High Desert Home Garden

Friday, September 5, 2008

axe repair and some exciting purchases

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after speaking with a few quasi-experts about hops, i've decided to harvest some soon..(next day or so) and the rest as they come. Pick, dry for a few days, then package in vacuum sealed bags and frozen. this new freezer couldn't have come at a better time, just as we;re harvesting enough food to preserve. now I may need a lesson in home-brew before using these awesome chinook hops. also I will need various home brewing supplies. maybe i should check out the local home brew supply shop. then i'll probably end up at the hardware store seeing how i can make the same thing for less cost. defiantly back burner material with the hops being froze and all.

general garden views ,some pics becke took and weird beetles on a cholla cactus.

lovely, lovely Tuesdays...

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such a busy day.....not sure where to begin.
....to start.. not posted on last Saturday's high desert home garden blog****************** many pictures of squash blanching, cold ice bath and individual quick freezing then vacuum sealing and put into deep freeze
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Sunday harvest of many many lemon cucumbers...all organic!!!homegrown...started from seeds. nothing is more rewarding than a bite of that...six and a half pints of pickles....tomorrow we are gonna buy cases of mason jars...everything from half pint jam jars to half gallon jars for pickled cucumbers....also tomorrow we go to get the freezer and start filling it up for the long winter...
along with my firewood I am seriously preparing for the worst cold...if we just burn more wood
. we could keep our electric bill around fifty dollars a month instead of last winter using heat baseboards spiked our bills to a hundred dollars...more work for me but possible savings of three hundred dollars..that could be a week off work!!

putting food by

havent blogged in a few..mainly because i started cutting firewood the last few days-off.
made me sore as hell, cut up two truckloads over tues and wed. saw needs cleaning and adjusting after last season..especially after the way i stored it with gas in the tank and oily and such.... anyways feels good, also makes the property look a lot better. some pictures of my ever-growing and then annually shrinking wood-pile to come soon.

also tomorrow cucumber pickling blog #2! stay posted..also the great book my aunt Marge got us as an awesome gift! endless source of knowledge and def classic.

sunday afternoon, some squash blanching and freezing

mmmm...local dinner

new Vaccum sealer and maybe soon a freezer

Awesome clouds outside our house the other night

foodsaver in action!

tues

more yellow squash, lemon cucumbers, more green beans everyday. Also our first real jalapeno harvest. Salsa tonight plus a couple of grilled chicken legs. mmm

First substansial harvest!!

not to mention flowering sunflowers and big cucumbers!!

more chicken pictures!

While the landlady is in NYC for the week, we are looking after the property and the chickens as well. Fed them yesterday and took a bunch of photos. The one for-sure rooster is in a few of these pics. They got a totally unripe watermelon and some basil and burrito leftovers. needless to say they were stoked. Garden is loving the cooler temps and scattered rain-showers today and yesterday. Harvested some peas, beans, jalapenos and squash. Also sunflowers are flowering! pics of those for sure.