Triple Creek Farm, November 23, 2013

Temperature changes, watering the tunnel and row tunnels,  night time is coming earlier each day,  this brings adjustments to our little farm.  Needless to say there is the gathering of wood for our house,  the deep layering of leaves in the duck coop, chicken coop and goat house.  Deep mulching the onions and parsnips we are leaving in the garden.  Adding mulch to the tunnel helps to keep the soil warm.  I do believe old man winter is coming to visit.

IN THE KITCHEN

We had the pleasure of sharing our home with a special friend for a few days, she is always wanting to know what is knew here, so I made the squash and apple soup, squash muffins and garlic, onion pizza. There was an extra crust which I used to make a spinach pizza.  Breakfast, one morning, was frittata made with potatoes, onion, garlic, spinach, eggs and cheese, there was a side of sausage and homemade sourdough bread.  The wine had slowed by Friday,  Saturday it was time to strain and bottle our first batch of wine made with our blackberries.  So far, so good, the sample we had was excellent.

ON THE FARM

Tuesday morning, my ladies at least 2 of them were very interested in Lou.  His visit to our farm may be very productive.  In a few weeks I will know for sure.  We are goat setting for a friend.  She asked to bring a little guy over to help with weening him.  I think I am falling in love with this little one.  If Lou needs to go home maybe Clue will be able to stay with us for a while.  Mr. Bootsie and I went out one afternoon to cut holly and a little cedar.  I  was thinking I could use this to make holiday decorations but I missed out this time.  Happy Goats, munching on the holly.  Saturday,  with weather conditions which may be changing next week,  we took several hours to cut some additional holly trees and place them beside the pasture.  They will keep for a few days in the cold and if the weather gets bad we are ready.  The hoses were all disconnected, once again,  this was completed Saturday night after all of the animals were put to bed.

IN THE COOP

Mr. Roo has gotten his crow working, he sounds like a real roo and now we need to name this beautiful creature.  When I come to feed and put up in the evenings, he crows when he sees me coming with the food bowls.  Okay, girls, Momma is here and has the evening meal ready for us.  They get scratch and sunflower seeds at night,  the girls come in, eat and find where they want to spend the night. Saturday night all of the girls put themselves on the roosting poles.  I do hope this will continue, as the days get shorter,  I may be a little late getting to the coop.  My girls are now going up between five and five fifteen, in about 3 weeks it will be earlier.

IN THE GARDEN

I had one beautiful spinach plant and the mole had a salad.  I was really unhappy about this.  Mr. Bootsie and I are now planning on making baskets for each plant we put in the tunnel.  I am afraid to put anything out to kill the moles as I have never used any harsh chemicals in the garden.  So I will keep putting goat jelly beans in their run and hope they get tired of being bombed with goat poop.  Saturday, I dug my first parsnips, I decided it was time as the mole had eaten at least 2 parsnip roots.  I have never grown these so I was quite proud of my harvest.


IN CLOSING

I am so pleased as I think of our family feast.  Each year, since we arrived here on the farm, we add something we have grown in our garden to the table.  This year we have several new veggies, finally we have butter beans  and country gentleman corn in the freezer. not a lot because we shared with the raccoons and moles.   There were enough potatoes to can a few this year.  Now as I think to next year, with little ones expected in April, I am excited about milk, butter, cheese, and other dairy products after we start milking our ladies.  Oh, yes, we are Thankful.  Thankful ,we have the pleasure of living on this farm and sharing it with our animals.   Thankful, for all I have learned in the past 7 years.  Thankful, for each of you and the blessing you bring to me.  I can never say Thank you enough because I  enjoy this time we share, and I look forward to sharing what the future holds.

May each of you have a harvest celebration in your own way, I know some places have celebrated and others will follow, What ever your custom may each of you be blessed.  To my fellow Americans, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Triple Creek Farm, November 16, 2013

During the fall and winter I have a lot more time to play in the kitchen.  Some would call it work, but I  enjoy learning and working on new projects,  I want to learn to grow veggies and fruits I can use in the food preparation, I want to reduce the cost of food in our house but have an interesting and varied menu.  I have been busy all this week working with one of the squash we enjoyed as a green squash during the summer and this squash turns into a winter squash if left in the garden.  This is our first year to harvest this as a winter squash.  I learned I need to leave a few earlier in the season to grow into the winter squash, I had the pleasure of harvesting 2 this fall and now I am learning how to make wonderful dishes with the squash.  The squash is zucchette Rampicante-Tromboncino.  My seeds came from Pinetree Garden Seeds at superseeds.com, this is one of my favorite seed houses and they have signed the safe seed pledge.

