Preserving (Freezing) Squash

Last Fall, a friend picked us up a box of squash from a farm somewhere in the Fraser Canyon.....

We put it downstairs in the little room under the stairs....we set it on blocks, because we didn't want the box in direct contact with the cement floor (too cold).

We kept it there, instead of in the cold room, because squash needs to be kept in a warmer spot than our coldroom, which we like to keep around 38 - 40F ideally.

So, over the winter, we've been enjoying baked squash. Last week we noticed that some of the squash was starting to go bad. Brought it all upstairs, cut away the few bad areas and started cutting the rest of the squash in pieces.

got a few things together, butter, maple syrup and nutmeg...

Put all the pieces in the big roasting pan....cut some cubes of butter and dotted it over the squash. Then I poured a bit of maple syrup over top....and sprinkled the whole thing with nutmeg. I put just a bit of water in the roaster as well.

Baked it for about an hour at 350...then let it cool. Dayum, that looks good (and it smelt delicious too!)

Once it cooled, I scooped all the squash out from the shells....put it all in a dish and mashed it well with the potato masher.....(the shells went to the chickens, who will pick all the bits of leftover squash out of them)

Once it was nicely pureed, I started putting it into freezer bags. Expel the air, and threw the bags in the freezer. Now we can enjoy squash when we like, just by heating it back up!

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From Beverly Hills to Shovelling Manure on a Farm

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/02/26/economy.survivor.farm/index.html

Here's an article you may be interested in reading....a young couple have moved from Beverly Hills, (where he was working in life insurance) to Oregon. He lost his job due to the credit crunch and they have had to find a new way of life.

Well, they're not alone, this has happened to lots of folks, and will happen to a lot more. This economy isn't going to change overnight!

If you're a new reader to this blog, stick around....follow us through the year as we raise our own food, raise animals for meat and try to manage our homestead. You can also choose Food and Garden from the labels over there on the right hand sidebar.

And you know what's nice about that article?? The picture, look! Both Ed and Leah have a smile on their faces! I wish them all the best, as they rediscover what is important in life!

Yes, you got it, a roof over your head (so what if it's an Airstream? Pretty mobile, if you ask me!) food on their table, and getting acquainted again with the land.... Sphere: Related Content

Recession grows interest in seeds, vegetable gardening

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAYhttp://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-02-19-recession-vegetable-seeds_N.htm

Hard economic times are acting like instant fertilizer on an industry that had been growing slowly: home vegetable gardening.

Amid the Washington talk of "shovel-ready" recession projects, it appears few projects are more shovel-ready than backyard gardens. Veggie seed sales are up double-digits at the nation's biggest seed sellers this year.

What's more, the number of homes growing vegetables will jump more than 40% this year compared with just two years ago, projects the National Gardening Association, a non-profit organization for gardening education.

"As the economy goes down, food gardening goes up," says Bruce Butterfield, the group's research director. "We haven't seen this kind of spike in 30 years."

At W. Atlee Burpee, the world's largest seed company, seed sales will jump 25% this year, Chairman George Ball estimates. "It's weird to have everyone else you talk to experiencing plunging markets. We're on a roll."

Burpee is taking pains to craft its marketing to fit the times, says Ball. It recently rolled out the "Money Garden," a value bundle of tomato, bean, red pepper, carrot, lettuce and snap pea seeds sold online at http://www.burpee.com. With a separate retail value of $20, the pack sells for $10, and under the right conditions, Burpee claims, can produce $650 worth of veggies.

"Seeds are God's microchip," says Ball. But in the suddenly hot world of veggie seed sales, Burpee has company:

•Park Seed. Vegetable seed sales are up 20% this year vs. 2008, says Walter Yates, who oversees the company's e-commerce.Says Yates, "Every time this country goes through a recession, there is a surge of folks who want to get back to basics."

•Renee's Garden. Business manager Sarah Renfro says veggie seed sales were up about 10% last year and look to grow up to 20%."After years of declining veggie seed sales, the whole cycle has completely reversed," says Renee Shepherd, president.

•Harris Seeds. Home garden vegetable seed sales are up 80% from one year ago, says Dick Chamberlin, president. "A jump like this has never happened."

