Time to start canning and freezing!

As you can see - it's harvest time!!!  I've got two of those zuchinis that are as big as little Sam's legs to puree and freeze for zuchini bread this winter and I just got my new canner from Ball - made to can on ceramic flat topped stoves.  Hope that works or we are going to have a freezer full of tomatoes!  The canner I found was on Amazon, made by Ball, so it should be good!  Wish me luck!

Community Garden Update

The field at the community garden has been producing lots and lots of super yummy things.  We were able to take a couple full bags of green beans to the local food bank, lots of zuchini and squash, tons of beets and greens, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes.  This was my first time to take the food to the bank and drop if off.  Normally, Cheryl handles that aspect.  I am trying to work on having a servant's heart as a theme for this year's homeschool and wanted to teach the kids more about getting involved and helping others directly.  Plus Cheryl had hurt her hand and was unable to do it this week so it worked out.  The kids understood what we were doing.  It was really uncomfortable to go there and drop it off and see all the people standing in line.  Many elderly and quite a few with children.  It really made me grateful for the blessings God has put in our lives.  I recently read that one in six children in America are growing up right now in food insecure households.  Meaning basically, that they aren't sure where their next meal is coming from.  How scary that would be, especially if you had children to care for.  I am glad there are ways for us to get involved in helping those who need it.  I have been researching into different organizations to support, world vision international, the global orphan project...anyone have any good ideas about trustworthy Christian organizations? 

Raspberries

If you want to grow a super easy fruit...plant some raspberries.  Yum.  And I can grow them, which says a lot.  My other fruit growing experiments have been less than ideal.  They are almost like a weed where you just put them in the ground and let them go.  Every couple of days for the last week and a half or so the kids go out and pick 2-3 cups of berries - some for fresh eating and some to freeze for making raspberry freezer jam later when I have more time. 

Magic Beans

We are currently harvesting 3 kinds of beans in our home garden:  yellow wax beans, green string beans and purple beans (the magic ones!)  They turn green when cooked, which is very interesting to my children.  A cool variety to try.  Easier for the kids to pick since the purple color really stands out against the green of the foilage.  Plus they look really neat in the pickin' pail.  I also found a kind of squash I want to try and grow next year...Zephyr summer squash...half yellow and half green.  You just don't see these kinds of things at your local supermarket.  I can't wait to see in my personal  raised plot at the church garden what is going on with my multicolored carrots!  Red, purple (can't remember if I planted any other colors or not).  There are so many varieties to explore that aren't the typical stuff you see everyday.  Yellow and burgandy tomatoes this year too.  My first "lemon boy" tomato is almost ripe.  I think.  How do you know when a yellow tomato is ripe? 

The Return

Well, I am home from beautiful Montana.  Huckleberries were lots of fun to find.  I am preparing for the homeschool start and gathering curriculum from all areas of my home and community.  Found a cool homeschool support group to bounce ideas off.  Putting together a Unit Study for Africa to start things off.  Altogether going fine.  I have been to see the two gardens - my backyard and the community garden.  Both are crazy wild with weeds after only 2 weeks of my neglect, but are starting to produce yummy deliciousness.  I was worried that all my raspberries would be overripe by the time I got home, but it turned out just fine.  They are beautiful, big berries and taste awesome! 

Bad news is that I got sick.  So this weekend was my first opportunity to participate in a gleaning event in my community - and I couldn't go.  Such a bummer.  They were gleaning a field of sweet corn.  Yum!  I guess they had been getting lots of yummies for the food bank!  Maybe they will have another project soon that I can be involved in.  Such an awesome activity and way to help your local hungry folk.  Wish I could do more.  When I think of all that produce just going to waste if it doesn't get gathered by someone it breaks my heart.  I would like to take my oldest son with me.  I really want to cultivate a servant's heart in my children (one of our homeschool goals this year) and this kind of opportunity would really be good for him!  I will have to check and see what ages are invited to participate. 

The main organizer of our church's community garden informed me that my in-ground garden was going wild and we will need a legion to help pick the beans.  So cool!  I have three young grasshoppers with too much energy anyway!  And I can authorize them to be in my field.  We have beens, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, beets (TONS of beets), some kind of pepper, and some mystery plants that I can't remember what they are - I was just having too much fun sticking stuff in the ground.  I think they may be brussel sprouts, but I am not sure - never grown them before.  A few stalks of the original cornfield did come up, so they are also scattered about.  What a conglomeration!  But I am very glad that I stuck those seeds in the ground or else nothing but the corn would be there for harvesting now and instead we have a variety of fresh produce to donate and use within our church family, too!   God's creation is truly amazing. 

Possible Homestead Sites

Today I went out and looked at some land for possible homestead sites.  I don't know if this will ever happen, but if I don't look, I know it won't.  I saw some beautiful land, but nothing that just jumped out at me.  I am looking for a little glen, something with a nice big meadow for my garden, but with some nice trees around.  Somewhere large enough to have a bit of a barn and a beautiful little cottage that maintains a private feel with the trees.  I will keep looking...