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've been meaning to get to this one for weeks, ever since the first frost. We had 6 big cabbages in the garden, and Daddy wanted to make sauerkraut. Unfortunately, that was November. It is now January. One thing and another has conspire to keep us out of the garden for the last two months… Continue reading Kraut!
This is a project that has been in the works for the last 6 weeks, having been interrupted by nearly everything else for most of that time. As with so many other projects, it starts with a frame built from 2x4's. I know 2x2's are lighter, and more than adequate for housing ducks, but still,… Continue reading Duckmobile
Tuesday, December 31, we cut up the sheep. This is our first attempt at butchering an animal larger than poultry, so we don't know what we are doing. We have a book. The sheep were chilled in a <40 degree shop overnight, wrapped in cheesecloth to slow water loss. First step, remove the neck. Next… Continue reading Butcher and Packing the Sheep
Monday, Dec 30 the stars aligned. The weather was forecast to be 40 degrees during the day, and almost freezing overnight, and below 40 into Tuesday as well. Not only that but Ryan and Adam both had the day off. The time was right. The sheep must die. To recap, They were a pair of… Continue reading Slaughter day: Sheep.
We have learned a few important lessons these past few weeks. One is that Christmas time is really busy for everyone, so very little gets done on the farm. The other is that the project of installing gutters on the chicken houses is long overdue. We recently picked up a trio of sapphire gem hens… Continue reading Gutters
This post is out of date, by almost a week. Geese have grazed the wheat down to about 3 inches on average. Supposedly this is a good thing, and is supposed to encourage new root and tiller production and a thicker stand, as well as provide nitrogen for initial spring growth. We shall see. However,… Continue reading Geese and Ducks off the Garden
Fun fact about our potatoes this year. The best yield we got were from volunteers, plants that sprouted from potatoes left in the ground from last year. Not sure why. Possibly Yukons are just more prolific than Butterballs; perhaps the fact that they were in the ground over the winter, cool but not frozen, damp… Continue reading Potato Experiment
We skipped the turkey for Thanksgiving this year. Instead we roasted two of the ducks that we harvested last weekend. Kathleen stuffed them with apple and onion slices, and rubbed them with salt and pepper. She set them in the turkey roaster and filled the bottom with half an inch of apple cider to steam… Continue reading Roast Duck
Tuesday we spent the whole day at the farm. It was a light school day, and we had people coming over to pick up their turkeys for Thanksgiving, so it made sense to make if a farm day. Rocking the cool farmer look. We checked on our ducks in the garden. They were still hiding… Continue reading Ducks in the Garden
