Mranimal Farm

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Gardening

How to Freeze Blueberries – the Best Way to Preserve Blueberries

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Have you ever done this?  You get super jazzed up about something and maybe go a tad overboard.  Then you sit and wonder what the heck you’ve done!

A few summers ago I went on a grocery shopping trip and found organic blueberries on sale.  I LOVE blueberries! I am not going to totally embarrass myself by admitting how many pints of fresh blueberries I bought that day.  Let’s just say A LOT!

I have a hard time turning down a good deal on something I love, what can I say?  Well, I got all those delicious blueberries home and had to figure out the best way to preserve my blueberries.  I figured out how to freeze blueberries and will never have to be without them again!

Freeze Blueberries

(Since that sale shopping frenzy, I have purchased my OWN blueberry bushes.  So, I still freeze blueberries all the time in the summer.)

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Unusual Vegetables – Fun & Funky Crops to Try Growing

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Unusual Vegetables – Fun & Funky Crops to Try Growing

By Aurelien Guichard (Flickr: Borough Market) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Unusual vegetables can be a really fun addition to your garden.  Of course, you will probably always have your standard go-to’s like green beans or romaine lettuce.  However, if you want to add a little color or some cool shapes and sizes to your crops, there are some fun and funky unusual vegetables you can try growing.

5 Unusual Vegetables for Your Garden:

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Easiest Vegetables To Grow: Easy & Productive Crops for New Gardeners

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Our first year gardening there was a fear we were going to do all this planning and planting and then nothing would grow.  Some plants are tricky, but there are also some of the easiest vegetables to grow.  If you are a new gardener (or just a gardener looking for some easy crops), then you should try these!Easy and Productive Crops

Don’t limit yourself to vegetables!  You can also grow these edible flowers!

Top 4 Easiest Vegetables To Grow:

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Best Plant for Novice Gardeners – Peppers

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If you have never planted a garden before, or perhaps you just don’t have a “green thumb” there is one plant you should definitely try.

I have to admit, our garden does well enough, but we aren’t the best gardeners ever.  Part of that is due to the fact that we have a lot of other things going on which take precedence to things like weeding.  There have been many garden seasons where we had several crops fail.  Each year it seems like something new happens.  However, there is one crop that ALWAYS does well….

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Save Money on Heirloom Seeds for Your Garden!

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We have been buying non-GMO, organic seeds online for several years.  Saving money is important to us and we thought we were doing SUPER well by buying seeds each year in November on a Black Friday sale.  The fact is that we were saving money on vegetable seeds for our garden.  And, also, gardening in and of itself saves SO much money each year on produce.  However, there is an even better way to save money on heirloom seeds for your garden!  Buying heirloom seeds in BULK can really give you a very significant savings!save money on heirloom seeds…

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Freezing Peppers – How to Easily Preserve Peppers (any kind!)

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Freezing Peppers - How to Easily Preserve Peppers (any kind!)

Ok, I will admit it here, we may have planted 6 varieties of peppers this year that took  up 3 full boxes in our garden.  It was, shall I say, overkill.  Seriously, we brought in so many peppers, I am ashamed to say that the last harvest actually sat on our counter and eventually had to be tossed (if only I had thought about freezing peppers then!)

Generally, we try to use everything on our homestead, so letting peppers go to waste was a big no-no.  So, we needed to find a way to preserve these peppers!  Let me tell you, freezing peppers is the best way to preserve your peppers. Wanna know why?  Well, I am going to fill you in.

If you have been growing peppers then you know two things already:  First, they are SUPER easy to grow.  Second, there are all different types of peppers.  So, you (like us) may get carried away and end up with tons and tons of peppers coming in from your garden.

And if you haven’t planned for any peppers in your garden, grab some pepper seeds and get them started.  You won’t regret it, I promise!
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