Harvest Time Is Ending Soon At Peaceful Forest

 Sisters

Every day now, I have picking up apples that fell from the tree in the backyard and giving them to our horses. They like them for a treat. I had to throw them out to them, since the mud is so deep I can't walk out there. And they won't walk to the fence for them for the same reason. They hate to get their feet in the mud, especially Georgie Girl. When it is dry out there, they play a game to see who gets the most. Georgie always wins since all she has to do is put her ears back. Since she is the "Boss Mare," Dark Shadow and Tawny will let her have the apple. That is the way of the horse hierarchy. 

 Potatoes and Cucumbers Harvested This Morning!

Today I harvested some more cucumbers from our garden. I don't know how what is left will hold up. The plant itself, looks dead. There are still cucumbers on it though, so I left the plant to see if they will ripen. If not, and we have a frost, I will have to take the plant out. For now though, we have quite a few cucumbers in the house to eat. When my son was here, he was going out every day picking cucumbers for supper. He prepared supper for us a lot during the summer. Now he has gone back to the city life again. I wonder if he misses picking the cucumbers and squash for supper?

 One Of My Potato Plants Started From "Eyes!"

I had planted some potatoes in various beds. They weren't anything I bought to plant. They were from the "eyes" of potatoes I had bought from the store. It looks like they grew fine. Not a lot, but enough for us to get a couple meals out of. We aren't eating a lot of potatoes anymore anyway, due to them being a high carb vegetable. Once or twice a week is enough.

 Fresh Mint Harvested This Morning!

Mint grows all over the place here. Today, I also cut a bit of that figuring that soon it will be hit by the frost that I am sure is on the way. I like to dry it and use in tea. Mint is a good thing to have on hand, a good medicinal plant. It is good for indigestion, fever, colds, headaches, diarrhea, colic and gas. Good for all that ails you, I'd say!

 Cherry Tomatoes Picked This Morning For Supper!

Every day I have picking some cherry tomatoes. They grew on their own and that means they are squashed together in one of the raised beds. Doesn't seem to matter much to them. They are red, shiny and taste like candy. So we can eat some every night in our salad. That is about the amount you get in one of those little containers in the store. So what is that, about $2.99 or so?

Cookstove Wood!

Then because it was so cold this morning, my husband brought in some wood for the wood cookstove. It is warming the house up some. Our office/living room is still kind of chilly, but the kitchen is pretty comfortable. I was able to use it for heating water and cooking. Now that I will be replenishing my supply of wood and kindling, I expect to be using it more than I was.

 One of our many squash plants!

I pulled up some of the squash plants that are done for the season. The stems on these plants are huge. Some of the biggest I have ever seen. One plant was very heavy to carry to the pile I put them in. I guess that is why they were so productive this year. Healthy thick stems! I am very pleased with the amount of squash I canned this year, 73 quarts. Looking forward to eating it in the winter months!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole  
All Photographs Copyright © 2011  Kathleen G. Lupole

Sights Around Peaceful Forest

Hobo on our morning walk

Hurricane Irene didn't do much harm to our little homestead. The center of the hurricane didn't actually come here. With so much preparations being made in New York, I was not sure how much of the effects of Irene we would be hit with. We are about five hours away so I wanted to be ready in case. Just wind and rain for us and that was fine with me. I am quite used to both, and many times our wind and rain has been much stronger than that.

Tawny avoiding the camera!

Our weather here though has already cooled off considerably. The trees are starting to turn color and the robins are not out and about as much as they were in the yard. When they start planning their fall trip south, they hang out in the forest more, eating the fruits of the forest. Packing on that weight for the long trip! I enjoy each season of the forest. But after last winter, I am kind of dreading it. We still haven't finished building the battery room and root cellar stairs. We really need that finished to make winter a bit easier around here.

Elderberries grow through out the forest!

I have been getting a good harvest of squash and cucumbers from our garden so far. Soon the elderberries and the apples will be ready too. That is, if I can get the elderberries before the birds do! They already got all the grapes! I will have to buy some of them locally for canning. The elderberries I will use to make some tincture for preventative use, and some for jelly and juice too. If I have enough.

The backyard raised beds are looking good!

