Homesteading During the Quarantine

 My little granddaughter has gotten used to having blueberry sauce on pancakes and waffles when she comes to Nana's house with whipped cream on top.  It's a luscious breakfast and one of our favorites for sure.  When I took her home last week she told her daddy that she wouldn't eat the pancakes without blueberry sauce.  That remark got me in high gear.

I think I still have about 6 gallons of frozen blueberries in the freezer, so I decided to can some blueberry sauce for my gal.  The recipe usually makes just 1 pint so I decided to quadruple it.  When I first began to stir it over the heat I realized that something was wrong.  I had measured out 8 times the amount of orange juice, so I quickly had to add enough of the other ingredients to multiply the recipe by 8.  This is a very aggravating problem, as I'm a math teacher.  I was berating myself and wondering how I could make such a terrible error.  However, the berries cooked up well, the sauce was canned and now my sweet gal can have pancakes for supper with blueberry sauce - even if Nana isn't there!

Our favorite blueberry sauce takes 2 cups of blueberries (either frozen or fresh), 1/2 cup of orange juice, 2.5 Tablespoons of sugar, a Tablespoon of cornstarch and 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Bring to a boil and cook until the sauce is thickened.  It just takes a few minutes for the sauce to turn from cloudy to berry colored.  I've never canned it before, but I'm going to ask Maggie the next time I see her she liked it.


Since I had some blackberry juice that was canned, I decided to also make some blackberry syrup to pour over the waffles or pancakes and got that added into the mix that morning.  I've never tried blackberry syrup over pancakes before, but the recipe was pretty tasty.

Duke Blueberries 5.10.20

Here is a picture of today's view of blueberries.  The berries are growing and gaining a tint of lavender.  It's neat to see how they change as time goes on.  I think this variety is duke - the earliest variety that we grow.

Black Mac

We planted Black Mac, a variety of black raspberries, last year and should be picking these this year.  They have the largest thorns of any plant on our property.  It's a must to wear gloves when trying to prune or trellis them.  We shall see if we end up keeping them.  It's not so fun to press your fingers into thick thorns, but I do love the beautiful little flowers on the plant.

I'll save my pictures of sourdough bread until I have a loaf that looks good.  Sourdough is a nice little experiment but it may take a different cook to get the best results!

Until next time!

May Flowers

Natchez Blackberries 5.4.20 - Row 3

They say that April showers bring May flowers, and May flowers bring June blueberries - but it's even better when those flowers in April turn to little green berries in May.  Now we can see that some of the blackberries made it through the freeze of April 15th and are already forming berries.

Freeze damage on Natchez

Sadly, we can also see the blooms that turned black in the center and were bit by the freeze.You can check the picture to the right and find the ones that the freeze affected.  However,  we definitely didn't lose the whole crop!

Blueray blueberries

The blueberries are beginning to gain some size and though they should have experienced some freeze damage, I'm not seeing it yet.  They look pretty normal  with the normal amount of berries if not more berries than usual. 

This last weekend I saw a bunny bouncing in the patch; it was hard to get a close shot on him as he was busy bouncing away!  It's those sweet little things that bring joy while you're out on the farm - bunnies, roses, sunshine and flourishing fat, green berries moving and ripening in the breeze.

       God is good - all the time!

Spring has sprung!

Blueray Blueberries in the upper field

I love when the fields turn green, the berries bloom and the crop is underway and visible to the naked eye.  I often wonder and estimate as I look at the new bloom just the number of days until that bloom will be fruit, ripe for the picking.  Will it be 6 weeks?  Will it be more?  Will hail knock it off or will a late freeze nip it in the bud?

We did have a late freeze this year, in fact two of them.  Our in-resident expert on freeze damage at the University of Arkansas sent a notification that berries in bloom will be lost if the temperature goes below 28 degrees.  Our field did get below 28 degrees to 26 degrees.  We were worried that the bloom would turn brown and fall off the bush, but you can see from the picture that if that occurred, there were also berries that didn't fall off the bush!  We may have a slight damage from the freeze, but we are expecting a crop come June!

