Video: Back to the Start

Yes, it's sponsored by a fast food restaurant (one we have never eaten at) but the "story", and the song...brought tears to our eyes.

Back to the start...back to the farm. Back to simple and healthy.

Three Months Later...The End Is Near

The end is near, but the beginning has just started.

Today the seller finally met us with an offer on our 40 acre dream property that we were able to accept. $2000 less than the offer we submitted to them a full two months ago.

So, Frankie's dream of a farm...just became a reality.

It will be a struggle. It will be hard work. It will be sweat, tears, and knowing us...blood.

But it will be ours.

Pictures taken two weeks ago, when we made our most recent initial offer.

The "back 40" - it goes far past the first grove of trees in the distance.

Canning 2012

Green Tomato Mincemeat
fresh out of the hot water canning bath.

We've been canning tomatoes, and assorted produce from The Mother's garden. Today we finally tallied up what we could find sitting in Kerr and Ball jar boxes around the house.

The tomaoto plants have been the biggest givers this year, we just picked over 20 pounds more this morning that will need to be processed tomorrow. We've been picking an average of every other day for weeks now.

Here's our canning accomplishment so far:

4 - 1/2 pints of beet relish
3 - 1/2 pints mango chutney
4 pints banana peppers
5 pints green tomato mincemeat

6 pints pickled beans
7 pints mixed pickled vegetables
21 pints pickled beets

17 quarts whole/puréed tomatoes
13 quarts pasta sauce
12 pints pasta sauce
2 quarts salsa
12 pints salsa

The list will grow as we harvest more beets and tomatoes. And soon we'll be moving, and preparing for our own garden.

It's been fun learning, and we're really getting the hang of it.

Update - September 01, 2012:

3 quarts hot salsa
5 pints hot salsa
2 pinta heavy tomato sauce
4 -1/2 pints heavy tomato sauce
11 quarts stewed tomatoes
1 pint stewed tomatoes

Update - Spetember 03, 2012:

3 quarts stewed tomatoes
14 quarts stewed tomato chili mix (hot peppers, peppers, onion, garlic, tomato & cumin)
4 pints stewed tomato chili mix (hot peppers, peppers, onion, garlic, tomato & cumin)

Update - September 07, 2012:
7 quarts stewed tomatoes
1 pint stewed tomatoes
3 pints tomato sauce, seedless
2 - 1/2 pints tomato sauce, seedless

Update - September 08, 2012:
1 quart pasta sauce
5 pints pasta sauce
6 pints hot salsa
2 pints green tomato chutney
4 - 1/2 pints green tomato chutney
4 pints green tomato mincemeat

Update - Septeber 25, 2012
9 - 1/2 pints green tomato chutney
1 pint green tomato chutney
4 - 1/4 pints mango chutney
9 quarts tomato sauce

Update - September 30, 2012
12 quarts stewed tomaatoes

Countdown...

It's about a week, to a week and a half, before we put offers on one, or two (depending on how the first one goes) farms. It's been nearly three months of failed offers, and waiting.

The first property: 40 acres consisting of loads of trees with a small rolling pasture, a huge yard around the house with loads of garden space, lilac bushes, a young apple tree and the willow tree that we have mentioned in the entries about the property on the other blog, and three pole sheds in mediocre condition, one of which is giant.
Property number two: 20 acres of mostly tillable/pasture land with very few trees, a nice sized yard, and three maples in the handful of trees in the yard - for tapping syrup - the house is half the size of the first property and it has three buildings in very good condition, one of which is very small.

Both houses need A LOT of work.

It's getting close to fall, which is a good time to select gardening spots on those properties - they currently don't have any from the last owners - and till it up, working the dirt, preparing it for it's first growing season.

Soon we will have renovation tales, and photos of as much as we can, and we will be a whole different kind of stressed, the kind that comes with a massive uncertain future, as the whole of us, and James, try to build a self-sustaining existence and become "farmers".

Goods on Garlic

Image Source

While we wait for the farm property we have our eye on to continue sitting on the market, and reduce in price (again) so we can submit an offer (again), and hopefully this time have it accepted, we dream of gardens, and animals, and remodelling the distressed house on the property. It's pretty distressed, and the first order of business if it works out to our advantage (if they accept it next time) will be renovating the house to a liveable, at least, condition. It's going to be a long process. It'll be worth it.

In the meantime...

Today we're researching garlic. You wouldn't think there was that much to it, but apparently there are are. And we want to make the right choices.

There are two main types of garlic:

Hardneck (a strong central stalk):
Sub-types: Purple Stripe, Marbled Purple Stripe, Asiatic, Glazed Purple Stripe, Creole, Middle Eastern, Turban, Rocambole, and Porcelain.

