Thinned Mint, Anyone?

The past week has been another roller coaster around the homestead. We've worked in the garden, planted in the greenhouse, begun work on re-doing pens in the barn for the animals, worked in the rapidly growing herb bed, marked our queens in both our bee hives and added supers for honey stores, and made a trip to the ER with our son.  All the while we have begun planning a 2016 Spring Gathering for local homesteaders/self-reliant persons/farmers etc.  We are excited about how well it is coming together and I will be doing some individual posts regarding the event, presenters and schedule for the day.

Yesterday, I worked in the greenhouse and herb garden.  I have always wanted mint....and now I have MINT....three kinds....fast growing....oh-my-goodness-mint!  The best advice I have for anyone growing mint is do not be afraid to pull up the runners and dispose of them!  Mint is prolific, some even say invasive!  My Homestead Mint is a very hardy variety and yesterday I thinned at least a bushel basket full.  I pulled it, roots and all, and know that I will be doing this regularly.  I planted it in a buried container initially, to help contain the roots, but it still sends out runners and likes where I put it enough to spread like wild fire.  I don't say all this to discourage anyone planting it, in fact just the opposite, I encourage everyone who wants any kind of herbs to grow mint.  Mint is an easy herb to grow and has many uses.  Success is almost assured, but you do need to be aware of its prolific nature when choosing the planting site and be prepared to spend a bit of time to keep it controlled.

In trying to keep the mint from taking over the other 10 or so herbs I have in one bed, I spent the day yesterday pulling the runners.  When I found myself with no less that a bushel of pulled mint, I began to think of what to do with it.  No way did I want to just burn it, or waste it.  I wasn't sure about feeding it to the rabbits or chickens, so I decided to make sure it was used for human consumption until I can confirm its safety for my animals.  I had always thought of harvesting herbs as a one time thing, much like corn or green beans.  You pick it, process it, and your are done.....with herbs though, you can harvest all season long.  Each type has it's ideal time, and depending on the intended use, you may choose to harvest certain times of the year for specific processes, but you can harvest it any time.  I'm not an herbalist, and am just learning much of the basics about herbs and their uses, so I won't give specifics that I may or may not be accurate about.  I encourage you to do some research.  It is fascinating.

After thinning out the herb bed and removing all the wondering Mint, I selected some nice healthy starts and potted them into cups, with large holes drilled for drainage.  I made sure to choose plants that had large root systems.  These will be offered for sale for $2 each as soon as I am certain the roots are strong and the plants are growing.  I will also be starting, sage, lemon balm, spearmint, peppermint, and others as time allows.

After potting,  I pinched each plant back  to encourage new, bushier growth.  Each place that was pinched back should send out 2 more shoots.  I used to avoid pinching back plants.  It just didn't seem right to pinch them back after they had worked so hard to grow. Now that I understand exactly how the plants grow, and how pinching back encourages healthy, bushy plants, I find it much easier to accept this part of the growing process.  The end results are much stronger, healthier plants that produce more.  I also saved all the leaves that got pinched off and added them to my extract, so nothing was wasted at all.

After pinching all the tops, making sure the starts got a good drink of water, the top leaves were saved for washing off and making my first start of mint extract.  I took the rest of the plants I had thinned into the Canning Kitchen.  I removed the roots and washed the stalks and leaves to remove any bugs or debris.  The stalks were then stripped of the leaves and discarded.  When I got enough to pack tightly into a quart jar, the leaves were packed tightly and covered with Vodka.  After making sure the leaves were all submerged below the surface of the liquid, and air bubbles were removed, the jar was tightly capped and was set in a dark cool place to set for several weeks.  Most people who do extracts recommend colored jars/bottles to avoid breakdown from the light.  I don't have a good selection of blue or brown glass jars or bottles, so I am using a cool dark corner on one of my canned good shelves for now.  Hopefully this will get me by until I can get some more appropriate jars.

I then set out to clean the rest of the mint.  Prep it for the dehydrator so that it could be dried for tea.  I dumped it in the sink, cut off all the roots, washed and rinsed it and laid it out on one of my drying screens to drain. 

These drying screens are invaluable to me.  I made them to store my sweet potatoes over the winter, but have many other uses in the canning kitchen.  I will be making more very soon.











