Basil Plants in the Garden
And mushroom If you look closely you'll see a volunteer mushroom growing too. Unfortunately I don't know what kind of mushroom so we won't harvest it, but it should be good for the soil.
Road Ruts
Several months ago, someone apparently drove down our road when it was wet. They slipped a bit when crossing our biggest wash and dug a wheel rut. That one rut was all that was needed to create a deep gash. When heavy rains came, they dug the rut deep. I'm now in the process of filling that in, raising the road bed a bit, and creating drainage areas. Lots of work to do by hand but hopefully I can ...
Archive
Sustainable Canning Jars
I got a pressure canner for Christmas 2010 and for the last 9 months I've been canning meat almost weekly. Sometimes I'll do 3 batches in one day so I'll have a month's worth stockpiled. This helped a lot during the 100+ degree heat of the summer.
In addition to meat, I also regularly can dry beans. Beans are cheap and we use them 3-5 times a week, especially since I came up with a chili bean recipe that we really like.
As you can imagine, we go through a lot of canning lids. Three to four dozen a month just for meat and beans. When I start adding juice, jams, vegetables, fruits and everything else I want it will start getting ridiculous. I will soon have to start buying new rings as well, because these discolor and rust with frequent ...
Rainwater Harvesting
The center area of our land is fairly flat and clear. We've decided a section of this will be our primary homestead area in the next year or two. We're not moving the camper over there until we've got a well, so that we can have enough water to quickly get some trees and vines going. As bare as this area is right now, we'd bake in the 110 degree summers. I'd also be worried about wind. We can get 40-60 mph gusts when storms move in and currently there just isn't anything close enough to buffer it. So, before we move over, I intend to do a heck of a lot of work. The area I'm focusing on is only about one-third to one-half an acre. My first goal is to get things growing. Anything is better than nothing! The ground ...
Simple Living
Bulk Food Storage Tips and Ideas
So today is a small grocery shopping day and I organized my pantry, then ...
Whole Wheat Bread Rolls
I cook a lot. Or what might seem like a lot to most people ...
Bottled Butter: My First Try
And it was successful! :D Some people call it canning butter but I call it ...
Our New House
Just a brief pic to show our new little "house" -- aka camper :) The ...