Life on the Homestead

A Feast From The Farm

2012-02-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day. A day for doing something special for the one you love. My husband and I have been together 28 years. Married for 20 of those years. At the risk of sounding incredibly sappy, we still adore each other. We are blessed. Today was to be the first Valentine's day that we have been alone together in quite a while. Not that I mind having the kids here and a bit sad because they aren't.
I decided to make a surprise feast for my hubby. I wanted to use what we raised here at the farm for the most part (darn it, we don't raise lobsters!) and for it all to be homemade. I had been perusing cookbooks for the last few days and finally settled on lemon chicken, carrot orzo and steamed broccoli ( the LAST of the broccoli ). Our appetizer was to be jalapeno chevre and crackers and for dessert mini eclairs with an espresso cream filling drizzled with homemade chocolate sauce...

Once he left for work, I sprang into action. I thawed the chicken breasts and laid out the goat cheese left from the fall. I made the eclair puffs and when the first batch didn't suit me, I tossed them to the chickens and made another. I made the cream filling and set it to chill and finished the chocolate sauce. I chopped the veggies for the orzo, carrots, onions and garlic, all from the farm. I harvested fresh parsley and chives from the herb garden. Everything was ready to put together easily and quickly. Then I headed to the gym for a quick workout. Once home, I tended all the critters. Co-op was due in today and made a quick trip to meet our driver. That picked up and distributed, I got home and set the table for the surprise feast.

The lemon chicken was divine and the orzo was thick and creamy, made risotto style. The cheese had just the right hint of heat. And dessert? Wow!

Trying Something New

2012-02-13T06:14:00.000-08:00

We have 2 English setters. One has allergies that get so bad in the summer, he has to be on multiple meds and steroids. Each summer has gotten progressively worse. Last summer was so bad, that it crossed my mind he would be better off being put to sleep than enduring the misery he was in. Come winter time, he regrows all his hair, his skin clears up and he looks like a normal dog once again. Outside of spending hundreds of dollars for testing and more medications that may or may not help,( which I was prepared to do), we were posed to spend yet another miserable summer. A few months ago a veterinarian brought his goat here to be bred. We chatted about his problems and he felt he could help. Today I journeyed to Kings Mountain to meet with a this veterinarian. He is a holistic vet, though able to dispense drugs he prefers to take the more natural route first. We are going to try using homeopathy for the allergies and supplements to boost the immune system. It made perfect sense to me. How did he decide what he was allergic to? Through muscle testing. Quite an interesting visit! We came home with a concoction mixed especially for him that included allergens to grasses, trees in this area and pollen. Things may need to be tweaked but this is a start and I am hopeful. I will keep you posted!
Being that Kings Mountain is an hour away, a good chunk of my day was taken and once home it was time to jump on chores. Today was warmer so it wasn't bad being outside and I enjoyed the sunshine. I did manage to get a few weeds plucked out of the herb beds but much work remains to be done there. Ah well, another day!

Oh Yeah, It's Cold!

2012-02-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

17 * this morning. The wind is still blowing, though not as hard as last night. Yesterday I kept thinking someone was at the door and each time it was the leaves tinking on the windows. It blew hard most of the night. Doug and I took turns putting wood on the fire in hopes of keeping the heat from clicking on too much. I swear one of these days that big wood furnace is going to appear outside and my dependence on the electric and gas companies will drop one more notch....
All was fine in the barnyard and chores were quickly done. Shovels were used to break the ice in the buckets. More hay was put out. Tonight promises to be quit cold once again and then things will level out and be more normal.
I called to see how the greenhouse fared and was thrilled to hear our heating plan had worked and the temperature in there was 47* this morning! Not one seedling was lost. Ya-hoo!
Since it was really too cold to do much outside it was a good day to keep the fire stoked and make soup. I decided it was a two soup day and made a pot of beef stew with dumplings and a Potato Florentine using potatoes from the basement and the spinach picked yesterday. Add to that some sourdough bread and a feast ensued. All in all it was a quiet day on the farm.

He's Here!

2012-02-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

By he, I mean old man winter. He made his unwelcome appearance today in the form of frigid temps and cold winds. Our high for the day was this morning and the temperature dropped as the day went on.By 10 a.m. the winds had already started to howl. Leaving the kitchen in a mess, I decided to get all the outside chores done as early as possible.
There would not be much thawing in the next day or two so my first chore was to fill all the water buckets completely full and drain the hoses. Hay feeders were filled to capacity. One of the dairy does that looks close was moved to a stall with fresh bedding, just in case.
Once all the animals were taken care of, I went to the garden to pick greens to hold us over for the next few days. I knew the small amount of lettuce that has survived thus far would be gone with the 19* temps so I filled a bushel basket with that. I also picked several bags of kale and spinach. They will survive but not be happy for a bit. Lastly I harvested carrots, lots of carrots! Almost 5 dozen were added to the pile of veggies. My fingers felt quit frozen by the time I was done. Hubby brought in a huge load of wood and we were glad to be finished outside. Tomorrow promises to be the same, it will be a good soup and fire day, but only after critters are tended, again!

Signs of Spring?

2012-02-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

I saw a robin this week, some say it is a sign of Spring.

However, I think it was just a tease. The weather is supposed to turn colder and the lows are going to drop into the low twenties. Fearing for our seedlings in the greenhouse, I delivered a burner that attaches to the top of a propane tank to my sister. We are planning to run it for the next few nights.
All of the seedlings look great and she has even transplanted cauliflower and tomatoes to the next size pot. The celery is coming along as well as the eggplant. Hopefully this cold snap will be short lived and the warmer days will return soon.

Bye-Bye Broccoli

2012-02-03T06:09:00.000-08:00

Today my husband turned over one side of the garden. He also turned the broccoli. All of the broccoli. Not a piece of broccoli is to be found. Buried under 2 feet of soil. At first I seriously considered strangling him. After my sanity returned, I realized if I strangled him I would have to go pick up the round bales of hay and I really don't like pulling that flatbed trailer. I would also have to scrape the barn with the bobcat tomorrow. He was saved. Though I did explain to him that he would be broccoli- less for the next couple of months. Then I called my sister and asked when the next good planting day would be. Tomorrow. I will be there early with seeds in hand.

2012-01-31T16:38:00.000-08:00

After tossing some ingredients in the crock pot for supper tonight and doing my few morning house chores, I hurried out to enjoy this glorious day. First on my list was to prune the grape vines. I usually wait a bit later but with the warm weather we are having, I decided now was probably a good time.

I weeded around the base of the vines. I need to mulch them with some pine needles, I had none and I wasn't leaving today, so that was moved to a later list. I also need to fertilize but with all the rabbits gone, I need to find a new fertilizer. I was a bit more aggressive than usual- let's hope not too much!

Then I wandered toward the garden where I pulled huge armloads of chickweed and tossed it to the sheep.

They enjoyed it immensely.
On to the barn. I move the stinky escape back to his pasture. He was VERY unhappy with me.

He wanted to be back with the ladies.

Now that he was out of the doe pasture I could put the young girls out with the older ones. After a bit of "she who reins", hierarchy was once again established and all was quiet.

Feeding chores completed, I checked the crock pot and headed to my sister's to plant more seeds. The greenhouse was so warm only a t-shirt was needed.

Today we planted more peppers, cherry tomatoes and the Turkish (orange)eggplant. We also planted a few flowers for the cutting garden. The tomatoes are doing great and the peppers from last week are jumping out of the ground.

Lot's accomplished and lot's to do!

The Stinky Buck Smell

2012-01-30T06:11:00.000-08:00

On today's list was moving the bucks and rams back to their own pasture. The first to be moved was my large alpine buck. This is really a long overdue chore and after seeing him chase one of the does due to kid in a few weeks, a necessary one. I snapped a lead on his collar and started leading him up the drive.When I looked down at his feet I realized they were in pretty rough shape and desperate for a trim. I knew I should have done that before breeding season and before he smelled so bad. Yuck. And so we turned around and headed back towards the barn. He was so excited he practically drug me there, at 200 pounds that was a relatively easy task. I tied him up and started trimming, he was not thrilled and it was a struggle with me trying to keep him pinned to the wall of the barn. He was also really intent on rubbing his big stinky head on my leg. My trimmers were dull and I stopped long enough to sharpen and oil them. When I came back he was peeing on the foot I just trimmed. Disgusting. I may never trim that foot again. More wrestling ensued and finally I was done. Not a great job but one that would do for now. I checked his eyes. Nice and pink, so no need to worm him. Once again we headed up the drive to his summer home. He and the rams will be in the pasture with the new hay and equipment barn that is almost finished and far away from the ladies.
Now I smelled exactly like him but still had chores to do. I hoped no one would drop by for a visit!
I finished feeding and started checking the dairy does out. They need hoof trimming as well. I got a couple done and dosed them with some garlic and vitamins. Their eyes though not super pink, looked ok so I decided the give the garlic drench a shot. We'll see what happens.
I wanted to do some picking in the garden but decided I was way too nasty to handle food and instead ended up weeding the strawberries. Unfortunately with all this warm weather, they think spring is here and a few are blooming. The weeds were tossed to the goats, I could stand myself no longer so I headed for the shower.
Shortly after that my husband arrived home from work. He was putting out round bales for the cows and needed help opening gates. He was also going to moving a hay feeder to the buck pasture. While waiting for him to toss down a small bale of hay from the loft I heard a noise and turned to see big stinky buck standing behind me. "Don't you come near me!" I screeched. I did a little dance, herded him in the barn without touching him.
My husband said, " I thought you moved him." I did. Sigh. I went to see where he might gave escaped. A small gate, rarely used had not been latched and of course he found it.
So tomorrow I will move him, again. Right after I prune the grape vines.

Countdown to Kidding

2012-01-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we are only a month away from kidding. The girls are really beginning to show nice round bellies and a couple are starting to show signs of a filling udder. Next weekend we plan to clean stalls and fill with fresh shavings. The milking parlor will need to be cleaned as well and I need to check on birthing supplies. Yikes!

After feeding today, I headed to the garden. I was shocked at the amount of broccoli raab I harvested. This vegetable is the energizer bunny of the broccoli world! Though the broccoli puts out a few side shoots at the time, this plant is covered in the long slender raab shoots. I have found it keeps better too. We have ordered two different varieties to grow again in the fall. This one is called Apollo.

On a mission to create a broccoli recipe....

Seeds Are Sprouting!

2012-01-27T06:29:00.000-08:00

I visited my sister today and we played among the plants. Seeds are sprouting left and right. Purple cauliflower, early tomatoes and flowers for the cutting garden are up. Chinese cabbage and some early peppers are in the mix as well. Our ordered seeds have been arriving all week and today was another good day to plant (according to the almanac) and so we added a few more goodies to the green house. We have heard that it is possible to grow celery here. I ordered a variety called "Tango". You must soak the seeds overnight and not cover much since light aids germination. The seeds like lots of moisture and even warmth, so that flat went under the lights in her basement. Artichokes were also planted. They like less moisture and cooler temps so they remained outside in the greenhouse.

