March Farm Overview- Tracking Year Stats

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

Ok, I am wanting to track this down for this coming year..  March came in like a lion and roared and stomped its feet and is ending in the same.. we have had storm after storm , freezing wind, thunderstorms and more..

Normally by the end of march we have spring on the way, I am seeing bare land, I even on some years doing a tiny amount of wild forage of plants starting on the edges of buildings that have the double solar heat from the barn walls and so forth.. this year.  I have none of that.. I am finishing march with a average of two feet of snow still blanketing the farm and drift that are still hip high in some places.

Costs for Feb 2017
Hay-$400.00
Feed- $292
Straw- 24

Farm Output- Personal use only but local costs to replace if bought off the farm

 

  • Eggs: 5 dozen  at 5 per dozen as eating eggs- $25 dollars
  • Hatching Eggs-12 Salmon Favervolle -80 – (I went with the local hatching sale on the chicken hatching egg sellers..  so total of 6.60 per egg and total of 21 eggs $140
  • Mixed Hatching eggs- Locally about $27
    Goose Egg- 11 breeding-Hatching egg-55 Dollars
    Sheep Milk- 24 liter -(Moving the milk price to the same as the lady down the road that sells it at 8 dollars per liter)-192
    Manure: Finished composting down.. at least 50 dollars worth of compost produced this month.- $50
    14 new lambs (current market value per lamb 100 as bottle babies Price dropped down since last month. -1400
  • Lambs info (* for later in the year, I Will adjust the price to reflect the butcher, the return and sale price sale, but for this month, lets stay with if I sold them as a bottle baby this month)
  • 1 goat doeling (as a bottle baby 100) -100
  • Newborn Lamb Hide- 20 dollars

Farm loss’s in Feb

  • One still born lamb, skinned and hide cured..
  • Loss of our Maple season this year.. we had less then three full run days.. worst Maple syrup season we have ever had on the farm.. the tree’s are breaking buds.

Farm extra’s Costs

  • One heritage weaner piglet -$50
  • 3 Mixed Breed Meat Does (rabbit)- $60
  • 4 Purebred Light and Dark Breeding Set -$140
  • 5 dollars worth of hatching eggs

Farm extra’s..
hardware – 0
Ferrier – 0
Vet- 0

Garden Overview Feb

Total Garden Costs -$ 0 (I did not buy anything in the month, but lots of planting going on.. check the Garden Overview for list an full update
Total Garden Return – $248.00

Total Out cost for Jan on for the farm -$971

Total output of the farm in returns -$2,009

  • Jan – In the hole –1,029
  • Feb – In the Hole –1,429
  • March-On the good side -$ 1,038

Yearly total Minus- 1,420 (still in negative but it was a good year in march none the less, Lambs, Goatling, Eggs, Milk and so seedlings are growing!)

March was a bad month weather wise, we set new records in regards to snow for those days and the time of year, we had deep cold temps that killed our sap runs..  and thank goodness for the big barn for all the new babies, and for baby coats. The cold slowed down egg laying for a number of the birds.

I know that this post is coming out one day early but I will adjust if needed but as I am home on the farm and have no shopping plans..

Goals- No selling of anything off the farm is planned, the saving costs are what we would have to pay if we bought in the local free market to replace what the farm produces that improves our lives.

Its a tracking year..

and also I have had and seen a number of comments many times of folks saying, my 5 acres and under homestead needs to pay for itself.. well, I like to think mine does, I like to think that a well-run homestead can do just that! So lets see if I am right or not?

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Hatching Eggs-Set #1

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

42 eggs are in Hatch #1 this year, a mix of possible chicks, we will see how it goes, I am hoping to do 4 sets of hatches this year, we will see if the hens are willing to produce enough eggs for me to do so!

In this first set we have 21 Salmon Favervolles eggs, I am so excited about these chicks, I ended up with some lovely birds from my import project from last year. They are all grown up and when the weather is better, I will get new photos of them outside caz the boys are now stunning and the girls so pretty as well..

