Harvest, Cook & Eat - Broccoli

Good morning. I am up and early this morning. Saw that we had a lot of broccoli, so my plan is to get out here and harvest broccoli this morning to get the sun in my eyes. And then I'm going to go in, I'll make my breakfast. So that's another thing I'm trying to implement is eating breakfast within 1 hour of waking up. And I will eat my breakfast, and then I will get this all blanched and in the freezer. Look, look at how gorgeous this is. Now see, this is a small one, so we'll let that one grow. This is a bigger head, but then this needs to be gotten. This needs to be gotten. What a beautiful morning. Oh, we decided to use this plastic weed fabric, and I want to— I want to share something. So for us in this season that we're in, we knew that if we left the ground uncovered underneath this— now we're not opposed to natural mulches, and we would like to find a natural mulch. In fact, we would love to do some sort of natural mulch in here. We haven't found it yet. We haven't found what works for us yet. In order to make our goals that we want to make this year, we're going to use the plastic weed fabric now. So as you can see, I, I I've got these weeds behind me that I pulled up, and they came out. So the broccoli failed here, here in these holes, and then those weeds took over. So you see how like we do still have weeds, like because we haven't weeded in here at all. So look right here, so there's weeds right there. We have not weeded at all in this broccoli. So can you imagine if the rest of this ground was uncovered and we had not weeded in here? We probably wouldn't have the harvest that we're having. So what we're trying to do is use the tools that are available to us to meet our goals. And me using plastic in my garden is better than me not being able to grow it well or— well or enough, and then having to buy it in the grocery store. Do I love the plastic? No, I don't. I don't really love it. I love it because it's allowed me to do what I want to do. But do I love that it's plastic? No. You just have to do what's best for you. And if you want to come out here and weed because like we have, we've done it before where we didn't and that makes you happy. But like, I just knew that we're still like, I'm still recovering from the death of my mom. I mean, I mean, my whole family is sad, but, you know, it hits me a little harder. We're recovering from Elaine. You know, like, I had big plans and they all kind of shifted, and that's okay. I'm just saying, like, give yourself grace in the season you're in, and this is us giving us grace. Y'all, there's so much broccoli here and cabbage and collards. Like, I'm slightly overwhelmed at this moment. What's this? Isn't that beautiful?

Golliges.

Here comes Justin. I'm hoping he's gonna save me. Will you come save me?

I think Rebecca's calling me to save her. You need saved?

Get out of here!

All right, that's a good problem to have.

Here you go.

You need a carrier.

I have, I have a basket down there.

She's vlogging. How do you guys like that? You have this pulled over and I guess you're just gonna leave the bug net off of it because No, it's fine.

I was gonna put it back on.

See, there's one right there. Is that tomorrow's?

Yeah, so I was kind of—

every day this week I was—

yeah, I'm gonna harvest every day and blanch every day. Um, and then I gotta do collards too.

Okay, these do come up through the little holes.

Yeah.

Okay, I hate the plastic on the garden, but I know this is wonderful. When would we have had time to tin this?

I don't know.

We just wouldn't get this kind of produce.

Exactly.

And our garden would just be—

I would rather have the plastic in my garden and grow this production than have to then run out and then have to buy at the grocery store.

I was thinking I might— you see where the onions we found out are finished? They're not ruined, they're just done growing. Yeah, that's a little patch that it would be hard to put a piece of plastic on it because it's so small. I was thinking about tilling it and then putting a thick layer of leaves. What do you think?

All of them? Even the ones that aren't falling?

No, not those.

Okay, and then putting leaves?

Yeah, cool and early. I love these mountains. Isn't it beat back to be nice in the nice cool mornings? Found our little plastic basket. Is that what you wanted?

Mm-hmm. I'm gonna need it all, I'm sure. This is amazing. This is so exciting.

Put her excitement into perspective. When we first got married, meal after meal after meal, broccoli. To the point where I was finally gently, do we have to keep having broccoli? Can we have some other kind of vegetable? And she's never lost the love, right?

Nope, my love is still very strong.

