Fireplace Insert

In preparation for a cold winter we invested in a fireplace insert. Our existing fireplace was the kind that burned wood and didn't have a blower therefore rather than providing heat it sucked all the heat from our home and shot it out the chimney. Not very energy efficient. Last year we put an electric insert in the fireplace for my viewing pleasure, but after a 3 day power outage last winter we decided it was time to invest in something that will keep us warm whether we have electricity or not.
So here it is, in all it's glory. Except that it's not actually installed yet in this photo. We have a bit of work to do to make room for the chimney liner to get through the preexisting damper but hopefully we'll have this beauty up and running soon. I'm so excited for cozy evenings by the fire sipping on cocoa, or wine, or beer, or whatever strikes our fancy that night!

Big Berkey

After seeing a super cool water filter that our friends bought over the summer from www.jamesfilter.com we took the plunge and invested in a Berkey of our own.

The filtration technology used in this puppy is out of this world. It is used in 3rd world countries to filter nasty pathogen laden waters into pure drinking water! We could go down to the creek and gather water to filter through this thing if we wanted (or more likely needed) to. There is a travel size Berkey that is recommended for frequent travelers or camping. Seriously, you can use lake water or whatever in this thing and it will make it not only drinkable but probably safer than tap water!

We were using a Brita filter pitcher previously and this thing, no surprise, kicks Brita's butt. The model we purchased, the Big Berkey, has a 2.5 gallon storage tank on the bottom so as long as we remember to keep adding to the upper tank it's tough to run out of filtered water.

There is another model available which is made from plastic and the only downfall of buying the stainless steel model is that we can't see when we need to add more water without checking. I do prefer steel over plastic, however, so the benefit of superior quality far outweighs convenience and cost differential for us.

So if you are in the market for a new water filter, I highly recommend the Berkey. It is absolutely worth spending a little extra money up front considering the filters last two years as opposed to replacing Brita filters every two or three months... not to mention far better filtering technology and wide range of uses.

Keeping Up

It seems like once fall hits it's so hard to keep up with harvest time. I've frozen a gazillion beans and peppers, dehydrated some tomatoes, and my latest project has been peaches. We didn't grow them but they are local. We got many many pounds of peaches from Cam's Grandparents in Williamsburg, IA. The challenge has been figuring out what to do with them before the fruit flies (or gnats or whatever you call them) drive us crazy!!
So as you can see I've been doing some jam up - I found this great product called Ponoma's Universal Pectin that allows me to use only fruit because it doesn't rely on high sugar content for gelling. Instead, I used fruit juice concentrate (frozen) as the sweetener. That allowed me to play around a little bit with a few flavors. All have a peach base but the juices I used (from left to right) are: Raspberry Cocktail, Apple, and Grape. They're all tasty and I won't have to buy jam for a VERY long time.
Another thing I tried was peach granola. I have a wonderful raw granola recipe that uses mostly apples which I replaced with peaches this time and instead of pineapple I used a couple of apples and the result is a tasty, crunchy treat. I really love the way it turned out!!

I've also made some peach roll ups and plan to make even more. In addition, I'll juice some peaches and freeze the juice in Ball freezer jars. I'll probably dehydrate the pulp or use it in more granola. I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Strawberry Popcorn

I harvested most of our Strawberry Popcorn and dried it in the dehydrator. Isn't it beautiful? We didn't grow much but it sure was fun harvesting what we did.

I've been eating a high raw (90-99%) diet for the last 43ish days now and aside from taking communion at church this has been my only exception. I only ate about 1/4 cup popped corn but it was delightful. I had no idea I would appreciate it so much. I'm glad I didn't eat any more than I did. I didn't really need to. It makes me think about those gigantor buckets of popcorn at the movie theaters packed overflowing with hot buttered popcorn. I used to eat and eat and eat at that crap. Gross. It's not good to eat just because something tastes good and it happens to be right in front of your face! Sheesh.

Anyway, the garden is a mess. I haven't done any weeding (though the weeds aren't really that bad). I like garden structures and things that keep plants from flailing across the ground or growing every which way (natural as it is). Next year we will have to be more mindful of supporting our plants and pairing crops more appropriately (the popcorn and tomatillos together was just a bad call). It's a learning experience. So blessed to have it in my back yard!

Wish We Had More Tomatoes

Here is a colorful plateful of most of the varieties we planted this year. I don't know the names for all of them - all of the cherry tomatoes came up as volunteers as they have for the past several years, which I'm grateful for because we didn't plant our cherry tomatoes in time this year and they are Adi's favorite!

So we have these wonderful low acid big yellow tomatoes that seem to ripen one at a time. Then there's the Black from Tula (the burgundy colored one) which usually ripens two at a time. I believe the smaller red tomato is from a Silvery Fir plant. Our Arkansas Traveler plants look healthy but the tomatoes aren't ripe yet. This season has been pretty lame for our tomato crop considering the number of plants we have. Our biggest yield has been from the Green Sausage tomatoes so I've dried most of those to use in recipes throughout the winter and spring.

I don't know if a tomatillo is officially a tomato or not but they are actually doing quite well - I'd say better than our other tomatoes. They make really nice green salsa and we're really happy with the experience of growing them. The plants grew much larger than we anticipated and they shared a small raised bed with our Strawberry Popcorn (which I can't wait to try after we figure out how to dry it and whatever else we need to do) so next year tomatillos will get much more support and won't be paired with popcorn!

Curbside Garden

All of these plants were given to us and with a lack of space or brain power to choose locations I made use of some space next to our 3rd car parking pad. No, we don't have a third car. It usually parks soil and mulch to be honest (much to the dismay of our very tidy neighbors!)

So this this lambs ear. I probably won't know the names of anything else, only who it came from. This is from Grandma Marsha. This plant is from our tidy neighbors. I love them. They are fabulous, and the fact that they put up with us and our "hill billy" ways is phenomenal!
This cutie is from Grandma Marsha as well. Maybe she can comment and tell us what it is. If not, that's OK too. No pressure ;)
Another from Grandma Marsha.
And yet another Grandma Marsha plant. IT looks like this one might bloom soon. I got all of them in the ground so late that I'm surprised they all survived. Seriously.
Now I just have to find a home for my apricot tree (which I mistakenly thought was self-pollination and therefore must now purchase another next year just like I have to get another cherry tree. 2 apricot trees and 2 cherry trees. Sheesh, my yard isn't that big. Something else might have to go...

Flower Garden

There's no shortage of bees around our place. I love them.

Flower Garden

Black-eyed Susans

Yellow Day Lily