Planting Berries and Grapes - Make Your Homestead More Self Sufficient

One of my projects this past week was planting new berry vines and bushes and putting in an arbor of grape vines. With the colder nights, I up-end a bucket over them just in case we might get a little frost and then uncover them for the day. By getting them in the ground now they will have time to 'settle in' and I should be able to pick some fruit off of them this year.

The dream is to make the farm as self-sufficient as possible for its size and fresh fruit is necessary for a healthy diet. These plants will be raised organically and pollinated by honey bees raised here on the farm. Most of the plants put in were at least two year old vines with a few being a little older. Select varieties that suit your needs and purchase vines or canes within your budget.

The berries planted included blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries but several different varieties of each. By planting several varieties, the harvest time will vary from early in the season to late stretching out the availability of fresh fruit straight off of the vine. It also allows for a variance in flavor for some of the jams, jellies, and wines that are made on the farm.

The varieties of blueberries include: Spartan, Bluecrop, and Blueray.

The Spartan has very large light blue fruit with a tangy sweet flavor and it ripens early in the season. The Blueray bushes produce large fruit with an outstanding dessert flavor which will ripen in early to mid season. Bluecrop are large and sweet berries available to harvest mid-season.

As with the blueberries, several varieties of raspberry canes were planted including: Brandywine, Royalty, and a Cumberland Black Raspberry.

The Brandywine is considered a Purple Raspberry with a pleasantly tangy flavor. It's fruit is large, round and firm available to harvest in late summer. Royalty raspberries are also a purple fruit that are full-sized and sweet, excellent for jelly or jam ready for use in mid-July. Cumberland raspberries are black never seedy, ready in mid-season for pies, cobblers, jams, or jellies.

We will be putting in more varieties that will include the red and gold varieties. Some of these will be ever-bearing so we will have berries starting in mid-season going on into fall. The ideas behind this are simple. If everything ripens at the same time, we would only have berries or grapes available to eat for a short period of time and there simply would not be enough time in the day to process all the fruit into juice, wines, jams, or jellies.

The blackberry vines planted were all thorn-less varieties. This makes it easier to work with the vines and harvest the fruit. The varieties of blackberries planted include: Arapaho Thorn-less, Chester Thorn-less, and the Triple Crown Thorn-less.

The Arapaho ripens earlier than any other thorn-less variety ready for harvest the last of May. The berries are large, tasty and firm. Chester Thorn-less blackberries are large and very sweet ready to harvest in July. The Triple Crown berries are almost as large as the Apache with a complex, sweet flavor. This berry ripens in late July.

The grape varieties vary not only in taste but color and include: Concord Seedless, Canadice Seedless, Himrod Seedless, Black Monukka Seedless, and Fredonia.

Concord grapes are a late seedless grape with dark blue slip-skin that is excellent for juice. These grapes ripen in September. Canadice Seedless grapes are a red grape and have a slightly spicy flavor and give a different taste when added into juice for wine-making available to harvest in mid-season. Himrod grapes are hardy and white with an excellent sweet juicy fruit. They are great for juice, wine, jams, or to dry for sweet raisins.

The Black Monukka Bunch grape is a medium sized black seedless grape with a tender skin and a crisp sweet flavor. It is good fresh or for raisins ready to harvest in August on into September. Fredonia grapes have a thick black skin that can be separated from the pulp easily growing in large bunches. They are sweet and excellent for snaking, juice or wine ready to harvest in August.

Many of these varieties can be purchased in two to four year stock and will produce some fruit the first year they are planted. With proper care, some of the vines could produce up to 50 years. By planting such a variety, the farm will not be limited in the use of the fruit harvested. Also, any surplus fruit can be sold to offset farm costs. This is just another way of making the farm more self-sufficient.

Children would like and could help you make fruit rollups. A couple of these varieties will make nice raisins for snacking or for baking. Then of course, there is a multitude of juices, wines, jams and jellies that can be made as well as syrups. Imagine fresh blueberry, blackberry, or raspberry syrup on your waffles one morning.

All of this of course is bringing you back to basics. You'll be eating healthier, organic fruit that hasn't been imported from a foreign country or trucked across country sitting in one warehouse after another, handled by who knows how many people and that hasn't been treated with harsh chemicals. Your carbon footprint will grow smaller, your health better, and you'll be helping the environment with each delectable morsel.