Strong enough to be up and at 'em at 7 AM, even before her precious protein breakfast. Let's finish on these weeds. Looks so much better. I'll say this, we practically take a week off the homestead to go to an event like Homestead Fest. You know, by the time we get ready, the 5 days we're gone, the time we break back down, a rest day, it's a week. And, um, that's a lot in June, and things get ahead of us. But reflecting on it, the energy I have now coming back, the encouragement I have from visiting Ruth Ann, visiting other speakers, visiting you all, meeting you all knowing who's behind this land. I think it's worth it. It's— that's, that's in the Ten Commandments of homesteading, to stay on the farm. But maybe one of the Ten Commandments should be also leave every once in a while to get rejuvenated and regenerated. And any gaps that happen from the farm sitter or whatever, probably worth it. Oh man, I could be all day in this garden. And probably not catch up. One thing I keep thinking about is one thing Ruthann told me. I don't think the cameras were rolling, but we were talking and she's like, this is really where it's at. This is really where the nutrient density, the payoffs are at. You burn more calories working the garden than the garden gives. The garden has to be the bonus. The animals have to be the priority. Thankfully, we're in a permaculture system where Well, the garden feeds the animals and the animals feed the garden. I'm not just gardening, I'm feeding the pigs.

So I went out, I went into the house, had some breakfast, got Henry. He, he's ready to, he's ready to rock and roll, and he is helping me harvest. He's picking them out. He, he has great commentary.

And what I want, this one is filled with It is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh, how do you cut it?

I cut it with a knife. Like this. It's beautiful, isn't it?

And there's another one.

Yeah, you like it?

This is a beauty.

It is.

And it's still here.

Yeah. Did you have a good breakfast?

I did. It was delicious. Henry ate with me.

He did.

Oh, should I get that one?

I think so.

You think?

Or leave it till tomorrow?

Yeah, I feel like we have so much here. Hold that knife.

Yeah, just leave till tomorrow. You'll have this much tomorrow. I know. Oh look, there's another big one right there. Where?

Right here?

Yeah.

Well, I kind of feel like I got the biggest ones today. Okay. And then tomorrow— I mean, this is gonna be a— it's gonna be an all-week job, you know?

Yeah.

I think that if we just do this, it's better because then nothing— like, if something lands, I mean, it can crawl underneath it, but at least somewhat protected, right?

You're gonna harvest it all before you— they get succumbed to bugs. You're gonna help carry that up?

No.

Okay, Rebecca, I'm about to take a break, look after the animals, and hopefully I can get done with time left to do something about those onions. And the corn and the potatoes are gonna have to wait. What is that?

I don't know.

Wow, do you like corn? You like corn? All right, I'm gonna help Mom cover these real quick. We could maybe do a wider bug net over the, uh, those hoop— the winter hoops. Henry, I found something. Henry and I are getting the chicken tractor out of the turkeys. We need to get them to Chickshaw. This handle got really small. Cable must have been cut if we did this. And I am not gonna— this is the new me. I'm not gonna spend any money on it. I'm not gonna spend any money if I can help it. This old electrical wire is flexible but also sturdy. Can I just wrap that? Like, this was in our trash pile. Is it Is that longer? Yeah, it's a little bit longer. See, I'm like bending over or I'm having to lift it like this and it's doing a wheelie and it's dragging the back. Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. First instinct isn't gonna be just, let's, let's buy a new cable. It works, it was free. Who's reusing? I should do a plans update. Just some old electrical, get some old electrical cable. It's the thing about these homestead builds is even if you're not going to build it exactly with its supply, you need that foundation. You're gonna build this out of scraps. Good job! Do you have to do my handle? Obviously not. You can do an old electrical one because that handle's probably $10. Hey boys, how are the cows? We've been keeping them in. They gave our farm sitter a run for the money. You know, there's a rush when you buy something, right? Well, I'm also noticing there's an equally satisfying, if not more satisfying, rush when you save something. When you save some money. This is the new me. House was more than we expected. We're gonna pay it off. We're gonna pay it off in crazy time. Saving more, earning more at the same time. Let's go find the chicken— the turkey shaw. It's way up there, Henry. Oh my God, that is definitely gonna crack. I could get a strap and maybe lower it down. I'm afraid if I hold the handles and lower it down, it might pull me off, and then I'd made a big mistake. And if this crashes down, then I've made a big mistake because then we have to fix something. The wise thing to do would be take the time, get the boys get the track loader and get it down. I'm gonna run tell the boys to come get this, okay? You can go too, or you can wait. I'll be back. Did you decide to come? All right, all right, spin your hand this way. There you go. Now do it. There it is. One reason I hesitated to get the machine is they're on their little mission. You can dump your grass in place and we'll go back and get it with the Sally. You know, I mow like 50 feet and it's full. It's a lot of grass clippings. It doesn't fill it up, it just clogs up. Get one, two— yeah, I know, because it's wet. Yeah. Okay, can you take a break and get the track loader and get me down the turkey shop?