All in all, we have had a very good summer, very productive in the garden. I have been able to can much food for our pantry and will be doing more in the next few months. Fall is harvest season!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2011  Kathleen G. Lupole

Filling The Pantry In Fall With Red And Orange Vegetables

My Three Little Girls!

This morning when I get up, the air is cold and crisp. We do not have heat on at night yet. Soon our big wood stove in the living room/office will be cranking. For now it isn't cold enough to use it. In some ways I look forward to the colder weather. As my regular readers know, we have been living for over a year without any refrigeration. That is not easy by a long shot! I regret it so many times, yet it was my decision. The gas from the propane refrigerators made me sick. I cannot stand the fumes in the least. Some people can and do. The colder weather means that my pantry will be our refrigerator and it keeps even the meat and dairy very cold for days. 

Tawny with her winter coat starting to come in already!

On the other hand, the colder weather is the time of the year that my husband has the chores he hates, shoveling snow and firewood work. He is almost sixty now and his body is reminding him of that fact daily. He has been having trouble with his heels, his knees, arms (one was crushed in 2002 in a work related accident driving unsafe equipment for the local highway department) and shoulders. He thinks it is because he does physical work, but he is the type of person who cannot sit on a couch and watch television. If he is in the house he is working on his laptop. If he is outside he is doing some kind of a project.......even though he may suffer later, or for days.

He does have many paths to shovel. When we get snow here we get much. We live in a little snow pocket that delivers more snow in our immediate area than the whole surrounding area. The forest of course, is protected with all the trees and we are in the center of it. So our snow piles sometimes are higher than our truck. If we had little children they would love it out here in the winter! So much to do when you are young and enjoy snow. Anyway, he has several paths to shovel and he keeps them shoveled so they don't build up too much. The path to the barn from the house, the path to the manure pile from the barn big enough for the wheelbarrow, the path to the spot where I empty my kitties' litter box, the driveway, of course, and sometimes he shovels a path into the forest for getting more wood or kindling. He always keeps the area in front of the barn door clear, for the twice a month hay delivery, when he picks up our load of hay and has to throw it upstairs into our barn from the back of the truck. Another heavy chore day!

Photo Credit: Public Domain Photos

I love the harvesting of the fall vegetables. Today I have the business of canning my small crop of hot peppers. I am hoping to get a canner full but I only have about five plants of them and one plant of sweet bell green peppers. The hot peppers are pretty big and I am trying for the first time canning them in the rings for sandwiches and salads. I love them! I used to buy them a lot but not lately as they have gone up so much in price. 

Photo Credit: Sam Mugraby

I will be purchasing carrots and beets at the end of this month to can them also. They are something I like to have in the pantry for winter meals and if I can get enough of them I might make them last a couple of years. Then the pumpkins too, of course. I think I may be able to get another crop of kale canned this week too if it doesn't get hit by frost, but what I have read is that kale improves being hit by frost.

I mustn't forget apples too! Apples will be available locally as it has been a very good year for apples. My own apple tree is full of the best fruit it has ever had in all the years we have lived here. I give the horses a apple and their mouths just fill with juice and foam. They love them this year more than ever. I usually buy at least a bushel from a local apple orchard to keep in the pantry. I would like to buy more than one this year and can the other as applesauce, sliced apples and apple pie filling. 

Photo Credit: Sam Mugraby

So what are you doing to fill your pantry this fall for winter? If you are here from Homesteading Today I know you are doing much or have been doing it steadily. If you are new to the modern homesteading idea then this is where you must start. My goal is to not have so many store bought foods in my pantry this coming year. I am so tired of all those empty cans and plastic containers to get rid of every week! So I am still trying to eliminate all the products that come in them. 

Have a happy homesteading day!

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Thoughts Of Autumn On The Homestead

Everyone looks forward to the cooler temperatures and fall leaves. I first notice fall coming by the lack of my favorite birds singing in the early morning hours. Through the summer, my husband and I both love the sound of them waking us up and in the evening before they go to sleep. The sounds and sights of this summer will stay with us through out the winter. We will be saying things like, "Remember those first robins who appeared in the cherry trees out back?" They were with us all summer. Following my husband as he cut the lawn. This last time he cut it, there wasn't even one. That is my first sign.

