Not including the hard fruits, the soft fruits or the herb or the neverending replanting, that will happen over the whole garden season..
So far in the main garden..
ya, I see the things that need work on.. but lets just focus on the garden yes 🙂
Spruce Garden
Three sisters rows, hill gardening with sunflowers instead of corn, with beans and winter-summer squashes.
Just because its pretty.. one of my crabapples in bloom.
Ok, last reblog for a bit, before we head back out, we are in the potato planting push today, it will take a total of 28 extra full wheelbarrel loads to make the rows, another eight loads of compost mix to go on them and then planting will happen.. and the potato’s will be done and in.. it takes the two of us working together a full hour per row, so its going to be a long day.. now some of you might have thought, why not just lay down the big chips of the clean straw, so so much faster and you would be totally right.. but then you need to use a ton of water to wet it and start the compost process and you still need to haul all the compost and a bit of dirt and then you need to hill it etc..
This does not make a lot of sense when we have cleanup to do around the waste area for the critters, with the hours put in, we get the same ground covering effect (smothering weeds, no dig, create new garden ground) but with the added bonus of wet bedding, part decom already started and a great mix of bedding-poo mix, then we only need to rake it, and add our extra’s and plant.. it will hold the water so much better and will require less to get started.. some hard work now for many extra wins in the near future..
We have already made a few of these lovely crisps
The crumble was around eight to ten cups of rhubarb, one cup of cleaned loose leafs of apple mint (that I then sliced) and about half a cup of small spruce tips cut into bits
one cup of sugar (depending on your rhubarb tartness along with 1/4t cup off flour and a good pinch of ground ginger, mix together and put in the bottom of the pan
I made a regular crumble topping, (so butter, sugar and oats and flour) but instead of water, use orange juice concentrate and a 1 tsp of cinnamon in the crust.. bake at 350 till edges are bubble and top golden
Here is the recipe for the spring rhubarb, mint and spruce tip jam.. so good.. I am mean!!! so good, have to make it every single year.. Try this one if you can!
I know, I know, Late again, its been a crazy month, and I am honestly just trying to get back in the swing of things but when I saw the lovely amazing posts of the rest of the Mint Spice Rack Girls, I knew just what I needed to make today, so that I could take photos of the process and also to make it with measurements so I could write out a recipe.
Pretty in Pink Farmgal Jam
Or Zucchini Rhubarb Jam
8 cups of peeled, cored Diced Zucchini (a way to use up those big Zucchini)
4 cups of washed, diced Rhubarb
1 cup of finely chopped Fresh Apple Mint
2 cups of unsweetened Apple Juice
4 cups of Sugar (could go down to 3 cups if you wanted)
In a steel pan, med heat, bring to a simmer and cook till the Zucchini is soft and clear…
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Its that time of year again, Spruce tips are ready for harvest, as I still had a good amount from last year, I am only doing a small amount for storage this year, mainly spruce salt for gifting, spruce syrup for later use for friends to make a awesome moose stew and for fresh use in the rhubarb jam.. yes, I will also reblog the post so you can find it with ease..
Its spring time and that means time to make tons of different things with those stunning Vit c packed lime green fresh spruce tips. Remember to remove the brown casing and give them a wash, these are picked off the farm, so I know that they have not been sprayed with anything.
Farmgal’s Rhubarb/Spruce Tip Jam (it was inspired by a Finnish Drink, I had in Finland when I visited in 2004)
if you want to hide the tips more, Blend the spruce and apple mint leaves with one cup of sugar for ease of doing so, then add everything into a pot and bring to a slow boiling simmer. Now you have a choice, you can use pecton if…
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I made lots of this last year, and I will again make at least a 12 jars of this for household use plus I might make some to give to friends as well. As the heat comes, so does so many things that bite, sting that can use healing.
Ok, so let me do the little blub first.. this is advice only, try a small amount yourself to make sure you don’t have a reaction and if anything gets worse etc discontinue use..
Now on with the show.. its spring, we are busy, its getting hotter and this means that at least for me, I am starting to deal with that wet, hot, painful rash that can appear where skin meets skin. Now in flat out terms this is happening because my skin rests on my skin and it allows yeast to grow and its a pain to be sure..
