Try, try, try again

Spring is approaching, and the chickens received as a gift last July are laying eggs. With warmer weather, it's time to replant Jerusalem Artichokes and order seeds quickly. Old seeds are being donated, and perennials will be planted first to cover the hillside. Plans include smaller gardens and hatching duck and chicken eggs. Multiple setbacks in recent years have led to a focus on self-sufficiency, seeking work at local farms as a backup plan.

Set backs

We planted late in May the first time and found that most of our crops were eaten by some unknown animal. We planted again in the beginning of June. Things seemed to be doing well enough with the dismal weather. Our dirt is mostly sand or dust. We have had one good rain so far …

The Chicks are Growing! Soap and Soap Recipes. Canning Jerusalem Artichokes.

Our little Salmon Faverolle chicks we hatched at home are growing up! You can see them on YOUTUBE or RUMBLE. If you subscribe to our YouTube channel it would help bring us closer to being monetized, but if you don't like YouTube we understand. The chicks are a constant source of joy. We spent the …

More Planted, Rabbits, and Chicks update

This Tuesday, we went out and planted an additional 100 feet of Cherokee Wax beans, swiss chard, okra, and some yellow squash. We have plenty more that needs planted this week. I still have winter squashes, melons, more tomatoes, lions ear, egg plants, lettuce, spinach, radishes, garden huckleberries, cape gooseberries, jimica, hibiscus, and luffas that …

Hatch Day

I have a little video of our chicks hatching for all of you. At the end you hear my big mouth. My husband was filming in between chores and I didn't know. Please ignore me busting in talking about the next chore. It's 4.5 minutes of adorableness. You can find it HERE. While you're at …

A Small Garden Started and more

Early in May I set out small lettuce and kale starts. I regret to report I have just three of those plants left thanks to the blasted wildlife. Tomorrow, I intend to turn them into a lunch time salad. I feel incredibly blessed to have any fresh vegetables. I don't know if anyone that follows …

Greenhouse Plants in the Ground

I planted in March several early spring plants. They were in little fabric sacks with dirt. These were placed in trays and kept out in the green house. I planted about 300 of these tiny sacks. Of that 300 only 50 sprouted. Of that only 25 grew. This proves that I need new seed. Either …

Oh my the weather is frightful

After a late night with tornado warnings from midnight until 4 a.m., waking up was rather difficult. I did wake up though and I am ever so grateful. I had to feed the animals. The rabbits were covered due to the extreme weather and ate their food down. I wonder if they are nervous eaters, …

Gardening Will Be Essential This Year

This time last year I was anticipating a lovely growing year only to have it snatched away from me by a broken foot. This year my shoulder is out of sorts, but surgery would have me out of action for 3-6 months. That would be another year without fresh home grown produce or home canned …

The garden that wasn’t

This year has been extremely difficult for gardening. I had big plans that all seemed to fail. In April, I broke my foot. This ruined my garden plans for 12 weeks. I'm older so it took longer to heal. I ended up harvesting just enough potatoes for 2 months this June. We still have onions …

Potatoes, Onions, and frost heave Oh MY!

So I got my orange faded and rusted wheelbarrow, my newish shovel, and set off about 100 feet away to the road side where my gift of free mulch sat. After about three wheelbarrow's full of mulch, and a bit of pitching it on the potato hills, I was done. My onions and potatoes were covered in a fine cedar mulch which I hope will keep them cozy through April.

My gardening strategy and update

Most years when I garden, my strategy looks a lot like this. Gather as many seeds as possible all year long and try to find a place for them come spring. Raise your hand if you are guilty of this! To be fair, I have ten acres to play with and most gardeners don't. Also, …

Getting out into the Garden finally

Oh my what a season it has been! After the deluge of gardening catalogs, comes the picking and choosing. I also had to inventory all of my seeds. I found I had most of what I needed for the year excluding sweet potato slips, seed potatoes, and corn seed

It’s that time of year again

The seed catalogs are pouring in spilling over my desk and into my floor. I have searched a dozen, three or four times already, highlighting that which I love most. My goodness how gorgeous are the photos of the Baker Creek catalog, how lovely the descriptions in Pinetree Seeds catalog, how practical the plants for …

Started to get my fall garden harvests

I was exceptionally happy to wander down to my fall garden and find that not only was it still growing in spite of some rabbit nibbles, I actually had something to harvest! We had snap peas come in along with radishes, kale, and some basil left from summer. We also found some okra that had …

What it all comes down to is this

Higher prices are affecting us This past week has been eye opening for my family and I. First, I was able to put in more hours at work, but since I am an independent contractor, that only translated into $50 more dollars this week as opposed to last week. We are trying to keep up …

Autumn Chores and Garden Update

The wasps are invading the attic in preparation for a long cold winter. We tried to evict them without success today. If anyone has suggestions, I am all ears. They dodged our spray attacks at first. When we finally nailed a large cloud headed for my husband's brow, they fell from the sky, but a huge armada of back up air borne attackers appeared from our roof. My husband ran for cover in our truck for a few minutes until they forgot he existed. Out of ammunition and out of ideas, he snuck back in past our angry tenants.

Pears canned with unexpected results.

So I did finish canning pears, but it turned into a bit of a snafu! First I used the reusable Harvest lids on my first batch. They all sealed beautifully at first, but shortly after, they were all loose. I contacted the company and apparently hard water makes it very hard to seal without boiling …

Preparing to Can Pears

All day was spent in the pantry yesterday. The pear harvest is coming. I have three lovely trees loaded down with huge pears. I have plain canning pears, sugar pears, and moon glow pears. Two of these are "fresh" eating pears, but they will be employed in canning with a little acidification. I can literally …

Health Issues and Garden Update

For whatever reason, since 2020, my body is going nuts. I am now an insulin dependent diabetic and even still I attempted to control it with diet foolishly. I was put into the hospital for several days. Now, with renewed respect for my body and it's limits, I humbly accept that I can not live …

Unfortunately, the fig died

How do you decide on just like 1-2 tomatoes? How do you settle on 1-2 eggplant? I have agonized about this for months...since December at least. I keep second guessing my choices. I NEED ALL THE TOMATOES!

Delayed Plantings due to Health Issues

Life seems to find a way to get in the way of our best laid plans always. I find it interesting that in the past week I have had more people make demands of my time, of my thoughts, and my way of life when I found out my time may be very limited indeed.

Green shoots coming up!

The buds on my pear trees are swelling much too fast for my comfort. I have seen them flower and a huge snow storm come and fill their branches with snow.

Exciting News in the World of Seeds even as Snow Blankets the Ground

Can you imagine life without cabbage ever again, or kale, or Brussel sprouts? I mean I suppose my children could, but not me. They would probably celebrate such a development.

A death in the family brings out the ugly in the living

My husband's father recently passed,

The Mad Dash to get Seeds

Already this year several seed houses have had to suspend seed orders or have out right refused to fill non-commercial orders. Some just suspend orders over night on their websites.

As the Darkness Lifts What Fermented Below Comes Out Now

So, while this is a blog about Hinterland Living, the elephant in the room needs to be addressed as to why anyone would ever want to live out in the Hinterlands away from civilization.

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