TTS Notebook #8 - Pratical Sewing - Tool Belts

It is fun to take a simple sewing idea and enhance it with your own creativity.

I chose a nail apron from Lowe’s Hardware for inspiration for my tool belts.

I used fabric designs with mathematical measurements and angles and formulas plus wood grain patterns for pockets over a heavy canvas back.

A friend suggested I add a loop for a hammer at the side.  Some are on the right and some are on the left.

I had fun playing with the different fabric combinations to create pockets, pencil holders and loops.

The heavy canvas is from a bolt which my husband bought at an auction.

I wash each section as I am ready to use it.  That is what gives it the frayed look.

The straps are folded over twice and stitched twice with a zigzag stitch.

I chose mesh for a contrast in texture for one tool belt, along with a celebration of the Texas origins of one of the recipients.

I had a lot of fun playing with the various fabrics and creating new sets of pockets where I could.

© 2018 Kathryn Hardage

TTS Notebook #7 More Canning

The first canning of the season was blueberries, followed by blackberries.

Next was peaches.

Today, we picked up strawberries, more blueberries, mangoes and assorted fruits and vegetables.

The mangoes need to ripen.

The additional blueberries are cooking with honey and cinnamon.

Mostly, I don’t add sweeteners, because once you give up sugar, you can taste the flavors of each food more distinctly.

A composite fruit mixture consisting of pineapple, papaya, kiwi, and plum will be canned when there is room on the stove.

The vegetables will be combined into a chicken soup.  

They include carrots, celery, and yellow squash.

There were no onions in this collection, so I will get some for the soup.

I am thawing chicken broth while I wait for more room on the stove.

Potatoes are baking.  Some will go in the soup along with a jalapeño pepper.

One adds just the right amount of heat.

I love the feeling of abundance and its accompanying freedom.

Yes, I know, it is possible to buy one meal at a time or a week’s worth of groceries to cook.

I prefer the feeling of overflowing goodness and its accompanying happiness.

© 2018 Kathryn Hardage

Regenerative Organic Certification

There are three main components of Regenerative Organic Certification.

It starts with soil welfare, to farm in a way which continuously build up the soil.  Organic matter is used to sequester carbon.

Creating biodiversity protects from mono-cropping, where one crop depletes the soil.  Biodiversity adds components from many different plant sources and insures that much of the crop will be able to withstand multiple challenges.

Animal welfare is ensured through humane treatment, which includes placing animals in appropriate outdoor environments, i.e. pasture grazing, in order to receive the nutrients they need and to deposit their own manures to help build enriched soil.  They are kept free of distress along with disease.

Worker and farmer fairness are achieved by paying living wages, and improving the social and economic position of all agricultural employees.

There are many steps to achieving a thoroughly integrated practice so that the work of growing food is healthy for all those involved.

© 2018 Kathryn Hardage

Potatoes the Next Year

I planted potatoes late in the season and watched the leafy tops appear over a period of several weeks.

Then I realized they had disappeared…

As it was very late in the season by them, and I felt timid about disturbing the soil, I left the area alone.

The next year, those leafy tops regrew.

After they turned yellow and fell over, I trimmed them and dug into the straw I had planted them in.

Sure enough, there were potatoes!

I have left just a couple of potatoes in the ground.

Perhaps they will grow again next year.

© 2018 Kathryn Hardage

TTS Notebook #6 Canning Season Has Begun

The canning season has started. We were down to one pint of tomato salsa. We got 40 pounds of tomatoes from a local organic farmer so now we are up and running. I will get 60 more pounds to complete tomatoes. We were completely out of berry preserves, but now we have 9, half- pints, made from 20 fresh pints of blueberries. We will can an addition 5 pints of blueberries and 4 quarts of blackberries and hopefully more for this season. We are down to 20 pints of cherries, grapes and apples. We still have green peppers, beets, Brussel sprouts, and a few quarts of bone broth.

Mini-Farming Chapter 2 Notes

Chapter 2

P. 14 - A business in that by reducing food expenditures, it contributes financially to the family.

p. 15 - Grow from seed.

Hybridized seeds

p. 16 - Living mulch from intensive planting

1,400 square feet per person will produce enough vegetables and compost crops.  For three people, that equals 1/10 acre.

p. 17 - soil fertility through compost

calorie-dense crops - fruit, dried beans, grains, root crops such as potatoes and onions.

Raising Meat - poultry foraging plus raising extra food for them

Plant fruit - berries and grapes

p. 18 - grow market crops 2,100 square feet would gross an average of $11,289/yr. or $5/square foot

p. 19 - extending the season through hoop houses and cold frames

Understand local community - direct sell crops and value-added pickles, salsas and vinegars

p. 20 - 21 economics of mini-farming 

Mini-Farming, Chapter 1 Notes

I have started annotating Mini-Farming, by Brett L.Markham, as I read it.  If you would like to read my notes, here is Chapter 1.  I will post again when I have more to add.

Chapter 1

p.8  - A 3,500 square foot intensive garden will produce the same yield as an acre farmed intensively.

Trellises should be constructed on the north side of raised beds in order not to shade out other crops.

p. 10 - A starting value for two-dimensional plant spacing is the within row thinning distance specific on the seed package for optimal yields also in a raised-bed intensive system.  

p. 11 - Fine tune according to soil and climate.

Do not grow carrots in anything close to fresh manure!

Calendar-Planner

© 2018 Kathryn Hardage