Dreary and Dusty ......but only for a little while

It's the time of year when everything is brown.  Dust and dirt is blowing in the strong spring winds.  The tumbleweeds are stacking up high along the fence.  It won't be long however before the rhubarb begins to break ground from it's long winter nap.  The gardens will be covered in weeds soon.  I will till them in along with hundreds of wheelbarrow loads of composted goat manure, preparing the ground for planting.

before

and

after

TREES need to be dug from areas in the gardens

 they shouldn't be growing and transplanted

to a better location.  We have fifty or more to move this spring.

Good thing I know how to dig holes........lots of holes.

One to get the tree out of the ground, and one to put it into.

I get exhausted just thinking about it, but someday

after I am long gone, planted in the ground myself,

someone will be grateful for all the beautiful trees

growing in just the right place.

 create a large berm around the trees and water them in well
this eliminates any air pockets
give them a good soaking at least once a week for the first few months
until new roots are established

Early spring is the best time to transplant trees.  I have tried several different times of year, spring, late summer, fall, and have found they do the best when transplanted in the early, EARLY spring before the sap begins to run, or before they begin to bud out.  Fall planted trees do fairly well, with trees transplanted after the end of April least favorable.

I'll begin tilling soon.

Sometimes I have help tilling, (thanks HUN) 

when he doesn't have to work late on a Friday night

and can drive the 400 miles (one way)  to help on Saturday,

but generally I just plug along day after day......

Several acres takes quite a while with a hand tiller,

and by the time to plant seeds in mid June (yes, it is still freezing at night then) 

the gardens will all be composted, manured, tilled and ready to go.

ANT FARMHER?

I got a call from the neighbor.  Shari said that they had just taken new aerials of the valley.

So I pulled up the farm on the Internet and after looking at my ground from high above, I decided I wasn't and organic vegetable farmHer after all.

I have an 80 acre ANT FARM!

I have always known I had a lot of ants, but there are about a kazillion ant hills spread out through the pasture.  Took these photos last summer.(the ants don't come out until the ground is sufficiently warm, about Junish.)

 

You don't want to find one of these little guys a crawlin' on ya.  Their bite is like fire.  I keep a jar of
pine gum salve 

handy at all times to take away the pain and swelling of their fiery bite.

They strip the vegetation for a good 6 or 7 feet around their hill

The hills are about 4 feet in diameter

Ant Hills as far as the eyes can see

I find them fascinating.  They can carry 100's of times their weight.  They have a unique way of working as a deadly team, if an insect gets to close to their hill.  I will often feed them greens picked from the green house just trying to keep them out of the gardens.  Someone told me to get rid of them, pour a 2 liter soda drink down the mound, I am going to give that a try .  I have also read somewhere that they bring a high price as feed for zoo animals or some such thing.  HUMM.........maybe I will be an ant farmHer after all.

Onion Pie

My stash of winter onions are getting a little soft so I need to use them up quick.  I love onions and use them as a main dish more often than as a complement to a meal.  Give the following recipes a try.

ONION PIE

1 1/2 c. course cracker crumbs

1/2 tsp. curry powder

6 Tbs. butter, melted

2 large onions thinly sliced

1 1/4 c. milk

1 1/2 c. grated cheese
6 eggs

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Mix cracker crumbs, curry powder, salt and 6 Tbs. butter together.  Line a greased 9 inch pie pan with the mixture.  Hold back 1/4 cup for the topping.  Saute onions in olive oil until transparent.  Put into pie pan.  Heat the milk in a double boiler, add grated cheese and stir until melted.  Slowly stir in beaten eggs.  Pour over onions.  Sprinkle with remaining cracker mixture.  Bake for 40 minutes


ONION TART

Make your favorite bread dough recipe.  Line a large round baking sheet with a thin layer of dough over-lapping the edges with a couple of inches all around.  Cut 3-4 large onions into slices and spread over dough.  Drizzle with olive oil and add seasonings of choice.  I like to add sun/oven dried tomatoes that I have prepared from the summer harvest and kept in the freezer.  Add sauteed garlic and freshly ground sea salt.  Fold edges over and brush with egg whites for a crusty edge.  Bake 350-375 degrees until dough is cooked.

 Oven Dried Tomatoes  
use this link for an earlier post about how to make your own sun/oven dried tomatoes

I will planting onions in a couple of weeks!
.

