Goals for 2015: March

Hello Fellow Homesteaders!

I wanted to give you all an update on our goals for the year. We have made some awesome progress on some of these! You can find the original post HERE. Here's what progress we have made on our 2015 goals...

Goal #1. Get below 200 pounds by the end of the year... Well, I am hovering right below 240. I'm not gaining weight, but I'm not losing either. With the start of gardening season, I hope to see that change.

Goal #2. Finish the garage... Not a whole lot of noticeable work has been done, but progress is being made.

Goal #3. Start eating at the dinner table... Woot woot! We have noticeable progress! We have yet to eat at the table, but at least it's a possibility now.

Goal #4. Build a nicer and sturdier chicken pen... So far I have made $50 that I can put towards the pen. Now I just need to buy some lumber and get started.

Goal #5. Pay off the credit card for good and never let it accrue again... Praising the Lord! We have not officially paid it off, but my Knight went down today to pay off everything they currently had. Our next bill should just be a couple of dollars worth of interest and it will be gone! I am so grateful!!

Picture taken from http://kittybarrow.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/im-debt-free/

Goal #6. Get the van fixed... We had the van in the shop earlier this week to fix a starting issue. Now that the credit card debt is gone, we can focus on getting some things fixed here.

Goal #7. Have a more productive garden... So far so good! I am improving the way I water, maximizing space, and improving the soil. I hope for my best harvest yet!

Goal #8. Get a pressure canner... not yet.

Goal #9. (We have decided we need to cut this goal out this year. But, it is still in our future plans. We just don't feel it's realistic for us to be able to get this accomplished before the end of the year.) Get meat rabbits. Since we have very little space and city ordinance to comply with, we are very limited on our livestock options. We originally wanted to raise meat chickens, but after a lot of research and recommendations from folks who have raised both, we decided rabbits were more efficient for us. We'll still have chickens for eggs and eat the occasional rooster or un-laying hen, but they won't be primarily for meat. Now, this is a goal more directed at my Knight as he is all excited to have his own homesteading project and, to be honest, I am going to have to get over the "cute" factor of rabbits, so I will be less "hands-on" with this project.

Picture taken from http://www.thebackyardpioneer.com/2013/07/13/10-reasons-why-you-should-eat-rabbit-meat/

Goal #10. Get my sewing machine up and running again and organize a usable sewing space... This goal has definitely gotten more feasible since the dining room has been cleaned up. I may get started on this if we get enough rainy days.

Goal #11. Organize my kitchen, clear off the counters and create a storage space for small appliances and home-canned goods... I do have the mixer off the floor and the jars off the counter, but I'm still working on actual storage space for these items.

How are you doing on your goals for the year?

Homestead on!

Jen Hen

My Potted Plants

Hello Fellow Homesteaders!

If you read my Facebook page or follow my blog, then you know I made some soil and started some seeds. I also re-potted all my house plants. I can't believe they survived the winter. Well, more like, they survived ME! lol! Last year I killed all my indoor plants except the aloe and it just barely made it! Thank goodness it's a succulent/cactus because they do better when neglected. I get asked fairly often what herbs and such I choose to grow indoors, so I thought I'd share.

Oregano: I use a lot of this. It is a perennial in warmer climates and will also seed itself if allowed. Oregano likes full sun and moderate watering. If allowed to grow uninhibited in the ground, it will form a small bush and/or make a nice ground cover. 

Lemon Balm: I grow this for medicinal use as well as to help keep mosquitoes away. That's why I separated the plant into different lighter weight pots, so I can move them around the garden where ever we are hanging out. Lemon Balm is a perennial and part of the mint family which means it will take over if you let it. This thing will send runners everywhere! It thrives in poor conditions though it does best with partial sun/shade, but will grow just about anywhere. If you want something hard to kill, grow this! I fear these guys may jump out of their pots! The dirt in the original pot was mostly clay and it was growing just fine. So I can't imagine what it's going to do with nice soil! Thankfully it has many uses. I can say, I won't be planting this in my small garden, but I do have some areas around the house where nothing will grow, so I may plant it there.

Chives: These are perennials also and are like tiny onions. If you just cut the tops and leave the root intact, chives will grow indefinitely in warmer weather and even mild winters. They taste more mild than larger onions and grow well in pots with adequate sun and good soil. They don't do as well in very hot weather and intense sun though. I never planted any chives. I found these growing randomly in my garden bed last year and decided to save them in a pot come fall. There were 4 and they had a baby over the winter so now I have five. Now that I have separated them and replanted them in good soil, they are growing like crazy! I already need to trim them down!

