Changing Ocean Patterns..

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

https://www.severe-weather.eu/global-weather/gulf-stream-amoc-ocean-anomaly-united-states-europe-fa/?fbclid=IwAR1Me04U8QadrJHuIrEsFRGtlKFZDmOU3IzhVjwFKY0FySe89IrIctFV78o

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Hello Folks, I truly hope that you have had some good things happen this week, we have had the local lockdown move to orange and we have a very low case count at the moment locally so we are catching up on a few things, getting our teeth cleaned/checked any worked needed, order in another set of glasses with the check done late last fall in the last break, we took the check when we could but we have held off till the new year rolled over so we could get coverage for a percentage of the cost.. which only happens every 2nd year. We also have a couple other check ups and so on that will be happening while we have the ability to do so..

There has even been some bits of good news around the world, which is nice.. can always use that.. then there has been some not so good.. what is happening in Texas right now, my friends stay safe down there and that is going to be a BIG cleanup job when that starts..

However the really big news, the longer term going to effect us, canada, and globally that came across my radar is the post I have linked to above..

It is a big long read and honesty some of it for me as a crazy long slog because they are starting and writing this from the point of view that you do not have a basic understanding of the process so i found myself struggling to get though the explaining the process to get to the good stuff.. But the bottom line is.. ITS NOT GOOD STUFF..

if they are right and it surely looks like they might be, its going to to effect our growing season all over in a many ways.. Now I do not just mean, my growing season or yours, I mean it has the ability to effect growing patterns in a number of countries..

On the larger farmer scale, to a point, you can change your crops, there are crops that do better in wetter springs, but wetter falls means higher drying costs, which rises prices over all and because so many are in line for the dryers, it means loss of crop value.. the difference between taking a human grade crop off and getting it dried properly vs having that crop stay to long in a cool wetter fall with a line up for the dryers can easily drop it down to livestock quality.

Now for us personally in terms of growing our food and for our local farmers market gardeners.. this is a HEADS UP! You really need to dig into that read (if you have the basic’s the meat starts about 50 to 60 % downward) and figure out where you are in terms of living and see how you are going to be effected I have readers all over the globe and some are going to be effected by the “warmer” wetter big nasty in the middle.. and many others are not going to have their normal milder climate due to the effects (UK overall) and then there is N.A. Again changing massively to a point on which coast line side you live on.

Someone living in Western Canada is not going to feel the same effects in such a direct way as someone living on the East coast will. I had few folks locally seem to think we would not feel much effects here in the central.. I even had one bold enough to say.. the great lake effect will moderate it..

NO.. while it will make a difference, it WILL not stop what is coming, there is a reason they are called super storms, and their reach will be MASSIVE, I do not want to consider the infrasture damage while trying to figure out help in the middle of C-19..

However for ourselves, we are now living a age that we can plan, prepare and use many garden knowledge and tools to help us continue to have a good year, maybe not a great year for everything.. but with careful planning a good year with care and work, I think its very possable.

I can not take this knowledge and use it to figure out the general overview for where you live as each of you will have your own location and your own personal micro climates and so on.

However for me on the farm, the outtake for my local area looks to be this.

Longer Cooler Spring

Overall Wetter Growing Season with overall lower heat units

Increased possablity of heavy rains

Cooler shorter fall

More Snow with at least a section of a colder winter.

Each of those factors will need to be looked at as its own and I will certainly be watching this very closely but if it continues to look like this is happening, it will effect a number of my garden plans, from how I make the beds, to placemend or even direction of swalls, to putting a couple very shallow rain gardens to more cover crops to shorter growing climbing plans and more..

If you are planning a big garden to help feed your family and to fill your pantry, I strongly recommend you give this information its due and plan accordingly.

This is my heads up.. the AMOC is changing its patterm and we are going to feel its effects globally!

Ps, I will go over all the different adjustments in the garden as those posts go up and make sure to point out, how or why I am doing them in regards to the AMOC weakening..

Posted in At the kitchen table, Gal in the Garden Series, Garden | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Gardening Giving Thanks for the Deep Cold..

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

From Coast to Coast the winter cold and snow has truly arrived, breaking records in the west dropping down into the -50C, tipping into the -40 easily in alberta, sask, manatoba and so on.. even the moderate B.C. has been tipping over into cold enough for snow instead of rain.. and the east coast of canada has been cold and so much snow.

We are gearing up this morning for yet another snow storm which could easily drop a couple feet of snow on the farm, our snowblower will be getting a good work out as will the shovels, and fingers crossed that the pressure drop does not mean new lambs but it often does..

I have been hearing the general public focused on the cold in the sense of.. o winter, why, its so hard.. etc.and I get that.. for anyone that is having trouble paying the heating bills, does not have money for new winter gear or just does not have winter gear for this kind of cold, call and see if there is programs to help you, stay safe out there.

However as I listened to the radio talking about the fact that this deep cold would last days an that it would be three weeks of steady -20 or below for province after province.. a smile great on my face..

