PATH TO FREEDOM
PEDDLER'S WAGON
FREEDOM GARDENS
"LITTLE HOMESTEAD"
DERVAES GARDENS
URBAN HOMESTEADING
Entries (RSS)
April 6, 2009
The Oregon Giant peas are prolific not to mention HUGE! And we’ve been enjoying them for lunch and dinner here on the urban homestead. Yep, meal after meal of just pasta and peas is simply divine. Not tiring of the dish anytime soon. I guess it’s one of those things you enjoy to the fullest when it’s in season because you’ll have to wait a whole year for that experience again. So eating peas till we pop!
During the course of making such a simple meal, one is constantly tempted just to pop these sweet peas into the mouth. Something is special about the peas this year, I knew it right when I tasted one. They tasted different - sweeter than any peas I’ve ever had. Is it the weather, the soil we’ll never know. But who cares, these peas are just incredible.
On the leafy green front, the sorrel with is lemon flavor is a welcome addition to our meals. I just love the sharp, citrusy flavor adds another dimension to a dish.
What’s growing in our backyard determines what we eat at the table and eating so close to home really puts us in tune with the seasons.
How does your sense of place determine how you eat?
It’s been about two week since my last meal round up - sickness and a trip to Atlanta pretty much messed up my noting what we ate over the week.
But we are back! Garden’s growing so there’s plenty of harvesting and eating to be done.
SATURDAY
Breakfast - homemade acorn flour pancakes made with homeraised eggs
Dinner - out
SUNDAY
Breakfast - homemade stove top granola made with homegrown honey
Lunch - homemade flour tortillas, homemade spanish rice (homegrown green onions, marinated peppers) with organic black beans, organic cheese and homegrown cilantro
Dinner -leftovers
MONDAY
Breakfast - homemade stove top granola made with homegrown honey
Lunch - homegrown snow peas, meyer lemon (local given to us by a friend) butter pasta with homegrown salad
Dinner - homegrown greens (kale, swiss chard, sorrel) soup
TUESDAY
Breakfast - homemade stove top granola made with homegrown honey
Dinner - homegrown broccoli soup
Lunch - homegrown snow peas, shelling peas, meyer lemon (local, given to us) butter with pasta
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast - homemade stove top granola made with homegrown honey
Lunch - homegrown daikon radish, snow pea pasta with homegrown salad
Dinner -homegrown broccoli cheese pasta
THURSDAY
Breakfast - homemade stove top granola made with homegrown honey
Lunch - homegrown sorrel raw cheese sandwich with homegrown salad topped with daikon radish and snow peas
Dinner - homegrown snow peas, shelling peas, meyer lemon (local) butter with pasta
FRIDAY
Breakfast - homemade stove top granola made with homegrown honey
Lunch - homegrown sorrel and raw cheese sandwich with homegrown/preserved pickled beans
Dinner - homemade pizza (homegrown) herb crust topped with homegrown/preserved marinated peppers, homegrown broccoli, green onions and cheese with homegrown salad with homegrown daikon radishes and locally (bartered) navel oranges.
(3 votes)
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Filed under: 100 Foot Diet, Homegrown Diet, In the Kitchen, Posts by Anais |
Tags: peas, the urban homestead, Urban Homestead, weekly meal wrap up
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April 5, 2009
The weather is acting up again - it’s as if winter’s is fighting with her sibling summer. Hopefully the cooler temperatures will bring some rain. In fact, there is a chance of rain mid week. We are definitely praying for rain because we need all the heavens can give us before the long, hot and dry summer.
Bella (aka Hell’s Bells — we call her this because she likes to raise a ruckus before and after she lays an egg) is doing fine. She laid a perfect egg the other day without complications. That was a critical point in her recovery whether we were right in our decision not to put her in the dark for a few days and prevent her from laying.
We continue to monitor her condition throughout the day but she seems to be doing fine - hanging out with her pal Sissy, raising ruckus, kicking up clouds of dirt and just being a happy chicken. And when we look into her eyes (eyes tell you a lot about a animals condition) they are bright and happy. She certainly doesn’t know she’s a weaker chicken and that’s all that counts - that while she lives, she enjoys a happy life.
Old Clem and one of the ducks wonder what all the fuss is about these days
In other animal news, spring brings out a flush of broody hens - tuck, tuck tucking about. Old Clem (who’s going on 8 years) who’s usually last to leave the coop in the morning was up bright and early. I guess she just couldn’t stand the fussing and screeching of the other’s.
Have you ever had the pleasure of hearing a broody hen screech with that blood curling tone of “don’t you dare come near me or I’ll do something to you’ll regret” Hmmm sounds like me sometimes.
Anyhow….
