THIS Pregnancy

I have been pretty quiet about my current pregnancy to this point, aside from announcing it the very day that I saw that double pink line that is. I think after multiple miscarriages there tends to be a fear of  "jinxing it." I had this very irrational idea that if I talked about my pregnancy before "x" number of weeks I would miscarry. Since joining a support group for pregnancy after loss I have learned that this feeling isn't unusual and now that I have reached that magical number, which for me was 16 weeks pregnant, I feel that I can talk about it. Actually reaching 16 weeks wasn't the milestone so much as reaching 16 weeks and hearing the heartbeat and having my midwife tell me the baby is a-okay. So, here is my pregnancy to this point:

I started my pregnancy with very high health expectations, drinking herbal pregnancy infusions, walking for exercise, and eating a rather balanced diet. Well, winter came and with it the morning sickness and I was lost in the land of Sick, Tired and Cranky. These symptoms were probably exacerbated by the fact that in my previous pregnancies I could consume dairy with abandon, which was my morning sickness cure of choice. With cow dairy a no-go and goat dairy a little too strong for my sensitive palate, I was left with occasional cravings for fast food, so long as I ate slowly, and cereal with almond milk. Sometimes I would find a food that worked for a few days but then I would throw it up and that made it inedible. It just became a matter of fact that the moment I walked into the kitchen I would start either dry-heaving or throw up in the sink. Amazingly in the six weeks that I had morning sickness I only lost 8 lbs.

Aside from dealing with morning sickness, one of the things that was very difficult for me was my dear, kind, well-meaning friends would always ask how I was feeling (every pregnant woman hears this a lot) and when I would say, quite honestly, "sick, miserable, etc." they would say "GREAT! That means the baby is going to stay." Here I would just like to make a public service announcement: Morning sickness doesn't guarantee that you won't miscarry. I was sick even with my missed miscarriage where the baby died at 10 weeks. I was sick even after the baby died and it wasn't until a few days before I miscarried, somewhere in week 12, that I was feeling better. It is hard to know what to say to any sick pregnant woman but sometimes "Can I bring you meal?" is the very best thing and is always music to my ears.

Sadly, Pinzey and Posie had to go. Their  previous owner graciously agreed to take them back, so while we were out our investment, I could relax in the knowledge that they were being groomed by someone who had the time, energy and expertise to do a good job. I felt so bad that I wasn't able to give those rabbits the grooming time that they needed and really, if you have angora rabbits, you should be grooming them at least once per week, preferably twice. Andrew and I have decided to make a pact that we will no longer indulge each other in micro-homesteading with animals (aside from the worms, of course) until we have a house with a nice sized back yard and no HOA.

On New Years Eve, at 13 weeks pregnant, we were able to hear the heartbeat for the first time and for Andrew, that was the biggest relief in the world. For me, it just did not feel real no matter how hard I tried, possibly because the worrisome cramping that I had been having the entire pregnancy had continued with no sign of stopping. At week 14 I magically started to feel better. It was like a miracle how much better I felt, and then the little flutters that I had started feeling in week 12 really started to feel like baby movement. During week 15 I felt the baby kick my hand from the outside and it was such a surprise and a delight.

Today my midwife came by for my 4 month check-up and once again we heard the heart beat. More impressive to me was that my uterus had grown so much in the three weeks since my midwife had last visited and the top of my fundus was only two fingers below my navel. I had thought to have been feeling kicks up that high but couldn't believe it since my uterus should still be about 4 fingers below my navel. It was very validating that what I am feeling really is my baby moving about. Also it means that what I have thought of as my "pudge" is actually a baby where I just thought I was bloated. Fun stuff!

There is my pregnancy thus far. I am hoping this winter hurries up and gets over with so I can get on with my spring gardening plans: Potatoes! In just a few weeks we will have our anatomy ultrasound and maybe get a peek and our baby's gender. Things to look forward to.

The End

Getting Ready to Make Pesto Before the First Frost

Happy New Year! December 31st was a sunny and warm day so to prepare for the new year I cleaned out my garden. I am still getting Swiss Chard and the carrots still look good but everything else is done. I think it is amazing that my garden was able to keep in production for so long. While we have had a relatively mild Fall/Winter the chard, peas, parsley, thyme, kohlrabi and green onions just kept going. It is hard to believe that I will start planting again in less than four months. Now is the time to start thinking about next years garden. I thought I would share with you a few insights from my gardening experience this year.

