Dianthus

Season of Song

2012-02-11T20:09:00.003-05:00

I have noticed the song birds are back. Or at least our paths are crossing more frequently now. My wake up and feeding time doesn't change much, but the light is creeping back into the mornings and I have caught a sunrise or two on the weekends when I round just a few minutes later. I love the peachy purple sky. Tonight it will be COLD. One of maybe two nights in the teens this winter. I look forward to the morning. There will be ice on the animals' water. They will be extra happy to see me. Hopefully I get done with the rounds before the cold seeps into my clothes and I can get back into the house before the teeth start chattering. I will have the luxury of going back to bed once everyone has what they need. I almost never do that, but it has been a long week and some extra sleep would be most welcome.

Ducklings arrive the week of the 20th. We have much to do to prepare for the onslaught of tiny peepers. A water management system is critical. The last time the basement practically flooded with the splashing. And the stink. Oi. I have been hearing horror stories of combining flocks, but we are just going to have to go slowly and carefully. We can divide the duck house and the pen in half so each flock has their own space until they get used to one another. I can only imagine the drama.

Follow up

2012-02-03T22:37:00.002-05:00

The trauma of Tuesday was followed (WAY TOO) closely with the trauma of Thursday, which was less traumatic but still darned upsetting. My neighbor, a different one this time, called and said there was a dog near the goat pen. She called a few minutes later to say that the dog had gone over the (4 ft) fence and had attacked Ella. Luckily, the neighbor yelled and ran into the pen and the dog lept out the other side and was off. Ella wasn't harmed but again, everyone was freaked out. We are very thankful to our wee neighbors H and C for alerting their Mama to the fact that there was a dog in the yard. They were ON IT after the duck incident. Thanks guys and thanks to our fabulous neighbor S who make the rescue.

Another morning spent with the Animal Control Guy. We are not yet on a first name basis and I hope we don't get there. The description of the dog is markedly close to the dog who broke into the duck pen. The time of day was exactly the same. The guy whose dog killed the ducks swears his dog was at home. I don't believe him. He also tells me he is sending his dog to the country to live with his parents. I really hope I can believe that.

The goats have recovered well. The ducks are coming more slowly. Josephine was the last duck standing in the pen, the two other survivors managed to flee though I have no idea how. Josephine is the one who is only now coming back. Since Tuesday she has been sliding into the thousand yard stare for very long periods. None of them have been eating much. Today though, things seemed a little better. They ate some food. The squawked at me when I went outside and they made more in the way of general duck noises. The sounds are what we really miss. The SB most of all, as he is here more to listen. He is pushing for ducklings sooner rather than later so we can rebuild the flock. Three is just too few ducks. I can't say I am thrilled about stinky ducklings in my basement again, but it will be nice to be on the road to normal. Ducks are what pass for normal now.

It has been a very hard week. I was having significant anxiety at work this morning. I was waiting for the phone to ring with more bad news. I made the SB go check on the animals as soon as he got up. They were, and are fine. It is me that is the wreck.

And then there were three

2012-02-01T18:06:00.003-05:00

Yesterday an off leash dog broke into the duck pen and killed seven of our flock. We were lucky that a neighbor found the dog in the act and pulled him out of the pen. Otherwise we would be completely flockless.

It was a grim day. We were interviewing at work so I had to maintain the happy face all day with the candidates, despite having run home for 90 minutes to collect the bodies, find the the missing ducks and talk with the animal control guy. Everyone was traumatized. Our neighbor, the SB, the remainder ducks.

I am still uncertain if one of them will make it. She is moving slowly today, whether from injury or shock I don't know.

Thanks to our neighbor, we have identified the dog and hopefully will work something out with the owner.

I try to comfort myself with the good life they led up until Tuesday morning.

The neighbors, friends and family have been amazing. It has been nice to hear from folks how much they like having these critters here in the hood.

Where does the time go?

2012-01-23T22:08:00.002-05:00

Between the milking cottage project, the closet project, my recent OMG WILL IT NEVER END cold that I have had since effing Xmas eve, the regular recirculating list of cooking, cleaning, laundry, groceries and of course, the day job and the side work one begins to wonder if I will ever get back to the blog. Winter is usually a good time for this, but the addition of the closet project, (wherein we add two fabulously gorgeous cedar lined closets with vintage doors to a room and thereby double the number of closets in our house) has really taken up a lot of my free time. And I am starting a couple of on line graduate level courses through UVA. The busy just don't stop around here.

But, the animals are all well if tired of the damp. The goats are miserable and the ducks even seem tired of the mud and rain. A few days of warm and dry will turn things around for us all I think.

Onward.

It's darker with the light on

2011-11-21T22:01:00.003-05:00

The SB and I were working on our porch a month or so ago and took down the security lights while replacing some of the porch boards. We haven't put the lights back up yet. Since then, I have been enjoying the dark-ish evenings and mornings. We are in the city, so it isn't really ever DARK. It is just less light. And I have found it is much easier to see if I am not straining to see around the shadows. I have been taking the goats out in the dark-ish. Closing up the ducks in their house or doing the morning feeding. I actually prefer to have the porch light off, if the porch and house lights are off it is even better.

Today I stopped by a neighbor's house on my way home from work to pick up some leftover straw that was in her garden. She apologized "It's dark out there...." Not a problem.

Seasonal Employment

2011-10-30T08:38:00.004-04:00

Because we have been doing nothing other than working on the milking cottage since this time last year (if you include the design/siting and the harvesting and collecting of materials in addition to the more obvious fabrication) I decided to take a bit of a break this fall on the garden. I did make a feeble attempt to get things going this summer, but it was so hot and dry that things really didn't germinate. I do have a small patch of carrots, some arugula and a few beets, but that is it. Because there is currently nothing in the garden that I am too worked up a bit, I have decided to put the ducks to work at their intended tasks...

We got the ducks as garden helpers.... do you remember? They were supposed to take care of bugs and not scratch things up like chickens. Actually, I have not had a slug problem since I got the ducks, even though we don't have them in the garden that much. The reason we don't have them in the garden as expected is because of the leafy greens. Wow, those ducks can put a hurtin' on the spinach and the chard. But since I have neither spinach nor chard this fall, thanks to Mother Nature, who knew I needed a break, I have set the ducks to task. The past year I have been plagued by these very annoying bugs that have ruined the greens and some of the brassicas. I also have a squash bug problem. All this is probably due to intensive cultivation and being a wee bit lazy about cleaning up in the fall.

I am hoping that the ducks take to the task. My plan is to leave them in the garden in the mornings with only a light breakfast. In the afternoon we will let them out into the bigger yard and let them swim in the creek. It is a good deal for them, because it means more forage time, and they do live to forage. The bad thing is that they are going to get spoiled rotten and think that they deserve to be out of the pen ALL the time. I guess we deal with that when the time comes.

I have also started to consider a flock of chickens. We have a section of the garden where we have been growing corn/beans/squash together. Unfortunately, this makes it pretty much impossible to weed. I need some good working chickens in a movable pen who can take that section down to dirt and eat every seed and growing thing in the top two inches of soil. I think some chickens are the birds for the job. While we don't need more eggs, there do seem to be folks in the hood who would be interested. I bet I could get rid of as much as we could produce in that department as people aren't as squeamish about chicken eggs as they are duck... And I don't have any trouble getting rid of the duck eggs.

Now it is all about fencing and a movable pen. And some warm weather. The first frost came in solid last night. Everything was crunchy this morning and the duck and goat water had a skim of ice across the top. Welcome to the Season of Frost.

Ten Ducks, Two Dogs and One Very Close Call

2011-10-25T20:06:00.002-04:00

The SB and I were out working on the goat barn/milking cottage on Sunday, as we have been doing for, oh about eternity. The SB was on the ladder nailing up trim and I was holding/handing tools like a surgical nurse.

I heard a bunch of quacking and splashing, not really odd for the ducks, but it went on.... when I turned to check out the hoopla, I saw two very large dogs happily chasing the ducks around in circles. I took off toward the creek with the SB right on my heels. I was yelling and running straight at the dog that was closest to actually having a duck in its mouth. It was a near thing. He almost had his paw on one and I think that would have been the end of it due to sheer terror or physical trauma.

Luckily the dogs weren't hungry, they were just chasing the ducks because the ducks were running. Had they been intent on eating one of them, I have no doubt they could have snatched one and been off before we even knew it.

It was a lucky day all around. All the ducks survived, the dogs did not end up getting punched in the face (which was the only feeble plan I had for what I would do if I got a hold of one of them) and the SB and I were able to return to the work on the milking cottage without dog bites or ancillary damage.

Around here, we count that as a win.

A day in the life....

2011-10-14T22:41:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I came home from work and was pleased to find that the rain, nay the deluge, had ceased. The SB was leaving as I was arriving.. one of those evenings. Too wet to work on the milking cottage or really anything else, so I opted to take the goats out in the yard for a stroll. Their current favorite food is sycamore leaves. They look pretty silly munching down some dinner plate sized leaves. The sky was still overcast and we got one of those weird situations where the sunlight is bouncing off the bottom of the clouds as the sun goes down and everything turns all goldy-green. As I was marveling at the odd light I realized the backyard was full of dragonflies. There was a huge swarm of the swirling around. I didn't get a close enough look to identify them. I wondered if they were supposed to be migrating at this time or if they are all running late.

Then it started to pour buckets. I hung out under the paw paw tree with the goats hoping the rain would slow. The goats hate getting wet more than me, but.... We ended up making a run for it. That is one of the things that I like about the goats. If you run, they will always follow. So they got tucked into their snug little house. Me, by the time I locked up the gate, dumped the wheelbarrow full of discarded goat hay and made it into the house, I was drenched. Happy but totally drenched.

Brilliant

2011-10-08T08:17:00.002-04:00

The SB has done it again... solved a problem that seriously needed solving. And I was too in the middle of trying to plow through to step back and see that there might be another way. He is a big picture guy. Mostly, that is probably a good thing.

Without further ado.... Do you live in a place where there are paw paws? We are, we even have a small grove in the backyard. This is helpful as it tells you when the wild paw paws are ripe so that you can go and collect them. The only problem with having a lot of paw paws is that you have to separate the seed from the flesh and skin. It is super duper tedious as there is a LOT of seed in a paw paw. A couple weeks ago, we were drowning in paw paws. Something seriously needed to be done with them or all the collecting work would be down the tubes. In the old style, the processing of the paw paws we had would have taken HOURS and resulted in cramped hands and grouching. But the SB did a little experimentation. Here is the process that saves your sanity.
1. Peel the fruit with a veggie peeler or older fruits by hand
2. Cut the fruit/seed into large ice cube sized chunks
3. Put them in the food processor with the plastic dough blade (not the sharp one)
4. Process briefly until the flesh is saucy and the seeds are seperate
5. Run it all through some mesh or just pick the seeds out by hand.

This is not entirely without some tedium, but it is MILLIONS of times better than the other options I have tried.

We froze about 10-12 cups of paw paw mash. We'll be using it in breads and ice cream. Yum.

You can thank the SB.

Serves me right

2011-09-17T09:12:00.002-04:00

Last night I was having one of those days. One of those days where I don't really feel like cooking anything. One of those days where it really seems like WAY too much trouble to turn on the stove. It would be so much easier to get in the car and drive to our neighborhood bar and get some nachos. And beer. And we wouldn't have to do the dishes or anything. And we could see one of our favorite bar tenders. We would probably end up with beer to take home and stay out too late and not get anything done. But really, the cooking was just not speaking to me. Despite having lots of fabu things around to cook.

So I started hemming and hawing. Then the SB mentioned lentils. I love lentils. Especially in the cool weather. I was inspired..... we had eggplant from the garden. We had smoked sausages from Edward's. We had garden peppers, garlic, parsley and onions and a bit of home made chicken stock. And some cooked fingerling potatoes. And that was sort of all she wrote with a squeeze of lemon on top. The onions were a pain in the butt because all that are left of this year's haul are the tiny ones. But we did it. We made a super yummy fall dinner and thawed some rolls from the freezer and added butter and it was delish. So much better than anything you could pay for and in large part homegrown.

Not me.

2011-09-16T22:51:00.003-04:00

On a night like tonight, many people are probably venturing out for some late evening errand and are greeted by the gentle whiff of woodsmoke in the air. I imagine they stop briefly and think "wow, it really must be fall".

I was on my way to lock the ducks into their safe little house when I caught a whiff of woodsmoke. My reaction was, as always, "CRAP, I hope that isn't our house on fire." Perhaps those of you with old wooden houses can sympathize.

Happy fall.

Weekends

2011-09-11T08:02:00.002-04:00

It is funny, at work, I sass with my co workers and complain about the work week and do the countdown to Friday. But some how, I suspect our weekends have a very different pace. This weekend, for instance, is the second in a row that we have been working on replacing some of the structural members of the back porch. So pretty much for 5 days (we include last Monday since it was Labor Day) I have gotten up, done some errands and then made coffee and breakfast for the SB and I. Then about 1 or so, we head outside to consider the porch. Structure, support, materials, lists, tools, sorting, moving things in and out of the house, supplying sustenance and otherwise working until dark. On the weekend. It is better in the fall b/c it gets dark at 8 instead of 9. For that I am thankful.

Is it true that a lot of people just laze around? Do they really watch movies and attend parties and have leisurely brunches? Because, there are those times, when I do wonder why I am so excited to get out of the office on Fridays.

Season of Frisk

2011-08-23T20:34:00.002-04:00

So, sorry about those photos, I erroneously thought it would be easy to download the photos to my computer. Apparently I will have to take the onerous step of READING THE INSTRUCTIONS. Piece of crap phone. I don't have that kind of time.

Fall started last Thursday. It was abundantly clear from the moment I walked out the basement door on my way to feed the animals that something had changed. It wasn't the temperature. There had been cooler mornings. It wasn't the leaves falling, that starts around the first of August here with the walnuts starting to go. It was mostly the smell. It was of dirt and leaves and well, the end of summer. And the sound of desperately exuberant insects.

Today though, started the Season of Frisk. The goats are the harbingers of this. They know the exact time when the back of summer has been broken and they began the celebration at approximately 6:43 this morning by tearing out of the open gate and leaping on to everything they could get to the top of. Dashing from wood pile to rock to bench and whatever else they could find. They ate a few walnut leaves in between, but mostly they just frolicked. The celebration continued this afternoon with a little standing head butting and otherwise trotting around an being extra jaunty. I wonder how long this lasts....

Sign of the times

2011-08-10T19:46:00.004-04:00

The news of the world has been pretty grim here folks, in case you haven't noticed. Politicians acting like children, youth acting like apes, fear mongering and hysteria all around. Add that to the general pressures of paying the bills and keeping your head above water and you have a pretty bleak picture.

So I thought I would share....

This morning there was a guy on my bus in a wheel chair who I hadn't ever seen before. Maybe it was a temporary thing... His chair still said "Patient and Guest Services" on it, so maybe it was a "loaner" from one of the local hospitals. When his stop came, he was inexpertly maneuvering himself out of the bus and onto the sidewalk, pulling himself along rather than trying to use his hands to turn the wheels the way people who do this all the time do. The guy was about the age of a Viet Nam vet, but I don't know that he was. Just an older skinny white guy who didn't quite have a handle on his new world. When he got to the sidewalk he was trying to turn the chair around and head toward his destination. A middle aged African American guy happened to be walking by with a woman and he seamlessly and graciously got behind the guy in the chair and since they were going in the same direction pushed him along while smiling and chatting. A total random act of kindness. It totally made my day, I can't imagine what it did for the guy in the chair. I hope he saw it as I did.

