Just another Day on the Farm

Bush Hiking with the horses

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

I wanted to get in a hike on sunday before the coming storm moves in again, I wanted to work with the horses, they need their spring ground training so that we can safely start riding again, and I wanted to spend time with my wonderful husband, a little couple time as it were..

So we went hiking with horses as a couple 🙂

So Brandy was with Hubby and Caleb was with me..

Up the road, and cut into the fields and then into the bush we go..

this was the rest point, everyone took a breather, I needed it and even the horses are out of shape and where breathing a bit and had a bit of damp on their first working spots.. we all need to get back into shape.. (well other then hubby, he was fine)

We did not seek the clear path, we looked and went though, between and over as much as we could find, we made as much effort as possible to find ways that made them work for it!

Now that’s what I call a great “date”..

adore this cute photo bomb by Brandy.. it turned out to be my favorite photo of the trip!

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged hiking | Leave a comment

Speaking event- Food Preservation

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Yesterday I was up bright an early, checking my lists twice and packing the truck and off I headed to a great event, there was a very good turnout, we sold out on the tickets available (a few folks in the end where not able to come ) but it was good crowd.

like this photo as it shows a idea of the room, the set up and this was a great talk on the local food shed and how each person fits into it, very interactive class, I took the classes, when not speaking myself.

This was a great talk on intensive gardening and succession planting.. the photo was showing a great point, the squash plants took the same space but one produced six of the little ones and the other produced four of the big ones.. got to love her banana squash, its a thing of beauty!

Then came my talk, and hour and half plus questions on both old and modern food preservation that is available to us, it was a good talk, I was pleased that I found it not quite as nerve racking as last year, I was better prepared which helped and to be honest, I know the subjects well, which helps a great deal to remain calm, I had some show an tell, I have examples and hubby says he is going to make me a couple power points as I have been asked to do talks and hands on seminars in the future.

just over 50 percent of the folks who were there made a point afterwards to come up, either to just say hello and enjoyed the talk and or in combo to ask follow up question, so I feel safe to say that everyone felt they got something from it, which makes it so worthwhile to me

Posted in Goals | Tagged asked to a event, engageing in your community, food preservation, local food shed, Speaker | 4 Comments

Camping Trips

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Well, most these will be with a girlfriend or two or six LOL but one is going to be with hubby, we are getting farm sitters in for the one weekend..

Its been to long since we did more then day trips, and I have lots of those planned for sure, but we are going to do more hiking this year as well.

Last year we had folks come to us and they kept up hopping and it was awesome, this year, we are doing a bit more off the farm time, with lots of horse riding time planned, Bush time and tenting time..

I went though my gear and decided that as most of it was gotten in 2000 to 2001, maybe its time to get some of the newer tec stuff, I am not getting rid of my older tough as nail gear but I did order in a newer lighter weight pack for some of our trips this year, as I do not need to use the bigger heavier pack..

So I found a great mine tour for my hubby for later in the season, I have found a few new parks that we have not been to and lots of day use areas. Till then, I have selected just a few photos from over the years of camping and trips for you in this post..

Its got some of our local day trips, some of our longer holiday trips, some from B.C. Sask, Alberta, including the badlands, Ontario from my cross country trips and NWT and Nu as well.

Last year we did really well at getting off the farm and trying new things, we went hiking, we went and learned new parks on the Quebec side, we went to a country music festival (which turned hubby onto country) we did a rodeo, we took in a local fair.. and we had our first big party on the farm 🙂

This year, I would like to find hopefully the right blend, the farm and the animals always come first but its a good thing to give ourselves time off it as well, so if you have a farm or homestead, while I know that 90 plus percent of your time will be spent on the farm and that sometimes you almost need to drag yourself away from it

What if anything do you have planned for this year that takes you off the farm?

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged camping, Homesteading, learning to get off the farm, off farm trips, Trips | 2 Comments

One last blast of winter, I hope..

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

O my, there has been so much going on.. including one last good size winter storm..

We went from this, where I was cleaning the yard, planting early spring seeds,

having my first fire and outdoor meal, and working on making bio-char for the garden to this..

its started small, just a few inches or four or six.. but by morning, over a foot of it had arrived on the farm!

I looked sideways and laughed.. Yesterday, this

today..

but under that snow is seeds, and I hope they are just holding and that soon this will melt and they will show their little heads.. in the house, I am battling fungus knats.. grrr..

But its all ok.. cause.. o my kittens! As I have already turned off the heating, its april folks, no one should be surprised that I have turned the heat off in the house and am only using the solar from the sun along with a bit of extra heat from the stove at cooking time..

So the wee babies have a heated bed, they love it.. LOL

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged farm, farm kittens, Garden, homesteading in the spring, spring snow storm | Leave a comment

Introducing Faith and Patrick..

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

As some will remember, I lost my oldest purrpot, at the age of 19 this winter, and we also lost my sweet and beloved Munchkin, the year before, we also had a few of our outdoor barn cats either pass or disappear..

