Pass The Mayo

I like to consider myself an urban homesteader. I grow, bake, make, dig, clean, I love my chickens and I have way more than my city allows( I'm lucky my neighbors are so infatuated with my feathery girls), we are getting honey bees, looking into growing our own pork, and I have already started certain seeds so their growing season will be prolonged. Anyways, I like making things that others are content buying at the store. So, I decided I wanted to make mayo. It's healthier, much cheaper, and I can customize the taste to my exact preference. Also, the ingredients are basic and usually always in my fridge! I've tried a couple of recipes and found one that works for us! Here it is, friends!




* 2 large yolks
* 1 teaspoon mustard (I used Dijon)
* 4 teaspoons lemon juice (I used 1 teaspoon lime, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, and 2 teaspoons lemon juice)
* 1 cup vegetable oil (I used half olive oil and half vege oil)
* Coarse salt and ground pepper (sometimes I even toss in garlic powder)

1. Place yolks in food processor (or Kitchen aid)
2. Add mustard and lemon juice. Pulse ingredients until well combined.
3. With motor running, slowly add oil in an even stream (mixture should become thick and emulsified) and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Put in small jar and seal with lid for up to 1 to 1 1/2 weeks.

WE love this recipe! Chicken salad has never tasted so great! And dont be afraid to add sun dried tomatoes, pesto, balsamic vinegar, or curry! The possibilities are endless!

Happy Homesteading!

Plans, Plans, and More Plans

It's January, it's cold, but it's not too early to start thinking of planning your garden. When the winter months rolled around, I'd get so depressed. All I could think about were the dead plants, the lifeless ground, and buying produce from the store. Luckily, one day wisdom came down from above and I actually use this chilly time as a time of rest and research. Gardening is A LOT of work. It's definitely a labor of and those of who who haven't gardened or don't think it's involved...talk to me after class. Gardening is sort of like marriage, if you don't put work in, you wont get very much out (forget the plants that can be planted and left alone and somehow seem to thrive.) 

Anyways, expect some labor and expect lots of love! 

This year, considering we just bought our first home, I am planning a mecca of greens, pinks, purples, yellows, and white GALORE! I have big plans, really BIG plans. I probably wont see most of them born into life this season, but they are there and they give me daily inspiration for making the yard an extension of our home. 

This year I am excited to try my hand at growing cut flowers and edible flowers (more to come on that) as well as, fruit trees, and heirloom veggies (my absolute favorite). 

A few new varieties I am excited to try are: 

Charentais Melon

Green Macerata Califlower

Violetta Fava Beans

Garden Huckleberry

Heirloom Tomatoes (Green Zebra Heirloom pictured)

Desiree Dwarf Garden Peas

Those are just a few! 

So sit down, write down your ideas, plans, and dreams for your garden! This is a great time to read up on each item, get to know it, and decide where you'll place it. Look up diy trellis ideas for your peas, moonflowers, or runner beans, or the most efficient and space savvy way to grow mounds of red and yellow potatoes. 

Oh, the excitement!  

Have questions, just ask! 

Happy planning, friends!

* I purchase my seeds from Baker Seed Company

Straw Bale Gardening

Straw Bale Gardening

I haven't posted in a long time...and for that, I am sorry. However, I've been busy gardening and collecting perennials, berry bushes, and other lovelies that provide beauty as well as nutrition! So here it goes...the shorter version of what it means to Straw Bale Garden and the pros of this gardening option.

First off, I recommend buying a book on this! Mine, gifted to me by my lovely mother-in-law, helped me out so much! The book is called: Straw Bale Gardens

1st off, this method is a good one if you have to move mid season, like us. We were supposed to be in the home we are buying, but due to complication, the date was pushed farther back. As a gardener, this is your worst nightmare. But I wasn't going to let a delay stop me! So, when it is time to move ask a few really strong men, and I mean REALLY STRONG, to move these guys onto a truck, and cart them to their new destination.

2nd, this is a quick way to get a garden prepared. It's a 15 day process of watering, fertilizing, and allowing the heat of the Spring sun to decompose the inside straw, creating a warm, bacteria infested safe place for your green beauties. 

3rd, straw helps weed your garden for you! Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Weeds cant really grow and break through the straw, therefore creating a weed-free zone! 

4th, I like the way it looks. 

5th, when the season is over you can add the decomposing, loose straw bales to your compost bin! What was that? Reduce, reuse, recycle? 

So there it is folks! My garden, thus far is doing well! 

Take a look below.

Sugar baby melon, purple beauty pepper, and broccoli.

Acorn squash and yellow zucchini, as well as corn in a block formation to promote pollination. 

This looks sad, but I added more bean plants and pea plants....because this was the day my lovely ducks devoured all of my pea and bean plants that I started from seed. Good thing they're so cute!