There are couple different schools of thought on the drying process.  Some require stripping the leaves prior to drying, others allow the leaves to remain on the stems.  If you bundle the stems and let them air dry, the stems are necessary to tie to.  I chose to leave my leaves attached to the stems for the dehydrating process.  I will remove the leaves as I crumble them for tea.  This works best for me and they seem to be removed faster after they are dry than removing the leaves when they are green.  With my dehydrator, the mint will be completely dry overnight, even with the stems.  If you are drying in the air or sun-drying on a rack, it might be worth the effort to remove the leaves so that you are not retaining moisture in the stems.  When dry, the mint has a beautiful blue/green/brown appearance.  I will eventually mix my leaves with lemon balm, chamomile, and other herbs for various flavored teas.  I am excited to experiment with various flavors and see what I can brew!

I know my ancestors did not have the benefit of electric dehydrators and had to utilize the sun, air and other means of drying.  By being a Modern Missouri Pioneer and using my dehydrator I can do in a few hours what it used to take weeks to do.  This should allow me the time to experiment and come up with some tasty teas for both summer and winter.  Many of the herbs I am considering, have medicinal properties as well as wonderful flavor.  These teas, tinctures, extractions, decoctions and infusions can be used in combination to boost our health and treat illnesses, all naturally.  They can be used in making salves, lotions and soaps.  The possibilities are nearly endless.  I've only just begun to learn.

I'm sure my son, would love it if I could grow a plant or whip up a medicinal that could repair bone and replace teeth.  He had a mishap a couple of days ago.  While working on a ladder, he leaned one way, the ladder went the other and after the air conditioner effectively removed two of his front teeth on the way down, his right arm "broke" his fall, literally.  He will be laid up a while, recovering from both orthopedic and oral surgeries.  The lessons learned are many, not the least of which is remembering that that little sticker on the top of a ladder that reads, "NOT A STEP" it is really important to pay attention to. 

Everyone be safe when working outdoors in the Spring.  It only takes a moment to do things safely, and it may take weeks or months to heal up if you choose an unsafe method that you think is faster.  Sorry, Son, but you gave me a teachable moment....and you did photobomb my phone last week!  I love you!

A Week in the Life...

This previous week has been an ever changing series of events.  At times I've wanted to cry, occasionally I have laughed, and more frequently than my Mama would be proud of, I have cursed!  In dealing with a multitude of events, and trying to make sure we are caught up with the quickly approaching Spring, my blog post got put aside, twice.

Many people assume that living on a farm, or homestead, whichever you choose to call it, is a day to day life of serenity and sunshine, where you awake to the birds chirping, the sun shining and a day free of stress and obligation.  A part of that is sometimes true....occasionally....once in a while..... 

lA better description of the reality of my life is that I awake to the rooster crowing, goat kids screaming and/or an alarm blaring, the varied Missouri weather of 70 degrees one day and 30 the next, and a day that no matter how much you get done, you know more is waiting to be done.  The ever changing events of any given day can lead to frustration beyond belief.  Those are the days I realize that I need to learn to react to with a shrug and laughter, more often than anger and frustration.  Sometimes though, you just have one of those days.

We were actually making progress on the stands for barrels for planting in the green house.  We went to town and bought lumber, measured carefully and, after a couple of adjustments due to something that didn't cross our minds about how we were seating the half barrels, we ended up with some sturdy, waist high stands.  These stands will hold 4 half barrels that will be used for planting "salad" in the green house in the fall in hopes that we will have fresh grown greens and other salad fixings all winter long.  The plan will be to grow lettuce, spinach, kale, radishes, and onions, directly sown in the barrels.  I'm sure we will adjust our plans as we get further into the project. 



In the meantime, while we need to start seedlings for the summer garden, at least some of these barrels can be covered with a firm surface to create "tables" for our starter trays.  I cut some scrap plywood for that purpose, but I am getting a bit ahead of myself.  After finally completing the stands, I knew we were within minutes of getting my greenhouse to the point I could actually set a plant in it!  We hauled the stands to the greenhouse......only to find a minor problem.....

Though the greenhouse had withstood the high winds of spring on top of our hill for three weeks, for some reason it decided to succumb to the winds that day and go belly up!  We discovered it rocking back and forth on it's top.  It was amazing how quickly my demeanor flipped.  I went from feeling satisfaction and pride in knowing we were almost ready to add plants.....to wondering how in the world we were going to undo what Mother Nature had just accomplished. 

