December 4(for) Green Acres Challenge

These monthly challenges are your opportunity to cultivate your own acres. They are designed to challenge your creativity, test your will power, and pull your awareness to the footstep you are leaving behind.

By participating in these challenges and sharing them with others you are spreading the message. Over time, those around us will be making better choices as well. The goal is not to change how you live your life, but rather think about the implications of those choices and tweek them for the best outcome.

DECEMBER CHALLENGE: HANDMADE GIFT

This monthly challenge has come full circle.  It was this month last year that I had the idea to start posting monthly challenges that would encourage others to live a more conscientious life.  The December challenge was to not purchase any wrapping of any type.  It was intended to recycle and get creative with what you already had on had.  The December 2011 archives are full of ideas on how to achieve this if you want to go for it again this year.  I intend to. 

I am sad to report that this will be the final monthly 4(for) green acres challenge post.  I will post a challenge from time to time, but not a consistent basis.  As my blog took on several identities this year, I have been weaving through the threads searching for one that suits me best.  While it is still evolving, you'll start to see that the things that don't suit are going to slowly disappear or pop up elsewhere.  

So without further delay... the final challenge.

This year the word community has been jumping out at me around every corner.  Searching for mine, wondering where I fit in, and finally learning the vast lesson about my ignorance in believing that I could possibly live this life alone.  With that being said I want to dedicate this last challenge to community, whomever that may be for you.  

It goes without saying that we are all too plugged in sometimes. Your challenge is to unplug, slow down, and dedicate some creative time to making a gift for someone in your community.  And by community it can be someone in your family, your best friend, your CSA farmer.  The person is of your choosing.  The medium is your choosing as well.  It can be a baked good, a piece of art, or something hand sewn.  

By making a gift for someone in your circle it represents what living a 4(for) green acres life is all about.  Your investment into another person is building progress.  Others almost always pay it forward in some way.  

Happy crafting, baking, sewing...  Leave me a comment and let me know what you plan to make.  I love hearing your ideas.  

November 4(for) Green Acres Challenge

These monthly challenges are your opportunity to cultivate your own acres. They are designed to challenge your creativity, test your will power, and pull your awareness to the footstep you are leaving behind.

By participating in these challenges and sharing them with others you are spreading the message. Over time, those around us will be making better choices as well. The goal is not to change how you live your life, but rather think about the implications of those choices and tweek them for the best outcome.

NOVEMBER CHALLENGE: GIVE BACK || VOLUNTEER

This entire month is dedicated to gratitude and Thanksgiving. Especially in light of recent events on the east coast, it is more important than ever to be thankful for what we have and give back what we can. Cultivating an community of thanksgiving brings living a 4(for) green acres life full circle. We cannot live on this earth without the love and support of those around us. Family and strangers alike.

This month's challenge has to come from your heart. Find a need in your community, or venture out beyond your boundaries to offer help. Think about adopting a family for the holiday season or volunteer your time at food pantry. During the holidays they get swamped with food for needy families. Consider adopting an elderly person in your neighborhood and spend time with them. Start a community garden by developing an organization team now to start in the spring. There are many ideas that come to mind, but it comes down to what feels right for you and your family.

Have fun with it and post back here what you have planned. It's fun to share with others and it's great to share ideas.

Lotus Wei Energy Mists

{photos via Lotus Wei}

The challenge for 4(for) green acres this month is about improving your health.  While part of improvement means preventative medicine, an even bigger part is taking care of what you have in the first place.  It starts with your mind.  You are what you think.  

Recently I've been introduced to the science of flower essences.  Katie Hess, a flower alchemist from Lotus Wei, has studied the interconnectedness between the earth and humans.  Again showing the positive influence and healing powers nature can have on us.  What she discovered is that as we as humans spend more and more time away from nature, stress and tension have started to build in our lives, which is problematic on the health of our systems.  Her goal has always been to help others find personal growth and she found flower essences to be the medium to do so.  A true 4(for) green acres approach.

Thea used the Lotus Wei energy mists during our class at Squam.  At first I was skeptical because I always feel good at Squam so determining if they had any effect would be impossible.  After Squam, I read through the great information on the Lotus Wei website, and I decided to purchase the mini mists collection to test it at home in my everyday environment.  To be authentic here, I have to tell you the reason I feel I need this type of science.  I am not easy to live with.  I have a tendency to sway from one end of the mood spectrum to the other and not all that often in between.  I pretty much drive myself internally and do a good job forgetting to show affection to those I love.  I do believe that nature balances me and I'm willing to try any form of it.

