Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

I've had a couple of days this past week that I was feeling a bit under the weather, literally. With the change to cooler temperatures we've had to turn on the heat, and the dust from the furnace has made my sinuses react. This along with the rain and damp that have made my body ache more than ever has been a challenge. 

Our dear friends Karen and Richard let me grow tomatoes and squash in their back yard. It's been a great learning experience and we know that we can do it and we know more about how to do it. 

These butternut squash are what I harvested last week that I grew in buckets from seeds that I had saved. They are small and have bumps and bruises, but the larger one will become a stuffed squash dinner for us and the others will become a serving of smashed squash, a loaf of butternut squash bread, or chips. I haven't decided yet and for now I'm still working on the vegetables I got at the farmer's market the weekend before last. I am also going to look into purchasing heirloom seeds for the future.

With the change in temperatures comes a change in menu. This is a large pot of cabbage soup. It was so good and most of all economical. I have been cooking the full pot because it freezes well and I can put it up to share.

Another large pot of stick to the ribs meals was this Pasta E Fagioli. This also freezes well and the only change I would make to this recipe would be to boil my carrots a bit first. The time the recipe said to cook them was not long enough and I thought they would cook more as the tomatoes did, but they still had crunch to them. There is plenty to share here too. These meals were all on my new menu plan and I am on week ten. The menu for week ten is blank and I am trying to constantly try new recipes and vegetables. In ten weeks we've had only two meals twice and that was baked chicken leg quarters and pork stir fry. Not bad when you think about how many meals we eat in ten weeks. Leftovers for lunches have helped saved the budget too. That's what I've been doing for the change of season. Thank you for stopping by for a visit and have a great week. If it's cold where you are I hope you are staying warm. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

I love this time of year. Putting up the final harvests as small as they are and visiting the farm markets for the things I can't yet grow, cooking warmer meals, watching the colors change and enjoying the change in the air. I have to admit that I am slowing down and enjoying the change and I deserve it. 

I pulled the tomato plants this week and this was all that was worth harvesting, but it's been a wonderful learning year and oh they taste so good!

Two five gallon buckets of butternut squash have yielded seven fruits and they will be ready in a couple of weeks to harvest. I am going to try making butternut squash chips for a snack. I think there will be plenty. 

My daughter did the second rendering of the bees wax they took from the hive this week. This has been a learning experience and we are excited for when we can have our own hive.

This is the end result and it will be used in a piece of art work I am told. I will post it if it happens because I am more than intrigued by what is in the mind of the artist. That's what we've been doing here at the townhouse. Using every day to learn and try and keep going towards our chance to have a place of our own to homestead even if it is in the city. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Spraying Toxic Chemicals

So yesterday was a great day for a Monday. Did lots of work and was feeling good when...they did it. They found a way to poison my container garden on my little itty bitty deck here at the townhouse. I was in my tiny kitchen preparing dinner when the Orkin man in his van appeared in the parking lot. He sat in his van for a few minutes and then dressed in a mask, cover clothing and gloves. Nothing says poison like the Orkin man dressed in full cover. My windows and doors are all open. Yep, open to enjoy the fresh air and my seedlings and cutting are on the sill. From behind the truck here he comes with his pump bottle with poison in it. I jump quickly to remove my plants and cuttings from the sill and shut the window. HE KNOWS I'M THERE. I run to the back and shut the doors. Does he spray all the units on this row? NO! Just the unit that houses the office employee that lives next door. He sprays two stories high and down comes the liquid chemical onto my ground plants in front and then goes to the back and down comes his liquid chemicals onto my container garden. With seven units in this row he sprays just one and the wind blows it right onto my unit. No information given as to what or why he is spraying. I've seen no signs of insects or anything that needed treatment. As a matter of fact it's been a wonderful summer without a lot of mischievous insects. I attributed it to the fact that we planted plants that fight bad insects and attract the good ones. So to make a long story short my container gardening is done. The spinach and parsnips will be disposed of and I'll pull the remaining herbs. I saved what was inside from the chemicals coming in the window so all is not lost. I guess it's not against the law to spray chemicals without notifying people of what you're doing or advising them to close the windows. Still alive this morning to tell this story.

The gardening season is coming to a close and later this week I will harvest what I can for tomatoes growing at Karen's and check on the bucket squash which probably will not be ready for harvest for a couple more weeks. None of these gardens were sprayed with anything. 