IN THE KITCHEN

There is always talk about natural fermentation, the wine I am making was kick started with yeast.  I do think when my momma made her wine she let it set and collect the wild yeast.  With the amount of bread made in this house, sour dough and kefir working, I should be able to capture some wild yeast to start the process of making wine.  We were watching the wine work on Sunday,  3 days into the process, and we have a little contained volcano working in the pantry.  I have made wine before, but I really just put it the containers and went on my way.  This one I am stopping and looking, it is very interesting.  Right now, I am happy using yeast, but one day I may try natural fermentation.

                                This picture was taken on Friday morning, Day 8 of fermenting. 

In using this new squash, I made butternut squash and apple soup. Butternut puree and Squash muffins.

This squash will be in our garden because we are finding ways to use this veggie.  I have not started making pasta with it but it is on the list.

ON THE FARM

Lou is visiting and having a wonderful time, he became very friendly with another of the ladies this week.  On Thursday, he and Belle became the very best of friends.  Mr. Bootsie is locating trees which we can bring down easily for winter fed for the goats.  He has been busy taking down the watering system and replacing the watering system when we find there are a few days of nice weather.   As every thing we have water going to runs down hill, it is very easy to drain all of the hoses and fill the duck pond at the same time.  

IN THE COOP

The mornings have a new sound, I never thought I would be excited to hear a rooster crow but it sure puts a smile on my face as he is getting a stronger crow every day and now, he is practicing during the day.  Eggs are slowing down, it will be a while before the little welsummer chicks begin to lay.  I am hoping with the duck eggs I can make it through the winter and continue to feed the girls some eggs each day.  The only problem,  I am expecting,  Momma Duck may go into molting at anytime and there would be no eggs from her for a while.   There will be more molting but the coop is in recovery at this time.  Eva has starting looking like a chicken without tail feathers, but her body feathers are coming in nicely.  

IN THE GARDEN

I planted seeds,  this week,  to install in the tunnel when they come up.  I have beets coming up in the tunnel, watercress is starting to grow in the greenhouse.  We are pulling off the winter covering off the row tunnels when we can, I do like to let Mother Nature bless these plants with rain.  There are a few turnips in the garden.  I will be pulling these to go into salads.

THERE ARE 2014 SEEDS GUIDES ON THE COUNTER WAITING FOR ME, I HAVE RECEIVED 3 THIS WEEK, I am so ready to go on a shopping trip!!!

I will be spending sometime organizing the seeds which I have on hand, filling in the voids with old trusted seeds or looking for something new and exciting.  I must get this task underway as I like to order my seeds before the new year.  

IN CLOSING

A few cold mornings have reminded us we must carry water for all of the animals during the cold days of winter.  The use of gallon jugs returns for this purpose.  The trees are now fingers reaching up to the heavens, looking for the warmth of the sun, I will be planting seeds all winter for the tunnel, and I shall be looking for the warmth of the sun to grow the plants in the tunnel.  I was pleased to get somethings started earlier this year, but I hope I have learned I must start much earlier than I did.  On a farm if you pay attention, you can learn from your mistakes.  I have made my share but I have learned quite a lot by making mistakes.  People will share their victories but I admire those who share their failures.

This was another good week on the farm, I think, only time will tell.  I will need about 5 months to be sure.  Please drop by and see if things are working out because April could be a very busy month for us.  Have a wonderful week!!!

Triple Creek Farm, November 9, 2013

With the slowing of the garden, I thought I had made all of the decisions I would need to make for a while.  But life on the farm is always about something.  This week I started in new directions.  I am hoping with a wonderful mentor I can learn and my choices will be make us a stronger farm.

IN THE KITCHEN

Sunday morning, I made a sour dough coffee cake, there were leftovers and we did enjoy them for breakfast several mornings during the week.  There were ribs, bbq'ed for supper with cole slaw, I have never liked my cole slaw and I am always looking for a dressing which I can find on my shelf.  I think I may have the problem solved.  I made a kefir milk ranch dressing using my chive vinegar and I must say this was good coleslaw, even received a that is really good from Mr. Bootsie.

