New Season Starting

Hopefully the app will work correctly ...

It is cutting out our major seed provider which is not pleasing me one bit!

Okay - Friday hubby took off work a little early so we could go get the major crop seed (sweet corn) and some of the other stuff that we should be able to sell at the roadside stand ... We visited Jordan Seeds for our major stuff - check them out, their prices are really good and they WILL ship (but I don't know how far since they are only minutes from us)

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I have gotten the first of the seed orders in the mail already ... From Territorial Seed Company ... I have a wonderful rate of germination with their seeds and haven't been too dissatisfied , they've got good customer service though ... My order arrived very quickly considering that I just ordered it last week and most of it was plants that won't be here until the last week in April ...

I ordered them for delivery a couple weeks earlier than usual - not because of the warm weather, but because I wanted to make sure I was home when they were delivered and not out of town ...

The last few years they have been getting delivered on Fridays after we leave town so that when I get back on Sunday night they are looking mighty stressed ...

This year I plan to transplant them and include some of the water storage gel so that they will not dry out for the few days we are gone (although it has happened where we were only gone for the day because of other things going on)

I'm not sure when Gurneys will be sending me my free potatoes - I am hoping that they don't "run out" before they get to my order ... I have not had very good luck with Gurneys before - neither seed nor plants - so the fact that didn't have to pay anything (not even shipping) for these spuds is the only reason I decided to give them another try ...

anyhow ...

I will be putting up a video on my YouTube channel about our greenhouse - the first one will be about how messy it tends to get in the winter time, but then I will be doing some on
• how to make paper pots without having to purchase those wooden makers that cost an arm & leg,
• planting carrots and other small seed,
• working your salad table,
• transplanting,
• discouraging deer& crows,
• Working your fields
• greenhouse temp control
plus hopefully many more

We are going to do some experimenting with low cost methods around the farm so I hope to document those as well

Hopefully I can talk hubby into letting me record some stuff with him as well so we can get some maintenance items up too ... Hard part is, he is shy but he is a great source of info since he grew up on the very farm we are working now

Well it's very late - and I still have to edit my first "seed video" of the season - its a rant about misinformation being out out about modern seeds & farming on YouTube which people are taking for gossip ...

I will imbed it into a post here in a separate entry ... As you saw from last season - I was having a tough time keeping up with the photo page, that will likely go by the way side

USDA CHANGES HARDINESS ZONES

MichiganSnowPony, over on YouTube, pointed out that the USDA has changed the way they are doing the planting zones so people need to really go check their new zones ...

See their interactive map here

I had not seen this yet in any of the ag related news sources I get yet so it must still be new news!

I go to Jordan's here soon for our seed order so I will have to ask if they've heard the news as well ... And take photos too - they are such a quaint place!

What has happened is the USDA decided to narrow the planting zones by 10degree increments - pulling in new data from recent (blundered) temp info from these last few decades they have narrowed things down ...

For instance my state USED to have 3 zones ... The majority of it was zone 4, next was zone 3, and two small splatterings of zone 2

Now they have changed it to range from zones 3b to 5a ... It isn't that we've gotten any warmer, it's jut that by splitting things up first many states will suddenly LOOK warmer than they were before - some will actually look cooler too since they also changed the COLOR system

Compare the photos - starting with the old system (from Gurneys.com website) to the main new USDA chart to the new charts for our 5 state region plus a couple of extra states which have always fascinated me ...

Dang - this app won't let me rearrange the way the photos are coming up

The old chart is made of dark toned colors - the newer chart is more blues & purples ... Texas is large enough to be split into two halves ...

Future of crops

I saw this at the "DTN:Progressive Farmer" online magazine (geared towards the small farmer with acreage, but as a small farmer with little acreage I still find plenty in its pages)

$4.829 Million will be spent to try to find which genes are responsible for increasing the yield of soybeans - in order to keep up with population growth ... It will be a three year program

They are hoping to increase the average yield from 43.5 BPA (Bushel Per Acre) to 59.5 BPA by 2030

Not only used for Feed & food, it is also used for fuel and fiber ... And with an increase of population there is going to be a great need for the bigger yield


I will update this post as I learn more

New Growing Season Begins!

Well the first order for the growing season has gone in ...