Cauliflower seedlings:

Pepper seedlings-

And our helper of the day, Hope. She planted rocks....

Anyone have a good stone soup recipe?

Pondering Poultry

2012-01-25T05:17:00.000-08:00

It won't be long until it is time to order our meat birds. We have decided to raise the Cornish rock crosses once again. Just need to decide how many. It will also be time to decide what kind of laying hens to start to replace the older girls that are aging out. I most likely will raise a few black sexlinks but am looking at some black copper morans or cuckoo morans. They lay incredibly dark eggs, almost mahogany and are beautiful. The sexlinks are just plain predictable layers. We have had them off and on for years, rotating them with golden comets.
We have also decided to add another variety of heritage turkey. Our Narragansetts have not proved to be as satisfactory as we had hoped. I am not sure if it is just MY turkeys or the breed but research tells me they are good homestead birds so I am ordering a few more and adding Blue Slates as well.
I really want ducks again but my husband hates ducks. Too messy, he says. True that. So unless I figure out a place for a pen just for the ducks, they will not be joining us.
Thus far, I have only gotten the turkey order secured as they tend to be limited in availability. The are slated to arrive the end of April.

Finally, Some Sun!

2012-01-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

After many days of clouds, cold rain and fog the sun came out today! With the temps reaching 60, it was delightful to be outside. Though still sloppy and wet I took the opportunity to get a few things done. I was able to get in the garden without the help of a canoe or hip waders and picked an abundance of greens and carrots. I had to rinse out water buckets from where the LGD's insist on putting their feet in them. They still could use a good scrubbing. I am still doctoring on the saanan's ear. It still looks pretty nasty but each day is showing improvement. Today I had the benefit of an extra pair of hands and got it really clean. If goats give evil eyes and looks could kill, I would have perished on the spot. I broke up a rooster fight, watched the honey bees work and sat in the sun and ate a salad. These are the days that give a body Spring fever.

Ordering Apple Trees

2012-01-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

We decided to revamp the orchard. Apparently there are some apples that don't do well in our area. Mainly those I have bought from Lowes. Duh. After some research and knowing what we like to eat, we have settled on Pink Lady and Honey Crisp apples along with their pollinators, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith.
Today I walked the orchard and measured to see how many trees to order. (Finally I am doing some research and planning instead of flying by the seat of my pants!) The semi dwarf trees need to be 15 feet apart. I was amazed at how many trees we could actually plant. Today I ordered several apples, a pear and a cherry tree. They are due to be shipped towards the end of February. Before they arrive, we will take out the old trees and prune the plums. Better hurry, we only have a month!

Puttering in the Kitchen

2012-01-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

Today was a cold, damp day. The kind that chills you to the bone. I decided it was a good day to spend in the kitchen. And so I did.
First,I took the soap out of the molds that I made yesterday.

Pound cake sounded good. So I baked a chocolate one.

It was sampled before I even got a picture!
Then I decide some deer chili would be tasty.

That will warm us for sure!
And there was a large bag of kale that needed to be cooked.

So, I made a casserole. Yum.

Eggs. We have lots of eggs.

I made some deviled eggs.
We were out of granola.

Must have that for breakfast this week.
And what would chili be without cornbread? So, I ground some corn.

And made a pan.

Then I decided I was tired of cooking.

Ahhh... that feels good!

A Soapy & A Sloppy Saturday

2012-01-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

This morning greeted us with lots of rain and grey clouds. After baking sourdough for the store I hurried home to get busy making soap. The longest part, or should I say most boring, is lining the molds. I got 8 lined and started weighing and measuring. Today I made Russian Tea, Summer Breeze, a lovely clean scent swirled with blue and Juniper, another light clean scent mixed with oatmeal. Unfortunately I was stopped in my tracks because I ran out of lye. Now because of all the druggies out there, you can't buy lye just anywhere anymore. However, you can order it online all day. Guess they don't have credit cards? Geez. And I was on a roll...

Once I cleaned up my mess, I put on my raincoat and headed to the barn. It was a sloppy mess for sure, the kind that will suck your boots off if not careful. The silly goats stand under the shed peering out, not daring to get wet. Thankfully for them, we had a slight break and I was able to pour grain in their troughs or it would have been a hay day only for those girls. I noticed one of the does had a swollen ear and let her in the barn to check it out. It was a nasty oozing mess. I am sure one of the other "ladies" bit her over the grain dish. On the milking stand she went, to get it cleaned up and antibiotic ointment on it. It was very sore and she was none too pleased with me, so suffice it to say, it turned out to be quite a wrestling match, even with her in a head gate.
She will stay in the barn for a few days where I can keep a close eye on her.
First the doctoring on the cashmere and now this, I felt like yelling at the critters, "Can't we all just get along!"

The Seed List

2012-01-20T06:18:00.000-08:00

We tried to show restraint, it was tough but I don't think we were toooo naughty!
Several different kinds of squash were ordered including a camouflage zucchini. This year we are attempting pumpkins, one called Fairytale, a Cinderella type that is not only edible but beautiful. Also, a spaghetti squash, called called Tivoli that is supposed to produce "scads", their words not mine, of squash!. Some other fun and different vegetables include an orange eggplant, a white radish with a red center (called watermelon) and celery. All in all it was around 35 different things. After plundering through last years stash, it was decided we had plenty of tomato, pepper and other eggplant seeds. According to my sis, this weekend is VERY fertile and a good time to get some things started ;o)

After ordering, I headed to the garden and picked a large basket of kale for a casserole tonight. I checked the injured goat from earlier this week and she has healed up nicely. The boys finished the divider fence to keep the animals off the hay pasture, so I called the cashmere goats and sheep up. Two of the babies were a little confused and after a merry chase they finally went in the smaller pasture. They will spend the next few months here until hay season is over. Hay racks and mineral bins were refilled.
I was gifted with a fifty gallon drum of spent grains from a local brewery and several scoops were tossed to the chickens. I will feed those another day or so and put the rest in the garden. Chores were finished and I headed to the house. Time for a fire and supper...

Getting the Garden Fever

2012-01-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

Last year my sister got a small greenhouse, which with my help she has already outgrown. I keep finding seeds for her to start. Today I called to see if we might be able to squeeze a couple of buckets in there to plant some purple potatoes I brought home from the store that had nice sprouts on them. She said sure ;o)
It seems she has a bit more patience than I when it comes to starting and taking care of seedlings. Though I have done it for years, I am handing over the reins since she has found her niche. Together we are probably going to be quite dangerous... which leads me to this. We are ordering seeds tomorrow!
We have a huge pile of catalogs to peruse. So in the morning, we are going to curl up in front of the fireplace with big glasses of tea and have a seed ordering party. I know some purple cayenne peppers have already caught her eye and I am wanting to try some annual artichokes. Then there are all those different types of broccoli and cabbage and squash and tomatoes and peppers and eggplant.. oh my! And what about all those pumpkins and potatoes and herbs. And flowers, beautiful flowers.... maybe I'll plant a cutting garden... Maybe I need to enlarge the garden.....maybe I need therapy!
Tomorrow I will post our orders.....

Doing Some Doctoring

2012-01-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

This morning when I headed to the chicken coop to take then some scraps one of the white cashmere goats had a dark face. Hmmm... not normal. Upon further inspection I realized that it was blood. It looks like one of the guardian dogs snapped at her. Knowing this goat is a non-believer and temps fate over the dog food dish on a regular basis, I can see how it happened. One would think after two years she would just let it go.
Back to the house I went and made a phone call. I needed an extra set of hands and Mom was home. When she arrived I took a bucket of hot salt water down and started cleaning her up. Once most of the blood was washed off I could see the injury. Though pretty scratched up on one side, it will heal up fine. The other side is very swollen and looks like it needs to be drained. I held hot compresses on it and tried to open the scab. I will continue this for another day or so before calling the vet.
On to the barn to check the little ewe with bottle jaw. She looks great, is eating well and going to be fine.
Feeding chores were completed and I refilled all the mineral dishes.
I was excited to finish up sooner than usual and hurried to my studio. I spent the next hour carding a lovely moorit Icelandic lamb fleece. It is so soft and luxurious!

I am almost done and can't wait to spin it up. Once that is done, I can decide on a project for it!

A Chilly Saturday

2012-01-14T06:49:00.000-08:00

Another short cold snap is upon us. It was cold in the kitchen when I got up early to put the sourdough bread into pans. It let me know just how cold, by taking some extra time to rise.While waiting, I put some white beans in the crock pot for some kale soup tomorrow and made a fresh pitcher of tea. I finally got the bread baked and headed to the store to drop it and some soap off.
Once back home, I thought that I might make soap today. That however, would not come to pass
Saturday mornings my kitchen is always a huge mess from all the bowls and pans it takes to make sourdough, not to mention breakfast dishes. I usually clean up while baking, but this morning I got side tracked and had that chore after delivery. I had no sooner finished getting the kitchen in order when the boys poked their head in the door and asked what was for lunch. Really? I would have loved to say McDonald's. I pulled the deer roast from the fridge, thinly sliced it and put it and some leftover cooked apples in the oven. There was a bit of left over pasta and so I heated that up as well. Sandwiches made, I called them up and got everyone fed. Out the door they went and I turned to survey my kitchen, which was once again, a mess. Sigh, that is life on the homestead. Pots, pans and lots of dishes when you cook from scratch. Round two finally finished, it was too late to start soap so I headed to the barn and garden.
Thankfully I remembered to unhook the hoses yesterday and let them drain, so I didn't have to haul water today. I filled mineral pans and gave one of my older goats some extra liquid vitamins. I was finishing up with hay when I noticed one of my icelandic ewes looked a bit strange. I grabbed her and could not believe it, she had bottle jaw. I wanted to scream. I checked the other girls and all had good pink eyes. I pulled the sick ewe out, gave her some vitamins and wormed her. Unfortunately, I will be culling her. Parasite resistance is a big trait I am working towards in my flock and she is not making the cut. Once she was settled by herself where she had some extra feed and hay, I headed to the garden.
I picked lots of kale, broccoli and carrots. I also picked a large armload of collards that I will serve tomorrow with the chicken we are having.
The boys had been working on a permanent fence line to divide our hay pastures and I went to admire the nice straight line. In years past we have had an electric fence but spent too much time repairing it and finally decided to put up wire. The posts and gates are set and next weekend the wire will go up. I told my husband how nice it looked and he said he knew inspector #13 (me) would be out soon and he didn't want to have to redo anything ;o)) On that note, I headed back to the kitchen to start on supper and dirty the pots and pans once again.

Quiet Time

2012-01-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

This time of year is usually pretty quiet on the homestead. We have the daily chores, of course, but the garden is manageable and the animals are easy keepers. It has been a very warm winter with the exception of last week's cold snap and I have to say, after the last two winters, I am fine with that! Things will begin livening up here in about 7 weeks. Kidding will begin and shortly after that, lambing. Then the garden and meat birds.....
So, for now I am content with the monotony of routine. Hopefully I will learn to operate my new Christmas toys, finish a few fiber projects and make soap with all the frozen milk in the freezer!