Can you guess why? Did you think because

Its Killing Cold..

Well if you did, then I know you are a gardener and might have a eco bend to you..

Yup. that smile on my face was because that kind of deep cold is going to due wonders for our forests, for our gardens, its hard enough and long enough that its going to do a great job at killing out huge swaths of invasive bugs that have been pushing up our way from the states due to our mild winters and warmer summers.

“While most Albertans despair the cold, those on the front lines of the fight against the mountain pine beetle are quietly rejoicing, said Janice Cooke, an associate professor in the University of Alberta’s department of biological sciences.

Untold numbers of young beetles are freezing to death, Cooke said.

“The colder we go, the more we kill,” Cooke said in an interview Monday with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.

“We’ve been very fortunate this year; the cold snap that we’ve had has been particularly vicious where the outbreak is of most concern and that’s not only in Jasper National Park, but beyond the park gates towards Hinton.”

News – Alberta’s cold snap likely decimated mountain pine beetle – The Weather Network

While I do believe in a very active bio yard and of course the birds need those bugs and catapillers, even the mostly seed eating adult birds need lots of higher protein creepy critters to feed their young on, I am still going to do a little happy yes as I know that this deep cold is helping control some of the local “pest” populations in my yards and area.

Its a good reset for the bugs that have over the generations adapted to our climate and it will help kill off a good percentage of those that have been in a growth pattern due to the milder winters we have been having locally..

What do you see less of in the yard or gardens or bush on the years after a really good hard deep winter freeze?

Posted in Climate Change, Garden | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Friday Rambles.. Grab the “O S$#^T Bar” and hold on..

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

Hey Folks,

I wish I could say come over, have a coffee but nope.. I am dreaming of summer visits around the newly designed visiting area’s outside.. So grab your zoom screen, your hot cuppa and pretend we are all having a big old at the table meeting in the new way..

So first the good news.. As most will remember we had some very hard core (I am truly break down into tears grateful to have my husband each day) medical issues this past year.

The heart issues are stable with meds at this point but we have been working hard to get with medication his blood sugar numbers down.. We have changed so much and he has been faithful in his excerise plan and weight loss and so much more.. In later fall we got his AIC which was at 9.7(canadian System numbers being used)

We got our first AIC test results since all the changes this week and he came in at 5.5.. this is outstanding, its in the normal range.. but its in the normal range with meds, excerise and a VERT strict meal plan.. He is also around 50 pounds less in weight over the same date last year now being around 160 to 165. Very proud of him.. One day at a time will help create better health overall.

Now on to the bad news..

I am not sure if its a canadian thing? or a truck or SUV 4 by 4 thing but our vehicles that are going to be taken on rough rides, rough roads the passangers side has this grip handle bar on the top of the door and when things are going to really throw you around even with or without your seatbelt.. everyone locally tells you to grab the ” O shit bar”

That lead car is me in the ice races a number years ago, that car was slipping and sliding all over the muddy track, the windshield was so covered with mud/slush that it was almost impossable to see ahead and I have never been so glad for seat belts, crash hemlets and steel toe boots .. I think what is coming locally for me is going to be just as a crazy ride..

Well for everyone locally in my province and in other places and counties, you had better be grabbing for your bars..

Ok, so if you do not believe that Covid is real.. just stop reading right now, unless you want to get the release of yelling at your computer screen or email or phone depending on how you read this, in which case read on.. we all need a release.. but if you want to try and tell me so in the comments, please refrain.. I will not read them, I will delete them, I will not reply and I WILL not post them on the blog..

So we are still in lock down here in ontario and they think we are going to be opening up to “orange” on Feb 16th.. We already have hundreds of found cases of the UK varient, we have found the South Africian Varient and we have had one Brazil Case in my province to date.

Now we are tracking the waste water in ottawa which will help to a point and there are this and that that will help if its used properly.. but we have also had a preview of what the UK Varient can do..

We watched it roll into one of our elder homes, rip though the elderly, the staff, the staff’s family and we had a over 40 percent dealth toll, never mind what the effects will be longer term (which is unknown).. the last offical report I read was that it was a 46 percent dealth rate.. It spread so fast, so hard.. it was crazy at the difference.

Right now, I have had more peaple’s lives touched by “the effects of covid lockdowns” in terms of early deaths due to health issues not being treated properly, suicides, overdoses, Marriages coming apart, peaple losing their homes, mental health issues coming to the front then I have had peaple that have gotten it.

In my own friends, I know 4 peaple that have had it confirmed by a test, I know a few more that I am sure did have it without a test, I have sadly had a few peaple who have lost their parents or their uncles.

And that is without a doubt part of the problem we are facing.. we are hitting a brick wall, a year into this peaple are getting really tired, they are in many cases between rock and hard place.