I had a $25 coupon from Gurneys.com (I swore I was never going to order from them again but here I go again) and it was enough to not only cover my product but my shipping as well (at least that's the way things stand now)

I decided that if they were going to pay for it, then I was going to grow something I've been itching to try but didn't want to invest money in, in case it were a flop

POTATOES

I ordered two varieties

Purple Viking - an early tuber with a healthy spreading action ... They are supposed to be about 3 inches in diameter and produce about 10 times their weight .... I got 2# which was the smallest I could order

Dakota Pearl - these are a main season potato and are supposed to be a heavy producer - about 15-20# for every pound planted. they are supposed to grow upward and it sounds like they like to open pollenate - I don't know if this is normal for potatoes ... I wonder if they are like corn, where if you accidentally get cross pollination instead of getting sweet corn you end up with "field corn"?

Wonder what you get with potatoes?

I would have tried sweet potatoes but I wasn't sure I would have a long enough growing season - and they were over twice the price of the white potatoes!

We have a few ideas of how to grow them - from big tubs where we can build up mulch around them and make even more tubers, to paper sacks, to raised beds, to straight planting into the ground ... I'm even considering a wheelbarrow configuration so I can start them in our greenhouse and wheel the cart in and out if the weather starts to get too cold during the day (like it did last summer) - since they only need 3-5" of soil to start it shouldn't be too heavy if I don't make the run too big ... Of course once he mulch starts to build up this might be impractical

It's an experiment - which I will be spending a minimum amount on

Carrots

(this originally posted on the wrong blog - so lets try this again)

Ok, so our local Rainbow/Roundy's has been having carrots on a "price cap" of 48¢/lb and this is the last week of it ....

So I have been putting up carrots today

Last week before the holiday I bought 6 bags .... One pound each

Of those bags 1 pound total were peelings and ends that I trimmed off - and I trimmed off as little end as possible

I then heated up my 7 pint jars that I had on hand thinking I would probably have too many -- after all everything I saw said that one pound was supposed to fill a pint jar ...

Boy was their math off!!

I cut the carrots into disks and packed them into the jars well leaving as little air space as possible up to the 1" headspace mark .... Filled it with boiling water .... Got the air out and added my 1/2 tsp of canning salt - and refilling if he water level went down ... And pushing the carrots back in place if bubbling them caused them to pop up above that 1" headspace

Anyhow - processed them for 25 minutes at 10# pressure ... And BAM

Canned carrots ...

Only thing is ... Even after doing up these seven jars and peelings - I've still got 2 pounds of carrot slices left ... It will be ginger carrots for supper tonight - but that's still not the correct poundage per jar.

Christmas is early

Well the snow - that damned snow - is being elusive ... But hubby encouraged me to get into one of my gifts early ...

My All-American Pressure canner ...

Decided to experiment with chicken leg quarters today ... Did them 4 different ways ... But all bone-in, raw packed ...

• packed in water, with skin on
• packed in water, with skin off
• packed no water, with skin on
• packed no water, with skin off

All were topped with 1 tsp chicken base ... I couldn't find my bouillon cubes And couldn't see just adding a teaspoon of salt ... It melts well into liquids and should lend it a wonderful flavor ...

I did pretty well at keeping the pressure at the 10# pressure needed for my area ... For the full 75 minutes ... But I did it.

Only next time I must go to the bathroom before I turn on the heat - I darn near floated away trying to ignore natures call since you never want to leave a pressure canner or cooker unattended ...

Here's some photos I took ...

Instructions said it would hold 7 qt. and 19 pints ... But while I could fit the 7 qt. without an issue ... As you can see in the photo - there was no way to dry fit 10 pints on the first layer in order to fit 9 pints on the second layer as it would be used ~ even fitting 9 would put the jars too close together I think since they aren't supposed to touch ...

But this time since it was just four jars it wasn't a problem for me ... The jars need to sit for 24 hours to see if the keep their seal - although I've heard to not get too confident for 48 hours incase the seals "pop" due to fat "climbing" the sides during the canning process and getting under the seal.

We will see - they are sitting in my kitchen now ... I will probably use them over the next few weeks checking not only to check the seal but to also check on the flavor and make sure it's not too salty.

They do recommend boiling the foods canned for 20 minutes before consuming it to be sure that any bacteria in it is killed off.

Here's my photos:
1)the dry fit of pints ...
2)an imperfection in the casting made it nearly impossible to see the second arrow on the side of the base - Lehmans were just wonderful at helping me out when I learn All-American isn't opened on the weekends (my in-laws call this "the Wisconsin work week" ... My MIL grew up there and she says they just kind of take their time to do things just so long as it gets done.
3)shot of the canner staying at 10# pressure
4)pardon the messy dial - they are plastic and very difficult to keep clean... But this is the setting I used to hold temp. Med to just shy of it (on the low side) ... It did very well for me

I'll let you know how the experiment goes :-)

It's here!