This is a photo of Wash, my awesome rooster that got me started in this breed a number of years ago..  They are so handsome.. I wish that I could see my ground at this time but everything is still so snow-covered here on the farm.

The two sets of mixed eggs are 4- from the single Easter-Egger Mixed hen and 5 eggs from the Malan Hen.. These eggs are marked and the chicks are going to the meat pen, only the pure Salmon Favervolle’s will be kept back.

I picked up a dozen Sarma eggs at the bird sale on Saturday to help fill the spots,  the regular hatching eggs were crazy high prices at around 40 to 60 for a dozen and the rare breed eggs where 100 plus per dozen eggs. I had been starting out bidding on a few of the larger breeds and then I realized that the hatching eggs were just going for far more than I was willing to pay, even the quail and pheasant eggs were 50 to 100, but in sets of 24 to 48 eggs

So I had said to one of my party if anything mixed or whatever comes up under twenty snag them.. so I have a dozen Sarama eggs at five dollars lol once I read up about the breed, I see why they went for that.. they only get as big as about a quail give or take, but they like to lay lots of little eggs.. so I will see what hatches and then I will be selling and or gifting them onward.

They would make a cute little backyard hen for town folks but they are not a good fit for here on the farm for a longer term breed.

I did get 4 chickens at the bird sale, they are in the big barn in quarantine at the moment, and I will work on getting nice photos of them in the near future.. I got a set of light and dark Brahma’s. They are settling in but not laying yet..  I believe that the dark set is the much better quality birds but the light are nice as well.

I am looking forward to getting them comfortable and laying, I hope to get a number of their eggs into a set next time and or into a local friends hatching sets if needed and then I hope that both will prove to be good broody girls that will sit and hatch their own clutches.

 

 

 

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Salt Cured Dried Perch Fish Eggs -Seasoning

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

With a bit of planning and some luck (because lets face it fishing is always a bit of luck) the perch were biting last weekend and as I asked all my fishing friends, if you catch a girl with eggs, please, pretty please with sugar on top.. when cleaning them out.. save those eggs for me.

So you will have a few different recipes shared over the next while, including some that didn’t work and some that did.. and let me tell you this one did!!  I had read about salt cured, smoked salmon eggs on nourished kitchen blog and she tends to really know her stuff.

Now my eggs were so much smaller and most of them had their sacks broken during processing so I had to modify things a touch..  The end result is salty, fishy mouth watering goodness..  Love the color, and depth of flavour to this dried, crumbled “fish egg seasoning”

Only a few more days to fish before the closing of the season for spawning, I am so going to be doing more if I can..

I eat bits of it yesterday and did little dances of joy each time but I also tried it in the most traditional way last night, used as a topping for pasta.. O yes.. it’s the so good that way, I need to tweak it a bit and make it few more times with this type or that type and figure out my measurements before it goes up as a recipe..  but it will be coming

So lets back up a bit shall we..

Ideally you can see your eggs, and these need to be fresh, fresh and kept cold, they should smell fresh and light and they should look it as well. the more you can see them as each egg, the better but I wasted nothing.. its just for some of the other recipes the bigger eggs are better for this process. if they are eggs, they are good for it.

IF you them safely in their sacks, you can do can do a slower air dry on them but I didn’t have that choice, if in the sacks, they can also be given a light smoke on them.

I used 1/4th cup of canning salt mixed into a quart of cold water and I let them cure for 12 hours in the coldest part of my fridge. Per what I had read, I stayed with Glass jars and Wooden spoons and so forth, as everyone said that metal will impart a flavour. (I don’t know if true) At that point I took them out, and carefully removed the eggs from the sacks and any other bits that were attached. the cleaned eggs were put into a glass bowl and I put a plate and drained the last of the brine off.

At that point I spread them on the drying trays, I think I would use the fruit leather trays next time, but live and learn.. this time I did the regular and then put down a fruit solid layer on the tray below them to catch any single eggs that dried and fell though.

