Just another Day on the Farm

Reworking the straw hugelculture beds 2014

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

So I was very surprised at just how poorly some of the bales wicked up water, but then I took a good hard look at the underside, you see while the ground got cut away and the bigger and smaller tree parts got layed down, because the man with the tractor that could move the bales came a bit early, I didn’t have any time at all to fill in between and so that means that in some cases the wood is strong and high enough to just “hold” the full bale up on top with no contact to the ground.. Clearly on the bales that this happens with the only water is what is rain or what I poured into beside the plant holes..

On those bales last year, a few things grew a tiny bit, on the other hand the bales that had even a small part that touched to the ground and were able to wick the water up, grew pretty good, considering they were planted in about six by four inch holes cut in about four to six inches deep and filled with compost/dirt and seeds planted in.. They produced food, not at the rate that the same planted plants did on the ground but they did produce..

However that is a lot of planting space that didn’t produce well, so this spring and planting season we are having a do-over. We are going to haul the loads of the well dug, fine compost from the pig pen and fill the space from the ground up though the wood at any place we can find to do so, then we are going to haul loads of the heavier winter pack and fill in the space between the bales as high as it can go without spilling outward, this will then create side wicks up the bales and they will also be topped with dirt hills and planted into, to help hold the compost in place during rain or storms etc.

If this works correctly, it will mean that all the bags will have much much more water access for composting the middles, and growing plants in this season, I know that the books said that I was only going to get three to five season before it was composted down but I am at a I will believe it when I see it.. this is year two..

I need to figure out what is going in the bales, I think I am going to try a mix of things and see what does well and what does not, last year, I did squashs and strawberries

Is there anything you want to see grown in the bales and reported back on? If so talk to me and I will see what I can do.

Speaking of big bales, we are going to use the area that had the big roll out bale bedding and planting hills, will talk about that new garden space in a different post. We are planning a min of two more area’s that will get the same treatment in the food forest garden area, it worked perfect for just pulling out a small area and creating a garden within a gardening space in a no-till method, that allowed the plants to inter-grow.

Now we see if we can make that happen again this year and improve on it with last years good and bad points taken into consideration.

Planning the Flocks for the coming year..

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Ok, So I need to figure out the plans and goals for this coming year when it comes to the breeding flocks..

Currently bird wise we have

Chickens- 16 Laying Hens -Two Roosters

Ducks-Regular Duck- Hens-Apple, Jackie, drakes spaz

Ducks -Muscovy Ducks- Mr. Big, and his gaggle of four breeding hens

Guinea Fowl – Two hens/One male.. ( Holding back four of the best last year till they can be sexed)

Geese- Honk/Hiss, Lou/Pom

The rest of the birds on the farm will be butchered out before breeding season starts.

The chickens main goals are as egg layers, the regular ducks are for meat production, the Muscory’s are for meat production, the guinea fowl is mainly for bug patrol, and as a added bonus, meat and feather production, the geese are mainly for flock protection and as a side bonus, meat an feather production.

So given that I would like at least two broody hens with one rooster set up for just that purpose, Two full size clutches of chicks will meet my needs for replacement hens and some chicken for the freezer just fine.

The two duck hens and the one drake will go together as a breeding set in their own pen for sitting on nests, but the muscory’s are different, I will allow them to all breed with Mr. Big and choose when they sit, Ideally keeping two out free ranging at any time, with two sitting, and still end up with four clutches, just with different timing on them. (I need the birds out working the yard to help with bug control)

The geese will be moved into two breeding pairs and allowed to do what comes natural to them, as I want to see who is a good sitter and hatcher, I know that Hiss is a very good mom, once the wee ones arrive.

The breeding guinea’s are going into a large covered breeding pen, and the range birds are just that.. range birds, if they sit, and hatch, their wee ones will be taken from them and raised up in a controlled pen, and only when big enough and strong enough will they come out to join the rest of the babies. (last year, we have real issues with raising different size babies in the same area, something I am not going to do this year)

That’s the plan at the moment.. if you are breeding this year, how many of your girls do you hope are going broody? How many sittings are you hoping to have happen per hen? Are you going to let them raise the babies? or are you going to take them away and give all the babies to one broody momma? Are you breeding for laying hen replacements or are you breeding for meat? and freezer camp?

Posted in Critters | Tagged Planning the breeding groups for the birds | 5 Comments

Bumble Berry with Pineapple Pie Recipe

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Make a basic Pie Dough recipe.

Pie filling, 1 and half cups of mixed berries, blackberry, blueberry, Rasberry and strawberries, as well as two cups of diced pineapple, 1 heaping tablespoon of quick tampica, 1/2 tsp of ginger, 1/2 tsp of all-spice, and a pinch of salt.

