Trying a new sauerkraut recipe with cabbage, carrots and onion. Potent smelling but very good!

Ginger Kombucha & Lemoncello!

We decided that our ginger flavored Kombucha was ready yesterday. Delicious! Will try our hand at the carbonated version with our next batch. Let the fermenting begin.

Ginger Kombuch & Lemoncello!

Managed to gather a bunch of Meyer Lemons so will try out hand at Lemoncello! 

Transformation

Just marked one year in our little farmhouse. This little house was built in 1923. The date was embedded in the cement with small pebbles. At one time it was surrounded by hay and lily fields. We are surrounded by storage units because the owner of the property saved this little farmhouse. At first we had doubts about living here but now our surroundings are like a blank canvas. We have worked at turning this into our sanctuary, our secret garden. We feel blessed to have a place to grow things once again. Had a WOW experience when we looked back at the before and after photos. And what fun it was to create this.....

September 2013



September 2014

Kombucha & Kefir

I guess we have a little chemist in us. We are really enjoying growing our own live food. Kombucha mushroom and Kefir grains arrived today. Let the fermenting begin!

Homemade Sauerkraut Part 2

Well, it's finally time to harvest our first batch of homemade sauerkraut. It has been 6 weeks since we packed it away. How exciting! Verdict? Delicious!!!

Garden is really putting on a show. All of the hard work of building raised beds and hauling all of those buckets is paying off. Zinnias are spectacular. Eating lots of fresh veggies. We love our garden! Built a paradise in the middle of metal storage buildings.

Brugmansia and Datura

Have always wanted to grow these plants - brugmansia and the beautiful double purple datura. They are putting on quite a show for us. 

Our First Homemade Sauerkraut Part 1

Have been planning to attempt homemade sauerkraut for years. Finally broke down and bought our water sealed crock. This is exciting! We even grew our own cabbage. We love learning about new things, especially when it has to do with food and nutrition. What we are learning about live foods and the immune system is amazing.

Tomatoes in April!

I dedicated one of my small raised beds to Mesclun to which I added an extra package of Arugula seeds as well as some left over lettuce seeds so my bed should be very dense with greens! We have had so much rain lately that I "tented" my two small beds to not only keep the rain from flooding them but to help warm them. My other small bed is planted with a new red Kale in the center area with golden and red beets around the perimeter. I love to sculpt my garden beds with color and texture. I'll enclose a picture of my new sprouts along with my tomatoes. For the very first time in my life, I have a wonderful sunroom, a veritable hothouse on the front of our home. One of the first things I thought of was, "I can grow tomatoes year around!!" I'm also trying a burpless cuke.

 

My cucumber

 

 

                                
                                                               Heirloom Cherry

                                        Black Cherry, Peacevine, Sun Gold and Heirloom Cherry
                                                 

                                                     Mesclun bed sprouting

                                                           One of our small Zen gardens

 

 

 

 

 

Tented beds

 

 

 

 

 

Sugar snap peas

Where to Begin

Our Zen Feature

After roaming the highways and bi-ways for many years, taking care of farms and homes that belonged to others, we are settling into our own place. We found a little rental in Brookings - Harbor, Oregon - an old farmhouse built in 1923 - and we are busy creating a little haven for ourselves. Since the yard had been let go for many years we have a clean slate to work with. In addition to the little yard there is a wonderful sun room for growing tomatoes.

Our First Nasty Blooms

Sunroom Tomatoes