My best Christmas toy was a new grain mill. I had my Whisper Mill for almost 20 years. It had grown a bit tired and wasn't fond of grinding corn and dried beans anymore. Apparently, Luke, my son, had heard me begging it not to die the last time I was making Ezekiel bread and he and his dad had mercy on me. I was blessed with a Nutri Mill. Though I really like it, I do find that it feeds much slower than my other one.

Another gift was a rice cooker. Something I had wanted because we eat large amounts of whole grains and this was something that I could just dump the grains and water in, walk away and a few hours later, ta-da, we eat. It has proved to be a bit more challenging to operate. After a few false starts in which I had steel cut oats at odd times of the day (I was timer challenged!) I have successfully made wonderful rice and quinoa. Those, of course, I could do in regular pots but this machine soaks the grains which allows more nutrients to be released and I don't have to keep a constant watchful eye. The timer allows me to have grains ready for breakfast when we get up or ready for supper after a long day. I am excited about incorporating new and different recipes with the rice cooker using grains and fresh veggies from the garden. Watch for them on my "Eating" blog.

Taming My Studio

2012-01-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

My studio has been in complete disarray for the last few months. When my son created his "man cave" in our spare room that once housed extra yarn and fiber he was kind enough to dump in it the middle of my floor. Granted I had been meaning to get to it but...
In addition to all of my "stuff", I inherited all of my dear friend Sharon's when she passed away and had kinda been putting it off. It was so bad that one evening when I had started going through the bins I became overwhelmed and laid back on the floor. My son came in and turned off the light. Hey! I said. Oh, I didn't see you, was his reply. Ugh! I was truly embarrassed by the mess. So this was THE week. ( I can't believe I have the guts to post this picture!)

I first pulled out the basket that held every scrap of yarn from every project I had ever done.The problem was that my bird dog puppy had gotten into it, dragged it from room to room and tangled it badly. I had been planning to untangle it and wind up the bits and pieces. My bird dog is 6. It went in the trash.
Next I attacked the bins and baskets, donating yarns I knew I wouldn't use. I sorted and categorized and sorted some more. I went through every box, bag and bin. Fiber in one spot, yarns in drawers and baskets. Like types with like and several hours later, I had created some semblance of order. At least I could see the floor! I am by no means finished. It was really just the first go round. I will go through it all again with a much more critical eye and gift extra yarn, needles and fiber to other fiber freaks like myself.

Oh look! The floor! And my spinning wheel! I wondered where that was....

And the yarn all nicely tucked away...

And chairs!!! Wow, I may actually sit in one and work on a project. How lovely.

Our First Taste Of Winter

2012-01-03T06:20:00.000-08:00

Oh, my! Winter arrived today with frigid temperatures and high winds. With the temperatures in the low 20's and the wind chill in the single digits, to say it is a shock to our system, would be an understatement. (Sunday was 60*!) Yesterday we tried covering the lettuce with buckets and blankets but the wind wreaked havoc and most of it was frozen. Though I picked quite a bit last night, after it is gone, it looks like it will be spinach and kale salads for a while.

It is a slow week at the grading company so Luke and the guys worked on the new wood shed yesterday. It is mostly finished and already filling slowly with wood. While they were splitting wood they happened to notice a chicken caught in the fly net over the coop. They cut him out and called me. He must of been there a while and the bad rooster from last week took the opportunity to beat the puddin' out of him while tangled up.
I moved him to the barn under lights and gave him feed and water. He was a bit bloody and limping but should make a full recovery. When Doug arrived home I told him about the incident. It seems "AJ" is his favorite rooster and bad boy rooster is definitely slated to be dumplings this weekend.
Today the guys are grading for a new hay barn on the hill. We have decided to start baling our second cutting of hay into round bales and need a place to store it. As soon as the horses are placed in new homes we plan to add a few beef cattle to the farm and it is much easier to feed them that way.
I fed early today and filled all the feeders to capacity with hay so the critters would have plenty to eat and keep them warm. Unfortunately, I forgot to drain hoses last night and they were frozen solid. I stretched them out in the sun to thaw but with the high only reaching 37* that was going to take a while and so I ended up hauling water in buckets. With everyone content, I headed back to the house to stoke the fire and start some supper.

2011 Farm Production Totals

2012-01-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
Though we are busy planning for the upcoming year I finally got everything added up from this past one. Here is a rundown of what came off the farm this year.

EGGS-4180 POTATOES- 7 BUSHELS
MILK- 327.5 GALLONS PLUMS- 29 LBS
BREAD- 1590 LOAVES BELL PEPPERS- 168
SNOW PEAS- 42 LBS. BEETS 19 LBS.
CARROTS- 20 LBS. TOMATOES- 162.5 LBS.
CABBAGE- 15 HEADS GRAPES- 1 BUSHEL
SQUASH- 55.25 LBS EGGPLANT- 78
ONIONS- 784 JALAPENOS- 11.75 LBS
GARLIC- 285 HEADS CUCUMBERS- 15 LBS
OKRA- 31.75 LBS BUTTER PEAS- 45.75 LBS
CROWDER PEAS- 60.75 LBS RUTABAGA- 4.5 LBS
GREENS- 88 LBS
BROCCOLI -30 LBS

In addition to the above we harvested large amounts of herbs, radishes and green onions. It was a bad year for corn and green beans here with only about 6 dozen ears and 11 pounds of green beans.
We also had 47 goat kids and 14 lambs born here on the farm. We baled 1480 bales of hay.
We have already started tracking for this year. I think I will track poundage on all the produce. I would love to know the total amount in pounds from our vegetable garden and orchard.
Either way, 2011 was a good year here on the homestead!

Bad Barnyard Behavior

2011-12-28T12:43:00.000-08:00

I don't know what has possessed the male of the species in our barnyard this last week. The first to loose it's mind was one of our rams. A not so gentle tap on my leg as I was feeding hay. At first I gave him the benefit of doubt and thought maybe it was an accident. However, the next feeding time, it was my husband he hit. Very bad move. He is slated for the freezer in a few short weeks. The ram lambs born from the ewes in his breeding group will be watched very carefully for aggressive behavior and culled heavily, as I don't tolerate this trait at all.
Next was a rooster. As I was feeding today, I turned to find him stalking me. I explained to him he probably didn't know he was messing with the head chicken processor and to back off. Apparently, I did not make myself clear and the next time I turned, he was racing towards me. Dumb bird. Yep, he will be heading the way of the ram. There are too many small kids that visit to a take a chance on him doing someone harm. Unfortunately for them, it looks like pot pie and chops are on the future menu!

An "Indoor" Herb Garden

2011-12-15T05:24:00.000-08:00

Back during the summer I found an Earth Box on sale. These are really cool mini raised beds if you will, with a reservoir that you keep filled with water. My intention was to use it next year to see if I can possibly grow lettuce all summer. By being able to keep it damp and putting it a semi shaded area, it might work. I have been thinking about getting another one to grow artichokes in as well.
I decided to put it to use for the winter though by turning it into an indoor herb bed. I have planted dill, basil and cilantro in it for the winter, along with a few spring onions. As I harvest those I will replace with new bulbs for a winter long harvest. It will live in my garage by the window and on nice days since it has wheels on it I can roll it outside to enjoy the sunshine!

A Day of Decorating

2011-12-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

It came to my attention this morning that Christmas is only 2 weeks away. YIKES! I have done very little in the way of decorating, which included NOT having the tree up. The next 2 weekends will be a flurry of activity with the employee pig pickin' and a family get together, each which consists of 30 or so guests each time. And so after baking, it began. Mums were replaced with pansies and empty pots were filled with festive arrangements. I personally love to decorate with what the earth gives me. Lots of greenery, pine cones , nandina berries, holly and lots of candles. Clippers in hand, I headed to the yard and woods. I was back with buckets of goodies and a few short hours later the house and yard appeared to be ready. The next question.. am I?

A Wet Wednesday

2011-12-07T05:42:00.000-08:00

And the Heavens opened up today. Heavy rain for the better part of the day. I took advantage of a lull and hurried to the barn. It was time to dis-bud the Nigerian dwarf kids born a couple of weeks ago. Though I hate doing it, it is a necessary evil. Once that was done, I fed the animals and headed to get a load of firewood and pick some greens for supper. I was just finishing up when it started to sprinkle rain again.

Back in the house I started on my felted catnip toys. I had a special order for some by the weekend. I used to start these by hand and finish in the washing machine but since I replaced our washer with a more eco friendly low water level one, I had to do them completely by hand. My mom joined me and together we got 18 finished.
Last on the list was to finish cutting up the deer my son shot. That took the rest of the afternoon. A nice stash of deer was tucked in the freezer and a large pot of bones was put on to simmer for vegetable soup later this week.

Meanwhile Back At the Ranch....

2011-12-06T15:38:00.001-08:00

Computer drama aside, things continue here at the farm. We have spent two weekends raking leaves and hauling them to the garden.We try to only plant half of the garden with winter vegetables and mulch the rest. I will use some of the leaves that are munched up by the mower to mulch between the growing greens.

Due to the warm temperatures we are harvesting huge amounts of greens and feeling pretty blessed. A large haul of broccoli was made this week as well, with the promise of lots of side shoots. Our rutabaga and kohlrabi are looking really good and we pulled a few carrots. The kale, spinach and lettuce are growing faster than we can eat and I am harvesting daily to share with the chickens to help cut our feed costs. With this abundance I am considering doing a small winter CSA~ yes, I need another project!
The boys have started a new wood shed. My hopes are that this is in preparation for a wood burning unit to heat the house.The poles are set and the roof will hopefully go on soon. We have been in a wet weather pattern and it certainly slows progress on outside projects.
Luke shot a deer this week and I am still trying to get it in the freezer. I have gotten about half done. I will make roasts, stew, a few steaks and grind the rest into burger. Some I will season for breakfast sausage and some will remain plain. Hopefully I can finish up tomorrow. It is nice to see the deer shelf in the freezer filling up again!

The Sounds of a Crashing Computer

2011-12-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

First, there is the sound of silence. The eerie black screen that reads: No disk. Then the frantic tapping of keys, not so kind words muttered under a held breath. Then the screams..No! No! Later the sound of me groveling at the feet of our computer tech. PLEASE, you must save it! All of my documents, contacts, labels, farm info....2 days later, happy sounds. Thank you, you are a genius!! 24 hours later.. more screams as the thing crashes once again. This time for good. Silent weeping sounds. Don't worry! we can build you a new one, smaller in size, better, FASTER! All the latest programs and new fangled gadgets. I don't want new or better or faster. I want what I KNOW! But your computer is old. I like old, it's what I know. (Can you hear the eyeballs rolling?) Finally somehow from the dregs of who knows where, computer tech comes up with a computer just like mine! Squeals of delight! He warns me however, you may have only 3 or 4 years until it is truly obsolete. You will have to learn new things. I promise and clap my hands in glee. And here I am back online a mere 10 days later.

