Just another Day on the Farm

Feeling out of Step

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Well, I woke up yesterday and just felt out of step, where do I start in the garden, where do I start in my processing, where do I start in working with Girl, where do I start on my weight loss process, picture a tiny little AHHH moment.. well maybe not so little..

And then I settled down and started working on lists of things to be done in the order I feel they need to be done, need to do a check on what has been used and needs to be replaced in the pantry etc.

So in order of the above, the answers where to date..

Garden, pick what is ready for harvest, weed one row, and water the transplants.. each day will be different but in general, pick what is ready for harvest, weed a row and then add in one more thing.. The blueberries are coming, the currents are starting to turn color and the strawberries are starting.., green onions to dry and first big push on the radishes for canning is just about ready.. Pea’s will need to be picked daily soon..

Processing, start with drying the herbs, they are ready and I want to get them before they start blooming on a number of them..

Ah Girl, someone has been allowed to be a very bad teenager, and that showed clearly, someone needed a gentle but firm tuning in, and so three different short sessions were done thoughout the day, she is a bright active worker but she got pushy with DH, and he just does not have the experince at this time to train her, She developed a bad habit of head swinging and walking in lead while I was gone.. both of which will need to be broke.. Both of these things are her way of saying.. I’m top cow in this herd, and the answer to that is NO you are not..

So yesterday we had a really long first round of, you don’t get to walk with me till you are in your proper place, so we did alot of cicles and round and round, stands and then start again, with one or two tempers fits on her part, till she finally just stood, looked at me and gently put her head down, got a rub and walked proper with me.. much shorter fight on the second time and no issue for me on the third but the challange will be to work with both her and DH to get it so that she does the same with him.

As for my weight loss, I am unhappy to say that I have gained 11 pds on my trip.. Geez, really that much.. ouch.. back to the grind as they say, so for a couple weeks, I am going to drop down fairly hard on my daily calories six days a week with a off day, and push to get myself back in the right direction.

So as they say, on with the show..

Are you in step or out of step with your world at the moment

Posted in farm | 2 Comments

First of the strawberries

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Ah Strawberries, there is nothing quite like that first taste of those sun warmed juicy fresh berries, They are very easy to grow(at least in the correct zones) they do require a bit of work in regards to keeping your plants rotated to have them producing correctly but they will produce their hearts out of you.

There is lots of berries coming but for now there are but a few, just enough to make a topping for a fresh one bowl short cake, the traditional strawberry shortcake is on thick heavy Biscuits with strawberries and clotted cream, its heavenly that way but in N.A. somehow angel food cake has become the more popular in the stores wtih strawberry jelly, a few berries and whipped cream..

In this house, we like a basic white one bowl cake to go with our berries, a touch of heavy cream or not depending..

How do you like your strawberries? Do you put a touch of sugar on them to make the juices come out, or do you like yours to stay dry? Do you like it with shortbread? Biscuits? Angel food cake? Do you like yours with clotted cream? Whipped Cream? Heavy Cream or Icecream?

A little Farm Update

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

So here is some of my mostly finished compost from last year’s pile, its looks like its coming along just wonderfully.. below, here is some compost tea ready for use in the garden. Below that, is a wonderful growing area of stinging nettle very ready to be cut and dried for future use.

So, lets see, first to give credit were its due, Dh says these photo’s are before he weeded the garden, so I am sending them in the raw so to speak.. so you have a photo of the momma duck and her brood in their pen where they get to spend the first couple days till they are big enough to not get though the chain link fence for the bird pens.

Then some photos of the garden, Grape vine’s first, looks like we are going to have a good grape year, then one of our first tomato’s, they are three to four inches across, not bad for being taken in late May, one of the current bushes, they are loaded this year. and last but not least..already did the first hilling of the potatos..

Looks like we are going to get a bumper crop of strawberries even if they are late this year.

