Darlene

I don’t know about the rest of the country but it’s almost impossible to find help

unless you want to pay $50+\hour

1 hour ago, Mother said:

I’m guessing the center island is four foot wide as it can be reached from both sides and the outer ones will be narrower because they are only accessed from one side.

Yes. 4’x20’ center island with walk around and 2.5’ wide perimeter. 
 

Good tip about the root crops. Hadn’t thought about that but I’m sure a lot of it will be trial and error over time. I had figured I’d just jump up on top of the beds lol

I haven’t used the grow bags yet. Had a major change regarding a garden. 

A very close friend of mine does woodworking. He’s made some beautiful tables and cutting boards for me. He also piddles in larger stuff so I had asked him a couple of months ago if he would make me a raised bed garden for my daughter for her birthday. He did a beautiful job and we installed it a few weeks ago. It ended up being 4’x8’ which is perfect for her suburban farming. 
 

Since I’m so shy, I asked him if he would build me a massive raised bed garden complex on the side of the house. There used to be a pool there that I hated and filled it with dirt years ago. I’ve been gardening there ever since but the ground work of traditional gardening is getting tough. Consequently, he’s built a 16x32’ raised bed garden area that we will install next Saturday. Lord knows I have plenty of dirt here and tons of compost, so will use that to fill all the beds. He’s made them appropriately 27” high with a 8” cap all the way around that I can sit on if needed. 

It will be something along these lines:

The entrance gate will be on the right side instead of the end and it will be 6’tall with cattle panels around it. Here’s the center island he built. It wasn’t finished but is a work in progress. 
 

And here’s the gate:

The height will keep out all creatures great and small and it should open the door for me to be able to garden more than enough. God is so good. I never dreamed I would be able to have something so nice because there would be no way I could afford the normal

cost for something like this. While I have paid for all the materials, his labor payment will be done in homemade sourdough bread, pasta and homemade canned salsa. 
 

Thank goodness I bought all those chicks. I’m going to need a ton of eggs for the pasta lol

58 minutes ago, Midnightmom said:

Do you also know how to relax?

Haven’t learned that one yet. 
 

2 hours ago, Dee said:

 

I remember your birthday yearly because it's also the day as my sons.  I think you two are twins....51?

Your memory is impeccable!

1 hour ago, Homesteader said:

Happy birthday BRAT!    

Takes one to know one. 
 

(((((Dee)))))

Just got in from seeing a newborn calf born to one of the cows. Nothing brings more of a smile to the heart than to watch the newborn trying to get up on his little stick legs lol

The fact that he/she was born on my birthday made it even more special

It's been a great day so far...my daughters are up. I went with the youngest to the Amish market this morning and bought a ton of fresh carrots that I'll vacuum seal and freeze and more strawberries.

Food is my happy place next to family...whether it be blood relatives or my family here.

Thank you for remembering

11 hours ago, Mother said:

I agree that most of what is done on a farm could be done in an urban setting.  Perhaps not raising large livestock but certainly the gardening, small animals, processing, and cooking from scratch with fresh wholesome food.

Bingo. 
 

I have done that my entire life. The fact that I can expand into larger animals does not negate the fact that I was prepping before it was cool and I was doing so in the suburban environment. With 4 children, a husband and extended family all included too. 
 

Homey could testify to the mountains of stash I had and still have in many ways. 
 

No Campbell soups for me anymore lol. 

Everyone is different. For those that know me well, they know that a "No", or "Can't be done" is meaningless to me, but that's just me.

My perspective on all of this tends to reveal:

Of course nothing is truly clean anymore. Consequently, I can either purchase products that boldly and blatantly state that they are bioengineered from fake produce, or I can try to strive to minimize my purchase of such products.

Where do we draw the line? I've been drawing lines for decades. I've busted my backside to live and raise various products myself for a long time now. Making my own cream of mushroom soup? Piece of cake. I've already found several recipes that seem delicious. Can I find commercially made cans of cream of mushroom soup that do not boldly state they are bioengineered? Absolutely. I've already found a couple of brands - one being Wholefood's brand that is almost the same price as Campbells.

