Wang Dang, sweet fruit tang…

I’m dating myself again, I like Ted Nugent, too.
Ahhh, fruit what can I say?  Everybody likes fruit in one form or another.  We eat a lot of fruit.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner, it seems like we never have enough.  We buy extra fruit of different kinds that don’t grow well here, like apricots, nectarines and [...]

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Winter

We spend all summer harvesting sunlight, just so we can meter it out over the dark days of late fall, and winter, and then the lean spring while waiting for the new spring growth.  Grass, firewood, hay, vegetables, meat, milk, seeds, fruit and suntans.  It’s no wonder we worship the sun.  We long for it, and [...]

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Just shut up and can, can, can

I love that song, Just Shut Up and Drive.  I find that one in my head a lot.  But, sometimes it has to be the homestead version… .
It’s no secret I like to can.  Or put up food.  It is comforting to me and I like the process.  But, being a claustrophobic farmgirl tomboy, I [...]

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Canning

I spent all day Saturday, canning, well not really all day, just my “spare” time not allotted for regular chores.  This isn’t a how-to post, just my reflections about food preservation. 
Kerr canning jar manufactured in 1957, the year I was born.
Food preservation is part of my life everyday, as it has been since I was born.  Not [...]

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Expensive chicken, is it worth it?

No gruesome photos today.
Here is the breakdown on the costs of raising this batch of chickens, and my thoughts on whether it is worth it or not.  If I didn’t stretch these chickens so far, getting 5 days of lunch meat for DH, 2 family meals and a fair amount of broth per week, raising [...]

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Water - harvesting, using, and protecting

Living in an area known for it’s abundant rainfall, and clean water, you might think we have a blasé attitude about water usage.   We don’t.  Maintaining our own watershed and water supply is perfect insurance that we work very hard to NOT waste water.  Most of the hubbub in the news is about peak oil - [...]

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some gardening, some canning

In spite of the weather, which is uncomfortable and aggravating but by no means as serious as the weather in the Midwest and East, the garden is slowly emerging.
Harris Model OP parsnips, roots for the dairy cow and for seed saving.

It’s hard to believe these little guys will be here feeding us, and the milk [...]

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This is seed rotting weather

Our temperatures here have been hovering between 42 and 52 for a week.  The sun, if we see it, is like a phantom.  Here and then gone, making you wonder, was that the sun?  Definitely not good gardening weather.  At this point, June 6, I’ve lost my window to plant my Calais Flint corn.  I [...]

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Trying not to be wasteful

I always feel guilty if I waste food.  Whether from over planting, or being over zealous in my harvesting.  I try to ask myself, “Is this better on the vine, in the ground, … , OR in the refrigerator?”  The refrigerator is usually the most wasteful place for me, it costs money to run, and [...]

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While waiting

Cajoling Jetta has become a weekly chore.  I have tried new lead ropes, made by DH especially for her in her favorite color.  New bridge washers on her cross ties, so she won’t hurt me herself fighting me as I try to milk her for the first time, etc.  Nothing has worked.  News today from [...]

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Fence Post

Remember this is under the farm as desired category - sooo read this with grain of salt.  This is what our electric fencing has evolved to.  Our methods work for us and it has taken us a while to get here.  We work with combination of permanent fences and different styles of electric fences for different [...]

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It’s not the planting

It’s not the actual planting, it’s all the work beforehand and after, that takes so much time.  Making compost, seeding, tending, irrigation planning, and soil preparation.  This list could go on in more detail, but, it’s a long time and a lot of work from the idea of growing your own food, to get that food to the table.  [...]

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Insurance for when you assume…

Calf story - but nothing to do with Jetta.  Sorry…
Remember that frozen colostrum I showed last week?  I have frozen colostrum every year since getting my first milk cow, and have rarely needed it.  After calving season, it becomes part of the pig treats that we find in the freezer.  We have loaned colostrum to neighbors [...]

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More rhubarb

While chained to the stove today, I was able to do other tasks that might come in handy if “someone” has her calf!  Ooops - I’m talking about it!
♥  Boiled a kettle of potatoes in their jackets for hash browns, these will keep in the fridge for 4 or 5 days.  Very handy, just saute [...]

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Let the preserving begin

One of my favorite things is to lie in bed at night and listen for the “Kerr-plink” of my canning jars sealing.  The rhubarb is starting to bolt, so it was fish or cut bait.  A quick inventory told me that I still had rhubarb in the freezer from last year and canned rhubarb sauce [...]

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I’ve given up…, and chicken cheese!

This part of waiting for the family cow to freshen, drives my family crazy!  I have given up, I will not check or look out the window and exclaim when I see Jetta peeing or looking at the ground at that imaginary calf.    Hopefully, if I relax, she will, and something will happen.  Cows that [...]

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Cool to warm- the greenhouse

It’s that time of year when the greenhouse morphs from a safe haven for cool colors and foods to the hot vibrant colors and flavors of heat loving crops.  The biggest challenge  to planting for the summer, is getting the soil saturated beforehand.  In my lottery dreams - I would rebuild my greenhouses and make them [...]

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