1st Snow of the Season!

We woke up to white this morning.  The kids were happy about it, me not so much.  It didn't last too long, however...it's all but gone now. Since it snowed on the 9th, it will only snow 9 times this winter (so they say)...that seems a bit unlikely for Iowa.  It would be nice though!

Double Rainbow

Last week we had some rain while the sun was shining.  We went out on the porch to see if we could see a rainbow.  There was a huge double rainbow in the sky.  This is only part of it, and the picture really doesn't do it justice...it was so pretty.  It was also a learning lesson for the kids...we talked about the rainbow signifying God's covenant with us to never flood the earth again.  The kids thought that was neat...but also asked if there might be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  We can dream, can't we?

Signs of Fall

Pictures of Fall from around the farm:

Today's Harvest From The Square Foot Garden

I'm pretty happy with our SFG experiment this summer.  I would recommend raised bed gardening to anyone, specifically those who want to grow on a smaller scale or those who live in town.  You can harvest quite a bit of produce from a small amount of space.  I went out to the garden this morning and this is what I gleaned:

zucchini
cucumbers
greenbeans
radishes
2 types hot peppers
tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
cantalope

So much better than going to the store for your produce!  A quick rinse and it's ready to eat at the peak of ripeness.  We'll be adding some more raised beds for spring, and are already making plans for the new growing season in 2012. 

Making Applesauce

A friend gave me some apples from her trees, so I decided to make applesauce.  It took awhile to get them all peeled and sliced to fill up my big stockpot. 

 Here is a pic as they are cooking down...

Here is the applesauce when it was finished.  I added some cinnamon and some organic sugar to taste because the apples were a little on the tart side.

I usually can my applesauce, but I decided to freeze this batch because I didn't have a huge amount.  I plan on getting more apples later to make more sauce and pies for my freezer.  I'll be glad when all my apple trees kick it in gear and start giving me some apples!

The same friend also gave me a few peaches from her tree and they were so good.  They were little white peaches with great flavor.  The kids couldn't stop eating them, but I did manage to get another double batch of peach jam made.  Yay!

I love preserving food for the rest of the year.  I hope to someday have a root cellar and pantry stocked full with our garden's bounty.

A Pond For The Farm

We are getting a new pond dug for the farm.  It's pretty exciting, really. 

 This is a pic of the new crossing that lets us drive to the backside of our property.  The front and back is divided by timber and a fairly deep creek bottom.

 Here to the right of the crossing is the site of our future pond. 

There is some water in it already (very shallow).  There seems to be a spring or ground water that flows to this point.  Hopefully with winter snow and next spring's rain it will fill up nicely.  It won't be a real big pond, but we hope to maybe stock a few fish in it, or use it as a alternative water source for gardens/animals in the future.

Onions Galore!

This years onion harvest was great.  We have a TON of onions...what to do with them all...

 Clean them up and store them for winter.

 Onions braided and hanging in the kitchen.

Onions waiting to be used in everyday cooking.  I have been chopping some up to freeze, we've pickled a few, and have given away some too.  I think maybe next year I'll be planting less of these.  A girl can only use so many onions!