Holiday Happenings

2011-11-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

Today was pie baking day. A chocolate pecan and pumpkin were finished and tomorrow I will make the apple pie. I also finished washing the Thanksgiving bird and he weighed in at about 19 pounds.
I was almost finished with everything and cleaning my kitchen when my sister appeared with 1/2 of a very large deer. Her husband had gotten his second and she wanted to share with us. Cutting up a deer really wasn't on my to-do list but I certainly wasn't going to turn down food. I headed to the barn to finish chores and also to check the cashmere goats. Another one had kidded yesterday bring our kid count to 9. I hadn't checked the sex of it yet and to my disappointment it was another buck. Sigh. I really hope this is not going to be repeat of last year but so far it is not looking good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

The bird.....

was good!!!

Butchering The Thanksgiving Turkey

2011-11-21T08:20:00.001-08:00

There were several things on the list today. Making cheese, cooking the pumpkin, making applesauce, freezing the last of the bell peppers and butchering the turkey for Thanksgiving.

I managed to get the cheese done and the pumpkin cooked. Applesauce and peppers will have to wait another day since I was back and forth to the pastures with the birth of four more goat kids!

Once they were settled and the feeding done, my husband was home and ready to butcher the turkey. I will spare the details but it was a fairly quick process, taking about 30 minutes at most. He was a handsome fellow and though I have not weighed him yet I am guessing close to 20 pounds. It was almost dark when we finished and after rinsing well, he is awaiting his final cleaning in the fridge. I will most likely finish him up on Wednesday while I am baking pies and get a weight so we know how long to bake him. I have to admit it was a sobering experience for me. We have raised meat chickens for years but it has been a very long time since we have raised our own turkey. I'm not sure if I was becoming a bit attached or what, but I know this Thanksgiving I will be even more thankful for our meal.

New Nigerian Dwarf Kids

2011-11-20T06:35:00.000-08:00

Of course she would wait until I wasn't home... These little darlings were born yesterday while we were on the road. All three are doing well, 2 does and 1 buck.
I spent the morning getting the new girls settled. My plan was to quarantine for a few days. However, after rearranging and putting them in their pasture, within 30 minutes my ram had wiggled the gate open and proceeded to join them. Sigh. He is much happier than I am right now.
We finished getting latches on the new gate system behind the barn. This added yet another small area to our pastures. Slowly we are replacing all of the old fencing that has been up for many years and is starting to show it's age. Maybe by the end of winter...

Alabama Bound

2011-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

We left this morning at 3:57 a.m. to pick up 4 ewes I purchased from Olde South Farms in Alabama. The trip was relatively uneventful and we arrived in Selma at 11:30. It was nice to meet Terry and Helen, another Icelandic breeder from Florida. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit long and 30 minutes later we were back on the road headed home. I do wish we could have spent a bit more time in Selma, as it is such a historic place, but the farm at home awaited as did fencing chores tomorrow! We stopped to fuel 3 times and in Georgia to fill a water bucket for the girls and arrived home 8:10 tonight. Worn out and tired of riding it was good to be home! We filled another water bucket and the girls were left on the trailer for the night. Tomorrow we will get them settled in their new home.
The ewes are absolutely lovely and will make a welcome addition to our flock.

I did manage to take a few shots out of the truck window as we left Selma.

The First Hard Freeze

2011-11-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

I awoke to a white ground. It was our first hard freeze with temps dipping into the upper 20's. I feared for the lettuce.
It would be at least noon before I would know it's fate and so I began baking for the weekend. Today I was doubling up because tomorrow we are making a round trip to Alabama to pick up sheep. My son and mom will be in charge of the farm for the 18 or so hours we are gone.

After baking 19 loaves of bread, packaging goat milk soap and delivering it to the store, I went to check the garden. I had special orders for several pounds of greens to pick today, part of it lettuce. To my surprise it came through the night just fine. I think my garden may be somewhat protected because it is surrounded by trees. We have one more cold night before the temps level back out and hopefully before the next dip, I will have plastic to cover it. Greens picked I headed to the house to rinse, spin and weigh. I just walked in the door when my son, who was headed out to hunt, called to say he saw a baby goat in the pasture. No, no, NO! Yes, yes, YES! One of the cashmere goats had kidded during the night. This is the earliest we have had kids in many years. I finished the greens quickly and went to check and sure enough this little guy was up and bouncing around!

Fall Around The Farm

2011-11-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

Some pics to enjoy this beautiful and breathtaking season!

A Unique Project

2011-11-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

Due to a pulled back muscle, probably from fighting with the turkey on Wednesday, I made today a light chore day. I had hoped to get some weeding done and the purple pac choy my sister started for me in the ground. Oh well, maybe tomorrow! It was a chilly and windy day and after baking and delivering bread I headed home to do the lightest of the feeding chores and put on a pot of chicken and rice soup. While the chicken simmered I headed to my studio to try and do some organizing. It continues to look like a bomb went off in there. Every time I get started on making sense of the mess, I run across something that distracts me like the "Flounce" yarn that was hiding in a bag. The pattern looked a bit daunting but upon doing some research I found that it was a bit easier than it looked. Instead of a normal yarn that you wrap and knit, this one you open up and knit from the top. So once again I became side tracked and worked on this scarf for quite a while. The studio is still a place of chaos but the scarf is coming along nicely I think....

In Memory of Vosco

2011-11-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

As you know I work at a little country store and we become quite attached to our customers, who quickly become friends. We worry when they don't show up for their weekly shopping trip, look forward to the arrival of their babies, meet the out of town relatives...... and grow to love their dogs that make that weekly pilgrimage with them to the store.
Vosco was one of our friends. He was a giant Portuguese Water Dog. He had curly hair that hung over his big brown eyes and I fell in love the minute I met him last winter, when he came in after a vet appointment with his belly shaved. He has been diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. His family opted to treat it aggressively with chemo. Each week or so when he came in he always greeted us with wags, ready for his treats (he always got extra). His mom said we were spoiling him because as the weeks went by, she said her once well behaved dog would drag her along the sidewalk and up the steps for his visits. Sometimes he would bark excitedly and once going as far as to plant his huge feet on the counter to look me directly in the eyes when I wasn't quite quick enough with the treats. After 26 treatments he was declared cancer free. We dared to hope, maybe, just maybe...
It was not to be and when the cancer came back, it was with a vengeance. Two weeks ago I saw Vosco for the last time. It was his birthday. He was 7. He had gotten a magic wand from his aunt so all of his wishes could come true. I gave him extra treats. He ate the last one laying down which was unlike him. When he left I gave him a big kiss on his wet nose and told him goodbye, not knowing it would be my last encounter with him. I received the news Wednesday that he had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. He has joined the other animals that have brought joy to us all and is whole again. I know his family grieves and we grieve with them. Fare Thee Well, Vosco. We will miss you.

Chicken Chores

2011-11-09T05:42:00.000-08:00

Door to the hen house fixed, I finally was able to catch up and separate all the laying hens today. I repaired the door where they had been escaping by stapling new screen and a plastic chicken wire I found at Lowe's to the lower half. It is pretty cool stuff and easy to handle. We used it to line inside the orchard fencing to keep the smaller meat birds from escaping in the spring.
So now I have all of the younger hens in one side and the older ones in the other. I also move the Narragansett turkeys to the "older" hen side. That proved to be a bit more difficult than anticipated. The tom was easier to move than the hen. I was able to hold him by the neck and guide him to the pen. The hen on the other hand was determined to beat me to death with her wings. After several attempts at catching and fearing a broken nose, I finally ended up chasing her her out of the original lot and when she flew to the top of the fence I grabbed her feet and pulled her in. Mission accomplished. Now I hope to see a significant increase in eggs around here!

A Weeding Weekend

2011-11-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

Much of the weekend was spent weeding the garden. It was one of those, ah-ha, I knew there were carrots in that row, times. With 2 inches of rain recently, it was a fairly easy task. Much to my surprise I found the mache greens and the miners lettuce had finally germinated and were fighting for space to grow. The elephant garlic was finally put in the ground, 41 heads of that.
I have been unsuccessfully trying to separate the old laying hens from the young and finally figured out the young girls had an escape route via the door, one would not think to look for a hole there. I will be rewiring that this week and hopefully get everyone situated. We have made a sad decision to butcher all the old hens in the near future. The cost of feed is high for the number of eggs we are collecting and I have been unable to give the old girls away. I plan to add about a dozen new hens each year, for a total of 2 dozen at a time. I will only keep those less than two years old, which means I will butcher about 12 old hens each year, in addition to the the meat birds we raise. I know they will make excellent stock and meat for soups, stews and casseroles. Another lesson on being realistic on the homestead....

Pickling The Last Of the Peppers

2011-11-02T10:45:00.001-07:00

After baking and running errands, I decided to pickle the last of the jalapenos I gleaned from the garden over the weekend. I was trying to free up fridge space for all the greens I have been harvesting. We are eating copious amounts of lettuce, kale and spinach these days. I am picking a peck basket of each about every other day, washing it and keeping it bagged up for quick salads and meals. Tis the season. As usual I grossly underestimated how much time it would take to get them all done, but a few hours later I had 12 pints to show for it. After finishing it was off to the barn to finish evening chores which included bringing up a load of firewood since the boys were working late and then to the garden for a basket of greens to fill the pepper space in the fridge.

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

2011-11-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

When I thought my son Luke would be headed off to college this past fall, my plan was to cancel all the TV junk. Period. I mean really, I check out the weather of a morning and watch a bit in the evenings. However, I can see if the sun is up and if it is raining and half the time the weather man is wrong. AND if I really want to know if it is going to snow, I just need to cruise by the grocery store parking lot... I expected to get a lot more reading done and indulge in the peace and quiet.
Due to extenuating circumstances and his hate of the big city, college was put off a year. (Not that I minded having him around a bit longer.) He has been after me to change satellite servers for a while and finally out of self defense I told him if he set it up, fine. That was yesterday. Today I have had 2 men crawling all over my house running wires and setting up new gizmos for 4 hours. After they finally left, my "lessons" began. I could see this was way more complicated that my poor brain would take and my eyes quickly glazed over. DVD's, DVR's, remote this and that. I asked where my VHS player had been relocated, he collapsed in laughter. Not funny, I explained tersely, I need it to watch The Walton Thanksgiving in a few weeks. It's tradition. Ham biscuits, grits and the movie. Surely that is on DVD, he said. It is not. He said he had no clue how to hook it up to all the new gadgets. You have 3 weeks to figure it out, was all I had to say.
Thus far this old dog has learned how to turn the TV on ......

