Just another Day on the Farm

Spring Equinox is here!

Posted on March 20, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

Today is the day here in the north hemisphere that we will have equal amounts of sunlight vs darkness and tomorrow there will be even more light! We have already been getting more light since the darkest day in Jan, and as always the light hits different for warmth and angles in feburary, it helps warm the house living room for solar heating, but it is not till now that we will really see and feel the difference.

My Planter Tomato plants need to be sized up into the bigger pots that will be carried out for deck time soon enough and i will have cherry tomatoes for fresh eating by no later then early april This will take place this weekend, it can wait no longer, they need to get split as there are two per pot at the moment, and they need to be moved up in size till they go out for their spring placement in the kitchen gardens. The cucumber plants are much smaller, so they will hold in their current pots till transplant time

The instant straw bed, spring extender will be built at the front of the house this weekend so we can get the rhubarb seedlings potted up and moved out, they are more then ready! I am very hopeful that they can be moved out within the next few weeks, with each tree pot having three starts, they need more space and very soon! Each one of these will give me a amazing multi rooted new rhubarb plant that will add a lovely new row of rhubarb to the farm.

If you live in a climate that can grow rhubarb, it is the spring/early spring fruit stretcher, as apple is for the fall offerings. I have a good amount of rhubarb but i want to grow even more and start offering it for sale regular at the farm stand. As i don’t want to split and set back my main plants, young starter plants are idea as i have a goutweed issue in my main patch area in the old garden area and i don’t want to risk even a little bringing that over to the park garden so i wanted to start with full new plants there, i had ordered in new ones for last year but they were very poor shape when they arrived and with the high drought, poor soil turned and so on, i am quite sure they died, maybe they will surprise me and come back this spring but its highly unlikely.. These will get potted up and be grown bigger in the nursery garden and transplanted out for a early fall planting and then bedded down for winter 26/27, and first picking will be light in 27 and full on 28.

Once they get shifted that space needs to get the heat mat in place and time to get those peppers seeded into starting trays! My injury has set me back about a two weeks on this but i am now able to start doing smaller things like this again..

Don’t laugh to much but i was just excited to fold laundry yesterday, i am happy that the doctor says that another 4 weeks (total 6 weeks) is the average time to heal my type, i got to see the doctor late this week, and got more information, and thankfully the ER doctor was a bit wrong, he thought more was wrong then there was but he only had the x-rays where the bone doc had the CT scan as well so he could see more of what was and was not damaged!

The local bird and small animal sale is coming up first weekend of april and i am on the hunt for a few things to add back to the farm, the first is quail, i am on the look out for some nice breeding trio’s but i will also look at breeding pairs or sets of boxes of four or six females as i know i can get the males easy enough in a different box. I am also looking for Keets but might have to settle for a breeding adult set or trio there as well. maybe i will get really lucky and there will be some high qaulity hatching eggs which would be awesome.

Boy do i miss having rabbits! I am giving a hard think to adding one or two rabbits back onto the farm, not for breeding per say but for manure.. I am not sure i want grow out pens and breeding does year round and so on.. but to get back to having instant “cold” manure for use is truly under rated, certainly plants in my gardens just love the rabbit compost! Might come home with a bunny or two from the sale as well, we will see!

They say compost is compost but its not true, fowl is different from horse, horse is very different from cow which is night and day different from sheep/goat and same for rabbit!

Are you looking to add small stock to your homestead, backyard or in the case of the quail, anywhere you want really!

So the only thing i plan to add to the gardens this year other then free foraged wild fruits bushes and such is to get a hold of a friend and see if i can get some Sea buckthorn starts from them, i have held off getting them as they are not a favorite of mine but my research on oils and them liking salty edges has made me rethink them.

What do you on your farm, not including livestock, that is a fat producer? If you have a hidden forage spot, i will count it but its not near as easy as folks think, we are so used to “cutting fat” out, that we don’t have a grasp how little fat is produced when you remove the livestock, i mean yes you have nut and seed fats but to get them, oh, not near as easy as you think that’s for sure

I will be adding more Asparagus, this time in to the guilds in the park garden but i am also going to start my own for cost savings and to get back to the point of having male and female plants on the farm.. I was like i should start some and then realized i had fallen into a “WTF’ marketing trap.. i only have planted two year old bare roots, ALL MALES! productive yes, in terms of the plants giving me healthy beautiful seed to save and start new babies.. NOPE, that changes this year!

