Cotton!

I have always loved seeing cotton growing in the fields of South Carolina. Last year Ashley saved a few seeds from some cotton we had picked up and he surprised me by planting cotton in our garden.  

It's a beautiful plant- I had no clue they had such pretty blossoms. 

Even though the cotton won't provide food for us, it does make me smile (and I am especially excited about seeing the white bolls later in the fall).  

New chickens, new eggs

Our new chickens have finally started laying eggs. Although they haven't figured out to use their boxes, they have given us an egg every day or so. 

When I cracked this morning's egg for pancakes, it was a double yoke! For chickens born in April, I think they are doing pretty well.  

Newest garden cart

While the big boys went dove hunting with Daddy, Tyler helped me with this morning's garden haul. An old neighbor gave us this car and it has been great for all sorts of things- now including transporting okra and peas. 

Making Muscadine Jelly

Our muscadine vines are producing a great crop of grapes this summer.  We all have enjoyed eating the grapes while standing in the yard but now there are so many coming in that I need to do something with them.  

On Sunday our neighbors brought over their juicer and we juiced 2 gallons. I was disappointed that the juice was fairly bitter.  I did some research online and found that juicing the grapes on the stove is preferred when making jelly so I picked another gallon.  

The first step is washing the grapes, followed by mashing them with a potato masher. 

Once the grapes' skins have popped, I heated them on the stove.  

After boiling the juice and pulp for 10 minutes, I strained the juice through a colander lined with a few layers of cheesecloth. 

Look at this amazing juice! If hadn't already committed this batch to jelly, I would have served it at breakfast. Muscadine juice has a much milder flavor than the more common Concord grape juice.  I stopped at this point and refrigerated the juice over night. 

Then tonight I strained the juice through wet cheesecloth again to remove any remaining particles (the goal for jelly juice is a very clear product).  

Now armed with 5 1/2 cups of juice, I followed the low-sugar SureJell recipe for grape jelly. 

Almost ready to can (pre foam-skimming). 

A little while later and I had 7 half-pints of muscadine jelly. Perfect for biscuits and PBJ sandwiches.  

I think this concludes my canning fair entry preparations for this year. In other news, Levi started Kindergarten last week (and it's partial immersion Spanish--so cool that kids have this option now). Mason begins 3 year-old preschool next week. And Tyler turned one a month ago. It's a fun time for our family!

Grilled okra at OHF

Tonight I am grilling okra as one of sides with steak sandwiches.  I saw this method in Food Network Magazine a couple of years ago.  

It's easy enough: toss your okra with oil, salt and paprika. Thread onto double skewers. Grill over medium heat until slightly charred (or however you prefer).  

Our summer garden is winding down   Ashley has planted the beginnings of our fall crops, which include kale, beets, carrots, and spinach. 

One of our new tries for the summer included peanuts. Being that we are from   South Carolina, we enjoy boiled peanuts and will crank up the crockpot to take care of these.

Happy tail-end of summer!

Bread-n-butter pickles

Tonight I added to my canning know-how bread and butter pickles. Although I prefer dill, Ashley and Levi are lovers of a bnb pickle.  We will see how these taste in a month (how long you have to wait for them to properly cure) but I proud of their looks!

I am about over cucumber harvesting even though I know I will miss their taste. 

Note: this was my first post using my iPhone.  I am getting used to having a smartphone and am pleased with its camera.  

Getting Good Use Out of the Place

My oldest son turned 5 June 15th. We gave him a "big boy bike", which he is working hard on learning how to ride. It won't be long and before he'll ride sans training wheels and will be able to cruise all over the place. He'll get good use out of those knobby tires!

Ashley constructed a massive slip-n-slide in the backyard for the party, which was enjoyed by all of Levi's cousins and friends. When we were building the house, I mentioned that we had an unfair advantage because we immediately had a landscaped yard, thanks to Ashley's line of work. His work with irrigation came in handy for the slip-n-slide project, too: he rigged up three irrigation heads on stands to provide the water stream. 

We used our side yard as the supper and sweets location--it worked out perfectly, thanks to mild weather (little humidity). We've never used the parking side yard much (favoring the front, back and garden side yards) but after having the party there, we'll use it more. Debbie, Ashley's mom, is helping me dream up ways to create more of a room feel (think arbor, picket fence, and more plants). Oh the party's theme was construction (in case you notice the caution tape everywhere). 

The fort got lots of use, too!

Back to the blackberries...stinkbugs have been a BIG nuisance. 

Notice how the berries have white spots? That's where the evil stinkbugs injected their "poison". Yuck.

Never fear, I have waged a war against these pests...flicking them into a bucket of soapy water. And I continue to harvest around 2 gallons of blackberries a DAY. 

Last week I made blackberry jelly for the first time. Here are the berries getting ready to be juiced.

Then squeezing the berries and putting the juice in a jar. Jellying is a lot of work!

 This past Saturday we had an unwelcome visitor...while my friend Sandra and I were enjoying our lunch in the dining room, our heard our dog barking. I went outside and discovered this HUGE snake. I called my father-in-law, who came over and took care of it (we can't have snakes like that roaming about when we have chickens). Good riddance!

The Bounty Begins..

A few weeks ago, the boys had the ultimate front seats....watching concrete being poured in our parking area. We've been in the house for two years and finally took the plunge and created a solid surface to play and park on. As you can imagine, Mason and Levi were glued to the action from 8:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. We even ate our lunch on the porch.