If you're like me, you're wondering how flower essential oils can change you.  I found that question in her Q&A section and here is what Katie has to say.    

For those that haven’t tried flower remedy elixirs before can you explain how they work?

Flower remedy elixirs are an aqueous solution that when taken internally or applied on the body, works through the acupuncture meridian system. The science behind it is called sympathetic resonance: when you have two tuning forks of the same key and strike one of them, the other tuning fork starts to buzz even though it’s not touching the vibrating one. This is because the invisible sound waves expand out, causing the second fork to vibrate in resonance. 

The same happens with flowers. They are emanating waves that cannot be seen with the naked eye, but that strike a chord within us and as we re-balance our bodies and minds we experience more clarity, happiness, and peacefulness. When people find this hard to believe, I ask them how a cell phone works. We don’t question a cell phone, because we hear the voice on the other end. The waves emanate from the phone and send information through space. So we see this on many levels in technology. The difference is that what the flowers and plants has profound health benefits.

I get it, and I've been using them for about 4 weeks, with a small lapse, and I have to tell you that, YES, I do feel better.  Maybe it's a placebo, maybe it's just my willingness to be open to trying to something new, but I am not as emotionally strung out, and that makes it worth it for me.

Jump over to her website and pick a flower on the main the page.  It will point you in the direction of which essence you might be most in need of.  I think I'm going to need a gallon of inner peace!

++++++++++++

I was not paid or given any product in exchange for the post.  This is truly my opinion of the product I purchased for myself.

October 4(for) Green Acres Challenge

These monthly challenges are your opportunity to cultivate your own acres. They are designed to challenge your creativity, test your will power, and pull your awareness to the footstep you are leaving behind.

By participating in these challenges and sharing them with others you are spreading the message. Over time, those around us will be making better choices as well. The goal is not to change how you live your life, but rather think about the implications of those choices and tweek them for the best outcome.

OCTOBER CHALLENGE: IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH

There is more to living a 4(for) green acres life than taking care of the earth.  Taking care of your body is just as vital.  While growing your own food to feed your body is important, so is general prevention.  With processed food taking over the markets and carcinogens in everything you come into contact with, stopping to filter and clean out some of the junk becomes necessary.

This month's challenge is centered around health.  That includes getting a routine physical with blood work, mammograms, prostate checks, etc.  It means taking the time to cleanse your intestinal track and get rid of the toxins that are harbored there.  Understand your body and know it, so if there is an issue you can be intuitively aware.

So, stop what you're doing right now and make an appointment with a physician.  It starts there.  It starts with the blood.  Later this month I'll be talking about various alternative medicine practices that I've been exploring lately.

Guest Post: UpCountry Living's Experiment with Canning

Hello lovlies.  Today Jenna from UpCountry Living is sharing with us her first dabble into the world of food preservation.  She has taken the September 4(for) green acres challenge and is sharing her  experience.  Her perspective is interesting because I think many of us feel the same and come up with the same resistance.  The excuses as to why we can't or shouldn't do something are just that; excuses.  It's a good read and she notes a valuable lesson she learned at the end.  I hope you enjoy.    

Before September 19, 2012: I’ve never canned in my life.

On September 19, 2012: I’m canned today. I made Sunshine Salsa.

Probably after September 19, 2012: Canning? No problem.

I became interested in canning earlier this spring. My boyfriend and I had decided to plant our first garden in raised beds in our backyard in the late spring and early weeks of summer. I hoped that I’d have more vegetables than I knew what to do with and I was really excited about preserving my own produce.

Sure enough, the garden did well. Some things didn’t, but Mr. UpCountry and I enjoyed a bounty of green beans, carrots, beets and tomatoes. We ate most of the green beans (green beans with every meal!), gave away a lot of the beets and carrots (beyond what we needed) to friends and family and I held onto the tomatoes to experiment with canning for the first time.

And then I held them longer than I should have. I held them until they started getting mushy. I left them on the windowsill above my sink and the sun soaked into them and decay shot from the gate like it was all a race.

Why did I let them rot? Why didn’t I preserve them through canning when they were at their most fresh and ripe?

