Spring Plans

 Planning has always been what we are best at - follow through, not so much.  We decided to stay with the Ppatch for another year, but we gave up 1600 square feet and plan to focus on slow maturing crops that do not have to be checked daily.

At home we have a lot to do before spring is here.  The old chicken coop and the clothesline need to be moved, raised beds built and filled with soil and compost.  New wood mulch laid and bins built for the potatoes.  We plan to use only what we have on hand for wood along with the misc pots and other containers we have collected over the years.  

But we are currently optimistic (as we always are this time of year).  Our seeds have been inventoried and missing selections ordered or purchased locally.  The Conservatory is newly cleaned along with our growing trays and pots.

One snag is where to get new chickens?  The feed stores we have purchased from the the last five years are closed and our choices locally are limited.  We want to raise a dozen meat birds and at least one turkey this year + replace our aging egg layers.

But it sure does look beautiful on paper.

The garden keeps giving

We have decided to grow next year's garden at home instead of the community Ppatch that has hosted us for the last 5 years.  So today I spent the warm afternoon pulling up soaker hoses and cutting down hollyhocks.  My parents always taught me to leave things better than how I found them and we want the next person(s) growing there not to have to clean up our detritus.

Hiding under dead bean vines was this turnip - the only one to make it past sprouting under my neglect.  I will serve it with tonight's dinner of barley risotto - if it is edible.

Where did he come from? Where did he go?

Indica named him Cotton Eyed Joe, after the old song.  In a move called sad and gross by some, we have purchased our Thanksgiving turkey live from a local aspiring farmer.  We have had him for 2 weeks now, and he is slowly adapting to life in a coop.  At the farm all of the birds free range across a number of acres and the turkeys roost in the trees.

Although this Blue Slate heritage breed towers over all of the hens, he seems a little scared of them, scooting away when one pecks the ground too close during feeding time.

I thought he would be louder, which had stopped us from raising turkeys before, but our neighbors don't seem to notice the noise he makes announcing that I have parked in the back.  He also makes these chirps that sound like he is underwater. 


Mostly he just hangs out with the rooster statue. 

Garden Days Dinner

Yellow Tomato  Gazpacho w/ Avocado & Purple Basil 

Hops!

The Willamette Hops we planted 2 years ago flowered this year.  Chris picked them and now the floral beery smell is evident while they dry on the back porch.  After telling me for years that a few plants in the backyard would never produce enough to really do anything with he was happily surprised with the 5 gallon bucket that was filled off the single vine.

We plan to brew a Backyard Ale with these and any flowers from the other 3 varieties we also planted.  Said others (Cascade, Gold Nugget and another that I can't remember) are still small - we suspect not enough sun - although a few flowers can be seen.

With the disappointment of  Mother Nature's choice of weather this year, the hop flower harvest is a unexpected windfall.

In the Conservatory

I always saw the grow shops with their sample plants and thought it was really funny.  Like someone would really use a tent for tomatoes when they could put them outside.  Well, with annual hail storms repeatedly breaking the greenhouse windows - I am now that someone.  

This year's 50 or so tomato starts
Purple Cherokee, Hagens Little Yellow, Hungarian Heart, Mortgage Lifter & Yellow King of  Siberia

The Brassicas to be planted next week

Rabbit Sausage

I learned how to make sausage almost 20 years ago in the kitchen at La Rive Gauche in Seattle.  It is a knowledge that I had not used since the closure of the small French Bistro.

We used it today.

But honestly, if I was a complete neophyte I am sure we could have watched a tutorial on YouTube.

The recipe was made up on the spot mostly - a little bit Taste of Home, a little Hank Shaw.  2:1 ratio homegrown rabbit and pasture raised pork belly.  Lots of smoked paprika.  Some onion and garlic.  We used hog casings, so these earthy sausages are the size of a Bratwurst.

We made 12 lbs in all.

Cthulhu Potatoes

 Saved for seed from last year's harvest.  After trimming off the growth I will chit them to plant in a couple weeks.  

Two shoeboxes in all.  Red Pontiac, Kennebec Russet and Red Adirondack. 

Philosophy and a new hen house

We seriously thought about getting goats.  Mini Manchas to be specific.  And towards that goal Chris laid a foundation to the right of the shop using landscape brick, urbanite and fill dirt we had on hand. We purchased 10 panels of used wood fencing to achieve the same look as the garden shed he built over the winter.  He spent days dismantling the panels, stacking the boards into various piles for the length and quality.

Our hens, which numbered 8 when the current coop was designed and built is really too small for the 13 layers we have currently.  If we raise Cornish meat chickens again, we reasoned, that number would double for the summer.  The plan was to build a barn "wing" for the yet nonexistent goats and the very existent hens on the shed and turn the entire lower yard into a corral.

Then, maybe, level heads prevailed.