A month or two a go my great friend P. was in the local bank, standing in line to cash a check. The lady in front of her was asking about the balance in her checking account. The checking account had about $68, and the woman needed $65, but the teller said she had to leave at least $5 in the account to keep it open. So she withdrew the $63 and another $2 from her savings account which was running on the order of $25. P. went home and called the bank and convinced the teller to allow her to transfer $200 into the woman's bank account anonymously. P isn't flush with cash, but she is overflowing with compassion.

Just thought I would share those two small snippets and that they infuse some hope and joy into your life. We need all we can get right now.

9:00 AM.

2011-07-23T09:16:00.003-04:00

I just came in from the garden. I don't think I will be going back out if I can help it. Drenched and dirty and it is already 90 degrees. The livestock seems unconcerned, though I did let the ducks out early so they can be in the water.

I let the goats out yesterday around 6:30 PM, when the temperature had dropped to about 97. The fool animals were galloping around the yard like hooligans. I could hardly stand to watch but they were so stinkin' funny looking while they were doing it I couldn't really resist.

The garden is in very sad shape. The summer stuff bug eaten or crisped by lack of rain and the fall stuff not yet brave enough to germinate.

The heat won't keep us from work on the milking cottage. We had been calling this structure the goat barn, but it is so not barn like that I changed it to the milking cottage. Barns don't have cute Victorian style screen doors on them. You'll see when it is done. Yes, you will. Because I finally got a phone with a camera in it. So I can take some pictures. Now if I can just remember to take my phone with me....

"Tis the season...

2011-06-23T22:55:00.003-04:00

Tonight was a summer supper. After doing some yard work and playing around with the goats, I harvested some fingerling potatoes, parsley, cukes, basil and summer squash from the garden.

For dinner we had: boiled fingerling potatoes (flavored only with a little salt in the cooking water). Squash sauteed with Urban Farm parsley, garlic and onions, some smoked salmon sent by the SB's sister (who rocks), and a salad of tomatoes, cukes, basil, goat cheese and kalmata olives. Oh, and garnished with chard stem pickles (because I didn't have capers for the salmon). Simple fast and oh so fresh. THIS is what I like about summer.

I have decided not to horde the potatoes this year.... I am harvesting early and often. Before tonight, I made some fabu potato salad. My goal is to use them all up by the end of November, since they don't really store any longer than that. In past, we have just ended up with WAY too many seed potatoes.... With the summer squash, I am trying to pick it early. I mean, really, there is only so much summer squash you can eat right.

Last evening we had a large black snake in the duck house (again). This time he was in the process of eating one of the eggs. Imagine being disturbed while you are about 1/3 of the way through getting your mouth around a watermelon, and you will have a good idea of the state we found him in. Being lovers of a good meal, we left the snake to do what it would with the egg. At that point we were dubious of the outcome. When we returned from our own dinner, we found that the snake had not only gotten down the egg he was working on, but went on to a second as well.

Just shows me why I need to be a little quicker on the draw with the egg collecting.

Quiet

2011-06-13T20:56:00.002-04:00

It has been quiet on the blog because it has been anything but quiet on the homefront. Dag. The drawback to the lengthening days is that there is way more light to work by. So if you come in when it gets dark, that means you start making dinner at 9. Which means you are up until past 11. Which means that when you get up at 6:00 to feed the animals you are a wee bit cranky.

But anyway...

The garden is entering the summer phase. The peas came out over the weekend as well as some of the beets and turnips. Also the cilantro that has bolted and the fennel that is looking ready to go skyward. I harvested some of the red onions and some of the garlic (the rest doesn't appear quite ready). In place of these things I have put okra and long beans. Possibly will add some more leek seedlings since they have miraculously held on in their tiny cell packs. I harvested the first cuke today with a yellow squash coming right behind. Lucky us.

The ducks are good. Spoiled with being out and eating far less grain. Which is a good thing. The gimpy duck still has a bump on her foot. She doesn't seem to be limping though and it hasn't developed the nasty black scab that the other bumblefoot bump had. I don't know what that means. Seems like her weight is OK and she doesn't seem to be in pain. Kind of all we can hope for.

The goats are cranky with giving up their milk. They now just get an ounce of water by bottle in the morning because I am a lily livered pansy and afraid they are going to make a rukus in the morning if I don't give it to them. My neighbors are already saints for listening to them complain in the evenings about the milk thing. Sheesh.

The goat barn is coming along slowly. Considering a work party soon to kick it before the SB takes off for Scotland for 3 weeks at the end of July. It would be nice to have it at least partially completed by then.... These things always take so much longer than expected.

Summer

2011-05-30T10:36:00.003-04:00

If it weren't for the veggies and fruit, I really would have no use for summer. I'd skip it all if I could. The bugs, heat, sweat, watering, poison ivy, and dealing with hoses. There is none of this that I love. What almost makes it worth it is the tomatoes, peaches, fresh peppers, basil, tomatillos, corn, squash and parsley that makes its way to the table.

Last night we had a very late dinner of roasted chicken and veggies. I had found some inspirational new potatoes at the market and added my own tiny carrots, beets, turnips, fennel and onions and popped them in a way too hot oven and we still ate near 11. Which is what happens when you work until dark. Why is it that delicious roasty things come in a season that you don't want to roast? This is what I am saying about summer. Inconvenient on all fronts....

Season of Laundry

2011-05-23T20:51:00.003-04:00

At this time of year there is much to contribute to the never ending and insufferable mountain of laundry that the SB and I produce. First, the temperature fluctuates wildly during the day. You can go from needing long sleeves, pants and socks in the morning to short, tank and sandals in the afternoon. Necessitating at least one change of clothes. Add in that you are sweating and stinking up your clothes. And that just about everything that we do outside involves mud, water, hay or poop and you can see where this is going. Then there are the work clothes. If I could hire out one indoor task it would be laundrypluscleaningthefreakinbaseboards.

The goats are growing and getting a wee bit chubby I think. They are full tilt on the hay but have not given up the bottles. We are weaning them down.... Tomorrow I think we do away entirely with their mid day meal. Nice how I eliminate the one that I am not home for.... I let the SB suffer the loud displeasure of the goats. Him and the neighbors. By the weekend they will be used to it. And I can sleep in another 10 minutes.

LBD is going on her third round of antibiotics. She still has a lump in her foot. It isn't getting any worse, but it isn't getting that much better either. The last bit really needed to ripen up on its own time, so we are trying to be patient. I talked to the vet today and he said his partner suggested using Preparation H on it. Another vet has told us that we should soak in epsom salts and hit it with Benadine every day until it "drains". There is both comfort and frustration in the fact that the "experts" are just as scatter shot as I am on this.

Flea beetles found my tender eggplant plants if 34 seconds flat. Planted corn and squash this afternoon. I think that counts as getting something done.

Renaissance Hombre

2011-05-09T21:37:00.004-04:00

So yesterday was sort of a crazy day, as are most around the Urban Farm in the springtime. The SB though, decided that he might just merit the title Renaissance Man after the day. He spent a big portion of it designing and building the goat house. The difficult part being the pyramid roof with the cupola that is planned (you know, the one that allows the light to come into the middle of the building and fire up the chandelier in the middle of the day). Not so straightforward in the rafter department. Not revolutionary, mind you, but it takes some figuring. Add to that an (at least) semi successful foot surgery on the Little Brown Duck (LBD) and you have a day of many colors here in Woolen Mills.

The surgery. Oi. We captured the duck late in the day and decided to give it another go on the bumblefoot. The foot was progressing in that the bumble was getting a large scab on the bottom and a tough outer ring. The SB poked and carved at it a bit until something came out. Um. Dis.Gusting. It was an evil looking thing. Like a booger from the nose of The Devil Himself. Tough like cartilage and with nasty fingers poking out in all directions. It bled quite a bit, but getting that bit out was a big step in the right direction. There may be more there, but we are giving it a few days to sort itself out before we try anything new. When I came home from work I gave the duck some antibiotics and tried to get some Blukote on its foot, but I couldn't subdue its feisty three pounds of protest (at least without doing damage) so I called it a day and let her spend the rest of it in the garden with free access to the pea shoots and spinach.

All in all, progress on many fronts. I got the tomatoes in the ground (FINALLY) and still have to plant lots of peppers and eggplant. And okra. THAT definitely has to go in soon. But the garden is heading toward its first lull, at least in the greens department. Though now that the spinach and cabbages are on their way out, this year's chard is coming on, so we should be ok for a while during the wait until the peas and zucchini start making a showing.

The wee goats are growing up and are now more interested in eating than in lap sitting. Which is truthfully something of a relief as I was beginning to wonder if having two forty to fifty pound goats in one's lap was really a good way to spend the summer. They are still adorable and love to be petted and will still climb in your lap, it is just between foraging now.

Invested

2011-05-02T22:19:00.003-04:00

I talked to my vet today. He admitted being "invested" in the duck cure. I like that in a vet. He even called around to get me a better antibiotic set up. You see the ones I got were pre mixed and for use with mammals. Avian species apparently metabolized differently so we need to give her a lot more per body weight. But since the stuff was already diluted, it meant that we were trying to give her 3 ml twice a day. OK, that probably doesn't seem like a lot, but when you are holding a squawking duck down at 6:20 AM, it seems like a lot. Especially as a lot of it ends up on the person delivering. So the pharmacist at Meadowbook (who rocks) mixed up a stronger dosage. I think he also added some glycerine as it is a little thicker too. To keep it from running out of the bill so quickly.

Over the weekend, the bumble developed an honest to goodness scab that could be removed. We hoped that removal of the scab in combo with some swimming would help things along, but it looks like we are going for another surgery tomorrow afternoon. I think this one will be successful. It is easier to see now where the best place to make the incision is. Cross your fingers for us.

I have been dreaming of wee duck footwear to keep the foot "clean and dry". I don't think I am going to be able to craft the stylish duck sandal I have in my head, but we will need to come up with something. And if we do get it out, there will be an end to the swimming for a while. Which is too bad as she does enjoy it. Especially because we add copious amounts of spinach to the bathing water, which is a favorite way that ducks eat. Gag.

The garden is about to hit that awkward in between stage where the spinach and arugula is bolting but the summer squash and beans have not yet matured. I think I will have beets and some mustard in the interim, but it is kinda hard to tell right now. Looking forward to cool week ahead to keep the greens from bolting.

Double Ugh

2011-04-28T21:58:00.003-04:00

We tried today to lance the duck's foot. Succeeded in making an incision but not in getting out the cyst, or whatever it is. I gave in and called a vet. Of course, the one who is up for odd animals is out of town. Now we have a duck with an open foot and no treatment options. The vet is supposed to call me back tomorrow and see if there is any advice after they do some research. Which probably means reading the same blog posts that I did. At this point though, I am happy to pay someone else to take responsibility. The SB (who did the cutting), the duck (who did the insanity inducing consta-quack) and I (who did the maniacal irrigating with sterile saline solution) are all ready to have the pros take over. Crikey. That is some grim work.

Ugh.

2011-04-26T21:30:00.004-04:00

So I think one of the ducks has bumblefoot. It is an ugly big lump around one of her toes. Hard and a bit of a scab seems to be developing. She started limping yesterday and the SB and I caught her this evening before we both had to run off for work. Yes, it takes two people to tend a four pound duck. One holds while the other prods. And the wings try to go everywhere, which is the part you get nervous about. They are hardy critters, but a wing has a lot of leverage that could go the wrong way.

Anywhoo. From the reading I have been doing, it looks like the only option is to lance the wound and get the gunk out. That will have to happen tomorrow. So if I don't chow down as usual at the Diner, you will know why. And I may need to have something a little stiffer than the Legend Brown Ale I usually drink there. I am sorta hoping the SB decides that he wants to practice his surgical skills and lets me off the hook. But I also realize that this is something that I am gonna have to know how to do. These may be our first ducks, but they aren't the last. And bumblefoot is not uncommon. I'll be doing more reading tonight though. I won't so much be looking at the horrifying pictures on the internets. yee. Any advice would be welcome so chime on in....

We smeared the lump with Neosporin for the evening in hopes of slowing the growth and we will keep her penned tomorrow as well to keep her off the foot. Some people have made wee boots for their poultry to protect the open sore from getting caked up with poop and mud and stuff. I think I am going to shoot for as clean bedding as I can get. Really, I can't imagine a duck wearing any kind of boot. Heaven only knows how long this lasts.

In other news, we just got a torrential downpour with hail and everything. I am hoping there is something left of the garden, but I won't know until I can see it in the light of morning. I guess there isn't anything I can do about it right now anyway.

On a lighter note, I found $5 in one of my front porch pots this AM. I have no idea where that came from.... Yay me.

Off

2011-04-22T21:45:00.002-04:00

I took off from my real job Thursday and today to catch up on things around the Urban Farm. It feels like I have gotten a lot done, though there is no end in sight for the to do list.

This morning I transplanted chard, parsley and tomatillos into the garden and volunteer sunflowers into the orchard bed. The overcast skies and rain made it a perfect transplanting day. We are officially in greens season. Lots of spinach, mustard, chard, arugula and lettuce. We are tossing the mixed greens with hot pasta, vinaigrette, garlic, Parmesan, grated carrot and sunflower seeds. Yum.

We worked on the goat barn some. I made squash soup with what I think is pretty much the end of the winter squash. It isn't my favorite, but it'll do.

Because of the rain today, the ducks were foraging all over the place. Twice they were caught at the front of the house near the road. I ended up locking them up early as they seemed hell bent on trouble today. They complained LOUDLY.

I took the goats for a ramble around the yard while the SB headed out to an auction. The goats do like to walk. And they are exploring a lot more in the way of forage. They still prefer plastic and string to pretty much anything else except cedar bark. Ella loves English ivy and they both like privet. It is a good start. Unfortunately, they are also obsessed with the raspberries, so those may need to go back into the garden.

The big day off treat was to go back to bed at 8AM after feeding the animals and myself and having a cup of tea. It is much easier to wake up after caffeine, but it doesn't make getting out of bed any easier.

Everything else

2011-04-18T21:46:00.002-04:00

Since you have heard more than you probably care to about goats lately, I will tell you of other things...

We are eating spinach, arugula, chard and mustard greens out of the garden. Along with some radishes.

Getting up 30 minutes early is killing me.

I don't really need to get up 30 minutes earlier just to feed goats, but I am a terrible judge of timing. So I am exhausted.

The ducks are goofy and laying between 6 and 8 eggs a day. Luckily, we can sell them to the diner. I seem to forget that I don't really use a lot of eggs when the weather is warm, because I usually use them in baking. And I don't do that much when the temperature is above 60.

I am exceedingly tired of stink bugs.

I planted cucumbers on Sunday in front of the duck house in hopes that the vines will give summer shade.

My garden needs some serious weeding.

The SB built a trellis for the peas and beans, and was gifted a very cute garden bench by a friend. The bench is now, surprise, in the garden. So we can sit there and drink wine. Ooh. How nice.

The potatoes are coming up.

The ducks ate all the sorrel, but I am hoping it comes back now that I have moved it to the front yard. The rhubarb is still alive and doing remarkably well.