Onward in these troubled times, may you lean into the beauty of the world around you, while also working on layers of ways to help yourself, your family, your community!

Posted in At the kitchen table, Life moves on daily | Tagged bird sale, Blessings, canadian eh, cherry tomatos, compost, Equinox, flowers, Garden, garden zone 5a, Gardening, Gardening in changing times, growing rhubarb, hatching eggs, homestead, keets, mixed farming, nature, Northern garden, planning the garden, plants, quail, Rabbits, rhubarb, seedlings, Seeds, small Farm, small stock, spring, Spring Equinox, to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow | Leave a comment

A glimpse into my day

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

While i work away on a new post on tinned fish, I though you might like to see some photos from my day.

Fancy just turned two this year and we had her happy gotcha day this month, she is growing up into a lovely combo of house/farm dog. She is also a very alert little dog that barks to get the big boy’s backup

The weather has been all over the place, we have had rain, freezing rain, sleet, high wind up to 100 km a hour, fog, and snow. The ice crystals certainly added some lovely effect on plant stems as they have been melting out

Below, i am not sure why this big old sage plant didn’t get fully harvested late last fall but it did not, and it came though the winter remarkably intact, it just seemed so pretty to me with the ice edges with the grey overcast sky and the fresh snow cover

So many birds, everyone know where the BOSS meal is locally and they are coming in droves with this wild storms and weather

There are 30 to 50 plus red wing black birds that arrived two days ago and have stayed for the storms but i expect they will move on very soon, i hope i will be able to get some good photos before they do but i have already done my once a day down the stairs and back up so perhaps tomorrow, fingers crossed!

I am very much enjoying my flowers from DH and Miss R, so pretty, the roses will not last long but i will enjoy them while i have them, the much older bunch of pretties from hubby is still holding on well, such a lovely color!

Are you on true spring, or false spring or what spring lol!?

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged birds, day in the life, Dogs, Farm dogs, flowers, Garden, nature, one day at a time, photography, plants, puppy eyes, Snow, spring weather, weather, Winter | Leave a comment

Canning Up : Hibiscus Tea Concentrate

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

I love a good canned Tea Concentrate Hibiscus has so many traditional health benefits that it was the clear winner for me to make up a batch for the fridge first and then for the canning pantry!

Hibiscus Tea Concentrate Recipe

Hibiscus Tea Syrup Recipe- 38th edition Blue Book Guide to Preserving

Makes approx 4 cups

½ cup dried hibiscus flowers

2 cups sugar

3 cups water

Combine dried hibiscus flowers and water at med heat, bring to a boil, drop down to a simmer for 5 min, then remove from heat and let steep for 30 min, strain, you will need to gently press the flowers to get them to release their liquid

Return the tea to the clean med size pot, add the sugar and extras if using them bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, simmer for 5 min, Into a clean pint jar, at which point you can either water bath can it for 15 for shelf stable or cool to room temp and store in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

I have a high tea pot luck coming in april and taking premade shelf stable hibiscus syrup is very much on my list, along with a number of fancy fixings for use as a iced tea. The fact that this lovely ruby red floral with a sour lemonade style bit to it can be served hot or cold or added to other drinks or recipes makes it so useful!

Yes, I added in some dried ginger root to my batch, I find fresh or candied or dried ginger root adds a lovely balance to the tea personally.

So what Is Hibiscus Tea?

Hibiscus tea is an herbal infusion made from the dried calyces (sepals) of the Hibiscus sabdariffa flower, commonly known as roselle. Native to tropical regions of Africa, this vibrant flower produces fruit-like structures surrounded by fleshy, crimson calyces that are harvested, dried, and used to prepare the tea.

It has been used in traditional medicine across various cultures for centuries. In Egypt, it’s known as “karkade” In Mexico and Central America, it’s called “agua de Jamaica” In West Africa, hibiscus tea or “bissap” is considered the national drink in countries like Senegal.

