Alfalfa Tea for the Garden

Alfalfa Tea - a definition

The information posted here on my blog was found at Dave's Garden. Dave's a great resource for all things garden and then some. Consider joining, it is a very good investment!

Dry alfalfa is a good slow-release source of nitrogen, but since you will be "digesting" it by letting it ferment in water, the resulting tea is a soluble, fast-acting nitrogen source.

Also, by making alfalfa (or manure) tea, you don't have to worry about weed seeds sprouting from the fertilizer.

In addition to nitrogen, alfalfa supplies enzymes and trace elements that are not present in chemical nitrogen fertilizers.

The Mix:
Choose a garbage bin or barrel with no leaks and a tight fitting lid. Position it in an out of the way place - you don't want to have to move it once it's full. For a full size garbage bin (20 gallons) add 16 cups of alfalfa pellets or alfalfa meal (4 cups to every 5 gallons or 22 litres of water)

Add 1 - 2 cups of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate crystals) (or one quarter to half a cup to 5 gallons) Optionally, add two tablespoons of Iron Chelate
Fill with water, put on a tight lid to prevent mosquitos from breeding in your "swamp"
Let stand for one week until it bubbles with fermentation. Your nose will tell you that it's ready.

Using it:

Apply alfalfa tea once per month in the spring and summer, especially after the first flush of flowers, to encourage repeat blooming. You can reduce or eliminate the Epsom salts in later batches.

Stop applying it in the fall, when you want the plants to start hardening off for the winter, and don't want to encourage soft new growth.

Put on some old clothes - you're going to get splashed, and you don't want to be socializing with anyone while wearing the alfalfa tea!

Scoop off the liquid with a bucket and apply.

Pour a gallon of tea per rose around the base of the plant; more for large climbers, less for potted roses and minis.

Soak small potted roses in a bucket of tea for 15 minutes each.

When you have scooped off most of the liquid, you will be left with a thick goop of alfalfa in the garbage bin. There are two ways to treat this:

Method A: You can add another quarter-cup of epsom salts, fill the garbage can one third of the way up again, and stir the mix briskly so that the alfalfa is suspended in the water. This slurry can be applied to your roses immediately. Choose the roses in the back of your beds for this tea, where the greenish brown puddle of alfalfa slurry won't be too visible.

Method B: Add the full dose of Epsom salts, refill to the top with water and let sit for another week. Use the liquid, and then bury the alfalfa dregs into your compost pile (by this time they will be pretty smelly)

Another Recipe:

ALFALFA TEA

32 GALLON TRASH CAN
10 CUPS ALFALFA PELLETS (obtained from feed stores)
1 CUP EPSOM SALTS
1 CUP FISH EMULSION

Add the pellets to the trash can. Fill trash can with water. Stir. Cover trash can tightly with lid. For the next three days stir "tea" several times a day in order to dissolve the pellets. Keep covered. On the third day add epsom salts and fish emulsion. It is ready to use on any vegetable, plant, tree or bush.

When all the "tea" is used, there will be enough pellet residue in the bottom of the trash can that you again fill the trash can with water and make more "tea".

Check out comments for a list of all the good stuff in alfalfa tea.

Save those jars!

I have the jar adapter for my foodsaver so I can use mason jars but I am finding that I would rather save the mason/canning jars for actually canning. Those jars add up and are more precious than gold around here! Save your canning jars for canning and use the jars from store bought foods for vacuum sealing.

The sound starts off a little wonky on this video so turn it down if you are using headphones.

Supper with the Girls

Meet the Girls!
I can't really tell who is who from this angle but
the kids would probably know. I stopped naming them
in case we eat them. I'm more likely to name them as I
butcher them. Fryer, roaster, casserole, broth...
For the time being, they are all named Layer until they
prove otherwise!

If you can't stand the heat....

Yes, I really did take a picture of my thermostat! It's too hot to much else. The kids stand in the other room and blow me hugs because we don't want any heat sources that close to our bodies! My bubba doesn't want me to hug OR kiss him because he said I feel like hot and sticky stuff. Well, I nevah!

I am trying to keep the electric bill at least lower than the national deficit. We keep it off during the day and use it at night so we can sleep better. I just couldn't do it today. I set it to 80 and I still heard it come on several times and the coolest it got in the house was 83.


I know this is South Texas and all but it just seems hotter than usual. Every spring and fall I sing songs about the joy of living in Texas and write poetry about the perfectly beautiful days. Every summer I ask WHY!?!? This summer still seems worse than past summers. Maybe it is because we have only had 3" of rain so far this year. Last year we had so much rain that my chickens thought they were ducks and started quacking! They spent so much time in puddles I feared their feet would become webbed!

