Dollwood Farms

Monday, May 9, 2011

Barn Hop #12

The girls are doing it again. Please join up and enjoy all the great blogs.

Thanks to:

Kendra @ New Life on a Homestead
Megan @ A Blossoming Homestead

I am doing a garden update today. Things are going ok, but the Cuke is just kind of sitting there. Not doing much. The cabbage is getting eaten by something and the green beans are not doing much either, although there are little blossoms. *sigh*. This is only my second year so I am still learning (and probably always will be, lol). For now, I will post pictures of the improving 'crops'.

These are my Hunan peppers in the top left and the 4 little trees I got for Earth Day from Lowes!

This is a tomato from my 'old man' tomato plant. (from last year and still going)

This parsley is driving my mom nuts. She wants to cut it all and use it for something, lol.

My yellow squash. It doesn't really seem to be going nuts like I thought it would, any suggestions?

Corn is about thigh high. :)

These are my potatoes!

The left and front are my Red Potatoes and the ones in the back are Yuklon Gold.

Woo-hoo, they are doing tremendous!

This is the Moon and stars watermelon. There were flowers last week. :)

Tomato blooms!

Dill is doing wonderful and it tastes good too.

He was disturbed from his sleep down under all that paper in the box. He is the funniest cat, but not very nice. We call him "bad cat". He is a beautiful Manx (no tail) but a pain in the rear, lol.

Everyone have a GREAT week!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Sunday, May 8th, 2011

You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. ~ 1Peter 3:4

I hope all my “Mama” friends and family members have a wonderful and blessed Mother’s Day!

Love you Mom!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Preparedness Challenge week #7

This week, for the Preparedness Challenge, I will just continue to do what I am doing. I ordered 3 crank flashlights and read a couple of books on food storage, i.g., root cellars, freezing and canning.

One of the books, How to Store your Home Grown Produce, was written by a couple in England, (John and Val Harrison). They talk about storing in root cellars, freezing, canning (bottling) even salting their home grown foods. They converted measurements and adjusted for the difference between the US and England measuring. It was a good book and I recommend it. :) I got it at the library but I am definitely going to add it to my library. J I loved everything in this book. Not only is it helpful, it gives you a little history lesson on how people actually did store their food 'back in the day'.

This is my first year at growing potatoes and I am really hopeful for a good harvest so I was looking for a way to store them here in Florida. I would love a root cellar but we can’t dig down more than 5 feet without hitting water (it seems, lol). Since I don’t know my yield yet, I guess I have time to investigate.

I was able to get a couple of food grade buckets from my grocery store. They had frosting in them (just need to be washed out) and they are the smaller ones, but they are usable and FREE! Every little bit helps!

To join the Preparedness Challenge, go here.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Tubing down the river

This weekend we decided to take a little break and go tubing down the Itchetucknee River. It was a great day with family and we all had such a relaxing time. The air was warm and the water was a cool 72 degrees (all year long). We weren't able to start at the beginning, where the springs are, because they are letting the plants grow back and they need to let the area get back to the natural state. Our trek down the river was a nice cool relaxing hour and a half and it was awesome. We are definitely going back and soon! I have an Olympus underwater camera so some of the pictures were taken under the water as we drifted along. Enjoy.