• Hardier, generally (Purple Stripe and Rocambole being the most hearty)
• Northern climate friendly
• Fewer cloves
• Larger cloves
• Stronger flavours reflective of soil and weather patterns ("the wine of garlic")
• Easier to take the skin off of
• Shorter storage capability (a few months)
• Early summer scapes (scapes at the greens at the top, which as edible)

Softneck (most common in grocery stores):

Sub-types: Silverskin and Artichoke

• Better in milder climates (but that doesn't mean you can't grow them in harsher climates)
• No scapes
• Several cloves
• Small cloves
• Milder flavoured
• Better for long-term storage
• Perfect for making garlic wreaths/braids

We plan on trying to grow Elephant Garlic (sometimes poreceline Garlic is confused for Elephant Garlic) the first year, as well as other varieties. Garlic is very good for you, and has many health benefits, including promoting a healthy immune system and assisting in the regulation of blood pressure. (see below for links to information on the benefits of garlic)

Elephant Garlic is a not a true garlic, but a member of the onion family, is milder and sweet, subtle, compared to other garlics. And it's HUGE!

Elephant Garlic

The best thing to do with a head/bulb of Elephant Garlic (because sautéed it browns/burns easily) is cut the top off, just exposing the tips of the clove, drizzle about a Tablespoon of oil into it, season, wrap in tin foil, and bake for 30-45 minutes at about 375 degrees (Celsius).

When you unwrap it, roasted Elephant garlic smells and tastes glorious. You can spread on toast points, pizza crusts, put into omelets, sauces, dips, anywhere.

So, while we wait, semi-patiently, we're planning our dream garden, and learning things about what we want to plant, so we can have the best, and most diverse, first garden possible.

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Learn about the health benefits of garlic:

Garlic: Health Benefits and Actions, BioMedicine, 2011 http://www.e-biomedicine.com/article/S2211-8020(11)00037-4/fulltext VERY SCIENTIFIC, so...you might be more interested in...

Garlic Facts, Remedies and Health Benefits, Disabled World, 2008 http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/garlic-benefit.shtml

Unlocking The Benefits of Garlic, NYT Health|Science, 2007 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/unlocking-the-benefits-of-garlic/

Exploring Fruit

We just found out that we can grow the following fruits in our growing zone; though some require a greenhouse, which we plan to have anyway, and are subject to varieties developed for our particular zone.

We knew the primaries were an option:

• Cherries
• Apricots
• Plums
• Pears
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Cranberries
• Rhubarb
• Grapes

Greenhouse dependant:

Dwarf varieties (which means the trees grow up to about 12'):

• Avocado
• Banana
• Lemon
• Lime
• Orange
• Grapefruit
• Mango

We also found out that there is a coffee plant that can be grown and cultivated in our growing region.

To be honest, no matter if it is this farm (response on offer still pending) that we have our heart set on, or any other farm, the growing season/zone will be roughly the same (and it's a difficult growing zone) because we have the state picked.

The property in question already has a hearty apple tree on site, as well as a couple other random fruit trees. The only thing now is to choose which ones to start with!

With options like those it's clear that eventually we wouldn't have to use the grocery store for our fruits (or wine and coffee!), if we can manage to grow them properly. Preservation methods range from canning, freezing and drying, and of course juicy and fresh straight off the vine/tree.

We're getting pretty excited over here...and that's just about the fruit!

Step One: Find Property

We might be making our first offer on a piece of property.

40 acres of mixed grazing field, woodland, and house/yard site.

Buying an old farm/ranch is difficult, the well and sewer are all private.

The septic (sewer) system currently on the plot is a leaching type, which goes into a tank that has perforated holes in the bottom, and then leaches, or "drains" over a treatment bed (made of soil and natural bacteria) and then into a leaching bed, which may be one of two types, which we don't know.

The well is old, there is no township or county data on it (same situation with the septic system), so we're looking at the possibility of getting a new one dug, because the property used to be a farm and also had a good amount of auto mechanical work done on it, which means contamination to the well, depending on it's current location.

The house was left mid-remodel, so that needs to be finished, almost completely.

Sounds like a trap! A $20,000 dollar one! However, with a low offer we have the funds to put $20,000 into the new systems.

The house is a very perfect size with a decent layout, and lots of potential. The property has many out-buildings, as well as a large pasture, lots of trees and space for gardening. An giant oak tree stands in the front yard, and the driveway, which is along a dirt road, but less than a mile from a paved road (from our memory) is a horseshoe shape.

We hope to make an offer on Monday. Hopefully the bankers involved in accepting the3 offer (because it's a foreclosure) have a good weekend and are in high spirits.