First, let me start by saying, happy birthday Mom.
Well, it's getting late in the year now. My camera has been broken (never let a child take it to school with them for ANY reason) so I can't post pictures of the birds.
I had a nice long conversation with my cousin this week. He's making cheese, and I have all the ingredients, but not the time. I have another crazy weekend this week, so no good then. However, I was hoping to make a wheel or two very soon. Maybe by next Christmas we'll have a bunch of aged cheeses to hand out.
Michael has made his liquid dessert, which is a dark porter with chocolate and vanilla. Can't wait to give some of that away, it's always a hit.
Tonight I will begin to make the starter culture for my ginger beer. I failed last two attempts, which I blame on the house being too hot in the summer. So, we're going to try again now.
Speaking of which, I haven't spent too much time talking about our other livestock - the bacteria. Right now on my counter is a neglected and forlorn SCOBY (a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) which is used to make a great drink called kombucha. It's a cultured tea that's been drunk for thousands of years as a health tonic. It's cleansing to the liver, but the kids just call it yummy. I'll make up some tea tonight to give it a start again.
Also on my counter is another type of mother culture, kefir grains. That makes yet another yummy, healthy drink. Another mix of healthy, beneficial yeasts and bacteria, kefir has been credited with curing everything from A to Z. I'm giving it to my oldest dog right now, as I believe she is coming down with a slight case of cancer. So, we shall see if this helps her at all. Again, the kids drink it up and adore it in their morning shakes.
As it's getting cooler, it's time to culture more on my counter. I should have a batch of sourdough starting soon, and a friendship bread also. Likewise, a batch of sauerkraut (or five) and kimchi.
Folks, if you are not making your own cultured breads, vegetables and drinks, now is the time to start. What can I say, but it's easy, packs a powerful, nutritional punch, and is associated with long, healthy lives. Oh, and it's so tasty - YUMMY, getting hungry.
Blessings all as we prepare for our winter, I pray that you are all warm and comfortable and not affected by the storms blowing outside all of our doors.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
The first snow is falling
Last night I went to bed with flakes falling, and this morning they were still falling. Not heavily, just a dusting, just enough to say that Samara has seen her first snow. The turkeys are huge, the ducks are ready for slaughter, and I still have yet to build the plucker.
Life on the farm when you have to work full time as well.
The goal, I suppose, is to get debt free and quit my day job. The goal seems far away. The first step is to write down the goals, place the steps in motion, and declare them. Stay tuned.
We have stopped fostering for the rescue we were with, there was too much drama. I don't need drama, I just wanted to help dogs. Life goes on, and the dogs will find another home, I suppose.
My next door neighbor has shot the fox, the wife called to let us know. Brandi's response was "oh, is he OK" and she reportedly replied "No, honey, he's dead." LOL - growing up in the country.
I am in the process of cooking down some pear butter, and the kids went wild for the carrot cake jam out of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I'm probably going to make seconds of that. I have half a bushel still to can up and they're getting soft.
Here are some pictures of Samara to share. She's a big girl now. Whenever we let Zen out with her happy mask on to spend time with the family, Samara gets all gooey, bowing and prancing and just making a fool of herself. Zen has yet to play with her in the house, but she's shown signs of thinking about it. She's a big girl, and just a joy to have, despite her constant chatting.
Life on the farm when you have to work full time as well.
The goal, I suppose, is to get debt free and quit my day job. The goal seems far away. The first step is to write down the goals, place the steps in motion, and declare them. Stay tuned.
We have stopped fostering for the rescue we were with, there was too much drama. I don't need drama, I just wanted to help dogs. Life goes on, and the dogs will find another home, I suppose.
My next door neighbor has shot the fox, the wife called to let us know. Brandi's response was "oh, is he OK" and she reportedly replied "No, honey, he's dead." LOL - growing up in the country.
I am in the process of cooking down some pear butter, and the kids went wild for the carrot cake jam out of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I'm probably going to make seconds of that. I have half a bushel still to can up and they're getting soft.
Here are some pictures of Samara to share. She's a big girl now. Whenever we let Zen out with her happy mask on to spend time with the family, Samara gets all gooey, bowing and prancing and just making a fool of herself. Zen has yet to play with her in the house, but she's shown signs of thinking about it. She's a big girl, and just a joy to have, despite her constant chatting.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wild harvest
I love to harvest the wild greens in the early spring, I adore the cat tails, and the daylilys, and later the elder flower recipes, followed by the elder berries.