The boys are coming in from the cows too. Will you help me carry this in, Josiah?

A lot of broccoli.

It is, and we got even more inside. I have got all my broccoli here. Is that not amazing? It looks so good. There is so much, and it is so exciting.

I got Jonah on that job. I hoped to have meat him, but then little man became hungry. We got him a little English breakfast, I guess. Some leftover baked beans and some eggs. Your mom and I visited England And they fed us eggs. They probably would have been under easy.

And they, and they had, and they had broccoli.

They fed us baked beans. Nope. And then I feel like they had some sort of sausage.

It was like bigger than our breakfast sausage.

Yeah. And I mean this in the kindest way possible when describing the food, it was bland. Oh, it's good, but it's nothing like my mother's ham biscuit, brickle brackle, and beans with fizzy wickets. It's just the style. I do think I saw the track letter go by, and then I saw it come back, so I think we missed that. Sorry. You want to go with me to get the turkey shaw? Okay, so I'll wait on you. Look at all this broccoli. I know you're gonna have just this much tomorrow.

Just today.

And you're gonna have just this much the third day, I'm afraid.

Yeah, we're gonna have—

you got a sink full You've got a table full. When are we going to do our 30-day quit the grocery store challenge?

I think August is probably the best. Yeah, we don't have any, um, travel.

So August, we're in full prep for totally cutting ourselves off from the grocery store. We don't want to suffer. Sure, I won't get my peanut butter, so I'm going to suffer a little bit. There'll be lots of other things to enjoy. He even brought it over here. Look, he even brought it here. I know, but there's no use. What do we want to do is move that feed and water close, and this will encourage them. You are tall. They'll think this is home, okay? They'll realize this is home. They're like, where's our chicken tractor. And you don't just move the chicken tractor right outside their paddock because they're still going to try to get to it. You got to get it out of sight. Let's go harvest. Henry's already got her started hoeing. We've got a weird thing going on here. Gideon didn't tear up these onions. A cow didn't come in here and wallow in these onions. These onions, for whatever reason, right through here are different variety than those. Well, they just laid down. See, they're done. They just bent over and laid down. Henry, let's collect all the onions and then we'll hoe this. We got to cover it. We could do leaves, we could do grass clippings, we could sow a buckwheat cover crop. Grass clippings are great because they decompose quickly. They are a nitrogen source, but we would need a lot of grass clippings. We need grass clippings for our raised beds. The negative is they decompose quickly, so I think we'll keep grass clippings for the small scale and the raised beds. These are Fantastic. And we've got a pile of leaves there, and they've decomposed already for 8 months. You might not have to chop them up. Generally you have to chop leaves up or they're going to block moisture from getting to your soil. I mean, you get these weeds to stop growing, we're gonna have to haul a ton of leaves. It would be a mulch, would be no plastic. We could do silage tarp, but it's kind of a small quirky area given our circumstances. Senses right now, we're gonna do a little combo. We're gonna weed everything, get the weeds out of here. We're gonna put compost down to be ready for our next planting. And then how about this, in this section, silage tarp, even though it's a tiny section. So just do— we'll just fold it in such a way. Let's do this heavy in leaves, and let's do this in cover crops. So first thing we're gonna do is hoe in here. It's a good bit of onions. You think we got them all, Lily?

Uh, yeah.

