Greetings, Salutations and what not...

Hi, I'm Windy Hamilton and I write sci-fi books/short stories, kids books & human interest articles. Here you will find articles about my adventures in helping to rebuild a farm! Welcome, and please let me know what you think...



Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Me as a little girl riding my Uncle's toy tractor!

Ever since I can remember I have liked the idea of growing my own food.  I can't remember when the idea first took root, maybe it was when I realized that the food I was eating at Grandma Alline's house was grown in their garden. I do recall thinking that fried okra was just the most delicious food in the whole wide world.  I have memories of my Grandpa tending to that garden, and everyone saying that he had a green thumb.  Yes...I was little, and I did look to see if his thumb was 'green'! At home we ate more processed foods like mac and cheese and hotdogs, but Grandma's cooking always stuck in my head.

I read the Laura Ingles Wilder books as a young girl and was fascinated at how they found food.  I think I knew then that you could go out into the yard and find food if you knew what to look for...but I was well aware that I had no idea what was edible and what was poisonous.  So I never did try to forage...but I intend to try to learn what is good to eat and harvest it on the farm.  I am proud to say that his neice immediately showed an interest in the same thing!

In order to learn what is expected to run a farm I started looking through books and finally picked four: Homesteading (edited by Abigail R Gehring), Canning & Preserving All-In-One for Dummies (6 books in one!), Mini Farming (Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 acre) by Brett L Markham, and Foraging (The Essential Guide to Free Wild Food) by John Lewis-Stempel.  Imagine my surprise when the books that arrived were almost like mini encyclopedias.  Never fear, I plowed through them, scanning and absorbing like a sponge.  I found  gems in each of the books, but I think I have fallen in love with the Homesteading book.  It has so much information!  It tells you what something is, what has been tested and is workable, and then gives you instructions on how to build it if you need to!  Everything someone like myself who knows very little about what is needed, desperately wanted. 

So this week I am concentrating on reading through these gems and learning the basics of canning.  I have even purchased the fundamentals needed, to can.  Mason jars, a canning pot with rack, pectin, and minor implements.  We were surprised on the farm to find that there were unkempt fruit trees that were ripening!  One day the boys found what was left of a pear tree's fruit (the birds seemed to enjoy the fruit too).  They picked what they could and Mama Howard went to work making a dessert.  A few weeks later we found another pear tree (different type) that was starting to ripen.  We picked a bunch but not all- since we didn't have the tools and it was a very tall tree.  They are continueing to ripen off the tree in a large bucket in my living room.  I plan to use them in the first round of canning in a jelly or jam.  I'll let you know how that goes!  There is also a persimmon tree on the farm and from what I've read those stay on the tree until the first frost and then they should be picked and ripen the rest of the way off the tree.
 
We're not even a functioning farm yet and already we have a crop!  Wish me luck and good fortune in the canning endeavor.  And if you have any tips be sure and let me know!

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