Blog

I decided to enter our Beefsteak Tomatoes, California Wonder Peppers, Sugar Pie Pumpkins and Provider Green Beans in the Woodstock Fair. Woodstock CT is a town which borders on our town of Union.This Fair was founded in 1809 in Pomfret CT. It has 50 areas of fair grounds and welcomed 175,000 people this year. It is always held on Labor Day week-end. I was delighted to get three first prize ribbons and one second. My cousin, who also entered, won a first prize for her chestnuts and a second for... Read more →

Summer is such a busy time of the year. I began my canning this year with 25 pints of Bread & Butter Pickles. Two days ago 11 quarts of stewed tomatoes went into the jars. Many more tomatoes are slated to be canned. We like Tomato juice and Salsa as well as stewed tomatoes. They say that tomatoes are very healthy for you I know they taste delicious! Tomorrow I will be harvesting beets to make Pickled Beets. My grandma had a great pickled beet recipe and that is the... Read more →

Our garden has been producing food for quite some time now. We have been enjoying broccoli,cabbage,peppers,lettuce, spinach and beet greens. I froze 5 meals of broccoli so far. The corn and tomatoes are looking wonderful! I had to replant our cucumbers as cut worms cut many of my first plants off. I dug around the cucumbers and found the worms. They are no longer a problem! Read more →

Today, I will set out my Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage plants, they were started inside the end of February. Every day for about a week I have been hardening the plants by putting them outside during the day for increasing amounts of time. That way they will be acclimated to outside weather. Cabbage can take a light frost and here in New England nights can be a bit frosty this time of year. I will also plant lettuce, spinach, beets, dill and peas. These vegetables thrive on cool temperatures. Read more →

The corn that we sell at Seed for Security, was bred here on our farm years ago, before GMO seeds were available. Our farm is surrounded by tall mature hardwood forest land. Our corn germination rate is 95% this year. Every year I grow more corn to have a steady fresh supply of seed. According to Suzanne Ashworth, in her book Seed to Seed, Flint corn will retain a high germination rate for up to 10 years and sometimes much longer. This corn, when ground into meal, makes delicious... Read more →

Today, I will be sowing my Beefsteak Tomato seeds.I start my tomato seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost date. Several weeks ago I started Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage, California Wonder Peppers and Parsley seeds. Those plants are now ready to transplant into 3"X3" pots. Pepper and Parsley seeds take longer to germinate than tomatoes or cabbage.Tomatoes and peppers are very frost sensitive but cabbage and parsley can take a light frost. All of these factors must be keep in mind when starting seeds. Read more →

Since it does take some time to soak, cook and simmer Boston Baked Beans, why not cook larger batches and freeze or can some of them for later meals? The usual recipe calls for soaking the dry beans in water over night. Change the water a couple times. Then cook the beans by boiling hard for an hour or two. To save a lot of both cooking time and fuel use a pressure cooker for 30 minutes instead. I prefer to use stainless steel pressure cookers for cooking foods and... Read more →

Native Americans all across the USA planted these three crops for a very good reason. By combining them in there diet they had a base of complete nutrition. It is not just any kind of beans. corn and squash. You need to grow mature dry beans, corn as a grain and winter keeping squash. String beans, sweet corn and summer squash will not do. Neither beans or corn develop protein until fully mature and dry. Summer squash has almost no calories and not that much in the way of vitamins.... Read more →

Whether you are planting a garden this year or saving seeds for a future garden you need the freshest seed available. All seeds do have a shelf life and deteriorate over time. Start with recently harvested seed which is the freshest seed available. When saving seed for long term storage Buy fresh seed to start with. Store fully dry seeds in a cool, dry location. Freeze seeds for the longest shelf life. The seeds that we sell are fresh. Take a look are my garden photos... Read more →

It has been a very busy Winter. Between packing and shipping orders I have shucked the last of Grandpa Neffs beans and am in the process of extracting the corn kernels from our Flint Corn. I have finished my germination tests for this season and am happy to say they far surpass government standards. Fresh seed is the key to the longest viability possible. Next month I will be starting pepper, cabbage, and eggplant under grow lights in my kitchen. About the third week of March I will start my... Read more →