Gardening | Homesteading Dream

Homesteading dream is progressing

by Christina | May 3, 2024 | Gardening, Homestead, Learning

I’m excited that my little homsteading dream is coming together. The dehydrator arrived yesterday with the other canning supplies. The extra fruit trays and herb trays came a couple of days ago. I’m very egar to get going and start practicing how to preserve food in various ways.

I’ve been watching a lot of videos and learning so much. I can tell Grandma & Grandpa are with me. There’s no way my garden would be doing as good as it has been without him. I’ve been successfully able to grow various herbs, kale and spinach. The zucchini plant is growing but isn’t producing yet. I think my soil might need amending. Time for a trip to Arizona Worm Farm! It’s my favorite place for compost and other soil ammendments.

I’m excited to see how the bunching onions and carrots will turn out. The last time I tried to grow carrots, which was during my first gardening attempt in over 10 years during the pandemic, they weren’t even baby carrots. I called them micro carrots because they were litterally line 1 inch long. I learned the soil was too compacted and that stunted their growth.

On a happier note, the chamomile is flowering! It’s still a bit thin and lanky but there are flowers. I look forward to drying those out to make my own chamomile tea.

Merry Beltane!

by Christina | May 1, 2024 | Canning, Cooking, Gardening, Homestead

Merry Beltane! Just wanted to give a quick overall update.

Sourdough – My first, ever, attempt at making a sourdough starter did start but I hadn’t kept an eye on it and it died. RIP Mr. Starter.

Zucchini- The zucchini either isn’t getting pollenated or needs nutrients. I’ve has many blossoms, both male and some female, but none have started to produce fruit yet. I’m leaning toward not getting pollenated. I have some flowers but with my garden backing up to a major street and a city bus stop right behind my house I wouldn’t be surprised if the pollenators don’t want to come near here. Maybe I should get some more flowers and put the hummingbird feeder back up.

Canner – After getting all of the Costco and Walmart returns done I had enough money to get more canning supplies. $80 of jars and lids are coming home with me. Now all I need is something to can. I think I’ll do some taco sauce and pico de gallo. Doing a couple of small batches of recipes using the same base ingredients should be a good way to start. Living alone I don’t need 10 quarts of taco sauce for the year. Next purchase will be a good pressure canner but for now I’ll use the inexpensive Presto canner I got from Walmart to learn and practice. I’ll get an All American canner later.

Dehydrator – The additional racks and accessories for the dehydrator should arrive today and the dehydrator itself should arrrive tomorrow. I’m so excited to start making healthy snacks. I remember mom making fruit roll ups when I was a kid and they always tasted so good. With all the extra stuff they put in most store bought foods this will be a great next step to not only eating healthy but also to preserving foods. I’m really excited to also use it to dry my own herbs as well as the various medicinal herbs I can collect when forraging.

Garden – I’m already trying to think of ways to expand the garden so I can grow more of my own foods and herbs. I had no clue how many of the herbs we use in cooking actually have health benefits and medicinal qualities. It makes me happy that little pieces of my homesteading dream are coming together.

Quick garden update

by Christina | Apr 23, 2024 | Gardening, Homestead

Garden grow bag with kale, cilantro, carrots and basil

Quick garden update. After camping this past weekend my garden survived! The heat is rising so I’ll be putting the shade cloth up or moving the grow bags into the shade of the mesquite tree. This should allow full morning sun but help shade them in the afternoon.

The wildflower bag has several flowers. The kale, cilantro & basil are all very good. The carrots in that bag look good but the carrots in the 2nd bag, with the zucchini, look small. I wonder if the soil is still too compacted. We’ll just have to wait and see how they develop. I was surprised to see that 2 of the three watermelon seeds I planted have sprouted too!

The zucchini has 2 flowers on one plant. I need to test the PH in the soil to see if the balance is right. I might need to switch the fertalizer to the fish emulsion if the PH is too low. The last time I checked it was starting to get a little too alkaline. I’m not sure about the levels in the other vegie fertilizer from E.B.Stone, I don’t have the package anymore but I believe the Tomato/veggie was 4-5-3. I’ll need a couple of new ones that are less balanced. I’ll get one that’s higher in nitrogen for the spinach, basil, kale and cilantro. One that’s more phosphorous for the root growth of the fruiting/flowering plants.

I wish I could ask Grandpa what do put on them. He never used store bought fertalizer, just coffee grounds, egg shells and other kitchen scraps and he always had the most amazing garden. Granted, he was gardeing in the Bay Area of northern California, not the dry , hot desert of Phoenix.