Rainy Weather Fun

Keeping busy during three days in a row of rain really isn't too hard.  There's always the cleaning.  The cleaning gets neglected when we're busy outside.  The floors have been mopped, the dishes all washed, the boys' rooms cleaned.  But then there's the laundry... 

Indoor clothes drying to the rescue.  It takes a little longer, but it's free!  The heavy stuff I hang on hooks on the bathroom wall.

The lighter stuff goes on the drying rack.  I used this method all winter, rarely turning on the dryer at all.  I think when the dryer kicks the bucket, I'll replace it with a big wooden Mennonite drying rack.


#2 cleaned up the basement and piled the little bit of firewood we've brought in so far this year.  We ordered wood - a dump truck load of birch logs - and 5 weeks later we're still waiting.  If it doesn't come soon we will be freezing this winter!

We took a break and went to the Flea Market/Feed Store.  They've been doing a lot of cleaning this year, so now you can actually find stuff.  Before everything was so stuffed and over flowing, I was afraid to touch anything lest it fall all over the place. 




I bought a bunch of glasses, coffee cups, wine glasses, and measuring cups.







A pair of wall candle sconces.





 A nice big mirror - which I originally thought I would hang in the livingroom, but after bringing it home I think I will probably put it up in my room.  I would like to fill the house with mirrors to reflect more light, and I love the black metal frames.


Sadly, the Flea Market will be closing in September.  They've been struggling since the Mennonites moved into the area and opened their feed store.  They're more centrally located, while the Flea Market is out here on the edge, like me.  The owners bought a general store in one of the smaller towns to the south, and their parents and son have been running the Flea Market this summer.  I'm hoping they will return in the spring.  I suggested they turn it into a Flea & Farmer's market.

I went to a Farmer's market last weekend in one of the bigger towns to the north.  I was just killing time, waiting on the boys, and already halfway there, so I thought I'd go take a look.  It was truly unbelievable.  Most of the vendors were selling hand crafts.  There were two vegetable vendors, both with outrageous prices, and both very busy!  $2 for a cucumber, $3 for a small bag of lettuce, $4 for a tiny romaine.  $3 each for cauliflower and broccoli the size of my fist!  $3 for a tiny bunch of carrots, $4.50 for a pint of raspberries, and $4 for a tiny dish of blueberries. 

I admit I don't often buy any of that stuff, since I grow my own, but still, I was astounded by how busy they were.  I looked in the grocery store afterward, and sure enough, their prices were dramatically lower.  I regret not going to the farmer's market when I was down south.  It would have been interesting for comparison.

Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge the farmers earning a living wage.  I just don't understand where their customers come from.  I remember going to the farmer's market with my parents, always looking for deals.  We shopped there because it was cheaper than the grocery store.  We would get a deal by buying in bulk, and then Mom would can and freeze for winter.  If I had to pay $6 for a little basket of pickling cukes, I'd just buy pickles in the grocery store.  It's cheaper and the work is already done.

On the other hand, if I sold my carrots 6 to a bunch for $2.50 (grocery store price), I could make close to $200.  That's pretty impressive for my little companion plants.  Then I start thinking about all of the extra stuff I could grow...  and then my garden is huge again and I can't keep up with the weeds...  Maybe someday.

At any rate, I think devoting some of the parking lot space to a farmer's market would help draw people in to the Flea Market, and help keep them afloat.



I made another batch of butter, and a small batch of Farmer's Cheese.  That will be used in a lasagna tonight, as it's not too hot to have the oven on today!





And while it's cool, I also thought I'd make a little room in the freezer.  These three birds are simmering on the stove and will be ready to can this evening.  When we raised turkeys I'd always save a little bit for future soups, pastas, and salads.  I rarely get to do that with chickens, since they're gone in two to three meals.  I catch myself looking at chicken parts in the grocery store, thinking I should buy something to make taco pasta.  It's just not the same with beef.

The garden has been left to fend for itself.  The weeds will be growing like mad again next week.  I still go out to the greenhouses daily, and I've picked my second batch of green beans.  I'm still getting a few peas, carrots every day, my first tomato!!, nasturtium flowers, peppers, and a couple of missed radishes. 

I pulled a few turnips from the garden yesterday, for Piggy and to thin them, but we ended up eating them ourselves.  #2 had asked what to make for supper since we were almost out of potatoes, and I told him I had carrots and turnips on the table.  I found him in the kitchen chopping them up.  He made a pot of mixed veggies - carrots, turnips, and potatoes.  They were delicious.  Piggy got the leftovers for breakfast.  I'll go out and pick some more roots for her once the rain eases off a bit.

