The last leg of the 2013 garden...

With all of the leaves gone, the weather is starting to feel less like fall and more like winter, and I'm somewhat surprised that there is no snow on the ground yet. I've been taking full advantage of the un-frozen earth, however, and am still enjoying the harvests from the garden. I'm eating broccoli, chard, bok choy and lettuce, having just finished the last of the turnips and beets last week. I'm not harvesting any more sunchokes, as I want to have a good crop next year.

Along with stretching the garden out, I've also managed to get an extra fence project started! I'm building a small wattle fence at the back of the herb garden, to protect the siding on the house from back splash and to keep the dirt from eroding toward the house as well. I love the look of this type of fencing, and with all the brush that grows up around here, I'll never run out of supplies! Wattle fencing is such an easy solution around the garden, and it's a great way to utilize the natural materials on your property!

The geese are doing well, although Gerdie is quite confused as to why the swimming pool is so hard and slick in the mornings! I've left it out for them up until now, but I'll be removing it this weekend and putting it into storage for the winter. We should HOPEFULLY be building the arctic entryway for the goose house this weekend also, so with any luck, I'll be able to get my projects finished and all of the tools put away before the snow decides to let loose!

New Garden Updates!

I've got a new garden update posted at Alaska Public Media... check it out!

http://www.alaskapublic.org/2013/09/17/another-successful-garden-season/

Homemade Bird Suet Cakes

For those of us who love to watch the wild birds in our yards, it is once again time to start putting out bird feeders and filling suet cages. With stories in the news lately of bird feed companies intentionally adding anti-spoilage chemicals to the seed they sell while knowing that the chemicals were harmful to the very birds the seed was marketed for, I think now is a great time to share my Homemade Bird Suet Cake recipe!

HOMEMADE SUET CAKES

1 pound of beef tallow or lard (preferably organic & pastured)

1 cup natural* peanut butter (optional)
2 cups black oil sunflower seeds or other bird seed mixture of your choice
1 cups organic whole grain flour
1 cup dried fruit (chopped)

Melt the tallow and peanut butter (if using) on medium heat in a large saucepan.

Add whole grain flour to the melted tallow mixture, whisking until well blended.

Remove from heat.

Add the seeds and chopped dried fruit, stirring until well coated.

Spread the mixture evenly into a large cake pan or baking dish, lined with wax paper.**

Chill until solid, but not frozen.

Cut mixture into 6 squares, wrapping and freezing individually to store.

*Be sure to use natural peanut butter, as the more typical versions have a lot of sugar and added preservatives

**The seeds will float to the top, but if you stir the mixture a second time, before it is completely solid, it will help to mix it more evenly

These little beauties fit perfectly into the typical baskets designed for store-bought suet cakes, and they make great Christmas gifts! It makes me feel better knowing that the food I am providing isn't full of ingredients that the birds don't need, and the birds love them!

Mmmmm Dinner...

On the menu tonight...

Vegetable Beef Soup & Fresh Baked Dinner Rolls

All from scratch, all organic, all delicious!!!

We eat good around here...

Fall Vegetables...

I just finished harvesting the last of the carrots from the garden. I got almost 10 pounds this year, and it really didn't take up that much space in the raised beds! I roasted a chicken the other night, and now I have leftover chicken, onions and fresh carrots simmering for chicken and dumplings tonight.

Homemade chicken stock smells AMAZING!!

I also have the carcass boiling away with the leftover onions and brussels sprouts from the first dinner, as well as the stems from the herbs I cut from the herb garden and added to the chicken and dumplings. This stock will go into the freezer to cook with later. I love that I can get 3 good meals (that serve 4 people!) from just 1 chicken and some veggies from the garden!

I also bought my first pumpkin of the season last weekend! I love pumpkin, and I hope that someday soon it will grow in my own garden, but for now I was just happy to see it on the grocery store shelf! There are so many ways to cook it, and the flavor is adaptable to most any dish or seasoning. This one will be roasted and pureed, most likely, and eaten with just a touch of salt and pepper.

Do you have a favorite fall vegetable that you look forward to all summer?

Fall Harvesting with the Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener!

Its harvest time for The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener! Check out their latest video... and look for Woodside Gardens to be featured a little over halfway through!!

