Raising Seedlings in the Cold

 My first reaction upon seeing the above sight, was "Joshua Martin Brueggen, What the f&%k am I going to do with all of these tomatoes!?" (The kids were asleep...) They were three and four tomatoes deep near the middle of the table.  Plus this actual picture is missing the tomatoes I used to make 11 pints of the salsa below! I was overwhelmed, not just whelmed. The idea of processing these tomatoes, and in a timely fashion, made my head spin. I may have the patience of a saint (I am a teacher after all), but I have the attention span of a five year old. The twelve pounds I used to make salsa took me up to 8 hours start to finish to process. I cried and swore I would let these tomatoes rot rather than spend hours over the stove and sink peeling each frickin tomato. Oh and that I would never go hungry again, as I took a juicy bite. Damn Good Salsa Damn Good Salsa Add Mrs. Wages Salsa mix and 1/4 cup vinegar to (6lbs tomatoes, 2lbs onions, cilantro and jalepeno to ...

 amount  OK, time for an update.  To the left is a photo of the greenhouse currently.  Due to the warm early weather I did a lot of planting of summer crops early in March.  On account of this we are about 45 days into the growing season.  I have begun constructing raised beds according to the grand plan, and filling them with soil removed from an area of my basement.  Below is a string of close up photos of a few of the crop beds; they are looking pretty good considering without a hoophouse most of these crops would barely even be planted yet.  First Planting of sweet corn, green beans, and sweet potatoes.  The green beans are beginning to bloom, and the corn is about waist high. This bed contains the second planting of green beans, sweet corn, and sweet potatoes which have been planted as sister crops.  Visible in this photo are tomatos, and sweet bell peppers.  Note the heavy bloom set on the tomatos. Thi...

The last several years Josh and I have an excess of sweet potatoes. I had to figure out a way to cook them that everyone enjoyed including TJ, our almost two year old. I invented the following recipe, and everyone in my family loves it. I hope yours does too! It is low calorie and very healthy! Sweet and Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes or Sweet Potato Chips 3-4 Medium to small sized sweet potatoes, sliced thin 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice (or a combo of ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon) 1 tsp of cumin 1 tsp chili powder 2 Tbsp of Honey 2-3 Tbsp of Olive Oil Preheat oven to 425. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Spread on a cookie sheet, try not to overlap pieces. Bake for 15 minutes, you may want to do longer if your pieces are not very thin. Take them out at this point if you want roasted sweet potatoes. If you want chips turn on the broiler and place the cookie sheet on the top most level of your oven. Broil 2 minutes then turn, broil another two and they should nice...

We have been recently inspired to do more for ourselves, and live a slightly less consumer led life style. No, we are not hippies. But we have come to realize that businesses and the media control far to many of our choices, and we have decided to take a few back. Josh and I recently watched the documentary Food, Inc. This video shows how just a few organizations (I won't name names) control the food supply in the United States and exactly what they do to our food supply.  I promise you won't look at chicken nuggets the same way again. We are each contributing something different to the household to accomplish this goal. 1. Josh is going to garden and produce organic vegetables 2. We will be getting grass fed beef from an Amish source 3. I will be attempting to can and freeze as much of what Josh produces as possible. 4. We have decided to dedicate ourselves to DIY whenever possible. (I am currently making the new purse I wanted, and Josh has constructed shelves...