All I Can Do Here: Gardening

Showing posts with label Gardening. Show all posts

Sunday, 28 February 2016

Revamp?

I'm looking at reviving this blog, but haven't quite decided yet. For now, Here's what I've been up to: (aka - me talking to myself about what we've been up to this year, as well as garden plans.)

Fostering Kitties
We started fostering in the spring last year, and have had 19 cats and (mostly) kittens come through our home since then. I love fostering, but I'm very glad to have a break at the moment - having little kittens in the house is a ton of fun, but they're also very messy and need lots of attention. We had cats for the past 4 months straight, so we've taken a break until kitten season gets going here.

Gardening
I had pretty good gardening success last year - about 30lbs of tomatoes, with most still sitting in the freezer waiting to be dealt with.

I'm planning for the garden this year, and have planted onions from seed. I'm very excited to see how that goes. I'm also trying out a technique I read about to get a head start on the season in my cold climate. I'm not sure how it will work this year, since it seems very spring like. I'm waiting for winter to crash down on us and put us through another deep freeze!

I've also condensed my garden. The past two years I've had plots in 3 different places but this year I'll be down to one main plot, and one big plot at a second location. I've expanded my plot at the community garden, and drafted a helper. Big changes are coming on the community garden front this year - double the space means double the planning!

This years planting list (I'll add varietals as I can):

Community Garden Plot
Onions (Walla Wallas, Copra, and Rossa di Milano)
Leeks
Carrots (Nantes, a variety pack of multicolored ones)
Turnips (White Globe Purple Top)
Beets
Garlic (Red Russian, Giant)
Daikon Radishes

Tomatoes (I'll be buying starts as I've had very bad luck starting from seed)
Bush Beans
Pole Beans (Scarlet Runner)
Sugar Snap Peas
Shelling Peas (Lincoln Homesteader)
Lettuce (Mesclun mix, many other varieties)
Swiss Chard (Rainbow)
Spinach
Herbs of many kinds (and a herb spiral!)
Kohlrabi
Sprouting Broccoli
Kale (Dinosaur)

2nd Location
Potatoes (Purple, Russet, Yellow)
Zucchini (Cocozelle, Yellow, Patty Pan)
Spaghetti Squash (Miniature)
Acorn Squash (Table Queen)
Cucumbers (Straight Eight, National Pickling)

I've picked heirloom seeds first, and will do the same with anything I buy as starts, organic as second choice, and I've got very few standard seeds. I do have some seed left from ordering the past two years, but some things were new this year and others I didn't have any seed left. And then I went shopping a bit when the nice weather gave me itchy gardening fingers. I've got quite the collection of seeds right now, and one of the things on my list is organizing them a bit better.

I did go through the original lot before ordering and buying, to prevent duplicates and use up what I've got. We picked out the seeds we definitely wanted for the year, and then wrote out our buying list. I'm very hopeful that the extra buying power of an equal partner will work out into more improvement for the plot. We've got big plans for the garden this year!

The one I'm really hoping to be able to do is a mixed patch of asparagus and strawberries along the back of the plot. I read an article about a year ago about how well strawberries and asparagus grow together, and it got me thinking. Buying asparagus crowns here is expensive, the same for strawberries. I've bought some of both and had about a 50% survival rate through the winter. I think part of this is down to not properly winterizing, and partly due to where I've planted and not having proper preparation of that plot.

So, after reading a bit more on it, I'm hopeful I can get the plants for decent deals (ideally naturalized strawberries that will winter over) and be able to amend the soil and create a wonderful long term resource. I have a few leads on good strawberry and asparagus plants, so I'm also hoping I'll be able to afford putting it in this year.

My pork farmer is also willing to give me a bunch of her rotted manure once the ground has hardened back up after spring thaw! Free manure for my garden will do amazing things.

Ah the joys of trying to become more self sufficient on a budget!

Indoor Gardening
I started propagating succulents last year, so I've got a fair number now that are growing pretty well. I've also got about 4 little spider plants, 2 dracenas, a brand new pothos, and some other miscellaneous little things. Pictures to come.

Buying Local
All our beef and pork for the past year has been locally sourced, organically and humanely raised, and purchased directly from the farmer. I'm extremely proud of that. It's tought o do on a budget sometime,s so having a group of friends and family who are also interested has increased my buying power, and subsidized our portion as well.