When you have a small amount of garden space as I do (120 sq. ft.), planting most Brassicas and winter squash doesn't make any sense because they are so large and take a long time to harvest. It is better to grow a mix of many of the same plants that have a very long productive period (strawberries and green beans), leafy greens with a long harvest (kale, collards, Swiss chard,), plants that grow quickly (radishes, green onions, zucchini), and plants that have high production (tomatoes, summer squash). It also doesn't make sense to plant things that you can buy cheaply. For example: I can buy onions at a local grocery store for .50/lb. If I tried to grow them in my garden I would be wasting valuable space which I would be better put to use growing a valuable crop like Shallots which I can't find for less than $3/lb. Cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes and broccoli are best bought from a local farmer when in season and stored up or frozen, usually in the Fall. Also, use your garden space to grow things that you cannot buy (French Breakfast radishes).

Since I took the time to weigh all of our produce here are our totals and I highlighted the clear winners and added my notes:

• Everbearing Strawberries: 19 lb. 7oz. (Amazing production from May-October)
• French Breakfast Radishes: 4 lb. 5 oz. (I need to grow more of these!)
• Lettuce: 1 lb. 5 oz.
• Bok choi: 9 oz. (This was delicious but start it indoors so it doesn't bolt before harvest)
• Swiss Chard: 23 lbs. 8 oz. (figure out more use for this but definitely my favorite green)
• Kohlrabi: 3 lb. 8oz. (Loved the flavor of these but they took a long time to grow)
• Snow Peas: 2 lb. 8 oz. (PLANT MORE PEAS!)
• Daikon Radish: 11 oz.
• Kale: 5 lb. 4 oz (Bleh. I only have 1 recipe that I like Kale in)
• Green Beans 3 lb. 13 oz.(PLANT MORE GREEN BEANS!)
• Beets: 11 oz.
• Carrots: 3 lb. 14 oz. (Not sure about growing any more since they are so cheap to buy organic)
• Cucumber: 13 lb. 12 oz. (This is from only 1 plant! I also want more pickling cuc's)
• Principe Borghese (drying) Tomato: 17 lb. 1 oz. (So delicious dried on salads and in meatloaf)
• Mortgage Lifter (slicing) Tomato: 1 lb 14 oz. (This was such a disappointment.)
• Sungold (cherry) Tomato:  1 lb 7oz. (Lame, this plant never took off)
• San Marzano & Amish Paste (plum) Tomato: 57 lbs. 6 oz. (From 3 plants)
• Brussels Sprouts: 4 lb. 10 oz. (take up too much space for such a small yield)
• Sweet Peppers: 16 lb. 8 oz. (planted 8 plants and didn't get many that ripened before frost)
• Celery: 2 lbs.(only need two plants, harvest before they get too tall)
• Spaghetti Squash: 16 lbs. 12 oz.(take up a lot of space, maybe Delicatta squash next year?)

From our 120 square feet of garden this year we were able to harvest over 200 lbs. of produce!!!

Aside from just feeding our family daily I was able to can, dry, ferment and freeze greens, tomatoes (diced, paste, and sauce), strawberries (jam and 2 gallons frozen), herbs, cucumbers (pickles), radishes (pickled) and also cure and put by a number of whole spaghetti squash. It is nice to not have to buy so many groceries now that our freezer is filled.

Farming in September

The Monster Carrot! 1 Pound!

September was wet and nasty. We had massive flooding in our area but luckily, being that we live on a hill, we were spared. Unfortunately the wet weather has made my strawberries go to rot inviting a fruit fly infestation. I would have much higher yields and BEAUTIFUL large berries if it weren't for these horrible beasts who eat the ripe berries from the inside out. I can't find anything on the interwebs about how to get rid of them.

Meat: 4; We have decided to be done with the bird business; we didn't have the time anymore to dedicate to caring for them. We sold the other 5 birds to friends of ours who are happily enjoying their new pets.
Eggs: 70; Equivalent to just over 1 dozen large chicken eggs.
Produce: Food prices courtesy of a food co-op in New York State.