Its also something that is very, very hard to “cure” because the very suitable growth medium is done over and over again daily, the doctors will write you a cream for this and it does work, my mom uses it at the first hints of red and treats faithfully.
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I must do more on the healing and medical uses for the leaves, I still don’t like to eat them but my understanding and knowledge and use of them has grown since this post was done.
There are folks that consider these weeds as they freely grow in my local area, so I would consider them a “wild” harvestable food. The perk of this, is that you should be able to find yourself some of these for free to transpant back into your own yard and garden.
Warning: These hardy plants spread rapidly, and so plant them where you can mow around the edges or in a area that you don’t mind if they take over as a lovely ground cover. They do well in shady areas under tree’s but are tough enough to handle most conditions. As with all edible flowers, use ONLY varieties that have been organically grown and never sprayed – and do not eat the African violets, they are not the same as wild Violets.
Leaves are heart shaped attached to long petioles, Five petaled purple or blue flower with white centers…
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So yesterday, I got bite on the top of my left ear, it hurt when it happens, as I yelp and slapped at the ear, it stung and got warm to the touch and felt swollen, very small bite mark but treating with healing salve, well today its a little better but the swelling spread a bit, so it needs to watched carefully, nasty bites so far this year..
Got the big strawberry patch cleaned and bedded down for the season, there are over a hundred plants in there, most are only up so far yet, give it another month and they will be high above the straw, about 20 percent already have their first flowers, so only another few weeks till the first strawberries.
Putting out a 12 test peppers to see how they will do.. speaking of tests, last year we ran the pigs over a area I wanted to garden in, part of this ground covered really had a wild parsnip issue in a big way, but this spring, not one to be seen, just grass and the odd sunny dandelion plant, great info to have.. go pigs
We had fun playing with Caleb today. enjoy and have a great night..
Meeting Mr. Frog for the first time.. its huge!
ok, dear hubby picked it, now what are you planning on doing with it..
Riding double with Mr Froggy.. way to go.. such a good boy..
That’s a odd dismount but now what….
I love the look.. yup… what next..
How about a little sled pull..
Now, lefts flip around and earn those extra cowboy points by pulling it backwards!
Well, the front part of the garden is finely done cleaned, double dug, planted and bedded down for the season, note the bed themselves are free form raised bed, in double or in a some case triple row planted.
now you most likely noticed the one narrow row, its not really narrow, its just superbedded down and in fact as those 25 plants keep growing, I will pull the bedding down and around them so that the fruit in fact sits up high on the straw itself. and that row full of green, that mints, beebalm and other herbs that come back year after year.
Another hundred onions put in the ground today..
on the other hand hundreds of wee baby self-seeded radishs are up and growing well, the patch is between three to four feet wide and around ten feet long and its full just like the above one..
Vlad the peacock was dancing for the hen tonight, never could get him to turn proper for the photo but still pretty boy..
Great Ride tonight, went out with a total of five rider-horse combo’s, first we went bushwhacking, did a little limbo, tree dodging, and lots of mud, a little up and down, though a nice big spot of water, he tested it with his hoof but went with a nudge, jumped a little creek (the turkey, love my saddle) and then we hit the big field, was held back while others galloped off on him.. rode the field, even had a partridge flush up right in front of him and no issues, did have to fight to keep him walk, as the other horse’s went off ahead or in some cases behind, he mainly took last place or rode side by side with one other horse, but we also passed and where passed which was excellent. Nice hour an half ride, our longest yet.. Happy Happy.. such a good boy, and yes it was cold out there.. hat, winter jacket, and gloves.. the wind was brisk!
Tree’s had to come down, we had a work bee on Friday night, many hands make light work, and thank goodness for chainsaws and strong backs, in the end, 16 trees down, firewood, and enough fixings for two new hugelcultures.. just some of it in the photos
New Ram Lamb arrived on the farm, he came early because he decided to start trying to breed… silly boy, he has had a hard time settling into the flock, they don’t seem to believe that he is a sheep with his wooly coat and docked tail etc.. so its been a odd settling in period, but its coming. My very first wool sheep on the farm!