The Sunroom Evolution

our first try at building an attached sun room in 1996
it is attached to the eves of the flat porch roof

We purchased the  "LITTLE RED HOUSE" about 1996.  It was located just north of our vegetable farm and when it came up for sale, we decided to buy it.  It was previously owned by people from Vegas who would come up during the summer to get out of the heat.  It sat empty for 5 years before they decided to sell it.  After purchasing the house, our first project  was to start construction on a south facing sunroom.  Using all secondhand materials,  large double-paned  glass windows, sliding glass doors, and large cedar post collected from the mountains behind us, we constructed a wonderful sun room that would conduct heat into the house all winter through a opened sliding glass door.  I would save the rinse water from doing dishes to water the plants growing inside for most of the year.  The earthy smell that permeated the house on those cold, snowy, blowy, winter days was a comfort and promise that spring would be along soon.

One foot off the ground, the large windows were placed on a 45 degree slant for the best solar retention.  The floor measured 12 across and 20 feet long, a small brick patio placed just  outside the door leading into the house and a center walkway were installed.

Plants were grown on both sides of the walkway.  The small patio was just large enough for a comfy chair to sit in during the day and daydream.

I found that the slant of the windows caused overhead problems not allowing for enough room to work the vegetable beds, and did not allow for the growth in height of the plants.  The  next sunroom we built,  we attached it to a friends house.  Realizing we needed more space (height) along the bottom edge, we used 3x3 foot windows along the bottom and then large windows at a 45 degree sloping up to the roof.  For the roof we used plastic sheeting that was built on about a 33 degree incline.  This sun room worked out wonderful.  Enough over head space to work in and plenty of height along the edge for plants to grow.  When we revamped the sunroom on the little red house about 7 years ago, we tried something different.  Because the house is small we wanted to turn the porch area into a couple of rooms and so we (meaning my son) re-roofed the house placing a slanted roof over the flat roof of the porch.  The old flat roof was not waterproof and it rained inside every time it rained outside.  He added a gable, because mom decided she wanted one half way through the project.  We put up the sun room walls (windows) vertical instead of slanted to allow for more room.   The roof is 8 feet long and hooks into the 4 foot roof eve overhang which makes the width of the sunroom about 12 feet. This gave  us a nice space to garden in.

thank-you Shelly for the tall, narrow, 1 foot  windows
the larger windows were purchased from a thrift store.......
recycled brick and cement sidewalks make a nice pathway and patio

The support beams are sitting on cement pads that go 4 feet into the ground

plenty of room for the plants to grow
the bed on the left is close to the house,
 covered with plastic during the day and a blanket added for the night,
 it provided chard, spinach and lettuce
through the winter months

In the south west corner of the sunroom, I had a spot for my farm office

read an earlier post about my......

CORNER OFFICE WITH A VIEW

Here is what I have learned in the process of building several sun rooms.

If I am looking to pull heat into the house as a supplement heat source, the windows draw more heat on a 45 degree pitch. I also think the plants do better.   Allow for height, at least 3 feet, along the bottom edge for growing plants. It also heats up better for night heat retention.

 I spend a lot of time in the sun room as a living space so I prefer the vertical windows all around.  For the roof use the plastic sheeting you can purchase at a lumber store, it is very expensive but will last a long time.  Do not use fiberglass for the roof, it does not hold up in the wind.

Use a brick or rock pathway as a heat collector.

Have windows that open on each end for cross ventilation.

I know there are a lot of good books out there about building sun rooms and green houses.  Please tell us  about your experiences building a sunroom.

Give Cabbage a second chance

I plant several varieties of cabbage, the smaller early cabbage,  an early flat dutch, and my absolute favorite, late flat dutch.  I harvest the late dutch for a good crop to make sauerkraut.  Most of them grow to over 20-25 pounds per head!  They keep well into the winter in a root cellar or wrapped in a plastic bag and put in  the refrigerator.

  In the early summer, harvest the head of the early cabbage, leaving several of the bottom large leaves on the root stock.  Continue to water and tiny cabbages will form at each leaf node.  These small cabbages are sweet and tender and can be used in many ways, even on sandwiches.

I harvest the Early Flat Dutch during the summer and the Late Flat Dutch in the fall. 

 They can withstand several late and early frosts.

EARLY SPRING GREENS:

 For those of you who are fond of cabbage greens, in the spring you can have plenty of them by saving the cabbage root stocks from the prior season.  Dig up the stocks and roots, leaving the roots intact as much as possible.  Set them in a deep trench to keep them from freezing.  Mulch heavily.  If you live in areas with cold winters I would suggest holding them over in a root cellar, in a  box of moist sand.  In the early spring, plant the roots with a small portion of the stock above ground and soon you will have tasty, early, leafy greens.  Cover with a plastic covered hoop or box to encourage early growth,

try using wall of waters,

 or simply plant into a cold frame.

