struggling to get a harvest

June 23, 2012

Hi, hope you all are having a good summertime weekend.  We have been busy with summer activities and farm chores.  I thought i would share with you today some of what we have been harvesting out of my struggling garden.  I have battled potato beetles, worms on my tomatoes, and plants that just drooped over and died.  Not sure what that was all about, being that it happeded to just a few plants in different beds.

I did loose a few tomato plants, but still have a few that survived and while waiting for this beauties to turn red, i had to deal with this......................

And I think these were to blame..............................................

My lovely ladies..........

Not you too "Lou Lou"...............

I didn't want to think it was them, until i saw them jump up and peck at my tomatoes.  I didn't have this issue last year with them, they would just walk around the garden eating the bugs and not messing with any of my plants.  Guess this year they couldn't resist, or they needed this in their diet.  Hmmmmmm funny how things change in the garden from year to year.

The garden is always trial and error and always a learning experience.  When you have a really good year and an abundance of one thing, and death and destruction of another, you can expect that it will almost be the opposite the next year.  I always try to rotate my crops by planting something different in it's spot the next year round.

This year there was an abundance of green beans, I planted a variety called "rattlesnake", it's a heirloom variety, which means i can save the seeds to replant in the future. 

Love the purple coloring through these.

I was able to get a little patch of corn grown and harvested.

We did get strong wind and rain storms at the begining of the month, but it didn't knock it down too bad.

It makes me feel good to be able to bag some of the harvest for future meals.

Hmmmm corn soup in the heart of winter made with homegrown corn.


I grew some peas, a variety call "Mississippi Silverskin".  They grew really well without any bug problems.

My only problem is.........................I didn' tplant enough of them.

One benifit of gardening here in the south.....is our long growing season.  So what i didn't get accomplished in the first planting, i will try again with my second planting.  I did plant twice last year, and was very successful with cucumbers, peas, squash and i tryed a heat resistant tomato.  By planting again you sometimes miss the life cycle of insects, and they are less of a problem...sometimes.

We feel blessed to be able to grow some of our own food

Hope you're gardens are plentiful this season....

Live Simple.........................Sheryl

Happenings on the hill........

March 28, 2012

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day ,a big Thank You goes out to all our fallen veterans across America, who have lost their lives to fight for our freedom. On this Memorial Day I'd also like to thank all of our military who are serving today, your decision to serve this country is a huge sacrifice and a brave one, you are in our thoughts and prayers. We are so proud of our own Cody, for his decision to serve, you are on our minds often and we pray for you daily for your safe return home.  Thank you Cody, we Love you.........

   I don't know about your part of the country, but down here in the south it has been a hot one.  My garden is not doing what i would like it to be doing, but i guess i should be grateful that I'm getting a little out of it. I wanted to show you what i discover this weekend in my garden.

Something is eating on my tomato plants!!!!!!! They have attacked a few of my plants overnight.

Those nasty little worms.........I hate that!!!!!!! I tryed picking them off and was going to resist spraying, but they were everywhere.  I try not to put any chemicals on my garden if at all possible.  I had to spray a few of these plants before i was left without any tomatoes for the season, and that would have made my husband disappointed.  His mouth is watering for a homegrown tomato........

I picked the first ripe tomato this week from the two heirloom tomato plants that i planted in containers.

I have never planted heirloom tomatoes before, i found these at the local feed store and thought i would give them a try.  Maybe i can save the seeds and start my own plants next year.

The blueberries are giving.......I'm thankful for that.



We were fortunate to get rain just as the bushes were setting fruit, and they are plump and sweet this year.



I made a batch of blueberry preserves this week, only had to add just a little sugar to these already sweet berries.

Looking out the back field i spotted this.....................



It's Jolie.......on top of the hay bale inside the hay ring. She just stood there nibbling on some hay.

 I guess she likes being "Queen of the Hill".

A few Happenings on the hill......Hope your holiday weekend was a good one.

Sheryl





Happy critters...and Coriander

May 17, 2012

Hope all of you are having a good week....... from the stories im reading, everyone sounds so busy with springtime chores.  I too, have wore myself out with yard and garden work.  Every muscle in my body is sore this week from flipping dirt and pulling weeds, cutting grass and running the weed eater around everything.  We have been having some nice rain showers this spring, which is a blessing, but......that means more grass to mow here in the south. 

Yesterday it was nice to sit on the back patio and admire all the hard work I've done. If you have followed my blog from it's beginning, you will remember that i had three Barred Rock chickens in the chicken tractor my husband built for me. 