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

Gleaning the Garden

2011-10-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

The weather has turned much colder and a frost warning is in the forecast for tonight. I decided to go ahead and finish picking all the peppers and eggplant, just in case. Lots of jalapenos and bell peppers were picked. Monday I will pickle the jalapenos and freeze most of the bells to add to soups and sauces this winter. I also harvested a huge basket of lettuce and spinach. The greens have really taken off and we are eating as fast as we can!

The next thing on my list was to attack the pantry and organize. I needed to go through and finish the inventory I started last week. A couple of times a year I have to do this or fear that I may be buried alive when I walk in from just tossing things back in there. Three hours later I emerged with a great sense of satisfaction and a job well done.
Then it was time to head to the barn to finish up evening chores. Pogo goat was out again... This is starting to get very old. Critters fed and snuggled down for the night with lots of hay, we did the same.

Planting Garlic

2011-10-26T04:41:00.000-07:00

I finally got most of the garlic in today. It took 2 hours to get it all planted and I got all but the elephant garlic in the ground. It will have to wait until I get another row tilled in the garden since I ran out of room. Imagine that.
I wasn't sure how much I would get accomplished as the morning started off a bit hectic. The first thing that threw a wrench in my plans was when I looked at my calender and realized my dad's birthday was tomorrow. Oops. Get gift and card. Second, I checked my email and a fellow wanted to come at noon to bring his goat to be bred. Okay. Third, co-op was in. Forth, another fellow that bought goats in the spring decided he could no longer keep them, called and wanted to bring them back. Seems they kept jumping his fence, and how did I keep mine up? We never have had a jumper, pushing a fence down maybe but never a jumper.
Never say never. While planting garlic I looked up to see the smaller of the two wandering around the back yard. As I was chasing him around the yard the second one hit the side of the barn and cleared my fence. I caught him and put him in another pasture and continued to chase smaller guy. Bigger goat cleared second fence. This was not good. Moved bigger guy to third pasture and finally caught smaller one and shoved him in as well. When I headed to the barn after supper to trim hooves, they were both still in the third pasture. We'll see what tomorrow brings.I may have to explain that I have a permanent place that they will never get out of. It is called a freezer...

Knitting Projects

2011-10-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

I finally put the finishing touches on the knitting projects I have been working on. The first is a baby blanket made from organic cotton to be gifted to a babe due in November. I loved working with the yarn, it is very soft and knitted up rather quickly. I have another one in the works for a little boy born just last week.

My second project was to knit myself a pair of fingerless gloves. This is a wool/ alpaca blend. Though a little big for my hands they will work just fine until I have time to make a smaller pair. They too, were a quick and easy project and really pretty with the cable at the wrist.
Next on my list of projects is to knit a pair of wool tube socks from my hand spun yarns, if they turn out well, I will probably knit up a few pair for Christmas gifts.

Today's List

2011-10-24T05:55:00.000-07:00

Today's list was pretty long. I was a bit behind because we snuck away for a 36 hour "vacation" and hiked in the mountains of NC over the weekend. The colors were spectacular! We logged in 14 miles, hiking a section of the Mountain to Sea Trail and Crabtree Falls. Lovely.
First I absolutely had to finish dehydrating the last of the tomatoes and get the mushrooms going. That took the better part of the morning but finally all were done. A total of 10 quarts of tomatoes and 6 quarts of mushrooms were put in the pantry.

Next on my list was to weigh and box all the fleeces from our fall shearing and ready them to be shipped off for wool blankets. That proved to be a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. The boxes were big and bulky and did not want to fit on any scales I owned. After much trail and error, I finally found a way to put them on my soap scales and sneak my hand under the boxes, hitting the hold button and thus getting the weights. I had 44 pounds sorted and in boxes ready to tape up only to find I only had about 6 inches of packing tape. Ugh. I needed to go to the feed store anyway so I headed out to pick up tape and feed. On my way home a fellow that breeds his alpine doe to my buck each year called to see if he could bring her up. I decided to finish feeding chores while waiting for him. I also made a quick trip to the garden for spinach and kale for our supper. After he left I once again turned my attention to the boxes. I finished up the second box only to run out of tape. Geez! I wasn't about to leave again as it was almost supper time anyway. Tomorrow after work I will stop and pick up more and Wednesday those boxes ARE going to Canada!

A Rainy Wednesday

2011-10-19T15:09:00.001-07:00

As promised, it rained today. Almost 2 inches. Also, as promised, as soon as the rain moved out, the winds picked up, we saw a small ray of sunshine and the cold air moved in. At that point it wasn't safe to be outside for fear of being pelted by acorns or hickory nuts.
Thankfully, I had finished my outside chores (in the rain) which included slogging through the garden in search of spinach and salad greens. I was well rewarded. Over a pound was harvested in short order.
I rebooted the dehydrator with the next to the last round of Romas, wishing they would hurry so I could put the mushrooms I was gifted with yesterday in there.
I wish I could say I accomplished a lot but truth be told, not really. I cooked several things and inventoried the pantry. I need to do the same with the freezers soon.With the exception of chicken and beef stock we look pretty good. I also checked our emergency box. It is in need of candles, batteries and water. I have been meaning to add a battery operated radio to it, may put that on the list. A mental note was made to get one of the boys to check our generator. One never knows what the winter will bring and I like being prepared. There have been several times we have been without power for close to a week but we survived very comfortably without it.
A quiet day for sure, I'll not complain about that.

Garlic Haze

2011-10-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

My garlic arrived today. My sister asked if I was under the influence of illegal drugs when I placed the order. One could certainly understand her concern, being that I ordered 9 1/2 pounds!! The more likely scenario was that I had just eaten a warm piece of bread, slathered with freshly roasted garlic and a drizzle of olive oil that sent me scampering off to the computer to loose control. I ordered 5 pounds of elephant garlic and a wide selection of early, mid and late varieties. I certainly don't want to designate that much garden space just to garlic and so I will share. Who knows. Maybe that was my plan all along. Maybe.

Planting Strawberries

2011-10-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

On a whim I bought 85 strawberry plants. Around here a lot of people plant them in the fall and harvest around May. I have always wanted to have our own, so hopefully these will do well. I covered the row with black pastic. I then cut holes in it and tucked the plants down in the softly tilled dirt beneath. I will fertilize with fish emulsion in a week or two.

The rest of the garden is looking good with the exception of a severe need of cultivating. We were able to harvest our first salad greens this week. One forgets how sweet and buttery fresh baby greens are when plucked from the ground, carried to the house and eaten right then.

Mas Maters!

2011-10-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

While milking today the tomato fairy stopped by. She left a bushel of Roma tomatoes on the tail gate of my truck.( Actually the fairy is my boss and she knew I needed more Romas to get us through the winter.) I am ever so grateful and will be happily dehrydating for the next few days!

Skirting Fleeces

2011-10-10T05:45:00.000-07:00

Today I skirted the fleeces, readying them for processing. The weather was cool and cloudy and perfect for the job. The fleeces were spread one by one on a table my dad built specifically for that purpose. The matted parts and vegetable matter were picked out and then I piled each in a box according to color. About half way through a friend showed up and helped finish. In short order we had four huge boxes filled with all that lovely wool. The next step will be weighing out the specified amount for the blankets and shipping.
We were tired of playing in the wool and headed to the garden. The greens are starting to put on a lot of growth and so we wandered down the rows tasting this and that, like a couple of rabbits! The wasabi mustard greens are fantastic and almost ready to be tossed in a salad. We picked some peas and she got a milking lesson before heading home. Thanks C!

Planning For the New Farm

2011-10-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

We made a quick trip to our farm in Virginia today to start thinking about our future plans. It will still be several years before we make the move but we hope to split our time between here and there much sooner, possibly raising some cattle and mowing hay from the fields next summer. Today we made plans for our driveway and made some decisions on fencing. The fencing is in pretty bad shape and most will need to be replaced. Of course we will need to build a barn. Daunting yet very exciting.....

Fall Shearing

2011-10-07T05:04:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day. It started with a vet appointment for the Icelandic sheep slated to leave on Sunday. While he was still here my home school group arrived for a farm tour. We talked about the sheep, toured the garden and played with the dairy goats. I also showed them the process of how the wool goes from sheep to yarn. I had planned to spin for them but my wheel hasn't been used since last winter and of course it was being cantankerous, so that didn't happen. We still had a good time and I hope they learned some things.
After they left it was time to call all the sheep to the barn for their fall shearing appointment. Our shearers were due at 5 this evening. Three trips back and forth the pasture with grain and they were locked up and ready. The shearers were an hour late because of traffic and we didn't finish until almost 9 p.m. I stacked all the fleeces in the back of my truck so I will HAVE to do something with them before I head to work on Tuesday! My plan this year is to have blankets made. They were my best fleeces yet! The night turned a bit cool so we fed the sheep and left them in the barn and headed to the house to feed ourselves and collapse.

Catching Up On Chores

2011-10-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

I awoke to a cool crisp morning and the sound of roosters crowing. No waves crashing, no sand in my sheets. Ah yes, it is good to be home! Being home though, meant catching up on chores, returning emails and phones calls about the farm and animals. Emails and phones calls were first and then I headed out to do outside duties. Milking done, I fed and watered the goats. Mineral feeders and the kelp/DE were empty, so those were refilled. I walked the fence lines since I am going to be rearranging dogs once again and don't need an escapee. Lastly on the critter list was to haul hay to the cows and tend the chickens. That done and eggs gathered, I headed to the garden only to discover worms were munching on the collards. Back to the barn for more DE to sprinkle on the plants. A walk thru revealed that all the summer veggies must go except the peppers and okra. I will pick off the green tomatoes sometime this week and we'll plow everything up. I then called it a day and headed to the house. I was actually able to squeeze in a short run. ( Gotta shed those beach pounds, from sitting around doing nothing! Well, actually we did hike several miles each day but that in no way resembles farm work!)
Then it was on to supper and a quiet evening- or so I thought. While preparing supper the phone rang. I chose to ignore it since I was up to my elbows in meatloaf. Then it rang again. My sister this time. Did you get the message? No, what message. The one from the sheriff's department saying a breaking and entering suspect is in our area and to be on the lookout. Uh, no, I didn't get that one. Well, get your pistol and lock the doors. Hmmm... Since I had planned to sit on the patio and catch up on a few last things paperwork and computer wise, this was not good. So I grabbed my pistol, my paperwork and my dog and headed to the patio. Just another day on the homestead.

Home Again

2011-10-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

No one should come home from vacation way more exhausted than when they left. However, a crappy bed and no sleep for several days does not make a well rested person. It is good to be home!
The farm and all the animals survived well in the capable hands of the sitter. Upon arriving home I did a quick check on the animals. The little doe that was sick when I left was now recovered and put back in with her herd mates. I picked the okra and checked the winter veggies. Everything has germinated and looks great except the mache and miner's lettuce. This is year two with both of those and year two of failure as well. IF I try again I will not direct sow and opt instead to try starting them in flats.
I watered plants, caught up vacation laundry, got my calender and started making lists for the week. Call me crazy but as I looked at the to-do lists and gazed over the farm I felt way more at peace than I have in the last few days. I started chanting in my head.. there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Heading Out

2011-09-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

This morning we are headed to the beach for a few days. Of course there is always one crisis. As I fed and milked this morning I found a young doe with massive diarrhea. Over indulging most likely the culprit. Back to the house for meds and probiotics. She was settled in the barn with fresh hay and water. I called my farm sitter to report. I can give medicine! GO! OK, ok I'm going...

