Blackberry Winter, Warm Weather to Follow

Blackberry winter is here, that means the blackberries are blooming and I am cold.  There is just a chill in the air, no need for fire in the wood stove but a jacket is a welcome wrap for me.

Garden is growing, onions are developing seed heads, garlic scapes are showing up on all of the plants.  Time for me to go out to the garden and pick these.  I would enjoy harvesting large heads of garlic and onions so all of the seed heads need to be removed, the plant just can't make seeds and provide a harvest of large fruits.  I save the larger cloves of garlic to plant and planting the scapes takes about 3 years to make a sizable head of garlic.  I buy onion sets in the fall and spring, this year I also purchased plants in the spring.

There are butter beans, snaps, black-eyes peas, sugar snap peas, yard long beans and Austrian winter peas growing at this time.  The Austrian winter peas were planted in the fall, they made it through the cold winter, some in the tunnel and others in the garden bed. During the winter we used the pea shoots in our salads, delightful taste of spring in the the salads.  Now I am waiting for them to fruit, I have been enjoying the blooms in the garden. Later in the day I found a few pea pods and with the number of blooms there will be more coming.

The tunnel cover came off this week, and I am ready for the squash plants to cover the tunnel again this summer.  This will give protection from the sun for the crops in the tunnel.  I will be planting things under the tunnel which appreciate a little protection from the sun.

There was a time when my garden was not started until May 15th and this year there is already so much  progress.  Now some of the squash plants are 6 inches tall or more with tiny zukes just waiting for the bloom to come.

I tried the aluminum pie tin with cucumber slices in it.  My results so far, are no cabbage worms, I would like not having to spray my cabbage with bt, I have been looking for a way to get around this for years.  I put 2 slices of cukes in the pie tin and place under the cabbage plants.  I have some aluminum coasters from the 60's which we were going to recycle but now they are going to be recycled in the garden for holding cuke slices.  So far this has worked for me.  I really have only been doing this for about 3 weeks, I will let you know how things progress through out the summer.


We are trying to take the goats out to munch the woods daily, I was hoping we could let them free range but they seem to know where everything is that I would prefer they stay out of.  So the end result is I must walk with them when they are free ranging.  They seem not to care to go to the same area on a daily basis, this means I get to explore more of our woods.  This is a win, win for me but during this time of the year I feel I have loss a precious hour of time to work in the garden.  I will adjust as I so enjoy my time with the ladies.

Another large tree went into the wood rack this week, we also found some good wood felled by the winter storms and this was add to the rack.  There is still a lot of wood needed but we have a good supply to start the winter with, finding the dead trees and wood on the forest floor makes it easier for us, as the drying time is less.

The girls have been busy turning the compost and I am bringing it to the garden to start another new bed.  This week, I gave them one of the last of our squash from last year's garden and they ate all of the seeds.  I am finding in the compost lots of  seed coming up.  I do trash most of these as I am not sure what they are.  I thought they ate the bulk of the seeds but now I think they eat a few, everything seems to be cleaned up after they have a pumpkin, squash or cantaloupe but maybe they plant a few seeds in the compost.

Flowers are blooming, birds are setting on their nest, butterflies are dancing on the flowers and spring seems to be everywhere.  The sage is blooming and I will be picking some to dry.  I must start working the herb garden again, I miss not having the wonderful herbs  I can grow. This spring I did start a number of plants from seed and I am hoping to add more with cuttings.

The lettuce is a favorite of the ducks and I have planted some extra for them, however, the goats did manage to get into the lettuce bed this week.  The ducks spend their evenings out working in the woods and I had them come in last night with the blackest peaks, you would have thought they had black peaks.  Mother Duck is molting, her new feathers are so pretty and white, I am hoping after the molt maybe, just maybe she will begin to lay to a regular basis.  If not. no problem, she is my girl.

Things are moving forward, now that maybe all of the different little winters are over we can begin to look forward to the rainy seasons.  A rainy day may give us a chance to sit down, relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor.  We do enjoy something from our garden on a regular basis !!!