Nothing is as good, though, as the fall harvest. Walking through the conservation areas with the deep, delicious smell of wild grapes on the air. This year we have a huge harvest due to the rains. The black walnuts, wild hazelnuts, black cherries, Jerusalem artichokes, and Autumn Olives. I'll be heading to the dairy this weekend to get some raw cream so I can use the black cherries to make a childhood favorite, black cherry ice cream. It's a taste that grows on you, as it's more musty than the cherries you get in the stores.
I'll be soaking my first harvest of hazelnuts today in a brine solution, to release the enzyme inhibitors they contain. Later, I'll dry them in my dehydrator. The next batch will be soaked and candied in our maple syrup for a healthy snack for the kid's lunches.
This year, I am going to do something more than just fruit leather with the autumn olive. We found an absolutely massive amount of them at the conservation area we had been gathering our groundnuts at. Each bush is literally touching the ground under it's own weight. Autumn olives are one of the highest contents of lycopene known. We are not much in our family for jellies and jams, so that leaves us with dried berries, pie fillings, frozen berries, and just berries in syrup. However, as the fruit leather is a favorite, and needs no added sugar other than it's natural sugars (if harvested after the first frost), we will be running both dehydrators full on for the next month or so as we try to make enough for the winter and to carry us through until next harvest. I also found an Autumn Olive wine recipe. It sounds delicious. This year will be my first attempt at making wine from wild grapes, so I think I will try this also. For those of you unfamiliar with Autumn Olive, it's a red berry with silver speckles on it, and it tastes a bit like raspberry, but after drying, it's very much like a grape-raspberry mix. Taste varies from bush to bush, and it can be astringent, so finding a good bush is important. It can be quite tart unless you harvest after the first freeze, when the sugars develop.
AUTUMN OLIVE WINE
* 4-5 pounds Autumn olive fruit
* 2 lbs granulated sugar
* 1¼ tsp yeast nutrient
* ¼ tsp tannin
* 1 crushed Campden tablet
* 1 tsp pectic enzyme.
* 3 qts water
* Lalvin RC212 (Bourgovin) wine yeast
Nothing is as good, though, as the fall harvest. Walking through the conservation areas with the deep, delicious smell of wild grapes on the air. This year we have a huge harvest due to the rains. The black walnuts, wild hazelnuts, black cherries, Jerusalem artichokes, and Autumn Olives. I'll be heading to the dairy this weekend to get some raw cream so I can use the black cherries to make a childhood favorite, black cherry ice cream. It's a taste that grows on you, as it's more musty than the cherries you get in the stores.
I'll be soaking my first harvest of hazelnuts today in a brine solution, to release the enzyme inhibitors they contain. Later, I'll dry them in my dehydrator. The next batch will be soaked and candied in our maple syrup for a healthy snack for the kid's lunches.
This year, I am going to do something more than just fruit leather with the autumn olive. We found an absolutely massive amount of them at the conservation area we had been gathering our groundnuts at. Each bush is literally touching the ground under it's own weight. Autumn olives are one of the highest contents of lycopene known. We are not much in our family for jellies and jams, so that leaves us with dried berries, pie fillings, frozen berries, and just berries in syrup. However, as the fruit leather is a favorite, and needs no added sugar other than it's natural sugars (if harvested after the first frost), we will be running both dehydrators full on for the next month or so as we try to make enough for the winter and to carry us through until next harvest. I also found an Autumn Olive wine recipe. It sounds delicious. This year will be my first attempt at making wine from wild grapes, so I think I will try this also. For those of you unfamiliar with Autumn Olive, it's a red berry with silver speckles on it, and it tastes a bit like raspberry, but after drying, it's very much like a grape-raspberry mix. Taste varies from bush to bush, and it can be astringent, so finding a good bush is important. It can be quite tart unless you harvest after the first freeze, when the sugars develop.
AUTUMN OLIVE WINE
* 4-5 pounds Autumn olive fruit
* 2 lbs granulated sugar
* 1¼ tsp yeast nutrient
* ¼ tsp tannin
* 1 crushed Campden tablet
* 1 tsp pectic enzyme.
* 3 qts water
* Lalvin RC212 (Bourgovin) wine yeast
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Fall planting time
It could not POSSIBLY be time to plant garlic already. Is it? Yes, it is. Sigh.