• Cucumber: 2 lb. 1oz.@ 2.49/lb= $5.13
• Chard: 2 lb. 5 oz. @ 3.74/lb =$8.65
• Radish: 2 oz. @ 2.31/lb= .29
• Paste Tomato: 18 lb. 6 oz.@ 1.02/lb= $18.74
• Strawberries: 3 lb. 9 oz. @ 4.70/lb= $16.74
• Green Beans: 1 lb. @1.44/lb= $1.44
• Sweet Pepper: 1 lb. @2.28/lb= $2.28
• Sungold Tomato: 13 oz.@1.51/lb= $1.23
• Principe Borghese Tomato: 7 lb. 5 oz. @1.51/lb= $11.04
• Spaghetti Squash: 15 lb. 7 oz. @1.07/lb= $16.52
• Brussels Sprouts: 5 oz. @ 2.13/lb= .67
• Carrots: 2 lb.@1.61/lb= $3.22
• Kale: 13 oz.@3.74/lb= $3.04
• Kohlrabi: 8 oz. @1.00/lb (local farmers market price) = .50

Grand Total: $89.49

Saving Seeds

Pepper Seeds in the "Sink or Swim" Test of Doom!

We are at the growing season's end here in Pennsylvania. In a few weeks we will be hit with the first frost (but when is truly the mystery). What you see here is my attempt to save some pepper seeds for next year. Saving pepper seeds is kind of a shot in the dark, though. Peppers are open-pollinated BUT they have been known to cross-pollinate with other peppers growing nearby, so I really have no idea if this will work. How does one save seeds, you ask? Well, that is different depending on what kind of seeds you are saving. I think just about everyone has saved pumpkin seeds so I don't really want to go into saving gourd seeds except to say that some varieties cross-pollinate with each other so you have to be careful which seeds you save (or grow in your garden if you want to save seeds from your squash). If squash is the in the same family, they will probably cross-pollinate. I guess I should also say that you should only save seeds from non-hybrid, non-GMO plants. You never know what you are going to get with hybrid seeds of the 2nd generation (maybe monsters!).

Peas and beans are the easiest to save. I call it the "lazy gardener" method. Basically you just forget to pick the pods until they get HUGE then you let them dry being sure to remove them before the first frost (and letting them dry out indoors) until the seed pods are tan and papery. Then you remove the seeds from the pods and let dry in a well-ventilated area for a few more weeks. Taadaa! Some people test their seeds to see if they will germinate at this point, but I don't.

Tomatoes are the really fun ones; you need to ferment them. I truly love lacto-fermentation so fermenting the seeds wasn't too odd for me. Basically you remove the seeds from the fruit and put them with their pulp into a container. If you don't have a ton of seeds, add a bit of filtered water to cover then put a paper towel or other breathable cloth (I use a coffee filter) over your container and let it go. Stir once a day for 2-3+ days and you should seed a white film/fungus form on the top of the liquid. This fungus eats the pulp making it easier to separate the seeds AND as a bonus, it kills any diseases that may be harboring on them. Once you have a nice growth of fungus you want to gently spoon it off and then rinse your seeds. At this point it is a good idea to do the "sink or swim" test. Put your seeds in a glass and cover with water. Viable seeds will sink, non-viable seeds aka "duds" will float. Spoon off the floaters and pour your seeds into a fine mesh sieve shaking out as much water as possible then let dry on a paper plate or other breathable surface.

Peppers are similar to tomatoes except I don't ferment them. I read that some people do but, meh. The "sink or swim test" as demonstrated in the picture above is really necessary for peppers and is a good idea for pretty much any seed before you dry it unless...

You dry it directly on the plant! With herbs in the umbellifer family (dill, cilantro etc.) I let the plants go to seed, dry out and then I cut off the whole plant and dry it indoors and collect the seeds after a few weeks. This is also a super lazy method but it works for me. 

Those are pretty much all the seeds that I have successfully saved. I tried lettuce seeds one year but those suckers are tiny. I have never had my kale or chard go to seed but when they do I will be ready for them.

Farming in August

This is what happens when you ignore your green onions.