This summer has been dry. Everyone keeps saying it isn't as humid this year, and that sounds like a good thing but I think it isn't. Humid means moisture, moisture comes from rain, rain makes things green. Our grass isn't green, it is a nice straw color. I have always said that I wanted to get rid of the grass to make way for a bigger garden but in this heat and drought my garden is barely hanging on.

This really used to be grass. Very green tall grass that my happy hens loved to feast on. Now they dig holes and roll in the dirt. They always make the best of an awful situation! If life gives you dirt, take a dirt bath!

In the spirit of full disclosure (I would hate to be called dramatic or an exaggerator) I will admit that there still are a few small patches of green in my yard. Little oases of life that I feel guilty mowing when most everything else is dying.

This isn't just an excuse to show off my 'mid century' vintage thermostat! I wanted a good reason to show once again how clever I am. I'm not bragging, my mom tells me I am clever all the time. If I'm going to sweat my hiney off trying to save money by not using the AC during the day then why in the world would I add more heat to the house by using the stove or oven? I usually cook 3 times a day that can make the house unbearable. So here is where the clever comes in...

First I tried baking my bread in my big nesco roaster out on the back porch. The pans fit in just right. I set them on metal racks so the bottoms wouldn't burn. Everything came out great.

With the bread made we were able to have sandwiches for lunch instead of having to cook something.

Lunch out of the way, only one meal left. I put the last of our garden potatoes in the nesco and set it baking at 400. I cut up some sausage, poured BBQ sauce over it and topped with our homegrown bell peppers (store bought onions) and set them beside the potatoes. I cooked it all until the spuds were done and the BBQ sauce was sizzling. Came out wonderful. I even made dessert in it. Cinnamon rolls made with the extra bread dough from the bread I made earlier. The desserts rarely survive long enough for me to photograph so I am guessing the gang liked it.

If You Can't Stand the Heat
Get out of the Kitchen!
and onto the back porch

Update: many asked how I do my bread, what kind of pans I use, how long it takes, etc. so here are answers to some of those questions:

I use Norpro 8 Inch Nonstick Bread Pan bread pans that measure 8"x4"x3" deep. They can also be purchased at Urban Homemaker.

I use agave as my sweetener so when I bake my bread I use a lower temperature than you would if you used regular sugar. I bake my bread between 325 and 350 for 45 min. If using regular sugar the recipe calls for cooking it at 375. Some days it seems to cook quicker than others. It probably has to do with how much dough I put in each pan. My recipe actually fills 5 of the norpro pans but only 4 fit in the roaster. I put 4 loaves in for regular bread and the fifth dough ball gets turned into cinnamon bread which I also cook in the roaster after the first batch of bread is done.

I use a metal cooling rack on the bottom of my roaster to set my baking pans on. That keeps them from burning. I take the lid off to check if it is done otherwise I leave the lid on.

I have made cobbler, cinnamon rolls, casseroles, bacon and even toast in my roaster. I try and do all my cooking outside because I don't like to heat the house.

Baking Soda and Frugal Living

I heard on the radio today that 1 in 10 Americans receives food stamps. They (who are THEY anyway?) say unemployment is down but where we sit unemployment is something we are learning a little too much about. If so many are unemployed or underemployed and receiving food stamps what are they doing to get by? According to the department of human services food stamps can only be used to purchase food items or seeds and plants that produce food. I wonder what people do about the other necessities. How about cleaning supplies, toiletries, diapers, feminine products, even tylenol or bandaids? That got me thinking. Which of these necessities can be made at home using food items that CAN be purchased with food stamps? What can be made using inexpensive or recycled household items? How can you buy toilet paper or pain reliever or allergy medicine if you don't have an income or your income is so tight that it all goes to pay for the roof over your head?

I thought I would start gathering these tips and ideas and trying them out to see which ones work.

I read on one blog about using baking soda as shampoo. You make a paste of baking soda and water and massage into wet hair and scalp then rinse. As a conditioner they recommended a rinse using 1:1 vinegar and water. I would probably use apple cider vinegar as I have heard it is good for dark hair like mine. I tried the baking soda shampoo experiment today and I have to say that although it did wash away the greasies my hair felt a bit dry and VERY tangled. This was only the first time to try it and I have heard sometimes the more natural or mild methods take time because of residue and build up on your hair. I might try it again. What I think would work better would be to dissolve the baking soda in some warm water and add a tiny bit of shampoo. I get shampoo for $1 at Dollar Tree. It is not the best shampoo but it is the cheapest unless I find a freebie deal at CVS or Walgreens. The baking soda makes the soap soapier so you can use less. I noticed that by sprinkling a little baking soda on my bath sponge after rubbing it on my bar of soap that I got very enthusiastic suds and the baking soda added some exfoliation properties.