I canned vegetable stock this past week from the vegetable scraps I saved in the freezer. There was enough to put up eleven pints. My tomatoes yielded five pints of sauce. Every little bit helps and I am grateful for what I get. Thank you for stopping by and visiting. Have a great week and keep on farming. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

The weather took a turn for the cool last week, but is on it's way back up to the mid eighties this week with cooler evenings and it is wonderful. The vegetables are still growing and I am using them up as they ripen.

First up is a grand kettle of tomatoes. I simmered it, seasoned it, and let it become tomato sauce. I also chose a larger sandwich size tomatoe that was given to me and harvested some seeds from it for next years gardening. I don't know what kind of tomato it was, but the tomato tasted good so I will give it a try and I saved a couple dollars saving them.

This morning I made eggplant lasagna. It's all ready to pop in the oven later for dinner. The eggplant was given to me and there's the sauce in it's final stage. I will can some of the rest later this week after I make vegetable broth. The cheese layers are from home made ricotta and mozzarella blended with herbs grown on the deck of our townhouse. 

Cooler temperatures meant that I could take advantage and make some fresh bread. It was a wonderful opportunity and does it taste great. The rest of my time has been spent preserving the last of the herbs and I'm hoping now that the basil will bolt so I can harvest some seeds. I am trying some cooler weather spinach in a container and I have some parsnips in another container. Here's hoping something comes of them. I will be checking in on the bucket butternut squash at Karen's and probably finish up the tomatoes there in another week or so. I hope everyone got the bounty they wanted from their gardens and thank you for stopping by for a visit. Have a wonderful week.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

With Labor day behind us, and the official end of summer is here, I know all gardeners are turning their focus to harvesting what they can and enjoying the fruits of their labor. It's no different here at the townhouse. I continue to put up what I don't want to waste. Here I have chicken broth, chicken taco chili and pork.

I continue to make my cheese and am enjoying it with my fresh produce. I've learned to make mozzarella, ricotta and cream cheese so far.

The small kitchen window is a busy green house. The tomatoes are turning red, the next round of cilantro is planted, basil is rooting and the plants I already started and potted are growing well.

Tomorrow I will be going to Karen's to harvest more tomatoes and hopefully I will be canning by the end of the week. I received these photos from Karen yesterday showing me the progress of my bucket butternut squash. She counted three squash growing well and I'm hoping they make it. 

I consider myself quite blessed with the gifts of fresh produce this year. My younger daughter has a co-worker that brings his bounty to work and shares. I received this bag of goodies this week and she also threw in a few oranges.

It's been wonderful to have these vegetable to plan my meals around. I have been building a meal plan and at the same time I can change it up using the fresh produce and home made cheeses. My budget is feeling a bit of relief and I am eating better. 

We sat back and relaxed this holiday weekend also and enjoyed the sun tea brewed in our latest vintage find. It was in the upper eighties, close to ninety and the tea was refreshing. That's what's new here at the townhouse homestead. The work continues and I'm enjoying doing new things, trying new recipes and enjoying life in general. Thank you for stopping by for a visit and have a wonderful week.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

It's been a good summer for us as far as growing, receiving, and eating better vegetables. My tomato plants in Karen's garden have done better than I thought. They are container tomatoes and I know next time I try, I will use much larger containers. Buckets probably. 

The tomatoes in the left picture are some of what we've grown. I ate three on the way home and shared some with Karen. I know there will probably be more, but these are just the right size for Bruschetta and I'm looking forward to it now that I bake my own bread, made carrot top pesto, and make my own mozzarella. Now it will all be home made and home grown. The large bowl of tomatoes was a gift from my daughter's co-worker. They will be put to good use in a sauce or relish. I have some in the window to ripen and with temperatures headed up to ninety degrees this week it shouldn't take long. I also have a couple of Basil cuttings rooting to continue the herb season. The original plant is growing very well on the deck. I will be taking a couple more cuttings and harvesting more soon.

This collage is of my butternut squash growing in buckets in Karen's back yard. They don't look very large, but here I am standing next to them. 

I'm not sure if we'll harvest any squash from the plants, but it's been exciting because I saved the seeds from a squash last winter. A ground hog has eaten a lot of Karen's vegetables, but they haven't touched the squash yet. We are hoping. It's been a learning season for us. That's the news today from the townhouse homestead. I keep cooking and canning and learning. I'm finding that at this time in my life my brain is like a sponge that can't get enough information so what I am learning I am turning into fun, not work. Thank you for stopping by to visit and have a wonderful week.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Still having fun here at the townhouse homestead. The work is overwhelming some days, but I am succeeding at putting together a meal plan. We started yesterday and I already see some tweaking that needs doing. For example a Thanksgiving size meal on Monday without prepping over the weekend does not make Monday easy. No, it wasn't turkey it was baked chicken and dressing with salad. Dressing made from scratch and home made bread croutons and the time was a bit more than expected. Also turning the oven on when it's ninety degrees outside doesn't work either, but we had a good meal and there were leftovers for lunches. 

