Have a GREAT Turkey Day!

In getting ready to go to a friend's house for Thanksgiving Dinner, I thought I would pass this tip on to those who are also cooking something for the meal.

When making acorn squash, the most common way to make it is to cut it in half, drop in some butter and/or brown sugar then shove it in the over until tender. Then diners are served 1/2 a squash. Mmmm....Mmmmm Good! However, sometimes you need to stretch your food or maybe you don't have the space to cook 1/2 a squash per person. What to do?

I have found that slicing the squash up and laying it out on a pan or cookie sheet, then covering with butter and brown sugar and bake as usual, does the trick. It tastes just as good, if not better as the flavors can penetrate more, and you can serve a number of people with just a couple of squash. And you don't end up wasting good food because someone can't eat an entire 1/2.

Chard Still Coming

Wow! Just looked in the garden, and some of my chard is popping up again. Slow growing because it is cold, but it is looking nice.

Pod Casts

Pod Casts will be temporarially discontinued untill a new host can be found. Hopefully it will not take long.

Potting Bench

Potting tables are usually tall enough to stand at. But what if you can't stand or can't stand for long? I have found that an old picnic table works quite well in this case. Of course, you can always just use a stool with a regular potting bench, but if you're in a wheelchair, that is probably not a viable alternative for 2 reasons, the first being that moving from the chair to the higher stool is not plausable, and second, the bench is probably going to be too high to sit in front of and use comfortably. 

An old picnic table allows a chair to pull up in front of it and a pretty comfortable height to pot from. It isn't a perfect solution, but I have found that it works for me on days I can't stand long.

And why do I say an old picnic table? Basically because it will get dirty, maybe a bit muddy, and covered with pots, trays, etc. It will be much easier to have a dedicated table for potting use, then to have to scrub the picnic table that you use for eating each time.  Yes, you could cover the table with a plastic cloth, but then when a freshly potted plant needs to be watered, anything water that leaks from the bottom of the pot will travel, creating more of a mess.

Accessible Homestead

Today, The Accessible Homestead has been added to The New Century Homesteader blog. This addition will be aimed to those who are facing old or new limitations or physical disabilities due to a handicap or age. Hints, tips, lessons and more will be included which will make gardening and/or homesteading life easier and maybe a bit simpler for those with limitations to continue on with their work or even start anew. And the rest of our audience may find this information useful as well. I have been working on developing this topic for a while, after my own accident made me have to look differently at how I approached some things in the garden and on the grounds.

I hope that this new addition to The New Century Homesteader will be enjoyed and useful. Questions and suggestions are welcome.

Into the Freezer

This weekend, the last of the garden went into the freezer. Cabbage, tomatillos, tomatoes (until I get a chance to make/can sauce) and chard, although there is still some more chard coming up out there. I have a few of the plum tomatoes at the windowsill, as they were still totally green. Maybe next year I'll put in a few tomato plants where I'll harvest the fruits before ripening, strictly for green tomato pickles.

I have 2 eggplant to do something with yet. So, as they don't keep and I can't freeze whole, I've decided I'll slice, dip and fry up, then freeze, so when time allows I can make eggplant parmesan.

Now, it is just getting all ready for clean out and winter. (Ugh!....)