Busy Days On The Farm

I baked the artisan bread the next day. I think the oven was a bit hot and I left it in a bit long. It still tastes great though.

It has a very chewy crust and an open texture inside.

This is the first time I remember seeing these on my Lilac bush. Does everyone's get these pods? I assume they are seed pods.

The first 2 Echinaceas are opening up.

The first orange lilies are blooming as well. Pretty soon they will be every where. They bloom on roadsides, in fields, around houses.

Yes, my chickens still like my front yard. :) If you look close, there is a hummingbird on the right side of the feeder.

I love the coloring on the little ewe lamb on the left. Her name is Lambchop. We may keep her to breed.

Here is one side of her.

Here is the other side.

I need to pull a garlic bulb and see if they are ready. They are not normally ready until July, but they are sure looking done to me.

My peppermint is growing well. I need to go out and cut some and start drying it.

Our last batch of chicks came today. They are all tucked away in the brooder. Skye is not sure what to think about all the peeps in the box. She did lick one little chick I held out for her to see. I was afraid she might try to bite it, but she didn't.

We are ordering our turkey poults early next week. I have been taking orders for them. They are usually ready the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week.

We joined a CSA this year. We were just going to do a little tiny garden. :) We forgot to limit ourselves. We have had 2 CSA basket pick ups so far. Last night we got several kinds and colors of radishes, lettuce, spinach, baby greens, snow peas, garlic scapes, onions, and strawberries. There may have been more, but that is all that is coming to mind. :) They arrange the baskets very artfully. They are beautiful. I had some strawberries in a smoothie this morning made with our homemade raw yogurt and stevia.

We now carry both the Great Lake Gelatins and Steviva in our store. We also got in some new books so come and check it out. :)

I sat in on a tele-seminar today on starting a cow share program. We are not sure what we are going to do, but we would like to be able to allow others to share in our bounty that God has given us.

Farm News

Skye had a birthday. Southern Blu Skye is now one year old. :) She is a good dog. She has a couple of bad habits, but we are working on those.

The garden is in. I would still like to plant some flower seeds, but I can't find the ones I thought I had. :) We also have one more planting of corn. The taller green stuff in front of the sheep shed is my garlic. I need to pull a bulb and check them. The leaves are starting to turn yellow.

The beans are coming up nicely. So are the cukes. I just pray that the cukes do well. We eat lots of pickles and I have had to buy cucumbers the last couple of years to get enough.

This is part of Joshua and Brittany's garden. The have a large L shaped portion of our garden.

I love seeing how green the grass is and how long it is. I pray that we continue to get the sporadic rains to keep it growing.

You can see that the grass is as tall as some of the lambs.

My kitchen often resembles a science lab. I have things growing or brewing. :) Here is my artisan bread dough. I made it yesterday and it sat out over night. I will make it this afternoon.

Here is one of my batches of kombucha. I have been getting really thick nice scobies on it. I have been able to have a starter for others.

I also have some raw peanuts soaking. I will put them in the dehydrator later today.

I also had a batch of yogurt in my Yogotherm. It is already in the fridge though. It might take a bit more time to fix foods the traditional way, but the way we are feeling is WELL WORTH the effort. We both have lost weight and feel wonderful. I have not felt this good in at least 10 years.

Count Your Blessings Monday!!

Here is an opportunity for all of us to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in our lives. If you would like to take part great. If not that is OK too. If you would like to share your blessing, just leave it in the comments. If you want to use the picture above and list a blessing on your own site, then leave a URL to your site in the comments. There is no pressure here. I just know that I am incredibly blessed and I would like to share that and give thanks to Him who all blessing come from. This is a way that we can encourage one another. I know that I am often encouraged when someone shares a blessing with me. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!

I am very grateful for the weather we have had. It has been nice and warm which has been good for our garden. We have also had nice rain at good intervals. Last night it got so chilly, I had to put some long sleeves on. It felt absolutely delicious for this time of year. This week the highs are to be in the 70's. That is truly a blessing!!!

What are YOU thankful for?

Weekend on the Farm

We tried to accomplish a lot this weekend. We did get somethings done, but we are still chipping away at our "To Do" list.

We finally have our garden completely in. Well, all except the second planting of corn which will have to wait until next weekend so the 2 types don't cross pollinate. We got straw all up around the potatoes. We will be working on getting the straw around more things this week. Our beans are coming up, but something is already eating them and our cucumbers. We already had to tie some of the tomatoes up. Josh and Brittany planted 6 cayenne plants and so did we. Something ate 4 of theirs and 4 of ours. We did find some more this weekend and they are planted. The raised beds got taken over by this nasty grass with connected roots that are horrible. So, we are leaving most of them empty (unless something was already in them). We are going to cover them with cardboard to try and kill the stuff.

