Harvest time

This is the time of year I love. The time of year where I finally see where all that effort and money and time went and I get results of our labor. Now generally, we should of been rolling in produce since July, but with the weird weather this year, its taken a bit of time to get things really progressing. In the last 2 weeks, I have been able to walk away saying 'Yep, The garden is producing."

Anyone hungry?

This is the sight that greeted us two weekends ago. That is 15 lbs of tomatoes, over a lb of basil for basil jelly, cucumbers, squash and peppers, oh my. We canned almost all of it in a canning session that took 6 hours, and set off the carbon monoxide detector as well as the smoke alarm. Nothing bad happened, we just were canning with the air on since it was a very hot weekend. Turns out, we put too much humidity in the air and freaked out the detectors. Lesson of the day, can with the windows open. Pooka loves her basil jelly and asked if we could try purple basil jelly as well, so we did. More on that another day. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of the finished products, but I will be updating the harvest page and the canning page hopefully when I am done here.

Then last weekend, I wish I had taken pictures. We had 22 lbs of tomatoes and 2 lbs of tomatillos come in since the previous canning, not to mention peppers and things. We were in such a rush to deal with it all because we had a busy weekend and we knew it wouldn't keep another week. Pooka had a trip to a farm that day for girl scouts, so once we got back, it was straight to canning. She had no problem getting in there and handing us jars and lids out of the warm water so so she could do her part. She loves helping us, I only wish our kitchen was slightly bigger so we had room for her.

In the end, Pooka has already taken basil jelly sandwiches to school for 4 days since we made her the jelly. She loves being able to say she made the jelly and grew the basil, and I am happy to have made it with her.

Another reminder of why I do this

Pooka gave me this yesterday. It made my day and my week. As I get overwhelmed or tired or grouchy at all the plants in the house, this was a good reminder that it doesn't go unnoticed. The notes read "Mommy, thnk you for heping me with my plants. I love you gis."

A note from Pooka

Sometimes, just little things like this make it so much more worth it. We love you too Pooka.

The lilac lives

After everything that happened last year, I was looking forward to having lilacs this year. They may not bloom, but knowing they were alive was a huge thing. Especially knowing they came from my grandmothers house, and always lined one side of it. 

The little lilac is alive

 The story my Grandmother told me was that years and years ago, my grandfather was walking to work. He saw these beautiful lilac trees and thought my grandmother would love them. Not having any real spare money for things like plants, my grandfather went to work, came home, got a shovel, a trash bag and walked back to the lilacs in question. Where he proceeded to dig up a couple without asking the owners. Now he did not take the mature ones, but rather a handful of little ones that were hidden a the bottom of the mature ones, much like the one in the pot here. He came home and presented them to my grandmother, an avid gardener, and together they decided to plan them all along one side of the house in front of windows so they could see and smell the blooms. Now that both my grandparents are gone, having their lilacs (or at least their lilac's children) makes me feel slightly closer. It has almost become tradition for our family to go over and dig up a couple. Maybe if I can get the little lilac in the pot and the bigger lilac out front established, Pooka can one day come over and steal the lilacs for her own yard. Now to wait and watch and see if the one out front starts to bud like this guy. 

Surprise Pooka

For Pooka's birthday, Brother and I made a big deal about this huge, heavy box.We made it seem so heavy, and so difficult to handle, you could see Pooka's eyes light up that something perfect was in the box.

Pooka's gift

Needless to say, she was a bit disappointed when all that was in the box was a small card. She read the card, and after Mommy explained it, she lite up. This GIANT box was her gift.  We gave Pooka a spot to make a flower bed the size of the box. I even promised to limit my funny faces at growing flowers since we won't get anything out of them.  She has already been spending her gift cards to some department stores on seeds. Places where most kids would of bought toys, my little one spends $20 on seeds and decorations for her new bed. This bed will be hers to design and do what she wishes and we will help her with some of the cost. But to see her light up and be happy about the perfect gift, that makes it worth it, even if I won't get any food out of it. 

What to do on another snow day?

We are home yet again due to the cold. It is nasty out there, but what do we do to keep a Pooka out of trouble and Brother's hair. We resort the seeds and seed what we need to plan on getting for the upcoming planting season. Maybe I will even get orders out today, if I don't clean. There is that little road block.