My covert carrots are almost ready to harvest. They are in there and it's been fun watching them grow. I think they did well in the container, but it's the carrot top pesto I am looking forward to trying. Once these are harvested I will plant parsnips. The seeds are germinating as we speak. They take a while longer but are cold weather safe. 

I acquired a good amount of garlic and set out to dehydrate some. I've always used garlic powder in my cooking and I got one and a half pounds of garlic for $4.29. I filled the dehydrator and there was this wonderful (sarcasm) aroma that hung around the townhouse for a couple of days.

The result was awesome. I yielded about two cups of garlic chips. My favorite use for them is to put them in grinders so they are fresh for my winter cooking. Winter vegetables with a little olive oil and butter with ground pepper and garlic are so good. I up cycle my empty grinders. As long as I can get the covers off I reuse them. The one's that have pepper in them I use for pepper blends, but the one's with sea salt, etc. clean up well as far as having no remaining fragrance so I use them and gift my blends. 

I started learning how to make cheese. This week will be ricotta so I can make vegetable lasagna. My intent is to make pepper jack cheese and it requires pickled jalapeno peppers so this week I proceeded to pickle peppers. My younger daughter picked them up for me at the farmers market and I pickled seven four ounce jars. The recipe only requires two tablespoons, so I think I'm set for a while.

I harvested the cilantro and the seeds are drying. I have planted spinach in the container and it's starting to come up. I thought they were washed out because the rain came down so hard, but they survived so far. I have plenty of garlic left and plan on making garlic bread with the fresh parsley I harvested. I love using my daughter's vintage Pyrex for my cooking. My basil is growing extremely well. This picture is the third harvest. I have dried some and made pesto and this bundle will be added to the dry. I also clipped two stems and rooted it so I have a plant inside growing. I have enough to clip more so I can share this plant with others. The plants are strong. We paid $3.99 and there were two in the pot and I have harvested enough from it so that economically it paid it's way. It's still growing and I may get more pesto to use for gifts. 

This is how my daughter messes with me. We purchased a chive plant for $1 that I divided into three plants. This pot is an eight inch pot so you can imagine how large the original plant was. I've already gifted one of the smaller plants. I have this growing inside also. The townhouse complex sprays anything that's in the ground, but they leave my herbs in the pots on my little deck alone. My daughter said I need to give the chive a haircut, but I'm waiting a couple days because I need some for a recipe. My next challenge is going to be helping my rosemary plant. It has powdery mildew and may not make it, but I will give it the farm girl try at saving it. That's what's new here at the townhouse homestead. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Staying busy and still learning. I am very grateful for all that has become available to me. My daughter has become a very confident bee keeper. She doesn't have her own hive, but a co-worker has let her help with her new hive and learn. She says it feels good to be around them. She suffered her very first sting this time. However, it was a stupid move on her part. After working the hive she bare handed picked up some of the scraped off honeycomb that had bees stuck in it and she assumed they were dead, but before dying one got her on her hand. She thought it would be worse but now she has her baptism sting behind her.

Here are some pictures of the latest check on the hive. I was feeling a bit more comfortable around them, but at the same time I was learning how to use a new lens for the camera. 

It was interesting to see how the hive works and I know she's ready to have a hive of her own when she has her own home.

The garden is coming along. The buckets have butternut squash growing. I'm not sure what will happen, but the plants were started from seeds I saved. The rest of the garden is my friends and together we are learning. She's harvested beans and has peppers and cucumbers coming. The broccoli is also getting larger. 

My container tomatoes are doing well. I was hoping for a better and different turn out, but I'll take my blessings as they come. We do have tomatoes after all. Since I can't garden here at the townhouse I am grateful to my friend for sharing her garden space. We are learning together and she's been inspired to want to grow more. Thank you for stopping by to visit and have a great week. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

It finally got here. My daughter is taking a staycation to relax and putter and do some of the things she's wanted to do and just take it easy for a few days. We have done just that. I still find lots of chores to do but that's okay too. Yesterday I seriously had to harvest basil. My plants were getting very tall and abundant so it was time to make pesto. I had enough for a very healthy batch and the plants are still strong and I may be able to do more. Here's hoping.