Sage: Another perennial that likes full sun and moderate watering. If it is allowed to grow freely in the ground, it can grow into a small bush.

Thyme: I never have enough thyme! Ha ha! Lame joke, but couldn't resist! Thyme is a perennial (do you see a trend here?) that likes full sun and well drained soil. It's pretty hardy and can handle some neglect. Depending on the variety you get, it can be a ground cover or a mini bush. I am going to try this out as a ground cover between my garden beds this year. I also read it has a very long germination so give it a couple weeks or so before you give up on it. I can't remember how long it took this plant, but I started more from seed this year so I'll keep track this thyme. (Ha!)

Parsley: This is another herb I use a lot. It is technically a biennial, but it loses it's flavor the second year so it's usually grown as an annual. I'm going to see how long I can grow it in a pot before I need to start a new one.  I found out after planting this one that there are 2 main varieties: Italian and French. (Pardon my lack of Latin names.) The one pictured here is the French variety which is also called curly and is usually the kind you see as a garnish on the side of your plate in restaurants. The Italian variety has flat leaves and is the more flavorful for cooking. Well, you live and learn! I'll look for the Italian variety now. It also takes a long time to germinate. Another thing I found out, they have a large tap root so they need a large pot to grow in. I will be replanting this little beauty!

Rosemary: This is a perennial that likes lots of sun and warmth. So, unless you live in a very warm climate, it's best grown in a pot. It is the mother of taking forever to germinate so it's probably best to try to start one from cuttings or just go buy a full-grown plant. Once it's established, it takes as little maintenance as a succulent or cactus. It's better to leave it alone as this plant does not like to be messed with. It takes a long time to harden it off to go outside, but leaving it inside makes it more susceptible to powdery mildew and spider mites. I have killed several of these that have been given to me full grown. I grew these from seed and I can't believe they are still going! Especially after re-potting them. I keep thinking I'll go out there to dead plants. It is a beautiful herb if you can figure out how to not kill it.

Onions: Well, these are the cut off roots that I am trying to regrow into another onion bulb. I have tried this twice to no avail. So I am trying a new method. I didn't split the different sprouts apart and planted them intact in pots. I tried to peel away some of the rotted parts, but pretty well left it alone. 

I covered all the cut part in soil and am keeping them all watered. I'll keep you updated on how they do.

Aloe Vera: I have one plant that is doing well and the other is not. Both were pretty root-bound so I hope bigger pots will help. I re-purposed this worn-out cooking pot! I think it needs a bigger pot than this even, but I'm going to try it anyway. Aloe is a cactus/succulent, so it can only be grown outdoors in the warmest of climates. This is a good household plant with all its uses. You plant it and forget it. This is the only plant that survived me last winter. It went a long time without water. The best way to kill it, make it cold and water it often.

Pineapple: This is a plant I started from a pineapple top. Just cut all the fruit off the top of the pineapple then cut it down until you see the little root buds. Put it in water until roots form or plant it directly. It will take 2-3 years to get an actual pineapple from it in the best conditions. It's a tropical plant, so it needs a lot of sun and heat. I may never see a pineapple from this plant, but it's fun to grow. I peeled away several leaves when I re-potted it. I can't believe it's still alive because I neglected this poor thing pretty bad last year. So, they must be fairly hearty.

I also started some new plants in pots: Lavender, Basil, and Calendula. The only reason I didn't grow basil indoors before now is because I had a ton of it dried already. Last year I grew basil and calendula outdoors and it did well. Basil is very easy to grow. I have not tried growing lavender yet, so it will be fun to see how it does.

I am also learning about the medicinal uses of these plants. I know a few things about lemon balm and aloe, but have realized all the others have medicinal uses as well. I have to confess I have not taken as much time to learn about herbs as I have my other garden plants. Largely because there are so many of them and there are so many uses for them that it's a lot to read! It's very fascinating, though, and I am starting to learn bits and pieces as I can. 

What about you? What houseplants do you grow? Do you use herbs medicinally? I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Garden on!

Jen Hen

Making Soil and Starting Seeds

Hello Fellow Homesteaders!

I have been busy playing in the dirt this week! I am so excited for gardening season and even sleepless nights with a newborn can't stop me! I found a mini-greenhouse on clearance at the end of last season and it is perfect for starting seeds in! I have tried the grow lights and putting seeds in the window in the past. Both were OK, but I still got a lot of leggy seedlings. So I am hoping that this method works great this year. 