OK, about to pass out now, off to round up the current crop of stink bugs and retire for the evening.

Whirlwind

2011-04-14T22:15:00.003-04:00

Wow, it has been a whirlwind week. New goats, family in town, lots of goat visitors, bare root plants in the mail (like 200 of them), etc. etc.

We officially have the most visited goats in the universe. I love that we can share the goat love. Plus, we want everyone to fall in love with them while they are little and cute, so if they get in trouble later, there are the good memories to fall back on.

I still haven't had a chance to look at the garden, but I think we have lots of spinach.

We got 100 hay scented fern for the back yard. Currently, 50 Piedmont Azaleas , which will likely go to 100, as that is what we ordered. Love bare root stuff as it is cheap and easy to plant. The window of opportunity is tight though to deal with them. I would be happy to sell you some lovely piedmont azaleas if you want some. Ordering 100 (smallest available quantity) from this place was at least as cheap if not cheaper than anything else I found. And we can use a lot of them....

Once again, Punk Domestics pulls out the awesome recipe . I can't wait until my rhubarb takes off.

About the cutest

2011-04-12T21:51:00.003-04:00

So I came home from work today to find the SB working in the garden with two tiny assistants. He was pruning and Ellamenope (Ella) and Zinnia were helping by keeping him company and nibbling on all the the twigs he had pruned off.

When I came down the hill toward them, the little goats ran across the bridge to greet me and one even bleated a tiny hello.

The SB had thrown one of the cedar rails across the creek to challenge the goats and Zinnia got it right off. Ella, being a week younger and by far tinier, had to do some bleating and figuring to get across. Finally opting for sidestepping the rail and just leaping. The little boys next door came over for their afternoon visit. They learned that goats do not like a hammock. Good to know.

I have been so busy with goat projects and visitors, I haven't seen my garden in days. I hope the rain helped things along and that there will be salad by the weekend. Funny thing is that it grows without me checking on it every day. Go figure.

Dragon Hill Farm Zinnia

2011-04-11T21:56:00.003-04:00

Born on 3/6/11 at Dragon hill farm. Photo by the LB. Who came over this afternoon with her man and exercised the goats.

PIctures soon

2011-04-10T22:24:00.004-04:00

Boy howdy, there is some cute goin' on at the Urban Farm. Two new residents arrived today. Two pretty darned fresh baby goats. One 5 weeks old and her half sister right on 4. They are wee and have elastic in their bones. Friendly like puppies and they love people. We have them in an abbreviated pen and temporary housing, but they have plenty of room to sproing and the SB moved a big chunk of log into the pen so they had something to climb on.

We arrived home from the farm late in the afternoon and the goats were welcomed by my mama and three of our closest neighbors. Everyone was enchanted, natch. Which is good. Cuz we are the ones that are going to be hearing them.

They bleated a bit when we all left to go inside. A heart wrenching 10 minutes, but since then, all has been quiet.

The SB and I will be trading off feeding duties, I'll take morning and night and he does the mid day shift. Three times a day shouldn't be too much longer. We are working them onto milk replacer from goat milk, slowly upping the proportions. The goat lady gave us some goat milk to help with the cross taper. She rocks. Cross your fingers for a smooth transition.

Names when we get to know them a little better.

Rural and Urban

2011-04-08T08:13:00.004-04:00

This is about the cutest story ever. This young man won a flock of fiber goats from Juniper Moon Farm. When he came to pick up his goats (from Oklahoma), he brought chickens as a hostess gift. Like, real live ones. Way to go kid. A. You know what a hostess gift is and B. you picked the perfect one for your hostess. Your mama is bringing you up right.

It makes me glad that there are kids like this out there still. So many are so completely incapable of doing anything but turning on the TV or killing aliens on the screen. Don't get me wrong, I can't turn on the TV at most people's houses. Luckily, I don't need to....

Glad too that there are people like Heidi out there. She is a total urban farming badass.

On another note, I was sitting for a new family last night and they were asking me all about the cville urban farm, was it a real farm in the city? did I have people working for me? was it my full time job? All this from my email address (found stage right if you need to reach me). Which I came up with a few years ago. Maybe even before the bees. It was a total "fake it 'til you make it" moment for me. So here, a few years later, I have bees, 10 ducks, probably 5-6 additional garden beds, and very soon some wee goatlings that will hopefully be contributing milk in 18 months. I wish it were my full time job. The SB is the only employee, paid in room and board. Is it a real farm in the city? Depends on your definition of farm.

Productivity

2011-04-05T20:21:00.003-04:00

I have had a relatively productive week. And it is only Tuesday. A list!

I
1. posted on the neighborhood email list for a doghouse, and found one. This will be the temporary goat housing while we work on the goat barn.
2. found some rhubarb from another neighbor down the street.
3. chatted with neighbors while walking to my mama's.
4. went to my goat cheese class.
5. planted potatoes
6. moved the bees another 5 feet out of the goat yard.
7. successfully retrieved a key from my neighbor when the SB accidentally (I think) locked me out of the house.
8. dug 2 post holes.
9. communicated with the goat breeder and reiterated our interest in the little caramel colored goat and one of her cousins.
10. received the goat milk replacer in the mail so as to be ready for bottle feeding baby goats.
11. called Southern States to be sure that they had timothy hay to start the wee ones on.

Also didn't sleep well due to the electric storm last night. Still need to work on the taxes. Taking Friday off to do goat fencing/prep in hopes of having goats home this weekend, though I suspect it will be a stretch.

Better than a fortune cookie

2011-03-31T22:04:00.002-04:00

I can't remember where I found this. I may have even shared it before. Tres Zen, n'est pas?

Goat kinda day

2011-03-28T22:20:00.003-04:00

The SB and I went out to the hinterlands today to meet some baby goats. Need I say more? I mean, really. I wanted to scoop up all 14 of them and bring every one of them home. They are pretty much the cutest most personable baby animals you are likely to meet. We picked out one. We may visit others on Friday. Somewhere in between we have to put up some fencing and get a doghouse to put them in until we get the goat barn done. The SB took lots of blurry pictures since the little critters wouldn't be still. I hope to post some tomorrow. EEEP.

That was followed by my goat cheese class. Basically exploring local food via goat cheese. Three classes and a Saturday tasting. Should be fun. Oddly, I know no one in the class except for the instructor. Weird.

Hoping the seedlings have survived the SNOW and several nights of temperatures in the upper 20s. This is what one gets for starting things too early. Worth it though if it means spinach soon. I am dying for greens. The only summer stuff left is some okra. I had to buy tomatoes over the weekend for chili. Looking forward to a few more okra dishes. We have a great Turkish okra and chicken recipe. But I will need more tomatoes.

Made butter over the weekend. Took flippin' forever for some reason. Even with a whisk and the kitchenaide mixer it took half an hour. I think that perhaps my cream wasn't separated well enough. Which may have something to do with the SB tilting my jug on its side while I was in the middle of draining the skimmed milk from the bottom of the jug (very scientific.... I punch a hole in the bottom of the jug with a knife and let the skim milk drain off). He is forgiven because he has built me garden beds and is now working on the goat enclosure. And he took pictures of baby goats for me. I am happy to cut him slack.

Seriously?

2011-03-26T09:46:00.003-04:00

I know that it is only March, but I got a notice via email this AM that there was a winter storm warning in effect for this evening with the possibility of up to 5 inches of snow. Um, Really?

Like my friend at Carter and Spence posted on her Facebook page yesterday... March- in like a lion, out like a yeti.

I have piled straw on all the seedlings and will cover them with Remay. Hopefully that gets us through the next several evenings of very cold (27 and 28 degree lows). Really I worry more about that than the snow, though 5 inches could be a real pain in the butt.

The SB put in three new garden beds this week. They will be planted with potatoes as soon as the snow is gone. Can you tell I am bitter?

On the good side, so far my summer seedlings are coming along swimmingly and I have lots of peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, tomatillos, and basil. This weekend I will start the zinnias and sunflowers and marigolds. I also have a bunch of leeks started. I planted them super heavy because my seed was old and I thought they wouldn't sprout, but it turns out, I will just have, like a billion leeks. Unless you want some. Then I will have less. So let me know if you want some seedlings. There is no way I have space to plant all of these. But I will plant many and be the happier for having enough to share as they are unimaginably delicious, especially in the Season of Frost.

Also on the list for the weekend is making butter. Tried this for the first time about four weeks ago with no success, possibly the milk was not separated well enough. Two weeks later, again, but with luck. But I added too much salt (idiot!). I will try again tomorrow after my cream has cultured a bit more.

I was out weeding this AM and found the first asparagus sprouts. They are puny. We need to move them to higher ground. It is long since time for us to have a real asparagus patch. Action should be taken, but we are so tied up with goat buildings etc it is hard to find time for another big digging project. We definitely need some staff.

Well that was a near thing....

2011-03-19T21:00:00.002-04:00

I put my seedlings out today. Some to harden on off, some to just soak up real sunlight and heat. I put them out where they wouldn't be in direct sun until noon or so, at which time I would move them. LUCKILY, I was out before that and noticed that although the sun hadn't hit them yet, some of the plants were wilting. Of course, the ones hit worst were the eggplants. If you have ever grown eggplant from seed you know that they are s.l.o.w. I packed them all inside immediately and put them on the heat pad under the lights. It wasn't the sun or dryness, but too much breeze that had gotten to the tender plants. THANKFULLY, they bounced back immediately after being inside. I cannot even imagine losing 3 weeks on eggplant seedlings. That would have been a total bummer.

I put out some fennel, cabbage and kohlrabi in the garden today. I am pushing things as I want the space under the lights to start the zinnias. Am I alone in not having enough space for gardening? Of course, it wouldn't matter how much I have, it will continue to be insufficient.

Season of Impatience

2011-03-19T08:25:00.002-04:00

I am generally an impatient person. Really, gardening is the only thing that keeps me grounded in reality. I find waiting a huge distraction from the present. I am working on that. Being present while waiting for other things to happen. Maybe even getting something done while I am waiting. Other than mentally pacing. Right now I am waiting for greens. And radishes. And for my seeds to come up and to have space to plant my zinnias under the basement lights. I am waiting for the goats to come (though the barn is still unfinished). I am trying to be patient.

We are making progress on the goat house. I have calls in to goat people about baby goats. I would really like a couple of very wee ones, for that is where much of the fun is, no? Plus there is all that relationship building to do....

The greens are up in the garden, I will transplant some very small cabbage and kohlrabi starts into the garden today to make room for the zinnias. I may even have to pot up some of my tomatoes into larger pots. The problem with that is they then take up so much space under the lights and leaving them out during the days risks having them dry out and losing all the time and effort.

We have a huge bed of tulips that we put in last year. We will be going to Southern States today to get T-posts and filament to "fence" it as deer LOVE tulips and I hear they don't like barriers that they cannot see. It is worth a try. I would hate to lose all the blooms to the voracious pests. What I haven't quite figured out is how to put a "gate" in this sort of fencing so that you can actually access what is there for weeding etc. I have a few ideas, but we'll have to see what the garden engineer has to say about it.

The ducks are pretty much full tilt now, 7-8 eggs a day. That adds up fast. The Diner will start taking them though, so we do have an outlet.

I'll be out in the garden most of the day, or preparing to garden or other garden related things. Nothing quite like central Virginia in the spring, eh?

Great day

2011-03-12T19:10:00.003-05:00

Wow. What a lovely day. It started as it always does, with feeding the ducks. The day was already on the way to being glorious. Then I made pizza. Turns out it was breakfast and lunch. Then I made butter. No really. It was totally cool. Except I added too much salt. I used these directions. I can tell it is one of those things that will take practice, but I am up for it. Anyone have any good recipes for buttermilk? I have a lot of buttermilk. Things are coming up in the garden, slowly, but surely. The tomatos in the basement are just getting their first true leaves. The SB and I worked on the goat pen. Really. And we visited with friends and neighbors. And we rounded up ducks from the neighbors yard. Three times. Really. When the SB gets back from work we'll be heading out for a beer at our local pub. Just keeps on gettin' better....

At least someone has come to his senses

2011-03-10T09:10:00.001-05:00

Thanks again, Mark Bittman for the update and the cautious optimism.

Grounded

2011-03-08T20:42:00.002-05:00

The SB and I are on opposite work schedules these days. Yesterday I came home to a note scratched on a green paper square that said "Bad ducks" in black permanent marker.

Today he sent me and email entitled, "Bad Ducks Part II" which reads...
"in this episode, watch as we round up the ducks from TWO yards away on the other side of the fence"

Apparently the spring time is making them somewhat adventurous.

They were grounded for the rest of the day, despite the fact that we got four eggs this morning.

Must try

2011-03-06T22:19:00.002-05:00

I don't have any idea what I would do with 5 cups of spicy chocolate sauce. Nope, can hardly think of a single thing to do with that. But I will make it anyway.

Once again from Punk Domestics. My "recipe" file is getting clogged with stuff from there....

Damp x like a million = today

2011-03-06T17:57:00.003-05:00

It rained today. A lot. Many inches of it. In duckland, the day was a perfect one. They got out early as it was a weekend and I was home. The creek was rolling and all the auxilliary creeks kicked in too, so there was tons of water to play in. Even the duck yard is full of enormous puddles, not so good for keeping the duck house in good repair, but exctiting for the inhabitants.

We had breakfast with our friend JG, then went out to slog through the water. The SB likes to go out in this weather and make sure that the creek isn't obstructed. I came in after I started to get soaked, but he stayed out. He helped the neighbor fix a clogged downspout. Turns out part of the clog was a garter snake. Go figure. I washed dishes, attacked cobwebs and took a nap. He did all sorts of outdoor maintenance. He was probably in the pouring rain, for like 3 hours. His boots were full of water. Oh, and did I mention he doesn't have a raincoat? No? He doesn't. Soaked and prune-y he is napping.

As are the ducks, who, despite having run around all day "foraging" were starving when they finally got locked in for the evening.

I am afraid the clover we planted in the garden paths is probably in Richmond by now, by way of the James River. We have sheets of water running through the garden paths....The rain is good fro the transplants though. We got a huge number of small boxwoods over the weekend from a friend. Put in a bunch yesterday, pretty roughly b/c of the sheer numbers and the time we could devote. The rain makes me think they might make it yet.

I called the goat lady today to ask about the availability of baby goats. She wants to hang on to hers until the end of March as she is teaching a class. She has only had one goat of six kid so far. It had four babies. FOUR. Um. Wow. I also got some vet recommendations. The thought of entering this endeavor without back up is terrifying.

I hope we are ready by the end of March, but I suspect it will be later. And the rain can lighten up any time now.

Veeeery Interestink

2011-03-03T21:01:00.001-05:00

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Thanks for the link LB.

Always Welcome

2011-03-02T20:50:00.004-05:00

Common sense is always welcome, probably due to its rarity. Thanks Mark. You go. I just don't have much faith that anyone who can do anything about it has a fraction of the sense it takes to think through this.

On Fluid Plans

2011-02-28T20:48:00.003-05:00

Over the winter I kept myself sane by drawing up moderately detailed garden plans. I sorted my seeds into the "start inside earliest", "start inside later", "direct sow early", "direct sow May", etc.