Let dig into it a bit more in detail

Nutritional Profile of Hibiscus Tea

Here’s a look at the nutritional composition of 240ml (8 oz) of unsweetened hibiscus tea:

Nutrient	Amount per 240ml
Calories	5-10 kcal
Carbohydrates	0-2 g
Protein	0 g
Fat	0 g
Sugar	0 g
Fiber	0 g
Vitamin A	Trace amounts
Vitamin C	12-20 mg
Calcium	7-10 mg
Iron	0.1-0.2 mg
Magnesium	3-5 mg
Phosphorus	3-5 mg
Potassium	10-15 mg
Anthocyanins	Significant amounts
Organic Acids	Present (citric, malic, tartaric)

I think most of you know that i collect teapots and teacups, and maybe some cookie jars and bean pots and rolling pins among other things 🙂 I just adore this teapot found by DH at a second store this past winter, it has all the flowers from different Canadian Provinces on both the plate and around the cup itself with a Canadian flag inside. I did a little research on it and here is what i found

Royal Albert “Our Emblems Dear” Cup and Saucer, Canada’s Provincial Flowers Gainsborough Shape Made in England, Released in 1980’s

What is your province or states flower, I have always loved my Alberta wild rose and i still grow Alberta wild rose in my Ontario gardens but i do adore a number of the other provinces flowers as well Do you have a favorite tea cup or mug with flowers on it? if so what are yours?

How Much Hibiscus Tea Can You Drink in a Day?

For Adults: 2-3 cups (480-720 ml) daily is considered safe and potentially beneficial for most healthy adults.
Maximum Safe Amount: Limiting consumption to no more than 4 cups daily is advisable to avoid potential side effects.

Posted in CanadianEh, Canning | Tagged Canadian Tea cups, Canning, Canning Tea, Canning tea concentrate, Farmgal, food, Garden, Health, Herbs, Hibiscus, Hibiscus Tea, Hibiscus Tea Concentrate, Hibiscus tea syrup, Preserve it, Provencal flower teacup, recipe, recipes, Tea cups | Leave a comment

Frugal Meal Helpers -Roasting Leftover Bones

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

Frugal PorkChops Bone Soup Recipe

When we can’t be as picky on certain cuts in the store due to prices or if we are buying bulk quarters or half’s of whole animals, we are going to end up with a lot more bone in cuts. So many recipes call or we just prefer boneless meat for certain dishes.

This recipe above uses the left over bones and meat bits to make a lovely soup with, the key take aways are simple, don’t long simmer your bones with the meat on.. instead deep roast them till lots of lovely brown bits on the bone, then remove that tender roasted meat for adding at the last moments of the dish to reheat, then use the bones, and that pan deglaze to add depth of flavor and mouth feel to the end soup dish itself.

Ideally you want to plan your bone roasting to go with something else so you are not heating your oven just for this or do remember that a smaller Toaster Oven is a excellent choice to save power costs as you are heating a much smaller oven while still having all the benefits of using a oven.

Last but not least, while this style does work better with med to larger bones, it can be done with smaller as well, When was the last time you roasted bones, waste not, want not!

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged bone broth, bone in meat, broth, canada, Cost saving, Farmgal, Flavour depth, Frugal, groceries, just another day on the farm, Leftovers, Making do, meal planning, Meal prep, Noodle Soup, Roast your bones, Shop the sales, soup, Soup base, trimming meat, Use ever last bit, using leftover, Waste not, Waste not want not | 2 Comments

Happy Friday the 13th -Chores still need to be done!

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

Dear Hubby’s name is in fact Jason

when he decided that he needed a spoof on Jason from Friday the 13th, having a regular day on the farm, tongue in cheek, who was i to say no. He did the photos as selfies and i did the backend work on them.

The horses need their hay!

Its maple season, the sap is running!

Oh, did you bring us mealworms and cuddles

Lets top up the wood box

Relaxing on the deck with a coffee after chores are done

There is a joy in being creative, be it whatever floats your boat! Its been a limiting week on some things but it was so fun to watch him get excited about the idea, create his outfit, storyboard it and then make it happen over a course of a couple days, I enjoyed my end of the project, and remember, farmers, homesteaders, and to a point gardeners and more, we never get days off so we might as well play when we can 🙂

Posted in farmgal photography | Tagged be silly, creative, farmers never get days off, Friday the 13th, Get it done, Jason friday the 13th, live life, photography | 4 Comments

Friday Rambles, a little bit broken March 13/26

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

How can it be Friday already, and Friday the 13th to boot, speaking of boots, i am currently wearing a air cast boot along with a wrist brace as i took a good old fashioned fall a week ago.

