!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

BEL #820

More preservation efforts. Big thanks once again to Samantha and Cedar for making the trip, and for Fred and Paul chipping in on the jamming and drying efforts.

Here's a shot of my plum-prepping station. Though there were some whose skins had split, they were still perfect for adding to jam so these were the ones we started with.



There were some tart cherries in the assortment provided by Samantha, so we added them to the naturally-sweeter plums. One small batch we left tart, while a larger batch was sweetened with apple juice concentrate.



Our second batch of the day consisted primarily of apricots and cherries. Fred joined us later in the afternoon, when outdoor temperatures were reaching their zenith.

You'll also notice that there are some tomatoes in there. We opted to put those right into the dehydrator instead of attempting to can any.



Over 40 half-pint jars were prepped and canned of this batch. Paul suggested we use the smaller jars because once they're opened, there's not much preservative in there and they would need to be emptied more quickly than a typical jar of jam.



The stores were filled with dozens of jars of jam over the past couple weeks. I'm exceptionally grateful for all this fruit we'll be able to eat during the coldest part of the year.



Plenty of fruit remained after the two batches of jam were completed, so we decided to put the rest into the dehydrators. The tomatoes made their way down there as well.



Again, everyone was involved in splitting and drying all this fruit. Big thanks to Fred, Cedar, and Samantha for stepping in on these important tasks...!



We loaded up the solar-powered dehydrator almost to capacity. With the sunny days ahead, I'm thinking that most of this will be ready Sunday. The candied rhubarb was on the top shelves in this photo, and that's already been removed and added to jars.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

Very impressive all of you, that's a lot of fruit. What a great stash for the colder months.

BEL #821

Welcome to new Boots Matthew and Beck...!

They've stepped-in to their Boot shoes and made themselves at home. For instance, on their second day we canned up two varieties of applesauce. One batch was straight-up apples, while the other had plums and serviceberries added in the blend.



We gathered all the fruit from the solar dehydrators. The weather was inconsistent - surprisingly, lots of rain for early August - but what we packed-up is consistently delicious... especially those tomatoes! Wow.



Although this might not look like much, it's buried about two feet deep into a hugel berm next to the House. Hugel Prime has a series of log steps to provide access to all growing areas, and we added this one just yesterday afternoon. Matt was orientated in how to use the electric auger as part of this task.



Finally: I think this is one of the finest fence repair jobs I've seen in a long while.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

Awesome.  It's good to see Judy made her way off the disabled list.

Among other things, I really need to get going on material accumulation and construction of a solar dehydrator.  I don't see it getting done this summer though...sigh.

BEL #822

It's Matthew's second week, and Seth has returned from his travels down south. Welcome back, man...!

I'm beat after today, but it's been so long since I'd made an update I'd feel bad about not doing anything while I still have a bit of energy left. So here we go.

Friday last week, Matthew and I went to a nearby lumber company with Judy - our heavy hauler - and the dump trailer. When we returned, we had maybe a couple tons of shaved-pine mulch.



Over the next several days, we encircled baby trees with "mulch donuts" in an effort to preserve moisture and help keep them alive in the heat. We'll use this mulch on stuff that doesn't like "hot" organic material, while our grasses will be reserved for things like corn and rhubarb.

A plant that seems to like bark mulch is the raspberry bush. We added thick rings around these plants up at Raspberry Rock, as well as Raspberry Island, back behind the Classroom. Along with those mounds of mulch, we added trickle jugs of water. We open up the top just a little bit, then tilt the jug on its side so there's a slight, consistent stream of water making its way into the soil. This prevents runoff and increases the chance that the soil around the plants will absorb and hold the water poured on it.



Here's the first set of Basecamp-grown tomatoes I've ever had for Taco Tuesday dinner.



Today, while I was outside throwing mulch around, Seth and Matthew tackled more jam-making. I ate the leftover bits of ginger once the batch was cooked.



Finally: not necessarily related to Boot happenings... However, I wanted to give a shout-out to the Little House series of books. Here's a couple pages from Little House in the Big Woods, which I finished reading for the first time. I find this book, and its sequel Little House on the Prairie, absolutely fascinating and some of the most wholesome, fun (not to mention quick) reading I've ever experienced. A discussion here at Permies about horse-powered equipment made me think to snap this photo a while back.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!