I planted inside early and had a slow start due to technical problems. Actually due to problems with my brain functioning, but we will just let that go for now. Two Fridays ago, it was warm. It was so beautiful as a matter of fact that I had to leave work early and come home and throw seeds into the ground. I stayed pretty much on target for that one 5'x5' bed. The SB and I went to Southern States over the weekend. He was keen on us getting cover crops to hold the beds over until we planted our summer stuff out. Luckily they didn't have any because I came home and "accidentally" planted the bed that the peppers and eggplant are going to be in this summer. I just threw in all the stuff that would be done or bolted by mid May... Which is probably going to be less than I think, but definitely includes beets, carrots, arugula, broccoli raab, lettuce and spinach. Some of the other stuff like chard can go for a while. I also put in peas. I assume we can just run the beans up the same trellis a little later in the season. I also got the summer stuff started in the basement. An entire 128 cells of peppers, tomatillos, eggplant, tomatoes and basil. Cross your fingers and hope for some serious harvest.

We put clover seed in the garden paths. Talk about hoping for the best.... We did get rain today, so I hope that helps it get a jump on the weeds.

The ducks are now banished from the garden for the foreseeable future. They can put a hurtin' on some newly planted seeds. It is unfortunate as they are good company. They sort of forget that I am there after a while and just snorfle around and talk to each other. I just eavesdrop. It really is the only way to keep up on the news from that quarter.

I think there are now two ducks laying. I am hoping this is the last week I have to buy eggs until November.

Season of Hope

2011-02-26T11:10:00.002-05:00

This is the time of year when things begin to look up. There is a light at the end of the tunnel that is winter. The days are longer, and things start to grow.

My basement seedlings are coming along slowly. I wish it were faster, but I can't see heating the whole of the basement for a flat of plants. They are relatively toasty with the heating mat and under the light cover. I think I have finally figured out the timer and the mats. That definitely set me back.

Last week the weather was gor.geous. I lost my head a bit and put out some seeds directly in the garden. It was too dry for them to do anything and I didn't want to set the hose up, knowing that we would have serious frosts again. So they just got watered Thursday. They are covered with remay, as is the teeny plot of chard that seems to have wintered over. Good ol' Italian Silver Rib. If anyone can do it, it will be ISR. Only one of the many reasons I love that chard.

This morning I planted a bunch of my summer stuff. Tomatillos, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and basil. There is more to do, but I am limited by the space under the lights. I am itching to get some other things in... zinnias, sunflowers, ground cherries, etc.

I think this weekend we will be going to Lowes for more garden edging. We want to put in a few new beds for potatoes, and the planting of those is not so far off (St. Paddy's day). Plus I am wanting some hardy kiwi. We will have to incorporate that into the plan as well. The SB is hot for planting a cover crop to keep things together until the direct seeded stuff goes in the garden in May. And we are going to try to plant clover in the garden paths... We had sheet mulched them with newspaper and cardboard, but, as you can imagine, it looks like hell. It would be nice to have something a little more attractive, and since the newspaper and cardboard killed out most of what was growing, now seems a good time to plant. The cardboard and newspaper goes into the compost with the straw from the duck yard. THAT is another weekend project. The rain and warm temps have reminded us that the decomposition has started.

We did get the first egg of the season on Friday.

Hope to start work on the goat complex this weekend. Much to do.

Urban Homesteading on the Urban Farm

2011-02-21T22:26:00.002-05:00

My parents moved to this neighborhood when I was in high school. What drew them initially was the rural nature of the place. When I was in high school, there was a cow pasture a block and half from our house. There were chickens. You could hear a rooster on some mornings. But we were right on the bus line and less than a mile from downtown. In the ensuing years, the cow pasture disappeared to make way for the new development. The roosters came and went. The gardens were always here. Our neighborhood is near The River. And much of the land has escaped development b/c of the flood plain.

My end of the neighborhood, just a few blocks from my parents, was divided off in the 1870s or 1880s. Sold off to pay off the debt of a dead man. The lots were divided into one acre plots. Someone figured this was about right. This was a village then, separate from the city with its own store/pub, schoolhouse and manufacturing. The people who lived here worked at The Mill. And the people that built and owned houses, at least in some areas, had acre lots. They grew their own food. They had animals. There was common grazing ground across the train tracks and children would take the animals back and forth. And that is in living memory. When we renovated, we removed some very bug eaten old wood dividers that had canning records scrawled on them. How many quarts of green beans. And the vaccination and calving dates for Inky the cow. Inky may have lived in the backyard, or maybe at the common grazing grounds. This was in the 60s I think, so probably the back yard. There was also an old chicken coop, fallen down around a perfect glass egg that was put in the nest to encourage the chickens to "lay here".

I hesitate to call us an urban homestead, since we have an acre and a half (the owner of our property was owed money by the person who owned the lot behind and they made it up in half an lot). So many are out there doing more with so much less. But we are in the City limits. We are making our way. Slowly slowly. At first one garden bed, then two. Then we raised them and enclosed them. Two more beds and two more. Bees. Two more garden beds. Then the ducks. Soon, we hope, goats. The SB wants to build a solar dryer and I hope we can hook up our rain barrels this year. May solar hot water heating? Who knows? We are learning more every year. Sometimes we have the privilege of sharing that with others. That is what people who are interested in this do....

We would have done this whether or not anyone else was doing it. So have many people here. It is our culture and our history. This place attracts people who appreciate it for what it is, has been and will be. We are lucky to have found our home here. I can't imagine being any place else. People here have been growing their own right here in the city limits since we were annexed around the middle of the last century. And I am betting that a good number of them have never heard of a family in Pasadena that is so much in the news - but this post isn't about them, it is about urban homesteading.

Neighborhood friends, feel free to correct my dates and timing and add your own stories. And if you want to learn more about the 'hood, you can go here and read from the beginning where it is all beautifully spelled out and lovingly illustrated.

On Fire

2011-02-19T08:50:00.004-05:00

The blogosphere is on fire. Since I am not a fray-enterer, I will just say that I concur with what the people are saying. A very famous family in CA has trademarked the words "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading". Those of us who are also gardening/keeping animals/orcharding/etc will now be unable to use these terms unless we give credit to The Family.

Boy howdy. There are some excellent posts out there. There is a face book page. Here are a few links:

From Kate at Living the Frugal Life
From Dog Island Farm
and Havenscourt Homestead with a whole list of other links (including a very good one from Punk Domestics which happens to be another favorite site of mine and has a good rundown of the full story to date...)

Many of these folks say exactly what I would... The Family has done a lot of good work. I have always been somewhat uneasy with their persistent marketing. I gave the benefit of the doubt. It is tough to make a living as a farmer, especially when there are 4 mouths to feed and none of them seem to work outside the home. They did a great job of promoting themselves. They had lots of speaking gigs and reporters and TV shows etc. I am sure they work hard. But they have also isolated themselves from the other people who have embarked on this journey. They assumed that since they were getting attention that they were leading the pack when the truth is, they were part of a resurgence that would have happened with or without them. The internet has allowed them to have the spotlight shone upon them which they seem to enjoy. It also seems to have blinded them to the rest of the community.

The Family's response to the hulla ba loo in all this is to shut down, retreat and play the injured party. Sorry Family, but here is my message to you. If you want to play in the big leagues you have to act like adults and enter the conversation - shutting down your sites and turning off the comments is cowardly. Get your head out of your .1 acre and start looking around at what all these great people are doing for sustainability, food security and environmentalism and the local food movement. You didn't start that movement. There is ample evidence you weren't the first to come up with the term or the methods. Step off and let people talk and share info and celebrate good work without having to give you credit. There are a lot of people working jobs while trying to make their way through all this. Finding ways to coop their effort and restrict how they talk about it are absurd and unfriendly.

Wow. Look at that, I DID enter the fray.

And now for more regularly scheduled programming... I made the leap and planted some seeds outside yesterday. Radishes, lettuce, arugula, beets, chard, spinach and mustard. And onion sets. I NEVER have luck with onions, but I do love banging my head against a wall. The seedlings in the basement are finally coming around. Way too slow for me, but there you go.

I may do some more planting today, but it is windy something awful. I may just go ahead and start the tomatoes and peppers and such. It is early, but those stinkin' eggplant take for freaking ever.

My neighbor gave me some cranesbill, which I am very excited to have. I bought seeds, but I am hoping that this will get me started while I see if I can get the other stuff rolling. It may be a whole year before the seeds even sprout, so it is nice to have a jump start.

If the ducks don't start laying soon, they are going in the stock pot.

So far the bees are alive, but with this warm weather, I need to be sure to keep them fed since they will be up and about and eating more but without any food out there.... Generally they call March the "starving time" for bees around here for this reason.

Busy weekend.

Not Done

2011-02-10T21:18:00.002-05:00

We never actually seem to finish projects, but we have made some major decisions, I think, about how to inhabit our space in a little more sane way. Of course, implementation will be off in the future.

When we haven't been planning, I have been finding lots of inspiration from Collette Patterns spring wardrobe challenge. Check it out. I am in awe of the energy.

The weather promises to be fantastic this weekend. I may even put some seeds out since my early starting has been foiled by a malfunctioning heating mat and a confounding timer. The best laid plans, no?

It is time to feed the bees. I am looking forward to checking in on them....

Not

2011-01-29T08:11:00.003-05:00

I have run into a couple of places where there is a rebellion against minimalism. By minimalists. Minimalism has never been a problem for the SB and I .... We tend toward the opposite extreme. Certainly not a shock to those of you who know us. We are so not minimal that we actually have a housemate. See, we even have people in the house in addition to the other treasures.

The housemate is gone for a month. In Hawaii. Lucky dog.

While she is away, we are tearing apart the house, rearranging work spaces and sorting and getting rid of a portion of our excesses via eBay, Etsy, Freecycle, Salvation Army, etc. It is no small job and it is in addition to the onset of gardening season. There is going to need to be some serious streamlining around here.

Because of the big projects and the potential to be moving my work space, I am not going to be on the internets much. Farewell world, until we meet again....

Decisions

2011-01-19T18:17:00.003-05:00

Before I get to far, let me just say that the ducks are fine. I know you were on the edge of your seat waiting to hear that. When I came in from the morning feeding I told the SB the good news. He was unsurprised. He said he is beyond attributing sense to the actions of the ducks. Which equates to "Who knows the mind of a duck?" We are on the same page I suppose.

In other news. ... My seeds have started to arrive. So far, I have expected the packages. There have been years where I have continued to receive fat little envelopes from seed companies whose names only sound vaguely familiar. When opened, they begged comments like "Did I order this?" "Don't I already have some of this?" etc. If you are a gardener, perhaps you understand.

Today's order from JUNG was relatively light. I got four 128-cell seedling trays,

4 packets of zinnias, some cutting celery, ground cherries (free), and some stupid teddy bear sunflowers (also free). The two bundles of strawberries will be shipped at the appropriate planting time. Oh yeah, and some foxglove. You see, this wasn't my REAL seed order. That arrived a few days ago from Southern Exposure. I was pretty sneaky with that.... I ordered with a neighbor, so when a relatively large envelope arrived, and was greeted by the SB's raised eyebrow, I had the excuse that not ALL those seeds were mine. It was a shared order. Probably 5-10% of that order would be leaving the house, but I didn't get specific on that.

Probably this weekend I will start some seedlings. I have 256 cells to plant since I have two trays that fit under my grow light and two heating mats. I am going to have to parse out what goes first.... spinach, beets, lettuce, chard.... some of these things go so fast, they won't even get started indoors. I think I am going to try radishes again, and just try to pick them early before they get so hot. I said I wouldn't do it again, but the prospect of vegetables from the garden in only a month is pretty compelling right now.... Kale, arugula and mustard may go straight into the garden. They go so fast... Then second plantings right into the garden to extend the season, the earliest stuff goes to make room for the summer things....

I have some plannin' to do!

The Ducks are Nervous

2011-01-18T20:13:00.004-05:00

I don't know what is up. The ducks are in a tight little flock and very nervy today. I didn't think to count them when I put them up as they were all discombobulated at the time.... we were putting them in and they got split up because they panicked. More panic ensued - squawking, running, falling, running, flocking....

I just went to take the compost out (while my new bottle of wine was breathing) and they were still freaked. So I went down to count them thinking perhaps something had happened to one which is why they were in a tiz. I can tell you that counting 9 or 10 brown, black and gray ducks in the semi dark while they are moving is a challenge. Especially when they are all flocked up tight. They are very quiet now. Which is odd. We usually hear them in the evenings quacking, or at least one of them quacks. Often. And I usually wish they would be quiet, but now I wish they would quack like normal so that I wouldn't wonder if there were 9 or 10 ducks out there. Be careful what you wish for. I guess we'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Maybe they have just been menaced by something during the day. Maybe there was a real attack. Maybe they think it is about time someone ate them since they aren't producing any eggs. Who knows the mind of a duck?

The Bright Side

2011-01-16T07:46:00.001-05:00

The best part of being woken up from a restful sleep at 5:30 AM by a cat who wants to go out and not being able to go back to sleep because now that you are up and all the snot has started to move around you can't really breath and when you do you start coughing like you are going to lose a lung is that you get to just decide to stay up and brew a pot of chai and watch the very orange-y sunrise.

That is the best part.

Love,
Polly Anna

Ah habba told.

2011-01-15T07:59:00.003-05:00

I am stuffed up, snot filled and cranky. But no fever, so I am going to just try to lay low and rest. Even though I have a million things on the list. I think I will move "nap" up a few notches.

When I feel this way, I always want hot and spicy to loosen everything up. This morning I went straight for the chai. Here is the current recipe:

5-6 cardamom pods bruised
6-7 whole cloves
a pinch of cinnamon
20 red pepper flakes
4-5 fat slices of ginger
grating of fresh nutmeg
generous grind of black peppercorns

This all goes in a saucepan with 4 cups of water. It simmers for a while (like 5 minutes), and you can steep it too if you have to go out and feed the ducks or an errand or something. When you get back to it, heat it up to just about to simmer and add 4 level measuring teaspoons of tea (why do you think they call them teaspoons - duh). Let that sit at just under a simmer for a couple minutes. I use a mix of Earl Grey and Indian teas. After 2 minutes or so, add 1/2-3/4 cup of whole milk and about 4 t. sugar (or to taste). Let that sit a couple minutes and then strain it into a warm teapot. Steam your face with it before imbibing. Think that perhaps you may survive, but if you don't at least you will die caffeinated and warm.

Have you seen this?

2011-01-14T15:27:00.003-05:00

Wow, one of my new totally favorite internet stops.

Here are a couple of urban farm blogs I have been dropping by as well. And what do they have that I don't, besides goats, rats, rabbits, chickens and horses plowing the gardens? Pictures. I have to work on that.

Waxing Practical

2011-01-11T20:47:00.002-05:00

I don't know if you have read the book Goat Song yet. It's a nice read. The author is eloquent about his passion for goats and especially cheese making. Poetic even.

I am a practical person. So tonight, I waxed my cheddar cheeses. I melted the wax in a re-purposed tomato can with an old boar bristle basting brush. The job would be considered well done if it was the product of a 10 year old. Since I am considerably past that decade, I will say that it is adequate. I am sure when the SB sees it, he will want to touch it all up and make it more even - he likes things to be beautiful more than practical... (which is to say he probably married the wrong woman, but that is a different story.) I am fine with it just being done. I love done.