Seeds everywhere

I will also admit this is that time of year where I get more then a bit overwhelmed with everything. Where are we going to put it? How do I know how much to plant? How much do I let a Pooka follow her curious instincts to try new things when I want to scream "Don't we have enough?" I generally get excited again quickly enough, but it can be more then a bit overwhelming. Besides, all it takes is that little Pooka face giving me the "Mommy, wouldn't this be great?" and I melt more then I should.

Jam Anyone?

Over the spring/summer I bought fruit when it would go on sale. Blueberries and raspberries were one of many fruits where I did this, especially when they were 75% off or buy one get one free. We then froze them much like we freeze green peppers.  We told ourselves that when it wasn't as hot, when we had more time we would make jam.

One afternoon of work.

Well that day finally came and today we canned and canned and canned. Pooka was our little helper, never really leaving our side (except while her friend was here to play) in her little Mommy's helper apron and her chef's hat. She would hand us tools and ingredients. When we would start pouring things into the jars, Pooka would man the hot water bath in the sink, handing us warmed rings and jars for me to fill. She loves doing this and spending the time with Mommy and Daddy.  Pooka looked at me and said "I love doing this with you, and I hope I get to do it when I am older with my kids."

We made spiced blueberry jam from the book Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan. This has become one of my favorite go to books. This blueberry jam has a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg in it. We decided to try something new with this recipe.

Spiced Blueberry Jam

The other batch of blueberry jam we made previously that I know Brother will like. He loved having this in his lunches last year and is super excited that it will be in his lunches again.

Blueberry Jam

The third batch was another new recipe of Raspberry jam, also from the Food in Jars book. I tasted a small bit while it was till hot and while it was HOT. It tasted really good. Daddy tasted it and said he might need to start having toast in the mornings so he can eat good jam. That is high praise from him.

Raspberry Jam 

All in all, Daddy and I walk away knowing that A) Pooka is learning to do something for herself and B) both of them will have a healthy homemade part of the lunches at least until we can get the garden producing again.

That time of year

In some ways, I love this time of year. It is cool in the evenings which makes for great sleeping weather. The garden is producing food and we are canning and drying to prepare for winter. This time of year, I start to feel we are almost done with the garden, and that soon the cold and the snow will be here.

Food getting ready for winter

However, this time of year comes with a double edge. There is so much that needs done. We have sunflower seeds that have been pulled from the plants that need harvested, I have coriander that needs pulled from its plant. We have herbs to dry, canning to be done, hot pepper flakes to be made.

Sunflowers need cut down

The to do list seems overwhelming, and I fully admit I am so overwhelmed I do not know where to start some days. I know I need to start pulling the dead plants. Daddy picked up some more pea seeds that are cold weather tolerant which will be good in the kids lunches. Even aside from all the garden work that needs done, there is garden club starting, baseball, and scouts and all the other kids activities with school going.

Dead plants need removed

There just never seems to be enough hours in the day. It will get done. It always gets done, even if it feels like I a going nuts in the process. Pooka helps quite well for someone her age, but she is only 5 and she has the attention span for some of these things like a 5 year old. I guess it all comes down to getting it together and doing stuff. So if you will excuse me, I need to get back to work. 

Sharing the bounty (of caterpillars and knowledge)

Pooka is a very giving creature. I see am so lucky and happy to be able to see this almost daily.

She is adjusting to kindergarten in her own way. She is making friends and adjusting to being with so many people for so long very well. The other day she asked if she could take some of the caterpillars up to the school to share with her friends. I thought it was a great idea (and was glad to see some of them leave the house), but reminded her I had to ask her teacher. Fortunately, her teacher loved the idea. They normally learn about caterpillars and butterflies in the spring, but was more then willing to let Pooka give the class a jump start. She even told me that Pooka was a very good "little teacher" the day she brought her caterpillars walking them up and down the rows so all her friends could see them and answering their questions.These caterpillars have even been helpful in the room as a "calming presence" for some of the kids when they need a minute to recollect themselves.