The verdict: Baking soda alone as shampoo doesn't work for me but I think it would work to stretch shampoo and other bath soaps.

Even though it isn't a good shampoo substitute it is still a great ingredient to have on hand. I keep a large bag of baking soda and buy vinegar (white distilled) by the gallon to use in cleaning and laundry. Both items could be purchased with food stamps if needed. Both do double duty in cooking and cleaning.

Other uses for baking soda:
Baking Soda
60 uses for Baking Soda
How Stuff Works

Is there anything you won't can?!?

Of course there are things I won't can! I would much rather dehydrate them! I definetly wouldn't can or dehydrate eggplant. Yuck! Or rattlesnake. I have never had rattlesnake but it would have to be a survival situation and then I wouldn't have my pressure canner now would I? Dazzle absolutely trusts that I would never can her. That is why she can sleep peacefully amongst the jars. She's awful bony anyway I will stick to chicken (you hear that, those of you out in the yard feasting on feed and not giving me any eggs?!?!?). Oh, and liver. Wouldn't can that either. See, there are things I won't can...

Oh Cherries!

Cherries! Oh how I love thee,
plump and juicy, still clinging to a pip
with a perfect little green stem for holding
slightly warmed by the sun
sweet nectar
Cherries!

Okay, so poetry about food isn't really my gift! Making poetry with food is more like it. I was tickled...cherry red to take advantage of the super cherry sales this last week. I bought about 25lb of cherries. I ate about 10lbs while pitting (do the british call it pipping?) the rest. FYI don't eat 10lbs of cherries while pipping/pitting the rest unless you plan to stay real close to home the following day!

I canned cherries in white grape juice to use in cooking. I made Black Forest jam which is cherries in a chocolate amaretto sauce (see photo above) I dehydrated cherries and I ate cherries. I even saved all the pips, boiled them clean of any remaining flesh and dried them to use in a Pip Pillow that can be heated in the microwave.

I know George Washington did not chopped down a cherry tree, who would do such a thing?

You Lucky Dog You!

Meet Lucky Dog. Lucky has been a part of our family for 5 years now. He was found on the side of the rode and I took him home with me. He was the most pathetic creature I had ever seen. His eyes were glued shut with eye gunk, he was missing patches of fur, he had this horrible horrible smell coming from his ears and nose. I was sure I was bring him home to die in comfort. I took him to our vet (we had two dogs already, both puppies about the same age as Lucky). Surprisingly he wasn't on death's door. He had an eye and ear infection, mange, parasites and fleas. We got meds and and instructions for cleaning all his ailing parts. I brought him home optimistic. Suddenly he took a turn for the worse. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, wouldn't hardly move and he seemed to be twitching a lot. I took him back and the vet said it was distemper and considering his health he probably wasn't going to make it. On top of that my other puppies had just had their first distemper shot and so they probably won't yet 'safe' from distemper so I had to keep them isolated from Lucky. That meant keeping them in the backyard and taking Lucky in the front to potty. Not touching the well dogs until I had washed and changed my clothes after handling Lucky. The vet told me that I needed to prepare for the worst but pray for the best. Who knew that a person could get so attached to this mangy little pup I had known for only days. All God's creatures great and small I guess. I prayed he would get better, I prayed God would give me the wisdom to know when it was time to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep if he became uncomfortable and was suffering. I fed him pedialyte ever hour on the hour round the clock so he wouldn't get dehydrated. I finger fed him baby food meat and carrots and I gave him massages because he was having frequent seizures and twitching and his muscles were getting knotted up. I even took him to a homeopathic vet! I did this for 6 weeks and he made it.

That's one Lucky Dog my vet would say! He has nerve damage from the distemper so he has a constant tick or twitch that makes it look like he is enthusiastically chewing gum. Because the twitch has caused the muscles on one side of his face to shorten it pulls his tongue out to one side of his mouth. He can't keep it in his mouth. It hangs out in the most rogue way, making him look like a scoundrel. Especially when he is excited! The twitching caused all his teeth to fall out except two. He still manages to eat anything and we often find evidence of this when a child finds a barbie shoe or army man in Lucky's poo! He is a happy dog and his greatest ambition in life is escaping the hard to go visiting. No matter what we do he finds a way. In five years he has probably escaped 500 times! He can climb over, under, around or through any fence, barrier, blockade or maze of yard clutter to get out. Lucky's second greatest joy is napping. He has had nightmare's since he was a pup. I know I attach human emotion to my poochies so in my poochie mommy heart I wonder if he is reliving the day he was dumped on the side of the road and dreaming what life would be like if he weren't so doggone Lucky!

