Fall happenings

Life has picked up its pace quite a bit!

I have a few more heads of broccoli I’m waiting on in the garden.  Some carrots are ready to pull I’m sure.  My husband already wacked the corn stalks down (we left the roots to rot over the winter and provide nourishment for the soil for next year) and the kids love having a little fenced in area to play.  The corn is drying in my backyard and will be taken to my church to be used as decoration for an outreach project they’re doing on Halloween.  My tomatoes won’t quit producing - I have new blossoms and tons of green tomatoes growing but I think our first frost is going to happen here in the next couple of weeks.  I am going to be growing a garden indoors over the winter and my husband suggested uprooting a couple tomato plants from outside because they’re still producing and see if I can’t transplant them in a container to make use of all those tomatoes I’ll otherwise miss out on.  if I use some of my tomato cages in large pots, I should be able to keep them upright.  Whether they’ll survive the transplant or not is another story.  I’ve never heard of anything like this, but we figured what have we got to loose?

I plucked the heads off my sunflowers and have them drying on my back porch.  I’m not sure if I can keep them there because the birds will find them soon enough.  the heads are  HUGE and there are tons of seeds.  They’ll finish drying in the basement if birds become a problem.  I have a few sunflowers that I let sprout from the birdfeeder, I cut the heads off and am going to dry the seeds and put ‘em back in the birdfeeder.

We’re going to get another probably 2 bushels of apples in October.  My husband loves the apple pie filling I put up (using tapioca instead of corn starch), so those jars are quickly disapearing.  I want to put up more apple pie filling, applesauce and more slices.  We opened a jar of pears that I put up a few weeks ago and they were SO GOOD.  The lady we bought them from told me she has tried to can them season after season but they go mushy on her.  I told her how I can mine, hopefully she’ll have better luck and be able to enjoy the fruit of her orchard over the winter!

I have a couple Morning Glory plants on my back porch.  I thought I’d be cute and train the plants to grow up the rails on my back porch.  Well now they’ve nearly enclosed my back porch for me.  it looks pretty, but those vines are stuck everywhere and it’s going to be a bit of a pain to remove them!  lol.  They have engulfed the watemelon I had growing from a pot on the back rail, and my aloe plant hanging from the support beams of the roof. 

My mind has turned to what I’ll do next year to maximize the harvest and make the best use of my space.  I’ve decided on the ‘three sisters’ method of growing corn, squash and beans/peas.  Somehow or another they all work together - the beans nourish the soil for the corn, the corn provides a natural trellis for the beans or peas to grow up, and the squash provide natural ground cover to keep the weeds down.  I like it!  That will free up a few rows and my squash plot for something else next year.  I’d love to grow some sugar beets and experiment with making our own sugar.  I need to move the carrots away from the tomatoes – I had no idea how bushy and big my tomato plants would get.  They’re huge!  And have shaded my carrots nearly completely.  I’ll move my cucumbers to the side of my house and train them to grow up the side of my house.  I just hope they don’t get too high so the point that I can’t reach them to get the cucumbers.  Maybe i can grow them up my porch where the Morning glories are growing instead.  I will train my squash to also grow up something, somewhere (though preferably not along my fenceline… I don’t want my neighbors thinking I’m rude for overtaking the fenceline) to maximize space.

I will be doing more succession planting, start a spring garden outside earlier (remember I moved here in May, so I didnt’ get my garden in as early as I like to), re-use that space later for fast maturing vegetables once the spring stuff has been harvested.  I’m also going to expand my garden space.

‘Sugar pie’ pumpkins will be going in so I can make use of pumpkin, and some larger pumpkins will be going in for roasting seeds and having out front as a harvest decoration.

Anything that dies will be hacked off at the ground and the roots will be left in to nourish the soil.   My husband is going to try and build me two shelves to hold some of my herb plants in one of my kitchen windows, high enough to keep out of the reach of our kids and to keep out of my way (I use suction cups with hooks on the lower window panes to hold lightweight but frequently used stuff)

Next year I’d like to grow a butterfly garden for my daughter (well, I’ll actually make this her garden, she wanted something of her own so badly this year!).  My chinese lanterns never took off this year (I wonder why?) but I want to try again next year so I can dry the lanterns and add them to our fall/harvest decorations!

I’ll also need to look into space to grow food for rabbits – one more hutch and we’re good to launch our meat rabbit production and start stocking our freezer.  Chickens may come next spring if we have the coop ready.

Such a peaceful night

I’m working on the computer downstairs in the bedroom.  My husband is soundly asleep, the kids are all asleep, even the dogs are asleep.  My son woke up and came in here, curled up in a very comfortable looking pile of blankets, covered himself up with his blankie and fell right back asleep.  Our latest addition to the ‘herd’ as of a few months ago, Oreo (springer/spaniel mix) plopped herself down right next to him, actually on his feet, and is asleep with her head across his hip (oh wait, she just turned to lay with her side against his back, she’s laying on her back with all 4 legs in the air, teeth exposed as her lips fall back from gravity…).  She is such a snuggly dog – always so limp and warm.  She’s like a pillow you can snuggle up with.  Gosh and she’s so sweet and so good with the kids.  We were very blessed to recieve her.  My youngest daughter has claimed Oreo as her own.  If she’s fussy or crying, the second she sees Oreo she smiles and starts cooing.  She’ll crawl over to her and lay on her, or pet her.  Our smallest dog, Lilly, is asleep with my oldest daughter and our next in line, Diesel, is asleep in the clean pile of laundry awaiting my attention (luckily he just got a bath!).  Our biggest dog, Chevy, is asleep at the foot of the bed trying hard to ‘nest’ within the rest of the blankets my son has already claimed.