I also cooked the turnip greens.  That was a first for us.  I just shredded and boiled them, served with salt and butter.  They were nice.  I've been looking at canning greens for winter.  Everything I've read says 90 minutes for processing, and they turn out like mush.  I really don't have a lot of extra freezer space right now, but it seems that that's the recommended way to go.  I'm thinking that 36-52 bags of assorted greens would be sufficient for winter. 

So, back to work now.  Enjoy the rain!

Spring

Even though we had snow on the weekend, I think it's fairly safe to say that spring has finally arrived.  There's a lot of melt going on, so I moved the geese out of the winter coop.

There's a bit of a flood between the raspberries and the 'turkey' pen, so for now I'm leaving the gate open to let them play. 

They were so happy splashing and dunking in the water.

And maybe, if we're lucky, they might decide to give us a few goslings.  There were two eggs in their pen yesterday morning.

We know we have girls, but do we have a boy?  Fingers crossed!

The chickens will be staying in the winter coop for a while yet.  The weather is still pretty cold, I still have too many roosters, and they're laying so well I don't want to disturb them right now.  We still have a fair bit of snow to melt away along the ditches and tree lines, so it won't be too long now until I get started butchering those birds!

Two at a Time

Spring is in the air.  The snow is melting.  The days are getting warmer.  The nights are staying above freezing.  And this is when, not one, but two- TWO!- of my freezers, decide to kick the bucket.  And not just any two, of course, but both of the big freezers. 

If you've been reading here for awhile, you know I usually empty the garage freezer and unplug it in the spring.  Then it gets a good cleaning and sits ready for fall.  I can handle the loss of one freezer.  We've made room in the other two over the course of the winter.  But TWO...

Well, everything had to come in the house.  The little freezer was close to empty.  All of my homemade butter was finished off this winter, we had eaten all of the meat, and only a small box of veggies and assorted breads and buns remained.  I had planned to empty and unplug the little freezer soon.  I thought I could make do with just the large entry way freezer this summer, and cut the hydro bill just a tad.

Breads and buns were thrown out onto the table.  The boys brought in all of the meat from the entry way and garage.  I have a surprising number of roasts and steaks left.  Roasts were piled in the bottom, along with two hams and a turkey, steaks on top, odds and ends all around.  We managed to get almost everything in.

What we didn't manage- several meals worth of ribs that I generally avoid cooking, the doggy stew meat bucket, another small box of fruits and veggies, and some frozen juices.  I am not a rib lover, but they take up a lot of room with all of the bones in them, so they were the first thing to cook.  I've had my two biggest stock pots cooking on the stove, alternating with the pressure canner.

Today I'll also be canning the doggy stew meat.  The boys have been given free range on the juices.  The fruits and veggies- mostly rhubarb, dandelion greens, and bananas- went out to the chickens.  When the 'emergency' items are taken care of, I'll chop, cook and can some of the roasts.  That's partially for 'convenience' summer cooking, partially to make some room in the now overstuffed freezer.  I don't normally can meats, but since I am out of ground beef I figure this will be easier than defrosting and grinding through the summer.  I'll cook very few roasts as roasts in the crockpot through the summer, so most would just sit in the freezer until next fall anyway.

So now I have calves about to calve (milk!), 8 roosters and three hens to butcher, and spring greens to begin foraging, with no freezer to put them into!!

I started checking the local ads last night.  There are a couple of good deals for used freezers, but there's another wee problem.  The trailer is blocked in the second driveway behind 6 feet of snow.  We never plowed it this year.  Do I really need a new to me freezer bad enough to shovel that?  Waiting for the snow to melt seems like a better option for now.

The Girls

Moved in for winter.

The reds and barred rocks- the only ones laying right now.

The whites- Chanteclers and crosses.

Each with a chantecler cross rooster.  I know, I know, inbreeding...  But they aren't big enough to butcher just yet.

 The third batch of chicks.  Sexable, but too small to do anything with yet.  I figure another month before I'll have to separate them, by which time, hopefully, the boys from the first batch will be ready to move into the freezer.

And the babies.  I think they'll have enough room to stay together until spring.

I still have four roosters outside.  One of the older roosters, and three from the first batch.  I'm hoping to put them in the freezer before it really snows, but I may have to move them to the old coop, depending on weather.

The geese are also waiting outside, though I do have a pen for them in the new coop.  They're just enjoying the last of the garden eats before they have to survive off grain and fodder for winter.