Rain, Rain

2011-09-24T06:33:00.000-07:00

It started raining last Wednesday and thus far we have received 5 inches. I am not complaining because we really need it but it sure makes for soggy outside chores. Each day has brought a few brief hours of sun that allow us to run around and get chores done. Today was no different and in the short window of no rain we rearranged animals and cleaned out muddy stall areas. We will be heading to the beach soon for the boys yearly fishing trip and things need to be in order for the farm sitter to come and stay. I want things to be as easy as possible for her to manage. The rams and horses went into a pasture that she can water from outside as not have to go in. The rest of the flock went to the large pasture that they can graze while we are gone and that one too can be watered from outside. The hay racks will be filled to capacity with more stacked close by in case they finish it before we get back. Collars were taken of all the goats except for the ones being milked. Last year I had a few convince her that they were being milked even though they weren't - they bolted the gate and hopped on the stand ;o))
Long list made, lots of phone numbers jotted down.....
Leaving is very stressful but a little less now that I leave it in her capable hands!

The First Day of Fall

2011-09-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

The Autumnal Equinox- the first day of fall. My favorite time of year has arrived. I love the cooler days, the shorter days and the changing of the leaves. Here in NC, we are blessed to be able to enjoy all four seasons and this is my favorite. This time of year things start to slow a bit here on the homestead and we can begin to catch up on projects pushed aside due to summer gardening and animal chores. Of course the animals still need tending daily but the load is lightened a bit since the babies are almost grown and the milk flow is less. The garden has all but stopped producing for the next few weeks. Soon we will plow up the last of the summer crops and wait for the winter ones to grow. I will be able to spend more time at my desk planning breeding groups for the Icelandic sheep and the dairy goats for the 2012 season. Finishing all the registrations and paperwork on the animals will finally get accomplished as well. Firewood will be split and indoor chores caught up, preparing for the winter months. I look forward to spinning and knitting again..... Did I mention how much I love the Fall? ;o)

A Busy Couple of Weeks

2011-09-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks have been a flurry of activity. Labor day weekend brought huge harvests of peas which were frozen and put in the freezer to be enjoyed this winter. This past weekend another huge harvest that, though shelled, still awaits the freezer. The fall garden has finally been completed except for garlic, which has yet to be shipped. We planted lots of greens in hopes of supplementing a fall CSA.
Last week also brought a landmark birthday for my husband. He turned the big five-o. I asked him what he wanted to do for such a grand occasion. I suggested zip lining to which I got a "I am afraid of heights" response. How about rock climbing, I asked. "Heights!! Remember? " Oh well. I just thought he should do something outside of his box. He happens to share his birthday with my sister and her best friend as well, so he opted for a small gathering of family and friends. My son and I seized the opportunity to redo the front patio with fall plants, new benches and planters and sprucing up the beds for the get together. Three days later it was a truly lovely place to entertain. For the party we had an Italian feast. The menu was amazing!
For starters, I served a homemade sun dried tomato pesto over brie cheese, crusty bread, olive oil with herbs for dipping and roasted garlic. Next was a minestrone soup that I had simmered in the crock pot all day. A large salad was served along side of my great aunt's lasagna recipe and ravioli smothered in a basil cream sauce. For desert, a homemade tiramisu from farm fresh eggs and local cream. Good food, family and friends made for a special and memorable birthday.

And More Peas!

2011-09-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the rest of the butter peas. A total of 30 pounds were picked with at least that many more with a bit of rain. Not too bad for one row. I remembered why I only plant butter peas every other year. They are sooo labor intensive to pick. Now I need to shell them...
We also planted the first of our fall crops, brocolli, brocolli raab and cabbage that my sister started from seed.

Peas, Peas

2011-09-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

Today we picked peas. Crowder peas and butter peas. LOTS of peas. And I didn't get finished. The butter peas are very time consuming to pick and after half the row and a heaping half bushel I was done. I will finish the rest tomorrow. Doug picked the crowders and okra. Another half bushel of each. It was a hot day and we were soaked to the skin after working in the garden for 3 hours so we moved to cooler jobs, raking the barn and feeding hay while Luke and a friend split wood. So many projects, so little time, it seems!
One of the Icelandic rams we sold, left this evening. He was probably one of the finest fleeced animals we have raised and I was thrilled to find out he was going to a spinner's flock in addition to being their flock sire.

Picking Up Hay

2011-09-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Still recovering, I was not allowed to pick up hay today. The boys did fine without me tho~ hmmm... that's food for thought! We had a lovely farm visitor and fellow homesteader and that kept me occupied while they worked. The count today was 299 bringing our year total to 1480. Not too bad.

Mowing Fall Hay

2011-08-31T05:25:00.000-07:00

Our fall cutting of hay went down today. Though not very thick it looks to be some really good hay. I have fed a good bit already since the cows and horses have eaten down their pasture pretty well.
With this cutting out loft will be filled to capacity. And with that we are ready for the winter!!
The vets were out today and critters were looked over and taken care of. Health certificates were filled out and the sheep are ready for their new homes. The LGD that killed the skunk has to stay in quarantine for a couple of weeks--it seems his rabies shot had lapsed by a few days. Ugh. We are not really worried as it was a normal event with the skunk, being nighttime when it was out, but just want to be safe. He also has to take antibiotics twice a day for the next 2 weeks. That is already proving to be a challenge as he spit the first one out, even wrapped in meat. Hay should come up friday!

What Color Am I ?

2011-08-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

I am hoping with the help of some Icelandic breeders we can make a call on the color of these two ram lambs. I think this one is a spotted black badger~

Newborn:

And this one a spotted moorit badger?

Newborn:

Now

Will let you know! Okay-- the top one is a black badger and the bottom a moorit badger. Mystery solved!

Morning Chaos and Vet Checks

2011-08-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

I fixed my first cup of coffee and went to settle in on the screen porch to enjoy it, only to hear one of the dairy goats screaming her head off. She was struck in the fence. I could tell she wasn't hurt so decided to ignore her and finish my cup. My mom appeared and asked if I knew the one of the LGD's was in the wrong pasture. No and that was not a good thing as he is still not allowed to be in with the chickens. As if on cue, squawking started. I ran out barefoot and screaming- "Drop it!!!" He did so and the chicken ran off. And so began my day.
The large animal vet was due at 1 and the small animal vet at 6 this evening. Over the weekend the same naughty LGD killed a skunk and it proceeded to rip his mouth pretty bad.( Sometimes he takes his job a little to seriously!) In order to be safe I wanted him to have a booster rabies shot. In between waiting I milked, baked bread and 2 Amish friendship cakes. I also checked the garden. I picked 24 eggplant. I'm sorry but I really don't know what to do with 24 eggplant....

Late tomatoes have started to ripen and the butter peas are ready. Lots of peppers as well. I got everything picked but the peas and hope to get to that late this evening after supper and the vet leaves. Looks like I will be doing some preserving this week.

Rounding Up The Sheep

2011-08-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

The vet is coming on Monday to do some health certificates for the Icelandic sheep we have sold. So today we had a roundup. First we had to play musical pastures. Cow here, horses there, to allow the sheep to be moved. Once that was done, I walked ahead of the sheep with grain while the boys and Luke's girlfriend followed behind. Out of the front pasture, through the lower and finally into the barnyard. Only a few escapees and in short order all were up. I was so excited to see the beautiful fleeces this year. I made a mental note to get in touch with the shearer asap. I checked over everyone to find the adults all looking good but in 2 weeks time the lambs went from pink membranes to pale. Ugh. So, the boys got to hold and I dewormed. A couple have developed a raspy cough so they were quarenteened and started on antibiotics. I will have the vet check those on Monday too. Lastly I had to tag the ones leaving but even that went surprisingly well. Gotta love those days...

Working Towards "Normal"

2011-08-22T13:22:00.001-07:00

My first day back milking and of course none of my milking untensils were sterilized. The chickens were very happy~ me~ not so much! A pile of red peppers awaited roasting and 1/2 bushel of peaches needed to be frozen. So I guess things are getting back to normal.
Finally I have all my seeds ready for the fall garden and am waiting for the garlic to ship. Of course I will plant the usual things ~ kale, spinach, kohlrabi, collards, carrots, beets, brocolli and head cabbage but this year have added a few interesting veggies.
One is a leaf cabbage from Territorial Seeds. I thought it interesting and wondering if it might hold better we have another bitter cold winter, more like the collards. We'll see. Also mache, some new mustards, a purple pac choi, miner's lettuce and rutabaga. Lots of new things that promise to be packed full of nutrients and more cold hardy. I am looking forward to cooler days.

Green Beans

2011-08-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

It has been a very sad year for green beans.Thankfully I canned enough last year so I am not too devastated over that fact. We have planted three times only to pick a nice sized mess each time.
Today I picked what few were down in the garden. It only amounted to a couple of good meals. After picking them I snapped enough for a meal, tossed in the few butterpeas I found and set them to simmer in the chicken stock I found hiding in the fridge. They were a yummy addition to supper for sure.
Today the boys "let" me fill water buckets AND gather eggs ;o))

First Day Out

2011-08-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day venturing out.Though still extremely sore, I was able to walk to the garden and pick a few tomatoes. I saw the green beans needed to be picked and there are lots of jalapenos ready. The butter peas are ever so close but I hope will wait a bit longer. Next I gathered the eggs and went to visit the dairy girls. They talked to me when they saw me headed their way. It was nice to be missed! Later, after a rest, I took another short walk with my husband. Slowly things are returning to normal.

All Is Well

2011-08-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

The good news is that the tumor is benign. However, after two days down I am beginning to become extremely board and a smidge grumpy. I am trying hard not to take it out on my poor family as they are being absolutely wonderful. I was able to do some laundry today and load a few dishes. I am also working on several knitting projects and much to my families' horror I am making lists of all the things I can think of that need to be done around here. I am also working on getting a new blog up for the Icelandic sheep. I found a cool online garden planner through Territorial Seeds that I am considering trying out. They have a 30 day free trial offer. Once you enter your garden size, you can arrange icons and plan your crops for the year. It helps plan what and when too plant, succession plantings ands helps with crop rotation. Email updates are sent biweekly with reminders of what needs to be done.... hmmm. Yep, I am definitely board.

Grape Juice

2011-08-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I cooked the grapes down while finishing all my check lists. After cooking and straining, I had almost 2 gallons of juice. After work today I canned 5 quarts and left the rest to be enjoyed with breakfast this week. Lack of time did not allow jelly to be made- maybe next year ;o))
All lists are complete and I am ready for the big day tomorrow. However, a monkey wrench was thrown into my plans when I was informed that I was to be at the hospital at 6:15 a.m. instead of 10:30 and I had to scramble to make milking arrangements. My family has been my rock these last few days and I am so grateful!!

