Welcome to Hickery Holler here on this Monday morning. It is snowing this morning !! As most of you that follow this blog regularly know we try to produce as much of our food here on the farm as possible. Not everything because I truly don't know that it is possible but most. When you do that food production and preservation is truly a year round endeavor. Even though we did not produce anything during the cold months of deep winter we spent most of the winter cracking and picking out the nuts we had gathered in the fall. We are down to half a 5 gallon bucket of walnuts left and 1 five gallon bucket of pecans left. For us it is not unusual to have a tray of cracked walnuts or pecans sitting on the dining room table all winter. Our spare moments are spent sitting there picking them out to freeze for later use in my baked goods and such throughout the year. We are blessed to have not only walnut but also pecan, hickory and chestnut here on the farm. Nuts are so expensive to buy we really try to beat the squirrels to as many as possible.
The shelled nuts are then put into bags
or jars and frozen.
It usually takes us all winter to get them all cracked, picked out and frozen.
The nut trees on our property have paid for themselves many times over and have been one of our better investments. It does take a few years for them to bear but once they do it is nice not to have to buy nuts.
And yesterday O Wise One brought in a surprise for me. Our first bowl of asparagus spears for the 2014 season. For the next 8 weeks there should be steady supply of asparagus to can, freeze, dehydrate and pickle.
So the gathering begins again for another year. As one seasons work runs into the next season and we work to finish up the fall nuts just in time for the spring asparagus pickings we are thankful for our bounty and the health to forage and gather it.
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
Snowing here too! It's a little surreal with the big fat robins hopping around the garden in search of worms and green grass shooting up all around. I pruned 6 fruit trees on Saturday, some with blossoms. It's that 'hold your breath' time of year. I'm hoping the fruit crop won't be impacted by the below freezing night temps. Ah...you're asparagus...so beautiful. I think I have one small package left from the ones you gave me last spring. They were SO delicious. I almost planted potatoes on Saturday. Now so glad I didn't. With all the rain and now snow, they might have rotted and I would have had to replant....never fun. I sure hope you're feeling better. I've been thinking of you. K ~
ReplyDeleteI'm typing this at 4 in the afternoon and there has been little accumulation. We'll just have to see about etting you some more asparagus this year. We already have potatoes planted and hoping the ground will not be frozen and will provide some insulation to protect them. That snow in May last year killed our potatoes back to the ground but they came back better than ever.
DeleteBaby O says to tell Prepper A hello! Ahh these homestead girls : )
DeleteI love the small jars in today's blog---with the nuts. Where do you find those jars?
ReplyDeleteI only have 1 pack of these they came from Walmart a few years ago. They are from China so I never bought any more, They are cute but I worry about lead content because I read somewhere that you have to be careful with high lead content in the jars from there. So I decided I shoul.d stick with Made in the USA BAll brand jars. Hoping they won't kill us!
DeleteWhat a great reminder of the bounty we are blessed with. I am so grateful you are up and about and sharing with us once again. I learn something new each time you post. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteFern
Oh my gosh but there for awhile I was feeling rough. You know when I don't blog it is bad because I so look forward to all your smiling faces to keep me sane out here in God's country : )
DeleteHow wonderful! Right now I am fighting squirrels tearing up my beds looking for their acorns and such that they hid in the fall. Frustrating.
ReplyDeleteO Wise One left a small bucket of pecans in one of our little sheds and a little squirrel about worked himself to death all winter trying to get them all! We just left them for him...it was a rough winter for everybody!
DeleteCQ,
ReplyDeleteFantastic looking asparagus harvest!!! This year was the first year for me on harvesting asparagus from our garden.
I just love how the asparagus tastes, and will have to grown all kinds next season.
Once you eat fresh asparagus you are ruined for life!
DeleteWe picked our first few asparagus today. We didnt even get them in the house before my 23-month-old ate them raw!
ReplyDeleteLoved the squirrel story :)
ReplyDelete