can we say pineapple?

Tomato (toe-may-toe) or tomato (toe -ma -toe)?

neither , this is a pineapple i have been growing for over 3 years 

      Or should I just call it spaghetti sauce. It is kind of an Italian sauce without any meat, totally vegetarian and organic without any herbicides or pesticides, as well it is grown in my compost I have made out of totally organic sources. The tomatoes were grown in my tomato towers which are metal cages where one is placed on the inside of another over a pile of compost and the center wire cage is filled with compost.

 tomato tower- 3 tomato plants around interior compost cage. you water inner cage.

 

      The idea is to water the compost in the middle and it will not only help keep moisture to surrounding tomato plants in outside concentric circle , but it will also help provide the nutrients needed to produce tomatoes . I dug up the soil directly underneath the tomato tower and added about a foot of compost on top of that area. Outside and in between the tomato towers I just let the grass grow eliminating weeding which can now be done for the most part by a weed eater. Directly around the base of the tomato towers I just added straw to conserve moisture and also for weed prevention .  The only problem I had was my natural insect control system, called free ranging chickens who would go hog wild and crazy scratching away the straw and laid bare the soil leading to over drying. . With the drought we experienced and after talking to others I feel I am fortunate to have tomatoes at all.

as they look now. notice straw is all kicked out. but tomatoes have been coming on good. 

   

       I purchased a pressure canner, even though i just needed a water bath procedure to seal jars and lids and have just about used up my supply of pint jars just making spaghetti sauce. I would like to try some other things yet but will see how it goes. Maybe some apple sauce, or green beans. I have also purchased a new freezer and I am looking forward to filling it with green peppers for the winter as well as purchase in bulk some meat products to fill my need here and reduce costs associated with feeding myself.

 

finished canned spaghetti sauce - still need to wipe down jars. 

 

      The four Rhode Island reds have been doing a great job at providing not only I but Mom and Sherry with enough fresh eggs to meet our needs. At 3 dollars a dozen it doesn’t take long to realize a savings from that alone. Not to mention the added benefits of pest control, yard fertilization, and just the entertainment factor is enough for me to justify keeping the chickens around. They are a little hard on the landscaping at times but apparently there is something there or they wouldn’t dig so much.

        The other project I am working on is wine making for my first time. I was blessed with some grapes from some vines I purchased at a sale on landscaping supplies. I planted them around my ladder arbor and along with an old vine I was able to yield about 2 gallons of grapes. I stemmed and picked out the good fruit and ran it through a food processor and then squeezed the resulting juice through cheese cloth and ended up with 2 quarts of a nice rose looking juice. Light red in color and having a really nice sweet taste. I went to the Wine Shop on North Cleveland Ave. and purchased a gallon glass jug and a fermentation lock as ell the proper yeast necessary for wine production and combined my juice along with some more pure grape juice to make a full gallon of wine. The cost was relatively cheap to this point and ten dollars should cover it all. They have a full range of wine making supplies and seem really knowledgeable and helpful to giving you exactly what you need to get started.

     this is the wine jug with the vapor lock installed and actually working.

         Well the wine is working off in a cool dark place and should be ready in thirty days from what they say. It can be drank at this point or combined with another teaspoon of sugar and recharged to be bottled in traditional wine bottles and allowed a suitable time to work off again . By bottling into smaller bottles it will allow you to strain out sediment and achieve similar results to medium priced wines you normally purchase at stores. The sugar level will be a determining factor in the taste. The more sugar added will allow more alcohol to be produced .  I am still learning on this and will try and update you as I go along. But this looks a project I want to pursue.

      The main reason is that with the berries and grapes as well as apples produced her on the farm it allows for 100 per cent usage of all produce. There I no waste an the berries and wine have anti-oxidant properties necessary to fight cancer. It also allows fruit that is less than desirable to eat , or that is in excess to be utilized to avoid wasting . even the skin and by products of the juicing process is thrown to the chickens and they heartily pick through it and still glean something out of it.so the whole process of wine making is in some ways a cheap way to preserve naturally without refrigeration a product that would otherwise have a limited season, allowing you to enjoy the benefits of it when the snow flies. This is not all bad and some apple wine is in order also.

this is a security wall i constructed in my greenhouse to show how easy it is to plant a privacy fence and how quick you can fill it in so you can have relief from your neighbors prying eyes. i will go into more detail tomorrow as to what was involved and pictures from when i started and plans of where i am going with this.