Sadly, it has not “personally” touched enough lives to really get the point home.. we have in so many cases had that 1st world protection.. the CERB made a huge difference to millions of canadian lives to get them though the first country wide lock down.. the roll out of programs after programs have been pushed.. not all of them great, some of them truly sucked and everyone will tell you none of them were enough..

But! for a huge percentage of canadian’s between never having had covid yourself or in your family, never having had anyone in your circle die and having the layer after layer in the past year of different forms of goverment and community support, we just do not undestand what is coming..

I am a strange one, I love storms, other peaple run from storms, I love them.. I love the power, I have never been a storm chaser but I have never hid from them either.. I meet them as they come.

when it comes to this brewing storm that is building right now in my province, I am preparing for it as best as we can, but it scares the M@^@%& F@%&@%& out of me..

We are in a race between vaccines (not going to happen) the provincal goverment need to open up to give everyone businesswise a 4 to 6 to 8? week window of sales before they EXPECT the UK varient to overtake the one we have now and that we will be in the thick of a brutal 3rd wave and fo us locally a 4th lockdown

Now they could all be wrong.. I could be wrong.. I am ok with being Wrong! I want to be wrong..

All the peaple lulled into a sense of safety, safety due to being young, safety due to being healthy, Safety due to being able to work from home, Safety due to where they live, Safety due to their job choice in life, Safety due to having enough income that they are midagating their risks..

Its all about to fly out the window.. its a numbers game.. and just like a gambler that has rolled well for the last 4 rolls, they are on a high.. and they are riding it.. they wil beat the house, they have the luck, they have more skill..

Nope, its all about the stats peaple and the house always wins..

In this case, its all about the numbers, the stats and the “house” aka some version of Covid 19 and its growing lists of varients are about to collective call the bill due..

Its going to hurt.. Hurt in so many ways.. HURT BAD..

and I am about to say something that will seem like I do not understand what everyone is saying in regards to safety. and after everything above, I am sure you are going to go WHAT?

Here it is.. Find your godram bubble folks, and HOLD IT TIGHT! We were NEVER meant to go though something like this alone.. NEVER..

The govements got that one right, we need each other, we need to support each other, we need hugs, touches, talk and it is NOT fair for a second to think that our spouse or our roommate or even in a busy household a mixed age family was EVER expected to deal with a pandemic mental and physical needs alone. We need our Tribe

So for what its worth, pick carefully, if you are not lined up perfectly.. DO NOT DO IT.. but they are out there, talk and talk and TALK some more.. find your peaple, find your tribe.. make your bubble, I do not care if you have to hide that bubble from the “snitches” or that it “breaks” the rules..

Bubble up peaple, create, use and be a support group for those you care about..

The goverment will try and throw this and that peice meal.. the community will try and help when it can.. but that WE ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER..

Its a tag line peaple and good one , its also a bold face lie..

If We are lucky, very lucky.. we are out for our loved ones, ourselves and if we stretch wide enough, the next level of who we care about, be that friends circle, be that our church group, be that our garden or book club or our AA group or the coffee circle at the tims..

What we are not out for is EVERYONE.. Globally we are a big country that loves to act like a big fish, but if you have been watching, reading and listening, we just had our hat handed to us by the EU and the USA.. with a BIG OLD.. NO(USA) and WAIT YOUR TURN and we will tell you when that is by the EU..

O there was spin.. but that is the sum up.. you are on hold.. spin it whatever way you want.. but they are getting their vaccines.. you are not.. made that suddenly became real..

Don’t believe in the vaccines but still reading anyway.. fine.. that will apply in other things as well.. Take your pick.. it will apply..

Real and clear on where we fit in the order of thigns.. a hard pill to swallow because its not how we see ourselves.. Its a lesson but I am not sure we will have learned it fast enough that will stop 10,000’s or 100,000’s of thousand of more canadian’s deaths.

For those of you who hare living this right now.. Brazil, you are in my prayers.. for those that are in the grip.. I watch with compassion and fear in equal parts (the UK an the EU) for those in the slide downward, my heart does a double thump and my gut gets that tight sick feeling.. (USA)

and for those that have locked it down, keep it out! AUS, NZ and our North and so on.. stay strong, don’t bend at this point.. but don’t think you are out of the woods yet..

Stay strong, Stay Safe, Support your peaple, Share your faith in each other..

And hold on to that bar.. hard.. because the road is going to get real f$##&%” rough for the next while..

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Cold.. So cold and still in lockdown..

Posted on February 11, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

The Cold has clamped down across the country, the west is in the deep freeze, I have a couple family members that have woke up to minus 47C.. that is deep biting cold.. bitter to your bones cold..

So while we are also having a cold snap on the farm, and it is a chilly minus 27C with nasty winds, we are still having sunshine.. which is awesome, because its pouring sun heat into the living room.. pull the heavy winter curtains for the dark and open them wide for the sun warmth..