I've been pretty excited about all the yumminess coming out of the garden. We've finished harvesting the carrots, including these funny ladies. My mother-in-law commented that this picture looks like synchronized swimmers. One of the best things about raising your own food is seeing the variety of ways vegetables grow. Those carrots in bags at Publix didn't start as stubby "baby carrots".... I laughed out loud washing this group off. And then made a batch of Asian Pickled Carrots. I'm trying to limit myself to only eating a few a day. They are delicious!

Last year the birds ate almost all of our blackberries. This year, there are so many berries that the birds haven't been a problem. Look at these beauties! I just made a batch of Fresh Blackberry Jam with part of them. 

Both of the previous recipes came from this BHG Canning Magazine that my mother-in-law picked up last year. The photos are gorgeous and the recipes are winners so far!

Currently growing on this side of the garden, front to back: strawberries (though they really haven't done that great....or more accurately, critters have been enjoying the berries), soybeans, zucchini, cucumbers, peanuts, basil, green beans, corn tomatoes, and okra. On the other side, we have blank areas where we harvested the potatoes (in the rain, not a good idea) and carrots. Pink-eyed peas are coming along and sweet potatoes are also there. Ashley also planted a second crop of corn and green beans.

Our corn, tassels out! I meant to take a picture of the purple corn we're growing but forgot. Excited about that crop!

And this little guy is growing right along, too! 10 months old. What love!

Greening up

 This afternoon I told Ashley our weather this week has felt like we're stuck in March instead of the beginning of May. The things growing outside, however, prove we're moving on through spring. Everything is greening up and it's beautiful!

Remember the grapevines I pruned a while back? They're flourishing now! 

I even found the start of some muscadines! As a reference, these "grapes" are currently the size of a pinhead. 

Also gearing up for a summer harvest: blueberries! We have three separate plantings of blueberry bushes and they're all full of green berries. I'm definitely looking forward to these ripening!

Last year the birds ate almost ALL of our blackberries. This year the vines are really loaded down with blossoms and the starts of berries so I'm hoping there will be enough to share with our winged friends instead of me resorting to covering the vines with netting (what I planned to do after only getting to eat maybe five ripe blackberries). 

In the garden, things have really taken off, too. Mason turned 3 in April and he loves being a garden helper. He's standing in front of our potato plants. Between Ashley fertilizing the garden a few weeks ago and a lot of rain, the potatoes have really shot up. We need to hoe up the plants and cover the roots so the potatoes will be protected from the sun as they grow. Maybe we'll get to that tomorrow...

More growth in the garden--left to right: garlic (our first time trying this), strawberry plants, and romaine. Onions are growing towards the back--Ashley harvested a few yesterday just to see the size. It's also our first time growing those. 

Our house makes a great playground for kids. Last week I invited over Levi and Mason's preschool classes after we went strawberry picking a few miles away. We all had fun, picnicking in the yard, romping through the garden, visiting the animals and playing in the sandpile at the fort. 

This picture, in particular, made happy because it perfectly captured a gang of boys (and one mama) having a blast in our driveway. 

And this pan of rice krispy treats doesn't have much to do with spring, other than we celebrated Levi's birthday at school this week (it's not until June but his teachers let the summer birthday kids have a special day, too). When asked what type of treat he wanted me to make, Levi said John Deere rice krispy treats. This is the third John Deere birthday for him. I guess that's fitting to a boy who's growing up in the country and loves that John Deere green!

The Mother Lode of Kale

These three have been keeping me busy lately but more is going on at Okra Hill than just three boys being boys.

Before Easter Ashley planted broccoli, romaine lettuce, pak choi, etc.

Now we have lots of things growing in the garden--from front to back: potatoes, peas, carrots, broccoli, beets, sweet potatoes. On the other side are garlic, onions, strawberries, lettuces, cucumbers, corn, beans and tomatoes. 

We had to harvest the remainder of our kale crop to make room for the spring/early summer plantings. I did this in batches. One afternoon I picked a bunch, put it under the stroller (how I take Tyler to the garden and to feed the goats and chickens), and forgot about it until late that night. We ate that batch up and I gave away some. 

The mother load of kale, however, we processed using our clawfoot tub. If you read my That New House blog, you'll remember this tub was a special find--an antique we had restored for our master bathroom. I have rarely used the tub but the boys love it for baths. 

When Ashley walked in one Saturday at lunch with a laundry basket full of kale, my immediate reaction was to groan..."what are we going to do with all that?" Then I knew we'd put the tub to use (after I cleaned it properly of bubble bath, of course). Levi was happy to help with the task of washing the kale. 

A year ago or so we watched Small Farm Rising on PBS and learned all sorts of useful information, including the dunking method to clean greens. We loaded the kale into the water and vigorously swirled it to loosen any sand/dirt. Once we were satisfied with its cleanliness, we scooped it back out and placed it in a laundry basket lined with a clean towel. 

Bath, anyone?

Look at all that yummy kale! 

I researched different methods on how to preserve kale and decided to go with the frozen blanched method found here. Basically, you blanch the kale for 2 minutes in batches; dunk in ice cold water for 2 minutes; salad spin off the excess water; place on towel to dry off further; and then bag. 

 So all that kale, a laundry basket full, resulted in 7 quart bags. I don't think that will get us very far but luckily we'll have lots of other garden goodness to enjoy soon enough. The boys and I ate the last of our fresh kale tonight as kale chips. I already wish we had more :o).