Wednesday,  It is time to remove some of the blackberries from the freezer, I am not going to can them because there is syrup and jelly on the shelf.  With pickling season over my large container is clear for a new adventure.  I am going to try my hand making blackberry wine.  I found a recipe very close to the one Momma made years ago, very easy and takes less than 3 weeks.   Thursday, the berries have been strained from the liquid, sugar and yeast have been added.  The directions says 15 days, now I need to find something for Mr. Bootsie to do so he will stop going in and checking on the wine.

The soup experience was an Italian Pasta E Fagioli soup.  This soup has no meat, there are 9 cups of chicken broth or stock and this gives the soup a very meaty flavor.  The cooking time is quick, warms up well and Mr. Bootsie did all of the prep work on this one.  I must say it was a super easy soup for me to make.  Yes, it was good and we shall make it again.

ON THE FARM

This week on the farm had been a week of doing our regular chores, one damp day Mr. Bootsie did inside work and painted a wall for me.  He, also, did some detailing on my 1988 van which I will not give up.  It is wonderful for moving goats from one place to another and is great to use when making the run for feed for the everyone.

Friday morning, As soon as the ladies came outside I saw the flagging.  I watched and wanted to be sure I was right.  They were fed and when they returned to the pasture I knew I was right not 1 but 2 of them are in season.  I contacted my friend, less than 2 miles away, who has goats and she said get Lacie loaded and bring her over.  Lacie has never been away from her sister, Belle and I was sure we were going to have problems.  I went into the barn to gather the collar and lead, turned around, Lacie was standing right behind me.  I put the collar on her, hooked the lead, opened the barn door and out of the barn we went.  Lacie was showing me the way to the van, now it was a little different story when it came to loading her but not difficult.  I placed her feet in the van, gave her a push, she was loaded and ready for her trip.  After arriving at the farm, she and the gentleman goat quickly became friends, such good friends that the farmer loaded Lou into the truck and delivered him to our farm.  We, now, possibly have 2 of our goats expecting and we are hoping before Lou returns to his farm there will be 4 goats expecting.   I learned so much on Friday as this was a totally new experience for me.  We cannot express our Thanks to our neighbor enough for taking time from her busy day and helping us with this new journey we are starting.

The two ladies to the left is Belle and Lacie,  the one with horns is Gracie and their new gentleman friend is to the right.  Happy day for all on our little farm!!!

IN THE COOP

It is so amazing how quickly things change in the coop.  My little Eva is recovering from the molt, we are seeing tail feathers.  All 17 are now eating from the same food bowls and the food fight is over, not everyone can get on the roosting pole by themselves but we are seeing changes.  I believe the spring born peeps became very upset when the summer peeps starting making their way to the roosting poles as we were helping the spring peeps.  Several days this week there were no eggs.  I sent Mr. Bootsie on an egg hunt and he retuned with enough eggs for us to know he had found where the girls wanted to lay their eggs.  Mr. Roo is doing much better, there were crows this week, sometimes he struggles but once in a while we hear a beautiful crow.  There will be no more little peeps until spring but I will be excited when the journey begins once again.  

IN THE GARDEN

We have turnips which have developed their bulbs, the parsnips are awaiting frost.  There is something fresh to eat from the garden.  The tunnel is starting to grow and I am looking forward to having some veggies during the winter.  It continues to be easy watering the tunnel because the hoses are still connected.  I will be loosing this pleasure in a few weeks.  I am quite ready to start gardening sitting by the wood stove, where or where are the seed books?  I  will have so many decisions to make.  

IN CLOSING

This week was a 180, I was ready to think about settling in for the winter, warming my toes my the wood stove and having lots of comfort food.  Little did I know that I would need a milking stand built, a place readied for Momma goats and if all goes according to plans dreaming of playing with new farm animals. I am so excited, The Date is April 7, 2014, I welcome you to join us on this journey, learn with us and join the celebration if everything works out.  Life on the farm, Why? Why did I stay away from the farm for so many years?

Thank you for joining me and sharing with us.  May you week be safe!!!  