Because of Resistance. Good ole Resistance usually does a number on me. Thankfully, I’m slowly learning to outsmart it (but only after it’s caused me to procrastinate for a decent amount of time).

I strongly believe in the benefits of eating food grown locally (first) and organically (preferred). I know that the only way for me to eat local tomatoes in January is to can them.

And I have bowls full of them around my kitchen. Ready. Waiting to boil and vacuum themselves into jars. Yearning to feed me in the darkest hours of winter (or so I imagine).

But I failed those first ones. I let them go. My Resistance poked in and held me back in a variety of ways (one of Resistance’s secret weapons = changin’ it up).

First, I didn’t have the money to buy the canning equipment.

How I beat Resistance: Eventually, I saved up the money and found some pretty cheap canning supplies at KMart. My sister loaned me her lobster pot. That leg of Resistance - knocked out.

Then, I didn’t have enough tomatoes to process a batch.

This particular ploy from Resistance worked for a while. If I continued to give away tomatoes to friends and family or convince myself that they were past their prime, I never had enough tomatoes to process and so I didn’t have to concern myself over it. 

After that, I convinced myself that I needed to watch somebody else do it first because I was likely going to screw it up my first time and I’d either explode glass and hot food all over the kitchen or I wouldn’t process it long enough and kill my loved ones with botulism.

I waited until my local Cooperative Extension office offered a canning class. This class was scheduled two weeks beyond when I probably should have started canning. But I waited. Because it would be so much easier to do it my first time if I acquired some wise mentor to walk me through the process. Right? ...Right?

I attended the canning workshop only to discover that there weren’t any live demonstrations of canning. The presenter did an excellent job of explaining the process, but nothing was hands-on.

I decided that my reading and online research would have to do and that I should get right down to canning.

Then a week went by. I couldn’t get myself to do it.

I was so afraid of something bad happening. Or not getting it right the first time.

I wrote in the September 19 square of my daily planner: Can something. Just do it.

When I woke up on that fateful morning, I looked at my planner and knew that it had to be done, regardless of my fear and insecurity. Even though Resistance punched me full on in the face that morning, I steeled myself to the task.

And I did it. Mr. UpCountry graciously provided assistance (thank you, darling!). I looked up recipes in my canning book, Put ‘Em Up, and decided that salsa would work just fine for my pounds of yellow tomatoes.

For an extra dose of confidence, I called the local Cooperative Extension office and double-checked that the recipe I’d found followed USDA food safety standards. According to Mrs. Fishman at the CE office, it did. (That was another sneaky form of Resistance right there: worrying about the validity of my recipe. However, this form is actually commonsensical and wise. Food safety should not be taken lightly.)

Mrs. Fishman walked me through the steps and coached me as I repeated them back to her. She assured me that she’d be in her office for the next couple hours if I needed any further assistance. I am so grateful for her warm and friendly instruction.

Adrenaline Rush. Set the water to boil. 

I followed the recipe and ended up with seven half-pint jars of what I’ve decided to call Sunshine Salsa. Because the ‘Put ‘Em Up!’ recipe specified regular tomatoes and not yellow tomatoes, I figured I could go ahead and name the yellow version. 

Sunshine Salsa. My first canning experience. After I buckled down and did it, I realized that it was a manageable process. I could do it.

My Sunshine Salsa does look a little watery in the jar. This is likely due to my tomatoes being a bit past their prime; they were extremely juicy!

Also, my salsa had to sit in the jar for a few minutes after being cooked and before being processed in the canner because I didn’t start the water boiling in my canner soon enough. Lesson learned! Next time I’ll start my water boiling in the canner first thing.

I don’t believe that letting them rest before processing did any harm to the food. It could have resulted in my glass cracking or breaking, since it had time to cool down a bit before I bathed them in boiling water.

That didn’t happen. All those scary scenarios I pictured in my head didn’t happen.

Instead, I put up seven jars of golden Sunshine Salsa and figuratively patted myself on the back.

Every day I learn, more and more, that the best way to do something is to do it. I may not have created a perfect product, but I still made something. I refuse to criticize myself on this.

It’s all about mannin’ up, puttin’ it up, doin’ it up.

And, likely as not, it’ll eat good with chips.

To read more about Jenna and her experiences jump on over to her blog.  