Dogwood Winter Update

Things were moving along, baby plants were in the tunnel being hardening  off.  I had 11 tomato plants already in the hills.  I dig my tomato hills in the fall, add a bucket or manure cover with soil, mulch and install the tomato cages.  When spring arrives, I take off the cage, pull back the mulch, add a scant handful of epsom salt working into the soil, plant the tomato, return the mulch and tomato cage. I do spray with a kelp mixture as I feel it is needed.  Lettuce was planted in the garden and then it happened.  For over 2 weeks the nighttime temperature had been safe.  The heat had not turned on during the night, we had no issues with redbud winter, and then I heard frost warnings.

The tunnel had been opened, about half of it and we had several gentle farmer's rains.  I was thinking I may go on and take the cover off the tunnel but I am so pleased I stopped at the half way mark.  I was over run with seedlings. I had started my snow peas in pots as this is the only way I can grow them.  The mole/vole will cut them off at ground level, I began last spring putting the seeds in pots and had none of the pea plants cut off in pots, the ones I had planted just in the soil were taken care of by the mole.  When taking the pots out to remove and replace the soil I could see they really did work.  The 1 to 2 mole tunnels came to the bottom of the pots and stopped there.  I am using 6 inch pots which I plant in the garden.  I also have pole beans coming up in pots and will be planting these pots as well.

After hearing the frost warning it was time for me to think through what I should do to protect by garden.  The tunnel cover was replaced, floating row covers were placed over the tomatoes and lettuce. The peas were safe as i pulled mulch around them and they can take some cold.  We are into our second week of cold nighttime temperatures, The heat is coming on in the house, we are building small fires in the wood stove.  Some evenings we just hunker down under a warm blanket and enjoy the brisk air.

This time has been used in the garden, most of the beds have all of the chickweed pulled as it is going to seed, walk ways between the beds have been mulched.  Some of the raised bed borders have been replaced with new trees, cedar which was cut last year so it is ready to hold the soil in the raised beds.  I garden about a third of an acre using only hand tools so this break in the temperature has been welcomed.  Squash plants were getting to the point they needed to be planted, as I had started a few in pots to get a jump on the early planting of them.  They were planted and covered with row covers.  My inspection after having the row covers on for a few days, as we had to secure the covers because of the wind, found the lettuce taking a different shape and a need to pull the covers in allowing the plants room to grow.

The brambles are all getting there leaves, and showing how much they appreciate the time which we spent pruning them this winter and early spring.  The herbs which were thinned are coming forth and I only have memories of thinning them as they are growing abundantly. There were over 100 buckets (5 gallon size) of mulch moved into the garden.

I am so excited about the condition of the garden this spring.  I see it coming to a place I have wanted for so long.  The lettuce we are picking in the tunnel is loaded with flavor, it has wonderful spring flavors, the ducks await any lettuce trimmings I have for them.  Just watching how excited they become when I bring a basket of lettuce to their run makes me aware of how delicious the lettuce is.  Using our mulch, manure and homemade compost allows me to have control of my garden space.

Tree felling became slowed as one very large tree decided to become entangled in another tree.  With the rain we have been experiencing it was much too wet to move some of the larger equipment into the wooded area.  Mr Bootsie had to wait for several days for the wood's floor to dry some.  The tree became free with the help of the wrench on the truck and is now on the forest floor,  The wood racks are beginning to fill for the coming winter.

I am hoping there will be at least one broody hen as I need some chicks to help us make through the winter.  I would enjoy seeing this happen soon, but they have a mind of their mind.  Maybe blackberry winter will bring a broody hen.  The end of dogwood winter is coming later this week.  I will be planting more tomato plants and pepper plants.  The seeds for the snaps, butter beans and black-eyed peas need to go into the ground, the corn is in the greenhouse in starter trays, the first planting.  Oh, yes, I can't forget the okra.  You know it is spring when the strawberries begin to bloom and they have, we are finding little berries on the plants.

