Semi Random thoughts...

I have been so lazy this last week, we started working on the sanctuary , by cutting down the couple of sapling that have sprouted in the space. That is all we have done here this week in reality, and I really need to get out and clear some space in my berry patch as it's getting a tad overgrown with plants that are not berry producers.

I also need to clear out the non-potato plants from my potato bed, I guess it's just been the warm last couple of days making me not want to go out and work. I plan on going out and working tomorrow if it's not raining, as we are suppose to have on and off rain for the next seven days here.

I had an interesting thought the other day on HFCS(high fructose corn syrup), now except for the very random soda when we go out and I need some sugar in my system; we have pretty much removed this substance from our diet. Except for ketchup, and I mention this for one reason. I generally put it on burgers myself, and the other day for the heck of it I put it on some of our home made fries. I did a “yuck” immediately. It's weird as I know why I got the “yuck” it is the HFCS as I've had some ketchup that has none in it and those taste “normal” to me. However, the kind I recently picked up as my son is a ketchup hound uses it.

So I can honestly say that HFCS does add “flavor” to the products it's in, and if you are no longer use to “tasting” it on a regular basis you will notice it. I know I did, Silver did as well. I know my kids don't notice it as they eat meals at school, which we all know is filled with foods that contain this ingredient in it. I really am considering setting up “home” lunches for the next school year, and getting the kids off it; but it might be a loosing battle. I say this because my kids do get “rewarded” by teachers with soda pop, candy, and chips. How do you stop that? The schools obviously have no issues with it, and neither do the teachers.

It kinda goes back to my complaint about the local churches using candy to get kids to participate in their churches. I understand rewarding good work, trust me; it is the easiest way to get a child to work. However, I think there is a better way. I know all kids like coloring.. even older ones, I have seen it. They all also like stickers (who doesn't?), and little “sticky” things. They could even reward kids with more computer time.

Come on folks.. how about trying????

Speaking of the kids, they will be out of school on the 14^th of May, I think that's a bit early. I know they didn't have snow days this year, but it's still odd to me to see kids out of school before June. I don't think they are doing a heck of a lot right now either as they took the “mandated” standardized tests a week ago and the kids have not come home with any homework since. My son said they are doing their “final” exams right now in the high school, but he only had to take one; and that in all the other classes he's watching movies. What ever happened to teaching the full year?

I'm a little sorry this has turned into a bit of a gripe session on here today.. but trust me I could go on a tad more, about much more. Tink knows why, but here is not really the place to vent on certain subjects. I would like to thank her in advance for the plants she is passing along, I've had so much troubles getting melons to grow; she's going to be passing some starts onto me. I love melons and have been disappointed that the last two years I have not been able to get them to grow.

I am “working” on some bread loaves today, one straight sourdough, the second is a sourdough with oatmeal, flaxseed, and sunflower oil. I hope it comes out good! I have been branching out of late trying out new things with the no knead sourdough and , we had been thinking something. If Silver could get me an outdoor bread oven built and we can find a way to cook multi loaves at once, would I be able to sell them at the local Farmer's market? Do I need a special permit to sell a baked item? I think I will be looking into this. I do love baking and I just get behind on it too. I am also going to see when the kids take their trip this summer if I can pick up some fabric scraps to do some other “projects” that I could sell possibly. I love to sew and I do it all by hand, I have made my kids blankets often from young ages; all from “remnant” pieces of fabric. They love them, and they are very sturdy so I wonder if there is a market for them locally.

Well that's it for now... before I ramble 20 pages or more.... grins

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Lots of Random Work

Good Mid-morning everyone!

I finally got our blankets out the clothes line... I had been putting them off, but decided to get them out today.. of course we are out of bleach so I tried peroxide on the white ones. We'll see if they get as bright as bleach, I don't like bleach and would love a few recommendations on an alternative for a -GOOD- whitener to use instead.

One of the girls informed me this morning one of their friends is selling rabbits, YEAH! Maybe I'll get my start on my rabbit breeding group even though I had given up on them for this year. I like rabbit meat, and they grow quick and convert feed to meat the best. I am planning on trying what Joseph Stalin over at Polyface Farms has done (I don't know if he still is though) and get them back to eating grasses instead of “bought” feed. It will probably take a few generations though, and I am willing to try it out till they are able to move to a close to 100% grass feeding. I know from experience that rabbits that are “pets” do still eat grass when given the chance. I personally think they just don't know how too eat it full time. I am also looking forward to the wonderful manure we'll get from it!