Personalize Your Canning Jars

1| River Dog Prints  2| Mud and Twig  3| My Paper Kittens  

4| Autumn Leah  5| Paper From Heaven  6| Sweet Grass Prints

One the creative pieces of the canning process is putting your personal touch on what you create.  A special addition are jar labels.  These are especially fun if you are planning on gifting any of your garden goodies.  These are a few of my favorites from etsy.  It's clear to see that each label has a very different personality.  

Which one is your favorite?

Artist Spotlight: Jenna from UpCountry Living

I'm very exciting to be introducing Jenna today. I met her through an online class, and after checking out her blog I quickly realized we have a lot in common. Later this month she will have a guest post with more great information for the September 4(for) green acres challenge. In the meantime, I wanted to spotlight her and get to know her better.  She offers a great perspective on how to just begin.

Please welcome Jenna from UpCountry Living...

I’m Jenna and I’m a professional writer and blogger that lives in northern Maine. I am a reporter for Fiddlehead Focus and creator and contributor for my blog UpCountry Living. I love soft sweaters, button-down skirts, and books I can’t put down.

Why did you start UpCountry Living and what can readers find when they visit your site?

I started UpCountry Living as a way to document my journey back home. Though I’ve lived for most of my life in the Saint John Valley,  I discovered that I was a stranger in my own land. I did not know the old ways or realize that where I lived was special.

UpCountry Living chronicles my research, discoveries and stories and encourages readers to embrace the process of establishing roots.

I frequently write about my experiences with first-year gardening, food preservation, supporting the local food market, community events or descriptives and ways to pursue simplicity.

Could you tell us why Saint John Valley is so special and where it is located?

The Saint John Valley is the Great Valley of northern Maine. If you watched Land Before Time a thousand times as a kid (and continue to watch it with delight in your grown-up years), then you know what I’m talking about. It’s the paradise at the end of the hero’s journey. It’s where life can be sustained after tragedy befalls you. It’s where all the tree-stars are (a.k.a. leaves).

The Valley spans over 70 miles and is home to about 25,000 people. Though residents of the Saint John Valley are assumed to be American, the Valley actually includes Canada, our neighbor nation that shares the Saint John River.

Canadians contribute to the local economy through commerce and employment. Mostly, we all get along. Sometimes groups of 19-year-olds from each country start disputes with each other. Just your run-of-the-mill border town dramatics.

It’s special because it’s home to farmers, artists, writers, mill workers, teachers, and all-around hard workers. If someone from the County (Saint John Valley is the northernmost part of the Aroostook County) migrates out and applies for a job in another Maine region, it’s very likely they’ll be hired. We’re known in the state for our work ethic and dependability.

Most Valleyites speak English and French and are primarily of French descent, though there are some towns with Scott-Irish and native descent.  My parents’ generation grew up in bilingual homes and, unfortunately, were discouraged from speaking French in school as the region became more anglicized. Because of the alienation they experienced when speaking their native language, the strength of the French language started to dwindle about 50 years back.

The Valley is a place where you don’t lock up your home or your car and where crime doesn’t kill people but the moose sure try to. It farms buckwheat and potatoes, contributes to Maine’s logging industry, and hosts annual dog sled races.

What are some of your interests?

I am a voracious reader of primarily non-fiction: books about gardening, homesteading, food politics, botany and even a bit of neuroscience. I am learning how to garden, cook, get handy around the house, and play the harmonica. I also knit, crochet, and play basketball with my niece and nephew.

I hope to someday play the mandolin and write songs that have recipes for lyrics.

You are new to gardening.  What has the journey been like?

A rush. The journey has been incredible. We started our garden by building raised beds, and watching all of that come together gave me such a feeling of accomplishment. It had been years since I’d played in the dirt and I had forgotten just how natural it felt.

Even though my mother had a garden when I was a kid, I didn’t help out too much and hadn’t learned any basic skills about sowing and tending. Thankfully Mr. UpCountry has some experience and was able to provide me with some delicate mentorship.

Through hard work, experimentation, and too much time spent watering (here’s looking at you, drought), we produced a bumper crop of cukes, tomatoes, carrots, beets, kohlrabi, peas, beans and mint. The veggies that suffered were broccoli, basil and peppers.

The best thing about mistakes is that they’re just investments towards success in the future. Now I know not to plant my broccoli so close together and to keep mint out of the raised beds because they want to choke out everything else.

When you don’t feel like doing anything, where do you find motivation or what keeps you inspired?