And the cleanup job is coming along nicely. They said, why are we gonna weed if the weeds are just gonna come back? I said, because if you let weeds get to seed, you're gonna have weeds sevenfold. For 7 years. Why clean the house? It's just gonna get dirty again. My produce curing rack, also in Homestead Builds. This works nicely for setting out sweet potatoes or onions or garlic. You want your garlic to cure for a couple of weeks, put it under the shade so it can't get wet. Can't get wet, get some wire mesh so air can circulate around these things. It didn't seem like a lot, but this is— there's a lot of onions. Okay, that's a nice harvest. Hoed once, we've raked it. We're gonna hoe one more time, rake again, and call it. This is kind of what we were looking at everywhere. Now it's turning into this. Homesteading is such satisfying work because usually you can see the change. By the end of the project. Pigs are getting spoiled today. What they don't eat, we'll compost, and we'll use that compost in this garden that's right here. We're gonna do a little bit of everything. Composting is a mulch too. Lily, you got the shovel? All right, let's go! It's 10:30. I told them we quit 11. You think we can do this in 30 minutes, Josie? So we have this compost on our bank. Every time we harvest, we flip— you flip the garden bed, you add compost. Josiah, that's why Josiah was pointing out that our potatoes are doing better on this 50 feet as opposed to that one. That's because that's old, and that means we've given it lots of compost over the years. We're gonna put compost on all of it. We're gonna leave from there to there, all this. Now we're gonna put— what do you think we'll need, 1, 2 loads of leaves? No, I think we don't need to shred them because they're so old, they're pretty fine. The trick here is gonna be putting this on thick, but not so thick you can't plant into it. I think that'll work nicely, actually. Now it took a whole bucket, the whole wheelbarrow, to get 10 feet. That'd take a lot. Okay, Lily, for that row, do— no, that's really thick. You just laid it really thick. You don't have to do it that thick. Okay, but you got to get all the way across. Get the pathways too, all the way to the end of the onions. We got the leaves on that. Hey, let's see if we can't pull— there's a sod tarp right there. Let's see if we can't somehow shimmy it and get it over here just on this section. I'm afraid weeds are going to grow up in there for sure in the, in the COVID crop. Weeds are going to grow up in the wood, in the leaves, but not as badly. These are not going to come up through the Pretty excited.

Like, it's a pinch-me moment. It's a— we've been growing broccoli in general, it's gonna be difficult. And so then last year I feel like we nailed it, even though we had weed problems and stuff like that. I felt we, we did really well. And then this year I just feel like we have surpassed what we thought we Oh, you've got a lot of food for the pigs.

It's a lucky day for them. You've got a pile of broccoli, then she's drying it out, so that's where I come in. What work crew is this, babe?

This is a motley crew.

What's their job?

They're gonna put Broccoli entrees.

All right, come on here, guys.

Okay, we are ready to vacuum seal. Just pack them in bags. Bud, come help Mama. Like this.

There we go, it's done.

It's already done. Going to get these back in the freezer. They froze beautifully. I would like to talk a little bit about plastic in food preservation use. Sure, we have our glass jars. I have gone down the rabbit hole. I've tried. Um, there is not an easy way to preserve without using plastic that I have found. I mean, broccoli cannot be canned. I'm trying in the freeze dryer, which then will be sealed in a jar, so that's an option. Just know that I don't love using plastic, but it's just one of those necessary evils.

Well, it's all cleaned up and you're gonna cook a fresh batch of broccoli.

Yep.

How do you cook broccoli?

Uh, just a little bit of water in the bottom, like steam it.

How long?

Until it's done.

No, I don't have it. Put it in the cookbook. Put it in the cookbook.

So tender. So what I do is I turn it up to high. When steam starts coming out the lid, I turn it down to like 3.

Okay.

And then in like 5 minutes I'll check it.

And then what else are you cooking?

I've got sweet potatoes. We're gonna do mashed sweet potatoes.

Okay. And we got what we call breezy pie, aka meatloaf, going. It's at 120. Probably be done by 5 o'clock, don't you think? You need to leave enough for everybody. It's gonna be hot. She put cheese in it. That's how you do your broccoli. So after it was done, what, salt and cheese and butter? Broccoli was delicious. It's gone. Cool thing is you froze that, dealt with that within an hour. There ain't no fresher. So when we break that open in February, yeah, it'll be nice. It'll be the taste of June. End of day. Freezer's starting to fill up with broccoli. That's gonna be so good come all winter. Happy day. There's more to come this week.