It tastes so good and it's on the menu for tonight. I will be making Bruschetta. I have home made French bread, home made pesto, farm fresh tomatoes and yes believe it or not I did it.

At the first of the year I had given myself two challenges. Well at my age a lot of things are challenging, but the first was learning how to knit socks. Now twelve pair later I think I've met that challenge. the second challenge was learning how to make cheese. Not to become a serious cheese maker, but just enough to cut the budget a bit, to know a little more about what was in our food and to enjoy different things. Being on a budget I took the time to build my supplies with the gracious help of my daughter. Total cost to get these supplies was $53.97. I know to some of you it sounds like very little, but that's a fortune for me to take out of a very minimal budget. It took me a few months with list in hand to built the supplies, however I now have the supplies to make many batches of cheese. After breaking down the cost of this first try it came to a whopping $3.71 for just shy of a pound of Mozzarella and took about thirty minutes to produce. I reduced the cost to our budget in half for a pound of cheese and I know what's in it. I got over my nerves and just did it and now I can take on the next type of cheese. I am so excited to know that this is simple and budget friendly.

This past Sunday morning we headed out to a farm stand that was recommended to us and got some basic lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and so on for our meals and the sign said all plants 50% off so we looked around. They were overflowing with the regular flowers and herbs and I was looking and reading and enjoying the aroma of the plants. My daughter said that if I was going to get a new herb I should try something new and there were only two or three that were different from what I was already growing on my mini deck. This plant kept calling me back because it has the aroma of pizza spices and it intrigued me. It was a winner to me so for $2 I brought it home. It is Winter Savory and I am so thrilled with this herb. I google searched it, went on Pinterest and learned about it and yes, on the way around doing errands nibbled on it's peppery leaves. When we got home for lunch we made simple tuna fish on Ciabatta rolls and I added thin slices of onion and chopped some of the winter savory for my sandwich. It was wonderful and fresh tasting. It is a perennial plant and when we have a permanent garden it will be added. We are getting closer to that happening and some days we just can't wait. So that's what's been new for the garden and learning this past week in the townhouse homestead. Thank you for stopping by and visiting and I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday.

This is a picture of Karen's garden. She is a first time gardener and doing so well with it. These plants she started from seeds and discovered she has a green thumb after all. There's a row of cucumbers, broccoli and beans and a couple of pepper plants. I think it's a job well done. The fence is up to keep a hungry ground hog out. 

In her yard are my container tomatoes. They are larger every time I visit them. There are tomatoes appearing already and they are so happy among the flowers. It's mostly waiting now for the crops to come in and making sure they are fed well and watered but for now we still use the farmer's market I continue to harvest my herbs to build my supply for the winter months. Not much else going on hear as far as gardening. I'm working on a meal plan to help our budget and I've been trying new recipes to add to it and give it a good variety. Thank you for stopping by to visit and have a geat week. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

As summer progresses the desire to have a garden of my own strengthens and keeps the motivation strong for what may be in the next two summers. Here's hoping we can find that something that will fill that desire when we start our search for a home. For now I just keep going and appreciate friends who are letting me share theirs and for all the farmers that bring their goods to the markets.

The herbs on my small deck continue to do well. I harvested yet another bunch of basil that I used to add to my delicious stuffed portabella mushrooms for lunch and dried the rest for future cooking.

Last years tomatoes were approaching their expiration date so I use them up in this roasted garlic and basil tomato sauce. It was a low yield, but I have not lost them and wow did it come out great.

My Cilantro bolted with all the heat we've had but I am going to collect the seeds to start some more a little later this year and put the rest of the seeds in the cupboard in an up cycled pepper grinder so when I need coriander I can grind it fresh.

My parsley is providing an awesome amount and I've had it fresh and dried it for future use. It's nice to have for when I make my garlic bread. It looks like I may have to harvest more before the last bunch is fully dry.

My covert carrots have company. Temporarily any way. I started some butternut squash seeds that I'm hoping will be strong enough to transplant tonight when I go to my friends house to check on my tomatoes. I saved the seeds myself and was glad to know they will germinate. My container carrots are being called parsley so I can sneak them in on the deck. 

Saturday morning we got up early to go to a Church sale. The intention for going was large flower pots or containers for growing. I found two, cleaned them up and rinsed them with bleach and transplanted my rosemary. I sure wish I could bring these in for the winter, but I'm afraid I'd bring in insects and we don't need the problems. 