 August came and went in a blur of frenzied activity. In the garden the tomatoes started producing in abundance which meant evenings spent preserving that harvest. I fear the coming of winter like the apocalypse and with that same determined self-preservation I will not waste a single tomato. Today I ended up giving some away because, let's face it, 48 pints of diced tomatoes, two quarts dried, and 10 quarter pints of paste is enough. Well, maybe not enough paste. Speaking of paste...

Oh! Squeezo! How I love thee! Best Thrift Store Find EVER!

 Praise the Squeezo food mill! This puppy made making paste uber easy. I used it tonight to get the skins off of steamed sugar pumpkins. In a few weeks it will make canning 48 quarts of apple sauce a relative cinch. Yes, it is a God-send, but a pain to clean the screens.

An August Day's haul: Chard, Kale, Tomatoes, Green Beans, Strawberries, & Zinnia.

I have also been busy blanching greens, freezing berries, making jam and fruit leather and just plain tearing-up the kitchen, homesteading style. Now for the talleys:

Meat: 2; Let this be a lesson to you all: Sometimes a female is actually a male. A poor, picked on, male. We did him a favor. Another female was the favorite and in quail circles that really isn't a good thing.
Eggs: 147 or the equivalent of 2.5 dozen large chicken eggs. I have actually been baking with these as an added deterrent to not eat sweets.
Produce: Once again, I am getting my prices from an organic food co-op in New York state.

• Strawberries: 1 lb. 4 oz@ 4.86/lb= $6.08
• Brussels sprouts: 6 oz
• Paste-type tomatoes: 23 lbs. 3 oz @ 1.02/lb=  $23.65
• Principe Borghese Tomato: 6 lb. 7 oz.@1.51/lb= $9.72
• Mortgage lifter tomato: 1 lb. 9oz. @ 2.50/lb= $3.91
• Cucumber: 4 lbs. 11oz. @1.50/lb= $7.03
• Sweet Pepper: 1 lb. 12 oz. @ 2.02/lb= $3.53
• Bunching onion: 1 lb. @ 1.93/bunch(1/4lb)= $7.72
• Kohlrabi: 3 oz. @2.86/lb= .54
• Green Beans: 2 lb @ 1.80/lb= $3.60
• Chard: 3 lbs @ 1.67/bunch(1/2 lb)= $10.02
• Kale: 2 lb. 10 oz@ 1.77/bunch (1/2lb)= $9.29
• Celery: 7 oz@ 1.27/head= $1.27

Estimated value of August produce harvest: $90.27!!!

Farming in July

Yeah, yeah, I know July is LONG gone but just for the record...

I spent a lot of time in the month of July trying to make my meat surplus shelf stable because my freezer was very literally overflowing. This is what a five pound bag of pig fat looks like, cubed and ready to be rendered (I did about 5 of these):

And this is what my kitchen looked like during the render-fest:

The crock pots were going 24/7 to render the fat; there are multiple methods to rendering but I found that doing it in crock pots was the easiest. In the jars you can see the finished product, still hot from rendering after being strained from what you see on the stove, which are "cracklins". What you can't see are my counters and floors covered in fat drippings. Kinda slippery. After rendering most, but not all of the fat in my freezer I got 3 jars of tallow and maybe 8 jars of lard? A years supply, yes indeed.

 In addition to the fat rendering I have been making and pressure canning bone broths to store up for all those cold winter soup-based dinners. NEVER THROW OUT YOUR BONES!!! Soon I will experiment with making pemmican from some beef that I dried. Wahoo! Experimental food!

Meat: 7; We culled our flock down to 11 birds and split them into two breeding groups.
Eggs: 187 equivalent of 3 dozen large chicken eggs.
Produce: The gardening lesson of the month was that used coffee grounds make great fertilizer and are often free! Also, Brussels sprouts are best tasting when they have had a frost making them a great fall weather crop. We planted ours in spring and noticed in June that they were already forming sprouts. If we let those sprouts grow to full size they would be tough and inedible. Not to be dismayed I read that by picking the sprouts when they are the size of marbles they would still be tender and the stalk would continue to grow more sprouts. It works and they certainly are delicious! When we get closer to the first frost we will stop harvesting these at marble size and let them grow to full size.

