Dates with potential

Some time ago we made our free date seeds and started up some of the to sprout.

Some we planted in dirt immediately, others we put stated with moist kitchen towel in a plastic bag.

Let's unwrap our little "gift", and see how the date seeds are doing. At least we once in a while have to change the air and the paper around the seeds to avoid them from going bad.

Let's give the mango another shot

We have previously, without luck, tried to make a mango seed sprout, so I think I'll give it another shot.

Pomegranate update

Some time ago we made our own seeds from a pomegranate.

Let's have an update on that.

The seeds wrapped in kitchen towel has not yet sprouted. However our homemade seeds planted in dirt is starting to show potential.

Just look at that...

Homemade sunflower seeds for free

Sunflowers are so wonderful to have in the garden. Its nice to look at, feeds the wild birds, can make a hedge when the summer is best and makes great food for poultry. A wonderful plant.

It's always nice to be self sufficient in food for livestock, but almost always impossible if you want to feed them thru winter without buying anything.

Also this almost always happens for one or more types of seeds... As soon as the summer is over, the rain and moist starts to make everything go bad.
Last year our corn seeds went "down with the rain", so we had to use store bought seeds for this year's harvest.

Otherwise sunflower seeds is easy food... You just dry them and give the hens a "head" a day, they enjoy picking the seeds free of the dry plant. But this year...

Make your own Pomegranate for free

I love pomegranate, the taste is wonderful and the pips can be very decorative in salads, desserts, drinks etc.
It would be lovely to have my own plant...

So let's see what we can do ourselves to get a pomegranate plant for free, just by using the seeds of a fresh fruit we had anyway.

Get dates for free

Oh my, if only real dates were so easy to get 
After eating through a whole box of dates (NOT!), I have finally got some stones to plant.

First procedure as often with large stones; plunk it into a glass of water and let it rest for a few days, but remember to change the water each day.

WIP

Let's have fun with an orange

It's raining a lot, the sky is dark, I think lightening will soon begin.
So I decide to stay indoors for the sake of the dogs.
Inspired a bit from Masterchef, where they cook for instance a potatoes in 100 different ways, I want to see how much I can get out of an orange.

First I wash the orange with a hard brush and soap to get any toxins that the orange may have been sprayed with, off the zest.

Make your own Rhubarb plants

Rhubarb comes in several different sorts. 
I have 3 different types of rhubarb, but this is not about sort, but rhubarb in general.
When you go self sufficient, this gives an idea of the concept. Use every possible way to make your own homemade plants for free.

Make your own tomato seeds (2018)

It's late August, so it's time to think of what plants we want to take indoors, and for other plants time to take seeds for next year's harvest.
Seeds we make from own plants are free, and we know the taste of the fruit.
It's goes hand in hand with beeing selfsufficient.

I've found another more easy way to save money on tomato seeds.
It's not the first time I try this, but the other years it was much more time demanding.

Use some tomatoes you can't eat anyway. But select "the best of the bad".
Referring to the picture, I throw away all the tomatoes to the right.

Prepare a large bowl of water (approximately room temperature)
Squeeze the tomatoes into the water, remove as much as you can.

Next day remove the zest and whatever you are able to remove. 

Sift the water from the bowl.
Now slam the sift hard onto a piece of kitchen towel, and remove potential leftovers of tomato fruit.

There you go:
Free tomato seeds, no waste, just the spirit of self sufficiency.

Make your own Nectarines and Peaches

Many people see the nectarines and the peaches as the same fruit, no wonder, since they are so much alike.
There's a difference though. Take a look at the picture.

The Nectarine is to the left.
It has a shiny surface, and feels smooth on the surface.

On the right we have the peach. It feels more like welvet in the hands, like it has itsy bitsy tiny hair.

We want to enjoy eating them, and then planting the stone inside.

The most easy way to get to the core, is to put your knife through the fruit until you feel the stone, then cut around the stone by rolling your knife around the fruit.

Twist the 2 parts, one will easily let go of the meat, and we got 2 parts, one with the stone attached.

As you see at the picture, the first try was unsuccessful, I've actually never seen a bad stone before. 

But the second one is great. We remove the stone and put it in a glass of water over night (not necessary, but I have other plants right now)

Mango- make your own plant

Since we are currently out of chickens, totally, I'll focus on my plants.

Let's have a look at the mango seed I try to grow.
This is not a success either.
As you see, the huge seed coloured the wrapping brown. This has happened before, however this time, I don't think I'll succeed. Cause when unwrapping it, it showed that the seed now has visible spots from being attacked by disease.

I'll let it dry a bit, but don't expect much else, than I need to try again.

Everything about selfsufficiency is trying, sometimes you succeed, sometimes not.

No reason to give up. Nothing is really wasted in a household that's living by selfsufficient possibilities.

Make your own Avocado plant

This is a new method for me, but let's try it.

Remove the stone from the Avocado. Peel, yes that what I said, very gently peel the brown thin hard layer of the seed with a sharp vegetable knife or alike.

Put 3 toothpicks into the stone, not more than 2 mm, that way you can place it over a glass.

Fill up the glass with water until the stone just touches the surface of the water.
And now we wait...

Plant your own Mango Seed

Fold some kitchen towel and wrapt it around the huge seed.
Put the seed package under water, and let the paper become wet. Press gently the water out if the paper, so it's very moist but not running with water.
Place the package in a plastic bag, blow air into the bag and close it tight.
Let it sit there in room temperature for 3-4 days.
I haven't tried this method before, so I'll let you know of the results.

Your own Mango Seed

When you have eaten your mango, don't throw away the stone. It contains a seed, which we try to grow into our own Mango Tree.
Wash and scrub the stone, so it's not so slippery and more easy to handle.
The stone surrounds the seed and is a bit hard. We want to remove it from the hard shell.
I used a metal spatula from the kitchen, You can use anything flat to twist it open. Just don't use a knife to be sure you don't cut yourself or the seed inside.
Be careful when you remove the shell, we want the seed to be intact.

Wild Birds

Don't forget natures animals (especially during winter). As everything else they are a part of the ecosystem, that we want to be in balance in our (self sufficient) garden.

The wild birds suffer to find food during winter, so we always feed them during that period. During summer time there so much to eat everywhere for the birds out here in the country - however if I was living in the city, I would consider, if there was enough food for the birds during all year.

It does not have to be expensive to feed the birds - you can actually grow your own seeds and make your own bird fatballs, which is especially good to serve during winter. More about how to make that another time.... Until next time... Enjoy your outdoor visitors :-)

Collect Your Own Seeds - It's Free

It's easy to collect your own seeds for next year. I try to collect as many types as possible, since seeds can be quite expensive, but also cause its the way to do it to be self sufficient.

A couple of days ago - on a rainy day - I prepared seeds for tomatoes and pepper. I took some seeds from store bought fruits.
I put the seeds onto pieces of kitchen towel to let them dry for a couple of days.
The reason I use kitchen towel is, that it dissolves easily. Seeds from tomatoes for instance, will stick to any surface, so when the seeds are dry, they are like glued to the surface. Thats okay, cause when using kitchen towel (or toilet paper) You can just cut or snip your homemade seeds off the paper.

I store my seeds in anything, as long as its made from paper. An old envelope, folded paper etc. NO plastic bags or similar, if the seeds are not dry enough, they will rot.  

Allways remember to mark the seeds, and there You go :-) Homemade seeds for the kitchen garden ready to use next year :-)