd like to plant them against the property lines. Kind of a natural edible fence.
    Ya'll take care,
    Sci

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