I have seen the other signs now. Getting dark earlier is one. I see it happening already. So time to get in the mode for fall. Autumn. The one thing I love about it is the pretty colors of the trees once it has started. Another thing is it is the time of the harvest. The time to pick and harvest the food that is growing in your gardens. To preserve it by canning, storing or dehydrating it. The beautiful pumpkins all over the fields waiting to be harvested. I have plans for canning much pumpkin and winter squash. I have more that is growing and isn't mature enough to be picked yet. Soon though.

I will be canning what I have in my garden and some that I already picked and is in the pantry. But I have plans of buying more at local farmers' markets to add to our food supply for winter. I will can more meats but also make stews, soups, chili and some other dishes that I will can so they can be our "fast foods". Sometimes what leads to running to buy a pizza or whatever is the fact that I do not have time to make a big meal from scratch. But if I have these quick meals canned in my jars in the pantry then there is no work involved other than pouring into a pan to heat. Love those fast foods!

Getting the house prepared for our winter job of firewood work. Firewood and kindling stacked and stored, ready to use. Cleaning of the wood stoves, so they are ready to be lit, and warm our house in the cold weather. I will take apart my wood cook stove as soon a I get a brief break from the harvesting and canning, and clean it thoroughly. It is a job I will be grateful I took the time to do when the really cold weather hits. Though we used this stove through  out the summer too, not to the extent we will be using it in the winter.

My Jewel Wood Cook Stove

I have plans to try to get into the forest and pick up the pine cones. They are a good fire starter and there are a lot of them. I don't know how well I will be able to gather them this year due to the worsening of my knees. They have gotten to the point that I sometimes need to use my walker. But if I keep active I think they will be tolerable. I have started back on my low carb food plan and already feeling a little better. It is so weird how eating white flour products and anything with sugar makes you feel so bad. Maybe they should outlaw that poison like they do some of the wild medicinal plants instead!

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

My New Blog Button!

Fall Harvest For The Self-Sufficient Homestead

Dark Shadow

Fall is definitely in the air. No birds singing to wake us up in the morning.  Or to put us asleep in the evening. No robins following my husband around while he mows the lawn. No robins in the garden when I am out there working. I miss the robins the most. Soon I will have chickadees and blue jays at my bird feeders. Chickadees following me around to let me know they need more bird feed. I know fall is pretty and that everyone likes the cooler temps. I like fall and it has always been my favorite season because of the colorful leaves and the fall harvest. But I do love the robins and miss seeing them hop all over the lawn. And I definitely miss hearing the birds singing together! It is my husband's favorite sound.

Kale from the garden

Yesterday I canned 8 pints of kale from my garden. It will grow  back and hopefully, I will get some more. I like to add it to soups and stews in the winter. This year I got a nice crop of it. If you cover it in really freezing weather it should over winter enough to be part of your winter greens menu. Tomorrow I am planning on pulling up the old bush bean plants that are done and re-plow the bed. Then I can plant more winter greens or a quick crop of something that will come up before winter.

The day before yesterday I canned 14 quarts of green and wax (yellow) beans. I mixed them together after one of my Facebook and Homesteading Today friends mentioned she does that all the time. I think I will too from now on. They look pretty. So far I have canned 41 quarts of beans and am hoping to can 14 more. One quart a week for a year. That is how I am planning our pantry vegetables. Each vegetable we eat, one quart a week for a year.

Pumpkin Plant

I have one big pumpkin in my garden. It is really big and I never have grown one this big before. I can pumpkins and winter squash by first letting them cure in my pantry or root cellar a few weeks first. That improves their flavor. Then cut them in cubes and peel them, in either order. Whatever is easier. Then I put them in a pan with water covering and bring them to a boiling temperature. Then you can go ahead and process them according to the recipe in your canning book. Though most canning books now tell you not to can them but I have this information from Jackie Clay, Growing And Canning Pumpkins on it. Scroll down to the first question and she tells you there why you shouldn't can the pureed pumpkin. I have a large harvest of winter squash I will be doing the same way.

Speaking of Jackie Clay, she and her spouse, Will, had an accident and fell from the roof of the hay storage building they were working on. They were hurt pretty bad and Jackie has had to take it easy for the time being, though from the looks of her blog, she is still working hard. She wrote an excellent article in Backwoods Home Magazine, Building and Stocking Your Pantry. You have to read that article. It is excellent, as usual Jackie gives the best information.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole