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.
"Look Daddy! I'm a stwirrel!" "Tan I help you took?" When was the last time you had a squirrel cook you potato-water griddle cakes for breakfast? Tuesday morning we got over to the farm for another picking of blackberries. The big thornless blackberries are a little the worse for wear at the moment. We are… Continue reading Blackberries, First Elderberries, and Drought problems.
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
Last Saturday was a 4H canning day. Kathleen is the canning instructor for one of the local 4H clubs, and one of our friends is the canning instructor for another local club. A few times a year they get together to do a multi-club canning day, teaching the kids how to can jams and jellies,… Continue reading Raspberries and Rhubarb and Canning, Oh My!
The hardneck garlic we planted last year is almost ready. It has been growing scapes. The scapes are the curly flower stalks on the top of the garlic "neck." These would straighten out and develop into a flower if left alone, but we don't want that. We want the garlic plant to put all its… Continue reading Garlic Scape Butter
I have so many pictures backed up, waiting for get put into a blog. I have given up on a detailed update on all of it, but as this blog is our primary record keeping mechanism (for big picture stuff, anyway) they still need to get updated. Good Friday (April 3rd) planted two new apple… Continue reading Three Week Update Post
Leg 1: Starting weight 76 ounces, current weight 54 ounces, down 29%. Leg 2: Starting weight 74 ounces, Current weight 53 ounces. Down 28%. Leg three, Starting weight 86 ounces, current weight 66 ounces. Down 23%
The weather is not cooperating with our hopes and dreams, these days. We had originally been planning on butchering our big Meishan barrow ("Bacon") this coming weekend, but the weather is going to be over 40 degrees all night, several nights in a row. In fact, last weekend was likely our last night below 40… Continue reading Salt Cured Lamb, Continued
It's getting that time of year again! Time to plant the garden. We planted a dozen or so rutabaga last week, and this week we are starting the peas. On the crop rotation plan (yes, there is one) they are going to be in row four this year, so the first task was: Cleanup on… Continue reading Cleanup on Row Four
The lamb legs that were set down in salt last Saturday and the Saturday before (that is, February 21 and 28) were supposed to be rinsed and either hung or re-salted on March 7, but, alas, the National Guard continues to ruin everything. It was a drill weekend. So we didn't get to that project… Continue reading Salt Cured Lamb, continued.
Last week during lamb butchering I did something a little different. I harvested both kidneys with their fat caps. Not sure why, other than everything was going so smoothly, it seemed a pity to waste anything. (Don't worry, we still haven't attempted making haggis). But then, as often happens around here, we found ourselves with… Continue reading Steak and Kidney Pie
