Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

We are enjoying the herbs from the garden and making them ready for the upcoming winter months when we won't have fresh. Getting herbs to grow inside is hard here because we have little to no light or room for it. This week has been a busy one. 

We harvested the lavender and dried it. We have a good solid cup of buds to use for cooking and adding to whatever we want. Two of the plants were new and one is older and we think for the size of the plants we did well. Double last years harvest. Not bad for the room we are allowed for plants. We have a pint of lavender simple syrup brewing for iced tea and lemonade this summer. A little goes a long way. 

I harvested the spearmint for a batch of mint jelly. I liked the jelly, but can't wait to work with my peppermint.

My green onions have been so abundant that I cut some of them to freeze in oil for those wonderful winter vegetables. I also have a cup chopped in a jar in the refrigerator to use now. I also made herb butters. I made basil butter; basil, lemon and garlic butter along with parsley butter. These have been frozen for winter use.

This morning I harvested Rosemary and Sage. From this I will make more butters and oils for winter storage. I can't wait to have sage and pepper butter on my sweet potatoes. I have a lot left to the plants, so having fresh for a while is wonderful.

Bread making this week included one loaf and six rolls. More than enough for two for the week. 

This past Sunday we spent some time with a dear friend who had come home from California for a visit. It was a dish to pass event at an outdoor park and I made this bread pudding to take. I made it from this pinterest recipe http://www.pinterest.com/pin/461970874250028516/. The only change I made to this recipe was to include the cinnamon with the sugar and flour so it mixed through the pudding instead of being sprinkled on top. I also used a homemade sweet bread, that was a pinterest fail as far as a sandwich bread, and it was delicious in the pudding. Needless to say not one raisin came home in the dirty dish.

There's been plenty to do for our simple townhouse homestead lifestyle including making a new supply of laundry detergent. Starting next Monday the landlords are doing inspections of selected units and I so hope it's not ours. We will spend this weekend hiding a few things and making sure we are within the rules. I am keeping things neat and organized so they cannot find issues. I'm also trying hard to understand why we pay so much money to rent and live under these conditions but this too shall change. We are determined, but need to change at a pace that doesn't end up being a big mistake. That's what's new at the townhouse homestead this week and thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful week.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

I just came in from watering my (BIG!) garden. It's looking good and is growing so well. It's all herbs and sweet potatoes, but it's mine. This past week just flew by for me. Probably because I have too much to do and never enough time. We all know how that goes. I had some catching up to do also because my daughter and I took off for a four day weekend in Vermont over the holiday. The day after we got back my herbs went in and that was two weeks ago today. 

This is what went down this week.

This is a batch of Jalapeno pepper jelly. I have been buying it at quite a price and decided that I would make it this year. I've already given the grounds keeper a jar because he came and started helping me clean the front garden by cutting back a bush. Some time this summer I will be making roasted pineapple and habenero pepper jelly/relish. 

For those who know me I love my goodies. I will not deny that I have a sweet tooth, but I do realize that I don't need to eat it all at once. I baked carrot cake in jars to put on the shelf for those hot summer days when baking is not likely to happen. My recipe makes so much so I put up ten jars and still had a good size cake for the week. 

I harvested a good bunch of flat leaf parsley. It's on it's way to drying and over the weekend I found a new coffee grinder at a thrift store, that I now have to grind my herbs after they've dried. 

I am so happy with the success of my basil. I harvested a large bunch and it is also on it's way to drying. These are just a couple of the herbs I use in my soup mixes. My kitchen is smelling so wonderful this week.

Last but not least I started a pint of chive vinegar. I cut the flowers before I moved my chive plant from the front garden to the back garden. It was so large I divided it into three and if I like this chive vinegar I will hopefully have more flowers through the summer. If not I will have my chive butter for those baked potatoes through the winter. 

