Harvest

The Klamath Basin has a very short growing season - approximately June 10 until September 10. The days of summer are long and warm. We are able to grow delicious beets and greens here. We love roasted golden beets, giant red mustard greens and cornbread. YUM!  Oh, the meatloaf was delicious, too.

New Fermenting Lids

If you have been following our blog for awhile you know that we have been making our own sauerkraut for several years in a large crock. Since we moved into our travel trailer in 2018 to become full time RVers there is no room for the crock. We have been looking for an easier and smaller way to ferment. We purchased Easy Fermenter Lids, which can be used with any mason jars. We are now eating the first batch of our homemade sauerkraut. 

Verdict is in on the new Easy Fermenter Lids. We left the cabbage in the jars for 6 weeks since that is amount of time we liked to ferment kraut in the crock. Directions had recommended a tall 2 quart jar but all of ours were in storage so we went with 1 quart jars. WE did lose quite a bit of brine out of the jars while they were fermenting. I think we should have left more room at the top of the jars. We added some more salt brine after we opened the jars after the 6 weeks and before storing them in the fridge. We made one batch with caraway seeds - nice addition. Our lids came with a vacuum pump but we didn't use it since we did NOT open our jars during the ferment.

Long Hot Days

We are in the middle of the long hot days of summer here in the Klamath Basin but at least it is dry heat.  It doesn't really feel like 100 degrees - at least not the heat of my childhood in the South. Still a lot of smoke from the fires. Our sunflowers are putting on a show. Planted for the birds to enjoy.

Smoke and Fires

So many fires around us and so much smoke. It is very quiet around here except for the trains in the distance. Sat outside last night. The winds took some of the smoke away. We could watch the borate bombers taking off from the airport in the distance. Well, with the winds there are no mosquitoes.

Traveling Garden

We are headed to the Klamath Wildlife Area for our first volunteer assignment. Our traveling garden goes with us. It's always nice to have some nice fresh greens in our salads, wherever we are. We decided that we have to find a way to grow a few things as we travel around in our tiny home.

Tower of Jewels

Tower of Jewels putting on a show! Well, we have been waiting for this show. When the tiny plant first came up by the fence didn't know what it was and posted online. They told us "just wait". Wow!

Beautiful Summer Hydrangeas

To view these photos and more, please, go to DreamWeaver Gallery

Time to Make More Sauerkraut

Have decided to not wait until fall to make sauerkraut because we are going to run out before then. Bought some beautiful Oregon cabbages. We love our crock with the water reservoir. We feel like we have finally perfected our "naked sauerkraut recipe" We will leave this one fermenting for 5 weeks before opening. 

 

 

Summer Tomatoes

Nice harvest. Wow.... look at all of those tomatoes. The kitchen smells delicious. And they said you couldn't grow tomatoes in Brookings, Oregon. Time for tomato sauce and salsa.

Love our sweet peas. Larry built a great trellis. Early in the morning and on warm summer evenings the yard is filled with the intoxicating fragrance of these flowers.

Lemons, Lemons, Lemons Everywhere

Lemon Cake, Lemon Curd, Lemon Cello

Lots of Meyer Lemon trees in Brookings and most folks don't pick them and use them. We have a bounty of lemons suddenly! What to do with all of these lemons?

Lemon Pie

Lemon Muffins

Lemoncello

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