From My Home to Yours
~ It's Strawberry Season! ~
The first method I used for preserving strawberries was to wash, cap and prepare them for flash freezing. After about 3 hours in the freezer, I removed them, labeled the bag and then bagged them up. I returned the bagged strawberries to the freezer and repeated the process.
These bagged flash frozen berries will mostly be used in smoothies with an occasional use of being turned into a topping for ice cream, etc.
We did it again ... hubby mentioned that he would like to have another raised bed, so ... we built another one out of cinder blocks that's just like the one next to it. All we lack having the project completely finished is installing the hog and cattle panels that will connect them. If all goes well and we get it completed, I'll include a picture of it in next week's post.
We planted squash this week along with more cabbage plants we grew from seeds.
Let's check on our raised beds ...
In this one are ...
storage onions on the outside
potatoes in the middle
pole lima beans against the trellis (they're a bit hard to see in the picture)
cabbage plants in the center under the wire baskets
storage onions on the outsides
radishes all in between
I continued reading book 6, Carried Forward by Hope, in the Bregdan Chronicles, by Ginny Dye. I also finished listening to With Each Tomorrow by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse and started listening to Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson during my daily exercise.
I noticed this iris in my front yard and snapped a picture ... isn't it beautiful! God's handiwork just can't be beat!
The same sentiment applies to this rose ... which is growing in a pot at a corner of our house.
That's it for this week, I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.
Until the next time ...
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What gorgeous strawberries! I can picture your happy chickens with their strawberry treat!
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter
Lana, the chickens were indeed happy to get them!!! Happy Easter to you both as well!
DeleteWe have been doing the same thing this week! Sam's Club had strawberries for $1.50/lb, which is about as cheap as they get here, so I had Colton pick up 20 lbs after work one day. (He said, "Wow, ok." lol) I have five large trays of sliced strawberries running in the freeze dryer right now. I have promised the boys a strawberry cake and the rest will probably be frozen for smoothies, which we all enjoy as the weather gets hotter. I also got raspberries at a good price. Those are are washed and in the freezer waiting their turn to be freeze dried. I reserved a few cups for more baked goods.
ReplyDeleteI did the same thing with my strawberry tops. I considered turning them into something for our pantry, but I was a little apprehensive because my strawberries were not organic and I wasn't sure how clean I could really get those tops. I was also really tired by the end of it all, haha! I decided to push the guilt aside and declare, "I'm recycling these into eggs!" The chickens were happy with my decision.
We are expecting/hoping for rain for the next two or three days. We found some IBC totes off Marketplace for only $25 each (a steal!), so we snatched those up to use for rain catchment. Colton got them all installed this week. They will hold 2200 gallons all together. They are right next to the garden so it will be easy to water my plants with the rainwater. This is huge for us. I'm going to try and get out this morning before the rains and plant more seeds.
Have a wonderful weekend and week to come!
Kelsey, LOL, we should both have happy chickens!!! That was indeed quite a steal for the IBC totes and placing them close to your garden area was wise, you all did good!!!
DeleteOh, I do love strawberries!
ReplyDeleteI have been clearing dead stems from my garden, which is now looking a lot tidier.
My husband came home with some seed potatoes a couple of days ago, so we will get those planted this week. Since we don't have a big garden we plant them in bags, which also makes harvesting much easier.
A storm came through last night. It blew a tile off the corner of the roof, blew our rubbish bins over and even blew some logs out of the log store.
Tracy, I'm glad you didn't have any more damage than you did with the storm, storms can be quite destructive!
DeleteGrowing potatoes in bags works too, there are many ways to grow a garden!
I still have 3 raised beds that need 'tidying' before I can plant in them ... its the squeaky wheel thing!
The strawberries look beautiful! What a bounty! The garden beds are looking great too and adding an extra one... Im all for that!xss
ReplyDelete