Paperclippings Blog: Living off the land

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I pray because I believe, and I believe because I pray.

Joseph Walker--Deseret Morning News



Name:
Kelly
Location:
Utah, United States



Kelly is the mother of 5 adorable kids--4 boys and a girl. The girl came in a package with a boy (twins). Kelly is married to a charming young man who lives and breathes computers. They are also guardians for three nieces and a nephew.

She is active in the community having served as PTA President of a local elementary school, on the board of the Salt Lake Mothers of Twins, as a district round-table trainer with the Cub Scouts, as a volunteer for Sidelines (a support network for Women on bed rest during pregnancy) and she and her husband are active in the LDS Church.

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Salt Lake LDS Temple Centennial with a full 3D model of the building in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. This Single Image Stereogram was done at the 100 year anniversary of the building's completion.

Printed at 18x24 inches.







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"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

Helaman 5:12




Courtesy of Scott Kurtz


 

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Living off the land

My hubby decided to get creative the other day. Behind our lot is a field with a ton of weeds. Among those weeds grows some wild wheat. I say "wild" because no one planted it.

But, to my hubby, wheat is wheat. He thought, "this will be a great lesson for the kids." He gathered a bunch of it, put it in a pillow case and gathered the kids around. He put it on the patio and told the kids to hit the pillow case with sticks with all the energy they could muster.

Then we had the fun part. Separating the wheat from the non wheat. It helps if you have a bit of wind to blow the chaff away. After some effort we managed to get it all separated.

After grinding it into flour with our wheat grinder he made a loaf of bread.

This makes "living off the land" take on a whole new meaning.

Now, speaking of living off the land. We also planted a real vegetable garden. This has been thriving for the first time since we moved out to this house. We have been able to keep the deer away (for the most part) as we planted marigolds which the deer to NOT like.

We also discovered that if you plant green beens between rows of corn they grow a lot better.

In the bottom picture you will see our squash patch. We are growing zucchini (there is a joke about them that I will tell in a bit), bumpkins and spaghetti squash.

We are also growing carrots, leaf lettuce, chard, and tomatoes.

Now for the joke about zucchini:

Why do Mormons leave their cars locked during church in the summer time??

Its so their neighbors don't fill them up with zucchini while they are in church.

If you have ever grown zucchini you would understand why this is so funny.

Now I just hope my tomato plants will grow a bit faster.




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12 Comments:

On Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:31:00 AM, Blogger Brooke wrote...

I don't get the zucchini thing, but it's awesome that your kids got the experience with the wheat!

 
On Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:21:00 PM, Blogger Kelly wrote...

Zucchini is pretty good IF you can pick them soon enough. They can get pretty big.

The joke about the Mormons is because Mormons, especially in Utah, tend to grow this vegetable in their gardens because they are easy to grow.

 
On Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:05:00 PM, Blogger John M Olsen wrote...

Mmm. Whole wheat PBH sandwich. Felt like eating three sandwiches, since it didn't rise quite enough.

Home-grown zucchini comes in two quantities. Zero and more than you know what to do with. And we have something like four hills, with 2-3 plants each.

That means we will have more than we can possibly use, even if the deer eat half of them.

 
On Tuesday, July 15, 2008 4:47:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

The tomatoes are why they roll up their windows before they lock their car doors....

 
On Tuesday, July 15, 2008 7:59:00 PM, Blogger Kelly wrote...

Berty...LOL!

John, I think that one of our plants (zucchini) should be considered the sacrificial animal offering to keep the deer et al away from the other plants.

Now we just need to get some fruit trees and put up wards around them to keep out the deer.

 
On Thursday, July 31, 2008 7:35:00 PM, Blogger Phelonius wrote...

SHOOT the deer.

EAT the deer.

They are like the wheat and are an offering of God.

 
On Thursday, July 31, 2008 8:22:00 PM, Blogger Kelly wrote...

Oh!! that I could shoot those deer...

I love venison.

but, alas...

We live in city limits and shooting those pests is against the law.

 
On Tuesday, August 05, 2008 9:25:00 PM, Blogger nanc wrote...

kelly - we lost about thirty tomato plants to a cucumber virus - we have ONE PRODUCING PLANT left!

thankfully, our neighbors have plenty - i've just been trading them for homecanned goods.

as for the zoo-ki-neye - i hear you - it's not that hard to get one weighing four or five pounds.

 
On Wednesday, August 06, 2008 12:38:00 AM, Blogger Kelly wrote...

Nanc,

we have now picked about 4 gallon-sized zip bags full of green beans, an entire row of carrots and cut a few chard. We have pumpkins, zucchini and spaghetti squash growing at one end with the tomato plants (not tomatoes yet), corn and beans at the other. Unfortunately, the deer like the lettace...grrrrr

 
On Wednesday, August 06, 2008 4:57:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote...

If John stops by, tell him I was lying for the troll...

 
On Saturday, August 09, 2008 12:24:00 AM, Blogger nanc wrote...

do you have a good applesauce recipe - chunky with cinnamon? i'd like to do a case or two of quart jars as the arkansas black apples are out. i figure if i do the chunky type we'll be able to make apple crisp or pies this winter.

thankx.

 
On Saturday, August 09, 2008 10:10:00 AM, Blogger Kelly wrote...

Nanc, I don't have a recipe for chunky applesauce, although that does sound good. If I find one I will post it, though.

 

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