3 types of heirloom black and striped tomatoes and lemon cucumbers. This homemade trellis promotes vertical growth and saves space, as well as keeping the veges off of the ground, away from pests and nosy ducks and chickens.

There it is friends! Comment with any questions and happy Tuesday!

Natural Easter Egg Dye

Easter is fast approaching...as in 2 days away! Every year my parents bought dozens of eggs and the each of us would go to town, dipping, dotting, and swirling our beloved white eggs in the vast ranges of brilliant colors. If you cant tell with all of the adjectives, this is one of my fondest memories as a child! However, this year I wanted to switch it up! Instead of buying fake dyes, I though, "I'll make my own!" That way I can use the veggies and fruits I use to get my dyes from, can go straight into my compost pile. So here is the recipe, the process, and bits here and there I learned from my first time of making natural dyes!

Take 3-4 cups of water, 3-4 cups of preferred veggie or fruit, add 2 tablespoons white vinegar, and boil it down for about 30 minutes. I sort of added and subtracted as I went along, so do what works for you! After you make the dyes, take out the veggies and fruits, and start dipping your eggs!

What I Used:

Pink/Red- Blackberries (Other options: red onion peel or raspberries)

Blue/Indigo- Cabbage (Cabbage makes a dye less blue and more indigo, beautiful nonetheless!)

Yellow- Tumeric (instead of 4 cups of veggies, use 4 tablespoons of your preferred spice)

Orange- Cayenne and Chili Powder (I mixed the two)

Brown- Coffee (I did one in a brown, realized it was like my farm fresh eggs and decided to dip it in purple!)

Note: Spinach is supposed to make green, however for me....it did not. Give it a try, though!

A piece of advice, these dyes are organic so they aren't as bright as the store bought dyes. To make my dyes more potent, I put the eggs in the pot, and reheated the dye, and let them sit till they reached the color I wanted.

Empty or Hard boiled?

I put a hole at the top and the bottom of my eggs, and blew out the yoke. This way I have empty egg shells that will last as long as I keep them safe and dont drop them!

But if you want to hard boil them, put your eggs in a pot of boiling water and boil them for about 15 minutes.

Take a look at the pictures below to see the process from start to finish!

Egg, meet nail.

Softly blow on the top of the egg, and the insides of the egg should come out of the bottom, where the second hole is. 

And do that till your cheeks hurt, and your dozen eggs should be empty! Now let them dry for about 30 minutes!

After you've boiled down your veggies, fruits, and spices, start dipping (and dip as many times as you'd like)! I put mine back in the egg carton, to dry, for about 30 minutes. 

The beautiful array of colors...mind you, I dipped these each about 10 times!

Put them in plants, in a bowl, wherever! 

My favorite. It looks like an egg from outer space, and to think that color and marbling is all natural! 

Happy Easter and happy dipping! 

Have questions? Feel free to ask or comment! 

Sneak Peak Of What's To Come

This week, my husband and I are going to make our own Easter egg dye!

 Wanna know how?!

Well, check back tonight for an easy recipe that takes no time at all!

Make Your Own Compost

Compost is a critical addition to your garden. And believe it or not, it's really easy to make! Just make sure you have a large bin to start it in! 

The key to great compost is a balance between the green nitrogens and the brown carbons! The ratio of nitrogen to carbon is 30:1.

Take a look at this awesome guide sheet, provided by Urban Farm! Not only does it tell you whats acceptable to put in your compost, but it also has a table to write down the date of when you last turned your compost pile!

I love it!

Click here for the actual downloadable sheet.

Feel free to ask any questions!

Happy Wednesday!

The Varieties of Life

The varieties of vegetables is, well, endless.

There's purple broccoli, strawberry spinach, etc.

Varieties are a great way to explore plants, and which ones most prefer your zone and which are most preferred by your family.

This year, I am really excited to grow Strawberry Spinach, which is a type of spinach that grows red little berries. Meaning this entire plant can be used in a summer salad!

I'm also excited to try purple sprouting broccoli.

I think that's what I love most about my plants...the possibilities and differences.

God is good for creating more than just one kind of vegetable, he gives us choices

Here is a chart I use to not only learn, but explore different vegetable varieties and then go to my local nursery to see if they have that type of variety, if not, I go to Baker Creek Seeds, for heirloom and non-GMO seeds.

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Click here and view this chart with the option to zoom!

Take a look and enjoy!

Must Have Mulch

mulch

  [muhlch]

noun

1.

a covering, as of straw, compost, or plastic sheeting, spread on the ground around plants to preventexcessive evaporation or erosion, enrich the soil, inhibit weed growth, etc.

verb (used with object)

2.

to cover with mulch.