I start them out on the highest setting like for jerky.. for a full hour and then dropped them down to herb setting for another five.. allowing them to fully cool afterwards.  I moved them carefully of the trays into a plastic baggy or between two sheets of wax paper would work and I ran the rolling pin gentle over them a number of times..

At that point I had a lovely finished product, dried, salted local Fish eggs, that placed into a clean dry glass jar with lids set and into a cool dry shelf.

 

 

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Cabbage Rolls -Pork with Coucous Recipe

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

This was a half batch of six very nice large Cabbage Rolls but it could very easily be doubled for a nice big feed of four or five people. This half batch feed us supper and a full work lunch for hubby.

8 Large Cabbage Leaves whole and par-boiled to help soften them, when they turn that lovely softer green color.. you know they are ready to go.. handle with care as they are hot when they come out of their water, allow to cool just a touch before using them.

  • Half a pound of meat- In this case I used pork
  • one Large onion -Peeled and Diced
  • 1 large carrot-Peeled and grated
  • 1 tsp of montreal steak spice
  • 1 tsp of herb-garlic mix
  • 1/2 tsp of keens mustard powder dry form (or black pepper, your call)

Cook and cool slightly..

In a bowl, put a cup of Couscous and boil water, measure your one cup of boiling water and pour over and cover and let sit for five min..

Once your meat mix is ready, add you couscous and mix it up, take your leaf , place a portion of the meat mix in and roll end in, then sides then fold the top over and place in your tray.. repeat till the pan is full.

Over top that, pour two cups of basic tomato sauce and bake for 40 min till hot, boiling and the sauce is mostly gone.. Allow to sit for five before serving for better lifting.

You can serve with a drop of sour cream, or with a side salad or you can just enjoy them as the “whole” meal.

 

 

 

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Introducing the New Doe’s

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

I am thrilled with my new Rabbit Doe’s, we have had lovely large breed meat style rabbits on the farm since the first spring we moved here and I expect they will continue to be here for many more years to come. Its always a good thing to bring in fresh blood every so often and when I saw these girls come up for sale from a friend of mine in the local rabbit group, I snapped them up!

Meet Choc-O-La, a lovely brown-white Broken Patterned Rex-Cross Meat  Type Doe. I love this girl for so many reason.. almost six pounds at 5 months, amazing Rex type coat.. outstanding temperament. so sweet to handle and those eyes!!!

This lovely Sweetie is Oppa-A-Daisy, she has a amazing Rex type feel and look to her coat, a lovely heavy body, and is just sweet.. sweet..

Last but not least and making me need to build another full hutch at some point in the next while is Fa-La-La, she is a total chunk of a girl, for her age, just a BIG girl and lovely standard type coat, but lots of color to her (in her to throw), good temperament and really pretty markings.

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Waste not-Want Not -When things in the root cellar go.

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

I would love to tell you that I am always on top of the fresh stuff but sometimes we want to get something done or some things checked and it just does not happen on time.

Lots of time, we can save them in some way, use some part of them, move them into fodder food for the farm critters or just change the focus.

In this case, the beets have sprouted roots and started sprouting leaves.. nice healthy beets that are game to go to town now that they are sure its spring..

So given the amount of them at least a few pounds, I sent hubby out to get one of the bigger pan’s that at one time held Horse Mineral lick block in it and I filled it with enough soil and pushed the beets into the soil and I have a huge block of them..

Grow those greens! because I am going to steal some of them and the rest.. well, I think I might let some of them go to seed.. we will see…

How is everything holding up in your root cellars? Have you overwintered anything that will be planted out for second year seed production?

 

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Moose Maple Stew with Bannock Topping

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

When the Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge announced March’s month as Maple, I think everyone smiled!

March is sugaring season locally and I have indulged in tapping the tree’s and learning how to boil it down, I have helped friend doing it over big open fires, leading to super dark smoky flavoured syrup, I have boiled it over a clean burning wood stove and then finished it on Propane stove to get that stunning lighter first run syrup.

I felt pretty sure that other bloggers would cover the basic’s, Maple Taffy in the snow, Maple sugar, Sugar Pies and tarts, and of course Pancakes..