Check

2011-01-08T15:03:00.003-05:00

I am not big on New Year's resolutions, but I do have some lists... In addition to the "get more exercise" and "stop eating so much bacon" on that list, there are a few other things.

I want to learn how to make those looped wool rugs. Not latch hooked rugs, but the real thing with strips of wool.
I want to make my own soap.
I want to make cheese from my own goat milk.
It goes on like this.... Some items very ambitious, others so do-able.

Today, I crossed one of the things off the list.... That was making my own laundry soap. I have no idea where I got this recipe, but it takes about 10 minutes to put together. Or less.

3 cups borax
2 cups baking soda
2 cups washing soda
1 small bar of castile soap, grated

Mix it all up and use a 1/8 cup per load.

I whipped it up this AM and ran 3 loads so far. Even the SB's outdoor work jeans came clean (at least as clean as they ever do).

The big bonus is that I won't have to have plastic containers kicking around. I hate those things, even if they are "recycle-able". Oddly, this is what drove me to start making my own yogurt as well. Though I do still sometimes buy yogurt if I lose my culture.

Nice to have one thing off the list as the bacon thing isn't going anywhere as of yet.

Birdies

2011-01-08T09:51:00.002-05:00

When I came home from work last night I found the SB working outside despite the dark. He told me that he was trying to tighten up the building materials we are collecting for the goat barn and garden pavilion because the little birdies were predicting snow. Of course, he meant it literally. He is convinced that the flying patterns of the small birds changes when snow is imminent. They fly low to the ground and flit from grassy clump to seedy stalk. I told the SB that the weather did not call for snow.

Later we went out to our local theater for a show and a few drinks at one of our favorite restaurants post show. (It was like old home week there and we ran into about 8 people we knew - the benefits of a relatively small town.) When we got home around 1AM, the SB said to me, "I guess the birdies were wrong." Except that they weren't cuz I woke up this morning to a light dusting of the white stuff.

Homesteading moments

2011-01-02T19:13:00.003-05:00

I was just cutting the curds in my second batch of cheddar this morning. On the counter next to me was the start of some homemade biscuits (the flour, salt and baking powder mixed with the home rendered lard waiting for the SB's wake up time, it is after all, his birth week celebration). I realized I hadn't heard the ducks in a while, and like small children, one should be concerned they are up to something when they are not making copious amounts of noise... So I put down my curd cutting knife and look out the window. Yes, they were there at the alley, contemplating a sprint across the gravel to the neighbors yard. So I stopped everything and dashed outside in my yoga pants and apron to bring the ducks back to the garden where they could roam in a state of semi freedom while I attended to the more pressing tasks of making cheese and breakfast. We are so effing homestead here I can't stand it.

"It won't be long now"

2011-01-01T08:54:00.003-05:00

This is the actual phrase that went through my head last night as I was falling asleep. I had been kid wrangling late which gave me lots of time to work on my 2011 spring garden plan (we won't even pretend that it is for the full season since we know that I am a winging it kinda gardener). As I sat there staring at my blocks and being super thankful that the SB is a guy who really likes digging, it seemed like spring and planting was just around the corner. Granted, I'll put some stuff in the basement under lights around the end of February, and we may put some stuff in a cold frame sooner, but really, harvest is not so close. The earliest would be April, right? March in the cold frame.... 90 days.... 1/4 of a year.... Sigh. I guess it is closer than it was a month ago.

I will be inventorying my seeds and making my first orders Sunday. This is the Season of Danger when it comes to blowing lots of cash on garden stuff. I have an ENTIRE drawer full of seeds. I can always convince myself I need more, different, better, faster, stronger seeds. Truly, how do non gardeners get through the winter?

Break

2010-12-31T08:06:00.004-05:00

I think this is the longest break from work I have taken in years... Off a half day on the 22nd, back to work on the 3rd and only a half day in the office in between. Sheer freakin' bliss.

On the 28th I made cheese with my neighbor. She had The Cheese Kit. I had done this with the food crafting girls a while back, but since it was a while ago, it was like starting all over. Except that I also tried some cheddar. You inoculate the slightly warmed milk the night before with some yogurt or buttermilk and let it sit at room temp. By morning it was certainly thicker than regular milk. I walked it over to the neighbors as we were doing this in her fabulous kitchen. Then you add the rennet and let the milk sit for an hour. Which we did. Only we used my rennet which had apparently lost its kick. So the first 30 minutes nothing happened. We added new rennet and 60 minutes later we had a lovely curd - lesson learned, keep your rennet in the freezer. (We were doing other things along the way, making mozzarella, drinking tea and eating home made toast). The curds were cut into tiny squares, then stirred gently for 15 minutes while the whole thing was held between 90-100 degrees. The whey was drained off, and the curds were put into a clean cloth fitted into a clean tomato can with both ends cut out. I then took this home and placed one of the can ends on the top of the cheese which was on top of my cooling rack. On top of the can I put a smaller can (tuna, full and unopened) and and a couple of fat cookbooks (the Joy, and 1000 Chinese Recipes). We pressed it overnight on the counter and then wrapped it in fresh cloth and stuck it in the fridge where it will hang for a week or two until it forms a rind (which appears to be happening) then I am supposed to put cheese wax on it. But I will probably eat it instead.

We went to dinner at our other neighbors house. Cold roast beef, roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts and Christmas pudding with hard sauce. Yum.

I went shopping with Cho to the new fabric store. All I could do was think that those lovely upholstery fabrics would look great in the garden pavilion. Or the goat barn.

I walked to the Tea House with my chummy and had a pot of tea.

I made goat stew from the Frugal Gourmet. I messed with the recipe.

I made no knead bread. And messed with the recipe (adding 1/2 cup oatmeal and a bit of wheat germ to tone down all the whiteness) and had success.

I got a comment on my blog from the MENews people regarding my dissing of the garden planner. I was corrected.

I moved heavy things.

I saw an owl fly through our backyard.

We worked on the garden pavilion and goat barn plans. We made a model of the goat barn in cardboard.

See how much fun I am when I don't work? Someone should buy me out so I can be a stay-at-home homesteader and blog about it.

Post Christmas Post

2010-12-26T09:40:00.005-05:00

Now that the gifts have been delivered and opened, I can tell you what I have been working on...

Chai spice concentrate for tea (or coffee) from here. Modified, of course. I like my spices a little stronger than what I got from the original recipe, and a little spicier. What I miss from my own chai is the warm fragrant fresh ginger. I may continue to work with this and see if I can sneak that in without making it chunky/funky.... All in all, I think it was pretty successful. I'll be taking some to work for afternoon tea, since we don't have real milk there and I don't do caffeinated tea without some kind of milk. Non dairy creamer does not merit consideration.

Mocha hazelnut biscotti - from a modified recipe in Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray. The straight up recipe is for chocolate biscotti, and it couldn't be easier. The nuts make it a little tricky as things tend to want to fall apart a little more, but... All worth it. I think this was a great success. The biscotti are crunchy, not too hard and not too sweet. Basically Sweet Maria's recipe with tiny bits of chocolate, finely ground coffee and bits of toasted hazelnut. Yum.

So here is my question, is it bad to put recipes from books on the blog? I don't know.... and I don't know why this has just occurred to me that it might not be all together on the up and up....Advice please!

Cranberry Apple Bread - this is my holiday standby. I make small loaves of this for neighbors and friends and lots for the house here. The recipe (Dutch apple bread with cranberries, I actually haven't messed with this much) is from A World of Breads which I love and am sure I have told you about before. It is from the time before "artisan" baking was what people talked about. It goes through about a million recipes for all kinds of yummy breads, including multiple recipes for cornbread, biscuits, etc. If you want to be an artisan bread baker, make them all and figure out what makes those recipes tick. You don't need pretty pictures for that - and you won't find no pretty pictures in that book. It is one of my most used cookbooks along with the Joy of Cooking.

The ducks spent the holiday at work. I put them into the garden to hunt for anything that might be chillin' beneath the leaves for winter. They really take a long time to warm up to these tasks so I figured I had better keep them in condition for the upcoming spring thaw. I did a trial subscription to the Mother Earth News Garden Planner. I am not impressed. It doesn't allow you to modify for vertical gardening or mixed plantings (like lettuce beneath the okra). So I would say it might be good for folks who like to row plant, but for me, well, I am just a little more free form than all that. It would be nice to have actual plans from past gardens, but I think I can live without that. Gardens are something like theater, once it is gone it is gone and the memories are all you have, other than the friendships forged in the sharing of them.

The SB and I spent the day on the FUF thrashing through the design of our garden pavilion. It will be awesome if it comes to fruition. Rilly. In preparation for the pavilion we moved a tree/shrub (Carolina Silverbell) and planted some winter berry hollies, so in future, we hope to have us some of this.

I have more days off, Woot!, and hope to get lots of organizing, straightening and cleaning done around the house. Unfortunately, I am being distracted by the internets....

What I love about winter

2010-12-24T07:59:00.004-05:00

As you know, winter arrived with a bang this year which included a total eclipse of the moon in the wee hours of the AM. I am lucky enough to have the SB up at wee hours so he woke me when the time was right for me to see the most in the shortest amount of time. And I didn't even have to get out of bed. THAT is my idea of stargazing. The only disappointment about the arrival of winter was that it had felt for at least a month or so like it already was winter. The Season of Smartwool started a while back. I rejoice now if we get above 40 during the day.

So in the spirit of embracing the uncomfortable and demoralizing things you cannot change, I will make a list (for SHG) about the things that I really love about winter. It will be short but heart felt.

1. I can use the back porch as an auxiliary freezer.
2. I get to wear my favorite winter hat.
3. Give me a minute, I'm thinkin' I'm thinkin'......
4. No mosquitoes.
5. Time for indoor work (at least in theory). (I have made a few stabs at a garden apron for myself made from a linen dress that was falling apart. So far so good)

I hope you have planned a lovely holiday with family and friends and lots of time for the things that make you happy. Here at the Future Urban Farm, we will fill our days much as we always do with planning.

Happy vacation to those of you lucky enough to have it.

Tea and garden dreaming

2010-12-11T10:57:00.002-05:00

I found this recipe earlier this week. I have been tilting at windmills when it comes to chai. I have tried much and hadn't found anything I liked. The NYT recipe was obscenely simple. So of course I had to complicate it....

I knew the tea I was using (something from India brought to me by one of the residents I work with) wasn't going to produce a strong enough brew in the time given. So I used 5 t. tea to 4 (ish) cups water. I added 3 cardamom pods (crushed/chopped), 4 slices of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, about 4 cloves and a few red pepper flakes and about 1 1/2 T. sugar. I added 3/4 c. milk cuz I like it milky. I actually simmered per the directions. Shocking. It turned out pretty well. I drank it all and now have a total caffeine buzz. The brew wasn't perfect, but definitely on the right track. It wasn't quite as rich as I would like. I think I will try simmering the spices first for a few minutes then adding the tea. I would like to avoid the over brewed tea bitterness but get more from the spices. A bit more milk might help as well.

And because currently, everything relates to the garden, I am thinking of growing some bergamot for my own tea flavoring, which could be a nice little addition. Renee's is also selling seed for hibiscus for tea, which could be great as well (and while you are there, check out some of the spectacular lavender varieties, not to mention some golden beets, a trio of melons, and other fancy stuff). I have many many plans for the coming year. If 30% of them come to fruition, it will be a bloody miracle.

One of them includes selling off my extra seedlings - probably cheap since I just need to pay for my habit.... I LOVE starting seeds and even with our big garden, I can start WAY more than I need in the basement. Shoot me an email if you want to be on the list for leftovers.

Season

2010-12-09T20:46:00.003-05:00

We have crossed from the Season of Frost to the Season of Smartwool. And seeing as my smartwool is still languishing in a trunk somewhere I am officially and seasonally appropriately freezing my ass off. Big leaky house + temps only in the 30s during the day x one week = supercranky.

I think the last several nights have done in the last of the veggies. Except I hope the rest of the carrots are OK. I have pictures of the last harvest, but the SB has to send them to me as he downloaded them. I will post. We will see if anything recuperates come springtime.

The last few nights I have fallen asleep planning my spring/summer vegetable beds. Last night the last thing I remember was trying to decide if I needed one or two kinds of marigolds.

I was at an office party last week and started talking veggie gardens with another woman. The rest of the group began to drain away as we went on and on about how therapeutic gardening is, how rewarding, the triumph and heart break, the back breaking work, the absurd and slightly embarrassing joy of the perfect pumpkin, etc, etc. Eventually we changed topics and other people decided they could be around us once again. (I can't blame them, I would have done the same if others started talking sports or prime time TV.)

These instances are how I know that I am totally and completely obsessed. I have become one of THOSE people. (woot!)

I got my first gardening catalog in the mail today. I am marking pages, veggies, varieties, etc. This will go on through January. By then I have pretty much marked everything and I have to start over, which is fine - I am pretty easily entertained. SESE has a great planting guide in the catalog and posted on the main website as a pdf. Invaluable if you live in Virginia.

I just read about sorrel here, which reminded me that I want some of that too. Along with rhubarb and horseradish.

Thither and Yon

2010-12-04T08:12:00.003-05:00

I have been over here. Doin' stuff.

A quick Saturday AM post. In the garden still some carrots, kale, arugula, parsley and lots of cabbage. Hopefully cabbage goes lactic this weekend.

Ducks are good, though they have essentially stopped laying. Slackers.

Planning for the spring garden. The goat barn/pen. The out buildings and a possible greenhouse in the not too near future.

Got some greenhouse plastic to do some early cropping in the garden. Can't wait to order seeds though I need nothing. Except carrots. And long beans. And corn. And spinach.

We are considering moving our asparagus to dryer locations as it has yet to produce for us (in 10 years). Must be the high water table there. I am on the look out for some perennial veg to add to the landscape, anyone have extra rhubarb or horseradish?

Gumbo

2010-11-14T14:27:00.004-05:00

How is it that I have made it this far in my cooking career without ever making gumbo? Somehow it seems to have been so, but that all came to an end today. I found this recipe on the Internets and then, go figure, winged it. I decided on gumbo because of all the okra in the freezer. That stuff has got to go someplace and there is little that I think to put okra in... First of all, I used bacon fat since I had some. A couple tablespoons full and added a chopped onion, two ribs of celery, half a carrot, one roasted red pepper and a couple of small hot and sweet peppers. I sauteed those for a bit in the fat and waited until the juices evaporated and the veggies were relatively dry. Then I added a couple tablespoonfuls of flour and sauteed that for a while til it got a little brown. Then I started adding hot stock a little at a time. When it got kind of broth-y, I added a bay leaf, some cooked chicken and some sausage slices. Then some frozen summer tomatoes and then a potato because it was on the counter and otherwise in my way. Then I chopped up some of the okra from the freezer. Salt. Pepper. YUM. It is going to be super tasty over rice. I think that is its job.

I also made some bolognese. We are gonna do some good eatin' this week.

As Expected

2010-11-09T19:56:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I am not the new hot blog in Turkey. I can accept that.

Planted the garlic this weekend. We did some other transplanting in the yard and garden. I made bread. And finally effing finished the green tomatoes. The bowl of peppers remains on the counter. I must have frozen gallons of hot peppers this year. I guess my next bit thing will be chili.

The time change has kicked my butt.

