Half-Acre Homestead

24/09/2021

CSA MEMBERS:
Final delivery is postponed to next week instead of today. Please check your email.

17/09/2021

Yesterday's dye results. The second, third and fourth from the left on the top row are all colors gotten from beets with various mordants/modifiers. The third one, the bland beige, is a fail. I watched all the color from the beets wash right out when I rinsed it. I'm collecting the end of the raspberries as they ripen each day, and I also have more beets waiting to be harvested and pickled, so I have a couple more opportunities with two more hanks of yarn I saved from the pack. Also I think I'll overdye that beige and see what I can get.
But how about those purples and greys?! I'm not unhappy with those!

16/09/2021

I haven't done an update in quite a while, and I'll have to do a full one soon; but my latest package of undyed yarn finally arrived yesterday after a long delay from Fed Ex. Today I've managed to create a couple nice greys.
The darker yarn was first soaked in a solution of flowering plum bark that had been sitting for a little over a week to extract the tannins. Then it was soaked in a solution extracted from soaking the leaves of that same tree, which gave it a little blueish undertone before I finished it in the old iron pot. The lighter grey is a yarn that was first soaked in an alum solution in an aluminum pot to pre-mordant, and then went into the leftover dye from the darker yarn. There is just enough blueish undertone to help it look like an intentional grey, and not the dirty dishrag color from a previous attempt shown in the yarn on the far-right in the first photo.
I have some more hanks with which I'll be doing some color work using blueberry, raspberry, and beet. Then my dyeing is done for the season, and the season of knitting begins!!
If the weather does what I've heard it's suppposed to do this weekend, Sunday will be a great day for tea and knitting needles!!

26/08/2021

CSA MEMBERS:
There might not be a delivery tomorrow. Please check your email.

24/08/2021

Oh my gosh, who needs indigo and all its extra steps when you can use butterfly pea flower?!
Coming up after a good soak and rinse - a study in how different fibers respond to the same dye/mordant. This is butterfly pea flower (a friend gave me a bag of dried flowers) with alum/cream of tartar mordant. Fibers are identified in the captions.
As I'm experimenting this year I'm identofying the ants I know I want to i clude in mext year's dye garden. So far, marigold/calendula, amaranth, and butterfly pea flower are on the list!

23/08/2021

Exploring natural dyes using materials I grow on the urban homestead.
Here we have a 3 way ombre using marigolds as dye with a rhubarb leaf mordant. Second color uses alum/cream of tartar modifier, third color is on yarn pre-mordanted with cedar bark tannin.
The mad scientist in me is obsessed.

09/08/2021

Urban Farm Update 8/9:
Rain!
It's been a couple weeks since an update. We finally got a few days of measurable rain, which has brought relief in the garden and also minor catastrophe - an already overloaded bean tower snapped under the added weight of the rainwater.
Tomatoes have been slow to ripen in the greenhouse but are finally getting there.
A good portion of the garden has now been harvested and cleaned out. Today I plan to take advantage of the cooler, moister weather and get some fall-harvest crops planted - peas, carrots, kale, lettuce, spinach, and kohlrabi. We have another extreme temperature warning for later in the week, so I'm hoping if I get those seeds in today and keep them watered they'll be okay.
I've started the testing the market waters. Had a fun day at the Penn Rd Makers' Market event, selling jams, jellies, and pickled beets and chatting about the urban homesteading project.

07/08/2021

Packing up to head to the Penn Rd Makers' Market. Hope you can stop by!

06/08/2021

Every week is different!
This week: green beans, the blueberries' last hurrah, pattypan, yellow and green zucchini squash (of course...) heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, red and white onions, basil, and ground cherries (not to be confused with tomatillos. Or ground up cherries)

06/08/2021

Just a teaser. Friday's big harvest post coming soon!

02/08/2021

Petals!
Oh my gosh, wouldn't this make a cool jigsaw puzzle?!

02/08/2021

Harvesting and processing Grandma's Marigolds today. Drying petals for dye and seeds to sell.
Hope to have seeds for purchase at the Penn Road Makers' Market on Saturday the 7th, along with jams, jellies and pickled beets.
Hope you can come by and say hi!

30/07/2021

I can't believe I got that color!

On the top, colors I posted before - natural undyed, beet skin, and black currant.
On the bottom, the latest attempt - blackberry!

All using rhubarb leaf mordant. I have lots of rhubarb leaf and haven't branched out yet to try other mordants, like alum or iron.
Next thing I'll try is Grandma's Marigolds. I just have to harvest enough petals.

30/07/2021

Did you think I would forget?

30/07/2021

30/07/2021

Who can resist a bouquet of zinnias in a bright orange Fiestaware mug? Seems like a perfect match to me!

26/07/2021

Gardening isn't the only thing I want to do here on the urban homestead. This is the year I want to explore making natural dyes out of things I grow, with the ultimate goal of selling handcrafted items made with naturally-dyed materials.
I have a lot to learn, but here's my first experiment!
On the left, the natural, undyed yarn. It's a 60/40 wool/cotton blend I've had sitting around waiting for a project.
The top yarn is dyed with beet skins + rhubarb leaf mordant. On the bottom, black currant + rhubarb leaf.
What's especially fun about a project like this is the way it fits into the "homesteading" concept with its use and reuse quality. After boiling and skinning beets for pickled beets, instead of discarding the skins I was able to give them another life as the base for a dye. After cooking down black currants to juice for jelly, I used the pulp again for dye.
I'm excited to learn more amd explore!

23/07/2021

Friday morning still life with potatoes.
I love how every week is so different!
Gee, I wonder why they call them Russian *banana* fingerlings?

