Day 88: #grownostr initiative Today was canning day. Our counters were full of tomatoes, so we went with a preservation method that seemed pretty straight forward for the first time. We did a couple of jars of salsa and a few each of whole, diced and crushed. We also grouped like tomatoes in a few and mixed up a few for aesthetic. I am looking forward to some of the other suggestions everyone gave throughout the summer. #gardening #homesteading #canning #tomatoes

Day 87: #grownostr initiative The silver lining to losing a hundred year old oak tree in a storm--great fire wood. #homesteading

Caprese Salad for our antipasto tonight. #grownostr #foodstr #gardening #homesteading

Tomatoes to be canned whole, diced, made into sauce and salsa...looking for other ideas. ,#grownostr #gardening #homesteading #canning #preservation #tomatoes

Day 85: #grownostr initiative The newest member of out homestead--Ninja. Her main duties are catching mice and cuddling. #homestead #kitten

Even though we may not live in the utopia we all wish, we are still able to interact with each other openingly, spend time with our friends and family and pursue those things which make us happy. To that I am grateful. Happy 4th. #grownostr #grateful #july4th

Day 84: #grownostr initiative I found this little guy in the garden. Its the first Cantaloupe (I still dont know if there is time for it to grow into an edible fruit though.) I planted the Cantaloupe too early this spring and the temperature dropped near freezing and killed most of the Cantaloupe plants except for a few. After that they grew and developed incredibly slow. There have been a lot of flowers for weeks but I not seen one bee on them. #gardening #homesteading #cantaloupe #lessonlearned #savethebees

The Cilantro has gone to seed in one of my sunny garden beds. It will be time to harvest some Coriander seed soon. #gardening #homesteading #harvest #harvestr #corriander #grownostr

Day 83: #grownostr initiative I took pics of two garden plants that i think have very beautiful flowers. Who says edible plants can be used to landscape your yard? 🤔 Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas) #gardening #homesteading #flowers #Okra #Ipomoea #sweetpotato #landscaping #ediblelandscape

Our garden harvest are getting bigger. We had to bring it back to the house in a wheelbarrow. We will definitely be moving into the second phase soon--preserving. What is your favorite way to preserve? #gardening #homestead #preserving #harvest #harvestr

Day 82: #grownostr initiative I decided to post a little farm to table omelette this morning. I gathered eggs from the chickens, a few different varieties of ripe tomatoes, a couple of Tabasco peppers and my first Habanero of the year. So delicious...and uber spicy (scroll to see the finished omelette.) #gardening #homestead #farmtotable #foodstr #tomatoes #peppers #chickens

I went down a rabbit hole of political theory this morning on Wikipedia. It is very interesting but I went through several forms of emotions. 🤔 🤢 Does anyone have any recommendations on a good unbiased history of political theory? I am also considering using chatGPT for some good old-fashioned self directed learning on the subject (thanks @jackspirko .) #politicaltheory #rabbithole #chatgpt #AI #selfdirectedlearning #tsp

Day 81: #grownostr initiative When I was walking past the pond this morning after feeding and watering the animals I noticed Duckweek along the edges. 🤔 #homesteading #aquaculture #duckweek

Day 80: #grownostr initiative The plants are not enjoying this weather. Thankfully we are on the backend of the heat and we have a chance of rain tomorrow 🤞 #weather #planthealth #raindance

Day 79: #grownostr initiative I pick up these tortoise on the road and take them home to my son. He likes to build habitats and feed them plantain leaves he gathers around the property. Then we release them a few days later away from the road. This was a small guy. Good luck my friend. #tortoise #homestead #nature

Day 78: #grownostr initiative The garden is kind of a mess right now from the storm, but I am still excited to be in it daily. I took some pics today of a bunch of Habanero peppers I am anxiously awaiting to turn orange and a Charleston Grey watermelon (I think it looks cool.) I also shared a pic of my favorite harvest basket. I am going to add 'learn to weeve a basket' to my homestead bucket list. What do you use to harvest your vegetables? #gardening #homesteading #peppers #watermelon #basketweeving #homesteadbucketlist

Day 77: #grownostr initiative We barely have everything cleared from the storm damage last week. Round two. Here are some pics of some pretty narly clouds ahead of it. I want the rain but could do without the strong winds. #storms

Day 76: #grownostr initiative I spotted this little guy in the garden--a Sugar Baby Watermelon. I had almost given up on watermelon and cantaloupe this year. I'm still not sure we have enough time to ripen. I planted really early and then it got cold and almost killed them all. But slowly they began to grow. I also found an even smaller Charleston Grey, Black Diamond and Hailey's Best cantaloupe. #gardening #homesteading #watermelon #cantaloupe #lessonlearned

Day 75: #grownostr initiative I found this Black-eyed Susan growing up through my bush beans this morning. Initially when I saw it there was a butterfly sitting on it. But it made me think about how little honey bees I've seen this year. I am truly worried about bee populations. While I am considering taking up beekeeping to help locally, but I am very worried about global bee populations. #gardening #homesteading #blackeyedsusan #bees

This was an area once covered by a large tree. I kind of like my new vista. #grownostr #nightsky #homestead