Our Indoor Greenhouse for seedlings.

We upgraded the lighting in a mini indoor greenhouse we built about a month ago.  We had one T5 full spectrum.  We added two more today.  This will give our seedlings all of the light they need to be great plants.  Our indoor greenhouse is made of a steel utility shelf, wrapped in mylar bubble wrap.  Sy was at Pet Smart and they had just received a shipment of fish and the mylar wrap was used to protect them during shipping.  Sy asked if she could have some and they gave her the whole box.  We still have enough to wrap another utility shelf.  We used the years of accumulated unused masking and duct tape we had, to hold it together.

We currently have carrots, spinach, lemon bergamot, pansies, and creeping thyme.  The carrots and spinach plants are going to planted in large pots so we can have fresh indoor grown spinach until the spring crop is seeded outside and comes up.  We are going to try growing our carrots in large pots as well.  we will cut the bottom out of the coconut fiber seed cups, and plant the in a large pot.  The lemon bergamot is a useful herb to have in the garden.  The pansies are edible self seeding flowers that we hope to have as a permanent self sustaining crop in our garden.    The creeping thyme is a blooming ground cover that is xeric and tolerant of being walked upon.  Our plan is to replace the grass in the pathways  and in our sacred circle with the creeping thyme.

We both have garden fever right now and are ready to plant.  It won't be long.

Cactus Juice Is Bottled. 02.01.2010

We bottled the prickly pear melomel.  It is a gorgeous color.  We of course sampled and it is still a bit hot, but has a smooth almost smoky flavor.  It is a little drier than I would of like, but still very good.

We ended up with 18 bottles or just over 19 liters.  Think about buying wine at ten dollars a bottle.  Now figure we spent approximately $30 to make this batch.  If you like wine or honey mead, it is well worth it to make your own.  There is some initial investment in equipment, but it will pay for itself in the first couple of batches depending on your setup.  This is how we take one step closer to self sufficiency.

Read W.U.F. Update September 18, 2009 to read more about this batch of Cactus Juice.

This weekend was the Pueblo Chile and Frijole Festival in Pueblo Colorado. We picked up Sy's sister Josie and made the short trip to Pueblo. We spent the better part of the afternoon checking out the vendors products. There was everything from jewelry to Directv. Farmers market to antique market. The smoke of roasting chile's wafts about the air. It was a wonderful day out of the house to hang out. We bought a bushel of Pueblo Chiles with garlic and then had them fire roasted. They are delightful and make wonderful salsa, green chili, or chile cheese bread. Anyway that has been the last couple of days. I called in a personal day so we can finish canning what we have. I also have to get some photographic prints mounted and sent for a company photo contest. Hope all have a great day.

The last day of summer is bringing snow and freezing overnight temps.

I am off work on Sundays and Mondays. I woke up Monday to find out that there was a freeze warning and possible snow coming. We started out for our weekly trip to the farmers market, and it started to rain. We got to the market and there were two vendors sticking it out. We bought some green beans, and peaches from Colorado's western slope. We were also able to get a great price on a case of peaches and cream corn. We have canned this for the winter. We left the market and went to Home Despot to get materials to build a couple of cold frames for the cherry tomatoes, and the bell peppers.

After we got home we worked to get everything we could in. We picked buckets of squash, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes. After the harvest was in we had to build the cold frames for the cherry tomatoes and bell peppers. We used some 1 x 2 cedar screwed together into a frame. We then covered these with 3.5 mil plastic. Simple and easy to disassemble, store, and reuse for years to come.

The Prickly Pear Melomel is still fermenting nicely. I expect it is going to do so for awhile. But good things come to those who wait. Anyway I hope everyone checks out the pics and has a great day.

Prickly Pear Melomel update

I reported in my last post that we had started a prickly pear melomel. I am experimenting with this fruit mead. It has prickly pear juice, apple juice, wild flower honey, purified water, and yeast. It now has a brisk fermentation going.

W.U.F. Update

It has been awhile since I have done a proper update on the happenings at W.U.F. It has been busy this summer. The garden has been fairly low maintenance. We have had an awesome harvest this year, and we are not even close to having the entire lawn replaced. So far our most prolific crop has been the cherry tomatoes. We have been harvesting 1-2 pounds per day on average. we let it go a few days awhile back. We ended up with five pounds of ripe tomatoes. We added onion from the yard, and jalapenos, roasted hatch chilies, cilantro, and smoked garlic from Sunflower Farmers Market. I put in too much cilantro but it is still good. I have eaten three jars already.

