#smalls scale differences

It's cold, windy and it's been raining on and off all day but I finally got out to harvesting the sweet potatoes.

I started with the 'L' bed.

This is the bowl I'll be using to collect the spuds for this deep raised bed.

Those are full size scissors btw. This is the absolute biggest strainer I own and when I do harvesting I'm always glad to have it! Helps with carrying and washing off dirt outside so much easier!

It was pretty fun digging round for the spuds and to be honest the size and shape of some of them really suprised me!

For some size comparison, my hand is right on top of them.

All cleaned out!

Next was the little round bed in the corner. I wasn't really expecting much, but it filled the bin pretty good.

I've washed the spuds off and am letting them dry off but I'll be finding a spot inside soemwhere to let them sit and cure for a bit of time. (I probably will let them cure until end of febuary.)

Curing your sweet potatoes is what makes them sweet, you can eat them right away but their said to be bitter. (I will be trying 1 potato to see if this is true!) Curing them should be done for at least 2 week in a cool dry space (around 80*f). If you under 80*f space add 7 more days.

I thought this was neat and wanted to share it. since I've not seen a sweet potato grown or dug up before

I wasn't expecting so much differance in spud size from one single root.

And one last pic,

The ducks quite like the greens, while there's not much left of it I'm going to leave the vines a couple days so they can use it as enrichment/snack opportunity.

Weigh in on the spuds later!

🍠🌱Happy Homesteading and Harvesting!!

🌱🍠

I posted awhile ago about carrots I let go to seed this last season. I finally got round to doing the full seed cleaning, a small germination test and wanted to share on that.

Below, the heads when I finally pulled them, I did clip the heads from the stems and placed them in an open storage bin.

To be quite honest I set it aside and forgot about it for awhile. Day to day and all that. Thankfully the corner I set them in was well undisturbed save for a few spiders when I got back to them.

Still a lil bit 'stick'y but it's as filtered as I can get currently. I'll be looking into some sort of seives to make harvesting seed easier in the future.

Interestingly enough, when separating some of the junk, the seeds got a sort of perfume-yness to them? It was very pleasant.

I took the corn out to handle later, but the cleaned out carrot flowerheads I tossed them in the chicken compost area so any missed seeds would get enjoyed by either the girls or the wild birds and the remaining stems and sticks'll get composted before long.

Did a germination test on the counter to see if the effort was worth it.

Way more germination than I expected! 🥳 very much worth it!

Here's the seed bag, I expect there is still a chunk of chuff/junk that didn't seperate well but it weighed 9 oz. (gallon size ziplock) I'd feel okay saying mayby 5-7 oz seed from seed saving this year. Even at low end of 5 oz that's still pretty good :)

I think I'll keep half and sort the other half among some friends and family as gifts, and donate to the local seed library nearest to me.

And if opportunity arises I'll do the same with the next carrot grow :) they were pretty easy (aside from toppling so much), the pollinators loved them, they were beautiful plants and we can use every part of them as well which is a win win all around 🏆

They were from hybrids of rainbow x nantes carrots. Some got long (but not many, I have shallow soil) they did get nice and fat though and we enjoyed quite a bit of salad, pesto and pretty flowers thanks to them this last grow season.

🥕🌱 Happy Homesteading 🌱🥕

Unfortunatly not much, still hot and I haven't gotten my seeds started due to weather watching.

This is all from 2 sweet potato slips. I plan to harvest some for supper tonight :)

And from the side, the trellis is from an archway we had up some time ago for the front. I'm hoping to make a little shaded space for the ducks, or at the least extend potential harvest vines (the ducks enjoy the leaves right off the vine)

I've also had some time to be able to do some mending this week.

This quilt needs some patching. Since it was among the first quilts i made, I decided I want to do something a bit different than how I've patched others.

I'm taking it apart. Figure I'll keep what fabric is salvageable in pattern and replace what isn't on the front panel. pin it and stitch it back together. Probably replace the border entirely as I noticed the fabrics worn pretty thin there. The busted fabric I'm gonna put in with my small scrap pile to use as a filling for a foot cushion I'm making for personal use.

I've gotten round to finally processing the carrot seed heads from last grow. I'm currently doing a germination test to see if it was worth it.

Final pic of the day is a chicken pic :) they very much enjoy when I do a bit of weed whacking.

