Winter Gardening...Treasures at Your Fingertips!

 Having grown up in New England, I have always loved winter....skiing...snow forts...ice skating...and the beauty of the bay frozen along the shore. Those days are now just a distant memory, but I still delight in the snowy landscape outside my window here in the mountains of east Tennessee!

Each week I get to enjoy grocery shopping in my garden where I've grown cold hardy crops and am storing them in the ground. I gently pull leeks from the leaf mulched raised bed, carefully loosen the long parsnip roots, and with gloved hands gently remove beet roots from the soil. In the canning garden I have a long row under a low tunnel. I have Swiss Chard

nestled there that has been mulched heavily and now is showing signs of new growth amid the older leaves. Back in the kitchen garden I have a covered bed with spinach, vit/corn salad, and a winter hardy lettuce mix that will take off soon as the daylight lengthens. I find these trips to my garden in winter to be exhilierating...like I'm winning a contest over nature. 

This winter I've often ventured out in the snow to "shop" in my new gardens. (We've been on this farm one year now this past week!) I don't know if you understand, but after being outside most of the day during the other three seasons, long days inside is a bit confining to me. But when I combine the thrill of finding the week's fresh vegetables with the sting of the biting, icy wind I'm ready to head inside to the fire! 

This is my leek bed. I transplanted my leek starts into this bed after my spring peas harvest was over in June.  I mulched it with oak leaves that were falling in our front yard. This is a square foot gardening  bed in my kitchen garden, and I planted four leeks per square foot. 

I call this winter gardening, but really it's just a different kind of low maintenace root cellaring. We live in zone 6B and we've had temperatures in the low teens so far this year, but a few times a winter we get single digit or even negative temperatures. We've had 8 snows and a lil' ice... I'm learning my micro-climate here at this farm, so this year this is all a fun experiment!

 

The first key to "winter gardening" is really timing your fall garden to maturity before light levels drop below ten hours daily. (It's more complicated than that, but that's what it really boils down to.) Here at lattitude 35.4 I time my winter vegetables to hit maturity around the first week in October. By then we may have had a sneaky frost followed by a couple of weeks of Indian Summer, but light levels are dropping quickly towards too low. 

You may be buying seeds now for this spring and summer, so I'll share a few tips if you'd like to "grocery shop" in your garden next year, enjoying the benefits of your fall garden far into the winter.

1.  By choosing the right vegetables to grow in the fall and store in your garden during the winter they'll be cold-hardy enough for the cold days of winter. There are key words or phrases I look for when scanning seed catalogs...cold hardy, good keeper, overwinter, holds color in severe cold, vigorous cold tolerant, hardy, stores well, sweet flavor after frost, and even looking at the country where the seed originated. (Whew! That's a long list but you get the idea.)

2. Have a written plan; then work your plans. Knowing ahead of time what you need to do is half the battle come August.  Only having the right seed is part of your plan. It must be grown to maturity before the light levels decrease in the fall. I use a blank calandar to write down when things need planting. Then the key is to refer to it often. :)

We've always begun thinking fall about mid-August here, but it goes a bit more tecnical really. You must plant crops you want to stay in your "garden root cellar" to maturity before the light levels fall below 10 hours a day. There are others more qualified than I am online that you can read up on this. I like to keep things simple and count back from our first expected frost the days to maturity and get my crops in the ground on time.

3. Yes, I know that by August you are hot and tempted to stay inside canning...fall planting comes at the busiest time of the year. But if you want the winter harvest, you must do both...at once. Don't fight it, just know you're nearing the end of your gardening year and this last push will have great rewards!

4. We also have relied heavily on our root storage crops in the "root cellar". Red and white, and sweet potatoes along with a veriety of winter squash and storage onions. 

 For some of those winter crops it'll take planting in June! Those crops for me have been Brussels Sprouts, leeks, and also my storage crops of potatoes, (late March) sweet potatoes, and all the winter squash and pumpkins. 

So, as you choose your seed this year, think ahead. Explore the possibilities of an in-garden "root cellar". 

Our family has been learning that we don't have to can/dry/freeze quite as much when we can rely on the garden year-round. Here is one of my new family favorite winter meals! 

As usual, the amounts are really up to you and how big your skillet is. I use a 12" cast iron skillet and it serves us twice! (What a change from past years when I fed 15!) The breading recipe follows.

We call this our Winter Garden Skillet
(The melon slice was tray frozen in the middle of summer, and it's been a big blessing this winter!)

First harvest a veriety of your winter crops and access what you'd like to include in your meal. 

I like to harvest for the week on Monday, and it's also my cooking day. (We assign the children days to cook too.)

This is my leek bed, and I pulled a half dozen for the week.

This  beet bed is a raised bed and has been supplying our beets up till today (Late January). I've been pulling from the canning garden since...

Kholrabi

Parsnips and red potatoes

Cabbage

Beets, Parsnips, Cabbage, leeks

Saute diced vegetables with garlic in an oven proof skillet. (I reccommend a cast iron pan.)

Cut up your chosen meat and cook in a bit of olive oil until done.   I've used pork, chicken, and sausage so far this winter.