The sky’s are clear which makes it colder at night but gives us such pretty blue during the day, something I always loved about my birth province is alberta.. big sky country!

winterhighbushcrenberryfruit

Highbushcranberryfruit

Its that odds time of year when we can be in the “frost bite” warning temps while the sun if you lay in it can warm your bones.. Grateful for the small sqaure bales on these days in the barn.. so much faster to grab those bales and get them out to the horse’s and sheep.

Evening Grosebeek Feb 9th 2021

A Evening Grosbeak Male enjoying his BOSS

The wild birds by about 200 give or take a few dozen on any given day are thriving on their BOSS.. While they have cleared all the other trees, the seed bearing grasses they are not eating the high bush cranberry fruit.. spoiled birds lol

Remmi our lovely Catahoula

What a good looking Catahoula Remmi is!

The younger pups are having lots of in house training, dog puzzle, mental work, find it and toys and bully sticks but they still must have a couple runs a day.. they are just big active breeds that need to get out and move.. So I layer up, and walk the paths that we have blown and shoveled out.. we have not left the farm in to long.. even I want to have a driveway visit.. or a bush hike.. when warms up a touch, we are hoping to go snowshoeing.. I hope to get you some nice photos on the trip..

We are starting to e-collar train Remmi so that he learns when he gets “buzz” that he needs to turn and run back to us and get cookies and reward.. this NOT a shock, its only a buzz feeling and sound.. So it will be starting to show up in his off farm photos at times.

They say the cold out west is settled in and will be keeping there till the end of the month, for us however, we have four more days and then its to start to warm up just a touch.. I hope they are right..

Taking each day one at a time, meeting each issue as it comes.. Working hard to see each small blessing and taking the time to reflect as needed.. Its always a harder week for me between Feb 2nd and Feb 7th.. This year had a number of outside our control added pressures.. nothing you can do but dig in and hold hard.. time will bring you to the other side..

I hope you are all layered up, safe and sound with warmth in your homes and in your hearts..

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

A little light hearted fun.. Mrs. Brown and her twins.

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

A lovely friend of mine made this adoreable knitted sheep.. She is a Brown girl with a black mask and a lovely full sized ewe 🙂

But she has a surprise.. She was ready to have her lambs..

What a handsome set of twin she had and you will note, she was fully bagged up and ready to nurse them 🙂

I have seen online that there is patterns for dairy cow that has calves, a pig sow that has four to six little piglets.. ..

On a slightly more then that is just so CUTE, I do like that I can line them up and could do a little bit of teaching or as a lambing tool, as you can move the legs and so on.

Have a Great day folks..

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Native Plants are the must have “hot garden item ” of 2021

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

When it comes to landscaping, garden centers and the local garden groups locally, provincally and across N.A.

The HOT trend for 2021 is without a doubt..

Native Plants with tag lines including plant natives, support the bees, support the butterflies and other native bug life and more..

Now the really great thing about this trend is that it works for both types of peaple.. landscaping company’s really can plan and plant your city yard with stunning native choices that will do amazing, and support all kinds of wildlife.

BUT they also need to include the knowledge that that tree that is a natural native host to say 11 native butterflies cycle means that in real life, you will have catapillers on that tree and that sometimes it will not be as pretty as the “imported that will not support” this means many things that the average city home owner can find challenging , including the fact that a health amount of catapillars means that wasps will come to your yard and sadly most peaple just see the colors and think they are all jack-ass’s like yellowjackets when point in fact many many yellow and black wasps are in fact part of a nature yard and gardens in a healthy and postive way.

Same with birds, I love my birds and it never occurred to me that someone would have a issue with birds but I have heard it, the birds are pooing on this or they are making a mess..

So let me round that out in a very clear way, putting in native’s in the back and front yards of the urban is great but not if they still have the yard sprayers coming once a month, not if you still spray the trees and so on..

In that case, the plantings will not help the over all issue but it can be a boon to the landscape company’s and the native producing company’s.

Now lets flip this from the average urban and move it over to urban homesteaders, the burbs, small and large homesteads and big community gardens and urban or country food forests and hedge rows and more.

IMG_4697

I want to look at this from two angles..

So the first is that you MUST as the gardener, the homesteader stop undervaluing your local native plants. We have for so many years loved our wild natives, what many of us call our “Bird Gifts”, our ditch finds or they grow in a huge patch down there or its a straight line, so one of the past owners of the land or great-grandpa or grandma must have planted them at some point.

Many of us have had a bad habit that “new” improved and bought has more value, we put more value on our bought “eurapean” plum vs our native plum.. The one I see alot now is bought elderberry’s vs wild elderberries.

Now I get it for a very small yard, if you only have room for one or two of each, then of course you want to get the most for your small space and ideally have proven results.. but if you have any length of garden time under your belt, you know that is WAY to simple. soil, water, weather, feeding, pruning and sun hours all effect your yeilds from year to year..

We all adore reading those seed plant catalogs and what do we love best.. Aunt Bess’s Y, found in 1800 or early 1900’s.. and so on..