• Beets: 11 oz.@ 1.40/lb= .96
• Snow Peas: 9 oz. @ 3.40/lb=  $1.91
• Green beans: 2 lbs. 5 oz. @1.80/lb= $4.16
• Carrots: 1 1b. @1.20/lb= $1.20
• Chard: 4 lbs. @3.34/lb= $13.36
• Kohlrabi: 1 lb. 7 oz. @2.86/lb=  $4.11
• Cucumbers: 7 lb.@ 3.76!!!/lb= $26.32 Wouldn't you know that I grew a rare and sought after cucumber variety called 'crystal apple?' The regular cukes were going for 1.50/lb =$10.50
• Principe Borghese tomatoes: 1 lb. 6 oz. @ 2.13/lb= $2.93 This is a lovely cherry-type drying tomato
• Strawberries: 4 lb. @4.55/lb= $18.20
• Brussels sprouts: 4 oz.  Couldn't get a price on this because they aren't yet in season
• Kale: 10 oz. @ 1.77/lb= $1.11
• Peppers: 3 oz. @ 2.00/lb= .38

Estimated value of July Produce Harvest: $58.82 and that is without the inflated crystal apple cukes!

Bartering: This month I bartered my canning services for green beans from my mother-in-law and canned 20 pints in my new-to-me pressure canner. I was able to keep 11 pints. My friend also let me pick my favorite "sungold" cherry tomatoes from her garden for a split of the proceeds. I now have a quart of delicious dried sungolds. They taste like candy!

Farming in June

Look who is eating my dill: A Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

This is a little late but life is finally settling into a nice "routine" in our family. Sharing about my mini-farming is more for my record but I still hope you are amazed at I am how much so little space can provide.

Meat: 2 birds off to the freezer (we need at least 6 to make a meal).
Eggs: 130 from six hens; equivalent to two dozen large chicken eggs. We are finding that everyone loves these hard boiled. They are the perfect snack size!
Produce: Production finally started taking off in June. I used both Rodale's and a Farm Co-op in New York for the prices which seem closer to what we pay for organics here. FYI: A bunch of greens usually weighs about half a pound.

• Strawberries: 6lb. @ 3.53/lb = $21.19
• Lettuce: 1 1/2 lb. @ $5/lb =$7.50
• Bok Choi: 7 oz. @ $2.06 = $.90
• Kohlrabi: 1 lb. @ $2.86/lb. = $2.86
• Snow Peas: 1 lb. 5 oz. @ $4.40/lb. = $5.80
• Chard: 3 lbs. @ 1.67/bunch = $10.02
• Daikon Radish: 11 oz. @ 1.27/lb = $.87
• Kale: 9 oz. @ 1.87/bunch = $2.10
• Green Beans: 8 oz. @ $2.23/lb =$1.12  

Estimated value of June Harvest: $52.36

One of the best things about growing a garden (and buying everything else in bulk) is that I don't have to go to the grocery store or farmers market as often. Going out into the garden everyday to gather my small harvest adds up to a lot. Every day I would pick strawberries we might eat a few and then freeze the rest. Over a months time I had frozen enough to make a dozen half-pints of jam.While you can't do that with everything, often I can gather enough in 3-4 days to make a family sized side dish.

As far as bartering has gone, I exchanged 3 days of milking my friend's cow for one month of free milk. Pretty sweet deal, eh?

Farming in May

Hurray for Strawberries! The harvest this year has been wonderful! Here are out totals for May:

Meat: 0; we have two birds ready to go but we are waiting for our foster daughter to have her baby before we send them to "freezer camp." In other words, we don't want to traumatize the girl.

Our first two hatchlings

Eggs: 161 or the equivalent of 32 large chicken eggs.  I also sold two of my laying hens for $7.50 each.
Produce:  If you want to see the value of the organic produce you grow it is fun to check out Rodale's Organic Price Report which is updated often. I am using my current farmers market prices as well as the farmers markets in Philadelphia, all prices are for organic.

