Just another Day on the Farm

This is a short and sweet post..  I did my stretches and made a strong coffee (which would be about the average for most) and went.. All right then.. Lets do this..

I need to shear Ice, her wool did not come off nicely, it was a battle but she is much cooler and I have her in lock down and I will give her a finishing trim before she joins the flock again..

I had to do Junor.. he was my practise run.. not bad.. not bad..

But then came Whiskey, the fleece that I have the biggest plans for, it was the best job I have done to date with my new shears (which by the way, will get their own post in the fall as they are a improvement on the farm item)..

He is fine condition under that o so huge coat of his.. and I got it off in one full piece! YES…

Its good practise as I am looking forward to doing the lambs this fall.. For sure this young ram lamb, loving his black wool.

The day was a hot one but had been planned for a while and it was a ton of fun..

The Adults had as much fun as the children did..

the kids also thought my little farm was just filled with fun, Patrick was a total suck and a fluffy armful but faith hide and marble stayed out but took limited petting.. all raised the same but temperament will always win  when its a break in routine

this one was made by a under six little girl and she did a great job and more is more 😛

mine was a little frog set up and with a glow in the dark pond, below a better view

My friends did a awesome job on theirs.. so creative

and hubby did a great job on his.. he got some help, maybe another this or that..

Folks loved my rhubarb-mint juice, smacked lips on the spruce tip mayo and adored the strawberry rhubarb compote on custard with whipped cream.. served with loved hot sausages from the grill. One friend brought the most yummy salad and another brought fresh scones that were a delight.

The last friend arrived with chicks and left with a truckful lol and we bartered out a surprise, more on that later

Today is officially a holiday in Canada, but its also our typical last frost date for the gardening zone we live in, so its a great mix of gardening, friends and good times. Lots more gardening to go today..

That closest box is filled with skirrit plants, and there is Giant Turkish plantain and seas kale and 3rd generation cabbage crosses that overwinter in out area and a zone breed cabbage-kale cross and so much more

We boated up the river for some fishin, time with friends,  a hot dog roast and don’t forget the marshmellows

The calf is learning come out of his pen and nibble the fresh pasture

Faith is so very pretty and Patrick is huge and such a purring boy..

marble is not just younger and short hair but he is so much smaller in build-bone an so forth, but he is so cuddly

While the two big fluffy fat belly kittens ran and played and leaped around the yard under our watchful eye, marble went and asked.. up please and then watched everything from high up

Te wee buckling are not so wee anymore and they are a month old and we will be moving into full time milk sharing at this point, they are also nibble grazing, crème above looking at you  They follow their mother who is lead out daily to be tied out to graze the main yard

Rhubarb is ready for the first big picking..

played around with making a rhubarb- black current fruit butter.. its quite good

Enjoy the kitten photos and I will be back tomorrow 🙂

Magic Marble is the wee handle full of short hair tabby snuggles.. So tiny.. going to be a small cat but so sweet!

Above is Patrick, one of the two fluffy and fat belly kittens.. HUGE kitten, laid back and easy going.. playful and active.. everything a kitten should be.. and below is his just as fluffy sister Faith.. she is even more active, a climber and she loves her cuddles but four paws on something solid, please..

Hello Folks,

I know that I have a lot of new readers since last year and given how many post I have, I know that I can not assume that folks read back onto other longer term projects..

The “Farmgal” Rhubarb project started last year..  for the first time ever, I allowed my rhubarb to go to seed, and just like Grandma told me. Yes, it does impact the amount of rhubarb harvested in the end for sure.. I would never do as many plants as I did that year but as I wanted the best of the best.. I let 28 plants go to seed and then I culled till I have the very best left, I wanted as much crossing of the genes as possible to go into the seeds themselves.

Here is the full post that covered it in photos..

When they first came out with their first two leaves, not that much difference was noticed yet..

But then things started to change.. I had to go for 50 to 60 of the wee ones with their first set of true leaves into potting them up, I ended up with a selection of 20 and then they needed to start to grow, I was still trying to find and pot up clear differences in stem color, and or thickness and so forth..

Below is a great selection of the three main things I am looking at at the moment.. on the far left, green with big stalks.. in the middle.. smaller, but thick but many stalks, and on the right.. red stalks right into red veining in to the leaves themselves..

For sure my reddest plant of all them that made it to this stage in the culling..

I am looking at ideally culling to the point that I have a new row of 12 that I will be growing out to the two or three year mark for full testing and then culling down to my top five  at that point..

I have a ton of rhubarb seeds left over so If I want to do so, I am easily start many more plants and repeat the process until I get what I am looking for..

Locally, the number one kind of rhubarb plant you can find is Canada Ruby Red.. so many kinds of rhubarb available in the world, and in the stores, we can find one kind.. I personally have three at the farm, plus the Chinese medical that is grown for its root mainly..

I am looking forward to working towards creating more plants from a different gene base here on the farm.. I saw in the newspaper this week that Ontario local rhubarb is available in the stores  for 5 dollars a pound. that’s about five or six ten inch stalks give or take..

Which means that one large well treated rhubarb plant can easily produce 75 dollars worth of store bought rhubarb and I have currently 38 plants scatter around the farm gardens.

While I understand that rhubarb must be grown as a annual in the warmer states for anyone that has enough of cold in the winter for rhubarb to rest in winter, then it becomes a easy plant to grow and care for.

Do you grow rhubarb? What is your favorite way to use it?