Posted in farm | Tagged Chores, compost, Ducks, Farm Life, Garden, manure, Soft Fruits, Veggies | 6 Comments

Teaching folks how to cook..

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Morning,

As those that are regulars know, I am on a working holiday so to speak, I have helped move someone belongings, helped plant gardens, helped redo yards and fix grades on land etc while visiting with family, I am currently visiting the DH’s ma who just had surgery a bit ago and so I am tending to stocking the fridge/shelves, and “surprise” have been asked to do some gardening work..

but the one that I am writing about today was the make soup day, my mom really likes this young couple in her home town, she thinks they are hard working and trying to move forward, and having meet them, they do seem very nice.. they openned up a coffee, soup and sandwhich place, but here is the catch, they don’t know how to cook..

Now when my mom told me that we were going down for couple hours to teach the basic’s on how to make good soup, I honestly thought that it would be able sharing some of the things we do to take basic soup and make it AMAZING soup, but no.. it was basic’s, as in how to use the grater, how to hold the knifes to cut the veggies, and those knifes LOL, only two and so dull, that they didn’t so much as cut as mush into food, they have a small kitchen but its not really that small, its because its not planned out, there is a ton of unused space in there, but you need to have shelves and proper cupboards etc..

In the end we spent four hours, made huge batches of four kinds of soups, with write out for at least three to five ways to change each of the basic soup to serve it different, we talked about presentation and mouth feel for the customers.

The thing that I found so interesting is that while my mom made two soups and I made two and they were both so different from each other, we always start with the basic’s and as we rarely (almost never teach folks at the same time), it was so funny to see the same things said in the same way over and over again and yet the end products are so different, mom’s being so very earthy and local for the farmers, and mine being just a touch more international or so they tell me 😉

While it was a goodly amount of work, it was also nice to work alongside my mom in this way and will be one of the good memory’s I bring home with me, I may look like my dad but I am so much like my mom in my way of talking, moving and thinking, the older I get the more I see it..

So here is my thoughts today, if you can call your mom, go spend some time with her, ask her about how things were done by great-grandma, work side by side, if your mom is no longer with you, make her favorite dish or cake or cookies or go plant her favorite flowers in your beds.. or dig out some old pictures and take a moment to remember just how special YOUR mom is to you!

Posted in food | 5 Comments

Big Sky Country- Photos..

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in photography | Tagged photography | Leave a comment

Given Dad a hand on the farm-Take Two..

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

My View for o six to eight hours, moving dirt, and more dirt!

Starting to level it all out, on the top, and on the bottom, measuring the grade with th lazer level.

Loading up old cement blocks to help line the ditch itself as well a old rock pile that dad has, will both go in.

Time to switch from the skid steer to the rake behind the quad to level the ground.

Here you can see the before and after pictures, two full days worth of work for two folks… Now just for some of the local wildlife while I was working..

This little guy was fearless and hung around like a pal hoping to get him some good worms and bugs while I spread out and leveled the dirt.

Goodness are there rabbits everywhere, big ones, half grown and little wee baby ones..

Posted in Family, farm | Leave a comment

Spending quality time with Daddy ;)

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Dad’s place flooded out, and we need to fix the issue and dig a new ditch line to show the water where to go, this is round one, I will show more later soon.. so I am running the little cat, dad is on the little backhoe and we put in seven hours each yesterday, I will snap some photos this morning to show where we finished at, but so far, we cleaned the area around the house, fixed the first washout holes, and we have filled in the ones shown above and dad has dug the new ditch line, we still need to more today.. So as my dad says, I’m burning daylight.. catch you on the flip side..

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Homemade Saskatoon Pie

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Is there anyway to feel more like coming home then making fresh Saskatoon Pie?

Here is a good starter Saskatoon Pie filling Recipe

3 1/2 cups Saskatoon Berries
1/2 cup Water
3/4 cup Sugar
3 tbsp Corn Starch
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Butter

Cook berries in water until boiling. Reduce water if using frozen berries. Add mixed cornstarch and sugar and boil until clear, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice, butter, can be used in pies, in tarts, or on top of cake, cheese cake or on icecream, or on top of waffles or pancakes..

