Just another Day on the Farm

Broccoli Harvest

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Now if you were smart enough to stagger your seed starting , you will have planted out every two or three weeks to extend your harvest..

Do consider starting some Broccoli seeds right now! for a fall harvest of this lovely plant! I will be starting new seeds for this today for my fall harvest.

The spring Broccoli is looking amazing, we started harvesting them last week and more are ready this week and I should also get a few more massive heads ready for next week and then the fresh harvest will be done on them till fall..

That’s a standard butcher knife, to till you a scale for the size of the heads at the moment, I am in push between letting them grow and keeping a eye on them twice a day to make sure they do not “bolt” or start to turn yellowish and flower out on me.. its fine balance between.. Grow.. grow! Harvest and darn it.. missed it..

Once in the house, I took the stems off and as they are still very tender, sliced them up and lightly salted and into the freezer in a tub they went for soup later in the season.. a hot bowl of thick broccoli and cheddar soup right now is not good for summer but it will be a delight for a cool fall night!

The leaves are big but edible.. I ribbed out the best leaves and into the dryer they go to then be ground down into my homemade “green powder” for later use.

The heads were taken apart.. in this photo you can see the full head, the first break down and then to the back and left side the finished florets.

At this point.. its very important to put them all into a salt cold water soak for 30 mins I put in one tbsp. of salt to my bowl of cold water.. As these are garden grown, its always a good idea to soak them and make sure if you have any hitchhikers, that you get them off.

The crazy amount of birds in my front yard have been busy hunting for bugs to feed their babies and so I have been so far very lucky and not had a single worm pop up yet to date.. but that is not the norm!

Do not just let them float in there. take a clean round plate that mostly fits your bowl and then weigh it down so that they are all under the water and set your baking timer and just let it go..

Once you are done that, you can check the water to see if you have any extra’s that need to be removed and ideally tossed to the chickens.. protein is protein 🙂 and you are now good to go into the fridge for future use in the kitchen or you are ready to blanch them/cool and then freeze them for later use.

Take the rest of the plant out of the ground and in my case I am feeding it to my sheep and or goats which will make quick work of it or it could be put into compost. I would consider chopping it up some before putting it in the compost and for sure on that if you did not harvest the leaves off of it.

So how has your broccoli been this garden season? did you get a good spring harvest? Will you be starting more seeds now to have a fall harvest?

Posted in 100 mile diet, Gal in the Garden Series, Garden harvest | Tagged Broccoli, Growing Broccoli in the garden, Harvesting Broccoli, Preparing Broccoli, Soaking home grown Broccoli in cold salted water | 11 Comments

Got a Question or Blog Post Idea for me?

Posted on July 14, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Posted in At the kitchen table | 3 Comments

Baby’s Hatching.. New little Wee ones join the farm

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Look what hatched by the pond! New baby turtles joined our farm and our new front pond! How exciting! Now we have laying and hatching native turtles in both our back pond and in our front yard pond..

Hubby had called me over as the floating plants where in bloom and as I can over to look at them.. I saw this wee striped head and went.. YES and did a mental bounce in place (I can’t bounce yet) and went.. I need my camera..!!!

It swam over and rested on the stem joining the floating plants.. hubby headed off to find some small peices of wood that he thought such a little turtle could climb and I kept watching and snapping photos.

I just love how much all the difference plants we have put into the pond are growing and thriving! Both myself, the land and the pond was grateful for the rain day taht soaked in and helped fill the pond back up a good solid 10 inches!

Then I saw the second one.. over in a different spot of the pond.. I think I saw a third but it appeared to have dived and then come up in the plants.

One of them found the first peice of wood and slowly and carefully made the climb 🙂

Starting.. and up we go..

Pull little guy.. sink your tiny claws in!

Almost there.. took a rest and just hung out for a bit.. then finished the rest of the climb and enjoyed the sun on his log..

The wind pushed it into the plants and held it there.. but he got company.. lol..

Posted in Critters, homestead | Tagged hatching wild turtles in our pond, Native Turtles ontario, new baby turtles 2019, supporting native turtles | 11 Comments

Friday Rambles around the Table – Keeping Busy!

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

There are times in my day’s right now that I fell like that hummering bird.. flapping my little wings as fast as I can just to stay in place.

Racing from one thing to the next.. just as she is going flower to flower, I am going from item to item in the house, on the farm, off the farm, spending time creating, spending time learning, listening.. only to crash hard and get up and do it all over again.

There are times I feel as run down and ragged as this little gal! I am rough around the edges and life is grinding away hard to try and smooth me down just a bit more.. make me softer on the edges.. I am not sure its working.. I feel jagged and torn.. but it says it not done with me at all yet!

