Homesteader Helen
@homesteaderhelen
grew up in west coast cities & worked in tech. Now on year #5 living on a rural homestead & working as a caregiver #GardenSky gardening, chickens, goats, horses, canning, farming, rural life, climate science god is imaginary. use your brain
every August Batilda goes broody and will raise chicks for us. This year I put fertilized eggs from some of our ameraucana hens under her. But one chick is black! One of the grey hens must have snuck an extra egg in there #BackyardChickens #BabyChicks #ScratchAndPeck
the last harvest of rhubarb this summer! macerated in the food processor to make about 6 cups & mixed in 1 cup sugar. I'll let it marinate 24 hours in the fridge then simmer 5 minutes, into hot clean jars, water bath 30 minutes ** no lemon or anything else needed to safely can rhubarb!
marinara sauce round two adding zucchini this time because TOO MUCH zucchini
purple heliotrope #Bloomscrolling #FlowersOnFriday #PurpleFriday
goldenrod with ants & a bee! #BloomScrolling #NativePlants #YellowThu
onion relish! with the tiny hot red peppers we grew 8 cups peeled & chopped onions 1 cup white vinegar (5%) 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon canning salt ½ teaspoon mustard seed simmer 10 minutes then into clean hot jars into water bath 30 minutes
I'm always planning for next year's garden while working in this year's! today I'm saving seeds from the best tomatoes for planting next year its so easy! squeeze a super ripe tomato into a jar of water, ignore for a few days. The good seeds sink, dump everything else then dry on a napkin
ugh I hate yellow jacket season! even though its not as bad this year compared to last August this bird water tray was filled early this morning its half empty now
planted Egyptian "walking" onions a few years back on a fenceline to deter rabbits (kinda worked) They grow a cluster of new onion bulbs instead of an umbrella of flowers. I have onions for days but they are SO strong. I'm blinded by tears every time I chop them www.groworganic.com/blogs/articl...
the squash jungle is so dense that I missed these yellow zucchini growing underneath and they are huge & lumpy now. and some look like they crossed with the acorn squash lol #SundayYellow
a perfect sunflower, just days before a deer hopped the fence to eat it #SundayYellow
today we got a big harvest! I'm making marinara with our home grown tomatoes, green & purple basil, oregano, rosemary, garlic, egyptian onions, and bay leaf
In the US, the backyard chickens of 100 years ago were raised out of necessity. They provided a steady supply of daily eggs to feed the family. During WWI raising chickens became an important part of the war effort back home, helping to lessen the strain with food supplies going overseas