After the first two times ordering I realized I was being silly, and added a $10 fee to everyone elses orders. Basically a finders/figure-outers fee. Purchasing local can be hard work, and no one disagreed or made any fuss at all. A few people actually tipped me extra. We ended up getting a $20 discount on 20 lbs of pork, and a $50 discount on 20lbs of beef! Not bad at all.

It gets a bit easier every time we do it, but it is also hard to manage everyone's expectations and communicate what we want to the butcher. I think I've got most of it figured out, but each order goes a bit differently.

Coming up soon, I do have a lead on chickens from the farmer we've been buying pork from. She's amazing and I was ticked off about missing out on her birds last year (the Chicken Fiasco of 2015 will be another post) so we'll definitely be in it this year. She also suggested she might be willing to give a deal on the birds in exchange for some help around her farm!

New Job!
In other news, i got my first real grown up job! I'm not a full time permanent Library Assistant. The job security that this has given me is huge, but I really don't even think it's sunk in yet.

For the past 7 years I've been job searching right around December and January. That's already a stressful time of year, but for me it's been considerably worse because I've been trying to get a better opportunity each year that would give us a leg up. I finally got it. I think, other than finally having health insurance (Massages, chiropractic treatments, physiotherapy appointments, medications being covered! All the health! Yay!) the biggest relief will be in the winter when I'm not stressed out about next year. It's definitely still sinking in.

The security the new job offers will also help me financially (especially having the health benefits, but overall), and that means I'll be able to have more time for my business and hobbies.

General Hobbies Update
I've started making bread again after a long hiatus. I wasn't bored of it, but I was starting to find it more draining and less exciting - especially since I've been eating healthier and watching my home made bread go uneaten was much worse than seeing purchased bread go bad.

But, I'm back on the baking bandwagon!

I haven't been doing much crocheting this winter as I've been so busy with work, my business, and the foster kittens, so nothing exciting on that front. I didn't even manage to finish the blanket I started last winter, and I've only got 10-15 rows left. Embarrassing.

Monday, 26 May 2014

Working hard, and hardly working

I've had a productive few weeks, while still managing to put off way too many things that need to get done. Turns out being injured means you prioritize...but for me that means the things I always put off just keep getting put off for longer and longer.

*sigh* I'm going to have to pull up my socks and just get the darn laundry done! ....Wednesday.

Anyways, catching up.

The community garden plot is coming along really well so far. I've gotten almost all the planting done! So far the plot has (* next to seedlings I started):

-Zucchini*
-Cucumber* (although it may die it was perking up as of the last time I was over there...fingers crossed. I did plant 2 new seeds in hopes that if the original kicked the bucket the new ones would germinate. I could potentially end up with 4 cucumber plants sharing the spot. Yeep!)
-Patti pan squash (a kind of zucchini)*
-Hubbard Squash*
-Sugar Pumpkin*
-3 Bloody Butcher tomatoes*
-2 Black Krim tomatoes*
-1 Cherry tomato*
-1 Lemon Boy tomato (yay free seedlings! :) )
-2 Jalapeno peppers*
-2 Bell peppers* (these seedlings were poor to start and are decidedly behind the two best jalapenos)
-6 Brussel sprouts
-4 Asparagus (which won't be harvest-able for at least a year)
-6 green leaf lettuce (which just would NOT start from seed for me...:( )
-6 bright lights chard (ish...there were definitely a few extra plants in there but I certainly won't be complaining! I LOVE chard!)
-10 corn stalks (very experimental...I'm excited to see if it'll work)
-4 celery (I'm interested to see how these store-bought starts compare to my home seeded survivor. I planted 2 store bought right near my home grown one in my home garden so I can compare)
-Walla walla onion sets (I'm planting a single row all around the perimeter of my garden in homes of dissuading pests...between that and the marigold I still need to get in I'm hoping it'll discourage many of the bugs)
-Yellow onion bulbs
-seeded sprouting broccoli (probably too late, but we'll see Maybe I'll get a late crop)
-seeded lettuce, 2 varieties

Garden pictures!

Corn
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The back of the plot.
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Left to right: Rhubarb (came with the plot, I have two BIG ones), asparagus, hubbard squash, sugar pumpkin, zucchini. The cucumber is sort of in between the rows.
Tomatoes, then peppers.