I swear there are 2 in here that went to school

Pooka's giving spirit is also seen in her desire to help at the school. They have a butterfly garden that sadly has become a bit overgrown. Her friend K's mom asked if we would be willing to make it a "2 family" project to rip it all out and rebuild. Pooka immediately said they could have some of the Pooka sunflower seeds and some of her milkweed seeds. She then told K's mom and I that we need to plant dill, carrots and parsley for the Black swallowtails. I did wonder briefly if this was another way for Pooka to work on "training my butterflies to come when I call." What she will be calling them for is only in her head, and hopefully not some butterfly army. But all in all, she is already excited to give back to her school and not let it just be "Brother's Big Kid school."

In what seems pre-determined destiny, this is the first year the school has decided to have a Garden club. Do I even have to tell you how quickly I was asked about it after Pooka found out? It does involve some parental involvement (which didn't bother me since people joked I lived up there BEFORE Pooka was in school there.) The first meeting is Tuesday for Pooka so hopefully she enjoys it and it encourages her to make more new friends.

I am always happy to watch Pooka grow and mature, but to see her so excited to find her own place. Now I can only hope with her love of learning, she continues to love school past the first 2 weeks.

Snack Time

Having a garden generally means (in theory) that Pooka can go outside and pick anything she wants to eat and go. Lately Pooka has decided that it is fun to just go outside and pick the herb leaves. It got to a point where daily she was asking "Can I try this plant? What does this one taste like?" Considering how excited I am that she is trying all these things, I told her to pick whichever herbs she wanted and basically gave her blanket permission to eat anything she wants out of the front herb bed.

Herb garden

She does this about daily, just walks out there and starts munching. I just tell myself there are worst things she could be eating. However, on Tuesday, Pooka had her friend K over to play. What did they spend most of the afternoon doing? Eating out of the herb bed, especially the chives plant.

Can you find the chives? They are the most cut back plant.

 They would go over and eat a bunch of chives until they realized their breath was getting a bit stinky then run over to the mint plant and eat some of that, then go back to the chives. The poor little chive plant is looking rather depleted, but this is why we grow plants, to eat them. At least both girls are adventurous enough to try new things.

Potato, Potato

A day or 2 before Easter, we were at Walmart, and Brother noticed the potato growing bags. Out of nowhere he asked if we could grow blue potatoes. We talked about it briefly last fall and part of the winter, but Daddy and I had made a decision awhile ago that we were starting to feel overwhelmed, and did we really want to add another plant.

A bag for growing potatoes

If it had been Pooka asking, we would of just brushed over it, and move on. But this is Brother, who doesn't garden. Who I don't think cares what goes on out there. Brother asked specifically for his blue potato. A potato we asked if he would eat it (since he doesn't always like potatoes unless they are made into fries). He said he would. He was even thinking of making it into mashed potatoes.

Daddy and I thought about it, we talked about it. Multiple days later, Brother was still asking about blue potatoes. We gave in. I went to the nursery today and got 6 Adirondack Blue seed potatoes. Once I got home and read the bag I bought at Walmart today, apparently 6 is twice what we need for one bag. However, they only sold them in 6 packs, so you go with what you got.

Brother's blue potatoes

Pooka is trying to argue that they are actually purple, but I told her to not say that to Brother (who was in school when I bought the box). These are for him, so we will call them blue.

When I picked Brother up from school, we were walking towards home, and still on school property and he stopped dead in his tracks, got this HUGE smile on his face and said "THANK THANK YOU MOM, You are the best mom ever." He then about knocked me over when he went to hug me. Yep, thats why I do this. I told him flat out that this means he has to take care of them, so once we got home, we read the directions on what we need to do to grow them.

Potatoes ready to sit in the sun and grow some more.

It says the first step is to leave the potatoes in a sunny spot (since I have so many of those left) to induce sprouting. Considering they came out of the bag already sprouted, I can say we are good there. Brother got to put them all in the tins. We did lose a root or 2 getting it out of the bag, but for the most part he was super gentle. I wanted to make sure the potatoes didn't get lost, so we put them in the muffin tin that use to hold grow ums.

Wanted: Sunny window space.

I managed to find a bit of space by using a shelf divider to hold some plants on top of the potatoes. but space continues to be at a premium. Anyone got a window or 4 I can borrow?