Quick little garden pic update :)

Won't be everything, just a lil one :)

Sweetbpotatoes have started perking back up, very excited for some more greens soon! :D

The oregano, I've been letting it go to flower so it hopefully will self seed a bit of this corner. I don't mind if it goes hogwild as I hot plenty of use for it :) even if for nothing more than chicken feed and pollinator attractor.

The thyme. I pulled a peice that has rooted and didn't expect it, so I may come through and pull a little bit to transplant elsewhere for a secondary patch

The sunchoke and green onion bed. The green onions were part of a regrow try that's been left to go sort of on its own.

We likely wont eat any sunchoke this year, unless they produce extra well. I want to spread out a few raised bed patches for some edible landscaping, just hope the parrots don't mistake them for regular sunflowers.

The green onions went to seed and it looks like already dropped them or the wild birds ate them (I really need to get on those lil seed bags)

A suprise melon, not sure if it's watermelon, cantaloupe or honeydew though as I threw all 3 out into the "patch" zone.

Dugbit up as I was intending to use it for a short time for chick growout pen.

It was so they could raze the ground of any potential grass and afterwords when time to go to the adult coop I could toss the paper, cardboard and some amendments down on top before the manure (slow soil build up)

Instead I currently have a hole in the back 😅 while I wait for more composted manure to come in.

That's it for today's quick post :)

🌱Happy homesteading and farming 🌱

I checked everything but the heat lamp, got everything set up and sat down to do the hour check-wait and started smelling something funny.

Turns out the lamp bulb was breaking apart!! 😱

Glad I always have a spare heat lamp as well as bulbs!

If your doing homesteading and keeping of critters especially always have spares and a backup just for these kinds of situations :)

🥚🌱Happy Homesteading!🌱🥚

Today I have a bit of a smallish and short post~

The pumpkin is developing pretty good, the one on the trellis is a little smaller than this one. I'm starting to see new flowers on the vine, but I think I'll be picking them to use for stir fry/fried rice varient, ommlettes, or salad.

The first planting of the velour beans is starting to get what I think might be the end of their cycle, a few more flowers arrived but the plants aren't really b taking off to much in growth or producing. If I recall right I got around 48 oz of beans. (Their being crowded out by the sunflowers now.)

I'm gonna leave them in and jsut see how long/well they do.

Starting at the far left, sunflowers+ velour beans and pumpkin

2nd in from left. Starting closest to us. The broccoli and nasturtium. I'm gonna pick some of the broccoli leaves this week for pan fried veggies. Broccoli leaf+rice (not sure if blanching, pan fry w/garlic+butter or a cheese/broc soup.)

3rd row from left starting closest. The eggplants, who have some flowers but I've not seen any eggplant yet. Cabbages (2), they've got little heads coming in. I have not yet sprayed down with the tea but I haven't seen much more pest issue. And last the cucumbers. One is pretty much done, the other has teeny lil cucumbers coming in, but I don't expect too much more growth from them. If they do I may just let it go to seed and see if it does better next year in a different spot.

Edit to add, I forgot the last row!

4th row from left, second planting of velour beans, with the surviving cabbages and carrots. I picked a few of the carrots this morning

Close up of the dying/dead and the hanging in there cucumbers.

Finally got down to the hardware store. We got wood, pipes for extending the garden fence, dirt and some time.

We got 2 boxes made up. So next step is to get the fence panels made up to extend the garden space and protect it from the stray/feral cats.

I got peppers, tomatoes seed started this week, though im hoping I didn't lose a tray of peppers due to a watering malfunction. (Always check your seedlings daily!) I also got some garlic in the ground and some ginger root too.

Thats it for my update for now :)

🌱🌻Happy Homesteading and gardening! 🌻🌱

Time for a garden update:) I managed to get out before it was over 95*f lol

Cucumbers are doing mighty fine, there is a small carrot batch up towards the front

Top left, a sunflower, towards us. Was supposed to be beans. Unknown pest and sun done em in.

Top right. Squash, only 1 fruit sp far. I am trying to I get seed from it. Towards us. Eggplant that needs a desperate trim.

Don't mind the mess of the next 2 photos. It's a work in slow progress.

Tomatoes. Peppers and was sunflowers

Very slow progress lol

The sweet potatoes update too :)

Also, small chicken update

We might have a roo??

These are from the velour beans I planted earlier and is the first harvest of them :)

Unfortunately not enough for my scales to accurately measure but they should be enough to add to either a stirfry, soup or omlettes and scrambled eggs.

🌱Happy Homesteading and harvesting! 🌱