When i fell, i knew from the level of pain that i had for sure hurt my foot, not rolled my ankle, i have done that before this was different, a very different deeper kind of pain and while we got me up, and got me in and leg up and iced, it only took me a short while to write Dear Hubby that as soon as he was done work, we needed to head to the ER to get x-rays

Farmers, homesteaders, Gen X whatever you want to call us, we are as stubborn as the day is long, i do understand the irony of telling him to finish up his work day first but honestly, i was in for hours wait at the er, why not get those work hours in.

Of we headed and much to my surprise, 7 hours, and 18 x-rays later in a combo of my foot, my wrist and my hip, i was out the door $225 poorer with a wrist brace and a air cast boot, while the ER visit was covered, the medical equipment was not, now it might be possible that maybe we can see if we can get any back though our personal medical coverage from work, we will see. They gave me meds for the pain and they were nice for the few hours they lasted and then back to over the counter meds for that.

Still to be fair, within 24 hours i was called for my CT scan to be booked and shortly after that, i got the call to book with the orthopedist at the hospital for the start of my follow up care. While i am happy that things are lined up, i can already tell my wrist is fine, it will heal and heal well, my hip is bruised and i have some other bruises and even a good scrape but my foot is another matter, a week later and the deep lines of bruising are still appear and growing. To put my weight down wrong can still take my breath away and while i have made a point of getting downstairs once for a short while every two days, i need to learn how to do the stairs safely, i have been mainly living on the second floor.

The master bedroom is huge, so half of it has been moved into a mini dining room with a table/chair and more for me to work at, Dear Hubby did a full week of Teli-work, he had already booked friday off so it was a short week but this allowed him to give me a helping hand as we sorted things out.

Thankfully i can still find smaller projects to keep me busy and allow me to use my grey matter and my good hand and foot lol Seed starting, willow carving, writing and much more is on the go.

Lots of things going on in the background, we are in the waiting game to find out if DH’s job will be effected by reductions taking place or not, we have been though this before, its nerve racking to say the least and i know so many are on the same pins an needles.

This is a good year to make sure that the farm gives back as much as possible in terms of both savings and earnings. Last years drought was brutal and we will wait to see how many of the spring planted in 2025 will be alive this spring.

I have not decided yet if i am going to let any of my current hens sit this year, i was planning on adding in meat chicks this spring but i am thinking that it might need to be a fall raising. I will have lots of ducklings as i added in four new duck hens for a total of seven hens and two drakes for the duck breeding flock, with those numbers i will have both lots to raise and lots of sell if wanted!

This year is going to be a grow and put up two years on a few things that are quite low in the canning pantry, an its also a clear the jars year, if its over 3 years in age and we are not eating it, then i will use it as fodder or compost and get my jar back into use, filled with what we do in fact eat!

It will be a lean year in terms of out sourced imputes plants/fruit tree wise, it will be a production year in terms of wild fruits and foraged items added in, plus bird line nursery starts, more on that later.

What’s new in your world? Did you keep up on the global news? Local news? Stayed away from the news? Are you in the now or are you planning and plotting? Are you worried about your job? While you be looking for more ways to lower costs by using your farm/homestead/garden? Looking to try and find a way to earn a little as well? What is your plan on that?

Posted in Friday Rambles | Tagged blog, Broken foot, community, Family, Farm Life, Farmgal's Friday Rambles around the table, forced to slow down, Friday Rambles, gardens, Health Care, Homesteading, life, Plan ahead, Spill the tea, ways to earn money, ways to save money, Writing | 2 Comments

Green Lacewings

Posted on March 12, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

“Most green lacewings have golden or copper eyes and are found on foliage. They are poor, erratic flyers and strongly attracted to light. Some 25 species occur in Canada, the most common of which are the common green (Chrysoperla carnea) and the goldeneyed (Chrysopa oculata), found in all provinces and territories except Nunavut.”

Tiny, bad flyers and o so fragile wings and for most folks unnoticed, their larvae, however, are entirely different beasts, being voracious predators, and are often nicknamed ‘Antlions’ or ‘Aphid-lions’ pertaining to their ferocious behavior and enormous appetite for Aphids and other small invertebrates.

