My favorite way to preserve snap and snow peas is to freeze them. It produces a pea that still has some crunch and maintains its vibrant green color. Below I share a detailed yet concise method of how to freeze snap and snow peas. And yes, for best results blanching is required! How To Remove Strings from Peas (The Easy Way) Both snap and snow peas have a tough part of the pea that resembles a string on the edges. It is difficult to eat so it’s best to remove the strings prior to freezing. The easiest way to do this is to ditch the kitchen knife and snap off the pea top and remove the strings ..read more

Well, this is it. My last weekly digs post on my website. I’m so grateful for all your suggestions and feedback on a post several weeks ago where I mentioned I might need to make a change.  I’ve gone back and forth on it many times but after some professional advice finally made a concrete decision.  Moving Forward I’ve been doing this so long (five years!), I definitely feel some attachment and hate to see it end. But the truth is it’s not really ending just being moved over to a new platform, I will be doing an update in email instead.  It will likely be a more concise summary ..read more

This recipe makes a crunchy, from scratch, grab and go snack that lasts a very long time! Freeze dried sweet potato chips are a great way to preserve sweet potatoes. These are meant for eating just as they are, crisp and coated with sweet or a savory seasoning prior to freeze drying to give it a flavor boost. Why You’ll Love Freeze Dried Sweet Potato Chips: Long lasting: They can last 5 years when stored properly and can last up to 25 years if the oil is omitted. Grab and Go: An snack that is light and easy to take in the car, on a plane, or anywhere! Great for emergency food storage Video T ..read more

Preserving I have been doing a pantry clean out and preserving my sweet potatoes. I settled on freeze drying them because it’s easier to eat as a snack. When we switched over to less processed food and lots of homemade everything, the one thing that was an adjustment was the snacks. We have a lot of options for homemade snacks at the house but it’s a little more difficult to come up with snacks for in the car or when we are in a hurry.  An idea sparked in my mind the other day that I needed to freeze dry the sweet potatoes for a crunchy car or on-the-go snack.  I spent 3 days slicin ..read more

This jellied cranberry sauce canning recipe is sweet, tangy, and bursting with flavor! I’ve had several people tell me they don’t normally like cranberry sauce from the store but they loved my homemade version. Once the holidays are here, there will be no need to worry about making cranberry sauce as a side because you can make it weeks or months before. After it’s canned, it becomes shelf stable and ready to use at your convenience. Jellied Cranberry Sauce Canning Recipe Details Perfect for holiday season: Get ready to wow your friends and family with this flavorful jellied cranberry sauce f ..read more

Cam and I are tag teaming the weekly digs this week. He cares for the animals on the homestead so it will be good to have him talk about what’s going on with all that.  But first, the update on the garden… Rare northern lights view from last night!In the Garden It’s been a whirlwind week of planting! This is definitely one of my favorite times of the year! I love the excitement and anticipation of harvests to come. I do often forget about how many pieces of gardening are coming together all at once- spring harvests, adding compost, mulch, weeding, transplanting, direct sowing, and startin ..read more

Getting Compost On Monday, Cam took the day off of work and drove to get compost. We rented a dump trailer from a local place so we could make the trip worth the time. The place we get compost from is an hour and a half away so if he takes two trips, it’s six hours of driving total!   Unfortunately, we always have the worst luck with timing of when we get compost. I think almost every time we have gone to pick it up, it has rained for like three days straight beforehand.  So the compost was super heavy.  On the first trip, the compost was so heavy that the truck check engi ..read more

If you’re looking for awesome gardening gifts for mom, I have a great list of choices for you!  I am an avid gardener and mom of 5. These choices are things I already use in my garden and also a couple of things on my own wish list of things I would hope to get as a gift.  There are budget friendly options all the way up to something a little more lavish. If your mom is a beginner, a couple of great possibilities are the garden planner, seeds, gloves, or the apron. A gardener who has been at it for a few years would love the Earthway seeder, shirt, or a deep dive into a garden book ..read more

Most of my week I spent doing a deep clean on my pantry. I scrubbed down the outside of each of our 5 gallon buckets to get rid of dust and dirt. The main culprits are the gamma seal lids which have so many little crevices. It’s not a job I enjoy, it needs to be done every six months or else it gets really bad!  Since we have 60 of these buckets under our countertop, it took forever. Six hours the first day but that’s with lots of set backs and needing to eat, do homeschool, feed a baby, change a diaper, etc. Riggs decided when I was washing a lid to stick his hands in a bucket of wheat ..read more

Hi friends. Thank you so much for your comments last week. They were so thoughtful and really touched me! Also, it was enlightening because I didn’t consider that some of you don’t read email newsletters. I still haven’t really made a decision as to how to move forward yet. For now, as long as I have people reading, I will keep writing. High Tunnel #2 This week, our high tunnel arrived. It is our second high tunnel, the one we got a NRCS Grant for. We pay for upfront and they reimburse us after it is after it is built and approved. So that means we’re gonna get started on it quickly and hopefu ..read more