On the flip side, I am getting better at being still and just in hold mode.. we broke down and put out the money for a mobile air conditioner for the bedroom so that I can sleep better at night and have a place to go and cool down in the highest heat part of the day.

That has proven to a very good choice (I might not agree with that when the next power bill comes in!)

I got outstanding news this week at Physio, I am allowed to start doing forward movements.. this is a “o yes” thank you. If you think of a damaged slipped disk and your spine, its bulges and if you are straight and up and even lean back a little, you spine holds itself in a up and down.. this was the way it needed to heal.. but on the other hand, if you bend forward and put pressure outward or you bend forward and put pressure downward, it curves you spine and it put pressure to push the damages area and the bulges outward.. this is very bad for healing at the beginning..

It means that while I still can not do sideways turns, I can start working on gentle careful but still so useful forward motions again! It might be another month or even two before I get to the point of sideways turns and work.. so be it!

At least I feel like I can start to move forward instead of going round and round like the bee on the flower did..

Now I feel like I can start climbing up.. moving forward.. growing again in a different way then I have been! The beans on the inner row of the bean teepee are starting to climb as well. the middle row is broad beans and the outside ring is potato’s

I have been enjoying my rain garden here on the farm but I am happy to have been asked to help design a few more this summer and I have been asked by a 4H group in the city to come in and give a talk on them.

Speaking of growing.. just as these tomato’s have outgrown their cages and are now lined with stakes to keep them upright and moving along.. DH after 22 years in the same department is changing to a new one this month..

He is still working for the Federal Government but new building, new province, he is now in the Ontario side and all new folks.. steep learning curve ahead.. Wish him luck if you would be willing to do so!

Change.. everything must grow and everything must change at its own timing and pacing. Just as I need to harvest the row of heads and pull the plants, stripping down the leaves and drying them and grinding them into a super green for later use in winter and both fresh eating and putting away of broccoli making room for the cabbages to grow and fill in that spacing so they can reach their full size.. we must sometimes pull things up and give it a shake and use that space in our own lives.

Doing so often yields very sweet rewards indeed! Reach for your goals but move with the flow.. never given up.. change if you need to.. but keep moving forward.. keep reaching..

Posted in At the kitchen table | Tagged Farmgal's Friday Rambles around the table | 3 Comments

Herb Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Posted on July 11, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

This is a easy dish to make, I used tinfoil to wrap the breasts to keep them together and then used the drippings as the dipping sauce for each plate.

I used homemade cheese which means that it was fresh white farmers cheese but I think Mozza would just fine as a replacement.

Ideally you are going to head out to your garden and harvest fresh green onions, garlic chives, two small hot peppers still in the green stage, a mix of herbs, your choice for flavours you liked.. Clean them and chop them up.. mix with the chopped or grated cheese, add a little salt and pepper.

Take a piece of tinfoil and place your chicken breast on it.

Slice your chicken breast to butterfly them open (this means they open up fully but are still connected as a single piece of meat.. if the top area is a little to thick.. give it a few whacks with either a meat tenderizer or the flat of a rolling pin to thin it down a touch. Then cover with a nice layer of your herbed cheese blend.. once fully covered.. press it down into the meat a touch and then carefully flip the top over.. stuff any bits that get out as much as possible back in.

Wrap up with the top being above the stuffed chicken breast, place in a tray with edges and back approx. 35 to 40 min at 375 pre-heated oven.. the packages can leak a touch so do not just place on their own in the oven.

Remove from oven and let sit for a min or two before serving up.. put the drippings into little bowls from each package as the dipping sauce.

This was served with a lovely mushroom/daylily flower/green onion rice blend..

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged baked chicken dinner recipe, Cheese herbed stuffed chicken breast, eating out of your herb garden, Herbed Stuffed Chicken Breast, homemade farmers cheese | 1 Comment

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe

Posted on July 9, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

This is a old recipe and something I have made for many years.. back in the day it was made with oil but I have moved that to butter. I also prefer Golden Raisin’s then the older darker ones.. it gives a softer flavour to me.. but if you like more Raisin flavour, then go the dark ones!

Soft Moist Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe

1 cup of butter (room temp ideally or softened)
3/4th cup Brown Sugar (if you want it less sweet just use half a cup)
2 Large Eggs
1 and half cups of flour
1 cup of oatmeal flakes (small is good but large works just as well)
1 cup of golden Raisin’s
1 tbsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of ginger
Pinch or 1/8th tsp of all spice

Put your softened butter and sugar together and mix well, then add both your eggs and blend them all together. Stop and add all the rest together on top of the blended butter, sugar and eggs.. Turn it all in together till it mixes in a soft ball of a dough

drop by spoon full on your tray’s.. if you want big cookies like in the photo, then use Tablespoons, if you want smaller cookies use Teaspoons.