We also wondered about our blackberries; they had just begun to bloom when the late freeze occurred.  It's unclear at this point how much loss we sustained on the blackberries, but once again, there are still blooms opening and it looks like we will have a good blackberry harvest.

Osage Blackberry

The raspberries weren't in bloom when the freeze occurred, so there shouldn't be any damage to the raspberries from the freeze.  They are just beginning to bloom right now and in all the field the bumblebees and honey bees are busily working the flowers and pollinating the crop.  You almost have to watch your step as you walk through the rows.  Sometimes a bumblebee will bump into your shoulder as they zoom across the row.  Their work is cut out for them!  I'm sure our work will ramp up come the middle of June.

Nova raspberry with honey bee on bloom.

In this crazy new world of being in a pandemic we are cautiously working our way through just how to manage the picking of the crop.
We are planning to offer soap and water to wash before entering and after exiting the field.  Plans are being made to sterilize the buckets and we hope to use plastic bag liners in the buckets.  Signs will be up to maintain a 6 foot social distancing guideline throughout the field and we plan to wear gloves and masks as we work in the barn.  We are going to be accepting credit cards with a tap on the Square, cash, check, or Venmo payment.

Will we get everything absolutely right?  I'm not sure about that.  However, I can promise that we will try to do our best.  We are just human but know that in the craziness of life there is a hope that is steadfast and sure, that never fails.  Our hope and prayers during this pandemic and the uncertainty in life is in Jesus.  I'm thankful for a faith that sustains me and am grateful for the blessings and joys to be found in this life of mine.

Duke blueberry in bloom

Sweet blessings in my life!

Red, Black and Blues!

Nova Raspberries 6.11.18

Reds are In

The raspberries look like the sun has brought them out of their green state.  We need more rain and lots of water; I believe we're experiencing a drought right now.  However, you can see from the picture that they're still trying to give us a crop.

Not only are the Nova raspberries ripe, the Royalty are just beginning.  I'm not sure if you've seen the purple berries that look like a flour de lis, but you can tell that they are true "royalty" when you make the connection!  They are Les' favorite raspberry.  He thinks they taste like Dr Pepper.

We also have a berry that is Burgundy when ripe that is called a Wye berry.  I'm not sure if I've spelled that correctly, but it's supposed to be a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry.  They're pretty yummy as well and about as big as a large blackberry.  Just make sure they're dark Burgundy when picked!

Natchez Blackberries

Blacks Begin!

Tomorrow, June 12th, will be our first picking of the blackberries.  Last year we had a couple of different varieties of blackberries, but Les took out the Ouachita blackberries and only has the Natchez now.  They are good producers and are really large sweet berries.

We only have these berries in our top patch - up the hill behind our house, so head up the hill if you want to pick the blacks.

I don't expect there will be that many gallons ready to pick tomorrow.  You can see there are more red than black.  However, we have 3 long rows of the blackberries so there will be at least 6 gallons, I would imagine.

Blues Abound!

I didn't take a picture of the blueberries this morning, but nearly all of our varieties have blue on them today.  I think even the Ozark Blue had a couple of blues here and there on them; they finish up our season around July 4th to 10th.  So, there should be good picking this week in a variety of places.  

The Duke variety is close to finished, but whatever is left on this variety should be looking really blue.  Their berries decline in size with each picking, so they are small at this stage, but would make great muffin berries.

If you have a day to come out and feel the sun, the breeze, and hear the cries of birds flying by, head on out!  Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, 7 to noon is the plan!  As you pick you can think with me - "God is good.  All the time!"  We are so blessed to enjoy the blessings of life on the farm.  See you soon!

Sunny days!

Duke Blueberries 6.3.18

 Duke Days. . .