I certainly do not lack Purrpots but when we did the count, I realized very quickly that over 80 percent of our sweet kitties are over 9 plus and that we only have a few middle age on the farm..

We did have a litter last year, they were adopted out, so it is with great pleasure, I introduce our two wee kittens.. Most of our female are spayed but we do have a few intact girls but we also are active in controlling their breeding..

So introducing, Patrick and Faith, born on St. Paddy Day! I feel they are old enough now that its safe to introduce them to the farm blog.. Patrick is a total chill boy, as sweet and steady as they come.. his sister Faith, is a split face calico and as cute as they come..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged farm cats | 4 Comments

Sunchokes

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Yesterday in the bitter cold, we dug up a few plants worth of Sunchokes.

Qouted from this site

Sunchokes, the vegetable formerly known as “Jerusalem artichokes,” are the tuberous roots of a native North American plant in the sunflower family — neither from Jerusalem nor related to artichokes — originally cultivated by Native Americans. The Oxford Companion to Food says that the plant was noted in writing as early as 1603, when Samuel de Champlain (the same guy Lake Champlain is named after) described the root as tasting “like an artichoke,” ostensibly starting the naming confusion that has plagued the vegetable since its European debut.

Things get even weirder, etymologically speaking, because in much of Europe, the vegetable is known as topinambour (or some variation), a corruption of the name of an indigenous Brazilian tribe that was on “tour” (I won’t even comment on that one) in France at the same time the sunchoke was introduced (in 1613). “Jerusalem” is thought to either be a corruption of girasole — Italian for sunflower — or “Terneuzen”, a Dutch town from where the root was first brought to England. These linguistic misunderstandings led marketers to rename the vegetable to the (sort-of) more pleasing “sunchoke” in the 1960s. (Though I question the marketing prowess of anyone naming a foodstuff with the word “choke” in it. I’m just saying.)

Factual Nibbles

•    Sunchokes enjoyed much popularity in Europe after their introduction, until they started developing a reputation for causing excessive amounts of flatulence.
•    This actually has some basis in reality, as sunchokes contain a great deal of inulin, which does cause gas and bloating when eaten in excess.
•    Sunchokes are adapted to colder climates, and taste better when harvested after the first frost.
•    The bulk of sunchokes grown in Germany go toward the production of a liqueur called Topinambur, made from sunchokes and a mix of herbs.
•    Sunchoke plants are considered weeds in some part of the country and can be quite invasive if left unchecked.

The tiny ones went to the pig bucket, the bigger but still small went as rabbit fodder and the rest came in the house, some to be used like a fresh crisp fleshed raddish but with a light celery taste to me..

The bigger ones are going to make soup and some where fried up this morning to become egg and chip..

As many folks have noted, when starting these, eat them in very tiny amounts and then wait, try them cooked first before you try then raw. They are not a eat sudden large amounts, one of the biggest mistakes I hear is that folks say they are like potato’s..

No, they are not! other then being a tuber.. they are nothing like a spud..

I love the.. they are not creamy, vs they are creamy.. LOL

I fall down in the middle, a thinner sliced that is fried, is crispy on the outside and melt in your mouth creamy and rich tasting on the inside.. love and dipped into a egg yolk. O my what a delight..

Undercook them even just a little and they are NOT creamy.. its a fine balance but done correctly, I stand firmly in the creamy area but again.. not mashed creamy like spuds, cooked well and blended.. o my yes..

We currently have four different strains of the sunchokes on the farm at the moment and I am running tests on them, I would very much like to breed more that have nice big ones like this one below.. if they fill my hand, I am very well pleased.. I find the amount produced per plant can be quite different as can the size, shape and color..

The greens can be used as fodder as well, you want to cut them at full growth just before they start to flower if using them as a green fodder for the best quality.. They are rabbit approved here on the farm.. while they can go in with dirt on, they equally like them cleaned up.. harvest as needed as they do not have good keeping power, and they are so easy to keep in the ground, why would you not?

As anyone will tell you that has grown these, do not, please do not put them in your regular garden area that you want to do rotation in.. they never truly leave area once they are set up in it well, it takes years to clear a space.. and even then.. more will come..

So while I love them, I am careful on where I put them, but remember, you can just mow them down when young and keep them mowed 🙂

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Feeding Rabbits Sunchoke greens, Feeding Rabbits Sunchokes roots, Feeding Sunchoke plants as green fodder, Fried Sunchokes, sunchokes | 5 Comments

Working Away on the very early spring plantings

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

While we are cleaning up bed and planting them out for the very early starts, we are also finding new wee growth.. this bed looks bare but got daylilys coming up, the black-eyed Susan is alive, the bloody docks are coming up, see one below, and the back is seeded out into broad beans, the bigger areas are seeded into scotch curly kale, self-seeded dark russian dill seed and when its time weather wise, I will put a row of marigolds in the front, I had an over wintered Brussel sprout but pulled, sadly, none of the kale in this bed overwinter

This bed is all planted out for early spring, we have pea’s on the fence line, broud beans on the outside row and all kinds of salad green seeds over it, only the half moons are still to be planted and I will do them soon into early beets, I should be planting and replanting parts of this bed three times over the season