Time to get your garlic orders in, a recent email says from Seed Savers Exchange.
Yes, it's time to peruse catalogs and select bulbs to plant in the next few weeks.
Not much longer, and we will be seeing frost on our greenery, and then shortly after that, falling leaves on the frozen ground. Beautiful, but such a quick passing to such a short summer. It seems as if we had 3 weeks of summer this year.
Yes, folks, there is even a time for rain, and it was this year.
Peace.
Time to get your garlic orders in, a recent email says from Seed Savers Exchange.
Yes, it's time to peruse catalogs and select bulbs to plant in the next few weeks.
Not much longer, and we will be seeing frost on our greenery, and then shortly after that, falling leaves on the frozen ground. Beautiful, but such a quick passing to such a short summer. It seems as if we had 3 weeks of summer this year.
Yes, folks, there is even a time for rain, and it was this year.
Peace.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Labor day hike
Things have been very hectic around the farm recently. The turkeys are huge, the ducks are enormous, and our rooster has lost his tail. Our foster dog went home today, so it's the start of a slowdown. Fall is here, and time to start to pick up the pieces from a hectic, crazy summer. 
This long weekend, we went to the Cohos Trail in New Hampshire to do some hiking with our two rotts, and the twins. It will be Zen's last hike, she barely made it the second day of hiking. She can do small hikes, but no more overnight, long hikes up mountains. It's the passing of an era, and sad. However, the bright side is that Clay surprised us all by being a goer. He wanted to go and go and go. In extremely cute, Clay fashion, I asked him as we were setting up tents for the night if he wanted to go to the woods, and he got all excited. Duh - Clay, we're IN the woods.
On the kid front, we were very impressed and gladdened to see that they were able to make such a difficult hike their very first foray out. We've taken them on hikes up mountains before, but never with packs on. They were true troopers and kept up and then some. We did about 2/3 of the hike up the 4.5 miles of trails to the top of Sugarloaf the first day, and ran out of daylight. So, we camped and continued on in the morning to have breakfast at the summit. A total of about 3 hours of hiking, with out of shape people and a senior dog... not so bad. The trek was steep and our packs were heavy, but our hearts were light, especially when we saw what laid in wait for us at the top.
Once breakfast was over, and the relaxation and lovin's were done...
we headed back down the mountain. We stopped at a nice waterfall along the way to fill our water bottles and allow everyone to cool off. Zen plopped right down into the water with her pack on, but the rest of us waited to take the gear off.
When we were done on this side of the trail, we crossed the road to start on the path to the Devil's Jacuzzi, a 12 person natural formation with bubbling water that looks just like a jacuzzi. We overshot it, missing the sign on the trail, and wound up at Nash Stream Bog instead. Poor Zen was so tired, but Clay was just going and going like a bunny. Zen needed to stop frequently, so the 2 mile hike took us well over an hour. Finally, we got to the Jacuzzi, and missed the spur path, so we had to descend a sheer cliff face with the dogs, which we did using teamwork and good old muscle. Thank goodness that those dogs trust us so much. The kids were like mountain goats, no problems. They were made for mountain climbing. We sat at the Nash Stream, and Clay just decided to poop out. Everyone else became energized and played in the water, including Zen
Bran was the only one brave enough to try the Devil's Jacuzzi, so Daddy lowered her in. It was too cold and fast moving to just jump in. She touched her feet to the water and promptly declared he could remove her from the water right NOW!
Finally, it was time to go home, and just in time. Zen was absolutely drained and one more second, we would have had to have carried her. The kids were tired and sore, as were we. We tried in vain to find the next mountain, North Percy Peak, before dusk. When night began to settle, the thought of climbing another mountain with a dog that was not able to drag, never mind lift, her paws just seemed unsettling. So, we hiked back to the truck and settled in to a motel for a night of showers, pizza, and a rare treat, television.
This long weekend, we went to the Cohos Trail in New Hampshire to do some hiking with our two rotts, and the twins. It will be Zen's last hike, she barely made it the second day of hiking. She can do small hikes, but no more overnight, long hikes up mountains. It's the passing of an era, and sad. However, the bright side is that Clay surprised us all by being a goer. He wanted to go and go and go. In extremely cute, Clay fashion, I asked him as we were setting up tents for the night if he wanted to go to the woods, and he got all excited. Duh - Clay, we're IN the woods.