One idea that we have believed over the years is an urban farm has to be pretty.  There will always be people looking over your fence and curious about what you are doing so it is imperative that they like what they are seeing.  There will be city officials checking for misused water and utility companies taking pictures of meters with long range camera lenses.  If what they see is pleasing to their eye, they are less likely to notice what is going on.

And our yard is so not there.

Over the winter our front steps collapsed.  The berm of front landscape we worked so hard on was taken over by bindweed and other undesirable plants.  The lawn died after years of not watering it.

Our back yard is not much better.

Items we have collected of dubious use are piling up.  The raspberries, having never produced, are struggling amongst other less savory greenery.  There is bare dirt everywhere.  The back chain link fence, having been hit by cars and other vehicles is buckled in places - its plastic privacy strips tattered and faded.   Although Chris keeps the green strip mowed - it is an unsavory mix of Virginia Creeper, perennial sweet pea & Canadian thistle.  The lone fruit tree not killed by the hard frost 2 years ago struggles among the weeds and mint that chokes out anything we have planted.

And then there is the greenhouse.

The annual hailstorms have broken half the plastic windows - those that have been replaced are yellowed and the inside is a mess of weeds.  It never got used as much as we thought it would.  In short, it is an eyesore.

In the end we decided to put the barn on hold and focus on making the landscape pleasing to the eye.

But I did request a new hen house.

On the right is the roosting area, accessable for cleaning from the end.
On the the left is the nest boxes, also with a door on the end.

The floor and bottom of the walls are tiled for easy cleaning.

The 18" space under the coop gives the girls outside space protected
from the elements.  Also the lack of ramp is to discourage rodents

The landscape brick foundation for a barn.

I drew up an idea on paper and Chris made it a reality.  The old coop, roosts removed will become feed and hay storage.  He mostly used items we had on hand - including some of the used fence boards.  More screws and roofing to match the shop were purchased.

He said it is the last one he is building. (It is the 3rd one he has built since we moved here)

Nest boxes - of course they just use one.

Right now the hens are free ranging, but we will have to get them contained soon - as they seem to always scratch and dig where we don't want them to.

For right now it is the right decision.

1st snow

Path to the coop

The hens refused to go outside today.

Well, one of the California whites ran down the path Chris shoveled, and promptly ran back in under the light, but their snow covered yard stayed free of poultry prints for 2 days.

In the rabbit hutch is another surprise rooster, he received a stay of execution (and another last meal) due to weather.

Breakfast is served

On a positive note, the girls are FINALLY done molting.  Egg laying has started again, slowly.  Indica has refused to eat the store bought eggs for the last couple months (although in cookies she thought they were just fine).  She celebrated with a fried egg sandwich (3 days in a row)

'Kay ready for spring now.

Where we are now

We have the 7 year itch.

I have noticed a trend in our marriage that about every 7 years or so our eyes start straying.  We start thinking that maybe the grass really is greener on the other side.  It's furtive at first - in early mornings before he is up, or late at night after I am asleep each of us cruise the internet, looking.  But we've been together a long time and we know the signs, we hear the hasty trill signaling the monitor has been turned off just as we enter a room.  Our browser history says it all.

And Zillow does not help.

We look at the rolling hills in Ohio, the forested properties in Montana, the hazy Ozarks in Missouri.  We look at property prices, annual precipitation, first and last frost dates.  Is there a wood lot?  A natural spring?  How far to the nearest Costco?  How close is the nearest neighbor?

Then we look at schools.  Is there orchestra?  Color Guard?  What is the scores in math and science?  Is there a Junior Roller Derby team close by?  

And we know we are where we are supposed to be.

Plus seed catalogs are arriving.  Soon we are distracted from what could have been by our life, this life we have built together.

Apples Apples Apples pt 2

Cider gurgling away in the pantry

Most are pie filling, some frozen apples
There are 2 boxes in the freezer

There is also a layer next shelf up and
in the deep freezer

Pantry shelf

Apples Apples Apples pt 1

The goal this year was to double the amount of apples we picked 2 years ago.

In 2014 we picked from 3 trees all different.

We made:
6 batches of hard cider,
10 frozen pie fillings,
3 gallons of dried apple chips,
12 pints of applesauce
12 quarts canned spiced cider and
4 gallons frozen cider.

Chris and the girls picking one of the last trees

In 2015 there were no apples.

Buckets of apples were lowered from the roof
at 3 buckets per Rubbermaid bin.

This year we picked from 9 trees

We currently have:
8 batches of hard cider bubbling
18 or so frozen pie fillings,
10 gallons of dried apple chips,
14 quarts + 23 pints of applesauce
24 quarts canned spiced cider
27 gallons frozen cider

plus

4 - 5 gallon buckets of cider hanging out in friends' garage refrigerators that are awaiting a way to store them.

I am confident that we surpassed our goal.