We want these in our organic gardens, the green are most likely to be in our gardens, with the brown more likely in the food forests or more naturalized areas

3 Top Reason’s to want these amazing friends and their offspring in your gardens and yards, no matter where you live! Big or small, they are worth giving them what they need to increase their numbers.

1 – Rapid Reproduction Each female will lay several hundred eggs, each lacewing larve can eat up to 200 pests before it is ready to move on to the next stage, they are a powerhouse indeed! The females overwinter in leaf cover and come out for the first of TWO hatches per year. This means you do not need many females to successfully overwinter in order to rapidly build a army of larve, and its timing works with out Zone 5a timing for second fall planting timing.

2- Eco= Friendly Pest Control, by hosting and providing what they need, they will help you in your organic battle protecting your plants, soil and more

3-Adults offer Pollination ability’s adult lacewings visit flowers for nectar and pollen, contributing to the pollination process as they move from bloom to bloom. We are very lucky indeed that many of our favorite’s are theirs as well

Added Bonus, they are so fun to try for good Macro Photography on!

Now you might be wondering, why is she posting about these guys now?

Why because we are starting flowers from seed and we are planning our gardens right now!

Adult lacewings don’t eat pests; they need nectar and pollen to survive and reproduce. By planting specific flowers, you’re essentially laying out a buffet that says, “Welcome, make yourself at home!”

Look for plants with small, open flowers that make nectar and pollen easily accessible. Here are some top picks:

In the garden itself

Dill and Fennel, they are magnets for so many beneficial types including all types of lacewings, their flat topped style of flowers are perfect landing pads and amazing spots to try for that macro photography!

In the flower beds or garden edges look to Cosmos and Angelica, again anything is open single flowering type will work, the truth is for most things if you can avoid double blooms its best, they are bred to be showy for us, but not great feeders for pretty much anything

For both a mix of native and flower beds, look to the ASTERS, these are idea in gardens, flower beds and meadows/food forests, they can get huge! Check out that amazing wild grown aster plant in my park garden, it was covered in small native bees and so much more! (Farmgal Photography is for hire both locally and i will travel for the right project!)

Providing Shelter and Water

Beyond food, lacewings need places to rest, hide from predators, and find water, especially during hot, dry spells.

Think about creating a layered habitat.

Ideally leave some taller grasses and shrubs, in the flower bed, perhaps a lovely clump of grass to add texture will also serve well in this way, for the garden, well placed fruit bushes on edges will work very well. Shallow pans of pebbled water left out tucked under a bush or near good feeding stations will help keep them in your desired areas in those hot summer days.

Winter time, they need leaf litter to successfully overwinter and that also means no early clean up in the spring, so if you know you are going to clean up a certain area due to it being a early spring micro zone, don’t leave leaf litter there, have a spot near the garden that you leave it for them to find and spend the winter in that you know you can let it be.

What is your most common Lacewing in your personal neck of the woods? Have you spotted them over the years? There are going to be a lot of new gardeners starting and lots of older gardeners expanding this year and years to come, a little planning for eco friendly, extreme low cost ways to help your garden thrive is well worth a tiny bit of planning on your part to invite and keep these guys around.

if you truly can’t find any, start looking for the adults and if need be carefully move a few of them to your garden area giving them all they need, they will quickly settle in and become fast friends!

Posted in Gal in the Garden Series, In the Garden | Tagged canada, eco friendly, farm, Farm Life, Farmgal, flowers, food forests, Frugal, Gal in the Garden Series, Garden, Garden planning, Gardening, Green Lacewings, Growing your own food, homestead, In the Garden, Lacewings, Low cost ways, Native Plants, nature, Seed starting, Support Lacewings, Working with Nature, Zone 5a gardening | Leave a comment

Waste Not Farmgal’s Way

Posted on March 12, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

Welcome to Waste Not, we will find a way series. This will be a very broad coverage, it could be a way to prepare and freeze something, it could be away to take a leftover and turn it into a new meal, it could be a way to take odd bits and use them up.

How they are used up will also be varied, perhaps it will be eaten by us, or the dogs, or as fodder, or composted in different ways, hints and tips for small spaces, small gardens, or big gardens or homestead or the small flock owner.