Bake in a Pre-heated oven of 375 for approx. 8 to 10 min for the smaller cookies or 10 to 12 minutes for the bigger cookies.. check them.. they need to have a good golden brown edge to the cookies.. if needed cook a extra two mins and check again.

Allow to cook for a min or two on the baking tray.. then using your lifter press down between any touching cookies to create a break.. wait another couple min for them to cool and firm up. If you move them to soon, they will fall apart..

Once they are firm enough to move, move to a cooling rack and let them come down fully and then into a cookie jar or tin.

Posted in Baking | Tagged Homemade Oatmeal Cookie, Oatmeal, Oatmeal Cookies, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies | 4 Comments

Smudge and Jimmy..

Posted on July 5, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Some of my longer term readers will remember that I was so excited three years ago after many years of looking I finally found my short haired smoke blue solid (no tabby) sweet as can be kitten “Blue”

This little boy hooked my heart the moment I saw him and he came home to me.. great joy indeed.. sadly when he was still pretty young he chased a fly on the back of caleb the horse’s hoof and when caleb lifted and then put his foot down, he stepped on blue.. our free farm kitten because our rush to the vet can we save him kitten.. he did pull though but as he grew the damage to his organs showed up more and more.. sadly Blue never made the age of one before he crossed over.

Thus began my two year search for a solid short hair blue kitten.. I did not want to go buy a purebred Russian blue which would of course been the fastest way to do this.. I wanted to adopt a farm kitten (raised with kids and friendly) or adopt at a rescue. I set a budget of 200 or what I would need to do a kitten for and waited..

I had hoped for a kitten but was open to a younger adult.. I watched and waited.. so many tabbies.. so many wonderful orange kitties.. and I watched and waited.. I looked at a rescue but as soon as I was honest that my kitties are indoor/outdoor.. I was out.

I found the perfect kitten and filled out the paperwork.. nope.. indoor only.. sigh.. I wrote on facebook asking my friends to keep a eye out for me.. a lovely older coming two year old female caught my eye.. but I was declined as I was honest that I already had 6 cats.. she needed a smaller quieter home..

And then I went.. its kitten season! and I flagged some of the local sites and started hunting them.. nothing.. waiting, waiting.. nothing

AND THEN!! O YES!!!

This was my very first glimpse of her.. look at that face! those eyes.. I wrote within two min of seeing her post and back and forth we sent messages and when I put down the phone. I had a pick up time the next day..

So let me introduce you to Smudge.. a stunning, purry in your face short hair smoke blue short haired female.. she is my new baby and she is a handful already..

I had high hopes that her and Miss Leeloo would become good friends.. but what I had not counted on was this little tike.. stealing my hubbies heart as fast as Smudge did mine..

Coming on the running to us with his tail right in the air as Jimmy.. O my.. hubby had liked him out of the kittens shown and he scooped him up

and they did that male bonding thing that can happen and before you could say.. boo.. Jimmy was coming home with us lol

While having the two of them IS a handful.. its a good one.. they both came litterbox trained and have been outstanding in this regard.. we brought out the kitty tower so they go in three or four times a day to get their “special” kitten food.. growing babies need a different menu then rest of the adult cats.

They will NOT be allowed outside for at least a few weeks min and then only when they come running when called on cue.. So Leeloo came in.. sniffed them.. went huh and asked to go back out and hunt.. Leeloo is a hunting farm cat.. she comes and gets one or two max min of love a few times and day and then she is busy living life.

The others were as I expected.. gentle, welcoming and sniff and done.. Its the two auntie farm dogs that are struggling.. they so want to be these wee tikes “BEST FRIEND” and these two are having nothing of it yet.. Jimmy finally did a nose to nose touch and sniff with Dezbot.. but Smudge still gives the puppies the kitten side eye..

The hounds are being so good.. they lay very still.. they are trying so hard to wait for the kittens to come to them lol.. They do adore their purr kitties so much..

At least they still have leeloo to baby LOL

And that is it! I swear.. there is NO plans to add any more cats to the farm.. these will both be fixed at the six month stage.. no heats, no spraying.. no breeding and certainly no kittens..

Posted in At the kitchen table | 11 Comments

A “one in a million” Blue Frog

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Hubby called out.. come check this out.. we have a blue frog in the pond..