Sunday

2011-08-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

The first thing I had to do after morning chores, according to my husband, was to go and buy a dishwasher. Ugh. I milked and put a pot of beans on and we headed out. Buying one was relatively painless just time consuming. We went ahead and made the grocery store run while we were out and stopped to check the hive at my in laws house.
Finally back home and able to check the hive here, we discovered that the ones we recovered from the barn didn't need to be treated but the ones we bought do. The mite count on the wild hive was 20 and the other 103. Kinda interesting....

Groceries put up, veggies washed and cereal made I headed to check the grapes. Quite some time later I was back with a bushel. These vines were planted just 1 year ago in the spring and proved to be very prolific. The Catawba seems to have done better than the Concord this year. I will be making juice and jelly tomorrow!

The Best Laid Plans

2011-08-13T07:01:00.001-07:00

I woke to the sound of thunder and rain this morning. Hmmm.. that could certainly dampen my plans for the day. However, after baking and cleaning up the sun was trying to peak out. I milked and checked over all the dairy goats. A few hooves needed trimming but all in all they look good. I am going to deworm Tuesday evening since the milk will not be kept for a few days. Next on the list was to check the bees for mites. It is that time of year. My husband devised a cool contraption that mimicked the sticky traps that are available. He took a white piece of thin siding and cut it to fit the bottom of the hive. He then sprayed it with cooking spray and slide it in. The mites will fall onto it and die and tomorrow we will check the mite number. In order to do that though we had to make several stops at various relatives homes and of course there was a bit of visiting at each. So, that put us behind for the day. It was late afternoon when we got back and after evening chores were done it was time to call it a day. Tomorrow. Tommorrow, there's always tomorrow......

RIP Dishwasher

2011-08-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

Yep, it has been pronounced dead. With an estimate of 300.00, I escorted the repair man to the door. No thanks. Okay, so buying a new dishwasher was not on my to do list for the weekend. Sigh. I will put it there though. I never realized how much I depended on that appliance until I spent a week of washing, drying and sterilizing. Milk pails, bread bowls, canning jars, oh my! I actually dumped the milk to the chickens on days I didn't desperately need it just not to have to wash the jars and milking pails. I am now a farm girl with dish pan hands. YUK!

Preparing For Surgery

2011-08-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

Finally, surgery has been scheduled for 1 week from today. Of course there are a million and one things to do, strict instructions on feeding & milking routines and checking the animals and garden.
The good news is that I don't have to be at the hospital until 10:30, so I can milk and feed before I leave. I will have to be down next Thursday but my mom has stepped up to the plate and offered to milk.
So this coming weekend will be a flurry of activity. Checking eyes again, trimming hooves and rearranging critters to make it as easy as possible for the caretakers. It is Murphy's Law---if I don't do this, SOMETHING will happen! I will need to make sure there is enough feed for all the hungry mouths.
I plan get as much of the garden bounty processed as I can. Grapes are ready to be picked and the eggplant are abundant. The okra is starting to put on in great quantities as well. Thankfully other crops are at a lull and it looks like the butter peas are a couple of weeks out. So off I go to make lists, lists and more lists!!

Tuesday

2011-08-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Up early to bake, milk and feed before heading to work. It was a quiet morning. My fears for the cashmere doe were realized and she did not make the night. Instructions were left for my son on getting her buried, as I would not be home until late. Another casualty in the battle of the barberpole worm. My heart breaks with each loss.

The Other Half Of The day

2011-08-08T09:34:00.001-07:00

Well, I didn't finish the herb bed. Nor the shower. I did get most of my kitchen chores finished. Due to the demented condition of my dishwasher and the fact that I couldn't get someone here until Friday to look at it, I froze tomatoes instead of canning them. Much less mess. The doe I have been nursing was perky this morning but the day brought temps near 100* and I fear it has taken it's toll. I tried to move her to the barn but the stress was too much and I don't think she will make the night. I have made her as comfortable as possible, hope for the best, but know the outcome is grim.

A Half Day

2011-08-07T07:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a half day. I got half the herb bed weeded. I got half my kitchen chores done. I got half the shower scrubbed. I have no clue why it was such a struggle to stay on task!
I have been nursing one of my older cashmere does who has struggled with parasites this summer.She has consumed a lot of my time the last day or so. She is doing well, though and I am hopeful. I have been taking her Malabar spinach leaves, which she loves, and hauling water to her. She is also getting a daily dose of vitamins along with grain. So, several trips a day out across the pasture are taken. She is not willing to come to the barn yet, preferring the shade of the woods.
I have also been dealing with my demonic dishwasher that has suddenly become possessed and kicks the door open during the cycles.This a bad thing. I use it to sterilize all of my miking equipment, jars and canning supplies. We don't use paper plates either so when I say it gets run 2-3 times a day I am not exaggerating! The thought of washing all that stuff by hand makes me quake in my shoes.
Off to check the goat....

Homemade Feta Is So Much Betta!

2011-08-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

An overabundance of milk this week lead me to make several batches of feta. It is such an easy cheese to make and freezes really well. Here are the directions: Heat 1 gallon of milk to 86*. Add 1/2 cup of buttermilk. Let ripen 1 hour. Add 1/2 tsp liquid rennet to 1/4 c cool water and stir into milk. Let sit another hour. Cut curds in small squares and let sit a few minutes. Keeping the cheese at 86* stir for about 15 minutes. Usually my pot stays at this temp because it is so heavy, but if not, set in a sink of warm water to maintain temp. Drain curds for several hours. Once drained slice into chunks and salt really well on all sides. Let sit in a covered container for 24 hours on the counter draining off any whey. Salt again and refrigerate. Let age 5 days or so. Use within 10 days or freeze.

Rain!

2011-08-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

Finally it is raining. We were getting desperate. The garden once again was looking extremely sad. Between the heat and drought nothing is setting fruit right now. The butter peas are full of blooms, but no peas. The peppers have no blooms. The third planting of green beans have go by the wayside as well. This will be the year of no canned green beans- good thing I canned extra last year! Between the coons and mother nature there will be no late corn. And so it goes in the gardening world. Battles won and lost on a daily basis.
Today, I am enjoying the rumble of thunder and the lightning. The rain is like music on the rooftop. I have a few tomatoes to can and I am ordering fall seeds and garlic. These are the days that revive my soul and allow me to rejuvenate.

Aunt Ruby's Giant German Green

2011-08-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is a ripe tomato. It has got to be my all time favorite. Not a lot of these tomatoes on the vine but the flavor is outstanding. I have played with some heirlooms over the past few years and this is my top choice. The flavor is very complex, but anyone who has ever tried it says this is the way a tomato is supposed to taste.(Not to mention, it is beautful on the plate.) Given a chance, this is a must try!

Tomato Time

2011-08-03T05:46:00.000-07:00

Big beautiful baskets of tomatoes are sitting on my kitchen floor. Where to start? Today I think marinara sauce. After getting the tomatoes on to simmer, I pulled the red and yellow peppers from the fridge. Those I roasted and peeled. Some made their way into the freezer and others in the salsa. It has been a daily process to can all of these gifts from the garden but by the end of this week I have added another 7 quarts of plain tomatoes, 13 more pints of marinara and 12 pints of salsa! The early tomatoes are slowing a bit but the late are starting to ripen, We are not done yet! Still left on my list are a roasted pepper spaghetti sauce, one more round of salsa and at least a dozen more quarts of plain tomatoes.

Catching Up

2011-07-25T11:21:00.001-07:00

Today was a day of catching up on things left undone. The animals were all doing well. We needed milk and it was one of the first days I felt well enough to save it. I also checked the garden. I had cucumbers as big as zucchini and zucchini as big as my bird dog! The tomatoes are really producing well and it is time to make marinara sauce and salsa. I picked a large basket of red and yellow bell peppers and the first of our patty pan squash. I am really surprised at how well things are doing considering the heat and lack of rain. There were a few casualties, a few potted plants and herbs did not make it while I was unable to water ;o( Ah well, the boys did a great job elsewhere and I am grateful for that!

Sick Days

2011-07-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

And so Tuesday I woke up feeling a bit odd. As the morning wore on I knew I was coming down with something. By late evening I had a fever of 103*. I haven't run a fever in 18 years! (really!) and so it really kicked my butt. For the next three days I felt like I was in a coma. The boys were able to do the feeding but I still had to drag myself to the barn to milk. Needless to say it all got dumped on the ground. Thankfully today I am back in the land of the living. Though not a hundred percent, certainly a hundred percent better! As I finally wandered outside, I had to laugh at this stick I found hanging on the chicken coop.

It seems the tom turkey was giving someone a fit during feeding time. Haha!!

Blueberries & Freezing Chickens

2011-07-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

I met a friend early this morning to pick blueberries. It was a lovely morning and shortly we had our baskets overflowing with berries. I then headed home to milk the goats and freeze chickens. Freezing today was a bit of a challenge as my food saver was being a bit cantankerous. Finally I got the kinks worked out of it and with my mom's help we moved along. It still took until 4 though. Time to feed and back in to can the stock. Slowly the fridge is gaining some space and things don't fall on my toes when I open the door! There was no time to deal with the berries so I will work them up tomorrow.

Making Stock

2011-07-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

Today I boiled the carcasses from yesterday. The two largest pots I own were filled to the top with onions, carrots, garlic, celery and salt and pepper and of course chickens. I set the pots to simmer all day. My kitchen was filled delicious smells. While the stock simmered I canned the tomatoes harvested yesterday. Once the stock was done I strained it and picked the bits of chicken from the bones to freeze for something down the road.. Two gallons! I let the stock cool and stuck it in the fridge. Tomorrow I will skim any fat and can it.

Butchering Day

2011-07-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

When I opened my eyes this morning I was already tired. Seems I spent the night picking blackberries! Geezz.
We had slight reprieve because it was raining. So I dozed an extra hour. It was time to get started. One could not have asked for a more perfect day. Overcast, cool and slightly misty, it was a true blessing.
During the night a couple of the white rocks had escaped. Oops, forgot they can fly. They were way out in the pasture so they will be dealt with on another day. Last week my husband hurt his back so we also opted to not butcher the white rock hens and so as I caught them I clipped wings and put them in with the laying hens.That still left 50 birds. We left 35 or so whole and the rest we cut up. Unlike in years past I decided to keep the carcasses to make stock. Waste not, want not. It took about four hours to butcher. After we were finished and the birds in coolers covered with ice, I headed to milk and the boys cleaned up. Today's milk went to the critters. Since I was not keeping the milk it was a good opportunity to trim hooves and give the girls a once over. Last on the list was to check the garden. Finally tomatoes (and lots of them!) with no wholes in them. Yeah!

