First off, I am thrilled to say that my goose lady, let me know that the goslings have hatched, now to see if the sex’s I want are there, that will take a few days to be sure of..
So as we are speaking of babies, here is a new snap shot of one of the wee buns, gotta tell a funny story, you see these kits were born on the same day as niece #2 and so she asked if I was going to keep a baby, and I said, I can’t hon, I just got three new female (all unrelated) and I don’t like to keep more then that.. but that she could pick the names for the buns, so we will see what she comes up with when they get bigger.
So excited, these are all those wonderful elder babies that are coming up.. there must be at least 50 of them at a min..
The nettle patch is coming right along, I have three different spots that grow my nettles in them, but two are further behind as they are in the downhill slope of the garden, its cooler, wetter down there and everything takes a little longer to get going but this patch is up in the front area and there is enough for nettle tea daily and by next week, I will be able to start my first big nine tray load of spring nettles for drying.. I like the spring nettles for tea, where I find the larger older nettles are better for herbs in soups, stews or as greens.
the burdock is coming out and growing well, I have 20 plants that I am working with at the moment, kinda hoping that I have more then that come up in a few other spots, as I will grow these ones for late summer, fall root harvest, but hope to find some in places they should not be popping up, so that I can have some for spring harvesting of roots.
Speaking of things that will be ready for a tiny harvest by next week, o ya baby, just a tiny fresh rhubarb crisp will be on the menu! Coming right along now!
Sleepy pigs, I would tell them to get busy but given that is clear that they will need to be moved again today, I think they have earned a warm nap..
the Barley is up and doing very well, growing like mad, I am tracking it carefully, I want to know how long from planting to milk seed cropping for fodder.. Can’t decide if I should have seeded it a bit thicker or if this is good, we will see..
Speaking of thing that are coming right along, while almost all my fruit tree’s are just budding out, and same with most of my fruiting canes, they are just getting leaves.. not so with my red currents.. they are bursting out!
One more interesting thing, so you know those huge hay bales that I got that will be used for compost.. well most of them are looking nice and dry but one of them decided to send up these little lovelies..
Just another Day on the Farm 
Can I ask about your nettle tea? Is it stinging nettle, or what kind of nettle? Thanks for your wonderful posts! Everything on your farm looks so good!
Of course, all my readers are always welcome to ask questions and share!
yes, that is stinging nettles, if you really want to learn about nettles, I highly recommend a little book out of England called 101 uses for stinging nettles, such a amazing plant!
nettle tea is a great spring tonic, but more important for me, its my natural antihistamine.. for that use, the early spring nettles or the nettle tops are the best for that, once the bloom, some folks say you can’t use them, to which I say, non-sense, but they are bigger, older, tougher, and might need a water change before eating them if you are doing them as greens, as they have higher sting to them at that point.
So for the tea, I pick a cup of loosely packed fresh nettle tops and put them in a French coffee press and pour two cups of boiling water on them and let them steep a min of five min, ten is better, pour and flavour with raw honey..
you can mix it up, you can add other flavours, I often add in 1/3rd of fresh apple mint to the mix, or you can make a big batch and add in a regular tea bag and then make it into iced tea for a jug in the fridge.
Okay, just to make sure, you are talking about the stinging nettle that burn my hands even through the gloves when I weed with them? That is amazing! My wife and I weeded I don’t know how many trash bags of those nettles, but never thought to eat them. How do they not burn your mouth as bad as they burn your hands?
yes, I am talking about stinging nettles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinging_nettle
https://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/book-review101-uses-for-stinging-nettles-by-peirs-warren/
https://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/march-9th-stinging-nettle/
cooked or dried, they lose their sting.
tomorrow, I will do a step by step post showing how to use them for tea, cooking and preparing them to dry for later use for you..
I just can’t believe, in spite of us being farther south than you are, how much farther along your plants are than ours are (being upstream, but more southerly) here. Guess it stayed cold here just a little longer? Dandelions and Forsythia have just come out in the last two days…
Nice looking site! I look forward to nosing around.
Antihistamine huh? I’m going to have to try that!