I am heading out to the garden, I shall harvest some lettuce and spring onions.  Time for my favorite sandwich of the spring.  Homemade bread, Duke's mayo, spring onions loaded with flavor and lots of pepper.  How lucky I am to have a garden which rewards me daily.

Momma's Knife Skills

There was a cantaloupe ready for slicing on the counter this morning, no, not from the garden, I must admit I purchased this one.  As I walked to the counter with a chef's knife in my hand along with a paring knife.  Here she was,  Momma picking up the well worn butcher knife, slicing the cantaloupe first in half and then, beginning to take off slices.  Picking up the paring knife, she placed it between the rind and flesh at one end, with one clean cut the knife came out of the other end.  At that time she would drop the rindless slice of cantaloupe on your plate.

Wow, I was always so impressed, when I grow up I am going to be able to do this.  It must be that easy,  if you are adult you can do this.  Much to my surprise, when my first kitchen was setup in 1964 it did not come with the skill of slicing the cantaloupe or peeling the apple or peach without breaking the peel.  I felt very let down with myself as I presented many fruits which looked as if someone may have nibbled on them before I put them on the table.  

Momma, also, peeled potatoes and once again, there was one long piece of peeling.  I asked her about a veggie peeler, her answer was no.  She did not want one of those things.  She had one paring knife and Daddy would sharpen it for her, she did not use dull knives.  I look at the collection of kitchen tools most of us have today and think of Momma.  I know in her kitchen there would be no place for many of these as she valued her ability to do things using her own 2 hands. 

I admired this lady so much, I wanted to grow up and be able to do the things she could do.  I wanted to raise a garden, preserve the harvest, along with taking care of the farm animals.  It took me many years to reach the point, where I was able to begin to my journey of following in my momma's  footsteps, but I made it. 

So, this morning I walked over to the counter, stood up tall, picked up one of my chef's knives and cut my cantaloupe in half, then quarters and finally slices.  With paring knife in hand I could feel the swift move of the knife separating the melon from the rind.  I have been able to do this for a number of years but I always find myself sitting at the table in Momma's kitchen waiting as the slice of cantaloupe slides  into my plate, being salted gently and looking into my momma's proud face while I said, "Thank you".

I know my thank you was for much more the slice of cantaloupe, it was for the life lessons she taught me everyday, and for this I am so Thankful.

Reflections of Winter while Welcoming Spring

Windows are open, there is a nice breeze coming through them,  there is the wonderful scent of spring flowers.  Can this mean we made it?  It may be my age or maybe just the conditions but I believe I have just gone through the worst winter of my life.  Maybe I did not pay as much attention to the weather before our farm but this past winter hit so many benchmarks.  I just want to focus on the good ones.  All of our animals made it, the covering on the tunnel survived, with all the wind and wet...no trees fell.  We were lucky to have a pantry full of provisions because there was a 2 week stretch no one left the property.  We did not use everything in the pantry so I must have stored enough   There was enough wood cut and seasoned, we were able to supplement the heat with the wood stove which was a savings for us.  With careful planning, when snow was called for, we were able to keep feed for the animals in our storage facility.   I think all in all everything went very good for us.

Now with all of this behind us, it is time to start a new season.  There will be no spring babies, this year,  I did not breed the goats and there are no hens interested in becoming broody so I will wait and see if things change later in the spring.

The garlic and onions are growing, it may be time to start pulling some green garlic.  This week I picked swiss chard and kale.  Lettuce and cabbage is growing in the tunnel.  I made a quiche with the swiss chard, there was a stir fry using a few of the frozen veggies, canned snaps were mixed with red bliss potatoes (I had to buy these).   I am still feeding us from the stored and fresh garden.  There is plenty of chickweed growing in the garden and I am pulling this for the ducks and chickens.  We were not able to work the garden in February being as the garden was white most of February meaning I am already behind.

Mr. Bootsie has started felling trees, we need wood for next winter.  The amount of wood used this past winter was the most ever for us.  We produced lots of ashes so the ducks and chickens will have ashes to take baths in.