Locally, everyone makes super thin crape like pancakes, where I show my western roots with Flapjacks. So I had better share my favorite flapjacks recipe in case you want to try them

Our Flapjacks are high and fluffy!

My current recipe is this..

3 Cups of milk (whole), 2 eggs, 2 tbsp. of melted butter, 3 cups of flour, 2 tbsp. of baking powder, a good pinch of salt.. Mix and cook on a med hot griddle..

My mother says the traditional one is this.

2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, one and half tbsp. of sugar, mix together in a bowl, then one egg in a well in the middle, large mixing spoonful of oil (approx. quarter cup) and then milk to make correct thickness of batter.

While we are talking about local fresh real Maple Syrup, its worth sharing my dear Grandmas pancake syrups recipe from the farm. They could not afford to buy Maple Syrup so Grandma did what she did best.. find a way 🙂

Two cups of brown sugar, one cup of water, bring to boil, and simmer for five min, remove from stove and add half a tsp of maple flavour, can be used hot or cold..  Very running but good flavour

The Second must have when it comes to Maple syrup.. Fried Corn Bread.. Heavenly!

This is a nice and easy recipe to make a cornbread that you are going to slice and fry up golden to be served with butter and syrup..

  • 1 1/2 cups  buttermilk ( you can use powdered buttermilk, really buttermilk or whole milk with two tsp of lemon juice in it to turn it)
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 1  large egg
  • 1 cups yellow cornmeal flour or cornmeal
  • 2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4th cup of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 half teaspoon salt

Mix in order, wet to be added to dry, Do not over mix, grease pan or spray it, 350 time depends on what you cook in, cool in pan, cut into squares, lift out and slice in the middle fry in bacon fat or dry or in a touch of butter till golden brown and serve as fried cornbread instead of pancakes.

However I wanted to talk about using Maple with meats.. it’s a delight to add some rich Maple Syrup and use it to make a truly Canadian Recipe.

Moose Maple Stew with a Bannock Top.

  • 1 Pound of stew cubed Moose or Venison or Lamb or Beef
  • 2 large Onions
  • 3 cloves of Garlic
  • 3 large potato – Peeled and cubed
  • 1 Large Carrot-Peeled and cubed
  • 3/4th cup of maple syrup
  • 1 tsp of fresh cracked Black Pepper (you need the pepper to cut the sweetness and add a depth of heat to the sauce)
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of Montreal Steak Spice
  • 1 tsp of Salad Herb Blend
  • 1 tsp of Basil

Add the above and mix it together, then pour into your baking pan and add enough water to cover everything, cover with lid or tinfoil and bake for an hour at 350

Make a Basic Batch of Baking Powder biscuit for the top, if you have extra, bake them on a sheet afterwards, mine nicely grew together forming  a solid top.

One cup of flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp of sugar (if you want) 1 tbsp. of cold butter or lard or tallow and half cup to 3/4th  of a cup of cold whole milk.. it’s a tricky one, half a cup is not enough, and 3/4th  is too much but if you have to pick on, then go with 3/4th  a cup..

Cut your butter with a knife into little pats, then blend it with your fingers in the same way I taught in regards to your pie dough mixing, or use a pastry cutter, your choice, DO NOT Mix this with a spoon    Once rubbed in and all the above are mixed well together, then make a well in the center of your flour and add your milk

Mix together with a wooden type spoon till it comes together enough to clear the sides of the bowl.. Do not overmix, do not knead, do not turn out onto a floured surface and work it..  REPEAT.. just till it comes together! I know, I know but its important

At this point, you can do it two ways, you can do a spoon drop style cut and put on top of the stew (which if you covered it, would come out dumpling style) or you can just lightly flatten the dough into the shape you need, cut it into squares and move them over to the top. Bake for 30 to 40 min till Golden Brown and wooden stick comes out clean..

Allow to sit for a few min and then serve up together, ideally to be put with a green salad on the side.