The whole plot, just after the first bunch of planting (forgive the sad-looking plants, there was more weeding and soil prep than I'd thought so the starts had to sit in the sun while we worked.)
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Artsy shot of the broccoli starts - courtesy of my sister who took the pics
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I still have to seed carrots, radishes, and beets. I'm planning to line the path in the middle of the garden with rows, as a sort of growing border. I'll do either 2-3 carrots/radishes, or 1 beet. Hopefully I'll get that done this weekend coming up. Then all I have left is mulching around the larger plants and down the walkway! Hopefully that will minimize my weeding and also improve the soil for next year.

All in all I'm counting the seed starting adventure as a success!

Notes for next year:

-Plant fewer tomatoes!
-Plant tomatoes later!
-Plant fewer squash - then the ones I plant will have more room under the light and more attention (besides, I prefer zucchini and cucumbers anyways!)

Sunday, 27 April 2014

More seedlings!

It's been a busy week in the seedlings-gardening department!

The last of the seedlings are starting to come up. I'm going to plug the Incredible Seed Company (incredibleseeds.ca) again because all of them are at a 100% germination rate! Not only that, but the seedlings look incredibly vigorous. Overnight they went from barely peeking, to being 2 inches tall, with fully spread first leaves. Craziness.

I hope they stay that healthy, because I'm beginning to worry about my tomatoes. Not that they're looking unhealthy, quite the opposite! I replanted all the tall and gangly-looking seedlings this morning to get them deeper into the pots. A few had very thick root balls, even beginning to be a bit root-bound. Hopefully I've averted a crisis by unpotting them, then planting them deeper in the same pots. I don't have anymore room under lights for bigger pots (except for the very biggest plant) and it's still much too cold outside. Needless to say my fingers are crossed for a very warm spring! Next year I'll plant them later.

Oh well, the good news is that it's only about half the tomato plants that have just taken off, the rest are growing at a more normal rate. I think I figured out why - the timer those lights were on wasn't set to 'timer', so the lights were on 24/7! Now that I've got them back on a more regular schedule I'm hoping they'll settle down a bit.

I'm also beginning to plan ahead for a bigger tomato crop this year. (Although since last year's 'crop' consisted of one big tomato and enough cherry tomatoes I could eat one a day for about 2 weeks that shouldn't be tough, lol). I think the big difference will be determinate vs indeterminate, and where i'm planning on planting them.

I've got plans to get a big load of rotted manure to finally (fingers crossed!) make my front bed an actual viable planting location. Since it's about the perfect place for tomatoes - other than the currently abysmal soil condition - I'm hoping things will do better this year.

In outside garden news there's a few good signs. The rhubarb that I've sadly mistreated the past few years (moving it twice in one year, the year after I transplanted a beat up rootball may have been a bit much) but it's up and looking more vigorous than ever. I'm debating putting a bucket over top of it, to see if I can force some nice big sweet stalks, but I may just leave it to grow this year. I am regretting building out catio (cat-patio) around it though...I wanted that extra foot for the cats to play in, and I didn't want to move the sad rhubarb for a THIRD time...but it'll be awfully awkward to protect it from the cats and then try to harvest it in a 4 foot high enclosure. Picture me constantly battling cats, hitting my head, and wielding a knife. Hmmm....If it does well this year maybe I'll split it and replant half in an easier to harvest location. I'll leave some to grow big for the kitty boys as a great bit of shade.

I've also been given hope by a few little bits of hopeful green. My chives, the ones that have never really taken off, are sprouting! This is the first year they've come up anywhere near this early, and I think they've already got more shoots this year than they had all last summer! Sure, they're small shoots right now, but they're there and that gives me hope for a great chive-season :)

I'm beginning to wonder if I didn't kill the asparagus though. I got a few plants for free (a 'come dig me up' ad on kijiji) and planted them in a sunny spot in the front yard. No shoots yet. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, but I thought they were supposed to come up nice and early? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Last thing, I promise ;) its nice and sunny, my cloche is up, I've got black landscape fabric warming another strip of ground...I'm planting today! I'll be putting in radishes, spinach, and Swiss chard. Yay! :D

Overall...I'm SO ready for spring to get here!

Pics:
Green things!

