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ursulas_alcoveFebruary 2nd, Candlemas Day - Half your wood, half your hay. Half the winter has passed away. We'll eat our supper by the light of day.
Candlemas is the halfway point. It's a way of making sure your provisions last until enough food grows and is harvestable, about May or June. I did better this year than last. Despite a lousy harvest for 2020, I still have pickles, frozen tomatoes, canned tomato sauce, and a good assortment of jelly for pancakes. We are low on bulk things like oatmeal, pasta, and a few more. I'm out of fruit except for the jelly. No more potatoes or onions. I have one more pumpkin. The ground hog took a few bites but it healed over. I should cook it before long because the seeds actually start growing inside about this time of year. I can freeze it once cooked.
If I had to survive on what I put away, I would starve to death. I do have twice as much in the cupboard this year as opposed to last year. Here's a look at last year at this time:
I added an additional shelving unit for bulk foods. I have a lot of empty containers on it right now. But here's how it used to look:
My ideal setup would be something from Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/p/CHmKW5IAX_h/?igshid=xuzbsmq16gap “at”theseasonalhomestead Bentonville, AR. I want applesauce and pickled beets, canned peaches, and so much more. Climate change keeps screwing with our fruit trees. It's like "always a bridesmaid and never a bride". Late season frosts have been killing the blossoms as well as the bees. I keep hearing people talk about the abundance of their gardens. I have yet to experience it. Despite the empty store shelves with no canning supplies, I have been buying canning lids for the abundance I expected and never got, for years now. I should have plenty of lids for the 2021 canning season even if I am blessed with bountiful fruit. I counted. It pays to plan ahead. I also picked up some more jelly jars and they too come with lids and rings. Another way to save on lids is to can with larger jars. I started doing the tomatoes this way. I freeze them until I have a lot to make sauce out of and use the full quart jars. The other thing to do is make wine instead. You can always make wine jelly later by adding pectin.
My hope for 2021 is plums, Asian pears, strawberries, mulberries, raspberries, and currants. Apples will take a few more years. There will be a polar vortex here starting on Saturday. A polar vortex is when climate change causes the air at the poles to wobble. Instead of staying in the normal circle, it stretches out fingers or tendrils that wobble all over. I need to put more covers on things like the fig tree and my latest winter garden. It will go from 48 degrees and rainy on Friday down to 1 degree by Sunday night. When it hits forty, I hope the ground will thaw enough that I can get some more hoops into the ground to hold covers up off the plants. Let's hope I don't lose the rosemary or lavender again. Lots of work to do.
I did put up 5 gallons of rhubarb wine. Without friends stopping by to remind me to harvest, I tend to leave things until too late. I've no idea if the arugula is harvestable. It was ready January 15th. It's still in the garden bed. I have to check how it did in the cold and if it bolted. It's under plastic. With sun, it gets pretty warm in there.
The goal is to empty the kitchen wire rack so I can set it up as a seed starting nursery. There's a lot to clean up yet. With luck, I hope to add an additional rack to free up space. (See previous entry on the useless kitchen) I also found that you can buy wine racks to hook onto the wire shelving units. Covid shopping is a real thing.
This is what I need to achieve. From a different year:
So even if I don't renovate the kitchen right now, I will be moving some furniture and streamlining. Hoping to get the wire rack on February 10th-ish.
Candlemas is the halfway point. It's a way of making sure your provisions last until enough food grows and is harvestable, about May or June. I did better this year than last. Despite a lousy harvest for 2020, I still have pickles, frozen tomatoes, canned tomato sauce, and a good assortment of jelly for pancakes. We are low on bulk things like oatmeal, pasta, and a few more. I'm out of fruit except for the jelly. No more potatoes or onions. I have one more pumpkin. The ground hog took a few bites but it healed over. I should cook it before long because the seeds actually start growing inside about this time of year. I can freeze it once cooked.
If I had to survive on what I put away, I would starve to death. I do have twice as much in the cupboard this year as opposed to last year. Here's a look at last year at this time:
I added an additional shelving unit for bulk foods. I have a lot of empty containers on it right now. But here's how it used to look:
My ideal setup would be something from Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/p/CHmKW5IAX_h/?igshid=xuzbsmq16gap “at”theseasonalhomestead Bentonville, AR. I want applesauce and pickled beets, canned peaches, and so much more. Climate change keeps screwing with our fruit trees. It's like "always a bridesmaid and never a bride". Late season frosts have been killing the blossoms as well as the bees. I keep hearing people talk about the abundance of their gardens. I have yet to experience it. Despite the empty store shelves with no canning supplies, I have been buying canning lids for the abundance I expected and never got, for years now. I should have plenty of lids for the 2021 canning season even if I am blessed with bountiful fruit. I counted. It pays to plan ahead. I also picked up some more jelly jars and they too come with lids and rings. Another way to save on lids is to can with larger jars. I started doing the tomatoes this way. I freeze them until I have a lot to make sauce out of and use the full quart jars. The other thing to do is make wine instead. You can always make wine jelly later by adding pectin.
My hope for 2021 is plums, Asian pears, strawberries, mulberries, raspberries, and currants. Apples will take a few more years. There will be a polar vortex here starting on Saturday. A polar vortex is when climate change causes the air at the poles to wobble. Instead of staying in the normal circle, it stretches out fingers or tendrils that wobble all over. I need to put more covers on things like the fig tree and my latest winter garden. It will go from 48 degrees and rainy on Friday down to 1 degree by Sunday night. When it hits forty, I hope the ground will thaw enough that I can get some more hoops into the ground to hold covers up off the plants. Let's hope I don't lose the rosemary or lavender again. Lots of work to do.
I did put up 5 gallons of rhubarb wine. Without friends stopping by to remind me to harvest, I tend to leave things until too late. I've no idea if the arugula is harvestable. It was ready January 15th. It's still in the garden bed. I have to check how it did in the cold and if it bolted. It's under plastic. With sun, it gets pretty warm in there.
The goal is to empty the kitchen wire rack so I can set it up as a seed starting nursery. There's a lot to clean up yet. With luck, I hope to add an additional rack to free up space. (See previous entry on the useless kitchen) I also found that you can buy wine racks to hook onto the wire shelving units. Covid shopping is a real thing.
This is what I need to achieve. From a different year:
So even if I don't renovate the kitchen right now, I will be moving some furniture and streamlining. Hoping to get the wire rack on February 10th-ish.