I have seeds coming up, the outside conditions have not been the best for starting early garden.  It has just been too wet.  I am starting a number of items in trays and hoping I will be able to transplant them to the garden.  Right now it seems like more work but maybe it will not be as much work as I think.  Time will tell.

Now for some sad news, I lost my sourdough starter when I was sick.  I will start a new starter in a few weeks, so I am hoping I will be able to keep this one going.

I must Thank You for stopping by and visiting with our farm.  You have been so faithful and patient, Spring has returned and things are happening on the farm.  I really could not write about snow, snow and more snow.  I look forward to our time together and sharing with you.  The first thing I did this spring was clean off the porch, we are ready for porch setting, drop by anytime, so pleased to have you come for a visit.

Chicken Pot Pie

I  started watching a program on PBS about baking,  I was not shocked to realize how little I knew about baking, but I was overwhelmed watching this program and learning how different the English did things in the kitchen.  I had not noticed this in other cooking shows but this one really caught my interest.

I have always felt when I made a chicken pot pie I was doing something wrong.  I totally remember the little pot pies which were frozen and seemed to have 3 small pieces of carrot, 5 green peas, a chunk of something I would consider mystery meat, lots of yellowish liquid and only a top crust.  Mr. Bootsie always felt that a chicken pot pie should have a top and bottom crust.  I have tried to make this and it always turned out a mess.  Too much liquid and taking one slice out, the pie ran out of the crust which was just  discouraging for me.  Mr. Bootsie would say, "It tastes good, just doesn't look like you want it to look.  You can try again,  I am more than happy to keep eating your mistakes."

While watching "The Great British Baking Show", they did a savory pie, out came the spring form pans,  6 inch.  What the heck are they doing?  I had never thought about this.  Then came the talk of a different type of pie crust.  So off I went to do some reading.  Pie crust for pot pies should be 1/3 of an inch thick.  Interesting, I am pondering this, what about the liquid in my filling?  I already knew the answer to this one, as I always add to much liquid.  This I can fix, I think.

There was pot pie filling in the freezer and I decided it was time for me give all of this a try.  First I made my crust using an egg in the pastry.  The bottom crus wast put in the spring form pan and there was plenty of excess to work with.  I thicken the filling and had very little liquid, into the bottom crust this went.  The top crust was rolled out, I cut a circle just a little larger than 6 inches, located the center using a chicken cookie cutter from my childhood I made my cut and then the crust was placed on top of the filling.  The bottom crust was trimmed and was placed over the top crust, this worked and it was time to seal the crust together.  With the trimming I was surprised at how very easy this process was.  Into the oven and 45 minutes later out came a chicken pot pie which made me smile.

I was so pleased when the spring form pan was taken away, my crust was strong enough to hold the savory pie.  I had extra gravy because we do like a moist pot pie.  Now I have found there are 4 inch spring form pans, these will make a personal pot pie.  Taking the time to learn how to do this has added a new meal to our menu and I found out quickly it was enjoyed by all.

During the winter the pace is different, and this year with all the weather I had time to learn how to make a pot pie.

A Long Over-Due Update

IN THE KITCHEN

Lo-Mein (click here for the recipe link) is one of my go to meals, I use as many seasonable garden fresh veggies as I can during the summer,  frozen veggies from my garden during the winter.  I always freeze snow and sugar snap peas, I really enjoy fixing something fresh from the garden during the cold days of winter, makes me appreciate all of the work we do during the warm months.   Pizza crusts were made and frozen this week.  I use our sun-dried tomatoes and frozen peppers on these, along with homemade cheese which was frozen during the summer.  The freezer is a very important part of our meal planning.

As the snow was falling this week. I pulled a bag of frozen tomatoes and used them in chili, it was a good feeling to be peeling tomatoes from the garden as I watched the weather outside.  I freeze tomatoes when I just do not have enough to can or time to can.  I am now on a mission to get my freezer emptied before spring when it will be time to fill once again.   This is one of the most difficult  projects for me as I am always making something and adding the extra to the freezer.  