The abused rhubarb

Cloched and covered rows

Sprouts

Seedlings

Jitxu helping with the cloche

Kitty prints - a definite sign of spring

Sunday, 20 April 2014

Thursday, 17 April 2014

Seed Starting - Update

It's been getting warmer here, MUCH warmer. All the snow in front of our house has melted, but there's still a depressing amount in the back yard on top of my garden. I did get my first peek at the dirt of the garden yesterday though. I feel a bit silly, but I was so happy to see that little bit of rich black earth.

I noticed something about the seedlings that I think is a bit strange and I can't quite explain. It's something I read about on another blog (Lights In My Basement) and thought to myself "No way. There's no reason that would happen...right?" Yeah. Turns out my gut instinct was way off on this one.

I started all my tomatoes at the same time. The same day, planted them all in one go.

They germinated quickly, and grew well. I noted in my last post that the Bloody Butcher seeds germinated the best, but the Cherry tomatoes were the hardiest looking, and that I had up-potted a few of each variety. Admittedly, at the time I did pick the strongest looking starts...but I don't know that that can entirely be the cause of what happened after I up-potted some.

The plants I moved into bigger pots are now easily double the size of the others...easily. They look stronger and healthier, have thick leaves, and lots of little hairs on the main stems. The starts that had to sit in the tiny cells stayed much smaller. I thought maybe it was because they had less room to root, but I up-potted another bunch of them the other day and their roots weren't more than one little tap root and a few off shoots. They weren't anywhere near reaching the edges of the pots.

Basically I have no idea why...but it does make me consider planting the next bunch of starts (the gourds, cucumber, zucchini, ect) right into my bigger pots (which may or may not be cheap white plastic cups...*cough* If I reuse them it's environmentally friendly, right?).

I have been bottom-watering all the starts as much as possible, the exception being anything very tiny or just repotted.

Despite the wild success of the tomato starts I'm equally thrilled with the other plants I've got going so far. The peppers, bell and jalapeno, are coming along nicely, and three of the 4 habanero seeds came up. I even up-potted the best looking of the habanero starts. I'll probably up-pot one more and then either offer the others to friends or toss them.

I'm really excited about the celery starts. they're still tiny tiny tiny...If I do them again next year I'll plant them MUCH earlier as I don't know if they'll be ready to transplant into the garden by the time the garden is ready for them. I have three and they're all doing pretty good. One is noticeably bigger than the other two, so we'll see how they all progress. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

The last thing I'll add is the salad mix is doing OK. I'm not crazy about it, I thought they would be growing better, but they're turning a bit leggy. I may end up just buying lettuce starts.. :( I'm not giving up on them yet and I'll definitely be doing an early planting straight into the garden as soon as I can work with it. I didn't have much luck with that last year, but maybe I'll try and cloche them to give them a bit of a boost.

Until next time ;)

Pictures to come - Post written April 10, 2014 (I should do another update pretty soon, and I've dawdled on this one long enough I thought I should date it for an accurate timeline ;) )

Thursday, 27 March 2014

Seed Starting 2014

This is my first year starting my garden from seeds. I decided to try it because it's cheaper (factor #1 for me), and I was unimpressed with the selection of heirloom starts locally. (Aka, there were none...)

So many of the big garden/cooking/sufficiency gardeners start from seeds and rave about it...I'll be honest. I wanted to jump on that band wagon.

So jump I did. Without my typical amount of research. Whoops.

Valuable lesson #1
Don't order seeds from the US if you live in Canada. :(

Luckily that was a very small order done as a test...still disappointing but not like I lost all the seeds for this year.

Lesson learned. I ordered the rest from a Canadian organic heirloom seed company (incredibleseeds.ca). and the results so far are stellar. I've only planted about half of the seedlings (stupid Canada's stupid late last freeze dates...*grumble grumble*) but those have done surprisingly well so far.

The repotted seedlings (back to front); cherry tomatoes, bloody butcher tomatoes, black krim tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, herbs.

Here's a bit of info on what I bought, why, and how it's done so far.

Tomatoes

I chose three varieties to plant:

Bloody Butcher Heirloom

ISC: 55 days. Heirloom Tomato Seeds. Indeterminate. An excellent early variety Bloody Butcher Heirloom Tomatoes start early and produce consistently until frost. Tomatoes form in clusters of five to nine on vigorous vines. Medium sized tomatoes with fantastic flavour. A good multi-purpose variety, excellent fresh and canned.