Triple Creek Farm, November 2, 2013

There has been a crispness in the air, fall rains with not always gentle winds are bringing down the many leaves, all around me there are signs of the ending of our spring and summer growing season.  It is time to remove the growth from many of the herbs, mulch them and cover with large nursery pots.  During the winter my garden looks as if I am growing pots and I always have a crop failure.  I place the pots over the plants I wish to save, pour a five gallon bucket of mulch over the pot, let it flutter around the pot and secure it is place for the winter.  This will keep the roots of my plants alive and warm.  My pineapple sage has been with  me for 2 winters and after this winter I hope I can say 3 winters.

IN THE KITCHEN

The garden was gleamed by Mr. Bootsie.  He picked may butter beans, we shelled and processed them for the freezer.  Each time something is added to the freezer there is question of where is this going to go.  I made a pot of cheesy broccoli soup, the broccoli came from the freezer and I used the space for some ground beef.  Now,  I have to work on using what has been stored for our winter use.  This is a must for I have always been a little laid back using what is in the freezer.  I have lots of veggies to make stir fries  and I must make my plans for our meals earlier in the day, I like to have things in order when I start to cook and not wonder what I am going to add.  Mr. Bootsie has decided it is fun to chop onions and grate cheese.  He is always willing to help do these chores so we can move on to other chores.

ON THE FARM

Splitting wood, mulching the herb garden, cutting a new trail through the woods to the mail box, these are some of the chores we have worked on this past week.  Along with mulching the herb garden I am taking out lots of lemon balm.  Let me share with you, I planted the lemon balm to help with run off and it did.  I was pleased, my run off problem was solved and I did not thin the lemon balm, this fall there has been a tangle of roots and I have spent a number of afternoons digging them out.  The girls in the coop have been pleased as they are finding things in the roots and they love the leaves.  The vegetation for the goats is changing.  They are not interested with the leaves from the trees as they are changing colors are becoming very brittle.  We will now be cutting down holly and pine for them.  Saturday morning, we went and picked up a load of hay and straw.

IN THE COOP

Molting, I think we are going to be molting for quite a while, some of the girls have shown no interest in loosing their beautiful feathers.  I would like to get this over before the cold of winter settles in but I have nothing to do with this, I just have to wait it out.  The blending of the flock is going along quite good.  All of the girls are starting to eat from the same bowls, they are quite mean about pecking when it comes to food, I do wonder if it bothers me more than it bothers the chickens.  They get loud and run off but it just a few seconds they have returned and are eating from another bowl.  I have one who will not fight for food, I do make special arrangements for her.  In the evening before roosting she is given a bowl and put by herself, she seems to enjoy having a quiet place to eat.  The little peeps are still displaying some difficulty getting on the roosting poles.  This week has been quite an improvement.  The little roo has stopped trying to crow but on Saturday morning he made 2 attempts.  He is growing and becoming a beautiful bird.

IN THE GARDEN

Most of the garden is brittle and brown. I did mange to find some climbing spinach under covers which looks really good.  Every garlic and walking onion set I planted came up.  My garlic sets came from the spring crop, I go through my cloves and pick the largest, use these for sets, the smaller cloves are used in the kitchen.  I planted regular onion sets I purchased and they are doing quite good.  These will all be mulched before the cold of winter comes in.  The plants in the  tunnel are starting to show growth.  Chickweed is growing and the girls are having a bucket of chickweed several times a week, the ducks enjoy this treat.   We are starting to pull out the annual beds and prepare the soil for the winter.  I like to have as much ready for the spring as possible.

IN CLOSING

I have found myself wanting to take long walks in the woods and explore our farm.  I took the goats out for a walk one evening this week and we went to a creek they had never seen before.  Don't worry they did not try to cross.  I am finding bird's nets in the trees after the leaves fall.  There are turkey tail mushrooms growing on the downed trees.  I want to cut some trails so I can roam through my woods.  I love finding the gifts Mother Nature has left for me.  I think I may be able to find more wild flowers if I can get some trails through the low lands.  The Canadian Geese are coming in every night while I am putting the girls to bed.  They "honk, honk, honk" their way to the pond.  The flock is getting bigger each year.  There are 2 large deer which spend the evening in front of our house, eating from the herb garden.  We are lucky to have all of this nature around us.

Enjoy your week, Thank You for stopping by,  I look forward to our next visit!!!!