 I lost one over the winter, and only have two of these ladies left.  They are the sweetest things, they enjoy roaming the farm, but when we are out sitting on the patio they love to come up for a visit.  While relaxing on the patio yesterday i had to snap a few photos of them drinking from the dog's water bucket.

The stones were put there because when it rains, the water washes out that spot on the edge of the patio.  It's the perfect little perch for them to reach the bucket....I Love It!!!!
I have enjoyed having them around, and having fresh yard eggs is always a plus.  My plans were to have more of these, but we need to build a bigger coop.  The tractor was perfect size for three to four of these grown ladies, but i would like to raise more now.  Building a larger pen is on the list of things to get done around here.  Right now working on the tractor, making hay, the cows calving, and the sheep are taking up our time and attention right now, but we will get there...........patience is a virtue.

Our animals are happy critters, they all co-mingle together and get along well. Do you remember our cat Minnie?

She actually loves the chickens, she thinks she is one of them on occasions................

Maybe she's sitting on eggs??????????

Cilantro or Coriander????

I grew cilantro over the winter months, and it has finally gone to seed.

Prior to planting this citrus flavored herb, i did not know that Coriander and Cilantro were one in the same.  When i picked up the seed packet at the feed and seed store, it had both names printed on the packet.  I went home and googled it to find out more.  It has history in the Spanish, Asian, African and other European countries.  The Asians call the leaves, Chinese parsley, and Cilantro is the Spanish name, which we are familiar with in Mexican salsas. 

The fruit or the seeds can be dried and crushed and used in many dishes of different nationalities. 

I love the tiny white flowers it produces before going to seed.

Now i have lots of seeds to crush and use in dishes and to replant as well.

Don't overwork yourselves ladies................Take time out to relax and admire your hard work.



                                                              Live Simple...................Sheryl


I"m linking up to My Simple Counrty Living for the country homemakers hop, please join me.

Not fast enough

May 10, 2012

I don't know if I'm just so eager to be eating some fresh homegrown veggies or things are just off to a slow start around here.  I had some problems earlier this spring germinating some banana pepper seeds and my squash were slow to germinate as well.  I gave up on the banana pepper seeds and decided to buy some small pepper plants already growing.

  The squash finally were big enough to stick in the ground and have given me a few pickings, and now they are dying out on me!!!!! the squash or rotting before they are ready. 
I think i will be sticking more seeds in the ground.

My green beans, pictured here are doing fine.  I have pole butter beans, as well as purple hull peas and Mississippi silver skin peas also.  I started to see a few rust spots on the leaves of the peas and sprayed them with Maneb fungicide before that got out of control. 

Pictured above is my raised bed which has a few tomato plants, bell peppers, lettuce that's finishing up and my slow growing cucumbers.  Right smack in the middle of that bed some volunteer zinnias and a huge sunflower popped up which was a nice surprise.  It will add color and food for the birds and the bees. 
Last spring i planted fennel after reading it was a good companion plant.  I read somewhere on the Internet that it could be planted with tomato plants and peppers to deter insects.  Well .....in the bed i had these companion plants planted together, i started having trouble with my peppers and they did not produce much at all, the tomato plants did so so....Not sure if it was the fennel or not. Well that fennel went to seed after the summer came to an end, and it reseeds itself well, it grew all winter here, and now i have fennel everywhere.  Had no clue it would become invasive.....i have little baby fennel plants everywhere.

When it flowers in spring it's so pretty, bright yellow flowers before seeds set in.

Here are some i picked in April, still experimenting with it in my cooking.  It has a strong licorice taste that gets milder when cooked for awhile, in my opinion. 

You cut the tops off and slice the bulb parts to cook.  The feathery tops can be used in salads or with fish and chicken, i haven't tryed that yet.  Have you ever grew fennel before???? If so, let me know how you use it in your recipes.

I grew carrots for the fist time this winter.  Wow!!!!! we never imagined them to taste so good,  compared to the store bought ones that have no taste at all.  These were really sweet.  I bet a good beef roast pared with the quartered fennel bulbs and those sweet carrots would roast well together in a dutch oven. Yummmmmmmmm......................

What about that swiss chard?????? I have planted a few plants in the fall......and they are still going strong through April.  These few plants gave, and gave, and gave......you really get alot for your money with these plants.

