Getting Off The Grid - May Means Planting Time

When the calendar reads "May" it seems that mother nature also reads it and the cold just disappears! And much to my delight. The blue skies and birds singing, flowers blooming and fresh green tree leaves making a shade for the coming heat.

This week is when I will plant a section of the garden, I did get a few rows plowed before the tiller decided to quit. Its okay I will get my uncle to fix it or just buy another one.

The Homestead :

Planting time!  I managed to get a few rows plowed and then in went the spring greens, I am hoping to have a wonderful crop so that I might get more home canned to last the summer. 

I have more tomato plants outside on the deck hardening off, the bell peppers and the eggplants have taken well to their new homes.

I have several different stages planted, from adult and ready to be in the dirt to just sowed seed. I am trying my best to learn how to garden year round, and harvest the foods I eat regular, not just what is in season.

To get an assortment of vegetable seeds at a reasonable price click here 

The Garden :

2018 tomato plants set out in March.

I will also include the flower beds that are harboring very early tomato plants. I picked a hand full this week, though they are not huge they still made a pretty tasty salad. 

2018 spearmint

Below the tomato plants the spearmint has came out and is thriving. The nice thing about mint is that it comes back each year and spreads. Plant once and enjoy forever! Want to start your own?  click here 

I did pick a mess of kale before mowing over the garden.

The stockpile :

Today I am making vegetable soup since I had ran out, perfect day to use up all the vegetables in the fridge and some of last years garden put away.

I had potatoes, green beans and carrots in the fridge that needed to be used, I added celery and onions. From the freezer I tossed in a couple handfuls of okra from last fall.

I used my own home canned tomatoes and I added corn but it was from a tin can, all I had left.

Last week I managed to home can the kale that I had picked, I got six nicely packed pints and I know there will be a good mess left before the bugs and the sun gets to it.

The Learning :

This past week I went out for a walk in the woods, with the dogs, and I was checking out the trees and the new leaves. Since I have bought the maple tapping kit and book from Amazon I want to make sure that I learn what trees I can tap for sugar making, or as I call it making maple syrup. For that kit click  here   It seems to be a simple process I just want to make sure I have the right trees for the best tasting syrup.

Since there are so many trees with the same type of leaves it is hard know which is which so for that problem I solved it with the book about trees! It has the exact leaf so I will not be confused. For the book I found to be the best click here.  

The  sweet gum tree looks so much like the maples that I had to really study the leaves, the southern maple has a few more little ruffles, this pretty new leaf came in all colors, whereas the sweet gum leaf gas straight lines to each pointed end. It is a very small new tree but now that I know it is indeed a maple I will pamper it and look for more, I would enjoy making my own syrup.  

Another book I have went back to time and time again is the do it yourself book, this book shows you have to build things you thought you never could, it give every detail to make a chicken coop to a cold bed frame to a green house. click here to see this book, it will not disappoint! 

Since I want to raise food year round I have to learn more about how to do this, its not as simple as I had thought, so I bought another book and this one is fabulous! It explains which plants likes the cooler weather and the plants that want it hot, it also gives in detail house to make many cold frames or tunnels, food year round! Click here and see what I am talking about. 

So there, those are the nest books to learn by, having them in hand means you can go back to them over and over when you have a question. 

By Andria Perry

Photos by Andria Perry

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Getting Off The Grid - The Waiting

The Winter and Spring are times to wait. I have to wait till the ground is a certain temp before I plant the tomatoes. I have to make sure that most of the cold fronts that send down icy temps have passed. 

I have been playing the waiting game.

Its April the 23rd and I began to "think" I can get this moving along a bit more.

The flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. 

The Homestead :

For a couple of weeks I have been taming the grass around the house as well as the fields, cutting out paths to the blackberry bushes and cleaning up the dogs area as well. The new growth of poison oak is out and I have to destroy that before I go any further with the new section for the dogs.

The blackberries are in full bloom and so the olden folks call this time of the year blackberry winter since it can get very cold at night.

Since the wind destroyed the greenhouse, well not destroyed but blew the plastic off, I did manage to get out before the rain came and remove the plastic altogether, roll it up for the next try at it. But no time soon I am afraid, time and energy are sparse. 

The Garden :

I have  been tending to the baby plants I have inside the house, I have three stages and the first was planted in the flower beds around the deck, they have tomatoes and are looking good, I have had to cover them more than once to keep them warm. 