Three things!

1. Past accomplishments.

2. Being mindful of how a series of little baby steps has led me to a completely different place than former years.

3. Trusting the process.

These three things keep me inspired. I don’t always follow through with my inspiration and actually “produce” anything, but it helps keep the guilt out of it. A lot of my lack of motivation comes from thinking “I can’t,” so if I remove those words from my vocabulary and think about what’s already been done, motivation becomes more natural.

You recently purchased a local broiler chicken.  What was the deciding factor?

I realized that, with pretty minimal effort, I could eat a chicken that had been raised by a local family in a happy environment, eating the feed that it wants to eat. Through this purchase, I could support the local economy, local farmers, organic farming, and my own health (by not eating a chicken that had been fed on antibiotics and corn). “Why I Bought A Local Broiler” covers this decision in detail.

Where do you learn your homesteading skills?

It’s a combination of “asking around” and research (primarily on the internet). I’m continually surprised by little “common knowledge” I have. It inspires me to ask questions of my parents, my grandparents, and other folks in my community. I usually get a very practical answer and also learn more about my heritage and this place.

When that method of research doesn’t work, I turn to books and the internet. Amazon’s recommendations always extend the library wish list and keeps the good books stocking up the shelves. Online, I rely on resources like Mother Earth News, MOFGA, Cold Antler Farm and good “old-fashioned” Wikipedia.

You talk about making your journey practical, what are some of your goals to accomplish that?

What I don’t want is a head full of facts. I want hands that are working through the process itself. I can share links on social networks til the cows come home, but if I don’t actually make laundry detergent myself, how is all this research actually enriching my life?

With that being said, do you have any advice for someone wanting to live more consciously?

Start small. It took me a long time to take the step to make laundry detergent for myself. I had done the research and knew that it was cost-effective, customizable and pretty natural. For some reason, I had Resistance about actually doing it. (I’m pretty sure my primary excuse was, “Well, couldn’t I just buy it?”).

Eventually I started asking myself, “Shouldn’t I just make it myself?” Instead of asking, “Why?” I challenged myself with “Why not?”

It took me 15 minutes to make my own laundry detergent. The momentum built from there. Now I find myself attacking challenges with a sense of eagerness and excitement. I know I can do things now, simply by doing them. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s one of those honest truths I had to ease up to.

You are passionate about our food system, give us a fact that might encourage us to think about what we eat.

There are lots of scary facts out there about America’s corn and soy monocultures and the sad state of our meat system, but more jarring to my former philosophy was finding this particular quote: “Shake the hand that feeds you” {from “In Defense of Food,” by Michael Pollan, personal favorite).

Also, in one of my multiple documentary viewings, I must have heard the following statement. I can’t place the specifics, but the concept itself has been sticking with me:

Paraphrasing: We can be very particular about who works on our car or who works on our house. We ask each other about good mechanics and contractors to work with. We put faith in these people to take care of us. But, for some reason, the majority of us have no idea where our food comes from. Food: the stuff we put in our mouths to fuel our bodies and keep us alive.

What information will you be sharing with indigo 26 readers later this month?

Along with being a first-year gardener, I’m also a first-year canner. I’ll be sharing my experiences with first-year canning and will focus primarily on all the forms of Resistance I’ve encountered since first deciding to learn some food preservation techniques.

Jenna can be found here:

UpCountry Living

Twitter

Facebook

Thank you Jenna for answering all my questions.  I'm looking forward to reading more later this month. 

What inspired you about Jenna's interview?  Leave us a comment below.

*** photos provided by Jenna ***

DIY Tomato Sauce

{source}

Canning is easier than you think and with the abundance of tomatoes coming out of the garden right now, this recipe will let you savor them all winter.  This sauce can be used in soups and stews, or as pizza and pasta sauce.  It is a great staple for your pantry.

My mom taught me the short cut method to canning, which makes the process a lot easier, but the timing has to be right.  You can also use a traditional water bath.  I will explain both methods.

BASIC TOMATO (MARINARA) SAUCE

Makes 4 pint jars

SUPPLIES
4 pint jars with new lids and rings
Large pot
Skillet
Sauce pan
Strainer
Tongs or other utensil
Cutting Board
Knife

INGREDIENTS
4 lbs fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp dried basil or 1TBS of fresh basil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pepper
optional: thyme or other herbs, onions, jalpenos, green peppers, etc.

