Well, here we are, waist high in Zucchinis. Spring has exited stage left and the sun is an unforgiving furnace, scorching everything in its path. Welcome to Idaho. We go from freezing your fanny off to melting.
That being said the weather has held out nicely up until just a few weeks ago. Hello summer. The garden has done really well in the cooler temps and while it was cool Gene and I took advantage of it and created shade for the big garden. I didn't want to spend lots of money to create the effect we needed. What we did have, was a large sum of pallets. So we created pallet shade walls, and made some teepees over certain plants. Worked like a charm. I do also have a couple of shade clothes which so far I've only had to use one. The tomatoes are all doing well, they have gotten big and all have fruit. My Zucchini plants have been thriving and interestingly enough I was just telling Eugene that it amazes me just how quickly a nice little Zucchini can turn into a monster of a beast just over night. You really have to watch them. My Acorn Squash are doing great but my Spaghetti squash not so hot. I have gotten one but they aren't liking this heat. Our Raspberry bushes have produced a lot this year. I've been freezing everything until our big house is done and I have more kitchen space. Jam season will have to wait a bit longer, except the apricots that my Mom gave me, I don't have a choice to wait on them. I was really hoping the house would be finished by now but all in due time. Until then, I'll be playing in the garden. Check out all the free shade we created. Sheri.... Windy Flat Farm
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It was so hot today but we made our way up to the county fair. Eugene and I hopped in the truck and ran up north to shoot some fair photos and footage. Every year fair always seems to hit at the hottest week. I was very impressed by the entries for both animals and products. As we wandered around through the barns checking out all the goats, sheep, cattle, and pigs, it really struck me just how dedicated all these kids have to be to make it this far. From growing animals and gardens through the early winter, spring, and summer, and then entering them into the fair to be judged. It really takes a strong child to work through it all and learn and grow themselves. I have so much respect for parents who not only encourage their children to join 4H or FFA, but who support and help at the fair right along with them. It really struck me this year since the temps were at 102 by 3pm. But more than that, it really resonated with me that all these parents aren't just teaching their kids to care for animals and plants, but they are teaching them a life skill that they will never forget. To be self sufficient. That's a trait that has dwindled away over the years as more and more farm ground is eaten up by growing cities. If you really want to have a future bounty, teaching our children these skills will be of utmost importance. Take the time to teach your kids to garden, teach them how to preserve food, hunt, fish, and process what they catch. Life isn't getting any easier so all those skills of our grandparents and parents need to be passed down. If nothing else, start with basic gardening. If you don't have a green thumb, there are tons on books and YouTube videos that will teach you what you need to know. Then, you can teach our youth. I grew up on a small farm, and a dairy. I wish I would have paid greater attention. I'm not the best farmer but farming is a learning lesson. It takes time and patience. Farming and homesteading means learning. Learning new skills, learning about different pests, and bugs, and disease, life, and death, it's a skill. You don't just come by skills, you learn them. One of my favorite books, which I own is- "The Backyard Homestead" I love this book. It has been one of my go to books and no I do not buy digital books that are skill creating. I purchase the real deal. If you'd like check it out, below you'll find the link where you can take a peek and buy it if you'd like to add it to your library. I am also adding some other useful books that I think you'd like and help grow your skills and your future bounty. Sheri... Windy Flat Farm My oh my, the plums are ripe and ready to go! Eugene spent half the day picking plums. He thought we better get to them before the birds eat all of them. Part of them were overly ripe and falling off the tree. The chickens were oh so delighted with that treat. I have a box full of plums and it's time to break out the canner and get started on making plum jam. If you don't already know, I personally don't eat sugar, so I will make jam with sugar for Eugene and mine will be low sugar with a sweetener instead. It can't be sugar free because plums are full of their own natural sugar. I will be using a pectin by mrs. wages. They have great instructions that are super simple, anyone can make jam. Last year I made sugar free mixed berry jam and strawberry jam and it turned out so good. So it will be interesting to see how the plum turns out. I have a tiny kitchen and in that kitchen is a tiny glass top stove. I use to can on my double oven range that had a glass top made for canning, but I'm not comfortable canning on this stove. I was looking for a substitute way to can and found the Presto electric canner. I love it. It's a digital pressure and water bath canner and it's a great option if you are tight on space or have a glass top that you're worried about possibly breaking. If you're interested in finding out more about the Presto canner you can do so by searching Presto online. I will also suggest that if you are new to canning that you buy a Ball Blue Book on preserving. I have one and it is the bible of canning. If you're interested in learning more you can purchase a copy of it with this link from Lehman's. They also have a great assortment of canning supplies and right now you can get a discount off by shopping my affiliate link. Canning really is very easy and it is an art that is having a resurgence. There for a while it was a lost art. I hope if you have never canned before that you take the time to learn. The benefits are so wonderful. Knowing where your food comes from, how it's made, and what's been put in it is the best part. It's time we return to our roots and become self sufficient. With all that's going on in our world you never know when you're going to need this skill set, however, my thoughts are we need them now. Once it's too late, it's too late. Get in the know and learn a new skill set. Sheri... Windy Flat Farm. It's been two summers and the elderberries have grown mighty slow. I am however, happy to report that this year we finally have buds and small blossoms that are starting to show! Hopefully we will get our first crop this year! I've been making it my mission to create a landscape that not only is beautiful but will also bare us food through the year.