On the kid front, we were very impressed and gladdened to see that they were able to make such a difficult hike their very first foray out. We've taken them on hikes up mountains before, but never with packs on. They were true troopers and kept up and then some. We did about 2/3 of the hike up the 4.5 miles of trails to the top of Sugarloaf the first day, and ran out of daylight. So, we camped and continued on in the morning to have breakfast at the summit. A total of about 3 hours of hiking, with out of shape people and a senior dog... not so bad. The trek was steep and our packs were heavy, but our hearts were light, especially when we saw what laid in wait for us at the top.
Once breakfast was over, and the relaxation and lovin's were done...
we headed back down the mountain. We stopped at a nice waterfall along the way to fill our water bottles and allow everyone to cool off. Zen plopped right down into the water with her pack on, but the rest of us waited to take the gear off.
When we were done on this side of the trail, we crossed the road to start on the path to the Devil's Jacuzzi, a 12 person natural formation with bubbling water that looks just like a jacuzzi. We overshot it, missing the sign on the trail, and wound up at Nash Stream Bog instead. Poor Zen was so tired, but Clay was just going and going like a bunny. Zen needed to stop frequently, so the 2 mile hike took us well over an hour. Finally, we got to the Jacuzzi, and missed the spur path, so we had to descend a sheer cliff face with the dogs, which we did using teamwork and good old muscle. Thank goodness that those dogs trust us so much. The kids were like mountain goats, no problems. They were made for mountain climbing. We sat at the Nash Stream, and Clay just decided to poop out. Everyone else became energized and played in the water, including Zen
Bran was the only one brave enough to try the Devil's Jacuzzi, so Daddy lowered her in. It was too cold and fast moving to just jump in. She touched her feet to the water and promptly declared he could remove her from the water right NOW!
Finally, it was time to go home, and just in time. Zen was absolutely drained and one more second, we would have had to have carried her. The kids were tired and sore, as were we. We tried in vain to find the next mountain, North Percy Peak, before dusk. When night began to settle, the thought of climbing another mountain with a dog that was not able to drag, never mind lift, her paws just seemed unsettling. So, we hiked back to the truck and settled in to a motel for a night of showers, pizza, and a rare treat, television.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A fox in the hen yard
Our little farmer recently saw feathers in our yard and came to me to tell me that a hawk had been taking the chickens. We walked around the yard, and yes, I saw a few feathers, but nothing like the powerful taking that a hawk does to it's prey. We should have seen feathers and blood all over the yard. I confess, I began to believe she was just being overprotective. So, we did a head count and came up short. VERY short. Then it dawned on me, she had seen a little orange critter earlier. I turned to her and said "the fox is doing it."
Sure enough, that little bugger had been taking our birds. So far, it looks like 2 adult chickens, 4 baby ducks, and 4 baby chickens have fallen prey to the fox.
We just don't have a big enough indoor space for the birds to be cooped up all day, so that's not an option. Instead, she's been tying the dogs out in the back yard and staying out in the yard with them. Well, yesterday, our oldest girl Zen took off through the woods (still tied to the long lead) and chased that nasty little thing through the woods. Woo hoo, I can just imagine the joy on her face (she LOVES to chase) and the fear in the eyes of that little fox as she turned tail and ran for her life. Depending on how hungry she is (with that many birds gone, I suspect not very) and how many kits she has to feed, she may be back, but I doubt it will be soon. In the meantime, we are now working harder to get fencing up to protect our flock, in what little time we have to spare as it is.
With the long, long hours at work I've been putting in to get the year end completed, I've not had much time to blog. I do have pictures to post, as I've been promising, but haven't had the time to get them uploaded. As a result of this lack of time, I've not had time to do much wild collecting of food. We did harvest some honey recently, and the girls (chickens) and I harvested our garlic. Mostly, our dreams of partial self sufficiency with gardening and wild collecting have been falling apart.
Which brings me to the next point, how to declutter and slow down our lives. It looks like this is the path we should be taking before undertaking any new tasks.
Sure enough, that little bugger had been taking our birds. So far, it looks like 2 adult chickens, 4 baby ducks, and 4 baby chickens have fallen prey to the fox.