Today we are going to talk about potato’s that got away from us, there was a potato sale on and extra ten pound bags were picked up, one bag got turned into boiled potato’s and grated hashbrowns, half of the other bag got used for fresh use but not fast enough.

Have you notice how fast food turns these day, i have at times in the past months walked away from buying potato’s due to their very Poor condition, if i have to cut away 40 to 50% of them to use them, i am not buying them! and shame on the store for selling them!

These guys had sprouted and so i have continued the process for them to be well started for planting, they got cut for a good strong eye and will be air dried to cure their skin before being planted. I will come back and add in the dried photo. They have been placed in a cool but well ventilated space with no direct sunlight on the cardboard box, as it will help them dry out.

Which is how you take 6 potato’s and turn them into 13 plants! That ten pound bag was bought at 1.99, the feed bags are free, the soil/straw combo was not but it will continue to feed the soil and garden after use as well, the cardboard box was included from the store and will be reused afterwards till its composted

Each of these will be planted in groupings into feed bags for early starting in our seedling starting area and moved out as soon as possible for very early spring small potato harvests.

Yes i know they are not seed potato’s, yes i have those on order, yes i will be planting like normal in the gardens, but i am not going to waste these and the ability to get them back into my food system.

the small bits that were leftover, i had two choices with, cook in the next feed the chicken batch or compost, as i do NOT like to feed sprouted potato’s raw or cooked to anyone or anything, into the compost it goes!

What is the last thing you saved? What little bit did you find that you used up or figure out how to add to broth making or feed out as fodder, and for fodder, i am including all those house dogs, or small chicken flock owners or even those meal worm growers etc

Posted in Waste not | Tagged Chitting spuds, compost, Early spring potato planting, food, Frugal, Garden, Gardening, growing potato's, growing potato's in feed bags, Homesteading, potato's in strwa, Sprouting Potato, vegetables, Waste not | Leave a comment

Ice Storm Watch Ottawa Valley

Posted on March 10, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

The question really is what kind of Ice storm are we going to have and that is still up in the air because it could shift and that slight shift could mean a big difference.. what kind of difference?

Are we having this kind of ice storm as we have had in the past?

This kind of storm will drop power lines for days, leaving us to cook on the wood stove and wearing ice cramps on boots for chores and pretty much close things down for a few days to weeks I took this photo from a ice storm here on the farm 11 years ago

Or we could have this kind of ice storm, still going to take down trees, be slippy, work from home but the odds are the power if out will be a day or two and it will melt off without much damage

This type of ice storm means i am out with my camera because while you need to waddle to be safe, its just pretty out there and the odds are highly in your favorite that they will just melt, crack off and have limited damage to trees and more

They are not the same, but the prep for them is, because there is NO way to know what one we will be getting, so extra water needs to be drawn for livestock, for the household, laundry will be fully caught up, extra wood will be brought to the close porch for the wood stove, any extra space in the freezers will have jugs and or any other freezer safe filled and added for extra drinking water if needed but mainly to keep the freezers colder for longer, the camping cooler will come up to act as the temp fridge

We are in the dark purple zone fully, so 10 to 25mm but i am hearing that it could be up to 40 mm

The biggest issue is that the ground water is moving right now and the sump pump is for the first time in 8 plus months running and its running hard which means that when the power goes out, that there will be water in the cellar, its designed for this, everything is raise up for this very reason but its still something that is a pain the , well you know what, unless you run the genny 24/7 to keep the sump pump going, its going to get damp down there.

While its not good for the seedlings and plants to lose their lights, they can be brought upstairs if needed and thankfully i do not have eggs in the incubator yet so i don’t have to worry about that. Charge the battery chargers and so on and plan for possible wood stove cooking and extra uses of the shuttle chefs and we enjoy the sunshine right now and wait!

Posted in CanadianEh, weather | Tagged cooking on a wood stove, Freezing Rain, ice, Ice storm, Ice storm Photography, Ice storm Prep, life, Livestock care, No days off, photography, Planning for power outage, Shuttle Chef, storm prep, weather, Weather watch, Winter | 2 Comments

Gal in the Garden Series : Radish

Posted on March 10, 2026 by Just another day on the farm

German Giant Radish has been added to my radish growing this year for a couple of reasons. Ah Radishes, one of the fastest growing crops you can get in the garden. Lets talk about this amazing plant, you have summer radish, which will give you sweeter end results in cooler spring/fall plantings, spicy hotter versions in the heat of summer but are still ideal to be planted into shade spots and then you have winter radishes that are bigger and will extend into early frosts

In Canada Radishes are a very common veggie, when i was growing up, you had small round red with white flesh and depending on when harvested, they could be mild or hot! or HOT! Eaten whole, maybe with a bit of salt or dipped into a dressing or sliced into rounds and added to a salad.

