Sweet Potato Homestead

winter tea blend: t is for toasty

I thought I was used to New England winters but it seems that Maine turns the dial a little further down. Along with using the propane fireplace, multiple sweatshirts and big and small warm doggies, a hot tea helps keep the chill off.

I made this blend after getting the COVID booster and thoroughly getting my ass kicked but it’s a good blend to warm you up any time you need it.

I didn’t use any measurements with the ingredients so make flavor adjustments where you’d like but the ginger and black peppercorn are essential for keeping you warm.

I used the following that I had either grown or bought previously.

Ginger (dried into pieces or powdered, I had dried some a couple of years ago so I used that)
Turmeric (powdered)*
Black Oolong Tea (used as a base but other teas can be used)
Orange Mint (dried from a previous garden)
Black Peppercorn (whole pieces, optional)

I used a shallow wooden dish to combine things for the aesthetic~

Combine the loose ingredients in a jar and use a metal or cloth tea strainer to steep the tea. Add honey, more turmeric or ginger and enjoy hot~

_{*add directly to container instead of in mixing bowl, it’s a pain to scoop out powder. Shake in container to combine.}

gardening but inside

Since moving to Maine in the fall, and leaving a hopefully thriving garden in Rhode Island, I have been daydreaming about the various gardens, orchards and food forests we’re going to establish here. But until then, I wanted to try my hand at growing some things inside. With supply chain issues bogging down deliveries, produce doesn’t seem to last as long as it could. To be fair about my laziness, I definitely am bad about waiting until the greens, beets or apples have gone past their prime before I consider eating them. Until I can preserve and store things from the home garden, I’m going to grow some greens inside~

For reference, I’m using the book Indoor Kitchen Gardening by Elizabeth Millard. She’s great at explaining what you can grow inside (peppers!, baby carrots, greens) and how to best care for them. I’m not going to attempt peppers just yet since my counter space is limited but I did start a few things that have started to come up.

With greens being the quickest thing to turn into slime, it’d be nice to grow a leaf or six and eat something healthy while getting entombed in snow. The greens I’ve planted are spinach, chard, kale and lettuce. So far, the kale has been growing the best despite the cold windowsill. Spinach and chard are tied for 2nd but their little baby leaves are cute and I’m rooting for them. /pun

I did plant some container carrots that haven’t sprouted and I’m not expecting them to be prolific growers, but if the dogs get some extra carrot treats they’ll be happy. Along side the greens and to help supplement our herb usage, the thyme I put on the windowsill has exploded with growth and I’m really excited to see how they do. Now if I could just not kill every rosemary plant I bring into the house, that would be great.

Just a couple of more months until Spring (then a couple more for New England Spring), but until then I’ll be getting ready to start dozens of seeds for the true garden.

why maine

Originally New Hampshire was going to be our new home, 30’ yurt and all~

As we started to look for land in the granite state there was a lot we wanted in a property that didn’t seem available. Ideally, we wanted some sort of water feature, more than 10 acres, and a reasonable place to set up our yurt. We did find a couple of lots that we saw in person but between the location, questionable neighbors and price vs acreage, New Hampshire didn’t seem like a good fit. Maine, on the other hand, seemed like just what we were looking for. With recreational weed, no tacky Rhode Island-esque billboards and an antique store every block or so, Maine felt like a new home.

Wading through Zillow we found a lot more options. Cheap cheap cheap land on a mountain (read: a tall-ish hill), water features, great vistas, Maine had it all. After seeing a couple of lots and reminding ourselves we had a yurt to build, buying an already existing house was a more attractive idea. Thankfully we were able to get our deposit back from Pacific Yurts and began looking at homes that more or less fit our homestead criteria.

Up until our Rhode Island closing date, we either spent weekends packing and driving up to storage, or meeting our realtor and the various homes we bombarded him with. Finally in July, we saw this place and thought we found the one. I wasn’t sold on it at first as I thought it was ugly in the front and it still is, but now it’s our ugly house. An ugly house with an incredible view that changes with the weather, ~19 quiet acres for the dogs and us to play on, and a sleepy town of maybe 1000 people.

quick weather chnages provide dramatic views

I love it here~