Well, I have two more hens sitting on their nests, so I am hopeful that I will have another crop of ducklings born in july.. but this lovely momma sat faithfully, and only hatched out two 
Two very cute ones, not her fault, she did everything right, but the male I got for her was clearly older then I expected, as she is a young healthy fertile female. 
Those wee ducklings are growing up and growing fast at that.. lovely colors, and I will see on their sexes, if they are female, they will stay as part of my overwinter flock, if males, they will be butchered just before the adult pin feathers on the wings come in.. 
But alas their time with their mom has come to a end, you see yesterday she laid a egg.. and that means time to move the ducklings into a growout pen, time to move a drake in with momma hen and let her breed and ideally sit at least one more clutch of eggs this year. So far, I am only at my 2 of 50 ducklings goal.. hmmm, that does not sound good when you write it out, but there is lots of summer-fall left yet
Ducklings are growing up.. Duck Breeding plans 2015
Rhubarb Seeds are in! Seed Harvest 2015
I have plans to grow lots and lots of wee baby rhubarbs next year and finding my 
own * plant line out of them..
Each seed will grow rhubarb if viable but each seed is a new rhubarb genewise, how very cool is that..
I allowed my favorite and best plants to flower, then I culled based one what I saw
then I let them set seed and I culled some stalks until in the end I let the biggest and the best 4 plants stalks dry and harvest from.
I have a huge amount of seed.
have you ever grown rhubarb from seed, if so how did it go
Sunset Summer 2015
Our little farm is never truly quiet, birds chip, critters rip grass, or chew cud, toads sing, wind blows on trees, the farm hums and sings but it has a feel of quietness to it. Hubby snapped this photo for me last week..
Juno- Six month photo
While this is not a long update, I did want to share a new photo of juno, she is six months old and I really like how she looking.
She has a best buddy in ice the sheep ewe, this is both a blessing, and a dang, I would have preferred she made friends with a more people friendly sheep, but we are having a nice middle ground an juno while not into pets yet, is calm, steady and interested, she often hangs out around us, sniffs hands and make calm eye contact.
She is doing a great job at pasture cleanup, wee baby trees, gone, lots of things that I went, hmmm over, thinking I would have to hand cut are now eaten off.
She can jump in and out of the sheep dry lot area, so she jumps in to sleep the night and she jumps out to graze the pasture, she is quite respectful of the fences to date.
Her frame is lovely! Great bone, that long body, perfect for carrying twins, and she still has a sweet face..
Garden Toads
I love this write up, so with full credit to the auther with Link!
(The dog may be “man’s best friend” . . .but if that person is a gardener, his or her most treasured ally is likely to be the humble toad! Warty-skinned, dumpy, and lethargic, the jewel-eyed toad is a prodigious consumer of just about anything that moves and will fit in its mouth. Although most of its prey falls into the category we label “pests” (toads love cutworms!), some of the toad’s diet does consist of such beneficial creatures as bees, ladybugs, and lacewings. This is unfortunate, but it’s surely forgivable for a little animal that can snap up nearly 100 insects every single night . . . a total of nearly 10,000 bugs over a three month growing season! Beetles of every description, caterpillars, flies, larvae, moths, and wireworms are all fair game for this insectivore. (It likes slugs and snails, too.) The amount that an individual toad may consume in a single feeding is astonishing. One toad was observed to eat 86 houseflies . . . another ate 65 gypsy moth larvae . . . while still another swallowed 37 adult tent caterpillars!
It’s pretty obvious, then, that a biological bug control of such talent and efficiency should not be ignored. Indeed, the savvy modern gardener would do well to cultivate this little amphibian’s acquaintance.)
While the battle with wild parsnip has me looking for chemical help for the first time in 11 years, it will not be coming anywhere near my gardens, pasture and so forth but I have since year 2 on the farm seen a few toads but it was not until we dug our own mini ponds and finished building the fences with the buffer zones that the toads population shot up..
Now each year our wee pond and our pig dug slews are teaming with hundreds of toad tadpoles, sometimes we have to rescue them and create a baby horse trough nursery on dry springs but most springs, they do it all just fine on their own, it helps that we have dug the pond deeper and deeper over the years.
