Thursday, June 27, 2013

KALE: Dehydrating it and turning it into powder

I FINALLY did something I've been wanting to do for years. Why did I wait so long? I'm not sure. Over the last couple of years I did attempt to google some information so I wouldn't have to do it myself, however I really do not like to sift through the 50 billion hits google gives. I don't have time. I did however at least scan the first page of hits and nothing matched at all. I must not have worded it exactly right?

So what did I do? Well, I picked some kale from our garden, weighed out one pound, dehydrated it all by itself, and then ground it up into a powder.

One pound of kale next to the 1c measuring cup.

The same 1lb of kale turned into powder and placed in the same cup.

So now I know!!! I hope this information was useful to someone else besides only me.

On a side note, this is kale grown from the seed Corban saved last year. We still have a few pounds of seed; plenty to give to friends and family and some to sell too.
Also, here is a link that shows how to save kale seeds. Enjoy!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

2013 Country Garden update ...

We've been busy pulling weeds :) and planting a few more things. Some of our onions were ready to harvest so we pulled them and laid them on our animal cage in our backyard at home. Here are a few pictures to share.
 

Onions drying on both sides

One row of tomatoes just got another string added

Three 60' rows of green beans
The weather has been much more garden-friendly this year than last. Also, I have only seen ONE grasshopper so far. Last year it was super hot and dry ... and we had hundreds of thousands of grasshoppers by this time. I am sure there are more than a few reasons why we are not having such a problem with hoppers this year; new location? hard frost in winter? better soil? or?? Whatever the case, we are thankful.

Maybe we'll have a good tomato and bean harvest this year?! We have 3 rows of navy beans and two other rows of tomatoes besides the one pictured. Lots of hubbard squash and crookneck squash ... and some other stuff ... peppers, eggplant, okra, peanuts, sweet potatoes, etc. The peanuts are another experiment. We got a few to grow last year but that was all. They were tasty though!


Sunday, June 16, 2013

Been busy.

I have not had the time or the desire to post on here :) So much has been going on around our home and church and most things take a much higher priority than posting on this blog. But ... for the sake of those that might be wondering, YES, everything is going well. Brianna and I have been busy with new cleaning jobs (as well as the old ones) and lots of sewing jobs. The boys have been busy at the nursery, paining a house (well, Brianna has been helping with that), raking &/or moving hay, yard work for a few elderly people and so much more. And of course there are our old lady friends to keep up with too. That takes a good portion of Brianna's time and some of the rest of ours as well. The 'country garden' is really doing great this year so far. Lots of hard work and we are reaping some already. It's been very helpful too that God has provided good rain. This summer seems a lot more mild so far than the last two that have been hot with droughts. I would like to share pictures of the country garden so I will have them 'on file' ... but once again, priorities. So, here is one picture of Corban working with the bees (that seem to be doing well too).


There's a quick update.