We picked up our coop order late last night when the truck came in, and wow! did I learn a few things about spices! Most of them were on sale, and as I make everything from scratch I ordered quite a few. I ordered most of them by the pound, as it was even cheaper than by the 4 ounce packages. When I pulled out the parsley I discovered the 1 pound bag was big enough to use for a pillow! I was thinking I would have just enough to use up before my own from the garden would be ready -- looks like I won't have to grow any for a couple of years! These are the kinds of lessons I am learning "the hard way," but I guess that's okay. Now to make sure I store them in such a way that the bugs won't bother them and the flavor stays with them as well.
I have dreams of making different flower beds: an herb garden, butterfly garden, rose garden (our friend Steve says that up here I have to stick to shrub roses), and lots of vegetables. Last year we were able to have a garden in the areas around our basement that had been turned up by the cement contractors when doing the concrete work, and also a small area that we had tilled up. The carrots were more than a bit stubby but potatoes grew fairly well; this year we are asking the Lord to give us a bountiful harvest. Then comes the dilemma of how to store everything over the winter! We have an area that was tilled up with sheep manure from a neighbor's farm -- over an acre in size! We will have areas of corn, potatoes and raspberries in that field, so the area for the rest of the produce will be greatly reduced. Guess we have our work cut out for us!
The photos are of the beautiful flowers I had last year in the retaining wall area created by our friend Steve. He thought I should have something pretty to look at every time I entered or exited the house! Almost all of the flowers were grown from seeds. The rocks are home grown as well, since they were pulled out of the ground when the men were digging our basement. The boys added the slabs behind the flowers to keep the dogs from running through the garden; it really helped, and created a nice backdrop for the flowers.
9 comments:
Lynn, your flower bed was absolutely gorgeous- heather and I were both exclaiming over it! You always did have lovely flowers in Fargo too as I remember. Glad you're all doing well and enjoying life! We just got a beautiful dusting of snow last night and with the rare crystal clear blue sky I can almost imagine myself back up on the northern plains :^).
Enjoying your posts,
Ben and Heather
What a beautiful flower bed! Steve was right, nothing like a colorful bed to brighten up ones mood as you enter and exit the home!
Thanks, Ben and Heather! I have been keeping up on Heather's posts as well, but haven't done much commenting. Emily will be grown up by the time we see her! She sure is a sweetheart!
Don't know how I managed it but I sent a comment to Steven's blog that was meant for you. Hm. That's what I get for trying to multi-task! :) Let me try this again:
I was saying that it is cold and sunny here in NH this week as well, and I am anxious to get some planting underway. A couple of sites you can check out are: www.rareseeds.com and www.seedsavers.org. Both deal in the heirloom seed varieties. Tons to choose from, that's the hard part! We're still in the deciding stage.
About storing your herbs: I'd use opaque glass jars and keep them in a dark cool spot. The idea is to keep them away from the warmth and light that will cause them to deteriorate.
Can't wait to hear what you order! God bless your day......Emily
Hi Emily, thanks for your post! The order went in today, and I think we sent for just about everything we could think of: lots of herbs (that don't grow in the wild up here) and vegetables. We placed our order through www.rhshumway.com out of WI, they too sell open polinated seeds. The other catalogs we checked out were a lot more expensive, so we went with this one for this time around. My dilemma is that we have no "cool, dark spots" in this basement! No cupboards, just using former workbenches for countertops and Rubbermaid containers for my cupboards! Where did you find opaque glass jars? I have been using gallon glass jars and whatever else I have on hand. I am hoping to some day be better set up for storage of things sensitive to light.
By the way, I gave you some information regarding Sebeka and asked you some other questions on one of my comments sections; if you would send me your email address I could ask them to you directly. Thanks!
Lynn, my local health food store carries the amber glass jars for herbs but they're small. You could do a search online for larger ones. I believe Christine at Homestead Herbs got some by mail order so perhaps you might ask her. I will need a source as well since I'll be growing and processing my own this year. In the meantime, maybe you could wrap the outside of your clear jars with newspaper? I know what it's like trying to make do in a small area! If you'd like to email me, my address is mrsemilyd@hotmail.com.
Really like the random slab post fence. Curious, how deep do you put them?
Scott,
I asked my boys, and they said they pounded them in about 5 inches. So far they have stayed in! I really like the look of a fence like that.
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