OK Fess Up

2010-11-02T21:20:00.001-04:00

I don't know about you, but I like to look at my blog stats. I mean, I know YOU can't look at MY blog stats, but maybe you can monitor your own. In the last week, I have apparently become very popular (I mean this in a relative way) and let's just say a large percentage of my page views have come from the Netherlands, Japan and Turkey. The SB, being the raging optimist that he is, says that it is probably drone computers trying to hack into something. Actually, I AM a raging optimist and I can't really figure out any other reason why I might be getting page views from around the world. Of course, I would be flattered if the folks in the Netherlands, Japan and Turkey wanted to pop in and peruse my garden hints, check in on the ducks and live vicariously through me living vicariously through other bloggers. But somehow, I doubt that is what is happening.

So, if you are reading, and you are outside the US of A, please leave a comment and tell me what you think. Of course, if you are IN the US of A, you are welcome to comment as well. We love us some comments at the old urban farm.

In other news, we continue to close in on some kind of architectural solution to the problem of housing two tiny goats on 1.49 acres. At this rate, we should be good to go for spring. 2014.

The Season of Frost

2010-10-30T08:00:00.004-04:00

The Season of Frost is that period of late fall where the frost is killing, but the days are warm and the air is clear and you can use the back porch as a cooler. (Of course, I just made this up b/c it sounds good to me for it to have a name) The season of frost will end with the first snow or the days that don't get above 45. The season that follows is called the Season of Smartwool. Anywhoo, I knew the season of frost had begun by the first hard-ish frost and the very recognizable "ping" that heralds the cracking of my teacup when it is filled with hot water. Despite the fact that this pretty much happens every year, I still don't learn. We are down to exactly two coffee cups.

More Debriefing

2010-10-27T20:12:00.002-04:00

As you know, I am enthralled with vegetable varieties. Why have 3 varieties of tomatoes when 12 will be better? Just one type of beet? Why bother?

I actually let my guard down this spring. I planted (at least) two varieties of tomatillos. Once called Verde that I had last year, and one called Everona Large. I got these because they grow well at Everona Dairy, and that is so near by. And I love their cheese. Turns out, I got so excited about the sturdy Everona tomatillo plants that I didn't have room for the Verdes. Now, over the past few years, regardless of weather, I have had tomatillos leaping out of the garden from June to frost. My freezer is full of tomatillo sauce. This year? Large sturdy plants with many blooms and almost no fruit. It was actually, worse than nothing. Several fruits at a time, with weeks between, so they basically all went to waste as there were never enough to do anything with.... I would have preferred a swift death by wilt as then I would have ripped the plants out and replaced them. Had I been my usual self, I would be able to compare the Verde and the Everona and I would know if it was the new variety or some oddity of the climate, soil, garden action, etc. I fertilized this year, and "they" say tomatillos like poor soil. It was unspeakably dry and hot. But one would think they would prefer such conditions as the tomatoes and peppers were fantastic.

This is EXACTLY the reason for multiple varieties.

One of Many

2010-10-26T21:22:00.003-04:00

I have about 10 posts swirling around in my brain right now. Most of them revolving around debriefing after the summer garden. On a normal day, I would do a list (for SHG) but today, no. I will have one ode to the forgotten garden item. The one I am sorely missing now that the weather has turned cool an it is time for soups. And that item...

Leeks.

The past several years I have started the leeks early. Ridiculously, absurdly, unreasonably early. I put the seeds in the dirt in January. They are ready to plant out early in March. Then they are still small as the weather warms. You can eat them, certainly, but they are quite onion-y. None of the subtle sweetness. And small. Hardly-worth-it-for-heavens-sake-just-buy-a-scallion. So I would leave them in the garden, growing along until fall, when they would look fat and lovely and be mild and delicious. Especially after the frosts. I would have leeks through Thanksgiving. I mulched them heavily to try to prevent the splitting from the outsides freezing, but then they would get a little slimey. None the worse though if you pulled off the outer leaves.

This year, THIS year I thought I would get clever and put off the planting of leeks until mid summer. They take 120 days, and since you want the growth to all happen before the last frost, you have to count back 4 months from October 15, which would be....um, right June 15. Which is precisely when the rest of the garden is packed with other goods. So this year, not only did I forget to start the little beggers in May/June, I wouldn't have had any space if I had. Poor planning indeed. And the price is no lovely leeks for soup or smashed potatoes. Dag. I miss those critters.

Frankly, I have never done the onion thing well, but I have muddled through with the leeks. I'll have to not think too much about it for next year. Thinking seems to be where I really get myself in trouble.

Winner

2010-10-24T08:03:00.002-04:00

I made a batch of Farm Girl Susan's No Sugar Green Tomato Relish last night. It was simple. No peeling, only rough chopping, and long simmering. She hits it with an immersion blender at the end, but I just used a potato masher for a chunkier sauce. I think I will add more heat though, even with the 4 jalapenos called for, the heat factor is only about at 3 of 10, though I should probably taste it again after an overnight sit before I make my final determination.

I put it in bags to freeze since I was too disorganized to get the canning together last night. Heading down to make another batch now. It will be a good stand in for tomatillo salsa. And with more pepper and cilantro added would be chimichuri-ish and fabulous with grilled meats. This is such a boon with all the green tomatoes!

Birds

2010-10-23T10:02:00.002-04:00

This morning is spectacularly gorgeous. Bright and clear with a definite bite of cold. There are birds everywhere out there. I don't just mean the ducks who are splashing happily in the creek and exploring the property next door. Song birds are everywhere. They are flying around with purpose, but somehow also seem excitable. I am speculating that they are all doing errands for the imminent trip south for winter.

I am sure we had frost in the swale last night where the garden is. Good thing I harvested the peppers and what was left of the basil. Everything else out there can stand a nip of frost. I also brought in the green tomatoes. It was a remarkable harvest. Mostly for being so completely unexpected. It must be close to 2 gallons of peppers and at least that of tomatoes mostly green but some ripe-ish and some that will probably turn red with some stern words and warm sunlight. I am planning at least one and likely two batches of Farm Girl Susan's No Sugar Green Tomato Relish. I'll let you know how it goes. I may even end up canning some of it as the freezer is absurdly full.

This week I made my chicken tomatillo crock pot thing, and a big batch of beef stew. I have been craving warm sloppy stew-ish type things these days. Soon, it will be chicken soup. One of my favorite things on earth. When the real cold hits, I put the chicken on in the morning with all the stock bits that I have put in the freezer during the week, onion ends, parsley stems, etc. and cook the chicken until just done. I pull that out and let it cool. Then the I pick the chicken an throw the bones, skin, etc back in the stock and continue to add veggie bits as I go about whatever other cooking I am doing during the day. Then the stock gets strained and I throw in some fresh veggies (onion/carrot/celery) depending on the stock flavors, and maybe a few potato bits. Toss the dark meat back in, season with salt and pepper and ladle over wide egg noodles. The SB prefers the tiny thin noodles but he is often out voted on this.

I may even start some bread this weekend. Having the oven on would take the chill off. Too early for heat.

Slacker

2010-10-16T10:01:00.002-04:00

Wow, I have totally been slacking off in the blog department. So, let's catch up with a list shall we?

1. Went to Reedville for a long weekend with some girlfriends and their small children at the end of September. It was lovely. The children were lovely. We had much fun with small children in the water, which is one of my favorite things. Children are exhausting, how does anyone have them 24/7?
2. It went from summer (90+ the weekend we were in Reedville) to in the span of about 14 days.
3. It went straight from socks required in the AM, to really-I-should-be-wearing-my-woolie- slippers-if-I-only-knew-where-to-find-them.
4. I have a wedding to go to today and nothing to wear. Shocking.
5. I am back to making cornbread every week and still searching for the perfect recipe. Feel free to hook me up if you have one that is not too dry and not too sweet.
6. We went to the urban goat keeping workshop. Wow. Those goats got some cute goin' on. We didn't get to stay for a lot of the hands on stuff b/c things started late and the SB and I both had evening obligations. Maybe spring on the goats.
7. The SB has taken on putting up the ducks at night most times. He volunteers as he is up much later than I and the ducks like to be out as much as possible. And we like that too as it makes for a less messy duck house.
8. The ducks are molting, and the production seems to be 1 or 3 eggs a day. Interestingly, rarely 2.
9. Work is busy.
10. Dark evenings mean that before long, we won't be working outside much in the evenings and I can start sewing again. Woot!
11. We have tons of spinach, chard, carrots, Chinese cabbage and very spicy arugula in the garden.
12. We will be planting the garlic soon.
13. An interesting article about Colony Collapse Disorder in bee populations.
14. A couple weeks ago something knocked my hive over. The SB called at work to give me the heads up. The bees were actually pretty cool about me coming to pick things up. It didn't look like anything had been rummaging around in the hive. I suspect it was a deer that crashed into it in the middle of the night. Those things are clumsy and their startle response is way over developed. I am just hoping the queen didn't get killed in the jostling and repositioning. I didn't look through the hive for her, I am not that good at finding queens as they pretty much look like every other freakin' bee in the place. Though my bee mentor (who rocks) would totally disagree.
15. I am finally coming to terms with the fact that I am well on my way to being "that crazy lady down the street". I just came in from letting the ducks out and I realize that I went outside (that would be appearing IN PUBLIC) in capri length yoga pants (grey), blue socks, black clogs, a maroon shirt and a purple and green anorak. Right. I would much prefer to be the crazy lady down the street in vintage patched Chanel jacket and 19th century granny boots with blue jeans. Maybe that is what I can aspire to for my golden years. So if anyone finds some old totally too far gone Chanel, send it my way, K?

Refresher Course

2010-09-18T21:51:00.004-04:00

Check this out. Cuz some of us could use some remediation.

And while you are there, see some of the fabulous vintage stuff. Pure inspiration. Smashing.

That coat reminds me of the sew along going on over here. Had I more time and a functional sewing room, I would be AT IT. You go girls.

Seriously....

2010-09-15T20:16:00.003-04:00

SOMEONE needs to do something about the rain situation. Clear fall days are all fine and good, but seriously. We haven't had more than an inch of rain since July. I am starting to think a hurricane would be just fine about now.

The garden is limping along. The long beans are pretty much done. The squash are just hanging out waiting for us to bring them in. I have arugula, chard, carrots, beets, broccoli raab, mustard greens and some lettuce. More chard and spinach on the way. The peppers are giving their last hurrah and producing like crazy. We are drying and freezing. The first tomatoes are pretty much done and there is a little more okra coming. A few cukes and summer squash. We have nearly lost our blueberries because I am an idiot and keep forgetting to water them. The old blueberry doesn't really wilt, it just starts to die - gah! I need some notice please!!!! I think we have saved them though harvest next spring will be totally hit or miss.

Please join me in a rain dance. Soonest.

And Then There Were Ten

2010-09-05T19:15:00.003-04:00

I had been thinking of posting for a while. You know what I mean - phrases, ideas, photo opps all piling up. It was going to be about how much I love the fall garden and how welcome the last two days have been weather-wise. The pulling of the blue jeans from storage the consideration of socks... though I haven't gone so far yet.

Unfortunately, this post is about the first loss in the duck flock. One of the little brown ducks was killed today by a raptor. We don't know what kind, maybe an immature eagle of some sort, apparently we have both bald and golden on the river only two blocks from the urban farm. I heard some ruckus outside, but it was brief. About a half hour later, I went out and the remaining flock was tightly huddled and staring at the bird that had just started eating the little brown duck. The bird flew away, and it had to be one of the largest I had ever seen. The duck was undeniably dead, which I admit was something of a relief. I herded the flock into their pen and closed them up tight. They were freaked, and kept staring across the creek at their dead companion.

I went inside for the SB. We found an old tee shirt relegated to the rag bag and made a little shroud for her. Then the SB brought out the maddock to dig a hole for her. There has been so little rain the ground is dry a foot down, which is about where we planted her. With a couple of large logs on top to deter the animals from excavating. Rest in peace little duck. Thank you for being with us and giving us so much pleasure and so many eggs. I know you had a pretty good duck life while it lasted. Lots of water time and friends and a comfy place to live and lots of grazing opportunities. You got the short end of the stick on the lesson learned and for that I am truly sorry.

On one hand, I am glad it was a raptor and not a dog or something that would have just killed the duck for fun. On the other, a raptor is a menace because it is so difficult to protect against. It could pretty much strike at any time that they are out. I am hoping this immature bird is on his way some place else. Since he didn't really get much of a chance to eat his prize, I am hoping he sees it as a lot of risk for not much reward.

He did come back later to tuck back in to his dinner, but the body was buried by then. He looked confused. Had that, "I know I left that thing here somewhere look" for a while. No kidding, he was standing on the ground and must have been 2 feet tall. Freaky.

He left the grass and flew to a low branch, I guess to get a better look at what was going on. That is when the blue jays found him. I have never much cared for blue jays, but today, I was totally cheering them on today. Those brave little birds were dive bombing that raptor. It was sitting there in a tree, and first there was one jay, calling and swooping, and then another joined in. Then a wood pecker came along, and another jay, and they were making such a racket and giving that bird so much grief, that he left. Flew off to some high place where blue jays don't follow. And I hope he stays there, though I heard him calling later in the afternoon.

Raise your glass to a happy little duck. And cross your fingers that this raptor doesn't make a habit of this.

On Projects

2010-08-10T22:47:00.003-04:00

So this weekend was totally chock full of projects. Friday night we moved gravel (at 10 PM, to the delight of the neighbors no doubt) to install the second half of a patio under our 2nd story back porch. The first half went in about 4 years ago, so it was nice to get done. It is less perfect than the first half, but done is a beautiful thing.

Then we spent a big chunk of Saturday and Sunday cutting up and moving a bunch of cedar trees to turn them into fence posts and a goat shed. Luckily the weather was good. And luckily, I found this amazing recipe for cucumber agua fresca. I made something pretty similar. Anyway you do it is probably just as delicious. You really get the cucumber/melon connection when you make this. And it is refreshing as you could want on a hot day. Add lots of ice and serve it very very cold.

In addition to two truck loads of cedar posts we also brought home a hefty load of chiggers. Dammit.

Sunday I also picked up a bushel of peaches from one of our local orchards. Last night, half a bushel made their way into the freezer. All after a trip to Nelson County to pick up additional siding from the same batch we used for the duck house. We are swimming in building materials (much to the delight of our neighbors, no doubt).

On Monday, August 16 at 7PM, City Council will be considering the change in ordinance to allow for miniature goats in the city. Meghan, at the Goat Justice League has done an amazing job in putting this all together. I'll be attending the meeting and hopefully not speaking. If you want to be supportive, come out and be counted, or send an email to council at charlottesville dot org and let them know how you feel.

I have high hopes for a change in ordinance. I am trying to do research on goats as we consider our options and muster our financial resources.

Currently I am reading Goat Song. It is a really lovely book. After the first few chapters, the author lapses into a dairy diary he kept with info and musings. One of the things that totally resonates with me is the idea of caring for animals as meditation. It is habitual, ritualistic and directly deals with life and food and death and shit. I do find tending ducks to be something of a walking meditation. It is the same every day but also totally different. Delightful, heartbreaking, soothing and stressful.

Loving these guys. Great summer produce ideas and directions, can't wait to give it a try. Hopefully, I'll end up with enough jam or something to pass around. (much to the delight of the neighbors, no doubt)

Less Sweltering

2010-08-03T21:53:00.003-04:00

Ok, so a lot happens in a week around here. And you know what that means....Yes! A list.