To get the broody broads under control, come afternoon, the coop will go under lock down once the other’s lay their eggs. Of course the ducks are happily oblivious to the hens plight. The duckies don’t go broody and rather not have anything to do with the crazy antics of broody hens.
And the goats what do they think of this hormonal hullabaloo well…. see for yourself
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Behind the scenes there have been some interesting developments and just as soon as we confirmations from the other parties we’ll pass the information on to you.
On the gardening front, there’s still work to be done tidying up the place. We are slightly obsessed with tidy - I guess it’s our Belgian genes but really a tidy garden and homestead makes for a much more productive use of space.
Last week made a batch of nettle leaf tea. Was able to obtain a bunch of fresh nettle from a local Freedom Gardener to make such a high nutrient concoction. Stinging nettle tea is not only a great overall healthy tonic but it’s also beneficial for plants. It’s rich in silica and said to be great for good-tasting tomatoes.
Will let this batch brew in a bucket till it stinks like the dickens.
On the homefront, canning season might come sooner than expected. So it’s time to clean all those jars to be ready to start canning on the spur of the moment.
The resident farmers informed me the other day that about 90% of seeds grown and planted this year in our Freedom Garden are free from the controls and ownership of Monsanto Back in 2001 we took a stand on where our food comes from which spurred us to grow as much food as we could and now in this next chapter who controls our seeds. Over the years we have saved as many seeds as we can here on the urban homestead but we still have to purchase certain varieties.
It was the shocking realization (to me at least) that not all organic, safe & secure seeds are sown equal that spurred us to start digging and tracking down vegetable varieties that haven’t been acquired by the big bad M. Then why not share that knowledge and varieties with others and up sprouted Freedom Seeds. It’s been an educational journey for all of us on the seed sovereignty path.
If you are a blogger and have purchased seeds from Freedom Seeds and are blogging about your growing experience, then list your blogs here! We’d like your feedback, photos, etc. We are still developing the Freedom Seeds site where we hope to have a bunch of resources that have been helpful to us.
Happy sowing and growing!
(3 votes)
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Filed under: Chickens, Citified Farm Animals, Ducks, Goats, Homestead Life, In the Garden, Posts by Anais, Weather |
Tags: rain, summer, the urban homestead, Urban Homestead, Weather
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April 3, 2009
A big thanks to FGer “MrsMeyers” for her vigilant tallying efforts from all those participating in the challenge. Here’s the figures so far.
March’s Tally Totals
735lbs of produce (plus blackthorn’s 12.6 grams:)
1525 eggs (1437 chicken, 88 duck)
39 quarts of maple syrup
Total Harvest Tally
2257.75lbs of produce!!!!
3184 eggs (chicken, duck and turkey)
68lbs of meat/eggs
55lbs of produce traded/collected from outside source
39 quarts of maple syrup
Care to weigh in? (NOTE you have to be logged into Freedom Gardens.org to view results)
(2 votes)
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Filed under: Posts by Anais |
Tags: eggs, freedom harvest challenge, trade
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April 2, 2009
Well, it’s the end of the week (almost) and I just got through publishing three journal entries - one about the “ugly side” of urban homesteading, compost and urban bees.
There’s more where that came from so hopefully will have some more time tomorrow to get you all caught up - especially one about the meeting day which has all of us in a slight tizzy.
(3 votes)
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Filed under: Posts by Anais, Website Updates |
Tags: Bees, Compost, EM, homesteading, posting, posting blitz, urban bees, Urban Homestead, urban homesteading
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April 2, 2009
While perusing the internet, reading about others bees that are swarming in the area, I wondered why ours were happily content, going about their “beesness.” What was up, I wondered….
So, I approached our 30 year resident beekeeper (while he was working in the garden) and asked, “So, tell me, while other people’s bees are swarming in the area, why ours haven’t”
It went something like this….
He replied, “It’s all about timing and knowing when to expand the brood, anticipating the spring honey flow and when the bees need to expand their colony.” “Sweet!” I replied, and went on to say, “So, you are telling me that you were right on the mark, deciding to go and expand the hive last month and, by doing this, it basically suppressed their urge to swarm.” “That’s right,” he exclaimed and then went on to say, “Beekeeping is not like keeping a dog or chicken - bees are insects and constantly increasing in size so you need to know that aspect of hive life before you start down the beekeeping path.”
Well, I got my answer! Now just a matter of time before we raid the hive… of course, will share photos of the experience when the time comes.
(5 votes)
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Filed under: Bees, Posts by Anais |
Tags: Bees
Keep This Site Growing: Did you get some inspiration or glean an informative tip from this post? Please support this site by either making a tax deductible donation or a purchase from our online store. Thank you!