Here is the exciting NEWS.. that can and should be EVERY SINGLE one of us!! .. Stop right there and let that sink in..

farmgalsblackchokecherries

Farmgal challenge 2021.. I want you this spring to find all your wild fruiting bushes/trees.. we are going to take walks and we are going to spot those flowers and we are going to map and mark out our wildlings and we are going to try all of them.. I am going to walk us though find, learning, marking (in a careful way that ideally does not bring others looking lol) and taste testing, how we can help them, recipes and ways to bring out their flavours

farmgalshighbushcranberries

We are going to get out there and do this for ourselves but I also have plans to lay out a plan to help all your garden folks and homesteading folks to come up with a way to create a small income stream if you want to do so.. we will get to that at a later point and I will link all the posts together interlaying them.

So lets bring this back to my comment about undervalue.. I have plans to buy very few extra’s to bring to the farm but I saw a post on my local native plant group that a larger producer of trees, bushes and so on so off I popped to a nursery that is 45 min from my farm.

I was thrilled to see all of my food forest native plants and then i looked at the sizes and the prices.. the most I went from plant to plant to plant, my frown lines got deeper, which menat I was thinking hard..

I finally shook my head, and did a little number crunching.. Rounding things out to a average between the lowest and the highest and then figuring out that x the amount of Native plants that we transplant out of our nursery area’s, wild bird started, ditch babies and farmer fields local edges that we moved into the two new massive hedgerows planted out into 2020..

I am rounding out to 150 to make it easier and that means we moved well over 3 grand of natives.. if I had ordered, bought the same plants form the nursery, by the time we paid, tax, shipping/handling and so on.. we would have spent 4 thousand.

When we spent days moving these, at no point did it cross our minds at the value of plants we were moving, the value was in our time.. and of course our time has value but we often forget that if you needed to BUY these mass plants at those sizes that it can be worth a great deal of money.

We are often focused on food production, what the cane, plant, bush or tree looks like, maybe we are also looking at it from eco as well.. but we also need to a starting value.

If you have wild blueberries and they grow freely in your bush lots and you pick all you want each year and never think anything of it.. the fact that right now, a 24 inch high low bush blueberry bush in a 3 gallon pot will locallly start at $22 and could go as high as $29..

Now I will fully admit that five years ago, you could have found them 12.99 to 15.99 but just try and find that right now.. maybe you can in your next of the woods but you can not in mine!

Each type of plant needs to be looked at as its own.. some can be spring sold as a bareroot/little soil, ready now to plant!, others if you have the pots to do so, can be prepped a bit more and be done in the spring but sold for fall plantings.

If you took the time to carefully dig and transplant 5 or 10 plants, this spring filling in those holes with a good mix of acidic needles, a little bit of compost, so you have no holes to step into, and gave them a small prune for shaping grew them with care over the spring/summer and then offered them at 100 for a lot of 5 for fall planting.. they would sell!

In 2021.. a extra hundred here, a extra 50 here, a bonus 20.. will be a good thing..

Of course we are not only talking about fruiting bushes, canes or trees.. there is much more and will get there..

Now do not think you need a website, or lots of shipping and you DO not need to get big on this.. I am talking micro here folks.. Facebook local buy and sell’s, Kijji and so on will get the job done.. live in a even smaller place.. go old school.. sale write up on the local grocery or church bullitin board..

So what is YOUR more common ditch, hedgerow, forest edge wild fruiting bushes.. in middle alberta, the saskatoon rules.. in northern alberta, the blueberry was king, in NWT.. o the blueberries.. in Iqaluit.. cloudberry, in Quebec, I had the most amazing pincherries, moving to the farm, my farm’s only “wild” fruit that it had was wild strawberry and Elderberry.. but a walk took me to huge patches of Black ChokeCherry and Black Chokeberry..

farmgalselderberries

The most common however was Elderberry!

Posted in Native Plants | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Cottonwood Buds Salve

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

 Cottonwood Salve or oil or Balm of Gilead

Ah 2021.. if there has ever! been a year that you should be on top of getting your harvests on things that can only be harvested “ONCE” a year, this is the year.. I am going to be covering a number of things that I have posted on over the past 10 years on the blog, I will be doing new post but linking back to older posts at times.

One step at a time, as they come ready we are going to work on creating a number of healing salves, tea’s dried this and that and a number of other things.. If you never need to use them, wonderful.. but so many things are truly only ready for harvest in a very short window of time and if you do not get it into your herbal cupboard.. it will not be there till next year and this is not the year to count on being able to just “order” things or assume your friend will have extra? that they are willing to part with.

The common Cottonwood Tree holds a lovely secret.. its buds in Feb (in our zone) are filled with a sticky sap that can be made with olive oil into a amazing healing external salve

Some time in Mid feb or Late Feb here in Garden zone 5, the Cottonwood buds are going to start swelling in size getting ready for spring, they will plump up and if given a little pinch.. they will ooze a a bit of red to yellow colored resin.. if your buds are still smaller and very firm.. keep checking..

