They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
We have been getting quince from our quince tree. It is that time of year. The Havran is completely empty, but the Van Deman still has a good number of (much smaller) fruit. The quince are sharp and astringent, and quite hard to chew, when raw. Not pleasant at all. However... If you grate or… Continue reading Quince and Walnut Crumble
It is that time of year! Winter Squash season! Ellie is well known for the deliciousness of her steamed squash. This is probably related to the fact that she does not believe in skimping on the butter or the brown sugar. First step is to cut the squashes in half and scoop out the seeds… Continue reading Squash and Buttered Roots
Earlier this year we put plant protectors around a bunch of our orchard shrubs and pasture trees. This was in order to facilitate letting the sheep and cows pulse through the orchard to mow the grass down for us, without letting them browse all the leaves off the figs, mulberries and currants (I'm looking at… Continue reading Protecting the Orchard Plants… more.
Halloween fell on a Friday this year, and Daddy had the day off work. Since we were planning on going up to Enumclaw around lunch time, Daddy decided to get to the farm early and get in a few hours of work before that. So after feeding the animals, I got right to work in… Continue reading Subdividing the South Pasture: One more Fence Anchor
Our first batch of hard cider has been bubbling merrily away in the closet since Oct 27. Monday, Nov 3, (one week later) I pulled the jug out to have a look at it. The scummy froth on top has dispersed, and the movements of the air lock had slowed considerably. It is now bobbing… Continue reading Hard Cider Update
The last time we made sauerkraut, we kept some of it in the kimchi fridge after it had fermented, because I didn't want to have two jars of sauerkraut in the regular fridge, where space is at a premium. Unfortunately, since it has been in the fridge for several weeks now, when we took it… Continue reading Sauerkraut fail and new batch
Meishans are a very interesting species of pig. We haven't completely figured out their behavior yet. Most of the time you can run them through the pasture and they may root a little here and there, but overall they will leave it alone. At most you'll have a spot or two where you have to… Continue reading Pasture Rehab
Recently we bought Seppi a new book called "Everyday Woodworking" by Youtube woodworker Rex Krueger. This is because he has been showing more and more interest in building stuff with wood. For example, last week when we got to the farm and started school, Daddy was too busy to help Seppi with his schoolwork for… Continue reading Tool Tote
What do you do when life hands you 100 gallons of cider? You make hard cider, of course. When I told the kids I was making hard cider they asked how you harden cider. So the process is now known as "hardening." The first step is cleaning and sterilizing our equipment. If we have learned… Continue reading Hardening the Cider
Little Farm in the Big City 