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 free Horseradish plants

Horseradish can be a bit of a challenge to tame in the garden. If not careful, you can end up with horseradish all over the area.

This is why I plant theese in their own container. Not to be able to take it inside during the winter, but to make sure it won't spread.

The container I chose this spring is already too small, so it's time to replant and shave the root sort of speak.
If I don't shave the root, the plant will grow and make the rootsystem into a lot of little thin hairy / spaghetti roots, that we can't use. We want it in size of a small carrot at least, to be able to grate.

Free Elderberries

The elderberries... What can I say(?)
It's just not a good year this year.
I picked a lot of bunches, sadly they were all the same bad quality.
Some berries dried out like black peppercorn. Others not even ripe.
So sad...

August, the most busy month

Plans change quickly when living selfsufficient.
I was in the middle of moving new strawberry plants, when my neighbour called me up to hear, if I could use some apples.
Our own apples is not yet ripe, so of course we went there - also to say hello.

He had hurt his arm yesterday at work, so he was home and a lot of apples had fallen from the tree to the ground.
Fallen fruit goes bad very fast, so after the visit, the dogs and I returned home.

Here's a little stupid idea... When doing the same (boring) job for a long time, bring it to a table and sit down while watching whatever on the tv or listening to the radio.

The closed up henhouse

The fence is down, the doors are closed, and there's no chickens to light up the life in the garden. I have decided to wait until spring to get new chickens though.
Hopefully the uninvited guests has forgot everything about them at that point, and I'll have time to build an even stronger fence.

For life in the garden, and in the house as well, we "ordered" a puppy a year ago at a breeder.
So now we are fortunate to share our lives with 2 schipperkes, with all their fn an unconditional love.

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)