When you get your nose near them, they do have a lovely scent to them or at least I think so 🙂 They are sticky, so please expect that your fingers will have a good little goo/stick to them.

cottonwood-budsfeb

The Buds are used in ointments and skin treatments to reduce pain and inflammation, and to ease rheumatic pain. Salicin, a major constituent of this plant, is a painkiller, while bisabolol in the oil reduces inflammation and is antimicrobial

These tree’s tend to have a good amount of branches come down in the winds and you can very often collect what you need from the downed branches which is the ideal, not effecting the tree’s productive leaves to be. Lay out your buds and let them air dry if they were at all wet.. ideally you waited for a nice sunny winter day and collected in the warmest part of the afternoon.. if you picked carefully then you should have no issues with your buds

Once you have collected the amount your will need for your size of family, a jar full will normally get the job done, fill your jar with your buds, then cover with a good qaulity olive oil and give it a shake, into the cool dark cupboard for a min of 6 weeks but up to a year before making the salve itself..

Farmgal hint.. reuse the same jar over and over again, it is just easier to use the same one as its very hard to get it clean lol

cottonwoodsalve

Its a very basic salve, strain out the buds, measure out your oil, I use raw beeswax to thicken it into a stiff salve that will melt at body temp and I use a small 4oz canning jar, I pour my hot Salve into the clean dry jar and then store it in the fridge once opened.

You can make it is as thin or as thick as you like by controlling the beeswax percentage.

Side Effects: If you are sensitive to aspirin, you should use care in regards to using Balm of Gilead.

Posted in Forage | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Waste not, Want Not.. Steaming your starting soil

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

I have a very large bag of potting soil that I did not use last year, but of course I had cut into it and needed just a bit out of it to finish my started plants. This bag had been moved from the greenhouse to the shed and that shed door had been openned.

Bringing it in to thaw out was no biggie but the fact that it was open meant that it had been exposed to all the bugs (and I normally adore my bugs) and even possable wind lifted seeds.

To be honest the seeds did not bother me, really pick them out and on a normal year I would have held out using that bag until I was doing the pots in the outside greenhouse, because it has bugs and so its very much alive and doing its thing.

However this is NOT a normal year, and while I have a good amount of soilless seed starting blend, I am in need of potting soil as I want to transfer over my sprouting pawpaw seeds into their next size up deep grow unit.

We do have curbside pickup.. but what we do not yet have is the soil shipment in at my local store, I called, they are waiting.. I have checked the website, and if I wanted to drive 45 min, I can order and get it.. but we are in lock down and soil is not a good enough reason for me to consider doing that..

BUT! I do not want to introduce buggy soil in my inhouse greenhouse, so I went looking, I have baked regular soil and I have never liked the end result.. hit my soil book and its said I would have better results if I steamed it.. hmm

Interesting.. now how would I steam larger amounts?? Got it.. why redo the wheel right.. could I use my steam juicer?

https://www.facebook.com/valerie.johnstone.5/videos/3431747223618632

The answer is Hell’s yes you can.. I set it up, filled the top section that you normally put the fruit in put the lid on, checked it with my temp gage, adjudged my burner to control the amount/seed of the boil and it came up to the 180 and held like a dream for the full 30 min.. took it off, set the pot balanced on the handles into the big blue waterbath canner to allow it to have full access to air to cool down.

Check that carefully, do not think that because the top is fairly cool that that the middle is not still hot! I will need to do a few batches in order to do the whole amount needed but its something you can work around fairly easily into your day to get it all done.

Two points that I really liked is that by only aiming for 180, it means that your soil can come back quicker into being a living soil again, I am not sure how they know this, its one of those.. just because I read it does not make is so.. but each of the little sprouting pawpaw seedlings will come with their own soil which will help restart the steamed soil..

The other point was one I was quick to realize how little soil came out of the holes in the steamer and I will use that water to not waste any of it, it will be poured into my 5 gallon bucket that stays by the greenhouse and how little water that the soil took up. I expected it to “suck it up” but while its very nicely damp in a healthy way, its not wet..

I would never plant seeds in it and expect it to have enough moisture as is.. for sure you need to water it.

Have you baked the soil, did you use the oven, a friend says she does her’s in the slow cooker, I have seen folks do it in VERY small amounts in their pressure canners to create a medium for mushroom growing but I do not know anyone that has done it for potting soil and it would take way to much energy for value to me considering how small amount they recommend to place in it.. have you steamed soil?

I did have the thought that on the right day that you could use a solar cooker to get the job done, I have had some very cold days but crazy heat on the sun, if you boxes it up right and let it get full sun, I would love to play around and see if I could get the solar cooker to do the job?

Posted in Gal in the Garden Series, Garden | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

No Buy Feb 10 years strong..

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

Now I have always adored No Buy Feb because it leads into my Pantry March Challenge.. these two combined have let me find so many weakness and build in strengths into my homestead.

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What is No Buy Feb?