We picked the rest of the garlic scapes as well. We had already picked a bunch, but more popped up. We also found a handful of strawberries. :)

I am going to try and pickle the garlic scapes. We loved pickled garlic, so these should work well. I love to chew on them. :) We used the strawberries to make 2 smoothies with our yogurt. YUM!!!

Here is part of why we named our farm Amazing Graze Farm. The grazing animals are loving this Spring grass. I hope the grass growing continues through the summer. We have had a drought summer for the past 3 years. So far we have had good rain and we PRAY that it continues.

We moved the second batch of chickens out into the movable pens in the pasture. We only lost one in the brooder this time. We are very grateful for that. The pens are on the other side of the pond this time.

The porch flowers are really doing well this year. I love the color of these Wave Petunias. They just look so happy. :)

The lobelia is doing really well this year. I love this color.

How are things on your farm or homestead or just in your garden?

Farmageddon The Movie

Farmageddon Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

‎Farmageddon The Movie is coming to you this summer! Click here to find a local screening near you: http://farmageddonmovie.com/screenings/ Please share this post on your blog; help spread the word about this important film!

Don't forget to turn off the music in the sidebar.

Cravings - The Mother of Invention

We are enjoying the eating plan we are on. It has also made us feel really good and lose some weight. The weight is coming off a bit slower than I like, but I am losing inches too! I am able to get into some dresses that I could not wear before!!

I was a carb queen and was eating way too many of them. I have been trying sprouted whole grain breads and bagels. I also make spelt bread. My co-op offers a sprouted whole grain tortilla. I bought some to try. The thing that I miss the most is something crunchy like chips or crackers. We did not buy potato chips, but we usually always had tortilla chips on hand. I decided to try something for lunch today. I put some Tropical Traditions Expeller Pressed coconut oil in the skillet. I took a tortilla (they are big) and cut it in half. then I cut one of the halves into small chip size pieces. I put them in the oil and let them get a bit brown on both sides. I drained them on a towel and sprinkled them with salt. They were good. They were not as good as the chips we normally have, but they satsified the crunch factor and they did taste good. After I had eaten them, I realized I did not take any pictures. I will do that next time.

I am also making the coconut bark recipe with Stevia. It is so good that it tastes just like candy. I really notice a difference in my energy level and also my clearness in thinking when I am getting plenty of coconut oil.

Count Your Blessings Monday!!

Here is an opportunity for all of us to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in our lives. If you would like to take part great. If not that is OK too. If you would like to share your blessing, just leave it in the comments. If you want to use the picture above and list a blessing on your own site, then leave a URL to your site in the comments. There is no pressure here. I just know that I am incredibly blessed and I would like to share that and give thanks to Him who all blessing come from. This is a way that we can encourage one another. I know that I am often encouraged when someone shares a blessing with me. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!

I am grateful that we are able to grow lots of our own veggies and herbs. I especially love the perennial herbs that come back each year. I will warn you though... If you are going to plant fennel... put it in a bed by itself. It doesn't know when to stop and it tries to take over other things. :)

Here are some of my herbs that are coming back. The oregano especially comes back well.

I already have some herbs hanging up to dry. There is more to pick and hang as well. This makes the house smell good too.

This is the comfrey plant that refuses to die. :) I have dug it up about 5 times to give to someone. The sheep have eaten it all the way to the ground and each year it comes back big and healthy.

What are YOU thankful for?

Farm Thoughts

I sit down to write a blog post and I have so many thoughts running around in my head, I am not sure where to start or even which thought train to follow. :)

First of all farm thoughts... Yesterday was our first chicken processing day of this year. We were up and out in the field at a little after 5AM catching chickens. By 3:30PM, they were all picked up and we were done with that part of the day. I love the days when our customers come to the farm. Often times we get to put a face to a name for the first time. We get to chat and get to know each other a little better. We have a system down. Michael and I bag the chickens together for the most part. Then I greet the customers in the store area and he brings the chickens out. I weigh and ring them up. Our online store inventory is set up in a way that they can look around and see some of the items we carry. Some customers put their order in online and then instead of shipping, they pick it up when they come out to get their chickens or eggs, etc. We never set out to be rich by raising animals. Our hopes were then, and still are now to get our meat for free. We want to sell enough for that to happen. We raised our chicken prices this year due to an increase in grain prices and also we switched to a better feed that was non-GMO and it cost more.

We had something getting into our brooder with this first batch. We found several chicks that had been attacked by something. We found a loose area and tightened everything up, which stopped the attacks. We had no idea how many chicks were just totally gone until we put them out in the field. We lost quite a few. Our chickens usually average about 5 lbs. We sat down and did the math for this first batch. We added up all the costs involved in the chickens and then figured our income using an average of 5 lbs. per bird. None of these birds were for us. We had to include the ones we were to get in the death count so that we did not short anyone. We barely covered our costs, which means no free chickens for us even if there had been enough. The feed price went up twice since we quoted the new price to our customers. I had to let them know that if they went up again, we would have to raise the prices for the next 2 batches. I will say though that we have the BEST customers/friends. One of our customers actually wrote a check for more than they owed. I did not see the amount until later, so I was unable to thank them face to face. They had offered to do that when they were here and we told them we were OK with this batch. They did it anyway. Thank you!!! You know who you are!!

