Homemade Living: Saving Tomato Seeds

I've always been intrigued by the idea of saving seeds from the current season's harvest to plant the following year. We've made plans in the past to save seeds, but for some reason just never got around to it. This year, we were determined to try it out with our tomatoes since we had success with several different varieties.

You may remember a previous post in this series where I wrote about our black cherry tomatoes and how they were my favorite from this year. In addition to the black cherries, we also had good luck with some red and yellow cherries, yellow pears, and San Marzanos.

In order to save the seeds, we picked the best tomatoes and waited until they were really ripe. We cut them in half, then squeezed out all the seeds and juice into a jar. To each jar, we added a little bit of water then covered the jar with plastic wrap and let it sit for 2-3 days.

You want the seeds and water mixture to ferment, so when a thin film is covering the seeds, they are ready to rinse and dry. Simply rinse the seeds in a fine mesh sieve until they are clean, then spread out to dry in a coffee filter or on parchment paper. Once the seeds are completely dry, they are ready for storage.

We labeled different envelopes with the name of each tomato seed so we wouldn't get them confused, and have the seeds stored in the envelopes for next year. I was surprised at how easy the seed saving process was, and I'm really excited to see how the seeds do in next summer's garden. But I think I'm most excited about the fact that we hopefully won't have to buy any tomato seeds next year!

Do you save any of your seeds?

~Tammy

This week in the Homemade Living series, I am joined by Mary and Jackie in posting about how we incorporate homemade items into our lives. Next week Daisy, Staci, and our new blogger, Sue, will be up. If you have some free time, please check out the other posts in this weekly series!

Shared with Cottage Tails, From the Farm Blog Hop  

Sylvester & Emma

Saturday was the perfect lazy day. I got home really late Friday night after seeing The Lumineers in St. Louis with my sister (it was awesome!) and wanted to just relax on Saturday. The chilly, dark, rainy weather was conducive to lounging, so David and I enjoyed couch time under a pile of blankets.

Mid-afternoon, I peeked out the kitchen door to see how all the animals were doing, and noticed Sylvester making himself cozy on the back porch while hiding from the rain.

I gave him a little pet and went back inside for some more couch time. A bit later, I peered back out the door again and this time saw Sylvester had a cuddle buddy.

No matter your species, rainy weekend days truly are best spent cuddling with those you love. Just when I thought they couldn't get any cuter, this happened.

It has been so heartwarming to see how Sylvester has taken Emma under his wing (er, paw?) and welcomed her to our homestead. I didn't expect anything less of him, because he has shown us in the past that he is a lover, not a fighter. Seeing these two together always makes me smile and makes my day that much brighter.

Do any of your animals have special bonds?

~Tammy

Shared with From the Farm Blog Hop, Tuesday Muse  

Feathered Friend Friday: Guineas On The Homestead

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here.      

Just the other day I was thinking about how at first I really didn't like our guineas at all, but now it's hard to imagine our homestead without them.

Aside from the fact that they eat up tons of ticks and bugs and lay amazingly delicious eggs, they actually are quite entertaining and charming. It wasn't always that way, though, because at first they were so loud it was nearly unbearable for us to be outside. After we had our original flock of 16 on lockdown for their first six months to be sure they would always return, we let them out to free range. And chaos ensued.

They do make great "watchdogs" because if they sense any threat they will scream very loudly. However, when first let out to free range, everything seemed like a threat to them because they weren't quite familiar with their surroundings. A simple butterfly fluttering by could send a rush of panic through the flock and result in deafening screams. Just about the time when I said I'd had it and thought about getting rid of them somehow, they got quiet and became pleasant and enjoyable.

I guess they knew what was good for them! Now they follow me around for treats (sunflower seeds) and make sweet little noises while going about their business. In the mornings they tend to range out pretty far and I usually see some of them across the street visiting the neighbor's cows in their pasture. Towards the end of the day they come  back and hang out by the house until it's time to roost in the trees for the night.

The guineas get along just fine with the chickens, cats, and Duchess. Occasionally they fight amongst themselves, but we don't see squabbles very often. All in all, our homestead is a peaceful one, something I never thought I'd say two years ago this time!

~Tammy

Shared with From the Farm Blog Hop 

World Day For Farmed Animals

Today marks the 30th annual World Day for Farmed Animals (WDFA). On this day, organizations and individuals rally to raise awareness of the conditions farmed animals face each day. Out of the estimated 65 billion food animals killed annually worldwide, the vast majority of them are raised on large factory farms.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that animals are routinely mistreated in the food industry. Before starting our journey to self-sufficiency and really learning about where our food comes from, I had no idea what went on in large scale commercial farms. When we got our first flock of chickens, they sparked an interest in me to research the food industry and I was appalled by what I learned.

If you don't know what goes on in factory farms each day, watch this short video. Be warned - it is graphic and extremely hard to watch. You may have to look away from the screen a few times and may shed a few tears, but it's nothing compared to what these animals have to go through.

I eventually became a vegetarian after wrestling with these issues. For me, that was the best solution. But I'm not naive - I do realize not everyone will stop eating meat after watching this video. Becoming a vegetarian was the right solution for me, but I don't want to force it on anyone else. I feel like it's a very emotional and cultural choice and I never want to come across as a crazy fanatic, but this issue is something very important to me.

My hope is that if you are affected by this video, you will research to find a place to buy your food where you can meet the farmers and know that the animals at least had a shot at happy lives. A wonderful resource is Local Harvest. You can search for farmers in your area that sell products from their own farms.

I know this post is a bit of a departure, but animal welfare is a big passion of mine and I feel like I have to share what I've discovered with others. If you want to know more of my story or have any other questions about this post, feel free to email me (tdbarani@yahoo.com). I'd be more than happy to talk to you.

Since I can't do a post without a photo, I'll leave you with this shot of our happy boys free ranging this foggy morning (and also one of my favorite quotes).

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated." - Mahatma Gandhi

~Tammy