INSTRUCTIONS

SHORTCUT METHOD || Use the dishwasher on the hottest cycle with heated dry to heat the glass canning jars.  If you are only making this recipe, be sure to fill the rest of your dishwasher with dishes or do more than one recipe and add more jars.  Load the dishwasher with only the jars, no lids.  It is also good to know how long the cycle takes.  My dishwasher takes approximately 40 minutes to run through a cycle.  After the first 10-15 minutes, I start with the instructions below.

1.  Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add the tomatoes whole (including skins) and blanch for one minute or until their skins begin to curl back a little.  Strain the tomatoes out of the boiling water and dump in cold water immediately.  I usually fill my sink with ice water.  Peel and coursely chop the tomatoes and set aside.  Follow this process until all of your tomatoes are blanched and peeled.  Ensure that your blanching water is always boiling and your refresh water is ice cold.  Add ice as necessary.

2.  In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the garlic (onions, peppers, etc) for 3 minutes or until softened.  Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer.  Add all the remaining ingredients and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until thick.  You are simmering out the extra water from the tomatoes.

3.  While the sauce is simmering, bring water to boil in small sauce pan.  This will be be for your lids.

4.  By now, the jars should be done washing and in the heat dry cycle.  Pull one jar out at a time.  Put one lid and ring into the boiling water in the sauce pan.  Pack the hot tomato sauce into the hot jar, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace at the top of the jar.  Wipe around the mouth of the jar with a towel to clean up any excess.  Remove the lid and ring from the boiling water and place the lid on top of the jar, and then screw on the ring, but not too tight.  Set aside on a towel.  Repeat this process until all sauce has been canned.  As the jars cool, the lids will start to pop to secure the vacuum seal.

TRADITIONAL METHOD ||  Follow through with steps 1 and 2.  Skip step 3 and start with sterilized jars, lids and rings at room temperature for step 4.  Bring a fresh pot of water to boil.  Pack the hot tomato sauce into the jar, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace at the top of the jar.  Wipe around the mouth of the jar with a towel to clean up any excess.  Attach the lids and rings and tighten.  Place the filled and sealed jars into the boiling water and let process for 35 minutes.  Carefully remove the jars and place them on a kitchen towel.  As they begin to cool, the lids will pop.

The sauce can be stored in the pantry for up to a year.  One important thing to note:  If the tops of the lids don't pop, they are NOT vacuum sealed.  You'll have to refrigerate any jars that haven't sealed or bacteria will take over.

Enjoy!

September 4(for) Green Acres Challenge

These monthly challenges are your opportunity to cultivate your own acres. They are designed to challenge your creativity, test your will power, and pull your awareness to the footstep you are leaving behind.

By participating in these challenges and sharing them with others you are spreading the message. Over time, those around us will be making better choices as well. The goal is not to change how you live your life, but rather think about the implications of those choices and tweek them for the best outcome.

SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE: FOOD PRESERVATION

There are four vital components to survival.  Air, shelter, water, and food.  While it's true that Americans are eating too much food, the problem lies in what they are eating.  Can most of it really be considered food in the first place?  Modern food is not meant for survival.

Today the grocery store aisles are packed with every fresh and processed food available.  There is a restaurant on every corner.  Unless you are in a food desert, it is readily available.  Imagine living in a world without grocery stores, and restaurants.  Yes, you'd have to cook, but what about the non-growing seasons?  Where would your food come from?    In reality the supermarket is not that old, but our culture has made such a major swing towards convenient, processed food, it feels like the art of food preservation is almost extinct.

I grew up preserving corn and beans.  My brother and I had our jobs in the work chain. We shucked the corn and snapped the beans on the porch.  Then my mom and grandma took over the rest.  While preserving my food is no longer necessary for my survival, it is an important component in living a 4(for) green acres life.  Purchasing or growing local food doesn't last year round, so finding a way to preserve for the winter months is vital, and it's not as difficult as you might think.

Most people think of canning (sealing food in jars) first, but there are several methods including: 

• Pickling
• Refrigeration and freezing
• Pasteurizing
• Jellying
• Curing & Smoking
• Dehydration
• Freeze-drying
• Salting
• Fermentation
• Carbonation
• Cheese-making
• Chemical preservation

The challenge this month is to try one of these methods with food you have grown or purchased from your local farmers market.  Of course there will be recipes and resources throughout the month to show you how.  The goal is try one project.  You can start by reading some basics on food preservation.

