Just another Day on the Farm

Growing Melons in a Hugelculture Mound

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

Minnesota Midget (1948)

Developed by the University of Minnesota in 1948 and introduced by Farmer Seed Company. This fantastic variety is perfect for short season climates and small gardens. The short vines only reach 3′ long and are perfect for trellising and container growing. The 3-4″ fruit have extremely sweet golden flesh and are produced in abundance. An excellent, very early variety. A must for Northern gardeners! (60-65 days)

I was gifted just a few seeds, enough for one good melon mound, I did not want to put them in the big bed that the watermelon is going in.. so I needed a new hugelculture bed but one that would work for a few years and then I could work it back into the garden on the four year movement.

Bare ground, was worked in the last two years, was fallow last year

3 by 3 feet dig out of sod, then dug down 12 inches

two to three year composting wood chips with manure mixed

Each wheel barrel load was about 6 cubic feet added in

Six to eight inches deep one year composting walk way straw from garden

then the sod back but face down

Then one year old rough compost from a winter feeding hill

Then 2 or 3 year compost from no mans land

Then a load of dirt-compost -seven year pile

pit, water pipe, can water from top but also water roots in summer with the pipe

3 foot climber added in as well, the area around it will be straw bedded down and clean area for the plants and fruits to work on. the end product is 6 foot be foot plus at the base, four feet at the top, and 3 and half feet high, it should last for a full four year garden rotation

Posted in gardens | Tagged Garden, growing melons, hugelculture, hugelculture mound | 4 Comments

Carouby De Maussane Snow Peas

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

https://www.seeds.ca/

https://www.seeds.ca/organic-seeds/seed-grower-network

Part of my garden space this year is growing a number of different things testing this and that.. the great landrace squash growout, the pumpkins and so much more..

This one is very special to me, our little farm garden is helping with a larger scale cropping of a harder to find old French heritage pea, its a sugar snap pea, it can grow a five foot vine, and its pods average four to six inches across.. they are huge. the flowers are two tone

I was sent 350 seeds ( with a massively good start rate of 94%), I have planted out 60 feet of this pea, I did a three staggered planting, one week apart, my first plantings is up and already 3 to 4 inches high, second is sprouting and third is coming

I will be eating some or maybe lots its has big of a producer as they say, but I will also be saving seed on a large scale to sending back to the program..

Updates on progress will occur thought the growing season.

Posted in gardens | Tagged Carouby de Maussane, Seed growers | 14 Comments

Dandelion Flower Iced Tea

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

So much is talked about the greens and the roots but when it comes to flowers, the most popular is dipped in batter and fried up.

However today, I want to talk about making a wonderful sweet an taste cold drink.. I am making a quart of tea, I picked 18 of the most perfect large flowers I could find

Then I pulled the flower off the greens (the green adds a bitterness to it)

I put the flowers into a steal pot with four cups of cold water and brought up to a slow simmer, the timer was set and went for 5 min, at that point I strained till though my linen, but for folks that do not have straining linen, I recommend cheesecloth, add honey or sugar to taste, chill well and serve

Posted in 100 mile diet | Tagged Dandelion Flower Cold Tea, flowers | 5 Comments

A Delightful Side Dish- Corn, Bacon and Dandelion Greens

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

As a lovely side dish it just does not get any more pretty and tasty.. but its also a amazing way to introduce the wonderful slightly bitter free growing green the Dandelion to those that are unsure..

Corn, Bacon and Dandelion Greens.

Farmgal Recipe was one of my huge bacon slices, diced, one massive washed and diced Dandelion greens (no flowers or buds) and one Pint of Sweet Corn.. Take out some of the bacon fat, after cooking the bacon bits till browned, then add the greens, wilt them down, then add your canned sweet corn, at least a quarter cup of the corn juice is ideally added. Simmer till warm though an serve.

Now for those that are making it in your home.

1 pint sweet corn- one large can or two small cans of the best sweet nibbled corn
2 slices of bacon, diced
12 oz of cleaned an diced Dandelion greens, (or spinach or mustard greens)
A pinch of salt to taste

Posted in Canning, gardens, wild foods | Tagged Bacon and Dandelion Greens side dish, Corn | 3 Comments

Kombucha tea and my Scoby

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

I make the most basic Kombucha Tea, I mean I only like a light ferment for a f1, which means no fizz, no fruit and nothing fancy.. A fresh ferment to me taste like sweetish apple cider, its just delightful..