That's what went down this week at the Townhouse Homestead and I am having so much fun doing what I can in a small space. Anything can be done and I am so grateful to farmers for providing the fruits and vegetable I can't grow at this time. Thank you for stopping by. Have a great week everyone.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

With Memorial day over it was time to think about putting some plants outside, but I've been watching a few that were in the ground doing their thing while I was waiting. These include lavender, garlic and chives. I am not allowed to plant vegetables, but that's okay too. A ways down the road lives a friend who is sharing in exchange for making sure her garden is watered while she's away. We also have some great farm markets. So far all is good and today it is raining. I think so far I'm okay with the townhouse rules because they've seen my garden and have not said anything. Of course my garden is mostly in pots which they say are acceptable. 

Here's how it looks so far. Under the deck I replanted a Hosta I split it into three plants last fall. It was not doing well because it was overwhelmed by a shrub. My grandson crawled under the deck and followed my instructions on planting them and he did so well. It is now three and just one is the size of the original plant I divided. In the hanging baskets I have sage, basil and rosemary. In the ground I have two lavender plants on the left, garlic and in the corner is a rosebush that was so neglected by the former tenant that it was in need of love. I cut it back and it is thriving and within a week or two will have beautiful pink roses. I have a chive plant in my front garden that I will be moving this week to the back. It is getting smothered by an older lavender plant.

In the long pot on the deck I have planted dill and parsley. I have already used the dill on broiled Salmon and had some parsley leaves that need drying to make flakes for my recipes. I noticed yesterday new shoots coming up on the dill and my sweet potatoes are growing well so maybe we'll have a few in the fall.

I purchased peppermint and put it in a large pot. I have peppermint tea regularly and thought it would be great to have some to use at will. I am rooting ginger. I hope it does something, but if it doesn't I will keep trying.

Instead of flowers this year I hung a pot of spearmint. I've already used it for spearmint sun tea and am planning some mint jelly soon.

The front garden needs cleaning and some plants can go to the back. That bush is always taking over my plants, but it is property of the townhouse so I can't take it out. The squirrels are eating my Iris and just this week I've noticed a snake. I suppose that means it's a garden. I made the bird house from a kit I found at a thrift store and fastened it to an old pitch fork.

Two weeks ago I made these pickled peppered eggs and they are awesome. I thought they'd be hotter than they are, but there is just enough heat to give them a bite, but not enough to burn the tongue. Try them you may like them. Here's the recipe I found on Pinterest. http://pharmacist.hubpages.com/hub/spicypickledeggs
So that's how my garden is growing. I hope to harvest plenty to use in my fall canning and so far it looks like I will. I sure would love a larger spot to garden, and I have had it in the past, but for now this is how we're doing it in the townhouse. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful week.

Simple labors this Labor Day.

Spending a quiet day today. My daughter has her first Labor Day off in seven years. We started with a late morning breakfast.

It included potatoes on the waffle iron. She saw this on Pinterest and just had to try it. We had a few chopped potatoes in the freezer from another cooking project so away she went. We had just enough for one waffle and it worked out to be enough for two. We splurged and had bacon, but I want to state that we did not have bacon on National Bacon Day Saturday. Add some scrambled eggs and fresh hot coffee and we were off to a good Labor Day start.

She has said over and over to me for the past year that we needed to add some green color to the bland brown apartment cupboards, so today I humored her. We took a ride down the street to raid a friends garden for herbs. Thanks to Command Hooks I have sweet basil and lemon basil drying on the bland doors. 

I have two pints of Rosemary infused oil brewing. In a few days it will be ready to strain and put in my fancier oil jars for use through the winter.

Of course not all of the basil is going to be dried. I made some basil garlic compound butter. We will be putting this on some corn on the cob and I will use some on roasted potatoes, but most of it will go in the freezer to use over time. I can't tell you how wonderful our little apartment smells. Days like today let you know that Family and the simple things are the most important. I am grateful to Carter's bountiful gift. Thank you.