Boy, were we missing out, i still remember being the first time i was served roasted hot radishes, it was in Helsinki, in Finland that first got to try so many different ways that radish could be prepared and i have been hooked. Then came our local food share program and suddenly winter radish became something that i could get regular, why i can’t buy Daikon everywhere is beyond me, the closest store that carries it local to me regular year round is 45 to 60 min away depending on traffic

I am growing six different types of radish on the farm this year, I will be growing

Cherry Bells “Here is a delightful looking summer radish with 2.5-5 cm diameter cherry-red roots that have a pleasing, mild flavoured white flesh. Cherry Belle holds great potential for extending the season as it forces well under glass and maintains its superior eating quality for a long time. An ideal variety for late spring and early summer plantings. Introduced in 1949.”

Easter Egg “This is a colourful addition to the radish family. Stunning intense shades of white, red, purple, pink and violet roots make this tasty radish a visual, as well as culinary, treat. The roots are large and smooth skinned, flesh is firm and crisp”

French Breakfast “An older variety grown since at least the late 1870’s. Produces rich scarlet red roots with white tips that are crisp, mild and surprisingly sweet. A real favorite that has stood the test of time!

New to the farm and to me are

Crimson Giant : H. A. Dreer, in a 1910 booklet that they published, had this to say about ‘Crimson Giant’ radishes, “This variety is suitable both for forcing or early planting out of doors. A remarkable feature of this Radish is that it will grow double the size of other round red forcing Radishes and still remain solid. The ordinary forcing Radish, after growing to the size of two or three inches in circumference, becomes pithy, while the Crimson Giant will grow to six and seven inches in circumference and still remain solid and juicy, free from all signs of becoming soft.”

German Giant ” German Giant is a solid red colored, round shaped, radish with crisp, white, and pungent flesh. It resists getting woody or spongy and can be harvested from golf ball size on up to about the size of a cue ball. To achieve the larger sized radishes, provide them ample space by thinning the seedlings to at least one-inch apart.”

and of course i will be growing Daikon Radish a winter radish, i will do a totally different post on tillage radish, which i have brought in a whole pound of seed on for use to help in my new garden area that has some of the worst soil i have ever found on the farm!

They can be grown in pots, they can be grown in flower beds, tucked here and there and replanted every two weeks for a growing supply, no one is going to notice if you pop a radish seed in and around your flowers, it will just be green undergrowth to the person walking by.

Radishes should be on your garden grow list and your seed saving list! One of the fastest growing plants to get food on the plate, pickled radish works amazingly well for preserving, Almost everything about them is edible, leaves, radish ball root, seed pods and the seeds can be ground themselves as well as sprouted with ease

While having been grown globally since the time of Egyptian and Roman times and most likely before that, it is a outstanding plant that can be grown in cooler climates to great success! Time to explore its many choices and add some new types to your garden plans!

Globally Radish can be grown for their roots, for their seed oil, for their green tops, they come in many different colors, sizes ranging from tiny to the size of basketballs. They are a powerhouse of a food!

A half-cup serving of raw radish slices (about 58 grams)

Calories: 9.3
Total Carbohydrates: 2 g
- Fiber: 0.9 g
- Sugar: 1.1 g
Total Fat: 0.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.02 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03 g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
Protein: 0.4 g
Sodium: 22.6 mg (1% DV*)
Vitamin C: 8.6 mg (10% DV)
Folate: 14.5 mcg (4% DV)
Potassium: 135 mg (3% DV)

*Daily Value: Percentages are based on a diet of 2,000 calories a day.

What types of Radish are you growing this year? Do you eat Radishes regular in your meals? Do you eat them fresh? Fermented? Pickled? Roasted? What is your favorite type? Do you only eat summer types or do also use winter type? What is your favorite way to eat them?