Why I picked them: The growing season here is really short (like...REALLY short), so something that starts quick and keeps going is a huge bonus. I also really love fresh tomatoes, I'll eat them like apples...but one of my goals is to can some of my own produce. Since these tomatoes are good for both fresh eating AND canning that's what I want.

Planting/seedlings: They are doing amazingly. I actually got more than 100% success with them coming up. Clearly I planted an extra few seeds by accident. I'm ok with that though. With luck I'll have 19 well-producing tomato plants this year :)

The plants are doing better now that they've been repotted once. I took some advice from another gardening blog and repotted them straight into fancy containers (*cough* red solo cup *cough*) that should do well until they're ready to go into the garden. I still have more to move, I did the most vigorous 5 plants, and the ones I moved definitely look to be improving quicker. I'm going to need more room in my indoor garden post haste!

Black Krim

http://incredibleseeds.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_40&products_id=105

ISC: 75 days. Heirloom Tomato Seeds. Black Krim Heirloom Tomatoes are a rare purple-black tomato and is one of the best tasting you will ever try. Originally from the Isle of Krim in the Black Sea of the former Soviet Union. The dark, three inch fruit have a fantastic and intense taste perfect for anything that calls for a tomato. One of the best available.

Why I picked them: To be honest I got this for fun. I'm not expecting loads and loads of tomatoes from it, since 75 days is quite long to start...but I loved the pictures of the Black Krims on the website and thought it would be neat to see how they do. I'd love it if I got enough to can even one jar of Black Krim pasta sauce!

Planting/seedlings: I've gotten pretty good success from these; I planted 9 and 7 came up. I'm happy with that. They aren't as vigorous as the Bloody Butcher or the Cherry...but they're doing ok. I only repotted the biggest 3 seedlings and they're looking good as of last night.

Large Red Cherry Tomatoes

ISC: 80 days. Indeterminate vines. Large Red Cherry is a very prolific producer of one to two inch bright red cherry tomatoes. The deep red fruit are great for snacks and salads.

Why I picked them: I love cherry tomatoes. LOVE THEM. If I get any of these I'll be thrilled. Again, 80 days is a long start time, but I'm hopeful they'll do ok. I've had a lot of success with cherry tomatoes in the past (well, more than with the regular ones anyways, lol) and since this says it's prolific...I picked this one. We'll see how it does.

Planting/seedlings: These have the lowest germination rate - 6:9 - but the healthiest looking seedlings. They were the first ones to get their first set of true leaves, and were already working on the second set by the time I repotted them! Now they're still ahead of the others, and growing strong.

Peppers

I did plant three varieties, but bought one on a whim at a certain local mega-store...we shall see how they compare to the heirloom plants!

California Wonder Bell Peppers

75 days. California Wonder Sweet Bell Peppers are a top choice for northern gardeners producing very well in our climate. The fruit are large, have thick walls and are very tasty. The peppers can be picked when green or left on the plant until they turn bright red for a sweeter taste. They are hard to beat for fresh eating and also make for delicious stuffed peppers.

Why I picked them: It's like they wrote this just for me! at 75 days they're one of the shortest peppers I found, I'm really hope full I'll get a good set on them. Since one of my goals is to feed both the people AND the guinea pigs in the house these bell peppers were really important to me. (For those who don't know guinea pigs should eat 1/4 of a green pepper, or 1/8 of a red pepper EVERY DAY. Needless to say we go through a lot of peppers.)

I particularly like that they can be picked green or red, the more versatility the better.

Planting/seedlings: The peppers are all a little slower than the tomatoes, but they're still looking good. These germinated out at 7:9, which is great, and they're just working on the first set of true leaves. The 2 I repotted are doing well.

Jalapeno Peppers

73 days. The standard for nachos and salsas! Jalapeno Hot Peppers are 3 ½ inch long and have a spicy addictive flavour which has made them such a popular addition to so many recipes today. The vigorous 26 inch plants bear early and abundantly and are very easy to grow, ensuring a bumper crop. They are ready to pick when the peppers are dark green.

Why I picked them: Again, things that I love. Versatile in cooking, easy to grow, produces lots. I have a few jars of amazing pickles jalapenos I made last year...I bet they'll be even better with home-grown peppers! YUM!

Planting/seedlings: The jalapeno peppers didn't germinate as well as the bell peppers... 6:9, but they are healthier looking. The leaves look very different from the tomato starts, and I'm really interested to see how they do. I repotted 2 jalapeno peppers.