The Chicken Roundup

2011-07-15T06:51:00.001-07:00

I baked a double round this morning (20 loaves) in order to get an extra early start tomorrow butchering chickens.The rest of the day I spent pickling beets, the last from the spring crop. Another 16 pints put in the pantry.The few that are left in the ground will be eaten fresh and shared with family members.
When my husband got in from work, we headed down to round up the chickens. I have to say this was one of our more intelligent moves in recent history! I had only watered the chickens this morning so they were hungry. We backed the horse trailer up to the orchard and made a ramp with plywood. I sprinkled feed up the ramp and in the trailer. They marched up and in! Of course there were a few of the white rocks that I had to track down, but for the most part it was really easy. While I finished feeding, Doug set up the plucker and scalding pans. We are set and ready to go at daylight!

Beets, Broth and MORE Pickles

2011-07-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

The beets are ready to be pulled. I need room in my freezer. The huge bag of cucumbers I shoved in the fridge threaten to fall on my toes every time I open the door. Where to start.

I pulled several packs of beef bones from the freezer and put them in the oven to roast on low while I baked and milked this morning. All morning my kitchen smelled heavenly. After I strained the milk, I pulled the bones from the oven and tossed them into a large stockpot with celery, onions, garlic and salt & pepper. On the back burner, I let them simmer most of the day.

My husband called and said he would be in for lunch. This put a slight crimp in my plans because it would now be noonish before I finished chores and headed to the garden. Being that the heat index was going to be well over 100* I was not looking forward to being out at that time of day. However, it was not so bad. I have learned that you just move a little slower ;o)!

Chores done~ which in this heat, means making sure all water buckets stay full and clean, along with feeding took about an hour. I headed to the beet patch. I pulled 2 peck baskets full and made the decision that since these are not my favorite vegetable, that would be plenty when I added them to the ones already canned. The boys love them, and I love the boys. Most of the time.

Back in the house, I topped and washed the beets. It was now 1:45. The beets were shoved in the place where the cucumbers once lived and I commenced to making pickles. (Beets on Friday!) 10 jars today and a variety of shapes including "sandwich slices" and whole. Lastly, I strained the broth and canned it. I would have had 4 quarts but it was so incredibly delicious that I drank two large cupfuls before canning. The broth was so rich, dark and full of flavor. Definitely a lovely addition to the pantry.

Getting Ready To Butcher

2011-07-11T14:25:00.001-07:00

Butchering day for the chickens is set for Saturday. Being that we will be processing around 65-70 birds our plan is to catch them all Friday evening and put them in the horse trailer.The only problem with that is the horse trailer is already full of onions.Yes, our horse trailer is kinda like duct tape~ it has MANY uses. So out came the onions.We tied them in bundles and hung over the rafters in the shed. Probably where they should have gone in the first place but there was that time thing..

I had to check the sheep again today and see how our parasite problem was doing. I was very pleased to see most were doing well. A few had to be dewormed but for the most part they were in good shape. I am hoping the kelp/DE mixture and the goat mineral mixed with sheep mineral is helping,
Last on the list was to weigh out potatoes for the CSA to pick up.

That done, I started supper. Eggplant dipped in egg, rolled in fresh breadcrumbs and lightly sauteed in olive oil served with a sauce made with homegrown beef, tomatoes, onions and peppers AND the creamy tomato soup. That won rave reviews.So incredibly delish and so simple. Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato Soup:

Process 2 cups of fresh or canned tomatoes with 2-3 cloves of garlic and a handful of fresh basil. Add 6 ozs. cream cheese and process until smooth. Transfer to sauce pan and add 1 cup or so of heavy cream. Heat through. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

Preserving The Harvest

2011-07-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

In the last few days we have received another 2 inches of rain. The cucumbers have run amuck and I have picked daily. Tomatoes are coming in as well. So today was a canning and dehydrating day. The first to be done were the tomatoes. I filled the dehydrator full and what was left I canned. These were mostly paste tomatoes, so I just peeled and canned them whole. Of course one jar didn't seal :o( and so tomorrow I am going to make a creamy tomato and basil soup. On to the cucumbers. Some spears and some slices, for total of 9 pints. At the end of the day, satisfaction guaranteed!

Off Topic~ Listening To Your Body

2011-07-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

Okay. For the last few weeks I haven't felt quite myself. Lower back pain, stomach pain. It could certainly be stress, but I just felt something was not right within. I made a Dr's appointment. It even sounded stupid to me as I explained my symptoms to him. How bad does it hurt, he wanted to know. Not enough to slow me down and certainly tolerable but something is strange. He knows me fairly well, I am not a complainer, I darken his door for physicals every year or so~ give or take a few months. Other than that I don't go. He prescribed a medicine for IBS and told me I MUST take it so we could eliminate some things. Not a medicine taker I wanted to balk. Food is my medicine. I feel most things can be healed that route. However, I did humor him and take it as prescibed. It did not work. I had a CT scan done and today I was informed that there is a tumor on one of my ovaries. Surgery will be scheduled in a couple of weeks. If I said I wasn't a bit scared I'd be lying. However, we move past that and life does keep going here on the homestead. I mean really, the goats still need to be milked and the critters fed and water. Good Heavens! I have 65 birds to butcher and pickles to can and tomatoes to can and, and, and.
This was my point. Your body tells you things. You must listen to it and honor it. The tumor is small, most likely benign but had I not gone and said something is not right..

Saturday's Chores

2011-07-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

On today's to do list was cheese making, dehydrating tomatoes and freezing plums.The boys had a day of mowing and yard work ahead of them. Bread delivered and milking done I heated milk for a pot of chevre, added the culture and set it aside for the day. Then I started slicing tomatoes for the dehydrator. I used a mandolin this time and it made it go much quicker than usual. It also made all the slices uniform which in turn made them all dry at the same time. I don't know why I didn't do it before!! Once those were in drying, it was on to the plums. I used a cherry pitter on the smallest ones and it worked pretty good. Three quarts were tucked in the freezer for making jam this winter when more time is available. By the end of the day the tomatoes were dry and I two large quart bags full. Then it was time to drain the cheese. A good day's haul for sure!

Garlic and Potatoes

2011-07-01T05:02:00.000-07:00

My husband is home for a holiday weekend. Our first chore of the day was to sort the potatoes and top the garlic. Potatoes were done and put in the cool basement to store for the winter. On to the garlic. That finished, I headed to the barn to milk and he headed to the garden to till the rows where the potatoes had been and ready the ground for the crowder peas and late drying beans. I planted drying beans called Hutterite and Tiger's Eye. I also replanted the green beans that I thought had not germinated well, but think now that the chickens may have been enjoying sprouts instead. Finally the crowder peas went in and we got the corn weeded. The better part of the day was gone so we finished up with the evening chores and called it a day.

Harvesting Garlic

2011-06-30T04:45:00.001-07:00

We finally had an inch of rain last night. Yea!! I finished a.m. chores and hurried to the garden in hopes I would be able to finish harvesting the garlic now that the ground was moist. I harvested a total of 190 heads. They went into the trailer with the still unsorted potatoes to dry. I will clean and top them this weekend.
It seems the rain made the other veggies explode overnight. I harvested our first yellow squash and MORE zucchini, along with a couple more eggplant. The cucumbers are hanging full of tiny babies so pickles will be in the not too distant future!

Naughty Critters

2011-06-28T18:19:00.001-07:00

Up before sunrise to bake and feed before work this morning. It was the usual quiet beginning to the day. Then my sister called.. your horse is leaning over the fence eating my tomato plants. AND your dog is chasing your goats---Oh no! those are my goats and they are in your pasture. Call you back. So, I headed to the barn and tossed some hay out in hopes to distract the horses. Called sis back. Goats ok? Yes~ teenage dog had them in a bunch, just watching. She was thankful for the bunching- I was thankful said teenage dog only "bunched"! Back to baking.

Last batch of bread in and I headed out to feed the meat birds. The "boo-boo" birds have discovered they can fly over the fencing and were helping themselves to the garden. ALL of the ripe tomatoes they could reach were half eaten. I hurriedly picked anything that looked close to being ripe. Ran the bad birds in another pen all the while explaining to them that I really do love chicken pot pie.

Finally off to work, only to arrive home this evening and find all the milk goats in the blueberry patch. I came barreling down the driveway blowing my horn. The startled little snots headed back to the pasture from where they escaped. Another 5 minutes and there would not have been a leaf left! Jeez!!!

Zucchini Soup

2011-06-27T05:26:00.001-07:00

It is dry as a dessert here. We haven't any significant rain in a couple of weeks and so today I watered. Watered plants, watered animals, watered mushrooms. I tried once again to dig the garlic, once again I gave up. Despite the lack of rain, the zucchini stills produces on. I came across a zucchini soup recipe in an old Southern Living cookbook. It is absolutely delicious! So if you have an abundance of zucchini give this a try.

Zucchini Soup

2 -3 slices of bacon fried crisp and crumbled. Reserve some of the fat and saute a meduim onion, chopped and a stalk of celery,chopped. Add a couple of garlic cloves, minced. Saute a few more minutes. Add 4 cups chicken broth, 3 medium zucchini, chopped and about 4-5 small potatoes, cubed. Let simmer until tender. Add about 3/4 of cream, milk or half 'n half. Salt and pepper to taste. Process in blender until smooth. Serve with crumbled bacon and a sprinkling of chedder cheese.

Tomatoes!

2011-06-26T05:15:00.000-07:00

We were all exhausted from the heat yesterday and so we took things a bit easy today. That didn't mean we didn't have chores to do but we decided against starting anything big, such as cutting up all the trees that have fallen of late ;o). I did wander down to the garden to see what could be added to the supper table and to my surprise I was able to pick several tomatoes. Better Boy, Black Cherry and Tigerella are all starting to ripen. By far my favorite vegetable and a true sign that summer has arrived!

Digging Taters and Onions

2011-06-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

It is time to dig the potatoes and onions. We used to tell the kids we were digging french fries. It made it a lot more fun for them and they were a lot more help for us. That doesn't work anymore but we still had one helper today.

And so after morning chores we headed to the garden. Actually, it was after lunch as we had some minor delays (like fixing the dishwasher that was running water all over the kitchen!) and the heat was wicked. We started with the onions. A total count of 754! With the 60 I have sold to the CSA and the other couple of dozen I had pulled to eat on our total for this year was 838. It was our biggest and best crop ever. The onions are huge and oh, so sweet. We spread a tarp in the horse trailer and laid them all out to allow them to finish drying. I will be moving them around daily this week and as soon and as they dry, the tops will come off and I will hang them in the basement.

It was then on to the potatoes. We were a bit disappointed on that end. Only a total of 6 bushels. There have been years we have harvested 12 or more. I think with the dry weather, the potato beetle attack earlier and the different way we tried planting this year, that our harvest suffered. Certainly enough to get us through but not enough to sell any great quantities. I will have to go through the baskets, checking for nicks and spots before storing them for the winter, some time this week as well. Once we get these areas plowed it will be time for the crowder peas and drying beans to go in the ground. Hopefully that will happen on Monday.