How this mix of yeast and bacteria takes plain sweet black tea and turns it into a tart but delightful drink is just amazing.. my scoby is a bit darker because I use a very dark tea, I laugh at the looks of my scoby on my link above from last fall, I thought it was so pretty, now I know it got the job done but It was young and wild.. its amazing what six months of learning and do will teach you..

My Big Scoby is a very happy girl indeed.. her nickname is scoby doo, she makes new babies like the boss..

Posted in Health | Tagged Kombucha tea, scoby, Tea mushrom | Leave a comment

Puddin New Digs..

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

I have been watching our local second hand for sale site for months now trying to find a nice new pen for Puddin.. She does well enough in the one I got for her, but I always worried that the cats love to sleep with her as it has no top.

I have written a number of times but I am always to late.. but not today, o no, I saw the offer pop up and I dialed the number 2 min after and was first in line, and I did not wait, I was up and heading to get it first thing, bright and early

This is the approx. style.. We took out the wire bottom as that would be very hard on her little feet.. She liked everything I put in her ball but the burdock leaf, that she says.. you can take out and give me something else.. thanks

but it came with some nice extras, two more water bottles, a feeder cup, a big metal power coated hay rack, a metal hanging ball that can be stuffed with fresh greens and while I will need to get a few more things, I will get a nice big half second floor in with a covered sleeping area, ideally keeping the bottom for bathroom and eating..

It got a cleaning, and Puddin got a short summer trim, a bath and her nails trimmed before she went to her new home, I am sure she will love it once she settles in, she is not happy that I snipped off her head fringe.. so I can see her cute face..

Posted in Critters | Tagged Puddin | 2 Comments

Elderberry Cuttings

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

This is a interesting little project, part working rooting cuttings, part community project and part growing for the food forest production.

By this I mean that I need to learn how to produce more baby plants, I tend to lean towards pinning for making new plants but the truth is I can not do that with all plants and I need to stretch and work those skills, this spring I am working on a bucket full of Elderberry cuttings, Grape Vine Cuttings, Willow Cuttings, we will see if I add in a few more or not..

I took the cuttings from a elder that grew up in a area that I did not really want it, so I really cut it down, I was after whips that where ideally at least as big as my pinky finger in size, nothing smaller then 12 inches and nothing bigger then two foot approx. I know they are alive as they are all starting to bud out at this time. I wonder if I have them a touch crowded in the bucket and if I should move half to a second bucket and give more room.. we will see on that..

I have about 30ish of them in total, and I might start another bucket yet from wild cuttings, we will see, I have a lot of interest from my local garden group that I belong to in regards to picking up one or two of these little elders to add to their own gardens and I have a friend (Yes I am talking about you Miss C) that got a new farm, and its sadly lacking in elderberries, I might start another ten for her so she can do a nice elderberry hedge row.

The current cuttings are directly traceable back to my big Momma.. she is outstanding in producing but she does require heavy feeding, regular pruning and care to produce her best. I am not sure that I will not lose a lot of my elderberries to the birds in the food forest, where as the ones close to the house are under farm cat patrol but the chickens take everything off that they can reach from the bottom up.. Do you have any cuttings started this year to help increase your food production..

Posted in food, Food Forest, gardens | Tagged Creating new Elderberry plants off a proven mother, Elderberry, Elderberry Cuttings, Elderberry cuttings grown in water | 2 Comments

Rye Nettle Bread

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

It would appear that I have been replacing healthy carbs with fruit in my diet, and so I was asked to work a little harder to bring back some of carbs, that to me means good fresh homemade bread. This Recipe adds a powerhouse, the nettles add in whooping amounts of proteins and lots of vit and minerals without the calories

I was very surprised at just how many extra calories I was adding when I added my farm fresh sheep milk and free range eggs.. This means I also needed to give it a eye to see if I could find a way to keep the health but lower the calories and ideally increase the longer slow carbs in the bread..

Here is what I have come up with.. Light Rye Nettle Bread.. this bread gets a solid 7.5 out of 10.. I want to tweek it a bit before sharing a (recipe) per say.. but for anyone that wants to try it, the info below will be enough to get you started

The base was my warm water, 2 tbsp. of Molasses, pinch of salt, 2 tbsp. of home rendered lard, 1 cup of dark whole rye flour, to which I added 1 cup (close to three cups fresh) blanched finely diced fresh spring nettles, half a cup of flax seed, and 1 tbsp. of caraway seeds, toasted, and then ground. This was well beaten and allowed to poof, then I added in approx. 2 an half cups of white unbleached flour, kneeded the bread till I had the stretch I wanted and no breaking when pulled.. then a long slow rise

It went into a heavily greased pan, its only getting one slow rise, then it will be pulled out, slashed the oven temp set and baked till hollow at the bottom when tapped..