Habenero Peppers

Why I picked them: These are the ones I picked up from Wal-Mart. They are organic (or claim to be...), and I purchased and planted them late, so they haven't come up yet. I only planted them a few days ago, so we'll see what happens. If they don't work I won't be upset, but I'd like to compare them to the heirloom seeds.

Other

I thought I'd try a few new things this year...'cause starting my own seedlings wasn't enough to take on, lol.

Rosa Bianca Eggplant

http://incredibleseeds.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_24&products_id=323

73 days. Heirloom Eggplant Seeds. An Italian variety, Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplants have pink and white, rounded fruit. A very unique and beautiful variety, it does need heat and warmer nights to fruit well. If you have a warm spot in your garden along a wall, hot summer weather or a greenhouse it's a nice variety to try.

Why I picked them:I haven't eaten much eggplant...but I know I'm more likely to eat it if I grow it and these are just so darn pretty! I'm not holding out high hopes or anything, but I'll be happy if they do ok. I have a plan for where I want them to go :)

Planting/seedlings: They all came up! 6:6! I was thrilled to see they came up at all, since they were a good week behind the peppers and tomatoes. I haven't transplanted any of them yet, they were still too little...and I didn't have room. Something that will hopefully be remedied in a week or so.

Utah Celery

Utah celery is widely grown and disease resistant. It has tall stalks that are sweet and smooth with leafy tops. It is cold tolerant and long lasting.

Why I picked them: I'm a sucker for cold tolerant plants. I wanted to try celery last year, but without anyone selling seedlings I was out of luck. I've heard there's no comparison to store bought, so I'm curious to see how this works out for me.

Planting/seedlings: I've got 5:6 seedlings up. They're the tiniest little seedlings I've ever seen! The seeds were miniscule, so it makes sense...but I'm hoping the grow quick because at this point I'm a bit nervous about having planted them too late!

My set up is very basic (VERY basic), I have one short shelf, two three foot long fluorescent fixtures (too long for the shelf...whoops), and two seed starting trays. One is empty, the other holds the seedlings I haven't repotted yet.

I should have some things (visiting pets) moved out of my hobby (guinea pig/visiting pet/seed) room by the end of next week, so I'm planning on rigging a way to hang the lights and putting in a table. That should give e enough room to keep the seedlings all happy until spring gets here (whenever that happens....) and they get to go outside!

In a month I'm going to start worrying about setting up an easy hoop frame for the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. I want well producing plants, so I'll need to trap what little heat we get here. I'm also hoping to be able to rig up something so I can harden the plants off outside...without having to tramp up and down three flights of stairs with cats underfoot and delicate seedlings in my arms - twice a day! Not going to work.

Other than the herbs that's all I've got going on so far. Yay, long updates! XD

Thursday, 20 March 2014

I'm Back!

Alright, alright, it's been a while.

In my defense I've been crazy busy. Here's a brief update of my flurry of activity the last few months:

-New jobs! 2 of them since the beginning of January! (A non-profit group, and a library, YAY!)
-House guests, in the form of snakes! (They'll be here until the end of this month, and have been with us since the end of December.)
-I registered my business with the city :D This was especially big for me, as it makes my business (pet sitting, dog walking, and pet training) much more official.
-Setting new gardening and self-sufficiency goals. More on this below.
-Starting a bunch of house plants from cuttings (pictures to come at a later date ;) )
-Seed starting!

So I've been quite busy, as you can see.

Now, however, I want to write about self-sufficiency and what that means for me and this blog.

I feel like calling what I'm doing 'self-sufficiency' is a bit like cheating. I'm very much in the baby steps portion, but I am trying to work towards being a bit more reliant on myself and the items I can grow and make (preserve), as well as eating healthier and more locally.

Last year I had made a goal for myself that I was pretty nervous about, to tell the truth. I wanted to not buy any tomato sauce/canned tomatoes between August and January. Now, that seems like a teeny tiny goal to reach compared to some of the other bloggers and self-sufficiency buffs out there, but since I was working full time and canning only in my free time AND it was my first year making canned tomatoes...I felt it was going to be tough.

