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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Vegetable tour - progess and notes

This post contains many pictures - dial-up beware! 
Here’s what the gardens look like now in mid-August.  The heat has been 102* for the last three days - I guess maybe it’s time for that mean, ol’ dry land gardener to drag out the sprinklers and soaker hoses!
We’re just been busy keeping everybody (except us) in [...]

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Working for the Bos

Or should I say, “Who is farming, who?” 

Della, aka as Queen D, Smella, Mook, and Knock it Off!
Cows Rule, I love cows, my first words were, “COME BOSS,” okay, maybe not. . . well, you get the picture.  I believe animals are an essential part of agriculture, and necessary for agriculture to survive.  The animals [...]

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Chestnuts and the $2.00 farm gate

Look around your property and find the tree that provides you with the most, for the least amount of inputs on your part.  This tree doesn’t necessarily have to be something you paid a large sum of money for, nor does it have to be particularly showy.   When you find this tree, plant as many of [...]

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I’m a hayseed, for sure

Hay means a great deal to us on our farm.  It is the food we put by for our cattle, who are very important to us.  They provide us with meat, milk, nutrient rich manure, leather, and tallow for soap, cooking and candles. (I haven’t made candles yet, but I still save my tallow.)  In addition, they [...]

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

This past week we did the hay at a friends farm about 10 miles away.  We do this as a favor to our friends, who need the grass cut in their field to keep the land open and to alleviate the fire danger.  The hay is on the light side, but on the plus side [...]

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High impact, low impact

I want to leave a light effect on this land that I have had the great fortune to grow up on.  To do that, I have to understand when I have to be hard and when I have to be soft.  Usually, I have to do both at the same time.  Finesse is required to [...]

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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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Trying to avoid chore time burnout

Chores on the farm can seem never ending.  Trying to decide where to take shortcuts involves many factors, depending on what the task is.  Joel Salatin says to try to keep daily chores per person to less than 4 hours.  That is hard to do - but that 4 hours does seem like the magic [...]

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Sick as a dog

I have been sick - actually we have all been sick.  DH and DD were sick with some kind of gastro trouble 2 weeks ago, and of course, me of cast iron stomach just scoffed.  My turn came last Friday, and I have been sick ever since.  Of course the weather breaks and I have [...]

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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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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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Grass rules my life!

I wish all my pasture looked this good.

Grass, or the lack of it, rules my life.  MiG (Management- intensive Grazing) is a complicated blend of art and science.  I think about our pastures as much as I think about our gardens and orchards.  After all it is food for someone, my cows, and they “feed” [...]

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garden stuff

 Jetta:  I’m still thinking Tuesday - but she is in Solitary (close to the barn in her own paddock).
I used to stick to all my self-imposed garden rules.  This led me to many disappointments.  Sometimes the weather just isn’t on the same page as the calendar! 
I wanted to get my peas in this week, if [...]

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A busy and productive weekend

Still waiting for Jetta… and the other cows too!
Taking advantage of the good (dry) weather last weekend, here are some pics of what the other people around here did!
Firewood.

 
Second growth Douglas Fir limb.  Note the tight grain.

Can’t find your gloves, look for the puppy!  “Are you looking for this?”

These fir limbs broke down in the winter [...]

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