Funny how we develop routines without even realizing...

If you will look at this blog post from almost exactly 1 year ago, http://woodsidegardens.blogspot.com/2010/09/you-know-its-fall-when.html , you will find almost my exact dinner for tonight!  I just added some chicken to the pan this time!  Some things never change!

I made Crabbapple/Wild Blueberry Jam today, with apples from my sister's tree and berries my mom picked up north.  I also managed to make a batch of Mint Jelly, with the last of the mint from my herb garden.  We added some food coloring, at my son's request, and it is a very yummy emerald green!

The garden is officially put away for the year, as we have had a hard frost the last two nights in a row.  All the raised beds have compost and steer manure covering them, which will be turned into the soil in the spring.  The new compost pile has been started, and I covered the clematis, which isn't supposed to make it through the Alaskan winter, with old leaves from the edge of the yard.  I also put some of the leaves in a burlap rice bag and put that over the top of the whole thing.  I'm not holding my breath, but we will see if it works!

I didn't post any pictures of the garden this time, as I'm not sure you all want to see a bunch of bare raised beds full of compost and steer crap, but I'll take some if you want them!

A quick, photographic update on Woodside Gardens the last 2 months...

Snow on the horizon...

Looking out my window this morning, I can't help but notice the snow that is slowly creeping its way down the mountains.  Although the last few days of rain and cloud cover have produced some warmer fall temperatures, there is no denying that winter is knocking at the front door.  Its time to finish up the garden, clean up the yard, and make any repairs to the house that have been pushed to the back burner.  Its the time for baked squash, yummy fall soups, and the family favorite around here, pot roast with roasted root vegetables.

I have mostly stopped eating red meat, as I find that it sits in my stomach like a rock for far too long, but I'm not going to deny the rest of my family the option.  I just make myself something different on the days I make roast for the rest of my family.  Do you make more than one meal at night, to satisfy the different tastes at the dinner table?

Emergencies, and why we aren't as prepared as we think we are...

This weekend was a big eye opener for my family and I.  Friday night we lost power, due to the unusually high winds sending an unusually high number of trees into the power lines.  No big deal, right?  We've weathered lots of power outages before!  They never last more than a few hours, and we have lots of candles and blankets.

Saturday morning came, and we were still without power.  Hmm.  We don't own a generator.  The 6 year old keeps forgetting to NOT flush the toilet, and now we have no water.  Should we try to find a generator?  Nah, the power will surely be back on in a few hours!

Saturday night, still no power.  DON"T OPEN THE FREEZER!!!  I have hundreds of dollars worth of food in the freezer, and if it thaws out, we're in trouble.  And its getting really cold in here.  Its 36 degrees outside.

Sunday morning, still no power.  The house is very cold, and everything in the refrigerator is spoiled, including all the green beans I just harvested from the garden and hadn't had a chance to process yet.  Husband decided that we have to get a generator NOW.  Off to town we go, and had to look at 6 stores to find one.  Imagine that, we weren't the only ones who decided we should get one!  $800.00 later, we're on our way home, sure that the power will be on now that we spent all that money.  Thank God we aren't burdened by credit cards any longer and had money in savings to pay cash.

What the Hell?!  Now its SNOWING!!!

Back at home, the power still isn't on, so we get the generator running, and get the fridge, freezer and furnace plugged in by running extension cords through the kitchen window..  No well pump, as we aren't wired to switch it easily to generator power.  If it was colder out, the well lines would all be frozen by now.  We all took baby-wipe baths and snuggled in to watch a movie on the little TV that we plugged into the generator.  If we hadn't gotten the generator, the freezers would be thawing by now. 

We ran the generator all night last night.  At 5:15 the alarm went off.  Time for Rob to get ready for work.  UGH.  But then, a flash and a buzz, and on came the power!  Yahoo!!!  It was off for a total of 60 hours.  If we hadn't left early Sunday to get the generator, they would have been all sold out and we would have been out of luck.

Top 5 things I learned from this ordeal...

1. Canning my produce, and even as much meat as I can, is a very good idea.  The freezer is not a dependable food storage solution.

2. This is ALASKA.  You need backup power.  Dependable back up power.  And you need the house wired for that backup power.