The next tomato plants are just about at the stage to re-pot.

I finally got the eggplants separated and into their own pot. I did the next level of bell peppers as well.

The cabbage are very leggy but I hope to try and get a few heads before summer.

I am hardening all the vegetable plants off this week, since its supposed to be light rain and cloudy I think its the best time. After all I will be planting the fields in May.

The stockpile :

I have not done anything as far as stockpiling, just the opposite, I have been eating the stockpile. I ran out of homemade veggie soup this past weekend. Time to get busy!

The Learning :

I have learned to use the solar power, a little, so I am not totally freaked out. I have checked out more things to add to this one, so I can add panels as I buy them. I am not good at remembering the names of these things, I must write them down but I know what they look like :)

I will have to find another place to put the panels so I can have a dry place for the things that need to stay dry, maybe on top of the shed? I am not sure at this point, its just the beginning. 

By Andria Perry

Photos by Andria Perry

Get ready for any situation! from having a fire starter to clean water. Storing up seeds for a hard time to having food year round. Prepare now, be happy about this later.

 Getting started is not that hard and how life is nowadays its so easy to order what you want online and have it delivered at your front door. Why wait? Even if its just night lighting for the summer, its free power! Solar lanterns  are the way to go!

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”

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Getting Off The Grid - Yay! Time For Me and Solar Power

Its not often I take out a little time for me, I have to make sure that the people are happy in the rentals and I have to make sure Tony gets taken care of, the animals, the homestead and that leaves me last.

But what some people think of as me time and how I think of me time are totally different.

Some say go spoil myself with nail polish, new clothes and hair styles but to me its about not doing anything for anyone else but what I want. Today I wanted to open the solar power kit I bought a while back.

So I did.

The Homestead :

On Monday I was not sure what the last of the week would be like so I mowed all the grass here, two full acres, in one evening. I should not have because it beat this old body to hell and back.

Tuesday I worked at the old home place cutting up downed trees with the small electric chainsaw and stacking the wood, I am mentioning that here because that will be wood to burn in the future, no live trees taken just what wind already took down. When it gets close to winter I will load it up and bring it home.

Now ...... Its Friday and I did plan to mow the grass round the edges of the house, around trees etc. but I wanted to do something else more, the solar panels.

So I took them outside and set them up on the deck, I do not have long cords so this is perfect for running a couple small things or one major thing.

Each panel connect to the next with a metal bar with a screw and a wing nut to hold it together, easy to do.

I opened the back legs and sat them facing the south. 

I knew they were working when I seen that little blue light shining on each.

Next I hooked up each to a main line that goes into the regulator box. 

Last was setting the battery up, easy as pie! clip the cable onto it and then into the slot for the battery on the regulator. 

I am charging that battery up free with sun/light!

I do need a few more items so to be able to hook the fridge/ t.v.. Tony talked about doing the t.v. since its on a lot just to see how much it would save on the power bill each month, the fridge would be in case of power loss.

I am doing the happy dance! I got it started. Free power.

The Garden :

This week I chopped down most of the greens that was left, since I did not have any time to pick most were going to seed, I did leave one small section because the kale is huge, it`ll make one small meal.

And my favorite time of the year, Blackberry time! As I walked the dogs around the field I seen they are about to bust open into full bloom, a few are already open.

Inside the Basil is doing awesome and I have a wire rack filled with the first picking of this year or drying.

The sage has began to grow once again.

The tomatoes are doing great, but there were a few nights I had to cover them with sheets due to a cold snap, we have one more to go and I hope that is over.

The stockpile :

Since I have not grown anything this year, yet, I have not home canned much but last week I did dry beans and pickled sausages. I was down to one jar of red beans, no pintos and no green baby Lima beans. Although the dry beans keep I home can them for meals on the days I have to work both jobs and I am not able to cook, I open a jar, warm it and I have healthy food waiting. I also cook a large skillet of cornbread and freeze it for those times.

The Learning :

I cant say that I have learned anything much, except how to set the solar panels up, That was a big deal. I was scared and excited but I took my time and got it done right the first time.

By Andria Perry

Photos by Andria Perry

Getting started is not that hard and how life is nowadays its so easy to order what you want online and have it delivered at your front door. Why wait? Even if its just night lighting for the summer, its free power!

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”