Posted in Life moves on daily | 4 Comments

Baby Oxen in training and a good visit.

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

Hi Guys, how about a little cow love today!

I got to slip away from the folks for the afternoon and go visit a old friend of mine and her family, we all meet in collage, and her and I were roommates for a time (boy was that long ago), she had meet her hubby at that time, so we have known each other for almost as long, They have six beautiful children, and I always feel like I am missing so much of their growing up living so far away.

I will own up to the fact that I find when we all get busy in our lives, we often think of dear friends but don’t reach out and say, thinking of you nearly often enough, this is often the case with Miss K and her family, along with other dear friends.

Miss K was asked and hopefully will do a few guest posts on the blog in the future as well, but one of the many highlights for me was that we tromped out into the pasture and got her two baby boy oxen in training and I got to meet her very expecting milk cow to be, and with a growing family of six, that milk, fresh cream, butter and cheese will be quite welcome in the house. She came for some apple but sure gave me the EYE and was not at all sure about the stranger in the pasture.

We had a good walk into the pasture to find the boys, they are six month old, so this photo was taken after we got them to the barn area, they are enjoying their time out on fresh pasture, there was a lovely set of new twins to one of the old range cows at the age of 26 to have twins is amazing, and they were looking so good.

So after giving them some water, it was time to hitch them up, I laughed at this photo when I saw it, I like how the barn kitty wanted in on the action. I tried to get you some photos for this post but to be honest, I was to busy watching how she was working them and how they were reacting to different things, as this is the first time I have been able to watch someone else with baby oxen, and even with the differences taken in between having one vs a team of two, I can see that having a team in some ways makes it easier nd in others makes it different. I came away with at least three things I will try at home with Girl on my next training sessions.

Ah Girl is appears has been having a bit of a time of it with me gone, its the first time since I got her that I have not been home, and in the first day or so, she decided to break down her gate to her loose stall in the barn, the story told by Dh was cute, it went along the lines of, she got out, he fixed it and put her back, she broke out and he fixed it a different way, she broke out, he bought new hardware and fixed it and she broke it within min and got out..

The way DH said was picture Fred Flintstone stomping with that look on his face as he went and got a 50 foot peice of heavy chain and chained the gate shut, with a YOU WILL STAY WHERE I PUT YOU!

Then yesterday she was out grazing on her tie out, and something bite her, she bellowed and ran for the barn, and DH said she was sure upset and he worked with her to calm her and see what happened but that she even had a tear run down her face but let him fuss on her and take her back to her stall and give her some extra’s to sweeten her day. At ten months she not that much taller then Miss K’s six month old altered boys, but different breeds and sex’s, but it was interesting to me.

Posted in farm, oxen | Tagged Family, Family Milk Cow, Farm Life, Oxen | 4 Comments

Dandelion Honey

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Just another day on the farm

This post was prepped on the farm, as I knew I wanted to write about it, so yes the photo are from the farm. This is one of those so simple an basic but a few extra things will help it turn out.

Step one -Pick Flowers, if possable pick in the morning but after the dew has come off, you want the flowers open but still fairly tight together, if you pick in the heat of the afternoon, they will be more open and just a touch harder to work with, This photo shows what I consider a perfect picking flower. After picking let them sit for ten or twenty min to help get the bugs out.

Now the more green you have, the more undertone of bitters to the dish you will get, so here is me showing how i pull the flower part out and leave the rest behind.

lovely pile of sweet flower petals waiting to be made into syrup, jelly, mock honey or in this case, put into a jar of honey itself for later use.

Now at this point I gently mix my raw local honey with the petals and use on toast, in baking, on pancakes, waffles or any other way you want to use a flowered honey in your menu planning. I personally like it fresh done and even more after it has sat awhile in a clean jar and the flavors meld even more.