In looking back, I can laugh at how ridiculous my precious greenhouse looked, and can almost hear Mother Nature's witchy cackle as she reminded me that I needed to take the time to do things right.....like stake down the greenhouse!  Fortunately for us, we have a wonderful group of friends and a great family, so within a half hour of our frustrating discovery, we had help on the way, with a plan for up-righting the greenhouse and the rope it took to get it done.  I wish we had taken pictures of the process, because it actually turned out to be a very simple undertaking, that I couldn't see in my stressed out response.  We simply rocked it to one side, secured a rope to the bottom board, that was actually on the top, at the moment.  That rope was secured to the UTV and three of us guided and supported the greenhouse to it's proper position, while Papa pulled the rope with the UTV to pull it over. It's been 6 days since the greenhouse decided to do somersaults in the wind, and now is upright, staked down, door back on, barrels in place, plywood cut for tops of barrels, and a few plants started.  It feels and smells like a greenhouse.  It will have additions made to it, changes made to it, and further work done to it.  Just like life, it will be a constant work in progress.

Despite all the unforeseen issues, the past couple of weeks have allowed us to move the broilers to a large pen in the barn and make them a new feeder and waterer that will ensure they will have what they need to grow fast, and prevent many of the trips into the pen with feed and water.  We have moved the turkey poults to an outside pen, moved the quail to the large brooder box, butchered a pig to teach a friend who was uncertain how to butcher one himself, set the incubator full of Chukar eggs and officially check my digital thermometer for an accurate temperature reading, helped a friend milk out a Nannie goat with a sore udder, hung some shelves in the canning kitchen, had a short visit with my parents, and hosted Easter dinner complete with massive egg hunt. The nice days have been busy with outside activity and the rainy, cold days have been used to plan the outdoor projects that will be done when the sun shines again.

During my upside-down day, I realized a few things.  First of all, life is never still.  Life is a constant stream of changing events.  Our reactions to those events our what help to determine whether we are going to have good days or bad days.  I work on my reactions constantly, and while some think I am too laid back, others think I am too volatile and harsh.  I have high expectations.  But none of my expectations are any higher than the expectations I set for myself.  Rolling with the punches must be a developed skill to allow life to be enjoyed.  In addition to learning to roll with the punches, it has been critical for me to learn to understand the differences in Men and Women.

No, I have not just now discovered the physical differences in the sexes, but have focused on the psychological and emotional differences.  Do I respond well to those differences?.....nope....not usually, just ask Papa if there is any doubt.  I am still, at times, totally confused by these differences, but I am aware of them.  This awareness is the beginning of understanding and compromising. 

Let's take for a minute, laundry.  Ladies, did you know that most men DO NOT MIND dressing from the basket of clean clothing?  Really, they don't care!  Their clothing is available and clean.  Good enough for them!  Men, did you realize that there are women who find it important to fold and put away laundry after it is clean and dry, but also ORGANIZE their closets and drawers?  Yes, my clothing in my closet goes from white to cream to gray to black to brown to rust to red to pink......and each section goes from sleeveless to short sleeves to long sleeves to sweaters/jackets.  I can find what I want quickly, put together outfits that I feel good about wearing and quickly change from dirty jeans and boots to something clean and nice to run to town for feed.  And, yes, that is important to me.  I truly feel better about myself if I go to town free from the odor of pig or chicken shart. 

How about the perception of tools.....and their storage, or lack of.  Some men truly find it easier to return to the place where they last used them, and search for them than to have to open a tool box or cabinet to find them.  They actually usually know where they used it last, and are perfectly happy with the extra time it takes to do a project caused by the search for the elusive 1/2" box end wrench, that they used 4 weeks ago to replace the lawn mower blade.  The see no need to waste time organizing the screw drivers by size and design in a separate drawer from the wrenches arranged in size order.  They will be used and thrown in the last opened drawer, if they don't get left where they are.  On the same line, gentlemen, do not be surprised if your tender loving lady becomes a fire-breathing-rainbow-word-spewing-dragon.....when, even though they have bought you the fourth set of screwdrivers in less than that number of months.....they can not find one to complete a 2 minute job.   

Gentlemen, the view of watching your lovely farm woman use your best screwdriver, along with your new Eastwing hammer to chip away the large boulder that is preventing her from planting that new rose bush in the perfect spot, is about as pleasant to you as the feeling she gets when she finds Gramma Emma's antique bowl in the dog pen full of dog feed!

The author who wrote, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" surely lived on a farm where two very intelligent people are trying to come to an agreement on the best plan to get the same result.  Or they lived in a home where the most important jobs of getting ready to have company for dinner have been strongly debated for eons. 

For the lady of the house, the importance of mowing the yard for the third time this week is definitely up for debate.  While the man of the house, sees no need to make sure the floors are swept for the second time today....after all, "those young 'uns are going to be running in and out all day anyway"....and who will know whether the stove was shiny and the counters were spotless, because they are soon going be covered with delicious food and no one will care.