The elderberries are a part of that landscape. They will eventually grow very large, offering us berries that are packed full of antioxidants which will help with our immune support and will also bring some shade during the harsh summer temperatures. I plan on producing syrups, elixir, and jellies from their berries. Fingers crossed, this will be the year we get to start that. I've added a few photos. I hope you enjoy! Sheri... Windy Flat Farm Well my garden season has not gone as planned, so I apologize for not getting my green house covers built. I'm thinking that will need to be a project for the fall. Have them built and then ready for the spring season next year.
So a quick update. The garden is doing well. So far due to weather, I have planted various types of tomatoes, red and russet potatoes, bush beans, cantaloupe, cucumbers, butternut squash, peas, lettuce, arugula, spinach, cilantro, basil, zinnias, turnips, and sweet bell peppers. Later in the upcoming weeks I'll plant carrots, corn, and maybe a few other things, we'll see. One thing we will be working on is compost bins. I am really excited about that. We have so much we can compost, why pay for it, Right? Hopefully the weather will start working with us not against us. Welcome to Idaho. I'll keep you updated as things progress. I'm hoping to make a couple of vlogs to incorporate into our posts that you will enjoy. Sheri... Windy Flat Farm Oh, boy I'm so excited to get going on the garden. I have a ton of new things planned for this year and I cannot wait to share them.
I am adding new and improved garden boxes that will be able to extend my growing season. Raised beds with hoop houses! I'm super excited about this one. As I get started on these I will post lots of pictures. I think having these removable hoop houses that I am planning on making will make spring gardening even better and I'll be able to plant sooner than normal. I see a lot of seriously concerning things happening in our world so the best way to deal with some of these things is going to be by staying as self sufficient as possible. What's even better, is with the addition getting done, I'm hoping that by harvest, I'll have a much bigger kitchen to work from where I'll be able to can, freeze dry, and dehydrate as much as I can produce. This week we have been working on splitting and stacking wood that we got for free, and with our awesome neighbor, we got all of the wood split with the use of his splitter, since ours broke last summer. Keep watching as we grow and improve the homestead! Sheri...Windy Flat Farm If you read my last post about the garden being quite dismal, you can guess I've been on the hunt to supplement what wouldn't or didn't grow well. So my hunt lead me to our Local Farmers Market held every Thursday during the summer. This week is special. It's national Farmers Market week.