•Ferry-Morse Seed. After 2008 sales grew 5%, the company stocked up on 50% more vegetable seeds to sell in 2009, says John Hamrick, vice president of sales and marketing.

The veggies are apparently squeezing flowers for space in the nation's gardens. Ferry-Morse, along with others, is seeing a decline in sales of flower seeds, and Hamrick says the company has switched its inventory mix from 50-50 to 40% flower seeds and 60% veggies. Sphere: Related Content

Major Stock Market Indexes Fall to 1997 Levels

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Major-stock-market-indexes-apf-14445908.html

Major stock market indexes fall to 1997 levels
Dow, S&P 500 fall to 1997 levels as sagging confidence pulls stocks lower; Dow falls 251
Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Monday February 23, 2009, 6:31 pm EST


NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street has turned the clock back to 1997. Investors unable to extinguish their worries about a recession that has no end in sight dumped stocks again Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 251 points to its lowest close since May 7, 1997, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index logged its lowest finish since April 11, 1997. It's as if the decade's dot-com surge, collapse and subsequent recovery never occurred.


The Dow is just over 100 points from 7,000. Both indexes have lost about half their value since hitting record highs in October 2007.

"People left and right are throwing in the towel," said Keith Springer, president of Capital Financial Advisory Services.

Investors pounded most financial stocks even as government agencies led by the Treasury Department said they would launch a revamped bank rescue program this week. The plan includes the option of increasing government ownership in financial institutions without having to pour more taxpayer money into them.

Although the government has said it doesn't want to nationalize banks, many investors are clearly still concerned that this could be a possibility as banks continue to suffer severe losses because of the recession. They're also worried that banks' losses will keep escalating as the recession sends more borrowers into default.

"The biggest thing I see here is the incredible pessimism," Springer said. "The government is doing a lousy job of alleviating fears."

The Treasury and other agencies issued a statement after The Wall Street Journal reported Citigroup is in talks for the government to boost its stake in the bank to as much as 40 percent. Analysts said the market, which initially rose on the statement, wanted more details of the government's plans.

"It's only a very partial picture of what we may get," said Quincy Krosby, chief investment strategist at The Hartford. "This proverbial lack of clarity is damaging market psychology."

Meanwhile, technology stocks fell after The Journal reported that Yahoo Inc.'s new chief executive plans to reorganize the company. But the selling came across the market as pessimism about the recession and its toll on companies deepened.

"There's no where to hide anymore," said Jim Herrick, director of equity trading at Baird & Co.

The market's decline extends massive losses from last week when the major stock indexes tumbled more than 6 percent. While falling to their 1997 levels, the major indexes plunged through the lows they reached in late November, at the height of the credit crisis.

"There's no main driver of the down day," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "There's just so much skepticism in the overall market and (the question is) is the government doing proper things to get us out of this problem. Obviously the stock market is voting no."

The Dow dropped 250.89, or 3.41 percent, to 7,114.78. It last closed this low on May 7, 1997 when it finished at 7,085.65. The Dow hasn't traded below the 7,000 mark since October 1997. The index is down 14 percent over the past 10 sessions.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 26.72, or 3.47 percent, to 743.33. It was the lowest close since April 11, 1997, when it ended at 737.65.

When the indexes were last at these levels, they were in their ascendancy, climbing amid the dot-com boom. But 1997 was also the year that saw stock prices later plunge amid a growing financial crisis in Asia. Far away from Wall Street, it was the year that the U.S. first heard the name Monica Lewinsky, whose relationship with President Bill Clinton led to his impeachment and trial. And it was the year that the world was stunned by the death of Britain's Princess Diana, on Aug. 31.

On Monday, the S&P 500 did close above its Nov. 21 trading low of 741.02. But the 14-month recession has decimated the major indexes: The Dow is down 49.8 percent from its record highs of October 2007, while the S&P 500 index is down 52.5 percent.

Detrick warned that a move below the S&P's Nov. 21 low could set off "violent selling" as even more confidence drains from the market.

The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index dropped 53.51, or 3.71 percent, to 1,387.72.

Investors looking for a bottom also dumped smaller stocks. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 16.38 or 3.99 percent, to 394.58.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by more than 6 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 6.35 billion shares compared with heavy volume of 8.12 billion shares on Friday.