Well, good news. It's the middle of march and we STILL haven't bought any sauce or canned tomatoes! I am absolutely thrilled. Overall, it cost me about $40 ($1/lb tomatoes, I bought $30 lbs, plus cheap/free jars of kijiji, plus some lids) to make 5 jars of delicious salsa (definitely a recipe I'll be re-using. YUM!), and 8 jars of pasta sauce. Plus the FREE (my favorite price ;) ) 5-6 jars of tomato paste made from the waste products of the salsa and tomato sauce.

The only thing I would change is that I wish I'd made more canned crushed tomatoes. They were sort of an after thought (which means I bought them from the grocery store rather than the farmer's market) and I made about 4 jars...and I wish we had a LOT more than that! Not only was it much easier than the sauce and salsa, I could use it in so many more things.

Other fun things that I did last year include the fridge pickles. Another recipe I'll be going back to this year. They were absolutely amazing, even if they did need more salt (I added more than the recipe called for, but it turns out we just like our pickles saltier!). Especially the single jar of jalapeno dill pickles. I don't know what it was, but man those were amazing. One jar was not enough, and the four big jars I made total barely made it into December.
That makes me want to look into a mini fridge to go in the basement so I can make many many more jars without having to worry about where to put them in our constantly over crowded main fridge! Anyone know where I can get a free mini fridge?

Unfortunately I have no idea what the cost of the pickles was, since I've completely forgotten what I paid and how many pickles I bought. Oh well. I am planning on keeping track better this year (yay blogging! lol) and since I have a lot of things I want to try that'll be important.

For my birthday I got something I've been oogling for YEARS. A pressure cooker! I know most of my friends would have unwrapped that and promptly smacked their significant others for such a gift...but I LOVE it. I haven't gotten to use it yet (maybe some cherry jam is in my future if I get a day off...) but I'm really looking forward to being able to make meat sauce for our spaghetti, non-fridge pickles, and a few other things. I just can't wait for spring!

My goals for this year are:

-Seed starting: Check! (Well, partially. The tomato seedlings are poking up, and eggplants and peppers are planted. I have to wait another few weeks before I can get the squashes and zucchinis started. Because Canada. That's why.)
-Growing enough to can some of my own produce
-Canning

tomato meat sauce!
plain spaghetti sauce
crushed tomatoes
non-fridge pickles
fridge pickles
meal-parts (aka Things We Will Use - rather than boat loads of jam and jelly which we don't go through all that fast...)
Canned peaches? (Costco has moved into our town...I'm hoping I can get a good enough deal on peaches this year to make this feasible)

-Freezing (rather than canning)

peas - home grown (shucked?)
beans - home grown
fruit (Why did I can so much fruit when I could have been canning veggies!? Can more veggies and freeze the fruit for later!

-Eating more locally, specifically buying local (and ideally organic/heritage breed) meats. With 4 local organic chickens in the freezer and 15lbs of local heritage pork, this is well on the way :)
-Improving the garden

BIG window boxes under the front window? It's such a sunny area, and completely wasted because of the crappy soil in the front bed :(
Improving the soil in the front bed (Composted horse manure? Sounds like a plan.)
Improving the soil everywhere (just can't get too much organic fertilizer :))

-Learning more about cold storage and cellaring. We've got some good spaces where we can store food, but I'll need to learn how to store everything I grow and can glean (free fruits and veggies? *fingers crossed*) so I can stretch our local/home grown stores further into the winter. I'd like to have potatoes, apples, carrots, onions, and garlic until January. And a few odd squashes too.
-Home made bread! I need to get back into this. I'm in the process of reinvigorating my starter (which I killed through neglect :( ) and once I do that I want to bake a loaf per week. Freeze what we don't use immediately for weeks when I just don't have time. (*cough* like this one...lol)

My goodness what a list!

I should add that I also want to blog about all these things. I originally intended to blog about books, my pets and animal behavior, and some gardening/preserving...but in my eternal search for more blogs to follow I've found there are none about gardening and preserving the harvest HERE. Where I live. Near Edmonton, AB.

There are a few out East in Ontario, but our climate here is so very different that it's not a ton of use. I find myself chuckling at the 'hard' winters in the states. You know, where they can still grow broccoli, kale, and other brassicas into February...when we're at -40 here?

I know a lot of places had completely ridiculous amounts of snow, I'm not trying to down play that. But you all still go to start your seeds in January. I planted mine this week. Mid March. that's a pretty serious climate difference.

So, as I bumble through, reading books and trying to gain knowledge I hope you'll follow along with me. Whoever else is out there in internet-land ;)

-Becky