Tag: raspberry

  • Fall 2025

    November has started in the PNW in the typical dark and rainy fashion. But that just means, indoor projects and hobbies!

    I have continued to work on getting the free fruit processed. The Liberty apples are applesauce, canned and stored on a shelf in the garage.

    Garage shelf with applesauce as well as freeze dried meats and broth. And cool storage for onions & potatoes

    The cider apples are pending processing. Once I finished that box, I’m done with this batch of fruit. These will get sliced and either freeze-dried or frozen.

    The pears were diced and freeze-dried. And also turned into vanilla pear butter. I have it in the fridge and need to water bath can it so it will store well.

    The hubby & I cleared out the den closet and rearranged and added a couple of new shelves. It’s not finished yet, but so far it has drastically helped the storage ability of that closet! I look forward to filling it with more goodies.

    New shelves in den closet with a lot more room to expand! I have it sorted by fruits, vegetables and ready-to-eat meals. Broths are in the kitchen cupboards and in the garage. And meats are in the garage.

    One great thing about cleaning out that closet was getting all of the freeze-dried food organized. We have quite a bit of fruit and vegetables.

    I was able to see how many pre-made meals we have available. I’ll need to work on getting more ready for next summer’s backpacking adventures!

    If you’ve ever thought about getting a freeze-dryer yourself, Harvest Right is running their Black Friday sale *during the month of November. Check it out! All freezer-dryers are discounted this month!

    old-style Small Harvest Right freeze-dryer.

    One project I’ll be working on after finding some old seat covers from the RV is to repurpose those to make a cover for the freeze-dryer. Since I have it in the garage, we always have to remember to throw a tarp or a towel over it when my husband is doing anything in the garage that will make a lot of dust.

    The jam shelf is also filling up this fall. We don’t eat a ton of jam so I’m finding that if I make small batches every other year, that gives us plenty.

    Apple butter, quince jam, ‘raspbarb’ (raspberry/rhubarb) jam and tayberry jam

    One thing I plan on doing each spring is to turn any leftover frozen berries into jam. Once the berries start coming in, I need room in the freezer for the fresh ones so will clear out the previous seasons.

    I hope your autumn is going well and you’re looking forward to Thanksgiving! I’m grateful that you’re reading my blog! Thanks!!

    (*this is an affiliate link which means I’ll make a % of any sales that result from you clicking through my link)

  • Garden – June 2025

    My garden is growing!

    I wasn’t sure how things would work with being gone at the wrong times this year, but thankfully things seem to be chugging along.

    Some things are just plain slow, and I need to do some education to figure out why (beets – yeah, you!!). And some things are plugging along as expected and should be ready to harvest on time soon (peas – way to go babies!!)

    In the main garden, I have a couple of volunteer potatoes. I didn’t buy seed potatoes this year. I had a couple of potatoes from last year that had sprouted. There was also a leftover store-bought organic russet that I used as well. Time will tell how any of those turn out.

    I’ve tried planting things more interspersed to not waste space, but also to hopefully have things that help one another. Since beets prefer cooler weather, I’ve planted bush beans in between the row of beets.

    (Maybe I should take a gardening class – its all one big experiment)

    The berries that line one side of the main garden are all doing well. The Logan Berries skipped last year but appear to be a bumper crop this year. Tayberries are already ripening. And the Boysenberry has a lot of blossoms.

    First Tayberry harvest

    The side garden is doing well. We added a hog panel as a trellis. The tubers, squash and cucumbers all need something to climb. I planted zucchini, yellow summer squash as well as spaghetti squash and delicata squash. Thankfully, at least 1 of each one has come up.

    Cucumbers are planted along both sides of the trellis.

    My hubby planted about 4x more tubers this year. Now to figure out how to cook them properly to eat them!

    The side yard also has most of the rhubarb, raspberries and the biggest, more prolific blueberry bushes. The raspberries are beginning to ripen, and I picked the first one last night.

    A couple other random things that are coming along – the black currants and honey berries are almost ready to harvest.

    The main potatoes are in a pot and doing really well! I can’t wait for the blossoms! Have you ever smelled a potato blossom? Seriously, why has no one ever come up with using that scent??

    Goji berries are going crazy and starting to ripen. The quince tree has lots of little quince growing. And the tomatoes are in the ground. (I have basil and parsley planted nearby. These were from seed so they’re VERY behind)

    The flowers throughout the yard are beautiful and doing well. The peonies are just about finished up. The allium look gorgeous. And the sedum I planted in the fall from the neighbor are all doing well.

    Alpine strawberries are ripening. I took a couple of shoots last year and managed to keep two of them alive over winter. I’ve planted those near the asparagus as they’re supposed to be great companion plants.

    For missing April and getting things started, I’m pretty happy with how things are going. I’m gearing up for the July harvest as the blueberries ripen up.

    I’m hoping to harvest 100 lbs. If I get that much, great. If I don’t, that’s great too!