Origin: 
1650–60;  noun use of obsolete mulch  (adj.), Middle English molsh  soft, Old English myl ( i ) sc  mellow;cognate with dialectal German molsch  soft, overripe

                                                                                                                                           

I never understood the point or possibilities of adding mulch to my garden, when I first started out. As the years passed, and my gardens continued to grow in square footage, and a small hobby became a passion, I immersed myself in research and found out just how important mulch really is, to your garden. 

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Why you need mulch:

1) Mulch retains water and keeps the moisture in, making it easier on you when it comes to watering, and it keeps your plants much happier. 

2) Mulch retains the sun light, and keep your plants warm. Warmth and moisture is a beautiful things when it comes to a prolific garden.

3) Mulch can be an attractive addition to your garden (As if the beautiful fruits of your labor aren't enough!)

4) Mulch, such as grass clippings and brown leaves, break down quickly supplying your plants with plenty of organic carbon.

5) Mulch is a lovely reason to reuse your grass clippings, old leaves, old bark, compost, etc. 

Reuse, reduce, recycle my friends!

Different types of mulch:

1) Shredded bark, this type of mulch breaks down relatively slow and takes nitrogen from the soil as it decomposes, so make sure to use an organic fertilizer to replace the nitrogen. Other than that, this type of mulch is relatively inexpensive and can really add beauty to the ground of your garden!

2) Grass clippings, this type of mulch is great! As it breaks down it adds nitrogen to the soil, which as you may or may not know, nitrogen is very important to any vegetable garden. One thing with grass clippings, make sure its relatively dry before spreading a thin layer on your garden floor, or it will rot as it decomposes. 

3) Compost, this type of mulch is my personal favorite. I love an excuse to reuse my kitchen waste.   Compost has the most nutrients in it, and gives more to the plants than any other type of mulch, and that's why this remains my preferred type of mulch.

There are other types of mulch, but these 3 are the most common and most efficient!

Click here for more information on the useful and efficient mulch!

See the importance of mulch? Start a compost bin this Spring and use it for your garden or buy some at your local garden center!

If you have questions about mulch, or comments, feel free to leave them and I will respond as soon as I can! 

Happy Thursday, friends!

Highly Recommended

If you're looking for a company that purely boasts heirloom seeds, I have just the company for you!

Bakers Creek Seeds

Their packaging is adorable, their seeds are the purest of quality, and their prices are so decent for heirloom seeds!

This company has seed vaults, designed to specifically keep their heirloom seeds safe and preserved. 

Bottom line, I love this company!

Check them out!

Spring's To-Do's

If you're in zone 5, this post relates to you!

It's officially Spring, and if you have a green thumb, like myself, you're absolutely itching to start priming and preparing your garden for the Summer season to come, and even if you aren't, and this is your first year at giving a garden a go, then this information should be really helpful!

Here is a list of the things you should start working on within the next few weeks!

1) Start your crops that love the warmth, such as: tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, inside in seed starting cups. You can use egg cartons, store-bought biodegradable seed pots, or styrofoam cups. Use a light and nutrient rich soil for your seed starter containers. Some put grow lights on seedling starts, I never have and they've always been just fine! But you bet when the sun peaks it's head from the clouds, I put my seed starts outside for a bit. 

Note: Make sure you keep your seed starts fairly moist. They need the moisture to properly germinate.

Thus far I've started: all types of beans, peas, tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage, kohlrabi, eggplant, peppers, broccoli, all herbs, and corn. As some of these are cold weather crops, they love the spring water and cooler temperatures, so they can be prematurely started.

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2) You can start annual flowers such as marigolds and zinnias, inside if you'd rather start them by seed and save a lot, rather than buy a pack that's already been started for you, at almost triple the price. Trust me, it's totally worth growing your veggies and flowers from seed! It's the best waking up to new sprouts or extended heights of your itty bitty plants!

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3) Tie up any ornamental grasses and cut them with a sharp knife, a ways back, this stimulates growth!

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4) After you've worked your soil, start planting the following, straight into your garden: potatoes, radishes, carrots, lettuce, and peas. 

Note: Make sure you've planned out your garden before you randomly plant these first vegetables. The placement of plants are very important to the well being of your garden. For example, dill should never be placed next to corn or tomatoes, actually most vegetable plants because they attract predator wasps and several crawlers that will destroy and infect your garden. Another example, a great way to save room in your vege garden is to plant a row of corn and in between each plant, plant squash which will take up the floor space, and then beans which will crawl up trellis's which should be placed behind corn. This fits 3 veggies into 1 row(known as the Three Sisters Garden, a technique used by the Native Americans).

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5) Towards the end of the month, you can usually start transplanting big enough seeds starts of squash beans and tomatoes, out into your garden. Make sure you put covers over them at night, in case the temperature drops. Also, make sure to fill the hole with warm water before you transfer your plant from the seed start pot, to the ground. 

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Well, that's about it! Feel free to message me or comment with more questions!

Happy gardening, friends!