At Home My Way

I wait all year for my July garden and it’s finally here!  July’s garden is a pretty magical place for me.  It’s where I feel peace and promise, where I know perseverance and hope.  It’s also where I can make mistakes but still end up in a good place! It’s where I remember the young girl I once was who hated sweating, who hated being outside in the yard but who can now turn a seed into a five foot squash!  Gardening isn’t hard.  It’s about trial and error, learning new things, and carefully tending to plants as if they were tiny babies.  With a little self discipline and hard work, most any garden can become a July garden AT HOME MY WAY.     Happy July Garden   by Gina Kenney (2026) Anticipating the weekend on Saturday’s Eve For a few days in the garden when I won’t have to leave   Four pints and four quarts of the mighty green bean Wrangling and untangling the cucumber vines green   Acros...

I planted garlic for the first time this past fall in my mid Missouri, zone 6B garden.  I planted in October and harvested mid/end of June, just in time to get my bush beans planted! Making garlic powder was super easy! It smells and tastes sooo good!  We love some garlic at our house and for sure will be planting twice as many bulbs this fall.  Turning garlic into garlic powder was pretty effortless although I did have to purchase a dehydrator and coffee (spice) grinder.   This is how I grew garlic and turned garlic bulbs into garlic powder AT HOME MY WAY. Garlic Bulbs to Garlic Powder Supplies needed: Garlic bulbs (I used about 20 large bulbs and got about one pint of garlic powder.) Food processor Dehydrator (I got a good deal on mine from a "return/ overstock" store.) Coffee (spice) grinder ( This is the one I bought .)  (I like that the cup is removable.) A few glass canning jars Optional:  Jar Vacuum sealer  (I got THIS ONE from Amazon.)...

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...