In the interest of trying to save some money, I decided to try making my own soil this year. Both for potting soil and for starting my seeds. I found numerous different recipes online. After checking to see what the store had in stock, I chose peat and vermiculite to use with my compost. But, of course, my compost was still frozen! So I had to buy that too. *Note to self: put a few buckets of compost in the garage for use next year.* Thankfully the compost at the store only cost $1.61 and it says its organic. I still like using my own better, but this will do in a pinch.

Then we have some peat moss. This giant bag cost $7.97.

Last, but not least, we have vermiculite that cost a whopping $14.99 for this bag!

My first batch, using my handy-dandy re-purposed measuring cup, I just used equal parts of compost,

peat moss,

and vermiculite.

Then I mixed them together while adding water. The peat and vermiculite are sold dry so they need to be moistened before use. Trust me on this. If you don't wet it before putting it into pots, you will quickly find out why it needs to be pre-moistened. This stuff is thirsty but it absorbs slowly. As you pour the water on, most of it pools at the bottom of the container and you have to mix and mix and mix until it's all soaked up. It took me 2-3 gallons of water to moisten this amount.

Tada! You have potting soil!

 Time to put it to use!

 

Ah yes, the infamous Gardener's Manicure.

No sense in not looking good while we play in the dirt, so I also have my Gardener's Bling goin' on!

Here I am starting some tasty Roma tomatoes.

The back of seed packets give you a wealth of information. I'm currently checking to see how deep the seeds need to be planted. (It's a wonder anything grows in nature as I'm sure wildlife isn't out there doing the same thing. lol) They need to be planted at 1/4 inch depth.

To make it go a bit faster, I place the seeds on top of the soil, then top them off with 1/4 inch worth of soil. I am sure to label all my plants. I made the mistake of not doing that one year. A lot of seedlings look the same and that caused a bit of heart ache. I also want to point out, the writing on these will wear off quickly in the weather, so they are not good garden markers unless you coat them with some sort of clear lacquer or something like that.

You can use all sorts of things to start seeds in. I save my seedling pots (above) and re-use those until they fall apart. Here I have some yogurt cups that I poked holes in for drainage.

I also use paper egg cartons.

I have also used toilet paper rolls and newspaper rolled into seed pots. The nice thing about using paper products is that you can plant the pot and all into the ground instead of having to delicately removed the plant from the pot.

So, is making your own soil cost effective? $1.61 + $7.97 + $14.99 = $24.57 The type of soil I have bought in the past was $8.98 for 2 cubic feet. I have made 4 bags' worth out of the supplies I had. One of those bags with my own compost. I still have enough vermiculite for one more bag and enough peat for at least 3 more bags. So, lets say I get 5 solid bags out of it all. 5 x $8.98 = $44.90 - $24.57 = $20.33. Plus I have quite a bit of peat left for the next round of ingredients. So I'd say it's about half price to make your own soil. That is definitely worth it! Not to mention I know what's in it and where it comes from.

So far I have started 2 kinds of tomatoes, 4 kinds of peppers, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, thyme, and parsley. Have you started seeds yet? I'd love to hear from you!

Happy gardening!

Jen Hen

This post shared on Idlewild Alaska's Homestead Blog Hop 23 and Lone Star Farmstead: Farm Blog Hop

Making Seed Tape

Hello Fellow Homesteaders!

If you follow my Facebook page, you know I have been working on seed tape. This is the first year I'm trying this out. I am using this for the small seeds that can be directly sown into the ground close together, like root veggies. Let's face it, doing this with corn would sort of be pointless, but I'm sure you still could if you were that ambitious! But for very small seeds, like carrot seed shown here, it can really save on your back and the amount of seed you use. This just looks like a bowl of dirt the seeds are so small! (Of course, there is a bit of dirt in with it, but I promise, there are seeds in there too!)

This is just one of many methods to make seed tape.
1. You'll need toilet paper, 2-ply is most versatile, but you could also use a very thin 1-ply for smaller seeds and a thicker 1-ply for bigger seeds.
2. A bit of flour
3. A cotton swab or toothpick
4. Tweezers
5. Some seeds
6. Some patience!

Take the flour and mix just enough water with it to make a paste. This is the glue that you will use to keep the seeds attached to the TP. You want to be able to easily dab it onto the TP without tearing it, but not so watery as to ruin the seeds. I made mine about the consistency as white school glue.