Maybe the way I perceive things is different from most, and that's ok. But there's no way I would give up and continue to purchase those types of products, when it's a piece of cake for me to figure out a Plan B or C. At some point, I've already accepted the fact that I will have to forego and not purchase 'whatever' in the future because it has become contaminated to the point where I refuse to ingest it, and after thorough research, I am unable to figure out a Plan B or C. In fact, that is a thought I've been having occasionally lately - living without 'whatever' - which is a topic for another day.

We cannot escape all of the contamination but I can sure minimize it through the work I do on the farm, my natural gifts and passions and prepare the best I can for the days that are accelerating and looming over us quicker than I want. For the record though, much of what I'm able to do here on the farm could be done if I still lived in the suburbs. It would require Plan B and C's, but it would still be doable. Consequently, I have a hard time giving up.

4 hours ago, Necie said:

 

GMO corn/soy/alfalfa/etc doesn’t bother me. Gotta feed the world. So, unless someone comes up with a better solution...

My better solution is to make my own. 

My mom alerted me last night about this and when I looked at the cans of Campbells soup I have in my cupboard, I discovered she was right. 
 

Every single can of Campbells soup has this alert:

“Contains bio bioengineered food ingredients….from genetically modified crops”

The cans I currently have will go to the dogs and I will never buy Campbells again. Just the thought of this bioengineered and genetically modified garbage makes me sick. 

I’m thinking about making some sourdough crackers with the discard too. I think they’d be amazing with everything bagel seasoning on them. 

Yeah, it took me a little bit to figure out how to incorporate it into an already packed day. I think the thing that motivated was that first loaf lol. I eat it every day now. 

Awwww happy birthday!!! And thanks Dee for the announcement 

Yeah I took a several year break mostly because while the recipe I used made great bread, it wasn’t that “it” for me. The KA recipe has blown me away and reignited my excitement over making bread. I started the process with my third loaf today. Less than a week from when I started the first loaf. 

That’s interesting E. That’s one of the things I noticed right off the bat with this starter. It’s far more active and a lot more fragrant. I’m excited to see if there’s any aroma or taste difference with the San Fran starter. 

16 minutes ago, euphrasyne said:

Sourdoughs is all the same regardless of age.   Treat it like you want it.  That looks awesome! I'm tempted to order some.  

What do you mean they’re all the same?

I can see huge differences between my original sourdough starter and the new from smell to activity etc. 

I know we have many posts about sourdough bread and making it, etc, but I wanted to share a few observations I've had recently with it.

I made my original sourdough with a starter and a recipe. It was really good but something was missing in it for me but I didn't know what it was. After a while, I stopped making it and let my starter die. I bought a new sourdough starter last year, but it was too busy to use and I ended up losing it.

A few weeks ago, my mom got on a kick of wanting to make sourdough bread and asked me where I got my starter. She ordered what I had always ordered, and my dad asked for a recipe for the 'no knead sourdough bread' I used to make.

I ended up giving him a different recipe than I had always used...not sure why (probably because that recipe wasn't "IT"). When 2 daughters and I went down to help my parents a few weeks ago, they made us a loaf of sourdough bread. When I tried it, I flipped because it was like the bread we used to get from the european bakeries when I was a little kid.

When I got home, I decided to get some new starter myself and found this amazing site with several different starters that are hundreds of years old. I made a loaf about a week ago and it was completely different (in a good way) from the sourdough I used ot make so I think it's partly the sourdough starter I have, plus a better recipe and I ate half the loaf in 2 days lol.

I just made my 2nd batch of this sourdough bread, and instead of keeping it in the fridge for 12 hours of cold fermentation, I did 2 days. What a freaking difference even that made. I had some last night and was amazed at how the flavor of the bread stayed on my tastebuds for several hours later (not in a bad way).

I also noticed something huge (for me). Normally, if I just have some toast or a bagel at breakfast, within 30-60 min, I will get really tired...must be my sugar tanking trying to process the carbs. But, when I eat the fresh sourdough bread I make, that doesn't happen. It's a weird testimony of how the fermentation breaks certain things down for the body that don't tax the system requiring extra work to process (if that makes sense).