3. Kids get scared when the power goes off, even if they say they are fine.

4. Have emergency funds.  Since we don't have credit cards (thank God) we would have been in a much worse situation if we had no way to buy the generator and emergency food and fuel.

5. I want a woodstove.  You can heat with it AND cook with it.

First frost, but still harvesting!

It officially frosted here for the first time last night.  There was a very thin sheet of ice on the windshield this morning, and the temp read 33.8 when I woke up.  Realizing that I still had green beans to pick, I made my way out to the garden as soon as the sun warmed things up a bit, expecting the worst.  I was delighted to find most of the green beans still in pristine condition!  I pulled each plant, one by one, and picked all the beans off, setting the bare plant to the side.  I plan on letting the plants wither a bit, then I will chop them up and till them back into the soil to provide some added nourishment to next years squash plants.  I picked about 3 quarts of green beans in all!  And as an added bonus, I got about 30 small tomatoes that were still thriving as well (green, of course).

I still have 2 large cabbages to pick, a few brussels sprouts, and lots of kale and turnip greens.  They all do fine with a little frost, so I will hold off a bit longer for them.

So, how do I feel about the success of this years garden?  Over all, things went very well!  I will grow more green beans next year for sure, and lots of summer squash, although the squash will NOT be under plastic.  It just got too humid, especially with all the rain we had, and the mold ruined what could have been a bumper crop.  Tomatoes and cucumbers will be back in the greenhouse next year, where they belong.  I will grow fewer cabbages, lots more broccoli and turnips, and plenty of spinach and kale.  I will NOT be growing brussels sprouts next year, or eggplant.  I think I will try artichokes as my experimental crop, and potatoes are on the list as well.

Are you still harvesting from your garden?  What has been your biggest success/failure this year?

You know its fall when...

The pumpkins have arrived at the grocery store!  I got so excited when I walked into the produce section today, and of course I had to take one home!  Tonight's dinner is featuring roasted pumpkin, eggplant and brussels sprouts.  This stuff is so good I can't begin to describe it here.  The sweetness of the pumpkin goes so beautifully with the eggplant, and roasted brussels sprouts will complement almost anything!  I LOVE fall time!

Great Day in the Garden!

I plopped Lily in the stroller today, determined to get some vegetables out of the garden before the first frost, which I anticipate to be any day. 

None of the tomatoes were red, but I picked them anyway, as one frost will destroy them, and they ripen quite nicely on the counter top anyway.  

 There were many more cucumbers than I expected, even several hiding amongst the tomatoes!  

 And the greenbeans, ah, the greenbeans...  I got a ton, and left a ton, figuring that I will probably get one more harvest out of them.

I also have 3 more cabbages to harvest, as well as turnip greens and lots of kale.  The brussels sprouts are very small, and don't expect much of a return on them, but we will at least get a few!  The chard is growing now, which is interesting, since it didn't grow an inch all summer!  The peas are ready to harvest again too, which I will do in a few days.  All in all, I would say that this garden has been rather successful, considering it is only year 1.  Next year will be that much better!

Harvest in full swing!

Despite the month long cold/wet spell we had, my garden is providing surprisingly well for me.  Yesterday I harvested 3 more quarts of snap peas, which I steam blanched and put in the freezer.  I got several summer squashes as well.  I decided to go ahead and pull up all the squash plants, as I was still fighting the gray mold issue, although the ones I harvested today were ok.  After I pulled the squash vines, to my GREAT surprise, I pulled out a cucumber hiding in the back that is as big as my forearm!  Holy Moly, where did that thing come from?!  There are LOTS of other cucumbers as well which are looking healthy and delicious.

The eggplant is very close to opening its first buds, which I assume means I WON"T be getting any actual eggplants this year again.  I'll let them keep growing until the frost kills them anyway, because the blossoms are quite lovely.  The tomatoes are growing like crazy, but I have no red ones yet.  They will probably have to be brought inside to ripen... no worries there.

I officially ate my first green beans yesterday as well.  They are growing FAST!  I will have to pick the first batch this week for sure, and probably a second by next week.  Dilly Beans here we come!  I'll be freezing as many as I can get my hands on as well.

The Brussels Sprouts are sprouting, the cabbages are almost ready to split, and the Broccoli is seeding, attracting all sorts of beautiful insects to its blossoms.  I pulled most of the lettuce as it is finally going to seed, and the Kale is looking awesome!  I'll wait until after the first frost to process that.