I also use black buckets (with the bottoms cut out) to collect heat during the day for better growth. 

 Covering at night with a plastic bag keeps the cabbage plants from freezing back.

 grow early cabbage greens in a green house:

Mid way through the growing season, plant cabbage seeds of a 60-80 day cabbage.  I like to use a purple cabbage.  Harvest the head just before the frosts kills everything in the greenhouse.  Leave the stock in place, but remove all leaves.  Now place a bottomless bucket over the stock and then fill the bucket with  straw or leaves packing them in tightly.  If your winters are severe add additional mulch around the outside of the bucket and cover with an old blanket.  In the spring, as soon as the green house warms sufficiently remove the bucket, leaving the mulch around the stock.  Water and cover at night to prevent freezing.  Little heads will form at the leaf nodules, or just harvest the  leaves as they grow.

After harvesting the main head, this cabbage produced 6 additional heads for harvest. 

 Each head measured about 6 inches in diameter.

SECOND GROWTH CABBAGE

more info here

The cabbage family who live on my little sustainable, bio-dynamic farm!

Make this Tasty CABBAGE STEW

using the fall harvested cabbage

it is absolutely delicious!

Fixing supper in my little vintage camp trailer "ROSE'

The cabbage pictured above is a second growth cabbage.

Thanks Folks for stopping by,

kick off your boots, set a spell and read about the adventures on my little farm.

cricketsongfarm.blogspot.com
to visit my home page

CHARD

As the season came to a close last fall, I snapped a picture of this chard plant

what's so special about this plant you may ask yourself........

it obviouly is a regular ole swiss chard,

 surrounded by weeds 

(note, there is also celery in there someplace)

well, let me tell you what was so special about this chard

IT WAS ALMOST 5 FEET TALL!

I didn't have the heart to harvest it,

 other than the lower leaves that yellowed, I fed to the chickens

so I just let it go to seed

and as soon  as it warms up enough,

I will have little chardets coming up everywhere!

A Hand Spinners Retreat

A few weeks ago I attended our spinning guild's 3 day annual winter retreat.

As usual it was a hoot!

Took my old 53 Flatbed Ford and piled in a few of the gals.

We went crusin to the grocery store,

(not having a mall or chain department store that is the best we could do)

had to pick up some supplies for breakfast anyway.

Darcy was given the assignment of holding onto the bungee cord that I have wrapped

 around my door handle

to pull on to keep my door shut.......a job that she took very seriously I might add.......

that is until we took a left hand  turn and her door flew open

 and about deposited her in a heap in the middle of the road!

Mindy sitting crammed in the middle didn't have a worry other than holding her purse,

 the items from the store stacked high in her lap,

 and me not cracking her knee caps when I tried to shift gears.

This is the WIMSEY JAR I got from Darcy

filled with tiny treasures,

she gave me this beautiful tea pot 

Thanks Darcy for the thoughtful gift

she must have read an earlier post

Good Karma

spun several hanks of yarn

novelty yarn (middle) is spun one thin, single ply and one thick ply

then spun together 

on the left is a single ply spun from a multi-colored roving,

 the center is the single ply spun into a two ply by drafting one

 strand from the center and one strand from the outside of the ball,

 on the right is one ply of the multi-colored roving and one ply of a mustard color, 

spun together to make a two ply  variegated yarn

I also worked on a sweater (background)

made from several different crocheted flower mofits

another example of plying from both ends of a single plied yarn

(single foreground) 

2 ply skein in back

had so much fun I went home and spun non-stop for another week

been paying for it now, my hands have been asleep since.

Here's a look at

Last year's retreat

I had a great time, Thanks to all who worked so hard to make it a success!

Make a Farmers Market bag from recycled plastic bags

cut the bottom off plastic bags

I stack them 6 deep before cutting

cut strips about 1 inch wide

join strips together to form a plastic yarn

 and roll into a ball

add strips as needed

using size J (or larger) crochet hook 

chain 30 

turn, double crochet, chain one, in every other chain stitch

when making this first row catch 2 strands of the chain for better reinforcement

of the bottom of the bag

double crochet 4 in end 

continue around with a double crochet, chain one, in open spaces

NOTE:  do not join rows

double crochet, chain one, 4 times in each end

continue across

place the 4 double crochet in the middle of the turn (between the 2nd and 3rd stitch)

continue around until the desired with of the bottom of the bag is achieved.

To make the sides:  double crochet, chain one, around do not increase at the ends

(I found that leaving out the chain one on each end (side) kept the sides of the bag straight)

for the handle, double crochet about 10 spaces, make a chain stitch for the handle as long as desired

 skip over center spaces and attach so that both sides are equal, double crochet around.