New Rabbit does, stunning big girls.. Thrilled to have this new girl join the rabbit herd, they are bigger then all my does and are only six months in age, a month to settle in, and then they will be breed for their first litter, can’t wait to see if they give me a increase in my overall kits and grow out rates.
Another 1600 hundred pounds of straw have arrived on the farm this morning to go along with the 600 pounds or so that I had left to bed down the gardens over the next ten days or so.. Well had better get to it 🙂 Have a wonderful long weekend folks.. are you camping, visiting friends or family or are you in the gardens.. what are your plans
Lets see on the horse front, my folks are starting to price out the shipping costs on Samwell, its looking like he will be heading out mid to late june or this fall depending on which run he gets put on.. We had the first Ferrier visit since getting Caleb and he was a dream to work with, my ferrier is in love with him, but lets face it, other then the comment I get all the time on.. He is so! big, everyone loves him.. I went for my first solo of farm ride with him this week and it went very well indeed.. only about 45 min in total but baby steps.. I did agility ground work training with him and he was just great at it, and I found out that he has a neat trick.. if you drop the lead to the ground when you put his halter on, he will reach down, pick it up and hand it to you! adorable!
Healthwise, I was as weak as a kitten after being sick but I am getting stronger now, I do x amount of work so many times a day till I am huffing and puffing and each day it take more and longer times to make that happen.. but I will own up to going to bed very early indeed on a few of those days.. still work is getting done and I am slowly but surely getting caught up.. three weeks of down time in the spring is not good for me, the house or the farm.
My peahen has either gone walk about or she is sitting on a nest, the Vlad the peacock has disappeared for upwards of most of day and then shows back up for supper, so he at least appears to understand.. this is home.. but its my understanding that he is not able to breed this year so either a) she is sitting on a nest that will never hatch or b) she will show back up with babies in tow..
The way that girl can fly, I am not worried about her getting caught unless she refuses to leave the nest in a push come shove.. most females are smart enough to fly away..
The buns are growing well, two more girl are expecting.
I am a little sad, after the piggy garden rampage that summer, we had tried to replant as many of the uprooted and non-eaten strawberry plants as possible, it would appear that we have just over hundred of them that have made it though the winter.. I know a hundred plants is still a good amount but we had planted around 200 new ones last year.. so I only have half the planned plants give or take for this years cropping, on the other hand, those that made it though are looking good, and I will pick out twenty and let them make babies, and will pinch out the other 80 to 90 of them for next year.. yes, I need to weed and bed them down, I have the straw, its on the hit list!
The currents are in love with this cool, slow start to spring.. the older bushes are now pushing five feet in height and all my new babies are two to three feet high, they are averaging about a foot in growth in regards to height and around two feet in width yearly, very pleased, now if I could just find some good black ones.. I have lots of red and putting in more white all the time but I have not yet found a black one that will handle the overwintering here on the farm..
The sunchokes not only made the winter but are spreading nicely, they have at least another year or two before they will spread out and cover the area they have been given, and then I will hopefully be able to start harvesting for our own use and for transplanting to other area’s of the farm, everyone says they grow like weeds but this is the first kind that I have had good luck on growing!
It will have been a week tomorrow since we got the new rhubarb and we have been faithful in our watering and the big new row of 12 is looking very fine indeed.. while some are coming better then others, all look like they are doing well and I have faith they will all grow well to set down those new roots.
Its violet and Spruce tip harvest season here on the farm.. my plan to transplant violets into different area’s of the garden is working very well, my biggest patch is in a area that I normally run the horse’s on later in the season, so I need to move more over to the big garden as they difference in growth there compared to the food forest is extreme.
There is just a slight chance that we might (depending on cloud cover) have frost this weekend, I hope they are wrong as my plums are out in full bloom right now..
Stepping away from the garden for a moment, Dear Hubby was interviewed in regards to his writing on the radio as he is on the panel for a up and coming can-con event in Ottawa.. Way to go hon..
Ok, that is round two of photo catchup..
Just another Day on the Farm 