A little online digging came up with this information

According to an article published on Earth Touch News Network, these blue frogs are incredibly rare, and are found in as few as one in one million frogs.
The mutation is caused by a condition called axanthism, and it occurs when a creature is missing pigments from yellow and orange colouration.
In animals such as frogs and snakes, this condition will often leave them a dull grey or brown colour, but in some very rare instances, the lack of yellow gives them a bright blue colour.

So cool..

Posted in photography, pond | Tagged Blue colored Frog, Blue Frog, Blue Frog ottawa ontario, blue headed frog color | 9 Comments

Gal in the Garden Series – Wool Mulch and Kitchen Garden updates.

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Just another day on the farm

Wow.. Just WOW.. June is now officially over and its July! The summer heat has arrived.. and while the area around me has had lots of rain.. some hail and so forth.. we however have watched the rain move past the farm on one side and then the other..

However I am very carefully still watering in seeded out rows to get them up and started.

I can honestly say that the last month that the gardens have exploded in growth, we are bringing in greens, onions, herbs, rhubarb, strawberries, honeyberries, a few peppers..

Lets have look at the gardens on June 30th.. I am going to post a overview photo and then try and do side by side photos when possible of the plots.. we will see how it goes..

Plot one

Our Messy Plot one at the the start of june.. Above and Plot one end of june.

I have seeded out fast growing root crops between the tomato rows and redid our bigger radish patch in there.. the flowers are outstanding and the amount of native bees that are feeding daily on these are amazing.. the bumbles came lots till the comfrey came on tline and then they moved to it so now its filled with all kinds of tiny and mid-sized native bees.

Plot 2 is coming along very well!..

It is filling in so well and that’s with me harvesting fresh stuff from it daily in regards to herbs and tea fixings.

Moving on to plot 3.. This is my extra wide plot.. its a double plot in size but its still a good thing that soon enough some of the edge things will get harvested and that they have the walk way to grow into in overlap.

O my gosh.. what a difference on this one.. can I find a middle photo of growth on this one..

Lets look at that one again from a different angle.. at couple weeks ago but still fully planted..

Or so these are the stump gardens.. Plot 6, 7 an 8.. they got made in june..

These are the stump gardens at the end of june.. coming along..

Plot 6..

plot 7..

Plot 8.. that was the day they were planted.. and below take the end of June..

Ok and lets get to plot 5.. at the start of june, just made and planted out..

Looking much better now..

Those Ground Cherrie’s are sure taking their time to get settled in and start growing.. but its finally starting to happen now.

Ah, my still not working right.. plot 4.. what a pain the .. first I had to paint that side of the deck.. then get the climbers temp tied up (with hay twine.. but we finally found and bought the metal clasps that will screw them to the deck.. and the bird seed has seeded out so many sunflowers that we are wanting to pull and transplant.. however there is also the cherry tomato’s, some climbing cucumbers in there and it really needs to be weeded.. it will look better the next time you see it.. LOL

Now on to the new plots.. lets have the first look at plot 9!

So plot nine is a interesting row.. its got a narrow sheep fleece covered walk way behind Plot 3 to reach the fruiting bushes and for weeding.. there is a half step down to plot 9.

This is called the hedge row plot.. it has fruiting, flowering bushes in it.. there is ninebarks, black lace elderberries, high bush cranberries and gooseberry’s that they swear will grow ten feet tall. (we will see on that) there is ground cover in cross clover plants and at the very end is a big raised mound that has zucchini in it.. the next step down is a full step and that is the swell walk way.. it lets you weed the hedge row.. gives in space for in-fill.. has a built in water gathering factor so that the roots from hedgerow can sink its root down and outward. It also lets you weed and pick from the back side of Plot 10..

Ok, so this is plot 10.. on the back side.. it’s double the width as the front of the fence. we still need to add two more metal poles in the middle of the fencing. The front of row is planted into yellow canning bush beans.. this will create a cooling effect on the soil on the back side closest to the fence in the 30ish days that I will be planting out fall pea’s that are is in canning radishes at the moment.. the big middle row on the back side is into canning beets and the very edge is planted into more fresh eating onions for both eating and drying.

Once we make plot 11.. the kitchen garden build for 2019 will be done.. Plot 11 connects the kitchen garden to the path that the rain garden is on the other side of.. Anything on the other side of the rain garden is part of the food forest..

we have one more section but its a slower.. work on it over the season and compost added to it by the fall and plant it out for spring 2020.. that will be plot 12, 13 and 14.. there are 15 plots in total. Never had I thought that when I started “kitchen garden rebuild” this spring that I would get this garden that is right here in front of me.. WOW.. just WOW..

Plot 15 is current into a potato garden this year.. I will be sharing it in the coming.. “other gardens” post.. lol

Well, folks.. what do you think? its coming yes?