20/07/2021

Urban Farm Update: 7/20
Eggplants! Potatoes!
I continue to be totally enamored with the eggplants. It's my first time growing them and the plants are dripping with fruit. They're the happiest thing in the greenhouse. The variety is called "Patio Baby" so they're going to be a smaller fruit than the average eggplant.
This morning I harvested the onions and started pulling out the cauliflower plants since I've harvested. Sections of the garden are looking sad and bare now....until I get fall harvest crops under way!
And... Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes!!! Potato harvesting is always a fun treasure hunt, but this mound felt like the mother lode! This is the most productive potato I've grown so far. The Russets and French Fingerlings get some more time, but since the pumpkin is completely taking over the section where these potatoes were I decided it was time to bring them up.
Scroll through for more fun!

19/07/2021

Not an artistic shot, but an honest day's work. Two batches of pickled beets and three batches each of blueberry-lemon and raspberry-rhubarb jams.

16/07/2021

C'mon. You know you were waiting for this. It's Friday!

16/07/2021

Urban Farm Update: July 16th
COLOR!
Lots of color in the garden and greenhouse now. It's a beautiful time of the season!
Check out the photos to see how things are doing!

14/07/2021

CSA MEMBERS:
Please check your email. I have a couple questions for you!

09/07/2021

It must be Friday!

07/07/2021

Urban Farm Update: July 7th

We're well into the season now! Things are cruising along. Garlic is harvested and curing; most likely I'll have garlic in next week's CSA delivery. Cabbage and kohlrabi for fall harvest have been seeded in the raised bed where the garlic was.

The first sowing of peas is done producing and has been removed. I've seeded carrots for fall harvest in their place. I'm very pleased with my succession planting timing with the peas - the second planting of shelling peas is producing the very next week after the first was done. The second planting of sugar snaps should be ready in a week or two.

I'm not seeing as much pollinator activity in the squash as I'd like, and I'm having quite a few unpollinated pattypan, acorn, pumpkin, and spaghetti squash falling off the vine. Looks like I may have to get out the Q-tips and start tickling flowers. Although, I did say and do that last year , and then the bees showed up, and I ended up with 28 beautiful sugar pumpkins off two plants!!

Oh, and brace yourselves - zucchini season is here!!

03/07/2021

Get out the vinegar boys, it's beet-pickling time!!

02/07/2021

Another Friday, another Harvest Day! It's getting colorful around here!
Rainbow beets
Rainbow chard
Rhubarb
Raspberries
Mixed leaf lettuce
Sugar snap peas
Shelled peas
Nasturtium flowers
Lavender

Next week should feature zucchini and blueberries!

02/07/2021

This morning's to-do list (now that chickens are fed and peas are harvested and plants arw watered...)

02/07/2021

As things are getting ready for harvest I'm making my project list:
First, raspberry-rhubarb jam, then pickled beets, sweet jalapeno jelly, blueberry-lemon jam, currant jelly, hot pepper jelly...
Eventually there will be dilly beans, zucchini relish, raspberry syrup if there are enough additional raspberries, apple butter... and more.
All will be available for purchase through Jenn's Garden of Eatin'.
Watch for a sister fb page coming soon!

30/06/2021

CSA MEMBERS:
Please check your email for a reminder and some questions!

30/06/2021

Urban Farm Update: 6/29
HEAT WAVE!!

We're just coming down from a heat wave of historic proportions (literally! Record temps!) and that has had its pros and cons. Cool weather crops like spinach, peas, and broccoli would normally be enjoying temperatures in the 70's and occasional showers in June, but we've had temps over 100°. All my remaining spinach bolted, as did some of my broccoli.

Warm weather crops however, are having a heyday!! Beans, squash, sunflowers all have leaped forward in their development.

Scroll through the pics for the complete update.

Stay hydrated, my friends!

25/06/2021

I really need to leave for CSA deliveries, but y'all - my brilliant husband just keeps making the greenhouse better and better!!

He has now installed electricity, so in the offseason we can plug in heated mats and grow lights, and just in time for our record-breaking heat wave he has installed a fan and rheostat! The air above the shade cloth is much hotter than below, and when the temperature in the greenhouse rises above 80° the fan automatically kicks on to blow the superheated air out.

His other plans, after tomato season when there's room to work, is to add *folding* benches against the walls. They can be up for seed-starting, gardening classes, pop-up shops, etc and down during tomato-growing season so we can fit in all the pots.

25/06/2021

I love Harvest Day!
I took this photo after weighing and portioning the sugar snap peas and shelled peas, and I forgot to include raspberries in the shot, but oh well!
In this week's CSA delivery:
Spinach
Kale
Carrots
Sugar snap peas
Shelled peas
and some fresh rosemary gifted from a friend who was cutting his back.

23/06/2021

Urban Farm Update, 6/23:
The garden is in transition right now as the cool weather crops are winding down and the warm weather crops are just surging forward.

Scroll through the photos for the complete update:

23/06/2021

How the main garden is looking right now.

18/06/2021

Ready for delivery!

18/06/2021

Urban Farm Update, June 17th
This week is the third week of CSA delivery. Everything is progressing nicely in the garden, raised beds and greenhouse.
If you feel inclined, take a look at the photos and captions for all the details.

18/06/2021

This week's harvest f9r CSA bags:
Spinach, mixed leaf lettuce, sugar snap peas, shelling peas, carrots and new potatoes.

17/06/2021

There will be carrots in this week's CSA bag! Along with spinach, mixed lettuce, sugar snap peas, and if enough shelling peas are ready - petite peas and new potatoes (super good in cream sauce!)!
Half the batch is still in the ground to be shared in a week or two.
Also in the garden, planted for later harvest: rainbow carrots and baby carrots.