Thursday, July 8, 2010

If I were a Pioneer...........











Im guessing i would probably die of starvation sometime around, mmmmm, january.




I once read an arcticle in Mother Earth News , about a family that canned 1000 Jars every season,, yeah, you read that right,, 1000... I hope n pray , that if i happen to be a poineer in my nextlife, that maybe they could be my next door neighbors? Maybe i could mend thier socks for free food or something?heehheee




The task at hand : to self sustain,, and it aint an easy task( note that i just said i would be dead by january)..




Its now July 8th, and i feel like ive canned more beans than ever( well because for me it HAS been more beans than ever) . My goal was to can around 50 qts of beans,,... sounds like a lot huh? well in the grand scheme of things, it really peanuts.. 50qts of beans would provide us with one serving of beans a week for most all winter and spring,, 100 qts would be ideal, giving us 2 meals or so a week,, there is not way im cannign 100 qts this year, even if wanted to, i dont think i have that much beanage out there!




So far this year i have picked out 20-25 gallons of beans(enought for about 25-30 qts),




30+ lbs of potatoes(with about 20 more lbs+ to come),,




god knows how many cucumbers( for some delicious pickles that only I will eat,,hehehe, hubby n miss norah dont like pickles),and I canned some jalapenos for our pizzas this winter:) and pulled about 100 onions.




and tomatoes are just starting to ripen! Next on the list , salsa, pasta sauce, pizza sauce!








I may end up canning some of my potatoes, we do not have a root cellar or a basement,,eeek,, didnt think too much about that when i was planting all the taters,,,, The pantry is pretty cool and dark,, so we will see how long they last in there,, thought about putting them in the crawl space, but would rather they rot, than get eaten by critters:o








Garden season is about half way done,, and I already wearin out!




Having a toddler and a sewing business doesnt help,, but i suppose those pioneer women had a lot going on too, 9 kids, etc,,lol...i bet they made for good helpers though!








BEE UPDATE: we know have 7 hives,, yes they multiplied,, started out with 3 this spring,, but throw in some hives that swarm( 50ft up in a tree, yes yes he went up there n got em),, and a husband who insists we split some hives .. and voila,, you end up with 7..








CHICKEN UPDATE: hmm, lets see since my last post, im pretty sure we have atleast 14 killled.. 9 were killed in one night,, needless to say we fixed the back coop and got some more .. I got 6 Black austrolorps for mothersday,, and we brought home 20 more( a nice lil variety pack) from "chick days".. THey are all alive n kickin, and we are sure to shut the coop right at dark , and check, and double check,,lol..




Now lets just hope those coons stay away from my corn!!!








Sorry i havent posted in awhile.. Im just trying to keep up with everything around here...




and its hard to sit down and blog..




Wonder if those poineers would have time to sit down and blog about thier day,, doubt it! heeheeee








stay tuned,,,,,,,,,,




hubby told me to start looking for a honey extractor....... looks like we will be getting some honey from the hives this year..Yippppppeeeeeeeeee








Blessings








Tuesday, March 2, 2010

SPRING wherreeee areeee Youuuuu?







"Giraffe wheeerreeee areeee youuuuu?" this is what my daughter frantically repeats when she cant find her favorite stuffed animal, giraffe, or a missing toy,, she doesnt look for it, just yells out "where are youuuuuuuuuuu?" a couple times hoping it will suddenly appear in front of her exclaiming "Here i am Norah"



I decided to give this a try .. opened my window this morning and yelled out to Mother Nature " SPRING whereee areeeee youuuuuuuu"?






She responded with 6" of snow.






Im an Ohio girl Born n raised for the first 27 yrs of my life so you figure I would be used to snow In March, well Im not.. the past 5 yrs Ive lived in NC the winters have been soooo MILD,, last year this time I had spinach,lettuce and carrots in, and peas pushing their little heads through the earth exclaiming "here I am".. and i didnt even have to say peas where are you,,heheee






Now the ground is still pretty much frozen, it is warming up this week, so im anticipating planting peas, spinach , lettuce , onions, carrots, followed by some potatoes!!!..






another HUGE reason i need to see the SUN is because My wonderful Husband built me a greenhouse about 2 months ago!



its been a MOOD enhancer for sure, it can be 30 outside and 90 in that baby when the sun is out!