We just don't have a big enough indoor space for the birds to be cooped up all day, so that's not an option. Instead, she's been tying the dogs out in the back yard and staying out in the yard with them. Well, yesterday, our oldest girl Zen took off through the woods (still tied to the long lead) and chased that nasty little thing through the woods. Woo hoo, I can just imagine the joy on her face (she LOVES to chase) and the fear in the eyes of that little fox as she turned tail and ran for her life. Depending on how hungry she is (with that many birds gone, I suspect not very) and how many kits she has to feed, she may be back, but I doubt it will be soon. In the meantime, we are now working harder to get fencing up to protect our flock, in what little time we have to spare as it is.
With the long, long hours at work I've been putting in to get the year end completed, I've not had much time to blog. I do have pictures to post, as I've been promising, but haven't had the time to get them uploaded. As a result of this lack of time, I've not had time to do much wild collecting of food. We did harvest some honey recently, and the girls (chickens) and I harvested our garlic. Mostly, our dreams of partial self sufficiency with gardening and wild collecting have been falling apart.
Which brings me to the next point, how to declutter and slow down our lives. It looks like this is the path we should be taking before undertaking any new tasks.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Life continues on the "farm"
Well, it's been super busy at work. The place where my dogs think I go every day to hunt for their dog food. (I couldn't make them understand any other way)
The turkeys are getting huge. I have lost, or rather, it was misplaced for me, the card for my camera, so I have pictures to post but can't get them right now.
It's extraordinarily hard to keep up a full time job, especially during our busiest season, plus keep up with the demands of all the animals on the homestead, AND keep a clean house. Needless to say, things are falling apart a bit at the seams lately. However, the kids are away this week and it's amazing how things just fall into place and get cleaned up with no effort when you don't have to come home to make dinner. It's quiet without them, though, and I miss getting my phone calls throughout the day to let me know what they're up to.
The ducks are HUGE and have a new pool to swim in. They absolutely love it, but it will be a task to keep it clean. It only takes them two days to completely muddy the water. The duck house is almost built, and we've been enjoying eating from the wild harvest of blackberries, and groundnuts. I made a nice honey with rose petals. Tonight I will be canning beets, last night I canned the greens.
It's a lot of work, but it's rewarding. I enjoy going to bed each night because I am exhausted by that point, but I also look forward to the new morning to begin to see my animals and do the chores that will help sustain them. Each morning, everyone gets fresh grains and water, I put down new bedding for the turkeys, who are extremely messy, and hand out any treats I have like greens, liver, etc. The turkeys follow me around as I do my chores, as do some of the chickens, and George waits on the bottom step for his special wheat and corn breakfast. I want him to eat the nutritionally balanced pellets, so I only give him a snack. He's not starving, because I caught him courting with Martha yesterday. Looks like more babies are on the way.
I want to put a plug in for a great website www.eattheweeds.com - this guy has youtube videos where he shows you how to identify wild edibles and he's just fantastic. I highly recommend him for anyone interested in wild edibles.
The turkeys are getting huge. I have lost, or rather, it was misplaced for me, the card for my camera, so I have pictures to post but can't get them right now.
It's extraordinarily hard to keep up a full time job, especially during our busiest season, plus keep up with the demands of all the animals on the homestead, AND keep a clean house. Needless to say, things are falling apart a bit at the seams lately. However, the kids are away this week and it's amazing how things just fall into place and get cleaned up with no effort when you don't have to come home to make dinner. It's quiet without them, though, and I miss getting my phone calls throughout the day to let me know what they're up to.
The ducks are HUGE and have a new pool to swim in. They absolutely love it, but it will be a task to keep it clean. It only takes them two days to completely muddy the water. The duck house is almost built, and we've been enjoying eating from the wild harvest of blackberries, and groundnuts. I made a nice honey with rose petals. Tonight I will be canning beets, last night I canned the greens.
It's a lot of work, but it's rewarding. I enjoy going to bed each night because I am exhausted by that point, but I also look forward to the new morning to begin to see my animals and do the chores that will help sustain them. Each morning, everyone gets fresh grains and water, I put down new bedding for the turkeys, who are extremely messy, and hand out any treats I have like greens, liver, etc. The turkeys follow me around as I do my chores, as do some of the chickens, and George waits on the bottom step for his special wheat and corn breakfast. I want him to eat the nutritionally balanced pellets, so I only give him a snack. He's not starving, because I caught him courting with Martha yesterday. Looks like more babies are on the way.
I want to put a plug in for a great website www.eattheweeds.com - this guy has youtube videos where he shows you how to identify wild edibles and he's just fantastic. I highly recommend him for anyone interested in wild edibles.
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