Combine the meat and vegetables in your skillet.

Mix the quick Sourdough bread topping:

1 1/2 C. Fed Sourdough

3 Eggs

1 t. Salt

2 t. Baking Powder

2 T. Melted Butter

Pour this loose batter over the skillet of meat and vegetables. 

Top with cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

This topping is a great way to include a healthy bread with your skillet meal! I've put just about everything under it...Mexican, leftover vegetables and a mixuter of meats, and can't wait to try an Italian version. 

So, as in the past I've asked you, "What is in your hand?" What are your resources right now? Use them with this bread topping and you'll have a new skillet meal that will bless your family on the last frosty days of winter. 

Then look ahead to your garden past the dog-days of summer. What can you grow in the fall, and enjoy all winter long? Prepare now for the new challenge!

Abundant Blessings,

The Farmer

&

His Wife

Val

P.S. Today I used this idea to serve a quick midday meal. I used all the leftover meat and vegetables in the frig to make a super quick meal. I didn't have fully fed sourdough, but it worked pretty good still. I added Parmesan and Mozzerella cheese to the top and baked it. I was thanked for thinking ahead and having a great meal ready! Don't tell anyone my secret!

Resolution Reshape!

Are your 2021's new year's resolutions still front and center in your mind?

 

Farmer Steve will show you the payoff for working slowly towards his goals of a renovated home at the end of this blog!

I know we've all read the motivational blogs, heard our favorite podcasts and watched vloggers great challenges to totally organize the house, homeschool in peace, raise the best garden EVER!, and at the same time be a wonder woman wife and mother.

I listen to all this with an ear of experience. Not bragging, you'll be here one day as I'm on the brink of my 60's. I've seen many new years come around and know my heart. I WANT to have the peace of an organized home...I WANT to homeschool my children in peace and excitement...and I can picture a PERFECT herb and cottage garden, with rows of jars in my cellar. Hmmm...then reality sets in.

Don't get me wrong! I LOVE the energy I find in the new year. It propels me to thin out the winter clothes  I've not touched yet or that I love on the hanger but not on myself. I peered into my pantry and thinned out a few large cookie sheets and pans that only a commercial baker would use many of...and that's not me anymore. I've also revamped my son's high school assignments to make them fit his learning style better. Yes, the new year is a fresh start!

But life does happen, and I know I'll get discouraged if I set my goals so high that I will not be able to attain them. My solution? Set easy to attain goals that will eventually lead to my ultimate goal or resolution. I work in tiny baby steps towards them, keeping my focus. Just like a baby I know I'm going to fall...I don't have to be defeated or discouraged, but the Lord's help I can get back up and take the next step to reach my next goal. 

 I do want to give one caution. Since we can all see miracle stories online of people who will loose fifteen pounds the first month on a new diet...some will loose one doing the exact same menu! We need to give ourselves grace to move forward on any new goal at the pace OUR LIFE before God has set for us, whether it be a diet, reorganizing our home, or settling into the homeschooling lifestyle. 

What do we need to do daily to keep the momentum of our good intentions going? The first thing I did was to take a good look at the rhythm of my year....what I did, and when and why I did it. There are definite seasons of activity in my life...

Winter... schooling, garden planning and seed purchases, starting my onion seeds, order or hatch chicks for late winter or spring arrival, more reading, organizing, making herbal tinctures/glycerites for the year, trying new recipes, honing a new skill, etc.

 Late winter... sewing for spring, accessing the gardens needs such as compost and mulches and lining them up, planting anything that needs 6-8 weeks to grow before transplanting/daily seedling care, drawing a garden plan, (remembering to rotate crops), planting peas by St. Patricks Day, daily chick care or other baby animals born, transplanting onions, making freezer meals for the busy days of spring ahead, keeping homeschooling fresh with a few fun project days, etc. 

Early Spring...I never can trust the calander on this one here in the mountains of east Tennessee, as it may be late February in an odd year or early April!  Setting out young cold-hardy transplants, starting plants that need 4 weeks to grow before transplanting, Pulling winter mulches off garden beds, setting goals to finish school books SOON so the "real learning" can begin outside! We can now direct seed spring greens, green onion sets, and root crops such as beets and radish directly in the garden, spring cleaning of the house, making new fencing or coop/barn projects, etc.

Spring...Finishing up the indoor classroom work of our homeschool, (learning never stops, even for us adults...so in the spring we do a lot of hands on learning) finish the paperwork of the school year and sending in the grades to the umbrella school, prepare beds for the late spring crops and daily tend to hardening off the transplants awaiting the first "frost-free week". Plant as much as the weather permits in the kitchen and herb gardens. For us it may mean new chicks, or other animals to tend to, yard/farm clean-up from a stromy winter, etc. I hope to have all the mending done, sewing finished, meals in the freezer and a fresh house as I spend 6-8 hours a day outside at this point. We can plant the canning garden by the first or second week in May. 