My wild violets are starting to come up, I think its time to split some of these apart and make bigger bed for them 🙂

O the walking onions got busy, an so did we, they will get their own post but we made a new full bed for these.. what a great plant

Comfrey is up, as is horseradish, rhubarb, and strawberry plants are popping their heads up and I .. am sure there is to be found as we get busy on the spring cleanup we are early this year, normally we do not plant till second weekend in april but so be it

And with that we had better get back to it, I am planning on digging up some sunchokes later today to help make supper 🙂

Posted in Life moves on daily | 5 Comments

March- Invest in the farm

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Well, Its the last day of march and with 31 days in a the month, I honestly thought I would have a series of photos, a funny story and some bats of fleece to show you.. and instead, I am stumped to point..

Between Snow, rain, more rain and more bitter cold along with a personal issue that shook the regular planned events a bit, I never got out the big New Electric Sheep shears.. 1_0x0

This is not a little set, this is not a cheap set, this is a heavy duty pro-set that cost more then I want to admit even gotten at the 65% off.. and I am looking forward to learning how to use them, I have a few half wool-half hair sheep that I intend to practise on, , as much as I would like to say that I can use Ice’s very full wool coat, the truth is, its in very poor shape and will be used in the garden

whiskey

However, I have high hopes for Whiskey’s and Apple Jacks fleece’s.. I have later plans for them, they will be put to good use and perhaps, just perhaps I will in fact learn how to spin my own wool but honestly unlikely..

fleece-cream

I will use it to make wool covered soaps, I will badly needle felt it, but I will like the end results, I will make felted dryer balls for ourselves and as gifts and I will find lots of ways to use it on the farm.. I will take ice’s wool and after a bit of prep work, I will use it to stuff cracks in the barn with it.. It will gift a certain girlfriend or two with some wool to play with, because they love it and that’s what friend do 🙂

So March’s invest in the farm is a full kit and set of pro sheep shears.. more on that to follow when I get to it..

Posted in Life moves on daily | 3 Comments

Morning Glories

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

It was time to clean the teepee tower to start prepping for spring.. but there was hundreds of morning glory seed pods, I certainly did not need that many but we did collect a bowlful and I processed them for storage

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All cleaned up, and 30 seeds in my hand, lots for our use and for gifting locally to some friends.. I threw away hundreds of pods into the compost..

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Looking forward to seeing these later in the year, mix of colors.. the bees love them so much..

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Do you grow morning glories? Are you planting a few extra things for the bees this year?

Posted in Life moves on daily | 2 Comments

As soon as the ground can be worked- spring peas

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Just another day on the farm

Micro-climates are amazing things, compost is such a heat producer.. you just have to love it..

You will remember that last year I caved and put in gardens in the front people yard because I could and needed the space, and that it was so much drier and ready to be worked..

Well, that was once again proven yesterday, the normal time I can dig and plant the very, very early in the main garden is April 15th in the High point of it, and weeks later on the lower wetter areas

I checked what I thought would be the first ready, the raised beds, cause, every single book will tell you, that well done raised beds will heat up faster then in ground..

well, micro climate can put the coulda, woulda and shouldas into eh?

Normally I move my rabbit hutches to a certain sheltered spot each year but last year, I decided to move them to a different spot as I wanted to clean out that area really well

I spent a good amount of the garden work time, walking around with a nice three prong tool testing the raised beds, froze solid, going in half inch or more, how fast down to ice still in soil

We had two clear winners.. The tower, I think the metal frame combined with the raised bed and the water below with created a composting effect is why it was thawed and ready to plant, the tower is metal shelving, its 5 plus feet tall and its having blue pods, the very young are eaten like snow peas, the old are a dried soup pea

Blue Pod Capucijners (pre 1800)

A beautiful heirloom pea that is pretty enough to grow as an ornamental. Tall vines grow 5-6’ and the flowers and pods are purple. The very young pods can be used as a snow pea and the large olive green to brown seed is excellent in soups.

The second kind of snow pea that was planted was

Dwarf Gray Sugar

Introduced in 1892 by D. M. Ferry & Co. but is surely a much older pre1800’s variety. The dwarf productive vines produce snow peas which are great for stir fries or steaming. The purple flowers are ornamental as well

but the one most planted is a old faithful, a awesome producer, good old bush type, homesteader from the 1970’s

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and the homesteader being a bush pea went into the second area, the old rabbit hutch area will be a garden this year, its enough space to do three 15 feet rows, this was not just a bit thawed, this was amazing, light and fluffy with lots of worms.. while I cleaned the area last fall of the top rabbit poo and bedding, I have left about a extra 8 inches or so of well rotted rabbit compost, and its going to be a growers delight.. the pea’s will be ready for picking by the end of may, and I will be pushing for the first major cropping and then I will be pulling and replanting the area for a second crop..

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In the end, we found enough just ready or in the case of the rabbit garden, really ready, ewe planted three kinds of pea’s and 75 feet in total on March 27th