Just another Day on the Farm

Strawberry- Yum..

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Strawberries, my patch this spring is doing well, very well.. in fact when I had a visit from a blog regular (Deb) in the past week, she made a comment that the size of the strawberry plants was *wow*..

Now I will admit that the the strawberry plants are rockin this year, the biggest we have ever had, I believe it has to do with the fact that this the second year that we feed them comfrey, now I do not know what they were missing but I scattered chopped comfrey leaves around them last fall and o my.. they are at least a full 1-3rd bigger, and so far, the production is outstanding.

We picked our first bowl on Friday, another on sunday and now it will become a regular event.. our first bowl, we just trimmed, sugared and eat them as is!

But the second batch, I did them a bit different and made fresh strawberry ice cream.. heavenly! This was just vanilla ice cream with blended fresh strawberries, so simple with the flavour is popped..

I have Banana in the house, an will be making Strawberry-Banana Jam very soon.. and Rhubarb-Strawberry after that..

We also greatly increased the strawberry amounts on the farm this year.. we put 25 strawberry plants into the food forest, we will see how they do..

However we also made a new June bearing strawberry patch in the new soft fruit garden zone.. it is a long four plant across bed, within it was planted hundred twenty-five new bare root plants, and they are all up! I really like that company.. every single one is growing.. but we are already needing to take off the odd flower.. No flowering or berry producing for them this year! They need to grow and get them settled.

They were well bedded down with a mix of turned pig bedding mixed with dirt.. they will not need a top dressing for at least two years, but we do need to find the time to clean up the walkways on the edges and I will use the hoe to keep it clean..

I am greatly looking forward to the expanded haul of strawberries that should be coming in next spring..

Posted in Garden harvest | Tagged Strawberries | 1 Comment

Happy Fathers Day!

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Happy Fathers Day to my Dad

Happy Fathers Day in Memory of my step-father Ken

Happy Fathers Day to my man.. Babe, you are a Man in full

Posted in Life moves on daily | 2 Comments

The Round Straw Bale Garden Update June 2015

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

The round bale garden has been producing now for four years and we planted them this year with a climbing bean, it will get to a certain height and then it will start to trail over and down the sides, ideally loaded with beans..

Each Bale has five holes, two bean plants per hole but the end ones that have seven..

When you dig down to make the hole, you can see that the outer rings of the bales are getting composted.. then we back fill it with compost-mixed with dirt for the planting itself, the seeds start in the dirt but very quickly, the roots are in the bale themselves..

We move the planting holes around the bale from year to year.. This was from 2013 the year we grew acorn squash in them.. not the best call, the chickens got them as they ripen that year but it was still a good learning curve on growing in the bales themselves.

We had a great harvest in 2014, as we grew zucchini in them..

The beans are all doing very well at this time, the growth is making me quite pleased.. but its clear that they will need a liquid feed of comfrey tea this week to give them a feeding boost.

Good thing I have a bucket brewing.. and hey, its a blog post to boot.. o Ya!

The final thing of note is that how well the bales are holding up, the small bales are considered one year good and everyone told me in the all the books, three years max on the round.. Bla.. books, I tell ya, if you have not done it yourself.. books are good jump off points but you need to get it done in order to figure out what works and what does not..

Sometimes in the homesteading books, I will see the same information given over and over and I will try it over and over, with the same results, and then I will ask friends local and then in the west to try things and after we all get the same requests, we shake our heads..

Because you know that hundreds or even thousands of folks have read it and are counting on it to work when in truth.. its very clear that it will a) only work in their climate with their tweeks that they are not aware they do or they are just not sharing it quite right or ) they just spit up the same info that they all read and none of them do it..

Its like my momma gingersnaps, she makes kicking ginger snaps, but I never share the recipe, because if you can not be shown just how to make that special pinch when rolling them, they are hard as rocks, make with the pinch per cookie and folks drool over them..

Maybe someday I will make my mom show it on video and we will see if we can get it right and then I will share LOL

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Hugelculture beds made of round hay bales, Round bale hugelculture gardening, strawbale gardening | 1 Comment

Off-Grid – Food Producer

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

I got asked a interesting question, I was asked if I was off-grid, and I smiled and said.. no..