Now that I've taken a look at the first quarter of my year I can make a short term plan. I've heard of "old timers" having a baking day, a washing day, a mending day, etc. In fact, I embroidered towels that have the days of the week with a picture depicting that day's focus. So last fall I began to fashion my days to have a focus. I adjust this to the month's rhythm, so here's what my January looks like:

Sunday ~ Rest

Monday~ Plan Meals, "Gardening Shopping", (going into my garden where cold hardy crops are and gathering what I need for the week.) prep the vegetables, mixing up my artisan bread that sits in the frig for 3 days before I can use it, and begin blog planning. Of course I have a new school week ahead of me for my 7th and 10th grade children, but that's a given.

Tuesday~Sewing & Mending

Wednesday~Baking Prep (sourdough fed, sprouted wheat ground, etc.) Blog

Thursday~ Baking Day

Friday~Homeschool Paperwork (week's work corrected) & Planning (assignment journals for the next week or two filled out).

Saturday~ Outdoors (if bad weather, plan for gardens)

By seeing all my major responsibilities (not including the given of homeschooling) and scattering them out to a different day of the week I can be assured that "nothing" (ha ha!) will fall into a crack and surprise me by being left undone. I don't get AS distracted with a spur of the moment project till I'm done with the main focus of my day....and my phone is often left on the charger till up in my day because I'm working my plan!

If you are a list maker like me, you'll love this! I put all the aspects of finishing a job on the "assigned" day in my bullet journal, and then I can forget about them until that day comes. I don't have to look at the big picture of my goals each day, just the steps needed for the day in front of me! 

Here's an example: 

You'll see that my categories for each day aren't always accomplished...like with this blog, I didn't actually sit down at the computer, but just mulled over the topic the Lord gave me. (In fact, I told Him [ha ha] there were plenty of people speaking about the new year! When will I simply obey!?)

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Psalm 90:12

The Word teaches us to be accountable for how we use each day.  I want to hear, "well done, thou good and faithful servant..." Matthew 25:21 at the end of my race, so I must, "run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:" 1 Corinthians 9:26 You and I need a plan that will help us take baby steps towards being faithful each day. 

Why not join me? You may not be learning to draw like I am, so any spiral bound notebook will probably do until you make a written plan a habit. I like to use a dot grid to guide my creativity. There are some weeks there will only be my plan without drawing, some weeks I go all out with my drawing. But for YEARS I only made my lists with nothing fancy. Being able to mark off a task was my reward until I began hearing praise from my husband. That praise told me the plan was working. He saw the small steps towards growth and it made him proud! And I gained confidence in my role as a homemaker!

As you can see from my bullet journal, it's ok not to mark a task off...it'll happen. I put on diaginal slash for a task begun, then I jot it down on the next day's list for completion. Just knowing I'm working towards the goal of completion brings me a sense of accomplishment. 

There were seasons though when this tiny step encouraged me for I seemed to "only" be caring for small children and anything "important" "never got done". Be careful of the word never! satan uses these thoughts to discourage us. When you have a new baby, or/and have other children to care for THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK IN YOUR DAY. Oh, to go back with hind sight!

At this point in our family's life we used a wringer washer (by choice) and hung our laundry outside. I                                         joked that we could make a Liberty overall commercial!

I didn't have the Internet in the early 80's when I was a new mother...but I felt a sense of inadequacy in all I did. I can just imagine a new mother now trying to live up to the example of a half dozen bloggers who set the stage for each picture or vloggers who never turn the camera from the perfectly staged meal they just made so you can see the reality of their lives too! Believe me, their lives are just like yours. 

This picture was taken in the late 90's.

" There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13 

We all can be eaisly be tempted to doing nothing...we're EXHAUSTED...we seemingly can't even think straight when the lil' ones finally go down for their naps. BUT with a plan YOU CAN! Even if the first half hour is YOU TAKING A NAP! (I recommend this!) Having a visual plan is your "way of escape" from the temptation to just sit, phone in hand for an hour or two till they wake up! 

For anyone that reads this and the Spirit whispers, "This is for you!", I'm praying for you!

Abundant Blessings, as You Seek to Obey Our Savior Jesus Christ,

Val Colvin

The Farmer's Wife

P.S.

We're nearing the end of our living room renovation...in a couple of weeks it will be one year since we moved into our 70's ranch with smoke stained walls, layers upon layers of carpet, wall paper, and contact paper covered hearth! Steve has been diligent to work since the cast came off his hand, and here we are!

For Christmas I asked for the new floors to be laid in the living room. That's really all I wanted!

I didn't understand that Steve had to start in the kitchen! But I got far more than I asked for!

Then he started the living room flooring. We used luxury vynal flooring which is waterproof.

He was itching to finish the fireplace, so he began the day after Christmas.

He had found a box of this antique brick at Lowe's marked down, so that is what we started with. We ended up having to order another box, but it was a budget friendly face for the fireplace that matched the brick we exposed when pulling down walls.

I waited till the end to reveal a big surprise! In the three weeks since Christmas our living room went from this... 

To this...

There are barn doors covering the monitor over the fireplace.

How did Steve reach this goal so quickly? He picked a few things each day and put the effort into reaching his daily goals. When you add all the little steps up it equaled a refaced "antique" fireplace with his home designed and built custom cabinet work.

 I'm so thankful for all the hard work Steve put into our home!