Bake for an hour at 350 degrees till golden brown and bubblingly hot, cool before serving, and if you are really doing it up, put a dollop of whip cream.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Bumbleberry with pineapple pie recipe | 7 Comments

Goose Pot Pie Recipe

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Make a basic Pie Dough Recipe

Goose Pot Pie

One Onion-Peeled and Diced
3 large mushrooms- Diced
1 med carrot- Sliced thinly
2 med or one large potato- Peeled, and finely diced (you want it to be able to cook within the hour)
1 to 1 and half cups of cooked, diced goose (in this case, the meat from a leg/thigh combo)
1/2 of a colored pepper- Yellow in this case
1 tbsp. of oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a touch of keens mustard.
1 cup of dark broth (by this I mean any dark meat bone broth)

To thicken-1 tbsp. of corn starch or you can use 2 tbsp. of dried instant mashed (store or home made will work) or you can drain off the broth and make a small rue and thicken with flour and then pour it back over top.

Put your onion, with your oil and cook till just about done, add the mushrooms and cook for a bit, then add your carrot and potato, and just enough broth to cover, simmer for ten min. (your choice on how to thicken the broth, and then pour into the pie plate with bottom, add your top, make sure you cut some steam holes in the pattern of your choice, I made mine as goose foot prints

Bake at 350 for one hour till golden brown and piping hot.. cool for ten min before serving, can be rewarmed if there are leftover’s.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Goose Pot Pie Recipe | 6 Comments

Winter Rabbit Update

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Towards the end of the month, I will start the does back up on the rabbit breeding program, everyone is in good shape, they are all nicely weighted but are not fat either, which is perfect, I have enjoyed the break, and I know its good for the does as well..

I will aim to have litters in the nest box’s for the end of march, I am going to be tracking them a bit, I have three does, and I plan to do three different feeding programs on each litter and then compare the results and share them with you. More on that to follow on a later post..

All the does produce different size kits, but I have sizes from last year and will compare their average growth rates to their littermates and consider mother size up to a point.

They are being breed by two different bucks, two are going to Dusty and one is going to Big Blue, as I don’t want to bred mother to son, so Dusty can’t go to Tippee Toes, but he is a Big Blue son, I want to see if I can get more that that color to pop in the litters, as I would ideally like three or more hides with that matched shading for rabbit pelts.

I am aiming for three litters per doe for 2014. Do you have rabbits, how is your rabbit breeding program doing, do you breed in winter? do you rest for the two hard months? Are you looking forward to spring breeding, are you going to breed in feb for litters in march?

Posted in rabbits | 5 Comments

Sausage an white bean casserole receipe

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

This recipe is one that I just winged, does that surprise you at all.. not if you have been reading for awhile 🙂

I wanted to can up a batch of white beans in tomato sauce for the pantry use, so this is a large batch, as I can most of it, and baked off just enough to try out the new bean pot.

One bag of white beans, soaked overnight, drained, rinced and put to a slow simmer in a large pot, I drained them once, rinced and refilled with pre-boiling water and simmered again, till tender to the bite.

At that point, I drained them, and in the pot, I put a bit of good lard, two finely diced onions, six cloves of garlic and cooked till clear, then I added in one quart of tomato sauce, and one quart of diced spiced tomato’s, 1/4 cups of fancy molassies, one tbsp. of salt, one full tbsp. of montreal steak spice. This was brought to a simmer to allow the flavours to meld.

Then I canned up eight pints (adding extra water to top of the jars (and they were still really full), then I took the rest of the beans, added in a extra cup of water and baked at 350 for around an hour and half, I diced up some of my homemade sausage , add it in and baked for another half hour..

The result is seen in the above photo, rich, thick, very hearty Sausage and Bean Casserole..

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged White Bean and Sausage Cassrole recipe | Leave a comment

Feb Canning Report 2014

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Well, Feb has come, and its time to get some more things canned up, I need to do meat but I also need to do some of the storage things and in some cases its just a matter of re-doing up stocks. As always if I have a empty spot in the canner, I can up jars of water, this keeps the canners full but it also means that I have pure safe canned water for power outages etc, and if I need the jar, its easy to pop the top, and use the water. I will add as I can for the month.

Beans in Tomato sauce -8 Pints (should have made these into a extra pint or two and more sauce.. o well, as they are to go in soups or stews they will be fine.. Pressure Canned
Butternut squash- 8 pints (remember that when canning squash or pumpkin, you want to can it in cubes, not in a paste as they say that it gets to thick to can properly 🙂 -Pressure Canned
6 and Half Pints of Tallow -Home rendered.

18 pints of stew pork
6 pints strawberry rhubarb fruit
3 pints of grape juice
3 pints off ground cherry jam
4 pints of raspberry jam
3 pints of blueberry fruit

3 pints of lard -Home raised, home rendered (tallow above is beef, lard is pork)
12 quarts of Elderberry juice (super strong, needs to be cut by half with water to drink)

Posted in Canning | Tagged Feb Canning Update 2014 | Leave a comment

How to make a Hard Lotion Bar

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Only one person can win the give-a-way but everyone can take the ten min and make their own 🙂

These little guys are very easy to make, the rules are simple, 1/3 of everything based on weight.. and a little goes along way..

