The Summer harvest is just beginning! On Monday we did another picking of raspberries (pretty slim pickings, at this point) and we did our first picking of beans. Ellie bet Uncle that he would not find any beans on the west side of the beans. She bet him one scone for each bean that he… Continue reading Summer Harvest
Author: Ryan Kraeger
Clinic Weekend
It was a clinic weekend, so busy, but... Our new hens, the ones we started in February are laying! Egg production is starting to come back up again. And at least one of them prefers finding her own nest rather than using the ones we so lovingly built for her. 10 eggs in the stack… Continue reading Clinic Weekend
Blackberry Mead and Blackberry Wine
When life hands you blackberries... Make booze. Or at least try. With the puree from last week, Mommy made a couple of pints of blackberry vinegar, but there was still a ton leftover. So we made a batch of mead with blackberry (known as melomel). And a batch of blackberry wine. I didn't have quite… Continue reading Blackberry Mead and Blackberry Wine
Splitting the Log
Rosary Ruck on Saturday morning. It was good to get out and moving again. 5 miles, slow, but still rehabbing my right heel from Captain's Career Course. After the ruck I swung by the farm to do chores and pick up my wine making supplies. Uncle Adam had already done the chores, and was splitting… Continue reading Splitting the Log
Blackberries
Last Tuesday (July 28th) The three older kids were all at VBS, so it was just Daddy and Winnie for a few hours. We picked blackberries. Winnie loves being the only child. She chatters away, all the thoughts that come into her little head. Every other sentence is, "Daddy, I really love you!" She is… Continue reading Blackberries
First batch of Sauerkraut
None of our cabbage is ready yet. We were super busy in the late winter and early spring, and the long varieties of cabbage probably still have a few months to go before they fully head out. We did get some very nice cabbage heads from Dude, though. She planted cabbage for the first time… Continue reading First batch of Sauerkraut
Hugel beds
A few months ago I watched a video in which John Lovell (a.k.a. the War Poet) interviewed a local farmer who has developed a method for keeping his farm productive with minimal water in the middle of an historic Georgia drought. The video is worth a watch, not because it has anything truly groundbreaking in… Continue reading Hugel beds
Plums
The Asian plums are coming in strong right now. Our golden yellow plum is having its best year ever right now. Mommy took a peck of plums up to Swiss Kids Kamp every day, and still we have only used about a third of the plums on the tree. We need to make some jelly… Continue reading Plums
Swiss Kids Kamp 2026
Last week was Swiss Kids Kamp. This was Ellie's first year going, and Evie's second year. Ellie was not at all sure she wanted to go, because she heard that they serve soup for lunch. Like, every day. That sounds like a fate worse than death! However, she braved through it, took her "no-thank-you" bites… Continue reading Swiss Kids Kamp 2026
Gleaning the Wheat
Finally got to harvesting the wheat last week, on Friday. This was a few weeks overdue. It really was ready in late June, early July. The optimal day, with that magic combination of nice weather, not too hot, no rain, and time to get to the job, with nothing more pressing that needed to be… Continue reading Gleaning the Wheat