Thoughts of Spring . . .

They say that this past Friday was the first day of spring, but you wouldn't know it from looking at our weather. Today is chilly and damp, we had snow night Friday night and though most of it melted off Saturday, it still doesn't look like spring. However having said that, we did see the first Robins return on Friday along with the Cedar Waxwings. Both species love the flowering crab trees in front of the house and were busy eating the last of the fruits that hung on the trees over the winter.

We're seeing lots of coyotes crusing around the farm and the deer are frequent visitors as well. It's the time of year when we are able to get out in the fields a little bit and check out how things are looking and to make sure all the fencing is in good repair. I want to put up several more bluebird houses this spring, as the ones we placed last spring were well used throughout the season by both the bluebirds and the tree swallows. Oh, did those tree swallows work hard on their nest building... back and forth the female would go, finding just the right bits of straw and grass to place in the box. Mr. Tree Swallow was mostly in a supervisory position, sitting near the box but not doing much else. Perhaps he was guarding it, or perhaps he was just a tad on the lazy side. Only Mrs. Tree Swallow knows for sure and she was too busy to care. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes this year.

We have big plans for the garden this year and can't wait to get started. Seeds have been ordered and have begun to arrive and the heirloom seedlings and onion plants should be here around the end of May, just in time for planting. We hope to completely fence in the orchard this year to discourage the visits from the deer who enjoy nibbling on the young trees.

There's so much to do in the spring and the days go by so fast, I want to savor each one and accomplish as much as possible, making each day productive and satisfying.

-Polly

Garden Update-- 9/23/08

Although the calendar says that autumn has officially arrived, we are still enjoying the produce from our garden. The latest excitement? Purple carrots! This was our first experiment with planting the "Dragon" variety of heirloom carrots, and we were really pleased with how well they grew and how tasty they were, too. :-) Suffice to say that even though some of us are not carrot-lovers, we had no difficulty in polishing off an entire bowl's worth.

In tomato-land, the Green Zebras have done very well (see photo), but we're also enjoying many of the other varieties as well. We made up a salad on Saturday night that included Cherokee Purple, Stupice, Trophy, Amish Paste, Green Zebra, Beam's Yellow Pear, and also Juliet.

Now we're moving into the orchard to begin harvesting this year's apple crop-- more updates and photos soon!

New Book News!!!

We're happy to announce a new book that has just been released; written and photographed by Samantha and Dan Johnson. It's entitled "Horse Breeds: 65 Popular Horse, Pony and Draft Horse Breeds" and is published by Voyageur Press. They worked on this book most of last year and I just love the way it turned out. It has over 250 photos and lots of information on various breeds, and is hardback with 400 pages.

The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and at bookstores nationwide. If you'd like to see it, the link at Amazon is http://www.amazon.com/Horse-Breeds-Popular-Pony-Draft/dp/0760332657/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219168034&sr=8-1

It was only with the help of many kind folks who opened up their farms and barns that they were able to get such a nice variety of horses and ponies to grace the pages of this new book. They're working on several new titles, with the next due out in January 09.

It ain't easy bein' green (beans)

Next on the "ready to pick" list from the garden....we have green beans. Oh, they have been so good! Again this year we planted the "Empress" variety and she certainly matches her royal name. What a producer! There are abundant 5-6 inch long, straight beans on each plant and since we planted over 350, it's a lot of picking! These also dry well when left on the plant and so seed saving is very simple and easy. We planted a second sowing of beans to be ready about 2 weeks from now, so there should be plenty for fresh eating as well as lots to put into the freezer.

Fair Happenings

The County Fair was wonderful fun, we entered a variety of classes and enjoyed spending some time there watching the judging and looking over the rabbits, chickens, sheep, goats, minis and donkeys that were entered. It's always a good time.

The children entered the open photography division and did a great job winning a number of classes, Em was so thrilled when her action photo was chosen as Best of Show in the color category. She had her picture taken with her winning entry and ribbon, and will be in the fair book next year. Last year J. Keeler won the Best of Show, so they are already excited about next year and will be taking lots of photos throughout the year. Rosie entered the "Still Life" and "Story" categories and won them both. The biggest entertainment is watching the people watching the judging. Judges have a tough row to hoe and I give them full credit for not throwing their hands up in frustration with some of the amusing antics of some of the exhibitors there.

Fresh from the... garden!

We're happy to report that there is a lot more going on today in the garden: the peas are ready for picking! We set up the kitchen for processing, which included blanching the peas for 1 and 1/2 minutes then plunging them into cold water to stop the cooking process. They were then placed into freezer bags and popped into the freezer for good eating this winter. The peas were "Green Arrow" and the plants produced very well, including lots of doubles. Most of the pods contained at least 10 good sized peas per pod. We also planted "Tom Thumb", which is a smaller heirloom variety that produces quickly, but the peas are definitely of the dwarf variety.

The raspberries have been simply amazing this year-- our freezer is overflowing and we've been eating them fresh with dinner every couple of days. Delicious eating and delightful summer fun!

July update from the farm

Summer is in full swing here at the farm. The bees are very busy and seem to be mainly interested in the trefoil in the pastures. I was hoping they'd spend a bit more time in the garden, but that's not been the case so far. The garden is doing well nonetheless...with the 50 tomato plants and over 250 peas, 350 beans, 500 onions that we planted, we hope to have lots of tasty eating. We received a welcome two and a half inches of rain yesterday and they only bad part was that a lightning strike took out our fence charger.

This has been the year of the ground squirrel, litter after litter has been born and raised and they are digging up way too many holes and tasting too many squash. We put up new bluebird houses this spring and though the first tenants were tree swallows, the bluebirds finally moved in and made their nests. We're very happy to have them setting up housekeeping. My hope is to have at least ten additional houses by next spring. We've located them on fenceposts next to our pastures and it appear that it's the perfect place for them.

Our county fair is fast approaching and the children love this time of the year and enjoy entering their projects in the fair. Last year J. Keeler won the Best of Show in photography, so he's hoping to do so again this year. But the competition will be stiff as his two sisters are entering their photos as well.

I'll update with the full fair report after next weekend. Meanwhile, there's lots to do, so I'd better get to it.