As the common thought on off-grid means you are on solar and wood heat.. pretty much.. I have heard this a far amount this year, off-grid means off the power grid, be that replaced with solar, wind, water or propane.. It means that they still have the things that the rest do but that are more in charge of lives, (Interesting, I think they are more in charge of that one itty bitty tiny part of their life)

So then they said, well are you a homesteader, and I laughed and said, No, my farm has been a farm for over a hundred years now.. I bought a farm.. I am not a homesteader..

So then they thought for a moment and said, are you prepper.. and I said, yes and no.. yes, in the sense of I believe in being prepared for things, the vet is x time away, the doctors are x time away, the nearest store is so far away and so on.. so do we (prep) in the terms of for a ice storm or a possible job loss, yes.. Do I put up a year or plus of food, of course I do, its called a garden, you have to preserve it in order to eat it 🙂

But no, if you mean like what you see on TV.. no and NO again!

So finally she looked at me and said, so what are you! I laughed and said, hard to define.. and left it at that

But the visit stuck in my mind.. I am of course in truth a small landholder..

Which means I own enough land to that I have ag rights but not enough land to be a farmer in the true sense, we will NEVER make enough money on our farm that we would not need a outside source of income.

But that did not sit with me, not really.. I am not a hobby farmer, and I am not a farmer, I am somewhere in the middle.. I rolled this around in my head over and over!

So I have decided that I am a off-grid – 0 mile food producer..

Think about it, someone says they are off grid because they are disconnected from the main power grid.

Well, I am disconnected from the global food system as much as I can make myself.. I work at it all the time..

We raise 100 percent of our own meat, our own eggs, and our own milk, we grow our own fruit, veggies, livestock fodder, pasture an we buy our feed from a local farmer, we buy our hay and straw from our local farmers, we buy grains for our own use from local.. We save seed and when possible buy and support our local heritage seed produces if buying.

You can say.. but farmgal that makes you part of the 100 mile food or the foodie but not really.. its a blend, I mix all the food persevations of a prepper, with all the growing of a old fashioned farmer, with the over reaching and wide circle of self only that a homesteader has, I think that I like the terms.. off grid food producer!

O ya, its mouthful I know.. but it does a better job summing up what we are working for better then any other terms..

LOL, that was fun to write and I am going to like having a answer next time.. Enjoy your day! Now go grow something, pick something or eat some real food.. you deserve it!

Posted in Life moves on daily | 1 Comment

Enjoy the View.. Ethan Project 2

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

This week has been about enjoy the view.. and I have to admit that I really did not need to change much at all in my world, I find the time every single day to stop and enjoy the moment, enjoy the view.. take the time to listen, listen to the wind in the trees, the sound of the frogs, the sound of grazing critters nibbling grass off.. and the ducks dabbling in the water, all my wild song birds going off..

DSCN6639 I made sure to enjoy watching my purrpots! This pretty girl was having a enjoy the view moment herself..

The garden gave me this great view of the bees keeping busy..

The flowers in the wild yard are as lovely in their own way as any planted..

Have you found to slow down and sit, have you found time to really look at the world around you, have you taken the time to look up at the sky, not the skyline but the sky itself! have your looked down at your feet in the grass, to see you connected to the earth in a way that you can not get when you are in shoes!

If not, even if its only five min.. take the time.. its worth it!

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged Ethen Challange | 1 Comment

Compost.. another farm impute 2015

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

This one has been a pain to track over the spring, raw compost for certain projects gets one price, compost -1 or 2 year gets a different price and compost that is 3 to five plus that is now really, rich black soil, gets a third price..

I have looked online at three local sources for the compost and the dirt, and looked on local groups for the average cost of the year and under, and or looked at the cost of straw for that bulk in volume.

Then we measured the new wheel barrel and then tracked the loads for March, April and May..

ok so six of our wheel barrels for black soil – aka triple mix not including delivery locally is 150.

However, that only matches our poorer quality home compost, our good stuff is on par with what the locals call gro-max and its 180 per six of our loads, not including delivery

The rough stuff, was counted as a mix of most basic at 149 and chip mulch as we use softwood chips in certain areas of the farm at 180..

So for march and April, we used 1920 worth, and then we kicked up a knotch in may (and june)

In May, we used produced on the farm that is we had bought locally in bulk 1705..