I don't think I'll get any turnips out of the second batch, but it looks like there will be plenty of greens to harvest yet.

I'm sitting here this morning, watching the fog which was a thick as pea soup slowly burn off and make way for what appears to be some sunshine!  I might even get a load of clothes out on the laundry line today!  Fall is most definitely in the air... I can feel it and smell it.  Almost time to turn on the heater!

Home improvements!!!

My wonderful husband had to listen to me whine all last winter about how I had no light in my kitchen. He decided that he wasn't going to listen to it again, now that it is getting much darker outside. So, last weekend, he fixed the problem!!!





This is my newly updated kitchen! If you look at the ceiling on the right, that one little recessed light is the only light I had! It was horrible! We added a few cheap under-the-cabinet lights last year, but, you get what you pay for! They sucked, and didn't last very long. Last weekend he installed a range hood with 4 lights, the 3 red pendant lights above the bar, and the track lighting in front of the cabinets. I can see!!! I have such a wonderful husband!


And just because she is so darned cute... here is a picture of Lily that I took this morning. 4 months old already, can you believe it?!




We still haven't gotten the first snow of the season... it has been raining a lot, but it just isn't cold enough yet. I really am wishing for snow now that the leaves have all fallen from the trees. Patience is difficult this time of year.

I am officially never buying store-bought laundry detergent again. I am so happy with my homemade detergent, it even works well in my High Efficiency washing machine! The clothes feel softer and cleaner than with regular detergent, and I can take comfort in the fact that I'm not loading up my family with all those unnecessary chemicals. I haven't tried the vinegar as a fabric softener yet, because with this soap the clothes are already really soft, but I will give it a try with the next load of towels I wash, just because I am curious. I am still doing my cleaning with vinegar and baking soda, and I am really happy with the change. Are any of you using natural cleaning products, or do you have any recipes for them that you want to share?

Fall seems to be taking its time this year...

What a beautiful fall we have had this year. I can't believe how long it has taken for all the leaves to drop. The colder weather came on rather quickly, but the last week or so has actually warmed back up a bit, with the temperatures staying in the 40s. It has been raining a lot, and I'm a bit worried that its going to be another year where it rains until December. That is NO fun. I've mostly given up on the fall garden preparation for the year. I got one of the weedy beds tilled under to try and kill the weeds, but I'll have to wait until next spring to add the compost and steer manure. Oh well, you do what you can. I have lots of ambitions, but truth be told, my 4 month old is just taking most of my time, and those ambitions will just have to wait a bit.

We broke down and finally got a dehumidifier for the house, and I'm so glad we did! The average indoor humidity was a whopping 77% and the windows were all starting to grow mold. The dehumidifier has been running for 3 days now, and I've already pulled about 6 gallons of water out of the air. Amazing! The less humid air feels so much warmer, and even my husband commented on what a difference it was.

I have been starting to expand my homemaking skills some more. This week, I successfully learned to make laundry detergent, and have switched to vinegar solutions for cleaning, rather than the normal chemicals you find in the cleaning supply isle. What a difference! I think that the diluted vinegar actually works better, and doesn't leave a lingering smell like most commercial products do. This winter I want to really focus on getting the chemicals out of my home. I don't want them in my food, so why would I want them in my air?

Lily is getting big... its hard to believe she is 4 months old already. She is still nursing exclusively right now, but she'll be starting solid foods in a few months. I need to start learning to make baby food, as I don't want to feed her the preservative-laden baby food you find at the stores. Our veggies that we get from our CSA (which I LOVE) are strictly organic, so we are off to a good start. I think I will invest a little money in a good quality baby food mill. I'm sure that in the long run, I'll be glad I did.

Build it up, then tear it all down...

I got quite a bit of the garden situated for winter today. I have only 2 more beds to tear down before the snow flies. The zucchini/bean bed is waiting patiently for me... and the snap peas are still blooming. We had a really hard frost last night, so I won't be able to harvest peas for very much longer, but right now they are sweet and wonderful!

I finally turned on the main heater in the house, but set it at 66F and turn it back off during the day, like the fireplace. Winter is coming, like it or not!