This recipe is a favorite among my friends and I get asked to bring it to potlucks and get together’s I make it more often with lamb than with moose or Venison. It is sweet and savory with its own built-in Biscuit Crust.

Enjoy the spring Maple Season of 2017

 

 

 

 

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High Bush Cranberry- Shrub Drink for the Win

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

I loved this months Shrub challenge, At the Food in Jars Blog, we even had a Shrub Party.. I made four different kinds, Elderberry, High Bush Cranberry, Elderflower and Homemade Grape.

What we learned at the party

  • the younger crowd all voted Elderberry with vodka for the win
  • If you don’t like vinegar, you will not like the smell of a Shrub, even if you don’t mind the taste itself.
  • Do consider a hot Shrub.. it does not need to be only served cold!

The Winner per all the data crunched.. High Bush Cranberry Shrub, Ice Cold with Polar Ice vodka.

  • 2 Oz of High Brush Cranberry Syrup
  • 1 Oz of White Wine vinegar
  • 1 Oz of Polar Ice Vodka
  • Top up with Cold Water or Sparkling Water or Ginger Ale works as well!

High Bush Cranberries grow wild all over Canada and they say up and down the States as well, it is also grown in Europe in many places. We hunted up and down the back roads till we found a patch that we liked the flavour of the berries on and we dug out a number of the suckering babies (filling the holes back in with compost from the barn to say thank you to the parent plants, which also means that the wild harvest from the bushes have more than doubled in amounts for years to follow)

Over the years they have grown into fine bushes in our food forest area..

We like to make sure that the berries get some good hard frosts on them to help sweeten them up just a touch, and then we use the Steamer to steam the berry’s and collect the juice.

From Which I tend to make awesome jars of homemade High Bush Cranberry Jelly for the next years use. I did not save any Juice only for the Shrub Challenge but I did have a single batch I had made into pancake Syrup instead of Jelly and that is what I used for the Drinks.

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Warm Baggy Method- Stage Two..

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

So we talked about the warm baggy method of starting seeds, that was very much focused on using it to test for seed germination rates.  A great way to check older seed from storage, a MUST for checking home grown and saved seeds and for sure checking any free seeds that have been gifted in a number of ways.

 

Nothing is worse then planting whole rows of seeds and wasting weeks waiting for plants to come up.

But now we can move it over to the next step if you want.. pick and choose the seedlings. As you can see the germ rate on these Brussel sprouts seeds was outstanding.. I left them in the baggy till they were turning into true wee sprouts, then I moved them carefully and planted them up into their pots..

 

A mear 24 hours after being planted.. they are up and looking fab! They are now set up with a greenhouse topper, under the grow lights, once they get big enough that they move from the starter shelf to the grow shelves they will remove the top. In total I planted out 30 strong seedlings, and feed 11 of the didn’t make it to the chickens bucket.

Compared to dropping two or three seeds per pot, I used a lot less seeds, so if you are seed frugal, this is a very useful tool.  (you often hear about this type of seed saving in square foot gardening books)

Now, I say that one of the perks is that you don’t get to just select your seedlings based on the true starting leaves but also on the root as well. Now is time to start your cull process.

Anything that does not have even proper true leaf was removed.. Anything with very short or with reduced root structure or the few that had very very long and thin roots was culled out.. at this stage, being part of the pack is just what I am looking for.

41 one seedlings, and I culled 11 or 26 percent of them.. we will see if all the once planted out make the grade.. I am game for all 30 but I really want 24 plants, and I am hedging my bets by doing a few extra.

I took a training course on growing plants with seed saving and plant breeding improvements and it was outstanding,  I have never looked at gardening quite the same way..

I used to garden for what was in front of me right now.. Now I garden both in the here and now but also with a eye to the future of the plant genes and what could be 🙂

 

 

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Garden Plans for 2017-Spring Garden

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Just another day on the farm

 

Well, it’s the first day of spring.. and my garden’s are covered in feet of snow with sharp hard ice coverings and the ground is frozen under that..  but I know that spring is coming and I am giving this year after the drought year a hard look indeed.