We have also had a good yellow summer squash crop this summer. We have been unable to keep up with it. Our lettuce did well also. We still have some winter squash ripening on the vine and some pumpkins to carve up for Samhain. We have been sharing with family and friends as well as putting some away. We had some corn and will have a ton of red and yellow bell peppers as soon as they ripen. We are hoping to ripen them on the plant, but may have an early frost this year.

I was on vacation last week, and while I was at my moms Sy and I picked 13 1/2 pounds of prickly pears, the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. The juice of said prickly pears is in a fermenter with honey, purified water, organic apple, juice, and wine yeast. The honey is local wildflower honey and is very rich. It should add a nice flavor texture to the prickly pear. This is of course an experimental melomel. A melomel is a honey mead with fruit added in the fermenting process. It is a honey and fruit wine essentially.

Sy and I have also been working on setting up an online shop at Etsy.com. It is an online market place for selling homemade products. Sy will be soon putting up some of her jewelery for sale, and I hope to sell some photographic prints. We are also toying with selling canned goods such as jelly's, dried herbs, and salsa. Every little bit we add brings us a little closer to the lifestyle we want for ourselves.

Prickly Pear Melomel starting the fermentation process.

What are we doing to be more self-sufficient?

In these uncertain times there is much discussion about becoming self-sufficient.  Not since the Great Depression have we, as a society, had to relearn how to be self-sufficient.  I have heard stories from my family elders about having to eat pickled tumbleweeds because there was nothing else while trying to survive the depression and the Dust Bowl.  We have improved our technology and farming techniques.  The Internet gives us unprecedented access to information and people around the globe.  This will make it easier to become self-sufficient.

I am a member of a number of homesteading groups online.  While most focus on rural living, they contain much good information for us city dwellers who wish to turn our lush lawn into a productive mini-farm.  There are many things other than gardening that are to be learned as well.  Things like soap making, or wine/beer/mead making,  canning and preserving the food that is produced in the garden, and candle making.  There are so many things that can be done to be more self-sufficient.

Here at Wodhof we have taken up many hobbies that are leading us toward a more simple life of self-sufficiency and sustainability.  We have a ways to go, but we have come so far.  It is like that old saying "the more I know, the more I realize how much more there is to learn."  At this point in our lives, I still have to keep my job in the auto glass industry  to pay the bills.  In our spare time we recently have been consumed by getting the garden planted.  This will continue into June, at which point we will switch to maintenance.  Needless to say, the we hope the workload will not be as intense during the heat of summer.  Later this year we will make and bottle beer and mead.  Sy makes jewelery to sell to support our projects.  We have begun making our own bread regularly now instead of only for special occasions.  We have also started growing our own sprouts for our salad habit.  For a few dollars investment you can get sprouting jars and seeds and simply plant on successive days and you can have fresh sprouts all of the time.  We reuse or recycle everything we can.  We have a healthy compost pile going.

There are things we are planning as well, but for various reasons we are not ready to start just yet.  We want to raise rabbits for meat and pelts.  We would like to have a couple of chickens for eggs this year.  Because we live in an unincorporated area of the county we can have rabbits and a couple of chickens, but no roosters.  By next year we hope to have a small greenhouse so that we can grow herbs and such for our use and for sale or barter.  With over 300 days of sunshine a year we can grow year round in a green house.  

A concept worth relearning is thrift.  We are working toward being debt-free and saving where we can.  Thrift does not mean always buying the low price.  Quite often the low price equals low quality.  The goal for us is to find value for a fair price.  Value comes when a company or individual gives you more in quality or service than their competitor.  For instance, in my work, when I install a windshield I also wash all the other windows on the vehicle and vacuum out the vehicle.  My competitors complain that "we are not a detail shop."  My customers know that if they come to me they may pay a little more, but they are getting a job done right and that I am going to go out of my way to create extra value for them.  That is why they keep coming back.  That is why I reward those who give value and quality with my business.

Another way we have worked to become more self sufficient at Wodhof is to take responsibility for our health and consumer habits.  Gone are the cigarettes, the sugar-laden soda, and most of the fast food.  Replaced with organic free-range meat, salads, and natural teas.  Iced tea has taken on a whole new flavor.  I quit smoking in February 2008.  I gave up a two liter a day Mountain Dew habit for Yule 2008.  I have started taking lunch to work instead of going to lunch from work.  Saves on gas and cholesterol.  While I still eat some fast food, I try to find healthier alternatives to McCrap.  It is time for us to take responsibility for our health, because when we consume crap, we cannot help but spew crap.  

I guess it comes down to personal responsibility.  Just as the addict can change by living one day at a time, society can become self-sufficient one person and one family at a time.