And hear it is!.. hearty, dense and rich with just a hint of sweetness

Sliced thin its just lovely.. flavour is lovely with nutty undertones, interesting as there are no nuts in it.

Posted in Bread | Tagged eating Stinging Nettles, Nettles, Nettles for helath, Rye Nettle bread, Ways to use fresh spring nettles | 4 Comments

Dry lot.. o my

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

We all have this wonderful thought that as a small farmer that we will never be like those big ag farms and to tell the truth I do my best to make sure that is true.. but sometimes.. just sometimes , some of the things they do can be useful..

I am doing a meet in the middle for a temp moment, I am making a corral with both outside and inside access for the sheep and they are being dry lot.

They are going in for a full month, I need that time to reseed the pasture, let the pasture get a good start to it and when needed I will dry lot the sheep for a day or two this summer as well, I am keeping a solid acre into nothing but horse level grazing, which is not enough for my two, they need hay and horse feed on top of that but it will help cut the hay bill a lot, the sheep on the other hand are getting the big pasture, the corner pasture and the side pasture..

I am taking back the side yard for human use and some extra garden uses to boot.. small rabbit grazing tractors are the only thing that are going into use there..

I can now say that it takes 150 pounds of whole grains to be hand walked and hand seeded out per acre of pasture, it was a mix of oats and barley, not good at all for true pasture, they are out there to add quick green and bulk to the field..

We are going to close off a smaller pasture this year, use the horses to lightly rake it down and level it and properly seed it back down to high quality pasture and then it will be locked down for the whole year, it will take me five years to get all my pastures done that way, and till them, I have will use the quick and easy way to bulk up the green feeds in the fields they are grazing..

But where does that put me on the farm being able to help.. Its going to be a use fodder year.. fodder can be grown and taken to the sheep, pigs, birds etc, and that is just what is going to happen..

While I am excited about the great squash growout for 2015, 80 plants of squash is beyond anything I can use, while the best will have their seeds returned to the program, the flesh used for our own house use, the rest will be hacked up and served up as fodder.

Have you ever needed to dry lot your animals for the better good, I dream of those that have so many acres all fenced that they never need to worry about overgrazing, but I can tell you this, all those lovely homesteading books that have lots of livestock on little pastures, forget to talk about how to keep those pastures working properly..

the number one issue being overgrazing, and the second.. poo.. While the sheep poo is easy, leave it, the cow or horse, not so much, I spent just as much time, either lifting and removing it and or spreading it out with the rake so that everything could grow though it and it could be seeded out

I was looking over the fence yesterday as we were working in the garden and went, hmmm.. need to tromp out with the wheel barrel and pick up all the fresh horse pile and move them to the compost pile

Posted in Critters, farm | Tagged dry lot, growing pasture in spring, Picking up poo in pasture, Re-seeding a pasture | 4 Comments

Rhubarb Nettle Iced Tea Recipe

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Just another day on the farm

A spring, its time for so many yummy things, off a bit later to do a walk and check the fiddleheads.. but its going to be a very busy day indeed and I feel the need to put a nice drink the fridge for use later in the day..

We have just enough Rhubarb up.. and I do mean just, but I will also be sneaking a cup of it to make a wonderful fresh rhubarb loaf.

4 cups of coarsely chopped Rhubarb stalks
1 cup of cleaned coarsely chopped Nettles Leaves
1 cup of sugar, or half a cup of Honey, or sweeten to your taste
Tiny pinch of Salt

Place above into a steel pot and add six cups of water, simmer gently till the rhubarb is cooked though, pour though a cheese cloth, straining it out, if you want a pure sweet color, do not squeeze the bag at all, or if you are like me and it matters not at all that is cloudy and might have bits in the bottom of the jar, get every last bit of goodness out of it.

Put in a clean jar or jug and chill till cold, work up a sweat in the garden or yard and enjoy it as a refreshing drink.. or mix in a little vodka and relax after a hard days work. It is the most lovely pink color, almost like the fake pink lemonade from the store but so much more healthy for you!

If you are lacking rhubarb, as its so early in the season yet, feel free to move it to two cups early spring rhubarb and 2 cups of nettles, it will give a slightly different flavour but not much.

While I will agree that the sugar or honey is not healthy, the burst of vit, mineral from the rhubarb and nettles are outstanding!