You see I have been tracking my farm for 13 years this spring.. and so I have my data on what I had the year after my last drought year and it says that I will have an early spring, a very wet spring with a mini-drought summer and a very long, long fall, with a few short hard frost nights.

On the last year, the El Nino was acting correctly but this year, not so much.. the models are all over the place..  some says we are going to have back to back runs, others say no, we are seeing something but its an unknown or that it will run around the equator instead of coming up and down.

The truth is, the data is there enough to say that we will have one or the other or a middle factor..  That is enough for me to go ok..  Time to layer up the garden plans and that is just what is going to happen this year..  Now I know that most people have  a main garden area and they put a huge amount of time into picking its placement and working to improve the soil and I see the pictures.. they are so pretty..

I  mean look at my mom’s awesome spring start to her raised garden box’s, they are as awesome and I am so glad that she has them.. they grow an amazing amount of food and she collects her rain water, she has fruit bushes and tree’s in her yard and she has more pots for growing fresh food.

But me.. I am a big believer that if you have the space for it.. you should have many garden spaces! I have the garden nursery spot, the main garden, the big garden, the front garden, the food forest garden, the teepee garden, the grapevine garden, the back garden and the side garden..  and these are not small.. most of them are as big or much bigger then the average “town or community garden” each has positives and each has negatives.

This is the front yard gardens (well part of them) and it was created because its the first area on the farm to melt out, its all natural free form raised beds that are six to a foot above the soil, its shifts all the time as it composts down and this year.. the oldest beds will be turned over and into the soil and then beds remain with the mix.

(that photo is from 2016, we are not near that melted yet!)

This is the backbone of the outside early spring garden plan, I always do some colder spring planting, smaller amount that fall into the “season” extenders and I have learned a lot doing this.. but this year.. this year, its going hard core.. we are not just trialing and learning and hoping for a few bits of this or that to add to the kitchen..

Nope, this year we are going to be using the greenhouse that is going up, we will be making and using a hot compost box, covered grow area, and I have plans for a temp hoop garden. See the old farmgate  in the garden, and you see the metal climber garden.. they are both getting plastic covers that will create micro greenhouse effects and protections to really push those growing areas forward.

The biggest change for the spring garden.. intent!

Normally, I grow for fresh eating in the spring, I like to forage in the spring, its a great time of the year for it, and it does not take me long to find, harvest and dig up enough goodies to fill our plates so normally I give a tiny bit of space to some early things and then I use the rest for things that can handle a cold start and are long season plantings.

This has worked very well for me on normal years.. but as I don’t think this going to be one.. and look at my detailed records, I am flipping it..

I plan on forage to keep our fresh food plates filled.. but the spring garden is about short and fast harvests. In keeping with that, I have been on the hunt for anything that will produce within 45 to 60 days.

I am not worrying about seed saving, I am not worrying about long producers, I am after poundage! and putting up..

So what am I going to be growing?

  • Pea’s -Snow
  • Pea’s- fresh harvest
  • Pea Greens- Harvested, dried and ground for green powder
  • Radishs- Fresh for eating, Roasting, and for canning and for grated-dried use.
  • Radish greens- Dried to be used as a spice green
  • Beets- Greens-Fresh, dried
  • Beets- Canning
  • Kohlrabi- Canning -Grated and dried for soups and stews
  • Broccoli- Fresh eating a touch, but mainly for harvest, drying for soups and stews
  • Turnip- Canning -Pickled and Regular
  • Turnip Greens- Drying for soup-mix greens and for ground for green powder

That’s all the space I will have in those area’s that can be worked on.. If all goes as planned, these will be in April and harvested by end of May to replant these area’s into the heat loving plants that will all be pre-started.

Some of these will be pre-soaked, pre-started if they can be..

I will be posting and updating on how this goes!

So are you looking at your local weather patterns? Are you looking at your gardens and wondering how can you increase its production? Are you worried about a cold year, a hot year, a drought year? do you think you are going to have a average garden year, or a short one or a extended one?

What is the one thing you are doing this year that will help extend your garden growing season?

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