So for a first time, try 2oz of beeswax, 2 oz of a hard at room temp oil, and 2 oz of a liquid at room temp.. My own reading seems to say that for hard oils, coconut or tallow are the best choices, for the liquid oil, I have read, almond oil, olive oil, or any other good quality oil that you have in the house, (Do keep in mind that Grapeseed oil goes rancid very quickly, so be aware of that one, make a very small batch so its used up in three months ideally)

Get out your kitchen scale and measure the parts out.. Heat over very low heat till all melted, stir together, If you are going to add scent, now is the time, add in your essential oils, lemongrass, orange, lemon, or any other natural scent you find appealing, I would say around 10 drops in a 6oz batch would be good but go lighter or heavier on your own nose.

now if you have a silicone mini cupcake/brownie mold, you have it, it you don’t, put a paper cupcake in your regular tin, Pour your oils, remember you want a easy to hold in your hands small bar (don’t go to big on these, I found that 2oz each was a nice big lotion bar). Allow to sit for three hours or so, till hard again at room temp.

If in the silicone mold, just turn them out, if you are using the cupcake papers, take out, and peel the paper off, and put into a little box to keep from getting dusty, I put mine into little bags so they can travel with me, I have one by my bed to do before bed time, an I have one in the area I do my writing so I can it.

For more info on the lotion bars themselves, please read this post 🙂

Have fun, these are very quick and easy to make, they can be made into tiny batches, and I expect you could use a larger chocolate mold and make kids their own very creative lotion bars to use themselves. I have seen some that are made to be used at different times of the year and for different reason’s, more on that later

I have noticed very quickly something interesting on these, while it does take a little time to warm up and get the bar to work, and a bit of time to soak in, it does leave a protective cover on your skin afterwards and for someone that works outside and gets wind on my skin, this has been a very good thing indeed.

Posted in Carfts an Hobbies | 18 Comments

Goose Breast Stirfry served with a bed of creamy mashed spuds

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Goose Beast Stirfry Recipe

Skinned, aged, cubed Goose Breast
one large onion- diced
One Red Pepper, half yellow pepper, half orange pepper
cup of mushrooms, whatever kind you like
one large carrot, thinly sliced
Salt, Pepper, if you had it, a half cup fresh chopped greens, garlic
Pot of creamy mashed potatoes

Take your onions and meat, with a bit of oil, heated to a med-heat, then cook your onion, and then added the meat, once started, the add the rest of the prepared veggie, cook just till tender.

Posted in Food Production and Recipes | Tagged Goose breast stirfry served one creamy mashed spuds | 5 Comments

12 Months- 12 Give-A-Ways- Lotion Bars

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Just another day on the farm

Hello Folks

Let’s put a little smile into this Feb 2nd for me, I have been busy, cooking, canning, lotion making, might even do a that baby soap with photo for a post later, must talk about feeling better after just two days of sleeping on my new feather tick undermat (more on that later) On with the show as they say?!

I am giving away two homemade heart shaped (unscented) Lotion bars.

They are made out of raw but filtered beeswax, Coconut Oil and Sweet Almond Oil.

As this basic recipe uses the 1/3rd of each, I made six hearts, so each bar is right around 2 oz in size. Its a nice hand held size. (I am not sure that I think you need quite as much beeswax, but I always try and follow the rules when I start and work my way to what I like best)

What is a lotion bar?

A lotion bar is a solid moisturizer. It bears resemblance to a soap bar, but it functions as a lotion. Usually made out of natural ingredients, lotion bars stay solid as long as they are kept at room temperature or lower. They’re activated by body heat and can be used anywhere on the body.

How to use it..

Using a lotion bar is easy; those who want to moisturize their bodies simply can take the lotion bar into their hands and warm it with them. The heat emanating from their hands will melt a small portion of the bar. From there, users can rub the lotion onto the body part that needs moisturizing. Remember it is to be used on dry skin, not wet skin from the shower, it can be used for your hands or any other dry skin spot, once its warmed up and working, in the summer heat, you will find that it will need to be kept cool, but will be fine at room temp.

Anything different I should know?

Yes, it will feel a bit greasy compared to lotion, but it will sink in a min or two and then you will get a very light sealing effect from the beeswax that will help keep your skin feeling very soft indeed.

I made these uncolored, unscented in order to “hopefully” keep the gift giving to the biggest group possible.

This Gift-Giving is open to anyone, anywhere.

The rules are going to be dead simple, if you want in on the draw, comment! If you comment on the Give-A-Way post, you are entered, but! if you comment on other posts though out the month, you will get one extra ticket in the draw.

This is a way to say give a little extra thank you to my regular readers that interact with me, you make my day, sometimes a little comment or question is just the most perfect thing for me to get, so I want to give a little bit back on that.

PS, all things given will be made or grown or harvested or bought by me, all things given will be shipped at the most reasonable costs possible.

However, you only get one extra for the month, not one extra for each comment

No one can win more then three times during the year, and you can’t win more often then once every three months, so as an example, if queen wins month one, even if she comments on month two or three, she won’t be able to win until the next quarter.

Now if you enter and win, be aware you have to be willing to give me your name and mailing address to get it to you