Tag Archives: homesteading

Sep28

Seed Saving 101

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This really is a “Seed Saving 101” since I’m kind of a rookie too. 🙂   But I’m having some fun with it and thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned…

Last spring we started about 120 plants in the house.   In spite of winter lasting alot longer than I personally would have liked and a subsequent long wait for planting outside, we had great success with these plants overall.  We had very few plants that did not make it, and what we didn’t have room for, we gave away to family and friends.

Last year I saved pie pumpkin and various squash seeds (Delicata and butternut) and had pretty good luck with planting those this year.  I simply cut open the raw pumpkin or squash – as you would for carving – wash off the “meat” from the seeds as well as you can – dry it out on a paper plate until thoroughly dry.   It may take a couple weeks to be totally dry.

I recently got the Suzanne Ashworth book “Seed to Seed” and have branched out a little more into saving seed from brassicas like arugula, radishes, and turnips.  When the plants start to flower, they put up little pods on their stems.  You can either pick these pods for drying, or hang the whole stems to dry out.  Once they are dry, the pods open easily and the little seeds come right out.

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My little helper cleaning the turnip seed pods with me during some quiet moments at our garage sale last weekend…

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The end result (I ended up with way more seeds than this, this picture was taken early on in the process):

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I also saved seeds from both sweet and hot peppers simply by cutting the top off and removing the seeds.  Dry them on a paper plate, remove the seeds from the stem/flesh of the pepper, and store.

I attempted tomatoes….  You put the tomato in a blender with some water, blend, and them keep them in the water for 4-5 days.  There is a gelatinous sac around the tomato seeds that will interfere with germination so that needs to dissolve, which will happen in that 4-5 days.  Strain the water off, wash and dry the seeds on a plate or fine mesh screen and store.  I forgot about mine for about two weeks in the garage…they began to mold and grow maggots.  The smell was atrocious.   It was not pretty.  Lesson learned.  I will try that again when I have more time to deal with them.  Any which way, I wouldn’t recommend doing that process in the house because of the stink.

I got these seed storing envelopes from Amazon.com to store them until next year.

Here are some other good seed saving resources:  here, here, here, and here.  Oh, and here – a good story about the Svalbard, Norway Global Seed Vault.

Happy seed saving! 🙂

This post was shared at Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday;

Aug25

Food Dehydrating

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Before we started the GAPS Diet, we got an Excalibur dehydrator – mainly for making yogurt at that point.  Best big ticket kitchen item purchased yet, and I’d do it again except I’d get the 9 tray instead of the 5 tray.  I make jerky, yogurt, dried fruit and veggies, and I also use it to dry nuts after they have been soaked/sprouted.

The booklet that comes with it is very helpful, and when in doubt, I Google.

Anyhow, the garden has been producing well, and I like to buy bulk at the local farmer’s market too for this purpose.  (If you get to know your farmers there, they may be willing to save things for you in bulk at your request!)  I’m not doing a “how to” – you can get all that from the info book that comes with your dehydrator.  More like an “inspirational” to show the positives of this type of food preservation.

I should add that we have recently been on a pineapple and kiwi dehydrating kick (peel/slice each thinly to dry and follow manufacturer’s guide for times/temp).  My kids each picked one for the county fair/4H exhibit, and they were not only unique, they were YUMMY.

Here’s a bit of what I’ve done in the past week.  I also did a bunch of leeks (which dry beautifully), and have green bell peppers drying right now.  These are great for tossing in soups and stews throughout the winter.

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I also do a “greens powder” that is great for smoothies and spaghetti sauce.  I filled my trays with kale (or dandelion greens, turnip greens, whatever you’ve got), dried it thoroughly, stripped the leaves off the tough stems and ran through my coffee grinder until it’s a fine powder.  I am not that creative on my own, but I sincerely cannot remember what blog I saw it on.  Anyhow, it’s not my own creation but I love it.  I just did this one last week.  It doesn’t make alot per batch but a little goes a long way.

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As shown, I store my dried goods in mason jars.  I do put in one or two oxygen absorber packets (available on Amazon).  Because I’ve been drying a little more this summer, I have been thinking of getting some smaller Mylar bags (also available on Amazon) but have not gotten that far yet.  From what I have read, items generally keep a year.  Follow good common sense – if it looks bad or smells, throw it.  Last summer I had some onion that didn’t dry right and it was visibly not ok.  Otherwise, I tend to use these veggies, including the leeks and peppers in soups, chili, etc.   I just throw them in and they rehydrate right in the soup.  Nice to have a little summer in your food year round. 🙂

This post was shared at Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays;

Apr21

Baby Chicks!

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We got our baby chicks this past week.  As usual, I’m late…every year I fully intend to order them right after Christmas so we can get all the fun and funky varieties that I want for our kids to show in 4H at the county fair.  And every year I end up ordering them…now.   Saying a little prayer that they are all laying by August for fair… 🙂

My wonderful father in law takes care of the baby chicks for us when we get them, as he has the space and equipment to do it at his farm.  This isn’t as much of a “how to” as it is an “oh how fun!” post…

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The “chicken whisperer”…

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My littlest urban chicken farmer… She named her chick “Minimus”…Sofia the First anyone???

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Excited about his chick (he named it “Big Teensy”)…

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The kids liked this cochin’s fluffy feet…

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We’ve ordered our chickens from Cackle Hatchery every year for the past three years, and we’ve been happy.  They ship well, we get them quickly, and they always send a few extra birds just in case one dies en route (the last couple years we have lost a bird along the way).  I have ordered ducks from them in the past, and this year we intend to get some big old heritage turkeys for the kids to show for 4H…and eventually to put meat on our table.  They have a great variety… my favorites are the rare breeds (my daughter won Overall Poultry Champion at our fair her first year in 4H with a breeding pen of their buff cochins :-)).  This year we did a mix of “practical” birds for egg laying, and rare breeds.

I ordered golden laced cochins and barred rock cochins, which I had not seen before…I’m looking forward to seeing how beautiful they are as they grow!

This post was shared at Butter Believer’s Sunday School; The Prairie Homestead’s Homestead Barn Hop; Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesdays; Cooking Traditional Foods Traditional Tuesdays;