Lilacs!
Tulips
Crab apple... Mistakenly called the tree with white flowers an apple previously... Oops
More lilacs. These remind me of my folk's home and the lilac festival
Friday, May 17, 2013
More May flowers
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Exponential growth
It's hard to believe that just a month ago we were thrilled to see anything green growing up because now a few days absence means the plants are HUGE when we get back. Exciting and slightly nerve wracking at the same time depending on whether or not our crops and edible weeds win the race for space.
Below are the pictures of the veggies sprouting on our lasagna bed, dandelion flowers taking over (edible...and can also be infused in oil as a lotion), blooming trees, nettle growing, and the cold frame plants flourishing [not necessarily in that order]
The last picture is of our homemade pizza from our larder. Neal made a sourdough pizza crust, we added tomatoes and sausage from the freezer, plus spinach from our CSA. This May we are focusing on "eating down the pantry" before we have tons of fresh produce coming in from the garden. We probably could have started in April... lesson learned for next year. Right now we are only buying dairy, grains, and meat from the store. Don't worry... Our diets aren't suffering: already today I've had bok choi (CSA), chives (from a friend's garden), beets (CSA), scallions (CSA), dandelion (cold frame), seaweed (cupboard stash), garlic (gift from fellow farmer), egg ( from our chickens), soup (from freezer and fridge foods), and yogurt (homemade last week with just milk and saved yogurt starter from the last batch). So, life is good here with lots of yummy meals as we make room for this year's harvest.
I'd be interested to hear if any of you are eating foods from your gardens or foraging yet.
Below are the pictures of the veggies sprouting on our lasagna bed, dandelion flowers taking over (edible...and can also be infused in oil as a lotion), blooming trees, nettle growing, and the cold frame plants flourishing [not necessarily in that order]
The last picture is of our homemade pizza from our larder. Neal made a sourdough pizza crust, we added tomatoes and sausage from the freezer, plus spinach from our CSA. This May we are focusing on "eating down the pantry" before we have tons of fresh produce coming in from the garden. We probably could have started in April... lesson learned for next year. Right now we are only buying dairy, grains, and meat from the store. Don't worry... Our diets aren't suffering: already today I've had bok choi (CSA), chives (from a friend's garden), beets (CSA), scallions (CSA), dandelion (cold frame), seaweed (cupboard stash), garlic (gift from fellow farmer), egg ( from our chickens), soup (from freezer and fridge foods), and yogurt (homemade last week with just milk and saved yogurt starter from the last batch). So, life is good here with lots of yummy meals as we make room for this year's harvest.
I'd be interested to hear if any of you are eating foods from your gardens or foraging yet.
Friday, May 3, 2013
May flowers or May showers?
Neal and I made pasta for our sixth month anniversary on Saturday.... So delicious and fun. It reminds me of play dough... Hehe. We did one beet based dough and one carrot based dough from a pasta making class I took with Annie Wagner Lefort for my birthday two years ago. Here is her website, full of homesteading ideas.... Www.leforthomestead.blogspot.com
I tried out a new yogurt recipe from my herbal teacher, Linda Conroy. I had been using the crockpot method, but I wanted to give her method a shot too... I'm going to have to work with it a few more times to get the consistency that we like, but wow was it tangy! Yum. Below is a picture of the yogurt being strained through a cheese cloth for a thicker final product. We use the whey in soups and breads for a little boost of protein. Here is Linda's yogurt recipe.... http://www.moonwiseherbs.com/cultured-milk-for-health-nourishment-and-fun/
We have been watching the water flow as it rained the last two days. Neal has some rain barrels set up to catch rain from the barn roof. We are also using a skill we learned in our permaculture classes: berms and swales (or mounds and ditches). The swale from the shed should ideally bring water from the shed roof to our vegetable garden and then the water will hopefully slowly leach into the berms to water the gardens over time. The wood chips are filling in the swales so we can walk on them without twisting an ankle. We still need to do some work with the slope of our swale so we actually are moving water from the shed roof to the garden. The less watering I have to do by hand this summer, the better!
Check out the pictures below to see some of the new growth on the farm. There are nettles sprouting up by the barn, raspberries leafing out, a cold frame teeming with greens (kale, lettuce, dandelion, and lambs quarters), and finally tons of daffodils in our fruit tree guilds.
I tried out a new yogurt recipe from my herbal teacher, Linda Conroy. I had been using the crockpot method, but I wanted to give her method a shot too... I'm going to have to work with it a few more times to get the consistency that we like, but wow was it tangy! Yum. Below is a picture of the yogurt being strained through a cheese cloth for a thicker final product. We use the whey in soups and breads for a little boost of protein. Here is Linda's yogurt recipe.... http://www.moonwiseherbs.com/cultured-milk-for-health-nourishment-and-fun/
We have been watching the water flow as it rained the last two days. Neal has some rain barrels set up to catch rain from the barn roof. We are also using a skill we learned in our permaculture classes: berms and swales (or mounds and ditches). The swale from the shed should ideally bring water from the shed roof to our vegetable garden and then the water will hopefully slowly leach into the berms to water the gardens over time. The wood chips are filling in the swales so we can walk on them without twisting an ankle. We still need to do some work with the slope of our swale so we actually are moving water from the shed roof to the garden. The less watering I have to do by hand this summer, the better!