I picked up some humming bird food this morning, and I am hoping by next year my few shrubs that should attract them will be big enough to sustain them instead of me buying “feed” for them. I my opinion any kind of pollinator is a good thing, as long as it's a pollinator.

This morning I have also set up one quart jar of orange rosemary vinegar to “blend” over the next two weeks. I am hoping for some interesting salads from this, as it will be used in making salad dressings. I will test it in two weeks to see if it's what I want, if it's not strong enough yet it'll go back to the dark spot in my pantry. I cut the rosemary just before putting it into the vinegar, my little plant has so much new growth on it I do hope it grows big. A five foot tall rosemary bush would not bother me one bit. I think I know a few people who would agree with me too.

I am going to try tomorrow to get pictures of the potatoes that are coming up in the potato bed. I have also started clearing the area for my “sanctuary”, it's not going to be very big. It's also going to be a lot closer to the road than I'd like, however; it “feels” like the right spot. I am planning on setting out a circle with a brick outline and place a correct tree at the compass points (anyone got the list of the trees that would go there?), I need to look up the correspondence for it. I use to have it written down, but it got lost somewhere. I am hoping to find enough stone on property to make a small alter in the center for offerings. Then on the one end we will be making the “memory garden” for my dad and Silver's first wife. I can picture it in my head , I just hope it translates well.

Well that's it for now.

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Hi there everyone.. it is such a lovely morning today!  Despite the chilly temps that is, take a look at what I picked up for lunch today:

Course, not my lettuce plats look a little weak now; but we will enjoy it!  It's just going to be the lettuce, those couple of early onions, and a tomato that we bought (ugh) that is in the fridge, a lite vinaigrette and lunch will be served.  Maybe we'll add some chicken.. but I doubt it.

I wound up taking a lovely walk down to the mail box this morning, as I forgot to hand my son our outgoing mail.  Stormy the cat, and his grandson Holstien followed me down and we had some lovely opportunities for pictures with the light.

This is a pretty "wild" rose that is across the street from us, the "wild" roses have all been blooming for over a week now here.  What I don't "get" is that when we first moved here only the one in the old foundation was white, now all the ones up and down the road are; they use to be pink.

Here is a picture from the beginning of our road toward us:

We live down that "hill" and up the next one (which you can't see from this picture) it's roughly a 1/2 mile walk one way.  So it's a nice little bit of exercise.

Now I mentioned how we are going to have an abundance of black berries this year?  Here is a close view of just a couple plants:

Look at the amount of flowers on those canes!  We are going to have a massive crop of them this year!  I can't wait till they are full of ripe berries, and I can make more jam.. and have a few berry desserts.  This picture has come from our "clearing"  the canes moved in last year and this year we will reap the rewards of letting them go wild.  Next year they will probably be going so we can put in a few big garden beds.

The puppies the girls have been caring for are leaving this week, supposedly today.  Not a bad thing to me, as in the last couple weeks they girls have not wanted to work with them.  It has been a fight to even get them to feed the two girls.  I hope they have learned that animal raising is not as easy as they thought.

Now one more picture:

I am still amazed by how well these cabbages are doing!  they are getting so big and this recent batch of cold weather has made them grow a little faster.  So I hope they finish in time for my planned cucumber planting next month.

Well as my laundry is almost done I need to head back out!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Earthday in the garden

Well it was such a pretty morning this morning when we got up we sat outside to enjoy the morning sunshine, before the kids went off to church. We also went out to see what our screening trees were doing, and right now the ones doing the best seems to be the poplar's and I was concerned about those ones. I had thought those weren't going to grow well, but they are “leafing out” the best right now. My willows are getting leaves, but very slowly.

I went out and finished “weeding” the garden bed that the green cabbage, lettuce, chard, onions, corn salad, and chrysanthemums are in, and then planted my bush bean seeds. I did pole beans last year, but they did not produce as well as the bush beans I have used for years. I do want to make a very good effort to grow Tiger's eyes next year, provided I can find a place that will sell me about a pound of them at a reasonable price.

While I was planting the beans I noticed that the soil is looking wonderful there, and the chicken manure is composting down well in the soil. The funny thing is, the area the most of our volunteers are coming up in that bed is on the end that had the worst soil last year. Seems I got the soil right in that section now. I did fin another volunteer today a bit farther down than the others. I have almost ½ a pound of my blue lake bush beans planted. I will be planting more once the other plants there are done growing and have been fully harvested. I did discover that right now I didn't need a full pound, but next year I will have a “bed” big enough for it.

