Is there a market...

So, many of you know that I'm finishing up my PhD in Education. Right now I teach at a nearby university and mostly enjoy my job. My previous gig was with a big company writing curriculum for schools, and I enjoyed that as well; however, I am always dreaming of doing new things (am I the only one like that?). Lately I've been pondering how to combine my love of education with my passion for homesteading. To make a long story short, I'm thinking of writing curriculum specifically for homeschooling homesteaders!

In my mind, the curriculum is divided by homesteading seasons (i.e. spring & garden tending, harvesting & canning, fall crops, putting the garden to bed for the winter, etc.) and incorporates all the chores we'd normally be doing. I'd like to highlight various teaching techniques to incorporate traditional subjects into daily work. I'm thinking the books would be sold as PDF downloads so I don't have to pursue a publisher and all that jazz...this also keeps cost lower. They could also be used for hybrid families like ours who do traditional school during the school year and homeschooling in the summers, weekends, and anytime we get the chance. I don't even know it this is a viable idea, but I think I would really enjoy it. What do you guys think?

It's Pumpkin Time!!!

Please, oh please, do not let all those lovely pumpkin seeds go to waste! We had all kinds of pumpkins decorating our house and this is about the time I begin to harvest their seeds and freeze up some pumpkin puree. The best instructions I've found for roasting these lovely little seeds comes from Pioneer Woman. She has beautiful step-by-step photos of the process...check it out!!

You can also find instructions for the puree on the Pioneer Woman's website! She's awesome!

REWIND!! Photos from the end of May...

Our blackberries were FULL this year! This photo was taken in May.


A little patch of Thyme...isn't it pretty?


My elephant ear garlic from Seed Savers was amazing this year!


Our praying mantis eggs hatched! It was so much fun to discover these little guys in the garden throughout the summer, growing like crazy! I think we'll make mantis eggs a staple in our springtime garden!


The lavender harvest...wonder what kind of Christmas gifts our lavender will become this year??

Soap Making...

You really, truly MUST go watch this video from Maple Valley Farm!! I am so inspired to try my hand at soap making after watching how easy it is!

Check it out at
http://eclecticculturefarm.blogspot.com/2010/08/todays-soap-episode.html

or here

http://www.wzzm13.com/video/take_five_default.aspx?menuid=188#/Take%20Five/Make%20your%20own%20soap/51295455001/51120544001/594119748001

Do you have soap making experience? If so, what are your favorite essential oils/exfoliants/colorings? These would make truly fantastic Christmas gifts!

I'm still here!!!

I am still here! This summer the garden has been so successful, I had to make a choice between blogging about canning and gardening and actually working at the canning and gardening...I chose the real thing. My sweet neighbor said she thought blogging might be a winter sport! ROFL!! How great is that? I am taking lots of pictures and trying to keep records of all the yummy produce coming in. Hang in there! I'll be back with lovely visuals and details of our most productive summer yet!

Welcome to Fresher than Fresh...Cooking with Scapes

We've been watching a bit too much Food Network...bear with me...


Here's a pic of the garden from last week!


Garlic scapes that were harvested in order to encourage healthy, big elephant ear bulbs:


The scapes were chopped up and drizzled with bit of Olive Oil and some Parmesan Cheese then ground in my sweet neighbor's baby food mill (which I promise I will return any day now):


Then I put the garlic scape pesto in ice cube trays to freeze it:


We had pasta with garlic scape pesto and BOY, HOWDY...did it have a kick. Not sure if ours was a bit more stout than most or what, but I'll probably be mixing this in with other pasta sauces or traditional pesto in small amounts to add some flavor. I must say it was a bit too strong to eat solo, but the flavor was amazing.

In addition, we've canned 2 pints of pickled beets, 10 pints of carrots, and frozen 1 gallon of strawberries from our garden! This weekend, we'll be heading out to pick some wild blackberries as well as harvesting some of our own!

In the garden, I'm slowly pulling up the spinach and lettuce that's all bolting to feed to the chickens and the bunny. The garlic is almost ready to pull and we'll soon begin digging up and canning potatoes in earnest. The tomatoes are full of golf ball sized green tomatoes and the onions get bigger each day. Green beans are beginning to bloom and I'll be planting black-eyed peas this weekend. Busy, busy, busy!

Wordless Wednesday

Just a few pictures of the happenings around the OAH...