Also, when I was re-searching the sourdough starters I had forgotten how it breaks down everything to make it more digestible for humans and also unlocks a ton of vitamins and nutrients that are only unlocked during the sourdough starter fermentation process. I am seeing the truth of that as I completely switch over from store-bought breads...even fresh breads from quality bakeries...and instead, make my own sourdoughs. While I may not be able to live by 'bread alone' :), I certainly am eating it alot more than I ever had.

If anyone is interested, this is the site where I got my '900 year old starter' and have been using that for the past couple of weeks. I just ordered the 233 year old sourdough starter because I want to see if there's a taste difference between the 2 starters. I also ordered the European rye starter because I'd like to see if I can replicate the black breads we used to be able to get as a kid, and also because I have ordered bread from all over the country from European bakeries, and NONE of it is like what we used to be able to get. The sourdough I have been making lately is better than any of those childhood memories so I'm excited to branch out and try other starters.

Living Dough sourdough starters is where I got my starters.

King Arthur's no knead sourdough bread recipe is the recipe I'm currently using. It really is an easy recipe to make...no traditional kneading, just a few folds and preshaping.

Let me know if any of you try it!

I bought the grow bags and will experiment with those. But I definitely plan on going all raised bed gardens this year.

We are currently looking into this. We had been having discussions with our board people about taking the site back a few days due to an unexplained accident that happened to one of our members’ account. It had barred them and deleted all their history. In an effort to restore that, we were inquiring about the process. 
 

It appears the board people took it upon themselves to do it without authorization so I am very sorry for the tumult this is causing y’all. 
 

Suffice it to say that I’m furious with them. We wanted to restore our members history but we wanted to do it in an organized manner, giving everyone a heads up beforehand etc etc etc. 

Yeah, I've been growing potatoes for a long time now and understand how it's done. I'm just looking for an easier way to do so, so I figured I'd try these. If they don't work, they don't but it's worth a try.

I'll keep y'all posted on how it all works...whether it's a bright idea or not lol. I'm thinking of installing some drip irrigation to handle the watering needs they will have.

I'm also researching/planning on incorporating some 2' high raised beds. I just don't know if I want to build them from scratch or whether to buy a prefab.

I'm such a silly girl.

I'm burdened about potatoes. Go figure.

lol

Was last year too and planted a ton. Only got 1 hilling done on the potatoes and the bulk of them were small. My fault.

It's alot of work to grow potatoes - hilling and harvesting and it's getting harder to sit on the ground and dig in the dirt like I've always done.

I'm in the process of planning massive raised bed gardens - at least 2' because I am NOT going to stop growing veggies. I have tons and tons of compost from the livestock and hay so I figured I'd fill the raised beds with that. 

But, I need alot of space to plant my beloved potatoes (last years crop is in boxes in the garage right now) so today I took the plunge and bought 10 gallon potato grow 'bags'. I remember seeing some posts in this forum a year or so ago, about a guy who plants his potatoes in round tubs. I didn't want to invest that much $ into plastic tubs so I found some grow bags that were were on sale on Amazon, plus 25% off. It wouldn't let me put in an order for several grow bags at the 25% off price - only one at a time. So I bought 1 by 1 by 1 to secure my 25% discount lol (saved $25).

I'm really curious to see how the potatoes will grow in these. The grow bags are reusable year after year, they have a velcro window that you can pull up to 'harvest' new potatoes along the way. The bags have handles if I want to move them around (not) and my hypothesis is that it will be easier to grow and hill and harvest the potatoes in that kind of setup. I bought 30 of them I think...can't quite remember but if it's a complete failure, the $ hit won't be too bad.

I'll keep y'all posted.

*pout* I missed it too, but at least she'll remember how much she's loved and how grateful we are that she calls MrsS home

On 1/12/2024 at 6:23 PM, Mother said:

make dozens of menus and choose what fits the sales that week.

I have found that this strategy saves the most $.