Its pretty simple.. Only buy what must be got (clearly you are going to need to buy your pet food) most peaple do allow themselves to buy basic food items but not all do.. and otherwise, anythign that is a want/wish/would be nice is NO BUY..

I am stunned to realize that I did my first No Buy Month (feb) in 2011.. that means this is my 10TH year for doing some version of this..

Anything that is a need, as in I need to X, then you can get it.. On average in a non-pandemic year you should be able to save at least a couple hundred dollars over the month.. its a way to put up a little extra, pay off those last of the christmas bills and so on.

I am leery this year to put a No Buy Feb full stop on the farm as a whole.. A good friend of mine was going to host the No Buy Feb and then decided that it was not a good idea due to the fact that here were we live that we will most likely only have a small window in feb when the lock down ends, the stores open with regs in place between the next lockdown with the coming varient waves.. (which for my area the general thought is it will start to pick up in mid-march and roll on strong though the spring.

However I have been mulling this over hard and I am going to do a No Buy Feb.. because of the very above.. and something ValB said..

Which in a nut shell was, its hard to have had the nose to the grind for a year, always trying to figure out the next “what is going to be hard to find”.. and that it wears on you.. I agree it does..

Now I am darn happy that I can and did see the writing on the wall and moved ahead of the base pop and I am sure she is as well..

However it went in the old noggin and stewed there.. I think that having the No Buy Feb in place, which means I have to report my success or failure on the blog is a great way to keep me from spending more then I need to..

I mean, honestly, I fully believe 2 is 1 and 1 is none, and in a very well stocked pantry, farm and so on but there is a temptation to get more then you need..

The feeling of worry in regards to what I believe is coming and I am beyond grateful that there are places and friends that will not have this effect and I want to be wrong.

I need to prepare like I am right.. but I also do not want to go over board.. I will to stay the course, straight and true.. No Buy Feb will help with that..

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So Here is my No Buy Feb Rules

No Personal wants!

This right there cuts out any chance of me doing a add on to a online order or asking for a few extra things on the once or twice monthy go to town get it done shopping

Local Food programs is allowed but I will do my best to limit myself this month to fresh fruit/veggies/grains.. no extras unless it comes with the basket. They often sell add-on’s and that is where I will look for extra savings.

Extra for hubby that fit into his requirements for his diet requirements are allowed, example Nuts or his order of pork rinds etc.

When it comes to the farm, the same rules have applied for the past 10 years.. if the farm or the farm critters need it.. its allowed.. period..

Now comes the far more tricky part.. the above are standard rules and while they can be surprisingly harder to live by then you think.. a little buckle down and it happens pretty well..

How do I work in future needs/restocking/back orders?

I heard someone say on a meeting chit-chat.. “I got a tent for camping this year.. and someone else says.. o did you get it on sale? and the answer was.. no, I paid a high price for it but its ok because it was on backorder for 6 months.. and it was finally available”

This little 45 second chat is a sum up of my issue.. In years past we used to talk about sale cycles and how some things came on every few weeks, some in 6 to 8 weeks and some only twice or even once a year and you can’t miss that “sale” for the years stock up.. and so flex was given in the no buy and the pantry challenge to do the stock up but you could not use it until after the challenges were done.

This year, there will be no sales.. I think its going to be all about.. stock and back orders..

So here is my general rules in this regards.. If its been on my pick it up list for more then 3 months and its been not available and or on back order and shipment came in..

I am allowed to get it..

If I know I need it for something within THIS YEARS coming projects and I KNOW just! what it will be used for and when, then if its stock and I am not sure at how long that might remain.. then if I can find it this month, I can get the amount I would need for 2021 and 2022 but I have to own why I feel it would need more then this year..

That really narrows the window of what I can consider but keeps some flex and common sense in there..

Wish me luck and Keep you posted!

Posted in 30 day challanges | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Jan Updates Frugal and Declutter..

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

The 2021 budget is wide and vast, some area’s are super lean, some area’s are like a fat cat that wants heavy cream and the good fatty fish.. Thankfully some are one off’s! Other area’s are unknowns..

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Budget/Frugal or Fat Cat..

Lets break that down a bit and see how we did in Jan..

Our one off was the vet bill for having Uther altered, chipped, his cone and pain meds etc.. Tax in at $405.. Thank goodness for my vet.. friends in the city are reporting that the same size male with both boys down can easily cost upwards of 1000 or more..

Our Frugal Wins for Jan..

We did not buy any cloths, I did get gifted cloths though a community program.. and they are wonderful, got 3 new bra’s (with tags still on) 2 new shirts and 2 pairs of summer to the knee pants.. All from Pennington’s and all with tags still on them.. (someone got them on sale and then did a purge, lost weight, I am not sure) I have put the summer cloths away and the fancy bra as well but the work out bra is awesome.. its got hold power, I will for sure pick that one and try it for when I am riding this spring and summer..

I got two lovely winter vests but I gifted them forward to a lovely older lady who will put them to good use.