My afore mentioned project seems to be an ongoing battle.  I am using blackberries to make wine and veggies as often as possible.  The peppers I froze last summer as just about to end. 

While I was not doing my chores, I put the kefir grains on vacation.  I have returned them to the everyday working to make kefir.  Whenever I do this I think it takes a few days for the kefir to taste like it did before I stopped processing.  So after about 7 days I am enjoying my kefir once again.  I do prefer to work my kefir on a 2 day schedule as I like the punch.  I think my salad dressing have more zip with the kefir being processed for 48 hours.

THE FIRST SNOW FALL OF THE YEAR/WINTER

Boxwoods with top hats

I love how clean everything appears after the snow,  then the melt begins and the mud appears.  For me, a little dusting like this is a pleasure.  It was so cold this time it hung around for several days.  

Snow is not well received by the goats.  They seem not to care for anything which falls from the sky.  Belle has spent most of day trying to keep her front feet out of the snow, resting them on anything she could find.  The barn is open and they could go in but then, being as curious as they are, how could they know what is going on.  We went out, cut cedar and pine trees for them.  The vegetation acts as a wormer and they seem to love pulling the bark from the trees.  I love walking down to visit and the smell of cedar is in the air.  I think of how good the house smelled when I was a child at Christmastime.  

Scoot playing with Auntie Bell.  

Scoot is enjoying her first snow fall.

Momma Duck with her 2 little ones.  

Baby ducks born this past spring.  They are enjoying their first snow fall, it is bath time in the fresh drinking water on a very cold morning.  They are busy girls, the little ones are laying every day while Momma Duck lays at least 3 to 4 times a week.  

All is well in the coop, the girls are slowly beginning to come out of winter molt and beginning to lay.  The pullets have kept us in eggs through the winter.  With the new pullets our eggs have gotten very colorful.  Now we have olive eggers along with our other girls, this makes the eggs earth tones, greens, tans, lights browns and of course when all them are back on line, white and blue eggs.   

IN THE GARDEN

Veggie seeds are on the table and some of them have been planted.  Maybe too early but in the dead of winter you sometimes have to do something for the soul.  Planting the seeds help me feel we are moving toward spring.  The tunnel garden harvest is good chard, kale and lettuces.  Cabbage plants are getting large, I am looking forward to some early cabbages. 

I bombed the moles/voles with castor bean seeds in all of the tunnels I could find in the tunnel garden.  Will it help? I don't know, but it was fun thinking maybe I might, just might win the one. 

IN CLOSING 

We are busy planning for the spring, trying new recipes, keeping the critters warm, watered and happy.  Spring will come. Everything will begin anew, I find this excites me.  Until then I shall continue dreaming about what the spring will bring.  

  

It is a New Year, 2015

December 21, 2014 it walked in the door.  I never saw it coming but it knocked me on the floor.  I was so prepared, more decorating for the holidays than I had done in all the years we had lived here.  The Christmas rolls were in the fridge waiting for Christmas morning when I would bring them out for the final rise and then baked.  Some of our farm raised chicken was thawing which I was planning on making into chicken salad to put on the rolls. The next morning, I could not muster the strength to get out of the bed.  Mr. Bootsie to the rescue, he went to the barn lot and took care of my babies for me.  In a couple of days I felt as if I was bouncing back.  On the 27th, it showed it's ugly head once again and this time Mr. Bootsie could not get out of the bed.  I was strong enough to make my way to the barn lot and take care of the animals who depend on us.  During this time of year food and water is very important.

I found myself not doing very well before the New Year and I was sleeping most of the day.  Some way we balanced doing our chores but that was all.  No meals were being prepared.  Cereal became our friend, it was easy and quick.  I called our Doctor and yes, you should come in this afternoon.  After he checked out both of us, he presented a few small pieces of paper and told me the drug store was closed but go there in the morning and get the meds.  If there is no change in 3 days to call him and we would move to another direction but he felt we had what we needed.  Following his directions we could feel a little improvement in 3 days and felt he must have nailed the problem.