• Stawberries: 4lbs. 5 oz. @$4.59/lb.=$19.79 (and this is all in 4 days from 18 everbearing plants not including the 14 that I just planted that won't fruit until July).
• French Breakfast Radishes: 1 lb. 3 oz. @$3.76/lb.=$4.47
• Baby Bok Choi: 2.2 oz. @$2.25/lb.= .31, paltry? yes but they bolted
• Leaf lettuce and spinach: 1lb. 6oz. @Organic sells for $5/lb. at my local farmers market = $6.88
• Green onion: 1 (didn't even bother pricing this)
• Swiss Chard: 2.7 oz. @ $2.17/lb. = .37

Estimated value of harvest: $31.82

I was also able to harvest 5 gallons of worm castings. I am not sure the value on it but I traded a bag and two dozen hard boiled and peeled quail eggs to a friend for two gallons of raw milk. I love being able to trade things that I produce for things that I need. I really wish that I had more to trade!

A dozen chicks at a week and a half old, already feathering out.

Microfarming etc.

This last week has been a busy one for us. Spring (is it really spring?) this week meant tomato and pepper seedlings being coddled, a composter to build, MORE seeds to plant, birds to be ahem "processed", eggs to be collected, cages to be cleaned...Oh, did I forget to mention that we got birds? Introducing our Japanese Coturnix!

The birds are taking a bit getting used to but they are sweet and so fun to watch! I am loving this new way of living but I have no idea under what Eco-friendly term it fits under: Suburban sustainability? Micro farming? Urban Homesteading? In any case, our family is loving being able to produce more of our own food. This year is still a learning and growing year so I am not sure about how much we will produce but we have big dreams! Just this last week we put in more everbearing strawberry plants and we have blueberry, currant and American hazelnut bushes on their way. The front bed is just sprouting some radishes, spinach, bok choi, and swiss chard and I am hoping and praying for peas to come up any day now in the back. And we can't forget our friends the worms and bacteria: the worms are working hard turning our kitchen scraps into fertilizer and the bacteria are turning our veggies into probiotic food powerhouses. Life, living, is just so good!

Inspiration!

"When we would talk about our future in private, I would ask Mark if he really thought we had a chance. Of course we had a chance, he'd say, and anyway, it didn't matter if this venture failed. In his view, we were already a success, because we were doing something hard and it was something that mattered to us. You don't measure things like that with words like success or failure, he said. Satisfaction comes from trying hard things and then going on to the next hard thing, regardless of the outcome. What mattered was whether or not you were moving in a direction you thought was right. This sounded extremely fishy to me."

-Kristin Kimball in The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food and Love

I love reading memoirs and recently have been delving into the agricultural. In addition to The Dirty Life I have been absolutely inspired by Novella Carpenter's Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. While the journeys of these two women couldn't be more different given the comparative size of their farms, they both show that it is possible to raise food for your family (or 100 families!) despite your comparative lack of experience; you don't need to be born a farmer to become a farmer. All you need to do is research, plan and DO. If you start small, you will be amazed at how much food you can grow for your family.

Here is a video of Novella's farm in Oakland, California. Check it out!

Organic Gardening: Tomato Horn Worms

My garden is infested with tomato worms and they are gross. I found three today that were each FOUR inches long! Friday I was out inspecting the plants and saw no signs of the worms and then today I find 3 huge ones and 2 small ones devouring one plant! They grow fast and huge and what really sucks is that they are nibblers. They won't eat the seeds of the tomatoes so they will chew around the outside and then just leave the rest hanging on the stems...wasters.

How to get rid of the pests? Mostly I just put on my trusting gardening gloves and pull them off by hand dropping them into a bucket with a lid where they will die eventually. They are difficult to spot but the mangled branches, half eat tomatoes and little black turds everywhere are a good sign that one is nearby. But here is a little tip, if you see one that looks like the picture below, DON'T PULL IT OFF!

Those white things all over the back of the worm are the cocoon of the parasitic Braconid wasp and they are wonderful! The female wasp will lay her eggs into the tomato horn worm (it will also use flies, beetles, aphids and other wasps as hosts) and the larvae will eat the worms from the inside out and then spin their cocoon on the surface of the worm. The worm is alive during this whole process and will die soon after the adult wasps emerge leaving the worm dead, obviously, but most importantly unable to spin its own cocoon and then lay eggs as a moth.