Lynda M. Lacroix is an accomplished writer with over 40 years working in areas of homesteading, animal husbandry, and conservation. She is an avid homesteader and conservationist as well as a Wildlife Biologist. It is her belief that we live in a time that neighbor must look after neighbor. No longer can each person go through the day thinking of themselves first. People must think about the consequences of their actions. By going back to basics and becoming more self-sufficient, using alternative energy sources, and eating organic grown foods, we can help ourselves and the planet. For more information please visit: http://goinggreenenvironmentalconservation.com/ and also http://alternativehomesteading.com/ for more information.

Tags : kitchenaid gourmet distinctions 16 1 2 inch circulon classic 14 piece cookware set

Growing Organic Vegetables - Useful Tips

Are you fed up with vegetables grown out of season, from who knows where which may look bright and shiny but which taste of absolutely nothing? Are you frightened as to what all those pesticides and other chemicals are doing to your family's health?

Well the answer is simple; grow your own organic vegetables and fruit. You will need to be prepared to devote quite some time and effort but the end result will be well worth it. Just think of those wholesome, tasty fruits and vegetables which you'll be able to put on your table at all times of the year.

What is organic gardening and why should you go to all that effort?

It is the growing of produce, flowers, shrubs and so on without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers which, organic gardeners believe, will result in flavourful, healthy and nutritionally beneficial food. This is because the soil is fertilised naturally and insects are kept away using natural materials too so there's no risk of ingesting or inhaling toxic chemicals. An additional benefit is the fresh air and exercise which you get digging and maintaining your own vegetable plot.

Possibly, although you're keen on this idea of growing your own organic food, you don't know where to start, so here are a few tips.

Firstly, make a plan. You need to decide where your veg garden will be, how big and what you're going to grow. Remember if you want food for all seasons, you'll need much more space than if you just want a few salad leaves for summer.

Now measure and dig out the area that you want to grow vegetables in, to a depth of about twenty five centimetres, turning it well. Dig in compost or horse, cow or pig manure for bulk and some organic fertiliser and leave it to work into the soil for around three or four weeks.

By this time, you're ready to plant your seedlings which you will have grown from seed in organic compost and you'll need to water them. There are two schools of thought regarding the watering of seedlings. One is that a weekly soaking is more beneficial because it strengthens the roots as they reach down for water; another is that when seedlings are very small, they should be well watered daily or they are at risk of becoming too dry. You could try giving them a good soaking preferably early in the morning or late in the evening, inspect them daily and if they look in danger of wilting, water again.

On your daily inspection tour, keep an eye out for aphids and other damaging insects. Prevention is better than cure so ensure that crops are free of disease before you plant them and keep the garden free of weeds and other debris. If you do find evidence of infestation, either pick off insects by hand or spray them with a mixture of washing up liquid and water or commercial organic insecticide soaps.

Weed prevention is also important or the weeds will take all the goodness from your soil. Hoe between your rows of plants every few days or when you see weeds appearing. Applying a mulch around your plants or even laying black plastic or other material will help to keep the weeds at bay and will also help to retain moisture.

Finally, pick your produce and enjoy the fruits of your labours; the flavour and goodness will make all that effort worth while.

Liz Canham
Liz is a keen gardener who has exchanged the relative ease of gardening in Southern England for the trials of gardening on the Costa Blanca in Spain, where her garden is at a 45% angle on the side of a mountain. She is webmistress of Gardening for All

My Links : all clad lasagna pan lodge logic pre seasoned 17 inch cast iron skillet

Getting Started Eating Organic Foods

Everything, including eating healthier, starts with a first step. Very few people jump into new things with both feet, which is good because transitioning slowly with anything, including a new way of eating, ensures a much higher success rate in the long run. Before your next weekly shopping trip, do a full inventory of your refrigerator and your pantry. Go to the grocery store and peruse the produce section to see if yours carries organic produce and then explore your grocery store to see if it has a natural or organic foods section; many do thanks to high demand for them. Once you've done these first two steps, you can move on to the next steps to get yourself started eating organic foods.

If you already eat fruits and vegetables, make buying organic versions of basic produce like apples, oranges and celery your first step in the transition to eating organic foods. While they are pricier, they are free of pesticides and herbicides and grow in naturally nutrient-rich soil so they will taste better and they are better for you. Usually introducing organic foods to your body and your pocket book is a good place to start; if you see something you've never had before in organic form, consider expanding your horizons and buy it. By taking one step at a time and a trial-and-error approach, you can have fun with this new diet idea which will aid in making the transition a seamless one.

