Another year is almost gone. How did you do? Are you happy with how this year went? This is a good time to sit down and evaluate how much you’ve accomplished so you can go in to the new year with a better idea of what you want to improve and build upon. Time to…
Here are gourds, peppers, tomatilloes, zucchini, purple and white eggplant and fresh dill. I know I said that tomatoes are the reason we garden and that’s mostly true. But the thing I REALLY love about gardening is that we have healthy, chemical-free food year round. The food from our garden is more nutritious, tastier and…
Love my dried tomatoes I just completed my seventh batch of dried tomatoes. Each batch of tomatoes fills all nine trays in my Excalibur Dehydrator. I get about 20-22 lbs into each batch. That’s the equivalent of about seven quarts of canned diced tomatoes. It takes about 24 hrs for a load of tomatoes to…
Winter is the real test of our emergency preparations. In our area winter can be very unforgiving. A power outage that lasts just 1-2 days can be more than an inconvenience. If you do not have alternative power or heat sources, it could be dangerous. At best, you might lose a water pipe (or two…
There’s not much that you really need to get started canning. A canner with rack and some canning jars with 2-piece lids will get you started. And maybe a jar lifter, magnetic lid wand, funnel and timer. Altogether all of this can cost you as little as $10 if you buy it at rummage sales…
There’s no such thing as too much basil All my friends and Dear Readers have heard me say it: there’s no such thing as too much basil. Basil is my favorite herb, even ahead of parsley, which is surprising, isn’t it? Because parsley is in just about every recipe there ever was. First, basil is…