Ashley, you are a wonder! I love the photos of your creative canning. The tomato photo had me yearning for a BLT. Never seen silk worm silk-how interesting. Your son sounds like he will be a wonderful project manager later. Vermont is somewhere I would like to visit in the late summer (like now!) as the tempts may hit triple digits here in Texas this week. Thanks for not sharing the weeding photo—I have been weeding my immense flower beds early each morning and the pile is huge on the two massive stumps I am trying to get rid of from last spring. Thank you for an excellent read.
Your life looks ideal. I'm hoping to be set up on my own land in the not too distant future and look forward to being as self-sufficient as possible. I love how your kids are also involved in the whole process. My son grew up in an apartment in Madrid, but he was homeschooled so we had opportunities to join groups learning foraging, cheese-making, etc. I also taught him to make dye from berries and leaves, and make felt from some sheep wool we found in the countryside, as well as knit, sew, cook....I wish they taught this stuff at school. Beautiful photos by the way! 😍
I am stoked to see where the VT silk might go. Please keep us updated!!
Our homestead has been selling goats, canning dill pickles, and fermenting milk. So many projects, but only so long until it's winter in Michigan again. ⛄️
Our two big projects this summer (while clearing our very neglected and overgrown yard) have been a chicken coop with enclosed run and a treehouse on the trunks of some old pines we had to take down…thankfully we were able to reuse quite a bit of material from two old sheds that also had to be taken down! Our chickens are very happy and I’m eagerly awaiting eggs beginning in another month or so hopefully! I’m about to can another round of raspberry jam as we have used up our first batch that I made in the beginning of the year…I love the five pound box of frozen raspberry pieces I get from Azure Standard for a great price, I can make jam for about a dollar and change per jar ☺️
Beautiful pictures! I love your creativity! I also like to experiment with different recipes. I have plums this year so I did plum gelato, plum jelly, asian plum sauce and plum jam. Our elderberries are ripening here in Kansas. Thanks for sharing your wonderful life with us!
You are a wonderful source of inspiration, thank you for your work. I have finally gathered enough mayapple to make a small batch of jam! Delicious! I also made an elderberry oxymel and tincture as well as working on a reishi tincture thanks to several of your posts!
Hi Ashley, Our shiro plum tree went bonkers this year, and I have about 100 pounds of them. I was thinking that dehydrating them might be the best option. I don't have the bandwidth to make wine this year. Any thoughts or suggestions? (Yes, the neighbors got their share, and the local food shelf!)
Such an inspiration. Thank you so much for what you are up to and for sharing. I really liked what you said in your last post about creating a home and life that you don’t feel like you need to “vacate” from. I aspire to same!
Wonderful "jam" packed newsletter. Delightful to read. Am restacking and send to a fiber artist down here.
Wondering what you will use the FD tomato slices in? The won't hold up well in packaging, will they? Do tell us in a future post (or link to a previous one I missed) on how to use FD tom slices.
Hi Ashley, I noticed that you freeze dry on solar power. May I ask how much power you have? I have 24,5 kWh in my batteries but I always end up having put the trays ba cb k into the freezer as I don’t have enough for another night. Do you have the same problem or do you have more battery power available. Eveline in Portugal, Europe.
Ashley, you are a wonder! I love the photos of your creative canning. The tomato photo had me yearning for a BLT. Never seen silk worm silk-how interesting. Your son sounds like he will be a wonderful project manager later. Vermont is somewhere I would like to visit in the late summer (like now!) as the tempts may hit triple digits here in Texas this week. Thanks for not sharing the weeding photo—I have been weeding my immense flower beds early each morning and the pile is huge on the two massive stumps I am trying to get rid of from last spring. Thank you for an excellent read.
Your life looks ideal. I'm hoping to be set up on my own land in the not too distant future and look forward to being as self-sufficient as possible. I love how your kids are also involved in the whole process. My son grew up in an apartment in Madrid, but he was homeschooled so we had opportunities to join groups learning foraging, cheese-making, etc. I also taught him to make dye from berries and leaves, and make felt from some sheep wool we found in the countryside, as well as knit, sew, cook....I wish they taught this stuff at school. Beautiful photos by the way! 😍
I am stoked to see where the VT silk might go. Please keep us updated!!
Our homestead has been selling goats, canning dill pickles, and fermenting milk. So many projects, but only so long until it's winter in Michigan again. ⛄️
Our two big projects this summer (while clearing our very neglected and overgrown yard) have been a chicken coop with enclosed run and a treehouse on the trunks of some old pines we had to take down…thankfully we were able to reuse quite a bit of material from two old sheds that also had to be taken down! Our chickens are very happy and I’m eagerly awaiting eggs beginning in another month or so hopefully! I’m about to can another round of raspberry jam as we have used up our first batch that I made in the beginning of the year…I love the five pound box of frozen raspberry pieces I get from Azure Standard for a great price, I can make jam for about a dollar and change per jar ☺️
Beautiful pictures! I love your creativity! I also like to experiment with different recipes. I have plums this year so I did plum gelato, plum jelly, asian plum sauce and plum jam. Our elderberries are ripening here in Kansas. Thanks for sharing your wonderful life with us!
You are a wonderful source of inspiration, thank you for your work. I have finally gathered enough mayapple to make a small batch of jam! Delicious! I also made an elderberry oxymel and tincture as well as working on a reishi tincture thanks to several of your posts!
Hi Ashley, Our shiro plum tree went bonkers this year, and I have about 100 pounds of them. I was thinking that dehydrating them might be the best option. I don't have the bandwidth to make wine this year. Any thoughts or suggestions? (Yes, the neighbors got their share, and the local food shelf!)
Such an inspiration. Thank you so much for what you are up to and for sharing. I really liked what you said in your last post about creating a home and life that you don’t feel like you need to “vacate” from. I aspire to same!
Such lovely photos and endless creativity. Thank you for this. This glimpse into another world.
Wonderful "jam" packed newsletter. Delightful to read. Am restacking and send to a fiber artist down here.
Wondering what you will use the FD tomato slices in? The won't hold up well in packaging, will they? Do tell us in a future post (or link to a previous one I missed) on how to use FD tom slices.
Thanks
Pam from Vermont
How do those tomato slices come out of the freeze drier? What then do you do with them; vacuum-sealed bags?
Hi Ashley, I noticed that you freeze dry on solar power. May I ask how much power you have? I have 24,5 kWh in my batteries but I always end up having put the trays ba cb k into the freezer as I don’t have enough for another night. Do you have the same problem or do you have more battery power available. Eveline in Portugal, Europe.