Broccoli is ready to harvest! Freezing broccoli!

We brought in about 3 pounds of broccoli the other day and I blanched them and stuck them in the freezer! Super easy and we can enjoy these this winter :)

First off I have to say, Doesn't this little head of broccoli almost look like a bridal bouquet?? Hahaha that would seriously be an interesting wedding!

Step 1: Rinse your broccoli and separate heads into the size of your choice

Step 2: Immerse in a brine (1 cup salt to 1 gallon of water) for 30 minutes. This will help remove all insects... and with organic gardening, you probably will have insects...but at least you know for sure its organic!!

Step 3: Rinse and drain

Step 4: Blanch for 3-4 minutes (immerse into boiling water for 3-4 minutes and then immediately into ice cold water)...drain (I let it rest on a kitchen towel for a few minutes to make sure ice wouldn't form on my broccoli in the freezer)

Step 5: Pack in your freezer container and label (don't forget to write the packaging date)

More planting!

Henry loves to get involved in the planting. I let him decide where each of the broccoli plants should go. I dug wholes every 16 inches and then let him put the pots in the wholes he wanted. It took him forever because he kept reorganizing them, but it was really fun to sit back and watch him!

You can hardly even see the little broccoli leaves coming up out of the ground...but they sure are in there!

We planted some artichokes! Im so excitted about these!! Started from seeds in our little loft, it is so fun to see them finally in the ground!

Potatoes looking good!!

The first 2 beds are Planted!! An assortment of tomatoes, celery, lettuce, onions, basil, chives, peppers, eggplant, more basil (I love basil!), carrots, ummm I think thats it in the first 2 beds.

The 3rd is partially planted with Broccoli, Sage, and Garlic... and the 4th Bed is partially planted with Potatoes, & Peanuts... and the 5th bed is partially planted with Radishes and Lettuce.

And yet there is SOOO much more to plant!!!

LUNCH BREAK!!!! Addie sure loves salad :)

During the kids nap time I went back out and got the spinach in the ground and some more herbs.

And did some more odds and ends around the yard. Well, I better get back at it!

Happy Planting,

Abby

ITS PLANTIN TIME!

Ok so it was time to get everything in the ground last week, but its been a chaos of a week here (family members having surgery, other family going to the emergency room, lalala... not your basic stuff). SO I know this week I have to get GOING! All my seedlings have been sitting outside (day and night) for about a week so I know they are all "hardened off" and ready to meet the ground they will be living in. Since our garden is so large I decided to take it 1 bed at a time and have it done by the end of the week...I didnt want to set insainly high goals because after all I know I will be working with 2 toddlers, 7 chickens and 2 goats...they tend to slow things down a bit...but sure do make it alot more enjoyable!

Bed 1:

We have 4 rows. (from left to right) There is arugula, then lettuce, then 2 rows of Tomatoes interplanted with some some basil and chives. Further down the row the arugula and lettuce become celery and carrots...but its not very visible on this photo. All the plants look SO small! But I have to admit I felt so proud of the little plants, we started them all as seedlings and it is great to see them finally going into the ground!!

We did an heirloom salad blend of seeds so we have several varieties of lettuce.

The tomatoes look tiny but you are supposed to plant them all the way down to the leaves to help the tomatoes get a good root system goin on! Hopefully they get growing fast!

The potatoes are comin up!!

I also got some sage planted yesterday and didnt quite get to the broccoli, but that will be today!

My mom had a bunch of sage, garlic and basil from last year that she brought over for us to plant and I am SO excitted about it. This sage is already green!

Yesterday I Also go the radishes going! These are my dads favourite and I Really just plant the radishes for him to enjoy!! I read that if you plant lettuce in with the radish seeds that it will enhance the taste of the radishes and also the lettuce...so I gave it a try! This bed looks really sad right now because all you can see is a few green lettuce heads planted about 3 feet apart...but soon it will look GREAT!! (I hope)

Ok so the end of day 1 I got a little more than 1 bed planted so that is excitting...back at it today!!! I cant wait!!