Book Review: Back to Basics

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All growing up I remember reading this book, flipping through the pictures and reading things I thought I'd never see in 'real' life (aka, skinning a rabbit).  The book edition we had was with a yellow cover, but the information is all the same and wonderful.

A few years ago I purchased this recent edition for my husband as a gift, because he used to have it as well. 

As we have slowly built our family farm, we have referred to it often.  Now, as we prepare to move to a 5 acre property, I know that we'll be using it more often.  Whether you're a small, suburban gardener or working on a more self-sustaining home, this book is a MUST HAVE!!

To everything there is a season

Fall has always been my favorite season.  Ever since college when I would drive through the mountains of sourthern Utah through Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks with the windows down and the heater up.  The beauty of the mountains, the changing seasons, the crisp Fall air. 

Then I started my gardening.  As much as I love Fall, it was very hard for me to see the end of the garden.

Until today.

Today I went out to visit my chickens and there was Fluffy, and her babies, in the garden.  I'm not sure how they got out of their enclosure, but it looks like they needed more space and the joy of the garden.

So, I had to move over their little nest and give them the garden to use for their forays.  I mean, seeing the garden season end is a little less painful when I know an adorable momma Hen is using it to teach her babies how to survive in life.

Enjoy the pictures!

See that chick hiding back behind the zucchini plant.

When Life Gives You...

Zucchini

When you plant more than one zucchini plant, you need to be prepared to have more zucchini than you can eat. So, what can you do when you have so much zucchini that you can't even give it all away?

Today I'm going to try to find out how many different ways I can utilize zucchini, and I will be posting successful recipes in the coming week.

Here are some of my ideas for utilizing that abundance of zucchini.

• Shred up the zucchini as if you were going to put it into a bread recipe. Then pre-measure it into 2 or 3 cup servings and place in quart-sized ziploc bags and freeze to bake with all winter long.
• Play ding-dong ditch with zuchinni for a variety of neighbors. If you'd like, put a bow on them. Now it's not your worry anymore!
• Scour the internet for unusual zucchini recipes
• Bake lots of zucchini bread. Make mini loaves or mini muffins, then freeze those. Great for snacks when school starts for the kids!

What are some of your most creative uses for zucchini??