Then I got my yardstick and rolled out a length of TP. I looked at the back of the seed packet for seed spacing. I plan on thinning my plants, so I put the seeds closer together. These are beets seeds to be planted 2 inches apart and thinned to 4 inches when the plants are growing. I use the intensive gardening spacing, so I ignore the space needed between rows. I placed a dot of glue every 2 inches and had enough room to make 2 rows on a sheet of TP. Then I carefully placed a seed on every dot before the glue dried out. Beet seeds are easy since they are bigger. When I did the carrot seeds, I used tweezers since they are so teeny and hard to get a hold of. For bigger seeds, like beet seeds, I use thicker TP or 2-ply. For smaller seeds, like carrot seeds, I peeled the layers of 2-ply apart and just used one side.

Place another length of TP (or the other half of the 2-ply if you separated them) over the top when you are done placing your seeds. You may want to add some extra glue here and there to hold the 2 pieces together. OR you can also just make one row of seeds on the paper and fold it over lengthwise. This would be ideal if you are making traditional garden rows instead of using intensive spacing.

Then I labeled my seeds, including the variety if I'm planting more than one kind. The carrots here are Danvers Half Long abbreviated DHL. I placed them out to dry, picking them up every so often to be sure I didn't glue them to the table. You could use parchment paper or something like that under them to keep them from sticking also.

When they are all dry (I let them dry overnight just to be safe) I fold them and put them in a container to keep them dry until I'm ready to plant them! When that time comes, just place the amount of seed tape in the space you want and cover it with the appropriate amount of soil for the type of seed you have. For instance: beets need to be planted 1/2 inch down, so I would cover the seed tape with a layer of soil 1/2 deep. Easy peasy!

I can't wait to try these out! It's very tedious to make these but it will all be worth it if it saves me some time and some sore back muscles during planting season. It's also a nice way to break up the monotonous winter. As long as these are kept dry, they should last as long as the seeds do.

Obviously you wouldn't want to do this with seeds you want to start indoors or seeds that need to be spaced very far apart (like squash or broccoli.) Root vegetables, leafy greens, and onions are great candidates for this method. Let me know if you try it out and how you like it!

Happy Gardening!

Jen Hen

My Eczema Ointment Experiment

Hello Fellow Homesteaders!

If you follow my Facebook page, you've seen me complain about Stitch's eczema flare-ups. I have used some very nice store-bought cream and some home-made salve bought from another homesteader that worked very well. But, being the homesteader that I am, I really wanted to find a way to make a good salve myself. I wanted it to be thinner and cost effective so I could use it more like a lotion over his whole body since his skin tends to be pretty scaly all over. (Ironically enough, his diaper area is always clear.) So, I started searching for home remedies for eczema and came up with several helpful links. I took these ideas and combined them to come up with my own concoction with what I had on hand and it is working well! I use it on him everyday and it has seemed to do the trick.

One of the first things I found was a recipe for Lemon-Balm Oil. I had a lot of dried lemon-balm, so I made this to use as my base. First I crushed up the leaves I had harvested and dried last summer. This bottle was full. (Like my fancy label? Hey, at least it's functional if not pretty...lol!)

I don't have a double-broiler, so I made my own with a small pan and a flat bowl.

Here I added some extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil. I probably would have used all coconut oil, but I was almost out.

And here it is after simmering for about 3 hours. It really added a great fragrance to the rest of the house too!

Then I read a great list of remedies HERE that included chamomile tea. I only had 2 bags left and I decided that if I could make lemon-balm oil, then perhaps I could make chamomile oil too. I made it the same way. I realize now that I probably should have taken it out of the bags first, but it still seemed to work.

Next, I strained everything and, on a whim, decided to add some lanolin while it was still hot. I had quite a bit of lemon-balm oil, so I have another jar full of that by itself.

After it cooled, I added some lavender oil and vitamin E oil to the mix. (Alas, I didn't measure it, just poured some in.) I put the lid on it and put it in the fridge to help it harden up a bit. (The scratches on the lid are there to show that I've already used this lid for food preservation canning so I won't try to use it for that again. I like to keep my old lids around for dry storage and crafts but do not want to get them confused with my new lids for canning.)

It's a lovely dark green color! Makes me feel very crunchy! This came out softer than I would have liked. I wish I had some beeswax to add to it, or perhaps I could have used all coconut oil to make it more firm. Either way, it did come out soft enough so that I could use a thin layer over his whole body with little effort. This little jar should last us quite awhile.

So, there you have it! I hope to have some calendula flowers saved this year and perhaps I will add that to the next batch. There are several options that you could use in something like this and I really like that. I prefer to use the things I have on hand instead of having to buy a bunch of specialty ingredients and having several options makes that easier. Do you make your own oils and salves? If so, share your link in the comments! I love home-made items!

Happy Homesteading!

Jen Hen