The Tall One-TTO

As some may have noticed, I have decided not to use our real names on our blog. I know that I am putting it out there for all to see, giving people a glimpse into my backyard, my kitchen, my little patch of earth but I gotta keep a little privacy right? So this is The Tall One (TTO) that isn't usually what I call him. I often call him by his front name or any variety of expressions heard coming from the mouths of mamas all over the world. Sweetie, sugar, honey, baby and in his case Shoogie Boy (which is cutesy for Sugar Boy). Around about the time he turned 10 or 11 he asked me to please only call him that when no one was around. Now, at the wise old age of ALMOST 16 he would rather me never utter those words again so to show him that mama does respect his wishes I have named him TTO in this blog. It is short, accurate and not at all cutesy. Aw well, no matter what, no matter how tall, no matter how old he will always be my Shoogie Boy! And he IS cute, dontcha think?

When life gives you ugly oranges make marmalade!

I'm always on the look out for a way to save money and make the most out of everything. I have been keeping my eye out for people that have more produce than they can handle. I found someone on craiglist that said they had an orange tree with sour oranges and we could have all that we could pick. I didn't think about it being June and many months past orange harvesting time! I drove out to the island with Farm Boy and we picked oranges. Lots and lots of oranges.
They looked pretty bad but they smelled good. I had such plans for all these free oranges. I would dehydrate, can, candy, juice and craft with them. What I ended up doing is making marmalade. The skins were too ugly to mess with dehydrating. The inside was dry, pithy and the seeds had started to sprout from the inside of the orange.

Most of the oranges were not usable. I juiced what I could and then used some organic oranges I purchased for the zest and peel in my marmalade. I put the juice and the thinly sliced organic oranges (seeds removed) in a stock pot with about 1 quart of water and set it to simmer.



The seeds went into a small saucepan with a cup of water and boiled them for 5 minutes to extract the pectin from the seeds. The seeds were strained and the liquid was added to the big pot to simmer. I let it simmer for a good while. An hour or more. Until the peels were very soft. Once the peels were soft I lined a colander with muslin and strained all the liquid from the oranges. I picked out the pretties peels and was able to easily slice off just the zest. It was much easier than the way I have done it in the past. I set the zest aside. I measured the liquid and then added 1 cup of sugar for each cup of juice I had plus a cup of water and brought it all to a boil. I boiled it and stirred constantly until the mixture jelled when dropped on a cold plate. I would say it took about 15 minutes.















I added the zest to the boiling mixture and turned off the heat. I then poured it into prepared jars and then processed it in a BWB for 15 minutes.

In the past I treated my citrus peels by trying to scrape as much of the white off as possible then boiling in a small amount of water with a pinch of baking soda and changing the water at least once. I think this is to get rid of the bitter flavor that some citrus peels have. Lime is especially bitter. I found that I didn't have to do that with this recipe. If I were using lime I would definitely do that.

I ended up with 7 cups of juice and it made 10 half pints of marmalade. It is very good if I do say so myself! We have already gone through two jars. It is wonderful on fresh biscuits or bread right out of the oven. I am sure it would make a wonderful glaze for pork, chicken or salmon.

Tomato what??? Part 2

After the enchilada project I still had 4 cups left of tomato paste. I was tired and so done smelling tomato products and washing utensils with orange stains but still, I just couldn't bring myself to waste it and I knew that if I didn't do something that night it just wouldn't get done. I have a chronic pain condition so these kitchen extravaganzas of mine usually take me a few days to recover from so it was a Now or Never sorta thing!

I decided to try BBQ sauce. I was not using a recipe because none of the recipes I found called for 4 cups of tomato paste. I just made it up as I went and tasted it along the way. I gathered the ingredients that I thought would go well in BBQ sauce. I used Farmer Boy's homegrown jalapenos, onion, garlic, dehydrated bell pepper, dehydrated celery leaf, sugar, ginger, a pinch of cinnamon, apple cider vinegar and dry mustard.

My sous chef dumped the ingredients into my handy dandy Bosch Blender and gave it a whirl. **Notice the pan of encharitos under his arm made with my fab enchilada sauce**

We poured into a big stock pot and mixed it with the tomato paste and a blender full of water. It was very thick and tomatoey so I added more water and simmered. Still very NOT BBQ tasting. I added some liquid smoke and more water. Then I found a can of peach nectar in the cabinet and added that. It was starting to taste better. It isn't your KC Masterpiece or Kraft BBQ sauce, I would say it is more in line with the real stuff you get with authentic Texas BBQ.