1. FAB.U.LOUS weekend weather. Cool overcast and not humid. Near heaven.
2. Potatoes harvested. Woot.
3. Ginger beer made from this recipe.
4. Dark and Stormy s made with above ginger beer and dark rum. It is the go to cocktail of the rest of the summer. Kill.Er.
5. The SB got three free truckloads of dirt. Woot! For projects. Woot!
6. Dried tomatoes are almost done. At least the first round. We have lots. Yay.
7. WTF?
8. I bought a set of popsicle forms. I am starting with iced tea/lemon/honey popsicles. I'll keep you posted.
9. I think La Michaicano has closed. Which blows.
10. I thought I had a sick duck last week. Blew a day of vacation running around looking for someone to give me antibiotics without dragging a duck into the vet. Luckily she got better on her own.
11. Trying to make mint ice cream.
12. I have some major freakin' welts on me. Chiggers? GAH!
13. Thinking of making white peach liqueur
14. We sheet mulched the garden paths with cardboard. At least some of them
15. Found a nice guy in the country who is happy to get rid of his old horse poop and will load it into the truck with a front end loader. Free. We are going back as much as possible while we have my Pop's truck.
16. Nice people rock and we met several this weekend.
17. Sometimes 2 gin and tonics and some bread pudding can count for dinner. It is O.K., especially when combined with good company.
18. There is no smell like the smell of tomato vines. Get out there and enjoy it while you can. Tomato season is WAY TOO SHORT.

Sheesh. So much. Want to know the back story on any of the above let me know. Too overwhelming to think about describing them all. Summer is some kinda busy!

More sweltering

2010-07-25T09:05:00.002-04:00

"They" say that there is a cold front coming through. Temperatures are going to plummet into the 90s. Brrrr. Pull out your parka's people, cuz it is gonna feel like winter compared with the last week. At this point, I am all for anything that isn't triple digits.

In honor of the coming cold snap, I planted some fall crops in the garden. I was drenched in sweat by the time I finished (before 9AM). Beets, chard, kale and carrots this time. I'll wait before heading down the lettuce, spinach, mache path. Still a few more of my favorite varieties to plant. Italian Silver Rib and Scarlet Charlotte Chard. The silver rib overwinters amazingly well and is mild and sweet, and the Scarlet Charlotte is just so beautiful. In the cold, the red ribs turn into a palette of luminescent red, magenta and tomato colors.

My green grape tomatoes have started to come in. The are most definitely an interesting tomato. They are very sweet, really like eating grapes. Odd. Nice for a change, but it wouldn't be the only thing I would grow. But then again, you know I don't roll that way, right? If I don't have half a dozen types, it ain't worth doin'.

My experimentation has really bitten me in the butt on (at least) one item. I ordered this variety of tomatillo for the large fruits. I don't know if it is that our soil is too good or that I have been watering them, but the production is TERRIBLE. I had a teeny flush early in the year and since then almost nothing. Last year I stuffed our freezer full of tomatillo sauce and we use it for cooking chicken or pork in the crock pot. I thought these would be great, as the EVERONA dairy isn't so far from here. This year I have had enough only for a couple small batches of salsa. This just goes to show you that you can never put all your eggs in one basket. I started a tried and true variety "Verde" but never got around to putting them in. In all fairness, the ones that have popped up willy nilly around the compost heap aren't really producing either, so maybe just a bad year. I'll have to try multiple varieties next year.

I am really wondering what is happening in the beehive right now. It is too stinkin' hot to put on the bee suit and check it out, though I know I have to. The bees have been all over the corn tassels. Which makes me think they are hungry. I need to find out now if I should start feeding the little buggers. Which I will if we don't get some rain and blooms here soon.

Also, today I think the SB and I are making ginger beer. I'll make him take photos.

Summer

2010-07-22T22:00:00.004-04:00

What ever happened to the carefree days of summer? This is not a rhetorical question. I remember getting bored in the summer. Granted, that was 30 years ago, but still. I would like a little of that back please.

With the weather, we have been running around watering and trying to keep the garden alive. No real rain in weeks. None in the forecast. And temps predicted to be around 100 this weekend. It stinks. Big time.

We are getting lots of tomatoes, the Principe Borghese - the drying tomatoes.... We are doing a couple batches a week. And using the extra space in the dryer for summer squash. I am glad to make use of the dryer I bought at a yard sale ($3), but it does heat the house up.

I have started the fall cole crops and some onions. Some of it may be too late, but you can't win them all. I need to do some direct seeding in the garden this weekend. Beets, carrots, kale, chard, etc. Seems absurd with the heat, but there you go.

Watch these guys. Making headway on the sustainability/coolness front here in C'ville. Don't get too excited, but the SB actually brought up the idea of having a goat on The Urban Farm. And actually, since goats are herd animals, a couple of goats. So I am thinking about Nigerian Dwarfs. They can be milked you know. Quart of milk a day, anyone? This is definitely on the longer range plan. First we need a tool shed. We need to finish the duck house roof. We need more garden architecture. And to fix the porch. When that is done we can start thinking about a goat house/milking area/fencing.

A picture of the garden in summer
And of the bean trellis by the duck house
And the snake that visited the duck house a couple weeks ago
Just f yer i, this is not a feed bag. It is one of those bags you buy stuff by the pound in... just so you don't think we have a python in the area or something.

Famous

2010-07-15T06:57:00.001-04:00

The ducks are famous. Here they are, photographed by a real photographer. That isn't me behind them though. That is one of our neighbors.

Home Improvement

2010-07-11T22:45:00.003-04:00

The SB and I embarked on a couple of projects this afternoon. He was re-pointing some bricks on the basement exterior wall and I got to pull staples and scrape the paint off the old screen door. It made me nostalgic for the days when we were renovating the house and I was either freezing cold or broiling hot and had the dust of paint/sheet rock/dirt of ages rubbed into my skin.

This time, I got off pretty easy. The paint chips were flying, but I didn't get any in my eyes (thanks to the safety glasses) nor in my underwear. The brassier was a different story, but manageable given all the other near misses.

Winging it

2010-07-06T20:32:00.006-04:00

So we (i.e. the SB) decided that it actually is too hot to work in the yard. Even at 8:30 in the evening. The benefits of 100 degree heat. I knew there had to be some. So I caught up on a little blog reading and decided to do another post. Two in the same week. You can thank me later, cuz I know this stuff is R.I.V.E.T.I.N.G.

As you may know, I love to grow some potatoes. As you also may know, seed potatoes are absurdly expensive. So for the past few years, I have been saving my own. Yay me. Last year, in addition to the spuds I had saved for seed, a bunch of our La Ratte spuds sprouted in storage. For the record, they don't really store for crap in less than ideal circumstances. So we had LOTS for planting. So many, that I had leftovers even after giving away a bunch to SHG (for her excellent housemate) and Tay of Tuesday fame. Rilly, I mean a LOT. The long and the short of it was that we didn't get a chance to plant them all. The leftovers have more or less been sitting around in the way since, oh, maybe April. I was going to throw them out, but the SB insisted we try to plant them. So we hastily dug a "bed" where one of the future garden beds will be, added a little compost and fertilizer and some very dehydrated, very unrecognizable potatoes. Today (though we did the digging yesterday. When it was just about as hot.) In case you aren't a gardener, this is totally non standard practice. Potatoes are planted on St. Patrick's Day. Or as close to there as possible. We are not very close to St. Patrick's Day. But if we get anything at all, perhaps we will be that much ahead since we had to dig that bit anyway. We shall see. The moral of the story is don't hoard your potatoes. Eat them early while they are still firm and delicious.

We are eating tons of them. Cold boiled potatoes with smoked salmon. Tonight maybe with some tuna/white bean salad and green beans and boiled duck eggs. A sort of modified salad nicoise.

Edited to add:
OK, dinner was delicious.

On the unorthodox subject, I also played fast and loose with the bees. I checked on them a couple weekends ago and they had totally filled their honey super (woot!) and so I decided to put another on. Of course, because I was in a rush, I didn't put new starters in 4 of the frames. I left the edges where I had cut out the comb over a year ago, which had been totally cleaned, and then alternated the starter and non starter frames in hopes that the bees would do some mind reading and fill in the frames instead of building comb willy nilly all over the place. I'll keep you posted on that. I am pretty much the laziest beekeeper ever. Whatever happens, I can deal, even if it means just yanking it all out and melting it down. I suspect what is going to happen is that with this dry hot weather, honey production is going to come to a screeching halt so there likely won't be any issue at all. I do need to pop out there and check though and see what is going on. To be honest, I don't really like this hive. I think that my last hive spoiled me with their docile personality. These are a little more, well, impatient. Not so much what you need as a beginning keeper.

I have become a fan of the asparagus bean. These babies take a while to get rolling (75 days as opposed to 50-60), and you definitely need something for them to grow up, but I am right now getting about a half a pound of beans a day. No sign of slowing down, despite the heat. We trellised them up a bamboo grid we put against the duck yard in hopes of providing shade for the ducks during the hottest part of the day. It doesn't provide as much shade as I was hoping for, but it is definitely giving it a go. It being right outside the door, the ducks have paid a little attention to the beans, but luckily after they got established, so no harm done with a few lost leaves. We lost much more to the munching rabbit than the nibbling ducks.

Sweltering

2010-07-05T12:42:00.003-04:00

We are in the midst of a(nother) sweltering week. We had a delightful 3 day respite a few days ago where I actually had a chance to wear a long sleeved shirt (woot!) one evening. Now it is predicted to be in the upper nineties for another 5 days or so. Which would be fine, except that there is no rain predicted to go along with the heat, so it means we will be racing around watering things to try to keep them going until someone does something about the weather. Just sayin'. The SB is taking matters into his own hands and is making a watering grid for the garden. At some point, we will have a grid for each of our beds and we will be able to just turn the water on, grab a beer and not have to mess with hoses, etc. That will be very close to heaven.

Have I mentioned that my fall garden was SO. MUCH. BETTER. than my summer one? I did get the first teeny tomato. Hal a freakin luja. Only one cuke so far, and there is NO excuse for that. No zucchini....WTF? Lots of yard long beans. A bunny has been eating the beans in the Three Sisters quadrant of the garden. Cute, but so bad. I pulled the rest of the teeny beets and made borscht. I just yanked the mustard as it wasn't going anywhere good. Dug some more potatoes, but only what we need over the next week or so. Yes, you can pat me on the head for not doing them all. Cuz then where would I put them? That was the problem last year. Don't say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

In exciting farm news.... we had a black snake in the duck house Saturday. Hopefully the removal of the snake from the duck house was scary enough for the snake to deter him from trying that again. It sure didn't do much for the SB. I feel lucky that I noticed him in there cuz if I hadn't, I might have locked everyone in together by accident. It would have been a looooong night.

I thought one of the ducks was getting broody. She was hanging out on a nest and making nesting motions (pulling straw up around her, etc.) But as soon as it got hot she abandoned the task and went swimming. Youth. Maybe next year she will have more of an attention span. It would be nice to have a duck to raise ducklings. Kind of a pain to DIY that project.

Remarkably, it is time to start the fall crops. Hard to think about in this heat, but time none the less. I think I am going to wait for this weekend to put the stuff directly in the ground (carrots, beets, etc) and hopefully this week sometime get the inside stuff started, broccoli, fennel, brussels sprouts, leeks, etc. With luck the dry spell will break and we can get started on this fall thing.

Things I miss about winter.
1. turning on the oven.
2. wearing long sleeves
3. not getting sun stroke
4. no bugs
5. sleeping under blankets
6. you get the idea.

The benefit of summer
1. Tomatoes
2. Peaches
3. cold beer on the porch after hot work
4. The Market
5. A whole host of other things I will remember when it gets cold.

Kitchen time

2010-06-27T16:17:00.004-04:00

The SB headed out to do some work this afternoon, so I spent the alone time cleaning out the fridge and making one hell of a mess in the kitchen. There was much that needed catching up on. But now, we have a nice clean fridge and LOTs of yummies for the coming week.

Cold corn soup. Refreshing and super simple.
Coleslaw, no real recipe, just the quarter head of cabbage, a little grated onion, a grated carrot and some sour cream, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper. Mmm.
Chicken salad (actually made this AM before the SB headed out).
Beets, from the garden and simmered until done.
Fruit salad with all the bits of stuff that needed using up. Cantaloupe, watermelon and mango.
Yogurt.
Tomatillo salsa. Tomatillos, pickled pepper, a little onion, garlic and cilantro, salt and pepper. Whirred in the cuisinart. It is gonna be hot. Those pickled peppers from last summer are pretty fire-y.

With all that cooking I had to turn the AC on for a while. It is pretty stinkin' hot out there. The cat, came in panting and laid in front of the fan. I feel fortunate that the ducks don't know about that option.

Then I cleaned everything up. Then I had a nap.

Unfortunately the SB took the camera with him. No photos. I know you are surprised.

Wow

2010-06-25T17:02:00.003-04:00

It has been a wild couple of weeks here... Mostly work related. My schedule ebbs and flows with the coming and going of the new physicians. The first half of June is most definitely a flow. No complaints, it is all good stuff, just lots all at once. The welcoming of new friends and sending off of old ones coincide and make things a teeny bit easier.

I have a bunch of posts that have been swirling around in my brain, but I can conjure none of them at the moment. So we will have a list.

1. Flea beetles totally suck.
2. I am excited about the tomatoes.
3. The ducks have cut back to 6 eggs a day. No complaints, nine is a lot.
4. We got our garden sink installed. Woot! Pictures WILL follow, but the SB has the camera.
5. Our asparagus beans are finally starting to bloom.
6. I really need to do something with the bees.
7. We are growing corn beans and squash. Can't wait to see if it works.
8. We put in a new bed on one side of the house. All the orphan tomatoes ended up there. Don't know if they will do anything or not, but at least they aren't suffering in their tiny six packs anymore.
9. We have tons of Thai basil.
10. I made my first batch of rural salad, cheating only a little with some of the tomatoes
11. Peaches. Need I say more?
12. BIG ASS STORM yesterday.
13. BAS (#12) resulted in me being out of work most of the day b/c the hospital didn't have all its power back. Surprise long-ish weekend. Yay me!
14. Delightful gathering at the Urban Farm last night sans power (due to BAS) but with friends and lots of good food. Love me some dark nights. Without power (i.e. fan) I was able to enjoy many many hours of the darkness since I was up all night sweating.
15. I made potato salad from the fingerling potatoes and used boiled duck eggs .... Thanks to the Diner for telling me that the info about boiled duck eggs being rubbery doesn't hold up... Pretty delicious.
16. I had to restrain myself from digging all the potatoes. You know I love to dig me some potatoes.
17. The cukes can just go ahead and start producing any time now. Ditto peppers.
18. Very close to starting some of the fall crops. They will go in where the garlic came out. Garlic harvest was somewhat disappointing, but can't complain too much. It was a very rough and very wet winter for them.

OK, hopefully I will be able to post something other than a list soon. Maybe even pictures.

Inspiration

2010-06-04T19:54:00.001-04:00

I hope to get a copy of the book mentioned here. This post is a good reminder. I am off to DIY, as soon as I check in on a few blogs....

Where to start?

