At Home My Way

Success! My 2025 garden was started in October, 2024 and since I have already harvested garlic scapes and lots of lettuce, its time for another update! I planted seeds for both Boro (purchased from High Mowing Seeds ) and Detroit Red (purchased locally) beets.  I have no idea which are which.  I kept planting because none came up - and then a bunch came up.  This year, thinning and a long cool spring made all of the difference.  These beets are sugar sweet and smooth.  Their huge size did not affect their texture.  I have been baking them wrapped in foil like a baked potato, then trimming, slipping off the peels and slicing them.  I have more out there including some Golden Beets. I just need time to get them canned.  A favorite recipe for our family for using the "juice" from cooked beets when making canned or pickled beets is my Raspberry "B" Jelly (beet jelly), recipe found HERE . Music Garlic, purchased from Baker Creek   Onions, purchas...

  Recipes at the Top:  Chit-Chat at the bottom. Strawberry Freezer Jam (Super Easy - Beginner Recipe) (Printable-one page recipe) 2 cups fresh (not frozen) strawberries (I bought a quart.) 4 cups white granulated sugar 3/4 cup water 1 package Surejell Fruit Pectin (I have not tried other brands.  I prefer Surejell for fruit jams.) 6+ half pint canning jars plus lids/rings (or plastic containers will work fine).  (I like to have extra clean just in case I have extra from leaving extra headspace.   (This is the recipe from the Surejell packet except now they don't provide paper instructions in the box and you have to go online for it at Kraft Foods.  Bah!  Just give me back the paper instructions!) Instructions: Wash/sterilize glass jars and lids/rings (or wash plastic containers, if using plastic) (I used my dishwasher and just ran them through a normal cycle.) Wash berries well.  (I did a double wash because mine were pretty sandy.)  Rem...

  Recipes at the Top:     Chit Chat at the Bottom   Garlic Scapes:  Stir-Fry w/ Simple Homemade Stir-Fry  Sauce Printable Recipe (one page view) HERE   Ingredients: ·          1 pound cubed chicken, pork, or steak (meat is optional) (I didn’t use any meat.) ·          vegetable oil (I used olive oil) (used for stir frying any meat and the for stir-frying the vegetables separately) ·           6 cups chopped vegetables (use any but below are some good options, including GARLIC SCAPES): garlic scapes, harvested early just after they curl into a loop, washed, blossoms trimmed off and cut into 2-4 inch lengths (as big as you might for fresh green beans or asparagus) – or you can actually use asparagus or fresh green beans if garlic scapes are not available for this dish mushrooms (if canned, drained; if fresh – sliced) bell pepper, o...

  Garden Granny Era   2025 Spring Garden Update  (US Hardiness Zone 6B-mid Missouri) I am now in my garden granny (Mimi) era so I thought this meme was perfect, although I'm not nearly as hip as the person in the photo.  Yes, I still work in an office but being a garden granny is definitely where my heart is! (Obviously I must not be cooking much from scratch lately because all of my posts have been about the garden and here goes another one.) I love my garden!  I love mothering my seeds and plants, and  most of all-watching them flourish as spring turns into summer.  As winter came to an end, I enjoyed learning new things like starting seeds in jelly rolls (the internet knows this as "snail rolls") but they seem more like jelly rolls to me.  This worked REALLY WELL for starting quick seeds (marigolds, cucumbers, squash, and even carrots) when I wanted lots of plants and needed to maximize space under my grow lights. I used packing foam from ...