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.
Last week we re-vamped the first flush diverter on the South side of the barn, and added an outlet for the rainwater tank. It worked amazingly! So much easier than the factory configuration. As set up in the kit there is a small nipple that threads on that is supposed to drip and empty the… Continue reading Odd Jobs
Last Saturday, (that is last Saturday but one by the time you read this, a.ka. the 16th) we processed most of the tomatoes that we had harvested the previous Thursday, ahead of the rain storm. On the right are the ripest ones, mostly Heirloom Marriage and on the left are the less ripe, mainly Cuore… Continue reading Canning Tomatoes
Daddy: "Ellie, do you want a job that involves sitting in the shade?" Ellie: "Sure!" Daddy: "We need to cut the blossoms off these chamomile plants." Ellie: "I'll use my knife." If you are wondering where our seven-year-old got a knife, she made it herself. It's a stick she sharpened on Daddy's grinding wheel. She… Continue reading Saturday fun
It does not often rain during the summer in Western Washington. This is one of the biggest challenges of farm management in the PNW, the 60-90 days of drought that we get every single summer. However, last week we had rain forecast for Friday, and not just a little drizzle, but a good inch of… Continue reading Prepping for Rain
This has been a very busy week and a lot has gone on, so buckle up. It's time for a catch-up post. Literally. Mommy took Evie and Ellie to the fair last Wednesday. No, the other last Wednesday, the 6th of August. That's how far behind we are. They immediately started winning prizes. Ellie got… Continue reading Catch up post
What do you do with a 13 Lb red cabbage? This cabbage was one of the late planted cabbages from last year that didn't sprout in time for winter, but took off as soon as the ground started to warm up in the spring. It has been growing next to the pea trellis ever since.… Continue reading Sauerkraut!
Tuesday was the day we got around to harvesting our wheat. It was a bit disappointing. If you look closely at the picture above you will see that a significant number of the wheat stalks are missing their seed head. In this section it was 50% or more, most other sections were not hit quite… Continue reading Harvesting Wheat and Garlic
Mommy and Evie were fully engaged in Swiss Kids Kamp. I wish I had some pictures of it, but I wasn't there and they were both pretty busy the whole time. Swiss Kids Kamp is an annual kids camp held at the Swiss Sportsman's Club in Bonney Lake, where kids can stay for a week… Continue reading Sunday and Monday Fun
Daddy got off orders for National Guard last Saturday. Winnie was pretty much glued to him the whole day. The garden has been growing like crazy for the last two weeks. The beans that were so slow to start have been coming in buckets. Mommy picked ten quarts worth last week. Daddy and Winnie picked… Continue reading Back in the Garden
Our two steers were slaughtered last week, on the 9th. You might be wondering what Seppi is doing in the willow tree. He is trimming willow shoots. We cut a big pile of them to feed to the steers when the slaughter team arrived. They love it, they eat it like candy. Partially it's a… Continue reading Goodbye Steers
Little Farm in the Big City 