I also read a blog post by a friend. She and her family are gardening not only for themselves but also for a friend who runs a CSA. The weather this year has not cooperated so far. They planted a large amount of peas and so far have only gotten enough for one meal. She has lots of good points in the post and I encourage you to read it. Hard times, food wise, are coming. They may only be temporary, but are you prepared for them? Do you have a garden or a local CSA? For those of you who do not know what a CSA is, I will explain. It is Community Supported Agriculture. You pay a fee to share in someone's crops. They do the work and you get a share of the produce. Some will let you come and work for a discount on your fee. Each week you go and pick up your share. If they have a bumper crop, you get more. If they have losses, you share in those with them as well. You can find CSA's and farmers in your area by word of mouth or checking sites like Local Harvest or Eat Wild.

The grass is really tall with all the rain we have had. We only have the 2 cows right now, so they are not keeping up with it. Our tractor is down (water pump and alternator) and so there is no bush hogging going on either. Speaking of cows, many of you know that I have been saving for a little Jersey Heifer calf. A friend of mine in another state raises Jerseys and she is holding one of the little heifers for me. So far she has stayed that honey color. I will name her Honey. The name and slogan of our farm is Amazing Graze Farm - the Land of Milk & Honey! So, when someone asks Michael where I am he can say, "She is out milkin' Honey!!" :) Yes, I am weird that way. We are praying and praying that Buttercup took. If she is pregnant, she is due in August. We hoped Clover was, but there have been signs she might not be. :( I miss Buttercup's milk. I miss making cheese and butter. Her cream is so thick it mounds up on the spoon. I had to take a picture one time because someone did not believe me. :)
It is so sweet... it tastes like ice cream. Buttercup has to be 16 years old at least. She was due with a calf (she had it less than a month later) when we bought her and she had at least one calf before that. She has been the best and sweetest cow ever. I do not look forward to the day when she is no longer with us.

The sheep seem to be doing well. We checked the little guys to see if they were ready to band or not. They were not. We will check again in a week or so. We are going to have to have a second area to raise the little ewes in. When we get a ram in the Fall, we don't want him to breed the little ewes. They will be sold for meat along with the little boys. In fact, we already have an order for one of them.

We are taking part in a CSA this year. We were thinking we would only plant a few things here. Well, old gardeners die hard. Our garden is much bigger than we planned. It is not even all in yet. :) I love to watch a garden grow and come to life. It is proof positive to me of a very loving Creator. Some might give Mother Nature the credit, but there is a grand design behind all life. It is GOD!!! The old saying that "Time Began in a Garden" always reminds me of a funny story. My Sister-in-law is a wonderful flower garden person. She has "that touch" that I would love to have. She and a friend were taking care of the church gardens and were furnishing a lot of stuff out of their own pockets. They went to their pastor and tried to talk him into getting more money to put into the gardens. They jokingly reminded him that time began in a garden. Without missing a beat he turned and said, "So did sin!" :)

I planted some cucumbers with seeds. They are starting to come up. I also put some radish seeds in by them as well. This is supposed to help deter cucumber beetles.

A couple of these we bought as plants and the rest were from seed.

My pole beans are starting to pop up through the ground. I plant Kentucky Wonder pole beans. Many of the people around here don't like them because you have to string them. I like them for 2 reasons. First of all, I think they have more flavor and secondly, they keep producing over time. Most of the bush beans we have grown give you beans over a short time and then they are done and you need to do more plantings.

I am wanting to grow LOTS of broccoli and cauliflower. I talk about why in this blog that I was a guest poster in. I may have to grow them this Fall. They are not doing so well.

This post has gotten long, so I will close for now. How is YOUR garden growing? Do you have one? Are you part of a CSA?

We are Surrounded by Beauty

Things have been hopping around here. I will start this post with some pictures of the beauty that God surrounds us with. We had to go and drop something off at a friend's house. I love her property. It has a wild beauty to it. I would love to have the natural looking gardens that she does.

The steps you see on the right hand side go down into her spring house.

On the way home, we found this old bridge. We stopped and got out to look around.

You can click on this picture and make it larger. I love the rows of crops coming up in the fields.

I will write more about the weekend in another post.

Cheese Glorious Cheese - Give Away!!

The Cheeseslave is giving away a selection of 4 types of grass-fed cheese that she just brought back from Amsterdam. She is also throwing in a tin of some nutrient-dense cod liver (purchased in Holland, imported from Denmark). Yes, cod liver!

These are all nutrient dense foods and not something easily found in the US. Head on over to her blog and sign up for the give away!!!