I also went and set out the sprouted potatoes we have discovered in our potato bin. While out there I did discover that my seed potatoes are growing, and I had to do a quick check and make sure I did not step on any of them. Also I had to recover a couple I saw that were uncovered, as well as move a little of the straw away from one that was struggling a little.

The puppies my girls have been taking care of are supposedly leaving this week, we'll see if they do or not. I am hoping that we can do some training on the pups Paris had and maybe raise their value a little, maybe we can get a little money for them. Though Tink.. I'll save one if the little guy can have it yet.

That's it for now,

Be Well Be Safe, and Blessed Be....

USDA to let Chicken producers self inspect

I read this and almost choked on my cup of tea this morning:

http://news.yahoo.com/usda-let-industry-self-inspect-chicken-191142649--abc-news-topstories.html

Seems the USDA is planning to let the chicken industry selfinspect their own chickens, some how I don't think the money they are "saving" ($85 million over 3 years) is going to be a good thing.  I imagine that all of the bad that currently comes from the factory chicken production will continue to get worse, and it will be due to lax inspection statuses.

I hope at least some of the chicken producers wind up "being big" and do things properly.  However I suggest people start only buying free range eggs and meat unless you grow them yourself.   As if you grow them yourself you are responsible if you hurt yourself, so you tend to make sure you know what is and isn't going on with your meat.

Keep your eyes open folks, and watch what you eat...

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

A New Batch of Babies on the Homestead

Well... our dog Paris who was suppose to be spayed... seems to not be.  A couple of days ago when we were out planting the black current I mentioned to Silver that it looked like her nipples were getting big.  Then this morning when I went out to feed her and Midnight I was surprised to find 4 chocolate lab pups squalling.  So we brought momma inside and her babies:

I'd love to have a few words with the vet that told us she was "fixed"... were had planned on getting her done before we moved here but the vet told us she was already.   Uh huh... my 5-6yr old dog just had puppies... yep... she's "fixed".  Oh well, can't do much besides taking care of it now.

Hey Tink... I was wrong this morning... we now have 6:

This picture is a little deceiving... there are 5 chocolate and one black, they all seem to be doing fine.. and Paris doesn't seem to be having any more.

So in about 4-5 months.. anyone want a puppy.. they are hunting line...

Happy Friday!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be....

Volunteers Line Up!

So here I am after removing a 5 gallon bucket of greens from the garden to the chicken salad bar, I noticed while out there "weeding" that I had a couple more volunteers than I thought I had.  So here they all are:

Our first volunteer is a squash of unknown variety, I know it's a squash as I planted squash here last year... but, considering I have moved the earth around here and I don't quite recall what got planted where in that bed last year.  It shall remain "nameless" till I see the fruit on it.  I am hoping for a pumpkin, maybe Lady Godiva.

Next:

Here is another unknown squash, seems some of the seeds I planted last year that did not germinate decided they liked the ground better this year.

Yes, that's another squash... I hope at least one of these is a summer squash and at least one is a pumpkin.  I don't really care what they are though if they grow well and produce copious amounts of veggies for me.

Here is a surprise I got that I believe I have mentioned:

This is the "pot" that I get my lemon cucumbers in last year.. so what sprouted when I tried to grow chives...?  Cucumbers, they seem to be doing alright even with early morning temps being down to the high forties sometimes.  ...and no they are not being moved.

Now I showed this picture I believe yesterday:

My potato that is in the spot we grew them last year that later became our compost pile.  Now here is the one I haven't shown yet:

Here is the other potato volunteer, it's growing out of my current compost pile.  Also yes, you see a lot of paper in there, I recently read about the entirety of the types of paper you can use if you are willing to let your compost "mature" a little longer.  So, I am giving it a try.  The potato likes it.

Now I have a few pictures of that I had to free from crowding due to the "weeds" (I hate that term as most of mine were Lambs Quarters).  First the lettuce:

I don't know how they wound up only sprouting in clumps, but they did.  I harvested some leaves this morning and this is how they looked after it.  We will be having a nice little salad for lunch today.

Here are a few cabbages I planted as just seed, and some of the "spillover" onions from the sets I bought and didn't realize there was more than would fit in the initial spot.

..and last but not least Silver's Sprouts sitting in my pea bed.  This is where I am going to have the squashes I plant this year.  Also we have 4 sprouts, though I had planted 6.  The 4 legged lawn mowers ate 2 of them along with all my broccoli.

Well that's all the update I have right now, I am going to try to double this post on wordpress in a bit.  We had a lovely LambsQuarter wilted salad with a berry/lilac dressing.  I'm thinking of making bread dough when I get my dishes done and the remained of my laundry

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be....