They start out so tiny they could sit on the tip of a pencil and then they grow and grow until they become the big ones like this grumpy fellow that I caught yesterday, right now, I know I have at least a dozen of the big guys in the different gardens and most likely at least a hundred of the wee ones that I do not see movement when they get out of my way 🙂
With the heat coming, I will making sure to check my toad house areas, make sure to keep their drinking area filled with a bit of water.
At a hundred bugs a night and at thousands per summer, o yes, my toads are welcome.. but even more then that.. they tell me that my ecosystem is in balance in many way!
Do you have toads in your garden, do you have a toad house, do you keep a little toad water pan for them.
Quail Eggs
One of my hens is in production now, and at least one more is laying with the rest due to come online soon. Its such a thrill to find those wee eggs hidden in the hay of their back area of their pen.
The question is what am I going to do to with my first quail eggs for 2015, so many things can be done in bite size bits.
I am thinking I might do a small version of scotch eggs, I will pull a pound of pork sausage and get on that.. Recipe to follow soon.
Pickled Garlic Scapes
This is a very easy and basic recipe..
- 3 cups white vinager
- 3 cups of water
- 2 tsp of pickling spice in a tea ball or spice bag
- 2 tsp of pickling salt
Tip and tail your garlic scapes, wash them well in cool water, then drain and cut them into two to four inch pieces, this really does need to be a big flexable as size and curl effects the cutting.
Prep your jars, lids and your canning pot as per normal, when you remove the hot jar, fill the jar with garlic scapes, fill to half a inch from top, then add the Pickling mix to half a inch from the top, wipe your lip, lid and seal, into the hot water bath for ten min.
Out and onto the towel, allow to sit for a full 24 before moving, you will have a very light pickle within 24 hours perfect for a snack, the depth and flavour will increase with age..
Makes four pints, once opened, keep in fridge.
Oven Roasted Garlic Scapes
This is not a recipe as it just so easy but it is good.. I overcooked mine a touch and it just meant that the thinner ones where all crispy and crunchy like wonderful fried onion bits, while the thicker where just perfect.. 
Take a big handful or two of cleaned tipped and tailed garlic scapes, a drizzle of oil, sea salt or seasoning salt and into a over at 375 for 12 to 15 min. When not overcooked, they are still more green but honestly, I loved my crunchy treats, reminded me of kale chips but garlic scape chips instead.
You can also take the biggest, do the very same prep process but put them on the grill instead, about two min on each side, you want them charred a bit and heated though till a bit of softening.
Minted Scapes- Sweet with a bit of heat
These are made with a standard Medium Syrup, scapes are a low acid food, they must be preserved with salt, acid (vinager) or sugar, or you could ruin them texture wise with pressure canning 😛 I highly recommend keeping that flavour and texture alive with water bath canning.
5 cups water, 3 and half cups of sugar, four cups worth of apple mint leaves. Collect your leaves, wash, no stems, bruise them a bit to help release the mint flavour, and add them to a pot that has water and sugar on med heat, bring to a gentle simmer, turn down and simmer for five min, lets sit for another five, strain out the mint leaves.. bring back up to a boil for jarring up.
Tip and tail your garlic scapes, wash them well in cool water, then drain and cut them into two to four inch pieces, this really does need to be a big flexable as size and curl effects the cutting.
Prep your jars, lids and your canning pot as per normal, when you remove the hot jar, put your three to five whole black pepper and two cloves per jar, one inch by one inch horse radish, fill the jar with garlic scapes, fill to half a inch from top, then add the mint syrup to half a inch from the top, wipe your lip, lid and seal, into the hot water bath for ten min.
Out and onto the towel, allow to sit for a full 24 before moving, can be used within a week but ideally let it cure for at least a month, these are sweet, with a bit of heat, crunchy and awesome!
Made five pints. We made these last year and loved them, so needed to make more for this coming year..
Happy Canada Day
For all my Canadian Readers, have a wonderful Canada Day! May it be filled with fun, friends and family!
Posted in Life moves on daily
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Just another Day on the Farm 