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I'm back. It's been a while since I've sent out a newsletter. We love the yard and garden this time of year. With our 12th child on the way, life stays interesting. Rhubarb JuiceI write about our gardening adventures, but my husband is the green thumb behind the scenes. He has a hard time getting rid of anything that's growing.I think we have a little too much rhubarb - about 30 plants. If you've tasted rhubarb, you'll know that there's only so much you can eat. This year I did a little experimenting and figured out what to do with all the Rhubarb. Rhubarb Juice is full of nutrition. If you mix it with another kind of fruit juice, it tastes really good. Seed SavingThese last few years we've been experimenting with saving our own seeds. Maybe one of these times, I'll write a whole section on seed saving. Some of your beets, carrots, and onions will go to seed the first year. These are not good seeds. They will produce woody and immature vegetables that go to seed their first year.If you want to save some seeds, it's a two-year process. Save some of your best beets, carrots, and onions over the winter. Store your beets and carrots in the root cellar. Store your onions in a dry cool area. In the spring of the year, plant the full size beet, carrot, or onion. They will go to seed the second year and produce an abundant supply of seeds. My neighbor has been experimenting with saving tomato seeds from year to year. He had a ripe tomato on the 4th of July here in Paradise, Utah. That's quite an accomplishment considering we had 4-5 inches of snow on Memorial Day. Here's what he did. Each year he would save the first tomato of the year and collect seeds from the early tomato. This process has produced an early bird tomato that does well in our area. Seed saving is an art. It takes several years of practice to get good at it. Seed to Seed Last year I learned about the Egyptian Walking Onion. This is a perennial onion and will come back year after year. After the first year, each mature plant will produce onion bublets at the top of each plant. As long as the ground isn't frozen, these onions will grow. You'll have onions from early spring to late fall. We just harvested the garlic yesterday. Many people have already pre-ordered their garlic so they can plant it this fall. We still have garlic seed bulbs available. I will be letting the garlic dry for a few weeks before shipping it at the end of August. We kept our garlic in a dry cool area and were able to eat garden garlic all winter. We used up the last of it in June. If you're interested in getting some garlic for eating, we're selling some of the smaller cloves of garlic by the pound. They're still a lot bigger and better than what you'll buy in the grocery store, but they aren't our premium seed bulbs that we use for seed. (I don't have the bulk price posted yet, so email me if you're interested.) Rocket StoveThe StoveTec Rocket Stove has been improved. We have the new EcoZoom Rocket Stove and the old StoveTec Rocket Stove. I'll be writing a review in the next month or two and cooking some meals using my new EcoZoom rocket stove. If I get ambitious, maybe I'll even create a YouTube.
CanningCanning season is here. There are a lot of pages created teaching you how to use your canning equipment. Simple step-by-step instructions with pictures will help you know exactly what you're doing. There are also some tricks that make canning easier, for example: using a steamer juicer to soften apples when making applesauce.Here are a few trouble shooting questions that you might have when canning:
Website AdditionsWe've added some new features to the website over the past year. Now there's a right-hand column. You can use the picture links to navigate the website and find other links that are similar to the page you're on. I still have a few right-hand columns to finish.Last week we added Facebook commenting to the bottom of each page. You can ask questions and add your comments using Facebook. I've been looking back over the past two years at the creation of Provident Living Today. I've enjoyed talking to you about a subject that I love and learning how to build a website. I'm not very technical so there's been a learning curve. In July of 2009, Provident Living Today had an average of 5 visitors a day and was in 7 different countries. In July of 2011 we had an average of 500 visitors a day and were in 113 countries. Every time you create a link to your favorite Provident Living Today page, it helps others to find us on the web. Thanks for all your support. Remember to share your provident living ideas. I found a way to solve my broken oven problem this past month. Share your unique and creative money saving ideas with us. Let your friends and family know about Provident Living Today. Help encourage them to live providently today and prepare for future. Have a Great Day, Jennifer New! CommentsHave your say about what you just read!Leave me a comment in the box below. |
is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving the seeds of 160 different vegetables. Learn a few of the basics, and then spend some time experimenting with saving seeds.