I don’t know what it is about tonight.  But it’s as if all is well with the world.  I should get to sleep, but I’m not tired.  I’m not insomnia not tired, just ‘enjoying the peace’ awake.  I’ll go to bed soon once I put my son back in his own bed and curl up with Oreo.  This babe in my belly is squirming and kicking and making my belly look like its gone wild.  All must be well inside of there, too

If you’re having a quiet, peaceful evening tonight, enjoy it!

Preserving the Harvest

Boy has our kitchen been hot the past few days.  We visited a family orchard near where we used to live in Erie MI and came home with tons of potatoes, apples, pears and peaches that I’ve been putting up for the pantry.  Tonight I promised my husband an apple crisp, then I want to make some pies to freeze.  I’m also going to can apple pie filling.  I may be out of apples at that point, but on Tuesday we’re going back to pick up another couple bushels of apples.  I’d like to also make apple sauce, fresh juice (to drink now, not to can), and put up some apple slices.   We tend to only buy in season fruit, so apples are one of those treats we usually only buy in season beacuse they’re so expensive any other time of the year (not to mention not fresh!).  If time permits, I’d also like to put up the rest of the tomatoes from my garden I have sitting here before it’s too late, then I have 60 lbs of potatoes to peel, dice and can!  I finished the peaches we had yesterday, and finished the pears this morning.  I’d like to cook up a few whole chicken, shred the meat and can it as well for an easy grab when it comes to chicken salads and pot pies.

If anyone is familiar with the Erie area, this orchard is small and family run.  They have amazing prices on their fruit.  They are located on S. Dixie Hwy near the I-75/Summit split.  Go S. on Dixie and they’re right before the split on the right.   Please visit them if you can, I’m sure you’ll be pleased with their pricing and the fruit is just delicious!  They’ll continue to have more apples and other produce, and plenty of pumpkins as they become available.

Where has she been?

Free time on the computer has been extremely limited.  It’s harvesting and preserving season here in the Kostyu household.  I’ve been tending to the garden, harvesting vine ripened produce, canning for the pantry, and putting out my extra on my porch for my neighbors to pick at.  We began homeschooling my oldest daughter in Kindergarten last Monday and that has gone nicely so far. She is sooo motivated to learn.  The weekend came and she realized each day with surprise and disapointment “oh no! mom! we didn’t do school today!”

Each day we read a chapter from Proverbs.   Surprisingly each chapter so far has had something to do with wisdom or obedience, two things she has been most needing to learn about or hear about (I, myself, have needed to learn more about wisdom and what the word means, so I’ve been learning a lot right along side of her!).  I do believe through our discussions that she is learning and her heart wants to please God.  We bring up what we’ve read in the bible that day often throughout the day, using life lessons as reminders and examples.  Her acceptance of discipline has also hightened, as she understands discipline has its purpose and she willingly listens to us as we explain why something she did was unnacceptable and she really makes an effort to not do it again.  Lying was a problem we came across, and something I really felt was a phase.  My husband would have none of it though, whether it was play or a phase.  We will not lie in our household.  I followed his lead when it came to this and did not allow lying.  When my daughter is responsible for bad behavior, she owns up to it.  She understands lying is a sin, and is in fact one of the 7 things the Lord hates (when we came to this section in Proverbs, I drew a stick figure and we labeled the 7 things the Lord hates – haughty eyes, lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, etc.), we’re also commanded not to do it, etc.   I am so proud of her for wanting to please the Lord.  I enjoy homeschooling tremendously at this point, because I can see the fruit my daughter is beginning to bear as a result of our studying of the bible together and the way we choose to live our lives.  I can see how excited she is to learn, and BE THERE when she finally gets something she’s been having trouble with.  I like seeing the determination in her face to conquer something she’s stumped on.  And I really love to see the way she embellishes her letters with eyes, ears, hair and smiley faces….  I like being able to connect our lessons to real life examples.  I like being able to teach her God’s word straight from the bible, and teach her the values *WE* feel are important.

Anyway…  I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it here or not, but I’ve begun publishing a monthly newsletter on cooking, doing and making from scratch.  In fact, the newsletter is titled ‘From Scratch’ and while it focuses on cooking, there are also columns on gardening, preserving, raising meat/eggs, making things from scratch and doing what we can to reduce our dependence on stores and spending money.  Cultivating the skills of our grandparents and great grandparents and bringing them back into use.  What had once been a lifestyle we had to choose for survival, has now become a lifestyle I’ve grown passionate about.  I love to share what I’ve learned, and learn from those who care to contribute their knowledge.  I hope you’ll join us!  I’ve made a free issue available to download. Just click on the ’subscriptions/newsletters’ category.

In addition to writing my own monthly newsletter, I’m writing a ‘From Scratch’ column for New Harvest Homestead which is a 6x/year publication for Christian women who desire a simpler life.  This newsletter is also a great resource, an awesome inspiration, and something I highly recommend.