Ive started A LOT of seeds,,including but not limited to so far i have seeded19 romas... 23 brandywine tomatoes 10 sweet banana 15 jalapeno 18 broccoli 6 basil 18 lavender(only 5 germinated i will have to do cuttings instead, much easier)18 painted daisy1 8 gallardia flower 18 echinacea(purple cone flower)6 cilantro 6 eggplants 9 rosemary (from cuttings)9 buddleia(from cuttings)9 st johns wort9 dill18 blue chrysanthemum9 thyme9 catnip9 dianthaus allwoods pink(heirloom perennial)9 chrysanthemum robsinson red(heirloom) perennial).. PHEWWWW



NOW DO YOU SEE WHY I NEED THE SUN TO SHINE?



I do have them under grow lights on cloudy days, which work excellent,



I have 2 shelves and 2 grow lights,,



I am really looking for it to warm up and for lonnnger days , so i can transplant my tomatoes into quart pots and plant my broccoli into the ground,, and then next week i hope to start peas, spinach, swisschard, onions,, and then potatoes shortly after



all my seedlings are doing fantastic thus far, and im hoping to maybe set up a little stand out front and sell my xtras! we get like NO traffic haha,, during the week I might see a car,,



Lets just say when a car goes by my daughter says " a car,, look a car!!!!" heehehe or Robb and I will look at eachother and say " is there a car going by?" and will get up to look out the window,, yes its that secluded,,lol



But on the weekends folks drive through the Pisgah NationaL forest and some stop to by eggs. we do really well with eggs in the summer months, so why not add some perennial and veggies, and some HONEY,, which ill BEE bloggin about next....



we are getting our Bees in 3 weeks!



Until then Ill be in the greenhouse poking my head out from time to time yelling SPRING wherrreeee are youuuuuuuuuuu?

Friday, October 9, 2009

YAY im a blogger








SO Im a little behind on the whole Blogging thing, Im pretty sure my mom probably has one now, lol. so I figure I best catch up with the times and start a blogging..


Give me time to make this look all purty.. Im a very indecisive person( ask my husband) ..


and can get a little perfection obsessed, which annoys everyone ,, including me, but does have its good points , especially when it comes to sewing...


Ive been working on an applique that took both indecisiveness and perfection drivin OCD personality traits to make it looks as pretty as it does..

Im hoping to have this dress posted on Monday or Tuesday October 12-13th.. Hoping, if you visit thebackporchboutique often you know i am infamous for posting 2 days later than i say **blush**, but i promise it will be worth the wait,, 2 beautiful dresses in the works..


One involves and incredible amount of applique, like lots, and lots,, and lots


I LOVE APPLIQUE, I love love cutting it out and placing it and replacing it, and replacing ,,,,,, and replacing it,, until it looks perfect. I love the *fresh* clean look it has before you iron it on, I love holding the item up in the mirror to see what it will look like on..


I dont mind sewing the appliques on, but i do get a little ADD.. sew a leaf, check email, sew a branch, get some coffee,, IM pretty sure my appliques could be done a lot faster If this wasnt the situation, but hey, this is how ive been doing it, and it seems to work, so why try and change it..



I am taking Wedding dress orders for 2010.. Im really wanting to get into the wedding dress side of things more and more,,, I find myself obsessed with detail a little more every year,,


I just took an order for a dress with an INSANE amount of applique, that im super excited about,, this wont be available for viewing until around July 2010,


I hope to order some hemp silk VERYYYY soon, yes yes, i do keep saying this,, but im totally for real this time,, haha, its on my shopping list!



Here is sneak peak of the dress I am working on, this applique wil go around the entire bottom of the dress,, this is only part of the bottom(in the pic),, and isnt quite finished( i may add more applique or beadwork i havent decided) its not the greatest picture, but gives ya little idea,

also another picture of another dress that will be available as well..


sorry for the sloppy blog, sloppy pics, just slop in general,lol,, I promise to make it all fancy asap..