Early November in the Garden

It's cold outside! The greenhouse is all closed up now. You can see the outside kale to the right of it.

Since it has gotten well below freezing a few times, I covered up the greenhouse bed with wire wickets and floating row cover:



If you lift the row cover and peak inside:



Have you ever heard of "manure tea?" (yum...?) I filled a five -gallon bucket with horse manure (you can use any kind of animal manure.) Then fill it up with water and let it sit with a lid on it for at least 1 month. Then you can dilute it and use it to water your garden plants. It is wonderful fertilizer:



Below are some of the little garlics I started from seeds a dear friend in Finland sent to me last fall. They will be ready to harvest next August:



Some of the leeks are still in the garden. I will leave them there and they should come up again next Spring:



And here is the strawberry patch that we planted this year. I kept the berries picked off, so the strength would go to the plants, but next year, we should have lots of nice strawberries to eat!



This next exciting picture is where I planted the garlic for next year. After the ground freezes, I will put some mulch on this patch. I also spread some spinach seeds here and worked them into the soil just a little bit. I hope they do well!



Here is a closer view of the outside kale. I have kale growing in the greenhouse too, but kale is so hardy that it can usually survive the winter, so I left this to grow:



Things are winding down.... not much to do out there but putter around in the greenhouse and pick things to eat. I love this time of year.

Canning Milk ~ "Not Recommended."

Once again, here is something that is not "recommended," as far as I know, by the authorities. During the early Spring, there will be at least 2 months when I am not milking my goats. I have 60 quarts in the freezer to get us by during that time, but what if the freezer fails?

I looked around on the internet, and found various recipes for canning milk and settled on this one:

Fill pint jars with fresh milk to within 1/2 inch of top. Clean rims. Adjust caps. Place in pressure canner with 2 quarts of water in the bottom. (Add a splash of vinegar to the water so it doesn't deposit unattractive ickies on your jars.) Exhaust canner for 10 minutes, close vent, then bring up to 5 pounds of pressure and turn off the heat. Allow pressure to return to normal and then carefully open the top. Place the jars in a draft-free location to cool.

These will be very nice when I need milk for soup.

Again, I say, the is NOT recommended, so be your own judge.

The Last Pear

Another use for stale bread

We talked about bread pudding in a recent post. Here is another use for stale bread. I try very hard not to throw food away. I used to have chickens. They would eat almost any scraps from the kitchen, and of course you've seen my compost bins. I have a garbage disposal. I hardly use it at all.... really only if some little tiny bits fall down in there... I call it my "electric chicken." :)

Here is a pan with homemade croutons which I made from a few slices of stale bread. Some of it was the sourdough rye and then there were 2 whole wheat bread heels. Homemade croutons are far superior to anything you could buy in a store.

Croutons

Stale bread
butter
salt and pepper
dried parsley and ground poultry seasoning (or other herbs of your choice)

Cut your bread into little cubes (or bigger ones if you prefer.)
Melt some butter (I used 1/4 cup for this lot) in a skillet and add the bread. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until the bread is thoroughly toasted. Add the seasonings and herbs and stir.

You can use more butter if you like. This is really more of a method than an exact recipe. Store these in an airtight container. Use soon, or freeze for later and re-crisp them in an oven.

Marvelous on a salad!

I am sharing this post on Wardeh's Simple Lives Thursday over at GNOWFGLINS.

Dried Pears

Here are the last of the pears. In a hurry, what can I do? I decided to dehydrate them.



I have this cool little "apple peeler/corer" thing. But if you want, you can set it so it does NOT peel. That's what I did.



Whenever I do canning, or something like this, I try to set up a good "system" first. That makes it much easier. Here is a bowl for the cores and stems:



Here is what the pears look like coming out of the device:



And then I plopped them into a bowl of apple juice so they won't turn brown:



Here is a core after this pear was cored and sliced. Easy to slip off and discard:



Here are some draining in a colander:



I took each sliced pear and cut it in half:



Then I spread them out on the dehydrator trays:



Here is the dehydrator with most of the trays full:



And here is what was left over!



A few hours later, I have two quart sized bags of nice, chewy and sweet dehydrated pears!

Welcome to our home

Deb, who blogs over at Doing my Best for Him is hosting a home tour today (for those brave enough to do it!)

Welcome to our home!



We call this the "work room." It is a converted garage. We heat our house with wood and hang a little fan in the door between this room and the dining room to move the heat along. In the foreground on the left, is a little fridge that I use for goat milk storage. The wooden rack on the right is for firewood.



Same room, view toward the outside door:



The exciting hallway at the end of which is my vacuum cleaner and the kitty's litter box:



Welcome to my sewing room. I take in sewing to help the budget a bit:



Another sewing room view. You can see my spinning wheel up there:



Out the door from the sewing room:



The sewing corner:



Our bedroom (and whole house!) will never be ready for House Beautiful Magazine. We live in it.



The bed. And an old family photo of all of us. We bought this antique sleigh bed for $30 back in 1972.



My dresser and nightstand:



My nest - the livingroom:



The side of the living room. Our books and jumble of baskets. I really do use them, but this is where they stay in the mean time:



Television and grandmother clock and a few other items in the living room:



More of the same:



Utility room:



Washer and dryer (Have you fallen asleep yet?)



Home canned things in food storage room. I have foil covering the windows to keep most of the light out:



"Store bought" things in food room:



My elliptical exercise machine is in there too. Yes, I really use it.



Dining room and as you can see, sort of an extension of my kitchen:



Another view:



And my piano:



And china cabinet:



Curio cabinet:



View into kitchen:



In the corner of the kitchen:



Hoosier cupboard and shelves. A friend made those shelves for me. What a blessing! If I didn't cook much, I wouldn't need them. But I do. A lot. See the cheese press? It has some cheddar in it:



My kitchen range:



My messy fridge with milking buckets and radio on top:



Oh, yes, and the bathroom:



From the other end:



Front of the house:



Who do you see out there?



Abby, Gracie and Susie:



I made these compost bins from free wood pallets and wired them together with wire coat hangers about 12 years ago. They look very... uh... well, they still work!



Here is the door we go in:



That's it! Our jumbled, comfy home. Now you know. :)