Applejack and The Alien Plant

The other day I finally got something I've wanted forever, a riding lawn mower.  You'll notice it's already dusty and dirty from all the mowing I've done.  It's a little like riding one of those kiddie roller coasters.  It didn't shorten my mow time but I'm a LOT less tired.  It even has a drink holder.  Wooooo.  Fanceee.  Another feature is to disengage the blade and use it for hauling your really big wagon around and looking like a hot shot.  Or letting your 7 year old steer it and growing some more gray hair.  The 7 year old named it Applejack.  I wanted to name it Legshredder or Catscrambler.  Oh well.

Here's my usual garden helper.  No, no pay attention to ME, not that stupid mower.  You haven't pet me in like the last 5 seconds.

I am growing some kind of alien plant.  I say this because I have no idea what it is and there seems to be a lot of them scattered around the property.  Last fall I did scatter some poppy flower seeds.  Is this them?  No idea.  It reminds me of the plant in Little Shop of Horrors.  I can't wait till it blooms to see just what it is.

Carrot Cake Jam

This is one of those recipes you know you must try. And try I did. A thoroughly beautiful jam.

I found the recipe from Mavis, otherwise known as www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com.

Look under her Recipes & then canning 101 tabs.

The recipe Carrot Cake Jam was easy to put together. I would call it a beginner recipe.

I also used canned fruits and every shortcut I could think of. I frequently do this when testing a new recipe. When it succeeds I then have lots of house gifts or workplace snacks where no one is the wiser. The next mix I'll make with all organic ingredients, etc.

This time around I had one jar which didn't seal. Do you feel like a huge failure when that happens? 

I hope you give this recipe a try especially with peaches/pears/pineapples being available.

Sorry if I missed something. I'm blogging from my phone.

Cat & Bunny

You are such a big help!  I was going to use that pot.  Of course you won't let me dump you out.  You keep swiping at me with your big claws.  This is such a fun game.  Bad kitteh!

 

Our first Spring babies.  There's a 6 baby bunnies.  They are 3 days old.

My 200th Post!

There is no doubt Spring is here.  Today is, in fact, exceptionally beautiful.  I should be outside in the garden, but I'm suffering from blogger's guilt.  The knowing I have had lots to blog about but haven't had the time.  I find it a small wonder how those daily bloggers can get it done. 

For my 200th post I thought I would write about the garden since it's the most time consuming.  Also a big thank you for sticking around to see my 200th post. 

This seems to happen a lot.  I dig a hole to plant something, turn my head, and there's one of these in the hole when I turn back.  They are very hard to get rid of, have very tenacious roots, and sharp thorns.  They tend to pop out and "attack" when you least suspect it.

The husband is feeling in a building mood and decided we should have a garden shed actually in the garden.  The door was acquired at a Habitat for Humanity store for $25 and the front is glass.  I suggest you visit this store in case you're looking for building materials or other salvaged items.  Lots of interesting doors, cabinets, doorknobs, etc.  Jace says the roof will be fitted for catching rainwater.  Pretty cool.

Here is my corn coming up.  I've had to lay chicken wire over the beds to keep the cats from thinking they are litter boxes.  This stuff is pretty cheap and I can make cutouts with just plain scissors.  No heavy duty tools needed.  Once the corn is 6 inches tall I'll alternate planting squash and beans.  This is the 3 sisters idea.  The squash will grow and spread across the ground keeping weeds out and the beans will grow up the corn plants and provide nitrogen back to the ground, which corn loves.  It's my first time trying this.  Currently I have a 4 foot by 4 foot bed with 16 corn plants growing.

In the back yard Rowan has planted a few things.  They have survived the few cold spells and have a great early start.  This is her giant sunflower.  It should start growing in leaps and bounds within a few weeks.  These flowers are great because they grow so fast and tall you could swear you can actually see it growing.  It's a great plant for kids who want to see big results.

Here she planted pumpkin...I think.  There's 2 plants and besides a few breaks on a couple leaves from the wind it's in great shape.  Another early start that should give good results. 

 

This is my onion bed.  Or one of my onion beds.  This one is a direct sown set of onions.  I buy these at the garden center.  I have a piece of extra metal fencing laid down because of cats.  This fencing also makes a great grid for planting the onions.  About 50 come in a set.  I love these because they grow easily and I can pretty much forget them.  I'll leave most of them and in the fall they will be baseball/softball size onions.  

The lemon tree and nectarine tree still look pretty strong.  I have doubts about the lemon tree making it and wish I had planted it in a semi shade spot.  I forgot all about the rose bush Rowan bought me and have ignored it good and proper.  This is probably a good thing since it is thriving happily without my nuturing love.

Well, that pretty much wraps up our garden for today.  I hope you have a great day in your garden and if you have any lemon tree tips, send them my way.

Banana Pudding

Today has been rainy so I'm not able to get out in the garden like I want.  I decided I would try to make pudding for the first time.  I found a recipe at Deep South Dish.  I used the recipe here:  Homemade Southern Banana Pudding.   It looked yummy and the recipe didn't seem too complicated.

After cooking it on the stove till it thickened up, I layered it with bananas and vanilla wafers.  I made a sad attempt to make meringue.  I didn't watch the tutorial and if I had it would have helped.  I know better for next time. 

Despite some flat meringue it all came out tasting wonderful.  I was happy with how it layered up and ate some immediately after it was done. 

I sent a pic to Jace who will most likely come home from work early because it's his favorite.  This recipe is a keeper.

Refocus

This is the time of year I start to feel Spring.  Today I went through all my clothes and pulled all the stuff destined for Good Will.  I pretty much own 1 shirt now.

I set a date for the Big Garden Day.  It looks like it will be next Monday.  We'll be bringing in all the dirt and planting all the seeds and plants for our Spring garden.  I can't wait to see how that goes and post pics.

I'm refocused on my blog and gave it one of its' yearly makeovers.  I'll be focusing back on homesteading and the "hilarity" *eye roll* that ensues when things don't go my way. 

So I am focused FOCUSED...hey, is that a puppy?

How Not To Make Soap

Sometimes things don't turn out like you think they will.  Some little variable will change your entire plan.  And so it was the other day when the husband decided to make more soap.  We pretty much make all of our soap and like to make big batches that will last us 6 months or so. 

Jace worked very hard at getting all the ingredients together and spent lots of time grinding up flowers to color and texture the soap.  However, the next day none of the soap had hardened.  It was all a gel like consistency and looked more like jam.  We've made soap many times and have even sold it, so what went wrong?

The downfall of many homesteading projects is when a person decides to do things their way.  Jace had used my enamel coated hot water bath canning pot instead of our usual crockpot.  After I was done shrieking... I looked up why one doesn't use a metal pot typically to cook soap.  It's the old chemical reaction thing.  The internet said doing this would cause toxic results and burn my house down.  Well, not really, but close.

My theory is the metal pot caused the soap to not bind together properly.  I'm not sure if lye was leached into the metal of my pot.  Jace was a good guinea pig and tested the soap to see if it would still work.  It didn't burn his hands off and now we have 6 months of usable gel soap.

Accidents sometimes bring good results but should not be a regular course of action.

Today the first living thing went into the garden.  This means the fence is stable enough to keep out deer.  We planted a lemon tree, seen here, and a nectarine tree.  We mixed regular soil and rabbit poo compost for the fill in dirt.  The cinder blocks are the border for a 16 square foot corn, beans, and squash bed.  Yes, it is February, and yes we are wearing shorts.