We've had a few snows now, but nothing sticking, and temperatures still fluctuating.  A lot of rain, too.  Roads are flooding all over the place.  I could have left the birds outside for a bit yet, but I didn't want to have to move them all by myself in the snow one morning.

Frost

Frost this morning.

Beautiful sunshiney day.  Go figure.  I'll be spending the day in the garden, surveying the damages.

More Rain

We had a short break in the rain this morning, so I ran out to water the greenhouses.

Weeds, and a few veggies, enjoying the rain.

Except when I got there, I had no water.  Back to the house- did I forget to turn on the hose?  Nope, it's on.  I turned it up a little.

Back to the garden.  No water.  Walk back, tracing the hose step by step.  No kinks.

Raining again.  Forget it.  Go shut the hose off.  Well, there you go.  I guess I forgot to switch the splitter from pasture to garden.  Maybe later...

After three days of rain, and a high of 9°C (48°F) yesterday, I finally gave in and lit a fire last night.  I hate wasting fire wood this early in the year, but shivering all night isn't likely to motivate me to doing anything productive today.

It's our anniversary today.  15 months since Dad died.  I'm ok with the word 'happy' now.  The first year every time someone said 'happy', I either cried or looked at them like they had sprouted another head.  Happy Birthday, Happy Mother's Day, Happy Hallowe'en, Happy New Year...  Seriously?  Happy seemed like such a cruel concept.

I'm still not happy.  But at least I'm not crying.  And I guess you only have one head now.

Frost

On June 20th. :(

My beans are frazzled.

Radishes are a little damaged, but they'll recover.  Everything else looks ok.

Mom's beans, right next door, are fine.

Why??????????????????

I was wondering if it might be because the pond is close to my garden.  Husband thinks it's because Mom has some trees close to her garden.  Mom's yard is also on a slope and there's about a three foot drop maybe fifty yards away.

I need more greenhouses.

Planting

Winter was LONG and EXTREMELY HARD this year, but seems to have gone out like a light.  We had only three frost days after the snow stopped, about 2 weeks of spring, then jumped into summer.  It's been hot, but I've been enjoying it.  A few days of rain have brought the blackflies out in droves.  Even that has not yet deterred my eagerness to be done with winter.

I planted the greenhouses over the weekend.

Greenhouse #1 got the brassicas this year.  Cucumbers and sunflowers down the centre again (pickling).  Onion seed scattered through the rows on the side.  Apparently I forgot to start cabbage inside, so I bought a little 4 pack, and put in a row of cabbage seed.  I'll have to see how it works out with a late start.The albino (sugar) beets went in as seed.

 
The tomato seedlings that survived were small, so I bought some jetstars and beefsteaks.  I bought seedling trays with those moss/weeve trays in it.  Total pain to keep watered.  I bought Sweet banana peppers, cherry bombs, and long slim peppers.  What can I say?  I was in the garden centre and I couldn't help myself.  Straight Eights in the centre, onions and radishes scattered on the sides.  I bought two pots of dill and planted one in each greenhouse, along with almost all of my remaining seed.  The dill hasn't done well the past few years, so I thought I might as well dump the seed.  If it doesn't grow I might as well buy new next year.

The garden is mostly planted, and the peas are up about three inches now. 

Peas
Peas

Mangels
Mangels

Carrots, radishes
Beans-vanderpol 6 weeks, radish

Lettuce
Swiss chard, lettuce

Spinach
Romaine, sunflower, green beans

Green beans
Green beans

Green beans
Green beans

Green beans
Green beans 

Of course, the weeds are up before the veggies...  #4 planted the green beans, and I honestly didn't think I had that much seed left, so I guess we'll see how it works out once they come up.  The rototiller broke before #1 finished tilling, so I'm a bit behind schedule.  It's fixed now, but not tilled yet.  Beets, corn, another tray of kohlrabi (what was I thinking?!), and a few odds and ends to go in yet.  I don't plan to plant any potatoes this year.  At this point anyway.  I'll see how much space I have left.

I haven't planted anything in the hugelkultur bed yet.  It needs about 8 inches of soil dumped on top of it.  Like a fool, I did not leave myself enough space to drive around it, so I'll have to wheelbarrow it in. 

Greenhouse #3 is under construction.  Barely started, really, but started none the less, which is good, since I still have pumpkins, melons, and watermelons to transplant.

Manure from the barn/pasture clean out is going around the original greenhouses.  I'm pretty much out of space in the perennial bed, and since that space is generally wasted, I figure it'll be a good spot to add more perennials next year.