Wednesday, August 30, 2017

A Homesteaders Obsession With Food




Lately, all I can think about is food.

How to harvest it, clean it, dry it, can it, cook it, bake it, butcher it and freeze it. Mostly I worry about how to PRESERVE it so we can eat more of our own food and less from some unknown farm 1500 miles away.

Now, at the end of August, we must take account and it's not nearly as good as we had hoped. Excuses. We have hundreds. Keith was working off farm this year, which gifted me with additional livestock chores.  I also got sidetracked with my writing career (which was equally sidetracked by my livestock tending "career"). We were busy building a barn from scratch. We didn't get enough rain. We had family needs, and of course my favorite;

                                                                              the sun was in our eyes.

Where else would it be in summer, I don't know. Regardless, our garden production was about half of what we had hoped. Tomatoes so slow, we're just eating them as they ripen, won't be any leftover for canning. Beans did get canned, but only about 2/3 of what I did last summer. Apple trees produced very little fruit and our sole pear tree died. Peppers are getting there, I may have enough to chop and freeze, but broccoli never really saw the light of day. Beets were planted THREE times and never sprouted. (Bad seed? Bad Soil? Bad Beet vibes?) Onions got in late and are in limited supply. Zucchini died before producing anything. We hardly knew she was sick.



You would think we were brand new gardeners. But no, we've been at this for over two decades. Looking back we've had tons of years with so much garden produce we could've fed five families, so I suppose statistically, we were due for a partial garden fail.

On the flip side: potatoes are being dug and providing great meals. Should have enough to store for a couple months. Sweet potatoes look great, we expect copious amounts. My holy basil and regular basil plants will provide tea and pesto all winter and we ate TONS of peas. Our cabbage patch is producing nicely and today I made sauerkraut. I'll make lots more in the coming weeks. Garlic did extremely well. We'll have enough to plant another fall crop soon and the rest is stored in cheesecloth and hung from our kitchen rafters. Vampires won't have a chance here. Finally, the bees have been very busy. We expect a good supply of honey.






On the protein side:

The chickens are laying well so we have many eggs, much of which I scramble and freeze for baking. Our broilers are gaining weight so we'll have wonderful chicken to last until next fall. We'll start butchering them in October. Two beef are going to the locker in October as well, having grown well this summer which will fill our freezers with burger, roasts and steaks and our three hogs set for the locker September 13, are HUGE. We will soon be flush in bacon, pork chops and sausage.





So I guess we won't starve but how I hate the idea of having to buy any tomato products these next few months. Anyone got a recipe for making spaghetti sauce out of sweet potatoes?

15 comments:

  1. Donna-- your food and farm are fabulous. A feast for the eyes.

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  2. Luckily I have plenty of bottled Tomatoes from last year. My great success this year has been my Sun-Dried Tomatoes. I don't know why I've never tried this before! The Italian 'Roma' tomes were halved, relieved of their interior mush, and dried in the sun for 3 days before being bottled in Olive oil. They are so much better than the shop bought ones.

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  3. It seems lots of people have the same tales of gardens doing poorly. I wonder why. Do you grow anything in winter, like herbs or inside or in a greenhouse?

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  4. That's the way some years, isn't it? I've given up on beets completely which is too bad because I love them! It sounds like the protein side of your nutrient requirements will be taken care of. -Jenn

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  5. Been a lean year in my garden too - I'll be buying tomatoes to make salsa. We cannot go without salsa.

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  6. EEEK sweet potato spaghetti sauce...doesn't sound tasty to me but I'm sure someone out there makes it! :)...I feel the same way this year. I will LOATHE buying lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes this winter. I can't wait to have more land!! My yard will be full of containers next spring lol. I think from what I've read on all my blog roll, everyone is having a rough gardening season. For me up here in the north, it's just been such a crappy summer, but I learned that it's root veggies all the way for success up here. I'd need a greenhouse for the summer stuff to always be successful I think. Future dreams! Your harvest does look nice! I can't wait to have chickens myself for eggs!

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  7. wow...you seem pretty set for a while. i just bought a peck of romas yesterday and made sauce today. my tomato crop was a bust this year.

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  8. Even though the vegetables did not take off as hoped for this year, it does seem like the beef and chickens will keep you well supplied with meals for awhile, Donna.

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    1. Really, I could probably be a complete carnivore, except for sauerkraut. I lust sauerkraut.

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  9. What drives me crazy is when "easy" vegetables such as corn, tomatoes and squash anemically hang on to life in my garden while their relatives in neighboring yards are going gangbusters. Congratulations on the eggs, honey, beef, porks, chicken and eggs.

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    1. It does seem like the veggies talk to each others at times. "This is my year to grow, you back off"

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  10. Every year is different. Sorry your garden didn't do as well as you had hoped, but it sounds like a good bit of pork is on the way.

    And I had my "duh" moment reading this--I never thought to freeze beaten eggs for recipes. Thank you for that insight--that's good to know when the eggs are coming in fast and furious!

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  11. Maybe it's the new location? The soil could need more work. Or you still have to learn the various sweet spots around the garden, for various types of veg to succeed? I find, the location is what makes the success. I've just learned in our warm winters, my brassicas, would do better in the shade of a gully, rather than up on the slope getting full sun.

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  12. Can you source tomatoes from somewhere else to put up? Just an idea.

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