As I look back, 2014 has been a hard year.  Never did I think I would see the end of my brother's life and it would happen so quickly.  Some of his family came over for a farm day visit and he joined them. He always left with his hen fruit, I remember that day as if it were yesterday.  There were others here and I gave all of them eggs.   My brother was sitting in his car and I gave him a dozen eggs,  He smiled and said, "Thank you for the hen fruit, you will never know how I have enjoyed your eggs."  Mr. Bootsie had taken him on the cart so he could be with his family who had come to take pictures of their little one with our baby animals.  This was first time he had seen our operation.  He was always interested but  he fell in love with my Belle.  She had her first baby and was very protective of ones she did not know getting close to her baby; however, there was a sense that my brother was safe.  As my brother was driving away that beautiful, sunny afternoon I felt something in my body, an empty place.  We knew he was doing as good as he had in the past but today I felt Bubba would never return to Triple Creek Farm.

My Belle

Time marched on quickly and my brother's earthly journey ended.  I was away from the farm far more than I would have thought, my brother had children, grown grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  I  never thought I would have been the person he would start turning to.  I quickly found myself making food to take to the hospital/rehab center and receiving calls from him for what he wanted.  One day he called, "Do you have any tomatoes?" Yes.  "Do you have any mayonnaise?"   Yes, I have Duke's.  Joking I said to him, "I know what you want, I will bring it tomorrow."  I packed my cooler and off to the rehab center I went.  As my bubba was eating his tomato sandwich you could not measure the smile on his face.  He savored every bite.  I took a kitchen towel to catch the drippings,  but there were very few.  I used about half of the large brandywine tomato for the sandwich.  After eating the sandwich, Bubba asked for the knife and tomato, he began cutting up the tomato reaching for the Duke's he loaded the tomato.  I weighed the tomato before leaving home, Bubba had eaten over a pound of brandywine tomato.  When I left the rehab center that day, I knew I could not have done anything which would have made him any happier.

I was baking zucchini bread for him every couple of days, slicing and wrapping it so it would stay fresh.  He had plenty to share if he wanted.  I was asked to can snaps for him and his wife,  they were planning on eating these beans this winter.   I picked, cleaned and canned beans for him as he told me he did not enjoy the grocery store beans like the ones I canned.

I had been going to the hospital which put us on the  road 2 hours every day we went, also, taking care of my animals and garden.  I kept picking the garden so it would keep producing.  I was feeding string beans to the goats, tomatoes to the chickens and my compost pile was busy with fresh produce.  I was milking the goats and making cheese.  I never gave up all summer.  I was so pleased my cucumbers did not have a good crop year because I always made pickles for Bubba.

I stopped milking the goats around the first of October.  No more cheese to be made.  I was thinking this is one job I am glad to have over.  If I sit down, I would fall asleep.  If we went anywhere I was like a baby in the car, I would go to sleep.  It got to the point I really was not doing a good job of making meals for us.  I went through the motion and put something on the table.  I started doubting myself all of the time.  I never once thought I could be worn out.  Well, after 2 weeks of getting a lot of rest, I have realized just how worn out I was.  I have never said never in my life but this could change in the future.  Fatigue is not my friend, I was the one who baked all of the bread we ate, I cooked all of our meals, planted the garden and started all of my plants from seed.

Well, there may be less garden, because I have learned I can only use so much.  This is my first start in my program to take care of myself.  But after being sick for 3 weeks and still working on getting really well, I know I am the only work horse I have and time has come for me to start taking care of myself.

At this time I am the only member of my Happy Hallow family who is still alive.  I have stood by and watched my family slip away, one by one.  But I have my memories and some of them are already shared with you.  I just hope there is time for more sharing, as I work to keep my farm up and moving forward.  Yes. it is a new year!!!

My Brother, Bubba