I was able to put alot of this up in the freezer, by cutting it into small pieces, blanching it and putting it up in my Food Saver bags.

Still discovering ways to use this nutritious vegetable in our meals.  Came across a Swiss Chard Au Gratin recipe and tryed it..... It was really good, well it had lots of cheeses and half and half cream in it.  Cheese makes everything taste good..... I will have to share that recipe with you later.

Well.......that's what's growing here.  Looked out in the garden this morning and noticed a few of my cherry tomato plants look sick.   Ohhhhhh poooooh!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I don't know whats going on this year..........guess i need to play detective and figure out whats going on in my soil........
I remain.....anxiously awaiting the taste of a vine ripe tomato and fresh sliced cucumber.....

Hope your garden is coming along fine...............

Join me and hop on over to Heidi's Country Homemaker Hop #19 lots of interesting stories over at Heidi's place.

                            LIVE SIMPLE............................Sheryl

mason jar cakes

April 18,2012

My baby turned 15 years old last month........She's my only one still in the nest, and I'm blessed, she's such a sweetheart.

She had a few friends come over and spend the night and we prepared hot wings and loaded potato salad for them.  After getting a full stomach, i took them to do what teenage girls love to do most...............SHOPPING.  They had a good time and found a few good bargains.

I wanted to share with you her birthday cakes............Yes......you read it correctly.......Cakes......more than one.  Mini cakes in a mason jar.  I have seen these all over the internet and have wanted to try it for some time.

We chose German Chocolate ......you know.....a girls favorite flavor.....

One box should fill 10-12 half pint jars.  I only had 7 clean and available so i poured the rest of the batter in muffin tins to finish up the batch.

Just mix the cake mix according to package directions and grease and flour jars.  I just sprayed mine with an oil spray and didn't flour mine and they came out fine. 

 Fill the jars half full with the batter, wipe clean any drippings from the sides of your jars.  Place a pan of hot water on lowest rack of your oven, and put jars on a flat pan and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Oven temp according to cake mix at 350 degrees.

When you take them out of the oven they may look lop-sided, but don't worry they tend to settle when cooled. But if it doesn't settle even, your frosting will cover it up.

I used a cool whip butter cream frosting recipe that's light and creamy, and to die for, it's one of my favorite frosting.

Here's the frosting recipe i used:

2 sticks of butter
1lb powdered sugar
1tsp vanilla
1 sm tub cool whip

cream butter add sugar & vanilla, fold in cool whip. Refrigerate until ready to spread on cakes.

This recipe makes alot, probably enough to frost a whole cake.  Since you are just topping these you can cut this in half or store the remaining in the fridge and use it in a few days on something else.

The jar lids fit on mine perfect without touching the frosting, so you can make these ahead of time and keep them in fridge until ready to eat.  They were good chilled on a hot day.

My daughter and her friends ejoyed there little personal cakes and i enjoyed adding a lil something special to her birthday dinner.

Give it a try.................


I'm linking up to my simple country living for Heidi's Country Homemaker Hop
Please join me to see what other like minded women are doing across the country.


                                 Live simple..............Sheryl

Growing babies.......

April 17, 2012

Wow!!! how time is just flying by, i can't believe we are in the middle of April already, and it has been over a month since i have been on here to blog and catch up with all the homesteading happenings from my fellow bloggers.  I miss reading of all of your happenings and inspirations, but sometimes LIFE just demands things from us, and I choose to blog when i have the time and to make sure the family needs are taken care of.

The babies are growing fast:

Rosie, Jolie & Pepe

Jessie 13 months old (grandbaby)

Oreo & Maggie

merrybelle & Jezebel

We had another calf born yesterday morning to our black cross bred cow we raised and bottle fed.  We assumed she was pregnant and due to deliver around the same time as Merry Belle, back in February, but for some reason she fell behind.  Her traits are not that desirable, so needless to say, she will be the first to be culled from the heard.  We are pretty sure she gave us yet another heifer to add to our growing heard.  

Peanut & first baby calf

It has been fun watching these babies grow.  We feel blessed to be on this journey of becoming self-sufficient and striving to grow as much of our own food as we can.  It's not something we plan on accomplishing overnight, but we keep striving to make changes to assure our diet is as healthy as possible.

The past few weeks we have been working on getting the garden planted, and things are off to a good start, pictures and more blogging on that later.  I just wanted to give you a quick peek at the growing babies.  Hope you are having a wonderful spring on your homestead.

                                  Live simple...................Sheryl