2010-06-01T21:44:00.003-04:00

I had a few days off before the holiday weekend. I planned to do all kinds of house and garden work and multiple blog posts. As usual, the list was longer than the vacation...

Where should I start....
The two frogs, courtesy of The Bad Cat on the doorstep? Only one entirely dead. No, let us not start there.

The 3.5 inches of rain Friday night (in two hours) causing basement flooding? No, that really isn't a good place either.

The three nights of babysitting? While. On. Vacation. No. Not there.

I did have a very nice wedding luncheon to attend for some of my coworkers who were just married. They are Indian, so we met at Royal Indian. Yes. That is the place to start though it was in the middle of the vacation.... I really MUST recommend the eggplant. Spicy and delicious.

I washed a ton of sweaters. The Switching of the Clothes is one of the most dreaded of tasks. At least the winter to summer side.... I hate the washing and hanging of sweaters and I procrastinate. So even things unworn need to be frozen (48 hours kills moth larvae) before storage.

I hung out my laundry on the porch. (I *heart* Starr Hill Girl who always hangs her laundry). Because I have a drying rack and not a line, I compromise by hanging the bigger stuff (towels and shirts and pants) and drying the smaller stuff (underwear and socks). It works for me - hanging small stuff seems more trouble than it is worth. Of 5 loads of laundry I dry only one. Yay me.

We continued to work on the corn, beans, and squash planting. We ordered a "kit" from SSE. We are planting about 20 hills of 4 corn plants and 4 bean plants and then interspersing this with hills of squash (actually pumpkins, but who can tell the difference, I mean, really?) We will improvise on some of it as we will run out of bean seeds and it would be nice to have a variety of squashes. This is the planting that is occupying the new ground in the garden. It is a good compromise, as we only have to dig mounds and not the whole thing.

My garlic is looking AWFUL. Too wet this year. Hopefully I will get some good storage worthy bulbs. Right now, things are moldy, though if you peel the outer layer, the insides are fine. I am trying not to panic.

We have some potato wilt. The La Ratte potatoes seem to be the first to succumb. We have eaten some tiny ones already, but they are dropping like flies. Luckily, the smaller beds look very healthy and happy. No solanaceae for the infected beds for a veeeeeeery long time. Dammit.

I have fallen head over heels in love with my tomatoes. I know. They will probably succumb to wilt like the do every year. But for now, I could spend many contented hours staring at them and smelling the green tomato smell. Green Grape, Principe Bourgese, Winter Keeper, Yellow Pear, Pink German, Black Plum, San Marzano, Celebrity. Bring 'em on. A dozen plants aren't too many for two people, right? Remind me how much I love them if we are fortunate enough to be buried in tomatoes this summer.

The garden is pretty much in a holding pattern. The greens have been harvested and frozen, the potatoes, tomatillos, peppers, eggplant and garlic aren't ready. The squash and cukes and beans are really just getting their footing. The herbs are the only thing producing. And remarkably, despite the heat, I still have some lettuce.

I am plotting for the fall garden though.... garlic, leeks and onions to replace the potatoes. Cabbage, broccoli and brussells sprouts, carrots and beets to replace the garlic. Greens to transplant out as the okra and tomatoes and peppers begin to fade.

I also cleaned the bedroom. That took days.

I took some pictures, but the SB stole them. I will see if I can get him to send them to me. They were of our most adorable bean trellis, which will soon be providing shade for the duck yard. Woven bamboo. Sweet. And Free (even better - thanks Cho!)

The bees seem happy and active, and I am wondering if I am missing out by not having a second super on the hive. Must. Find. Out. Soon.

Pull up a chair

2010-05-23T07:57:00.002-04:00

And check 'em out.

Makes me wanna run out to the thrift store.

I know you are wondering

2010-05-18T21:05:00.002-04:00

It keeps you up at night, doesn't it? The fact that I rarely post photos... I know. It probably keeps you from coming back too, doesn't it.... Sigh. The truth is that my card reader makes the old computer crash now. The SB set me up with his old laptop and a very nice flat screen, keyboard and mouse. So I am totally set. Except when you upgrade, you have to leave some things behind. Unfortunately, the ancient card reader is it. Now, I am much too lazy and ill informed on such things to explore my other options. It isn't that I don't think about it, but let's be real, on a nice evening I am either outside or babysitting. If it isn't nice, I am inside catching up on blogs and wondering how it is that two people can create so much freakin' laundry.

So, that is why the pictures have come to a screeching halt. I don't know if the SB will allow me to use his camera. Certainly not without a LONG list of instructions, warnings and threats about what happens if anything befalls it while in my possession. Or if, God forbid, I should return it with the batteries low.... I ask you, is it worth it? *pause* The jury is still out.

As for the garden, I have planted tomatoes and peppers. I continue to battle the flea beetles with diatomacous earth and fertilizer to try to get them big enough that the holes don't matter. Neither is particularly effective, but perhaps a teeny bit better.

I tried two new recipes. Both from the New York Times. One, the White House Fruit and Oat bars and Asparagus Pesto. I only modified them a little bit. Adding nuts to the bars and subbing in some OJ for maple syrup. Those Obamas may not like sugar, but they sure like sweet. The asparagus pesto had some arugula added in. Cuz I had it and needed to do something with it.

The SB and I started using the second batch of guanciale. Talk about yummy. Two varieties of sugar cured and two of salt. This time the hog jowls were whole and the entire process was super duper easy. Not sure if we can squeeze in another round before the basement is too warm. I think not. But oh, now I am getting used to the home made deliciousness, it is going to be hard to give it up.

We have gotten into the time between things in the garden. I have put up some greens, chard, mustard and kale, and now am waiting for the other things to come along. The strawberries are doing well other than being struck by mold with all the rain on the ripe berries. But we are still getting enough for a few freezer bags full for smoothies and ice cream. Next is blueberries, though we had some snow damage and probably won't have a lot of extra of those. There is lettuce and some spinach getting ready to bolt. The potatoes are going gangbusters. Soon we should have basil. The beans are up. I am growing both the short and tall varieties. The tall ones will be climbing up the duck yard fencing to give the ducks some afternoon shade. We also have some cukes and squash in, those are coming along slowly.

We still have a huge part of the garden to dig and are looking for a tiller to borrow. If you know someone, hook me up. We don't normally use a tiller (preferring to incapacitate ourselves with hard labor), but with so much new ground to break, it would be too much to try to do by hand... At least if we have any hope of getting corn in this year...

Just go

2010-05-15T11:33:00.002-04:00

If you haven't already, you must go. You must get in your car and find the most rural, gravel, unmaintained road within a 30 mile radius. But you have to be in Virginia. And if you have a convertible, that is even better. You must drive down the road as the air is cooling in the evening. You know the roads, they go over hill and dale through wood and field and between old barns and their houses. Go around the bend where the trees are, right where the seep comes through the rocks and dribbles under the road into the creek on the other side. And when you come out of the trees into the pasture road where the honeysuckle and the multiflora rose are blooming, you should drive slowly, so as not to kick up any dust. Because nothing should get in the way of the overwhelmingly decadent scent of the flowers. Take your time. The season doesn't last long. But if you miss it, you'll be waiting another year. And every year the roads are harder to find. And the barns fall down, and the creeks get put into concrete culverts. Really. What are you doing today anyway?

Roughly a billion

2010-05-12T21:59:00.003-04:00

That would be the number of unfinished projects languishing directly in my way. All in various states of unfinished-ness, from "Really, why have I not hemmed those pants" to "Oh, yeah, I got that for a specific reason and now I don't remember what it was" .....

I am looking forward to a long weekend with possibly some rain to get me out of the yard and into the house for catch up chores.

The beans are up, and despite being in full view and access to the ducks, they have not yet been eaten. We are just crossin' our fingers here. The ducks do seem much more interested in finding beasties in the mulch than munching on the veggies, but it only takes a second to start a frenzy, and that my friends, is not a pretty sight....

Tomatoes

2010-05-09T10:51:00.004-04:00

(written Sunday, but I forgot to post...)

So we finally got the tomatoes in. Just in time for the threatened frost which MUST be the last of the season. There is going to be some serious covering of things this afternoon. I don't have enough straw to cover the potatoes with fluffiness like I did last time, so I think I am going to have to resort to the Remay and sheets to keep the cold off of everything. It is a bit nerve wracking as all of the basil eggplants and potatoes are in the ground. No back ups. But I will cross fingers and hope for the best, which is all I ever really do anyway.

The wind has been fierce over the last day, that in combination with some serious dryness has made watering our A #1 priority lately.

I did go to Fifth Season and purchase some organic fertilizer. I have high hopes. We have this very lovely but very porous alluvial soil. Great for growing things except that all the soluble nutrients leach out of it pretty quickly. So I am making a concerted effort to add compost and some pelletized organic fertilizer every month or so. I'll keep you posted.

I have been struggling with flea beetles in the eggplant. My garden friend from work says sprinkle the eggplant with flour and when the beetles eat it they blow up. I also got some diatomaceous earth to cut the little critters to ribbons. Either way, I will be happy. I really just need to get them going, then the beetles won't be so critical, but here in these early stages, it is tough on a plant to have lace for leaves....

It was supposed to be bee day, but it is pretty windy and not so very warm.... If things go better, I'll be out there a bit later in the day.

About time

2010-05-03T21:15:00.002-04:00

I put in three types of basil plants and three different kinds of eggplant this weekend. All raised from wee seeds. Eritrean, Italian and Thai basil and two Asian and one Italian type of eggplant. All seem to be settling in despite the fact that we didn't get the rain I was hoping for.... though the overcast skies were good enough to get them through the recent heat...

I still need to put out the peppers and figure out what to do with the tomatoes.... The strawberries are starting to turn red.... EEEP!

The ducks broke into the garden this afternoon when I wasn't looking. They don't usually squeeze through gates but some how the garden and its off limits-ness was irresistible. They didn't do any damage, though they did almost trample the transplants in their wandering. Luckily they were more interested in the straw than the strawberries. They walked right past the chard a number of times, contenting themselves with digging up the paths. It looks like machine gun fire has ripped through the pathways, but the greens and berries are currently safe.

Now that they know the earthly delights of garden , I am guessing they are going to do more of the gate squeezing when they think they can get away with it.

Sometimes

2010-04-29T19:17:00.001-04:00

Because sometimes what you really need is ridiculousness.

Whirlwind

2010-04-26T20:03:00.004-04:00

Things have been busy despite the fact that there isn't really anything going on. The grass is growing like crazy with the rain and cool nights. The seedlings are growing like crazy with the fertilizer and heating pads and 18 hours of light a day (we are working on hardening them off now). The first wave of tomatillos are in, with more to come. I have ripped out a bunch that reseeded from last year in the wrong place. The garlic is growing along. The strawberries are bursting out of their beds. The ducks are laying 9 eggs a day. I pulled out the bolting kale and rutabaga. We still have chard from last year. The potatoes are growing great guns. I can't wait to figure out what the hell I am gonna do with all the tomato seedlings that I have.

I had a jet set little trip to NYC, up on the train Saturday and back on the plane on Sunday. Less than 24 hours. Went up to fly back with a sick friend. All is well. My friend was staying in Chelsea and the train dropped me off mere blocks from the fabric district, so of course I had to shop. The big stores are totally overwhelming and a little too spendy for me. Who wants to ruin $120 worth of beautiful fabric? I found this great little hole in the wall shop where the China silk is $4/yard and the 60 inch linen? $5. I restrained myself but will be keeping that one on the books.

With the unexpected trip, I didn't get to do as much this weekend as I had planned, but I did get some delightful empanadas and Murray's bagels to bring home. New York.... so much food, so little time. Walking down 8th Ave, I was tempted by an Italian deli with Zagut signs outside boasting of their home made sausages. I ducked in thinking I would bring some for the SB, but then realized that if you can't get on a plane with shampoo, they probably wouldn't let me on with fresh sausages and a bag of ice. And to throw away lamb sausage would be a SERIOUS crime.

The SB took care of the ducks for me while I was gone. They seem none the worse for wear.

It is amazing to see the changes in the garden in such a short time. ' Tis the season I suppose. NEXT weekend is bee weekend and the planting of some warm season things. And rearranging the bees.

I also picked up some raspberry plants from the garden swap list serve and promised to trade tomato plants... They weren't ready when the raspberries were, so I need to take them over. And I need to plant those raspberries. Cuz you can't have enough of those. I think we have figured out where to put them... up by the orchard, which, BTW, looks like hell. Two of our new trees didn't make it over the winter. $60? Bu Bye! GAH.

Oh, and look at this stunner of a dress I saw over on Sew Retro.

Oof.

2010-04-18T12:23:00.003-04:00

Super busy week with three nights of kid sitting, tons of planting, dinners, etc.

Last weekend I *finally* made a bunch of pasta. Six eggs worth on Sunday morning and we had fresh noodles all week. I let them dry to the point where they weren't likely to clump and then put them in plastic bags in the fridge. I kept it pretty simple. Some angel hair and some linguni.

Today I have been cooking. And cleaning the fridge. The crafty girls are getting together chez SHG for an evening of braided rugs and a bean swap. And of course, dinner. We are all bringing fabric and some kind of bean. We will braid the fabric and all take portions of different kinds of beans home for the freezer. It will be nice to have the variety. I made quiche to contribute to the dinner. And while I was at it, made one for here too. Though the SB is not a huge fan, when you have eggs...... I am also making sandwich bread. A loaf for the chicken salad I made and some for the freezer.

Really, I have been trying to empty out my freezer for months in prep for the upcoming vegetable season, but it isn't going very quickly. It seems to be two step forwards and 1.75 steps back. On a good week.

Yesterday I harvested the parsnips. What there was of them. Talk about a fail! Sheesh. I am lucky if they were as big as a pencil after being in all winter. I did learn that you are supposed to start them in early spring and then harvest them over winter or early spring the next year. No wonder no one grows them. Way too much space taken up... maybe one day. Right now, they are lined up for adding to stock or perhaps some potato soup. We'll see. The only good thing is now I have more room for the potatoes that still need to go into the garden. I am running a little late this year. We went to Southern States and got some organic fertilizers. I think I don't fertilize enough... We have this lovely loamy soil and add tons of organic stuff to it, but with the rain and the porousness, I think all the nutrients just leach out faster than I think they will. Crikey. This gardening thing is complicated....

The gimpy duck is back to gimpy. She actually put herself up today and decided not to participate in flock activities. Which makes me worry some. But I put her in the duck house so that she isn't tempted to run out after everyone and I will check on her a bit later and see if she is resting.

Not Alone

2010-04-09T21:51:00.001-04:00

Thank heavens for real people.

First Summer Supper

2010-04-08T19:16:00.003-04:00

We are blessed with wintered over greens.... lots of spinach and mache. Tonight, I made one of our favorite summer quick suppers.

While a pot of water for pasta heats, combine olive oil (I added a bit of truffle oil too since I had it) and a crushed clove of garlic. Add salt and pepper and grate a carrot into the mix. Add some vinegar, I combine red wine, a splash of raspberry and just a teeny bit of balsamic. Roughly chop some salad greens. I also added some asparagus that I steamed over the pasta water briefly. Boil the pasta and toss with the mixture. Throw on some grated parm and some toasted pine nuts. The greens will wilt and the whole dish will be only slightly warm. Perfect for a summer day. Fresh and very veggie. I am thinking about adding a poached duck egg to this, but haven't tried it yet.