Now change to a single crochet and complete several rows

fill in enough stitches to cover the handle

(I caught the stitches down a row for better support at the base of each handle)

I made this bag with double crochet so the beauty of the vegetables could be seen,

 however the bag is a little stretchy and would be sturdier if you used single crochet throughout.

Thanks for stopping by

while your're here stay awhile and read about my beautiful,

organic, sustainable lifestyle.

http://cricketsongfarm.blogspot.com

A Front Porch

My front porch,

a gathering place......

a brass and crystal chandelier dangling from the eves,
  catching the suns rays

casting rainbow prisms on the wall

 an old hand crafted bench seat  placed along the edge
 filled with potted geraniums
bees and butterflies softly landing on their delicate petals
an antique overstuffed love seat

to sit in and read the works of Emily Dickinson, Tennyson,

or Culpepper's Complete Herbal.

An outdoor room
 to set up my easel and paint the flowers

and herbs blooming along the rock pathway
 wind chimes made from oddities, bits and pieces of broken glass,
old hand forged nails, shards of broken plates, and other treasures found
in the yard of our 100 year old solid rock home
 are hanging from the posts
their sound of days long gone drift on the breeze.
Long talks, or comfortable silence
fill the twilight hours
as we watch the night quietly creep in
 the dark shadows
hide the toads
as they search for bugs
and make their way to the small pond I have built for them
I sit still on my porch and enjoy the
cycle of a summer's day.

Harvesting Broccoli

Broccoli is one of the first crops I plant early in the spring in my green house.  I raise the seedling in a sunny south window, transplanting several times until they are about 6-8 inches tall.

After planting in the green house, I place a large black bottomless buckets (say that 3 times fast) around them.  This helps guard against frost that can still kill plants in the early spring.  If it really cold, I place a plastic bag over the bucket for the night.

ready to harvest

Use the outer leaves while you wait for the head to develop,

 they are especially good steamed or stir fried.

Add them to your morning smoothy or green drink.

Check on the broccoli often. 

 To tell when the broccoli is ready to harvest :

1. notice the color, it should be a deep, dark green

2. the buds should be packed tightly together, run your thumb over them to check

3.  when the color changes and becomes just a little lighted,

 check to see if the buds have loosened up just a bit.

(don't wait too long or the buds will blossom)

4.  Harvest by cutting off the stock just below the branching head.

Leave the plant in the ground, secondary heads, side shoots, will form for another harvest.

Also continue harvesting the leaves.

5.  I have learned to quickly place the broccoli in a plastic bag and refrigerate.

If you leave it out it, the buds will open and it will turn yellow in a very short time.

Winter at the Farm

Winter at the farm means rest and rejuvenation.  Not only for the earth, but for myself.  It is a chance to rest my weary old bones, sit by the fire and spin, knit, draw garden plans, and read a good book or two.

my son made the birdhouse and my son-in-law made my  Farm name sign
thanks guys



One of my favorite books to read and re-read is by Ruth Stout

hardback copy
16th edition
printed in 1976

This lady is hilarious,  I look for this book every time I go to the thrift store.  I have found and given away several copies to the friends I have made while on my gardening journey in this great land of American.  If you can be the first to guess correctly how many states I have lived in my entire life
 (thus far, I'm sure there will be more)
 I will send you a copy of the book.

Please leave me a comment of........
1.  a  bit of garden wisdom
2.   your guess.

  Available to US delivery only!

Elderberry

We have a long row of Elderberries growing along side one of the gardens.  It flowers in the spring with snowy white umbrellas consisting of hundreds of tiny white flowers.  If a late frost doesn't hit, killing the blossoms, I can gather the flowers to make fritters.  As the summer progresses, tiny, little green berries form.

just beginning to ripen, berries will be a dark purple when ripe

 When the Elderberries ripen I gather them quickly before the birds eat them all.  The berries are laid on paper toweling and placed on a window screen, out of the wind and sun, to dry.  I don't worry about taking out the stems unless I am making Elderberry  jelly or jam.  The dried Elderberries make a wonderful hot tea to help combat colds and flu.

TEA FOR FLU AND COLDS

cold, snowy night

It is the middle of winter.   I don't have chores to do other than make sure the wood box is full.   I'm getting old enough I just want to stay in by the fire.  The other night my daughter and her husband had driven out to visit.  We pulled the stack of games out of the cupboard and picked APPLES TO APPLES to play.  When we were finished, my daughter said that the cards you win should tell a little about your personality.

Well, I think I am a little witty and I definitely don't have a clue!