Irrigation Education

Corn is big business in Nebraska.  In fact companies like Monsanto, my nemesis, have set up shop in the state to test plots for new genetically modified seed.  They call it progress, I call it destruction.  But, that political point is not for this post.

I love corn.  I grew up running through the corn fields.  Every weekend I spent with my grandparents during the summer, irrigating the corn was on our list of chores to help with.  Although, grandpa let me run around more than work.  Grandma recently told me that was because I wasn't fast enough!

So while I was back in Nebraska last month I was feeling a little nostalgic and I decided to follow my brother to his "office" and took a few shots to show you what he does during summer vacation.

I've introduced my brother before.  He's a pretty special guy, and father to my two favorite boys.  His office is whatever field he happens to be working in that day.  He has a true farmers tan.  

There are two typical ways to grow crops.  Dry land or irrigated.  Of course dry land means throw out some seeds, pray for rain, and hope you get a crop.  My part of Texas is predominately dry land.  If you've got a small piece of land, or you're not depending on the crop to make money (crop rotation year or food for animals) then dry land is the way to go.  

On the other hand, you have irrigated crops or crops that you have to water.  There are several ways to irrigate, but the most popular is with a pivot or through pipes laid along the edge of the fields.  Since pivots are expensive and a farmer can have several hundred acres to irrigate, there are usually more than just pivots being used in an operation. 

Where the water comes from is bit tricky and I won't go into too much detail, but if you watch national news at all you will eventually hear about the farmers fighting for their water rights.  If water is not pumped from the ground via a well then it has to come from a public water source and is called surface water.  Most of the water in Nebraska comes from snow melt in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  Farmers have water rights and the best way to explain that is like stock shares.  You have so many "shares" for your irrigated acres.  If Colorado uses your shares before it gets to you, there are issues.  So you can see where problems might arise. 

So back to the fun part. My brother took us to a quadrant of fields that are flood irrigated through pipes via a well.  No water right to argue over there, the water is pumped straight out of the Ogallala Aquifer from a private well.  

This particular well feeds water to all four fields.  Each field is flooded every twelve hours.  A farmer doesn't have a summer.  You hope to get rain to fill in the other hours or to pump less out of the ground, but otherwise you are out in the fields at least every twelve hours, all summer if all goes well.

The first step is driving to the middle of the quadrant down a long, bumpy road.  No A/C even in 100 plus days.  It's not good for the body or the truck that can sit idle sometimes.  

First you have to have unhook the pipe from the last field you irrigated and then hook up the pipe to field you need the water in now.  This is all done through a riser.  A lot of technical jargon with the use of the riser so just think of it as a junction to help send the water in the right direction.  You want the water to travel as little as possible because once it's pumped out of the ground it depends on gravity to move it.  The farther it has to travel the less pressure it has and that means it won't saturate an entire row. If you don't get this right you have a bunch of corn at the end of your field that doesn't get watered. 

Once all the pipes are in place you head back to the well, check the oil, the pressure, yadda, yadda and then start the pump for the allotted time.  

It's very important to check that your well is pumping the accurate amount of water and no alarms are going off.  The pump is a machine and since you depend on it to pull water out of the ground for your crops, it's important to maintain.  Too much water or too little water can ruin your entire crop. 

Once all is good to go it's time to open the gates on the pipes.  It's important to carry a shovel with you when walking through the middle of a cornfield.  Not for irrigating, but for killing rattle snakes.  Mice love corn, snakes love mice, you do the math...

Although you can't see it in a photo, there is a small opening that runs between each row of corn.  It's covered with a sliding door.  When the well is pumping the water to this pipe the pressure is starting to build with all of the gates closed and it's filling the pipe that travels to the end of the field.  Once that happens you start on the far end and begin to open all the gates, one by one, as you walk back towards the well.  The water gushes out of the pipe and runs down the row.

You can see the water traveling down the row and delivering water to the corn on both sides.  It is almost like a science to get the water equation just right.  If anything goes wrong it can make or break your salary for the year.  Talk about pressure.

This in a nutshell is flood irrigation via a well.  When September comes, it will be time to pick up all the pipe and store it for winter and then harvesting begins.  His job is never boring.  I wish I could spend more time with him out there.

Would you do this all summer in 100 degree weather?