Life has away of giving us balance, if we accept it.  It gives us ups and downs, it gives us sun and rain, it gives us cold and warmth, it gives us men and women, all of which are not only necessary to survive,  but useful to creating a life we enjoy and want to pass on to our children and grandchildren.  I recently had an impromptu Easter dinner at the house.  No one who came knew that my stove was not as clean as I wanted it, that both my washer and dryer were full of laundry in various stages of completion or that my bed was not made.  And apparently no one cared that my laundry basket was full of clean clothing waiting to be folded, nor did they care that there were cobwebs in the corners or that I didn't take time to change from my "chore clothes" to "company clothes". 

They did enjoy the food, loved being outside for a HUGE Easter Egg hunt, and visited and hooped and hollered throughout the afternoon.  The grandchildren will not have memories of a dinner where Nana was cranky and running them out from under foot, but will remember getting to sweep the floor (even though the corners were missed) without someone coming behind them making them feel like they weren't good enough.  They will remember getting to "stuff" the Easter eggs with candy with their Great Grandmother.  My 8 year old granddaughter will remember getting to peel potatoes for the first time (with a vegetable peeler).  My grandson will remember feeling the pride of putting the baby goat back in his pen, by himself, without being made to feel like he wasn't fast enough to do it himself.  These are the feelings I want everyone to feel when they are with us.  These feelings are only nurtured when you allow yourself the time and opportunity to truly and realistically set priorities and gain an understanding of the that are truly important to others.   

Spring is definitely a busy time, where every spare minute can be filled.  No matter what you get done, there is more waiting to do.  So I challenge you all to take a deep breath, smile at your family, and enjoy what you are doing.  If you are doing it just because it needs to be done, you are missing so much.

I mean really, who would want to miss a moment like this?  Welcome to my life! :)

Greenhouse Progress

The weather the last few weeks has been remarkably warm and spring-like.  While the weather is much enjoyed, it comes with some anxious anticipation.  The earlier Mother Natures brings on Spring-like weather the more worried I become that there will be that late frost that will snap, getting the peach and cherry blossoms among other blooming plants. 

Spring Fever is also harder to deal with as the Spring temperatures climb and the temptation to plant the garden gets strong, even though the mind knows that it is too early.  So until the weather is truly stable and warm enough to plant, we have been working on some projects and taking care of the babies that have arrived or been added.  We have never been known to quickly complete a project....and the greenhouse we started a year ago, had been placed out of the way as the summer got busier last year.  We decided now was the time to get it closer to reality.

I am hoping to get the door on in time to start some plants for the garden, but if not, at least we are getting closer to being able to grow greens for salad all year long, by getting the green house closer to finished.  We opted to go for a corrugated PVC covering rather than plastic, for durability and longevity. 

We moved the frame to the location selected.  It is not far from the back door, close to a water hydrant and in full sun the bulk of the day. 

We began by attempting to attach the PVC sheeting horizontally.  We quickly realized that this plan would not work well, as there would not be enough tension to prevent them from being loose.  This would allow the wind to create movement that would eventually cause damage.



We removed the PVC pipes and drilled and screwed two by fours to the frames, evenly spaced to allow for adequate securing the corrugated PVC to the frame.  The corrugated sheets were then attached to the 2 x 4's with washered tin screws.  Papa and JD surprised me when I was at work one day and put the sheeting on, so I don't have pictures of that process.






Here is a nearly finished front.  We need to build and attach the door.  We also need to cut a window in the back that can be opened out for ventilation and to control the temperature in the summer time.  In addition to that, we will be making the raised beds and a table for starting seeds.  Hopefully this will be completed in the next couple of weeks.  We may not have time to get our own cool weather plants started, but we may still have time to start tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc.  We are looking forward to putting this project to good use.  We have invested a bit more than we initially expected, but it should give us years of productivity, and spread over the last two years, the $400 we have invested has not hurt the budget too badly. 

 The learning process we will have will be enjoyable and at times frustrating.  I have recently learned that for each layer, we can gain a zone.  With that said, being in zone 6 (b), by having the greenhouse, we jump to zone 7.  If we add a hoop and plastic over the raised bed, it will increase to zone 8.  This idea becomes intriguing and I will be experimenting with a layer or two of plastic inside the greenhouse as we get further experience.  Until then, I am excited to be able to do more of our growing and seed starting without being dependent on purchasing them from franchise stores or local commercial greenhouses.