One of my daughter's co-workers sent her home with a large container of black berries and I got busy making black berry pancake syrup. It is so good and I was so grateful. Yes, I did send her some for her pleasure. This townhouse farm girl is doing the best she can with the space she has and it can be done. Thank you for stopping by to visit and have a wonderful week.

Townhouse Homestead TuesdayThis

It always amazes me when I open the freezer to add reclaimed veggie scraps to my collection for vegetable stock. I manage a good eight plus pints every three months and I am saving money and using my vegetables to the fullest. When we are in a home of our own and not renting these scraps will continue in the compost pile. Here's another batch and the bag is filling up again in the freezer. I have to wonder why anyone is going hungry today. I simply open a jar of stock add half a bag of frozen vegetables, my choice of noodles, rice or potatoes and I have soup. Probably a lot of work for soup, but to just take it off the shelf and instantly have a meal is awesome.

The tomatoes hopefully are doing well. I'll check on them in another week. I think if they were doing bad my friend would let me know. It's at the point where we are feeding them and waiting for them to grow and produce fruit. I continue to use the farmers markets for what I need and for $18 this week I got apples, strawberries, pears, peaches, plums, tomatoes, ginger and zucchini. Not small amounts either. Healthy helpings for the two of us to cook with and enjoy. 

This morning I gave my basil a haircut and filled my larger colander. Some of these leaves are four inches by three inches and I now have them washed and hanging to dry. I have a good harvest of parsley coming, but I want to wait until I have a good enough amount so I can make some garlic bread and parsley butter for my winter storage. My covert carrots are growing well too. Getting larger and stronger every day. For now it's just waiting for everything to grow and taking little steps to preserve whatever I can and enjoy as much fresh too. I wish everyone a great week and thank you for stopping by.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Today I feel relaxed and finally in control of life. I've been able to handle the happenings that have come my way and I feel in a better place with what may come. I've learned to just let life happen and the answers will come. The weather has been cool and rainy. We are dealing. Some sun came through yesterday, but the cool and damp is here again and will stay around for a couple more days. I know there are many in this country who would welcome this weather so complaining is senseless, but who can complain when the garden is getting what it needs. 

A month ago a friend let me take my container tomatoes to her yard and give them a chance to grow. Getting to see my tomatoes growing has been good for me. I haven't been able to garden in years and to see them grow from seeds I started feels good. Very therapeutic and relaxing. I have seven containers growing tomatoes and all are doing great.

My basil and rosemary are fairing well with all the rain so far. I lost my basil last year to a fungus so I am watching closely. I've tried growing plants inside, but the little light we get is not enough for inside growing. I also have parsley doing well and have harvested a good amount this summer. I use a lot of parsley in my cooking. 

This is the progress of my secret garden. (I'm smiling here.) To not be able to container garden in a residence that we pay dearly to live in is quite distressing. I have seen so many Topsy Turvey tomatoes growing here and nothing is done so I am being defiant and have a pot of "Gorilla" carrots growing. If I get a dozen carrots I do, and if I don't I don't. In a little more than a year from now I may be planning a garden plot of my own, but for now I am using the farmer's markets and doing whatever I can and loving seeing the miracles happen. That's what went on at the townhouse as far as gardening this week. I wish everyone a happy and relaxing 4th of July and hope everyone stays safe. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

There have been many things going on here at the townhouse. Some gardening, thrift shopping and textile crafting. It's been keeping me busy, helping me relax and teaching me new things. 

These are my container tomatoes that have found a home in a friends garden. There are seven plants. Four for the ground and three to hang from hooks. I sure hope I get some yield out of them. I have never planted container tomatoes before. I started these from seeds and am happy they have come this far.

This is my secret garden. It's a covert operation underway. With gardening against the rules here on the complex I had to be a rebel and do something. We'll see what comes from this container.

I planted a container with basil and rosemary. Gardening? I'll let it go until they tell me otherwise and at that time I'll bring them inside. 

I also planted cilantro and parsley. For now that's what the budget can handle, but they are what I feel is necessary to cook through the summer and put by for winter. With the space I have on the small deck it's all I could really squeeze in.

Last but not least the rose bush that the prior tenant left is producing the most beautiful roses. Once they start dying off we are picking them and drying them so we can make powder for soaps and lotions. That's what's new here and thank you for stopping by for a visit. I'm wishing everyone a great week. Happy homesteading.