Building the garden.

2014 we moved.....

Great idea we said, everyone was happy and excited.

Then I realized I had to redo my entire garden :/ It was all OK in my mind, I got to do raised beds and I could make it prettier than the last garden.

Then I started actually "doing" it oh my gosh when is this ever going to be done!?!?!?

So basically I just built my beds and called it good.  Ill have to post pictures sometime or another when I get them off the old computer....

So anyways this season I was focusing on just getting the fence up. I new the beds were good, I didn't have any gophers no little varmints last year except for in the lower garden that wasn't wire protected. I was tired and I just wanted to plant my corn, and squash, and pumpkins.

I waited till the rainy season and I dug something of like 20 holes with my handy dandy hand held post hole digger. It went really quick. Like i did 5-7 poles a day and then got them set and called it a day. lol I was beat.

SOOOO here are some pictures of the progress, its nothing pretty but it prettier than the last garden. Will do a little flash back to present. :)

2012*** Ya its the little thing with the tin and wood. :)

2013*** Had my honey take the D3 and push a lower garden for all the yummy corn we grew that year, and added on to the upper garden, I cant seem to find a finished picture of it ended up something about 20x 40. the both of them each. 

2014*** pictures are stuck on old computer.....

2015***Mind you I was gather supplies from people that were just getting rid of things. Old wood, pallets, tin. We will be moving again and I didn't want to invest in good wood. When I have a home Im going to set everything in concrete and be permanent. Though this by far is still my best garden, its been compeletly fenced in since pictures, it has been 98% painted. It has a few more things to fix up. 

Little Update......

So as far as the Sustainable Eats Challenge is going, we our right on track. Everything is being reused in someway or another. Getting composted, or given to Mr. Jumpsalot if hes aloud to eat it. :) So the soil building area is covered for the month also. Getting a tiller soon so I can really mix it up with the garden area. Cant wait!

We have been getting our seeds ready for this up coming spring. I have marked on the calendar recently when I shall be starting things indoors, moving things outdoors, and planting directly into the earth. I'm super excited for the fact that I have the Mr.'s kinda excited to help out! Were expanding our garden by hmmmm, ALOT! Ill take pictures as we go through the expansion progress.

Also we our getting ready for the goats. I have been walking around the property scoping out areas to fence off there pin. Its not going to be a little pin, there going to be spoiled I will tell you that now. I was going to start building there house this week, but the weather took a spin towards the colder side. So that will have to wait a little while or Ill just man up and get out there.

Mr. was actually talking about wanting to raise some pigs. I wasn't expecting for him to say this so I had to take a step back. Though I'm all for it so yeah. Whatever gets him involved :). Have I mentioned that I have a bit of a pig themed kitchen, lol. I have had a pig obsession since I was 12, lets just end it at that.

Holy EGGS! that's all I have to say. They have been laying for alittle over a month now. I have been keeping track on the calendar daily of how many eggs I receive. It was for a couple weeks about 1 egg, 1 egg, then 3 eggs and again. Then its turned into 3 eggs , 5 eggs, 4 eggs and then the cycle repeats and that's were we are at now. So for having 7 chickens that's alot of eggs I think. Though this coming March we are adding to our chicken family by alot.

Thanks for reading, please subscribe and leave a comment! :)

Freezing Carrots

We absolutely love our carrots around this house. I also love the fact that I don't always have to can them, I still do just in case something was to happen. One year we had the power go out for 7 DAYS! We were really roughing it. Heating bath water in our fireplace, mind you we went out and collected snow for our bath water, lol. Oh that was a fun week. So anyways here is a pretty quick and easy way to freeze your carrots, and they also hold there nutritional value alot better.



Peeled, ends cut and ready to get blanched.




Mr. Jumpsalot's little snacks :) nothing goes to waste here.




Blanched then put in ice cold water, to stop the process.




I wanted a couple different styles, this is for roast nights.




Finished product, yummy!

 Preparation:

Wash, trim, peel, and rinse again. Leave tiny ones whole; slice or dice the remainder.

Freezing:

Blanch tiny whole carrots for 5 minutes and cut up carrots for 2 minutes; cool quickly by plunging into ice water; drain. Pack tightly into containers, leaving a 1/2 inch head space, or placing in freezer bags. I would say they should be good for up to a year. Unless you notice that they look freezer burned.

NO spend January.... FAIL

It is just not our month to try and do this, before I knew it January was here. I didn't even get a chance to set some rules up for us. To be honest we have to much stuff to buy this month and probably the next few months. I WILL be doing a no spend month just not sure what month.

Between having to buy seeds for this years garden, and preparing for the addition of goats to our family. I have to build them a run and house, buying lots of fencing which that's really a chunk of money I will forking out. I really have lots of left overs (wood wise) from my chicken coop build .

So other than that I just wanted to write this, to let you know I didn't forget. I just couldn't do it! FAIL F- :(

 However I am still doing the Urban Farm Book Challenge . Which I am preparing for all this month, and will be starting in February. So check back often for updates! Reclaiming my life one day at a time. The less I have to give away, and the more I learn about where my food comes from makes me a happy camper. I also don't feel guilty about what I'm feeding my family. :) MAJOR +

So please like my page, follow me, leave a comment I would love to hear feed back, also let me know what you want to know. Ill give it a try!  Thanks.

The Garden......



So this has been one of the biggest projects that I have taken on in awhile. I think it turned out pretty darn well. Its not going to fall down! So that is always a BIG plus in my book. It took a bit longer to get done then what I was expecting. We had quite a bit of rain for awhile so it held me up. Not to mention a horrible sunburn that I got on the last day of transplanting all of the veggies and such.



In the beginning, digging a foot down here to lay the gopher wire. I told myself that if I was going to take the time to plan out this garden and take the time to raise all these vegetables. Then I was going to take every precaution for it to out run its natural born predators. Gophers, deer, birds, bunnies, and bugs of whatever sort.  I hear all of these stories of animals eating everything and I just didn't want to be one of "those" gardeners with one of "those" stories.



Half way done, so worn out and still have to do the other half.



Starting to look like something now. So I made of side taller than the other for two reasons. One so that the climbers could have a 8 foot wall to grow up. Two so that when I put the bird netting it would angle down and I could still walk inside. I'm short so this works for me. Not so much for when the taller people come by. So I started with the post got them set. Starting then to wrap the entire enclosure with whatever wire I had lying around. I also then started thinking that the bunnies could defiantly still get in if they wanted. SO I noticed that I had some corrugated tin laying around so I did the whole bottom in that even dug it down about 5 inches into the ground. Then topped with the bird netting. So at this point I am feeling pretty great about what I have created.



The gate still needs some work.



Here is a side shot of everything. I know that my beams I dug into the ground are not completely square, or maybe its just a post or two that didn't get plumed quiet well, lol. Either way I'm a happy camper. I have my little walk way, everything looks a little neater being in there own little area. I even planted some Marigolds for a little color and because I kept reading that they are to ward off most common bugs. Which will see how well that works.



Another side shot. I cant even express how excited I am for everything to begin being ready to harvest. then its on to canning. Which is going to be a completely new adventure and I cant wait to take it on.

I really hope that you enjoyed following me with my process of working on my garden and I hope that you continue to follow and enjoy everything to come with me.