Some of the delivery cost are included in the price but it would have been a surcharge as we are out of the range,, for a flat 300 if we got it all at once..

that makes for a grand total of 3922, I am totally blown away! and yes I have checked and rechecked my math.. we think nothing of doing load after load after load after load because its there and that is what its job is once composted..

in the hard push in the first two weeks of june, we use just a touch over a thousand more..

Wow.. who knew that compost, soil and mulch could be worth so much!!

Posted in gardens | Tagged compost, farm rewards | 3 Comments

A bit of a garden an farm update!

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

This is the new Melon Garden, each side is four feet wide, and the fence to climb is four feet high, and we will trim and add to the sides as needed for growth.. 27 melon plants in their for Hubbies, Melon land race growout for 2015, there are nine different kinds in there. all short season plants, all heritage plants of course, but with a great deal of mix between flesh color, taste and texture as well as size, we will see what we like, and what the crossing produces for us 🙂

This is a update on the Carouby De Maussane Snow Peas, the earliest planted are pushing seven feet in height, they are in full bloom now, and they are showing just how pretty the flowers are, and they change color as they age..

I look forward to all those flowers turning into these big peas.. We have green tomatoes forming on some plants, there are peppers in flower and some are starting to form, there are so many greens, the strawberries are coming now..

The overwintered turnip are setting seed.. so many self-seeded greens, radishes, mustards, are just popping up 🙂

Kales, Beans, and more Peas. o my..

The Comfrey is huge, I keep harvesting parts of it every other week, but its not holding it back at all..

She is trimming the trees, and is doing a great job at eating things that the horses and sheep have not been eating but its funny because the lamb flock follow her and they are trying new plants because she is eating them.. makes me laugh..

Juno is doing great, settled in with the sheep flock, and is part of the flock..

New ducklings hatched on the farm, I knew that the male that I put with this female was older but she is just one plus, she sat on a full nest but he was not doing his job that well.. so we only got two ducklings, I butchered him and I hope that we will get hens but if not, I will use one of the new drakes in breeding before butcher, I did get one chocolate -white and one black-white.

Whiskey only full wool ram lamb is doing awesome, I am so impressed with everything about this boy.. Boy was it fun to hand sheer his mother, we are still working on it, but she is about 60 to 70 percent done.. now we just need to clean up..

The Giant Pumpkin mound are growing really well.. Very pleased

On the other hand, I am whimpering at my planned butternut mass growout.. the mounds are made, the area is ready and they are just starting out so slow, there are in fact 70 seeds planted out, but so far, only six have popped their heads up.. I keep checking and watering and checking 🙂

A newly put together bed, a mix of eating plants, medical plant, it should be very pretty when it fills in. There is lots more but it can wait for another day.. Everyone had a great day, and do get your hands in the dirt if you can..

Posted in gardens | Tagged garden 2015, juno the goat kid, sheep | 9 Comments

Grazing, mud playing.. pretty pig!

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Ella had a walkabout today.. she really had fun grazing and mudding it up..

Posted in Pigs | Tagged farm pigs, Grazing pigs, Happy Pigs, Muddy pigs | 1 Comment

Horse Fun in the Pasture..

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in draft horse | 4 Comments

Ethan Project.. Friendship

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

So there is a big blogger challenge going on, its called the Ethan Project, its pretty much created for moms with little ones. and its about Enjoying the Here an Now.

Just Plain Marie modified it so that those of us without children can be active in it as well..

Your challenge this week (June 5-10, 2015) – Make a new friend or reconnect with an old friend.

It is far to say that I did very well on this weeks challenge, I had a old friend that while I see her on facebook and we do a fun thing once a week online, I do not get to see nearly often enough in person who came out with her hubby and little Miss N to the farm. Cats were feed hay, and horse back rides were given, birds were petted and so forth.

It was a lovely visit and a reminder that we do not see each other often enough in person, that hugs matter!

But that was not the only one.. on Tuesday, my best and closest local friend popped in and said. you have two min get changed, we are loading up your horse, and you can coming to meet new folks and go riding..

So I meet three new people, it was lovely to do so, and six of us headed out for a nice horse ride..

After everyone else went home, I added in another layer.. a lovely lady I had meet a couple weeks earlier showed up to pick up her son and instead we ended up around the table, chatting and laughing till the teens gave us the looks, I love when we can get to the point that they are like.. (have they been drinking) which just made us laugh harder..

It was just a combo of great ride, dog tired and women that know how to have a good time..

Challenge meet in all ways.. good times where had!