Excalibur Dehydrator Giveaway by Modern Pioneer!

Modern Pioneer is giving away an Excalibur Dehydrator! This has been on my "must get" list for quite some time. Hurry though, there are only two more days to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Nichole's Modern Homestead is not affiliated with Modern Pioneer in any way. I am simply sharing this opportunity with my readers.

How to Use Cherry Tomatoes: Sun Dried Tomatoes

I think the cherry tomato is the one plant that is guaranteed to provide you with a bountiful harvest. While everything else in my garden is refusing to produce because of the drought, the cherry tomatoes just keep on chugging! This year I planted Large Red Cherry Tomatoes. These things are ginormous! There was no way I could just use them for salads, so I had to come up with a way to use them up. Well, I made a batch of salsa with them because I had a packet of store bought salsa mix laying around. That used up about 6lbs of them, but they were still pouring in.

So, I decided to make "Sun" Dried Tomatoes. I admit, I cheated. They would never dry out in our Indiana sun (although they might have during the heat wave last month!) so I popped them in the oven!

These are super easy to make. They take very little prep time, five minutes hands on and the rest of the time they just sit in the oven.

Simply wash and slice the cherry tomatoes in half. I tossed them in a little bit of olive oil, Italian seasoning and sea salt.

 Spread across a baking sheet and let them sit in the oven at about 150-200 degrees F for several hours until they are dried out. If your oven can't go that low, just put it on as low as it will go. You will need to keep a close eye on it though. The second batch I made was a little crispier than I would have liked, but they are still delicious!

This post is linked to:

The Country Garden Showcase

Barn Hop #73

The Country Homemaker Hop #31

Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #38

Little House in the Suburbs DIY Linky #10

Freaky Friday Linky

Gardening in a Drought

This year's garden has been disappointing. I have been diligent in watering the garden every few days or so as the soil begins to show signs of drying out. I mulched the garden with straw to cut down on weeds and to help retain moisture. Unfortunately, all of this isn't enough when you combine heat in the 100's and weeks without water. We ended up getting some rain a couple weeks ago, and have gotten a couple sprinkles here and there. All of this really puts a lot of stress on the garden.

My green beans are simply producing flowers and dropping the off without growing any beans. This is from the dryness and the heat. My tomatoes have been doing excellent, in particular the Large Cherry Tomatoes. The Amish Paste (Roma type) have been doing fairly well also. The ones that I do get are absolutely HUGE! Even with 6 plants of each though, I am having to freeze and can these at a later date because I am simply not getting enough at a time to do anything with them. My Brandywine tomatoes have been really disappointing though. They aren't getting any larger than maybe 4", if I'm lucky.

I have lost all of my zucchini and squash, so I am planning on putting a fall garden where these were. This will be my first time planting a fall garden. I have no idea why I have never tried it!

In the meantime, we are headed for another 100+ degree heatwave again!

Battling Squash Bugs

UPDATE: It seems that I have two issues at hand. Although I do have squash bugs, they have not been causing the damage I believed them to be. A reader was very helpful in pointing out that the problems I am having are more likely to come from Vine Borers! Although I do have the Squash Bugs, I haven't seen any damage that is associated with them. (Not that I'm gonna let them continue eating my plants! lol) Please see the comment below by "elle mental" for a wonderful explanation and solution if your vines are being eaten from the inside out by Vine Borers.

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to figure it out. For the last few years, I have been so frustrated with my squash crops.

This year I have finally figured out what is wrong! Squash Bugs are my nemesis. I was checking out some favorite Facebook page and saw someone reference the little "stink bug look alikes" and decided to check mine for them. What did I find? Armies of little bugs eating up my squash plants!

Since then I have lost one of my plants, and I don't think my others will survive the season. I am so grateful to finally know what was causing the sudden die off of my plants though. Since I discovered them, I have been picking off the visible bugs, toss them in a cup of water and feed them to the chickens. Boy did they enjoy that! Some other ideas I have found for ridding your garden of Squash Bugs without insecticide are:

• Use duct tape to peel the eggs off before they hatch
• After watering, walk through the plants and pick off the bugs. They will climb to the top when the plant is soaked from the water.
• Use a mixture of Dawn/water in a spray bottle and spray the base of the plant where the bugs live. It supposedly kills them in seconds. I have not tried this method.

The main thing to remember is to start preventing them early! If I had realized what was attacking them earlier, I could have saved my plants. Now I know what to do next year. This is what I love about gardening, everything is a constant learning process!

Linked to:




Frugally Sustainable

Grilled Pizza

Yes, you read that right. Looking for a summer meal that won't heat up the house? Look no further! DH and I tried out personal pan grilled pizza during our "stay-cation" this week and boy were they a hit! Not only were they delicious, but they didn't heat up the house with the hot oven and they were easy!

Simply take your favorite crust recipe and separate into personal sized pizzas. You can do this with large pizzas also, but we felt the personal pizzas were easier to handle and flip on the grill. Another benefit is the ability to personalize your own pizza. This would be great for kids, although it's great fun for adults too!

Once you have your pizzas flattened out, lay them on a heated, well greased grill to cook. Once one side is cooked, flip it over and cook the other side.

After you have the pizza crust cooked, take it off the grill and add your toppings. We covered ours in grilled sausages and veggies! Add your cheese.

To prevent the bottoms from over cooking, we placed the pizzas on the warming rack so the cheese and toppings could heat up and melt. Serve.

I have to say, they were AMAZING! Go ahead and try it ;)

Linked to:
The Country Homemaker Hop #25

New Addition to the Family

Ever since we lost our beloved Great Pyrenees, Whinny, to bone cancer, the farm just hasn't been the same.  Pyrenees are excellent guardian dogs, for both the family and livestock. Our Pyrenees have always been family guardians, because our horses do not need a guardian in the field (nor would they tolerate one) and by simply having a guardian dog near the house, it will protect our poultry since they are so close. My Dad has talked about getting another Great Pyrenees for several years now, even more so since we have been having problems with raccoons getting into the trash and eating the chickens.

So, can you guess what Dad got for an early Father's Day present this year?

I would like to introduce, Duke, our newest family member!

Duke

Pretty ferocious, eh?

Although I normally try to go the rescue route when we adopt a new dog, since a Pyrenees will need to be trustworthy around livestock we went to a breeder. Right now he is a big ball of fuzz, but he will soon grow into a 100lb ball of fuzz!

Have a good week everyone :)

***Edited to add that "Duke's" name has been changed to Max. lol

Farm Tour

I haven't been posting lately, so I though I would show you why :)

I finally got the garden mulched with straw!

We spent the weekend before last hauling hay. We have enough to last us the winter now. So relieving to have that done!

These guys don't take a lot of work, I just wanted to show you how big they have gotten! I'm expecting their first eggs towards the end of this month!

And of course just some pretty lilies :)

Blackberries are just starting to turn pink.

I've been attempting to start some lavender (back) from cuttings off of my old plant. In front is some Thyme I started from seed.

And last but definitely not least, my first tomato of the season! I absolutely cannot wait to sink my teeth into some of these.

This Saturday we are taking a little road trip a couple hours north to look at a couple of Great Pyrenees pups. Since we lost our beloved Pyr, Whinny, the farm just hasn't been the same. Hopefully we will come home with a Father's Day present for dad ;)