Well, we were open yesterday for blueberry picking on just the Duke variety (since nothing else was ripe).  Here you can see a couple of pictures of the blueberries after the picking.  Can you tell that we didn't have enough people picking?

Since there are so many that are blue on this variety, we are planning to open up on Monday night, June 4th, from 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. and get an extra slot of picking in.

I made it out to pick some berries after the customers left yesterday and found a few clouds to cover me and a light breeze to keep me cool.  It was some nice picking!  Entire clusters at points are ready to just fall into the bucket.

Closeup of Duke

I also put my niece and hired hands to work helping me pick berries.  It's great to have a little competition going.  They were comparing their levels and trying to see who could pick the fastest.

The sunny, warm days are bringing the rest of the crop into ripeness as well.  Today I looked right next to this variety and noticed that the Top Shelf, Blue Ribbon and Pimlico varieties are turning blue.  That means the Bluejay and the Blue ray will probably also be turning this week and ready to pick by Saturday.

Sweet summertime!  I love this life of warm days, cool breezes here and there and berries to pop in my bucket.

God is good - all the time!

Heat Popping Blues!

Early Blue Variety

Duke variety on the top of hill (by the house)

Well, the 90 degree weather is making the Duke variety pop out the blues.  I picked a handful this afternoon and they're tasting pretty good.  We had thought that the late freeze would make the berries hold off on ripening until mid-June, but these 90 degree temps and high heat index numbers are popping the blue right out!

Duke Blueberries 5.28.18

We're planning to be open on Saturday morning 7.2.18 for picking on this variety of blueberries.  We don't have that many rows of Duke, but there's enough for a few people to pick.  There are 3 half rows in the valley and 4 rows up the hill by the house so there should be several gallons there by Saturday to start the season off!

So - see you soon picking the Duke!

Sunny Days - Rainy Afternoons

Well, I walked through the fields last night and took my normal shortcut through the blueberries, to the raspberries and across the wire trellis to the blackberries.  I thought I could handle that move just fine - I have done it for years.  However, this time the wire trellis caught my foot and I fell to the ground and did a big roll toward the blackberries.

I told Les that I'm going to have to give up crossing that wire trellis.  I'm liable to break my hip the next time I try crossing it!  Thankfully I'm fine, although I did find a small tick on my arm when I went in the house!  I guess tick season is here.

Flowering Natchez Blackberries 5.23.18

You can see that the blackberries are growing and looking big.  If we keep having the sunny, warm weather and the good rains it will move them upwards in size and maturity.

I think it will be a large crop this year, but to tell the truth the blackberries have really been a big producer for the last few years.  They aren't having any problems at all.

Duke Blueberries 5.23.18

The blueberries are growing in size, but still green.  I think the first variety may be ready to pick in about 10 days, but it depends on the heat and the rains that we get in the next few days.

I noticed that some of the berries have little whiskers sticking out of their middle.  A few years ago we had a large part of our crop have the little whiskers sticking out and with our late freeze, I think it may have to do with where they were in the flowering stage when the freeze came.

Perhaps part of the flower remained and the stamens are stuck in that center spot.  I'll try to grab a picture of some berries that show that more clearly.

Nova Raspberries 5.23.18

The raspberries are getting larger.  There are still some that are blooming, but you can tell that some berries are set and beginning to grow.  It doesn't look like there will be a big crop of these Nova raspberries.  However, there are some.  I guess you have to count your blessings where you can!

We have a purple variety of raspberries called "Royalty" that look healthier and more vigorous.  Les thinks that they will have a good crop this year, but it is different than the normal look for a raspberry.  It's shaped like a heart and is purple when ripe.  They're also a later berry than the Nova and typically don't ripen until we've been picking berries for a few weeks.

So, God is good - all the time!  I'm thankful I didn't break my hip while crossing the wire trellis and thankful that I saw the tick crawling up my arm.  It's wonderful to have any kind of crop so I can look forward to good days ahead.  See you soon!