We tapped the trees on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 and there are at total of four trees tapped. First two days produced just a gallon of sap each day but today there was four gallons! Should boil down to 2.4 cups but plenty of time left to collect more sap!

In spring 2020 I wanted to figure out how to be as safe as possible when camping. For the most part social distancing, while camping, is really easy with one notable exception and that is using the public bathrooms and showers! My small pop-up camper does not have a shower nor is there much room for a portable toilet, not to mention I would prefer not to have something like that inside the camper. I also avoid having too much water in the camper as to avoid water damage.

The "trees" are showing signs of life! Far too early to celebrate yet but signs of life are required for roots to form! Today I also use a foliar plant spray, which is just spraying the plants with liquid fertilizer. Plants can absorb fertilizer via their leaves and stems and this is a good way to give the plants some additional nutrients until they are able to grow roots!

The experiment is well underway!

We gathered branches from the following plants.

Did you know that if you took clippings from fruit trees that it is possible to start new plants? The plants will be clones of the parent tree!

This will be my first year of attempting to do this and as of right now we have identified an apple tree, a crab apple tree, and a pear tree. Will see if I can identify other trees. It is important to use a nongrafted fruit tree that grows well in your climate.

We will be using four different techniques

The very first time, I recall making butter, was back in kindergarten. It was a classroom project and then later my parents did it with me at home. We did it the "hard way" by putting some whipping cream into a quart sized jar and shaking it for 20-30 minutes. Not a half bad way to keep a bunch of kids busy though!

I took the easy way and used my Kitchen Aid Mixer I used the wire Wisk attachment and beat it for 20-30 minutes! It first turns to whipped cream and eventually turns into butter and butter milk!

1.5 Cup Gluten Free Flour
3/4 t xanthan gum if your flour blend does not have it.
1.5 t baking powder
1.5 t baking soda
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 T butter
4 T oil
2 eggs
1.5 t vanilla
1 cup milk

For Cinnamon Sugar: add 4 tsp ground cinnamon to matter
To make sugar/cinnamon coating mix 1/2 t cinnamon with 1 cup sugar

For Chocolate add 6 T unsweetened coca powder

I made mine with a mini-doughnut maker and baked for four minutes.

Last year's largest pumpkin weighed in around 137 pounds, which was just about the same size of the year before. This year the biggest one reached 162 pounds! The second largest was 137 pounds and the third largest was 133.8 pounds! I had a total of six pumpkins that weighed in over 100 pounds! Also, it froze early this year so the pumpkins did not do near as much growing as they did the last two years!

Every year I grow large pumpkins! I keep the seeds from the previous years two biggest pumpkins in my attempt to improve the "genetics" and every year I am improving the soil!

Why? Its fun!

Tomorrow I weigh some of the biggest ones! Trust me, they are heavy, I had to roll them onto a sled and drag them!

Not actually the full harvest as I have already been eating squash for the last couple weeks! Also have giving some of it away!

A double rainbow.
Above the gardens did appear.
Twenty twenty a bountiful harvest did bring.
Twenty twenty, a bridge of hope.

Two years ago the soil, that is now the South East garden barely supported weeds. Last year I barely got any produce from this garden even though I had added plenty of organic matter. This year I went all in. Two trailer loads of compost from the city compost and then an additional 3-4 inches of compost that I created and layered on the surface of compost mulch.

Took several days, this spring, to do all of that but barely had to do anything to the garden for the remainder of the summer other than pulling some weeds. Definitely happy with the results!

Looks like the pumpkins will be a nice size and there will be plenty of popcorn for movie nights!

Over the last few weeks I have started two compost piles. I will create an article, probably later in the winter, on more details but my goal is to use the compost as a mulch for weed control. I do not chop up the compost "ingredients" rather I just throw fully intact plants (often weeds), last years hay from the bale gardens, grass clippings, and any other organic matter I can get my hands on. In the initial stages I go for more greens than what are required as my goal is to kill as many weed seeds as possible.

Another new project this year is grain sorghum! Looks like I will have a nice crop but I will need to figure out how to best harvest, clean, and dry it. Then it will be time to grind into flour! Time to learn how to cook with another gluten free grain!

Looks like I will have plenty of sugar beets! First time I have ever grown them and also first time I will be making my own sugar! Will be a few weeks but rest assured I will be sharing!

The potatoes are finally harvested! Took a lot of work over three days but well worth it and the results were plentiful!

We have actually eaten a bunch of them but time to get them all out of the garden!

Today, when harvesting potatoes I found something I have never seen in my entire life! A fully intact seed potato (well a wedge) that not only supported a potato plant but produced potatoes as well! Proof that 2020 has brought us wonders, sometimes they are just below the surface!