Prepping for Spring in Fall

If you haven't yet, now is the time to begin your Spring garden.

First, location. You need a place that gets at least 6 hours of daylight, and water can be brought to it, leaving it not too wet and not too dry. Have both the soil and water tested. Some areas have had so much insecticide sprayed on it, that it is now in the water. Have the soil tested for things like lead.

Also have your soil tested to see where you are on ph levels. Do a little research on what it is you plan on growing, and what it's soil requirements are. Start building up your soil now by adding hummus, lime, manure, and so forth. Attempting to create that perfect ph. Also look for earthworms. The presence of them means a healthy soil. I would till everything under at this point. You will want to do this a couple of times before winter, churning up as much as the weed and grass seeds as possible.

Plan out your garden on paper, from plot size, to what, where to put plants, and irrigation. Know your area, and it's climate, these will be a factor in what you can grow.

There you go, on paper it is simple. But there is a lot that goes into your garden once you know what obstacles you are facing. If done correctly, expect $15 worth of produce for every 1 hour you spend working in your garden.

Good luck.

Local School District Wants You to Snitch

Not too sure what to make of this, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't have a scanner, so I am writing this out verbatim.


Dear Parent/Guardian.

We are asking for your help. In an attempt to better provide quality educational services to all students of USD 262 we would like to connect with those parents/guardians that live within our school district boundaries whose children do not attend our schools.

Our goal is to connect with these parents and provide them information about our school district as well as answer any questions they might have.

We need your help with identifying these patrons so we may contact them with a letter. Would you please use the space below to write down the names and address of your neighbors that have school aged children that do not attend USD 262 and then return this list by September 11. You can return this information with your child (only 1 per household) or use the drop box at the district office located at 132 S. Park Street.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Scott Springston
Superintendent of Schools

*********************

Then there is three spaces for snitching out your neighbors with. Should we be concerned about this? In the State of Kansas you have to register with the State if you are homeschooling. They should already have a list. And if these people want to have their children attend this school district, then they would have registered their kids their. People choose what school if any they want for their family. This just doesn't seem quite right to me.

Eating the Homestead

I have been searching and applying for 3rd shift jobs for over a month now. Apparently being self employed for as long as I have been is no longer considered a plus in the eyes of future employers. They obvious want some one that works out in the real world and not some one that rarely steps foot of the farm.

I need to find an alternative to what I am doing to add to my income. I have been working on a cook book for a while now. I was going to pass it along to some publishers. Unfortunately I can not wait around for them to get back to me, argue with me, set a release date, and all of that. To be frank, and yes, you can be surely, we need the money know. So I have gone the self publishing route.

I set the price low, most of the money ends up in other's hands. But this means I have to sell more. Like 40 by this weekend. Think that's possible? Wait! Side hurts from laughing. My Book is called:

Eating the Homestead

No pictures, sorry. I had it all written out and the fancy program wants me to manually type it all in. haha! Don't worry, I have another one up my sleeve that will have pictures. I digress, Eating the Homesteading has info on making your own extracts, rendering fats, even includes my breads that every one seems to want to steal. The main recipes of this book are based on garden veggies, not orchard (later). I included some of my favorite vegetable ice creams and butters.

The recipes included are not here (ok 1 or 2 have been here) but none have shown up on any of the food rags I write for.

What's the difference between me and a Hooker? A hooker has better promotion.

ahh. . . not enough sleep.

HURRY RUN OUT AND BUY IT! It's the must have book of the year!!!!!

Basic Tomato Paste

You need paste to make various other tomato based sauces

makes about nine 1/2 pints

13 lbs Peeled,cored, chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 c Chopped sweet red peppers
2 Bay leaves
1 tbs Salt
1 Garlic clove; peeled

Cook tomatoes, peppers, bay leaves, and salt for 1 hour over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Press through a food mill and return to pot. Discard seeds and bay leaves.
Add garlic, and continue to cook over medium to medium low heat, stirring frequently, until tomato mixture is thick enough to mound on a spoon, about 2-1/2 hours. Or place in a low oven over night.

Remove garlic.

Pour hot paste into hot 1/2 pint jars to within 1/4 inch of tops.

Process in a boiling water bath 45 minutes.

Basic Red Pasta Sauce

10 lbs Tomatoes

3 tbs oil

4 1/2 cup Onions, chopped

3 Garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tsp Oregano, crushed

2 Bay leaves, crushed

1 Tbs Plain salt (non-iodized)

1 Tbs Sugar

1 tbs Black pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper, crushed

1 tbs Parsley, dried

1 tbs Celery leaves, minced

Peel, core and chop tomatoes. Combine with rest of ingredients in heavy saucepan.

Simmer 2 hours stirring often until desired consistency. Pour into hot jars leaving 1/2" headspace.

Process 30 minutes.

Makes approximately 5-7 pints.