It's a myth that when you "go organic" you have to give up the foods you love. Most people aren't willing to sacrifice the foods they love for the sake of their health, which is perfectly understandable. If you are forced to eat food that doesn't appeal to you, the chances of success are small. Instead, look for organic counterparts of the foods you love. Examples of foods that have an organic counterpart include corn chips, popcorn, chocolate and bread.

If you're like most people today, you lead a busy life that has you moving nearly constantly which means you don't have time to prepare a lot of food or put extensive effort into your food. There's good news for you in the world of organic foods. Invest in a juicer and a dehydrator and they will become your new best friends in the kitchen. Many people who eat organic "juice" their fruit for wonderful, nutrient-rich juices that you can take with you. Dehydrators are an organic foodie's best friend, second only to juicers. Cut up fruits and dry them. You now have nutrient-rich, super convenient, healthy organic foods to take with for on-the-go snacks or afternoon pick-me-ups plus they help you avoid the temptation of fast foods and, because organic foods are rich in water, you'll be more awake and less thirsty.

These are just three suggestions to get you started on the road to eating organic and changing your life for the better. Remember to go slowly, expect to backslide as this is normal, allow yourself to make mistakes, experiment with new foods and recipes and buy what you like. Customize your new diet to fit your lifestyle to increase the chance that you will succeed long term.

Marty Rich has been a professional chef for more than 27 years. He is dedicated to helping everyday people, like you and me, learn to create easy, simple meals with the freshest of ingredients. For more information on organic living please visit http://www.chefmartyrich.com.

Tags : all clad copper core 3 quart saute with lid

Organic Fruits And Vegetables For Your Detox Diet

Naturopathic experts recommend adopting a detox diet to help clean and purge the body of toxic substances through the consumption of plant compounds that naturally occur in food. When your body is overloaded with too much toxins, you tend to suffer chronic symptoms like bad breath, bloating, gas, eczema, frequent migraines and more. You maximise the benefits of your cleansing regime when you use organic fruits and vegetables over regular produce for detoxification.

Organic fruits and vegetables are produced by purely natural methods. That means they are grown by farmers without using pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilisers. Regular produce tend to contain pesticides and toxic metals. Increasingly, more people are becoming aware that plants in regular commercial production usually get sprayed with pesticides. Additionally, toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, aluminium and mercury enter the soil through various pollution channels and get absorbed by the plants as well. Even after harvest, non-organic fruits are treated with more chemicals to hasten their ripening. Preservatives may also be added to prolong shelf life. All in all, regular produce which appears to be healthy and "fat", can contain more chemicals than you possibly know of.

Additionally, there is also growing evidence that organically produced plant foods are more nutritious than conventionally grown food. A published research study reported that organic fruits (pears and apples), potatoes, and wheat showed higher nutrient content than their conventionally produced versions by a factor of 90 percent. Another study showed that antioxidants content in organic produce was 600 percent higher than conventionally grown food.

For organic fruits and vegetables, there are several that you can choose from. Apples make up one example of the best organic fruits for your detox diet that you can consume. They contain pectin, a bountiful source of fibre, which slows the absorption of naturally occurring sugar in the apple when you eat it whole. Therefore, you are not likely to get the sudden surge in blood sugar that often comes after eating junk like cakes and cookies.

Different detox diet programs prescribe different ways of eating organic fruits and vegetables; some by eating them whole, some by juicing and others, a combination. For whatever it is, all programs recommend that you use organic fruits and vegetables over regular produce.

If you want to feel better, then consider using only organically grown produce for detoxification and superior nutritional content. You can then derive maximum benefits from your detox diet. You may find that organic fruits and vegetables are more expensive, but the higher costs sure make up for the difference that you pay.

Sandra Kim Leong writes about the benefits of adopting a detox diet [http://www.detox-cleansing-diet.com] and shares tips on body cleansing. For a bonus MP3 download on detox diets and to gain access to free research, please subscribe to her newsletter at [http://www.detox-cleansing-diet.com]

See Also : lodge logic pre seasoned 9 quart dutch oven all clad ltd double burner griddle