Bells of the North Homestead

BIG SEED GIVEAWAY ~~ UPDATE ~~ The following seeds are free for the asking. Just ask. Acorn Squash Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Marina di Chioggia Kabocha Squash Delicata Squash Carnival (also heard it called Festival) Squash Galeux D'eysines Red Russian Kale Casaba Melon Santa Claus Melon Most of these I have either grown myself and harvested from the fruit or I purchased the fruit at a local vendor and then saved the seeds.  So far I have had massive successes with germination and growth for most of these seeds.  All of these seeds are no more than one year old. Due to high demand, the tomatoes are now GONE!   I still have loads to share of the others though! Also, keep in mind when making your list up and thinking of postage that if you would like all the seeds on this list it will fit into approximately 3 small envelopes.  I want to help keep the cost down to both you and I, especially during these more turbulent economic time...

Its commonly said "Third times the charm". Well this seems to apply to a plant that I have tried to grow for some time. Jiaogulan. (jee-ow goo lan) Also called Southern Ginseng and The Herb of Immortality or in China, Xiancao.  Jiaogulan is a native to Southern China and is part of the Cucurbitaceae family which means its actually related to the cucumber and pumpkin family and like many other healthful plants out there, this plant too is considered to be a weed.  It is reported in several different sources that in this has been used medicinially for over 600 years in China and can be attibuted to the unusual longetivity of residents in the Guizhou Province.  I actually tried growing this about a year and a half ago and thanks to fungas gnats, and an environment that was much to its DISLIKE, it died.  I think for the first time it was actually the combination of too many gnats, too much cold, on the floor, not enough light. So I tried again. And it died....

Who likes free stuff? I know I do! Okay, well.  I did an inventory of our entire seed bank and found we have a lot of extra seeds. Now, I do have to say, this offer is not exactly free.  There is a cost somewhat. Like last years Black Futsu Seed giveaway the only thing I ask on this one is that if you are interested you must cover the postage. This means, unlike last year when people sent me a self addressed envelope with postage included (.45 postage on one envelope, .45 on self addressed envelope. .90 grand total), you will only have to send .46 to me via Paypal. If you prefer you still can send me a self addressed envelope with postage but I suggest the Paypal method to save a bit of $$$ and I did have quite a few people report that they sent me envelopes that I never received. I will cover the cost of envelopes. If you are interested in this offer you can email me. If you are interested in getting some almost free seeds this is all I ask. Email me your add...

As usual, when I haven't written in a while it's almost always difficult.  I feel the panic rise as I think "OH MY where do I begin?" So, where do I begin? Three weeks ago we started our first sets of seeds.  These ones were the ones we already had on hand and also the ones we knew would be the more difficult to start.  Several types of bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes and eggplant. Yes, we started early but each year, like many other gardeners out there, we strive to learn from our mistakes.  Previous years we started seeds in the wrong places, we started seeds too late, and we did not provide enough light for the poor little things to flourish and grow. So this year we decided to start them a bit early and this time we also tried one other new tactic. Newspaper  pots!  We've tried plastic cups with holes in the bottom, buying the pots at Home Depot or Lowes, and we've even saved some of the seedling trays we've gotten when we've bought seedli...

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...

Today I said goodbye to a dear friend of mine.  Eighteen years ago we found her in a humane society office outside of Junction City, Kansas.  She was tiny, very young, maybe only a few weeks old, gray colored with white paws that looked as if she had dipped each one in flour.  It looked like she had mittens on her paws. So, we brought her home and named her Mittens. She and I became good friends as I learned her meows, what her favorite foods were, and some of her little quirks that, of course, we all have.  We moved from house to house around Kansas because the military kept putting us in older housing and then would require us to move.  She began to really hate the sound of packing paper and tape. I still recall to this day, when I came home after visiting my husband during his mid tour leave in Hawaii, I was tired, jet lagged and worn down.  Yet after saying goodbye to my husband and knowing that I wouldn't see him for another 6 months, that it was ...

We did it.  We finished our September challenge!  And since we did not spend a single dollar during the last weekend of September (other than gas and eating out because we did not know we'd be away from home so long on Sunday) we finished the month spending a grand total of....$53.83 at local grocery stores and $432.52 at local farms, farmers markets, dairys and chicken or beef producers.  Total for a family of three for 30 days: $486.35 Had we removed some of the items that we purchased to help us stock up for the winter, this final number would have been more near $350.00. Some people claim that "But It costs so much to eat healthy!"  Well here you go.  It cost us $486.35 for the entire month and we were eating pretty darn healthy and we were stocking up our larder for the winter!  Fresh produce, straight from the farm, fresh milk straight from the dairy, fresh delicious eggs with buttery orange yolks, wonderful, tasty pasture raised chicken...