We did our own hair cuts (but of course) and I dragged out my curlers so that I can get some lift to the top of my now longer hair (its to short for the pony, but to long to just hang there lol)

The only cloth/wear buy was a pair of heated gloves for hubby, he has been having really hard time with cold hands, I mean really bad and even with double layers and heavy duty really wam glove it was just not doing it.. now he has rechargeable battery heated gloves with four heat settings and his hands are much better.

When it came to household goods, we bought nothing this month that was extra.. (we will get to the greenhouse/gardening stuff further down) so that was a solid win. The farm was the same.. we have everything we need and you just keep moving on.

Now the FAT CATS..

Grocery bills..

O my.. O my.. $394.00 was spent in the month of Jan on outside food..

this includes my 2X a month fresh fruit/veggie/a small amount of grains sometimes basket, the box of pork puffs that is hubby’s favorite snack that he rations (but man they are crazy good) and pretty much extras like nuts, mixed nuts and other trail mix types and seeds like pumpkin/sunflower and a few other extras for his new diet and coffee. There was a bit of smaller household items in there as well, a extra bag of toilet paper, a new tube of toothpaste, a box of q-tips and another bottle of shampoo

In 2019.. my food/household budget for “out” was 50 every 2 weeks.. for a flat hundred or under for the month..

That means for 2021.. my real life spend in Jan 2021 is just shy of 4X the amount or looking at it the other way a increase of 300 percent.. OUCH!!

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The Second FAT CAT spend item this month.. anything and everything related to the seeds, garden, fruit production, propagation, trays, labels, soil and so on.. now I know that when this is spead out over the year itself its not to crazy and some things should get a 5 to 10 plus year spread cost out..

BUT.. I have spent $639 in Jan of 2021 on a host of different garden stuff.. stuff for the indoor greenhouse, stuff for the big seed starting push for the 3 season greenhouse, new kinds of seeds for different flavours and textures for the main garden, items for creating new plants, items for working in the food forests, and the list goes on..

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On the flip side as the Indoor Greenhouse is gearing up, we did grow/harvest and eat $51.50 worth of green salad greens, pea shoots, Mung bean sprouts and micro sprouts.

I am looking forward to seeing what we can do in Feb in this regards..

Now I expect I need another 100 yet to finish out the garden/3 season greenhouse and then I have everything I need for the garden/food forest and so on.. so lets round it up to 200 to safe.. so that puts me at 839.. so lets round it up to o.. $900.. (what you know its going to happen, I am going to find something that has broken and needs to be replaced)

Which still even if you only break it down over the 2021 year comes in at 75 per month, it would put me under my normal “garden allowance of 1500 max” per year.. but that typically covers my garden courses, books, tools, seeds, and so

The yard rebuild was a whole different budget.. and the indoor greenhouse/lights and flooring went into the 2020 budget and be glad of it or that would be alot higher.

Moving on to the Declutter..

I have done two drawers, one big closet and some general all over the house this and that.. we have thrown out, put into the recyle or giving box or re-gifted out a whopping!

WAIT FOR IT!.. 178 items.. of my ideal 365 items for the year or 2021..

Now I admit that i counted small stuff but if it was a little kit or bundle, it was only counted as one item.. it was crazy how fast these things added up.. and I need to clean my junk drawers more often..

Now the great thing about this was finding “keep” stuff and being able to sort it and still get it out of the house.. Small box of screws size.. to the build it area in the one outbuilding.. New bottle of cement glue.. to this house repair kit box.. so many things we got extra’s of, so that we know we have backups but many of them ended up on the main floor of the house, when they should have been sorted and put into working areas, working kits and so on..

This is also proving to be a boon, in figuring out what we should be adding to our lists.. example.. shower cocking replacment tubes.. great.. when was that last done.. ok, lets add that to our winter to do list and use these, and add these to the “replace/increase the backups” shopping list for when we come out of lockdown before the next “varient” wave lockdown hits in march..

I figure we will locally in my area have around a 4 to 6 week open window to get everything we could need for the next 3 to 8 months and or next 1 to 4 years depending on what it is..

So the declutter is going amazing but I did bring items.. so I am not going to count the little compost seed starters or seeds.. but if you are just looking at trays, garden related items and so on.. I added in 47 items.. 47!!! can you believe it.. and I am not even going to touch the 500 plant tags.. because then it would be 547 items.. did you just laugh.. I did.. add in the 500 plant pots and I added in 1047 items..

Opps, going the wrong way lol..

I am only giving myself credit for 131 items of my required min of 365 for 2021.

as I am taking off the bring in items.. If you bring things in.. its not decluttering lol

or if you want to count the 500 tags and 500 pots, then I am in the you suck at this.. so bad! its not even funny! (ok its funny)

There you go.. my end of Jan round up.. I truly hope you did nto see a 300 percent increase your grocery bill from per-pandemic spending.. I hope if you are decluttering in jan that it went better for you..

Onward and Upward!

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments