Bells of the North Homestead

Between the rose hips we have in our freezer from a year past, the wild blueberries that were just gifted to us from a wonderful friend, and a bag of rhubarb that was gifted to us from yet another wonderful friend, we have a lot of fruit and vegetables to use up, especially before that birch sap goes into the freezer next month! For more on that click on my blog  Foraging from Nature; Birch Syrup So this weekend we intend on turning all these bags into the following: Rhubarb Ginger Jam and Blueberry Lime Jam. Please keep in mind, these are all recipes I get from online, they are not mine.  I have posted a link to the original website with each recipe. Also a side note, I didn't get to the rose hip jam even though I have a picture of it in the bag.  Obviously that will be a task for another weekend! Rhubarb Ginger Jam It will make about 3 lbs INGREDIENTS 2lbs trimmed rhubarb, chopped 2lbs sugar Juice of 2 small lemons 1.75 tbsp fresh ginger 3.5 oz crystall...

Its officially week three into our safe planting time and we’re now harvesting baby kale greens, rapini (or also called Broccoli Rabe which is pronounced raab),  some lettuce, arugula, micro greens and oddly enough, mustard greens which were from last year.  They obviously reseeded themselves.   As of today I harvested our first two radishes, and wow, surprise, no sign of root maggots! Little victories! Our tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and watermelon are looking better than they ever did last year which gives me some hope that we’ll actually harvest something more than greens and potatoes this year.  As of today we have about five unripe tomatoes on the plants, most of which are all on the tomatoes in our greenhouse.  We have harvested our first bell pepper recently which came from one of the few plants we purchased from one of the many greenhouses here. I purchased two weekends ago  two white eggplants which I’m seriously hoping we see so...

I started making my own Kombucha tea over three years ago when I read about all the health benefits and I have to admit, only now I thought maybe I should write a bit more about it! Kombucha is simply green, white or other varieties of tea that are fermented, and after a few weeks turns into an effervescent healthy beverage.  It is fermented simply with a bacterial and yeast culture that sooner or later, in the right environment creates a SCOBY.  Scoby stands for Symbiotic Colony of Bacterial Yeasts.  The Scoby is not actually the main part of the kombucha tea, it is just a by product of the bacteria and yeasts at work. First, a bit of the history behind Kombucha tea.  Kombucha originated in Northeast China or Manchuria and later spread to Russia and from there to the rest of the world.  It was thought that this showed up in China as early as 206 BCE.  It became the norm over time to always share your extra kombucha tea and SCOBY mamas as this allows othe...

This is what happens when you have too many fresh apples on hand and you cannot store them by canning and you've already got more than enough dried as chips. Unusual fruit leather combinations. Today's experiment? Vanilla Chai (decaf) with molasses and apples. This idea came to me simply because we're running low on apple cider which I use in the crockpot as the apples are cooking down.  We add a bit of liquid here and there to make sure the apples or mixed fruit don't burn or stick too much. Suddenly the thought hit me.  How would a chai flavor mix with apples?  The way I figured it was if it didn't turn out delicious, well then Edward and I would probably be eating the finished product or we'd just throw it away.  It doesn't take too many apples to make a basic fruit leather so its not an absolute waste. The real positive to this is it uses very little ingredients. Apples Stash Vanilla Chai (decaf) Molasses I used two bags of the Stash tea ...

I'm going to keep this short and sweet.  I had a few extra tomatoes that I had already removed the skins off of, so these were going to a batch of tomato jam. I scoured around a bit on the internet and this one appealed to me most. Tomato Jam Yield: Varies depending on the kind of tomato used, pan width and the finished thickness* Ingredients 5 pounds tomatoes, finely chopped 3 1/2 cups sugar 8 tablespoons lime juice 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon red chili flakes Instructions Combine all ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce temperature to a simmer. Stirring regularly, simmer** the jam until it reduces to a sticky, jammy mess. This will take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours, depending on how high you keep your heat. When the jam has cooked down sufficiently, remove from heat and fill jars, leaving 1/4 inch of head space. Wipe rims, apply lids and twist on...

SALVE/sav/Noun:   An ointment used to promote healing of the skin or as protection. How many out here use Neosporin for your cuts and burns? How many out here would like to make your own salves with your own homegrown herbs for little to nothing? I do grow a lot of my own herbs. That's how I learned how to grow many of the fruits and vegetables that we grow now after all. Herbs are great for the novice gardener as most of them really do not want or need much attention. Think of weeds. For instance. Dandelion. Broadleaf Plantain. Chickweed. These are all plants that tend to propogate themselves freely in many yards, much to many homeowners dislike and yet every one of these is edible and actually useful to us. Herbs benefit from an almost lack of care usually so my garden usually has an odd assortment of both medicinal and culinary herbs. There are really three basic ingredients to any salve. Oil. 1 CUP. I really like Olive Oil the best as it tends to be the cheapest o...

UPDATE! I have one last batch of seeds left to give to any who would like them. Due to the overwhelming response I have nothing left other than Long Island Cheese Pumpkin seeds and I barely have much left of those!  These grow into gorgeous pumpkin like squash with brilliant orange flesh. Long Island Cheese pumpkins are very sweet and are great for making pies, breads or even soups.  This weekend I will probably be making a recipe I found on Southern Food.about.com to use up our one last Cheese Pumpkin (hence the reason I can offer a few more seeds!) Pumpkin Pecan Bread This recipe makes 3 loaves of pumpkin bread, perfect for gifts or holiday entertaining. Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes Ingredients: 3 cups sugar 4 large eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 1 (16-ounce) can pumpkin pureé 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ground...

How many of us go to the grocery store and pay for Vanilla Extract?  Raise your hands. Wait, no, never mind, because of course I cannot see you but if I could I would bet most of my readers here would raise their hands.  I know I normally would.  That is until recently when I discovered I could make my own Vanilla extract for use in baking and cooking and save a bit of $$$$ in the process.  This is just so easy that I cannot believe more do not do this.  Really. Why is it that so many things are actually pretty easy and yet we all believe they are difficult? Well except mayonnaise. I have yet to successfully tackle that one even with scores and scores of eggs down the drain or in the trash. Okay, now first and foremost.  Please keep in mind. I just started my bottles curing this weekend so I have yet to try out the finished product.  I cannot tell you yet what my thoughts are on the finished product that I have made.  I will be doing that in ...

Temperatures have finally begun to cool and we sigh a breath of relief.  The growing season is almost done which means our canning and preserving will now drop down to only small amounts each week. I cannot tell you how grateful I am though, that while there was so much work to do, each and every day, we now have so much more in our larder.  But even more, I have learned so much more this year about canning and preserving that it shocks me to think back to even four years ago.  We have tried so many new things this year, so many new recipes.  I'm just so glad that I have posted these here so that in several years from now I can retry these again later.   Next year we will not be canning or preserving to the extent we did this year as next year we will be moving. Whether it is due to a military Permanent Change of station (PCS) or retirement.  My husbands time of 20 years of serving his country in the US Army is about up and it's time for us to begin the...