 I think the entire month of October Chris spent 12 hr days picking and processing.  He ate his meals at the cider press.  He even pulled a couple all nighters when the press we rented from the local brew at home store was due back the next morning.

The girls would fill the dehydrator every day.  Between the 3 of us we kept up on housework, garden chores, schoolwork and tried to help him out sorting and crushing.  But mostly it was just Chris and apples.

Now we are trying to finish other projects before the cold weather comes and hopefully make it back to finish the 2 - 55 gallon barrels of apples still waiting to be processed.

Still life with Butternut

All Hallows Eve

Halloween used to be my favorite holiday.  Gathering a costume, going to a party & general shenanigans.

Then with children it became all about the trick or treating.  Watching the initial hesitant "trick or treat" with downcast eyes that morphed over the years into a fearless bravado of being allowed to get candy from strangers.

But the girls are older now, off to a party with friends, the costumes mostly created from her closet (In this case casual Widowmaker with clothes she has worn to school and a cosplay wig.  Rhiannon purchased a witch hat to wear with 3 year old dress she uses for RenFaire and her favorite combat boots)

Chris and I, also older, used this year's holiday as a break between the work of harvest and the rush of the winter celebrations.  We gave out candy from the side gate, sharing a pizza and a couple hard ciders.  We listened to the Rocky Horror Picture Show after, of course, Everyday is Halloween by Ministry  (released in 1984 - we are aging punk/goth after all.)  We built a fire in the firepit and talked, enjoying the relatively few trick or treaters.

Lard

I have been cooking a lot with lard lately.

I am very interested in not using shortening these days and butter does not always translate well.  I have been making hashbrowns, frying eggs, and sauteing vegetables.  But this has not been the hydrogenated store bought lard, but some I made myself.

A month or so ago I purchased 3 lbs of leaf fat from Jodar Farms at the Boulder County Farmers Market.  I quick search on Google gave directions for using a crock pot to render it.

Now I have rendered lard in the past, but both times I cooked it a little too long on the stove - not only smelling up the house, but creating a light brown product that was only fit for the birds.  (Literally - I made "suet" cakes to hang outside/give to the chickens in the winter

This in mind I ground the fat with the meat grinder then filled the crockpot and turned it on low.  I plugged it in outside, but it turned out to be unnecessary - in an hour the lard was done, no smell.

After straining the cracklins, I poured the lard into a container to cool in the fridge.  The cracklins were placed in a cast iron skillet on the stove.  (2 birds, 1 stone - the pan needed to be seasoned)  Once drained again on paper towels I froze them, for a use as of yet unknown.

Today I am baking my Grandma Lundborg's raw apple cake, using lard in place of the shortening the recipe calls for.

Update 10/7 - cake is gone and a request has been put in for more, so success

Fodder System - up and running

As I mentioned in February, we have been on a quest to cut ties with pellet feed.

Hours were spent reading message boards and watching how to videos

Different areas of the house were tried (an small unused shower in the basement won)

Hand watering vs automatic (the answer is automatic)

3 types of containers (heavy duty grow trays worked best for us) and drainage options (angle trays and 1 row of drilled holes)

So far we use 2 cups organic barley soaked for 2 days on a 10 tray rotation.

Unfortunately the hens went into molt soon after so we don't know how well it is working, (production or dollar analysis) but they seem happy with their 2 1/2 lbs of fodder plus 2- 4 cups fermented organic feed they get daily with garden and table scraps.

Hail protection?

Our own tent city

 The forecast says heavy hail so I spent a couple hours this morning preparing.  I already lost 10 tomato and all the basil I had planted earlier this week.  The rhubarb also looks worse for wear (surprisingly the peas and strawberries faired okay)

Sheets on one side, 1/4 inch hardware cloth on the other (Peas)

I used an entire bucket of clothespins and all the spare wood in the garden + hardware cloth and wire semicircles from the damaged row cover to try to save as much as possible.  I bought all the double, queen and king flat sheets at the thrift store in addition to what we already had on hand.

So far nothing.

Since I am prepared, we won't need it.

Hoops over the strawberries

Yardwork

Hopefully spring is here to stay this time.

It has been snowing and raining for the last 3 days with temperatures hovering around freezing at night.  Happily none of the flowers, including the ones on our neighbor's apple tree, have been affected.  

My favorite of our clematis started blooming before the snowfall, and it was not slowed down in the least.  

Chris and I spent a couple hours this afternoon adding cattle panels to the north fence.  He received to hop vines from the Easter Bunny and they are reputed to grow 20 feet or more. 

tulips that just got planted a nice day in January are blooming also!

While working I tripped over dill starts.  (Yea!)  Last fall I got tired of looking at the stems from the garden sitting on the table outside and tossed them into the landscape.  It spreads terribly in the garden, but on the side yard it will have to fight with vinca, lemon balm, lilies and weed trees.

That is my kind of landscape gardening.

Easter Bunnies