Now's a great time to get out and support and network among other homesteaders who are offering their goods at the farmers market. As we walked down by the depot the heat was already starting to get to me. These folks are awesome for coming out and being so diligent and steadfast in what they produce and offer to the public. I wandered around and found some lovely lavender fire starts. They are too pretty to use for starting the stove this winter, but they will make the house smell lovely. What a great job repurposing something that would normally go to waste. We have a local lavender farm here in Weiser. You guessed it....Weiser Lavender. They make oils and soaps, and sprays, along with selling live plants. Rest assured I'll be adding lavender to my garden very shortly. I purchased extra pickling cucumbers from Waite Family Farms. They are a local homesteader that started a CSA. A great way to get good local produce monthly through out the growing season. You pay up front a fee and each month or week you get a portion of the produce. It's a win - win! You can check out their services and goods at www.waitefamilyfarms.com I met a lovely gal who had farm fresh honey, home made soaps and chap sticks, and more. I now have a go to for all my local honey year round! Check her out on Facebook.... https://www.facebook.com/homesteadwife08 I bought a fun little apron from Hippy Chic, who along with her mom were selling huckleberry jams, jewelry, and much more. You can find her on Facebook facebook.com/Hippie-Chic-Holistic-Healing It was a nice time to see what others have worked so hard at all season long and now they get to reap their reward. Go out and support your local farmers market, and network. We homesteaders are many, but unless we come together, we'll never achieve a real community. You'll meet many of those folks at the local farmers market. Sheri.... Windy Flat Farm Summer has been absolutely brutal on the garden. At 100 + temperatures for so many months, it's been difficult keeping the garden going. I asked around to friends who are also gardeners and they all say the same, I'm wilting.
Rather disappointing. Tomatoes this year are coming in fast but only the size of large cherry tomatoes. It's good thing last years crop had yielded so much. My zucchini has managed to produced a pretty good crop, while my winter white acorn squash just withered up. I did manage to get one spaghetti squash before it died. The butternut squash do seem to be doing well for now. I'm watching them like a hawk. I planted peppers of various types, and while they seem to be growing well and surviving, they just are not producing. My garden lettuces have done well, along with the cabbage until the earwigs got to them. I did treat them and are doing better so I'm hoping to make a couple of quarts of sauerkraut. I also planted beets and they are loving this heat, so they have been great for greens and for the beets. With my last harvest I prepped them and then froze on trays and took them to Bee Tree Folk School and had them freeze dried. I love the fact we have that service in our community. You might check around your local community and see if you have freeze drying available to you. As more comes on I'll keep you posted. Here are some pictures of part of our bounty thus far. I hope your garden grows well and is robust even in these strange times! Sheri....Windy Flat Farm The garden is coming along nicely. My yellow squash is growing like mad and the elderberries are getting really big. I decided that I needed to thin raspberries and transplant them along the outer fence line. They should do great there.
Along with the garden, we now have ducks. They grew really fast. I was shocked. I got them at the same time as the chicks but they outgrew them really fast. I love going out in the mornings and having them greet me. They dogs are still unsure of them, however they seem to ignore each other. Which is better than the dogs eating them. I knew once the ducks got bigger the dogs wouldn't want to bother them, now they can all run in the yard with no altercations. I got new garden beds put in. I decided on some firepit rings from Tractor Supply Company, it made the process super easy and they will never have a problem. I have one more large box going in, I bought the bricks that you use with 2x6's. This one will get done a bit later, but it will get done soon. I'll ad more about that later as I get it done. We've had so much going on that I haven't had much time to post lately. Life just seems to take over. Mine and Eugene's anniversary was on June 6th, and we spent most of the day in yard. He did get my garden steps redone so I don't fall and break another leg. I'm adding pictures of where we are at so far. Enjoy, and thanks for following along. Sheri... Windy Flat Farm. Happy St. Patrick's Day! I thought since it's a green day I'd write about the garden. I've decided this season since it's a bit early to plant yet, that I will take pictures of my garden layout and then draw out how I want the garden this year. I think that keeping a garden journal will be a great thing to do. Aside from planning and laying it out a journal will give me the best idea of when things will be ready to harvest and how often I would like to be able to harvest.
I can write down what I planted, the date, and then continue on planting some of the same things so they will harvest later. This way I constantly have produce that will basically come on at different times. I've never kept a garden journal before so we'll see how it works out. There are some beautiful plants that are ornamental that I plan on ordering from Nature Hills. When they come in, I'll give you some great pictures and reviews of the plants that I ordered and also an idea on how they are growing here. I'm so ready for the weather to warm up and to start planting, but I'm not going to rush the process or I'll be wasting money. I don't have a green house up yet, but that's a project I plan on creating within the next year. Let the sun shine and warm weather begin! Happy gardening! Sheri...Windy Flat Farm. This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, we receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. |
SheriLet food by thy medicine or something like that! Archives
July 2023
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