Brrrrrrr!

It is most definitely getting colder outside. Earlier this week, the air changed. It went from cool summer air, to cold crisp fall air. You can smell the snow creeping down the mountain, and it is getting downright COLD at night. I still haven't turned the heater on yet. I've been baking every day and the heat from the oven is still enough to keep the house warm enough. I have turned on the fireplace in the bedroom the last 2 nights, but that's more for being cozy than for being cold. I am really a cheapskate when it comes to heating fuel. My husband hates it, and secretly turns up the heat when he thinks he can get away with it, but I always turn it right back down! I figure, especially with fuel prices the way they are these days (gasoline is running $3.36 a gallon right now, and heating fuel isn't far behind...) our pocketbooks will thank us if we just put on a sweater. Lily has lots of cute, warm footie pajamas that will keep her warm, and Stephen likes it a little cooler like I do.

I have been letting the dogs stay in the house for most of the day now. Boss is almost 10 and has cancer. The cold last year nearly crippled him. I honestly don't think he will make it through another winter. That's a hard thing to come to terms with. I rescued Boss when he was 8 months old, and he has been the best dog I have ever known. I'll just keep him comfortable as long as I can, and know in my heart that that old dog had a good life because of me. He used to go on sleep-overs to Stephen's cousin's house. I have pictures of them in bed with Boss snuggled up under the covers, happy as a clam, and twice the size of the kids!

My husband mentioned that we might get another dog when Boss passes on, but honestly, I don't think I want to. Lady is quite a handful, although she is getting more mellow as she gets older (finally!) I do need a dog for protection around here, but Lady is 140 pounds, and can do the job quite nicely on her own. She is quite fond of scaring the crap out of tresspassers! She is not mean at all, but they don't know that when she walks up to them and looks them in the eye, and is the same size as them! She has the intimidation thing down nicely... she gets about 3 feet away and just stares! (We don't have tresspassers all that often any more, but it was a real problem last year... mostly punks on four-wheelers or snowmachines tearing up the driveway, with no concept of private property or respecting the rights of others.)

All in all, life is good here at Woodside Gardens. We are content and happy, and ready for the change of seasons. Lots of stuff to do around the house still before the snow flies, but that seems to be a never ending chore, and sure to get worse once the chickens are here. I have all winter to convince Rob to build that chicken coop in the spring!

Its official!

There is officially frost on my car this morning! Autumn is here, snow will not be far behind. Bring it on!!!

No luck this year...

Rob is still out hunting, but is getting ready to head back home. Looks like no moose this winter. Its a bit disappointing, but since this was his first year hunting, it isn't all that surprising. It would have been nice to have moose in the freezer, along with the salmon that we depend on every winter, but maybe we'll have the opportunity next year. Rob did say that next year he is entering for the permits for the land close to our home, so he can go every evening. We see so many moose on our road, it is much more likely that he will get one that way. That is one of the things I love about living where I live. My road goes back into the wilderness for several miles before you see any sort of civilization. There is wildlife everywhere! I see fox, moose, bear, owl, eagle, porcupine, spruce hen (stupid road chickens), or hawk etc etc, most every day that I leave the house. In Alaska, you don't have to go far to find the untamed country, and many of us, like me, are lucky enough to live right in the middle of it!

I got out most of my "fall" decorations this weekend. The subtle colors in my house have changed to the oranges, browns, reds and greens of the season. I don't go overboard, but the little changes make a difference in the feel of things. Everything is just a little more cozy today than yesterday. And I even turned on the fireplace in my bedroom for the first time since early spring! I turn my heat off completely in May every year, and the first time the fireplace comes back on is a sure sign of things to come. It will still be a few weeks, however, before I turn the main heater back on... have to conserve energy as much as I can!

I baked the first pumpkin pie of the season last night, made from fresh pumpkin rather than canned (of course.) Pumpkin is something I would eventually like to grow in my garden, but I think I will have to build a raised bed designed especially for this lovely orange orb. Next year I am building the raspberry beds, so maybe I will put in a pumpkin patch the following year. One step at a time, my garden will get bigger and bigger! Living on gravel like I do gives me the unique opportunity to situate my garden exactly how I want it, where I want it, which is kind of exciting! I wonder what my yard will look like ten years from now!