Check out the pictures below to see some of the new growth on the farm. There are nettles sprouting up by the barn, raspberries leafing out, a cold frame teeming with greens (kale, lettuce, dandelion, and lambs quarters), and finally tons of daffodils in our fruit tree guilds.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Signs of spring
My mom recently asked me to be on the lookout for signs of spring to share with my nephew. Here are a few that Neal and I have seen. What have you noticed in your area besides April showers, showers, showers?
April 5: orange yolk now that the chickens are back to foraging
April 6: sap basically done flowing. Mullein growing
April 7:mullein rosettes
April 8: first dandelion leaves and yarrow fronds. Spring peepers or chorus frogs heard for the first time.
April 12: grass is green in some spots again instead of just yellow and brown
April 16: chickweed growing... Yum!
April 19: two pheasants next to the lodge... See below for a picture
We are just finishing up the last of our maple syruping project. We expect a total of around 58 cups or about 3.5 gallons of syrup. It helped us that when the sap froze, we were able to throw out the ice that was mostly water. We kept the unfrozen sap that was left with an even higher sugar content. Let us know if you want to do breakfast with sourdough pancakes and homemade syrup.
We finally got around to cleaning out the chicken coop bedding... Back breaking work that I'm hoping will help us both build up our muscles... Who needs a gym membership when you have work like this? It did motivate us to start planning out a portable chicken coop that will get the hens out to different parts of the property so we have less bedding to scoop out. We are looking into getting 8 more hens for the flock now that the birds are foraging again. Our hope is to cut back on feed once we know they have a nice diet of greens, bugs, food scraps, etc.
Below are a few pictures from dinner tonight: grass fed beef, sweet potatoes, carrots, and greens on homemade corn tortillas... Thanks to Neal for making and for using the tortilla maker I got in Costa Rica. This meal is on our list of favorites now along with shepherd's pie.
April 5: orange yolk now that the chickens are back to foraging
April 6: sap basically done flowing. Mullein growing
April 7:mullein rosettes
April 8: first dandelion leaves and yarrow fronds. Spring peepers or chorus frogs heard for the first time.
April 12: grass is green in some spots again instead of just yellow and brown
April 16: chickweed growing... Yum!
April 19: two pheasants next to the lodge... See below for a picture
We are just finishing up the last of our maple syruping project. We expect a total of around 58 cups or about 3.5 gallons of syrup. It helped us that when the sap froze, we were able to throw out the ice that was mostly water. We kept the unfrozen sap that was left with an even higher sugar content. Let us know if you want to do breakfast with sourdough pancakes and homemade syrup.
We finally got around to cleaning out the chicken coop bedding... Back breaking work that I'm hoping will help us both build up our muscles... Who needs a gym membership when you have work like this? It did motivate us to start planning out a portable chicken coop that will get the hens out to different parts of the property so we have less bedding to scoop out. We are looking into getting 8 more hens for the flock now that the birds are foraging again. Our hope is to cut back on feed once we know they have a nice diet of greens, bugs, food scraps, etc.
Below are a few pictures from dinner tonight: grass fed beef, sweet potatoes, carrots, and greens on homemade corn tortillas... Thanks to Neal for making and for using the tortilla maker I got in Costa Rica. This meal is on our list of favorites now along with shepherd's pie.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The happiest sugaring mistake
Well who would have thought that we would get tired of making maple syrup? On Sunday we were close to finishing up a batch of then gallons of sap, and we decided pack for the return trip to Milwaukee while it finished boiling down. We forgot about the project for a half hour and found the maple boiling over the pot and waaaaaay past the thickness we needed of maple syrup. What we found was a delicious Carmel/ molasses/ candy like substance. I geeked out and overdosed on the sugar. Here are some pictures of our fun times.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
April farm recaps and goals
Hello all! I thought I would take some time to recap some of our farm adventures since November and fill you in on some of our goals for the spring. A few people have expressed interest in helping at the farm occasionally. Contact me with info on what specifically you would like to tackle and we will pick a time together.
So far:
Added polyurethane to the lodge floor
Jacked up the lodge floor
Created an automated chicken feeder.
Harvested over 100 gallons of sap and made over a gallon of syrup
Attended the Midwest Catholic Worker Farm Gathering
Redid the plastic on the potting shed
Started seeds, including leeks, onions, kale, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, and collards
Harvested 11 chickens then 13 more later in the winter
Later this spring:
Buy some young chickens
Develop a system for pastured chicken foraging
Get bees
Boil down more of the sap into syrup
Attend the Sustain Jefferson gardening workshops
Make some no-till annual garden beds
Plan and continue planting the perennial food forest
Harvest and preserve spring herbals such as violets, dandelions, and cedar.
After our semi-hibernation this winter we are excited to get back into the growing season.
So far:
Added polyurethane to the lodge floor
Jacked up the lodge floor
Created an automated chicken feeder.
Harvested over 100 gallons of sap and made over a gallon of syrup
Attended the Midwest Catholic Worker Farm Gathering
Redid the plastic on the potting shed
Started seeds, including leeks, onions, kale, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, and collards
Harvested 11 chickens then 13 more later in the winter
Later this spring:
Buy some young chickens
Develop a system for pastured chicken foraging
Get bees
Boil down more of the sap into syrup
Attend the Sustain Jefferson gardening workshops
Make some no-till annual garden beds
Plan and continue planting the perennial food forest
Harvest and preserve spring herbals such as violets, dandelions, and cedar.
After our semi-hibernation this winter we are excited to get back into the growing season.
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