Morgan Smith, investment counselor for Burns Advisory Group, said investors are now pushing out their expectations for a recovery in the industry until after this year.

"Everyone is trying to grasp at some type of bottom," Smith said. "The market is just trying to figure out if it has priced in a worst-case scenario."

Among tech stocks, Hewlett-Packard Co. fell $1.96, or 6.3 percent, to $29.28, and Intel Corp. dove 70 cents, or 5.5 percent, to $12.08.

Other big losers included General Electric Co., which dropped to a 14-year low of $8.80, but ended down 53 cents, or 5.7 percent, at $8.85. Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. tumbled 48 cents, or 7.6 percent, to $5.81.

Some financial stocks managed to gain, including Citigroup, which rose 19 cents, or 9.7 percent, to $2.14, and Bank of America Corp., which gained 12 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $3.91.

Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.76 percent from 2.79 percent late Friday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.29 percent from 0.26 percent Friday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Light, sweet crude fell $1.59 to settle at $38.44 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.99 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.95 percent, and France's CAC-40 slipped 0.82 percent. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.54 percent.

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com Sphere: Related Content

Window Quilt

I am almost finished....the last two afternoons I have spent cutting and sewing the diamonds. Then got them sewn on the top fabric.

I pinned the top to the batting and the backing, and got that all sewn....remembered to leave

an opening for the pocket for the rod (amazed that I had that foresight, lol!)

All that is left to do is get some bias tape to sew around the outside edge of the whole quilt. I'll pick that up later today, I hope.

It's all right, I guess for a first effort....maybe I'll dress it up a bit more, how I don't know yet.

But anyway, it's pretty much done and I'm glad about that....

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Peek-A-Boo! (Linda's Goats)

Look at this picture! Dayummm, those little guys are cute.....Linda had posted this picture over on The Journey forum (link over there on the right).

They even have their little hooves up on the door, how cute is that!

If you're interested in learning more about goats, go on over to The Journey...and look under Homesteading Journals...then Smwon's journal. Linda has put a lot of information in there about raising and feeding goats....pretty interesting.

(I have GOT to figure out how to put together a hot link...sheeesh)

I wouldn't mind a couple of goats myself, don't know if the Gman would entertain the idea tho.....

Off to town this afternoon....the sun is shining and I think some of the snow is melting!

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Window Quilt Progress

Yes, well.....the progress is pretty slow! I'm still working on the cover fabric. I think I will finish off the cover, Then sew it to the batting and backing.....

Sew here's what it looks like so far. All I have got done is the borders! I mentioned I am Not a good sewer.....and boy ain't that the truth! I also can't follow a pattern if my life depended on it (I have such problems trying to figure out the diagrams)....there is likely little hope for me!

Sew.....today I got the last strip of the border done and thought I would hang it up so I could see what it looks like.....I will get some bias tape to put around all the edges....

(I have just the cover hanging up, I didn't pin the batting and backing fabric to it)

Too plain...I don't like it. Now I am thinking of cutting out some large diamonds in the gold accent material, and place those in the centre of the burgundy fabric.....

Thoughts? I'm all for ideas as long as they are simple!!

And it seems to me that it's cruel justice that I live 40 minutes away from the stores and I have realized I don't have a Seam Ripper! It's on the list for the next time I am in town.

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How to Get Started on the Path to Providing for Your Family

This post has been moved to:

http://www.countrylivinginacariboovalley.com/how-to-get-started-on-the-path-to-providing-for-your-family-2/ Sphere: Related Content

A Wolf and a Squirrel

It was so beautiful outside a couple afternoons ago. I sat out on the porch in the sunshine and could actually...dare I say it, feel some warmth from Ol Sol....

Da Wolf was sunning himself in the pathway that leads down to the barn..

I could hear a chattering. A squirrel was in a tree close by, and of course, proceeded to try and drive da Wolf insane.....

chatter, chatter, chatter.....da Wolf was looking around at the closest trees, trying to figure out where the squirrel was....

To the left....

To the right....

Behind....and In front.....

Fwiw, I couldn't see the little bugger either, but I think he was having a great time!

I was taking these pics with using the Zoom....slowly I am figuring out this new camera....

And I zoomed in on the barn, taken from the porch....

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Sunset a Couple of Days Ago

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