"My Work Space" or "Composting Part I"

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Momzoo

This is my work space

This particular day I was washing and preparing green tomatoes to make relish and I paused, my area was clean and peaceful. There are so many times that I look at this area in my home and I hate it! Dirty dishes all over, sinks to be cleaned and food prepared. It makes me tired! I have learned that if I can stop and love when things are lovable it makes the hard times easier. Does that mean that I always love to do my chores and I sing a happy song and life is all flowers and butterflies? No, I still loath ironing and mopping floors gives me a headache, but the end results, are well worth the effort. If I can focus on that, it makes the work much easier.

Beautiful bowl of green tomatoes in the morning sunshine.

Getting on to the composting portion of my post.

Right next to my kitchen sink I have two plastic bins that I use for my composting. One is for the compost pile and the other is for the chickens.

In the chicken bin I put all of out table scraps. Chicken are omnivores and will eat anything that we humans eat. They also eat and compost, in their own special way, foods that I don’t want in my pile; including meats, pasta and processed foods.

In the compost bin I put any vegetables, peelings, and such, egg shells, paper and bread.

Composting Part II will cover my lazy-man’s versions of compost piles.

Green Tomato Relish

Posted on October 25, 2009 by Momzoo

Remember this big box of green tomatoes.

I have been letting them slowly ripen and we have been enjoying fresh tomatoes and tomato sauce for a while. However I really wanted to try a recipe that I got from my aunt for Green Tomato Relish.

Here is the recipe:

2 qrts (10 large) green tomatoes

2 qrts (10 large) unpeeled cucumbers

1 qrts (2 1/2 lbs) onions

1 qrts (9 large) green peppers

3 red peppers

6 cups sugar

1 1/2 TBS mustard seed

2 TBS pickling salt

1 1/2 TBS turmeric

1 1/2 tsp celery seed

Chop or grind all vegetables with coarse blade, combine with remaining ingredients in large heavy kettle. Bring to boil, simmer for 20 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes

I did peel about half the cucumbers, I bought them from the grocery store and they had a wax coating that I didn’t want to have in my relish, the other half were left overs from my garden, they got to keep their peels.

(sorry some of the pictures are dark, it was a partly cloudy day so at times I didn’t have a lot of natural light in my kitchen)

Aren’t those colors so pretty in my pot.

adding the insane, yummy amount of sugar.

The turmeric turned everything a weird yellow color, it doesn’t stay this way.

I ended up letting the mixture simmer for longer than 20 minutes, about an hour maybe, I wanted it to be a little thicker.

So pretty in their jars.

This recipe makes about 12 pint jars.

It is sweet and so yummy, I am excited to eat this with polish sausage or bratwurst and cabbage this winter.

Work on the Homestead

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Momzoo

Last Saturday we got the last of the crops in

(I use the word “crops” very loosely)

Since we are having cold nights now I brought in the onions, we grew about a bushel of onion, enough to last us the winter. I will store them in a bushel basket in the root cellar (ahem, basement, there is a post coming up about my “cellar”)

We are onion eaters, typically I will slice up 3 or 4 onions to go with a beef roast, my kids love the slow cooked onions, so I am happy to have such a big harvest.

Dadzoo spent all day building me a “fence” along the north side of our “property” (hehe, yard)

We are planning to plant raspberries and blackberries along the “fence” to create privacy and another source of food.

(you gotta love that dead grass that constitutes our neighbors landscaping! ugh!)
(another reason for some privacy so I don’t have to look at that!)

Two weeks ago I did a big post about something that Dadzoo was building on the South side of our “property”. All those of you who guessed a grape arbor were correct. I am excited to see how it is going to fill in the next few years.

Planting? Food?

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Momzoo

Last year I planted garlic, and I failed miserably! I wasn’t patient enough and harvested the garlic before it was big and ready. My main mistake was planting it in an area that I needed for summer vegetables so I couldn’t let them just sit and get big.

This year I made a special little spot for my garlic where they can just grow and grow to their little heart’s delight until they are nice and big and become part of my dinner.

I picked an out of the way spot and moved a garden box into place, I used the soil from my onion box (which I had just harvested) and was ready to plant.

I bought a bag of garlic from the grocery store, I am not picky with garlic, but if you want something special there are many sources on-line for speciality varieties.