After adding and simmering and adding and simmering I decided I just had to get some sleep. I dumped the whole batch in the crock pot and put it on low. It was Saturday night and we had church in the morning so I would let it slow cook until after church.


It mellowed and became more flavorful after slow cooking. I canned it in 12oz jars. Because of the high acid and vinegar used I just did a boiling water bath (BWB). We used it on the broilers I raised this spring. It was mighty good. Would it be too cliche to say it was Finger Lickin' Good?

Tomato What??

A few months ago (ok last November!) I planned to can some spaghetti sauce. I bought a #10 can of tomato sauce for this project. Well, as with most of my plans something came up and I put the project on the back burner. Fast forward 7 months and now I am ready to do my spaghetti sauce. I found the big can and dusted it off. I rifled through drawers looking for my hand held can opener and finally was able to open this monster can. Uh oh, something is not right! I looked at the front of the can and realized I purchased tomato paste! Tomato paste being a thick paste is much more tomatoey than I needed for spaghetti sauce! As anyone that knows me knows, I just hate hate hate to waste. This tomato paste would probably equal about 90 gallons of tomato sauce if I watered it down.
I suppose I could have still made spaghetti sauce but since the fam was asking for encharitos for dinner and that required enchilada sauce I
decided to try canning that instead. I used about 2/3 of the can on my enchilada sauce. It made 13 - 12oz jars and 3 pint jars of sauce. Yeah! I used up almost all of my paste! I still had about 4 cups left and that went into another project.
I wish I could share a recipe but I just make my enchilada sauce by adding this and that and tasting it until it tastes the way I want it to. I pressure canned it just to be safe. It contains beef broth and a few other low/no acid ingredients.
It turned out great and the encaritos were a hit as usual! Now I will be able to make this family fave more often because I have the enchilada sauce on hand.

Freaky Red Bug

What is this nasty little critter? Well after spending good amount of time googling "freaky red bug on pepper plants" I found that this little cutey (NOT) is the baby version of the Leaf Footed bug. The author/photographer seems to find great pleasure in watching these bugs but I very much hate to find them feasting on my jalapenos and tomatoes! I am keeping this army of bugs under control with a weekly spraying with Neem Oil.

Dehydrated Hash Browns

I love playing with my dehydrator. If I can find a way to preserve food and save space I am a happy Farm Girl Wannabe! I grated and dried 10lbs of potatoes into instant, shelf stable hash browns. I peeled and grated the potatoes using the shredding attachment for my bosch universal kitchen machine. I set the shredded potatoes in a big bowl of cool water until all the potatoes were finished. This seemed to keep them from turning brown. Once they were all sliced I sat them in a colander and dipped them briefly in boiling water. I then spread them out on the mesh trays of my dehydrated set it to 125 and let them dry overnight. Don't toss out that big bowl of soaking water, your plants will love it!

To use the hash browns I soaked them in warm water along with dried onion, dried bell pepper, dried garlic for about 10 or 15 minutes. Drain well (save the soaking water!) and fry until all the veggies are tender. I poured a little of the soak water into the pan and covered it to help speed up the process. Salt and pepper according to taste. The soak water has the flavor the of the potatoes and other veggies in it. I usually save that water and use it as my liquid in the crock pot if I am slow cooking something for dinner that night. If not I toss it in the compost or in the chicken bucket.

Country Skillet Bake with Dumplings

I used to sell seasoning mixes from a popular direct sales company. They were super convenient and always tasty but not as thrifty as I would like and they still contained ingredients that I would rather not feed my family. I try to follow the rule that if I can't pronounce it and it didn't grow, walk, swim or fly I don't feed it to my family! Most of the convenience foods out there start with a base of chicken or beef flavored bouillon or base. I have tried over the years to find them without MSG or some form of MSG but to no avail. So that left me with trying to make my own mixes. I have experimented and used my family as guinea pigs and think I have finally come up with some basic mixes that are free of hydrogenated oils, preservatives, MSG in it's many forms, anti-caking agents, modified food starches and other unpronounceable ingredients. Friends and family all agree that they are super yummy! And not only that, these mixes are healthy! One of my mixes is Good Day Roast seasoning mix. I used it to make this Country Skillet Bake with Dumplings. It was a hit and the only complaint I heard from the family is "That's all you made??? Next time you need to make double!"

This recipe uses my Good Day Roast mix, Multi-Mix and Bake-it-Better mix. All the mixes have unlimited possibilities!

Just send me an email if you would like the recipe or more info on the mixes.