I got my Lehman's order today - I haven't gotten into the pressure canner yet but I dove right into the box of stuff ...
This blue pan is one I purchased about 4 years ago from Lehman's - I use it for everything!

In the summer I use it for washing my produce - during the year I use it to thaw my meat out - I use it for a making my large batches of bread - I use it most often to teach my children a life lesson, when they "forget" to clean off the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher I make them wash the dishes by hand because they are going to need to be treasure again anyways ... It is the rinse pail and fits in the sink pretty good, he handles hold it up off the bottom so things can go down the disposal and it's easy to tip to empty it out several times while washing so that the water stays clean and hot ...

I love this pan ...

Loved it so much that I have a little rust spot on the inside where it got chipped somehow ... Not a big deal to me for doing dishes or thawing out meat which is packaged up (well repackaged when I get it home so I know it's freezer safe)

So I wanted another one for making dough in since it has direct surface contact for a long period of time ... Plus I wanted something I could use for rinsing out my dyed yarn in since the other pails I ordered for that turned out to be too small for the job (ordered from the now defunct Tender Heart Treasures) ...

So I ordered the WHITE one instead ...

Now Lehman's made it look as if they were the same size - well that is that when you go to the page it gives you the two choices but they only list color as a difference ... I learned differently

As you can see in the photo of the blue pan (pardon the bit of a mess behind it, the kids did dishes) the pan fits nice in the sink - the handles are nice and thick to hold the weight of the water plus the dishes ...

But the white dishpan ...
Well it is too big ... Way too big

It won't fit, even tilted it won't fit - not even on the diagonal ... The black bits you see in the bottom of the pan is the label that I was having issues getting off ... I'm not sure how I'm gonna get that off, but it and the residue needs to be off before I can use it for food prep

So how much bigger is it?

Here's a photo of the blue pan in the white pan - the only thing that is keeping the blue pan from sitting in there flat/completely are the handles on the blue dishpan ...

On the plus side - when it comes to food prep for the canning (HWB or PC) it is going to be nice ... Or when we make corn when the crop comes in - oh my, I can imagine how much I can get in there!

Then there will be tubs of popcorn that will go in ...
@@@@@
Follow up
Ok there's a real problem now ...

The pan is too large to fit in my oven ... I like to put the pan of dough in there to rise ... But more importantly, I like to put my metalware in the oven to dry thoroughly especially if they might rust ... Usually it's still warm from the night's supper

But this isn't going to fit! I'm going to have to tilt it in there I guess ... And I suppose a heating pad under the pan might be enough to maintain the necessary temp for optimal rise ... But it could be drafty which isn't good for rising bread either

Oh well -

Also on the box was gaskets for our Villa food mill, but looking at them I think they will be too large but I think they mint fit our blender which also needs a new gasket ...

And a new screen for our villa ... Although it's not the pumpkin/grape/cherry screens I was expecting ... It is just a replacement basic screen - but it could probably use a new on of those too since it's like 10 years old or something like that (we bought it shortly after moving in for doing applesauce) ...

And my new canning books!

With the new regulations/recommendations from the FDA on canning - I don't want to use the old ones I was finding until I learned a bit more ...

I ordered the two books I see most often referred to on YouTube and seems to be the ones recommended the most on amazon and Barnes&Noble

"The Blue Book" from the ball Canning company - considers to be the Canning Bible - first published in 1909, the recipes are updated and retested before each printing I've been told ... This one was reprinted in 2010

More than just jams & jellies - it also has information/recipes for hot-water-bath canning, pressure canning, freezing, dehydrating, it has a guide for planning your crops for what you want to put up, and even a special section on solving common issues ...

That's a lot of information for just pp122 - that's not including the glossary or the index because to me that isn't really part of the book.

The other book is thicker but a tad smaller ... It's "The Complete Book of Home Preserving" also by the Ball Company ... It has 429 pages not including the index or glossary.

It is supposed to have about 400 recipes in there that cover equipment, jams, salsa/relish, condiments, pickles, a whole chapter just to tomatoes, pressure canning, the science of food preservation, plus a few other cool features.

I will have fun reading though these as much as I'm enjoying checking out the videos on YouTube!