North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style
Hello there!
I’m so excited to share with you that this little blog has received an honorable mention by From Scratch Magazine as one of the top homesteading blogs!
Each year we always wind up with lots of leftover seeds for most of the vegetables we grow in our garden. We try to reuse what we can, but after a few years it becomes hard to determine whether it is worth it to plant them in case of low germination rates.
 |
| old seed packets from last year or the year before |
 |
| new seed packets that I received as a Christmas gift 🙂 |
That is where testing old seeds for germination can help save some money by reusing old seed! I think it’s a good idea to do this anyway with saved seed from your garden to see if you are doing a good job of seed saving methods.
To test for germination, the process was pretty simple and there are multiple ways you can go about doing it. What I did was begin with a wet paper towel, place roughly 10 seeds onto the paper towel and then fold it two or three times on each other with the seeds in it. Label the paper towel and seal in a plastic bag or other airtight container.
 |
| tomato seeds placed on a wet paper towel |
 |
| paper towel folded over and placed into ziplock plastic bag with a label |
Make sure the paper towels remain moist. I placed several seeds with labels on top together in one plastic bag to save on plastic baggies.
In about 3 to 10 days, you should be able to check and see if your seeds have germinated. With ten seeds, you want to have at least 6 of them germinate to have a good rate. If my rate on a particular veggie is less than 60%, I will plan on buying a new packet of seed for that plant.
 |
| The pickling cucumber seeds did fantastic- they passed with flying colors! |
 |
| The KY Wonder Pole Bean seeds passed as well- these were given to me by a family member |
This year in addition to using a lot of our leftover seeds, we plan to purchase new some hybrid tomato seeds (canning and slicing), Sungold cherry tomatoes, some spinach, strawberries, October beans, peppers, herbs, potatoes, onions, and garlic.
 |
| Seed catalogs- I love looking through them during the winter 🙂 |
It’s almost time to start our seedlings for veggies to be transplanted in the early spring. Yikes! Have you planned out your garden yet?
I’ve had a lot of interest in my post on shuck beans, so I thought I’d expand on this topic and talk a little bit about my experience with making this southern mountain delicacy. Shuck beans were a way to enjoy beans during the winter, and from what I understand traditionally were eaten around the Holidays.
I first learned about and tasted shuck beans (some people call them shucky beans or leather britches) from my mother-in-law. She is from Harlan, Kentucky and grew up eating these beans.
The first time we dried shuck beans we really didn’t know what we were doing–in fact, we didn’t de-string them well enough. Oops! We strung them up and hung to dry in a cool spot in our house, and then I brought them home to KY with me for my mother-in-law to teach me how to cook.
 |
| These shuck beans were in the spring house of a mid 19th century home in Yancey County, NC. They had obviously been hanging there for many many years! |
Instead of the traditional way of boiling with some sort of pork fat, she let them cook for a long time on the stove with olive oil for a healthier version. They actually turned out not too bad, but not nearly as good as I had had before. The next time we made them she brought back some wonderful shuck beans from famous heirloom gardener Bill Best, and we made them at my house together. They were very tasty.
To start, you need your beans. We grew greasy beans in our garden last year, along with some half-runners which I’ve heard are some of the best kind to use for shuck beans. If you can’t grow your own, see if your farmer’s market has some of these varieties. Some farmer’s markets will even have already dried shuck beans ready for cooking 🙂
Next you will need to remove the tough strings from all your beans. Then with a needle and thread, string them together in bunches and hang up in a dry cool spot. You may also be able to use a food dehydrator for faster drying of the beans. Or, you can break them into smaller pieces and let them air dry in the sun. Most of the time your beans will need to dry for at least a couple of months. I believe you can dry them for a very long time before they go bad.
Once they are ready for cooking, you will need to soak them overnight. Once soaked overnight you can start cooking them with whatever type of fat you plan to use. Some people use salt bacon, some use fatback, others canola oil.
 |
| one of my first attempts at hanging beans up to dry |
 |
| A failed attempt at shuck beans–these beans I did not let grow large enough before picking. |
 |
| traditional shuck beans cooking on the stove |
Cook the beans in enough water to cover until boiling and them simmer for a couple hours more or until very tender. Continue cooking until the water has cooked all the way down, stirring to avoid scorching the beans.
I’d love to hear about your experiences with shuck beans. Any tips for cooking them that I left out above? Please share!
Roasted pumpkin seeds are one of my favorite fall snacks. They are not only healthy for you as a good source of zinc and other nutrients but they are also incredibly easy to make.
You can use the seeds of any squash, not just pumpkins.
Simply remove and wash the seeds in a colander, then spread on a towel to dry. I usually end up cooking my pumpkin in the oven so that I can then freeze the roasted pumpkin flesh. Once cooked, the skin of the pumpkin peels off easily.
Toss in a bowl with some olive oil to coat and seasoned salt. Spread on a baking sheet and roast on 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until browned.
You can use many other flavor combinations for the seeds if you like, adjusting the seasonings to make a spicy or cajun mix, or even a sweet and salty one with cinnamon sugar. My favorite is just the classic seasoned salt but you can certainly get creative!
Sharing with:
Clever Chicks Blog Hop
I have wanted to purge, reorganize, and beautify our pantry for quite some time. We tried reorganizing a while back when I transferred several staples to glass jars and got rid of some things that were unhealthy or overly processed. However, the pantry slowly crept back to its state of usual disorder.
I’ve been tackling the pantry little by little for months now, so I thought I would show you a peek of my progress:
Our pantry is located in a kitchen closet lined with shelves and fortunately the ceiling is high so there is a lot of vertical space for storage. It’s sometimes tight fitting into the pantry and we never have enough room to store everything! I’m sure I’m not the only one with that problem 🙂
 |
| condiments, sauces, oils and vinegars and held together on a tray- the tiny bottles are different speciality types of balsamic vinegars and olive oils |
 |
| canned goods are together and the chicken wire basket holds canning lids and rims |
I did a major clean sweep and made some structural changes in order to see and fit things much better. I also tried to group like items by function and located the most used things in the easiest to reach places.
 |
| my baking supplies are corralled together on this shelf |
Our pantry holds items such as:
I added a skirt in some brown check fabric to hide the miscellaneous items and make for a softer look.
I have never been a fan of this rack on the inside of the pantry door, but it does hold a lot of random stuff that we don’t use too often. I’m hoping to gradually get rid of a lot of this stuff and simplify down to the basics.
The biggest change we made was adding a fourth shelf to the pantry (lowest shelf). It really provides so much more storage and of course we had no trouble filling it up. My hubby also constructed more open shelving just outside of the pantry door overtop of our trash can to match our other open shelving. Right now we are storing our Berkey Water Filter there, along with coffee and tea supplies, cook books, plus some other odds and ends.
 |
| shelving outside pantry door |
My goal is to gradually whittle away items that are probably not great for a real foods-based diet. Things like white flour and white sugar, processed or boxed items that can be replaced by healthier alternatives, and any unhealthy snacks.
 |
| a chicken chalkboard wall hanging for jotting down supplies needed |
I feel like the pantry is more functional and now that I can see everything cleanly organized. It helps me to avoid duplicating items and it’s easy to see what staples need to be replenished.
